Welcome – movie review

Welcome (comedy)
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Paresh Rawal
Direction: Anees Bazmee

The movie is a mix of boring sequences dragged too much or cut abruptly; and some hilarious moments that redeem the movie suddenly. There is absolutely no logic, either in the basic plot or in several incidents. Overall, it’s comes strictly under Timepass and Forgettable, but for the ardent Akshay Kumar/Comedy Flicks fan, this is David Dhawan’s poor cousin in terms of moviemaking. Not as consistent a comedy as No Entry though.

Welcome has Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor. It also has two gorgeous women-Katrina Kaif and Mallika Sherawat. Three decent songs and background music for Nana’s character lifted from Shankardada MBBS. Finally, Welcome has forced comedy, a weak plot and an even weaker love story in it. Of course, it does provide a few laughs, has Nana Patekar in a refreshing role written just for him and great timing with the two AKs.

Dr. Ghungroo has the responsibility of getting his nephew Rajiv married to a girl from a respectable family. Uday Shetty is a gangster who wants to get his sister Sanjana married to a respectable boy, which is difficult considering he has a flawed reputation. Rajiv and Sanjana fall in love and Ghungroo is happy with the match, but once he gets to know who she is, he tries to break the match. Rajiv promises his uncle that he will turn Shetty and his associate Majnoobhai into gentlemen so he can marry Sanjana, but the task on hand seems impossible.

The plot, as mentioned before, is as weak as they come. It is a rip off from Mickey Blue Eyes. Okay, so this is one of those leave-your-brain in the locker and comedy sans logic flick. The love story is badly scripted, the premise is not convincing and the gags are shoddy. The car sequence does make you laugh but the editing is not up to the mark and the house hanging off a cliff in the climax is similar to the one in No Entry. All the threads seem to have loose ends

Sure, there are the good parts which redeem the movie and will be enjoyed by most viewers (especially as there are not many big/interesting releases now). Firstly, Nana Patekar. You realize once again that he is a powerhouse performer, and his role as Uday Shetty is really funny. Then there’s Anil Kapoor as Majnoobhai, and the characters work for the movie. They are funny and likeable. Akshay Kumar, who has shown tremendous growth as an actor, has sadly been wasted in the movie. But still, it remains an Akshay Kumar movie. His chemistry with Katrina Kaif is charming, but only in the songs in this one

The three dons are fun, including Feroz Khan as RDX. The climax involving his son Lucky is dragged unnecessarily and after a while, it gets boring. There are the sporadic genuinely funny moments and good characterizations. The movie has a decent first half, and a mediocre second half

Nana rocks in the movie, Anil coming a close second. Akshay has done much, much better work in the recent past and this is not his best acting-wise or in entirety. Katrina is a looker, that is an undisputed fact but she has miles to go before she can perform. Since her screen-time is brief, we just get to appreciate her looks. Same goes for Mallika, but she puts up a better show than Kaif. Paresh Rawal justifies his role, and he too, is wasted but has his moments. Feroz Khan has a tailor made role

The movie is a mix of boring sequences dragged too much or cut abruptly; and some hilarious moments that redeem the movie suddenly. There is absolutely no logic, either in the basic plot or in several incidents. Overall, it’s comes strictly under Timepass and Forgettable, but for the ardent Akshay Kumar/Comedy Flicks fan, this is David Dhawan’s poor cousin in terms of moviemaking. Not as consistent a comedy as No Entry though.

Taare Zameen Par – movie review

Taare Zameen Par (drama)
Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary
Direction: Aamir Khan
Critic rating:

Aamir Khan’s directorial debut is impressive. It is a simple, straightforward story about a child with dyslexia. The theme is relevant, the child actor Darsheel Safary is excellent and the movie is a good watch.The movie slows down in the second half deliberately. The music, the narration and the two main actors-Darshan and Aamir work for the movie.

Ishaan Awasthi is an imaginative, bright kid; but academics leave him miffed. Pressure at home, punishments at school, and the possibility that he might repeat the year third time in a row puts his parents in a fix. He is sent to a boarding school, where he withdraws into a shell and gives up even the one thing that sets him free viz. painting. Enter a temporary art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh. He takes a personal interest in each child, and something about the now morose and depressed Ishaan draws Ram to him. Unlike the rest of the staff, he has an open approach to everything and lets the students be. Once he understands that Ishaan has dyslexia, he steps in to help the boy; he fills the color back in the child’s life.

The first 30 minutes spent in establishing each character is good. Ishaan at school and home, his teachers, his achiever elder brother who dotes on him, his caring but frustrated mother, his father worried and fed-up with the kid. There are songs that are part of the narrative, very few dialogues and some humor. Once the boarding school idea comes into the picture, it takes a heart-wrenching turn, followed by a touching song that shows the child’s agony away from home the first time. The flip-book showing one kid in the family moving away and out is shown repeatedly, achieving the required effect.

The Art Mela is a nice idea, but has a slow start. It ends well, but by then the movie is slowly slowing down to a stop. The teachers ham a little during this Mela sequence. The last 30 minutes could have been better, for the whole competition part of it dilutes the emphasis on not needing to be in a rat race all the time. Of course, it is meant to indicate that a kid can have his own sphere of expertise and that studies are not the be-all end-all of it.

Shankar-Eshaan-Loy have done a good job with the music, with lovely lyrics by Prasoon Joshi. The picturization of the songs is wonderful, and the timing and incidents in the songs (and Darsheel’s expressions) rock.

It’s a sincere attempt. It’s kept simple throughout, with is not loud or overdone. The character is identifiable and the actor is simply superb. It’s a touching movie, with pace and content that all age groups can understand, like and appreciate. The audience is evolving, and with that is mainstream cinema. TZP has given to us a good debutant director with huge potential and an eye for detail and a really good actor and SEL-Prasoon Joshi’s flawless music