Guzaarish - Story of a Magician, From a Magician

The debacle of “Saawariya” didn’t stop me from advance booking the tickets for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next – “Guzaarish”. And it didn’t let me down. This is another masterpiece from one of my favourite Directors… 

Cut to Goa, where we are introduced to a helpless, quadriplegic Ethan Mascarenhas [Hrithik Roshan], a victim of Paraplegia and is paralysed from neck to toe. He is dependent on his sincere nurse Sophiya [Aishwarya Rai] on everything but talking. We are then told that Ethan was in his glory days, a big time magician- the best in the business. As fate would have it, 14 years ago he meets with an accident and because of a grave injury on spinal cord, ends up being a paraplegic. He now earns a few pennies by working as a Radio Jockey on FM for a show called- “Radio Zindagi”, inspiring people to live a beautiful life. 

But this magician who is full of life despite his disabilities, surprises all by his decision to file a petition in court for Euthanasia – Mercy Killing! He turns to his old friend Devyani Datta [Shernaz Patel] to fight his case for him. Initially reluctant, Divyani decides to fight the case for his friend. However Ethan’s doctor, Dr. Nayak [Suhel Seth] is not too convinced about the idea, but his mother [Nafisa Ali] and his assistant and love of his glory days Estella [Monikangana Dutta] stand by him with his decision. 

In the meanwhile, we are also introduced to a young lad with a bushy hairdo who calls himself Omar Siddiqui [Aditya Roy Kapoor] who sneaks into Ethan’s house with a lie, and persuades him to teach him his magic tricks. With his little family, the rest of the film is a wonderful journey of Ethan’s struggles with his court plea for a mercy death. It also reveals a strange and unique love between Ethan and Sophiya, as the story unfolds. 

Like all Bhansali movies, this one also has exotic sets and minutely worked costumes. The scenic beauty of Goa is shot with an eye for aesthetics. Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee’s work is praiseworthy with Hrithik’s magic tricks defying the laws of physics like dancing on light beams, floating in the air, lighting a candle under water, are shot to perfection. Sanjay Leela Bhansali debuts as the music director, and his music adds to the narrative. The songs are not at all a hindrance. Just one song- “Udi..” could have been avoided, but even that is made enjoyable with Aishwarya’s classy act. The story is undeniably different, but it’s sad to hear claims from the critics that the story is lifted from movies like – the Oscar winning “Mar Adentro” and “Who’s life is it anyway” (1981). 

Of the cast, Nafisa Ali as Hrithik’s mother touches the audience’s heart in a scene where she speaks for her son. Shernaz Patel and Suhel Seth as Ethan’s well-wishers do a very commendable job. Aditya Roy Kapoor as the obedient student was better noticed as compared to “Action Replayy”. Aishwarya Rai as Ethan’s nurse is superb. But the show-stealer is Hrithik all the way. He is mind blowing playing Ethan. With this, Hrithik has raised his stature to be with great actors like Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan or Kamal Hassan. I can’t imagine any other actor playing Ethan as perfectly as Hrithik. 

Finally, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s direction is the heart of the movie. His eye for such a detailed portrayal is an attribute worth admiring. A few glitches like, having a court hearing taking place in a house could have been done away with. A bit more light into Aishwarya’s dark past could also add a bit more credibility to the story. But all these can be ignored very easily when we look at the end product.

On an ending note, if Hrithik doesn’t win the Best Actor award for this movie, then I am going to join Amir Khan in his protest against the award ceremonies. 

My Rating: ***1/2

My Reality Check: ****      

Action Replay: Zorr Ka Zhatka..!

The nostalgic look and feel of the promos did create a bit of a curiosity in my mind. Akshay Kumar shaking a leg with the Rajesh-Khanna-like hair style and bell-bottoms, and the playback songs sounded like Uma Devi of yesteryears.

Vipul Shah’s “Action Replayy”, attempts to take you back in time, and the journey is more painful than a journey in packed Mumbai train from Andheri to Dadar!!

The story is about one Bunty [Aditya Roy Kapur], who is a misogamist. His girl friend [Sudeepa Singh] insists him on marriage. But Bunty hates marriage because he has only seen his parents at loggerheads. His girl friend’s grandfather [Randhir Kapoor], who looks like Einstein, is a scientist who has invented a time machine.

Fed up of his parents spats, he decides to go back to time on this time machine, to create love between his parents. Zoom he goes to 1975 to find his bachelor Dad Kishen [Akshay Kumar], who looks like a nerd, and his beautiful Mom- Mala [Aishwarya Rai], who is goonda wearing mini-skirts (I wonder if mini skirts were a common sight in 1975!). The rest of the movie has some painful scenes which has been tried and tested, outdated and thrown out from the lot of plots in Bollywood. Through such scenes, Bunty somehow creates love between his Mom and Dad, and all’s well that ends well!! There are too many songs, and sometimes it really bores. The only song that leaves some mark is – “Zor ka jhatka”.

The story is pathetic, and you really wish there was atleast some amount of substance. It was purely old wine in new bottle. We have seen tens of movies of a makeover of good-for-nothing kind of heroes to smart and cool dudes.

Akshay Kumar as the simpleton Kishan looks horrifying before the makeover. Thankfully after the makeover, the dentures suddenly disappear (Were the braces introduced in 1975?), but he is sincere in his role. Aishwarya Rai as the hot tempered Mala was also good, but the story was too weak to have an impact by such good performances. Rannvijay Singh (of the Roadies fame) as Kundan – the villain is not bad. Neha Dhupia has nothing to perform. Music by Pritam is good only in “Zor Ka Jhatka…” Direction by Vipul Shah is confusing. I am still confused if this movie was a comedy, or a drama or a science fiction. However costumes and set design were very apt. Re-creating the streets of Mumbai in 1975 is really a commendable job! Hats off to the set-designer. If you are looking for comedy, you won’t find much. If you are looking for drama, there isn’t any. And if you come to theatres expecting a science fiction, then you will go back with a big “topi” on your head. The best part of the movie was – “The Popcorns”.

My Rating: *

Reality Check: Not Eligible.

Golmaal 3 – Or should I say Tod Maal?

Rohit Shetty is back again with the third version of his Golmaal series. The promos did give a clear indication that it would again be that “forget-your-brain-at-home” kind of movie. But are the audience that stupid? Or is the Director stupid? Golmaal 3 is a clumsy effort of making people laugh… Sheer waste of money and of course – talent!

Shot in Goa, the story revolves around two notorious groups of siblings – Gopal [Ajay Devgan] and his brother Laxman [Shreyas Talpade] and their best friend Daboo [Kareena Kapoor], and Madhav [Harshad Warsi] and his two brothers, Laxman [Kunal Khemu] and Lucky [Tusshar Kapoor]. They incidentally end up starting the same kind of business financed by two different underworld gangsters [Johny Lever and Tiwari] and in trying to outdo each other, find themselves in serious quarrels which are supposedly funny!

In between the quarrels, the Mother [Geeta – Ratna Pathak Shah] and Father [Pritam – Mithun Chakrawarthy] remember their 30-year old incomplete love story and decide to marry. The marriage invites more (to audiences’ dismay) quarrels… and the rest is… no not history, but forgotten.

Claimed to be a laugh riot, Golmaal 3 seems to rely upon cheap comedy like tumbling cars, breaking stalls, shops and glasses, pants falling down and slaps. The dialogs also look like they have been borrowed from a book of children’s jokes or comics -“Jiske ghar sheeshe ke hote hai, woh basement mein kapde change karte hai” and referring an aged man as “Doobti hui Titanic”… to mention a few.

During the entire movie I could only see things breaking and cars flying and bursting and people thrown in the air as if they are made of paper. In fact there is nothing that is not left broken in this movie. They didn’t even spare the fingers! The movie would have been better named if it was called – Tod Maal.

Of the cast, Ajay Devgan and Harshad Warsi are the most noticeable, but yet they can perform little apart from shouting aloud. The other lot of actors are all great actors, but they have very little to show their talent. Even the veterans- Mithun and Ratna Pathak Shah are wasted. Technically, the kinds of stunts shown are seen a zillion times in Hindi movie. The story- well there is none! There is certainly a better way to make people laugh! You don’t need to break tens of dozens of cars and tens of stalls. If you don’t believe me Mr. Rohit Shetty, then watch Golmaal by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and learn a lesson or two about quality humour.

My Rating: ½ (Half the star, just for the sake of rating)

My Reality Check: Not eligible