No Smoking

Actors: John Abraham, Ayesha Takia, Paresh Rawal, Ranvir Shorey
Director and writer: Anurag Kashyap
Producer: Kumar Mangat
Music Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
Lyrist: Gulzar

No Smoking looks like an absurd film without any clear cut message to convey. May be the producer and the writer wanted to tell the moviegoers the negative effects of smoking but if you see the film that is also not so. “No Smoking” also cannot be rated in high or medium as an entertaining film. It also does not enlighten nor educate the viewers.

The story portrays the life of a chain smoker, K (John Abraham). The 30-year-old is addicted to smoking from a very young age and refuses to do anything about it. He is stubborn and obnoxious guy. He does what he wants to do. K is confident about himself and whatever he does. He does not listen to any body. His wife and friends tried their best to see to it that he lets quit this habit but all to no avail. Fed up with his attitude and addiction, K’s wife, Anjali (Ayesha Takia) walks out on him.

K later decides to meet Baba Bengali (Paresh Rawal), who runs a rehabilitation centre from all sorts of addictions and afflictions. K signs an agreement with Baba, a simple but mysterious character, for quitting smoking. Baba has his own way of curing his patients, who only have to follow all his orders. And if they don’t follow, he turns out to be their enemy. So K falls on that line and the game of one-upmanship between Baba and K begins. Later K realizes that there is no other way except following the Baba’s orders.

The cinematography in the film by Rajeev Ravi is good. It has some stylishly executed scenes. However, the lighting, the visual effects and the production design are not so interesting. No Smoking was shot in Russia, Kazakistan and Siberia, besides in Mumbai.

Mumbai Salsa

Actors: Vir Das, Indraneil Sengupta, Ray Irani, Linda Arsenio, Manjari Fadnis, Dilip Thadeshwar, Alisha Chinai
Director: Manoj Tyagi
Producer: Amita Bishnoi, Surendra Sharma, Bhagwanti Gabrani
Music Director: Adnan Sami
Writer: Manoj Tyagi
Lyrist: Sameer

Mumbai Salsa is a romantic comedy. It has a very urbane look and deals with young issues. It has freshness and an innovative feel. It is for the youths having a metropolitan life style. The film plays around the lives of four different couples or eight friends in a metropolis that is Mumbai. It speaks about the modern cosmopolitan highs – money, masti and the varied relationships that exist inside the young corporate India. It speaks of cosmosexual lifestyle — one night stands, lesbianism, male chauvinism versus newage feminism, teen abortions and other aspects of new age India.

Mumbai Salsa is a pub in Mumbai where the principal characters – eight successful young Mumbaikars – meet and end up trying to make a life with each other. Although all the relations begin on a flippant note, love blossoms through hiccups and hindrances. It is about four love stories but none of them are a central part of the film. The film talks about the pub where people meet and the night life and the city’s culture. They show all the cosmopolitan style of feelings and living.

A number of new actors are introduced in the film including Vir Das, Manjari Phadnis and Amruta. Many of them have performed excellent. Ray Irani has screen presence in the film. Linda Arsenio, who had played the role of Jessica Beckham, a journalist from New York, in last year’s Kabul Express, has also played a role in the film. Adnan Sami’s rendition of ‘Chhoti Si Ilteja’ is magnificent and the best track. Scriptwriter Manoj Tyagi who had written Page 3, Corporate, Apharan, makes an impressive debut as a director.

Jab We Met

Actors: Shahid Kapur, Kareena Kapoor, Dara Singh, Kiran Juneja
Director and Writer: Imtiaz Ali
Producer: Dhillin Mehta
Music Director: Pritam
Lyrist: Irshad Kamil

One of the finest romantic films to come out of Bollywood in 2007, Jab We Met has Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles. Shahid’s performance in the film is very natural, charming and elegant while Kareena’s has donned the role of a happy-go-lucky and annoyingly talkative girl. This is their fifth appearance in lead roles together. It is one of their career-best performances.

In the film, Aditya Kashyap (Shahid), an industrialist, meets Geet Dhillon (Kareena) in a train when he boards it after walking out of a marriage gathering, where the girl he loves the most was getting married. Geet, a beautiful talkative girl, is leaving Mumbai to go to her hometown Bhatinda in Punjab. She has plans to elope with her boy friend Anshuman (Tarun Arora). At the starting, Geet irritates Aditya and he does not like her. Later they talk and become friends.

Geet discloses her plans to Aditya of eloping with Anshuman as she fears resentment from her family. Later, Aditya helps Geet to elope with Anshuman in Shimla. But Anshuman avoids and dumps Geet. Her family accuses Aditya for his involvement in elopement and forces him to locate her. Aditya feels traumatized to learn about Geet’s misfortune and consoles her to face the situations. Aditya, who does well in business later, tries to patch up the relationship of Geet and Anshuman and they decide to travel back to Bhatinda. Back in Bhatinda, Geet realises that she is in love with Aditya not Anshuman. Later, Geet and Aditya get married and the film ends in a happy note.

Released on October 26, 2007, the film has been shot in Kulu Manali and Shimla. The title of the film was decided by a popular vote. People had a choice between Punjab Mail, Jab We Met and Ishq Via Bhatinda. Imtiaz Ali, the director of the film, had earlier directed Socha Na Tha starring Ayesha Takia and Abhay Deol. The film is produced by Dhillin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd.