Movie Review: Ishqiya - A Must Watch

Dasvidaniya - Watch It For Vinay Pathak

Every decade or so comes a film that deals with a single person's will to defy all odds. Every such film reeks of the same emotions but justly updated to suit the mood of times. Dasvidaniya is one such a film; it might remind you of Anand, Dard Ka Rishta, and Kal Ho Na Ho. Better still it resets the benchmark for this genre.

They say life is what happens when you are busy making other plans but Amar Kaul never made plans. It's only when fate plays a cruel joke on him does he realise that he never really lived. Amar is the regular guy who is as tormented at home as he is at work.

His only aim in life is to show up in case something exciting happens accidentally. But accidents don't happen so he plans-namely a 'Things To Do' list that he judiciously works on. He gets to know that he doesn't have too much time to live. Amar fails to understand why fate would choose him as a pawn in game that heavens decided to indulge in.

Unable to make people fathom the enormity of the situation he decides to drown his sorrows in a drink. He meets a funky dude who makes him realise that one should live life before life decides to live us out. Amar's conscious persona guides him in making a list of ten things that he needs to do before he dies. Through the regular crests and troughs of existence, Amar does manage to live it up one last time and bid the world the ultimate goodbye.

Largely inspired by the Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman starrer The Bucket List, Dasvidaniya is a bittersweet look at the one last opportunity that we all crave for to set things right. We have seen a hundred films like Dasvidaniya and yet it's enjoyable thanks to a stellar performance by Vinay Pathak.

There are times when Dasvidaniya falls into the trappings of such films-the mother's dramatised realisation or the brother's sudden change of heart and the best friends' misplaced guilt--but these are easily over-looked. The only real shortcoming of Dasvidaniya is that it might be forgotten in a few years for it does over do the sentiment at times.

Saurabh Shukla, Rajat Kapoor, and Ranvir Shorey are well cast and fit hand in glove.

The deal with such vanity projects is the dangerous ground they tread on. One look at Pathak and you start sympathising with him ergo making it as easy as it becomes difficult to involve the viewer.

Thankfully Dasvidaniya doesn't fail on that account and Pathak, who doubles up as the producer as well, plays it to the gallery.

Dasvidaniya Rating: 3/5

Dasvidaniya Cast: Vinay Pathak, Saurabh Shukla, Neha Dhupia, Rajat Kapoor, and Ranvir Shorey

Dasvidaniya Producer: Vinay Pathak

Dasvidaniya Director: Shashant Shah

EMI Review - Watch at Your Own Risk

The biggest let down of EMI is the sinking feeling that the film carries right from the word go. The flawed screenplay wastes so much time just setting up the predictable premise that you give up on the film even before it really takes off. The second half is so disjointed that it looks like some other film altogether.

The film or at least the idea behind it would have been to depict how monthly installments can cause havoc in one's life. Four people (a flashy DJ, a married white collared man, a single mother and a retired father) take loans and aren't able to pay it off. The task of recovering goes to an agency run by a goon, Sattar Bhai. Just like the people he is chasing Sattar's life is also at a turning point. Rather than just going about his business he ends up solving their problems and everything ends 'happy-happy'.

Didn't anyone notice the incomplete story or rather the lack of it? EMI tries to skate on thin ice like episodes which are strung together albeit unconvincingly by some shoddy acting. All the characters are soulless cardboard cutouts of 'common' people.

Everyone puts in a half-baked effort besides Urmila Matondkar. She is very convincing as the young widowed single mother at least initially but somewhere down the line we see her more with her lawyer friend gallivanting from police station to court to even night clubs without a minute's worry for her little daughter!

A stiff Sanjay Dutt runs through Sattar Bhai as if Munnabhai reported for shooting. Rampal is so slow and pathetic that you might end up feeling as if you were being forced to sit through some kindergarten play!

Actually it's not that actors are to be blamed as the script doesn't give them anything to chew on. Sample the bad writing-Arjun Rampal is a DJ who goes to meet the top man of a music company and throws more attitude than Jim Morrison. And then the top man asks him to 'show' his talent and lo and behold the DJ sings! We then see all the lives transforming over a song and by the end of it the DJ is a superstar! Everything in the film is resolved (one never really noticed things going wrong) through mere pep talk and that too by a goon who now wants to become a politician. So he starts 'respecting' people to get respect in return.

Don't even go anywhere near!

EMI Rating: 1/5

EMI Director: Saurabh Kabra

EMI Genre(s): Family Entertainer

EMI Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Urmila Matondkar, Arjun Rampal, Ashish Choudhary, Daya Shankar Pandey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Malaika Arora Khan, Manoj Joshi, Neha Uberoi, Pushkar Jog