Namastey London

THE PINK BEE

THE BUZZ:

PROMISES FUN AND GAMES, PRETTY GIRL, HANDSOME BOY

THE TROUPE:

Akshay Kumar is an old khiladi. He has proved his hand at action, comedy and drama. Katerina Kaif is a pretty girl and manages not to get on your nerves. A good call for someone who is known more as an eye-candy and more for her hunky boyfriend than as an actress. Rishi Kapoor is again an old hand at convincing portrayals. He wowed us as the choclately young hero in Bobby etc and is now doing great job in ‘senior’ roles. Upen Patel is the eye candy for females. Look on girls and don’t expect serious histrionics here. The director, Vipul Amrutlal Shah has given us movies like Aankhen and Waqt – The race against time.

THE SHELL

East meets west, west realizes the superiority of east, west bows to east. Katerina is the pretty Londoner who is made to go back to India by her desi-at-heart father. Who should she find milking the cows in apna pind but Akshay Kumar who tries to convince her about the desi goodness. Full of ‘funjabi’ elements, with dependable Akshay the movie can do no wrong.

For a full list of credits check http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795434/fullcredits

THE FEEL:

With the word ‘Fun’ in the tagline and with no other movie in competition, Namastey London is all set to storm the box office. Moviegoers like Akshay and Katerina. All they want is that the movie be made well and have some funny situations. The college kids are running up the ticket sales in the weekday shows and the family/working crowd is doing the same at weekends.

THE SPIEL

Years ago when Manoj Kumar made Purab aur Paschim- he presented Saira Banu as an Indian-British girl, wearing tight fur lined micro minis with an atrocious blonde wig. She smoked cigarettes non-stop and blew humungous amounts of smoke. She also wore loads of eyeliner and pink lipstick. She was supposed to portray a ‘good’ girl who doesn’t know the Indian ways thanks to her British mother. It is left to Manoj Kumar to show her what being an Indian means, reducing the audience to clapping frenzy by chanting ‘bharat maa’ after every 10 seconds. Now Vipul Shah teams up with Akshay Kumar to do that all over again with a better dressed Katerina and lots more humor and lot less preaching.

The Namesake

THE BUZZ:

GOOD MOVIE, GOOD ACTING, GOOD STORY


THE THEME:

THE NAMESAKE comes to us with impressive credentials. Mira Nair has given us movies that entertain and provoke. Sooni Taraporevala is an acclaimed photographer and scriptwriter. Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel was well received. Tabu needs no introduction as a serious and accomplished actress. Likewise Irfan Khan always comes up an impressive performance. Kal Penn is the face of overseas Indian perpetually dealing with the angst of being an alien in a land where he was born and brought up. The character actors like Ruma Guha Thakurta, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Tanushree Shanker, are all names to reckon with.

THE SHELL

Born in the USA, bred of Bengali parents, torn between two cultures. That is the shell of the Namesake. Those who have read the novel will have a fair idea of what is to come.
Those who haven’t, can enjoy the surprise. Big names and the hat-ke movie will draw the discerning crowds to the cinema halls. Reviewers are expected to praise the movie. In all fairness, the movie is likely to be worthy of it.

For a full list of credits check http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433416/fullcredits

THE FEEL:

You are not likely to find houseful boards there just yet. But the sale might pick up. No rickshawallahs in the hall to whistle along with the proceedings. A MUST SEE FOR THE REGULAR MIDDLE CLASS UPWARD CROWD THAT HUNGER'S FOR GOOD DECENT MOVIES TO WATCH. Movies that are like movies and less like kitsch.


THE SPIEL:

When Bend it like Beckham released in India, it was a huge hit. The cinema hall was full of young college going crowd and several ‘families’. Their empathy with a dark skinned girl who just wants to play football and make out with her cute coach was total. The movie was ‘dil se’ and real. Ever since then, this crowd of filmgoers has been adopting wholeheartedly movies by Gurinder Chadda, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta which speak about the Indian diaspora, albeit on the celluloid.