Maai Trailer

Just watched the trailer of Asha's Maai... Winner! Thumps Up. Would be a roller coaster of emotions.

Shortcut Romeo Trailer

Very impressive. This will surely catch some eyes. Warning. Dont expect Romeo's love here. Looks like a tale of lust and revenge. 

Himmatwala Trailer

Expect nothing but a very mediocre 80's style of typical Bollywood masala entertainer. Not impressed.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan- Movie Review

Jab Tk Hai Jaan- Movie Review

3 Stars out of 5

Production and Direction: Yash Chopra

Starring: SRK, Katrina and Anushka

Script: Aditya Chopra

Music and BG Score: AR Rehman

Lyrics: Gulzaar

Cinematography: Anil Mehta

The name of Yash Chopra is synonymous to the words love and romance. Who can forget the ever green love sagas, which he has gifted to the moviegoers in his career. Films like Darr, Chaandni, Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer Zara, Silsiley and many more have been successful in getting the status of Cult Classics in their respective eras. He has been a true path breaking film maker with seriously No Holds Bars, in terms of film making. Colors, Celebrations, Emotions, Music, Dance, and beautiful locations have been his USPs all through his great directorial and production career.

And almost two years back, he announced a movie bringing some of the best in business together for the first time. Musical maestro AR Rehman, legendary poet/lyricist/dialogue wrier Gulzaar Sb, master of cinematography Anil Mehta, true king of b-town SRK and last but not the least, celebrated young faces of current Bollywood, Katrina and Anushka. To sum the whole things up, a real Dream Team. And this announcement truly created goose bumps among the cinema lovers.

This much hyped and possibly the most awaited movie of 2012 got the nervous stir even more, when the sound track came into the limelight. Songs like Challa, Saans, Ishq Shawa and Jab Tak Hai Jaan became instantaneous hits and each one of us had our fingers crossed to witness perhaps the biggest love saga of all the time but….. Kahani had a different twist this time.

This highly anticipated love saga was unfortunately NOT a Yash Chopra Romance at all. Like Veer Zara, you get to listen (in fact watch) the past of the main protagonist in his own words. Akira (Anushka) by chance finds the diary of rude and straight faced angry man Samar Anand and discovers that he has “almost” lost his live Meera (Katrina) in London, 10years back. Flashbacks take you to London (10 years back), where Samar used to do odd jobs to meet the ends of life. Here, he the rich young beautiful Meera and falls in love with her. And after a few twistes and turns they part ways and he comes back to India.

And all of a sudden, we get to know that Samar Anand is now a Major (out of nowhere) and Akira wants to make a documentary about the Man who cannot die. This time, she falls in love with Samar and ooppssss……. Isn’t it to bollywoodish…….

Coming straight now, to the loopholes and the short comings of JTHJ, the biggest mistake in the movie is the weakness of the script. Aditya has NOT done justice to his name. I would never blame the drector as he was not having the enough room to play. Adi has completely failed in providing a gluing sort of script, that can held the audience tight. Second of the list, the endless length of the movie. Gone are the days, when audience used to digest (in fact enjoy) the lengthy 3 odd hours movies. You should keep the things simple and straight in order to connect with the movie goer. This love story is almost 3 hours long and who can wait for such a long time to taste a very predictable end and that too in a pure 90’s style of Bollywood climax. Some of the sequences are totally unnecessary, in fact useless, which could only make the things worse by making the whole phenomenon even more boring.

Let’s praise, what really needs to be appreciated, if you want to see JTHJ, go for some very soothing tunes and bg score from the master of the craft, which equally collaborates with ever loving poetry of Gulzaar Sb. Saans has been the real USP of the movie. The way it was pictured, I can easily put it in the list of Top 25 romantic numbers of all times. It really reminded me of some of the gems like Hum Ko Hui Se Chura Lo (from Mohabbatein), Pyar Kar (DTPH), Khamoshian (1 2 Ka 4) and many more. Vaibhavi has done wonders in terms of chorography. Jiya Re and Ishq Shawa are fabulously filmed with nice footsteps from all the three (SRK, Anushka and Katrina).

To me, there are two heroes in the film. SRK and Anushka. Someone like SRK needs no praise from any one. He has already proved that he is the real guru of love and romance and this time it was no different. I both attires (lovely common man Samar and rigid Magor Samar), he is a class apart and acted almost flawless. Anushka has a very short margin but she rendered her performance so beautifully that you can never ignore her. Bindaas, Cool, Happy Go Lucky and then a very serious dipped in love passionate girl, just one word FABULOUS. Katrina looked beautiful all through the film. No comments on her acting. On top of all this, it is about the legendary Anil Mehta. From the great locales of London to the heavenly scenic beauty of Kashmir, he has told the romance through his skills and expertise. Hatts Off Anil. Standing Ovation to your great work.

On the whole, this much anticipated love saga, turned out to be a One Time Watch only. Sorry, but I cannot waste 3 more crucial hours of my love by watching it again. Adi really spoils the show.

Ali Zafar in Coke Studio 6

I told U earlier that Ali Azmat will perform once again in the next season of Coke Studio. Now here is something even more interesting, this season of CS will also witness another come back and that too from the one who gave us some splendid tunes in recent past. Yes, Ali Zafar will be performing in CS for the third time. Hope he can create the same magic, which was created earlier by him when he performed ALLAH Hu and Yaar Dhaadi. He tweeted,

“You will be seeing me in the coming season of Coke Studio.”

Raam Leela- First Look

Production & Direction SLB
Cast Ranvir Singh and Depika
Music SLB
Lyrics Siddharth
Director Of  Photography Ravi Verman

SLB is back, after critically acclaimed Guzaarish. The maverick director of gems like Saanwarya, HDDCS, Black, Devdas, Khamoshi- The Musical and Guzaarish has done the director's hat once again and this time, he has promised that it would be a typical SLB's movie.

By witnessing this first look of the movie, we can surely feel some crackers to come our way. Dark colors and deep ambiance of this first look is clearly stating that the film would be an out and out intense romantic saga. As per news, its obvious that Raam Leela would be SLB's take on epic love story of Romeo and Juliet, set in the backdrop of India.

So get ready to witness new avatar of Romeo & Juliet in this desi bollywood version, full of songs, music, colors and romance. All the best SLB. I know, U'll rock!

Pakistan Zindabad

Breaking News..... Team India has been Ajmalized..... Insha ALLAH..... Another white wash is on the cards!

Pakistan's Victory- Fairy Tale or Heroic Stint

So, should we call it a real time fairy tale, just like Cinderella or a great heroic stint like Spider man and superman? Our supermen in green have done, what was termed as IMPOSSIBLE by many of todays so called cricket critics. Beating India 2-0, with one match still left, is not a bachon ka khel. They were saying, Aa Raha Hai Pak, Ane Do. I guess, now it would be something like Pak Series Ura K Ja Raha Hai, Janey Do.

Jokes apart, let’s have a look on the impact of this series. First of all, in this time, when even a team like Bangladesh doesn’t want to visit Pakistan, we are hungry for cricket and on top of it, our young players need cricketing games, which can provide them a competitive challenging level and this event was surely not less than a blessing for the young guns and the fans of cricket around the planet. Our youngsters must have learnt a lot. Cameras all around and a jam packed stadium, when 80k people are cheering NOT for u but in favor of your opponent. In such a scenario, staying calm and building morale out of no where is a victory in itself.

Coming to the performances, some of the new guys were a treat to watch. Stand out shows produced by stylish Nasir Jamshed and the quicky Junaid. Will it be too earlier to say that Jamshed is the future Saeed Anwar for us? Well, I really don’t think so. He is without any doubt a very bright future for Pakistan. This guy impressed me as an opener, after a very long time. Perfect technique and equally beautiful execution. What he needs is a bit more experience and it would be the icing on the cake for sure. Junaid is a class apart. We were worried that Amir is no more in the side. No need to worry now, we have Junaid. Hafeez has again proved his command over the game. Par excellence performances are making Professor Sb much more dependable now. Saeed Ajmal, as I always say, is a magician. Irfan needs to work hard on his fitness now. What was really appealing for me in the T20 n ODI series was the athleticism shown by Pakistanis on the field. They took nice catches, created chances by running them out and stopped many singles and extra runs on the field. On the whole, Thumbs Up for the Great fielding!

Now, as we are the Asian Champs and Semi Finalist of both T20 and ODI mega events with series victories against top cricketing sides England and India, ICC should give us some more chances to prove ourselves. If we can perform this great outside our homeland, we can surely play far better in our country. We are a peace loving nation. We love Pakistan. We love cricket. We need cricket in our country. Pakistan Zindabad.

Review By: Shahbaz Ali Naqvi