Movie Review : Dhol - Comedy that pains !!!

For the first time, the tag line of a movie - 'Kiska Bajega' , hits directly on the audiences'. Priyadarshans new offering Dhol is something that you should avoid watching in the theatres. To penalise the producers for making this, watch it only on a pirated CD. During one of the promos, Priyadarshan had mentioned that this is not a remake of a malayalam movie. He is right! This is the remake of two malayalam movies-the main plot from In Harihar Nagar and some of the comedy bits from Chandralekha. Both the movies are classics in terms of its presentation, though Chandralekha itself was an inspiration from a Hollywood movie While You Were Sleeping and was also remade in Bollywood as Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega. Why doesnt Priyadarshan stick to the original plot? Why does he include bits and pieces of other malayalam movies to the main plot? What puzzled me most was when the credits showed 'Story by Suresh Krishnan' . When the story of In Harihar Nagar and Chandralekha was by Siddique-Lal and Priyadarshan respectively, where did Suresh Krishnan come from? Or is Suresh Krishnan a fake name used by Priyadarshan to avoid charges of plagiarism.

The hindi version of In Harihar Nagar itself had a release way back in the 90's named Parda Hai Parda starring Chunkey Pandey and the movie sank without a trace at that time. That could be the reason why Priyadarshan added those extra elements from Chandralekha. The story revolves around four unemployed youngsters who would do just about anything to make money other than work( A characterisation which is similar to Dhamaal which released just two weeks before). Four of them decide to marry a rich girl to get settled and at this juncture, a girl comes and stays next to their house. They try all means to woo the girl and end up messing their lives with a gangster and also solving a mystery.

The four guys played by Tushar, Kunal, Sharman and Rajpal share good chemistry, but it is Sharman and Rajpal who steal the show. Kunal is good but has to improve a lot on his comedy timings. Tushar is a complete misfit for any role and it is time he entered the small screen with his 'K' sister. Tanushree as the girl next door has nothing to do. During one of her interviews , she had mentioned that she has attempted comedy for the first time, but, Tanushree, acting in a supposedly comedy movie doesnt make you a comedy actor. The rest of the cast including Om Puri and Tiku had been under utilised and surprisingly, there wasnt Paresh Rawal at all. Music by Pritam is horrible and just irritates you most of the time.

The movie, though funny only at parts, would definitely hit the top in the category of ''worst movies of 2007''. It has already been declared as a flop and it deserved this fate. Before releasing Partner, Heyy Baby and Dhamaal, the film makers said ''keep your brains at home and go to the theatres''. I mean, How often and how long are the audience supposed to do this?? Isnt there an end to all these kind of comedy a.k.a nonsense? However, my eyes are all set on the second week of October when there is another release from Priyadarshan. Again, a remake of a national award winning malayalam movie released in the 90's and this time if he ruins it, his Dhol tho zaroor bajega!!!

Current Favs (Sep 10- 24)

Last two weeks had some of the best music releases in Hindi after a long time - Diwali biggies like Om Shanthi Om and Saawariyaa, Johnny Ghaddar and Choddon Na Yaar. Both the diwali releases are a disappointment in terms of the soundtrack. I guess, we would have to wait for the movie to complement those songs. The music of Johnny Ghaddar is simply awesome. One would have to listen to it a couple of times to get addicted, especially the one mentioned in this countdown and the remix of Move your body.Also listen to the other regional versions.

Thanks to the comment posted by The Saintly Sinner, I happen to revisit the song 'In Dinon' from Metro and it managed to get a position in my countdown based on its music and the wonderful lyrics. Sad to find no entry of Malayalam songs here , probably becuz there werent any recent releases. Same is the case with the Tamil songs, except for Tamizh M.A. and Satham Podaadey.


1. Mera Dholna from Bhool Bulaiyya(Hindi)
2. Johnny Ghaddar In The House from Johnny Ghaddar(Hindi)
3. Kasak Utti from Choddon Na Yaar(Hindi)
4. Ajab Si from Om Shanthi Om(Hindi)
5. In dinon from Metro(Hindi)
6. Saawariyaa from Saawariyaa(Hindi)
7. Para Para Pattampoochi from Tamizh M.A.(Tamil)
8. Meri Duniya from Heyy Baby(Hindi)
9. Soni Di Nakhre from Partner(Hindi)
10.Pesugiren from Satham Podaadey(Tamil)

Movie Review : Ammuvaagiya Naan - Quality at its worst

Pic courtesy : Indiaglitz

What would anyone think about a movie which had received good reviews and which was also declared a hit? In behindwoods.com, it was even mentioned that it’s a quality movie and there are rumours that this movie would enter film festivals. Either they were making fun of the movie or trying to play a prank on the readers. The promotions of the movie portrayed only the actress’ ‘talents’ and so I was a bit hesitant to watch it. But after the release, when the reviews came out and also when I found that the movie is a hit, I thought of giving it a chance. Guess what, in my attempt to watch a quality movie, I ended up feeling disgusted sitting for nothing less than a soft-porn and spoiling my weekend.

The movie starts in a sessions court and then goes to flashback through a novel. A woman delivers a baby girl at her home on a rainy night . The mother dies soon after the delivery, the drunken father then sells the infant to Rani(played by Shaari) who is incharge of a brothel. The girl is being brought up in the brothel along with its inmates and the movie credits run simultaneously.. Then from no where, a sleazy item number pops up( I should have understood the ‘quality’ of the movie at this point itself!) and the girl who is named Ammu (new comer Bharathi) is exhibited in front of a few people for bidding. A filthy rich person named Nathan ( Mahadevan) wins the bid but is thrown out of the brothel for being a sadist. It is very predictable at this point of time that he would be taking his revenge when the movie approaches the climax. Enter renowned novelist Gowri Shankar (Parthiban), who had missed a prestigious award twice and his only aim is to win the award. He decides to pen down about people who dedicate their lives to others for his new novel and ends up in the same brothel where Ammu is. Its love at first sight for Parthiban, who starts his novel( titled Ammuvaagiya Naan) and then later decides to marry her. However, Ammu likes her profession (reason: she was brought up in that environment!) and is very much happy with her present life ‘serving’ others. Somehow she gets convinced and ties the knot with Gowri. Then they show her life after wedding which ends up in a horrible climax and that I guess is left for the audience to decide. What I failed to understand is that if Rani had so much of affection towards Ammu and if she could convince her for wedding with just a single sentence why did she let Ammu join the filth? And that too bid her in a way that reminds you of cattle trading??

Parthiban as the saccharine sweet husband is at his usual and has very little to do. I wonder what made an actor of such good caliber to accept this role. New comer Bharathi is good as a debutant, but needs to fine tune the scenes that demands tears. The music by Sabesh Murali is unpleasant to the ears. Thankfully, there are only three songs in the movie. The best part of the movie is its length-- two hours , but the second half moves in a snails pace making you want more intermissions.

I am clueless now as to how Ammu… was referred as a ‘Quality Film’ by the reviewers. If this is what quality means in the Tamil movie industry, the letter q should be replaced with ‘C’; which stands for Crap. Don’t even make an attempt to watch this Ammu even if they show it one day on television for this is definitely not a movie to be watched with your family.

Current Favs

For a while I was thinking that I should write something about what I like the most. Music has been my sole companion right from my childhood and I dont think there would not be any day where I have not either hummed or listened to a song intentionally. To list down my most favourite songs is something next to impossible. I listen to almost all the songs of hindi, tamil and malayalam and that too as soon as it releases. I save them to my pc once I like them and then transfer them to my mobile to enjoy them frequently. To review a particular album is also beyond my scope since I do not have any idea on stuffs like interludes, placement, etc.

After putting in a lot of thought process on what to post, I have decided to list down the top ten songs from recently released albums (comprising of Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam) that I listen to presently. Initially, I had ideas to update it on a weekly basis, but that would be too much of pressure on me.hehehe.So this list would be updated only on a fortnightly basis. To reiterate, this list is only on the basis of what I like currently and not based on the sales or popularity of the albums. And guess what, after a couple of years, this list would also help me in tracing out the songs that I once used to listen to.

and so it starts....

1 Bhool Bhulaiya from Bhool Bhulaiya (Hindi)
2 Maula mere from Chak de India (Hindi)
3 Thirike njaan from Arabikadha (Malayalam)
4 Vizhiyil from Kreedom(Tamil)
5 Dil da mamla from Heyy baby (Hindi)
6 Soni di nakhre from Partner (Hindi)
7 Mazhavilin from Hallo (Malayalam)
8 Saathiya from Darling (Hindi)
9 Pesugiren from Satham Podaadey (Tamil)
10 Arabinaadu from Thottal Poo Malarum(Tamil)

What if ?....

I really don’t know what made me come up with such a post. Probably, its because of my present state of mind.

What if ? - reflects a state of confusion of the human mind and one could derive a lot of answers from one such question. This question had made some of the great ones in the past to think hard, which had resulted in many of todays most important discoveries and inventions.

I myself have asked this question quite often and most of my answers still remains unanswered. More often than not, my questions were/are personal and most of them would have been to take an important decision in life. But whenever I had posed these questions, I had to undergo a lot of criticism with my conscious. One such question is about the way I am now. I know that I am not such a good person, but I am not that bad either. Well, What if this is not the way I am supposed to be? Could be because of the way I was brought up, or might be because of the education I have had. Though I have done by Masters in management, I keep thinking, What if I had a Hotel Management degree or a degree in B.Pharm or even a MBBS ? Life would have been totally different then, especially when taking into consideration the people I have with me today. What if I never converted my lifes’ acquaintances to the ‘best of’ friends that I have now? Its true that the people who are around me have influenced me both in my life and in my decisions to a great extent. But, What if some of the decisions that I had taken or what I would be taking on my own influence their life too-directly or indirectly? What if the good decision hurts them and then I regret taking the bad one? To think of it, I need not be this confused since it is my life, I need to live on my own and it is not certain that these people are going to be with me at every phase of my life. But again, What if I lose all those people, who had been there for me through out my life, by just taking a single decision? Well, it was these decisions at different phases that made me learn a lot of lessons in life – personally and professionally. I am trying my best to still learn, for it is these lessons that I consider as my experience in life today. What if I commit the same mistake inspite of those experiences? and What if, one day, I stopped having that urge to learn? My experiences has only led me in the right direction so far and made me realize about my priorities and responsibilities in life. ‘Stopping by woods on a snowy evening’ a poem written by Robert Frost has a line about responsibility that goes “I have promises to keep and Miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep”. All of us have come to this world with responsibilities to accomplish a particular task, a promise that we need to fulfill.What if I did accomplish my task and never came to know what it actually was? Or What if I bid farewell to the world without even fulfilling it?

This is what happens when my mind wanders. Though I dont want it to, my mind keeps seaching for answers which I know for sure would not be available. What if I kept searching for the answers when it is already within me? or What if I find the answer one day and its too late?