ZIINDAGI 50 50 Review

Matey Moviez, Ramgopal Production and Spotlight International Films’ Ziindagi 50 50 (A) is based on the philosophy that life does not give everything to people. To gain something, a person has to lose something. The story is about people living and struggling in Bombay. Birju (Rajan Verma) is an autorickshaw driver who lives with his wife, Rupa (Supriya Kumari). He dreams of owning a house which the MHADA is due to give him. In fact, so keen is he on owning the house that he says, he would die if his dream is not realised. Madhuri (Veena Malik) is a street walker in Bombay, thrown into the profession by her mother when they were in Delhi. She hates policemen because of an incident which occurred while she was still studying in school. She is friendly to Birju who drops her every night at work. She hates police inspector Pawar (Murali Sharma) who often raids the place where she and other girls service clients for Anna (Ganesh Yadav). Mota (Atul Parchure) is the common pimp for all the girls. The film also has a track of a struggling filmmaker, Addy (Arya Babbar), and his junior artiste-friend, Naina (Riya Sen), who is waiting for a break as a leading lady in a film. Addy has promised her that when he gets his break, he would cast her as the heroine.

Rupa suddenly realises one day that her husband has not been allotted a house by the MHADA. She seeks the help of her neighbour, Lele (Rajpal Yadav), and goes to the officer in charge (Adi Irani) at the MHADA office. This, in spite of the fact that Lele harasses her sexually. The MHADA officer asks Rupa for sexual favours if she wants her husband to be allotted a house. Rupa rebukes him but then relents as she fears for husband Birju’s life. But in spite of warming the officer’s bed, he refuses to give her the allotment letter. Lele fights for Rupa’s right and gets her the allotment letter but Rupa is distraught about having compromised her self-respect for the house. She breaks down in front of her husband and tells him the truth about the sexual favour she had given the MHADA officer. Instead of appreciating the fact that Rupa had done what she had done for his happiness, he walks out on her.

Meanwhile, Birju himself had gotten physical with Madhuri in a weaker moment after hearing her sob story about how she got initiated into the profession. Soon after her sexual encounter with Birju, Madhuri gives in to the demands of police inspector Pawar in spite of hating him to the core. After that, she meets a forlorn Birju who has deserted his wife. What does she tell Birju? Does she ask him to go back to his wife? Or does she live happily ever after with Birju? Or does she continue in her profession? Or does she return to Delhi?

Addy, meanwhile, has gotten a break from producer Khanna (Rajesh Beniwal) of Delhi and he keeps his promise to give Naina a break as a heroine. But Khanna won’t start the film unless Naina sleeps with him (Khanna) and when Naina insults him, Khanna asks Addy to cajole her into giving in. Addy does exactly that and explains to Naina that sleeping with Khanna was no big deal for their breaks. Naina gives in. However, on the first day of shooting, Addy’s hero (Kiran Jhanjani) refuses to co-star with Naina as his leading lady. So what does Addy do? Does Naina’s compromise go waste?

Rajiv S. Ruia’s story is quite ridiculous because it rests on the philosophy that a woman can never achieve anything in life without compromising or giving sexual favours to people. S. Sachindra’s screenplay is as ridiculous as Ruia’s story and, if one can say so, the story and screenplay belong to an era gone by. The drama is loud and so underlined that it would seem, there was no word like subtlety in the dictionaries of the writers. There is so much of selling one’s body to get work done or to make a living that it leaves the audience repulsed. Also, the character of Addy is shown to be so opportunistic that the viewer is left with a bad taste in the mouth, more so because he is led to believe that Addy is a hero. Also, Birju getting physical with Madhuri looks uncalled for and lowers his character. Again, the conversation between Madhuri and Birju after he has walked out on his wife does not add anything to the drama because Birju’s wife, Rupa, has put forth similar reasons before Birju. Likewise, the character of Lele does not ring true when he reveals all to Rupa in the end. For, the audience is left wondering why he was behaving in such a reprehensible manner when he has the audacity to call his wife a person of loose character. All in all, the story and screenplay seem to have been written with a mindset that won’t appeal to a majority of the viewers. Bunty Rathore’s dialogues abound in four-letter words, which will irritate the family and ladies audience but the masses may not mind that. The other dialogues are definitely well-written and carry weight.

Rajan Verma acts reasonably well but is not hero material. His dialogue delivery leaves something to be desired. Riya Sen hardly gets any scope. Veena Malik acts ably and impresses with an honest performance. Supriya Kumari acts with effortless ease and makes a fine debut but she is not heroine material. Arya Babbar is okay. Rajpal Yadav is very effective. His performance in the scene in which he confronts the MHADA officer and the one in which he confesses to Rupa is especially lovely. Murali Sharma is first-rate and does an outstanding job of the character of inspector Pawar. He acts so naturally that he evokes instant hatred for himself. Ganesh Yadav has his moments. Atul Parchure is very good. Adi Irani lives the character of the MHADA officer. Rajesh Beniwal is effective. Raj Premi (as the police inspector in Delhi) does fairly well. Hiya Singh is average as Maya’s (now Madhuri) mother. As her father, Prashant Jaiswal is good. Kiran Jhanjani leaves a mark in a special appearance.

Rajiv S. Ruia’s direction is average because, like his story and the screenplay, the narrative style also went out of fashion long back. Music (Amjad-Nadeem and Vivek Kar) is the best part of the film, besides the performances of some of the actors. ‘Tu saamne jo aaye’, ‘Saade naal aaja’, ‘Toh se naina’ and ‘Rabba’ are very well-tuned and appealing songs. Lyrics (Shabbir Ahmed, Ashish Pandit, Deepak Agrawal and Dev Negi-Vivek Kar) are appropriate. Song picturisations (Shabina Khan) are routine. Mukesh Maru’s camerawork is ordinary. Sets are commonplace. Editing is so-so.

On the whole, Ziindagi 50 50 is a poor show with the added disadvantage of lacking in face value. It will prove to be a non-starter at the box-office.

HUM HAI RAAHI CAR KE Review

Goel Screencraft’s Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke (UA) is a road film. Shammi Suri (Dev Goel) and Priyanka Lalwani (Adah Sharma) are neighbours and very good friends. Dev works in an IT company while Priyanka works in a call centre for a medical company. The two set out in Dev’s car from Bombay to Pune to attend a marriage. Instead of reaching in a few hours, the two get into one problem after another and even get arrested by police inspector Karate (Sanjay Dutt). Priyanka, who loves Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, is in love with another neighbour of hers, John (Samrat Mukherjee), but she doesn’t have the courage to tell him so. In fact, Priyanka is a very shy girl and often finds herself lip-locked when she has to talk. How Shammi helps her get over her problem during the course of their journey and how he tries to bring Priyanka and John together is also revealed in the film. What happens ultimately? Do Shammi and Priyanka reach in time for the marriage in Pune? Does inspector Karate put Shammi and Priyanka behind bars or does he let them go scot-free? What is their crime or what are their crimes? Does Priyanka muster courage to convey her feelings to John? What happens to the friendship between Shammi and Priyanka?

Dev Goel and Jyotin Goel have penned a story and screenplay which has some light and entertaining moments, but in totality, the script does not keep the audience engrossed throughout the drama. That is to say, while some jokes and anecdotes entertain, the same cannot be said about the drama in its entirety. Also, the heroism of Shammi comes across too late in the day. Agreed, Shammi’s heroism in the form of him trying to unite Priyanka and John does come across but that seems to be more incidental than primary. As a result, the drama appears to be frivolous and, if one may say so, scattered. The angle of police inspector Karate, which ought to have been hilarious, isn’t so. Likewise, casting Chunkey Panday in four different roles is a gimmick which would’ve worked had the scenes with him in each role been absolutely funny but they are just about okay, thereby greatly diluting the impact of the casting. Probably, the biggest drawback of the drama is that although it is a youthful love story, the audience doesn’t root for the principal characters of the love drama. In fact, there is nothing in the script which makes the characters of Shammi and Priyanka endearing to the viewers. Also, the shortcoming of Priyanka does not seem to be such a big disability that her overcoming it would gladden the hearts of the viewers. Actually, the script is so structured that there is hardly any romance in the film. Comedy is enjoyable only at places. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence. Drama is minimal. Dialogues, penned by Sreekanth Agneeaswaran and Dev Goel, are good at places and ordinary at others.

 

Dev Goel makes an average debut. He looks okay but needs to go easy on his overtly animated acting and work a bit more on his dialogue delivery. Adah Sharma is cute and earnest. Sanjay Dutt is okay in a special appearance but his work seems to have been wrapped up in a hurry. Samrat Mukherjee makes his presence felt in a brief role. Chunkey Panday acts well in the four roles of C.C. Chothia, Dino, Khukhri Thapa and Paaji but if he still is not able to create the desired mirth, it is because of the writing. Juhi Chawla leaves a fine mark in a special appearance as the paan-chewing doctor. As her nurse, Meenal Sharma is effective. Amit Mistry does an excellent job as Suresh Amladi. Tariq Vasudeva is alright as Priyanka’s boss, Monty. Rati Agnihotri has her moments as Shammi’s mother. As his father, Viveck Vaswani gets very little scope. Atul Shrivastav is okay as havaldar More. Ashish Ranglani passes muster in the role of Rocky Bhavnani. Anupam Kher is alright in a special appearance. Vinita Razdan (as TV anchor), Rajesh Dubey (as banker), Soneer Wadhera (as gorilla man), Nirmal Soni (as Sahil Baba), Brij Gopal, Rio Kapadia (as Khan Sahab), Ashutosh Gajiwala (as hacker Prashant), Priya Pereira (as girlfriend of Monty) and the rest pass muster.

Jyotin Goel’s direction is alright. But although the film is about youngsters, his narration may not exactly cater to them. Music (Sangeet and Siddharth Haldipur) is weak. Lyrics (Sreekanth Agneeaswaran) is nothing to shout about. Nitin Sagar’s cinematography is okay. Jaswant Singh’s action is routine. Dilip Singh’s sets are fair. Shree Narayan Singh’s editing leaves something to be desired.

On the whole, Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke is entertaining in small parts only but dull otherwise. It will, therefore, fail to make any mark. The poor initial of the film will only add to its tale of troubles.

ISHKQ IN PARIS Review

PZNZ Media’s Ishkq In Paris (UA) is the love story of Ishkq (Preity Zinta) and Akash (Rhehan Malliek), which starts and blossoms in Paris. Ishkq is half-Indian, half-French and lives with her French mother, Marie (Isabelle Adjani), in Paris, after the divorce of her parents. She is a fun-loving girl but she hates the institution of marriage because of obvious reasons. She meets Akash while travelling in a train from Rome to Paris. He is on his way to Paris as he has to board a plane to London from there the next day. Akash is also an Indian, who is settled in London. He also dislikes the institution of marriage.

Ishkq and Akash strike up a friendship and decide to spend the evening and night together in Paris. They both have a great time together and although Akash is keen to have sex with Ishkq, she is too Indian at heart to allow that. However, both have gotten fond of one another. They have also shared their secrets with one another because they are sure, they would never meet again. In fact, Ishkq categorically asks Akash never to come to Paris again.

As luck would have it, the wedding of Akash’s close friend, Karan, gets him to Paris once again after some time. Desperate to meet Ishkq, he spots her as soon as he reaches Paris and follows her home. He is shocked to know that Ishkq is the daughter of Marie, a very popular French film actress whom he adores. He persuades Ishkq to accompany him to Karan’s wedding and related functions. The two come closer to one another and even end up together in bed. Akash is now convinced, he is madly in love with Ishkq and despite his aversion to marriage, he is actually keen to marry her. But Ishkq holds herself back and turns down his marriage proposal because she is haunted by her parents’ divorce.

Dejected, Akash is all set to return to London the following morning. But before that, Ishkq’s mother tells her something that shakes Ishkq. What is it that she tells Ishkq? Does Ishkq marry Akash? Does she meet her estranged father (Shekhar Kapur)?

Preity Zinta and Prem Raj’s script (additional writing by Kausar Munir, Khalid Azmi and Raaj Verma) moves at a leisurely pace and tests the audience’s patience. The story fails to involve the audience as the two friends behave like one-day friends and refrain themselves from getting attracted to one another, physically or otherwise. Even if Akash does express his keenness on having physical relations with Ishkq, it is clear to the audience that his eagerness is not at all because he has fallen in love with her. In fact, he realises much later that he is in love with her. Even the comedy between Ishkq and Akash is more in dialogues and that intermittent comedy will also appeal only to the class audience. The characters of Ishkq and Akash are so unbelievable and plastic that the audience fails to connect with them. Consequently, the viewers simply aren’t concerned about whether Ishkq and Akash will come together or not. Since there’s not much romance, the audience feels nothing when the two of them separate. Even in the second half, the viewers remain disconnected when Ishkq turns down Akash’s marriage proposal, probably because they have not connected enough with Akash. The emotional scenes fall flat on their face because of the same lack of connection of the audience with the two characters. In short, the story and the screenplay are very tame because romance is almost completely absent, comedy is too class-appealing and very limited, drama is minimal and emotions fail to touch the heart. The drama also becomes monotonous because it revolves mainly around Ishkq and Akash only. Dialogues, penned by Preity Zinta and Prem Raj, are good but very class-appealing.

Preity Zinta acts well but a younger actress would have been more suitable for the role. Rhehan Malliek looks ill-suited to be cast as a hero opposite Preity Zinta. He does a fair job. Isabelle Adjani is quite okay as Marie. Salman Khan adds tremendous star value in an energetic song-dance number. Chunkey Panday leaves a mark in a brief role. Shekhar Kapur has just one scene to make his presence felt.

Prem Raj’s direction is alright but the script is such that it would entertain neither the classes nor the masses and neither the youngsters nor the older generation. Sajid-Wajid’s music is average and the songs haven’t been popularised well enough. Lyrics  (Prasoon Joshi, Jalees Sherwani, Kumaar, Kausar Munir and Priya Panchal; French lyrics by Sophie Choudry) are good. Choreography of the Salman Khan song-dance (by Mudassar Khan; song director: Longines Fernandes) is reasonably good. Choreography of the other songs (Saroj Khan and Bosco-Caesar) is okay. Background music (Sajid-Wajid) is very ordinary. Shiuli Thukral and Mohan Bingi’s sets are nice. Manush Nandan’s cinematography is eye-catching. Locations are very eye-pleasing. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing is good. Production values are rich.

On the whole, Ishkq In Paris is a dull love story which will fail miserably at the box-office and not only because of the dull promotion and poor initial.

 

AURANGZEB Review

AURANGZEB

Yash Raj Films’ Aurangzeb (UA) is a film about power, corruption, deceit and crime. Arya Phogat (Prithiviraj Sukumaran), a police officer, has been brought up by his uncle, DCP Ravikant Phogat (Rishi Kapoor). His father, police inspector Vijaykant Phogat (Anupam Kher), had lost interest in life years back, after messing up an operation to kill Yashvardhan Singh (Jackie Shroff), due to lack of evidence against him. Yashvardhan’s wife, Veera (Tanvi Azmi), had become a police informer against her own husband and had had to run away from him with one of her twin children. Years later, Arya learns that Veera had married his widower-father, Vijaykant. Veera and her son, Vishal (Arjun Kapoor), who were presumed dead years ago, have actually been living separately but under Vijaykant’s care. Vishal bears a striking resemblance to his twin brother, Ajay (Arjun Kapoor), who lives with father Yashvardhan Singh. Ajay does not get along with his dad.

DCP Ravikant Phogat, who is corrupt to the core, hatches a plot to expose the criminal activities of Yashvardhan, a mission left incomplete by brother Vijaykant, who has recently died. The DCP joins forces with nephew Arya and convinces Vishal to enter Yashvardhan’s house, posing as Ajay. To facilitate matters, Ajay is kidnapped by Ravikant and Arya and held captive by them, paving the way for Vishal to take his place and leak information about Yashvardhan Singh’s illegal activities to the police. Vishal has to pose as Ajay not just in front of his own father, Yashvardhan Singh, but also in front of Neena Wadhwa (Amrita Singh), Yashvardhan Singh’s paramour and business partner. Why, Vishal also has to feign an affair with his twin brother’s girlfriend, Ritu (newfind Sasheh Agha). As days pass, Vishal falls in love with Ritu.

Vishal keeps leaking information about his dad to Ravikant and Arya, who move forward in their exposé with the help of the incriminating evidence. On the other hand, Ravikant and Arya unite Ajay with mother Veera and also try to brainwash him (Ajay) into spilling the beans about his father’s illegal businesses before them.

Over time, Vishal develops a soft corner for his father and pleads for his safety from police. He also wins the confidence of his father, who is unaware that Vishal has replaced Ajay in the house. Calamity befalls Yashvardhan Singh because of action initiated by DCP Ravikant Phogat, and he has to be hospitalised. Vishal manipulates things in such a way that Neena has to resign from Yashvardhan Singh’s company.

Even as the tension between Arya and foster-brothers Ajay and Vishal refuses to be diffused, the task before Ravikant and Arya becomes very difficult. To make matters more difficult for Ravikant, his son-in-law, Vishnu (Sumeet Vyas), lays his hands on evidence against Ravikant’s equally corrupt police officer-son, Dev (Sikandar Berry). Since Vishnu is the only honest cop in the family, he threatens to expose brother-in-law Dev. Is he able to do so?

Meanwhile, Vishal is called for a meeting by Neena and her new partner, Bilal. Ravikant wants Vishal to use the meeting to give him more information about Yashvardhan Singh. Ravikant plans things in such a way that Yashvardhan Singh would be killed once the meeting between Vishal and Neena is over. Arya realises that Ravikant wants to eliminate Yashvardhan not as much to complete brother Vijaykant’s mission as to take over Yashvardhan’s business empire. Also, Vishal has revenge written all over him because Neena’s son, Inder (Kavi Shastri), has killed his beloved, Ritu.

Here, Ajay finally relents and agrees to help Arya but he also wants his dad, Yashvardhan Singh’s safety. Arya asks Ajay to attend the meeting in place of Vishal. Who attends the meeting finally – Ajay or Vishal? Can Yashvardhan Singh’s life be saved? What happens to Neena and her son, Inder? Does Arya support uncle Ravikant or his foster-brothers, Ajay and Vishal?

 

Atul Sabharwal’s story and screenplay are long-drawn and convoluted. They are also so confusing that the audience has to actually make an effort to remember things. And this is not only because Ajay and Vishal look alike. There are a number of unbelievable and ill-timed twists and turns in the drama, adding to the implausible factor in the story. For instance, Veera’s explanation to Ajay about why she had left him as a kid while running away with his twin brother does not cut ice with the viewers. Likewise, Vishal developing a soft corner for his dad happens quite abruptly. Again, the resolution of the problem which arises when Vishnu gets evidence against Dev looks a bit hurried and even though it is justified, it still fails to impress the audience. The angle of the message being recorded on the cell phone of Vishnu’s wife looks forced and its implication through the retrieval of Vishnu’s cell phone is unexplained. There are so many sub-plots in the drama that the audience actually gets fed up of the games the characters are playing with one another in the film. For example, Neena has planted Ritu to spoil and ruin Ajay; Vishal has replaced Ajay; Arya hates Ajay and Vishal; Ajay and Vishal hate Arya; Ajay hates Vishal; Inder hates Ajay; Vishnu is upright while his father-in-law (Ravikant) and brothers-in-law (Arya and Dev) are corrupt.

The screenplay may be logical but because it is convoluted, it loses impact quite early on in the un-folding drama. Besides, the entire drama looks far-fetched and unbelievable. Dialogues, penned by Atul Sabharwal, are unnecessarily in flowery language and very long-winding, adding to the monotony of the audience. It would not be wrong to say that it sometimes becomes difficult for the viewer to understand the very lengthy dialogues, not as much because of the intent as due to the language used.

Arjun Kapoor is good in his villainy but the same cannot be said about his other scenes. He has not been able to immerse himself in the characters of Ajay and Vishal and give himself up completely to the two characters. The distinct characteristics of the two characters he plays are not well brought out by him. Sasheh Agha makes a poor debut. She looks ordinary and her acting leaves plenty to be desired. Rishi Kapoor acts ably but looks disinterested, maybe because of the inadequate script. Jackie Shroff is unable to add anything worthwhile to the character of Yashvardhan Singh. Prithviraj Sukumaran is sincere and earnest and impresses with his acting. Amrita Singh gets limited scope in a stereotypical role; she is effective. Deepti Naval is as good as wasted. Tanvi Azmi does a fair job. Swara Bhaskar has a tiny role to which she does justice. Sikander Berry passes muster. Sumeet Vyas has his moments at places. Kavi Shastri is ordinary as Inder. Others lend very average support.

Atul Sabharwal, in his maiden directorial venture, has taken on more than he can handle. The drama, with so many characters and sub-plots, probably becomes unwieldy for him. Amartya Rahut and Vipin Mishra’s music is a terrible letdown. The songs are of the kind which just don’t entertain. Puneet Sharma, Manoj Kumar Nath and Vipin Mishra’s lyrics are not at all easy on the lips. Remo D’souza’s choreography is nothing to shout about. Vipin Mishra does a rather poor job of the background score. N. Karthik Ganesh’s camerawork is average. Sham Kaushal’s action scenes are routine. Mustufa Station­wala’s sets are okay. Editing (by Niraj Voralia) should have been sharper.

On the whole, Aurangzeb lacks the basic ingredient of a commercial film – entertainment value. It is a dull, dry, convoluted and boring drama narrated at a slow pace. Its box-office performance will be dull. Business in multiplexes will be below the mark while in single-screen cinemas, it will be ordinary.

GIPPI review

GIPPI

Dharma Productions P. Ltd. and UTV Motion Pictures’ Gippi (UA) is a film about adolescence. Gurpreet Kaur alias Gippi (Riya Vij) is a young girl, slightly over-sized, and, therefore, the butt end of jokes in school. Shamira (Jayati Modi), a rich and bright girl, particularly hates Gippi and pokes fun at her, calling her fat and a loser. At home, Gippi is being raised by her single mother, Pappi (Divya Dutta). She has a younger brother, Booboo (Arbaz Kadwani).

Gippi has a crush on Arjun (Taaha Shah) whom she meets at the engagement ceremony of her father (Pankaj Dheer). Although Arjun is much older than her, she still loves him dearly till she realises that he shares no such feelings towards her.

One day, in a showdown with Shamira, Gippi inadvertently accepts her challenge to contest the election for the school head-girl. But, of course, Gippi stands a remote chance of winning the election because Shamira is far more popular and even brighter than her. All the same, Gippi jumps into the fray. Does she win?

Sonam Nair’s story about school girls and the travails of the growing-up years is quite frivolous. Even her screenplay is a little too childish and not just because it tries to co-relate things which aren’t truly co-relatable. For instance, looking hot and sexy is hardly a pre-requisite for a head-girl but that’s what the screenplay would have the audience believe. In fact, it is quite a given that a studious type of girl may be the more appropriate candidate for a head-girl. It is co-relations like the above which give the viewer the impression that the writer has not researched correctly. Even if the writer were to argue that today’s generation is vain, well, the argument still doesn’t make the drama palatable. The angles of the single parent and the second marriage of Gippi’s father have been added for the emotional quotient but Sonam has not been able to tug at the viewers’ heart-strings even in that track. Another drawback of the film is that almost every character in the drama, especially Gippi, talks at such a slow pace that it hardly looks like a youthful film. Frankly, the story and the screenplay look more suited for an episode of a television serial. Also, at the end of the film, the audience gets up with an incomplete feeling. Sonam Nair’s dialogues are alright and suit the age of the characters.

Riya Vij does an ordinary job and seems to lack the fire and the drive. Her voice is a terrible letdown. Divya Dutta performs ably and lives her character. Doorva Tripathi is natural as Aanchal but her dialogue delivery is not very clear. Arbaz Kadwani does fairly well as Booboo. Jayati Modi exhibits the right attitude. Taaha Shah looks charming and acts ably. Mrinal Chawla (as Kabir) and Aditya Deshpande (as Ashish) are effective. Pankaj Dheer is alright in a special appearance and so is Raqesh Vashisht as the chemistry teacher. Anah Talwar (as Tania), Avanti Talwar (as Sonia), Ayesha Goswami (as Titli), Ashna Pahwa (as Mini), Ulysses Mendonca (as Jai), Shaurye Chakravarty (as Veer), Bruna Drummer (as Jennifer), Farida Dadi (as Sister Maria), Sushma Kaul (as class teacher), Khurshed Lawyer (as Maths teacher), Nandita Bandyopadhyay (as Hindi teacher), Shilpa Mehta (as Biology teacher), Sonam Nair (as Moral Science teacher) and the others fit the bill.

Sonam Nair’s direction, limited as it is by her script, is ordinary. Her narrative style is such that the drama unfolding on the screen doesn’t ring true and fails to move or involve the viewer. Music (Vishal-Shekhar) is quite dull and has limited appeal. Lyrics, penned by Anvita Dutt and Vishal Dadlani, are okay. Background music (John Stewart) could’ve been better. Anshuman Mahaley’s camerawork is quite good. Sets (Sabrina Singh) are app­ropriate. Yashashwini Y.P.’s editing may be okay but the pace of the film is painfully slow.

On the whole, Gippi is a childish take on adolescence and will face an uphill task at the ticket windows.

 

GO GOA GONE

GO GOA GONE

Eros International and Illuminati Films’ Go Goa Gone (A) is a comedy zombie film. Hardik (Kunal Khemu), Luv (Vir Das) and Bunny (Anand Tiwari) go to an island for a rave party. Luv, who has just had a heartbreak, meets Luna (Puja Gupta) who has come with her friends for the party organised by the mafia. There’s a new drug on sale at the party attended by more than a thousand people. All those who consume the drug die. They soon become zombies – dead people who come alive because a small part of their brain continues to function. Luckily, Hardik, Luv and Bunny don’t take the drug and are, therefore, alive. The zombies move slowly and prey on living creatures including human beings and so the three friends find themselves being chased by the zombies. The trio manages to trace Luna whose friends have also since turned zombies. The four are now aware that one can also become a zombie if one is bitten by a zombie.

Even as the four are trying to escape from the island, they realise that the boat in which the trio had come has been taken away by Ariana with whom Hardik had spent the first night on the island and who has now turned into a zombie. Help comes in the form of Boris (Saif Ali Khan) and his accomplice, Nikolai (Ross Bucharn). Boris and Nikolai know how to eliminate zombies by shooting them in the head or puncturing the head with a knife.

However, it is not very simple be­cause there are more than a thousand zombies to be dealt with. In between, Boris and Nikolai go on a secret mission, leaving the four friends safely in a bungalow.

But are the four actually safe? Do the zombies reach the bungalow? Where do Boris and Nikolai go to? Do they return? Why does Bunny get separated from Hardik, Luv and Luna? Does Bunny die when the zombies reach him? What happens to Hardik, Luv and Luna? And what happens to Boris and Nikolai?

Raj Nidimoru, Krishna D.K. and Sita Menon have penned a story which is quite unusual because although it is a horror story, there is comedy which goes hand-in-hand with the horror show. Also, the Hindi cinema-going audience is introduced to the concept of zombies through this film since the first Hindi zombie film, Rise Of The Zombie, was a non-star-cast non-starter. The screenplay, penned by the trio, is interesting upto a point but becomes very repetitive after a point of time as the drama then deals with zombies following the six people alive and the group of six trying to eliminate them while keeping themselves safe. Interestingly, the zombies have, for some strange and unexplained reason, been shown to not be chasing Boris too often.

The jokes between Hardik, Luv and Bunny and also between the trio and Boris are interesting and funny but not at all hilarious because of which the audience would smile or laugh at places but never guffaw. Also, several of the jokes are so class-app­ealing that only the city-based youngsters will follow them. Of course, there is some thrill element but its impact is greatly reduced when scenes become repetitive. Fans of Saif Ali Khan are bound to feel disappointed since Boris (the character Saif plays) does nothing more than killing the zombies, right from the beginning till the end. Climax is quite childish. Dialogues, penned by Kunal Khemu and Sita Menon (additional dialogues by Raja Daipayan Sen), are very good and go well with the mood of the film although it must be added, they hold appeal mainly for the city-based youngsters.

Kunal Khemu acts freely and ably and does complete justice to his role. His sense of comedy is lovely. Vir Das is also very good with his poker-faced comedy. His facial expressions and comic sense of timing are excellent. Anand Tiwari performs beautifully, using his expressions and body language to the hilt. Puja Gupta is suitably glamorous and does a fairly nice job. Saif Ali Khan is effective and evokes laughter at some places but  his role is uni-dimensional and all that he is doing throughout the film is killing the zombies. This will disappoint his fans. Ross Bucharn doesn’t really get to act but his imposing personality makes the character of Nikolai, which he plays, believable. Abhishek Kap­oor, Pitobash Tripathi, Minal Thakur, Suparn Verma, Larrisa Bonesi, Krishna D.K., Jasleen Gill, Anuradha Sharma, Nagaraju Jalli, Avinash Serrao and the rest lend the desired support.

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.’s direction is good although their script and narrative style would appeal mainly to the city-bred youngsters. Sachin-Jigar’s music is very nice. The ‘Slowly slowly’ song is already a hit amongst the youth. The other songs are also appealing. Lyrics, written by Priya Panchal and Amitabh Bhattacharya, are youth-centric and match the mood of the film. Adil Shaikh’s choreography is fair. Sachin-Jigar’s background score is effective. Camerawork (by Dan Macarthur and Lukasz Pruchnik) is very nice. Piranha Stunts and Anthony Stone’s actions and stunt scenes are exciting. Arindam S. Ghatak’s editing is sharp.

On the whole, Go Goa Gone has the novelty factor going in its favour but it lacks universal appeal. It entertains upto a point but becomes repetitive thereafter. It can hope to do well only in the big cities and the premium multiplexes but that may not be enough to recover costs. Its business in smaller cities and towns will be below the mark.

SHOOTOUT AT WADALA review

SHOOTOUT AT WADALA

Balaji Telefilms Ltd. and White Feather Films’ Shootout At Wadala (A) is a gangster film. Manohar alias Manya Surve (John Abraham) is a bright and principled college-going student who loves Vidya (Kangana Ranaut). His step-brother, Bhargav (Vinit Sharma), a gangster, is attacked by goons and although Manya is not keen on saving him, Vidya forces him to go to his rescue. Even while Manya is saving Bhargav, he (Bhargav) kills one of the attackers. This leads to the arrest of Manya and Bhargav and they both are imprisoned for life. In jail, Bhargav is killed. Manya becomes friends with Sheikh Mohd. Yunus Munir (Tusshar Kapoor) in the prison and trains under another undertrial who is a body-builder (Sanjeev Chadha).

One day, Manya and Munir escape from jail. Manya kills a few people including the one (Ranjeet) responsible for the state in which he is, and police officer Ambolkar (Raju Kher) who had very mercilessly arrested the brothers and humiliated Manya. Police officer Aafaque Baagraan (Anil Kapoor) is after Manya and he is assisted by police officers Rajan Ambat (Ronit Roy) and Bhende (Mahesh Manjrekar).

The drama also shows the achievements of Aafaque who arrests Yakub Lala (Raju Mawani) and Sayed Batla (Pankaj Kalra) for killing a man and raping his wife while they were honeymooning. Yakub and Batla are part of the Mastan gang. The gang has Sadiq (Arif Zakaria), editor of a newspaper, murdered because he exposes Yakub and Batla. Working for Sadiq are Zubair Imtiaz Haksar (Manoj Bajpayee) and his younger brother, Dilawar Imtiaz Haksar (Sonu Sood), two underworld dons.

As the drama progresses, Manya rubs Zubair and Dilawar the wrong way and one fine day, murders Zubair. Dilawar is now thirsting for Manya’s blood and kills Manya’s accomplice, Gyancho (Siddhanth Kapoor), when he refuses to reveal Manya’s whereabouts. He also grievously injures Munir for the same reason.

What happens in the end? Does Manya kill Dilawar or does Dilawar avenge his elder brother’s murder by eliminating Manya? Or does Dilawar join forces with the police to wipe out Manya? Is it that Manya and the police join hands to kill Dilawar? Does the police succeed in wiping out Manya? Or does inspector Aafaque sympathise with Manya?

The film is partly based on S. Hussain Zaidi’s book, Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades Of The Mumbai Mafia. Sanjay Gupta and S. Hussain Zaidi’s story is quite interesting but there is an inherent problem in the screenplay written by Sanjay Gupta, Abhijeet Deshpande and Sanjay Bhatia. The drama is unable to conclusively establish who the hero is – is it Manya or Zubair or Dilawar or Aafaque? The rise of Manya in the underworld is not very well-established as a result of which he doesn’t appear as too much of a threat to Zubair and Dilawar. Probably the biggest drawback of the screenplay is that it oscillates between the events in Manya’s life and those in Aafaque’s life before Manya even met Aafaque. This confuses the audience as the drama of Aafaque’s encounters before he meets Manya seem irrelevant. There is nothing wrong in showing the achievements of the principled police officer but the way the screenplay is structured (in flashback), the relevance of the police inspector’s feats is not very clear. Also, there are just too many characters in the film, adding to the confusion.

While the heavy dose of action, violence, bloodshed and gore will appeal greatly to the single-screen cinema audience, it will not be equally lapped up by the multiplex-frequenting audience. The first half is interesting and engaging as new characters keep getting introduced. Except for a few dips in the screenplay before interval (soon after the ‘Laila teri le legi’ song and before and during the ‘Manya’ song), the first half is fast-paced and interesting. Post-interval, there is so much violence and bloodshed that it will put off classes, families and womenfolk. The screenplay after interval seems to have gone haywire because it is not clear whether the real fight is between Manya and Zubair or between Manya and Aafaque. Due to this, the viewer does not experience a high in the climax. In other words, the screenplay confuses the audience which is, therefore, not able to make up its mind whether to sympathise with and hold hands of Manya or Aafaque. In fact, in a way, both, Manya and Aafaque are genuinely nice people – Manya is a man ruined by circumstances, while Aafaque wants to rid society of underworld dons. Therefore, when Aafaque goes after Manya, the viewer gets confused as one ‘hero’ is pitted against the other ‘hero’. Also, since Manya is shown to be killing mainly the wrong-doers, his goodness rather than his evil side gets underlined. The scene in which Dilawar beats Munir to pulp is juxtaposed with Manya running like a maniac to seemingly beat the daylights out of Dilawar, but what Manya does is just save Munir from the clutches of Dilawar and run away from the scene with him (Munir). This scene makes Manya’s character look ridiculously stupid and timid. Also, Manya screaming time and again in frustration (in the second half) looks weird because dons are meant to frustrate people with their power and authority, not to themselves feel frustrated.

Besides sex, the film has action as its main selling point because it lacks in three important ingredients of a commercial film, viz. romance, comedy and emotions.

Milap Milan Zaveri’s dialogues are a major asset of the film. They are weighty and thoroughly mass-appealing. However, the excessive use of crude and vulgar four-letter words, which may go well with the mood of the film, will definitely put off the ladies and family audiences, thereby restricting the film’s appeal.

John Abraham acts very well. He looks the character and exposes his physique and action prowess to the hilt. But the scenes showing him shouting and screaming in frustration, as mentioned above, look uncalled for. The film also lacks in John’s heroism. Kangana Ranaut may not have a key role but she, nevertheless, performs ably. Anil Kapoor acts with admirable ease and gives his cent per cent to the role. Tusshar Kapoor easily and brilliantly slips into the character of Munir and plays his part with a rare ease. Manoj Bajpayee is wonderfully natural and leaves a very good impression. Sonu Sood is pretty effective. Ronit Roy is splendid with his understated acting. Mahesh Manjrekar does not get enough scope; he is good. Vinit Sharma leaves a mark. Siddhanth Kapoor makes a promising debut as Gyancho. Arif Zakaria is nice in a brief role. Sanjeev Chadha makes his presence felt with his bare body. Raju Kher has his moments. Raju Mawani and Pankaj Kalra play the two rapists effectively. Soni Razdan is natural. As Potya, Chetan Hansraj is okay. Sunny Leone sizzles in the ‘Laila teri le legi’ song-dance, exposing her anatomy enough for the masses to salivate. Priyanka Chopra’s dance in the ‘Babli badmaash’ is also sexy. Sophie Chaudry lends oomph in the ‘Aala re’ song. Jackie Shroff is okay in a special appearance. Akbar Khan (as Maqsood) and Karan Patel (as Jam­ eel) are fairly nice. Sangeeta Khonayat (as the raped woman), Randheer Rai (as the murdered husband), Gargi Patel (as Vidya’s mother), Jaswinder Gardner (as Rajan Ambat’s wife) and the rest of the actors lend ordinary support.

Sanjay Gupta’s direction is very good. He has made a fast-paced and sleek film but even his direction is unable to camouflage the shortcomings of the script. Music, composed by Anu Malik, Anand Raaj Anand, Meet Bros. Anjjan and Mustafa Zahid, is good but not universally hit. The ‘Laila teri le legi’ song (Anand Raaj Anand) is very mass-appealing and so is the ‘Babli badmaash’ number (Anu Malik) but their appeal for the classes is limited. ‘Aala re’ (Anu Malik) is quite nice. The ‘Manya’ song deserves to be deleted from the film. Lyrics (Neelesh Misra, Kumaar, Sanjay Gupta and Anand Raaj Anand) cater to the masses and the wordings of a couple of songs may put off the class and family audience. Picturisations of the three dance numbers (by Ahmed Khan) are sexy and mass-appealing. It must be mentioned here that the ‘Babli badmaash’ song comes abruptly. Amar Mohile’s background music is dramatic enough. Tinnu Verma and Alan Amin’s action and stunt scenes are too violent and will be liked by the masses mainly. Sameer Arya and Sanjay F. Gupta’s cinematography is splendid. Sets (Sunil Nigwekar) are authentic. Bunty Nagi’s editing is good.

On the whole, Shootout At Wadala is a very violent film meant for the masses and the single-screen cinemas more than for the classes, families and multiplex-frequenting public. A large section of the womenfolk will keep away from the film due to the excessive violence and foul language. Its business in Bombay and Maharashtra will be good because of the flavour of the film. Since it has been sold to distributors for the various territories and its satellite rights have also fetched a huge amount of money, it will prove to be a profitable proposal for the producers but several of its distributors will not be able to recover their heavy investments.