Ticket to Bollywood

Archive for September, 2008


Posted on September 21, 2008 - by Reema

Movie Review: Bachna Ae Haseeno

So, how’s Ranbir’s second attempt? And in that case, how’s Deepika’s? Well, let’s just say, you find out quite a bit about Ranbir’s potential. Deepika? Not so much.

As I’m sure everyone knows by now, BAH involves three ladies, meaning three different stories. We will start with story one, Ranbir Kapoor/Minissha Lamba. We’re subjected to lots and lots of DDLJ references during their journey, which got a bit annoying after a while. But we’re also treated to ‘Aahista Aahista’, which I love. Lucky Ali’s voice just rocks.

The second half of this story is the part I like. Kunal Kapoor was just adorable, I felt bad for him. I felt it kind of hard to believe that Mahi would be that hard hit with what had happened to her, that she kept it with her this long, but I haven’t had that kind of experience, so I guess I can’t say. Jogi Mahi was awesome, I loved it.

Next, Radhika (Bips). I liked this intro, how they came to live together, what kind of lives each one wanted, without marriage. The ways that Sachin (Raj’s friend) gives Raj to break up with her are funny, but the way Raj leaves her just really made me mad. It was such a horrible thing to do. The scene with Bips sitting in the rain is really sad. At this point, I wasn’t liking the movie, because of how much of a jerk Raj was.

Part 2 was better, with Radhika changing her name, being a big star, and making Raj wait on her hand and foot. She said she was never going to forgive him for what he did. Which is totally understandable, I mean leaving her like he did was just cowardly and unforgivable. Which is why the scene at the airport seems forced. I feel they could have left that story how it was.

Enter Gayatri (Deepika). Who really got screwed in this movie. She has the least amount of screen time, the least amount of character development. She’s a taxi driver, and Raj falls for her. Her breaking his heart sets off the second half of the movie, but her sudden change of heart doesn’t make sense. And we also get no indication of why she refused to marry. It seems they just wrapped up that part of the story after Raj gets back.

Though I must say, I hate Deepika. She’s just so gorgeous. She needs to just give me an ounce of what she has, and I’ll be happy.

Performances. Ranbir does an amazing job. I admit, I don’t find him attractive at all, though he does have his moments. But he can certainly act. He does a good job as a jerk in the first half, and as an apologetic fool in the second. Minissha and Bipasha do good in their roles. As I said earlier, Deepika just isn’t given enough screen time or development for her to do anything worthwhile. Maybe the third time will be the charm for her. Supporting cast is also good.

Overall, good movie that could have been better. Though the great music really helps.

Rating: ★★★☆☆


Tags: , , , ,

Posted on September 15, 2008 - by Reema

Movie Review: Sarkar Raj

*minor spoilers*

I loved Sarkar. I thought it was very well made, all the actors did an incredible job. It’s one of my favorite movies. So I was excited to hear that RGV was making another one. I’m not a big fan of RGV’s movies, but since I loved Sarkar so much, I figured this one had to be along those lines.

And it was, kind of. The same premise, kind of the same storyline. But something just wasn’t right. I know RGV has a way of showing weird camera angles, closeups and all that, but it just seemed too much in Sarkar Raj. We’ll see a close up of Abhishek’s face for a good 2 minutes. And then zoom to Amitabh’s face. And they sit there and say nothing. There’s lots of empty moments in this movie. Moments where nothing is happening. This causes the movie to get boring in so many parts. There’s also a big monologue by Amitabh at the end, and we did end up fast forwarding through most of that.

Even some of the camera tricks, like moving the camera quickly on to someone else, zooming in on someone then zooming out, it all gets old after a while. You just want to see the film properly, and leave all those tricks behind.

Past that, the movie had potential. Like I said, it was kind of similar to Sarkar, but then after a while, it’s too much like it. You get a ‘been there, done that’ vibe. You know something’s going to happen to the family, and it’ll play out almost like the first one does. There is a big twist, which I did not see coming, but did not like at all. It really ruined the whole movie for me.

Performances were good. Amitabh did great. Abhishek on the other hand, had one expression throughout the movie. I think he smiled one time in the movie, and then once his reason for that smile is gone, he’s back to frowning. He looks like he wants to take someone’s head off for the entire movie.

Aishwarya seemed to be wasted, like the women in the first movie were wasted. The only difference here is Ash wears a suit, not a sari. Also, the love story seems forced. Not from her side, mainly from Abhishek’s side. Spoiler ahead He starts showing feelings for Ash what, days after his wife and child are killed? They really tried to force it just because they are a real life couple. Spoiler end

Overall, it’s a long, drawn out movie, with a twist that I did not like. And please, no Sarkar 3.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆


Tags: , , ,