The Other End Of The Line Review

A lot has been said and done about the iconic “East meets West” concept, with the major endeavors coming from the Eastern filmmakers who apparently seem riveted and infinitely charmed by the idea of a scene between a pretty Asian girl and an august Western man. I don’t know how many of you keep interest or even subscribe to the concept of interracial romance, but somehow this light-weight, trans-culture romantic comedy appealed like no other of its kind. Director James Dodson, who has only a handful of movies like Behind Enemy Lines II, Chronicle and this flick in his credit, directed this under the production of MGM, Adlabs and Hyde Park Entertainment in 2008. there is something undeniable fresh about this Stateside that takes it ahead of its type.

The story starts in America and cuts straight to Mumbai, India and back and forth, portraying the inner workings of an outsourcing call center of a globally recognized bank. The males and females here working for the company are trained to have a native American regional accent, furnished with pop-culture knowledge and given relevant names so as to dupe the people in the other end of the line into believing that the callers are locals. Our lady, Priya Sethi (Shriya Sharan) happens to make a series of overseas calls to the charming and admirable Granger Woodriff (Jesse Metcalfe) in regards to some fraudulent charges made on his banking card and love happens. Simple enough, the chemistry takes the protagonists across boundaries, chasing each other, chasing life, and dreams. The climax of the movie is quite predictable with the old-fashioned reconciliation. But what uplifts the movie from its mediocricity and gets it to the plane of the starrier-cast, high-budgeted flicks is its exclusive presentation of cross-culture romance; feather-light, yet beguilingly enjoyable; an interesting exchange between two film industries. 

Priya Seth is works as a call center executive in Citi Bank headquarters, Mumbai.

The job, for her, is both a mean of earning a living for herself and her family, and that of indulgence with the to-her-enticing American culture. She adopts the identity of Jennifer David, and pretends to be a San Francisco native speaking in a Streisand unaccented American English to deal with hundreds of Americano every day.

She earns big and better than the humble earnings of her insurance seller dad, who apparently finds her profession that makes her forsake her own culture and adopt others’ to be ridiculous. Priya works in the graveyard shift (night-time) because of the time-zonal difference with the calling country. She is engaged to be married to Vikram, the rich and boring, who is overly satisfied with the state of affairs and looks forward to nothing but a conjugal family life. Contrarily, Priya has dissimilar values and dreams. She is strong-willed, the “dreamer, wise and kind” as her father identifies later, modern-minded and wishes to explore the world, meet new people and find happiness in journeying instead of seeking contentment in a settled domestic life.  

She happens to call upon a certain Granger Woodriff, a CitiOne customer to help him out of identity theft and the erroneous charges billed on him. Priya, who is already infatuated with the American culture, fall for his irresistible charm and remarkable chemistry that the two develop over the days. Their instant connection, the little suggestively romantic moments, the unspoken thoughts and above all the magic in it compelled Priya to make a decision, that changed her life forever. She sets up a date with Woodriff, upon his proposal and travels to the city of San Francisco to meet him, and mostly, to live her life and dreams. She plunges into the unknown, snubbing all challenges and difficulties to emerge as more mature woman.

Shriya Saran has been admirable in her role of an innocent, vivacious 22-yeard-old caught between responsibilities and her footloose nature. She plays a strong role in making the story believable, though some parts of it very quite unpractical. Her looks and features went perfectly with the young Asian she played, who is yet to see the world and has a strong thirst in her.

The handsome Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives as Granger Woodriff is yet another good cast. He plays the usual, working American struggling between the urge to let go and yet holding on tight to the reigns in fear that he will crush and burn. He works in an advertisement company, preoccupied with a certain Hawkson Hotels project, that has got both his job and career in the line. During the course of the movie, he falls for Priya unknowingly, and realizes it much later, only to relinquish every hesitation and follow her back to her homeland where he speaks his heart out and makes up for his previous obnoxiousness. When Priya’s identity was revealed in the penultimate phase, he was bewildered, as he was completely oblivious of what was coming. Yet he departed with commendable grace after getting punched unreasonably and accused outrageously in front of a whole lot of foreign and native guests.

Jesse Metcalfe is completely natural and comfortable in his character, complementing his opposite in all ways possible. He did justice to the charming lover that he played, and made the character come alive and move the audience, despite the challenges of its ordinariness. It is Melcalfe’s cross-culture descend that enabled him to strike a perfect balance between a libertine American and a respectful lover in dealing with a whole bunch of Indians with alien rooting. Cool, attractive and gentle, I don’t think anyone could have made a better Granger Woodriff than him.

The chemistry between Priya and Granger enlivened what was intended to bring about to the audience. It is their on-screen chemistry that I feel is one of the most compulsive drivers that made the movie so similar, yet plausibly realistic and touching. There is an ample of romantic moments between the two that did justice to the romantic magic meant to be brewed up, against the total absence of intimate scenes. The awkwardness of their original differences, thoughts and backgrounds was dissolved by the way they presented their relationship to the audiences. It is their on-screen gel-up that makes the movie a likable watch for the global audience. Trust me, the young, bright-eyed lovers walking the town of San Francisco hand-in-hand, clicking cozy snaps, run-boarding cable cars, talking from either sides of the door and rushing into the cold ocean have much more to offer than people will ordinarily expect them to. 

The culture clash was hilariously portrayed by the supporting characters, as the lead characters interspersed the rough bumps with core commonality of thoughts and values of humankind. Anupam Kher, the chief presenter of the family farce as the loving, obsessive and paranoid dad who surreptitiously follows her willful daughter to America to escort her back is brilliant. He is comical in his cynicism, that softened the rough edges that would have other caught sight. Sushmita Mukherjee as the commonplace mother with unreasonable family values has also done a natural job. The duo as the conservative parents of their free-minded daughter has given a worthy comic-relief to the audiences. Tara Sharma as the nagging, over-protective and reality check giver is also good. She has utilized her snippets of screen appearance well by being the advisory friend figure to Priya, who loses here nerve at the drop of a hat.

Overall, the movie is an expertly concocted glass of frosted martini, that has the tang, the zing, the tenor and the ethos of a feel-good rom-com that leaves behind a feeling of jubilation. 

Knight and Day Review

James Mangold’s Knight And Day is an action flick with a dash of comedy and bearing a tincture of romance. A Cameron Diaz, Tom Cruise film, this is the second movie after Vanilla Sky where the couple shared the screen together. A thrilling, hilarious and engaging piece, audiences are sure to stay glued to the seat for the whole1 and ½ hour as Cruise takes them on a deadly adventurous ride down a globe trotting adventure with Diaz at his heels. The speedy plot does not allow the viewers to afford to miss a glance of the fast paced series of events that occurs throughout the course of event. Atypical of Cruise’s onscreen secret agent avatar, watch Roy Miller, as the knight performs daring spine chilling action moves ensuring the security of the damsel in distress.

The synopsis of the movie commences as the camera pans on an observing gentleman at the airport, idling away his time as he collides with a clumsy fellow boarder, June Haven on a chance encounter. The camera then shifts to a team of FBI agents who were monitoring the activities of the gentleman at the airport. The next few minutes were one of great excitement as the intriguing gentleman at the airport turns out to be a secret agent who is currently a fugitive allegedly, in pursuit of an unstoppable power source, a battery that he intends to pass on to demolishing hands in exchange of an exorbitant sum. However, as June is drawn into the fatal web, the duo is seen involved in a trans-continental chase, as they cheat the close shaves with death. Completely smitten by Roy’s charisma, June keeps on getting entangled in emotional attachment with Roy as she rides the quagmire of love, completely unaware of the real motif of the mission. After a series of tiff and unexpected betrayals, June had to come to terms with the fact that the only man he can seek sanctuary from is Roy. The movie ends with the stereotypical execution of the villains, with all misgiving clarified with Roy’s employer and the creator of the battery handed over to the rightful authority. The climax shows a beautiful beachfront wherefrom Roy and June sets out on a holiday trip away from the acrimonious man hunt.

The only character in the movie that is meant to and has successful stole all the limelight, keeping the audience gaping at the screen with the rising adrenalin rush in their nerves is, Tom Cruise. Despite reaching the late forties, the actor has by far surpassed the feats of younger heroes in action movies. A perfect popcorn movie serving a dose of mind boggling excitement, Cruise has once again cast his enigma on the silver screen through his sharp, natty look, witty humor, appealing features and confident moves. Performing all the life threatening stunts by his own, the movie looks extremely convincing and realistic and been another challenge to the fellow action heroes who hesitate to take such a quantum leap. As Cruise ducks on his motorcycle between fast approaching trams, races the bulls, dodges bullets, hoodwinks the federal agents and romances the lady while teaching her tricky Houdini moves, the audiences watch enthralled and spellbound. Cruise has definitely done an appreciable job in what appears to be his last action movie. Though his fans will want him to keep coming back for more, rumor has it that the actor will engage himself in only character roles post this movie. Cruise’s screen presence has levitated the movie to a new height that would have been otherwise impossible to attain with such a superficial script.

Diaz as June has been quite appropriate for the role, as she plays a messy simpleton desperately trying to mop up the clutter in her life as she finds herself drawn dangerously close to an enigmatic mysterious spy and an ensuing racquet of assailants. The blonde beauty has aptly impersonated Haven’s confused self, torn between the maze of double-crosses and her undeniable attraction towards Roy.

In a nutshell, Knight And Day is a complete entertainment with titillating action stunts, great music, picturesque locales, swift pace, breakneck adventure with drama at a superficial level, another splendid flick to mark Cruise’s return to the action genre.

Band Baaja Baraat Review

Yash Raj Film’s Band Baaja Baraat is a complete family entertainment that takes the audiences behind the scenes of big, fat, Indian weddings. Debutant director Maneesh Sharma has done a good job in whipping out a fresh romantic comedy that restores the sugariness, otherwise missing in YRF flicks lately. Shooting in the typical posh by lanes of Delhi, the director has strictly bequeathed the artificial scenic setting to bring in a fresh, pragmatic feel. With the two central characters of Bitto and Shruti, the director has simply mirrored the simplistic living and high dreaming of the Delhites. Exploring the celebrations and hard works veering the lavish Indian weddings, the storyline is a simple love story with the final moments of revelation of love in the climax.

Bitto, a lazy, uncouth small town slacker finishes college and starts looking for prospects that will keep him from returning to his tawdry homeland into his family occupation of farming. A good-hearted young man with a slight stupidity about him, Bitto had a chance encounter with Shruti at a wedding ceremony while gate crashing the event for food. Shruti a small time wedding planner and a final year college student is from a middle class background with the dazzling dream of becoming the best wedding planner in India. As, bitto falls hard on Shruti at their first meeting, he eventually pursues him on her way back home from college. Shruti divulges her future plan with 'Shaadi Mubarak', the possible name for her yet-to-develop concern. As luck shines on Bitto, they ventured into a 50-50 partnership for 5 years with the strict rule of “No Romance” between them. As they worked together with honesty, planning customized marriages of mediocre families of Delhi, Shruti got lovelorn by Bitto that petered out all her rule book literature from her mind. Evidently, their contrasting characters came to a clash and Shruti had to breach the agreement with the painful realization that Bitto harbors no real feeling for her. The second half of the movie stalls all the romantic air, clouding it with failed business dealings, recurrent fighting motif and stretched out marriage sequences. The climax was a little jerky with Bitto suddenly stumbling upon the realization of his adoration for her after suffering stabs of jealousy from the anonymous love interest in Shruti’s life. The hasty acceptance from Shruti was even queerer as the audiences’ expectation of even the slightest resistance from her side was miserably failed. However, the film finally showed the wedding of Bitto and Shruti in a typical tackily flashy “Dilli shaadhi” (Delhi marriage).

Bitto, played by Ranbir Singh in his debut role is pitch perfect as he impersonates the crude, unpolished Punjabi guy who eats like a glutton and talks with his mouthful. Singh was very convincing in the character that cannot pronounce the term ‘business’ properly, but runs it street-smart neatly and diplomatically under the patronage of Shruti Kakkar. Though not a stereotypically handsome actor, Ranbir Singh as Bitto has earned huge applauses from the audiences with his sincere feat and natural acting. Performing spontaneously, Ranbir has proved his efficiency as one of most deserving newbie of Bollywood. Though, in some romantic scenes, his expressions have fall short of depth, his overall screen presence was impressive for a newcomer.

Anushka sharma, on the other hand has come a long way from Rab Ne Bana di Jodi with king Khan and showed her talent aptly in playing a middle class young lady with high ambitions and a fowl temper. She has portrayed her character well, as she fell head over heels in love with Bitto, shunned her business rule book, finally got deluded from her love struck status and completed the circle by accepting Bitto back in life again. She has played the scenes of anger, anguish, frustration, trounce, pain and back to love again, realistically, while maintaining her lean, graceful appearance all throughout.

However, the item number in which Bitto and Anushka replaced Shah Rukh Khan in the up scale wedding ceremony was a little unrealistic, though the duo bedazzled the audiences with their enticing performance. The picturization of the song “Andha Ishq” was not very befitting with the quixotic feel of the song as the audience missed the scenic locations in the love struck daydreams of the character.

The music of the movie has earned huge popularity with peppy numbers like “Aivayi Aivayi”, sad numbers like “Mitra” and romatic tracks like “Andha Ishq”. Salim-Sulaiman have done a commendable job in composing the tracks, keeping in mind the razzle dazzle of the grand Indian shaadis and the refreshing rose, lily and confetti aura of the film. Even the unpracticed dance moves in the song “Aivayi Aivayi” looked lifelike.

Dhobi Ghat Review

Dhobi Ghat, alias Mumbai Dairies is a tale of the City of Dreams, Mumbai and its inhabitants. Veering around four dysfunctional characters at the wake of city Mumbai, the movie enigmatically depicts the vacant quest of human soul and the ubiquitous city bearing witness to their futile pursuits. A film solely dedicated to the exponentially dilapidating state of Mumbai, the characters have played the catalyst to depict the strange vibe of the city that relates and alienates the characters in the process.

The story talks about four individuals, each of whom is an immigrant whom the city binds and breaks up at strategic points. Shai, an investment banker from the New York City is on a sabbatical doing research on marginal businesses and occupations of Mumbai. A chance encounter with the moody and exceptionally talented artist Arun at his painting exhibition led to a commonplace wine spilling occurrence that succeeded a one night stand. Eventually, Arun comes across some tapes shot by the early tenant of his newly shifted apartment in the cramming narrow gully of the city. The tapes are some unpracticed home videos shot by Yasmin Noor, a newly married Muslim girl, a migrant from UP as video dairies addressing her dearest brother Imran. Arun’s dhobi guy Munna starts developing an inclination for Shai and pines for her feelings despite knowing her to be an uptown girl he can never hope to woo. As Shai gets dismissed by Arun, she becomes almost obsessed by him and hooks up with this new dhobi guy in a bid to reach Arun. As their worlds collide with each other, they desperately start seeking an anchor vainly in the incessantly unstable sand grains of the thronged city. The dysfunctional foursome lingers on to accomplish their unfinished business entwined into compelling relationships, only to be struck by the city’s mercurial mood swings and caught into its alienation index.

Aamir Khan as the eccentric up-market painter Arun is a commendable attempt made to portray the character of a successful artist in search of the unknown. A self-proclaimed loner, the character of Arun is of an intriguing painter who exhibits unpredictable mood swings which makes him all the more enigmatic. With furrowed eye brows and disturbed temperament, Arun extends an overt exhibition of his agonizing parting with his son and an utter disgust to persevere. After an intense involvement with Shai, the next morning Arun does not hesitate to display his discomfort as Shai tries to get comfy on his daybed cushion, symbolically attempting to get comfortably close and connected to Arun. Arun’s eccentricity get delineated with his growing involvement with Yasmin as watching her video letters started making him relatively exultant, a stark change unmistakably noticed by Shai on a later encounter. As he gets increasingly absorbed in Yasmin, the final revelation of her suicide took a heavy emotional toll on him. Obsessed and shell shocked, he shifted to a new apartment, but this time the visible skyline from his new lair was no longer the packed, congested one, but a wider one devoid of presences that will impede the line of visibility. The masterpiece that he sketched at the climax in the massive blank canvas pictured his muse at the side with an illustrated visual of the city and its never-ending saga.

The dhobi guy Munna in his ‘wannabe actor’ attitude represents the subaltern section of the society who subsist a ramshackle survival. He washes soiled clothes collected from the neighborhood apartments and goes out on a mouse hunt in the dark of the night. Though, his means of livelihood, one that of washing the dirt and other that of ravaging the garbage are starkly diverse, but play the same scavenger role of cleaning-up, clearly depicting the purgatory state he is trapped in, between big dreams and base living. With a decaying shack as his abode, Munna is shown to be weaving thoughts of a better life, pepped by his tormented passion for the upscale lady. Prateek Babbar’s innocent facial appearance, strong physical built, gullible nature, unrefined verbal communication and unkempt body language made his role completely believable and befitting. His naïve thoughts get expressed as he shies and blushes at the occasional teasing of his cousin brother and his absent minded euphoric smiles in the rain and the breeze as he lives the fleeting moments of elation that mirrors his magnifying nascent adoration for Shai.

Yasmin, a newly married girl from a minority community, an immigrant from UP and new to Mumbai, is an innocent housewife with a girly charm about her. In an effort to correspond and demonstrate the city to her dearest brother, she goes on shooting random city scenes and communicates to the camera in a hope that they will reach her brother someday.  From the first clip to the final, a subtle and sublime change takes place in her as she metamorphosed from a cheery, jovial spirited girl to a lonesome, troubled soul. She pours out her existential trauma through precise hints and revelations in the video letters as she involuntarily scrawls the anecdote of the pained souls of the city. The striking note in her character surfaces as she chooses death over existence being stampeded by the unbearable burden of the stiff social decorum and the blighted state of the city life. Her videos left behind marks out the ignorance, denial and pain inflicted on her, that she suffered silently all through. Being unable to revert back to her parents to seek sanctuary, she becomes a scapegoat of the compelling social norms of marriage. As she gradually turns away from the camera into the blinding lights of the Elephanta cave, her symbolical obliteration into the radiance of enlightment becomes vivid.  

Shai’s character as a foreign entity, expertly juxtaposes both vulnerability and strength as she puts up a brave show on the face of the emotional crisis she experiences. Interlinked by luck and destiny, she connects with Munna as he aids her in her penchant for camera work. Her playful smiles, petite support and adherence to Munna on occasions acknowledge her fondness for him, but her blinding passion for Arun overshadows the line as she jumps headlong into a quest for nothingness. She follows Arun silently, feeding herself with know how about him and develops a queer psychological addiction towards him. Her detachment with both Arun and Munna exposes her dependability on both as she strolls around the congested slum gullies lost. Munnas final act of his submission to her as he surrenders Arun’s address brought her to a realization that finally unwinds her from all the mortal bindings into a state wherefrom she can behold everything clearly.

The docile lady next door is a living replication of the city as she stays stone cold to all happenings, yet registering everything to the core. Her presence in both Yasmin’s videos and during Arun’s stay in the apartment cements the fact of the city’s timeless existence. Like Yasmin stated, she, like the sea devours every secret inside her without divulging anything but a cold stoic stare. The city captured in all possible moods of grey, blue, rainy, shadowy, sunlit, bleak, clamor and buzz is ever-present throughout the course of action and finally finds place in the artist’s masterpiece painting.

The background score of Dhobi Ghat is terrific as the mostly classic instrumental tracks did a commendable job in amplifying the typical desi aura of the movie on the context of a universal theme. As Shai descends the stairs chasing Munna, the backdrop discourse of the worldly “Maya” and “Moh” aptly suggested the earthy vulnerability of humans.

In closing, Kiran Rao’s Dhobi Ghat is a short artistic film that has multiple layers of depth that have to felt to appreciate the kaleidoscope of emotions understated. On face value, it is an extremely slow-paced film without a concrete storyline which evidently leads to blind ends.

127 Hours Review

127 Hours, a gut wrenching and stirring true story of a lone mountaineer trapped in a ravine for over 5 days with his right arm pinned to the rock wall without any possibility of salvage is what this 1 hours 35 minutes flick all about. Perhaps, the most energetic and commendable directorial efforts made by director Danny Boyle, the movie televises an act out version of the true incident of Aron Ralston, a hiker who suffered this horrendous fate in 2003 while canyoneering along Moab, Utah.

Aron Ralston, a typical American snob with an usual footloose outlook towards life goes on mountaineering near the deep and meandering canyons of Utah. Struck by an erratic accident in his attempt to climb down a deep isolated crack down the surface, a boulder dislodged, crushing his right arm against the rocky wall having him stuck in the place for the ensuing 5 days. Flooded with trepidation, he makes successive efforts to wedge, haul, roll and heave the rock with only disappointment and failure in the outcome. With a bottle of water and a bite of food for sustenance, he goes on with his failed attempt to scale the rock with a Chinese, blunt unitool. As his water runs out, he resorts to drinking his own urine and occasionally blood as the only alternatives.

As delirium inundated his thoughts with racing pounding heartbeats, he assumed that death was impending and inevitable. He inscribed his name and supposed death date on the rocky wall and started recording videos in his handicam bidding goodbye and apologizing to his family. Impatient with unswerving agony, he finally resolves to amputee his own arm with the knife of the unitool, using the pliers for sinewy tendons. After a lengthy span of unthinkably agonizing operation he breaks free of his arms.

Finally at the climax, after accomplishing a 8 mile long hiking through the deserted canyons under the scorching heat, he finally receives help from a group of tourists luckily sited around the place. The end of the movie pictures him as a changed human being with success still on the crown as he continues his mortal combat.

The movie circumspectly pictures the excruciating pain, mental trauma and psychic crisis that he experiences during his entrapment. It veers around men’s fundamental prerequisites for survival as the character suffers from hunger, bodily pain, mental constrain, carnal appetite, emotional emptiness and craves for deliverance as he embarks on desperate measures to emancipate himself from predicament as his final attempt for survival. With the ultimate approval and salutation to the “Survival of the Fittest” theory and human bravado, the spotlight is concentrated on man’s dependability on the earthly essentials to sustain his mortal shell.

The director has made use of every symbolon possible to manifest human’s unconquerable forceful will to live. The fallen boulder has been portrayed as Nemesis that strikes hard when the victim is least prepared mortifying his conceited superhuman confidence thudding him back to the consciousness of his mortal limits. The flying bird atop is the representation of liberty from captivity that in the due course accentuates and act as a catalyst to up swell his indomitable desire to live. The undefeated spirit of man finally wins over the repugnant destiny through inexplicable suffering that brings him to the point of realization of the greater meaning of his life.

Boyle has very diplomatically shifted the focus from human limits of pain and endurance to an overt condemnation of the American way of living in particular, and modern man’s dilemma in general. Living an offensively self-centric and secluded life with an intolerable arrogance and prejudice, the movie establishes that man is himself responsible for his downfall. The fact that Aron had snubbed his anxious mother’s phone calls, alienated his forlorn lover and ignored everyone to the point of bigotry have bit by bit contributed to his quandary.

The film is essentially a one-man show with a speedy initial. The subsequent course is very slow and slacked at times as the director presses on to inject old memories, hallucinating apparitions and steady pinch of guilt and repentance surging high in the character. Other characters barely share the screen that exposes the movie to sluggish dallying. However, the arm amputation part was highly disturbing and repelling with a lot of bloody scenes that has seen severely criticized and was highly distressing to watch. Though the director could have cut short such a brutal scene, he chose to keep it intact to express the dreadful pain and torture experienced by the protagonist.

Actor James Franco has done an appreciable job and evolved as a much prudent actor with his role as a funky American explorer in the movie. The movie has witnessed not only a remarkable change in his straight looks, but also in his acting skills which can only be expected to develop and enrich in future. The visual effect is also very convincing and impressive giving the audience no scope for skepticism.

Aanjaana Aanjaani Review

Siddharth Malhotra’s Anjaana Aanjaani is a typical Rom-com specimen flick with a unique approach to the typical Bollywood ‘Boy Meets Girl’ genre. Supposedly an improvised remake of Patrice Leconte's Girl on the Bridge, Malhotra has done an exemplary job with such a challenging synopsis based entirely on the relationship of the two predominant characters. Commencing at the most critical point, under the most unusual circumstance possible, the movie successfully merges the two oxymoronic concepts of intense pain to utmost ecstasy as the characters manage to discover love, during the course. The main protagonists form the crux of the movie with no subordinate characters, sub plots or side tracks that could act as fillers or swathes to hide the inescapable inconsistencies that could potentially rupture the toilsome performances.

Kiara and Aakash are two American Indians who run into each other at the worst points of their life, on the brink of making suicidal advances to shun the despicable failures of their lives. After an event of fluky encounter followed by a series of failed mutual attempts of suicide, on Kaira’s insinuation, they submitted to the supposition that they both have some unfinished tasks left to be taken care of until it all ends to ashes. They mutually settled to live the ensuing last 20 days of their life together to the fullest until the day arrives for the final departure. The subsequent itinerary pictures ocean boat rides, cross country road trips, fun filled adventures, hilarious antics and their gradual romantic involvement and growing attachment.

The underlying serious and troubled tone of the storyline has been deftly overlapped with the apparent cursory jovial aura, and has been prominently surfaced in glimpses through the characters to remind the audiences about the wounded sentiments and plights of the characters. As the movie slackens down a bit towards the intermission, Malhotra has proficiently revved up the proceedings with eventful twists. However, the pact of the duo ends with the arrival of the impending ‘D’ day where the theme takes an unexpected turn, meandering the respective course of their lives back to where they root from. However, though the final strike of love was foreseeable and ever-looming; the climax sketched to ratify it was outstandingly brilliant convoy by the poignant fragment of “Aajaana Aanjaani” soundtrack.

Sultry Priyanka Chopra as Kaira, an animated girl next door has finely blended with the character with her inordinate charm and proficient acting skill. Her performance, in both melancholic and spirited points has been pertinent, as she impersonates Kiara completely, yet retaining her innate charm, partially. Piggy Chops has once again shown her flair in bonding up with her first time ever co-actor Ranbir Kapoor and has done a focused job to claim a lion’s share of the lime light.

Standing opposite the vivacious and talented Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor as a NYC simpleton in pursuit of success in the line of American dreams has scaled new heights with his screen presence. Though relatively new in the industry, Ranbir has always carried the repute of an accomplished actor and justified his Kapoor pedigree. He has captured the pain, frustration, emptiness, love, joy and final rediscovering of his own self with precession as the character copes with destiny and evolves as a person.

Ranbir and Priyanka has jammed and gelled brilliantly and smugly with each other on screen. With vigorous off screen jamming sessions under the expert supervision of their mentor and director Malhotra, the new on-screen couple has been able to deliver an apt feat with moments of unison while maintaining their individuality, as demanded by the script. Even so, the chemistry between the two has been exceptionally striking and spontaneous, the alchemy has seemed to fall apart in certain junctures that has caused a crisis to the summary.

However, to sum it up, Aanjaana Aanjaani has been a love story with a difference. With an entirely new plot and approach to life and love, the actors have done justice to the storyline with their dazzling screenplay and romantic quotient. The locales comprising arid desert roadways, sprawling casinos, cheap motel rooms, rustic inns, strip bars, ocean bodies, etc. have also added an appeal to the aura of the theme. The songs of the film have been amazingly melodious ranging from hot peppy numbers, to fast tracks, to sad emotional sagas, with lyrics that sync with the scenes impeccably.

Aisha Review

Aisha, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s 18th century novel Emma is a romantic comedy that showcases the intricacies of love in a very simplified and honest prototype. Director Rajshree Ojha has done a commendable job in portraying the characters in keeping with the source, while altering the backdrop to the contemporary scenario. Veering around the age old concept of “Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on earth”, the movie is an eye candy for its remarkable and stylish costume design that depicts the high class modern fashionistas.

Emma Woodhouse of Highbury has been played by the charming Sonam Kapoor who has stepped into the character proficiently by filling in the essential attributes of ‘handsome, clever and rich’. With the recent success acquired in setting things up between her ‘masi’ and a certain Cornel Singh, which was followed by their romantic marriage, Aisha glows with pride and goes on in pursuit of another possible match making. In the ceremony, she comes across Shefali, playing Harriet, a behenji type plain-Jane typecast, new to Delhi. As she weaves the possibility of a potential matchmaking between Shefali and Randhir, (played by Cyrus Sahukar), she pressed trying to fix them up together. The plot rolls on to reveal that Randhir was instead, love struck by Aisha, who immediately dismisses Randhir and sets herself to the task of finding Shefali another high profile suitor. With a pure passion for meddling into people’s business, Aisha goes on manipulating Shefali’s decision directing her into all but blind ends. However, Aisha lacked the depth of a female character as both the novel and movie have tried to maintain the frivolous and superficial aura of the affluent section.

As typical to Emma and other novels by Austen, the male characters are side staged, the role of Arjun, a replacement of the prudent Mr. Knightly has come in the play only to add an impetus to Aisha’s realization that love cannot be forced upon. As Aisha evolves out from her shallow, juvenile being during the course of the story, Arjun guides her all through, in his attempt to disentangle the web and rescue her out of the mess. The character of Mr. Knightly has been aptly and subtly played by Abhay Deol without skipping any trait of the character that contributes positively to the synopsis of the story. With a critical eye, he scrutinizes Aisha’s activities recurrently, reprimanding her for her unripe advances. In his role, as he shakes her out of her stupor into the real world and into the realization of her true feelings towards him, Abhay has done a palpable job staying within his limited parameters and intermittent appearance in the movie.

The flick catches pace as Aarti, Arjun’s colleague and love interest comes into being and Aisha suffers pangs of jealousy which leads to the moment of epiphany about her true feelings towards Arjun. This is where, the movie shifts slightly from the novel as Mr. Knightly didn’t have any romantic company. The second half witnessed appearance of some sublime hurdles, small conflicts and debilitating crossroads where Aisha had to grow out of her usual infantile self to make sensible judgments that contributes to her fruition into a lady. As the climax approaches, all the impasses started to un-complicate themselves and differences get diluted with the final knot of adoration between the main protagonists left to be tied at the end. However, Arjun seemed very clear in his inclinations throughout and in the end as he romantically proposes to Aisha about his love for her in a typical Mills and Boons style.

Other subordinate characters like Pinky Bose, Aisha’s daddy, Masi, Aarti and Dhruv have accentuated the drama by donating to the plot. The character of Pinky as Aisha’s best friend, played by Ira Dubey is an add-on to the storyline and has given the course of action a twist in the process as eventually she gets wooed by Randhir unexpectedly. M.K.Raina as Aisha’s daddy played a lovable, kindhearted father figure. It appears that the rest of the team, Aisha’s masi as a supportive character with motherly disposition, Dhruv a gentleman with modern sensibilities and Aarti as a New York returned, today’s woman with an offbeat oomph factor about her have been handpicked and tailor-made to personify the characters pertinently.

The humor in the movie is delicate, yet prominent enough to make the audience break into fits of laughter at time. Since, the movie does not have any unsettling element in it; the makers have not pressed much on the hilarious aspect to loose the potency of the characters. Whatever slight comedy the movie holds, it has been aptly surfaced through the character of Shefali who has done a laudable task in doing so.

In a nutshell, Aisha is an entertaining film with a different approach on love sketched on the canvas of the upper-class futility. The costume and style of the characters are indeed a feast for the senses of fashion enthusiasts that dedicates the movie essentially to the young generation. Endowed naturally with her superb sense of style, Sonam Kapoor has faced no difficulty in carrying them modishly. Popped with peppy music in an elegant setting, the movie has a different feel about it which has succeeded in materializing the 18^th century society, even though in an understated manner.