Indian movies

Vikram Bhatt has often been accused of borrowing heavily from foreign films. In SPEED, he borrows from the Hollywood film CELLULAR, which, in turn, reminded you of PHONE BOOTH. Despite the similarities, SPEED is slick, has several compelling moments and isn’t as predictable as one thought it would be.

SPEED is an edge of the seat thriller and unravels at a feverish pace. The only problem is, there’re a few rough edges [a few questions unanswered, predictable climax], but the pros easily outnumber the cons here.

In a nutshell, SPEED is an engrossing fare, with moments that stay with you.

What do you do when you get a phone call from a stranger begging you to save her life? What would you do if your only ray of hope is your phone?

Zayed Khan comes to London to convince his girlfriend Tanushree Dutta to give him another chance to prove his love for her. Meanwhile, Sanjay Suri, an undercover agent, receives a CD from Aftab Shivdasani and Sophie Chaudhary, which contains the recording of his kidnapped wife, Urmila Matondkar, and is asked to follow the instructions.

He’s completely confused about what’s happening. Soon he realizes that he is being used as a weapon to assassinate the P.M. of India on the London tour. As he is still not agreeing to plans, Aftab finally decides to kidnap his kid.

Sanjay’s kidnapped wife, Urmila, starts trying to escape. Her only ray of hope is the telephone call she’s accidentally made to Zayed Khan. He’s in touch with her throughout, continuously talking with her and giving her moral support. As Zayed decides to help Urmila, his love of life, Tanushree gets annoyed and threatens to break up again. A happy-go-lucky brat Zayed, who never takes anything seriously, risks his own life to save an unknown family just because of a call.

Aashish Chowdhary, the super-cop of London, is in charge of security of the visiting Prime Minister. But as his girlfriend has her birthday the very same day, Aashish is caught between his personal life and duty. He obviously chooses the later. Will Aftab and Sophie succeed in their sinister plans?

Although SPEED borrows from CELLULAR, it must be mentioned that the Indian moviegoer has witnessed strikingly similar themes in the past. Yet, in all fairness, Vikram and his team of writers have Indianized the plot well. For, the film is absorbing in most parts, except for some glitches in the second hour.

The Aashish – Amrita track, for instance, should’ve been better developed. Also, the film gets slightly predictable towards the finale, although, frankly, you don’t really mind it since the culmination couldn’t be different.

Director Vikram Bhatt is in form this time. Thrillers have always been his forte and his handling of the subject material is commendable this time. It’s stylish and most importantly, it succeeds in keeping your interest alive. Pritam’s music is okay, although, given the genre, the makers have wisely restricted the songs in the narrative. Pravin Bhatt’s cinematography is topnotch. The locales of London are eye-filling and give the film the required sheen. Action sequences [Abbas Ali Moghul] are well executed.

SPEED belongs to two actors primarily -- Urmila Matondkar and Zayed Khan. Urmila handles her part with dexterity and adds freshness to the goings-on since she has cut down on her acting assignments. Zayed is cool and suits the role well. Aashish Chowdhary springs a surprise. In fact, the actor is getting likable with every release.

Sanjay Suri is a fine actor, but the spark is missing this time. Aftab too isn’t fiery enough and his look is a complete put-off. Tanushree Dutta needs to go easy on her makeup. Otherwise, she’s passable. Sophie Chaudhary makes her presence felt. Amrita Arora looks glamorous.

On the whole, SPEED is an interesting thriller that has the advantage of being a solo release. At the box-office, this reasonably priced fare should attract its share of viewers in its initial run.

Each film has a twist in the tale. And with 12 writers, eight composers, six directors and 25 actors, this sure is one wholesome cinematic journey. Sunday MiDDAY tells you the who's who in each story and what it's all about


Rice Plate
Cast: Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah

A Hindu woman and a Muslim man's journey over a rice plate. It is about the challenge that the woman faces when a strange man claims her plate of rice. Will she place her hunger before her beliefs? A sensitive story with the most awaited performances; this is something everyone is waiting for.

Sex on the Beach
Cast: Dino Morea and Tareena Patel

Dino picks a worn out book on the beach and its character comes alive into a breathtaking woman. They have a great time together but suddenly everything changes. The mystery woman has some surprises in store for Dino. Dino has to pay a price for his dream coming true.


Love Dale
Cast: Anupam Kher, Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Oberoi

Neha meets an old woman in the train who is wearing only one earring. She finds that strange and that chance meeting strikes the change in her life. A story about fate, destiny at play and the notion that one moment can change your entire life.


Matrimony
Cast: Mandira Bedi, Arbaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey

Mrs. & Mr. Sarin are a happily married couple. Living in their paradise the devoted wife goes and meets her ailing aunt every Thursday. But is she really meeting her aunt? A story about betrayal and faith. It talks about how love makes a fool of all of us.


Gubbare
Cast: Anita Hasnandani, Nana Patekar and Rohit Roy

After an argument with her husband in the bus, Anita sits next to an intriguing man holding 14 red balloons. This story written by Gulzar unfolds a journey within a journey into this man's past uncovering the key to one of the most important lessons in life.


Pooranmashi
Cast: Amrita Singh, Minisha Lamba and Parmeet Sethi

Adapted from writer Kartar Singh Duggal's short story, Pooranmashi is about the mother-daughter bond. A mother's only daughter is about to get married and she would do anything to make her daughter happy. Pooranmashi is a story of women whose unconditional love makes for a tale of unforgettable emotional power.

Strangers in the night
Cast: Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar

Every anniversary, they told the other a secret; this year it's the wife's turn. She begins narrating an interesting encounter with a stranger at the railway station waiting room. From there is revealed a secret that changes their lives. Maybe she should have never shared this secret.

High on the highway
Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Masumeh


The highway symbolised their companionship and their unspoken love. Its unpredictable and volatile turns define this story of two people who discover the boundaries of freedom and the recklessness of life.

Zahir
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Dia Mirza


This is a story about friendship, love and mystery. After discovering something startling about his lover, a writer is driven to madness. The one step he takes gives this story its required twist. The mysteries of love are explored and the consequences analysed. The trademark Sanjay Gupta style that will grip you in your seats.

Rise and fall
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty

This is a story of dreams and their bitterness on fulfillment. Two parallel stories run together to meet one end. It is a story about two gangsters, their friendship and subsequent betrayal. Rise and Fall is a story of two friends united as brothers but divided by power.

Since almost a decade, Priyadarshan has been specializing in comic capers. Priyan has tickled the funny bone of viewers time and again and in DHOL, the comic scenes override the thrill quotient. The comedy, like always, is targeted at those who appreciate the Priyan brand of humor -- irrational, but funny. The chemistry between the four pivotal characters is tremendous, especially Rajpal Yadav, who's bound to walk away with ceetees and taalis.

Let's look at the other side of the coin! The gangster portions remind one of the 1980s cinema, which has been beaten to death in film after film. These portions are an aberration and the accomplished director should trim them by at least 20 minutes so that the impact created by the comedy track remains intact, not getting diluted in the process.

Yet, in all fairness, DHOL has some hilarious moments to make you beat the dhol once the show has ended!

DHOL revolves around the lives of four friends -- Sam [Tusshar Kapoor], Pakkya [Sharman Joshi], Maru [Rajpal Yadav] and Goti [Kunal Khemu]. The guys are good for nothing with no motivation. But they're bound together by their child-like notoriety and aimlessness.

They all want to make it big in life with the least efforts possible. The four wish to live life on their own terms, leading everyone to nowhere. As a result, each one tries their hand at finding a short cut to success but ends up being in even deeper trouble instead. Things get worse as the four decide to take some desperate measures to end their misery once and for all.

According to them, the only way to get rich without working hard is to get married to a rich girl. Surprisingly, to unlock their fates arrives the rich girl Ritu [Tanushree Dutta] in their neighborhood. All four set out with their individual plans to marry Ritu, but end up discovering a chilling truth.

Inspired by PARDA HAI PARDA, which in turn was a remake of the Malayalam film HARIHAR NAGAR, DHOL has the by-now-famous Priyan stamp on the comic portions. Come to think of it, you expect laughter in generous doses and DHOL doesn't disappoint on that front.

DHOL has several funny moments, but most importantly, they make you laugh as well. The loan sequence at the start [when the four avail of a loan from Tiku Talsania in exchange of gold jewelry], followed by the four pushing Om Puri's car till it falls off a cliff, plus the four spraying water with hose pipes to douse the fire [actually, a havan is taking place inside the mansion] and Murli Sharma enquiring about the dhol from the four are sequences that bring the house down.

On the flip side, the flashback is a big yawn. Plus, Murli Sharma cornering Tanushree and Payal Rohatgi in the mansion is monotonous and only adds to the length. Looks like the editor forgot to use the scissors in those scenes.

Pritam's music is functional. 'Dhol Bajake' is a decent number, while the remaining songs are ordinary. Piyush Shah's cinematography is of standard. Dialogues are funny at times.

The four actors compliment each other very well. But the one who steals the show is Rajpal Yadav, who, with his dumbness, endears himself to the masses completely. He's brilliant! However, that doesn't mean the others are less impressive. Sharman Joshi has always had a great timing for comedy and he proves it yet again in DHOL.

Tusshar looks fresh and gets into the skin of the character skillfully. Kunal Khemu's role is in sharp contrast to his first two films [KALYUG, TRAFFIC SIGNAL] and he proves his versatility by attempting comedy now. Tanushree Dutta's role doesn't have the meat since DHOL is an all-boys show. Nonetheless, she's okay. Payal Rohatgi has a brief role; she's passable.

Om Puri is efficient. Tiku Talsania and Asrani have their moments. Rasika Joshi is in form yet again. She's too good! Farida Dadi [grandmother] does a fine job. Arbaaz Khan is fair. Murli Sharma is good.

On the whole, DHOL is a decent entertainer that has some really funny comic moments. At the box-office, the Priyadarshan brand should ensure impressive footfalls at cineplexes despite the dull period and coupled with its moderate pricing, DHOL should find a place in the director's successful films.

Go, have a laugh!

‘Dhol – Kiska Bajega’ revolves around the lives of four friends – Sam (Tusshar Kapoor), Pakkya (Sharman Joshi), Maru (Rajpal Yadav) and Goti (Kunal Khemu). The guys are good for nothing with no motivation. But they’re bound together by their child-like notoriety and aimlessness. They all want to make it big in life with the least efforts possible. The four wish to live life on their own terms, leading everyone to nowhere. As a result, each one tries their hand at finding a short cut to success but ends up being in even deeper trouble instead. Things get worse as the four decide to take some desperate measures to end their misery once and for all.

According to them, the only way to get rich without working hard is to get married to a rich girl. Surprisingly, to unlock their fates, arrives the rich girl Kanchan (Tanushree Dutta) in their neighborhood. All four set out with their individual plans to marry Kanchan but end up discovering a spine-chilling truth.

This leads to much confusion, creating hilarious twists and turns, along with an element of thrill, crime, murder and suspense.

What do you do when you get a phone call from a stranger begging you to save her life?
What would you do if your only ray of hope is your phone?
Would you sacrifice your love to save somebody's child?

Speed answers these questions in a dramatic way. It's a great mix of mystery, action and comedy, on the beautiful backdrop of London.

Zayed Khan comes to London to convince his girlfriend Tanushree Dutta to give him another chance to prove his love for her. Meanwhile, Sanjay Suri, an undercover MI5 agent, receives a CD from Aftab Shivdasani and his lady, Sophie Chaudhary, which contains the recording of his kidnapped wife, Urmila Matondkar, and is asked to follow the instructions. He asks his colleague Amrita Arora to crack the code and moves off. He's completely confused about what's happening. Soon he realizes that he is being used as a weapon to assassinate the PM of India on his London tour. As he is still not agreeing to plans, Aftab finally decides to kidnap his kid.

Sanjay's kidnapped wife, Urmila, starts trying to escape. Her only ray of hope is the telephone call she's accidentally made to Zayed Khan He's in touch with her throughout the movie on his cell phone. Continuously talking with her and giving her moral support. As Zayed decides to help Urmila, his love of life, Tanushree gets annoyed and threatens to break up again. A happy-go-lucky brat Zayed, who never takes anything seriously, risks his own life to save an unknown family just because of a call.

Aashish Chaudhary – the super-cop of London is in charge of security of the visiting Prime Minister. But as his girlfriend has her birthday the very same day, Ashish is caught between his personal life and duty. He obviously chooses the later.

Speed deals with many different characters and their lives on a parallel ground. It's a story of how lives of unknown people get intermingled during this crisis.

Will Aftab and Sophie succeed in their sinister plans?
Will Zayed be able to save Urmila and get back his love Tanushree?
Will Urmila and her kid live another day just with the help of Zayed's phone?
Will Ashish be able to protect the life of the Prime Minister?

Speed is a visual extravaganza with a touch of humour, action and suspense.

Suspense thrillers are tough to make. And film-makers need to follow three golden rules to make a thriller work: Cast fine actors… The needle of suspicion should vacillate from one character to another, keeping the viewer guessing till the finale… The suspense should come as a surprise.

RAQEEB, directed by debutante Anurag Singh, holds your interest at crucial points. Even though the story bears a striking resemblance to two films -- Venus/Abbas-Mustan's HUMRAAZ [in turn inspired by A PERFECT MURDER] and Tips/Ken Ghosh's FIDA -- the film in actuality borrows from a different film altogether -- MURDER BY NATURAL CAUSES [1979] -- a lesser known English film. In the original, one of the leads wears a pacemaker. In RAQEEB, he's asthmatic.

RAQEEB is not without its share of deficiencies. Fortunately, the uppers outnumber the downers in this case. The twists in the storyline and the dangerous games indulged by the lead characters make up for the drab moments in the enterprise. In actuality, the film gathers speed minutes before the intermission and the graph only goes upwards as the reels unfold. But here's a direct question to the debutante storyteller: Why didn't you opt for an unconventional end, for that would've been the perfect icing on the cake? Sometimes, evil also wins!

In a nutshell, RAQEEB isn't great cinema. It isn't low on substance either. It floats somewhere in between. Watch it without expectations and you wouldn't be disappointed.

Remo [Rahul Khanna] is the owner of a highly successful software company. Remo's parents had died in a car crash when he was a child. Siddharth [Sharman Joshi] is his employee and probably, only friend. Siddharth is the exact opposite of Remo who is shy, introvert and asthmatic.

Siddharth constantly pesters Remo to socialize so that he can meet a few girls and fall in love with one of them. Remo seems to be averse to the idea until, one day, Siddharth plays a prank and sets Remo up for a blind date.

Remo meets the girl and after a misunderstanding falls in love with her. The girl is Sofie [Tanushree Dutta], a theatre actress. Everything is perfect until Remo and Sofie discover that her parents died in the same car crash in which Remo's parents had been killed. Sofie realizes that Remo's parents were responsible for the death of her parents.

Remo doesn't know how to deal with this tragic discovery. Siddharth persuades him to propose to Sofie. Remo proposes and after the initial hesitation, Sofie accepts. Remo and Sofie get married.

Sunny [Jimmy Shergill] is a struggling actor who is in love with Sofie. But Sofie always desired a luxurious life which Sunny was unable to provide. Hence, Sofie married Remo. When Sunny and Sofie meet again, the old love is rekindled. Thus begins a torrid affair between them.

Tired of having to meet secretly and only occasionally, they plan to kill Remo. The plan is to hide Remo's asthma medicine and then aggravate his asthma so as to trigger an asthma attack. Once the asthma attack occurs, Sunny has to pretend to shoot Remo with fake bullets so as to aggravate his condition further, eventually leading to death. The post mortem will reveal that Remo died of natural causes and hence, no one will be suspected of any foul play.

The D-day arrives and Sunny comes to Remo's house to execute the plan. But there is another twist in the tale. Sofie double crosses Sunny as well and he is arrested and accused of Remo's murder. But there's more to this story…

Unlike most thrillers that reveal it all in the climax, RAQEEB peels off the mask of the scheming wife much before the intermission card is flashed on the screen. The reason why this film works is because everyone's playing games here. That makes it extremely difficult for the viewer to guess the prime suspect -- the manipulative and scheming mind.

The reason that prompts the prime suspect to indulge in dangerous games is completely justified. But the writer-director messes it up with such a tame ending.

Debutante Anurag Singh succeeds in presenting an unconventional theme with care. The idea of an ambitious woman in a relationship with three men at the same time is undoubtedly interesting. In terms of execution, Anurag handles the drama well, building the suspense beautifully.

Pritam's music is foot-tapping. 'Channa Ve Channa', 'Dushmana' and 'Qateel' are nice compositions. Fuwad Khan's camerawork could've been better. The locales of Thailand are striking, but the visuals don't make you scream 'Wow!'. Dialogues are well worded at places.

RAQEEB belongs to Sharman Joshi, who is evolving into a powerful actor. He slips into the role effortlessly and looks natural all through. Rahul Khanna is perfect as the suave tycoon. Why doesn't one see more of you, Rahul? Jimmy Shergill's role reminds you of the obsessed lover in DARR, but after he's shown getting arrested, this track is sidelined completely. Nonetheless, Jimmy does a worthy job.

Tanushree Dutta is a revelation. Although her makeup and outfits [why so much skin show?] continue to be atrocious, you have to give credit where it's due. She enacts her part very well, expressing a lot through her eyes. Vishwajeet Pradhan is hardly there. Rekha Rao is wasted. Vivek Shauq excels. He provides the much-needed light moments.

On the whole, RAQEEB is a fairly engrossing fare. At the box-office, the bold theme may find its share of advocates and adversaries. Besides, the not-as-aggressive promotion and minimal hype will tell on its business.

A few decades ago, the Dilip Kumar starrer RAM AUR SHYAM worked big time due to its novel premise, among other things. The concept of a seedha-saadha guy and his street-smart twin brother and the incidents that follow kept you thoroughly entertained.

GOOD BOY BAD BOY bears an uncanny resemblance to RAM AUR SHYAM, since GOOD BOY BAD BOY is also about the sharif [Tusshar] and the not-so-sharif [Emraan] and how the confusion of names brings the best out of the two in the end.

Unfortunately, this good idea is highly under-nourished, which results in a fare that's pointless, emotionless, dramaless, humorless and impactless. Honestly, the concept had tremendous scope to entertain since the film is set in a college campus. But the screenplay is so dull and dreary that barring a few laughs in a scene or two, you actually leave with a frown on your face.

It's indeed surprising that someone as talented as Ashwini Choudhary, who helmed the sensitive DHOOP, is at the helm of affairs here. To cut a long story short, GOOD BOY BAD BOY has nothing worth recalling!

Rajan Malhotra [Tusshar Kapoor] and Raju Malhotra [Emraan Hashmi] are poles apart.

Rajan is a proverbial bookworm, forever lost in studies and completely oblivious to the frolicking of a college dude. He hails from a well-to-do background and his parents [Rakesh Bedi, Navni Parihar] are constantly worried due to his somber nature and his lack of interest in any extra curricular activities.

Raju has absolutely no time for studies as playing notorious pranks on others takes up most of his time on a daily basis. His father [Anang Desai, mother: Prabha Sinha] constantly ridicules him for his wayward ways. As fate would have it, the identity cards of Rajan and Raju get swapped.

The one thing you look forward to in GOOD BOY BAD BOY is ample laughs. But what unfolds is anything but a fun ride. The film has a young look, but not once do you feel the youthful energy flowing out of the screen.

The confusion of names is so confusing itself. Okay, the identity cards get changed since both have the same initials [R. Malhotra], but when they're addressed with different names in the college auditorium by the principal, even in front of their parents, not once does anyone raise an eyebrow. How come?

Besides a tacky script, GOOD BOY BAD BOY also lacks a foot-tapping score to uplift the goings-on. The music is so unlike Himesh Reshammiya this time around. What happened, Himesh?

Ashwini Choudhary is saddled with a poor script, so expecting him to infuse life with his execution is asking for the moon. Cinematography [Manoj Soni] too lacks the sheen that films of today boast of. Dialogues are funny at places.

Emraan has a flair for comedy and that shows on the screen. He is quite likable. Tusshar is pleasant, but how one wishes the writer would've offered him better scenes. Isha Sharvani wears a set of two expressions all through. Tanushree Dutta doesn't work. Also, why is her makeup so dark? Paresh Rawal is a letdown. Kabir Sadanand is expressive. Sushmita Mukherjee is wasted.

On the whole, GOOD BOY BAD BOY disappoints big time.