Review: London Dreams

Verdict: Good.

"K" Rating: 3/5
Watch: DVD

London Dream has an apt star cast with friendship, professional jealousy and insecurity forming the backdrop . London Dreams would be a winner had it not been for its music and weak ending.The outburst of Ajay, Salmaan's saintly behaviour at the end lack verisimilitude. The movie misses out on a perfect ending due to an unnecessary song sequence. Music of the film by Shankar Ehsaan Loy does not do justice to the beautiful shots of the performances.

Watch: For great performances by the Salmaan and Ajay- they have proved themselves yet again.Comic timing and pronunciations/new lingo of Salmaan's Character. Emotional intensity of the film and good cinematography make it a DVD watch.

Story: Remember Shakalaka Boom Boom? (*ing Bobby Deol/Upen Patel) maybe not. SBB like London Dreams is based on a old hollywood flick Amadeus. Its a story about 2 friends - the introvert, ambition driven Arjun and the fun-loving, carefree aimless Manjeet(Manu). They say ambition is self driven but talent is gods given. This drives a wedge between the two friends when Arjun brings Manu to London to join his Band but discovers Manu's muscial genius. Asin look good as a rocker girl and pairs with Salmaan beautifully.

("K" rating reflects my personal star rating from now on. I thank my brother for the suggestion)

Blue: Its all about Special Effects

If you saw the much hyped movie Blue irrespective whether you liked it or not, you could not deny the great special effects it had. There were scenes when the audience could be fooled into thinking they were watching a Hollywood flick.Movies like Luck, Blue and now Aladdin may not have a blockbuster tag on them, but they do prove that Indian cinematography and vfx has come of age. True, most of the special effects are still being done by Hollywood brains but on Indian shores with companies like Prime Focus, Eros and ofcourse Red Chillies vfx.

Let's have a look at how some scenes were created in Blue (Now we know where the most expensive film spent most of its budget)

(curtesy- BollywoodHungama.com)

Interesting Promos!

Due to the high influx of movies hitting the theaters every Friday in recent weeks, we are inundated with film promos. Here are two promos which caught my eye.

3 idiots - Starring Amir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sherman Joshi directed by Rajkumar Hirani and Produces by Vidhu Vinod Chopra this is the most awaited film of the year. Based on the book "5 point someone" by Chetan Bhagat it tells the story of 3 engineering students at a big name school. This is a definate watch! the promo was just released with London Dreams.

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year: Starring Ranbir Kappor plaing a sadarji directed by none other then Shemit Amin (Chade Fame) and produced under Yash Raj Banner this movie is up for release on Dec 11. The initial promo's are unlike any other promos one has seen in recent times. Marketing people receive kudoos as they seem to be doing true justice to the tag line of "Salesman of the year". We have yet to see how the movie will be, but the promos are definitely "different" and appeal to the common man aka masses- hence we have hope from the movie aswell.

Chance Pe Dance- Stars none other then Shahid Kapoor opposite Genelia D'souza directed by ad-filmmaker Ken Gosh (Ishk Vishk) and is produced by Ronnie Screwvala. Looking at the promo it will be a must watch for the youth. The movie seems to have it all -Ken Gosh's trademark stunning visuals coupled with Shahid's dancing and Genelia's liveliness. After looking at the promo one realises why Farah Khan asked the south beauty to say the tongue twister "kaccha papad pucca papad" on her show Tere Mere Beach Mein. It is releasing in January of 2010 but promises to be worth the wait! The movie appears to focus majorly on dance and Shahid looks all shaped up for it!(Trailor brings mind images of movies like Save the Last Dance/ Step-up?).

Here are the trailers which are making the rounds in the theater and creating the buzz.

Lux Commercial: Aishwarya & Abhishek Bachchan

After 2 years, Aishwarya & Abhishek finally seem to be warming up to the idea of appearing together on screen post marriage. It began with the couple appearing on the Oprah Show less then a month ago and it continues on with the new Lux soap commercial.

This is the first time the sizzling couple is appearing in a chimerical together. Ashwarya has long association with Lux along with other Bollywood beauties. Abhishek is the only second actor ever appearing in a Lux ad, the first was Shahrukh Khan who appeared in the soaps 75th Anniversary celebration Ad.

For the 34-second commercial Ash & Abhishek took home a whopping 25 crore it is belived. The golden couple was styled by Akki Narula and directed by Stephen Mead. Shankar Ehsaan Loy have given a very soothing music to the Ad. It provides the perfect background score to the playful tricks Ash is playing on husband Abhi. The body language of the actors and the overall feel of the commercial is very warm. Looks like everyone had a blast shooting it and it definitely conveys so! what can we say but "Ab Aishwarya Abhi ke bina nahi" dekhengi kahin.

On the making interview: Abhishek seems down to earth and casual, but note Ash's 2-3 buzz words which she keeps repeating - brand connect, relationship, communication, commercial.

SRK: "I'm neither Fair nor Handsome"

Modesty is King Khan's policy! Shahrukh was recently shooting for the new commercial for Emami's men's creme "Fair & Handsome" with the aspiring actress Shazahn Padamsee. Emami renewed their contract with SRK, as part of a strategy

to make it a 200-crore Rupees product in the next 2 years. After all Brand SRK is biggest in India and who better to endorse a product. (Here is a fab article on Brand SRK)

So what does he do for his good looks? black coffee, sleep 4 hrs, gym....

La affaire: Shilpa & Raj

Oct 24th, 2009 was a big day for the Shetty's as Shilpa(33) got engaged to her long time beau Raj Kundra (34) at his Juhu residence in Mumbai. Unfortunately sister Shamita could not attend as she is following big sisters foot steps and taking part in the Indian version of Big Brother - Big Boss. Let's hope Big Boss does what Big Brother did to Shilpa's career 2 years ago.

Shlipa transitioned from modelling to Bollywood in 1993 with SRK-Kajol starrer Bazigar. The song "Chura ke dil mera" from Mein Khiladi Tu Anari shot her to stardom and she became the face for some foot tapping item songs. After 40 films her career was at a all time low in 2007, but with her controversial win at the Big Brother reality show in London things changed and she turned hot property yet again - this time with on an international level.

Raj is a London based business man who met Shilpa for marketing her perfume S2 in London. Although Raj's ex-wife blames Shilpa for being a house breaker, the duo remains unhassled. Today together have a business worth millions - 15.4m dollar stake in IPL Team Rajasthan Royals, a 10 m dollar 33% stake in London's V8 Gourmet group, and a medispa "loosis" in Mumbai. This in addition to a 5 m dollar 7-bedroom house in London, yoga dvd, movies, brand endorsements - there seems to be no looking back for Shilpa. Shilpa & Raj bring together business acumen and glamour - a very profitable and winning combination. So the rest can just "shut-up and bounce"....