Jumbo: The Warrior Elephant

Star rating:

Cast: Akshay Kumar (The Voice of Jumbo), Lara Dutta, Dimple Kapadia, Rajpal Yadav, Gulshan Grover (Voices of other animated characters)

Director: Kompin Kemgumnird

Presenter: Percept Picture Company

Producer: Percept Picture Company

Co-Producer: Eagle Home Entertainment

Percept Picture Company, the makers of Hanuman are back again with an animation film, Jumbo. The animated movie directed by Kompin Kemgumnird is a re-dubbed version of the 2006 Thai film Khan Kluay. Kompin Kemgumnird, has previously worked on the Disney features such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Tarzan and also Blue Sky Studios’ Ice Age.

Jumbo is a splendid Christmas treat for kids. The movie has it all, fun, friends, romance, fight and revenge. And what makes this movie more special is the fact that it features the voices of famous Bollywood actors like Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Dimple Kapadia, Rajpal Yadav and Gulshan Grover. Jumbo truly is a bollywood story in an animated form. Another reason why the movie has created a buzz across the nation is the fact that Akshay Kumar has been paid a whopping Rs. 9 crores for dubbing the dialogues and participating in two promotional songs of the movie.

The movie is a must watch for those who are looking for some hearty laughs. I am glad that I found time to watch it on the very same day of its release. Jumbo is a story about a fat, blue colored, young elephant named Jaiveer / Jumbo (dubbed by Akshay Kumar. This movie adds another feather into the cap of this all round actor. From action to humor to voice over, Akshay Kumar has proven his talent over the years.

After Jumbo, people are now looking forward to his new release, Chandni Chowk to China. Jumbo wanders away from his mother Devi, (character dubber by Dimple Kapadia), and eventually becomes the war elephant. Young Jumbo is often taunted by the other elephants because he is fatherless. This initiates his journey in search of his father who is a war elephant for the king. Jumbo is soon captured by a raiding party. In trying to escape from the camp, the young elephant is befriended by a boy prince, who has been ransomed by his foes. Jumbo amidst humans soon learns to value them. During this journey, Jaiveer meets her lady love Sonia, (dubbed by Lara Dutta). Miss World is also keen on diversifying her acting porfolio, from serious acting to comic role (Partner) to dubbing. She is all set to accept the challenges. Jumbo’s partner and a messenger bird from the army, Dildaar, (dubbed by Rajpal Yadav) is sure to make the kids roll with laughter. The villain of the story Bakhtavar, (character dubbed by Gulshan Grover), is the Royal Elephant of the opposing army, who killed Jambo’s father. Jumbo ultimately gets to know this fact and defeats him.

Not only does the hit Hindi movie formula makes the movie interesting, but the rock beat rhythm of songs like ‘Everything Is Gonna Be Alright make the kids get on their feet. In all a must watch movie.

Ghajini: A must watch for All!

Star rating:

Cast: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan

Producer: Allu Arvind, Madhu

Director: A.R. Murugadoss

Music Director: A R Rahman

Lyricist: Prasoon Joshi

Cinematographer: Ravi K. Chandran

There was not just one, but many factors that influenced my decision to watch Ghajini. Mr. Perfectionist’s(Aamir Khan) rippling musculature, the buzz cut with deep scars running through, showing the scalp and his wide red-eyes- made me buy the first day, first show tickets to watch Aamir of Ghajini. Moreover, the movie has Aamir doing an out-and-out actioner after a long time (‘Sarfarosh’ in 1999). It also has him bare-chested for a lot of the running time.

Aamir’s frame filling physique was something more than just those eight pack abs for his fans. It was an answer to King Khans’ six pack abs in ‘Om Shanti Om’. Not just the looks, Ghajini’s pre-release movie rights which earned as estimated 90 crores also left behind the last years top grosser in distribution rights, Om Shanti Om. It had earned Rs 73 crores last year. And with both the Khan movies releasing almost at the same time, Ghajini was something to watch out for.

My plans to watch the movie went for a toss when I learnt that the Madras High Court has put a stay on the release of the film on the Christmas Day following a suit over copyright infringement filed by the producer of the original Tamil version, A. Chandrasekharan. However, I was relieved when I came to know that the stay has been lifted subject to the payment of a fine. Thankfully, the movie has been released this Thursday as per its schedule.

Directed by A R Murugadoss, Ghajini is the story of Sanjay Singhania (played by Aamir Khan) who is the owner of a Mobile service provider company. He falls in love with an upcoming model Kalpana (played by Asin Thottumkal). Asin played the leading role in the Tamil version of the movie also. Although, it is her first Hindi movie, her acting received much praise and accolade. Aamir, who in the movie is suffering from short term memory loss and whose memory span is only 15 minutes, has excellently portrayed his character. He clicks photographs to remember what he was doing 15 minutes back. He is searching for a Mr. Ghajini (played by Pradeep Rawat) whom he is supposed to kill. A medical student named Sunita helps him achieve his goal. The entire star cast has complemented each other greatly, making it a must watch movie. What acts an icing on the cake is the movie’s music by none other than AR Rahman. Both Rahman and Aamir have done it again. Together, they have ensured that Ghajini gets instant eyeballs, courtesy the track Guzarish.

Mandira Bedi Joining the Bollywood Bandwagon with Meerabai Not Out

Star rating:

Cast: Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Mandira Bedi, Vandana Gupta, Prateeksha Lonkar, Anil Kumble, Eijaz Khan

Director: Chandrakant Kulkarni

Producer: Rangita Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy

Cinematography: Rajeev Jain

Editing: Hemal Kothari

Who does not know the relationship between Mandira Bedi and cricket. People still remember her noodle straps while hosting the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 in South Africa. Since then, her glamorous image has become quite synonymous with cricket. She has anchored several cricket related events or programs. However, with Meerabai Not Out, she has not only entered into Bollywood with a full fledged role, but has also tried to strengthen her relationship with cricket. What else could have been a better way to join Bollywood (in true sense)?

Being a Pritish Nandy Communications film, everybody expected this movie to be different. I too expected the same and decided to watch the movie. Although, it has already been released last week, I could find time for it only today. Believe me, all my excitement to watch this movie was not worth at all. The movie was too simple to appeal anyone, despite a good performance by Mandira Bedi.

Directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni, Meerabai Not Out definitely has a good story, but it lacks the much needed twists and turns. Although, the movie tried to portray the story of a simple, next door girl (played by Mandira Bedi), who is a die-hard fan of cricket and in particular, Anil Kumble, the movie lacks the basic attraction. Who can forget the success of another cricket based film Iqbal? But, in that case, there was a well scripted story that kept us excited till its end. Meerabai Not Out lacks this quality. Even watching Anil Kumble on the silver screen was not at all delightful, particularly when, he was looking so uncomfortable. We enjoy watching him on cricket field instead. Eijaz Khan, a well known television star (Balaji Telefilms’ product) may have looked smart, but his character too lacked the edge, especially when he was paired opposite Mandira Bedi. However, Mahesh Manjrekar, playing Mandira’a brother in the film looked quite convincing.

On the whole, it can be said that the film failed to meet the expectations of a large audience, waiting to see something different, yet related to their day-to-day life.

Sharukh -Aditya Chopra Jodi-All set to Create Magic with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Star rating:

Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak

Director: Aditya Chopra

Producer: Yash Chopra

Lyrics: Jaideep Sahni

Cinematography: Ravi K. Chandran

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, released on 12th Dec has been a much awaited movie. The reason being, after 13 long years, Sharukh Khan has acted under Aditya Chopra’s directorial venture. Who can forget the magic of the twosome in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ), 13 years ago! The fresh innocent love story of Kajol and Sharukh, brought onto the screen by Aditya, is imprinted in our memories for ever. There is nothing wrong to expect the same magic from Sharukh and the newcomer Anushka Sharma in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ), as the film is directed by none other than Aditya Chopra. It is for this reason that I planned to watch RNBDJ on the very first day of its release, and so I booked the tickets in advance.

Written and directed by Aditya Chopra, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is an innocent, yet powerful love story of a simple and honest man, Surinder Sahni (played by Sharukh Khan) and his lady love, played by Anushka Sharma. The intensity of Sharukh’s acting in a love flick like this is known to all of us. But, it was great to see a 20 plus something girl to be able to pull her character so well, and that too with King Khan as her opposite lead. She looked marvelous as a next door girl who loves to live her life to the fullest. However, it will be unfair to compare her with talented Kajol, one of the main reasons behind the success of DDLJ (media has already started doing this comparison). If Kajol was incomparable in DDLJ, Anuskha is a surprise package in RNBDJ, who may give other heroines a run for their money in near future. The real surprise element of the movie, however, is the guest appearance of Aditya Chopra’s favourite Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta and gorgeous Priyanka Chopra.

The music of RNBDJ is doing quite well. Although, you might think that music has always been a focal point in every Yash Raj film, there were some apprehensions surrounding the music of the film, as the Yash Raj banner replaced popular composers Jatin and Lalit (who have made the score of DDLJ and Mohabbatein) with the composer duo Salim-Sulaiman in this film. But, the gamble has worked well with the music score of RNBDJ already topping the charts.

The movie is worth watching for its depiction of an unusual love story of two ordinary people. In fact, the entire film industry is desperately waiting for a blockbuster. According to them, this Sharukh starrer movie may be able to pull the film industry out of recession. The 26/11 Mumbai terror attack has also resulted into a heavy loss for the film distributors, theatre owners and multiplexes. As a result, RNBDJ is seen as a big hope by the whole of Bollywood.

Dil Kabaddi: Playing with Extra Marital Relationships

Star rating:

Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Soha Ali Khan, Payal Rohatgi, Rahul Bose, Irfaan Khan, Rahul Khanna

Director: Anil Senior

Producer: Shailesh R. Singh

Lyrics: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Virag Mishra, Sachin Gupta

Cinematography: Anay Goswami

Directed by Anil Senior, “Dil Kabaddi” is a movie that follows the same line as that of Anurag Basu’s “Life in a Metro”. The movie talks about the desperation of couples living in a city to go beyond their marriage and look for pleasure elsewhere. However, all these have been portrayed in the light of humour.

Both Irrfan Khan and Rahul Bose have been commendable in portraying their characters, coupled with a great casual comic timing. Another two outstanding performances have come from Konkana Sen Sharma and Soha Ali Khan. Both these girls looked convincing in their respective characters. It is hard to believe that Soha Ali Khan has still not received her due credit as a performer. However, no one can doubt Konkana’s calibre as an actress. The movie is a must watch for those who are looking for some hearty laughs. I am glad that I found time to watch it on the very same day of its release.

An interesting feature of this movie is its talking-to-camera approach of storytelling, taking the audience into frequent flashbacks in different time zones. This may be liked by many. There were also many punch lines in the movie that revolved around adult humour. But, Anil Senior’s direction did not make them sound vulgar in any way. However, there are also some people who may not like the teacher-student romantic angle shown in this film. But, this was needed to show a married man’s desperation to seek love outside his marriage.

The film also stars Payal Rohatgi, better known as one of the housemates at this season’s Bigg Boss. As nobody can actually remember any of her those B grade movies, people may recognize her as may-or-may-be-not love interest of Rahul Mahajan. On entering the house of Bigg Boss for the second time (after her eviction), she was talking very highly about her role in this movie and also about her future movies. But, with zero acting skills, there are very little chances of her making a sound career in film industry. Barring Payal, everyone else in the movie did a brilliant job, making this film a must watch.