बंटी और बबली

Let me preface my comments with this disclaimer, I am a nonIndian. Forgive my obvious ignorance and any misspellings, and proceed at your own risk.

I rented B&B from Netflix because I've seen KHAKEE with Bachchan. the father and Ash Rai, plus KUCH NAA KAHE WITH Bachchan, the son and, again, Ash Rai. The father is obviously an national Indian treasure as a wonderful, serious actor. The son is clearly a gifted comedian and maturing, sensitive actor. Ash Rai? She's one of a kind too, and she clearly knows how to pick 'em in her leading men. By the way, Ajay Devron, her leading man in Straight From the Heart, Raincoat, and as that nefarious terrorist in KHAKEE, is another example of her very good taste in who appears opposite her on screen.

B$B is delightful especially for Bachchan the son, who did great work here in various con man roles and in his interaction with his perky, little costar, Rani Munkerjee. Of course, the whole thing is a bit of fluff from beginning to end, and anyone who expects more, should leave as soon the first energetic musical number hits the screen.

The narration by Bachchan, the father and his eventual, inevitable appearance as the world-weary cop chasing these carefree, con kids is worth the wait. Of course, it is just like every other American cops 'n robber spoof that I've ever seen; nobody really gets hurt.

Now the surprise and joy for me was the so-called 'item number' in the bar with father, son, and their co-star from other recent movies, Ash Rai. The drunken banter (no, I don't speak Hindi and had to rely on the subtitles) and body language was very funny to me despite, or maybe because of, this obvious handicap. Their interactions with Ash prior to the dance number were perfectly timed comedy reactions too. The dance number itself ripped up the place and Ash looked as if she was having a lot of fun "flirting" with two of her favorite men. Now that's entertainment in my book, and in any language.

Go rent B&B, or, even better, buy the DVD and add it to your Bollywood collection. That's what I'm doing right after I finish this review. Thanks to both Bachchans, Ms. Munkerjee and Rai for sharing their talents with all of us.

Bunty aur Babli has all the ingredients of a blockbuster - impressive starcast, novel story, mind-blowing music, sizzling on-screen chemistry and to top it all, an item song that is well set to be a nation's new anthem.

After a successful debut with Vivek Oberoi-Rani Mukherjee starrer Saathiya, Shaad Ali is back with yet another great movie. Of course, it may disappoint all those craving for Hollywood-like cinema (Black, Page 3 , etc.) - Bunty aur Babli is 100% Indian - textbook Bollywood style. So, you have Abhishek Bachan and Rani Mukherjee playing two ambitious, fortune-seeking small-town youngsters, who run away from their families to make it big in bad Mumbai. The duo turn into formidable con-pair thus inviting upon themselves the wrath of a UP-bhaiyya type cop (Amitabh Bachan). The film's initial half is much like a roller-coaster ride while it is the later half that involves the Big B chasing the masquerading duo. Finally, the product is a movie providing wholesome family entertainment in typical Bollywood flavour. The ending may appear a bit damp, but all-in-all its a movie worth seeing.

ACTING: Abhishek Bachan is fast growing out of his illustrious father's shadow and carving a niche for himself. AB is fantastic in the film as the trickster Bunty. Rani Mukherjee on the other hand is fast rising to be the next 'actress of an era' after Madhuri Dixit. she is turning out to be the industry's biggest goldminer with a string of 5 recent successes already to her name. After a serious role in Black, Rani enthralls all by another great performance in a contrary role. The Big B as usual stamps the film with his quality and it is quite useless to praise him here. And last but far from the least is Aishwarya Rai.............it can only be Ash who can floor the audience and leave her mark on a film featuring three of Bollywood's biggest names in a role comprising just of a 7-minute item song. The gorgeous body, the heaving breasts, the backless choli, the tempting face ,the hypnotising eyes and of course the drooling dance moves - Ash is at her irresistible best in Kajra Re.

Special mention for Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's fabulous music, delivering what should be the best musical blockbuster of the year. Each song of the soundtrack is innovative and is destined to be a hit.

Overall this movie is just about average . Some scenes are really humorous like Rani and Abhishek meeting at the rail station. Rani as usual sizzles and Abhi gives a fairly OK performance. Amitabh is not in his element except for the dance sequence "kajrare". Somewhat his performance can be termed as overacting. This man ( Amitabh ) is overworked and his age shows. He is burning at both ends. It is high time he slows down a bit.

And now the piece de resistance of the movie : That is the music. The music is very good and all the songs are quite hummable. The music is quite experimental and unique.

The story is plagiarized from a number of Hollywood movies, chief of which is "Catch me if you can". The plot is not detailed enough . For example the way the duo ( Rani and Abhi )dupe their victims , seems childish and there are many gaps in their schemes. But anyway the viewer can take all this in his stride, for after all this is a Bollywood movie and they are notoriously not meant to be perfect in their plots.

All in all a passable fare..

the story got lost...Rani and Abishek are not convincing as 20 somethings in the opening scenes in which the characters struggle against their parents. These two are too old to be playing 20 somethings!

I wonder about Amitabh Bacchan these days - we seem to be watching him going through mid-life crises more and more in films these days. This was no exception, and we get to watch an aging 60+ year old man behaving 20 years younger on screen, flirting with women who in real-life are soon to be his daughter-in-law (ick!) It was sad to see him sort of beneath himself but if he doesn't mind...why should we? (p.s sorry to all his fans). He plays a "cool" tough cop in this film. He doesn't really act, as much as the dramatic music, cool shades and clothes, plus cheesy dialogue, sort of do the acting for him. His acting was terrible in this film, overacted scenes.

About the other actors in the film, both Rani M. and Abishek respectfully ought to tame it down a little. Over-acting tends to be the style of Bollywood, but it would be nice if they tried something more subtle.

Rani is probably the most natural, graceful Indian actress there is, in comparison to her peers like Aishwarya Rai, who hasn't mastered the emotional range and groundedness of her parts. But, Rani's acting style has mostly one dimension in this film - she seems to perceive everything as a joke, and is laughing in every scene, which is infectious and fun to see.

The chemistry was unfortunately just not there in the pairing of the main actors. Abishek and Rani M. seemed more like brother and sister to me, than a passionate couple. Perhaps it's because Abishek and Aishwarya Rai are married now...knowing this works against the chemistry with them. I'm not sure I really want to see the chemistry between actors who are married to other people (!)

The saving grace included the costumes - of which Rani goes through probably 100 literally; plus, the dance scenes in Bollywood films are always mesmerizing and spectacular in choreography and costumes - like wonderful mini-musicals.

I was questioning at times why Rani M. and Aishwarya Rai are both willing to be half-naked, publicly exposing themselves, in their films, but I'm not sure they have a choice (?), and certainly male viewers aren't complaining.

There was a little depth in the film too. I related to the struggle between the dual sides of Abishek's character - Bunti vs, Rakesh. Rakesh is his given name, and represents the life of his family, who are middle class and get up every day and work for a middle class living, and this lacked appeal to the young Rakesh. He used the name "Bunti" to describe the part of him that desired much, much more - things every human being wants at some point - lust and thirst for power, riches, glory, fame, and good looks. Isn't that battle within everyone?

Abishek character's struggle with this identity is very real, a saving grace - I loved it.

Not very much influence by movie, Abhishek and rani acting was good.. Screen stealing performance of Amitabh Bachchan. You can watch once I watch after 16 years of its release.