The problem with director Ahmed Khan's Fool N Final lies in the fact that it has too many stars, and there is apparently too much happening. The script, of course, is non-existent and adds to its woes. It has many stunts, comic and otherwise, but gags and stunts do not a make film as the director would have realized to his peril. The film works, but, only in places. As a whole, it has no impact.



The film's story revolves around a diamond. Rocky (Chunky Pande) robs and smuggles the diamond out of India and sends it to Dubai for his uncle, who is a don called Choksey (Gulshan Grover). Choksey is in London and asks his nephew to sell it to Lalwani (Asrani) in Dubai. But the news of the diamond reaches another don, Moscow Chikna (Arbaaz Khan), who decides that he wants it. He hires a petty thief Choubey (Paresh Rawal) to steal it for him. Choubey in turn, ropes in his niece Tina (Ayesha Takia) and her boyfriend Raja (Shahid Kapur) to help him in his mission. And a cabbie, played by Johnny Lever. That's one side of the story. On the other, we have JD (Zakir Hussian), who is another don. He runs illegal boxing matches. Munna (Sunny Deol) is a boxer. And then, there is Luckee (Vivek Oberoi), who runs a game parlour and snares youngsters into taking part in the boxing matches. He owes JD money.



Now Rocky has a weakness for guns and gambling. He calls in Moscow Chikna, who in turn asks him to bet on his behalf at JD's gambling den. Meanwhile, Choubey, Tina and Raja decide to kidnap Rocky at the don's instructions. Munna, who will decimate anything that comes his way, defeats JD's fighter, which does not go down well with the don. In this melee, Moscow Chikna gets his hands on the diamond and walks off. And all the other dons, Lalwani, Choksi and JD, land up at Choubey's and want the diamond. And chaos keeps getting even more chaotic if possible.

The problem is, as always, with the script. The ingredients are all there for a perfect comedy, but somehow the script writers and director are unable to keep track of the various stories doing the round and are unable to connect them well. There is a total lack of directorial control and it shows. There are just too many events, that it can make you almost feel breathless. The film does make you laugh. But the idea is that it could have been so much funnier.



Most of the actors have really nothing to do. Sunny Deol, does what he does best, use his fists. And that's how he makes his first appearance, playing the knight in armour to Sameera Reddy. Jackie Shroff makes an appearance as a gunman. The role surely, does nothing for his fast dwindling career. Arbaaz Khan, Gulshan Grover, Asrani, Zakir Hussian, Chunky Pande are all adequate in their roles. Nothing really worth writing about. Shahid and Ayesha Takia would have made a cute pair, but for their lack of chemistry.



Coming as it does, right after Shootout at Lokhandwala, where Vivek made a comeback of sorts as Maya Dolas, one wonders at the logic of a Fool N Final. Its timing couldn't have been worse for the actor. The role has nothing in it for him. The ones who stand out are of course Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever. They've done this kind of thing a million and one times. They do manage to make their presence felt, but at other times they look a little jaded as well.



The film has its share of gloss, well shot locales of Dubai, but it stops there. That cannot save it from its fate. The music, too by Himesh Reshammiya, is hardly the type to top the charts. It's just about pleasant.



Fool N Final is quite foolish in the end. No saving grace here! ... More ... Collapse

Sunil Dutt was one of the more versatile actors to have graced the Hindi film screen, but strangely, little has been written about Dutt, the actor. We have reams written about Dutt the man, the politician, the father. He was undoubtedly an extremely popular star but his cinematic work has largely remained invisible.



That he was versatile goes without saying if one looks at his body of work. If he did a Sujata (1959), where he played an idealistic, educated young man, he was perfect as the rebel in Mother India (1966), or even more serious fare, like Gumrah, Sadhana (1963), or the simpleton in that all time great comedy Padosan. (1968). He's done them all --- action, melodrama, comedy. Dutt had an enviable repertoire of films. With the coming into being of his own production company, Ajanta Arts, Dutt delved into newer areas of experience. He broke from conventions and produced & directed films like Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, Mujhe Jeena Do (1963), Yaadein (1964) and Reshma Aur Shera (1971), to name a few.



Perhaps one of the best films that he produced, and directed was Reshma Aur Shera, a love story set in the deserts of Rajasthan. The film didn't do well commercially but received a lot of critical acclaim. Actress Waheeda Rehman won a President's Award for her role in the film. Even though the film had a great story, great music, intense performances and some compelling cinematography, it failed at the box office and Dutt is believed to have lost a lot of money on it.



Set against the feudal backdrop of Rajasthan, Reshma Aur Shera is about two lovers caught between the rivalries among their clans. A modern day Romeo & Juliet, if you must. Like all enduring love stories, this one too ends with the ultimate death of both lovers. It takes that much for the warring clans to come to their senses.

The film opens with Shera (Sunil Dutt) heading for the village mela along with his brothers Vijay (Vinod Khanna) and Jagat Singh (Nawal Kumar) and the mute Chhotu (Amitabh Bachchan). At the fair, he bumps into Reshma, the daughter of Chowdhury (KN Singh), their arch-rival. Before his encounter with Reshma, Shera has already had a fight with his brothers over Gopal (Ranjeet), the Chowdhury's son. He had ordered his brothers not to get into a fight with anyone from the rival clan. So when Vijay and Jagat surround Gopal and want to engage him in a duel, he comes to Gopal's rescue and turns against his brothers. His outraged brothers head home while he proceeds to the fair and his subsequent meeting with Reshma.



The lovers continue to meet among the sand dunes. Shera decides to go for Reshma's brother's wedding so that he can end the blood shed that has marred relations between both clans. He is ridiculed by his father and two brothers, but ultimately leaves with his mother's blessings. On his arrival, Shera has to face the enemy's wrath and is beaten up by the villagers, even though he insists that he has come to make peace. Finally, Chowdhury is willing to believe in his intentions and it seems that peace and love have won. But just as the two men embrace, Chowdhury is gunned down from afar.



The killer is none other Sagat Singh, who has followed Shera to the village. He forces his mute son Chhotu to actually pull the trigger on Chowdhury and the newly married Gopal. Unable to bear the grief of the newly married widow (Raakhee), Shera vows to wreck vengeance on the killers. He kills his own father in the belief that he is the one who pulled the trigger. On discovering that the actual culprit was Chhotu, he sets off in his pursuit. Chhotu and his mother land up at Reshma's doorstep, in their bid to save themselves. Reshma forgives Chhotu. She is determined to put an end to the violence and decides to marry Chhotu to bring Shera back to his senses. Shera commits suicide and Reshma too dies after him. A sandstorm comes and covers the bodies of both lovers, who are finally united, in death.



Such is the story of Reshma Aur Shera. One wonders today, why the film didn't do well. The love story between Reshma and Shera is beautifully depicted. It has a subtlety about it which is more convincing than loud declarations could ever have been. Of course, it is also to the credit of the lead actors, Waheeda Rehman and Dutt himself. They are not the youngest of lovers, but they still invest their roles with so much integrity and dignity. The other actors excel as well.



Dutt has assembled a great cast in the film. We have veterans Jayant and KN Singh playing the two old rivals. Jayant specially is very impressive. Among the younger lot, we have superstar Amitabh Bachchan playing the mute brother Chhotu. Yes, he is gawky, but he acts with his eyes. The most impressive is Raakhee. She has no dialogues in the film as the newly-wed bride who is widowed on her wedding day itself. But she steals the show in the two scenes that are given to her. The first is when she mourns her husband's death, and the second is when she resolves to kill her husband's killer. It is only through her eyes, her expressions and her body language that she manages to convey the disbelief, the pain and the pathos of the young widow.



The deserts of Rajasthan have been captured innumberable times on the Indian screen. But Ram Chandra's cinematography in Reshma Aur Shera will surely rank among one of the best, in the manner in which he captures the dunes and the undulating sand. The music composed by Jaidev, is quite bewitching. Especially memorable is Lata Mangeshkar's Tu Chanda, Main Chandni.' The film leaves you feeling numbed at the senselessness of violence and death. Its message of love and peace is played out beautifully by Reshma's character. Shera's character has no other option but to kill himself, faced as he is with his sense of guilt at having killed his father.



Despite the violence in the film, it is poetic in nature. There is a haunting poetic quality about it which lingers at the end, even as the lovers lay dead in each others arms. Reshma Aur Shera is surely, one of the lesser known gems of Indian cinema. And it continues to dazzle even today. ... More ... Collapse

This is a film which is a direct take-off on Hollywood thriller Derailed starring Jennifer Aniston. The entire story has been inspired from the Hollywood original but the film barely manages to keep the viewer hooked till the end.



The film deals with an extra-marital affair which goes awry when a blackmailer enters the picture. The film revolves around the stale marriage of Vishal (Emraan Hashmi) and Anjali (Sayali Bhagat), who live in Bangkok. The couple are trying to do their best to keep the marriage going as they have a five-year-old daughter Nikki, who is suffering from juvenile diabetes and needs a kidney transplant, which Vishal is saving up for. The strain is probably telling to both of them but it is he who succumbs to it first.



One day one his way to work in the train, he meets a woman called Roma (Geeta Basra), who is trapped in a loveless marriage herself. He is immediately attracted to her and the feeling is mutual. Back at home, Anjali starts getting suspicious of Vishal's behaviour but that does not deter him Very soon, Roma and Vishal are in the throes of a passionate affair. But one incident changes their lives forever. The lovers are robbed in the hotel room where they meet. The burglar takes off with Vishal's wallet and rapes the girlfriend. And then begins the blackmail. Someone now knows about the affair, which could destroy three lives. Vishal decides to take drastic action and eliminate the threat in his life forever.



The film has all possible ingredients in it for a potboiler. There is love, lust, blackmail, rape, murder, everything that a thriller would demand. Even though the film has been ‘inspired' from a recent Hollywood thriller, the director duo of Raksha Mistry and Hasnain Hyderabadwala manage to keep the action going at a fairly fast pace. But what seems to suffer in the bargain is quality. It's not the greatest of stories and what comes across is too much ‘supposed movement or action' with very little happening really.



Actor Emraan Hashmi is very much at home in The Train. He manages to fit into his character of Vishal well enough. It's quite his type of genre. Both the actresses, Geeta Basra and Sayali Bhagat have a long way to go before they can be called actors. The two of them are quite wooden. The rest of the cast is passable.



There aren't many endearing things about the film. But the music given by newcomer Mithoon is quite hummable. That's about the only redeeming feature of the film, which really isn't saying much about the film. ... More ... Collapse

Must say it was a rather noble idea for choreographer Ganesh Acharya to select an unconventional, non-musical concept for his first film, and rumour has it that the film is somewhat inspired by events of his own life. However, his noble intentions lack vision, heart and substance and hence what ensues is a 2 hour wait for something to happen, a wait left unfulfilled even after the end titles of the film.



Although Swami starts of well with the establishment of Swami (Manoj Bajpai) and Radha's (Juhi Chawla) characters through the voiceover by Amitabh Bachchan and as a viewer you are immediately drawn into the warmth of the two characters and their happily married life. Initially you are drawn into the simplicity of the characters, their lives and the narrative style, reminding you of the 50s and 60s style of cinema. The problem lies in the fact that for any script to engage an audience, there has to be some element of a conflict, which forms the hook and the heart of the film. Even candyfloss films which are only about "feel good cinema" and are not intended to be thought provoking in the least, have some feeble conflict which the film then works towards resolving in order to reach the "and they lived happily ever after" ending. Swami is by no means intended to be candyfloss cinema but ends up achieving the same result; leaves you wondering what the point of the film was. The film chugs along without anything really happening, without any major conflict which needs to be resolved and the minor issues which do occur in the film (they are too minor to be termed conflicts) are completely immature and lack relevance for a film in 2007.



The significance of the rocking chair and its initial importance and obsession for Swami remains unexplained (the attempted explanation given in Mr. Bachchan's voiceover at the end of the film is too insignificant and unconvincing). Radha uses the money kept aside for her treatment of a fatal illness to buy the rocking chair (reminiscent of a classic short story) but unlike the short story, one fails to understand how the chair was more important that the life of a character! Furthermore, you hope that Radha's death will lead to the story picking up post interval, but once again we are disappointed as the death too gives no rise to any conflict. The track dedicated to Anand (Swami and Radha's son) having to go off to America is also extremely immature and makes no sense in the overall context of the film. The track about the friends exercising in the park is also completely pointless and could easily have been removed from the film.



The performances, like the film, start of well but leave you waiting for more, a more which never comes. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Manoj Bajpai or Juhi Chawla's portrayals of Swami and Radha respectively, but there is nothing earth shattering either, although it is more the script than their acting prowess which need to be blamed. Maninder Singh is an absolute revelation as a debutant in his portrayal of the grown up Anand; he is confident, relaxed and holds his own opposite a veteran like Manoj and what's more is that his screen presence is striking. Child actor, Siddharth, as the young Anand is outstanding.



As a director, Ganesh Acharya is let down by a weak screenplay (Bhavani Iyer, Muazzam Beg) and since the script itself lacks emotions, Acharya can only be partially blamed for not being about to evoke emotions in his characters, although some of the interactions between father and son are craftily handled and due credit to Acharya for those far and few in between scenes. One can't help but wonder if it would have been more advisable for Acharya to have a chosen a script more in tune with his strength as his directorial debut in order to grasp the craft first, before taking on what was intended to be a more thought provoking cinematic experience. Alas, the intention and the result are poles apart. ... More ... Collapse