Mukhbiir Movie Review

Mukhbiir - The desi ‘Bourne’ gets bore
It’s been a while now that ‘Mukhbiir’ has been mired with problems that have given the film a back seat. First with a series of events involving change of producers from Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) to Color Chips and the legal money transactions to a postponement in the release date, the film has been badly hit.
Mani Shankar who established himself with ‘December 16’ and then went on to ‘Rakht’ and ‘Tango Charlie’ brings forth the story of an informer.
Synopsis…….
In the secret world of shadows where good and evil are deeply enmeshed,the dark world where fear stalks through streets, where the thin veil of sanity can get ripped off in an instant revealing the hidden face of stark terror-on that razors edge live the chosen ones, wearing masks that can never be taken off.This is a film about a young man and the many masks he wears enacting a desperate drama where forgetting the lines means instant death. This is the story of the many lives he has to live the many deaths he has to die.Director Mani Shankar would have wanted his film to take off very much the ‘Bourne Identity’ way. Though he tried to spin it a little bit here and there by asking the viewers to have pity on the informer or ‘Mukhbir’, he fails miserably.
The film bores and bores and bores. There is a complete lack of believability and connect with the storytelling. What’s with those close-ups of Samir Dattani time and again with those so called ‘Shayari’s ‘or one-liners? It’s just lame.
Samir seriously requires much more to look like that informer. His delivery is poor and his expressions are kiddish. From which angle does he act ( forget look ) like an informer?
The majority of characters have been simply scattered around without substance. Suneil Shetty just walks in and out and leaves no scope for understanding. Om puri does his bit well even though he often confuses.
Raima Sen was just a waste. Man, the way she falls in love with Mr.Mukhbir and breaks into the typical ‘Naach Gaana’ is ridiculous.
Sushant Singh does his bit of massaging the ladies and getting to do some Bhaigiri. Alok Nath too joins him on this bit.
On the whole the movie comes across as a very jaded one. With the delay and competition from former producers PNC’S ‘Ugly aur Pagli’, the film is bound to face rough waters at the box office.
Rating : *

Phoonk Movie Review

Phoonk - What the ‘Phoonk’?
Ramgopal Varma returns with ACE picture company- Praveen Nischol and Azam Khan-‘One more thought productions’ for a horror flick this time. It’s been a while since Ramu has done a horror flick unless the viewers of ‘Contract’ would love to believe otherwise.
Ramgopal Varma who excelled with ‘Bhoot’ and made people quiver , this time around dares the viewers to watch this movie alone. ‘Phoonk’ fuses in the black magic elements to bring forth some amount of fear. Well , does this flick live up to all those tall claims?
Synopsis….
Rajeev(Sudeep) , a successful Construction Engineer with a loving wife, and two children aged 10 and 8, is an atheist to the core. He scowls at God and even more at people who believe in the dark forces till one day when an evil was let loose in his happy home threatening to destroy his family and shake up the very foundations of his convictions and belief system.
To begin with , Ramgopal Varma seriously needs to look beyond scaring the audiences with gimmicks that have been overdone time and time again with his flicks such as ‘Bhoot’, ‘ Vastu Shatra’ etc. The slow movements of the camera is just not enough to scare today’s masses who in and out are exposed to films such as ‘Exorcism of Emily Rose’, ‘1048’, ‘JU-ON’, etc.
The screenplay of the film is a big setback and lacks a clear vision. Though the basic plot line may just be ok , Ramgopal Varma could have developed and executed things much better. It’s high time he does away with the focus on some lame dolls in the house and the overuse of the household maid; an attempt to scare that falls flat.
With not much movement in the storytelling, the overdone shots of the gates of the ‘Ambe Villa’ and the constant repetition of the SUV driving in and out , gets annoying.
The moment you think the film is going to get better and scarier, it just disappoints. The maid is not even close to what Seema Biswas did in ‘Bhoot’. The grandma just gets annoying with her constant head nodding and her hand stretching sequence was hilarious rather than frightening.
Lilette Dubey comes in from nowhere and gives her scientific view and justification for the proceedings. Zakir Hussain a very talented actor is quite wasted here as his body language and attire make him look really weird. There is no proper justification to his character and he is underused.
Ashwini Kalsekar starts off real well with her scary expressions and the focus into her eyes etc but eventually her laughter makes you giggle. Her character as the witch is pretty ok but the climax of the film was seriously poor on the special effects and thus was a major setback.
Kannada film’s renowned actor Sudeep does ok and the film doesn’t offer him much scope to prove his bit at bollywood. Amruta Khanvilkar is apt as the mother.
Ehsaas Channa is the best performer of the film (keeping aside the crow). One of the best things is that Ehsaas finally plays her character as a girl . She has matured as an actor and tries real hard to scare with the exorcism sequences.
On the whole, ‘Phoonk’ stands way behind Ramgopal Varma’s ‘Raat’ and ‘Bhoot’. It’s high time the director should seek a revival. He needs to win the confidence of the masses and bring back the three letter ‘RGV’ brand essence.
Go ahead Ramu and bring back some ‘Rangeela’ sort of film, you need a break from the dark side. Let the light seep in!
Rating : *

Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam Movie Review

Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam - All dialogues, no substance
This one was supposed to be one of the most awaited movies of the year for various reasons. Firstly, it brings back the ‘selective role choosing’ Mallika Sherawat alongside Rahul Bose. The two had a huge success story last year with ‘Pyaar Ke Side Effects’ and thus a repeat is expected here.
Also there is lots more value in terms of the talented Paresh Rawal , Kay Kay Menon and Zakir Hussain. Things get even better when the title revolves around one of hindi cinema’s most successful venture till date.
Maybe the title may be good enough to provide a hampering rebound effect.
Synopsis..
Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam is a mad, contemporary comedy about how a small town drama company gets involved in a deadly mission to save the country. Circa 1993 - The country was burning due to the Babri structure demolition and communal riots. A small town like St. Louise near Goa, where Police, CBI and RAW officers were out on high alert due to illegal activities like Rdx and Arms landing at the coastal area!
Set up in the same town is Kalakar Theatre Company, a theatre group of self indulgent dreamy actors who are always left with no choice but to perform the same age old period play 'Maan Gaye Mughall-E-Azam' every time. One fine day, they come to know that, an underworld don is planning a severe bomb blast in the country.
A funny and thrilling roller-coaster ride begins when the entire drama company designs 'A Deadly Game plan' and gets into the act to save the entire city from this blasts. Performing multiple roles in disguise, the characters make you go crazy and eventually, save the entire nation from the big bomb blast in a hilarious slapstick climax. It's a story of losers becoming winners... 'Actors' becoming 'Heroes' ...A comedy which thinks and winks!!!
‘Maan Gaye…..’ is well set within the parameters of the local theatre company and the noise produced by various characters involved with this theatre company. The movie takes off well with some really hilarious dialogues one after the other.
And then What?
There are a lot more of these dialogues with the film really not taking a step ahead. Sanjay Chel has no doubt been one of bollywood’s most successful dialogue writers with film’s such as ‘Rangeela’ , ‘Yes Boss’ etc to mention a few. Even as a director, he did well with his debut ‘Khoobsurat’ starring Sanjay Dutt and Urmila.
But, this one is seriously lame with all the focus being laid on the dialogues and the so called comedy flick getting its patriotic angle etc which is plain silly.
The film has definitely been inspired from the Hollywood flick ‘To Be or Not to Be’ starring Mel Brooks . The change here comes in the form of the shift from a Nazi environment to a riot prone Mumbai of the 90’s.
There are has been immense emphasis of Mallika Sherawat and her assets that the likes of Kay Kay , Rahul Bose and Paresh Rawal become insignificant.
What was all that undercover agent stuff and the words ‘Mulk’,’Quam’ etc doing in this comedy flick. It just made people look like clowns.
Mallika Sherawat does have some comic scenes with Kay Kay and her interaction sequences with Rahul too are funny. Mallika uses her oomph factor and brings in comedy specially cause of the support she receives from an actor like Paresh Rawal.
Paresh Rawal no doubt does well but leaves you with nothing much as the jokes and dialogues get repetitive. Kay Kay menon, What was he doing in this flick? He was so insignificant and was a cut paste of Naseeruddin Shah from ‘Sarfarosh’. It’s quite amazing that the very same Paresh and Kay Kay who were absolutely underused have brilliant roles to play in the competitor film of the week-‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’.
Rahul Bose who started his career real well on a more serious role , has now started getting commercialized. The masses did love his bit in ‘Pyaar Ke side Effects’ , but he needs to take scripts with some substance. He was fantastic with comedy in ‘Jhankaar Beats’ but in this one he falls flat and his hindi needs major improvement.
Pawan Malhotra does well and Zakir Hussain is ok.
All the naach-Gaana courtesy Anu Malik is not good enough to hold the masses except for ‘Marmari Baatein’. The music of the film too isn’t great and visuals of the songs aren’t appealing enough.
The movie requires some serious trimming and the cinematography is ok.
Chel has indeed excelled with his dialogues but not much emphasis has been laid on the script. Thus, this flick just ends up being nothing much but an overdose of one liners and witty remarks.
Rating : *1/2