Dhoom Again.. or maybe NOT

I first saw the Dhoom 2 trailer before they showed KANK in the HSBC special screening for NRI in Haymarket Odeon this August. Dhoom 1 didn’t appeal to me but I still wanted to watch Dhoom 2 as the trailer was fast, happening and a well made one.

First day, first show. Odeon Greenwich, I watched Dhoom 2. It would have made no difference if the film was called Hrithik or Dhoom 2. The film opened with him and his fantastic Dhoom Again song (this guy moves like he has rubber attached to his feet), he carried the film all along and you come out of the theater with him in your mind and the flesh of course! There was too much of it everywhere.

The first few minutes of the film was in English and Hrithik Roshan with his Greek God looks could easily get away as a Hollywood actor. The introduction of Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan in the back waters of Kerala or was it Mudd Island was over the top and fell flat compared to Hrithik’s Namibia opening sequence.

More importance in colour, texture, set and light was given to Hrithik and undoubtedly this is the best he has looked so far. And surprise surprise, he can act too. For once a star-studded guy is not afraid to get into character roles. We have seen it in Koi Mil Gaya and you shall see more here.
Unlike Aishwarya and Abhishek’s chemistry in Umrao (Bei)Jaan, I have to say that the screen chemistry of Hrithik and Aish is going to stay. It reminded me of Abhishek and Rani Mukherjee. Aishwarya Rai, with her fake tan was trying hard to look sexy and how can a director approve a song called “Crazy Kiya Re”… Fu…..nny guy! but she has worked hard to get that shape.

While sharing the screen with Hrithik, Chota Bachchan looked like a side actor and the kajal and whole white shoes dance sequence didn’t help either. Rimi Sen is seen in many blockbuster movies yet we cannot remember if she was in any.
Bips ( Monlai / Sonali) and Uday Chopra were side kicks and gave us something to chuckle for.

Apart from the fantastic Brazilian location, there is neither story line nor any message in this film. But if you like to watch babes, bikes and Hrithik’s six packs, even a lone nerve going down his hips along with the action packed stunts and of course a smooch, go watch the film . Otherwise it might be well worth waiting for the DVD.

Bafta Goes Bollywood

Pratibha (Parmar) invited me to join her to the Birmingham Asian Mela. She will be interviewing Kajol and Ajay Devgan and perhaps Saif Ali Khan too. Come over, It will be fun, she said. I will put your name as my guest.

Bafta suddenly wants to go Bollywood. They have been interviewing a lot of our stars this year. Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Masterclass with the ever-confident Karan Johar and honouring the big daddy of production houses- Yash Chopra

Birmingham is an hour and fifteen minutes by train from London. So it was a day trip for me and I asked Pratibha if I can bring my PD170 to film. Too chaotic and too strict about rights, filming and the lot. Drop the idea! Just chill for a change and go mad on the stars, the food and the mehendi.
It was an eventful day and I would like to write more about it some other time. Accept for the fact that I met the stars and pressed the flesh.. You know what I mean. Saif is a born casanova, grown into a matured actor and can converse well. The pedigree helps I guess. Ajay has a soul unlike his conceited wife, he smiles when your eyes suddenly meet- I know..sorry people! Its true when they say that certain people are better off not meeting. I actually thought the other way round before I met the couple. Kajol did the whole interview as though there was some kind of anger inside her ready to burst. Ajay was soft spoken, a hard nut to crack and spoke only in monosyllables.

On the other hand, Nasreen Munni Kabir has written books and researched in depth on Bollywood. It is refreshing to know someone like her and she even did a documentary on our baadshah Shah Rukh. She held some of the other interviews. The best of her interviews was with Aamir Khan. The more I see of the man, the more I fall in love with the actor in him. Watch his interview here

Want more Bafta Interviews:
Shah Rukh Khan
Yash Chopra
Preity Zinta
Karan Johar

of bollywood and bastardisation

by BODO
It's two forty am. And I've just gotten back from watching rang de basanti. Mynta is playing on the cd player (which is a good thing). My body is complaining about my constant abuse of it (which is a not so good thing). And me. I have things to say that can't wait till the morning.

Like what? Well, questions of national identity for starters. Also, bollywood's immense capacity to surprise me. And isolated snatches of conversation that have hung suspended over the ceiling of my living room since the eve of our 58 th republic day.

And not that it can't wait till the morning. Of course it can. Just that I'll get so caught up in my super animated daily grind that I'll completely forget what I have to say till an evening, three or four months hence when I'll be up staring at the computer screen at 4 in the morning.

So here I am, child of colonial India, more comfortable with the concept of high tea than with jolpan, lightly tapping the keys of my computer (because pounding, I'll have you know went out with the typewriter) at 3 in the morning.

So here I am, thinking about what it is that makes me Indian. Is it the culture I've been brought up with? Can't be, I think. I grew up knowing my Jane Austen's backwards. Sipped tea instead of chai. Wore jackets on winter evenings to club. Knelt down to pray in church even before I understood who or what god was. Surrounded by a living, breathing legacy that the British left in India.

Then I grew up slightly more. Things changed a lot from my younger days. America, meantime was either trying to take over the world or save it from themselves. Coca cola replaced water in the grocery stores. And mtv replaced ramayan on our tv sets. George Clooney became a recurring theme in my dreams (still is by the way).

And then I went to school in jaipur. Where I learnt how to cook, to arrange flowers, ride horses, make lovely sets for functions and of course that a woman's real place is in the kitchen. Even if she burns water while boiling it.

So what culture are we talking about?

Is it the heritage that has been handed down to me? Can I claim to be proud of a Gandhi, because I happened to be born in the same nation state? Can I claim to be proud of being a part of the world's largest democracy even though I've never cast a vote in my life? Can I rest assured be cause I have several million gods watching over me as opposed to most of the worlds just one?

Where does my identity as an Indian come from? Not just me, all of us? Where does our identity as an Indian come from? And more importantly, do we need an identity as an Indian?

Isn't it enough that we can do good for goods sake instead just for the nations sake? Isn't it enough that we pay our taxes not because the country demands it, but because we are giving back to the community? Isn't it enough that we can give inzamam-ul-haq his due without thinking, salla pakistani? Isn't it enough that our basic values – religious, cultural whatever, are essentially human values? And despite however many borders we cross or how many languages we speak…that's not going to change.

Not with a hurdred rang de basanti's hitting the screen. Much as it is one of the best films that bollywood ever made. Much as it is packed with nationalistic fervor. Much as it questions the apathy of our generation. Because it's a film about taking responsibility for change. A film about pissing or getting off the pot. And yes, it's a film that deals with the state of our nation. But what is a nation if not the sum of its people. And people, I figure, are essentially the same all over the world. With or without their sense of national identity.

And now at four eighteen am, with my beer having lost all its fizz, a dead cd player lying just out of reach, and eyelids that are fighting a losing battle to gravity…I've got to admit that it's time to say goodnight and good luck. Have a great day tomorrow. And yes, go watch rang de basanti