CAST: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan, Pradeep Rawat ;
Director: A R Murugadoss

How do you count eight packs? The question plagues you when you first see Aamir Khan in his new movie. His rippling musculature has been all the focus, through the past month, in print, in TV, in hoardings. That, and the buzz cut, with deep scars running through, showing the scalp. This is an Aamir we haven’t seen before—fronting a frame-filling physique, flaunting matter over mind.
If you had 15 minutes of memory, what would you cram into that terrifyingly short span? The name of your loved one, your phone number, your home? If you were a regular Joe, that’s exactly what you’d do, but if you are Aamir Khan in Ghajini, you would bulk up your body, tattoo the name of the man you need to kill, and smear your walls with violent graffiti.
Short-term memory loss means you forget, everything, within a short span of time. And the moment you get back into the zone, re-building the pieces of your life, the clock starts ticking again, for the next meltdown. It’s a fascinating premise for a movie, and a few years ago, Memento, made by Christopher Nolan, gave us a unique hero who suffers from short haul amnesia, while he searches for his beloved’s killer.
In 2005, the Tamil Ghajini, inspired by Memento, catapulted the till-then-on-the-fringes lead pair of Surya and Asin into the frontlines, and turned out to be a monster hit. Aamir Khan’s first film this year, is a faithful remake of the Tamil flick (with a lot of the original crew, including the director) barring a couple of twists in the climax. It has Aamir doing an out-and-out actioner after a long time. (Sarfarosh in 1999 was the last time he went around brandishing guns and decimating baddies.) It also has him bare-chested for a lot of the running time, because he needs to display his impressively muscled frame. So is it all good?
Not really, no. The thing with doing a film like this is that you have to completely get with the flow of the film, and here Aamir is split down the middle. When he’s Sanjay Singhania, the billionaire boyfriend of wannabe celeb Kalpana (Asin), pretending to be a broke model himself, to insinuate himself into her good books, he’s just fine. The sequence in which he first sees her help a bunch of disabled kids and loses his iron-clad heart to her, is a winner. So are a few others: how many impossibly wealthy men carry ‘chhutta’ to give the ‘pani puri wala’? He flips him his platinum card, and we crack a smile, as we are meant to.
And then the transformation from smooth urbane tycoon, to the damaged violent guy happens, and the film starts to stutter. Not because Aamir doesn’t try hard. He goes at this one with just as much effort as he does in his others, but he doesn’t fill out this part with as much conviction. It’s all his fault—he shouldn’t have done films like Rang De Basanti and Taare Zameen Par, in which he coasted on his cerebral appeal. He just doesn’t look the part of a man who can pulp other humans with his bare hands, despite the wild grimaces and the angry howls.
The maximum fun is had by Asin, nicely curved and rounded, very far from unreal size zeroes, making her Hindi cinema debut. She plays pretty much the same role as she did in the original—loud, warm, emotional, and is the best part of the movie, but even she can’t liven up the pallid songs-and-dances. Third lead Jiah Khan, the medical student who studies the amnesiac and ends up first hindering then helping him, is a total loss—she has to speak Hindi and do an item number, and both are beyond her. The villain (Pradeep Rawat) looks like he’s a bit part stretched into something he can’t quite handle: is he the only one they could find?
Too long, at three hours and some. Too violent. The bad guy goes around wielding a rusted iron jack and bashing people’s heads in. And so not Aamir: Ghajini is engaging, only intermittently. Can we please have our old Aamir, the actor-star who’s taught present-day mainstream Bollywood to think, back again?

The premier production house [Yash Raj Films] teams up with one of the biggest studios of West [Walt Disney Pictures] for an animation film. You expect this collaboration to yield incredible results. Animation movies like THE LION KING and SHREK have appealed to every strata of movie-going audience the world over. Although 'Made in India' animation films are making their way into our plexes, the results, most of the times, are amateurish.

Write your own movie review of Roadside Romeo
But ROADSIDE ROMEO pulls it off. In terms of animation [Tata Elxsi/VCL], it's a step forward as compared to the other animation films. But there's a hitch: Hackneyed script [penned by debutante director Jugal Hansraj].

Films like LION KING or SHREK, even FINDING NEMO, worked because they were innovative concepts. They had interesting stories to tell. Plus, most importantly, they were rich in emotions. You'd laugh when they laughed, you'd cry when they cried, the writing was so effectual.

ROADSIDE ROMEO borrows from the masala films of 1980s. There's a hero, a heroine, the mandatory villain, plus love, problems, misunderstandings and conflict, but all's well that ends well. The story is predictable and worse, you don't feel for any of those characters you watch on screen.

Another factor that goes against the film is the fact that it lacks good music. Though the title track and also 'Chule Na' have been publicized, the impact is missing. Ideally, the makers should've gone ahead and incorporated the evergreen songs from their rich repertoire in this animation film. The kids would've loved it!

There's one more hiccup. Assuming that ROADSIDE ROMEO is mainly targeted at the kids, the dialogues by Charlie Anna, the villain who speaks in a South Indian accent, are difficult to decipher and comprehend [at times] even for adults. Imagine, how difficult it would be for the kids to grasp those lines.

Yet, despite the shortcomings, ROADSIDE ROMEO works because the second hour keeps you fairly engrossed. A few portions like the cat pretending to be the pretty Laila on a date with Charlie Anna is amazing. Also, the culmination, a straight lift from the by-now-famous train ending from D.D.L.J., is equally enjoyable.

The voice-overs are perfect. Saif [Romeo] and Kareena [Laila] were the right choices for the lead players. Tanaaz Currim [cat] and Sanjay Mishra [the villain's sidekick] stand out as well.

On the whole, it's thumbs up for animation, but thumbs down for scripting in ROADSIDE ROMEO. It might glimmer during the festive week, but this Romeo is unlikely to rule the hearts of kids or kids at heart.

Are you ready for an expose on the fashion industry? Where designers pass off 'Indira Market, Bangkok' stuff as their own creation. Where ad agency/fashion mag honchos call the shots. Wild lifestyles, backstage dramas, wardrobe malfunction, casting couch... ouch, ouch, ouch!

Madhur Bhandarkar, the undisputed king of realistic fares, comes up with yet another hard-hitting film that enlightens you, moves you, motivates and deflates you, even shocks and surprises you and of course, entertains you.

Write your own movie review of Fashion
The solid reason why FASHION works is because Madhur brings alive everything you've read in newspapers or watched on TV as an outsider, to the big screen. And that works and how!

But let's not give the subject material all importance, for Madhur's handling of the subject is exemplary. Madhur dresses up his mannequins well, but most importantly, infuses life in those prime bodies. A number sequences leave you tongue-tied [more on that later].

But there's a hitch. And this problem tones down the impact considerably. The running tine of almost 2.40 hours makes you restless, especially the penultimate 25-odd minutes. Yet, all said and done, FASHION has all it takes to be the showstopper this Diwali!

FASHION tells the story of a small-town girl with a dream and the determination to make it a reality. Meghna [Priyanka Chopra] is ambitious, she wants to attain the status of a supermodel. She realises her dreams and rises to walk the ramps for leading designers across India.

But Meghna has to pay the price for her fame and her journey to the top. Her career starts sliding downwards. In this journey of Meghna, she encounters a number of people. Most importantly, Shonali [Kangna Ranaut] and Janet [Mugdha Godse]. Also, Abhijit Sareen [Arbaaz Khan], a tycoon who controls the fashion industry.

CHANDNI BAR, PAGE 3, SATTA, CORPORATE, TRAFFIC SIGNAL -- every Madhur Bhandarkar film has a new story to tell and he tells it most convincingly. In fact, Madhur strikes a fine balance between realism and entertainment in every film. Given the fact that FASHION is all about the fashion industry, the narrative is inevitably filled with lots of glam-n-glitz moments. The fashion shows, the stunning models, the superb styling, the vibrant colours and the behind the scenes drama is worth every penny spent on the ticket.

But it's not just ramp shows and style-n-fashion here. There's a story running concurrently -- of three models. One, the rise of an unknown into a supermodel. Two, the fall of a supermodel to dust. Three, the ambitious model not achieving success, but opting for a marriage of convenience.

While Madhur has handled the theme as if he were an insider, this review would be incomplete if you ignore two major sequences that are simply outstanding. One, Kangna's wardrobe malfunction and two, when Priyanka exposes Arbaaz to his wife [Suchitra Pillai].

Mahesh Limaye's cinematography captures every aspect of the fashion industry to the fullest. The screenplay [Madhur Bhandarkar, Anuradha Tiwari, Ajay Monga] is perfect, except for the penultimate portions. Niranjan Iyengar's dialogues are fantastic. Nitin Chandrakant Desai's production design is truly upmarket. The costumes and styling are top notch, a feast for the eyes. Salim-Sulaiman's music is well synchronised as well. 'Mar Jaava' and 'Jalwa' are lilting creations.

Madhur places immense trust on Priyanka and she is remarkable all through, more towards the second hour. Post AITRAAZ, FASHION is another medal that shines the brightest when you look at her body of work. But the real star is Kangna. Her role may not be as lengthy as that of Priyanka, but the actress pitches in an awesome performance. Her confidence at the very start is infectious and her overall performance deserves an ovation.

Mugdha Godse is, again, supremely confident. She has dum. Arbaaz Khan is first-rate. Arjan Bajwa does well. Harsh Chhaya, the gay designer, stands out with a realistic performance. Ashwin Mushran, Priyanka's confidante, is top notch. Samir Soni is good. Suchitra Pillai and Kittu Gidwani are effectual. Raj Babbar and Kiran Juneja are seasoned in such roles.

On the whole, FASHION has tremendous curiosity value and also shock value for the Indian audiences. Its subject -- the behind the scenes working and drama of the fashion industry -- is its USP. At the box-office, the pre-release hype and buzz will ensure a successful run for the film. Its business at multiplexes mainly should be bountiful. However, trimming the film will only help; not only will it enhance the film, but also its business. Must watch!

The opening song, as Salman Khan storms on to stage and stomps his way through the extremely catchy Boom Boom makes you want to whistle, but be warned — it’s the only time you will want to do so. The rest of the film makes you wish you had not answered this wrong number.

For the most part, the script stays close to Chetan Bhagat’s book, barring that Katrina Kaif shares the story of six individuals and one night at a call centre when they receive a call from God with Salman Khan at an air base waiting lounge and not on a train journey. The first hour is spent establishing the characters and their uninteresting backstories. The film is so slow that you feel like you have endured the entire night shift, in real time, with this technically challenged and emotionally stunted group of call centre employees.

The dialogues are juvenile like this gem: “Dad, don’t clutter my mailbox like you have cluttered my life. I don’t want your attachment or your file attachments.” OK, maybe Bhagat deserves a wolf whistle here — but only if he is willing to share it with the costume designer who conjured Eesha Koppikar’s ensemble. A denim mini skirt teamed with leopard spot stockings and calf-high boots is hardly regulation wear for a night shift call centre employee.

Once the call from God gets through (the only call that might not suffer from poor network and call drops), the message from above is lost within the arduous screenplay and ham and cheese performances. Hello turns into a Rang De Basanti for call centre employees, rising up against arrogant Americans and infecting their systems with a virus. But the reward is nothing noble — it’s just another tactic for capitalistic gain and job security.

The director’s lack of grasp on the tone and intention of the film shows in the irregular graph of the performances. While Amrita Arora, Gul Panag, Eesha and Sharman Joshi keep their performances controlled, Sohail Khan rehashes the same old tricks; then there’s the extremely irritating and superfluous hip-hopping tech-support chap played by Suresh Menon and boss man Mr Baskhi played by Dalip Tahil who’s stuck in 80s’ style of acting.

Hello is likely to appeal only to those who have enjoyed Chetan Bhagat’s One Night @ The Call Centre (incidentally, the author does not make a cameo appearance in the film). If you do not fall in that category, you might end up singing an alternative variation of The Beatles’ song: “You say Hello, I say goodbye….”

The Express

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Oct 17, 2008 at 02:41 AM


Directed by: Gary Fleder
Produced by: John Davis
Written by: Charles Leavitt, Robert C. Gallagher
Starring: Rob Brown, Charles S. Dutton, Dennis Quaid
Editing by: Padraic McKinley, William Steinkamp
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release date(s): October 10, 2008
Country: United States
Language: English
Synopsis: The movie begins with Ernie Davis as a young African-American boy growing up in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in the late 1940's. Ernie and his same-aged uncle, Will Davis, Jr., experience racism by neighborhood bullies, which forces Ernie to use his superior atheltic ability to escape harm. Ernie lives with his grandparents, including his grandfather Will Davis (affectionally known as "Pops"), who helps Ernie overcome a stuttering problem by reading passages from the Bible. Pops also introduces Ernie to the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball, and Ernie pins a picture of Jackie Robinson to his bedroom wall. Ernie's mother, Marie Davis, eventually returns to inform the family that she has remarried and can now afford to raise Ernie at her home in Elmira, New York.

Upon relocating to Elmira, Ernie is excited to see a Small Fry Football League and joins the local team. Although he experiences slights because of his race, he excels on the football field as a running back and is clearly the best player on the field.

Several years later, Syracuse University Football head coach Ben Schwartzwalder is searching for a running back to address the absence of Jim Brown, the graduating player completing his All-American senior season. After rejecting several talented prospects because of perceived laziness or injuries, Schwartzwalder is intrigued after seeing footage of Ernie playing for Elmira Free Academy.

Sex Drive is a 2008 comedy film about a high school senior who goes on a cross-country road trip to hook up with a girl he met online. It is based on the novel All The Way, by Andy Behrens. The film was directed by Sean Anders, and stars Josh Zuckerman, Clark Duke, James Marsden, Seth Green, and Amanda Crew.Ian (Josh Zuckerman) is an 18-year-old man. He meets "Ms. Tasty" (Katrina Bowden) on the Internet and agrees to visit her to have sex. She lives in Knoxville, while he lives in Riverside, IL. With male and female best friends Lance (Clark Duke) and Felicia (Amanda Crew) they go in a car borrowed without permission from Ian's brother Rex (James Marsden).

I know this review is a little late and by now everyone knows that A wednesday is a brilliant film. I m just re-iterating it here.

A Wednesday is a wonderful,racy and brilliant film. This film sends a shiver down the spine. This year we have had many movies on the theme of terrorism and bomb blasts. I really liked Aamir in the past. This movie is a step ahead of it. And it takes the whole terrorism thing to a new level. Naseer and Anupam Kher played their roles amazingly well.The supporting cast is also credible. It’s a statement on how the common man is the ultimate sufferer in the wake of terror blasts.” We are resilient by force, not by nature”, says naseer. How true!! . The dialogues between Naseer and Anupam kher are absolute stunners...will make you applaud for sure.
The roof top shots are brilliantly filmed and symbolic of Naseer representing the entire city or keeping a city on ransom..
A must watch for all who like to watch meaningful and engaging cinema.