Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji *Review* by Danish Lakdawala

National Award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar, known for making hard-hitting and realistic films like CHANDNI BAR, PAGE 3 and FASHION, traverses a completely new terrain with DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI. Mind you, it takes a lot of courage to get out of your comfort zone and make a completely different film.

DTBHJ brings back the successful jodi of Ajay Devgan and Emraan Hashmi after ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI. It also stars Omi Vaidya (3 IDIOTS fame) in a pivotal role. The quirky promos and some smart marketing went in favour of the film and managed to create the right buzz.

In a hilarious voice-over by Paresh Rawal, we are introduced to bank officer Naren Ahuja (Ajay Devgan), playboy Abhay Suri (Emraaan Hashmi) and Milind Kelkar (Omi Vaidya). Abhay and Milind are paying guests in Naren's house.

The film basically traces the lives of Naren, Abhay and Milind and their encounters with women. Unable to resolve their rising differences, Naren and his wife (Rituparna Sengupta) are about to end their seven-year-old marriage. In a disturbed state of mind, Naren falls for a cute 20-year-old new trainee June Pinto (Shazahn Padamsee) in his bank. Abhay is a gym instructor who can't get enough of girls and women (married and unmarried). He even loses his job for teasing the wife of an underworld bhai from Dubai. On the other hand, Milind writes 'dard bhari shayrees' which cause 'sir dard'. He also works in a matrimonial site, zhatpatshaadi.com, but is unable to find himself a suitable match. He gets infatuated by radio jockey Gungun Sarka (Shraddha Das), who just uses him to get out of troubled situations. The rest of the film shows how their respective tracks move forward.

An impressive opening credits sequence involving sketches sets the right tempo. Without much ado, you are introduced to the characters straight away. Although the first half is placid, the graph of the narrative remains unidimensional as there's not much movement in terms of the story. The introduction of 'U.S. return' Nikki Narang (Shruti Haasan) just before the intermission adds a certain twist to the tale.

Like most films, DTBHJ loses its way terribly in the second half. It's a painful watch full of cliches and drags on and on. All the tracks except Abhay's are tripe. The climax intended to be 'real' is hideous and falls flat. The worst part is that you don't feel for any of the characters at the end of it.

The humour oscillates between being very good to extremely flimsy and puerile. Abhay naming his puppy Kasab (who's a 'terror') as he was found on CST station (in Mumbai) has you in splits. But most of the jokes simply don't work, making you laugh unintentionally.  

Music is good and cinematography is beautiful. But the story is flawed and predictable, and requires more strength perhaps, especially the dialogues. Overall, definitely watchable, but somehow lacks something. Ravi Walia's cinematography is impressive. Sanjay Chhel's dialogues are inconsistently good.

Ajay Devgan proves that he can do comedy with equal ease as action and serious roles. Emraan Hashmi is good but it's getting boring to see him play similar characters again and again. He gets some of the best dialogues. And yes, he's back to his kissing ways! Omi Vaidya is remarkable. However, his accent reminds one of his famous character of Chatur from 3 IDIOTS. Shraddha Das is average. Shazahn Padamsee looks cute, acts well and remains in her character throughout. Tisca Chopra delivers an outstanding performance. Shruti Haasan can't act. All the other actors are good in their small roles.

Though the movie would generate reasonable collections, Madhur should rather stick to realistic cinema or improve immensely before attempting something different next time. DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI doesn't win your dil.

The screen is cluttered with secondary characters that pop in and out without bringing anything to the story other than add to the mess. And that's what Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji is, a silly jumble of misspent potential and hollow creativity.

Could Have Been Better!

Rating: ( 2 /5 )

Dhobi Ghat *Review* by Danish Lakdawala

Dhobi Ghat is an acquired taste. Either the film will sink into your skin like a slow ache or it will be bewildering and downright boring. 

 
Dhobi Ghat is the story of 4 characters: Arun, the famous lonely painter (Aamir), Munna, the dhobi who wants to be a star (Prateik), Shai, the banker on a sabbatical in India (Monica) and Yasmin, the recently married Muslim girl who records her life in Mumbai for her brother back home (Kriti). They say that Mumbai is the fifth character in the movie, and if so, I found it to be a silent character, an immovable witness to the harmony and turmoil in which the characters function simultaneously. Much like the aunty in Arun's neighbouring apartment: always there, always seeing everything, but always silent. Not sure if that was a parallel that Kiran had in mind, but it seemed relevant to me.

Munna, played by Prateik, a dhobi with dreams of becoming an actor. And Yasmin, a young married Muslim girl, played by Kriti Malhotra, who makes video diaries that Arun discovers.

These people intersect in the disparate spaces of the city – posh art galleries and narrow gullies in slums; the dhobi ghat and high-rises.

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_Review.aspx?id=590&cp

Kiran Rao and cinematographer Tushar Kanti Ray construct a rich and intimate portrait of the city. In places, the locations almost overshadow the characters – there is a terrific shot of Arun walking down the bustling Mohammed Ali Road during Ramzan.

In another scene, Munna covers his shanty from the torrential rain as local trains whiz by.

Rao also observes human behavior keenly – so when Shai first asks Munna to sit down in her up-market apartment, he hesitantly feels the sofa before placing himself down. And when Shai’s disapproving maid serves them tea, she brings one nice cup and one glass that befits Munna’s status.

Prateik is achingly lovely as Munna but the star of the film is the luminous Kriti Malhotra who revealingly loses the hope and shine in her eyes.

This saga of love and longing is punctuated by a haunting background score created by Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla.

What doesn’t work as well is the pacing. Rao’s build-up of characters is painfully slow with the first 30 minutes or so being the most problematic.

Some of the early scenes are clumsy and the disjointed narrative just isn’t engaging enough. I was also confused by the suggestion that Munna is having a relationship with an older woman customer – so does the dhobi routinely offer more than just clean clothes?

Intriguingly, Aamir Khan, otherwise such a fine actor, strikes a false note.

With constantly furrowed brows, he seems to be performing at a different pitch from everyone else. You can almost feel the weight of being in an art house film on his shoulders - the early scenes with him and Monica are particularly awkward.

Still, if you are willing to have patience, Dhobi Ghat comes together nicely..

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_Review.aspx?id=590&cp

I rate the movie 2.5 stars.. some may like to watch it.. and some really won't :)
If u like movies of different genre... then go for it..  otherwise you may find it boring !

Rating -  2.5 / 5   

 

No One Killed Jessica *Review* by Danish Lakdawala

NO ONE KILLED JESSICA( A)
Runtime:- 138 minutes
Director: Raj Kumar Gupta

Most storytellers entertain, a few enlighten. The stoic Murder India has only one speaking-line in this dialogue-oriented extremely thought-provoking treatise on justice and social awakening. "Kuch bhi karo mere Monu ko kuch nahin hona chahiye," she whines from behind the curtains as her powerful politician-husband plots to exonerate their laadla son from the murder charge.

Justice will be drunk. For a while the murderer Manish Bhardwaj (Mohammed Zeshan Ayyub, looking like a cat that got the cream on its head while aiming for the mouth) is allowed to go scot-free. How did this monstrous travesty of justice happen in this celebrated real-life case?

This, as they say, can happen only in India. Apna Bharat Mahaan. And one says this without irony after watching in rapt attention Rajkumar (Aamir) Gupta's stupendous take on a headline that ripped across the lives of the rich and powerful and the exceedingly pretentious elite of Delhi.

The movie starts with D da da da Dilli title track and it slowly gets into you. Rani Mukherji captures the life of Delhiites with strong conviction
No One Killed Jessica straightaway takes us into the world of Jessica's sister Sabrina Lal. The phone rings in the dead of the night to announce that Sabrina's ebullient sister has hurt herself. "Go get her treated. She's always hurting herself," Sabrina mumbles in her sleep.
The hurt, this time, is far deeper than expected. Wounds too deep to be repaired open up in our socio-political and legal system as Sabrina's case becomes a cause celebre...once again! In re-creating the heinous crime from 1999 and the woeful attempts to suppress evidence to save the life of a bigda raeeszada, director Rajkumar Gupta is dead-on accurate. The mood of justice-smothered prevails from Frame 1. Cinematographer Anay Goswami swoops down on Delhi (the sutradhar of the plot, so to speak) to capture the mood of sweat grime and crime. Amit Trivedi's wry resonant rippling sinewy music casts a zingy spell over the goings-on. Trivedi in fact invests a 2011 feel to the happenings in 1999 without subverting the periodicity.
Aarti Bajaj edits the footage with an austerity that gives us barely a chance to grieve for Sabrina and her distraught parents. We don't miss the mother's glazed eyes, though. The pace is relentless, perhaps a little bit too much so. Why the paranoid persistence about creating a breathless pace? We weren't going away anywhere, Mr Gupta.

No One Killed Jessica is a persuasive powerful and pungent docu-drama. The narrative is remarkably devoid of overt sentimentality. The let's-get-on-with-the-job-of-nailing-the-bastards mood goes effectively with the investigative journalist Meera's character.

As the Kargil-returned, cynical, horny chain-smoking foul-tongued bitch (her own description) Rani Mukherjee returns to the screen with a bravura performance. Looking like a million bucks and exuding a torrent of temperamental emotions Rani furnishes the fight for justice with an emphatic elan. Yup, she's got what it takes.

Cleverly Sabrina Lal's character is transformed into a mousy timid quivering virgin-working girl (which the real-life Sabrina is not). By portraying Sabrina as an anti-gregarious creature of the shadows, Gupta immediately and effectively creates a contrast between Sabrina and her deceased vivacious sister Jessica (Myra, sunny screen presence) and of course between Sabrina and Meera.

The contrasts are not killing. This is an implosively crafted screenplay shot with deft unsentimental hands that avoid the over-emotional moments by simply getting on with the business of getting justice for the Lal family.

Indeed, No One Killed Jessica does full justice to Jessica's memory. There are moments of great cinema strewn across the plot. Moments such as the one where Sabrina tells Meera she has no emotional freedom to do any of the normal things that girls her age do, or when the awkward untrained journalist struggles to tell Sabrina on camera that she can understand what the family is going through. And Sabrina retorts, "No you can't. You don't know."
The performances are pitch-perfect...in Rani's case, bitch-perfect. She makes the aggressive journalist Meera come alive in places like the conscience,that are not visible to the naked eye. Like the conscience. Vidya Balan's slouch, hesitant demeanour, soft-spoken speech patterns and a smothered pain and hurt make Sabrina Lal a character you empathize with because she isn't screaming for your attention. She's just doing what her conscience tells her.

The rest of the cast of virtual newcomers is outstanding. Rajesh Sharma as the conscientious cop (the only voice of reason in an establishment filled with treason!), Neil Bhoopalan as the primary witness (who turns hostile because in his words he was offered a bullet or a crore and he wanted neither), Satyadeep Mishra as Rani's quietly professional boss (Pranoy Roy knocking 30 years off) and of course Myra as Jessica...these are real people, not actors.

Cleverly No One Killed Jessica ends with Jessica posing pouting and blowing kisses into the camera. The poignancy of the provocative postures somehow reminded me of Jodie Foster in The Accused where the girl having fun is gang-raped in a bar.

NO ONE KILLED JESSICA belongs to the unique hard-hitting, gut-wrenching genre of cinema. Script-wise, the director has tried to remain faithful to the episode that occurred during that fateful night and also what transpired subsequently, but besides depicting reality on celluloid, he adds the thrill element to the plotline, which makes it very viewer-friendly. The events have been chronologically put forth and the daring story of two women who challenged the system hits you like a ton of bricks. The film truly celebrates the human spirit and also reflects a vital change in the society and in the attitudes of people.

Final word? This gutsy film deserves a standing ovation! 
Usually the period of January releases do not work, but this one definitely does. It earned approx 4crores on day one.. Only thing missing is that bit where I felt that the movie could have been outstanding. But, excellent efforts by the director 

I rate the movie 3.5 stars..

I'll sign off for now...

Enjoy the weekend!! 
Danish Lakdawala