Dappan Koothu » Ranbir Kapoor

Review: Rocket Singh – Mice are Nice

maxdavinci — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:24:35 +0000

Ranbir ‘Rocket’ Kapoor just cant seem to set foot in the wrong direction and is in the form of his life! Much like the purple patch of Rahul Dravid in Australia or Sachin’s desert storm in Sharjah. Well that might have been a little over the hilt, but then the guy is making awesome choices. From playing a cad in ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno‘, to a slacker in ‘Wake Up Sid‘ and now a street smart salesman in ‘Rocket Singh‘, the scion of the kapoor family has been filling up the cineplexes like no one else. The same guy whose flamboyant printed tees got more eye balls than the movie itself the last time he was on screen, makes a u-turn. Harpreet Singh(HP) is everything that Sid wasn’t, except the fact that he barely passed his exams while Sid failed. A frail built sikh boy with a turban and kara, isnt always hero material. Inmost cases they are friends of the hero or other side characters to fill up a story. The above rule doesn’t apply to the man who single handedly beat up half of Pakistan with an uprooted hand pump.

Every time HP is humiliated you just can’t wait for him to spring up and yell ‘Oye, no
if
no but
sirf JattOye, no if no but sirf Jatt‘! Sadly, that never happens and our boy Rocket just shrugs away the catcalls and gets on with his work. Louw stories are the yashraj forte and no story is complete without the ‘pind ka shera‘, ‘paraandey wali kudiya‘ and the basic ingredients you’ve seen ever since DDLJ hit the screens. Actually it is the single reason why a majority of punju kids are named Simran or assume the pet-name if else. The only thing that that connects the movie to the land of ‘sarson ka kheth‘ is the title character and his grandpa. How on earth can you have a yashraj movie that doesnt feature Rani Mukherjee? It’s not like she was busy auditioning for Jurrasic Park-4 and missed the casting call. Also how does a movie cover the whole boy-meets-girl and the courting stuff that follows all in just one song? It is so against the yashraj commandments where courtship is an elaborate process spanning 10 reels. Another howler was the lack of songs and gallivanting in foreign locales with the words ‘rab‘, ‘soniye‘, ‘sadde naal‘ and ‘hadippa‘ sprinkled generously on the lyrics. As a consolation however, the so-called love interest offers noodles to a complete stranger who stopped at her doorstep to sell computers.

So what do you do when you score 39% in commerce, consider yourself unfit to sit for the CAT and don’t want to go the call center route? Well the answer my friends is that you either take up farming(not farmville you idiots, but the real deal instead) or become a salesman. Afterall ‘customer ke naam main hi likha hai marcustomer ke naam main hi likha hai mar‘, yet the incorrigible Rocket Singh refuses to treat customers like the effluents from a local public sulabh complex. The movie pays a lot of attention to the finer details like wearing wind-cheaters to evade roadside soot, tucking ties into pockets while eating and slacking at work. The character is very well written and punctuated with some corny yet memorable lines. He isn’t afraid to pawn his two-wheeler to a supplier or sell it to pay up for failing to comply to an order. When asked to stop by a temple on way to his first client by a ravishingly tasty looking Gauhar Khan, ‘Emotion pe control hai, scooter main petrol hai‘ is all he needs! Shimit Amin yet again teams up with Jaideep Sahni to dish out a tight story that is fresh, new and totally works. The characters are very well etched and have some awesome lines, whereas the so-called female lead played by Shahzan Padamsee despite having some witty ones, fails to make an impression. D.Santosh as the hilarious Girish Reddy takes the cake as far as supporting roles go this year, and the gaudily made up Gauhar Khan never ceases to titillate the eyeballs. Watch it, in a theater if possible, for we give it 6 out of 10 on the DappanKoothu scale!

(Image Courtesy: glamsham.com)

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Review: Wake up Sid – A Boy, not a Man

maxdavinci — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:18:31 +0000

The weekends are getting better with better stuff to look forward to at the cinemas on Friday evenings. While not the best to hit the screens this year, Wake up Sid still makes the cut especially taking into account the production house it belongs to. Dharma Productions brings us another hip and trendy enjoyable fare that is devoid any family melodrama, palatial mansions, sherwanis and the great flapping albatross a.k.a SRK! A lot has been already said bout the South Bombay lifestyle with slacker kids aimlessly shelling their fathers credit cards. Playing tribute to a genre
resuscitated
by Farhan Akthara genre resuscitated by Farhan Akthar, Wake up Sid barely shows anyone in a remote struggle with life. A decent soundtrack, no over-the-top acting by Konkona Sen, Anupam Kher and some great visuals make it a winner despite the multiple attempts of Ranbir Kapoor to put up just one expression that even beats zoolander! Supriya Pathak evokes a lot of warmth in the limited screen time she gets that makes you wonder why Kirron Kher keeps getting those mommy roles over and over again! Apart from being horrendously predictable, getting Rahul Khanna to patent loser roles, Kashmira Shah making an omlette in those saucy thighs of hers, Wake up Sid is yet watchable.

Have you ever worn tees with prints of Dick Dastardly, Beavis & Butthead, Scooby Doo, or any other groovy Hanna Barbara toons! Have you ever had the audacity to carry off such prints and set a trend of your own rather than follow it?

Have you ever walked into an elevator full of office goers fully clothed in formals while your tee has a funny message emblazoned across the chest and you’re head is still trying to recollect the chain of events from last night. Ever wondered what goes in the minds of your lift mates to see you?

Do you ever feel the urge to cuddle up in a bed with spongebob sheets, run around in bunny printed boxers, never leave home without your daffy duck towel or just strut around in multi-colored socks? Ever wondered how gawdy things could also become fashion?

Ever waded through the sea of students on results day at school only for parallax errors to haunt your vision as you try to add up marks in a horizontal line. Ever failed in multiple papers only to realize your friends sailed through and having to face your parents angst?

Ever felt confused bout what you were going to do in life and believing in living only for one wild night at a time. Anyone know what it feels to live in a cocoon all your years hidden from the harsh reality of life only to have it thrust in your face one day?

Know how it feels to walk into an office without the slightest idea of what you’re going to do, and whiling away your time just because you have to and are compelled to do so? Ever found your calling elsewhere with a fire in your belly urging you to do something else?

Know how it feels to land in an unknown city all by yourself, away from home and bootstrap life right form finding a place to live, to cooking your first meal? Ever stared at an egg for hours hoping the warmth of your hands would miraculously cook it? Ever sat on an empty stomach all day cursing your inability to turn raw vegetables to anything remotely edible, waiting helplessly for someone to feed you out of empathy?

Ever had Spiderman and Superman adorn adorn your walls and the Justice League occupy your desktop wallpaper at an age when most of your friends are fantasizing scantily clad women? Ever had subscriptions of Marvel comics pile up on your study table with a few first-editions safely stashed away in their original plastic?

Ever felt the dying urge to land yourself a job and stand on your own toes to get counted and feel independent. Know how it feels to see an offer letter and hear the crackle of crisp notes debited out of your first paycheck? That first purchase, the first treat, the first apartment and all the firsts that come with it?

Ever been asked to grow up, seem a lot more matured and act to one’s age? Ever been tired of being called a kid and repeatedly proving yourself to everyone who does? Know what it feels to see the world forcibly pulling you out of your slumber and egging you to wake up?

If you answer ‘yes’ to atleast a couple of the above questions, then it’s a good enough reason to haul yourselves to a cinema hall to watch ‘Wake up Sid’. Actually go watch it even if the answer is ‘No’, for it may be worth it for all you know!

Image Courtesy: nowrunning.com)

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Review: Bachna Ae Haseeno – Tribute to YashRaj

maxdavinci — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:05:23 +0000

When you are a one of the most successful production house in the country with 7 flops in the last 8 movies, you definitely seek desperate measures! When you’ve tried every genre from wooing the kids to even bringing back your favorite diva in a comeback role, you need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what’s wrong. Yashraj has definitely done a lot of brainstorming and they’ve decided to visit their biggest success stories. Bachna Ae Haseeno does exactly that, and we see shades of all the biggest winners from the YashRaj stables. Ranbir Kapoor pays tribute to his father with the title song as it opens with the opening credits and that sets the mood for what follows. One thing that grabs your attention in it is the budget for clothing. With only a meter of cloth at their disposal, the women did well to save their dignity. It was hard for me to resist drooling, as my movie companion kept jabbing me in the chest every time I opened my mouth!

The film brings a whiff of freshness and that is something we’ve stopped associating with YashRaj films. After Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, this was the second only movie this year that has a feel good factor. The camerawork is slick, the colors are bright the locations spunky. The dialogs are funny without being slapstick and most of the humor is situational. The songs are already a rage and playing on every radio station, and the cinematography doesn’t disappoint. There is a whole sequence that tries to recreate the magic of DDLJ with EURail and surprise-surprise our hero is even called Raj. The trailers and promos are quite misleading and give you the impression that this is yet another movie with three bimbos falling head over heels over a stud.

For once women are not depicted as mindless bimbos but have some good characterization. It takes the ‘Kudiyon ka hain Zamana‘ tag to an all new level with the hero bearing all levels of humiliation with a smile. The film has a sense of deja vu as the boy revisits his past with a heavy sense of guilt and sudden stroke of realization. I’m not giving away the plot here but it is a must see for every guy. Ranbir Kapoor is the whole and soul of the movie and for me, after Shammi Kapoor he is the only Kapoor who can act! Despite his disastrous debut, he proves that he isn’t another untalented star-son. Minissha Lamba looks cute at times but ugly in the close-up shots. Sultry Siren, Bipasha Basu sizzles(click here) in her meatiest ever role after Corporate. Deepika Padukone can only blame the writers for her half-baked extended guest role with only the Khuda Jaane song to her credit. Kunal Kapoor seems to be YashRaj’s favorite guest star and the less we speak of him, the better it is.

I did get a bit emotional as it was like a trip down memory lane and so my views might seem biased. Do watch it in the nearest cinema hall and let me know if you agree with me.

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The 6-pack saga…….

maxdavinci — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:31:06 +0000

Saawariya is pitted against Om Shanti Om this Diwali and all eyes are at the box office. Though there seems to be a good fight down south with bigwigs like Vijay(Azhagiya Tamizh Magan Music by ARR), Vikram(Bheema in a feminine role!), Ajith(Billa) Simbu etc all armed with big releases, Bollywood clearly steals the show this festive season. In what is touted to be the biggest battle of the year, for the first time ever Sony Pictures is producing a film from Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s(SLB) stables, and in another corner is a film that has Shahrukh Khan(SRK) all over it. What follows is my attempt to weigh the heavyweights before the bout goes official and see which way the scales are tipping.

First Saawariya: One look at the poster(I <3 that peacock!) and it screams the words ‘Sanjay Leela Bhansali’. Color is a conspicuous feature in all his films like Hum dil.. which was all orange, then came Devdas which was all red, Black was shot in grey and now Saawariya is in blue. Even the music screams his name and any song in the album(not necessarily the title track) will tell you that it’s has the SLB signature. Melody has been the high point of the music in all his films, and this time is no different. Very few people like SLB, Yash Chopra, Aamir Khan etc sit through all the recording sessions irrespective of who the composer is. This perseverance and hard work reflects in the audio, as every tune is very sooth and easy listening. A collectors item and a must for every long romantic drive. The music just grows on you as you keep listening and if you have no idea of what I’m talking then here is a good place to start with. From what I hear the plot seems pretty weak but then we just want to see the breathtaking sets, cinematography, and SLB’s story telling abilities. The promos reveal nothing but a Hindu-boy-loves-muslim-girl angle, but we know(hope) that SLB is capable of much more than that and wait for the saga to unfold on screen.

OSO is a film that is completely the opposite of everything that Saawariya stands for. Loud jarring music with a retro feel, the story line is a comic spoof of the movies of the 70′s, complete masala movie with laughs, dances, action sequences, stunts, and slapstick comedy. Except for a couple of songs the rest are passable but they audio is a mega hit owing to the hyped marketing behind it. The songs will be shot in super locales with SRK spreading his arms and though I abhor it now, I’m gonna be hooting when he does it on screen. SRK has always said that he is his own PR person. Given the fact that he is pitted against a production house that will not bat an eyelid when it comes to splurging dough, SRK has gone to media and the small screen. Every reality show has had an OSO special like ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘(Zee), ‘Nach Baliye‘(Star+), ‘Koffee with Karan‘(Star1) etc. Even the most popular news channel CNN-IBN carries a dance challenge where winners get to meet SRK. The Hindustan Times leadership summit was also used as an able platform to talk about his 6-pack. A lot of heroes(read John Abraham, Hrithik etc) must be kicking themselves in teh rear for their perfectly sculpted bodies never attracted such attention as the 40yr old superstar. The story of OSO is out and bears no suspense unlike Saawariya which is a closely guarded secret. The movie has a strong ‘Karz‘ flavor and one of the songs seems like a tribute to the Subhash Ghai flick. OSO definitely looses to Saawariya when the totality of the album is taken into picture, but with a free autographed poster of the most famous 6-pack in the country OSO wins on audio sales. Latest news is that OSO has teamed up with MTV-India for the Lycra style awards and thereby adding some more weight to already heavy scales.

Let’s summarize things

Saawariya
- Big names like Sony pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali
- Melodious and long lasting music by Monty Sharma
- Debutant star kids Sonam and Ranbir Kapoor(both looking average)
- Fantastics sets, cinematography
- Slow and soulful both the music and the movie
- Weak yet concealed storyline depends heavily on the master story teller SLB
Om Shanti Om
- SRK, SRK and SRK
- Catchy and peppy tunes with a retro feel by Vishal-Shekar
- Making her debut and looking absolutely stunning Deepika Padukone and supported by the talented Shreyas Talpade
- Has all the ingredients of a masala blockbuster, comedy, romance, action and above all SRK!
- Farah Khan‘s direction will promise awesome locales, and breath taking song-and-dance sequences
- Terrific small screen promotion with all prime time slots booked
- Free poster with audio CD has sales hitting a new high

Well Sony Pictures may have all the money and SLB may have his classy touch, the movie will definitely be technically supreme and a sure nominee at every award ceremony. But they don’t have something that OSO has and probably the reason why OSO will take a dinosaur share of the BO opening and the producers of OSO will be the ones smiling in the end. Ladies and Gentlemen that something is…….
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The six-pack-khan Shahrukh Khan

* author does a sashtanga namaskaram *

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