Don 2 - A Slick Flick That Clicks !!

SRK needed the Don franchise more than vice versa - what with his immensely forgettable superhero avatar in RAONE which was panned by critics and audience alike!

The movie begins unimaginatively with Don outthrasing a bunch of thugs who try to con him - strikingly similar to the opening scenes of the first movie of this franchise.

The narrative, however, gathers pace when Don begins recruiting henchmen to carry out a daring heist at DZB - a leading bank headquartered in Berlin, Germany - a bank where the head honchos hide a dirty secret. Vardhan (Boman Irani) grudgingly acknowledges that Don is his only passage to freedom while patiently awaiting his turn to outwit Don; Sameer (Kunal Kapoor), a computer hacker, idolizes Don but is a hesitant crony with a shady past and an intent to stay away from crime in future; Jabbar (Nawwab Shah) is a hitman hired to kill Don who allows Don to entice him to join the gang.

A seemingly perfect plan is painstakingly plotted. Everyone in the gang knows his role but seems to be intent on sabotaging it for personal gains; teamwork and ethics be damned! Is Don the only one with a foolproof plan or can Vardhan pull a fast one and take his revenge? A series of twists and turns post intermission keep the audience guessing and engaged right to the finish. Roma (Priyanka Chopra) in hot pursuit of Don seems a worthy opponent but in an inexplicable move unwittingly assists Don; can a high - flying interpol officer with the sole intention of capturing Don to avenge her brothers' death afford to allow emotions cloud her decisions?

Stylishly crafted and presented, the movie compares with successful international crime thrillers (though I must admit a few sequences seem overtly INSPIRED - lets leave it at that). SRK tries too hard to get into the skin of Don with an artificial and unnescessary swagger coupled with numerous irrelevant facial expressions (to look menacing?!). He is good when he doesnt try to hard (Chak De! and Swades anyone?). Boman mostly plays second fiddle to SRK till the second half of the movie where he comes into his own. Priyanka looks confused most of the time; probably trying to fathom the change of HEART her character has towards the end of the movie. Om Puri as Mallik has precious little to do - such an immense waste of enormous talent!). Hrithik, minus his sixth digit, lends his face (and voice !!) to the movie in a cameo (the scene could have been MUCH more imaginative and real than what was dished out!).

Pros: Pacy script and visual appeal.

Cons: Poorly etched characters apart from Don & Vardhan (yes, Roma included!). Too much focus on dialogues, and sadly, none of the dialogues leave a lasting impression! The one that lingers DON KO PAKADNA MUSHKIL HI NAHI .... NAMUMKIN HAI .... is not original!

Rating: 3.5*. A family entertainer with an apt holiday release - one that the whole family can enjoy, TOGETHER!

Singham - Men Are Back .... And How !!

Two powerful characters – one, a brave, righteous and large hearted cop; the other a ruthless outlaw – are central to this time tested saga of violence and triumph of good over evil.

Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan with a macho beefed up physique that compliments his piercingly expressive eyes) heads a small police station in a sleepy village in Goa. Singham accepts no FIRs or lawsuits as he dispenses instant justice to the simple folk of Shivgad.

His life turns topsy turvy when Jayakant Shikre (Prakash Raj essays his roguish role with panache, though it seems to have a WANTED hangover); a Goa ganglord; sends a henchman to Shivgad police station to represent him.

Insulted and assaulted by the village folk of Shivgad who stand by Singham; Shikre uses his political clout to have Singham transferred to his lair – mainstream Goa. All hell breaks loose as Singham – frustrated with the inaction of the police and political fraternity of Goa – takes it upon himself to bring Shikre to book; using all his knowledge of the system to beat Shikre and his accomplices at their own game.

During the process he gains the respect of his peers and superiors who rally around him in the climax.

Kavya (Kajal Aggarwal) – smitten by Singham when he clobbers a bunch of eve teasers (how many times have we seen THIS happen in Bollywood – it almost would seem that no pretty girl would ever fall for a normal non – violent guy!!) – inspires and stands by him throughout his battle against the bullies. She competently plays the role of the playful and simultaneously strong love interest.

Ajay Devgan treads confidently in a genre that Salman has recently made his own after the hugely successful WANTED and DABANGG. Singham brings back the raw and violent muscular hero after the recent surfeit of chocolate hero flicks.

Pros: Whistle worthy dialogues and adrenaline pumping unbelievable action sequences (check out the crowd response at multiplexes every time Singham flexes his muscles – especially the ‘look how coolly I can get out of a moving SUV’ stunt!) made believable by Ajay and the cruelly jocular outlaw enacted exceedingly well by Prakash Raj (mark my words - this villain is here to stay). Surprisingly and thankfully, though high on action content, the movie avoids excess spillage of tomato sauce on screen – something that action film makers usually employ to exaggerate the violence.

Cons: Unimpressive soundtrack (with the exception the title track which is also nothing more than HUMMABLE).

Rating: 4* - Ajay Devgan and Prakash Raj convert this predictable script a hugely watchable movie. Kudos to Rohit Shetty – a young film maker who directs zany comedies and zanier action movies!

P.S. Dont miss the shooting snippets at the end of the movie!

Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara - An Ode To Friendship!

Three childhood friends; Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), Imran (Farhan Akhtar) and Kabir (Abhay Deol); who call themselves The Three Musketeers, separated by their professional calling, decide to make time from their busy schedules for a bachelor road trip to celebrate Kabirs’ engagement to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin). The trip has only one rule – each one has to choose an adventure sport that all have to participate in, together.

Arjun and Imran are unable to let go of their troubled past, while Kabir is unsure about his future. Imran has an ulterior motive in visiting Spain while Arjun has a grudge against the notoriously mischievous Imran. Kabir, the nice guy in the gang, mostly plays the pacifier when not instigating naughtiness!

Enter the vivacious and charming diving instructor, Laila (Katrina Kaif – looking more gorgeous than ever before, if that was possible!). Easy going and charming with a contagiously positive attitude, Laila becomes an inspiration for the protagonists, especially Arjun.

Slowly but surely the camaraderie of the three protagonists becomes evident as they relive their childhood memories. Along the way they strive to face and overcome their innermost fears – both real and imaginary - together.

True friends accept you as you are; they are not judgemental; and they are the only ones who can joke about your most intimate and personal agonies!

Pros: Great looking artistes, stunning locales (a great advertisement to Spanish Tourism – I wouldn’t be surprised if Spanish Tourism has funded the project!), witty dialogues and the feel – good factor maintained throughout the movie.

Cons: Poor editing causes the narrative to stretch, indifferent music (apart from the foot tapping ‘Senorita’) and at times juvenile pranks.

Rating: 3* - I would attempt to summarize the entire (almost 3 hour) movie in a single line, a line that I believe is what the entire team of ZMND would like the viewer to take back with him / her: YOU LIVE ONLY ONCE, MAKE EVERY BREATH COUNT! A one time watch.

Delhi Belly – A Niche Family Entertainer!

The protagonists; 3 chaddi ‘bachelor’ buddies; Tashi – a workaholic journo with a steady (?!) girlfriend, Arup – a weird cartoonist with a weirder hairdo and the weirdest of cinema preferences pining for a steady girlfriend and Nitin – a lustlorn photographer capable of thinking up and executing the most funnily obnoxious ways of entering and exiting ‘potentially life threatening’ situations; share a ramshackle apartment and live a normal unhygienic existence without a care for themselves, each other, their neighbours upstairs, their landlord and the world in general.

Their lives turn topsy turvy when Tashi accepts his girlfriends’ request to deliver an innocuous looking package to its destination. S#!T HAPPENS, literally, and a chain of implausibly hilarious events lead to the wrong package being delivered to the correct recipient – a menacingly evil goon (humorously essayed by the hugely talented Vijay Raaz) whose sole objective is retrieving the package at ALL costs.

A series of further confusions leads to a dramatic finale and our bumbling trio emerge unscathed (discounting the visible results of the physical atrocities inflicted upon them by various characters at various stages of the movie).

The leading ladies and other supporting cast take the pacy narrative ahead and the ‘almost 2 hour movie without a break’ does not stress the viewers, apart from the tremendous pressure it exerts on our consistently laughing lungs!

The movie is irreverent, the language, expletive ridden (some may call it colloquial!), and the situations, bizarre. It is a true blue niche entertainer that I daresay every member of the family would enjoy – albeit SEPARATELY (a strictly adults only affair)!

Pros: A taut script; top class direction and excellent performances.

Cons: Cant think of any – just a personal view that the song Bhaag D. K. Bose though apt to the script could have been avoided, considering that it’s a very catchy number in public domain and children would doubtless innocently hum it oblivious of its obvious innuendo!

Rating: 4* - It misses out on the perfect 5 on my rating scale only because of my personal view on the Bhaag D. K. Bose song. Otherwise a complete entertainer all the way – has the potential to become a cult classic!

Bheja Fry 2 – A poor cousin of the original !!

A summary:

The original Bollywood idiot aka Bharat Bhushan gets lucky and finds himself hobnobbing with the rich and famous aboard a cruise liner – a liner that also plays host to a tax evading business tycoon (probably a caricature of the innumerable alleged scamsters hogging the daily news headlines in the real world) with a roving eye (no dearth of real world inspirations here either, eh) on the run from an honest IT official who is also a close friend and colleague of the bumbling protagonist. The tycoon mistakes the buffoon as the IT inspector on his tail and tries to eliminate him but fails miserably and finds himself on a beautiful island amidst the ocean with only Mr. Bharat Bhushan and his songs for company.

Another unwanted loud and lonely character (sad to see an actor of the calibre of Amol Gupte completely wasted in a sub plot that would not excite his most ardent fans) introduced in the second half would leave the audience viewing the exit door longingly more often than the movie screen.

What follows is nothing to write home about and fails to hold your interest; though a few scenes may offer the sympathetic and forgiving viewer a few opportunities of breaking into smiles. The script lacks the situational comedy and the smartly etched characters of the original – something that the audience would look forward to considering the amount of interest the publicity campaign generated prior to the release.

Vinay Pathak is sincere and tries to lend credibility to his character and the weak storyline while Minissha Lamba as his lady love only manages to look pretty. Kay Kay Menon as the lecherous businessman surprisingly fails to look menacingly funny – a difficult combination but something a discerning viewer would expect from him and Sagar Bellary to portray successfully. The less said about the others (read: Amol Gupte) the better! Mr. Sagar Bellary, please accept an apology for the high expectations we had from your flick; we as the audience feel slightly let down as we have come to expect a much better showing from a director and a character we had come to love!

The Verdict:

2* - May be a better bet to watch it on ORIGINAL DVD when its released!