The Hindu : New Delhi News : Wanted, unwanted: Some masala, some madness….

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Wanted, unwanted: Some masala, some madness….

Anuj Kumar

Mixed variety: While ‘Wanted’ (left) is flavoured with mindless comic masala and ‘Dil Bole Hadippa!’ (middle) fails to bring in any novelty for the audience, ‘UP’ (right) brings home some outstanding animation from Hollywood.

WANTED

(Delite and other theatres in Delhi and elsewhere)

It is blasphemous to quote Satyajit Ray in a review of a film that is unapologetically dumb but one can’t resist the temptation. In his famous book, “Our Films, Their Films”, the master film-maker describes a film star as a person on the screen who continues to be expressive and interesting even after he or she has stopped doing anything. Salman Khan falls in this rare bracket. After being part of some lacklustre ventures, he has got a vehicle which has i ts spark plug in place. It efficiently uses the temperamental star’s laid-back ways to drive home the point: he is committed.

As Radhey, the freelancing gangster ready to shoot for the highest bidder, he has a rollicking time. He would effortlessly joke how leering at women is the right of every boy but after a few scenes turns into a protector of women and children in all earnestness. The discerning minority might cringe, but the rest would lap up both shades with applause. That’s star power.

His chemistry with Ayesha Takia is spot on as director Prabhu Deva intelligently mixes his real-life image with the script. An innocent girl fears her boyfriend more than the louts who trouble her. It is reminiscent of Tere Naam, Salman’s last super hit.

Prabhu Deva stays true to his original Pokkiri in style and execution: plenty of gore hinged on broad humour and cheap thrills. The good thing is he never pretends to be making something sensible. There is no plot as such but Prabhu opens so many windows on the desktop that the wallpaper becomes redundant and you go on a clicking binge.

In Mahesh Manjrekar and Prakash Raj he has a support system that holds the suspension of disbelief for more than two hours.

It’s a B-grade masala made for the galleries. Mind you, gallery is not an equivalent of cattle class. It simply connotes a taste!

DIL BOLE HADIPPA!

(Golcha, Delhi, and other theatres)

The good old Yash Raj banner has begun to work like an automobile company which keeps bringing out variants of a successful product till the R&D says eureka all over again. Here you have director Anurag Singh fusing the thought of Chak De and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi against a Veer Zara background. Hockey replaces cricket, Surinder/ Raj of Rab Ne….. gives way to Veera/Veer (Rani Mukerji), and Punjab is appearing so frequently in Yash Raj films that the banner might lose its national status.

Veera is an exceptional batter who can bat both right-handed and left-handed and can hit sixes at will. The problem is she couldn’t find any women’s cricket team in and around Amritsar and goes for selection by a men’s team helmed by Rohan (Shahid Kapoor) in the get-up of Veer. Rohan, a big name in county cricket, has come to India to fulfil his father (Anupam Kher)’s wish of winning back the Aman Cup match which his father and his friend from Pakistan (Dalip Tahil) have been holding for years. No prizes for guessing that Rohan falls for Veera off the field and nobody could figure out that Veera and Veer are the same till the climax.

We can sense within the first 15 minutes how the film is going to proceed and end and Anurag fails to surprise us. His wish to have a cricket team having both male and female members seems to have emanated from charity matches involving Bollywood celebrities. He indulges in the escapism of an era which has lost its relevance and doesn’t even bother to tell us about the making of Veera, the player…..How she became so exceptional that her gender became irrelevant on the pitch?

In the opening sequence Rani goes out to bat in heeled belles and bangles and hits six sixes off six balls! The unimaginative screenplay focuses only on two players, forgetting that cricket is a team game.

Rani is a complete miscast in a role that demanded a fresh face with a personality befitting the character. The bat looks huge in her slender hands and despite action director Rob Miller’s (of Chak De fame) best efforts, her shots don’t look convincing. Rani for her part has given it all but her performance is more about behaving than evoking. The character demands a fair degree of physicality, which she fails to imbue.

Shahid looks inconspicuous in the excitement around him and prefers to go through motions. The camaraderie between Rohan and Veer evokes interest but the love story between Rohan and Veera lacks fizz very much like the affected dialogue.

Dil Bole..…We are being cheated.

BLUE ORANGES

(PVR Saket and other theatres)

A murder mystery works if the suspense remains intact till the end. But the success rests on what happens in the interim. Debutant Rajesh Ganguly here manages to get the first one spot on but goes slipshod in the quest for the latter. A noted painter (Pooja Kanwal) gets murdered. The prime suspect is her erstwhile boyfriend Kevin (Aham Sharma), who is also a painter.

Almost all the evidence is going against him but the Commissioner of Police goes to seek help of an independent detective Neelesh Bhargav (Rajit Kapoor). Neelesh gets on the job and the layers of the script begin to unravel. Ganguly keeps us engrossed till the intermission. But after that it becomes a tedious exercise as he manufactures sub-plots leading to a convenient end laced with artificial explanations.

The fresh faces don’t help his cause as apart from Rajit, none of the suspects can portray the gravity of the situation.

Not a bad bet for some thrills in the confines of your bedroom but Blue Oranges does not have enough pull to propel you to a theatre.

(Spice, Noida, and other theatres)

Here is a film that redefines the sweet and syrupy animation format. Here the battle is between two aged protagonists and not some smart kids. A tottering old man ties helium balloons to his house and flies away to fulfil the promise he made to his wife. Another oldie is searching for an endangered species in the thick jungles to come clean after being labelled a cheat. Yes the kid is around and animal support is intact but they don’t indulge in frenetic action all t he time.

It begins with a sweet romance. Carl (voiced by Edward Asner) is a quiet boy who falls head over heals for the mischievous Ellie. The two are fond of adventure and follow the great adventurer of their time Charles Muntz. Carl promises to take Ellie to her favourite spot, the mythical Paradise Falls. However, the sweet and sour vagaries of life don’t allow the couple to take the trip and Ellie eventually leaves Carl alone and grumpy. But the real action begins when one day Carl decides to turn his profession of a balloon seller into a tool to fulfil his cherished dream.

Director Pete Doctor has achieved the difficult task of making the implausible look believable and has dished out a vivid palette which is more imaginative and real than the regular supply of animation from Hollywood.

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