rajshah Reviews

Cocktail (2012)

A heady mix!

[8/10 · 13 July 2012]

Bollywood has had its share of love triangles. Does Cocktail have something fresh to offer or it's just an old drink in a new glass?

Meera (Diana Penty) is a traditional Indian girl in London who meets the London bred and oh so sexy Veronica (Deepika Padukone) by chance. They gain from each other's contrasting personality and friendship blooms. Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) the happy and getting lucky with women kind of a guy falls for Deepika and he gets friendly with her best friend Diana. As it so happens in real life, Saif develops feelings for his girlfriend's best friend Diana too. Cocktail is the story of friendship that will undergo a litmus test, of love, heartburn and heart breaks. Does friendship supersede love or love prevails over friendship? Was the best friend bond wafer thin? And can anyone 'rise' in love? I won't tell you. Watch the movie ;)

The movie has lots going for it. The introduction of Saif, Diana and Deepika is flawless. Their camaraderie is so enjoyable you get simmered in their funny and frolicking ways. What happens then is a realistic depiction of problems between friends about love and companionship. You are bound to identify with the highs and lows it takes you through. The second half is marginally stretched and could have been trimmer but that, would be nit picking.

Saif has played such roles earlier. As such this is not a fresh character for him but Gautam Kapoor is his best portrayal of what he does best – a cute, fun to be with and innocent character. He portrays it with finesse, in comedy scenes and the dramatic ones. Deepika sizzles as a sexy rich brat. She looks hot and is unstoppable as Veronica. Her depiction of a wild child caught in an emotional web is praise worthy. Diana's debut couldn't have been better. Perfectly casted, she is never out of character and manages to hold her own even with experienced actors like Saif and Deepika. The seniors, Boman Irani as Saif's mama and Dimple Kapadia as Saif's mother are very good too. Randeep Hooda even in a very short role is good.

A great cocktail needs the right mix. Imtiaz Ali's script not only delivers but packs a punch! Here's an example of what an excellent script can do. The intelligent dialogues guarantees laughs and keep the mix tangy. Pritam's 'Tum hi ho bandhu' is already a rage and 'Jugni' too is an outstanding song. Anil Mehta captures the beautiful locales well and Sreekar Prasad's editing is crisp. Anaita Adajania deserves a special mention for the apt costumes and making Deepika look her sexiest self.

Director, mixologist Homi Adajania should be credited for getting this mix spot on. He treats the excellent script and dialogues with élan, adds great music and extracts superlative performances from his actors. This Cocktail is a fresh take on love triangles set in the contemporary milieu and is so refreshing, you might even ask for a repeat. A great watch whether with friends, best friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, love interest or your ex! Grab your seat now!

Watch for: A thoroughly enjoyable contemporary and mature love story. Watch out for: Performances. Don't watch if: Nai yaar. Go watch.

Story: 9 | Screenplay: 9 | Performances: 8 | Songs and Music: 8 | Direction: 8 | Overall: 8/10

Vicky Donor (2012)

7.5/10 - Delightfully deft!

[8/10 · 20 April 2012]

The chief concerns of a 25 year old? Money, a job, a girlfriend and some respect from his family. Vicky Donor injects a new age career (if you may call it) of donating sperms in to the life of a happy, cricket loving, 25 but jobless Delhi boy Vicky (Ayushmann Khurrana). After Dr. Baldev Chaddha, (Annu Kapoor) an infertility specialist overtly chases Vicky for this covert job; he begins to enjoy the perks that come along with the job. However with great perks come great pains. Great perks – money, job, girlfriend (incidental to the job) and respect from his family. Great Pains – Not being able to tell his family and girlfriend about his career. So do the perks outweigh the pains? Or life is beyond such naive comparisons? For the answers, watch the movie!

While you are at it, you will be treated to some delightful real life characters, Kamlesh Gill as Vicky's alcohol-loving, forward-thinking grandma, Dolly Ahluwalia as Vicky's alcohol-loving, loud and dutiful mother, Annu Kapoor the singularly focused Dr. Baldev Chaddha, the beautiful Ashima Roy (Yami Gautam) and her oh-so Bengali family. The banter between Kamlesh Gill and Dolly Ahluwalia, Annu Kapoor's character who sees life through the lens of sperms will keep you chuckling through the movie. You will want to cheer the celebration of differences and the eventual mingling between the Punjabis and the Bengalis, brought to the fore in the wedding sequence.

Is this Ayushmaan's debut? Wow! Doesn't seem like that! He comes across as completely natural and never seems anything besides Vicky! He is absolutely lovable as the boy next door. Annu Kapoor is scintillating. He amuses you and makes you laugh. Kamlesh Gill and Dolly Ahluwalia are uncontainable. Debutant Yami Gautam looks delectable and performs well.

Juhi Chaturvedi's very believable story has a thoroughly enjoyable screenplay where witty one-liners are the order of the day. Kamaljit Negi's cinematography is good. Shekhar Prajapati's snips ensure the movie never slows down. Abhishek-Akshay's music carries the narration forward while Rum Whiskey will be a party smasher!

Director Shoojit Sircar after a hiatus of 7 years (Yahaan 2005) deftly blends in a topical story with some endearing characters and real life sequences to dish out a delightful slice of life film! Go watch it!

Watch for: A topical story. Light hearted entertainment. Watch out for: Performances and some superlative real life banter between the characters! Don't watch if: No-no. Go watch!

Story: 7 | Screenplay: 8 | Performances: 8 | Songs and Music: 7 | Direction: 8 | Overall: 7.5/10

Housefull 2 (2012)

Intermittently hilarious.

[6/10 · 6 April 2012]

With as many as 12 stars, 1 chart buster and 2 popular songs, Sajid Khan is back with what he does best – tickling your funny bone. So how does he manage to do it?

Housefull 2 is based on the basic principles of economics – demand and supply. Demand and supply for Jolly – Ritesh Deshmukh. The petrified son of billionaire J.D (Mithun Chakraborty)

2 Jolly's are required for the warring brothers Chintu (Rishi Kapoor) and Daboo's (Randhir Kapoor) daughters, Asin and Jacqueline so that their fathers can get one up on the other. 1 Jolly for Zarine Khan, his true love. 1 Jolly for father J.D, who wants his son to marry Parul (Shazahn Padamsee) old friend Batook Patel's (Boman Irani) daughter. Total Jolly's in demand: 4. Supply: 1.

So how do you supply 4 Jolly's simultaneously? Housefull comes up with a Jolly good solution. The solution brings along plenty of mix ups and a few more cover ups. While these mix ups and cover ups play hide and seek with each other, it offers for some hilarious moments (depending on the brand of humour your enjoy). The smart-alecky, tongue in cheek dialogues add to the fun.

Though in between the few hilarious scenes and 2 enjoyable songs your attention wanders. That might be because the emotional scenes barring the climax don't get you involved and there's not much depth in the story. Given that it's a sequel to Housefull, there should be no reason to expect anything else from the movie.

The scenes are brought alive by some crackling performances by the stalwarts Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Johnny Lever. Akshay Kumar is lovable. Randhir Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, John Abraham and Ritesh are good too. The leading ladies Asin, Zarine look more in control than Jacqueline. Shazahn does not have much to do.

Sajid Wajid's music is excellent and they give us a chartbuster in Anarkali Disco Chali aptly sizzled by Malaika. Papa Toh Band Bajaaye is also enjoyable besides lending itself beautifully as a central theme. Manoj Soni's cinematography and Radhika Sangoi's editing is good. In the writing department Sajid Nadiadwala's story is ordinary but Farhad Sajid's dialogues and Sajid Khan's + Tushar Hiranandani's screenplay is superb.

Sajid Khan is known to have a great sense of humour and he optimises it cent percent in writing and direction. From his 'Kehne mein kya harz hai' days to Housefull 2, he continues to make us laugh. Would love to see Sajid try a new genre, but if not, enough people would look forward to Housefull 3.

Watch for: Some good laughs.

Watch out for: Zany dialogues, Akshay Kumar & the madcap confrontations between Rishi Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor.

Don't watch if: Just laughs don't satiate your movie experience. You are allergic to slapsticks.

Story: 4 | Screenplay: 7 | Performances: 7 | Songs and Music: 7 | Overall: 6/10

Agent Vinod (2012)

2/5 – Tiresome narration. Uninteresting story!

[3/10 · 23 March 2012]

A spy-fi spanning 3 continents and 12 countries, one of Bollywood's most dependable actors – Saif Ali Khan with Shriram Raghavan's writing and direction and 2 chart busters made Agent Vinod a highly anticipated watch. I thought my review caption would say 'Move over James Bond, aamcha Agent Vinod is here' Kaash!

Agent Vinod (AV) is the story of (yes) Agent Vinod who traverses the globe, spraying bullets, witty on liners, fighting goons, decoding his adversary's next move to foil a sinister plan - a nuclear bomb explosion that would jeopardize peace and business in the world. So what location has been chosen for executing this horrific plan? Who has planned it? Why? Even if you feel compelled to seek answers to these questions, don't watch the movie.

The movie's biggest let down is its lethargic script. A spy-fi makes for a fantastic story with plot-level/scene-level twists and turns, double crosses, cool gadgets and edge of the seat action. But, there's nothing like that in the script save meaningless double crosses and lot of dishum dishum. We are never made to feel the gravity of the evil intentions and its devastating consequences. Even the reveal is so late that by that time, we are no longer interested.

There's nothing intelligent or exciting in the story. Multiple cities and characters are used as props to ensure there's enough space for double crosses. They never lead to a plot level twist. The movie runs close to 3 hours and moves from one action sequence to another in different cities without relief. The chart buster 'Pyaar ki pungi' would have brought the much needed relief in the narration but that too comes along with the credit roll at the end!

AV relies purely on raw power, brazen instincts and luck to solve problems. We would have loved him to be sharper and more flamboyant. Adding an exploitable medical emergency or an Achilles heel would have made AVs character and the story absorbing.

Saif Ali Khan suits well as a secret agent though the story lets him down. Kareena Kapoor thrives in her role of a woman caught in the crossfire. Other characters played by Prem Chopra, Ram Kapur, Ravi Kishen, Dhritiman Chatterji, Zakir Hussain are all good.

While C.K.Murleedharan's cinematography is good, Daniel George's background score is exemplary. Pritam gives us two chart busters 'Pyaar ki Pungi' and 'Dil mera muft ka' and Pooja Surti edits crisply.

Shriram Raghavan (Johnny Gaddar) is an intelligent director which shows in his dialogues (co written by him) and his execution of the movie. However, it's not just baffling but also disappointing him overlooking not just the essentials of a spy-fi but even the essentials of a great story i.e. a great story!

2 for its smart dialogues and outstanding background score. Agent Vinod is a tiresome narration of an uninteresting story. Skip it.

Shaurya (2008)

7.5/10 Shaurya - Worth a watch

[7/10 · 4 April 2008]

Directed by: Samar Khan Written by: Jaydeep Sarkar, Aparnaa Malhotra and Samar Khan *ing: Rahul Bose, Javed Jaaferi, Kay Kay Menon, Deepak Dobriyal, Minissha Lamba and Amrita Arora

Shaurya is a story of personal courage amidst conflicting convictions set in the backdrop of the Indian army in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal)(a bright, introvert soldier of the Rajputana unit who shoots, his commanding officer, killing him instantly during a terrorist search operation. He is immediately taken under house arrest until the verdict during his court martial. He chooses to remain silent about the incident. With his co-soldiers also testifying against him there is no evidence for his defense.

His defense is a carefree, careless lawyer Major Siddhant Chaudhry.(Rahul Bose) He was in Srinagar to accompany his friend, the prosecuting lawyer Major Aakash Kapoor (Javed Jaaferi) and satiate his hunger for adventure sports.

Major Aakash Kapoor charges Javed of links with the 'terrorists he saved' that night at the operation. So was Javed associated with a terrorist group? Or this was all fabricated? Had he shot the commanding officer or was it a terrorist? Watch Sid handle the case with Kaavya shastri (Minissha Lamba) a local journalist, unearthing dark secrets and his shaurya to confront the truth that may ultimately save or kill his defense.

Shaurya raises some uncomfortable questions. A well executed climax makes up for the slow first half. Shaurya's drawback could be raising too many questions and leaving some unanswered, confusing the viewer. To know what is answered and unanswered, watch the movie : )

A tight script with true-to-character dialogues does leave a smile on your face in certain scenes. The background score is good with a 'do-away-with' item song. Rahul Bose is natural and performs exceptionally. Deepak Dobriyal as an introvert, guilty soldier does well for his role. Minissha Lamba, Javed Jaaferi, Amrita Arora are good. Kay Kay Menon steals the show. Watch him set the screen ablaze in the climax.

The casting teams should pat themselves for choosing the right actors. Samar Khan deserves applause for showing Shaurya for making Shaurya. *** P.S: Do leave your comments on www.ushouldno.com