~*Quick Gun Murugun*~Listen it Yanna Rascals*~

Guys, Put your Green Shirts and Orange pants on and Come out I say, to salute our Indian Cow boy whose name is Q G Murugun, Quick Gun I say.

First thing first, this is not a traditional Indian comedy!!! Mind It. It’s a spoof directed by Shashanka Ghosh (who is known for his quirky Waisa bhi hota hai part 2 which most of us haven’t watched) and is being released in Hindi as well as English. This movie is inspired by a famous Channel [V] character Quick Gun Murugun, a veg south Indian cowboy with guntastic power who comes forward to protect the world and vegetarianism (yeah u got it right) against Rice Plate Reddy and enters in an heroic clash that extents time and space, from a small South Indian village to an Indian heaven and then finally to a cosmopolitan Mumbai across 25 years. The music of movie is given by Sagar Desai (along with Raghu Dixit) and lyrics by Ankur Tiwari (except Ek Tha Murugan by Shellee). To be true, I was never interested in the music of QGM, but after hearing it for the first time I am glued to it.,.. Here is my take of this uproarious album

1. Dialogue mix: Album opens with Dialogue mix using witty dialogues from the movie starting with Karma bhoomi mera yeh aangan, with a back ground trademark Tamil kuthu music and hits one hard enough to make an impact. And through out the song you will be amazed how some amazingly inane lyrics and vivacious music can be combined to give this fulltoo time pass track. This is supposed to be a promotional track as most of the dialogues featured in the songs are shown in trailer, be it trademark Come out I say or Remove your guns I say or Agar tu lightening hai, to main 250 volt current I say, Murugan to Gun powder Rascal, main sikhayega how to behave, Gun Powder replies Need not to worry abey gede, main correspondence se seekh loonga or Main tere pe Google kiya hai, Rice Plate Exclamation Mark!!.

Listen it to believe it. This is gonna hit you hard I say.

2. Murugan Superstar: is the next track that again glorifies Quick Gun Murugun as a Tej nishaane baaj. Though this track also uses dialogues from the movie but this one is more hummable and supposedly it should be the introductory track for QGM which describes him as the only superstar who doesn’t have a wonder car but drives all the ladies wild and his character. This track is composed by Raghu Dixit and Ramina Reddy and sung by Raghu himself. This track is a perfect fusion of Indian music (use of Sitar and Carnatic vocals) with western one (brilliant Rap and beats) and Raghu brilliantly used the South Indian words (as First beedi, Mothalle Sambar, Apparama Nee, and Rendu gun in his pocket) to gel with the mood of the song.

3. Mind it (Tamil Bhangra): Ever heard of Tamil Bhangra before??? Naaah!! Well this is possible only with QGM. This is will remind you of a perfect Indian mix veg where there is south Indian music on Bhangra tunes and a punjabi singer crooning for asouth Indian cowboy. Well this songs is again about QGM as a Dhoondhe na mile na aisa Namoona, jo ladies logo ko patata par us me hamesha fail, jiske saare funde hai ghatiya aur phaltu, who has well toned body just thoda phat re but he is still item sayana. Well this is not all it has even words like Apna pichwada bajao “Wink wink” along with Bhau bhau and meow meow. But beside Idli, Appam and Sambhar there is no Tamil in it (but yes, back ground music is there) and in the name of Bhangra our nassy Mika is there, but even after that this track works. Do remember to listen veena after Mika’s voice.
Club Mix: Remixed by Club mix by Mc Bobkat and was totally not required as the parent was doing great.

4. Kyun keeda hai aapko: Next track kyun keeda hai aapko is surly one of the best songs I have heard this year. This is a chatty track with a classical Carnatic base with it. This track is crooned by Vijay Prakash (known for his classical singing capabilities and for his songs in Cheeni kum (Sooni Sooni), Swades (Pal Pal Hai Bhaari) and Jai ho) and talks about living the moment leaving worries behind. The main attraction of this song is the soulful rendition by Vijay, cynical yet side-splitting lyrics by Ankur Tewari and classical jazz music by Desai. You gonna sing it for some of your friends for sure chhode apna chirkut-pan..gootli chhodein khaye aam..aapse meri trahimaam. Awesome!!!

Bak bak hai aapki sunli, Kis khet ki aap hain mooli

Tedhe sawaalon ke hain tedhe jawaab

Miyaan na biwi raazi Phir bhi lage hain quaazi

Itne asmanjaz mein hain kyun janaab Kyun janaab, Kyun janaab

5. Ek tha Murugun: Next track Ek tha Murugun starts with the trademark cowboy guitar tune and then Vijay Prakash holds center stage to croon this track written by Shelle. This track is again about Murugun who is tried of being famous. This track has a peculiar retro feeling to it and Vijay’s raw and languid voice perfectly suits the song. Perfect mixture of Wild West and Indian curry. Hats off to Vijay Prakash and Desai

ek tha murugun bada hi quick gun sahi hai
umrr bhi ja rahi hai par chamak hai aur damak
main hoon naayak kaise shikaayat karun main
pura get up videsi andar se full to desi, thodi milaavat
confusion kya kahun main senti na ho jaau main, ek banaawat
bas yahin hai

6. Chat Mangni Lover: How many times you come across a recent track that has a captivating old feel attached with it?? Not many na!! Now try Chat Mangni Lover. This retro ballad track has everything that is gong to leave you mesmerized, be it the feel of old music (raucous string sound, unusual piano sounds) funny lyrics with legendary Sanskrit words and commonly used Hindi and English word or amazing singing by Vijay Prakash which compliments the song. And yeah do concentrate on lyrics; otherwise it will be Flaval at the place of Flower.

aa ha turant prakat ho na mere liye

na shak maanasi kathin tan hai yeh

sanaka sehama mann hai tere liye

hai yeh bhraham hai yeh bhraham preet yeh iski re

ho little flower be my loverbe my lover cute chat mangani pat byaah lover

Space Goddess remix: This one has a lounge touch with it and here Pratichee Mohapatra who joins Vijay Prakash behind the mike and music is rearranged by Deep and DJ Chandu with perfect mix of dialogues and classical music and vocals. Awesome

Aunties On The Dance Floor: Next remixed track is called as Aunties On The Dance Floor and remixes with extra beats attached to it at fast pace. Parent one was much better but this will force you to dance floor.

7. Kuchi Kuchi Twist: Not over with Chat mangni Lover, here comes the next retro track for you with a perfect mix of traditional and 1960’s music (with shrieking band and piano beats). This track is crooned by Vijay Prakash and Hamsika Iyer with characteristic southern accent and will surly rekindle the Eastman color romance on the screen where heroine lures the hero and yeah don’t forget to catch para para para through out the track and also don’t forget to catch the gender confusion at the end of song. After all its Quick Gun Murugun, any thing is possible. Please…once again!

Rukmaniye chance nahi le, sabka hai man,

bas ek chumban Rukmaniye ye kissi ye na de.

kuchh pyaar jataate hai, kuchh money dikhaate hai

kuchh flower le aate hai, kuchh drive karaate hai
Kuchi kuchi se kuch na ho agar bas ye samjho

Bin reasons se pyaar karo
Rukmanie will say Hello

Please once again
Main pyaar jatata hoon, main mani dikhata hoon

flower bhi laata hoon, usey drive karaata hoon

Kuchi kuchi bhi karta hoon…
Want to make family with you only Rukmini

Ragamuffin mix: This track is remixed by Mc Bobkat and have superb Tamil Rap by Sout Dandy Squad and this one is as enjoyable as the older version.

8. Naam mera mango dolly: The album ends with a seductive jazzy number Naam mera Mango Dolly with a feel of 50’s cabaret to it, where Geeta John croons the hinglish wordings praising Mango Dolly (naam hai mera mango dolly, I am a lady rumba jolly, sweet toffee like a lolly, sabki neede maine uda di). The best part of this one is the music arrangement and the vocals involved in the music part.

Kisi ki bhi hai na maine suni Apni kahaani bhi khud hi buni

Look mera Fair ‘n Lovely Mera dank mein zehar hai

I am a lady jolly Sweet toffee like a lolly

Sabki neendein maine udaali

My Take: In the current Bollywood scenario, after first listening one will easily feel that this album is totally out of sync and at least a few decades old. But, one should have to keep this in mind that this is according to the story and mood (cheesy-spoofy theme) of the movie where hero has to travel time spans.

Ever imagine that one will get a totally engrossing album from a spoof??? No, even I was not ready to buy the album, but I was bowled by kyun Keeda hai aapko and end up in getting this album. This album is like Appam with pizza toppings on it. Here you have Dialogue mix that will have you in splits (listen to I like your culture line), you have Murugan Superstar that is perfect fusion of Indian classic with western beats, you have Punjabi paratha with sambhar in form of Mind it, you have Kyun Keeda ahi aapko a jazz based Carnatic classic vocal, you have Chat mangani Lover and Kuchi Kuchi Twist as an ode to Eastman color romance of 1950’s and last but not the least you have Naam hai mera mango dolly, a seductive cabaret number. May be in first listen, one will find this as a tacky one but when it hits its target, it hits it hard. For their sincere effort Sagar Desai, Raghu Dixit and Ankur Tewari surely deserve a standing ovation. Be ready for a flashy commoving comic ride! I will give it 4 and half star out of five. Listen it I say!!!!

~*Wake Up S!D*~ ! Music Review !

This was selected as

Hum sab is duniya se, doosron se, bahut kuch chahte hain
Magar hum duniya ke liye, doosron ke liye, Ya apno k liye kya kar sakte hain?
Heard this question before???

If not, wait for Wake UP Sid, a forthcoming quixotic comedy staring Ranbir Kapoor and Kokana Sen Sharma and it tells story of Siddharth Mehra aka Sid, an indolent, unenthusiastic idler from Mumbai and how his life undergoes a series of changes after taking his final year college exams. This movie is pbeing produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and is directed by Ayaan Mukherjee. The music is given by successful trio – Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy along with Amit Trivedi (Dev-D fame) and lyrics are by Javed Akhtar. After ROCK-ON, SEL came back with a sweet Luck By Chance but failed miserably there after with 13B and Short kut-Con is on. With Wake UP Sid they are again here with Javed sahib, but whether they will be able to recreate the magic of Rock-On or will fizz like Short kut, only time will tell this. Here is my take on the album

1. Wake Up Sid: Album starts with a typical SEL sing along soft number Wake up Sid in the voice of Shankar Mahadevan. There is something in this song that gonna remind you of SEL old numbers from Dil Chahta Hai and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic but even after that I-have-heard-this-before feelings, it will catch your attention because of beautiful lyrics. This song talks mainly about self believe and to live the life at fullest and upsurges at the end of the track to give a lounge feeling. BUT, this requires repetitive hearing to grow on you but otherwise it will be listen-for-a-week-and-forget song.

Wake up sid, saare pal kahe

wake up sid, chal kahin chale

wake up sid, sab dishaon se aa rahi hai

sada sun sako agar suno wake up

Club Remix: The only change done in this Club Mix is that the song is sped up. Somehow I found it better than the original one may be because its speeding is suiting the mood of song.

2. Kya Karoon?: Next track starts with a soft guitar beats and then Clinton Cerejo holds the center stage to amuse you with his smooth vocals. Clinton Cerejo?? Any idea who is this guy?? Well, he is the one who gave his voices to I Just Wanna Spend My Life With You (From Neel and Nikki), Beedi jalai le (Omkara, yeah he was there with Sukhwinder Singh), Do u wanna Partner (Partner) and Dil ka Rishta (Yuvraaj) and here again he is going to show the versatility of his voice while crooning utterly beautiful wordings. The music is just according to the mood of song which talks about feeling of a guy who confused bout his life and what to do. Beautiful is the word for this but again, requires repetitive hearing.

kya karun haule haule, jo mera dil ga rha hai

kya karun dheeme dheeme se, nashe mein jo hai zindagi
kya karun dheere dheere, main behka ja raha hun

kya karun thoda thoda to, asar hona hai mujh pe bhi

kya karun soye soye se, kai armaan hai jaage

kya karun khoyi khoye si, kahin raahon meri zindagi

3. Aaj Kal Zindagi: Next track is a typical SEL-Javed Akhtar-Shankar Mahadevan track. Which talks about life and hope and attitude one should have towards the life. Songs starts with a slow pitch and reaches its crescendo at Tere liye nayee hain part. The music is soft and mainly rely on mellow tune and modulating speeds. A beautiful composition in all aspect but requires repetitive hearing to grow on you.

4. Iktara: When I first read that Amit Trivedi is the composer of this song, I was ecstatic. The song starts with a soulful guitar beats and Kavita Seth holds the center stage to croon this beautiful number. The music of this song is bucolic, which will keep you glued to it and has a class in itself. Kavita Seth’s (a trained Hindustani and Classical singer who is known for Mujhe Mat Roko from Gangster and Maula from Waada) exceptional, mellifluous raw and pastoral voice along with beautiful background rendition of Iktara Iktara from Amitabh is the main attraction and the real soul of the song. Awesome is the word for it. Hats off to Amit and Javed Sahib.

O re manwa tu to bawara hai
Tu hi jane tu kya sochta hai..
Kyun dikhaye sapne tu sote jaage baware
Jo Barse Sapne Boond Boond
Naino Ko Moond MoondGunjasa Hai Koi Iktara

5. Life is crazy: In this last track has a Rock-On touch to it ( due to its na na na na) where Uday Benegal (lead singer and song writer of Indus Creed, one of the pioneer rock band of India, to know more about them please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Creed) and Shankar Mahadevan gave their rendition to the beautiful words which talks about colors of life, amity and how to enjoy the crazy life which keeps on changing every minute. A rocking number which will surely gonna grow on you after a few hearing.

Dilkashi ke jo ranh hai, wo hai tere
Dosati ke jo rang hai, wo hai mere
Inhi rango me chupe saare Khushi ke rang hain
Dekho na dekho na ye halke gehre gehre halke Zindagi ke lamhe

My Take: From last couple of months, the soundtrack of most of the movies are composed with keeping the fact in the mind that it should grasp the instant attention and be a trendy number because of the shorter consideration period of the audiences. So, it’s quite surprising to see come up with album whose sound tracks requires repetitive hearing to grow slowly and will hold your attention for longer period of time. But SEL are famous for this, be it Rock-On (after repetitive hearing even critics changed their view) or Luck-By Chance. So when SEL- Javed Akhtar combination came again along with enormously talented Amit Trivedi, we oan album that gonna hold our attention for long. The songs are totally according to the mood of the movie (I think that was the reason of only one song in female voice) and is gonna be played more after the release of more. Go get and keep on listening, the more you listen the more you gonna love it…I will give it 4 out of 5 stars.

~*Fimply Fuperb*~

Year 2009 can be described as year of debacle for Bollywood. Year started with a bumper flop CC2C and the trend was continued by disastrous Victory, ruinous Billu Barber, unfortunate Delhi-6 (inspite of good songs and relatively new story) and supernatural 8x10 Tasveer which all has huge expectations, star power and price tags. Thankfully Bhatt’s Raaz-TMC, Farhan’s Luck by Chance along with Kashyap’s cult hit Dev-D saved the grace in first quarter and then 99 and New York saved the grace in second quarter along with Kambakkht Ishq (which was again a horrible one). The third quarter started off with a very promising LAK and has various other interesting films in its kitty as Kaminey, Dil bole haddipa, Jail and Whats ur rashi?

Among all, my favorites are Dev D and Gulaal, which came out of the dark and forced me to setback in my seat and literally pounced on me. And I felt the same thing when I watched the first trailer of Kaminey while watching Delhi-6.

Vishal Bhardwaj is famous as a path-breaking director from his first movie Makdee, followed by Maqbool (adapted from Macbeth), The Blue Umbrella (based on Ruskin Bond’s story), Omkara (adaptation of Othello) and then the aids awareness movie Blood Brothers.

Through Maqbool, Bhardwaj gave an authentic representation of 1990s scenario of Indian crime world and lust, The blue umbrella gave glimpse of a child mentality and sheer spirit of humanity, Omkara gave idea of the politics in western UP and lust for power, where as Blood Brothers was an AIDS awareness movie and now he is back with dark and gloomy comedy Kaminey.

Plot: The plot of Kaminey revolves around twins Charlie & Guddu. Charlie, the bad guy works a bookie with his friend Mikhail and his two brothers (Bengali Brothers) and lisps (using F at place of S) and believes that life has two options, one shortcut and second Chota shortcut and he had a dream of opening his own bookie counter where as Guddu, the good one trips over his tongue and works in a NGO spreasinfg awareness about AIDS.

Though they are twins but nature wise they are different (Wo chalta hai, main bhagta hun:- as Charlie says) and cant stand the sight of one another. But at one eventful day they came across each other when Guddu decided to marry his love Sweety, sister of Marathi don Bhope and Charlie got mixed up in fixed narcotic deal of Taashi to get rich using Chota shortcut. Now both get involved in the world of coke, politics, corruption, money and guns. Soon they realized that though they hate each other but all they have is each other and then they fight with their fate, gangsters, politicians and corrupted cops to protect themselves and their dreams over a period of 24 hr.

Will they survive the Indian politics and corruption?
Will Charlie be able to get his own bookie house?
Will Guddu be able to live happily with Sweety?
To know all these go and grab your tickets of Kaminey.

Direction: In true sense, Kaminey is Bhardwaj’s story which is totally bold, hilarious in all respects. Be it witty one liners (As Bhope saying Hamare Ghode (pistol triggers) bhagte nahin Girate hain or Agar teen bhai hoge to kya hamari mooch ukhad loge And Charlie replying to Guddu To kya tu meri cokh ujadega haan!! when he said that he want money to save pregnant Priyanka) or sarcasm on politicians (Bhope and his people hating people from other states and Guddu asks Bhope, tu sweety ko 10 khoke me mujhe bechde) and police (while encounter discussing about Hissa up to 33%, Lobo asking Guddu to give a police statement through song), austere at times and totally unpredictable.

He brilliantly captured and metamorphically displayed the human emotions ranging from love to lust to hunger of power and money. I still remeber the enterance of Priyanka Chopra and the song Phatak playing in the background with lines ye naiya doobe na and when she tells Guddu, Naiya doob gaye.

Be attentive for first 30 minutes to figure out minute details where the complex relationships were being discussed in Charli’F voice (yeah even the narration is in lisp) and after that the movie will take you with its flow and its unpredictability (so you have to put certain pieces by your own) and movie unfurls using fast cuts from shaky cameras against a murky and menacing screenplay. Hats off…

Acting: Besides Bhardwaj, this movie belongs to Shahid Kapoor, who enacted one of the toughest roles in the present time (thanks God, he is out of SRK’s shadow). As stammering Guddu, he displayed character of a boy-next-door who planned to finish his diploma in 2007->job in 2008->tarraki (promotion) in 2010-> marriage in 2014 and still remembers his middle-school love who use to stammer behind his back to make fun of him, but things got out of his hand when he had to marry Sweety and that brings him face-to-face with his brother Charlie and the dark gleam world of cops, politics and guns.

As rough, mucky, rugged and lisping Charlie, he displayed the role of a guy for whom money is everything and for that he is going to do anything but still he accuse himself for his fathers death due to shortage of money and that’s made him rebellion. He hate not only his brother (teen faal fe fakal bhi nahin dekhi ufki) cos he thinks that he is too fweet for this harami world but hates the whole Harami world. He deserves a standing ovation for this role

Priyanka Chopra did a decent job in role of chatterbox Marathi Mulgi Sweety who is deeply in love with Guddu and ready to do anything for him (from holding legs of Inspector Lobo when Guddu was in lockup to holding gun on his brother to save Guddu's life). All her nakhras and dialogues suited the role she was playing (be it Main home science ki topper hun or where she declares she loves Guddu more than Mumbai, Chennai, Thiruvanthapuram or to kya maine tumhara rape kiya hai?).

Amol Gupte as Sunil Shekhar Bhope aka Bhope Bhau can be called as the finding of the movie and he brilliantly displayed the character of a shrewd Marathi politician who hates people from other states, thinks that Mumbai was never Bombay and is ready to do anything for money (even to sell his ideology). His character showed all the shades of human nature, Funny (Mikhail introducing himself to Bhope by calling himself Tope Bhau and both playing with Guns in hand Dichkau, Dichkaun, Phatak, Thayan) and Shrewed (asking his aide to kill Guddu after getting Guitar and Paying the small boy to not tell the truth and offering money to police to stop shooting at them).

Tenzing Nima as Tashi (who love bitches more than dogs), did a great job in the role of gangster who owns police as well as cops from Narco department and dying hard to get his coke assignment worth 10 carore, back. The way he slaps his aide's face whicle looking for the marks on his cheeks was amazing and at the times he was funny too as telling Bhope, Bhau topein hamare paas bhi hain to kya chala de?? We are not America.

Shiv Subrahmanyam and Hrishikesh Joshi as corrupted cops Lobo and Lele, were awesome. They perfectly displayed the character of the one who messed up his work and then forced hard to make it correct. Theier chemsitry was great (speacially Bhaiya, aap mahan ho sequence while interrogating Guddu)

Chandan Roy Sanyal as Charlie's impulsive coke-lover gangster buddy Mikahil was were simply amazing. Mikhail simply sets the screen on fire when he lurch in on the some gangsters, high on coke and impulsive as a broken wheel. Watch him when he was racing with Charlie and Fpiderman Dance performed by them and his interaction with Bhope bhau and their Gun game. He will be on my must watch list now.

Others:

Cinematography by Tassaduq Hussain is stylish and according to the mood of the movie, covering the darker side of human emotions with fast cuts using handheld camera. Screenplay and dialogues are awesome and clearly marked the difference between twins. I am not going to explain it here watch the movie (but do remember Fpiderman sequence along with kaife kaife paife paife).

Music is another plus point for the movie and songs were at right place. Be it Go Charlie Go (during the coke heist when Charlie was on run), or Dhan-te-naan (Clebrating 10 khokha) or Pehli baar mohabbat ki hai (at the end of movie) and yeah how can I forget the climax song Hai Jo Zindagi Ka Phanda Hai Jo Katana Nahi (watch it).

The background score was bleak and humors at time use of old songs as "Duniya mein logon ko" to describe the situations was a refreshing attempt and it suited the movie (try to catch S/F lisp in tracks).

My take: First thing first, this movie is not a normal chick Bollywood movie but it is a dark humor that gonna leave you dazed and stimulated through it cheeky twist and turn and unpredictability. The subject of the movie is unique (not like Comedy of error sort of movie using twins) and converting it into a masterpiece was a difficult job to do but Bhardwaj vigilantly scanned each and every aspect to make it happened.

After watching one is not going to overlook the droll and austere dialogues and the lingo uFed in the movie and they are sure gonna carry it back with them. This movie totally relies on its actors, most of them are untried faces (Nima, Shiv Subrahmanyam, Hrishikesh, chandan Roy sanyal: have you ever heard of them before?? Nahhhhhh!!!), but still they deserve standing ovation). I will give it 4 and ½ stars.

!!!~*~*~*~*Dhan-Te-Naan!!!!!!Welcome to the new Dark and Bleak Bollywood. *~*~*~*~!!!

~*Naam bade aur Darshan Chote*~

From last two months, Love Aaj kal was all over the news and music channels, partly due to controversies (trimmed beard, But I am still confused where this protest was when Singh is King was released and Akki paaji kept a super duper thin daadhi) and partly due to the music scores (most of them taken from some other movies and old Punjabi songs (Kadi te has bol de by Madam Maddi which was taken from a Pakistani song sung some years ago by Lahore-based Naseebo Lal who was famous for VULGAR SONGS :) ).

In promos, movie looked refreshing errrrrrr but a bit disconnected as well (well, It was the chemistry between Deepika and Saifu, that failed to impress me right from the first promotional song Chor bazzari).

Being a big fan of Imtiaz Ali, I was bound to watch this movie. So we did our homework in advance, oops it means advance ticket booking for the first day third show (yeah I know that was not too advance but still we managed to get the last tickets available at Fun Cinema @ Miyapur, closest Movie theatre from our company and place).

After checking and all we entered the hall, it was already dark over there with some VICCO VAZRADANTI and VICO TURMERIC WSO cream (what the hell is WSO?? I am still confused) going on. It took around a minute to adjust our eyes but in meantime we had already hurt a couple of cute thin legs, finally after all that when we reached to our seat and getting settled, Aladdin’s (Amitabh, Ritesh and Sanju baba starrer) first teaser started playing and it looked like India’s reply to Harry Potter.)

While I was busy in looking that who is going to occupy the vacant seat next to mine, I heard a question, “Abe kya lagta hai Movie kaisi hogi???” And I was shocked at his question, but then get hold on my nerves and replied, “Abe ye tickect book karne ke pehle sochna tha, ab okhli me sar dala hai to musal se kya darna. Aur waise kisne kaha tha ki movie dekho”.

Khair movie started with Saifu and Deepika errrrr I mean Jai Vardhan Singh and Meera Pandit meeting for the first time in lift in September (As far as I remember, it was September only) and then moved on to December, January, July, August, and so on and with in 10 minutes my biggest nightmare turned into reality when I heard the song “Ye Dooriyaan” after that and watching Saifu in a plain and Deepika in a car… I was totally confused what is this??? Is movie is going to be in Flashback or it is in Flashback…

Plot: Love Aaj Kal begins with the story of Jai Vardhan Singh and Meera Pandit, who are in London and in love with each other or at least that’s what they think, In spite of this love and all, both are "realistic" enough to realize that their relationship can’t take priority over their careers which are foremost important for them (Golden Gate for Saifu and some old fort for Deepika), they finally decided to break up, cordially without any hard feelings or tears and gave a " break-up" party to celebrate the event.

Well in mean time café owner called Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) comes in the pic and asked Saifu bout reason of their break up and then narrates his own love story to him featuring bearded Saif as Veer singh saying “Is janam mein aur har janam mein… yehi meri votti banegi – Harleen Kaur. Ya job hi iska naam hoga agle janmo me.” But even he was not able to force Jai to stop Meera.

Chalo Yahan tak to sab theek thaak hi tha par ab shuru hui main problem. In Delhi, Meera starts going out with her boss (Rahul Khanna) using the same tantrums what she used on Jai and in meantime Jai falls for a Swiss girl called Jo. Jo forced him to come to India where he met Meera again and was a bit jealous of Rahul khanna, but decided to move on.

In between Veer Singh keep on telling Jai story bout how he travelled a thousand kilometers by train to stand under her balcony only to have a glimpse of her face. And yet not speak a word with her. Jai was confused bout this love and Laila Majnu stuff but later on he realized the fact that may be the relationship might be different in different era with different names but the love remains the same and finally was united with her Meera who in the meantime had married her boss and left him on the first day of there wedding.

Director and all: Well, now let me talk something about the movie and its crew. Love Aaj Kal is directed by Imtiaz Ali and produced by Saif Ali Khan. And this movie was said to be a copy of a Taiwenese film, Hao De Shi Guang (Three Times in English and as usual the directors and producer denied bout that).

As far as direction is concerned, I think Imtiaz was a bit confused bout the characters and failed to develop Meera’s character to its fullest. There was no maturity in her character (aaj break up, kal shaadi, shaadi ke agle din pati ko chodna and then living all alone waiting for old love to come) when we compare with Ayesha Takia’s role in Socha Na Tha and Kareena’s Role in Jab we met. And in end I found this movie to be a khichdi of Socha Na Tha (confusion about love and relationship), Hum Tum (sad lady leaving all alone), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Rishi Kapoor’s story) and Jab We Met (Again miserable lead lady). And what lacked the most was the chemistry between the lead pair.

Cinematography by N Natarajan Subramaniam was awesome and he beautifully captured the scenic London and Beautiful Delhi. Music by Pritam was contemporary (but beats taken from Old songs though royalty paid this time) and back ground scores were by Salim Sulemman.

Acting: Character of Jai was tailor-made for Saif Ali khan, who looks quite good in roles of a career oriented-smart ass flirt and acted naturally, looked great and delivered a memorable performance. But when it comes to the role of young Veer Singh, he was totally out of sync with his old, bearded look and his mumbaiya Punjabi accent. (Saifu dear, mana producer ho to kya saare role khud hi karo ge).

But at places he looke liked Deepika's uncle. Check this pic

Deepika as career oriented Meera looked good in the scenes that do not demanded emotional outbursts but failed otherwise. I thought Imtiaz would take a character out of her but miserably failed…. I think may be the problem was the development of her character in the movie was a bit haphazard.

Giselle Monteiro as Harleen Kaur was an eye-candy and that’s all she was. Her stunned expressions and her freezed dance steps were horrible (even more than that of Shruti Hasan in YUCK ooops i mean Luck). I heard that she was taken for the role of JO but later on shifted to this role. Only her face looked like a Punjabi but not her actions, accent and dance steps.

Watching Rishi Kapoor in the role of Old Veer Singh was a real treat and he was brilliant in his short but sweet role and same was true for Rahul Khanna (whose wife lefts him on the second day of marriage saying Main baad me maafi maang lungi). Neetu Kapoor was an unexpected package in an unexpectedly small role! Raj Zutshi and others (including Veer Singh’s friend) were ok.

Few Scenes Those were really Cool one:

1. The scene when Jai tried to explain that they should break up but was totally confused how and what to say

2. The scene where Deepika and Saif’s friend were confused bout what to bring in at the unusual Break-Up party or how to wish them for that occasion.

3. Saif’s try to hit on Jo in the same manner he did for Deepika but it didn’t work on her and he finally cover it up

4. Retro love story of Veer and Harleen

5. Harleen asking Veer Singh not to follow her (That time her grace and elegance and the scene was awesome)

6. Harleen bringing black tea for Veer hiding it in her dupatta

7. Harleen kaur dancing (Awww that too was indeed very phunny watching her confused and stunned face expression while dancing on punjabi beats in a freezed standing position.

8. Deepika saying, Main tumse baad me bhi maafi maang lungi, to Rahul Khanna (in deed a height of stupidity)
9. Last but not the least, the end scene where almost full hall was in splits when they saw Deepika crying and asking main neeche aa jaun.

My Take: What worked for Ali’s Jab We Met was the essence of the movie so that every boy and girl related to Geet and Aditya who were deeply in love with each other but failed to accept it due to some problems, where as in Love Aaj Kal, it was a complete mix-up of emotion that left even Imtiaaz ali out of option. The second problem with the movie was erratic time travelling which created a lot of confusion. The movie started in a good pace but later on lost its track, some times it was running to fast to keep the audience glued and some times it dragged like anything for a predictable ending.

I will give it a two star but will still recommend it as it has it own moments.