Review - ‘Mr Singh Mrs Mehta’ is risqué yet refreshing

Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Love Sex aur Dhokha’ seems to have opened the floodgates of a risqué cinema in Bollywood, for Pravesh Bhardwaj’s ‘Mr Singh Mrs Mehta’ is woven around infidelity in marriage. Starring Prashant Narayanan, Naved Aslam, Aruna Shields and Lucy Hassan, ‘Mr Singh Mrs Mehta’ is the story of Mr Singh (Naved Aslman)

And Mrs Mehta’s (Lucy Hassan) extra-matrimonial affair that somehow draws Mrs Singh (Aruna Shields) and Mr Mehta (Prashant Narayanan) together, with both seeking comfort and solace in each other’s company. The movie revolves around the complicated foursome relationship that borders on love and lust.

The film deals with infidelity with a certain deal of maturity without going over the top with cheap publicity, thrills and skin show. ‘Mr Singh Mrs Mehta’ deals with complex human characters, for instance, take Mr Mehta – an artist by profession.

Who loves spending quality time in his studio. He takes immense pleasure in his creativity, both in the making and destroying of his paintings. When he is done with that, he also loves going out on long drives. However, with the growing proximity of Mr Mehta and Mrs Singh, the former hardly takes any time in painting nudes of Mrs Singh with élan.

There is a strange ease in Mr Mehta and Mrs Singh’s illicit relationship, for it is based on the proximity generated by their victimization. Nevertheless, there is a hardly any difference between the good and bad. In terms of acting, Prashant Narayanan, Naved Aslam, Aruna Shields and Lucy Hassan are quite convincing when it comes to the execution of their respective characters. Above all, all four look totally comfortable in front of the camera.

Aruna Shields looks ravishingly hot despite her pixalated shots. Prashant brings in a lot of control and vulnerability in his portrayal of a painter and jilted husband. Sharang Dev and Ustad Shujat Hussain Khan’s background score perfectly blends with the film. ‘Mr Singh Mrs Mehta’ is at least worth a watch!

Rann Movie Review

Rann could’ve been a good film if it was technically sound, if the script did not have gaping holes, if the characters were well etched, if plot was well researched and if, on the whole the story was not so idealistically predictable. Rating: 2.5/5

Ram Gopal Verma’s Rann is all about a good media baron, who is the pillar of journalistic values and integrity, fighting the bad ones who sensationalize news at the expense of truth to fill their own pockets. What happens in the end? Well, the good guy Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh Bachchan), who has oft lost the TRP battle to his rival Amrish (Mohnish Behl), unearths the conspiracy between media and politics, delivers a smashing 8-minute soliloquy on integrity and social responsibility and voila! All’s well that ends well!

Like Madhur Bhandarkar, the only striking revelation Ram Gopal Verma makes through his film is – politics heavily influences media and misuses it and media people succumb to it because of their moral weakness. To throw in a bit of reality, they have peppered in a sting operation, and of course the RGV signature cinematography of dark and dingy frames, the lingering close-up shots and the haunting background score.

By the time all the characters are established you know exactly where the film is heading to, because every character is so flat and either black or white, that there is hardly anything left to expect out of the film.

Performances were good, Amitabh Bachchan deserves a pat on his back for pulling of the performance well, but it doesn’t seem any big deal for him to give performances like these. His character was so flat that he almost sleepwalks through it. We all know, at that age, with that experience and expertise, AB can definitely do much better in a well written role.

Rann could’ve been a good film if it was technically sound, if the script did not have gaping holes, if the characters were well etched, if plot was well researched and if, on the whole the story was not so idealistically predictable.

Can do better RGV! Keep trying!

Rating – 2.5/3

Veer Movie Review

Veer could be called a magnanimous, gigantic, collossal bore! Rating2.5/5

The story of Veer is set in the year 1857, where Veer(Salman Khan) plays a Pindari warrior who not only aims to win back his tribes lost glory but also their homeland from the claws of the evil king of Madhavgardh played by Jackie Shroff. In the process, Veer falls in love with beautiful Yashodhara who happens to be the deceitful kings daughter. Veer wins it all – glory and land of his tribe, avengesthe death of his tribesmen from the evil king, mows down an entire battalion of the British army, wins the hand of Princess, and emerges successful in lighting the fire of patriotism and revolution in the people of Madhavgardh, the Pindaris and hence the Indians.

Salman Khan has been credited for the story of the film Veer. Unfortunately, Salman’s story has a lot of loopholes, poor characterization, and disappointing treatment above all. The good thing about the story is that it bought to attention the legend of the Pindari Warriors who were wiped off in a campaign led by General Hastings. The sad thing about the story is that justice was not done to a good theme.

Now, leaving all the critical and technical aspects, for the average cinegoer – Veer has very little to offer. Salman as Veer has put in a lot of effort to get the look and feel of the character right. Full marks to him. Although sometimes the Gladiator-cum-Achilles warrior-look and costumes looked rather odd in the Indian context. Sohail Khan is reduced to mere loony side kick who annoys more than anything else. Zarine Khan looks pretty but plastic, I dont see why they chose her over Katrina when she can’t even speak her own dialogues in the film. Much hyped- Lisa Lazarus of UK, is also a forgettable face in the firang crowd of the film.

Some dialogues were too over-the-top, the regular jingoistic fare of Anil Sharma movies (Gadar, Here etc.), but public cheered to it in the cinema hall… surprisingly. Some action sequences also won applause like when Salman breaks a sword with one hand as if it was a cookie! On the love story remains another obscure domain of the film – visible but unclear!

So… Even if you consider this as a ‘epic love story of a warrior’ and not a ‘historical docu-drama’, I’d still say ‘Disappointing’. (Wish there was somebody to pay me to say this )

My Verdict: Strictly for Salman Khan fans! Others can avoid!

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