Tag Archives: Anushka Sharma

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: Band Baaja Baaraat (2010)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

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The single image that the word “Bollywood” conjures in my mind is a dance scene at a wedding. Not just because they’re so ubiquitous in Hindi movies, but because the first scene from a Bollywood movie I ever saw — flipping through the channels and finding one on a local cable access channel — was a wedding dance scene. As such, Band Baaja Baaraat feels very Bollywood to me.

The title roughly translates as “Band Horns Revelry.” It’s not as poetic as the Hindi title, and it doesn’t signify a wedding to an American audience. (Our weddings don’t typically feature bands, horns or revelry, rather a disinterested DJ playing ’80s tunes while relatives shuffle awkwardly on a parquay floor in an embarrassing approximation of dancing.) The other translation of the title I’ve seen, “Wedding Music Band,” isn’t accurate either, as the movie deals with the whole wedding planning industry, not just the musical side.

Shruti (Anushka Sharma) and Bittoo (Ranveer Singh) are recent college grads. After unsuccessfully hitting on Shruti, Bittoo begs her for a job at her new wedding planning company. His alternative is returning to his family farm for a lifetime of chopping sugarcane. Shruti gives Bittoo the brush off until he comes to her defense when a celebrity wedding planner insults her. Thus, a partnership is formed.

The new company, Shaadi Mubarak (“Happy Wedding”), gets a reputation for honesty and fair prices and soon becomes the go-to company for small scale city weddings. Eventually, wealthy young clients take notice of Shaadi Mubarak’s kitschy style and hire the company for more lavish affairs.

Everything is going well for new best friends Shruti and Bittoo, until they break the cardinal rule of financial partnerships: don’t mix business with pleasure. Feelings are hurt and the company falls apart.

When things are going well for the pair, Band Baaja Baaraat is a lot of fun to watch. Shruti and Bitto are endearing characters, nice young people who enjoy what they do and deserve to succeed. There are plenty of excuses for fun dance numbers, as one of the duties of a wedding planner is to start the dancing at the reception (I wish we had a professional to perform this duty at American wedding receptions).

The movie’s signature number, “Dum Dum,” is itself worth the price of admission. Sharma and Singh are talented dancers, and they are given plenty of opportunities to show their skill. The scale of the number is massive, with plenty of backup dancers and cool lighting effects. The song is catchy, too.

The attractive stars are appropriately enthusiastic as a pair of young go-getters. Sharma’s expressive eyebrows deserve their own mention in the credits. Singh is confident and capable in his first starring role. Both seem are so comfortable playing their characters it makes Band Baaja Baaraat an easy film to get lost in.

The movie’s biggest flaw may be that it’s almost too successful at showing the turmoil, once things fall apart. After spending the first hour learning to care about Shruti and Bittoo, it’s difficult to watch them fight, and it goes on too long. I kept wanting to yell at them to just make up and go back to having fun again.

At its heart, that’s what Band Baaja Baaraat is: a fun movie about people whose business is making wedding dreams come true. It’s insightful enough to ring true, but always keeps sight of the fact that it’s primarily a movie to be enjoyed.

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Movie Review: Badmaash Company (2010)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Why is it that movies espousing the belief that “crime doesn’t pay” spend so much time glamorizing the ways in which crime pays?

Badmaash Company‘s (“Rogue Company”) protagonist is Karan (Shahid Kapoor), a recent college graduate from a middle class family. His father (Anupam Kher), who’s worked for the same company for 25 years, expects him to earn an MBA and follow a similar path. But Karan dreams of making it rich as his own boss.

Karan and his buddies, Zing (Meiyang Chang) and Chandu (Vir Das), try to make fast money carrying goods from Bangkok to India on behalf of a smuggler who uses them to avoid paying the import tariff. An assertive girl named Bulbul (Anushka Sharma) joins them on the trip, quickly becoming friends with the trio and falling for Karan.

The quartet devises a way to import goods and skirt the tariff. They make a lot of money, until the Indian government drops the tariff from 120% to 20%, destroying their profit margin.

Karan’s father realizes that his son’s sudden wealth isn’t from a legitimate job and kicks him out of the house. Karan, Bulbul, Zing and Chandu then fly to America to recreate their scheme. Karan’s uncle, Jazz (Pavan Malhotra), provides the financing, though he doesn’t know the illicit nature of their business. The scheme works until alcohol, ego, and suspicion from the authorities destroy the crew’s business and their friendship.

Of course, when things are going well, they go really well. There are dance numbers in bars and shots of the characters shopping at Prada and stepping out of limousines. People sell their souls for less. If the movie wants to show how dangerous greed is, why make it look so cool?

One reason is that it’s easier to show montages of characters doing neat stuff than it is to script meaningful dialogue. It’s a shame, since the scenes of character interaction are good. Early in the film, Karan and Bulbul talk about their plans for the future over coffee, the first date in their budding romance. Kapoor and Sharma have an easy rapport that is enjoyable to watch.

Sharma’s confident Bulbul is crucial to the film’s success. She acts as the face of the business, flattering the buyers without being overtly sexy. She’s the kind of woman men want to make happy, even if they don’t expect anything in return.

Badmaash Company‘s problem, odd as it may seem, is a lack of exposition. There’s no explanation for a rift between Jazz and Karan’s father. And the inevitable reunion between father and son is limited to a shared look with no conversation. It didn’t have the same emotional impact as a Karan admitting his failings and asking forgiveness would have.

That said, the story is reasonably well told and the acting quite good. There are worse ways to spend 2 hours and 24 minutes.

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Movie Review: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

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Rab_Ne_Bana_Di_Jodi3.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Aditya Chopra and Shahrukh Khan, the director and actor responsible for the Bollywood classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, succeed again with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

In RNBDJ, Khan plays Suri, a mild mannered guy who fulfills his mentor’s dying wish by marrying the mentor’s daughter, Taani (Anushka Sharma). Though Suri’s older and less flashy than she is, Taani accepts her new role as his wife, with the caveat that she’ll never be able to love him because of her broken heart. Timid Suri, unable to show his wife how much he loves her, secretly invents a flashy alter ego named Raj in order to bring some joy into Taani’s life.

Chopra thoroughly explains the emotions motivating Suri and Taani, and Khan and Sharma perfectly portray the characters. The relationship between the pair is believable, despite the age difference between the duo (Khan is 43 and Sharma is 19). Sharma’s nuanced performance makes it hard to believe that this is her first film.

Cases of mistaken identity are often hard to pull off onscreen, but Khan looks and acts so differently as Suri and Raj that it seems totally reasonable that Taani wouldn’t know that the two men are the same person.

RNBDJ trips up late in the film during a sequence in which Suri battles a sumo wrestler. The scene is so long and out of place that it completely brought me out of the movie. While the scene intends to show that Suri would do anything to make Taani happy, I would rather have seen more examples of that interspersed throughout the film. Taani continually performs small acts of kindness for Suri, while Suri’s affection seems to stop after providing Taani with a place to live, only to rekindle during the over-the-top sumo showdown. Suri doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d  try to impress his wife with a big spectacle.

Apart from the one misstep, the movie is flawless. Chopra’s attention to detail is especially obvious during RNBDJ‘s big dance number, “Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte.” I’m almost always distracted by the background dancers in item numbers: one dancer is out of sync with the others, another is wearing an unflattering outfit, etc. No such worries, here. When I noticed the background dancers in RNBDJ, they looked spectacular. But most of the time, my attention was on the lead couple, as it should be.