Life Partner - Movie Review

It’s a formula done to death and buried for good. But director Rumi Jaffrey exhumes it, tries to give it a new garb and a new twist in his strictly average film Life Partner, starring Fardeen Khan, Genelia D’Souza, Tusshar Kapoor, Prachi Desai and Govinda.Set in Cape Town, the movie deals with the archaic (in)compatibility question of life partners - how sharing your life 24x7 with someone can be drastically different from how one imagines it to be. So here we have Karan (Fardeen) and Sanjana (Genelia) doubtlessly in love with each other, while the under-confident and gawky Gujju boy Bhavesh (Tusshar) is so clueless about how to treat girls that he has to jot down tips from the couple. And even after all the jotting, he chooses to settle for an arranged marriage with an Indian girl Prachi (Prachi Desai) from an affluent family in Gujarat. Likewise, Karan and Sanjana also tie the knot.

But Karan and Bhavesh’s friend Jeet (Govinda), who is a divorce lawyer and doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage, tries to convince them that they have done the biggest mistake of their life by tying the knot.

The two marriages - one love, another arranged - meet their expected destiny as soon as the couples’ honeymoon is over. Karan is unable to keep up with the flippant attitude and extravagant lifestyle of Sanjana. She gives him sleepless nights for all the wrong reasons. On the other hand, Prachi is unable to fit into the traditional household of Bhavesh, with his autocratic and chauvinistic father (Darshan Zariwala) who gives lecture on parampara at the every drop of hat.
‘Life Partner’ begins on a light note and packs in a few moments of humour and romance in the first half. But as the story stretches into the second half, the proceedings take a serious turn. There’s marital strife, heartache and melodrama. However, all this chaff doesn’t pinch as much as the ludicrous climax that conveniently tries to iron out all the complications with one swipe. And that’s a big downer.

Director Rumi Jaffrey fails to give a definite premise to the film. What starts off as a rom-com turns into a family drama before the plot takes a whacky turn at the fag end. Even the performances by the actors are mostly over the top. Perhaps it was the director who wanted the actors to exaggerate their expressions.

Fardeen rocks as long as he’s funny. But once he transforms into a broody, sleepy fellow after marriage, his performance takes a dip. Genelia D’Souza displays a narrow emotive range oscillating from wide-eyed stares to nagging squeaky tone of her voice. Tusshar is very well cast as a gauche Gujarati. Prachi Desai plays her part well. Anupam Kher is okay but why does Darshan Zariwala keeps scowling throughout his part? Govinda has lost his comical touch. The cameo by Amrita Rao fails to lift up the movie.

The film’s cinematography is good but music is mediocre.

To sum it up, ‘Life Partner’ is a film that offers nothing new.
[Via Apunkachoice]

Click Here To Watch Life Partner Online

Kaminey Movie Review

Kaminey Movie Review

Dhan Te Nan. Vishal Bhardwaj pays homage to cinema of yore and that's reason enough to go out and grab tickets for one of the most keenly anticipated films of our times.

A few monsoons ago, Farah Khan paid homage to the cinema of 1970s with OM SHANTI OM. Now Bhardwaj picks up characters that we have witnessed on the Hindi screen before, but executes it like Tarantino and Guy Ritchie do. He creates a film that's so different from movies we've witnessed thus far.

Let's say, KAMINEY is bold, stark, funny and unpredictable and that's what works in its favour. There're two more reasons: Shahid Kapoor and of course, 'Dhan Te Nan'. Okay, we've seen Shahid pitching in a sincere act in his earlier films, but KAMINEY should catapult him to superstardom. His double role in KAMINEY is exemplary.

There's another star in KAMINEY and that's 'Dhan Te Nan'. Your heart starts beating faster every time you hear this in the background or also when Shahid breaks into the song. The track is as big a craze as 'Jumma Chumma' [HUM], 'Ek Do Teen' [TEZAAB] and 'Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai' [KHAL-NAYAK] and will contribute enormously in attracting viewers in hordes.

Having said that, I wish to add that KAMINEY is not the usual masala film. Sure, it's a well-made film, but there's no spoon feeding here. One has to be attentive, very attentive to grasp the goings-on and also the twists in the tale. It's not one of those lock-your-brains-at-home types, for sure. And that might not be too appealing a thought for those who swear by candyfloss or meaningless ha-ha-thons.

To cut it short, KAMINEY is a film with an attitude. Like it or leave it, but you'd never be able to ignore it. Word from the wise: Go for this hatke experience!

KAMINEY is about a pair of twin brothers, Charlie and Guddu [Shahid Kapoor]. Charlie lisps, while Guddu stammers. They are as different as chalk and cheese. And they can't stand the sight of each other. Till one fateful rainy night, their lives cross.

Charlie gets mixed up in a deathly get-rich-quick scheme, while Guddu realizes that the love of his life, Sweety [Priyanka Chopra], has unwittingly put a price on his head. The brothers are sucked into a world of drugs, guns and money. Their lives collide head on with the lives of gangsters, rebel soldiers, rogue politicians and crooked cops.

The brothers have to run to protect themselves, their dreams, their love. And most importantly, realize that all they have is each other.

It takes time to get used to the world Vishal Bhardwaj wants us to enter. The characters, the relationships, the lingo, the tone and the setting... frankly, you don't take to KAMINEY instantly. But twenty minutes into the film and things start falling in place. From thereon, you're drawn into a different world completely.

The interval point raises the bar and also the expectations. The story takes a dramatic turn at this juncture, but minutes before that, 'Dhan Te Nan' makes the proceedings exhilarating and stimulating.

Right from the sequence after the interval to the finale, Vishal Bhardwaj peels off layer after layer, which erupts like a volcano towards the end. The end is long drawn and with so many characters in the film, it only takes time to give a culmination to each of those characters. And that gets tedious. The violent end might not find universal acceptance. Vishal Bhardwaj proves that he's a master storyteller. KAMINEY is a damn difficult film to conceptualize and execute and Vishal does it with gusto. Besides the soundtrack ['Dhan Te Nan'], the effectual background score only enhances the impact. The dialogues, also penned by Vishal, are super. At places, clapworthy. Tassaduq Hussain's cinematography is top notch.

Shahid takes a really big leap with KAMINEY. Note how he handles the two characters, Guddu and Charlie, brilliantly. This film is a step to superstardom and also which will open new doors and vistas for him as an actor. Priyanka is first-rate. She's so much in sync with her character. Also, she gets the Maharashtrian accent perfect. Amole Gupte is outstanding. An incredible actor! Tenzing Nima and Chandan Roy Sanyal leave a solid impression. Shiv Subrahmanyam and Hrishikesh Joshi are perfect.

On the whole, KAMINEY lives up to the hype associated with it. The film has three stars - Vishal Bhardwaj [a name that's immensely respected by moviegoers], Shahid Kapoor and 'Dhan Te Nan' - and this combo as also the crooked characters and a genuinely hatke subject should guarantee ample footfalls in cineplexes even after its initial weekend. The weekend business should be huge due to the holidays all through the weekend: Friday [Janmashtami], Saturday [Independence Day] and Sunday. Of course, the business is bound to be affected in parts of Mumbai territory due to Swine Flu, but the film should take off in a big way when theatres re-open.

[Via= Bollywood Hungama]

Click Here To Watch Kaminey Movie Online

Very Very happy Birthday..... Kajol

The way Aamir Khan fits the tag of a ‘Perfectionist’ to a ‘T’, the only word that justifies today’s Birthday girl Kajol is ‘DYNAMITE’. For starters, Kajol was born in Mumbai in to a Bengali-Marathi family who has got their terra firma in Bollywood.

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Kajol, who made her celluloid debut with Bekhudi, went onto do films (with practically all the top heroes of Bollywood) so much so that she became the ’success formula’ for all the film makers! With the legendary actresses Tanuja as her mother and the late Shobhana Samarth as her grandmother, it was only but natural for Kajol to take to acting much faster than a fish would take to water.

Kareena says No to Gurinder Chadha again

All the talk of an international career is just talk for Kareena. As far as she is concerned, she has no intentions of going international. Not even for Gurinder Chadha.

Apparently, Aishwarya Rai who did Gurinder’s Bride & Prejudice and her husband Paul Berges’s The Mistress Of Spices, won’t work with her…not after Chadha apparently went around blaming Ash for the failure of her husband’s film.

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Gurinder has also shown keen interest in working with Rani Mukherjee. And of course Kareena who is not impressed. For the second time she has said no to the Bend It Like Beckham director.

Says a source, “Three years ago Gurinder wanted Kareena for Bride & Prejudice. Kareena naturally presumed it was the lead. She was shocked to know the director actually wanted her for Aishwarya’s youngest sister’s part which finally went to Piya Rai Chowdhary. Kareena was shocked. She had turned down the author-backed central role in Deepa Mehta’s Water. And here she was being offered the fourth lead. She vowed never to work with her again.”

Now when the new Gurinder Chadha film was offered to Kareena, she quickly said no without hesitation.

Kareena admits this is the second time she has turned down Gurinder Chadha. “Who offers a role is not important. What is being offered is important. I’m really not that enthused by the idea of going international unless it’s something really big. I don’t even know if Gurinder’s offer was with Johnny Depp. I was just not interested.”

Interestingly, all the 3 topnotch NRI filmmakers have had problems getting an Indian cast. Deepa Mehta’s Water went through several casting changes. Mira Nair originally wanted Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee for The Namesake. But Rani didn’t want to play Abhishek’s mother. And Gurinder is looking for an Indian heroine.

Kareena, for all practical purposes, is not interested in an international career. Neither are Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan. They’ve all said no to lucrative international offers.

[Via=bollywoodhungama]