Zeenews Bureau

Bollywood has seldom come with a film based on the trials and tribulations of the common man. Given the fact that cinema is the reflection of society, the anti-corruption wave led by Gandhian Anna Hazare made some filmmakers realize their greater role in society, who have decided to come out with films that both entertain and send across a strong message to society. Director Rumy Jafry is one such filmmaker whose film deals with the dilemma of the common man. Starring Akshaye Khanna, Shriya Saran, Mugdha Godse, Satish Kaushik and Annu Kapoor, 'Gali Gali Chor Hai' is a light-hearted yet realistic take on everyman.

'Gali Gali Chor Hai' revolves around the life of Bharat (Akshaye Khanna), a bank cashier who plays part time Hanuman in the local Ram Leela. Happily married to Nisha (Shriya Saran), Bharat lives with his father Shivnarayan (Satish Kaushik). Things are fine until one day Bharat refuses to offer his home for political campaign of a local politician (Murli Sharma), whose younger brother (Amit Mistry) creates ruckus and gets Bharat embroiled in a controversy.

'Gali Gali Chor Hai' revolves around corruption and Bharat champions the cause of the common man, who takes up the cudgels to fight for justice. In the film, Hanuman becomes the metaphor and metonym of common man as Bharat takes on the corrupt system. The film highlights the dilemma of common man who is neck deep in corruption, frantically trying to seek justice. In 'Gali Gali Chor Hai', Akshaye has tremendous screen presence; he brings raw energy to his common man act which is instantly relatable. Akshaye is brilliant as Bharat and Shriya comes across as a demure beauty. Mugdha hardly gets any chance to show her acting talents. Veena Malik's item number looks out of place and at times gross.

There are a few digressions in the film when it tries to focus on dirty politics but it's the powerful performances and engaging storyline that brings life to 'Gali Gali Chor Hai'. The film champions the cause of common man in the middle-class milieu, something that makes it realistic and more relatable.

Ratings: Three cheers for this one!

Imran Khan's pictures of Kareena Kapoor from the sets of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu have been doing the rounds of the media for quite a while now. Even then, an exhibition of the images has been organised at a suburban Mumbai multiplex for general public viewing, in what seemed as a desperate attempt to promote the film. Some pictures are wonderful, agreed. But the question is, has Imran actually shot them all? The actor confessed at the inauguration of the show that he had some help from a certain Amin Ahuja, the still photographer on the sets. Imran said, "Some of the photos were taken on an iPhone, while some were taken on SLR cameras. Our on-set photographer Amin Ahuja was helping me out on all this. So I can't take all the credit."

Fair enough. Whoever may have taken the pictures, Imran's leading lady Kareena looks very pleased with him. Although she thinks Imran is a better actor than photographer, she'd prefer him taking her pictures rather than her to-be-husband, Saif Ali Khan! We asked Bebo if Saif had ever captured her on camera on the sets (they co-star in Agent Vinod and have done Kurbaan, Tashan and Omkara together), and she exclaimed, "No! Imran is the best and only photographer. I think it's the first time ever one of my co-stars has clicked beautiful pictures of me. So, thank you, Imran!" Touching? There's more – she even wants to take lessons from Immy (on photography, of course!). Looks like this young Khan has charmed the lady, as was visible from their interaction at the do. We do hope it translates on to good onscreen chemistry! We will find out on this Friday, when Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu releases ahead of Valentine's Day. Watch this website for a review! Meanwhile, take a look at some of the pictures clicked by Imran and tell us if you like 'em!

Photos: Yogen Shah and Imran Khan

Sunday, February 5th, 2012 9:02:06 by Muhammad Qasim Hassan

Bollywood Film Review: Agneepath

I recently got an opportunity to watch Karan Johar's revival of Agneepath, a project that was originally done by his father a couple of decades ago. While the original film had been a colossal flop, to say the least, the re-make of the film was nothing short
of an experience of a life-time.

During the course of the film, I pretty much experienced all sorts of emotions. Joy and sadness kept triggering a smile or a tiniest drop of tear. However, the most strong and prominent emotion that I felt was anger. This did not have anything to do with
the make of the film. Instead, it was attributed to some of the characters that Karan Johar and film-director Karan Malhotra had managed to present a bit too well. These characters included the Kancha, played by Sanjay Dutt, and Rauf Lala that was being played
by Rishi Kapoor.

If there were any images of Sanjay Dutt's "Munna Bhai MBBS" in my brain, his role of Kacha completely eradicated them from my mind. From the time he made his first appearance in the film to the time he made an exit, courtesy of Hrithik Roshan who was playing
the role of Vijay Deenanth Chauhan, originally played by Amitabh Bachan, the character of Kancha was disgusting in the sense that one could feel real hatred for him. His loathsome personality and lack of humanity depicted him as a demon. Unfortunately, Sanjay
Dutt's excellent portrayal of the character turned out to be a boon for him as the entire hatred that one felt for Kancha was unconsciously shifted to Sanjay Dutt. Even to this day, images of a bald-headed Sanjay Dutt keep flashing in my head, making me wish
I never get to set my sight on him again.

Another character that was extremely well done and as a result filled me up with fury was that of Rauf Lala's. If Kacha was loathsome, Rauf Lala was someone I felt like killing with my own hands without caring about the consequences. Being the underworld
king of Mumbai, Rauf Lala dealt not only in drugs but sold young girls to the highest bidders from around the world, majority of which were not-so-subtly shown as Muslims. Rishi Kapoor's role as a cuddly father in "Hum Tum" and "Namastay London" became but
a distant memory as he acted as a heartless and inhumane dealer of drugs and females.

The plot of the movie may not have been as strong as one would have liked, but Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor indeed took the movie to new heights. Rather than the good, it was evil that worked out wonders for this movie. The hero of the film
was indeed a strong character, but the impact made by the villains was indeed a show-stealer.

Related News:

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Short URL: http://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=11805

For Ali Zafar his musical reputation precedes his Bollywood journey. Though he has taken to the mike for his Bollywood projects, for London Paris New-York (LPNY) he has taken the responsibility of composing the tunes as well as penning the lyrics for the entire album, which is quite a feat. Does he manage to impress? We are about to find out.

In an earlier interview Ali confessed "I wanted to create sounds that are fresh and since the film touches on different emotions I could experiment with genres." So he's used Pop -Romance in London – Electronic Sufi in Paris – Blues-rap in New York, all blended in true Bollywood style. The LPNY soundtrack consists of 6 straight tracks, no remixes.

Title track "London, Paris, New York" is the quintessential descriptive song to capture the essence of the film. Playback by Ali Zafar and Sunidhi Chauhan, the track glimmers with a sunny disposition of simple music, melody and heartfelt lyrics. Starting with a plain piano tune, shifting slowly to guitar strums, to eventually Ali adding depth to the catch phrase, followed by an equally scintillating Sunidhi filling in, the track switches zones, moves from low to high pitch with amazing precision. Generous doses of Hindi-English mixed verses to suit the international set up of the film, it has jewels of lines that go 'Zindagi mein tum ho, ya tum mein zindagi hai bolo' (Are you living a life or is life within you?). Delectably groovy, it's a feel good song that will get your feet tapping and head bopping every single time you listen to it.

An upbeat, piano-dominated number, 'Voh Dekhnay Mein' is the cute bouncy number of the album. Ali sounds wonderful in this one, uses his smooth clear-cut voice with restrain to bring out the naughtiness and sincerity with equal enthusiasm. The teasing, playfulness of the words is impressive, and as cheesy as some of it sounds, 'Yeh gaana bhi toh usko paas laneka bahana hai') they are heartwarmingly real and catchy. The little interlude of choir thrown in for good effect lends winter sun warmth. You can expect this one to woo the music charts and stay right on top of them.

The acoustic female version of the same track 'Voh Dekhnay Mein' is nearly half the length of the original. Sung by Aditi, it's raw, supported simply by piano, no other accompanied instruments, and lacks the zest that Ali brings in with his version. With giggles and an extended 'oooohh' pitched in towards the end, it's charming in its sugar-coated way but not a very appealing, one-more-time sort of track.

On the list; next is Ting Rang to satiate the desi tastes with dhol beats, folk tunes, and Punjabi words. Owing to the od'ing of filmmakers on North India setups and desi tunes with 'Ainvayi', 'Nagada', 'Aahun Aahun', Ting Rang comes with a baggage of 'heard-before' déjà-vu feel. Fortunately again, Ali's vocals come to the rescue, and gives it a, if not winning but definitely distinct identity of its own. Though it doesn't have the trappings to make a presence on lists, it's sure to find a place among DJ's dance parties and clubs.

Thehree Si Zindagi has the leads taking to the mike and I can happily declare that despite Ali having the major portion, it's Aditi who over-shadows him and rules the track completely. The beautiful calm sugary texture of her voice uplifts the otherwise average lyrics. Additionally I would have loved to do away with the excessive use of the chorus 'who oh ohs' which continues in a high-pitched vein for longer than necessary

Next up Oo Lala is the surprise track of the album. What begins as a slow trance number, ends up being a strong club-dance track and much more. Ali brings on board Pakistani artists Sanam Marvi and Hadiqa to create a classical-influenced ode to liberation of the mind and doing what the heart wants. The rustic interlace from techno, sufi, back to techno is brilliant. The transition is clean and at no point does it feel like styles are out of place. Although it doesn't do much damage I would personally do away with the little rap part that comes across as unnecessary, but Ali's alaap that follows make up for it again

Straining of guitar strums, a faint echo of Ali's voice, you begin to believe that you're in for a soft gaazal ballad. One line into the song, Aaja shockingly changes track, dons on a mystique veil of sufiyana andaaz and turns into remixed version Bulle Shah's Bandeya (which was previously used in the movie 'Khuda ke liye). Clearly composed to suit the melancholy lover's separation part of the film, the track is an interesting fusion of traditional cum westernized funk, but is short, loud, interspersed vaguely through its 2&half minute running time and lacks repeat value. Unless you're a fan of the genre, skip this one.

Some great music; however a major remorse I had was that most songs, despite having scope, had minimum or repetitive lyrics. Gaps were either filled in by music or added chorus and left much to be desired. What adds endearing honesty to the album is that the playback for major part of it is is done by the leads Ali and Aditi themselves. This unfortunately could also prove to be a pitfull as for keen perfectionists there isn't too much voice variations in the album. How each is finally captured on screen will add bonus points to the appeal of this album. Nonetheless, Ali has stood true to his word of compiling an album with honest renditions of multiple genres. It definitely warrants a listen or two, even maybe on loop for some of it.

Our Rating: