Antaheen

Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury 
Producer: Jeet Banerjee, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Indrani Mukherjee

Story: Shyamal Sengupta

Music: Shantanu Moitra

Cinematography: Abhik Mukhopadhyay

Editor: Arghakamal Mitra
Language: Bengali
Tagline: The Endless Wait

Released on: 23rd January, 2009

 A sweet, romantic story based on relationships with good background score is how Antaheen can be described in one line. A movie I guess every Bengali would vouch for, Antaheen is undoubtedly the best movie in the current times in Bengali. National award winner and well acclaimed, this movie deserves every credit that comes its way.

The plot of the movie is very simple and sweet. Abhik(Rahul Bose) is a cop who is honest, tough but a little laid back in his life. He does not believe in long lasting relationships as he has always seen broken relations in life. He takes solace in the virtual world where he meets a girl Brinda(Radhika Apte) about whom he knows nothing and everything. They both agree on the terms of remaining strangers yet sharing their feelings. In the real world Brinda is a  young and dynamic TV journalist. Both Abhik and Brinda don't know about their real lives, in fact they don't even know each other's name and prefer to let in remain that way. In the real world though they meet up during at the launch of the El Dorada project by V.K.Mehra. They both have a tussle at this party and are unaware of the fact they are actually friends in the virtual world. Abhik's cousin Ranjan(Kalyan Ray) plays with the stock market world, for him stock market is an addiction a passion. He is estranged from his wife though they are not divorced. His wife Paromita(Aparna Sen), is a senior marketing executive at the news channel where Brinda works and is actually like an elderly guide to Brinda. There is also V.K. Mehra (Shauwik Kundagrami) who has started off with a project to improve unemployment and other situations of the poor. This project has a lot of illegal things attached to it and the media is making his life a hell by getting it out in the public. In his personal life, his wife (Mita Vashista) is upset with him because she feels that he killed their daughter. This movie follows the lives of these people individually and also how they each follow their own principles and are bound by relationships. An interesting and gripping piece of story which revolves entirely around relationships.

The songs are amazingly good. Even for a person who does not understand a word of Bengali, the music is good and the lyrics sweet. The title song Antaheen is awesome with the music on the lines of rock and metal. The other romantic number is very sweet to the ears and you feel like listening to it all the time.

Powerful performances of course, but I guess the female lead Radhika Apte seemed fresh on the screen. Rahul Bose as always was amazing and good to view sorts on the screen. The colours given to the movie was amazingly good. It was throughout in the blues and whites which was so peaceful to look at.
If you really want to watch a good Bengali movie I think you won't find anything better than this Antaheen. 

Dabangg

Director: Abhinav Kashyap

Producer: Arbaaz Khan, Mallaika Arora Khan, Dhillin Mehta

Story: Dilip Shukla, Abhinav Kashyap 

Music: Sajid-Wajid

Cinematography: Mahesh Limayes

Editor: Pranav Dhiwar

Release Date: 10 September 2010

Dabbang, dabbang, dabbang.. in reality is nothing but The Bang of Salman Khan. A complete masala movie filled with Salman Khan. Dabbang is an Eid gift by the director and producer to all Salman fans. After Wanted the expectations from Salman had increased and as always he has not disappointed his fans at all. But one can always say that the feel of wanted was not repeated. Wanted was very unpredictable at places and it really got you thinking about what would happen next, but that is not the case with Dabangg.. It was more or less predictable. I was personally impressed to see a certain grey shade that was given to Salman's character which made the movie interesting and worth watching.

Dabangg can actually be addressed as a true Salman movie and has kept in mind the needs of Salman fans. You have the stunts, the powerful dialogue, the removing of shirt, the typical dances and a lot more Salman moves just for you. Dabangg is a typical masala movie which has a hero, a villain, a family becoming a victim, the brothers feud and then their love, father giving preference to one son and all other elements are present in Dabbang.  

The story of yesteryears and the tone of the present times, Dabbang is a right royal mix of the two generations. Chulbul Robinhood Pandey(Salman Khan)and Makhanlal Pandey aka Makkhi(Arbaaz Khan) are half brothers. Vinod Khanna and Dimple Kapadia play the parents. Chulbul is ill treated by his step father right from childhood and grows up to hate both his father and half brother. Chulbul becomes a police inspector and works in his own brutal style, while Arbaaz is just the useless son who happens to fall in love with Mahi Gill and wishes to marry her. Mahi happens to be the daughter of a school teacher and is not very affluent. Vinod Khanna wants Arbaaz to get married to a rich girl so that they can pay off their debts. Sonakshi Sinha is the other heroine who is actually the show stealer. She is a poor potter who lives with a drunkard for a father, Mahesh Manjrekar and whose brother suffers from polio and works for the the politician, Anupam Kher. Salman falls for Sonakshi at first sight and eventually gets round to marrying her. Having talked about all the good people, we need to set our eyes on the villain, Chedi Singh(Sonu Sood). Chulbul Pandey causes all kinds of problems to Cheddi Singh’s illicit business eventually getting into his bad books. Due to this Cheddi Singh uses the rift between the two brothers to his advantage and causes Arbaaz to work against Salman. Towards the end of course, this being a typical hindi movie, the rifts are sorted out, the villain is killed and all ends well.

This is my personal favorite part for the review. Highlights of this movie. Obviously the songs of Dabangg are at the top. What with Munni badnaam hui topping the charts and increasing the sales of Zandu balm thanks to that beautiful line "Main Zandu Balm hui Darling tere liye". Tere mast mast yeh nain, the romantic number has actually got everyone humming. This song is now being used to propose the girls too. After a long time we have typical item songs too which are catchy and do not sound vulgar either. The background guitar score that was played whenever Salman made an entry was amazing. 


 The dialogues of the movie are all powerful with a little funny side attached to it. Obviously made for Salman you can say. Each dialogue was delivered in an amazing manner with the best possible expressions. I guess it is a combined effort of the director and actor for this amazing performance. The dark shades attached to Salman's character made you think if he was a good cop or a bad one and it was not revealed till the last. 

Sonakshi for a new comer has done a fabulous job. Mahi Gill though with a small role is very good. Arbaaz could have been used in a much better way. Sallu obviously stole the show. Sonu Sood was a good villain though I felt he could have been used in a better way. His performance seemed dull and boring to watch and moreover you dint feel as if he were a villain.  Also the small thin mustache of Salman Khan in this movie has become a famous style statement with the youngsters. So if in any case you have nothing better to do and you are in for some mindless entertainment, Dabbang just does the work for you. This entertainer gets a thumbs up from entire India I guess. Stats recently show that Dabbang has broken the opening day collection for 3 Idiots(13 crores). The first weekend collection happens to be around 48 crores.

Ondine

Director: Neil Jordan

Cinematographer: Christopher Doyle
Tagline: The truth is not what you know. It's what you believe.

Release Date: 4 June 2010

Once upon a time, there was a fisherman, and he caught a woman in his nets, and it was a good day. So, begins ONDINE, Woman from the Sea,  a typical fairy tale type of love story which has a lyrical tone to it. The story is simple and romantic. The plot moves around Syracuse(Colin Farrell) an Irish Fisherman, Ondine(Alicja Bachleda)a beautiful and mysterious woman and Annie(Alison Barry) Syracuse’s daughter. The story describes the turn of events in Syracuse’s life after he finds Ondine.

Ondine starts with Syracuse fishing in the sea where he catches the beautiful Ondine in his net in an unconscious state. When Ondine comes to consciousness, the two have an instant connect. Ondine is a mysterious woman and is fearful of the world and hence Syracuse keeps her as a secret. Not for long, because his daughter Annie finds out about Ondine and believes her to be a mythological sea creature. Annie is dying of kidney failure and wishes that Ondine stay for sometime so that when she sheds her selkie skin, it would cure her off the kidney failure. Gradually a beautiful relationship develops between Ondine and Syracuse and Annie. Syracuse and Annie both happen to get that something more they need from life in Ondine. Syracuse happens to be a recovering alcoholic. Ondine stayed with Syracuse’s ex wife. Ondine would sing a siren song whenever in the sea with Syracuse for fishing and fill his net with lobsters, fishes in tremendous numbers. This was too much of good luck for even Syracuse to believe. But all is not rosy and you can never believe everything to be good all the time. Ondine’s  past of the sea kept pulling her back into it. There was some man who was menacing in the town, who used to keep an eye on Ondine and this would seem mysterious. The several questions that keep turning on in the minds of the audience along with Syracuse during all the happenings are Is Ondine really a selkie? Will she stay? Can her love be trusted? What is Ondine’s secret?Who is the menacing man moving around town and spying on her? Is he her Selkie husband who has come to take her away?

This movie is highly romantic, enchanting and nicely made. It talks of power in belief. It just takes belief for something to happen or something to go away from you. If your belief is strong things will happen else they would be shattered.

Neil Jordan has given some of the best movies which include High Spirits, Mona Lisa and several others. His movies move at an organized pace and are never too action oriented or fast paced. His characters are intense and keep us rooted to our seats. In Ondine also we can notice the same pace for which he is well known. All the performances in the movie are amazing and keeps you glued to the screen throughout. Some may feel it is a bit slow and should be a little fast paced but if you sit through you will realize that the movie is extraordinarily beautiful and pace does not matter then. Bachleda, Ondine, is obviously the star of the movie. Her performance is mind blowing and you wish she just does not move away from the screen.

If credit is given to the director, then credit should be given to one and all of the film including the writer and cinematographer. If one wishes to go back in the fairy tale world and wants to watch a beautiful dream without being disturbed then Ondine would be my suggestion. It is one dream without interruption and you would love this suggestion for sure. A thumbs up for Ondine. A must watch.

My Name Is Khan...

Director: Karan Johar

Producer: Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan

Story: Shibani Bhatia

Dialogues: Shibani Bhatija and Niranjan Iyengar

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Cinematography: Ravi K. Chandran

Editor: Deepa Bhatia

Tagline: An ordinary man, An extraordinary journey...FOR LOVE

Released on: 12th February, 2010

 

What happens when Karan Johar, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol meet- Magic. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam are the best examples of this. Yet again the trio met and create history with My Name is Khan. The genre is still the same romance and drama with a slight difference. KJo has touched the post 9/11 issue and treated it with simplicity and sensitivity.

In this movie Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan) suffers from Aspeger’s syndrome from his childhood which causes hindrance in his social interactions. Till his mother (Zarina Wahab) is alive she tries every possible way so that Rizwan maintains a normal life and gets educated, in the process neglecting the younger child Zakir(Jimmy Shergill). After his mother’s death, Rizwan moves in with his US based brother Zakir where he works for Zakir’s company as a door to door salesman.  On one of his visit, Rizwan happens to meet Mandira(Kajol) and he falls for her and wishes to marry her. Mandira is a single mother who eventually after a lot of efforts from Rizwan’s side falls in love with him and finally they get married. The world seemed a beautiful place for them. But life is not always bed of roses. Post 9/11 everything in their life changed. The entire world looked suspiciously at Asians and specially Muslims. The racists destroyed their world and the happiness in it when their son Sam became a victim. While Mandira is trying to cope with her grief and trying to avenge her son’s death, Rizwan sets off on a journey to win back his wife and their world. He is faced with the task of not only winning back love but to tell the world that being a Muslim does not mean that he is a terrorist. His entire journey to meet the president of United States is filled with a taste of love, hatred, across cultures, communities and amazing incidents where he is helped by one and all. 

Shahrukh and Kajol were as usual brilliant in this movie. What is amazing is that every person in this movie performed in a brilliant manner thus making this movie a complete package. Entertainment was obviously provided but with a message. The dialogues “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist” when said by every single person in the movie was very touching. Also when Kajol says “ Agar Sam Rathore hota to woh aj zinda hota, woh Khan tha isiliye mar gaya” shows how the entire situation of her son’s death made her regret her own decision of marrying a Muslim. The songs were utterly beautiful. Tere Naina and Sajda were chart toppers even before the release of the movie. Noor-e-Khuda has awesome lyrics which are not only meaningful but hummable. Overall the movie gets thumbs up. A must watch movie.

The subject and way it was treated both appealed to people. It touched them, made them laugh, cry, feel and finally smile. Karan Johar deserves every kind of applause for making such a huge hit.