Chakravyuh | Mess As Expected | The Critique

While Arjun was far, Abhimanyu entered the Chakravyuh setup by Kauravas. In the end he dies while Arjun goes on with the fight. This is an easy way to summarize the story. Though it can be denied, Chakravyuh is definitely inspired from Drohkal. A cop plants his man as a bug in Naxal group. This is what happens in Drohkal and this is how story begins in Chakravyuh. Rajneeti failed the viewers. Aarakshan was a celebral tragedy. Chakravyuh is a blunder. At least by Jha's standard.

 

The biggest problem with the story is the characterization. Characters and sometimes scenes are straight lift from different movies with similar backdrop. Spicing it up with too much grey characters doesn't help the cause. At some point you believe that one side is right and at a later point you support the other. As you go about with story, you end up in the middle. As aloof as you were before entering the theatre. To screw it up more, there is no conclusion. It might have helped a thriller but not a social drama.

 

Manoj Bajpayee, Om Puri and Abhay Deol were wasted. Arjun Rampal is still growing and is definitely better than the rest from his batch. Esha Gupta had less to do and she managed to screw it as well. Applause. Anjali Patil is NSD grad. That shows up. She is the highlight of the movie. The angst in her eyes is real.

 

Story is weak. Dialogues rarely leave an impact. More than often you end up sympathizing with yourself than the characters. Cinematography is just okay. Music lacks the local touch. Direction is really weak. Development of scenes look so clichéd. Prakash Jha needs a rejig. Nothing else will work. He is a great director but unfortunately he is losing his grip.

 

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Aankhein Movie Review | Critique | Hiest Movies Special

Rating-3/5 Stars

Aankhein came out in 2002, with Mr. Amitabh Bachchan towering over the rest of the cast in terms of strature. Others included Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Sushmita Sen and Paresh Rawal.

What if you have a HUGE ego and intelligent criminal mind and somebody takes away only thing you ever made? Wrath. One, Vijay Singh Rajput (Mr. Bachchan) plans a heist to rob his former bank, to teach them a lesson. He makes an ingenious move to get three blind men to do the job. He ropes in Neha (Sushmita Sen) to train 3 such men.

3 men picked for the job have interesting characters. Iliyas (Paresh), the clown of the three, was made blind as a boy to beg on the streets. Arjun's, the simpleton, later developes feelings for Neha. Vishwas (Akshay) is the smartest of the three, having an acute sixth sense.

It works as a heist movie as it has an element of looming danger, an interesting premise, comic relief in form of Paresh Rawal. The sequence of their training has been put together really well; The replica of bank that is set up for training; Vishwas who many times nearly finds out presence of Mr Bachchan during the training are shot brilliantly.

Written by 'Ali Naqvi'

We Are Family | The Critique

Rating: 3/5



Long ago, I heard Kareena saying that Erin Brockovich is one of her dream roles. With We Are Family, I guess a part of her dream has been realized. But unfortunately, Kareena is no Julia Roberts. She can’t be so even in my wildest dreams. However, rating We Are Family, I would say… 3 off five. Two for movie and one for buying the rights of original...

We are family is basically story of a lady coming into terms with her ex’s current for the sake of her children. Kajol, the Mom is trying to teach a thing or two to Kareena, the Stepmom while Arjun, the Pop looks confused and ragged between two ladies. Set in Australia, this is another tale from Dharma Banner about no-so-Indian Indians. Without revealing the details and goof-ups in the plot, I would like to say a few things about the performances.

We Are Family is basically Kajol’s film. She simply overtook everything from everyone else with her charming performances. She has proven the fact that she is perhaps the last star actress. Maybe this is not her best but she was the saving grace. Kareena was better than Tashan or Kambakhht Ishq but I guess that’s not a reason to celebrate. Arjun was apt and with raised expectations after Raajneeti, I think he should gear up fast. Kids were cool. They put a nice show.


Dialogues are a sheer let down. Too plastic. Music is average. Cinematography and editing are just okay; below Dharma standards. Direction seems to be weak but then I guess since we tempt to compare with the original; so pardonable. Overall, average. However, I think it was absolutely great on part of makers that they bought the rights for the remake… something really positive.

Why To Watch: If you haven’t seen Stepmom, like Kajol act and want to ogle at Kareena.

Why To Avoid: There is nothing too good about it, in parts its boring and not anywhere close to Stepmom in cinematic sense.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

My Take: Rampal On Killing Spree In Rajneeti | Under Lens

Arjun Rampal is one of those few actors who are improving with every movie. In Rajneeti, he was really good in a few scenes. My take is the one in which he decides to kill corrupt cop in guesthouse. Considering Michael’s role in Godfather, it’s expected that Ranbeer would be killing him to take the revenge of that one tight slap. But, when I saw the rage in eyes of Arjun in that slap-scene; I realized that it’s going to be the other way this time. Sonny will go for the kill.

Now, cut to scene where Arjun comes to know about the whereabouts of the cop. He is infuriated and the image of his brother with injury on face comes to his mind, what else is expected from a hot blooded person like Prithvi. The character instantly decides to kill the cop as he promised his Uncle (Nana Patekar). His people gherao the guesthouse and he enters with a vicious grin and lyrics of a popular song of 90’s- ‘Kabhi Ankhiyan Ladaun…’ The cop is killed in cold blood and it is followed by murder of the women worker who changed her loyalty. Rampal simply lives the character with a high level of success.

Prakash Jha is a genius when we think about such scenes. It’s interesting to note that the way he created the character of Prithvi; it became the most memorable one in the lot. Samar has a greater parallel in Michael. For Prithvi… I need to think a lot.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh

Rajneeti | Movie Review | Critique

Rajneeti, released on June 4th, this year is a movie that is going to influence cinema for some good time. Director and co-writer Prakash Jha is one of the most respected name in current scenario in Indian Cinema and with this movie, strengthened his claim of respect. This movie delivered what the viewers wanted. Great performances and awesome dialogs carrying a strong script.

Movie is undoubtedly written on the lines of Mahabharat and took subtle but evident inspiration from The Godfather. Political background drew attention but barely has anything to do with Gandhi family (except a small part in climax where Katrina, a widow leads the party). These inspirations were the basic problem. In Mahabharat times and in Mafia, so much bloodshed seems logical but in current political scene, it’s not logical at all. Violence should have been substituted with more subtle alternatives like jail and political stalemate. Mindgames would have been a better way to show it.

Notable performances by Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. Rampal performed like one who has a National Award on his rack. Ranbeer excelled his past performances. Nana Patekar and Manoj Bajpeyee were simply awesome in their portrayals. Ajay Devgn got a raw deal in a highly underwritten/ edited role. He deserved more space. Katrina and Sarah (Ranbeer's lady in movie) put apt performances. Everybody else including Chetan pandit (Ranbeer's father) did a fine job.

Music was okay but editing was good considering the canvas of movie. Direction and writing deserves praise as they won the battle for the movie. They were the real stars. Watch it if you want to play with your gray cells.