2007 : Looking Good…
OK I know that this is very predictable and clichéd but let me do it….
Its that time of the year when we look back and look ahead. There are no doubts about this year being one of the happiest for the industry in terms of commercial success. Hits were galore, and the cash registers kept ringing Friday after Friday. Whatever came our way we took it to the top and no one was complaining much. ….ohh I feel like throwing up!
I saw some 2 hours of songs from the upcoming releases and from what I saw it looks like a good year ahead.
Guru is looking better now. The promos hint at a depth and detailing, there are well worked sequences dances looks frames and moments. Madhavan and Mithun look promising, the added songs have add more flavor to the goings on. This one looks like a good one to watch out for. I have already written so much about the film, I will now rather wait for the film to do the talking.
Salaam e Ishq has verve written all over it. Exuberance youth and the charms of young love, vignettes reminiscent of love actually, magnolia, crash might click with the Indian audience. The new adnan sami number heightens the excitement. One wishes however there was a cool blue street walking French sidewalk video instead of the repetitive overlapping postcard frames from the different stories. When I heard the song I could picture a lazy afternoon stroll kind of a sequence which slowly builds up in a traveling bands kinds ensemble. Sohail khan packs a punch from what is seen in the promos, anil kapoor is at his best smirking him, akshaye khanna with his blink now wink now expressions, ayesha takia with her close up smile, govinda in a made for him taxi driver role, salman in his romancing the royal way demeanor….. there is even a quintessential red sari moment, nikhil advani is playing a safe game, he isn’t trying to fuck around too much with the actors, he aint making them do astronomical things, he is using them juat as they are, as IMDB mentions Robert De Niro as Robert De Niro.
Honeymoon travels pvt ltd. looks awesome. A dream cast, a Gumnaam kinda genre, kay kay might flex his funny muscles in this one, shabana teaching a unrelenting boman irani how to speak ghalib, ranvir playing a gujarati Himesh in all his color, abhay deol asking a pissed off Minissha Lamba if they need to share everything, and the usual bus ride fun and games.
Just married takes a Chaplinesque promo to kick start its campaign, an oddly interesting couple, coming from the stable of meghna gulzar this should be interesting. I wish though the feminist tones are toned down, cus they got annoying at a point of time in Filhaal, and men looked more like midgets against against well crafted female characters.
Shootout at lokhandwala has not come up with promos, but the posters carry a workable angst.
Blue Umbrella/Chhatri Chor carries the irrepressible mark of Vishal and his infectious mix of visuals and music. The “faayda hota hai kya” dialogue by Pankaj Kapoor is sure to go down history. I am so excited about the film I can jump and swirl thrice in the air at the very mention of it. The title song that is doing the TV rounds these days is as good as it could be.
I see you might have all the non starters but still carries something that just might work finally for arjun rampal.
Risk brings back Vinod Khanna, and there is no bigger reason to wait for it.
More blockbuster potential names are Eklavya, Fool & Final, RGV ke Sholay, Om Shanti Om, Chak De India, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom(I have a feeling this will redefine style in Bollywood and will be a cult film), Saawariyan(now who is not waiting for it!), Partners, Woodstock Villa, Dus Kahaniyan(cant wait for India’s first true blue collage of films), Alibaug,
Tushar Shukla
Tags: Direction, Medium, Teaching Film-making
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Tushar, whats so big about Jhoom Barabar jhoom…cult film n all…why do u think so ?? After loads of shit, I just hope Yashraj will do some good with Chak de and Pradesp sarkar’s film…looks like atleast these two films will have some stories…not like D2 n all.
ahem.. tushar.. you forgot anurag and pavan’s movies.. :-w
dunno about fool ‘n final being a potential blockbuster.. last time sunny paaji and vivek got together, unka naksha kho gaya tha 8-} i’ll probably have to hear a bunch of yelling and screaming from sunny again.. not my cup of tea. and god forbid if he starts dancing.. we’ll have to tell hrithik he’s got competition…
but on the brighter side, hansal has two films releasing (one short film in dus kahaniyan), so that should be something to look forward to.
“risk” looks intriguing though.. i’d watch it for randeep and vinodji
@phoenixnu: just a gut feel, nothing else, with the ppl involved and the secrecy with which the film is being made, made me feel that way. n especially Bobby’s pairing with ABjr. I have always maintained Bobby can do wonders in non-guddu dhanoa kinda films, but sadly that never happenend. i liked him a lil in kundan shah’s hum to mohabbat karega, but movie ended up being a failed attempt.i had also liked him in gupt, aur pyar ho gaya and kareeb. hope he can be reinvented(aaah thats my fav word!)
@striker, arey bhaiyaa main to aise hi lambi lambi chhod raha tha, kinda spoofing the film predictions they make on all other film sites which look like a fool’s imagination when seen the next year. as for me i am only interested in guru, rgv’s films, blue umbrella, no smoking, JBJ, aamir’s films, dus kahaniyan n mat be some indie projects.
hahah.. got it tushar.. sorry, the sarcasm didn’t come thru at your end then :-”
Haan sirji, wahi to point tha
ghar pe article likho aur office mein publish karo to yahi hota hai! ;)
‘Chak De India’?? Isnt that meant to be ‘Bend it like Beckham’??
I just hope we have more original and gripping movies…
Chalo dekho!!
Tushar, as far as Yashraj is concerned… bhagwaan bachaye. Cult or no cult bur crap for sure. They have lost everything!!! Now they can make any kind of shit and still make crores!!! Why would they waste their time in something called story or script or whatever they call it!!!
A Guddu Dhano’s “Big Brother’ *ing Sunny Deol is releasing in year 2007, i think. It’s a typical Sunny paahi’s movie.
I saw a promo of “Blue Umbrella”; I liked what I saw of it. It ended with Pankaj Kapur.. it reminded me of his character in Office Office, though. I don’t know why.
I saw a few more promos of Salaam-E-Ishq and it got me thinking: Why is Shannon wearing cheap (sarees, ghaghra cholis) clothes and looking like a bar girl? Is it cos some of the foreigners look quite weird in Indian clothes or..?
Bout time ‘Blue Umbrella’ came out!
Hadn’t Vishal started that before ‘Omkara’.. or had it released and gone to film festivals or summat??
Came across the Guddu Dhanoa film trailer.
He will never give up will he??
I do remember quite liking ‘Salaakhen’ when it released years ago.
But didnt he also give us the intolerable ‘Teesri Aankh’ last year?!!!
What was he thinking?!!
it was completed before Omkara. the film did a few film festivals rounds and now in year 2007 it will get a theatrical release.
But the question is, will it get a theatrical release here in the u.k??
I think not!!!
Really wish we could get the chance to see movies like ‘Maqbool’ ‘Gangster’ ‘Woh Lamhe’ etc over here man!
Really don’t like to see all this stuff on dvd, makes me feel like a criminal!!
Was pleasantly surprised when ‘Being Cyrus’ and ‘Yun Hota To Kya Hota’ were played here.
Got to see them how films should be seen… at the cinema!!
HG,
Big brother seems to be “Gandhi” rechristened. It was ready since last 5-6 month
last i heard was that utv are planning to distribute the film in UK as well.
i seee… i did not know about that, jwalant. Not related to Gandhi-giri, is it?
LOL, no HG. Theyhave been making it since last 3 years. It was initialy named Gandhi, then devdhar Gandhi. Sunny mentioned in one of his interviews that he will change the name sinc ehe does not want to get into controversy.:-?
@HG, shannon reminded me of a film called Out of control, its good if you havent seen or heard about it.
@steve, i like some of the sunny brand action flicks, i dont know why noone liked Zor, it was a well made film if not great.i guess guddu dhanoa finds bobby luckier for him. with sunny, his obsession seems to blind his narrative. though blue umbrella looks very good, even i think its about time it came out, at least on dvd. i been hearing about it being screened for an year. soon we ll have an entire spate of such release worthy films…
i havent seen the guddu-sunny film’s promo.
@jwalant, i heard of the ‘gandhi’ project long back, didnt know its being repackaged now. is it the same ‘indian’ project started aeons ago?
by the way,
HAPPY NEW YEAR people!!!!
i AM STARTING my year with logging on to PFC
WANNA go n catch some film in theatre on the first day of the year, i guess i ll have to end up with bhagam bhag…
Tushar… I do remember ‘Zor’ but only slightly.. well, i remember two songs… ‘main apna naam bhula’ and ‘kudi kanwari ho’ or atleast I seem to remember it as that?!
But it was definitely one of the better looking films Sunny did, even if the role he was played has become rather typecast.
This is the reason why I prefered ‘Dillagi’ when it released.
Just seemed quite refreshing to see the Deols in a romantic film.
Now I’ve got the ‘Zor’ songs going round and round in my head.
Used to play it everyday back then…
Wonder what happened to that music director(s) Aghosh??
Oh and Happy New Year to you too matey!!
And i also wanna go cinema asap as i havn’t been in 17days!!
I’m ill, need to get over it then go watch the not-so-wow-looking ‘Bhaagam Bhaag’ and hollywood rip off ‘I See You’!!
Then again, they might pleasently surprise…..or maybe not!
Steve, Zor was very good in all deptts, especially technical. it was the first film of sangeeth svan who would later turn into a ’sleaze’ churner as bollywood didnt buy his ambitious projects. it had excellent music by AGOSH comprised of ananth gopal shaleen, u can recall this band from the song ‘mujhe mil jo jaaye thoda paisa’ featuring atul kumar.
-
zor fucked up towards the end, but i would still call it a better film. more zor songs for you
zor dekho shor dekho, the beautiful desert song. sheessh cant remember!!1 even i used to listen to the tape over n over…
even i liked some parts of dillagi.
the last film i saw in theatre was dhoom 2…gosh! its really been long!
even i think i ll choose i see you, will be somethin new to criticise for a change!
i love its music though.
Even now when i think back i remember how technically the film looked a notch or two above the rest.
So this is Sangeet Sivans reasoning then is it??
Classy chala nahin to crassy hi sahi!!!
UFFF!!
Well, if im really honest, i did chuckle here and there in ‘Kya Kool Hain Hum’ (that was his wasn’t it??)
Hate to say this, but that ‘Mil jaye jo thoda paisa’ has reminded me of ‘Y.H.T.K.H’ again!!
As the characters get together and sing it! (I know, i have to stop going on about Y.H.T.K.H, but the day others acknowledge it, i will…deal!!)
Last film i saw was bloody ‘Baabul’!
And that too, a second time!
Now, before you get any warped ideas about me, i didnt go outa choice…
Well, i did the first time, just outa curiosity, but 2nd time mum insisted and I was dreading it.. and it was v-e-r-y painful!!
I do like the ’subah subah’ track from ‘icu’ but they whistling reminds me of an English track… can’t think of the name, but it’s sooo annoying when that happens!
I’ll also start with ‘I.C.U’ i think…
Tushar,
Indian was different. It was made on time and releasd long time back. I liked the film. Watch it on dvd. It wont disappoint you. Also please let me know what you think of Bhaagam Bhag.
Steve,
Probably you are one of the reason why Babul is doing awesome business in UK. (It has already crossed Baghban in collection there):)
Steve/Tushar,
N. Chandra ( Ankush, pratighaat to excuse me), Sivan ( Zor to KKHH). Yash raj ( frankly speaking I think Aditya Chopra has screwed Yash raj although YR has minted crores, their quality has gone down big time. From Daag,Kaala Pathar, Kabhi Kabhi , Chandni to Neal Nikki, salaam namaste.
Jwalant!!:o
Damn! You figured the secret of ‘Baabul’s success out.. yes it is down to me!
I am also guilty for making ‘Alvida’ a mega blockbuster, as i went back three times for that! And, i still didnt like it!!
So if Karan Johar is reading this then look, i tried.. not once, but thrice and still didnt come out satisfied![-(
Ok, now the mystery why i went thrice??
:-?…God, cant even be bothered to go into it!
And is anyone going to react to my constant remarks regarding ‘Yun hota…’ or ‘Meenaxi’??
:((:((:((
Tauba tauba!!
Oh, Happy New Year Jwalant..
steve!…seriously u r d reason for al this ;-)..
but actaully thats good…i havent seen baabul alvida… so i feel u learned how not to make a movie like baabul and alvida… and u learned it so many times…its always worth it 2 watch a bad movie.. u learn something from it…
i havent seen zor..but have ne1 seen Salaakhien by guddu dhanoa… d movie was really different.. anupam kher did a gr8 job and even sunny paji..
It was screwd in d end but like zor(as ul said) it was really different….i liked d movie..
Bhavesh, funny you should say that, as ‘Salaakhen’ is the one film which I’d say Guddu should be proud of\:d/
It was very dramatic from what I remember, but I do remember enjoying it.
I think there was this sequence when Anupam Is going crazy or something which is going through my head… also something about a ’saala’ brother in law or son in law who caused all the grief??? Man, thats about right… thats what these in laws do to you…ask Ekta Kapoor:-w:d
But yeah, Anupam and Sunny ‘paaji’ were both very good.
Soundtrack wasnt bad for its time either….
And yup, i certainley learned a few things from ‘Alvida’ and ‘Baabul’….
That I should never let a filmaker trick me into believing that he can do no wrong! (not saying Ravi Chopra’s’Baghbaan’ was perfect but I expected better from Karan Johar!)
Oh man, I should bloody sleep… its 6am and Im here chatting bout Guddu Dhanoa!!
:(:(:(
It was unfortunate that Anupam Kher’s inspired turn in “Salaakhen” went unrecognised; the courtroom sequence was a welcome surprise in what was otherwise another example of the Guddu Dhanoa high-voltage actioner.
Alvida was far better then Don or Dhoom2 or Mohabbatein for that matter. On Don, what can I say when even Shyam Benegal also thinks it is among top 3 movies of 206
Guru and Blue Umbrella are the two i’m awaiting.
Jwalant, Im very much on the fence about ‘alvida’. And believe me, it can be painful sitting on a fence!
Whilst there are certain things I can appreciate about the film e.g dialogues (although they’re not justified in a 3hr+ film) and Abhishek Bachchan.
He was brilliant in this!
Definitely ‘the’ best thing in the whole movie.
And Sangeeta, ditto! But also wanna see the other Anurag(Basu)film ‘Metro’.
Should be good.
Alvida – I think i’ve aired my opinions about that movie way too much as it is. I don’t think it was any better then Don. Actually both probably sit in the same league to me, Don was only good with effects and even they were ripped
Ah Metro, hmm not read much on that, saw Shilpa’s interview on that though.
Re ‘Alvida’, i too have said alot… and find myself still getting all weird about it…
But not for the same reasons Karan would like us to discuss.
It is a badly made film, and im not even talking about the theme here.
And Sangeeta, how can you not mention Priyanka in ‘Don’?!!
She was definitely the right choice!!
Steve, In my review on Don I did point out that “Priyanka Chopra as Roma is very convincing, she fitted the role with such ease that you can easily see why Farhan selected her to fill Zeenat’s role. She’s bold, beautiful and able to carry of her own stunts!”
Sawaariya and Jodha-Akbhar are also due to release next year?
Maybe you have a point Sangeeta, but I thought ‘Daud’ was played on t.v quite a few times, so someone somewhere must’ve seen??
Glad you liked Priyanka in ‘Don’.
Thought she was best suited in the film.
‘Saawariya’ I really cannot wait for.
Well, the soundtrack more so, as Monty Sharma has really impressed with his bgm in films like ‘Devdas’ ‘Black’ and even lifted made mediocre scenes in ‘Aashiq banaya Aapne’ seem more watchable…
Also, whilst on Monty bhai, he gave a very haunting score in the much hated ‘Siiilllllssssiiilllaaaayyy’!!
Especially the music pieces in the Bhoomika Chawla story, when Rahul Bose is leaving her.
Wow, what music man!!
I know he’s a hated man on this site, but if ‘Silsiilay’ is played on t.v just listen out fro Monty Sharma…..
i cant wait to see Dus Kahaniyan and i keep hearing about Jhoom Barabar Jhoom…except i have no idea what it’s abt.. so i think i should search abt it first.. also i am not a big fan of Priyanka…i watched some of her movies and she is just ok.. maybe i’ll watch Don and see how she in it..
What about No Smoking?
Isn’t it OK for a female director to make female-oriented movies, after so many years of men churning our male-oriented movies?
As far as I understand, Guddu Dhanoa is Deol’s cousin / friend and he is preferred by them, not the other way round.
Sunny tidbit: when Shankar-Kamal’s Indhian was dubbed in Hindi, they had to resort to the title as Hindustani because Sunny Deol had registered ‘Indian’.
If I’m right, Sangeeth Sivan made arty movies in Malayalam before doing B-grade stuff.
Don wasn’t great, but Farhan came up with something different.
Steve, I loved YHTKH. Felt it was damn good. Much better than many other “starry” movies. Loved the tracks of Paresh Rawal n Ayesha Takia. Paresh and Konkona… what natural performances!!!
TUSHAAR :Risk brings back Vinod Khanna, and there is no bigger reason to wait for it.:
i don think VINOD KHANNA is going to give anything more serious stuff in Risk…
but yeah risk has gor more thn it…its all n all going to be inteligent camra angle setups of vishram sawanat and randeep’s power performance…
hey guy’s wts about tigmanshu dhulia and Imtiaz ali’s next….in 2007….