Rock On: Movie review

Well, I may be biased to some extent as I was seeing the movie with my friends, before my convocation day. But there is no doubt Rock On is a good movie. And most probably more than that.

Three things that come out of Rock On!!

1. Abhishek Kapoor is a director now. He deserves to be counted.
2. Arjun Rampal is an actor now. Superb acting by him.
3. Farhaan akhtar is a singer now. I do not know the sur n taal but he rocked. Especially in Tum ho to, where his voice counts a lot more than in other songs.

Another thing that can be said about the actors' performances is that Koel Puri is more than a show girl this time and Prachi Desai is okay too. Purab Kohli can act, to some extent.

But the top credit goes somewhere else. Hats off to Shanakr Mahadevan - Ehsaan Noorani - Loy Medossa. The Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

They rock it man. They are the three, No, the one, who rocked it all the way.

Rock on is a story of friends, partners, basically a rock band who want to do it. But then they lose and then there is life. And then, through a series of incidences, the past comes in front of them.

Now, will they be able to make it?

The answer, of course, is a yes. But the way movie talks about relationships, friendships, and problems of life against one's own wishes, is what is worth seeing.

And then, the music makes is worth listening all the time. In fact, even crying out loud those songs in the crowd of a hall full of students, the way it turned out for me.

Technically speaking, the movie is quite sound. The way director unfolds the story of past is good too. Farhaan Akhtar is the film's hero and does a fine job, though there is scope for doing much, much, much better. ;)

Actors have mostly given good performances. Luke Kenny is quite good too. Cinematography is wonderful in some places, though director has mostly tried to go simple. The family tensions in Farhan's home have a bit too much of dialog that could be done better with more silence. But even with them, the movie doesn't go heavy.

The final note: If you are young, Watch it. You should like it. And if you are not young, watch it if you want to be young again.

PS: The most unique feature of the movie according to me was the one line appeal at the end. Do not download music. Buy a CD.

Well done guys. Keep rocking on!!

Heroes Trailer

Cast: Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Preity Zinta, Sohail Khan, Vatsal Sheth, Dino Morea, Amrita Arora, Riya Sen.

Music Director: Monty Sharma, Sajid-Wajid.

Cinematography: Binod Pradhan, Gopal Shah.

All a movie can need after this much is a good director. Hope Sameer Karnik does that this time.

Watch out for the Heroes this diwali.

Hari Puttar Arrives

Watch the trailer of Hari Puttar: Comedy of terrors.

First Trailer: Fashion

The stage is all set for Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion. Watch the first trailer of the big flick.
Fashion stars Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Arbaaz Khan, Harsh Chhaya, Madhur Bhandarkar, Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra, and Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Shail Hada: There again

He came in rocking with Saanwariya. He got no acclaim. No awards. And almost no nominations. But he is here. Again.

Shail Hada had a bang with one song, the title number of Saanwariya. But I could never understand why, why didn't he even get a nomination in most of the award functions. Monty Sharma had given him the best and Shail had performed.

But then, there was no name of Shail on the charts where Monty received his due credit almost everywhere.

Now that Monty is back with Chamku, there is a new voice for Bobby Deol that I find different. You guessed it right. It's Shail Hada again. Once again, Monty has shown his belief in the singer and the result is there.

I hope Shail will be having more films in the future. After all, if Ranbeer can get the credit for copying Raj Kapoor, why can't Shail get the same for copying Kishore?

Tahaan

Tahaan. A movie by Santosh Sivan. Arrives this September.


I think after seeing the past works of Santosh Sivan and the promos and stills of the movie, I can advertise this movie. Santosh has made some wonderful movies, my favorite Halo being one of them. I remember seeing and loving Halo when I was a child myself, and then, reading praise for Halo as a technically sound movie.

And now there is Tahaan, a movie based in Kashmir. A story of a nine year boy Tahaan and his donkey Birbal.

The movie stars Purav Bhandare (kid), Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna and Victor Bannerjee and is scheduled to release in September.

Watch the promo of Tahaan.

Dostana Teaser

Karan Johar's new flick Dostana. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra. The teaser is out.

Cine Blogs

Our cinema is speaking. In a different language now. In a language that is more clear, guileless, and simple. Yes. It's blogging. Blogging is something that has been taken well by the Indian Cinema. Cinestars are jumping into the blogosphere one after the other.

So here we have them, the actor-bloggers.

Amitabh Bachchan at http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/

Here we start. And so does the film industry. Amitabh Bachchan, the Shehenshah of Bollywood, is one of the most popular bloggers in India, may be the world. In fact, when we talk in terms of PageRank given by Google, Amitabh's is the only blog that scales 5/10, highest among Indian film stars.

The secret of Amitabh's success, his dedication, can be seen on his blog too, as it is updated almost every single day.


Aamir Khan at http://www.aamirkhan.com

The second in the list is Aamir Khan. Aamir too is quite regular and writes on various topics, that include his life, his films, and more.


Shekhar Kapur at http://www.shekharkapur.com

Film maker Shekhar Kapur is one of the most serious cine bloggers of India. Shekhar also writes on various topics (literally) and blogs quite regularly. Recommended entry. Especially if you want to know how intelligent filmmakers can be.


Salman Khan at http://duskadum.blogspot.com

A normal blog. On a normal platform. That's the reason Salman Khan is known as masses' hero. Nothing much to see though, except the humility that comes in with a blogspot platform.


Karan Johar at http://www.mynameiskaran.com

Oh yes! Our very own Karan Johar has also started blogging. And by now, he has written on quite a number of topics, most of them related to movie, mostly his movies. But a good blog still.


Other Bloggers in the industry are Gul Panag and Pooja Bedi, who are not that regular. We hope they write on too. And also that there are more bloggers in the industry. Waiting for those from SRK and RGV.

Karzzz

If you are a Himesh Reshammiya fan, it's good news. The music of Karzzz is all set for a grand release on 25th August, almost 2 months prior to the release of the movie which is scheduled for a October 17th release, thus ensuring you listen to Himesh bhai for at least two months on music channels.

The soundtrack of Karzzz consists of 9 songs and 10 remixes, hence 19 tracks in all. You must have heard the pieces of Lut Jaun, Tandoori Nights and Hari Om by now. (In case you haven't, check out the videos at the end of article)

Karzzz also has two versions of the super popular Ek Haseena Thi (Oops! It was Urmila) in Himesh's voice of course. It'll be worth seeing what Himesh makes of the masterpiece sung by Kishore Kumar.

Among other songs, 'Lut Jaaun' sounds good and 'Hari Om' will find a place in not very long time. 'Tandoori Nights' is not looking as good but remixes of the song should do better.

Rest will be known only when movie releases. Though one thing sure is that even though the music is good, Karz of Laxmikant-Pyarelal is not going to be repeated.

Here are the released videos from the movie.

Lut Jaun



Hari Om


Tandoori Nights

A Wednesday

The second half of 2008 is seeing a lot of 'different' movies coming up. Be it Mumbai Meri Jaan, The Last Lear, Tahaan, or even Chamku. The new name in the list is A Wednesday, the directorial debut of Neeraj Pandey with a rock solid cast of Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and Jimmy Shergill.

The story revolves around a Mumbai Police Commissioner who gets a call demanding four militants' release in exchange for information on bombs set in the city. And then, events follow, on a wednesday.

I hope the movie is worth a watch. Check the trailor here.

Ru Ba Ru

Randeep Hooda is back. The tough guy in D is back with his new movie ru ba ru that is going to be a romantic flick. The movie is directed by debutant Arjun Bali who has previously made a lot of ads and short films. In the movie, Randeep is opposite another debutant Shahana Goswami.

Here is the first song from the movie which I quite liked. Hope you like it too.



Randeep is also coming in Ketan Mehta movie Rang Rasiya or Colors of Passion which is based on the life of famous Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. In Rang Rasiya, it's Nandana Sen opposite Randeep.

Mit Jaaye.. Kidnap

"Hell is right here Raina!"

The last sentence of the Kidnap promo, and the not-gonna-fight guy of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na suddenly starts looking like can-do-anything hero of Bollywood movies. And next, there is a song. Yet another from Pritam, who has been with Sanjay Gadhvi in Dhoom and Dhoom 2 also, but has given a bit different music this time as far as this new song from Imran Khan's new flick Kidnap suggests.

Check out for yourself. Here we go.

Listen to Drona

The first sound bites of Drona are here. Abhishek Bachchan's long awaited movie Drona is going to release on October 2nd and you must have seen the First promo of the movie, that reminds me of Alchemist, to be true. But now, here is some music from Drona, the first song to be launched, the title song of Drona.

Music of Drona was supposed to be given by Ashu-Dhruv, the talented duo that gave Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar (MP3) music. But the credits in first song show only Dhruv Ghanekar, reminding me of Jeet-Pritam, which later turned into Pritam alone.

Well, more shall be seen later, but for now, check out the video of the first song from Goldie Behl's 'Drona'.

The Big Friday

22nd August was surely a big friday, as there were six movies lined up for a release, though some of have been rescheduled to coming week or other. What 22nd August did not see was Chamku and C Kkompany, but what it saw is no less. It was Maan Gaye Mughall e Azam, an already praised Mumbai Meri Jaan, and a hyped Phoonk.

The results have been quite okay too. While MGMA turns out to be a not-too-bad comedy, Mumbai Meri Jaan is a decent movie for those who like serious cinema. But most important of all, this Friday brings Phoonk, the black magic story, which seems to be the end of the black magic working on Ram Gopal Varma.


Phoonk has been praised by most of the critics and moviegoers are once again finding it possible to go for a RGV movie, which had in itself become a scary thing for past some time.

On the Other hand, there is Mumbai Meri Jaan, a movie that brings in five different stories which center the serial bomb blasts that took place in Mumbai local trains on July 11th 2006. Mumbai Meri Jaan is a fine work on a sensitive subject by Marathi movie director Nishikant Kamat who won Swarovski Trophy in 2006 for his film Dombivli Fast.

Chamku: Will Bobby shine?

The music is superb, at least those two songs lines of which every channel surfer has learnt by heart now are really wonderful. The promos, at large, are good and indicate the movie might be good too. Most positive point, the movie doesn't seem to be one of Bobby Deol.

Yes, Chamku is no Apne or Jhoom Barabar Jhoom if promos are to be believed. The only doubts are whether the movie will be technically as sound as it seems in the first look? And still bigger question, will it bring about the much needed change for Bobby Deol as an actor?


Though I feel, after seeing the bits of his next movie 'Ek-the power of one' with Sangeeth Sivan, that Bobby will be again Bobby after this movie, I hope there might be some change in his image and serious movie makers might like to take him for 'different' roles. (though I feel Sangeeth Sivan is a good film maker, Ek didn't impress me)

As far as the movie is concerned, I have much hopes from the movie not only because the promos are good but also because of it's director Kabeer Kaushik. Kabeer has to his credit 'Seher' which was an absolutely wonderful movie, while the actors were Arshad Warsi and Mahima Chaudhri, not to forget Pankaj Kapoor.

More will be clear on 29th August now as the release of Chamku has been rescheduled from 22nd August, of course because of 6 movies clashing together. I hope Chamku shines well.

Himesh Reshammiya is back with Karzzz

I don't care whether Aapka Suroor was a hit or a flop, I don't care whether people liked it or not, I don't even care whether people think I can act or not, I will do what I feel like.

That seems to be the attitude of Himesh Reshammiya when you see the first promo of Karzzz. And what's the second thing? The music, the song you listen to. It really feels good to listen to 'lut jaaun lut jaaun lut jaaun, main lut jaun, uss karz mein'. Either it's different, it's better. Or it's just that we are listening to Himesh Reshammiya in a new album after a long time. Whatever the reason be, Karzzz will be something to watch out for when it's music releases on 25th August.

For now, try to make up with the video that shows Himesh with Urmila and a new actress.

Jaago: Small Movies by Big Directors

A few months back I saw a short film called Positive, made by Farhan Akhtar, starring Boman Irani and Shabana Aazmi. I loved the film. Later I found there was another movie called Blood Brothers, that was around the same topic, AIDS. And today I found a blog entry on PFC that reviews both these movies along with two more. Here it is:

Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, for one of their project on helping humanity, have united with 4 directors Mira Nair, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan and Vishal Bharadwaj to co-produce 4 short films on issues regarding AIDS education and awareness. These short films are taking the AIDS awareness on more personal level with some beautiful and some incredible journeys involving blood relations, lovers and strangers with urges either sexual or just plain human.

1. Migration (2007).
Directed by: Mira Nair.
Written by: Zoya Akhtar.
Starring: Shiney Ahuja, Sameera Reddy, Irfan Khan and Raima Sen.
URL: MIGRATION

Migration is a set of parallel stories between a husband and his lover, husband?s wife, a mason worker his wife and infants. This short is very well directed, right from the drought death visuals to marine drive tides. The cinematography is eye catching. Thanks to Shiney Ahuja?s speaking eyes and Irfan Khan?s emotions for his lover, one way maybe. The core message of the story is delivered by sex education street actor Vijay Raaz with Beedi song in the background. Its the unconventional migration that is thought and written by Zoya Akhtar gives a different but convincing journey. It was exciting to see marathi stage and screen actress Sulabha Deshpande as Sameera?s mother-in-law, little has she changed from Choukat Raja?s (1991) mother.

2. Positive (2007).
Directed by: Farhan Akhtar.
Written by: Rajesh Devraj.
Starring: Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi and Arjun Mathur.
URL: POSITIVE

Positive is the story of AIDS awareness for a family as one of the members becomes HIV positive. The effects of it in a broad picture and a very tiny extremely personal point of view is very well written by Rajesh Devraj, whose future writings are Farhan Akhtar starrer Fakir of Venice and Shashanka Ghosh project Quick Gun Murugun. Boman Irani is fantastic with his lowering speaking abilities and at the same time with the desires of a young photographer to capture something. But it needed Farhan Akhtar?s trick to bring out the moment absolutely necessary for this story. The moment when Arjun?s character is positioning the rose in the window. This is perhaps the same transformation moment that occured in Dil Chahta Hai (2001) when Akash (Aamir Khan) calls up Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) only to realise subconsciously he dialed Sid?s (Akshaye Khanna) number. Incredible. Shabana Azmi is short but plays the character who has already past previously mentioned transformation.

3. Prarambha (2007).
Directed by: Santosh Sivan.
Starring: Prabhu Deva and Skandhas.
URL: PRARAMBHA

A truck driver (Prabhu Deva) finds an unknown boy Kittu (Skandhas) hiding in the back of his truck. Truck driver finds it unsolvable to get rid of an unknown boy riding with him. Kittu hands him a letter written by his mother with an address. Truck driver agrees to take him there. But then out of humanity he finds himself on a quest to make the people around Kittu realise what he feels for kittu. This movie is a cry out towards those strangers who might have some humanity left in them. Prabhu Deva does a great job. His apological and optimistic smiles are the driving force for the audience and kittu as well. Skandhas as Kittu is nothing short of a applauding performance. He represents the understanding son, rejected school friend and a happy boy. Though there aren?t many opportunities for Mr Sivan to use his lens he still captures the moments that do not need words.

4. Blood Brothers (2007).
Directed by: Vishal Bharadwaj.
Story idea by: Matthew Robbins and Ajit Ahuja.
Starring: Siddharth, Pavan Malhotra and Ayesha Takia.
URL: Blood Brothers

This story brings in the most courageous factor in the AIDS awareness. The point of view of the main victim, the one with the disease. This is the best short among the four. An ordinary man hears his doctor say that he is HIV positive. Devastated by the news he gives up on his life to find something that out smarts him. This is an absolutely astonishing story. This movie proves the fact that you do not need 1000 cuts in a 5 min movie to make it interesting. Though non-linearity exists in the narration it never seems a cliche by the creation of scars on Siddharth?s faces. This short challenges the viewer by putting in the shoes of the protagonist and ask them what if? Kudos to Mr Bharadwaj. This one is a must see.

Overall rating: 8/10.

Original text here. You can also search for these movies on Youtube yourself. They are there too.

Chandni Chowk to China

If you missed Olympic and wonder how Chinese look, or if you feel bored seeing promos of Singh is Kinng all the time, or if you want to see more stunts coming from Akshay Kumar than he's performing in Khatron ke Khiladi, Chandni Chowk to China may be a good option for you.

Here is the first look of Chandni Chowk to China which is expected to release this Diwali, on 24th October.

Hello

It was literary. But now it's about movies. The second bestseller from Chetan Bhagat, 'One Night @ The Call Center' is going to hit big screens as 'Hello'. Salman plays Chetan in the movie and Katrina is in a special appearnce too.

Here is the much awaited first promo of the movie.



The movie, directed by Atul Agnihotri, is expected to release on September 19.

Can God survive past Ranbir?

August has been interesting in the movie circle and is expected to be interesting in the coming weeks too. With Singh is Kinng getting the it-had-to-be-like this huge response and Bachna ae Hasino and Rumy Jaffrey's God Tussi Great Ho slated for the next week, the battle seems far from ended.

Ugly and Pagli which came on 1st of August survived well and is expected to work with multiplex audience whereas Singh is Kinng is guaranteed to work well in public theatres, especially small towns and all.

Bachna ae Hasino which is set to see an August 15th release is expected to fare well too. And seeing these two, God Tussi Great Ho may find the going a bit difficult.

The interesting thing is that coming next week, things may get more confusing if movies release as per the dates available now. In present scenario, there are 6 movies that are to release on August 22nd: Tusshar's C Kkomapany, Bobby-Priyanka's Chamku, Rahul Bose-Mallika starrer Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam, Mumbai Meri Jaan, My friend Ganesha 2, and finally, Ram Gopal Varma's Phoonk.

Of these, Chamku, Mumbai Meri Jaan, and to some extent Phoonk look strong, though none of them seems to be a mass movie. My Friend Ganesha may find it difficult to reach their audiences. C Kkompany holds nothing special and should survive somehow for a few weeks. It will be worth seeing also if Rahul Bose works with Mallika as good as did Ranvir Shorey.

End of August brings Hijack which is not looking as strong on promos as it was going on talks, and Rock on!! that may well find it's new base among younger audiences.

Basically, after Singh is Kinng, there is not much that can be said about movies in August, but one thing that is sure is that we can find some good material with Chamku and Mumbai Meri Jaan out there. I wish Chamku is not another movie wasted by Bobby Deol as he's looking promising after a long time. Mumbai Meri Jaan is good on cast too, and the previews have been encouraging.

Mumbai Meri Jaan

It was a movie I had loved the promo of. Recently I found a review by Anurag Kashyap on in.com which is here.

Possibly India?s ?Crash?.. or i don?t know how else to describe it..Saw the rough cut , on Nishikant?s avid.. he wanted to bounce it off me and i was cleanbowled.. again the familiar feeling went through me.. why did i not think of it and why did i not make it..

The film begins in a police station with cops discussing sunil more(the marine drive rape case), one(Vijay maurya) of who is going on a holiday and the other(Paresh Rawal) counting his last few days in the service..then it introduces us to the computer salesman(kaykay) with his unemployed friends in a irani cafe talking about cricket and you also see that he has a phobia of muslims or probably distrust and hatred, then you see the bicycle coffeeseller (Irrfan) who is fond of perfumes and then the film introduces us to the bite hungry TV journo(soha ali khan) and her boyfriend who disapproves of her job and how they are indifferent to the the subjects of their story and she defends it (before she herself becomes a story) and finally we see the US phobic executive(madhavan) who prefers to commute to his work by local train and not invest in a car.. and then Nishikant tells us the day and date of all these random observations into the life of people..

It?s the 9th of july 2006.. the numerous blasts in the train and what it brought out in people.. some of them victims.. their fear and paranoia.. Kaykay is sure that the suspicious muslim guy who hangs out at the irani cafe is one of the perpetrators of the tragedy and his subsequent rage and loss of innocence.. Madhavan?s mortal fear of trains.. his unaware pregnant wife of the tragedy that almost missed him.. Irrfan wanting to avenge his humiliation in front of his family by the floor incharge of the perfume section by figuring out a dangerous game that he can play with the paranoid distrusting police and administration.. the wisdom of the retiring cop always in confrontation with the idealistic cop who had to cancel his holiday.. and the tv journo who has now become the story.. anger,humility, fear and fearlessness, paranoia, self realizations, hate and self loathing, all surface over the facade of the perfect lie of a life we dream of in a metropolis..

It tells us of a beautiful time and the way city was before the national security became the ultimate excuse for invasion of privacy and privacy became such an aspiring word..Outstanding performances by a stellar cast and the best ever of their lives by Paresh rawal and Soha Ali Khan.. an incredible and courageous followup to DOMBIVALI FAST by NISHIKANT KAMAT..

The kind of a film that we all need to go see it in theatres and take our friends along with us, this film needs our effort for the sake of the kind of cinema we talk animatedly about. Spread the good word.

Find the original review here.