Courtesy -supergoodmovies.com

Director – Puri Jagannadh
Cast – Amitabh Bachan , Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, Hema Malini, Sonal Chouhan, Raveena Tandon

Budha Hoga Tera Baap (BHTB) is a great entertainer if you leave your brains back at home. Yes, it is a no-brainer. And for the same reason, it is a whole lot of fun . Watch it for the “budha”, I say. He makes it worth the penny. If you are the kind who likes the brilliance of a plot and loves to have in-depth discussions on the movie, Iam sorry , this is no Indian version of Inception. BHTB has no plot, thank you very much. Infact, even if you want to discuss, you wouldn’t remember anything at all about the movie, ten minutes after it is over. It has some good performances and some clean jokes though. This is just a time-pass movie you can watch with friends on a weekend or even after a long day’s work on a weekday. It is a such a stress buster on weekdays, I tell you. Oh! And yes, you can safely watch it with the family also. What are clean entertainments for?

To begin with, AB is absolutely delectable as the charming oldie. I feel that he is the only Indian veteran actor who can pull off a George Clooney act. A lot of the other older actors (I refrain from naming them for the fear of hurting sentiments. No, not the actors’, but their fans. Iam not so vain to think that popular actors are so jobless to read what I write) look ridiculous and rather stupid romancing heroines half their age. And thankfully, he is not romancing an 18-year old. He is paired opposite the elegant Hema Malini who can give the young actresses of today a run for their money. (I want to look like Hema Malini when I grow old. But for that to happen, right now I need to look like how she was a couple of decades ago. Hmmm…..My chances are really bleak). Iam really not a big fan of old couples romancing. I might be prejudiced and my views are likely to change when I become… err… old. Or maybe I become a more firm believer. Anyways, right now, I like it better when romance is limited to the young and peppy, atleast on screen. That is why I despised the onscreen romance between AB and Jaya in Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham. (I seriously feel that KJo should stick to hosting gossip shows and leave the movie-making to more sensible people). But all the conversation between AB and Hema Malini are quite endearing in this movie. They talk like normal grown-ups (who are not influenced by MTV Splitsvilla) and their emotions looked real. Despite the fights and the distance, their fondness for each other was quite obvious. Each time Hema Malini tries to pick up an argument, AB just lets it go. Cute, ain’t it?

Sonu Sood , who plays AB’s son has tried to recreate AB’s on screen magic of the yester years by playing an “angry young man/cop” and was half as convincing. His romantic interest was a pretty young thing Sonal Chouhan who was well….pretty… and young too. Ravishing Raveena Tandon made a come-back in this movie and was quite ravishing. But I wondered how she said yes to playing mom to a college-going girl. But this was no ordinary mommy. She was playing a Lilette-Dubey type of cool mommy, but was not even half as charming. Someone who got all my kudos is the seasoned actor Prakash Raj, who excelled in his role of an Underworld Don. His comic timing was purrrr-fect!

Director Puri Jagannadh made a great effort to bring back the memories of the 80’s movies. This is essentially an action flick, where you would see Big B (a returned criminal) take on the underworld. But there is lot of subtle humour thrown along the way to make it more enjoyable. The songs in the movie were hummable, especially the very the endearing “Haal E Dil”, for which Amitab Bachan has lend his voice. The movie also has a rare treat for the lovers of 80’s music. There is a compilation of all of Amitabh’s popular songs sung by Amitabh and Abhishek Bachan. But as I said, watch it for the “Budha”! Everyone else and everything else pales in comparison.

Courtesy -indianews99.com

Director – Abhinay Deo
Cast – Imran Khan, Kunal Roy, Vir Das, Shenaz Treasury, Poorna Jagannathan

If you are anything like me, you will be quick to draw parallels with Hangover as soon as you see Kunal Roy’s character clicking ‘close shots’ of a wannabe celebrity, just so that he gets a kick out of it. Both the movies are about three guys (Its four in Hangover, but one guy goes missing) and their misadventures and a saga of terrible mix ups. The characters of both the movies resemble too– the “Iam dumb and can be taken on a ride” looking bespectacled guy, the serious no-nonsense good looking guy, and the whacky fatso guy. Like someone said, “the disgusting guy in Delhi Belly reminded me of the disgusting guy in Hangover”. This could well be India’s answer to “Hangover”, only DB is crass, crude and cheap. And the difference doesn’t end there. While HO had me in splits throughout the movie, I was squirming in my seat for the most part of DB. I closed my eyes and even shut my ears with my fingers during some scenes. Yeah, it is not just the scenes, but the sounds were unbearable too. So though one could say that the script was tightly packed, the over dose of toilet humour was a bummer. Also, we have seen innumerable movies on mix ups. Haven’t we grown out of it already? Where is the novelty of the plot? So no pat on the back for the scriptwriter from me. But we have to give credit where it is due. The movie did have some funny moments and it elicited a few chuckles from me.

Director Abhinay Deo has done a great job in converting it into a well-paced movie though. Imran Khan did an alright job, but his ‘good- boy’ roles are getting way too repetitive and boring. Shehnaz Treasury who rose to fame with her stint with MTV, was adorable. Guys, it is hard to look cute when you are whining all the time. But that is what she did in MTV too. So Iam not sure just how much of acting went into that character. Wasn’t she just playing herself? Vir Das who played the cartoonist did an awesome job and Kunal Roy, the whacko photographer was disgusting and that is exactly how that character was meant to be. So he was a success. Both of them were better than Imran Khan. So this one was definitely not an Imran-Khan movie. For me, the surprise package of the movie was the spunky special correspondent played by Poorna Jagannathan. She is definitely a force to reckon with.

Delhi Belly is an all-in-all guy-flick. Now I begin to understand why most guys loathe chick flick. Probably it is because of similar reasons that I failed to appreciate DB. But a lot of women enjoyed it too. You do not really expect three bachelors sharing an accommodation to be too bothered about keeping the rooms clean or doing the laundry on time. And I like how they take turns to answer the door bell or store water in the bucket. And if someone sleeps through it, then others just won’t do it, because it was simply not their turn. Typical of bachelor pads. And again, an overdose of cuss words is what you expect in a guy-flick. Also, the title ‘Delhi belly” does refer to an attack of diarrhoea, ( I don’t know how I missed it) which is the central point of the movie. So yes, the movie is realistic, but it is just not what I want to see on screen I would appreciate an urban guy-flick like “Dil Chatha Hai”, which is aesthetic and done in very good taste.

But the movie does have some unforgettable dialogues. “Nano car is what happens when a donkey screws an auto”! That was a classic line from the movie. And I felt that its quite true too. The movie has plenty of funny one-liners like these. But when people on my sides were laughing their lungs out, I found that most of the movie was gross. The dialogues were gross. The scenes were GROSS!. Its not because Iam uptight about it. I would have been totally alright with a movie with a lot of steamy scenes or even an explicit gay movie like a “Brokeback mountain”. But a guy suffering from an upset stomach and scenes closely monitoring his bowel movements are definitely not my idea of funny. At the risk of sounding snooty, I would say it would have been a lot better to hear in English. The F word I mean. The movie is full of it. What I don’t understand is why is the otherwise English-speaking urban guys resorting to Hindi when swearing? Isn’t that rare? Even those who normally converse in their mother tongue sometimes switch to English while swearing. Then why not these guys? Why make so much fuss over it, you may ask. But hearing the same cuss words in different languages create totally different impact on me. Bottom line – Watch it if you are a fan of toilet humour. I loathe it! And also, if you enjoy hearing an MC-BC at the beginning of each sentence, go for it.

Ernakulam Public Library Film Club will be screening Mikhail Kalatozov’s (The Cranes Are Flying) on 22nd October, 2009(Thursday) at 6 PM. The screening will be at the Ernakulam Public Library.

And yes..! As always , Entry is free..!

The Cranes are Flying

Plot : In Moscow, the young couple Veronika (T. Samojlova) and Boris (Aleksey Batalov) are in deep love for each other. With the World War II, Boris volunteers to join the army and is sent to the front on the day before Veronika’s birthday, and they do not have the chance to say goodbye to each other. While waiting for news from Boris, Veronika is raped by Boris’ cousin Mark (A. Shvorin) and they marry each other. However, Veronika does not forget Boris, and keeps waiting for him.

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