Well, now let’s figure out the story of Chandni Chowk to China.

Chandni Chowk to China is about Sidhu, a clumsy looser who counts his success and growth on luck. In attempts to become something big in life and not remain a vegetable cutter throughout his life, he visits astrologers, tarot readers and baba’s in search of anything that possibly could bring him some luck. Despite all the efforts from his dada (Mithun Chakroborty), Sidhu continues to believe the conmen in the disguise of saints. Meanwhile, two Chinese men come in search of Sidhu claiming him to be the reincarnation of their long dead war idol asking for help to save their village from the clutches of Hojo (Gordon Liu). Falling to the words of swindler Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), Sidhu delightfully sets forth to China without having a slightest idea of the danger that’s awaiting him. Throughout his journey, Sidhu dreams of his royal life with his love interest (Deepika Padukone). What happens to Sidhu when reality strikes him? Will he be able to stand against evil?

Nikhil, in attempts to mix kung fu with comedy without abandoning the masala conventions of bollywood cinema, ends up delivering a rather absurd mess with Chandni Chowk to China.

First of all, the story is tacky to make any sense out of it. Secondly with the constant shift over from comedy to the colorful musical to kung fu action to cheesy melodrama, it gets slightly over the top to understand and connect with the movie. There are few moments of laughter but again the cheap gag over and over again makes it tedious to take pleasure in.

The first half of the movie is sluggish in pace, while the second half is overtly dragged. After the puffed up sequences post interval, an action packed climax that is high on thump is ideal but, the comical culmination is a huge let down. Except for the kung fu sequences, nothing else stays back in the mind.

Music by a host of composers is satisfactory. Tere Naina and Naam hai Sidhu track stand out. Dialogues are witty and interesting at times.

Akshay Kumar in the stereotypical role of clownery act fails to strike the right cord. He needs to reinvent himself to amaze the audience. But he lives up to the name of action king with his notable fight and aerobatics. Deepika Padukone in a double role is good. She stands out in the combating role as Meow.

Veteran Mithun Chakroborthy in his cameo role is excellent. The Chinese kung fu stars Gordon Liu and Roger Yuan are commendable. Ranvir Shorey irritates in a wacky role.

To sum up, Chandni Chowk to China is a kitchen disaster garnished heavier than necessary. Except for few moments of laughter, the film has nothing much to offer. For others who are not die hard Akshay Kumar fans, wait for a DVD.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Sanjay Singhania (Aamir) is a rich businessman who owns a cellular phone company. Kalpana (Asin) is a model who brags to her friends and peers that she is the love interest of Sanjay, though in reality she doesn’t even know the man. When Sanjay comes to know about this anonymous admirer of his, he decides to dispel her delusions. But on his way he sees a beautiful woman helping the handicapped kids cross the road. Instantly, Sanjay falls for her. Later, he comes to know that she is Kalpana, the same model who boasted of being his girlfriend.

Sanjay gets introduced to Kalpana but doesn’t disclose his real identity. Love blossoms between the two. While on a train ride, Kalpana saves a group of young girls. A few days later, the same group led by their notorious head (Pradeep Rawat) close in on Kalpana. But by the time Sanjay arrives its too late, Kalpana is killed. He fights them the goons, In the ensuing scuffle, Sanjay is hit on his head with an iron rod.

Though Sanjay is able to survive the injury, he loses his memory. He gets only flashbacks of what really happened and his short memory makes it difficult to remember things he did just minutes back. How this man, who can’t even remember the killers of his ladylove, goes about taking his revenge is what the remaining story is about. Jiah Khan plays a medical student who helps Sanjay find the killers.

My long time wish was to see Aamir Khan in what we call a typical Bollywood masala film. That wish comes true with Ghajini and the film has proved to be the biggest entertainer of the year. It starts off with a man on a mission, with revenge on his minds. Then comes the flash back to the beautifully directed comical love story. Then again cut back to the business tycoon turned killing machine. One thing the director has ensured is the pace of the film never dips. Never for a moment do you have time to think of the flaws in the story. The scenes that involve sudden loss of memory are brilliantly handled. The dialouges make an impact. The background music adds to the suspense and thrill.

The music by AR Rehman is one of the best of the year. Guzarish, Behka Me stand out. The cinematography is good.

Now to the part, most are keen to read. No suprises, Aamir Khan rocks and carries the entire movie on his now much broader shoulders. The effort he has put into Ghajini is clearly visible on screen. His newly acquired physique is perfect for the role. Asin is cute and acts very well. Jiah Khan is average.

To sum things up, Ghajini is one of the very best entertainers of the year. Its Aamir Khan’s show all the way and you cannot afford to miss this. Dont look for logic behind every scene, its not a intelligent film. Its a film which ensures total entertainment for the 3 hours+ you spend watching the movie which is a sure shot blockbuster at the box-office.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It is unusual for a most ordinary, uninteresting, unobtrusive man to have unique and goose-bumpy love story to share. Since love does not differentiate between the ordinary and exceptional, the uninteresting and interesting, the unattractive and attractive, it can happen to anyone and once it does we experience many a things that we never would have even dreamt of.

Something like this happens to Surinder Sahni (Shahrukh khan) – a simple, clean hearted, honest man working for Punjab Power, meets a flamboyant, fun-loving, vivacious – Taani (Anushka Sharma). The movie is about the journey of this ordinary jodi who turn their marriage from a mere compromise to an extraordinary love story. What unfolds is a journey filled with laughter, tears, joy, pain, music, dance and a lot of love.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has a mixed quotient of fun, laughter and drama but the defective story, the pace and length of the movie could hinder its boxoffice prospects. The pit falls in the story are so very obvious that it clearly out shadows the very few positive aspects of the movie. Although the love story between Taani and Raj has the spirit, it fails to make much sense and leaves many questions unanswered. A married woman falling in love with her new acquaintance is very much possible, especially when the marriage is just a compromise. But it’s beyond me as to how Taani couldn’t recognize that it’s her husband who is in disguise as Raj.
Further more; she didn’t spot one resemblance between Raj and her husband when the changes in his looks were minimal. Also, how could she identify her husband as Raj on the grand finale of the dance competition? All this and many more questions linger in your minds as the credits roll.

It’s not just the story that is not proof read but even the pace is excruciatingly slow. The movie should have been 30 mins shorter. On a positive note, the story is simple and its characters are very much identifiable. Dialogues are very interesting and mostly comical. Music by Salim-Sulaiman’s is admirable. Music is a mixed bag. ‘Haule Haule’ and ‘Dance Pe Chance’ are decent tracks. The title track too is very pleasing and touchy.

The movie belongs to Anushka Sharma’s bubbly performance. You cant take your eyes off her for a minute as she dances and emotes like a veteran actress. She even manages to steal a couple of scenes from SRK. Talking of SRK, he is brilliant as Surinder Sahni but fails to impress as Raj. Age is catching up big time with SRK, those wrinkles can quite clearly be seen in close-up shots. Vinay Pathak as SRK’s side-kick manage to evoke a few laughs.

Overall, RNBDJ disappoints with faulty story line and dire execution. But some light entertaining moments make it a decent watch.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Simpleton Amar (Vinay Pathak) leads a normal boring life. One day his doctor tells him, he has stomach cancer and he will die in 3 months. So Amar decides to write his final list of to-do things, he decides to enjoy life to the fullest in the remaining time he has on hand. Sounds similar to the classic Rajesh Khanna – Amitabh Bachchan film Anand? The theme is similar the treatment is different and the movie is very refreshing.

What works for Dasvidaniya, is its very simple script, executed skillfully by first time director Shashant Shah. I didn’t like the Maa promo when it was aired on TV, but in the movie it was very emotional, its hard not to cry at such genuinely heart wrenching moments. Those small things, small yet brilliant moments, make Dasvidaniya one of the very best movies of 2008. You smile, while you continue to weep.

Regarding the pace, that most would be concerned about. It isn’t very fast paced, but Vinay Pathak and the treatment ensure you can’t eyes off the screen. Amar singing a song to his mom, taking his mom out on his new car… there are really such special moments in the film. Laughed my guts off watching the promos, but couldn’t control that drop of tear that trickled down in the movie hall.

What do I say about the performance? Its hard to rate such out of the world performances. Vinay Pathak is the star, he deserves 10 times more than those stars who are paid 20 – 30 crores per film. He deserves every award and more. Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey and the rest are good too.

Dasvidaniya is a movie that will be remembered and cherished for a long long time. Must watch!

4 stars

Basically Dostana is about gays, friendship and love.

The gays are not gonna love this, most could find it offensive. Indian filmmakers need to grow up to the fact that, gays are indeed normal people and not always on lookout for sex with the same sex! They are not sex freaks like most films have portrayed them to be. It started with Karan Johar’s Kal Ho Na Ho and since then filmmakers have continued to follow those kantaben scenes (Even Golmaal Returns).

The friendship part is not well-executed, too many loopholes in the script. While the chemistry between John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan is great. The bond that the three friends share, didn’t for some reason, connect. You don’t feel for any of the friends when they part ways.

Bobby Deol’s character is developed in a hurry and hence the love story doesn’t work either. The second half is extremely poor, the whole part of trying to create a misunderstanding between the couple, is just so hard to digest, including the scenes that involve the kid.

The film is a mindless entertainer, and probably the best way would have been to promote it as a comedy, rather than a movie on friendship and love. About 80% of the movie completely lacks logic, something that was, personally, totally unexpected from Dostana.

Abhishek Bachchan is in full form, superb comic timing. A much improved performance if you compare it to his almost similar character in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. John Abraham supports Abhishek pretty well, but never manages to steal a scene. Dostana has to be one of the sweetest roles of Priyanka Chopra’s career so far, she proves yet again that she is far ahead of the competition. Bobby Deol is strictly okay.

To sum up, Dostana tries hard to entertain succeeds on a few occasions. But overall it’s a huge disappointment.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Socially relevant films narrated with a touch of comedy has worked big time at the boxoffice. The makers have tried to do something similar, hoping probably to emulate the super sucess of the 2 Munnabhai films. But the end result is a movie that takes in own time in establishing all the characters and stories and finally folding it all in a hurry.

EMI also includes a few unnecessary item numbers, irritating characters (Aashish Chaudhary who hasn’t yet gotten over Dhamaal) and a love angle between Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar that simply adds to the runtime. Infact, the whole Urmila episode is so utterly senseless.. It goes like.. Urmila’s husband who is insured for 2 crores, commits suicide. In an attempt to claim the insured amount, Urmila lodges a FIR complaint, which is rejected. She then approaches a goon, who promises to prove to the court that her husband was murdered. But then all this comes at a price! The goon demands 10 lakhs as advance and what does she do? Well you guess it right, she takes a personal loan to pay him! Is it really that easy to get loans worth 10 lakhs, without assests or a income proof? Things dont stop there.. A year later, the goon passes away and she is now directed to another goon who can help her out! Just when you think, it cant get worse than this. She falls in love with the recovery agent himself!

To the positives, the sole reason to catch EMI at a theatre nearby is Sanjay Dutt. Apart from the brilliant Sanju Baba in his by now trademark Bhai role, the rest disappoint. Arjun Rampal has limited scope to perform. Urmila Matondkar too has almost nothing to do. Malaika Arora oozes sensuality.

To sum up, watch EMI only IF your a die hard Sanjay Dutt fan. Else, just wait for the DVD.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The first thing that strikes you while you watch Fashion is the amount of research that has gone into the making of the movie. The movie has a very realistic feel to it and many scenes have a striking resemblance to real life incidents. Like the infamous Carl Gracious wardrobe malfunction about 2 years ago and Geetanjali Nagpal’s journey from glitz and glamour to begging on the streets of Delhi, a story that shocked many. With a interesting tight script on his hands, Bhandarkar had already won half the battle and with perfectly executing it, the ace director has a winner on his hands. Also the fact that the director has managed to convincingly direct and create hype around a movie without a single male star, in itself deserves a thundering ovation.

Fashion ain’t without flaws though. The only thing that could go against it at the box-office is the pace of the film, which is dreadfully slow. It’s so slow that it takes a good amount of sheen away from the movie.

Salim – Suleiman music is splendid and adds a lot to the overall feel of the film. The thousands of costumes used look perfect. The dialogues much like most Madhur Bhandarkar films are superb.

Priyanka Chopra delivers a career defining performance. In a role that provides immense scope for delivering something truly special, Priyanka excels. Kangana Ranaut has a comparatively smallish role and performs quite well. Mugdha Godse is super good in her debut. Rest have almost nothing to do.

To sum up, immense amount of hard work has gone into making Fashion and it clearly shows in the final product. Watch it!

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The biggest problem with Golmaal Returns is its insane script. The writer has scripted some of the most bizarre of sequences in the name of a mindless comedy, add to it the poor execution and we have a movie that just does not deserve a watch on the big screen. Yes, well directed mindless comedies are great to watch. Movies like Hera Pheri, Hungama or even Golmaal managed to entertain even though the mentioned movies completely lacked sense or logic.

Here with Golmaal Returns except for about 2 funny scenes, fabulous performance by Tusshar Kapoor and gorgeous looking girls… There is nothing that Golmaal Returns has to offer. The music isn’t great either.

Golmaal Returns is Tusshar Kapoor’s show. The actor delivers a knockout performance in what could be remembered as his most memorable character ever. Ajay Devgan performs well in a role that could have been taken to new heights by Akshay Kumar, always believe Akshay was perfect for Devgan role in Golmaal. Shreyas Talpade ensures the audience won’t miss Sharman Joshi. Kareena Kapoor in a role of a suspicious wife is good. Arshad Warsi surprisingly has a miniscule role. Celina Jaitley was super hot. And Amrita Arora’s role must have been credited as a guest appearance!

To sum up, Golmaal Returns is terribly let down by the script writers. The direction too is below average. A disappointing return of the hilarious Golmaal.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The director has attempted to do something different this time around, as the film is based on life after the war. The film is divided into 3 stories, apart from the main storyline of Sohail and Vatsal Sheth that binds the movie together.

Samir Karnik strikes the right chord with Heroes something that he failed to do in his previous films. The movie starts off quite well with the 2 main characters. The first part featuring Salman Khan and Preity Zinta is high on emotions and deftly executed by the director. If you miss or missed the Sunny Deol of the 80s and 90s, Heroes is a must watch. Sunny bashes 15 – 20 goons at a time, breaking the flooring on the way and all this with disabled legs! The Sunny Deol portions will work big time with the masses and people up north, where the Deol’s command a great fan following.

The third part is deprived in all respect; story, direction and performance. The chemistry between father (Mithunda) and son (Dino Morea) was non-existent.

Music by Sajid – Wajid is good but most of the tracks just add to the runtime. Cinematography is fantastic. A few dialogues make an impact.

Performances by Salman Khan, Preity Zinta and Vatsal Sheth stand out. Sohail Khan can’t act to save his life. The rest are fine.

To sum up, Heroes calls for patriotism and emotions. If you want to see Sunny at his 90s best, Salman as a Singh or a movie on patriotism that connects in parts. Go for it. Else, Heroes is a DVD watch.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

How I truly wish our Himeshbhai gets back to what he does best, which certainly isnt acting or singing. The biggest flaw in Karzzzz is Himesh himself, the audience is fed with more Himesh than they could ever chew or digest. Too many songs, runtime about an hour more than it should have actually been, poor performances, pathetic direction and a Himesh Reshammiya who tries super hard at everything but eventually falls flat in everything. The only saving grace is the cinematography, the locales of Kenya have been shot beautifully. Its as hard to control your laughter while Himesh gets hysterical in the emotional scenes as it when you try your best to not fall asleep. The makers probably aware of the same have aptly added ‘zzz’ to the title.

On a positive note, the target audience in the B and C centres, are gonna love it. After all, the poor Aap Ka Surroor was a big hit in the interiors or India, wasn’t it? If you loved Aap Ka Surroor, you will most definitely love Karzzzz.

The only important character apart from Himesh’s is that of Kamini. Urmila Matondkar as the evil Kamini tries her best, displays ample cleavage, but hams in key scenes. Danny Dengzongpa performs well. Shweta Kumar in her debut film is wasted, all she has to do is look good which she does pretty well. Rest are okay.

To sum up, there is nothing that really stands out in Himesh’s second outing except for the Ek Haseena Thi track. Watch it if you have absolutely nothing better to do or if your a huge Himesh Reshammiya fan. At the box-office, it should do well at the smaller centres.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars