Darling.......... hard too classify !!!

Esha Deol ....... Gita Menon

Fardeen Khan .... Aditya Soman

Isha Koppikar ... Ashvini
Director : Ram Gopal Varma

Darling’ is not exactly a horror film. Besides the spooky angle, the movie has ample moments of light humour. But it is the unpredictability element in the story that makes the movie watchable.
It wasn’t with many expectations that I went to see this film. The horror of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag still haunts me. But Ramu, being a man who can even prove himself wrong, surprises yet again with this week’s release ‘Darling’.
It is hard to classify ‘Darling’ in any genre. It is neither a horror movie, nor a comedy nor a love triangle. Yet, in an eerie way, the movie is all of these. It has a comic track that begins in the first half and returns again in the second half. In between, there is an accidental murder followed by some spooky horror. Completing the pot-pourri is the customary song-and-dance, with Nisha Kothari adding the glamour quotient.
Fardeen Khan , Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar play the main characters in the story.
Aditya (Fardeen) is happily married to Ashwini (Isha Koppikar) and has a son from her. Yet, at his office he has a secret affair with his gorgeous secretary Geeta (Esha Deol).
Aditya lusts for Geeta and soon manages to bed her. As he enjoys the best of both worlds, Aditya maintains a fine balance between Ashwini and Geeta through well-crafted lies.
But then things go awry. He accidentally kills Geeta. And the unsatisfied lover returns as a ghost to haunt Aditya. Everywhere he goes, he finds her – underneath his office desk, and in his bedroom. And he is the only one who can see and hear her.
Ram Gopal Varma maintains an unpredictability factor throughout the film. The horror in the film isn’t gory or macabre. But yes, it does hit you at times, making your heart skip a beat now and then. And all credit for this should go to Esha Deol.
Esha really looks convincing in her part as the ghost of the dead mistress. Her brooding expressions, her steely glances and her ruffled hair give her an air of an apparition. She is superb in the sequence when she appears besides Fardeen and Isha in bedroom when they are about to make love.
Fardeen Khan acts well but his dialogue delivery is very mechanical. His diction is flat and has little modulation to express thoughts and emotions. Yet, Fardeen digs his teeth well into his complex character and brings out his many shades (from philandering to phobic).
Isha Koppikar is somewhat marginalized but she enacts her part of a middle-class wife with conviction.
The film’s music is pretty average. Tadap Tadap and Aa Khushi are the two songs that stand out. Varma doesn’t rely too heavily on background score to create a shocking effect. Rather he uses camera angles to build an eerie atmosphere on the screen.
‘Darling’ works because all its ingredients fall into right places.

Strangers

Starring

Jimmy Shergill .... Rahul
Kay Kay Menon .... Sanjiv Rai
Sonali Kulkarni .... Nandini
Nandana Sen .... Preity

Inspiration from a Hollywood classic apart, director Aanand Rai’s film ‘Strangers’ is a fairly engrossing thriller with a riveting denouement.
Only in parts does the film remind of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Strangers On A Train’. Mostly, Rai’s film chugs on a slightly different track and has a thrilling departure from the original after the two strangers in the story decide to become stranglers.
The movie follows a non-linear narrative approach – its story flits back and forth. In the very beginning the film catches you off-guard with the arrest of one of the protagonists for murder. From there on the story is developed at different reference points and the dots are connected in the last 30 minutes of this thriller.
Two strangers share their life-stories while traveling together on a train in England.
Sanjiv Rai ( Kay Kay Menon ) is a businessman and a frustrated husband who feels tethered to a depressed wife ( Sonali Kulkarni ) who keeps ruminating over the death of their only son. Rahul ( Jimmy Shergill ) is a failed writer whose marriage with his gorgeous wife ( Nandana Sen ) is on the rocks over the issue of having a baby.
Both the men are harried and tired of their wives and want to get rid of them. That is when one of them tosses an idea: they should kill each other’s wives. In this way the finger of suspicion would not point at them.
What follows from then on makes for an interesting watch.
Director Aanand Rai deserves credit for maintaining a tight grip over the movie’s pace and direction. ‘Strangers’ has a very Hollywoodish look, and a lion’s share of credit for this should go to the cinematographer (Manoj Gupta) and the editor (Sanjay Sankla).
Another good thing about the film is that its story is told in such a way that your interest does not wane throughout the film’s running time. The most gripping, rather riveting, are the last 30 minutes. The finale leaves you with your jaw dropped in surprise.
‘Strangers’ features good performances from its starcast. Kay Kay Menon, dependable as ever, brings about an interesting mix of suave and sinister in his character. Jimmy Shergill holds his place with flamboyance and maturity, playing a troubled and suspicious husband.
Nandana Sen looks gorgeous in a role that doesn’t put huge demands on her acting skills. Sonali Kulkarni has a small role but still she leaves an impression with her simmering intensity.
‘Strangers’ is one of those less-publicized films that catch you by surprise. In all likelihood, box-office will find few takers for this film. But if you are a lover of thrillers, you will enjoy the time and money spent on ‘Strangers’. Just don’t go expecting the moon.

Jodhaa Akbar

Starring
Aishwarya Rai .... Jodha Bai
Hrithik Roshan .... Akbar
Kulbhushan Kharbanda .... Raja
Bharmal Sonu Sood .... Sujamal
Ila Arun .... Maham Anga
Director : Ashutosh Gowarikar
Lyricist : Javed Akhtar
Musician : A R Rahman
Music Album : Jodhaa Akbar

Jodhaa Akbar is a brilliant work of cinematic excellence. Period

Ashutosh Gowariker goes two more centuries back from his Lagaan era to deliver another magnificent masterpiece by weaving a gripping narrative around the Mughal Emperor Akbar and Rajput Princess Jodhaa. The beautifully recreated 15th Century period doesn’t give any scope at pointing fingers and perfectionist too might feel it pointless to debate on historical facts, especially when the final output is conveniently convincing and equally entertaining.
The film expectedly starts with the mandatory prologue in Amitabh Bachchan’s voiceover on India being intruded since the advent of 11th Century and the Mughals arriving in five hundred years later. Clearly the Mughal invaders are shown in a positive light since they settled in India. And thereon emerges the third generation Mughal Prince Jallaluddin Mohammad (Hrithik Roshan) who grows up as a ruthless warrior and brave ruler but simultaneously possessing a heart of gold and a clean conscience. Right from the outset his character is established in heroic conduct which doesn’t seek any transformation of sorts. So the story gets ample scope to focus on his love with Jodhaa.
The Mughals strategize war with neighbouring Rajput kingdoms whereby Rajput King Bharmal (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) plans a peace treaty with Mughal by a marriage proposition of Jallaludin with his daughter Jodhaa (Aishwarya Rai). The alliance initiates love between the two but war with the remainder Rajputs. Both at the audience’s advantage! That’s the simplest you could summarize the three-hour plus script.
Ashutosh has a skillful sense of vision and connects with the viewer with equivalent ease. The well-etched screenplay (co-written by Gowariker and Hyder Ali) maintains a perfect poise between historical relevance and contemporary entertainment. The film at no point becomes a lesson from history textbooks and at the same time doesn’t take prose liberty either. Special mention should be given to the meticulous effort put in by K P Saxena in penning dialogues in chaste Hindi and unblemished Urdu dialect that re-erect the bygone era and in unison is also easily assimilative to the current generation.
Right from the opening war sequence the film sets the ball rolling for an engrossing series of events to follow. Despite its long runtime, the film doesn’t drag at any instance and uses the blitzkrieg technique of nonstop bombardments of episodes in its narration. Hrithik’s taming of the elephant, swordfight with Aishwarya, dagger-combat in the climax and the magnanimously mounted battlefield sequences are some of the spectacularly executed scenes of this glorious effort. The minute detailing in Kiran Deohans’ cinematography, Nitin Desai’s production design, Neeta Lulla’s costumes, Ravi Dewan’s action and A R Rehman’s background score is superlative, to say the least.
On the flipside, the first 20 minutes of the second half tends to get a little slack with Akbar’s attempts at gelling with his junta. The love duet in the latter reels acts as a dampner. Sonu Sood’s death sequence turns out to be conveniently clichéd and the final fight is fashionably filmi.
With the entire movie revolving around Akbar, Hrithik has all in his favour and does complete justice to what he gets. One cannot think of a better Akbar as Hrithik effortlessly gets into his character, which the audience can easily identify with. Aishwarya appears as the ethereal beauty and does well. Sonu Sood has a conventional character but plays persuasively. Nikiten Dheer promises good potential. Ila Arun is impressive as the vicious foster-mother. But why does Poonam Sinha bear an accent? Other members of the cast are pretty convincing.
Aishwarya and Hrithik bring to life the splendid chemistry between Jodhaa and Akbar as it is delicately simmered amidst a political backdrop. While the romance doesn’t get mushy, the action doesn’t get too heavy. The film very smoothly switches genres from a war drama to a love story with no palpable jolts.
Everything is not just fair in ‘love and war’. It’s fabulous!