New releases in Bollywood: 2009 Complete Guide Part 1

Finally. Two months, several tons of paper, litres of ink, and financial losses later, here we are, at the end of the rainbow – the end of the Producer-Multiplex strike in Bollywood.

The terms are yet to be finalized. The whole agreement will probably take shape by today, 8^th June, 2009. While the profit distribution rates seem decided upon, the other demands of the Producers, like more reasonable prices for movie-goers find no mention in the papers. We can only hope that they’ll have kept that in mind today.

With the strike at an end, several big films are on their way to our cinemas. Here’s a list of the most anticipated ones:

Anubhab: An Actor’s Tale

Release Date: 5^th June 2009

Director: Rajeev Nath

Starring: Sanjay Suri, Gul Panag, Jackie Shroff, Anoop Menon

Already released on 5^th June, Anubhab stars Sanjay Suri, Gul Panag and Jackie Shroff in chief roles. The banner and the trailers proclaim an offbeat film with a chance to leave its mark. Unfortunately, it could suffer from a shortage of any good story.

Read the review at NowRunning.Com

Kal Kissne Dekha

Release date: 12^th June

Director: Vivek Sharma

Producer: Vashu Bhagnani

Starring: Jacky Bhagnani, Vaishali Desai

Now this is one of the most publicized film waiting in line to get released. Directed by Vivek Sharma, the film looks suspiciously like a star son’s overhyped entry into Bollywood. When was the last time we saw that? Right, Love Story 2050. And Kal Kissne Dekha might very well end up doing a Love Story 2050, what can be guessed from the odd drifts of its story. Jacky Bhagnani (producer Vashu Bhagnani’s son) plays a college-goer who can see into the future. And therein starts an action filled tale of drama, adventure and saving-your-girlfriends stuff. Whether it becomes a fruitful or fruitless attempt is yet to be seen. Just bear this in mind: Jacky himself said in an interview, “Turn off your brains and watch this movie, it is solid entertainment.” Anyone like the first part of the sentence?

Vaishali Desai looks good in the songs. However, Jacky might at best be passed off as cute. Any further comments on his looks will need great leaps of imagination.

The music of Kal Kissne Dekha is by Sajid-Wajid. It doesn’t sound very bad for the most part. “Soniyo Billori” manages to mix the now compulsory Punjabi beats quite well. But the title track, “Kal Kissne Dekha” is pure crap.

Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation

Release date: 12^th June

Director: M.R. Shahjahan

Producer: Dhiraj Kotkar

Starring: Vijayendra Ghatge, Alma Saracci, Carlucci Weyant

An American girl meets Indian boy themed horror story directed by M.R. Shahjahan. It takes a lot of sensible thinking, good scriptwriting, well-researched and innovative direction and inspired performances to make a successful horror story in India. And if reviews be heeded, Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation has none of them.

Read the excellent review by Kaveree Bamzai.

Zor Lagaa Ke Haiya

Release date: 12^th June

Director: Girish Girija Joshi

Producer: Kartikeya Talreja

Starring: Mithun Chakraborty

A Hindi Mithun Chakraborty movie where he’s composed and serious, not playing the goof. Maybe it’ll be another National Award winning performance by him(the film has already won 4 International awards), but the trailers don’t seem very promising at all. Some children, a village, a homeless man – together they save a tree. It reeks of low budget, and what’s worse, an absence of a guiding story. It might ultimately fall into the Children’s film category which no adult would watch – except in during a strike – but I’m not sure. Here’s hoping  the performances are heartwrenching enough.

New York

Release date: 26^th June

Director: Kabir Khan

Producer: Aditya Chopra

Starring: Katrina Kaif, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan

Now here’s another biggie that’ll hit the theatres by the end of June. It stars three of the hottest and most sought after actors in Bollywood – John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, and Katrina Kaif. The three play a trio of friends in the background of 9/11 New York. With the World Trade Centre’s destruction, they come under the scanner in police interrogations. New York includes the much awaited nude John Abraham scene surviving torture, but sorry to disappoint you, nothing obscene will be shown – Abraham is conveniently covered by shadows at the right points.

The trailers make the film seem an impressive cross between Dostana and Dil Chahta Hai – a copy, yet impressive, as any well-portrayed story of friendship must seem. The rest of the trailers are filled with explosive visuals with a conspicuous lack of Katrina Kaif in the action parts. If these trailers are to be believed, New York seems to be trying to fit too much into too little a space. Too many facts will be hard to knit together in a single average sized movie.

I wouldn’t be giving New York too much credibility. It might be a hit – it seems to have all the ingredients ready – but most probably not a good film.

Kambakkht Ishq

Release date: 10^th July

Director: Sabir Khan

Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Sylvestor Stallone

Three ‘K’ s in the name. Will this numerological tweak work to make the film a hit?

Maybe. Kambakkht Ishq, starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, with Sylvester Stallone in the background, is one of the most promising films that’ll be released this year. Promising in the Akshay Kumar potboiler sense. Not the sense Chandni Chowk to China was. A stuntman and an aspiring-to-be-a-model surgeon fall in love – what happens next? We’re all awaiting this movie to know more.

Aladin

Release: 24^th July

Director: Sujoy Ghosh

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sameera Reddy, Juhi Chawla

One of those rarities – a fantasy movie in Bollywood. Oh, I mean the fantasies in Bollywood movie are adequate enough, but Aladin is a magical adventure-based fantasy like Harry Potter. And Director Sujoy Ghosh lays claims to it being influenced directly by the harry Potter series.

Aladin is still the story of the boy Aladin (Riteish Deshmukh) and the genie (‘Genius’ the genie, played by Amitabh Bachchan) residing in a magical lamp. But reportedly, much has been changed to fit the demands and expectations of the modern cinegoers.

Here’s the take: Aladin show great potential. It is dark, and rare in its niche in Bollywood. Except for the fear of the fact that most high budget and high aim films in recent times have seen themselves going up in smoke, Aladin should manage to be a tad more sensible and build in all the high-on-adrenalin swashbuckling stuff such movies need.

Blue

Release Date: Unknown

Director: Anthony D’Souza

Producer: Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif

Blue is a pathbreaking new film – or one that could well be. With a budget of over 100 crore rupees, a stellar cast comprising Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, and a totally experimental premise, Blue comes only second to the Three Idiots as the most anticipated film of 2009.

It is India’s first “official” underwater film, with overreaching attempts at getting the right “international” feel to it – just look at the number of foreign technicians on the set. Predictably, it is a thriller with lots of underwater scenes and fighting and treasure hunting. At least it has the correct amount of suspense and dark mysterious feel in its initial promos.

And oh, it also includes a song by Australian singing sensation Kylie Minogue. For once, no stone has been left unturned.

Watch out. Blue could just be one of the biggest hits of 2009.

Kissan

Release: Unknown

Director: Puneet Sira

Producer: Ronnie Screwvala, Sohail Khan

Starring: Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Jackie Shroff, Dia Mirza, Nauheed Cyrusi

Kissan looks suspiciously like a happy-Punjabi-farmer-fighting-trouble sort of story, the thing that the Deols look good in. And yes, to put speculations at rest, Sohail Khan does have at least one scene in the movie where he manages a Bobby Deol act. Not cool.

The only ray of hope is that Kissan is produced by UTV Spotboys’ Ronnie Screwvala, and his films are generally offbeat and brilliant. Let’s see who tilts the balance further – Screwvala or Sohail Khan. With every hope and wish that the story is something new, will Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan get their much awaited first hit in Bollywood?

I won’t put too much hope on Kissan doing that.

Runway

Release: 30^th June, 2009

Director: Sunil- Praful

Producer: Rita J. Shukla

Starring: Amarjeet Shukla, Tulip Joshi, Lucky Ali, Sharat Saxena, Shawar Ali, Deepal Shaw

A very obscure film so far. One of the most obscure, in fact. It has plenty of running, fighting, chasing, blood, and probably – revenge for a messed up past.

Except for one or two trailers that have been released, each sporting Hollywood style dark presentation, nothing is known of this movie.

It seems promising because of two reasons – one, the immediate reaction to one of the trailers; two, it comes from a little known banner, and as we know, they’ve been carrying out many upsets in recent years.

However, Runway also seems too ambitious on a weak premise. That inclination to gimmick might be its easy road to failure.

I’d give Runway a fair amount of credibility. It just might turn out an above average film which will hearten others to follow that ambition.

Jashnn: The Music Within

Release: Unknown

Director: Raksha Mistry Hasnain S Hyderabadwala

Producer: Mukesh Bhatt

Starring: Adhyayan Suman, Shahana Goswami

Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, Jashnn: The Music Within seems pretty much akin to the cliched tale of a nobody who became a somebody and his life of love, trust and betrayal. You get the drift. I won’t bet much money on it till more facts come to light.

Did I mention who the hero is? Our very own loverboy from Raaz: The Mystery Continues, Adhyayan Suman! In the teaser song, his face is still curiously devoid of emotions. Seriously, I hope he has taken some acting lessons in the meantime, for otherwise this musical seems doomed.

Visit the official site at Jashnn.Com

De Dhana Dhan

Release: unknown

Director: Priyadarshan

Producer: Venus Productions

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy

Being dubbed Priyadarshan’s most complex film yet, equally little is known of the Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif starrer De Dhana Dhan. The hit duo could give us yet another blockbuster in this movie slated to be released in the later part of the year.

Veer

Release: Unknown

Director: Anil Sharma

Producer: Vijay Galani

Starring: Salman Khan, Zarina Khan

Behold – here comes Salman Khan’s six pack superhero act inspired by Aamir Khan’s Ghajini and Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish combined. It is supposedly the story of the Warrior King Veer (Salman Khan) slaying enemies. The story – if one must expect anything such – has been written by the star Salman Khan himself.

Even before the shootings began, Veer attracted enough attention with first Salman Khan choosing a Katrina Kaif lookalike for his heroine. Then there was a saga of touching friendship which ended in Salman accepting Aamir Khan’s suggestion and dumping alcohol for a few months. More melodrama than even Veer has, probably.

Expectedly enough, this movie would probably be labeled “strictly for Salman fans”.

3 Idiots

Release Date: 25^th December, 2009

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Starring: Aamir Khan, R. Mahavan, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Mona Singh

Here it is – probably the most anticipated film of 2009 – 3 Idiots, slated to be released on 25^th December, 2009.

For the past two years, Aamir has been releasing his films in the Christmas season, and each of them – Taare Zameen Par and Ghajini – has been a superhit. There is no reason why 3 Idiots will be a deviation.

The reasons are plenty. One, Rajkumar Hirani. He’s the guy who gave us the lovable Munna bhai. Secondly, Aamir himself. He is known to choose his films only after much scrutiny, and he has hardly slipped in the estimate of a script in the recent years. Thirdly, the rest of the cast – Madhavan and Kareena Kapoor to be exact. They’re enough to set any film ablaze.

Fourthly, and here is an equivocal detail – the film is “inspired” by Chetan Bhagat’s “Five Point Someone”. Good as Chetan Bhagat’s books may seem in print, we all saw what came of his One Night at the Call Center which was turned into “Hello”. On the other hand, 3 Idiots is only “inspired” by Chetan Bhagat and not a ditto copy, which spells hope for a good movie.

In the end, I’d put much of my money on this movie. Primarily for Aamir Khan. Although I may not be a fan of some of his acrid ways, he is the most dependable success formula in Bollywood at the moment.

Raavan

Release: Diwali

Director: Mani Ratnam

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Govinda, Prithviraj, Manisha Koirala

So little is known of this movie that there isn’t even a poster available!

Loosely based on the mythical story of Ramayan, Raavan is a modern age take on the old story of Ram-Sita-Raavana. The twist? Sita falls in love with Raavana.

Well, you know what to expect. Just like Dev D, Raavana would probably do good on the “adaptation-along-modern-lines” front. The rest of the film’s details are very jealously guarded, so we’d have to still wait a bit to know how the 21^st century Ramayana unfolds.

Kites

Release: Unknown

Director: Anurag Basu

Producer: Rakesh Roshan

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangna Ranaut

With a successful Cannes run under its belt, Kites is the story of love reaching across borders. Hrithik Roshan is a salsa teacher, the Mexican beauty Barabara Mori his student. Inevitably, they fall in love.

Now this movie can be something. Seriously. The desi-meets-videsi fomula gets a twist here with the hot hunk Hrithik Roshan redefining the desi man in the genre. And who in India doesn’t love musicals?

Definitely worth a watch, the soon to be coming Kites.

Wow, that was a whole lot! One of the most heartening trends I notice in the above list is that the movies are of such a great variety – hardly to be found in such a list of Hollywood movies either –  not just romantic potboilers. Now if only they can rock the box office, well, what more could one ask?

Maruti Mera Dost: A preview

I had barely switched on my TV set yesterday when a song featuring a little girl and a little boy suddenly came up on Music India. Music India never shows the name of the song, but the name of the film was “Maruti Mera Dost.”

So is this a new film for children coming up?

The song was just a promo, sung by children or child-like voices, it seems. Definitely low budget, but hey, like so many low budget films, it just might manage to click, now that there are no big movies around!

The word “Maruti” means “Son of the Wind”, which refers to Hanuman (in Hindu mythology, he is the son of Wind). Now Hanuman is also shown in a few parts of the promo. As far as I can make out, the story should go like this: there is this simple little village girl, who suddenly gets a new best friend. How? Hanuman himself comes down as a child!

Clichéd though the storyline might sound, it didn’t look really bad. Yes, I mean even if low budget, something seemed rustling behind the curtains to prove itself. For one, the child version of Hanuman wasn’t a fat, podgy boy with a tail, but instead, thin and handsome. We can count on that bit of innovation to show the path to others, can’t we?

But as we all know, such templated plots for children stories, where god/ superhero in disguise befriends unknowing but worthy little children, walk the danger of failing miserably in the screenplay. Will this happen here too? Will Maruti Mera Dost be just a simple feel good film? One which people will watch just because there are no other films? Or might it just rock?

Let’s wait and watch.

Update: Here’s the official MSN site I found : Maruti Mera Dost. Like I said, it is a children’s film on God and witchcraft and the little helpless girl, Rameshwari, with an evil stepmother to boot!

There’s a lock, but there is no key!

It’s nearing the end of April, and still there is no sign of negotiations in the Bollywood producer- multiplex deadlock. SRK is matching steps with his hand-picked cheerleaders in South Africa and Aamir has vanished into the USA for months. Thus we’re all doomed to be stuck like this for an indefinite period; already, attendance at multiplexes are plummeting like meteors on a clear night and it won’t be long before all the elite air-conditioned lobbies of Fame and Inox and others will be turned into deserted buildings of lore with flickering, broken tubelights and ceiling high spider webs.

Ah, and caught amidst all this, no new films at all! For the next two months, at least!

Well, it gets tough for me. No new films, no new films to review. So please bear with me if I’m unloading all my old movie reviews onto my blog. Meanwhile, check out the game reviews at least, while we movie lovers all over India wait for some silver lining in the clouds.

Have a good day, all of you.

The Slumdog Millionaire Madness: Is it worth it?

Need I introduce Slumdog Millionaire, which has been THE phenomenon for the first 3 months of2009? Indeed, its rise to fame as been no less the spectacular as that of its central character – from distributors who weren’t interested in the film to a sweep of 8 Oscars. What else – instant stardom for its cast and crew, a sudden increase in the world focus on India, and no decrease in tourist traffic in Mumbai despite the 26/11 bombings?

Yet I remain surprised. I watched the film, with plenty of expectations, as it is, and found myself disappointed to the gut. My god! How could this film become the outstanding thing it is?

I am forced to echo Ram Gopal Verma – Slumdog is a mediocre movie at best.Period.

What was it everyone was saying about it – a very colourful movie? Yeah, that is true, but only literally. A fantastic depiction of slums? Air of optimism wafting about the film? Blah blah blah….?……

The depiction of slums is pretty commonplace, to be honest. And there is very little effort to show the optimism in the slums – there are forced scenes of dirt and grime included when that has nothing to do with the movie. The only explanation I can think of is that Americans have never seen slums that are so municipally neglected, and can’t believe anyone can live in them, let alone optimistically – hence it might’ve been pretty astounding to them. Sad news is, it just isn’t so in the real India. Maximum people live in those slum-like conditions. And many of them live happily.

And then again, I am forced to wonder why people didn’t notice the gaping plot holes in the film. My eyes nearly popped out as scene after scene, I was forced to watch blunder after blunder. Why would Amitabh Bachchan’s helicopter descend on an empty field in the outskirts of Juhu and not atop a 5 star hotel? Why would the Big B give his autograph to a shit-covered boy? How could Jamaal sit alone in a railway platform the very night of winning 20 million dollars, with no media dogging after him? Why did Javed Bhai allow Jamaal to remain in his house chatting with Latika? How come Jamaal was so fit the very next morning after being electrocuted into unconsciousness? How could Jamaal and Salim use the hotel freely? How does learning a bhajan automatically mean you know who wrote it? Why? How? What?…… I could never end. You want to see violence? Pain? Hatred? Loss? I’m sorry, but Slumdog just didn’t show any of them properly. The recent Firaaq is way better in that respect – and indeed, Firaaq is an awesome movie.

Plus the question of Jamaal and Latika’s love. Did anyone of you really feel their love? When did their characters develop anyway? We only know Jamaal was overtly innocent and Latika?…. She’s just the lovebird for Jamaal.

And dude, when did that become the epitome of Bollywood dancing? Thousands of people on a railway platform, dancing synchronized together? I take that as an insult! Bollywood dance is an art, and there are subtleties and nuances in it. The first thing anyone should notice is – everyone does not dance together in the same steps all at once. Like all dance forms, it is an expression; and the Jai Ho dance didn’t express anything at all, maybe that “hey the credits are coming up” or “we must include this, cause it’s based in Mumbai.”

Music, music…. Rahman’s score is good, really good. As usual, you know. If the world is going gaga over the Slumdog Millionaire album, what would they say about Roja, or the more recent Jaane tu Ya Jaane Na? Latika’s theme sounded the best in the album. And no doubt about it, O Saya is way better than Jai Ho. Jai Ho does well only because of Sukhwinder Singh and the happy ending. The lyrics aren’t that good. I dunno, but it doesn’t stand alone.[Stop me from stabbing myself, but what has Pussycat Dolls done with the song??]

But yeah, the cinematography and the picturization are really amazing. Kudos to Anthony Dod Mantle and Boyle for that – that was the only redeeming factor in this movie. Like the last moment when Jamaal and Latika meet and their history of pain and violence and loss rewinds itself and is forgotten in love; or when Jamaal laughs after being asked the last question in the show, because he knows he has lost all the money but won everything…. wonderful!!

I am unanimous with the world on one aspect – the kids did a really marvelous job. So did Tanay Chheda – in fact, it’s only Chheda and Madhur Mittal who save the show in the adult versions of the kids. Freida Pinto has profited the most due to this sudden famedom, dumping his husband and all to foray further into the world of glitz. But when did she act? Come to think of it, when did any of the Latikas get to act?

I was also thankful that the Hindu-Muslim thing wasn’t stretched out too long, and at least not included in the case of Jamaal and Latika’s love.

The premise was interesting – a flashback movie, on how destiny rewards innocence and honesty in a slumdog to show him the path to his love – and a new life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against all the negative things shown in the movie – yes, the beggar trade is true, the gangsters are true, the prostitution business is true, the pig-dirty slums are true, and so are the ceaseless riots. We live with all of that every single day. Just the depiction isn’t as good as it could’ve been.