Cast: Nikhil Dwivedi, Amrita Rao, Mithun Chakraborty, Anupam Kher, Pawan Malhotra, Javed Shaikh, Lillete Dubey, Saurabh Shukla, Mukesh Tiwari, Daya Shankar Pandey, D. Santosh; Director: E. Nivas ; Music: Pritam; Rating: **1/2Meet young Anthony Gonsalves – no relation to Amar or Akbar. He is a struggler by the day and bartender by night. Anthony (Nikhil Dwivedi) has been brought up by dreaded gangster Sikander (Pawan Malhotra), but Sikander consciously keeps Anthony away from his world of crime.

Dreaming of becoming a star some day, Anthony is hopeful about someone, someday spotting his talent. Not aware of the rocky road to stardom, Anthony’s long wait finally ends when a young assistant director (Amrita Rao) gets him an audition. Anthony manages to bag a role in a film that is strikingly similar to the life of Sikander. But his world comes crumbling down when he catches Sikander committing a murder. Being the only witness to the murder, Anthony soon has the law chasing him. Torn between loyalty towards Sikander and his own ideals, Anthony is caught in a huge dilemma. To make matters worse, this incident might become the roadblock on his route to stardom.

It’s an extremely simple film with very believable characters. Anthony’s misconceptions about getting a break in the industry and how he reacts to the thankless roles being offered to him are easy to relate to.

Despite having the underworld as an important element, the film does not become grim. Almost all through the film, the two parallel tracks about the gangsters and Anthony’s struggle as an actor move smoothly.

The film has a great supporting cast Mithun Chakraborty (the priest who can pack quite a punch), Anupam Kher (the hassled mafia boss), Lillete Dubey (the intellectual filmmaker), Saurabh Shukla (the struggler-turned-cameraman), Pawan Malhotra and many others who perform their scenes with conviction. In fact, it is the supporting cast and their natural acting that actually makes the film engaging.

Amrita Rao is refreshingly spontaneous, even though she doesn’t have much of a role. As far as the much-hyped makeover goes, it is only in the song playing on TV channels.

Nikhil Dwivedi has an innocent face that suits the role of a struggler. But at the same time he lacks the presence to keep you glued for 16 long reels. His expressions remind you of both Shahid Kapur and SRK. In fact, Nikhil tends to ape Khan’s dimpled smile in many scenes, especially the songs.

The plot is like a short story and ought to have been wrapped up in under two hours. But director E Niwas falls for the regular commercial trappings such as unnecessary item songs and comedy tracks.

Towards the end, the director puts Anthony’s career on hold and concentrates Anthony’s relationship with Sikander. Also while the film moves at an easy pace throughout, the second half tends to drag.

Finally My Name… is a film that doesn’t try to show off or take itself too seriously. It’s got likeable characters, who you could visit on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Paresh Rawal, Mallika Sherawat; Director: Director: Aneez Bazmee; Rating: **

Exit from the hall at the end of the movie was the better part of watching Welcome , director Anees Bazmee’s latest comedy film. The movie falls way short of expectations.

Firstly, the film does gross injustice to an actor like Akshay Kumar , someone who has time and again proved his prowess at comedy. In the crowd of characters in the story, Akshay’s seedha saadha Rajiv gets lost somewhere. Not because Akshay is incapable of holding his own, but because the writers do not care to give more meat to him.

Secondly, the comedy in the film is so childish that I felt embarrassed watching most it. Please bear this sample: Katrina tries to make an April fool out of Akshay and pretends that she has lost her priceless necklace somewhere. Akshay spots the necklace next to a teddy dog alongside a pool. As he is about to pick the trinket, the stuffed dog lets out a bark, and scared Akshay falls into the pool while Katrina laughs at him and wins the April fool contest. Now, this was supposed to be funny. But it left me with my jaw dropped disappointedly.

There is not much to write about the film’s story. Rajiv (Akshay Kumar), a handsome, robust and eligible man has remained bachelor so long, thanks to his uncle Dr. Ghungroo ( Paresh Rawal ), who wants a bahu from a decent family in which no one has ever been to a police station.

But Rajiv falls for Sanjana ( Katrina Kaif ) without knowing that she is the younger sister of the biggest don in the city – Uday Shetty ( Nana Patekar ). And there is also Uday’s henchman Majnubhai ( Anil Kapoor ), a toughie who likes to hold people still at gunpoint and then paint their portraits. “Live Painting” is what he calls it.

While the two don bhais try to make the match between their sister Sanjana and Rajiv, there is a strong opposition from Rajiv’s uncle. So the two lovers decide to reform the dons. Following their plan, Ishika ( Mallika Sherawat ) enters the lives of Uday Shetty and Majnubhai. Expectedly, the two dons fall in love with the bimbo, and their crime business takes a backseat.

But then comes in the biggest don of them – RDX ( Feroz Khan ) to set things right.

Anees Bazmee pulls every possible string to make you laugh. But he fails to give the right strokes. He concentrates only on providing one hilarious sequence after another, but he completely ignores relating the sequences together. As a result, ‘Welcome’ ends up like a poor collage of comedy scenes, lifted shamelessly from Hollywood film ‘Mickey Blue Eyes’.

The saddest part in this purportedly humorous film is that Akshay Kumar has been denied the punchy lines and funny sequences he is best known for. The actor has been used like a prop in the huge cast ensemble. Still, he makes you grin ear-to-ear whenever his Rajiv blushes.

Rather, Nana Patekar’s role has more meat. And the actor does make you chuckle with his impulsive don who once aspired to be an actor. Anil Kapoor, too, is funny at times, playing a somewhat caricaturish Majnubhai. Paresh Rawal is just about okay.

Katrina Kaif looks terrific and hasn’t been burdened with scenes that require her to act. The same goes for Mallika Sherawat, who plays a bimbo without getting to flaunt what she is best known for. The two ladies, however, do add glamour to the film. Feroz Khan does the same for men.

The less spoken of the film’s music the better it is. With the exception of a Himesh Reshammiya track, the songs come and go like mandatory eyesores in this directionless film.

Anees Bazmee has done nothing but put several assorted funny sequences back-to-back in the name of directing this unoriginal movie. And he goes completely over the top in his attempt to make you laugh at the end of the film – in the dangling-house-on-a-cliff sequence, lifted straight from a Charlie Chaplin classic.

To see ‘the end’ of Bazmee’s film was a welcome relief for me. And when the movie’s after-effects faded away, I felt my sense of humour returning back to me.

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Tulip Joshi, Zafar Karachiwala; Director: Rohit Jugraj; Rating: **Who can’t relate to the neighbourhood kid who’s desperate to become a movie-star at any cost? In director Rohit Jugraj’s Superstar, Kunal Khemu plays that guy-next-door, who much to his father’s disappointment, chooses to spend his time struggling it out as a film extra in dusty studios, rather than take up a respectable nine-to-five job.

A dreamer who sees himself reach for the stars like the Bachchans, the Khans and the Kapoors, reality sadly has a different plan for Kunal, who at best manages to land his few seconds of fame every time the camera lingers just long enough for him to be spotted in the crowd of background dancers, behind the hero.

However, his life changes overnight when he’s hired to be the duplicate for a young actor with whom he shares an uncanny resemblance. Before he knows it, he’s up there dancing with the heroine, then beating up the bad guys, all the while the camera fixed on his close-up.

But the irony of the situation doesn’t escape him - the only reason he’s been picked out of a crowd to do this job is because he “looks” like the hero!

Dodging clichés and moving at a healthy pace, the screenplay of Superstar shifts gears and goes into predictable territory when it breaks for intermission, ultimately losing whatever ground was covered in the film’s speedy first half.

What could have easily been a dramatic story about friendships and egos turns into that mundane tale about obligation and responsibility that you’ve seen several times before.

Neatly directed by Rohit Jugraj, Superstar isn’t entirely unwatchable, in fact, by typical Hindi film standards, it’s an above average film with solid production values and a fantastic performance at its very core. Kunal Khemu anchors this film with such rare maturity, he’s a revelation.

If you leave the cinema with a heavy heart it’s not because the film sucked, no it’s because here’s a film that could have been so much more.

So there, I’m going with two out of five for director Rohit Jugraj’s Superstar, give it a chance, you might just be surprised.

 Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Lena Christensen, Vijay Maurya, Naseeruddin Shah; Director: Nagesh Kukunoor; Rating: **

For every one of us who’s come to expect original and sensible entertainment from Nagesh Kukunoor, his latest film, Bombay To Bangkok will prove to be a disappointment.

Come to think of it, it’s exactly the kind of picture you don’t expect from him because it’s predictable, the casting’s all wrong, and in the end it just seems like a complete waste of time. In fact, I’m willing to bet Nagesh’s heart wasn’t in this film at all.

Bombay To Bangkok stars Shreyas Talpade as a cook who sets off to start a new life when he chances upon a purse stuffed with US dollars. When he discovers the money belongs to a local don, he takes the next flight out of the country and lands up in Bangkok, slipping his way into a group of Indian doctors on a charitable mission. He loses the purse soon enough, and ends up falling hook line and sinker for a Thai massage girl, which is of course a polite way of saying Thai prostitute.

Now problem is, he doesn’t speak any Thai, and she doesn’t speak no Hindi, so their communication is limited to whatever little English the two of them can muster up. Before they know it, they’re on the run from the angry don’s son, a struggling rap artiste by the way, who’s been instructed by his dad to bring the money back and fix the fellow who had the nerve to steal it.

Betrayed by a script that’s full of flaws, Bombay To Bangkok is unimaginative and indifferent for the most part, and doesn’t once suggest that it’s the brainchild of the same filmmaker who gave us such gems as Hyderabad Blues, Teen Deewarein and Iqbal.

The humour here is of the slapstick variety, and that may not have been a bad thing, except that none of the jokes are original, you’ve seen them all before.

At best a few scenes really work – my favourite being the one in which the rap-artiste chhota don visits Shreyas’ mother to find out where her son is hiding, and comes away confused to say the least. It’s an outstanding scene and undoubtedly the only clever joke in the film.

What’s missing from this film is Kukunoor’s very distinct brand of everyday wit. The kind of humour that set apart films like Hyderabad Blues and Rockford and even Bollywood Calling. Or even his little moments which stay with you forever. Like that scene in Iqbal in which the deaf-mute boy’s mother threatens his mentor at the gate of her house, warning him that she’ll kill him if he doesn’t make sure her son excels at the game.

  Or that absolutely lovely scene in Dor, in which Ayesha Takia, Gul Panag and Shreyas Talpade dance so uninhibitedly to the beats of Kajra Re in the desert. These are the moments that define Nagesh Kukunoor’s films, and I’m sorry to say Bombay To Bangkok is sorely lacking in such memorable moments.

The fundamental requirement for any romantic comedy to work is a crackling chemistry between its two leads. But Shreyas Talpade and his leading lady, Thai actress Lena Christensen, couldn’t look more disinterested in each other even if they were paid together.

Much of the problem with Bombay To Bangkok in fact, lies in the miscasting of the female lead. She’s vapid, has less than three expressions to speak of, and has terrible dialogue delivery – even though you’re not meant to understand most of what she’s saying, since she’s speaking in Thai, of course.

It’s the supporting leads whose romance you’re happier to embrace instead – Vijay Maurya as the rap-artiste don and the prickly psychologist he loses his heart to. Naseeruddin Shah, popping up in one single scene, is expectedly effective as the Senior Don whose idea of torture involves twisting his son’s navel piercing.

But the only saving grace of this film, also the only reason it’s even remotely watchable is Shreyas Talpade who plays his part so convincingly, that you’re embarrassed at how he’s been wasted in such a pointless film. Uninhibited and spontaneous, he keeps you transfixed every time he’s on screen.

Ironic, that for a film whose most popular song goes “we are same, same, but different”, Bombay To Bangkok is actually the same kind of nonsense you’re used to seeing in abundance at the movies, and sadly very different from what you’ve come to expect from Nagesh Kukunoor’s films.

With its shoddy camerawork, indifferent direction and weak writing, Bombay To Bangkok can’t even deliver what the film’s heroine offers the hero when they first meet – “make happy” – well, no, this film doesn’t “make happy”.

I’m going with two out of five for director Nagesh Kukunoor’s Bombay To Bangkok, it’s his most disappointing film yet. We can only hope he’s back in form the next time round because it would be such a shame if Kukunoor’s gone cuckoo!

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Vidya Balan, Pankaj Kapoor; Director:  Rajkumar Santoshi; Music:  Sukhwinder Singh, Vanraj Bhatia; Rating: ** 

When Sameer Khan (Devgan) refuses to testify in a murder he has witnessed, his conscience begins to prick him. He tries hard to assuage his guilt by paying off the victim’s sister but realises that he has to come clean and expose the sons of two powerful men.

Sameer who hails from a small town makes it big in Bollywood but at the cost of his integrity and honesty. So much so he even justifies his philandering ways to his wife Sneha (Vidya Balan) and the lack of social commitment to his teacher Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur).

But finally when he has to make a choice between the hollow showbiz life he has built for himself and the values he once abided by, he chooses the former.

Little does he realise however that his decision will cost him not just his reputation but also endanger his life and that of his near and dear ones.

Sure enough what follows is an ugly witch-hunt spearheaded by the politician (Darshan Jariwala) and liquor baron whose sons are responsible for the murder.

Sooner than later however, the estranged Sameer finds that he isn’t alone as his wife and guru rally beside him. But the war is far from over.

Halla Bol has some classic Raj Kumar Santoshi moments, which any hardcore Bollywood film viewer would enjoy. For instance there is a scene where Ajay goes to Darshan’s house and is infuriated by the blatant show of wealth. He is told about the rug from Persia, Ming vase from China, sofa set from Germany. In response he relives himself on the rug and says, “This one’s pure Indian. And you don’t need paisa, power or public for this. You need balls.”

Concept-wise too Halla Bol is strong. If you had no issues with Rang De Basanti’s concept, chances are that Halla Bol will work for you too.

And Vidya Balan may not excel in the two-bit role. But she certainly stands her own ground