The Hindu : New Delhi News : Different strokes for different folks…. Cinema

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 01, 2007
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

Different strokes for different folks…. Cinema

ZIYA US SALAM

SHADES OF JOY: Scenes from “Aap Kaa Surroor” and “Apne” now showing at cinema halls across Delhi and elsewhere.

SHADES OF JOY: Scenes from “Aap Kaa Surroor” and “Apne” now showing at cinema halls across Delhi and elsewhere.

AAP KAA SURROOR

(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)

The master of evoking extremes, Himesh Reshamiyya has to be the biggest public addiction of our times. His first film, “Aap Kaa Surroor”, is proof that the man can afford to scoff at critics, ignore all those nasal whispers. He needs no help from any quarter. For all his limited, very limited, acting ability, he can carry a film on his shoulders. His popularity as a singer precedes him. The masses clap when the Censor certificate is displayed. They whistle when he is shown picking his cap: the camera focuses on the hand and the cap, not the face. They roar when he enters the film, singing and dancing to “Assalam-o-alaikum”.

Some might hate him, and with reason too. Others might love him, again with reason. Yet nobody can ignore Himesh Reshamiyya in the big, bad world of Bollywood today. Nothing succeeds like success and Himesh is nothing but a success story.

Here in his debut film he comes up with a shrewd combination of real and reel life, using the silver screen to answer his detractors. Never quite self-righteous, he takes little digs at himself, but importantly answers all the questions many ask: is he actually just a nasal singer? Why does he not take his cap off? And is he arrogant? Why does he not smile at all?

So, is director Prashant Chadha’s “Aap Ka Surroor” Himesh’s real life story? No. But it is a clever combination of real life instances with complete fantasy. So Himesh gets to play Himesh though often in the film he is called H.R., the rock star from India. He is on a world concert tour. And even as the masses swoon over his music – again a clever interpolation – he is faced with a murder charge. Put behind bars in Germany, his challenge lies in winning over his girlfriend before she can be married off to somebody, and coming clean of the charge. The masses know he is clean, he would come clean. Yet they wait till the end, drunk on his music, swaying to his beats, laughing at his one-liners.

While Hansika in her debut film looks older than a teenager, it is Mallika Sherawat, in a smallish role, who does wonders. She oozes oomph. Himesh? Well, if according to some he is a limited singer, he is still more limited as an actor. But you don’t need acting competence to score at the box office; charisma does that fine enough. It is his charisma that turns the otherwise mediocre film into a success story. Go watch it at a packed single-screen theatre near you. It is an experience, not a film that matter. The joy is in drinking off the cup offered by Reshammiya with his very own brand of art. Now add a pint of Mallika doing a Helen. Life is on a high.

APNE

(At Delite and other Delhi theatres)

Fight one more round when your feet are so tired that you wish your opponent would crack you in the jaw and put you to sleep. Fight one more round because the man who always comes back for another round is never the loser. This is the mantra of Anil Sharma’s film. It could as well have been Dharmendra’s credo as he attempts to come back to A-grade cinema after a prolonged stint in the anonymity of C-grade circuit.

Here as a boxer who had to bid adieu to the sport under a cloud of allegations, he is a winner. He towers above his sons. And is veritably the life and blood of this film. He is quite predictable when angry, but he lets himself go in the emotional sequences; there would not be many hearts that won’t weep with him. He looks haggard and wrinkled at times, but as a father of grown-up men he is allowed that luxury.

While Sharma leaves his riotous days of “Gadar” and “The Hero” behind, it is actually the story that moves the audience. Set in India and North America, Sharma shows an aged boxer, Dharmendra, who wants his elder son, Sunny Deol, largely underutilised, to win the world title he could not. The son has other priorities. Boxing does not run your kitchen in India, he tells his dad: a pertinent point in a nation where cricketers roll in luxury and international award winners languish in poverty. All is bleak until the younger son – Bobby Deol in a well etched out role – rises to wipe off the stain from the father’s slate. His transition from being a nobody to a world beater is a shade incredible: too fast, too forward. Sunny gets to do his bit at the end, and all is well in true Bollywood fashion.

However, it is not a simple story of a father fulfilling his ambition through his sons. It is more a story of a man who realises his strength is his weakness. His ambition can be his family’s undoing. There are little lessons along the way, and no sermon. Some good boxing action, a hummable song, and true blue mainstream cinema emotion.

Watch it for Dharmendra. And some nice story-telling. Watch it with your very own apne.

AWARAPAN

(At Golcha and other Delhi theatres)

Melancholy is Mahesh Bhatt’s abiding flavour. Shadows of the past creep in unannounced in his films. Even joy comes with a touch of sadness.

This one is no different. Though directed by Mohit Suri, Bhatt’s shadow looms large and long over this tale of a vagabond who knows what it is to love and to lose. Set against the background of the underworld – this time based mercifully i n Hong Kong rather than Dubai or Mumbai – “Awarapan” is only incidentally about a don, played with predictable relish by the often underutilised Ashutosh Rana. Nor is it another gang war, despite the presence of Rana’s rival: Ashish Vidyarthi.

It is actually about Rana’s henchman, Emraan Hashmi – a Bhatt favourite who looks like a barber’s delight here – who has tasted love, and is sent out to spy on the boss’s love. How he loses the battle to win the war is what “Awarapan” is all about.

It has shades of grey, as in any Bhatt film. It has a hummable tune.

Again as usual. And two girls -- Shriya, fresh from the success of “Sivaji”, and Mrinalini Sharma.

Both of them light up the screen with their beauty without at any moment threatening to floor you with their acting ability.

Relatively Shriya, though, as a Muslim girl Aalia who quotes from the Hadith, is at ease with her little role.

However, all said and seen, “Awarapan” has that desperate feeling of loneliness which creeps in after your loved one has moved on.

It has the angst of the traveller left behind. It is touching without being profound. Go for it when you have a companion.

DIE HARD 4

(At M2K Pitampura and other Delhi theatres)

The sequel saga continues this week. But if you have a star like Bruce Willis and a film like “Die Hard” you win easy. So the good times continue for lovers of this series where action is more human, though more lethal too.

The story, actually an excuse for a story, is simple: the U.S. is in danger (again! Post-9/11 all Hollywood guys seem to be making capital out of the calamity) with the hackers systematically putting the entire system out of work. The planes cannot fly, the trains cannot operate. There is no power, no water. There is a virtual attack on the nation! And the television channels end up broadcasting cut-and-snip speeches of all former Presidents on the country’s Independence Day. It is hilarious to see Kennedy and Jefferson in league with Clinton and Bush.

It is, as it turns out, the work of some hackers. And our tireless hero, ageless hero, the very working class, the very persevering Willis is the one, as John McClane, deputed to bring a hacker – Justin Long as a goofy, dreamy-eyed Matt Farrell – to record.

Anybody who has seen half a dozen Hollywood films will know how Willis will achieve his task, reach the destination. The journey provides some spark as the action is less technique-driven, more gut. The whole film is a noisy, non-squeamish, in-your-face entertainer. Watch this fourth instalment in about 20 years in the Die Hard series. Director Len Wiseman’s film loses little in comparison to others of the genre.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi