Tashan and Tamasha

Written on Saturday, April 26, 2008 by Unknown

“The Akshay Kumar”, casting of the movie reads so and they could not have got it righter. And they could not have got it wronger, by prefixing the "The" for rest of star cast as well. Nobody belongs there yet, except for Akshay. His charisma and stature has been burgeoning by day. Wherever he makes an appearance, he simply loots the show. Be it his little cameo in OSO, his brief performances in zee-sony-star (wonder if aastha is also there) award ceremonies, the latest thumps up ad, the daredevil stunt at IPL or the strings of hits he has been throwing .. one after another. Tashan is the latest one in his kitty (ok not a hit one) and how he delivers in otherwise a comparatively lack luster movie from the famed production house.
Tashan is all about Akshay and his tashan. The first half of the movie is a narration with Saif suddenly coming out of the frames and talking to the camera, an innovative (not so quite) story telling which does look stylish. The movie picks up pace on a red scooter with Akshay Kumar and his 10 heads zooming past you. Thereafter you just want to see more and more of him. Even if it is his counter-strike-got-real fights scene with hanuman chalisa like bachchan pandey mixed with rap howling in the background. Kareena thankfully is not just a gimcrack though the director has tried his level best to prove her one, when she is thrown in song and dance sequences thrown in at most unlikely places. The songs, (though some of them being good) serve as road breakers giving the already waffer thin script a run for the money (pun intended).

Anil Kapoor, the lesser said about him, the better it is. He is plain boorish and irritating to the hell. His incomprehensible hinglish is hilarious, but only to the writer, because only that can explain the logic of using the same situational jokes again and again to the point where they (the jokes) are beaten, squeezed, ambushed, bruised and flattened beyond and worth recognition.

The pace of the movie takes a beating with all those flashbacks (which are weird to say the least) but the “tashan” keeps coming back in tits and bits (though you can't help thinking that you have had enough of it). The movie ends at least thrice with whispers of not-yet-over oomph every time. (I do realize that i have started using lot of dashes which result in words-like-this).
Despite all this and other extremely bad word of mouth reviews it’s still worth a dekko simply because Akshay is just too good to give this a skip.

The Good:
- The Akshay Kumar
- The first half
- Background Track
- Kareena in you-know-what
- The visual eye candy cinematography

The bad:
- Anil Kapoor and his irritating perennial unfathomable English
- The never ending one-against-hundred fight scenes
- The pyar-kabhi-marta-nahi and main-inteqaam-lungi flashbacks

The verdict:
- Watch it for him, The Akshay Kumar

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Style YES, Substance NO

Written on Thursday, November 23, 2006 by Unknown

Casino Royale - Movie Review

"I play with guns, girls and gadgets. Who am i?"

"Bond.... James Bond"

We have grown up answering this trivial question in every other quiz shows but after Casino Royale the question (and for that matter answer) becomes dubious. Yes there is Bond .. James Bond but guns ares missing. This James Bond fights with his own hands. He does not come out of fight with his suit and ties intact. He has bruises. He has blood flowing.... like any other mortal being. No gadgets to assist him. Gone are the girls bowled by his charm. (Instead he is bowled by them to the point of leaving the job of agent 007 only to realize later that he is just a pawn in a bigger game.)

And this is precisely why Bond fails to live up to the expectation. The Bond here is not the ultimate hero. He does not come out of blues on his own rather he is plain lucky at most of times.
The character is not marked by smug confidence but a very impatience brat who keeps getting flowed by turn of events.

Alright, they say that this is the first novel and actually it is the making of James Bond but then we do not need the making of a hero after 50 years of seeing the actual hero. Go and watch it only if you are ready to digest it as a normal action movie and not a typical James Bond movie or else disappointment is in store for you.

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