Varun's Word

Directed by : Imtiaz Ali

Starring : Shammi Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri

Music by:  Mozart of the east – A.R. Rahman

I am actually confused. At one end you have the director’s vision to create something different, to show the making of a Rockstar, to show the attitude of a popular person, to create a symbol. At the other end you have a weak plot revolving the leading lady. Her character looks tailor made to suit the making of Rockstar!

Shortly there is going to be a crash course on “How to become a Rockstar!” Imtiyaz Ali could very well write a book on the same. “Thorns to competition” kinda book!

It is a popular belief that artists with a painful backdrop in life can create more depth in their works. But going in search of pain to become a rockstar and throwing away one’s current life looks too cinematic. Add to that, we have a firang who hangs out in the college without any boy-friends. I can guarantee you this would never happen in real life. The “Fire in belly” to become an artist is missing.

There are quite a few aspects that are worth mentioning in this movie.

Movie starts with a silent tribute to Shammi Kapoor, who is the true rockstar of Bollywood.

Music plays the second protagonist in this movie, creating a big image for Ranbir Kapoor. A R Rahman is the Rockstar of Indian Music! The songs are chart-busters already.

Simple yet creative dialogues by Imtiaz Ali go beyond excellence. “Heart-Breaking-Machine” being my favorite dialogue of the movie.

The narrative is amazing. Imtiaz Ali knows that the audience have no other choice but to watch the movie the way he wants them to watch. And he exploits this to the maximum. You cannot go to the theatre with a pre-determined thought that the movie is going to start like this and its going to end like this. Its a pleasant surprise, take it !

Ranbir Kapoor has delivered one of his best performances. His hair-style, depressed look, dressing, aggression everything works. And it looks genuine too. If you can digest the brief stint in the college where he looks too stupid, you will see that the performance graph keeps progressing.

Nargis Fakhri has got the dolly look. She could very well be called the successor of Katrina Kaif for her firangi accent and plastic expressions.

One needs to appreciate the effort made by the director to keep this movie away from the common band making, breaking and re-union type of scripts. This movies’ got an attitude of its own!

–Varun Mannava Gowtham

Directed by: Murugadoss

Starring : Suriya, Shruti Haasan, Johnny Tri Nguyen

Music by: Harris Jayaraj

This movie titled 7th sense, sets out to satisfy your remaining 6 senses!

What amazes me time and again is one lingering question. How did Murugadoss (Director) think of such a storyline? Maybe he would have gone on a casual trip to China. He would have visited the Shaolin temples and the giant statues of “Bodhidharma”. To his surprise he would have read a sculpted note below these statues stating that Bodhidharma was a “King from South India” ! Bang! “That’s my next big movie idea”, he would have thought! Add some commercial elements, appeal to the “Tamil” feeling and you have a block-buster movie!

The first 30 minutes depicting the life and contribution of the Pallava king who travelled to China and taught them healing and self defense is a treat to watch. Surya gets that serene and en-lightened look with great ease. He looks stunning and worth every rupee that the producers spent on the movie.

The movie loses its appeal and grip on the narrative as it reaches the present day from the magical past of Bodhidharma. The plot goes like this – China is plotting a Bio-War against India. The Chinese send a Shaolin arts expert, Dong Li (Johnny Tri Nguyen) to spread the virus in India. The Chinese also feel that the genetic research done by Subha Srinivasan (Shruti Haasan) to bring back the skills of Bodhidharma through his current day descendant (Surya)  might disrupt their effort to spread the virus in India. Bodhidharma was the one who taught the Chinese on how to counter the virus back in 6th century. Amazing plot ! Don’t you think?

On paper, the plot looks new, however how does one translate this into screenplay? This is where the movie does not live up to the world-class standard. We have a script that is a genius and can compete with commercial movies world-wide, however the compulsion of six songs, larger than life action sequences makes this an ordinary movie towards the end. Hypnotism plays spoil-sport in the second half, in the sense that it works faster than a bullet is too exaggerating. One should understand that we have educated audiences watching the movie. Give some arms and ammunition to the bad-guy, use his Shaolin skills, if he runs out of all this, then use hypnotism as his last weapon. The director, in his quest to create different action sequences ends up doing silly stuff without any depth.

Surya is clear abour his role right from the beginning to the end. The role of Bodhidharma could be his best on-screen character till date. Shruti Haasan looks dashing in the movie, she tries hard to speak in tamil. Her dialogue delivery looks as if she memorized the dialgoues just 5 mins before and wants to get them across somehow, making her look less convinced about the entire imagination of the plot. .

Kudos to the imagination, boos to the screenplay! Definitely worth a watch.

Varun Mannava Gowtham

Directed by: Anubhav Sinha

Starring: SRK, Kareena, Arjun Rampal, Armaan Verma

Music by:  Vishal – Shekhar

“Be a Super-Hero…. with a Heart!” these are the last words of G-One (SRK) to Lucifer (Armaan Verma). This gives you the gist of the movie.

The plot revolves around a scientist and his family. The scientist builds a videogame where the bad-guy (RA One, Arjun Rampal) is more powerful than the good-guy (G-One, SRK). RA One comes to life and spreads chaos. G-One plays the Savior.

There are quite a few instances in this movie, where one cannot help but be amazed by its potential. Especially around half-time when RA-One and G-One face each other for the first time. The visual effects are simply superb. However there are equally same number of instances where one feels that the ‘attention to detail’ is missing. The scientist ShahRukh eating noodles with curd is a good observation about south-indians, however the Super-hero ShahRukh climbing buildings and running sideways on a train was not explained. You see if G-One can do all these, then why can’t he fly? Do you get what I am saying, the itinerary of G-One’s and RA-One’s super powers is missing. Add to that the pathetic make up to Super-star Rajni sir in the 2 minute cameo. The scene is well built, but Chitti looks like a dupe of Rajni sir.

Everyone knows that ShahRukh Khan has the potential to pull female audiences in huge numbers to the theaters. G-One, the video-game super hero has the potential to attract kids. One would call this shift of focus as a calculated move, with SRK’s age-wrinkles becoming quite apparent! And he is working hard to pick up southern languages too? Kareena Kapoor looks tailor made for Chammak Challo, rest of her role is forgettable! Arjun Rampal gets the look, however his character lacks the depth.

If you call it inspiration, then I would say this movie is ‘Multi-Inspired’.  The Mammoth Barron Industries building showcasing the video-games technology looks inspired from Tron, besides the fact that the characters in video game come to life. Then comes the inspiration from “Terminator” where we see the bonding between a teenager and his bodyguard. Here its Lucifer who instructs G-one what to do and how to do. The list of inspirations does not end here. Both RA One and G One have a Heart, which is intensely inspired from Iron-Man. Finally there is a scene revolving G-one running over the local train, which is inspired from our very own ‘Robot’!

To wrap it up, G-One is an enhanced bodyguard with super-powers! He has no intentions of saving the world. He is custom made to protect Lucifer from RA-One !

With Gauri Khan producing the movie, can tie-up with brands be far? Volkswagen is the official automobile in this movie. One movie is worth 100 ads, you bet?

The Indian super-hero who looks dashing, is technically advanced, weak on script, high on emotions and finally can make you shake a leg too.

– Varun Mannava Gowtham

Directed by : JJ Abrams

Produced by : Steven Spielberg

Starring : Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Riley Griffiths

“Is this normal?” Alice questions Joe. “No this is new!” Joe replies. Panicking

This conversation might have been revolving around a gripping plot in the movie, where a Rubik cube like thing starts to vibrate and rotate all by itself. The conversation however holds good for the overall Science-fiction genre in Hollywood, which has come a long way from ET and should I also mention that it has matured. You see, it’s not just scary creatures running around the streets of America causing destruction. It’s not just the Yankees screaming and running around, or a larger than life protagonist who tames the creature. It is as practical and realistic as it can get. Super 8 is the evidence that alien movies have evolved and it could very well  go on to become the leading sci-fi grosser of 2011.

The plot revolves mainly around Joe (Joel Courtney) , Alice (Elle Fanning), Charles (Riley Griffiths). Charles is directing a Zombie movie along with his friends. Joe is the make-up, art and special effects guy. Alice is the leading lady in the movie. While they are shooting for the movie, there is a strange train crash. The series of events post the train crash pose numerous questions in the little town of Lillian. Kyle Chandler plays Joe’s father and also the town’s deputy sheriff.

Produced by Spielberg it surely grabbed global attention right from the first teaser campaign. JJ Abrams, the director manages to keep the curiosity tight and thrills till the end, not to mention the amazing special effects and intensity of action sequences. It amazes me, how the director who has also written the script takes two genres and blends them perfectly. It has the genre involving kids but it does not bore you to the extent that a full fledged kids’ movie would. It also has the extra terrestrial genre but does not focus too much on destruction and gore. One can appreciate the depth of thinking when there is a scene involving a young store owner discovering the beauty of the invention of a walkman, and that is the time when the creature begins to invade the surroundings.

Don’t just walk away from the movie hall when you see the end-credits rolling, you should wait for “The Case” submitted by Charles. The disastrous zombie movie gets completed and is ready to be screened in the Super 8 film festival. See that’s how this movie got its name.  Elle Fanning is not only charming but she can act really well too. Child prodigy we should say.

“Are Zombies real?” wonders the detective of “The Case” movie.

–Varun Mannava Gowtham.

Directed by : Nishikant Kamat

Starring : John Abraham, Genelia, Vidyut, Raj Babbar

Music by : Harris Jayaraj.

Who guards the guardians?

Gautham Menon wrote and directed this movie in Tamil way back in 2003, however it generates the same respect even when it is remade in 2011. If Menon’s script suited the environment in 2003, Nishikant Kamat’s changes fudge amazingly well in 2011. Kamat’s efficiency in directing “Mumbai Meri Jaan” comes in handy when he sits down along with the writer Ritesh Shah to brainstorm on how to keep the movie realistic, given it is based on Narcotics control beaurau in Mumbai. Kamat has done is homework well and one should also not the amazing work of Aarif Shaikh who edited the raid sequences amazingly. Within 120 minutes, Force packs all the best aspects without spoiling the original movie too much.

It could finally be termed as the arrival movie for John Abraham (ACP Yashvardhan), who had earlier delivered hits only in multi-starrer movies. In this movie, his no-nonsense attitude helps in keeping the intensity of the movie intact. Playing a cop in Bollywood is never easy, given that we have had recent block-busters where the protagonists played cop. What makes John click is his greek-god like structure and not too lengthy dialogues. He can’t act, but at least he can pull off a clean scene, and he has done just that even without wearing the uniform at least once in the movie. This script depends a lot on the the emotional build up of the protagonist. The lead pair succeeds in pulling even college-goers to the theaters.

The golden goose of the movie is Genelia. She had slowly built up her reputation in bollywood through movies like “Jaane Tu” and waited for the right movie to prove her caliber as an actor. The honest, bubbly, naughty yet helping “Maya” wins over hearts and evokes genuine laughter too. This role is tailor made for Genelia and she has exploited it well, although she could not live up to Jyothika who portrayed the role in the original.

The bad guy- Vidyut Jamwal plays the ” You can smell your enemy, but can’t catch him” role. Raj Babbar does his cameo well, could be the lucky charm post “Bodyguard” movie.

Meet Harris Jayaraj, the popular composer from south, who shot to fame through RHTDM in bollywood. He delivers a couple of good songs and a great background score for this movie.

One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it, ACP Yashvardhan is no exception to this universal law.

Varun Mannava Gowtham

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Starring : Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar

Music by : Sohail Sen

“I am in love with my brother’s fiancé”. No! Don’t take this too literally, we the ‘Indian Audiences’ are now mature enough to understand the comical and entertainment oriented intentions of Director Ali Abbas Zafar who has also written the script!

Lets admit it! Bollywood’s “King of Hearts” post is vacant!. 15 years ago, a product from YRF Factory delivered a by-product called SRK who wins over the hearts of audiences! Will Imran Khan inherit this post for the next decade? One has to wait and watch!

The story revolves around Kush (Imran Khan), Luv (Ali Zafar), Dimple (Katrina Kaif) and Piyali (Tara D’Souza). Kush and Dimple were just acquaintances who met each other at during a college trip, had a good time, felt easy in the company of one another. So when they meet again and hang-out, their liking for each other intensifies. This liking is revealed only after Dimple gets engaged to Kush’s own brother! The second half of the movie is supposed to be “All hell breaks loose” kind, however it turns out to be “Wait, this scene reminds me of a recent bollywood movie” kind! This movie does justice to the title! Overall the movie manages to induce fresh romance and genuine comedy. The onscreen chemistry between Imran and Katrina works!

The ease with which Imran emotes onscreen and the clarity of his dialogues makes you like him even more as an actor. Katrina looks as if she wants to erupt into a song all the time. The role of Dimple looks thoroughly inspired from “Aditi” and “Geet” characters. Katrina does fit the role, however there is still scope for better performance. Her admirers aren’t complaining though! Ali Zafar looks to be under utilized in the role of Imran’s brother, however he is happy to collect his paycheque from YRF. Tara D’Souza looks to have been picked up from a tooth-paste commercial!

YRF ensures the songs are upto the mark, remember “Tashan” and “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”? In this movie, Music Director Sohail Sen makes his mark by delivering two good tunes, ‘Dhunki’ and ‘Isk Risk’. !

Bottomline, we have seen a lot of Hindi movies, what do they usually preach? If you like a girl, don’t wait till the moment she gets engaged or till she falls for another guy. But then, if Kush hadn’t waited till Dimple got engaged to his brother, may be it would resemble another movie? Its a tight rope walk for love flicks in Bollywood these days. So keep it genuine, Director sir!

Varun Mannava Gowtham

Directed by: Siddique

Starring : Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar.

Sallu Bhai’s opening punch-line in the movie goes like this “Please do me a favor by not doing me any favor!”. If we are to abide by this line, then distributors need to eat the losses that come along. Only a favor  from generous movie going audience can save Salman this time because the script doesn’t!

If it wasn’t for Salman-Kareena casting, this movie would not have generated so much hype and anticipation. This in a way becomes the drawback too. Let me explain. Salman Khan is a mass puller! In Bollywood, the mass-puller protagonist movies follow a stereotype introduction. Innocent families would be in grave danger and need immediate help! Some not-so-popular character would start introducing ‘the Messiah’! You see, now the audience need not worry about those in need of help because the hero would break into an introduction song and would sing all praises about himself. Only then he goes and saves those in need. As the movie progresses, at regular intervals Kareena needs to be indulged too, can’t ignore her for long. This is the most challenging part for screenplay writers and the director too.

Siddique (Director) fails miserably in keeping the screenplay intact while saving the image of the lead actors. There are un-necessary action sequences involving Salman Khan with gravity defying stunts. He actually jumps out of a running train and lands on the top of another running train that is moving in the opposite direction.

The plot follows the larger-than-life concept of the mistress (Kareena) falling for the servant (Bodyguard Salman). What makes you feel all the more sympathetic for the mistress is that she does not get to go out on a date with any other guy in a management school. She was born to fall in love with her bodyguard! Really? The incidents towards the end of the movie were supposed to surprise you but they amuse you instead !

Though you have loads of cheap visual effects employed to capture the anti-gravity stunts, the production team still manages to come up with a good background score and even better sound mixing. The songs are not bad either. Welcome back Himesh bhai, keeping a low-profile these days?

Kareena Kapoor is back on the big screen after quite some time and she sizzles. Choosing Salman for a role of a bodyguard was a no-brainer. However there is a romantic shade to his character and it only makes him look retarded. Raj Babbar does a neat role. We have a self-proclaimed comedian Rajat Rawail who calls himself Tsunami singh in the movie. Being obese does not generate humor these days.

Aspiring bodyguards please take note – Never answer a phone call from “Private number”!

Varun Mannava Gowtham

Director :  Steven Quale

Starring :  Nicholas D’Agosto, Miles Fisher, Tony Todd

The initial “I thought I cheated death” but the later “You can’t cheat death” game is back on the big screen!

Alright, let me start with some numbers involved. In 2000, the first movie of the Final Destination film series released. 11 years down, we have the fifth version that released this weekend. Wikipedia says the Budget was $123,000,000 for all the five movies, the revenue at the Box office being $612,192,996. This proves only point, the FD movies cater to the average human brain and hence attracts a large number of viewers each time.

One knows what to expect from the Final Destination movies. You have the visions, you have the “cheat-death” victims, you have the patterns, you have the devil’s impersonation (Tony Todd) warning the victims that Death does not like to be cheated. So what makes the fifth version different from the previous movies? Only one thing, the fact that it was shot entirely in 3D. If you have a flair for watching sharp objects piercing through human flesh in ultra-precision 3D, you won’t be disappointed. You would rather worship the titles too! This movie is a sweet reconciliation of how the main characters die in the visions vs. how they die in reality.

Sam Lawton (Nicholas D’Agosto) and his girlfriend Molly Harper (Emma Bell), Peter (Miles Fisher) and his girlfriend Candice (Ellen Wroe), un-related hot girl Olivia (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood), Peter’s co-workers Isaac (P.J. Byrne) and Nathan (Arlen Escarpeta), and their boss Dennis Lapman (David Koechner) form the “Lucky Eight” around whom the movie revolves. It’s not death which causes the pain, its the fore-play that Death indulges in with these characters that makes it more painful. Olivia’s death being the most painful among all of them. Your facial expressions are bound to take the reflex action route!

Director Steven Quale does one thing that was missing in the previous series. Watch it and you will appreciate the connecting link between the first movie and the latest one.

“You all be careful now!” is the message given to the viewers as they walk out of the theatre! By any chance, if this is the first FD movie you are watching, you are more prone to be taken aback by the raw and gory nature of the visuals. “Trigger-happy Americans” kinda Genre!

Varun Mannava Gowtham

Aarakshan

Directed by : Prakash Jha       Music by : Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Starring : Amithabh Bhachchan, Hema Malini, Manoj Bajpai, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone.

Released during the August 15th weekend, got banned in 3 states for sensitive issue tackling, re-released post “Big-Brotherly” cuts, news channels protesting the ban. The production team of Aarakshan has got everything correct to draw the crowds’ attention, however if they had spent some time reading the script and linking it with the title, it would have done them more good !

When you have an actor like Amithabh Bhachchan, you don’t have to worry about choosing controversial titles. You don’t have to worry about a sane story too, trust me. Least you can do is not to mislead people. The apt title for this movie should have be “Education” and not “Reservation”.

Once you have overcome the above confusion, what you have is an ideological and genuine script. Prabhakar Anand (Amithabh Bhachchan) is a pillar of principles. Known for his hard-work and grip on the subjects, he not only wins the hearts of students but also government officers who once passed out from his college. Things change dramatically when greed takes center-stage in the form of Vice Principal (Manoj Bajpai). It becomes a one-on-one fight and in the end its students who benefit from the rebelling protagonist.

You have to hand it over to Prakash Jha (Director) for proposing a healthy education system. Till now Bolly-wood had come up with out-of-the-box ideas to solve the education puzzle. However it is practically impossible to expect the masses to understand and start taking the road less travelled. At least not in the immediate future. When a patient is dying, what you need is accepted medical procedures. You cant imply experiments to save the patient’s life. The education system got bitten by the coaching bug since the past decade and it needs cure in the form of Prabhakar guru ji. That is what grants ‘Ideological status’ to this movie.

In a movie where the script and the protagonist are larger than life, remaining actors like Saif, Pratiek, Deepika are just reduced to the role of inter-woven characters. Amithabh Bhachchan carries the entire burden on his shoulders and finishes it with ease. Any AB sr. movie should have Hema Malini too these days, probably after the success of Baagban. Manoj Bajpai proves to be a fitting actor in negative shade. Should we call this a come-back performance after the Biku Matre role? Greed radiates through his eyes as he impersonates the role of a coaching center owner.

Watch it with your heart! I am reducing the ratings because of the great ‘title’ confusion ! Definitely impacts the overall movie experience.

Varun Mannava Gowtham