Showing posts with label Bhushan Kumar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bhushan Kumar. Show all posts

Wednesday, 21 December 2016

Wajah Tum Ho~ 50 Shades of Boredom



Release date- 16th December 2016

One Word which describes the film- Boring

Lamest Dialogue- "Qatil koi aur hi hai. Yeh pata lagane mein hi toh is vardi ki shaan hai, varna vardiyan toh kiraye pe bhi milti hai."

Genre- Crime Thriller 

Music- Mithoon, Meet Bros

Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar

Story- Sameer Arora

Direction- Vishal Pandya

Cast- Sharman Joshi, Sana Khan,Gurmeet Chaudhary, Rajneesh Duggal, Prarthana Behere, Himanshoo Malhotra

Budget- 15-20 Crores approximately

Wajah Tum Ho was advertised as a thriller from the makers of Hate Story 2 & 3. However, the film failed to generate the same kind of excitement as the director's earlier two films.

The film is about a person who hacks a TV channel and streams a murder on it. The idea was quite new but the way it was executed clearly told us that the director was as clueless about hacking as any of us.

The erotic thriller genre was reinvented in 2004 when Anurag Basu gave us Murder which also popularized Emran Hashmi as the serial kisser of Bollywood. Since then the idea has been exploited a lot by film makers but very few have been able to hit the bull's eye.

The film starts with a murder followed by an  investigation scene between a cop and the TV channel owner. Before we can blink our eyes, we are taken to some exotic location where Sana Khan is being romanced (rather smooched)  by one hero, on the recreated version of Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, sung by Arijit Singh.

Some scenes later we get to see Zarine Khan doing a pole dance/ slithering on the recreated version of  'Maahi Ve', looking extremely fat, making us think of the gorgeous Malaika Arora in the original song from Kaante.

As if this much torture was not enough next we see Sherlyn Chopra too, who is trying to make her presence felt in Bollywood since the last 11 years. She tries to seduce one of the heroes in the swimming pool with Armaan Malik singing the recreated version of 'Aise na mujhe tum dekho' from Darling Darling(1977).

Sana Khan who has been doing small roles since 2005, gets her first protagonist role and she has totally sabotaged any chance of getting another film again. In most of the scenes she kept shouting in loud voice as if she was still in the Big Boss's house. There was no chemistry in the kissing scenes which she must have readily agreed to do because of the script's demand. Her dialogue delivery was bad and in one scene she also says, "I likes" which sounded unintentionally funny.

Rajneesh Duggal had a promising debut in 2008 with Vikram Bhatt's, 1920, but since then he has given only flops. In this film also his character does nothing except saying some lame dialogues and hitting on girls. He stays expressionless throughout the film.   

Gurmeet Chaudhary was added to encash on his TV popularity. He gets to romance Sana Khan on various occasions but the two have no chemistry and so they fail to generate any interest.

Sharman Joshi as ACP Kabir is the only saving grace of the film. He tries to put some sense in the film with his acting but his character is made to say lame lines like 
"Himmat tab mat dikhao jab aasaan ho" or "Revenge, you have many faces". Most of the time he's either talking to himself or just happens to solve the crime by chance. His subordinate, Asst Inspector Gaitonde is always smiling as if he gets some secret pleasure in beating criminals.

While watching the film one feels as if the director made it in utter laziness. There are 5-6 characters and by the end each of them is somehow linked to the murders. The film keeps oscillating between the murders and the erotic songs  which makes us wonder why the film was made in the first place.

In a scene Sana Khan asks a lady, "Are you really going to sleep with this rapist?" to which she answers ,"Will you pay my bills?".
Guess the director too thought that making this film was an easy way to mint money but sometimes even the best laid plans go askew.

The film was released in 2000 screens and because of bad reviews and poor word of mouth it collected around 8 Crores which was even lesser than the first day collection of Hate Story 3.

In a line, the only purpose of making this was to encash on the success of last year's mega hit Hate Story 3, but the audience was wise enough to ignore this booty trap.

Highly Avoidable.

Sunday, 20 November 2016

Tum Bin 2- Good Music, Bad film

Release date- 18th Nov 2016

One Word which describes the film- Monotonous

Best Dialogue- "Life mein joh hum chahte hai aur joh hum chunte hai, uske beech mein hamari kamzori chupi hoti hai, aur kabhi kabhi taqat."

Genre- Romance/ Drama

Music- Ankit Tiwary, Nikhil-Vinay

Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Anubhav Sinha

Story & Direction- Anubhav Sinha

CastNeha Sharma, Aashim Gulati, Aditya Seal

Budget- 20 Crores approximately including P & A

In 2001, Anubhav Sinha made his directorial debut with Tum Bin which was a surprise hit at the box office, even beating director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's debut film Aks in terms of collection. That a film starring newcomers did better than a film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai and Raveena Tandon was a big surprise for Anubhav Sinha and the film industry.
Guess even after 15 years Anubhav Sinha is still suffering from the hangover of Tum Bin's success.
Tum Bin 2 is definitely the most disappointing sequel which could have been made in the history of Indian cinema.
A sequel is used for a cinematic work which is complete in itself but continues the narrative of a preceding work. Tum Bin 2 looked like an attempt to relive the same story rather than telling us a new story.
The film started with the hit song 'Dekh Lena' sung by Arijit Singh where Neha Sharma and Aditya Seal are shown romancing in the beautiful snow covered Scotland. The film progresses and we get to see more scenic beauty, beautiful houses and streets.
The other hero Aashim Gulati appears and slowly the story starts following the footsteps of Tum Bin. Till interval the story barely manages to hold our interest but afterwards it becomes totally senseless and directionless.
In the start there was a certain chemistry in between the boy and girl but once the third boy enters the story, the film totally loses its plot and we wonder what the director is trying to show. 
We went with the expectation of a fresh love story but what we get to see is the same set of events, where even the main characters were named Shekhar and Amar. 
The item song featuring Mouni Roy and Neha Kakkar was a big disappointment too where Neha Kakkar looked like a fat overweight girl and Mouni Roy hardly got any screen space.
The director even tried to throw a random kiss here and there but by then the audience was so bored that it couldn't save the film.
Neha Sharma and Aashim Gulati are average. Aditya Seal looked good in pictures but the moment he opened his mouth he totally alienated the audience.
The first promo of the film had the hit song "Teri Fariyad" sung by Rekha Bhardwaj with portions from the original song sung by Jagjit Singh. It did create some buzz but music was unable to save a bad story which was made worse by the lecture kind of dialogues like "Life is a summer vacation, it's going to end".
The makers have to realise that in this digital age when there is so much free content in the form of web series, what worked earlier is not going to work now.
The film was released in 1200 screens and has collected less than 2 Crores in 2 days.
In a line, the film is a totally wasted attempt to cash on the success of Tum Bin and has been rejected by the audience.
Avoidable.

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

Junooniyat~ "Love knows not its own depth, until the hour of separation."

Release date- 24th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Picturesque

Best Dialogue- 'Jahan pyar hota hai wahan khalish nahi hoti, aur agar khalish ho to samjho pyar tha hi nahi.'

Genre- Romance/ Drama


Producer- Bhushan KumarKrishan Kumar

Story- Priti Singh


Budget- 10 Crores approximately

The film starts with a beautiful shot of Kashmir showing lush green meadows of flowers with a backdrop of the snow capped mountains.

Ek hawa chooke gayi abhi abhi
Chandni pighal gayi abhi abhi
Yeh mujhe kya ho gaya
Yeh kahan main kho gaya

These words take us back into the era of films like Kabhie Kabhie (1976), when instead of emoticons people expressed their love in form of poems and love notes.
The story is simple. The boy and girl fall in love and not everyone in their lives is happy with this.Their love life has a couple of ups and downs in which they have to weight some choices for themselves against choices for their love together
Although the story sounds like any other love story, the movie itself doesn't try to be sappy or over dramatic. The movie doesn't attempt to make you cry, by putting in over-the-top dramatic filmed moments with loud music and pathos. Instead the movie chooses to take a realistic approach. They meet, spar, fall in love, make choices and then meet again in different circumstances.

The secret to an effective love story lies in it's simplicity. Director Vivek Agnihotri wisely presents the various characters in a concise and straightforward manner, allowing audiences to become enamored with them and later feel their pain.

Forced to keep the film's budget in check, he demonstrates creativity in the staging and handling of the material. We are presented with a kaleidoscope of beautiful sceneries of Kashmir, but equal importance is paid on the the little, telling details such as lanterns hanging from the trees, candles lighted all over the stairway and the walls of the rooms adorned with beautiful pictures.
It's such a colorful film that when I came out of the theater, I found the empty roads too dark and bleak.
Pulkit Samrat looks fit and delivers the poetic lines with emotions. When he tells Yami, 'Agar tum mujhe samjh pati to apology letter nahi, love letter likhti', we feel his love for the girl. He can improve on his expressions in the tragic  scenes though.

Yami Gautam as the chirpy Punjabi girl is good. We get to see her inner conflict when she tells her sister in law, 'Pyar se nahi apani Junooniyat se darti hun'. In some scenes her chemistry with Pulkit looks too real. 

Gulshan Devaiah has a short role but he manages to leave an impact.

The other characters have worked well together to create the impression of a loving family who respects each others' wishes and cares for their happiness. 

The title track of the film 'Junooniyat hai yahi' sung by Falak Shabir is intense and very well describes the theme of the film. Mujhko barsat bana lo sung by Armaan Malik and Ishqe de lat are melodious too.

T Series released a love story, 'Sanam Re' starring the same stars in February which didn't appeal to the audience much. As the pairing had lost the novelty effect it failed to bring the audiences to the theatres.

In a line, the film has a lot of beauty and romantic moments which will stay in your mind long after the film has ended.

Must watch for the Romantics. One time watch.

Junooniyat~ "Love knows not its own depth, until the hour of separation."

Release date- 24th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Picturesque

Best Dialogue- 'Jahan pyar hota hai wahan khalish nahi hoti, aur agar khalish ho to samjho pyar tha hi nahi.'

Genre- Romance/ Drama


Producer- Bhushan KumarKrishan Kumar

Story- Priti Singh


Budget- 10 Crores approximately

The film starts with a beautiful shot of Kashmir showing lush green meadows of flowers with a backdrop of the snow capped mountains.

Ek hawa chooke gayi abhi abhi
Chandni pighal gayi abhi abhi
Yeh mujhe kya ho gaya
Yeh kahan main kho gaya

These words take us back into the era of films like Kabhie Kabhie (1976), when instead of emoticons people expressed their love in form of poems and love notes.
The story is simple. The boy and girl fall in love and not everyone in their lives is happy with this.Their love life has a couple of ups and downs in which they have to weight some choices for themselves against choices for their love together
Although the story sounds like any other love story, the movie itself doesn't try to be sappy or over dramatic. The movie doesn't attempt to make you cry, by putting in over-the-top dramatic filmed moments with loud music and pathos. Instead the movie chooses to take a realistic approach. They meet, spar, fall in love, make choices and then meet again in different circumstances.

The secret to an effective love story lies in it's simplicity. Director Vivek Agnihotri wisely presents the various characters in a concise and straightforward manner, allowing audiences to become enamored with them and later feel their pain.
Forced to keep the film's budget in check, he demonstrates creativity in the staging and handling of the material. We are presented with a kaleidoscope of beautiful sceneries of Kashmir, but equal importance is paid on the the little, telling details such as lanterns hanging from the trees, candles lighted all over the stairway and the walls of the rooms adorned with beautiful pictures.
It's such a colorful film that when I came out of the theater I found the empty roads dark and bleak.
Pulkit Samrat looks fit and delivers the poetic lines with emotions. He can improve on his expressions in the intense scenes though.
Yami Gautam as the chirpy Punjabi girl is good. In some scenes  her chemistry with Pulkit looks too real. 
Gulshan Devaiah has a short role but he leaves impact.

The title track of the film 'Junooniyat hai yahi' sung by Falak Shabir is intense and very well describes the theme of the film. Mujhko barsat bana lo sung by Armaan Malik and Ishqe de lat are melodious too.

T Series released a love story, 'Sanam Re' starring the same stars in February which didn't appeal to the audience much. As the pairing had lost the novelty effect it failed to bring the audiences to the theatres.

In a line, the film has a lot of beauty and romantic moments which will stay in your mind long after the film has ended.

Must watch for the Romantics. One time watch.

Saturday, 9 April 2016

Love Games~ Bad Boys need love too!

Release date- 8th April 2016


One Word which describes the film- Raunchy

Best Dialogue- “Karte raho pyar use, I don’t care, par jab bhi main tumhe mere pas bulau to aate rehna”

Genre- Erotic Thriller


Producer- Mukesh BhattBhushan Kumar

Story & Direction-Vikram Bhatt

CastPatralekhaTara Alisha BerryGaurav Arora,
Hiten Tejwani

Budget- 10-15 Crores

The inherent appeal of an erotic thriller is in the fact that it's bold and sensational and is designed with the intention of titillating the audience and taking them to a dangerous world of fantasy and desires. Since years Hollywood is making big money through erotic thrillers, Fatal Attraction (1987) Basic Instinct (1992), 
Cruel  Intentions (1999),  Unfaithful (2002) etc. 
So basically this genre is not about script or screenplay. It's about the scenes which come to your mind when you recall the film. Basic Instinct is synonymous with the famous interrogation scene where Sharon Stone uncrosses and crosses her legs.

This urban erotica starts and ends with this line~
'Roses are red, violets are blue..sex can be dangerous, but love can be too.'
Patralekha plays the role of a scheming nymphomaniac who is addicted to winning, cocaine and love games. She plays the femme fatale who is out to seduce all and sundry, provided they are rich enough to attend Page 3 parties. She seems comfortable in all the scenes and snorts cocaine like a pro. What she lacks in the dialogue delivery department she makes up with her glamour and body language.
Gaurav Arora is a ramp model who is making his debut with this film. He is the rich guy who is Patralekha's partner in crime in every way. He has a great body and manages to give a decent performance. 
Tara Alisha Berry looks cute and pretty but has few scenes to show her acting capabilities.

A month back before the you tube trailer release, Mahesh Bhatt  tweeted, 'Catch your breath for a second and look what is about to hit you!' The film has certain scenes which have shock value but they end before the audience can get any real voyeuristic pleasure.

Following the current trend, Vikram Bhatt promoted the film a lot on Twitter even saying that it's inspired from his life story. He created a hashtag for it #LoveGamesGyaan. In fact some of the gyaan given by him on Twitter is wittier than some scenes in the film. 
1. Roses are red, violets are blue, you might think it's love, but it's lust using you.
2. Roses are red, violets are blue, if she says sex was 'different', dude you have a lot of work to do!
3. Roses are red, violets are blue, behind every gorgeous woman, there is a bored man too!
4. Roses are red, violets are blue, if you screw trouble, trouble will screw you.
5. Roses are red, violets are blue, there is always a kinky fantasy, she is hiding from you.
6. Roses are red, violets are blue, when you find the angel, the bitch will follow too.
7. Roses are red, violets are blue, doing her and thinking of him, you've some coming out to do!
8. Roses are red, violets are blue, if she says she's 'tied up', it could mean literally too.
9. Roses are red, violets are blue, you'll rarely have the hots, on who has the hots for you!
10. Roses are red, violets are blue, if she's cheating on him, she'll cheat on you!

Reportedly, the Censor Board had a problem with the many cuss words, long kissing scenes and a few drug-addiction scenes and therefore had asked for 18 cuts but finally approved the film with an Adults only certificate.

Music by the duo Sangeet- Siddhart is melodious and almost all the songs have repeat value. There are seven English songs used as background tracks, the lyrics of which are penned by none other than Vikram Bhatt. 
The film earned just 1 crore on Friday which is dismal considering the publicity on social networking sites and TV promos. The film may barely manage to recover it's budget.
In a line it's surely not one of the best erotic thrillers one may come across but if you like this genre you will not be bored.
Time-pass.

Saturday, 22 August 2015

'All is Well that ends well' ~ Pun intended

Release date - 21'st August 2015

One Word which describes the film - Stereotyped


Best Dialogue - Bhaag ke jaao, par dabe paanv jana.'


Genre - Family Drama


Producer - Bhushan Kumar,Krishan KumarShyam Bajaj, Varun Bajaj

Story- Sumit Arora, Niren Bhatt

Direction -Umesh Shukla

Budget- 40 crores approximately

I went to watch this film only because of Umesh Shukla's last directorial venture Oh My God (2012) which I enjoyed to the hilt.
The film started with the song "Tu Milade" where we are shown that Abhishek Bachchan is a struggling musician in Bangkok. He delivers a very heavy duty dialogue, 'Kuch log apne sapno ko sach karna chahte hai isliye wo unke peeche bhagte hai aur kuch log sapno ke peeche is liye bhagte hai kyonki wo apni jindagi ki haqeekat se bhagna chahte hai' and i thought maybe the critics were too harsh on Junior Bachchan.

In the next one hour I was made to regret this thought and how.

We are introduced to a couple who is always fighting with each other, a cynical singer, a romantic girl who believes in destiny and signs and the crooked money lender. 
The characters were well thought of but the screenplay and dialogues are so poor that we wonder why veterans actors like Rishi Kapoor and Supriya Pathak agreed to do this film. The only good thing about the film is it's songs which are so well shot that it appears as if half of the budget of the film was spent on just the songs and then some story and random dialogues were written around those songs.
Some dialogues are so pathetic that we are forced to laugh at the sheer stupidity of the writer and director for even thinking that they can make this idea work. There is an item dance by Sonakshi Sinha where she looks like a fair sumo wrestler. Then comes the mindless running which is a very bad imitation of Rohit Shetty style of films. Interval comes with the line ' All is not well' and we wonder what torture will be inflicted on us in the next half.
In the second half we are showered with a dose of equally bad dialogues along with some emotional drama. The director has now started following Farha Khan style of Om Shanti Om and tries to make everything right so we can have a happy ending.
Abhishek Bachchan has tried to act and manages to give expressions in some scenes. Though when he tells his father, 'Man, get a life' we wonder how a person who has come from Bangkok manages to talk in an American accent.
Asin as the girl next door looks sweet but in some scenes her dresses are so common and dull that we wonder if she actually got them from Pantaloons or Globus.
Rishi Kapoor is a good actor and we expect nothing but a great performance from him but when he was made to say those silly dialogues like ,' Kinare karo, mujhe make water karna hai', we wonder why can't he simply say NO to such films.
Mohammaed Zeeshan after leaving his mark in Tanu weds Manu Returns totally disappoints in this film. 
There are few scenes which make us laugh but they are lost in the overall slow pace of the film. The overall film looks so low budget that it gives the feeling of a stage drama rather than a full fledged film. There was a picture of a young Abhishek Bachchan which was sometimes hanging in the bedroom and sometimes in the hall. People like me who pay attention to such minute details must have laughed at the director's folly.
The film got an opening of just 10-15% and has collected approximately 5 crores in 2 days which is too less for a Rishi Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan starrer. The reviews and word of mouth are so bad that it will be a big task for the film to even collect 20 crores.
2015 has been a really bad year for T-Series as apart from Baby none of their films such as RoyEk Paheli Leela and I Love New Year have managed to make money at the box office.
In a line the proverb  'All is well that ends well'  holds true for this film as we were back to our all is well status and took a sigh of relief when the film finally ended.
Highly Avoidable. Junior Bachchan fans can watch this film at their own risk.