And Lollywood Shows Improvement!

I am a biggest Pakistani movies’ fan, and I am not shy or hesitant to say that. But in the last few years (better say a decade or more) I have not seen many quality oriented movies in terms of script, performances and tone. Khuda Kay Liay, Bol, Yeh Dil Aapka hua and few other movies were technically and script-wise good along with the performances that were impressive. Rest of the movies, sorry to say, were typical formula based that offered no quality content to audiences.

Few days ago I was enlightened to watch the trailer of “Naach” – a joint venture of Nasir Teherani and Manduck Collective Films. It was a state of surprise for me watching finest actors delivering some great dialogues (I must add, Pakistani industry once had the best of dialogues back in 60’s to early 90’s). This movie is claimed to be the first ever movie produced in Pakistan that is based on Dance. It showcases the amazing talents of Javed Sheikh, Shaan, Momal Shaikh, Noman Butt and Komal Rizvi along with many glittering stars. The movie is based on passion, dance, romance, inspiration and imagination.

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The trailer of the movie is very appealing and it builds up the curiosity to watch the movies – which in itself is a victory. Let us not go in to the debates of originality of the concept or inspirational adaptation. Just consider this movie as a move of brighter cinema. Jaaved Sheikh is definitely amongst the finest actors of Pakistan right from the days of “Shama” and the way he delivers his dialogues in “Naach” is tremendous, his voice and his moves will impress you the way they impressed me.

Shaan, on the other end, is the most sensible actors of Pakistan, leaving apart the kinds of movies that “masses” like. After all, someone had to step into the genre of the movies that was introduced by late Sultan Rahi. And he undoubtedly did a remarkable job in maintaining and increasing that list of cinema goers. Whether it was his “Guns N Roses”, “Very Good Dunya Very Bad Log”, “Tere Pyar Mein”, “Ghoonghat”, “KKL” and “Moosa Khan” Shaan always tried to give composed, remarkable and genuine performance. It is a shame for Pakistani directors to not to offer him roles that he really deserves.

There are many people who would say in a movie that is based upon DANCE, how anyone can cast Shaan and Jaaved Sheikh? both being older and hardly suitable for dancing roles, for all those “think tanks” let me add, try to promote your own stuff, if it is worth appraising. Did you ever thought the same way when SRK acted as the coach of hockey team?

I am excited to enjoy this movie and I hope those who appreciate quality movies from Pakistani cinema must feel the same.

THE DICTATOR – Movie Review

Those who are familiar with ALI G, Borat and Bruno, must definitely be waiting for the new and much awaited movie of Sacha Baron Cohen named “The Dictator”. There is not second thought that the actor is amongst the finest comedians and can take up any script and add “life” to it by using his tremendous efforts. This particular movie “The Dictator” receives a mix reaction from the audiences. Let us discover more about this laugh riot.

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“The Dictator” revolves around a plot that is based on the bestselling novel “Zabibah – The Kingdom”, penned by Saddam Hussein. The movie tells the tale of a ruler (Dictator) who lived a jeopardized life trying to make certain that democracy would never enter his land. Sacha Baron Cohen portrays the role of Admiral General Aladin along with the much talented and amazing actor Ben Kingsley as Taamir. 

As far as the performance of both the actors are concerned, they both do justice to their roles – without a doubt. But one can not go overboard when the script is weak. Same happened with “The dictator”. The well known writers Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer could simply not let the audience gag. On the contrary Larry Charles (director) tries really hard to do justice and he definitely saves himself on that ground.

Cohen is an amazing performer and his conviction is seen on the screen, he is one committed actor but the role that is played by him in this particular movie lacks conceiving power. He manages to provide some great laughs especially when he discusses about “Osama Bin Laden” and his death. Ana Faris is competent and adds what she is capable of.

This is amongst first of those American movies that makes audience laugh at 9/11. This is definitely a bold step in itself. On the whole “The Dictator” is receiving multiple reactions, for those who have high hopes with the movie will be definitely disappointed and for those who will take it as a normal or usual fare will in one way or the other might like the movie. The movie offers few nice jokes, not good enough, and the rest of the jokes range from filthy to terrible and obtuse. 

Advise: Before going for this movie, throw away the expectations that were born after watching “Borat” or even “Ali G”. Life will be good, if the expectations will be lesser.

Rating: 5.5/10

Jannat 2 - Movie Review

The word “Camp” relates to fun, thrill and adventure and this very word that is used with none other than BHATTS (Mahesh Bhatt and Vikram Bhatt). Bhatts’ Camp has produced many movies that have been applauded by the viewers, be they be controversial or message oriented. They know the mindset of the audience and how to penetrate that. In fact they have developed a new kind of cinema and its audience, believe it or not. Their path breaking movies have always left audience with the acceptance of different subjects that were not earlier explored in main stream cinema, for instance movies like Arth, Saraansh, Naam, Daddy, Awargi, Zakhm, Tamanna, Jism, Raaz and Zaher etc. The degree of their genre deviates to a greater extent. After Jannat’s success they bring Emraan Hashmi again in Jannat 2 and kudos to their choice for doing so.

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Jannat 2 has a simple plot. Sonu Dilli aka KKC (Emraan Hashmi) is involved in arms trafficking along with his friend named Balli (Zeshan Ayub). ACP Pratap (Randeep Hoda) lost his wife in an accident and since then his mission revolves around eradicating the illegal use of arms and ammunitions. Pratap uses and manipulates Sonu Dilli to work for him so that he can crackdown the head dealers of arms trafficking. Sonu on the other hand falls in love with Jhanvi (Esha Gupta) who wants to live a simple life that must be free from illegality. Things turn around when Sonu comes to know (After marrying Jhanvi) that her father is the person who is the head of arms trafficking, Mangal Singh Tomar (Manish Chaudhry). Now Sonu has to decide to still help Pratap, stay loyal to Mangal Singh or leave the country with his love – Jhanvi.

As far as the performances are concerned every actor in the movie excels and shines. Emraan Hashmi is a fine actor and there is no second opinion to that as he always surprises his viewers in one way or the other. In this particular movie he is extremely different both in terms of performance and the way he speaks, his very first scene/dialogue will let you feel the difference and you will love his character. This is one of his finest performances, undeniably. Randeep Hoda is a talent that has never been tapped properly and this is the reason why this amazing actor has so few films in his sleeves. The actor who started his career back in 2001 with Monsoon wedding has only performed in 10 movies (including this one). The interesting thing is that he performed the roles of a cop in “D”, “Risk”, “Once Upon A time in Mumbai” and “Jannat 2” and he is such a blessed actor that all his performances are distinctive from one another. In Jannat 2 Randeep Hoda performs a role that is very complicated, not many actors in the industry can perform such roles, he at one end is evil and cold blooded, on the other hand he has a soft heart as well and last but not the least he is over-shadowed by his past. A brilliant performance in every scene in which he appears on the screen. Watch out his wrath, shock and helplessness in the climax when he calls out “Emergency”.

Esha Gupta is good, as a debutante she performs really fine. Manish Chaudhry is also a surprise to watch. In his last movie “Blood Money” he performed a role of sophisticated villain whereas in Jannat 2 he catches his audience with surprise. Zeshan Ayub in his 3^rd movie impresses remarkably, he is natural and very talented. Brijendra Kala, like always, justifies his performance. Kunal Deshmukh (Director) and Sanjay Masoom (Dialogue) have the ability to produce magic on screen. Music is good, not excellent.

To many people Jannat 2 can be an action flick but in reality it is a well made movie with all the ingredients (including friendship, sacrifice, love, thrill, action and drama) in right quantity and very well executed. The end of the movie is very practical and very different as compared to other movies.

In short Jannat 2 is an amazing experience for those who enjoy great script, flawless performances, interesting action and “True Bollywood Cinema”. A Must watch!

Rating 8/10

VICKY DONOR – The sperm that produces a “Laugh”

Tribune

With the passage of time audience have seen that the cinema has changed. I would call it a 360 degree change. There were times when action flicks used to be the talk of the town. There used to be an angry young man beating up the goons either for the sake of vengeance or for proving his macho character. Then there were times when love stories were liked by budding lovers and college sweet-hearts, those movies used to have some great music compositions which were instantly liked and loved by the listeners (of that time). Now weird (for some people) and interesting (for other viewers) movies are made. At some circles slapstick comedies are encouraged and on the other hand people are also appreciating thought provoking cinema. This particular movie, “Vicky Donor” is a combination of both.

The movie might not get success, on the basis of its topic, screenplay and concept, if it would have been released in 90’s or even in 2000’s. Audience is much more ready to accept things nowadays. The movie is tale of a Punjabi boy named Vicky Arora (Ayushman) whose great grandfather had 19 children. This story also revolves around a (not so successful) middle aged Doctor Baldev Chadda (Annu Kapoor) who specializes in infertility operations and he runs a fertility clinic and looking for a sperm donor. Last but not the least, this movie also revolves around the love of a Punjabi guy with a Bengali girl Ashima Roy (Yaami Gautam) and their trust and understanding.

The theme of the movie is really interesting yet controversial, for some. Dr. Chadda convinces Vicky to donate his sperm so that he can give happiness to those parents who are not blessed with their biological kids. For this he quotes some factual yet hilarious examples to Vicky, regarding Mahabhaarat’s time. Finally Dr. Chadda convinces Vicky and he starts to donate sperms. The sequence between Annu Kapoor (as Dr. Chadda) and Ayushmaan (as Vicky) are amazingly hilarious and here definitely Annu Kapoor being a veteran actor takes the audience to the heights of laughter. It is not easy to share the screen with Annu Kapoor but Ayushmaan makes his presence noticed strongly. They both complement each other in almost every scene be it be dramatic or funny. Those who know the roles portrayed by Annu Kapoor in his career will never doubt that he has a caliber that is not shared by many actors. Be it his “Gali Gali Chor hai” or “7 Khoon Maaf” both roles portrays huge contrast. For those who really want to see his amazing performance must watch “Ek Ruka hua faisla” (21 years old young Annu Kapoor portraying a 59 years old lawyer).

On the other hand (the debutant) Ayushman is also full of surprises. He performs extremely nice as a funky, easy going and smartass boy at one place, whereas he astonishes audience in climax (I don’t want to spoil the experience – watch it yourself). Be it a serious thing or comical the young talent has the potential to get noticed. Yaami Gautam is a well known name of Indian TV Channels but she debuts in this movie and guys will love her charms and sweetness. She does not portray an “Oh So Sexy” role but even then am sure guys will smile after watching her and noticing her simplicity. She can go a long way provided she chooses right roles.

There are other characters that shine in this movie, including, Vicky’s mom (Dolly Ahluwalia) and grand mom (Kamlesh Gill). Jayanta Das, portraying the father of Yaami Gautam, excels brilliantly.

On the whole, John Abraham has managed to produce a great piece of funny and witty cinema. The movie shares a nice plot line, if we can save a dying man by donating our blood, why can’t we grant our sperms to grant a whole life to someone who does not even exists in the world. The good things about this movie are that it has freshness, good humor, some great performances and a nice handling. Only drawback – it lacks star power (which these days is a must for many movie goers).

Music is average, dialogues are hilarious and direction is promising.

Rating 7/10