Producer Madhu and Aamir Khan have decided to re-release the film with 200 prints which had fetched the producer Rs. 200 crores in the first 14 days itself. But there is going to be more for the audiences then the previous Ghajini as this time around the deleted scenes would also be added in the new version. Certainly, it’s going to be a treat for all those Aamir-Asin fans.

The film has really filled the producer’s bank accounts with huge money, whether its made in Tamil or Hindi.

The daughter of the legendary Gulshan Kumar of T Series -Tulsi Kumar comes out with her maiden solo album. She belongs to the family who own India’s Number One Music Company, T-Series. But that is certainly not her claim to fame. Fulfilling her Father, Shri Gulshar Kumar’s dream of wanting his daughter to become a singer, Tulsi Kumar has left no stone unturned in doing just that. She says, “It was my fathers dream to see me singing. So somehow it was understood in my family that I would become a singer”.

She has been getting trained in classical singing since the age of six from the Suresh Wadkar Academy and with Pandit Vinod Mishra for the last four years. She is now geared up for her first solo album whose lyrics are penned by Sameer and music by Monty Sharma, she has also completed her recordings for the forthcoming “Karzzzz” directed by Satish Kaushik & “Kajraare” directed by Pooja Bhatt. She started her playback career with Himesh Reshammiya for the for the film Aksar – Janaab-e-Jaaniya followed by Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Tom Dick & Harry, Dil Diya Hai, Zindagi Rocks, Chup Chup Ke, Darling, Bhool Bhulaiyaa to name a few. She has also lent her voice for the Hit Album “Phir Bewafaai” with Mr. Agam Nigam. She is quick to add, “I come from a very religious family and as a person I am religious too. So to get Gods blessings I first started out with singing devotional songs and have lent my voice to as many as 7 devotional albums. I even did a lot of remix numbers and cover versions. I wanted to explore the whole gamut of songs before getting into mainstream playback singing.

She is very grateful to her family who consistently stood by her and helped her in her pursuit to become a singer. She says her Brother, Mr. Bhushan Kumar, MD T-Series, has been her inspiration. “He has worked very hard from a very young age and surmounted grave difficulties single handedly. He has inspired me to work hard too and to make it on my own merit”. Just in her early Twenties, She is an ardent fan of Lataji & her favourite song is Chand Phir Nikla from the movie Paying Guest. When quizzed about her future plans she adds with conviction, “I definitely want to sing and create a niche for myself in the Music industry”. With such self-belief we are in no doubt that here is a singer to watch out for!

Aamir Khan, Asin Thottumkal, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat, Divya Khosla, Tarana, A.R. Murugadoss at Ghajini success bash in J W Marriott on 12th Jan 2009

Sanjay Singhania (Aamir) after being hit on head suffers from a short term memory loss. He cannot recollect anything beyond 15 minutes. He has various phone numbers and names tattooed on his body all hinting at one thing, seek revenge for the murder of his girlfriend, Kalpana (Asin). The only clue he has is the name that he remembers his dying girlfriend uttered in his ears – Ghajini. What obstacles Sanjay encounters in his hunt for Ghajini forms the rest of the film.

Rating: 3.5/5
Starring: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Ali Khan, Pradeep Rawat
Director: A.R. Murugadoss

The film is a perfect masala film, a revenge thriller, a genre which was very popular in the 80s. But what sets the film apart from a typical pot boiler is the way the screenplay has been structured, oscillating between flashbacks and present time. There is also a good balance of romance, suspense, action and comedy. Plus the biggest asset – Aamir Khan! The story has two major flashbacks, but unlike many films where flashbacks do nothing for the film itself, this one actually aids in building the character and adding intensity to them. Having seen Sanjay’s past life, you see reason for his current actions. The film at no point justifies the actions but it does give you reason to go with the flow.

Murugadoss’s direction is terrific and the master story teller that he is, he just doesn’t give the audience a moment to think even in 180 minutes running time film. Technically it definitely stands amongst the best films of 2008. Superb editing (Anthony), excellent camerawork (Ravi K Chandran) and amazing sound design (Resul) take the film to an altogether different level. The action by Peter Hains and Stunt Shiva keeps you on the edge of your seat. But some action sequences have turned out a bit too gory and not meant for the faint hearted. But with Aamir giving his everything all out in them they end up being a treat to watch. A.R. Rahman’s melodies are a treat to watch onscreen having been excellently picturised. Also, none of the songs hamper the proceedings.

Amongst the sequences that stand out are Aamir’s first encounter with Asin, Aamir visiting Asin’s boss’s party, Aamir’s outburst in the hospital, Asin’s murder sequence and of course the action packed climax where Aamir for a moment forgets what he is fighting for when he comes face to face with the villain!

In an author backed role, Aamir has outperformed himself, making us fall short of words in his praise. He is not only utterly convincing as a killing machine but he is extremely loveable in the romantic comedy sequences with Asin. South starlet Asin in her Bollywood debut leaves a lasting impression. Jiah though fits the part somehow pales in comparison to Asin. Her accented Hindi irritates. Pradeep Rawat brings back to Bollywood, the true villain that was missing since long time. He is menacingly good.

Ghajini does live up to the hype it has generated and is a must watch for Aamir Khan fans and also for debutante Asin and the latest addition to talented filmmakers of Bollywood, director A.R. Murugadoss.

– Abhijit Mhamunkar

Another animation (a good one though) goes into the credit list of the Indian cinema. The movie Jumbo is about a fat, blue colored, young elephant named Jaiveer, who loves playing with frogs and is in his own dream world where there are loads of fun and fun around. Everything is happy around him but one thing disturbs Jumbo the most, that he is without a father. It was rumored that his father was a coward and had ran away from the elephant community. This is not well digested by Jumbo who decides to venture out in search of his father.

Cast: Akshay Kumar (The Voice of Jumbo), Lara Dutta, Dimple Kapadia, Rajpal Yadav, Gulshan Grover (Voices of other animated characters)
Director: Kompin Kemgumnird
Banner: Percept Picture Company
Music Director: Ram Sampat
Rating: 3/5

Jaiveer sets on a journey to the human camp close to the jungle. Unluckily he fails in his quest. On his way back home, he meets a pink, pretty eyed elephant Sonia (now every hero however fat and round deserves to have a heroine right?). Sonia, who by the way despises being called Pinky accompanies Jumbo back home only to find his mother gone. So the friendly Sonia takes the crestfallen Jumbo to her home – a village full of good humans.

Jaiveer sets his journey to the human camp, close to the jungle. Unfortunately he fails in his motive. On his way back, he meets a pink, pretty girl elephant, Sonia and he falls for her. This was quite obvious because our bollywood films are incomplete without heroines, you see (and we are proud of it).

So, Jumbo and Sonia come back and find that his mother is gone. So Sonia, who also starts developing feelings for Jumbo takes him to her home – a village full of good humans.

Jumbo gets weaker by the time he reaches the village, where humans and animals are working together for beasts and warlords. “Jumbo” sees a cow chained and Jumbo also learns the value of humans who captured him and he is trained in the camp. Jumbo becomes stronger than anyone under the training of a mahout.

The local warlord comes regularly to collect Taxes from the villagers, who get greedy every year to face opposition from the villagers and in a rebel between the villagers and the warlords, the beasts and warlords get defeated.

The king calls for the elephant Jumbo for his army and he finds him breaking chains to meet his mother and the king recognizes him. The king calms Jumbo to hire him as his war elephant and in this quest Jumbo meets a gigantic war elephant with a Fiery Eye, which was responsible for the death of Jumbo’s father, and Jumbo gets a chance to relieve themselves in the battle for the glory of the Kingdom, and take revenge.

The movie is well directed. The romantic song which features Jumbo and Sonia developing feelings for each other is not much appreciated. The animation is good, especially the fight sequence. The movie has it all, fun, friends, romance, fight, revenge. The director in short, has shown a typical bollywood movie in his animated film, Jumbo.

A nice movie to watch.

– Pratik Maheshwari

Ehsaan Noorani, Farhan Akhtar, Luke Kenny, Arjun Rampal, Abhishek Kapoor, Purab Kohli, Loy Mendonca at Rock On DVD launch in Hard Rock Cafe on 17th December 2008

Aamir Khan at the launch of the Van Heusen_s Ghajini collection in PVR Mall on 16th December 2008

Destiny plays a cruel joke on an extremely enthusiastic young girl Taani (Anushka) as she loses her fiancé and his family in a road accident on the eve of her marriage. Her father, a retired professor, on his death bed requests her to marry his old favourite student, Surinder Shahani (SRK). Taani obeys his last wish and thus begins the start of this extraordinary love story between an otherwise ordinary jodi.

Rating: 3/5
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak
Director: Aditya Chopra

The shy, somewhat geeky Surinder has already fallen for Taani since the first time he has seen her but alls his hopes crash when Taani tells him the day they arrive at his house that she won’t be able to give him any love as that’s one feeling she has lost forever with the sudden turn of events in her life.

The rest of the film is about how Suri transforms himself into a very hep flirtatious dude Raj to win her love using a dancing school as a platform for his antics. He is well aided with his childhood buddy Bobby (Pathak) who brings on the physical transformation in him. But what happens is Taani who is unaware of Raj being Suri himself ends up falling in love with Raj. Suri is now again in a fix but then he finally decides to take a bold step.

Rab Ne has been definitely amongst the most awaited films of 2008 and there have been great expectations riding on it especially because it is Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge maker Aditya Chopra’s comeback film after a long gap of 8 years. The script has its moments and master craftsman Adi keeps you engaged initially with some really beautifully handled moments between SRK and Anushka. But as SRK’s character’s transformation comes in the grip slowly loosens and you start feeling restless with the pace slumping down considerably. What follows is a criss-cross between some really well penned and executed scenes and some really drab moments with badly placed songs acting as speed breakers. But Adi’s terrific dialogues deserve a special applause for touching the right chords.

Shah Rukh Khan is simply superb as first the shy Suri and then the flamboyant, full of energy, Raj. Newcomer Anushka gets a really well etched character to perform and it despite being her first film, she comes across an absolute natural. Vinay Pathak is fun and provides good comic relief.

Music of the film is good but the problem is apart from a very well tuned and picturised Haule Haule number, the rest songs appear wrongly placed. The picturisation of the number featuring Kajol, Preity Zinta, Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta and Rani is mindblowing but again it coming at a wrong juncture doesn’t really make it work.

All in all, the film has the capacity to do very well in the North and the overseas but elsewhere the film won’t be anywhere near Adi’s earlier two works in terms of business. -(SAMPURN)

DINK (Double Income No Kids) uptown couple – Samit (Irrfan) and his control freak wife Mita (Soha) are bored of their stagnant married life. Mita desperately longs for a sensitive, level-headed partner but fun-loving Samit craves for a naughtier and more adventurous sex life.

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Rahul Bose, Konkona Sen, Rahul Khanna, Payal Rohatgi
Director: Anil Senior
Rating: 3/5

Samit finds a perfect sex goddess in his hot, aerobics instructor Kaya (Payal) and even moves in with her to experience some real action. The couple’s mutual separation prompts the seemingly perfect couple Rishi (Bose) and Simi (Konkona) to take a re-look at their marriage. They too end up realizing that there is nothing called a ‘perfect relationship’.

Rishi, a pseudo intellectual professor, secretly fantasises about his young, attractive student Raga, while she too seems to be falling over for him. Whereas the over critical columnist Simi has some secret sexual desires of her own that she never quite confronts. Just at the same time, Simi encounters handsome art director Veer (Rahul Khanna), also recovering from a broken relationship and ends up falling for him. But Veer on the other hand falls for the lonely Mita. All this love vs. lust dilemma ends up complicating things further which leads the couples to analyse their priorities.

With the entire premise copied from Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, Dil Kabaddi fits in and is quiet identifiable for uptown couple’s in the Indian metros. The whole infidelity angle will somehow not be accepted by small town crowds. In metros people somehow have started getting into the mindset that infidelity in marriages is somewhat taken for granted in today’s time.

While the film stays away from being preachy and judgemental about certain taboo things and talks, the final impact is just about okay. Without taking itself and its characters seriously, the film keeps chugging along despite a non-existent story line. In a way it tries to incorporate the same kind of humour derived from characters talking into the camera as if having a conversation with their audience just like Pyar Ke Side Effects.

Irrfan is the life of the movie and though his role somewhere appears very similar to Life In A Metro, he stands out amongst the huge crowd of actors. Rahul Bose too after a spate of flops and bad performances is back in his element and is in top form. Soha Ali Khan doesn’t look one bit uncomfortable in a role that goes completely against her image. Konkona is average though.

Rahul Khanna appears too stiff and ends up being the odd man out. Newcomer Saba Azad is a complete natural. Payal does a lot of skin display but fails to act and ends up shrieking throughout the movie!

Apart from some really good performances the film’s other plusses are its fantastic camera movements, the perfectly in-sync background score, appealing cinematography and some good production values.

Amongst the five films released this week, Dil Kabaddi is the best choice to pick up from if you are left confused. So what are you waiting for, go enjoy this game.

Subhash (Paresh Rawal) is a struggling actor cum small time crook who makes money by cheating unsuspecting ATM visitors. One late night he saves a man’s life, to do so he puts his own at risk. He ends up accompanying the injured man back home. Subhash is awe struck at the grandeur and affluence of Mr. Adenwalla. (Naseeruddin Shah) Subhash realizes this may lead to a generous tip.

Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Om Puri, Boman Irani
Director: Shivam Nair
Rating: 2.5/5

Adenwalla impressed by Subhash hires him as his driver much to the resentment of his beautiful much younger wife, Mallika (Neha Dhupia). Subhash realizes nothings well between Adenwalla and his wife. Once a big time filmmaker, Adenwalla is now forever drowned in alcohol and is now frustrated with his greedy wife.

He decides to teach her lesson by throwing upon her a ‘deadly’ challenge. What this challenge is all about and how Subhash gets embroiled into it and what it unexpected situations it further leads to forms the rest of the film.

Adapted from a very popular Gujarati play by the same name, Maharathi makes for an interesting watch solely for the performance of almost all its lead actors. But what keeps on striking the viewer constantly are the limitations of a play being adapted to the big screen.

Firstly, for a thriller, the plot appears far too stretched, especially in the first half. Then once the first major twist in the plot takes place, what follows is at times, a matter of convenience. Ok even if you are willing to forgive some cinematic liberties, what really comes out is not only predictable but also raises many questions as to how certain things took place like the game of one-upmanship between Subhash and Adenwalla’s trusted lawyer, Merchant (Boman Irani). The whole drama majorly unfolds in the big Adenwalla villa itself and ends up giving you kind of a claustrophobic feel.

But being fair, one must admit that director Shivam Nair (Ahista Ahista) has made good use of the excellent actors he had on his hands. Also avoiding the temptation to incorporate songs in the film needs to be lauded.

The film completely belongs to Paresh Rawal. Just check his changing expressions and body language in various catch 22 situations is a treat in itself. Naseeruddin Shah too is brilliant as the alcoholic, failed filmmaker. Boman Irani gets less scope in the first half but manages to impress with his antics in the penultimate moments. His confrontations with Paresh are paisa vasool moments.

Neha Dhupia manages to hold their own despite being amongst acting stalwarts. Tara Sharma in a brief role as the villa’s caretaker is good. Om Puri appears wasted though as the investigating officer.

Maharathi is only meant for those, who don’t mind forgiving a little faulty plot for the sake of enjoying great acting and experiencing few really well executed moments.

The film tells the story of a 30 plus middle class school teacher, Meera Achrekar (Mandira) whose obsession for cricket crosses all bounds. While on one hand her family comprising of an ever caring parents and a cricket hating brother (Manjrekar) are trying their best to get her married, her craze for cricket is growing manifold.

Starring: Mandira Bedi, Eijaz Khan, Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: Chandrakant Kulkarni
Rating: 2/5

Also what rattles everyone is her extreme devotion to Indian spinner Anil Kumble which borders beyond a simple crush. So when handsome doctor, Arjun (Eijaz) enters Meera’s life and is planning to marry her, there comes a twist which throws up things upside down. What follows next forms the rest of the film.

It is a sweet concept and the direction style too reminds you of those medium budget sensible comedies like those of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjpe and Basu Chatterjee but unfortunately it doesn’t have the matching content. A wonderful premise is spoiled by some unimaginative writing.

Mandira is shown to be cricket crazy but her craziness hasn’t been utilized fully for the audience to feel empathy for her. Also too much time is wasted on some really silly sequences that are supposedly funny but don’t really make you laugh.

First timer, Chandrakant Kulkarni (a big name in the Marathi film industry) appears technically sound but should have given more attention to the content. But full marks to him for the atmosphere creation of a typical middle class Maharashtrian household.

Mandira Bedi gets her first full blown lead role and she does justice to the part. TV heart throb Eijaz Khan not only looks very handsome but acts well too. Anupam Kher playing his dad copies his own DDLJ – SRK’s father act. Vandana Gupte as Mandira’s mom gives able support.

It is Mahesh Manjrekar who towers over them all with his superb act. His frustration of not becoming a cricketer because he wanted to take care of his family is noticeable in every single sequence. He commands great screen presence and makes us wish he pays more attention to his acting career than directing silly films.

All in all it’s an okay one time watch if you have nothing else to do but it does end up giving you a feeling that it could have been better!

Rajendra Dubey (Pathak) is a simple salesman who has big dreams. Being an hardcore Dhiru Bhai Ambani fan, his biggest dream is to become like him but using ethical ways. He even carries with him brochures of a scheme that he believes will change his (and his investors’) fortunes forever.

Starring: Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta, Harsh Chhaya and Saurabh Shukla
Director: Sourabh Shrivastav
Rating: 1.5/5

But the thing is there is simply no one who is interested in investing in it, except his boss (Harsh Chayya). Dubey’s sweet but frustrated wife Suman (Divya Dutta) begs before God to change their fortunes. God (Saurabh Shukla) obliges and thus begins a series of events where God tries his best to make Rajendra rich but with little success.

As when Rajendra does finally get the one thing he’s been dreaming of, he has no idea of what to do. The rest of the film revolves around how Rajendra comes to terms with his obsession.

Finding one good reason to watch this film is real frustrating as what could have been an enjoyable comedy ends up being a sheer waste of time for various reasons. The concept appears okay for an one hour comedy show on television but blowing up for a big screen version makes it really silly and boring after a point of time.

The actors, right from Vinay Pathak to Saurabh Shukla appear completely over the top. Divya Dutta appears wasted and has nothing much to do. Harsh Chhaya gets mysteriously disappeared in most of the parts. The jokes looked forced upon and naturally fall flat.

Unnecessary elements (an item dance out of nowhere) make you cringe in your seat. If that is not enough, you are subjected to a topless hairy Saurabh Shukla!

Okay even if you decide to forgive all of this what about the technicalities? The film is a completely amateurish attempt at filmmaking. Imagine out of focus frames, pathetic camera angles and jump cut editing at its worst! No wonder the filmmakers hardly promoted the film. Perhaps they knew well their silliness would get exposed had they promoted it more and more people would have come in!

If you have to take a vengeance on someone then please subject him to Oh My God and pray to God that this film doesn’t come you way in any which way!

Geeky scientist Siddharth Mathur (Sharman) is given their mother’s ’swear’ by elder brother Harsh (Suri) to bring her along for his wedding to be held in Mauritius. Their mom, (Shabana) is least interested in attending the wedding because Harsh has planned to marry against her wishes.

Starring: Sharman Joshi, Sanjay Suri, Chitrangada Singh, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani
Director: Onir
Rating: 1.5/5

Siddharth succeeds in bring along mom and jovial dad (Boman) to Mauritius. Since Harsh is pre-occupied with lots of work he lives it to his fiancée Aaliyah (Chitrangada) to show them around make them feel comfortable. Herein starts the trouble as since their mom doesn’t really like Aaliyah, Siddharth ends up spending most of the time with Aaliyah. At the same time Aaliyah starts feeling neglected because of Harsh’s workaholic ways and starts getting drawn towards the very loveable yet shy, Siddharth. What happens after they both end up falling in love with each other forms the rest of the film.

Sanjay Suri is as easy going as usual but despite being the co-producer of the film, his character appears neglected in the second half. Sharman puts up a convincing act and perfectly fits the part. Shabana has a wonderful knack of doing some really difficult parts that look easy on paper. She succeeds yet again. Boman as the forever leg pulling father is back in form after some hamming acts in films like Yuvvraaj, Love Story 2050 and Dostana. Chitrangada Singh not only looks extremely sensous throughout but also puts up a nice natural act.

Onir fails to hold your attention for two hours. The biggest blame for the same goes for the poor scripting. The film is predictable from the word go and the dull pace literally puts you off to sleep. The whole ‘Maa Kasam’ thing ends up being unintentionally hilarious. Imagine, Shabana giving a mother’s swear to younger son (Sharman) to let go of the forbidden love so that her elder’s son upcoming marriage is saved from trouble! Also, though Shabana and Boman appear almost like a real life couple, the whole attempt appears like the maker is keen to recreate the couple’s magic from their last film together, Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. The music too isn’t something that has immediate recall value. Agreed there a few funny moments but barring them, the bold themed film with so many minuses going against the film, it appears little chance that it will appeal to its target – the multiplex audience.

The film would have been an okay one time watch had the writing been little more imaginative, but alas!

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye tells the story of a loveable conman Lucky Singh (Abhay Deol). Such is his charm that even the Delhi police are extremely fond of him. The film is a journey of Lucky from a middle class boy to becoming a small time crook to notoriety and faux celebrity and the people he encounters in this journey. But the film is also much more than that as it multilayered with class envy and conflict, family dynamics, lower middle class aspirations, thwarted ambitions and the nature of celebrity.

Starring: Abhay Deol, Neetu Chandra, Paresh Rawal.
Director: Dibaker Bannerjee
Rating: 3/5

OLLO may be no match on Dibakar Bannerjee’s debut flick, the very loveable Khosla Ka Ghosla but it is entertaining in parts. The writing deserves special mention. The wafer think plot does appear stretched at times but what holds it together is the acting by every single actor and the witty one-liners. The film is good fun with many subtle messages so cleverly built into the writing that you never ever get the feeling that somebody is pushing an intellectual agenda. The opening sequence is clearly paisa vasool and should not be missed.

However, the biggest flaw of the film remains its length. A story that could have well been narrated in 90 minutes appears a bit stretched to just over two hours. Also, after a point you find you do get agitated because all you see Lucky doing is stealing and giving the police a slip over and over again.

The film however becomes a must watch for Abhay Deol and Paresh Rawal’s performances. Abhay displays his ability of carrying the film solely on his shoulders. This one can be definitely counted as his best performances till date. Paresh Rawal in a triple role (Lucky’s father, Goga Bhai and Dr. Handa) is simply superb. Neetu Chandra pleasantly surprises and looks different from her earlier films. Archana Puran Singh has her moments while Manu Rishi playing Lucky’s loyal side kick, ‘Bangali’ is outstanding.

Kartik’s camerawork is good and captures Delhi well not focusing on the typical overused visuals of India gate. It takes us right into the heart of the capital city. Dibakar uses music well in the background.

OLLO is a fun ride deserving a visit if you love subtle humour.

Asin Thottumkal and Aamir Khan in movie Ghajini

Yuvvraaj basically begins as the story of Deven Yuvraaj (Salman) who is madly in love with Anushka (Katrina). He is a chorus singer where and she is a cello player in a musical group based in Prague. Her rich dad Mr. Banton (Boman) is completely against marrying her off to Deven given his poor financial condition and tormenting past.

Starring: Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif and Boman Irani.
Director: Subhash Ghai
Rating: 2.5/5

Deven is the son of a London based multi billionaire, Yogendra Yuvraaj (Javed Sheikh) who was thrown out of the house by him for beating up his dim-wit older step brother, Gyanesh (Anil) when young. As Banton fixes his daughter’s engagement within a rich family, Deven comes to know about his father’s death and instead of getting sad becomes very happy. He gets under the impression that now he will be inherit a part of his late father’s huge empire.

In excitement he enters into a contract with Banton that within 40 days if he does not become a billionaire then he can marry of his daughter to someone else. But as Deven reaches his ancestral home, destiny has other plans. His youngest brother, Danny (Zayed) a spoilt rich brat is busy living life in the fast lane with little care about his older brother Gyanesh.

As their dead father’s will is opened by their old trusted lawyer, Sikander Mirza (Mithun Chakravorty) they all get a shock of their life to learn that almost the entire property is given to the autistic Gyanesh with just peanuts left for Danny and Deven and some other relatives who have been hanging around with them with a hope of a bigger pie for themselves. Desperate, both Danny and Deven unwillingly join hands to cheat their innocent older brother. As a part of his plan, Deven overnight takes Gyanesh back to Prague. Gyanesh gets exposed to his only passion in life – Music all thanks to Anushka. What happens after that forms rest of the film.

The basic premise of the film is nice with music well entwined into as a character in itself. But where the film falters is the narrative. Ghai has been a master storyteller in the past but here he somehow fails to hold your attention in the first half. Things move at a snails pace and not entirely convincingly.

Anil Kapoor’s character is the most important character of the film but barring the last few reels it has not been handled well. Also what was the need of those 80s style plotting relatives in a film like this? The second half however has a lot of drama in store and some really touching moments like those interactions between Anil and Salman in Prague and also when Zayed joins them. But then again the impact is not as much it could have been because suddenly the film gains too much pace.

The cinematography by Kabir Lal is marvelous whereas Omung Kumar’s set designs are absolutely out of this world. Being a musical, much was expected from A.R. Rahman but barring Tu Meri Dost Hain and Mastam Mastam none of the numbers are really great. But one must hand it to Ghai for mind blowing picturisations of them all.

Amongst the actors, Anil Kapoor impresses the most with his innocent act. Salman does well but is badly presented at times with inconsistencies in hair style and clothes. Katrina manages to hold her own in the crowd of actors. She never looked so beautiful before. Zayed suits his part perfectly. Boman does well.

Though the film doesn’t entirely disappoint, it remains an average entertainer. Watch it for some vintage Ghai moments if you want to.

The buzz is that the film will release with 1200 prints all over India, beating ‘Singh Is Kinng’ which was released with 1075 prints in August this year.

Reportedly Studio 18, the distributors of ‘Ghajini’ plan to do some aggressive distribution to tap the larger fan base of actor Aamir Khan by aggressive distribution of the film.

‘Singh Is Kinng’, was also from Studio 18.

Aman Gill, Director of Domestic Theatrical Distribution, Studio 18, has been quoted as saying: “Ghajini which released this Christmas will be the biggest and widest release ever, breaking the record set by ‘Singh Is Kinng’.”

Reportedly Bollywood suffered losses of Rs 600 million in the month of October when big budgeted films like ‘Drona’ , ‘Kidnap’ and ‘Karzzzz’ bombed.

Actually the makers and the distributors are confident about ‘Ghajini’ and are banking on it. They are hoping that the prevalent economic crisis will be eased as Bollywood is struggling hard to cover the losses.
–(SAMPURN)

DC Rocks On With Abhishek Kapoor. Mumbai, 18th November 2008: The Indian Visions Indian Film Festival of Washington, DC kicked off its film festival program with a screening of Abhishek Kapoor’s Rock On!!, an inspirational film about friendship and dreams set against the backdrop of rock music. Abhishek Kapoor was presented with The Official Opening Night Selection Award at the reception following his film’s screening. He interacted with audience members at the reception.

“To see people in the auditorium reacting to the film so positively was quite overwhelming. It was nice to meet the mixed crowd of Indian and Americans and discuss the finer details of the film with them,” commented Abhishek Kapoor.

Amanda Sodhi, program coordinator of the festival, further elaborates, “We are delighted that Abhishek was able to attend the festival. The audiences really enjoyed conversing with him at the reception and he very patiently answered all of their questions.”

Sukumar Srinivasan, the festival director, says “It was wonderful to meet Mr. Kapoor and I enjoyed talking to him about his film and his experiences with filmmaking. He was very gracious and down to earth and I wish him a very successful career in films.”

Other celebrity guests who attended the festival and who interacted with audiences included Brahmanand Singh (Pancham Unmixed), Spandan Banerjee (The Fiction and Beware Dogs), Ashish Avikunthak (Nirakar Chhaya/Shadows Formless and Antaral/End Note), Mona Kumar (Between Two Worlds), Leena Jayaswal and Indira Somani (Crossing Lines) and Harjant Gill (Milind Soman Made Me Gay).

“The Indian Visions festival is in its second year and I’m sure it has a bright future ahead. I believe that the Indian Visions Film Festival under the guidance of Mr. Sukumar will emerge as a leading Indian film festival in the years to come,” remarks Abhishek Kapoor.

The Indian Visions festival continued through Sunday, November 16. Other films screened included Naalu Pennungal (Adoor Gopalakrishnan), Taare Zameen Par (Aamir Khan), Prapancha Pash (Franz Osten), Valu: The Wild Bull (Umesh Kulkarni), AIDS JaaGo (Mira Nair, Vishal Bharadwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Santosh Sivan), A Wednesday (Neeraj Pandey), Mumbai Meri Jaan (Nishikant Kamat), Shot in Bombay (Liz Mermin), Quamar/Working to Live (Preeya Nair), Super 30 (Christopher Mitchell), Wings of Evolution (Ramesh Mourthy and Raghu Jeganathan), Midnight Lost and Found (Atul Sabharwal), Rewind (Atul Taishete), Haravele Indradhanush/The Lost Rainbow (Dhiraj Meshram) and The Private Life of Albert Pinto (Sidharth Singh).

Aamir Khan at the first look of Ghajni at PVR on 27th October 2008

This remake of Subhash Ghai’s 1980s super hit Karz has basically the same storyline as the original with a little twist added to it. So for all those who haven’t seen the original, the plot goes like this – Kamini (Urmila) marries Ravi Verma (Dino Morea) for his riches and bumps him off immediately after their marriage.

Rating: 2.5/5
Starring: Himesh Reshammiya, Urmila Matondkar, Danny, Raj Babbar and introducing Shweta Kumar.
Director: Satish Kaushik

Two decades later, the biggest music sensation in South Africa, Monty (Himesh) one day suddenly during a rehearsal starts playing a tune and goes into a trance, with intense visual flashes of a mansion, a temple, a beautiful girl and ends up collapsing unconscious. Further a flash back reveals that Monty was actually Ravi Verma in his previous life, married to a beautiful girl called Kamini. Monty now has the grave realization of having been reborn in his current persona. His beautiful love interest (Tina) is none other than Kamini’s foster daughter. From here starts Monty’s new journey. A journey of revenge! How he accomplishes it and gives justice to Ravi Verma’s hapless old mother and sister forms the rest of the film.

The basic premise of this film is even exciting for anyone of today’s generation. But one thing that one needs to keep in mind while watching this film is that it is not completely aimed at the multiplex going audience. It has been treated like a typical masala film aimed at the masses and to enjoy one needs to keep his brains back at home.

The things that work are – The enthusiasm of Himesh in reprising Rishi Kapoor’s Monty. Himesh has given it his all and his efforts show. You root for him in the second half when he starts playing games with Urmila. The action sequences, especially the climax ones are mind blowing. Another good plus is the performance by Urmila in her first ever full blown villainous role. Her venomous act is bound to get her few awards this year for sure. She has even exposed her body a lot in those glamorous dresses. Gulshan Grover (as Sir Judah) in his unusual get up leaves a mark. Danny as the every helpful Kabir chacha (played by Pran in the original) and Asrani lend able support.

But the things that don’t really work are – The pairing of Himesh and debutante Shweta Kumar. They share an extremely thanda chemistry. Considering it is her debut film, the poor gal hasn’t been properly presented as well. In the acting department she still has a long way to go. The styling of the film is extremely poor excluding that of Himesh’s. The set design is straight out of the 80s films. Also, despite having so many dance numbers, there is not a single song that stays in your mind thanks to some really pathetic choreography with those now mandatory firang dancers around. The high point of the original Karz, the Ek Hasina Thi number falls flat in here in its new version. As a director, Satish Kaushik fails to add any independent distinct style.

Finally our verdict is – Go for it if even if you are not a die hard Himesh fan and you will definitely get in more than what you had expected. -(SAMPURN)