Break Ke Baad (2010)

We all know Bollywood gives us unrealistic expectations about men and Break Ke Baad makes those expectations rise to the sky. It’s a story about the ideal guy, Abhay (Imran Khan) who technically any girl wouldn’t leave no matter what happens. But here’s an exception; Aaliya (Deepika Padukone). Abhay and Aaliya are childhood friends and as they grow older together, they get into a relationship with each other. The two are shown to be complete opposites. Abhay has no goal in life whereas Aaliya is highly ambitious and aspires to be an actress. The story moves on when these two decide to give their relationship a break after Aaliya makes a decision to move to Australia to pursue her career.

However, since Abhay is the perfect guy, he follows her to Australia and makes her believe she loves him to the extent that she’s ready to leave everything for him after feeling nostalgic and lonely for a while. Clearly, the major flaw in the story is the switching on and off in their relationship, which hasn’t been portrayed convincingly either.

The film still works on some accounts though. And the reason is that you just can’t help falling in love with Abhay and Aaliya; Abhay because he is so tolerant, kind, wise, loyal and good in general and Aaliya because she is fun, crazy, bold, ambitious and determined. The actors have done a great job. Both Deepika and Imran look perfect for their respective roles. Deepika seems real in the crazy girl role who flies to a completely new territory to chase her dreams and follow her passions. Imran too is apt for the role of a patient man who isn’t afraid of commitment and has great confidence in his love.

Also, the concept is fresh considering Bollywood hadn’t yet explored the issue of space in relationships. However, the execution of this issue hasn’t been very unique in Break Ke Baad, which makes it look clichéd in parts and reminds the viewers of similar movies. Moreover, the name itself gives away the farm (a couple breaks up and gets together again because, guess what? It’s Bollywood and they have to end up together).

Halfway through, the movie becomes sluggish and it seems like it’s going nowhere but the witty banter between the protagonists does fill in the gaps to a certain extent. Scenes like the one where Deepika insists on calling herself Shah Rukh and oscillates between Gulati, Julati and Gelatto when it comes to referring to her boyfriend put a smile on the viewer’s face and make the movie interesting as a whole.

A major flaw in Break Ke Baad is that of locations. Half of the film should be in Australia but they haven’t shown any popular Australian locales that could prove that! Whoever thought that setting three quarters of the film in Australia, but actually shooting those scenes in Mauritius, was a good idea, deserves to be locked in a room and never allowed to come out and make films.

Today’s audience is very intelligent and directors should realize that. Especially when filmmakers like Karan Johar have made Bollywood films so international, nobody is going to be fooled by a couple of Aussie props and a few poorly dubbed ‘Australian’ extras.

The music is fresh and fun. Vishal Shekhar have done a great job and a few songs like ‘Dooriyan Hainn Zaroori’ and ‘Dhoop Ke Makan’, which are both beautiful and melodious songs, take the narrative forward. Debutant director, Danish Aslam has done a fairly good job but he hasn’t shown us anything that we haven’t seen in romantic comedies and light hearted films before.

But if we forget these intricacies for a while, Break Ke Baad is simply a movie which teaches you that love never fades away. And if two people are meant to be together they will be regardless of what happens or how many distances are between them. It also teaches that at times in life, distances bring people closer and if they don’t that means the two weren’t meant to be. So the next time you think a relationship is taking its toll on your life, try taking a break and as Aaliya puts it a break does not always mean a break up! – Hafsah Sarfraz

Rating – 3 out of 5

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Romance/Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer –Kunal Kohli, Director – Danish Aslam, Music Director – Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Cast - Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore, Shahana Goswami, Yudishtir Urs, Navin Nischol, Lillete Dubey

I Hate Luv Storys (2010)

I Hate Luv Storys is the latest ideal candy floss offering for the young generation with scenes thrown in from Bollywood classics like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayen Gay, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Chahta Hai, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and the likes. The plot of the film is simple and clichéd; Imran Khan as Jay [mind you it's pronounced J not Jai and is quite the "it" name in Bollywood these days; remember Hrithik in Kites] is a playboy who does not believe in love and sappy love stories but is working as a set designer with one of the biggest filmmakers of Indian cinema, Veer Kapoor. He is an extremely messed up and laid back man, who comes to work late, drinks before work and trashes women. Loyalty is just not his cup of tea.

On the other hand, Simran [Sonam Kapoor] is a hopeless romantic who thinks her own life is no less than a perfect love story. She is organized, disciplined, and extremely professional and in short, the exact opposite of Jay. With an ideal job and a perfect fiancé, Raj Dholakia [see, the name's filmy too] played by Sameer Dattani she has no idea how her life’s going to change when she starts working with Jay! As predictable as it might sound, conflicts occur between the two but eventually they become friends and Simran falls in love with Mr Wrong [Jay] forgetting about her perfect Mr Right. Jay rejects her giving her no option but to return back to Mr Right.

Clearly the plot has been done way too many times in the Indian cinema; the film is full of clichés and you experience the feeling of déjà vu several times but there’s something in the film that makes the audiences love it. The actors have done a superb job. Imran Khan fits the role ideally and plays it even more perfectly with such apparent ease that it makes his acting look very natural. However, he still needs to learn how to cry, or act so! His emotions and body language are commendable. Imran’s facial expressions added a lot of life to his acting and a fun element to the character.

Sonam plays her age and that’s one of the reasons she seems apt for the role. She has improved greatly if you compare her acting in I Hate Luv Storys with her previous roles. She also looks beautiful and very stylish throughout the film. Imran and Sonam absolutely complement each other and can be a promising jori for future Bollywood movies.

The costumes are done by Manish Malhotra and Sonam’s dresses are beautiful. She has carried off those clothes very well too. The contemporary stylish girl avatar really suits her. Various characters wear tees with witty statements and graffiti which are really unique, funky and make you laugh. Such small things show how much effort has been put into a film.

Kevin Dave who plays the role of Imran’s best friend is hilarious. Sameer Dattani delivers his dialogues in an extremely monotonous tone but then his role was of a boring boyfriend so we can’t really criticize him. Aamir Ali who is performing the role of the actor is another worthy mention and Bruna Abdullah is great eye candy in the film.

Even though the content is not fresh at all, the dialogues and one-liners are still witty and sarcastic. There’s so much fun in the film that you will spend half your time laughing without bothering about where the story is going. However, the first half of the movie is slow in terms of the plot; a little more editing would have made it better. Debutant director Punit Malhotra’s (in case you are wondering, yes he is related to Manish Malhotra) writing could have been much better considering the amount of resources he had. Throughout the film, he talks about Bollywood’s clichéd love stories but then makes another himself. Maybe he could learn doing parodies while giving tribute to Bollywood from Farah Khan as she did in Om Shanti Om. Speaking of Farah Khan, she was terribly missed during the dance on the title track. The song was perfect, the kind that makes you want to tap your feet as soon as it is played but justice wasn’t done to its choreography at all! Or maybe it’s just that pappu (really) can’t dance!

I Hate Luv Storys also teaches that at times one needs to let go and have fun in life and that perfect does not always mean happy! It teaches that Mr. Right will not necessarily bring happiness to your life and at times happiness and fun is with Mr. Wrong. [I so hope mum's not reading this].

Despite the lack of a strong story, the crowd at the cinema cheered and clapped at a number of scenes. There’s no denying that the target audience of teens and young adults will surely enjoy it – Hafsah Sarfraz

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Comedy/Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Ronnie Screwvala, Director – Punit Malhotra, Music Director – Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Cast - Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Sammir Dattani, Sameer Soni, Kavin Dave, Khusboo Shroff, Bruna Abdullah, Pooja Ghai, Ketaki Dave, Anju Mahendru, Shirish Sharma, Aamir Ali

Luck (2009)

If there’s one thing that writer-director Soham Shah got right, it was to name his film in the hope that like some magical charm it would transfuse the power from its name onto the object itself. Luck is precisely what he needs to make this venture work. Half-baked characters in a half-baked plot with lots of daredevil stunts make for a good AXN reality show but hardly ever for Bollywood filmi success. Particularly for a movie whose central theme revolves around renting people’s luck (and a nauseating overuse of the word luck). Or maybe Shah presumed that since Luck was releasing at the time when Transformers fever is raging high, he could ride on the same wave and lots of stunts, jumping of cliffs and catapulting through the air, could garner him the same kind of glory and fame. Dead wrong. Worse though is the fact that it’s been shamelessly plagiarized (not that its Bollywood’s first time at that) from an acclaimed French Georgian film Tzameti.

Luck takes the form of tiny vignettes with the first half of the movie serving as a short intro to all the characters: Ram (Imran), Ayesha (Shruti), Major (Mithun) – and two most interesting condiments in this otherwise vapid offering: Shortcut (Chitrashi Rawat) and Raghav (Ravi Kishen) and their respective place in the movie: i.e. how they all become pawns in this scheming death trap of a betting game orchestrated by the infallible Moosa (Sanjay Dutt) whose mad psychotic fixation with playing with people in the most inhumane bizarre way and simultaneously generate billions propels the movie.

In the last few years it seems that Sanjay Dutt has been permanently cast in the ghunda/bhai log stone, and true to form, he plays the Muslim godfather even in Luck. As he’s growing older Sanjay’s roles are either variations of the badmash or sequels of Munna Bhais (which is just a comic loveable don so not much difference there).

Mithun Chakraborty though, an actor known for his sleazy 1980s films, cringing pelvic thrusts and ludicrous action sequences in his youth, has been garnering small but respectable and dignified roles with age. He certainly embodies the adage of aging gracefully by delivering poignant performances each time: whether it’s his role as a principled editor in Guru or the valiant soldier in Luck its good to see Mithun-da back on the silver screen creating a legacy.

Speaking of legacies though, the veteran theatre and film South Indian actor Kamal Hassan’s rock star daughter, Shruti pulled a discreditable Megan Fox in her debut with Luck. With genes like hers, one expects a solid performance and an acute sense of scanning out powerful scripts. Shruti disappoints on both accounts; stilted dialogues albeit with great chemistry with Imran cannot generate enough heat to sustain her character (or lack thereof) or the film. As for Imran, he clearly must have been on loggerheads with dearest mamoo-jan Aamir Khan on this one.

All said and done though, action films are fun to do and watch if you are into stunts and dare devil acrobatics, so it is understandable why the cast of Luck signed up for it. Very few Bollywood movies, even at this mature stage in the Indian film industry have a decent plot so one cannot really discredit Luck on that account. Yet as many Indian film critics have also noted, Luck doesn’t offer anything new to a generation that is addicted to high tech video games and action reality shows. How the film does at the box office will certainly test the combined luck of all the cast and crew concerned – Hani Taha Salim (Rating – 2 OUT OF 5)

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Action, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Dhilin Mehta, Director – Soham Shah, Music Director – Sulaiman Merchant, Salim Merchant, Cast – Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Shruti Haasan, Danny Denzongpa, Ravi Kishan, Chitrashi Rawat