Film Review : Dhobi Ghat

Aamir Production's film always comes up with a view that this film must be really good. So, expectations are always high and this time around Aamir already told in a interview that this film would appeal to only intellectuals or small section of audience. Well, the film does appeal but there are certain problems in the film which usually a Aamir film doesnt have.

The story is about 4 people, Shai(Monica Dogra), Munna(Pratiek Babbar), Arun(Aamir Khan) and Yasmin(Kriti Malhotra), how their lives get inter-connected when they get to know each other and what outcomes it leaves to their lives.

The main problem masses would have connecting to the film is the pace of the film which is very slow, almost reminds of Manorama 6 feet under. Good thing is that the film is just 90 mins long without a interval(which was first of a kind for me).

Kiran Rao as a director in her debut film does a commendable job. The way she has developed the narration, and ofcourse special mention to the editing which was top notch, amazing to see the way the 4 characters are interlinked through tiniest of possible ways. And not to forget, the 5th character Mumbai that is added into each character's story.

Cinematography is good. Dialogues are nice but since I saw hindi version so Dubbing made me not like some of the dialogues. Writing is very good, there is hardly any plot as such in the film.. yet to make the screenplay work means the job of writers was most important.

Only flaws in the film were the character sketches of Aamir Khan and Monica Dogra, especially Aamir Khan whose reactions in scenes with Monica Dogra are bit overplayed. Yet, the way he reacts while watching Yasmin cassettes is too good. While Monica Dogra's intentions as to why she is so curiously following Arun knowing he isnt interested in her, is something to be questioned. Also, the Mumbai character doesnt really get established well enough, it only plays a side role or a communicator to tell that all proceedings are happening at this place, quite tough to connect it with the 4 characters the way Kiran wanted it to.

The background theme used in the film is very good, it mainly comes during the final parts of the film.

Performances wise,

Pratiek Babbar shines in a very well written role. He was so natural and great to watch on screen.

Monica Dogra was good in expressions, hard to comment on her dialogues since it was total dubbing.

Aamir Khan was good in few scenes while okay in rest, not really convincing performance by him for a change.

Kriti Malhotra was the surprise package of the film, never expected her to make such a impact. She was so much like a normal person in real life. Her happiness, trying to be happy, feeling pain and the shocking thing was really well done by her.


Overall, Dhobi Ghat is a well made film. It is definately slow in pace, and also with few flaws but Pratiek and Kriti's performances and very good editing makes it a pretty good watch.


Rating : 3.30 Out of 5 

Film Review : Yamla Pagla Deewana

Three Deols came together again after 'Apne'. I had liked Apne to some extent, and the promos of YPD appeared to be good. But the final film didnt quite live upto the expectations.

The story is about 2 conmens, Dharam(Dharmendra) and Gajodhar(Bobby Deol ) who earn money by frauds and cheats. One day, Dharam's son Paramveer(Sunny Deol) comes back in search of his father and brother. He wants to take them back, meanwhile Gajodhar falls in love with Saheba(Kulraj Randhawa). Gajodhar isnt aware about the background of Saheba, as the brothers of Saheba take her away to get married with a NRI. The rest story deals with how Dharam,Gajodhar and Paramveer gets Saheba back, that involves some funny situations. 

The good thing about the film is that there are quite many comic sequences in both halves, but the drawback of the film is the screenplay in 1st half is not interesting enough. Too much time taken to set the proceedings. Some dialogues falling flat. Certain lack of punchlines in the narration.

Direction wise, this is Samir Karnik's weak film. He did excellent work in Hereos, but here he somehow fails to impress. Editing is okay, 1st half could had been shortened. Dialogues are average.

Also, there are some overdose of melodrama at places in the film that restricts the main appeal of the genre of the film. 

Performances wise,

Sunny Deol surprisingly was the best of all, his comic timing was completely spot on. Had he got good dialogues to deliver too, then his performance would had looked even better.

Dharmendra was slightly laid-back, otherwise it was a nice performance.

Bobby Deol's performance if compared to his last few films has to considered quite good, otherwise not at his best yet.

Kulraj Randhawa somehow lacked that screen presence I was expecting she would have. Her performance was pretty average.

Anupam Kher was very good in his small cameo. Rest supporting cast were decent. 

The english translation scene by Sunny Deol during meeting with Anupam Kher or the one at election speech, the scenes where Bobby-Kulraj try to run away twice and Bobby's attempt to woo Kulraj in 1st half were some of the good scenes in the film.

Songs were over-used, its important when you havent got outstanding tracks to go with, then a certain initative to be taken not to use all stanzas of a song. But not the case here, as a result songs only slows down the screenplay instead of taking it forward. The romantic song Sau baar was the only one that appeared to be used perfectly, while the title track was good to ears.

Overall, Yamla Pagla Deewana is a above average film with some good moments in a not so convincing screenplay or writing.

Rating : 2.75 Out of 5 

Film Review : No one Killed Jessica

*Spoilers in plenty*

Delhi is all about power, here everybody is somebody.. nobody is a nobody here. Thats the line Rani speaks as she introduces us to the film and the city where a major crime is about to take place. 

A girl named Jessica(Myra Karn) working as a bartender at a party is shot dead by Manish Bharadwaj (Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub who is son of a politician. The crime committed by Jessica was that she refused to give a drink to Manish since the bar was closed. Manish offers her 1000 Rs, but when she refuses, he in fist of anger fires a bullet at her. Jessica dies and hence leaves her sister Sabrina(Vidya Balan) to fight for Justice. How and with what hurdles Sabrina gets the justice, is what the whole story is all about with media playing a very important role in helping her, which in this case is Meera(Rani Mukherjee). 

Normally films related to a real life incident that is quite emotional could go either totally wrong while bringing the subject onto the screen or it can be a total hardhitting material. No one Killed Jessica comes into the latter category. RajKumarGupta deals with the subject in such a way that the film neither gives a image of documentary nor it goes completely into the filmy zone. Instead he opts for a path where he will try to keep the subject to as real as possible and at the same time keep a dose of entertainment. He uses real locations, lots of theatre actors, close up camera shots and ofcourse Amit Trivedi's music to his best advantage. 

In the court scenes, he uses the back and fro camera shots, which is very rare. Also special mention the background music, especially the one that plays after Jessica's death portraying the helplessness of Sabrina at many places. 

Very good screenplay, good skip at court cases, upto the point scenes. Editing was good.

 "Sabrina ji kaise log hai yeh, nafrat ho gayi hai mujhe aapki iss high society ke logon se", a dialogue by the inspector to the Jessica Case sums up the 300 witnesses who were present at the party when the murder happened. Very Good Dialogues written, be it Sabrina telling the mediaperson about how that person decided a glass of drink was above her sister's life, Kya kisi ki zindagi ki keemat itni kam hai hamari country hai, says a frustrated, angry and emotional Sabrina.

Locations of Delhi are very well used, just like RajKumarGupta's last film Aamir where he went deep into Mumbai's real locations to make the proceedings happening in the film appear so real as a viewer. 

Amit's Music already had been a sensation, and Gupta makes sure its not wasted as each song gets used in the narration of the story at the right places. Dilli, a sarcastic take on the city while Aali re the signature song describing Meera i.e Rani's character very well. Yeh Pal portrays the sudden circumstances after Jessica's death which she had never thought she would have to face. Aetbaar as expected is the anger of Sabrina towards Jessica's so called well wishers and the system that lets Manish escape. And Dua, the best song visually in the film with a additional stanza not present in audio album, picturised at India Gate, the candle light march inspired from Rang De Basanti film. The song has a very emotional feel in it and Gupta so wonderfully makes those words in the song felt through the picturisation of the song. 

There are few flaws in the film, for instance, the filmy angle given with the repeated dialogue of Manish's mother "Kuch bhi kariye, mere monu ko kuch nahi hona chahiye" or the "kab tak chatt par rahega". Although the court scenes were tackled uniquely, still the writing could had been better. The actor playing Sabrina's mother was touch too melodramatic. And the political leaders portrayal done in the pre climax was I feel not really required.

Gupta again has tried lots of symbolisms and metaphors, "Men at work" used to tell Sabrina that the witnesses are one by one going to betray her since the people are working at that from Manish side. Then, there was Kargil war's soldiers dead comparison done with Jessica dead. And the parallel scene of Manish doing religious act while Sabrina is at hospital with her mother.

These scenes especially leaves a major impact after coming out of the theatre...
• The way Gupta develops the party atmosphere leading upto the death scene of Jessica in the film.
• Sabrina giggling at a conversation by her lawyer in the court at a serious time, in a way showing that she is still in the growing up stage.
• Sabrina walking on a road lost in her thoughts and almost strikes with a huge elephant in front whom she couldnt notice even.
• The use of F word by Sabrina after verdict given by the court, a sign of losing entire hope.
• Interval sequence, the newspaper showing "No one Killed Jessica" with da da dilli background theme. The way Gupta pans the camera towards the camera and zooms in towards the headline, that just generates a emotional touch towards the injustice happened with Jessica.
• The Rang de Basanti candle angle shown as inspiration.
• And the final closing scene of Jessica in the end.


RajKumarGupta had two options, either to go for a good sweet ending by doing another court scene, this time in favour of Sabrina or to end the way he did in the film with a voiceover of what happened later by Rani and ending the film at the graveyard scene. Very good thought indeed, as this way he made much more impact. Though, there would be some people who would have preferred the 1st climax instead.


Performances wise,

Vidya Balan gives her best performance till date.(I am yet to see Parineeta) The way she handles her character that is in a way childish, who likes to keep away from her sister's fun party atmosphere since she doesnt drink nor like to dance as seen by the way she attempts to dance in a scene. How the proceedings around her, makes her grow up, how we see Vidya portray that transition, her state of mind at different stages, her trust broken, regained, her emotions at death of Jessica and how politely she shows her anger at Manish during the journalist tv interview. She is totally flawless. And I especially liked the costumes that were choosen for her, they again acted as a symbolism of the kind of person she was and the person she has now transformed into.

Rani Mukherjee was actually never gone. Just her films werent working, her performances had never gone down. But this film works for her mainly because the character goes with her image very well. She is totally opposite to what Vidya is in the film. Rani is a grown up journalist, who likes to use lots of slangs, likes to be called bitch, smokes too. She very well portrays the attitude her character has towards her work, always dominating and yet cant see any injustice too.

The rest theatre actors and the police inspector especially did a very good work.


In the end, No one Killed Jessica is just not a film. Like Gupta himself clarified in the starting of the film, its a hybrid mixture of fiction and reality. The film gives a message, that you need to fight against the injustice no matter how hopeless your condition is. And more than often, you would require a support like Meera(Rani Mukherjee) does in this film or the media did in the real Jessica case. In such times, you would find who were your true friends and who were just pretending to be your friends. Its a film that should be seen for the storytelling of RajKumarGupta, performances of Vidya and Rani and Amit's Music.


Rating : 4.5 Out of 5 

Music Review : No One Killed Jessica

Amit Trivedi has build a certain reputation for me and many other people too. He is known to give hardhitting music and with a similar film in the name of "No One Killed Jessica", the expectations just doubles.

The album kicks off with, Aetbaar, sung by Vishal Dadlani, Mame Khan and Robert Omulo Bob. Its a loud pitch song that represents a person who is angry and sad as the person's belief/faith in a particular thing is broken off very badly. The song showcases the state of the person so beautifully with well written lyrics "Jal bhun ke raakh hua aetbaar, ganda majaak hua aetbaar". Special mention to the English part of the song and the starting tune used setting the mood up. In the film this song would probably come(if used) when Jessica's murderer is set free by the court or case is closed. One of my very favs!

Next comes, Yeh Pal, sung by Shilpa Rao. Not sure about its use in the film, but the song is about questioning your current life that has changed due to the latest incidents happened with you. Shilpa Rao specially is at her best in the antara part of the song. "Kya bataayen yeh rang bhari haseen titliyon si kabhi, rengte kechuyon jaisi toh nahi thi", Amitabh Bhattacharya at his innovative best in lyrics. The latter part of the song changes mode completely with a sudden change in pitch of the entire song as it totally goes into a instrumental for last 2 mins. This song has in it to make a mark, but thanks to the major impact of rest songs, this one will go un-noticed.

Aali Re, sung by a huge list of singers i.e Tochi Raina, Biswasjit Chakraborty, Shriram Iyer, Raja Hassan, Anushka Manchanda, Sonu Kakar, Aditi Singh Sharma and Sonika Sharma. This is a complete mad mad mad song. The starting of the song is bound to take you by a surprise, as the girls chorus sings "Dhinchak dhinchak dhinchak dhinchak rapa rap rak chika rak chika". The song as of now seems to be filmed on Rani as her introduction song representing the character traits with lines like "Thori si kameeni, thori namkeeni thori si nasheeli, thori zehreeli hai". The lyrics clearly are written accordingly, which may sound a bit wierd to few but they completely fit as per requirement of this song. Amit has this good habit I would say to go for a particular background theme within a song which he does here at 4th min of song, and its impressive one yet again! Just like the song starts, the girls chorus gives it a similar mad finish "Boom boom patakha de .. arrey dekh arrey dekh". Its quite a experimental track by amit that has come out brilliantly.

Next is, Dilli, sung by Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer and Aditi Singh Sharma. Again what a stunning start to the song, slow build up and then the fast pacy beats as Aditi Singh gets into the song "da da da da dilli dilli ". Tochi takes over then in this rock kinda feel song with very high beats used all throughout the song. The song is a angry take on Delhi through the eyes of Sabrina in the film probably. I somehow couldnt connect properly with the lyrics of Antara, Amitabh Bhattacharya just overdid here I feel. Leaving asides that, its a very catchy track, you just cant resist the beats used here but make sure the volume of your speaker or headphone is as maximum as you can have. There is another version of this song "hardcore version", though it pretty much sounds same to me unless I am missing out something.

Last one in the album is, Dua Karo, by Meenal Jain, Joi Barua, Raman Mahadevan and Amitabh Bhattacharya. Its a song that is asking to say the things inside your heart, praying for a better future. The song might involve the India Gate candle scene by the looks of it. A very emotional feeling attached with this song specially the lines "guzaare kaise saja ke jaise, din ghamo ke lage arse, sab sajde mein, sajde mein, sajde mein.. dua karo". There is a slight resemblance with Amit's previous work that comes during the song when the tempo of the song goes from soft to high chorus. But as a whole, the song comes out very fresh and hence it evokes that emotional touch this song has in it. Special Mention to Meenal Jain who is very impressive in this track.


My Pick(s) : Aetbaar, Aali Re and Dilli

Overall, No one Killed Jessica is another gem of a album given by Amit Trivedi. It easily surpasses his other 2 works of this year and almost touches his magical work in Dev D. As per me, this album is completely worth it especially if you have liked Amit's work in Dev D and Udaan. To end the review with, unless any new mindblowing album comes out within next 25 days, No one Killed Jessica is the no.1 album of 2010!

Rating : 4.75 Out of 5 

Film Review : Unstoppable

A train engineer shows lazyness and carelessness, to add to it he faces a bad luck at wrong time that results him loosing the control over the train. Now, a train is running without any engineer on it, with brakes not covered, throttle at a position meaning the speed is fast and the train contains lots of toxic chemicals. Either the train needs to be stopped by gaining control over it or it needs to be blasted before it enters a city comprising more than 50,000 ppl who could get affected by the chemicals present in the train.

Usually films like this are majorly about entertainment and edge of the seat kind, thats what this film provides. A hour and 40 mins long, it comes to the main plot quite quickly with the back stories been told side by side but the main preference given to the unstoppable train. 

I personally love watching scenes involving train and to have a complete film on trains is a blessing in disguise. At first, the burning train comes to mind but except for Helicopter scene there is hardly any similarity.

One may argue though that the ending happens too easily, we were willing to see it take more time probably or I should say, it getting bit more tougher to stop the train. 

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine are very good in their performances. Screenplay is good, the way they build 2 stories side by side, one of the unstoppable train on another track and one of these two engineer and conductor who are trying to know each other until they both come to know that the unstoppable train is coming towards them.

 Camera angles are very good and probably gives certain high to the film. 

Overall, the film works because it provides good enough thrilling entertainment that one expects in such a film. 

Rating : 3.50 Out of 5 

Film Review : Allah Ke Banday

Vijay(Sharman Joshi) and Yakub(Faruk Kabir) who are school kids, live in a small village known as "Bhool Bhullaiyya". They earn some money through supplying drugs to places. One day, a incident lands them in Jail where they have to face something they didnt dream of. Their sufferings makes them tough from inside as they come out after 11 years with a mission of getting hold on their village. But, at what cost and whose deaths they are gonna succeed if they would ? Are they wrong in their actions or was the circumstances they go through acceptable? Many such questions are raised in the film.

The main problem the film has that it never hits you for long, there will be many scenes that give a sense that now we are going to see a impactful scene but that doesnt happen. There is a certain lack of power and intensity in the film despite a good idea of Children at War with good performances and writing. 

Maybe the youth could had been edited a bit to increase the scenes in 2nd half and make Vijay's actions justified. Also, there was a certain flaw in writing concerning Usmaan character who takes revenge so late when he could had got it way too early specially the way he does it. 

Faruk Kabir as a debutant director and actor does well. Only that the screenplay could had been made impactful and appealing than it turned out to be. 

Dialogues were good. The signature tune that runs with Yakub's scenes was very good one, it sort of represented his character very well.

Climax was very good and surprising in a way. 

Music was very average, and the good songs arent fully used either. Background score is very good one, though touch loud at some places. 

Scenes like Warden's intentions in Jail, Warden and Vijay in Restaurant, Vijay telling Yakub about love, climax etc makes the film a good watch. 

Among performances, 

Sharman Joshi does a good work. At places, he did look awkward but overall he managed very well. He is even the narrator of the film since the starting to the end.

Faruk Kabir very easily played the role of a high temper person. Though, there was a overdose of style in his mannerisms at times. As a debut, he was good. 

Naseeruddin Shah was flawless in his short role. The restaurant scene was superb one. 

Young Yakub and Vijay children did nice work, Vijay impressed less to me. Yakub was much better.

Atul Kulkarni was a touch over the top in his performance.

Anjana Sukhani was beautiful as always. But her character wasnt written well enough, she falls in love too easily with a person who is way below her standards. 

Overall, Allah Ke Banday suffers due to a less powerful screenplay and offers nothing in terms of entertainment either. Still, its a good watch for some good performances and Faruk Kabir's decent debut as a director.

Rating : 2.70 Out of 5 

Film Review : Break Ke Baad

What Happens when your partner demands some privacy, when your partner asks for a break in a relationship? But the question is, does relationships require space or a break ? Thats what the film is mainly based on.

Abhay Gulati(Imran Khan) and Aaliya Khan(Deepika Padukone), are childhood friends. And as is the case, their friendship turns into love. Aaliya is a girl who does what she feels is right while Abhay is more of reserved and calculated kinda of person who isnt sure what he actually wants. One day Aaliya takes the decision of taking a break from love relationship which Abhay finds wrong. How will Abhay convince Aaliya or will he allow Aaliya to take a break and what if she never comes back? The rest story deals with this.

The opening credits is very innovative but way too lengthy, a point comes when you want the film to start instead of credits going on and on. The references made to old films like Kuch Kuch hota hai or Pehla Nasha song etc were very well done. Infact, to speak of 1st Half was almost upto the mark.

It was the 2nd half that takes the film to a low. The director makes the proceedings look confusing and silly. And the attempted funny sequences by forcing a stupid character(shahana goswami's brother) doesnt help either.

As a debutant, Danish Aslam does fine work. He surely had a good concept in hand, but couldnt do complete justice to it. Screenplay was interesting. Editing could had been better.

Climax was very stupid, there was a chance to give it a totally different ending or even if the regular ending was to go by, the scenes should had been properly written.

Music was well used except for Dhoop ke Makaan which should had been used only once. And there was a clear situation to use Dont worry track which would had given the film some emotional angle.

There are few good sequences in the film like Abhay-Aaliya drunk scene, Aaliya's  Birthday, Aaliya and her mother arguement, Abhay's mother insisting him to move on.

Performances wise,

Imran Khan was pretty average. He himself keeps saying that he isnt that good at acting and that is visible too.   After a good performance in his last film, he sort of dissappoints here. The scene where he uses Punjabi accent sums up his acting in the film.

Deepika Padukone was excellent, probably among her best performances ever. Without a doubt her best this year. There were the usual scenes still there in film where she overacts, but those were very far and few.

Sharmila Tagore is superb, even in a small supporting role. Shahana Goswami is good. Lillette Dubey is very good, specially the pre-climax scene with Imran. Good to see Naveen Nischol in a film probably his first film after Khosla ka Ghosla, he was good as expected.


Overall, Break Ke Baad has very few good moments in the film which mainly come in 1st half only. Watch the film for Deepika Padukone if you are her fan, otherwise its a pretty below average film.


Rating : 2.35 Out of 5