Kandahar

Medium : Malayalam
Starring : Amitabh Bachan (guest), Mohanlal, Ganesh Venkatraman, Major Ravi, KPAC Lalitha, Ragini Dwivedi
Director : Major Ravi
Music : Shamir Tandon, Vivek (bg score)

The director of military oriented movies, Major Ravi is back with a similar subject with his favorite star Mohanlal. It is based on a real incident, a plane hijack, happened many years before. Major Mahadevan, who was the hero in 'Keerti Chakra' and 'Kurushetra', is back to lead the mission. The main attraction here is that Amitabh Bachan has done a notable guest appearance in the movie. After the hindi movie 'RGV Ki Aag', this is Big B's second combination with Lal. Ganesh Venkatraman ('Abhiyum Naanum', 'Unnaippol Oruvan' fame) did the second lead. Hero's own banner, Pranavam International is the lead producers of the movie. It is more important that this is Mohanlal's first movie in the role of a military officer, after he has been awarded the Lieutenant Colonel rank.

The story opens by showing the retd. professor (Amitab Bachan) advising his son Soorya (Ganesh Venkatraman), to be more serious and become independent in his life. The son meets Major Mahadevan (Mohanlal) and tells his wish, as per request from the Major he joins the army. On the other hand, the recruitment of a local youth Soorya (Ganesh's friend) to the terrorist organization is also shown. After the vigorous training, Soorya is being recruited under Major's wing. At this time, the plane hijack happens and how Major and his team went on a mission to free the passengers are shown later.

We all know the real incidents behind the Kandahar plane hijack, but the director had given his own version for the story here. He don't want to commit the mistake he has done in the case of 'Mission 90 Days' (based on Rajiv Gandhi assassination and its after effects). But, he has not created the plane hijack and the related mission episodes in the best way. The hijacking is happening in the second half, more over the mission is ending all on a sudden, with in minutes. That episode is lacking the tense situations and the drama required (we have seen many hollywood movies , where the whole movie might be running through hijacking scenes alone). The way in which the Major taking in charge of the mission is not shown in a realistic manner. Though the situation demands so, the hero's attempt to fly the plane and its after effect shots are cinematic. The two gun fire operations (one in the flashback and other against militants in the jungle) are shown to substantiate that this is a military oriented subject. The news visuals shown in the channel (real ones also) creates a confusion about the period of the happenings.

There is an over doze of hindi dialogues in the whole movie, more over Ganesh Venkatraman's difficulty in the lip movements are evident even in the middle of an acceptable performance. The comedy used (only in a single scene) featuring Anoop Chandran and Jaffer Idukki is not needed and a childish one. The presentation of the scene in which the cadets behaving to their group leader inside such a disciplined set up, cannot be acceptable at any cost.

Amitabh Bachan is there in few scenes only, but he made his screen presence as usual with his excellent performance. The military roles are like tailor made ones for Mohanlal, he is also at his best. The couple of combination scenes featuring Mohanlal and Bachan are good, but the one towards the end felt lengthy. As usual there is no importance for female artists in the movie, even then KPAC Lalitha did well in the worried mother's role. The dialogues told by her character regarding her son's uneven journey is good. The patriotic dialogues used in the movie are good. The behavior of the lorry driver and the bike riders seeing the military vehicle, the child's act inside the plane etc are the only few appreciated moments shown. Major Ravi also comes in the role of a trainer. Cinematography by Ravi Varman and Velraj is colorful. Don Max is the editor. Songs by Shamir Tandon are not the best. New comer Vivek's bg score is ok.

'Kandahar' is not extra ordinary enough to be rated best among the military oriented subjects, the combination of two great actors in the country in addition to some patriotic situations holds the main attraction in the movie.


Rating : 6 / 10

Teen Patti

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Amitabh Bachan, Ben Kingsly, Madhavan, Raima Sen
Director : Leena Yadav
Music : Salim Sulaiman

Recently we have seen, hollywood actor Sylvestor Stalline doing a guest role in hindi film 'Kambakth Ishq', by Akshay Kumar. Now it is time for another foreign actor Ben Kingsly, the man who did the title role in the film 'Gandhi', to do a suporting character with Amitabh Bachan in the new bollywood film 'Teen Patti' (pronounced as 'Theen Patthi'). The film is directed by new comer lady, Leena Yadav.

The film tells the story of Venkat (Amitabh Bachan), a mathematical genius, who is visiting abroad to meet an international mathematician (Ben Kingsly). The former tells his story in which he is shown working as tutor in an institution. He is doing research work in his subject and when he submits the thesis work it is being rejected every time. He is not fed up and still work hard and developed a new theory based on probability and statistics. He tells this fact to his junior (Madhavan). He is selecting four students from the college, as per instruction from Venkat. The theory on the game of cards has been tested and the result was found positive. They decided to try this in a gambling event. Without revealing the identity, they all played and when found succeeded, they move on to bigger places where betting are are done on big amount of money. In the middle, they had to face some hard challenges also. Venkat was not interested in continuing the game, he also reminds his companions that these games are done as a part of research works only. But he agreed to continue the gambling as others requested him. In the middle, an unknown guy who is aware of this, tried to blackmail Venkat for money. At one stage, a split between the friends for the sake of money, also happens. The college authorities became vigilant and the future of Venkat, as an aftereffects of this is shown in the climax of 'Teen Patti'.

The foreign mathematician Ben Kingsly speaking hindi should have been avoided. Even though each and every member in the group, excluding the professor, tells that they are in badly need of money, the director had no included any scenes to justify their wish. We can't justify the professor supporting the gambling for money, as he is not The gambling environment is changing, but those areas are not neatly executed. Some of the songs are placed in unwanted situations. The way in which the young guys reacting in the group in the later portions felt a cliche.

Cinematography by Aseem Bajaj is good. Amitabh Bachan has done well in the lead role. His sharing of screen presence with Ben Kingsly is also notable. The man who did Mahatma's role didn't have much to perform here. After the hit film 'Three Idiots', once again Madhavan comes in his usual style here. The direction side is ok, but a good professionalism on the scripting area might have given an extra ordinary result for the movie.


'Teen Patti' has got an unusual theme, the problems in the execution side is the main negative happened here.


Rating : 5.5 / 10

Rann

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Amitabh Bachan, Sudeep, Ritesh Deshmukh, Paresh Ravel, Suchithra Krishnamoorthy, Neetu Chandra
Director : Ramgopal Varma
Music : Debashish Mehra

Director Ramgopal Varma's film career started with the telugu superhit of later 80's, 'Shiva' starring Nagarjuna. His career is a mix of many ups and downs. He is the director / producer of many action / horror based thrillers like 'Road', 'Kaun', 'Rangeela', 'Bhoot', 'Darna Mana Hai', 'Vasthu Shastra', 'Phoonk' etc. Unlike from other directors, he has always been practicing the custom of using contreversial subjects for his films. 'Satya', 'Company' etc were made on the underworld gangs, The hero in the film 'Sarkar' has got the shades of a notable political leader in Mumbai and 'Jungle' was filmed on sandalwood smuggler Veerappan's story. Anyway, even after giving so many flops, he is still an excellent director due to his unique style in the movie making. After 'Sarkar' series, 'Nisabdh' and 'RGV Ki Aag' (remake of 'Sholay'), Amitabh Bachan once again join hands with his favorite director Varma for his latest film 'Rann', which is based on the media world.


The protagonist Vijay Malik (Amitabh Bachan) is the owner of a news channel, India 24/7. Even after affected by a low tam rating, he believes in the true way of delivering news and always followed an ethics in presenting it before the public. His competitor channel (owned by Mohnish Behl) is in the top postion, as they have given importance for new business strategies apart from sticking on to realities and ethics. Vijay's son Jay (kannada actor Sudeep, 'Phoonk' fame) is disturbed and worried at this. Vijay's son-in-law (Rajat Kapoor) with the help of a corrupted politician (Paresh Rawal) had agreed to help Jay. As a part of character assassination, they had made some forged videos against a clear politician and made him the main suspect behind the bomb blast that happened recently. Without knowing the real fact, Vijay Malik telecasted the news. Their channel's tam rating is in a higher position now and Jay got a bulk amount of money from the people who are benefited due to this. An ambitious young journalist (Ritesh Deshmukh), who is working in India 24/7, has smelled the fowl play and he decided to conduct an investigation on these things and its after effects are in the remaining portions of 'Rann'.


The main attraction here is the presentation of the film. Some of the under ground games that is happening in the media world these days are shown openly. The film is rich in its technical aspects also, cinematographer Amit Roy should be given the maximum credits. Amitabh Bachan, in the lead role has given an excellent performance. Kannada star Sudeep, who has done his son's role has also done a good job. Rithesh Deshmukh did the character in a matured way.


Though the speech in the end by the hero is sensible, it felt too lengthy in such a situation. There should have been justifications given for the inclusion of Rithesh's character in the higher level team meeting of the news channel and the reward for the double agent role done by the high official in the channel is given in an open place, which is also unacceptable.


'Rann' is a film that shows the darker side of the media world. How can a back door entry for the news in such a medium affects the system is shown in Ramgopal Varma's style...


Rating : 7 / 10

Paa

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Amitabh Bachan, Abhishek Bachan, Vidya Balan, Paresh Ravel
Director : Balki
Music : Ilayaraja

Can you believe that a 67 year old actor has done the role of a 13 year old boy ? Anyway it happened in the hindi film industry and the credit goes to none other than Amitabh Bachan. The new film 'Paa' has got Big B in such a different role. In his 40th year of filmi career, this old man had not lost his passion in acting. 'Paa' is written and directed by Balki, the director of Amitabh, Tabu starrer 'Cheeni Kum'. AB Corp and Reliance jointly produces this film.


'Paa' is the story of a brilliant boy named Auro (Amitabh), who studies in the city school. He has been suffering from a rare disease named Progeria (due to which the patient's appearance will be changed, he looks almost five times older and slowly his internal organs also damages with course of time). He stays with his mother (Vidya Balan) and grandmother. On an occasion, the young MP, Amol Arte (Abhishek) visits the school. Auro got a chance to receive an award from him and later develops a friendship in between them through the email. As per Auro's wish, he had agreed to take him to see the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Due to some official difficulties, the MP can't come on time. Later, he said sorry to the desperate Auro and took him to Delhi, which helped to strengthen their relationship. In between, the mother told the son about his father, Amol Arte. While studying abroad, both were lovers, since he was having his own ambitions in the political field, he was not interested in marrying her and thus they got split. He is still not aware of the fact that Auro is his son. Auro, who is spending his last days in his life, became unconscious and was admitted to the hospital. MP visits the hospital and shocked to see his ex-lover there. What happens to their relationship is shown in the climax scenes.


As expected, the highlight of the film is the boy character. Amitabh Bachan has done the role in an extra ordinary way. The make up for the particular character is also brilliant. It is not easy to spot out the actor, seeing his make up or the body language or the dialogue delivery. Since we are aware that this role is done by Bachan, such a task is not needed, otherwise it would be an impossible attempt.


The majority of the dialogues used by Auro had got a comedy touch. The mother-son chemistry has been neatly handled by the director here. Mother's attitude in caring his son and her deep affection towards the son is also touching. Vidya Balan gave her best performance here. The grandmother's (Arundathi Nag) role is also a lovable one. Abhishek Bachan had also done a good job as the clean politician.


Though the director might have included the MP's vision and his sympathy on the poor to justify his escapism from the heroine in the beginning, such things are also needed for the flow of the story. The climax scene might felt cinematic, but in such a situation it is also acceptable. The title sequences done by Jaya Bachan is a different attempt for such a theme.


Ilayaraja's background score gives the life for the film. PC Sreeram's cinematography is excellent. Editing is done by Anil Naidu. The make up team headed by Stephen Dupuis ('Mrs. Doubtfire' fame, the film is the original version of 'Avvai Shanmughi'), are specially notable; they are on the top of the list for giving such an extraordinary output. Unlike from the movie 'Black', which also discussed the lead role as a diseased one, here director Balki had presented the film in a humorous way.


'Paa' is a different attempt from bollywood, where the performance of the old superstar who comes in the little boy's role is the highlight.


Rating : 8 / 10

Aladin

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Amitabh Bachan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacquelin Fernandez
Director : Sujoy Ghosh
Music : Vishal - Sekhar


Being born as the son of a well known political leader is a bonus for an under rated actor like Ritesh Deshmukh. He has always acted in multi star projects only. For the first time he is coming in a title role, supported by senior actors Amitabh Bachan and Sanjay Dutt,. She has got a new heroine here; these factors are not enough to catch extra attention. But, the unusual theme of the particular film can make you interesting. We have heard about the fairy tale story of "Aladin and the Magic Lamb". The new hindi film with the name 'Aladin' is having the same theme.


Here Aladin (Rithesh Deshmukh) is being teased by the friends even from the childhood days because of his peculiar name. He lost his parents when he was young. Even when grown up, being a soft character, his friends make fun of him. He was usually asked to rub the lamp. In the mean time the heroine (Jacqueline) reached the college. Hero's friends gave a new lamp as his birthday gift; while doing the same process, as a surprise the genie (jin) appears in the form of Amitabh Bachan. He is asking three wishes to Aladin. To convince him, the genie is showing some super human powers also. Anyway the first and the second wish was regarding winning of the heart of the heroine. At the same time the villain ring master (Sanjay Dutt) came in search of the jin and the lamp. The flashback story regarding the murder of hero's parents are revealed. The genie loses his power; anyway in the climax the villain is destroyed and Aladin walks with the heroine.


Ritesh has done his best here. No need for a comment on Amitabh Bachan; his presence is incredible as always. Sanjay Dutt as the baddie is also good. The imported Sri Lankan heroine, Jacqueline didn't have much to perform.


Director Sujoy Ghosh, who gave films like 'Jhankar Beats', 'Home Delivery' etc had given an unusual creativity here. The choosing of such a different location for telling the story is appreciatable. Cinematographer Sirsha Roy had given colorful frames. The art work by Sabu Syril is notable. Vishal-Sekhar gave the music. It goes well with the situation. A couple of them is sung by Bachan himself. The visual effects done for the film is also excellent.


'Aladin' is a non realistic movie presented in the best way it can. You can watch it like a fairy tale.

Rating : 7 / 10