(reviewed by Indian Express)

Chachi 420 is Mrs Doubtfire meets Tootsie in caste-conscious India. Kamal Haasan the scriptwriter has not denied that his film, earlier made in Tamil as Avvai Shanmughi, is “inspired” by the Robin Willaims-starrer. The real revelation is how well he Indianises the gender-bender while keeping all the various plot complications rolling along merrily. As in Mrs Doubtfire, the hero Jaishankar Paswan (Kamal Haasan) is the perennial latecomer, the kind of “incompetent” charmer who is expected to be a failure in the worldly sense. Films of this genre, where a man gets into a drag for most of the film, have to use the device as more than a gimmick. They also depend on story to have show business connections to make the gimmick not only probable but also psychologically plausible. The hero is an assistant to a film choreographer, and Kamal Haasan, the director, uses the occasion to have some fun — in staging funky dances being choreographed — and also underline how lowly assistants are treated in the film industry.

As usual, it is his work which delays Jai’s appearance in court where his wife Janaki (Tabu) wants a divorce. Janaki had eloped with Jai much against the wishes of her caste and status-obsessed father, Seth Durgaprasad Bharadwaj, and now the court gives her custody of the couple’s only child, Bharthi. Jai adores his little girl and the adoration is mutual. Like most films where the wife walks out, she is, as a rule, shown to be brusque with the child, whereas it is the father who is more fun, tenderly caring and desperate enough to do anything to be with his daughter. This possessiveness with the only daughter extends back to Janaki too, but in the case of Durgaprasad, it is plain cussedness and a highly un-Indian desire to break up his daughter’s “unsuitable” marriage.

Ah, but the despised Jamai Raja has his sweet revenge as the middle-aged, typically Maharashtrian ayah to Bharthi, and the Chachi’s caring, demure, and still desirable charms make two old widowers fall for him/her. Durgaprasad likes her Brahminical decorum, liberal ideas argued with irrefutable if simplistic logic, and, most of all, the presence of mind which saves him when he has a heart attack. Jai’s Gujju landlord Hari Bhai, for whom the word “collection” is divine commandment, sprints after the coy Chachi, whose marital status is most ambiguous. Hot on Chachi’s intriguing scent is Banwari Lal Sharma (Om Puri), Durgaprasad’s oily, conniving, incompetent cheat of a secretary.

What makes Chachi 420 so enjoyable are the minor characters who flesh out what could have been just a sketch on the scriptwriter’s notepad. Om Puri is brilliant as Banwari, and makes a minor character a masterpiece of timing, and the sort of bumbling wickedness which crosses over from being ingratiatingly amusing to become a major delight. Kamal Haasan keeps the multiplicity of major and minor characters under control. Johnny Walker, seen after such a long time, plays the amiable drunk with admirable restraint, and Bharthi is not the precociously coy brat we dread from Indian films. The new girl Sana is a natural, and Vishal’s music uses children’s voices for the theme song to convey a beguilingly childlike joi de vivre.

The director is brilliant when it comes to the purely dialogue-based gag — like the time both Durgaprasad and Hari Bhai get “cross connected” with Jai at the other end, and he has to keep the tangled web of deceit from getting ravelled beyond repair. You wish he had displayed the same control and restraint when it came to obvious gimmicks which go on for far too long. Like the time the feisty Chachi takes on a whole gang of minor hoods in the vegetable market. But again, Kamal Haasan caps the incident with a little gem, when a toothless old woman fondly pats the middle-aged Chachi on her cheek, saying, “Well done, girl!” in Marathi.

Was this an occasion for the director to underline that getting into a woman’s clothes brings out the feminine in a man? But he doesn’t use this opportunity to make a politically correct feminist statement. That was Tootsie’s strong point — the entirely plausible change which makes Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy “see” the real exploitation of women in showbiz — and it was made with dramatic and psychological effectiveness. It also made Tootsie a cocky, modern masterpiece on gender issues. Chachi 420 merely skims the surface and concentrates more on the plot complications rather than a true attitudinal change in the protagonist. There is really no attempt to explore the androgynous instinct inherent in all of us. Jai is anyway shown to be the more nurturing, caring parent. What Kamal Haasan underlines is the sexual desirability of the mature woman, something which is normally used to get cheap laughs. Gulzar’s dialogues come under the category of acceptably risque rather than the expected vulgar double entendre, but a certain amount of innuendo — visual and spoken — is inevitable to the situation. The dialogues add a sparkle to the script with their pointed little quips about showbiz in general.

Though the film goes on a little too long and could be trimmed, Kamal Haasan doesn’t hold up the narration with needless song situations (but the karwa chauth song is really not necessary nor is it very amusing), or too many flashbacks of the estranged couple’s days of married bliss. Kamal Haasan, the actor, is in terrific form, but it is Kamal Haasan, the director, who is the true star of Chachi 420.

VISHWAVIDHAATA

(reviewed by Deccan Herald)

Faces are deceptive. More so, when they are changed to hide one`s identity. This film tells you how one can fool the world with a borrowed face.

Jai Verma (Sharad Kapoor) lives with his chronically-ill mother. He is desperately seeking a job. When his mom is hospitalised, a 'good` samaritan, Arjun, pays the bills. Jai doesn`t read the hidden meaning. Arjun works for Aashish Vidyarthi, an anti-national. Poor Jai gets caught in the web. The baddies plan to blast an army truck over a bridge, and unfortunately a school bus too is blown off, killing several kids. When Jai complains of a troubled conscience, the villains bay for his blood.

Arjun, Jai`s only sympathiser, parcels him off to Sharjah, with an advice to get a new face from plastic surgeron, Dr Ray. Jai Verma now becomes Ajay Khanna (Jackie Shroff).

After 5 years, Ajay returns to India as a wealthy NRI, and banishes Aashish and gang from the country. He soon bumps into his sweetheart Radha (Ayesha Jhulka). Radha, of course, fails to recognise her childhood chum. The two marry. Their son, Ravi Khanna, grows up to join the police force. Guess how he looks? Simple, he ought to look like Jai Verma! The fun begins now.

It`s time for the son to sing duets now along with Pooja Batra. Ms Batra is seen only for a brief while, jumping around like an ostrich. Aashish returns and the buried file of Jai Verma is resurrected and handed over to Ravi Khanna.

Searching for his lookalike, Ravi goes to Sharjah. Dr Ray drops the bombshell. Ravi begins to hate his father. Meanwhile, Aashish`s fears about Ajay`s true identity come alive. Just when Radha comes to know that Ajay and Jai are the same, Aashish kills her. Father and son unite to finish Radha`s killers.

Director Farough Siddiqui ends up diluting the fairly good plot. Sharad Kapoor is promising, while, thankfully, A R Rahman is not his usual repetitive, constipated self.

BHAI-BHAI

(reviewed by Kavitha K of Deccan Herald)

The flavour of the season has been patriotism yes, but does that mean that we must be fed tiresome and tacky spiel about terrorists ruining apna bharath mahan, reel after reel?

Pahlaj Nihalani`s Bhai-Bhai, with a ghost of a story and a flicker of continuity, is a viewer`s nightmare. The raw and ill at ease star cast do precious little to reË lieve the trauma.

After some spirited flag waving and speech making about desh ki dharti the scene shifts to arson and rioting. No guesses on who`s responsible for the mayhem. Blame it across the border. There`s a puffy goon Afzal and a monstrous mafia man Jag-ran (pls note the hyphen!) with bleached hair cascading down his shoulders. Between them, they manage to make a separatist outfit look like a circus.

They covet Kashmir (yawn, yawn) and by some twisted logic, believe that by burning up Jhumrithalaiya, they can pocket Jammu. Anyway, the bombs blast away and people bay for each othË er`s blood until a sweet, old chachajaan steps in. A dyed-in-the- wool patriot, chachajaan treats mechanics and ministers alike. He stops the rioting, but finds that his famous friend, a neta, is the one instigating it. Chacha confronts neta and ends up in ICU with multiple fractures.

Meanwhile, in a faraway chawl are two chummy, gummy guys - Akbar (Samraat) and Veeru (Manik Bedi). Hope you got the Hindu-Muslim bhai-bhai message. Anyway, to reinforce it, they grab and hug each other whenever they get half a chance. Veeru, a car thief and Akbar, who delivers lunch-dabbas to office-goers, have their hands full fighting off local goons and clingy girlfriends. When terrorists enter the crowded picture, the agony - yours, not theirs - is complete.

Samraat is in awe of the thespian, Dilip Kumar. But didn`t anyone tell him that when the original is around, an imitation (and a terrible imitation at that) merits not a glance? As for Manik Bedi, not even his colourful scarves and cultivated swagger impress. Ritu Shivpuri and Meghna appear in wispy nothings, mouthËing double entendres with an ease that would make Dada Kondke turn scarlet. And Gulshan Grover flicking his blow-dried locks looks more like a model for a bleach than a terrifying terrorist. Pahlaj Nihalani`s idea of patriotism, this?

DIL TO PAGAL HAI

(reviewed by INIAN EXPRESS)

Surprisingly, not much is known about the film. The television publicity blitz started only weeks before the film’s release with a special short on the making of the film, well publicised and aired on DD1 six days before D-day. Posters and hoardings of the film suddenly cropped up all over town and have been drawing appreciative glances. “We’ve used special menail printing which makes the posters and hoardings look sharp and attractive,” informs one of Chopra’s office managers. However, the muharat itself was a low-key affair as it is with any Yash Chopra film — but this time even the cassette release function was a quiet affair. Nevertheless audio sales have been unprecedented.

Two years ago, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge broke all records when its music sold 1 crore audio units. Dil To Pagal Hai has sold 40 lakh cassettes within a month of its release and Yash Chopra’s gamble of opting for Uttam Singh over his regular music directors, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Shiv Kumar Sharma, has paid off. The music arranger who was once a part of the Uttam-Jagdish duo, had been assigned to compose the score for a Metavision telefilm. Yash Chopra was so impressed with the score Singh came up with that he decided to use it for his own film, Dil To Pagal Hai. Chopra’s confidence in Singh, who, till now has only the music of Manoj Kumar’s Painter Babu to his credit, was justified. The music is on a record run and city distributors are now expecting the film also to rewrite box-office history.

Says Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films, “This Diwali three films, PG Shreekant’s Ghulam-E-Musthafa, Deepak Shivdasani’s Bhai and Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai are scheduled for release and all three films have raised high expectations. But Yashji’s audience is different and his films are always anxiously awaited — Dil To Pagal Hai is more so since Dilwale Dulhaiya Le Jayenge was such a mega hit. Everyone’s expecting him to maintain his banner’s enviable track record. He releases very few prints in the initial weeks which I think is a shrewd business policy. It builds up the excitement, heightens the curiosity value of the film and increases the demand for tickets. I’m sure the black marketeers will have a field day.”

Approximately 300 prints of the film are being released worldwide. Of these around 250-260 are being released all over India with approximately 60 prints in the Mumbai circuit. Sixty prints are being released overseas and if the trade buzz is to be believed, the film all over was sold for Rs 2 crore per territory. “I could have asked for a lot more and got it too but I didn’t want to over-price the film,” asserts Yash Chopra. Yash Chopra has sought police protection from piracy.

There are a few industry watchers who are worried that three big films releasing simultaneously could divide the audience and adversely affect the prospects of Bhai, Ghulam-E-Musthafa and Dil To Pagal Hai. Maybe, they argue, Yash Chopra should have preponed or postponed his release to avoid direct competition with any film. It would have guaranteed a few good weeks for his film. Vinodbhai of Mahalaxmi Films does not agree with this observation. He reminds you that every Diwali there’ve been at least two big films releasing together and he doesn’t think that limits the appeal of the film or woos away a chunk of the audience. “Eventually, it is the better film which wins,” he opines. “Dil To Pagal Hai has raised sky-high expectations simply because it’s a Yash Chopra film. That’s the attraction of his banner. However, I’m surprised that Yash Chopra has maintained such a low profile all through. One would have expected more hype.”

However, though Chopra has not gone out of the way to promote the film it has been in the news from the time it was launched. The film, initially titled Thevar, was planned with Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. Manisha had for years been dreaming of working with Yash Chopra but when she was offered Dil To Pagal Hai she suddenly had second thoughts. “And she didn’t even hear the script,” says a baffled Yash Chopra. Then Juhi Chawla, the heroine of Yash Chopra’s last film, Darr, was approached. But Juhi after hearing the script decided that playing Shah Rukh’s second lady didn’t offer her much scope for histrionics and feared that she’d end up playing second fiddle to Madhuri Dixit. After she gracefully bowed out, Chopra zeroed in on his dulhaniya but Kajol told him quite frankly that she didn’t like the role. After Rangeela Urmila caught Yash Chopra’s eye. She accepted the film and even shot for a day during the first schedule. And then sent a message through her secretary that she couldn’t do the film. Karisma Kapoor was Chopra’s fifth choice and Chopra was pleasantly surprised that she was thrilled with his offer. She only asked for 24 hours to consult her parents. The next day she was on the phone with her answer: an exuberant “Yes.” And Yash Chopra’s casting nightmares were over.

But not the controversies which persistently dogged the film. As the film neared completion one heard whispers that Madhuri Dixit who was initially the star of the show was being sidelined because after a string of disasters she was no longer a distributor’s or director’s delight. And that scenes were being written specially for Karisma Kapoor who, after Raja Hindustani, was the more saleable star, while Madhuri’s lines were being edited. However, Chopra dismisses the rumours with a nonchalant shrug, “My main concern is my film... I don’t play around with my characters to please stars.” He insists that though it was Madhuri who enlightened him about the stories going around, she was eventually quite happy with the way her role had shaped up. “She knew that the media was trying to create trouble where there was none,” he pointed out.

All these troubles are behind Yash Chopra now. Today the only nagging thought perhaps in his mind is that Dil To Pagal Hai will be compared to Aditya’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Dil To Pagal Hai will have Chopra junior’s touch. He has designed the film. He is the co-producer and has written the dialogue. But it’s Yash Chopra’s romance all the same. However, he concedes that the youth explosion around him was inspired by his sons, Aditya and Uday (who incidentally has compiled a film on the making of Dil To Pagal Hai ). “Dil To Pagal Hai is a young film... For the first time I was standing amidst so many young people,” Yash Chopra smiles. “The film has got that effervescent feel of youth.” And that is perhaps its biggest plus. Shah Rukh is the other, and yes, according to distributor Ramesh Sippy of BRA Films, Madhuri Dixit is one too, even if she’s going through a professional low. “Dil to Pagal Hai has created a lot of hulchul amongst the distributors and exhibitors,” confesses Sippy. “The film has a flavour which is very appealing. The vibes are very positive. I think it’s a good thing for the industry that in a period of Black Fridays a film like Dil To Pagal Hai is opening. It has the makings of a blockbuster and could change the scenario, lift the cloud of gloom that’s hanging over our movietown.

AFLATOON

(reviewed by Mukhtar Anjoom of Deccan Herald)

It starts with fun, snakes through a twist and ends with a bang. This Guddu Dhanoa film rides on a simple theme: how to get rich in a jiffy.

Raja (Akshay Kumar) is a happy-go-lucky youth with a bunch of friends. When life appears to be crawling, Raja hits upon a novel idea to get rich in the easiest and least possible time - by latching on to a rich damsel with minimum encumbrances.

By impersonating, Raja lands himself a teacher`s job in a posh college where only the richest of the rich study.

He kicks off his campaign with a lesson on love and soon has his student Urmila, daughter of rich businessman Anupam Kher, floored by his 'noble` ideals.

Just when things begin to fall into place for Raja, Anupam`s heart skips a beat - for, the shady blackmailer Rocky, who uses his mistress to trap Anupam in THE act, looks exactly like Raja! Desperate to get rid of Rocky, who`s shaved off his bulging fortunes, Anupam asks Raja to finish off his evil lookalike first if he wanted to marry Urmila.

Raja begins the dangerous game. Super cool and sleek Rocky, though outsmarted initially, gets back at Raja with a vengeance. Things finally look up for Raja after a lot of fireworks.

Dhanoa seems to be inspired by the John Woo stuff - Face/Off, but has made enough amends to retain the desi flavour.

Urmila is stunning but the pacy sequences keep her sting in check. Akshay is convincing in both the roles, but sparkles in the comedy scenes. He`ll do himself a favour if he combines action with comedy, like Jackie Chan, to steer his groping career. The action is stylish, while the songs are heartily mischievous.