Do u wanna "Partner"

which ones better Hitch or Partner...very difficult to say since both are equally good....each of them better in their own rights....

Partner is just an Indianized version of Hitch...with its share of David dhawan antics....another David film in the category of "leave ur brains at home" (but I watched the movie at home so didnt leave my brains anywhere)....completely timepass wholesomely entertaining movie....almost the entire plot and 50% of the scenes are copied from Hitch..but who cares as long as the movie is engaging

the camaraderie between Salman and Govinda is absolutely brilliant and hilarious....wish Katrina had a bigger role and more screen presence..she was relegated to backseat....in contrast Amber Valletta had a much bigger and authorbacked role in Hitch.....Lara was good..Amin Haji (the child from Fanaa) is once again in top form....

The golden touch which David Dhawan had lost in late 90s and early 2000s seems to have returned back with 3 back to back hits (Mujhse shaadi karogi, Maine pyar kyur kiya and Partner)....

A couple of songs viz. title song and You are my love are pretty hummable...Soni de nakhre too is not bad....

Federer wins but Nadal impresses

finally was relieved to see Federer win his 5th consecutive Wimbledon title and thus equaling Borg's streak....this was his 11th grand glam win but I assumed this was the hardest...Nadal was over the top for most of the games...just a few mistakes from Nadal in the final set cost him the game....Federer had a lot of unforced errors to his name as against Nadal.....

Nadal has shown terrific improvement in 2007 ....he truly is turning out to be Federer's rival not only in clay but on all sort of surfaces...Watch out Federer; Nadal may turn out to be a thorn on your march to win the max number of grand slams.....

Movie Review: First half of 2007

Its been a long time since I have written a review on a Hindi film (i suppose Guru was the last one)....well rather than writing the review on each of the films separately, me decided to recap the 6 months gone by.

Black Friday (10/10): Powerful movie....direction, screenplay and editing were spot on...performances of each and every character was excellent....

Tara Rum Pum (6/10): Big disappointment from the Yashraj camp....Siddharth's second outing was a bad rehash of Days of Thunder....moreover Saif's and Rani's acting was also not exceptional...songs were good but not something which will be remembered after the year has gone by...

Parzania (7/10): Another good movie which became a bit monotonous towards the end...moreover this movie has lot of similarities with Bombay

Namaste London (6/10): Never had high expectations from this movie...movie was so-so....i thought it was just a copy of several movies (Hero Hindustani, Pardes, Raamji Londonwale)....some of the dialogues were good...songs were really good specially Dilruba and Main Jahaan Rahoon.....

1:40 ki last local (9/10): Really loved this movie....Abhay is a terrific actor when it comes to comedy...all his movies (Socha na tha, Ahista Ahista, Honeymoon Travels) have been good...he is the only one in the industry who is choosing light hearted movies....he is Amol palekar and Farooque Shaikh of today's era...

Honeymoon Travels (8/10): Nice cute movie....KK and Raima Sen were terrific...songs were good (Pyar ki ek kahaani, Halke Halke, Sajnaaji)...dunno why Halke Halke was not marketed well....

Guru(7/10): It deserves 7 points just for Abhishek's acting and Maiyya Maiyya song (not the video but the vocals in the song)

Bheja Fry (10/10): It one of the better comedy films of recent times.....Vinay Pathak was simply superb in this film....

Eklavya (9/10): Acting was top grade from everyone...be it Amitabh, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Khan, Jimmy or Raima Sen...Vidya Balan was somewhat wasted...direction is till now the best of this year...

Salaam-e-ishq (3/10): Nothing to write about this movie....a big big disappointment...however songs were exceptional.

Cheeni Kum (9/10): the combo of Amitabh and Tabu was deadly....Tabu handled the lighter scenes really well....even the child actress was good....

Shootout at lokhandwala (6/10): Didnt njoi this movie that much....somehow the characters looked fake...

The Train (4/10): Bad acting by everyone (Emraan, Sayali and Geeta)...songs are among the best of the year...

Life in a Metro (10/10): Another excellent movie..Shilpa, Irfan and Konkona was superb...the entire track of Irfan and Konkona was hilarious...music is the best of this year...

Fool n Final (3/10): bad remake of Snatch(a must see film)

I havent seen Awarapan(mindblowing music) , Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (already a box office disappointment), Apne (killer starcast) and Aap Ka suroor (multi talented Himesh) yet....

A R Rahman concert in NY (16th June 2007)

was lucky enuf to catch the AR Rahman 3rd dimensional concert in Long Island, NY last weekend....the show was about to begin at 8 but we (myself, Harshad and ungle) were so excited that we reached there by 6:30 PM....already by that time people had started pouring in at the Nassau Coliseum....by the time i was inside the stadium I had met many of my junior college frenz, undergrad mates and colleagues who all had come to catch this magical nite.....

the show kickstarted at 8:35...this was as per IST....the first song of the evening was the masterpiece "Jaage Hai" from Guru....there was some sound problem during the first 2 songs and hence the lyrics were not clear...but who cares about the lyrics when Rahman is playing...what a way to start the show...amongst my fav songs composed by Rahman recently....Rahman looked dapper in a purple chudidar... the next song to be played was the energetic number "Khalbali" from RDB.... rahman then left the stage and his troop took over.....
Sukhvinder and Neeti were first to take the lead with "Ramta Jogi"..this was followed by "Ayo re sakhi" from Water...Sukhvinder sang this song so well along with Sadhana Sargam that I was awe-struck...somehow I didnt notice this song when I saw the movie...but now after the concert this song ranks among the best rendered songs...Rahman too regards this songs as one of his best compilations....

Hariharan followed it up with the evergreen "Roja Jaaneman" from Roja...this was the song that catapulted Rahman (his first movie as composer) to stardom....none of the Rahman's recent concerts are complete without Sivaji...he sang close to 4-5 songs from Sivaji...the first one to be sung was "Vaaji"..Hariharan and Madhushree were dancing throughout while singing this song....the next Sivaji song was "Sahana Saaral" by Vijay Yesudas and Chitra...

Naresh Iyer took over for the next 2 songs "Be a rebel" and "Roobaroo"....by this time the audience were up on their feets and dancing merrily....the next 2 songs were sung in Hindi as well as Tamil...."Kehna hi Kya" from Bombay and "Kabhi Neem" from Yuva...the mukhda and 1st antra were in Hindi whereas the 2nd antra was in Tamil...Hariharan and his team then turned up in somewhat a remixed version of "Ghanan Ghanan" from Lagaan

then there were a couple of more Sivaji numbers...but then came the best part of the day "Chaiyya Chaiyya" from Sukhvinder....during this song almost the entire 13000 junta was dancing in their aisles...this 6 minute song was converted into a 10 min song because the audience was njoing so much that Sukhvinder could not resist but extend the last antra by bringing tremendous variations in his voice...Rahman then sung the brilliant " Dilse re" from Dil Se.

then the find of the evening Aslam Khan sang Kesariya Balam...i assume that this is the song from Dor...Rahman during this tour had picked up 2 singers from US thru a talent hunt...one of the guys was from Dilawar (Delaware) and the other was from Texas...they sang "Mitwa" from Lagaan and "Yeh Tara" from Swades.... Sivamani then turned up with his amazing solo performance....this guy is simply mindblowing....there was also a small piece of jugalbandi with another guy which too was brilliant....

Rahman then sung a song from his new international album "Pray for me brother"...this was a song dedicated to poor all over the world.....all the spectators were waving their cell phones (with lites on) during this performance...the sight was worth a spectacle... this was followed by an unplugged version of "Tu hi re (Bombay)" from Hariharan and "Aie Hairate(Guru)" from Hariharan and Sadhna Sargam...

then came my best song/performance of the day...this was "Maiyya Maiyya" from Guru...this was sung by Neeti Mohan...Neeti Mohan was one of the babes from the Aasma band (Chandu ke chacha) from V Popstars...her performance, overall look, voice modulation, belly dance was simply stupendous...this is among the most difficult songs to sing and she turned up aces with this one...this dame should be given more opportunities in Bollywood...

then there were some more songs which moved the show towards climax: "Ni Main samajh gayee (Taal)", "Ik Onkar (RDB)" and "Rang de basanti(RDB)"...Aslam Khan sang the title song of RDB really well and had this talent been discovered earlier Rahman would have taken him instead of Daler....

then came my fav Tamil song "Secret of Success" from Boys...Naresh and Blaaze sang this song really well...the show ended with Rahman singing "Humma" from Bombay and "Vande Mataram".....

the 3.5 hrs show got over so fast that audience were longing for more....there were some songs which I wished could have been performed but thats fine considering the time these guys have to perform....some of them were
"Nahi Saamne" from Taal by Sukhvinder
"Chupke se" from Saathiya by Sadhna Sargam
"Banno Rani" from 1947-Earth
"Yaakai thiri/Fanaa" from Yuva
"Chanda re" from Sapnay

Well here are some pics from the show
Pics from Rahman Show

Johny saves the sinking Black Pearl

This movie was a disappointment...what an anti-climax to the built-up that was created by POTC-2...Johny was the only saving grace in the film though not on par with POTC 1 and 2....Barbossa (Geoff rush) too was mediocre...Orlando as usual was bland....however Keira showed a terrific improvement over 1 and 2.....

visuals are stunning....especially the last 45 minutes (the entire fight between flying dutchman and black pearl)....

if ratings need to be given to each of the installments then POTC-1 wld get 10/10, POTC-2 would settle with 8.5/10 and POTC-3 will get 7/10....

anyways Jack Sparrow rocks and who cares if the movie was bad....though i wld like to see an animated film on POTC with voiceover by Johny Depp

My celebrity lookalikes

Guys....check out this website www.myheritage.com.....it parses ur face and matches up to celebs in its database.....
with a diff pic u will have diff matches....i bear similarities to figo, sachin and williams....yahooooooooooooooooooo


I tried a different pic of mine and this time it matched it with Tarantino, Roddick and Val

Music review: This "Train" is not to be missed

another classy album after Life in a metro.....this album catches your attention on the first hearing itself....this is a typical emraan hashmi album....each and every song is a chartbuster....mithoon is truly turning out to be the pick of the lot...first he impressed with the "Wo lamhe" version in Zeher, followed up with some of the best songs in the past couple yrs: Bas Ek pal (Tere Bin) and Anwar (Tose naina lage and Maula mere)...

the album starts off with a bang with Wo Ajnabee...an out n out club number which has the composer behind the mike....Mithoon as well as sing the sing pretty well....this song is currently the number 1 song (the album is already no.1) in the indian music charts...

this is followed by KK singing beetein lamhe which has the Mithoon touch all over it....KK once again impresses in a sing which is tailor made for him...

teri tamanna till now is my fav song of the year....i m completely mesmerized by this track....the promos off this song have not started yet..but once it starts the music sales will sky rocket......the number is so peppy that you will start humming it as soon as u listen it....

mausam is another brilliant track which bears resemblance to aadat (na jaane kabse) and tere bin(bas ek pal) and the video is also beautifully shot...

the remixes are also good to the ears and one would love listening to them as well....

all in all a must buy album

Spidey 3: These webs are intertwined

Movie is an absolute downer....never expected this from Sam after his previous outing in Spidey 2....

the movie starts off well with the action sequence between Harry and Peter...however the entrance of Sandman and presence of gwen stacy (the beautiful Bryce Howard) mars the proceedings....the movie suffers from too many villains viz. Sandman, Harry, Eddie and Peter himself with few negative shades....the track involving Gwen was not needed.....also they could have done away with one of the villains (probably sandman)...Harry's character was a bit uncanny....in the start he wants to kill Peter, then after recovery he befriends him (because of memory loss), later he plots against him and in the end again fights on his side.....

Tobey is good as Peter aka Spiderman...one can truly see his acting skills in the scenes on the street and the restaurant when the black spider takes over him.....Kirsten is strictly ok...she didnt look as beautiful as her previous 2 installments....Harry is brilliant with different shades.....Bryce is a visual treat...she never looked that good in any of her previous movies (village or lady in the water)...however not much was required from her either....Tom Hadden Church aka sandman (Paul's buddy from Sideways) too didnt have much scope and his character was underdeveloped...also the movie didnt show what happened to him at the end.....

The stunts were excellent and so were the visuals....But that is expected from a Spidey movie....

Showcasing Johnny Depp

He is the most versatile Hollywood actor of this generation...He even surpasses Tom Hanks due to the variety of roles he has played. He is so eccentric in each of his roles that you always get to see a different aspect of this guy.

Till previous month I had seen only a handful of Johnny Depp movies (including Pirates 1 and 2) but within the past few weeks I have seen many of his movies and am right now in a position to review his acting in each of his films that I have seen

1) Pirates of the Caribbean 1 and 2: Johnny Depp's biography/profile is incomplete without Jack Sparrow. Jack is perhaps the most celebrated/whimsical character played onscreen. He is such a lovable character that even the harshest critics of Johnny will vouch for this performance. If there is one performance which was worthy of an Oscar then it was his portrayal of Jack Sparrow (he was nominated for it). I still have a big Jack Sparrow poster in my room. Am desperately waiting for Pirates 3 to release


2) Ed Wood: This is the movie which I saw today and he acted really well as a transvestite. He played the role of a struggling director to a T.








3) Chocolat: Johnny played a very very sweet gypsy in this movie. He had a brief role in this feel good movie yet its impact was noteworthy. He looked his best (in terms of appearance) in this movie.










4) Charlie and chocolate factory: No current actor would have played Willy Wonka better than Johnny. His overall getup in the movie was also praiseworthy so were his expressions.










5) Blow: He was brilliant as George Jung. Even though the film may get boring at times his performance was excellent throughout. Penelope was wasted in this movie.





6) Donnie Brasco: The best actor of this generation (Johnny) and of the last generation (Al Pacino) coming together in this real life drama on Donnie Brasco and Lefty. Both of them gave a riveting performance.






7) Secret window: Johnny was amazing as the scared writer in this movie. I had seen this movie a couple of yrs back when I was not a big johnny fan but still I enjoyed his performance in this movie.







8) Sleepy Hollow: One of my favourite Johnny depp films because of his entire body language and acting. He was simply superb as detective Ichabod Crane











9) Finding Neverland: He brilliantly portrayed the character of Jim Barrie in this oscar nominated role. His character was a lot subdued then any of the characters he had played but yet he was pleasant to watch.










He played a real life character in Blow, Ed Wood and Donnie Brasco. Also he is going to play real life characters in Sweeney Todd (directed by his fav Tim Burton) and Shantaram (based on an Australian who took refuge in Mumbai. By looking at this it seems that he has a penchant for true life characters.

Some of his movies that I am planning to watch in the coming days are Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Whats Eating Gilbert grape and Don Juan de marco....

Also it is rumored that he is going to be a part of Sin City 2....if this is true then I cant wait to see the combination of Tarantino and Depp onscreen....

Music review: Life In a Metro

Anurag-Shiney-Pritam pair is back a year after Gangster....the music of gangster was among the best albums last yr (probably the hottest selling)..singers gave amongst their best performances (ya ali -zubeen, tu hi meri shab hai-KK, lamha lamha -abhijeet, bheegi - james) in that album....so the expectations were really high....

and boy they do meet the expectations (or shld i say exceed them).....unarguably the best album of this year...the album bears traces of gangster and bas ek pal....but that is just the overall look of the album....pritam is definitely turning out to be an ace music composer in the past few yrs (dhoom, gangster, ankahee)....

also this turns out to be KK best album so far....he has sang his heart out in Alvida and O meri jaan.....just listen to his voice modulation in Alvida and you would know how talented this singer is....also check the Oooooo Oooooos in O meri jaan...

newcomer suhail is brilliant in the unplugged version of baatein kuch ankahee

on 1st hearing Kar Salaam sounds like Gaate the pehle akele (Khamoshi) and Guitar (Apna sapna money money)...however only the base is common....everything else from singing to arrangements are different....this is the weakest song of this album...one has to see how it turns up on screen...

Soham is extremely competent in In dino....this track is currently getting agressively promoted...

James is top guns in Rishtey...he continues from where he left off in Bheegi Bheegi (Gangster)

the music in each song is different and is top class....hats off to pritam for this song.....

Driving down the "Mulholland Drive"

I had a mind boggling experience watching this film....one of the best movies to be churned out in the new millenium....a 2.5 hr film that shocks you and keeps you guessing specially in the last half hour of the film....I cannot expect any Bollywood director make such a film...a 2.5hr film which you might find boring at one point of time but the last quarter of the film stuns you...my passion for Hollywood films in the past few months has made me appreciate Hollywood more than Bollywood...I no longer find Bollywood films interesting...Memento, Fight Club, Prestige, Snatch, Blood Diamond, Gladiator are some of the brilliant films I have seen in the last couple of months and now add Mulholland Drive to that...

You have to see this film 2-3 times to understand it....I saw it twice in a single day (though the second time I just saw selected scenes) and had to refer several websites to find out what was happening. Even the ever reliable Moviespoiler website failed in understanding this movie....this movie is a big jigsaw puzzle like Memento where it is upto the audience to tie various pieces....

David Lynch(director) has come out aces with this film...will have to watch his other films...Naomi Watts and Laura Harring excel in a tailormade role...

He is backkkkkkkkk

cant wait to see johnny perform the memorable Jack Sparrow character.....Waiting with bated breath for 25th May......

Check the HD trailer

There can be no "Prestige" without mystery....

Movie Review: The Prestige

Stand up guys and applaud another cinematic masterpiece from Christopher Nolan.I cant stop raving abt this accomplished director...first Memento and now The Prestige..the movie starts off really well and keeps one glued till the end..and when the end comes it jolts you...you wouldn't have expected this...also as Memento it leaves some questions unanswered and hence it is upto the audience to think what happened..

Set in late 19th century, this film is about 2 rival magicians Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale who are trying to win the battle of tricks..each one wants to do the ultimate trick which would prove that he is the greatest magician in England.Hugh is under the guidance of Michael Caine while Christian has Scarlett Johansson (little miss snow white) as her accomplice...the run up to the ultimate trick "the transported man" takes a heavy toll on both of their lives.Andy Serkis (Gollum from LOTR) and David Bowie also play their part well..

Like Memento, Nolan succeeds in showing scenes cut back and forth between present and past...the cinematography and art direction is neat and that is apparent with Oscar nominations in both the categories..wish this film could have been nominated in the editing and adapted screenplay category as well..

Interesting Blog on Sonu Nigam

Check this blog as well as other Sonu Nigam blogs by this guy....truly amazing

Blog

Filmfare Awards: I hate them

Read this article to believe it....so true

http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/02/17/2265/index.html

"Memento" for the rest of life

Just saw this movie (Memento) yesterday....amongst the finest movies ever to hit Hollywood.....one is awe-struck with the manner in which the film is shot/edited....each scene shot fits into the frame perfectly.....the screenplay too is class apart...if someone needs to take a lesson in editing, story telling and screenplay then one needs to watch this film first.....the story is narrated in a highly convoluted manner juxtaposing scenes in the reverse chronological order (shown in color) and chronological order (black and white scenes).....though nominated for academy awards in 2002 for best screenplay and editing it didnt win the awards.....however this film went on to win several awards in the screenplay, editing and best picture category......

Director Christopher Nolan is at his best...i am desperately waiting for The Prestige to come out on DVD on 20th Feb.....Nolan has struck thrice in a row now (Memento, Batman Begins, Prestige).....Guy Pearce(Leonard) and Joe (Teddy) have acted really well.....

this film leaves a lot of questions unanswered and particularly the climax opens a can of worms which leaves the audience with 1000 questions in mind.....

a must see film for all hardcore movie fans.....not to be missed

Guru bhai aavya che

cld have been better
cld have been shorter
cld have been more stylized
cld have done without 2-3 songs especially tere bina and barso re
cld have done without Vidya Balan and Madhavan (sheer waste of talents)..any Jack and Jill cld have done their part

movie definitely lacks the Maniratnam tch...the movie tremendously misses his deft finesse and silken touch...direction is not at all exceptional...though some scenes have been executed well like the Abhishek-Mithun-Madhavan argument at Mithun's place, Abhishek-Madhavan confrontation at Madhavan's home and the climax......editing lives a lot to be desired....

Songs like Barso re and tere bina impedes the speed of the film....movie moves at snail's pace in the post interval scenes.....

In terms of acting, Abhishek takes the entire cake with some small bits and pieces left for Mithun and Aishwarya.....Abhishek fits the character of Gurukant Desai perfectly...his dialogue delivery, physical appearance, walk are spot on.....the climax scene at the court as well as the cricket stadium are clap/whistle worthy.......Aishwarya acts well in the courtroom sequence....Arya Babbar as Aish's sister is ok.....Madhavan and Vidya do justice to their role...Mithun is back with a bang after a string of inconsequential roles in the past 2-3 yrs....

Some of the songs are great like Aey Hairate, Baazi Laga my fav (though was not included in the final cut) and Jaage Hai

My overall rating: 2.5/5

Flashback 2006: Top Movies

Finally a recap of the top films of the year....listing them in order

Lage Raho Munnabhai:
Probably one of the finest movies in recent times...mixed humor with social message splendidly...direction was top class so was editing...Arshad and Sanjay yet again formed a terrific duo...all the actors continued from where they left...Vidya (though she looked a bit overweight) was gorgeous...Gandhi was remembered after a long time which was evident from the percentage increases in people going to Sabarmati on 2nd october...
Click here for review


Rang de Basanti:
Another winner in terms of conveying the social message...this film actually invigorated Indians to raise their voice for the Jessica Lal murder case....best directorial effort of the year...cinematography was A1 so was the music....this was the best cast ensemble once has seen in a long time....each character potrayed his/her part well...Aamir as usual excelled in this film..Siddharth played his part well and was able to carry off the climax perfectly....this movie was on par with LRM...so the top position would be shared by RDB and LRM..also I was wrong about the impact of this film when I reviewed it...
Click here for review


Pyar ke Side effects:
Best Hinglish film of the year....Rahul was simply awesome in this film...I have seen this film atleast 6-7 times just for Rahul's performance...but I would not take the credit away from Ranvir and Mallika for giving a polished performance....Ranvir in particular was absolutely funny...he is one of the actors whose potential is untapped....some of the scenes (coffee date, scoreboard scene, dinner time confrontation) will be remembered for a long time....
Click here for review

Khosla ka Ghosla:
Another comic caper in the lines of PKSE...this was a perfect Delhi film...no director in Bollywood has been able to portray Delhi in the same way as done in this film..Anupam played his part well...but the hero of the film was Ranvir (once again)....if his performance in PKSE was worth 10/10 then KKG deserved 20/10....even though the basic plot of the film was a serious issue it was dealt in a very light hearted manner....Navin and Parvin also played their part well......

Omkara:
perfect adaption of Othello by Vishal Bharadwaj....this film surely will garner several music as well as critics' award...many actors like Saif, Konkona and Kareena gave their best performance in this...Langda Tyagi (played brilliantly by Saif; finest performance of the year) is simply the best villanous character played in Bollywood (even better than Gabbar, Mogambo, Shakaal)..Beedi would rank as one of the better item numbers rendered brilliantly by Sunidhi....dialogues too are award-worthy...

Dor:
Another gem of a film from Nagesh...though not on par with Hyderabad blues and Iqbal this film still was one of the best films of the year....no one expected Ayesha and Gul to act so well...Shreyas as baharupiya was funny..but I would say that Nagesh was wasted in an insignificant role.....

Films like Jaan-e-mann, Gangster, Taxi No. 9211 and Krrish complete the top 10 list.....

Sonu at his best again : Baawri Piya ki

This song from Baabul keeps growing on you like anything......without doubt all credits should go to Sonu....he has sung this song with such a passion that no one in the industry will be able to carry off this song.....mindblowing number.....simply among the best rendered songs in Bollywood.... Hats off to Sonu.....

Flashback 2006: My award picks

This is my list for this year's awards

My award Picks for 2006

Best Director: Rakesh Mehra for RDB (Raju Hirani follows closely)
Best Film : Lage raho Munnabhai (RDB follows closely)
Best Actor: Aamir (RDB)
Best Actress: Kajol (Fanaa)
Best Supporting Actor: Abhishek (KANK)
Best Supporting Actress: Konkona Sen (Omkara)
Best Actor in Negative role: Saif (Omkara)
Best Actor in Comic role: Arshad (LRM)
Best Music: A R Rahman, RDB
Best Lyrics: Sau Dard, Jaan-e-mann
Best Male Singer: Sonu, Baawri Piya (Baabul)
Best Female Singer: Sunidhi, Beedi (Omkara)
Best Story: Lage raho Munnabhai
Best Screenplay : Rang de Basanti
Critics Best Film: Omkara
Critics Best Director: Vishal for Omkara