The Toh Baat Pakki: Bollywood Movie Review

Movie Rating: (2/5)

Release Year: 2010

Cast: Sharman Joshi, Uvika Chaudhary, Tabu,Uvika Chaudhary,Vatsal Sheth,Ayub Khan

Director: Kedar Shinde

Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty


This family sitcom about finding a suitable boy seems like a blast from the past when the Sooraj Barjatya films used to invite numerous footfalls into theatres. Toh Baat Pakki, directed by Kedar Shinde, comes a little late in the day. The director adopts a simple, uncluttered approach to tell the story but stuffs it up with unnecessary melodrama at many places, the second half particularly.

So we have Tabu playing an overprotective overbearing elder sister to Uvika Chaudhary. The happily married Rajeshwari (Tabu) wants the most suitable boy as the groom for Nisha (Uvika). He should be a Saxena, should have a bright future, preferably a secure job, should not demand dowry and should have all the qualities to be a caring husband. Engineering student Rahul (Sharman Joshi) seems to fit the bill so Rajeshwari tries to hook him up with Nisha. All is well and love sprouts between Rahul and Nisha and even marriage is fixed.

But then walks in Yuvraj (Vatsal Seth) a junior manager in Godrej with a car of his own. Moreover, he?s a Saxena too. For Rajeshwari he?s doubtlessly a better option than Rahul.

So, a change of plan. Out goes Rahul and in comes Yuvraj as the prospective groom. But in this game of musical chairs, Rajeshwari turns a blind eye to the feelings of Nisha and Rahul who are by now madly in love with each other.

What follows is a Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge kind of drama where Rahul steps in to help in the wedding preparations and makes all the right moves to break off the wedding between Yuvraj and Nisha.

At its core ?Toh Baat Pakki? suffers from a mediocre script that?s neither funny enough to tickle your spine nor emotional enough to tug at your heart. Even the wedding jamboree and many songs fail to inject oomph into the flaccid screenplay. Yes, the repartee between Tabu and Sharman in the first half does keep you hooked, but that?s just about it for a film that?s two hours long.

Tabu rises above the script with a convincing performance and Sharman Joshi pitches in a fine act. Ayub Khan, as Tabu?s husband, and Uvika, as her sis, stay mostly on the sidelines. Vatsal Seth plays his part well.

All in all, is a humdrum family drama with a very predictable end.

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

My name is Khan: Bollywood Movie Review

Rating: (3/5)

Release Year: 2010

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Katie Keane, Jimmy Shergil, Zarina Wahab, Benny Nieves, Kenton Duty

Producer: Gauri Khan, Hiroo Johar

Director: Karan Johar

Music Director: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani



You know when you go to watch a Karan Johar film, you go in there expecting lots of color, song and dance, beautiful cinematography and people, all coated nicely with that extra helping of sugary-sweet emotion. It?s overdone, and milked to kingdom come, but it?s classic Karan Johar, and you can?t take him seriously. He has defined a new genre of candy-floss cinema, which I can tolerate maybe, but never quite applaud.

All that said, lately Johar has been trying to move towards ?serious? cinema ? "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna" being a mixture of Joharesque-joie-de-vivre and a semblance of a ?realistic? story. ?My name is Khan? walks the same path moving Johar that much closer to the ?serious? cinema category.

The story of MNIK is one of hope and tolerance, and it?s main character is Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan), an autistic (specifically Asperger?s Syndrome) man, full of goodness. Brought up by his loving, tolerant mother (Zarina Wahab), Rizwan moves to the United States to live with his brother (Jimmy Shergill). There Muslim Rizwan meets Hindu Mandira (Kajol) and hopes for a happy life with her. However when 9/11 happens, their tenuous relationship is threatened . . .

MNIK is quite well-written, so much so that even when you know that Johar is squeezing in every tear-jerking trick in the book, you cannot stop your eyes from welling up. A big reason for that is Rizwan Khan, a well-drawn character, who because of his autistic condition, has the ability to NOT read between the lines. A straightforward, guileless person, Rizwan possesses the ultimate gift; he speaks the truth, come what may. Shahrukh, who is naturally given to twitches and that hyper-buzz of excessive energy, channels it very effectively to portray Rizwan.

A slimmer Kajol, who is seen with SRK after many years, glows with effervescent feel-goodness, like she always has. Now Kajol, who may not in truth be the most beauteous of all women, is still a cinematographer?s dream, conveying with that one raised uni-brow all that is required of her, and more. In fact I must applaud the entire cast, from the very in-your-face Navneet Nishan, to Sonya Jehan (playing the brother's wife), to Zarina Wahab to make this film what it is.

But there are problems. While Johar is well-intentioned, he does not quite succeed in maintaining the balance between ?realism? and his brand of fantasy. Thus Rizwan, who we already love, and do, because he is caught just like the rest of his us, in an unforgiving world, is caricature-ishly turned into a super-hero of sorts when he goes into savior mode, rescuing stranded Americans from their flooded town (incident inspired by Katrinagate ?). Not only that, but his family and friends too follow him into the flooded waters pretty easily, but hey, the US Coast Guard, or FEMA cannot/will not get through. A most definite no-no, and very, very hard to believe, this flight of fantasy ruined the delicate balance of the film, and takes the quality down a couple of notches.

Other than that, this film has strong direction and some very beautiful songs. I must also mention that it pays tribute to the classic "Jaane bhi do yaaron" via it's much loved anthem "Hum honge kamyaab" (which is actually based on this song). MNIK packs enough star power to ensure that it does well at the box-office; for a one-time watch, this film will do.

Kid-wise : This flm has some pretty violent scenes involving kids, make this film unsuitable for younger children. Allusions to the sexual act although nothing overt is shown, might bring up questions in curious minds. Also unless your children are well-informed on world issues, racial/religious tensions, some of this film might go right above thier heads.