Karzzzz is a film that explores the psychological traits every individual possesses. Some so powerful, they lead us to vices like greed, obsession, hatred, deceit, betrayal and even Murder.

Set amidst the majestic and breathtaking locales of South Africa, Karzzzz is a remake of the 1980 Subhash Ghai hit Karz.

The protagonist Monty is an extremely successful Rock Star based in South Africa; he is phenomenally popular and is worshipped like an idol.

In course of one of the many parties he attends, he meets Tina, a ballet dancer. For Monty, its love at first sight. But, Tina returns home immediately, after leaving Monty fretting. That’s when things start to change.

During one of his rehearsals, Monty starts playing a tune and suddenly goes into a trance, with intense visual flashes - a mansion, a temple, a beautiful girl… Monty collapses unconscious.

On further probe, he finds out; the mansion belonged to a certain Ravi Verma, who died in a tragic accident. Another flash back reveals that Monty was Ravi Verma in his previous life, married to a beautiful girl called Kamini.

Monty now has the grave realization of having been reborn in his current persona. His beautiful love interest (Tina) is none other than Kamini’s foster daughter. From here starts Monty’s new journey.

A journey of enthralling vengeance, which he unleashes on Kamini. In close connivance with her wicked accomplice Sir Juda, Kamini had murdered Ravi to take over his estate, leaving his family helpless after his death.

To repay the debt he owed them for all their suffering, Monty now brings his mother and sister out from the dark recesses of their life; he also reunites with Tina and culminates his incomplete love from a previous life.

Monty thus absolves himself; of all the Karzzzz he was reborn with… That’s Karzzzz for you.

Cast : Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Arora, Tusshar Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Shreyas Talpade, Celina Jaitley, Mukesh Tiwari, Vrajesh Hirjee, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar and Murli Sharma
Produced By: Dhilin Mehta
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty
Directed By: Rohit Shetty

Gopal (Ajay Devgan) stays with his wife Ekta (Kareena Kapoor), sister Esha & a dumb brother in law Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor).

Gopal for one whole night gets stuck in a yacht after he saves an attractive young woman Meera (Celina Jeitly) from few goons on his way back home from his office. Due to the circumstances they stays back on the yacht.

He arrives home the next day, and meets his very suspicious wife, Ekta, who is a hard core Saas bahu television soap viewer and suspects him of flirting with girls from his staff.

Gopal finds it difficult to satisfy her with the incident which took place last night, and he invents a story about spending the night with a fictitious friend named Anthony Gonsalves. Ekta does not believe that he ever had a friend by that name, and decides to write to Anthony to come and visit her.

Gopal then convinces one of his juniors, Laxman (Shreyas Talpade), to pretend that he is Anthony, and thus convince Ekta that he was indeed telling the truth.

Laxman agrees to do so, and everything goes according to plan until the address on which Ekta had written a letter to Anthony turns out to be real.

Meanwhile Gopal finds out that a dead body was found at the same location where he saved Meera from the goons. The investigating officer Maadhav (Arshad Waarsi) who is even Esha’s boyfriend and does not get well along with Gopal, finds out that Gopal was missing from his home that very night and the dead was an employee from his company. There begins Maadhav’s investigation - resulting in hilarious chaos.

Kahani kabhi khatam nahin hoti… That’s the catchline of Chamku. True, certain stories are timeless and ageless, they keep getting repeated year after year, with new faces obviously.

Vendetta — one theme that’s beaten to death in Bollywood. Chamku tackles the age-old theme of revenge, although director Kabeer Kaushik throws a twist at the outset, when a Naxalite is picked up by RAW and IB to work for them.

Otherwise, Chamku is old wine presented in a new bottle. The only saving grace is Bobby Deol, who delivers his career-best performance in Chamku. But the sad part is that the script succumbs to predictability all through.

Besides, what’s with a title like Chamku? Sure, the story is about a guy called Chandrama Singh aka Chamku, but in these fast changing times, when the multiplex audience holds the key, a title like Chamku will only dissuade them from buying the ticket. Also, a title like Chamku sends out signals that it’s a comedy. It’s not!

Another factor that goes against it is the violence/brutality depicted in this 2-hour film. Blood, gore, crudity and brutality is out, but Kabeer Kaushik still believes in the cinema of 1970s and seems to have given action director Tinu Verma a free hand to recreate the violence-laden atmosphere of 1970s.

Pistols, guns, knives, swords, blood-soaked bodies, spare us the gore please.

To cut a long story short, there’s hardly any chamak in Chamku.

Chamku depicts the journey of a male Naxalite from the interiors of Bihar, tutored under a covert government program to eliminate the anti-social elements. Chandrama Singh aka Chamku has no alternative. Kill them or we’ll kill you, he’s told by Kapoor (Irrfan Khan).

His life undergoes a dramatic change when he falls in love with Priyanka Chopra. He wants to lead a normal life, but is it so easy? Also, he comes face to face with his nightmarish past (Akhilendra Mishra).

A pertinent question that crosses your mind is, what did the Deols see in a script like this? The execution is fluid at places, but the written material is so predictable after a point that you lose interest as incident after incident unravels.

The first half does boast of a few interesting sequences. The transformation from a ruthless killer to a romantic is depicted beautifully. Also, a number of sequences are filmed with flourish. But the film goes downhill in the second hour, courtesy a screenplay of convenience.

Monty Sharma’s music is below par. ‘Aaja Milke’ is the sole decent track. The item song (Rosa) looks like a hurried job. Gopal Shah’s cinematography captures the various moods of the film well. Tinu Verma’s action is too realistic. The blood and gore could’ve been tapered.

Bobby gets it right. He conveys a lot even when silent. This performance deserves all the praise. Priyanka is wasted. There’s no scope for her actually. Ditto for Riteish Deshmukh and Danny Denzongpa.

In fact, the two actors are hardly there in the movie. Irrfan Khan, as always, is competent. Rajpal Yadav does well as the informer. Akhilendra Mishra is supposed to act loud, which he does well. Arya Babbar gets no scope, not even a line to deliver. Ditto for Deepal Shaw.

On the whole, Chamku rests on an outdated plot and given the blood-gore-brutality in the film, will face an uphill task. Businesswise, it has some chances in the U.P.-Bihar region.

Rating: **

First thing that strikes about the soundtrack of Ru Ba Ru is that it comprises of as many as 12 songs and that too all being originals with not a single remix version. Phew!

Now that’s something new in the current times when even a hardcore musical like Karzzzz is coming with only 9 songs (though there are 10 remix versions to boast). This makes one wonder about what exactly does the music of Ru Ba Ru have to offer?

With ‘Speed Of Sound’, Satyadev Burman and Sameeruddin contributing to the music of Ru Ba Ru, one expects quite some variety in the offering.

It’s a mighty impressive beginning to Ru Ba Ru the moment Jaspinder Narula flexes her vocals chords for the title song ‘Ru Ba Ru’.

A number which brings everything from ’sufi’ to rock to conventional Bollywood melody to ‘rap’ to ‘bhangra’ under one roof, ‘Ru Ba Ru’ is a highly catchy composition by ‘Speed Of Sound’ that comes naturally to you within first couple of hearing itself.

A love song written by Shuja Haider which reminds one of ‘Mitwa’ (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna), it sounds even better once Haider decides to come behind the mike himself. His is a fresh voice which ensures that ‘Ru Ba Ru’ is a number which has in it to do quite well for itself if promoted aggressively.

Lyricist Aditya Narayan, composer Sameeruddin and singer Vijay Prakash come together for an altogether different song, though with the same title, ‘Ru Ba Ru’.

A track which befits a lounge setting, it is not something which a core Bollywood music buff is used to hearing. However, for those looking who like their music to be unconventional, modern and not so filmy, ‘Ru Ba Ru’ makes for a decent hearing.

An even better song arrives in the form of ‘Tham Jaa Ruk Jaa’ which has singer Ranjit Barot (yes, he sings here while leaving Satyadev Burman to take care of the composing part) having only a guitar as his partner.

Written by Soumik Sen, it is a soft rock track which comes with a punch though without making it all so obvious on ears. A number about expecting time to stand still, ‘Tham Jaa’ works yet again as a soft number.

Soumik Sen and Satyadev Burman come together again for ‘Mitti Ki Khushboo’ which could have turned out to be a conventional Indian melody had the arrangements not being as subtle as they are here. In fact the conversational duet between Sunidhi Chauhan and Kunal Ganjawala reminds one of ‘Kuch To Hua Hai’ (Kal Ho Na Ho) though the similarity just ends there as overall the composition stays on to be easy on ears but that’s about it.

Director Arjun Bali gets his writing pad on for getting the lyrics of ‘Na Dekho’ in place which comes so close to the feel of numbers like ‘Tum Ho To’/'Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein’ (Rock On) that one senses if the compositions were almost created back to back.

Suzanne D’Mello sings this slow paced number in such a relaxed manner that one gets an impression as if she is totally oblivious to the surroundings around her and is just following the tune that Sameeruddin created.

The semi-rock mood continues pretty much into the remainder of the album as well with ‘Tera Woh Pyar’ which has Shreya Ghoshal going solo for a number written by Shuja Haider and composed by ‘Speed Of Sound’.

A situational track with a sad undertone to it, ‘Tera Woh Pyar’ has a passionate feel to it and should look (and sound) further impressive in the film’s narrative.

Written and sung by Akshay Verma, ‘Ye Jo Pal’ isn’t really arresting in nature even as it is seeded into the film’s genre of prominently rock music. With Sameeruddin responsible for composition, ‘Yeh Jo Pal’ is about a man living every moment of his life and appreciating everything brought by things around him.

Surprisingly, the song which follows next, ‘Tere Bina Hori’ doesn’t quite get a ‘wow’ response as well even though it isn’t bad.

Yet another situational track which has Satyadev Burman fusing Indian classical with Western feel, ‘Tere Bina Hori’ by Sunidhi Chauhan along with the kids Sneha Suresh and Shravan Suresh comes and goes without making any impression.

Ditto for ‘Manchali’ by the same team (minus the kids) which again stays on to be hardcore Indian in feel with a slight classical touch to it. However, the peppy feel still remains which keeps the listener’s attention on.

A better song, though yet again unconventional again in the Bollywood scheme of things, is heard next with the arrival of ‘Jogi’.

Written by Arjun Bali, ‘Jogi’ is a Punjabi number and sees Sameeruddin rope in Krishna to come up with some intense rendering. However, unlike a ‘Jee Karda’ or a ‘Bhootnike’ from Singh Is Kinng, this one is mellower and doesn’t take a frivolous approach.

A bona fide English number brings Ru Ba Ru to a close with Chester Misquitta singing ‘Beautiful Day’ for Sameeruddin.

So authentic is the number to a Western sound, be it lyrics, music or singing, that if only this song wouldn’t have placed in a Hindi movie, it could well have passed off as a number belonging to a Western album. It’s a pity that it lasts only 2 minutes though.

Ru Ba Ru starts off exceedingly well with its title song creating an instant impression. A couple of other songs which follow continue to enhance the momentum though after a while, things become stable.

Towards the end there is a slight dip as well though overall Ru Ba Ru still manages to keep its head high. This one is those for those who want music in Hindi movies to be served differently with a touch of Western influence.

Rating: ****

Now this is a complete surprise. And an extremely pleasant surprise, must add. Newer stories are slowly finding their way into plexes of India.

Two Fridays ago, Phoonk spoke about the power of Black Magic and last Friday, ROCK ON!! encouraged you to chase your dreams. Both Phoonk and ROCK ON!! didn’t boast of A-list actors to lure the audiences in hordes, but the films let the powerful content do the talking.

It’s a hat-trick now. The third Friday in succession witnesses the release of A Wednesday. And marks my words, it’s the most powerful film to come out of Bollywood in 2008.

Most promos mislead the viewer no end. They promise the moon, the viewer is hooked and very often, they fail to meet the expectations. In this case, the promos are just the tip of the iceberg. This movie has so much to offer than a few vital glimpses highlighted in the promos.

Here’s another point that needs to be clarified. A Wednesday is not about the train blasts, nor is it similar to MUMBAI MERI JAAN. Sure, terrorism is the wallpaper here, but A Wednesday talks about the plight and power of the common man, the aam aadmi.

The year has witnessed some supremely talented storytellers make their debut, like Rajkumar Gupta (AAMIR), Kunal Deshmukh (JANNAT) and Abbas Tyrewala (JAANE TU… YA JAANE NA). Now Neeraj Pandey joins the ranks of directors who, one is confident, will be one of those calling the shots in the future.

A Wednesday works like magic because of its gripping plotline. The journey, right from start to end on a fateful Wednesday, keeps you on tenterhooks. And the culmination to this complex tale is what takes this film to dizzy heights.

In short, A Wednesday is amongst the finest — and bravest — films to come out in 2008. Just one word to describe it: Remarkable!

A Wednesday tells the story of certain events that unfold between 2 and 6 p.m. on A Wednesday in Mumbai. Events that do not exist in any record.

Flashback: Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher), Commissioner of Police, Mumbai gets a call demanding the release of four militants in lieu of information on bombs that the man has planted in various parts of Mumbai.

At first, Prakash suspects it to be a crank call, but his doubts are dispelled once he actually finds a bomb planted in the police station right opposite his Police Headquarters.

Prakash Rathod is not the type to give up easily. He gets a team of his best men together and taps all his resources. He even hires a young hacker to help his team trace the calls and also the location of the anonymous caller.

Time passes by, but no concrete results are evident. Eventually, Prakash Rathod decides to hand over the militants to the anonymous caller. It is then that events take a bizarre turn.

Expect the unexpected in A Wednesday. From the writing point of view to the execution of the written material, writer-director Neeraj Pandey never takes the been-there-seen-that route even once.

It does take time to settle down (the multiple stories at the start are not too interesting), but once you do get the hang of things, A Wednesday offers you twist after twist, throws challenge after challenge in those 1.30 hours (yes, it’s a short film).

No sub-plots, no songs, no unwanted masala, no unnecessary tracks — A Wednesday has a story to tell and it tells most effectively.

On the execution front, the camera movement (Jimmy Jib), during Naseer’s portions specifically, demands your attention. Cinematographer Fuwad Khan’s output is top class even when he captures a chase (Jimmy Sheirgill) on a busy Mumbai street.

The editor (Shree Narayan Singh) deserves lavish praises for giving shape to this thriller. During the finale specifically — Anupam is driving towards the location, while Naseer is packing his stuff — the parallel scenes are juxtaposed brilliantly. The background score (Sanjay Chowdhury) is stirring.

When your film has two of the finest talents sharing screen space, it only heightens the curiosity.

Naseeruddin Shah has delivered several remarkable performances over the decades and the one in A Wednesday easily makes its way into his Top 5 works when you recall his body of work.

His outburst in the end — when he talks about the plight of the common man — is astounding. The entire audi, one is confident, would break into a deafening applause at this master sequence.

Anupam Kher is equally dynamic. Watch the cold look or catch him face-to-face with Naseer in the finale, if there’s one actor who could stand up to a giant of an actor, it’s Kher. An outstanding performance indeed!

Every performance in A Wednesday is charged. Jimmy Sheirgill is first-rate as a volatile cop. Of late, the actor has been wasted in insipid roles and it’s about time film-makers take a note of this talented actor.

Aamir Bashir is superb. Again, this actor has never got his due in feature films. It’s our loss, not his! Deepal Shaw plays her part confidently.

Chetan Pandit, as the Chief Minister, is effective. Ditto for the actor who plays the main terrorist - Kali Prasad Mukherjee.

On the whole, A Wednesday is cinema at its best. It may not be a Kinng-sized entertainer to lure the audiences in hordes and set the box-office afire, but A Wednesday does pack in king-sized punch. Do yourself a favour: Watch A Wednesday.

There’s much happiness in store for Ranbir. But nothing can compare with the joy of the entire Kapoor family gathering together at Pune to watch Bachna Ae Haseenon on the opening day.

“They had all gone for Daboo (Randhir) Uncle’s house- warming in Pune (he has bought a place there).

All forty of them. My parents and I were in Mumbai for the release with me.But the rest of the Kapoors trooped in to E-Square at Pune.

I spent three hours discussing the movie with them on the phone. What a heartwarming feeling that was! We’ve always been a closely-knit family. It’s just that it shows up now. My family has always been a support. They don’t flatter me. They also tell where I’m going wrong.”

Ranbir admits he’s shy and introverted. “The only friends I’ve are people who’ve been with me from childhood.

I don’t have to hang around people in the industry to prove I’m a social. My audiences matter the most. Today I’m getting more messages than I did after Saawariya.

Mr Saif Ali Khan and my cousin Kareena sent me the sweetest messages. I guess I am getting more experienced and secure today so I’m enjoying the attention.”

British-born actress Katrina Kaif has delivered six back-to-back hits, bagged several brand endorsements and is now a highly sought after heroine - all the qualities needed to be crowned the reigning actress in Bollywood, say film critics.

“Katrina has immensely evolved as an actress. In Bollywood, actors are mostly known for the number of hits that they can deliver. Katrina has won in that respect hands down. She can undoubtedly be called a lucky mascot for her producers,” popular film critic Taran Adarsh saidover phone from Mumbai.

After wowing audiences in the recently released romantic comedy ‘Singh Is Kinng’ opposite Akshay Kumar, Katrina has successfully displaced top-rung actors, including Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra.

Her success story started with ‘Namastey London’ and continued with ‘Apne’, ‘Partner’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Race’ and now ‘Singh Is Kinng’.

“Last year was simply fantastic and, touchwood, this year is the same. I would like to thank god. I believe in enjoying doing the work I’m doing. It is also good to know that the hard work I have put in has shown result. I will continue to do so,” Katrina said.

The 24-year-old star ventured into Bollywood in 2003 and was instantly written off because of her strong British accent. But after five years of hard work and determination, she is one of the most sought after actresses in the Hindi film industry.

Her next is Subhash Ghai’s ‘Yuvraaj’, which is about the arrogance and overconfidence of contemporary youth. Set to release in October, critics are confident that Katrina has another hit on the anvil in ‘Yuvraaj’.

Mumbai-based film critic Anupama Chopra says there are high expectations from Katrina’s performance in the movie.

“Katrina has had a fortunate choice of films” even though she “had a rather unfortunate start with ‘Boom’,” Chopra said.

“She is a stunning looking actress and so far she is doing well with her glam doll image. We did see glimpses of an actor in her performance-oriented roles such as in ‘Namastey London’,” Chopra explained.

Katrina is one of eight siblings, all girls. Her mother is British and her father is from Jammu and Kashmir who has since acquired British citizenship.

The actress spent her formative years in Hawaii but later moved to London. She started modelling accidentally when she was in Hawaii at the age of 14. Thereafter she continued modelling in London till she moved to Mumbai in quest of a career in the world’s largest film industry.

Of late, the Baadshah of Bollywood- Shah Rukh Khan has been maintaining a low profile. After all, he has been busy shooting for two of his upcoming films namely Priyadarshan’ Billoo Barber and Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. But you can’t keep King Khan out of action and out of news for long. Can you?

Shah Rukh Khan was spotted shooting for Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi along with newcomer Anushka Sharma at the beautiful Golden Temple in Amritsar early this week. However, what caught our instant attention was the fact that King Khan was sporting a moustache during the shoot. This was a far cry from his look in any of his recent releases and did come as a pleasant surprise. SRK has earlier sported a moustache in films like Paheli, Army and English Babu Desi Mem to name a few. But his look in with specs et al in this Yash Raj production has taken everyone by surprise. This time around, looks like the actor is playing a matured character. Wonder what other surprises director Aditya Chopra has in store for all of us. As for newcomer Anushka, she looked every bit the Punjabi kudi.

Must say after seeing Shah Rukh in this new look, the curiosity to know more about Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi only increases for all die-hard SRK fans.

Not too many people know this. But Suniel Shetty has been close to Laloo Yadav for the last five years. They’ve been in constant touch, and have exchanged notes on cinema and politics. But Suniel remains happily non-partisan. “We talk about a lot of things. Whenever Lalooji speaks about Bollywood he mentions me among his friends. That makes me feel really happy and proud. He’s keenly interested in movies .In fact I’ve invited him to watch my film Little Godfather which is about the train blasts that happened in Mumbai in 2005. We’re connected deeply.”

Laloo Yadav and Suniel Shetty have been friends for the past five years ever since Suniel visited Patna during Laloo’s regime. And now Suniel and his team from water-sports centre H20 at Marine Drive in Mumbai have joined hands with Laloo for rescue operations in flood-ravaged Bihar.

Says Suniel, “Lalooji and I are in constant touch about the flood situation in Bihar. He’s been calling me 3-4 times a day. He has helped me understand the gravity of the flood situation in Bihar and how we could be of help. My partner Rajiv Somani who’s the brain behind H20 suggested that we send our water experts to Bihar. That’s when Lalooji’s disaster-management team swung into action and got in touch with our H20 team. Our H20 team consists of fishermen and ex-navy personnel. We’ve also been working very closely with the BMC and the fire department in Mumbai for flood management in our city. We man the waters and saving 20-30 lakh lives every year. Bihar therefore seems like a good destination at this time when the floods have created havoc.”

60 of Suniel’s personnel are from H20 are being rushed to Bihar. “Ten of them are experts in flood management. We’ve broken up the 60 boys into ten teams. The teams have set up boats, lifejackets, etc. And we’re introducing jet skis into areas of Bihar where boats cannot go.”

All through Lalooji has been giving Suniel personal instructions on how to go about the rescue operations in Bihar. Says Suniel, “My boys are not familiar with the flood-hit topography in Bihar. That’s where Lalooji comes in. And I expect other members of the industry like Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Salman to now lend a hand in helping Bihar cope with the floods. I know the industry will come forward to help Bihar. ”

Suniel has not been in touch with Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar. “I don’t know him. But I’m sure he’s all for our efforts to help the flood situation even if it comes on Lalooji’s initiative. I’m not denying it’s Lalooji I’m very close to. And if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be able to provide any help in Bihar. But this isn’t the time to take matters personally.”

Suniel says his connectivity with Bihar is strong. “I’ve got so many people from that area working for me. I feel bonded with them. Now when my lift-man or watch-man says, ‘Sir aap mere jegah ke liye itna kar rahen hai’ I feel elated. Seven years of H20 feels rewarding. Instead of just doing the routine fund-raising, I feel I’m contributing much more actively. Right now I want my H20 boys to go full-throttle ahead with their rescue work.”

Suniel also wants to visit the State. “I don’t want to be this film star who’s scared of wetting his feet in the water. I’d rather be down in Bihar and meet people. I’ll be flying down soon.”

One of Himesh Reshammiya’s songs ‘Hari Om Hari Om’ in Karzzzz got itself into trouble. Cleverer than the moral watchdogs after being pulled up for extolling the gods in the song ‘Asalaam Waalaikum‘, Himesh already had alternative situations ready for the Karzzzz song. He promptly deleted the supposedly offensive portion and added the required visual.

Says Himesh, “Yes, we had changed the song in Aap Ka Surroor when some people had objected to it. In Karzzzz, the censors had problem with the dancers in the ‘Hari Om Hari‘ song. We quickly changed that. We didn’t want any problems. So, we offered them a number of alternatives and went by whichever they liked.”

Earlier a song in Shashi Ranjan’s Dhoom Dhadakka showing Aarti Chhabria cavorting to the words ‘Hari Om’ had to be changed at the last minute to ‘Jale Mome‘. Says Himesh, “But the censor board had no problems with the words Hari Om. What they objected to was the chorus dancers. So we replaced the dancers with my close-ups. So every time the words ‘Hari Om‘ come on, it’s only me solo on screen. Otherwise, ‘Hari Om‘ aren’t words being used in our films for the first time.”

Elaborates the composer-singer-actor, “We preferred to show the final censored version in the promotional clippings. I think religious and cultural sentiments must be kept in mind. And guidelines for these must be followed. I really don’t find it restrictive. Get your material censored. And have alternatives ready, like we did. And people like us in the entertainment business are always under scrutiny. So we have to be extra-careful. The music of Karzzzz is so popular. We wouldn’t like to spoil it by hurting anyone. I’ve never ever compromised with my music. I can never be accused of hurting anyone or copying anyone’s songs.”