karam/socha na tha

karam: John Abraham
director: Sanjay F. Gupta

Karam is a fairly watchable action flick which would have done better without the elements of romance which destroy the movie's pace and mood with awful sugary dialogues and a pathetic performance by priyanka chopra. Other than those few bits of trash, the movie does shine in its cinematography, action sequences and of course John Abraham as a mentally torn hitman.

You can definitely find traces of Quentin Tarantino especially during the opening shots with a animated sequence (Kill Bill), scenes of three hitmen sharing jokes as they go on a kill (Pulp Fiction) and the ebb and flow of colour. The action sequences too remind us of John Woo's films and John Abraham does a pretty good Tom Cruise from MI2. Despite such obvious inspirations the director has done a good job of putting it all together and tailoring them to Indian settings. Only that he fails to let go of Bollywood mush and hence spoils what would otherwise have been a good movie.

socha na tha: Abhay Deol, Ayesha Takia
director: Imtiaz Ali

After a long long time, a romantic college flick that instead of building a lot of hype actually delivers! A wonderful story of love that enthralls with its simplicity, down-to-earth "today"ish dialogues and performances that everyone of us can relate to, this is one movie you shouldn't miss.

Abhay Deol is good as the confused guy who says no to the bride (Ayesha Takia) that his parents chose for him ( thereby leading to a lot of tension between their families) but slowly finds himself drawn towards her. So he ends up bringing sorrow to his family, his girlfriend and her family and her newfound love (Ayesha) and her family too! But don't you worry, the director Imtiaz Ali sees to it that all's well at the end; and he does a damn good job of it. The songs though not superhit material, gel well with the situations. This movie is as fresh as it gets and a wonderul refreshing experience. Here's looking forward to more of Imtiaz Ali.

-sumandatta