Movie - Tees Maar Khan (Hindi) Director - Farah Khan Producers - Ronnie Screwvala, Twinkle Khanna, Shirish Kunder Cast - Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna, Rajiv & Raghu, Arya Babbar, Murli Sharma, Aman Varma, Apara Mehta Music - Vishal & Shekhar, Shirish Kunder Cinematography - PS Vinod Editing - Shirish Kunder Production Designer - Sabu Cyril Background Score - Shirish Kunder Story, Screenplay, Dialogues - Shirish Kunder, Ashmit Kunder Release Date - 24th December 2010
Tees Maar Khan opens with a voice-over by Sanjay Dutt showing a baby who takes a liking to Hindi Cinema from his mother's womb itself. I'm sure Farah Khan would also have been such a baby back then, and that is evident in her first two films which celebrated Hindi Cinema and all its masala with elan. Which is why she easily became one of my favourite Indian directors with just two films as a director. But the choreographer-turned-director falls flat with her third directorial venture in hubby Shirish Kunder's script. A lot was said about her fall-out with best friend Shah Rukh Khan and her decision to cast Akshay Kumar instead, and yes, the magic of the SRK-Farah combination which worked wonders in Main Hoon Na & Om Shanti Om is clearly missing in this one. It is an embarassingly silly movie which is nothing but a series of poor jokes, over the top performances, garish costumes and pathetic dialogues. And yea, they've also given the film an official remake tag - by buying the rights of the Peter Sellers movie After The Fox, on which it is based on, at the last minute.
Tabrez Mirza Khan urff Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) is a thief by birth. He is the most popular criminal from India around the world & can escape from anyone and anywhere if he wants to. He takes up the biggest con job of his life from the evil Siamese twins Johri Brothers (Raghu & Rajiv), of that to loot a running train containing 10,000 kg of priceless treasures. TMK hatches a plan where he pretends as a Hollywood director Manoj Day Ramalan, and lures the Oscar-obsessed actor Aatish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) to act in his movie by promising him an Oscar and gets an entire village along with Aatish and TMK's own wannabe actress girlfriend Anya Khan (Katrina Kaif) involved in his con job, by making them believe that its a film shoot.
Now that sounds like a great plot for a Farah Khan film with a lot of scope for her brand of humour, action and masala. But sadly, it doesnt turn out to be that way. For most parts, TMK tries very hard to be funny where one silly gag comes after the other. You try laughing at one or two such very silly gags, but when the movie is having ONLY silly gags, its not such a good thing. One cannot expect logic or rationality from Farah Khan's movies, but in spite of that she makes sure that her movies are entertaining, till TMK. Even if you leave your brains at home, it is extremely difficult to digest TMK, especially the second half of the film which stretches on and on, failing to create any impact. The Farah Khan signatures are few and far in between like the scene involving Chunkey Pandey, Akshaye Khanna's argument with his secretary over missing Danny Doyle's (:P) phone call thinking it was Danny Denzongpa and the enthusiastically dancing Anil Kapoor in a TV show along with some slum kids. This is the kind of fun we expect in a full length film from Farah Khan, and that is certainly not what Tees Maar Khan is. The writers are her husband Shirish Kunder and his brother Ashmit Kunder and it doesnt even have the classiness of Shirish's directorial debut, the underrated Jaan-E-Mann. And yea, there is no mention of After The Fox, which they apparently bough the rights of, and the story is credited to Shirish Kunder.
Akshay Kumar is slightly better than his recent few films, but seeing him in outrageous costumes, delivering silly lines is painful. Akshaye Khanna is great in certain scenes, but atrocious in many other scenes, and just like his previous release Aakrosh, he screams too much. Rajiv & Raghu, the Roadies duo are nothing but another gag in the movie. The 3 sidekicks arent even remotely funny. Same is the case with Aman Varma & Murli Sharma, the gay CBI officers (I dunno for how long Bollywood would keep stretching these homosexual jokes). Arya Babbar leaves a mark through his performance & Apara Mehta is good as the loud mom, a staple in Farah's movies. But the best performance in the movie is by Katrina Kaif. The leggy beauty has clearly had some awesome fun, acting completely over-the-top in every second of her screen time. Her dimwitted character resembles that of a dumb blonde's and she does that to perfection. The only scenes which made me laugh in the second half were the ones where she goes to apply more make-up because an important scene was going to be shot. And of course, there is Sheila Ki Jawani which alone is worth the money spent on your ticket.
Salman Khan's special appearance along with Akshay and Katrina in a qawwali number is deadly, even though the song is a let down. Its great when Akshay does the Dabangg wala actions of Salman when he sees him coming. [:P] And when Sallu approaches Katrina Kaif, Akshay stops him saying, 'Bhai, mera maal hai!!' These two actors should work together more often.
Farah's films usually have a kickass musical score. But apart from Sheila Ki Jawani & the title track, the music of TMK is a damp squib. Even the Salman Khan qawwali number (which is another high point of the movie apart from Sheila) is a bad song with a great video. Background score by Shirish Kunder mostly consists of different variations of the title track. PS Vinod's cinematography is vibrant and colourful. Sabu Cyril's art direction is not as impressive as his previous collaborations with Farah, but still his work in the title song & Sheila Ki Jawani deserve special mention.
On the whole, TMK is a huge disappointment coming from one of my favourite directors, Farah Khan. The only things worth remembering in the entire movie are Katrina Kaif and her 'Sheila Ki Jawani' number. Farah shouldnt have taken her audience for granted after her two super-successful movies. TMK just remains a silly spoof and never rises above that. Farah, please get back with Shah Rukh, or try out a new combination with Salman and stick to writing your own scripts. :) We want more of what you gave us in your first films, not stuff like Tees Maar Khan.
P.S. - For the first time, Shah Rukh would be happy for not doing a film. [:P]
Rating - 2/5 (For the few trademark Farah Khan scenes, Sheila Ki Jawani & Salman Khan's special appearance).
Movie - Action Replayy(Hindi) Director - Vipul Amrutlal Shah Producer - Vipul Amrutlal Shah Cast - Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Rannvijay Singh, Neha Dhupia, Om Puri, Kirron Kher, Rajpal Yadav, Randhir Kapoor Music - Pritam Cinematography - Sejal Shah Editing - Amitabh Shukla Art - Aparna Raina Screenplay, Dialogues - Suresh Nair, Aatish Kapadia Release Date - 5th November 2010.
The film begins with a colourful retro-styled title sequence, complete with dhinchak music. Like.
One of the earliest scenes has a joke about Mallika Sherawat. Like.
Aditya Roy Kapoor is re-introduced (according to the titles) and he does a decent job. But the length and shape of his hair keeps changing throughout the movie. And yea, he wears a Master Yoda T shirt in one of the scenes which I so want to buy. Like.
The storyline is a straight rip-off from Back To The Future. But they credit it to some Gujarati play. Maybe the Gujarati play itself was lifted from Back To The Future. :P Dislike.
The totally dhinchak and awesome song 'Zor Ka Jhatka' is totally misplaced in the film, even before it goes into retro mode and introduces the characters in their true form. Dislike.
The retro effect does not come out anywhere near Om Shanti Om or Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. They have tried, but have not succeeded completely. It remains just as an over the top attempt to go retro. Dislike.
Rajpal Yadav. :) :) :) :) . Like.
Rannvijay Singh is much better than how he was in London Dreams. Like.
Om Puri is always great. Like.
Kirron Kher is over the top in a good way. Like.
Akshay Kumar in a hideous wig and with a completely fake buck tooth in the first half. Dislike.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is totally hot in her intro song and continues to look hot and beautiful throughout the movie. Like.
Akshay Kumar continues his nerdy act and that irritating laugh from Jaanemann. Manages to be funny in majority of the scenes despite his bad make-up. Like.
Neha Dhupia appears randomly in scenes and songs. Has no dialogues except for a couple of lines in the second half. Looks very pretty and cute. Like.
Randhir Kapoor as the nutty professor who invents a silly looking time machine. And he's named Anthony Gonzalves. Dislike.
The'Oh Bekhabar' song which has Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who looks gorgeous even at 37 (or is it 39?). Like.
The pathetic quality of all the other songs while there was ample scope for a chartbuster soundtrack. Pritam - Fail. (Except for Zor Ka Jhatka & Oh Bekhabar). Dislike.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, apart from looking good, also manages to reflect her own self in a role that suits her perfectly. :P Like.
Akshay Kumar after the make-over, even though the wig is still terrible. In top form. Like.
Aawaaz Neeche!! And the entire audience repeating it with Akshay each time he says it in the movie. Double Like.
The screenplay takes a shamelessly convenient and predictable route throughout the movie, just like the team's previous movie London Dreams. If things happened so easily like in this movie, life would be so much better. Dislike.
I didnt get the joke about Kundan Lal (Rannvijay) singing in two voices and being signed by some Mahesh Kumar, which everyone seems to like. Dunno whether to Like or Dislike. :|
They had such a wonderful opportunity to recreate the madness of Padosan since they had a very similar situation where Aditya was singing and Akshay was lip-syncing. But they do that also very conveniently, with no connection or reference to the style followed in Padosan. Dislike.
A Hum Kisise Kum Nahin- like singing competition. Great opportunity, totally destroyed with some terrible songs. And again, no reference to that film, despite being influenced by it. Dislike.
One more joke about Mallika Sherawat. Like.
The funny chase sequence towards the climax with almost the entire cast. Like.
The half-decent 'Tera Mera Pyar' song, shot well, and has Karthik's vocals. Like.
The broken Time Machine is repaired without any explanation whatsoever. Dislike.
The girl who played Tanya. Dislike.
Cinematography is quite good. The entire film is vibrant and colourful.
The over the top art direction and costumes. Retro look didnt work out. Dislike.
Background Score is quite decent. With some straight lifts from Johnny Gaddaar. Its Pritam. Thats expected. Like.
The crowd at Sridar whom I watched the movie with. The atmosphere in there was great and thats a major reason why I could have fun while watching this movie. Like.
So, as you can see, there are more things I liked about Action Replayy than the things I didnt like about it. I expected a terrible movie after reading the initial reviews. But the movie is much better than Akshay Kumar's recent movies. Its nowhere near Vipul Shah's earlier movies. But still, its a timepass watch, which bored and masala-loving souls like me can enjoy. The film worked for me because of Akshay, Aishwarya, Rajpal Yadav and some good jokes. It could have been a wonderful throwback to the 70s, but the retro effect doesnt work that well. The plot is obviously inspired from Back To The Future but its nowhere as good as the original. But still, the movie is fun as long as it lasts, if you know that you shouldnt be expecting logic and consistency in a movie like this.
Tees Maar Khan was in the news since the day it was announced. Firstly, for Farah Khan casting someone other than her best buddy and hero/producer of her first 2 movies - Shah Rukh Khan. The media went all out to show that Farah and SRK werent good friends anymore. But SRK kept saying things are all right between Farah and him, while Farah didnt miss any chance to make digs at SRK. Tees Maar Khan was written by Farah's husband Shirish Kunder for him to direct himself, but when the script was ready, he felt that Farah would do more justice to the script than him. Shirish who had already worked with Akshay in his debut directorial venture Jaan-E-Mann (a very underrated movie), cast him again in the title role of Tees Maar Khan. The movie is about a smartass con-man, referred to as 'aadha' Robin Hood (following the footsteps of Dabangg's Robin Hood Pandey), because he steals money from the rich, but never gives it to the poor. Katrina Kaif plays a wannabe item girl and Akshaye Khanna plays a movie star in the movie. There are guest appearances by many A-List stars from the industry including Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt. etc. Sanjay Dutt has even given the voice-over for the trailer of the movie. Salman Khan appears in a qawwali dance number along with Akshay and Katrina, which is touted to be the highlight of the movie. Farah does not forget to take digs at her own previous movie Om Shanti Om, even in the trailer. She is one of the most successful and entertaining directors in the country and her films Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om have been absolute mad-cap entertainers. Vishal & Shekhar compose music for the movie while Shirish Kunder handles the Screenplay, Editing and Background Score. PS Vinod is in charge of Cinematography while multiple National Award winner Sabu Cyril, who enthralled us recently with his marvellous work in Endhiran, handles Art Direction. The film is jointly produced by Akshay Kumar, Shirish Kunder and UTV Motion Pictures. Tees Maar Khan promises to be loads of fun from the trailer and the stills.
Happy to let you people know that my review of Khatta Meetha has been published in the NXG supplement of the Chennai edition of The Hindu newspaper dated 29th July 2010. Here's the online link to the review at The Hindu website -
Khatta Meetha draws inspiration (almost entirely) from Priyadarshan's own Vellanakalude Naadu (Malayalam), a strong social satire made in 1989. And like the original, Khatta Meetha is not an out and out comedy which it was promoted as (Mainly since Priyadarshan - Akshay Kumar films have always been slapstick comedies). Things get pretty serious in the second half and the movie enters the drama mode after some hilarious comic sequences in the first half. It also addresses the issues of corruption and political powerplay in our government offices. Comparing Khatta Meetha to its original is pointless since it would be blasphemy to compare Akshay Kumar to someone like Mohanlal. Unlike Malayalam, there is no subtlety or underplay in Priyadarshan's Hindi films, where every actor screams his dialogues at the top of their voices regardless of what kind of scene it is. But the Akshay - Priyan team has done a commendable job by refraining from making yet another slapstick comedy and attempting something a little more serious, without the grandeur and glamour of usual Hindi movies.
Khatta Meetha tells the story of a desperate, unsuccessful road contractor Sachin Tichkule who is neck deep in debt. He is a descendant of a royal family and his father (Khulbushan Kharbanda) is a much respected person in the neighbourhood. His elder brother and brother-in-laws also work in the Public Works Department building roads and bridges, but they are all extremely well-off since they have the money and they know to utilize the loopholes in the corrupt system and get their work done faster. The entire family looks down upon Sachin except his sister Anjali (Urvashi Sharma). Things get worse for Tichkule when his ex-lover Gehna (Trisha Krishnan) takes charge as the new Municipal Commissioner of the town, and she completely hates him. There's a bridge which collapses, a murder that happens, a man out to take revenge, a road roller that rams into a house after being pulled by an elephant and much more which happens during the 2 hours 40 minutes of the film's running time.
Akshay Kumar brings in some genuine earnestness to his character Sachin Tichkule. He succeeds partly, but everytime he impresses us, he spoils it with shouting his dialogues during the very next scene. He gets his attire right including the aviators, the black bag and the omnipresent umbrella, travels around in bicycles, auto-rickshaws and even police jeeps at times. He is effectively restrained in some scenes and goes irritatingly over the top in certain others. But on the whole, Akshay's performance is one of the positive aspects of the film and he brings out the hopelessness and desperation of the character really well. Tamil Cinema's darling Trisha could have chosen a better film and a better character to make her debut in Hindi. She doesnt really have much to do and in the very little screen time she gets, she is not all that impressive as well. Shobana played the same fiery character brilliantly in the original, but Trisha pales in comparison. The romantic portions between Akshay and Trisha also do not look great. Akshay as a Gandhian law college student singing 'Nanachi Tang', was a little too much. Rajpal Yadav is in top form after a long time and manages to deliver loads of laughs. Johnny Lever comes in a hilarious cameo as the driver of a road roller. But for a person who has seen Kuthiravattam Pappu's legendary performance in the original, Lever's act looks like a mockery. Khulbushan Kharbanda and Asrani are good. Tinu Anand, Urvashi Sharma, Milind Gunaji, Neeraj Vora and Makrand Deshpande are decent. Manoj Joshi shouts almost all his dialogues and is really irritating.
The film has some very good scenes, comic and otherwise. Akshay's interactions with Khulbushan Kharbanda, the house-maintenance scene at Asrani's house (lifted from Siddique's Friends), all of Rajpal Yadav's antics, the entire road-roller sequence with Johnny Lever, Asrani's conversation with multiple people and Akshay's dialogue to Trisha about the corruption in our system, which is the most effective of them all. But on the flip-side, most of the serious events in the film looks outdated and out-of-place. The murder, the sister track, the entire college sequence, Trisha being framed and the subsequent scenes, etc. made sense in late 1980s, but do not make much sense now. But one thing that has remained constant then and now is the corruption in our system, and that aspect has been brought out well. The movie is set in rural Maharashtra, but some of the characters speak in a hybrid Marathi-Punjabi accent. Priyadarshan has only been partly successful in adapting his friend Sreenivasan's screenplay to Hindi.
Music by Pritam is serviceable, but all the songs are placed at really odd places in the narrative. They just pop up randomly between scenes. 'Sajde' has been shot well reminding one of Priyadarshan's most famous songs in Malayalam (Ambalappuzhe from Advaitham). The song that comes in the end credits goes 'I'm allergic to Bullshit'. They wouldn't really have included that song in the movie, if they really meant it. National Award winner Ouseppachan has done the background score which has a strong southern feel to it. V Manikandan has done some really good cinematography. Sabu Cyril creates the perfect atmosphere of rural Maharashtra through his sets. Arun Kumar should have used his scissors more in the second half. The stunt sequence towards the end of the movie has been shot very well and it was surprising to see a stunt scene in a Priyadarshan movie after ages.
On the whole, Khatta Meetha is passable fare. Dont go in expecting a usual Akshay-Priyadarshan movie, you may end up being disappointed. Carry some cotton also along with you since a major part of the dialogues are shouted out. On a more serious note, it is a satire which starts with some hilarious scenes in the first half, and goes into drama mode in the second half. It is not bad, it is not great either.
