Film Review : Maqbool

A much pending film. Heard a lot of praise for it, and to be frank.. its only the afterthought I had about the film that made me like the film much more, than I actually did while watching it. Sometimes you take time to appreciate what you just saw.

I have no idea about Macbeth. So, it was a total new story for me. One famous gangster of Mumbai i.e Abbaji(Pankaj Kapur) who has lot of name in his area. While Maqbool(Irffan Khan) is one of his loyals. The mistress of Abbaji, Nimi(Tabu) is in awe of Maqbool. Only way Maqbool can get her, is by killing Abbaji. He has to choose either Nimi or loyalty towards Abbaji. He chooses Nimi, but little does he know.. how much badly it will affect him later. 

There are three things that I have noticed a lot in Vishal Bharadwaj films. One is the opening sequence is so artistic always, how we see a mirror on which someone is making some design, which later is found to be 'Pandit' doing all the time in the film. 2ndly, the dark theme he brings out of scenes, sometimes he even goes into using very dark setting, very less visibility. Both the starting sequence and the Abbaji killing sequence are a proof of it. And Lastly, the way he uses Sound in his films. No doubt, the main theme is so great, and wonderfully used at various places. The final sequence to me was spectacular both in terms of visuals and sound. 

I like almost every song in the film. Ru ba ru is my fav both audio and the way its filmed. The song that has Nimi crying, was a bit over-dramatic for me. Liked the way they mix mujra and the engagement dances going on at same time. 

Also, special mention to the cinematography, some shots are very beautifully shot. 

The best moments of the film --- 

• Abbaji with Devasare in police station. Pankaj Kapur is amazing here! 

• The entire Ru-ba-ru song.

• Abbaji dealing with a person who went against him. 

• Almost each scene of the Corrupt cops, Purohit and Pandit.

• Nimmi askin Maqbool to kill Abbaji. 

• Maqbool and Kaka sequence after death of Abbaji

• The feeling of guilt on face of Maqbool, as well as Nimmi for the sin they committed. Infact its so brilliantly showed, Maqbool's 'khoon' scene or the Nimi's washing blood from wall or the bestest scene of film where Maqbool hears some music playing with Abbaji there. 

• The entire climax sequence starting from Maqbool bringing Nimi home and the final gun shot. 

Infact, Saheb Biwi aur Gangster which I saw recently was so much similar to this film. Ofcourse Maqbool is much better than it. 

Performances wise, 

Pankaj Kapur delivers fantastic performance. I was in complete awe watching him in each and every frame. Specially the character traits and mannerisms, so much real. Of all the films I have seen of him, this performance stands out.

Irrfan Khan is a amazing actor, So brilliantly he showcases the fear feeling in starting part of film, to a person who has risen up, and has got power in hands, to a person full of guilt. Specially love the scene, where he is surprised by what Nimi is doing in the final sequence.

Tabu was very good. Though, her character being the central one, was of least interest to me. But without her Maqbool wont stand either. 

Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah, when these two powerful actors come together, its bound to be special. Both play corrupt cops so efficiently. My fav scene, where Om Puri is explaining what Shani does, and how Naseeruddin Shah queries about it. 

Ajay Gehi and Piyush Mishra stand out in rest of the supporting cast. I wonder why Ajay Gehi hasn't been regular in films. I quite much liked his performance. 

I read one Imdb comment stating that Pankaj Kapur is very under-rated actor, not to get the popularity which Om Puri or Naseerudin Shah have got. I pretty much agree to it, also I feel he is so under-used actor.

Overall, Maqbool has wonderful direction with good screenplay, and powerful performances. It may not be my favourite Vishal Bharadwaj film, which Kaminey and 7 Khoon Maaf are. But it definately goes into the list of good movies done by Vishal. 

'shakti ka santulan bahut zaroori hai sansaar mein, aag ke liye paani ka darr bane rehna chahiye '

Verdict : Very Good 

Battle of the Top5 - Bring it on!

The top5 male actors in Hindi Film Industry are - Aamir, Shahrukh, Salman, Hrithik and Akshay. I know everyone have their favs, and also different orders. But these are the main big stars, with a massive fan following. All of them are coming next year with films that everyone are looking forward to.

Has it happened before ever, when each of them had 1 film in a year at same time ? Also, if at all it happened(I cant recall though), then were those films as big as this time they are. Let me write down the list first.

Aamir Khan 
• 'Untitled film', directed by Reema Kagti, starring Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor. Music by Ram Sampath(Delhi Belly fame)
• 'Dhoom3', directed by Vishal Krishna Acharya, starring Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra. Music by Pritam

Shahrukh Khan
• 'Untitled film', directed by Yash Chopra, starring Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. Music by AR Rahman

Salman Khan
• 'Ek tha Tiger', directed by Kabir Khan, starring Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey. Music by Sohail Sen

Hrithik Roshan
• 'Agneepath', directed by Karan Malhotra, starring Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor. Music by Ajay-Atul.

Akshay Kumar 
• 'Once upon a time in Mumbaai2', directed by Milan Luthria, starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid/Imran(no one finalled yet).
• 'Rowdy Rathore', directed by Prabhu Deva, starring Sonakshi Sinha.


You expect a thriller with Aamir back in cop uniform in reema's film with two big actresses alongside. And then the much talked about dhoom3, how would a actor like aamir portray the famous run-chase series.

Yash Chopra returns to direction with Shahrukh as lead, Rahman's music, Gulzar's lyrics.. Did you wanted anything else? Dont be greedy!

Salman in a yashraj film, back with Katrina Kaif. A pair that is yet to set the stage on fire. Kabir Khan has impressed in the past with his work. And then, talks are that film is inspired from Bourne Series, means some new action, fast action to be precise. Dont we love Salman doing action roles! And mind you, with Kabir Khan as director, one can assume it wont be another bodyguard tragic.  Music by Sohail Sen(pritam gave up because of too much work load), will also be much to look forward to with Whats ur rashee and Mere Brother ki Dulhan, two great soundtracks in a row.

'Naam vijay dinnanath chauhan', the first trailer created immense buzz. And we are craving for so much more.. The battle between Vijay Dinnanath Chauhan and Kaancha Cheena resumes after nearly 20 years  gap. Will the makers live upto their promises that this film has just the same soul with different treatment and dialogues. If yes, then we are in for a very good film, who doesn't like to see REVENGE films, I specially do. With Madhvi's role stretched in this version of agneepath, Priyanka Chopra gets a lot to offer too. And Rishi Kapoor's negative track. The aarti used in the trailer was impressive, so Ajay-Atul may have a winner in music too(Singham their last film).

Akshay Kumar, we are tired of all silly comedies, and he isnt getting success either in them. So, he returns in two action films, sequel to Once upon a time in Mumbaai2 by Milan Luthria, the role is tailor made for him and hence the expectations rises. Then, Rowdy Rathore has Prabhu Deva with his 2nd film after Wanted, we may finally see the return of Khiladi with this film(Tashan had few glimpses).

Phew, that is so much to look forward to. And if all this isnt enough.. Then, there is Shanghai, Barfee, Jannat2, Bol Bacchan, Raaz3 also lined up in 2012, where Actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Emraan Hashmi, Abhay Deol, Abhishek Bachchan are gonna give fight to these top5.

Also, its a big year for Katrina Kaif, who is paired against Shahrukh, Salman and Aamir, each of them in yashraj starrers.

One thing is for sure, the eyes are on how well these 5 actors compete in 2012. Whoever wins the battle at Box Office, here's wishing that the quality of these films lives upto the hype and expectations that will build as the release comes near of each of the mentioned films....

Yash~ 

Rockstar Album - Preview

I want to write a music review, but I wont hurry up.. Music always requires time to impress. Though most of the songs in this case have got my thumbs up already. Still, how strong is the repeat power usually describes a quality album.

To have Mohit Chauhan sing as Ranbir's voice in the film already was a great step, initially surprising but later I found it a awesome news. Come on see it from the point of film, in a musical film like this.. you couldn't have taken any better step than this. 

Out of 14 songs, 9 are sung by Mohit Chauhan, 2 are female songs and 3 background themes. 'Tum Ho' and 'Tum Ko' blend so beautifully with each other, former is boy's feelings for the girl, while the latter is girl's feeling for the boy. Infact girl track appears like a answer to the boy's love track. 'Nadaan Parindey' more like plead to the person to return back. 'Hawa Hawa' is a narration of some book story, could be a performance with kids, but I aint really sure about it yet. 'Sheher mein' is Rahman trademark, no doubts on it.. completely different and experimental.  'Aur Ho', is a sad rock song.. person going through too many things. 

'Kun Faaya Kun' is possibly the defining moment of the film, when rockstar is born at the steps of religious place, seeking blessings and finding himself. 'Jo bhi main' and 'Sadda Haq' are the outstanding tracks for me, didnt took time to love them. The former is on knowing the people around, and how he is not able to present his views properly through his words while the latter song is the angst against people. 'Phir se udh chala' and 'Kateya Karoon' are yet to catch up on me, though they are good tracks too, but not addicted yet to them.  And then the 3 themes.. all are good but my fav is 'Dichotomy of fame', too good! 

Also on twitter I read some people saying, quality of Rahman's songs decreasing. I mean if you said this for Blue I could understand it, even Jhootha hi Sahi was to slight extent agreeable. But how can you say this for 'Rockstar'.. some criticism is so unacceptable. Khair, I guess ignore is the only way out.. 

I think the music is in hands of good director 'Imtiaz ali', who should not fail to use it in the film properly. My expectations from the film are sky high, and if everything goes the right way, with no stupid melodrama or over the top stuff.. then it should be my best film of 2011. Btw Rockstar album already is the best one of this year now, since Jan it was 7 Khoon Maaf for me, Ra One came very close to beat it, but Rockstar managed to do it so easily. within 2 days. 

Bring on Rockstar this 11.11.11  .. 

Sadda Haq 

Aithe Rakh

Film Review : Tere Mere Phere

You do come across films that tortures you completely. It happens, you cant do anything about it. Just forget it like a bad dream applies to them.

Its a story of a young couple who fights a lot, who had a love marriage, who have forgotten that they thought they were made for each other, even had a compatability test done. How due to their fight, another person, Jai(Vinay Pathak) suffers, who travels along with the couple Rahul(Jagrat Desai) and Pooja(Sasha Goradia), a journey he would never like to again have in his life.

The opening credits are nice, little funny. But when the 1st scene starts, aeroplane fight sequence, and the more it builds.. the more you get the idea, what is in store for next 2 hrs. A silly, stupid and a very loud comedy, with lots of high octance shouts and fights. You just sit on your seat, to wait for that one nicest moment that would come somewhere in the film. It does actually come, like the scene where Rahul's father tells his mom about a old girl. Or the marriage scene, where the parents behave in a mad way. And the younger brother of rahul, who gives some respite with his funny dialogues.

Poor direction, at places you feel you would had directed the scene much better than he did. If all the stupid things were not enough, then we see a twist in final 30 mins, which further increases the headache. A sigh of relief comes when the film finally ends.

Performance wise,

Jagrat Desai is quite impressive. Sasha Goradia is nice, looks good.  Vinay Pathak is fine, though I wonder why he did this film. He must have this film in his list of  'Why I did this film'. Riya Sen was over the top in village girl character. Sushmita Mukherjee was very good as mother of Rahul. Darshan Jariwala was good in a very small role.


Overall, Tere Mere Phere has nothing that you would remember, except for one thing.. Why I decided to watch this film.


Verdict : Avoidable

Film Review : Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster

There have been many films made on betrayal, and the thing about these films is how you build the story. Either you directly show who is what, and then let audience think how everything will unfold or you keep suspense as to what characters actually desire. It was the latter in case of this film. And hence it meant, great performances along with a good screenplay. The film does succeed in the end, to quite a extent.

The story is of Babloo(Randeep Hooda) who has come to Saheb's(Jimmy Shergill) place to spy for Gainda Singh(Vipin Sharma). But when he meets Begum(Mahie Gill), his intentions start to change. Saheb is very strict against those who aren't loyal to him. While Begum has a mental problem, so what would Babloo choose to go for, the choice remains in his hands.

The 1st half snails on at a very slow pace. The powerful performances and the fact that you still dont exactly know where the film is leading to, keeps you interested. The 2nd half pretty much lifts up the pace of the film, with lots more action.

There is a sequence where you can actually predict the film, but the further twists changes your mind. Editing could had been better. Also, songs pretty much ruin the narrative. Specially the Shreya and Jimmy song. Chu chu and I love to love you were the best used songs in the film. The beats of 'I love to love you' are excellent, could had been made more dramatic, feel tigmanshu missed out on it.

Dialogues also are the plus point of the film. My fav ' Jo bhi karna tameez se karna, yahan batmeezi bhi tameez se ki jaati hai'. The writing of the film was pretty good.

The best moments of the film ---
• Babloo meeting Begum for first time in her room
• Saheb in Minister's office where Gainda Singh is already present.
• Chu Chu song, the way they capture  shots of Begum in it.
• I love to love you sequence.
• The climax scene


Performances wise,

Jimmy Shergill is excellent as Saheb. He rarely dissappoints you, perfectly moulds into the character.

Mahie Gill is back to her best, after a not so convincing performance in her last film 'Not a love story'. Here, she has a tough role to play too, but she does it so brilliantly. And also looking so hot.

Randeep Hooda is very good. He is slowly moving in right direction, good films and good performances.

Vipin Sharma, remember the father of Ishaan in Taare Zameen Par. Amazing talent this guy is, he repeates his act of yeh saali zindagi of a gangster, though this time a major one. And he does exceptionally well in the role. Though, he should make sure not to get typecast in gangster roles repeatedly.

Deepraj Rana and Deepal Shaw were good in their supporting roles.


Overall, Saheb Biwi aur Gangster despite a slow 1st half, is a good watch for the performances of all the 3 main characters, and the certain twists in 2nd half.


Verdict : Nice 

Film Review : Force

My expectations for this film kept minimising with every new trailer. The music was good though. And I ended up liking the film which isn't as well made as Nishikant Kamat's debut film 'Mumbai Meri Jaan'.

I haven't seen the tamil version i.e 'Kaakha Kaakha', though I had some idea of the plot. The story is of a Narcotics officer whose work involves lot of life danger, and therefore ACP Yashvardhan(John abraham) feels he is the bravest officer with no one around him to become his weakness, until he meets Maya(Genelia D'Souza). He couldn't stop falling in love with her.. On one side is Vishnu(Vidyut Jamwal) who wants to see pain in eyes of Yash as his brother was killed by him. Now, Yash has a tough job to catch Vishnu before he does anything to Maya. 

There is a feel of Ghajini kind of story at places. Though the treatment aint like that. The editing is very good, for instance, the scene where the narcotics team dealing with drug deals at various locations at different times, yet at same time in screenplay running parallely.

Action scenes are very well done, its somewhat hatke, if not totally like the bike scene or the climax fight. 

The problem with Force is that it fails to keep you fully engaged plus the punchlines are very ordinary. Its two plots running at same time, one is narcotics officers against the drug dealers, and other is the officers's personal life. At places, the screenplay overdoes going from romantic to action to romantic to action. 

Main Chali is beautifully used to introduce Maya in the film. Khawabon Khawabon is terribly choreographed, good example of how you can destroy a nice song.

The best moments of the film ---
• Maya's introduction scene, specially the car scene with kids.
• Yash with Maya during their journey.
• Vishnu's 1st attack
• Yash chasing Vishnu
• Vishnu's gift to Yash
• Yash revenge

Performances wise,

John Abraham is actually good in romantic scenes as well as action scenes. But quite rigid during delivering the punchlines(even though they weren't good either). Also, at places he was expressionless. Not a convincing performance.

Genelia D'Souza was superb. Her best performance after Jaane tu ya Jaane na. She is a actress who would deliver in good content roles, simple looking, cute. Thats why, I didnt like the glam look given to her in Khawabon khawabon track. The expression on her face when she takes flower from a kid while in car, and lots of kids come with flowers, was unforgettable. So natural!

Vidyut Jamwal was very good in his debut. Very confident, though at times, he was repeating his postures in his entry scenes. His looks also reminds of neil nitin mukesh and shiney ahuja combination. But, I feel he has the talent to get more roles in future.

Anaitha Nair is wasted, hardly any role. Sandhya Mridul despite small role, shines in her every scene.

Mounish Behl and Raj Babbar were fine.


Overall, Force despite its flaws.. was a good watch.


Verdict : Nice

Film Review : Mausam

It was a film whose theatrical trailer impressed me the most, one of best trailers I saw this year. With very good music, the expectations were high, talent like Pankaj Kapur at direction for 1st time. You couldn't fail, but you did!

The story is of a couple who go through various seperations, not due to family opposition but the events that happen at wrong times, forcing them to change priority. A love story that doesn't change even with passage of many years, having seen lots of downs in their lives.

When you have to showcase love from a particular year to some 10-12 yrs later. Then, you have to divide your screenplay accordingly. Remember, Zindagi na milegi dobara ? How they covered 3 events, with other sub-plots combining to form a meaningful and entertaining screenplay. That's what was missing in Mausam. The screenplay, as well as writing were really bad. Pankaj Kapur stretches the village part beyond limits, though let me admit, that was indeed the best part too of the film. But, it removes that connectivity required for rest portion of film. Just when village part ends, there is a sense of slowness in screenplay. And it very much stays like that throughout after that.

Also, one can easily argue.. how can the couple not inform each other before leaving, even if the situation was above their love. Quite immature lovers!

There was a sense of 'I desperately want this film to work big time' in the kind of writing, and as a result, the writing went from good to nice to bad to extremly poor as the film goes on. The climax tells it all... Extremely melodramatic to accept.

Editing wasn't good, Cinematography was very good, some beautiful shot scenes without a doubt.

Rabba and Saj dhaj ke make the most impact out of all the songs, and yea special mention to sonu shreya song not in album which was very artistically used in the film, one of my fav scene from the film.

My fav moments from the film

• The car stunt scene
• The feeling Harry gets when he watches sonam pass through his house.
• The sonu-shreya romantic song, where the couple talks by writing on paper and then putting it into glass of water.
• Rajjo sending mithai to harry coming to his house at night.
• Harry running from one station back to old, since train is 1 hr late.. just to catch Aayat whom he has been searching since long time.


Performances wise,

Shahid Kapur is extremely good in the innocent image of village boy in early part of film. The air pilot image at places dont go too good at him. Infact, in the scene where he portrays his anger to his sister on phone about the fight going on.. it just doesn't come out naturally.  He excels in post air pilot story very well.

Sonam Kapoor continues her routine, only looks and some expressions in few scenes for a change. But once she tries to deliver a dialogue, you just have to feel for the poor girl who has still not learnt how to act.

Supriya Pathak, I am a big fan of hers.. but in this film she was just about nice. Nothing much to offer in her role, except for a worried bua of Aayat throughout the story.

Anupam Kher has a very small and insignificant role to say in the film ..

Aditi Sharma(if she was rajjo) was very good. Her love for Harry was so easily visible in her eyes in every scene..


Overall.. Mausam dissappoints big time. 1st 30 mins are worth a watch, after that you are just waiting for this love story to end.


Verdict : Poor