Movie Review- COMMANDO - A ONE MAN ARMY

I arrive at a single screen theatre at 8:40 a.m. I see a long queue of people waiting for their turn. I am shocked. Okay, I did expect the film to take a fair opening but never expected a film, which stars no A-lister, to open to an almost packed house (that too, morning show) . Some people star coming out of the queue as they, seeing the number of people queuing up, gauge that they are most unlikely to get a ticket and hence, decide not to waste any more time. I do the same deciding to go to the only multiplex in the city hoping to get tickets there. I stop by a petrol pump and just as I am rummaging through my bag to find my wallet, while sitting on the bike, my right leg accidentally touches the burning hot silencer of the bike which in turn leaves a gash on my leg tearing my skin apart. For a moment, I think of going back home but the movie bug within me refuses to let me do so. Finally, after some water and band aid, I rush towards my destination. The box office, at the multiplex, is anything but crowded. I heave a sigh of relief. After buying a ticket, I rush to the fourth floor of the mall where the theatre is situated. Getting inside Screen No. 3, I see an occupancy of 50-60 %. Not great but not bad either. The movie starts at 9:20 a.m.

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The opening reels show Captain Karan Vir Dobra (Vidyut Jamwal) being interrogated and tortured by Chinese Military Officials - a far cry from what we saw of him in the promos in which he takes on a dozen of goons single handedly.The Indian Army, under pressure from unscrupulous politicians, erase Karan's army record as they beleive that The Chinese Government will not beleive any proof that they show of Karan belonging to the Indian Army. After spending a year in jail, Karan manages to escape. As Karan crosses the Himachal-Punjab border, he runs into Simrit Kaur ( Pooja Chopra) who is being chased by the baddie Amrit Singh's ( Jaideep Ahlawat) henchmen. From here onwards, Vidyut flaunts his exceptional action skills in a series of action sequences that occur at regular intervals. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the script ( Ritesh Shah ), though good, leaves a lot to be desired. In this case, a well thought out idea fails to translate into a coherent script. For instance, the chase continues for too long. Moreover, Karan's track is sidelined in favour of Simrit's. For instance, there is no interaction of Karan with the politician or with the Chinese Government even as the film comes to an end. How does he or for that matter General Akhilesh Sinha ( Darshan Jariwala) help him prove his innocence to the Chinese Government?

'Commando' rests on the strong shoulders of  Vidyut Jamwal who makes a successful transition from a 'villain' to a 'hero'. The Hindi Cinema audience had never seen an action hero like him before. He is brilliant and absolutely perfect in the jaw dropping action sequences and delivers in the acting department too. He may have not been blessed with conventional 'hero' looks but can go a long distance depending on the kind of roles he chooses-the ones that would suit him. The fact that he is a good dancer ( the glimpses of which one saw in 'Lut Jawan' ) would work to his advantage. After a minuscule role in 'Heroine' and a couple of films down south, Pooja Chopra makes a very confident full fledged debut in Hindi Cinema with this film. She looks ravishing throughout the film and delivers a performance which shines in a film dominated my male actors. While one may argue that her character (Simrit Gaur ) has shades of Geet ( the character that Kareena Kapoor played in 'Jab We Met' ), Pooja breathes life into this character who though bubbly, talkative and vivacious, exhibits undeterred courage and boldness. Jaideep Ahlawat (as AK 74/Amrit Kanwal), playing a menacing villain who keeps the system 'in his pocket', delivers the best performance of the film. Whether he is removing his shades to show his 'pupil-less' eyes or cracking up SMS jokes, he is terrific in each and every frame of the movie. Darshan Jariwala (as General Akhilesh Sinha ) does not have much to do but being the great actor actor that he is, he lights up every scene he appears in. 

Dilip Ghosh, who has directed several ad dilms in the past, makes an assured debut  as a feature film director. A better script would do justice to his directorial abilities. Commando' largely benefits from Sejal Shah (DOP) and action director Franz Sphilhaus. The camerawork is outstanding to say the least. This is easily one of her best work. Franz Sphilhaus clearly raises the bar and raises it very high for the Indian action directors as he has choreographed the best action sequences one has ever seen in a Hindi film. The dialogues are the kind that would entice one to clap and whistle-brilliant! Music [ Mannan Shah ] is strictly average. The placements of the songs, except for 'Lena Dena' could not have been worse. The 'item number' [Mungda],especially, works as a speed breaker and is tuneless. The picturisation of 'Saawan Bairi' is brilliant though. The background score [ Prasad Sashte ] is effective. The editing [ Amitabh Shukla ] is crisp.

'Commando' is a film that needs to be watched for the absolutely brilliant action sequences that leaves one spellbound. One had never witnessed such raw and edgy action before. Sure, Vipul Amrutlal Shah's earlier production 'Force' did offer such action but only in bits and pieces. 'Commando' takes the Action genre, in Hindi films, to an altogether different level.

Almost two years ago, producer Vashu Bhagnani, known for adopting unique promotional strategies for his films, declared that the music of his then upcoming film 'F.A.L.T.U' would not see a physical release (CDs/Cassettes) for itself. While some raised eyebrows at this statement, others lauded his decision to do so as they felt it would curb down the rate of music piracy. That's another thing that Mr. Bhagnani did release the Music CDs exclusively at a leading music retail chain (Planet M) sometime later.

        Piracy is a virus that has infected the Indian Film Industry in a rather big way in the last decade or so. I remember I was in second standard when a neighbour, few years older to me, who also was a close friend, had brought a CD which had many as 90+ songs at Rs.30 . I was shocked as I knew that Audio CDs come nowhere less than Rs. 100. The only Audio CD we had had then was that of 'Devdas' (Universal Music) which was priced at Rs. 75 (introductory price is what the CD Jacket screamed out). I preferred buying cassettes which used to cost between Rs.55-60. As I grew up, I learnt about piracy. Today, when piracy, in the Indian market, at its peak; when pirated CDs/VCDs/DVDs are being sold at the price of candies, how many people would actually feel 'morally correct' to buy original CDs/VCDs/DVDs at exorbitant prices. No, I am not someone who supports piracy. I detest it. But, at the same time, I wish to pose a question to the producers/music companies-'How many people can afford to buy or would be willing to shell out 100+ bucks to buy CDs/VCDs/DVDs?' These days more and more producers are releasing the music of their films exclusively on the internet,(case in point being Race 2, Jayanta Bhai Ki Luv Story) hoping to put across the music of their films by making the listener pay for it, in other words, to curb Piracy. I wonder HOW? Internet is the hub of piracy today. Films, music...everything gets uploaded on illegal/illegitimate websites making internet users to download the same from them absolutely free of cost. Of course, there are legal sites to download music/ films from, but the number of people visiting the illegal websites are far greater in number. Even if the producers release their music exclusively on the legal websites, within no time the same are available for download on illegal websites. Songs are recorded in 16 bits and are released on the Audio CDs as such. However, songs releasing in Mp3 format over the internet are far from such clarity. Thus, the listeners do not get to hear the songs in the highest order of quality. These days, most music companies release Audio CDs and Mp3 CDs (in which they pack in a bunch of bonus tracks, tracks from other films apart from that particular film at cheaper prices) almost simultaneously or a few weeks after the Audio CD has released. The ‘MP3’ CD’s (though original) sound quality is not half as great as the Audio CD, thus the price is lower than that of the latter.

        A major reason behind the rise of piracy is the higher pricing of original Music CDs. Most of the music companies sell Audio CDs at Rs. 150+. Of course, the price tends to be lower for lesser known films or films which the music company has lesser confidence in. Yash Raj Films went a step further by releasing the Audio of their film Dhoom 2 (2006) on DVDs(apart from CDs and Cassettes).The price was almost equal to a movie DVD (Rs.299).The aim was to offer the listeners sound quality of the highest order. The high priced DVDs did not find many takers. T-Series, in 2009, started selling music on USB Drives. The first film to have its music launched on USB Drive was ‘Blue’.’Main Aur Mrs. Khanna’, ’All The Best’, ’London Dreams’ followed. That meant if one bought five albums, then one would have a collection of five USB Drives. These ‘Audio Drives’ were priced at Rs.600+. No wonder, this idea failed too. A decade ago, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas had made news for its music rights sold to Universal at an unheard sum of Rs. 12.5 crore. It is hard to imagine any music company paying that much amount to any producer these days as it would be impossible to recover such a huge amount through physical or even digital sales. ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ was the highest selling film soundtrack of the year 2000. It had sold approximately 80,00,000 units. A decade later ‘Dabangg’ stands out be the biggest selling soundtrack of the year (2010) and it sells just about 2,00,000 units. One can easily gauge the growth of piracy through this data. The only measure that can be taken in this regard is that prices of the Audio CDs (cassettes, anyways, have ceased to exist) should be lowered down. Eight years ago, Tips had priced the Audio CDs of Boney Kapoor’s ‘Bewafaa’ same as the cassettes, that is, Rs. 55. This was a very wise decision taken by the company and I am sure it bore fruits. Government needs to take strict measures against piracy. One often hears news of raids taking place in metros. However in small towns, you will come across music shops where you will not find a single original CD. There are hundreds of illegal websites thriving on the internet. These should be closed down. An artist works very hard to together a piece of art. Likewise, a musician, composer, lyricist, singer etc. works hard to put together an album or even just a song. It should not be made to ‘download’ free of cost. Their hard work should be bought and appreciated with one’s hard earned money.

Music Review-COCKTAIL

Of late,Eros has adopted this rather interesting strategy for the music of their films.First,they release the music two-three weeks after the song promos have been on air.And they don't release the music on all platforms altogether.First, they release the music on the digital platform,and days later they release the Audio Cds.Case in point being 'Teri Meri Kahaani', the music of which released on 17th last month (only on the internet and other digital outlets) while the music cds arrived around a fortnight later on 1st of June.

I'm not too sure whether the Audio CDs of 'Cocktail' has released or not as I could not find it on any online shopping website and hence,had to download the songs from 'Flyte' (Flipkart.com's digital mp3 download outlet).I played on the music with good expectations as I quite liked the two songs ('Tumhi Ho Bandhu','Daaru Desi') that have been on air before the audio release.

The album begins,expectedly, with 'Tum Hi Ho Bandhu' sung by Kavita Seth and Neeraj Sridhar.Kavita gets to sing most of the song while Neeraj comes behind the mike to render the hook line 'Tumhi Ho Bandhu.....''.Interestingly, Kavita's portions are very Indian in style while Neeraj's portions follow a western sound.It's interesting to hear two strinkingly different singers coming together for a song like this.Kavita does a brilliant job and it's good to see her croon a song for a film after a really long time.Neeraj does well too,however his voice sounds slightly hoarse in this one . Irshad Kamil's lyrics are brilliant, to say the least. Overall,a good song which has already made a good place for itself on the popularity chart.

The second song 'Daaru Desi' had also become very popular before the music release and it is ,indeed, a pleasure to hear the entire track now when the music has released. The song has been written by guest lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya, who is, arguably, the best person to write songs which have a bit of quirkiness to them.Benny Dayal and Shalmali Kholgade (of 'Pareshaan'-Ishaqzaade fame) sing this song and brings further freshness to this song with their youthful vocals. Shalmali sounds strikingly different from the what she sounded in "Pareshaan'. Pritam's composition reminds one of Vishal Shekhar's style. A song that holds appeal for the urban centre mainly.

I was quite excited on seeing Miss Pooja (her real name being Gurinder Kaur Kainth) being credited as one of the singers for 'Second Hand Jawaani', the reason being that she has been a prominent singer on the Punjabi music scene for years now and I have been a huge fan of her.Joining her on this song are Neha Kakkar and Nakash Aziz. The song ,though far from being bad, hardly matches the standards set by the earlier two songs of the album. Irshad Kamil's lyrics are pretty interesting but Pritam's music plays spoilsport here. The song, presumably picturised on Deepika Padukone doesn't have much weight and would largely depend on the way it is picturised. I would recommend listening to any of Miss Pooja's numerous pop hits. You are likely to enjoy more.

Things go further downhill with 'Tere Naam Japdi Phiran' which follows the same mode as 'Second Hand Jawaani' .A fusion of Bhangra and Western melody that is unlikely to find a following with fans of either genre. The tune reminds one of thousands of Bhangra tracks that one has heard in the past and offers absolutely zero novelty. Javed, Nikhil D'Souza and Shefali Alvares do well on the singing front. Irshad's lyrics are average.

The next track,'Jugni' is an amalgation of Punjabi Folk and western arrangements. This time, one has to give it to Pritam for coming up with an interesting tune. Irshad shows his flair for writing Punjabi lyrics yet again. Arif Lohar ,who somewhat sounds like Labh Janua,and Harshdeep Kaur do complete justice to this song by singing in the right mood and bringing on the very authentic accent.

The one song that irritated me the most in this album was ‘Lutna’. It is the fourth song in the album that has Punjabi folk fused with western sound. One wonders how these songs would fit in the narrative of a film which is very urbane and contemporary in nature. ‘Lutna’ ,in my opinion is the weakest song in the album. What irritates more is the generous (read overdose) use of western arrangements and techno beats for a song which could have benefited from some traditional musical instruments playing the background .I guess Pritam was too desperate to give the song a modern touch. I’m not going to play this one again! And yes, the song comes in two versions. Whatever!

Thankfully, the album ends on a pleasing note with ‘Yaariyan’ ,sung by Mohan Kanan (lead singer of the popular band Agnee) and Shilpa Rao. Mohan has earlier impressed in film songs like ‘Khanabadosh’ (London Dreams),’Saaye Saaye’ (I Am) and ‘Shor’ (Shor In The City) and does a brilliant job here as well. In fact,the song sounds like many such soulful numbers composed by ‘Agnee’. Shilpa accompanies Mohan and both sound great together. The song marks the return of the urban flavour in the soundtrack which seemed to have been dominated by half baked Punjabi-Western fusion tracks. The song also appears in another version sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Arijit Singh. A good hear again.

Overall, the music of ‘Cocktail’ is a mixed bag with four very good to good tracks (Tum Hi Ho Bandhu, Desi Daaru, Jugni ,Yaariyan ) and three average to below average tracks (Second Hand Jawaani ,Tera Naam Japdi Phiran, Lutna). I remember hearing the song 'Angreji Beat' in the first promo of the film but could not find it in the album.A friend of mine had that song and he informed that the song has earlier been released on an album by this Punjabi rapper called Yo Yo Honey Singh. Wonder if they would release it again on the Cocktail music CD.I remember, years ago ,Pritam had said in an interview ,”Rock Ballad is more of my style.I’m not a Tabla-Dholak person’’). I guess, with his rising popularity and demand among filmmakers, he had come to out of his comfort zone to be a ‘Tabla Dholak person’ that he never really aspired to be and deliver such songs in films like Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, Dil Bole Hadippa!,Mausam etc. Sometimes, he did it convincingly and at times, his efforts were just not upto the mark. For this album too, he delivers with contemporary songs like ‘Tum Hi Ho Bandhu’,’Daaru Desi,’Yaariyan’ and in ‘Jugni’ as well but his other songs doesn’t quite reach there.

Music review-ISHAQZAADE

There was a time when Yash Raj Films used to release the music of their films the same day as they used to release the promo of the movie.In fact,they used to go for minimal promotion when it came to promoting the music of their films.But,after the dismal failure of many of their films like Laaga Chunari Mein Daag,Aaja Nachle and Tashan,they dropped their usual standoffish-ness and carried out a massive promotional campaign for all their films starting from 'Bachna Ae Haseeno'. These days, they release the music of most of their films after putting in some days of heavy duty promotion. Same has been the case with 'Ishaqzaade', the music of which has released around four weeks after the first promo had hit the web.The composer of the film Amit Trivedi has more often than not made music which has catered to the class audience mainly but with promos and posters of 'Ishaqzaade' hinting it of being quite a 'masala' film in the offing,one wonders as to what Amit would have done.Also,the lyricist Kausar Munir,ijn his four year old Bollywood career, has only two songs(Falak Tak-Tashan,Title track of Anjaana Anjaani) to his credit.So,without further ado, let's check out, what this soundtrack by Amit Trivedi and Kausar Munir has for us.

The first song, 'Ishaqzaade Ishaqzaade',is one of the two title tracks(the other one being Aafaton Ke Parinday').The song tries to mix western sound with Indian melody with the end result being hardly exciting as one has heard many such songs in the recent past composed by the likes of Pritam and Vishal Shekhar.The song is far from being bad but disappoints as the opening track of a soundtrack,which one had good expectations from.However,one has to make a special mention of the honey soaked lyrics written by Kausar Munir.The vocals,by Javed Ali and Shreya Ghoshal, do not disappoint either.

The second track in the album is called 'Chokra Jawan',written by guest lyricist Habib Faisal (who also happens to be the director of the film).As one can guess from the title of the song, it is an 'item' number(not again!).But wait! this one is very different from the many of those loud item numbers that are present in almost every other film that is being made these days. There is subtleness to this song, without any heavy beats. While Sunidhi Chauhan has sung hundreds of item numbers in the past, it is refreshing to hear Vishal Dadlani's voice in the song. The lyrics are interesting too. The problem lies in the fact that the song takes some time to grow upon you and the kind of people who like listening to a 'Munni Badnaam Hui' or 'Sheila Ki Jawani', may not warm up to it.

Finally there comes an out and out winner in the form of the third track in the album 'Pareshan'.Sung by newcomer Shalmali Kholgade, the song has in it to become a chart topper (in the big cities mainly),if promoted well. The song has Amit Trivedi's stamp all over it and Kausar Munir does an excellent job with the lyrics. The song constantly shifts between lounge and soft rock, lending a very unique sound to it. Shalmali Kholgade’s voice is pleasant but then she joins the likes of new vocalists like Aditi Singh Sharma, Hamsika Iyer, Anusha Mani, all of whose voice sounds the more or less (no offence meant).Listen to the songs rendered by these ladies and you will know what I mean. Would be hard to distinguish as to who has sung which song. She does a great job nonetheless. The song later appears in a remixed version which sounds great as well.

The next track 'Jhallah Wallah',sung by Shreya Ghoshal, is a situational number, presumably picturised on Parineeti Chopra.The song has a hint of naughtiness in it and is basically Mujra meets Bollywood meets Techno.Kausar Munir must have tried to hard write some quirky lines for this song and though, he succeeds in parts, one dearly misses Amitabh Bhattacharya here. Amit does a decent job with this number which is expected to go down well with the narrative. However, it's the remixed version of this song, which is bound to cheer you up to a good extent, what with the additional beats and backing vocals pumping some good amount of energy into it.

Finally arrives the last track on the album titled 'Aafaton Ke Parinday' .Actually, I was a bit confused after listening to the entire track. The reason being that there are two singers credited on the CD cover for this song, namely, Suraj Jagan and Divya Kumar.While one could easily recognize Suraj Jagan's voice singing the higher notes of the song(Haalalon Mein....Ishaqzaade Ishaqzaade),I was not entirely convinced that the lower notes were sung by Jagan himself.After a bit of research, I found out that the other voice was of Divya Kumar(yes,Divya Kumar is a male voice and not a female one) Divya Kumar gives a good account of himself as he gets to sing most of the song, while the more experienced Suraj Jagan has been relegated to the backseat by having given the task of singing only the higher notes.Divya Kumar,with his rustic vocals,sounds a bit like Sukhwinder Singh but nevertheless has a very interesting voice that one would like to hear more of in the future. Amit tries to combine his western sensibilities with some India flavour and serves us a delicious Bhel Puri.Kausar Munir is brilliant yet again.

Overall, Ishaqzaade is an album that works in parts only, Even then, the songs that work would find a patronage among the city audiences first and in the interiors later. The soundtrack, like most of Trivedi's soundtracks, would take a good time to grow upon listeners.

Rating-2.5/5

Music Review-Agneepath

Year 2005.I was browsing through some audio cassettes when I spotted the audio cassette of 'Viruddh'.Even if I did not feel like buying a particuar cassette,I would carefully read all that's written (credits) on the front side and back side of the inlay card of that cassette.I wanted to know who are the singers,is there any guest composer/lyricist-everything.Ajay-Atul were credited for a supposedly devotional song in the album called 'Shree Ganeshay Dheemahi'.Later that year,I found them to be credited as composer for 'Hanuman Chalisa' in the audio cassette of another Mahesh Manjrekar directed film 'Vaah!Life Ho To Aisi',which otherwise had rest of the songs composed by Himesh Reshammiya.Years later,I got to know that they had become big names in Marathi cinema.Earlier this year,I immensely liked their first solo Hindi film soundtrack for 'Singham',which despite the humungous success of the film,could not get the popularity it deserved.I liked the heavy Indian orchestration which they had used for the songs in the film,used by very few like Ismail Darbar.Sadly,one gets to hear very little of that sound these days.When I heard they were composing for Karan Johar's interpretation of Mukul Anand's 'Agneepath',I felt elated.Given Karan Johar's penchant for quality music and the extremely talented Amitabh Bhattacharya,who right from  Aamir(2008) to Ladies Vs. Ricky Bahl(2011) has proved his mettle as a lyricist in each and every song that he has written ,I was sure that it would be a fabulous soundtrack.So,let us see what the soundtrack offers!

The album starts off on a promising note with 'Chikni Chameli',which one hears is a rehash of one of Ajay Atul's earlier Marathi hits.It is,undoubtedly,one of the better composed 'tem numbers in recent times,what with Ajay Atul's heavy orchestral arrangements (which carry a certain Marathi flavour) adding a class feel to it,rather than giving it a massy 'dhin-chak' feel.Shreya Ghoshal brings a certain naughtiness to her voice which works well for the song.Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics are as always brilliant.There is fun throughout the song and not once does one feels that the song crosses that thin line of decency.The song has already gained gained some fair amount of popularity what with Katrina Kaif gyrating to the song in the video.

The second song 'O Saiyyan' ,sung by the ever so dependable Roop Kumar Rathod,is extremely soothing.One sees Amitabh Bhattacharya indulging in some heavy poetry which one earlier witnessed in 'Udaan'.The musical arrangements are very simple and the instruments used are minimal.The song has a slow pace to it but has the merits to become popular once its video hits the airwaves.

The third song 'Gun Gun Guna' adds futher variety to the album,with it being a uplifting song with light musical arrangemts,again carrying a marathi flavour to them.The song is well tuned and the contrasting vocals of Sunidhi Chauhan and Udit Narayan are good to listen to.Amitabh Bhattacharya's lyrics reminds one of Gulzar's style of poetry.The song does not fall into the same bracket as the previous two numbers but is good nevertheless.However,it would need some really arresting visuals to ensure its pouplarity.

The fourth song 'Shah Ka Rutba' is a situational track.One is really doubtful about the commercial viability of this song but one has to give it to Ajay Atul for the wonderful musical arrangements that they have managed to provide for the song.Coming to the lyrics-it's one of the best written songs in recent times.Amitabh Bhattacharya needs to be given the opportunity to write for such huge commercial films apart from writing for somewhat urban films that does not necessarily give the wordsmith the space to write 'high- brow' poetry.The songs sees three powerful singers coming behing the mike in the form of Sukhwinder Singh,Krishna and Anand Raaj Anand.This is,perhaps,the second film in which Anand has sung for another composer(the other one being 'Billo Rani' from Goal composed by Pritam).

The fifth song 'Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin' sung by Sonu Nigam gives one reason to smile as it comes after two not-so-happening songs.Ajay Atul had said in an interview that it's a song which describes the relationship shared by Vijay(Hrithik Roshan) and his sister in the movie.'Abhi Mujh Mein Kahin' is a wonderful composition and although it reminds one of 'O Saiyyan',it has its own place in the album.One last heard Sonu in the good but unnoticed Sharib Toshi composition 'Aap Ki Aahat'(Lanka) and one only hopes that  this song gets the popularity that it deserves.

The sixth and the last song in the album is a devotional song called 'Deva Shree Ganesha' sung by Ajay Gogavale.Ajay Atul had earlier composed a devotional song 'Shree Ganeshay Dheemahi' for 'Viruddh' but while the number from Vruddh was quite slow in pace and soothing,this one is very loud and energetic in nature.The song works well with the mood of the film and is expected to add further drama in the narrative.

Overall,Agneepath is a good album but definitely way below expectations,thanks to the situational appeal of a few songs but one can't really blame the composers as one can understand they had to work under the boundaries around which the script was made.'Chikni Chameli' is already a hit and 'Abhi Mujhme Kahin','O Saiyyan' are expected to gain popularity too.As for the rest of the songs,their popularity purely depends upon their picturisation and then,the kind of run that the film manages to have at the box office.

Movie Review-Ladies Vs. Ricky Bahl

Watching a film in a single screen,amidst the 'seetis'.'taalis' and howling is a novel experience.Usually I visit the state capital(Bhubaneswar) on weekends to catch a movie but this time around,I decided to watch this  
yrf film in a local theatre.
          With a mixed feeling of hesitation and excitement,I barged into the theatre with a crowd of around 60 people.Finally,the movie started and the over enthusiastic movie lover in me took over the timid guy who was feeling uncomfortable as hell among a crowd of wayward rookies.
         The movie opens with debutante Parineeti Chopra trying to adjust her 'choli' to show some cleavage,so that her 'munda' Sunny(also her fitness trainer) would fall for her completely when he sees her and would get hanky-panky(read:intimate) with her.Soon enough Sunny dwindles away her father's money,leaving the poor girl heart broken.
         The con-man further charms and, then robs, two more ladies-Raina(played by Dipannita Sharma Atwal)-a feisty and successful corporate woman from Mumbai and Saira(played by Aditi Sharma)-a young widow who lives with her loving in-laws in Lucknow,out of their money.
        The three ladies come together and hire a sassy salesgirl Ishika(played by Anushka Sharma) to 'con' the 'Bloody Kameena',the name by which they decide to refer to the con-man whose real identity is still unknown.
            Together,they head off to Goa,where the con-man is looking for his next prey.Ishika befriends the con-man,who introduces himself as Vikram Talwar and makes him believe that she would be making a multi crore investment,in which she would like him to be a partner of.The,otherwise,smart player,falls for her story.What happens next forms the crust of the story.
            The writing(Habib Faisal and Devika Bhagat) is consistent,more so towards the second hour.Habib Faisal's dialogues are a major asset.Maneesh Sharma's direction is quite good.He has made a conscious effort to make each and every reel look different from that of his earlier film-Band Baaja Baaraat.Salim-Sulaiman's music is tuneful but not as impressive as some of their last releases(Love Breakups Zindagi,Band Baaja Baaraat).The trance number 'Fatal Attraction' is appropriately placed in the narrative.The choreography of the songs(Vaibhavi Merchant and Shruti Merchant) is first rate.Aseem Mishra wonderfully captures the beautiful locales which the film has been shot in.
          Parineeti Chopra is the star of the show.She has wonderful screen presence and acts with supreme confidence.She,in my opinion,is the find of 2011.Dipannita Sharma Atwal is fairly good.Aditi Sharma brings just the right amount of innocence to her character.Anushka Sharma looks dazzlingly beautiful and as always,acts confidently(almost went deaf on hearing the loud whistles and howling that accompanied her bikini act).Ranveer Singh  doesn't impress as much as he did in his debut  film.One missed the raw energy that suits him so well.He tries too hard to look sophisticated and cool but succeeds only to a certain extent.
          Overall,Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl is a fairly enjoyable entertainer that definitely desrves a watch.The ones expecting another 'Band Baaja Baaraat' would be disappointed.

Mausam-music review

Pankaj Kapur has been an actor who has always done the right films and chosen the right kind of roles.He also delivered sparkling performances in television shows like 'Office Office','Karamchand',among others.So when a quality conscious actor makes his directorial debut,the promos of which compel you to hit the replay button on their youtube page,the least that you can expect from the music is it to be good.Honestly,I was not too happy when I got to know that Pritam would be composing for the movie because Pritam can hardly qualify as one of my favourite composers.As for the lyricist, Irshad Kamil had some good with composer Sandesh Shandilya in films like 'Chameli', 'Socha Na Tha' and that wonderful album 'Ustad and The Divas'.I didn't quite approve of his more popular work in ‘Jab We Met','Love Aaj Kal' and 'De Dana Dan'. But I was quite taken aback by his work in the recently released 'Mere Brother Ki Dulhan'. Okay,let's get back to 'Mausam' and see what is in store for the listeners.

The album kick starts with 'Rabba Main Toh Mar Gaya Oye'. The song is sung by newcomer Shahid Mallya who sounds like a Roop Kumar Rathod clone. Honestly, I feel that Rathod's voice would have suited this much more than it suits Mallya's. Nevertheless,Mallya does a good job in singing  this one. The song has a semi classical base to it with some western arrangements (which I think was absolutely unnecessary) thrown in to give it a ''today's feel''. The song is very easy on the ears and has already become very popular thanks to some aggressive promotion on air.

The song that follows next is called 'Saj Dhaj Ke' and is sung by Mika.Mika and Pritam and you know that you can expect an out and out commercial number. And as the a large portion of the movie is set in Punjab,so one can't really do without a Bhangra number,can one?Mika,as always,does a brilliant job in rendering this high energy track.The song lacks novelty but one does not need complain as it has enough 'tashan' to entertain you throughut its duration.

The next track is called 'Ik Tu Hi Tu'. The song takes you aback completely as this song in so not Pritam. This one can be easily classified as one of the best sons composed by Pritam ever. Pritam truly comes out his comfort zone and delivers something which is extremely classy and at same time very commercial in nature. Rendered excellently by Hans Raj Hans. This would be Hans Raj Hans second song in a Hindi film his year after 'Tumba  Tumba'(Patiala House).How one wishes that the talented singer sings more for Hindi movies. The songs tells of seperation and longing and narrates the pain that Shahid's character in the movie goes through.It's easily one of the best songs that had come out this year.Irshad Kamil's lyrics deserve special mention. He balances Hindi and Punjabi words and weaves them together into writing a song that truly touches your heart. This one can,well,be the 'Tu Jaane Na'(Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani) of 2011.

The title of the next song,Poore Se Zara Sa Kam Hain Hum,catches your attention instantly. Second sad song in a row after 'Ik Tu Hi Tu' ,'Poore Se Zara Sa Kam Hain' is far more intense than the former.Ustad Rashid Khan, who apart from developing a fan base among the true blue Indian Classical music fans, has wooed Bollywood music fans by his soulful renditions in films like Jab We Met(Aaoge Jab Tum) and My Name Is Khan (Allah Hi Rahem) comes behind the mike to sing this song which has some heart wrenching lyrics by Irshad Kamil. Irshad Kamil truly proves his mettle as a lyricist with this song. If one goes by the popularity of the earlier film songs rendered by Ustad Rashid Khan,this one well can be his third hit!

The next song,'Aag Lage Us Aag Ko' has been sung and composed by guest composer Karsan Sargathiya. I have been a huge fan of Sargathiya ever since I heard 'Mehboob Mere' from Fiza-In Search Of His Brother(2000).The highly underrated singer has mostly been used as a back up/background vocalist and very rarely given the opportunity to deliver something of his own. While he does a brilliant job in singing this 'Garba' type number, one can't expect the song to go a long distance in the popularity race, as it reminds one of numerous such songs we have heard on 'Navratri'

and occasionaly in films and television shows. One can expect the song to arrive at an important juncture in the movie, a kind of situation in which both the lovers meet after a long time or even reunite. One would have to wait for the movie's release to find that out.

The last original track to arrive is called 'Mallo Malli',sung by Tochi Raina. This song actually disappoints you after hearing four superb (and entertaining) tracks from the album. Infact one wonders ,if the song was actually recorded for this film. The song reminds of you of hundreds of similiar sounding songs composed by Pritam. One actually ends up thinking that this would be one of the unused tracks by Pritam which have been lying in his library from a long time and he used it for ‘Mausam’ after doing some last minute snazzy arrangements to it. Not that the song is bad, but it does no good to an album filled with gems. It's, however, refreshing to hear Tochi Raina's voice instead of Neeraj Shridhar who is fast becoming a regular choice when it comes to rendering such songs. This one is average.

There is the reprise version of "Ik Tu Hi Tu' sung this time by Shahid Mallya who does a good job overall. Reprise version of "Rabba Main To Main Mar Gaya' has Rahat Fateh Ali Khan behind the mike who, obviously,does better than Mallya. Having said that,Shahid Mallya's apparently younger voice suits Shahid Kapur more than Rahat.The ‘Mehfil Mix’ version of ‘Ik Tu Hi Tu’ is sung by Wadali Brothers. It would be their second Hindi film song this year after ‘Rangrez Mere’(Tanu Weds Manu).One would love to see them coming behind the mike more often for film songs.

Coming to the remixed tracks,there are two remix versions of ‘Sajh Dhaj Ke’.Although both ‘Desi Mix Tiger Style’ and ‘Club Mix Tiger Style’ are well done remixes,I would prefer  the former as it accentuates the ‘desipann’ of the song without taking anything away from it.

There is another version of ‘Mallo Malli’ sung by Lehmber Hussainpuri who had already two hits this year with ‘Saddi Galli’(Tanu Weds Manu) and Bhoot Aaya (F.A.L.T.U),and the inimitable Hard Kaur.There is no difference between the Tochi Raina version and this one except for the singers. The remixed version is good too.

Overall,Mausam is one of the most satisfactory soundtracks to have arrived this year and undoubtedly one of the best original works by Pritam.Save for an average ‘Mallo Malli’and a good ‘Saj Dajh Ke’ the soundtrack is filled with gems that are bound to find a lot of respect among the quality conscious listeners in times to come.(P.S.Just hope nobody comes up claiming the rights for any of the songs as it has happened with many of Pritam’s earlier acclaimed works).

Overall rating-3.5 /5