Friday, February 22, 2008

The Best of Bollywood - 2007

The awards season has started in Bollywood in full earnest. While Taare Zameen Par, Life in a Metro, Chak De India etc. are in line to bag the major awards, spare a thought for these little gems that Bollywood produces. The delightful films have their own dedicated fan following. It is parallel cinema in its own right sans Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and their ilk. Hence I decided to honour some of 2007's most interesting films in my own right. So Ladies & Gentlemen, please give it up for Best of Bollywood that you missed ...

Some of the plot lines are courtesy unknown fans of these movies who've posted the stuff on Imdb, Indiafm etc. Thanks to all these unknown brothers

--

Lets Start with 50 lakh - Story, Screenplay & Direction by Chandraekhar Yeleti

It is the story of Irfan Khan Iliyazi who's from a poor family in Bombay. He enters the life of crime at the age of 17 when threatened by an opponent, he retaliates by killing him and scattering his body parts on nearby railway tracks (What a start to his career, I'm impressed). Thereafter Irfan goes on to become an underworld don as well starting dealing in drugs and narcotics, and acquiring multiple identities and passports from Mumbai, Indore, and Sultanate of Oman (I love the geographical spread of his choices) !! On August 10 the Mumbai Police has him cornered at the airport while attempting to flee to Dubai, but Irfan escapes and re-locates to Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Once there, he plans his escape by disguising himself and arranging the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kathmandu, Nepal, and thence making his way to Dubai (IC 814 remember anyone??). The Indian Police announces that they will reward anyone who apprehends Irfan dead or alive.

Everything goes according to plan for Irfan till the time he gets on the plane. Here he ends up getting abducted by four naive and inexperienced youth - who want to better their individual lives - by holding him hostage and claim the reward anonymously !!! However, the Police Officer, who these youth initially contact, happens to be on the payroll of Irfan and his associate, Musharraf. The rest I leave to your imagination.....
Justify Full
The original review was Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

--

Our next little jewel has one of the punchiest titles of a Hindi movie, it's called Cocktail - The Deadly Combination

Director: Maninder Bhandari, Writer: Naresh Namdev , Starring : Vijay Bhatotiya, Samarth Chaturvedi, Preeti Jain, Mushtaq Khan, Waqar Khan, Gufi Paintal

The movie, released under the banner of Maa Chamunda International (?) caught my eye not just for its amazing title, but also for Preeti Jain. In case you don't remember her - think Madhur Bhandarkar and the so called rape case !! Details on its plot are welcome :-)

--

Gabbar Singh - In the year of the disastrous Raam Gopal Verma ki Aag, I wonder why this one didn't set the box office on fire (pun intended), just read the plot courtesy an anonymous fan...

The prize on dacoit Gabbar Singh's head is Rs. 1 lakh, while the amount offered to capture Ram Katori (Sapna) is Rs. 2 lakhs! Gabbar can't bear the thought that he has been demoted from his legend of being the most wanted dacoit. So, he wants to kill Ram Katori to reclaim his title.

Meanwhile, Ram Katori kills her gang member, Bijli, when she tries to quit. She also kills Rajesh, with whom Bijli was in love. Rajesh's friend, Vijay, swears that he would avenge both the killings. One day, when Ram Katori and her co-dacoit, Birju, are out to buy bullets, Gabbar Singh manages to kill her. Instead of proclaiming Ram Katori?s death, Birju recruits her look-alike, Ram Pyari (Sapna), to impersonate her. Vijay, mistaking Ram Pyari for Katori, tries to kill her but realizes his mistake in time. Ram Pyari and Vijay fall in love and run away to live their lives in a small village. Gabbar tracks them down and kills Vijay. Ram Pyari takes revenge by finishing off Gabbar.

Stunning isn't it? I just wonder why these creative geniuses never make it to the big stage !!

--

This one makes it to this for the sheer magnetism and originality of its title, I don't care what the story is and who the actors are, Sirf Naam hi kaafi hai.... khawatin-o hazraat, presenting
Hi- Fi Log

Banner : Karan Arjun Films
Star Cast : Neha Joshi, Ramesh Goel, Tejas Kapoor, Seema Patil, Abhay Bakshi

--

Our next feature stars some over the hill dinosaurs and the yesteryears star of the titillating 'College Girl' Amita Nangia !! Oldd Iss Goldd (If extra letters could guarantee hits, numerlogists would have owned Sony, Columbia & Warner Bros. long ago)

Oldd Iss Goldd 'iss' about the life of three oldd men trying to become youngggg again... The story starts with three oldd men (Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Asrani) who are boredd in life and want to have sommmme fun to overlook the thought that they are old... The story develops when these three men go on vacation to Goa without their wives and have a gala time of their life...

The movie also stars a hunk named Vikram Singh whose filmography boasts of underground hits like Souten, Bombay Godfather etc.

--

And finally people we come to the end - Stop Laal Batti

hello... that's the name of the movie we are talking about, what were you thinking ??!! The plot of this movie is thought provoking and has a tragic end, but I guess the movie has relevance in these troubled times....

Raj is a rich businessman married to Manisha. The two have only sex on their minds (what a loving couple!!). One day, Raj's business fails and he is about to lose everything he possesses. When he is not able to raise any funds, his friend Pritam, offers him the opportunity to become a gigolo (dost ho to aisa!!). While Raj gets deeper into the job (??), Pritam tells Manisha that the only way she can help her husband is by earning big money as a call girl (Bhagwan aise dost sab ko de!)

Soon, Raj and Manisha become Prostitutes without each other's knowledge (Wait I thought Raj was a gigolo, when did he become a drag queen?). In the meantime Pritam is raided by police and when he offers the inspector a bribe, the cop asks him to send his (Pritam's) wife for the night. Pritam's wife has to sleep with the inspector, after which she goes into shock and dies. Pritam reveals to Raj that Manisha has become a call girl (Meri Beewi mari, to teri bhi jayegi!!). Raj is shattered, but he and Manisha confess to each other, realize their mistake and reform. But, by then, both discover that they have AIDS......

Producer, H B Singh must be complimented for having the guts and the money to make such a movie, nevertheless I am screening this one in office this coming World AIDS Day ...


That's it Folks - see you again next year

4 comments:

Sidhusaaheb said...

Kudos and feathers!

:D

Anonymous said...

aaaaaaaah you jobless man!

Howcome u enjoy doing it every year, year after year?

beats me!

But I love all the titles and the polts beat everythign else :D

Anonymous said...

Bhaiya.. ye kaunse theatre mein lagti hain.. unka adress vedress milega?

ranga said...

50 Lakh....seems like the remake of Telugu low budget "Aithe". The director Yelelti made this one. It happens to be one of my fav gult movies. Yeleti also made Anukokunda Oka Roju...another good movie which was adapted carelessly into the Bollywood comedy "Sunday". Anukokunda had comedy elements but was basically a tight thriller.