Chak De India Review

Rating : 4/5
Cast: SRK and co(ladies)

Director: Shimit amin

Music: Salim-Sulaiman

Premise:India, the nation with a religion called cricket and a lesser known national game called Hockey.In Cricket, If the team won we celebrate,we party or else we protest on streets with mock funerals or throw stones on players houses.In Hockey,Many of us don't even know the name of Hockey legend Dhyan Chand but we remember a small time cricket player who represented the country for one or two matches at the international level.
Chak De India is the story of a coach's fight of making his team, Team India by overcoming their diverse backgrounds, by learning to use everything that life hurls on them as a secret weapon. It's a story about honesty, sincerity and integrity.A story to remind the nation of its National sport.

Story:Indian Hockey team captain Kabir Khan(Shahrukh Khan)misfires a penalty shootout in a final match with Pakistan and was blamed by media and fans as a traitor.For 7 years his whereabouts are unkown.When the Hockey board thinking about Indian Women's hockey team is naam ke vaste and cannot even win a match with a european school team,Kabir khan returns as a coach to prove his love,honesty to the nation and his game.How he accomplish the task is the remaining story.

Analysis:
Yashraj films-Shahrukh khan combination is well known for superhit love stories Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,Dil to Pagal Hai,Mohabbatein,Veer-Zaara.
Shimit amin,the director of Chak de India earlier directed Ramgopal Varma's production Ab Tak Chhappan,a realistic & serious cop story.
We have already seen two blockbusters Lagaan,Bend it like Beckham based on our favourite sports.

So...Many expect it will be another Yashraj-Shahrukh film like Mohabbatein (as Shahrukh looks serious in promos)with some Lagaan,Bend it like Beckham flavour. But actually it's a Shimit Amin film!Shimit Amin has done a brilliant job and succeeded convincing the audience with a Shahrukh Khan film minus heroine minus duets minus witty one-liners yet entertaining ,touching & lovely.

The movie is shot entirely in the Hockey grounds,stands,dressing rooms or player's dormitary.
The director has shown why Indians perform poor at International arena and how we can win.
Much needed technical elements for this kind of movie--cinematography(Sudeep Chatterjee),editing(Amitabh Shukla),music(Salim-Sulaiman)--are of first class with some brilliant dialougues by Jaideep Sahni.
above all...it's Shahrukh Khan who steals the show with his finest performance.It is definitely one of his career's best.
Finally:It's a must watch movie for everyone who are fed up with regular pagal-deewane pyaar kahanis.Better don't compare it with Lagaan or Bend it like Beckham,Enjoy it as Chak de India.

Partner

Rating : 3/5

Cast: Govinda, Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta
Director: David Dhawan
Music: Sajid-Wajid

At the marquee, the two hero movie continues to flourish. After the arty Bong Connection about two Bengali boys in foreign lands and the lukewarm Bobby Deol – Akshaye Khanna thriller Naqaab, we have the ultimate buddy flick: Partner with Salman Khan and Govinda.

Like Yash Chopra, director David Dhawan has also created his own school of film. It’s called DND cinema. DND stands for dimag nikal ke dekho, which basically means that you leave your brains at home while watching a David film. And with it, you leave behind any questions of logic, dramatic consistency and character motivation. All you want out of a David Dhawan film is a good time.

Parts of Partner are a rollicking good time. The film is a copy of the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch. Salman Khan reprises Wills Smith's role of a date doctor, here called the Love Guru. The love guru solves mysteries of the heart advising guys how to win the girl of their dreams. But he is a true romantic who won’t work with men looking only for one-night stands.

The love guru embarks on his career’s most challenging case: Bhaskar Deewakar Chaudhary a portly, clumsy, superbly geeky financial advisor who is in love with the boss’s angelic daughter. Bhaskar is, as the love guru says, boredom aur bewakufi ka brand ambassador. While she is a luminous creature, sitting on a company worth Rs 1000 crore. It’s an impossible match that the love guru makes possible.

As long as David Dhawan and his writers stick to Hitch, Partner is great fun. The dialogues by Sanjay Chhel are funny, the songs are slick music videos and the actors are having a great time. Salman Khan is, as always, the ultimate rock star actor. He preens and pouts as the camera caresses his well-oiled muscles. Govinda, podgy and supremely uncool is the perfect foil for him. The chemistry between them and Govinda’s outstanding comic timing keeps the first half of the film moving nicely.

But the second half meanders too much into the love guru’s own uninteresting love angle, the heiresses’ controlling father and a kid who is more annoying than cute. There’s also some singularly unfunny homophobic jokes and at one stage, the love guru declares: Career woman ke saath kabhi pyar nahin karna chaiye aur who bhi journalist se. That’s probably not going to score any points with women in the media.

Hitch was a charming romantic comedy. It had wit and intelligence. Partner is its tapori version. But I recommend that you see it only to experience the sheer genius of Govinda. He is truly Hero no 1.

Naya Daur

Rating : 3/5

Starring :Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala, Ajit and Jeevan

Director: B R Chopra

Producer: B R Chopra

Music Director: O P Nayyar

Lyricist: Sahir Ludhianvi

Story :

Shankar lives in a remote village in rural India with his mother and sister, Manju, and drives a horse-carriage for a living. The main employer in the region is a kind-hearted businessman Maganlal. When Maganlal announces that he would like to undertake a religious pilgrimage, his son, Kundan, takes over and wants to cut back on labor and mechanize the business - thus leading to loss in jobs. He also introduces a bus thus taking away business from the horse-carriage drivers. This angers the community and they ask Kundan to reconsider, and he flats refuses - but agrees to withdraw the bus provided Shankar races it with his horse-carriage. Watch the action unfold as Shankar unites a divided village, and how he sets about to keep his faith in winning this race between man and machine.

Chak De India MANIA!!!!

Chak De India marks the return of King Khan with Yash Raj films, an association that is characterised by "feel good" storylines and music.

The soundtrack of the film finds itself in the hands of Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant, who have musical successes like Neal n Nikki, Hum Tum and rocking numbers of Dhoom and Kaal under their belt.

The Salim–Sulaiman duo recreates magic with the title track Chak De India sung by the ever versatile and spirited Sukhwinder Singh. Marianne Dcruz sports the English lyrics. The number with its catchy tune will surely find a place in the charts soon.

Badal Pe Paon Hai, sung by Hema Sardesai, is a situational song with a women-of-today feel to it. And there is more than one reason why it reminds you of certain Fair n Lovely and Ponds jingles.

Next on the track we have the motivating voice of Shahrukh Khan introducing the hockey team, which is too verbose to qualify as a song, but might be worth watching on the 70 mm screen.

Anushka Manchanda, of the VIVA fame, has lent her husky voice to Bad, Bad Girls. The song manages to capture your attention with its lyrics. It is all set to make you stir in your seats and tap your feet to its catchy beats.

You are taken to a completely different level with the qawaali Maula Mere Lele Meri Jaan, sung by Krishna and Salim Merchant. It is the only soulful track of the album and has a melancholy feel to it.

Hockey Remix by Gaurav and Tapan Raj of Medieval Punditz, has a similar tone as Ek Hockey Doongi Rakh Ke but with a lot more punch and gusto added to it.

The fast paced beats get your adrenaline rushing. It is definitely more promising than the original score.

Sattar Minute by Shahrukh Khan is a pep talk to the hockey team. The saving grace is that it does not last as long.

Overall, the album tries to break-free from the branded Yash Raj music. It offers refined vocals, but is far from achieving the chartbusting status.

It is a mediocre attempt from the power-packed team of Salim-Sulaiman.

Gandhi My Father

Rating : 3/5

Cast :

Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala, Bhumika Chawla and Shefali Chhaya

Director: Feroz Abbas Khan

Producer: Anil Kapoor

Screenwriter: Feroz Abbas Khan

Story Line :

Gandhi My Father is an epic story spanning from 1906 to 1948. Harilal Gandhi first incurs his father's disapproval when he marries young.

He's marrying a girl chosen by his father after four long years of engagement and yet Gandhi decides that he must break relations with Harilal.

Harilal is a simple man who wants simple things: a wife, home, children. His only ambition is to become a barrister.

Perhaps one day, he tells his wife, father and son can have their own law firm, Gandhi and Gandhi. But his father is, as General Smutts says, a politician on his way to sainthood.

The supremely idealistic Father of the Nation is a dysfunctional father at home.

Gandhi's inability to understand the small desires of his eldest son and Harilal's inability to live fruitfully in his father's colossal shadow sets the stage for disaster. Harilal dies, a drunk, alone and unknown, in a Bombay hospital.

Gandhi my father has evolved from director Feroze Abbas Khan's play Gandhi vs Mahatma.

So the film, despite lavish period set design and production values, feels stagey. It's slow, especially in the second half and the transitions are clunky.

Harilal's journey is exasperating - he compounds his bad luck with bad behaviour and there's never any good news.

But despite these flaws, Gandhi My Father deserves to be seen. Debutant director Feroz Khan has a fine eye for detail and debutant producer Anil Kapoor has a fierce desire to create a world class movie.

So Gandhi My Father has ambition and craft. It also has a towering performance by Akshay Khanna whose trembling lips encapsulate a lifetime of frustration and sadness.

The other stand out performance is Shefali Shah as Kasturba, forever torn and enduring. The film is a wrenching account of one family's tragedy. I strongly recommend that you see it.