Aamir Khan Defends PK Nude Poster

Nude PK poster has created furor all over and a case was also filed against him and the makers of the film for promoting nudity and vulgarity and following which the poster of PK was removed from theatres. After maintaining a dignified silence over the matter, for the first time Aamir Khan broke his silence and spoke in favour of the poster.

Superstar Aamir Khan, who has left many intrigued and many ridiculing him over his nude look in the poster of his upcoming film PK, says it's not for publicity. Calling it "key art", he says it depicts the story of the film.

The poster of Rajkumar Hirani's PK features Aamir posing nude with a strategically placed boombox hiding his modesty. While some appreciated the dare bare act, some even criticised it and even called it a "publicity stunt".

Aamir spoke on the sidelines of a screening of Marathi film "Saturday Sunday" here Wednesday.
Citing the example of the poster of one of his past production and directorial debut, "Taare Zameen Par", he said: "In the poster of 'Taare Zameen Par', the child (actor Darsheel Safary) is sitting in the front on the school bench and I am sitting behind him. So it is a kind of key art...the image that tells you much about the story and so is the poster of 'PK'."

Talking about it, Aamir said: "When you (audience) will watch the film then only you will be able to understand the idea behind (the poster). But I would just like to say that the kind of filmmaker, the kind of writer Rajkumar is, he always tries to present the things, his thinking, in a unique way and that's why I am his huge fan."

"This is not for publicity, not for us atleast. Infact, this poster imbibes all the elements of the film."
Meanwhile, a case was also filed in a court in Kanpur recently against Aamir, director Rajkumar Hirani and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. They were accused of promoting nudity and vulgarity through "PK" poster.

However, the actor is hopeful that everything will get clear once people watch the film when it releases in December.

"We are getting a mixed response from the people. But I feel that when they will watch the film, their doubts will get cleared," the 49-year-old said.

PK also features actor Sanjay Dutt, Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput.

Movie Review Aakrosh

incisive dissection of Priyadarshan's 'Aakrosh'

Thirty years after Govind Nihalani shook up the cinematic world with his chronicle of violence called 'Aakrosh' where a poor man kills his sister to save her from upper caste molestation, Bollywood has once again re-used the title to depict the burning issue of honor killings in some states of northern India.

The only problem with Priyadarshan's presentation of this social evil perpetrated by demented minds is that his script ends up chasing the sidelights and seldom focuses on the core issue. Maybe, the director, known for his funny bone, just didn't have the guts or the gumption to face up to stark reality... let alone showcase it.

A pity, because the storyline of a "forbidden" love story between a dalit and an upper caste girl and the shenanigans of the caste ridden local leaders has enough masala to be turned into a gripping tale highlighting a social malaise that every Indian will find tough to explain to an outsider.



Five reasons to watch 'Aakrosh'

1. There are some straight lifts from the Gene Hackman thriller 'Mississippi Burning' that deals with FBI agents probing the murder of some civil rights activists and their work in a segregated village. So, Messrs Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna replicate the roles of Hackman and Willem Dafoe with considerable elan.

2. Ajay Devgn seems to be mastering the "thinking action hero" roles, though one does see shades of his character from the 2003 Rohit Shetty movie 'Zameen'. There are some daredevil stunts in the movie featuring the actor who seems to have put on considerable muscle mass of late too.

3. For those of you who watched Abhishek Chaubey's 'Ishqiya', the settings that Priyadarshan has chosen for 'Aakrosh' will appeal greatly. The story is set in a remote village and the director ensures that the ambience is carried forth right through the movie, but for some romantic interludes.

4. Watch out for some excellently choreographed action scenes featuring Ajay Devgn but keep in mind that most of these are an unabashed lift from the original Hollywood film that got nominated to the Oscars and found mention as one of the hardest hitting flicks on segregation ever.

5. The one aspect of the movie that stays long after the titles roll out is the performance of Paresh Rawal, who turns up as the really bad cop. Though Paresh has essayed similar roles earlier, I feel this performance is a blacker version of his cop routine in 'Jaane Tu...'.



Five reasons to avoid 'Aakrosh'

1. For starters, the movie is a mishmash that oscillates between trying to tell a serious story about a social malaise and shifts to inter-personal relations between a cop and an army officer on the one hand and the officer and his romantic rewind to a woman (Bipasha Basu) who is now knotted with the corrupt cop.

2. That Priyadarshan has lifted several scenes off the original is no surprise, given that his generation of moviemakers have been dishing out such fare for long now. The problem is that this high energy action sequences do not lead to any drama and seems to be sticking out like sore thumbs most of the time.

3. There is a very interesting parallel track between the two sleuths and their contrasting style of chasing down crime and its perpetrators. Somehow, this track fails to take off but for some verbal volleys that Devgn and Khanna throw at each other from time to time.

4. There are far too many inconsistencies in the script and too many loose ends and far too many characters are introduced into the scene without proper rhyme or reason. Besides Akshaye, Ajay and Paresh, the rest of the cast doesn't have much to do.

5. The original sin of murder on caste grounds is largely left to its own fate by the director who chases too many side stories like the Ajay-Bipasha track or the Ajay-Akshaye track. The sad part is that Priyadarshan doesn't focus on any one theme in the end and leaves you feeling cheated.

My Take: The director took up a bold theme but diluted its treatment to such an extent that it is neither a social critique nor an action movie. Wonder why the makers re-used a classic title to tell an ordinary tale? Of course, it is another matter that Suneil Shetty had used the same title for his 1998 flop show that had neither story nor action quality of the latest version.

Source: India Syndicate

First Look: 'Crook'

It's good to be bad...

'Dabangg' - The story of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan)

Set in Laalgurj, 'Dabangg' is the story of Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan), a fearless but corrupt police officer with unorthodox working methods.

But even the fearless at times face a tough fight with their innermost demons. Chulbul has had a bitter childhood. His father passed away when he was very young, after which his mother Naini (Dimple Kapadia) married Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna).

Together, they had a son, Makhanchan (Arbaaz Khan). Prajapati favors Makhanchan, which does not go down well with Chulbul. He decides to take control of his destiny and detaches himself from his stepfather and half brother.



His sole attachment is his mother. However after his mother's demise and an unsuccessful attempt to mend wounds, Chulbul snaps all ties with his stepfather and half brother. Rajo (Sonakshi Sinha) with her unique perspective of life, enters his world and turns it upside down. Chulbul starts looking at life more positively, and gets sensitized to the value of a family.



But his detractors, especially the dubious Cheddi Singh (Sonu Sood) have their own vested interests and emerge as spokes in the wheels, putting one brother against the other.

Makhanchan ends up carrying out acts, oblivious to their consequences. When he realizes he has been used, he turns to Chulbul.

Will Chulbul take his extended hand?

Will the brothers be able to thwart their detractors?

Will this time, Chulbul's fearlessesness channel itself positively and reunite him with his family?



Source: MovieTalkies, Bollywood Hungama

'Robot' soundtrack lacks Rahman's punch

There are many factors that compel you to have high expectations from the soundtrack of director Shankar's forthcoming film 'Robot' - it is one of the most expensive films of the year, it stars Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai and, most importantly, the music has been composed by Oscar-winning music director A.R. Rahman.

Music Review

In spite of all these factors, the music of 'Robot' doesn't impress that much. It lacks the punch and the wow factor that Rahman's songs are known for.

The album has seven tracks.

The soundtrack of 'Robot' begins with "O naye insaan", sung by Rahman's daughter Khatija Rahman and Srinivas D. The slow-paced track is a gloomy one and is sung in a way that it seems a robot is singing it. It's a situational track. Even though it is not such a treat to hear, the song might look good on screen.

Next is a romantic song "Pyaara tera gussa hai", which has something like a scientific language. With Mohit Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal behind the mike, it has some weird lyrics, maybe because the film features a robot.

Then comes "Naina mile". The fast-paced number is sung by Rahman along with Suzzane and Kash 'N' Krissy. It fails to make a mark.

Strong orchestration marks the arrival of "Arima arima". Sung by Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam, the song describes the protagonist of the film. This is also a situational number and not hummable.

Up next is the song called "Kilimanjaro", a very strange title for a song. Javed Ali and Chinmayi have crooned this peppy track that talks about a girl from the hills. It is better than others but doesn't exude the charm of Rahman's compositions.

Then comes the title track of the film in two versions. One titled "Chitti dance showcase" and the other "Boom boom robo da".

"Chitti..." sung by Pradeep Vijay, Pravin Mani, Rags and Yogi B fluctuates between slow and fast beats, while "Boom Boom..." voiced by Madhushree, Keerthi Sagathia and Tanvi Shah along with Rags and Yogi B is a fast number with a hip hop flavour.

Unfortunately, none of the versions really appeal to the listeners.

On the whole, the music of 'Robot' does not appeal. They may suit the script of the sci-film, but the audio is not impressive.

Source: IANS

Peepli Live - Voice from the Hinterland

Seldom has a movie raised expectations in such a subtle manner as Aamir Khan's latest diatribe on farmer suicides. Right from the motley bunch of stage actors to his tongue-in-cheek television commercial, Khan managed to raise everyone's interest on 'Peepli Live' over the past six to eight weeks.

And make no mistake, the actor, who has been taking up hard hitting themes in two of his last three movies, viz., 'TZP' and '3 Idiots', does it again with this movie that has a heart and soul. And first time director Anusha Rizvi bravely uses biting satire to provide the multiplex audience a glimpse of their own ugly countenance among the many other obvious ills plaguing modern India.

The movie is as much about the growing gap between the haves and have-nots as it is about politicians stooping to win and urban TV channels routinely mistaking the woods for the trees. Rizvi, herself a former mediaperson, has a biting scene where an earnest local reporter takes on a city-bred English news anchor's ignorance and her lack of "news sense".

This is one movie where we found it extremely difficult to list out the five reasons formula that we at MSN India use regularly to share our views about a movie. However, in accordance with our editorial guidelines, we decided to go through with our routine template this time too. Please bear with us in case we seem less than lucid in our views this time...

Review of Peepli Live



Five reasons to watch 'Peepli Live'


1. For the discerning, what stays along after the credit titles rolls in is the vast chasm in the calibre of actors and our stars, not to speak of superstars. The manner in which each of the actors have infused life into mundane characters brings out one of the biggest ironies of Bollywood where stars chop away 70% of a movie's cost only because their audience differentiate style from substance.

2. If Raghubir Yadav's combines the helplessness of a debt-ridden farmer with the cunning of an elder brother manipulating his sibling towards a suicide with the ease of a veteran, Omkar Das Manikpuri as Natha creates a resigned-to-my-fate countenance without having much to say throughout the movie.

3. Even the supporting cast of Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the local journalist who breaks the story, Shalini Vatsa as the wife and Farrukh Jaffer as the beedi-smoking mother of the protagonist are simply effortless. The best turn of them all comes from Malaika Shenoy who does a great take on a well known English news anchor on television without allowing it to become a parody.

4. One of the best scripts in recent times, the movie unfolds as a farmer's problem but slowly encompasses every facet of modern day life that has increased the distance between villages and cities as much as it has made the haves want more and the have nots get less. The tongue-in-cheek references to Lal Bahadur (euphemism for a hand-pump in the movie) Shastri's Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan movement is not lost on the audience.

5. Though the movie tells a serious tale, the element of humour is what director Rizvi uses to capture our attention. What's more, it stays throughout the movie where nobody is spared from the satire - be it the Agriculture Minister, the sensationalism chasing Hindi news anchor or the nose-in-the-air English channel representatives.

Review of Peepli Live


Five reasons to avoid 'Peepli Live'

1. If anyone tried to truly imbibe the soul of the movie, it will leave a lump in the throat and maybe make it that much more difficult to continue living the consumerist culture of a city-dweller. The helpless faces of Natha and Budhia will haunt us forever though director Anusha Rizvi has already announced that she expects nothing like this to happen!

2. While castigating the television channels for routinely missing the bigger picture and chasing sensationalism, the movie raised some uncomfortable questions about viewers like me and you. One cannot undermine the cause-and-effect relationship between TV channels chasing TRPs and viewers like us ensuring that we watch such over-the-top sensationalism.

3. The irony of a politician's one-upmanship is also not lost on us as approaching elections makes politicians swoop down on the otherwise nondescript village of Peepli. The hidden message that politicians have been treating villagers as a votebank only because the urban middle class has not bothered to participate in universal adult franchise is again not lost on us.

4. On the scripting front, perhaps the only flaw is that the movie becomes a tad predictable in the second half... if one can call it that since the entire movie lasts much less than two hours. Like all good things, the movie winds up even as we begin warming up to its protagonists and start enjoying Nathu's predicament and the impact it has on the high and mighty.

5. And finally, as an audience if you are going to spend a weekend at the multiplex, be warned that more than a movie about a farmer's plight it is a movie about the ignorance of the middle class to the farmer's plight. So, if you want to stay happy within your comfort zone, watching the ODI cricket series in Sri Lanka and munching popcorn will be a better bet.

Postscript: Wonder what Amitabh Bachchan, who fought for the right to be called a farmer to own land in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, will do after he was shown the movie by Aamir Khan.

Source: India Syndicate

Action Replayy Directed by Vipul Shah, the movie stars Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randhir Kapoor and Neha Dhupia

Directed by Vipul Shah, the movie stars Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randhir Kapoor and Neha Dhupia.

'Action Replayy' is a time-travel caper weaved around a story that progresses backwards in time. Akshay and Aishwarya will be seen together after five years on the big screen. They were last paired opposite each other in Raj Kumar Santoshi's 'Khakee'.

The movie will be released on November 5, 2010.

Source: Bollywood Hungama