Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab We Met, No Smoking - Movie Reviews

Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab We Met, No Smoking - Movie Reviews

I watched Bhool Bhulaiya last weekend and the other two movies - Jab We Met and No Smoking this weekend. All were on pirated DVD. Here are my movie reviews of them.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa - 3/10 - (maze) A hard to believe comedy about a haunted house. The story is about an NRI Indian couple (Shiney Ahuja and Vidya Balan) who return to their ancestral home. This home just happens to be haunted by the spirit of a court dancer Manjulika - who was murdered by the Maharajah because she loved the court poet. The spooky happenings in the house lead the couple to call on a psychoanalyst friend (Akshay Kumar) to investigate. He proves that the lady of the house - Vidya Balan is suffering from a multiple personality disorder.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa is an ok passtime movie. Nothing great about it. Except for Shiney Ahuja, the rest of the cast sucked big time. The story was full of holes and made no sense. The ending was the worst - psychiatrists don't encourage madness in their patients, however Akshay Kumar's character did just that by challenging her to cut off the head of a plastic dummy.

Jab We Met - 8/10 - (when we met) - A refreshing romantic comedy. Kareena Kapoor is Geet - a very bubbly, talkative and spontaneous girl. Shahid Kapoor is Aditya - a quiet introverted guy who is unsuccessful in love and business. They meet on a train - Aditya is depressed and tries to jump of a train only to be stopped by the chatty Geet who is on her way to Bathinda, Punjab. They get stranded at a railway station, visit Bathinda and a few scenes later, Aditya ends up dropping her to Manali to be with her boyfriend Anshuman. Aditya returns to Mumbai with new zeal and changes his business from a losing company to a profit making enterprise. Later, when Geet's parents inform him that she has not returned home for nine months, he goes to Manali to look for her. She is depressed as she had been dumped by her boyfriend. She is working as a teacher and wants her old boyfriend back ....... However, the movie ends happily with them marrying each other.

The casting of Jab We Met was good, as both actors suited the roles given to them and did an amazing job - I liked the kiss at the end. The screenplay was refreshing and moved smoothly from one scene to the next. Songs, dances and costumes were superb. The direction and cinematography, especially the shots of Manali and Rajasthan were very beautiful. A fantastic movie, Jab We Met gets a big thumbs up from me.

As for the real life Kareena Kapoor - Shahid Kapoor split - It must be just a promotional gimmick for the film, doubt it's for real. Why would any gal leave a nice guy like 'Shahid' for a weirdo like 'Saif' ???

No Smoking - 7/10 - A 'hatke' film meant only for intellectuals. If you don't have a brain, don't bother watching this one. This film reminded me of films like 'The Matrix' and 'I Love Huckabees' - were there is a hidden world and meanings within the real world.

In No Smoking, John Abraham is 'K', a chain smoker who is persuaded by his wife to join a quit smoking programme. Ranvir Shorey plays his cockeyed friend (bhenga) who has given up smoking after joining a 'Prayogshala' (rehab center). When he enters the center, all hell breaks lose. He is made to sign a contract and a cheque of around 21 lakhs by Baba Bengali, the guru who runs the 'treatment programme'.

The treatment - If you smoke once - your asthmatic brother gets gassed by the smoke from every cigarette you have smoked. If you smoke again - two fingers are chopped off. If you smoke thrice - your wife will be abducted and autopsied. If you smoke a fourth time - your brother will be killed. Every incident from his life has been recorded on video. He is being watched all the time, so that if he smokes again he can be caught. The narrative of the movie keeps shifting from dreams to reality. The dreams are the unreal scenes where he is in Siberia and where his wife is his secretary. In the end, John Abraham ends up two fingers short - because he smoked only twice in reality.

The direction of No Smoking is good. However, this film is too sophisticated for Indian as well as Western audiences, so I doubt there will be many takers. John Abraham acts well and looks sexy in the bathtub. I am willing to bet many people have different perceptions of the story of the film. With the cryptic dialogue and symbolism of the film, things can mean different things to different people. What is your take on this film?

Have you watched Bhool Bhulaiya, Jab WeMet or No Smoking ??