Goodbye Bollywood

Yup, this blog is coming to an end. It doesn't actually make sense blogging about Bollywood separately when I don't have the time and energy for it. But do catch up with my eclectic tastes at Toe Knee Unplugged

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - Ruchi Narain

Meet Ruchi Narain. The 30-something filmmaker, a protege of renowned director Sudhir Mishra, scooped up critical acclaim for her debut film Kal - Yesterday and Tomorrow. The Shiney Ahuja-Chitrangada Singh thriller picked up the critic's award at the 2005 Osian's Cinefan film festival, New Delhi.

Narain, who also co-wrote Mishra's Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Calcutta Mail, then disappeared from the Bollywood scene - ostensibly to take a break from four years of non-stop work since 'Hazaaron..'. But she kept herself busy by dabbling in music videos, ad films and documentaries.

Fans of this young filmmaker need not despair. Ruchi told Toe Knee Unplugged she's hard at work on three feature film scripts - a thriller, a love story and a romantic comedy - and promises it won't be too long a wait coz she's itching to make a feature film.

So, how has Ruchi spent her 'off' year?

"I directed the Indian Idol II video, a couple of ad films (one with John Abraham). But frankly, more exciting for me was to produce two wildlife documentaries directed by my sister Ashima."

The documentary 'In The Pink' (about flamingoes in Mumbai) was bought by Discovery, earning both sisters a shot at another documentary, this time 'The Last Dance' (about dancing bears). A different kind of world, eh?

"For me, this was a whole new world. Quite invigorating to see another 'kind' of life after being immersed in one's own films and imagination for so long."

Surprisingly, Ruchi is not writing mentor Sudhir Mishra's latest flick Khoya Khoya Chand which stars Shiney Ahuja (once again!) and Soha Ali Khan. But she's associated with the film as its Second Unit Director. And notice how Ruchi goes ga-ga over Soha's work.

"Soha is an absolutely brilliant, natural and sophisticated actor. She will floor everyone with this film not just with her acting ... she looks beautiful."

Since Khoya Khoya Chand is a love story in the backdrop of the Hindi film industry in the 1950-60s, Ruchi shot reel premieres for the film, including one set in Delhi's famous Regal cinema.

But even the magic of cinema fails when it comes to Ruchi's first love. The young director had the most fun shooting action scenes involving horses.

"Because in between takes, I'd jump onto one of the horses and take off for a quick ride"

More trouble for Shilpa on the home front

This time from Bollywood director Anubhav Sinha's wife Ratna who hasn't taken too kindly to Shilpa Shetty's friendship with her husband. Read more here

FULL COVERAGE (on this blog)
Shilpa Shetty's stint on Big Brother

The 'Guru' of all tales

Mani Ratnam's latest is no classic and yet it's great how he manages to make a biopic so interesting (Yes, I would certainly classify it as a biopic - the similarities to Dhirubhai Ambani's life are far too many to be just coincidental).

And so what if the protagonist succeeds using not-so-honest means. Today's audience is not naive enough to believe that a Gandhian approach will take people places in this day and age.

Abhishek Bachchan excels as Gurukant Desai - a role tailormade for him. But the surprise package of 'Guru' is Arya Babbar. The otherwise flop actor puts in an understated performance as Gurukant's righteous bro-in-law. Wish there had been more of him in the second half. But Arya disappears after a row with Gurukant and the director doesn't take the trouble of tying up this loose end.

There are several other good performances - Mithun Chakroborty, Aishwarya Rai, Madhavan, Vidya Balan. But the real winner is the script which is taut and never allows audience interest to flag.

Another plus is the music. People say A R Rahman's music in Guru didn't quite touch the heights of Dil Se or Rangeela. But when you watch the film, the songs just seem to blend in and help take the story forward. Even Mallika Sherawat's hummable cabaret number.

Rating: ****
Remarks: Abhishek's five-minute soliloquy in the courtroom sequence was a tad too melodramatic for my tastes but others seemed to love it

Salaam-e-Ishq: Snippety-snappety

Ya, ya - I've heard all about how long this movie is. But then a monumental epic never hurt anyone - as long as it's entertaining. Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq has all the right ingredients - an incredible cast, rocking music and six delightful stories about love. The Problem? When the theatrewallah gets into scissorhands mode, viewers are in for some trying times.

How did Anil Kapoor get his arm in a sling? Apparently, he fell down (a colleague informs me). But shouldn't I see it on screen instead of wondering why Kapoor is sling-free in one frame and sling-full in the next. Media reports suggest that Advani, bombarded with complaints of the film being unbearably long, decided to make a few cuts himself. Bad move cos there's nothing worse than bad editing.

Anyway, that's not the only problem. Advani also has problems weaving in the six love stories together - the stitches are quite visible in some cases.

My favourite couple - Govinda and Shannon. The taxi-driver falling for an American was quite an original concept. Can't say the same for the Haryanvi combo of Sohail-Ishaa though. That track could have been safely edited out.

John Abraham and Vidya Balan have done some good work too and so have most of the others (including Priyanka Chopra). But Advani lacks the finesse of Karan Johar (who btw has a phone-in cameo in the film). In Johar's hands, Salaam-e-Ishq would have been gold. In his protege's hands, the film is not the blockbuster it could have been.

Rating: ***
Remarks: Watch out for Kailash Kher's Ya Rabba number. It left several in the audience teary-eyed and is easily the best song of the film.