Good, but not Jannatifying

Jannat 2 (A)

Genre: Action

Director: Kunal Deshmukh

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Esha Gupta

Rating: **1/2

 I must admit that I have always been an ardent fan of the Bhatt camp. Not because of a tinge of sleaze that they inject into their films for the intimate factor, but also for the subjects that they take up in their films. If Awaarapan was on the issue of woman trafficking and Jannat on betting and match fixing, Bhatt camp has brought the issue of illegal arms trading in its latest flick, Jannat 2. With the favourite star Emraan Hashmi and newbie Esha Gupta as lead roles, the film has to an extent portrayed decently good enough to make the viewers aware of the prevalent illegal arms smuggling in India.

The film begins with Emraan Hashmi who calls himself Sonu Dilli KKC wherein KKC stands for ‘kutti kameeni cheez’, being chased by a creditor along the streets of Delhi. The scene is humorous as it proves why Sonu is indeed a KKC ( I don’t need to repeat the full form again). As the subject goes, Sonu is an arms dealer and he sells country made weapons to clients who are ready to unleash their anger on their foes. His business goes on smoothly until he has a run in with cop Pratap Raghuvanshi ( Randeep Hooda) who swears on bursting the arms racket after an incident led to his wife being killed during an armed robbery. Raghuvanshi and Sonu share a love- hate relationship in which they make the fullest use of Hindi swear words to the maximum to show their ‘affection’ towards each other. Sonu falls in love with Jhanvi (Esha Gupta) and promises himself to transform into a good human being. But fate has something else for him as he is forced to work as an informer for the police as his identity will be revealed to Jhanvi who is unaware of his daring profession.

The film has some of the high and the low points that makes it a decent, or an average entertainer. While the film has certainly added to the reputation of Emraan Hashmi of being successful in pulling the audience to the theatres, Randeep Hooda has again performed well as an alcoholic and no-nonsense cop. However, I strongly felt that the love story between Sonu and Jhanvi was just limited to few songs and a couple of kissing scenes. Manish Chaudhari has performed well as an antagonist, so as Arif Zakaria impressed in a cameo appearance.

Talking about plot, Shagufta Rafique and Sanjay Masoom have done an excellent job in portraying a typical Delhi background with characters having a Delhiite and Haryanvi dialogues. However, too much of Hindi swear words in the later stage post interval failed to impress me. The film has its best moments in the witty confrontations between Sonu and Pratap as well as the former with his childhood friend Balli ( Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub). Pritam’s music has failed to impress this time unlike the previous Jannat.

Overall, I would end up saying that the viewers can watch the film once for entertainment and intimate moments, but should not expect a cracker if they have its prequel in their minds. 

SHE RUNS THE FILM ON HER OWN

‘Na tu kisi angle se mehbooba dikhti hai, na bibi. Badi feeki dikhti hai tu.’

These lines were said to an aspiring actress Reshma by the casting director in recent blockbuster ‘The Dirty Picture’. Little did the poor chap know that this ‘feeki’ girl would go on to become every man’s heartthrob in the southern film industry.

It has been rightly said that harsh words often yield an opposite effect, and who knows better than a film devotee than me. 

2005. I was in tenth standard, when this actress of the above mentioned film had made a sensational debut in Parineeta . Till then, she had mostly confined herself to television commercials wherein she mostly played the role of an Indian housewife. Unimpressed by her ordinary looks and healthy figure, I had openely declared that I won’t watch her films in theatres even if offered to watch it for free. Six years later, I had to wait for six days to be able to buy tickets for ‘The Dirty Picture’ that ran successfully and impressed trade pundits along with the critics.

Vidya Balan is the name. Be it the voluptuous and seductive Krishna in Ishqiya or the brave Sabrina fighting for her sister’s killers in No One Killed Jessica, 34 year-old  Balan has played her characters with complete honestly and determination. With a spree of commercially successful films like The Dirty Picture and recent hit Kahaani, this actress from Palakkad has shown that a film can ring cash registers by her name. In an industry dominated by the might of Khans, she has carved a star presence of her own and has a fan following growing in large number day- by-day. By her stupendous feat, she has silenced the claims of Hindi film industry being male dominated, to some extent.

Critics often complain that our industry thrives on superstar culture wherein a film is mostly a ‘circus’ consisting of colossal stars with exotic locations and glitzy songs set in expensive sets. Add to this, you have shirt ripping action sequences and a tinge of sleaze to generate revenues. However, with the flicks like Ra.One and Agent Vinod biting the dust, this myth of stars-run the film has somewhat shattered. Contrary to this, you have films like Paan Singh Tomar becoming a hit sans promotional drive and Kahaani becoming a success with only a promotional drive in Balan posing as a pregnant woman along the crowded streets of Kolkata for Kahaani. Another important thing to notice is that Vidya has mostly donned traditional and sober attire, refuting the claims of wearing skimpy attires in order to become a sex symbol. However, ‘The Dirty Picture’ was an exception as the role demanded her to be scantily clad, yet she looked sensuous and not vulgar as many had thought it to be otherwise.

With a National Award in her kitty, we hope that she will add more feathers to her crown and surprise us with more such excellent work in the years to come. And I would never mind standing in queues or sitting for prolonged hours in front of the computer to book the tickets for her film instantly when it is released. 

Congress on a Backfoot.Will they survive this nightmare?

  In the midst of my writing this post, the flamboyant 74 year old Gandhian activist Anna Hazare would have been released by the Government of India after almost 12 hours. Early morning I woke up to know that Anna along with his associates was detained by the Delhi Police. The arrest was expected as Team Anna had rejected some of the conditions put forth by the Delhi Police in regard to the fast to be undertaken by the former against the provisions of the Lokpal Bill initiated by the government.

Inspite of the weather being rough and the continuous downpour during the day, there was a lot of activity in the national capital. However, the high voltage drama that still continues by virtue of the intense coverage by the electronic and online media (newspapers usually get a chance to show their might the next day) about the ongoing stir in the country kept the temperatures high. Right from the point when the Gandhian activist was arrested to the present, news channels are busy trying to outdo each other to gather crucial rating points. Going deep into the TRP wars is not my concern.

It was a sunny May afternoon when the Grand Old Party of India had silenced its critics and romped home with an astounding double hundred mark. Putting aside all speculations of a hung Lower House, the party came back stronger by mauling some of its earlier regional allies who once called the shots in the previous coalition. The party had discovered a’ youth icon’ aka Yuvraj in the 38 year old Gandhi scion and a bahu who began to be admired as a reflection of her dynamic mother-in-law. The country looked up to an ageing economist who had been labeled as a ‘puppet PM’ (ironically he has again proved to be somewhat like this). That was 2009 and Congress was indeed the Indian National Congress.

Cut to 2011. After a fairytale win, things turned dramatically for the party that had helped India win freedom from the colonial British Empire. If 2010 was about CWG Mess and Adarsh scam that left the government colourless, the beginning of the new decade could not have been worse. Never had the Congress imagined that the irregularities committed by its allies will lead to such a widespread resentment that it will be running for cover from pillar to post. To make matters worse, the party is already suffering from the absence of the party President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi who is undergoing treatment for a secret health problem. The party supremo’s illness has also been kept as a secret by her loyalists, God knows why. Even her son Rahul Gandhi has failed to perform like his father, forget being like his granny.

The party has become synonymous with the rampant sycophancy and a desire to remain in power, irrespective of the ways. Talking about power, the party is far behind its preparation for the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, labeled as ‘Mission 2012’ in the media circles by the party spokesperson. It has received flak for its soft stand on terror and inability to check price rise. It has also failed to expand its electoral base beyond its pocket boroughs and is reduced to states where its regional partners call the shots.

It will be ironical to see what the Anna Hazare episode brings in for the Grand Old Party. The party will have to go hard at the leaders who are responsible for the party’s dismal state. Else, 2014 will surely turn out to be an end of a miserable electoral tenure for 10 Janpath.

Twenty Years and Still Ruling Khan

Frustrated and tired, a young boy in his late 20’s stopped near Marine Drive which is a popular hangout spot in Mumbai. It had been a tiring day and the money was soon getting over. He was accompanied by few of his friends who had been with him from the day he had come from Delhi, where he had been born and brought up. The frustrated chap cried and said,’ I will rule this city one day’. Most of them would  have laughed it off on hearing this and dismissed it as every struggler’s pledge to this city. But little did they know that this Delhi lad will indeed rule the city with his sheer dedication and hard work and become one of the greatest Bollywood superstars in this tinsel town.

He has been conferred many titles; SRK, Baadshah, King Khan and more will follow. But Shah Rukh Khan has indeed fulfilled the promise that he made on that particular day almost two decades ago. A career spanning over twenty years has seen him doing everything, right from playing an obsessive lover boy as he did in Darr to a superhero in the upcoming flick Ra.One which will hit the theatres in Diwali this year. Ever since he arrived on the silver screen on a motorcycle in his debut flick Deewana (1992), Shah Rukh Khan continues to entertain the audience as well as make the cash registers ringing for the film producers and the distributors alike. Most of them would remember the tremendous response he had generated in the film Baazigar inspite of having played a negative character. It was a first time in the history of Hindi cinema when the lead actor had gathered sympathy from the audience inspite of having a negative shade.

As Khan completes his twenty years in Bollywood, I found it the right time to express my honour to the man who made into the elite in Bollywood through sheer hard work and determination. I was barely 5 when he had made the viewers crazy with his performance in the blockbuster flick Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, commonly referred to as DDLJ. Though his larger than life image might have been challenged by the arrival of the actors almost half his age or he might face a tough challenge from his counterparts, yet he still enjoys a superstar status amongst everyone. I wish Khan continues to thrill the audience with more of such performances in the future.

After Kalmadi, are Mr. Prime Minister and Mrs. Dixit in the crosshairs?

The CAG report on the Commonwealth Games mess blaming PMO and the Delhi government headed by the Chief Minister Mrs. Sheila Dixit have placed the already troubled UPA government in a tight spot.

The evil spirits of the CWG have come to haunt the Congress led UPA government again. This time they have wrapped the Prime Minister’s Office along with the Delhi government as well for the alleged financial irregularities en route to  organizing the quadrennial XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi last autumn. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) ‘s  report has blamed that the mismanagement began from the Prime Minister’s Office which failed to impose adequate governmental control over the organization of the event as well as the money being spent during the preparations that cost an unnecessary expenditure of the funds from the state coffers.

The CAG has also slammed the OC chief Suresh Kalmadi by stating that the committee had recorded the total committed revenue of only Rs 682 crore against the target revenue of Rs 1780 crore. To add to the woes of the disgraced chief, the CAG found that out of the recorded income only Rs 440 crores was generated. Moreover, the final net revenue turned out to be a mere Rs 174 crores after deduction of the costs for the generation of the revenue. The report has blamed the Delhi government for all the delays, excessive costs as well as the dismal financial accountability in various infrastructure projects related to streetscaping, road signage, and buses as well as the construction of the glossy bus shelters.

The report has come as a sudden blow to the government as it is already placed in a predicament after the embarrassment due to the 2G scam. The government has already on the radar of the Opposition and has found new assailants in the civil society who have repeatedly raised a lot of hue and cry over the alleged corruption in the party. Moreover, the report blaming Delhi CM Sheila Dixit in the reports must have caused a lot of worries in the Congress circles who have drawn a flak due to their leaders being embroiled in numerous scams in the past few months. It would be interesting to see  whether the report does bring any change or will go down in the history books as another shameful chapter in Indian politics.