Posts Tagged ‘Neha’
ACIDIC HANGOVER!
One can’t deny the fact that White Feather Films (WFF), Sanjay Gupta’s production house, has churned one of the best dark thrillers in the past. In fact, every film of WFF right from Kaante to the recent Woodstock Villa has been very dark but still managed to impress audiences. Their new flick, Acid Factory, too follows the WWF tradition! It’s dark, it has black humour and most importantly, it has surprises. However, the second hour spoils the show. More details later!
The story of the movie: A guy somewhere in his mid-20s (Fardeen Khan) wakes up and finds himself trapped in a dilapidated factory. He has no memory as to how he got there inside. He doesn’t even remember his own name! A phone rings somewhere and he picks up. The caller (Irrfan Khan) seemed like a boss, who gives some orders. Later, the man discovers four more people in the factory (Aftab Shivdasani, Manoj Bajpayee, Dino Morea and Danny Denzongpa) and they all are in a similar state of mind. One of them is tied to a chair and one is handcuffed. All doors are locked and the windows had iron grills and so there was no chance of escaping. Also, the factory was located at a remote place so there was no possibility of even shouting and getting attention of someone from outside. The guys later discover that it is an acid factory and that some of them were criminals. To find out as to how they lose their memory and what happen next, watch the film.
Acid Factory’s first hour is power-packed. The film holds your attention wonderfully right from the first scene. The characters in the factory waking up, bewildered, one by one and their talking, shouting and cracking jokes with one another sets the mood. Two more tracks run simultaneously-one, the flashback portions of Fardeen and the other, the kidnapping heist. Yet, the film doesn’t turn confusing and for this, full marks should be given to director Suparn Verma.
The characters later learn that two of them are kidnapped. But again, with no memory, they have no idea as to who are the kidnappers and who are the hostages! This really makes the situation weird but interesting!
But things slid down in the 2nd half. They should have been more thrilling moments and drama but instead, a lot of action scenes are thrown in. No doubt that it was a treat watching those scenes but after a point of time, it became too much. Also, the climax wasn’t impressive, although it was engrossing. And the glaring flaws at this point are shocking. But due to a bad 2nd half, one gets out of the theatre disappointed. If the film had an equally powerful 2nd half, Acid Factory would have been a coming of the age film.
Every actor was perfect. Fardeen Khan had more screen presence than the rest and like everytime, he gave a fantastic performance. He still has two films this year (Dulha Mil Gaya and All The Best). Let’s hope he gets appreciation which he rightfully deserves. Aftab Shivdasani rocks as the angry young man. Dino Morea surprises with a brilliant performance. Manoj Bajpayee acts well and succeeds in making the viewers laugh.
Danny Denzongpa, like everytime, was flawless. Irrfan Khan impresses. A lot of hype was created about Dia Mirza’s presence in the film as she’s the only female actor in the main cast. However, she enters only in the second hour and didn’t have much to do. But she performs well, though. Gulshan Grover and Neha were alright.
The film has couple of songs (including an item number) which wasn’t needed at all. The song ‘Ye Jism Hai’ looked totally out of place in the film. Sahil Kapoor’s cinematography was topnotch. Actor Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Gupta have written the dialogues which were excellent. Tinu Verma’s action was top-class and kudos to him and his team! Hemal Kothari’s editing was slick. Milind Gadagkar’s story was great but he can’t be given the credit as the film seems inspired from the Hollywood flick, Unknown.
Suparn Verma and Sanjay Gupta’s screenplay was outstanding in the beginning portions but deteriorated in the 2nd hour, esp towards the climax. Suparn Verma, overall, impresses a lot as the director. This film will be a commercial flop but Suparn’s efforts will surely be noticed and would be appreciated for sure.
Some of the best scenes of the film:
1. Fardeen picking up Irrfan’s first call
2. The chase sequence in the beginning
3. Fardeen’s first meeting with Danny
4. Fardeen, Dino and Aftab interrogating Danny
5. Irrfan taking away the ransom (wonderful scene)
6. The intermission point
7. Dia Mirza’s entry
8. Fardeen, Dino, Aftab and Danny calling for help from outside (another fabulous scene)
On the whole, Acid Factory is a fast, intriguing film that falls in the 2nd half. The film was badly promoted and that’s why it failed to have a good opening. With three BIG releases next Friday, Acid Factory will vanish from the theatres for sure. But all those interested, it would be no harm catching this 120 minute dark thriller on VCD/DVD later!
My rating-*** out of 5!
This review first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Acid_Factory-177028-1.html
By Taran Adarsh, October 9, 2009 – 09:32 IST
Besides Abbas-Mustan, Sanjay Gupta has attempted interesting thrillers in the past. His new outing, ACID FACTORY, directed by Suparn Verma, is a cat-n-mouse chase that will have you on edge of the seat as it unfolds.
Inspired by Hollywood film UNKNOWN, ACID FACTORY is engaging in most parts. Also, it’s well adapted to suit Indian sensibilities. It starts off strong enough and keeps the momentum going till the end, though, of course, it goes back and forth at times and that could get a bit confusing.
| BY BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COM |
ACID FACTORY demands your attention from the very start. The viewer ought to stay alert and watch the goings-on carefully. Even if you blink, chances are you may miss a vital link and the subsequent portions may not work for you since there’s something happening every minute.
At the same time, ACID FACTORY has its share of loose ends. The climax, for instance, could’ve been more impactful. Also, the concept is too urbane and holds appeal for the urban youth, who’ve a penchant for slick thrillers.
Final word? ACID FACTORY is a well-crafted, well executed film with the ensemble cast pitching in competent performances.
A man [Fardeen Khan] wakes up in a deserted factory surrounded by several other seemingly dead men. He has absolutely no memory of who he is or how he got there and he is unable to get out. Before too long, the others [Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Manoj Bajpayee, Danny Denzongpa, Dia Mirza] wake up and they all have amnesia too.
All they know is that some of them have been shot, one is tied to a chair, a third is hanging by his wrist, which is handcuffed to a railing… It is eventually discovered that they have lost their memory because of gas leaked from a container.
Much later, they figure out that two of them have been kidnapped by the other three. Who are the kidnappers and who are their victims? Meanwhile, the police are tracking a sinister man [Irrfan Khan], while a worried wife [Neha] desperately searches for her husband.
ACID FACTORY has enough going for it, thanks to its premise which is intriguing. But the plot is such that it takes time to come to the point. There’s not much happening in the first hour, except the fact that everyone’s clueless about their identity and how they seem trapped in a dilapidated factory.
But the answers start flowing in the second hour. The answers come quick and the reasons why they are trapped are also justified. But, as mentioned earlier, the conclusion could’ve been as realistic like the rest of the proceedings. Also, the track of the harried wife trying to trace her husband isn’t too convincing.
This is Suparn Verma’s second film as a director and midway through the film, you realise that Suparn has grown as a storyteller. The film bears a slick look and also, the narrative holds your attention for most parts. Cinematography is top notch. So is the sound design. Tinu Verma’s stunts and chase sequences deserve distinction marks.
Every actor pitches in an effortless performance. They aren’t putting on an act. The film has an assorted mix of experienced and accomplished actors [Danny Denzongpa, Manoj Bajpayee and Irrfan Khan] and yet-to-reach-there actors [Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea and Dia Mirza] and each display confidence in their respective parts. Neha doesn’t get scope, while Gulshan Grover is as usual.
On the whole, ACID FACTORY is a slick thriller that has an interesting premise and also super stunts and chase sequences as its trump cards. The film is targeted at the urban youth, especially those who relish thrillers. Of course, the film will have to storm the dull pre-Diwali period which might curtail its prospects to an extent despite decent merits and also, the three biggies that arrive next Friday.
By Bollywood Hungama News Network, August 8, 2009 – 12:28 IST
Characters:
Ranbir Kapoor: Sidharth Mehra
That’s me! Well, Sidharth Mehra really but everyone calls me Sid. I’m just a regular guy, I guess. I just finished college and have no idea what the heck I’m doing next. No one told me that I had to have a plan, so I never made one! If you ask me, the world would be a much better place if we all just slowed down and learnt to take it easy sometimes. That’s kind of what I’m doing these days… just taking it easy… hanging with my buddies, watching TV, eating, sleeping, dreaming… that sort of thing, you know?
Konkona Sen Sharma: Aisha Bannerjee
God, there’s so much to say about Aisha… She’s new to Mumbai, and completely infatuated with the city. She left everyone and everything she knew in Kolkata to go after her dream of becoming a writer for this cool urban magazine called Mumbai Beat. She’s creative, ambitious, focused, driven, brave… phew, basically everything I’m not!
Anupam Kher: Ram Mehra
Dad and I have nothing in common, really. He owns a company that manufactures bathroom fittings. Their speciality: these horrific gadgets called Flower Showers! They’re exactly what they sound like-showers that look like flowers. I wish I was kidding, but I’m not. And now, he wants me to join the company! How am I going to get out of this one?
Supriya Pathak: Sarita
Mom has three obsessions: Watching TV serials, nagging me, and trying to learn English. I don’t know which one bothers me more! But she’s sweet, and always gives me money, even when dad tells her not to. And her Rajma Chawal is to die for!
Namit Das: Rishi
Rishi and I have been buddies since KG, and he hasn’t changed one bit. He’s always in love and always getting his heart broken. His current “true love” is Neha. They met on the first day of college, and have been obnoxiously stuck at the hip ever since. I don’t get this ‘love’ business at all! Quite frankly, I feel like punching him in the face when he gets all mushy. We’ve had some great times together though.
Shikha Talsania: Laxmi
Laxmi is one of my best friends, though her best friend is food! I don’t think I’ve ever seen her not eating. I swear! She’s either munching on something, or talking about eating, or planning her next meal… how she manages to find time to study and top our class every year, I have no idea!
Synopsis
This is the story of Sidharth Mehra (Ranbir Kapoor), a lazy, unmotivated slacker from Mumbai whose life undergoes a series of changes after taking his final year college exams. Sid’s world is breezy, carefree, and without any true responsibilities. The most important elements in his life are his friends, his camera, his car, and his X-box 360.
Sid thrives around his two best friends, Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania), very rarely communicates with his mother Sarita (Supriya Pathak) and takes his father Ram Mehra (Anupam Kher), and all his hard earned wealth for granted. Despite all these traits, Sid is an honest boy; sweet, funny, and above all, a good friend. Aisha Bannerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma), an aspiring writer from Calcutta, learns this soon enough when her path crosses with Sid’s on her first day in Bombay, Ambitious, well-read, and driven, Aisha has come to Bombay to realize her dreams as a writer. Despite their contrasting personalities. Sid becomes Aisha’s first friend in the city.
As Aisha sets up her life in Bombay, with the help of Sid and his gang, Sid allows for time to fly by over long drives, parties that stretch well into dawn, and endless hours doing absolutely nothing. But summers vary rarely dull these days and Sid’s summer is no different. A series of circumstances and events compel him to take stock of his life and take a hard look at himself. Will he, at some point figure out what he’s supposed to be doing with his life?
By Taran Adarsh, June 19, 2009 – 14:32 IST
Never judge a book by its cover. But we do! We tend to get carried away by eye-catching promos that a film-maker unleashes prior to a film’s release. We act in haste, rush to a nearby cineplex and soon realise that the best parts were actually highlighted in the promos itself.
That’s exactly what you feel when you watch PAYING GUESTS, helmed by first-timer Paritosh Painter.
Comedy is serious business and Paritosh Painter ought to know this by now, since he has successfully directed a number of plays in the past. Sadly, PAYING GUESTS stands on a waferthin plot, although Paritosh tries hard to add meat to the skeletal body. The film doesn’t have the power to hold your attention for the next 2 hours, although it does [intermittently] make you smile or break into a guffaw.
| BY BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COM |
Earlier too, we’ve had our macho men getting disguised as girls [Rishi Kapoor and Paintal in RAFOO CHAKKAR were hilarious], but PAYING GUESTS tries so hard to tickle your funny bone, but falls flat.
Final word? This comedy is more of a tragedy… for its viewers!
What happens when four fun-loving boys [Shreyas Talpade, Jaaved Jaffrey, Ashish Chowdhry and Vatsal Sheth] begin a crazy house hunt? In the search for a new accommodation, these crazy friends manage to convince their crazier landlord Ballu [Johny Lever] to keep them as paying guests, but Ballu has one condition, i.e. he wants only couples.
However, the problem is they are all bachelors. Who will play their wives?
PAYING GUESTS may be a remake of a play, but it also bears a striking resemblance to Sachin’s super-successful Marathi film ASHI HI BANWA BANWI. PAYING GUESTS starts off very well, but runs out of fuel in its initial 30 minutes itself.
You do laugh aloud initially and expect to wear a smile on your face all through the film, but the smile turns into a smirk gradually. Actually, the on-screen characters laugh all the while, not the audience.
PAYING GUESTS fails to deliver thanks to a poor screenplay. Barring the four heroes and the landlords [Johny Lever and Delnaaz Paul], the remaining characters in the film just don’t work. The four leading ladies have nothing worthwhile to do and even the negative forces here [Chunkey Pandey and Inder Kumar] are wasted.
The climax – in a theatre, with every character doing a spoof – is a straight lift from JAANE BHI DO YAARO.
Paritosh Painter had an interesting idea on hand, but the writing plays the villain here. Sajid-Wajid’s music is a ear-sore. Barring ‘Jack & Jill’, the remaining songs lack energy. Visually, the film looks good, with the locales of Bangkok and Pattaya adding freshness to the enterprise.
Of the cast, Shreyas is the best, followed by Javed, then Ashish and then Vatsal – in that order. The leading ladies don’t have much to do, but Celina and Neha are most noticeable. Riya and Sayali Bhagat don’t get any scope. Johny Lever is in form and so is Delnaaz Paul. Chunkey Pandey is alright, while Inder Kumar is wasted. Asrani stands out, while Viju Khote and Paintal are okay.
On the whole, this paying guest is just not welcome!
Movie Review: 99 by FENIL SETA
Posted on: May 17, 2009
99 has been in the news for more reasons than one. It’s the first A-grade Hindi film to release after the producer v/s multiplexes tussle commenced. The promo aroused curiosity and with no other Hindi film in sight, 99 was the only option left for film-starved audiences. And fortunately, 99 entertains! The film with its wonderful story, screenplay and execution works big time!
The story of the movie: The film begins in the year 1999. Two small-time crooks, Sachin (Kunal Khemu) and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha) run an illegal SIM card duplication business. When one day police comes knocking on their doors, they rob a car and escape. Unfortunately, the car meets with an accident. But the crooks escape with little injuries. But more bad news awaited them-the car they robbed belongs to AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar), a gangster-cum-bookie. He asks them to reimburse the amount of the car. They refuse as they couldn’t afford it. And then they had no choice but to join AGM’s illegal business and help him. Some months later, they are given a new ‘task’-recovering money from Delhi-based Rahul (Boman Irani) who owed 20 lakh rupees to AGM and had not returned a single paisa. This new ‘mission’ changes Sachin’s and Zaramud’s life as they meet the compulsive gambler Rahul. What follows is an unpredictable and hilarious roller coaster ride!
99 starts off amazingly and the witty screenplay makes sure the film doesn’t turn boring at any moment. The characters thrown in the narrative are very interesting. Right from the foul-mouthed gangster AGM to Rahul, his wife (Simone Singh), JC (Vinod Khanna), Kuber (Amit Mistry) and his ‘right hand’ Dimple-everyone manage to amuse and impress. And how can we forget the protagonists and also Neha (Soha Ali Khan)-they too rocked! The writers should certainly be appreciated for wonderful characterization.
Also, the film is set in the year 1999 and 2000. It was a time when metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Delhi were still ‘mall-less’! Mobile Phones were still expensive and one was charged even for incoming calls. People still struggled with dialing, messaging and changing ring tones in their cell phones. Cyber Cafes proudly displayed on their hoardings that they have a high speed of 64 kbps! 99 wonderfully display all this and captures that period effectively!
The film falls in some places in the 2nd half, especially in Kunal-Soha scenes. These were very short scenes but still proved as an obstacle at times. Maybe, these scenes could have been chopped off. However, the last 25 minutes of the film were certainly the best part of the film. It was hilarious, unpredictable and doesn’t go over the top.
Directors of this film have succeeded in extracting fine performances from the entire cast. Kunal Khemu shines in his role. He looks great in trimmed hair and gives a great performance. Cyrus Broacha doesn’t mouth many dialogues but manages to raise many laughs throughout the film! Last seen in Little Zizou, he’ll be seen next in Mumbai Chaka Chak! Boman Irani is certainly the best performer in the film! He plays his role with aplomb. In every film, he plays a character different from the other and still manages to give an outstanding performance! Hats off to this marvelous actor!
Soha Ali Khan does a wonderful job and was exceptional in her final scene. Mahesh Manjrekar comes up with a hilarious performance. Watch out for him in the climax! Amit Mistry also entertains, esp when Kunal wacks him at Boman’s house! The guy enacting the role of Dimple was funny too. Vinod Khanna and Simone Singh were great.
3 songs of the film stand out-the theme song, ‘Delhi Destiny’ and ‘What’s Up’. Fortunately, the song ‘What’s Up’ is played when the credits roll. Kudos to the director duo/editor for not incorporating the song in the film as it would have reduced the pace of the film.
Background score elated the film at several points. Rajeev Ravi’s cinematography was flawless. Cherag Todiwala’s editing was slick. Dialogues by Chintan Gandhi, Sita Menon and Raja Sen (the critic?) were amazing.
The story and screenplay is written by Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK and Sita Menon. Story was inspired from the real-life events but was well-written. Screenplay was just amazing and certainly, one of the best of this year! They knew what they wanted to make and succeeded fully. They deserve maximum appreciation for those scenes where Kunal bangs the heads of so many throughout the film. The scene looked straight out of popular cartoons. Seems like the screenwriters were heavily inspired by comic series like Tom and Jerry!
Finally, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK do an exceptionally great job as directors. They surely have a long way to go. If they come up with such cool scripts for their directional ventures in future too, they’ll soon be the next Abbas-Mustan of Bollywood!
Some of the best scenes:
1. The first scene!
2. Sachin having a walk in South Mumbai and the titles rolling by
3. AGM’s meeting Sachin and Zaramud for the first time
4. Scenes of Rahul knocking at Jahanvi’s door
5. Sachin and Zaramud’s first meeting with Rahul
6. Sachin and Zaramud at Rahul’s office and the intermission point
7. Kuber getting wacked by Sachin at Rahul’s house
8. Sachin at Kuber’s suite (excellent!)
9. The final 25 minutes
On the whole, 99 is a smart, witty comic flick that would surely provide entertainment to the viewers. The film unfortunately hasn’t taken a flying start at the BO. But it’s a great film and with no other Hindi film running, 99 should be watched by all movie buffs. Recommended!
My rating-**** out of 5!
This post first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/99-167773-1.html
Fenil and Bollywood 