A deceiving officer fools all for a disk, a love-lorn husband sells boo boo diapers against all risk
It was my Diwali bonanza - a double bill on the first day of movie release, and I am not even a movie reviewer. Happiness.
|| Don - The Chase Begins Again ||
It was the excitement of catching the first day first show of an SRK flick combined with the fanfare created around the movie that ensured that I was in high spirits for three hours. And I was not the only high spirited one around, Shah Rukh Khan himself was loving every moment of it. That blended with catchy background score and frequent references to the original film made it a fun package. Shah Rukh is slick as Don, his dark suits, swanky eye-wear, and smooth though flawed gadgets (a UMD is passed as a cute little computer disk throughout the film) give the character a neat finesse. I caught him being the Shah Rukh Khan in more than two scenes but I forgive him on account of his coolness in other sequences including the over-the-top ones of paan-chewing bhayyia from UP. He is a fun Don, and I am not complaining. Although, he likes to bleed, a lot.
Coming to the hot babes, Priyanka Chopra is good. In fact, she is brilliant except for the emerge-from-the-swimming-pool scene but there too, I blame her dress designer more than the girl herself. Isha Koppikar, poor lass, is not there at all. I can hardly remember her in the film, except for this one time when she "yes darlings" into her pink motorzr. But you know it was not the woman who caught my attention. Kareena Kapoor does an alright job and can be found hot by certain men who have a thing for Punju beauties with a lil bit of flab. But the woman cannot dance, really.
In the first one half, I liked Boman Irani for the simple reason that he was subdued and I do not often see him that way. But later, he kind of bored me. For someone who has seen the original Don only once and that too as a kid, I still vividly remember Iftikar lecturing the buffoon from UP; I do not think I will remember Irani after ten years. Om Puri, ah well, he was there too and was doing whatever he was asked to, which was not much. Then there was Arjun Rampal (the goodlooking dude who cannot act even if his life depended on it), who wore a fountain-ponytail and hobbled around not knowing what to do. Sigh.
Well, I am a great fan of both the earlier movies directed by Farhan Akhtar. Yes, I like Lakshya, quite a bit. However, I am not adding Don to my list. Although, I enjoyed the one last twist to the tale, I found myself burdened with the tons of others that came inbetween the interval and the climax. I also found myself thinking of certain scenes from Kill Bill 2 and Con Air while watching the film; not a very nice feeling.
Oh, and the movie also doubles as a catalog of Motorola phones.
|| Jaan-e-Mann - Lets Fall in Love Again ||
Notice the lack of apostrophe in "lets"? While I was brooding about the poor language editing, I was caught off guard in the 12th Filmfare Award function where likes of Nutan, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Kapoor, Hema Malini were giving away the awards. And then there was our very own Salman Khan recieving an award from Meena Kumari (Meena to him) and thanking his colleagues Kaka and Amit. Boy, was it cool! But my bubble of fervor burst quicky when I was jarred out of my senses by extremely loud and caricature-like characters. I sat though the song "Ishq Masoom Hai" in a state of shock. It took me a few minutes to come to terms with the the flashy tone of the film. But once there, I sat back and had fun.
Salman Khan does a fair job playing an out-of-work actor. The movie does not require him to do anything he has not done before but boy, he cries a lot. He looks pretty funny in the flashback where he is a rockstar in college with long beaded hair. Preiti Zinta decorates the movie by her presence. She dresses pretty, smiles pretty, and flutters her eyes. But Akshay Kumar is the show stealer; he is merriment personified. He is a whole lot of fun as a curly-haired science geek in college (reminds you of Ross Geller in his college days) and then as a very idle NASA astronaut with his hair combed straight. But the best part is when he is transformed by Khan into a hip dude who charms the dame with his style but still laughs like a buffoon. His duh laughter is so cool that it made me laugh like a crazy woman.
Anupam Kher disappoints.
Then there are casual Hinglish lyrics by Gulzar! The songs gell extremely well with the mood of the film and you find yourself humming them regardless of your finer senses. This one song where Akshay Kumar along with Preity Zinta's extended family and American blonds with Australian accent urge Zinta to marry Kumar, is so delighful and vivacious that it is bound to get you in the festive mood. Then there is this other song where the musicians and dancers come popping out of a cupboard and they bring a cutout of Salman's estranged wife along and marry her off to Akshay. Hee.
I may have walked out of this film were it any other month, but right now it is a fun film. The movie celebrates itself, as a wise moviebuff pointed out.
Happy Diwali!
|| Don - The Chase Begins Again ||
It was the excitement of catching the first day first show of an SRK flick combined with the fanfare created around the movie that ensured that I was in high spirits for three hours. And I was not the only high spirited one around, Shah Rukh Khan himself was loving every moment of it. That blended with catchy background score and frequent references to the original film made it a fun package. Shah Rukh is slick as Don, his dark suits, swanky eye-wear, and smooth though flawed gadgets (a UMD is passed as a cute little computer disk throughout the film) give the character a neat finesse. I caught him being the Shah Rukh Khan in more than two scenes but I forgive him on account of his coolness in other sequences including the over-the-top ones of paan-chewing bhayyia from UP. He is a fun Don, and I am not complaining. Although, he likes to bleed, a lot.
Coming to the hot babes, Priyanka Chopra is good. In fact, she is brilliant except for the emerge-from-the-swimming-pool scene but there too, I blame her dress designer more than the girl herself. Isha Koppikar, poor lass, is not there at all. I can hardly remember her in the film, except for this one time when she "yes darlings" into her pink motorzr. But you know it was not the woman who caught my attention. Kareena Kapoor does an alright job and can be found hot by certain men who have a thing for Punju beauties with a lil bit of flab. But the woman cannot dance, really.
In the first one half, I liked Boman Irani for the simple reason that he was subdued and I do not often see him that way. But later, he kind of bored me. For someone who has seen the original Don only once and that too as a kid, I still vividly remember Iftikar lecturing the buffoon from UP; I do not think I will remember Irani after ten years. Om Puri, ah well, he was there too and was doing whatever he was asked to, which was not much. Then there was Arjun Rampal (the goodlooking dude who cannot act even if his life depended on it), who wore a fountain-ponytail and hobbled around not knowing what to do. Sigh.
Well, I am a great fan of both the earlier movies directed by Farhan Akhtar. Yes, I like Lakshya, quite a bit. However, I am not adding Don to my list. Although, I enjoyed the one last twist to the tale, I found myself burdened with the tons of others that came inbetween the interval and the climax. I also found myself thinking of certain scenes from Kill Bill 2 and Con Air while watching the film; not a very nice feeling.
Oh, and the movie also doubles as a catalog of Motorola phones.
|| Jaan-e-Mann - Lets Fall in Love Again ||
Notice the lack of apostrophe in "lets"? While I was brooding about the poor language editing, I was caught off guard in the 12th Filmfare Award function where likes of Nutan, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Kapoor, Hema Malini were giving away the awards. And then there was our very own Salman Khan recieving an award from Meena Kumari (Meena to him) and thanking his colleagues Kaka and Amit. Boy, was it cool! But my bubble of fervor burst quicky when I was jarred out of my senses by extremely loud and caricature-like characters. I sat though the song "Ishq Masoom Hai" in a state of shock. It took me a few minutes to come to terms with the the flashy tone of the film. But once there, I sat back and had fun.
Salman Khan does a fair job playing an out-of-work actor. The movie does not require him to do anything he has not done before but boy, he cries a lot. He looks pretty funny in the flashback where he is a rockstar in college with long beaded hair. Preiti Zinta decorates the movie by her presence. She dresses pretty, smiles pretty, and flutters her eyes. But Akshay Kumar is the show stealer; he is merriment personified. He is a whole lot of fun as a curly-haired science geek in college (reminds you of Ross Geller in his college days) and then as a very idle NASA astronaut with his hair combed straight. But the best part is when he is transformed by Khan into a hip dude who charms the dame with his style but still laughs like a buffoon. His duh laughter is so cool that it made me laugh like a crazy woman.
Anupam Kher disappoints.
Then there are casual Hinglish lyrics by Gulzar! The songs gell extremely well with the mood of the film and you find yourself humming them regardless of your finer senses. This one song where Akshay Kumar along with Preity Zinta's extended family and American blonds with Australian accent urge Zinta to marry Kumar, is so delighful and vivacious that it is bound to get you in the festive mood. Then there is this other song where the musicians and dancers come popping out of a cupboard and they bring a cutout of Salman's estranged wife along and marry her off to Akshay. Hee.
I may have walked out of this film were it any other month, but right now it is a fun film. The movie celebrates itself, as a wise moviebuff pointed out.
Happy Diwali!