NEW YORK: Movie Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, the wait is finally over. After months of torture, comes a movie which has finally made me smile. ‘New York’ isn’t just a piece of good work but a movie with perfect balance between sensitivity and sensibility.

‘New York’ is a story of 3 Indian friends residing in New York. It shows the cute relationship that they share with each other and how 9/11 attack affects that and changes their lives eventually.

From the first frame, the movie hooks you completely. As the movie mainly deals with the interaction between 4 characters – John, Katrina, Neil and Irrfan - it doesn’t waste time in any unnecessary details, thereby quickly establishing the basic characters. And once it does that it quickly jumps to the main plot. In fact ‘New York’ boasts a strong screenplay, hardly seen in bollywood in recent history. There is never a dull moment as things keep happening one after the other where each scene is used to carry the story forward. You blink and you may miss a crucial scene. Plus, the movie provides a smooth flow from a sensitive scene to a thrilling scene to a suspense scene.

I loved Kabir Khan’s work in ‘Kabul Express’ and in this one he goes a step forward, as alongside dealing with real issues, he manages to get the audience to relate with more complex emotions of each character. He manages to keep the movie realistic, never going overboard which is a refreshing change from the usual bollywood crap. The movie maintains a serious mood throughout, with subtle humorous scenes which are very few and far in-between. The characters seem like those which you could have met in real life, hence you easily tend to smile or sympathize with each passing scene.Thankfully, the movie is devoid of any singing and dancing routine – all songs play in the background, which only enhances the mood of the movie. The only thing that didn’t gel with me was the climax (I do have some issues with it but considering this is a so-called review .....)

John’s performance seems to be improving with each movie and so is his choice of roles. Katrina gives her most impressive performance to date. Neil is good. Irrfan is natural.

Yash Raj Films hasn’t had a hit in a while. Hopefully this movie will change their fortunes. ‘New York’ is a good movie. Go and watch it.

KAL KISSNE DEKHA: Movie Review

WHY GOD, WHY??? What sin have I committed that I decided to watch this movie!!!

After many months a bollywood biggie released (Apparently it took 34 crores to make this one, so yeah it IS a biggie) and THIS is what bollywood had to offer!!! Seriously, whats wrong with these people???

The movie tells a story of a boy - you know someone who dances well, sings well, fights well, has a good body, is kind to everyone, helps the needy – the pakka bollywood hero. He joins a college in Mumbai. There he meets a girl – who is rude to people, selfish, insensitive to others ... err you get the drift. The guy makes her right, falls in love and before the movie ends, the guy saves the city too. Oh, did I forget to mention??... the guy can see the future!! (So kal kissne dekha?? ... duh! Our hero ne dekha!!)

Leave sense, leave logic ... This movie hammers your brain to a pulp. Whole plotline makes no sense whatsoever. In first half, the ever-so-nice guy is busy winning the girl over with his ever-so-niceties; in the second half, he is busy saving the city from a bunch of terrorists. And the future-vision element is to help the writers push the story without bothering to give a logical explanation(not that you expect one after 15 minutes of the movie). Each scene is frustrating. The romance track seems forced into the story, so is the college bash track, so is the terrorist track...err ... on second thought, every scene seems to be forcibly squeezed into the plot. The director has obviously tried to put in all the bollywood masala elements but it neither makes you laugh, nor cry, it just makes you wanna bang your head against the wall.

Needless to say, this movie was meant to be nothing other than a launch pad for Jackky Bhagnani. My opinion - He can give a tough competition to Tusshar Kapoor (and if my future-vision is right, he succeeds!!). Vaishali hardly has any scope to perform. Rest of the cast is wasted.

Sigh, only if I could have seen the future and saved myself from those two tormenting hours.