For all those movie critics going around criticising Saawariya, I would like to ask them all what were their expectations going into the movie? If they were of Saawariya being another Devdas or another HDDCS, then they were really mistaken. For those who had done their research and shared the slightest similarity with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's vision, then surely you would have expected the treat that was to appear on screen.
Saawariya is no epic, it is no melodramatic love saga, it is no action thriller, it is no Black, no Devdas, it is not a typical Bollywood love story where girl meets boy, both fall in love and it's a happy ever ending. Saawariya is a sweet fairy tale. It is a story of a dreamer. A story of 4 nights, told over 2.5 hours. The entire movie is a set, the movie is a complete portrayal of perfection, it is artistic in every little way, and the amount of detail gone into the non-acting portions of the movie is incredible. There is symmetry in the direction and the choreography - it is a visual treat for all those who have an eye for art.
Saawariya is love and innocence personified.
Monty Sharma's music is eloquent and beautiful; it fits the theme of the movie perfectly. For a debutant music director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been gifted with a golden offering.
Now to the two debutants: Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. Who stole the limelight?
For me, it was Ranbir Kapoor who stood out as the winner. He seemed to fit the role of the majnoo lover boy, though I do feel he overacted in a number of sequences, for example the boxing-dukhi scene and the phone calls he makes to Begum Para, all excited about his new found love. But being his debut movie I think he may have just tried a little too hard, just like Hrithik did in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. Ranbir will improve and he will rise.
Sonam Kapoor plays the shy Sakina - Ranbir's love interest. Comparing her to Deepika in Om Shanti Om, Sonam would be wiped away clean, but in her own right, she didn't have much to do in the movie - apart from laugh, shy and cry. Sonam will face the critics, but I feel that with experience she will improve. She certainly has talent; she is pretty and has the potential to become a big star.
Rani Mukherjee was tremendous. Not much can be said about Salman, he wasn't in there for long, but Rani's presence was definitely felt. She delivered an exceptional performance, especially in the chabeela song and in the scene in which Ranbir goes to her house.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali - there is no director who could have attempted to take on the risk of launching two of the biggest debutants in the Bollywood industry in such artistic style. Saawariya was a project close to SLB's heart, which he has done complete justice to. He has previously told the story of eternal love (Devdas), silent love (Black/Khamoshi), and now the story of innocent love (Saawariya).
The legend lives on.
Rating: 7/10
It's that festive time of the year again, Ramadhan comes to a close, Eid and Diwali strike and Bollywood sparks! Like every year, this is deemed as the hottest season in the Bollywood calendar, and in the past all the 'biggies' have released in this time - be it K3G, Kaante, Don or Jaanemann. This year we have the two biggest releases of the year: Saawariya and Om Shanti Om.
Saawariya is set for a Diwali release, with Om Shanti Om following up a few weeks later. However, the Eid weekend, which is next week sees the release of the much awaited Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and Bhool Bhulaiya! Quite contrasting movies, so it will be interesting what the audience opt for.
My gut instinct says that the masses will go for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, purely because it has a greater family appeal, with it having the likes of Rani, Abhishek, Jaya Bachchan in it. However, I think Bhool Bhulaiya will spark magic with the youth. The music of Bhool Bhulaiya, especially the groovy track "hare raam, hare krishna" has been a super hit with the Indian audience. Let's see if the movie delivers the same result.
All eyes on the festive season!
ps - I'm watching Laaga Chunari Mein Daag on the Eid weekend (",)
What do you picture in your mind when I say the name Farah Khan? You think of her amazing dance choreography, you think of her being great friends with Shahrukh, and most importantly of all you think Main Hoon Naa, her first directorial venture, which received awesome reviews worldwide and walked away with Best Music that Filmfare year.She's back again in the directors seat and leading the cast is none other than her buddy, the King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan. Making her debut alongside King Khan is Deepika Padukone, whom I'm sure many newcomers entering the industry will be jealous of, for bagging a dream debut with the numero uno star of Bollywood.
The theatrical promo was played before Heyy Babyy in cinema halls across the worlds and ever since it has been the talk of tinsel town. Yes, Shahrukh is back at what he does best and this time it seems alot more likely that his movie will deliver at the box office! Chak De India may not have performed as well as he would have hoped to, but this time around the world is faced with a totally different ball game. It's not Shimit Amin, it's Farah Khan who is leading the ball game in the directors seat this time - expect grand songs, funky sets and a sure shot load of entertainment. In a nutshell, expect fireworks! This ain't no sport flick, this ain't no *dishum* *dishum* flick, this is something that from its first looks promises to be a grand and colourful rollocoaster entertainment package!In the theatrical trailer we see Shahrukh in the 70's as a fan of a Bollywood superstar Deepika Padukone (this is her debut movie!). It's hard to figure out what the story of the movie is going to be, but all that is revealed on the official website is:
This is the story of "Om" and "Shanti"
His film started in 1977 and ended in 2007.
He was a junior artist in the 70's. She was a superstar of the 70's.
Her was he biggest fan. She was his biggest inspiration.
Watch out guys, here comes OM SHANTI OM!
Official website: www.omshantiomfilm.com
View the theatrical trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1ionZznx1Q
Release Date: Some weeks after Saawariya (November)
~ Saawariya ~
The wait is finally over...
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya is one the most eagerly anticipated releases of this year. Slated for a Diwali release, the promotion has just got under way. The complete secrecy around the film’s look, plot and lead pair (Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor) has created super hype ever since the movie went into production. This is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's most precious project to date, and with him being the perfectionist that he is, and looking at his track record of HDDCS, Devdas and Black, the expectations from Saawariya are simply out of this world!
Official website: http://www.saawariyafilm.com/
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Here's a first for Bollywood Ki Baatein. I've not reviewed an Indian pop album before, but with it being Indian Idol winner Abhijeet Sawant, I thought I may as well, since I was a loyal fan of his first album, which featured hit tracks such as Mohabbatein Lutaoonga, Kya Tujhe Pata Hai, and Lafzon Mein (my favourite).Abhijeet Sawant is back with his second album titled Junoon. The title song hits off the proceedings in the album and, is playing on air at the moment. It is something different from the typical indian pop song - rather soothing to state the least. It may take a few hearings to grow on you.
However, the songs you must listen to are Ek Shaqs, Tanha (my favourite) and Meri Aankhein - three excellent songs from the new album. I've not yet got to grips with the others, but after one hearing i've declared these three songs to be sure shot hits! Without a doubt the videos for these songs will be nothing short of excellent, and that's all they require to guarantee another successful album. Everything comes in a package these days in Bollywood; without a presentable video, some good songs go unnoticed!
On this note, let me add, the song Tanha is a bit of a rip off from an Arab song, which i'm a big fan of - Nassi El Duniya by this arab male singer who's name I can't remember, but I can assure you that the music and rhythm has certainly been copied from that song - so in terms of originality this second album loses some points.
Despite that, Abhijeet Sawant's second album strikes all the right chords and is virtually a guaranteed success. India was blown away by this young boys voice in the ever famous Indian Idol competition, but now after a little break from the music scene, Abhijeet Sawant is back, with a talented team of musicians and lyricists - the guy has Sayeed Quadri (the lyricist of Tere Bin by Atif Aslam) backing him, he can't go wrong!
Verdict: Chartbuster!
In previous years Sanjay Dutt's White Feathers Production house has brought us some amazing flicks, like Kaante and Musafir, even though Kaante was a direct copy of Reservoir Dogs. It now brings us a star studded cops versus gangsters thriller, Shootout at Lokhandwala (based on true rumours), an original script!On the cops side we have Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Arbaaz Khan, Abhishek Bachchan (guest appearance) and Amitabh Bachchan as the lawyer. On the gangsters side we have Vivek Oberoi, Tushaar Kapoor, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Rohit Roy. Amrita Sing plays Vivek's mother, and Diya Mirza is the pretty journalist covering the incidents.
The director Apoorva Lakhia has clearly been inspired by Sanjay Gupta's way of direction, and to his credit he does a fantastic job. The crime scenes are superb and the confrontation between Maya (Vivek) and Khan (Sanjay) at the restaurant is packed with so much weight, it just sums up the directors abilities. The dialogues, coupled with the background music are very good, and add plenty of weight to the script.
Of the performances, let me begin with Abhishek's. What a waste of talent! Although to the benefit of the producers, his name in the cast did add value to marketting the movie, but it's a shame he wasn't used to his full potential. Arbaaz Khan who is a rarely seen on the big screen these days is a delight to watch. His urdu dialogues in the scenes between him and Sunil Shetty are a joy to watch. Good performance. Sunil Shetty does complete justice to his role, the sequence in which he calls Tushaar's girl a "randee" is really good. Sanjay Dutt as Khan leads the way with the cops, his performance is excellent as always, although I do get a feeling that whilst shooting for the movie, he would have been craving to play the role of the 'bhai', because we all know there's no better bhai in Bollywood than apna Sanju baba! Legend! 
Now this is the moment I have been waiting for - to make mince meat out of the one actor that brought down the viewing appeal of this movie! - Yes, I am talking about none other than the little man Tushaar Kapoor! Whyyyy on earth was he placed in this movie, the dude is a half decent actor but no way in hell does he have what it takes to act as a Gangster! I mean, just LISTEN to his VOICE! Forget his acting skills for a minute, it's his feminine voice, which takes away the whole 'bhai' image. The scene in which he approaches Sunil Shetty in the gym is all you need to watch to understand what I mean. On the one side you have Sunil Shetty who is a man from voice to physique, and then you have Tushaar Kapoor who tries threatening him by saying "hayyy, itna hoor mat dhay... saala akha bench hee teray mein ghusair dey gaa". What a joke! That scene had no impact on me whatsoever. I'm sorry Tushaar, you should just stick to love stories.If I was in the directors chair, I would have used Abhishek Bachchan in Tushaar Kapoor's role and gave Tushaar Kapoor the one minute guest appearance.
The movie belongs to none other than Vivek Oberoi. What an amazing actor. It was RGV's Company which launched Vivek into Bollywood, playing the role of an underworld bhai, and after years of experimenting different roles he has returned to the same old role, and rightly so! Vivek as Maya in Shootout at Lokhandwala portrays the perfect attitude to go with the rough look, and does compleeete justice to his role. The scene in which he breaks the guys head in the neighbourhood by resting his jaw on the curb is lethal and as gross at it sounds, it is an adult viewers delight! Although Vivek has done a great job in the past in other movies like Saathiya, it is the underworld bhai role that suits him the best - there's no other actor out there who could match Vivek in this category, so come on you directors, sign him on for more underworld flicks!To all you readers: if you want a break from the love stories, go watch Shootout at Lokhandwala, you won't be dissapointed. All eyes are on White Feathers Productions next venture (",)
My Rating: 7.5/10
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- I'm Shah
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