March 5th, 2010

Madhur Bhandarkar recently approached Kareena Kapoor for a role in his next flick. Says a source close to Kareena, “Madhur is planning to direct a hard-sitting social film for which he wants Kareena. He loved her in Chameli.” Adds the source, “Kareena has been offered Madhur’s film. It’s a fantastic, heroine-oriented script and she is meeting him today for a narration. Bebo is very excited to be working with him. They have both been keen on working together for a long time. Madhur had approached her for Page 3 (Konkana’s role) and for Fashion (Priyanka’s role) but her dates didn’t work out.

The movie will see three hot actresses spice up the screen with two piece bikinis as they try hard to compete with each other. Produced by Sajid Nadiawala and directed by Sajid Khan this movie seems to be one of the awaited flicks for this year.
multi-starrer romantic comedy starring Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta and Jiah Khan. The film narrates the story of Aarush – the world’s unluckiest man who believes that his bad luck can vanish if he finds true love. This quest leads to utter confusion resulting in this hilarious comedy of errors resulting in total chaos and mayhem forms the crux of the story.

Having wooed the audiences with films like Split Wide Open and English August, director Dev Benegal in his Road, Movie takes his viewers for yet another ride that one isn’t likely to forget in a long time.

Thus we find a defiant Vishnu (Abhay Deol) setting off on a journey in his antique Chevy truck, desperately trying to escape becoming a salesman at his father’s hair oil company.

Little does Vishnu know that the old truck is actually an old touring cinemascope which used to be quite popular at one point in time.

As Vishnu progresses on the desert road he first comes across a young lad who works at a roadside tea shop. The boy requests Vishnu to give him a lift to which he agrees half-heartedly.

As luck would have it, the truck breaks down in the middle of the road and an irritated Vishnu blames the boy for the same. The boy leaves Vishnu in a huff, but returns the next day with an old mechanic (Satish Kaushik). The mechanic agrees to help only if he gets a lift to a nearby carnival. Vishnu picks him up for his own selfish reason.

The film uses the barren landscape to a great advantage. The virile rust and brown frames look picturesque. But the scorching heat soon poses a problem for the travellers as they face serious water crisis.

But the three wilted wanderers continue their excursion. This time around they encounter a gypsy lady (Tannishtha Chatterjee) in blue. She not only helps quench their thirst but also guides them towards a well from which they can fetch water. So far so good.

The four characters trapped in a queer game of love and hate blend into the scenario almost effortlessly. In Road, Movie the actors completely belong to the world that they inhabit. Their chance discovery of the magic of cinema and the way they use it to tame cops, goons and common folk alike are hilarious.

Abhay Deol with a constant frown on his face, except when he is with the gypsy woman, easily looks the part of an ‘angry young man.’

Mohammad Faizal as the young lad with a sharp tongue leaves you in splits with his naughty comments. Satish Kaushik as the elderly mechanic, who protects all at every step, impresses you with his performance.

Tannishtha Chatterjee as the beautiful gypsy woman perfectly complements Abhay on screen. The chemistry between them is quite searing.

The hair oil motif, which comes in handy to grease the old projectors as well as to fool the water lord who hoards water and sells it to the poor villagers at high price are too cool. The Gabbar spoof Benegal uses here makes you laugh out louder.

French cinematographer Michel Amathieu’s brilliant camera work makes it a visual delight.

The screenplay is fantastic and the editing superb, which doubles the charm of watching this film. Dev Benegal scores full marks as a director to keep the film short and crisp, with the right dosage of thrill, humour, sarcasm and reality rolled into one.

VERDICT: A must watch.

Source: Ibnlive.com

Warner Bros production Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? is based on Sharad Joshi’s novel Tum Kab Jaoge Atithi. While going to watch this film, do remember that it is not a madhouse comedy like Priyadarshan’s or David Dhawan’s. It takes you there slowly and subtly, bringing home the message.

Puneet (Ajay Devgan) is a scriptwriter who’s landed a big film project. He has an interior designer wife, Munmun (Konkona Sen Sharma) and a little son.

Life is pretty much routine for them until a relative arrives one day from Gorakhpur, calling himself Chachaji (Paresh Rawal). While friends and neighbours are irritated with guests at home, Puneet and Munmun actually welcome their new arrival.

But right from the moment he enters the building complex, Chachaji causes havoc with his old-fashioned and some very weird and annoying ways. Soon, Puneet and Munmun start looking for ways to get rid of him, but to no avail. This old worldly and simple uncle just doesn’t seem to get the hint.

The first half of the film goes in establishing all this, and does a pretty good job of it. There are twists and turns in the second half, all tackled with the help of comic situations.

What scores is that the film does not have slapstick or in-your-face comedy. It is just about loving and accepting your guest, the way he or she is – taking the good things from them and ignoring the bad. However, the film does not say whether one should accept and endure guests who are not relatives of the hosts. That could be a different story altogether

Verdict: All in all, Atithi… is a family film, and seems like a best bet this week to watch with one’s family, as compared to the other films.

Rating: Good.