In Theaters: January 31, 2014

5 Replies

Sadly, the Abhay Deol-Preeti Desai romcom One By Two isn’t opening in the Chicago area on Friday, January 31, 2014. That leaves local Bollywood fans with two options in theaters: Dhoom 3 and Jai Ho.

Jai Ho got off to a rocky start in U.S. theaters last weekend. Despite opening on more screens (195) than any previous Salman Khan film, it earned just $840,506 in the U.S. Its per-screen earnings of $4,310 are the lowest of any Khan film since Veer opened in January, 2010, with per-screen earnings of $3,637.

Jai Ho carries over for a second week at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville.

Dhoom 3 gets a seventh week at the South Barrington 30.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include Pandavulu Pandavulu Thummeda (Telugu) at the Muvico Rosemont 18 in Rosemont and Inga Enna Solluthu (Tamil) at the AMC Loews Streets of Woodfield 20 in Schaumburg. The Golf Glen 5 will carry Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali, Drishyam (Malayalam), Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal (Malayalam), Heart Attack (Telugu), and Rummy (Tamil).

Movie Review: Jai Ho (2014)

35 Replies

JaiHo0.5 Stars (out of 4)

Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

Jai Ho is as lazy and lacking in self-awareness as a movie can be. It ignores its own shallow grasp of morality to promote the message of every recent Salman Khan movie: the answer to government corruption is a single, violent man.

Just how shallow is the take on morality in Jai Ho, a remake of a Telugu movie (Stalin) based on a Hollywood movie (Pay It Forward)? The notion of “paying it forward” — you help three people, then they each help three more people, and so on — is developed by a middle schooler in the Hollywood version, and by a man in his late forties in Jai Ho.

Of course it’s good to do nice things for other people. But the characters in Jai Ho talk about it so damned much, it’s as though the filmmakers think they invented the idea. “Generosity and helpfulness can benefit individuals and society? Who knew? Write forty minutes of dialogue to belabor the point!”

The title character, Jai (Salman Khan), who’s apparently a professional doer-of-favors, following his expulsion from the army, tries to popularize the notion of “paying it forward.” Everything is fine until his mom tells him that some people may not wish to participate, and that he shouldn’t be disappointed by that.

Jai’s realization that his idea may not be universally embraced causes him to lose his mind. In a blind rage, he attacks a guy harassing a street urchin. The guy just happens to be connected to a corrupt politician who winds up trying to murder Jai’s family. The situation is resolved by Jai fighting dozens of guys single-handedly and Suniel Shetty plowing through traffic in a tank.

Let’s get this straight: Jai’s responds to learning that there are mean people in the world by going on a violent rampage, endangering his family and friends and any unfortunate motorists who get in the way of Suniel Shetty’s tank. Way to make the world a better place, Jai!

What’s even more depressing is that violence really is Jai’s only recourse to stop the corrupt bureaucrat, played by Danny Denzongpa. The only evidence of systemic political change as a result of Jai’s gory heroics is that another politician — played by Mohnish Bahl — decides to look the other way.

The movie relies on emotional pandering in place of solid storytelling. Producer-director Sohail Khan trots out disabled kids anytime he wants to bring the audience to tears and soldiers when he wants to stoke the fires of patriotism. Lest the audience fail to grasp the cinematic shorthand, there are musical cues and sound effects to let them know what emotions they are supposed to feel.

As with most of Salman Khan’s recent roles, his character’s only flaw at the beginning of the movie is that he doesn’t yet have a girlfriend. Daisy Shah is shoehorned into the story to fill the love interest role, even though she has nothing to do with the main plot. She’s never imperiled because of her relationship with Jai, she doesn’t partake in Jai’s do-gooder scheme, and she disappears during the climax.

There is exactly one good thing about Jai Ho, and that is Naman Jain as Jai’s young nephew, Kabir. He’s legitimately funny, and he’s by far the best actor in the bunch. Jai Ho should’ve made Kabir the main character, borrowing more from Pay It Forward and less from Stalin. That might’ve been a good movie.

Links

New Trailers: January 24, 2014

3 Replies

Lots of new trailers have come out in the last few days, but I haven’t yet posted the trailer for Gulaab Gang. It’s now available with English subtitles, so I finally understand the conflict between Madhuri Dixit-Nene’s community organizer character and Juhi Chawla’s politician. I’m looking forward to watching a movie with a good female villain when Gulaab Gang opens on March 7.

The other three recently released trailers are all for movies geared toward bros. None of the trailers have English subtitles, but it doesn’t matter. They’re all movies about bros doing bro stuff. All the flicks are set to release over the course of three weeks, by the end of which I expect my soul to be thoroughly crushed.

First up is O Teri, which looks like the worst of the lot. It’s a partial rip-off of Weekend at Bernie’s, and it features a character whose nickname is “A.I.D.S.” Please, cinema gods, don’t release this in U.S. theaters on March 21!

Dishkiyaoon is set to release the following week on March 28. It features more fighting than the other movies, for whatever that’s worth.

Bro Season comes to a close on April 4 with the release of Main Tera Hero. Varun Dhawan showed a lot of promise in Student of the Year, but I’m concerned by the amount of pelvic thrusting he does in this trailer and by the fact that his dad — David Dhawan — directs the movie.

So, what do we think? Any of these flicks pique your interest?

Opening January 24: Jai Ho

Leave a reply

It’s been over a year since we last saw Salman Khan on the big screen, but he returns to Chicago area cinemas on January 24, 2014, with Jai Ho. The premise sounds a lot like Pay It Forward, if Kevin Spacey had to beat the crap out of a bunch of guys.

Jai Ho opens on Friday at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Regal Gardens Stadium 1-6 in Skokie, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, AMC Loews Woodridge 18 in Woodridge, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 23 min.

Karle Pyaar Karle departs area theaters following one of the worst opening weekend performances I can remember. According to Bollywood Hungama, the movie earned $2,466 from twenty screens in the U.S., for an average of just $123 per screen. Holy cow, that’s bad. Theaters lost money on this dog.

Dedh Ishqiya gets a third week at the South Barrington 30, with earnings of $251,730 in the U.S. so far. The theater also carries over Dhoom 3 for a sixth weekend.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include 1: Nenokkadine (Telugu) at the Cinemark Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale, Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Woodridge, and the Golf Glen 5, which will also carry Drishyam (Malayalam), Oru Indian Pranayakatha (Malayalam), and Uyyala Jampala (Telugu).

Movie Review: Dedh Ishqiya (2014)

30 Replies

DedhIshqiya4 Stars (out of 4)

Buy or rent the movie at iTunes
Buy the DVD at Amazon
Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

There are times when the most appropriate review of a really good movie boils down to: “GO WATCH THIS MOVIE RIGHT NOW!” Dedh Ishqiya merits such praise.

Dedh Ishqiya combines many genres by being equal parts comedy, thriller, mystery, and romance, with a bit of action thrown in as well. The particular combination gives the movie its own unique flavor that builds on the tone of its predecessor, Ishqiya. Writer-director Abhishek Chaubey and his co-writer/producer, Vishal Bhardwaj, create a wonderful, distinct world for their two thieving protagonists: Khalu (Naseeruddin Shah) and his nephew, Babban (Arshad Warsi).

The events of the sequel pick up with the two crooks still in debt to Khalu’s brother-in-law, Mushtaq (Salman Shahid). The pair get separated during a jewel heist, until Babban discovers Khalu posing as a poet hoping to woo an aristocrat’s widow.

The lovely widow, Para (Madhuri Dixit-Nene), and her protective assistant, Muniya (Huma Qureshi), aim to find the widow a new husband via a poetry contest. Khalu’s main competitor is Jaan Mohammad (Vijay Raaz), a gangster desirous of a more respectable social position.

Khalu and Babban are great, dynamic characters. Babban’s lack of impulse control drives most of the laughs, while Khalu’s romantic nature causes problems in his professional life. Aspiring Romeos should study Shah’s performance for how to properly look like you’re in love with a woman. Stare at a woman the way Khalu stares at Para, and she’s yours.

Dixit-Nene and Qureshi get the meatier roles, both because their characters are new and because Khalu and Babban wear their hearts on their sleeves. The women are complex and intriguing, but not cagey. We want to know more, and they draw the audience in as easily as they do the thieves.

As mentioned above, Khalu and Para have wonderful chemistry. They both find themselves in a position to finally live for themselves, rather than on behalf of other people in their lives. At 46, Dixit-Nene would in reality be a very young widow, but she brings such grace and wisdom to the role that she gives the impression of being older than she looks.

The relationship between Babban and Muniya is more tumultuous and results in some entertaining gender-role reversals. Babban’s role as pursuer is short-lived, and Muniya quickly steers them into a physical relationship. Fearing that Muniya doesn’t share his romantic feelings, he worries that she thinks he’s nothing but a whore: an ironic twist, given his own fondness for prostitutes.

Raaz is perfectly sleazy as the wannabe aristocrat, though not so sinister as to detract from the movie’s humorous tone. Manoj Pahwa, who frequently plays broad comic characters, gets a more subdued role as a poet forced to aid the gangster. The payoff for Pahwa’s character is simply amazing.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s music is terrific, as always. The dilapidated mansion in which most of the story takes place is gorgeous. And we get to see Madhuri Dixit-Nene dance! There’s nothing not to love about Dedh Ishqiya.

Links

Movie Review: Karle Pyaar Karle (2014)

17 Replies

Karle_Pyaar_Karle_Movie_PosterZero Stars (out of 4)

Buy the soundtrack at Amazon

At times, Karle Pyaar Karle (“Fall in Love,” according to the translation of the title song’s lyrics) veers into So Bad, It’s Good territory. I almost want to recommend it, but the movie is so inept and offensive that I can’t.

Karle Pyaar Karle is primarily a vehicle for producer Suneel Darshan to launch the acting career of his son, Shiv. Therein lies the problem. Shiv Darshan doesn’t have the acting chops to be a leading man. A gym membership does not a hero make.

Darshan the younger plays Kabir, the human equivalent of Poochie the Dog from The Simpsons: full of attitude and brashness, so desperate to come off as cool that he winds up a total dud instead.

Kabir has the emotional IQ of a potato, and he jokes inappropriately throughout the whole film. Director Rajesh Pandey is so insecure in Darshan’s ability to be funny that he gives Kabir a pair of toadies who laugh at everything he says. An example of Kabir’s comic genius: “Don’t pass gas, and stop acting like such an ass.”

Kabir’s only truly funny moments are when Darshan tries to emote.

College-guy Kabir returns to his hometown after a fifteen year absence, following that one awkward time that he stabbed his best friend’s step-dad. Kabir’s frequent run-ins with the law have kept the family from settling down, yet Kabir has the nerve to be upset when his mom asks him to stay out of trouble. He later blames his wild ways on his mother’s inability to control him. What a guy.

Kabir sees his now-grown-up-and-hot friend — the one with the skewered step-dad — Preet (Hasleen Kaur), but she doesn’t recognize him. Following some ridiculous banter that results in him getting a lap dance at a blood drive, Kabir corners Preet in the empty school library. He pins her hands behind her back, bends her over a table, and essentially threatens to rape her until she begs for her freedom.

As Preet flees the library, she realizes who Kabir is and runs to hug him. WTF?! It doesn’t matter that Kabir knew he wasn’t going to rape her. Preet feared she was going to be raped, yet she forgets about it entirely within ten seconds.

Karle Pyaar Karle has a lot of issues with the way it depicts women. Preet’s entire wardrobe is skimpy club-wear, and every white woman in the movie wears a bikini-top. When Preet catches Kabir seducing another woman out of her clothes to win a bet, Kabir calls Preet a slut for having spent time with him platonically.

The woman who gives the lap dance — the same one who disrobes, I think — gets the only legitimately funny lines in the whole movie: “If your girlfriend donates her kidney to you, you should get a new girlfriend. Who wants a girlfriend with just one kidney?”

The most offensive part of the movie happens following the broken engagement between Preet and Jazz, the son of a gangster named DG (presumably so-named because someone had a giant Dolce & Gabbana logo necklace he could wear during the shoot). DG insists that Preet is going to get married regardless, but to whom? A random flunky? Another son we didn’t know about?

Nope. He’s going to marry her to a black guy.

The gangster considers it a punishment to marry this young, Indian woman to an African man. Preet’s mom evidently agrees, procuring bottles of poison for herself and her daughter to drink before the ceremony.

The insults continue after Kabir rescues Preet (though not her mom, whom they leave at the gangster’s mansion, the bottle of poison at her lips). Kabir threatens to return Preet to “that black bull,” and Preet repeats the slur.

Come on, Karle Pyaar Karle. Why couldn’t you just let me enjoy your insane plot twists, soft-core dance numbers, rocket launchers, and multiple exploding cars? Why did you have to ruin things with rape threats, racism, and perpetuating moral double standards for women? Why couldn’t you just be stupid and harmless?

Links

Opening January 17: Karle Pyaar Karle

2 Replies

The action-romance Karle Pyaar Karle opens in Chicago area theaters on January 17, 2014. With no notable stars in front of or behind the camera, I can’t see this attracting much of an audience locally.

Karle Pyaar Karle opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of two hours.

Dedh Ishqiya suffered for opening on only fifty screens in the U.S., earning just $157,541 in its opening weekend. It carries over for a second weekend at the Golf Glen 5 and South Barrington 30, so go see it while you can.

Dhoom 3 — with North American earnings of $8,031,955 so far — gets a fifth weekend at the South Barrington 30.

Other Indian movies playing in the Chicago area this weekend include 1: Nenokkadine (Telugu), Jilla (Tamil), Veeram (Tamil), and Yevadu (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5 and Cinemark at Seven Bridges in Warrenville. Nenokkadine is playing at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago and Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale as well. The Golf Glen 5 is also showing Drishyam (Malayalam).

Opening January 10: Dedh Ishqiya

Leave a reply

There’s one new Hindi movie opening in the Chicago area on January 10, 2014, and I couldn’t be more excited for it. I loved 2010’s Ishqiya, so I’m super psyched for the sequel: Dedh Ishqiya.

Dedh Ishqiya opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington, and Regal Cantera Stadium 17 in Warrenville. Unfortunately, the Cantera is only showing the movie once per day at 10:15 p.m. The movie has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 32 min. (Update: I won’t be able to review Dedh Ishqiya until Monday. Update 2: Make that Wednesday.)

Dhoom 3 gets a fourth weekend at the South Barrington 30 and Cantera 17, with total U.S. earnings of $7,846,872 so far.

I’m a little bummed that the cool-looking Bengali adventure film Chander Pahar isn’t opening in the Chicago area this weekend. The movie’s official website promises an expanded release next weekend, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

The Indian film getting the widest release this weekend is the Telugu movie Nenokkadine (1). It gets an early Thursday night release at the Golf Glen 5, AMC River East 21 in Chicago, Muvico Rosemont 18 in Rosemont, and Century Stratford Square in Bloomingdale before it expands to the Carmike Market Square 10 in Dekalb on Saturday. The Stratford Square’s website specifies that the film has English subtitles, so I’d assume that’s the case for all the prints at all local theaters. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 7 min.

Starting Friday, the Golf Glen 5 will also carry the Tamil films Jilla and Veeram. Due to the scheduling quirks of the Carmike Market Square, Veeram will open there on Saturday, and Jilla will open on Sunday.

Streaming Video News: January 7, 2014

2 Replies

Just one month after its theatrical debut, R… Rajkumar is already available on Eros Now. I’m not sure it’s worth the $3.99 rental cost, but it’s there if you want it. Krrish 3 was also recently added to the service, and it’s the better option.

Regarding “Women Through the Bollywood Lens”

1 Reply

Ashok Bhatia recently wrote a terrific two-part article on the way women are portrayed in Hindi films. In part one and part two of “Women Through the Bollywood Lens,” Bhatia elaborates on the various character types that female performers have played in a section he titles “Sixteen Shades of the Bollywood Eve.” Bhatia compiles an impressive list of films featuring archetypes as varied as The Vamp, The Victim, and The Simpering Beloved. His subsection on the different kids of onscreen mothers details the innumerable circumstances that would drive actress Nirupa Roy to tears in her various maternal roles in the 1970s.

What stands out is how often female character’s roles are defined in relation to men: not only their co-stars on-screen, but the men in the audience as well. If the predominantly male paying audience most wants to see women as either sex symbols or victims in need of protection, filmmakers increase their odds of turning a profit by depicting women in that light.

Fortunately, filmmakers are proving that movies with strong female protagonists can succeed at the box office. One need only look to the career of Vidya Balan — the actress at the center of films like The Dirty Picture, No One Killed Jessica, and Kahaani — to see that that’s true. Here’s hoping that if Bhatia writes a third installment in the future, he’ll be able to find even more progressive examples of female character types.