Jai Ho (24 Jan 2014)

Cast: Salman Khan, Tabu, Daisy Shah, Naman Jain, Mohnish Behl, Danny Denzongpa, Ashmit Patel, Yash Tonk, Bruna Abdullah, Nadira Babbar, Mahesh Thakur, Resham Tipnis, Sunil Shetty, Mahesh Manjrekar, Sana Khan, Mukul Dev, Santosh Shukla

Director: Sohail Khan

An ex army official (not exactly your common man), who in the past had been removed from the Indian Army for ignoring his superior’s command and undertaking an extra step to save civilians from the terrorists, not to mention, risking his own life a great deal in the process, lives his present by assisting the civilians in myriad ways possible and saving them from all possible modes of harassment. Ask him for any sort of assistance (even taking a kid to the loo) and he is there. Trouble anyone in any manner (even pushing off a street urchin), and he is there. Thank him for his help, and he asks you to help three other people instead, and tell them each to do the same! This is the protagonist of the movie ‘Jai Ho’ i.e. your very own Salman Khan, aka the ‘bhai’ of the masses.

‘Jai Ho’ is the official remake of Telugu film ‘Stalin’ (2006) and it intends to give social service message and impart noble teaching. The philanthropist in Salman Khan completely takes over his character, and when he emotes, the following seem real and genuine - the restlessness and pain towards suffering of others, frustration of not being able to change the system, anger and hatred towards the bad guys, ruthless bashing of the villains etc.

Apart from this, any of his other scenes, or even the rest of the movie has no depth, meaning or connectivity! It seems that the presence of the superstar was taken a wee bit too much for granted and as such no real effort was put towards the making of a good movie! Even the fitness of the superstar (supposed to be his primary appeal) was not deemed necessary for all the scenes. Barring a few last minute scenes, Salman Khan appears overweight (read prominent double chin) and tired (read puffy eyes) in most of the movie. Still he manages to look better than the rest of the cast!

Casting is purely whimsical or, you can say that going by the pulse of ‘Jai Ho’, it mostly seems to be an act of good deed by the actor-producer brother duo (Salman and Sohail). They apparently fulfilled their promises made to various individuals and groups, of giving them the opportunity to act or dance in their film! Apart from that, they seem to have pulled in a great chunk of their friends and loyalists to act in the movie. Be prepared to see an army of known as well as long forgotten popular faces (both from Bollywood and TV) to appear one by one in the film. Tabu seems to be the only well thought of case of casting. She well befits the role of a righteous, no nonsense and strong sister. The debutant Daisy Shah has no defining role as such but a couple of dancing songs, and therein she has performed pretty well. The surprise package of the movie is Bruna Abdullah. Till her last scene, you expect her to break into an item number, which never happens!

If you belong to that strata of the common man that is heavily weighed down by the system, who wants to rebel and retaliate badly but cannot dare to do so for the fear of being subjected to further atrocities that would be thrown upon by the corrupt authorities to maintain their power and clout, you will enjoy the movie because with every snarl that Salman will roar and with every punch that he will throw, you will feel a step closer to the sense of closure for all your sufferings. Also, if you are a die hard Salman fan, you will enjoy the movie, as he is present in most of the frames. But if you are a serious movie enthusiast, who looks for logic, technique, newness and performance in a movie, be prepared to experience the severe messing up of your sense of movie watching.

Dedh Ishqiya (10 Jan 2014)

Cast: Madhuri Dixit Nene, Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Huma Qureshi, Vijay Raaz, Manoj Pahwa, Ravi Gossain, Salman Shahid

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Cine goers had very high expectation from this movie for mainly two reasons. Firstly, it was a sequel of ‘Ishqiya’, a milestone in the history of Bollywood movies. Secondly, it had Madhuri Dixit, who looked like a million bucks and danced like a dream in the concerned TV reality shows. So, though her first comeback movie (Aa Ja Nachle) was a dud, this one simply could not go wrong, as this time Mrs. Nene seemed very well prepared with, what is expected from the current Bollywood heroine (read pencil thin figure, designer wardrobe, polished teeth, corrective surgeries/botox injections etc) along with her all time speciality i.e. powerful acting. So, this flick was supposed to be a double whammy.

And thus, you watch the movie with baited breath. But your heart breaks when you eventually realize that one of the core reasons responsible for drawing you to the theatre, is actually the weakest link in the movie! Aka Julius Caesar, Vidya Balan seems more powerful by her absence in the movie because it’s evident that she played the difficult and complex character in ‘Ishqiya’ with great elan and ease unlike her replacement in ‘Dedh Ishqiya’. And her replacement is not just anyone but the ‘Madhuri Dixit’!

As per expectation, Madhuri looks good and dances very well. However, there is only one dance (by Madhuri) in the movie. The other one appears along with the credits at the end. At 45 years, looking that good and fit is definitely praiseworthy. But for some reason, this lass looks much better and appears more exuberant in her TV appearances! Her character in the film is multi faceted and she is also given ample screen time to show her craft. But the required performance simply doesn’t come through. Maybe, such complex characters of woman protagonists were not written earlier, and thus playing them is not actually her forte, and both the cine makers and the audience have expected just too much out of her (which is not her fault), or maybe she will take some time (read a couple of movies) before sinking her teeth into such characters. Whatever the case maybe, this is not favorable for ‘Dedh Ishqiya’.

Otherwise, the movie is well written, inter relationship among the characters is very well nuanced, has the expected rustic feel and background music, good direction and acting. In fact the ‘thumris’ used in the movie are really good. The movie has considerably high dosage of Urdu, a language which many may not be conversant with, but the usage of which is required to perhaps justify the storyline. And so, there are English subtitles to make the movie understandable. To tell the truth, the subtitles prove to be a pure distraction. With experience you develop different mindset for watching different kind of movies. Watching a Hindi movie with subtitles can never be one such mindset.

Acting wise, Naseeruddin Shah can do justice to any character and scene. Special mention needs to be made for a scene, wherein he emotes his ‘falling in love with Maduri Dixit’ with simply his eyes. What a brilliant execution of a simple scene! Arshad Warsi seems the quintessential Babban. He brings the few good funny moments in the film. No one can question his comic timing. Also the rapport between these two actors is very well depicted. Huma Qureshi and Salman Shahid have expectantly made their mark. Others have also acted well. The camaraderie shown between Huma and Madhuri is something new and different. It is that of two women whose presence in each other’s lives is clearly more important and necessary than anyone else’s. Their roles towards each other are that of a delicate idol and a worshipping caretaker. And still they seem to share little more than just loyal friendship!

All in all, it is an exemplary movie that will fail to reach it’s deserving zenith just because of a couple of ill fitting components.