Paa
Bachcha Bachchan rocks!
RATING: 7
By N.K. Deoshi
Try to find Amitabh Bachchan and you’ll end up scraping the nooks and crannies. What you’ll rather find is a progeric Bachcha, Auro - a funny, naughty preteen, all gnarled up because of his extremely rare disease that causes accelerated aging in children.
At 67, when most actors hang their boots to rest and reflect on their laurels, Big B takes a giant leap backwards to step into the shoes of the 12-year-old Auro; the transformation achieved with much more than just the layers of prosthetic make-up which, while giving an actor a completely new makeover, restricts his or her range of facial expressions. But Big B proves that not for nothing was he once (and arguably still is) the Paa of actors’ fraternity in Bollywood. In director R Balki’s Paa, he sheds his imposing baritone for the rasping slur of an adolescent, sheds his towering gait for the waggle of a school kid. But it’s his eyes - serenely reflective as ever - that do the most talking.
“Chromosome glitch” is how Auro’s mom Vidya (Vidya Balan) describes his genetic defect when a curious auntie in the park inquires. Auro is her love child from Amol (Abhishek Bachchan) with whom she snapped all ties after he asked her to abort the baby in the days when the two lovers, riding the rollercoaster of their hormones, ended up having unprotected sex. So while Amol chiseled out for himself a bright and promising career as a politician with a firm resolve to reform the society and system, Vidya, a gynecologist, raised her progeric kid along with her mom whom Auro lovingly calls ‘Bum’.
‘Paa’ is as much the story of Auro’s Maa and Paa as it is of the unusual kid with a geriatric body but heart and mind of a child. It’s equally the story of a couple (Abhi and Vidya), drifted apart years ago, but brought together in a dramatic set of circumstances by their son whose genetic defect won’t let him live long. And it is as much the tale of a son discovering the father he never had.
Writer, director R Balki pretty much gets everything right but falls a wee bit short of taking ‘Paa’ to the emotional crescendo that the story might have touched. Seasoned generously with wry humour revolving around Auro’s antics, his monkey dance, his ‘potty’ gags, and his schoolmates, ‘Paa’ is amusingly funny even as it tugs at your heart and develops into a bonafide tearjerker without becoming overtly sentimental.
Abhishek Bachchan, getting substantial footage in the film, is well into his character of a conscientious MP who believes in doing things the right way even while taking on the media. Vidya Balan, I must admit, overacts in the scenes showing her emotional outburst. Paresh Rawal (as Abhi’s pa) has a very little role to talk about, but a special mention ought to be made of the child actor Pratik Katare who plays Auro’s schoolbuddy Vishnu, poor in studies and slapped around by his dad at home.
Apart from performances, ‘Paa’ is propped by Ilayaraja’s soulful tunes and PC Sreeram’s simple yet slick cinematography. My only grouch is that the screenplay at times seems deliberately tweaked to bring out a message. For instance, the final sequence when Auro’s schoolmate (a girl he keeps running away from throughout the film) wisecracks that ‘the wrongdoer suffers more than the one who’s been wronged’ and thereby triggers the thaw between Auro’s estranged parents.
Besides these forgettable foibles, ‘Paa’, all in all, is a tour de force, an emotional ride that leaves you smiling moist-eyed. Carry your tissues and kerchiefs along.
Rating: 7/10
Source:Apunkachoice.com
Radio
Love Frequency
A radio jockey who solves people's love problems finds his own love life derailing due to irreconcilable differences with his wife in director Isshaan Trivedi’s film Radio.
The movie stars music composer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya along with two beauties, Sonal Sehgal and Shenaz Treasurywala.
In Mumbai, Vivan Shah (Himesh) works as a radio jockey for a popular channel. At home he has a beautiful wife Pooja (Sonal). But love is fizzling out of the couple’s lives. No longer compatible, the husband-wife duo decides to go their separate ways and take divorce.
Then, into Vivan’s confused and complex life enters the sweet, saucy and forever smiling Shanaya (Shenaz). She comes into Vivan’s gloomy world like a ray of sunshine. Vivan obviously is affected by her presence. He even discusses it with his divorced wife Pooja.
Though Vivan doesn’t know, Pooja sees that he has begun to like, and possibly love, Shanaya.
Vivan himself is surprised when he realizes how important a part Shanaya has become of his life. Changing his attitude, he reciprocates her advances and even tries to know her family.
In his heart, Vivan still likes Pooja but wants to spend his life with Shanaya. Whom will he choose?
Produced by Ravi Agrawal, ‘Radio’ has been made at a skimpy budget of Rs. 6 crores. Interestingly, the film has already recovered the money because of its music sales. Himesh himself has composed the film’s songs and sung as well.
‘Radio’ is set for release on December 3.
Source:Apunkachoice.com
London Dreams
Salman, Ajay, Asin as rockstars
Two friends. One dream. One common thread - music. What seems like an ideal friendship turns sour when one becomes more famous than another. To make things worse, the famous one also walks away with the girl the other friend loves.
Vipul Amrutlal Shah’s London Dreams is a tale of friendship, love, trust, betrayal and redemption. It stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Asin in main roles. Supporting roles are by Ranvijay Singh, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Om Puri, Manoj Pahwa and Brinda Parekh.
Mannu (Salman Khan) and Arjun (Ajay Devgan) were childhood friends. But they had little in common except their family's vague connection with music. While Arjun's life was consumed by a passionate drive to get on stage and realize his grandfather's unfulfilled dream, Mannu had little interest in his music tutor father's instruments and was content with remaining a child at heart with no higher ambition than enjoying the good things in life. But little did they know that someday music would strengthen their friendship and drive them apart.
Arjun ends up in London and works his way up from the streets to forge a band ‘London Dreams’ with Zoheb and Wasim, two brothers from Pakistan, and Priya (Asin), a music enthusiast from a conservative South Indian family.
Meanwhile, far away in Punjab, music becomes a survival tool for Mannu, who takes to playing in wedding bands in his village.
Then, Arjun does what good friends do. He brings Mannu to London to become a part of his band. But soon he regrets doing so.
Mannu, with his inherent musical gift and irreverent style of performing, catapults to stardom overnight. He becomes an instant hit with the crowds. What took Arjun years to achieve, Mannu does that in a few days.
But when Arjun loses Priya, the girl he secretly loved to Mannu, he battles his inner demons to devise a sinister strategy to destroy his best friend.
As the band goes on a three-city tour of Paris, Rome and Amsterdam, Arjun meticulously sabotages Mannu’s career and love life.
Finally, at Wembley, one of Europe’s largest stadiums, where he hopes to have his moment of glory, a rude shock awakens Arjun. At the expense of his band, his friendship and his credibility, a humbling experience teaches him the true meaning of acceptance in life.
The movie’s story and screenplay is by Suresh Nair and music is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Lyrics are by Prasoon Joshi.
'London Dreams' is set to release on October 30.
Source:Apunkachoice.com
Jail
By Naresh Kumar
Reality Bites! And director Madhur Bhandarkar has been repeatedly pinching us with his ‘realistic’ potshots at different faces of our modern society - from the glitzy ramps of Fashion to the sleazy pubs of Chandni Bar. Now, with Jail, the director saunters behind the barbed fence to provide us a peek into the lives of the people we call ‘criminals’.
As Morgan Freeman’s character said in ‘Shawshank Redemption’, “we’re all innocent in here”. So is Parag Dixit (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a handsome yuppie who’s thrown inside a prison based on the circumstantial evidence that implicates him for possession of drugs. Parag had a promising career and a loving girlfriend (Mugdha Godse) before his smooth-sailing life was turned turtle on a fateful day when he gave lift to his roommate who secretly carried drugs in his bag. The mobile phone records and the bloody shootout with police make for substantial evidence against Parag. He’s thrown inside Thane jail till his case could come up for hearing in the courts.
From thereon, Bhandarkar begins to delineate various character sketches inside the squalid, smelly, sweaty and overcrowded prison barracks.
There’s a convict named Kabir (Arya Babbar) with links to the underworld. He keeps an eye open to recruit possible shooters for his ‘Bhai’ outside. There’s Nawab (Manoj Bajpai), a butcher serving a sentence for murder. He’s on good terms with everyone, including the jail authorities, and emerges a comforter for Parag. On the sidelines are typical characters that seem plucked out of newspaper headlines. There’s a guy who’s behind bars for mowing down people with his car. There’s another one, a social activist, cooped up inside the jail for showing sympathy for Naxals. There’s also a poetry reciting inmate Ghalib, who manages to pull off a daring escape.
But it’s Neil’s character that remains the unshifting focus of the story. Through his ordeal, Bhandarkar not just mirrors the harsh reality inside a prison but also attempts to make a statement at the country’s judicial system where the speed of justice dispensation can put a snail to shame.
The movie would not have worked had the role been entrusted to wrong hands. Neil digs his teeth well into his character and brings a mix of seething angst, cathartic outbursts and hopeless resignation against his situation. Both Arya Babbar and Manoj Bajpai cut neat performances while Mugdha Godse underplays her character quite evidently.
What’s souring in this slice-of-life drama is that it eventually comes pretty close to being a collage of clichés to be expected from a film of this genre. It hardly tells anything which any newspaper reading person already did not know. The system is rotten. Hell, yes it is! The authorities are corrupt. You bet! The judicial system is slow. We all know it. So what’s new in ‘Jail’? Pretty little except a soul-soothing number by Lata Mangeshkar. Her magic hasn’t waned after all these years.
Rating: 5/10
Source:Apunkachoice.com
De Dana Dan
Masti...madness...mayhem
Two broke best friends want to marry their rich girlfriends. But the girls’ fathers want to marry them off elsewhere. Throw in a bankrupt businessman desperate to marry his son to a rich girl and you have a perfect set up for a madcap comedy.
De Dana Dan brings back the Hera Pheri gang of Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal and director Priyadarshan The female leads are played by Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy. Supporting roles are by Neha Dhupia, Asrani, Johnny Lever, Manoj Joshi, Chunkey Pandey, Archana Puran Singh, Aditi Govitrikar, Sharat Saxena and Rajpal Yadav.
Akshay Kumar as Nitin
Nitin works as butler, cook, driver, watchman, gardener in Singapore. He dreams of a better life and wants to become rich, but misfortune is his constant companion.
Katrina Kaif as Anjali
Anjali is the love of Nitin’s life. She supports her pauper of a boyfriend financially.
Sunil Shetty as Ram
Ram is Nitin's best friend. He also came to Singapore with the dream of striking it rich, but ended up a courier delivery man.
Sameera Reddy as Manpreet
Ram falls for Manpreet Oberoi (Sameera), but her high society parents will never approve of marriage, not unless Ram has lots and lots of money.
Paresh Rawal as Harbans Chadda
On the run from the ACB this one rich businessman is so much in debt that he’s actually auctioning off his idiotic son (Chunkey Pandey) to the highest dowry giver.
Synopsis
Nitin and Ram receive ultimatums from their girlfriends. They have to become rich at any cost. Pushed in a corner, the duo comes up with an audacious plan to kidnap someone important and demand a ransom.
The kidnapping goes well, and both hide out at a local hotel while waiting for the ransom money. But misfortune is never far, and the kidnapping spirals out of control.
Meanwhile, the wedding of Ram’s girlfriend is fixed. And the reception is being held at the same hotel that Nitin and Ram are hiding in.
The proceedings become further chaotic with the coming of assorted characters like a Chinese Don, a hired assassin, a police inspector, a club dancer, an ambassador, a young frustrated double crossing wife, a letch and a drunken waiter.
What follows is masti, mayhem and madness...de dana dan.
‘De Dana Dan’ has music by Pritam and lyrics by Sayeed Quadri. Art direction is by Sabu Cyril.
The film is set to release on November 27.
Source:Apunkachoice.com
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