India Masala
Bollywood and culture in an emerging India
Karthik Calling Karthik: Farhan saves this insipid thriller
Farhan Akhtar has now come to be associated with a particular kind of cinema – slick production values, quirky characters and smart writing. So when I went in to watch his latest production, “Karthik Calling Karthik”, I was expecting something similar. While I got to see the first two aspects, the third, and the most important was gravely missing.
The film, a thriller about a meek, submissive man called Karthik, whose life changes when he gets phone calls from an anonymous caller who also calls himself Karthik, starts off well, and is engaging enough, but for some bad writing and corny dialogues, which take away from the edge-of-the-seat thrill that a film like this should give you.
Akhtar plays Karthik Narayan, a mousy MBA grad who is bullied by pretty much everyone around him, including his tyrannical boss, and pesky landlord. He is secretly in love with Shonali Mukherjee (Deepika Padukone), who works in the same office, but is unable to muster up courage to talk to her, instead writing her an email everyday and then saving it in his drafts folder.
Fired from his job, and with no friends to turn to, Karthik is on the verge of suicide when one phone call changes everything. The caller always calls at 5 am and identifies himself as Karthik. He instils confidences in Karthik, exhorting him to set his life right. After the initial apprehension, Karthik actually looks forward to the calls, and egged on by the mysterious caller, sets about reclaiming his life.
Toh Baat Pakki: Crashing bore
When you make a movie with two accomplished actors like Tabu and Sharman Joshi, the least you can do is make the best use of their talent. As you can guess, director Kedar Shinde doesn’t manage to do that all with “Toh Baat Pakki”.
Instead he puts together a dated, lame film that pretends to be a family comedy. This film doesn’t even have much you can talk about, so I will get right to the story.
My Name is Khan: Gimmicky, average cinema
There is no easy way to say this. In spite of the hype surrounding it and for all the solidarity being expressed and the many, many hours of time and energy being spent tweeting and talking about it — “My Name is Khan” is a very average, ordinary film that goes as haywire as the debate surrounding it has gone.
Subjects such as racial biases, the aftermath of 9/11 and war on terror are dicey topics to handle in real life, let alone on celluloid, and director Karan Johar falls in the same trap as films like “New York” and his own production “Kurbaan” — he oversimplifies the issue and overstates his message.
Is Bollywood’s unity a farce?
For more than a week now, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has been in the centre of a storm — after his comments supporting the participation of Pakistani players in the Indian Premier League.
In the same time period, we have 
also seen the half-hearted response that the Shiv Sena’s response evoked from Bollywood. Not a single producers’ body or any industry organisation has spoken out against the fact that the Sena might prevent “My Name is Khan” from being released.
Striker: Sporadically good
Chandan Arora‘s “Striker” is one of those sleeper films — the ones which don’t have big stars or a big marketing budget, so that you don’t find hoardings at every street corner or its stars on every reality TV show.
But perhaps it is because of this that you go in without too many expectations and allow the director to pleasantly surprise you — at least in some parts.
Is ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ A.R.Rahman’s best score?
Waking up on a Monday morning is so much nicer when you wake up to good news, isn’t it?
A.R.Rahman winning two Grammys for “Slumdog Millionaire” certainly made my day, but as television channels played its theme song “Jai Ho” over and over again, I found myself wanting to hear some of his other compositions.
Ishqiya: Raw, gripping cinema
Even if you didn’t know it before, the first few frames of debutant director Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Ishqiya’, will confirm that he has imbibed a lot of his skill from his mentor Vishal Bhardwaj. The look, tone and feel of the film are all very reminiscent of Bhardwaj’s films.
That said, Chaubey does bring his own sensibility to the film, depicting the arid, gritty landscape of Western UP and its people with a freshness that we haven’t seen very often on screen.
Rann: Sticks to the clichés
The news business in India has grown to such an extent in the last few years and pervaded our lives so much, that a Bollywood film on the subject was bound to come out sooner than later.
But the problem with films such as “Rann”, much like the ones that come from the Madhur Bhandarkar stable, is that there is a thin line between going overboard and staying restrained.
Veer: Epic disaster
This has got to be one of the most difficult reviews I have ever written. All I have done so far is stare at a blank word document for more than 15 minutes. Words fail me, but I will have to do it, because I will not allow those three hours of my life to be in vain.
Perhaps I am being a little overdramatic here, but this drama is nothing compared to the extremely loud, jingoistic and nauseating drama that Anil Sharma’s “Veer” indulges in, so kindly bear with me.
Chance Pe Dance: Fails to rise above ordinary
Ken Ghosh’s “Chance Pe Dance” is not what you would call an original
film, choosing to tell the age-old tale of a struggling actor looking
for a chance to make it in Bollywood. From the first scene, you can
predict exactly how the story is going to go.
That said, a lot of films do tell oft-repeated tales. But many of them
do it with such panache and imagination that you are hooked all the
same. Like last week’s “Pyaar Impossible”, “Chance Pe Dance” doesn’t
pass this test.
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The Wall
