Archive for October, 2008
Movie Review: Roadside Romeo (2008)
1 Star (out of 4)
Walt Disney Pictures’ first collaboration with Yash Raj Films fails to serve its intended audience: kids. The film follows the homeless Romeo (voiced by Saif Ali Khan) as he falls in love with lounge singer Laila (voiced by Kareena Kapoor) and runs afoul of a flatulent mafia boss. An abundance of references to other Bollywood films keeps Roadside Romeo from being universally accessible. And if the film didn’t star animated dogs, you’d never know that it is intended for kids, especially since the female dogs have disturbing hourglass figures.
No rating (animated violence); 93 minutes
Movie Review: Summer 2007 (2008)
1 Star (out of 4)
While this film’s explicit goal is to inform movie-goers about the plight of Indian farmers driven to suicide because of their extreme poverty, the farmers get second billing to five wealthy medical students who spend their month-long rural internships doing everything they can to get back to civilization. When the brats finally decide to help the farmers after a series of bizarre, violent events, they do so by returning to the city to stage a PR campaign, rather than staying in the country to provide desperately needed medical services. Summer 2007 falls well short of accomplishing its goal.
No rating (violence, rape, language, drug use); 174 minutes
Movie Review: Sarkar Raj (2008)
Zero Stars (out of 4)
Download Sarkar Raj
Buy the DVD at Amazon
The considerable acting talents of Bollywood’s royal family, the Bachchans (Abhishek, wife Aishwarya Rai, and father Amitabh), are wasted in Sarkar Raj, a sequel to the 2005 gangster flick Sarkar. Absent a compelling script, director Ram Gopal Varma has to alert the audience when anything of even minor significance happens, using absurdly dramatic music and close-up shots of the actors’ most mundane reactions. Varma’s homage to The Godfather is as subtle as a horse head in your bed.
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on June 12, 2008
Movie Review: Drona (2008)
Zero Stars (out of 4)
I’d been looking forward to Drona more than any other Hindi film scheduled for release this year. I am a fantasy and superhero film junkie. Maybe that’s why I found Drona so disappointing.
First-time director Goldie Behl took elements from popular Western fantasy flicks and tossed them into a film with a flimsy narrative, without understanding why films like The Fellowship of the Ring and The Matrix were so successful.
Drona begins with an orphaned boy named Adi living as the ward of a strict stepmother who dotes on her biological son. It’s essentially the same opening as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Fast forward to Adi as a young man, working in his stepmother’s shop and covering for his incompetent stepbrother. It’s not clear exactly how old Adi is supposed to be, but I’m sure he’s not supposed to be 32, as is Abhishek Bachchan, the actor who plays him.
Strange things start to happen when a cheesy magician named Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon) comes to town. See, Riz isn’t just a half-rate prestidigitator with a fauxhawk. He’s also a demon. He sends his black-cloaked henchman (a la The Black Riders in Fellowship) after Adi.
Adi is saved by Sonia (Priyanka Chopra), a mystical ninja chick wearing an unflattering pirate bandanna and boots that look like garbage bags wrapped in caution tape.
Turns out, Adi is the heir in long line of heroes, called Drona, whose duty it is to protect the Nectar of Immortality from demons like Riz Raizada. It’s not clear on whose behalf the Drona protect the Nectar of Immortality. If it could save him from dying at the hands of a demon (as has apparently happened to all previous Drona) why doesn’t Adi just drink the stuff himself?
Instead, Adi seeks out the location of the Nectar of Immortality in order to protect it from Raizada, completing tasks along the way. After each task — each of which is supposedly the last thing he needs to do before finding the Nectar — he learns that there’s just one more thing he’s gotta do first.
Raizada, like any villain worth his salt, simply lets Adi lead him to the treasure.
Nothing about the plot is particularly original, but most fantasy films owe their plots to something that came before. The problem is that the world Adi is asked to step into as Drona doesn’t feel complete, nor do its problems feel imminent or even all that dangerous: two factors that made The Matrix so engaging.
The alternate dimension in which the Nectar exists includes the requisite magical midget and invisible staircase — but it also has locomotives. Adi inherits the Drona costume worn by his father, and presumably all of the Dronas throughout time — and yet the boots have zippers. Time and again, Behl fails to consistently integrate technology into his magical world.
It’s not even clear what danger an immortal Raizada poses to the world, apart from an eternity of his crappy magic shows. Sure, Riz has henchmen who beat up a few people, and he’s got some creepy marionettes who stabbed a guy on his command, but the magician doesn’t have a grand evil plan.
Such plot incongruities could be forgiven if we actually cared about the characters. I didn’t. Chopra’s character shows up out of nowhere, because, apparently, as there is a line of Dronas, there is also a line of sidekicks.
Adi fails to inspire as a hero. He never does anything to earn our respect or prove that he deserves the powers he’s inherited. It’s not even clear what his powers are, except that he seems periodically able to punch stuff very hard.
I admire Goldie Behl’s goal of giving Indian children a hero to look up to, played by a familiar actor who speaks their language, instead of superheroes imported from America. But Drona won’t cut it.
Movie Review: Rock On!! (2008)
3.5 Stars (out of 4)
Ten years ago, the rock band Magik broke up as they were on the brink of stardom. After moving on with their lives, the band members reunite for a second chance at glory. Rock On!! thoughtfully explores the compromises people make in the name of security and family — and the danger of giving up on your dreams. Anyone who ever left a band for a “real job” will appreciate this film. The music’s good, too.
Rated PG; 150 minutes
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on September 4, 2008
Movie Review: Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)
4 Stars (out of 4)
Serial heartbreaker Raj (Ranbir Kapoor) gets a taste of his own medicine when he falls for Gayatri (Deepika Padukone), a beautiful, independent woman who’s not ready to settle down. The cast members, including Minissha Lamba and Bipasha Basu as Raj’s jilted ex-girlfriends, give authentic emotional performances in a romantic comedy that draws from classic Bollywood love stories and more recent Hollywood films. Stunning locations, lavish dance numbers, and a charming story help make Bachna Ae Haseeno the most polished movie to come out of India this year.
No Rating; 152 minutes
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on August 21, 2008
Movie Review: Singh Is Kinng (2008)
2 Stars (out of 4)
There’s nothing subtle about this romantic comedy. Akshay Kumar overacts as a clumsy villager impersonating a mafia don impersonating a servant, as part of a convoluted plot to reunite the real don with his family. Gun fights and chase scenes are loud and frequent, but not very exciting. The film’s highlight is a music video featuring rapper Snoop Dogg, who gives a shout out to “the ladies hangin’ out in Mumbai” during the closing credits.
No Rating (violence); 135 minutes
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on August 14, 2008
Movie Review: Bhoothnath (2008)
2 Stars (out of 4)
Download Bhoothnath
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Part supernatural family comedy and part melodrama, Bhoothnath unsuccessfully tries to appeal to everyone. In the amusing first half, a young boy named Banku befriends a ghost named Nath, played by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. A schoolyard showdown reminiscent of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video is particularly entertaining. The second half drags, as the ghost’s backstory becomes a bizarre parable warning adult children of the dire consequences of moving away from their childhood homes.
No Rating; 136 minutes
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on May 15, 2008
Movie Review: Tashan (2008)
3 Stars (out of 4)
When a mobster (Anil Kapoor) hires call-center operator Jimmy Cliff (Saif Ali Khan) as an English tutor, Jimmy gets into trouble and winds up on a wacky road-trip with a beautiful thief (Kareena Kapoor) and a sneering thug. Akshay Kumar is hilarious as the thug who resents Jimmy, a man frequently praised for speaking “just like George Bush.” Tashan‘s jokes, many of which are in English, are funny and make up for the clumsy action sequences.
No Rating (violence, language); 148 minutes
This review originally appeared in The Naperville Sun on May 1, 2008
