Angadi Theru Movie review

Star-casts: Mahesh, ‘Katradhu Tamizh’ Anjali, A. Venkatesh and others
Direction: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash, Vijay Anthony

Vasantha Balan’s unique way of projecting realism has been his highlighting USP. If ‘Veyil’ was all about contrastive scenarios of triumphs and failures in the lives of two brothers, he’s back with a powerful bang in ‘Angadi Theru’, which speaks about the other side of T. Nagar.

It’s been more off clichés, where our film protagonists head from their villages to Chennai seeking for fortune and indeed fetch it. But Vasantha Balan takes us through a journey with anguishes of youngsters in textile showrooms of Chennai, whose lives are downtrodden and quite pathetic.

Abuse and oppression is what these salespersons are exposed to and how the lead characters survive the badgerings has been well depicted in ‘Angadi Theru’. But anything in excess is too difficult to handle, isn’t? In simple terms, ‘Angadi Theru’ is an excess baggage of overdosed emotions and pathos.

An unexpected demise of his father in an accident leaves Jyothi Lingam (Mahesh) desolated. Drenched in a high-risk situation, Lingam leaves to Chennai along with his friend Maarimuthu as they get employed in the one of the biggest textile showrooms in T. Nagar. But life isn’t easy as they expected as hundreds of salesmen and women are prone to inhumanity like reducing a rupee for every minute they’re late to office. Girls are molested if they’re found playing during business time.

On the different segments, we are introduced to various characters of a lame husband and wife, an underprivileged person’s sudden change of fortune with a public toilet. Every character has its own joyousness, upheavals and how they overcome it….Hard-hitting dialogues penned by Jaya Mohan impinges straight into your heart, sometimes wrenches it.

Especially, the perfect reason behind lame man’s wife on giving birth to a handicapped child leaves you stunned. Of course, it deserves a grand round of applause. Vasantha Balan has to thank his technicians for the ability of discerning his motives. Richard’s cinematography is sharp, exquisite and elegant and the shots captured through hidden cameras have been done awesomely. Vijay Anthony’s ‘Aval Appadi’ is dulcetly resplendent while his background score could’ve been better.

On the performance level, newcomer Magesh has put forth his best efforts, emoting with right momentums. His simplistic comeliness over the screens is appreciable while his outbursts at valid situations are commendable. Anjali comes up with an overpoweringly stunning performance as her overall acting will win her accolades. The others in supporting roles including director A. Venkatesh as the cruel manager have done justice to their roles.

Well Done Abba Movie Review

Cast: Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba, Sammir Dattani, Ila Arun, Sonali Kulkarni and Ravi Kishen

Director: Shyam Benegal 

Two years after giving us the delightfully heartwarming Welcome To Sajjanpur, director Shyam Benegal returns with another social satire set in a small village in the Indian heartland. Well Done Abba stars Boman Irani as chauffeur Armaan Ali, who takes a month's leave from his job in Mumbai to visit his native village Chikatpali near Hyderabad to fix his daughter's marriage. Once there, he decides to avail of a government scheme to have a well dug on his patch of agricultural land. The film follows Armaan Ali over three months, as he navigates through all the corruption and greed involved in a seemingly simple procedure, and yet ends up with no well.

As has always been the filmmaker's biggest strength, Well Done Abba is populated with a bunch of engaging characters, particularly Ravi Kissen's sex-crazed civil engineer who's forever fantasizing about his wife getting breast implants, and Ila Arun's shrill-voiced local swindler.

Benegal trusts important roles in the hands of younger actors like Minnisha Lamba, who plays Armaan Ali's feisty daughter Muskaan, and Sammir Dattani who appears as a car mechanic who develops a soft spot for her. Both characters help Armaan Ali turn the tables on the corrupt bureaucrats, but both actors sadly fail to deliver compelling performances.

While the director has continually succeeded in addressing important social issues even while telling lighthearted personal tales, Well Done Abba appears to be bursting at its seams with too many messages about women's rights, communal harmony, rural education and the right to information act. Despite some genuinely comic portions in which Benegal exposes the extent of double dealing and bribery involved in Indian rural politics, the film as a whole is hard to enjoy because of its sluggish pace, and because of your inability to empathize with Armaan Ali.

Boman Irani delivers an earnest performance in his double role here, but the characters slip too easily into caricature, making it especially hard to connect with Armaan Ali's pathos.

Hum Tum Aur Ghost Movie Review

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Dia Mirza and Boman Irani

Director: Kabeer Kaushik

 

Hum Tum Aur Ghost, starring Arshad Warsi as a guy who can see and hear dead people, is intended as a light-hearted comedy. Unfortunately the script -- credited to Arshad himself, and evidently inspired from the Hollywood rib-tickler Ghost Town -- drains out much of the fun that could be had with this promising premise. 

The screenplay, to begin with, takes too long to arrive at the core conflict, which involves Arshad's character -- Armaan, a photographer in Newcastle -- agreeing to help two good-natured spirits fulfill their final wishes. But before the film even gets to that point, nearly an hour or so is devoted to establishing the relationship between Armaan and his incredibly patient girlfriend Gehna (played by Dia Mirza).

Girlfriends like Gehna are hard to find. She sticks faithfully by her man even though he's a compulsive alcoholic, he's way too friendly with his female assistant and, as a psychiatrist later tells her, he might be schizophrenic too! Gehna has a full-time job as the editor of a fashion glossy, but you rarely see her doing any work. On the odd occasion that you catch her at her workplace, she's either arguing with her boyfriend or discussing her relationship status with her father. No wonder she can roll out her stroller and set off without so much as a leave application when Armaan asks her to join him on a trip to Goa to search for the missing child of a spirit he's promised to help.

Hum Tum Aur Ghost,suffers primarily on account of its inconsistent tone. The film might have worked as an irreverent comedy, but much of it is treated as an emotional drama, resulting in several contrived scenes that fall flat on their face. Even the humour works mostly when it's done smartly and subtly, and not as effectively in the film's slapstick portions -- like the one in which Armaan disguises himself and visits a bank, only to be confronted by the son of the very man he is impersonating.

Ultimately the film is predictable and tiring because it's an interesting idea that's been stretched way beyond its potential. The usually dependable Arshad Warsi delivers a few light moments, and Boman Irani as a friendly ghost helps muster up a couple of laughs. But director Kabeer Kaushik, who gave us the gripping cop drama Sehar, doesn't seem to have the light-handed touch required to turn this flimsly concept into a fun-filled ride.

Mundhinam Paartheney Movie Review

Cast: Sanjay, Ekta, Lizna, Pooja.

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Mundhinam Paartheney is a typical love story which narrates the love of two typical upper middle-class youths in an almost realistic manner. It gives a bloom feeling. The story and the treatment of the story are fresh and refreshing amidst the cliched movies.

Sanjay is a software professional and is in madly love with a dance teacher Aarthi. It is a one-sided love affair. Aarti is very much anxious about her dancing career and dreams of going to London to establish her career. Moreover she bears some family liabilities too. But Sanjay some weay or the other say his love to her. But at first she keeps back from him and just evade from his love. But later on seeing sanjay’s sincere love Aati too start to love him.

All remains fine and well until Sanjay comes to hear something about Aarti’s personal life. He becomes very shocked and started avoiding Aarti. He even disclosed her life incident to others and made a mock of her. Insulted Aarti found it too hard to digest all this. Instead of finding out what is the fact, Sanjay’s attitude pained her. She herself started moving away from Sanjay and slowly they gets separated. Later Sanjay marries another girl who loved him deeply. But it was too late for him when he recognized the fact behind Aarti’s life and the incident. By that time Aarti was too far for him. With a tragic love failure Sanjay then lives with his tragic memories.

Director Thirumaeni has portrayed the life and living of urban upper middle class youth in a natural manner. The affair between Sanjay and Aarti and the way it takes roots and grows stronger has been depicted in a mature and convincing manner. The song sequences have been shot aesthetically.

Sanjay impress the audience with his cool handling of a not so challenging role. The tall and sexy Ekta enacts her role with confidence. Her body language and expression is very impressive. The bubbly looking Lizna is charming with her cute expressions.

The director has proved his mettle by sensitively handing the subject love. His courage to cast new faces and the realistic way he has depicted the story is commendable. The screenplay, which drags at times, is the only drawback with the movie. Taman’s music is reasonably good with some sweet melodies. In short the film is worth watching.

Kacheri Arambam Movie Review

Star-casts: Jeeva, Poonam Bajwa, J.D. Chakravarthy, Vadivelu, Azhagam Perumal and others

Direction: Thiraivannan

Music: D. Imman

Jeeva's attempt to project himself in unique roles has won him astounding laurels. By nature, he was often accredited as a special actor for his ability to come up with such spellbinding looks and performance from film-to-film. In spite of some of those movie not yielding favorable results at box office, they have been his most important stepping stones of success.

Doubtlessly, his sudden plans over hop-skipping into different arenas of commercial potboilers were indeed a good thought. But almost all his commercial flicks except 'Siva Manasula Sakthi' have been an ostentatious show that falls on the same lines.

'Kacheri Arambam' isn't an elision. From the start-till-the-end, it offers a moment to recollect the sequences from yesteryear Tamil blockbusters. Oops! Why don't our filmmakers come up with an interesting story rather flattering the heroes merely for the sake of signing their home banners? It's an unanswerable question as even most of the reigning filmmakers of Kollywood have beating around the same bush.

The film opens over a train journey where Paari (Jeeva) and director Thiraivannan boasting about this film to be a commercial entertainer, which is followed by a flashback taking us to his native land of Ramnad.

Being a good-hearted savior, Paari gives away his ducky products and monetary aids to those, who are in need of it. (Just as his name 'Paari' signifies the ancient characterization of Paari Vallal). With an unavoidable tiff breaking out between the guy and his dad (Azhagam Perumal), he sets out to Chennai with money-spinning mottos.

Chennai has unexpected plans for him as he comes across a beautiful girl Madhi (Poonam Bajwa) and falls in love with her at first sight. Within short span of time, a load of henchmen set forth on a show of smashing down Paari.

Sooner, he comes to notice that Madhi is going through troublesome moments as a topmost don of Chennai – Sivamani (J.D. Chakravarthy) has hard-pressed her to marry him.

Rest of the story doesn't need an illustration as even a 5-year old kid can guess the narration in second half.

First thing first! Jeeva tries to prove his success with a commercial formula, which doesn't work at the least. He can better choose to go around with films like ‘Siva Manasula Sakthi’ or else a challenging role as in ''Ee' This is not a right script for Jeeva and director Thiraivannan disappoints us badly. Poonam Bajwa looks bubbly and yet that alone cannot keep her in our attention and she must really work hard to bring out right emotions. Vadivelu strives saving the ship from sinking down and to be precise, the complete first half belongs to him. J.D. Chakravarthy engrosses us intensely, but moves down with weaker depiction during second half.

Maathi Yosi Movie Review

Cast: Harish, Alex, Gopal, Visak, Shammu
Director: Nandha Periyasamy
Music Director: Guru Kalyan

Maathi Yosi means "think differently". Hence, one expects something new in the film. Director Nandha Periyasamy's second directorial venture after Oru Kalluriyin Kathai (2005) does have something new in the form of backdrop, but it doesn't have anything new in the narrative.

Set in the backdrop of a Dalit colony, film portrays prevailing caste equation well. Four adolescent youths from a Dalit colony are full of mischief and looking for opportunities to pester others. They kill a lizard, a rabbit and rob a van passing through the village. Soon they become the targets of police for various crimes and ruptures.

One day, a little Dalit girl, who cleans the temple car (chariot) in the village, joins them. She is punished by the upper caste people for spoiling the sanctity of the lord. The four boys get angry and abduct Lord Murugan along with the chariot and bring him inside their colony.

Angry upper caste people launch an attack on the boys with the help of police. The boys escape from the clutches of police, teach a lesson to the landlord and find their way to Chennai.

In the city, they steal to survive. Along the way, they get a revolver and bump into a girl called Shammu. They are forced to save her from the clutches of her greedy uncle.

The initial village scenes evoke interest, but it wanes once the boys land up in Chennai. The director, who calls upon to think differently, ironically falls into the trap of cliched formula to make the movie interesting.
Logic takes a backseat and interest created by initial scenes disappears after the entry of Shammu's character. It looks silly to see the city-bred modern girl moving around with a bunch of raw-looking youths who don't even bother to put on their shirts.

Editor Kola Baskar has done a good job and cinematographer Vijay Armstrong too has managed to capture the beauty of rural areas. Debutant music director Guru Kalyan's background score passes muster and his songs leave much to be desired.
Among the actors, Ravi Maria who plays Shammu's uncle, takes the cake with the casual portrayal of his character. Others too have done well, but have been badly hit by the shoddy screenplay.

Starting promisingly by focusing on the casteist problem, the films goes wayward and loses its opportunity to be an unique movie.

Lahore Movie Review

Cast: Nafisa Ali, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Kelly Dorji, Pramod Muthu, Shraddha Nigam and Nirmal Pandey

Director: Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan

Using the sport of kickboxing as a new premise to tell an old story, Lahore is a slickly directed first film by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan that sadly offers too simplistic and idealistic a solution to the India-Pakistan problem.

Part vendetta story, part message movie, Lahore stars newcomer Aanahad as a revenge-seeking younger brother who steps into the ring to vanquish the Pakistani kickboxer who killed his older sibling using foul means.

It's an engaging drama, convincingly performed and thrillingly shot, but let down by a script packed with convenient lapses of logic, and caricatured characterisation.

Careful not to indulge in that Gadar-style blatant Pak-bashing, the film nevertheless makes its point clearly, pitting Indian sportsmanship against Pakistan's win-at-all-costs ethos.

What holds your attention in the end are the gripping kickboxing scenes that are filmed so effectively, you literally find yourself transported to the centre of the action. The performances are appropriately restrained -- particularly Farooque Shaikh as the Hyderabadi-accented coach, and Sushant Singh as the ill-fated professional kickboxer -- but the film fails to leave a lasting impression because it doesn't say anything that you haven't already heard before.

I'm going with two-and-a-half out of five and an average rating for director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's Lahore. It's well-intentioned, has its heart in the right place, and it's an engaging enough watch. But it never rises above that to become a film that could truly make a difference.

Yathumagi Movie Review

Cast: Sachin, Sunaina, Azhagan Thamizhmani, Riyaz Khan

Director: Balakumar

Music Director: James Vasanthan

A lingering, soft romantic story has been told in a lacklustre manner in Yathumagi, robbing it of the beautiful feeling that usually stays with viewers after watching a movie of this genre. In the film, Sachin plays an advertisement photographer who belongs to a rich family. But his problem is that wherever he goes, he invariably gets into trouble and is bailed out by his powerful family. He never thinks before embarking on any mission.

Sunaina is a simple girl, whose world revolves around her family members and the inevitable idiot-box. She falls in love with Sachin, but the mercurial young man ignores her feelings.

Eventually Sachin falls in love with her, but his ever-so-callous attitude poses threat to their relationship when some relatives turn against them. What happens in the end is revealed in the climax, but not in so enterprising manner.

It seems due to lack of imagination, director Balakumar has presented many sequences in a cliched manner and it reminds audiences of the scenes they have watched umpteen times in several movies in different languages.

The reason shown for Sunania falling in love with Sachin is childish.Sachin fails to impress with his performance. It seems he hasn't effort to look 'different' and wear varying expressions in the sequences.

Sunaina looks amazingly beautiful and absolutely ravishing in the typical Tamil costume, paavadai-dhaavani. Her facial expressions and her picture-perfect image are the highlights of the otherwise dud fare. She has also made a decent attempt to act and passes off in her facial expressions.

Azhagan Thamizhmani as Sunaina's father goes over the top while enacting his part. Riyaz Khan, who plays Sunaina's brother, has been wasted in an insignificant role.
James Vasanthan has churned out few melodious numbers. Kudos to him!

Director Balakumar falters very badly with his screenplay and dialogues. In short, Yathumagi is a dull fare.

Shaapit Movie Review

Cast: Aditya Narayan, Shweta Aggarwal, Rahul Dev

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Ask anyone and they'll tell you that the cardinal rule for a horror film is -- Keep it short! At an agonizing 2 hours and 20-odd minutes, that is just the first of many rules that director Vikram Bhatt breaks in his new film Shaapit.

The movie stars newcomers Aditya Narayan and Shweta Aggarwal as a much-in-love couple that discovers they cannot be together. Problem is our heroine hails from a family of royal ancestry that's been cursed some 300 years ago that their daughters shall never marry.

Why they don't decide to spare everyone the trouble by simply living in together, is a question that's never answered. Instead, Aditya hunts down a professor of paranormal studies (played by Rahul Dev) and urges him to help drive away the curse.

What follows is a cross-country adventure that includes a visit to a haunted library, a burnt-down cinema-hall, an ancient rural jail, a royal museum, and finally a river palace. By this time you're wondering how many Red Bulls the actors have consumed, because even if they don't appear exhausted, you most certainly are.

All along our protagonists are chased by spirits and ghosts, and shortly after intermission the heroine finds herself in a coma. The boys meanwhile are tossing around tennis balls with cryptic messages and religious amulets with secret scriptures, all in the hope of cracking the curse which is inexplicably linked to an incident in the very distant past involving a palace murder. By the time this film finally ends, and the heroine awakes from her comatose state, you feel like you might be slipping into one yourself!

Shaapit suffers from a convoluted plot that flits from occult and witchcraft to science-fiction and palace intrigue. Rahul Dev's character, Professor Pashupathi, is meant to decode the film's paranormal activity for you, but good lord, can that man talk! For all his so-called expertise, it's ironical that he's the only principal character that's killed in this film!

The performances of the actors are uniformly bland, save for Aditya Narayan who at least has screen presence to speak of. Unfortunately the film and its characters take themselves way too seriously, and hence there are few opportunities to enjoy the ride.

I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for director Vikram Bhatt's Shaapit. Horror films are meant to get your heart racing pumping. At the end of this film, you'll have to check for your pulse.

Thambikku Indha Ooru Movie Reviews

Cast: Bharath, Sana Khan, Madalasa Sharma, Prabhu, Vivek,Ranjith, Sampath Raj, Livingston, Aarthi
Director: Badri
Music Director: Dharan

Overloaded promos, Bharath’s viral marketing about his new makeovers and dozens of yesteryear actors in the posters. Maybe, it could’ve let you draw a brief perception that director Badri has crafted out an interesting commercial entertainer.

But, as you walk out of theatres, it’s a mere disappointment. The film doesn’t boast about anything special as director Badri has coalesces whole lot of ingredients from whole lot of Tamil films presenting with Tollywood-fangled touch. More than all Bharath’s unbearable gestures that often annoys us to a greater extent.

Making it simple! ‘Thambikku Indha Ooru’ doesn’t even posses a single attribute to praise about.

The film is about Akil (Bharath) owning a South Indian restaurant in Singapore with a sidekick Kumar (Vivek). When his father (Nizhalgal Ravi) arranges marriage with Priya (Madhalasa), their family friend, Akil doesn’t accept the proposal saying that he has fallen in love with a squash champion Divya (Sana Khan).

Now, a secret breaks out that Akil is an orphan. But then, the foster reveals that his biological parents are still alive somewhere near outskirts of Chennai. On the course of searching for his parents, he also tries to convince Divya’s dad, which isn’t an easy thing to accomplish with. Meanwhile, he comes across a hooligan Kumaraswamy (Prabhu).

With the intentions of mingling so many plots, Badri tests your patience irksomely.

Nothing much to analyze on the film’s narrative or technical aspects. The only hope was Dharan, who had delivered some good tunes in the past, but dashes down our hopes. The cinematography looks is over-bleached at many sequences and editing is quite amateur.

Bharath has to strictly undergo a crash course in acting. If he has plans about sustaining his presence in film industry, he must get serious and not so careless. Choosing a right script, underplaying his role would surely win him credits as he has the ability to do it. Sana Khan and Madhalasa are meant for nothing while Prabhu’s involvement for the sake of monetary gains isn’t worth appreciable. Vivek’s ridiculous comedy tracks are stereotyped and may not receive felicitations.

Aval Peyar Thamizharasi – Movie Review

Cast: Jai, Nandagi, Theodre Bhaskaran, Veerasanthanam, Rama, S S Kumaran

Music: Vijay Anthony

Direction: Meera Kadhiravan

Have you ever witnessed feel-good love stories in films with village backgrounds? Nah! It’s a difficult task to pull out one such single flick of this genre. Let’s not get into vivid comparisons, but it’s worth mentioning about few nativity based films that had wonderful romance but ended with tragedy.

But Meera Kadhiravan strides far away from such factors and presents the film ‘Aval Peyar Thamizharasi’ in a pleasantly novel manner. The new filmmaker has neatly interwoven a tale of poignant romance set along with the existing problems of ancient arts – puppetry.

Let’s put it this way… This film may take its time to capture the interests of city audiences, especially the multiplex lovers. With ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya’ defining the essence of love in realistic terms, ‘Aval Peyar Thamizharasi’ takes on a new-fangled dimension.

The film opens with saddened Jyothi (Jai) embarking a journey on the pursuit of his childhood love Thamizharasi (Nandagi). On the 10th minute, the film shifts back to the so-called golden days of Jyothi and Thamizharasi spending their childhood and teen days together. Jyothi hails from a rich family while Thamizharasi is an unprivileged girl, whose family earns its livelihood with puppetry shows. Jyothi requests his grandfather (Theodre Bhaskaran) to provide shelter for the poor family and accomplishes with good favor. Soon as Thamizharasi completes her 12th STD with higher rank and sets out to Pune for her engineering graduation, unfledged Jyothi becomes rattlebrained in molesting Thamizharasi with a belief that she would stay back with him.

Sooner as he realizes his perfidiousness, he cannot afford for a peaceful life and yearns to convince Thamizharasi. But then, fate has its own plans that take Jyothi for a quest of finding his girl.

Firstly, let’s look into three touchstones that favours audiences with immensity – a different story with unique conflicts, well-crafted screenplay of 125mins duration and convincing climax.

On pars, few clichés makes us benumbed. Say for instances, the unbearable lamentations, and prototyped depiction of kids (often seen in many films). But they get trivialized as the story tends to travel on different lines post-intermission.
We must appreciate Jai’s ability of choosing different scripts and performing his roles with perfection. He has showcased his excellence with trenchant acts in ‘Subramaniapuram’ and few other films as well. Now, he establishes his new avatar in ‘Aval Peyar Thamizharasi’ that faintly resembles Jeeva of ‘Kattradhu Tamizh’. But newcomer Nandagi eclipses everyone across the screens as she carries the complete film on her shoulders. Be the moments where she ponders to meet Jai after wining laurels or the silence she undergoes in times of tribulations: she crisscrosses the lines of excellence. Writer Theodre Bhaskaran does justice to his role with a prominent characterization.

Meera Kadhiravan has well depicted the present scenario of dying of ancient arts and the struggles of such artists. Heed to the justifying lines uttered by Nandagi’s grandfather when his son quits this biz due to lack of financial support, it’s remarkable. Maybe, the audiences of present generation unaware about such exiting arts may not perceive these traits to a greater extent. The filmmaker represents the emotionally bonded persona of Nandagi with brilliance. Meera top-notches conveying certain things through visual significance that actually cuts-down the pages of dialogues – Nandagi’s mother glimpsing on rope in Jai’s room and Nandagi sketching beard to the prince’s figure on Jai’s arrival.

Couple of songs is really impressive while the background score could have been yet more convincing. Cinematography is perfect, but Muthaiah’s works are belittled with limited locations. Editing has been carried out with relevance to film’s pace.

On the whole, ‘Aval Peyar Thamizharasi’ may cater to the tastes of audiences in down south districts while ‘A’ centres may not be favored. But then, an extended phase of publicity across satellite channels and other mediums will work some magic.

Road,Movie Movie Review

Star Cast: Abhay Deol and Tannishtha Chatterjee
Director: Dev Benegal

Much like the ramshackle truck that the film's protagonists make their journey in, Road, Movie directed by Dev Benegal, is a slow and rickety ride that tires you out by the time it reaches its destination. A visually stunning but emotionally hollow adventure, packed with tired stereotypes, the film is an unsatisfying watch even at running time of 90-odd minutes.

Abhay Deol stars as Vishnu, the reluctant heir of his family's hair-oil business who agrees to drive his uncle's antique Chevy truck across the desert where it has been sold to a museum. Once a traveling cinema fitted with a projector and several film cans, the truck itself is a monstrosity that is a challenge to keep running. Along the way, Vishnu picks up three fellow travelers - a runaway urchin boy (played by Mohammed Faizal), a garrulous old mechanic (played by Satish Kaushik), and a sultry gypsy girl (played by Tannishtha Chatterjee).

During the course of their journey this oddball group encounters corrupt cops and local dons, and when their lips are parched for water, or they need to keep dreaded goons away, they unpack the projector and get the cinema running to screen classic movies for the rural folk who embrace the entertainment.

Directed with a light hand, Road, Movie doesn't succeed in getting you to care for its characters or to sympathize with their situation because, quite frankly, there's never a sense of real danger. When our protagonists are captured by a feared water-lord for trespassing on his property, the situation is resolved by resorting to that convenient script tool -- a sly parody!

But to judge the film purely for what you see on screen, would be unfair in this case. The director clearly intends for his film to work as a lyrical tribute to the magic of movies -- his very own "Cinema Paradiso" if you like. Unfortunately, apart from a few striking visuals and a handful of delightful moments -- like the one in which Satish Kaushik's character decides to snip a boring scene out of a film, and splice it with a popular song from another film - Road, Movie lacks the character depth or the sheer originality of narrative that was required to turn it into an enjoyable celebration of the movies.

Michel Amathieu's dazzling cinematography is easily the film's strongest asset, even when he's capturing nothing but vast expanses of salt or sand. Satish Kaushik as the upbeat repairman steals the film from his co-actors with a warm, endearing performance, and some of the film's smartest lines.

Atithi tum kab jaoge? Movie Review

Star cast: Ajay Devgan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal

Director: Ashwani Dhir

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? starring Paresh Rawal as a houseguest who overstays his welcome, makes for a terrific premise for a television sitcom, but doesn't lend itself comfortably to a feature-length film.

Directed by Ashwani Dhir, the movie stars Ajay Devgan and Konkona Sen Sharma as a married couple who must contend with an annoying uncle who lands up unannounced one day, and shows no signs of leaving even two months later.

Rawal's character, Lambodar chacha is up at the crack of dawn and gargles loud enough to wake up the dead. He drives away the maid, demands elaborate meals, and isn't the least bit embarrassed of his flatulence problem. No wonder his hosts want him out at any cost, going so far as to hire an underworld don to drive him away.

For as long as the film sticks to its comic tone, there is pleasure to be had in its silly yet disarming jokes. I thoroughly enjoyed a gag involving Lambodar chacha's encounter with actor Viju Khote on a film set, and the subsequent havoc he creates chasing the actor around, begging him to repeat his popular dialogue from Sholay over and over again. It's a hilarious sequence, and one that ends with a 'bang', literally borrowed from the Peter Sellers comedy, The Party.

Unfortunately the film slips into a preachy, melodramatic tone from this point on, delivering labored messages about guests being equal to God, and about the responsibility that children owe their parents. The climax, too, is an over-sentimental mess that is unnecessarily exaggerated and hence fails to strike a chord.

Ajay Devgan and Konkona Sen Sharma, credible actors both, sportingly participate in much of the film's idiocy, and yet succeed in never turning this film into the kind of offensive, unwatchable comedy that it might have easily become in the hands of such actors as Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor who could learn a thing or two about restraint from the leads in this film. Paresh Rawal has played this kind of role many times, and in this film he alternates between amusing and infuriating, depending on the quality of the scenes he's performing.

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? is adapted from a short story by Sharad Joshi, and needed to be fleshed out better before making the transition to film. With better writing it might have been a crackling piece of comedy. As it is now, it's a reasonably enjoyable weekend watch.