Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne

When foreign films make it to the U.S. market, they are usually good to excellent movies. It costs a lot of money for film makers in poor countries such as in Asia, Africa and South America to distribute their films and put a sub-title on it for the U.S. audience. Therefore they only export the good ones. But of course there are exceptions to the rules in particular when dealing with Indian and Chinese movies. Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne is one of those. With directors such as Satyajit Ray, Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta among others from India, you expect better movies coming from there. It is a shame to see movies that have the same subject and plots repeated over and over. The only difference is the actors and actresses but everything else is the same. Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne has everything that you see on a mediocre Indian film except it has a couple of good song and dance plots. I gave this movie a 5 and would not recommend it.

Captured by You is a Bollywood film about young love and intrigue. I heard that East Indian movies were very clean with G ratings. This film was a cross between a Mentos commercial and an old time musical. Actually it was refreshing to see a movie that wasn't trying as hard as an American movie to press the envelope in effects and violence or drain you of emotional capital. Better captioning would have been nice as it seemed that a lot of the dialog was missing and sometimes the English they did speak didn't match the captions. It's about a girl named Rhea and a guy named Vijay who fall in love and meet with some unexpected intrigue with Rhea's uncle. Vijay isn't what he seems. The whole thing was very clean and G rated and is suitable for the entire family. Although most Americans would find the movie boring, it is definitely a B+ to A movie with good acting and energy.

I was disappointed to find that the movie was a rip-off of the 1963 Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn classic "Charade". But, well, that is to be expected with a vast majority of Bollywood movies which seek *inspiration* from Hollywood counterparts. Nonetheless, the movie can be given a shot provided that you haven't seen Charade, otherwise the main suspense in the plot would be obvious, and the movie would be a drag. A couple of songs are hummable, though.

Does Audrey Hepburn's "Charade" ring any bells? It should, because "Chura Liya Hai Tumne" is so very similar to it. Replace three male villains, with two male and a female bad a** + replace the heroine's husband with her uncle + add in her cousin and the cousin's son + mix it up with Bollywood style some decades later = Chura Liya Hai Tumne/Charade. Esha Deol is no Audrey, and Zayed Khan (in his debut film) is no Gregory Peck, but it's still an awesome film. Some elements are extremely corny, for lack of a better term, stereotypical of Indian films and at times so rawly raunchy, you want to just cringe. But aside from that, it is an excellent story, great songs, and superb acting on both parts by Zayed and Esha. They have amazing chemistry and the story line keeps you on your toes. "Boys Are Best", is my favorite song from the film, it's light and airy, reminding me of a Hindi reprise of a 60s Frankie Avalon movie. While, "Do you Love Me" is too cute, quirky and simply adorable. "Mohabaat Hai Mirchi" is exactly how it sounds, "HOT," with the bad girl looking like she belongs in Indian Playboy, for sheer silicon looking breasts and no dancing technique or talent along with her six-inch-stripper-heels -- sure to make men sweat in their seats. This movie only proves further that Esha Deol is an excellent dancer, (see "Naa Tum Jano Naa Hum"), and that Zayed Khan should make another one (wait! he did "Main Hoon Naa"). Final comment - watch it!

If you are tired of watching the typical Indian movie where a typically handsome and smart guy meets and falls in love with a typically beautiful girl, and are wishing for something more original, then 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne' is a good option. Though it does include some of the 'typical' stuff, the story is not entirely based on the love-life of two love-birds.The plot revolves around a bank robbery, which has caused a stir amongst the secret services. Murders and shooting scenes(always present in such a movie)are there. The songs of the movie are pretty good and the movie is not expectable. Some of the things, which were expected, did not happen. This makes the movie better than most of the Indian stuff being released nowadays, and this difference, I believe will greatly contribute to the betterment of Indian movies. The movie is not perfect and does require polishing but still, it's a good effort by the team and a worthy watch.