First off, if you're going to watch Karthik calling Karthik (KCK for the rest of the review), DO NOT read any of the reviews out there. If they give away any part of the movie, it will effectively ruin the movie for you.
So - I am going to keep this review as basic and non-story-lined as I can.
Story Line
KCK is a suspense thriller (or if you prefer, a psychological thriller) - with a romantic angle thrown in. Karthik (Farhan Akhtar) is an overly meek and timid person - who gets pushed around by everyone. One fine day - he starts getting periodic phone calls - from someone who pretends to be Karthik - i.e. himself. That is all I can say about the main story-line - if I say anything else, I may give away more than necessary.
Acting
Both Farhan and Deepika were outstanding in their respective roles. Equally importantly - the supporting cast (those parts that the director usually doesn't pay much attention to) - are also very good (most of them are fairly well respected TV/bollywood actors).
Script
The touches of humor are brilliant - and in Farhan's inimitable style - are delivered in a understated, tongue-in-cheek manner. If you've liked Farhan in any of his 'Oye its Friday' (popular tv talk show) episodes, you have a good idea of his sense of humor. Just as a personal aside, I thought he was by far the most creative and hilarious of all the people who tried similar shows (Karan Johan, Farah Khan and others included...)
Direction
The direction is such that it manages to hold the audience in suspense throughout the movie. In addition, there are a couple of scenes where one actually gets scared. I believe this is Vijay Lalwani's first movie - and I cannot wait for his future works.
Music
This - for me - was a pleasant bonus along with a great movie. I did not go in expecting great music - or any music really (after all, it is meant to be a suspense thriller). However, I was pleasantly surprised by both 'Hey Ya' and 'Uf Teri Ada'. While 'Hey Ya' is the heavily advertised song (and is admittedly a catchy tune), 'Uf Teri Ada' has - in my books - achieved the status of 'Bebo Mein Bebo' or 'Tum Mile'.
In fact, when 'Bebo Mein Bebo' came out, I heard it over and over again. I find myself doing the same with 'Uf Teri Ada'. Nothing wrong with a foot tapping catchy beat every now and then...
Summary
If you liked 'A Wednesday' (not that KCK has anything to do with terrorism) or 'Samay' (a detective thriller) - you will like KCK. In yet another break from regular bollywood movies, it is only 2 hours and change in length. Oh - I almost forgot to mention - for the 50% of the audience with the Y chromosome - Deepika looks stunning - and may be worth the price of the ticket itself. All in all - a captivating movie - with a decent romantic angle, decent music - and extremely good story.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
My name is Khan (MNIK for the rest of this review).
I don't know where to start. There are several problems with this movie.
Karan Johar has tried to weave too many themes into this movie. Autism, 9/11, Islam, World Peace, Romance, Parenthood - and a Hurricane thrown in just for good measure.
The two biggest themes in this movie - Autism and 9/11 - were also the ones with the biggest problems.
Autism
Shah Rukh has always been what I consider a 'poor in demanding roles' actor. Roles that require attention to detail - where one needs to get 'into character' as opposed to simply copying a character - are not his forte. Devdas (2002) was a prime example of why Shah Rukh needed to work on his acting skills.
It is eight years later - and he could still use some acting lessons. His attempt to play an autistic character was a mish-mash of material stolen from Rainman, Forrest Gump and 'I am Sam'. Except - he wasn't nearly as convincing as any of these characters. Even the flop hindi copy of 'I am Sam' (called Main Aisa hi Hoon) - had Ajay Devgan doing a better job than Shah Rukh in 'My Name is Khan'.
I left the theater convinced that the only realistic display of autism was in the segment of audience cheering in parts of this movie.
9/11 and the treatment of Muslims in the U.S. in its aftermath
Granted - there is a message here - and that there was reason for Muslims in America to fear for their safety. Granted also that there were unreasonable attacks on 'turbaned' as well as other stereotyped individuals in the wake of 9/11 as portrayed in the movie. However - once again - the problem was in the 'messenger' - and not the message.
It was poorly conveyed. Here though, Shah-Rukh is not alone in shouldering the blame. The director could have done a far better job - as several other post 9/11 movies have. In fact, the somewhat less successful New York (starring John Abraham) - was far more realistic and hard-hitting in this regard.
Script
In a recent Bollywood award show, Shri. Javed Akhtar was awarded a lifetime achievement award for some of his exceptional writing for over 40 years. His acceptance speech contained an admonition to Bollywood movie makers - "A movie without a good script - is just not a good movie".
It may contain advanced special effects, great music and a great cast - however - without a script - it is like a ship without a compass. It will float aimlessly - and will lose the audience. MNIK lost me from the very beginning and I was lost throughout. There is not a memorable line in the movie - except a few well known platitudes - which lacked good delivery.
Music
This is perhaps the only area where I would give MNIK a couple of points. 'Sajda' and 'Tere Naina' are catchy and memorable tunes - and perhaps worth downloading (legally of course).
In Summary...
As if there weren't enough problems with this movie, the whole Hurricane Katrina angle only made things worse. A simple 5 minutes may have been tolerable - but 30 minutes into the soaked heartland of Georgia - as you watch the entire cast wading in knee-deep water - you are left wondering if you wouldn't actually be better off in the midst of Katrina than being stuck in this movie theater.
My name is Anuj - and I am not (in the least) impressed.
I don't know where to start. There are several problems with this movie.
Karan Johar has tried to weave too many themes into this movie. Autism, 9/11, Islam, World Peace, Romance, Parenthood - and a Hurricane thrown in just for good measure.
The two biggest themes in this movie - Autism and 9/11 - were also the ones with the biggest problems.
Autism
Shah Rukh has always been what I consider a 'poor in demanding roles' actor. Roles that require attention to detail - where one needs to get 'into character' as opposed to simply copying a character - are not his forte. Devdas (2002) was a prime example of why Shah Rukh needed to work on his acting skills.
It is eight years later - and he could still use some acting lessons. His attempt to play an autistic character was a mish-mash of material stolen from Rainman, Forrest Gump and 'I am Sam'. Except - he wasn't nearly as convincing as any of these characters. Even the flop hindi copy of 'I am Sam' (called Main Aisa hi Hoon) - had Ajay Devgan doing a better job than Shah Rukh in 'My Name is Khan'.
I left the theater convinced that the only realistic display of autism was in the segment of audience cheering in parts of this movie.
9/11 and the treatment of Muslims in the U.S. in its aftermath
Granted - there is a message here - and that there was reason for Muslims in America to fear for their safety. Granted also that there were unreasonable attacks on 'turbaned' as well as other stereotyped individuals in the wake of 9/11 as portrayed in the movie. However - once again - the problem was in the 'messenger' - and not the message.
It was poorly conveyed. Here though, Shah-Rukh is not alone in shouldering the blame. The director could have done a far better job - as several other post 9/11 movies have. In fact, the somewhat less successful New York (starring John Abraham) - was far more realistic and hard-hitting in this regard.
Script
In a recent Bollywood award show, Shri. Javed Akhtar was awarded a lifetime achievement award for some of his exceptional writing for over 40 years. His acceptance speech contained an admonition to Bollywood movie makers - "A movie without a good script - is just not a good movie".
It may contain advanced special effects, great music and a great cast - however - without a script - it is like a ship without a compass. It will float aimlessly - and will lose the audience. MNIK lost me from the very beginning and I was lost throughout. There is not a memorable line in the movie - except a few well known platitudes - which lacked good delivery.
Music
This is perhaps the only area where I would give MNIK a couple of points. 'Sajda' and 'Tere Naina' are catchy and memorable tunes - and perhaps worth downloading (legally of course).
In Summary...
As if there weren't enough problems with this movie, the whole Hurricane Katrina angle only made things worse. A simple 5 minutes may have been tolerable - but 30 minutes into the soaked heartland of Georgia - as you watch the entire cast wading in knee-deep water - you are left wondering if you wouldn't actually be better off in the midst of Katrina than being stuck in this movie theater.
My name is Anuj - and I am not (in the least) impressed.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)