Kareena London Calling!

While the lesser mortals like us are slogging it out in the heat and dust of the city, Bebo is currently in London. But, she isn't lucky too, and is shooting and working round the clock, dealing with a mad hectic schedule.

"She is meeting up thousands of people, besides doing other things. She has not slept properly for more than two months," says her friend.

Hmm, it's time she takes some well deserved break! Is Saif listening?

Victory Review

Cast: Nitin, Mamta Mohandas, Shashank, Sindhu Tolani, AshutoshRana, Duvvasi Mohan, Brahmanandam, Ali, Tanikella Bharani, MS Narayana,Ajay, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Sudha and Others.
Action: Ram-Laxman.
Cinematography: Vijay C. Kumar.
Editing: KV Krishna Reddy.
Music: Chakri.
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction: Ravi C. Kumar.
Presenter: K. Atchi Reddy.
Producer: Venkat.
Banner: RR Movie Makers.
Release Date: 27th June, 2008.

After a decent movie like Samanyudu, this amateurish attempt at a movieabout land mafia comes as a real downer. Victory has perhaps two goodmoments, and the rest of the movie has to be tolerated than enjoyed orappreciated. Director Ravi C. Kumar's last attempt is so much morelow-key, but in terms of story, content, focus, screenplay andperformances it was a hundred fold better. Victory has Nitin showingoff his six pack abs. And little else.

Plot:Viji is living his life when his family and a thousand other familiesare affected by a land grabbing that takes place. The culprit is MLADevaraj and it's a huge scam-but the problem is that he is getting awaywith it. Determined not to let that happen, Viji wants everyone tounite against this anti-social element. People are too scared, but Vijiand his gang are made to take action. The rest of the story is abouthow they bring the bad guy to justice.

Story, Screenplay and Direction :The story has nothing new tooffer. Land Mafia, MLAs, Ring Road, International Airports and a bunchof guys fighting out the system. Charmante. The performances are soamateurish that one wonders whether there was a prompter right there,giving cues to each character throughout the movie. The music is notgood either. The scene composition, screenplay and editing are all donehalf-heartedly.

Mamta'strack starts off like this: she places an ad in a matrimonial site andViji's parents place his. The girl and the guy's parents are incorrespondence. But Viji doesn't know of it, and this girl follows himaround and then tries to make him say that he loves her. Then for along time you don't see the girl, and suddenly she appears again.There's really no logical ending for the love track. One wonders whatthe point of the matrimonial site was-maybe a sponsor? There's a songfull of them, from Idea to RS Brothers, whether used for the effect oras sponsors, one cannot be too sure.

The first half has nothingmuch happening. Some land mafia fights, this half-baked love track,Sindhu Tolani's (who plays a news reporter) friendship with Nitin andgang and stray characters and tracks (MS Narayana and Brahmanandam) whohave little to do with the main plot. The second half you keep hopingwill pick up and not till the last 20 minutes does something reallyhappen. And nothing we haven't seen before sadly. At least if it wasdone well..but the taking is so amateurish that it's surprising (if youknow that the director has experience and his last flick was verywatchable).

Performances: Nitin really needs to slow down on his dialogue delivery. His six packsare in place, and he has even worked on his dance. But he was muchbetter as an actor in his earlier movies, and somehow seems to beneglecting this main aspect with each successive movie. MamtaMohandas's role itself is badly written, in bits and pieces. She is anable singer, but as a female lead, she needs to hone those skills.Shashank as a shop owner and Duvvasi Mohan with his witty Telanganapunches are okay; suddenly their group of 4 becomes 5 post-break andthe new member is given no introduction whatsoever. Tanikella Bharaniand the rest of seasoned performers are not as effortless in theirperformance as usual-they seem artificial, and the direction departmenthas to take the discredit mainly.

Music and Dance: Copied mostly, including a part of the background score (Don). Lackluster in totality.

Last Word :A disappointment.

Rating: 2/5

Charmee's video horrors

There have been cases of mobile phone cameras usedas tools of privacy-infringement in the past. It looks like themorphed-porn syndrome has hit Charmee as well!

The lady is nowrunning scared of anyone who happens to point a mobile in herdirection; even if it's not a camera phone. The reason for this phobiaof mobiles? According to her version, her image was captured during oneof her public appearances and morphed onto a 'masala' video.

We do not know the other side of the story, but the video is apparently doing brisk business in the grey markets.

THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC Review

A film like THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC makes you nostalgic. It takes youback to the light-hearted, feel-good cinema made by directors ofcalibre like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee. The focus was onnarrating a simple story. A movie that put a smile on your face even ifyou walked in with a frown.

THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC does exactly that!

Strangely, for some reason, the film lacks the hype associated with abiggie. Perhaps, the string of flops the premiere production house[YRF] churned out, indirectly, took a toll on this movie. But THODAPYAAR THODA MAGIC should reverse the trend.

A bit of MARY POPPINS. A dash of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. A sprinkle ofENCHANTED. THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC may not be the most original script,but the sweet and tender moments in this enterprise elevate it to awatchable status.

That Kunal Kohli is a fine storyteller has already been proved [HUM TUMand FANAA were accomplished works]. Now watch him handle a simple,uncomplicated story with dexterity and you'd agree, Kunal has onlymatured with time.

To put a long story short, THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC is a simple story,well told. It's one of those films you'd enjoy watching with yourfamily, without feeling embarrassed or red-faced. It's sure to put asmile on your face when you exit the auditorium, which, frankly, is ararity these days!

Ranbeer [Saif Ali Khan], a leading industrialist, is a loner, not bychoice, but because he lost everyone he ever loved. He is now facedwith a peculiar and uncomfortable situation. In a rare and landmarkcourt verdict, he is to look after four orphan children. The orphanshate him and want revenge from him. The children do not want to livewith a man they hate; he too cannot face them or look them in the eyefor certain reasons. Their life together is very unhappy.

One day, the kids pray to God for help and He does help them. He sendshis most mischievous, childlike, lovable angel to the rescue, with amission to bring Ranbeer and the kids together. Geeta [Rani Mukerji]comes bicycling down a rainbow… and bursts into Ranbeer's house as theself-proclaimed new nanny.

And then starts the roller coaster ride of fun, emotions, magic andlove. An angel who doesn't know what love is. A man who always lostlove. Four orphans who need love.

Kunal Kohli opens the cards at the very outset. The car accident andthe subsequent court judgment set the story in motion. But the firsthalf isn't without its share of flaws. The pranks played by the kids toharass Saif fall flat. They're anything but funny most of the times.Ameesha's character is another sore point. Actually, the film could'vedone without this irritating character.

However, Rani's entry in the story adds magic to the goings-on. Herinteraction with the kids and how she eventually wins them over isenjoyable. The kids, of course, are the actual heroes of thisenterprise, but more on that later.

It's the second hour that takes the film to a different level. How Saifbonds with each of them and the turning point, an incident that makesthe kids see Saif differently, is simply excellent. Ditto for thefinale, which may seem Bollywoodish, but you don't mind it.

Kunal Kohli has worked with the best of stars [Aamir, Saif, Hrithik,Kajol, Kareena, Rani], but the real test is to extract performancesfrom four unknown kids and that's where he deserves brownie points.It's easy to handle grown-ups, but kids can be really tough. Also,Kunal doesn't [thankfully] make the proceedings melodramatic with rona-dhona thrown in to make it a perfect 'family film'. The emotions are subtle, but nonetheless move you.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music is a letdown, barring just one track, 'PyaarKe Liye'. Sudeep Chatterjee's cinematography is perfect. The effectsare eye catching at times.

Saif fits into the sauve millionaire part [Richie Rich - the poorlittle rich guy?] very well. And the best part is, he never 'acts'.He's a complete natural! It's a pleasure to watch Rani in a role thatdoes justice to her talent. She's lovable. But why is she sporting thesame outfit throughout? Ameesha doesn't work, mainly because her rolelooks like an add-on. And what is she wearing throughout the movie? Butshe sizzles in the 'Lazy Lamhe' track.

The four kids are adorable. Each of them is terrific, but the one who's bound to walk away with taalisis the cute Sikh kid called Iqbal. Watch him break into the 'Main NiklaGadi Leke' song from GADAR; it's bound to bring the house down. RishiKapoor is likable in a cameo. Taraana is okay.

On the whole, THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC is a simple story told veryeffectively and efficiently. At the box-office, it may be a slowstarter, but should gradually gather momentum with a strong word ofmouth. Business at multiplexes will be the best.

Go watch it, it's a treat for your entire family!

Rating : 3.5/5

Is Shahid Kapoor the new SRK?

Aziz Mirza is back after a gap of nearly five years with Kismat Konnection . With Shahid Kapoor, it is for the first time that Aziz Mirza is working with an actor other than Shah Rukh Khan. So comparisons between Shahid Kaoor and Shah Rukh Khan are obviously being made.

Speaking about Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor, Mirza said, “When I narrated the script of Kismat Konnection to Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, Juhi said that this would have been the ideal film for Shah Rukh Khan if he was 15-20 years younger. Both, Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor are very hard working. They are very good actors. They are natural actors. Even after giving a good shot, I can ask them to try one more shot. Their acting level is very high. Shah Rukh has had a long innings. Shahid has just started his career. Hopefully he will also have a long innings. I had seen this picture with Shahid in mind. I wanted a young boy for this film. At that time, none of Shahid’s movies had worked. Even Vivah was not released.”

We will see if after Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor will be the person that Aziz Mirza will continue working with, in the times to come.