Monday, August 02, 2004
Return of the King
It takes a lot to get this cricket crazy nation and its public out on the streets, even if its a Sunday, when their favorite cricketing team (GB Shaw had the wisdom to call them fools - he was a little off the mark with the spectator count of 11000 though) is playing a finals. And this despite the fact that every Ram, Rahim and Robert in any village in any corner of India knows the detailed statistics of how pathetically we do in a finals situation as of today. (Ask them their countries population and they would probably know the 1983 census figure). I digress. So coming back to the point, i am not one of these Indian cricket crazy fans and since this damn final happened on Friendship day i could not even watch Friends on Zee English.
Bored to death and with no prospects of things improving later in the day, i was just about to give up and retire for a good afternoon's sleep when i got an SMS from a dear friend asking if i would care to join her gang to see Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Thanking the heavens for such a god-send opportunity, I agreed to play ball after acting hard-to-get for some time. During the course of those 15 mts of persuasion over phone, i discovered that most of their boyfriends/best buddies were either too busy with the match or could "not be bothered to see a stupid Sallu movie". And so i was the chosen one to accompany them partly coz i was such "a sport" since i was "always game for a movie" and also coz the crowd at Tribhuvan can sometimes be a little rowdy and i was a deterrent to "the antisocial elements". Bluntly put, i was a hired bodyguard :-( Neway, we arrived there at around 4 pm, bought tickets in black and surprisingly found a lot of other people who had given up on Indian cricket at the hall. The movie started at 4:30 and ended at 7:30. So how was the movie, u may ask?
The verdict is.....
priyanka1
Originally uploaded by Jupieee.
The KING has returned. The Baadshah of Bollywood Comedies, David Dhawan (DD) is back. And with a bang too. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi heralds the return to form of the master who gave us all super hits like Aankhein and Biwi No: 1. The formula still remains the same - outlandish situations, mindless antics, gags aplenty but where MSK scores over DD's recent flop ventures is the decision to go funny the whole hog. So care a damn for logic, suspend your senses for 3 hours, leave your critical hat at home and just freak out. And if you thought a DD movie without his pet mascot, my favorite Chi Chi would not be worth it, think again. With a star cast boasting of Akki, Sallu, Priyanka, Amrish Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Kader Khan, you can be rest assured that there is oodles of rib-tickling stuff.
Of the lot, Amrish Puri is amazing in a comic role and shows that with experience comes the ability to do justice to even the most absurd character sketches. Rajpal Yadav is awesome and reinforces my opinion that anyone from the RGV stable has to have talent, even that godawful Antara Mali. Priyanka Chopra is not just another pretty face to come to Bollywood. She is a very, very pretty face :-) Her tan is simply awesome and she has a figure worth flaunting which she does so competently. Three cheers for DD for not getting his priorities wrong by trying to create a sensible heroine role. After all, where there is so much beauty, who cares for the brains.
Akki has matured greatly over the last few years as an actor and is totally in his elements in all the comedy scenes. In fact, he gets some of the best lines and pulls them off with panache. Some of the best scenes in the movie are the ones he shares with Sallu. Awesome chemistry between this two. But the scene-stealer is undoubtedly the handsome Sallu. My friends had warned me that i could expect a hall packed with women and i was also apprehensive coz i know almost all my guy friends hate Sallu. I personally am very fond of the guy and think he rocks - with a good director he can do well as he showed in Khamoshi, HAHK or HDDCS. In MSK, Sallu has a tailor made role - be it romancing Priyanka or dancing with aplomb or pummeling the baddies or getting into arguments with Akki, Sallu is a scream. If not for anything, watch MSK for Sallu. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of guys hooting and whistling whenever he came on-screen. Inspite of his bad-boy image, his fan following seems to be sticking very loyally to the man. Good for Sallu - if only the guy would get over that dumb bimbette Ms. Rai.
When was the last time i found the sound track of a DD movie passable - Surprise of surprises, Sajid Wajid's music in MSK is more than that - its actually catchy and pleasant. Sanjay Gupta's camera is very pleasing be it capturing the rich locales of Mauritius (Goa in the movie) or the generous skin show :-)
Barring a few scenes that are horribly clichéd like for example: the sequence when Sallu sends Priyanka money as an anonymous benefactor and then holds back from revealing himself (on second thoughts, mebbe that isn't so stupid after all Jupie….remember the genie in a green bottle story) The climax is simply absurd but in a very nice sorta way. After seeing it for a mad, mad moment i actually thought i should rush out of the hall and holler Mujhse Shaadi Karogi - Thankfully sanity prevailed coz my voice would surely not have travelled 350 kms :-) And hey, for the first time i actually kinda liked Parthiv Patel - if only the kid would quit wicket keeping and go back to school or act in the movies *sigh*.
Summing up, if you are of the strong opinion that Laughter is the Best Medicine, then MSK is just what the doctor ordered for you. Go out and ensoii.. and if you are in Bangalore and willing to treat me, i wouldn't mind accompanying you :-)
Bored to death and with no prospects of things improving later in the day, i was just about to give up and retire for a good afternoon's sleep when i got an SMS from a dear friend asking if i would care to join her gang to see Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. Thanking the heavens for such a god-send opportunity, I agreed to play ball after acting hard-to-get for some time. During the course of those 15 mts of persuasion over phone, i discovered that most of their boyfriends/best buddies were either too busy with the match or could "not be bothered to see a stupid Sallu movie". And so i was the chosen one to accompany them partly coz i was such "a sport" since i was "always game for a movie" and also coz the crowd at Tribhuvan can sometimes be a little rowdy and i was a deterrent to "the antisocial elements". Bluntly put, i was a hired bodyguard :-( Neway, we arrived there at around 4 pm, bought tickets in black and surprisingly found a lot of other people who had given up on Indian cricket at the hall. The movie started at 4:30 and ended at 7:30. So how was the movie, u may ask?
The verdict is.....
priyanka1
Originally uploaded by Jupieee.
The KING has returned. The Baadshah of Bollywood Comedies, David Dhawan (DD) is back. And with a bang too. Mujhse Shaadi Karogi heralds the return to form of the master who gave us all super hits like Aankhein and Biwi No: 1. The formula still remains the same - outlandish situations, mindless antics, gags aplenty but where MSK scores over DD's recent flop ventures is the decision to go funny the whole hog. So care a damn for logic, suspend your senses for 3 hours, leave your critical hat at home and just freak out. And if you thought a DD movie without his pet mascot, my favorite Chi Chi would not be worth it, think again. With a star cast boasting of Akki, Sallu, Priyanka, Amrish Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Kader Khan, you can be rest assured that there is oodles of rib-tickling stuff.
Of the lot, Amrish Puri is amazing in a comic role and shows that with experience comes the ability to do justice to even the most absurd character sketches. Rajpal Yadav is awesome and reinforces my opinion that anyone from the RGV stable has to have talent, even that godawful Antara Mali. Priyanka Chopra is not just another pretty face to come to Bollywood. She is a very, very pretty face :-) Her tan is simply awesome and she has a figure worth flaunting which she does so competently. Three cheers for DD for not getting his priorities wrong by trying to create a sensible heroine role. After all, where there is so much beauty, who cares for the brains.
Akki has matured greatly over the last few years as an actor and is totally in his elements in all the comedy scenes. In fact, he gets some of the best lines and pulls them off with panache. Some of the best scenes in the movie are the ones he shares with Sallu. Awesome chemistry between this two. But the scene-stealer is undoubtedly the handsome Sallu. My friends had warned me that i could expect a hall packed with women and i was also apprehensive coz i know almost all my guy friends hate Sallu. I personally am very fond of the guy and think he rocks - with a good director he can do well as he showed in Khamoshi, HAHK or HDDCS. In MSK, Sallu has a tailor made role - be it romancing Priyanka or dancing with aplomb or pummeling the baddies or getting into arguments with Akki, Sallu is a scream. If not for anything, watch MSK for Sallu. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of guys hooting and whistling whenever he came on-screen. Inspite of his bad-boy image, his fan following seems to be sticking very loyally to the man. Good for Sallu - if only the guy would get over that dumb bimbette Ms. Rai.
When was the last time i found the sound track of a DD movie passable - Surprise of surprises, Sajid Wajid's music in MSK is more than that - its actually catchy and pleasant. Sanjay Gupta's camera is very pleasing be it capturing the rich locales of Mauritius (Goa in the movie) or the generous skin show :-)
Barring a few scenes that are horribly clichéd like for example: the sequence when Sallu sends Priyanka money as an anonymous benefactor and then holds back from revealing himself (on second thoughts, mebbe that isn't so stupid after all Jupie….remember the genie in a green bottle story) The climax is simply absurd but in a very nice sorta way. After seeing it for a mad, mad moment i actually thought i should rush out of the hall and holler Mujhse Shaadi Karogi - Thankfully sanity prevailed coz my voice would surely not have travelled 350 kms :-) And hey, for the first time i actually kinda liked Parthiv Patel - if only the kid would quit wicket keeping and go back to school or act in the movies *sigh*.
Summing up, if you are of the strong opinion that Laughter is the Best Medicine, then MSK is just what the doctor ordered for you. Go out and ensoii.. and if you are in Bangalore and willing to treat me, i wouldn't mind accompanying you :-)
