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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Five underrated films in 2007 worth watching

It's already June 2008! Woah! I haven't watched many Bollywood films this year.

Since I didn't write anything in here from 2007 about Bollywood movies, I'll talk about the 2007 films now. I'm all into low budget films. Sometimes the overpriced, big budget films are beautiful to watch but that's about it. A big star also help promote the movie. For example, anything that Shah Rukh is in, people will watch. I also like finding new faces.

Here are movies that you may not have heard of. Or wasn't sure you wanted to watch it because of the cast because you're unsure of them. Or have watched a bad movie of them before so you were just uncertain. I'm just choosing five films and writing about them.


Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee




Five friends - Rajiv (Dino Morea), Ishita (Anjori Alagh), Jai (Sameer Dattani), Monica (Nauheed Cyrusi), and Manish (Aftab Shivdasani) talk about what would make them happy in life. They each make a bet after five years who will be the most happiest.

To Rajiv, happiness means success. To Jai, happiness means power. To Monica, happiness means fame. To Ishita, happiness means money. To Manish, happiness will come to you which you will know.

There is indeed five different mini storylines in the movie. Each told beautifully.
Sure the movie has the cast of C graded actors. I'm just exaggerating here but I say this because the star cast alone will not bring enough audience to watch the film. I mainly watched the film for Dino. But I also adore Sameer and Aftab. If this film didn't have Dino or maybe Sameer and Aftab, I probably wouldn't have watch it.

I'm glad I watched the film. I loved it! I had zero expectations. What I love most about this movie is I love the meaning of it - the purpose of life. I enjoyed everyone's performance. I don't analyze the star's acting criteria as much as others. Nor do I think, so and so was so great in this movie but fell flat in this movie. I think this movie was a bit too serious for some people and with the cast, it flopped. It definitely has a multi star cast, whether you want to debate or not if they are stars.

What I also love about the movie is none of the five friends hooked up with each other at all. They were true friends who went on with their lives and every year had a reunion to meet up and chat about their lives. Give Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee a watch, you may surprise yourself and end up liking the movie.


1971 - Prisoners of War



1971 is a story about six Indian POWs (Prisoners of War) - Major Suraj Singh (Manoj Bajpai), Captain Jacob (Ravi Kissen), Subedar Ahmed (Chitaranjan Giri), Captain Kabir (Kumud Mishra), Flight Lt. Ram (Manav Kaul) and Flight Lt. Gurtu (Deepak Dobriyal) in Pakistan who plans to escape the camp to the Indian border.
Manoj Bajpai is an awesome, underrated actor. I don't go out and watch all his movies but I do appreciate his work. What attracted me to watch this movie is it's a war movie. Some people may yawn at that genre but I like watching war movies.

Why this movie is different from most war movies? Not only is it powerful and simple but the movie is realisticly told. Unlike LOC (Line of Control) where there is a song and dance with many flashbacks. 1971 isn't like that. Try to watch 1971 even if war movies aren't for you. This movie is brilliantly directored and different from a lot of war movies.
Awarapan


Shivan (Emraan Hashmi) is a lonely guy who is hurt and heartbroken searching for happiness. Shivan works for a gangster Malik (Ashutosh Rana) who ask Shivan to watch his young mistress Reema (Mrinalini Sharma) while he goes on a business trip. While Shivan does his job, he learns about Mrinalini's boyfriend. When he tries to follow Malik's orders, his conscious comes to haunt him because of his tragic past.

Another Bhatt movie, oh gosh! Oh no, and with the smootch king Emraan Hashmi! I'm sure many has said that when they heard about Awarapan. I knew about Awarapan remaking the Korean movie, A Bittersweet Life. Before watching Awarapan, I decided to watch A Bittersweet Life first. I disliked the movie! I was hoping the Indian version would be better because I liked Zinda, the Indian remake version, more than the original Korean version, Oldboy.

As an actor, I liked Emraan ever since I saw his debut film, Footpath. Awarapan is Emraan's best performance! You can feel his pain when he cries. When he's confused and lost, you can see it in his eyes. Mrinalini was a joy to watch. She is so beautiful and this role didn't give her an opportunity to actually show off her acting skills but she was decent.

Unlike most people, I enjoy Bhatt movies. They have the best music soundtracks! Just watch this movie and give it a chance. Even if you don't enjoy it, you'll sing the "Mahiva" song and get it stuck in your head.

Dhokha



Dhokha is a story about Zaid Ahmed (Muzamil Ibrahim), a Muslim police officer whose wife Sarah (Tulip Joshi) was killed in a suicide bombing. He later learns his wife may be the suicide bomber. With memories of his wife, he learns about her past and reasons of her actions.

Unfortuantely Dhokha is another Bhatt movie that the audience overlooked. The Bhatt's are good at giving newcomers, mostly model turn actors/actresses, a chance in non masala films. Whether it's John Abraham in Jism or Udita Goswami in Paap, this time it's Muzamil Ibrahim.

The movie gives out a powerful message. Again the music is wonderful. Maybe, just maybe, you'll enjoy this film. If not you can at least drool over Muzamil. Tulip is very lovely in the movie and it's her best acting till date.
Some people nit pick over details. "Muzamil is too pretty to play that role" or "Bhatt's always have too much skin exposure" Whatever. Get over yourself sometimes. If it's let's say the Yash Raj banner, films like Salaam Namaste, Dhoom, Neil N Nikki, Dhoom 2, etc - they had plenty of skin exposure but it's okay just because of the banner.
Johnny Gaddar


Five guys - Vikram (Neil Mukesh), Prakash (Vinay Pathak), Seshadri (Dharmendra), Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Daya (Shiva Shetty) - partner up for a plan to steal some money and to split it five ways. Vikram turns the table when he wants the money all to himself and plans to elope with his mistress Mini (Rimi Sen). The plan is not going according to what he wanted. With many twists and turns in the movie with crime, betrayal, love, and murder.

Although I've been a fan of Dharmendra since I first saw Seeta Aur Geeta when I was a little girl, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this film. After reading good reviews, I decided to give it a try. Watching Dharmendra on screen again was wonderful. He is still very handsome and the only actor who I was familiar with.
Neil is one of my fave newcomers in a while. Not only is he good looking, he can act. I love his facial expressions. Rimi is just there and never really cared for her. She's beautiful but that's it.

A well-made film. One of the best crime thriller movies! However, sometimes just don't have high hopes, you'll enjoy the film. I thought it was slick and stylish. Everything about it is stunning and the way it was delivered. Just go watch it!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I own Dhokha, so wil try to watch it as soon as possible.

If you like Johnny Gaddaar, you should watch Mithya. It´s another one of this underrated, yet well-made thrillers, and stars Ranvir Shorey, Neha Dhupia and Naseeruddin Shah.

Looking forward to your Korean blog already:)

Nicki said...

You have to watch Dhokha.

Mithya review is up now and so is my Korean blog. :)

Daddy's Girl said...

I love that you put 'Awarapan' on your list - I agree with you that it deserved a better response. Emraan was great in it, I thought, and it was really nicely done. Nice list!

Nicki said...

Hello daddy's girl - glad you liked Awarapan too! Yes, indeed it as a very underrated film.

dunkdaft said...

Oh..thank God, someone else did like Awarapan. I really enjoyed that movie a lot. And the only film I liked Emraan in.

Also I love Dhokha [and music too] and Johnny Gaddar. Similar choices, eh??!!

Nicki said...

I know. Right, Darshit? Emraan gets too much flak but he's good. I don't care if he kisses. So effing what, hahaha. Since his debut film Footpath, I've been watching out for his films. Wow, glad we have similar tastes. Did you see 1971 or Life Mein Kabhi Kabhiee?