Film Review-My Brother Nikhil

Purab Kohli, Juhi Chawla n Sanjay Suri in My Brother Nikhil.

StarCast: Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Purab Kohli
Director: Onir
Rating: * * *

A very impressive debut by the director, but this kind of cinema would not appeal to everyone. It touches your heart and all that, also discusses a very important social cause of AIDS awareness, etc but still this is no entertaining fare. The film's pace is too slow and one needs to be really patient to be on par with the film.

The film is a narrative by all the people in Nikhil's life like his sister Anu (Juhi Chawla), mother (Lillette Dubey), father (Victor Banerjee), friend and "more" (Purab Kohli), etc. Nikhil (Sanjay Suri) is a young boy , full of life, state swimming champion basically a son or a brother everyone would dream of.

Life is on a roll for Nikhil until HIV happens. The repercussions of this unwanted disease changes his life forever. The shocking and strange part is when Nikhil's parents abandon him. His father who once coached him, loved him more than his daughter and mother whose cornucopia of love showered on him are not a part of his anguished and miserable life, a time when he needs them the most. His hope of survival comes in the form of his sister Anamika who, along with her fiance` Sam (Gautam Kapoor) and a lawyer Anjali (Shweta Kawaatra) fights effortlessly for the cause of her little brother and is eventually a winner.

What keeps you on your chair are the performances, which are very well extracted. Seasoned actors Victor and Lillette essay their roles absolutely brilliantly. Gautam Kapoor, Purab Kohli and Shweta Kawaatra are effective. Shyan Munshi (as Nikhil's swimming rival) , Peeya Rai Chaoudry (as Shyan's girlfriend) and Deepanita Sharma (as Nikhil's so called girlfriend) have miniscule roles and nothing much to do.

The show stealers are undoubtedly Sanjay Suri and Juhi Chawla. Both of them give an absolutely knock out performance. Talk about being married, aging and still finding good roles and giving a phenomenal performance, well guys thats Juhi Chawla for you. Simply Awesome.

-Sanketh Rao.

Film Review-Zeher

Emran Hashmi n Shamita Shetty in Zeher

StarCast: Emran Hashmi, Shamita Shetty, Udita Goswami, Samir Kochhar.
Director: Mohit Suri
Rating: * * 1/2

Well, this is generation next with a whole new breed of actors and directors and each one is trying to offer something different. Zeher also is an attempt in the same direction. The first half of the film is sleaze and more sleaze and the second part turns out to be a whodunit. All said and done, agreed it's an attempt to do something different but, everything that is different is not necessarily great, and this is the feeling one can sense after watching Zeher. Also the name of the film is a misnomer. It could have been called "Sleaze with Ease" or probably "Murder II".

Siddarth (Emran Hashmi) is the chief cop in a Goa police station and Sonia (Shamita Shetty) plays his wife cum colleague and are having a troubled time as far as their marriage is concerned. During this interim, Siddarth comes across another couple, Sean (Samir Kocchar) and Anna (Udita Goswami) who r in a bad marriage too. Sean is a wife-beater. Siddarth sympathises with Anna and slowly gets attracted to her and they have a fling. The story moves on and one fine day Anna and Sean are found murdered. So who-dun-it forms the latter half of the story and this part of the movie is what makes it worth watching.

Will history repeat itself and churn out a hit like murder, is what we have to wait and watch. There is no scope for music at all, still one ends up humming "Woh Lamhe, Woh Baatein". Speaking of a debutante directorial effort, Mohit Suri definitely leaves a mark, not a bad start at all.

There are a few surprises on the acting front. Samir Kocchar plays his role impressively. Udita as a secductress has her tantalizing charms at her best, but still there is something missing. Emaran, well mate time to change before being labelled as a typecast. The super surprise somes from Ms. Shetty, she has a key role and she has really put in a lot of hard work, finally we know she can act. Hopefully now she will move on from item numbers and playing insubstantial second fiddle roles to something worthwhile.

Only die hard fans of the thriller genre or fans of the leading actors (which i am sure is as difficult as finding water in a desert) may like this one.

-Sanketh Rao.

Film Review-Karam

John Abraham n Priyanka Chopra in Karam

StarCast: John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra
Director: Sanjay F Gupta
Rating: * * 1/2

This one is a very stylish flick, but the problem here is that it is all gloss and no substance. John (John Abraham) is a contract killer a la Antonio Banderas straight out of Assassin and Desperado. Shalini (Priyanka Chopra) is his wife who for some reason is obsessed with a beach house, white curtains and wodden flooring. Phew!! Even in the climax, when he's dying in her arms, she reminds him of her materialistic urges, its kinda funny.

So when John is on one of his usual killing spree, he happens to kill a child by mistake, he is in a pool of melancholiness where his guilty conscience doesnt let him live peacefully. When he confesses this to his wife, she tells him to quit his job which she always vouched for. But his boss (Bharat Dabolkar) gives him one final hit list comprising of five people, after which he can break free but without which he would be gifted his wife's body parts since she's abducted by his boss.

Now in this cat and mice race there is also a cop (Shiny Ahuja) whose trying to track these hatchet jobbers.

The music in the film has no scope, only Tinka Tinka stands out. As far as the direction goes there are a few blemishes and the narrative gets boring at times. But some scenes are crafted expertly. Cinematography is brilliant. Bharat Dabolkar is just about bearable. Shiny Ahuja shines. The lead pair just proves that models can act. Priyanka Chopra just filts the bill, now this lass is sure to rock . The brawny actor delivers the goods. He's just the rite guy for the role, just perfect.

All said and done maybe this flick is just worth a look, now whether you get to see it or no depends upon your Karam.

Sanketh Rao.

Film Review-Socha Na Tha

Ayesha Takia n Abhay Deol in Socha Na Tha

StarCast: Abhay Deol, Ayesha Takia
Direction: Imtiaz Ali
Rating: * * 1/2

Quite bearable. This one is urbane, suave, chic, a sweet modern day love story. Viren Oberoi (Abhay Deol) is from an affluent joint family, is all of 24 and has nothing to worry about. Aditi Sahani (Ayesha Takia) is a simple happy girl who lives with her aunt and family, who brought her up after her parents death. Now Viren's family wants him to get married, so they arrange Viren and Aditi to meet. So wot's the problem? Well, Viren has a girlfriend Karen and wants to get married to her. So when Viren n Aditi meet they decide to decline the arranged marriage proposal.

But we can take a guess, Viren over the course of time falls for Aditi, but at this stage the parents have accepted Karen coz thats what Viren always wanted and there is a family feud goin on between the Oberoi's n Sahani's, since the arranged marriage thing didn't work out. So there is a lot of confusion till the climax and the climax is even more confusing.

The cast is fresh, the situations are different, the dialogues are funny but the climax is slightly disappointing but still, its worth a watch.

Everyone from Suresh Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri to Raj Zutshi to the girl who plays Karen play their parts convincingly. Only Sandhya Mridul is totally wasted. We dont expect this from her, especially after something like Page 3. And as far as the lead pair is concerned, both of them have their own style, they are natural and nice to watch. Abhay Deol definitely needs some finishing touch to match his brwany brothers. Ayesha is simply a delight to watch. She's as cute as a chinese doll.

Bored on a sunday, u know wot to do.........go for it!!

-Sanketh Rao.