LONDON DREAMS

There’s a point in the story of London Dreams when Manjit (Salman Khan), a hard-boiled Punjabi from Bhatinda who has found sudden success as a rock star in Europe, is seduced into snorting cocaine and guzzling tequila shots. We see another such night of drugs in a nightclub, and in the very next scene, the rock star is in a drug rehabilitation clinic, shaking and whimpering!

This is as sanitized, and as puerile as a rock star movie can get.Rock On!!, the most celebrated, was antiseptic enough, although more sophisticated. London Dreams makes a joke out of the rock star movie. Director Vipul Amrutlal Shah is obviously clueless in this area.

The story goes: Arjun (Ajay Devgan) and Manjit or Mannu are childhood friends who hang out in Bhatinda’s mustard fields. Mannu’s father is a musician, but Mannu is not interested in learning the art himself. He, it turns out later, is an untrained, natural singer. Arjun, on the other hand, is passionate about music, but his father doesn’t allow him to learn because Arjun’s grandfather, who was a Sufi musician, once went to perform in London’s Wembley stadium and was tongue-tied when he saw the huge crowd. Arjun runs away to London when he gets an opportunity. He plays the flute on the road and earns money to train as a musician, forms a band, London Dreams, with two Pakistani boys and Priya, a Tamilian (Asin). Mannu joins the band later, and predictably enough, steals Arjun’s thunder and his secret love Priya, who Mannu calls “Chennai Express”.

It’s an expensive film, made with around Rs80 crore, and the money shows in the sweeping sets. As in his earlier films, Shah has made yet another big film—big, in the literal sense.

The script and performances fall woefully short. There are some genuinely funny moments when Mannu is up to his son-of-the-soil antics, but unfortunately, most of the funny moments arise because of the ludicrous situations in the plot. For example, Arjun whips himself until he bleeds when Priya distracts him from his music, and when he plots against his friend to grab the limelight. Everyone in the audience laughed aloud when that happened.

The two rock stars are too old to be true and laughable too; if you’re can’t be like Mick Jagger, you can’t pull off the sex-on-stage in your 40s.

Devgan is a fine actor trapped by his persona—the dark, brooding hero, as we know him. In this film, he’s a caricature of that persona. His intensity is exaggerated and unconvincing. Asin has little to do except dance in the background when Mannu and Arjun take centre stage. Khan plays up to his real-life image—that of a generous, impetuous, comical star. If London Dreams works at the box office, it would largely be because of Khan’s star appeal.

The music, by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, has variety as well as depth—one of the best this year. But it’s difficult to survive all 160 minutes of London Dreams just because of its music

ALL THE BEST

n his first really decent and meaty role since “Munnabhai”, Dutt gets into the satirical groove effortlessly and fluently playing a visiting Bade Bhaiyya from abroad whom his kid brother Fardeen Khan (tolerably befuddled) must fool into believing he’s married and decent.

The guys in Rohit Shetty’s comedies are anything but decent. Rascals and rogues of the first order, Devgn and Khan are splendidly supported by a sparkling cast of comic actors ranging from Asrani to Johnny Lever to the wonderful Ashwini Kalsekar (remember how cheesy and charming she was in Rohit Shetty’s “Gol Maal Returns?”) to Sanjay Mishra (as a zonked out wannabe householder who says ‘Just chill’ as though his tongue had just been through a sugarcane-juice machine).

The screenplay (Robin Bhatt) juices the material for all it’s worth. The constant flow of cheesy-breezy dialogues is littered with high-school humour but blessedly no vulgarity. This is one comedy you could take your mom to see without once walloping a wince into the wanton soup.

The burlesque is fast-paced though surprisingly restrained and has room galore for PJs. The one-liners are so silly and graffiti-like in their basic humour, you can’t but titter at the trivia wrapped in gloss that makes welcome room for Pritam’s pacy music without getting in the way of the one-liners.

So ok. This one doesn’t leave you… er blue in the face. The comedy is purely situational and the style purely ‘Rohit Shetty’. That means a bit of slapstick, a bit of that rapidly-moving tongue in the cheek, and a lot of Ajay Devgn.

And if you add Sanjay Dutt to the bubby buncy comic brew… man, you’ve got a show that’s on the road from the word go. This time the setting, if you must know, is Goa.

Shetty doesn’t use the touristic spot as a character. You suspect he places his colony of characters in the Goan location so they could all be camera-framed into a streamlined stampede.

There are only three female characters in the show, the rest are all guys playing conmen, goons, gangsters, wheeler dealers, warriors and worriers all of whom display an exemplary comic strength.

Sanjay Dutt gets it right after a long time. He has a lot of fun doing his part and he lets us share his enjoyment. Ajay Devgn’s comic timing has gotten rapidly dead-on under Shetty’s tutelage. He gives Dutt tit for tat, and then some more.

Not all the material is uniformly amusing. Towards the finishing line you do begin to wonder how much longer it would take this wonky wacky world of wispy and reparable wickedness to set itself right.

BLUE

BLUE: A BIG dissappointment

Sagar (Dutt) and Aarav (Akshay) are good friends settled in the Bahamas. While Sam is a happy go lucky rich businessman, Sagar is down to earth and not as ambitious as him. Aarav on many occasions tries to instigate Sagar on coming out with the secret of ‘The Lady In Blue’ a ship carrying a huge gold treasure that was sunk in 1949 in the Bahamas seas. Aarav believes Sagar knows the route to the deep sunken ship and they both can benefit from the huge treasure that lies inside it. Sagar however doesn’t like to discuss about the ship nor has any interest for the treasure hunt. Just then Sagar’s younger brother Sam (Zayed) arrives from Bangkok after five years. Mafia boss Gulshan (Rahul) is hot on his trail for an assignment worth 50 million dollars gone wrong. With Gulshan too arriving in Bahamas and kidnapping his girlfriend Mona (Lara), Sagar has only 24 hours left for paying back the huge money which Sam has messed with. He is now left with no option but face his old demons and plunge into the deep sea with Aarav and Sam for the treasure hunt.

A really interesting premise shot beautifully but messed big time by unimaginative writing and lackluster direction is what Blue shall always be remembered as. The setting is different no doubt, but where are the requisite twists and turns and pace which are a must for this genre of films? The so called major twist that comes out in the end can be guessed quiet earlier in the first half itself. Also, almost the entire first half moves around with zero grip on the audience with more than enough time wasted on character establishment. The much hyped shark sequences are a big let down what with barring the opening sequence of few minutes (where believe it or not Akshay and Dutt literally ride a shark) there is not a single scene where the sharks are a threat and get you on the edge of your seat. The bike chase sequences have been shot very well though. The underwater sequences have been superbly lit up and one needs to salute the team of cameramen involved for it. The climax is extremely ‘thanda’ and derives unintentional laughter as well. Songs don’t really fit in well and the Kylie Minogue starring Chiggy Wiggy number doesn’t really work on screen. However, the background music and sound editing is excellent.

Akshay is in his element in here playing the flirty cool dude with a hidden agenda with amazing natural ease. Dutt approaches his part with zero enthusiasm and worse, his paunch is visible in many sequences. But Zayed is good and Rahul Dev impresses too. Lara Dutta is super hot and does ample skin show. Katrina Kaif in a special appearance doesn’t work at all.

Said to be over Rs. 100 crore in budget, Blue doesn’t justify the mega budget it has been allotted and first timer director Anthony D’Souza gets it all wrong mistaking style and extra coolness quotient for substance.

If you want to experience some good underwater photography on a big screen and a few well shot action sequences, then you can go for it but if you are expecting something more then let us warn you that you will be in for a BIG disappointment!

WANTED

Genre: Action

Director: Prabhu Deva

Producer: Sahara One Motion Pictures, S. K. Films Enterprises

Presenter: Surinder Kapoor, Boney Kapoor, Sahara One Motion Pictures

Music Director: Sajid-Wajid

Lyricist: Arun Bhairav

Star Cast: Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Om Puri, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sayaji Shinde, Prakash Raj, Aseem Merchant, Vinod Khanna

Release Date: September 18, 2009

Now, we had an idea that ‘Wanted’ was a ‘Salman Khan’ flick, but we didn’t expect it to have nothing else - no script, no editing, and even no logic. No second thoughts about the fact that the roguish charm of Salman is still there, which makes the movie a bit passable. However, beyond that, there is nothing in the film that would encourage you to spend your hard-earned money on a multiplex ticket. There is hardly any scene in the film that makes sense.

There is no logic in ‘Wanted’, be it the script or its execution. For instance, you have the heroine popping into every scene in which bullets are being fired. There is another thing in the film that is gross - the women only seem to be meant for being molested, giving the hero a chance to prove his goodness (by saving them, of course). The songs are plain pathetic, while the editing is shoddy. The one area where ‘Wanted’ scores is the action sequences, which are truly inventive and entertaining, without turning gory for even a second.

The first half of ‘Wanted’ stretches on for much more time than is necessary, with the romantic track overshadowing the narrative. As to the second half, the action sequences dominated everything else. Talking about the performances, Sallu Bhai is fresh, in form, dances like a dream and kills like a pro. Ayesha Takia has been given a raw deal and did not get any scope to show her prowess. The National Award winning actor Prakash Raj was at his very best, while Govind Namdeo was good as always. All in all, this one is a DVD watch!

Wanted’ is an action flick, which marks the directorial debut of Prabhu Deva, the dancing wizard from South, who has also dabbled in acting. The star ensemble of the movie includes Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Om Puri, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sayaji Shinde, Prakash Raj, Aseem Merchant, Vinod Khanna. Sajid-wajid duo has composed the musical score, while Arun Bhaivar has penned down its lyrics. The producers of the Hindi film ‘Wanted’ are Sahara One Motion Pictures and S. K. Films Enterprises.

Radhe (Salman Khan) is a sharpshooter, who works for Gani Bhai, the hardcore Mumbai Mafioso. A bit of a maverick, he likes to work on his own terms. The fearless Radhe eliminates all the enemies of Gani Bhai, quashing all the opposition single-handedly. In the process of this cleansing, Radhe makes more enemies than Gani Bhai himself. Meanwhile, the young and pretty Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia) falls for Radhe, much to his astonishment. Soon, bloody gang wars ensue inMumbai, with each gang bent on outrunning the other, be it the Golden Gang or Data Pawle's Gang, with the aim of wresting control of the city.

The Police Commissioner of the crime-torn city vows to undertake a crusade to clean it of this colossal network of criminals and arrests 200 criminals in a day, as a starter. A gory mayhem follows, as the criminal gangs are after each other and the police after the gangs. The twist in the tale arrives when Radhe is, as expected, dragged into this and becomes the 'most wanted' man in Mumbai. Everyone, right from the gangsters to the police, is vying for his life, as he is the man who knows too much.

Radhe is a source of valuable information for the police; criminals are alarmed that he may reveal their dark secrets. Who will find Radhe first? Slated for a September 18 release, 'Wanted' is riding solely on Salman's shoulders and an exploding plot. The man in question has charmed the audience to the theaters for years now, but as the plot is rightly said to be the soul of a film, the Salman Magic could be tested. With the release date not being far away now, we will soon see whether the magic works or not!