LIFE... IN A METRO

'Life… in a Metro'… wow! I’ve just seen this movie, and I really loved it. Maybe it’s because I really wasn’t expecting a whole lot (for some reason, I thought it might be a bit boring), but this film has left me feeling good – about people, about the possibility of second chances, about relationships, about humanity. And I love when that happens.

Don’t get me wrong, ‘Metro’ is not a happy-slappy, hearts-and-kisses, fun-in-the-sun flick. No, actually it’s set in the Mumbai monsoon season, and the continual rain and dull weather reflects the turmoil and trauma undergone by the characters in this film. There’s betrayal, misery, loneliness, bereavement, regret and bitterness in this movie. It’s a tough world, one of crippling discontentment, broken dreams, and loads and loads of deception – everyone is lying to someone, even if it’s just to themselves (and I find that very realistic).



But do you like to see movies that remind you of all the greys that lie between black and white? Do you like to see movies that remind you of the challenges we all face living in big cities in the noughties? Do you like to see movies that don’t beat you over the head with moral judgment, but subtly, compassionately show that there are better choices to make than those that ultimately mean hurting yourself and/or the ones you love? Do you like to see movies where the characters are given agency, and not treated like pawns on a chessboard? Do you like to see movies where you truly come to care for the characters, to the point where, even though you can’t bring yourself to agree with all their choices, you respect their right to seek their own paths to fulfilment? Do you like to see movies that surprise you – but without being totally jarring? Yes? Then, hopefully, you’ll like ‘Metro’ as much as I did. Oh, and do you REALLY love Dharmendra, to the point where seeing him onscreen just fills every cell of your heart with pure undiluted joy? No? Aww.. well, I hope you’ll like this movie anyway.

Let’s see if I can talk about this film without giving away too much, because I don’t think I’d have liked the movie half as much had I known what was waiting around every corner. My garam Dharam is as good a place to start as any – in this, my tenth Dharmendra movie (yayyy!!) and the first I’ve seen on the big screen, he plays Amol, a man who is reunited with the love of his youth, Shivani (played by Nafisa Ali). I once said on this blog that old people in love=cute. And is it true in this movie or what? I have to say, I really like the fact that in several Hindi movies I’ve seen recently (‘Honeymoon Travels’, ‘Just Married’ and now ‘Metro’), it’s been recognised that older people have emotional and physical needs too, and that there’s nothing ugly or shameful about portraying that on celluloid. I really hope this is a trend that’s here to stay, because I think it’s a cryin’ shame that many fine older actors are stuck playing ‘Maa’ and ‘Babuji’ in every film (nothing wrong with playing parents, of course, but older people are more than just parents). Shivani and Amol walk an unconventional and difficult path with great grace, and it was so brilliant to see my Dharmendra do his thing. Wow. I don’t know why I love this man so much, I just do. I can’t wait to see ‘Apne’. I love him…

Anyway, moving on (and shaking myself out my Dharam-induced reverie)… much as I loved Shivani and Amol, I loved Shruti (played beautifully by Konkona Sen Sharma, whom everyone knows is a wonderful actress) and Monty (played by Irrfan Khan) even more. Shruti, a young career woman who is attracted to one of her co-workers, a popular radio DJ named Vishy K, is a likeable girl-next-door kind of character. You can’t help but love her, even if you’re not kind of at the same place in your life as she is (I am). But Monty is another matter. He’s a total oddball, he dresses really weird and talks weird, he has a bad habit of staring at women’s ‘bits’, and he lies a lot (and isn’t ashamed to admit it, either). But he is so cute in his nuttiness – he has a good heart, he is absolutely hilarious and he is a ‘real’ person, and I personally found him irresistible (almost as irresistible as I found Irrfan in the excellent film ‘The Namesake’, in which he played a somewhat different – but just as loveable – kind of character). I have to say I am loving Mr. Khan – I want to see more of him.

Shilpa Shetty, who’s definitely brought a great deal of good fortune to this movie by doing ‘Celebrity Big Brother’; plays Shikha, Shruti’s adorable but confused ‘didi’. (By the way, I loved that I was totally convinced that these two really were sisters, although they shared the screen very little). Shikha is unhappily married to an utterly selfish, frustrated, cold-hearted, nasty piece of work called Ranjit (played to perfection by Kay Kay Menon). She becomes strongly attracted to a young man she meets at the bus stop, named Akaash (for some reason, I found Akaash really annoying, dunno why, there’s nothing wrong with him or anything – I just did. Poor Shikha). The choices she makes (especially right at the end of the film), I found questionable, but as I said earlier, by this time I cared enough about her to just want her to find her own path to happiness – and all I could do was just wish her the best.

Ranjit (the prat) has been involved for quite a while with Neha (played quite well by Kangana Ranaut), a troubled young girl from his office. Neha doesn’t know it, but someone at the same office, a desperately over-ambitious and even unscrupulous young man named Rahul, has a crush on her. And there’s a link between Neha and Ranjit’s family that adds more drama to the situation later on – but I think I’ve said enough. The rest you’ll have to discover for yourself. But there are some lovely dramatic/hilarious scenes – watch out for Shruti going off on Rahul (Konkona is fabulous in this scene), Monty dissolving into ‘tears of joy’, the recurring ‘Brokeback Mountain’ poster that says a lot more than you might think the first time you see it, Shikha walking back into Akaash’s flat (beautifully shot), and Shivani applying make-up again, obviously for the first time in a long time – those are just a few of the scenes that made an impact on me.

Almost all the characters are connected in some way, a theme I also saw in the recent ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’. And they’re all played very well – I must say Shilpa impressed me in this film. It’s not a groundbreaking performance, but it’s a very competent one, much better than I’d ever have given her credit for (before ‘Metro’, I’d only ever seen her in more ‘traditional’ Bollywood films like ‘Dhadkan’, films in which the acting tends to be OTT and all weepy and over-emotional). I think she did very well with her more subdued performance in ‘Metro’.

Speaking of ‘traditional’ (‘archetypal’ is probably a better word) Bollywood; in my last post, I expressed the hope that the music from ‘Metro’ would pleasantly surprise me. This was one of the interesting things about this film – the recurring appearance of a 3-man rock group, all dressed in black, performing Pritam’s songs (complete with plenty of rocker angst and passion) throughout the film. They were everywhere – on bikes, on buildings, in alleys… I couldn’t decide whether the constant appearance of these guys was cute, corny, weird, silly clever or fun (probably all of the above) – anyway, I loved the idea. It was different and interesting, and so were the songs they sang, which I really liked – except for one song that was really glaringly out of place. But for the most part, I think these songs shall very nicely fill a vacant slot in my filmi song collection – so I’m off to download them right away.

It was nice and refreshing to see a movie without any of the usual huge marquee names, and a bit less ‘Bolly’ (if you know what I mean) than is normal (nothing wrong with full-on ‘Bolly’, I love it to bits, but it’s really nice to see something a bit more toned down from time to time). I particularly liked that, in ‘Metro’, I could see the characters ‘doing’ stuff – it wasn’t all about stuff being done to them, which is something you get used to seeing in more ‘Bolly’ films (why I am using the word ‘Bolly’? There has to be a better word! Using ‘Bolly’ makes less than zero sense!) And I also liked seeing Mumbai as a strong presence, almost a character, in this movie. It definitely takes you to Mumbai, and it’s fascinating just on that level (again, a nice change from the more ‘Bolly’ thing of going to the UK or Switzerland).

‘Metro’ definitely has its flaws – for example, some of the scenes come off just a little contrived, and certain aspects of the relationships it explores are not properly resolved (especially with regard to Neha and her obviously troubled history, and Shikha’s obvious dissatisfaction with the life she lives – somehow the idea I think I was supposed to get, i.e. that being with Akaash had helped her to resolve all that, was difficult to digest); but all-in-all, these didn’t bother me too much. I found this one a very, very satisfying watch (fascinating themes, interesting relationships, good music, good drama, old people love, oddball love, self-love, what’s not to like?), and definitely one for my collection when it comes out (but of course, the mere adorable old-man-in-love appearance of my Dharam-ji would have ensured that).

DHARAM'S CHILDREN (PART ONE)

It occurs to me that I haven’t done anything really, really, hardcore-ly Dharmendra-related in a while… although I did mention Abhay in my last-but-one post. So I’ve decided it’s time to start executing an idea that was hatched in my mind a little while ago. It’s a series about the children of Dharmendra – not all of them, just the ones that act… Sunny, Bobby and Esha. This is fun for me, and helps me learn more about them – it’s also good prep for the much-anticipate movie ‘Apne’, which will be released later this year and will star Sunny, Bobby and Dharam all together in one movie (for the first time). None of the ‘Junior Deols’ can match Daddy’s success, but they haven’t done too badly either.

Each part of my series will consist of basic facts about each actor, as well as my impressions of them. Dharam is obviously proud of the fact that his sons are actors. As for Esha, who’s very close to him… he’s expressed the opinion that Bollywood is not a place for young women…. but she’s acting anyway, so good on her.

So let the series begin… today’s star is Bobby. Ain't he cute??

Ooh, forgot to mention that each part of this three-part series shall be accompanied by an original (and very bad, I must warn you) song, ‘Dharam’s Children’ to be sung to the popular tune of G. F. Handel’s classic, ‘Canticorum Iubilo’ (or ‘Zion’s Daughter’, if you’re into Boney M). Daft, I know, but I like it… here is the first part of the song…

Chorus:

Dharam’s children
By Hema or by Prakash
Almost all of them are actors
Bollywood actors

Verse:
First in line is Bobby
Kicking off this song
He’s not such a bad actor
He likes his hair long

(Repeat Chorus)

Bobby Deol was born Vijay Singh Deol on 27 January 1967 (he recently turned forty), to Dharam Singh Deol (Dharmendra) and his then-wife, Prakash Kaur. Bobby’s first movie was ‘Dharam Veer’, a star-studded epic starring his father, Zeenat Aman, and many other stars. He played the young Dharam, and was only 10 years old when the film was released. He is listed in the credits as ‘Bobby Junior Dharmendra’, which I think is pretty darned hilarious.

Anyway, since ‘Dharam Veer’, Bobby has gone on to become a fairly successful Bollywood actor, though not exactly one of the stars of the industry. Incidentally, after ‘Dharam Veer’, he didn’t act again until the mid-90s, when he was already almost 30 years old – quite a late start by Bollywood standards (I’m still trying to find out why). Anyway, with his late start in mind, I think he’s done well for himself.

Bobby is over six feet tall (this surprised me for some reason – maybe because all the extremely ugly and loud shirts he likes wearing make him look shorter - it was soo hard to find pictures for this feature because most of his pictures are of him in ugly shirts!), and unlike Sunny, doesn’t look very much like Dad. He’s still quite good-looking though, though not in a conventional way – I think he has very nice eyes, but I'm not sure about that hair he seems to favour - and he sometimes looks a little oily - but anyway, he's not bad-looking. He is married to Tanya Ahuja (daughter of wealthy finance guru Dev Ahuja) and has two little boys, 4-year-old Aryaman and 2-year-old Dharam (named after his Dad – awwww). He’s very close to his family, especially his big brother Sunny.

He is listed on IMDb as having appeared in about thirty movies, the latest being ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ (apparently he and Preity Zinta had a fight during filming – over a curling iron LOL! Actually, it was apparently a prank by Preity that Bobby didn’t think was funny – she hid his curling iron – LOL!). Interestingly, he’s made two movies of the same name – ‘Barsaat’ (1995) and ‘Barsaat’ (2005). Some of his more popular movies are ‘Soldier’ (with Preity Zinta), ‘Ajnabee’ (with Akshay Kumar) and ‘Gupt’ (with Kajol). He’s done both action roles and and ‘softer’ romantic/dramatic parts. Bobby is known for not being a good dancer, a trait shared with his father and brother, although I personally think he’s the best dancer of the three (that’s certainly not saying much!) I think his dancing’s not that bad, actually (but many think otherwise).

Despite the fact that he has won a Filmfare Award (in 1996 for ‘Best Newcomer’ in the first ‘Barsaat’) and was nominated for another in 2003 for ‘Best Actor’ (for 2002’s ‘Humraaz’), Bobby is generally thought of as a fairly good actor who can make a fairly ok kind of movie – and who has had his fair share of flops. I happen to think he’s quite good as an actor, but he just hasn’t made great choices of material (or hasn’t been offered really great material). I know, I sound like his PR person… but I mean that. I also like the fact that he seems to just keeps trying…

Anyway, let me just talk about the two (measly number, I know) Bobby Deol movies I’ve seen. Both were made by Suneel Darshan.

‘Dosti – Friends Forever’ (2005): This film stars Bobby and Akshay Kumar. There are also rather lackluster performances by Kareena Kapoor and Lara Dutta; as well as a very cute, nicely-executed little role for Juhi Chawla.

Bobby and Akshay play childhood friends who grow up together into adulthood. Bobby is a spoilt, neglected rich kid on the outs with his parents (he took a poor kid – Akshay – under his wing as a kid and has lived with him since). So anyway, Akshay falls for another childhood friend, played by Kareena, and wants to marry her, but due to some family drama, things go awry. Meanwhile, Bobby is led a merry dance by the lively Lara, who later dumps him (with good reason). Things get even more angst-ridden later in the film, but perhaps I shouldn’t reveal why. Eventually, anyway, Bobby and Lara reconcile, and Bobby finally gets his act together, makes up with his family, and becomes a better man – all thanks to Akshay.

To be honest, the story of the film is a bit blah. It’s an uneven, lumpy mishmash of several Bollywood staples – rich kid/poor kid, love/betrayal, dying young, two lifelong friends blah blah. It doesn’t really work. There are other problems with it – like the fact that the kids apparently are 10 years old in 2005 but are also 30 years old in 2005.

What really works for me, though, is the way Akshay and Bobby interact as friends. I really like their performances and their chemistry together – the way they bounce off each other, support each other, and give each other space to ‘be’. One thing I picked up strongly on in this film is that Bobby is that rarest of the species – a generous actor. He really lets Akshay do his thing (but doesn’t use it as an excuse not to do his own part well). I love the scene where he’s railing at God – he doesn’t go over the top as almost any other actor would – he keeps it restrained and actually makes the moment a bit profound.

I really liked that I could follow the arc of Bobby’s character in this film, and see him grow and develop, and I liked the way he and Askhay did comedic bits and sad bits with equal aplomb. I enjoyed Bobby’s performance in this film – it was quite muted but I would not (as others have) call it half-hearted – I think it was really mature and interesting. And even his dancing wasn’t that bad.

‘Barsaat’ (2005): Finding out that Bobby actually won awards for his performance in a film of the same name over a decade ago makes me sad – because this second ‘Barsaat’ is just not good. The story, basically a remake of ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, is paper-thin. Bobby (funny enough, the role was meant for Akshay initially) plays an NRI who has ‘outgrown India’ and basically wants to live a rich and fabulous life with a rich and glamorous heiress called Anna, played Bipasha Basu. Unfortunately, the silly cad is already married to his childhood friend, played by Priyanka Chopra, who he’s left behind in India. He claims he is no longer interested in the marriage – so he tries to get a divorce during an emergency trip home.

If this story had been treated differently, it could’ve been ok. But it turns into a boring sequence of scenes with Bobby very rudely and horribly demanding a divorce from Priyanka over and over again, treating her like trash. Priyanka eventually gets to show Bobby that she actually has some substance to her, but even that is half-hearted and unconvincing. And Bips is just terrible in this role – it’s totally wrong for her and she comes off very fake and insincere.

What made this film a bit watchable for me are a couple of sweet scenes with Bobby and Priyanka – I like the one right at the end; and the fact that Priyanka looks and sounds great (she does some singing on the soundtrack) even if she is unconvincing as well (not half as bad as Bipasha though).

These two films, though neither is really a good movie, have made me want to see a bit more of Bobby – I think he has acting talent and there is a sensitivity to him that I like – very modern-noughties-man.

So that’s it for Bobby… up next in the ‘Dharam’s Children’ series is either Esha or Sunny…


Here are just a few of the gazillion resources on Bobby Deol available on the internet (I’ve read them, and they make me think he must be quite a nice guy in real life)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Deol - his Wikipedia entry

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0219967/bio - his IMDb entry

www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/sep/18bobby.htm (a good interview from way back in 2001, just before ‘Ajnabee')

www.bollyvista.com/article/a/34/5370 (‘I have not been lucky’ – good interview)


www.bollywood.com/archives/2006/07/celebrity_inter_56.html (a more recent, upbeat interview)

http://www.movietalkies.com/interviews/view-interview.asp?InterviewId=29 (he’s defending himself all the way here – in a very classy way, I think)

http://www.bollywoodgate.com/indian-actors/bobby-deol.html
(he talks about family, film and other interests)

www.bollywood.tv/free/Bobby_Deol_Interview--3125 (if you want to see him talk…)

http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/interview/6235.html
(I think he’s quite down-to-earth)

http://www.radiosargam.com/features/interviews/bobbydeolhumraaz.htm
(an oldie, quite sweet I think)

BOLLYWOOD KISSES

Kisses, kisses, kisses... I'm a bit bored with it now. Just saw the Hrithik/Ash kiss on YouTube and I thought it was very boring. Couldn't wait for the scene to be over. And Aishwarya seemed so wooden... poor Hrithik put in a valiant effort, but I don't think the whole thing worked. Pity - with all the flak they've gotten for it, it would've been nice if they could at least have been able to say 'well, it was a good scene and it was worth it' (although I'm sure they tell themselves that anyway). Just shows that two unbelievably beautiful people a beautiful kiss doth not make.

Still on kisses, now THIS was a nice kiss. It's gone a long way towards erasing the NASTY Vinod Khanna/Madhuri scene I had the misfortune of stumbling upon (I blogged about it on Friday) from my mind. So I must thank Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor for this. I feel so much better now:



Yep, I just saw 'Raja Hindustani'. I've been wanting to see it for a while, and I really enjoyed it. It's one of those staple rich girl/poor boy things, but it's very nicely done... except for the 'lord of the manor' bits Aamir had to do, which were annoying. It's a bit of a silly movie, I guess, but it's very entertaining (the music is really nice), and Aamir and Karisma are very good in it - except for Karisma's singing at the birthday party in the beginning - now I see why Beth described it as 'horrible'. Even Rani's rendition at Amit-ji's party in 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' was way better (and that one wasn't good at all - especially the toodooloo bit at the end - what was that?) Anyway, it was a good film and I think I've now liked Karisma in enough movies ('Dil To Pagal Hai', 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', 'Ek Rishtaa' (although I didn't really like her character), 'Jaanwar' (a.k.a. the film in which the 'funny' bits aren't and the parts that are meant to be serious are hilarious) and now 'Raja Hindustani') to add her to my sidebar. She has really good energy, and she puts her heart into her acting (or seems to)... and she can dance (really well).

Back to today's subject, I'm now just bored with kisses (and all the attendant furore) in Bollywood movies... what's in a kiss anyway? It's just... a kiss (except when it's a KISS, which is pretty special - and rare). I think Bollywood does pretty well without them (I know, I know, they DO kiss, but it's certainly far from frequent), but if they simply MUST have them, they're gonna have to do a bit better than Mr. Roshan and Ms. Rai's attempt. Hey, Karisma and Aamir could give lessons and make a mint... 'A & K's Kissing School'.

AND HERE I AM, EATING MY WORDS…

Okay, alright, I was wrong. I take back ‘whatever’ I said plus jara. PRIYANKA CHOPRA CAN ACT! (Am I the only one who notices the ‘whatevers’ in English subtitles of Hindi films?) But yes, I admit it, Priyanka really can act. I take back all I said about the ‘vacant-ness’ in her acting in a previous post (scroll down to see my 'Bluffmaster' post). Sadly, being a very inept blogger, I don’t know how you do that cool thing when you link things without having the ugly ol’ link show.

Anyway, my volte-face is as a result of just seeing ‘Yakeen’, which stars Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal. From the opening scene, Priyanka captured my attention. Her character, Simar, was nicely developed and fleshed out. Priyanka made her interesting. I was impressed, and now I happily admit that although she isn’t that good in some films, girlfriend can actually act.

‘Yakeen’ is about a man (named ‘Nikhil’, played by Rampal) who loses his memory after a terrible accident, and has to rebuild his life with the support of his wife (‘Simar’, played by P. Chopra). In the process, he falls in love (with wifey, that is), but later discovers that things are not quite what they seem. As a Bollywood thriller, ‘Yakeen’ is not bad, but it’s certainly not a masterpiece either.

I liked the waaay-over-the-top bit in this film where Nikhil shouts ‘Simar, I love you!’ in the mountains. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious tribute (probably is, though), but there’s a scene in ‘Aradhana’ (starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore) where Arun (played by Khanna) shouts in the mountains, ‘Vandana, I love you!’, and Vandana (played by Tagore) very shyly and sweetly does her own ‘Arun, I love you!’ shout. I know, it’s sickening (my sister can’t even bear to watch that scene in ‘Aradhana’), but hey, it’s Bollywood.

Rampal is quite good in some parts of this movie, and less competent (even a little boring to watch) in others. Overall, I would say he’s good. I like the fact that his pre-accident Nikhil and post-accident Nikhil are so distinct from each other, even in mannerisms. I’m glad to say the actress who plays Nikhil’s secretary in ‘Yakeen’ does a very competent job. See my comment on actors playing secretaries in my 'Okada ka Rishta' post (scroll down to read). The music in ‘Yakeen’ is pretty good, but a lot of it sounds like I’ve heard it before. But it’s good.

There’s a fair bit of fake-pretend (again, credit to Beth for the term) piano-playing by Priyanka in this film. Can they just stop doing this? Although Priyanka’s fake-pretend instrument-playing is bad, I’ve seen worse in Bollywood. The worst I’ve seen so far was SRK in ‘Mohabbatein’. His fake-pretend violin playing was simply awful, and it seemed like he did it for at least 92% of the movie. The filmmakers must’ve thought he was doing it well. Er, noo. I was so excited to see Dilip Kumar in ‘Ram aur Shyam’ (very good – but old - movie) playing an instrument correctly. That was cool.

The makers of this film obviously have some sort of shower fixation – there were 2 shower scenes. And not to forget, the obligatory rain scene… (see my post on rain scenes in my 'Teri Meheribaniyan' review).

Come on now, nobody but nobody looks this good standing in the rain...

Props to Priyanka, her performance in this film is really quite good, and I shall now proceed to be silent on the subject of her acting skills. For now.

A Break from my Tale - and in its place, tales of 'Teri Meherbaniyan', Highlighted 'Packages' and Slightly Demeaning 'Rain Scenes'...

Okay... I've decided to take a likkle break from the story of how I became enamoured with my dear Dharmendra. I figure that the suspense created by this delay will be a good thing for this blog. Instead, I'm doing a brief review of 'Teri Meherbaniyan' (released in 1985), the last Bollywood movie I saw.

I was interested in seeing TM (forgive me, but I'm not about to write that long thing everytime I refer to it) for the following reasons:

1. It's regarded as one of the most popular Bollywood movies in Naija.


2. It looked mildly interesting on the cover.


3. I figured it had to be good to make up for a long name like that.
   

However, I did have my misgivings about seeing the movie as well... the tagline is 'the tale of a loyal dog' or something like that... and I'm not a big of animals in movies. I just think it's corny and kinda razz. That's not to say I've never enjoyed a movie with a dog in it - I did like 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' and those Hollywood family movies - 'Beethoven', 'Benji' etc, but I can't say it's a big draw for me.

Anyway, back to TM. This movie starred:

Jackie Shroff: Ever since I saw this guy's extremely cringeworthy dance-moves in a Speedo, on the beach in 'Rangeela' (am I the only one who can't understand all the fuss about 'Rangeela'?), I've been like, what is wrong with this dude? He seems slightly... shall we say... eccentric (no offence to anyone who knows him, I'm just talking perception here). And watching 'Devdas' only added to my perception of Jackie - what a razz character with all the 'P for Pyaar, Ch is for Chand' stuff. BollyBob has a HILARIOUS Jackie Shroff expose here: http://dangermuff.com/bollybob/n_jackie.html. I promise you it is so worth a read. Now I feel kinda bad for bashing Jackie, though. I'm sure he's a nice guy...

So what did I think of our dear Jackie in TM? Well, let's start with the positives, Jackie was kinda cute way back in 1985 when this movie was made. Facially, he don't look bad at all. Actually quite hot. He had a nice trim physique too. Can't say he's aged well, though (again, no offence). And the 'hero' thing he did in TM was quite cool - though I can't say the same for the love scenes with him running after 'Bilji' as if to say na Olympics he dey train for. However, his hotness was kinda detracted from by the extra-tight jeans he wore throughout the movie - is it just me or were those jeans designed to make his package look HUGE? If so, they succeeded. And he also wore a T-shirt at some point that was emlazoned with the words 'Single Man'. Oh, the 80s!!

Poonam Dhillon in TM

Poonam Dhillon: Quite a pretty girl, she does an ok job in TM. There's a scene where she's singing in the rain fantasizing about Jackie's character and she's like totally drenched and rolling on the ground and... you get the picture. What is it with these Indian directors and putting girls in the rain with their saris soaking wet and highlighting every contour of their bodies? I think it's a bit much, all for the sake of cheap thrills... I will soon suspect that a lot of them are total pervs. I have to say my dear Kajol did her 'rain scenes' well in 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' and 'Kabhi Khushie Kabhie Gham' - she kept it subtle and did not go over-the-top with the sexiness. Way to go, Kajol.

Well, Poonam was ok in this movie and did her 'so sexy' thing competently, although I think they could've chilled out a bit. The chemistry between her character and Jackie's character was actually quite nice.

Another photo of Poonam... in the middle of a staring contest with Jackie

Moti the 'Wonder Dog': Ok, first I have to say that I don't believe this dog was not harmed in the making of TM. Is there anything Moti does not do? He worked harder than any of the actors on this film, I'm sure. He runs, he growls, he bites, he carries messages, he saves lives, he delivers messages, he bears funeral garlands, he makes his master fall in love, he cries (wonder what they put in the poor dog's eyes), he lights a funeral pyre, he 'kobalises' the bad guys, he watches a half-naked girl bathing and steals her clothes (a bit icky, I thought)... phew! This dog im suffer no be small... I guess Moti was ok in TM, since the movie was kinda all about him, but men, it was a bit too much. And near the end of the movie, a 'holy' cobra comes to help Moti out... men, dunno what to say about that.

The rest of TM's cast is quite good. The late Amrish Puri (just found out today that he died last year) does his trademark evil villain (his 'Babuji' in DDLJ and 'Sahib' in 'Koyla' were terrifying, in very different ways). Although Amrish Puri played mostly villains during his distinguished Bollywood career, I hear he was actually a very nice guy. Anyway, the rest of the cast is good, especially the guy who plays the mute character.

TM also has very nice music, put together by the talented Laxmikant Pyarelal. The music is lovely even if the sequences are a bit much. One of the songs with Poonam and Jackie is actually nicely done, until they start rolling around on the ground...

However, TM has a poor script and the movie does not flow well. Because of this, you don't really get to empathise with the characters. The most striking example of this, to me, was when Jackie's character (Ram) comes into town to see that something terrible has happened to his beloved Bilji (Poonam Dhillon's character), who was supposed to have been protected by Moti, the dog (Bilji locked Moti out when she noticed he was watching her bathe - again, icky).

So, anyway, Ram gets mad at Moti and thrashes him, until he realises there was nothing Moti could've done. He then apologises to Moti, gives him a nice stroke, sings him the title song, and then, with a smile (albeit a sad smile), has a nice meal of naan and rice (apparently prepared by Moti, cos I don't know who else could've cooked it) with his dear wonder dog... what? If I was Bilji eh! After what happened to her, it was a bit silly for him to sit down with his dog and wack bread and rice. Haba! He could have waited small, at least to get over the shock. Poor scripting!

To sum it all up, TM is a WACK movie, and I can't for the life of me understand why it's popular in Nigeria. Maybe it's another case of Koko dumping! Whatever it is sha, I would not recommend this film to anyone.