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Masti (2004)
Pathetic acting, weak plot, bad movie
I usually try to keep an open mind on movies and find at least one redeeming factor. In this case, I failed miserably.
Masti is about three husbands who are frustrated with married life for various silly reasons. One wife (Amrita Rao) doesn't give any space, another one (Genelia D'Souza )wants her husband to be the Indian version of Arnold and the third one (Tara Sharma) is so absorbed with religion that her husband doesnt get any. So what do they do? They plan to have extra-marital affairs. Needless to say, things go wrong with all them and they end up in trouble.
The second half of the movie is about how they get out of trouble. I wont subject you to a description. Its not because of the spoilers, but because its simply not worth my time to write it and your time to read it.
Oh, the second half is when Ajay Devgan turns up, over and over again, in unexpected and unnecessary places. Its also when Lara Dutta puts in a reasonable performance. Reasonable because everyone else is so bad.
Problems with the movie: 1) Lack of subtlety. The jokes are loud, the acting is loud, the scenes are loud. The movie is not funny. 2) Bad acting. You have to see it to believe it. The ladies can't act, cant dance and are not very pretty. The men simply scream out their lines and again, cant act very well. 3) Weak plot. Thats an understatement. Of the decade.
In summary, don't waste your time. Go fish or play golf. Those activities will be much more entertaining.
Ek Hasina Thi (2004)
Subtlety is a rare commodity in Bollywood...
...but EHT manages it very well. Its a refreshing change from the fare the we are regularly subjected to by Bollywood. There are no ridiculous song and dance sequences, no melodramatic dialogue delivery and even the gory action sequences are underplayed.
The movie is about a single girl living alone in Mumbai away from her family ("on her own terms" is what the reviews say) and how she deals with extraordinary circumstances that surround her meeting the man of her dreams (on the lines of Pacific Heights, or Sleeping with the Enemy). The movie suspiciously feels like its a remake of some Hollywood thriller, but without concrete evidence, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
The movie manages to remain realistic on the whole without giving in to the usual ludicrous melodrama and action scenes at the end. Having said that though, there are a few elements that are difficult to believe. For one, the occupation of the lead character, Sarika. Can a single girl really survive alone in Mumbai with her lifestyle as a booking agent in a travel firm? And for a single girl, she is amazingly gullible when a man woos and beds her. Is it really that easy? Finally, Ram Gopal Verma's penchant for introducing threatening and mysterious characters that turn out to be harmless and irrelevant (the neighbour, Kamdar and the talent scout) is getting old.
Even with its flaws, EHT deserves a high rating. Not because its a great movie or will be a classic someday, but because it simply offers a better movie going experience than most other Bollywood movies today. Its very nice to know that a movie without songs can hold its own, especially when it is mainline cinema.