Vivah

Directed by: Sooraj Barjatya

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Anupam Kher, Alokh Nath

Released: 2006

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

Twelve years after Hum Aapke Hain Koun Sooraj Barjatya decided to strike with another wedding video starring gorgeous heroine, handsome hero, loving families, perfect relationships (except for some minor flaws) lots of sweet songs and chocolates. However while Hum Aapke Hain Koun pulls off the rather non-existent plot brilliantly, Vivah, though there is nothing particularly wrong with it, did not manage to do so, neither it succeeded in recreating the magic.

Alokh Nath and Anupam Kher switched places and so this time Anupam is from the boy´s side, while the other one is raising the girl. She is not his daughter, but an orphaned niece Poonam. Unlike him, his wife doesn´t feel any love for Poonam, simply for the reason she has her own daughter who is dusky unlike perfectly beautiful niece.

Anupam is a father to Prem (Sooraj Barjatya has a thing for this name like Yash Chopra and Karan Johar do for Rahul), on a lookout for a bride. And who would have thought, Alokh Nath is in search for a groom for Poonam. And when these two meet, wedding is in the air.

1994

Twelve years later.

The bride and groom take immediate deep liking to each other. The two families love each other too. And apart from a joined family holiday don´t expect anything from the most of the film. Sadly the songs and romance simply don´t match up to legendary HAHK, and so for most of the film I kept looking at the time line which was moving with a snail speed. I was glad that the two main leads are played by Amrita Rao and Shahid Kapoor, because they both are such beautiful people, you can at least concentrate on them, wishing they had babies in real life, because beauty should be preserved for the next generations, while nothing is going on on the screen. They indeed make a beautiful couple.

And then tragedy strikes. And yet again I just cannot help but to do a little comparism to HAHK – while there the tragedy caused a problem, even thought mainly because of some communication holes more then anything else, in Vivah the tragedy doesn´t change anything at all. And we are heading for a happy ending.

This film is about...

...long meaningful stares...

...and fleeting meaningful gestures.

If you have a diabetes, this is not a film for you. Just five minutes would kill you, that´s how sweet everything and everyone is. They are all good in their roles. But none of the characters on their own are remarkable, and I highly doubt any of the actors would rank their performance in Vivah as their best.

Had it come out before Hum Aapke Hain Koun, I´m sure it would have been revolutionary (the way HAHK was), but since it´s coming a long time after, I couldn´t shake off the feeling that Sooraj Barjatya was simply trying his luck with the same story again. But Shahid Kapoor doesn´t have Salman´s charm. Amrita Rao doesn´t have Madhuri´s energy. And Prem´s nephew is nowhere near Tuffy (anyone else thinks the boy was a replacement of a „cute animal“ which usually is present in these kind of films?)

Vivah is a nice watch for a VERY lazy afternoon, and might be also ideal for putting you to sleep. Because in spite of being nice, it is unforgivably boring as well. In a way it really is what the full title promises: a detailed, idealistic documentary about a highly appropriate “way from engagement to marriage”.

I was just told we don´t  have any more laddoos.

No more laddoos?

We ate them all.

You must be strong Poonam. We have completely run ouf ot laddoos.

Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke

Directed by: Mahesh Bhatt

Starring: Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Dalip Tahil, Sharokh Irani, Kunal Khemu, Baby Ashrafa

Released: 1993

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

Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke made me genuinely happy. For many reasons. The main being the fact that Juhi Chawla actually had a role. In most of her mainstream films I´ve seen so far she was largely used as a decoration, excuse for a song or damsel in distress, be it in Darr, Duplicate or Bol Radha Bol. However here she got her due and she truly used every second to her advantage.

Young Rahul (AAMIR Khan. AAMIR. Not SHAHRUKH. Understand?) has just inherited a textile factory saddled with debt plus three kids from his tragically deceased sister. He tries his best to get on well with the children, but managing them and the factory proves to be rather difficult, especially since his workers are all women making eyes on him and dancing instead of working. Ad to it a hungry for shaadi rich daughter of a man you´re making a commission for and what do you have? A big load of trouble. Nobody seems to understand the man´s plight and the kids are getting more and more insufferable by day, drawing away all nannies with their pranks.

Run over by life........... and children.

After Rahul breaks his promise of taking the children to the fair and locking them in the house the three siblings – Vicky, Munni and Sunny – run away through a window and completely rupee-less make their way to the fair. While trying to steal some sweets, they bump into Vaijanti, a young girl, at the moment engaged in the same illegal action. Together they all manage to escape the policeman and upon hearing that Vaijanti has nowhere to go, the children practically smuggle her home, where she spends two days hiding before their strict uncle. But nothing lasts forever and after a rather eventful night Rahul finally finds out there are not three, but four people he needs to look after now. Especially since Vaijanti makes up a story about being a poor orphan, while in fact she has run away from home and a rather sleazy groom...

No better place to hide from the police then a center of a stage.

Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke breathes innocence from the beginning to the end (despite that horny girl chasing Aamir). Its magic doesn´t make differences between generations and I can easily imagine seniors, children or adult people watching it and having a good time. It has everything – fluff, fun, romance, action – but everything is still very much innocent and even the slight thrill before the ending is delightfully funny. Great surprise were the three children. It is one of the very rare films where I did not feel the need to strangle them for being artificial and annoying – because they were not. They all did a good job without being too giggly or too weepy.

Even Juhi was shocked at the non-annoyance of the kids.

Aamir Khan is also very good. Watching this film after Lagaan and 3 Idiots I was reminded of how much I loved this old Aamir, who used his instinct more then his head (as I like to lament in every review which concerns him). Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke has him in a rather difficult role of an uncle, who does his best to satisfy the children, but fails with his methods, which sometimes are not exactly right, and sometimes he has to face a selfish misunderstanding by the trio. Aamir made his character look real, and even in the moments, in which he is unlikeable to the children, he manages to convince you that he wants their best and is just utterly helpless from time to time.

Can we have them in a film again please?

However, as I have mentioned earlier, the film ultimately belongs to Juhi. Because she is the soul of all things. She is the active (!) reason of things happening. She is the fun. She is that innocence I loved. I´m sure other actresses would have done a good job too, but I seriously doubt any would bring it to Juhi´s level. Such was her natural charm and comic sense in this one, and she truly deserved that Filmfare she later received. Looking sweet and simply throug-out the film she makes you smile with her mere presence. This is definitely my favourite film and performance of hers, no matter how much more „meaningful“ stuff she was appreciated later in her career. Ad to it she´s acting opposite Aamir (my favourite of her pairings), and you are left with a feeling of bliss.

Not blissed out just yet.

Part of the movie´s appeal lies also in music. Every single track is beautiful and there is pretty much everything from fun songs to romantic and family ones. The following is my favourite, which really stuck in my head and I find myself humming it from time to time.

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.