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The latest offering from the house of Dharma Productions and Karan Johar consolidates two widely known facts about their projects post AGNEEPATH and GUMRAH which came in the early nineties. One that they now make films majorly for the overseas markets and the multiplex viewers with story-plots revolving only around the rich and upper class section of the society. And two that their films necessarily have to be all glossy, colour perfect and beautiful having no place for the harsh realities of a normal life.
WE ARE FAMILY also exactly follows the same pattern, where everything happens so perfectly and nicely within a rich family to such a level that it all becomes completely uninteresting, unmoving and pointless. In short the only merit of the movie in my opinion is that this time thankfully it’s an Official adaptation of Chris Columbus’s STEPMOM (1998) featuring Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon.
But the negatives start right here from its inception, as I really couldn’t find the reason to adapt an ORIGINAL which was so English in its concept and also not entertaining enough to get inspired from. May be the makers, as usual only had the Foreign markets and multiplexes in mind to do so.
Anyway, being an honest adaptation, WE ARE FAMILY starts exactly in the same manner as STEPMOM, which in reality becomes utterly confusing for the viewers. Here we have a man still frequently visiting and spending quality time with his three kids and wife even when they have been divorced from the last 3 years……….Quite strange! And on top of this he is hugely interested to introduce all the kids to his loving girlfriend for no reason at all (because the main plot of terminal illness starts after this initial sequence). Now when the kids are happily living with their mom after 3 years of divorce between their parents, then why he is intruding so much in their happy home. At the most he should only visit at regular intervals to meet the kids and that’s it. If he is still so much involved with the family then why not accept the mistake and come back to them right away?
Moving ahead with this impact-less start, WE ARE FAMILY goes into the same old mould of Dharma Productions famous flick “KAL HO NA HO” revolving around the ages old formula of terminal illness of the hero. The only difference here is that instead of a love triangle, we have a caring mom in the film, who brings her ex-husband’s girlfriend in her own home, as she wishes her to become the mom of their 3 kids after she is gone. Interesting may seem to be on the paper, but on the screen it comes out to be utterly unconvincing, slow and even boring despite of some good performances by the trio of “Pati Patni aur Woh”.
Debutant director Siddharth P. Malhotra, makes a typical Dharma Productions film but minus the Hit music and the much needed entertainment factor. The narration keeps on moving at a constantly slow speed and is only able to impress in the last 5 minutes alone when the story shifts to the future mode, where all the 3 kids have grown up to become 3 good looking youngsters. Moreover all the comic scenes in the film, seem to be deliberately added upon to somehow spice up the proceedings and provide few relief moments to the viewers. As a result, the end product is not able to hold your interest throughout its two hours of duration.
Though equipped with two most sought after names in the Industry, Sidhharth fails to extract some energetic stuff from the duo and you simply miss the fire in their scenes together. In simple words, Yes, Kajol and Kareena are there on the screen once again, but they are not able to deliver what was being expected from them by their viewers. Individually Kajol is excellent and Kareena is impressive. But together, the script does not give them anything to excel upon. Kajol’s transformation from a healthy lady to a dying patient remains one of the few good things in the movie and the talented lady once again proves that she can easily rise above a not so fine script too.
Kareena displays her acting skills particularly in the second half but her character is not anything different from what she has already done before. Besides, I also couldn’t understand why the director tried to portray her as a vamp in the first half. The Original flick never showed Julia Roberts in a bad light in any of its scenes right from the start and that’s where the Indianised treatment of the second lady fails completely.
Arjun Rampal as the confused father is fine and the three kids put up an honest show with their sincere performances. But unfortunately, the film has nothing in particular for the kids coming to the theaters with their parents. The other major letdown in the film is its uninspiring music shockingly coming from the multi-talented Shanker-Ehsaan-Loy. The soundtrack is a big disaster with the main song even having few resembling notes with “Tere Hai Zameen Tera Aasman” from THE BURNING TRAIN. Further, the Cinematography had to be eye-catching since the whole film is set in the foreign locations and also has many glossy backdrops related to the fashion world.
So overall, WE ARE FAMILY falls flat in absence of anything exceptional or new to convey to its audience. But you can try it, only if you are interested in its honest performances and cast.
Ratings : 2 / 5
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“Our life has become too fast and everyone wants to achieve the maximum in the least possible time available with him……….!”. This was being explained by a professor to his morning walk friends who were complaining of feeling stressed and depressed from many days.
As his friends were not looking convinced by his verbal explanation, the professor decided to teach them his theory with a demonstration. And next day he met them all in the morning with some common articles in his hands.
The professor first of all placed a Jar and few tennis balls on the bench lying outside the tea shop situated within the park. And then he started filling the jar with all the balls till it was full of them and had no place left for any more. Looking at the jar, he asked his friends, “Is the jar full now?” Everybody said, “Yes”.
But the professor said “No” and then started putting some small stones inside the jar, shaking it a little. The stones quickly took the place lying between the balls and filled the jar. Now he asked them again, “Is the jar full now?” Everybody again said, “Yes”.
But the professor once again said “No” and then started pouring some sand into the jar, out of a small pouch he had brought along. The sand also made its way in the space available in between the balls and stones and further filled the jar a little more. Now looking at his friends, professor asked, “I think now it is full.” They all collectively answered “Yes, surely”.
But the professor wasn’t satisfied and he quickly ordered two cups of tea from the tea-seller. On getting the cups he started pouring the tea too into the jar which also started floating along everything inside the jar and made its own place.
And then Professor started smiling, looking towards the faces of all his friends staring the jar in a strange manner and explained:
“Dear Friends, Just think of this Jar as your own life and Tennis balls as the most important elements of your life like your family, children, friends, health, your passions and your worshipped GOD.
Consider the small stones as your job, car, big house and other secondary things of life and.............Sand as even smaller matters such as your many avoidable conflicts, disputes and fights.
Now if you had filled the Jar with the Sand first then there had been no place for the Tennis Balls or Small Stones in it. Or if you had filled the Jar with the small stones first, then again Tennis Balls would have remained outside, however sand surely could have been added along with the stones.
The same formula is applicable in your real life too. If you keep stressing upon the small un-necessary things around yourself then you are sure going to miss the bigger and more important elements of life within your limited allotted time.
Now for your own good and peace, it simply depends upon yourself that how you want to fill your own Jar of Life with creativity. Play with your kids, go on long walks with your beloved, throw away the wastes lying in your store-rooms, pursue your hidden hobbies or passions, learn a musical instrument, play some game you love and just feel happy with gratitude towards your GOD and existence.
In short, do worry about the Big Tennis Balls in your life first and then the rest will automatically take care of itself. As rest everything is just like the sand which can easily adjust with all the other things in your jar.”
Everyone listening to the professor was stunned and felling calm in that fine morning in the park. Suddenly one of them asked “But what about those two cups of tea you poured in that Jar……You didn’t explain their significance to us.”
The professor smiled and answered, ”Those two cups of tea teach us that whatsoever kind of busy life we may be living around, one should always take some time out to have a cup of tea with his dear old friends and just enjoy”.
To this everyone laughed out loud and just hugged each other and started walking again.
(I hope my readers find this small story an enlightening one, which very beautifully teaches us to have a new vision in our attitude towards our gifted lives.)
(Contributed by Mr.Bharat in Hindi through mail. Translated by Bobby Sing)
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A Empty Jar and Two Cups of Tea, Few Life Inspiring Words, Inspirational Stories at bobbytalkscinema.com, Life Inspiring Stories by Bobby Sing, Articles on Life, Articles on Inspiring Stories, Life Teaching Short Stories at bobbytalkscinema.com
If a HELLO DARLING kind of film comes from the renowned production house of MUKTA ARTS lead by the Showman Subhash Ghai, then it clearly indicates that “All Izz Not Well” around him and his close associates. Directed by Manoj Tiwari, the film is a complete disaster right from the word “Go”, as it offers nothing in the name of entertainment despite of having a good story plot and three beautiful young ladies in the lead.
In straight words, HELLO DARLING is just another forgettable patch on the years old reputation of MUKTA ARTS and the name just adds on to the long list of weak ventures coming from them post 2000. Besides this it was also quite shocking to know that the film is again an undisclosed inspired version of 20th Century Fox film “NINE TO FIVE” starring Jane Fonda, Lili Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The roles similar to these three ladies are played by Gul Panag, Celina Jaithely and Isha Koparikar in this hindi version of the American comedy.
Interestingly, “NINE TO FIVE” also inspired another Tamil film “MAGALIR MATTUM” in the year 1994, featuring Revathi, Rohini and Urvashi in the lead which was directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. Now the question arises that why this particular English film was adapted by two different directors of diverse regions at a gap of more than 15 years. That’s because its based on an amusing comic plot, written around a major problem faced by the working women in their offices, which sadly still remains prevalent in the year 2010.
Three young female colleagues working in a fashion house decide to teach a painful lesson to their playboy boss, who keeps making sexual advances to all of them almost every day. The idea, no doubt had some great potential of making it as a fine comedy. But HELLO DARLING ruins it disastrously with its weak direction, amateurish acting and un-necessary comic sequences which don’t even bring a faint smile on your face.
The writers fail to convert the original story idea into an enjoyable sexual comedy and therefore with an extremely weak script, everything falls apart in this two hours long senseless comedy. The film keeps shifting between its various deliberate sub-plots, out of which not even one is hilarious enough to be mentioned here. The actors can be found hamming all the way towards the end including the experienced Javed Jaffery in the role of a cunning opportunist boss.
From the entire lot, only Gul Panag and Divya Dutta can be found acting a little with conviction and the rest collectively make it highly awful to digest. Celina as the dumb secretary just stays there as a compulsion and Eesha never looks or speaks like a Hariyanvi girl at all. Chunky Pandey, Seema Biswas, Mukesh Tiwari and Asawari Joshi, all are simply wasted whereas Vrajesh Hirjee in a short cameo of a thief is the most irritating.
It surprisingly also has Sunny Deol making a special appearance in the climax who was probably added at the last minute like something got as FREE. But like most of the FREE things don’t work in the real world, Sunny also fails to leave any mark and remains ineffective. In the music department too, there is more confusion than melody. Both the background music as well as the songs are totally out of place with no sign of “Pritam” anywhere in the tracks.
In all HELLO DARLING is quite bad to be associated with the name of MUKTA ARTS and that too with the unrespectable label of an Inspired one. So better keep away from these 3 beautiful darlings and their freaky plans.
Ratings : 0.5 / 5
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From “Anand” to “Kal Ho Na Ho” and to the recent “Dasvidaniya”, Indian viewers have witnessed numerous projects based on the stories revolving around a dying personality. Yet, Nagesh Kukunoor opting for this cliché subject did raise many questions in my mind before watching the movie. But coming as a complete surprise AASHAYEIN washed out all my doubts in just one hour and then turned out to be an entirely different experience with a novelty of its own having the same old stamp of the director who gave us “3 Deewarein”, “Dor” and “Iqbal” in the past.
As far as the story plot is concerned, AASHAYEIN may not have anything new to say to the viewers. But talking about its fresh treatment, the movie does have few worth mentioning merits in its kitty which rightly differentiate it from all the previous ones made around this particular subject.
If we look back, then all the films revolving around a dying person made by many famous directors in the past, have two things in common. Firstly it’s the fun element incorporated in them which lightens the mood of the viewer throughout the film, till it reaches its climax. Before coming to the concluding moments every such venture first makes you smile with few hilarious or enjoyable moments and then leads you towards the end, talking about the ultimate death of the hero. Secondly, all those movies have never been too verbal on the subject of death. If you can recall, their characters always talk about the most certain truth in a very subtle way without any strong offensive or direct dialogues in a sheer poetic kind of mood.
AASHAYEIN breaks all these preset modes of the subject and takes you into a more bitter, hard hitting and truthful kind of arena where every character clearly knows that he has to die in few months and they don’t feel shy or uncomfortable talking about it freely with each other. All the key characters of the script live under one roof, getting their decent daily life facilities while waiting for their final moments to arrive any time. And it’s the interaction between these different dying people in the film, which transforms it into a worth watching venture, dissimilar to anything you have seen before (made around the same theme).
Especially the sequences between John Abraham and Anaitha Nair, which are beautifully written and superbly enacted by the talented duo. The verbal expressions of Anaitha when she talks about her experiences within and outside the help-house are simply a treat to watch. In fact, death has never been expressed so freely on Indian screen before as done by Anaitha in AASHAYEIN. In short she gives the most explosive performance of the movie which deserves to be seen as a must.
Apart from John-Anaitha’s brilliant on-screen chemistry, the movie has some highly enlightening scenes featuring Farida Jalal, Girish Karnad, Sonal Sehgal and a charming child actor Ashwin Chitale. Here I would like to mention a dialogue which has never been used before in a movie on the same theme, where in Sonal explains her trauma to John saying, “Your pain gets over within few days when you would be gone, but what about us, the people you will leave behind. How are we suppose to live with this pain all our life?” Indeed a well written thought put in by the writers.
John Abraham being the central character surprises you with an honest and heartfelt performance. After the few initial moments, you just forget about his killing looks and star status and start believing in his pain as he easily establishes an emotional relationship with the viewers. Undoubtedly he delivers a performance he can always feel proud of. Other than the main lead, Nagesh extracts some great performances from his entire supporting cast (including himself in a cameo) and with this; he once again proves his mastery over the medium when it comes to emotional and sensitive subjects.
Salim Suleiman’s music works as you are watching the movie, but the song featuring Shreyas Talpade as the rock band leader remains the one in your mind while walking out of the theater. And Shreyas is also equally good performing it on the screen. Another merit of the movie remains its Cinematography which captures both the indoors and the outdoors fantastically. As a matter of fact, I still remember the last shot on the screen with just the clouds all over and John only in the one fourth part of the screen at the bottom.
Now let’s talk about the main avoidable glitch in the movie which serves as a big unwanted interruption in its otherwise smooth progression. Here I am referring to all those sequences in the film wherein John imagines himself as Indiana Jones leading to some strange dream sequences inside a cave where there are many white faced ghosts tied in thick chains. The relationship of the dream with the reality was fine but why it was used in such a length was quite weird and out of my understanding. Anyone watching the reaction in the trial shows could have easily pointed out the irrelevance of the scenes and the restlessness they were capable of creating in the theater. Still, they somehow just made it to the final edit, hampering the overall impact of the film on its audience.
Along with this big mistake, Nagesh also uses another half baked and unexplained character in his script who gets no justification of any sort right till the end. This refers to the character of a small child who is shown to have some magical healing powers in his body. Now whether he really had some powers…., if yes then how did he actually benefit John with his powers in the end remains a mystery, since the director adds no scene in the climax to explain this imaginary angle in his script.
So, in all AASHAYEIN could have been a much better and highly appreciated movie in absence of The Indiana Jones character in its script. It certainly has its own highly commendable moments to watch and learn from. But minus all those dream sequences it surely would have impressed a lot more people in the theaters as well as in the industry. Still it didn’t deserve to be canned for more than a year for whatsoever reasons.
Regarding its box office prospects, the chances are not so bright as today’s busy generation is simply not interested in seeing a movie revolving around the theme of Death, unless there is a Shahrukh, Aamir, Salman or Hrithik dying on the screen. But I would really like to recommend it to my readers, for the effortless performance put in by Anaitha Nair and its few not to be missed enlightening moments, capable of teaching some new lessons of life to all of us.
Ratings : 3 / 5 (.5 given more only for the performance of Anaitha Nair)
(Note: The film may appear to be depressing to many viewers who simply dont like to discuss or watch anything related to the topic of DEATH. But if you are willing to see the positive things in its few well written sequences then it indeed becomes a fine movie made on the most certain truth of our lives.)
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Debutant director Siddharth P. Malhotra, makes a typical Dharma Productions film but minus the Hit music and the much needed entertainment factor. The narration keeps on moving at a constantly slow speed and is only able to impress in the last 5 minutes alone when the story shifts to the future mode, where all the 3 kids have grown up to become 3 good looking youngsters. Moreover all the comic scenes in the film, seem to be deliberately added upon to somehow spice up the proceedings and provide few relief moments to the viewers. As a result, the end product is not able to hold your interest throughout its two hours of duration.
“Dear Friends,
Apart from John-Anaitha’s brilliant on-screen chemistry, the movie has some highly enlightening scenes featuring Farida Jalal, Girish Karnad, Sonal Sehgal and a charming child actor Ashwin Chitale. Here I would like to mention a dialogue which has never been used before in a movie on the same theme, where in Sonal explains her trauma to John saying, “Your pain gets over within few days when you would be gone, but what about us, the people you will leave behind. How are we suppose to live with this pain all our life?” Indeed a well written thought put in by the writers.