Cinema Paradiso- All about Cinema: facenook

Friday, August 22, 2014

Life Is Beautiful, Hindi Bollywood Film Movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * *

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReviews/22ndAug2014/JohnsonThomas

#LifeIsBeautiful(Hindi) Rating:* * A triangular romcom fashioned on immigration necessity. Beautiful to look at but nothing really exciting here(other than the lead actress #NancyBrunetta, I mean..) #ManojAmarmani #AnokhiDalvi #ParthNaik #HemaUpadhyay #Tejas #1HMedia

Hindi Film review

Johnson Thomas

Not as beautiful as proclaimed!

Film: Life is Beautiful

Cast: Manoj Amarmani, Anokhi Dalvi, Nancy Brunetta, Parth Naik, Raj Zutshi

Director: Manoj Amarmani

Rating: * *

Shot entirely in Canada, this film is written, produced, directed by the film’s lead actor, Manoj Amarmani who also appears to have done a Sheetal by hogging credit for background score, choreography and costume design. It’s a debut effort and as such is quite likeable mainly because of the easy on the eye visuals, good looking lead pair and some pleasant music.

So far as the story goes it’s pretty much inventive but not exactly plausible. Raj(Manoj) works in Toronto and lives with his friend Prem(Parth) and Prem’s younger brother. Prem doesn’t want him there and is overjoyed to know that Raj has lost his job and is likely to be sent back to India. A lawyer advices Raj to marry another temporary immigrant Pia( Anokhi Dalvi)from India so as to fortify their case for residency. Raj is in love with Linda(Nancy Brunetta) though and wants to marry her but Linda, on finding out his neediness sends him packing. Pia steps into the breach and though the two don’t like each other they agree to stay married for a year. Linda eventually cools down and begins reciprocating Raj’s advances and Pia who is already in a relationship with workaholic Rohit, starts developing feelings for Raj. How this scenario is eventually resolved forms the rest of the narrative.

There’s nothing much wrong with the story other than it’s fractured reasoning and forced farcical routines. Prem could have well kicked Raj out of his apartment and had no need to allow Pia to also move in. Especially since the two play abominable pranks on him and have no respect for his feelings. The legal advice of Raj and Pia getting married to ensure citizenship for the two also appears to be a wildly imaginative. Nancy Brunetta has little to do other than look appealing and she does that beautifully. Anokhi Dalvi as Pia has a strident voice and that’s a strong put off but she’s not too bad as a performer. Parth Naik as Prem is meant to be irritating and that he does with great felicity. Manoj Amarmani displays his distinct Shah Rukh Khan hangover in every move he makes on screen from the song choreography, to the style of music, to the expressions. And it’s a pleasant watch. Unfortunately his dialogue delivery is a little too stilted-and he sounds childish in most scenes. Toronto looks lovely and the editing and sound add weight to the competence. This film is at best –pleasantly, imperfect!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

Friday, June 6, 2014

Holiday: A soldier is never off-duty, Hindi Bollywood Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * 1/2

Holiday: A soldier is never off-duty(Hindi) Rating: * * ½ A.R. Murugadoss dons the mantle of Director for his second hindi film (after Ghajini) and his treatment retains the action hefts of his first mainstream work. Puerile sentiment focusing on the Indian army notwithstanding, this action romance is quite agile and racks up some stylized blows as a genre flick. Game show tricks, assured helming and Akshay’s fluidly executed maneuvers provide the requisite thrills. The romance is way off-key though and the constant bouts of illogic might get you down. Don’t expect any logic here and you wont be disappointed. This is the kind of film carefully designed to fit in as a popular entertainer. And it shows!

Hindi film review

Johnson Thomas

Stylised masala entertainer!

Film: Holiday: A soldier is never off-duty

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha

Director: A.R Murugadoss

Rating: * * ½

A.R Murugadoss makes his comeback to Hindi cinema as Director, several years after his maiden hit effort, the Aamir Khan Starrer , ‘Ghajini.’ This new film appears to be a straightforward plug for the Indian Army, presented in slick style and served with heavy doses of masala, action and romance.

The narrative gets right into the titular theme by having it’s lead character Capt.Virat Bakshi(Akshay Kumar) go on Holiday to Mumbai, his parental home. Straight-off from the station he is swept away by his folks to check-out a prospective bride, Saiba(Sonakshi) who appears too demure and traditional to suit his tastes. He has no compunction in saying no to her. Thereafter he is shown following his childhood friend, a police inspector around town, while the latter is on duty. One such duty happens to be providing security to an inter-collegiate sports meet where he bumps into a transformed Saiba, a fierce amazon who competes in every sporting competition designed for man and wins handsomely. Of course our Virat has to fall for her silly. The romance gets right back on track and so does the action. While Virat and his friend are en route to a case they come across a bus with one of the passengers crying foul about his stolen wallet. The bus is stopped and while the passengers are frisked for the wallet, one escapes. The wallet is claimed to be found in another’s pocket. Why did that man run when he was obviously not the robber. Well, Virat does the chase and the bus explodes. Suddenly, it’s now become a terrorist attack and our soldier takes it on himself to ferret out the culprits, protocol be damned.

Thereafter it’s a race against time as Akshay and his fellow army mates race against time in game show format to prevent another major disaster by nullifying the sleeper cells, and later on to capture the mastermind behind them.

The narrative is quite gimmicky in it’s attempt to cpture game show thrills and slick heavy-duty action. There’s also a surfeit of pro-army sermonizing as Virat goes to the extent of sacrificing his own sister in order to nab the kingpin.

‘The soldier is never off duty’ is a tagline that is used time and again to depict the soldier as a super human who willingly sacrifices his all for the country. We’ve heard this before and seen better examples of it in grittier more believable films. This one has the hero changing into colorful casuals, dancing and romancing the heroine exploding into violence while putting civilians at risk, all for his own glory. And of course it’s passed off as a sacrifice well meant, for the country.

The plot is quite simply unbelievable, the narrative spiel, most often beyond belief. Logic takes a heavy beating here. The romance and song and dance are merely appendages that fritter away the excitement and enjoyment of a genre flick. The pacing is pretty good for most part unfortunately every time, the narrative makes a return to romance, it acts as a speed breaker to the overall enjoyment. In fact the romance is something the film could have well done without. It does not add any value to the enjoyment. The action for most part is quite spiffy and well executed- ably aided by Akshay Kumar’s well maintained physique and agility- but for the climactic fight-off where Virat is beaten and broken, yet is standing and fighting with all his limbs, eventually seeing off the villain in conventional bollywood style. Music is passable, cinematography is colorful, editing is a bit slack and performances, a little too straight to be completely convincing. This is a film that could easily attract an audience starved for a big ticket exercise. And why not?

Johnsont307@gmail.com

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