Don2 : The king is back

The teaser was impressive, getting all my eyes onto the next trailers and the film. Don never appealed to me because of getting to see Shahrukh speak the same dialogues, and in the same sequences once Amitabh had perfectly done in late 70's. The climax was the only good point.

But, Don2 is completely new film, new dialogues, new story, new screenplay, more develish, more style, action, new songs and even 3D. 

From this new trailer -> Don2 Theatrical Trailer

It is clear that the story starts with Don surrendering himself to police, only to fool them and take Vardhaan's trust and help to his own profit. His tactics and mind, what he is leading upto only he can tell. I have a guess, he would be fooling everyone including Vardhaan and the new ally he forms in Berlin. Don feels pride in his work, as Malik feels police of every country is after him, how will he save him and Don replies 'Aaj, yeh sunke meri maa kitni khush hoti .. Mr Malik aap meri maa ko nahi jaante'. 

We already have one dialogue to drool over in the trailer 'Sir? Sir bahut shareef sa lagta hai .. call me Don'. Surely, we can easily expect many more of such one liners in the film.

The music should be fresh too this time, and the background theme always was lovable in both old Don films, this one would continue that trend too, or maybe go one step higher in quality.

Kunal Kapoor appears to be a spy working for Roma and Malik, how loyal he turns out is to be seen in the film. Also, what role Alyy Khan has in the film, in terms of his negative role as he gets quite much of importance in the trailer. Vardhaan i.e Boman Irani character would also be a interesting one to watch out for, as afterall he was quite clever one in 1st part in terms of fooling around, and almost winning it. There would be a 3 way battle, Don against Roma/Malik/Kunal, Don against Vardhaan and Don against the new formed enemies in Berlin. Whether its a equal emphasis on each of these, or not is gonna be the question.

Also, what the climax is gonna be. Totally unpredictable.. Ofcourse if Don3 is in mind, then you wont see Don die in the end. I certainly want him to get free again ... 

'Don ko pakarna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai' ... 

Fans

You know you are a fan of a celeb, if you day/night think about his/her films/music. You wait for his films/music/song the most every year. You don't feel like appreciating other celebs much, especially the ones that are the major competitors with your fav celeb. You are a die-hard fan!

How many times, have you seen a Shahrukh Khan fan not make fun of Aamir/Salman ? Be it any debate on online forum, be it twitter, be it interview or any of their film. The same applies to Aamir and Salman fans too. One has to accept it that if you are a fan of a particular star celeb who are among the top10, then you are bound to have certain dislike for the rest 9.. the dislike could be small or big, depends on the kind of person you are. Thats a price you pay, for being a fan of a particular celeb, a die-hard fan to be precise.

There are 2 kinds of fans, one who matures with time, one who never matures. I have met both types. There was a incident on twitter, I wrote something good about Mausam music. As a result, 2 sonam kapoor fans followed me. Now, after few days, I wrote a tweet  'Mausam music is very good, among best of 2011, but still it doesn't enter my top5 of this year.' The sonam kapoor fans wanted it to be in top5, maybe even no.1. So, they unfollowed me. Ofcourse, it didn't matter much to me as I never followed them.. and I knew they are gonna unfollow me one day! The point is, that a fan adores his/her favourite celeb to such a extent that even a small comment which holds true, would mean anti-comment made towards the celeb for that fan.

You should not argue too much with the immature fans, they won't agree with you ever. They will remain stuck to their thoughts, and only waste your time. There was a time when I use to argue with them, not anymore. The ignore button gets pressed, the moment I see such thing coming from any immature fan. You can go anywhere else and do your yack yack, I ain't interested.

Some of the immature fans, are very violent too. Seen many cases of abuse on twitter, and surely the count of such people would be very high. I don't like to confront them, always prefer to stay away. Infact, due to these kinda of fans, I feel bad for every celeb who uses Twitter. These celebs try to communicate with their fans., I know most celebs use the medium mainly to promote films, but say 10 yrs back, did anyone thought they could actually be communicating with their celebs so often. But, the violent fans start sending abusive tweets, thinking they are succeeding in making that celeb feel bad. A childish act, but very common in today's times. They don't even spare journalists, then how would they leave celebs.

Personally, I have no feeling for every person who is a fan of a celeb. Because thats not the kind of company I want to be around me. If my friends happen to be like that, then I make it a point, not to talk anything or talk to a minimum about their fav celebs with them. Because I know if I talk more on them, they will show me their love towards that celeb in abundance, which will irritate me. So, if you ever thought why I talk less on your fav celeb with you, then the answer you got just now.

I agree that in your top5 fav list, some actors wont be there, like Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar won't come in my top5 list, because they time and again dissappoint me with their choice of films. But, the key is.. they wont either come in my list of worst 5 actors list, or the list of actors whom I can't stand. No, nothing like that. If you have the stardom, then you certainly have got some talent to get it. How much different people like you, depends on how your talent is nurtured by the directors, and ofcourse whether the reason the people don't like you is personal or related to your work.


In all, to lead a life of being a fan of a celeb is very tedious, and not worth fun at all. Atleast that's how I always feel. Enjoy every actor's good work, have constructive criticism about the bad work.. the filmi world would become so nice.


------
Yash.

Film Review : Mod

Nagesh Kukunoor never has tried a romantic film, with Rannvijay Singh as male lead for 1st time in his career.. he had the stakes against him. To quite a extent, he achieves to hit a note with his storytelling.

The story is of a girl Aranya (Ayesha Takia) living alone at a hill station, Ganga.. who never allows her father to enter her home until he quits drinking. Her father is a huge fan of Kishore and also works as a singer at a restaurant place. Aranya meets Andy (Rannvijay Singh), over a course of few meetings, she starts to have a special liking and place for him. But the problem is, she doesn't know who he actually is, what he is upto. What Aranya would do, when she will know the truth, continue her relationship or leave him...

The storytelling of Nagesh is slow, he very much believes in building the sub-plots fully, before bringing the main plot i.e Aranya-Andy relationship into the core of the story. The drama is very well incorporated by Nagesh into the story. He brings some good twists, the interval sequence being one of them.

Screenplay is effective. The songs are used perfectly, even though most of them lack the appealing power, tu hi tu is quite romantic. Cinematography is good. Editing is fine.

The reaction's of Andy's mental health at a point looks over-done, during the hospital scene with Aranya. Also, how normal he behaves in the climax is a question to be asked too.


Performances wise,

Ayesha Takia is as always lovely and sweet. I have always liked her acting though seen very less of her films. She has that simplicity in her looks yet very beautiful.

Rannvijay Singh, does very well in his attempt at solo lead for first time. I can't predict his future in hindi films as main lead yet, but he surely can act.

Raghuveer Yadav is good. Tanvi Azmi is excellent in her supporting role. (A confession to make, I came to know only now that she has a connection with Shabana Azmi). Anant Mahadevan is just about okay.


Overall, Mod is a sweet romantic film dealing with a relationship that faces problems and overcomes it very well. The film lacks entertainment value to a certain extent, so not for that section of audience.


Verdict : Nice 

Film Review : My Friend Pinto

Sanjay Leela Bhansali co-produces this film with UTV , a comedy genre which he hadn't gone into before in his career. Much like Madhur Bhandarkar, only difference the director is newbie 'Raghav Dar' in this case.

The story is about Michael Pinto (Pratiek Babbar) who has come to Mumbai to live with his childhood friend Sameer (Arjun Mathur) after the sad demise of his mother. He is a very honest and simple living guy, who often lands himself and sometimes the people around him in trouble. He is a good musician and wants to become a priest one day. How Pinto's arrival brings a change into the lives of Sameer, and many more, in just one whole new year eve night.. is the story all about.

It takes time in the start as all the characters get introduced. After that, what you enjoy the most is, how well the writer connects all the stories, and the screenplay that makes it interesting. What you miss the most is the good punches to make it that much comical. There are many moments that are good, but you wanted them to be very good.

Except 'Do Kabootar' which also in a way narrates story, the songs are well placed.

The good moments ----
• Pinto giving new mantra to a drunkard gambler about winning by going with heart.
• Pinto with Don helping him play instruments.
• The drunk scene of Don's girlfriend with Pinto on the road, and later in her house.
• The whole dhinchak zindagi track, full of energy and very well edited.

Performances wise,

Pratiek Babbar is back on track, in comparison to his last two performances, this one is much better. He just needs to keep choosing the right films.

Kalk Koechin fails to impress, plus her romantic part with pratiek is given very less screen space.

Arjun Mathur and Shruti Seth are good in supporting roles.

Divya Dutta is awesome in her drunk scene, apart from that she has very less part in the film.

Makrand Deshpande impresses with his dialect. Shakeel Khan is good in few scenes he gets in the film. Raj Zutshi irritates, thanks to the bad look given to him.


Overall, My Friend Pinto despite being able to connect many events together so well, is good in parts only as you end up wanting for much more than you get.


Verdict : Average

Film Review : Jo Dooba So Paar

There were 3 reasons that I went to see this film. One was Rajat Kapoor, 2nd was Vinay Pathak and 3rd was the tagline 'Its love in Bihar'. None of these 3 factors helped me to like this film.

Kishu (Anand Tiwari) gets thrown out of school for being involved too many times in wrong means. He now joins his father in their village in Bihar who runs a truck there. With time Kishu gets to see lots of kidnapping, and bomb supply activities happening around him. One day Kishu watches a beautiful american girl at police station, and falls in love at first sight. Only to know later, that the girl has a american boyfriend. The story revolves around Kishu's love, the kidnapping issues and the police which is corrupt to large extent.

The main problem with the film is, it just keeps dragging on. The screenplay is poor. There are 2-3 good moments in the film, for instance the starting school scene or Kishu meeting Sapna (Sita Ragione Spada), or the climax.

There is very less action in the film, and the pace is too slow, with a story that's not new too. The writing is very weak, there was a chance to make it very comcial but it didnt happen. Plus, its not a performance oriented film either. Even the songs don't give any respite.

Performances wise,

Vinay Pathak is okay. I don't think he had any scope to perform in this film. Same holds true for Rajat Kapoor, though he still gets 2-3 scenes to make little impact.

Anand Tiwari, remember the friend of Hrithik in Kites. He has a good screen presence, and acts well too. A better written film would test him more though.

Rest of the supporting cast is just about fine.

Overall, Jo Dooba So Paar has very few good moments.


Verdict : Poor

Film Review : Azaan

The promos were terrible, and you know how bad his direction was in his debut film 'Aap ka Suroor - the movie'. Yet, just that stubborness to watch new releases, made me see this one hell of a boring, and just boring film, that had only one background piece to attract me in whole film.. which also wasn't original, heard before in films.

The story is of a Doctor (Sajid Hassan) who wants to destruct India, first by planting bomb in peace conference at Germany, then the Ebola virus which if spread could completely destroy India. One man stands in his way, Azaan Khan (Sachin Joshi), a army officer now secretly working for Sam (Alyy Khan) and Pandey (Ravi Kissen). But how he deals with the job, when he is told about his brother whom he has been searching since long, is a terrorist.

There is nothing new in the story, the virus part isn't tried before in our films in major way, like Contagion. But, Azaan mostly keeps Ebola virus as a backdrop only. Prashant Chaddha shows no improvement in his direction skills, possibly gets worser than his debut. The screenplay is nice, but when your lead actor has got single expression in entire film, it's hard to like such a film.

Doctor's 1st appearance in the film, Azaan going to check what his friend is going to get n then coming back into the car, and the sand painting 1st scene of Afreen were among the few good moments of this dull film.

The songs are forced into the narration, though Salim-Suleiman have given nice music in the film. Editing is okay. Cinematography is nice. Some of the action sequences are well done, though one scene is straightaway lifted from Bourne Series.

The love angle of Candice was completely off track, in a already non-appealing film.

Performances wise,

Sachin Joshi will need to improve a hell lot, else his career wont last too long.

Candice Boucher reminds of Celina Jaitley when she was new in acting. No expressions, just beauty.

Ravi Kissen is totally over the top. Alyy Khan is his usual. Sajid Hassan impresses in 1-2 scenes. Sarita Chowdhary is fine. Sachin Khedekar, Dalip Tahil and Aarya Babbar get no scope in small appearances.



Overall, Azaan has nothing to make you like this film.


Verdict : Avoidable

Film Review : Mujhse Fraandship Karoge

First of all, its not a hindi version of the famous hollywood film 'The Social Network', if at all there were any people with such misconception.

Vishal (Saqib Saleem) goes to his college friend Rahul's (Nishant Dahiya) concert, and happens to fall in love at first sight with a girl Malvika (Tara D'Souza). Malvika is room-partner of Priety (Saba Azad), who dislikes boys a lot, and is working on a project with Vishal together for their college. Now, Priety has a liking for Rahul, while Vishal has a liking for Malvika. They can't express it in real face to face, so what they do is.. log in from their room-partner's account, and Priety becomes Malvika, Vishal becomes Rahul. They start communicating with each other. But how long would it last, what would Rahul and Malvika do when they know, and what will happen when Priety and Vishal would know, they were talking to each other through means of Facebook.

Some director's use the 1st scene of the film to explain, what kind of film is in store for them instead of starting directly with opening credits. Same is the case here, as we see 2 guys having fun with one of their college mate online on facebook. You are hereby told, the film would be funny and very youthful. And thats how it is for the entire time span.

Usually in films where you are cheating over a person, you expect a kind of slowness to come into the film before it ends happily, that doesn't really happen here. There is no emotional drama, people are shown as understandable and smart to understand what is right and wrong. This as a result takes the climax to an extra high for me. Notice the reaction of Vishal when Priety speaks to her on stage in climax.

Nupur Ashtana is very good as debut director. Editing is superb, the way they have put up the facebook profile shots was really good, also the camera angles used in them. Screenplay is impressive, hard to find any dull moment. Also, how well the cut away shots are kept, about college mates speaking on Priety at various stages of film with every person remaining in one tone, the last one always makes you laugh 'I think she wanna get laid.. slaaaaaap'. This is what I disliked in Soundtrack, and here it's so effectively used into the screenplay.. clear eg of how a particular idea can be executed into ur screenplay properly.

All the songs were well used, one may argue about har saans song to some extent but I feel it was a good way to conclude the just ended scene. Also, every song is very good audio wise, good work from Raghu Dixit, the composer.

The best moments of the film ----
• The opening facebook share sequence by Vishal and his friend.
• All the fight sequences between Vishal and Priety.
• The scene between Vishal and Malvika at the disco place.
• Rahul and Malvika meeting for 1st time.
• When Vishal and Priety for 1st time check each other's facebook accounts(they must have earlier too, but in the film you see it only once, that is in this scene)
• The finale sequence.

Performances wise,

Saqib Saleem is excellent as a debut. At times he did reminded me of 'Rajjo' of pyar ka punchnaama to be precise. But, he was too good, confident, has got a good screen presence and as mentioned earlier amazing in that stage sequence.

Saba Azad, had done Dil Kabaddi before this, I can't recall her role in that film.. must be small one. In this film, she is very cute, beautiful as well as sexy. I just fell in love with her, every time she came in a scene. And along with her looks, she acts very well too. Would love to see her do well in her future career.

Nishant Dahiya doesn't really get much scope in his role in the film. The only 2 scenes that he has hiw own were the first meeting with Malvika and the scolding scene with Vishal. His future films would give a better picture of his acting skills.

Tara D'Souza was nice, after Mere Brother ki Dulhan, I would say she does much better in this film..

Meeta Vasisht was good in small cameo. Though, she made me wonder how can a teacher look so hot. Maybe, I was unlucky not to have such teachers in my college life.

Prabal Punjabi reminds of Vir Das so much. He was nice though.


Overall, Mujhse Fraandship Karoge would appeal specially to the youth audience, it has that connectivity, with lots of fun and entertainment, and a good love story.


Verdict : Very Good