It is no show for My Name Is Khan in Mumbai

The Shiv Sena violence threat weighed heavy on the exhibitors on Thursday, a day before the scheduled release of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer My Name Is Khan, despite the government’s repeated assurance on protection. In Mumbai, circumspect theatre owners were still undecided over the release till the time of going to press, even as their counterparts in south Maharashtra decided not to screen the movie.

According to sources, exhibitors will wait till the first show on Friday for a resolution to the Sena-Shah Rukh stand-off. If nothing works out, they may drop the idea of screening the movie.

However, Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Distribution, said, “There’s a huge demand for the film. We are releasing it nationally tomorrow.”

On Thursday, many theatres pulled off web pages containing ticket booking information and counters refused to dole out movie schedules. Advance bookings remained shut, even as the Shiv Sena continued its aggressive posturing. It said that party workers had been asked to visit every cinema hall and check whether the film was being screened there. Meanwhile, extending support to the film, the Film Workers’ Association, a body with 45,000 members, has decided to watch the movie on Friday.

Sources claimed the movie may not be released this Friday and if Khan and director Karan Johar fail to iron out the differences with the Shiv Sena, the film might not be released this weekend at all.

“It is sad but no one wants to risk it. Though there is good security in place, theatre owners feel around 40 policemen will not be able to control a mob of 100-200 if they want to cause damage to the theatre,” said the head honcho of a suburban multiplex. “I don’t think My Name is Khan is releasing this Friday unless Karan Johar manages something remarkable…,” he added.

Johar sought to dispel rumours about the movie’s release by writing on his Twitter account: “Pls don’t believe the rumours: Release of MNIK not postponed in Mumbai.”

Insiders say some cinema theatre owners even asked the actor to apologise to the Shiv Sena.

A Twitter post of Shah Rukh hoped that good sense prevails. “My stardom is transient. (But) my integrity in non-negotiable...my being Indian unquestionable … What happens with the release the film, is the film’s fate,” his posting said.

My Name Is Khan: Review

My Name is Khan is a film made with sincerity and sweat, ambition and conviction. It grapples with the most urgent and fraught issue facing humanity: religion. It features a striking performance by Shah Rukh Khan.

Plot

Khan is the story of Rizwan Khan, played by Shah Rukh, who has Asperger’s syndrome. This milder form of autism impairs Rizwan’s social communication skills and gives him some decidedly odd behavior patterns – he can’t stand loud sounds or the colour yellow.

He rotates stones obsessively and can barely bring himself to hug someone. Rizwan is far from crazy but he definitely moves to the beat of a different drummer. Despite this he finds love and a family with Mandira, played by Kajol.

But post 9/11, their happy home falls apart and Rizwan embarks on a grand odyssey across America so that he can tell the American president that his name is Khan but he is not a terrorist.

What Worked

The scenes of Rizwan’s childhood are some of the strongest in the film. Zarina Wahab returns after years to give a lovely, nuanced performance as Rizwan’s mother.

The film, like all Karan Johar products, is beautifully cinematographed (director of photography Ravi K Chandran).

Shahrukh's performance.

Shah Rukh and Kajol share a superb chemistry that highlights all their films, and is an important part of My Name Is Khan.

What Didn't

If there is one quibble, it would be the fact that Karan Johar could have made effective use of the talented bunch of actors who make cameo appearances.

Also the second half scrambles madly both literally and figuratively.

Performances

Shah Rukh’s performance has little subtlety about it but it is heartfelt, endearing and more controlled than anything he’s ever done before. Watch him in a lovely scene in which Kajol accepts his proposal or how he restrains his tears so that his eyes brim but never well over.

Kajol is, as usual, superb. Mandira's laughter, her determination, her joie de vivre, her grief, her anger -- Kajol brings it all to life. And, if I may say so, Kajol, no one runs up a hill dressed in a night suit, wearing floppy slippers, with no make-up on, as well as you do.

Overall, I recommend that you see Khan for SRK. The film itself is too uneven to give us the emotional high we were waiting for. But hey, this is a Karan Johar film and everyone likes a happy ending!

Neetu Chandras Fanomania

MUMBAI: Bollywood hottie Neetu Chandra was almost mobbed by her diehard fans at the music launch of her South film recently.

The crowd started whistling and shouting and went berserk when they saw the GARAM MASALA girl. Before the situation could go out of hand Neetu was safely whisked out of the venue by army of guards. The crowd said in chorus that they adore the actress.

After looking at this mania it seems very soon we will have a temple for Neetu too!

Ishqiya gets censored

MUMBAI: The trouble with the promos of ISHQIYA continues. Now, the censor board has yet again expressed its concern over the kind of language used in the film. According to reports the censor board has passed an A certificate to the promos of the film which stars Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan in the lead.

It's not the first time that Vishal Bharadwaj, who is the producer of ISHQIYA is facing the music of the censor board. Earlier, during the release of his films OMKARA and KAMINEY, the filmmaker had to go through similar experiences.

ISHQIYA, which is already creating buzz for its powerful storyline is all set to release at the box office by early next year

Movie Review: 2012

The sun's sending extra heat due to which planet Earth has a destabilising crust. End result? It's hurtling towards doomsday in 2012, as predicted by the Mayan calendar. Can a father, John Cusack, save his family, a President, Danny Glover, his country, a scientist, Chiwetel Ejiofor, the future...?


Film: 2012 (Sci-fi Adventure)
Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Direction: Roland Emmerich
Duration: 2 hours 38 minutes

End of the world movies have almost always been engaging. Also, director Roland Emmerich has ended the world time and again through his celluloid epics. Be it the aliens bringing the White House down, the world going into deep freeze or the giant lizard trampling across terra firma, films like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and Godzilla have showcased Emmerich as an able prophet of doom.

Once again, he churns the oceans, cracks up the earth and sends down fireballs to create a cataclysm that sends humanity into a tizzy. Everyone's on the run, now that they know Earth has an expiry date: December 2012. And before the new world can begin (circa 0001), with a handful of survivors, families must unite, loved one's must be lost, the benevolent must shine and the bad guys be sorted out...In short, the entire gamut of emotions must be run through, even if it takes a prolonged two and half hours to depict the might of man against the fury of nature.

Yes, 2012 is too long and ends up taxing your patience in the last 40 minutes where all the drama unfolds inside a submarine-like Noah's ark, brimming over with the survivors, handpicked on different yardsticks. Most of them are there because they could afford to buy themselves a one billion euro berth in the secret ship.

Some have connections (like the US president's daughter, the White House chief), some because the new world needs them, like the bright, young scientist, Chiwetel Ejifor, and some -- the good, yet ordinary guys -- are gatecrashers and stowaways (John Cusack and his estranged family). But human drama isn't supposed to be the highlight of any disaster film.

Special effects are the main draw. So, you actually don't mind the perfunctory manner in which the director handles his characters' bondings. There's Cusack trying to re-bond with his separated wife (Amanda Peet) and kids. There's the scientist torn with grief because he can't take his dad on the secret ship.

There's the US Prez (Danny Glover) who chooses not to abandon his countrymen and prefers to look for a kid's lost daddy, when doom dawns. And there's the scheming wannabe (Oliver Platt) who dreams of becoming Prez when the new world order begins.

Oh yes, amongst all these usual types, there's also the mad prophet of doom cum radio jockey (Woody Harrelson), who wants to be the first to bring the news, even if it means standing in the face of a volcano. All the characters try to hold your attention as they battle apocalyptical blues.

But what really holds your attention is apocalypse itself. Yes, it's the special effects of the film, more than the human drama, which completely sweep you off your feet. You get a cheesy thrill watching larger-than-life waves, fissures, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions wipe off all the famous monuments of the world.

The White House is washed away. Eiffel Tower is knocked down. The Sistine Chapel cracks up. Los Angeles splits and California falls off into the sea. And all that survives is a little plane that flys through the falling landscape and a specially crafted ship: a symbol of the invincible human spirit.

Truly, there's no one better than Hollywood, when it comes to shock and awe cinema. Director Emmerich knows he can only score with this just-another-disaster flick if he creates a bigger bang when the world ends.

And it's here that he succeeds. Despite being low on the emotional quotient, with characters that can be easily forgotten, 2012 remains a larger-than-life entertainer due to its visual splendour.

And for the desi viewers, there is the special tribute the filmmaker pays to India. It's an Indian astrophycist, Satnam,(Jimy Mistry), working somewhere in East India, who cautions the world about the impending doom. So what if he's the archetypal third world citizen, forced to speak English with a desi accent.

And so what if he is conveniently forgotten when the exodus begins. At least the American scientist in the survivors' ship, remembers him when the end begins and the desi geek is washed away by a tsunami, family et al. Shabash India!

A word about:

Performances: No one's great. Everyone's okay, just fitting into their roles, without taking your breath away. John Cusack perfects his hangdog look as the ordinary man wih the spirit of a hero, while Amanda Peet doesn't really have much to do. Thandie Newton, a fine actress otherwise, is completely wasted too as the First Daughter. The only actor who stands out amidst the crowd is Chiwetel Ejiofor as the American scientist. And only just.

Story: Scripted by producer-director Roland Emmerich and Harald Kloser, the film kowtows the demands of a disaster film: it has a flimsy storyline, focussing primarily on survival and unfolds mostly through special effects.

Cinematography: Great camera work by Dean Semler. The end of the world sequences are absolutely magnificent as are the daring little vignettes of human valour.

Special Effects: Mike Vezina is the special effects supervisor. And Mike Vezina deserves a kudos. For watching California falling off the map of the world or LA cracking up into a grand canyon sets you gawking like never before.

Kurbaan

First things first. Kudos to Karan Johar for shifting gears completely and entering into serious territory. Of course, we do love him for his K-class cinema: all his crunchy popcorn films beginning with K, ever since Kuch Kuch Hota Hai redefined mainstream romance. But Kurbaan doesn't need the popcorn at all. It keeps the screen on overboil for most of its screen time with its hard-hitting storyline that dares to venture into undefined territory.

Like Khuda Kay Liye, Kurbaan too looks at the other side of Islamic fundamentalism and puts the post 9/11 tumult in perspective. Who are these guys who carry anger in their hearts, revenge in their heads and bombs in their pockets?

Why are they hell bent on blasting the world, irrespective of the anguish it spells to all and sundry? Can there be a purpose behind their madness? Is one man’s terrorist actually another man’s activist? Kurbaan, written by Karan Johar, raises these pertinent – and extremely topical – questions, without glossing over the one undeniable truth: a suicide bomber can never solve the inequities of the world, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, notwithstanding.

So we have Ehsan Khan (Saif Ali Khan), the Pakistani who lost his wife and kid to American excesses, seething with a desire to avenge his loss. He isn’t the archetypal, skull-capped, bearded fundoo, mouthing soliloquies on jihad and intifada (uprising). On the contrary, he’s suave, sophisticated and a charmer, tutoring the world on the misconceptions of Islam in the modern world. Small wonder then he manages to win the heart of college professor Avantika (Kareena Kapoor) and follows her to New York on her stint with NYU. But the domestic idyll is short-lived as Avantika soon discovers it isn’t her neighbours (the Afghani extended family, headed by Om Puri) alone who have suspicious antecedents. Husband Ehsan too is an integral part of the plot to bomb America for its excesses against Muslims, the world over.

In a classroom sequence, the film tries to put Islamic fundamentalism in perspective by linking the rise of the Muslim terrorist to America’s oil-grabbing foreign policy and its questionable attempts at destabilisng oil rich countries in order to remain a superpower. Almost every member of the sleeper cell that comprises the Afghan family has a sad story of loss and horror that drove them into becoming fidayeens (suicide bombers). And before you begin to question the filmmakers for going too lenient on terrorism, you find Avantika who remains a non-convert till the very end.

Articulating the voice of reason – and non-violence – she questions her husband and oscillates between love and hate for the man who has fathered her child. A prisoner in her own house, her only hope is Riyaaz (Viveik Oberoi), the undercover journalist who has his story of personal loss that pitches him on the other side in this war. He is determined to fight the terrorists and derail their plot of bombing America.

Karan Johar’s story has gravitas. Rensil D’Silva’s narrative keeps you on the edge of the seat, for most of the time.

Salim Suleiman’s music score has a melodious feel. Hemant Chaturvedi’s cinematography serenades both Delhi, where the Saif-Kareena romance blossoms and New York, where it cracks up. And the performances by almost all the lead characters are gritty. If Om Puri paints a chilling picture of the terrorist who masquerades in the garb of the commoner and Kiron Kher makes the myth of a suicide bomber plausible, then Viveik Oberoi lends credibility to the voice of the progressive Muslim. But it is the chemistry between Saif and Kareena that lights up the film as the duo bring to life a picture of passion and restraint as the doomed lovers.

We do however wish their relationship had a stronger emotional graph, post the startling revelation. How did the duo contend with the fear, hate and disillusion that crept in after Saif revealed his true identity: a bit more on that? And a bit less in the length of the film which could do with some taut editing in the second half. Also, there are a few inconsistencies that mar the film’s realism. Why does the FBI loom large like a know-it-all, do-it-all figure? Not only do the FBI sleuths always be a step ahead of the terrorists and arrest them without actually knowing who they exactly are, they also emerge unscathed in a suicide bombing attacking where almost everybody crumbles. Super Uncle Sam, did we say!

But Kurbaan sure does strike a chord and sets you thinking on stuff that needs to be sorted out before the new world order – a more humanitarian, less violent – sets in. Don’t miss it.

De Dana Dan

In an interview to a music station, Akshay Kumar, the hero of this film says: He’d been narrated this script thrice over, and still he didn’t quite get it. This, I suppose, is a good reason to sign up for a movie.

Akshay, it’s easy to tell, is an instinctual, comic actor. His career decisions should be no different. I’m certain he’d applied the same bases — “Eh, what’s this? Let’s do the film, for sure!” — when selecting scripts for his recent works: Blue, Kambakkht Ishq, Chandni Chowk To China et al.

Little surprise, the hero, midway through, disappears from the screen altogether. He probably couldn’t take it beyond a point. His character, a house-help, also can’t take his obnoxiously demanding boss (Archana Puran Singh). He and his friend (Sunil Shetty) kidnap her pet for ransom. The pet’s back home; Akshay, the servant, is considered abducted instead. This makes for a plot all right. It doesn’t even make for a fourth of this film.

Suddenly the action shifts entirely to other vignettes, an unrelated one after another. De Dana Dan, goes the background score. Your ears begin to roll. Deciphering the narrative becomes then a minor challenge at solving a math puzzle — with every permutation and combination possible.

Paresh Rawal, indisputably Gujarat’s top movie star, plays a Punjabi money-swindler “Chadha Saab” instead. Cops are chasing him. He’s chasing two brides and their fathers for his son’s dowry. All of Priyadarshan’s stock actors (Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, whoever available for a day or two) are seen chasing someone or the other. Merely the purposes interchange. Shakti Kapoor, as the sleazoid, is of course chasing a prostitute. Little will make sense, or is meant to.

There is simply no recess from this excess.

The picture is the longest advertisement for a hotel called Pan Pacific, where the action and a random flood are set.

The backdrop is Singapore where, like all Bollywood movies placed abroad, an Indian with impeccable Hindi materialises from every corner: waiters, cops, courier boys, TV reporters… The genre’s literally slapstick, so you stick it out as a character or the other gets slapped across their cheeks, often ducked into masala, mud or mud-cake.

Millions have endured (or loved) Priyadarshan’s previous hits (and flops) of a similar flow: Dhol, Bhaagam Bhaag, Garam Masala, Mere Baap Pehle Aap etc. Earlier this year, the director picked up a National Award for Kanchivaram: a warm, quiet, Left-leaning Tamil film about a silk-weaver and his family. Few, including me, have seen that one.

In another interview, Priyadarshan says, “Somewhere down the line I’ve realised that if critics like a film, it doesn’t work; and vice versa. I hope they hate De Dana Dan.” Well, we’ve certainly met our half of the deal. I guess, it’s for the public to meet their end of Priyadarshan’s promise.

Twilight

One year since it seduced its mostly teenage fan base across the world, Twilight, the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance arrives at cinemas in India this week.

First in a series of book-to-film sequels, Twilight, directed by Catherine Hardwicke stars Kristen Stewart as Bella Swann, a shy teenage girl, the daughter of a broken marriage, who's shunted from her mother in Arizona to her father in Washington state. The typical 'new girl' at school, she's neither your geeky outsider, nor what you'd call a social magnet. When she spots a tall, incredibly pale boy, Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) glowering at her in the cafeteria, her heart skips a beat. Turns out, Edward is a brooding vampire who belongs to a family that considers themselves 'vegetarian' - meaning they've sworn to drink only the blood of animals, even though human blood gives them greater satisfaction.

So when Edward and Bella fall in love, sex is out of the question. Edward knows that if things were to get too hot and sweaty with Bella, he might end up killing her. "I can't ever lose control with you," he tells her, in the film's one unrequited bedroom scene, which barely progresses beyond a kiss. For most of the film the two leads simply gaze at each other longingly. In the classroom, by the sea, in a car park, up a tree. Just about everywhere.

I can see many parents wishing their young daughters found a boy like Edward Cullen instead of the horny teenagers they end up dating. The girls get all the love and attention they crave without any of the messy complications of an actual physical relationship.

Anyway, Edward and Bella spend much of the film getting to know each other, trying to figure out how this whole vampire-human equation could work. Most of the time it involves him saving her life - from a speeding truck in the school parking lot, to rapists on a desolate street. Everything's going just fine, until a group of heathen vampires who still prefer human blood appears out of nowhere, and one of them decides to make Bella his prey.

Despite the inherent cheesiness of its plot, Twilight works primarily as a love story, thanks to the performances of its principals, but mostly because it treats teen confusion without a hint of condescension. Edward and Bella's love story plays out almost as an epic, sweeping romance, and director Catherine Hardwicke reconjures the original novel as a gloomy mood piece filled with grey skies and raging hormones.

The film is far from classic, but Pattinson and Stewart's smoldering chemistry makes Twilight an enjoyable enough watch. To be honest, it also succeeds in arousing enough curiosity about its sequels, the first of which, New Moon will roll into our cinemas two weeks from now.

I'm going with three-and-a-half out of five for Twilight; this love story has bite. Sink your teeth into it, if you enjoy mushy marshmallow entertainment.

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

A Christmas Carol

It's a Jim Carrey show all the way. You may not recognise him at first due to the CGI effects, but it doesn't take long before the Carrey charisma works its magic. He brings to life a Scrooge you've never seen -- or imagined -- before, with his ill-temper and stingy ways that almost reek of cruelty. Until one cold, wintry, Christmas eve...

Scrooge scoffs at his nephew (Colin Firth) who wants to invite him for Christmas dinner and yells at his clerk (Gary Oldman), before retiring to his desolate home on Christmas Eve. But it's not going to be an ordinary Yuletide for this grumpy old man as he gets hauled up by three ghosts who hold up a mirror to his meanness. Repelled by his anti-social ways, Scrooge, the archetypal misanthrope, metamorphoses into the biggest humanitarian, overnight. He not only re-builds fences with his nephew and neighbours, but he also sends the biggest turkey in town to his impoverished clerk's family. Apart from raising his salary of course...

Loads of special effects and a story that has stood the test of time: Christmas Carol is Carrey revisited. However, it's not really a children's film and is meant for diehard Dicken's fans.

A word about...

Performances: Jim Carrey is heavily made-up, yet striking both as Scrooge and the ghosts who reform Scrooge. The rest of the actors are unrecognisable too, yet they pitch in perfectly as archetypal Dicken's characters.

Dialogue: Robert Zemeckis captures the world of Charles Dickens perfectly with his screenplay and dialogues. There's an old world charm to the way Ebenezer and the rest of the characters discover the tenets of good living.

Cinematography: Robert Presley's camera deftly oscillates between the real world, peopled by the down and out and the fantasy world, brimming over with ghosts and visions.

Cast: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn
Direction: Robert Zemeckis

Wanted

Wanted: A tighter script. Wanted: Better editing. Wanted: A smooth flow of scenes. What you get instead is a 'leave-your-brains-behind' fare replete with frenzied plots, typical of Bollywood films of an era gone by, which cared two hoots about script or screenplay.

But Salman Khan fans need not fear, WANTED is all about the Khan. Here he is on a killing spree. One after the other, bad guys get bumped off, either to a bullet or to his fist. Last week BAABARR, did the killing, this week it is Radhe (Salman Khan) who works for moneybhai (meaning, he kills for money). And he kills with passionate glee!

There's also Gani bhai, Golden and Datta Pawle who do the killing. They are hardcore underworld characters who feed the cops and bleed the city. A bad cop is thrown in for good measure in the form of Inspector Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar). Talpade decides which girl he wants to size up and does so in public! Of course there is also Ayesha Takia. Poor girl, she doesn't know if she is coming or going. I mean there are no links to her scenes and no meaning to her dialogues either. From a call centre where she works, she is either going to meet Radhe or to her aerobic classes. She has a kid brother who takes the 8pm local (empty). It is not clear whether he is going home or coming home!

There are songs, which bamboozle you just like the bullets and it is only in the last 10 minutes that there is some semblance of sense. One performance that will ease the pain is that of Prakash Raj who plays the international Don Gani Bhai. This guy is superb. Manjrekar, too, as the bad cop, steals the show.

As for the story, you are still trying to figure that one out even after the movie is over.

Director :Prabhu Deva
Music : Sajid-Wajid
Lyrics : Jalees Sherwani, Sameer, Arun Bhairav, Wajid, Shabbir Ahmed and Salman Khan
Starring : Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Asseem Merchant, Sajid, Vinod Khanna, Mahek Chhal and Prakash Raj

G-Force

A seamless blend of live-action and animation, G-Force fits easily into the ever-burgeoning genre of 3-D cartoons.

Designed to enthrall the audience with state-of-the-art technology, it marks the directorial debut of Hoyt H. Yeatman Jr., a visual-effects veteran whose resume includes. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial and several productions of Jerry Bruckheimer.

Expectedly, there are plenty of chases and thrill-a-second action set pieces.

What’s the plot? An elite squad of secret-agent guinea pigs gadgets their way into the lair of a fiendish industrialist (Bill Nighy). Their mission: to stop him from launching a new invention that could destroy the world.

The furry ‘commandos’ are dubbed by a talented voice cast including Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Sam Rockwell.

By contrast, the human characters come across as vapid, none more so than Zach Galifianakis who was so impressive in the recent The Hangover.

There are a few jabs at self-deprecatory humour. Snatches of tunes by Black Eyed Peas and Space Cowboy punctuate the soundtrack in a bid to keep the teeny music boppers smiling.

Sit back and savour the family fun flick.

Voices of: Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz
Direction: Hoyt H. Yeatman Jr.