Shanghai Movie Review


He is acknowledged for creating high-quality cinema. Right from KHOSLA KA GHOSLA to OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! to LOVE SEX AUR DHOKHA, Dibakar Banerjee's movies have been lapped up by spectators. He typically picks up avant-garde subject matters and his latest flick SHANGHAI is no exception. KHOSLA KA GHOSLA, OYE LUCKY! LUCKY OYE! and LOVE SEX AUR DHOKHA presented diverse stories. Now Dibakar presents the much-anticipated thriller SHANGHAI, which orbits in the region of gluttony and deceitfulness of politicians.

Political thrillers are a much abused genre, but it's not frequently that movies confer us with what SHANGHAI offers: A political thriller wherein the politics seizes precedence over the thriller element. It's more of a reality check about where India stands in the present day. In the context of the film, we have this dream of a Shanghai like city, where there is commerce, eminence, capital and the material comfort. But the reality is something else!

Enthused by a book of the 1960s, 'Z', by Greek writer and diplomat Vassilis Vassilikos, a Costa Gavras film, Z, was also motivated by this book in 1969. Banerjee detected remarkable similarities between the Greece in the book and the India of today, procured its rights and acclimatized the account to a metropolis in India.

A political activist [Prosenjit Chatterjee] meets with an accident in an Indian city gearing up for elections. A lone girl [Kalki Koechlin] believes it to be a murder. A porn film maker [Emraan Hashmi] claims to have proof that will bring the government down. A high-ranking bureaucrat [Abhay Deol] is brought in by the government to control damage. The three of them blow the lid off the Indian dream called Shanghai.

SHANGHAI deals with the two sides of the coin: Abhay symbolizes the scholarly, frontward looking and progressive India, while Emraan is the ordinary guy who is left behind. In SHANGHAI, Abhay and Emraan depict the two halves of India which, in many ways, are conflicting against each other for a larger divide in the cake.

The finest aspect of Dibakar Banerjee's films is that you can't articulate what he's going to come up with next and how unerringly he's going to engage you in his creation. All his movies so far have picked up issues that concern us, but the temperament was so diverse that, if you weren't aware, you might not have estimated that they were all helmed by the same director.

SHANGHAI is a political thriller woven around much-battered terms 'expansion' and 'development'. This sort of a deception has ensued before in various nations/states and it is these types of political misdemeanors that Dibakar dabbles with in SHANGHAI. SHANGHAI is an affluent work of art by a master storyteller. Most significantly, it's a film of our times. It evokes myriad emotions in you. It leaves you horrified, distressed… it may even make you livid. I'd go to the extent of pronouncing that SHANGHAI is one of the bravest and most commanding movies of this decade. A contemporary film about our times, our lives.

Vishal-Shekhar's music is alright. 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' is, of course, the track to watch out for, while 'Imported Kamariya' is passable. The background score does complete justice to the material on screen, while the cinematography captures the mood brilliantly.

The casting is offbeat, but beguiling. One could've never anticipated Abhay and Emraan acting in the same film. Emraan is your regular guy, so there is an instantaneous connect with him. Besides, it's a new Emraan that you witness here [paunch, blackened/stained teeth], which is in sharp contrast to his on-screen romantic representation. Influenced by Dibakar's thought process, Emraan takes the plunge and wholly submits to the director's visualization. This is a defining moment in his career and I am sure, even Emraan must've rediscovered himself in this variety of film-making.

Abhay's character is authoritative, unprejudiced, calm and uncomplicated. He gets all the nuances of his characters right. In many ways Abhay's character is the vertebrae of the movie. He clutches it together. The endearing actor sinks his teeth into the character and comes up with a triumphant act.

Though Kalki has depicted distressed characters in films like SHAITAN, THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS and also in DEV D, she skillfully performs the part of an absolute outsider and brings on a certain susceptibility, which is the prerequisite demand of her characterization. Kalki is truly awe-inspiring and enacts her part with flourish.

Prosenjit Chatterjee is effective in a brief role. Farooque Sheikh adds a lot of weight to the proceedings. Pitobash is exceptional. Supriya Pathak gets limited scope, but she's competent. Anant Jog is remarkable. Tillotama Shome is super.

On the whole, SHANGHAI is undeniably one of the most politically astute films ever made. It keeps you involved and concerned right from its inception to the harrowing culmination. This is not your usual Bollywood masala film, but a serious motion picture that has a voice, that makes you think, that makes a stunning impact. A must watch!

Ratings : ****

3 Idiots Movie Review

When Aamir Khan is back on this Christmas for his Hat trick
When Sharman and Aamir’s chemistry is back after great success of Rang De Basanti
When R Madhuan joined them again after rangde Basanti
When bebo is opposite Aamir first time in her 10 year career
When Boman Irani is back as a college professor after Munna Bhai MBBS and Main Hoo Naa
When Vidhu Vinodh and Rajkumar Hirani are back after blockbuster success of Munna Bhai series.
Do u have any excuse to stay at home ?
Just dress up get your violet and get auto , taxi , kick your bike or start your car and reach your nearest cinema

Story:
Amir khan, Sharman Joshi and R. Madhuan are engineering students. Aamir’s thinking about study are different then others and he tries to guide every one in different and positive way. He thinks that if u don’t like any subject or any profession then don’t do it and just think what your heart wants to be .Bhoman Irani is college director and he hates Aamir due to his different thoughts. After study Aamir left every thing and went away and no one knows that where did u go and what was the reasons.after 10 years Sharman and Madhuan goes to find him.
Story line is very good and different then other movies. You can compare it with Munna Bhai MBBS. Aamir’s role is same like Sanjay Dut’s role even Bhoman’s role is also same as his role in Munna Bhai MBBS. Even we can compare a lots of other scenes with Munna Bhai MBBS, but this is not a negavite point. Every movie has resemblance with other movies.
Scenes which have worth:
1. Aamir’s first entry in the movie. He looked very fresh and just 22,23 years old student.
2. Wedding scene when Aamir meets Kareena 1st time and he says her that she shouldnt get marry with her fiancée.
3. A student Chattur’s speech on college function, it was really funny.
4. Hospital scenes when Sharman was admited in hospital
5. Sharman’s interview for job
6. Madhuan’s convincing his father that he want to be wild life photographer
7. Interval point is really shocked and you will surprised that what is going on?
8. Mona Singh’s Delevery scene is also very good executed especially when Aamir invent the light

Performances:
3 Idiot is really Aamir Khan show. After Rang De Basanti he is back again in a young and comic role and this type of roles really suite on him and this time he is 2 step ahead as compare his performance Rang De Basanti.
Sharman Joshi and R Madhuan are also superb and they did their career best performances. Both proved that they are also good actors and they just need good banners and good movies then they can proof their self.
Kareena is ok in her role. She appears after 40 min and she doesn’t have enough screne appearance
Boman Iranai was in his career best performance.

Music:
Music is good but not like Aamir’s previous some releases.
Behki hawa is fantastic song comes in title. This song has three positive points. 1 song is very good melodious 2nd lyrics is mind blowing and this song should get best lyrics awardand location is also very beautiful. After this song you will want to go that areas .
Zoobi Doobi is good dancing song. Dance is old style but accoding to situation it is perfect.
Give me sunshine is also good
All is well is just ok
Back ground score is superb.

Direction:
Rajkumar Hirani has proved his self in Munna Bhai series and now after 3 years he is back with Vidhu Vinod Chopra and their chemistry is also fantastic like Munna Bhai series. It is finest combination in comic movies after Vashu Bhaghnani and David Dhawan. He managed script very sensitively and especially 2nd half is absolutely genius the way he creat the subject which makes very different to other movies. Javed Jafery’s entrée at interval was shocked and suspense and he create the suspence and he carried the subject very carefully.

Negative Point:
Very difficult to find. But , I can mention that
1. Romance between is Aamir and Kareen was not enough even there was no love story or chemistry between them and kareen’s screne appearance was not enough.
2. A scene when examiner was not accepting their paper then Aamir mixed his paper with all other papers which were laying on the table is copied by a funny English clip which we normally have in our mobile phones.
3. Mona Singh’s delivery scene is executed very well but may be families wont like .
Overall 3 idiots is finest movie of 2009 Aamir’s star power , best movie of the year and Christmas release are crump cards of it , it will get huge opening and it has potential to sustain in next 3 weeks.

Movie Rating 4/5

Kurbaan Movie Review

saifi n kareena are husbend wife saifi is muslim n kareena in hindu both are living in newyork. one day kareena got that her huby and his some muslim friends are actually terrorists and they are making a plan of bombing. vivek got that information accidently by kareena who is a tv reporter and he wants to find out whts going on and they joined their terrorist gang to pretend the bombing in subways.
well story is fantastic and diffrent then other masala movies and similar to new york as well to some extent but actually kurbaan is diffrent then new york.
positive points:
1 - basic idea and story is good
2 - vivek and saifi and kiran kher’s performances are fantastic
3 - last 25 min of the movie is most valueable part of the movie
negative points:
plenty of
1 - kissing sceen in staff room it is realy realy unbelieveable that 2 mature teachers are kissing in a staff room . wht will be impact on students and teachers as well if karan realy want a kisisng sceen then he could chose any other place why in staff room ??
2 - we didnt get saifi’s back ground his parents and his mother land where was he from and how come kareena’s father agree and allow them to marry even he didnt knwo abt saifi’s ack ground
3 - when kareena knew that saifi and his friends are trying to blast a flight she tried to call dia mirza why she didnt call to police
4 - when kareena saw that his nieghbour is beeting his wife why she didnt call police?
5 - when vivek got that kareena’s huby is involve in plane bombing why he didnt inform police why he was trying to solve this case by his self ?
6 - FBI knows that saifi is a terrorist and he had bear but after that he is teaching in university , he has driving license he go his own house and he is hanging arround none of any cop recognise him even in air port when security officer checked vivek’s bag he didnt check saifi’s bag
7 - most bullshit part of the movie om puri , saifi n vivek are shooting each other in a train but none of any person could call to emergency or police or driver that driver could call to cops .
8 - in first blast in station every one died and all walls and roof broke but fbi agent didnt get hurt and he ‘was running till end of the movie with vivek even he was in front of sucidal bomber
9 - when kareena serve vivek coffee she put a small piece of paper undernieth the cup and om puri took that cup but he didnt see even 6,7 more people were there they also didnt noticed and after then vivek got that cup agian no one noticed. hahahaha ( all were blind for only that moment)
10 - om puri n saifi has a very big plan of bombing and they allowed vivek to join their group even they didnt know him properly . i cant digest this
i thing 10 are enough may be i am forgetting more aur may be some which i couldnt notice when i had full concentration of my pop corn and pepsi.
Performances:
1 vivek was superb and he did fantastic job after shoot out lokhandwala i dont know why producer didnt promote him in the promos of my i was think he has very small role but he is a hero of the movie and he ran the show
2 saifi is also superb like love aajkal and race
3 kareena is also good
4 kirren kher is fantastic her accent was looking like a real afghani pathan even om puri didnt hv afghani accent but he was also good
direction:
ransil got great idea from karan but he couldnt make it perfect and flowless his screenplay was too weak but last 25 min he did great job . he need more improvement.

Ratings : 3/5

Box Office Collections of Movies Till October 2009

2009 is so far turn bad year for bollywood. There are to many flops this year. Here is list of Hits and Flops in 2009.

January 2009
Chandi Chowk to China : 24.5 – 26.2Cr (Disaster)
Raaz – The Mystery Continues : 22.5 – 23.8Cr (Below Average)
Slumdog Millionaire : 4.8 – 5.5Cr (Flop)
Luck By Chance : 16.3 – 17.9Cr (Flop)
Victory : 1.2 – 1.5Cr (Disaster)

February 2009
Dev D : 16.0 – 17.2Cr (Hit)
Billu : 22.7 – 24.1Cr (Flop)
Delhi 6 : 32.7 – 35.0Cr (Flop)
Kisse Pyaar Karoon : 0.4 – 0.5Cr (Flop)
Siddharth – The Prisoner : 0.1 – 0.2Cr (Flop)

March 2009
Dhoondte Reh Jaoge : 7.5 – 8.1Cr (Flop)
13B : 7.4 – 8.2Cr (Flop)
Gulaal : 3.5 – 4.1Cr (Flop)
Jai Veeru : 1.5 – 2.0Cr (Flop)
Little Zizou : 1.1 – 1.2Cr (Average)
Aloo Chat : 4.0 – 4.7Cr (Flop)
Aa Dekhen Zara : 3.9 – 4.3Cr (Flop)
Ek – The Power of One : 4.3 – 4.7Cr (Flop)

April 2009
8×10 Tasveer : 11.5 – 12.5Cr (Flop)

May 2009
99 : 11.9 – 12.5Cr (Above Average)
Detective Naani : 0.6 – 0.7Cr (Flop)

June 2009
Maruti Mera Dosst : 0.2 – 0.3Cr (Flop)
Team – The Force : 1.5 – 1.7Cr (Flop)
Kal Kissne Dekha : 5.6 – 6.0Cr (Disaster)
Paying Guests : 6.9 – 7.5Cr (Flop)
New York : 42.5 – 44.4Cr (Hit)

July 2009
Kambakkht Ishq : 43.8 – 45.9Cr (Above Average)
Short Kut : 7.0 – 7.6Cr (Flop)
Sankat City : 0.4 – 0.5Cr (Flop)
Jashnn : 1.8 – 2.0Cr (Flop)
Luck : 21.5 – 22.8Cr (Flop)
Love Aaj Kal : 63.6 – 66.0Cr (Hit)

August 2009
Agyaat : 5.1 – 5.4Cr (Flop)
Teree Sang : 1.7 – 1.9Cr (Flop)
Life Partner : 21.6 – 23.8Cr (Above Average)
Kaminey : 42.9 – 44.7Cr (Above Average)
Shadow : 0.4 – 0.5Cr (Flop)
Sikander : 0.4 – 0.5Cr (Flop)
Daddy Cool : 3.6 – 3.9Cr (Flop)
Kissan : 1.2 – 1.4Cr (Flop)

September 2009
Fox : 1.5 – 1.7Cr (Flop)
Aagey Se Right : 2.9 – 3.1Cr (Flop)
Three : 0.7 – 0.8Cr (Flop)
Vada Raha : 0.2 – 0.3Cr (Flop)
Baabarr : 0.4 – 0.5Cr (Flop)
Wanted : 55.8 – 58.9Cr (Hit)
Dil Bole Hadippa! : 20.0 – 22.5Cr (Flop)
What’s Your Raashee? : 13.2 – 15.3Cr (Flop)

October 2009
Wake Up Sid : 27.2 – 28.2Cr (Semi-Hit)
Do Knot Disturb : 16.7 – 18.0Cr (Flop)
Acid Factory : 2.8 – 3.0Cr (Flop)
Blue : 38.4 – 41.0Cr ( Average)
All The Best : 36.9 – 38.4Cr (Above Average)
Main Aurr Mrs Khanna : 7.3 – 7.9Cr (Disaster)
Fruit & Nut : 0.3 – 0.4Cr (Poor Opening)
Aladin : 3 - 5Cr (Disaster)
London Dreams : 21.5Cr ( 4 days)

Blue Movie Review

By Fahad Zahid

I was planning to write review of Blue. But I did not find time to write so sorry folks for late review. Let’s come straight to the point. Bollywood biggest movie blue with huge budget, huge star cast, massive adventurous scene, Oscar award wining musician and sound recordist and last but not least Australian Pop Sensation Kyle Melounge.

Blue produced by Shree Astivinak Cine Vision, There last two offerings Kidnap and Luck was box office Duds. The question arise here whether Blue also turn box dud or the movie has potential to carry audience expectations in a particular manner. Blue in directed by debutant director Anthony D’Souza.

BLUE is set in the sun-soaked white sand beaches of Bahamas. Sagar [Sunjay Dutt] is fisherman while his friend Arav [Akshay Kumar] is a rich business man. Lara Dutta is Sagar Girl friend. Sagar brother Sam [Zayed Khan] managed to escape from mafia [Rahul Dev] and arrives n Bahamas. But the Dangrous man Rahul Dev arrives Bahamas to. Sam wants help of his brother Sagar but Sagar refuse to do so.

If you Technically observe the plot of the movie the plot is pretty ordinary and audience can easily realise that Arav [Akshay Kumar] is mastermind behind this scenario and he was responsible of this happenings in the life of Sagar and Sam.

The First Half of the movie is pretty boring and slow although there are some twist and turns in second half but the weak script is the major drawback here. Although no doubt the stunt are wonderfully picturized especially the bike scene between Sam and Akshay Kumar has done with ease. Remember the underwater fighting sequence here.

A.R.Rehman does a commendable job here, Blue theme, Fiqrana and Bhoola Tughay are at the best. Resul Pookutty as a sound designer has done wonderful job. James D. Bomalick and R.P. Yadav provided wonderful action sequences. Mayur Puri dialogues was effective.y ou can’t stop admiring and appreciating the enormous contribution of the underwater cinematographer Pete Zuccarini. Laxman Utekar cinematography is adorable.

On acting Front Akshay Kumar leads with his brilliant performance. He done his role with finess and ease. Sunjay Dutt also did commendable job. But in some scenes he seems tired. Zaid Khan is passable though he did his best but could not deliver his best performance, Rahul Dev is impressive and Effictive in brief role. Kabir Bedi is hardly there. He appears in only one scene. Lara Dutta is gorgeous and sensuous in bikini scene especially in Ajj Dil Gustaakh hai. Katrnia Kaif is effective in small Role.

To Sum it up, Blue is quite stylish movie but unfortunately weak script is major let down Although Anthony D’Souza tries hard to tell the story. At the business point of view the movie opens well thanks to it’s hype but falls after its good opening. Overall it seems to be average fare at box office.

Ratings :**½

Review Courtesy Techinfoclub.com