Rama Rama Kya Hai Drama

Actors: Rajpal Yadav, Neha Dhupia, Ashish Chaudhry, Amrita Arora, Anupam Kher, Rati Agnihotri
Director: S Chandrakant
Music: Siddharth Suhas
Singers: Adnan Sami, KK, Alisha Chinai, Khushboo Jain, Suraj Jaggan

‘Rama Rama Kya hai Dramaaa’ seemed to be a comedy film though its subject matter narrates the serious issue of marital problems involving three married couples – Prem (played by Ashish Chaudhary) and Khushi (Amrita Arora), Santosh (Rajpal Yadav) and Shanti (Neha Dhupia) and Mr and Mrs Khurana (Anupam Kher and Rati Agnihotri).

Santosh, a cashier in a bank, is looking for the perfect wife who can be humble and nice to him and carry all his orders properly. He later settles for an arranged marriage after his neighbours Mr and Mrs Khurana tells him she is ‘heroine’ type glamorous. He marries Shanti, a small town girl, and but finds that she is not the woman of his dreams. She marries him as she imagines living a glitzy life in Mumbai, with pizzas and burgers. Their petty differences start immediately after, and fed up by his wife’s attitude, Santosh starts day-dreaming, imagining about other women as his wives. He even thinks he’s married to his boss’ wife Khushi, despite the fact that his boss Prem has his own tale of woes as the archetypal henpecked husband. The third couple Mr and Mrs Khurana are eternal romantics. They get cosy everywhere and believe in ‘saat janam ka saath’.

Rajpal Yadav has tried hard to keep the comic banter on, but the laughs are few and far between to call it a comedy movie. Neha has acted well to a certain extent. Aashish has tried to be natural in his acting. Amrita Arora gets minimal scope to show her acting talent. Versatile Anupam Kher and Rati Agnihotri are adequate in their show.

‘Rama Rama Kya Hai Dramaaa’ had followed the guidelines of comic Bollywood films earnestly. Debutante director S Chandrakant has made an effort to mould the film on a humorous format. But there are loopholes and he could have corrected them to make it a complete comedy film. The daily bickering between Santosh and Santi, the newly-married couple, seem real at times. Also, Rajpal’s imagination of dreaming about others’ wives as his own make the proceedings interesting. Dialogues of the film are funny at some places. The songs of the movie are easy and Siddharth Suhas has done an average job though not up to the mark.

Rambo

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz,
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writers: Art Monterastelli and Stallone
Music: Brian Tyler

Rambo which was released on January 25, 2008 is one among the series of action films starring Sylvester Stallone, based on the characters created by David Morrell in his novel First Blood. Earlier films of the series were First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and Rambo III (1988). The first film was both a major hit and box office success. The critics praised Stallone’s performance. The next two Rambo sequels though box office hits, met with much less critical praise than the original. Rambo is the fourth film. All these films center on a troubled Vietnam War veteran, John James Rambo, who is greatly skilled in all aspects of survival, weaponry, jungle & guerrilla warfare and hand-to-hand combat.

This recently released film brings back nostalgic memories of a cold and clinical killing machine Rambo who killed for country, honor and justice. This time Rambo comes back from semi-retirement and joins a bunch of Americans who want to supply relief to an endangered tribe, hounded by the military junta. Rambo retreats to a simple life in a rural Thai village near the Myanmar border, capturing snakes for local entertainers and transporting roamers in his battered long-tail boat. He is persuaded to ferry a group of American missionaries to war-torn Myanmar. When the missionaries are, predictably, captured by the Burmese military, Rambo is asked and persuaded to then ferry a group of mercenaries into Burma to rescue the missionaries. This he does with a minimum of subtlety and a maximum of bloodshed.

The scene of Rambo ripping a guy’s throat out with his bare hands is very dramatic and deserves accolades. Julie Benz plays the role of one of the captive missionaries that Rambo is persuaded to bring to Burma. Stallone is once again outstanding as Rambo. Like in his earlier films, Stallone, a two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, this time also has packed the film with action making it a good upbeat family entertainment. It is a very fine action flick, the kind of movie Hollywood rarely makes and the kind of action movie people love to watch. The music is given by Brian Tyler, a veteran composer who has written, arranged, and conducted musical scores for films such as William Friedkin directed The Hunted and the 2005 supernatural action film Constantine.

Charlie Wilson’s War

Actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour, Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty
Director: Mike Nichols
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Music: James Newton Howard

Charlie Wilson’s War, released on December 21, 2007, is one of the best politically themed movies to come around in a while. A chunk of history has been retold in this 97-minute film. Based on the true story of Democratic Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson, who conspired with a CIA operative to launch an operation to help the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet aggression in Afghanistan, the film is also not glib or flippant. The movie, adapted from George Crile’s 2003 book Charlie Wilson’s War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History, was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, including “Best Motion Picture”, but unfortunately never made it in any category.

The story begins with Wilson’s (played by Tom Hanks) leading efforts to provide US funds indirectly to the Afghan mujahideen after being urged by his staunchly anti-communist friend and romantic interest, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), a Houston socialite. Tom Hanks playing Wilson has lent the role his considerable charm and sly wit, while Julia Roberts as Joanne Herring is all blond and vivacious.

Wilson, a Congressman with a gregarious social life of women and partying, is first shown in the film soaking in a Las Vegas hot tub with a Playboy model and a sleazy television producer, among others, his hand wrapped around a glass of Scotch and his mind focused on the results of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The film reveals later that Wilson comes under a federal investigation for his alleged cocaine use. The probe was conducted by then Federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani as part of a larger investigation into congressional misconduct but it never resulted in any charges against Wilson.

It seems, the Academy Award winning director Mike Nichols and celebrated screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has grasped politics for all its seriousness. Nichols, who had directed Primary Colors, is a master at putting zing in the zingers. And being assisted by Sorkin, the writer of A Few Good Men and TV serial The West Wing, he has made Charlie Wilson’s War a serious but entertaining film. The film has received favorable reviews from critics. The Afghan Embassy is boycotting the movie due to an offensive joke against Tajik men.