Salaam-E-Ishq: Sitaron kee Baraat !
There was a blockbuster film, Yadon kee barat, then there came a flop film, Choron kee barat and now comes Salaam-E-Ishq, which could be titled as “Sitaron kee barat “.
Salman, Akshya Khanna, Govinda, wish to do marriage for first time and Anil Kapoor wish (for a short time) to do it again and Sohail Khan has already done it. All are involved somewhere with marriage.
Nikhil Advani prefered to stay in Bombay to join film industry and did not join PhD in Chemistry in USA for which he got scholarship also. Later he joined Dharma Productions and became AD of Karan Johar in KKHH and KKKG and also became champion of selecting right locations for the shooting.
Just two films old as AD in Dharma Productions, he gets chance to make his own film KHNH, under Dharma Production’s banner and soon falls apart from the same production house and starts his own film Salaam-E-Ishq. There were so many stories floating in the atmosphere about his rift with Karan Johar. His first film KHNH was said to be controlled and influenced heavily by Karan Johar and there was a curiosity how he makes his first film after leaving Karan’s production house.
Nikhil gets inspiration from “Love Actually” and though “Salaam-e-Ishq” suggests that he can extract out good performances from actors, his film does not satisfy audience as a full good product. He can take good work from actors but for a good director its not necessary that he should take care of everything, story, screen play etc by himself. For making a good film he also needs to have good story, screen play, dialogues. SEI surely tells that he took more work than his capacity and hence the reduced quality of the film.
He could not overcome the phobia of Karan Johar and tried many times from his side that he has good feelings for Karan by mentioning Karan’s name as big film maker again and again in the film.
Film runs on so superficial level that before one can start going along with emotions of one character suddenly few people are there on screen to spread foolish comedy. Director was certainly needed to put more focus and concentration on few characters more.
Film needs edited version and there was no need to put full remix song – Babu Ji Dheere chalna. Anil Kapoor was searching instant sex or what?
“Love Actually” too has many characters but director was successful there to carry the audience along with the emotions of characters but that part is missing in SEI.
SEI goes ahead with sinusoidal curve, sometimes above the average line and sometimes below the average line and quality of film works in this fashion only. When film captures emotional angles then director shows his command over the film but in light moments he does not impress. Does it tell his kind of cinema? And this was clear in his first film KHNH also, where light moments were almost pathetic be it Shanta bai or anyother case. Sense of humour factor in his film is obviously weak and if you wish to laugh then you have to do it forcibly. Here also all so called humorous moments director wishes to show through Akshaya and his friend, Heerji and Viju Khote, Saurabh Shukla, Manoj Pahva etc are below average.
If director was ready to put stress only on 2 or at the most 3 couples instead of 6 couples and film was tightly edited then audience could have got much nicer product. Or atleast, was it possible to delete roles of Suhail+Isha, Heerji, Viju Khote,the guy who played friend of Akshay, Saurabh Shukla, so many out of Big family of Ayesha Takia? They dont add anything in the film and their irrelevant scenes reduced chances that director could concentrate on other characters of the film.
SEI shows that Anil Kapoor, Juhi, Govinda, Akshay can act even if story is not good and they don’t get good scenes in written.
Its not Salman’s mistake if he pronounce Raul instead of Rahul, as people have been criticising, he does it because director wants him to say it else he says his name as Rahul and difference between two is also told clearly. Salman has screen presence, his personality speaks and such light roles are cake walk for him. Directors keep him to increase the selling factor of their films and SEI is no different. He adds value to the film and he is not given any substantial role to play. Whatever was given to him he does it with his usual style.
Anil Kapoor performs well, after his newely cherished dream of bringing excitement in otherwise boring and monotonous life, is punctured and he realises that he is under danger of losing his wife and children. He excels in that part of the film. Juhi’s role is short but still she lives emotions of a wife, who sacrificed all her desires for the sake of her husband, very well. She conveys her emotions through her performance.
Ayesha Takia has little to do but shows her acting skill where she delivers one dialogue very well, which is perhaps the best dialogue in all her dialogues. She says,” mein apna kal jantee hun, kal meri shadi ho rahee hai”. Sadly she had not much to do here but she shows her potential in every film.
Akshay too does justice with his role albeit “un-necerssary comedy” spoils his character.
Govinda enjoys his short role and brings out a different Govinda, who was not seen in his Starry days when he was busy in comedy films. He is graceful factor of the film and he sings so well here in perfect sur the song
“Ek Shanshah ne bana ke haseen Tajmahal
Saree Duniya ke Ashiqon ko Mohabaat kee nishani dee hai” (One Empreor built and gifted the Taj Mahal to the lovers of world)
The nice song sung by Mohd. Rafi for the film Leader of Dilip Kumar.
Its again obvious that film directors don’t rely much on John and he is heading towards profile of Salman Khan, where he may be popular but directors don’t wish to bring out his potential or don’t help him to live his character well. They are more interested in his looks and somehow justify his presence in the film. He should take care of this factor now. His character is not written with enough attention. Though it could have been the most sensitive story in the film but his love story is lost in lightness with which director has handled it.
Vida Balan is not same Vida who was seen in Pareenita. She certainly lacks here something. She could have done much better.
Isha Koppikar might have 2 minut scenes but this actress has great skill of comedy in her. Her comedy skill should be explored well by some director.
In the end it does not look that any actor spoils the film, they have potential and few try to rise above the script also but problem lies in the script and Director. Its more like stage shows where lots of actors are collected and they are standing on a conveyor belt and nobody knows when which actor will appear on the stage and for how many minutes and actors have to do all to show their skill.
Director is capable, he can take out from his actors what he wishes, but he has to realise with what purpose he is making a film. Stars have faith in his name and they may join his films and its up to him what kind of story he wishes to tell through these stars and actors- A good film or a superficial film which only may generate money in first week because of the curiosity factor attached with the film because of the crowd of the stars in it.
Hope next time Nikhil Advani brings a better film where he has full command in every area of the film.
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
Heard Nikhil Advani is the only person who is still going ga-ga over his own film. Would like to quote one of my favourite dialogues from Omkara….hansi bahut mahengi ho rakhi hai aajkal. Though wud like to add a little bit to it….Hansi aur humbleness, duno hi bahut mehengi ho rakhi hai aajkal.
Phoenixnu:
Its first ever “Powerpoint” presentation of Nikhil Advani since he has claimed his Independency. A kind of prelude. He will take time to bring out a nice melody or to create a symphony out of his orchestra. Though he can!
may be next time. Just like this everybody improves the craft
RK…shayad haan. But what I hate about these filmmakers is that they got everything…money n that too big money + stars n that too big stars + music n that too hit music but poor guys could not write a new story. Much like Dhoom2. Story idea to churaya hua hai par stories me bhi dum nahi hai.I liked only Govinda’s track. Felt they should just cut out Salman n Anil’s track completely.
Phoenixnu:
yes either one must have a strong story or he should be well versed (like Hrikesh Mukherjee and ManMohan Desai) to bring attractive scenes in the screen play after every 10 minutes. SEI lacks here.
When Baratghar was not sufficient to contain more than 10 people then why he invited 50 people. it has to be a mess and it is.:)
“Directors keep him [salman] to increase the selling factor of their films”
now this i agree with, but..
“Salman has screen presence” :o really?? even in those 2min promos he looks like he’s half asleep!! i don’t even know why the guy bothers anymore.. and did he get some kinda surgery done to permanently implant that stupid grin on his face??
@Striker:
Agree with you about Salman’s permanent grin plastered on his face ;).
The one scene where I liked Salman in the recent past was in – believe it or not – ‘Lucky’…where he’s just managed to escape from the riots, and now he’s stuck in a graveyard with a damaged girl and a terrified teenage gal…and he asks the gal what her name is, and she goes ‘Lucky’. His incredulous expression cracked me up, totally :d.
But yeah, I totally can’t stand Salman. The last time he was sincere, I thought, was in Bhansali’s ‘Khamoshi’.
oops :o..read that as *damaged car (and not girl).
yeah Salman sure was good/decent initally but probably like SRK(though SK’s good period was probably longer) went into a self-obssessed phase when he got really toned and all.u just see an all together different Salman in those movies of yore where his English/Hindi was like us, without much of an accent, but alas, i think since the time news about Marigold has been floating around, his English/Hindi has completely changed :o.
as u bring out, fear John Abraham heading the same way.though, i think JA is much more grounded and all + as anurag says, more intelligent, but then again so is SRK(i mean the intelligent part of course, and not the grounded part).
Striker:
he does have a very big screen presence: This is screen presence that he may not be great actor but certain kind of roles he plays with ease and people like him to see. Cienma is visual media and people like him to see. In ordinary way this is called screen presence.
Just replace Sushmita Sen with Salman Khan in Zindagi Rocks and change the story in opposite genders.
Dont know how Tanuja Chandra could thought to have a character of rock star and did not approach Salman Khan for the role. He is rock star.:)
he is doing experiments with his looks after he got new hairs:d
rbehemoth:
Degree wise John Abraham may be more educated than Salman Khan but John still has to touch the standard of acting Salman touched in Maine Pyar Kya, that was his first film as hero.
Times are different and today a 18 years old look more intelligent than a guy of 18 in 1987. its different era.
rbehemoth, even SRK has expressions 1-4.. salman has only one. :| yahoo’s emoticons have more expressions than salman.
RK, if they had replaced sushmita with salman in the movie, the movie would’ve had to change its title to “zindagi is ON the rocks”.. although.. hmm :-? why go opposite genders? keep salman, keep shiney.. and call it “brokeback rockstars”
)
striker:
not sure if Salman will ever work ina gay film. he does not endorse even kissing scenes on screen. He makes films for all including kids. Hardly he makes films for ” Adult only” thats not his genere:)
@striker, yaar the thing abt Salman Khan in his earlier movies is that he used to take acting more seriously, probably, and that shows. he was not amazingly perfect/flawless or anything.
dont judge the guy by his modern stuff. i think, salman khan was good doing the serious in Maine Pyar Kiya, Pathar Ke Phool,Saajaan etc.
+ he was decent in Andaaz Apna Apna playing the stupid fellow.
he was again decent in the recent Tere Naam, nothing exceptionally gr8, not as good as Sethu(Vikram), or anything,but tolerable and to some extent good. its just that he is that much bad when chooses to be (no examples need be given here, i guess)
hey just recalled, nother good 1 of his – Phir Milenge.
and about screen presence, he sure has it. how do u xplain Garv being a super hit?
:(( “how do u xplain Garv being a super hit?” pata nahi boss.. some questions in life don’t have answers… this is one of them.. maybe it was puneet issar :- jk
not sure if screen presence has to do with it or just his name at this point.. the name has too much history of good films associated with it and deservedly comes with its clout. if i remember correctly, he was in the news for all the wrong reasons (41 calls to vivek, blackbuck, drama with ash) around the release of ‘garv’ so maybe this was his way of his fans supporting him in his time of need..? agree with you.. tolerable in ‘tere naam’.. def no vikram, but tolerable..
i’m all for the younger salman.. he was awesome! muscle badaaya, acting ghataaya :-\”
before you write essays, pls check the facts my friend :-p advani isn’t three films old. he has co-written Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Iss raat ki subah nahin’ and worked in television with the Saeed Mirza- Kunadan Shah gang.
:):)
when he joined karan johar, it was karan who was fresh and he needed an assistant with experience who would teach him the technicalities. the deal was- nikhil would work on KKHH and Dharma would produce his ‘thriller’ (which he keeps talking about). now, after this, karan insisted that he work on another film- K3G. Nikhil was shown the carrot again and he agreed.
it’s sad that karan’s influence has rubbed on him.
CiFi:
please write to IMDB also, all you know about Nikhil Advani. It will help others also. I just checked there and did not find his name mentioned in other projects you have mentioned. You are writing infos which only Sudhir Mishra, Nikhil, Saeeed Mirza etc will be knowing. Nikhil will get due credit of co writing IRKSN if you provide right and more inofs to IMDB.
BTW friend, I was not writing his biography:)
and on more serious note, If he is this much old in films as you are suggesting and is veteran in comparison to even Karan Johar then I think I must overhaul this post completely. Then he does not deserve any soft approach. Its a question then that he could not learn from Sudhir Mishra and Saeeed Mirza how to put depth in characterization.
Thanks CiFi for enhancing knowledge about Nikhil. You certainly brings him in bad light now. :d
Cifi is right he was associated with Sudhir Mishra first. Those who know him vouch for his talent and insist his sensibilities don’t reflect in his past 2 films. Thats why I was sad and angry after watching SEI[sic]…….Hope he bounces back………
>>he was in the news for all the wrong reasons (41 calls to vivek, blackbuck, drama with ash) around the release of
ah right.. forgot about that roadrage one too..
@rbehemoth:
Don’t agree with you about Tere Naam, bro – think the hair successfully camouflaged his expression(s), or rather lack of them !! I liked him the most in ‘Khamoshi’, AAA, ‘Baaghi’, and MPK. He used to be competent in those days.
His worst, though, abs HAS to be ‘Hello Brother’ !!! :(( :((
i sthis post salam -e – ishq
or salmaan -e- ishq or hate or watevr ??
does salmaan act?
the naseer is a big NO , he himself admits that
dos he have a screen presence
the answer is a big YES , or why wud he still be so big in the business:D
oops for some reason i typed naseer instead of answer …haha ..(was it cos i was talking of acting, i dont know).salam- e- ishq , nothing works for me .
or salmaan -e- ishq or hate or watevr ?? =))
@ranjit
Don
@rbehemoth: Haven’t been fortunate enough to see KPNHJ or ‘Chal Mere Bhai’ !!!!
more than anything..i just want to commend Salman for playing a character named Radhay:)
Personally, I loved the John-Vidya track in the film – wish there had been more of them. They were both very good. SEI would have been a good movie if someone had the good sense to edit / delete Salman & Priynaka’s idiotic track!! The film does have some very enjoyable moments. Govinda & Akshaye are good.
Guys, I think N.A. was able to tell 4 stories pretty well. The ‘Khan-daan’ was the part of a package deal I guess. Knock off the Sallu & Sohail brouhaha & SEI could hv been a neat entertainer. COULD HAVE.
Vasan: given Cifi’s account (hope he is not NA himself):)its even more unpardonable that all his talent could provide a messed up film like SEI. If he was the technical champion behind kkhh and k3g and a mentor to Karan then I can say
Guru Gurh reh gaya aur Chela Shakkar.:)
NA’s films have low standard in every department than Karan’s.
Magik:
I read somewhere that Salman was the first to be signed and after he signed it , NA was able to make this film. Same is true with Garv, Puneet Issar could make this film because Salman was associated with the film else Puneet had got heart attack when Salman was put behind the bars for 1 month.
His helping factor cant be ignored when we see why filmmakers repeat him. So many films are possible just because of his presence there. otherwise no financer will invest money on these projects.
Sonia:
If Salman is not there, which actor has selling capability in the film? Is there any other actor on whose name audience will go to watch the film? None has a market if they come in a film as solo hero except Salman.
Director himself had no market, hence he took shelter of Salman to generate curiosity and credibility among investors.
RK: i don’t know if you can call nikhil karan’s guru. the scripts of K3G and KKHH were Karan’s, the ideas were Karan’s. But he needed someone with certain technical experience to be with him on the shoots. That happens everywhere. When someone who hasn’t studied filmmaking or assisted before decides to make a film, he/ she gets an experienced AD to set the ball rolling. People assume that if the AD is very vocal, he’s doing the job. But who takes the creative decisions is the boss. hell! why are we even talking about this!!
Striker: good pass hehe :d/:d:):d
RK,
Now both director and Salman should go together and take shelter somewhere else. I heard that Salman has returned signing amount for Subhash Ghai’ film. Now where will Ghai go? Probably they should take him along as well for shelter.:((:((
PATHETIC MOVIE, MOVIE SUCKS and that too so lengthy. I was so scared that this movie is not going to end forever. Believe it or not I applied pain balm on my forehead and felt as if someone kicked my ass after taking my money. ITs a CRAP. TOTAL CRAP. Listen to its songs at home for 2 hrs. better than watching this Biggest BORE>
Hitesh:
certain films teach to increase one’s bearing capacity. its just film, life can be more boring, more cruel and more odd.
Hindi films just train audience to make them patience towards happenings in their surrounding.:)
RK:
I agree. But for a second just imagine AK’s Black Friday is held up because of not having a ’star’ would he replace KK with SRK? Someone with Passion For Cinema, doesnt do things like this dude. Moreover, now the results are out for the world to see… If u compro on ur passion, the end-product would be an exaggerated (for worse)version of the compromise. Dats y I feel ppl like AK will rock Indian cinema.
Magic: they do and everybody do this, let alone Anurag Kashyap. He will do this with the actors with whom he feels personal bond. I think in end of november he admited that its not necessary that a director will take most deserving actor in a role but that actor with whom he feels comfortable.
Karan Johar may have comfortable level with SRK etc, RGV has with AB (though AB has with almost everyone), Sanjay Datt is liked by his gang of friends and Vidu Vinod Chopra, Subhash Ghai repeats Jacky Shrof, and AK has some equation with KK, John Abraham etc.Its not that KK was the best actor in BF or he was best available actor to play officer Maria. AK had certain personal equation with KK and felt it would be comfortable to work with him so they worked.Its often seen that people work with those who are friends of struggling days. we have to see what happens 5 years later. Satyajit Ray repeated his lead heros.
Its simple equation. Personal relationship do matters there also, after all they are also humanbeing.
aah btw Magik, AK did say that he approached SRK for ‘No Smoking’.almost all sorts of ppl compromise at some pt of time.
Hehe. I guess i m this ‘Johny came lately’ & trying to make a point. U guys r right in whatever way u feel abt it, irrespective of my agreement. So the moral of the story from my pov is that – ‘the means shouldn’t matter more than the end’. If it means to compro on some aspect, then heck, SO BE IT.
Magic:
nobody is Big Director without presenting his films and Main task is to get sucess and apprecation and acceptance by wider section of audience. When a new comer goes in film industry he has seen old actors and feels to work with those popular and established actors as that may be his guarantee (inside him) that he has something inside him so that these established actors are ready to work with him. Big stars and actors do matter a lot.
You will find Anurag saying somewhere that he wished to work with Dilip Kumar (but he does not work anymore), he wished to work with Amitabh Bachchan (but perhaps he does not like me), and he wished to work with Naseeruddin Shah( but he turned down few of his projects).
Why a Ram Gopal Verma feels good when he gets to work with Amitabh Bachchan? RGV is quite established film maker since years and has earned his own fame but still big and good actors and stars matter for him also. It was a narrow escape else he was just making his film with SRK also.
RK:
I agree with your stance now. Thx a bunch for even bothering to explaining it to me. I am just a teething student of cinema. Just trying to absorb everything i can, from all the sources. I log on to PFC almost thrice a day, irrespective of how busy i am. Thank you again for bettering my perspective of how to look at it. PFC rocks.
Look guys, the bottom line is the reason your making the film. If your making it to entertain audiences, then you need to go to the actors that the audience will relate to and want to go see. As much as people who understand the finer nuances of acting will prefer to watch Kay Kay, the general public adores Salman. This is why Chhal may be the better film, but Garv (cinematically a much inferior product) is the bigger hit.
Another aspect is the difference between a brilliant actor and a great performer. An actor concentrates his efforts on establish a certain body language, nuances, style, eye line, expressions, vocal tonation, etc to try to become the character with as much believability as possible (case in point: Ranvir Shorey as the Delhi boy in Khosla Ka Ghosla).
But tell me, would Ranvir Shorey create as much hype if he was playing “Don”? What about Kay Kay (yes, he’d likely do an amazing job, but could he sell even a 1/4 of the tickets?)
Better yet, lets take a rising star like “Shahid Kapoor”, whose gaining popularity the world over. Now place him in the role essayed by Pravin Dabas. Sure, Shahid being more of a performer than a pure actor prehaps would not underplay the part as well as Dabas did. But I guaran-damn-tee you the film would’ve reached a much bigger audience, both in India and abroad. Because Shahid has something that Pravin Dabas unfortunately does not: A huge fan base.
Unfortunately producers, financers, distributors, exhibitors at the end of the day have to find that certain balance between great acting and great dividends.
This is the reason why Saif Ali Khan (Ek Hasina Thi, Omkara, Hum Tum), Hritik Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya, Lakshya, Dhoom 2), Abhishek Bachchan (Yuva, Bunty Aur Babli, Guru) are the future of this industry. They balance great acting with univeral appeal, thus reaching both ends of the spectrum.
Bas kya? Discussion khatam?
Naya
Tony: you summed up very well. ab baki kya bacha discussiuon mein dost.:)