Badmaash Company Movie Review: Beware of this “Barbaad Company"

There are some movies which are good and some which are bad and some which fall somewhere in between. But I’m going to be now analyzing a movie which falls under a completely new category- movies which are plain boring. I’ll come to that in due course of time. But as of now lets talk about YRF one of the most well known production & distribution houses in the country. A few years ago Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra decided to follow the Hollywood style of “studio” functioning in the full sense by making multiple movies every year with a lot of directors signed up for multi film contracts. They realized that it was the best way to go in terms of scaling up since the father & son team couldn’t direct too many films by themselves.

So then we saw a slew of films across genres from romance ( Fanaa, Hum Tum, Saathiya, Bachna Ae Haseeno etc ), action ( Dhoom series ), sports ( Chak De India ), social ( Aaja Nachle, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag ), animation ( Roadside Romeo ), terrorism (New York ), slice of life ( Rocket Singh : Salesman of the Year ) etc. All these films have been directed by outside directors like Kunal Kohli, Siddharth Anand,Shimit Amin, Kabeer Khan, Sanjay Gadhvi etc. While some of the films worked, some didn’t and the films kept coming to us in regular intervals.

Whenever a YRF film flopped the detractors would say that the glory days of YRF are coming to an end and when a film became a hit the detractors would again say it was probably a fluke or something else. Of course loyalists continued to remain stead fast in their faith towards the films coming out from YRF. I for one have been following all their films for the past so many years and watch them all- sometimes feeling satisfied & sometimes not so satisfied. So all this was at the back of my mind when I went on to watch their recent film Badmaash Company, the directorial debut of actor Parmeet Sethi and having a young team of actors.

Shahid Kapur who has been going through a lean patch after Kaminey (Dil Bole Hadippa, Chance Pe Dance & Paathshaala being flops) and Anushka Sharma (finally seen again after RNBDJ) play the leads here. The story is all about how Karan (Shahid) &Bulbul ( Anushka ) along with their friends –Chandu ( Vir Das ) and Zing ( Meiyang Chang) go through a roller coaster ride of doing wrong things the right way i.e their way.
Set in the 1990’s when consumerism in India was still at its infant stage and with import-export policies being a lot different then, these 4 friends decide to start an importing business and make use of loopholes in the system as they develop their own ways of beating the system.

A rare paisa vasool moment

This in a nutshell friends is what the film is all about and yes like most other Hindi films these days, the action shifts from India to overseas ( the U.S here ) in the 2nd half giving way for more of the same stuff. Frankly speaking the 1st half gets to a close within an hour’s span and it leaves you wondering what you had been seeing till then. Ridiculous mechanisms of con jobs are shown again & again with Shahid trying to make us understand the process flow completely.

So at the half way stage as the action shifts to the U.S you are hoping that there would be something more interesting happening and that one would finally witness some genuine moments. Alas! Nothing such happens and you get to see the same silly con jobs handled the same way and depicted in the same way- its like Parmeet felt-“let’s maintain the consistency friends” . The sequences especially in the 2nd half leave you completely cold and you are left wondering what’s happening. Check out the “Bleeding Madras” sequence especially the portion with Michael Jackson ( yes I’m serious ) and you’ll know where I’m coming from.

Talking about the acting and the characters – Shahid Kapur looks so disinterested that you are left wondering what happened to the Shahid of films like Jab We Met & Kaminey.The only thing for Anushka is that she gets to sport some yuppy outfits when compared to her previous film- otherwise she has relatively nothing else to do. Vir Das & Meiyang Chang are decent, but no great shakes. But it’s a matter of great pity that veteran artistes like Pawan Malhotra, Anupam Kher and Kiran Juneja also have nothing much to do. In the beginning when you see Anupam Kher and Kiran Juneja playing Shahid Kapur’s parents, you get a vision of Khosla Ka Ghosla in your mind, but all that thought goes crashing very soon.

Music by Pritam is very ordinary and you’d hardly remember any songs after you complete the film. This is very surprising since most YRF films are known to have a good soundtrack. If the 1st half of the movie left you feeling what happened in the 1 hr of duration, the 2nd half comes across as very slow, lengthy and irritating overall. So let me go back to the different category of films that I started mentioning initially- movies which are plain boring. Badmaash Company is a prime example of such movies. I’d not really like to slot it in any other way.

At the time of writing this I realize that the movie is doing decently at the box office and may end up being commercially good for YRF. That makes me all the more worried- will a “barbaad company” like this inspire more such “barbaad” films from YRF? I hope not so that I’ll again go and watch their next film like I usually do.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/badmaash-company-movie-review-beware-of-this-%E2%80%9Cbarbaad-company%E2%80%9D/

Bumm Bumm Bole Movie Review: Priyan’s mishmash remake of a classic

As Taare Zameen Par grew in popularity, Priyadarshan was one of the first to announce a movie with the child star- Darsheel Safary. And the subject was something that drew mixed reactions- a remake of Majid Majidi’s renowned Iranian film “Children of Heaven”. Though Priyan has always been known as a remake factory, there were some changes being noticed of late. First of all Priyan made a truly offbeat Tamil movie- “Kanchivaram” which has received wide acclaim. Later Priyan went on record to say that he wanted to make more such serious films and announced projects on subjects like land mafia, AIDS etc. All this put together made me feel that Bumm Bumm Bole ( BBB from hereon ) could be a cakewalk for Priyan- after all he just had to replicate the film in its entirety.

As the release of the film drew near & as more and more people started sniggering while talking about the film, I wondered what the fuss was all about. I thought why a veteran who’s made 75 + films should falter by making a simple children’s film. As the film starts with a clear cut credit to Majid Majidi & his film, you start feeling even better. I guess that’s where I probably went all wrong. I’m sure most of the people reading this post on PFC would have seen Children of Heaven, but still let me get on with the plot for the convenience of the others.

BBB is a story focusing on a lower middle class family living in hills of Assam (more on that later). Atul Kulkarni and Rituparna Sengupta play the parents of Darsheel & Ziyah. Both the parents lose their jobs at the same time and its hard days at home. One day Darsheel loses the sandals of his sister which he had taken to get it mended by the cobbler. Knowing that his father has no money to buy a new pair of sandals or shoes for his sister, Darsheel asks his sister to wear his shoes while going to school since they have different school timings.

Thus begins the tale of the siblings sharing a weather beaten pair of shoes and all the trouble and heart burn that the children face in between. Against this backdrop we also get to see the kind of struggle that their parents go through. The story nears conclusion when Darsheel takes part in an inter school marathon with the sole objective of winning the 3rd prize- a lovely pair of sneakers. But as fate will have it otherwise he ends up winning the race. But by the time the movie ends with some in your face in-film branding moment (more on that later) you will be thoroughly irritated with the film.

Priyan gets it completely wrong this time & you realize this from the very first scene in the movie- a bomb blast in broad daylight. Right then you know that there is going to be something terribly wrong in this remake. So you have the terrorism angle floating in the background of the movie which was totally unwarranted and the kind of geographical representation shown in the movie will make you shake your head with wonder. Presumably based in Assam, the film has been shot in Ooty, has outfits/costumes of Kashmir and yeah the people talk in regular Hindi all throughout. Wow! isn’t that too strange a concoction?

Well that’s not the end of the tale my friends. As the movie gets over and the audience disperses you hear most people whispering how the movie appears more as a promo for a prominent footwear brand. As someone who’s sold/marketed consumer goods for quite some and who has an interest in movie marketing I can tell you that the in film brand placement as seen in BBB is something that any filmmaker should vehemently oppose. For the sake of commerce if the entire brand placement appears forced and even gross at times, it doesn’t add value but actually harms the film.

In Billu Priyan went overboard with the projection of SRK the superstar with posters all over the town ( in the film )& the kind of songs used with him. Here he goes one step further by making a brand look larger than the film itself. Children of Heaven is a great emotional roller coaster ride with wonderful moments between the siblings and some reference to the father- son relationship depicted excellently. As the film draws to a close with the marathon race, your heart is racing along with the characters and at the end you are left too stunned to react.

Here you feel nothing- virtually nothing for anybody. To be honest Darsheel and Ziyah are efficient while Atul is decent as well (but tends to go a bit overboard with the dialogues) but you never get to connect with them. For those who’ve seen the original film, BBB is a laborious watch while it may just about be ok for probably for those who haven’t seen the original version. A humble request to Priyan and all those who plan to remake such classic films- please leave them alone especially if you are hell bent on screwing up with the original in question.

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/bumm-bumm-bole-movie-review-priyan%E2%80%99s-mishmash-remake-of-a-classic/

Singam Movie Review: This Lion Roars For Now

After the disaster called Seval, Director Hari is back with 2 aces (if we can call it that ) in his latest film-Singam. First of all he turns back to his favourite lead man-Surya with whom he has delivered two hits earlier (Aaru & Vel ). Also this time Hari returns to a format he’s handled before and which worked before- the story of an angry cop taking on a mob led by a tough villain. Yes my friends I’m referring to Saamy which starred Vikram andTrisha and which gave a major boost to the careers of both Hari and Vikram.

While Saamy was based in Tirunelveli, Singam is based in Nallur near Tuticorin. Surya plays the local S.I- Duraisingam who is true to his name, a firebrand of a cop. Prakash Raj plays Mayilvaganam, an extortion & land settlement handler who runs his activity in Chennai. A freak incident involving an old murder case brings Mayilvaganam to Nallur and thats where the first confrontation between the two takes place.

While all this is happening our cop also finds the time in his own characteristic way to lose his heart to the heroine,Anushka. She is the daughter of an industrialist (Nassar) who is in the village on vacation. After the altercation between Duraisingam and Mayilvaganam in Nallur, Durai gets promoted as Inspector and also transferred to Chennai. But it’s after he lands in Chennai that he gets to know that his transfer to Chennai was orchestrated by Mayilvaganam who now issues a challenge to Durai, saying the situation is now different as it’s his domain now.

Thus begins the game of brains & brawn (more of brawn of course) between Duraisingam and Mayilvaganam and so the movie chugs along. No prizes for getting what happens in the end though . The movie has all the elements associated with a “mass movie” – action in plenty, punch dialogues, songs shot abroad, comedy track and what not. The movie also happens to be the first major venture of Reliance Big Pictures in Tamil Cinema and I’m sure that this venture will give them a lot of confidence.

But having said all this I must add on a few more things I felt after watching Singam. For those who’ve watched Saamy the movie brings in a major feeling of deja-vu as a lot of elements are similar. In fact I’d rate Saamy as a better entertainer primarily because of two reasons- the comedy track by Vivek in Saamy is far better than his own track in Singam and also the music of Saamy was very popular, the tunes by Harris Jayaraj can still be heard. Compare this with Devi Sri Prasad’s work in Singam and the difference is very glaring. The music of Singam is very much of the ordinary kind, considering what DSP is capable of.

This poster illustrates what the movie actually is like

At times the dialogues and action scenes certainly go overboard especially with the constant reference to lion/singam motif being shown time and again when Surya is in the angry mode. Quite a few sequences also resemble those seen in other recent films and its quite funny how Singam goes up rising in his career. For someone who gets promoted from S.I to Inspector in 3 years, it’s a shocker to see him being promoted as ACP in about 3 months ( or so ) – must be the fastest case of promotion in Tamilnadu Police I guess  . But then of course this being a mass movie, such questions do not really make sense.


In spite of all this and more if the film works, then a major share of the credit goes to Surya who carries off the loud cop role in his own characteristic way. Surya has already played a cop successfully earlier in Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Kakka Kakka, but that was a more subtle and a realistic portrayal of a cop. Here he makes a switch over to a larger than life cop and carries it off fairly well. In fact you even wonder if anyone else could have done a better job than Surya over here. Anushka’s character has reasonable scope to perform in the movie and that’s a surprise considering it’s a hard core action film.

Prakash Raj plays the bad guy pretty well in his own characteristic style. The supporting actors like Radha Ravi, Nassar, Manorama, Bose Venkat, Vijayakumar etc play their roles as expected. While watching the movie one can easily come to terms with the fact that Surya this time has safely trespassed into Vijay’s territory and emerged unscathed. But I hope that with his forthcoming projects like Rakta Charitra and Ezham Arivu (with Murugadoss) he will steer clear of this formula for some time at least.

Considering that the movie is turning out to be a good proposition for Sun Pictures and Reliance Big Pictures, it looks like Hari has done his job fairly well. His task was to deliver a summer blockbuster and that mission has been achieved. But as viewers what we can only hope is that we do not get Saamy Redux (aka part 3) again sometime soon. But then when success speaks, it’s tough to predict the flow of tide. Till then I guess this lion will roar for now and bring in the crowd .

Originally published in PFC- http://passionforcinema.com/singam-movie-review-this-lion-roars-for-now/

Vedam Movie Review : Telugu Cinema has a new benchmark

The year 2008 IMO was one of the best for Telugu Cinema. Along with the usual potboilers like King, Kantri, Bujjigadu,Souryametc it also had some movies which were commercial and yet “reasonably different” in the kind of subject and treatment used. Some of these movies included Kotha Bangaru Lokam, Ashta Chemma, Nacchavule, Avakai Biriyani and Gamyam of course. Gamyam was a true road movie and was completely fresh in its way of reaching out to the Telugu audience. Directed by a debutant, Krish ( Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi ) this was a movie that gave all the actors scope and in particular made “Gaali Seenu”, the character played by Allari Naresh extremely popular. The movie went on to be remade in Tamil, Kannada and Bengali (awaiting release) as well.

Somehow after a good 2008, the next 1 & ½ years or so haven’t been all that good for Telugu Cinema. Last year saw the super success of Arundhati and Magadheera but after that there have hardly been any path breaking films. So when Krish announced his next film Vedam & disclosed that it will be a multistarrer with 5 different stories running in parallel, naturally the expectation levels began to soar. What made matters worse was that in 2010 while some movies have indeed made money, none of them again have been trendsetting films. So obviously as June 4th , the day of release for Vedam approached there were a lot of questions on people’s minds- the most important being will Krish be able to live up to the hype and will he be able to demonstrate that Gamyam was no flash in the pan?

So that’s why I was all the more excited while watching Vedam on the very first day of release. So is it a brilliant film, does Krish live up to the expectations and does the movie herald good news for Telugu Cinema? Well I’ll come to all that shortly but before that let me dispense away with the basics first. Vedam is what I’ll call a true Hyperlink film ( on the lines of Crash, Amores Perros etc ) and yes indeed its a multistarrer with 5 different stories/tracks running in parallel.

Track 1 : This one is all about Chakravarthy (Manoj Manchu), an aspiring rock star. His mother wants him to join the army and continue the family tradition. Instead Chakravarthy wants to follow his heart to become a rock star. He and his rock band members including Lekha Washington miss their flight from Bangalore to Hyderabad where they are supposed to perform at a live concert. Hence they decide to travel by road.

Track 2 : Ramulu (Nagayya) is a weaver in a small town. His grandson is a bright student. Ramulu owes money to a money lender and the money lender one day takes away Ramulu’s grandson and makes him a daily labour. Ramulu hence urgently needs money to get the kid back and he somehow finds a way of obtaining the money and visits Hyderabad along with his daughter-in-law ( Saranya ) for the same purpose.

Track 3 : Saroja ( Anushka ) is a prostitute in Amalapuram and very much popular. As she has to pass on major part of her earnings to the brothel owner, she decides to run away to Hyderabad and start her own brothel there. Giving her company on the run is her eunuch companion.

Track 4 : Raheemuddin Qureishi ( Manoj Bajpai ) is tired of being discriminated for being a Muslim and decides to leave Hyderabad and go on to make a career for himself in Sharjah. Accordingly he even gets his visa and is all set to fly out when his past catches up with him in an unfortunate development.

Track 5 : Cable Raju ( Allu Arjun ) is a cable operator in the slums of Jubilee Hills/Film Nagar ( Hyderabad ). Being a smooth talker he manages to get a rich girlfriend ( Deeksha Seth ) who is convinced by his charms that he is a rich guy too. As New Year’s Eve approaches she requests Raju to take her for a New Year eve party, where the entry tickets for a couple cost Rs.40, 000. Now Raju has to arrange money for the same.

While all 5 stories are of different kinds and temperament, Krish does a fairly good job of trying to run them in parallel and link them in his own way. At times one comes across a lot of cinematic moments which could have been avoided if possible and this is especially evident in the climax. But for all such moments there are so many well made moments as well which makes you completely look rooted to the screen while watching them.

My personal favourite track in the movie is the Allu Arjun one. While the premise is simple, it has been done in a very impressive manner. I would give full marks to Krish and Allu Arjun for elevating this track to the desired level. Frankly I did not expect this track to emerge so good. While on Allu Arjun I must admit that I have always felt that behind the star in him there exists a good actor who can be brought out to perform given an author backed role. So Krish has gone on to do exactly the same with Allu Arjun in Vedam.Check out the scene in the hotel on New Year’s Eve as Allu Arjun walks off to the parking lot and you may agree with me.

Nagayya as Ramulu is fabulous and he carries off the emotional scenes wonderfully. It’s tough to say that this is his first film. This is again a track that impressed me. The clandestine “organ donation” racket has been naturally depicted. The way Krish links this track with Cable Raju’s track is impressive. Manoj Manchu also comes up with a natural performance and is at ease playing the rockstar. Anushka’s role was looked forward to, thanks to the character she portrays and it’s heartening to note that she has not let her fans down. She comes across as genuine and lives up to the requirement.

Manoj Bajpai is a veteran and certainly doesn’t disappoint. Apart from the main characters Krish has brought out some good performances from the supporting cast as well and in particular those who stand out are Satyam Rajeshas Cable Raju’s friend, Ravi Prakash as the cop who hates Muslims and the eunuch friend of Anushka. A lot of other actors like Brahmanandam, Posani Murali Krishna, Raghu Babu, Giri etc put in brief appearances. Deeksha Seth and Lekha Washington manage to get noticed as well.

The writing by Krish is also to be singled out as he has beautifully interwoven these tracks together. Also ensuring that all the actors get their due is again not an easy task and hats off to Krish for ensuring the same. M.M Keeravani’s music is very much in line with the film’s requirement and the veteran does what is expected. Art Director Rajiv Nairdeserves a special mention for his work and the cinematography by Gnanasekhar V.N is effective as well. The producers- Devineni Prasad and Shobu Yarlagadda deserve to be appreciated for backing an interesting film and ensuring Krish gets to do the movie the way he wanted.

All said and done while this may not be the defining moment in Telugu Cinema, it’s certainly a film that’s a good attempt and Krish does succeed in proving that he’s no one film wonder. The drought in Telugu Cinema hopefully should end with Vedam and now filmmakers have a new benchmark to compare their films with.

Originally published in PFC-http://passionforcinema.com/vedam-movie-review-telugu-cinema-has-a-new-benchmark/

Shukno Lanka Movie Review : These ‘dry red chillies’ pack a punch

Mithun Chakraborty aka Mithunda has been always regarded more as a star and that feeling is mainly since the majority of his films are being made to the specific target audience looking out for the star in him. But once in a while he does feature in films which remind us that there is a very fine actor hidden somewhere in this person whom we know is more easily seen asGunmaster G9, Disco Dancer or Phatakeshto (reference to a sample of his famous avatars). Films like Tahader Katha, Titli, Phir Kabhi, Guru etc are some examples of such films. So when I heard of writer-directorGaurav Pandey’s maiden Bengali film (as director )-Shukno Lanka (dry red chillies ) I was perfectly intrigued and looked forward to the release of the film.

Shukno Lanka talks about the life of a veteran junior artiste, Chinu Nandy ( played wonderfully by Mithunda- more on that later ) as we see the twists & turns in his life, both at work and at home. The movie also is about Joy Sundar Sen (Sabyasachi Chakraborty) an internationally acclaimed Bengali filmmaker who wins the Best Director Award at Berlinale. While in Berlin Joy meets Isabella (Emma Brown), an Australian actress and they start getting close. While on a walk together Joy comes across a book on short stories of Ritwik Ghatak and he is especially enthralled by a particular short story- ‘Parash Pathar’ and decides to make a feature film on it.

Joy’s wife Jhilik ( Debashree Roy ) is dismayed to see that her husband has no time for her and gets all the more concerned as she sees Joy getting close to Isabella. On the other hand Chinu leads a simple life at home which revolves around his wife Bela(Angana Bose). Things turn an interesting turn when Joy casts Chinu as the central character in his new film. One then gets to see these characters taking things forward as the story progresses just like the film being made by Joy. Chinu had almost resigned himself to his fate and was content with his life when this new development turns his life topsy-turvy.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

Right at the very beginning we see Chinu excitedly taking his wife for a late night ride on a horse cart and the story unfolds as the ride continues, through the roads of Kolkata’s Esplanade. Gaurav Pandey intricately weaves the narration as we are able to see so many facets of the story. On one hand there is the Bengali film industry operating out of the studios of Tollygunge and we are witness to some of the true to spirit happenings during the shooting of a Bengali film- like an ageing superstar, a South Indian choreographer teaching the mandatory jhatkas to the dancers, the same old sets etc.

On the other hand we see the contrast in the lives of Chinu the junior artiste, a typical character who is earning his daily salary of Rs.250 and alongside there is the sophisticated Joy who is caught up between the laments of his wife and the attraction he has for Isabella.The art directorIndranil Ghosh has impressively recreated the film sets and other locations like the room in Hotel Kenilworth, the ‘pada’ and the flat where Chinu stays, the posh residence of Joy etc and they certainly add a distinct colour to the movie.

Debajyoti Mishra’s music is very pleasant to the ears and certainly suits the film. There are a lot of wonderful moments in the film. My favorites include the ones where Mithunda as Chinu Nandy is interacting with the superstar hero and doing a test shot. Another impressive scene is the one where a big star complains to Chinu that he’s unfairly being denied awards every year and Chinu humbly suggests that the hero should maybe actually ‘buy’ an award and feel better. But it’s the scenes towards the end that really touch your heart completely. Chinu’s outburst in front of Joy on the sets during the last scene’s shooting and the way the horse cart ride ends are scenes that show of Gaurav Pandey’s talent, both as a writer and as a director.Mahesh Aney‘s visuals are wonderful especially those shot in the night during the horse cart ride.

Sabyasachi is wonderful as ever in his portrayal of Joy and both Debashree and Emma do a decent job. Angana Bose springs a big surprise as Bela and there is magical chemistry between her and Mithunda in the movie especially during the horse cart ride portions. Look out for the scene where Bela demands to have tea during the ride,it’s simply superb. And now let me come to the legend himself, Mithunda. Watching Chiru Nandy, it’s difficult to even think that anyone else can portray this character so well. Even when he becomes the main lead he continues to remain simple and respectful while talking to people. His expressions and body language are picture perfect. The scene where Mithunda breaks into an impromptu jig in a nightclub makes you smile.His character reminds you of the significance of the title ( dry red chillies ) as he remains similar to the chillies- ever present and adding to the flavour, but one who may not be noticed.One yearns to see more such performances from Mithunda in his forthcoming films.

All said and done the movie does have a few minor grey areas too. I felt that the last song which has Debashree dancing looked totally out of place. Even the scene where Debashree barges into the film’s set looked highly unnatural. But these are minor issues and they do not take away the fact that on an overall basis the movie works & works wonderfully at that. Its nice to see people like Gaurav Pandey receiving encouragement from the producers-Mumbai Mantra Media Ltd, who also ensured a very good release for the film. For those who like Bengali Cinema, quality cinema and for those who like Mithunda, this is a film not to be missed.

Originally published in PFC-http://passionforcinema.com/shukno-lanka-movie-review-%E2%80%93-these-%E2%80%98dry-red-chilles%E2%80%99-pack-a-punch/