Main Hoon Na

Rejoice! Director Farah Khan stamps her arrival. Bollywood has yet another star director for the future. Farah Khan’s debut work ’’Main Hoon Na’’ shows the true essence of ’’conventional’’ Bollywood. The impression a person, alien to the world of songs ’n’ fights ’n’ melodrama, has of Bollywood is corroborated with this venture. Wholesome entertainment of the late 70s-early 80s cinema augmented by the late 90s glossy cinema equal ’’Main Hoon Na’’ Farah Khan successfully blends many discrete ingredients together into a hearty meal. The optimistic Indo-Pak friendship, typical Bollywood lost ’n’ found garnished by good songs and comedy make the dish which is ’’Main Hoon Na’’

Shah Rukh Khan plays an army major (thank god not the usual college lover boy at last!) who along with his father Nasseruddin Shah, an army guy too is working on a friendship enterprise with Pakistan. Things go awry when court martial ex-army soldier Suneil Shetty makes his intentions clear. Cut to track two - SRK has an estranged step mother and brother. A reunion with them is the top item on his fathers agenda. Zayed Khan plays the step brother, a happy go lucky - live life to the fullest - kind of a college lover boy. Amrita Rao plays an army generals daughter and Zayed’s love interest. Sushmita Sen is the sweet dream-come-true teacher for any male student. Comic characters in the shape of Bindu, Satish Shah and Boman Irani have their own unique abnormalities and add the comic flavour to this cocktail. How SRK plans to satisfy his fathers wishes of friendship with Pakistan and the union with his step family while countering Suneil Shetty’s profane plans forms the essence of MHN.

Performance wise everyone performs within themselves. Shah Rukh Khan gives an admirably different performance this time around, bereft of his usual mushy-mushy emotional rants. Seeing him speak something about his country and its relations with Pakistan is a welcome relief than his usual love issues with multiple heroines. Zayed Khan is a star of the future. His diction shows promise. Though his body coordination with dialogues is not still upto the mark, it will only improve. Amrita Rao looks innocently cute and plays her part with conviction. She is certainly a breath of fresh air. Sushmita Sen looks smashing in her Manish Malhotra saris and carries herself off elegantly. Suneil Shetty gives a knockout performance as the bad guy. His dialogues and diction convey his cruel intentions aptly. Comedians Satish Shah, Boman Irani and Bindu are perfect in their interesting characters and make the viewer laugh almost everytime they appear on screen. Kiron Kher performs well as the step mother.

Farah Khan shows why she is a future force to reckon with. With her story and direction along with some part of the screenplay, she convinces the viewer how entertaining hardcore Bollywood can be. The one-take opening song, the overall choreography and loads of funny incidents are the feathers in this directors hat. Some ’’Matrix’’ like special effects make the proceedings interesting. These effects have been used in the usual action scenes and also in one comedy scene involving Satish Shah. That is some innovative use of technology! Anu Malik and Javed Akhtar once again render melodious and foot tapping music. The fact that Farah and Anu had been working on the music for more than a year is showing clearly. Anu’s music arranger and friend Ranjit Barot gives a blowing background score. Ranjit has been in the background (general sense) for a long time and its high time he gets attention. With Anu only the sky is a limit for him. Farah seems to have given a lot of thought in picturizing the songs especially the end titles song where the entire crew of actors and technicians flaunt their name placards while they dance their hearts out.

MHN succeeds in bringing a smile to the viewers face after he has had an liberal helping of this spicy and juicy Bollywood dish. For the hardcore Bollywood fan this close to three hours treat should not be missed at any cost!

Murder

Another Mahesh Bhatt movie trying to look Hollywood. Anurag Bose is the new whizkid from the Bhatt team and rightly so. The direction stands out in the general look as well as the going ons. But alas, as the golden bollywood dictum or in general any successful movie dictum no script no no no...nothing. Although the titles say the story is also by Anurag Bose you’d wish. Excerpts from the hollywood blockbuster ’’Unfaithful’’ and direct lift offs from the same screenplay abound in Murder. Right from the starting scene where the wife meets the other man (in rain as compared to the storm in the english version) to the seduction scenes with focus on the wife’s tummy the screenplay relies too much on the already made version.

Cast wise Mallika Sherawat gets ample scope to bolster her self declared status of the latest bollywood sex symbol (CNN rated her as India’s Youth icon.. oh. commmoonn....) but she needs more on acting and makeup front. Ashmit Patel shows some stature in his serious character. Mahesh Bhatt nephew Hashmi looks like the Bollywood version of Colin Farell though not remotely close on the performance. With a few movies and some grooming this one has potential nonetheless.. Patel shows a better body cut than Hashmi and both flaunt their skin with able competition from Sherawat! Raj Zutshi is passable but his comic attire as a sardarji (?) police is appalling.

The story looks gripping at parts especially the end scenes where the twist in the tale is revealed but overall is a forgetful affair. Unexplainable situations abound e.g. Ashmit Patel dragging something (I won’t reveal what) on a busy road and nobody even staring at him or informing the police etc.

The songs are good and Anu Malik looks in form. Some songs are like the screenplay - ’’inspired’’ but melodious to the ear nonetheless. The music is well blended with the story but it would had been justice to the film if the music was restricted to the music album itself. Overall, the movie has its moments, but you would do yourself no harm by not seeing this one!

Ab Tak Chhappan

If Satya was the Bollywood’s answer to the Quentin
Tarantino kind of Cinema, Ab Tak Chhappan only
enhances the answer. While Ram Gopal Varma’s classics
Satya and Company glamorized the underworld, ATC
upholds the crime controllers of Mumbai, especially
the controversial Encounter Cops. Shimit Amin, the
editor of RGV’s Bhoot, is a welcome extension of the
RGV style direction. RGV’s mantra of not letting good
ideas go waste due to the limited time he has with
him, by handing over the reigns to capable young men
(there have been no women yet, but who knows.. keep
watching...) is turning out very well for Bollywood
and the select audience his kind of movies has made.
ATC fares well among a wider audience nonetheless,
especially the ardent followers of Nana Patekar.

Slick editing (a usual with the newer RGV movies),
hitting dialogues, unusual camera moves, taut
screenplay with incidents coming out of nowhere to the
viewers surprise abound in ATC and make it a
thoroughly enjoyable affair. The life and workings of
the (in)famous encounter cops are depicted in
immaculate style. The involvement of the politicians
in the affair, the rapport of junior-senior police
officers has been depicted genuinely. The proceedings
completely lack glamour and all the incidents look
real. The no-nonsense attitude shown by the police
(and gangsters) makes the plot interesting. Things
move at even pace throughout the movie throwing light
on various aspects of an encounter cop’s personal and
professional life. The story digresses a bit after the
interval and starts lacking the logic maintained till
this point but makes sense again near the end. A lot
of reviews have said that the end looks nonsense but I
beg to differ. Although there are some flaws in the
screenplay which don’t justify the end with respect to
the events that lead upto it, its still a innovative
plot. It takes the viewer by surprise.

Performance wise the entire ensemble is awesome (as
with most RGV movies). Nana Patekar is in complete
control of his character and makes an impression that
he almost lives it everyday. His cohorts in Kunal
Vijaykar and Yashpal Sharma are also excellent. While
Vijaykar depicts the more easy going kind of a
policeman, Sharma plays a jealous junior solely
interested in making more ’’encounters’’ and increase
the numbers in his scrap book. Nakul Vaid plays the
novice in the team with conviction. His expressions
show the inexperience of a newcomer and his diction
and actions hint his willingness to learn. Revathi as
Nana’s wife plays her small part as normal as a
housewife. Hrishita Bhatt does not get much scope but
overacts at times. Prasad Purandare as the underworld
down is a revelation. His chin beard and the general
getup augmented by his facial expressions make his
character look as real as Nana’s. Mohan Agashe plays
his role with integrity as does Jeeva as the corrupt
commissioner of police. The background score from
Salim-Suleiman is worth mentioning. RGV is the best
thing that has happened to this talented music duo.
The sky is the limit for them with RGV.

Things look bright for Bollywood with RGV’s
non-escapist cinema. The talent that he has and
produces through others augurs well for the hindi
movie future. Don’t miss out on Ab Tak Chhappan. It
would be an insult to Ram Gopal Varma.