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arjunjk
Reviews
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla (1986)
Great movie but not original
I saw this movie back in '98 on SONY TV. It was very engrossing. I thought it was a great one until I came across Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men. I'm giving it 8/10 for being true to the original and not including unnecessary song sequences or deviations as seen in other remakes. The movie has some good performances from each of the actors. The movie may be one of the few movies devoid of female actors. I don't know whether this is true or not but one of my friend told me this movie is shown at IIMs for briefing on negotiations and dealings. Also I wonder whether there is any such jury system in India as shown in the movie. Well anyway a good remake and worth watching again and again.
Rang De Basanti (2006)
Disappointment.
The movie drags in the first half without building up the plot. Through out the first half the director shows us the bonding between the five main characters. There's quite a lot of mistakes. Firstly Sue comes to India to make a documentary on Bhagat Singh. But through out the movie one gets the feeling she is making a 'movie', or was it a 'docu-drama'. She is making a movie without any lighting crews or even a single lighting equipment. All that they show is a DV camera. Also one of the flash-back mode ends with the projector being switched off which means they were watching the movie on the projector which they had shot. How come they can have Foley sounds without the movie getting completed or edited? The second half is about how the five characters react to Ajay's(Madhavan) death. Nowhere in the first half does the director tells about the real bonding between Ajay and the five guys except for him being the fiancé of Sonia(Soha Ali Khan) and him appearing in songs. This is quite an important aspect because unless one doesn't feel for Ajay's death how can one get the justification for the events to happen there on. One never knew killing an Indian Defence Minister was as easy as that. Can anyone just pass on the Hajmola. There isn't any clear message from the movie. The director might have intended to make a movie on the lines of Born of 4th of July where how a man takes up the fight against the state when he gets affected by a trauma. Over there the message was clear and precise. Maybe a crippled Madhavan's character would have evoked a more sympathetic feel. Though the film doesn't justifies killing but then it even doesn't give you an alternate solution.
Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005)
Hours of drag and more!!!
A perfect example of great hype, great actors, more money and a little of script. The pre-interval of the movie is quite boring with lots of song and dance sequences and little of substance. The characters one after the another is brought into the film but the movie still remains at the same position. Worse is the voice-over which after sometime becomes a bit irritating. Rani Mukherjee is wasted in the role as Heera. Less said of Amisha Patel the better. Even if one removes both the characters, there's isn't going to be any difference in the movie. Could have been a better movie had more focus on the revolt was stressed.
Goof ups: In Indian version of the movie, when the Rangoon Regiment comes, the person leading the regiment is shown speaking in Hindi to his British soldiers.