Let me clarify this first. I 'love' K.jO's movies [KKHH,K3G,KHNH-not KANK plz]. I like SRK in his sincere efforts. I love the pair - SRK+Kajol. To me they are the 'first couple' of the industry. The movie got me so excited. And given lovely soundtrack by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, I was dying to see it. Oh..and there's Kajol!! So, yes, I expected it to be as awesome as K.Jo products are. But..all of that fell flat. Disappointed I am, a lot. I was feared about this. By the first promo, I sighed how the movies based on 9/11 are getting churned out. Hoping this would be last in this genre. It will not get any better if we still make the movies like this.
Good, Goood :
Why twice? That's like SRK's speech pattern in the movie. And I actually Liked it. Loved the performances of all major characters. SRK is lovable as person suffering from syndrom. For the first time you can't see SRK in a K.Jo movie. Here he is Rizwan Khan-the character. Perhaps after Swades' Mohan Bhargava, only here that SRK is into the skin of character. The goofiness in his act can make anyone fall in love with him, why alone Kajol? Loved Lovvved Kajol ofcourse. Hardly there are any chances of her going wrong. [warning!! read next para]. In the first half, Zarina Wahab made it so real, Absolutely delightful performance as mother of Khan. Also a surprise was Sonya Jehan, who did perform her part with finesse. Even little Tanay Chheda was joy to watch. Another joie de vivre of the movie is its lavish scale. Its shot superbly. San Francisco looks dew fresh. And 'wallah...' add gorgeous Kajol to this cinematography - Treat for eyes for sure. Oh, and music complements her definitely. All songs are nicely picturised. With only one glitch. [next para]. Ofcourse, There are moments so true that make you cry. But..
Bad...Baaaad :
[with some light spoilers]
Jimmy Shergill. In a typecast role. Actually the whole movie runs upon typecast formula. Which a lot of movies has shown in past 3 years. And I think everyone has had enough share of Preaching & teachings. When the movie starts with a typical Airport Security Check, you know what's there in store for you. And if that alone is not enough, you have an Islamic extremist giving lecture to his followers, a aboslutely waste side-plot. Though SRK saves the scene later. The master of candy-floss entertainment, K.Jo burns his hand in this rather more serious subject, and looks like his hands fell short. He tries to pack in each and every punch and loses it there. Can you imagine Kajol sounding screechy? Yes, in a most crucial scene, Kajol [I repeat, KAJOL] sounds over the top. The whole sequence looks so silly at that time. And voila! the movie 'runs' on that theme later. Like a fairytale, the storyline is hard to imagine in the real world. Which is not expectable in a movie based on reality.
By reality, another thing i would like to point out. How on earth, one can not reach to a flooded town in USA, the U.S. of A.??!! Even in India, we reach them by air or by military boats. So why couldn't US' troops? or even the NGOs? The disaster scenes of Wilhemina amused me. Also whole set of flooded town reminded me of Fallen Isengard [Lord Of the Rings]. [Well, I told you, fairytale]. And the least I had expected-the duplicates of not one but Two Presidents !!! Why? That looked abosolutely B-Grade'ish'. Bothe of the sequences could have done far better if they could use some intelligent camera angles. Like-showing expressions of people while keeping camera behind 'the president'. when the whole world knows whom you are going to 'replicate' someone as President, there isn't need to show his face!! And thoses sequences stretches the movie a lot. Making me lose interest in it. And oh, when it was most needed, the song 'Rang De' doesn't show up at all. :(
On a personal note, I am disappointed by the fact that SRKajol don't look into each others' eyes. Man, How on earth can you let go off such amazing chemistry? I know that the story demands so, but still, the 'charm' of the two together, is impeccable and can not be let go off. Sigh...how I wish K.Jo to make another movie with sizzling chemistry of the best couple on screen, ever. Give me SRK widening his hands, waving them to Kajol-wearing Saaree and running towards him - I would die for that.
My Rating : 2.5 / 5
Good, Goood :
Why twice? That's like SRK's speech pattern in the movie. And I actually Liked it. Loved the performances of all major characters. SRK is lovable as person suffering from syndrom. For the first time you can't see SRK in a K.Jo movie. Here he is Rizwan Khan-the character. Perhaps after Swades' Mohan Bhargava, only here that SRK is into the skin of character. The goofiness in his act can make anyone fall in love with him, why alone Kajol? Loved Lovvved Kajol ofcourse. Hardly there are any chances of her going wrong. [warning!! read next para]. In the first half, Zarina Wahab made it so real, Absolutely delightful performance as mother of Khan. Also a surprise was Sonya Jehan, who did perform her part with finesse. Even little Tanay Chheda was joy to watch. Another joie de vivre of the movie is its lavish scale. Its shot superbly. San Francisco looks dew fresh. And 'wallah...' add gorgeous Kajol to this cinematography - Treat for eyes for sure. Oh, and music complements her definitely. All songs are nicely picturised. With only one glitch. [next para]. Ofcourse, There are moments so true that make you cry. But..
Bad...Baaaad :
[with some light spoilers]
Jimmy Shergill. In a typecast role. Actually the whole movie runs upon typecast formula. Which a lot of movies has shown in past 3 years. And I think everyone has had enough share of Preaching & teachings. When the movie starts with a typical Airport Security Check, you know what's there in store for you. And if that alone is not enough, you have an Islamic extremist giving lecture to his followers, a aboslutely waste side-plot. Though SRK saves the scene later. The master of candy-floss entertainment, K.Jo burns his hand in this rather more serious subject, and looks like his hands fell short. He tries to pack in each and every punch and loses it there. Can you imagine Kajol sounding screechy? Yes, in a most crucial scene, Kajol [I repeat, KAJOL] sounds over the top. The whole sequence looks so silly at that time. And voila! the movie 'runs' on that theme later. Like a fairytale, the storyline is hard to imagine in the real world. Which is not expectable in a movie based on reality.
By reality, another thing i would like to point out. How on earth, one can not reach to a flooded town in USA, the U.S. of A.??!! Even in India, we reach them by air or by military boats. So why couldn't US' troops? or even the NGOs? The disaster scenes of Wilhemina amused me. Also whole set of flooded town reminded me of Fallen Isengard [Lord Of the Rings]. [Well, I told you, fairytale]. And the least I had expected-the duplicates of not one but Two Presidents !!! Why? That looked abosolutely B-Grade'ish'. Bothe of the sequences could have done far better if they could use some intelligent camera angles. Like-showing expressions of people while keeping camera behind 'the president'. when the whole world knows whom you are going to 'replicate' someone as President, there isn't need to show his face!! And thoses sequences stretches the movie a lot. Making me lose interest in it. And oh, when it was most needed, the song 'Rang De' doesn't show up at all. :(
On a personal note, I am disappointed by the fact that SRKajol don't look into each others' eyes. Man, How on earth can you let go off such amazing chemistry? I know that the story demands so, but still, the 'charm' of the two together, is impeccable and can not be let go off. Sigh...how I wish K.Jo to make another movie with sizzling chemistry of the best couple on screen, ever. Give me SRK widening his hands, waving them to Kajol-wearing Saaree and running towards him - I would die for that.My Rating : 2.5 / 5
Darshit-ji,
ReplyDeleteWhat a thoughtful review you've done here. Regarding your comment on SRK, "The goofiness in his act can make anyone fall in love with him, why alone Kajol?" I like how you say this and I agree! You touched on some other things that I really like, for example Zarina Wahab's performance, which was so sweet. I got so caught up ranting about the movie over at theBollywoodFan's blog and at Beth's that I'd forgotten about some of the sweeter and effective scenes in the first half of the film, so thanks for reminding me. :) LOL on the fact that 2 presidents were replicated in the film, again, I never quite thought of how silly it was until you pointed out the obvious here, which is the fun of blogging, na? Even I'd give KJo another chance after he's turned my dil to stone with this script, if he, as you say did the following: "Give me SRK widening his hands, waving them to Kajol-wearing Saaree and running towards him - I would die for that." Well said yaar. All the best!
Sita-ji
Hahahaha... u so sound like a typical KJo movie fangirl/fanboy :P
ReplyDeleteDid u like the Kuchie Kuchie Hota Hai trailer,... it is as narcissistic as it can be, KJO paying tribute to one of his own bloody movie,, I get it, the movie was a big hit, but dammit, it is NOT a pop culture icon..
And the whole dog = SRK, bitch = Rani and Kajol , whatevaaa!!!
Coming back to the movie MNIK, it is just so stereotypical in its depiction.. of almost everything.
Still thinking ...and can't decide if I liked it for the bits that I did like, or should I just let it go.
bollywoodfoodclub
ReplyDeleteHey Sita-ji thanks a lot. your replies are always inspiring. :) Indeed, the film has its own moments but all are short livened. Wish there could be more of the pair.
Sujoy
Yes dude, I used to love earlier KJo movies. Can utter all dialogues of KKHH as well :P But oops, this was not his best. Not even closer.
Talking about Koochie Koochie.. its high on its own. Why replicate own successful product, i can't understand. But again, I loved original, so will wait for this one too. But, the animation quality looks strictly average.
I haven't seen this yet, I probably will soon. Most reviews seem to imply that the first half was really good and second was the real let-down.
ReplyDeleteI can tell I'm going to love Rizwan's character just from the promos! I tend to enjoy Karan Johar's films for light entertianment, nothing to be taken seriously, but it sounds like he failed to create a very good 'serious' movie here, although the reviews have been mixed, mostly positive.
I'm glad SRK has stopped acting like himself on the big screen when with Karan Johar, but I wonder what the results would have been if this film had been directed by say Rakesh Omprakash Mehra... Rang De Basanti was totally awesome and entertaining while conveying a message.
With every review I read I leave bits and pieces of what I thought about the film...when I do mine there will be nothing new left the say!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little sad that more people weren't blown away by the film. You know when you love something you want other people to love it too, but I have to say that I can't disagree with everything that people are saying about it. Through the course of the 2nd half of the film I did actually think to myself that KJo was coming off quite preachy, even the biggest fan can't deny that. But the performances I think all but blinded me to the movie's flaws. I'm actually really looking forward to seeing it again and discovering if the movie in it's entirety has the same impact on me a second time. Though I almost feel like I'm a bit jaded now.
a very candid review for this movie..
ReplyDeletegoing by ur views then i could give this film a miss :)
keep blogging
cheers !!!
ya...m really agree with u...a really big dis appointment...i had seen 4 n half * given by taran aadarsh...dun knw why????
ReplyDeleteMsBlogger
ReplyDeleteExactly, Kjo movies are good for light entertainment. but here he goes for something serious, which is not his route. Point there, about Rakesh Mehra. He is a master!
shell
Read your comments at other blogs. Understand what your thoughts must be. I felt the same for Mangal Pandey [Aamirian I am]. All the big hypes but film fell short over the expectations. still, the performances were outstanding. Maybe u r feeling the same here for SRK. No doubt he has acted superbly.
Sat_hi_sh
Thanks man. But i still advise you to go and decide for yourself.
abhishek
Aah,, Taran Adarsh is 'the' genious in the web world :P hehe
Hmmm...I CAN see where you are coming from. But I actually thought it was good. Yes, the stupidty of the Islamic extremist preaching violence in a (basically) public place only to be saved by the awesome Autistic dude had my head in my hands and the Wilhemina episode where apparently America can't help a flooded region in its own country because all it's troops are in Iraq (but the curries can!!) was laugh-worthy. I loved SRK and Kajol who despite the screechy-ness was very effective in her portrayal of a desperate mum whos what, 12-year-old son?, was killed due to hate crime. I can understand the screech in that context. I loved Rizwan's mum and his sister-in-law, beautiful and kind, though the sister-in-law being a psychologist can be seen as a bit of a plot-forwarded.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I thought it was stupid how the Indians banded together for Indians. Like when the budding journalists (who were Indian) could only find "justice" in one big journalist who was, what do you know! Indian!! *rolls eyes exasperatedly*
But yeah I still did like it over although I must admit that I laughed when I saw "Obama's" face. :P
Anywho I think I would classify myself as an invisible reader who's been reading your blogs for the past few weeks or so and think you're awesome! :) Oh and thank you soo much for the Sufi post, I now have my first Sufi playlist! *party*
I did watch it and I quite liked it, but I could see where you were coming from.
ReplyDeleteRizwan was adorable and I liked the message they were trying to project about everyone being equal and no one sould be typecast by a name or religion but I didn't like the way Muslims were shown to react to people being racist to them; an eye for an eye makes the world blind.
The last quarter was the real downer imo but all in all, a one watch film.
Just wanted to let you know that I finally got my review up if you wanted to come by. I wanted to wait to see how I felt after the 2nd time, and talked about why this movie made such an impact on me.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, this film sure has made for some interesting debates!
Aishwarya
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insightful comment. and double YAY for me that you find your Sufi Playlist, on my blog !!
MsBlogger
ONe watch !! yes it is. I would suggest you to watch a Pakistani Movie 'Khuda Kay Liye' on the subject of Muslim hatred and terrorism. You would surely love it.
shell
I did read some parts of your review. But still I am lagging behind in blog world. would complete and let you know what i thought abt it.
and oh, yes, nice debates :)
I remember reading a lot about Khuda Ke Liye in the news when it released, what with it being the first Indian and Pakistani combined film or something along those lines and I thought I'd check it out but I forgot, so thanks for reminding me!
ReplyDeleteI think a film has to either leave me feeling happy and entertained or thinking. If a movie doesn't manage this then it isn't good in my opinion