I Me Aur Main review

Release date: 1st March 2013
 Rating : 2.25/5
Director : Kapil Sharma
Producer : Goldie Behl, Shrishti Behl Arya
Music Director : Falak Shabir, Sachin-Jigar
Starring: John Abraham, Prachi Desai, Chitrangada Singh

‘I. Me Aur Main’. featuring John Abraham, Chintrangada Singh and Prachi Desai in lead roles. The movie has been directed by Kapil Sharma and it has released across the world today. Let us see if this romantic comedy is worth checking out.

Story :

The title of ‘I, Me Aur Main’ should give you enough hints about its basic plot. It is the story of a self obsessed and highly selfish guy called Ishaan (John Abraham). Ishaan is a music company executive and he is an extremely spoilt brat. He lives in the apartment of his girlfriend Anushka (Chitrangada Singh). While Ishaan is carefree and flamboyant, Anushka is more mature and committed. She tries to get Ishaan to mend his ways, but is largely unsuccessful.

After being fed up with his attitude, Anushka kicks him out. Our self obsessed Ishaan soon finds himself in the company of the bubbly Gauri (Prachi Desai). The two of them seem to hit it off for a while.

But things start getting complicated and Ishaan is forced to introspect. His pampering mother, angry sister and the two women force him to take some hard decisions. What are they? Who does Ishaan end up with? That forms the story.

Plus Points :

John Abraham looks handsome in the film and he has done a neat job as the self obsessed urban male. Chitrangada Singh and Prachi Desai are good choices and they have played their characters well.

There are some good moments in the first half. The portrayal of John’s relationship with Chitrangada starts off on a good note. Raima Sen, Mini Mathur and Zarina Wahab put in neat performances.

The film’s short run time of approximately two hours is a bonus.

Minus Points :

The film loses its way completely in the second half and there are a lot of unexplained gaps in the story line. Predictability also sets in. Sheena Shahabdi fails to make a good impression.

None of the songs in the film really stand out. They are neither melodious nor do they have good visuals.

The sub plots involving Raima Sen and Sheena Shahabdi do not gel with the main story line and will distract viewers.

Screenplay goes for a toss in the second half and the movie’s pace dips considerably. A lot of cliched scenes come into the picture.

The climax sequence is poorly executed.

Technical Aspects :

Cinematography is just about ok. Director Kapil Sharma succeeds to a certain extent in the first half, but he loses his way in the second half of the film. Perhaps, tighter editing would have helped.

Music is very mediocre and so is the background score.

Verdict :

‘I, Me Aur Main’ is the messed up tale of a narcissist. The film starts off with some promise but loses its way completely towards the end. It ends up as a very predictable and boring watch. You may take a look if you are a die hard fan of John Abraham.

Chitrangada Singh stills

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Inkaar movie review

Cast: Arjun Rampal, Chitrangada Singh, Deepti Naval, Kanwaljeet
Direction: Sudhir Mishra
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Story: Advertising whizzes Rahul and Maya have an affair - one claims sexual harassment. Can the innocent present a strong-enough Inkaar?

Movie Review: You know those cakes that look gorgeous in pictures but collapse when they bake? Inkaar is like that. Polished-looking, its edges - the tension of feeling harassed at work, office politics, ego flashes - hold rather well. But its centre collapses in a soft mess. Featuring advertising hot-shots Rahul (Rampal) and Maya (Singh), Inkaar shows the heat and dust from work- place lust. It begins with Rahul and Maya meeting in a swimming pool after an old affair, seven years spent apart - you'd rather like to know what they're saying, but in what becomes an annoyingly familiar move, their words are drowned by background music. Next, Maya's promoted by the company where Rahul is CEO and was her mentor - and lover.

Here's where Inkaar should've begun rising - as Maya climbs the ladder, Rahul feels things shake and starts acting odious, passing wise-cracks or vibrating heat. Maya slaps a sexual harassment case onto him, to adjudge which social worker Mrs. Kamdar (Naval) arrives. But instead of becoming tauter, the film starts to unspool. Rather than let characters grow or scenes fully unfold, the camera careens around, frequently distracting. That's when the background score isn't flooding exchanges - although not drowning out Mrs Kamdar's remark, "Arre, do khoobsurat log kaam par jayenge, time spend karenge, toh sex toh hoga."

Alongside such howlers, the acting doesn't hold. Rampal's good at the snide, sardonic ex, recalling how he taught small-town Maya it's not "Channel" for No. 5. His nasty-tasty Rahul makes some mark but the same can't be said for Maya. Despite all that lovely make-up and the luscious hair, we just don't get enough sense of Maya's tightrope tangle between ambition and passion. But we do learn a lot about the corporate world presented here, where everyone gargles with whisky, throws up frequently and inappropriate office behaviour is necessary to pass the tedium of selling toothpaste.

In this odd-ball zone, even Mrs. Kamdar looks like all she wants is a drink and out, so there's a vote - yup, a vote - on the harassment. That's amidst Kanwaljeet flitting in and out as a B&W dad, characters dropping glasses like crystal full-stops and one asking another, "Ye sab kyun, kyun?!", to hear - "Kyunki mein gusse mein tha!"

Such an anti-climax, no.

Inkaar movie review

 

Inkaar Movie Review

The moviegoers have developed a taste for innovative, out of the box stories. Topics that were once considered taboo are being attempted on the Hindi screen. Pushing the envelope within commercial parameters is the new mantra. Known for attempting diverse stories in film after film, Sudhir Mishra takes on a hitherto untold topic for his newest venture INKAAR: Sexual harassment in a work environment.

A film like INKAAR is extremely relevant, topical and relatable in today’s times. Sexual harassment is a reality and one needs to address it. We ought to discuss it — with students, with grownups, with working men and women, within and outside organizations. One has to be vigilant, on the guard against those indulging in it and getting away scot free. The ones who endure harassment are often scared to come out in the open, fearing that it may ruin their personal/professional life.

INKAAR may revive memories of DISCLOSURE [Michael Douglas, Demi Moore] and also Abbas-Mustan’s AITRAAZ and Madhur Bhandarkar’s CORPORATE, but INKAAR depicts the clash of egos most differently. Beneath the sexual harassment issue that it addresses, there’s a love story that comes to the fore during the culmination of the film. However, the writing isn’t watertight this time. More on that later!

At one of India’s leading ad agencies, the battle for the top job between Rahul [Arjun Rampal], a venerated advertising CEO, and Maya [Chitrangda Singh], his ambitious protégé, takes a dramatic turn when she files a sexual harassment complaint against him. It’s the job of the committee set up by the agency to hear both sides of the story and work through the layers of lies and accusations to find out who’s really telling the truth and who’s lying. The stakes are high because only one of them [Rahul or Maya] will walk away with their reputation intact. Will the committee really be able to uncover the truth?

INKAAR is a tough film to make and one must compliment Sudhir Mishra for sticking his neck out. Let me add, INKAAR is not just about sex. It’s about greed, ambition and power play. Generally, in a majority of Hindi films, it’s the man who seeks sexual favors, while the woman is projected as someone who’s meek. But the woman here is shrewd and spiteful. When the two sexes collide, what the spectator gets to see is not just the issue that the film raises, but also the games the ambitious play to reach the top spot.

Mishra is a sensitive storyteller. At the same time, he’s a director’s actor. Given the subject matter, INKAAR would’ve turned into a sleaze fest, a cheesy film, but the director handles the provocative moments elegantly. However, like I pointed out at the outset, the writing is gripping in parts, not in its entirety. A few episodes are engaging, but a couple of them lack the hammer-strong impact. Besides, the screenplay should’ve been exhilarating and engaging towards the resolution. Also, the track of the father [Kawaljit Singh] is a little difficult to comprehend. What was the writer trying to convey in those scenes? Dialogue are incisive, razor-sharp and acidic, depending on the situation.

INKAAR succeeds in bringing out the right emotions from its actors. Arjun Rampal displays remarkable understanding of the character. Post CHAKRAVYUH, which released a few months ago, this is yet another power-packed performance that makes you realize that this supermodel has transformed into a super actor. Chitrangda immerses herself into the role brilliantly. She uses her lustiness in a wicked, dominating way and that’s what catches your eye. It’s great to see Deepti Naval after a hiatus. The film has a collage of talented actors, which includes Vipin Sharma, Mohan Kapur, Asheesh Kapur, Shivani Tanksale, Gaurav Dwivedi and Rehana Sultan [cameo] and each of them stands out in his/her respective part.

On the whole, INKAAR is for spectators of serious cinema. Caters to a niche audience!