Rajat Kapoor was absolutely missed, where was he?! Add to that, the script writers make a not very delicious bheja fry! Their first attempt was too good to digest this perhaps!
Anyone who sees his acting gets impressed. He has an alluring smile and does total justice to any character given to him. That is Kay Kay Menon. Now watching Kay Kay not in absolute charge of his character comes in as a surprising shock.
For once, let’s not talk of the acting department. Majorly, everybody manages a fair meal! Where the problem lay is what is called the backbone of a film - the script. Having every opportunity to conclude the movie giving a right message, the writers and the director fail to do just that. Had not Bheja Fry spectacularly done that?
The manner, in which the second half of the film proceeds, creates an overall imbalance. Ajit Talwar(KK Menon) and Bharat Bhushan(Vinay Pathak) seem to be deliberately put up together. And all of a sudden, every other character in the film is rendered unimportant and prematurely abandoned. In comes Amol Gupte out of nowhere making the movie even more asymmetrical in its appeal! Also, Ajit Talwar seems to have given up his ‘battle’ against Bhushan long before the act is actually over.
However something that clicked pretty well was the comedy of the film. Watch Vinay Pathak get into the Bharat Bhushan mode again or watch KK imitate Bhushan’s bizarre laugh “ha-ha’, they do manage to add the right masala.
Though Kay Kay plays well the lusty and shrewd businessman, Talwar’s heart does not seem to be in the right place. Vinay Pathak’s Bhushan act deserves applause. Minnisha Lamba, Amol Gupte, Suresh Menon and the others play their trivial parts justice-ably.
The part of island where the duo is stuck up together is not convincingly shown for the locations seem to be frivolously changing as per the demand of the script. Kay Kay seems over shadowed by Pathak which takes away the very essence of the story.
All in all, Bheja Fry 2 is a no big deal and sheer disappointment, all thanks to its distasteful screenplay!
RATING- 2 stars
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Thank You
It is quite evident that Anees Bazmee attempts to recreate his No Entry for the film runs on quite a similar note, not that there is anything wrong in doing that. The good thing about Thank You is that it conveys its message via a medium that the audience will fancy. But somehow the message giving is less impactful permitting the audience to savor the soda and leave behind milk!
Bobby Deol, Irfan Khan and Suniel Shetty are three treacherous two-timers. Sanjana(Sonam Kapoor) plays a sensitive wife to the not-so-faithful Raj(Bobby Deol), Shivani(Rimmi Sen) plays a smart wife to the not-so-faithful Vikram(Irrfan Khan) and Maya(Celina Jaitley) finds a servant in her not-so-faithful and moronic husband Yogi(Suniel Shetty)! Kishen(Akshay Kumar), the maverick who is himself no less than the traitorous trio,takes on the task of setting the three men right.
The film is not as humorous as a slapstick comedy ought to be. At the most, it can invigorate a little laugh here and there, and that’s all. The film could have been crispier as its pace gets a little boring at places. However the characters of the film fit pretty well into their hats and that is sufficient to carry on the drama.
The film has some good notable performances. Bobby Deol plays the perfidious husband in the first half and performs the angry-Dharmendra charm in the later half pretty well. Irrfan Khan’s comic timing and dialogue delivery were superbly idiosyncratic of him. Suniel Shetty had nothing much to offer but managed to lend a good support to the comic timing. Sonam Kapoor does a decent job but does not forget to smile while shedding tears! However, she manages to look stunning. Rimmi Sen deserves an applause for brilliantly enacting a timid wife to her power mongering husband while actually remaining least bothered. Celina does a good job but haplessly goes missing for a large part. As usual, this man’s performance was terrific- Akshay Kumar. He smiles to enchant you. His accent is his style. He plays the perfect hero with such ease as you would run a knife into soft cheese! He is a marvel.
Pritam’s music is outstanding with most soundtracks being foot tapping party beats. Some of those will definitely remain the season’s favorites. Talking of Mallika Sherawat's item number, yes, it is very understandable that the lass could manage just a day out of her busy schedule for the song, but that doesn't mean she will mortify the audiences with her horrifying looks! A little more make-up could have proved useful, perhaps.
The star cast of the film is new and unique, they blend and complement each other so well that this provides for an extra edge. That is worth the watch.Overall, the movie is neither too good nor too bad. It acquires a midway zone comfortably and rests there. It might not be as enthralling as No Entry or Welcome but manages a certain appeal to itself thanks to great performers like Akshay, Irrfan and Rimmi.
A big star cast, some good performances, beautiful locales, little drama and comedy make Thank You quite a pleasant watch.
RATING- 3 stars
Bobby Deol, Irfan Khan and Suniel Shetty are three treacherous two-timers. Sanjana(Sonam Kapoor) plays a sensitive wife to the not-so-faithful Raj(Bobby Deol), Shivani(Rimmi Sen) plays a smart wife to the not-so-faithful Vikram(Irrfan Khan) and Maya(Celina Jaitley) finds a servant in her not-so-faithful and moronic husband Yogi(Suniel Shetty)! Kishen(Akshay Kumar), the maverick who is himself no less than the traitorous trio,takes on the task of setting the three men right.
The film is not as humorous as a slapstick comedy ought to be. At the most, it can invigorate a little laugh here and there, and that’s all. The film could have been crispier as its pace gets a little boring at places. However the characters of the film fit pretty well into their hats and that is sufficient to carry on the drama.
The film has some good notable performances. Bobby Deol plays the perfidious husband in the first half and performs the angry-Dharmendra charm in the later half pretty well. Irrfan Khan’s comic timing and dialogue delivery were superbly idiosyncratic of him. Suniel Shetty had nothing much to offer but managed to lend a good support to the comic timing. Sonam Kapoor does a decent job but does not forget to smile while shedding tears! However, she manages to look stunning. Rimmi Sen deserves an applause for brilliantly enacting a timid wife to her power mongering husband while actually remaining least bothered. Celina does a good job but haplessly goes missing for a large part. As usual, this man’s performance was terrific- Akshay Kumar. He smiles to enchant you. His accent is his style. He plays the perfect hero with such ease as you would run a knife into soft cheese! He is a marvel.
Pritam’s music is outstanding with most soundtracks being foot tapping party beats. Some of those will definitely remain the season’s favorites. Talking of Mallika Sherawat's item number, yes, it is very understandable that the lass could manage just a day out of her busy schedule for the song, but that doesn't mean she will mortify the audiences with her horrifying looks! A little more make-up could have proved useful, perhaps.
The star cast of the film is new and unique, they blend and complement each other so well that this provides for an extra edge. That is worth the watch.Overall, the movie is neither too good nor too bad. It acquires a midway zone comfortably and rests there. It might not be as enthralling as No Entry or Welcome but manages a certain appeal to itself thanks to great performers like Akshay, Irrfan and Rimmi.
A big star cast, some good performances, beautiful locales, little drama and comedy make Thank You quite a pleasant watch.
RATING- 3 stars
Saturday, March 5, 2011
7 Khoon Maaf
Imagine! One murder after another! No, the film is not as rampant as that sounds. Vishal Bharadwaj subtly and with sophistication depicts these murders thereby preventing Sussana from being looked upon as a psycho. But still it is difficult not to consider her one! Well, at least to an extent. The girl depicts no sense of reasoning and prudence. Somebody ought to have told her, there is something called divorce!
Susanna who is in search of love gets betrayed, each of the six times she marries. She widows herself after being disappointed in her husband each time. The story has an interesting narrative and Vishal Bharadwaj deserves some praise for making the film so eclectic that it looks realistic.
Priyanka Chopra gives a performance that varies on a scale of being great to being average. Neil Nitin Mukesh does an appreciable job playing an extremely possessive husband along with being an MCP (male-chauvinist pig!), John is pretty average as a guitar rock star, Annu Kapoor as an investigative police officer does a great job, Irfan Khan's acting is as impressive, Aleksandr Dyachenko playing the Russian spy gives a decent performance and Naseeruddin Shah with a typical Bengali accent is very praise worthy. Somewhere the screenplay of the film deserves credit for making these characters easily fit into their respective moulds. All other actors with their trivial parts such as Konkona, Vivaan Shah and Usha Utthup and few others deliver a fine performance.
The music of the film does not have much to offer other than the Rekha Bharadwaj and Usha Uthup sung “Darling” and Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Bekaraan”. The movie also has a mysterious element to it. It will leave you wondering the relevance of its title- 7 khoon maaf!
No matter what, the film has a rustic appeal to it which is quite the director's characteristic. The film is not predictable despite its much revealing title. But in spite of everything, it does not serve to be that great a watch! This Vishal Bharadwaj enigma is surreptitious, stealthy and dark. It is something surely out of the box- now that can either captivate you or perhaps, bore you!
RATING- 3 stars
Susanna who is in search of love gets betrayed, each of the six times she marries. She widows herself after being disappointed in her husband each time. The story has an interesting narrative and Vishal Bharadwaj deserves some praise for making the film so eclectic that it looks realistic.
Priyanka Chopra gives a performance that varies on a scale of being great to being average. Neil Nitin Mukesh does an appreciable job playing an extremely possessive husband along with being an MCP (male-chauvinist pig!), John is pretty average as a guitar rock star, Annu Kapoor as an investigative police officer does a great job, Irfan Khan's acting is as impressive, Aleksandr Dyachenko playing the Russian spy gives a decent performance and Naseeruddin Shah with a typical Bengali accent is very praise worthy. Somewhere the screenplay of the film deserves credit for making these characters easily fit into their respective moulds. All other actors with their trivial parts such as Konkona, Vivaan Shah and Usha Utthup and few others deliver a fine performance.
The music of the film does not have much to offer other than the Rekha Bharadwaj and Usha Uthup sung “Darling” and Vishal Bharadwaj’s “Bekaraan”. The movie also has a mysterious element to it. It will leave you wondering the relevance of its title- 7 khoon maaf!
No matter what, the film has a rustic appeal to it which is quite the director's characteristic. The film is not predictable despite its much revealing title. But in spite of everything, it does not serve to be that great a watch! This Vishal Bharadwaj enigma is surreptitious, stealthy and dark. It is something surely out of the box- now that can either captivate you or perhaps, bore you!
RATING- 3 stars
Monday, November 8, 2010
ACTION REPLAYY
Imagine an action in your past going wrong and you given a chance to change it! This little element of fiction can probably consume your imagination! And somebody rightly stated what you are today is somewhere a result of your past. Action Replayy subtly portrays this reality amidst its amusing humor and an eye-pleasing colorful 70’s background.
Kishen(Akshay Kumar) and Mala(Aishwarya Rai) are unhappily married. Their son, Bunty(Aditya Roy Kapoor) , is unwilling to get married for the same reason. His girlfriend’s grandfather has an invention that can take you back in time. The son decides to go back in time and set things right once and for all.
The film has it all: conflict, drama, humor, dance and most importantly, color! The direction and cinematography of the movie is simply bewitching and fascinating. Director, producer, Vipul Shah lets not an iota of his fictitious element look unconvincing. He manages to choose the right colors all the time everywhere! The apt usage of colors in the song, Chann Ke Mohalla and the styling of the chartbuster track, Zor Ka Jhatka turn out to be a must watch on the big screen.
The retro look of the movie is original and striking.The film seems home to boundless creativity and innovation. Look how they make the film’s starting credit titles so novel!But sadly the beginning part where Kishen is shown to be sissy seems a bit overdone as he begins to look over-extra ugly.But then, he carries off the bechaara look pretty well.
Talking of performances, Aishwarya is just flawless for she gets into the perfect skin of her character, Mala. Kishen or Akhay Kumar is just as ever. Try to think of a film where he wasn’t convincing enough. You won’t get an answer or maybe you would have to think for too long! Not to forget the mention of his "Awaaz.. neeche" for its just too stylishly catchy! Newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor does his job impressively. And so do others like Ompuri, Kirron Kher, Ranvijay, Rajpal Yadav and Neha Dhupia.
Music by Pritam is good enough and some of the tracks are extremely consuming and passionate. The film gets a little typically filmy in the later half and perhaps the reality singing contest could have been done away with as our present GenX audience deprecate watching the typical Hindi-film kind melodrama!
Overall, the film has a good treatment, convincing ending and a heart-pleasing message! Go to watch how the past is linked to the present! That is Action Replayy!
RATING- 3 stars
Kishen(Akshay Kumar) and Mala(Aishwarya Rai) are unhappily married. Their son, Bunty(Aditya Roy Kapoor) , is unwilling to get married for the same reason. His girlfriend’s grandfather has an invention that can take you back in time. The son decides to go back in time and set things right once and for all.
The film has it all: conflict, drama, humor, dance and most importantly, color! The direction and cinematography of the movie is simply bewitching and fascinating. Director, producer, Vipul Shah lets not an iota of his fictitious element look unconvincing. He manages to choose the right colors all the time everywhere! The apt usage of colors in the song, Chann Ke Mohalla and the styling of the chartbuster track, Zor Ka Jhatka turn out to be a must watch on the big screen.
The retro look of the movie is original and striking.The film seems home to boundless creativity and innovation. Look how they make the film’s starting credit titles so novel!But sadly the beginning part where Kishen is shown to be sissy seems a bit overdone as he begins to look over-extra ugly.But then, he carries off the bechaara look pretty well.
Talking of performances, Aishwarya is just flawless for she gets into the perfect skin of her character, Mala. Kishen or Akhay Kumar is just as ever. Try to think of a film where he wasn’t convincing enough. You won’t get an answer or maybe you would have to think for too long! Not to forget the mention of his "Awaaz.. neeche" for its just too stylishly catchy! Newcomer Aditya Roy Kapoor does his job impressively. And so do others like Ompuri, Kirron Kher, Ranvijay, Rajpal Yadav and Neha Dhupia.
Music by Pritam is good enough and some of the tracks are extremely consuming and passionate. The film gets a little typically filmy in the later half and perhaps the reality singing contest could have been done away with as our present GenX audience deprecate watching the typical Hindi-film kind melodrama!
Overall, the film has a good treatment, convincing ending and a heart-pleasing message! Go to watch how the past is linked to the present! That is Action Replayy!
RATING- 3 stars
Friday, October 29, 2010
Jhoota Hi Sahi
Whoops! Is creativity finding itself estranged? Why are so many Bollywood movies merely getting based upon concepts and situations that have been seen before and are not entirely novel? Bollywood is trying the same old ‘masala’ and the only difference seems to be in the star casts who are getting permuted and combined to grant something ‘new’ to a movie. Our films seem to be growing in quantity not quality.
Lets get back to Jhoota Hi Sahi! The film has John Abraham in the lead who portrays a stammering geek. And he’s made stammering no funny anymore! The heroine of the film as well as the writer, Pakhi, seems to have given a fine performance as a beginner. There is nothing very special about her, one may actually wonder why the director needed to cast his wife for the role. Performances of other actors are pretty fine. MTV Roadies fame, Raghu does his job very impressively. However, cameo by R Madhavan isn't very appealing moreso, as his character is totally devoid of spark.
John(Siddharth) one night begins to receive calls from different suicidal s who want a reason to live.This is so as his number by mistake gets printed on a help-line. One of the caller's is Pakhi(Mishka) who becomes a phone friend of this unknown faced voice and unknowingly meets this phone friend at the book shop one day. John gets to know that it is the same girl and urges her to get closer to Siddharth on phone. The twist of the story is an old one. The girl’s ex-boyfriend cant see her with John now. And the girl comes to know that her phone friend and real life friend are the same.
Comedy of the movie can be called good, but then it appears deliberate at places. There is hardly any depth in any character of the film. Even its storyline which is fresh in the beginning turns disappointingly dull towards the later half. The climax is as dramatic and as filmy as anything could get to be! Boring at places, the film suffers from unoriginality and a bad actor in its male lead.
Even AR Rahman's music fails to become a treat. Infact,the tune of one of the song's ” Cry cry,karte hai kaiko” can ludicrously remind of a nursery rhyme! Abbas Tyrewala's direction is not enchanting at all! Now, he had created magic out of a simple story in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. After that, this definitely gets disappointing.
Overall, watch it for its sense of humor and Raghu, if you are fond of good actors.
RATING-**1/2
Lets get back to Jhoota Hi Sahi! The film has John Abraham in the lead who portrays a stammering geek. And he’s made stammering no funny anymore! The heroine of the film as well as the writer, Pakhi, seems to have given a fine performance as a beginner. There is nothing very special about her, one may actually wonder why the director needed to cast his wife for the role. Performances of other actors are pretty fine. MTV Roadies fame, Raghu does his job very impressively. However, cameo by R Madhavan isn't very appealing moreso, as his character is totally devoid of spark.
John(Siddharth) one night begins to receive calls from different suicidal s who want a reason to live.This is so as his number by mistake gets printed on a help-line. One of the caller's is Pakhi(Mishka) who becomes a phone friend of this unknown faced voice and unknowingly meets this phone friend at the book shop one day. John gets to know that it is the same girl and urges her to get closer to Siddharth on phone. The twist of the story is an old one. The girl’s ex-boyfriend cant see her with John now. And the girl comes to know that her phone friend and real life friend are the same.
Comedy of the movie can be called good, but then it appears deliberate at places. There is hardly any depth in any character of the film. Even its storyline which is fresh in the beginning turns disappointingly dull towards the later half. The climax is as dramatic and as filmy as anything could get to be! Boring at places, the film suffers from unoriginality and a bad actor in its male lead.
Even AR Rahman's music fails to become a treat. Infact,the tune of one of the song's ” Cry cry,karte hai kaiko” can ludicrously remind of a nursery rhyme! Abbas Tyrewala's direction is not enchanting at all! Now, he had created magic out of a simple story in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. After that, this definitely gets disappointing.
Overall, watch it for its sense of humor and Raghu, if you are fond of good actors.
RATING-**1/2
Sunday, September 5, 2010
We Are Family
Where’ the suspense? Where’s the thrill? What’s the X-factor? Predictably annoying, childishly stereotyped! That is what the film is! It’s hardly got an element that you mustn’t have seen on screen before. More so, the title of the film actually plucks out any possibility of suspense from the film i.e., you already know Kareena too will ultimately become part of the family! Add to that, this official adaptation of Stepmom can serve as a bad dose of predictability specially to those who have seen the latter. The movie has just one powerful tool however-emotions! It is determined to wet your cheeks for sure! And this emotional factor to an extent clicks. More so as the director,Siddharth Malhotra, seems to have put his heart and soul into this one.
Casting of good actors was necessary as every actor had a substantial element to portray. Kajol was splendid as usual. Arjun is a rock star. He’s got a striking flamboyance, which is sufficient, he need not act! Coming to Kareena, she just manages to not click these days. Though she is good in some scenes, there are plenty others where she is found busy imitating herself and unfocussed! The kids are good. Talking of music, it isn’t very splendid and not bad either. But the only song that actually rocked was- Let’s Rock! Also,the director and the makers of the film seem to have observed a great sense of power and inspiration in the not very novel song, Reham-o-Karam for they stupefy you by playing that bit of line at irregular intervals as though some great incident just took place! If someone added color to the movie, it was Kajol, she is a legend that her contemporary actresses must bow down to, and follow!
One good discovery the movie makes is the chemistry between Arjun and Kareena. They make an awesome couple. But unfortunately, there is hardly any romance and Kareena is seen more with Kajol than Arjun in the second half! Arjun Rampal is sadly abandoned towards the end, as the women take lead.
Above all, it is typically the great Indian melodrama, providing a huge, huge scope for tears, so do watch it if you want to cry and need a reason to do so! This one qualifies as a great reason, for sure!
RATING- **1/2
Casting of good actors was necessary as every actor had a substantial element to portray. Kajol was splendid as usual. Arjun is a rock star. He’s got a striking flamboyance, which is sufficient, he need not act! Coming to Kareena, she just manages to not click these days. Though she is good in some scenes, there are plenty others where she is found busy imitating herself and unfocussed! The kids are good. Talking of music, it isn’t very splendid and not bad either. But the only song that actually rocked was- Let’s Rock! Also,the director and the makers of the film seem to have observed a great sense of power and inspiration in the not very novel song, Reham-o-Karam for they stupefy you by playing that bit of line at irregular intervals as though some great incident just took place! If someone added color to the movie, it was Kajol, she is a legend that her contemporary actresses must bow down to, and follow!
One good discovery the movie makes is the chemistry between Arjun and Kareena. They make an awesome couple. But unfortunately, there is hardly any romance and Kareena is seen more with Kajol than Arjun in the second half! Arjun Rampal is sadly abandoned towards the end, as the women take lead.
Above all, it is typically the great Indian melodrama, providing a huge, huge scope for tears, so do watch it if you want to cry and need a reason to do so! This one qualifies as a great reason, for sure!
RATING- **1/2
Friday, June 11, 2010
RAAJNEETI
Sarkar had done it and done it with much more dexterity. It did not have to adjunct to itself half a dozen of famed actors to look convincing. There was a Sarkar, one could understand why the public favored Sarkar, aptly it showed how Sarkar found enemies and in the end, the murders were justified. Now politics is definitely one word that can provide justification to anything unjust. However, Mr. Jha definitely needs to clarify as to what was the necessity of such aggravated vandalism only to depict the greedy and vicious nature of almost all his characters. Nevertheless, unlike Sarkar, some basic details remained untold!
When a movie has a title as such, a luminary star cast, and a director who has himself had an experience of the real Raajneeti, all you expect is- Hard core politics. Unfortunately, however, Raajneeti runs on some of Bollywoods most hit storyline’s with the schemes of the protagonists not being too novel. Probably, politics being too simple hurts! It, not being eclectic is what that gets indigestible.
The film is all about the hostility that arises in one political family. One can experience a saga of animosity that only gets vehement with time. Now the ‘battle’ has Arjun Rampal & Ranbir Kapoor on one side and Manoj Bajpayee & Ajay Devgn on the other. Blood is not thicker than water for them for they could do anything for power. Well, no one expected staunches for politicians, so this is no surprise. The surprise is, however, how restricted the politics in Raajneeti is. Far from giving us a bird’s eye view, the movie is busy revolving around the Pratap family!
With actors as such, performances were bound to be terrific. And, indeed they were. However, had the storyline and characterization been focused more, the film too could have turned terrific!
Talking of the characters, Manoj Bajpayee is seen playing the arrogant Veerendra Pratap and he is as impressive as ever. But discredits to the writers for having failed to create the character well for he is hardly seen playing politics and gets too dependent upon the not very useful, Ajay Devgn! Worse, he is not seen giving any “karara jawab” to anyone, much against his claims to do so!
Nana Patekar well plays an astute character bearing a nearly irritating smile with him all the time. Thankfully, this man has some political acumen and easily identifies to a politician.
Ajay Devgan starts well but his character gradually seems to fade and languish. Why? What happened all of a sudden? The writers simply abduct spark and charm out of Sooraj. Left a victim to Nana Patekar’s little politics, this man suddenly refuses to understand the nature of politics despite having the actual heir of the Rashravadi party, Veerendra Pratap to his side. He appears to be burning from within and angry for God-knows what reason.
Katrina plays a typical sacrificing woman and manages to deliver a fine performance. Her character is simple and thanks to that, understandable.
Ranbir Kapoor very well plays the mysteriously taciturn, callous Samar Pratap. He is into the role completely and you could hate him for that! He is extremely shrewd and the director-writer duo seems to have done injustice to the others by making Samar Pratap a one complete package. Possibly, that is why Devgn was lamenting!
Now, acting wise, this man was the best (perhaps besides Manoj Bajpayee) - Arjun Rampal enthralls you with a stupendous performance (this is called ACTING!). He makes you admire Prithvi Pratap for being rampant! Again, credits off the duo for this though amazing yet implausible creation! Prithvi is simply too hot headed to even stand in the elections, far from being a Chief Minister!
Getting back to the film, if nothing else, it could have at least had a better sense of humor! They had Nana Patekar after all! And who does not know that Indian politics can provide great scope to comedy! Direction wise, it was no treat. Jha also failed to create a full-fledged two-sided battle. The speeches did no good either. Apart from one or two catchy lines, the speeches hardly provided content for us to devour or savor nor were they used to instigate the mob in an astute manner. Shakespeare would perhaps laugh watching the speeches go in vain in that fashion! Talking of what was good, the subtle bond of love shared by Prithvi and Samar was worth watching. Also, the songs of the film are fantastic, however, one would better relish them on an audio.
Overall, Raajneeti is just another fictitious Bollywood film suffering a weak story line. Anguish, hatred and bloodshed cannot be a treat to watch after all!
RATING- **1/2
When a movie has a title as such, a luminary star cast, and a director who has himself had an experience of the real Raajneeti, all you expect is- Hard core politics. Unfortunately, however, Raajneeti runs on some of Bollywoods most hit storyline’s with the schemes of the protagonists not being too novel. Probably, politics being too simple hurts! It, not being eclectic is what that gets indigestible.
The film is all about the hostility that arises in one political family. One can experience a saga of animosity that only gets vehement with time. Now the ‘battle’ has Arjun Rampal & Ranbir Kapoor on one side and Manoj Bajpayee & Ajay Devgn on the other. Blood is not thicker than water for them for they could do anything for power. Well, no one expected staunches for politicians, so this is no surprise. The surprise is, however, how restricted the politics in Raajneeti is. Far from giving us a bird’s eye view, the movie is busy revolving around the Pratap family!
With actors as such, performances were bound to be terrific. And, indeed they were. However, had the storyline and characterization been focused more, the film too could have turned terrific!
Talking of the characters, Manoj Bajpayee is seen playing the arrogant Veerendra Pratap and he is as impressive as ever. But discredits to the writers for having failed to create the character well for he is hardly seen playing politics and gets too dependent upon the not very useful, Ajay Devgn! Worse, he is not seen giving any “karara jawab” to anyone, much against his claims to do so!
Nana Patekar well plays an astute character bearing a nearly irritating smile with him all the time. Thankfully, this man has some political acumen and easily identifies to a politician.
Ajay Devgan starts well but his character gradually seems to fade and languish. Why? What happened all of a sudden? The writers simply abduct spark and charm out of Sooraj. Left a victim to Nana Patekar’s little politics, this man suddenly refuses to understand the nature of politics despite having the actual heir of the Rashravadi party, Veerendra Pratap to his side. He appears to be burning from within and angry for God-knows what reason.
Katrina plays a typical sacrificing woman and manages to deliver a fine performance. Her character is simple and thanks to that, understandable.
Ranbir Kapoor very well plays the mysteriously taciturn, callous Samar Pratap. He is into the role completely and you could hate him for that! He is extremely shrewd and the director-writer duo seems to have done injustice to the others by making Samar Pratap a one complete package. Possibly, that is why Devgn was lamenting!
Now, acting wise, this man was the best (perhaps besides Manoj Bajpayee) - Arjun Rampal enthralls you with a stupendous performance (this is called ACTING!). He makes you admire Prithvi Pratap for being rampant! Again, credits off the duo for this though amazing yet implausible creation! Prithvi is simply too hot headed to even stand in the elections, far from being a Chief Minister!
Getting back to the film, if nothing else, it could have at least had a better sense of humor! They had Nana Patekar after all! And who does not know that Indian politics can provide great scope to comedy! Direction wise, it was no treat. Jha also failed to create a full-fledged two-sided battle. The speeches did no good either. Apart from one or two catchy lines, the speeches hardly provided content for us to devour or savor nor were they used to instigate the mob in an astute manner. Shakespeare would perhaps laugh watching the speeches go in vain in that fashion! Talking of what was good, the subtle bond of love shared by Prithvi and Samar was worth watching. Also, the songs of the film are fantastic, however, one would better relish them on an audio.
Overall, Raajneeti is just another fictitious Bollywood film suffering a weak story line. Anguish, hatred and bloodshed cannot be a treat to watch after all!
RATING- **1/2
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