Kaminey-Dissection

Cast:

Shahid Kapoor as Charlie/Guddu
Priyaka Chopra as Sweety
Amol Gupte as Sunil Shekhar Bhope (Bhope Bhau)

Director:Vishal Bhardwaj

'Kaminey' quite a wierd name for a movie you might say, you scroll down and see 'Vishal Bhardwaj' and silently agree that he might have had something different in store again.Such is the trust he has earned among movie-lovers and hasn't he lived up to it again!This time around he brings to us the early ninetees Tarantino style of movie making,with a perfect mix of dark humour,violence with a pinch of romance to give us this beautiful drama in shades of red and gray.Kaminey as the name suggests is about how selfish people get when it comes to their dreams,love,career and all.

The movie opens to Shahid giving us, in lisp, his take on life."pai'f'e kamane ke bas do raaste hote hai:ek 'F'ortcut aur ek chota 'F'ortcut".This is the street smart Charlie,who makes money hedging bets at racecourse.He dreams of being rich and marring a beautiful rich girl.So,he takes the shortcut('F'ortcut as Charlie would say) and bets one lakh rupees on a horse,but eventually it turns out that the race was fixed and he loses all his money.Sore at this he and his coke-addicted friend Mikhail trace the jockey and finally trace down the henchman,Francis, primarily responsible for this.But as fate would have it there is a drug-deal going on in the adjoint apartment of the hotel and while running away from the hotel Charlie hijacks the jeep of the corrupt Anti Narcotics officers Lele and Lobo,who wanted to sell the prize off to the stylish smuggler Tashi.The jeep had coke worth 10Cr(in a guitar case!).

The other track of the story is of Charlie's twin brother Guddu,who ironically also has a speech impediment too.Guddu works for an NGO that educates people against AIDS and he stammers while talking.His girlfriend is Sweety,played by Priyanka Chopra who delivers some top of the line acting.She is the sister of a wannabe gangster-politician Bhope Bhau(Amol Gupte).Bhope is a politician who wants to draw some political milege on the Maharastra-is-meant-for-only-marathis concept and obviuosly is furiated when he realises that his own sister is marrying a 'North-Indian'.

The story is about how the twins who chose separate paths cross each others ways and eventually realise their dreams.

Kaminey is beautifully crafted with an unpredictable screenplay that will keep you glued to the seats.The climax is the winner where you can hear loud cheers from the audience,for every new twist that comes around.Everything about Kaminey is right,be it the casting,acting,writing even technical aspects like sound and editing were fabulously done.

The songs were already a hit and they never for once disturb the story telling.Fatak,the first song of the movie metaphorically explains about AIDS and its prevention techniques,which will remain one of my personal favorites.Even the title track Kaminey.It talks about how kamini(if I can use that word) are the aspirations inside a man and how they take control of your life if not checked.

All in all Vishal Bhardwaj delivers a fantastic package and lived up to the high standards he has set for himself.

Verdict: 4.5/5

P.S.This might the the first time when I did not have a 'Rip Masand' section,that is because for the first time ever I agree to whatever he said.

Love Aaj Kal-Dissection

LAK is about Jai(Saif) who is like any other guy you meet,chilled out, anti-commitment,you IM him Love and he would reply with a suprised smiley.Jai ,as in any other lovestory, meets a girl Meera.Meera Pundit(Deepika) is again the usual girl who her own set of ideals and is pretty cool about this love stuff herself.The story is about how these people who seem all so 'practical' fall for each other.All along Imtiaz tried explaining the audience that no matter how casual you are about relationships and people,there would be this one person you would fall in love with.This one person understands you and knows you inside out and is your 'soulmate'.
Imtiaz starts with his trademark guy meets gal,they are not quite keen(read sure) about each other but eventually destiny has it that they meet.'Socha na tha' started similar;but again it doesnot leave you with a deja vu as many critics put it; neither do I see the director being overtly cautious.It is plain his-own-style.Romance, we understand is his forte,his real test now would be coming out of his comfort mush zone.
Story:
The story quite interestingly starts with the lead pair calling their relationship quits!Talking always about being 'practical' and how long distance relationships don't take off;given the fact that Meera had to fly to India for work.Both wanted to grow professionally and so they part ways but they decide on not to sob their way out of this but celebrate with a party,a 'break-up party'.It was at the end of this party that Veer Singh(Rishi Kapoor),a cafe owner bumps into him,telling Jai how he resembled him in is youth.
Veer Singh had dated a beautiful young punjabi girl Harleen(Giselle Montero) who lived in Delhi,when he was young(played by Saif with a turban).Harleen and family relocated to Calcutta,but Veer Singh is so smitten by this girl that he travels to Calcutta just to catch a glimpse of her.The next time they meet is at a wedding in Delhi,when she tells Veer that she is getting engaged the day after and has no say in this.He eventually wins her home,despite opposition from her family.
Screenplay and good slick Editing are the stars of the film.The movie darts smoothly between Veer Singh's past and Jai's present drawing parallels between eveverything in their lives.
Saif plays Jai,he has done similar roles in Salaam Namaste and Hum Tum before, so pulls it off pretty effortlessly.This might go down as one of the better performances by Deepika,who I felt showed us that she too can act, for the first time esp. the last scene where she proved that she can cry.She has miles to go in terms of acting still and is wooden at times,particularly. the dance sequences.Deepika again has usually been potrayed in roles like these,which are by and large similar to how she is in real life aswell.Her character and 'practical' approach to life remind you of Bachna Ae Haseeno.
Rip Masand:
"The screenplay, for one, is far from foolproof."
I feel it was one of the best narrations of 2009.For example,one of the last scenes in which the love-lost Jai finally goes to Meera.The shots move quickly between Veer Singh going to get Harleen and Jai going to Meera's house.The parallelism has been smoothly crafted.

"The incident that drives Jai to realise where his heart lies is ridiculous"
It is funny how Masand expects everything to be senselessly scientic.This is how life is and this also precisely the charater that Jai and Meera play.They have no idea that he/she is the one for each other.And that is also what Meera tells Rahul Khanna,"Jai does not know this yet.And if he does anytime,he will come back to me". The one good thing that I observed in this is how she doesnot forecast that Jai 'will be back' .Quite unlike "Woh zaroor ayega,mera dil kehta hai"or "Agar mera pyaar sachcha hai toh woh zaroor ayega" cliches.

"The young Veer and Harleen track is wrapped up with a convenient culmination that isn't even dramatic enough to justify how much time has been spent establishing these characters."
What more does anyone want?Any more frames into their story and people might have started getting bored,given the fact that Veer is not the lead protagonist.

" Deepika Padukone lacks the maturity or the skill to make up for the lapses in the writing and to construct a credible character out of Meera. "
I could not figure out any lapses as such but Deepika did a commendable job as discussed before.

Verdict:
The film is a fitting next to the director's previous "Socha Na Tha" and "Jab We Met" and if we talk about the storyline and the depth,I personally found it to be tad better than JWM.You can watch it anytime with anyone.

I'd give it a 4 out of 5.