Hari Puttar: Home Alone?

If you thought Hari Puttar is the desi version of Harry Potter, you are wrong. But there is something that is right, Hari Puttar seems to be INSPIRED by Home Alone series. The movie seems to be quite inspired from the source, be it the story or the scenes, as I could find scenes from Home Alone in the promos itself.


The movie has been set in a desi environment and subsequent changes are there but the level at which copying is done, I have doubts whether the director will be able to make the movie worth watching for Hindi-only viewers, leave alone those who watch English movies. Though I must admit Zain Khan is looking good in the movie, I don't think he looks much like a ten-year old as claimed by the movie.

In fact, after seeing the promo, I am once again thinking if we really lack subjects for children's movies, because except occasional good ones from a few people like Vishal Bhardwaj (Makdi, Blue Umbrella) or Sangeeth Sivan (Halo), we don't have much to give to our children, and when something comes, it turns out to be 'Inspired' from a Hollywood movie.

Anyways, I hope the movie makes a good watch for Children at least.

Madhur Bhandarkar: In no mood to stop

Fashion is all set for a children's day special release on 14th November. But Madhur, with everything set, seems in no mood to stop, or even take a break. While we still have two months to go for the release of Fashion, the first look of Madhur's next movie is out. They call it 'Jail'.

Jail, which has Neil Nitin Mukesh in lead, is expected to release on May 1st, '09, as per the producers, which include Percept picture company along with Bhandarkar Entertainment. Here is the first poster of the movie which shows Neil behind the bars.


Jail is a hard-hitting story of an ordinary man Parag Dixit who finds himself inside the four walls of a prison due to a series of unfortunate events around him. The film is from his point of view and tells the stories of several other inmates, as it happens in almost all Madhur Bhandarkar movies.

Vinay Pathak: Time starts now!

Vinay Pathak's time has finally come. After playing side roles in various films and getting noticed in every one, Vinay has made a place for himself in the film industry, and now he is getting more from it.

This October can be a wonderful experience for the actor because as per current news, two movies of Vinay are slated for a release on 10th October, both of them having him in the lead!!


Interesting, isn't it? A person who was seen only in comic roles until a few months back, is now going to have two movies of 'his' released on the same day.

The two movies of Vinay are Dasvidaniya and SRK.

Dasvidaniya is a situational comedy in which the hero, that is Vinay, knows that he will die in three months and hence prepares a list of ten things he would like to do before dying. I guess Dasvidaniya might make a wonderful movie.

The second one, SRK, if as interesting as its name, can work wonders too. In the movie, Vinay plays the title role of SRK, that is, Shivaji Ramchandra Khote. In SRK, Vinay has Rituparna Sengupta working with him, who was in Main, Meri Patni aur Woh also, along with Manoj Joshi and Dilip Prabhavalkar, who had played Gandhi in Lage Raho Munnabhai.

Talisman: Big B's New Look

Talisman is the new movie of Amitabh Bachchan that is to come quite late in time. The movie is a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production and will be directed by Ram Madhvani. Ram is the person who had specially directed one song, 'Bheja Kum' in Aamir Khan's Taare Zammen Par. (the one in which all letter-insects are running towards Ishan Awasthi)

The movie seems to be quite inspired by Chandrakanta, Neerja Guleri's hit serial on Doordarshan which was subsequently based on Devki Nandan Khatri's play of the same name.

Here is a promo of the movie.

Horn OK Please: Trailor

First song of Nana Patekar, Rimi Sen and Muzammil Ibrahim starrer Horn OK Please/Pleassss is out. The music for the movie is given by Lalit Pandit of Jatin-Lalit duo. The movie is slated for an October 10th release.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.