amitaishwaryajogi

This is not a film I can recommend. For the record, I fled during the interval. Ever since his first notable appearance in Maine Pyaar Kiya (his debut, if I recall correctly, was in another film), Salman Khan has always been a Star, inspiring millions of fans- of both sexes- to dizzying heights of frenzy. Yet- and this is a fact even his fans, should they decide to look at things objectively, would find difficult to deny- he doesn't have the faintest clue about acting.

His directors- Sooraj Badjatya and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, to name two- have always known this: in two of his biggest best films (Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam etc.) all his characters are required to do is to look dashing, smile and make at least one big selfless sacrifice; they are, however, rarely expected to act.

In Wanted: Dead or Alive (playing in theaters now), Mr Khan does an Arnold, not an Aamir (a la Ghazni): actions speak louder than words. Not only does he not have many dialogues to deliver but his role doesn't even require him to appear romantic (the wooing, in this case, is also left to the girl so that he can get on with the more important business of disposing the villains in highly imaginative and bloody ways). Likewise in his comedy films, in which he is part of a larger ensemble, loud slapstick (scatological jokes and farts not excluded) compensates for the lack of acting.

Having said that, all of these films have worked- marvelously so- not despite but precisely because of this: people don't go to a Salman Khan film to see acting; they go to worship their Star. And that- more than anything else- is the reason for Mr Khan's iconic success. It's a pity then that his own brother, Sohail Khan, who acts and directs this film, doesn't seem to realize this. By putting the burden of acting on the Star, he has ended up making a very bad film, which rather than celebrating his brother's stardom only ends up bringing out his deficiencies as an actor. Even Ms Kapoor seems to realize this: she is quite the misfit in this company of complete non-actors, and I couldn't help feeling that the only reason she did this role was as a personal favor to the Khan fraternity.

Even Mr Khan's die-hard fans might be slightly disappointed: his efforts at acting make him look tired and it is all to clear that India's Star has, like the rest of us, grown old. Worse, attempts to disguise this fact with a hair-transplant and bigger biceps only tend to make him look hopelessly desperate.

Perhaps Main Aurr Mrs Khanna will make him realize the virtues of aging gracefully à la Amitabh Bachchan & c- and much more importantly, help him come to terms with the fact that it's too late for him to be taking up acting. Mr Khan would do well to remember that once a Star, always a Star- and if he does try to act, then all that film might hope to get is One Star (on a 5-star rating scale)!

A delightful if somewhat predictable romance between a happily spoilt rich kid and one seeking to be independent. The first half could use some editing but the film really picks up steam in the second. The casting is- how does one put it?- picture perfect. I can't think of any other actor who could have pulled off the title-role with more élan than Ranbir Kapoor: every time I see him light up the screen- especially in the scenes with his on-screen mother- confirms my belief that he's indeed a chip off the old block! (I can only hope for his sake that he doesn't remain as underrated as an actor as his father is.) Ms. Sen doesn't quite dazzle- but then her character isn't really expected to do so.

On the whole Wake up Sid is one of the better films to emerge from the Bollywood-factory this Diwali...Go see it with someone you love- or want you to love.

I couldn't help thinking that this is Vishal Bharadwaj's take on- perhaps, even tribute to- Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

He is arguably India's finest director- but Kaminey isn't his finest work.

In his earlier films, Maqbool and Omkara (both brilliant adaptations of Shakespeare's tragedies, Hamlet and Othello) Mr. Bharadwaj didn't just tell tales; he gave us entire visions of worlds- or more precisely, underworlds- complete in themselves, populated with their own distinctive vocabularies. Like Chopin's piano concertos, we could feel cannons pounding away under a bed of roses.

In Kaminey, however, Mr. Bharadwaj tends to get carried away: one might even say, he tends to become over-indulgent. The same scene is approached from several angles, the long- shots get a bit too long, and the music crowds out Gulzar's deeply-felt lyrics: put simply, the filmmaker's craft- its obsession with technical wizardry- becomes, at times, a burden on the film itself.

Unlike his previous films, inhabited by characters who were neither all good nor all bad but lived precariously in a moral twilight zone, this one has heroes, heroines and a bunch of comically bizarre villains. They all seem, to me, to lack depth.

Priyanka Chopra is wonderful, her role possibly award-winning, and Shahid Kapoor, in a double role, is, well, passionate. There is much he has to learn from his father, Pankaj Kapoor, who starred in Maqbool.

For instance, not all things have to be said or shown on screen; the best scenes are when things are simply felt. The same holds true for Kaminey.

For feeling is precisely what is missing in this otherwise brilliant filmmaker's film.