Kismat Konnection — Movie Review

23 07 2008


Long time after , Aziz Mirza is back with Kismat Konnection and the genre is still the same , a simple love story surrounding a young couple and in that simple story he has again tried to convey a simple and short message with it . This time one major thing has changed and that’s the lead actor . It was alwaysSRK along with either Juhi or Rani but now its Shahid with Vidya . The movie is the first release for Shahid this year and second for Vidya after the not so successful Halla Bol . Vidya was always paired with more older heroes like akshay , ajay and Sanjay who are well over their 40’s and in this one she has been paired with an actor of his age group . So does it work ? Yes , but only to an extent .

Lets first talk a little about the film . It surrounds a young guy Raj Malhotra played by Shahid who is from Toronto (Canada) and his tryst with his destiny . He is one of the most ambitious and successful student at his college . He is an all-rounder in his college and is very popular among the students . But his destiny takes a U-turn and his bad luck prevents him from achieving anything in Real life after the college . The once winner turns into a hardworking loser in life . All his colleagues become greats in their respective fields but Raj who is an architect by profession doesn’t even get his first chance to prove himself . He along with his friendHiten Patel played by Vishal Malhotra keep trying their bad luck expecting it to change one day . In the mean time Shahid has a very close accident with Priya (Vidya ) and he meets her on road and their first meet turns into a quarrel . He keeps bumping into her afterwards and always in a bad situation which actually ends up quite well forShahid .

Well , after getting fed up of his bad luck Shahid at last decides to consult an Oracle , Haseena Baanu Jaan played by Juhi Chawla . Haseena advices Shahid that their will be some lucky charm that will change his life , he just needs to identify that lucky charm and keep it with himself for good luck . He realises thatVidya is his lucky charm and every time she bumps into him something good happens to him . Then once again luckily Shahid meets Vidya and this time he doesn’t let the opportunity go out of his hands and introduces himself to her and makes amends with her . Then they start meeting often . In the mean timeShahid gets a chance to design a mall and the builder Mr. Gill played by Om Puri gives him a chance to show his designs for the mall . Then Shahid decides that he would take Vidya with her while he shows the design to Gill so that they get approved . But Shahid comes to know that Vidya is a caretaker of a Community Center for the Old Aged and it is that same community center that is supposed to be replaced by the mall that has to be designed byShahid . Vidya asks Shahid for his support against the builders and Shahid plays a double game with her promising her that he will design the mall in such a way that her community center doesn’t get destroyed just for the sake that She comes along with him to show the actual designs at Gill’s office . Then asShahid lies to her his conscience keeps fighting with his mind and he realises that he has fallen in love with her . Then starts the whole sequence ofShahid trying to hide his lie and how in the end truth comes out and how he with his own will and Vidya’s luck manages to bring back the things to their best .

Talking a little about the acting , the film surrounds completely around Shahid and has very less for the other characters . Shahid acts pretty well in the film and Vidya also does her bit quite well . The chemistry between them is at times quite good and at times a little dull . Overall , they look good on-screen together but certainly not amongst the great . I felt thatAziz could have kept one romantic kiss between them at the moment in a party when Shahid and Vidya confess their love for each other . But Aziz kept it till tight hugging only and made it a complete Family film . He is a director of the old school so probably he doesn’t believe in on-screen kisses . It can also be the case thatShahid or Vidya might have denied doing the scene considering Shahid’s recent break-up . But still I believe one kiss would have made a difference to the film and the actors should have taken it professionally rather than emotionally . Anyways its just my opinion and Kisses aren’t compulsory for showing the chemistry between the actors .

Shahid and Vishal have great chemistry in between them and they look quite funny on screen together . They have been paired after a very long time sinceshahid’s first film Ishq-Vishq which was a hit and it also had some quite funny sequences involving both of them . Juhi Chawla as usual does comic roles at her best and I still believe she hasn’t got the Role of her life and she can do a very funny character on screen . Her portrayal of an Occult specialist is just fabulous and she has put her real life character in it . IfJuhi would have been a Oracle , she would have been exactly as what we see in the film . Om Puri does his part quite well and his wife which has been played by Himani Shivpuri has a very short role but a very comic one . She also acts very well and delivers her best in the small bit .

Talking a little technically , the screenplay is a little slow and they could very well have reduced some 20-25 minutes from the film . At some points the screenplay becomes very slow and impatient people are bound to crack at those points . Women who are more patient than Men in my opinion would definitely like the film and won’t have any complaints . But if the Director would have reduced the length a little , the impatient men would have also liked the film . The target audience I think were Women and it really delivers according to their expectations . The story being written by a women ,Rahila Mirza , daughter of Aziz , it is really visible on screen that it has been written by a women and hence it is more for Women . Rahila has done a good job considering this was her first . But she needs a lot more hard work to become one of the best .

Apart from the little slow screenplay , the film is good and can be watched once if you have a little patience in you . Don’t expect a brisk love story and you might like it . The background score is also good especially the whistling music whenever there is something wrong happening withShahid due to his bad luck . The music of the film is quite strong and it is what keeps the audience a little entertained in between . All the songs are good apart fromSoniye which wasn’t necessary at all and shouldn’t have been kept in the film . The cinematography is quite beautiful and Canada has been shown in a very beautiful way . Direction is also good but some of the scenes have been kept in the very old stereotypical style and could have been done better .

Overall , the film is little slow but still can be watched once . Aziz Mirza has himself admitted that it is a very simple love story so don’t expect any fireworks and you won’t be disappointed . Simple old story put up in same old style yet you won’t get bored at any point if you got the patience .

Movie Rating : Two and Half Stars out of Five . Good for one time watch .Shahid’s fans won’t get disappointed





Drona — Trailer Review

21 07 2008


The second Superhero to hit the Bollywood scene , Drona , is all set to please the audience after the very successful Krrish . The first trailer of the film , which has been into making since a long time , is out now and the rushes look just usual . The film has been Directed by Goldie Behl who is husband of Sonali Bendre and this is his biggest project . The film starrs Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra in the lead . Priyanka probably has a thing for superheroes and she would be the only common thing between them . I hope we get to see a combined version of Krrish Vs. Drona fighting it out for Piggy Chops (Priyanka Chopra) . lol .

Anyways the trailer starts off with a Blue Petal flying into the windows of some apartment (poor graphics there , in terms of international standards) and then there is a dark locality shown which continues in the trailer for some time . Then we get to see Abhishek getting trapped between some Demons made of sand and a line like this goes – ” When the survival of mankind will hang in the balance one man will rise and realise his destiny ” . There is also a dark look of the Bad Guy which is played by Kay Kay in the starting of the trailer . Then at the end of the trailer we get to see the real Drona in his outfit riding on a horse . The already fat Abhishek looks even more fat with the strangely made costume . This is supposed to be a Indian Superhero so probably he won’t wear the Nylon Skin-tight Suit . Instead he will wear a loose and fat looking Cotton Costume . Abhishek also carries a Sword which has some inscriptions on it and the sword is very much similar to the sword that his Dad AB Senior holds in the trailer of Talisman (CGI loaded next film of Amitabh based on Chandrakanta) .

Then at last the name of the film comes “Drona” in a golden colour font which is similar to the Font that was used in the title of Rangeela , the only difference being the colour . You might wonder what difference does the font make , but guys it does create an impression . The name of Krrish was presented in a never used before Font on screen and it looked great . Even the first Teaser of Krrish gave me Goosebumps to a little extent in the theater , this one didn’t even excite me visually .

Krrish didn’t work because of the special effects but it worked on the story and direction . This is one thing that Rakesh Roshan realised as a wise Director that he cannot spend a huge sum on VFX so he worked hard on the Story and background score . The background score that features in this trailer is very much Spiderman Superman type just with strange sounding Hindi lyrics . The background score that was used in this trailer was not at all good if you ask me . The Visual Effects also didn’t please me that were present in this trailer . The sand creatures have been already shown on-screen with utmost perfection in Mummy Returns and Spiderman 3. The effects that are used here are of much lower level than what was used in the hollywood flicks . So why use same sequences that require top notch VFX that any Indian film can’t afford and can’t produce on its own ? Do something original and which is within the reach of Indian Special effects company .

Overall , The trailer didn’t excite me at all and neither did Abhishek’s look . The trailer isn’t sufficient to create the interest amongst the audience , they might need something more . I hope the story and Direction are better than the first trailer of the film . The film set to release on October 2 . Check out the trailer :