Ghazala Butt

Shakalaka Boom Boom

DVD

MUSICAL/DRAMA Suneel Darshan’s Bollywood remake of Milos Forman’s Amadeus modernises the story in a transatlantic setting, where naturally gifted but arrogant young upstart Reggi (Upen Patel) challenges experienced champion of Indian pap/pop AJ…

1971

DVD

ACTION/WAR Debut writer/director Amrit Sagar’s factional action adventure, follows 54 Indian POWs gathered from Pakistan’s national prisons and herded into a secret POW camp close to the border, where Major Suraj Singh (Manoj Bajpai) leads a daring…

Bollywood Round-up

Set in Mauritius Ajay Chandok’s Nehlle Pe Dehlla (12A) 125min (1 Star) is a reworking of the 1989 US comedy hit Weekend at Bernie’s. Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt mark time amongst the slow motion shots of lycra clad Bollywood babes, practising aerobics…

Bollywood Round-up

Historically Bollywood has reflected an innate ‘Indian’ morality. Themes may be modernised and customs challenged, but the basics are stagnant and laughable. This month’s releases are therefore a refreshing change, atypical of the highly moralistic…

Bollywood Round-up

Director Priyardashan’s Bhagam Bhag (PG) 157min (2 stars) has all the boisterous energy of his previous work (Hera Pheri, Hulchul). It’s based on the innocuous premise of an Indian theatre group embarking on a London tour minus Anjali (Tanushree Dutta)…

Bollywood Round-Up

Vivah - A Journey From Engagement to Marriage (PG) 166min (1 star) harks back to an innocence that hardly, if ever, existed in Bollywood cinema. Prem (Shahid Kapoor) the eligible young son of a business tycoon agrees to an arranged marriage to Poonam…

Bollywood round-up

The romance of remakes

If, like me, you love Hindi or Bollywood cinema, you need to start embracing the idea of remakes. Two current releases, Don and Umrao Jaan, are cases in point. The trouble for me is that, having been reared during what I consider the heyday of the…