A Wednesday

The message is loud and clear — the aam admi (common man) is angry with serial blasts. Debutant director Neeraj Pandey’s A Wednesday maybe fictitious but it draws inspiration from the realities of our time.

The film concentrates on the strange encounter Mumbai’s Commissioner of Police Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher) has with a frustrated common man with no name, played by Naseruddin Shah.

Shah plants four bombs and demands the release of four dreaded terrorists, all of whom are languishing in jail after being convicted for various blasts across the country.

Shah plays his game through a mobile phone and a laptop from a rooftop and makes the police believe that he wants the freedom of the terrorists.

However, when the police comply to his demand he does something which surprises all.

As for the casting, Shah, Kher and Jimmy (as a die-hard policeman) are all convincing, but Deepal Shaw as TV reporter Naina Roy looks totally out of place. If one looks carefully into the set you will also notice certain flaws, like the wireless phone antenna being up in one scene and then pulled down in the next.

However, the best part of this film is that it makes you think as to who this common man is and what are his real intentions. Finally, unlike many typical Bollywood film A Wednesday gives you the opportunity to reflect and be your own judge when it comes to terrorism.
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Hindi (U/A)

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Jimmy Shergill, Aamir Bashir, Deepal Shaw, Gaurav Kapoor nklageDirector: Neeraj Pandey

Highway To Trouble

Among the many things not running smooth in Manipur, India's Jewel, are the roads. The transport system in this north-eastern state for more than a decade, has been a matter of concern for most Manipuris, especially the Hmar tribe living in Tipaimukh sub division of Churachandpur district. With the impending 'Mautam' (famine due to Bamboo flowering) in the region, villagers in the sub division are a worried lot as there are practically no government office functioning in the area to turn to.

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(Written on December 16, 2007)

Righteous Kill

The promo of the film runs like this: ‘Most people respect the badge. Everybody respects the gun’. It should have been ‘Most people like to see big actors. Everybody prefers a good film.’

In what could be a passable film of the year, two NYPD veterans confuse the department while trailing a serial killer.

Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) who have worked as partners for 30 years are pushed to work with young detectives Perez, Riley and CSI Karen Corelli, when a serial killer starts killing bad guys after courts let them free due to ‘lack of evidence’.

But when all fingers point to Turk himself to be the killer, Rooster begins playing his own game.

As the suspense continues Jon Avnet shows us Turk’s confession through a grainy video which somewhat lacks credibility, only to know later that it is a part of the film’s climax.The supporting cast is good enough especially when you see Carla Gugino as a sex-crazed detective.

Leguizamo and Wahlberg are convincing as the young cops who believe Turk is behind the killings.

Though Righteous Kill is not the best it still has got the right ‘masala’ — big actors and a brilliant promo — to get you to the theatre.
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English (A)
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg
Director: Jon Avnet

Mamma Mia!

The storyline of Mamma Mia is simple: A daughter who is all set to marry feels she missing is a very important person in her life — a father who will give her away on her big day.

So, she sends an invite to three of her mother’s ex-partners with the hope of finding her real father. Guess, what, all the three turn up and that’s when things begin to go awry. Will she get to know her true father? How will her mother reacts when she meets her former beaus-of the ABBA era? Will she get her Greek fat wedding? All these questions will be answered in Mamma Mia.

A big cast in the form of Meryl Strep as Amanda Seyfried’s mother, is supported Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth.
The screenplay truly fictionalises the story and sets an aura of a desirable fantasy world.

As far as the musical part of this film is concerned you just can’t prevent your feet from tapping or hum along with Swedish band ABBA’s evergreen songs like Mamma Mia, Money Money, Supper Duper, I Have a Dream, etc., which are well choreographed. Though some times, the film lacks the punch of the stage musical, you can’t just let down the infectious songs of ABBA.

As the film also celebrates mother-daughter relationship and friendship it would be wise to take along your friends, to truly enjoy the movie.
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English (U/A)

Cast: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

You Don't Mess With The Zohan

This is the story of Israeli secret agent Zohan (Adam Sandler) who fakes his own death to pursue his dreams of becoming a hair stylist in the US of A. As Zohan makes out with his old women clients in the back room of his saloon, his cover is finally blown. So, he must protect his newfound career, yes; guess what, in the funniest way possible.

In the first 15 minutes you see Zohan performing his superhuman abilities to show his manliness. He plays ping pong, engages in crazy sexual acts and catches the bad guys!

The film seems to promise a whole new genre of comedy but the silly jibes that follow thereafter are simply stupid. The storyline also seems attractive but as the film rolls on to show the Arab-Israeli conflict along with Zohan’s love interest one can easily spot the end of the story.

The stunts and sounds work but the cinematography that apes Agent 007 films fails miserably.

In fact it is blunt. The jokes on people from the Middle East however have their own charm, though. In addition, the happy ending in every scene, like the 80s comedy shows, may well go well with some.

Sadly, it’s easy to mess with Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. Special appearances by Kevin James, Mariah Carey and Kevin Nealon reminds one of some B-grade Bollywood films where you need a star guest to light up the screen space a bit. Their performances are passable but the film’s ‘rare of the rarest’ funny scenes merit at least one view.
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English (A)
Cast: Adam Sandler, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui
Director: Dennis Dugan

Three Monkeys

Servet (Ercan Kesal), a politician facing re-election, is involved in a hit-and-run case. Fearing an electoral debacle, he calls up his driver Eyup (Yavuz Bingol) and convinces him to take the blame with a promise to pay him a hefty sum after he is out of prison.

As Eyup serves his nine-month jail term, his son Ismail (Ahmet Rifta Sungar), desperate to find a job, asks his mother Hacer (Hatice Aslan) to take the money in advance from his father’s boss.

However, after frequent visits to Servet’s office, Hacer falls in love with him. Then, one thing leads to another until her son finds out her illicit relationship. The disastrous drama unfolds when Eyup, after his release, finds out that his wife had been having a fling with his boss. However, in order to avoid responsibilities and stick together, the family, like the allegorical three monkeys, chooses to ignore the truth: refusing to see, hear or even talk about it.

The Three Monkeys is a slow surrealist film with its shabby set. It is more of an art film. The second half, however, picks up the pace a bit, when Ismail discovers his mother’s affair with his dad’s boss. Some of the intriguing questions the film poses are: Is our behaviour defined by our emotional relationship more than by rightful actions? Are we likely to close our eyes to the dead on the streets whom we barely know?

Are we ready to sacrifice ourselves for the survival of our family, at all cost? Though the film is a depressing view of humanity many of us would say, ‘this is the real world.’

It also potrays a woman’s longing for freedom. Hacer tells her son that she never does anything without his father’s permission when he asks her for the money, because it just makes him angry. Therefore, Eyup’s nine-month jail provided Hacer the most wanted freedom in her married life. Having tasted the freedom, Hacer finds it hard to step back to the ways of a demanding husband.

The film’s grey and brown palette perfectly portray the gloomy and oppressive view of our belief that society rests on deceit.

The film is set to test your patience with its slow pace. However, it is worth the time and the money.
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Turkish (A) (With English subtitles)

Cast: Hatice Aslan, Yavuz Bingol, Ercan Kesal, Ahmet Rifat SungarDirector: Nuri Bilge

The Secret Friend

Chris Mooney's The Secret Friend gives me a deja vu. The storyline of this book is strikingly similar to the Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins-starrer Silence of the Lamb in which a young FBI agent, Clarice Starling, tries to catch the psychopath Buffalo Bill, who kidnaps young women and then murders them.

However, in The Secret Friend, instead of having Dr Hannibal Lecter, we have a former FBI agent, who leads a young woman, Crime Scene Investigation detective Darby McCormick, to trackdown a psychopath-murderer.

Darby is asked to investigate a body found floating in the Boston harbour. Her instinct and skill make her believe that the murder is linked to the death of another young woman, Emma Hale, the only daughter of a rich and powerful man.

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