Kameeney - Frenetically Folid

But for the Swine Flu menace, I would have given the review on Friday itself. Had booked the Premier show tickets for Thursday, but unfortunately the city got shut down for 4 days. Finally yesterday I got to see it and I must say it was worth the wait !

Kameeney runs, for the most part, only on 2 gears - 4th and 5th ! Just in a few of the sequences the film comes to 2nd gear. Maybe, Vishal wanted us to breathe a bit.

Kameeney is a multilayer gangsta flick with the usual intertwined mix up story which brings our 2 male protagonists in a sticky situation. What makes it unusual is the treatment.

Vishal has chosen HAND HELD frenzied pictuarisation to shoot this film. Along with the zany background score this shaky cinematography maintains the pace of the film. Though it is slightly overdone. In some sequences the shake isnt required and creates a jarring effect on the senses. Pace can be maintained in a more sophisticated way like the Bourne Series ( complicated mix of steady shots - written and edited to perfection) or like a Guy Ritchie gangsta film ( some unconventional transitions between mutliple shots ). Though I still think the decision on Vishal's part is a brave one and proves that you do not need Huge Crane shots or Trolleys to make a scene powerful. RGV depends on slow brooding tension, while Vishal works on a more frenzied version.

Kameeney has some solid dialogues and screenplay. It proves that strong writing can help create an awesome film. Though the characters are not memorable except for the "PHA ko PHA" bolnewala PHAhahid. Shahid has done a stupendous job in the film and finally I think he has come out of his SRK infatuation. Priyanka is also very good in her role. Amole Gupte's character is someone you have seen several times in films and he has done a decent job.

Songs and Background score are the strong point of this film, "Dhan Ta dan" being the strongest.

The first half of the film scores full marks, though the story loses some pace in the second half. Yes, a bit of reduction in its running time, would have given it some extra points, with a deletion of a few sequences which do not take the story anywhere. The lull before the final sequence is the lull before the storm because the screen explodes with action from all directions. The song running in the background in the last seqeunce is probably the most enchanting one. A surpise packet. Do watch out for it.

The style of storytelling is also refreshing. Not necesarily linear, it runs parallelly at times. Brings out a "Yeh kya ho raha hai" before you go "Oh ! ok" or sometimes "Abhi kya hogaa?" before you go "Achhchaa!".

Kameeney is definitely MANY notches above the average Bollywood flick. But to say that its a new dawn of brave bollywood film making is a bit of an exaggeration. We expect this from Vishal and he has not let us down. Its the kind of storytelling that captivates and entertains. What a phenomenal talent this guy ! Kudos....

Rating: 7.5 / 10 - cud have earned more if it cud have given some more memorable characters - like a Bhiku Mhatre for instance.

Review - Mithya - Dissapointing....

Rating 5.5 / 10

"Chane ke jhaad pe chadhaaya, fir wahan se dhakka dey diya" that was the first thought in my mind, when I came out of the theater. My expectations + the good reviews doubled my enthusiasm to see this film and to say that I was more than a bit dissapointed would be an understatement. Ok, it had its moments but overall just an average film with some exceptional scenes.

Mithya - is a story of a struggling actor (Ranvir Shourey) who gets mixed up in a gang-war. And then starts a game of deception, double crossing and elimination. I dont want to disclose the story - written by Rajat Kapur and Saurab Shukla, which has been picked from an old french movie!

The movie has its amazing moments. And they are delivered by our protagonist - Ranvir. His goofy style fits the charcter completely and his attention to detail is also worth appreciating. But alas, he doesnt have the capacity to carry the weight of this film on his wiry shoulders. Neha Dhupia is used like a show-piece and is just about ok. Naseer also has a small role which he does with elan. Other characters just help the movie move forward and are gunned down when required.

But, the movie lacks pace and direction. You wonder where is the story heading. A slow movie is not necessarily a boring one, this was both - in parts. Towards the end you start to wonder what the hell is going on! Ranvir looks goofy even in pain and hence you dont feel his pain. Rajat Kapur has missed a trick or two and this movie could well have been cut to around 1:30 hour ( like Being Cyrus).

If you go to this movie with too many expectations, you might well be as dissapointed as me. It is a nice little movie which is different in its treatment is worth a watch; but I really dont feel its a good movie, its just about above average!

Shootout at Lokhandwala - Utter Crap!

Overall Rating : 2.5 / 10

Dear friends, sorry for being about a week late, but God was actually trying hard for me to miss this movie. You know, he always wants good for me, but I screwed it all up by going to the cinema on a weekday!

To say that the movie is bad, will be an understatment. Waste of good god-damn reels! And to think that it has got half the movie industry in it is an even bigger disgrace. Apoorva Lakhia has tried to out do his best work yet "Mumbai se Aaya mera Dost" but has failed. He could touch those lows, but god knows he tried.

Let me berate the movie now.

1) Direction : I would give him 5/5 on my Egg-O-meter for the mindless script, appaling screenplay and disgusting casting. (Tushar kapoor as a gun-weilding goon inflicting terror is not the worst goof up)

2) Songs : Thank god there were only 3 songs, because they were utter non-sense and yeah, this must be probably Ganesh's worst choreographed film in a long time.

3) Acting : Sanjay Dutt and Viviek play characters they are comfortable with. Nothing special to write about. Suneil shetty, Amitabh Bachchan, Arbaaz Khan are over the top. The other goons try hard to ape Mumbai Bhai's but fail miserably.Not at all convincing. They just over do the Bhai thing. Nobody acts like that. What was Diya Mirza doing as a reporter? They could have taken any Make-up Girl and she would have been more convincing. Special Mention for Tusshar Kapoor - He is hillarious guys. Simply hillarious. Imagine he sitting beside Suneil shetty and saying "Poora Bench Andar Daal Dunga" hahahahaha It was one of the most amazing scenes in History of cinema!

4) Dialogues: The less I talk about it the better.

5) Screenplay : Probably the worst of all. One shot the goons are threatening the heros and suddenly they are sitting in a bar enjoying Bar Dancer's pelvic thrusts!

And there is some mystery involved in the film aswell. Who the hell does Suniel shetty keep calling? Is it Sanjay Dutt's wife? That would explain the mindless divorce scene. And yeah one more, where do the Sardar's come in? Why? What was the need for bringing them in when they had no connection with the gangsters? Maybe to give Abhisheik Bachchan a cameo, so that they could add them to the promos!

People had told me that this film is OK. I can't understand how. This sentence is as Exaggerated
as the Strut of Viviek Oberoi, as the Mumbhaiya Lingo used, as the Gung Ho scenes. The film is Utter Crap. Don't agree???

Shud have been named Stay Outta Lokhandwala!