The Hindu : New Delhi News : Youth, thrill and humour at Bollywood’s weekly bazaar Cinema

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Youth, thrill and humour at Bollywood’s weekly bazaar Cinema

ZIYA US SALAM

EACH ONE SEE ONE: Films like (clock-wise) “Rock On!!”, “Mukhbir”, “C KKompany”, besides “Wanted” and “Chamku” offer plenty of choice at the theatres this week.

ROCK ON!!

(At Wave, Noida, and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

Youth is a one-way street but the journey can be exhilarating. Ask Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Luke Kenny, Purab Kohli and a host of other youngsters who form the life, breath, body and soul of “Rock On!!”. Director Abhishek Kapoor’s film, drenched in the liquor of youth, has chutzpah. It has a zing, and that heady feeling that like first love, it is gonna last and last. Not quite so really. But it is good as long as it lasts, making just the right noise s, sending just the right messages.

This story of four musicians who share bread and good times together has a soul that is abiding. You feel for Farhan and gang when they come up with an ultimate example of camaraderie. You feel for them when they go their own ways: one guy is a banker, the next gets into the family jewellery business, and two of them stick to music with varying shades of success. All so familiar in a band or even a young group that sticks together at the beginning of the journey. “Rock On!!” has its heart in the right place.

So we know the guys will come back, and the bond, though occasionally challenged, shall never break. So it is that the foursome unite for a concert that heals all wounds, assuages all frayed nerves. Throw in some urban girls, dressed suitably, speaking the lingo apt for the setting, and bringing the guys around one last time, and you have a film that has a touch of reality to it. Here, mercifully, reality is no substitute for boring.

A bit like “Dil Chahta Hai”, a bit like “Jhankaar Beats”, this is a classy multiplex film that could be loved by teeny-boppers and those in college and just beyond. Short on the unexpected, it still speaks their language, airs their fears, fuels their aspirations. Backed by competent performances by the entire cast, notably Farhan and Arjun, a couple of good tunes by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, “Rock On!!” almost lives up to its name, a nice stop-over on the one-way street that is youth.

MUKHBIR

(At Spice, Noida, and other theatres)

Bollywood is beginning to show new shades with directors confronting many demons, some hidden, others obvious. Here director Mani Shankar does the unthinkable. In probably a first for the industry, his hero, a mukhbir (spy), changes his religion to Islam. Not for a girl, but from his heart, complete with all the physical rituals. All this is a far cry from the cantankerous early years of this decade when directors made money projecting Muslims as villain s.

The film itself, though delayed in release, scores many points. Mani relates the story of an innocent boy framed for dubious charges. The only honourable way out is to become the informer of the cops, the law enforcing agencies. It is a cul de sac he enters. On the one side are gangsters where life is forever in danger. He is supposed to sip and sup with them! On the other is the constant fear of being bumped off by the very people he seeks to help. Add a composed father-son angle besides a little romantic aside. It is a riveting premise which attains fruition because Mani’s film is very well composed.

The frames are uniformly brilliant with a subtle interplay of sobriety and brightness. The pace is brisk, and the narration smooth without too many flashbacks. There is nothing gaudy, nothing outrageous. There is no melodrama, just a smooth unfolding of the mukhbir story: the 19-year-old boy is trained to fight by Om Puri’s senior cop and sent to a gangster’s abode under a disguise. More encounters, and he ends up in Mumbai, fighting a battle he cannot win nor afford to lose.

Sami Dattani is a pleasant surprise in the lead role. Om Puri as his mentor is apt but Sunil Shetty scores a point or two too as the boy’s benefactor.

Go for “Mukhbir”. It may not have the everyday entertainment many go looking for in a mainstream movie but it says something pertinent, and says it all without making tall claims. A director’s film all the way.

CHAMKU

(At PVR Saket, Delhi, and other theatres)

Really, reality is not everybody’s cake. Certainly not Kabeer Kaushik’s, his promising debut “Sehar” notwithstanding. “Chamku”, riding high on promise again, has a fine subject. The director talks of the problem of naxalites, their ideology, the failure of the system to provide two square meals to the vast multitudes. But he only takes half stabs at reality, often weakening his case with a technique of narration that makes frequent use o f flashback.

However, that is only part of the problem, or merely the fringe anomaly. The real problem lies at the centre of it all: the hero Bobby Deol. As a boy who sees his father done to death by rapacious landed elements, he falls into the hands of Naxalites before in turn becoming a spy for the law-protectors. All this is only to lead to a vendetta saga, leaving us all with a feeling of being short-changed. Such wonderful possibilities, such tepid performances!

Bobby Deol occupies almost every frame of the film. Such is the attention on Bobby that Kabeer gives us a million close-ups of the hero – in a week-old stubble – that you wish he were better presented. All that the camera does is to prove once and for all, director or no director, camera or no camera, author-backed role or in-house production, Bobby Deol is no actor. He cannot move a facial muscle to save his life, he can hardly modulate his voice to save a drop of blood. And he cannot even dance to evoke a smile!

He has for company Priyanka Chopra, a kindergarten teacher, in a role that faintly reminds us of Mahima Chaudhury’s lecturer in Kabeer’s first film. Similar saris, knotted blouses, sweet smiles and nothing to do.

Very much like the film that goes nowhere. Noble intent, ignoble execution. Hopefully “Sehar” was no false dawn. And “Chamku” just a hiccup for a talented director.

C KKOMPANY

(At Regal, Delhi, and other theatres)

Cliché-ridden Bollywood continues to swim in waters of mediocrity. Sachin Yardi’s mis-spelt “C KKompany” is merely the latest strand. In some ways, the film lives up to the expectations: with a ‘star’ cast of Tusshar Kapoor and Raima Sen supported by the likes Rajpal Yadav and Celina Jaitley one is prepared for at best average fare, at worst an assault on the senses in the name of comedy. Also with Anupam Kher already having touched the n adir in “Buddha Mil Gaya”, one knows things cannot get any worse. They don’t. The problem is, they don’t get a lot better, just.

Tusshar, Rajpal and Anupam play three losers who cannot put a foot right. In desperation – the young man has to win over his girlfriend, the old man has to overcome the fear of his son and poor Rajpal has to stop being henpecked – they take to extortion, robbing Peter to pay Tom! And become the modern-day Robinhoods in the bargain. Of course, they have to take on a fumbling don too – Mithun Chakraborty perpetuating mediocrity.

An interesting premise that falls flat simply because there are hardly any sub-plots to keep the story going, and the actors go through the motions without ever seeking attention with their craft. The juxtaposition of some item numbers with constant references of Balaji Telefilms – the film is produced by Ekta and Shobhaa Kapoor – only serve to prolong the agony.

“C Kkompany” is strictly for the masses with nothing more than a few laughs on their mind.

WANTED

(At Shiela, Delhi, and other theatres)

It is one of the more awaited films this year. Unfortunately, it finds itself competing for space besides “Walle.E” a horde of Hindi films. Considering it has been dubbed into Hindi too, this Angelina Jolie starts off with a mountain to climb. Never mind. Director Timur Bekmambetov’s film based on Mark Miller’s graphic novel does enough to tell us there is more to stylised action than just “Matric”.

Relating the story of a no-gooder Wesley Gibson – James McAvoy, beefcake with a suitable expression – the film takes a dramatic U-turn as the man loses his father, a trained marksman. Dad gone, girl – Jolie, sexy as ever – comes in. Lots of action follows as Morgan Freeman has a field day and McAvoy’s Wesley realises he has his dad’s special talent too.

Nothing original by way of story or dialogues – the Hindi version has some desi humour though – the film works as an out and out action thriller where guns boom. And boom.

Watch it for its adrenaline rush, for its bravado.

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