Cash: Movie Review

Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. This movie is somewhat based on this mainstream principle. Cash boasts of adventurous stunts, swank locations, captivating hair-dos and matrix-like sound tracks and hey! It gives you a lot more than they promised. Animated replicas of heroes and villains almost after every scene make you look at your multiplex ticket again and again wondering whether you entered the wrong screen or is it that you got a ‘Bache ka Movie’ ticket!



The much-hyped title track ‘Cash’ choreographed by Remo is appealing but seems stale, after the week-long delay. The pre-interval stunts, alluring sound score background and Zayed Khan’s narration would amuse you. The plot looses its way post-interval and the ‘Cash and Diamonds’ remain a mystery. The costumes by Anna Singh and rest of the designers are glamorous yet disastrous. Duo Vishal-Shekhar’s music album is humming and peppy though it sounds more like some video game music in songs like ‘Mind-blowing Mahiya’ and ‘Rehem Kare’.


Riteish Deshmukh is the surprise element of this movie. No attitude but loaded with fun that is what defines him. Zayed Khan keeps uttering senseless shayaris while Ajay Devgan keeps repeating a PJ joke throughout the movie. He looks a bit old but never runs short of his ‘curt and serious style’ sense of humor. Suniel Shetty yet again adds his screen presence throughout the movie. Esha Deol and Shamita Shetty look gorgeous. Diya Mirza? why is she there in the first place, Mr.Sinha could you answer that please.



The drop-dead gorgeous hair-dos by Parimal Patel a.k.a Perri are worth your every penny spent, regardless to say the glamorous quotient would be missing without him. The action and stunts by Anthony Stone are ‘mind-blowing’ but are predictable at some places. Esha and Shamita’s fight sequence with lady goons look funny while the guys battling single-handedly with macho-gundas seem unimaginable. Do you think we are morons? Please give us something more realistic and thrilling.


Though Cash looks appealing it fails to captivate the audience as the random-plot is lost in the labyrinthine and half the time you wonder ‘who is who’ in the movie. Still for a change Cash is balmy and engaging. It won’t leave you with a post-movie experience but instead entertain you throughout the movie. Take it or Leave it, the choice is yours. After all it’s your cash!


Rate this Movie:


***

* for Stunts and Action scenes

* for the Background score by Ranjit Barot

* For this ‘Mind-blowing’ concept by our ‘Mechanical Engineer turned Director’-Anubhav Sinha!

Awarapan Movie Review

Also Known As: Awarapan
Language: HINDI
Genre: Drama
Director: Mohit Suri
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Shreya Saran, Mrinalini Sharma, Rehan Khan, Shaad Randhwa, Ashutosh Rana
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Sayeed Qadri, Asif Ali Beg, Baba Farid
Singers: Mustafa Zayed, Suzanne, Rafaqat Ali Khan.




Aawarapan- Movie Review.



Aawarapan would transform your soul and psyche to those void spaces and reflections of your life you probably never visited or wanted. As expected it’s a yet another emotional and heart-stricken love story with a moral message, but ultimately looses its way in the high-pitched beautifully crafted songs and highly-amplified, terror-struck action scenes which our overblown and unwanted.

The Plot:

Aawarapan is set up in the ‘city of lights’- Hong-Kong, notorious for gangster hideout and other activities. Shivam (Emran Hashmi) works for hotelier and business man Ashistosh Rana. With a haunting past and meaningless life Shivam awaits for his final day-Death, fearlessly killing people who interfere in his business. He is instructed by his boss to keep a watch on his mistress Reema (Shreya Saran) whom he bought from a brothel house. Later he is forced to kill Reema but destiny holds something else for this lad, a series of flashback unfolds.

Shivam is a small time goon who stays in India, probably on the borders of India-Pakistan encounters Aaliya (Reema)-Shivaji fame actress opposite Rajnikanth) and falls in love with her. He is a firm non-believer of God and takes life as it comes, meaningless and barren. Certain ill-faith circumstances force him to leave India and settle in Hong Kong. His phantasmal past follows him and inspires him for a noble cause. He saves Reema and frees her from this slavery and helotry, helping her to return to her country Pakistan.

Aawarapan- Direction, Cinematography and Music

* Mohit Suri has done a wonderful job. He joined Bhatt Camp with ‘Zeher'and gradually his direction is shaping up beautifully. This is his fouth film as a Director.

* Cinematography is a bit creepy at times; there is space for improvement in some places. The extreme violent scenes could have been more practical rather than hypothetical.

* Aawarapan is strongly built with baroque and sublime dialogues, distinguished soundtracks and music scores like “Tou Phir Aao” and “Tera Mera Rishta” by Mustafa Zayed-The latest Bhatt camp discovery who hails from Pakistan. A promising and a talented singer probably following Atif Aslam’s footsteps soon. You would notice the only peppy track in the movie “Maahiyan” by Suzzane again a native from Pakistan who holds a lot of chance in mainstream Bollywood cinema with her sensuous and embryonic voice. Raffaqat Ali Khan hums a Punjabi lyrical song “Maula Maula” which again makes you feel nostalgic only wanting more.

Actors and Performances:

* Emran Hashmi should be awarded for ‘Not Kissing’ instead acting for a change. His new make-over tunes in well with his character Shivam. Hashmi gives one of his best performances in Aawarapan with well versed script and impactful, naïve dialogue delivery.

* Shreya Saran looks daunting and average and so is Rana’s onscreen son Sahil. Purab Kohli is surprisingly weird but good at times.


* Aashitosh Rana leaves a powerful mark in certain dialogues especially the one when he converses with Reema - he plays a successfully violent and aggressive villain in Aawarapan.

* Mrinalini Sharma looks extremely sweet and leaves an impression throughout the movie with her innocence and her post-‘Shivaji’ makeover.

*Shaad Randhawa (Shivam’s Friend) who earlier starred in ‘Woh Lamhe’ seems to a promising actor. With rustic looks, expressive face and above-average acting skills this actor needs to hone them well and surely Bollywood would treat him like a star.

Flipside of Aawarapan:

Mohit Suri could have trimmed the highly violent action scenes which are unnecessary at some places. The India-Pakistan relationships would surely strengthen with this movie, but Mr.Suri you could have elaborated the actual motive of this movie which seems to be given less importance and looses its charm ultimately.

Aawarapan: The Verdict

No two minds the Bhatt camp creation is unique, yet again musical which ropes lot new music talents- rare in India. Awarapan is a worth-watching movie and this ‘lonely journey’ would be completed within two hours fifteen minutes flat! Overall Aawarapan is a musical Love story with action packed scenes and lastly imparting a special message- to curd the human trafficking, slavery and skin selling business.

Aap Ka Suroor-Movie Review

Caution- Please read at your own risk! Better carry some headache pills along with you before entering Himesh territory.

I am not drugged nor under some medical drug influence it’s only after I come back to my senses and overcome the ‘Himesh Hangover’ do I start writing this much-awaited review.
Aap Ka Suroor is announced as the ‘Real-life Himesh Story’ with HR who is a composer-cum-music director-cum-singer and now an actor! None other than most popular Rock-Star Himesh Reshamiya who is the leading hero of this movie who romances or rather lousily fumbles with daughter like child artist-turned-actress Hansika Motwani as ‘Our ‘He-mess bhai’ lady love Ria who is the amateur version of TV serial ‘Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand.’

The movie starts with instrumental soundtrack which excites you to watch the movie with full dedication and interest. You later realize that it’s too late to leave the exit gate and settle down looking forward for the much-hyped ‘Cap Haran’ of Himesh Reshamiya.
A Super-Indian-Rock Star flies to Germany for his so-called World- Music Concert along with his best buddy and business partner ‘Shravan’ who shares a better chemistry with HR than Hansika Motwani!

Plot-An Overview

The story begins with a dead body of a TV journo, Nadia Merchant, being found in a remote area, somewhere in Germany. Soon after, HR is arrested after a concert for murdering the television journalist. HR is put behind bars and incidents begin to unravel as the movie goes into a flashback.
Himesh meets Mr.Khurana who arranges ‘World Tour events’ and is eager to earn millions from this bankable rock star. Mallika Sherawat a.k.a Ruby is her secretary who is a die-hard Himesh fan. Himesh later meets the gorgeous and cute Hansika Motwani. In a span of 2-3 days and a number of nasal songs they ‘truly, madly and deeply’ fall in love with each other and its hard to digest that this could be his real life and much hyped love story.

Ria’s father (Sachin Khedekar) refuses to accept Himesh as his son-in-law and when you almost want to leave the theatre he breaks off his daughter’s marriage with an NRI faceless guy when he sees Himesh is ‘innocent’ on the TV and agrees for their ‘Shaadi’. Himesh refuses to work with Khurana who keeps mumbling his favorite dialogue “Haan Bhai Paisa Bolta hai”….as he has already committed to Raheja group. Mr.Khurana decides to take revenge as he bears huge losses and then begins an elaborate action scene which resembles the Hollywood matrix-type movies and for a few god-forsaken moments you wake-up, stop yawning and enjoy the movie. At last Himesh breaks his ‘Pratigya’ and removes his cap! Well this could be because he wants to pay his respect while visiting Nadia’s grave. It’s a tradition to remove hats and caps when you visit churches and graves. So this seems logic here though you would not be able to see his face more than 5 seconds that also only his side-portfolio minus cap.

USP of Aap Ka Suroor…………

* Soundtracks like ‘Ya Ali’, ‘Tanhaayiaan’, ‘Tere Bina’, ‘Jhooth nhi Bolna’ are peppy and worth humming.

* Hansika Motwani is extremely photogenic and looks like an angel holding tremendous acting potentials which could be noticed in the few scanty lines she utters. She has a long way to go, already gained publicity working with ‘controversy king’- she just needs decent looking co-star and a fare script to showcase her acting skills.

* The movie tries to clear certain unresolved, controversial questions which die-hard Himesh fans to know. Things like why does Himesh never smile and why is he so arrogant, etc etc …once you know you would regret it.

* Cinematography looks good with well presented and minutely planned locations and of course larger than life BMW action scenes.
* The Hansika Motwani wardrobe looks feminine and trendy. Roopa Chadda the fashion designer could have used more natural colors rather than shocking pink and royal purple more often.

* One liners are tickling and unconventionally humorous. Like the one when Shravan says to Himesh, “Main Teri naak kaise katwa sakta hoon? Agar teri naak kat gayi tou tu gaayega kaise!”


* Malika Sherawat looks refreshing for a change as you actually notice her dialogues rather than her sexy ‘latkas-jatkas’! Mehbooba O Mehbooba –Helen’s immortal dance number is played by Mallika Sherawat. Her sexy yet contemporary look works wonder while Himesh fails his nasal attempt of imitating Amjed Khan!

The movie has less Suroor and more of pit-falls

* This love-cum-suspense love story has neither a romantic theme nor a gripping suspense thriller instead you find a over-cooked and chewed up love story with lousy and leaked out suspense storyline which bores you no end.

* The 3 new-painted rickshaws in Germany is a tribute to Himesh Reshamiya’s Auto-driver fans-But please this is beyond our imagination and we refuse to merrily smile and appreciate your expensive tribute fantasies to your insane fans.

* Himesh Bhai’s scary close-ups with his disgusting lips bring goose-bumps and belches of your pre-lunch Korma Biryani. He should have taken inspiration from Preity Zinta and could have used a bit of Botox from her Vanity case.

* The story line is sidelined and the highlight and focus of the movie is nasal soundtracks. Himesh needs to learn the ABCD of acting, he better concentrate on his singing and save us from further sequels.


Trivia

Himesh wears 24 different caps throughout the movie! Phew! That’s close to changing a cap every 10 minutes throughout the movie.

Moral of the Story- Go an watch the movie out of curiosity and get an headache or go and watch the movie out of madness and wait for the sequel when he would remove the cap and continue his never ending nasal saga!

Rate This Movie
* ½
*- this star is dedicated to Sachin Khedekar and Shravan’s acting
½- * for Germany locations and Nasal soundtracks haunting me in my dreams.

Honeymoon Travels Private Limited-Take a Trip N you won't Regret this!

MUSIC: Vishal-Shekhar
CAST: Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Kay Menon, Raima Sen, Amisha Patel, Sandhya Mridul, Ranvir Shorey, Dia Mirza, Abhay Deol

Has the Seven Year Itch expired without a notice in your life??
Better take a trip to –Honeymoon travels private limited!

And Here we go...Fasten your seat belts....

With six couples with sundry backgrounds, contours and hues HTPL is really every bit of your penny spent!
It all begins with 6 couples hitching together on a trip to Goa for their ‘first honeymoon’...eh...Hmm... For most of them accept one (you know Shabana and boman Irani)
Strange pairs and charachter sketches

Amisha patel aka pinky looks too loud acting ridiculous ‘Punjabi Kudi,’ Boman and Shabana yet once again prove their theatrical acting skills on the big screen and save the movie, Kay Kay Menon is the one who surprises you the most with his true Bengali ‘bhalo ki bhalo’ accent and will take you one step ahead to this adventurous ride and Raima Sen acting as kay kay’s ‘Better half’ looks bold and audacious with her ‘bindaas act’ .Dia mirza looks sweet in her ‘gujju-ben’ act.

The USP of the movie
are Sandhya Mridul and UK playboy Vikram Chatwal who seem to represent the new age ‘shaadi.com’ and ‘dating darlings’ of the 21st century.
Songs like 1000 watts worth “Sajnaji vaari vaari” sung by melodious Sunidhi Chauhan and breezy song ‘Halke Halke’ penned by Javed akhtar and composed by Vishal-Shekhar -are refreshing for a change.

While Abhay deol and Minissha lamba look “sugar-dripped happy couple”(the salsa act-‘pyar ki ek kahani suno’) surprisingly director Reema Kagti could have given a better role to Abhay and Minissha rather than “Superman-Superwoman” couple!
Issues considered a taboo in India
like ‘gay relationships’ is highlighted without being prude and controversial. Though teen drug-abuse and peer pressure take a backseat of this bus they are still noticeable .
Overall this movie is a kaleidoscope of human relationships-a mixture of fantasy and fiction, well pictured scenic Goa and humble stay-ins of the honeymooners make you feel at home. While seeing the roller-coater promos the spectators expect too much- a ‘huge thrilling ride’. But all the same this movie is not disappointing either.
How do I rate this movie??

**1/2

****… ohh ..Aaah…oh my !!
***… hmm it’s good yeah!
**.. Ho..Hum(whistles..)
*.. I got a headache do you have , sarodon?

Ta Ra Rum Pum- ना सुर ना टाल!!

Ta Ra Rum Pum

There is no Sur Taal but it has some musical nodes attached to it. When Rani Mukherjee and Saif's acting skills, vishal-shekar's 'happy-go-lucky' music and Hollywood iishtyle direction by young 'salaam namaste' acclaimed director siddharth anand come together under larger than life yash raj banner you expect nothing but the best. Right? Huh?
Well after Neil n Nikki your expectations are minimized as you understand that we easily get 'inspired' rather than re-awakening our creative instincts.
Ta ra rum pum originally titled as ‘Don’t Worry be happy’ is a ‘feel-good’ movie. RV (Saif) is an aspiring Car racer working as a mechanic-tier changer -serendipitously meets Harry (Javed Jaffery) who assists him to pursue his dream and falls head over heals in love with Radhika (Rani Mukherjee). “Pyaarse dono ek dusre ko shona bultate hai” so sweet! Later they meet, slowly and gradually love blossoms and they marry in a ‘weirdo-Bollywood-style’ car with the poor priest chanting mantras while the wild racer drives the car at an astounding speed! Radhika’s father is against this shaadi as he is keen on having an ‘intellectual daamaad’ rather than a ‘successful, rich but illiterate’ one! Surprisingly he neither bothers to attend the wedding nor tries to contact his beloved daughter-maybe he busy preoccupied handling his‘4th largest company in Manhattan! RV as he is fondly called by his near and dear ones wins up teem no of races and becomes the No 1 racer in USA. Soon in a flash of a second you see a fairy-tale beautifully woven where RV showers radhika with all the worlds’ riches and happiness and in the next few humdrum of ‘gaana –shaana’ they become the proud parents of Princess (Angelina) and champ (Ali)!
“Ab ek pyaare se kutte ki hi kami thi” and wham! Brown-furry beauty walks in-Bruno doggy that completes the ‘perfect family picture’!
In the first few minutes rani proves that “I-m-so-hot-n-sexy” image doesn’t suit her , saif looks cool as ice , javed adds “tadka to the dal”, Angela and Ali look so much like saif and Rani – for the next 3 hours you actually start believing that its oh-so real!
Though not so thrilling as the ‘dhoom vroom bikes’ car racing –the climax scene will thrill you and is the real action of Ta ra rum pum.
Some memorable moments which glue the viewers to their seats are when RV meets with a predictable car accident and the family comes on sadak. Soon everyone tries to support and help each other in the time of family crisis and finally the ‘scarred and scared’ saif emerges from the traumatic experience-wins the race and they all live happily ever after-A true Bollywood fairy –tale!
The music synchronizes with the movie-plot and fits in well. Title track by shreya ghoshal; tar a rum pum is melodious and inspiring one. For all those party owls ‘Ab tou forever’ by Kay kay, shreya ghoshal and vishal dadlani is simply rocking! Kiddies out there! “Siddharth uncle” has specially woven an animated tar a rum pum song for you so go and take pleasure in the movie with you friends, children, spouse and lover which will surely add a tune to your life!

Life in a Metro- Vague, Faded Mirror Reflections ……

लाइफ इन अ मेट्रो- जिन्दगी हमारी और तुम्हारी इन पथरीली इमारतों के दरमियान...

Anurag Basu shows us a contemplation of our own lives-each one of watching Metro would divulge himself to at least one of the nine (phew!) characters in the movie. Though a little bit exaggerated the movie has real-life like sets, backdrop, simple day-to-day attires that you and I would wear rather than those skimpy-clad Manish-Malhotra models, Music is soothing and in sync with the theme.

Scene one- Lights! Camera! Action! Music…Three vagabound, bearded looking men one with a stud in his ear. Playing guitar mouth organ and singing Raga Malhar welcoming rains in Mumbai…

Its starts of with Shikha(Shilpa Shetty) as a obedient polite, cultured married woman with a kid living with Ranjit(Kay Kay menon) hurrying up to meet Vaijanti(Nafisa Ali) her bharatnatyam guru on a breezy rainy day in Mumbai()

while Akaash(Shiney Ahuja) hurries up for the natak rehearsals(gee! He looks so handsome! And tempting. Gals are you listening?). Skyscrapers …building. Buses…train men, woman in different sizes and shapes immerge and dissolve in the crowd. This city never sleeps!
hmmm...and ...

In a distant room, Neha( Kangna Ranawat) is unveiled from a deep tired call centrish sleep by Shruti(konkna sen sharma) her room-mate working in a ‘creative’ add agency- single, desperate and virgin looking for a “sensitive,loving,prince-charming, intelligent…blah blah blah!(list is never ending..yawn..yawn..)over the net on shaadi.com! While Neha having as affair with her married boss Ranjit (who apparently is shruti’s Brother-in-law) serendipity, really?
.....now listen to this...

Rahul (Sharman Joshi) working in a call centre who would like to "race rather than take a morning walk" as he quotes in his own words quickly climbs the ladder of success by lending his flat keys(one night stands. with funny bleching sex scenes..Eeeuks!) To his colleagues and boss for gaining promotions and perks later falls in love with neha, save her from a 'Phenol-suicide' and both 'speckys' fall in love! Both continue to compromise their 'zameer,aatma' for pursuing their dreams.Later give up this 'zaalim naukri and boss ki chamchagiri' to pursue laauveee...hmmm

While Shikha believes there is no such thing as true love and a perfect lover, gets swept away by aakash and also gives him a peck on his lips(now that scene you wont wanna miss huh?) “
Shruti meets Monty hitched by shaadi.com but soon rejects him coz? He was staring at her cleavage “that’s so pervert my dream man would never do that” she thinks and yet again her search starts for another guy, but soon they meet again(so many encounters in 3 hours? It happens only in Bollywood!) Realizes she loves him at the time of his 'baarat-shaadi -naach gaana' is going on. Finally after a lot of drama-shama Monty abandons the shaadi to get back his lost love shruti!

“Yeh Sheher humme jitna deta hai usse kahin jyaada humse leta hai” (this city takes away more than it gives you)

But believe me our metro city is not that bad, here people come and fulfill their dreams, get their bit if privacy, better lives and more fun, liberal environment-Anurag should have looking at both the sides of the coins rather than showing villain-like picture of Metro.seriouly man!

Something Worthy to take note of...

Pritam Chakraborty’s music is rustic and melodramic. James lends a hoarse, manly voice to songs of Metro making it more live and subtle.Screenplay and dialogues should be applauded. Music is vibrant, Sharman joshi has immerges from his journey 'Excuse me' to 'Metro'as a more matured actor, Kay Kay menon and Irrfan khan are like Brethrens(brothers)-actors of real class,kangna looks anorexic, shilpa lends over her best performance after Dhadkan,konkna looks sweet , shiney ahuja cannot be ignored either(his looks i mean).
All I can say folks! Metro is once in a while, worth-watching movie! Though it won’t wet you eyes it would surely drench your hearts with a lot of unresolved questions and quests which we all seek…Life in a Metro…such are our stories(sob..sob!)

P.S- BTW… Dharam Paaji’s comic affair with Witchy like oldie-granny Nafisa Ali was a pain in the a**! They look like actors from some street play that need to brush up their basics!


rate this movie- ** 1/2 - ** stars for the movie,acting,screenplay,direction and 1/2 for those weird blokes shouting on top of their voices through-out the movie..lol!