Movie: Jai ho
Cast: Salman Khan, Daisy Shah, Tabu
Director: Sohail Khan
Rating: Two stars
Cast: Salman Khan, Daisy Shah, Tabu
Director: Sohail Khan
Rating: Two stars
Get this. A tormented streetkid, a nattering nephew, not to forget a bunch of zapped tots being held hostage on a warfield, are saved from miscellaneous perils by their mega-muscular Uncle. For the bacha party, he’s Krrish, Super-duperman and Spidey, rolled into one tight package. Truly, his shirt’s such a close fit that the buttons are about to pop as he skips-jumps-hops through studio sets, warehouses and yo, even a railway station.
Welcome, then, to another round of Salmantics in Jai Ho, directed by Sohail Khan, with the eye partly trained on the pre-teen constituency. Kids talk about pink panties, go wink-wink-nudge-nudge on sighting some romantic foreplay, and speak as if they possessed the IQs of Einstein. The problem is that no one else does, all the adults behaving as if they had left their brains to behind to frost in a refrigerator. Necessary perhaps because it doesn’t really need grey cells to bash up baddies who’re as canivorous as alligators. Duh.
Quite curiously, Sohail Khan’s direction is as ancient as the hillocks, banking excessively on slow fade-outs, bleaches and gigantic close-ups lavished upon even the most minor and camera-unfriendly of faces. The set designs are retro (not in a good way), the blingy costumes and quite a few of the family bonhomie scenes belong to Sooraj Barjatya’s Hum Saath Saath Hain, while the quotient of politics – demonic minister and his son – is the stuff that cliches are made of. Comparatively, in terms of both style and content, Dabangg and Chennai-cinema-inspired blockbusters of Salman Khan have been leagues aheads.
So what went wrong – or right (after all, this could also end up earning multiple-hundred crores, no?). Either way, this Jai jaikar sourced from Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s do-gooder fest Stalin (2006), seems to be lost in translation. As for the sermons about any recipient of a favour carrying out three good deeds in return, that remains a figure of speech. This intended USP in the screenplay, alas, comes off as much blah-blah about nothing. Or at most, an idea inspired by the Kevin Spacey movie Play it Forward (2000).
The point is more than ever before, Salman Khan must carry the burden of action-romance-comedy-melodrama on his shoulders. Admittedly, he does radiate a charismatic screen presence, and it’s obvious that frequently he goes on an improvising spree, resulting in goofball antics, unquestionable dance moves and the ability to make stale dialogue about the much-exploited ‘aam janta’, brand-new. But that’s it. If you’re the sort who can relate to an actor going all over the place, like a bull in a chinaware shop, fine. Those who crave more from cinema, however, may have serious issues about the goings-yawn.
Which are? Well. Our demi-god of a hero has had to quit the army because he disobeyed some obscure orders while rescuing those kid hostages. Apparently, unemployed now, he shoots the breeze with his amplifier-loud mom (Nadira Zaheer Babbar, over-the-top), a supremely irritating nephew (Yakety Yakathon) and a sister (Tabu, wasted), who has married against the Amplifier’s wishes. Sister keeps entering and exiting, theatrically, as if she had just been combed, touched up and synthesised in a vanity van. Incidentally, the Sister’s disapproved husband (Grin Carnival), eventually donates a kidney to his ma-in-law, and she approves of him instantly. How ‘matlabi’ is that?
So much for family values. Next: there’s a catatonic dancer (Daisy Shah, barely passable), who discos, Bharata Natyams, garbas and longs to marry our Jai. Who doesn’t ? He’s uber noble: he helps out a limbless girl (Genelia D’Souza, likeable as ever) to write her college examination papers, sheds tears when she commits suicide (a grisly 15 minutes of the plot, this), generally aids the meek of the earth. And takes on the mighty Monster Minister (Danny Denzongpa),his burly sons, a fidgety vamp and about a 1000 goons. As always, during the combat scenes, those goons patiently wait for their turn to be pummelled. Ouch. Surely the stunts could have been executed more plausibly.
Over to the big moment: the ripping apart of the shirt to exhibit abs, is a given. About the only ancient thing that’s missing are those dhishoom dhishoom sound effects.
Aah, so you wait patiently for the finale, to check out the list of cameo players, who almost seem to have been resurrected from the backwoods, be it Suneil Shetty, Ashmit Patel, Nauheed Cyrusi, Tulip Joshi or Vatsal Sheth. In fact, throughout the malarkey, there’s a population explosion.
Aah, so you wait patiently for the finale, to check out the list of cameo players, who almost seem to have been resurrected from the backwoods, be it Suneil Shetty, Ashmit Patel, Nauheed Cyrusi, Tulip Joshi or Vatsal Sheth. In fact, throughout the malarkey, there’s a population explosion.
The unremarkable dialogue attempts to get nationalist and jingoistic. Plus there’s a thoroughly odd visual – of an aged garage worker in underpants. Wazzat?
Sajid-Wajid’s music is nothing to hum or haw about either. On the techfront, the editing, sound design as well as the editing – especially the transitions – belong to the last millennium, enhancing the overall tedium. Ummm.
All said and endured, here’s the sort of average product which is immune to criticism. Say anything you honestly feel, down the decades it has been huffed – so what? That doesn’t make a jot of a difference. Correct. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t express your take. You may be in a minority of one or two, but you can’t help feeling that Salman Khan, like most of his peers, could do with immediate re-invention. Repetition and excess can sell. Unpleasant question: but for how long?
P
Director: Pramod Payyannur
Cast: Mammootty, Isha Talwar, Meena, Mamukoya, Seema Biswas
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
For the really old, it is a trip down memory lane. For the not so old, too, it is nostalgia at a different level, a journey to a world they are so familiar with, a world of gramophone and Mangosteen trees that they had read about in Vaikom Mohammed Basheer’s autobiographic novels.
For new-gen viewers, some of whom may not have much of an idea either about the pre-Independence era or Basheer’s works, it is a rare peep into the past, into a world without Internet, mobile phones, television and tape recorder.
It was a pristine world where emotions were pure but raw, life was simple but hard. Debutant director Pramod Payyannur skilfully recreates not just the ambience but also manages to convincingly reproduce the unpretentious Malayali life of those days.
The narrative is in the form of a flashback and the scene moves back and forth between Kolkata and Kerala. Hari Nair wields the camera with care to bring out the old world charm that Pramod wants to project and it works best when the duo capture the growing up years of Majeed and Suhara.
The sequence of that golden joke – Majeed’s quip to his teacher’s question that one and one make a slightly bigger one – is recreated with aplomb and the child actors deserve a big pat on their backs.
So do the senior actors, led by none other than Mammootty for whom it is the best outing in recent times. Clearly, there is no other living hero who could have played Majeed better than him.
He excels as Majeed’s no-nonsense vappa too and emotes a whole range of emotions. The veteran takes care not to overact but to raise the tempo just when it is required.
The scene where Majeed realises with a start on the hospital bed that he has lost a leg and his subsequent disappointment cannot be watched without a shiver piercing one’s spine. Clearly, a master at work, in the full knowledge that he has finally got a role that can pose a challenge to him and bring out the best in him.
Casting is certainly one of the strengths of the movie and Seema Biswas’s Selvi and Preim Sheikh’s Praful lend credibility to the plot. The only place where the movie drags is when Sasikumar who plays Ameen Saheb gets a bit didactic.
Breaking records
Upendra’s film Brahma is apparently creating box-office records. The R. Chandru directed film has become the first film of Upendra to join the Rs. 10 crore club in Kannada. And it has done it in record time. The film has managed to collect Rs. 12 crore in its first week of release according to the director. With this, Upendra joins the league of Sudeep, Darshan, Puneeth and Yash in the Rs. 10 crore club. However, most of the collection came in the first three days and the collection slumped in the following days. In the second week, the film is facing stiff competition from Ravichandran’s Krazy Star and is witnessing further fall in collections. However, due to its tremendous opening, the film has been declared a super hit. The film’s huge collection is attributed to the marketing of the film rather than its content. Brahma was released in 276 screens across Karnataka. This is the highest number of screens for any Kannada film till date.
Shivarajkumar in Srikanta
It seems like hat trick hero Shivarajkumar is a man in a hurry. Almost every week you hear about his new films. While his last release Bhajarangi completed 50 days a while ago, it is the almost half a dozen new films of his that is making news. The actor is currently shooting for Aryan which also stars Ramya in one of her last film roles. Meanwhile, the actor posed for the photo-shoots of two more films --Manamohaka and Badshah. If that was not enough, director Manju Swaraj has announced that Shivarajkumar has given the green signal for a film titled Srikanta. Whatever the fate of his films is at the box office, the actor will be never short of offers.
Yash injured
Actor Yash’s injury continues to dog his new film, Gajakesari. The shooting of the film was cancelled on February 6. It was announced that the shooting will resume after a week. But even after two weeks, there is no sign of the shooting resuming. Film sources say the injury is far more severe than what they thought it was and Yash is now on four weeks rest. Accordingly, shooting for Gajakesari has to be put off for a month.
Yash injured his knee while shooting for a song for the film. The shooting was taking place in Sri Kanteerava Studio under choreographer Harsha. Believing it was a minor injury Yash continued to shoot for half a day when it became impossible to continue. Director Krishna has however started post-production work like dubbing and editing of the film. Gajakesari is one of the costliest films to be made in Kannada with costs reaching about Rs. 15 crore.
What it is about…
Vel Media and Abi TCS jointly present Thegidi, a crime thriller, produced by C. Senthil Kumar and written and directed by P. Ramesh. The cinematographer is Dinesh Krishnan. Leo John Paul is the editor. Nivas K. Prasanna has scored the music. The stunts are by ‘Billa’ Jagan. S.S. Murthy is the art director. The cast comprises Ashok Selvan, Janani Iyer, Jayaprakash, Jayakumar, Pradeep Nair, Rajan Iyer, Sai, Sivakumar and Soundarajan. The audio was released in the presence of producers Keyar, Srinivasan and Siva and director Nalan Kumarasamy and actor Vijay Sethupathi.
What they say…
Producer C. Senthil Kumar: C.V. Kumar, who produced Soodhu Kavvum and Pizza, is my brother. When I expressed my desire to produce my own movie, he encouraged me and we read a number of scripts together before zeroing in on Thegidi. I feel I have a box office hit in my hands.
Director P. Ramesh: I am from the IT industry. I made seven short films for the Nalaya Iyakkunarshow on Kalaignar TV. I got the best director award in Season 2 of the programme. When I wanted to do a feature film, I sent my script to C.V. Kumar, who asked me to go ahead with the project right away.
Hero Ashok Selvan: This is my third movie after Soodhu Kavvum and Pizza 2-Villa. I must thank the director and the producer for giving me this opportunity. I have acted in a number of shorts films.Thegidi is an interesting subject and I am sure of its success.
Music director Nivas K. Prasanna: I started learning music at a tender age. It’s been my dream to become a music director. I am a singer cum pianist and have worked with some of the big names in the industry such as Abaswaram Ramji, Rajesh Vaidya, Shankar Mahadevan and Sudha Ragunathan. When director Ramesh heard my music, he wanted me to score the music for his first feature film which also happens to be my debut. After the release of Thegidi’s audio, I am getting a lot of good response from different quarters.
Music Highlights: There are seven songs in the album, two of which are karaoke versions. Kabilan has written four numbers — ‘Yaar Ezhudhiyadho,’ ‘Vinmeen Vithaiyil,’ ‘Kangalai Oru’ and ‘Neethane Neethane.’ The album opens with ‘Yaar Ezhudhiyadho,’ a pleasant number sung by Sathya Prakash Dharmar. Abhay Jodhpurkar teams up with Saindhavi Prakash to render the beautiful ‘Vinmeen Vithaiyil.’ Ajesh Ashok deserves praise for the haunting solo ‘Kangalai Oru.’ Shankar Mahadevan’s powerful voice shines through ‘Neethane Neethane,’ which is further enhanced by Rajesh Vaidya’s veena. Kurunji Prabha has penned ‘Neeyum Dhinam’ which is well rendered by Andrea Jeremiah.
In a sense, Aaha Kalyanam is an interesting, perhaps even important, film. In a cinema culture obsessed with virginity, it’s refreshing to light on Shruthi (Vaani Kapoor), who begins a wedding-planning business with Shakthi (Nani) and gradually falls in love with him. After executing a big contract, they end up celebrating — with champagne. A woozy-headed kiss leads to sex, and she’s happy. But soon she discovers that he isn’t.
He’s confused about their relationship status. Are they just business partners or... partners? And when she casually lets slip that that night might not have meant much, he leaps at this out with visible relief. And she’s crushed — not because she’s had sex with him and he’s not going to marry her, and not because she could be pregnant, but because something that meant so much to her means so little to him. She doesn’t regret having sex, but the fact that to him it’s just sex, nothing more.
Band Baaja Baaraat mined gold from this premise. The film was an example of how relatively standard-issue rom-com fare could be transcended — indeed, made transcendent — through terrific casting, staging and a feel for both the milieu and the material. Gokul Krishna’s remake follows the original almost beat for beat, but never does anything more.
Vaani Kapoor appears so invested in pronouncing her lines right that she hasn’t any energy left for a performance. Nani gamely allows his Telugu accent to be mocked — but the role, especially during the final declaration of love, calls for much more. The supporting characters aren’t well developed (the actress who plays Shruthi’s mother is good, though). And despite some wonderfully conversational dialogue, we’re left with the strange feeling of watching a Hindi movie dubbed in Tamil, along with the realisation that a story alone doesn’t make a movie.
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13 November 2013, WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The WikiLeaks release of the text comes ahead of the decisive TPP Chief Negotiators summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013. The chapter published by WikiLeaks is perhaps the most controversial chapter of the TPP due to its wide-ranging effects on medicines, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents. Significantly, the released text includes the negotiation positions and disagreements between all 12 prospective member states.
The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP. Both pacts exclude China.
Since the beginning of the TPP negotiations, the process of drafting and negotiating the treaty’s chapters has been shrouded in an unprecedented level of secrecy. Access to drafts of the TPP chapters is shielded from the general public. Members of the US Congress are only able to view selected portions of treaty-related documents in highly restrictive conditions and under strict supervision. It has been previously revealed that only three individuals in each TPP nation have access to the full text of the agreement, while 600 ’trade advisers’ – lobbyists guarding the interests of large US corporations such as Chevron, Halliburton, Monsanto and Walmart – are granted privileged access to crucial sections of the treaty text.
The TPP negotiations are currently at a critical stage. The Obama administration is preparing to fast-track the TPP treaty in a manner that will prevent the US Congress from discussing or amending any parts of the treaty. Numerous TPP heads of state and senior government figures, including President Obama, have declared their intention to sign and ratify the TPP before the end of 2013.
WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange stated: “The US administration is aggressively pushing the TPP through the US legislative process on the sly.” The advanced draft of the Intellectual Property Rights Chapter, published by WikiLeaks on 13 November 2013, provides the public with the fullest opportunity so far to familiarise themselves with the details and implications of the TPP.
The 95-page, 30,000-word IP Chapter lays out provisions for instituting a far-reaching, transnational legal and enforcement regime, modifying or replacing existing laws in TPP member states. The Chapter’s subsections include agreements relating to patents (who may produce goods or drugs), copyright (who may transmit information), trademarks (who may describe information or goods as authentic) and industrial design.
The longest section of the Chapter – ’Enforcement’ – is devoted to detailing new policing measures, with far-reaching implications for individual rights, civil liberties, publishers, internet service providers and internet privacy, as well as for the creative, intellectual, biological and environmental commons. Particular measures proposed include supranational litigation tribunals to which sovereign national courts are expected to defer, but which have no human rights safeguards. The TPP IP Chapter states that these courts can conduct hearings with secret evidence. The IP Chapter also replicates many of the surveillance and enforcement provisions from the shelved SOPA and ACTA treaties.
The consolidated text obtained by WikiLeaks after the 26-30 August 2013 TPP meeting in Brunei – unlike any other TPP-related documents previously released to the public – contains annotations detailing each country’s positions on the issues under negotiation. Julian Assange emphasises that a “cringingly obsequious” Australia is the nation most likely to support the hardline position of US negotiators against other countries, while states including Vietnam, Chile and Malaysia are more likely to be in opposition. Numerous key Pacific Rim and nearby nations – including Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and, most significantly, Russia and China – have not been involved in the drafting of the treaty.
In the words of WikiLeaks’ Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange, “If instituted, the TPP’s IP regime would trample over individual rights and free expression, as well as ride roughshod over the intellectual and creative commons. If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs.”
Current TPP negotiation member states are the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Chile, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei.