Movie Reviews

Film: "Awarapan"; Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Mrinalini Sharma, Shreya Saran, Ashutosh Rana; Director: Mohit Suri; Produced by: Mahesh Bhatt; Rating: **1/2. Freedom is a major driving force behind Mahesh Bhatt's cinema. Like it or not, Mahesh's tortured vision colours and complements every frame that his protйgйes from Anurag Basu to Mohit Suri have created.

Film: "Akasham"; Director: A.K. Sundardas; Producer: Creative Team; Cast: Harisree Asokan, Jyothirmayi, K.P.A.C. Lalitha and Innocent; Music: Mohan Sithara; Writer: T.A. Razak. Director A.K. Sundardas takes a bold step by casting comedian Harisree Asokan in the lead in a serious role in his new film "Akasham". Scripted by T.A. Razak, the film narrates the story of a simple man who dreams of owning a house. Manoharan, played by Harisree Asokan, is a mechanic in an automobile showroom. He is sincere and hardworking and his boss's favourite.

Film: "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom"; Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Bobby Deol, Lara Dutta; Director: Shaad Ali; Rating: * Everybody in "Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom" (JBJ), including the director, is an impossible imposter.  Abhishek Bachchan poses as a small-town guy in love with a very poised and sexy Pakistani-French mademoiselle from Paris. Preity Zinta poses as a modern-day Cinderella with a very posh British-Indian fiancйe. Bobby Deol, a nerd-optician poses as a cyber-Superman.

Film: "Sivaji-The Boss"; Cast: Rajnikant, Shriya; Director: Shankar; Ratings: **** "Sivaji: The Boss" is all about numbers. It narrates the story of an NRI do-gooder Sivaji (Rajnikant) who wants to spend around Rs.2 billion to set up a number of free educational and medical institutions in his hometown. The film lashes out at the black market prevailing in India - worth Rs.2,450 billion.

Film: "Dharm"; Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak, Daya Shankar Pandey, K.K. Raina, Hrishita Bhatt, Krish Parekh; Director: Bhavna Talwar; Ratings: **** To miss this movie on the true meaning of religion is a crime for any cineaste. How much poorer one would be if one allowed this penetrating masterpiece to pass by without a standing ovation!

Atypical narration, unusual characters, lots of colour and good music are some of the significant features of Shaad Ali's films and his latest "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom", releasing Friday, promises the same. Starring A-list actors - Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta and Lara Dutta, this is Ali's third film. His earlier two releases - "Saathiya" and "Bunty Aur Babli" - were huge hits.

Film: "Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar" (MP3), Director: Robbie Grewal; Cast: Ruslaan Mumtaz and Hazel; Rating: ** A few years ago, director Robbie Grewal made "Samay", a thriller with Sushmita Sen cast as a cop and single mother tracking down a serial killer. Swerving from gritty to gooey, Robbie does an about turn in "MP3".

Film: "The Train"; Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Sayali Bhagat, Geeta Basra and Aseem Merchant; Director: Raksha Mistry and Hasnain Hyderabadwala; Rating: * Tagline for this week's thriller - "Some lines should never be crossed". Sounds familiar. Wasn't that the tagline for the 2005 cheesy downmarket Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen starrer "Derailed"?

Film: "Fool & Final"; Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Vivek Oberoi, Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav; Director: Ahmed Khan; Rating: * There are some comedies that make you wish laughter had never been invented. "Fool & Final" is the most grotesque travesty of tinsel titters that man ever had a chance to invent.

Film: "Cheeni Kum"; Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Zohra Sehgal, Swini Khara; Director: R. Balakrishnan (Balki); Rating: **** The incandescent Tabu makes Amitabh Bachchan run across the London fields... "Just to see if you've the energy to do anything else," she tells him, her tongue firmly in cheek.

Film: "Raqeeb"; Cast: Rahul Khanna, Sharman Joshi, Jimmy Shergil, Tanushree Dutta; Director: Anurag Singh; Rating: * From director Anurag Basu's "Metro" last week to Anurag Singh's "Raqeeb" this week - what a gigantic leap in terms of vision, intent and impact!

Film: "Good Boy Bad Boy"; Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Tanushree Dutta, Isha Sharvani, Paresh Rawal; Director: Ashwini Chaudhary; Ratings: *1/2 "Good Boy Bad Boy" or "Dhoop Chaon..." - last I remember Ashwini Chowdhary had made a lovely sun-kissed film called "Dhoop".