MR YA MISS is inspired from Hollywood flicks Switch and Hot Chick. Aftab Shivdasani plays the role of an advertising executive who is basically a nice guy, but has a weakness for girls and regards them as mere ‘playthings’.



Divya Dutta is very much in love with Aftab, and nurtures the dream of marrying him, like a lot of other girls out there. But when they discover that Aftab had been cheating on them, they thrash him, and he dies with the last strike, at the hands of Divya. At the ‘gates’, where for every other reason should have gone to hell, but as he had been a good man in all other respects, he is given a chance and sent back on earth as a woman.



Aftab wakes up in the form of Antara Mali, who goes around introducing herself Aftab’s stepsister. When Aftab is ‘transported’ in Anatara’s body, he discovers how a woman feels when men try to exploit her. But Ritesh Deshmukh is not like the other men, and treats Antara well. They end up having a one night stand, and Antara gets pregnant. How she tackles the problem is what the rest of the story is about.



Production values are good, and John Wilmor’s cinematography is up to the mark. Nitin Raikwar’s music suits the film. Though the film has amusing sequences, but the comedy peters out when it is overdone. Performance-wise, Aftab Shivdasani is quite good in his brief role. Antara Mali is passable. Ritesh Deshmukh is okay. Divya Dutta impresses. Bharat Dabholkar and Ishrat Ali provide able support. As the director, debutant director duo Antara Mali and Satchit Puranik do a fair job. ... More ... Collapse

APAHARAN is bases on the business of the kidnapping industry, which is very much a part of the politicians, police and gangsters in Bihar. Ajay Devgan plays a medical representative working for an Ayurvedic company in Patna, who is in trouble as his products are not selling. He also competed for a job as a police sub-inspector, and had done well, but his job was at stake until he paid a bribe of five lakh rupees.



Ajay’s friend, played by Ayub Khan takes a loan from a gangster (Murali Sharma). Ajay’s father Mohan Agashe is a political activist, who raises voice against the widespread corruption in the police recruitment ways, due to which Ajay loses the job and also the loan of five lakh rupees.



Nana Patekar plays the role of a Muslim politician who commands great following in his community as he builds schools and cares for the poor. But on the darker side, he too is involved in making money from kidnapping and extortion.



Yashpal Sharma is the main henchman of Nana who operates from the jail, and Chetan Pandit is the Home minister who takes his cut from Nana. Murali demands his money and threatens Ajay. Having no choice, Ajay joins Nana’s gang to save his own skin, but loses out on his girlfriend (Bipasha Basu) when he takes up the life of crime. Mukesh Tiwari plays a committed S. P. But how far can he succeed against the system? Ajay grows rapidly in his stature as a gangster. But how far can he go?



Production values are appropriate. Arvind K.’s cinematography is competent. Jai Singh Nijjar’s action is very good, especially in the crowd sequences. It is a realistic film, based on the menace of kidnapping. The moral collapse of society when politicians and police are themselves supporting the criminals, and businessmen instead of going to the police to seek protection from the dons is well depicted. But the drawback is that the film looks like a documentary. The main characters and their relationships are not properly developed, and the dramatic and emotional contents look contrived.



Performance-wise, Ajay Devgan is good as usual. Nana Patekar is superb in a role which looks absolutely tailor made for him. Bipasha Basu is wasted. Mukesh Tiwari looks competent. Yashpal Sharma is remarkable. Mohan Agashe, Ayub Khan, Chetan Pandit, Ehsan Khan, Mukul Nag, Murali Sharma and Brij Gopal provide good support. As the director, Prakash Jha again shows his competence in making a socially relevant film. ... More ... Collapse

Never tried before, but this time around, we sure we got lucky with mind psychology. Well not too much, but with Home Delivery we got lucky with reading the director’s mind. So what exactly was he thinking? Well, he sure thought that throwing in a liberal dose of the southern siren Miss Maya’s (Mahima-what-was-I-thinking- Choudhary’s) Mallika-go-run-I’m going-to–give-you-a-run-for-your-money cleavage, the good old Boman Irani and his Santa beard and beer belly, Ayesha Takia’s tresses, adorable children singing in a choir, a serial killer, a spoof on industry veterans like Mithun Chakraborty and Hema Malini, God and his ‘signs’ and Vivek Oberoi with his ‘aint-I-just-so-cool’ attitude, oh! And a little bit of tears, love and indecision: and you have almost every plot/element/genre of Hindi movies covered. So obviously Sujoy thought that with Home Delivery there is something for everyone. So don’t like Mahima? Look at Ayesha. Don’t Like Ayesha look at Vivek Oberoi, not even him? How about a song on how pizza’s are made?! Oh! Not that too? Well, let me ask if Suniel Shetty and Karan Johar are free for one second each, at least your interest might flash through for that moment. But one fatal question the director forgot to ask himself, and his cast forgot to ask themselves and each other, was that what if the idea ‘still’ did not appeal? Aaah…there is where the downfall of the movie actually began. ‘What if’? The vital question of them all.



So what exactly is the movie about? We still haven’t figured out that, but we’ll tell you what we ‘thought’ the director was trying to say. Vivek Oberoi is Agony Aunt’s answer to the Times of Hindustan where he plays “Gyaan Guru” who as the term suggests has all the gyaan in the world, and he preaches off on issues ranging from love to zits to his readers, and has a live-in relationship with his ‘nani’! No, don’t jump out of you chair, the director has not lost it all together, here nani is ahem, Ayesha Takia, whom Vivek calls nani because of a little-improbable-explanation that is their names which are Jenny and Sunny, did you notice the common ‘nny’ in the end to each of their names? Well don’t roll your eyes to what we are saying, that is the explanation the director gave us! So yeah, for some reason like that, Nani is very much in love with Vivek and Vivek, well, sure he too loves her back, but maybe a little less (or so he thinks) He is a fella suffering from Freudian problems with his father, but Ayesha plays the resurrection link between the two. They stay on a floor where lives Mr. Sharma, an over hyper celibate man, a nuisance of a neighbour and below them lives an even bigger nuisance, who loves to dust his neck in thick layers of talc, and then croons away on his harmonium, with the intensity of shattering glasses every other night!



Amidst all this, Vivek is juggling his job (which he never goes for), writing a script for Karan Johar (who will for the rest of his life wonder what made him agree to his cameo performance) and a latest attraction that he finds when his path crosses Miss Maya’s (Mahima Choudhary) a southern star, who had been his fantasy ever since he can remember. Throw in a pizza delivery guy (Boman Irani) who ends up cooking gajar ka halwa when he comes in with his order, to confused sub plots, a serial killer with a-so-apparent-its-an-artificial nose stuck, (thankfully on his nose itself), and Diwali and children and lessons and realizations and don’t-ask-us-what-more and you have what they call Home Delivery. Sujoy Ghosh, if you were in a profession other than the movies, we suggest, you go back to it, Mahima, its time for an early retirement now and Vivek, what should we say? ... More ... Collapse

What do we say, yet another ‘inspired’ Hollywood flick this season with Ek Ajnabee taking off from the classic Man on Fire.

Out man, Amitabh Bachchan plays a retired colonel of the Indian Army, whose yesteryear subordinate was Arjun Rampal. In an operation

against terrorists, Amitabh had accidently killed two

children, and the event has left him with such a strong feeling of remorse, that he decided to leave the army and turned into an alcoholic.
<br /> Arjun also left the army and went to Bangkok. One fine day, Arjun calls Amitabh to Bangkok and asks him to take up the job of a bodyguard for industrialist Vikram Chatwal and Perizaad Zorabian's daughter, Rucha. Amitabh's main task is to protect the girl from kidnapping. Gradually Amitabh becomes very fond of the girl, and they two share a close bond. Just when everything seems to be going just right, kidnappers attack the young girl. Amitabh manages to kill four of the gang members, but he is left seriously wounded, and they manage to kidnap Rucha, demanding one million dollars as ransom. When the ransom is being delivered, police attacks. Kidnappers send the message that they have killed the girl. When he comes out of the hospital, Amitabh takes a vow that he will finish the gang of kidnappers. Does he succeed? And what is the real conspiracy behind kidnapping. The shock comes in the climax. Production values are very good. Guru Raj's cinematography is at par with international standards. Amar Mohile and Vishal-Shekhar's music sounds good. Though the film shows some promise in the beginning, but halfway it looks like a ‘routine’ action film. Performance-wise, Amitabh Bachchan shows his typical charisma, but he is not convincing as the bodyguard. Arjun Rampal is fair, though his role is not properly

developed. Perizaad Zorabian is okay in her limited role. Baby Rucha is superb, looking like a natural born actress. Kelly Dorji, Raj Zutshi, Akhilendra Mishra, Kripa Shankar and Vikram Chatwal provide able support. As the director, Apoorva Lakhia shows his technical skill with his stylish shot compositions. ... More ... Collapse