Players - A Sweet Sour Affair

Most hindi movies which have been "inspired" by hollywood movies, dont acknowlege the fact and well...dont do so well. Here is one movie that has been publicised as an official remake of "The Italian Job" and to be honest: Abbas-Mastan have done a pretty decent job.
The movie is a classic hollywood style story with a villian (Vinod Khanna as Dada)  trying to turn for the better because of his daughter (Sonam), A master thief (Abhishek Bachan) who wants do a big job and retire, his girlfriend(Bipasha) whom he meets every six months to do a robbery and then part ways. (Sonam (Naina) is, as they would have you believe a Masters in Computer Science (and can type with manicured long nails!!!! amazing) who is co-opted into undertaking a big heist (Gold worth 10,000 crores). The job is similar to the one in The Italian Job. Steal gold when it is in transit with multiple variables (Decoy trucks, unbreakable locks, hundreds of security men, secret passwords blah, blah, blah ...) Basically the message is that its an almost impossible job to pull off.. but the team comprising of Abhishek, Sonam, Bipasha, A explosive expert called "Behera" (Sikander Kher), a failed actor and successful makeup artist (Omi Vaidya), A master illusionist (Bobby Deol) and a computer hacker (NN Mukesh as "Spider") pull off the seemingly impossible job with military precision in Murmansk.

The twist in the tale is that some members of their team dont want to share to loot and double cross them. The second half is full of one upmanship and betrayals that would make John Le Carre proud. The basic story now is to recover the stolen gold from the double crossers (here the Italian Job style robbery is almost played out to perfection).

Abbas-Mastan are known for their action flicks and they dont disappoint. The movie is fast paced, with only song (below par) providing some distraction (not needed). The stunts are excellent (the train robbery is superbly shot), acting is good in parts(Abhishek is competent but looks detached sometimes, NN Mukesh is believable as a baddie- he is a natural), Bipasha is hot..but not a very believable thief. Sonam is just not believable as a hacker and Johnny Lever as a car dealer and mechanic is just so-so and not very funny. Direction is good and the pace of the film is fast...redeeming points. However, something's lacking- The thrill is not there. Maybe we have become too blaise  or cynical.

Bottom line - Players is a decent flick and makes for a decent watch as the first film of the year. Abhishek deserves a hit and I hope for his sake this film is.....:). I would rate is 3 out of 5. (I have chosen the standard rating to maintain consistency :) )

To watch the movie online check out this link.  Read Taran Adarsh's review here and the Times of India Review here

Sunny Leone Rocks Big Boss and India

From the time it was announced that Sunny Leone would be entering Big Boss, intense curiosity gripped the Nation. Who is this Sunny Leone? What makes her a candidate for this show? I must say, in this season of Big Boss, by managing to get Sunny to agree to do Big Boss, it has been a masterstroke. This intense curiosity has generated an interesting statistic - Sunny Leone has overtaken Katrina Kaif and Aishwariya Rai as the most searched celebrity(See this video Sunny is India's most searched celebrity. hmm..The punju gal from Canada has now ARRIVED !

I am not a big fan of Big Boss and this years edition didnt seem exciting when they started off with some 11 women and one male (and that to Shakti Kapoor looking ridiculous with Blonde hair and some weird looking goggles...). That he was the first to leave was no surprise followed by the other weird inmates- As far as shock value went - Kaput , Nada... But then came the announcement- Sunny Leone to enter Big Boss and that piqued my interest. I started watching the show..ahem...!! just to see the group dynamics and from the point of view of pyscology...!!! (her being the cutest in the house at present has no bearing on my decision...:) )

I had vaguely heard about Sunny a couple of years ago and had heard about what she did for a living. To add to the mystique, I had recently seen a movie called "The Experiment" (based on throwing some people together and divided into two sets , one set would be the prisoners and the other Policemen.All had to follow certain rules and they had to stay in a confined space as they were being watched and a study was being conducted on them). Therefore, for such a random variable like Sunny ( porn star - details available at this excellent article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Leone ) to be inserted amongst three males (Amar, Akash and Siddharth) and some Six  women (Pooja Bedi, Pooja Mishra, Juhi, Shonali, Shraddha and Mahek ) would definitely lead to some interesting behaviour and reactions (i.e. if they knew what she did ).

Well, it turned out most of them didnt know who she was and what she did. She very smartly told everyone that she had a production house in Canada making films. Her behaviour was very guarded (expectedly so as this was akin to being placed among chimpanzees in a forest), and her broken Hindi added to her allure. I must say, at present she is a smart cookie. She has integrated herself very well with the inmates, joined the group which is in ascendancy and seems to be controlling the house. Though she has not had a run in with siddharth, she cant stand him (obvious body language), is definitely attracted to Sky (AKA Akash), has become very close to Juhi (Juhi is the grand momma of the house after Pooja Bedi'd departure (Which I think was a pity as she was on track to winning it and I admire her for knowing what her priorities are), just about tolerates Pooja Mishra, is a little uncomfortable around Amar (especially after Amar's wife told him about Shonali's feelings on some comments he had made), was getting close to Pooja Bedi before she left and was ok-ok with Mahek.

At present, in the house, she seems to be the most popular inmate in the house.   Some of the inmates know about Sunny's past and the biggest deal of it all - Mahesh Bhatt offering Sunny a role in his upcoming movie to which she has agreed to (The look on Shonali's face was priceless as she was not given the role in Jism after being promised the same, the other women - Mahek and Shraddha were also burning with envy). She seems to have garnered the big bucks and the attention. But to be honest, I think she does not need the money (She is a smart lady, with lots of cash). She is doing what other Desi's are doing abroad - trying to cash into the Indian growth story and get a change of scenery.

Sunny, with her background, experience is far ahead of the game as compared to the other inmates. She has a better understanding of Human Psychology and her experience has been so varied and vast that none in the house can match up to that. Will she win or not? If I was a betting man, I would say Sunny, Akash and Juhi would be the last three in the house..after that, God Knows :)