Firstly, Javed Akhtar’s slamming of the song is unwarranted. His main contention is that it lowers the discourse of state of songs and lyrics. Why contention is to Mr. Akhtar is: so what?…In my living memory, there have been a few rage-of-the-nation songs. I remember it was Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast from Mohra, then there was Muqala Muqabaala from Kaadalan. As you can see, only less than a handful enter into my rage-of-the-nation list. These songs transcended language boundaries capturing everyone’s imagination. At this stage these songs are applied to our daily conscious lives and they become and here I refer to M. Night Shyamalan’s quote “cultural phenomenon” [remember The Sixth Sense's "I see dead people" ]. Both these songs had lyrics which perhaps Mr. Javed Akhtar would not have liked “mast mast…” “muqala muqabaala….” [the later song had a line in Telugu which went something like "cow-boy cheyi kudithe, vollu antha sex ayindi gundello fix aiyindi...so sexily sung by the late Swarnalatha"]; these lyrics strike directly at the heart of the masses and they love it [again, by masses here i do not refer to a particular socio-economic class, masses just reads 'the majority']. Another song, though not a rage-of-the-naiton but surely a super-duper-hit which had Bollywood intellectuals up in arms is for Rahman’s Telephone Dhun Me Hasine Wali…The bottom line is, Why this klavern di is a rage is precisely  because of its lyrics more than the song itself [I come to this point later]. Lines like….scotch in hand, tear in eyes, god i am dying now…she is happy how…pure and simple lyrics. Brilliant. There are times when such simplicity is needed and we must enjoy these and not crib about it. Of course, now there will be several Kolaveri type songs and trust me they will all go down the drain so finally the quality of lyrics is important, but sometimes some silly lyrics are good.

Next, why I think Kolaveri Di is not really a classic rage is because of the following: where is the song? The above mentioned two songs became the rage for the tune, music, dance, setting,…it was a whole package. But here, we have a virtual reality and I am not a fan of virtual reality and virtual relationships [my clear reference to social networking sites]. All we have is a really well doctored HD quality video  uploaded onto youtube.com where everybody is trying to be natural and cool even thought they know it is being choreographed. With a totally incompetent Shruti Haasan and if I remember her disastrous Telugu movie with Siddharth this girl just can’t dance [both mast mast and muqaala were all about the dances...hmm...the hot Raveena and Nagma]. How have they shot the song? will it disappoint?…only time will tell. So as of now, why this klaveri di is a rage is because of its lyrics and because it is only limited to the virtual world, I don’t think it is a full-fledged classic song in its true and traditional sense. 

On a much lighter note, I shivered and shuddered at the sign of seeing that the movie is written and directed by Aiswarya Dhanush!!! Oh my God!!!….what happened when Kiran Rao directed that Amair Khan movie…i am even forgetting the movie…it was a stupid art-house movie, what happened when Pawan Kalyan allowed himself to write and direct Johnny; this career went down the drain and it still stinks of Johnny, what happened when Shah Rukh Khan decided to get fully involved in this movies: we got Ra.One—bollywood’s big horror and disaster movie!….Dhanush is a really talented guy and I can totally understand his situation…can he say anything if Mrs, Dhanush says she wants to direct a film with him?!….what would I say if my wife wanted to make a movie with me?!…ahhha!….

I fear this movie will go down the Johnny way….but I do hope Dhanush fans are not left asking ‘why this aiswarya directed the movie?!…’

here’s wishing that the song in its true and traditional sense is a hit [but it is highly unlikely because the tune is so popular now that any form of it may fall short of its current rage] and so is the movie. Till then, enjoy the you-tube video!

Two people, Director Shankar (from Tamil filmdom who only directs mega-budget commercial entertainers, like Robot, Indian etc) and Bollywood Mass Star Salman Khan, must be laughing their asses off looking at what has been happening with Ra.One in the last five days…

Ra.One Movie Review: Sometime in the recent past, Director Shankar, who loves directing big budget movies with high commercial value and low story value [except Indian], but produces low budget high story movies, and Shahrukh Khan (SRK) were in talks for a hi-tech/sci-fi/robots kinda movie. The talks fell through, Shankar made it with Rajikanth [Robot, a huge hit, but with a story the size of a pea] and SRK announced Ra.One. Now, I can probably re-construct what actually happened.

I always jitters whenever I would hear SRK  say he is making a super-hero film for his kids [I mean, its just silly.]. Clearly, SRK’s son Aryan loves video games and SRK wanted to make a movie where video games is the central theme. Director Shankar, being more rooted and grounded to the masses obviously thought it was a silly idea and so SRK rejected the commercially viable script presented by Shankar. Today, Shankar must be laughing watching this joke of a film; Ra.One neither has a head nor a tail and it is has certainly taken Indian cinema to a new level…of stupidity.

I will save myself the torture of having to revisit the story. What is it anyway? Father, Mr. Goofy SRK, wants to impress his son by making a devious video game where the villain is stronger than hero. The villain is programmed with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and soon enough Ra.One, the video game villain, comes into the real world to kill the guy who is able to defeat him (SRK’s son). So far, so good—concept is fine, but how to translate this concept into a feature film? What is the plot? This is where the movie goes all wrong. The director, Anubhav Sinha, has no track record and his past movies and this one just go to prove that he is more of an action sequence choreographer than anything else. The real director of this film seems to be SRK, who just was in love with this concept and ended up making a mockery of the direction.

To put it mildly, the direction was just childish and immature, which begs me to wonder who directed it? SRK, his son Aryan, Anubhav Sinha, or Karan Johar? What was the need for SRK to be cast as a like a goofy Tamilian? So Ra.One and G.One run riot on the streets of London and there seem to be no cops! [all watching some Bollywood movie in London perhaps!]. What was the need to show Victoria Terminal collapse?—could G.One have stopped the train inside rather than do it outside? What was the need for that gay-scene at the airport?—just reinforces further speculation among anti-SRK groups that he is indeed oriented differently [not that there is anything wrong with that!]; what was happening with all that Tamilian family thing with Satish Shah? Couldn’t they even figure out what happened to the goofy tamilian SRK? So his chief architect of the game is dead and the company’s boss Dilip Tahil seem clueless! nobody even visits the lab’s wreckage after Ra.One comes out…..phew….the list of illogical stuff abound.

Actors need to understand that a successful actor is the product of the creativity of a story writer and a director. All of SRK’s super classic hits are products of the director’s vision. Just because you have money and love a concept [a villain comes out of the virtual world to the real world to wreck havoc] and put together a few action sequences under the supervision of a Hollywood technician—doesn’t make a movie. Ra.One lacks all the basic elements even an average SRK movie had which made watching his movies enjoyable even thought the story line was not strong [i can think of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi...]

India’s best superhero movie, in my view, is Mr. India. What a fantastic script! Don’t we have issues plaguing the poor and middle classes in India where a superhero of sorts could help? I mean, come on video games? please give me a break. SRK and Anubhav Sinha and SRK’s sycophant group totally forgot the most fundamental rule of a super-hero movie: whether it is Mr. India or Batman,a super-hero’s context exists only in saving a group of peoples. By breaking this rule, Ra.One has no context and it is not grounded in reality.

To sum it up, as I don’t have any more time than this to write: Ra.One is an embarrassing moment in the life of any self-respecting SRK fan. Remember Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani…, Badshah, Asoka, and now add Ra.One. It has taken Hindi cinema to a new level…a new level of stupidity. SRK should now travel to the places he visited and issue a public apology for making such a ridiculous movie with Windows Media Player type VFX and for falsely promoting this as a super-hero movie.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Two Thumbs Down!

Ra.One Box Office Report and Public Opinion:

So the other man who must be laughing his ass off is Mr. Salman Khan. It is no coincidence that Ra.One also had a five-day extended weekend just like Salman Khan’s Bodyguard. SRK wanted to prove a point that the only reason Salman Khan has given back-to-back blockbuster is because SRK has been away from the scene.

From the first minute of its release, ironically for SRK the Ravan for his Ra.One was really Salman Khan. Ra.One released in 1000 or more additional screens compared to Bodyguard or maybe more, it has a 3D version, inflated ticket prices, holidays, but still the shocker came: Bodyguard holds the first day opening record. This is a major blow to SRK. All bets were off. SRK probably thought that Ra.One will beat Bodyguard‘s record by a mile [please...diwali puja etc are all just excuses.].

Ra.One‘s five day total is also below Bodyguard‘s five day total. Sure, the economics of movies has changed so even a Tees Maar Khan or Golmaal 3 will make collection records, but does that mean anything? In particular, you think SRK will be happy with the fact that Ra.One will be safe for Eros International? He wanted Bodyguard’s head, but he didn’t get it. Period. End of discussion.

The hype is that Ra.One is a 150 Crore budget film, so my question is how much was it sold for to Eros?—how much table profit did Red Chillies make? at least 50 Crores? So what is a hit then?—Shouldn’t Ra.One earn 200 crores and upwards for Eros? But like I said, SRK has lost this battle with Salman Khan when Ra.One couldn’t cross, with all this hype and hoopla, the first record of a simple hero film with a simple story that the masses can relate to and enjoy.

I am sure Salman Khan is laughing away in this typical style…sure, just like SRK he maybe unable to believe that Ra.One couldn’t beat Bodyguard’s records. I expect to see a steep fall in Ra.One’s collections and that is not only because of its overscreening, but more because of its poor content.

Public Talk:

Ra.One‘s public talk is negative.  From my driver to my sister to my father…talk is negative. Sure, this is not a representative sample, but it I will stand by my findings. My wife’s facebook account shows that all her friends are joking about Ra.One and infact mocking at it they way Telugu’s mock a Balakrishna movie!

It is high time SRK realized that he came to stardom making movies that the masses could relate to. Now, he is at risk of losing his stature because he is making movies that masses cannot relate to. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehana, My Name is Khan are some examples; perhaps even the upcoming Don 2 looks to foreign. The recent success of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan is only because they are making movies grounded in India’s context. Nothing wrong to be an international star, but there is no charm of being that when you’re losing ground at home. Today, an SRK film is a scary thought and an Aamir Khan film means good content and a Salman Khan film means good entertainment.

The concept of the film is great: to compare and contrast the process of falling in love from two different eras; unlimited potential. The hindi version was produced by Saif Ali Khan so it was meant essentially for a multiplex crowd–get your collections in the first weekend and thats that. Going into the film, I was expecting to see some significant changes, but was shocked to see that Teenmaar is a faithful remake of its original. Did the team [read Trivikram] really think that just by having a Kasi backdrop, it will provide the nativity?  I saw the first 30 minutes in absolute horror: the movie moves slowly, without a story, no interesting scenes and why the f**k was Pawan Kalyan doing the spot dubbing [the Johnny ghost definitely has not gone]? The film picks up pace only when Arjun Palwai enters and then again picks up steam towards the last 20 minutes only thanks to Trisha’s superb performance.

A gem of a concept has gone wasted. Perhaps, Pawan Kalyan was too petrified to suggest changes given his track record since Johnny. The only saving grace of the film is the music and full credit to Manisarma. Zero points to Jayanth for simply copy-pasting, zero points to Trivikram for just thinking that writing witty one-lines will make the film click, and zero points to Pawan Kalyan for being an ass with the spot dubbing and over-acting. Of course, thank you Trisha for being the only beautiful thing about the film. With no major changes to adapt it to the local context and devoid of any interesting sequences, the film barely manages to satisfy. We are shown Pawan Kalyan’s parents only in the first 5 minutes, what happens after that? I can’t even think of any blockbuster [Hindi or Telugu] where the parents/family element does not play a critical role. Next, what about the comedy? Can a telugu film succeed without comedy?—in fact, it can succeed with just comedy and no story. Ali is only there for a few minutes and makes us laugh. Next, what was the need to have a Cape town backdrop? don’t youngsters in our Indian metros date?

Content-wise, the movie suffers big time and it just cannot sustain itself. To its credit, the story shows Pawan Kalyan in a way that will make the fans happy: Arjun Palwai’s character, Basti Dorasani song [thanks so much Pawan for shaking your leg], and the really smart suits in New York. Even with all this disappointment, I have seen the film thrice only because there is a sheer pleasure of seeing Pawan Kalyan on screen. Indeed, there is a certain charm about him and thats what helps him sustain his stardom. At one level, I feel bad for Pawan Kalyan—his career till Kushi is the envy of any hero, but that after that he is just a mess. I still say Gudumba Shankar would have clicked had it released four-six months after Kushi. Clearly confused after that he did movies that he just didn’t believe in [mafia don killing people in Balu, applying gandham on face and hacking people to death in Annavaram, and a seema-backdrop film called Bangaram]. Only God knows why he did Puli. At least, in Teenmaar it is clear that Pawan Kalyan is enjoying what he is doing and it shows.

At the box office, the movie will recover costs to all parties concerned, but fans will be disappointed as it cannot become a super-hit, leave alone being a hit. While at Odeon on the first day, I was talking to some guy who was telling me why he thinks Pawan Kalyan is a Power Star. He said that during Kushi, Sandhya 70mm sold black tickets till the 50 days or more and today those guys who sold black tickets are proud owners of autos! My secretary recalls that during his inter days he and his friends would visit Sandhya 70mm to see Toliprema once a week and dance on the seats! Will these days ever return for Pawan Kalyan and his fans and for the audience in general? It hasn’t for a  decade now, but I will still hold on to this stock. I really wish Pawan Kalyan does different movies: his Shadow with a Tamil director in lines of a thriller is a welcome change and then there is the remake of Dabang, which is already pre-destined to open with a bang! [i really hope they make the right changes]

Now that the Big 4 have faded [Chiru, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, and Venkatesh], Pawan Kalyan (was and) is the next best bet among the remaining asses that Tollywood has to boast off.

Jay (Imran Khan) does not believe in the concept of love [towards the end we learn that that is because his parents divorced after a love marriage] and thus hates all love stories.  Just for having his name on his resume, Jay works for Veer (Sameer Soni) who is a famous love-story film director and desists every scene Veer narrates and makes faces sitting through all the meetings at office. Simran (Sonam Kapoor) is totally in to love stories, the concept of love and magic, and is currently enjoying that magic with her childhood sweetheart Raj [didn't we already have such a character called Mahi in Bachna Ae Haseeno?]! Simran also is in to the movie industry and gets an offern from Veer to be his art director. Jay is assigned to work under Simran. Begin a dosti, which turns in to love from Simran’s side even though she is engaged to Raj.

Apparently, Simran begins to feel that Mr. Wrong, Jay, is more fun to be around with than her Mr. Perfect, Raj. But Jay doesn’t love Simran who is now heart broken and goes back to reconciling herself to Mr. Perfect. Post-intermission we see Jay going through all the symptoms of a love struck teenager and is now determined to confess his love for Simran and acknowledge that yes, there is magic and there is love in this world.

To make a 16 reel film without any story or plot is no easy job, but director Punit Malhotra is a already a specialist in making films without a story right from film #1! The film is full of unconvincing sequences. There is no context for the characters to become who they are. Simply, we are shown to believe that Simran is an art director for movies. No solid reason is shown to justify Simran’s turn of affections towards Jay. Some bullshit Mr. Perfect and Mr. Wrong theory is created to justify it. Does Jay only desist the love stories of the 90s, which were mainly dominated by the SRK-Yash Raj-Johar trio or does not like even the classic love stories? The degree of sycophancy depicted through this film makes me wanna puke. Throughout the entire film we see and hear tunes, dialogues, references etc from SRK love stories. There is nothing new or original worth its name in IHLS. Clearly, Mr. Karan Johar is living in a world of his own. In his world, all Indians and citizens of the planet dream about and live in Karan Johwar and Yash Raj movies.

The degree of stupidity of this script is indicative that Mr. Karan Johwar things the audience are just dumb and all that they want to watch are good looking faces and sets. I sometimes wonder how rootless our movies have become. Who is making these films and for whom are we making them? IHLS from start to end seems to have been made only for the Indian American teenage market. For example, the director’s office lacks any signs of native touch. How will our masses relate to such films? How will they do business beyond the third day? Would 3 Idiots have collected 203 crores share had it been shot in London or New York?! I am sure Karan Johar would have done that. The guy has forgotten his two big hits, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and K3G were rooted in India with a fully indian context and even till today he is surviving by invoking those tunes and scenes. Go get another life man or just quit movies.

The film opens with a scene out of DDLJ, which receives whistles and cheers from the masses at Ramakrishna 35mm. To the film’s credit there are quite of a few scenes which evoke cheers and laughter, but all of them are sitcom type scenes. Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor give a decent performance. Imran Khan just can’t dance and struggles to find the right expression. There is no ease in this body language. He was much better in his debut film. Sonam Kapoor is so thin with all her bones sticking out that at one point she resembled a crow! Throughout the film she looked artificially good…like a model in a LUX soap ad. She looks weird at times. sometimes she looks good [her eyes are nice], but sometimes her expressions are stupid.

The biggest problem with IHLS is that it lives constantly in a world of references. A few here and there are fine, but not an entire film. In addition, there is no plot, story, or special characterizations or characters, which makes the film boring at several points. Fortunately, the film does not drag. As the guy who puts the Rs. 20/- ticket under my car’s wiper at the parking lot of Ramakrishna Gliterrati told me, IHLS is good for one watch. Mind you, it is good for one watch only if you are a Shahrukh Khan, Yash Raj, or Karan Johar fan. Even though I love SRK films, after a point the references got to my nerves. There is also a scene where a board titled DHARMA PRODUCTIONS is garlanded [second half]. Now cummon Mr. Johar, just because no one else will ever honor your banner in their movies that does not mean you garland your own banner in a movie produced by your banner!

IHLS looks great like a TV show. Time pass watch for once. Surely, it will help you erase memories of Ravaan!

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down.

Mrs. Inkenti’s Rating: 3/5

In spite of the busy activities at home, managed to gather a group of cousins to watch the film at 6pm at Ramakrishna 70mm. Quick highlights of the film:

• amazingly boring
• no story, no depth in characterizations, no sense in the proceedings
• disappointing music
• too much of screeching
• Only Vikram’s [as Raavan in Telugu version] performance is good [can't imagine Abhishek Bachchan's incompetent acting in this otherwise incompetent film]
• It is an insult to compare this piece of crap to the epic
• a few good locales
• Mani Ratnam should re-invent or quit making movies. and surely must stop making movies with Mr. and Mrs. Bachchan Jrs
• an utter flop film
• after the film, while walking out you can hear all the audience expressing disbelief over how Mani Ratnam could have made such a bogus movie

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Two Thumbs Down!

Essentially, there are five threads revolving around five characters. (i) Cable Raju (Allu Arjun) is the local basti dude who feels life is only worth it if you are rich. Thus, although living a lowly life of a cable operator always in loans in the Jubilee Hills basti, he is maintaining a high-profile girlfriend [I wonder where he picked up the Englisht?] His predicament is to get Rs. 40,000 for a couple pass for the New Year’s Eve party (ii) Ramulu (Nagayya) is poor weaver steeped in loan and harassed by the money lender. Unable to pay, he is forced to pledge his grandson as bonded labor. He and his daughter decide to sell the kidney in Hyderabad for Rs. 40,000 (iii) Saroja (Anushka) is most popular commercial sex worker in her domain, but wants to run away from her owner Ms. Rathamma and set up her own company. Reason? None, even though her owner treats her quite well; at least there are no signs of owner torture (iv) Raheemulla (Manoj Bajpai) is a good Muslim man of the country, but becomes a victim of anti-Muslim sentiments prevailing in society. Furthermore, he is taken away by the cops to jail because his nephews are found linked to anti-social elements planning an attack on News Years Day (v) Chakravarthy (Manchu Manoj) is the son of an army man, but wants to pursue a career in the rock band he has set up. He and his friends are dressed up in typical rock-band style. He is on his way to Hyderabad with his friends from Bangalore by car and he doesn’t seem to have any major problem like the others [threads]. All these threads proceed independently for 80% of the film and finally culminate at the hospital for the climax.

Why I am not impressed with the film is because there is really nothing more to the film that the story I have written above. Of course, there a few comic scenes, some fights, a few boring songs, and loads of messages. The first 35 minutes are wasted in just establishing the characters, their situation, and their apparent predicament. By interval, there is not even a single memorable scene from any of the five threads running. Moreover, each thread weighs differently in terms of story content and genuineness. Allu Arjun’s thread is clearly the best; he gets to make comedy, hip hop, cry, and say the movie’s best dialogues! The other threads lack this sort of story-punch. Next, the exploited weaver and good Muslim man threads are really genuine in their problems compared to the others. Anuskha’s role just does not have any substance. Although she is the hottest product in her market, she always seems to be avoiding business and giving away bhari dialogues. Her owner too seemed to treat her well. Frankly, Anushka’s presence is only to pull the crowds—it is a stroke of brilliant commercial tactic to have the Numero Uno female lead of the industry play a hot looking commercial worker. Sure, audience will come paying for the ticket, but just like how Saroja handles he customers, the audience too will not get any entertainment. Manoj’s thread is the weakest on all counts.

Towards the end all characters go through some sort of change: Cable Raju realizes that money is not more than life and values, Rammulu stands up against the money lender, Saroja fires her pimp, Chakravarty who disliked his father for giving away his life for the nation ends doing the same, but Raheemulla is the same. However, Cable Raju’s transformation is shown with maximum impact. In terms of performance, everybody does a good job. Songs and music is a let down. The quality/look-and-feel of the film is not high. Too many messages. Krrish, relax, we know that you have a lot of ideas in you and that you want to preach through movies, but do it slowly. My favorite line in the film is when Allu Arjun says there are not two castes in this world…one rich and the other poor. Yes, the contrast between the rich and poor is also shown effectively: Rs. 40,000 for kidneys and a life’s education versus Rs. 40,000 for a couple pass to drink and dance.

[SPOILERS AHEAD]

The climax:  I did not like the ending. What is the need to perpetuate the stereotype of Islam and terrorism? what is the need to repeat the 26/11 type event again? and then after all this show a Hindu cop bowing to the Muslim man? All the threads finally land up in a hospital which is taken hostage by terrorists. There is a massive shoot-out where Allu Arjun and Manoj become heroes, save a bunch, and sacrifice their life [yes, they blow up like Manisha and SRK in Dile Se!]. It almost felt like the two young actors forced the director to have a final showdown, which will make them heroes. could there not have been another culminating point?

The biggest problem with the film is that it does not have an intelligent script. A well made film is not necessarily a film with an intelligent script. It is quite funny to see how Telugu film websites are going gaga over this film.  Akukokunda Oka Roju is a film which is not only well made, but it also has an intelligent script [not to forget it also entertains sufficiently with a good message]. Another problem with Vedam is it does not confine itself to one particular theme. Is it about showing the contrast between the rich and poor? is it about exploitation and discrimination? is it about doing what you want to do? is it about sacrifice? Whadd the hell is the film about?

Having said all this, I would still say that among the blind this film is like the cockeyed. In terms of direction and script-content is way behind Prasthanam. As an aside, can you imagine how Prasthanam would have performed if it had Vedam‘s star cast: Brilliant. In terms of an intelligent and entertaining script it is far  behind Akukokunda Oka Roju. Forget all this, Vedam is even far behind Krish’s debut Gamyam. To its credit, Vedam offers variety, which is now a rarity among Telugu films.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down. Whatever said and done, a film for me has to entertain [with not necessarily song and dance] and should make me want to go back again and watch it. Vedam does not. For the hype Krish created, the content does not live up to it. Watch it, nonetheless, for even this much of variety will take a while to come again.

PS–To Vedam‘s credit, I enjoyed writing this review. There is analysis, which means that the film has substance. It is indeed a happy time to see films like Prasthanam and now Vedam where the directors are telling a story. I hope there are more coming like this, but with better music, high quality look-and-feel, and a reasonably good entertainment quotient.

The first 20 minutes our entire group of 6 were looking at each other and discussing who is related to whom, why, and why are they so pissed of at each other? You finally reconcile that it is all one big messed up family with serious personality issues. Clearly, two groups form and each group wants to be at the seat of power. In order to do this, each group is planning on how to outwit or kill a member of the other group. These killing scenes are alternated by scenes showing one political rally after another. By interval time, I got sick and tired of these rally scenes and people shouting slogans. Show us some story man! Manoj Bajpai and Ajay Devgan are one team while Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, and Arjun Rampal and the other team. Manoj Bajpai’s father suffers a stroke and instead of making his son the next political heir he makes his own brother [father of Arjun Rampal and Ranbir]. Manoj and Ajay kill the uncle and manage to oust Arjun from the party. Ranbir Kapoor who is currently pursuing doctoral studies abroad suddenly becomes the cold-blooded master mind for brother Arjun and begins to take on the other team. At the end of 19 reels, only Katrina, Ranbir, and Nana are left. Yes, Katrina becomes CM at the end.

So where is the Mahabharata you ask? Ajay Devgan is the first brother to Arjun and Ranbir, but because his is born unofficially he is set to sail in the river, picked up some a poor family and raised. On knowing the truth and being asked to join his brothers he boldly says that Manoj Bajpai is the one who supported him [Duryodhana types]. Naseerudin Shah is his father who is actually an old political activist; on sleeping with his student he is unable to accept his deed and thus vanishes [from the film]. I fail to understand why such an actor as Naseerudin Shah even accepted such a film [for the money or for the kiss in the rain? I must admit, it was difficult to watch the old Mr. Shah lip lock with a young girl] Nana Patekar is like the faithful family secretary always giving his council.

In terms of performance, I will rate Manoj Bajpai as the best. His get-up is exactly like that of Mega Star Chiranjeevi from Indra film. Second is Ajay Devgan. The rest all are fine. The scenes which show Katrina in a saree are just one or two and you have already seen them on the posters. The biggest problem with the movie is the bad direction and senseless storyline [if there is one]. Consider the following idiotic scenes of the famous director Mr. Prakash Jha: (i) Ranbir’s firang girl friend Sarah sees Ranbir’s brother’s goons abduct a girl in broad daylight and is shocked. The same girl, the next day tells Katrina who is now married to Arjun Rampal that her husband is such a nice guy (ii) there a total of three pregnancies in the film all of which are an outcome of just one sleep event (iii) Arjun Rampal has pulped a police officer to death and raped and killed a woman, and soon after we have his wife Katrina hug him to say she loves him.  The story is devoid of any twist or interesting sub plot that can elevate the film. What we are shown are only violence, killing, suggested rape [i think the theater guy deleted the scene], and political speeches and rallies. All the above mentioned elements are acceptable in a film of this nature provided it has a powerful story.

You wonder if this film is a about a family feud with political backdrop or a political film with a family feud backdrop? The scenes between Katrina and Ranbir [the love story thread of the film] are slow and lack fizz. One item song is shown, but again only for 2 minutes [or did the theater guy cut this song too?]. Another evidence of senseless direction: on both sides people are dieing, but for some reason when a person dies from Ranbir’s side there is more focus. It appears to me as though the director made a film for 4 hours and the editor had a harrowing time trimming it down to three! What really irritated me is the justifications given by each character for their actions. Yuck! As an aside, the only seeti-maar scene in the entire film is when Shruthi Seth [a Mahila group leader wanting a ticket from Arjun Rampal's party] walks in dropping her pallu…Otherwise, a film like this has unlimited potential for dialogues and scenes that can get the masses excited.

None of us [we were 6 in our group] enjoyed the film. Reactions ranged from “what is going on!?!” to “bad”. By the time the film reached the second half in the second half, the folks from the Rs. 30 and Rs. 10 began hurling comments on the screen. I too felt tempted, but controlled myself! I was so bored and vexed. Three hours of laud nonsense, no comic relief, no songs, interesting twists in story…nothing.  Prakash Jha has royally screwed up this film. At one point, I was hoping the projector guy at Shanti Cinema 70mm AC, dts [the dts  sound was disappointing though this time] would give us all a break and squeeze in a Tere Liye from Prince just for a couple of minutes!

Do not get carried away by the big posters and all the serious expressions by an impressive star cast. In fact, just this morning I was telling my friend that perhaps Kites is a better watch.At the box office, Rajneeti will do in the range of ‘ok’ to ‘well’ in the first weekend because of those who are curious about the film, but it is bound to drop from Monday. There is no repeat value for the film. Mr. Taran Adarsh has already started giving box office reports supporting this review that the reports are positive, but do not be misled. Nobody will ever watch this film three months from now. It is sad that UTV [who gave us Swades] choose to produce this low grade wannabe political thriller.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Two Thumbs Down! Rajneeti is undoubtedly a bad film. Simply avoid this film.

PS–To watch a real political thriller with a family feud watch Prasthanam [Telugu].

Story is set hundreds of years ago in the deserts of Persia and begins with commentary on the usual elements of a Hollywood hero-centric epic- adventure: destiny, choice, etc. It is about the brave King of Persia who has two own sons, a brother, and one street-rowdy-kid he picks up and adopts. The third Dastan, is of course, our hero. In one such invasions, the family is about to invade the holy city of (i forget the name)  believed to be supplying arms to Persia’s enemies. However, there is doubt if this is true, but uncle Nizam [Ben Kingsley] (no, not of Hyderabad’s Nizam club) insists that the spy’s report is accurate and so they invade [remembering the Iraq invasion?]. Turns out that there are no such weapons, but what they are actually looking looking for is a dagger that contains the Sands of Time. The possessor of this dagger can control time, turn it around, play with it, and thus rule the world forever. Turns out unlce Nizam is after this and the sets up the brothers against each other. Dastan escapes with the dagger and the lovely princess who is guardian of the dagger. In all this running around, Dastan’s father is killed and the murder is on his hands. Now, he has prove his innocence and expose the evil uncle to this brothers.

A few twists here and there and loads of action all over. The princess is a total flop, surely, the makers wanted to save on the budget. The entire film is about fighting for the dagger. Couple of times the dagger is used to change the events. At the end, the entire movie goes back to where it began as our hero uses the dagger. Aha…it just struck me…the sequel will be begin again from the beginning! (walking out of the theater I was wondering what the twist is…now while writing the review i got it!). The movie gets routine and stops to impress you after a while. The twists are average and do not elevate the story. Background score is ok, but nothing to remember about. Jake Gyllenhaal is good as Dastan and thats it. The action scenes with bows and arrows is good fun. The film would have been better in Telugu, a lot more fun for sure for this otherwise fizzless film.

All the magic and snakes should go down well with the local moviegoers. In fact, given how ridiculous our Hindi and Telugu movies are, any Hollywood or Tamil dub is likely to be a better bet!

However, I am disappointed with Prince of Persia; it just does not have the stamp of a Jerry Bruckheimer adventure film. Yes, I am comparing it with Pirates. Films like these need to have good music, comedy, characters, and sub-plots [over and above twists]…Prince of Persia has nothing only bows and arrows.

Interestingly, in Hyderabad the film is being promoted as from the house of Narnia, but in the US [see the main poster above], it is from the house of Pirates. I am not too surprised to know that the film debuted #3 in its first weekend [Shrek 4 was #1 followed Sex and the City-2]. Although, Prince of Persia was #1 steady for the first two weeks in the international market. Yahoo Users give it a A- and critics C. It is rare that I don’t like a film where the Yahoo! User is above B+, but this one is a exception.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down. Watch it purely for time pass. I would still recommend it over any Hindi or Telugu movie currently playing.

PS–the sound at PVR Cinemas too did not impress. Same was the case when I watched Awara . I told the theaterwala that the seats should vibrate…that is how the sound should be!

I am heart broken on reading this news. Truly, devastating news.

Will blog on this latter.

Friends, post your comments.

Siva [Karthi] is a cool-dude sorta guy who does not care for anything…even to wear formals for his job interview, even to put the top butten! It is love at first sight for him when he sees Charu [Tamannah]. One fine day, while at the railway station he stumbles upon a distressed Tamannah with her uncle missing their train to Nellore. Just to get a chance to be with her, Siva poses as a taxi man and gives the ride. Soon the uncle is left on the road and lover man is all set to take his love to Bombay from Bangalore. So there is a group from Nellore chasing Tamannah; obviously for a forced marriage which she does not want. Meanwhile, there is also a gang chasing our hero Karthi from Mumbai whom he had a panga with when he went to Bombay recently for a job interview. Songs, and fights with each gang a few scenes of suspense-catching-chasing-driving etc while going to Bombay. Finally, Karthi bashes up all the goons for the last time and gets to hug Tamannah at the end. When they said the Tamil original Paiyaa is a big hit, I did expect some story, but this film has no story to write about. The fights are all too unreal just showing Karthi as a macho mass hero. The songs are good, but not chartbusters.

Tamannah looks gorgeous in most of her outfits, but is kept silent for majority of the film. Somehow it is uncomfortable to watch her in two-bits [up short and down long--like in the poster here]; perhaps, because she looks too much like a kid. The highlight of this film is Karthi. He is just cool and he will impress you in every frame. His expressions reminded me of young Venkatesh. His dance steps too have the right attitude and needless to say he is a super actor. Minutes before writing this review, I read up on him: his debut film Paruthiveeran in 2007 [with Priyamani] in Tamil has won 13 different awards [from South Filmfare to Berlin Film Festival] including Best Actor. There is scene in this film where Karthi has arrived in Bombay and is walking up to his friend’s car…even such a simple scene is made special with Karthi’s walk, attitude, and expressions. His presence makes an otherwise boring film rather enjoyable–the characteristic of a Star. Although the fights are unreal, Karthi is simply deadly in them.

It is a shame that Tollywood does not have a decent actor nor a decent movie. Hollywood dub and Tamil dub movies offer greater variety and entertainment. I am not against star-kids, but cummon now…just look at all Tollywood heros…total jokers [as an aside, Sharwanand is probably the best of the lot, which reminds me that I have written Prasthanam's review] The last time I saw a hero and felt he is awesome, irrespective of the film, was when I saw Pawan Kalyan in Badri [saw it at Sandhya 35mm, RTC X Roads]. Of course, (Chiranjeevi has been there since childhood) Now, again, after many years I am seeing a film where I felt a hero is a hero. And it only adds to Karthi’s awesomeness that his crown already has awards. I wish Karthi all the very best.

Yuganiki Okkadu, although not a super hit in Telugu, is a decent hit. It seems to be doing re-runs at various single screens in the city. Awara will definitely not be a hit, at best only average. There is considerable amount of curiosity factor among cinegoers about this film and the makers are doing a good job with the trailers and posters all over city.

Mr. Inkenti’s Movienomics Verdict: Thumbs Down. Watch this film for Karthi, beautiful Tamannah, and good songs. Else, the movie is boring.