Ruslaan Mumtaaz - where art thou?

Dear Ruslaan,

Where are thou?

It took me two years to find out who you were. In 2005, when I first saw you in the music video of the remix "Aap Jaisa Koi," I asked everyone who you were. No one knew.

Then your debut film, Mere Pehla Pehla Pyar came along, I saw pictures of you. I knew that was the same guy I was searching for all these years!

I finally found you! So extremely happy to see Mere Pehla Pehla Pyar because it was a cute, teenage love story. Something I don't see much in Bollywood.

But that was almost two years ago, it's now 2009.

Eagerly waiting for your next two films, which is scheduled to release this year in 2009 (I still hope!)

Tere Sang - I can not find much information, except that you were injured while shooting the film.

Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai! - glad to see an IMDB page since Tere Sang didn't have one. I hope you have a huge role in the film. Ritiesh Deshmukh is credited first. And Ayesha as an alien in the film too! Please no supporting roles! I want you in a lead role!

Shocking news to me when I found out that you were denied the role of in Slumdog Millionaire because of your good looks. It's okay. Don't worry, you are definitely too fine and much hotter than Dev Patel.

Hope that was not the reason why I haven't seen much of you lately. I still have faith in you. Come back soon! I miss you!

Waiting patiently,

Nicki
ApunBindaas
A Hmong Chick who Loves Indian Cinema

All I can do now is stare at your pics until I see you again....

Until then, enjoy the hawt photoshoot of Ruslaan!

PS - for those who didn't know, he is the son of veteran actress, Anjana Mumtaz.

MP3 - no, not the music player but the acronyms for Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar - such a cute high school love story

My quick, simple synopsis. Mera Pehla Pehla Pyar aka MP3 is cute, teenage love story focused on Rohan (Ruslaan Mumtaz) and Ayesha (Hazel Crowney). Rohan and Ayesha both like each other but no one has officially said that they are a couple but the whole school knows they have been spending a lot of time together.



Rohan (Ruslaan Mumtaz) narrates his high school story of love and friendship. With his three best friends, they are mischievous and act studly. As a son, he manipulates his lovely, cool father into always feeding into his wanted needs. Then you have his sweet, sensitive side which is friends tease him for because he's falling in love.



As I mentioned in my Farz Ki Jung review, I have a big crush on Anjala Mumtaz's son, Ruslaan. His debut film is sweet and convinced me as the adorable, playful college boy falling in love. So adorable, now featured on my blog header. Update - you can view the header here.



Ayesha (Hazel Crowney) is the new girl at the school. Originally from London, she misses her friends. Like most girls who are unsure if they are falling in love, Ayesha was confused about Rohan's mix messages he was giving her.



Hazel is mix with British and Indian. She reminds me of the Czech model Yana Gupta. You can tell she doesn't speak Hindi very well and can hear her accent. At first it bothered me but in the film, Ayesha is from London.



Rohan's father (Kanwaljit Singh) is the cool, fun dad who Rohan manipulates. Like most teenage sons, they want to go have fun with their friends but his father wants to hang out with Rohan at times as well. No matter how mischievous Rohan is, his father gives in each and everytime.



Rohan's mother (Menekka Arora) wishes her husband would be more stern on Rohan.



Ayesha's mother (Rinku Patel) is a very attractive mother who grew up with Rohan's mother.



Sudhir (Dinesh Garg) and Rohan have known each other for 9 years. Rohan desribes him as a friend, philosopher, and a misguide who does very little in life but fears life more. In addition, he loves to bet over everything. For example, both were riding to school and Sudhir wanted to bet who will get there first.



Javed (Sarthak Bhasin) - Rohan describes him as a very uninteresting guy because his heart belongs to Mrs. Saxena, the math teacher. Javed is also nickname as "Horny Sheikh" (his last name).



Vasu (Vikas Vasu) - Rohan describes as the angries in their gang. Although he talks about beating up others, he has never physically gotten into a fight. He reminds me of the Hollywood actor Lee Norris aka Mouth from The CW show, One Tree Hill.



Mrs Saxena, the math teacher, who "Horny Sheikh" has a crush on.



Simi (Mandira Singh) is Ayesha's friend who guides her through school. She goes through boys just as much as she does makeup.



Shantu (Sagar Chawla) is Rohan's arch rival. He purposely likes to get Rohan in trouble.



I watched this film because I finally found out who this hottie I've been looking since 2005!! He was in this music video so I was asking everyone I could think of to identify him but no one knew who he was! There's two different remixes on YouTube too. It is the remix of "Aap Jaisa Koi." No, it's not those remixes by DJ Doll. The video I'm taking about is three girls across the street in love with one guy (Ruslaan) and images being with him! Later to find out he has a girlfriend. Watch the video below, had to upload it.



Oh yeah, Ruslaan was in this music video and surprisely, so was Hazel! When I first saw another remix DJ Doll song - "Leke Pehla Pehla Pyaar." Yes, I like DJ Doll remixes. A lot of people cringe at it but I think it's catchy and great songs to dance to. I even own DJ Doll music videos. When I first saw it, I thought it was Yana but later confirmed as Hazel. Watch the video below.





The music is very hip and modern. It is mostly targeted towards the younger generation. One of my guilty pleasures is teenage love movies. I enjoy Hollywood films such as A Cinderella Story, She's All That, Bring it On, Ten Things I Hate About You, Save the Last Dance, etc. Anyways, I enjoyed MP3's soundtrack, I uploaded on YouTube with English subtitles.



Song #1 - "Chori Chori"
Sindhir, Javed, and Vasu tease Rohan about him liking Ayesha but Rohan denies it.







Watch Below



Song #2 - "Who am I?"
Rohan and Ayesha spend time together. Both seems to be falling in love.













Watch Below



Song #3 - "I Just Said"
Ruslaan finally admits that Ayesha is his girlfriend





Watch Below



Song #4 - "Do You Know?"





Watch Below



Song #5 - "Mera Pehla"
Rohan concluding his high school life and closing credits.







Watch Below



I wanted to share other parts of the movie that I enjoyed and wanted to point out. While watching the movie, I found the music as well as part of the movie that has some Korean influences.



Rohan's rock dance. It was cute and hilarious. He was into the music video and not realizing that Ayesha was watching him. I'm sure that many of us has had that happened before!





The private school uniforms. I know this isn't a big deal and it's a customary outfit for high schools. It's just that a lot of Hindi films don't focus on the high school love life. Many Korean movies does. So when watching this film, I thought about a lot of Korean movies.



From Korean movie, 100 Days with Mr Arrogant, My Girl and I, and She's On Duty.

Another Korean movie influence that I see is Karaoke Night. MP3 is the only movie that I know of that has karaoke in the film. I'm not saying that Indians don't karaoke. I'm sure they do. They do Antakshri, but that's not necessarily karaoke either. It's just that karaoke is a big part of Korean movies.



Here are karaoke scenes from Korean cinema - My Name is Kim Sam Soon and My Tutor Friend. Sorry about the bad quality, made stills from YouTube. Too lazy to get out my dvds.





Love the friendship of the guys in the film! What I love about this movie is how his friends were always there for him. I rarely see this in Hindi films. I can only think of a few films when this happens. If there is more Hindi films like this, please let me know!









Just like the guys hanging out and bonding, I don't see in a lot of Bollywood films where the females hang out and talk about guys. They are just being girls. You see in a lot of films where the heroine has female friends but they don't hang out.





I also love the fact that no elders were the obstacle of their love. This movie is some shades of South Korean films of how the story is being told and for it dealing with just the couple's relationships.