MFK: pokes well !!

Rating: 2.5/5

Y Films’ Mujhse Fraaanship Karoge starring 4 new comers is a youthful joyride whose premise revolves around 21^st century’s one of the greatest inventions i.e. Zuckerberg’s spectacular social networking site, “Facebook”.   

Vishal (played by Saqib Saleem) is having crush on gorgeous Malavika Kelkar (played by Tara D’souza) and another lead Preity (played by Saba Azaad) loses her heart to Rahul, the Rockstar (played by Nishant Dahiya). Each one of them in disguise talks with another on Facebook and with the rally rounds of chat, falls in love with the person, which they never thought of but it’s all good, we know it. There’s nothing more than that. 

Story line is simple and straightforward and good thing is, it’s devoid of customary bollywood melodrama. Raghu Dixit’s music is ebullient and gives the joyous feeling which a typical bollywood rom-com should. All the actors have performed with terrific enthusiasm and they are the ones who really pull this film up with their charisma, lingo & just right attitude. No one seemed like a new-comer. Hacky (played by prabal panjabi) delivers hilarious gags and never misses the beat. Platoon of professors shown in every college drama is out of sight this time and I am glad for it.

In terms of drawbacks, we have aged couples here who fail to induce heartwarming emotions. Lecture given by protagonist in the climax which attempts to illuminate the shortcomings of the excess usage of Facebook was scalded; it could have been much more engrossing.

This is the genre which Imran Khan has donated his half of his life to, but failed to gratify audience. This is the genre which each of us have tagged as “chewed” one but each one of us secretly loves it and the one who denies that fact loves it the most. We just can’t ignore it. After Band Baaja Baaraat, this is the film which I really enjoyed in the rom-com genre. Earnest effort of whole team is worth appreciating. There is surely something missing but debutante Nupur Asthana’s Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge turns out to be an entirely watchable film.

Super 8: is mind-blowing !!

Rating: 3.5/5

After weeks of CGI burdened-soul dead and buried-deep-down action flicks & countless rom-coms, here comes the film with an irresistible charm. 

J.J. Abrams, who made terrific “LOST” series, has directed “Super 8” under the banner of Steven Spielberg and set of two have done a terrific job. Storyline of course borrows many things from Spielberg’s very own classic E.T. but Super 8, set in 70’s is constructed very artistically and sentiments are supplied magnanimously which spell binds its viewers effortlessly.

A bunch of naïve kids are very enthusiastic for making a full length feature film whose central plot mainly revolves around zombie. In their earnest effort to reach the goal, they come across one train accident, one which changes their lives and others’ too. Soon, wildly peculiar accidents begin in the town like missing of numerous dogs, engines vanishing from automobiles and most common, fluctuations in the electricity. After keeping on toes for a considerable time, J.J Abrams finally unlocks the bolts by showing us gigantic and dangerous alien who’s behind all mishap.

From phase of “absolutely amazing”, film speedily goes to “mind numbingly stupid” phase without giving us any sort of warning. For most of the part, film wonderfully worked as thriller but by the time it reached its climax it just became silly. Climax successfully managed to suck the thrill out of this almost jaw-dropping film.

Film is stunningly shot, each and every frame is luminous and period of 70’s can be really felt. Train getting derailed and the way each and every bogie jumps and explodes, it’s just incredible. Also, battle scenes post interval are classy. 

After Dakota Gayo performing extraordinarily in Real Steel last week, we have Joel Courtney this week who anchors the film (as Joe) with everything he has got and delivers a splendid performance. As a female lead, Elle Fanning (as Alice) gives decent performance. Kyle Chandler (as Jackson) is portrayed as strict father and courageous military man. My personal favorite in whole cast is Riley Griffiths whose humorous act as film’s director is just so adorable that you wish for more and more scenes portraying him. 

Apart from the ending, there was nothing worth complaining here. Kids in the film very comically explained the term “production-value” and the gags involving that term were indeed memorable ones. And to be honest, those kids looked more passionate about their film project than most of the bollywood directors. Their 2 mins movie seemed much much funnier than full length comedy films of bollywood. Cheers to the film within film. You, watch both and cherish. 

Real Steel: is real good fun !!

Rating: 3/5

“Real Steel” is an adaptation of the short story “Steel” by Richard Matheson. I anticipated this film as full-on-mindless action flick but astonishingly it is a well balanced film which is having both, thrilling action scenes and warmth at its core. Both essentials are in equal proportion and that’s the reason why I liked this film very much.

Set in 2020, film’s plot is pretty simple. Charlie Kengton (played by Hugh Jackman) endlessly loses Robot fights and is running short of money and hope too. Yes, robot fights, we are in 2020. That sport is portrayed as a popular one where in the ring, instead of Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock etc. we see giant Robots fighting one-on-one with each other. Robots are controlled by humans via. Joysticks.     

Max Kengton (played by Dakota Goyo) is his 11 year old son, who in the middle of Charlie’s crisis returns to him and after some strangely funny conversations & events, turns out as a boon. On one night, Max finds Atom, old styled not-so-impressive looking robot and trains him to fight. Slowly and steadily, he triumphs in conquering Charlie’s cynicism about Atom’s feebleness. And then what, director Shawn Levy re-glitters the charm of Rocky films by showing us terrific jaw-dropping robot fights. Soon after defeating some weird looking robots in unofficial fights, duo gets a shot at WRB (World Robot Boxing) where they show their mettle.

Concept of shadow function was really cool and Max employed it in a cooler way. Atom mimicking the killer dance moves of Max via. shadow function was film’s fanciest & most innovative aspect. Also, I loved opening scene in which Robot fights with a bull. That was really really awkward, but nevertheless entertaining.

Scenes between Jackman & Evangeline are easy on eyes and both look lovely. What Jaiden Smith did for “The Karate Kid”, Dakota Goyo does for “Real Steel”. Hugh Jackman in each & every frame, from beginning to end, is consistent & delivers an incredible performance.

Don’t miss “Real Steel”, it’s really worth your time & money.
       

Rascals: should be banned immediately!!

Rating: 0.5/5

Punjabis are blessed with humor, we know it. David Dhawan proved that with Deewana Mastana, Biwi No.1, Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Mujse Shaadi Karogi & many more but now he has completely lost it. He is now literally raping the art called “film-making” and in doing so, employing accomplished actors. He seems to be hell bent on ruining his image. Without even a tiniest doubt, one can say that his previous film “Do knot disturb” was the worst film of 2009 and yes in 2011, he took that cheapness and ridiculousness to a new height, by delivering “Rascals”.

Devoid of common sense, Rascals has storyline which our bollywood has presented countless times. 2 rival con-men named Chetan (played by Sanjay Dutt) & Bhagat (played by Ajay Devgn) separately rob another con-man i.e. Anthony (played by Arjun Rampal) and then, they runaway from India to Bangkok, may be because of fear but I think that isn’t the idea behind it. Idea is to show us the tourist version of Bangkok but Dhawan fails in that too. In Bangkok, they both fall in love with the same girl, Khushi (played by Kangna Ranaut & her brand new implants).

Both con-men cross each other’s way more or less in a way similar to Andaz Apna Apna & Deewana Mastana. But here, Dhawan explores humor less and voluptuous bodies of females more. Another lady in the film is Lisa Hayden, who plays prostitute. None of them are provided with funny lines or funny moments.  All they did in film was, wore skimpy outfits & remove them. I’d like to share one sample dialogue from this film, uttered by sidekick Nano (played by Hiten paintal) to Sanjay Dutt – “Bhai, aap point point karte reh jaaoge aur woh usko leke nariman point pahunch jaayega”. Either Chunky Pandey plays nepali watchman or some hotel’s manager. I guess those are the only roles left for him nowadays. In 2010’s dreadful film “Housefull”, he delivered some fresh jokes but this time he himself proved that he deserves nothing better than such leftovers. Here, he dons the role of gujarati hotel manager – Bhagat Bholabhai Chaganmal (he prefers BBC). Funny, eh?? This character was nothing less than a torture.

I know David Dhawan is not interested in improving quality of Indian Cinema but he should definitely stop fooling audience now. Bad performances by leads are due to nasty screenplay, rubbish dialogues & chewed storyline. But, why do they accept such roles? Well, I don’t know but I do wish that in the future we will not be cursed this way.

You must not dare to think about film’s music. Only Kangna seemed happy with her role and we know why! Else everyone fooled themselves and viewers. Hope this film vanishes from cinemas as soon as possible.

Force: Nothing remarkable !

Rating: 2/5

Here comes another no-brainer which pretends itself as a commercial entertainer. Yes, of course I was very much keen to see superbly toned body of John Abraham but putting that aside, there’s very little which I could appreciate in this film.

It starts off as a thriller but before you know it; it becomes a tiring and boring revenge saga. Honest officer of anti-narcotics unit, ACP Yashwardhan (played by John Abraham) along with his 3 colleagues kills one Drug Mafia who was supposed to be caught alive. That Drug Mafia’s brother (played by Vidyut Jamwal) is now on a rampage to kill all of them in the name of revenge. He effectively tortures all the four and their families, and in the end our muscular hero kills the villain.   

Simple story could’ve been executed differently but director Nishikant Kamat takes the road more traveled by. You don’t get any shocks here; Nishikant has knit his film in an absolutely silly-bollywoodish manner. Like all the other star-studded brain-less entertainers released this season (which were stupid & rubbish), this film also has some of the elements which they had -- Typical melodrama, unnecessary songs, chewed dialogues & at last, length of the film, which was irrationally longer.    

Humor at some places is pleasant. Confrontations between ACP Yash & his love, bubbly-charming Maya (played by Genelia D) are quite refreshing. Foot chase sequence & few hand-to-fight scenes in second half somehow manage to convince the viewers that they are really watching an action movie. Vidyut Jamwal did fantastic work; I would be watching his next film, for sure.

What disappoints maximum here is the protagonist. John fails to meet viewer’s expectations. He worked hard for his look, gained super 8 pack abs, managed to reach 96 kilograms but his feeble acting overshadowed all such brave achievements. It’s been said that FORCE is a remake of tamil hit KAAKHA KAAKHA, but I haven’t watched that so don’t know much about it but FORCE is just an ordinary film !!