Pretty Good

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

the story got lost...Rani and Abishek are not convincing as 20 somethings in the opening scenes in which the characters struggle against their parents. These two are too old to be playing 20 somethings! I wonder about Amitabh Bacchan these days - we seem to be watching him going through mid-life crises more and more in films these days. This was no exception, and we get to watch an aging 60+ year old man behaving 20 years younger on screen, flirting with women who in real-life are soon to be his daughter-in-law (ick!) It was sad to see him sort of beneath himself but if he doesn't mind...why should we? (p.s sorry to all his fans). He plays a "cool" tough cop in this film. He doesn't really act, as much as the dramatic music, cool shades and clothes, plus cheesy dialogue, sort of do the acting for him. His acting was terrible in this film, overacted scenes.About the other actors in the film, both Rani M. and Abishek respectfully ought to tame it down a little. Over-acting tends to be the style of Bollywood, but it would be nice if they tried something more subtle. Rani is probably the most natural, graceful Indian actress there is, in comparison to her peers like Aishwarya Rai, who hasn't mastered the emotional range and groundedness of her parts. But, Rani's acting style has mostly one dimension in this film - she seems to perceive everything as a joke, and is laughing in every scene, which is infectious and fun to see. The chemistry was unfortunately just not there in the pairing of the main actors. Abishek and Rani M. seemed more like brother and sister to me, than a passionate couple. Perhaps it's because Abishek and Aishwarya Rai are married now...knowing this works against the chemistry with them. I'm not sure I really want to see the chemistry between actors who are married to other people (!)The saving grace included the costumes - of which Rani goes through probably 100 literally; plus, the dance scenes in Bollywood films are always mesmerizing and spectacular in choreography and costumes - like wonderful mini-musicals.I was questioning at times why Rani M. and Aishwarya Rai are both willing to be half-naked, publicly exposing themselves, in their films, but I'm not sure they have a choice (?), and certainly male viewers aren't complaining.There was a little depth in the film too. I related to the struggle between the dual sides of Abishek's character - Bunti vs, Rakesh. Rakesh is his given name, and represents the life of his family, who are middle class and get up every day and work for a middle class living, and this lacked appeal to the young Rakesh. He used the name "Bunti" to describe the part of him that desired much, much more - things every human being wants at some point - lust and thirst for power, riches, glory, fame, and good looks. Isn't that battle within everyone?Abishek character's struggle with this identity is very real, a saving grace - I loved it.

Overall this movie is just about average . Some scenes are really humorous like Rani and Abhishek meeting at the rail station. Rani as usual sizzles and Abhi gives a fairly OK performance. Amitabh is not in his element except for the dance sequence "kajrare". Somewhat his performance can be termed as overacting. This man ( Amitabh ) is overworked and his age shows. He is burning at both ends. It is high time he slows down a bit. And now the piece de resistance of the movie : That is the music. The music is very good and all the songs are quite hummable. The music is quite experimental and unique.The story is plagiarized from a number of Hollywood movies, chief of which is "Catch me if you can". The plot is not detailed enough . For example the way the duo ( Rani and Abhi )dupe their victims , seems childish and there are many gaps in their schemes. But anyway the viewer can take all this in his stride, for after all this is a Bollywood movie and they are notoriously not meant to be perfect in their plots.All in all a passable fare..

The movies starts at 200mph! Really! Despite the nondescript movie title, it relates you the dreams of two young persons, living in distinctly different locations, having different cultures, and yet, they are bound with a desire to do more than the folks around them. And the movie moves very, very fast from there: both leaving their home-town, for the largest city nearby. They both have very positive ideas, and are duped, robbed of their dreams.The movie is full of surprises and the songs simmer into the movie.Really, it is among the best movie that i have seen this year.Very, very commendable effort!

This is one of the better movies made in Bollywood recently. Everything about the movie is great, especially the acting...however, has anyone noticed that the movie is an obvious copy of Hollywood's Steven Spielberg's "Catch me if you can"? Sure, there are the slight touches to the original, like in here there are two fraudsters instead of one....and also, holding to the Indian tradition of movies they must both be of different sexes and must inevitably fall in love and have a child...not to forget the extremely well choreographed dance sequences in between, which is probably the only thing original in the movie....don't get me wrong, if you consider Bollywood alone, this is one of THE BEST MOVIES...unhappily, i'd already watched the Hollywood version...if i ever watch a bollywood movie that's not a "remix" of a Hollywood one, i'll give it a ten no matter how crap it is.....