No other tale is as familiar to me as the Mahabharat. Whether it was stories heard in my childhood, animated books that were gifted, or watching B. R. Chopra’s television series over Sunday breakfast, this epic is ingrained in the psyche.

Which is why, when a movie about Arjun comes along, one looks forward to the opportunity to relive some of those stories. Directed by Arnab Chaudhuri, “Arjun – The Warrior Prince” tells the story of the Mahabharat from the point of view of Arjun, the third of the Pandava brothers.

The film is told largely in flashback, and begins with the “eye of the bird” story — where Arjun tells his tutor Dronacharya that he can only see the eye of the bird he is to shoot, while his brothers and cousins describe the trees around and the colour of the bird’s feathers.

The film establishes Arjun’s sense of purpose and his skills even before the titles, but then seems to run out of things to say. The plot meanders along, and skips several important events in Arjun’s life, including Draupadi’s disrobing scene, and his relationship with Lord Krishna.

As a result, “Arjun – The Warrior Prince” appears disjointed, and given that this is a familiar story, one may feel a bit cheated.

The animation in the film is good, but certainly not at par with Disney films internationally, which is made even more obvious by the promo of the new Pixar film “Brave” screened just before the film.

Some scenes, such as the one in which Arjun aims for the eye of a fish by looking at its reflection in the water are well done.

In my head, I always imagine Ram Gopal Varma, sitting in his office, legs up on the table, going through a checklist on the last day of a film shoot. Hyperactive camera angle – check. Lots of fake blood – check. Added some element of “Satya”, “Company” or “Sarkar” to the film – check. Leading ladies showing off cleavage – check.

How else do you explain a film like “Department”? That someone (Varma) thought they could make a film with such tacky production values, a convoluted and weak script, and some scenes that could be straight out of a soft-porn flick, and still convince a major studio to fund it and market it as a A-grade movie, is baffling.

The film is about two police officers (Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati), who are asked to to set up a hit squad in order to “finish” the Mumbai underworld. Their target is the eccentric Savatiya (Vijay Raaz) and his gang.

Savatiya is also under attack from two of his own gang members — DK (Abhimanyu Singh) and his girlfriend (played by Madhu Shalini) — both of whom want Savatiya to retaliate against the police.

When powerful local politician Sarjerao Gaekwad (Amitabh Bachchan) enters the equation, both Shivnarayan (Daggubati) and Mahadev (Dutt) realise that things aren’t what they seem.

Varma uses liberal doses of plot lines from earlier films like “Sarkar” and “Satya”, but re-hashes them to such an extent that you might be forgiven for thinking “Department” is a spoof. He uses his trademark camera angles and ear-splitting background noise to create drama, but ends up making it caricaturish. There are times when you can see the film from the point of view of a tea pot, a newspaper and even the striker on the carrom board.

Given the look and feel of the film, you’d think the director had sleepwalked through the schedule. Characters, especially those of DK and his girlfriend are so over-the-top that they are more funny than scary, and except for Amitabh Bachchan, who seems to know what he’s doing, the rest of the cast resemble a deer caught in the headlights. At some point during the second half, you lose all sense of the plot, the characters’s motives and where the film is headed.

You cannot escape Bollywood and the drama that comes with it, not even in the hallowed environs of the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, as actress Rekha, the newest member of the upper house of India’s parliament took oath, the focus — at least that of the cameras, was on another, older member. Rekha’s short swearing-in ceremony was interspersed with several shots of a very grim-looking Jaya Bachchan.

Anyone watching the five-minute swearing-in ceremony, would have been forgiven for thinking they were watching a Bollywood awards ceremony, where the camera pans to a Shahid Kapur when a Kareena Kapoor is dancing or a Ranbir Kapoor when Deepika Padukone is performing.

It seems Jaya Bachchan hasn’t taken too kindly to that camerawork, complaining to Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President Hamid Ansari about the attempt to “sensationalise” news.

Given the amount of Bollywood gossip over the decades, it would seem natural that cameras would go into overdrive if the two women were in the same room. But what if that room is not just any room, but the upper house of parliament? Does that rule still hold? Can Rajya Sabha TV function like any other television channel?

Whatever the case, it seems like this week has been one of dipping into the past for our parliamentarians. Whether it is a decades-old cartoon, or a decades-old incident, we seem to be happier reliving the past.

At first glance, Habib Faisal’s “Ishaqzaade” has a lot going for it — there’s some great casting, good direction and performances. The milieu is different — arid, rugged, rural India and this is about feisty, gutsy lovers who are smart enough not to view the world through rose-tinted glasses.

At the halfway mark, Faisal sets up the film so tantalisingly, you can only wonder what surprises he plans on throwing at you. But the second half is somewhat of a let-down. The story goes haywire, characters act out of character, and the whole film sort of ends in a whimper, when it should have ended with a bang — which is how it starts.

Faisal’s introductory scene is very impactful. Two school kids from a small town swearing, calling the other all sorts of names and even hurling stones — setting up the animosity between the two protagonists very well. Zoya (Parineeti Chopra) as the fiery daughter of the local Muslim MLA, with political ambitions of her own, is perfectly cast. Arjun Kapoor plays Parma, the brash grandson of Zoya’s father’s main political rival.

Both Zoya and Parma have every reason to hate each other, but when they end up falling in love, there are many repercussions — both political and personal.

To say any more would be to spoil the plot, but Faisal knows his characters very well. He knows this village and its people and how things work. There are some lovely moments, especially between the two leads and their chemistry is crackling. Faisal also makes telling points about the politics of small-town India where votes are decided on the basis of caste and religion and family honour is above all else.

But these components don’t come together to form a great film, and the sum of its parts is greater than the whole, at least as far as “Ishaqzaade” goes. Faisal falters in the second half and it doesn’t turn out to be the film that it set out to be.

But there are plenty of positives, and Parineeti Chopra is the biggest one. She is crackling in the film, and one of the main reasons to watch it. Here is a heroine who has spunk and isn’t afraid to show it and has the acting chops to play that role to the hilt. Arjun Kapoor makes an assured debut, and although you find him trying a little too hard at times, he has an easy screen presence and might remind you of Abhishek Bachchan in his early days. A special word for Gauhar Khan, who shines in a small role as a dancer who helps Parma and Zoya.

“What is my soul trying to tell me?” Karisma Kapoor asks a character in ‘Dangerous Ishhq’. It’s a serious moment in the film, one that is expected to lead to a major plot point, but all you can do is try hard not to burst out laughing.

All the characters in Vikram Bhatt’s latest 3D project are trying so hard to “act” in a film that has inane dialogue, a ridiculous storyline and absolutely no honesty at heart — that their acting rings hollow.

Karisma Kapoor, in her comeback film, plays one of her most lacklustre characters, that of supermodel Sanjana who gives up a flourishing career (in Paris, no less) so that she can be with her boyfriend Rohan (Rajniesh Duggall), the son of a rich industrialist. When unknown men kidnap Rohan, Sanjana starts “seeing” incidents from her past lives (three of them), giving her clues to Rohan’s whereabouts.

With the help of police officer ACP Singh (played by Jimmy Shergill), she helps track down her fiancé, firm in the belief that events from past lives are still relevant. “Dangerous Ishhq” harks back to the tried and tested Bollywood formula of rebirth and reincarnation, but Bhatt attempts to give it a slick look with 3D.

Unfortunately, the film has so many plot holes the entire effort falls flat. Characters routinely mouth dialogue that is unintentionally hilarious. Try as you might, it’s hard to take this kind of stuff seriously.

Karisma Kapoor, returning to the big screen after several years, looks botoxed and obsessed with her high heels and make-up. Her diction in scenes requiring Urdu and Rajasthani is so laboured, you wish she’d give it up and break into English instead. Duggall, on the other hand, doesn’t do much except give pained looks from time to time. The chemistry between the two of them, so important for romance movies, is non-existent.

This is one of those movies that’s so bad it’s good. Gather a bunch of friends and laugh your heart out. If you are looking for a serious movie-watching experience, stay far away.