Posts Tagged ‘title song’
Fenil’s Bollywood Talk # 77
Posted on: December 3, 2009
RADIO v/s PAA
This weekend will see the release of two diverse films, Paa and Radio. The best thing about both films is its cost-both films are made at a reasonable cost and should not find it difficult to recover it. My take on these films:
PAA:
Undoubtedly, Paa will be the first choice of moviegoers. Directed by Balki (Cheeni Kum) and music composed by Illaiyaraja, Paa has aroused a lot of curiosity. By now, it’s a very common knowledge that Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of a 12 year old suffering from progeria in the film. He looks unique and completely unrecognizable in his new look. Big B has even altered his voice to suit his 12 year old character and it rocks completely. He has even sung the title song of the film in that changed voice which is a treat to hear! To hear Auro (name of BigB in Paa) speak click here.
Besides the chance to see Amitabh in a never before seen avatar, the other USP of the film is Abhishek Bachchan playing Amitabh’s father! The film also stars Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal as Auro’s mother and grandfather respectively. The film is being promoted innovatively. 2 days back, Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan were on Radio Mirchi FM and spoke as the characters of the film. Listeners were asking questions to Auro (i.e. Amitabh) about his life and he answered wonderfully! It was just brilliant!
Without a shred of doubt, the film will be lauded with appreciation, especially for the performance of Amitabh, Abhishek and Vidya. However, the film has also got some negative reactions from a section of audiences who feel that Big B’s look is horrible and they can’t bear watching him as ‘an ugly child’ for 2 ½ hours. Also, the film should get a good response to sustain in theatres. And if that happens, then there would be no stopping for this film! In fact, I am expecting a Taare Zameen Par-type craze for Paa. Let’s hope for the best!
RADIO:
In an interview, 2 days back to Bollywood Hungama, Himesh Reshammiya shared how he wanted his previous disastrous film, Karzzzz to release on another date. That’s because the producers planned its release on October 17, 2008. 17 equals to 8 (1+7=8) which is Himesh’s unlucky number. But the producers didn’t listen to him and released it on 17th. And then Karzzzz flopped in spite of adding 3 extra ‘z’ in the title for ‘numerlogical reasons’. I really laughed reading this part. Is Himesh trying to say that Karzzzz would have succeeded if it had released on another date? The film was a disaster in all respects and would have flopped even if it had released on some other date or if 100 more ‘z’ was added in the title! Besides having a faulty script and direction, it had a very high cost (reported to be around Rs 40 crores). It was obvious that it would have been impossible to recover this amount. And as expected, the film barely recovered about half of its cost!
But Radio, that releases today, is a safer bet. The film is made at a reasonable cost-6 crores. The film has already recovered this amount from other sources. But to get the prestige of being hailed as a hit, the film’s theatrical collections should exceed 6 crores. It’s difficult to say whether this can happen as Radio has a terrific competition in the form of Paa. Also, the film is an urban love story and is targeted at the multiplex junta, who don’t ‘worship’ Himesh like the masses do! So as of now, nothing can be said about the fate of Radio.
But Himesh is confident because the film is releasing on Thursday 3rd as 3 is his lucky number! He has more faith in numbers than the script of the film. Last time, when Karzzzz bombed inspite of all numerological precautions, he blamed the producer and the wrong release date. Let’s see who he will blame this time, in case Radio flops! But I hope it works and all the best to its entire team!
WHICH FILM ARE YOU MOST INTERESTED IN? DO LET ME KNOW!
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E-PIRATES MOURN AT MININOVA’S CLEAN UP ACT
E-pirates are a disgruntled lot ever since Mininova went on a Clean-up act. Mininova is the most popular website when it comes to downloading movies, songs, games and other stuff. Every new film used to be available on the site a day after the release or at times, on the day itself. Further, all downloads were safe and didn’t carry any virus. Hence, it was the most preferable website for millions of net users.
Needless to mention, downloading stuff on Mininova were illegal and last week after they lost a civil dispute, the website announced that it’ll share only those movies that are uploaded through Content Distribution Service. Thus, they deleted all illegal stuff which was there in their database. This has proved as a setback for all those who never used to venture in theatres but instead used to watch films on their PC through Mininova.
It is difficult to say whether this step will prove beneficial for our producers and distributors. No one can can say for sure whether these e-pirates would start frequenting cineplexes to watch movies. There were many factors why these people chose Mininova instead of theatres and these factors still exist, the biggest one being the inflated ticket prices. No effort has been done to slash ticket rates and in fact, the prices are increasing. Also, there are many other websites like Mininova (though not safe) from where one can still download films! So unfortunately, piracy will continue to thrive even in the absence of Mininova.
This post first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/diary/ccbhuqsuo/Fenils-Bollywood-Talk77
A Prince and 3 showgirls!
Posted on: November 22, 2009
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; November 22, 2009)
Any kind of calamity, whether natural or man-made, is immediately picked up by the film fraternity to capture the event in celluloid. The 26 July 2005 Mumbai deluge was one of the biggest natural disasters in India in this decade and surprisingly, no film, comprising A-listers was based on it yet. Finally, Tum Mile takes the initiative. It’s a love story and the floods serve as a backdrop. Unfortunately, the ‘flood’ connection wasn’t utilized well and hence, the film fails to impress fully.
The story of the movie: Akshay (Emraan Hashmi) and Sanjana (Soha Ali Khan) become friends when they both were based in Cape Town. Although Akshay was struggling painter and Sanjana was a creative writer cum environmentalist and a daughter of a rich billionaire (Sachin Khedekar), they both hit off well and fall in love. They decide to move in. Unfortunately, both face problems, more so because of Akshay’s financial insecurity. Finally, both have to break up. Six years later, they meet each other once again in a London-Mumbai flight. Things have drastically changed for both Akshay and Sanjana now. However, once they land in Mumbai, they have to go through a roller coaster ride as heavy rains have crippled the entire city. The date was July 26, 2005. They have no choice but to be together in this dark time.
Let’s get one thing straight-although Tum Mile was promoted as a film based on floods, it is actually not. 70% of the film is Emraan-Soha’s flashback in Cape Town. The remaining 30% focuses on the deluge. However, the story wonderfully moves from the present to flashback and back and that’s why the film works a bit.
The first scene of the film is in fact the best one! Weather dept officials who were more interested in playing cards than looking at the warning they received about a downpour just a day before July 26 is a rocking scene! It gives an indication that how the careless attitude of these officials led to a disaster.
The first half of the film has no glitches. The flashback portion begins wonderfully and goes ahead nicely too. Also the scene inside the flight were well executed. The intermission point was scary. However, problems start in the second hour. The flashback scenes quite dragged. Director Kunal Deshmukh could and should have had a crisp narrative. The problems faced by the couple in the floods were engrossing but the climax disappointed. The way both Emraan and Soha accept each other in the climax (after the rains stopped) seemed little indigestible, because their interactions with each other was very limited during the time of crisis. But then it is said, “When you bond during a crisis, the bonding goes deep”. So maybe only the very limited bonding was more than enough for the characters!
The visual effects in the film at some places were tacky and could have been better. The film also exhibits some of the actual footage depicting the horrors of 26/7. But that doesn’t work. Also, factual errors can be noticed-the lead actors are shown wading through chest-deep water in Lower Parel area of Mumbai. However, nothing of that sort had happened there on that day.. In fact, it was in the suburban areas like Juhu, Kalina etc where water had arisen till the first floors. However, some of the horrors of that day were wonderfully captured. Most notable is how the central locking system caused the death of many inside the car after their car’s doors and windows failed to open.
Emraan Hashmi and Soha Ali Khan carry the film on their shoulders wonderfully. Emraan delivers a sparkling performance and proves that he’s one of the best performers around. He looked charming, esp in the flashback portions. However, his bespectacled look in the present track is not as great as the similar one he had in Gangster. But still, he manages to do a great job. Watch out for him when he’s high-tempered and in the scene where he enthusiastically paints Soha. A fine actor indeed!
Soha Ali Khan too comes up with a brilliant performance-one of the best of her careers after RDB and Khoya Khoya Chand. She appears confident and it’s great to see that she slipped into her role so easily. Actually, she wasn’t the original choice-Esha Deol was offered the role initially. After she refused due to some reason, Soha was approached!
Mantra, who plays Emraan’s pal, also gives a confident performance. Sachin Khedekar was impressive. Others were good.
Pritam’s music was one of the USPs of the film. The 3 songs which completely rock are the title song, Tu Hi Haqeeqat and Dil Ibaadat. Watch out for Dil Ibaadat-it was just brilliantly executed!
Prakash Kutty’s cinematography was flawless. So was the design.
There was nothing wrong in the story; it was the screenplay that failed at places. Ideally, equal emphasis should have been there for both the tracks. The flood portions were underutilized. Although Kunal Deshmukh’s first venture Jannat was fantastic, Tum Mile isn’t, unfortunately.
Some of the best scenes of the film:
1. The first scene
2. Akshay restructures Sanjana’s cake
3. The title song and Dil Ibaadat
4. Akshay’s confrontation with the curator
5. Sachin Khedekar’s only scene
6. Akshay and Sanjana’s argument the next day
7. The intermission point
8. Akshay and Sanjana in the bus and in cracked building
On the whole, Tum Mile unfortunately doesn’t work in totality. Performances and music were brilliant but the film was too dragged for no reason. But the film doesn’t bore even for a moment and the first half was great. Watch it if you are an Emraan/Bhatt fan!
My rating-** ½ out of 5!
This review first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Tum_Mile-179553-1.html
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We bet you’ve never heard anything like this before. Literally. On Tuesday, Amitabh Bachchan recorded the title song for Balki’s Paa in the voice of a 12-year-old and that too without the help of technology. Music director Aadesh Shrivastava says, “I thought I would initially record the song in Amitji’s normal voice and later use technological enhancement and modify it to make it sound like a child’s. However, Amitji was firm that I wouldn’t have to do anything of that sort and that he will sing in a child’s voice without any help. He went on to do just that.” Aadesh, who handled the daunting task of recording music maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s tune in Amitabh’s voice, adds, “It is originally a tune created by Raja sir (Ilaiyaraaja). Normally, I’d never even dream of touching his tunes but I have worked as a drummer for him on Sadma (1983) and he sent this song from Chennai for Amitji to sing it in Mumbai.” Aadesh predicts that the song will be an instant hit with children. “Amitabh does not sound like a grown-up man imitating a child. Don’t ask me how he has managed to do it. I just sat there stunned.” |
We all, in our childhood, had made a list of careers that we want to pursue when we grow up. But once we enter college, there comes a change in our mindset. We suddenly don’t feel like growing up. We shudder to think of our future when we would only be working with very little time for leisure and friends/family (I am passing through this phrase currently!). Some may claim that they never had such a feeling and that they were ambitious right from the beginning. But the truth is, everyone had gone or will go through this anxiety and even fear at some point of their academic life. Wake Up Sid deals with such similar issues. Although the protagonist is projected as highly lazy, almost everyone will be able to identify with him. This and the wonderful execution by debutant Ayan Mukerji makes Wake Up Sid one of the finest films to come out this year!
The story of the movie: Sidharth Mehra aka Sid (Ranbir Kapoor) is a lazy and non-ambitious youth who has just attempted his final year college exams. His life revolves around his friends, Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania) and he loves hanging out with them. Sid’s mother (Supriya Pathak) loves him a lot but he doesn’t reciprocate. His dad (Anupam Kher) manages a big business and wants his son to take some responsibilities on his head. He tries but his efforts are futile. At this point, Sid comes across Aisha (Konkona Sen Sharma), an aspiring writer from Kolkata. Sid and Aisha are as different as chalk and cheese (Ayesha is even older than Sid) but still both of them become good friends. Sid even gives Aisha the much needed help in settling in Mumbai. Soon, Sid’s final year exam results come out and his world turns upside down.
Wake Up Sid is very different and that is evident at several points. The film is completely original and tries to be interesting as well as not to fall into any stereotype. For instance, our Hindi films have got a habit of projecting ‘aamir baap ka bigda beta’ as lazy, irresponsible, arrogant and hot-tempered. But, Sid in Wake Up Sid is shown only as lazy and careless. He is not arrogant; in fact, he’s well-mannered and very sweet and cute!
One gets hooked to the film from the first frame. Note the scene where Sid is in the exam hall, dazed and confused, and his imagination goes wild! Ayan Mukerji’s creativity is exposed fully in that very scene! The wonderful entry of Konkona Sen Sharma and her first interaction with Ranbir takes the film to dizzying heights. The best scene of the film-Konkona’s birthday, will surely bring a smile on everyone’s faces!
The intermission point was explosive. The 2nd half tends to get a little slow but frankly speaking, one doesn’t mind as one enjoys the goings-on thoroughly. You get so involved in Sid’s gradual transformation from a good for nothing guy to a responsible youth that you care a damn about the duration! Also, Ranbir-Konkona’s relationship is very cute and will be loved by everyone! Who says Ranbir-Konkona pairing is a mismatch?
Most importantly, one learns a lot of lessons from the film. The best teaching from the film-let one decide which path he/she wants to choose. Everyone has different capabilities and likes. Many just hate the 9 to 5 job. In such times, one should be allowed to flourish and grow as he/she likes.
The film gets dragging in the last 15 minutes but again, one doesn’t mind as it’s very well executed. One comes out of the theatre feeling refreshed and satisfied!
The film rests on the rock-solid performance of Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma. Ranbir was outstanding in my opinion in Bachna Ae Haseeno and in Wake Up Sid, he comes up with another amazing performance. He has put a lot of effort in the film and it is evident at several points in the film. Here’s an actor who deserves to be a superstar as soon as possible! He’s expected to give equally fabulous performances in the forthcoming Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and Rajneeti! Watch out!
As expected, Konkona Sen Sharma does a splendid job. She was absolutely natural and completely in character. Also, she looked stunning throughout the film. It’s really great to see such an effortless actress being showered with awards, accolades and acclaim! She completely deserves it, after all! Keep rocking Konkona!
Surpriya Pathak was funny at times but overall impresses a lot. Anupam Kher was consistent. Namit Das and Shikha Talsania were wonderful in their respective parts. Rahul Khanna, like everytime, was charming but why did he played two similar roles in two films? In Love Aaj Kal, Deepika worked under him and she got floored by him. In Wake Up Sid, a similar situation arises between him and Konkona. Actors like Rahul Khanna deserve to get better roles! Kashmera Shah didn’t have much to do. The girl who played Tanya also was wasted. Others were good.
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music was brilliant and their every song impresses. The title song and ‘Kya Karoon’ were rocking compositions. Amit Trivedi has composed the song ‘Iktara’ which is the best song of the lot. You’ll love the song more after watching the film! Trivedi’s background score was in sync with the light mood of the film.
Anil Mehta’s cinematography was superb. Notice how the scenes turn shaky during confronting scenes! Niranjan Iyengar’s dialogues were casual and something which we hear or speak in our day to day lives.
Amrita Mahal Nakai’s production designs was highly impressive. The sets were just outstanding. Konkona’s workplace was so cool and uber. Man, work would be so much fun if offices had such rocking interiors! Even Konkona’s house seemed so cute, even though it wasn’t huge. Great job by Amrita!
Special mention should be made of Karan Johar, who understood the importance of this film and decided to produce it. Really nice of him to give a chance to promising youngsters and guiding them! Great job!
Ayan Mukerji comes out as a winner! He wrote the story, screenplay and also directed the film and excelled in all three! The film is extremely simple and doesn’t turn out to be full of rona-dhona or melodramatic. Most importantly, Ayan keeps the mood of the film realistic. The characters in the film are believable and straight out of life and the situations they face seem totally real. In short, a brilliant job by Ayan, who is just 26 years old! Simply fantastic!
Some of the best scenes of the film:
1. Sid in exam hall
2. The song ‘Kya Karoon’, ‘Aaj Kal Zindagi’ and ‘Iktara’
3. Sid and Aisha meeting for the 1st time
4. Sid helping Aisha to decorate her house
5. Sid in his dad’s office
6. Sid with Aisha on her birthday (best scene of the film!)
7. The intermission point
8. Sid clicking pics of everything under the sun
9. Sid and her mom looking at his childhood pics
10. The last 20 minutes of the film
On the whole, Wake Up Sid is simply a well-made film in all respects. It is simple, sweet and extremely relatable with great direction, extra ordinary performances and melodious music. A must for all youngsters and for all those who crave for good cinema! Go for it!
My rating-**** out of 5!
This post first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Wake_Up_Sid-176496-1.html
If a play is successful, it doesn’t necessarily mean that its cinematic adaption too would work. Paying Guests just confirms this. Based on a successful play, the film would have clicked even if it had some minor loopholes. But alas, the film falls at several places. Besides, the weak direction spoil the things more.
The story of the movie: Bhavesh (Shreyas Talpade), Parag (Jaaved Jaffery) and Parikshit (Aashish Chowdhary) live as paying guests at the place of Kiska (Asrani) in Bangkok. Due to bad luck, one day, all three of them are thrown out of their respective jobs. At this point of time enters into the scene, Parikshit’s cousin Jayesh (Vatsal Seth), who arrives at Bangkok to work as an architect. Bad times are still not over for the three paying guests as they are thrown out by Kiska. They now desperately search for a new landlord, who would give them a room at cheaper rate. Finally, they get one such person-Ballu Singh (Jhonny Lever), who is coincidentally the former employer of Bhavesh. He is willing to rent his house only on one condition-the paying guest should be married! And so, Bhavesh and Parag take the guise of women and pretend to be Parikshit and Jayesh’s wives, Karishma and Kareena, in front of Ballu and his wife (Delnaaz Paul)! What follows is madness!
Problems with Paying Guests are many. The biggest culprit is of course the execution. The screenplay also is to blame. The idea at hand was wonderful-four friends trying to fool a landlord (This idea was wonderfully utilized in Dostana recently). However, it was not fully tapped.
To add more drama in the story, the writer had added two villains-Chunkey Pandey and Inder Kumar. But both of them don’t help to improve things much. And the climax-you have to see it to believe it! Akbar, Salim, Ravana, Thakur, Spider Man, Phoolan Devi, Shehanshah, Krrish and even Osama-all come under one roof (and on one stage) and perform! What’s more, Spider Man calls Ravana his best friend who in turn gets smitten by Anarkali! It can’t crazier than this! Although this spoof-filled climax does manage to make you laugh, it was one of the most stupid climaxes of all time!
So any plus point in the film? Fortunately, yes! Besides nice performances, the film has some funny entertaining moments here and there which manage to raise a few laughs. The scene where the four friends are making fun of Asrani without knowing that he’s standing right at the back works well. Another funny sequence-Delnaaz believing that Shreyas is pregnant! Many such scenes succeed in entertaining.
Performance-wise, Shreyas Talpade was certainly the best one. Comedy has always been his forte and he performs perfectly, as per his character demanded. He was also very impressive in his women-act. He certainly deserves to be nominated for Best Comic Role!
Jaaved Jaffery and Ashish Chowdhary, too give a good a performance. Ashish was particularly excellent in the scenes with Neha Dhupia. Vatsal Seth, like everytime, looks charming. Jhonny Lever was as usual funny. Delnaaz Paul fails to make the viewers laugh. Same for Chunkey Pandey who was irritating. I wish he can repeat his Apna Sapna Money Money magic. Inder Kumar was horrible. Paintal was bearable.
The film also has four heroines-Neha Dhupia, Celina Jaitly, Sayali Bhagat and Riya Sen, who add to the glamour quotient in the film. However, only Neha Dhupia succeeds in making a mark. In one scene, one could clearly see her grey hair!
Sajid-Wajid’s music was plain average. Songs were added unnecessarily in the film. 2 songs-‘Jack & Jill’ and the title song stand out. P Shelvakumar’s cinematography was good. Although the film is shot in Pataya, its scenic locales were not showed much in the film. Dialogues, especially the ones mouthed by the four actors and Jhonny were funny. But the lines of Delnaaz, Chunkey and Inder were plain horrible.
Paritosh Painter impressed one and all with his screenplay and dialogues in Dhamaal. He has also directed plays, many of which are super-hits. Unfortunately, Paritosh fails to deliver this time. Paritosh is a great play director, but couldn’t do justice as a film director. The story (also penned by him) was good and could have been made into a better film. Better luck next time, Paritosh!
The only good scenes in the film:
1. The first scene
2. Bhavesh getting a call from a 7 star hotel
3. The four friends making fun of Kiska (Asrani)
4. Chunkey trying to rape Shreyas
5. Delnaz assuming that Shreyas is pregnant
6. Scenes of Paintal
On the whole, Paying Guests is a disappointment. It makes you laugh, but only in very few places. It’s better to avoid it and instead watch it on VCD/DVD/Cable later!
My rating-** out of 5!
This review first appeared on MouthShut.com: http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Paying_Guests-169841-1.html
