ALL THE BEST

Dear Mr Ajay Devgan. I don't know whether you have officially knocked off the 'A' from your surname or it is just a passing fad for a shift in spelling. For fear of you getting back to your original spelling, I'd rather address you with the 'A'. Remember Kareina Kapoor and Viveik Oberoi? They both went back to their original spellings.

 

Anyways, this note before the review is to congratulate you on a laugh riot. You have really lit up the lives of millions of cinemagoers this Diwali. A big hug and also a big Thank You on behalf of the viewers who will know their money has been well spent and won't come out feeling Blue!

 

People, line up for your tickets, ALL THE BEST directed by Rohit Shetty is a MUST WATCH. Sanjay Dutt is having the time of his life in a role he revels from the time he enters Goa Airport. Never have I seen him having so much fun and being so involved in his character. Ajay Devgan is super in his support. The show belongs to these two. Atul Parchure, Johnny Lever and Sanjay Mishra are the others who will have you laughing your guts out.

 

ALL THE BEST is a situational comedy with good bollywood songs. Veer (Fardeen Khan) needs extra pocket money from his stepbrother, Dharam (Sanjay Dutt), who lives in London. He needs the money to support his rock band. Prem Chopra (Ajay Devgan), his best friend who is married to Jhanvi (Bipasha Basu), hits on an idea. He tells Veer to inform Dharam that he is married. Vidya (Mugdha Godse) is Veer's girlfriend. Everything moves on smoothly for this gang until they take a loan from Tobu (Johnny Lever) to enter a car race. They lose the race, and have to repay the Rs 5 lakh loan along with the Rs 5 lakh, which Tobu wagered on them winning the race. They decide to rent out Veer's bungalow. Just then, they get a call from Dharam who is in Goa for a couple of hours. He decides to drop in home.

Showbiz

After choreographing over a hundred bollywood movies, Raju Khan makes his debut as a director with Showbiz, by giving tribute to/seeking inspiration from, director Paul Abascal's Paparazzi!

 

Rohan Arya (Tushar Jalota) is a rising star. Four journalists forever hound him, which makes life miserable for him. Also, Rohan is desperately searching for a prostitute by the name of Tara. Eventually when he does find her, the paparazzi, on the lookout for a scoop, chase them. The wild chase leads to an accident, which results in Tara ending up in a coma. Now Rohan wants revenge against the journalists.

 

This is an ideal example of an interesting plot gone wrong by bad direction (Raju Khan) and bad writing (Raju Khan and Mudassar Aziz). The film is tacky in all possible technical aspects also. Lalit Pandit's music is very disappointing, considering that music has always been a strong point in films produced by the Bhatts.

 

Tushar Jalota makes bollywood songs as his debut as the leading actor in this film and is strictly average. Mrunalini Sharma, who debuted in Aawarapan, has exactly three expressions, which she tries to use whenever required. Sushant Singh and Amin Hajee as the journalists do an average job. Gulshan Grover, Saurabh Shukla, Sachin Khedekar, Ehsaan Khan and Delnaaz Paul comprise the rest of the supporting cast.

 

It appears that the producers, Vishesh Films (Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt) were aware that they had created a shoddy product and hence decided to go for a low-key release.

Talk on Blue with Akshay

I don't think so. Recently, when we shot in London for Housefull it was like a family holiday. It was like a picnic. Houesfull is an emotional comedy. When Sajid Khan told me we were done with 90 percent of the Bollywood songs in Europe I couldn't believe it. Our families were there. Once I was back in Mumbai my schedules got stressful. That's why I like shooting abroad. I came back to Mumbai last month to shoot two songs for Blue.
The rapport between you and the Blue director Tony d'Souza is supposedly amazing.
Tony took really good care of his cast. Though Blue is his first film you can't really make it out. He's a very hard-working man. Of course, I want Blue to work for my sake. But more than me it's Tony who deserves to succeed. I hope he succeeds. Regarding our rapoort it's all about the vibes you give to the director as an actor.

 

Do you enjoy shooting bollywood songs as much as all the other aspects of a film?
I enjoy being in front of the camera, period. It doesn't matter whether it's to put sindoor in the leading lady's hair or to wipe it off.

 

Do you enjoy the freedom of moving around freely abroad?
You mean because of the fans? But there are Indians in every part of the world. And they do call out to you, wave and say hello. But beyond that they leave you alone. My son loves skating. We went skating in Hyde Park.

 

You've established a long-standing rapport with many directors?
Why just directors? It's important to have a rapport with producers. You've to be thoroughly professional, finish your work on time. I feel it's more important to be a good human being than a good actor.

 

Do you want to direct a film?
Not really. I'm very happy being in front of the camera. I'm happy being an actor and a producer.

 

When you are shooting abroad you also escape all the gossip and controversy?
No, that you are clued in to wherever you are. You can't get away from that. Trust me, if I'm shooting abroad and no one calls me I'd get very anxious and insecure. After every shot every actors checks his missed calls. If after three shots there're still no missed calls it's time for pack-up.

 

Are you working in a film with Trisha?
Yes, I am. Priyan is planning something. I love working with all kinds of co-stars, new or established doesn't matter. I've worked with three new girls in Priyan's Garam Masala. And that was a hit. Hopefully, Trisha will be a hit too.

 

Blue is the first Hindi film to go underwater?
I think the movie should've been called Red. The sea is now filled more with the blood of killed fish than the blue of the ocean. And now there's my own blood in the ocean.

Out of Bounds

Starring Michael Anthony Hall, Jenny Wright, Jeff Kober, Glynn Turman
Directed by Richard Tuggle
Written by Tony Kayden

 

The teen flick is the black hole of Hollywood songs. It swallows up rising actors and directors alike. It entices the young and the old past its inescapable event horizon, forever hungering after fresh blood. The body count is staggering.

 

Consider Francis Ford Coppola. After masterminding such irrefutable classics as The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and the Godfather sagas, he boldly tackled the teen genre with The Outsiders - and just as boldly fell on his face. Standing again on his own two feet, he summarily slapped the dust off his breeches and proceeded to trip over Rumble Fish (a.k.a. The Godson). Though his second jaunt into the world of adolescent angst was a dangerously moody piece with moments of heartrending beauty, it lacked the consistent genius of his earlier works.

 

But where Coppola has, for the most part, survived his fall from grace, lesser mortals have been far less fortunate.

 

Consider Richard Tuggle. After appearing out of nowhere to script Clint Eastwood's Escape from Alcatraz - his first film, mind you - he quickly went on to both write and direct Tightrope, one of Eastwood's finest films.

 

Word spreads quicker through Hollywood than brushfire through the desert, and the word was out: Richard Tuggle is hot.

 

But "hot" is a relative term. In an industry where accounting statements are long and memories short, you're only as hot as your last film. After Out of Bounds, Richard Tuggle is about as hot as a political prisoner in a Siberian gulag.

 

His problems begin with his choice of material. After scripting his first two features himself, he is here working from a screenplay by Tony Kayden, a veteran TV Movie-of-the-Week writer with credits like Fugitive Family and Ambush Murders. The story concerns a midwestern hick (Anthony Michael Hall of Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club) who comes to the big city (Los Angeles) and winds up on the run after being accused of a crime he didn't commit (his brother's murder). It's chock-a-block with hand-me-down plotting and moronic dialog meant to convince us that Hall is truly a midwestern hick and co-star Jenny Wright (St. Elmo's Fire) is truly an urban punk rocker.

 

Having not written this tripe himself, Tuggle struggles in foreign territory. The direction is limp throughout, as if he couldn't care less.

 

The end of the film is downright sloppy. One sequence is particularly incongruous - after spending nearly the entire film tracking down Hall on suspicion of murder, Police Lieutenant Delgado (Glynn Turman) commits a sudden about-face by stating that Hall is now "out there on his own" and needs their help. But it isn't until the next scene that Delgado gets the evidence proving Hall's innocence.

 

It seems someone fell asleep in the editing room.

 

Out of Bounds is slipshod filmmaking at its worse. Watching Tuggle fall into the miasma of teen flicks - after showing such great promise with Tightrope - is not a pleasant experience.

 

Though hollywood songs directors are not known for their ascetism (there's no Saint Francis of Azusa) one certainly wishes Tuggle had striven for art and left his pocketbook behind. He gets to pay the bills with this one, no doubt, but forgets to pay attention - to his audience or his craft.

 

Bottom line: If you're in the mood for intelligent entertainment, Out of Bounds is out of the question.