jungleking

Masti – a movie that surpassed all my expectations and went on to become one of my most enjoyed movies this year. Going in to watch this movie I had all the reservations – no actors that I really did like; a director that I had written off since his Ishq days; songs that I had not heard of; and the expectation that bollywood cannot do comedy humour for the British audience. How wrong was I going to be proven!!!

The comedy was spot on as were the apparent and intended lines and joke – this movie seriously did take the comedy to a crude new level not seen in bollywood. One would have to say that this movie did indeed take one step further for bollywood as American Pie did for Hollywood. The songs certainly did grow on me, especially the 'seyya ji' item number – the others are just as tappy (except the 'one the roof' – well all can't be perfect!!!). The next surprise was that this great movie was from none other than Indra Kumar – someone I had written off since his movie ISHQ over a decade ago. The director had to be good, talented and experienced to have this great comedic timing as well as being able to juggle all the actors. Finally, the actors were good and have to say that I am beginnings to like Vivek and certainly beginning to adore Amrita Rao – this girl is hot and one to watch out for.

Having seen this movie I will have to say that I will defiantly be open to the idea that bollywood can do comedy, but will be more excited about Indra Kumars next venture. One movie that I will certainly recommend that you watch, and if you have already watched it I will recommend that you go and watch it again.

It's difficult to say that it's not an excellent movie but it's also difficult to say that it's a crap movie. It's a movie that when you are watching it seems great, but upon reflection seems that there is something missing. It might be a Yash Chopra banner movie, but it is no Yash Chopra movie.

The polishing touches are what you would expect from this banner such as locations, actors, acting, directing and polishing are all there. The spot locations are great – from Delhi to Amsterdam to New York to Paris and back to Delhi. Credit has to be given to the director (Kunal Kohli) for making one feel that the characters do actually live in these cities and does not merely try to highlight the touristy attractions as others would do. The songs are good but not terrific – the best has to be the Rishi Rich item. The best thing about the movie has to be the actors and their acting. Top marks have to go to Kiren Kher – wow this women is wonderful as is her apparent command of Punjabi – her lines had me in stitches (such as: 'meh the tehnu poncha dita see the tu ne kameez pher li' or the best one being 'ooh dekh becha sadak the pooti ker dah pyai'). Rani was wow, great, stunning, wonderful, etc.. what can be said about this actress that is not already apparent. Saif, well I initially had my reservations about him, but it seems that he cant do anything wrong since Dil Chata Hai, and this movie is no exception.

At its core it has great actors and performance, good songs, nice story but it did not have the extra bit to make it a great movie. Go rent it or watch it at the cinema, but don't invest in buying it – save it for Yashji's actual movie.

The must see and anticipated box office blazer for 2004. Both the statements are correct: being Farah Khans first movie one would wonder what kind of director she would be and what her filmi style would be; also there being no entertaining movie so far in 2004 it would be correct to say that yes it was an anticipated movie. However, the one point missed out was that the movie was not necessarily amazing.

On the positive, Farah Khan has done an adequate job as a first time director. Her visualisation is very modern and novel and the movie on a whole is very picturesque. As expected the choreography and settings for the songs are excellent - the music on the whole has grown on me over time with the qawali being my favourite. Story wise, there were many different sub-plots going on and it helped to keep the viewers attention focused on the movie. The acting as expected was excellent from the King Khan. Sushmita Sen was excellent as well as stunning in her new look of saris (no doubt inspired by Yash Chopra style). Amrita Roa was the hidden gem in this movie, she has both natural beauty as well as presence and she looks promising. The less said about Zayed Khan the better. The support cast were also excellent and all churning out very good acting be it Kiren Kher, or Bindu, or Naseerudin Shah or Kabir Bedi. My best scene has to be the last song in the movie that gets doubled as a credit song - the first one I think in a bollywood movie.

However on the negative side, the movie lacked the final polish to it. All the ingredients were there but the final pizzazz was missing - maybe Farah should have got the Chopras or Johars to help in the editing. Additionally there was too much masala mix in the story and it would have nice to cut some of these out and pay more concentration to the main storyline. Also Sushmita was not used to her full potential and was really there for eye candy. Finally Farahs directorial style is neither unique or original, in fact it is borrowed/copied from others: she has taken the modernised look from the Johars, the glamour from the Chopras, the action from John Woo (down to the Mission Impossible music and the flying doves) and Wachowski brothers (where SRK does a Neo inspired flying dive into Sunil Shetty as well as the slow motion actions).

Having said all that it is an entertaining movie and the message at the end of the movie is inspiring and very with the times and its good to see a movie that is neutral to the indo-pak issue. No doubt Farah is a director to watch out for in the future and should she direct a movie for the Johar / Chopra banner then that will be a must see and anticipated box office blazer of a movie.