Movie Reviews

Jodha Akbar directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar the man behind the Oscar nominated Lagaan. It is a historical love story featuring superstars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who played the movie as Akbar and Jodha. Jodha Akbar is a marvelously spiced-up slice of history. Or just savor the chemistry between the warrior and the princess with hundreds of junior artist, elephants, rabbit and parrots by the couple's journey from secularism to eternity. The best part of the movie is that it blends the love story perfectly with in the war ridden backdrop.

Film: "Loins Of Punjab Presents"; Cast: Shabana Azmi, Ayesha Dharker, Jameel Khan, Darshan Jariwala, Manish Acharya, Seema Rahmani; Director: Manish Acharya; Rating: *** 1/2 "Are you ashamed to be seen with me?" the only white-American contestant in the all-desi US-based music contest asks his strictly brown girlfriend Ayesha Dharker. And you wonder, not for the first time during the nimble narration, at the fistful of farce that first-time filmmaker Manish Acharya facilitates into this 'funny-on-the-top, tragic-at-the-bottom' film.

Film: 'Nanhe Jaisalmer'; Cast: Bobby Deol, Dwij Yadav, Katrina Kaif; Director: Samir Karnik; Rating: **1/2 Thirty-four years ago a remarkable debutante named Jaya Bhaduri bunked school to get Dharmendra's autograph in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Guddi".

Film: "Aggar"; Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Udita Goswami, Nauheed Cyrusi; Director: Anant Mahadevan; Rating: ** Having been assured by director Anant Mahadevan that this is an original story, let me at the outset say writer S. Farhan has written a riveting manuscript on the anatomy of infidelity. Mahadevan has filmed the thriller with that trademark sparkle which distinguishes this underrated director from his popular peers.

Film: "Apna Aasman"; Cast: Irrfan Khan, Shobana, Dhruv Piyush Panjuani; Writer-Director: Kaushik Roy; Ratings: *** The problem with a film about a couple grappling with the grim reality of an autistic offspring is that it gets past the checkpost of cynicism on the table itself. And yet I'm surprised to see a lot of critical disapproval of debutant director Kaushik Roy's gentle elegiac look at a dysfunctional family from behind closed doors.

Film: "Dhamaal"; Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffrey, Aashish Chaudhary, Asrani; Director: Indra Kumar; Rating: ** "Dhamaal" is so silly and goofy that you want to reprimand the people who are falling off their chairs all around you for laughing. Instead, you find yourself joining the mindless merry-making in this all-boys' film, with just two incidental female characters to avoid charges of a gender bias.

Film: "Darling"; Cast: Esha Deol, Fardeen Khan, Issha Koppiker; Director: Ram Gopal Varma; Rating: ** One extra star goes to this poor ghost film only for Esha Deol's startling presence and sterling account of a woman whom love turns into a roaming spirit. So let's raise a toast to the ghost. As the devilishly impish "Darling", Esha flies high with her performance that has a kite-like velocity to it.

Film: "Victoria No. 203"; Cast: Om Puri, Anupam Kher, Jimmy Shergill, Preeti Jhangiani, Sonia Mehra, Kamal Sadanah, Javed Jaffrey, Tora Khasgir, Rajesh Khera; Director: Anant Mahadevan; Rating: ** Of the two remakes released this week, "Victoria No. 203" is slightly better than "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag" but not good enough to strike gold at the box office.

Film: "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag"; Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal, Ajay Devgan, Sushmita Sen, Prashant Raj, Nisha Kothari; Director: Ram Gopal Varma; Rating: ** No, this isn't the worst re-make you're likely to see. Nor does Ram Gopal Varma's "Aag" claim to have the wherewithal, the stock, substance and spice of Ramesh Sippy's "Sholay". Let's just call "Aag" an interesting revisionist version of "Sholay" and be done with it. The biggest mistake we can make while watching Varma go back to his favourite film is to look for signs and symbols from the past.

Film: "Dhokha"; Cast: Muzamil Ibrahim, Tulip Joshi, Anupam Kher; Director: Pooja Bhatt; Writer: Mahesh Bhatt; Ratings: *** Not every potential terrorist belongs to one particular community. Yes, it sounds like a brutally vulgar adage in this day and age of murderous rage.

Film: "Mathadu Mathadu Mallige"; Cast: Vishnuvardhan, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Sudeep and others; Director: Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar; Producer: K. Manju; Music: Mano Murthy. "Mathadu Mathadu Mallige" comes as a surprise offering from a mainstream filmmaker like Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar. The film about a Nandigram, a special economic zone (SEZ), in Karnataka is the director's fervent plea against what he considers reckless globalisation.