Mashed Musings

Bhoothnath was never supposed to be something unusual or special. The promos were not very impressive and the moment you saw them, you knew the story. That somehow worked in the favour of the movie. Its not that its great, but its enjoyable. Its kiddie stuff with a terrible baghban-ish, Yawn-ish twist at the end.

Aditya (played by Shahrukh Khan) and Anjali (played by Juhi Chawla) come to live in the Nath Villa in Goa with their son Aman (played by Aman Siddiqi) whom they fondly call Banku(!?!!). Aditya works in a Cruise liner and leaves his wife (and her done-to-death sandwiches) and son in the house to return to his job. Banku(!!!) soon befriends the ghost (played by Amitabh Bachchan) of the owner of the house and starts calling him Bhoothnath although his real name is Kailash Nath. Banku and the Bhoot become great pals and are seen playing pranks on the school principle (played by Satish Shah) and the drunkard Anthony (Rajpal Yadav). The movie is bearably entertaining till this point but the whole fun flies out of the window when the secret is revealed to Anjali and Aditya. From that point onwards the story takes a Baghban-ish turn where the ghost reveals his story.

The movie was supposed to be a comedy which should have been left that way instead of creating a mishmash out of it. Shahrukh Khan has nothing much to do and appears in a few scenes. And yes, his ponytail is at display in the second half. Juhi Chawla is her sweet bubbly self who keeps on giggling and giving her infectious smile. She is in great form and its actually good to see her and Shahrukh together after such a long time. Rajpal Yadav is wasted. I wonder why he took the role. Satish Shah manages a few laughs. In the end, its Amitabh and the kiddo who manage to keep the faltering interests of the audience at bay although they are quite unsuccessful at the end. Amitabh looks funny at whatever he does right from sticking his tongue out or the pranks he plays.

The movie is strictly kiddo stuff and they are going to love it. The songs by Vishal Shekhar are just about passable. There are some points in the movie where the songs are forced into and they just slacken the pace. And don’t worry if your kid dozes off in the climax or the movie looks like it was made 20 years back and was not released at that time due to some reasons. Its perfectly normal.

Director - Vivek Sharma

Rating - 2.5/5

Check out the official website here.

Iron Man appeared for the first time in Marvel Comics publications in 1963. The most recent title was released on May 2008 titled Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1. Iron Man has also been a member of the superheroes team called “The Avengers” and has been an incredibly successful superhero. So, it was just a matter of time that he appeared on the big screen. Praises by a few friends and a healthy Rotten Tomatoes rating prompted me to go ahead and watch the movie. Surely I was not disappointed. In fact it was after a long hiatus that I saw something worthy of the ticket money.

Iron Man stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, a mastermind and a genius inventor who also happens to be a billionaire and a womaniser. Gwyneth Paltrow appears as Pepper Potts, Stark’s personal assistant who is a vital part of his life and is always there for him. Jeff Bridges plays Obadiah Stane, who has been with the Stark Industries since its conception by Tony’s father and is now Tony’s right hand man. Terrence Howard is Lt. Colonel James Rhodes who is Tony’s most trusted friend and a military liaison to the Stark Industry. Tony is attacked and kidnapped in Afghanistan while returning from a demonstration of his latest weapon system. The terrorist group called Ten Rings, demands that Tony creates a similar weapon system for them and provide him with all the necessary components. Tony ends up creating the first prototype of the Iron Man and escapes wearing the power suit. The whole episode is a reality check for him and gives a new and meaningful direction to his life. He returns home to create a more advanced suit to combat terrorism.

This is one of the most believable and relevant superhero movies of recent times, something which comes very close to what Spider-Man was. A cast which melt into their roles, dazzling special effects and terse dialogues make this movie worth a watch. The special effects look surprisingly believable. We are getting quite good at them now a days. Robert Downey Jr. is the surprise package of the movie. His performance is quite a mix of everything, humor included, which is quite rare in superhero movies. The movie keeps you engrossed and there is not a moment of boredom, even when Tony and Pepper are having their awkward moment together on the terrace.

So, if you like action packed superhero movies, then Iron Man is what the doctor ordered. Many people compared it to Transformers and argued that the action in Iron Man is not that plentiful, but Transformers was not a superhero movie. Iron Man has more of a story because it depicts the creation of the Superhero. In fact most of the action appears in the second half and it would be really unfair to compare the movie with the Transformers, although you can see the inspiration in the climax.

Of course, the sequel is in the pipeline and some more Superheroes such as Thor and Captain America are also rubbing up their heels for a movie release. You can check out the really cool Iron Man website here.

Directed by - Jon Favreau

Rating - 4/5

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When you start believing that life can’t get worst, it suddenly does.

This is what how an experience like Tashan can be summed up after watching movies like Race and U Me Aur Hum. Race at least had a constant oomph factor oozing out of each frame and an over-doze of twists and turns to make it watchable. Tashan looks like a mockery of the Indian audience, if nothing else. It made me believe that the Indian directors take me as a chimpanzee who will watch anything shown to him with great amazement and awe.

The movie revolves around four characters - Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) who is a call centre executive and who learns to fire/dodge bullets as easily as someone learns to brush, Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) who works for Bhaiyyaji and who breaks into a sizzling hot number in a bikini just before submerging her father’s ashes in water, Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar) who is a small time gangster and completely incapable of saying I love you to his lady love and finally Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor) who is a notorious gangster hellbent on learning English and kills people with any sports equipment he can lay his hands on.

Tashan is an onion of problems. You can peel off layers and layers of them. Jimmy is so naive that he can’t make out that something is wrong when he sees a bag full of money fall off Pooja’s hands. Bhaiyyaji is one of the most irritating characters in the history of Indian Cinema and Anil Kapoor could have been nominated for the Indian Razzies, if they could have existed. Pooja is called a “bitch” so many times in the movie that Kareena’s grandchildren would be really embarrassed if they ever happen to watch the movie.

Tashan does not have a story. It seems like a rip off from Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja, specially in the climax. And, oh yes, you would have to be really strong to bear the climax. Its the ultimate patience test ever created by Bollywood. The fight sequences are hilarious as you would have never seen heroes dodge so many bullets or jumping like a monkey on walls or ending up riding a water scooter in a gutter(kind of). Its unbelievable and sheer torture. Its amazing how our stars agree to do such scenes.

I would have rated the movie 1 out of five, but I would add another 0.5 for Kareena who is looking sizzling hot in all the scenes. Your heart would definitely skip a beat while watching her dance in “Chaliya” and “Dil Haara”. This 0.5 addition to the rating is also because of the comic scenes between Saif, Akshay and Kareena. Atleast they managed to make the audience laugh, even if it was ephemeral. And, yes, if you are going to watch the movie to see the latest hot pair of Bollywood in action, then forget it. Kareena is paired opposite Akshay and her love story with Saif ends in a blink in the first half.

An appeal to the director Vijay Krishna Acharya - Please come out of the mindset that Indian audience can’t digest a movie without over the top comic characters (like Anil’s) or fight sequences straight out of Marvel comic strips or without the thin waistline of the heroine on display. We are tired of giving the proof time and again, that we are ready for sensible and serious cinema.

One last word - After watching Tashan, I believe that Race should be sent for the Oscars.

Rating - 1.5/5

Director - Vijay Krishna Acharya

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Its always a very brutal job to pan down a directorial debut. Its the closest you can reach to a catch 22 situation. You don’t want to point out all the obvious flaws because its the first movie of the director and on the other side you have such glorious examples ( for example - Taare Zameen Par) of some near perfect debuts that you crave to underline those very flaws. So does U Me Aur Hum fall into the usual Bollywood traps or does Ajay Devgan has a different story to tell?

Ajay Devgan directs his first movie and himself plays the character of Ajay, a leading psychiatrist who meets Pia (Kajol) on a cruise. Ajay is on the ship with his friends Nikhil (Sumeet Raghavan) ,Reena (Divya Dutta) , Vicky (Karan Khanna) and Natasha (Isha Sharvani). Nikhil and Reena are married but are always fighting like cats and dogs. On the other hand Vicky and Natasha are happily unmarried. Ajay falls in love with Pia and after a little bit of fighting and bickering both of them get married. The story follows the journey of these three couples who influence each other lives by the decisions they make in their own, where the main emphasis is given to the love story of Ajay and Pia. It would not be appropriate to go deeper into the story as it would give away the plot.

The story of the movie is such that it could have stood apart only if the performances, dialogues and the screenplay would have been tour de force. Performances are honest and well etched but it is the dialogues and the screenplay which eventually pull down the movie. There are flashes of brilliance here and there but the overall effect looks half baked. For example, take the scene where Ajay is taking to his friends about his wife’s condition and they ask him to bring her back. Everything is perfect in the scene except the dialogues. The lines “Do you understand what I am trying to say” and “You know something” are repeated so many times across the length and breadth of the movie, that it starts getting on to the nerves after sometime. There are some scenes which don’t make any sense like the one in which Vicky is walking naked on the deck. What the heck??? Another problem is that nothing happens in the first half of the movie. Its completely flat and bland, something we have seen zillions of times in Bollywood movies. Its only in the second half that the movie starts making some sense. The scenes between Kajol and Ajay pick up the pace but when you walk out of the theatre at the end, you feel that something was missing throughout the movie.

Kajol is her bubbly self and is the only reason to watch the movie. Some actors are evergreen and she is one of them. Ajay Devgan is also “cool” except in the scenes where he knits his brows too sharply and say - “You know something??” Eeeeks!!! The rest of the cast also end up faring pretty decently, specially Sumeet Raghavan. Vishal Bharadwaj’s music score is passable but the lyricist Munna Dhiman is someone to watch out for. “Saiyaan” and “Dil Dhadka hai” stand out as far as lyrics are concerned. The title track by Shreya Ghosal is also hummable.

Ajay Devgan impresses in the way he shot some of the scenes on the ship and later some more crucial scenes in the movie like the one in which Kajol is staring at the lizard. He can create wonders for sure. All he needs is an impeccable script and an engrossing story.

Rating - 2.5/5

Director - Ajay Devgan

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After China Town and Naqaab, there wasn’t much expected from the director duo Abbas Mastan, so it was easy to watch Race without any preconceived notions. If it would have been good, people would have applauded the comeback of the jodi which gave us Aitraaz and Ajnabee and numerous other hits. If it would have been bad, the directors would have had another egg on their face. Race, infact turns out to be neither good nor bad.

The story begins with Ranveer Singh(Saif Ali Khan) meeting with an accident and his alcoholic step brother Rajeev Singh(Akshaye Khanna) giving a sigh of relief that his brother is alive. Katrina Kaif plays Sophia, who is Ranveer’s seedhi saadhi secretary who is in love with her boss while Bipasha Basu plays Sonia who keeps on shuttling between the two brothers. Anil Kapoor(Detective R.D.) and Sameera Reddy(Mini) make an appearance only after the second half begins and indulge in their over the top Karamchand-Kitty act which manages a few laughs from the audience. As the story progresses, the audience is taken on a roller-coster ride of so many deceptions, fears and revelations that in the end you feel exhausted and just want all of it to stop. The first twist is great, the second one fine, the third one is ok…..but by the time the movie reveals its nth twist(Yawn!!!), you are quite sure that another one is there in the pipeline and then thankfully and suddenly the movie ends.

The problem with the movie is that there is an overdose of twists and turns and after sometime the characters start looking completely unbelievable. Sadly the movie starts looking like a Balaji Telefilms(God!!! I hate to mention them in all my posts) production instead of UTV’s. The “dead and still not dead” or the “step brother who hates his older brother” or the “poor vamp claws the rich guy” themes have been done to death in Indian cinema, but still Race follows the old path and that is what goes against it. And a special mention of the songs is a must here. The movie would have been much better without them, as they are completely out of place and not required at all. All they do is slowing down the pace of the movie and they sound nothing more than some bad remixes of old hindi songs.

On the brighter side, the starcast is the only saving grace of the movie as they try their best to look good and dance good and act good(Katreena still needs a lot of improvement here). The sets and the locations are good and the movie looks sleek. Akshaye Khanna is great as usual while Saif plays the part with intensity. Bipasha looks like a bombshell, specially in the scene in which she is introduced to Akshaye. Katrina should not cry in any of her movies. She looks really funny.

All in all, its a thriller gone wrong. Remove the songs and shorten the length of the movie and this could have been the best thriller of recent times. Its a one time watch if you have loads of time and nothing better to do.

Rating - 2/5

Directed by - Abbas Mustan

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