A Wednesday

There are some movies which make you stand up and clap. Movies which stand out as examples as to how powerful the medium of Cinema can be. Movies which symbolise our times and go down in the history as cult movies. A Wednesday is one such movie.

Quite frankly, when I woke up this morning, I was not even aware of the existence of such a movie. Since there was no other choice available and since Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah were heading the starcast, I thought of giving it a try (Even though my family was quite skeptical about the movie). By the time we came out of the theatre, we realised that our doubts were quite baseless.

In my father’s words -- “Its a long time since I have seen such a meaningful movie.”

I actually jumped out of my skin because I don’t remember the last time he said this about a movie.

The movie traces the events of a Wednesday when Prakash Rathod(played by Anupam Kher), the Mumbai Commissioner of Police gets an an anonymous call demanding the release of four dangerous criminals responsible for bomb blasts across India. The caller (played by Naseeruddin Shah) warns the Commissioner that if the demand was not met, he would be forced to trigger five bombs which he has planted across Mumbai. Prakash Rathod is someone who is not ready to give in so easily to the demands of a fanatic and dispatches a team of his best men to track down the man. The caller is always a step ahead and the Commissioner realises that he cannot put the lives of so many people in jeopardy. He handpicks two of his best men, Jai Singh (played by Aamir Bashir) and Arif Khan (played by Jimmy Shergill) to hand over the four terrorists as demanded. The “Caller” on the other hand is keeping track of the police activities using a news reporter (played by Deepal Shaw) whom he sends after the police.

What the audience gets is a thriller of a dimension which has not been seen in the Indian Cinema since a long time. Its not a conventional Bollywood movie because there is no hero. There is only a cast. Neeraj Pandey should be given a pat on his back for a brilliant screenplay. He does not waste any time in building up the well defined no nonsense plot. He does not slow down the tempo of the movie with meaningless songs or long stretched sequences. The movie has less than 2 hours of running time and is very well edited by Shree Narayan Singh.

Anupam Kher is brilliant in his role as the Commissioner who despite being on his toes because of the threat does not lose the focus. The rest of the cast including Aamir, Jimmy Shergill and Deepal also have very believable roles.

A special word for Nasseruddin Shah. I think he deserves an Oscar for the performance. Its not the loud, over the top performances which we generally identify with. Its crafty and subtle. Yet it leaves an everlasting impact. And don’t miss the climax in which he delivers a set of dialogues which will give you a terrible gooseflesh and tears at the same time. The climax is so unexpected that it would be a good idea to put a tape on the mouth of any person who tries to tell you about it before watching the movie. It will catch you completely unaware.

Don’t miss this movie. I recommend it very strongly.

Watch Trailer Here :

Harri Puttar (2008)

“He is only a kid…” is something that is heard ever too often. But when a kid displays the valor and wit that is no child’s play and the presence of mind that belies his age, it certainly is no kidding matter. Hari Puttar is the awe-inspiring story of one such kid. Hari Prasad Dhoonda (Zain Khan) or Hari Puttar, as he is fondly called, is a bright 10 year old who has recently moved from India to the U.K. with his parents (Sarika and Zakir Khan). His father, Prof. Dhoonda is assigned to work on a secret project with the Defense Forces at a remote location in the U.K. He has access to confidential information that is stored on a chip and safely kept at his house.

Within days of their arrival in London, Hari’s aunt (Lilette Dubey) and uncle DK (Jackie Shroff) visit the Dhoonda residence with their own as well DK’s boss’ children. Suddenly, the house is filled with the effervescence of no less than ten kids. At this point, everything goes for a spin for Hari Puttar. Not only is he thrown out of his room to accommodate the girls, he is also ragged and ridiculed by all the other kids for being too naïve. Hari Puttar suddenly feels unwanted, undermined, and unappreciated.

To top it, even as DK arranges a vacation for the entire family, one night before they take off, Hari’s mother sends him off to the attic bedroom as a punishment for no big fault of his. As luck would have it, the next morning, the whole family leaves in a tearing hurry, forgetting that they have left something integral behind -- Namely Hari and his little cousin Tuk Tuk (Swini Khara). But this realization does not dawn until they are halfway into their journey.

When Hari and Tuk Tuk discover that they have the large house to themselves, they begin to enjoy the sudden freedom.

Meantime, an infamous don, Kali Mirchi, assigns two bumbling burglars (Saurabh Shukla & Vijay Raaz) to steal the secret formula chip from Hari’s house. Hari accidentally discovers the mission of the burglars and is determined to save the secret formula from being exposed.

The so called naïve Hari Puttar embarks on a journey of great adventure and suddenly discovers the self-confidence, creativity and gumption that he did not know he possessed…With his innovative plans , determined wit, and with able support from Tuk Tuk, Hari Puttar manages to not only save the secret chip but also captures the two unsuspecting thugs.

Hari’s mother in the meanwhile, desperate to get back to Hari goes through her own adventure to reach back home… And when she does, she finds that she had left behind a son …and had come back to a little hero.

Watch the trailer here:

Munna Bhai MBBS (2003)

Murli Prasad Sharma a.k.a Munna (Sanjay Dutt), is the big-time local thug and has almost everyone working for him. However, Munna has got his parents believing that he is a doctor, and whenever they visit, he has his home turned into a hospital, and his mates acting as patients and doctors. But when Munna’s father visits this time, he wants Munna to marry a childhood friend, who is now a female doctor -- Chinki. But Chinki’s father is aware that Munna is not a doctor and is a goon, so he bust Munna in front of his parents. Munna’s Father disowns Munna and Munna challenges himself to become a doctor to show his father he is capable of it. Munna attends medical school, which is run by Chinkis father. Munna wants to irritate Chinki’s Father. Will Munna ever become a doctor and marry Chinki? Will Munna father ever own him again? Can the local Thug become anything more than a local thug.Hari Prasad Sharma (Sunil Dutt) and his wife Parvati (Rohini Hattangadi) come from their village to visit their doctor son, Dr. Murli (Sanjay Dutt) in Bombay, who is the head of a charitable hospital. They are greeted with fanfare and are given a tour of the hospital. Hari and Parvati decide that since Murli is well settled, he should get married. So they arrange a marriage with Dr. J.C. Asthana’s (Boman Irani) daughter, Suman “Chinki” Asthana (Gracy Singh), also a doctor. Hari and Parvati get a shock when Dr. Asthana tells them that their son is a fake, a underworld don, is not qualified to be a doctor

Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)

Welcome to Sajjanpur is an upcoming Indian film starring Shreyas Talpade and Amrita Rao in the lead roles. It is directed by Shyam Benegal and is his first comedy film. The film revolves about a guy who is one of the few educated young men from Sajjanpur, and who makes his living by writing letters. His ability to write persuasive letters makes him extremely popular with largely the illiterate population of his town. The film is a delightful satirical take on a contemporary Indian village. The film was originally titled Mahadev ka Sajjanpur.
Mahadev is one of the few educated young men from Sajjanpur. His ambition is to be a novelist but finds it easier to make a living by writing letters sitting next to the post office. His ability to write persuasive letters makes him popular with the largely non-literate population of the town. Aware of this power, he soon uses his talent to manipulate people with amusing and sometimes not such amusing results.
With this as the narrative frame, Welcome to Sajjanpur shows in an entertaining, musical and comic way, characters and events that are at once hilarious and poignant. A delightful satirical take on a contemporary Indian village.

Saas Bahu Aur Sensex (2008)

t is a comedy about developments in the time of India, and how a group of Indian housewives decide to take a dive in world stock markets.

The film stars Tanushree Dutta, Masumeh Makhija Central and talents as Kiron Kher, Farooq Sheikh and Lillete Dubey. However, the film has already hit the headlines thanks to the spat between Tanushree and director. Probably the film will be remembered for the right reasons!

This will be the first film that Warner Bros. is distributing in India. With this low-budget Flick, they will certainly test the waters before releasing their major project budget CHANDNI Chowk to China.

Drona (2008)

Hidden deep within the folds of our universe is a secret as ancient as time itself. A secret, which if unraveled, would bring about the end of the world. Only one man today can protect this secret and save us from total destruction.

Drona: The warrior. He who shall protect the eternal circle of life and death.

Drona’s journey starts through myths and legends. Along with Sonia, he would fight the evil spells of the absolutely lethal Riz Raizada. By battling odds, he would discover skills that he never knew he had. But would his fears catch up with him? Would the nightmares from his childhood come in the way of his epic journey?

As good and evil clash in this contemporary fantasy fable, a breathtaking adventure beckons you into a world of mythic heroes and malicious magicians, of enchanted lands and life altering choices, of cunning curses and absolute innocence.

C Kkompany (2008)

The story of the film ‘ C Kkompany’ is a story of three middle class people (Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav) who in order to solve and come out of their financial problem set up a company. This film portrays how losers become rulers.

Speaking about the story line of C Kkompany the director Yardi said, “The film is about how this prank played creates situations and incidents, which are way beyond the control of the three characters (Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav) in the film. I would also say that their journey begins in a house of 600 square feet and it ends up with them being talked about in the parliament and becoming national hero’s.

Chamku (2008))

Chamku depicts the journey of a boy Chandrama Singh Chamku whose family had been brutally murdered and was brought up and trained by Naxalites in Southern interiors of Bihar. He was later picked up under a covert Governmental Program jointly convinced RAW & IB. Chamku was trained to kill. Best in the business, operations, encounters and political assassinations, he soon became the blue eyed boy. He was given the tought jobs which he tackled with ease. His life changes when love enters his life and make him realize how beautiful life is… But his past comes and stands on his face.

‘CHAMKU’stars Bobby Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Irfan Khan, Arya Babbar and in special appearance Ritesh Deshmukh, Rajpal Yadav, & Danny Denzongapa. Directed by Kabeer Kaushik, the music is renderd by Monty Sharma, Lyrics by Sameer and singers Richa Sharma, Shreya Ghosal, Shail Hada, Abhijit Bhattacharya, Vaishali Samant.

Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)

Bachna Ae Haseeno is a film directed by Siddharth Raj Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra. As this film is made under Yashraj banner so it has all the magic like other Yashraj films. Ranbir Kapoor is playing the lead role against three co-stars Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone and Manisha Lamba in this film.

The guy Anand (Ranbir Kapoor) is a complete flirt. He wears his heart on his sleeve. Enter three women Mahi (Minissha Lamba), Radhika (Bipasha Basu) and Gayatri (Deepika Padukone) in different stages of his life. Love is in the air. Two dream of marrying him, but he ditches them and the third, whom he intends marrying, says a blunt ‘No’ to the offer. Heart-broken, the guy realizes his folly and plans on doing prayashchit. He goes back to the first two women and apologises. What happened next is all about the film.

Bachna Ae Haseeno has splendid moments in the first hour. In fact, the three stories, minus the culmination of course, are beautifully told in the first hour itself. There’re some attention-grabbing moments in this hour and you genuinely feel exhilarated after having watched those portions. Cameraman Sunil Patel gives a breathtaking canvass of the exotic locales of Switzerland, the colours vibrant and the music groovy.

On the acting front, Ranbir Kapoor has shown his talent and kep the Kapoor flag flying high, successfully shouldering the film with the confidence in his abilities as a performer. Bipasha Basu is fine as before, Manisha Lamba is ok but has a long way to go, Deepika Padukone could not do much in this film she is just ok.

On the whole, Bachna Ae Haseeno has a great cast, great chemistry amongst actors, great locations and some great moments but it suffers to a major extent, due to its screenplay running out of steam. The film could be much better if some major attention would have given on the screenplay. The storyline is cool, if you go by the segment this film is targeted at the youth.

Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)

It’s the 9th of july 2006.. the numerous blasts in the train and what it brought out in people.. some of them victims.. their fear and paranoia.. Kaykay is sure that the suspicious muslim guy who hangs out at the irani cafe is one of the perpetrators of the tragedy and his subsequent rage and loss of innocence.. Madhavan’s mortal fear of trains.. his unaware pregnant wife of the tragedy that almost missed him.. Irrfan wanting to avenge his humiliation in front of his family by the floor incharge of the perfume section by figuring out a dangerous game that he can play with the paranoid distrusting police and administration.. the wisdom of the retiring cop always in confrontation with the idealistic cop who had to cancel his holiday.. and the tv journo who has now become the story.. anger,humility, fear and fearlessness, paranoia, self realizations, hate and self loathing, all surface over the facade of the perfect lie of a life we dream of in a metropolis..