Aakrosh

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Ajay Devgan, Akshay Khanna, Paresh Rawal, Bipasha Basu, Reema Sen
Director : Priyadarshan
Music : Pritam, Ouseppacham (bg score)

A couple of months ago, I happened to see an unusual promotional trailer of a hindi movie as a coming attraction. The visuals in the movie titled 'Aakrosh', showed that it is a village based action subject and seeing Priyadarshan's name in the creator's credit was also an unbelievable one. Also I didn't heard any malayalam project's name as the story base for this new venture. Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu comes to the Priyan camp for the first time. LIke last couple of movies, Ouseppachan did the bg score. Tiru is the cinematographer. The movie is based on a true incident which happened in a north indian village in the past, the movie was in the news before its release as the censor board has ordered for some cuts for the controversial dialogues. Robin Bhatt and Akash Khurrana has written the screenplay for the movie.

Three students from Delhi were missing, since two months as there is no information, the central government has ordered for an enquiry. The CBI officers Sidharth (Akshay Khanna) and Pratap (Ajay Devgan) reaches the Jhanjar town for an investigation. The local police and the government officials were not willing to support them. They came across the police officer (Paresh Rawal), the village lady (Reema Sen) and even happened to see Prathap's ex-lover (Bipasha Basu). How the officers solves the case in the middle of a tensed situation, is told in a serious manner in 'Aakrosh'.

Priyadarshan has given a different serious approach on the presentation side here. His boldness to take the issue of caste system that still exists in the north indian villages as the theme should be praised. The action mood necessary for such a story is given by cinematographer Tiru through his visuals and the grading style used is suited well. Ouseppachan gave a good backing with an excellent bg score. The action sequences, especially the chasing shots are neatly executed with the help of Thyagarajan and Yadav. The frames have been neatly edited by Arun Kumar (he is looking forward to the release of his debut directorial venture in malayalam, 'Cock Tail' this week). The art work done by Sabu Cyril is also good.

Ajay Devgan and Akshay Khanna have done their job well. Paresh Rawal, who is seen as a humorous person in the director's previous projects, has done his serious role in an attractive manner.

Some of the situations here has got the flavor of movies by directors like Prakash Jha and Vishal Bharadwaj. A couple of songs (including an item song by Sameera Reddy) has affected the flow of the story. The channel name is missing in the tv visuals shown in the beginning, which should have been noticed. The anti climax happening is good, but should have been more realistic.


'Aakrosh', based on some real incidents, is an investigation thriller by Priyadarshan presented in a different style.


Rating : 7.5 / 10

Khatta Meetha

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Trisha, Rajpal Yadav, Kulbushan Kharbhanda, Milind Gunaji, Manoj Joshi
Director : Priyadarshan
Music : Pritam, Ouseppachan (bg score)

Notable director Priyadarshan is still enjoying his reign in bollywood through remake subjects. After the remake of a foreign classic ('Bumm Bumm Bole'), he has borrowed a project from malayalam. This time the chance is for his own hit movie, 'Vellanakalude Naadu', written by Srinivasan. The director's favorite star Akshay Kumar, once again tries to make fit in an ordinary role, done brilliantly by Mohanlal, almost 22 years back. South indian actress Trisha make her debut in hindi through 'Khatta Meetha'. It should be noted that she came to the movie field from the modeling area through Priyadarshan's tamil project named 'Leysa Leysa' (remake of malayalam hit 'Summer In Bethlehem'). V.Manikandan, who worked with the director in 'Billu' is the cinematographer. As usual, Arun Kumar is the editor. Director's favourite music director Pritam has composed the songs. Like 'Bumm Bumm Bole', Ouseppachan is in charge of the re-recording section.

Sachin Tichkule (Akshay Kumar) is a struggling pwd contractor. As he is not earning much money, he is taking debts from many peoples and his parents (Kulbushan Kharbhanda and Aruna Irani) are angry and sad about this attitude. His brother-in-laws (Milind Gunaji and Manoj Joshi) are corrupted guys, they have joined hands with the political leader for the illegal activities. They are spending lot of money and even commit a murder to save themselves from a bridge collapse case that killed many innocent villagers. Gehna (Trisha) is joined as the municipal commissioner. Through a flash back, the relationship between Sachin and Gehna is revealed. She is surprised to see the contrasting character of Sachin now. The lack of stability in the relationship between the M.C and the contractor happens in the following days. At this time, Sachin's sister is being married to a political leader. Whether Sachin is able to get success in his current job is shown in the later portions of 'Khatta Meetha'.

To compare the classical satire 'Vellanakalude Naadu' with 'Khatta Meetha', will be a stupidity. Other than copying all the scenes, director has included the lengthy comedy scene inside palace from malayalam movie 'Friends', the scene involving Pappu and James from his own project 'Midhunam' with an addition of three songs (most of them in un wanted situations). The road roller scene, which was the highlight of the original version has not done here in the best way. The visual 'effects' done for the elephant, over acting of Johny Lever, the way in which road roller comes back etc are not realistic and won't be good enough to make us laugh. The continuity is also missing as the particular house is shown without any damage later. The comedy scene with phones involving Asrani, looks like a deliberate one.

We can't expect more from an action hero like Akshay Kumar in this odd role. Trisha doesn't look confident enough to do the matured role of a government servant. Rajpal Yadav, Kulbushan Kharbhanda and Manoj Joshi have done well. The role of Makrand Deshpande (in place of Sreenivasan) is not not neatly portrayed and thus the character has got some negative shades also. Songs by Pritam are not good enough to be remembered. The director has tried to add some dialogues involving the corruption of the system and the necessity of the national integrity. V.Manikandan's camera work is colorful, but how ever the lack of detailing of the road work shots for such a theme, is a draw back. Ouseppachan's bg core is good. The action sequence towards the end is done neatly.


With each and every shots of the original version still in my mind, it is difficult to recommend for 'Khatta Meetha'...


Rating : 5 / 10

Bumm Bumm Bole

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Darsheel Safary, Ziya Vastani, Atul Kulkarni, Rituparnasen Gupta
Director : Priyadarshan
Music : M.G.Sreekumar, Ouseppachan (bg score)

Priyadarshan has once again come out with a remake subject, this time he has not lifted anything from the south, his new film 'Bum Bum Bole' is based on the Iranian classic 'Children Of Heaven', directed by Majidi Majidi. The new film caught attention recently as it is the second film for notable child artist Darsheel Safary after 'Taare Zameen Par'; there were rumors that the young 'star has been paid around a crore rupee for this project. Notable cinematographer Azhagappan ('Kazhcha', 'Manassinakkare' fame) joined hands with the director for the first time through this film. Arunkumar is the editor, M.G.Sreekumar gave music for a couple of numbers and Ouseppachan handles the bg score section, Sabu Cyril is the art director; thus 'Bum Bum Bole' has got the support of many malayalee technicians.

The story happens in the terror-hit hilly surroundings of Assam. The two kids (Darsheel Safary and Ziya Vastani) lives with their father (Atul Kulkarni) and mother (Rituparnasen Gupta). The father tried many jobs to make the both ends meet with the poor family. One day, Darsheel loses the pair of shoes owned by her younger sister. He is aware of the fact that his poor father can't afford to buy a new pair of shoes. Thus Darsheel gave an idea, his sister will go to school wearing his shoes, when she comes back he will take it. Without informing the parents, they continued the process. How they over come the situation and whether their immense wish to get a new pair of shoes got succeeded is shown towards the end.

As I have watched 'Children Of Heaven' also, it is too difficult to leave the place without comparing the new version with the original. 'Bumm Bumm Bole' doesn't have the simplicity and attraction, holds by the foreign film that got released almost 13years back. The inclusion of the terror attacks, the boss trying to molesting the mother character etc are the creativity happened from the director, which is not good for such a subject. The fishes in the small pool in front of the house has got its own relevance in the original version, which is not conveyed here properly. The scenes in which the young girl losing the shoes in the canal, the boy giving excuses for late entry to the headmistress etc are also not created professionally. The director has also maintained the school uniform costume and the electronic calling bells, as it is from the original version. The musical theme 'bumm bumm bole...' used by Ouseppachan (for the running scenes) is not good. The one song in the film is also not needed.

The main attraction of 'Bum Bum Bole' is the excellent performance by the child artist, Baby Ziya Vastani. The innocence and cuteness of the character is neatly portrayed by her. Notable 'star' Darsheel Safary, who did the central character, has not delivered his best, his lack of confidence is evident in some scenes, in some areas he is over acting also. Atul Kulkarni has also done well as the frustrated person. Azhagappan had given some colorful visuals.

To choose a subject based on the intimacy in relationship between the young siblings is a good thing; but if you have watched the foreign classic film 'Children Of Heaven', then no need to try your luck on 'Bumm Bumm Bole'...


Rating : 6.5 / 10

De Dena Dun

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Sameera Reddy
Director : Priyadarshan
Music : Pritam, Salim-Sulaiman

Since a month before, the trailer of the film 'Den Dana Dun' is being showed in theaters. The film produced by big music banner, Venus has got a big star cast. The majority scenes are shown in the comedy background and most of them reminds us of the sequences which came in a malayalam film before. When I looked for the director's name, my assumption became right. It was none other than Priyadarshan, the director who holds the record for giving maximum remake subjects. More over the majority scenes were taken from his own malayalam film, 'Vettam'.

To watch a remake subject is not an interesting task. Only thing you can do is to compare and analyze the current version with the older one. The 60+ films old director had got an immense experience in recreating projects from different languages; he starts such an experimenting from the days of 'Boeing Boeing' and 'Thaalavattom' itself. and that too from the English. With some curiosity, I entered the theater to watch how an average film like 'Vettam' has been remade in hindi.

To my surprise, here the hero (Akshay Kumar) is shown as a servant of a rich woman (Konika). He has not even got a place in the house like her pet dog who is being treated like a close relative of her. After suffering a lot, the decides to commit suicide(?). On the other side, his friend (Sunil Shetty) is shown struggling for his livelihood. Both of them had made a plan to kidnap the dog in lieu of a big amount of money. The plan works and they kidnapped the dog, but it escaped from them and reached back the owner. Since the servant is missing, the lady thinks that he is being kidnapped and investigation goes in that way. The culprits decided to stay in a hotel, their lovers also reaches there. The rest of the portions of the film happens in the particular hotel, where all the characters assembles. It later on leads to utter confusion and misunderstandings(like the situations in 'Vettam'), after a tension prevailed climax all are happy.

The marriage celebrations of one of the heroines happens in the hotel. At the same hotel, the two heroes and the other heroine decided to stay. A professional killer reaches there as a part of his mission to kill one of the important members in the bride's party. A womanizer also reaches the hotel. A police officer comes in search of the bridegroom's father, who has been involved in many cheating cases. A girl who involves in the prostitution, reaches there to meet her customer and to collect money. An underworld don and his gang reaches there with a dead body as per request from one of the heroes to do some fowl play. What will happen if these characters are shuffled and get involved in the misunderstanding situations. Here almost all the characters are indirectly or accidentally linked with each other. Other than the actors in lead roles, here you have got a bulk number of artists like Paresh Ravel, Tinu Anand, Shakti Kapoor, Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Chunkey Pandey, Sharat Saxena, Asrani, Neha Dupia etc etc. Thus the confusions and complexity shown in 'Vettam' is being doubled here.

The opening scenes in which the hero narrating his story is adapted from some of the director's own projects which came in malayalam in the 80's. A scene from 'Mannar Mathayi Speaking' and 'Ee Parakkum Thalika' is taken as it is by the director here. The climax water sequences reminds the film 'Titanic'. Akshay Kumar was more flexible in some of the films he done recently, but here he was not so impressive as before. Lady with very less expressions in her face, Katrina Kaif has done the role in her usual way. Many experienced supporting actors placed in the film had proved their talent to their maximum through the comedy sequences. In the climax, the servant walking through the water with many glasses in his hand is an avoidable situation.

Cinematographer from south, who did films like 'Vettam', 'Kanthasamy' and E', Ekaambaram has done a neat job behind the lenses. Art director Sabu Cyril did some miniature jobs and visual effects for the climax portions. Another malayalee in the chief technical crew is Arun Kumar, the editor of the film. Songs by Pritam were not impressive, but the busy musicicans, Salim-Sulaiman managed to keep the tempo through their background score.


'De Dena Dun' has got endless comic situations involving too many chaos and confusions. If you like such kind of comedy films, then you can also have a 'forced' time pass here; (those who have seen films like 'Pyar Tho Hona Hi Tha' and 'Vettam', please keep distance!!!).


Rating : 6 / 10