Salaam Namaste
Yesterday I watched the popular Hindi film Salaam Namaste starring Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan. It was a forgettable film except for the climax scenes which created vomiting sensation (I guess the climax was intended to be comic).
Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan in Salaam Namaste
(Image from nowrunning dot com)
When Aditya Chopra made Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in 1995, he was actually starting a new genre of Hindi films. Neatly packaged with good editing and visuals from beautiful locales (mostly from foreign countries), these films tell the story of rich people (mostly NRIs) who have the so called "modern outlook and lifestyle" but still keep the "Indian traditional values" intact (especially in the climax scenes of the film). Stuffed with enough melodrama and posh fashion shows, these films are directly targeted at the metro audience and the Indians living in the US. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Yadein - several such idiotic films were made in this category and they made tons of money. Even critics liked such films, and I remember Times of India gave a "four star" rating for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
I know what is to be expected from these kind of films. But I still watch such films hoping them to be some "good time pass", and then end up wasting time and money.
(Image from nowrunning dot com)
When Aditya Chopra made Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in 1995, he was actually starting a new genre of Hindi films. Neatly packaged with good editing and visuals from beautiful locales (mostly from foreign countries), these films tell the story of rich people (mostly NRIs) who have the so called "modern outlook and lifestyle" but still keep the "Indian traditional values" intact (especially in the climax scenes of the film). Stuffed with enough melodrama and posh fashion shows, these films are directly targeted at the metro audience and the Indians living in the US. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Yadein - several such idiotic films were made in this category and they made tons of money. Even critics liked such films, and I remember Times of India gave a "four star" rating for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
I know what is to be expected from these kind of films. But I still watch such films hoping them to be some "good time pass", and then end up wasting time and money.
posted by Ratheesh at 2:27 AM
5 Comments:
I voice your opinions.. I liked the first movies of this type Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, DDLJ etc. But of late these movies have become too repetitive that U start to get frustrated. That is the main reason that I have stopped watching the movies of Shah rukh Khan.. I now start to feel that Shah Rukh has been best described by Ram Gopal Varma as a actor whose movies come with the best of the industry and so there is nothing great in his movies running to packed houses. Preity Zinta has started to ham from Kal Ho Na Ho. Though I was intimidated by many a review, (posted by those people who rave at any crap that comes out of Yash Chopra/Karan Johar stables), praising the movie and saying that it is one of the very good movies made last year, I showed restraint. Now I feel happy over my decision. I would not be surprised if I see the afore mentioned reviewers call Neal 'N' Nikki one of the classics in Hindi Cinema. ;-)
The climax scene was copied from a English movie [I forget the name] with Robin Williams playing the role of Abhishek. It was a lot better there!
Speaking of Robin Williams, have you watched "Patch Adams"? Its a true story about a man's dream to become the doctor for the masses.
-Shashi
Shashi,
I havent seen Patch Adams :-(
I have seen few other Robin Williams film (Bicentennial Man and Jack) which I liked very much.
Regards
Ratheesh
I fully agree with you.. most of the movies and teleserials made nowdays are targeted to NRIs and multiplex people. And these movies are too much of marketing and gloss and without story (Soul).Why can't film makers make simple movies which can touch your heart. A simple example is the recent hollywood movie 'King Kong", the creature was a fiction and full of SFX but it moves the audience and you can relate to it.
I have never agreed more on anything else. These movies are absolute junk and they insult the audience's tastes and standards. From the first scene, one starts getting kind of strangely embarassed to be watching the movie ! But, then some famous guy has said "No filmmaker ever lost money by underestimating audience intelligence" :-))
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