Break Ke Baad

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Imraan Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore
Director : Danish Aslam
Music : Vishal Sekhar, Hithesh Sonik (bg score)

Another love story had released in bollywood. This is Imraan Khan's next project after 'I Hate Luv Storys' and Deepika Padukone had joined him from the sets of 'Lafangey Parindey'. Danish Aslam, who has assisted directors like Sidharth Anand (in 'Salaam Namaste' and 'Tara Rum Pum'), Kunal Kohli (in 'Fanaa' and 'Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic'), is the director of the movie. It is produced by Kunal Kohli (director of 'Hum Tum', 'Fanaa', 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge' etc). The theme of the movie is clearly understood from the title.

Gulati (Imraan Khan) and Aaliya (Deepika Padukone) ar thick friends from their childhood days itself. When grown up, their friendship has been changed to love. Gulati was placed in a high position at his father's company. Aaliya was having her own ambitions, she wished to go to Australia for higher studies. They quarrels usually due to the difference in opinions in many matters. He was not interested in her trip to abroad as he don't want to miss her, but she had started her journey to Australia. She forcibly took a break from him and was working to achieve her dreams. At one stage, Gulati reached Australia with a hope to settle there. What happens to their goals and relationship are shown in the later portions.

There is no big story here to project, the subject is told through certain incidents and sequences happening in the matter of time. The presentation of the movie by the new director thus holds the key. Imraan and Deepika ahd performed well. The title credits shown in the new style is good, but some of them were moving fast or some other not readable (I am saying this, standing on the part of technicians). The tele-brand show that leads to the 'interval' title sequence lagged and it's necessity can also be questioned. Three persons in a row, over hearing the quarreling between the lovers and looking at them, felt unnatural due to the uniformity in the task. The director had used the method of hit songs in the situation to represent the period, which is simply good. Songs by Vishal Sekhar are not the best, it reminds their own tunes in the past. A couple of songs felt unwanted for the situation. Bg score is given by Hithesh Sonik. Cinematographer Andre Menezes had given some colorful visuals. Anand Subayya is the editor.


'Break Ke Baad' cannot be rated best among the love stories, but a regular viewer of bollywood movies can watch it...


Rating : 5.5 / 10

I Hate Luv Storys

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Imraan Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sameer Dattani
Director : Punit Malhotra
Music : Vishal - Sekhar, Salim - Sulaiman (bg score)

After the debut hit, 'Jaane Tu Yaa Jaane Naa', Imraan Khan (bollywood star Amir Khan's nephew), didn't have any other notable projects in his credit. His last movies like 'Kidnap' and 'Luck' have not done well. His new movie 'I Hate Luv Storys' has got Sonam Kapoor (d/o Anil Kapoor, 'Saawariya', 'Delhi-6' fame) as the heroine. After 'Kaal', 'Dostana', 'Wake Up Sid' and 'Kurbaan', hit maker of love stories, director Karan Johar once again wears the suits of a producer. Mega banner UTV is the co-producer. This time, the writer-director here is a new comer named Punit Malhotra.

Jai (Imran Khan) is working as an assistant to the super hit director of love stories, Veer Kapoor (Sameer Soni). As expected, the hero doesn't like the hindi movie love stories as all of them are having similar cliche situations. He meets Simran (Sonam Kapoor) at a theater while watching a movie, he argued with her as she is a great fan of love subjects. Simran is working as the art director for Veer's new project. Jai is shifted to her department as an assistant. Simran is being engaged to Raj (Sameer Dattani, 'Monalisa'(k), 'Corporate'(h) and 'Kutty'(t) fame), an investment banker. She is irritated due to Jai's attitude and one stage there happens an exchange of words between the two. As in every love stories, her hatred is transformed into love with the hero later. When the shooting of the new movie comes to an end, both of them are loving each other, though the hero refused to accept it. How he wins the love is what told in the climax of 'I Hate Luv Storys'.

In the very first moment when both the characters are introduced, we are able to know what will be happening between them in the later portions. The theme used here (excluding the disagreement in love matters), has got the flavour of tamil movie 'Vaseegara' (by Vijay and Sneha). That movie justified the change in attitude of the heroine character by showing the lovable character of the hero, but here we can't witness such a thing. The phone call episode between the hero and mother might be adapted from 'Dil Chahtha Hai', but it is not done in the best way. The second half is lagging here and there. Though the hero is shown as an enemy of love stories, here also the climax is filled with the same situations as every love subjects have.

Imraan Khan and Sonam Kapoor did well in the lead roles. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose ('Dostana', 'Kites' fame) is colorful. Songs by Vishal - Sekhar will goes with the mood, bg score by Salim - Sulaiman is good. New comer Punit Malhotra has created attention by selecting such a theme and title for his debut movie.

The boldness of the producer Karan Johar to criticize his own movies and make a spoof on the romantic situations from them, should be appreciated.


The title 'I Hate Luv Storys' is different; but it cannot be categorized as an unusual bollywood movie, as the love formula used here ends up in an expected way only (it felt like they are justifying the love stories done by them in the past).


Rating : 6.5 / 10

Luck

Medium : Hindi
Starring : Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborthy, Imraan Khan, Shruthi Hassan
Direction : Soham Shah
Music : Salim Sulaiman, Amar Mohile

Two weeks before, when I went to watch a malayalam film, I happened to see the trailer of a new hindi film. The scenes shown in it caught attention since it has got an action mood with a multi star cast. Some of the thrilling shots reminded me of a Spanish film. A year before, my friend, who is a regular viewer of foreign classics, discussed about the theme of a film named ‘13 Tzametti’. He always requested me to watch such films. I will be countering it by telling about my busy schedules in watching the regional films. Recently when I told him about the trailer experience of ‘Luck’, he was stunned. The reason is that ’13 Tzametti’ was a Spanish classic treated without any gimmicks, how such a theme can form the root of an action film like ‘Luck’.

‘Luck’ is directed by Soham Shah. He has once directed a film called ‘Kaal’, starring Ajay Devgan, John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta and Esha Deol. It was produced by Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar. The film shot in the backdrop of jungles, proved his directorial talent. ‘Luck’ is also the debut film of Shruthi Hassan, daughter of living legend Kamalhassan. Imran Khan (‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ and ‘Kidnap’ fame) is acted as her pair in the film. Senior actors like Mithun Chakraborthy, Sanjay Dutt, Danny Denzongpa and Rati Agnihotri are also there.

As the name suggests, the film is based on the betting theme. Luck is a main factor which plays the crucial role in the gambling. Moosa Bhai (Sanjay Dutt) is the person who is running such a business. His assistant (Danny) is assigned to find maximum individuals from different areas across world to be a part of the betting game. The main requirement is the luck factor. Those lucky guys who are desperate in need of money is agreed to work for Moosa. Thus the majority of the artists in the film including the lead pairs are acted as the part of the gang recruited to play the big gambling in South Africa.

There different challenging games organized there is cruel and tough. One such thing is that all of them are given a gun with a bullet, all of them are asked to shot their next person at the same time. Those people who are lucky escaped from it (this is the whole theme of the Spanish film, but here they had included it as a game only). They move on to the next round, where they had to face some other dangerous games. In the middle, their tensions, friendship, love, sentiments, hatred, revenge etc is also shown. Thus in the climax also the same luck saves the hero from the villain.

Since the theme is based on luck, the director is on the safer side, thus we can’t complaint about the logic in the story side. Shruthi Hassan is glamorous and has got a north Indian look (she resembles Sarika in her olden days). We have to wait till her next project, to comment on her performance. Santhosh Thudiyil (‘Krish’, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, ‘Palungu’, ‘Devadoothan’ fame) has done an excellent cinamatography. Some of the frames even resembles the Hollywood style. Amar Mohile, who worked for many Ramgopal Varma films, has given a stimulating background score.

‘Luck’ is an action film with a different theme. Those who are particular about it can try your luck also.

Rating : 7 / 10