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Everybody agrees it is fine!
EVERYBODY SAYS I'M FINE
(At PVR Saket and other Delhi theatres)
THIS ONE comes riding on hope and hoopla. Despite no box office draw in its cast, not many people will say that Rahul Bose's directorial debut with "Everybody Says I'm Fine" is less than fine. It is strictly crossover cinema for the niche audience more likely to be seen at India Habitat Centre and PVR shows rather than queuing up outside a cinema hall when the advance booking opens every Monday. The film comes with lots of promise and is not short on performance.
It has won official nominations for festival in London, Toronto, Philadelphia, Jerusalem and Vancouver. And from the fare dished out by Bose and his team - Rehaan Engineer, Pooja Bhatt and Koel Purie, etc - it is likely to attract more people in select areas than mainstream cinema.
"Everybody Says... " is about beautiful women whose beauty is skin deep and as long as their short hair. About women who travel in Merc, greet each other with a peck on the cheek and a `long time no see, yeah' drawl only to bitch and bare their fangs by the time the peer's Merc gets into the second gear. It also has something about guys who are less than regular, about guys and gals who believe that lust is the best expression of love.
Yet it is not their story. Not entirely, any way. It is the story of Xen, a would-be singer who has seen his parents suffocated to death in their studio. He is a hairdresser who not only styles people's hair but can also comment about their lifestyle, their thoughts. He gets vibes touching their head. Through Xen, Bose exposes the ugly underbelly of beautiful people. Rehaan is a natural in the pivotal role of a lonely but loveable hairdresser while Bhatt suitably underplays her part of a shallow socialite with a sob story of her own.
Bose's is a fearless cinema, frightfully slow. With a dash of slimy sex and furtive romance thrown in it is not always a gripping drama but it is a still welcome addition.
YEH HAI JALWA
(At Shiela and other Delhi theatres)
THE LATEST offering from the King of Kitsch, David Dhawan, is a spoof on "Trishul", one of the biggest hits of the `70s. Sandpaper away a few layers of emotions, delete a bit of action, add plenty of comic sequences and you have "Yeh Hai Jalwa", "Trishul"-2002.
A lot hangs by the fate of this film. Trade circles have not exactly been enamoured of Dhawan, his famed Midas touch seems to have deserted him in his last couple of films - even Amitabh Bachchan could not arrest the slide in `Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin" released earlier this year. And the lead pair - Salman Khan and Amisha Patel - is not exactly having a cakewalk at the box office. Both need a hit as much to revive their sagging career graph as to silence their detractors. And then there is Ketan Desai as a producer. After directing films like "Allah Rakha" and "Toofan" Manmohan Desai's son has produced this one, hoping to notch up a hit. He can hope for the best for what he has here is not a bad film by the commercial film yardstick but it is not likely to be the runaway hit Dhawan and other badly need.
It has a fine premise for a poignant film. A young man from India lands in London looking for a father he had taken for dead. Only thing is the father is happily married, has his business empire and is not ready to atone for a momentary lapse of reason when he had surrendered to passion. But this being a Dhawan film, one gets plenty of nice comic interludes between father and son. No tear-jerker this, no questions asked of lineage, it only gets serious at the end. Otherwise, it is a fine game of oneupmanship between two men - Rishi Kapoor as the father gets a good deal - with some good one-liners, enjoyable banter and impressive comic timing.
"Jalwa" presents a controlled Salman, fully clad, Amisha, whose skimpy outfits keep getting skimpier, and Kapoor who has not had a better role in recent years.
SHOWTIME
(At PVR Saket and other theatres)
HERE COMES yet another cop and cop flick. And if it is a two-cop tale, there has to be a twist. One - Mitch Preston by Robert De Niro - is a gruffy guy, the kind who would say, `I won't take anything more than an educated risk'; the other - Eddie Murphy as Trey Sellars - is the kind of fellow who will go where his heart and blundering feet and blabbering mouth take him. And the only thing bigger than his mouth is his ability to put his foot where his mouth is. A bit of a showman, he is only incidentally a cop and regales in every bit of spotlight. Quite unlike his partner who would melt than face a camera crew.
Yet it is not a cops-chase-robbers story. Yes, there is plenty of action - some of which is unnecessary - with some slick camerawork but the time the movie holds out is when the focus is on comedy. The two cops, each as alike the other as salt and pepper. And just as spicy together. It starts with a spunk and spark before meandering for a while. All that until the story takes a fine turn.One night the now blundering, now quarrelling duo stumbles into an undercover operation in progress. Trey's nerves of elastic botch up the chance of nailing the drug dealers. To rub it in for poor Mitch TV crew reaches the spot. In sheer frustration, he lets one fly only to find his picture in newspapers the next morning. Chastened he is asked to compensate by appearing on the TV channel's reality show. And his partner there? None other than Trey!
The story turns hilarious as one cops looks for an opportunity to an easy way to fame, the other would rather die than have reporters following him all day long.
Niro and Murphy are past masters at this job. They enjoy a certain chemistry which is apparent in their scenes together. Yet there is a predictability about this comedy which detracts from its entertainment value. The film has some finesse but it could do with better focus.
ZIYA US SALAM
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