Sunday, November 04, 2007

Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab We Met, No Smoking - Movie Reviews

Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab We Met, No Smoking - Movie Reviews

I watched Bhool Bhulaiya last weekend and the other two movies - Jab We Met and No Smoking this weekend. All were on pirated DVD. Here are my movie reviews of them.

bhool bhulaiyaa no smoking jab we met movie review film reviews bollywood hindi flickBhool Bhulaiyaa - 3/10 - (maze) A hard to believe comedy about a haunted house. The story is about an NRI Indian couple (Shiney Ahuja and Vidya Balan) who return to their ancestral home. This home just happens to be haunted by the spirit of a court dancer Manjulika - who was murdered by the Maharajah because she loved the court poet. The spooky happenings in the house lead the couple to call on a psychoanalyst friend (Akshay Kumar) to investigate. He proves that the lady of the house - Vidya Balan is suffering from a multiple personality disorder.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa is an ok passtime movie. Nothing great about it. Except for Shiney Ahuja, the rest of the cast sucked big time. The story was full of holes and made no sense. The ending was the worst - psychiatrists don't encourage madness in their patients, however Akshay Kumar's character did just that by challenging her to cut off the head of a plastic dummy.

bhool bhulaiyaa no smoking jab we met movie review film reviews bollywood hindi flickJab We Met - 8/10 - (when we met) - A refreshing romantic comedy. Kareena Kapoor is Geet - a very bubbly, talkative and spontaneous girl. Shahid Kapoor is Aditya - a quiet introverted guy who is unsuccessful in love and business. They meet on a train - Aditya is depressed and tries to jump of a train only to be stopped by the chatty Geet who is on her way to Bathinda, Punjab. They get stranded at a railway station, visit Bathinda and a few scenes later, Aditya ends up dropping her to Manali to be with her boyfriend Anshuman. Aditya returns to Mumbai with new zeal and changes his business from a losing company to a profit making enterprise. Later, when Geet's parents inform him that she has not returned home for nine months, he goes to Manali to look for her. She is depressed as she had been dumped by her boyfriend. She is working as a teacher and wants her old boyfriend back ....... However, the movie ends happily with them marrying each other.

The casting of Jab We Met was good, as both actors suited the roles given to them and did an amazing job - I liked the kiss at the end. The screenplay was refreshing and moved smoothly from one scene to the next. Songs, dances and costumes were superb. The direction and cinematography, especially the shots of Manali and Rajasthan were very beautiful. A fantastic movie, Jab We Met gets a big thumbs up from me.

As for the real life Kareena Kapoor - Shahid Kapoor split - It must be just a promotional gimmick for the film, doubt it's for real. Why would any gal leave a nice guy like 'Shahid' for a weirdo like 'Saif' ???

bhool bhulaiyaa no smoking jab we met movie review film reviews bollywood hindi flickNo Smoking - 7/10 - A 'hatke' film meant only for intellectuals. If you don't have a brain, don't bother watching this one. This film reminded me of films like 'The Matrix' and 'I Love Huckabees' - were there is a hidden world and meanings within the real world.

In No Smoking, John Abraham is 'K', a chain smoker who is persuaded by his wife to join a quit smoking programme. Ranvir Shorey plays his cockeyed friend (bhenga) who has given up smoking after joining a 'Prayogshala' (rehab center). When he enters the center, all hell breaks lose. He is made to sign a contract and a cheque of around 21 lakhs by Baba Bengali, the guru who runs the 'treatment programme'.

The treatment - If you smoke once - your asthmatic brother gets gassed by the smoke from every cigarette you have smoked. If you smoke again - two fingers are chopped off. If you smoke thrice - your wife will be abducted and autopsied. If you smoke a fourth time - your brother will be killed. Every incident from his life has been recorded on video. He is being watched all the time, so that if he smokes again he can be caught. The narrative of the movie keeps shifting from dreams to reality. The dreams are the unreal scenes where he is in Siberia and where his wife is his secretary. In the end, John Abraham ends up two fingers short - because he smoked only twice in reality.

The direction of No Smoking is good. However, this film is too sophisticated for Indian as well as Western audiences, so I doubt there will be many takers. John Abraham acts well and looks sexy in the bathtub. I am willing to bet many people have different perceptions of the story of the film. With the cryptic dialogue and symbolism of the film, things can mean different things to different people. What is your take on this film?

Have you watched Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab WeMet or No Smoking ??

9 comments:

  1. AK in that ghost movie looks great, I like him! A typical tall, dark and handsome Indian guy!:))
    Kareena is fun to watch in that movie,specially when she curses "Teri Maa ki! on the phone"!;D
    I don't like smoking film!!
    All these from watching 2 min snippets from B4U!!:D
    Happy Deepavali!

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  2. hi Vanakkam
    Bhool bulaiyas original is Manichitratazhu (1994)it had bben a great hit .But I didnt like the movie.I am planning to see Jab we Met
    Happy Diwali

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  3. Happy Diwali dear.

    Haven't seen any of these films, but I do really want to see 'No Smoking'.

    Cheers,
    Roshan

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  4. Thanks for the reviews!

    i have not seen any movie for 2 months.. but am waiting to catch Jb we met soon.. and hoping that we are able to c it non stop!

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  5. haha.. i saw photos of no smoking on yahoo india. thought that was anti-smokers campaign lol
    the story seems to be so interesting. thank you very much!!
    i dont know why, but im not attracted by abraham. salman khan looks more sexy no.

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  6. As usual, I haven't watched any of the movies.

    Thanks for the reviews!

    BTW, I suppose that if the split was meant only for publicity, a re-union would be in order by now, in order to keep the gossip mills running.

    :D

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  7. Bhool seems to be a remake of a hit malayalam movie. A national award winner that too. Wonder what went wrong here....Thanks Deepak for the spelling!! Not seen either of the movies

    Saw Om Shanti Om yesterday...superb movie...waiting for your ratings!! Happy Diwali

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  8. I agree with the BB and yet to see the rest
    Thanks for the reviwe
    Cheers

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  9. Bhool is a very well made movie even though its a remake. If you put yourself in Vidya Balan's place, you could speculate the changes that she goes through. And the ending was laid out to satisfy Manjulika's hatred for the evil king. Even the classical dance climax song was great. The ancient Indian culture is depicted so nicely here. Same goes for the Malayalam song. Shobana being a natural dancer has done well there and no wonder bagged the National Award.

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