The Hindu : New Delhi News : A week of many a failed promise and some rather understated delights ... .

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Sunday, Oct 08, 2006
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New Delhi

A week of many a failed promise and some rather understated delights ... .

ZIYA US SALAM

ZINDAGGI ROCKS

(At Odeon and other Delhi theatres)

Just this past week Mahesh Bhatt moved many of us to tears with "Woh Lamhe". That was moving without being mawkish. Now Tanuja Chandra leaves us feeling sad, silly and sentimental. Sorry, but that is no way of entertaining, hardly a way befitting a storyteller who regaled us with "Dushman" and "Sur".

"Zindaggi Rocks" is an experiment that suffers on many counts: bad, real bad music, listless side performances, dark picturisation. Lacking a single ray of hope, everything that can conceivably go wrong with a movie goes wrong with it.

The viewers suffer because of one mistake: entering the hall to watch this latest film from the celebrated Tanuja Chandra, starring the vivacious Sushmita Sen and the promising Shiney Ahuja. In the bargain we learn one timeless lesson all over again: stars are no guarantee of wholesome entertainment. And even the most promising of filmmakers can go wrong once in a while.

A story of a rock star with an adopted son, "Zindaggi Rocks" is supposed to be a showcase for Sushmita Sen to show off her acting skills, her dexterity on the dance floor. Of course she is in love with Shiney's Rehan, a doctor who can heal without a scalpel. An interesting premise for a movie except that it is marred all through.

Sushmita looks a pale picture of the Miss Universe she was not too long ago; the passing years have taken a toll on her lovely face. Her voice, though, remains her ally; it is enough to make heads turn, to reduce the most argumentative of men to silent listeners. But she is severely handicapped by Anu Malik's tunes dripping in listlessness. A film like this needed music as if flesh, blood and life. All that Anu Malik provides are mere bones, no soul.

Then the dialogue writer alternates between the drab and the poetic. You get a few wistful lines and prepare for the best. It was not to be. The way dialogue flows it seems the characters are caught in some language limbo.

Top that with up some real mediocre character actor support for the lead duo. Whatever points Sushmita and Shiney earn with their performance, Kim Sharma and Moushumi Chatterjee lose with theirs.

While Kim does her best to blend with the furniture, Moushumi merely leaves you wishing she would do the same.

She is an absolute misfit in a double role: glib-talking, English-speaking aunt, and a tough matron. Real tough one to bear, mate!

Much like the film, which picks up life only when Sushmita decides on an unusual way to save the life of her son. For a while the suspense holds good, and the viewers think that a lady who does not speak a single line in the film will probably play the Good Samaritan.

That is when the film attracts attention.

As it turns out, it is shortlived.

All petering out towards the end, leaving you wondering where it all began, where it will all end.

A bit like life, that?

Maybe. But life has its compensations.

This one is niggardly in graces, generous in blemishes.

Sorry, "Zindaggi Rocks" is neither lively nor likeable.

MERA DIL LEKE DEKHO

(At Wave, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

The only bad thing about the Ramzan period is that all hopelessly out-of-form films struggling for buyers and cinema halls suddenly get a window of opportunity. And lo, before we realise it, they are running at the nearest hall. Really a case of crow masquerading as a peacock, these films do nobody any favour. Not to the paying public who are denied even an iota of entertainment; nor to the stars and all others associated with such films. We all make mistakes, but still what is Jackie Shroff doing in this film? He has done an odd "Yamraaj" here, an odd "Shapath" there, but what is he doing in this supposed comedy starring Koel Purie and vj-turned actress Pooja Missra in a sad, sad rip-off on "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge"? Purie plays that NRI who wants to avoid an arranged marriage but gets a reprieve: a week to find the man of her dreams. A bit like "Neil-Nikki" fiasco, not a wee bit like "Dilwale.... ", this comedy amuses none.

As for Jackie, well, he has reportedly only repeated the mistake this week: also released is his "Bhoot Unkle".

Amid all the chaos, the only ones sensible have been the distributors and exhibitors who have not wasted too much money on promoting a non-happening film.

YOU, ME AND DUPREE

(At Spice PVR, Noida; and Delhi theatres)

Prepare to be surprised. This Anthony and Joe Russo film has arrived with barely a ripple. So expectations are naturally low. Result? Some nice understated delights, no over-the-top humour. And yes, thankfully, no special effects or larger-than-life characters out to set the world right. Indeed, a pleasant experience watching this tale of a newly married couple and the husband's best friend overstaying his welcome. Starring Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon with the ageless Michael Douglas, this film has a reckless momentum that is so endearing after some very measured movies that have come from the Hollywood stable in recent weeks.

A nice, happy film with lots of situational humour, it is, however, not just a joyride where you fasten your seat belts and prepare to laugh at every twist and turn. There is enough emotional undercurrent to keep the show from slipping into flippancy.

We have Owen as Dupree staying with his best friend - Matt as Carl - and his wife Molly, played by Kate Hudson. He is there for no other reason except he does not have a job, he does not have a house, he does not seem to have many skills either. If one moment you laugh at his follies - he is equally bad in the bathroom and the playground - next moment you feel for the guy for whom nothing ever seems to go right.

Throw in Douglas as a real estate king and his daughter Kate Hudson with her effervescence and you have a film that prevents you looking at the watch all through. One thing leads to another as Dupree tries to right all wrong, and wrongs all right. The journey is delightful, the destination only slightly less so.

Watch "You, Me and Dupree". No great artistic merit, but still a joy to watch.

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