Movie Review : Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

The week saw the release of the much awaited-low publicized Kunal Kohli’s third film Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic. The director decided to bring the hit Saif –Rani Duo back together after their superhit film Hum Tum and despite the disastrous Ta Ra Rum Pum. The movie which has been inspired by a couple of English flicks is a just another attempt to redefine magic and associate it with kids.

The story first. It starts with a business man Ranbir (Saif), convicted of killing a couple while driving his BMW and the court passing a landmark judgement instructing him to take care of the four children who have been orphaned due to that. The four kids along with a dog and a hamster start living with Ranbir seeking revenge. They try to disrupt his living in every aspect of his life. After a few fights and the both parties asking god for help, GOD (Rishi Kapoor) sends his favourite Pari Geeta (Rani) to help kids and Ranbir unite. She takes the job as a nanny and then begins the tutorial. Using her magic she is able to make each kid but the eldest to realize that Ranbir is seriously sorry for his deeds. Along with that she makes Ranbir realize the way and importance of loving kids. Saif’s girlfriend Mallaika (Amisha patel) is shown as a dumbo and given a glamourous look. The eldest of the kids Vashishtha (Akshat) is still not able to forgive Ranbir but finally does crack up. Ranbir starts loving Geeta but Geeta is a Pari and cannot live on earth forever. What happens then u’ll have to watch for!!
The first half is a disaster. It is only magic and no story. The half is driven only by the animations and special affects for the kids. The director shows a desperate effort to please every section of the society. A hot bikini song “lazy lamhe” seems to be a weak minded effort since the movie was expected to be a family entertainer. The story is not good and the viewer is supposed to leave his brains at home. It seems a must watch for kids with the kind of teachings the movie gives. The director seems helpless incorporating the emotional scenes for the adults. The desperation seems more evident with the mention of project tiger, Indo-pak war and references to freedom struggle. The main stress has been given to special affects and not on the shots and screenplay. The direction seems below the kunal kohli standard. Acting wise Saif has done an exceptional job with limited dialogues and more expressions. The kids adapt to their role brilliantly. The jwm inspired character GEETA (from geet) fails to live up to the expectations with an over magnified role. She suits to the character but is not able to do complete justice to it .Amisha patel looks a complete dumbo in the movie with the excessive glamourous look. The other characters do a fine job but a blooper seems to have occurred with the dog and hamster disappearing as soon as rani’s entry (probably meneka Gandhi took them away).The music has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio and is not amongst their best.The best song "pyaar ke liye" has been used excessively and is completely unwanted. The only version where the song seems appropriate is the time when the full song is played.In addition to that the other tracks I wont mind giving my ear to are "nihaal ho gayi" and the raunchy "lazy lamhe".The rest sound tracks are crap and unwanted.What again impresses more from the songs are the "Prasoon joshi lyrics". The first half is magic and second half is pyaar.All in all it sums up to an average –must watch kids film.

To go or not- let’s face it. It’s childish. A must watch for kids and jobless adults who have a liking for special effects. For the rest it’s an average movie and is not recommended strongly for the youth

Rating -2.5/5

Movie review : Aamir

After much speculations and news about the low budget debutant Rajeev Khandelwal’s movie AAMIR, I decided to treat my eyes with the movie and it surely proved to be a worthy treat. Director Raj Kumar Gupta’s debut venture surely exceeds its expectations and can be truly classified as one of the low budget wonders. The unexpected nature of the movie also adds to already brilliant perfection.My favourite dialogue" Karana to London mein tha par tu yahan aa gaya( wanted it to happen in London but u came here)" best sums up what the movie aims at.

The movie who’s tagline being “Kaun Kehta Hai, Aadmi Apni Kismat Khud Likhta Hai? (Who says that man scripts his own destiny by himself?)” is a one man show where Mr. Khandelwal doesn’t let u down. The movie starts with an “old English movie” type beginning and gets in the right tone as soon as the third frame and then begins the battle of destiny. Aamir Ali (Rajeev) is a doctor who just arrives back from London to be with his family. Right from the point where custom officer checks his bag thrice the director strikes a correct note. Aamir is handed a cell phone at the theatre and is asked to follow the instructions so as to get his family back. Shown as an asthma patient he is made to run almost during the whole movie. The instructions take him to the slums of Bombay (oops Mumbai….sorry Raj bhai) making him realize the pathetic condition in which the Muslims are living in the hub of the country. He is asked to deliver a bag full of money to a location but the bag gets stolen by some snatchers and what follows next is a story which tries to expose terrorism from its roots. Aamir has to decide who controls his destiny –He or the person on the other side of the phone.

The best feature of the movie has to be the acting. Carrying the weight of a whole movie is no joke and he answers his critics with a splendid perfect emotioned acting. He truly lives the character despite the hard hitting concept and his inexperience with the movies. The director and the cinematographer have done an excellent work shooting in areas unseen or unheard of. The main reason why the story is able to convey its message is the shot location and the screenplay of the movie. The editing is good and is solely responsible for the short duration of the movie. Debutant music director Amit trivedi has given some lovely numbers for the promotion of the movie but fails to capture the background in the movie with some tracks having lyrics not required completely. It’s a well crafted fast paced movie with slight errors partly due to the sudden slow nature of some scenes. The only thing I didn’t like was the long ultra- slow mo last scene which could have been dealt better with.

All in all it’s a must watch with some splendid performances and cinematography never witnessed before.
My rating: 3.5/5

Movie Review : Sarkar Raj

A much awaited sequel to the "God father " inspired Sarkar(2005) in which Subhash Nagare(Amitabh Bachchan) redefined the Indian politics by posing an indecisive resemblance to the Shiv Sena head.RGV, after a hat-trick of flops with Nishabd,RGV ki aag and Darling needed a much needed breather which he gets in the form of this film.

A movie which sees the Bachchan trio together for the first time after the marriage of the unlikely duo, starts from where the last one ends.Shankar (Abhishek) has taken over the reign from his dad and proves to be better than his dad in leadership qualities and better political understanding.Both Shankar and Subhash r seen to be immensely concerned over the progress of Maharashtra which is shown in a respect to give Raj Thackrey an answer to his criticism of the family.Moving on the movie introduces a highly business oriented Anita Rajan(Aishwarya) and his profit oriented dad Mike(Victor Banerjee) who plan to setup a power plant in Thackervari area of Maharashtra which would result in displacement of over 40,000 villagers.The power plant which is inspired by an infamous Enron project of Maharashtra seems to be in deep trouble when Sanjay Somji(Rajesh Shringarpore) ,who poses a striking resemblance the Thackrey son, ignites a state wide protest against the Nagares.Somji is the grandson of Rao Saab(Dilip Prabhavalkar, the Gandhi of LRMB fame) who is shown as the mentor of Sarkar and responsible for the latter's current fame and position.Hassan Qazi(Govind Namdeo) who is the new villain as usual tries to establish himself at the cost of sarkar and his son.

After the less story oriented first half, the second half turns to be a well made and brilliantly crafted half with everything slowly falling in line and making sense.The events unfold at fast pace and characterization is as brilliant as it can be.Amitabh is the perfect blend of power and emotions and is equally matched with Abhishek who tries to match his dad's intensity and succeeds quite a few no. of times.As like its predecessor this one has some very impressive one-liners accompanied by a loud yet brilliant background score.The unique style of RGV direction proves to be a key factors along with the perfect characterization of roles(and the flawless Amitabh Bachchan).Aishwarya delivers a fine performance and could have done better comparing with the other two of the trio.The cinematography is brilliant with some brilliantly taken shots.The movie is let down by a couple of basic mistakes which don't seem to catch the eye of audience during the 125 min intense thriller.RGV seems to be back on track and is also helped by some typically good performances by the rest of villains and a brilliant Rajesh Shringarpore. The movie surely will get success at the box-office but the question about Sarkar 3 still remains unanswered.

TO GO OR NOT: A must watch. SARKAR RAJ, is an understated approach of the powerful machinations of those wanting to grab a piece of the pie.

MY RATING: 4.0 / 5