Tag Archives: Akshay Kumar

Opening November 23: Desi Boyz

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Desi Boyz — a Hindi remake of The Full Monty — hits Chicago area theaters November 23, 2011. Though its official release date is the 25th, American theaters are getting it a couple of days early to take advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday. The movie stars John Abraham, Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone.

Desi Boyz opens on Wednesday 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 runtime of 2 hrs. 2 min.

Rockstar carries over at the Golf Glen 5 and South Barrington 30, having earned $911,064 in its first two weeks in U.S. theaters.

The Golf Glen 5 is also carrying Hero Hitler in Love (Punjabi) and the Telugu films Oh My Friend and Sri Rama Rajyam.

Movie Review: Thank You (2011)

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1.5 Stars (out of 4)

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The more I think about Thank You, the more confused I become. The first two-thirds of the comedy are enjoyable enough, but a serious and preachy third act unravels the entire story that precedes it.

Thank You centers on the womanizing exploits of Raj (Bobby Deol), Vikram (Irrfan Khan) and Yogi (Suniel Shetty). Yogi’s already been caught cheating by his wife, Maya (Celina Jaitley). Suspicious of the other louts’ extramarital activities, Maya introduces Vikram’s wife, Shivani (Rimi Sen), and Raj’s wife, Sanjana (Sonam Kapoor), to her “best friend”: a private eye named Kishan (Akshay Kumar).

Kishan develops a crush on cute, trusting Sanjana and aims to expose her husband for the cheater he is. Raj and his buddies aren’t able to continue their deception for long, and all their secrets are revealed. Maya and Shivani are prepared to move on with their lives, but Sanjana isn’t. She wants Raj back.

Here’s where things get confusing, in retrospect. Kishan agrees to help Sanjana reunite with Raj. His plan is to make Raj jealous by pretending to be Sanjana’s new boyfriend. Presumably, Kishan’s real intention is to show Sanjana how much better he is than Raj and win her for himself.

Without giving anything away, the third act seems to indicate that a potential romance between Kishan and Sanjana was never really an option (or something that either of them even desired). The tension in the second act, at the time, appears to be whether Sanjana will pick Raj or Kishan. Without that tension, the whole second act is, in retrospect, just a big waste of time.

Perhaps sensing the shoddy construction of his parable, writer-director Anees Bazmee has Kishan explain the moral of the story with a condescending speech in the final scene. But the message as delivered by Kishan runs counter to the one that the movie had conveyed to that point. I liked the story that Bazmee actually told better than the one he apparently thought he was telling.

The real shame of Thank You‘s narrative collapse is that most of the movie is pretty funny. The set pieces are good, and the jokes translate well cross-culturally.

Particularly deserving of praise are Shetty and Sen for their performances as Yogi and Shivani, respectively. Yogi, having been previously outed as a cheater, revels in watching his two buddies get caught for the same crime. Shivani is the most put-upon wife and therefore the most eager to take revenge on her husband. Shetty and Sen take full advantage of their opportunities to ham it up.

The weakest member of the cast is Kapoor. Still a relatively new actress, everything about her performance — from her physical presence to her voice — lacks gravity. She’s pretty and stylish, but that’s not enough to make her a lead that an audience cares about.

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Opening April 8: Thank You

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Another new Hindi movie opens this weekend in the Chicago area. Thank You stars Akshay Kumar as a detective trailing three husbands whose wives have caught on to their womanizing ways. Kumar’s character loses his professional objectivity when he falls for one of the wives, played by Sonam Kapoor.

Thank You opens on Friday, April 8, 2011, at the AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and Regal Cantera Stadium 30 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 35 min.

The flashy murder mystery Game gets a second week at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30.

Other Indian movies showing in the area this weekend include Mappillai (Tamil) and Shakti (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5.

Movie Review: Patiala House (2011)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

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For Americans interested in learning about Bollywood, sports movies are a good way to start. The formula is largely the same the world over, with a few country- or culture-specific differences. As such, Patiala House feels familiar and offers a good introduction to Bollywood for newcomers.

Part of the reason for Patiala House‘s familiarity is that the plot shares much in common with 2002’s The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid. In both movies, an ordinary guy gets his first shot in the big leagues at an age when most athletes are considering retirement. In The Rookie, the game is baseball. In Patiala House, it’s cricket.

Akshay Kumar plays Gattu, the dutiful eldest son of a prominent Indian immigrant leader in the London suburb of Southall. In the 1970s, Gattu’s father, Gurtej (Rishi Kapoor), responds to violent attacks on Indians by organizing the immigrants and shunning white British culture. He turns their cul-de-sac into a Punjabi enclave within Southall.

Gurtej’s hatred of white Britishers is so intense that he forced Gattu to turn down an invitation to join the English national cricket team when the boy was 17. Now, at the age of 34, a dejected Gattu manages his father’s corner store, only playing cricket when he practices pitching by himself at a local park late at night.

An English national team scout notices Gattu’s solo practice sessions and asks him to try out for the team. Gattu doesn’t wish to anger his father again, but he’s pressured to try out by Simran (Anushka Sharma), a lovely girl with a tarnished reputation. Gattu’s younger siblings also beg him to join the team, reasoning that if loyal Gattu can stand up to their domineering father, it may give them a chance to follow their own dreams as well.

The movie offers some insight into the insidious nature of racism as it pertains to immigrants. In an effort to protect his family, Gurtej cuts himself off from the dominant culture so completely that he doesn’t notice that things have changed. The fact that he lives in a different world than that of his children takes a toll on the family.

Gurtej makes Amy Chua’s “Tiger Mother” seem like a kitten. He’s so convinced that he knows what’s best for his family — and all the Indians in Southall, really — that he’s impossible to argue with. When his children threaten to engage in any activity that seems remotely British, he threatens suicide. It’s no wonder Gattu’s siblings see him as their only hope for a future they choose for themselves.

The siblings don’t get enough airtime to become fully formed characters. In fact, I’m not 100% certain that they are all biologically related to Gattu; they just live in the same house. Screentime is dominated by Gurtej, Gattu and Simran.

Kumar gives a restrained performance as Gattu, a man so bound by duty that he sacrifices his own happiness. It’s a much stronger showing for Kumar than some of his other recent dramatic roles, as in Blue and 8×10 Tasveer.

Sharma is emerging as one of Bollywood’s brightest stars. She’s beautiful, charming and effortless. Sharma has a wonderful, subtle comic sensibility, and she handles most of the jokes in Patiala House. Her face is so expressive, and she’s able to pull off a pratfall without overdoing it.

The fact that Patiala House is somewhat predictable is actually a selling point. Sports fables should be predictable. We go to them to feel uplifted and hopeful. Patiala House does a fine job being exactly what it’s supposed to be.

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Opening February 11: Patiala House

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The selection of Hindi films showing in the Chicago area the weekend beginning February 11, 2011, is limited to just one movie: Patiala House. The new release stars Akshay Kumar as a London shopkeeper who waits until he’s in his 30s to defy his father and pursue his dream of being a professional cricket player. The film co-stars Rishi Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.

Patiala House opens on Friday at the Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and Regal Cantera Stadium 30 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 15 min.

The Golf Glen 5 is also showing the Telugu movies Alaa Modalaindi, Jai Bholo Telangana and Vasthada Naa Raja, as well as director Radha Mohan’s bilingual production Payanam (Tamil)/Gaganam (Telugu). Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove has the Telugu movies Wanted and Mirapakai.

Movie Review: Tees Maar Khan (2010)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

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Farah Khan knows how to stage a spectacle. She’s done it for years as Bollywood’s most sought after choreographer, and she did it with her second directorial effort, the vibrant Om Shanti Om (her directorial debut, Main Hoon Na, was comparatively low-key). With Tees Maar Khan, Farah Khan reasserts herself as Bollywood’s queen of bombast.

Tees Maar Khan is an outrageous comedy filled with larger than life characters. As such, there’s only one man to play the lead: Akshay Kumar. Kumar usually plays a charming ham these days, but few of his recent movies have been able to match his natural charisma. Khan is able to take all that is good about Akshay Kumar and let him shine.

“Tees Maar Khan” (TMK) is the alias of the thief Tabrez Mirza Khan (Kumar). He eludes the police with the aid of his three henchmen: Dollar, Soda and Burger. The Johri brothers — a pair of conjoined-twin smugglers (played by identical twins Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman) — hire TMK to steal a heavily guarded trainload of antiques.

TMK plans to stop the train by tricking a bunch of villagers into mobbing it, all under the guise of making a movie. To make the ruse believable, he hires a famous actor, Aatish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna), assuring him that the role is Oscar gold. TMK enlists his girlfriend, Anya (Katrina Kaif), to play the fake movie’s heroine, if only to keep the aspiring actress from naively doffing her clothes for lecherous directors promising Bollywood stardom.

Khan understands exactly what it takes to make a goofy, campy movie. Everything about Tees Maar Khan is loud: the dialog, the music, and especially the costumes. The writing in Tees Maar Khan is consistently funny and is supported by strong performances all around, especially from TMK’s sidekicks and the villainous twins.

Khan likes to work on a big scale. The exciting dance numbers cover large areas and include several costume changes. There are hundreds of extras involved in the village scenes. The scale of the movie is impressive.

But at some point, there’s simply too much of everything. Comedies should err on the side of being too short, and Tees Maar Khan is too long. The opening scene in a police station is a waste of time that delays the introduction of the main character. A dance number involving Salman Khan is fun, but totally unnecessary.

What’s more, the Salman Khan number is such an obvious stunt that it breaks the spell of the movie. Salman’s real-life romance with Kaif is the only reason he’s in the film. Imagine how dated the movie will feel if they ever break up. Given the popularity of Kumar, Kaif and Khanna, it’s not as if Tees Maar Khan needed the additional star power to draw an audience.

My biggest complaint about Khan as a director is her penchant for including celebrity cameos and insider Bollywood references, just because she can. I know that Khan’s biggest audience is in India, but her movies are as visually polished as anything coming out of Hollywood. Why not reach out to a wider audience?

TMK tries to in several ways. The actor Kapoor bemoans turning down a role in “Dumbdog Millionaire.” He’s later tricked into believing that TMK is Manoj Day Ramalan, the younger brother of “Fifth Sense” director Manoj Night Ramalan. It’s funny stuff that avid moviegoers everywhere will get.

But for every universal joke, there are twice as many references to classic Hindi movies or Bollywood gossip that international audiences won’t understand. Even for domestic Indian audiences, I’m not sure if the material is supposed to be funny or if it’s just supposed to elicit a “Hey, I know who she’s talking about!” response. If the latter, the references won’t mean as much ten or twenty years from now. It’s not a good long-term strategy.

I hold Farah Khan to such high standards because I think she’s so talented. If you ask most Americans to name a Bollywood movie, they’ll mention Slumdog Millionaire or Bend It Like Beckham. Both films are actually British productions which borrow elements of Bollywood movies. It’s time for a director working in India to define Bollywood for the Western world, and I think Farah Khan’s the one to do it.

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Opening December 22: Tees Maar Khan and Toonpur Ka Superhero

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Christmas Eve falls on a Friday this year, bumping this week’s movie release schedule forward to Wednesday. Two new Hindi films open in Chicago area theaters on December 22, 2010. The action comedy Tees Maar Khan stars Akshay Kumar as the world’s greatest thief, with Katrina Kaif playing his girlfriend. TMK is directed by choreographer Farah Khan, so expect some impressive dance numbers.

Tees Maar Khan opens on Wednesday at the AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and Regal Cantera 30 in Warrenville. It has a listed runtime of 2 hrs. 15 min.

This week’s other new theatrical release is the family comedy Toonpur Ka Superhero, a mix of live action and 3D animation (though I suspect U.S. theaters will only show it in 2D). Ajay Devgan plays an actor who magically becomes a part of his kids’ favorite cartoon TV show. Devgan’s real-life wife, Kajol, plays his wife in the film.

Toonpur Ka Superhero opens on December 22 at the Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30. It has a runtime of 2 hrs. 20 min.

Though it didn’t make it into Chicago area theaters, Isi Life Mein (“In This Life”) debuts on YouTube on Wednesday, two days before it opens internationally. The complete movie is available for rent here, though I’m not sure if it has English subtitles. Earlier this year, I rented Striker on YouTube and was pleased with the video quality. Besides, the $4.99 rental fee is cheaper than a movie ticket.

No Problem carries over at the South Barrington 30.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this week include Nagavalli (Telugu), Manmadhan Ambu (Tamil) and Ragada (Telugu) at the Golf Glen 5. Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove is also carrying Manmadhan Ambu.

Movie Review: Action Replayy (2010)

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1.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Look at the Action Replayy poster to the left. Bright colors and cheesy grins on the stars’ faces promise an all-out 1970s spectacle. The movie itself, however, is a half-baked, sloppy attempt at a romantic comedy that squanders its resources.

None of Action Replayy‘s shortcomings have anything to do with its stars, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar. They make the most out of the material they were given. Bachchan is beautiful and effortless, and Kumar is equally charming.

The problems stem primarily from the movie’s underwhelming lead character, Bunty (Aditya Roy Kapoor): a young man of indeterminate age who is simultaneously bland and obnoxious. His girlfriend, Tanya (Sudeepa Singh), is desperate to marry him. Bunty refuses because he doesn’t believe in marriage, thanks to the poor example set by his unhappy parents, Mala (Bachchan) and Kishen (Kumar).

Conveniently, Tanya’s scientist grandpa has a time machine. Bunty hops in, sets the dial for 1975, and presses the giant red button Tanya’s grandpa explicitly tells him not to press. He travels back in time and sets off in search of his still unmarried parents, hoping to make them fall in love before they are arranged to be married.

First, Bunty finds the younger version of Tanya’s grandpa and shows him the time machine. He says, in essence, “You built this in the future, and I broke it. Now fix it” — as if gramps can learn in a matter of days what took him 35 years to learn.

Bunty finds his parents’ younger selves and sets about trying to make them fall in love. Kishen is a timid dweeb, as indicated by the appallingly fake-looking set of buck teeth Kumar is forced to wear. Mala is both a local beauty and a thug. The first half of the movie is spent showing why they hate each other. Not until the second half does Bunty begin to turn Kishen into a confident stud and Mala into a demure lady. He accomplishes this by shouting at them.

The most confusing aspect of the movie is why no one in the seventies has any questions for Bunty: Who are you? How do you know so much about us? Why are you wearing such unusual clothing, like that t-shirt with a picture of Yoda on it, even though Star Wars doesn’t exist yet? Why do you keep calling us “Dad” and “Mom”?!

This particular time-travel premise worked fine in Back to the Future, but Action Replayy doesn’t seem to understand why it worked. There’s never any threat to Bunty, the way there was to Marty McFly, who needed to get his parents together before he faded from existence. Bunty has unlimited time to get make his parents fall in love. If he fails, they’ll still be together — if unhappy — and he’ll still be born.

Action Replayy also sidesteps one of the most interesting aspects of Back to the Future, in which the teenage version of Marty’s mother develops a crush on him. Instead, Mala’s lifelong friend, Mona (Neha Dhupia), smiles at Bunty a few times before asking him late in the movie, “Do you love me?” Given that the Bunty doesn’t interact with Mona at all before this, his answer is obviously “No.”

If the movie was interested in having any real emotional impact, Bunty would’ve gotten to know his grandparents, who died either before he was born or when he was very young. Instead, he makes jokes about which of them will die first. That he has no interest in them is indicative of Bunty’s shallow character and the movie’s lack of emotional understanding.

The fact that accomplished actors like Om Puri and Kirron Kher (who play Grandpa and Grandma, respectively) weren’t given more to do is just another example of how Action Replayy fails to fully utilize the considerable resources at its disposal. It’s instead content to be a tepid romantic comedy with flashy period costumes.

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Opening November 5: Action Replayy, Golmaal 3 and Bombay Summer

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Two new Hindi movies and another older release debut in the Chicago area on Friday, November 5, 2010. The flashy romantic comedy Action Replayy (the extra “y” distinguishes it from “Action Replay,” the Gujarati play on which it’s based) stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar as a couple living in an unhappy arranged marriage until their adult son travels back to the 1970s to make them fall in love.

Action Replayy opens on Friday at the AMC Loews Pipers Alley 4 in Chicago, Big Cinemas Golf Glen 5 in Niles, AMC South Barrington 30 in South Barrington and Regal Cantera Stadium 30 in Warrenville. The national theater list includes three other Illinois theaters. The movie has a runtime of 1 hr. 40 min.

This Diwali weekend’s other major release reunites most of the cast of Golmaal Returns for Golmaal 3, a sequel about a bickering family. I named Golmaal Returns my Worst Bollywood Film of 2008, and it remains one of the most annoying movies I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, I have low expectations for Golmaal 3.

Golmaal 3 opens in the Chicago area at the same theaters carrying Action Replayy: Pipers Alley 4, Golf Glen 5, South Barrington 30 and Cantera 30. Its runtime is listed as 2 hr. 35 min.

On Friday, the Golf Glen 5 also debuts Bombay Summer, an independent Hindi movie that’s been on the festival circuit for a while.

Other Indian movies showing in the Chicago area this weekend include Enthiran at the Cantera 30; Rakht Charitra (Telugu), Mynaa (Tamil), Uthama Puthiran (Tamil) and Va Quarter Cutting (Tamil) at the Golf Glen 5; and Brindaavanam (Telugu), Robo (Telugu) and Maleyali Jotheyali (Kannada) at Sathyam Cinemas in Downers Grove.

Movie Review: Khatta Meetha (2010)

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-1 Star (out of 4)

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That’s right. I give Khatta Meetha a negative-one star rating. The producers owe me a star. Khatta Meetha is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.

Here’s the best example of why Khatta Meetha is so bad: the hero of this slapstick comedy punches his girlfriend in the face, humiliates her in public, destroys her house, threatens her, and then frames her for a crime she didn’t commit, driving her to attempt suicide. And he’s the hero! OF A COMEDY!

How did a movie so morally reprehensible get made? How? I beg you: do not pay to see this movie. No one involved with this garbage deserves to make another cent from it.

The first ten minutes of the movie are a typical Akshay Kumar slapstick comedy. Kumar plays Sachin Tichkule, a hapless contractor who’s the black sheep in a family of successful (i.e., corrupt) engineers. His brother and brothers-in-law have enough money to bribe their way into large contracts building bridges. Penniless Sachin is stuck paving roads, cutting corners to ensure future work repairing the same roads the next year.

Things quickly turn serious when a bridge Sachin’s brothers built collapses, killing dozens of people. To avoid jail, they collude with an up-and-coming politician. They convince the Tichkule family’s loyal chauffeur, Mr. Rao, to take the rap for them. The next day, the politician has Mr. Rao killed to keep him from talking.

No one else in the Tichkule family, including Sachin, seems to notice that Mr. Rao is gone. He gets mentioned in an aside in the last five minutes of the film, but the slapstick resumes shortly after Rao dies.

The bulk of the movie is bad gags, punctuated by fits of yelling that are allegedly humorous. Sachin seems doomed to forever be a failure when his ex-girlfriend, Ghena (Trisha Krishnan), becomes the local bureaucrat in charge of construction contracts.

Back in college, Sachin punched Ghena in the face when she defied him. This got him kicked out of school, which somehow led him to become a disreputable contractor. Blaming the victim is always a nice touch.

When Ghena demands that Sachin play by the rules, he belittles her in public, making threatening gestures and destroying her house, which he then jokes about. He frames her for taking bribes, and she tries to kill herself.

These are the actions of the guy the audience is supposed to identify with and cheer for. Sachin belongs in jail with his murdering brothers. But, since this is a comedy, Ghena accepts his apology from her hospital bed.

The degree of casual violence against women in Khatta Meetha is appalling. At one point, Sachin’s sister is murdered. Almost as an afterthought, one character mentions to Sachin that, before she died, she’d also been gang raped by her new husband’s friends. WTF?

There’s nothing redeemable about Khatta Meetha. Nothing. The way it flits from goofy comedy to violent drama is absurd. The way it follows scenes of violence against women with celebratory dance numbers is insulting. Everyone who had any part in making this should be ashamed.

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