Film reviews
By Rama Gaind
Film: RA.One
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Shahana Goswami, Armaan Verma
Director: Anubhav Sinha
This overloaded sci-fi super hero film from Bollywood does actually have a story.
A geeky gaming expert, Shekhar Subramaniam (Shah Rukh Khan), rustles up a digital game to impress his son, Prateek (Armaan Verma).
It begins playing games and unleashes a malicious power, RA.One (Random Access One) and turns upon its creator and devours him.
There’s a touch of Bollywood thrown in for good measure with superhero G.One (jeevan, life force) who must protect Shekhar’s wife (Kareena) and his son and restore the reign of good over evil.
It delivers pure entertainment, is technically sound, has impressive cinematography and some toe-tapping musical numbers, but you take away flimsy impact.
Film: Rockstar
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Shammi Kapoor, Shikha Jain, Piyush Mishra
Director/screenwriter: Imtiaz Ali
While this Bollywood film captures the magic of A.R. Rahman’s music, it misses out on the power of love.
It is the story of a young man Janardan (Kapoor) who is struggling to find himself both spiritually and artistically. He meets Heer (Fakhri) as students in college in Delhi.
As he begins ways to hone his talents – guitar in hand – Janardan (nicknamed Jordan) sings to any audience, thereby, providing the high point scenes of this film.
Rahman’s inspired music and convincing guitar and vocal performances by Kapoor are dampened by the lacklustre performance from Fakhri, a New York-born model of Pakistani and Czech descent.
The love story is disjointed and unexpected from from director Ali after his earlier hits, Jab We Met (2007) and Love Aaj Kal (2009).
* * * * * * * * * *
The Debt: A cracking pace is set for this thriller which stars Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain about Israeli agents pursuing a Nazi war criminal.
Midnight in Paris: In a charming fantasy from Woody Allen, a would-be novelist (Owen Wilson) travels back in time and meets his literary and artistic idols.
Drive: This is a stylish heist thriller, complete with violence, starring Ryan Gosling, with a surprisingly menacing take from Albert Brooks.
Contagion: A deadly pandemic ravages the world in this level-headed disaster flick starring Matt Damon and a host of (coughing) stars.
Don’t Know How She Does It: The woes of being a working mother unfold in this lighthearted comedy which stars Sarah Jessica Parker.
