Desi Galaxy

If I were to write a review for this movie in just one word then it would be total krap. I know these are two words but I wanted to use ‘K’. I am so disappointed that I would very much like to end this review here. But I know you my dear readers want to listen more about this movie. It has a nice cast, had the publicity of having three item songs performed by Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Raakhi Sawant. And you have heard that it has a wicked plot and you were promised that it will be a fun movie that you can enjoy with your family. I watched this movie for all the same reasons and I am disappointed.

Story of Krazzy 4:
The plot of this movie revolves around four mental patients. Though they are having different mental problems but all four of them are treated by Dr. Sonali (Juhi Chawla). One day Dr. Sonali takes them out to run some errands. While they are at it, some bad guys kidnap Dr. Sonali. Now it is up to the krazzy 4 team to help Dr. Sonali, but since they are mentally ill no one believes them and they decide to rescue Dr. Sonali on their own.

Review:
This clever plot comes from 80’s Malyalam movie ‘Mukilla Rajyathu’. The plot is wicked and has plenty of room for comedy, emotion, twists, suspence and thrill. But unfortunately director Jaideep Sen fails miserably to give the proper treatment to the plot. With a cast of brilliant actors Irfan Khan, Arshan Warsi, Suresh Menon and Rajpal Yadav, the audience expected a brilliant movie. The actors did really well to fit in their role but the script and dialogues of the movie were so bad that there was literally no room to perform. The movie was full of old and poor jokes.

To spice up a badly treated movie the producers decided to add a few item songs to increase the box office appeal of the movie. Unfortunately the movie of Krazzy 4 is very disappointing, check out Megha Menon’s review of the Krazzy 4 music. It has the item songs filmed on Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Raakhi Sawant. The two item songs caused a controversy when music composer Ram Sampath alleged that the music of these two songs are copied from a Sony Ericsson advertisement, composed by him. The producer Rakesh Roshan reached an out-of-court settlement with the composer. These two songs were not even worth stealing.

Overall this movie was boring, disappointing and at some points very annoying too. Still I think that the actors performed quite well and people can atleast watch this movie for once and then they are free to hate this movie.

Cast and Credits:

Arshad Warsi Raja
Irrfan Khan Dr. Mukherjee
Juhi Chawla Dr Sonali
Rajpal Yadav Gangadhar
Suresh Menon Dabboo
Dia Mirza Shikha
Rajat Kapoor R K Sanyal
Zaakir Hussain Srivastav

Directed by Jaideep Sen
Produced by Rakesh Roshan and Sunaina Roshan
Written by Ashwani Dhir

Bollywood is really progressing now. No one can rule over the box office with only good looks. One needs extra ordinary acting and dancing skills with lots of charisma to keep with the competitors.

I was disappointed to see two young actors debuting with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s mega budget movie, Saawariya. Their only claim to fame was that their fathers were super stars of Indian cinema. I thought that being a multi million dollar industry, investors in Bollywood should learn to invest their money on really talented people. I was wrong, how could I say that these two youngsters were not talented with out seeing the movie. When I saw the movie, I realized that the two new comers Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor are brilliant actors.

To be very honest Ranbir Kapoor is an ordinary looking guy with extra ordinary charms on his hand. He acted so well that I finished the movie despite the crappy script, annoying dialogues and heavy-on-eye sets. I loved the song Jab say teray Naina. It is the song where Ranbir is wrapped in a Towel and showing his beautiful, youthful and admirable body. We have seen enough of Salman’s shirtless body. Shahrukh’s abs in Om Shanti Om were sensational too. But these guys are old and they do not excite us the way Ranbir did.

Sonam Kapoor is definitely not as pretty as Om Shanti Om’s Deepika. But she is definitely a much more talented actoress. Bhansali failed to dress her up properly, he also failed to offer her some classy dance number, but he managed to show the innocence and beauty of the character. It was hard to believe that this Sonam’s first movie. She delivered her lines confidently and succeeded to fill colors in her role.

I am not saying that Saawariya is a great movie. It is neither great nor good. In fact it is Bhansali’s failed attempt to mixing up art and commercial cinema. But you can not deny the fact that Bhansali made it look beautiful. Ranbir and Sonam were the best choice. Rani Mukherjee gave a mindblowing performance as Gulab ji. But there were also many weak points. For example Salman’s mysterious character wasn’t presented properly. Dialogues were not well written, there were several holes in the script. The sets were great to portray the fictious city but the blue and green scenery became too heavy on eyes after the first hour of the movie. The role of Ranbir Raj’s grandmother Zohra Sehgal resembled a lot like Anari’s Mrs. D’sza played by Lalita Pawar.

Bhansali should realize that not all great stories meant to be filmed and converted to Hindi Cinema. There must be some really great writers with really great and untold stories available in the market. It would be great if for once Bhansali gives us a story that is not told before. He should stop mimmicking the great canvases of legendary stories with his artistic touch. Instead, it would be truly great if he shows us his work with his own canvas and his own true colors.

Sajid Khan, the tv host show, turned actor, turned director comes up with his first full length movie. Hey baby is a story of three single Indian guys living in Sydney. The motto of their life is to have fun and sleep with new girls ever night. One day someone drops a baby at their door with a note that reads “Kameenay now take care of your baby”. None of them knows exactly who is the father of the baby so they decide to find out. This leads them to find out all the girls they slept with during last two years.

Akshay Kumar plays the role of Arush, with his trademark comic style. Akshay Kumar is fun and since the first sequel of Hera Pheri we have seen him many times doing similar roles and delivering his dialogues in the same style. Akshay needs to learn how to add variety to his comic style. Akshay is teamed up with Ritesh Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan. Well Ritesh Deshmukh is one hell of talented actor and fardeen is not all that bad at all. So the team necessary for a hilarious comedy was near to perfect. What went wrong then? Well, actually the plot of the movie had several loop holes. Not only the plot but the script wasn’t perfect too. However the actors tried to fill the gap with the best of their performances. But it was quite evident that the director didn’t knew what he was doing. Sajid Khan definitely wanted us to laugh and yes we did but at the same time he kept us waiting for some interesting aspects, twists or wicked surprises in the movie and it was really very annoying when no such thing came out during the whole length of the film.

The film also had many guest appearances. There were several popular hot bollywood actresses in one song and Shahrukh Khan appeared in one song of the movie. but their appearances were not adding up to the excitement level since we already knew that Shahrukh Khan has a guest appearance in the movie. The movie is fun to watch but you may not want to see it again. They music was not chart busting but some songs were nice, specially Mast Kalandar and Dholna were good numbers.

Chakde India, is a story to remind the nation of its national sport. Highly anticipated movie starring none other than the King of all Khans, Shahrukh.

Story of Chakde India

Kabir Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is newly appionted coach of India’s national women’s hockey team. A former captain of the Indian hockey team, now forgotten, it is Kabir Khan’s chance to get himself, his country and his team to the winning stand, once again. But this time all he gets is a bunch of girls who do not really believe in playing for the glory, victory and the country. He has a team that lacks the spirit. Shahrukh Khan’s job is to shake them to wake up the winning spirit. The girls however have their own interests. They are more into government job, salaries and flats. Shahrukh Khan motivates them to look beyond these ordinary things and to play the game for pride, glory and victory.

Review of Chak de India

Following the trend of Lagaan and Iqbal, Chak De India is a movie about sport. But unlike the previous two movies Chak De India is not based on Cricket. As the tag line of the movie says, it is a story to remind the nation of its national sport, hockey. Chak De India is different not only in the sense that it is based on a sport that is nearly forgotten in India but also in the sense that it shows women in the sport field. The girls hockey makes the movie a lot more interesting. The story is realistic and it shows just how the girl’s national hockey team feels and gives the audience a good understanding of why the real indian girl’s hockey team is not doing well. A good movie is the one that provokes a thought in the minds of the viewers. Chak De India brings some serious issues and gives the people a chance to think about these issues. For example it gives you a reason to think and understand the reasons behind India’s backwardness in the feild of sports, even when it is world’s second largest population. The movie also shows you the Indian attitude towards women who like to break the social barriers and enjoy sports. Chak de India does all that while keeping the audience entertained and thrilled.

Being the King of Indian entertainment industry Shahrukh Khan brings life to the role of Kabir Khan. Kabir Khan is a man who has lost, and knows exactly what it means when you losse a match and the chance to the victory stand, glory and pride. He is the newly appointed coach of the Indian women’s hockey team. A team that has lost matches and the passion for the game long ago. They are together for the reasons of their own and none of these reasons is pride or victory. Kabir Khan brings them to understanding themselves and reminding them that it is about winning. Shahrukh Khan has done really great in his role. The girls are all new comers and it was the first time they were ever appearing in a major bollywood film. But you can see it clearly that how the director has used their reluctance and shyness to beautifully showcase the bad bad girls. The movie has a very tight script that follows wonderful story. You know since the beginning that eventually Kabir would succeed to achieve the victory but how he does that is what keeps you interested throughout the movie. And ofcourse you would love the girls and would love to see them evolve from a bunch of outcasts into a winning team.

Story of Chak de India

Composed by Salim Merchant and Suleman Merchant, the music of Chak de India is just as sporty as the movie. Jaideep Sahni has done a wonderful job writing lyrics for the movie. Considering that writing these lyrics was not as simple as writing songs for an average hindi movie. The songs of Chak de India had to fit the emotions of a lossing hockey team that wants to break the lossing into winning. It had to be loud, bold, cheerful and glorious. I think that the merchant brothers and Jaideep Sahni has accomplished the goal. However, I don’t think that the songs would be memorable for years but they fit perfectly in the movie.

Ek Hockey Dongi Rakh Ke is my favorite of all the songs in the album. It shows the spirit of girls in the battlefield with a loud and bold tone. ‘Bad bad girls’ is yet another song symbolizing the bold bad girls. With a loud urban rhythym, bad bad girls is an average indie-pop kind of song with faster beats. Chak De India the title song of the movie is the main anthem of the hockey team. It has the inspirational, emotional tone that reminds the team that they are in the ground for something more precious than just a hockey match. Sukhwinder Singh with his loud cheerful voice was the perfect choice to perform the song.

You can listen the songs of Chak de India here and you can download chak de india ringtones here.

More on Chak De India:
Offical Website
Chak de India - Wallpapers

Partner is a fun to watch movie. It may not be as cool as ‘Mujh Se Shadi Karo gi’ but still it is a very typically David Dhawan movie. Salman Khan plays the role of Prem aka Love Guru. He helps men find the girls of their dreams and teaches them the style and tips to win the hearts of their dream girls. Govinda is an ordinary man who is insanely in love with his boss Katrina Kaif. Govinda seeks Salman’s help to win the love of Katrina but Salman thinks that Govinda is so hopeless that it is impossible for him to get the attention of a girl who owns a thousand crore rupee business. While Salman is helping Govinda finding love, he himself falls in love with Lara Dutta, a journalist who writes a gossip column in a local tabloid.

The movie is non-stop comedy and it would make you laugh out loudly. Salman Khan and Govinda make an excellent couple and they reminded me of Tara Sitara from Ek or Ek Gayarah one of the best David Dhavan movies. Forgive me, may be this review would sound too positive but I can not help myself. I just love David Dhavan movies and with the always eager to go shirtless Salman Khan, the very ordinarily extra ordinary comedian Govinda, the beauties like Laura Datta and Katrina Kaif you have no choice but to love the movie.

Songs of Partner
The songs of Partner are fun, lively and joyful. Just like the movie, the soundtrack has a naughty tone to it. Composed by Sajid-Wajid, these tunes are catchy, dancy, bollywoodish jhatka matka songs. David Dhavan is not only famous for his comedy movies but he is also famous for giving them a well balanced and joyfully choreographed songs. He has a style and every one can notice that from the lal dupatta of Aankhein to the Dupatta ‘ Tera Nau Rang Da’ of Partner David has travelled a big journey without changing his style. The beats are changed but you still sense the comic appeal of these songs.

However the music is not as impressive as in ‘Mujh se Shadi karo gi’ but still the songs are fun to listen. Maria Maria, Soni De Nakhre and you are my love. All these songs are targetted towards masses the same typical crowd that worships David Dhavan’s laughter marathons.

Katrina Kaif in Partner

She is beautiful. You know that she is not a great actress but she is so pretty and innocent that you are ready to accept her in the movie. Katrina’s role in Partner demanded no acting skills and it was easier for her to carry on the character with his same flat expression less face. Vikram Phadnis designed Katrina some very elegant dresses for the movie. With her incredibly good looks and charm she did wonderful job. Remember I previously posted some pictures of Katrina Kaif and we have also discussed her relationship with Salman Khan on this blog. Even though Katrina is not the love interest of Salman Khan in the movie but you can see the sparks whenever they are together in different scenes of the movie. I would desperately like to see Katrina and Salman together in a movie.

When I heard that Amitabh is going to do another movie with a young heroine (love interest), I thought that movie would be just like Nishabd (worthless). But, I was wrong. Cheeni Kum is a light romantic comedy with beautiful music composed by Ilayaraja. Director Balkrishan is debuting into Hindi movie with this movie and it also marks the come back of Ilayaraja.

Story of Cheeni Kum

The plot of Cheeni Kum is simple. Buddhadev Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan) is a 64 year old chef who works at a resturant in Lodon and lives with his 85 year old mother. He never married a woman and never fell in love until he meets Nina Verma (Tabu). Nina and Buddhadev fall in love. Now Buddhadev comes to Delhi to ask Nina’s father for her daughter’s hand to marry. Omprakash Verma (Paresh Rawal) is an idealistic follower of Gandhi and 6 years younger than Buddhadev. It is Buddhadev’s job to make Verma change his mind about the age boundaries and allow Buddhadev to marry his daughter.

Review

Three critically accalaimed actors in the lead roles and a light romantic comedy with beautiful music, how could this go wrong. In fact it is quite a good recipe for a good bollywood movie. But it could go wrong if you have an unexperienced director like Mr. Balkrishnan. Paresh Rawal is nearly wasted in the movie. He has no comic lines and the director failed to shed more light on his character. I mean being Gandhian could be hillariously funny in this age if you know how to do it. Remember how Munna Bhai did it in Lage Raho Munna Bhai?

But then who claimed that the movie would be a non-stop laughter package? It is cheeni kum so the humor is light and sweet. Some good emotional scenes that are going to touch you and beautiful Tabu. I would say that the movie is worth watching, utleast once. You get to see some great acting and a story line thats quite mature. Forgive the new director if he fails to tell the story correctly. But if you are going to tell the story to your friends, then I am sure you can do better than Balkrishnan.

I love this movie. I can watch and enjoy it anytime. Like many other bollywood movies, it is a love story but this one is so beautifully filmed that you totally forget the fact that you have seen movies with similar stories. You forget that it takes many elements from other movies, like it has a song ‘Its the time to disco’ that looks and sounds a lot like ‘Koi Kehay’ from ‘Dil Chahta Hai‘. A person bringing happiness to a shattered family (like in Bawarchi and countless other movies). A love triangle (A universal romantic movie formula). You forget all this and you just sit down and relax to enjoy the magic this movie creates.Nikhil Advani stepped in as a director for the first time with the release of Kal Ho Na Ho in 2003. Previously Nikhil assisted Karan Johar in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. The producer Karan Johar who also wrote the screenplay for this movie is to be equally credited for this movie. The Karan Johar style is very obvious in the movies in various scenes. Repeatition of theme song during the sad moments in the story and adding guest appearances by Rani Mukherji and Kajol is typically Karan Johar.

StoryThis is the story of Naina (Priety Zinta), an Indian girl who lives with her family in New York City. The story is narrated by Naina. Naina’s life is troubled. Her father committed suicide when she was young. This incident left a huge impact on her life. She is doing MBA in an evening college and works at her mother’s resturant in the morning. Naina’s mother Jennifer (Jaya Bhaduri) is a christian and her paternal grand mother Lajjo Kapur (Sushma Seth) who also lives with them in the same house is a devoted Hindu. The relationship between Jeniffer and Lajjo is that of a typical Indian Saas Baho. They can not stop arguing, the grand mother lives in a culturally isolated world and Jennifer wants her children to grow up naturally in the culture they are living in. The culture of the Indian families living in United States not that of Indian families dreaming India while living in United States. Naina has a younger brother who is unable to walk due to disability and a younger sister. Naina’s younger sister is not from Jeniffer, she was the result of her father’s discreet relationship with a white woman who left Naina’s father and abandoned the baby. Jeniffer took up the responsibility to take care of this little girl as her own daughter.

It was not just the cold war at home. Naina who is very close to her mother knows very well that their restaurant business is not doing so well and they are unable to return the money they loaned from the bank. The only little happiness Naina had in her life was her best friend Rohit (Saif Ali Khan).

Then one day a guy comes from India to live next door. Aman, (Shahrukh Khan) is a happy go lucky sort of guy. He is charming and handsome and every one loves him. Initially Aman’s friendly nature and his never ending attempts to bring happiness to other’s lives frustrates Naina. Later, Naina realizes that Aman has all the things missing in her own life, Aman knew the formula to happiness and she falls in love with Aman. However, Aman has some different plans to bring life back into Naina’s troubled life. He tries to set her up with Rohit.

The plot of movie is very simple and could be explained by the words used by Rohit in the movie “Rohit loves Naina, Naina loves Aman, and Aman… Aman has gone mad”.Cast:

• Jaya Bhaduri as Jennifer Kapur
• Shahrukh Khan as Aman Mathur
• Saif Ali Khan as Rohit Patel
• Preity Zinta as Naina Catherine Kapur
• Sushma Seth as Lajjo Kapur
• Reema Lagoo as Aman’s Mother
• Lillete Dubey as Jaswinder “Jazz” Kapoor
• Delnaaz Paul as Jasprit “Sweetu” Kapoor
• Shoma Anand as Lajjo Kapur’s Sister
• Kamini Khanna as Lajjo Kapur’s Sister
• Ketki Dave as Rohit’s Mother
• Sulabha Arya as Kanta Bhen
• Athit Naik as Shiv Kapur
• Jhanak Shukla as Gia Kapur
• Simone Singh as Camilla

Music of Kal Ho Na Ho

Music of Kal Ho Na Ho is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The music is just as melodious and romantic as the movie itself. The title song of the movie ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ sung by Sonu Nigham sets the basic background theme of the movie. The song has two versions, one in the normal tone and the other is the sad version. I just totally love this song, the lyrics beautifully explain the concept and moral of the story in the movie. Video of the song is even better, shot on different locations in Central Park New York City and Toronto.The film was first going to be shot in Toronto but later Karan Johar moved it to New York. However some parts of the song “Kuch To Hua Hai” in the movie are shot in Toronto.

‘Kuch to hova hai’ is a romantic duet sung by Alka Yagnik and Shaan.

The song ‘Pretty Woman’ is a tribute to Roy Orbison who composed the song for Julia Roberts starrer ‘Pretty Woman’. Kal Ho Na Ho’s pretty woman has Bhangra music and it is a simply fantastic dance number.

‘Mahi Ve’ is a typical bollywood wedding song. Wedding songs in movies are a hall mark of Yash Chopra school of thought. You would see such songs in all movies that are made in Yash Chopra style. The entire cast of the movie would dance and celebrate the occassion in the song. Kal Ho Na Ho ’s Mahi ve is not different from other songs of this genre.

Comments

This was Nikhil Advani’s first movie as a director and it is hard to believe that this is his first attempt to entertain bollywood audience. Nikhil had a very strong support from the producer Karan Johar who also wrote the screenplay for the movie. Karan’s work, suggestions and his style is quite obvious in the movie. Kal Ho Na Ho is a typical bollywood family drama set in Manhattan New York. It shows the lives of Indians living in the United States and their problems in a light comic way. Before the release of the movie every one was expecting it to be a copy of 70’s classic Anand. There is a little similarity between the stories of two movies. However it is not a copy of Anand, it is an entirely different and original story.

Shahrukh Khan, Jaya Bahaduri, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan’s excellent performances create a magical impact on the audience. Dialogues are so refined, yet so simple and powerful. Manish Malhotra designed the costumes for the movies and it was not an easy job for Manish. This was not just a bollywood movie. This movie has a different location and it tells the story of people in cultural chaos. Manish had to come up with costumes that are trendy, casual and depict the culture of Indians based in NYC.

Guru is not an exceptionally great movie. It is a great movie, quite intelligent and fantastic for typical well-educated-Indian-middle-class audience. Based on the life of Indian business tycoon Dhirubhai Ambani, this movie has a brilliant plot, it is a story of ambition, optimism, hope, dreams and love of course. Eventhough the movie is based on the lives of real life people but the director doesn’t claim that this movie is based on the biographical events from the life of any person.

Abhishek Bachchan performed brilliantly as Guru. This guy surprises me with each new movie. He has some genuine skills to offer and it shows with every new release. Aishwarya Rai didn’t has a role as strong as Abhishek, she was there in the movie to say some dialogues. Her character revolves around the character of Guru. But since there is so much hype about Aishwarya-Abhishek wedding in the press, the couple looked well coordinated in the movie. I would say that Mani Ratnam made the perfect decission to cast them together.

Mallika Sherawat has a sexy item number in the movie. If you size up Mallika’s performance from her vulgor dances and shameless display of her boobs. Then the Turkish and arabic belly dance with typical hindi masala was quite ok not very delicious though.

Lyrics were just as beautiful as the melodies of A. R. Rehman. All the songs and the background score is excellent. First song in the movie “Barso re” is a lively rain song by Shreya Ghosal and Uday Majumdar. Then there is ‘Tere Bina’ a song that A. R. Rehman has dedicated to the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. “Jaage hain” is a magical delight. Sung by Chitra and Rahman with Madras Chorale Group providing the orchestra.

But the greatest aspect of the movie is the cinematography. Rajiv Menon has proved himself to be the best cinematographer in Bollywood.

For Mani Ratnam I would like to quote from Aprajita Anil’s review:

But one head that weaves together all the vividness and intensity and spells out an incredible performance is the director. Kudos to Mani Ratnam! It is only a director of his stature and ability who can bind together emotion, drama, intensity and make it so rooted in reality.

Official Website: Guru - The film Unfortunately you can not download songs of Guru from the official website but you can watch the trailer and preview the music.