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| Sonia Chopra | ||||||||||
| The self-explanatory title sums up the film’s premise succinctly. Gaurav (Akshaye Khanna looking marvellous, unlike Race where he had baby fat and bushy chest hair on display) is a businessman running a store in a mall and lives with his widowed father Rane (Paresh Rawal). After his wife’s death, Rane took over the reins of the house and now busies himself with lovingly cooking for his son. In a role reversal of sorts, Gaurav disapproves of Rane’s friend Mathur (Om Puri) who he calls “buri sangat” for chasing women, young and old, in the hope of marriage. In a scene meant to be endearing, but ends up a drag, Gaurav gives a stern dressing down to a morose Rane, who’s sitting with his head lowered like a naughty child caught. No wonder Gaurav calls him beta-baapu, as he even reminds him to fasten the seatbelt in the car. Out of nowhere, Gaurav is inundated with calls from a girl called Rose who claims she’s his old classmate and lover and even has had a child off him. The girl turns out to be Sakshi (Genelia D’Souza) who’s visiting India from America, and who wanted to see Gaurav squirm to settle an old score. Soon, they begin as friends and get closer. At the wedding of Sakshi’s best friend, Rane meets a lady Anuradha Joshi (Shobhana), a music teacher, and is dumbfounded. She turns out to be Sakshi’s guardian in India and his long-lost love whom he still pines for. But with Gaurav and Sakshi’s marriage on the cards, how does he go ahead with his own budding love? The film’s premise admittedly has scope for lots of laughs and some tuggy heart moments, but in the film you hardly see either. Going by the humour, the film fails miserably, given that this was to be a laugh riot. Here’s what you have: a stern over-the-top ACP Bhawani (Archana Puran Singh) coincidentally always spotting Rane and Mathur around girls in a college and arresting them for indecent behaviour with Gaurav bailing them out. Funnily, the reactions of the collegians on seeing older people on the campus (not for misbehaving, just by virtue of being old) are scarier than that of the police. Another attempt at humour is when Gaurav sends his assistant with an expletives-filled letter to his tormentor Rose (such an ungentlemanly thing to do) which reaches a housewife who immediately dials the police—and guess who turns up. Gaurav is again at the mercy of ACP Bhawani negotiating the release of his assistant. And so on. The only entertaining moments are a few of the many daddy-sonny interactions; Rane’s hilarious overnight transformation after meeting his ladylove—kurta-pajama ditched for shirts and trousers stolen from Gaurav’s wardrobe, dyed hair and surreptitious visits on a bike around the teacher’s home like a love-struck teen. Also somewhat absorbing is how Gaurav and Shikha try to trick the shy older lovebirds into reuniting. But, unfortunately, the question that Gaurav must finally settle—my love or my Bapu’s happiness—comes into play only during the ending reels of the film. That’s atrocious in a film that’s named after this delicious dilemma. There’s also an added sub-plot about Rane’s second son, a calm sort, who has a dominating wife. Interestingly, the wife—who hollers quite a bit and, as we are told, does not prepare nashta—is in contemporary clothes. She’s the only one with serious reservations about Rane’s plan of getting re-married. But a resounding slap from her husband and she’s the epitome of a bharatiya nari, dressed in crisp saris and ever-smiling. Perhaps it’s Priyadarshan who deserves the slap for his chauvinistic endorsement of hitting to solve marital disputes. The dialogue is a major let-down. There are many complaints with the dialogue writing—for one, it’s phrase laden which works once in a while, not throughout the film. Here are some examples—‘cheenti ke chachere bhai’, ‘bhains ki bachee’, etc. This kind of spoken conversation just doesn’t cut ice—after all, no one speaks like that in real life. The dialogue is also crude and sexist throughout—women are often compared to or referred to as machli, phataka, maal and what not. Then there are gems like ‘jab badhiya mil rahi hai, to budhiya kyon?’ The cast is of utmost importance here—Akshaye Khanna carries the film gamely on his shoulders and gives a first rate performance. Genelia is sprightly but has a standard two-three expressions bank in this film. Hope to see her actually perform in her forthcoming Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Paresh Rawal and Om Puri as buddies make an adorable team, but their talents are monumentally wasted. Their comic prowess is just not exploited, neither solo nor together, and that’s an unforgivable faux pas. Archana Puran Singh as the ACP is funny enough. Shobhana as Anuradha is restrained and effective. Naseeruddin Shah makes an ok cameo. If you care to know of the technical aspect—cinematography (though strangely static) and art direction is good. The sound designing is clever, but in most scenes, the ambient sound is completely cut off. Case in point is a party scene where people are dancing to a song. As soon as the emotional bend starts, the music is completely cut off and a more sentimental background track takes its place, even as people oddly continue dancing in the background to music we can’t hear. Editing is lax—the story doesn’t have enough meat to sustain itself for a long film and should have clocked in at something like two hours, 30 minutes. Music is disappointing for a Priyadarshan film that usually has at least one chartbuster. Coming from Priyadarshan, there are definitely reasonable expectations, especially if the film is touted as a comedy. This three-hour saga runs much like a stage-play with no editing control and a non-mobile camera; the film’s writing is uninspired and the talented actors are made to repeat themselves. Avoid. Rating: 1 star | ||||||||||
Mere Baap Pehle Aap
No one's clapping for De Taali
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| If you've watched the promos of De Taali, you'd expect a film with tremendous youth power. You'd expect gags, gimmicks and lots of fun. But the film is anything but this. On the contrary, it's a slow-paced love story, which depicts one of the actors as a modern-day Devdas who hits the bottle when his girlfriend walks out on him. There's a kahani mein twist as well, the kidnapping episode, but you don't feel giving a taali to that too. There is the other disappointing factor. Two songs from the film have been heavily promoted, the title track and Maari Teetri which might compel you to buy the ticket. The title track comes when the movie concludes (during the end credits), while the other song is just not there. Most importantly, De Taali gets it wrong on the script level. Loosely inspired by popular TV drama Dawson's Creek, the material lacks the power to keep you hooked. Sure, De Taali has a few engaging and enjoyable moments, but it's akin to an oasis in a desert. In one word, disappointing! Paglu (Riteish Deshmukh), Amu (Ayesha Takia] and Abhi (Aftab Shivdasaani) are buddies. Amu is the girl amongst the two guys, though Paglu and Abhi don't treat her like one. Paglu is the one who makes her realize about her feelings for Abhi. Life, however, takes a serious turn when Abhi falls in love with Kartika aka Anjali (Rimi Sen). De Taali starts off quite well and the bonding between the three friends is well established in the initial parts. Everything's fine till Rimi Sen is kidnapped at the interval point. But things go downhill in the second hour. The entire kidnap drama, the Saurabh Shukla track, the dejected lovers (Mukul Dev, Pawan Malhotra, Sanjay Narvekar) reaching the wedding venue and the family surfacing from oblivion, everything looks ludicrous. By the time you reach the finale, the viewer is already bored and has lost all interest in the enterprise. E Niwas doesn't get in right this time. He knows the job well, but if you've noticed his last few outings as well as De Taali, you'd agree that he needs to concentrate on the script than making the frames look alluring. Vishal-Shekhar's music is a mixed bag. Barring the above-mentioned two numbers, the rest of the songs lack fizz. Riteish is lovable and his range is finally being tapped by film-makers. Aftab lends his part to the required class. Ayesha Takia is getting better with every film and Rimi Sen spices up the otherwise bland scenario with her performance as a gold digger. Anupam Kher is wasted. Ditto for Pawan Malhotra and Mukul Dev. On the whole, De Taali is a poor show. It's an apt case of the promos looking great and not the film. | ||||||||||||
Haal-e-Dil is a pain
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| This common question is addressed to the producer (Kumar Mangat), director (Anil Devgan) and lead actors (Amita Pathak, Nakuul Mehta, Adhyayan Suman) of Haal-e-Dil; What actually did you see in the script of this film? And the next question is for writer, Dhiraj Ratan, how could you pen this sorry script? If there was a Razzie (Raspberry awards for the worst Hollywood movies) in Bollywood, the writer would've walked away with the statuette, stealing the march from contenders such as Tashan, Jimmy and Hastey Hastey. Haal-e-Dil suits the adage so well - body beautiful minus soul. Filmed in some stunning locales, the film registers a strong visual impact. Add to it the popular musical score. Also, the two lead men show sparks and are sure to be noticed, irrespective of how badly this film fares at the ticket window. Sadly, the shoddy writing camouflages the positives completely. You expect to be served a sumptuous, seven-course meal, but the writer serves you a few crumbs. All said, Haal-e-Dil is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. This one, I am sure, would easily rank prominently in the 'Letdowns of 2008' when one compiles the facts as the sun sets on the year. Haal-e-Dil tells the story of Sanjana (Amita Pathka), for whom love is chaste and sacred. It's the story of Shekhar (Nakuul Mehta), who keeps tripping for every second girl and loves to be in the perennial state of love, not realizing that he is going to meet a girl who'll change his existence. It's also the story of Rohit (Adhyayan Suman), who would fall so deep in love that resurfacing would be impossible. Sanjana is at the crossroads of life where she has to choose between her perfect love and a perfect stranger. Strangely, two of the three Hindi releases this week (Haal-e-Dil and Khushboo) bear an uncanny resemblance to the immensely likable Jab We Met. In this case, the story fails to grab your attention from the very start. In fact, confusion prevails all through this misadventure. The love story is completely lifeless and the train journey is anything but enjoyable. The adventure in the jungles (where the couple bumps into a Veerappan look-alike) is equally flat. The seven-day fast undertaken by one of the leads in the concluding reels is equally plain. Are we living in the 21st century? Why is the screen writing so regressive in Hindi movies? Prior to that, the viewer learns that one of the leads has passed away and you actually fall off your seat. Where did this twist come from? Director Anil Devgan is off the mark this time. Frankly, his Raju Chacha and Blackmailappear as classics when compared to this one. Music is the only saving grace. Every track has been filmed on a panoramic locale and acts only as eye candy. Nakuul Mehta may subconsciously be inspired by SRK, but you don't mind it. In all fairness, he's very confident, a bundle of energy and knows his job well. His expressions are perfect at all times. Adhyayan Suman definitely deserved a better launch. What's he doing in this film? He has the talent, which, unfortunately, hasn't been exploited at all in this misadventure. Amita Pathak is a fine actress, but there's a problem. She looks too plump and her makeup makes her look mature. Very frankly, she looks much better in real life than on screen. On the whole, Haal-e-Dil looks set to sink at the box-office! | ||||||||||||
Khushboo does stink a little
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| Sonia Chopra | ||||||||||||
| Pahlaj Niahalni (producer of films like Shola Aur Shabnam, Andaz, Aankhen) is back after a hiatus of five years. His last few films were disasters like Uljhan and Talaash. This one is only marginally better. The mind boggles at the reason for the downward spiral of this prolific producer of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Rajesh Ram Singh directs Khushboo that is intended, I think, to be a bittersweet story about love. Through decades, our makers have tried and tried to tell the same ol’ tale, adding a twist here and there, to refresh and enliven it; but the ploy works only sometimes. Usually when there’s a star at helm. With a new star cast and an old story, the chances of the film likening itself to the audience are already dim. Yes, in today’s dating and marriage scenario where religion, cast and creed don’t matter much, and our metros are full of smug-marrieds belonging to different backgrounds, the premise of the story is, at once, topical. So we meet one super-ambitious type Raghu Iyer (Rishi Rehan) who’s all set to make his dream-life in America. But he’s to make a six-month detour stop in Chandigarh. And no prizes for guessing what happens there. He meets Punjabi kudi Pinky (Avantikka, another fan of the letter K) a photography enthusiast, if you please, who’s bubblier than soda and jumpier than jellybeans. She keeps appearing, disappearing and re-appearing wasting precious time and film reel. Ultimately the two bump into each other and have a one-night-stand (quite adventurous, so far). Soon, we learn that she’s pregnant and wants to keep the baby. Now Raghu must accompany her to her village and meet her big, boisterous Punjabi family (a seemingly recent Bollywood cliché). The inevitable happens—a bond is formed between Raghu and the family and he is now in a dilemma. The couple eventually marries and further comedy ensues when Raghu’s south Indian parents meet the Punjabi bride. Yawning reading the story already? Understandable as you’ve seen this plot spread thin in several films like Jab We Met, DDLJ, Namastey London and hey, you can even note snatches from A Walk in the Clouds (1995). Technically, the film is alright. Of the cast, Avantikka stands out as the one with most zing and pizzazz. With a more steady-handed director she could deliver a decent performance. Dialogue is tryingly clichéd; screenplay plays it linear and safe. Adnan Sami’s music is above average (but faces serious competition from some superb film music off-late). Production value looks a bit outdated compared to the blindingly stunning visual quotient in our current films. This week’s releases have been a mixed bag and if one must compare, Khushboo is a far better watch than Haal-e-Dil (which is not saying much), but not half as funny and fresh as De Taali. Rating: One-and-a-half stars | ||||||||||||
