Phir Hera Pheri … =)) … =)) … =))

NB: If you have watched “Hera Pheri” (HP), you’ll identify more with
this article than Non-HP viewers.

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Hmm…so sequels aren’t that bad after all!
Phir Hera Pheri (PHP) is a sequel to HP. The main characters remain the same!

The film is about another trap that these 3 fall into: Baburao Ganpatrao Apte (played by Paresh Rawal), Raju (played by Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (played by Sunil Shetty).

Luckily [or unluckily] these 3 had got some moolah for a kind deed, which they never intended to do – the deed was performed in HP. So now they stay in a bungalow (which definitely looks worth more than 50 lakh, the amount it gets sold for… in this movie) instead of Baburao’s ancestral garage-cum-home. The bungalow has a swimming pool – and it needs a mention coz Baburao takes bath by pulling out bucket-by-bucket water from the pool /:) --- innovative scene that surely makes you giggle!

The film opens with an item number by Dia Mirza [she is trying too hard…she should quit for some time : ]. The main plot is about the 3 guys losing their money to Anuradha [played by Bipasha Basu]. She puts forth a chit fund scheme (money doubled in 21 days, minimum amount to be deposited is Rs. 1 crore) to them through Raju. Raju, as usual, with his trait manages to gather Rs. 50 lakhs and gets the other half by selling the bungalow they live in. After 21 days everything is lost, the 3 so-called-rich guys come back to a chawl. And what begins next…is more than a roller-coaster ride. I want to see the movie at least 2 more times to remember which scene follows which B-).

The way the underworld don, the local bhai and villains from the past [the ones in HP] are interwoven is commendable. Hats off to Neeraj Vora (the director) for making such a flick. It is only the writer (Neeraj Vora again) of such a story who could have managed to bring all threads together and justify each of them. The story, the screenplay, the direction and the editing are amazing - again Neeraj Vora is responsible for all these.

This movie is a must watch. No matter how many reviews one ends up reading, one should go and have a gala time watching it!

Now about the performances. The actresses Bipasha Basu (Shyam’s love interest) and Rimi Sen (Raju’s love interest) do not have much to do…. but they play well whatever they have been told to. Bips looks amazing…;;).

Paresh Rawal is absolutely perfect. He is one actor who almost always justifies his character to the T. The way he walks and gets irritated is so consistent – wow…that’s commendable. Sunil Shetty plays what he has been told to do. As it is he was never given that importance in HP…same in PHP.

Now for the stunning performer – of course has to be Akshay Kumar [people who know me wont be surprised :P]. Akki is just improving with every movie. He looks very cool and gets the audience whistles with his entry in “Kitne Armaan” song. Well when I was seeing the movie, some little kiddo kept repeating certain punch lines said by Akki – very impressive for sure. Seems everyone loves him these days :). And yes again Paresh Rawal slaps him in the movie – poor Akki :(.

As for rest of the cast – Rajpal Yadav and Johnny Lever are entertaining too. All the actors have played their characters as expected. Good direction!

So the movie is an out-and-out comedy, a director’s movie to the core. The music is average. Himesh Reshammiya does a decent job. Personal favorites are “Kitne Armaan” and “Jumme raat” - in case you didn’t see this song on MTv, you wouldn’t have enjoyed it much on the big screen – reason being it is the closing song. The way Akki reacts to everyone in the song shows how much his reflexes have improved from where he started.

So…here’s me hoping to see at least one more film having Baburao, Raju and Shyam falling into another trap and not coming out of it :)). The way PHP ends – with Raju hanging half in air from the bridge and the cell in his mouth ringing, it would be interesting to see what happens next, what say?

### 14Jun2006-430PM-CINEMAX(NSK)

Being Cyrus…:|

Being Cyrus is a story about how a brother and a sister, who have had a dreadful childhood, perceive the life around. They have spent their childhood in foster home. They have been deprived of the usual love, care and affection every child deserves and luckily gets when it’s required the most – in the growing years. These two work as a team and make plans to loot vulnerable families, the elder sister playing the boss and the brother doing just what he is asked too. Most of the time they succeed. However, the plan, which is shown in the movie, gives them lump sum booty so that further they do not require leading such a distressful life any more. But here is where the two heads think differently. The sister is the greedier of the two and wants her brother to get ready for the next kill. This agonizes the brother who just leaves his sister, not to meet her ever in the future.

Having said all of the above, you are to know all this only at the end of the movie. The presentation of this simple-but-intense story is worth applauding. Story telling is an art and the director Homi Adjania has surely mastered it, to say as of now.

The plot shown in the movie goes like this. The two plan to rob the Sethna family. The family head is Fardoonjee Sethna (played by Honey Chhaya). He has 2 sons – elder son Dinshaw Sethna (played by Naseeruddin Shah) and the other son Farokh Sethna (played by Boman Irani). Dinshaw’s wife Katy (played by Dimple Kapadia) is quite an ill-mannered ridiculous woman who is just bugged up staying in a dilapidated house in Panchgani with her retired sculptor husband. She wants to breakthrough the bondages and be a free bird. Farokh’s way-too-young wife Tina (played by Simone Singh) is constantly bossed by her coward husband.

Enter Cyrus (played by Saif Ali Khan aka SAK)… he takes shelter at Dinshaw’s Panchgani home to learn pottery. Katy keeps mingling with him. They plan to kill Fardoonji and Tina and thus get all the property. Cyrus goes to Mumbai to meet Fradoonji and gain his confidence, only to betray him in the end! Does Cyrus kill them? Do they get the property? That’s for you to see and find out!

Taking about performances. Let’s go from worse to bad to good.
Dimple Kapadia has overacted, sadly though. Naseeruddin Shah does not have much to do, whatever he has performed is so-so. He and Dimple are a bit irritating with their not-so-sophisticated-in fact-disgusting body language and mannerisms!
All the other characters are really impressive. Boman is best when it comes to comic timing. His scene with the pup biting him is really a humorous one.

SAK plays Cyrus to the T. This guy has loads of talent. Agreed I praise him too much… but then one can’t mostly always be the perfect actor to play such varied characters, just by fluke. His eyes do most of the speaking… very expressive, very impressive! By playing just the character he has been asked to do, he proves that he isn’t too greedy to grab every scene, be in every frame. His dialogue delivery is superb. He seems to be too comfortable with English as well!

The most pleasant surprise of the movie is Simone Singh. She has got a great role to show her talent. She is very much the most sorted-out performer who really steals the show.

The screenplay, editing, background score, music, dialogues, voice-over, Parsi touch and Mumbai locales of the movie are good. The cinematography appears to be amazing as the movie unrolls but by the end… the same frames, same camera angles are repeated. A bit more variety would have made wonders!

One of the dialogues from the movie, which at least I couldn’t stop pondering on, is probably this one:
Leo Tolstoy once said: “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

However, the actual quote is” Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way

Wonder how many agree with the literal meaning of the above? I am yet to figure out what it really means!

Overall it's a movie with a different kind of treatment. Not a typical masala movie, but then the ingredients it has are quite palatable

Just a thought:

The brother has faced same turmoils as his sister, still he is more humane than her. Agreed he killed innocent people, still the vulnerability he has doesn't make you feel angry about him. The small gestures, like that of leaving sweets for a road-side beggar, make you wonder how complex human mind can be!

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Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back

into the same box.
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### 8Apr2006-10AM-ESQ

The Raj [i | ee] v Effect... ;;)

Garam Masala… =))

Garam Masala is another slapstick from director Priyadarshan.

The movie doesn’t have a story line at all; but it is one of those movies, where one can’t stop laughing at almost all the gags shown. The movie is about Makrand aka Mac (played by Akshay Kumar) and Shyam aka Sam (played by John Abraham). These two are photographers who can’t resist beautiful girls and are constantly chasing them. Mac is supposed to marry Anjali (played by Rimi Sen). However, he is so busy in his own world that he never even remembers her.

The movie begins with the song “Adaa” which successfully puts forth the theme of the movie. Initially, Mac is at senior position in the company. He belittles Sam every time he gets a chance. But Sam cheats successfully and manages to become his senior. Sam goes for an assignment to U.S.A. for 1 month. Meanwhile, Mac manages to get hold of a posh flat, great cars supplied by his mechanic friend (played by Rajpal Yadav), and 3-timing obviously three air-hostesses (wonder whether the usage is correct :-/ ). In case, you think what the story (?) is leading to, don’t even dare to think what will happen in the end!

The entire plot revolves in Mac managing the 3 girls. He is helped by Uncle Mambo (played by Paresh Rawal) to set the things right in the house, such as changing the photo in the frame corresponding to the girl present at that moment. Also, poor Mambo keeps throwing cooked food in a dustbin (really huge one for a normal size kitchen); that’s because of continuously varying schedules of flights, sometimes more than 1 girl (of course each of thinking she is the only one present up to the climax when the plot is) is in the house and each one demands a different meal. The way such situations are handled makes one laugh. It is stupid but you can’t control laughing.

For Akshay Kumar fans, the movie is a treat. His comic timing has improved in leaps-and-bounds. Poor Akki trips a lot in the movie. Akshay looks good as always and the entire focus is on him. The restaurant scene where Mac and Sam both take Maggie, the receptionist (played by Neha Dhupia) is amazing.
The confused + worried +what-should-I-do-next look on Akshay’s face shows his versatility.

John Abraham, well, he is not at all good in comedy, as of now. He needs to learn first; only then will arise the question of whether he should improve or not. He looks stupid throughout the movie. One scene worth mention is when he sings “Main aayi aayi aayi” while rushing to the main door. That comes as a surprise and really makes one giggle. Wonder why he was made to give a totally-lost-jaw-dropping look? John has proved good as an intense actor; he really needs to concentrate on trying comedy now.

Rest all the cast has performed average. Sadly though, Rajpal Yadav does not have a significant role.

Music is catchy. ‘Adaa’ rocks. ‘Kiss me baby… Garam Masala’ is enjoyable too. ‘Dil Samandar’ is average. However, none of the songs have been shot as good as they sound L. ‘Falak dhekun’ is a bit decently shot one – especially the ‘red’ set.

To conclude, Garam Masala is a keep-your-brain-at-home-and-watch kind of movie. Actually, the screenplay is incomplete. It has too many assumptions. That’s what will confuse the audience.

Maybe the director concentrated too much on showing the superb comedy timing of one of the actors he really loves to work with… obviously it’s about Priyan and Akshay.

Though the movie won’t be liked much, every time one recollects the comic scenes at random, a giggle is guaranteed.

PS: I’ll remember it as one of Akshay’s best comic performance.

Salaam Namaste… egg-xactly ;))

It was bound to happen --- when the 3 ruling (?) Khans would grow older; the younger and 4th Khan would get his due share [read big banner movies].

Salaam Namaste {SN} is the story of Nikhil Arora…sorry Nik (played by Saif Ali Khan {SAK}) and Hambarrr…oops Ambar (played by Priety Zinta {PZ}). Then there’s Nik’s friend Ranjit Mathur…no no …Ron (played by a “versatile” Arshad Warsi).

Nik is an architect+chef. Ambar is a medical student+radio jockey.

These two, like most of the characters in the movie, have left India to life live on their terms [it makes one wonder… is it really that important to leave one’s country to live life with complete (?) freedom (??)]. They meet, think that they are in love, decide to stay together to know each other and then how their attitude about life changes.

Javed Jaffrey plays the owner of the house in which Nik and Ambar stay as tenants. He is a pleasure to watch… plays a weirdo and has a “phorener” wife. When ever he asks some ridiculous question like “tell themz hows much I hates the indians”, the wife says “Saw-ree” [she never understand what he says :)) ]. To this he replies --- EGG-XACTLY. Wonder where can one think of some gag like this!!!

The climax is a bit unenviable… but Abhishek Bachchan (his the surprise package of the movie) definitely makes you giggle.

SAK is as usual very suave and very much the character he plays. It makes one wonder whether the movie was written with him in the mind. PZ is surprisingly good too. Still SAK rules ;) . The costumes aren’t worth a mention, sadly though. Arshad plays a thankless role… but still you feel nice to see him worried.

Some things noteworthy in the movie are: there is almost no mention of religion (seems like, here in India too we’ll have the fad of accepting Humanity as the only religion), woman at any point doesn’t try to seek sympathy from any one (shows how financial independence can change attitude of people).

The editing is good…the film doesn’t lose the tempo anywhere. The music is good…songs come as-and-when required. Personal fav is obviously… “My Dil goes Hmm”.

Letdowns include:
1. SAK and PZ looking really old in some scenes… wonder whether the make-up wasn’t up to the mark either.
2. Ambar’s fake stomach [is there any need to talk about it at all]


The movie tries to tell something different but there isn’t any preaching else guess the box-office wouldn’t have rolled the way it would, otherwise!

PS: Well the movie has already done well!

Humming…Bin tere sanam…

One can say - this one’s from the archives...

Remix was/is in boom – but one song that was probably forgotten and was brought back to the limelight was “Bin tere sanam”.

The remix video had the extremely vulnerable Kirti Reddy, Aryan Vaid and some Aseem Merchant (btw, does any one know who he is?) Kirti is really very sweet and pretty…I just wished she could act a bit better. Anyways, I like her screen presence :)

For the record, let’s dig through the original movie and song. Here it goes:

Movie - Yaara Dil Dara
Produced By: Mirza Brothers
Directed By: Mirza Brothers
Actors: Asif Sheikh, Rohini, Ruchika Pandey
Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpur

Music Director: Jatin-Lalit
Singers: Udit Narayan, Kavita Krishnamurty
Theme: Love, Social
Year: 1991

I liked Asif Sheikh (AS) that time [only saw the song, not the movie, it was a disaster at the box-office, though it had good music] – only wished he had a trim haircut – God knows why all heroes have long hair in their debut/initial movies? Now Mr. AS is doing a great job by doing funny roles in T.V. serials like “Yes Boss (SAB TV)” and others on same channel. Also, liked his small cameo in “Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya” :)) . He is a decent performer.

A not-so updated filmography of AS can be found here.

Dun no anything about the heroine :-S [not even interested to know :-P ]

Song was amazing then and is equally melodious even today :)

You can find lyrics in Devnagari script yahaan
You can find lyrics in English language over here

My fav stanza is…
“Yeh jaankar balamji
Thaami hain teri baahein
Sehni padengi sabki
Kaanton bhari nighayein”

So, all I can say this is one of those many songs I like to listen anytime!
[lol…I am a movie buff…so I end up liking many film songs…sometimes of movies whose names most of the people won’t know ;)) ]

Btw, good work DJ Suketu to bring this song back to the forefront!

‘D’

I saw Ramgopal Verma’s ‘D’ in the company canteen. We have this weekly movie every Friday after office hours.

What shall I say – Ramu, off late is trying out different type of films – he always does that, but now his focus is on only an aspect – it’s like one fact at one place! Not too much stress on what, how, why – it is and it is like that. No matter, whatever you think, fact is fact! When you talk about a person’s profession, talk about it only, its various aspects, don’t think why he is doing that and what for. (Assume suitable data if necessary)

Good that I saw ‘D’ after I saw Sarkar else the freshness which I found in Sarkar because of character artists would have been missing. Almost all character artists have been repeated. I found the movie so-so. The beginning scene is too long. The good part is Chunkey Pandey – I have mostly enjoyed his performances, though they might not be that conspicuous. It’s kind of strange that I argued with a friend (who thinks I like almost everything about Hindi movies) that Chunkey Pandey is a good performer and was pleasantly surprised to see that he was to feature in ‘D’ (I came to know that when I saw the promos). Pleasant coincidence :)

And last but not the least – Mr D (Deshu) – that’s played by a certain Randeep Hooda. He has kept a straight face all through the movie – no expressions, whatsoever. But then you can’t stop noticing the twinkle in his eyes when he is with his girlfriend and the rare smile when he is with some people – you won’t be able to make out whether he likes them or not?

This is for Sushant Singh – why did you act in this movie? It’s painful to see something close to an antique as just another piece of furniture in the room.

la ragione dietro festeggiamento

Saif Ali Khan has won the National Award for Best Actor

for his performance in film Hum Tum.

I loved the film all because of your performance Saif - you were so cool :)

Hope you get your share of good stories, good directors and good roles.

Kudos on your performance in Parineeta.