Ishqiya, Rann

After a long time, I managed to watch two movies - both on their day of release :)

Ishqiya is a movie from a practised hand - that of Vishal Bhardwaj. I have already raved about the music elsewhere. Both Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah essay their parts well. Vidya Balan is deglamorized and still attractive. The plot is pretty simple - 2 petty thieves get stuck in a larger game while on the run. The movie is not as tightly edited as it could have been, but is still a surprising short watch (less than 2 hrs). Recommended watch. I am sure you will be humming the music when you leave the hall if you aren't already.

Rann comes from a hand which has lost its touch in recent times, that of RGV. The movie is more evidence that he is nowhere near the man who once directed Sarkar or even Company, let alone Satya. The movie also has music (quite uncharacteristic for RGV), most of it forgettable, but relevant in the context. Amitabh Bachan performs (he does not ham, thankfully!). He alone is worth the watch, but not the 240/- PVR ripped me off for. Riteish Deshmukh has a mostly anguished expression (I like to think it reflects the lack of his acting abilities), but he has a likeable role. The rest incl. the pretty Panag are pawns in the movie. Paresh Rawal also manages a part but his role is very poorly built on and is largely limited to gesturing. The movie is populist (which to me means it has loads of scenes which are cliched and could have been dropped but our mainstream movies have them and hence RGV too has succumbed) but looks like RGV finally has a movie you can go watch . Hence, recommended. You won't get bored. You will perhaps even be moved by the primary premise of the plot - media and its manipulation (that is not a spoiler!) - having been battered by breaking news everywhere. In fact I saw the movie only since I knew there was some freshness to it. I am glad RGV got there before the self righteous Bhandarkar did (As I have said elsewhere on this blog, I am quite sick of his cynicism). As I said, AB holds the movie together. Go see it