TALAASH - Starring Aamir Khan and "Story" !

Aamir Khan is known for his out-of-the-box choice of films and giving them his personal touch, hence making a masterpiece out of it. Talaash is yet another film which can easily be counted among one of his bests. The film co-produced by Aamir Khan and directed by Reema Kagti is a much-awaited psychological thriller which has released after a prolonged delay. There were a number of rumours doing rounds as early as the film's first look was launched about its story-line and the predictions of the possible suspense the film has.

Inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) is the investigating officer of the case of a film star's accident having a possibility of a murder. As he tries to investigate people related with this case, he is forced to look back into his own past where he and his wife Roshni (Rani Mukerji) lived a happy life until they lost their son in an accident. Shekhawat meets an escort Rosie (Kareena Kapoor) who informed him about the possible suspects and helps him to look further in the case. As the mystery unfolds there comes a number of characters who are involved in the case and Shekhawat needs to find out the truth while dealing with his broken married life. Will he ever find the truth behind the accident? Who is the culprit? The suspense lies within.

"STORY was, is and will always be the real HERO of a film". The story of Talaash by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti is enthralling and engaging with lots of twists and turns which literally gives goosebumps to the viewers at points. The screenplay, also by the duo is tightly packed but kept a bit slower than necessary for a thriller. But yes, who said it's only a thriller? Reema Kagti has discovered a unique genre which can be called a thriller/suspense drama, psychological thriller, emotional drama, emotional thriller or simply a fiction. All the credit for discovering this genre and having guts to stick on to and giving a film which stands out, goes to Reema Kagti, the director of the film. The dialogues by Farhan Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap are worth praising and perfectly suits the situation. Farhan Akhtar, undoubtedly has inherited the writing skills. Mohanan's cinematography and Ram Sampath's music sets the perfect ambiance for the film and thrills the viewers at every pivotal point.

Aamir Khan takes the whole film on his responsible shoulders and gives a stupendous performance. No other actor in the Hindi film industry could carry such an emotional graph with a plethora of variations but Aamir Khan. He steals the show in every single frame. Kareena Kapoor looks stunning and acts her part brilliantly. Rani Mukerji's role is very short but she delivers her best and looks pure. Nawazuddin Siddiqui once again deserves applause for his role, he is a smart actor. Rajkumar Yadav and Shernaz Patel does justice to their roles.

All-in-all Talaash is an engaging and thrilling film which offers a perfect yet a very unique whodunnit case with many twists and turns with a mind-boggling climax and a great wrapping up of the story. A murder mystery is always an interesting genre to watch and after watching Talaash you'll feel good to have watched something different which Bollywood has never seen.       

Vengeance is Irritating

Ajay Devgn Films' much talked about film Son Of Sardaar directed by Ashwni Dhir is an action-comedy, a remake of the Telugu super-hit Maryada Ramanna (2010) which itself was a remake of the 1923 American silent film Our Hospitality. Ashwni Dhir, who is popularly known as the writer of much acclaimed TV series Office Office and also received a decent response for his last film Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge is roped in to direct a full-on family masala entertainer by the producers to make some money out of this Diwali jackpot. A huge amount of publicity campaigns, Salman Khan's cameo and some controversies including the legal notice issued to YRF gave SOS a remarkable kick-start at the box-office. Read on to find what this Diwali bomb carries for you.

Jassi (Ajay Devgn) who lives in London receives a legal paper from India which forces him to go to Punjab and claim his dead father's property. He comes to know about the rivalry between his (Randhawa) and Sandhu family who is in search of him from past 25 years and wants to kill him. Billu (Sanjay Dutt), the head of the house has vowed not to marry Pammi (Juhi Chawla) whom he loves until he kills the last member of the Randhawas. Jassi comes to Punjab and meets Sukh (Sonakshi Sinha) and falls in love with her. Somehow, Jassi ends up in the Sandhu-house whose tradition is taking care of the "guest" no matter if he's an enemy. Sandhus comes to know about Jassi's identity and waits to kill him as soon as he leaves their house. Meanwhile, Sukh also develops her feelings towards Jassi. Will Jassi ever leave the house?

SOS starts on a very unrealistic plot and ends on the same. The film was made to entertain the mass-audience but they ended up making a not-so-funny rather boring cinema. Ashwni Dhir's fascination with guests ("mehmaan bhagwaan hota hai") continues like his last venture ATKJ but this time he fails to create even a smile on an average viewer's face. The screenplay looks dull topping on an even duller story-line; not one dialogue carries a comic-punchline, even the timing is mismatched. The film carried a lot of expectations considering its hype but it falls short on comedy as well as action. The visual effects looks cheap and there is nothing new with the action sequences (a lot of unnecessary action). The music is average, the title song creates spark, Bichhdan is soothing and Pon Pon is Salman Khan-fan-club's favourite track.

Ajay Devgn tries too hard to look funny but he fails every time, the role doesn't suit him. He has a good comic timing but the script proved lackluster. Sanjay Dutt is good as always with his role but again, there's nothing to watch out for. Sonakshi Sinha knows how to look like a "doll" as she experiences another masala entertainer in her career. Juhi Chawla is sweet and charms the frame every time she comes. Mukul Dev is best with his tailor-made role and gets some good lines which he delivers with a great timing. Vindu Dara Singh is decent with his performance. Salman Khan's cameo is just to attract his fans, though it worked but the film doesn't.

SOS is a total waste of a film. The producers will earn a hell lot of money fooling the audience by offering them a complete 'Diwali' package in the name of a pure family entertainer watchable with your brains outside the theater. This vengeance is not at all funny, its irritating ... rather pathetic!
Save your money!

Jab Tak Hai Jaan - NOT a Yash Chopra Romance

The man who gave us the first successful multi-starrer in the form of Waqt (1965); a one-of-its-kind thriller Ittefaq (1969) which became the first song-less Hindi film; one of the biggest hits in Rajesh Khanna's career Daag (1973); the ground-breaking film Deewar (1975); classic tales of love like Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Silsila (1981) and Chandni (1989); a cult film like Lamhe (1991), a romantic psychological thriller Darr (1993) and modern day love sagas like Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), a musical and Veer-Zaara (2004), a love tale beyond boundaries, is no more with us as his last offering Jab Tak Hai Jaan releases. JTHJ is again a modern day love saga like most of Yash Chopra's films dealing with the complications in love and relationships. The film got all the media hype when Chopra announced it as his last venture as a director which followed his unfortunate death and some more legal controversies. Does the film justifies the hype it created?

The film starts with Yash Chopra reciting a line of the poem written by Aditya Chopra - "Bhool na jaana rakhna yaad mujhe, Jab Tak Hai Jaan . . . Jab Tak Hai Jaan." which sounds very much ironical now. Major Samar Anand (Shahrukh Khan) is a fearless bomb-squad leader having earned the title of "The man who cannot die" for his courageous efforts in diffusing bombs all over the Kashmir valley without any body-suit. Akira (Anushka Sharma) works for the Discovery Channel and is in Ladakh with her team making a documentary on the bomb-disposal squad of the Indian Army. She accidentally reads Samar's personal diary which depicts his back-story and how he became a fearless officer. The plot goes ten years back when Samar, a happy-go-lucky Punjabi boy works in London doing odd jobs for survival. He falls in love with Meera (Katrina Kaif), the only child of a business tycoon who is getting married to someone else. Somehow Meera reciprocates her love to Samar and they both decide to live their lives together. Samar meets with an accident and Meera prays for his recovery and due to her immense faith in God she vows not to meet Samar again if God makes him recover soon. After knowing this, Samar who had recovered from the accident leaves London and challenges Meera's vow by joining the Indian Army and playing with death. Akira, during the filming falls in love with Samar and after submitting the documentary calls Samar to London for its authentication where Samar again meets with an accident and looses his memory. This brings back Meera into his life. Will they be together again ?

JTHJ has its plot scattered in a huge radius that it looks like a never-ending tale of love. The writing of the film is below average, be it the story-line, the dialogues or the screenplay; "poor initiation of a could-be-made good story" is written all over the film. It was supposed to be a tribute to the legendary filmmaker by his son who penned down the story and co-written the screenplay. Aditya Chopra need to think about what sort of stories he's putting ahead and making a good-looking hamper in the form of a film (other being Ek Tha Tiger). There isn't a single point in the film which could relate to the long-lost "Yash Chopra Romance" (apart from its length); the film is NOT a typical Yash Chopra-film and we could even have doubts about him actually directing it. The cinematography by Anil Mehta is A-Grade covering the beautiful locales picture-perfectly. Namrata Rao's editing is not at all "Namra" leading to a 3-hours long running time. Even AR Rahman's music lacks the magical touch this time but still "Challa" and "Saans" are the two songs to look out for. Gulzar's lyrics does the work but in parts.

Shahrukh Khan in his trademark role of a lover boy looks charming and as the rough and tough Army officer steals the show (even hearts). Though he's not in his best form but watching him romancing in his tailor-made style after a really long time is soothing and sometimes breathtaking. Katrina Kaif looks absolutely stunning in every frame but falls short of acting skills. Anushka Sharma is the real surprise package as she charms all the way putting energy to an otherwise slow-paced plot of the film.

The never-ending plot, the detailing of every unnecessary emotion, the unusually 'funny' rift with God and the mixing of old and modern-day love made the film look too complicated to understand and you may actually wait for the 'EXIT' lights to turn on. Jab Tak Hai Jaan falls too short of its expectations. Watch out only if you're a loyal SRK fan or just to pay respect to a legend. No matter what Yashji, you'll always be missed ... JAB TAK HAI JAAN!