Aladin

Aladin directed by Sujoy Ghosh is disastrous.

The movie has superb VFX effects but the movie lacks in a good story which makes the film a huge disappointment.

Story:- Aladin Chatterjee (Ritesh Deshmukh) lives in the fictional city of Khwaish, an orphan who has been bullied by Kasim (Sahil Khan) and his gang members since his childhood. But his life changes when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) gives him a magic lamp - because it lets loose the genie Genius (Amitabh Bachchan). Desperate to grant him three wishes and to seek the end of his contract with the magic lamp, the rock-star Genius makes Aladin's life difficult until the real threat looms on the horizon - the ex-genie, Ringmaster (Sanjay Dutt).

With the help of Jasmine, Aladin and Tarnveer work together to defeat Ringmaster. In the end Aladin earns powers from the lamp.

The direction is poor.

The special effects are a feast to the eye.

The music is fine.

The dialogs are average.

Performances:- Amitabh Bachchan disappoints.He just screams and hams throughout the movie.Sanjay Dutt,too,overacts.Ritesh Deshmukh is the only saving grace.He is likable as Aladin.Jacqueline Fernandes is okay.Ratna Pathak Shah irritates.Ditto for Sahil Khan.

I am giving Aladin three out of ten only for its superb VFX effects and a convincing performance by Ritesh Deshmukh.Colossal disappointment!

Hindi / Bollywood movies have come a long way, and I am impressed with this one! The above theme stands out, and I could find no fault with the way the story was written and portrayed. Everyone did well; perhaps though, I did find "Aladin's" acting somewhat 'wooden', and I felt he could've been more expressive. But I guess they wanted him to portray the image of negativity and a loser, and if so, then little more can be said. Definitely Jasmine and the Genie's parts, as well as the evil Ringmaster's, made up for any flaws. The special effects were fantastic! I liked it, and will watch again given the chance.

A must see for everyone!

Last year we had a heavy weight fantasy debacle from the banner of Eros Entertainment called "Drona". And this year we have a similar kind of forgettable fantasy movie titled "Aladin", once again from the same prestigious banner of Eros. Wasn't there even one thinking mind in the team who could see that they were repeating the same horrendous blunder again leading to a big loss, both on financial and goodwill grounds? Wasn't there any creative person at all, who could point out that "Aladin" was also having the same distasteful ingredients, which were earlier universally rejected in "Drona" in the very first few days of its release?

Anyway, the mistake has been committed and the loss has to be faced by everyone.Playing with the loving memories of a childhood story which is still fresh in our mature minds, the movie shamelessly lies in the lowest zone of creativity. Hanging in the mid, it is neither an enjoyable fare for the kids, nor a refreshing graphical ride for the youngsters. In other words it seems to be the result of the wandering mind of a director who is simply lost in his own artistic world and damn cares of the entertainment quotient of his final product.

To start with, in my opinion there are two most important and exciting sequences in an "Aladin" movie, which have to be dealt with extra care and creativity. First being the entry and introduction sequence of the Jinn. And second, the content of the three wishes granted to Aladin by the Jinn. Originally the whole movie should revolve around these three granted wishes and their surprising aftereffects. But shockingly neither of the above two sequences have been given the much required importance by the director Sujoy Ghosh. The Jinn simply appears from the cloudy smoke in few seconds and then just starts singing a song along with Aladin and a group of dancers, which is arguably the weirdest conceived sequence of the movie. Besides this, the three wishes are just wasted by Aladin, without any excitement build up or entertainment factor for the viewers.

Moreover the kids keep on waiting for something great to unfold on the screen, each time Aladin is going to say a wish, but nothing happens and post interval the movie moves on to a totally different tale of a Ring Master who is also in search of the magic lamp. Can't say from where he came into the story all of a sudden as we have not read about any such character in the Aladin story. May be the director wanted to add some spice and thrill into the story with some additional villain characters. But sadly, his move of adding a baddie Ring Master, doesn't work at all. On the contrary, the bonus track deviates the story from its original theme and takes away the world famous charm of this fantasy story.

In the performance department, except Ritesh Deshmukh, almost everyone goes over the top, acting with hyper reactions and high energy. It seems they acted that way according to the brief given by the director. Yet in bold terms, both Amitabh Bachchan & Sanjay Dutt should include this movie as one of the most regretful projects of their career. Debutant Jacqueline Fernandez is just there for adding some glamour value and she delivers what was being expected from her. But I was unable to figure out why three talented veterans Ratna Pathak Shah, Victor Bannerjee and Mita Vashisht were there in the movie playing completely unimportant roles which didn't suit them at all. Only Ritesh Deshmukh looked like his character of Aladin on the screen and he is the only one who gives an impressive, controlled and enjoyable performance in the movie.

Musically, it's another mediocre score from Vishal-Shekhar with no Hit Track as such. Moreover, most of the songs in the movie are deliberately added into the proceedings and could have been easily left out at the editing table itself. In fact it's only the Cinematography and few graphic sequences in the movie which are able to impress the viewer to some extent. Otherwise it's a complete disaster from the production team, who didn't learn any lesson from their own dud "Drona".

It was indeed sad to see all the valuable resources and hard work going down the drain once again in a useless effort of making an epic fantasy Indian movie. Actually we should stop thinking about competing with Hollywood in the Fantasy genre as it's not possible to reach the level of "Harry Potter" or "Lord of the Rings" with this kind of mind setup, where a Ginni still has to sing songs along with Aladin.

If a big ship sinks then only the captain gets the blame, who is Sujoy Ghosh in this particular case, solely responsible for this silly & mad fiasco. Along with him both Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt are equally responsible for saying yes to this project and raising the expectation levels of all their children fans in the entire world. The veterans of the industry should understand the responsibility associated with their big names and ideally should take utmost care in selecting a project featuring them in the lead roles. But it doesn't seem to be the way our Industry works as Bollywood keeps on delivering bad and disgraceful projects at regular intervals year after year and that too with some great confidence on their faces before the release.

In a nutshell, it's high time that the production houses should rethink upon their working strategies. In clear words, they got to keep full control over their ongoing projects and their over-creative directors in order to save the hard earned money of both the makers and the spectators. Cause we really don't want to witness any other "Drona" or "Aladin" in the future.

Post "Jhankaar Beats" Sujoy Ghosh was the new whiz-kid on the block. One should give due credit to Mr. Ghosh for his product which was innovative ( a la "Dil Chahta Hain" in its own right). When he announced Aladin the expectations were riding sky-high on deliverables. Hailing from the land of "Harry Potter" one was expecting Alladin nothing short of Bollywood's answer to Harry Potter/ LOTR. And with due respect, Alladin does deserve brownie points for the look and feel of the fairy-tale neatly complimented with the CGI. And then... there ends the bag of goodies.

The plot/ storyline is lame and wafer-thin. Taking a classic and attempting to set it in the contemporary times, it takes a maverick to pull off the feat. Should have waited for Anurag's "Dev D" before kick-starting this project. Having said that, have you heard of Baz Lurhmann? Fiction/ non-fiction or fantasy/ reality, by either benchmarks the use-up of first two wishes was a plain day-light robbery. The ragging of Alladin is sooooo "Oh nooooo". The song in the climax was so very 1970/80's. Even the name of the town "Khwahish" gives away how ill-conceived the whole project was.

Mr. Ghosh, now I am pretty sure "Jhankaar Beats" was a fluke and goes to show the results of big decisions over a cuppa in a coffee shop!

Big B:: Brandish is perhaps the only word that comes to my mind. Well the stature Big B has reached, only he can afford to experiment with the roles. And in all honesty, at the cost of fulfilling the dream to work with their childhood matinée idol these newbies cannot justify/ utilise the opportunity of the goldmine.

Ritiesh:: Would not say perfect for role but unwise to say miscast too. So safe to comment that he was just OK. His blind-love for Jasmine was not fleshed out well.

Jacqualine Fernandes:: She was gorgeous and must improve on her acting skills to stay afloat in the industry.

Sanjay Dutt:: Well I was expecting a "Joker" performance and sad to say, he was a letdown. Kay Kay in Drona was much better. The background to his character was insufficient and there was no justification about the "Ring Master" miffing with the "Genie". And btw- his sidies were robbed from X-Men.

Ratna Pathak Shah:: Completely wasted.

Victor Banerjee: Again completely wasted.

Nonethleless, it is a golden opportunity gone amiss and why? Because my 5-year old dozed off to sleep mid-way and that speaks volumes, so least to speak.

Flaws and entertainment are both equal. It is a fantasy movie made in Hindi, with a flavor of European gothicness. The gothic aesthetics is pretty well shown from settings, dresses to characters. The idea of "Kwaish" to saving the world from darkness deserves a little praise nevertheless. The story is average, good vs bad but in the realm of utopian world. The song "You Baby" is just heart-warming. Others are not so important, I feel. Amitabh Sir plays the role of an immatured genie who is wise as old and young adventurous just like Aladdin himself. He has shown both these characteristics reflecting the genie truly, the epitome of a funny wishmaster. Ringmaster is good though and his team is rather funny than fearful.

The film is made for entertainment, not a serious film. There are flaws, sometimes strong enough to make you uninterested. There are flaws in narrations, somewhere heavily dramatised, somewhere draggy, somewhere unnecessary scenes like Aladdin guitar scene. But Qasim Aladin scenes are really funny, needed more like that. It actually the bright point if the film. The story towards the end becomes heavy in plot, weighing heavy than the first. Genie's seriousness is not compatible with his previous nature. Finally the film ends with good at victory despite all these flaws.

The visuals are fine if you see the Bollywood development regarding effects in contemporary time. The story progresses in serene way and no restless environment is included in it. Had the duration of the movie been shortened by removing a few unnecessary scenes and songs it would have hit the mark. Still the director should be inspired for his effort in making a fantasy movie in Indian ground. Best of luck for his next project.

Watch it as an attempt for Bollywood in making a western fantasy film excluding the language.

If you have a child's mindset too also watch it and you feel the fun otherwise avoid it. A 50/100.