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FILM REVIEWS
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Don (Kannada)
(MOVIELAND, PRAMOD, NAVRANG, NANDA, NALANDA, ADARSHA)
Cast: Shivarajkumar, Meghana Naidu, Ruchitha Prasad, Rajan P Dev, Avinash, Lakshman, Harish Rai, Shobhraj
Director: P N Satya
This one will be a real head turner for Shivanna’s fans. Shivanna, who sports a beard throughout the film, is a real head turner who does turn his head in a peculiar fashion much to the delight of his fans. This film was canned at a time when Shivarajkumar needed a hit badly. The recent success of Thavarige Baa Thangi and his role in this film has put his career on an upward swing after a long time.
The film is about Surya (Shivarajkumar) comes into his own as a don though in the guise of a criminal lawyer. He grows up under the tutelage of another leading criminal lawyer Ramaswamy Iyengar (Avinash). Iyengar rescues people who have committed the crime by individually handing over the cases to his assistants for big money.
Surya begins to win criminal cases but becomes a serial killer. As a criminal lawyer, he fights for the criminal and brings them to the top only to kill them later. Surya’s colleagues who work with his mentor grow suspicious and jealous of Surya’s success. The needle of suspicion points towards Surya and his modus operandi as a serial killer. Surya outgrows his mentor and becomes the don of the city. When CBI officer Kaveri alias Jhansi lays out a trap for Surya, Iyengar gets killed in a mix-up.
Jhansi falls in love with Surya after she comes to know that he has a troubled childhood. For obvious reasons, his father, an honest police officer, gets killed by two goons — one of them a police officer and the other an underworld don. Surya has one mission: to kill Sadhu Shetty the underworld don who killed his father.
Shivanna excels in his role as the don. He has put in a spirited yet collected and controlled perfomance. Meghana looks pretty and that’s about it. Ruchitha Prasad has done a single-dance number in the film and looks quite pretty on screen. Avinash has given a decent performance, but Rajan P Dev as Sadhu Shetty steals the show.
Director Satya, who was successful with Majestic, has come up with a similar theme keeping in mind Shivanna’s image. The film’s music has nothing much to write home about though this is Sadhu Kokila’s 100th film. This one is a must-see for Shivanna’s fans!
Srikanth
Jism (Hindi)
(LIDO, SWAGATH)
Cast: John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Gulshan Grover
Director: Amit Saxena
If the whole point of making Jism was to showcase Bipasha Basu’s sultry charms, the goal has been achieved. Despite all those claims from Bhatt Inc that the movie had only “aesthetic skin show”, Bipasha in sarongs, beach towels and abbreviated skirts leaves precious little to your imagination. Not when she flashes a generous amount of leg when driving through Pondicherry or when she’s cavorting on the beach, very aware of the presence of gaping beachcombers. While it’s all very nice that Bipasha is so comfortable with her bombshell status, you’ll wish the talented girl had more to do than pant and pout. We were told John Abraham is the best thing that could have happened to us. Don’t you go believing this. Because John, despite his supermodel looks and willingness to drop his shirt, simply cannot act. For most part of Jism, he’s either too drunk on Scotch or on Bipasha’s charms to worry about his lines.
And when he does wake up to spew fire and brimstone, you will fervently wish he’d go back to his hipflask. He does reveal an occasional flash of brilliance as a vulnerable young man who can’t help the destructive streak he has in him but falters in all the crucial scenes.
As Kabir Lal, the criminal lawyer with few morals and fewer cases, he is dazzled by Sonia (Bipasha Basu) and pursues her despite knowing that she is married. A few martinis later, they have an affair that can only last till Sonia’s husband Rohit Khanna (Gulshan Grover) comes back to town. When he does come back, Kabir cannot take the separation or the fact that Sonia isn’t willing to leave her husband, the ageing money-mad tycoon who treats Sonia as trophy wife.
Sonia pleads with Kabir and eggs him on to consider means fair or foul to do away with Rohit. They plan the perfect murder. Pity it isn’t as perfect as they thought. And there begins a tale of betrayal, crime and punishment.
The dialogues are ridiculous and M M Kareem’s music is completely ineffective, making Jism a movie where the flesh is willing, but the spirit is weak.
Kavitha K
Dil Ka Rishta (Hindi)
(CAUVERY, ABHINAY, SWAGATH)
Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rai, Raakhee, Priyanshu, Isha Koppikar, Paresh Rawal
Director: Naresh Malhotra
Formulae do not always work, at least not in films. Wish the people behind Dil Ka Rishta realised this. For all that they have done is follow the old formula of putting together three goodlooking characters and weaving a love triangle around them with as many predictable scenes as to make the audience wonder, “So what’s new?”
As in all love triangles, there’s a handsome hunk, Jai (Arjun Rampal), the crorepati son of a crorepati baap, who falls head over heels in love with Tia (Aishwarya Rai). But Tia doesn’t reciprocate his feelings as she is already engaged to Raj (Priyanshu). A crestfallen Jai, unable to face the truth, takes to the bottle, while a happily married Tia and Raj have a family that’s no less than filmi perfect. As fate would have it, once Jai, in an inebriated state, rams his car into Tia and Raj’s. Raj is killed in the accident while Tia is injured in the head, resulting in amnesia. A shell-shocked Jai apologises to Tia’s stone-faced mother (Raakhee) and offers to take care of their family till Tia is cured of her amnesia.
So off they fly to South Africa where Tia, unaware of her past, starts developing a strong liking for Jai. Now it is Jai’s turn to turn away for fear of rejection once again if and when Tia recalls her past. Will Tia have total recall? Does she forgive Jai?
Well, doesn’t the movie proceed on predictable lines? On the whole it is almost like a jumble of scenes. As far as the actors are concerned, all that ravishing Ash does is flash her million dollar smile while Arjun Rampal struts around almost expressionless. Paresh Rawal, as usual, has done his best to bring some lively moments to the film, but his talent is wasted.
Bad beginning for Ash’s home production, shall we say?
Chetana Dinesh
Anbe Sivam (Tamil)
(LAVANYA, NAGA, NATARAJ, Urvashi)
Cast: Kamal Hassan, Madhavan, Nasser, Kiran
Director: Sunder C
Love is God, the title says, and that is what this film is all about. This truth is told effortlessly in a simple story spun by the superstar himself. The film, directed by Sunder C, is a moving story that unfolds during a troubled journey that throws together two diametrically opposite personalities in circumstances that bring them close to each other and to the realities of life.
The characterisation of the two protagonists is intricate and the messages are conveyed with superb subtlety: one, that looks can deceive; and two, that God can be found here on earth in each and every one of us. Kamal plays Sivam, the grotesque looking, stuttering, stumbling fool (which he is not) while Madhavan plays A Urs (Anbaras camouflaged!), the suited-booted, spoilt, city-bred youngster for whom packaging is everything. Literally marooned in a flooded Bhubaneswar, the two are desperate to reach Chennai but find all routes blocked thanks to nature’s fury. While Sivam accepts things as they come, Urs is all fury and kicks all the way.
Desperate to shake off the fool who has tagged along, he tries all avenues and almost succeeds till fate and a grander design intervene. The scene of a train accident brings home to Urs the grim realities of death and life and one slowly sees a different man. Not so much changed as exposed: Kamal has been careful not to stereotype the youngster. This is someone who can also cry for a stranger and accept him as a brother.
It is said that Kamal actually broke his teeth for the role of Sivam. He is also believed to have almost lost his life in one shot involving the bus accident and to have undertaken courses in art for the role. Whether all this is true or not, there can be no denying his involvement with his character. It is a study in itself and many expect it to fetch him an award.
Jayalakshmi K
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