Ticket to Bollywood

Archive for April, 2008


Posted on April 25, 2008 - by Reema

Movie Review: Krazzy 4

This movie is touted as a comedy, but it’s far from it. Sure, it has it’s moments (which didn’t come across as very funny to me), but overall, it’s a drama with splashes of comedy. The movie starts out introducing us to the characters. The first thing that struck me was they didn’t really seem all that crazy. Arshad Warsi’s character, who has an anger management problem, doesn’t need to be in a mental hospital, he needs anger management classes. Same with the other three, the mental issues are really downplayed, so you wonder why they are there in the first place.

Anyways, we get to the story of the movie. Juhi’s their doc, she takes them out to watch a cricket match, and gets kidnapped in the process. We find out how, why, and all that good stuff. Then, the 4 crazies decide to save the day and get her back. Throw in a love angle, a man reuniting with his family, a mute finally speaking, and you get a warm, heartfelt story about 4 mental patients saving the day. Aww.

Performance-wise, I liked Irfan the best. His sudden changes, the way he talked, everything he did was just so in character. Arshad went over the top at times, but that’s kinda what his character called for. Rajpal was good in his role, and Suresh Menon really didn’t have much to do, considering he didn’t talk for 95% of the movie. Rajat Kapoor and Zaakir Hussain don’t have much to do. Surprising, considering their track record.

And yes, there are ladies in this film. Though you wouldn’t realize it. Both are shafted. Tiny tiny roles. Especially Juhi. It makes me wonder why she would sign a movie like this. She can do so much better, she has so much talent and is still as beautiful as ever. Please, someone make a movie that features her, I’m tired of her talent being wasted in tiny roles like this.

Dia does a nice job with what she’s given too. I think she’s a pretty good actress, when given the chance. Someone give her a movie too. :D

The songs are nothing to write home about. Rakhi’s item number comes out of nowhere (though I guess that’s what item numbers are supposed to be), Shah Rukh’s does actually come in the story, someone’s at a club watching him perform (a bit too closely if you ask me, but I’ll get to that later) and Hrithik’s finishes up the movie.

So, about the highlights of the movie. :D

I liked SRK’s item number, but of course, I’m biased. Some of the dance moves were shady, but overall, cute. It’s fun to be able to laugh at him and still love watching him.

For Hrithik’s, all they did was show the one minute promo that’s been everywhere. Nothing extra at all. That was a bit disappointing, I was expecting to see more.

Overall, it’s only a decent movie, timepass. I didn’t find myself getting bored, but I wasn’t totally into it either. I found it a bit better than the movie that released the same day, U Me Aur Hum. At least I wasn’t bored to tears in this one.

Rating: ★★★☆☆


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Posted on April 18, 2008 - by Reema

Movie Review: U Me Aur Hum

*contains spoilers*

First off, that title. Come on now, is it that hard to spell out ‘you’? It’s a sign of laziness when you can’t type two extra letters. U know?

Ajay Devgan’s the director for this one. A little note to him. Ajay, the first half of the movie is really the most important. If by intermission, people are bored out of their minds, there’s little hope for you. Many may just walk out at intermission. You need to start off great, or there will be nobody left to watch the second half, no matter how good it is.

That said, the first half was horrible. It starts out with an older Ajay/Kajol, but when it goes back in time, Ajay looks just as old. He introduces us to his friends, who I couldn’t care less about. Then comes the love story. Just your basic love story, nothing special about it. It’s the few moments before intermission where the movie actually starts going somewhere.

So, boy gets girl.

Then, something happens to girl. She is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It’s an issue that really hasn’t been dealt with. I guess this is where the comparisons to Taare Zameen Par lie. Though I’m sure TZP was handled much better. Not to say UMAH handled it bad. Some scenes are very sad, but very real. Especially the scene with the baby. I couldn’t even watch that, I closed my eyes.

Kajol is just brilliant. She brings alive her character, and you really see what can really happen when having Alzheimer’s. Ajay is basically just there. It’s Kajol’s movie all the way, at least the second half is.

The songs come out of nowhere, it would be better if they were chopped out. And the camera guy had an obsession with his zoom lens. I do not want to see every little detail of Kajol’s face. And when Ajay first meets Kajol, the camera keeps going back and forth between them. How bout zooming out a bit so we can see both of them at one time? What a concept.

Though I did like the ending. I thought it worked, and it’s the kind of ending I wanted, because while watching, you don’t see how it could possibly turn out well.

If there’s one good thing about UMAH, it’s how gorgeous Kajol looked. Wow. Even better than in Fanaa. Kajol, please keep making movies. Bollywood needs you.

The first half of UMAH really brings down the movie. The movie could have been so much better had the first down been cut down considerably, or maybe just something different done with it. I can’t give the movie a high rating because I don’t know how many people would keep watching past the intermission. It’s that bad. The second half kind of makes up for it, especially because of Kajol. So, keep watching. ;)

Rating: ★★½☆☆


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