Dus Kahaniyaan

A good attempt to bring something different to the bollywood community.

Sanjay Gupta and others have made a risky attempt to come up with something that is not usual or expected in the current trend of bollywood.

Ten different stories. No doubt about learning from them but only for half a dozen; rest really do not make an impact. It is a great effort by all and as well all know with some expceptions....Here we go...!!!!

Matrimony starring Mandira Bedi, Arbaaz Khan -- Nice one. Good to start with. Better begun is half done.....(5/10)

Pooranmashi starring Amrita Singh, Minnisha Lamba -- Great acting. You get along this "kahani" . (6/10)

High on the Highway starring Jimmy Shergill -- Don't quite remember what was in it... worst of the bunch (0/10)

Stranger in the Night starring Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjerakar -- A so so story to all the wicked minds....but positive lesson .. (4/10)

Zahir starring Manoj Bajpai, Diya Mirza - A good lesson for the young generation to understand whats going on in others mind..... (5/10)

Lovedale starring Aftab Shivdasani -- A story every lover will like... But I didn't find it so interesting... will give it a friendly... (5/10)

Sex on the Beach starring Dino Morea -- I recommend you to grab a plate of samosas for your family/friends while this is going on....I know the title will not allow you to do this but there is nothing in this.... (1/10)

Gubbare starring Nana Patekar -- This story is among the half dozen that I like out of 10. Nothing to describe about it...watch it.. (7/10)

Rice Plate starring Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah -- Simply great acting and great direction. Nice message. (8/10) This much just for the message.

Rise & Fall starring Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty -- I am a great fan of Sanjay Dutt but I could not digest the story line so (4/10) is enough.

Summary : Look out for these KAHANI's

Matrimony, Pooranmashi, Zahir, Gubbare, Rice Plate, Lovedale

Try to Ignore

High on the Highway, Sex on the Beach

Will have different opinions over Stranger in the Night (Good narration), Rise and Fall

Dus Kahaniyan - Six Director's 10 short stories in one film is the novel part which can be compared with "Darna Mana Hai" kind of movies. The only difference is that here "Its like seeing 10 short films at one go" as they are not related with each other and no linking scenes. Here I will rate each story for you and that will give you the whole idea of the movie :

The Best of 10 Stories 1. Puranmaasi (Amrita Singh, Minisha Lamba and Parmeet Sethi) If this short story does not inspire our film-makers to look into our own literature in Hindi, Urdu & Punjabi for new subjects then no one can inspire us really. Directed by Meghna Gulzar its based on the short story of Kartar Singh Duggal. The plot is so powerful and shockingly impactful that you feel surprised, why it was not adopted for a complete movie. The most impressive of the 10 and the unarguably the best part of the movie. You will only remember this at the back of the mind after watching all the 10.

Other Good Stories 2. Strangers in the night (Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar) (Good use of surprise element, human touch and sensuality) 3. Zahir (Manoj Bajpai, Dia Mirza) (You find it funny as you get to know the real thing though its quite serious) 4. Rice Plate (Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah) Rohit Roy makes his directorial debut but chooses an inspired theme. Though he does a fine job but the similarities with the short film "The Lunch Date" (1989) are really questionable. Check out : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100076/plotsummary

Below Average Stories 5. Matrimony (Mandira Bedi, Arbaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey) (On Out of marriage Relations told many times) This story is inspired from 1st Episode of SEASON 6 of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Titled : Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat Check out at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047708/episodes#season-6 http://www.alfredsplace.com/presents.htm 6. High On The Highway (Jimmy Shergill, Masumeh) (About a drug addict couple..Not impressive) 7. Love Dale (Anupam Kher, Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Oberoi) (Follows the "Darna Mana Hai" tradition with Ghosts) 8. Sex on the Beach (Dino Morea and Tareena Patel) (This too follows the "Darna Mana Hai" Ghost thing) 9. Gubbare (Anita Hasnandani, Nana Patekar and Rohit Roy) (Again on "Darna Mana Hai" lines) 10. Rise and Fall (Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty) (Gang Fights and Stunts……Just Passable)

So with only 4 out of 10 watchable stories, it gives only average rating to the movie. Rating : 2.5 Stars (Dont miss "Puranmaasi", the story is the pride of our rich literature)

You can blame Sanjay Gupta for making violent movies, based on the underworld or the bizarre. But one needs to give him credit for doing stuff thats not too run-of-the-mill.

Having gathered a young crew of directors, mostly novice, comprising of Meghna Gulzar (Just Married), Apoorva Lakhia (Shootout at L'wala/Ek Ajnabee), Rohit Roy amongst others, Gupta gives them less than 15 minutes time to showcase his own concepts.

The collection opens with MATRIMONY (4/10). Mandira Bedi is surprisingly good.

Next up is HIGH ON THE HIGHWAY (1/10). Jimmy Shergil gets irritating.

POORANMASHI (3/10) brings Meghna on who gets a good job from Amrita Singh. Lamba is wasted. Nice rural touches.

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (4/10) gets one added star for its narrative style. It is made to deceive. But unbelievable. Manjrekar disappoints as the husband.

The last pre-intermission segment is ZAHIR (4/10) and this one disappoints. Crudely shot by Gupta. Manoj Vajpayee is uninterested & way below-par.

LOVEDALE (4/10) is a slow tale and you can smell the super-natural halfway through the story. Anupam Kher is wasted.

Apoorva Lakhia's SEX ON THE BEACH (1/10 is the worst of the lot. Poor performances. Crudely presented.

RICE PLATE (9/10) by debutante Rohit Roy is a pleasant surprise. Roy infuses immediate charm and is considerably helped by Shabana Azmi's brilliant portrayal of an orthodox religious Southie. Azmi takes just a few frames to warm up but ends up in control. Naseer Shah is understated. (This, in fact, is 'borrowed' from a Jeffrey Archer short story).

GUBBARE (3/10) is passable only because of Patekar. Gulzar's script doesn't really shine. Nana is a natural.

RISE & FALL (5/10) has two stories intertwined (gets very confusing too). Lots of style. I personally found Suniel Shetty a notch above than Dutt. The two teenage taporis are really good.

Overall worth a look. Technical values are pretty good. Some segments have good editing but sound designing is improper for this genre.

"Dus Kahaniyaan" comes from the stable of Sanjay Gupta's production house-WHITE FEATHER FILMS. In the past they have come out with "Musafir", "Kaante", "Zinda" & "Shootout At Lokhandwala". Two things that one can be certain of in the movies from this production house are Sanjay Dutt and lots and lots of style! In "Dus Kahaniyaan" you find both, but in parts! "Dus Kahaniyaan" can be described best as like a book of short stories covering different genres or spectrum. It has , like the title says, 10 stories. Each one of them is a separate story and therefore what makes this movie different from the likes of "Darna Mana Hai" etc. is that the stories are not connected by any common thread! Each story exists in a different world, completely independent of each other just like the different stories in a book.

Now, coming to the important part-are the stories good enough to grip you? Well, personally I feel that there are at least 4 stories that are a notch above the other 6. That's my personal opinion though some viewers might take a liking to a few of the other stories as well. The best of the lot are (not necessarily in that order): MATRIMONY-Features Mandira Bedi, Arbaaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey. It's about marriage and infidelity. Good acting from all three and the twist in the tale is awesome-my favourite of the ten stories! RICE PLATE-Shabana Azmi and Naseruddin Shah. You expect the best from them and are not disappointed. The story is about religious belief's-two contrasting views! A subtext of communal harmony.

ZAHIR-Another story with a twist! Features Manoj Bajpai and Dia Mirza. Good narration though acting was just about passable! It's about a writer (Manoj Bajpai) who has failed in love but see a ray of hope (yet again) in Dia Mirza. But is She ready? Has an underlying social message too! POORNAMASI-A tale of honour. Revolves around a mother-daughter played by Amrita Singh and Minnisha Lamba respectively. A decent story (that's the least you can expect from it's writer-Meghna Gulzar).

The other 6 stories that I haven't mentioned didn't really grip me! There's SEX ON THE BEACH (Dino Moreo, Tareena Patel) that has some good visuals, sound effects and tilts towards the spooks but just doesn't do it. GOOBARE (Nana Patekar, Rohit Roy, Hansika Mansandani) is predictable and so is the one that has Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Uberoi! RISE AND FALL involving Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty is confusing (due to the way it's narrated) and is only high on style. STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar) is below average too. And the weakest is HIGH ON THE HIGHWAY (Jimmy Shergill).

The advantage for the viewer when you are watching a movie like this is that the movie literally moves on! If you don't like a story, it wouldn't tax you for long-that's the best part. Some stories, like I said, could have been better. Sometimes, like in their earlier movies, the stress is put too much on Style and Gloss rather than the fundamental part-the script. The point is then missed! So an overall rating of 5.5/10. 4 for the four good stories and 1.5 for genuine innovation-something different. A sequel-why not. Can get 6 or 7 right next time!

Well, taking cue from RGV's "Darna...." series (and Tarantino/ Rodriguez), Dutt Baba conceives Dus Kahaniyaan on similar lines. At the very outset, it seems all the segments are crammed thereby leaving with ""Bang-Bang Thank You Ma'am" feeling. Perhaps more time was warranted for the characters to take shape and the plot to sink in.

Matrimony:: The plot is a straight lift from one of the email forwards. Arbaaz looks suave and Mandira quite convincing.

High on the Highway:: Very contrived of the entire lot. Jimmy's performance is at its worst and somebody please give him a truth serum of his awful hair color.

Puranmaashi:: Probably owing to time constraint the plot seems extremely lame. Coming from Meghna, my expectations were riding high owing to Gulzar genes.

Stranger in the night:: Again, not one of the brightest crayons in the box. In short the plot is "Looking London - Going Tokyo", if you know what I mean.

Zahir:: Again a downer plot, topped up with great performance by the two. Also perhaps Dia would have been a ideal choice in High on the High on the Highway segment.

Lovedale:: Seemed straight out of Yashraj camp - too coincidental.

Sex on the beach:: Plot is copied from Darna series. No great shakes in there.

Gubbare:: My vote for the Number One segment. Short, crisp and effective. The conversation of Nana to his wife should have been edited for creative impact.

Rice Plate:: Number Two vote. Thought the plot seems to be copied from one of the email forwards, its the Shabana and Naseer who make up with the top-notch performance.

Rise and Fall:: The plot needed more space. Also the non-linear format confuses. The background score is loud. Otherwise a meaty plot.

Watch it if you have nothing to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.