RANBIR KAPOOR & HIS LADIES (no, I don’t mean it that way!)

Of the younger, ‘post-Khan’ generation of actors, Ranbir Kapoor is undoubtedly one of my few firm favourites. I have keenly followed his career since his 2007 debut with ‘Saawariya’, and I have enjoyed his work so much that I have seen all the movies he’s starred in since then. And although the ‘Rockstar’ trailer looks pretty dire to me, I will keep seeing all his movies – because I just really like watching the dude.

Why do I like Ranbir? Many reasons, but here are the top… five:

• Like his parents before him (who are two of my all-time favourites), there is something very ‘natural’ and engaging about his onscreen demeanour. He has really nice onscreen energy and presence, and a confidence that always comes across without being overbearing.
• I also think he’s a talented actor with the capacity to keep getting better. He really gets beneath the skins of the characters he chooses to play, and he handles both comedy and drama very well.
• He’s also a capable dancer – I love a good dancer, and there are precious few in the new crop of Bollywood’s leading men. He gets a lot of goofy, loopy, silly dances, and he’s good at those, but I think he could do more ‘stylised’ stuff equally well.
• He’s very easy on the eye, of course – I love his looks. I could actually wax quite lyrical on this topic (the gorgeous hooded eyes, the distinctive nose, the athletic physique, etc etc), but I won’t, because I don’t want to nauseate anyone, including myself. Suffice it to say I think Ranbir is extremely good-looking.
• Also (and I think this is really key to my enjoyment of Ranbir’s work) I love his film choices – I think that unlike many other young actors, he’s been very smart about the roles he’s chosen to play and the people he’s chosen to work with. I’m sure there’s an element of luck in there as well, but I think he’s chosen the right roles with remarkable proficiency. In just 4 years, he already has a really enviable resumé.

While I love Ranbir onscreen, I’m really not a huge fan of his offscreen (public) persona. I don’t enjoy listening to his interviews, for example, because I personally don’t find him particularly witty, interesting or personable in them. I also have lots of thoughts on the way he’s conducted his personal affairs in the public eye, and especially on the whole ‘Koffee with Karan’ thing. No need to go into all that here, but yeah, not a fan of Ranbir’s apparent treatment of his ladyloves offscreen.

Incidentally though, I think his onscreen interaction with his leading ladies so far has been very good. I think that Ranbir does well with romance, not yet on the level of his dad Rishi of course, or on the level of one of the Khans, but I think he could definitely get there with more time and experience. He plays really well opposite the actresses he works with, and makes them look good, and I love that in an actor. His onscreen romantic relationships are nicely depicted for the most part, and this post is all about that…

Saawariya: Bhansali’s flop tale of unrequited love, which I talked about a little here, despite its failings, still managed to be a good launch-pad for the careers of Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor.

They both looked gorgeous (even if the characters they played were irritating and Ranbir’s styling sucked). Also, Ranbir had that towel scene, which I will absolutely ’fess up to loving. Their characters didn’t have that much real interaction, though, and what they did have seemed contrived and just not that engaging or memorable. I actually found Ranbir’s interactions with Gulabji, the prostitute played so beautifully by Rani Mukherji, and Lilian (‘Lollipop’), played by Zohra Sehgal, much more appealing.

Bachna Ae Haseeno: An imperfect film, and the first Ranbir Kapoor movie I saw on the big screen, BAH was Ranbir’s first taste of a slick Yash Raj Films production. And like many recent YRF movies, it got a little bogged down in references to YRF classics from the past, and was a little too glossy for my tastes. Plus Ranbir’s character, Raj, was quite frankly a bit of an ass. That being said, I think Ranbir (as Raj) did a pretty good job of romancing the ladies in this film, losing them due to his immaturity, cowardice and selfishness, and then later trying to make amends.

Raj had three ladyloves in this movie – with the first one, Mahi (Minissha Lamba), it was puppy love, all clean, fresh and fun… until he broke her heart. She went on to nurse her hurt for years, even after marrying and starting a family with the drop-dead gorgeous Joginder (Kunal Kapoor). Raj/Mahi was my least favourite jodi in BAH, because I just didn’t think there was enough depth to their brief relationship to make Mahi lose her joie de vivre and not commit herself fully to her dishy (he was SO fine) and adoring husband, even years later, when she would presumably have been older and wiser. So this one stretched credibility quite a bit for me, but hey, Raj and Mahi were a cute couple while it lasted.

The second leading lady in BAH was the stunning Bipasha Basu – and she was my favourite. Their relationship was much more contemporary and ‘grown-up’, but just when Bipasha’s character, Radhika, started to let her guard down and believe in their relationship, Raj dumped her in just the cruellest way possible. I liked the way their relationship progressed… from the initial attraction, to something deeper, to the betrayal, and then to a grudging (on Radhika’s side) mutual respect. I also loved the fact that when he returned, Radhika put him through the wringer for a bit. I think Bipasha’s performance has a lot to do with my enjoyment of the Raj/Radhika relationship – she brought such ‘realness’ and oomph to her role… she was just fab.

BAH’s third leading lady, and the lady with whom Raj had the defining relationship of the movie, was of course with the smart and independent Gayatri (played by Deepika Padukone, whom Ranbir famously started dating shortly before the film’s release). The Raj/Gayatri relationship definitely had the most complexity and honesty to it, but I actually don’t remember that much else about it – they looked good together and had a nice interaction, but for me the Raj/Radhika relationship left more of an impact.

Wake Up Sid: I absolutely love this movie, and the relationship between Ranbir’s titular Sid and Aisha (the wonderful Konkona Sen Sharma) was beautifully portrayed. The movement from friends to roommates to a couple felt so natural and organic, and the credit for that definitely goes to Ayan Mukherjee’s wonderful story and direction, and of course to Ranbir and Konkona for how subtly they conveyed their characters’ feelings and personal development.

Ranbir’s portrayal of Sid was excellent, you really felt the character’s lack of clarity and motivation – and you empathised with it and wanted to see him get past it and find some inspiration. It could have been just another shallow depiction of the young loafer that we see so often in Hindi films, but Ranbir took Sid to another level and reminded us that, corny as it sounds, there’s a ‘Sid’ in all of us. Konkona as Aisha was fantastic too – her character reminded me of myself and my friends. And seeing Sid and Aisha come together was such a treat.

There are so many great little moments between Sid and Aisha in the film, crowned perfectly by that gorgeous closing scene. Just writing this makes me want to watch this film again. They were just. so. good.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani: Rajkumar Santoshi’s 2009 screwball comedy was the second Ranbir Kapoor movie that I saw on the big screen, and there are many things I like about it. I love the songs from the film, I like the uniqueness and quirkiness of the story and the characters, and I like that in many ways it’s a bit of a throwback to the goofier Bollywood fare of past decades, which doesn’t get made very often these days.

 

I really enjoyed Ranbir’s performance in this – his character (Prem) was a really sweet and likeable cornball, and he portrayed him a boyish glee that was so much fun to watch. He also displayed comic timing throughout the film, and the development of his friendship and eventual romance with Jenny (Katrina Kaif) was also really sweet and a fun watch.

 

I’m not a big fan of Katrina as an actress (although I will give her full props for working hard and being a committed professional), but I think ‘Ajab Prem…’ boasts one of her stronger performances. Jenny was a little tough to buy into as a character (especially the way they dressed her – I think they were going for ‘young and innocent’ but I found it just a little silly), but Katrina managed to convey the naïveté of the character in a way that worked well and didn’t cloy. She displayed really good comic timing as well. All told, I really enjoyed watching Ranbir and Katrina together in this one.

Since this is getting a little long, Part II of this post will be up on Wednesday, which also happens to be Ranbir’s 29^th birthday....

Suneel Darshan: Commercial but not so classy

A successful Bollywood director was once asked: So should stars do a different kind of cinema?

His response: Different is a wrong word. We should stop striving to make different films and concentrate on making classy, commercial films.

I think that quote pretty much sums up what Suneel Darshan, the subject of this post (and the director referred to above), tries to do as a film-maker. It’s a bit odd that he has a problem with ‘different’ films, though. I mean, it’s one thing to prefer to do things a certain way, and quite another to discourage doing things differently. But anyway, in past posts, I have praised the adventurousness and edginess of Ram Gopal Verma’s work, and the charm and simplicity of the films made by the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee. I decided to do a post on Darshan’s films when I realized that of the eight films he has directed so far (the most recent being ‘Shakalaka Boom Boom’ (SLBB)), I’ve seen five. Not bad. But I’ll admit that I haven’t consciously sought them out.

Interestingly, Suneel is not the only filmmaker in his family. His brother Dharmesh has directed successful films like ‘Dhadkan’ and ‘Raja Hindustani’. Also, his son is about to enter the industry as an actor – I wonder if Suneel and his kid will be able to pull off a Roshan-type debut successfully.

When I think of the Suneel Darshan movies I’ve seen, I would definitely say they are ‘commercial’ – they are very formulaic, deliberately aimed at achieving box-office success by pushing the buttons of the target cinema-going audience. I’m no snob, and I know that filmmakers need to eat, so I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. However, I do think there’s a problem when filmmakers, in the quest for commercial success, start to insult the intelligence of their audience. I think cinema-goers are a lot smarter than some directors give them credit for – and Darshan, unfortunately, seems to be one of those directors.

In the interview referred to above, Darshan talks about making ‘classy’ commercial movies. I’m not sure he’s not achieved a ‘classy’ touch to his movies – commercial they are, but classy? When I think of ‘class’; I think of elegance, understatement, sophistication, style, grace and taste. These are not words that truly describe the Darshan movies I’ve seen. The films are not irredeemable, they do have certain things to recommend them, but classy? Hmm… the jury’s still out on that one. Having said that, though, he can make an entertaining (if slightly shallow) type of film when he tries.

There are some common denominators to the Darshan films I’ve seen – catchy, trendy music; stereotypical characters, gloss (think snazzy clothes and loads of make-up), some skin and sexiness, some good drama, lots and lots of heightened emotion, romance, a bit of gore, cheesiness galore, and love scenes that go a little further than most Bollywood films (see the Akshay/Karisma scenes in ‘Mere Jeevan Sathi’ and ‘Ek Rishtaa’).

Speaking of Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor; like every other filmmaker, Darshan has his usual suspects. He seems to love Akshay very much (of the 5 Darshan movies I’ve seen so far, Akki shows up in 4), Lolo, Bobby Deol and (in smaller doses) Juhi Chawla and Mohnish Behl. Darshan seems to have shifted his focus from Akshay to Bobby a bit – he gave Bobby a role previously reserved for Akshay (‘Barsaat’, which would probably have fared much better with Akshay in the lead role – not because Akki is better than Bobby, but because he’s much cheesier), and also gave him a lead role in SLBB. Darshan has said in an interview (can't find it right now) that he thinks Bobby is best actor in the Deol family (needless to say, I disagree).

Anyway, on to the Darshan movies I’ve seen (in the order in which I viewed them):

‘Ek Rishtaa – The Bond of Love’: I’ve blogged about this movie before here… I liked this film, and it’s the Darshan movie I’ve liked the most. Its music was quite sweet, I thought most of the songs were very good. The story was fine, until about three-quarters of the film, when it just seemed to get out-of-control – it felt like the writer was grasping at straws, trying to wrap it all up in a hurry. On balance, though, the story was not bad at all.

The star cast, led by Amitabh Bachchan and Rakhee, worked together quite effectively. I liked the way Akshay and Amitabh interpreted the father/son relationship of their characters. Mohnish Behl and Juhi Chawla did quite well too.

Karisma (playing Nisha) and Akshay (playing Ajay) were a cute couple and had nice chemistry together (I love their ‘Mohabbat Ne’ number), but the biggest problem I had with the film revolved around these characters. The story was quite sexist in the way Nisha’s place in Ajay’s family was treated. Nisha made her share of mistakes and apologized for them – but Ajay treated her pretty badly as well, and never apologized or even admitted to being wrong. Their story was also quite shoddily resolved, which was pretty annoying – after spending a lot of time on how the couple got together and the crisis they faced, the resolution was pretty much thrown away. In fact the entire ending was unsatisfactory – the closing scene is particularly cheesy, unrealistic and irritating, and detracts from the overall standard of the film.

Having said all that, I liked ‘Ek Rishtaa’.

‘Jaanwar’: Oh, ‘Jaanwar’. I said a bit about it here. It’s impossible to take this film seriously, really. But its heart is in the right place. The film is one big stereotype, packed to the gills with many smaller stereotypes that don’t always work well together. But, its heart is in the right place. ‘Jaanwar’ opens with a vicious car-chase, making it clear that this is one of the films that won Akshay his ‘action hero’ stars when he was younger. Then we see that Akshay’s character (‘Badshah’) has been trapped in a life of crime since childhood, by an evil ‘Fagin’ (from Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’) type. Of course, this is a respected Bollywood plot device – I recently saw it brilliantly deployed by Raj Kapoor in ‘Awaara’ in the ’50s.

Before long, we come to a scene with Karisma Kapoor (playing ‘Sapna’) dancing for money. She too is oppressed, by a mean uncle who’s greedy enough to sell her body to the neighbourhood lecher. Naturally, Badshah comes to her rescue just in time – but oops, I forgot to mention that before that, she had saved his life and nursed him very prettily, so he’s kinda returning the favour. Of course, they fall in love… but things don’t go smoothly for their relationship...

To cut a long story short, Badshah, so sadly led into crime in his youth, serendipitously gets the opportunity to bring up an adorable little kid on the straight and narrow – and of course, he abandons crime in order to do so. Unfortunately, the kid actually belongs to a young couple (played by Mohnish Behl and Shilpa Shetty), who, when they find him, are desperate to get him back. Meanwhile, the Fagin-type that was abandoned by Badshah re-discovers him and wants his pound of flesh. Sapna manages to return to the story as well. CRISIS! And resolution – everyone ends up happy somehow (except for the bad guys, of course). And did I mention that Johnny Lever is in there for laughs? Ha ha.

Yup, that’s the kind of film ‘Jaanwar’ is – it has a little bit of every major Bollywood stereotype out there in its mix, and it doesn’t always work, but you just can’t bring yourself to dislike it. It’s really cheesy, but it’s also quite entertaining. And the earnestness of the actors makes it work, somehow. There are some cute moments, some amusing ones that are actually meant to be serious (the ‘comic’ moments are actually not funny at all – Lever is wasted in this one), and it’s so funny to see Akshay sporting some luscious long brown tresses (they made him look sooo funny), wielding a hammer, and shouting angrily and passionately at every opportunity (one thing I will say for Akshay: he is game for everything, no matter how mad or daft – a bit like Salman actually – and the ridiculous, silly part of me totally respects that). In short, it’s all harmless good fun.

‘Dosti: Friends Forever’: I blogged about ‘Dosti’ here… the leads were not bad but the details were pretty appalling. I still can’t get over the fact that the kids aged 20 years but the world stayed exactly the same. And the female roles were really bland and uninteresting – I can almost conclude that Darshan doesn’t have much use for women in his films – he seems to use them a bit like fashion accessories – a tear from a neatly-kajal-ed eye here, a flash of leg there, a little conflict over a very undeserving man there.

‘Barsaat’: I’ve also blogged about this one before – here. Bobby Deol was miscast, but Bipasha Basu was even more so. The film just doesn’t work.

Humans or dolls? You decide.

‘Mere Jeevan Sathi’: My most recent expedition into Darshan’s world, and one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a while. Released last year, MJS is the story of a woman (played by Karisma), who is obsessed with an up-and-coming singer (played by Akshay Kumar: a very cringeworthy performance, in a role that’s too young for him). Unfortunately for the obsessed lover, our singing hero is already in a serious relationship with his high school sweetheart (played by Amisha Patel). This, naturally, does not stop him from making a mistake that sorta messes up his life for a while.

These poses by Akshay in 'Mere Jeevan Sathi' still leave me absolutely gob-smacked.

What can I say about this film? It’s really trashy and the story is just dumb and annoying – from beginning to end. The performances are nothing to write home about – Akki, in particular, makes you cringe – he is just so OTT and cheesy. Lolo and Amisha are given the most horrendous, hackneyed lines ever. Lolo is not bad in some bits, but she totally overdoes the ‘femme fatale’ thing and becomes a sort of caricature. Amisha is way too sweet – any sweeter and she’d turn into a big ol’ bag of sugar. And the Akshay/Karisma love scene I mentioned earlier in this post probably was striving for tasteful sensuality, but it’s really just trashy and a bit eeuw.

There is so much to dislike in MJS, so many scenes and moments that make you cringe, so much senselessness in the plot… I can’t even begin to tell it. You do get a sense for what they were trying to do – it’s an attempt to have ‘grey’ characters – Karisma’s crazed character is portrayed quite sympathetically… but I’m sorry, I just think it’s all a load of rubbish – not much thought seems to have been put into it. So much is just pointless and/or extremely annoying (I wouldn’t mind the former as much – this is Bollywood, right? – if there weren’t so much of the latter).

They put so much eye make-up on Amisha for this movie, that sometimes you just can't see the whites of her eyes. Frightening.

There’s an older MJS, released in 1972 and starring Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja, that’s quite an interesting movie – some extremely camp and OTT grooviness, a storyline that’s a bit bizarre (different from the new one, although naturally there’s a love triangle – or two – in there as well – sigh), some great RD Burman music, and a really fun and silly lead role that only Khanna could play with such skewed relish. It’s a fun and sometimes even thought-provoking memento of the time in which it was made.

I wish I could say something complimentary about Darshan’s MJS, but I can’t – I could say Amisha and Karisma look great, but that would be praising Darshan’s apparent penchant for showing off the beauty of his female stars and just not giving them much (or much that’s meaningful or sensible) to do. I could say the songs are not that bad, but then I didn’t really like them either. So I’ll just say this is an awful film. A pity to end this piece on a downer, but there you go. I think – no, I know, that Darshan can do better than this mediocre film – what I’ve heard about SLBB isn’t promising, but hopefully he’ll do better next time. There's always next time.

You should know there's something amiss when the guest at your engagement ceremoy has wind blowing in her hair and you don't.

And just because it's fun, here are a couple of funny subtitles from MJS:

1. 'What do you take me for...? A prostitute? A blood whore?' This subtitle is less funny than disturbing, actually.

2. 'I'm free! Free! Free from my dreams!' This one's kind of weird 'cos Akshay actually says this in English, not Hindi, so there is no real need for subtitles. Except he says 'free from your dreams'. The funniest thing about it is the grandiose arm movements he makes, though.

And, finally, a very classy goodbye from Akshay:

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)