Himmatwala

The film-goers are split into two parts when it comes to remakes, there are people who feel the old classics should not be touched and remade while there are others who feel there is no harm in picking up an old film and remaking it with a fresh angle to it so that young generation can also see it. While both may be right in their own way, I am sure that even this latter group would never understand the need of remake of a film like Himmatwala which was neither a classic nor the best of masala entertainers. Yes it had worked in 1983 but that was then….why is there a need to bring up that kind of story in today’s time. Sajid Khan tries to do that in the name of entertainer and ends up making an unbelievingly ridiculous film. The tag line of the film is “80’s will be back” and after watching this film, you want to ask why, let us remain in current times.

The film is set in 1983 in a village where Shersingh (Mahesh Manjrekar) is ruling over the innocent villagers by his muscle power. There enters Ravi (Ajay Devgn) who had run out of village as a kid but now returns back as angry young man to meet his mother and sister and to avenge the death of his father. He then falls in love with Shersingh’s daughter, sings few songs and fights thirty goons at same time at least ten times. And all this goes on till every possible trick in the name of providing masala is over.

While there is nothing wrong in making a brainless commercial film and I am also all for it but it should at least do what it is made for…..entertain. Himmatwala doesn’t do that even one bit. There is nothing at all that works in this film. The story of a good guy-bad villain is beaten to death, the screenplay is so utterly poor that fifteen minutes into the film and you want to come out, the dialogues are so overly melodramatic that even serious scenes end up becoming unintentionally funny, the jokes are so bad that even Ajay Devgn comments “bad joke” after he has cracked one himself, the songs despite two numbers from original film are hardly hummable, the action gets monotonous coming every fifteen minutes, the humour of Asrani and Paresh Rawal is irritating, the villain who is supposed to be terror to villagers is actually nothing short of a joker, the hero’s sister gets more footage than the heroine, and the entire setting of village, costumes, wigs, is sore to the eyes.

In terms of acting, everyone pitches in with one of the worst performances of their careers. I will be surprised if good actors like Ajay Devgn, Zareena Wahab, Paresh Rawal aren’t embarrassed about their work here. Tamannah makes an utterly forgettable debut in Hindi films, she is neither beautiful nor can act.

Sajid Khan has made utterly stupid, idiotic and nonsensical films in the past too with Housefull 1 and 2 but compared to this one, those would start counting as classics now. This film not only bores you to death but shocks you with its absurdity and leaves you wondering as to how a film like this can be made.

Cinema Analyst's Take – so bad that it will require some “Himmat” for you to sit through this. Its only March but this would easily remain the worst film of this year.

P.S. – There is a song in the film with lyrics “Maaro Bum Pe Laat”. After watching it, you would want to meet Sajid Khan once.

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster returns

The sequels of successful films have become common these days and this trend is now not only restricted to big films but is getting on to small budget and relatively small star cast films too. Not surprisingly then, Tigmanshu Dhulia, who had gotten both critical claim and moderate commercial success with an intriguing thriller in Saheb Biwi aur Gangster, also tries to take that story forward. His last directorial venture Pan Singh Tomar was also acclaimed by one and all and so coming right after that, the expectations from this film are really high.

The film starts from where it had ended in the first part. Saheb (Jimmy Shergill) is now paralyzed and is on a wheelchair though his mind is still cunning and his attitude is still of a Raja. Biwi (Mahie Gill) is now a ruling MLA but has become a recluse and a habitual drunk all the time. The love is lost between the two and they are living on with their frustrated lives. Thus enters the Gangster (Irrfan) in their lives who has two way agenda, to save his love interest (Soha Ali Khan) from getting forcefully married to Saheb and to take revenge of the loss of his family’s empire and lives. And all this leads to a dirty world of love and deceit, friendship and double crossing and power and politics with all the characters trying to manipulate others.

The first hour of the film is somewhat engaging starting with introduction of the main characters and then moving swiftly to establishing their crooked personalities and their deceptive motives. The characters are all grey here changing colours every minute and that is intriguing to watch.

However, just as when the basic premise of story is set up towards being a gripping thriller, the film starts faltering big time. The screenplay after the first hour has so many gaps and flaws that it becomes incomprehensible. The writing of all the characters other than Saheb is completely inconsistent, erratic and confusing leaving you completely at loss on what’s going on and why. While it tries hard to give depth to each character, none of them is fully convincing. On top of it, there are so many sequences that are disjointed and do not make any sense with the main story; the side tracks of Pravesh Rana or four MLAs trying to divide the State are irrelevant. There is an item number too in second half which is in embarrassingly bad taste. And the climax too is abrupt and with hardly any shock value. The only good things in the film come in the form of some smartly written dialogues; Saheb’s scenes bullying everyone and Irrfan’s comic timing particularly with his interview with a minister in his office with his laptop streaming porn.

In terms of performances, Irrfan is good as always. Jimmy Shergill is superb; he has taken to this role brilliantly. But Mahie Gill is so bad in few scenes that it actually becomes unintentionally funny and Soha Ali Khan just exists in the film. The songs are pain to the ears.

The film has its moments but only far and few and the last one hour is just too difficult to understand. With running duration of two and a half hours, it makes for a tiring and somewhat boring watch. Tigmanshu Dhulia fails to come up with a riveting thriller and a befitting sequel to its first edition. It’s a pity considering the potential that this story could have offered. Cinema Analyst's Take – Below average.

The Attacks of 26/11

Breaking news to disbelief to shock to terror to sorrow to anguish to helplessness; I believe all of us went through these emotions during one of the most daring terrorist attacks to our country on that dreadful date of 26/11/2008. An unfortunate and sad incident that left about 160 people dead and more than 250 injured before police and NSG rescued and managed to kill all but one terrorists; an incident that shook the entire country. Enough has read, watched, heard and discussed on this but even today, a mention of this date brings alive those terrorizing moments.

Ram Gopal Varma had also created quite a controversy during that time when he visited the Taj hotel along with then chief minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh because everyone felt that he was doing a survey of the place to make a film on this. While that was denied by him at that time, he has actually come up with a film reconstructing as to what all really happened in that attack.

While you know what to expect in the film, it doesn’t cover the entire episode but only focuses on what transpired in the first few hours of the attack. The events are narrated through the eyes of the JCP of Mumbai (played by Nana Patekar) starting from the terrorists capturing Kuber, entering in Mumbai, their attacks on Leopold café, Taj, CST and Cama Hospital and arrest of Kasab. The film then moves past the eventual successful rescue operation by only stating it and of course, ends with Kasab’s hanging that happened recently.

RGV has managed to get lot of things right in what could have just ended as a documentary. The opening sequence wherein Kuber is captured and the eventual attacks on various places and killings of people have been shot with detailed graphics that actually hit you hard. Few sequences particularly around interval time numb you with shock and sadness and move your heart to what all those innocent people including kids and women would have faced and felt at that moment. Also, the sequences and conversations highlighting how young innocent Pakistanis are being brainwashed into becoming killers in the name of jihad are quite meaningful.

But the film is not without flaws; it is slow paced, covers only some parts of what really was a long fight against terror, tries to look at things through JCP thus subconsciously portraying him as a hero of the film which was undesired, and the long conversations between him and Kasab in the end despite being relevant shift the focus of the film somewhat out of the main issue. It has loads of bloodshed and the scenes depicting the killings are going to be disturbing to watch for lot of people. Also, it lacks entertainment value (which of course could never have been the objective of such a story) and so it means it’ll appeal only to selective people who have the heart and the intent to appreciate such films.

After making absolute duds in Not a love story and Department, RGV hits back some form in this film and manages to take you through that unfortunate incident in a touching way though it could have done so much better.

Cinema Analyst's Take – Above Average. Watch it; If nothing else it will probably make you thank God and value his biggest blessing…..life.

I Me aur Main

With a not-so-catchy title, a debutant director at the helm of affairs, not so encouraging promos showing the hero as man-child; the film hasn’t created much of excitement around it. There are no big expectations from the film and guess what, it lives up to that!!

It’s a story of an uber cool urban guy who is shying away from the vows and commitments. He is selfish, arrogant, and immature and wants to live life his way. He breaks up with his girlfriend who he has impregnated, loses his job and doesn’t have the sympathy of his own sister. But he is least bothered, goes on to woo other girls and makes one more girlfriend who he is now happy and serious with. Will he remain like this or mend his ways and which girlfriend would he finally settle with makes up for the rest of the story.

While this wafer thin story looks bearable on paper, its treatment in the film isn’t. Except for few light moments in the first half, there is nothing in the film that holds your interest. The characters are written badly and they come across behaving weirdly, for instance, John Abraham refusing to pay the money to the milkman of his live-in girlfriend’s house because he doesn’t drink milk! The film is full of such absolute silly scenes. The love angles are so confused about who loves whom and why that you stop bothering about all the characters after few minutes. And the climax in trying to be different and unconventional is so idiotic that you will have to see it to believe it!

In terms of performances, John Abraham looks good but is hardly convincing portraying this embarrassingly written confused character. Chitrangada Singh looks stunning as always though she hardly emotes in this one and Prachi Desai is just about ok. Music is nothing to write home about.

It has running time of just about an hour and three quarters but even this short duration makes it a long, boring and tiring watch. Cinema Analyst's Take – Below average. It’s a non-sense of a film and my list for worst films of the year 2013 starts with this one.