Action Replayy

Action Replayy: Retro Grade Fun! 
Rating      (3/5)
Release Date : 5 November 2010 

Catch the action and you're likely to replay the experience. Vipul Shah's 'Action Replayy' comes with a very different theme and story. Going back in time and setting one's life right, in this case, one's parents' life right, on paper, at least, has a lot of potential. The film itself plays out quite interestingly and the Seventies have been very lovingly recreated by Shah and Co, especially in the costumes and the music department. Like the Seventies, the film is full of bright hues, psychedelic pinks, blues and lots of polka dots and makes for a lovely retro trip. But besides looking good cosmetically, the film also manages to tell a good story.

'Action Replayy' is basically the story of a couple, Mala (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) and Kishen (Akshay Kumar) who are constantly bickering with one another and have an exceedingly unhappy marriage, a fact which causes great distress to their only child, Bunty (Aditya Roy Kapoor), going so far as to totally put him off against the institution of marriage itself, much to his girlfriend's dismay. Things come to head at their 25th wedding anniversary, where Kishen's old rival and Mala's friend, played by Ranvijay Singh, turns up and proceeds to insult him.

This cause a further rift between Kishen and Mala and both leave the party in tears. Meanwhile, Bunty's girlfriend takes him to meet her grandfather, played by Randhir Kapoor, in a rare appearance. He plays a scientist who has just invented a time machine and is all set to go on a test ride. But Bunty tricks him and gets on to the machine himself armed with the intention of going back to the Seventies and setting his parent's marriage right (a harkback to the famed 1985 Michael J. Fox starrer 'Back To The Future' helmed by Robert Zemeckis)

Now back in time, he proceeds to go ahead and make friends with both his parents, who are unmarried at this point of time and are sworn enemies, Now begins his mammoth task of bringing up his father and helping him to become more assertive and charming. He plays cupid between his warring parents and manages to get them to fall in love and marry. His job done, he comes back to the present, back to the same anniversary party, where everything had gone all wrong and finds to his relief and delight that circumstances have changed for the better. His parents are now in love with each other, making it much easier for him to propose to his girlfriend.

Even though the film belongs to Akshay and Ash, there is no doubt that Aditya steals the show with his charm and boyish style. There is something extremely endearing about this actor's appearance and he comes across as a much more polished actor in this movie, highly improved from his first appearance in 'London Dreams' by the same director.

The role of the son is quite crucial to the film's plot and Aditya seems to fit the bill perfectly. In fact, it is because he has such an endearing presence that one tends to overlook the fact that nobody in the Seventies, seems to question who he is and what he is doing dressed so differently. He is much too easily accepted, a fact that the writer should have looked into.

The scenes in the past are quite amusing and have been very cleverly done. It is rare to see Akshay playing such an unhero like character. He is shown quite an unppealing presence. But this ugly duckling is transformed into handsome and confident man, due to coaching from his own son. Akshay acquits himself with ease and confidence as the timid Kishen, who swoons after Mala holds his hand. He is well supported by Ash, who plays a Seventies style 'mawaali' girl, who turns from tormentor to Kishen's lover.

Rannvijay Singh plays the third angle to this love story and does his best to foil all of Aditya's plans but has to bow to destiny in the end. Neha Dhupia appears for a little bit and is quite good. Kirron Kher and Om Puri make for lovely adversaries and their car sequences are quite hilarious. Rajpal Yadav is quite a treat to watch, as always. But the honours certainly do belong to Aditya, who has truly arrived with this film. It's a good build up for his next movie, 'Guzaarish', where he will again be sharing space with Ash and Hrithik Roshan.

The film has been very well shot and the Seventies have been recreated quite well. Pritam's music adds to feel and look of the movie. Going retro never seemed so much fun. Go... grab your retro thrills.

Disclamer:- Content is taken from Moviestalkies site.

Allah Ke Bandey: Children at War !
Rating      (3/5) 
Release Date : 26 November 2010 

There could not be a more telling picture than this which was seen at the box office when two directors made their debuts. There was Danish Aslam's 'Break Ke Baad', a light hearted contemporary romcom and then there was Faruk Kabir 's 'Allah Ke Bandey', a gritty reflection of our violent times. The most commendable thing about 'Allah Ke Bandey' is the sincere and honest attempt to tell a realistic tale.

Kabir may have been influenced/inspired by the Oscar winner, 'Children of God'. However, his take on children being exploited is on an absolutely different level altogether. The world that the children of 'Allah Ke Bandey' find themelves in, is one shorn of any kind of humanistic feelings or ideals. It is a cut throat dangerous world wrought with crime and violence.

The story of 'Allah Ke Bandey' is basically about two 12 year old kids, Vijay and Yakub, who grow up on the mean streets of Mumbai, acting as drug peddlers for the mafia. They are wrongly convicted of murder and find themselves sent to a juvenile home. Meant to be a reformation centre, it is perhaps a bigger hell than the one they inhabited on the streets.

At the home, they are subjected to even greater torture by the senior inmates of the home with the express permission of the evil warden, played brilliantly by Naseeruddin Shah. Not ones to cave in, Vijay and Yakub survive the 11 years that they spend inside, emerging even more hardened than ever Vijay and Yakub are now full blown criminals, who now run their own army of teenagers who rule the slums. And so the vicious cycle of juvenile crime continues with no end in sight.

The film definitely makes an impact which is further enhanced by its authentic locations and lingo. Of course, there have been other films like Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Traffic Signal', for instance, which have captured the gritty life on the streets but not as powerfully as Kabir has done in his movie.

But the movie does a have a slight inconsistent feel to it as it kind of flounders in the middle. Also the first half is much more gripping because of a taut screenplay, while the second half tends to drag. Vijay's love track with Anjana Sukhani's character doesn't gell very well with the tone of the movie.

The film's highlight is its strong performances, beginning with the two child actors who play Vijay and Yakub in the first half. The good work is carried forth by Sharman and Kabir, both of who turn in rivetting performances. Joining them is Naseer who plays an evil Fagin like character, who later falls into bad days. Naseer manages to stand out even in the small cameo that he portrays.

One of the highlights of the film is the scene where Vijay encounters him so many years later. The other two actors whose performances could be called worthy are Atul Kulkarni as the teacher, and Zakir Hussain. Of the female actors, Suhasini Mulay stands out but Anjana and Rukhsaar have very little to do and are hardly effective.

The film not only sees Kabir succeeding as an actor but also as a deft storyteller. He makes a confident debut with a subject which is hardly easy to handle. He makes his point about the derelict state of our society where the future seems doomed, as the youth, our future, are themselves doomed.

Of course, we can continue to delude ourselves with fairy tales about childhood innocence and ignore the underlying darkness which is preying on our children. But Kabir decides instead to make a realistic and tough film on what happens on the mean streets of our city and makes his mark, both as an actor and a director.

Disclaimer:- Content is taken from Movietalkies site

Break Ke Baad

Break Ke Baad: Nice love Story
Rating      (3/5)
Release Date : 26 November 2010

After 'I Hate Luv Stories', Imran Khan is back in yet another romantic caper, this time with Deepika Padukone. The film, 'Break Ke Baad', produced by Kunal Kohli, has been directed by yet another debutant, Danish Aslam. What is interesting about the movie is its very contemporary take on love and romance in the age of internet.

But what is not so impressive is the film's screenplay, which seems a little confused, thus making for a slightly flawed romcom. The sparkle and thrills in the movie are mainly provided by the lead pair, who share a good chemistry on screen and also put in good performances.

The film is the story of Abhay (Imran) and Aaliya (Deepika), childhood friends now turned into sweethearts, who share their first kiss during their third viewing of Karan Johar's 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. Abhay and Aaliya are as different as two people can possibly be. If she is headstrong, highly strung and always craving excitement, then he is the steady and reliable kind and quite bland compared to her.

But these childhood sweethearts decide to take a break, rather Aaliya decides to take a break and go to Australia to study, while Abhay needs to discover what his calling in life is since he has spent most of his adult alive doing Aaliya's bidding. Abhay follows Aaliya to Australia and this is where Renuka Kunzru's screenplay and dialogues lose their spontaneity and become kind of mechanical.

The magic, as it were, seems to go out of the movie, as from here onwards, the film has a predictable trajectory. Aaliya softens slightly and becomes a little more sensitive to other people's needs. She also discovers that while it is fine to talk about space, too much of it means that she has no one to share her joys with. Abhay, meanwhile, manages to come into his own, as he finds his vocation in life. So after a lot of predictable situations, they finally come back together and get married.

What doesn't work for the movie is the whole premise of the break up. There is no proper reason provided in the screenplay for the breakup. It all seems rather ludicrious and hard to believe. Also the film is a bit too verbose and not all of that chatter is intelligent. If the intention was to sound cool, then it doesn't always come out that way.

But having said that, one has to admit that the lead pair make the best of what they have and are a joy to watch. Deepika seems to be improving with every outing and her Aaliya is quite a character. As for Imran, he does not have a very colourful role but he still manages to make his bland and boring character quite appealing.

As for the other performers, veteran Sharmila Tagore is a sight for sore eyes but seems quite wasted in the movie and so is very talented Shahana Goswami. But the one person who manages to create some thrills in the second half of the movie, is Lillete Dubey, who plays Abhay's aunt in the movie. She lifts the proceedings every time she appears on screen and has been well utilised by the makers. Navin Nischol and Yudhishtir Urs are just about okay.

So the report card for Danish is not all bad. The director has managed to steer the film quite well in the first half and also manages to create enduring moments. But it's the second half which escapes his control and goes a little awry. He and co writer, Renuka, will have to share responsibility for that.

The film's music has been composed by Vishal Shekhar, who do a fairly neat job with the music, giving it the right contemporary touch. But yes, one would have liked a bit more from the score of a romcom. The cinematography is handled by Andre Menezes and is quite good.

Even if one has already said this before, it needs to be said again that the USP of 'Break Ke Baad' is really its lead pair, Imran and Deepika. The two actors are extremely pleasing to watch and turn in very persuasive performances as well, which goes a long way in concealing the flaws in the movie…

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