REVIEW OF 'TEES MAAR KHAN' - FARAH IS REAL 'TEES MAAR KHAN', INDEED!

Last big release of 2010 'Tees Maar Khan' will be releasing in India on 24th but it got released in Dubai and other overseas markets yesterday to take advantage of extended festive weekend there.


Bollywood is reeling under a loss of more than Rs. s.300 crores for the year and the collective losses of three recent big budget movies, 'Action Replayy', 'Guzaarish' and 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se', are anywhere between Rs. 80 to 90 Crores. The mood of the industry is dull especially because movies by directors such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Vipul Shah have failed at the box office. Nothing has worked at the box office since October. That’s why everyone is watching 'Tees Maar Khan' closely.


TMK's success is important for Akshay and Farah as Akshay had more flops than hits in last couple of years and this is his make or break film. First two films of Farah Khan were hit but SRK got the credit for those so she is under pressure to prove herself all over again.


First let's talk about the plot (which is shamelessly lifted from 1966 Hollywood flick 'After The Fox' and two days prior to release Producers of 'TMK' had bought rights of remake from MGM fearing a backlash later). Akshay is playing conman Tabrez Ali Khan who keeps messing up with his heists. He has three more members in gang by the name of Burger,Soda and Dollar.Katrina plays an upcoming heroine cum item girl named Anya who is in love with Tabrez. She is always busy in putting more and more make up on her face. One fine day Johari brothers (Raghu and Rajiv of Roadies fame) assigned Tabrez a job to steal antiques worth Rs. 500 crores from a moving train and that forms the climax of the film. There are few surprises and to find out who is 'Tees Maar Khan', you need to watch the film especially the climax.


Film got very thin,fragile and repetitive storyline and screenplay is average. Writing is as poor as it was in Main Hoon Na and gags are loud typical Farah style. But Farah again decorate film well with hit songs and larger than life sequences(Watch out for especially made train in climax worth Rs. 75 lakhs). Good thing about Frah Khan is that she sticks to her strength of delivering masala entertainer and bad thing is that she does not give you anything new.


Akshay Kumar performs well but still far from his best. He is good but looks jaded and needs a break to re energize himself. But Katrina surprises big time. She lifts the film on her shoulder and even in a not so important or impressive role still she makes you smile every time she comes on screen. She is no doubt carries the film single handedly and 'Sheila Ki Jawani' even after overkill looks hot on screen. Raghu and Rajeev have small roles and they are good and Akshay Khanna is second surprise package after Katrina. He plays a guy who is desperate to win Oscar award (his character ridicules Aamir Khan from 'Rang De Basanti' and 'Mangal Pandey-The Rising'). Film is full of potshots on vast range of things, from Aamir and his movies to Slumdog Millionaire's Jai Ho' into 'Day Ho' and Farah also makes fun of her last release 'OSO' (make sure you don't miss end credits).


Film is full of guest appearances. Salman Khan appears in one song 'Wallah Re Wallah' but he remains under utilized which may irritate his fan base. Co Producer Twinkle Khanna makes a guest appearance in end credits in similar fashion as Gauri Khan did in Om Shanti Om. And other two guest artists are Anil Kapoor and Chunkey Pandey who are entangled in Holi celebrations. Plus there is voice over by Sanjay Dutt.


Barring 'Sheila Ki Jawani' all songs are boring and hardly leaves any impact and especially beware of irritating 'Bade Dilwala'. All in all music is a real let down from Farah Khan after giving two great albums 'Main Hoon Na' and 'OSO'. 


SO NOW MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION IS, WILL FARAH KHAN BE LUCKY THIRD TIME? Although film is not up to the mark and critics in general will not like it but heavy marketing, shorter duration (only 127 minutes), hit item number, 'Katrina' factor and few edge of the seat sequences will carry the film at least initially. Budget of the film is 50 crores and film is set for BLOCKBUSTER first weekend and should collect in excess of 40 crores nett ('Dabanng' collected 48 crores, '3 Idiots' collected 40 crores, 'Golmaal 3' collected 35 crores and 'Rajneeti' collected 33.5 crores in first weekend) at least by 26th december.


 I AM TALKING FIGURES NOT IN QUALITATIVE TERMS like film is good or bad or average. ONLY QUALITATIVE BLAH BLAH IS A SIGN OF MEDIOCRITY THAT'S WHAT ALL CRITICS IN INDIA DO. I AM NOT BOASTING JUST SHARING MY THOUGHT AND GUESSING IN OPEN SO THAT READING THIS REVIEW BECOMES MORE ENTERTAINING FOR ALL AND IF I FAIL THEN I SHOULD CORRECT MY REVIEWS like it happens in hollywood or in other mature markets.


A REVIEW WITHOUT NUMBERS IS JUST ABOUT PLAYING SAFE SO LETS SEE IF I HIT THE BULL'S EYE OR NOT BUT 'TEES MAAR KHAN' DOES THAT FOR SURE IN TERMS OF INITIAL COLLECTIONS and may end up breaking 'opening' (first weekend collection) records of 'Dabanng'.


(And special thanks to my friends in Dubai who shared their thoughts on movie in order to make this review possible before movie's release in India)

Bittoo Sharma Janakpuri Ishtyle!

We are fed up with star sons and daughters and their capabilities of delivering flops in heaps (remember 'Raavan' and 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey' from Abhishek; 'Kites' and 'Guzaarish' from Hrithik). But as there is always brighter side of things, we got a debutant, a star in making with Yash Raj's latest offering 'Band Baaja Baraat'. Name of prospect is Ranveer Singh.

I don't remember many stances when a newcomer (that too from non filmy background) act with such an authority and ease. It is after long time that Yash Raj Films is launching male lead. Due credit should also be given to debutant director Manish Sharma who gave Ranveer a character with lot of scope to perform. And well done Yah Raj films for giving a chance to worthy newcomer under their reputed banner.

Ranveer shows great chemistry with Anushka and fits the bill of a boy from Saharanpur studying in DU. He never goes overboard and sticks to antics of his character. He excels equally in emotional shots (my favorite, the scene where he admits his love in climax of the movie) and comic scenes, a rarity in today's breed of actors. Not only he acts well but he is a good dancer and has impeccable dialogue delivery. He looks one of those from Janakpuri.

Surely a talent to look out in future!

OOPS! Bhansali did it again - business of plagiarism

Last week ACTION REPLAY proved that even 'business of plagiarism' fails when even copying from Hollywood classic BACK TO FUTURE resulted in a pathetic business at box office.And this week,we have GUZAARISH by Sanjay Leela Bhansali(who directed DEVDAS remake of bollywood classic,BLACK 100% copy of THE MIRACLE WORKER and SAANWARIYA loosely based on WHITE NIGHTS) which 'borrows its brilliance' from not one but many english and european movies.

Its various subplots inspired from different films, "Guzaarish" is a mash-up of many interesting ideas.Few striking similarities are-

• From Christopher Nolan's "The Prestige", Bhansali borrows the sabotage angle between rival magicians, but that culminates in an over-simplistic redemption that adds nothing of any value to the core plot of this film. 
• From "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", Bhansali steals memorable moments like the one in which the wheelchair-bound hero struggles with a stubborn fly, until he resigns himself to live with it. 
• But it's the Oscar-winning Spanish film "The Sea Inside" that the director plunders most liberally from, taking full scenes and the dynamics between key characters too. 

It is really sad to see a good craftsman like Bhansali losing confidence in himself and resorting to easy escape of plagiarism again and again.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF BOLLYWOOD-secret behind success of WANTED & DABANGG

2008 had WANTED as surprise hit and 2009 saw DABANGG raking all the moolah.This phenomenon has totally changed the face of box office and fate of stars upside down. Salman Khan has certainly become 'the' hot property and five projects (READY,BODYGUARD,KICK,WANTED-2 &Partner-2) starring him are currently under production with almost similar mass appeal as DABANGG had. Now even Shahrukh is coming up with two action oriented projects next year,Ra.One releasing in June and DON-2 on 23rd December.Aamir has just signed his next a thriller to be directed by Reema Kangti (who directed Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.).Almost all stars are moving towards action oriented storyline and social or urban or multiplex themes have become suddenly extinct.


There is a sound reason behind this sudden shift of taste of consumer.Let's go back to 2001 when 1st phase of multiplex revolution happened.Multiplexes were opening up in every metros and by 2007 multiplexes acquired fair share of box office in mini-metros(Kanpur,Indore,Surat, Ahmadabad etc) too. Now next phase of growth for multiplexes was from smaller towns and mini-metros. Going by the revenue collection figures,65 percent of total collection comes from small towns & tier-2 cities.Multiplexes opened in cities like Raipur,Ludhiana,Lucknow,Moradabad,Nasik,Aurangabad,Amritsar.AND THIS CHANGED THE EQUATION OF SUCCESS OF BOLLYWOOD.


Suddenly in 2008,all top 3 grosser(GHAJINI,RAB NE BANA DI JODI & SINGH IS KINNG)were hard core masala ventures;almost in contrast of hits(CHAK DE INDIA & TAARE ZAMEEN PAR) of 2007.This trend got consolidated in 2009 with the success of WANTED which was a huge surprise hit after a long time(last surprise hit was GADAR in 2001 almost a decade back!).Now success of DABANGG  & ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI in 2010 has stamped the power of 'ordinary audience'(who enjoys movies for solely for entertainment not like multiplex audience where agenda driven or fake intellectual movies are liked).Where from 2001 to 2007 saw at least 3 to 4 multiplex hits(KHOSLA KA GHOSLA,AAMIR,BHEJA FRY,PYAR KE SIDE EFFECTS,PAGE3) every year, this trend started diminishing from 2008.



This phenomenon is democratization of bollywood which has it's share of pros & cons.On the one hand,we are getting full on dose of same old bollywood masala entertainment(DABANGG has striking similarities with Dharmendra's PRATIGYA) but on the contrary it is boosting revenue streams of box office which had gone dry since the advent of multiplexes.So next time if you shake your head in utter disbelief that how come 'this' movie earned so much remember there will be lakhs of audiences in hinterland of country clapping and whistling on song dance and drama TYPICAL BOLLYWOOD ISHTYLE.

AAMIR KHAN-HEIGHT OF PLAGIARISM by Mr. Perfectionist

So right now he is being considered as the PERFECTIONIST,the METHODICAL actor of Bollywood. Yes, we are talking about AAMIR KHAN. Mann, a movie starring Aamir Khan released in July,1999.It has been considered as epitome of plagiarism. It even lost a case over this issue in court.

So lets see few uncanny similarities it had (plagiarism had been done from hollywood,south indian cinema,south east asian cinema etc., in short you name and its there!)-

• The movie borrows plot elements from the Hollywood classic Love Affair (1939) and An Affair to Remember (1957).
• One of the film's songs, Tinak Tin Tana, created controversy because the melody was taken from Malaysian's Indonesian born singer- songwriter Iwan's song Yang Sedang-Sedang Saja. Iwan sued Sanjeev-Darshan, the film's music director, for plagiarism and won the case.
• The song "Nasha Hai Pyar Ka Nasha" has been plagiarised from Toto Cutugno's song "L'italiano".
• The song "Kali Nagin" has been plagiarised from a rai song "Ya Rayah" by Rachid Taha (Original by Dahmane El Harrachi).
• The song "chaha hai tujko" has been plagiarised from Telugu movie Raja "Edo oka ragam pilichindhi vela"
• The song "Kehna Hai Tujhse" has been plagiarised from the song "Liquid" by Jars of Clay.
• The song "Khushiyan aur gham" has been plagiarised from the song "Comevore (Italian)" by Eurotica.

AAKROSH - great movie but flops -why

OK so DABANGG had created few more records and Robot had captured the imagination of viewers in a big way. Then there are few FAKE MULTIPLEX PICS like Do Dooni Chaar (a poor inspiration from Khosla Ka Ghosla) and Knock Out (it will literally 'knock your head out' with its on face stupidity).

But then comes a movie from a film maker like Priyadarshan, who mastered the art of mindless comic capers. The name of the movie is Aakrosh and WHAT A MOVIE. Everyday story of HONOR KILLINGS is the central issue of the movie with a backdrop of caste-ism. Although it has fair share of violence and a bit objectionable dialogues but these are integral part of narrative NOT ONLY FOR ADDING SPICE LIKE IN DABANGG OR ROBOT.

Performances are awesome plus direction is tremendous. Although couple of unnecessary item songs and over-dramatic chase sequences may be irritating but not as much as was in so called MEGA HITS OF PAST MONTH.

But film did perform badly at box office even after having Ajay Devgan in it who has delivered three back to back hits this year, a rare feat in today's time when superstars (READ KHANS) DO 3 MOVIES IN 5 YEARS. First time a full fledged main stream movie has been made on serious issues of honor killings and Priyadarshan has reminded us that he is the same man who directed movies like Gardish & Virasat in past. Movie fails and that is very disturbing.

First thing first.Media and so many stars keep telling us that our audience is now a mature lot and so face of cinema is changing. PARTIALLY RIGHT BUT MOSTLY WRONG.

Swades was a movie with a pure message without any SO CALLED ENTERTAINMENT, it failed to ring cash registers.

Chak De was a hit as it had a feeling of patriotism and sports at its centre and we all know how much we love both.

Peepli Live works again because its AN ESCAPIST CINEMA AT ITS BEST. It deals with serious issues of FARMER SUICIDE 7 IRRESPONSIBLE MEDIA in such a way that we laugh all the way on miseries of both. PITY!

Raajneti works because of huge starcast including current heartthrobs Ranbir & Katrina and over dramatic presentation of Politics.

But when today's so called 'mature audience' is tested by mature cinema either in the form of Aakrosh or Swades, it seems maturity is quite shallow. Success of Dabangg & Robot is good for health and wealth of Hindi Film Industry but failure of soulful cinema is worrysome not only for cinema but for society.

If Priyadarshan will present another mindless comedy,then most will blame him that he has nothing new to offer(remember what Raj Kapoor did after failure of Mera Naam Joker,He made Bobby!).

Mature audience, come on yaar!

Another Chance to pour my soul on celluloid

So Its been quite a long time since i had chat with myself and so why not today? Again after a gap of almost 10 months i got chance to write & direct one SHORT FILM for National Short Film in Nagpur. Like most of the time in past, i got it because of blessings of HUZUR SAHAB(whom i call BABA), MY guru & friend and ya of course my love was there by my side in Khyati.

It was 6th October when i started writing the script and was 7th evening when i finished it. We shot for next 2days and editing was over by 11th Morning. Then we uploaded the movie same day and entry fee was submitted in Nagpur by one of my cousin as 12th was the last day. So it was a project finished in almost 5 days from inception to end. There was no expectation as everything was done in such a hurry.

12th evening, we got the news that our short film had been selected among top 50 out of total entries of around 250. It was like a pleasant surprise but it had a flip side. Now everybody in team started expecting for something even bigger. Next day we had been told that it would be screened in finals in front of Final jury Mr. Cyrus Dastur as one of the top 10films. Now excitement was high and everyone in our team was satisfied as film had one wonders. Finally it failed to win but came respectable third.

The name of the short film was THE DOUBTFUL MINDS (film can be viewed on www.vimeo.com/15777212) and was made with all conviction by me within all kind of possible constraints like short time,one camera,no light etc.

Moral of the endeavor-Conviction leads to wonder and wonder to self belief.And so again i got achance to pour my soul on celluloid and it happened big time for me.Thanks to all well wishers.

Most Awaited Films of 2010

As we step in 2010, lets discuss few films which will enthrall us this year. Of course, one cannot ignore the film MNIK which boasts of the presence of the superstar of bollywood Shahrukh Khan and his best on-screen love interest Kajol and directorial touch of ever-talented Karan Johar plus debut of the biggest production house of Hollywood, 20th Century Fox in India. I am really eager to know the point of view presented in this movie by its maker after quite sedate and disappointing writing on same subject by Kabir and Rensil in 'New York' and 'Kurbaan'. What this film offers is a huge opportunity for Bollywood to take its mainstream cinema in nook and corner of the world as it will be the biggest release for a Bollywood venture.
Second film which really interests me is TEEN PATTI which stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley in lead and has an interesting plot. It will be a treat to watch Amitabh's towering presence against Ben's performance.
Raavan, directed by Mani Ratnam starring Abhishek and Aishwarya sounds intriguing take on such a common tale of Raavan.
Then coming to so-called new wave cinema LSD by Dibakar Bannerjee will excite us by its novel techniques of Cinematography and story telling of MMS clips and inter-relationship between love and sex.
We will discuss few more films in future but I think above mentioned films will make waves either on box office or in the mental space of audience.

Short film selected in Brazil film festival

During my childhood, I heard the stories which tell about victory of passion and originality. God gifted me with the experience of living with extra-ordinary human being like my Grandpa and maternal Grandpa who were creative geniuses. I may not have inherited any major quality from them but few grains of Creating Something New which gave birth to a genuine story and I went ahead to convert into a short film last year.
Now it is the blessings of forementioned personalities and my best friend,Hazrat Shah Manzoor Alam that I am sitting with the news that my short film THE MUSK has been selected in Brazil film festival for the final round following its success in India.

I thank all the well-wishers and my loved ones for their blessings and promise will give something to cheer on bigger scale very soon which means very soon.

Now I am 11 months old

It has been exactly 11 months since GOD/DESTINY guided me towards objective of my life and I found my GOAL BY CHANCE! Its been 11 months since I started living my life fully (I was living upto 99% since my birth but 1% was missing) and now no matter wat happens 2morrow, I have acheived salvation. Its been 11 months since when I dont have any restlessness about anything in this world,its been 11 months, since I know how it feels to be doing something which you are made for. I dont expect any success or name out of it,just desire to keep doing it till i say bye to this mortal world.
Its been 11 months since I STARTED WRITING & DIRECTING FILMS!