Notable Role (13/1000): Shahrukh Khan (Dil Se..)

Its an open secret that the fans of Salman Khan and Aamir Khan don't like the progressive news of Shahrukh Khan and criticize him for some reasons that need not be discussed here. Whatever the fans of Salman or Aamir argue, I say only one thing - Shahrukh Khan is neither famous for charity (as that of Being Human) nor he runs the shows of public welfare like Satyamev Jayate. Then what is the reason that makes him hold the position of King Khan? 

Obviously, its his acting. And Dil Se.. is the evidence of it. This movie, being a romantic thriller, puts before us the love story of two persons in the backdrop of terrorism.

The fans of Shahrukh Khan must use his acting in this movie to make his opponents tight lipped on this argument.

Here are few scenes of his memorable acting:

Shahrukh Khan (Amar) as a Radio Jockey In the All India Radio Station.

CBI Investigation of Amar

Amar and Meghna's confrontation

Must Watch: Masoom (1983).

The Indian film industry has been bestowed with such talented and adept actors and directors, it becomes obvious after you watch the year 1983 movie Masoom, which was adaption of the novel Man, Woman and Child (1980) written by Erich Segal.

The movie has been directed by the internationally renowned director Shekhar Kapur. The other renowned names that add to its glory are Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi. So, obviously, this movie has to have something special. Well, my reason for watching this movie is neither of them but the song Tujhse naraaz nahi zindagi (which has the mesmerized voice of Lataji and similar track in the voice of Anup Ghosal).

Playing the role of kids, Urmila Mantodkar and Jugal Hansraaj have made the team of the movie very strong and emphatic. 

In my own words, successful movie is like a chair that has the pillars of a good direction, good acting, good story and good melody. This movie doesn't lack in any of them.

Notable Role (12/1000): Nawazuddin Siddiqi (Kick).

Watching this movie was a good experience for me as far as the role of Nawazuddin Siddiqi goes. He played the role of villain named Shiv Ghazra. His performance in the movie reminds me of the Joker (the legendary character in the movie industry across the globe.

Being famous for his performance in the Gangs of Wasseypur series, where he became famous as Faizal Khan, he deserved more chances. Kick was right choice for him. His style of dialogue delivery, which involved his strange laughter and songs of old Bollywood classic movies, makes him a remarkable character.
In a nutshell, I found the great actor, who can emulate the legendary Joker of The Dark Knight.

Kick: Nawazuddin delivers the real kick

This Eid the Rambo Khan's, i.e, Salman bhaai's fans expected a real kick ass movie. The trailer was also promising. But the movie can be appreciated on the count of the theme of welfare of the poor. 
Obviously, some stunts are illogical, specially the stunt in which the cycle crosses the track, leaving Devil behind. This stunt has been criticized a lot over the social media. But some stunts are good (like the scene in which Devil escapes the building in Poland).

But if I describe about the acting, it is Nawazuddin Siddiqi, who steals the show. In fact, in this movie, I see him as the Indian version of Joker (of famous Hollywood flick The Dark Knight).

His dialogue delivery is also full of fun and can be enjoyed again and again. This movie belongs to him.

Must Watch: Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women

Whether hit or flop, the movies like Matruboomi (2003) are remembered and acclaimed because of various reasons. This movie depicts the reality of the Indian society and exposes its path of progress in future. 

Discussing the subject matter of the movie, it can be said that this movie deserves imminent attention as the declining sex ratio is the cause of concern for country like ours. Apart from a dedicated team of real actors like Pankaj Jha, Sudhir Paney, Piyush Mishra and Shushant Singh, this movie deserves accolades because of direction by Manish Jha, which involves imaginative skill.

I am impressed with his focus on change of the attitude of the society regarding dowry system (as this time bride's family is being paid to get her married), which is similar to the pattern of sale of a girl.

In a nutshell, this movie is must watch for social cause and awareness as these movies mirror the Indian patriarchal society.

Notable Role (11/1000): Prashant Narayan (Murder 2).

Recently, watching the movie Ek Villain, which was released last week, I felt something missing. I tried to recall my filmi brain, (which is occupied by most Hindi movies), I found the missing thing. This had something to do with the character portrayed by Ritesh Deshmukh in the movie. I feel that movie was good, but it could have been better, had Prashant Narayan been roped instead of Ritesh.

I still remember the 1st sequel of Bhatt camp's Murder- Murder-2 -which was released in 2011. This movie still stands as one of the finest and most successful psycho horror of Bhatt (after Dushman). It is so because of the character portrayed by Prashant (Dheeraj Paney in the movie). It is due to his role, that this movie won several accolades.

His role stands as on of the best negative role ever performed in Bollywood.

Here are several scenes of the movie:

Interrogation scene.

Murder of college girl.

Notable Role (10/1000): Abhay Deol (Shanghai)

Unlike his siblings Sunny and Bobby, Abhay Deol is much known for the roles based on ground realities, be it Oye Lucky Lucky Oye or Dev-D or Socha Na Tha. The year 2012 movie Shanghai adds to his understanding and adaptability to the roles, that no one can perform better than him. 

In this movie, he has portrayed the character of an honest IAS officer, involved in the inquiry of an accident that was suspiciously murder attempt of a leader. Although much credit to the quality of the movie goes to Dibakar, its director, roles played by Abhay and Imran Hashmi have maintained the same.
One of the reasons to watch this movie is the actors itself.
Here is an example: 

Must Watch: Apaharan

If any one can focus on social issues surrounding the Indian common people, specially hailing from the BIMARU states like UP and Bihar, it is none other than Prakash Jha. Here I present before you my review about the year 2005 movie Apaharan, starring Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Yashpal Sharma and Chetan Pandit. 

After the much hype of social issue- based movies after the success of his Gangajal (2003), Mr. Jha has successfully delivered this movie on the theme of corruption that compels an innocent person to get involved in the whole systematic network of kidnapping mafia, prevailing in Bihar.

If talk about the performances of the actors, this time, unlike in Gangajal, the majority share for the success of this movie has to be credited to Nana Patekar. Apart from it, Ajay Devgan has given his best in presenting the youth who gets trapped in the whole network of kidnapping mafia, which is headed by Gaya Singh (Yashpal) and nurtured by Tabrez Aalam (Nana).

Also, I will not lag behind in appreciating the performance of Mukesh Tiwari, who has played the role of an honest IPS officer.

Must Watch: Children of War

Even if the Indian audience loves the movies of heroes with six-pack abs or hot divas and thumbs down the real and intense historical movies like Madras Cafe, I admire the courage of the director Mritunjay Devrat for throwing focus on the genocide during Bangladesh liberation war of 1971. One should admire the effort of the director to present the intense violent scenes depicting rape of many Bangladeshi women. 

Also, the performance of Pawan Malhotra in negative role of a Pakistani Amy personnel, deserves applauds. Apart from him the late Farooq Shekh has also left his impact on cinema industry by his humble role in the movie.

In a nutshell, if you courage to swallow the reality behind the liberation movement of 1971, the movie Children of War will make you cry and compel you to applause the efforts of Mr. Devrat.

Must Watch: Bhootnath Returns.

After watching his social awakening movie Main Aazad Hoon (1989) few years back on Set Max, I became fan of Big B in such roles. His latest recent with Bhootnath Returns proves that his aura and suitability for such roles has not faded. 

Opposed to the popular presumption, this movie is not only meant to be a comedy flick or kids' catgory movie. Rather it can be said to be a movie that explains us a lesson in our own way. Also, the theme picked by the producer, i.e. general elections, is the burning one, whose heat has set the Indian democracy on fire. 

Parth Bhalerao (the child named Akhrot) has complemented Big B in every manner in performance of the character of a ghost electoral candidate. 
also, we can't undermine the negative role of Boman Irani. In his role as Bhau, he seems to emulate and imbibe a true character of a local mafia. With some comic scenes and with awesome performances, this movie delivers a strong message on election and importance of voting in Indian democracy.

In a nutshell, when Bhootnath returns, our hope in democracy returns too.

Facing the music: Ankit Tiwari

Bollywood singer Ankit Tiwari, who was arrested last week for allegedly raping a woman, moved a sessions court seeking bail.

Ankit Tiwari, who was remanded in judicial custody by local magistrate, filed the application for bail saying he was being falsely implicated in the case.

The 24-year-old singer said in his complaint that the concerned woman is already married and has a child. He also alleged that there are many contradictions in the complaint lodged by the woman, who is believed to be his girlfriend.

Ankit Tiwari, known for his song ‘Sun Raha Hai Na’ in Bollywood movie ‘Aashiqui 2′, was arrested on May 8 after the woman filed a case in Versova police station accusing him of sexually assaulting her between October 2012 and December 2013 on the promise of marrying her.

Ankit Tiwari’s brother Ankur was also apprehended for allegedly threatening the woman with dire consequences over a period of time if she files complaint in this regard.

Ankit Tiwari was booked under section 376 (punishment for rape), 493 (cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage), and section 506 (2) (punishment for criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code.

Notable Role (9/1000): K K Menon (Gulaal).

There are some movies, which you often like to watch more than once and there are some movies, with such a great actors, which make you watch some scenes of the movie time and again.

Gulaal is one such movie and KK Menon (playing the character role of Duggi Bana) is one such actor in this movie. His way of expression and the way he imbibes the character of the movie is unmatched.

The way he shows his anger and his authority in this movie makes his performance in Gulaal best till now.

Rainman: Hoffman prevails over Cruise gun.

This movie is special for me or various reasons. Though you can say that Tom Cruise was in one of the leading roles, his role was overshadowed by the performance of Dustin Hoffman, playing the character of an autistic savant. His performance makes everyone either laugh or cry. Being a very emotional movie, this movie touches heart of everyone.

The music given by Hans Zimmer sets a good theme for the entire movie. He has the art to thrill the audience (as done in M:I:2 or Gladiator or The Dark Knight, or Inception) as well as to make the audience cry in emotion as shown by this movie.

Surprisingly, very few people have seen this masterpiece. It will be better to watch it for Mr. Hoffman's performance. 
It bagged 4 Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards, 1989, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a leading role for Dustin Hoffman.
This movie has been inspiration for the plot and characters of the Subhash Ghai directed year 2008 movie Yuvraaj.

Notable Role (8/1000): K K Menon (Shaurya).

The year 2008 movie Shaurya is based on the theme of AFSPA misuse in Jammu and Kashmire and is inspired from the 1992 Hollywood flick A Few Good Men. The difference between these two movies is that while the later one was known for the performance of the Hero, the former one will always be remembered for the role of Major Pratap played by K K Menon. 

The best scene from the movie, according to me, is the entry of K K Menon and his subsequent meeting with Rahul Bose, (who is our desi Cruise of this movie) is humiliated by Menon for his conduct over breakfast table. 

The other best scene was the climax, showing the cross-examination of Brigadier Pratap. In both the scenes, K K Menon proves to be better villain than Jack Nicholson (the Hollywood counterpart in A Few Good Men).

We have seen his mind blowing performances in Gulaal  and Black Friday. He is one actor who needs the focus of the eminent movie-makers like Anurag Kashyap, Shujit Sarkar and Tigmanshu Dhulia. Because only such eminent producers can tap the talent of actors like Menon. The best scenes of this movie include the flamboyant presence of Menon. These scenes are:

First meeting with Major Chaudhary.

Cross-examination of Pratap.

Black Friday: Opening the true files of 1993 blasts.

I have already mentioned, India has history of low grade movies. But few producers like Anurag Kashyap have given a new motivation and a new ray of hope to us. With his movies like Gulaal, Gangs of Wasseypur (I and II), Girl in Yellow Boots, Shaitaan, he told us what a good movie is all about.

This movie- Black Friday (2004)- is not just a movie but a documentary, which explains the causes, consequences and inquiry of the 1993 Mumbai blasts that ripped apart the financial capital of our country.

This movie is equipped with true artists like KK Menon, Pawan Malhotra, Aaditya Srivastav and Nawazud din Siddiqui. They have time and again proved that Indians are also good at acting and still there are some emerging talents that need the focus of good movie-makers.

It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and was a nominee for the Best Film (Golden Leopard) award at the Locarno International Film Festival. The film was so controversial that the Indian Censor Board did not allow it to be released in India for two years. 

It has given a good opportunity to the band Indian Ocean to contribute its musical magic in this movie. I love the song Arre Ruk Ja Re Bande.

Behind the Screen Facts:    

• The film was banned in India and was released theatrically only 2 years after it's actual planned release date.  
• The film is based on true facts regarding the Mumbai Blasts in 1993.  
• Anurag Kashayap cast Aditya Shrivastav and KayKay again after the banned Paanch and Gulaal.

Queen: If SRK is King Khan, Kangana Ranaut is Queen Ranaut.

We must admire the trend of Bollywood that it is delivering such hat-ke (different) movies for fast few years. Lat year it showed us the hopes in the wraps of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Madras Cafe, D-day, Lootera. This year too it has kept our hopes pristine and all-time high. This hype is evident after we come across the movies like Queen.

Watching the dedicated performance of Kangana Ranaut, it can be said that our film industry has no more restricted entry for the male dominant stars. If there can be a King Khan, there can be a Queen Ranaut.

No other actress can emulate her performance in the movie. Her performance suits the theme of women empowerment through this movie. No doubt, she deserves a National Award for what she did to her role.

Lastly, the music by Amit Trivedi is in sync with the situation of the scenes of the movie and best suited to it. If Bollywood can open the doors for the cheaters like Anu Malik and Pritam, Trivedi is going to be last nail of their coffins.

Notable Role (7/1000): Mahesh Manjarekar (Kaante)

He was not the lead actor of the movie, but without him Kaante, (2002 year remake of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, 1992) would have been a worthless movie. In fact, he was best as an actor in this movie. It was through this movie, that he garnered the fame of an actor better than a director (though he directed and produced great movies like Vaastav).

The scenes of the movie are as follows:

Cops arresting Bali.

Bali Crying.

Interrogation by Bali.

Mission: Impossible - II (2000): stunts are thrilling but plot is dubious.

My review about this movie was long planned by me. But I went through several websites to look into some details of this movie. I found that some scenes of this movie (one being scene, in which Naya meets Ethan at the race course) were copy of some earlier hollywood movies. Now, you might be thinking that not only Indians copy. I also agree.

Apart from it, there is a glitch of overuse of mask in this movie. Even at the climax, you will be bound to ask "how did Hunt get the mask of Stamp". 

But, all I can say is that the stunts shown in this movie. The rock climbing scene in the starting of the movie was performed by Tom Cruise, without any stunt double. Another stunt during the injection gun scene and other in the climax are also thrilling. Even one of the scene has been copied in Dhoom: 2. Also I love the scene, in which Hunt blast the door, using a satchel charge and makes entry to disturb the deal (which is marked by a bird flying into the room and flares appear in the eyes of Ambrose).

Also the music given by Hans Zimmer has made me a fan of him. The tracks like Bare Island, Mano-a-mano, Injection Gun define the art of Zimmer. Apart from this, how can we forget the song Take a Look Around by Limp Bizkit? This song has used the M:I theme track very beautifully and in an interesting way. 

Behind Scene Facts (iMDB):

1. John Woo's final cut of the film clocked in at 3-1/2 hours. The studio balked at this length and told him that the final length could not exceed 120 min. This could explain why there are so many plot holes and continuity errors in the theatrical cut.
2. For the "knife-in-the-eye" scene, Tom Cruise insisted that a real knife be used, and that it stop exactly one quarter-inch from his eyeball, instead of somewhere vaguely near his eye, as John Woo suggested. The knife itself was connected to a cable that was measured carefully in order to achieve the effect and Cruise insisted that Dougray Scott use all his strength in the ensuing struggle.
3. The famous rock climbing sequence was filmed at Dead Horse Point in Utah. Tom Cruise was on cables which were then digitally removed. Ron Kauk was the climbing double and the overhang stunt was performed by main stunt double, Keith Campbell. John Woo was so scared each time but "Tom insisted on doing it".
4. The scene where Tom Cruise "peels off his face" to reveal Dougray Scott was achieved in one shot by shooting both actors against a green screen. Cruise, not wearing a mask, was simply told to place his hand in a pre-arranged position under his chin then pull his hand across his face. Scott wore a plain mask with sensors that could provide a computer with a three-dimensional view of his face. He then peeled off this mask to finish the scene. Cruise's face was superimposed on the mask as it is pulled away and the two images morphed together in the computer; the background of the 747 cabin was added in to replace the green screen. (Watch the scene with frame advance and you will see a slight transitional 'swirl' on the mask halfway through the scene). Kevin Yagher contributed some more traditional latex mask effects for other face-peeling scenes. 
5. This is the first movie that Metallica ever agreed to write a song for. 
6. Dougray Scott was originally slated to play Wolverine in X-Men (2000), but had to pull out when shooting on this film went into overtime.
7. The part of Mission Commander Swanbeck was originally offered to Ian McKellen. He was not able to accept the role, due to a prior theatre engagement in London and the part eventually went to Anthony Hopkins.
8. Luther Stickell's line "It's that simple, huh?" after hearing Ethan Hunt's explanation of what he thinks "Chimera" is was a joke about Mission: Impossible (1996), which was widely criticized for having an overly complicated plot. 
9. Tom Cruise's then-wife Nicole Kidman suggested Thandie Newton (Kidman's co-star in Flirting (1991)) as the love interest for Ethan Hunt. She was cast before the script was written.
10. SERIES TRADEMARK: At Hunt's meeting with Mission Commander Swanbeck, Hopkins offers him an espresso or cappuccino. At the preliminary meeting with Jim Phelps in Mission: Impossible (1996), Hunt asked if they could get a cappuccino machine.
11. The sunglasses that Tom Cruise wears at the climax of the climbing scene providing him with his mission brief are modified Oakley Romeos that are now discontinued. They were modified for their appearance in the film in three ways: the ear stems are different (the commercially available model had curved ear stems while the movie version has straight stems), the lenses used in the film aren't mirrored (to prevent the film crew being seen in the reflection) and the most obvious modification being the earpieces grafted on to the frames.
12. According to Robert Towne, much of his script was written around action scenes that director John Woo told him he wanted to able to direct in the movie. 
13. Anthony Hopkins' character becomes the first person in any Mission Impossible episode or movie to actually use the phrase "mission: impossible." Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga also wrote the screenplay for Star Trek: First Contact (1996) which featured the first cinematic use in dialogue of the phrase "star trek." 
14. Andrew Lesnie was the film's original cinematographer. He left less than a month into shooting, due to "stylistic differences" with director John Woo.
15. The movie initially was rated "R", but was re rated "PG-13" after many action scenes were cut and the violence was trimmed down considerably. 
16. Oliver Stone was the first director attached to this film in the period after the first film's release. He reportedly wrote a treatment but backed out due to scheduling conflicts resulting from Tom Cruise's prolonged stint on Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
17. SERIES TRADEMARK: Ethan is suspended by a cable while infiltrating the Biocyte Labs. See also Mission: Impossible (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). 
18. Steve Zahn was originally cast as Billy Baird.
19. Production was delayed because Tom Cruise was shooting Eyes Wide Shut (1999) with Stanley Kubrick for over a year.
20. Both Tom Cruise and John Woo attended a test screening of this movie in Warrenville, IL. 
21. Stuart Baird did uncredited re-editing work on this film and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) for Paramount in order to get the job of directing Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
22. Triumph Motorcycles supplied the Speed Triple and Daytona models used as Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott's rides respectively.
23. The knife used in the fight scene at the end of the film is a Kershaw Amphibian.
24. A brief shot of children playing "Ring Around the Roses" is shown. This is a subtle reference to the plague that would ensue should the Chimera virus be released onto the world. According to popular belief, "Ring Around the Roses" was a kids' song based on the medieval Black Plague. In this theory, the "ring around the roses" represented a ring of people around a grave with roses on it. "Pocket full of posies" refers to people carrying flowers in their pockets during the plague, to combat the stench of the corpses in the streets. "Ashes, ashes" refers to the mass burnings of bodies. "We all fall down" refers to the multitudes of people dying. In fact, the rhyme dates from Victorian times, and originally did not contain these specific references, which were created in improvisational children's playing. Nevertheless, the legend connecting the song with the plague persists.
25. In the final battle, the building's security systems shows a problem in Level 42, the name of a 1980s band with hits that include "Lessons in Love" and "Something About You".
26. Shipped to theaters under the fictitious name "Doll House" to deter potential thieves.

Sarfarosh (1999): tells how a dedicated police force should operate.

Though Aamir Khan had performed the role of an IPS offices before this movie in Baazi, this movie paints a good, inspirational and true picture of the crime branch police of Maharashtra. 

The early part of this movie entails the struggle of an honest officer behind his becoming an IPS officer. All civil services aspirants, particularly, those aspiring to become an IPS officer must watch this movie and learn how a good cop reacts to various problems regarding the heinous crimes like illegal drug and arms trafficking. 

Coming to the performances, no doubt, Aamir has played a very balanced and perfect role of an IPS officer. This role is better than what he did in Baazi. Mukesh Rishi (in the character of inspector Salim) has proved that he is suitable not only for negative roles but also for positive roles that too of an honest cop. Nasiruddin Shah (in the character of Gulfaam Hasan) is again a gem of the Indian cinema industry that performs for movies of classes and movies of masses. In this movie, which belongs to classes and masses, he proves to be villain of classes. Same can be said about Govind Namdev (in the character of Veeran). 

Believe me, this movie has everything- a good plot, all good actors and good music (specially song Zindagi Maut Na Ban Jaaye). It is a must watch for all bollywood fans

Must Watch (Today's special): Rang De Basanti

Corruption is like a virus in the entire system of a nation, that needs a strong anti-virus to deal with it. This movie, though not an anti-virus, but was a means to produce anti virus for the system of a nation affected by the virus of corruption. If any Indian movie that could ignite the spark of revolution or revamping the corruption-infected nation, it was RDB. Embracing the mechanism of peaceful non- violent protest (candle march) and later switching to the desired mode of violence, this movie proved to be a blend of ideals that could change the Indian system or rather the system of any corruption infected nation.

Just like others, I also support the killing of the corrupt official (and it will not be called murder or Hatya rather it becomes Vadh) on the ground that such practice sounds correct on the lines of the Benthamite principle of maximum pleasure of maximum people with minimum pain for least number of people.

Also, this movie is best suited for the Martyr's Day (23rd march, 1931) as it not only shows the sacrifices of our revolutionary heroes but also how it can be imbibed in the actions of the youth.

I like dialogue of the movie:

"Jeene ke do hi tareeke hote hain. Ya fir jo chal raha hai use chalne do. Ya use badal ke dikhaao" (there are two courses of living a life- either let the things go their way or change the course of happenings). 

Lastly, the music of Rahmaan Saab  has never been such enthusiastic before. If the movie is a portrait, his music adds colour to it.

Behind Reel Facts (from iMDB):

• A.R Rehman worked on the music of this film for three years.
• India's official entry to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film category in 2007.
• Shah Rukh Khan was the original pick to play DJ, but the shooting for the film was in Delhi, and Khan was forced to decline because he was shooting Paheli (2005) at the time, and did not want to conflict schedules.
• The film was to be made both in Hindi and English versions. The English version was to be titled "Paint It Yellow". The plans for the English version were dropped subsequently.
• The role played by Siddharth was also initially offered to Farhan Akhtar. But Farhan was not ready to act.
• Aamir Khan was initially uncertain about taking on the role of DJ, as he was in his 40s and DJ was 25 years old Punjabi in the film. He eventually accepted, though, and hired a tutor to aid him in Punjabi speech and accents.
• Rang De Basanti is based on a poem written by Dushyant Kumar.
• Arjun Rampal was signed to do the film, but was irritated with director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's indecisiveness about what he wanted to do with the characters and the script. He called him "very confused" and "unprofessional" and dropped out. Arjun Rampal also stated his regret in even agreeing to do the film in that he lost a lot of good work in the three months he spent committed to it.
• In India, the color of saffron represents sacrifice. When someone says, "Main rang de basanti", ("paint me saffron") it means that person is ready to be sacrificed for a great cause. saffron is also a predominant color in the movie.
• Shah Rukh Khan was the original choice for Flight Lieutenant Ajay Rathod's character, but he couldn't do it owing to his busy schedule. This cameo turned out to be the best bet of Madhavan in his career in Bollywood.
• Hrithik Roshan turned down the role of Karan (Siddharth).

Agneepath (2012): Sanjay Dutt is back.

This movie was in news since Hritik accepted the role played by Big B in the earlier Agneepath (1990). Though the names are same and plot of the movie is also, significant remake of the old Agnipath, there is a huge gap in both these.

While the old Agnipath was full of bold and emphatic performance of Amitab Bachchan (playing the role of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan) and was also known for his dialogue delivery, the 2012 Agnipath promises a new ray of hope to emulate the performance of the legendary Joker (obviously, the negative role Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight). This movie has kept the audience glued with the performance and style of Kaancha (role played by none other than Sanjay Dutt). 

In my opinion, India is close to getting a substitute of the Joker. His performance weights much more than that of the hero of the movie (the equation matches that of The Dark Knight in this sense). Though the dialogues of Hritik are not that bold as of Big B, his performance is well fitted to the role.

Apart from it, you can't ignore the role of Rauf Lala (played by Rishi Kapoor). This time, Rishi Kapoor has made a punching come-back to complement this movie. Even, sometimes the people might become confuse to choose the best villain between Kaancha and Rauf.

Music of the movie also deserves applauds, specially the song Abhi Mujhme Kahin.

The hidden facts.

• In Sanjay Dutt's 30 years career, this is the first time he appeared bald in a film.
• Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor last worked together in Sahibaan (1993) where both were lead heroes.
• The film was an official remake of the original Agneepath but several things were changed, like the backdrop of drugs was introduced, the reason for the death of Vijay's father was changed, Mithun's character was done away with, and Rishi Kapoor's new character was introduced.
• Hrithik Roshan sports a number of colorful vests in the film, actually those were white vests which his designers colored using dye.
• Hrithik told in an interview that while fighting with Sanjay Dutt he was really injured and his acting in the end was real.
• The scenes depicting Mandwa was shot in Diu in freezing temperatures. For the song Cheekni Chameli the set was created in Mumbai.

Notable Role (5/1000): John Abraham (Jism)

I saw the movie Jism, after over 5 years of its release. I appreciate the direction and the music as well. But above all, I was inspired by the performance of John Abraham (playing the role of an alcoholic lawyer- Kabir), who lives a playboy lifestyle. 

No doubt, it was his first movie, yet he performed his share best in this movie. Specially his style of smoking and lighting the cigarette, that probably inspired youth to adopt smoking as a style statement. 

I suggest you to go watch the video of the songs Aawarapan Banjarapan and Shikaayat Hai to notice his in-depth performance (notably, the scene in which he feels guilty of committing a murder and cries below the shower of his bathroom). 

Aawarapan Banjarapan song.

Shikaayat Hai song.

Jism climax.

Raanjhanaa: Dhanush has left his mark on Bollywood.

It was the noon of a day of March last year, when I opened Youtube to watch some upcoming movies of Bollywood. Suddenly, I came across the trailer of the movie Raanjhanaa, presenting Dhanush in lead role. It was then the scorching summer of June in the same year, when I went to watch this movie.

Guess what? All the sacrifices I made to watch this movie was refunded in the terms of entertainment. I, just could not imagine that Dhanush, who hails from Southern part of India, will be able to perform the role of a Desi Launda of Banaras. Hardly, anyone dn emulate his performance in this movie. Talking about the other actors, the role of his friend Murari played by Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub and his one sided lover Swara Bhaskar should be appreciated. 

The whole movie is divided into two parts: the romantic and comedy part pre-intermission and serious and emotional part post-intermission. Apart from it, the dialogues of the movie and its climax both have given a good shape to the whole flow of movie. 

As always, the Music of Rahmaan saahab is always a memorial part of a movie, which is true in this case as well.

Facts undisclosed yet.

1. This was the first film of Dhanush in Hindi. For this film , he took special Hindi coaching classes.
2. Earlier , actor Shahid Kapoor was roped in to play the lead role , but later Dhanushreplaced his role (thank God he accepted, otherwise... everyone knows).

300: Rise of an Empire: finally happy again to find my answer.

No doubt that the Hollywood movie makers invest huge and also do a good R&D for movie business. So, they did in this movie. 

Though they have shown graphics and actions scenes very beautifully, that deserves applauds, it didn't seem to be at the equal footing to its previous part. 

Also, what I want to share is that we always think that Indian movies only have crap stunts and scenes. Then, we think whether Hollywood movies also have such craps. So, we can find answer in this movie.

I must emphasise that there is a scene in the climax, in which the hero of the movie Themistockles (role played by Sullevan Stepleton) shows his extra ordinary capacity to take his horse though the broken ships to the ship of the enemy without caring about the ocean in between. Guess, what he finds. He is able to take the horse successfully (no sensible person will find any logic behind such stunt). He might have been insipred by the performance of Chetak (legendary horse of Maharana Pratap).

Concluding my review,I would suggest that if you want to go for action scenes and bloodbath, you should go for it.