Ek Aur Ek Gyarah: A Good Dose of Near-perfect,
Absurd Humour

-by NN Sinha

           In a surprise collaboration with David Dhawan, master of buffoonery, Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts produces Ek Aur Ek Gyarah with Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Amrita Singh and Nandini Singh, a new-comer. Baddies are Gulshan Grover and Ashish Vidyarthi. The two heroes make a good pair of jokers. The girls, Amrita and Nandini, are the two dolls who are their inspiration. How a woman can inspire a man? Dhawan's formula consists of exposure and titillation by the girls and the boys making funny faces and wrapping it all up in a series of situational comedy scenes. Ek Aur Ek Gyarah is no different.

           Since a masala film should have all the thinkable and unthinkable ingredients, he introduced caricaturised versions of dons, Cobra and Panther, played by Ashish and Gulshan, and to counter them, also policemen as cartoon characters. The only person who is normal is Major Ramsingh, played by Jackie Shroff. He is painted as a kind-hearted man, who is also the girl's brother. A very flat character without much of a role.

           The two actors call themselves Taraji and Sitaraji; they are small-time thieves. Their reality does not remain a secret for long, even for the girls who see nothing wrong in falling in love with them. Or, you can say, they fall in love headlong and then realise the men are fraud. That's what we call blind love. But nonetheless, they are rewarded for the faith they had in the men.          

          Govinda fits the bill easily: he had done such roles earlier, mostly under the baton of the same director. But it's not so simple for Sanjay. Even making funny faces is not something he can manage in a natural manner. He has to make some effort for it. Besides, his screen image and age don't favour him in such roles.

           Being funny in a dirty way is what Ashish and Gulshan are expected to be, in which they both succeed admirably. Ashish has fine sense of absurd humour, and some of the scenes David creates with him are thoroughly enjoyable. Gulshan is in a more serious frame and is used as a counter-point to the humour element.

           Romantic and entertaining visuals, song duets, group dances, bathing scenes and fights - all these contribute to making the film enjoyable for young and old.

March 28,  2003

OM! The Camera Goes Everywhere  

          Sandali Sinha is back at long last with a film called OM. It's good that Ashok Honda chose her for the heroine's role in his new film. One wishes she hadn't landed from 'Tum Bin', three-hero film to a hero-centred film again. Well she is not yet among the choosers in the industry.

          Nevertheless she makes a good pair with Attin, who is endowed with a great physique. He came prepared for he knew that today's hero must be a hunk. There are several examples before him. Success, of course, is another matter. Luckily he has got a role made out for him, a kind of angry young man, but with a character and ethics of his own, despite the injustices done to him and his family.

           Attin is well trained for the job. He can dance, fight and emote a bit, but is poor in voice projection. Unless he makes acting a passion and put life into whatever he does before the camera, he won't go a long way. He must be watched by directors and given more chances.

           Sandali is very camera-savvy; she must know it. Her face has a touch of sadness, which is indefinable. Her role in OM is different in nature than what it was in Tum Bin. Here she is glamorous, outgoing. The director has fully exploited her assets with the cinematographers S Pappu and Lenin Xavier focussing the camera imaginatively on the girl in hot pants.

          Amar Mohile's music has a few good numbers rendered by as many as eight playback singers.

-by Our Film Critic
March 21,  2003

Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne: Action, Suspense,
Intrigue, Love, and Song and Dance

           (Sangeeth Sivan-directed 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne' launches Sanjay Khan's son, Zayed Khan. He He is paired with Esha Deol. This too is a thriller like OM. Gulshan Grover is the chief villain. They all fight over ten crores which is finally located in a rare coin. Action, suspense, intrigue, love, and song and dance - all the masala is offered in one plate. But there is little scope for Esha to show her talents - Editor).

          Twenty-four-year-old Zayed Khan, trained dancer son of producer Sanjay Khan, has made his debut in Bollywood with a romantic thriller, 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne'. The film is a rip-off from the 1963 Hollywood hit 'Charade,' which starred Cary Grant and Aurdrey Hepburn. Khan's foray into Bollywood is when the industry is struggling to bail itself out from last year's string of flops. Analysts say out of the 10 billion rupees invested by the film industry, four billion rupees went down the drain. Khan and his co-star Esha Deol, both children of yesteryears' superstars, attended the star-studded premiere of the film in New Delhi.

           Zayed, who is a relative of Hrithik Roshan and Fardeen Khan - two of the good looking actors in the Indian cinema - said he was confident of making a mark in the industry. He said, "I got a lot of help from them (actors Hrithik Roshan and Fardeen Khan). It has given me a lot of confidence and I feel whenever someone close to you tries to help, you should take it in a positive way." Hrithik Roshan is married to Zayed's sister Susan and Fardeen Khan is his cousin. The film, made with a budget of over 25 million dollars, is a story of love, trust, betrayal and a mad rush for money.

           'Chura Liya Hai Tumne' outlines the travails of a young girl Tina whose uncle is murdered for gold coins. The girl is then helped by a dubious character played by Zayed, who incidentally was her childhood lover. Esha, a long time friend of Zayed, brands him as a future 'Superstar'. She said, "Zayed could be a newcomer but I can assure you that he will stay in the industry for a long long time. He will be a superstar one day. He was great in action sequences...emotional scenes and dances." The film has given Esha, a trained classical dancer and former state-level football player, a complete makeover since her last two movies flopped at the box office.

           Produced by India's leading fashion house Pantaloon and directed by Sangeet Sivan, famous for his action movies, 'Chura Liya Hai Tumne' is likely to be a hit with the masses. One of the cinegoers Ramesh Khanna who attended the premiere of the movie, said, "The movie is absolutely good and it will be a great success. zayed is very good. He will have a long innings in the industry."

March 21,  2003