15 Park Avenue - Movie Review

The combo of Aparna Sen and Konkona Sen creates Magic on the celluloid. Noone will deny that. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is the best example. The mother and daughter duo is back with another(I won't call it an Art movie because there is no such thing as art cinema and regular cinema. There is just Good Cinema and Bad Cinema) special kind of movie. This time the ensemble cast has some great names like Shabana Azmi, Waheeda Rehman, Rahul Bose and Dhritiman Chaterjee.

Movie is about a Schezofrenic girl called Meethi, played by Konkona "Awesome" Sen. Movie is all about her relation with her sister Shabana, her impact on the lives of other "normal" people. Again this is not a movie for people who can't sit through a slow movie and here you will have to think from your end too.

This movie made me think a lot. There is lot of hidden philosophy in it. After watching it I had to go to IMDB and see what other people thought of it. And boy, everyone has their own theory.

Aparna Sen keeps it very surreal. As said by doctor in the movie "What we think is a delusion for others, may be a reality for them. The ending of the movie will create more questions in your mind.

Performance wise Konkona scores highest. She is one of the all time best actresses for Indian films. I just cant get enough of her. I wish to see more and more of her talent. Shabana also lives upto her name. Rahul is fine. Waheedaji has a smaller role and I am biased towards her. I can't be critical of her. Dhritiman Chaterjee as the doctor is very natural. Kanwaljit is also good.

Aparna Sen makes me proud. I can say she is from my country. And she makes such movies. She is one of the most talented director I have ever seen. I wish she keeps making more movies.

Chinmay's scale - ****

Partner - Movie Review

Chi Chi is BACK!!! After a long long, really long time Govinda is back with his amazing Comic Timing and awesome dance moves. After I saw the movie I was thinking what took Govinda so long to return to his familiar territory. Total time pass, masala flick where you dont have to trouble your brain cells. Just go and enjoy. I feel he was not getting the right films when he changed his profession from films to politics. And even when he made a comeback with Bhagambhag, he wasn't given the right script and the right role. He was decent in Salaam e Ishq but Partner is a kind of movie which is his turf. These movies made him Comedy King. And Chi Chi why do you have to try serious and emotional acting when we love you the way you are. He is termed as the hero of the Classes. I dont Agree. He has one of the best comic timings in the business and even at this age and weight, he rocks you with his dance moves. He even dances on Sarkai lo khatiya which is my favourite scene in the movie.

Partner, our own version of Hitch, gives Govinda what he needed the most at this time. A movie which gives him lot of scope to do comedy, dance and work with David again. When you are going to a David Dhavan movie, you dont pay much attention to the story line. Because there is none. There is no logic. Some people hate that kind of stuff. But in these times of stress and tensions if something makes me laugh for two and half hours and makes me forget my worries then there is nothing better than that.

Ohh Partner also has Salman. But half of the time he hams. He is fine in the song and dance stuff. But he cant do comedy as naturally as our chi chi.

Parter is a Govinda movie all the way. He is great in almost every frame he is in. And his dance moves!!! Ohh Boy....My dream dance sequence now has Hrithik and Govinda dancing in a song.

The music is Good. The numbers are foot tapping. My favourite song is Soni de nakhre as we see Govinda in full form in that song. The title song and Dupatta are next. Rest of the songs are also not bad.

Ohh yeah there is a Chhota don in the movie. Rajpal Yadav. I felt he was kinda wasted. There was much more scope in his role. And the kid in the movie was irritating.

Lara and Katrina are for eyecandy. That's it.

If you have like Govinda's movies such as Shola aur Shabnam, Aankhen, Coolie no. 1, Haseena maan jaegi, etc. then Dont Miss This One.

Chinmay's scale - ***

Awarapan Movie Review

I guess there are not many Emraan Hashmi fans in my group(sure there is a look alike!!!) but this is one of the movies where Emraan gets a chance to show his caliber as an actor. Awarapan is an example of how amazing performances can make a movie from mediocre to watchable. Hell there is nothing new in the story. Its just a 2007 version of Sadak. But again did I mention the performances are terrific.

Lets start with our lead Emraan bhai. Till now he has shown some prospects of being a good actor in Kalyug. Rest have not been that good. But here he gets to do something, for which he is not known for. A lonely gangster for his maalik. He really gets into the skin of the character and portrays a wide range of emotions. In the first few minutes he does not have much to say but his eyes do all the talking. This is his best performance till date and yes award worthy. He shows that he can do much more than all the lip locking in the world.

Next is the newcomer Mrinalini Sharma. She does a fine job. I didnt feel like this was her first movie. The only thing which can come in her way is that her looks are little unconventional. But hey thats where Tabu proved everyone wrong didnt she. So she definitely has good chance of making her mark here.

One question which I had always in my mind was Did Ashutosh Rana retire?? Why in the hell he was not doing more movies. He is simply amazing in the negative role here.I hope he does acting more frequently now. We want to see him more. Definitely more.

Shreya does not get much scope here. But whatever short amount of time she is on screen, she is not bad.

A special mention for Purab Kohli as Don ka beta. Man I cant believe he can act like this too. Watch out for him in the movie.

Director Mohit Suri made an upward progress with Wo Lamhe but with this one I cant say the same. Story and Screenplay are strictly ok and at many points you will think like what the hell is happening here. Why dont they kill Hashmi with a bullet. Why playing with him. Just finish the job man.

The Music is the Life of the movie. All the songs are very very good, specially on screen. One more thing which makes this movie watchable.

I wont advice to see this movie on the big screen but get it on dvd. Atleast for the performances.

Chinmay's scale - **1/2

Movie Review - Apne(aka Rocky 7)

Ok. So here we go. My second movie review. Saw there are no comments for the first one. Looks like no one is reading my reviews huh. Anyways lets talk about Apne or as I call it Rocky 7. Now why Rocky 7. Because it is our own desi version of Rocky which had Sly Stallone in the title role. Aur to aur here there are 3 Rockies. Yes 3. Dharam paji, Sunny paji and Bobby. Wow a perfect star cast assembled huh. Who else can play Rocky other than our 3 Punjab de Puttars. Ok jokes apart lets talk about the movie now shall we.

After jingoistic movies like Gadar and The Hero, Anil Sharma tries something different here. He makes an emotional saga about a father and two sons, with some action sprinkled as the topping. I dont want to go ahead and write the story here. I have given enough hints by calling this a Desi Rocky. I began the movie with lot of apprehensions, but to my surprise I started liking it. And the main reason for that was Dharam paji. He is in almost every frame of the movie. And boy does he deliver. He has shown to us once again that though we have given him the tag of He-man, he is at his best when he is playing with emotions. He showed us this in Chupke Chupke and Satyakam. I was little shocked seeing him perform this well, as he is not that young now. But he has not changed. He is in full form here, at his best. No kutte kamine dog blood sucking dialogues. But Drama. Nice emotional drama. Pain of a sportsman who has a shame under his belt. Pain of a father who wanted to make his son, the Best in the sports he loves the most. Pain of a human being, whose feelings are not understood by people around him. He is simply Awesome. If movie didnt had other two deols then also this would have been a nice film. Because of Dharam paji. But we got a better deal didnt we. We got two more deols with him.

Sunny Deol. Now what shall I write about this guy. I have always felt that this guy has not done justice to his talent by doing movies like Fool n Final and Big Brother. He is much much better actor than what we saw in these kind of faaltu movies. We still remember his Arjun, Ghayal, Ghatak, Damini, Gadar, Border. Whew!!
Then why in the hell he does these faltu movies. Ok I hope he understands this before he runs out of gas and we also hope that he soon starts working Again with Rajkumar Santoshi.

Apne gives Sunny a nice platform to display his range. In the most part of the movie he has under played himself. No shouting. No dhishum dhishum. An emotional son who wants love from his father. He shows us what he is capable of especially in the scene with Dharmendra on the roof, where his father says very harsh words to him. But I was missing the Sunny I knew. The gusse wala Sunny. I thought that the director screwed up showing him soft in the whole movie. Ohh wait but I was wrong. The director is a Genius. He saved this for the last 45 mins of the movie where Sunny gets into his familiar territory of Shouting and mukka laat. And boy he delivers. The last 45 mins are memorable because of him and him only. So nice to see sunny paji in good role after a very very long time.

I am not going to talk much about Bobby. I am not much fond of him or his acting. Here, he does a decent job(may be because he has very less dialogues). But he has his dad and big bro to support him. So we will not be too harsh on him. He really did an OK job. Not Bad.

Now the ladies. Both Shilpa and Katrina dont have much to do here. The real leading lady here is Kirron Kher, playing Dharmendra's wife. She does a fine job with her punjabi accent(already did that in Rang de Basanti) and shows a nice chemistry with Dharam paji.

Now lets talk about what was missing. First of all the music. Himesh's music is strictly OK and the title song coming after every 10 mins irritates sometimes. I also thought there was some space for humour. There were no light moments in the film. It could have only helped the film.

The boxing scenes are decent but in no way comparable with Rocky or Millian Dollar Baby. They could have done little better there.

Overall I think Apne is a decent attempt by Anil Sharma, bringing together 3 Deols first time in a movie. I enjoyed the movie for the most of the parts.So people just watch it for Dharmendra.

Chinmay's scale - **1/2

MP3 - Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar Review

No guys, I am not going to talk about my Pehla Pyaar. It was so long back that I don't even remember the girl's name. Well, not true completely but what the hell. Now lets talk about the movie.

I had read on Rediff that this movie was very nice and sweet so i thought about giving it a try. It's about a boy and a girl who are in a high school(yes high school, 12th and 11th to be precise). They meet, fall in love, have a fight, little drama, little filmy masala and nice bollywoodish climax. So what the hell is NEW here??

Let me tell you this. The movie actually surpassed my expectations. I didn't expect it to be such a sweet and funny movie. Actually I kind of felt nostalgic as my mind went back into the time to my high school days at St. Xaviers, and sorry to say this but it made me senti.

Ok Coming back to the movie. How is it different from the rest of the boy meets girl sagas. First of all the two lead actors are completely New. Very Fresh. Looked like they are still in high school. But they played their characters so naturally and with such an efficiancy that I have to say to them just this. Kudos guys. I hope they give the Best Debut Actor, both male and female, to this two. But I am afraid its already decided who is going to get the Best Debut as a Male. Surroooor anyone??

Back to the movie. The story is not that Original but the treatment definitely is. The screenplay and the direction have been done with some nice thinking. This is Robby Grewal's second movie after Samay, and boy has he improved. I hope he makes another one very soon. I will keep an eye on that.

Now the actors. The male lead played by Ruslaan Mumtaz(weird name huh), son of bollywood heroes ki maa Anjana Mumtaz, is a boy to watch out for. His comic timing is awesome and he has all the qualities of a chocolate boy(sorry aamir you are little old now for this title ). He has played his part very very naturally. And the guy can go far if he gets right roles.

The female lead Hazel, looks very cute and sweet. She has to improve her Hindi but its fine in the movie as she is shown to come from UK((milk and cookies anyone).

Both of them look very comfortable with each other and chemistry between them is very nice.

You have to mention the supporting actors. They have done a fine job. Ruslaan's mom and dad(played by Kanwaljit Singh), Hazel's mom, aunt, uncle and the good friend she makes in Paris. And finally the 3 members in guy's gang. All have done their part very sincerely.

One area where the movie could have been better was Music. There are not many songs in the movie, i think 2-3, but with this kind of film with no big names, a great music would have attracted the audiences to the theater.

I was little disappointed after watching the movie because it could have done better commercially by a word of mouth. Looking at the crappiest movies getting all the attention(Surooooor again), I really felt that this one deserved much better.

And guys, I guaren-damn-tee you that you will definitely remember your school days and that special girl in your Class whom you liked. Neeraj, Please dont tell anyone about it. OK??

Chinmay's Scale - ***