B FOR BOLLYWOOD #7

AAGEY SE RIGHT

RELEASE DATE:
4th September,2009

GENRE:
Rom-Com

PLOT:
The film revolves around Dinkar Waghmare (Shreyas Talpade), a policeman who loses his service gun and Balma Rashid-ul-Khairi a.k.a Jaanu (Kay Kay Menon), a terrorist who plans to blow up a function. The film takes us through some funny moments about how Dinkar tries to find the gun and ends up being a hero. Jaanu's life also takes a twist when Pearl (Shehnaz Treasurywala) enters his life. A terrorist falls in love! What happens next is worth watching....

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
The director of the movie is Indrajit Nattoji and he has done a wonderful job. The film is stylish enough in terms of looks and the cast does a great job. Kay Kay Menon is outstanding as always and Shreyas and Bharti Acharekar stay true to their role. The pick of the lot is Vijay Maurya (plays Raghav Shetty). His role is well written and he delivers each and every dialogue with ease.No wonder this film was stated as the most underrated gem of  2009.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
Music plays half the role in promotions. The film suffered here with no publicity of the music at all. Few posters here and there didn't garner much response and the film was seen by many on DVD. Truly disappointing.

COLLECTIONS:
Poor.Largely to the fact that the film wasn't promoted well. It took a toll on the collections and the film didn't do much as expected by the Ronnie Screwwala banner and his team.

USP/WHY IT SHOULD HABE WORKED:
Simply for Kay Kay Menon and Vijay Maurya. Hats off to both for their acting. The film also has some nice one liners to make you grin. The romantic angle between Pearl and Jaanu is worth watching.

FLAWS/WHY IT DIDNT WORK OUT:
No Promotions. No music launch or whatsoever publicity of it. In one scene Pearl is shown as a bar girl. While in the other she is auditioning for a role. Forget these flaws and watch the movie.

WHY SHOULD YOU SEE IT:
Watch it once for the brilliant performance by the cast. It is a gem. The plot may not be like any other hit film, but the performances by one and all defy it.

RATING:
4/5

GHANCHAKKAR

PLOT:
The film revolves around a bank heist which is carried out by three people.As per their plan,the loot is given to Sanjay Atre(Emraan Hashmi), the expert safe cracker to hide by  Pandit(Rajesh Sharma) and Idris(Namit Das).The story takes a twist when find out that Sanjay has supposedly forgotten where he hid the money after an accident. The speed of the narration goes on pretty slow after this fast paced 10 minutes. Its a nice story to keep you guessing till the end. But then..... You will yourself fill this line when you watch it.

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
The film wholly belongs to Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi,though not his best. They are ably supported by Rajesh Sharma(special 26 fame) and Namit Das(last seen in Wake up Sid & Lafangey Parindey). Raj Kumar Gupta, who gave us No one killed Jessica gives us a great toast of entertainment here, but at a slow pace.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
Truly the best. Amit Trivedi gives us something different yet same to hear everytime. Amitabh Bhattacharya rocks with his lyrics too. The promotions have been superb with both the lead actors giving the best they gave in movies.5/5 for this section.

COLLECTIONS:
According to boxofficeindia, the film has had an average opening with 35% occupancy in the morning shows and better results were seen later. It collected Rs. 6.75 crores net on day 1.

USP:
Vidya Balan ;-) and the witty one liners with some under the belt humor around the interval :-)

FLAWS:
I repeat what I said in the plot section. But then....watch the movie and you will complete this line afterwards. Better thank me for not telling you the flaw before.

FINAL VERDICT:
Awesome entertainer. But then....

RATING:
3.5/5

B FOR BOLLYWOOD #8

Makdee The web of the witch

 

RELEASE DATE:

22nd November,2002

GENRE:
Sci-Fi drama

 

PLOT:
The film revolves around a naughty girl Chunni(Shweta Prasad) and a Palace where Makdee(Shabana Azmi), a witch lives. History has it that any person who went inside the palace never returned in the human form, but was transformed in to an animal by the witch. Chunni is a notorious girl of the village famous for her pranks. She has a twin sister Munni and she uses her identity to get out of trouble everytime. This idea backfires as Munni is mistaken for Chunni and is chased down into the palace of Makdee.What happens next is a tale worth watching for all those who want to see the duel between the cruel witch and the clever Chunni.

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
Definitely chills will run down the spine for those who believe in witches n all owing to the fantastic performance by Shabana Azmi. Shweta Prasad has performed her best in this National award winning role. Aalap Majgaonkar as Mughal-e-azam is totally fun to watch too. Even Dayashankar Pandey as masterji, a rational minded professor is heart warming to watch. Makaranad Deshpande is the pick of the lot with his acting being his best ever. Overall this section rules the movie.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
Only one song to remember of all. Papad wale! The songs aren't remembered. The posters for the film were superb. Star value lacked in the promotions and hence it is clearly seen in the collections

COLLECTIONS:
The film opened to a poor Rs. 10.5 lacks net and failed to go up taking the lifetime collection of the movie only to Rs. 72 lacks net only. Pretty disappointing for a film of such finesse to be a dud at the boxoffice.

USP/WHY IT SHOULD HAVE WORKED OUT:
The USP of the movie lies in the brilliant acting of the whole cast. The film should have worked because it teaches all the kids and also the grown ups to think rationally regarding such myths.

FLAWS/WHY IT DIDNT WORK OUT:
No flaws as such but people might consider it to be a film made for children. It didn't work out simply because of lack of stars and the collections were too low because of the film releasing in a big city like Mumbai in the 3rd week of its theatrical run.

WHY SHOULD YOU SEE IT:
Fun till the end. The cast and simply Makrand Deshpande and Shabana Azmi.

RATING:
4/5

B FOR BOLLYWOOD #9

4084 Chaalis Chauraasi

RELEASE DATE:
13th January,2012

GENRE:
Thriller,Comedy

PLOT:
The film revolves a gang of 4 friends who come together and plan to loot a house which exchange real notes and fake cash.Under the impression that only two people guard the house and that soon the all the fake notes will be exchanged with real notes they prepare to loot the real ones remaining at the end by becoming fake police and scaring them away. The worst thing is that they don't have a plan. What follows ahead is a comedy-of-errors-sort-of tale. Then why is the movie named so? Its not until the climax you'll get to know why.

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
Superb acting by all. All film lovers will agree to the fact that Kay Kay Menon, Naseeruddin Shah and Atul Kulkarni choose only the best offered. Imagine all of them together. To add to this Rajesh Sharma( Special 26 fame) and Ravi Kissen add spice to it. Hriday Shetty failed with Plan(2004), his debut movie as a director.no wonder these characters in the movie have no PLAN ;-) Zakir Hussain(Johhny Gaddaar fame) delivers yet again this time. The Hariyanvi goons too are fun watching. Overall a superb performance by the whole cast.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
The music album has Hawa Hawa, a Pakistani song, whose rights were brought too. Two versions of the song make it the only catchy song of the movie while the others are average. You might disagree to this. The promotions of the film weren't that good considering the big cast of the film and comparing it with other big budgets, the promotions were the worst.

COLLECTIONS:
Owing to the less publicity and no hit song in the album, the film suffered in its collections and only managed to collect Rs 14 Crores net gross in the opening week. Due to positive word of mouth, the business did pick but only to return the budget it seems.

USP/WHY IT SHOULD HAVE WORKED OUT:
The acting, the cast and the silly errors they do are worth watching. Stellar performance by all. It should have worked as the other big movies released that day(Ghost and Sadda Adda) were both total flops. But surprisingly it didn't work out.

FLAWS/WHY IT DIDNT WORK OUT:
Less promotions(maybe because of the budget as seen on many websites).The only flaw in the movie is a loose plot. I mean how the character met, how are they so close friends is not clear throughout the movie though it doesn't affect the plot as we have a clear insight in their life.

WHY SHOULD YOU SEE IT:
You will enjoy the small punches in between. You will love the acting of all the cast. You will enjoy Atul Kulkarni as Bobby and Kay Kay Menon as Alber Pinto the car thief. They both deliver a superb performance worth watching

RATING:
3.5/5

B FOR BOLLYWOOD #10

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RELEASE DATE:

20th May,2011

 

GENRE:
Psychological thriller

PLOT:
The film basically revolves around a room, which is supposedly haunted by a student who committed suicide in the room years ago. Abhimanyu (Rajjvir Arora),a student starts living in the room and is supported by Professor Anirudh (Nishikant Kamat) who is a staunch believer that paranormal activity doesn't exists in this world.The rational-minded Abhimanyu starts experiencing the unusual and soon starts seeing the boy who committed suicide. Caught in the web now, he ignores all this as halucinations. But do paranormal activities exist? Well, see the movie to find out.

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
The Director of the film is Prawaal Raman,the director of Gayab(2004) which was a dud at boxoffice and Darna Zaroori Hain(2006) which was again a horror movie.He does better here than those two. Rajjvir Arora is surely the right choice for the role and Imaad Shah though has nothing more to do than few scenes leaves an impression. He's given the music too. Satish Kaushik has done his part well. Nishikant Kamat deserves a round of applause here. Nicely executed climax by him will surely give shivers to all. He is inarguably the pick of the lot.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
The music is composed by Imaad Shah(son of Nasseeruddin Shah and an actor in 404) and sung too. The music is not different, but not same too. Fits in the genre. But should have been better. Promotions of the film were average with posters ranging from the one above and some different ones which surely helped to some extent.Overall,its average

COLLECTIONS:
The movie fared too poorly at the boxoffice.No official reports are available regarding the collection,though only the occupancy is listed which was around 5%-10%

USP:
Nishikant Kamat  and the plot,clearly this deadly combination is worth watching.

FLAWS/WHY IT DIDNT WORK:
The biggest flaw is in us. We seldom watch movies which have no superstars. But aren't superstars created this way? Coming back to the movie, it slows down its pace sometimes and No songs used in the movie although the album was officially released.

WHY SHOULD YOU SEE IT:
Whether you believe the paranormal or not, watch it to support your stance. The movie gives a sort of illusion to what you support, the paranormal or otherwise. I can guarantee you, you wont change your stance regarding it, but do watch it once.

RATING:
4/5

NEW SECTION

With the warm response for the Hollywood on hire section, we are introducing a new section "B for Bollywood". We will feature some must-watch contemporary films which didn't work out when they released but were worth watching. The list focuses only on films that never made it to the hit list and not about the critically acclaimed ones. The Hollywood on hire will be exclusively written by Akshay while I'l be writing this section. Hope we get the same response :-)

Regards,
Viraj

FUKREY

PLOT:
Money matters! doesn't it? Well atleast when you watch this one, you will have to believe this line.A gang of boys dream to make money and then realize.....well id like to end the plot here itself and request all those interested to find out for yourself. The story takes some time settling down in terms of characters.

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
This movie is from the same banner that once produced a metro-youth film some 12 years ago.Yes! Dil Chahta hain. Quite pleasing to watch the actors.Pulkit Samrat(Bittoo Boss fame), Manjot Singh(SOTY and Oye lucky....), Ali Fazal(Joy  Lobo in 3 Idiots) etc are pleasing to watch. The ladies have proved the director's and producer's faith in them. Overall this section scores good. Mrighdeep Lamba has a sort of comeback after his last dud Teen they bhai.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
Ram Sampath has been a revelation in the last couple of years. His music is fresh and vibrant,but I doubt whether we will really remember the contemporary music over the years. Nevertheless music gets 3/5 from me. Promotions have been average minus the unusual name of the movie.

COLLECTIONS:
It had a poor opening 1st week of 17.50 crore net gross with favourable collections on weekdays. But the collections may drop down owing to the competition of Raanjhanaa. Other movies may not affect it as they are of other genre. The 2nd week will clearly indicate the lifetime collections of this movie. I think the collections will be average.

USP:
The script works at times and at times is repetitive, but is surely the USP of the film. Cool bunch of (sort of PJ)jokes will make you giggle.

FLAWS:
Smart comedy lovers will hate this movie. People who loved films on Obama and Osama will feel this film worthless while Khichdi lovers have a feast. Of course of the movie and not real Khichdi :-)

FINAL VERDICT:
You free anytime? Yes, then go for it. Definitely worth your time.

RATING:
3.5/5

YEH JAWAANI HAI DEEWANI

PLOT:
Well, the movie scores in this area as we get to see two contrasting lead roles. Bunny(Ranbir) is an over ambitious guy who wants to visit each and every corner of the world. Naina(Deepika) on the other hand is a no-nonsense girl who is serious about life and family. They meet at a trek and what follows is the rest of the story.Its quite pleasing to watch the two along with Kaki & Aditya Roy Kapoor. The film has a youth feel throughout which will be loved by all age groups

TEAM AND PERFORMANCE:
Ayan is upto his best and we can sense his graph growing with this film. Ranbir has done a lot of hard work for the role. Deepika's role is quite charming and well enacted too.Kalki and Aditya,both,though in supporting roles steal the limelight at times whrough their acting and expressions. Its worth mentioning that Faarooq Sheikh does a nice job in the nearly 5 minutes screen space he gets.

MUSIC AND PROMOTIONS:
Half the battle won here! Music plays and important part in a film's promotions and they score perfect 10 here. The music is excellent with all songs worth listening.The promotions have been great with all major cities have seen the banners all round.Great marketing for the movie by the producers!

COLLECTIONS:
A massive Rs.106 crore collection in week one. Rs. 45 crores in week two keep the film in contention for 200 club.Lets wait and watch.

USP:
Badtameezee ek bimari hain..... Yes Ranbir and actually the whole cast is the USP. Well enacted by all. You shouldnt  miss this one anyway.

FLAWS:
Go for some entertainment.Ignore the flaws if any. The only flaw is that Hero always unites in the end with the heroine...Hehe...but isnt this Bollywood....

FINAL VERDICT:
Go on....a big yes!!!

RATING:
4/5