Tanu Weds Manu Movie Review

The Times of India
Story:Manu (R Madhavan)is a sad and serious NRI doctor in London who comes looking for a bride in India. He flips for a sozzled small town girl, Tanu (Kangna Ranaut) who lives with her extended family in Kanpur. But there's a hitch. Tanu loves a goonda from Lucknow and threatens Manu with dire consequences if he doesn't say No to the wedding. Poor Manu! He not only says No but tries his best to get his dream girl marry her boyfriend.
Tanu Weds Manu is a striking sense of familiarity. It wasn't long before you saw Shahid Kapoor playing a similar sacrificial lover to Kareena Kapoor in Jab We Met. And like poor Kareena, who tries too sort out her confused emotions against the backdrop of the big fat Punjabi wedding, Tanu too must decide who is better husband material, first amidst the hustle bustle of her best friend's boisterous going-balle-balle baraat and then at her chaotic Kanpuria community haveli.
But the deja vu doesn't last long. For despite the predictable -and paper thin -storyline, the film manages to hook you with its sheer atmospherics. The director creates an extremely busy and colourful canvas brimming with characters who are anything but cardboard cut-outs. If Madhavan fleshes out a heart-tugging, oh-so-lonely and acutely desi NRI, winning you over with his shy smiles and well-mannered chutzpah, then Kangna Ranaut's wild cat rebel is endearing too. The Friends Inc also pitches in an inspired act with the groom's best buddies Deepak Dobriyal and Eijaz Khan adding fun and games to the raucous proceedings. On the bride's side, it is the spunky Payal (Swara Bhaskar) who infuses verve, even while emerging as Kangna's counsel and guide. As for Jimmy Sheirgill, must we reiterate: Give him a role, guys; he's good! In fact, the highpoint of Tanu weds Manu is not so much the confused romance between Madhavan and Kangana. Instead, it is the `bromance' (dosti-dushmani) between Madhavan and Jimmy that grabs eyeballs with its volcanic undercurrents, which alas, are too few and far between.
And then come the sundry cityscapes.... Tanu Weds Manu lives more through its psychedelic backdrop than its drama. The film maker along with his cinematographer (Chirantan Das) and music director (Krsna) captures mofussil India with all its bustling beauty. Kanpur, with its overriding chaos and its criss-cross alleys almost begins to breathe on screen, even as the great Indian family emerges as one helluva character in one more desi paean to the joint parivaar.
Fun while it lasts, Tanu Weds Manu throws up Bollywood's newest obsession -- small town girls and their gunas (values) -- once again. A meatier storyline and a less messed up climax would have worked wonders for the film.

Satrangee Parachute Movie Review

The Times of India
Story:Pappu(Siddhartha Sanghani),a precocious kid, wants to find a parachute for his visually impaired friend Kuhu. He sets out with a bunch of friends from Nainital to Mumbai in order to fulfil his mission. But Mumbai is murky city..Pappu and his buddies get embroiled with a gang of terrorists who are determined to create terror in the city with dubious parachutes.
Movie Review:If Iran can have it, why can't India have it too: a viable children's film movement. Why does the world's biggest film industry dish out the saddest kiddie films, week after week? Why can't Bollywood go the Hollywood way and treat children's film as hardcore, high market entertainment? Why must our film makers give the tween and teen film market a step motherly treatment.... Questions that need to be addressed urgently as the young viewers become more and more vociferous.
Sadly Satrangee Parachute fails to address any of these questions with its narrative that appeals neither to kids nor to adults. The storyline may be interesting and hold potential as a drama about a bunch of kids trying to blow up a terrorist plot. But its delineation is so serious, so tedious and so unfunny, it makes us adults fidgety. Can't imagine what it would do to an audi full of restless kids!

If the bachcha party lacks characteristic badmashi, then the adult cast looks totally confused. Both Jackie Shroff and Kay Kay Menon are clueless cops, while fine actors like Sanjay Mishra and Zakir Hussain haven't much to do. Please let's get less uptight about kids and start treating them as an intelligent and naturally bratty audience.

I'm Accountable to my Parents: Priyanka

 The Times of India
Her dark comedy 7 Khoon Maaf has under-performed at the box office, but Priyanka Chopra is confident it won't lose money as it was not a big budget film.
"We haven't really spent that much on it. No, it isn't an expensive film," said the 28-year-old who enjoys being one of the top actresses in Bollywood.
It wasn't easy for Priyanka to go through seven different looks and emotions in "7 Khoon Maaf", which is directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.On top of it there were all those stories about the intimate scenes with her leading men.
"After seeing the film, I've had people ask, 'Where is the kissing scene with John (Abraham), the love scene with Neil (Nitin Mukesh)?' Did I say there were love-making scenes? The one really lengthy bedroom sequence I have was with Irrfan (Khan) and that was done in a salwar-kameez. It was hardly pleasant. For the love-making sequence with Anu Kapoor, I wasn't even present on the sets," she said.
The near-seduction sequence with Vivaan Shah was also done with a body-double. And Priyanka selected the body!
"The bare back had to be that of a 50-year old woman. My back just wouldn't have worked. I was shown dozens of backs. I finally chose one that I thought would pass off one which I thought could be my back when I am 50. The hardest part of '7 Khoon Maaf' was ageing in front of the camera without props."
There was a lot of improvisation on location of "7 Khoon Maaf".
"That moment when I slap myself in front of the mirror? It wasn't even there in the script! I was supposed to break down in front of the mirror. I suggested I slap myself," said Priyanka, who is sure she cannot get into a role without preparation.
"I am doing 'Agneepath' and 'Barfee' back-to-back. I've set aside time for preparation. I expect a certain surprise element from myself in every role that I play," said the actress who wowed her fans with her performance in "Kaminey" and "Fashion". In fact, the latter fetched her first prestigious National Award.
The recent weeks have not been too easy on the former beauty,what with the income tax raid in her house and reports that Shahid Kapoor opened Priyanka's the door to the officials in his shorts.
Commenting on the incident, Priyanka said: "First of all, my maidservant opened the door for the officials. Yes, I did immediately call Shahid because he was the closest to me. My parents were in my other house.
"Shahid is my neighbour. He's five minutes away. He did come to help me out during the raid, as he would've for any other friend. But why would he be in his boxer shorts? I was very angry when I read this.
"The IT officials were very kind. But people who made up such stories were not too kind. I've parents whom I am accountable to when such stories come out,"she said.

Ranbir refuses to endorse fairness products

By Hindustan Times
Bollywood hunk Ranbir Kapoor reportedly said no to a lucrative offer to endorse fairness products. Ranbir was simply not interested in being the brand ambassador, as he does not believe in endorsing such products.
By not endorsing a product like a fairness cream, the actor wants to reiterate that such products only make racist stereotypes, which already exist in our society, grow stronger roots, reported Mumbai Mirror.
Kapoor boy has a huge fan following and knows they would blindly follow what the actor endorses. "Ranbir knows that there may be many who would end up blindly following what he does. He does not want to misguide anyone by saying that fairness creams 'improve your skin,'" a source told the tabloid.
Reportedly, the actor met up with the officials of the fairness brand, but he refused their offer immediately, simply because he felt so strongly against it.
Ranbir has certainly made an exception unlike other big actors who don't mind endorsing fairness products like Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone.
Well, this is one thing that has surely made Ranbir a "hero" in our eyes.

Akshay Kumar the Latest Superhero?

If Ajay Devgn can do it in Toonpur ka Super-hero and Shah Rukh Khan in Ra.One, Khatron ka Khiladi Akshay Kumar cannot be left far behind.
Akshay has been toying with idea of doing a super-hero film for a long time. "It's something that I've promised my son Aarav.
Not quite the Western model of a super-hero, but a super-hero more identifiable with our own culture," says Akshay.
Chuck gizmos and gadgets, Akshay wants the super-hero to be inspired by the Hindu mythological character Hanuman.
Reliable sources reveal that Akshay's super-hero epic would be part-mythological part-fantasy and Nikhil Advani will direct it.
Advani, with whom Akshay has collaborated on two projects in the past Chandni Chowk To China and the well-received Patiala House, said, "All I can say at the moment is that I'm going to cast Akshay as a full-on hero. He is the kind of guy that kids look up to as a protector.
He's complete super-hero material."
Says a source, "Akshay doesn't want to make his super-hero film a replica of Superman or Spiderman. He knows the original Hollywood super-heroes are now available in every Indian language including Bhojpuri.
He has asked his director to turn more to Hindu mythology for inspiration. The role-model for Akshay's super-hero would be Hanuman."
While the character is now being developed to accommodate Akshay's vision, the super-hero film would also mark the return of Akshay as a full-on action hero.
"He will perform a lot of his stunts himself. Somewhere down the line he began playing the goofy loser once too often. Son Aarav and wife Twinkle want him to play the super-hero," a source revealed.
"The idea is not to take on Hollywood on their terms but to work our way around their USPs," says Akshay sagely.

Cheryl Cole Ordered To Soften Accent

The 27 year old beauty who hails from Newcastle, North East England is set for a judging role on the new show but has been ordered by US network Fox to soften her strong regional accent and drop certain phrases that Stateside audiences won't understand.
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "If audiences and contestants can't understand her it is actually a regulatory offence.
"Cheryl will be told not to use the word 'babe' to describe a pretty girl.Other key words she's being taught include saying 'pants' and not 'trousers,'butt' not 'bum' and'cookies'not'biscuits'.
"They also want to clamp down on her saying 'pet' which literally means 'animal' in the States."
Cheryl who has been a judge on the UK version of the programme for three years - is thought to be working with Los Angeles voice coach Bob Corff, who has previously worked with Sharon Osbourne.
Though the judging panel for the new show has not yet been announced, it is believed that programme chief Simon Cowell is interested in offering a role to former singer Nicole Scherzinger after she impressed him when she filled in as a guest judge on the UK 'X Factor' last year.
Auditions are said to start in Los Angeles on March 27, before heading to Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York and Seattle.
The show is to offer a $5 million prize - the biggest ever offered on a TV show.

All About Shahid Kapoor