Movie Review: Please, no Once Upon A Time In Mumbai... Dobaara

Starring Akshay Kumar, Imran Khan, Sonakshi Sinha

Directed by Milan Luthria

Rating: * *

How do I put this politely? This is arguably one of the most ill-timed gangster drama with most performances so loud and unassimilated that these characters could easily be contestants in a Eid special segment of Comedy Circus where the theme is 'Gangsta Rap' This is done-to-noisy-death gangsterism done with heartbreaking seriousness.

It takes some doing to wrap up such a time-worn love triangle into a pretence of modern storytelling. Milan Luthria's earlier films like Kachche Dhaage and Dirty Picture had some interesting conflicts between characters who are driven by a desire for revenge but are frustrated in their malevolence by their love for the very same people they want to hate. 

The problem with Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobaara is that the two main characters who love each other to death, literally, are people we've met over and over again. Most notably in Ram Gopal Varma's Company where Ajay Devgn and Viveik Oberoi played gangster and protege with great conviction and ballsy velocity. 

The subsequent spinoffs have gotten seriously diluted. 

This one is a sequel to Luthria's 2010 film where Ajay Devgn's imposing personality and gravelly voice had made the pale and sometime unintentionally funny proceedings bearable. 
Except for Sonakshi Sinha playing a starlet who talks too hard and too much and gets the male protagonists (who need to be spanked for playing with guns when their IQ level suggests video games would be more apt) into a serious conflict merely because she's too dumb to see they both love her. . . . Dobaara has no redeeming qualities. 

Akshay Kumar as a Dawood doppelgang(st)er is inept, to say the least. His dialogues meant to show his mastery over the hoary art of rhetorics, come out sounding like wimpy words of wacked-out wisdom picked up from messages in Chinese cookies, if not from forwarded sms messages. 
I'd just like to suggest to the dialogue writer Rajat Arora to go easy on the bumper-sticker wisdom next time. You can't make the hero look heroic by spilling tacky wisdom all over the frames in the hope that audiences would applaud the bombastic words without thinking about their relevance. 

This film wallows in a kind of imbecilic irreverence where the protagonists seem bold brave, sexy and even brazen but are actually cardboard versions of the triangular lovers in Raj Kapoor's Sangam and Vinod Kumar's Mere Huzoor. 

But at least love triangles of the past were honest about their melodramatic intentions. Once Upon A Time. . . Dobaara cloaks its outdated radical ideas in a rumbustious display of trendiness. 
Undoubtedly some sections shine brighter than the rest. Aslam (Imran Khan)'s friend making out with his girlfriend in the car while Aslam gives angrezi lessons to Jasmine (Sonakshi Sinha) is a nicely-conceived moment that loses its sheen in repetition. 

One of the 'jokes' that ties Sonakshi's character to her lover-by Imran Khan is his misuse of the word 'intercourse'. The film uses the word (prudishly beeped out by the censorboard) over and over again like a school boy that has just found a non-punishable way to say 'sex' in the classroom. 
A flavour of flagrant criminality is created through back-projected nostalgia. The film opens with an archival cricket match 'fixed' by the all-powerful underworld don. The sequences seems more 'fixed' by the director than the Dubai-based ganglord would have ever imagined. 

Fleets of black and yellow Fiat cars ply up and down Mumbai's roads in a show of periodicity. A wanton woman (Sophie Chowdhary, in a seductive cameo) cheats on her unsuspecting husband, making out with the dreaded don in the backroom at a noisy party. 

You can almost smell the cheap perfume and the discount-rated champagne trying to pass as the genuine stuff in Shoaib's party. This guy thinks he is menacing. He is actually a joke. And if the real Dawood is anything like the way Dawood-like gangster portrayed here by Akshay Kumar, we have nothing to fear except his cheesy dialogue-baazi. 
Where in all this self-defeating noise and activity is theslippery sinisterness on the streets of Mumbai? 

The gangster-villain (Akshay insists he is a villain, and who are we to argue with an overgrown brat of a guy who keeps smashing up furniture and appliances every time he doesn't get his way?) and his cronies appear to have walked out of 'loin' Ajit den in the 1970s, not quite sure which way they are supposed to head in the present-day milieu of such awe-inspiring gangster epics as Luc Besson's Taken and Amit Kumar's Monsoon Shootout. 
This one comes too late. Except for a skillfully-shot train robbery sequence featuring Imran Khan at the start, it has too little to offer in the way action and adventure. 

The stunts appear stunted. Except for Sonakshi Sinha who plays the self-seeking starlet with earnest air-headedness, Pritobash Tripathy who plays Imran's sidekick with misplaced sincerity and Sonali Bhendre who delivers the only truthfully-worded monologue in this verbally-cramped drama, the other performances are all of the watch-me-ham variety. 

And really, what this film has done to the Mohd Rafi Qawwalli Tayyab ali pyar ka dushman would make Manmohan Desai wince if he was alive. 
Dobaaraa done. Please please, no third helping. Otherwise, to rephrase one of Akshay Kumar's favourite dialogues in this film, Agar ek baar dobaara aur kiya toh sequel ka silsila bura maan jayega.

read more...

Too close for comfort: Celebs on Media's invasion

Two top actresses with two drastically different opinions about dealing with the media. While Katrina Kaif recently wrote an open letter to the media, chiding them about using her pictures while she was on a holiday, Deepika Padukone says, `If I am a public figure and if someone has captured me, I feel I should be more careful.

While certain celebrities argue that over the time, their state of 'private being' is constantly being invaded by the media, others feel that given their glamorous status, they can hardly shy away from the glare of the arclights or the camera bulbs. Being under the constant gaze of the public eye is after all a small price to pay for the glitz and glamour that stardom brings.

Aye

Shah Rukh Khan
I chose this life and when I stand on top of my building and wave, there are many happy faces, which in turn makes me very happy. I want this life and I know I am a public figure. So with good things, there are some others that used to disturb me.

People also wanted to peek inside my house but I would protect my children, my family and my friends as ferociously as I can. But I have accepted all these and on 99.9 per cent occasions, only good things will happen and I don't want to get disturbed by the remaining 0.1 per cent.
Tusshar Kapoor
It is now a part and parcel of the media boom that Hollywood saw many years ago. Now since our film industry is growing and becoming bigger, it had to happen. I think that as an actor, one has to learn to adapt and become more cautious.
Raima Sen
I think all celebrities want their private lives to be kept under wraps. Like for example if I go to a night club with someone, I cannot expect the media not cover it simply because it is a public place. Sometimes public shoot pictures and upload them and it is not always the media we can pin the blame on.
Richa Chaddha
The society is moving towards the tabloid culture of the US. Social networking and microblogging sites have made stars very accessible. And the Internet has given relevance to gossip as news. It's inevitable. I would say let people do their job. Live and let live. Actors are in the public domain but they are not public property.

Nay
Katrina Kaif
I agree the media has the freedom but my point is that there is a difference between roaming in public and being on a holiday in the middle of nowhere. You shouldn't have to be looking over your shoulder. It is just a request for people not to use the picture. Those who feel it is okay to use them, will do so. But at least I know I have done my bit to ask.

Manoj Bajpayee
Media folk will behave the way you want them to. Once you let them peep into your personal life, they will always come in even when you don't want them to. I lead a very boring family life. I go to my shoots, finish them, get my cheque and come home. But I have maintained that I will keep my personal life personal and the media understands that.
Imran Khan
The paparazzi culture is starting to sneak in here and I've always found it strange. I personally have never had anything to hide so I'm perfectly fine with it. But it is not fair to take away someone's personal choice. You should allow a person to follow what they feel is correct. In my case, I was dating Avantika long before I joined the industry. So, there was never a question of who I was seeing. I even announced that I was getting married. I was never uncomfortable talking about. But it is not fair to assume that it is that easy for everyone.
Neetu Chandra
Media has become like a family member who wants to know every possible thing happening in your personal life. They scare me sometimes because the freedom of revelling in love and family is suffocated by them.
Jacqueline Fernandez
I find it unfair taking pleasure and advantage of a person in a vulnerable position. Celebrities are humans too. Why target them for no reason?

read more...

Imran Khan's Bangalore connect

Actor Imran Khan, who is shooting for "Gori Tere Pyaar Mein" in Bangalore, says the city will always be special for him as that is where he spent some of his childhood years.

The 30-year-old studied at a boarding school in the city at a very young age. Being back in the city for a film makes him quite excited.

"I have spent a lot of my childhood in Bangalore and thus this city will always be very special to me," Imran said in a statement.

He has also been sharing his childhood memories with the crew.

"When he got the news that the movie shoots were going to happen in Bangalore he was thrilled and shared his childhood tales with us. He was more than happy to leave for the shoots," said a source.

"Gori Tere Pyaar Mein" is directed by Punit Malhotra, and also features stars Kareena Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and Sainath Dukkipati.

read more...

Imran follows the footsteps of uncle Aamir

Actor Imran Khan is following in the footsteps of his uncle Aamir Khan and pasting posters of his new film "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola" on taxis. Imran recounts the similarity between his way and what Aamir once did.

"Twenty four years ago Aamir uncle pasted the posters of his film 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak'. I remember him telling the story that he and my mother were roaming around the by-lanes of Bandra and seeking the permission of rickshaw drivers to paste the posters of his film and telling them that he is the hero of the film," the 29-year-old said while promoting the film.

"Flash forward 24 years and I find myself doing the same thing. Actually in our city public transport is the most important thing whether it is rickshaw, taxis or buses, it has always been the lifeline of the city. I think it is the easiest way to communicate and reach out to the people," he added.
Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola" also features Anushka Sharma, Pankaj Kapur and Shabana Azmi. It hits theatres Jan 11.

read more...

Emraan-Imran A Case Of Mistaken Identity

It was nothing short of a farcical faux pas when clothes meant for Emraan Hashmi in Mumbai were carried to Imran Khan in Chandigarh leaving the two stars amused and the production house common to both the projects, a little red-faced.

There is Imran Khan.And there is Emraan Hashmi. And the two shall never meet. Or at least one can safely say they lead very different personal and professional lives.

Until now when they are both part of two different films produced by Vishal Bharadwaj. And now we hear there was a massive confusion over their identical names, thought spelt differently within Vishal Bharadwaj's production team eventuating in outrageous miscommunication regarding the requirements of the two actors.

Says a source from Vishal's team, Though Emran was shooting for Ek Thi Daayan in Film City ,Mumbai and Imran was on location in Chandigarh for Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola , clothes meant for Emraan in Film City were transported to Imran in Chandigarh.
It was left to the two stars to see the lighter side of the confusion created by their similar-sounding names. We hear the Imran and Emraan were highly amused when the production team insisted on sending shooting-material to the wrong Imran/Emraan.

Says the team member, We were even able to joke about it.Some of us suggested that perhaps wearing Emraan's clothes would make Imraan a terrific kisser.Luckily Emraan and Imraan saw the lighter side of the mix-up.

read more...