I understood what you meant in reference to the opening scenes of Khakee and Saving Private Ryan; I do not, however, feel that the former was at all inspired by the latter's "style." The "muffled sounds" thing has been done in several other films (in both Hollywood and the Indian film industry). I'm not sure, but I think the technique might actually pre-date Saving Private Ryan.

If you are referring to the "Aishwarya" angle, then I did feel that some stuff was not in keeping with the "twist" (though this only comes to light post the occurrence of said "twist"); that said, I think that these "holes" are more than forgivable. Agreed, the film might have been better off had it not tried to keep the twist so "unexpected," as doing so did sometimes insert unnecessary scenes (especially the song "Wada Raha," which was just horribly uncalled for). That said, even upon second-/third-/etc.-watching, the movie holds together well. In addition to all this, the film just works very well as a whole. I feel that it was one of the best films of its genre of 2004.

Hey Amigos,
After going through various discussions we have about Khakee and RKS, i

thought of expressing my opinion too.
First of all about RKS he is a good director. He makes sure each of his character gets ample space to show there talent and thats the reason why most of his stars got national awards. The story and dialogues in his
movies are powerful.
But somehow I always felt the climax in his movies are less impacting as If they have rushed it out to finish the movie and that stops his movie from being Super duper hit. Watch any of his movies other than Damini, all his movies have ending whch does not leaves much impact be it GHAYAL (Sunny paji in the climax scene suddenly goes to Amrish's house and in two minutes everything is over), PUKAR (This made some sense to me as it lasted for sometime), KHAKEE (chase seen how the hell Amitabh gets police Van), GHATAK (Same as GHAYAL our paaji suddenly comes to Villain's den and start fighting with a scream. why the hell he didn't do it earlier when he kills the first one) ,LAJJA or CHINA GATE (In all these movies you will find less of a dialogue and more of a fight as everything needs to go in a hurry).
What I need is the way in which the story is developed it should end similarly not in a sudden, take any of the superhit movies --talking about good ones -- (be it MEA, Sholay, DDLJ, Gadar, JJWS --not a Superhit though-- or to that matter Gadar or Border - Both filled with some explosive action-) you sit in these movies till the climax is over and movie ends.

RKS develops the story with a powerful opening and the film becomes somewhat slow in the middle and it again picks up during the interval till the climax and in the climax when you expect some heavy duty action and explosions, i found it relatively weak like wanting for more .

All said I Love RKS very much as most of us and I am eagerly waiting for his next movie 'FAMILY' as it brings Amitabh and RKS back. I loved the way he projected Big B in Khakee and I hope this movie would do much better than his previous ones and add to one more feather to his cap .

It's strange that only two days left for the release of this movie and no hulla gulla shor sharaaba, no interviews, nothing .
Is the film release date changed from 13 Jan to some other date or the film came out to be so bad that the distributors have lost interest. Meanwhile even there is not news on Zinda the other movie to be released on the same day.
Any Information on Family -- Faddy, commando where are you guys? aren't you excited about this movie?

Well, I don't know about Faddy, but I'm certainly very eager to see Family. That said, I totally agree with you about the lack of enthusiasm surrounding the release of this film, and it's not the viewers' fault. The marketing team has done a horrible...atrocious job publicizing this movie's release. At least, with Zinda, people know it's coming out (you see commercials, there's a music video, there are posters at movie theaters that say "Coming This Friday," etc.). In the case of Family, I've seen but two commercials thus far; this does not mean I've seen the commercials twice, but that there are really only two commercials out there to promote this film (and one of them is a "music-video" commercial, with Akshay Kumar). The other one does look really cool, but it takes more than a single advertisement to generate excitement. I'd say that this lack of gusto might be due to Amitabh Bachchan's recent illness, but that's not quite right: Even before Bachchan became sick, there was no talk of this movie's release by him, the other actors, director Rajkumar Santoshi, or the producers. Only recently have I seen some articles that talk about the movie, and I seem to recall having read an interview, last week, of new-comer Aryeman, discussing the picture. With Khakee, there was excitement surrounding the release — publicity stills, interviews, various trailers; with Family, there's next to nothing. I honestly hope it's not because everyone gets that he or she is part of a terrible dud (such things often happen with films that those involved with the project, know suck). Even so, even Ab Tumahare Hawale Watan Saathiyo had some effort put in to its pre-release. I for one, sincerely hope Family is great; unfortunately, the people actually involved in making the film, aren't showing me any signs that it will be.

I was looking forward to it and it's one of a very few movies I would have gone to watch at the cinema if I had faith in cinema showings around here. I watched Khakee at the cinema and it was censored is so many places it was pathetic - on top of that the climax fight scene that everyone was talking about was chopped and cut short! I heard same happened with Lajja at the cinema – (not to mention the utter diabolical DVD affair afterwards).

So here’s at least one cinema ticket lost here – and it won’t be like I’d be rushing to buy the DVD either.

Ali

i remember AAKAHREE RAASTA came out without any publicity whatsoever and what a movie that was one of AB best

Possible SPOILERS (Khakee):

You got to see a "censored" version of Khakee? In what way was it censored (also, what are you comparing it with to know that it was censored: the DVD?)? I saw it twice in theaters. The second, only a small snippet of the Bachchan-Devgan climactic fight was missing: the moment wherein Bachchan takes a puff from his inhaler, as a result of an in-fight asthma attack. One thing I did notice (in both theatrical watchings) is that, during the ending credits (starting prior to their roling, at the very end of the film), there are subtitles for dialogues that apparently are not spoken (they are something to the effect of "people may think that what Ashwin [Tusshar] did was right [kill Devgan in an "encounter"], but it was not; by taking the law into his own hands, he only helped to hurt it..." These subtitles are not present on the DVD release (by Eros). Ummm...OK.

I had no idea as to the publicity behind Aakhree Raasta, but I did have a feeling that it's one of Bachchan's "less-celebrated" works. That's sad, as it's one of his absolute best films and performances. The story's compelling, the script is just excellent, and Bachchan owns in both his roles. It's too bad that people seem to "love" Baghban (given, Amitabh was teriffic in it), as they totally ignore some really superb films.

'GAYI BHAINS PAANI MEIN, JISKA DARR THA WAHI HUA '

Here' the review of the movie from Taran, though I do not believe him but after reading the review I am getting a feeling that it's not at all a good movie.

I generally make it a habit not to read reviews before watching a film (if to read them at all). In addition, Taran Adarsh is a raving fucking lunatic. Really, he's the worst thing to happen to Indian-film critics since...he's the worst thing ever to happen to Indian-film critics.

I concur with your sentiments re Moran!! But with reservations, all BB movies can not be good any ways, and some will sure flop.

I think directors are just stck on banking on big b, showing him larger than life to success and not concentrating on story, plot etc.

re Santoshi, he is capable of making polished films, being seasoned director!! But when you are just stuck with showing up actors, not characters..doom will be the fate!!

I have not seen Family yet but will find out.

I thought New flavour Akki, and Bhumika is a fresh change!

Family as well as Zinda have started playing in theatres a day early, today (Thursday).

It's been a while since I watched it at the cinema. The cuts were so blatant that you don’t need to watch it on DVD to figure them out (although I have seen the DVD version too). One main one stood out was the end fight scene - the fight starts and it suddenly ends a few seconds later. Other scenes were cut short in the middle jumping onto next - dramatic music playing which suddenly cut to a silence – list goes on. This was a subtitled print, so not sure if all cinemas in the UK showed the same version.

I know that Indian movie distributor in the UK have a bad habit of censoring works as they please – any one of them don’t like it or someone complains about a scene they’ll hack it off. Then it’s all about the money with them too – very rarely they’ll show an 18 certificate Indian movie in the cinema – Khakee on video (ie DVD) was 18 certificate, on film (ie cinema) it was 15, same with Lajja film was PG while on video it was 15. They cut it so that more people (traditionally family groups with children) can go watch it. So they chop and ruin the movie. No go for me

Ali

I agree; that's idiotic. If I'm watching I film in the theater, I want to see what the director intended be seen; not something that some jackass feels is "appropriate."

Don't visit this Family

Raja Sen | January 13, 2006 16:21 IST


Question: How could a director like Raj Kumar Santoshi make the utter tripe that is Family?

Now, that's a tough one.

On the one hand, we can look at his solid credibility over the years, and a track record that boasts of films like Damini and Andaz Apna Apna, nod our heads silently and assume he's just another old-timer director trying and failing to make the transition to the new, slick Indian cinema. In which case we ought all feel sorry for him, be polite and just avoid Family, without going on and on about how ghastly it is.

Another thing we could do, though, is leave the speculated sympathy behind and bring in a dose of cold cynicism -- which is always a good idea when it comes to Bollywood. We could consider the fact that Family, produced in part by Keshu Ramsay, is a film made to showcase his debutant son, Aryeman. The producer, hailing from an Old Bollywood family, wangled an A-list director and stars (Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar) for junior's launch, and they just went through the motions after pocketing fat paychecks. In which case we should trash it mercilessly.




I'd like to subscribe to the latter theory. For some reason, it's a lot more heartening to think of Santoshi ignoring Family and letting one of his lackeys loose at the helm than to imagine him having directorially lost it. Therefore, let the slaughter begin.

One of the most confused films in ages, Family flip-flops between 'epic' crime saga and inane smiley-family-movie, making a hash of every genre it attempts to wade into. Not short (why? why??) of ambition, the movie tries a little bit of everything. It does this in a painfully sporadic manner, with absolutely no narrative flow as badly acted and disjointed scenes are indiscriminately pasted together in a cruel collage of cliché.

Sushant Singh, a violent youth – in the first scene of the film – kills a guy in a drunken bar brawl. Murder done, he sneers and flies off to Dubai, where his father, the Don, can save him. Immediately after that, as the credits roll, we're 'treated' to Quick Bite, a ridiculous song featuring Akshay as a dancing cook, juggling plates and chopping cucumbers to entertain customers. Sounds random? You can't begin to imagine my headache. And this is just the beginning.

Even as Akki bends ladles and falls for husband-hunting Bhoomika Chawla, the film introduces his good-for-nothing kid brother Aryeman, loafing around in cybercafes and getting into trouble. The dialogues are painful, and anyone watching the film has every right to threaten screenwriter Shreedhar Raghavan with bodily harm. He's the man still enjoying the applause from his last film, Bluffmaster.

That's the most frustrating thing about Family. The names, by themselves, are impressive, yet none of them deliver. Amitabh inexplicably keeps licking his chops; Akshay looks bored and, as a result, overacts; Shernaz Patel, the best thing in Black, is hard to stand; and Sushant, an otherwise talented young actor, is irritatingly over the top. Believe it or not, Bhoomika actually emerges the best among the lot.

Getting back to the film itself, Bachchan plays Sushant's father, Biren Sahi, a nefarious Dubai-based baddie with immaculately tailored black and white suits and a very hip pair of shades. He's a villain with a hands-on approach, you know, the kind who prefers to gun down his enemies in the middle of a crowded movie theatre, despite very bad aim. Also, Amitji, we like you and all, but -- just a suggestion -- perhaps you shouldn't contort your face as much every time you pull the trigger. You end up looking a lot less Sean-Connery-cool than you obviously want to.

A misguided bullet finds the back of do-gooder Akshay Kumar, and, just to make sure he's left no witnesses, Bachchan kills him and drives away, possibly in a rush to buy some more cigars. Aryeman, stunned by the sight of Bhoomika in widow-white, vows revenge, and decides to kill Bachchan. Since no one can quite find the crime boss, he decides to simply abduct his family and call him out.

So, he does. Yes, that's right. A young lad with a bunch of committed friends takes Biren Sahi's family hostage. Imagine, if you will, Dawood's kith and kin, men of the world like Noora and Anees Ibrahim, kidnapped by a bunch of inexperienced college kids. Much melodrama ensues, and little Aryeman tries to walk like a leading man, mouthing 70s Amitabh dialogues about death, brothers and revenge. Hmmm. Perhaps Kader Khan's presence in the film wasn't limited to a fleeting appearance after all.

The film drags on and on, predictable and filled with irrelevant, badly executed action scenes. Aryeman is a dolt with one of those disastrous cinematic debuts best left forgotten. Bad editing further reduces his attempts at heroism to amateurish levels, especially as he flies into a building. The characters are cardboard, the story is hackneyed, the stretched climax anything but engaging. The overall result? A film too bad to even laugh at.

If this is Family, we're better off alone.