Hagneepath 2012

Agneepath (2012)

*ing: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra

The movie is about Vijay (Hrithik) who, as a child, witnesses the murder of his father in his native town - Mandwa. Kancha bhau (Sanjay Dutt), a heroin businessman, is the schemer and the main stakeholder for the murder. Vijay and his mother abandon Mandwa and settle in Mumbai. He grows up being part of the Mumbai underworld (?). His aim is to become as powerful as Kancha in order to avenge his father's murder.

Director: Karan Malhotra

Music: Ajay-Atul (the beauty of the marathi version of Chikni Chameli was the rustic male voice which is sorely missed)

KBC for the filmy keedas

While watching an Amitabh movie on Sony Set Max channel, my mom reminded me that I have watched this movie a million times already. She was, of course, exaggerating. The actual number might be in 2-digits, though. So, when there is an ad break, she rushes to switch to her daily soap on some other channel. This is where I need to be quick and agile in putting my hand between the remote and the sensor on the TV. 

"Mom, this is the most interesting part."

"What? The ads?!"

"No, maa, the Extra Shots."

And then a nugget of trivia related to the movie unfolds on the screen. 

How else would I have known that Alisha Chinoy debuted as a playback singer in Tarzan at the insistence of B Subhash who heard her sing in Dalip Tahil's play named Evita?

Or that the role played by Zeenat Aman in Yaadon Ki Baaraat was first offered to Asha Parekh, who turned it down because she was scheduled for dance shows in a world tour.

Or that Amitabh Bachan had the switch to the lights in his hands for the "Saaraa Zamana" song in Yaarana.

All of this came back to me because today I am looking forward to the first episode of the quiz show based on all such trivia... Extra Shots Challenge.

[This post was inspired by Dipta Kirti's awesome blog promoting the show with 18 filmy questions.]

Deewana banaa de.

Gaudy-Bard

Bodyguard

Starring:
Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Asrani, Aditya Pancholi, Mahesh Manjrekar

Lovely Singh (Salman) is a professional bodyguard assigned with the job of protecting Divya (Kareena). She is a MBA student under threat of being killed by the villains. However, her college life seems to be disturbed because of the bodyguard that trails her all the way to her classroom. In an attempt to keep him busy elsewhere, she keeps calling him (as Chhaya) from an undisclosed private mobile number and serenades him to fall in love with Chhaya.  He is not aware that Divya and Chhaya are actually the same girl till the very end of the movie. He performs his duty of protecting her from the villains.

Pros:
- Salman and Kareena put in decent performances
- A typical bollywood pot boiler masala film - action hai, masti hai, dance hai, music hai, drama hai, suspense hai

Cons:
- The comic track featuring Sunami Singh is too loud and most times unbearable

Music:
Himesh (yes, he is back!) and Pritam

You will like this if (and only if):
- You are a Salman fan
- You do not mind a mindless time pass popcorn movie

Trivia:
- Check the spellings of the names in the titles and the poster above (numerology seems to have caught with everyone)
- Salman's real life bodyguard - Shera - appears dancing in the entry song; along with Katrina Kaif
- Himesh ended his if-I-give-music-I-act-too condition for Salman Khan
- Eventually, there is a going to be an article which lists the different ways that Salman has unbottoned his shirt. In this movie, his shirt tears open by a blast of water from a broken pipe.

Hawa Hawai

Imagine
Laaka chik laaka chik
Chiki laaka chiki choom.

Imagine that in reggae.

Now replace Kavita Krishnamurthy with the unmelodious scratchy voice of Suman Shridhar without any of the sound engineer's polishings.

Doesn't seem good, no?

But then listen to the remastered version of Hawa Hawai from the OST Shaitan. I am not sure if it is available on the music CD. I first heard the song playing in a promo for the movie and got an mp3 from Cooltoad and have been stuck with the song since then. The scratchiness of the voice adds to the fun. How it makes the song feel like anyone can sing it!

The vocal twang in the lines -
Soorat hi maine aisi paayee
Kehte hai mujhkooooo
- is fun.

The rest of the album itself is a DJs playground. It has a variety of places for those who can play with the tempo and can get the dance floor moving. I liked the Nasha number a lot. It reminds me of Naach from Karthik Calling Karthik.

Repeat view-worthy: Khakee

Toofaan ab karegaa roshni ka faislaa,

Diyaa woh jalegaa jis mein dam ho.

Only Amitabh could say these lines with the charisma with which he does.

Rajkumar Santoshi directs this fast paced thriller with his usual touch of comedy and songs. His intention was to bring together all actors with names starting from the latter 'A'. However, Akshaye Khanna turned down the role which eventually went to Tushar Kapoor.

The movie caught my attention when I first saw the poster at New Excelsior theatre in South Bombay. During those days Amitabh was sporting a french beard and it was a refreshing change to see him in this avatar. Check out the similarities with the Deewar poster... signifying the arrival of a Big B movie. (wasn't Amitabh supposed to be in blue shirt, instead of red?)

Ikes

Kites

Starring: Hrithik, Barbara, Kangana
Director: Anurag Basu
Music: Rajesh Roshan

Plot:
This is a love story of Linda and J. Linda speaks only Spanish and the 2 do not understand each other's languages. They manage to win the wrath of a powerful and rich casino owner. Guns and chases follow.

Pros:

• Stunning cinematography
• Hrithik Roshan
• Unseen locales
• A truly international look due to the expansive processing and re-processing

Cons:

• Jarring background music
• Too many scenes seem to have been edited out (e.g. Robin warning J that some day he would fall in love and face the consequences)
• Minor continuity jerks (e.g. Linda throwing away her shoes in the rain and is seen wearing them again in the next scene)

Things I remember:

• Nothing really happens through out the film. There is not a genuine wow-moment. Not even where one normally expects it; i.e. during Hrithik's dance. Perhaps, there was this one visually stunning bit of choreography for Fire, where Kangana jumps up in the air in a perfect arc from behind Hrithik... together with audio track, this was as close as it get to the wow-moment for me.
• Hrithik crooning the title track of the movie; the track sounded very similar to Enrique's Hero.
• Unlike the hindi films, the hero heroine do not break into an abrupt song-dance routines, rather, the songs are played in the background.
  

Trivia:
The song 'Tum bhi ho wahi' and 'Humko aajkal hai intezaar' (Sailaab) have one thing in common that the main singer repeats the few lines while the chorus get to sing rest of the song. Really, check them out.

Conversations

There was an unnatural calm in the cubicle as RK, KB and me were punching through the keyboard. And like little red riding hood, a girl jaunted past us in red track-suit-like garb. Needless to mention here that the big bad wolves in the cubicle got distracted from their work.

Me: lagtaa hai gym se aayi hai seedha.
KB: Gym, hmm. (sigh!)
Me: Hey RK, tu gym gaya tha aaj?
RK: Nahi. 1 week se nahi gaya.
Me: Gym join karke 10 din hi toh huay hai!
RK: (with an unconvincing smirk) Kal jaaunga.
Me: and you, KB?
KB: (amidst roaring laughter) méré toh chaar hazaar hee barbaad huay hai, iské toh gyaarah hazaar doob gayé.