I saw the trailer of Daddy Cool during the intermission when I went to watch Anjaneyulu at Sapna 35mm. In this day and age of super-hype for even the silliest of films, you can imagine how surprised I was to see the trailer of what looked like a potent crazy comedy film. The film has no actor worth the mention who can pull audience to the theaters except for maybe Rajpal Yadav and the crazy trailer. I went because it is from is from Indra Kumar (the makers of Masti and Dhamaal). The film’s tagline is come…join the fun-eral. I never thought of the word that way, but 20 minutues in to the film you wish the film is burried in the same funeral . The film totally dissapoints.
It will be criminal on my part to waste time and energy to write the story of this film. I just fail to understand why and how this film was made. There is absolutely no story, no plot, no comedy, and there were hardly any laughs in the theater. The film begins with a coffin arriving at a big mansion and Sunil Shetty identifies that the dead body is not his father—this scene is plain and this was shown in the trailers as one of the highlights. One by one family members arrive for the funeral and as expected each of them is crazy in their own way. The wife of one wants to buy a new apartment and leave the house as she can’t stay with mother-in-law, younger brother is a writer (15 hit novels apparently), one of the cousins is hitting on the other, Kim Sharma is always doubting her husband Javeed Jaffery, one model mistakes Javeed as Carlos and thinks he is the one who wants to sleep with her, Chunky Pandey mixes drugs in a tablet called Relax-O, which is consumed by mistake by Aftaab who behaves like a crazy nut through out. Meanwhile, Rajpal Yadav blackmails the two sons of the dead father by showing photos that prove their father and he were lovers! Yes, there is also Prem Chopra on a wheel chair and he always abusing. It includes one scene where Javeed Jaffery has to carry him and put him on a toilet seat, but his hand gets stuck and is soiled with shit.
This film could have been one really whacky crazy comedy with loads of adult comedy as well, but alas our film makers are proving to be totally incompetant. The absense of a story and plot also can be excused if the film has hilarious and laugh-out-loud sequences. The atmosphere at Ramakrishna Gliterrati 35mm was without any fizz. Nobody was even laughing. The way the film begins itself is on a dead-pan note and 15 minutes in to the film you know it is a dead film. Not only is there no comedy even the actors involved belong to the highest class of incompetance. The film is 12 reels, but I walked away after around 8 or 9 reels. I know, Kaminey is no fun and you might be tempted to go for Daddy Cool as it looks like one of those crazy comedies….but no…Daddy Cool has no comedy. I wish we can bury this film in Bollywood’s graveyard so that no DVDs or CDs are made for this film and it leaves Bollywood without any trace.
hmm…come to think of it…this Bollywood Graveyard is a fine concept. Several movies can qualify to get burried here so that there are no traces of it for posterity.
Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Two Thumbs Way….Down! I really thought this one would be a total mass comedy with loads of crazy comedy, but there is none.
A long time back, I mean a really long time back and I don’t even know how long back I saw a trailer of Mallana on YouTube. I remember remarking to my colleauge how disgusting, wierd, and irritating the promo was. Interestingly, even the promo was ridiculously long. Mallanna has all the elements in it to make it a blockbuster disaster: (i) it took way long to make it to theaters (ii) absolutely irritating songs (iii) and the film has been released in over 50 theaters in Hyderabad alone (a clear indication that the distributor wants to make as much in the first two days). Everything (trust me, I mean everything!) about this film is irritating and Mallanna, at least in Telugu, is sure headed for blockbuster disaster.
You need to understand that there are several threads running parallelly and at a fast pace. In fact, the director wants us to really feel the pace so the camera moments and editing is that for TV serials—childish, zooming in and out on the faces, and other chillar stunts. Unfortunately, Mallana has a really meaningless story. Mallana IPS (Vikram) is a CBI officer, he along with his boss (none other than Super (Joker) Star Krishna; Mahesh Babu’s father) are raiding unethical business rascals with the frequency of a local SP locking up local pick-pockets. You really do not know what happens next because the camera moves so fast and the editing is so strenous on your eye, but you are given to see that huge chuncks of this money is being managed by a group of young guys, including Mallana, in an underground hi-tech cellar. Next, the money thus collected is delivered to those poor people who have been submitting wish-lists at the local temple of Lord Mallana. Yes, you got it—-poor people pray to Lord Mallana, write their wishes and stick it to a tree, Mallana has a collaboration with the temple priests to collect these wishes, and the re-loots the raid money to give back to the poor. Yes, there is also an elephant sized police officer played by Prabhu who is investigating the case as he beleives the person behind answering the prayers is a human not God. Meanwhile, one such business man that Malllanna messes with is PPP; no it’s not Public Private Parternship it is Pallur Paramajyoti Ponnusamy (Ashish Vidyarti). PPP and his daughter Shreya vow vengence. Shreya pretends to be fall in love with Mallana and towards the end of the first half Mallanna’s identity is revealed!
the story, direction, and editing is so bad that every time Shreya comes on screen it just gets on your nerves. In fact, all the Vikram-Shreya sequences are just irritating. Whats with the mind talk?—they think aloud first and then talk. Next, the music. Devi Sri Prasad delivers his most irritating compositions ever. Period. The entire pora-pove sequence makes you feel like flying in to the screen and damaging it and add to that Mamata Mohandas’s irritating voice. There are too many songs in this film and all them just get to your nerves. Mumaith Khan delivers, in my opinion, her career’s worst, most disgusting item number ever. Just some time back she said in her interview she wants to do more family-type movies; then whats this? In the film she plays a dancing escort @ Rs 30 lakh and her dance is absolutely repulsive for the song Pacha gadi koseti…
Although I am a strong supporter of single screens and of RTC X Roads, Hyderabad, in particular, I strongly advice you to not watch this film in Sandhya 70mm—the sound system is really bad and it will surely give you a headache in addition to the headache of the film. There is not even a single sequence or dialogue in the film that is worth a whistle or a scream. Come to think of it, a couple of them showed their excitement during the Mexico blindflood fight sequence, but thats about it. On the second day in it’s main theater in Hyderabad, I couldn’t seel an extra ticket I had (the car park guy finally sold the Rs. 50 balcony ticket for Rs. 35!). The film is bound to collapse and no wonder Dil Raju, the distributer, gave it out in so many theaters (including two in opposite theaters of RTC X Roads (Sandhya and Devi, but latter is only till release of Josh) and one in Shanthi 70mm).
It’s been a while since I was last all hyped up about a Hindi film. I didn’t know about the much hyped dhan-te-nan till about two weeks ago. Anyways, on hearing the plot, I decided to get all hyped-up about this film. Then came the glorious reviews (I should have known when Raja Sen gave a glowing review). With a popular background score, a pumped up Shahid, and a cool mass title, I really thought this one will deliver a power punch. My advice to you—do not get swayed by Bollywood’s hype machine…this film tries too hard to be a Hollywood-wannabe gangsta film and in the process forgets the basics of Bollywood entertainment.
Charlie (Shahid Kapoor) can’t pronounce ’s’ and all words with ’s’ begin with ‘f’ for him. He is in to horse racing and wants to earn big bucks and dreams of having his own booking agency of some sort. In this process he is shown getting in to and of trouble, knocking folks down, getting knocked down and just before the interval he discovers a guitar case in a Police van which is full of drugs worth 10 crores. However, he wants only 10 lakhs. How Dumb. Meanwhile, Guddu (the second Shahid Kapoor) stutters/stampers, is in love with Sweety (Priyanka Chopra), she gets pregnant, wants him to marry her, but is also the sister of one Mr. Bhope—a local rowdy or something like that (Amol Gupta, Taare Zameen Par’s original director). Post interval, the police are after Guddu for Charlie and Bhope is after Charlie for Guddu. In the meantime, there is a drug warlord and a couple of gentlemen from the African continent–business associates, of course. Towards the end, the two twin brothers who hate each other suddenly start showing affections and all ends well with all the bad guys dead in a massive shoot out. Flashback? yes, there is. The twins dote on their father, a railway guard man, but one day he is accused of stealing a watch and there is need of money to save his life. By the time Charlie returns with money, father is dead and thus from that day on the two brothers never speak to each other and this makes Charlie always want money. I know, makes no sense to me.
absolutely no sense in the story. Just because the movie movies fast, without sense, and is taken like a Hollywood artsy gangster-drug movie the movie is honored as Bollywood’s coming of age? In my opinion, Vishal Bhardwaj has written a nonsensical story and tried really hard to make it look like a Hollywood film: dark, rainy, confusing, in whispers etc. The end result: KAMINEY fails to entertain. Ram Gopal Varma’s earlier films on the underworld were better as they were more native in their grounding. KAMINEY tries too hard to be the modern version of Satya. The next basic question to Vishal Bhardwaj: what is the reason for making the lead characters lisp and stutter? Other than hype and curiosity, it adds nothing to the story. There are times when they talk just fine and their handicaps do not seem to hinder their communication. I realize Shahid Kapoor has always tried to ape Shah Rukh Khan, but to even follow the k-k-k-k-kiran style of talking in a film for a mass following is not done. In any case, the stammering just doesn’t help. If the lisping and stuttering were removed from the film, I wonder what is there in the film to attract the audience? Next, what is the big deal about the Dhan-te-nan? agreed, the music is great, but unfortunately Dhan-Te-Nan just could not be used effectively. It comes now and then in the first half, but I don’t recall it coming much in the second half. How can it be used well when the story itself is all screwed up! Shahid Kapoor as usual delivers a sincere performance. I still do not understand why Priyanka Chopra is offered films. The songs suck and the comedy is bad. You just can’t identify with any character in the film and the world that the director wants you to enter is just idiotically unconvincing.
When I first saw the posters of Anjaneyulu, I was excited to see that Crazy Mass Hero Ravi Teja actually implement the trick of the trade: release films at least with a gap of 100 days. Even as Kick is a couple of days shy of it’s 100th day at Odeon, Ravi Teja headlines Anjaneyulu, which releases in the same theater complex today! Kudos to you Ravi Teja for pumping in energy in to this sagging industry (no, just one Magadheera is not enough). Secondly, I was excited to see the somewhat zanny wallpapers/posters and of course the beauty called Nayantara. Enough…these reasons are enough to wanna make you watch this film on the first day. What you expect from Ravi Teja’s film is not an innovative story, but just the common minimum elements, yet Anjaneulu is a let down as the the story and it’s components and too common and too minimum.
Anjaneyulu (Ravi Teja, Anji from hereon) works for a TV channel (hmtv, to be specific) and comes with his usual package of over the top confidence and whackiness. The same deal—should you raise your hand against him, Anji’s hand will not even listen to him or it is as good as being dead. The first half moves on with comedy between Ravi Teja-Brahmanandam, love story/songs with Nayan, and an idiotic villan track involving the usual really ugly looking MLA, goons, etc. One dude has prepared a file to be submitted to the CM, but the Home Minister has hired Baada (our Mr. Bommali Sonu Sood) to get him killed. Baada plants a bomb in the bus this dude is travelling in and in that bus are also travelling Anji’s parents. Thus, Anji decides to join Baada’s gang and submits investigative reports to hmtv-live. Of course, at the end he ends up kill all and the police even shake their hands with him for doing their work. The film is totally mundane, routine, and offers no freshness at all. The songs dissapoint—there is not even a single song you can hum at the end of the show. Nayantara looks jaded at places, but overall I just can’t understand why she would sign up for this film?—is she that out of work in Tamil and I even hear that she missed out on a Mani Ratnam film! Oh boy, can’t imagine her missing Mr. Ratnam’s film for this film! Ravi Teja is his usual self—Full of energy and in this film he also looks a shade trimmer compared to his previous flick Kick. As such there is no characterization for him in this film and there is not much comedy either. Again, if not for Brahmanandam this film is a total wash out. Brahmanandam is the creative genious Prabhakar who is brought in to pump up the TRP of the channel. The sequences between Ravi Teja, Brahmanandam, and Ravi Teja’s side kick are quite funny. Although, most of the humor generated is through second-setup and prostitute-type jokes. The film focusses too much on the villiany and the treatment is routine. Even the story is routine. Nayantara is reduced only to songs and no role. At times I even wondered if this film is totally financed by hmtv in order to potray themselves as a channel committed to investigative journalism as opposed to other gossip hungry channels.
Honestly, I just do not know what to write for the review of this film. The tag line above is self explanatory—Love Aaj Kal, directed by the guy who directed Jab We Met and headlined by Saif Ali Khan who is supposed to be a A-list star now, is a prime example of the stupid movies Bollywood is attempting to make and package off as blockbusters aaj-kal (read these days). Bollywood film makers have become experts at crafting superb trailors in spite of not having anything (read story) in the movie. On Friday, the 31st of July, the Hyderabad box-office saw two big releases—Magadheera and Love Aaj Kal—and I caught them back-to-back. The former was a blast, but Love Aaj Kal is just a stupid attempt by Imtiaz Ali to earn a name in to the big league as the film is more like a series of TV episodes.
Love Aaj Kal is about Jai (Saif Ali Khan) and Meera (Deepika Padukone) and their utterly confused relationship from start to finish (of the film). Set in London, they meet casualy at pubs and start flirting, dating, hugging, touching, kissing etc., but still they are not sure what is going on. Yes, they are definitely dumb. Then Meera who is an ancient buildings restoration art-technician gets an offer to move to New Delhi, India. The two decide to break up and have a break-up party; alas, however cool they wanted it to be it turns out a little sobby after all. They continue talking on the phone, web-chatting etc and keep each other posted about their male/female interests and ‘other’ details as well. It felt like watching The Wonder Years or some teen tele-serial. The confusion continues and it is interval. Oh yes, are you wondering about the bits you saw in the trailers about a set in the 60s? that is there, but it is just a dummy. Jai becomes friends with Veer (Rishi Kapoor) who assumes the role of relationship-advisor to Jai and in between the Jai-Meera story Veer’s story keeps popping out of nowhere. Now second half, Jai is dating and sleeping (he counts up to 15 times) with a blonde and Meera is dating her boss. Next, out of nowhere we see Jai lands up straight at Meera’s workplace and they both begin re-dating, re-flirting etc based on ridiculous logics. Then again, it gets sobby when Meera is proposed by her boss. Jai moves back and gets a job at San Francisco. Again, after a while he loses interest in this job and concludes that he loves Meera as he readily gets beaten up by goons when they want to snatch her photo. However, Meera is already married (Jai attends the wedding and leaves telling her he can’t believe what he is seeing!) and on the honeymoon Meera confesses to her husband that she is still stuck in the past and unable to resolve it. Oh yes, Jai and Meera finally patch up.
looked good on paper, but she should have applied her brain before accepting this script. The music is okay, but the placing of the songs is crappy. Twist, for example, is placed so badly in the film and why put Aaahoon…Aaahoon...at the end? If you really look at it, there seem to be only one song, Twist, and that too misplaced. Why have a gori do the song when there is Deepika? rest of the songs feel like background music. As Saif Ali Khan’s first production, the film seems totally targeted towards the multiplex crowd and overseas market with the hope that their target demographics will identify with confused seemingly no-boundaries and no-strings attached relationships. What really worked for the film’s impressive openings are the genuinely misleading trailers showing bits from two generations—that really caught my attention else I would have seen this film on it’s first day.
