Ek Villain

Directed by: Mohit Suri

Starring: Siddhart Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh

Released: 2014

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Unlike others I was not smitten with Mohit Suri´s “Aashiqui 2”, mostly because the lead characters were dumbasses. And while the level of dumbassness is not reached, Ek Villain still makes you raise your eyebrows quite a few times. (Unofficial) remake of a Korean movie I Saw the Devil (which Mohit Suri with a “How to Bollywood” handbook in hand switfly denied), that has received much praise from all sides, either did not stay true to the original, or the original itself needed an improvement on logic. Still, there was something about the story, which in spite of all, made it work.

The premise is rather simple: once upon a time a cold-blooded murderer himself, Guru fell in love and married the spunky Aisha and they were happy. But then Aisha is brutally murdered and Guru sets his mind on revenge. But who is the killer? Why did he do it? Was it a contract, a vengeance from the past? Or was Aisha simply on the wrong place in the wrong time that day? There is no mystery at all to the film, which took me by surprise as I had expected lots of twists and turns, while in fact everything is neatly lined up from the very beginning. The responsibility of a task to engage the viewer thus lies with the storytelling, which is done by numerous use of flashbacks. The screentime is quite evenly distributed among “then” and “now”, but it is never difficult to understand in which time period we are at a given moment.

The problematic bits of the film are the ones that make little to no sense. For example why in the world would a girl want to hire a man she knows nothing about (and who makes quite clear he is a ruthless killer) for one of her funny plots (why does she need to hire anyone for that matter since there seems to be no job actually)? Why does the police not arrest a man who they know is a murderer, and instead let him kill innocent women (WTF)? Why is not the police officer who risks the lives of civilians to pursue a stupid personal agenda still employed? What in the world is Aisha´s illness and how the heck does she get completely healthy after the doctors have given up on her?I could go on and on.

The reason why I liked the film in spite of all the stuff mentioned right above, is because it manages to set the mood well. Unlike most of Bollywood horrors, Ek Villain has considerable unsettling quotient, perhaps because the murderer kills with terrifying ease and clarity. The explanation for his behaviour is simple and effective. Riteish Deshmukh shines in this role like never before. His usually twinkling eyes and dorky cuteness made way to a dead gaze and expression which strangely mixes frustration and inner turmoil, even pain at times. The film belongs to him.

Siddhart Malhotra is presented in an image quite different from his previous two films, and much like in Hasee Toh Phasee he shows much promise. Sure, his face is so impossibly beautiful that it never bruises even after serious blows to it, neither it manages to be completely in agreement with his voice and situation, but the potential is slowly conquering the walls of inexperience. His character of Guru is not properly developed – a glimpse into his childhood may have been enough, but more of his criminal past should have been shown, the danger he represents more enhanced. After all, this is advertised as “a love story of a villain”, but Guru remains a conventional hero who had been wronged so let´s forgive him every crime he had commited. 

Shraddha Kapoor, a girl who is also as beautiful as a summer dream, got on my nerves for good 40 minutes. Why does Bollywood believe that a spunky, free thinking girl always needs to do silly things, talk loud and jump like a monkey all around? As the film progresses Aisha becomes bearable (and she is definitely better than what Shraddha did last year in Aashiqui 2). She is the weakest performance in the movie – even surpassed by Kamaal R. Khan in his (thank God) small role. Then again he plays a complete asshole so I guess he just slipped into his own routine.

Just long enough, moving in parts, silly in others, still more thrilling than majority of Bollywood thrillers, Ek Villain may be a less worthy (and less violent, which is actually a plus) copy of a Korean film, but among the 2014 films it stands reasonably strong.

Sequels and more sequels

Since it is latest fashion in Bollywood to turn films into a franchise or at least make a sequel or two, here come my thoughts on three of them....

Dhoom

Directed by: Sanjay Gandhvi

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Uday Chopra, Esha Deol, Rimi Sen

Released: 2004

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

At first I thought it was a film made for less talented star relatives, but thankfully it turned out quite well. Abhishek was really good, which in his case is rather rare, but I just did not believe John to be the bad guy. He is a chocolate boy who looks like a lollipop macho, but he is as evil as a tomato soup. This was my first encounter with Uday Chopra, and he suited the role perfectly, and it was also my first encounter with Esha Deol. In her case all Hema Malini´s genes concentrated on making the daughter looks like an exact copy of her mother, but failed in transferring charm and screen presence (forget talent). What I liked the most was probably the editing (except for the scene near the end when Abhishek and John are coming out of the casino when the constant "BOOM and close up on them looking at each other" was used annoyingly often). The story lacked both the investigation process and the planning of the cons, which quite frankly bothered me a bit. I was always just presented the final result without seeing any development - which in cop films like this one are just necessary. Dhoom is primarily a guy´s film - by guys for guys. Full of motorbikes and skinshow

Dhoom 2

Directed by: Sanjay Gandhvi

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Bipasha Basu

Released: 2006

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

From the first second it was clear that this Dhoom is more polished. More fancy. And much, oh so much more stupid. I have a great tolerance to the physically impossible displays of awesomeness, but what is much is too much as we say in Czech. Abhishek and Uday are still both very much stuck in the first Dhoom and have not made any progress altogether on any level at all. Hrithik didn´t have any impact on me – his Filmfare for this reamins the biggest Filmfare joke ever. Bipasha - why was she in this film? She has TWO roles and both are absolutely needless. I was sorry for Aishwarya, because she was just bad, and I know she can do so much better. Her beauty was burried under a THICK layer of very unflattering make-up and Crazy Kiya Re has to be the most overrated song in history of Bollywood. "Why are you wasting your incredible dancing skills?!" line was swirling in my head all the time watching it. The music overally is pretty weak (excep tfor the Dhoom theme which has already appeared in the first film) and the final nail into its coffin hammer the English lyrics, that in this case just do not work. Whatever the suspence in the first Dhoom, there is absolutely none in this. And I cannot help but wonder WHY in the world is this going to have another sequel.

Housefull

Directed by: Sajid Khan

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Chunky Pandey

Released: 2010

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

I can´t believe I´m saying this but most of it I actually enjoyed. Not liked. Enjoyed. Anyway it is definitely a bad film, and though the skin show is not ever present it has a somehow sleazy feel throughout. The showstealers were Boman Irani and Chunky Pandey, and I one of the reasons I enjoyed the movie was Lara Dutta (the woman is just not in enough films!). The story is next to none, there is just one big mess of a confusion given by switching multiple partners according to situation.

Housefull 2

Directed by: Sajid Khan

Starring: Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborthy, Riteish Deshmukh, Asin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Shreyas Talpade, Zarine Khan

Released: 2012

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Indeed the house was full from basement to the roof. Sequels are rarely met with such a good response, but Housefull 2 did more than well and after a series of flops Akshay Kumar returned from the oblivion. There is not much different from the first film. The plot and the jokes are yet again based on loads of lies and partner changes, just unlike last time Akshay is not an innocent fool but a cunning kamina. Truly, housefull 2 brings nothing new to town, except a really delightful on screen meeting of Rishi and Randhir Kapoor as two brothers who hate each other, but have many things in common. There are way too many damn characters to remember and way too many damn deceptions to really keep a track, but to be honest I found the over the top unlikely situations absolutely hilarious – and credit goes more to the art of the actors than anything else. Seven women in the story (two mothers, four girlfriends and a dancer) have absolutely nothing to do, and womenfolk is pretty much presented as kind of dumb, but all the men are just splendid in their comedy (I especially need to mention to I-am-a-joking Chunky Pandey as Aakhri Pasta). More than a sequel it is a upgraded version of the previous movie and definitely the funniest film of the whole first half of 2012.

Dhamaal

Directed by: Indra Kumar

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Javed Jaffrey

Released: 2007

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

The OTT is so Indra Kumar... However in all that OTT there is heart somewhere. True enough, I was not able to finish this at one go, because it would give me headache after a while, but I kept returning to it till without regrets. It was amusing, though not exactly hilarious. I could have done without the stupid souds indicating that "this was funny", seriously in a film like this (meaning FULL of silly jokes) we wouldn´t have missed that the joke already happened. I must admit I was genuinly teary-eyed in the end.... Sanjay Dutt was made for such roles. He was awesome and by far the most funny of them all, without making faces and talking rubbish. My love for Riteish was justified yet again, loved him as well. Fine timepass.

Double Dhamaal

Directed by: Indra Kumar

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Javed Jaffrey, Mallika Sherawat, Kangana Ranaut

Released: 2011

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Yet another story of four not that brilliant guys trying to get rich quickly and without work. As much as I enjoyed the first one, this one is not as half as funny and also lacks all the heartwarming moments. In fact the only fun and simles I had came in the last hour. This time it´s not Sanjay Dutt, but Ritesh Deshmunk who takes the cake for the best performance, his "Tukya" was purely hilarious! I´m almost ashamed to say I found Mallika Sherawat much more natural and bearable then Kangana, who, to be honest, is starting to annoy me really bad. All in all there is LOTS of OTT Indra Kumar style (as usual and expected), and way too many references to other films actually take away from the wit.  

Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya

Directed by: Mandeep Kumar

Starring: Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D´Souza, Om Puri, Tinnu Anand

Released: 2012

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

My first thought after finishing the movie was simple: I loved this! No expectations or over-thinking do pure wonders for this film, which I found genuinely sweet and entertaining. Sue me, but I liked it even more than more prolific and praised Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, starring more prolific and praised Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan. I have grown up from romcoms a long time ago but this one was just too cute.

Viren is a honest rickshaw driver, who saves every rupee possible to buy a taxi one day. He, very unwisely, tells this to his employer and soon enough his dreams suffer a serious blow when the latter sells all his rickshaws overnight and buys several taxi cars. And Viren gets a nasty shock, since his earnings were hidden in the rickshaw! After he fails to recover the money, and the employers refuses to get even with him, sacking him to top it all, Viren, hopeless and truly desperate, decides to do a desperate thing: with a gun he attacks his house, demanding his money, earned with such difficulty, back. Unfortunately for him he runs into the engagement of the employer´s daughter Mini, and he cannot even start to comprehend what troubles would the girl give him.

Because Mini really does not want to get married, and desperate as much as Viren, but with more gusto for life and a lot more constructive mind, she improvizes her own kidnapping by Viren, scaring the heck out of him, but ultimately pulling it off. The duo later decides to demand ransom for Mini, that would cover Viren´s loss and ensure Mini´s comfortable flight from an unwanted marriage. Of course they fall in love after a while, their journey to a relationship however is without much clichéd pathos. The second part of the film is just as entertaining as the first, if not more, as we shift from their plight to Viren´s ancestral home, where we learn that his family has made business by kidnapping people. And while Viren despises this family trade, Mini is absolutely delighted with his home and relatives, and is absolutely against leaving – ever!

The carrousel of light fun never ends, and Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya leaves one with a warm fuzzy feelings aroused by all the cuteness, bright colours and beautiful melodies. „Piya O Re Piya“ is one of the best songs of the years for sure, and the chemistry between the leads makes it even more beautiful.

Genelia is my new girl crush. Such a gorgeous girl! I loved her facial expressions and exuberance, the positive energy she displayed on screen with such an ease it is hard to imagine she may not be like that at all time even off screen. She is definitely a much better actress than all the new girls in town from Asin to Anushka and she needs to make movies with more profitable stars. I have a feeling she would absolutely sizzle with Ranbir!! Ritesh as Viren was fine, I don´t think he is the hero-material (though he remains an able actor), and I prefer him in side roles. In the end it actually seemed Genelia was the only lead and he just let her shine. Om Puri and Tinnu Anand are just pure gold, and you can always rely on them for good performances.

True, there were shortcomings to the movie (mainly the character of Viren, who really lacks any intensity and his dislike toward family occupation is not well explored, the climax too could have been a lot more exciting), but overall I truly enjoyed the film so much I´m ready to forgive.

 

 

March 2011 releases

I rather urgently need to delete several files from my computer and the victims of this decision are to be three film which released this March. And just as my good habit goes, before deleting a film I am to write at least a short review. One of the „major“ releases is not included and that is Dum Maro Dum, simply because I have not yet found a decent picture quality copy with subtitles, so I guess a review of that film will have to wait.... Meanwhile here come the three films I´ve seen....

F.A.L.T.U.

Directed by: Remo D´Souza

Starring: Jackky Bhagnani, Pooja Gupta, Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmunk

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

To be honest I only watched this film because it was directed by Remo, whom I´ve got accostumed to see side by side with Madhuri Dixit on Jhalak Dikhla Ja 4 the last winter. Yeah, a pathetic reason, but a fangirl in me knows no limits! The only reason why I sat through the whole thing was Riteish Deshmunk. I genuinly like the guy, I find him very funny and there is something cute and endearing about him. He is also a good actor and in this is without a second thought the best together with Boman Irani – despite the fact their roles are rather limited. Most of the time you are forced to watch a bunch of teenagers, who are obviously too lazy to study, having a good time and later do some preaching about how teachers should teach..... I am all for changes in our educational systém, but I hate it when people label it all wrong. It has worked for centuries for God´s sake. Maybe I´m just interpreting the „message“ of the film wrong, because it was hard to pay any real attention to what was heppening on screen..... Some jokes might have been funny, if one didn´t realize that there is limit to silliness. And who the heck was that Google guy?

I Am

Directed by: Onir

Starring: Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Yes, I know I have shocked you with such a low rating of such a highly critically acclaimed film. But it was the high expectations coming from those critical accolades and praises which made my psyched about I Am long before it released, and then I found out it is actually nothing that special... Onir made a quality film, interestingly put together, with very good performances from everybody. It is always pleasure to see Juhi Chawla, even more so in these kind of mature roles, and it was just as great to see Manisha Koirala again. Rahul Bose, who failed to impress me in Chameli, delivers yet again a rather subdued performance, which yet again leaves me with an impression of him being constantly confused on screen. My problem with the film was that I did not really find it „eye-opening“, the word which critics largely used. Everybody with brains (hence everyone who would watch such a film) knows there are single women who go to spermbanks, that there are people who would never accept gays, that there are molested children. The film says that these things exist. And that´s all. All four stories are hardly related to each other, in fact they seemed rather forcibly put together, and their length (or rather shortness) did not give me a chance to feel into the characters, or even like them. It was all too shallow, simple „touch and run away“.

Game

Directed by: Abhinay Deo

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher

Verdict: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

This one was a surprise. I am one of those who think Abhishek Bachchan simply lucked out because of his surname, and I maintain this belief. But there are films where he proves he is a capable actor too and Game is one of those. In fact, I really, really liked the first 45 minutes. The way the story was presented was nothing less but exciting for me. But once the EXCELLENT Anupam Kher disappeared from the film, it went down the hill. Maybe also because really good Boman Irani was too very soon eliminated from the story. From a very promising plot, which was well built up at first, the movie in mere minutes transformed into mediocre thriller with terribly placed background music and a speed of a snail. Abhishek is quite good, although I don´t understand why he has to play a "genius" so often, because seriously, he doesnt convince you of being one. Kangana, I feel, is a one time wonder. I recall how astounded I was by her in Fashion, but since then my rating of her as an actress sloops lower and lower everytime I see her. In this she is the weekest and yet again doesn´t really make me want to go and watch her some more. Lots of stories are left unfinished in this. Pity? Good? Not quite sure.