Hindi Movie : Blue 2009

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt

, Lara Dutt, Zayed Khan, Katrina Kaif

Director : Anthony D’Souza

Musician : A R Rahman

A treasure lays buried deep at the bottom of an ocean. There are many people who want to get there by risking life, be it theirs or someone else’s.

‘Blue’ is touted as Bollywood’s first underwater, action adventure thriller. Directed by Anthony D’Souza , the movie is inspired from Hollywood flicks like ‘The Deep’ or ‘Jaws’, but it is not a copy.

The film is about a lost treasure, which three friends try to find undersea. Akshay Kumar , Sanjay Dutt and Zayed Khan play the respective roles.

Hans Raj Hans - Chorni

Jasbir jassi - Nishani pyaar di

Agyaat Stills (A Ram Gopal Varma Movie)

Movie Previews

NewYork Review

New York opens around 7 years after the 9/11 attacks with Omar (Neil Mukesh) being wrongly held captive by the FBI. Investigating officer Roshan (Irrfan Khan) offers to go easy on Omar if he agrees to spy on old-time friend Sameer (John Abraham) who the FBI suspects to be a terrorist. With a maneuvered reunion, Omar gets entry into Sameer’s house and tries hard to unveil his activist identity but fails every time, much to his relief.

In contrast, Sameer himself narrates his distressing past to Omar of how he was illegally detained and brutally tortured by the FBI for 9 months, immediately after 9/11 and victimized for being a Muslim suspect in New York.

New York opens on an intriguing note with Omar’s attempts to infiltrate into Sameer’s life. The ensuing chemistry between the characters keeps you riveted till the movie takes an interesting (though palpable) twist at the interval point. The terrorism theme comes into picture predominantly in the second half. The physical and mental abuse on innocent Muslims, imprisoned merely on suspicion and their consequent repercussions are effectively portrayed.

But beyond that Aditya Chopra’s story doesn’t work towards the rehabilitation of the disturbed mind that has taken to the wrong path. In a way, the film turns the villain into more of an antihero imparting him no character change. Above that the commonplace climax where the FBI headquarters is held as the terrorist target doesn’t go beyond Fanaa frontiers. The terrorist is terminated but the topic of terrorism it tackles keeps long lingering. The message doesn’t come across compellingly and perhaps that’s why the director preaches with an extended epilogue.

All the three lead protagonists of New York are Muslims affected by the 9/11 episode in varied ways and to different degrees. Sameer turns a scapegoat of the situation; Omar’s identity gets him in trouble, while Roshan’s character (a Muslim investigating on terrorism) offers that ray of hope prevailing amidst discriminating humankind. Unfortunately the scope it had to represent the contrast of the characters isn’t used as distinctly and effectively like in the Pakistani film Khuda Kay Liye with similar concerns.

The issue of global terrorism somewhere goes for a toss with the film turning into a human emotion drama. As the victim is released from prison and his atrocities are still fresh in your mind, the intensity of his trauma is diluted with a love song stuffed in. The couple further goes on to make love and start a family. More mush comes into picture as Omar confesses his campus feelings to the married Maya (Katrina Kaif) amidst the pre-climax mayhem. Thankfully the traditional Yash Raj triangle is averted. The side-track of a frustrated Muslim driver (Nawazuddin) committing suicide doesn’t contribute to the plot and could have been avoided.

John does well in his frail characterization which could have been much more convincing, intense and effective. Neil looks rehearsed in some scenes but doesn’t disappoint. Irrfan Khan never misses any punch in his lines and is as expressive as ever. Katrina Kaif doesn’t get the meatier portion and contributes to the sloppy effect.

As the last frame closes amidst the Yash Raj mascot of maple leaves, you just wish the film had a lot more grit, the characters had a lot more depth and the treatment had a lot more sensitivity. Alas New York fails to break new grounds on that note.

‘Agyaat’ - Ram Gopal Verma all set to scare viewers with a horror thriller

Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma is all set to scare the audience with his latest horror thriller ‘Agyaat’.

The unknown element that starts killing the crew members who go to the forest for a shoot and get caught there, is what Verma tries to bring forth in the film.

Verma tries to create horror and mystery by not showing the killer and hence named the film ‘Agyaat’.

“I wanted to call it ‘Agyaat’ because it’s unknown. We don’t get to see what is it, which is killing, and what is it, which is after them. The point is that it is unknown. So, I just wanted to profound sound to the concept of unknown. That’s the reason, I call it ‘Agyaat’,” he said.

According to Verma, the uniqueness of the film lies in the fact that unlike other horror films, where one can see the killer, in ‘Agyaat’, there is no trace of the killer.

Verma made use of innovative camera techniques to bring out the element of unknown, which is integral to the film.

Verma, who has been credited with giving Bollywood some of its gangster and horror films, says he only tries to bring out an interesting story.

“As a film maker, my job is to tell a story interestingly. I mean, if I make a film on gangster, I don’t need to be a gangster; I don’t need to believe in underworld for that.

Eventually, I’m capturing a given story which is interesting and entertaining and use the medium to do it as effectively as I can,” said Verma.

Inspired by Hollywood, the film has elements from Predator, Alien, Anaconda and Blair Witch Project.

‘Agyaat’ will hit the cinema halls on July 24. (ANI)