Luck by Chance

Moviespace101 rating: 3.5/5
Punchline: Good by merit
Banner: Big Pictures & Excel Entertainment
Genre: Drama
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Kapoor, Isha Sharwani, Hrithik Roshan, Saurabh Shukla, Aly Khan, Amir, Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jhon abraham, Karan Johar & Anurag Kashyap
MUSIC: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Cinematography: Carlos Catalan
Editor: Anand Subaya
Art: Anuradha Parikh & T P Abid
Lyricis & Dialogues: Javed Akhtar
Story - screenplay - direction: Zoya Akhtar
Producers: Farhan Akhtar & Ritesh Sidhwani
Release date: 30 January 2009

Story
Vikram (Farhan Akthar) comes to Mumbai to act in films. Sona (Konkana Sen Sharma) is his neighbor who does small roles in Hindi movies. They hit off well and fall in love. Zafar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) ditches his producer Romy (Rishi Kapoor) in the midway of a film because he did not like the script. In curious turn of events, Vikram is selected for the male lead role in a prestigious film. Vikram is a practical guy and doesn't mind using and manipulating the people to climb up the ladder. The rest of the story is all about how he realizes the importance of the dear ones.

Actors:

The first praise for the casting in this film should go to Hrithik Roshan. Being a super star in Hindi film industry, he did a role of a hero with a negative streak. Farhan Akthar is just perfect for the role of an underdog becoming a star overnight. Konkana Sen Sharma is incredible in a role that requires tremendous histrionics. Sanjay Kapoor is the surprise pack of the film and he is perfect as an egoistic director. Rishi Kapoor is good as an aged film producer. Isha Sharwani makes an impression of a dumb girl in the beginning and over a period of time, she wins our sympathy as she turns into a victim. Saurabh Shukla is superb as a mentor at film school. Juhi Chawla is adequate. Aly Khan is perfect as a manipulative producer who traps Konkana. Anurag Kashyap (Black Friday director) excels as a frustrated writer who is forced to copy DVDs to write scenes and explain the dialogues to the heroine who can't pronounce Hindi properly. Shahrukh Khan is given a vital role of putting some thoughts into the mind of Farhan. Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberai, John Ibrahim, Rahul Khanna, Boman Irani, Karan Johar, Raj Kumar Harwani and many more did special roles.

Technical departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: Zoya Akthar (sister of Farhan Akthar and daughter of Javed Akthar) made her debut with this film. The story of the film has the backdrop of Hindi film industry. It is very difficult narrate a story that completely revolves around the film industry. Hence she has chosen to explore the relationships and manipulations aspect of stars to make an interesting human drama. Story of the film is about an aspiring young man getting the film opportunity by luck and how he succeeded in it by using the people around him. There is comedy as well as tragedy in the film. This film shows the human side of all cast and crewmembers in film industry. Direction of the film is excellent. The screenplay should have been crisp. Ending of the film is realistic. It is a good debut by Zoya Akthar who handled story, screenplay and direction of the film. The following are the best scenes in the movie -

1. The title cards sequence where the true to life characters from the respective departments of filmmaking were shown.
2. Saurabh Shukla's acting class.
3. Mac Mohan telling his samba dialogue 'Poore Pachaas Hazaar' while giving certificates to the graduates.
4. Farhan approaching Dimple and winning her good will with praises in a premiere.
5. Scene in which Hrithik explains his image factor by showing his image in a mirror to Rishi Kapoor.
6. The scene in which Konkana attacks her reporter friend
7. Dimple Kapadia's emotional outburst with her daughter before climax.
8. Shahrukh Khan's advice to the Farhan about not forgetting the people who are with you at the times of struggle.

Other technical departments: Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio is good though a couple of songs are not needed to be inserted in the narration. Sanpon Se Bhare Naina is the best of all. Cinematography by Carlos Catalan accentuates with the mood of the film. Dialogues by Javed Akthar are laced with humor and thoughtful dialogues (especially referring to Dimple as 'crocodile in chiffon saree'). Art direction is good. Editing is neat.

Analysis: The initial part of the film is interesting. It is slow towards the interval. Second half of the film is very good with a realistic climax. Plus points of the film are realistic treatment of the subject and authentic direction. The negative point is the slow first half. On a whole, Luck By Chance is a nice hindi filmmade on Bollywood and it will offer good entertainment for the multiplex crowds.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Freida Pinto, Ankur Vikal
Director: Danny Boyle (Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India))
Music: AR Rehman
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Editing: Chris Dickens
Rating:
Enetertainment Quotient: 70%
Genre: Crime/Romance
Runtime: 120 min
MPAA rating: R

Synopsis:
Jamal (Dev Patel) is an orphan from the slums of Mumbai. He gets to attend the game show ‘who wants to be a millionaire’ when he is 18. Surprisingly he starts giving the right answers till he gets into the final round. And all these questions have relevance to certain incidents happened in his life. The game show host and cops suspect that Jamal cheated in the show. The rest of the story is all about how he proves his innocence and wins his lady love that’s been playing hide and seek with him since his childhood.

Actors:
The kids who did the roles of Salim, Jamal and Latika are adorable. They are the best in the film than the main leads. Among the notable Indian actors, Saurabh Shukla is the best. Ankur Vikal is excellent. Anil Kapoor is pretty natural as a wicked and biased host of the game show. After some point of time, we start hating him. Dev Patel is adequate. Irfan Khan played similar kind of roles earlier. Hence it is a cake walk for him.

Story – screenplay – direction:
The story of this film is adapted from a book Q & A written by an Indian author Vikas Swaroop. It is an interesting story that has two parallel plots interwoven into a game show. Direction of the film is brilliant. The screenplay is extraordinary. This film combines both arts and commerce. It has a highly realistic treatment to it with an undercurrent box office winning formula.

The following scenes are worth mentioning:

1. The cop chasing the kids in slums
2. Young Jamal jumping into shit pond to get an autograph of Amitabh.
3. Young Salim asking his boss for 50 rupees when his boss asks him to be professional.
4. Jamal acting as tour guide in Taj Mahal
5. Darshan to Ghanashyam scene
6. Jamal’s conversation with the blind in which he comes to know about the photo on 100 dollar bill.
7. Salim taking the life of the guy who bothered him.
8. Jamal trying to steal chapati on a moving train
9. Jamal not choosing B as an answer for the penultimate question

Commercial screenplay payoffs in the film (typical Indian):

1. Spaced flashback narration: It has three threads of game show, police interrogation and flashback simultaneously run.

2. Love story: Jamal loves Latika unconditionally. She goes missing from him. And he finds her. She changes hands and is used by many men. But he stills love her. And all ends well in the end.

3. Salim character: Salim is the elder brother of Jamal. He is protective of his brother, at the same time egoistic. He behaves selfish at times and finally becomes an admirable person.

4. Three Musketeers Thread: The beginning of the movie has a teacher telling the students about ‘Three Musketeers’. Jamal considers his brother, himself and Latika to be three musketeers. The final question in the game show is about the name of the third musketeer. It was a beautifully written thread.

5. Mental recall: Jamal is recognized by the blind boy, Latita and Salim at different points of life journey.

6. Biased host of the game show: The host of the game show is a biased man. He does not want Jamal to win. He goes to the extent of apprehending Jamal to the cops. Hence the last two questions in the game show give huge commercial pay off when Jamal nails the host with the right answers though he does not know if it’s right.

7. Spirit of human triumph: Triumph is important than winning money. Hence he never backs out in the middle for money. Jamal risks it till the last round as it is all about the spirit of human triumph.

Some of the unconvincing points:

1. Three Musketeers lesson in a school attended by slum boys.
2. Jamal not knowing about Gandhi’s photo on Indian note.

The debate of India being shown as a pathetic country in this film:
When somebody is doing a film on a slum boy, it is bound to show the hard reality in slum areas. That does not mean that India has been projected in the wrong way. When somebody watched ‘City of God’ (reviiew here) which shows the bad side of Brazil country, one expects it to be a poor country with little scope for improvement. But actually Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world along with Russia, India and China (BRIC countries). India is not for the people who judge it by watching fictional movies. Hence, let’s not bother about it.

Other technical departments:
Background score by AR Rehman is peppy and energetic (especially the beat scored by kids chasing scenes in the initial part of the movie). Cinematography is excellent. Editing is superb with no dull moment. This film shows Mumbai slums in a magnificent way.

Analysis:
Slumdog Millionaire is an Indian film at heart with Indian emotions catering to Indian sensibilities. This film balances arts with commerce. It is also the best example of presenting a story in a realistic way without missing the formula. The best part in this film is the screenplay and most of the credit for this screenplay should go to the Indian writer Vikas Swaroop who wrote ‘Q & A’ book. Direction of the film is world class and narration balances the sensible humor and subtle tragedy. On a whole Slumdog Millionaire is a must see film and will put India on the world cinema map like Gandhi (1982) film.

Arundhati Review

Moviespace 101 rating: 4/5
Punchline: magnum opus
Genre: Thriller
Type: Straight
Banner: Mallemala Entertainments

Cast: Anushka, Sonu Sood, Deepak, Manorama, Sayaji Shinde, Kaikala Satyanarayana, Ahuti Prasad, Annapurna

Music: Koti
Dialogues: Chintapally Ramana
Cinematography: Senthil Kumar
Visual effects: Rahul Nambiar
Art: Ashok
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Story – screenplay: Mallemala unit
Direction: Kodi Rama Krishna
Producer: M Shyam Prasad Reddy
Release date: 16 January 2009

Story

Arundhati (Anushka) belongs to Gadwal samsthanam in 1920’s. She is known for her bravery in saving the Samstanam by killing Pasupathi (Sonu Sood) an evildoer who creates ruckus in that place. She is praised as Jejemma (named after the famous Goddess in that area). But the spirit of Pasupathi haunts that place. Another girl is born in the same lineage after 3 generations and she is named as Arundhati. The spirit of Pasupati is after Arundhati to take the revenge. The rest of the story is all about how Arundhati puts an end to the evil spirit of Pasupathi.

Artists Performance

Anushka: This is Anushka’s first performance oriented film and she is simply amazing in two roles. There are many shots in the film where the scenes from the present time will dissolve into to flashback and vice versa. These scenes are done on Anushka are crucial in the film. She has to show the variations between the old Arundhati and new Arundhati. She did exceptionally well with subtle yet impact creating performance. Shilpa and Sowmya dubbed the voices of old and new characters respectively.

Others: Sonu Sood looks deadly in the role of Aghora. His performance is excellent. A special mention should be given to P Ravi Shankar who dubbed the voice of Sonu Sood. It is a great opportunity for any dubbing artists to get a role like this. The way he pronounces ‘ninnu vadalaa … vasta .. vasta’ is extremely good. Sayaji Shinde got a beautiful role ‘Talla Sayibu’ in this film. He is completely believable in that role. Manorama is very good. Deepak is nice. Satyanarayana and others are good. All other artists are appropriately cast in their roles.

Technical departments

Story - screenplay - direction: Story of the film is good. Screenplay is very good. The beauty of this screenplay is about revealing the story and information in parts. There is always something to look forward to with anticipation in the film. It possesses one of the best screenplays in the recent times. Direction by Kodi Rama Krishna is very good. However, there are a couple of violent scenes that are disturbing to the family crowds. You can see a few Hollywood inspirations like Lord of the Rings, House of Flying Daggers (drum dance), Final Destination 1 (car - train episode). A couple of episodes (the thread of drum dance by the guru & establishing Arundhati as the warrior) should have been more effectively established.

Other departments: Visual effects and graphics done by Rahul Nambiar are extraordinary. Cinematography by Senthil Kumar is excellent. Background music and rerecording by Koti is brilliant. The songs in the film go with the flow of narration. Art direction by Ashok is first-rate. Make-up work is good. Editing is smooth. Digital Ingredient (color grading) is very good. Production values of this film are extravagant.

Analysis: First half of the film is excellent and the second half is good. The plus points of the film are performances, screenplay, technical values and grandeur. The only negative point I see in this film is violence (got an A certificate from censors), which is very much required for the film to be effective. After a long time, I watched a Telugu film that has both content and technology rightly mixed to give a vibrant output. Arundhati is a film which you can proudly show it as a Telugu film to all your non-Telugu friends. And it will live up to the adjective of ‘Magnum Opus’. Two thumbs up to Shyam Prasad Reddy for making a brilliant film. Don’t watch it on internet or pirated DVDs. Arundhati is a film that must be watched in a good theater with nice sound/projection system.

Konchem Istam Konchem Kastam Review

rating: 3/5
Punchline: suits the title
Genre: Romance/Family Drama
Type: Straight
Banner: Lakshmi Narasimha Productions

Cast: Siddhardh, Tamanna, Prakash Raj, Ramya Krishna, Nassar, Samrat, Karuna, Sudha, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav, Hema, Surekha

Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Background music: Mani Sharma
Lyrics: Sirivennela, Chandrabose, Ramajogayya Sastri
Cinematography: Vijay C Chakravarthy
Dialogues: Abburi Ravi
Editing: Srikar Prasad
Screenplay: Vikram Siri - Deepak Raj
Story - direction: Kishore Kumar Parthasani
Producer: Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji)
Release date: 5 February 2009

Story

Siddhardh is a playful youngster with no emotions. His parents get separated in his childhood and he stays with his mother. He falls in love with Geeta (Tamanna) who comes to Hyderabad from a village. When she introduces him to her father (Nassar) he says the he would give the hand of his daughter to him if Siddhardh unites his parents. The rest of the story is all about how Siddhardh unites his parents (Ramya Krishna and Prakash Raj).

Artists Performance

Siddhardh is lovable in the role of a youngster. His emotions in the drinking scene are nice. His costumes suited him well. Tamanna is good as the girl who is torn between her father and her lover. Prakash Raj got lot of dignity to the role of father character he portrayed. He is excellent. There is a scene in which he acts like Robert Di Nero by saying ‘Aren’t you proud of me?’ three times (There is a famous ‘are you talking to me?’ episode in Taxi Driver film). Nassar is fair. Ramya Krishna is just ok in the role of doting mother with an attitude. Karuna and Samrat are adequate as buddies. Brahmanandam is good in most of the scenes (especially when he listens to ‘yeem’ in phone during Geetanjali spoof episode). Venu Madhav is good though his comedy is of mass type.

Technical departments

Story: Story of the film is nicely divided into two parts. The first half is about two youngsters falling it love and hence it is targeted to the youth. The interval block is about heroine’s father putting a condition. The second half is about the couple uniting the parents of hero which is targeted towards the family crowds. The whole film is based on the point that Prakash Raj and Ramya Krishna are separated. The reasons for the separation are not effectively established in the film. Hence the basic foundation of the entire film appears flimsy.

Screenplay – direction: Screenplay of the film is adequate. Direction of the film is good in parts. The narration is very slow. The director did well in second half while handling emotional scenes. But he could not get it right when it comes to the romance aspect in the first half. He should be commended the way he integrated the songs into the film. The thread of ‘crossing marks on the people you dislike’ (‘flushing the photo in toilet’ from Jab We Met?) is interesting. Vankai curry thread is also good. The characterizations should have been more consistent. Both Siddhardh and Tamanna characters in second half behave little amateurish from the scene when they quarrel about Geeta’s surname.

Other departments: Songs scored by Shankar Ehsaan Loy are excellent and they are picturized well and placement is perfect. Songs are so good that they dominated the story narration in the film. Lyrics by Sirivennela and Chandrabose are good. Mani Sharma’s background score is nice in the second half. Cinematography by Vijay C Chakravarthy is excellent. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are neat in the second half. There are sentiment-oriented dialogues like ‘Evarikaina problem vaste amma nanna daggaraku veltaru. Amma nanne problem aithe?’ and Trivikramish lines like ‘nenu kaalu tho break veyyaledu, jaalitho break vesa’ (Brahmanandam). Editing by Srikar Prasad is adequate. Producer Nallamalupu Bujji should be commended for trusting his technicians and making this film with high technical standards.

Analysis: First half of the film is average. Second half has got emotional content. The plus points are excellent songs and emotions in second half. The negative point of the film is slow-paced narration (2:50 hours runtime). The scenes towards climax appear prolonged. On a whole, KIKK is an okay film that is targeted towards family crowds. KIKK is not a film for the morning show crowds. It is more targeted towards second show crowds (family crowds).