April, 2012

Music Critic: Goher Iqbal Punn

Producer: Viacom and Ram Gopal Verma

Director: Ram Gopal Verma

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanajy Dutt and Rana Daggubati

Music: Dharam Sandeep, Vikram Nagi and Bappa Lahiri

Lyrics: Shabbir Ahmad, Vayu and Sandip Singh

Ram Gopal Verma’s Department keeps on grabbing the bigger chunks in the media. Ramu is that filmmaker whose films, whether they turn hits or flop badly, capture the attention a lot in the media and among the masses. His subjects of the movies mostly revolve around the underworld and if not underworld then around horror stuff. There were times when Ram Gopal Verma’s movies considered being the success even prior to the release and most of the time, they used to be superhits. Well, it was the time of 90s and early 2000. But for last few years, Ramu has not been enjoying that worth which he used to have. Reason – many of his flicks are getting bombed at the box office. But in between, he gave many hits like Sarkar series, etc. Ramu’s latest upcoming is Department and this too goes on the lines of underworld. Since it carries the big star cast ranging from Amitabh Bachchan to Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati.

The item number ‘Dan Dan’ picturised on Nathalia Kaur has been well in news. Sanjay’s Dutt’s tribute to Amitabh ‘Thori Si Jo Pi le Hai’ and other songs have been making waves in news. The music of the film has been launched. Let’s check out the album.

Dan Dan Cheeni - Shoot Mix (Paroma, Ravi and Sandeep Patil)

The album opens with the item song ‘Dan Dan Cheeni’ picturised on the Kingfisher sexy model Nathalia Kaur. The song is electrifying and carries the boisterous vocals of Paroma, Ravi and Sandeep Patil. Lyrics are apt as per the mood of the song. Music is foot-tapping.

Rating: 4/5

Kammo  (Mika Singh and Sudesh Bhosle)

Kammo is the one that too has its place among the listeners and it can turn a popular one like Dan Dan. Mika allures with his usual style and so does Sudesh. Lyrics are fine and music is well-orchestrated.

Rating: 3.5/5

Ek Do Teen Chaar (Theme of Department) – Sandeep Patil

The theme song of Sandeep Patil is laced with rock influences. The focus pours on variety of the beats more than the vocals. It is okay.

Rating: 1/5

Bad Boys (Ritu Pathak and Earl)

The song opens up with the sounds of helicopter and sirens followed by the explosions and gun shots. The voice of Ritu attracts. Good piece to listen to.

Rating: 3/5

Mumbai Police (Sanjay Dutt and Farhad Bhiwandiwala)

This one is a fully tapori song like Ramu’s previous ones – Ganpat, Kallo Mama and Khallas. Farhad sings well and Sanjay Dutt’s trademark tapori voice over injects true life and pleasures. Lyrics are classy and music is a treat.

Rating: 4/5

Apart from the above songs on the album, a specially added song ‘Thodi Si Jo Pi Li Hai’ too has been added for the promotional works of the movie.

Overall:

On the whole, Department’s musical score is brilliant and catchy. It will grow with the listeners.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Film Critic: Goher Iqbal Punn

Director: Rakesh Mehta

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Pradhuman Singh, Ranvir Shorey, Manu Rishi and Neha Bhasin

Music: Vinay Jaiswal and Pradeep Kotlana

The film with the flavor of Mumbai, in which Mumbai jargon is quite used, has been running up on the Hindi movie scene since long. Many of these movies make their home in the hearts of the moviegoers who give due space to these movie and few get flop as well. But the fact remains, the ones which get flop are the ones which have no content or the things like that to impress the audiences.

Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi too walks on the same lines of Mumbaiya stuff. The film has a good enticing concept that attracts but the film lacks in writing which holds no values and makes the movie falls flat.

The film has the inspiration from a previous hit movie ‘Is Raat Ki Koi Subah Nahi’. The debutante directeor Rakesh Mehta tries hard to make the flick as interesting as he can. He could have made the film super interesting for the viewers and the film could have been a hit if the script of the flick would have been bombastically well penned. Unfortunately it is not the case with Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi.

The direction of the film is appealing and Rakesh deserves special mention for some of the brilliantly shot sequences.

The film is a one day journey of various people struggling in Mumbai for their respective tasks. They all finally end up at one place and fine their respective ways. Salman (Kay Kay Menon), a tensed man, is looking for the killers of his parents. ACP Chautala (Manu Rishi), a humiliated police officer, is searching for four Nigerians who are the drug dealers – he has to arrest them within 24 hours time. Amol (Ranvir Shorey), a desperate lover, arrives to rescue his girlfriend who married to a millionaire. Dolly (Neha Bhasin), a runway girl from the city of Chandigarh, wants to return home but after she makes the recovery of her lost money which got lost in her attempt to be a top Bollywood heroine. Ajoy (Pradhuman Singh), the Bengali rockstar, advises his close pal to commit suicide. This all takes place in a one single day in the city of Mumbai.

The plot is interesting but the scripting on it is a big lackluster. They writing portion is really filled with flaws otherwise the movie is good. Direction is appealing and holds values. Cinematography is okay. Editing is not up to the mark. Music is bad.

Kay Kay Menon does fine job. Ranvir Shorey attracts. Neha Bhasin is stunning as an actress. Manu Rishi is fine. Rest of the cast is okay also.

On the whole, Life Ki Toh Lag Gayi could have been much better if the script would have been brilliant. Below average.

Rating: 2/5

Siblings’ competitions have begun in Bollywood now. Well, they have been treading along since the outset but these days they seem to be emerging on the scene once again. Recently we witnessed in the case of Priyanka Chopra whose cousin sister Parineeti Chopra entered into filmdom and that too by the bigger banner of film industry Yash Raj Films. She has been doing very well and even fetching the awards at various functions for her marvelous debut performance. Now she would again be seen in YRF’s upcoming flick ‘Ishaqzadee’. The film stars Parineeti Chopra opposite Arjun Kapoor, the son of Boney Kapoor. He is making his Bollywood debut with this vehicle.

Now another sibling competition has hit the scene and this time around it is for Sonakshi Sinha whose elder cousin sister Bhavna Ruparel is going to make her cinematic debut with the forthcoming film ‘Chalo Pichchur Banate Hai’.

Pritish Chakraborty has directed this flick and she has been paired opposite Rahil Tandon in this film. She says that the film happened through Facebook. She was offered the film and she gave the adution. She got selected and the film then took place. It was not Bhavna’s first brush before the camera rather she had done fewer cameos in various movies before such as in ‘Na Tum Jano Na Hum’ in which she played the role of Esha Deol’s sister and in ‘Joggers Park’ in which she played the character of a niece. In addition to all this, she also did a music video ‘Pehla Nasha’. The film is expected to hit the screens by the end of this June.

We have always loved this onscreen couple – we have loved watching their movies together – we have loved their friendship – we have loved their being business partners. Yes, they are Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla who have worked together as onscreen lovers in many movies and turned business partners later. They have enacted in movies like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Darr, Yes Boss and Duplicate.

They launched their production house ‘Dreamz Unlimited’ which Shah Rukh took over in 2004 and turned it into Red Chillies Entertainment. Now for the very first time, they are going to be seen in a TV commercial together. A TV commercial has been shot on them and the credit to bring both the onscreen lovers together for an ad goes to director Kabir Sadanand who shot the ad. He has done an ad with Shah Rukh previsouly. But this one is exclusive as he brought the couple together on TV screen for the very first time.

The ad shows both in a courtroom where Shah Rukh Khan is a criminal and Juhi is a judge. This ad is the sequel to the last edition of Matrix Forex TV ad. Kabir has scripted and directed this commercial and he is super excited doing so.

Shah Rukh and Juhi’s last cinematic work on big screen was Bhootnath in 2008. Now the duo Shah Rukh, Juhi and her husband Jai Mehta co-own Kolkatta Knight Riders (IPL team).

In this ad, few cricketers would also be seen such as Yusuf Pathan, Brett Lee and Brendon McCullum.

The documentary titled Sheila Ki Jawani is quite in the air these days. A lot has been said and written on it. The reports have it that Zoya Akhtar has been approached to make this docu-film on the occasion of Indian cinema’s 100 years. And reports also express that Zoya has zeroed in Katrina Kaif for this film as a leading actress. Akhtar chose the title Sheila Ki Jawani as it fitted to the film’s subject. The film talks about a boy who loves item numbers in Bollywood and is a crazy fan of Katrina Kaif’s Shiela Ki Jawani thus he wants to meet her in reality.

Zoya has denied the reports and said that she was not approached nor would she make this movie. She said that there was someone else who was going to make this movie.

The reports also unzip that Zoya, 39, has asked her cousin Farah Khan for the scenes for the song to use in this documentary. But the director denies all reports.

Guess, she is making it the secret. Our sources claim that she was approached and she selected Katrina Kaif. Even Katrina too in an interview confirmed the news that she was going to play the lead in documentary ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’. Well, we can just sit and wait the news updates on this matter which will let us know the actual side of the story. Let’s wish this documentary is shot since it would be an interesting package to watch on screen.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan celebrated their 5^th wedding anniversary on 20^th April. Both had tied the knot on this day way back in 2007 at a lavish glittering ceremony. The marriage ceremony was the biggest talk of the town rather the the central focus of the entire world since it was the marriage of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan’s son and ofcourse Aishwarya Rai, the world’s most beautiful lady.

The couple enjoyed the five happily married years and they are going strong. They vow to be a happily married couple for the entire life. The true bonding and love is vivid between the two. The wedding anniversary gift was already conferred to them by the God few months back in the shape of their daughter.

Aishwarya Rai was romantically inloved with Salman Khan and then Vivek Oberoi before getting involved with Abhishek Bachchan. Abhi too was linked with few Bollywood babes prior to his love with Ash. But now they are involved with each other only as they are married to each other.

Aishwarya Rai is now all set to return to movie post the baby’s birth. The rumors are going on that she will make her comeback with Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar 3. Let’s wait and see with which movie she makes her comeback. But it is sure that it would be a lavish comeback since Bachchans want it for her. We wish the happily married couple all the success in life. And we want to see Ash working in movies once again.

By: Goher Iqbal Punn

Producer: Aditya Chopra

Director: Habib Faisal

Cast: Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra

Music: Amit Trivedi

Yash Raj Films is the giant and biggest production banner of Bollywood cinema which always introduces new faces to Hindi cinema industry in almost all departments of movies – whether in acting, writing, direction, music and others. This time around they are going to launch Boney Kapoor and late Mona Kapoor’s son Arjun Kapoor opposite Parineeti Chopra (who too is their introduced actress in Hindi cinema, as she was launched by YRF in Lady v/s Ricky Bahl) in Isjhaqzaade. Habib Faisal has directed and written this film. Aditya Chopra is the producer of this flick, who is leaving no stone unturned to make this passionate love story supremely enticing for the viewers.

Rs. 2 lakhs were consumed on the the ammunitions and the training of Parineeti Chopra to get her learn how to hold and fire the guns. Director of the film Habib Faisal wanted Parineeti to look original thus he arranged the training in Pune for her. The music of the film has been scored by Amit Trivedi and YRF releases the album.

The film is expected to hit the screens all over on 11^th May 2012.

Synopsis:

Ishaqzaade is a romantic drama directed and written by Habib Faisal, the man who directed the award winning film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ and wrote YRF’s Band Baaja Baaraat. The movie carries the tagline saying ‘Ishaqzaade Hain Jitne Fasano Mein, Milte Hain Kahan Ab Jahanon Mein’. Oozing out from the ashes of hooliganism and small town kinfolk battles, here comes the love saga of a true passion churned out by hatred.

The two people – Arjun and Parineeta are born to hate and destined to love. Ishaqzaade is the name of a passionate love story, hate, revenge, deceit and bullets. This is the saga of two young fiery lovers and their brawl for supremacy and power.

Anil Kapoor is 53 but still the brilliant actor is going on and he is really going places. The actor has become an international star and made his presence in Hollywood films as well. His last cinematic work was a Hollywood film ‘Mission Impossible; Ghost Protocol’ released in 2011.

He is now returning to the cinematic works with Priyadarshan’s upcoming action thriller ‘Tezz’ that stars Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgan in leading roles. He plays the role of a Counter Terrorism officer Arjun Khanna. The action of the flick has been directed by the famed Hollywood action directors Gareth Milne and Peter Pedrero who have previously directed the action for the flicks Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, The Bourne Identity and Quantum of Solace. Anil Kapoor says that he gets happy seeing their (Bollywood) productions turning to Hollywood standards. He got impressed by the way Gareth and Peter have choreographed the action for Tezzz which has been shot entirely in the UK.

Anil did work with Priyadarshan last time in the film ‘Virasat’ (long back) and the movie was a blockbuster and the same he is expecting from Tezz. Kapoor chips in that this film takes the Indian cinema to new levels. He then mentions that Tezz has been made at one-tenth of a Hollywood film’s cost but its action is equal to any Hollywood action film. He goes on saying that in many scenes, body doubles have been used nonetheless he did few of the action scenes by himself. The film will be released on 27^th April all over.

Akshay Kumar is the leading Bollywood star and he is the few Bollywood superstars on whom the film industry relies too heavily. He is not an actor but also a producer. His movies are loved by his fans and they work well at the box office. Yes, sometimes they fall flat badly as well. But in short, Kumar has good fan following who love him whether a film flops or becomes hit.

Akshay is a true business-minded actor and his philosophy about filmmaking is quite impressive. His economics is simple yet profit-making. He says that the sure-shot success mantra is that either you churn out your own film or go for a profit-sharing in a project. In both ways, you get fruits.

He utters that he has very simple yet workable solution – make your own movies because when you invest in your own movie you will not put in your fees and the big burden from the film’s budget gets off automatically. He says that for example if you make a movie with INR 200 million and then release it – the profits from the movie whether they be INR 50 million or INR 100 million – the fact of the matter is this all is yours. Besides your movie will not get flop since your fees is zero. Akshay Kumar produces the films under two banners – Hari Om Productions and Grazing Goat.

Akshay has recently signed Nargis Fakhri for a film ‘Khiladi 786’ to be produced under his film banner. The shooting will begin from this June.

Ram Gopal Verma’s discovery Nathalia Kaur has been making quite bigger ripples and noise in the media and been getting much popular among the masses due to the praiseworthy wordings being written on her in the entire media. The hottest babe in town is the central attraction of the paparazzi these days. The tabloids and the publications are being adorned with her presence and chunks on her.

Ram Gopal Verma is much filled with praises about Kaur and he has even said that he has not seen the sex bomb like her earlier in his film career. She has done an item number in Ramu’s upcoming film ‘Department’ in which the likes of Bollywood biggies Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan play the lead. Nathalia is now on way to fetch more and more works in the industry.

She has also fetched in an item number in a Tollywood film ‘Gabbar Singh’ to be made by Pawan Kalyan. The shooting of the song will be done in Hyderabad this month. Another biggest sex bomb of Bollywood Malaika Arora Khan, the item number specialist, too has been roped in to do another item song in this movie.

The film’s audio will be launched on April 15^th. Harish Shankar is the director of the movie and Ganesh Babu is the producer. Music has been scored by Devi Sri Prasad. Shruti Haasan plays the leading lady and the film is being shot at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. Nathalia’s item number will be waited since she has made her fan following in the country.