Ajay is a good time pass film. having taken a course in self defence recently one begins to enjoy the fight scenes. There is an art to blocking blows , sidestepping them , getting in one’s own. However kids should be warned not to hit people in the mouth. People have been known to lose their hand from infection acquired by hitting somebody with their knuckles and getting cuts.
The story is rich spoilt girl meets poor... well you know the rest. The special effects and photography are very very good. Karishma battling the rapids was apparently real enough to pose a threat to her in real life. Sunny Deol getting tossed by a bull is also good. Songs are not as catchy as RH so one would not expect this movie to be a super hit. There were only about 10 people for the midweek show. It is imperative that releases outside India have subtitles - unobtrusive ones at the bottom. The younger generation can no longer speak the lingo but would come back if the subtitles were put in - just think would you go to see say an Arabic movie without subtitles even if the songs etc were good if you did not speak the language?

A movie worth seeing just for Mamta's superb sexy dance . What a cracker ! Looking forward to her next film. One of the reasons why these songs and dances are so popular is that the lyrics are so good . They tell a story one can follow -unlike Hollywood ones. One feels most sorry for the English that they dont have an expressive language like Urdu.
The rest of the movie gives Sunny a chance to kill a lot of people in gruesome ways. I am beginning to feel sorry for Danny , I think the villains are dispatched in a much crueler way than they do it themselves.

A must see film on Jan 4 on Zee . Superb choreography especially the songs 'Is duniya mein jeena hai to..' and 'payal meri..' . Rarely has anybody danced with so much energy as Ayesha. Chota Bacha is another excellent dance done by children

Rakshak

"Rakshak" ( * out of * * * *) is a movie that has to be seen to be believed. But, I doubt anyone will get that opportunity. It is a three-hour film, but yet it is not art, not an opus from anyone, and is one of the longest, most offbeat experiences I've had in a theater.

A plot description, I don't think, will take much: a man, Raj, awakens from his coma; he is being located by people who want him dead. He then recalls what got him there; he saves the day from "bad guys," and becomes indicted into the police force, where he then is lured into knowing that his own foster brother is a criminal who is making counterfeit rupees.

"Rakshak" isn't just a kickfighting-action film. No. It's also a comedy, a suspense, a recovery drama, a healing drama, a crime drama, a crime comedy, a romance, and an all-out musical (in the first reel--or the first half, before "intermission" comes flying onto the screen). There are numerous dance and song numbers--none of them good--with silly mugging, yet nice photography. There is even one dance sequence (at which I stared in disbelieving amazement and embarrasment, slouching in my seat) in which the subject and main lyric is "Kuchi Kuchi," the childhood game of belly-tickling.

This was te first time attending an Indian screening, and my luck, I had to catch "one of the bad ones," as the Indian women had described it at the concession stand., during intermission. The film is not only inane, unrestrained, and undisciplined, but it also has no brains. Let's take for example the scene in which Raj's foster brother (or cousin--whatever) has his goons go over his house to search for some incriminating photographs, before Raj can use them against him. He has his men go there to find it, *then* he calls Raj and threatens him menacingly and tells him his family is in danger. If he wanted the photos without trouble, he would have gotten them, so why bring Raj in for additional trouble? And even less justified, is the climax (which came at long last), in which Raj is hiding out in a big parking garage, waiting for his opponent to come with his henchmen. About twenty of them come. They are all agaist Raj. Twenty against one. They brought grenades. Somehow, they thought grenades would be useful to use when it's twenty-to-one in their favor. Nice. Well-though out. Nice segue to a perfectly artificial and contrived confrontation.

"Rakshak is bad, but bad in a conventional way. It is stupid, but not unimaginble. It shifts tones from giddy to intense, and that took me off guard. While the dance scenes where charming and inspired the audience members to whistle alluringly, many kids talking back at the screen in Hindi. This, apparantly, is what mainstream Indian films are like, and I recommend it to people who want to see what, in a theater, the type of film that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" would ridicule. I really like last year's "Bandit Queen," which was, funny enough, banned in India, where, it seems, any film of even minor importence must be frowned upon. Sort of like America, eh? "Rakshak" is a bad film. Not only is it a bad film, but it is a three-hour bad film. That's not good. Who needs an extra hour of a bad film. Who needs any of it? I didn't.

Gulshan Grover has done a marvellous job as Sardar Kartar Singh. The Bhangra dance is one of the best ever filmed. Hopefully the distributors will release the movie on the big screen in the West.
Outstandingly good movie which tackles the difficult subject of rape and its consequence. Ranee is a gem and the song with the movie name is beautifully picturised . Its not predictable like other Indian movies and will have you glued to the seat with its surprising turns.
Very powerful dialogue especially in the court scenes. The only Indian movie brave enough that one remembers , to have had a sad ending (apart from the all time and best movie-classic -Heer Ranjha with Priya but then they couldnt have changed that story! ) was where Mahmood dies but then gets to explain that he was only dead in the film and not in real life ! ( There are a lot of unsophisticated villagers apparently who watch these movies ! ) . Cant remember the name.
Raja ki Ayegi Barat is well worth watching , and once again kudos to Zee TV for its outstanding picture quality. They take a lot of trouble even with older movies and if anybody is still watching awful VHS tapes in America -stop !

Has anybody seen this movie with Ayub Khan and Sadiqa (who is a most definite 10 out of 10 !) ?. Zee has been showing excerpts from it on its Cinemagic and Dance Mania programmes . The song and dance Kudrat Ka Nazara -wala re wala ! is so well done that if the rest of the movie is as good it is going to be a bigger hit than HAHK. I cant see Sadiqa's outfits being approved by her fellow Pathans in Kabul !
If these producers could at least release the songs on video they could make a lot of money , not many have the time to sit through a full movie every week.
Mo

Salma Pe Dil Aagaya...the next HAHK?!? I don't think so, though it should be a hit! Ayub Khan plans to relaunch his career with this, and this is talented newcomer Sadiqa's first showing. The film deals with the issue of a women in love with a married man. Other stars are also in the film, I was surprised to hear about them, but they escape my mind right now.
As for the songs, I am listening to the cassette right now, and the title song (that you have mentioned above) is just the start!
There are at least two other great songs in the film:
"Phool Main Bhejoon Dil Ye Karta Hain,
Par Tera Pata Maloom Nahin, Maloooom Nahin"
which has a superb line..."O Rabba Bichara Yaar Milade
Yaar Bina Main Marjana!"
To add to this, the singers are Lata Mangeshkar and Kuamr Sanu. The other great song, sung very well in both female (Alka Yagnik) and Male versions (Kuamr Sanu) goes like...
"Be-Kali, Bekhudi, Be Basi Degayaa,
Kucch Naya Tajoorbe Ajnabhi Degayaa"
Great lyrics by Saawan Kumar for these songs, and another great music job by Aadesh Srivaastva after the SuperHit song "Kya Ada Kya Jalwe Tere Paro, OH PARO" and others from "Shastra". I heard the whole movie (produced & directed by Saawan Kumar) is very well made and the song picturizations are beautiful.
Can't wait for this one, cuz "Salma Pe Dil Aagaya!!"
HITMAN!!

On my recent trip to India I got a chance to see the movie Maachis. Since I have a prejudice against Bombay movies, I confess I went with a biased point of view, excpecting some kind of crass commercialisation of nationalism and anti-fundamentalism. But as the story progressed I was more and more impressed with the Gulzar's handiwork. For those who don't know, Gulzar is the producer.
The story in short is about a sikh youth caught up in the turmoil of punjab millitancy during the the late eighties. His friend is taken in by police on suspicion and tortured. This puts "Pali", the youth, on the path to seek revenge and "justice".
Pali joins a millitant group which is active under the command of Om Puri alias Sanatan. The scriptwriter has used the character of Sanatan to voice the political arguments given by millitants. I was told that a lot of that monologue had been censored, for obvious reasons. The Indian state, as well as polity is still not ready to handle the subject directly. Even then, for me, who has heard the arguments before, quite a bit came thru. But I doubt if the uninitiated would have grasped the full impact of it. I guess the censors did a good job. There is inuendo in the Sanatan's monologue when he states that independence from the British was not handed to "us" on a platter to be distributed, but "we" fought for it. The obvious reference is to M.K.Gandhi.
Before Sanatan can launch on his monologue he is introduced as someone who plants a bomb on a bus to create mayhem on innocents. This scene is totally at variance with the character and the rest of the story, but I guess only an apparent villain could advance arguments in favor of millitancy and pass thru the censors.
Also the head of the group is a kesdhari sikh with all the accourtments of someone who follows all the rituals of the religion. This character is played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda in a very convincing way. AS expected he is shown to be ruthless and exacting. The cadre of the group, the pawns, are all shown to be victims of either the riots or police torture. Interestingly, none of the millitants is shown to be driven by ideology but only by personal vendatta, Hence none of them are overtly religious neither are they shown to be bearing ill feeling towards other religions. This comes out clearly when Pali shows sanatan a news item where some Hindus were pulled out of a bus and shot. sanatan remarks that these are machinations of politicians and that he could never think of doing something like this. It would be like cutting away a part of himself.
On reading a review of the movie in a local newspaper Sanatan was painted as an evil character with dubious ambitions. What I found was an angry young man out to right social injustice, albeit with the use of violence. The whole film, though, is made on the background of a Bombay idiom. There is a love affair between Pali and Veera. Veera too joins the movement after her brother commits suicide in police custody. Gulzar has made the film palatable to the bomaby film audience by using the some of the old formulae. There are song and dance sequences as well as romantic moments which is an age old formula to endear the characters to the audience. The songs, though, are not the crass bombay variety. Gulzar has used the punjabi folk style very creatively, I found myself humming the tunes to myself later on.
The scriptwriter and director were very subtle in portraying the two opposing parties, viz, millitants and police. the police are also shown to be human. Under pressure from the bosses in delhi they are forced to sink to any depth, that eventually they almost start enjoying the show. An inspector, played by Kanwaljeet Sandhu, is shown to be eager to impress his superior by ruthlessly torturing suspected millitants for information. In the process other aspects of his personality come across too. That he is also an aspiring poet. On one occaison Pali spots this inspector near a Gurdwara and wants to shoot him. But as he takes aim at Knwaljeet riding in the jeep, Kanwlajeet picks up his baby son and puts him in his lap. this blocks Pali's aim and he aborts his attempt. A very different picture of a millitant comes out from what the Indian media had fed the people.
KPS Gill was on record condemning the "negative" portrayal of police in the film. although to my sensibility it was too soft a portrayal. there was talk of banning the movie in Punjab for the duration of the elections because Youth Akali dal was planning free screenings in rural areas. On my part I was surprised that the censors had allowed the movie to be shown at all. The Indian polity seems to have come a long way from the days of millitancy, where any such point of view would be considered secessionist and anti-national.
--Mandeep

A very intelligent movie made by Gulzar (welcome back!). The movie is a reflection of life in Punjab during the mid-eighties. It very clearly depicts the confusion that prevailed in the state at that time. I also admire it for the strong character portrayal awarded to a female character (one played very amicably by Tabu) which is very rare for Hindi cinema. Tabu and C. Singh did a fantastic job; Gulzar was at his best; on the whole a well-made movie on all accords that doesn't hurt your intelligence one bit.

- Devashish Saxena.

Compulsive viewing , a movie that will linger long in the memory. A very realistic portrayal of how people can get drawn into liberation struggles over perceived injustices. It may not be a hit in India but in the Punjab and amongst the Punjabis resident outside India it will provoke very strong emotions.
One day Bollywood will make a movie with a upright policeman , an honest MP and a good at heart Hindu priest and nobody will go to watch it as it will not mirror ‘reality’ !.
A moments thought would show that if these groups were really so bad they would never allow a movie like Machis to be shown but amongst the impressionable young emotions and logic dont often go well together.

A malayalam movie which was dubbed into Hindi. Once again unlike popular opinion I thought this was a very well-made movie by PriyaDarshan. I specially appreciated the historical accuracy - which the writers painfully adhered to. The locales captured in the Andaman and Nicobar islands painfully portrayed life in prison in an English jail. Once again a short yet impressive performance by Tabu; and remarkable work by Mr Mohanlal. Why does the public not reward good work????

Extremely good movie with Nana Patekar one of India's top actors playing the obsessed lover. It will keep you hooked and a good and realistic ending. Fine perormance by Manisha.

I hesitate to include this film in my prestige list - but Nana Patekar managed to impress me enough with his work that I am able to overlook the first half of the movie where Jackie and Manisha wander aimlessly with no direction. But Nana's impact in the second half of the movie more than makes up for the first half. He puts a nice twist into the same old story which I hope nobody wants to make AGAIN!!

As for the rest, I was very disappointed. I expected better things from Raja Hindustani, Rajkumar, Chahaat, Daraar etc They were not even close to achieving what I think the above movies managed to do. What really upsets me is that Indian filmmakers waste so much talent by putting Anil Kapoor, SRK and Amir Khan in such forgettable movies - it's a shame!

I am looking forward to see Fire, Aastha, Kama-Sutra, and Daariya. All these I have a feeling would have been on my Best-Film-List if I had already seen them ..... - Devashish Saxena.

The Subject says it all. Arshad Warsi is hilarious. good songs and dances. I've seen the movie thrice and would love to see it again... Mahesh

As you may be aware, this is a movie produced by ABCL. Most of the cast is new and so is the director. But new directors have been surprising us by coming up with movies like HAHK and DDLJ.

This movie is about trading places, about a christian gujju falling in love with a madrasi brahmin girl, about land sharks trying to buy out a sick factory which our hero revives .. all in all not a brand new recipe. But this movie is refreshingly different.

The movie is quite different from the run of the mill hindi movies in the lack of melodrama and very little violence. It has some very decent humour and good camerawork. Cameraman seems to be from south looking at the good scene compositions and not good 'special effects'. Editing however is very shoddy at places.

The music is good but the songs hamper the pace of the movie. The background score is quite good. Very little dialogbaazi and a lot of visual content. There are two leading pairs. The lead actors resemble now repeatative Akshay - Saif pairing. One of the lead actress is very cute in my opinion. The other one is just a show piece but has some sex apeal. Sorry guys, I don't remember the names.

If you are from Bombay and not staying there anymore, you get a nostalgic feeling hearing the bambaia, authentic looking trafic 'paandu' and paanwaala, and Gateway of India. All in all a decent entertainer (after a long time).

Njoy, --Yogesh