Race

Another Abbas Mastan duo suspense movie from the likes of Humraaz and Naqaab. The movie is definitely a good one time watch. The plot is interesting as it keeps unfolding with one surprise after the other. While some of them are predictable a few are pretty good and keeps your curiousity going. All the actor and actresses look hot and happening. Bipasha and Saif steal the show when it comes to hot looks, Katrina trailing right behind. But Akshay leaves them all behind with his natural and flawless acting. Anil Kapoor and Sameera try to mimic the Karamchand and Kitty jodi. Only the carrots are replaced by fruits this time around. But Sameera unfortunately is not as funny as Kitty. The comedy in the movie is on and off and is pretty good. Songs are catchy and the dance moves trendy. All is all a timepass masala flick.

Jodhaa Akbar

After a dry spell at the cinemas for a while we finally saw the movie Jodhaa Akbar today. Have been always fascinated with the Mughal era and the customes and traditions that existed in that period. Was eagerly awaiting for this movie. The movie lived up to my expectation quite a bit but cannot say completely. I was expecting some more. A little more history I would say.

The costumes, the jewellery and the sets were excellent. Whether it was the red and gold jari ghaghara of Aishwariya or the the stone studded sherwani of Hrithik. Even the mojadis were very ornate. Aishwariya's yellow, rust and red ghaghara cholis depicted the colors or Rajasthan beautifully. The war scenes were pretty well done too. They seemed very real and majestic too.
There was also a tiny glimpse of the mughal zenana and the eunuchs that served them.

Hrithik and Aishwariya's performance fared well but could have had a little more panache. The first half of the movie was definitely a lot more enjoyable. The second half dragged a little bit. I enjoyed the parts that touched history like Akbar's tolerance to Hinduism and how that changed the Mughal influence in India. I guess I was hoping to see more on Akbar's court like his "navratan" etc. But I guess the movie was more about Jodhaa and Akbar and not just Akbar and how that changed history. All in all I would give it 3 stars.

Welcome

Well christmas was a time for let downs for us. After Saawariya came another one and this was the movie Welcome. A slapstick comedy that made me cry. We watched it with family and our uncle who usually finds pjs funny had trouble laughing here too. The script was very weak. The lineup was great with Anil, Nana , Akshay and Paresh but what a waste of their talents. Katrina was just there for the songs. From the promos it looked promising but did not live up to it.

Another 2 and 1/2 stars and can be easily missed too.

Saawariya

After the heavy criticism of this movie from friends and family, we finally managed to watch this movie. Well what I can say is that they were not wrong. I was very disappointed with SLB. I usually like his movies but this was a let down. It is supposed to be one of the most expensive movies made and yes the money has been spent on the sets. But unfortunately the set looks very fake and not at all impressive. Ranbeer and sonam were not so bad. But the constant giggling of sonam was sometimes driving me crazy. Rani mukherjee over acted. Sallu was the only one I could tolerate although he was only for 10 min or so. SLB supposedly had worked hard to make ranbeen and sonam look like raj kapoor and nargis but still it failed to impress.

Overall a 2 and 1/2 stars can be easily missed.

Taare Zameen Par

Another amazing movie by Aamir Khan, hats off to him. It was very touching, moving and heart-wrenching experience. The boy who played the part of Ishaan, Darsheel Safary was simply great. His expressions were so real and his face so innocent but at the same time mischievous. When Aamir mentioned this boy is going to steal the show from him, in his promotional appearance on TV he was so right. A great find with a bright future. Also an amazing lineup of stars with superb performances. The mother played by Tisca was a very lovable character. Her relationship with Ishaan was very beautifully depicted. The song played when she leaves him behind at the boarding school "Main andhere se darta hoon Maa" brought tears to my eyes. Also the over ambitious father was played pretty convincingly too. His boarding school pal and his supportive brother were good too. All in all Aamir shows his directorial talents.

The movie is an awakening for the over ambitious parents and teachers who expect nothing less than top grades from the young ones. With parents pushing for doctors and engineers in most Indian households this movie is so right on the dot. The message conveyed of letting children follow their dreams and treating them as special was very noble. Actually it reminds me of the Montessori school principle which was developed by Dr Montessori based on her learning’s from teaching mentally challenged kids. The principle emphasizes on letting children learn at their pace as well as driving them towards their interests. Every child is different and should be respected for being so. Most schools these days try to groom kids all in the same way as if they were units produced in a factory. I could hear so many people reminiscing their strict childhood teachers and school days in the interval. It was just such a true depiction of the competitive world of young children today.

I would highly recommend it. A 4 starrer!.

Aaja Nachle

Yesterday we decided to celebrate our anniversary desi style. We went to see Aaja Nachle as we both like Madhuri and my husband would just not agree to see Saawariya :-). Overall a good movie I enjoyed it. Madhuri looks pretty stunning in her blue ghaghara in the title song. Sometimes you can see the age but mostly she looks good. She plays a dance teacher from NY who comes back to India to revive a dying theatre. The songs are pretty hummable. Kunal Kapoor looks awesome as he always does to me. Konkana Sen's acting is good , but I would have preferred a little more good looking laila against Kunal. Also a pretty good lineup of supporting stars too like Akshaya Khanna, Mukherji lady (kitty from karamchand fame), Divya Dutta and Irfan are all good. All in all a 3 starrer. If you are a Madhuri fan you should watch it.

Mumbai Salsa

This movie is about 3 couples living in mumbai that end up meeting at a salsa club. The cultural picture painted was sometimes alien. But then metro's like mumbai are closest in aping the west so I shouldn't be surprised. No familiar faces in this one all new stars. I was hoping to see some good salsa numbers but there was just 1 or 2 small ones nothing great. The movie is definitely a dvd watch. I would give it 2 1/2 stars