Bollywood Films Of The Week

  • IndiaGlitz, [Thursday,June 24 2004]

Lakshya:The maker of the highly success ‘Dil Chahata Hai’ now presents this refreshing film, with Kargil as the backdrop. Written by Javed Akhtar and shot in the beautiful locales of North India, the movie is about battles - emotional and in Kargil. To the credit of Farhan, he has brought out the best in his cast: Hrithik has shown good calibre as an actor changing from an idle aimless young man to an officer with a mission in life and Preity Zinta has portrayed a strong character based on the famous television journalist Barkha Dutt. Music is good, the most hummable song being ‘main aisa kyun hoon’.

Karan, the only child of his parents is an idle young college student and is undecided when all his friends have decided what to do with their lives. He loves Romila, a smart young girl who believes in speaking out frankly and has decided to become a journalist. Karan ultimately decides to join the army and enrolls himself in the Indian Military Academy against the wishes of his parents, and even clears the entrance exam. But unable to keep up with the strict Army regimen, he comes back home. He realizes his mistake when Romila refuses to meet him again. He goes back and is now a changed person - a man with a mission. He qualifies as an officer. He does not meet Romila again, and later learns she has got engaged. They meet again when the war between India and Pakistan has broken out and she comes with her camera to cover the war situation. She sees in him a determined man with a mission to free the country of any intruders. Before going to the front,Karan speaks to his father who for the first time shows how proud he is about his son. Karan also learns that Romila broke her engagement because her fiancé asked her to choose between career and marriage. Karan emerges a winner, in the battle and his personal life.

Raghu Romeo: Actor-director Rajat Kapoor made this film in a unique fashion. Even after the National Film Development Corporation decided to chip in, he was short of money. So he appealed to people through the internet, and money came pouring in. Rajat has taken his own jibe at the entertainment world through the stylized medium of a common man enthralled by the soap opera world. Vijay and Sadia are very good while Maria is miscast. The film has been sent to several international festivals and won awards.

Raghu is a waiter in a shady night club who has lost distinction between fantasy and reality as he constantly seeks refuge in television to forget his woes and worries. The popular TV show ‘Dard Ka Rishta’ has become interlinked with his life. He adores the lead character Neetaji and believes she is real. This annoys his mother very much. Sweety, the night club dancer is in love with Raghu who can think of no one else but Neetaji. Mario is a gangster and frequent visitor at the bar and eyes Sweety. Mario takes a contract to kill Reshma who acts the role of Neetaji and Raghu abducts her to save her life. But she views him as an enemy. Though he does his best to save her, he realizes how she is totally different from her screen role.

Chot: Telling the story people who come to Mumbai to make it big, the film suffers from a weak script though the director who learnt his art from Sooraj Barjatya and made ‘Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain’ has attempted to save the film through his deft handling. Only Ashutosh leaves a mark with his controlled acting.

Kishan Yadav arrives from Uttar Pradesh to make it big in Mumbai with the sole aim of giving a better life to his kid-brother Kabir. He establishes a dairy farm with hard work and ethics. But problems arise when Hooda, who is constructing a building, wants the dairy vacated. Hooda takes the help of the underworld, while Kishan takes the help of a social activist, who assures him that everything would be fine. The corrupt cop Lal who is transferred to this area strikes a deal with Hooda to get Kishan’s dairy vacated. The activist also ditches Kishan and joins hands with Hooda. His only help is a conscientious woman police officer and a young lady television reporter. As part of the conspiracy, Lal frames Kabir in a dubious case of assault. Kishan is asked to make a choice his dairy or his brother. But then Lal’s men kill Kabir and Kishan takes to violence to settle scores.