Bollywood Box Office

Jannat: Movie Review

With the cricket fever going high with the IPL matches, Bhatt’s decision to release this movie would’ve been a great idea if only the movie was made a little more realistic. The movie deals with the match fixing and a fixer’s woes. But alas, the Bhatts have more or less the same knowledge about the match fixing as an average cricket watcher.The film revolves around this no-so-rich guy Arjun Dikshit(Emran Hashmi) who falls for this girl named Zoya(Sonal Chauhan) whom he finds staring at a diamond ring in a mall. And from there starts the woo-the-girl time. The boy tries out every way right from trying to shop lift the ring to getting a classy car to take her on a date. The girl as any other Hindi film heroines falls in love with the hero after a little bit of her nakhras, meanwhile, Arjun discovers his sixth sense in matches and ability to guess the next move in cricket matches. His habit of betting on matches thus soon makes him a bookie. And then he has a promotion and becomes the match fixer.And then he feels that India isn’t very suitable to build his heaven and thus shifts his head office to South Africa and comes in contact with Abu (Javed Sheikh), who also happens to be a terrorism funder. And so the story takes a turn and the already not-so-good- boy’s name is also mixed up in supporting terrorism. Meanwhile his lady love finds out his job status n condemns him. She opts for strip dancing in night clubs afterwards.The movie could’ve been made better had the Bhatt’s adopted a much more realistic view. Though the movie contains some bold resemblances to Bob Woolmer and comparisons of cricketers like Navjyot Singh Sidhhu, the movie fails to create a believable feel. The way Emran Hashmi bribes the captain right in the locker room was highly unprofessional. The end however is hurriedly dragged from an earlier movie of the Bhatt camp named NAAM.
The movie lacks good screenplay. But the music is good, and I can’t stop humming “zara sa dil mein de jagah”. Basically it’s a watchable movie for Emran Hashmi’s fans but not for the cricket fans

Bhoothnath: Movie Review

Director: Vivek Sharma
Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Shahrukh Khan and Aman Siddiqui
After Taare Zameen Par, which made kids dance to their tunes, we have debutant director Nikhil Kumar’s movie Bhootnath to hit the screens. Bhoothnath is about the relationship between Casper inspired ghost Amitabh Bachchan and kid Aman Sidiqui. The first half of the movie is targeted at kids and the second melodramatic half is incidentally also for kids.

Story of Bhoothnath
A big, unattended ,uninhabited spooky house is haunted by a ghost named Kadernath ( Amitabh Bachchan). The ghost is vengeful and wouldn’t allow anybody to share his house as his fond memories are etched in the house, Nath Villa. But Kadernath is disturbed and furious when a family movies into the house. The family comprises of Banku ( Aman Sidiqqui ), his shy mother ( Juhi Chawla) and pony-tailed daddy ( Shah Rukh Khan).
The ghost is angry with the new inmates of Nath Villa and plans to drive them away by his bhoothiya antics. He comes across Banku and tries his tricks on him, but instead of scaring Banku he amuses him which results in friendship between Banku and Kedarnath and Banku lovingly starts calling Kedarnath as Bhootnath.
All is well in the Bhootnath villa until Kedarnath’s son Priyanshu Chatterjee returns from US to sell off Nath Villa and then the film goes back in time, becomes soggy and melodramatic. The director doesn’t think twice before turning the second half into a Baghban type melodrama.
Kids will surely enjoy the encounters between Banku and Bhootnath and their histrionics in the first half. The way the awesome twosome plays pranks in school and also become heroes in disguise is definitely entertaining. The second half with all those family values I guess went as a bouncer over the heads of kids and it might have left them wondering what happened to Bhootnath. One child beside me in the movie-plex started crying, “Mamma Bhootnath ko ka hua?”
Aman Sidiqui as Banku is perfect and gives an outstanding performance, Amitabh as the loving ghost with sunken eyes looks perfect and manipulates your emotions with his histrionics. Juhi Chawla proves why she is still in the industry despite of marriage with her good performance. Shahrukh Khan is a treat for SRK lovers and I guess he also had some magic powers as we could see a pony-tailed SRK in one scene and in another the pony-tail does a vanishing act, over all he is brilliant.
Although Vivek Sharma needs to hone is directorial skills he is a good narrator. The film has good special effects. Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is good. The soundtrack of the movie is its biggest flaw, I wonder what happened to Vishal-Shekhar when they were composing tunes for this movie.
Don’t go expecting a Taare Zameen Par act from the movie and you might actually like it, but be sure to leave the theatre after the first half if you are watching this movie with your kids as it would prove to be a big embarrassment for you and confusion for your little one.

My verdict: **1/2/ 5

Krazzy 4 movie review

Director: Jaideep

SenCast: Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Suresh Menon, Juhi Chawla and Dia Mirza

Debutante director Jaideep Sen must have foreseen the future of his movie Krazzy 4 and that’s why roped in SRK and Hrithik Roshan to become the saving grace of the movie. But inspite of SRK, Hrithik Roshan, Rakhi Sawant, Ram Sampath (for giving negative publicity for 2 crores), a great star cast and numerology the film turns out to be a dud.
Krazzy 4 is the story about four mental guys Raja (Arshad Warsi), Gangadhar (Rajpal Yadav), Dr Mukherjee (Irrfan Khan), Dabboo (Suresh Menon) and their doc Dr Sonali. Raja is an angry mental man and will hit out at the slightest provocation or even without and has an intermittent explosive disorder in simple words ‘Sarphira’. Dr Mukherjee aka captain of Krazzy4, is a clean freak, wants everything to be perfect and clean and suffers from a personality disorder.
Gangadhar is a schizophrenic who lives in the past and his pals are Nehru, Gandhi, Tilak and Patel. He and his imaginary pals are busy fighting for swaraj and freedom. Last but not the least is cute Dabboo who with his 3/4th pants is everybody’s pet and is frightened to an extent that he doesn’t speak a word.
All hell breaks loose when their savior Dr Sonali takes them out for a cricket match just for a change, Dr Sonali is kidnapped and our Krazzy 4 are left stranded in the big, bad and mad krazzy world. How they survive and rescue their doctor forms the rest of the story.
When Jaideep Sen had power performers like Irrfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Suresh Menon and Arshad Warsi he failed to utilize their potential. Suresh Menon who is a terrific performer is kept on mute all the time. Arshad Warsi inspite of having a meaty role fails to deliver as an angry man. The only actor who is the saving grace of K4 is Rajpal Yadav with a rocking performance; perfect comic timing makes him standout amongst others. Juhi Chawla and Irrfan Khan as Mr. tidy.
The craziest thing about the movie is its bad story inspired from Hollywood flick “The Dream Team”, wonder how Senior Roshan approved of it. The script has some unrealistic scenes which makes you go What The F like Raja bumping into his ex-girlfriend Dia Mirza, Dr Mukherjee meeting his daughter on the road, the krazzy guys carrying a successful sting operation and the climax.
The film is 2 hours long and is interesting in the first half, and a bore in the second eventually ending in a bad climax. Both script and screenplay of K4 are bad.
Coming to the highlight of Krazzy 4-The item numbers, I personally liked SRK’s Breakfree more than Hrithiks, but both are great. Rakhi’s item number would appeal to the frontbenchers and will keep them happy. Rajesh Roshan’s music is disappointing but Break Free is awesome (Credit should be given to Rajesh Roshan for composing rest of the song apart from the 6 lifted seconds).
I hope Jaideep Sen comes out with a good movie next time with a powerful story. Meanwhile the audiences wouldn’t be crazy for Krazzy 4.
My Rating: ** 1/2

Race:Review Many years ago Abbas-Mustan came out with a great hit Baazigar and made the dialogue popular, “haar k jeetne wale ko baazigar kehte hai.” Now we are not talking about SRK, here our Baazigars are none other than duo Abbas-Mustan, who recently experienced haar with duds like 36 China Town and Naqaab, and finally have struck jeet through Race.
Last year Naqaab was touted as the “most shocking thriller” of the year by Abbas-Mustan but it failed miserably. But this time the duo has let their work speak for them instead of making tall claims and Race clearly stands out. Race is a total Saif and Akshay’s movie: they delivered superb performances.
The story of Race revolves around two stepbrothers Ranvir Singh (SAK) and Rajeev Singh (Akshay). The two brothers compete against each other since childhood, and as the rule goes for every game, Saif always ends up winning whereas Akshay is on the losing side. Shot extensively in South Africa, the movie is about betrayal, greed, intrigue and revenge.Ranvir the eldest of the two brothers is a cunning businessman who is always hungry for success and owns a ranch named Stallions. He gives tough competition to his competitors and doesn’t forgive people who try to act smart with him. On the other hand Rajiv (Akshay) is a total spoilt-rich-brat who loves wine more than the family horses.
Ranvir falls head-over-heels in love with the fashion catwalk queen Sonia (Bipasha Basu). But then a thriller is incomplete without a love triangle. Ranvir’s beautiful and hot secretary is secretly in love with her, but Ranvir gives a damn to her. As expected (from the trailers) Akshay also falls in love with Bipasha, and promises to mend his ways if Bipasha accepts his marriage proposal. Saif Ali Khan like every Indian elder brother sacrifices his love for his younger bro. But then one of the brothers has evil intentions in mind, a murder is committed, and the evil brother gets to walk away with the insurance claim of whooping hundred million.
Now a murder mystery is incomplete without a detective, and we do have one in Race. Robert D’Costa aka RD (Anil Kapoor), who is always munching fruits along with his sexy dumb bimbette secretary Mini (Sameera Reddy) enters the scene of crime and try to solve the mystery of the murder. The thriller gets its dose of humor with this detective-secretary combo. Although the jokes are dumb the audience are left in splits.
The best things about Race are not one but many: Akshay’s negative performance, Pritam’s rocking music, Stunts by Allan Amin, great dialogues, good Cinematography and above all a meaningful ending.
Although the movie is glossy with many action stunts, the director reminds us of SRK’s Baazigar, when one of the brother pushes down the other from the terrace of high-rise building to his death similar to the way SRK pushes down Shilpa Shetty in Baazigar. The first half of Race, kept me glued to my seat, I could not predict easily what exactly will happen in the next scene. With lots of twists and turns, I was munching my popcorn at Rajdhani express speed wondering what is gonna happen next.
Performance wise Akshay Khanna is the best in his negative avatar, Saif Ali Khan (he should take tips on working out from his zero size girlfriend) delivers a power packed performance as an intense elder brother and shrewd businessman, rest all are mediocre. Amongst all the ladies in the movie Bipasha Basu stands out, Katrina Kaif looks strikingly beautiful but fails to strike the right acting chord, Sameera Reddy acts as the Indian version of dumb blonde and provides enough justice to her role. Anil Kapoor provides the comedy element to the movie, but his acts looks monotonous.
Overall the movie is great, can be watched once (once you know the mystery its no more fun), the ladies up the sex quotient and great powerhouse performances by Saif and Akshay. A total paisa vasool movie. Don’t forget to check out the car blast scene in the first half of the movie. I expect Race will recover its investment and break the 30 crore barrier in its first week collections itself. Go Race yourself to the theaters.
My Rating: * * */ 5