aks_anything Reviews

Yaadein... (2001)

forgettable (koi yaadein nahi rahengi)

[2/10 · 29 July 2001]

Subhash ghai attempts to make a love story which falls flat on its face. This is probably one of those movies which really test your perseverance..(of staying in the hall). I am yet to leave a movie in the middle but if there is one movie which could have broken my unblemished record, yaadein has to be it. The movie is a story of a father trying to become a dost of his three grown-up daughters who have been brought up in London. Now obviously, the father is Indian to the core and there are enough dialogues in the movie about sanskriti etc.

The father(played by Jackie shroff) wobbles between the two extreme views about mohabbat(whether it is good or bad) and there are a lot of sub-plots none of which is allowed to develop. The romance between Hrithik and kareena is pathetic with all the usual fundas thrown in(viz saving the heroine, puppy love etc). Hrithik may have a great following but (this is my personal opinion only)he has yet to show any subtelty in his acting. He tries very hard to show his love which translates to shouting and making faces (a.l.a shahrukh) instead of letting his eyes do the talking. There are twists:) like rich boy-poor girl, love is good/bad, another girl, a dead sweetheart always dressed in white, sacrifice to show gratitude etc which are just ghai's attempts to borrow from the breed of directors who are adept at making love-stories. Ovreall, a forgettable movie.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

high on gloss, low on substance

[1/10 · 20 June 2001]

First movie by an actor's production house, a director high on technicality, unlimited budget and lots of publicity--- combine all this and u have lagaan. Publicised as "Once Upon a Time in India" -- the once upon a time is just incidental. It is definitely not a period movie, but emphasises on its setting to justify a large canvas. The plot is about some village people trying to beat an English team(englishmen who are the all-in-all for smooth running of the British empire) in a game of cricket so that they do not have to pay any taxes(lagaan) for the next three years. The movie is excellent technically--well choreographed songs, beautiful cinematography etc but that is all the movie has to it. The actors too play their part, which is not substantial, fairly well. The movie has been stretched to almost 4 hours but the plot deserves no more time than a routine movie..(In fact, there is not much plot at all.) There is not even a single actor other than Bhuvan(played by Aamir) which is developed. The movie focusses solely on Aamir and does not allow any other strong character to emerge. The stress on good cinematography (read good looking scenes ) is so large that peasants(poor, starving and all) living in pre-independence India wear freshly laundered (as good as new) clothes most of the time. It just does not look like that these are the poor peasants struggling to save their land but just a cricket team which is desperate to score a win over a fancied team. The love triangle is not even a triangle but a fleeting line....

All in all, a movie which looooks good but just that... Its soul is missing...

And as for the length of the movie , for people who can watch test matches from start to end may find it to their liking.