Sorry guys. I ‘m having a bad case of writer’s block and just cannot think of a witty introduction to my review . So without further ado here is my list of films that did not deserve to be hits .
1)Mohabbatien
This Dead Poet’s Society rip-off has to be the MOST overrated Hindi movie of all time ! I was left thinking , is this a movie by the same guy who gave us “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge “?
a)Cheap B-grade comedy ( if it can be called that ) : Anupam Kher , Aparna singh , Johnny lever-the works , with the kind of jokes that I stopped laughing at when I was in the 4th grade . Need I mention the overacting?
b)Costumes that do not fit at all into the movie or its characters – how many small Indian cities that you know of will approve of ladies moving around in micro-skirts and tank tops , that too in WINTER ??!!
c) Overly melodramatic gestures and dialogues: Remember that scene where everyone in the school takes a maple/chinar leaf in their hands and give those intense looks ? Ha Ha ! if that’s dramatic and emotional , than American Pie is a sensitive and light hearted comedy about relationships . Add to that those rambling speeches about love, discipline, confrontations between Amitabh and Shah Rukh ……
d) The weather: This is one irritating mess-up. Towards the end of the movie, the leaves begin to fall: therefore it must be autumn. In the northern hemisphere, autumn comes around October. But in the movie it’s Valentines Day (14th February)!!! Arrgh!!
e) It started that crazy fad of putting your sweater over your shoulder.
2)Raaz
The only saving grace of this movie was the music. The songs were quite good , but totally out of tune with the movie . It’s just a cheap copy of “ What lies Beneath “ . The horror sequences are not much better than a typical Ramsay Brothers Production. , with your usual scares such as : blood dripping from the ceiling , old denizen who knows about the terror that haunts the residence but is still foolish enough to go on living in the vicinity , and the oldest trick in the book : house in the middle of a secluded forest . Both Bipasha and Dino sow a distinct lack of acting skills with their monotone and poker-faced dialogue delivery . It seems as if they were reading the lines out aloud from a book rather than acting .
3)Gadar
Come and see Sunny Deol Scream! Come see Sunny Deol single handedly take on an entire train load of baddies with nothing more than a hand-pump! Come see Pakistan-Bashing! Come see a jingoistic movie in the guise of a story of patriotism and love!
4)Murder
Suspense movie or Soft Porn? I still can’t decide. This is the movie that started the current trend of badly made skin flicks (Julie, Girlfriend, etc) . Thankfully these kinds of movies are nearing the end and we won’t have to put up with them any longer .Basically it’s a scene-by-scene copy of Unfaithful. Again, the only good thing about this was its music. Imran Hasmi was also pretty good as the villain. If I remember correctly it was released at the same time as the equally dreadful “Hawas” , which had the exact same story-line and scenes. How it managed to become a big hit and miss the same fate as “Hawas” is still one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time .
5)Raja Hindustani
I think this movie became a hit only because of the music and some great acting by Aamir Khan . This movie was way too loud, melodramatic and corny . Karishma’s outfits were really cheap even by Bollywood standards. And the supporting cast….ugh. Again the same old jokes, most of them vulgar and third rate delivered very badly by a very weak supporting cast. And the story… it’s been done to death a thousand times .
Other movies that cheated death at the box office :
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham
Chalte Chalte
Ek Choti si love story
Dhoom