Indian movies

An interesting idea may not necessarily translate into an interesting film. 50 LAKH has an interesting plotline, but the execution [at times] as also the writing curtails its prospects majorly. Actually, 50 LAKH neither appeals as a thriller, nor does it work as a light entertainer.

The concept is identifiable, no doubt, but how one wishes the director, also the writer in this case, would've had the vision to take it to its destination without hiccups.

The movie is a story of five young friends in Hyderabad. These friends, four boys [Ramu, Shankar, Kumar, Vivek] and a girl [Aditi], are middle-class people with middle-class aspirations.

In Mumbai, mafia don Irfan Khan [Pawan Malhotra] decides to shift operations to Dubai. As international airports are under surveillance and borders sealed, he hatches a plan. The plan is to get into a domestic flight in Hyderabad with the Home Minister.

Irfan decides to travel incognito, while four of his associates will hijack the flight to Kathmandu in Nepal. In Kathmandu, the hijackers would allow all the passengers, except the minister, to leave. The security forces, concerned about the minister, would not bother about the freed passengers. Irfan, one amongst them, would quietly slip away to Dubai. For this plan to succeed, Irfan seeks to recruit four fresh boys, ones without police records.

But what eventually unfolds is completely different. The four boys come face to face with the dreaded Irfan Khan.

50 LAKH starts with a bang and the problems of the unemployed youth are well depicted in the first 20 odd minutes. The parallel track -- of the dreaded don -- is also captivating. In fact, you've no major complaints in the first hour, but it's the latter part that spoils the show.

The problem in the second hour is, from being believable, the story turns unbelievable rapidly. Cinematic liberties are fine if you maintain uniformity from start to end, but why suddenly get filmy?

The second hour is unbearable because of various reasons. The kidnapping drama -- of the minister and the don, both separate instances -- looks fake. Is it child's play to kidnap a minister or a dreaded don? Besides, the hijacker and minister portion in the aircraft is such a terrible bore. If the intention was to make you laugh, sorry, it fails miserably.

A few scenes between the four youngsters and the don in the jungles are interesting, but why stretch the film endlessly? Director Chandrashekhar Yeleti loses focus midway. Dialogues are well-penned at places. Cinematography [Senthil Kumar K.K.] is consistent.

Pawan Malhotra is the only known name in the cast, but it looks as if he has walked out of BLACK FRIDAY sets and landed on this film's sets. The actor enacting the role of Rama is confident. The remaining cast is strictly okay.

On the whole, 50 LAKH doesn't work. At the box-office, it's a non-starter.

The title should always summarize the content of a film. Besides, the promotion should always send out the right signals vis-à-vis what the film has to offer in terms of content. With a title like CHHODON NAA YAAR, you expect a film on male bonding, a la DIL CHAHTA HAI. Also, with songs like 'Kasak' and 'Talwar Re' being beamed on channels 24 x 7, you expect CHHODON NAA YAAR to be an entertainer with emphasis on music.

But the viewer is in for a surprise as CHHODON NAA YAAR belongs to the horror genre. Yes, the story is about a bhatakti aatma and how she continues to haunt a temple and the surrounding jungles.

To give the credit where's its due, director Dilip Sood does succeed in scaring the daylights out of you in a couple of scenes, especially at the intermission point [when the spirit appears in front of the three friends]. Also, a few sequences in the second hour do send a shiver down your spine.

But the problem is, CHHODON NAA YAAR is an incomplete film, in terms of writing. It leaves a vital question unanswered: What's the mystery behind the spirit? Does it ever get solved? There's a moment when you feel that Jimmy, Kim and the pujari of the temple will solve the mystery, but the end credits begin to roll abruptly. Kya hua, Director sahab?

In a nutshell, CHHODON NAA YAAR is letdown by its writing!

Ravi [Jimmy Shergill], Shiv [Kabir Sadanand] and Sunny [Farid Amiri], three final year students from a Delhi Mass Com College, decide to make their diploma film about a myth prevalent in the northern hills of India.

Against the wishes of his girlfriend Rashmi [Kim Sharma] and college professor, who think that the subject is too dangerous for a college project, Ravi plans the trip. But as they go deeper into the jungles, a startling incident changes their lives…

As mentioned above, the writing is the culprit here. Besides the questions that continue to haunt you vis-à-vis the aatma, the character sketch of the three friends is also weird. The film begins with the three posing as actors, then participating in an item song for a film and then, we're told, they're students who aspire to be film-makers. Really hard to digest!

The second problematic area is the inclusion of songs even when not required. Songs [Anand Raaj Anand], though tuneful, have been added to supplement the romantic track ['Kasak'] or increase the glamour quotient ['Talwar Re']. In fact, it wouldn't be erroneous to state that the popular tracks lose their sheen because of wrong placement in the narrative.

The technical aspects are much better. Pushan Kripalani's camerawork is eye-pleasing. The dense forests are well captured on celluloid. The background score is interesting as well.

Jimmy Shergill makes a sincere attempt and strikes a chord. Kabir Sadanand's dialect is jarring, although his performance is sparkling. Farid Amiri is miscast. Kim Sharma has no role. Vinod Nagpal is okay. Mahek sizzles in the item song. Vallabh Vyas [Kabir's father] is functional.

On the whole, CHHODON NAA YAAR stands on a faulty script and with no face-value to magnetize cinegoers, it will find the going very tough.

Ramgopal Varma may've seen the biggest of flops, but you could never raise a finger at him for making an outdated, ghisa-pita, hackneyed, 1980s masala film. But with GO, directed by Manish Srivastava, RGV hits an all-time low.

Really, what were the director and his team of writers thinking when they made this apology of a film? Most importantly, how did RGV okay this script? Wait… is there a script in the first place?

You're numb and speechless as you come out of the screening of GO. Was it real? Or was it a bad dream? Nothing works, except, to an extent, new-find Gautam.

Come to think of it, GO looks like it has been created by an amateur, who was suddenly given a camera and told to shoot whatever he sees in his lens. The plotline is so outdated and the screenplay so directionless, it makes you sad that the once innovative RGV has fallen to such lows.

In a nutshell, here's another turkey from Factory!

Lovers Abhay [Gautam] and Vasu [Nisha Kothari] elope from their homes in Mumbai, not realizing that they will run into a whole bunch of colorful characters, including a rogue cop [Kay Kay Menon], a mean killer [Sherveer Vakil], a crafty conman [Rajpal Yadav] and a chief minister [Ravi Kale], who kills his own deputy [Govind Namdeo].

The writers of this film deserve the Razzie for coming up with this tacky script. The idea must've been, let's pack 4 songs, 10 fights, 4 chases, 5 hot scenes, 5 confrontations and of course, 2 people on the run, 1 corrupt minister, 1 dishonest cop, 1 henchman and 2 sidekicks. Picture tayyar hain, the writers must've screamed!

Although the songs seem forced, the sound of a few numbers stays in your memory. Cinematography lacks finesse.

Gautam sparkles in a couple of scenes. His expressions are right, his dialogue delivery is fine, his stunts are first-rate and he has a well-toned physique as advantage. Nisha Kothari is terrible. And what did Kay Kay see in this role? As for Rajpal Yadav, why has he hammed so much? Ravi Kale, Govind Namdeo and Sherveer Vakil display one set of expressions all through.

On the whole, GO is a bad product. As simple as that!