Darwaza Bandh Rakho

Darwaza Bandh Rakho was touted as a comedy coming from RGV's factory after a string on action/scary movies. Chekravarthy directs this movie and considering his previous ventures (anyone unfortunate enough to view Durga would agree) and the star cast of this one, the expectations were zilch. After watching a lackluster Anthony… you anyway don't want to have many expectations from a movie.

The movie is about a gang of four Ajay (Aftab Shivdasani), Goga (Snehal Dabhi), Raghu(Chunky Pandey) and Abbas (Zakir Hussain) who want to make a quick buck. They kidnap a construction magnate's spoilt daughter Isha (Isha Sharvani) and end up in a now-broke Guajarati household taking the family of Kantilal Shah (Ishrat Ali) as hostages. As Isha's father is in US they have to keep put up in the same house. As time passes quite a few characters like a pizza delivery boy Mugale Azam (Nitin Raikwar), shampoo sales girl Julie (Manisha Koirala), money lender Shetty (Jeeva), real estate agent Mehta(Goga Kapoor), constable Ganpat(Ravi Kale), a veterinary doctor (Kota Srinivas Rao) etc turn up and are promptly taken in as hostages. The kidnappers have to keep up with the idiosyncrasies of the hostages till they get the money. In the meanwhile the pizza boy wants to cozy up to them as he always wanted to be in underworld; Raghu takes a liking to Julie whereas Isha takes a liking to Ajay. The kidnappers then try to outsmart one another to get the money for themselves. There is lots of confusion and finally the police arrives to finish the matters.

The story has enough in it to be turned into a laugh riot. Does it succeed in doing so? Yes and No. There are some fantastic one-liners and the acting is good.

Some dialogues that stand out – Only incoming, outgoing cut Only cats, dogs cows…no mans and a couple of others.

But, the cohesiveness in the film is missing. There are so many things that can be done with such a story line and that's where you feel let down. The pace of the movie never slackens. Dialogues are good and have mass appeal. Cinematography is also good.

Acting is one area where there are some revelations. Ishrat Ali is undoubtedly the star of the movie. I have always held that he cannot deliver dialogues but he screams them but here it works and how! This is the best I have seen him perform in spite of seeing him in dozens of movies. Fantastic!

Isha Sharvani is another revelation. Seeing her in Kisna I had remarked she is good for doing mallahkambh maybe and not acting Here she does really well as a kid who is excited about being kidnapped.

Aftab is lackluster, Chunky and Snehal are OK whereas Manisha looks uninterested in the going on. Zakir is good. Divya Dutta as the maid is as usual. Among the supporting cast Kota Srinivas Rao stands out.

Chekravarthy's direction shows improvement over his debut film. He has handled some scenes well but has still a long way to go.

Overall the movie is time pass if you go with less expectation. After all movie-watching is a matter of managing your expectations. I think here also you are better off waiting for a few months by when this should be coming on channels.

PS: The movie was touted as 35 people under one roof, believe it or not I counted the number of people in the house and they never reached 35!! In the climax when a gang of people reach the house and following them is a police team it might have neared 35 that's it and for most of the movie it is 15 people.

Another one of those movies with far too many characters for everyone to have names, lots of intersecting story lines, a crazy situation and heaps of noise and fun.

The story's simple, a group of wannabe dons kidnap a rich, dumb girl and seek refuge in a Gujarati businessman's home. What ensues is a crazy ride with many ups and downs and some serious laughs.

I'm not the type of person who laughs aloud in movies, but this one had me in splits. Some of the characters are simply hilarious, while others seem to be in the movie just to increase the chaos.

Don't expect logic in this movie. It's a loose script, but enjoyable. The movie could have done with some serious editing, especially towards the end, but no one would mind that.

Definitely worth a watch, especially if you enjoy the Hungama and Chup Chup Ke type of movies.

One time watch just ok ok. Watch if want to kill time.

I dnt think bollywood wil movie in same concept again.

Year had very nice movies like Rand De basanti.malamal weekly. Which is good to watch rather than this.

DARWAZA BANDH RAKHO is Chakravarthi's 2nd directional film after the flop DURGA and a small story in DBR

The film is a comedy fitted in 1 house which is novel but sadly the film falters as it progresses

The film starts off well but several comedy scenes are dragged and too chaostic

Yet there are several interesting scenes but the romance could be done without The film gets engrossing in the second half where lot of game plans are revealed but the climax is a bad joke

Direction by Chakravarthi is decent Camera-work is good

Aftab Shivdasani is in good form and acts his part very well though he doesn't get much scope to display histrionics Isha Sherwani annoys at places otherwise she is good Chunky Pandey is relegated to the backseat, Manisha Koirala is okay Snehal Dabbi is adequate Zakir is superb in his role Ishrat Ali is the scene stealer, he excels in his comic act He mostly is seen as a loud politician in action films but here he is superb Smita Jaikar and others are good

Easily the most noisy film you can ever imagine. Shows you the skills of the director Mr Chrkravarthy.

Obviously this is his taste. But this movie even though with an interesting plot and comedy scenes falls flat like a dud.

Ishrat Ali shines in every scene and he is a pure delight with his comedy and acting. Kota Srinivas Rao is another worthy mention with his excellent comedy.

Rest of the cast are into the competition of overacting.

Easily to be missed. What a noise pollution of a movie. This kind of average fare was predominant in those days. And as always failed miserably. But then this one is also a Telugu remake. That explains a fee things for sure.