movie reviews

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Karthik Calling Karthik"; Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone; Director: Vijay Lalvani; Rating: ***

Desolation is a distant cousin to suburban seclusion. And "Karthik Calling Karthik" is an interesting if flawed fable of the damned.

The protagonist is Karthik (Farhan Akhtar), so timid he could merge into the woodwork of his office if only the decor was not so much glass.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Toh Baat Pakki"; Cast: Tabu, Ayub Khan, Vatsal Seth, Sharman Joshi; Director: Kedar Shindre; Rating: *

It's "Click" that's meant to be this week's horror flick. But "Toh Baat Pakki" is a bigger horror than anything in any recent weeks. And to think that the divine Tabu stars in it makes the blood boil.

By Minu Jain

Film: "My Name Is Khan"; Director: Karan Johar: Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Wahab

Questions of religious and national identity, of the sense of right and wrong, of combating a certain isolation that comes with a behavioural disorder. But what triumphs over all the complexities unfolding in a tumultuous post 9/11 America is Rizwan Khan and his essential goodness that tells you unwaveringly - his name is Khan and he is not a terrorist.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Ishqiya"; Director: Abhishek Choubey; Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan; Rating: **

"Ishqiya" is a very strange film. Strange, not so much in terms of content, unless you really believe there are sleepy dusty towns in north India where boys learn to use a gun before they learn to wash their own bottoms. But in terms of the way the three main characters are thrown against each other in combustions that suggest a brutal bonding between the libido and the landscape.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Chance Pe Dance"; Director: Ken Ghosh; Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Genelia D'Souza Rating: ***

At one point in this heartwarming journey into the life of a Bollywood struggler, one of the kids in the school where our hero teaches dance wonders how he manages to wear such trendy T-shirts when he lives in a car and has no money for food.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Raat Gayi Baat Gayi"; Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Irawati Harshe, Vinay Pathak, Anuradha Menon, Dalip Tahil, Navneet Nishan, Aamir Bashir, Sudhir Mishra; Director: Saurabh Shukla; Rating: ***

Somewhere on the second-half of this slightly seductive jigsaw about a one-night scam, filmmaker Sudhir Mishra shows up as Neha Dhupia's father who drops in to have a chat with his sullen daughter on the way to the airport.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Accident On Hill Road"; Cast: Celina Jaitley, Abhimanyu Singh, Farooque Shaikh

Rating: **

There's a man stuck on your windscreen! That's what you want to scream to Celina Jaitley. But gosh, she does so much of that screaming herself that you don't really want to add to the din in this gory tale that takes place at night.

By Joginder Tuteja

Film: "Bolo Raam"; Cast: Rishi Bhutani, Padmini Kolhapure, Om Puri, Disha Pandey, Rajpal Yadav, Govind Namdeo and Naseeruddin Shah; Director: Rakesh Chaturvedi; Rating: **

"Bolo Raam" can be compared to thriller "Aamir", which starred Rajeev Khandelwal. With newcomer Rishi Bhutani teaming up with director Rakesh Chaturvedi, the USP of the film lies in it's novel plot.

Also, the ensemble supporting cast - Padmini Kolhapure, Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah - could be any filmmaker's dream.

By Subhash K. Jha

Film: "Dulha Mil Gaya"; Cast: Sushmita Sen, Shah Rukh Khan, Fardeen Khan, Ishita Sharma; Director: Mudassar Aziz; Rating: * 1/2

There is only one reason why this hideous satire gone awry can be tolerated for a bit. Sushmita Sen playing the broadly satirical and hugely self-important Shimmer just simmers on screen!