By ASHISH MITRA

Indiantelevision.com Team (13 June 2009 5:45 pm) MUMBAI: The Bollywood strike may have ended, but the door has opened for a problem of plenty as producers rush for a release pipeline. More than 90 films are lined up for release in exactly 30 week’s time before the year ends. That means an average of three releases per week to accommodate a stockpile, spurring producers to work out plans to beat the clutter and avoid internal clashes so as to maximise revenue for all. Read more.

Now after the four months of negotiations and two months of strike in which hardly any films had been released, the producer-mutliplex owner blood feud could be finally resolved on Friday, the 5th June. The two parties reached a consensus over the rationalisation of revenue sharing for forthcoming films and -  a colourful variety of films is getting released from 12th June onwards. It feels like a whole over-kill of releases is coming up, starting with Big pictures-Vashu Bhagnani co-produced ‘Kal Kissne Dekha’ and Mithun Chakraborty starrer ‘Zor Laga Ke Haiya’.

The meeting between the two parties was held at the Yash Raj Studios and the deal was first inked by Big cinemas represented by its chairman Amit Khanna.  The final settlement is 50, 42, 35 and 30 percent for the first, second, third and fourth week respectively for all movies and 52, 45, 38 and 30 percent respectively for all blockbuster movies that manage to collect more than Rs17.5 crore (USD3.5 million) only at the six leading multiplex chains, meaning PVR, Big, Inox, Fame, Cinemax and Fun.

Mad Professor Marks: 6.5 out of 10

Although the idea is taken from LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI, the solid execution of the idea makes it still the best Marathi film of 2009 so far.

In LAGE RAHO the spirit of Gandhi appeared to a love-sick mafiosi and in ME SHIVAJI RAJE BHOSALE BOLTOY (MSRBB) it is the spirit of legendary Maharashtrian 17th century king Shivaji Maharaj who first blasts and then inspires bank clerk Dinkar Bhosle , a typical middleclass Marathi Manoo who curses his fate of having been born a Maharashtrian. Although the script uses several clichés like the corrupt cop, underworld threats and a pre-climax typically set in the villain’s godown, the solid performance by Mahesh Manjrekar as King Shivaji, the brilliant performance by Sachin Khedekar as Dinkar Bhosle and the insightful dialogues by Mahesh Manjrekar/Sanjay Pawar make this film – at least for an Indian and NRI-audience – highly enjoyable! Difficult to say if it works for a Non-Indian audience… Would be happy to receive your feedback!

What?! Enfant Terrible Anurag Kashyap’s DEV D, a modern take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic Bengal novel Devdas got released 6th Feb and GULAAL on 13th March? Is this guy ever sleeping??! This release date is due to the fact that GULAAL was completed 2006 (!!) and its release delayed for various reasons.

GULAAL tells the story of a separitist movement in the fictitious town Rajpur, student politics, power struggle and betrayal. Kay Kay Menon as Dukey Bana is so sensationally good that many industry insiders believe that if GULAAL would have been released in 2006 not only Kay Kay Menon’s career would have taken off in a much different way but it would even left its impact on the entire industry and many young filmmakers. Three years later GULAAL has arrived. For India’s young generation the work of Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bhardwaj (MAQBOOL, OMKARA) is the future of Indian filmmaking, other viewers – like most of my Western friends – do prefer old-fashioned/emotional films like RAB NE BANA DI JODI when it comes to Hindi films – as a change to the Western diet.  The choice is all yours.

Mad Professor Marks: 7.5 out of 10

Javeed Akthar and Saleem Khan became the first rockstars of Indian scriptwriting way back in the 70s when they made Amitabh Bachchan into India’s Young Angry Man.  As the legacy continues Javeed Akthar’s son Farhan came out with rockin’ debut DIL CHAHTA HAI as director/writer  in 2001, and then went on to become a celluloid rockstar, playing one of the lead roles in last year’s ROCK ON. Farhan’s elder sister Zoya casts in her debut as director/writer lil Farhan and there comes a comedy which is not so much a satire on Bollywood as it is the emotional journey of aspiring actor Vikram/Farhan who comes to Mumbai to make it big time. The fantastic Konkorna Sen Sharma plays the female lead.

Bollywood-Star Hrithik Roshan plays Bollywood-Star Zaffar Khan. Bollywood stars and filmmakers including Aamir Khan, Sharukh Khan, Boman Irani, Rani Mukherjee, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Akshaya Khanna, Diya, Mirza, Shabana Azmi, Ranbir Kapoor and Rajkumar Hirani, Karan Johar make cameo appearances as themselves, Anurag Kashyap plays an aspiring scriptwriter.

LUCK BY CHANCE is Zoya Akthar’s debut but her story-telling is that of maturity and that of a fine irony. Several times it examines the Hindi film industry from an angle of feminine insight but even there with a certain feeling of detachment. Zoya Akthar knows her  two main characters through and through. Her heart-felt direction when it comes to her two protagonists, struggling actors Farhan Akthar and Konkorna Sen Sharma, is smoothly interlocked with the ironic view on the industry. The score by Shankar- Ehsaan-Loy is good but not outstanding and the dialogues/lyrics were written by Zoya Akthar’s father Javeed Akthar.

LUCK BY CHANCE is a very welcome change to the usual Bollywood diet with several hilarious moments and a strongly emotional main plot and marks the debut of a filmmaker to be looked out for.

Ok, yes, this is a remake, originality is truly scarce in Bollywood, but then again, at least it is a remake which turned out to be a truly good film.

“Shaurya” is Hindi for “valour”. SHAURYA, Samar Khan’s second film,  revolves around the lives of two close friends, Maj. Siddhant Chaudhary (Rahul Bose) and Maj. Aakash Kapoorboth (Javeed Jaffrey), both lawyers in the Indian army. Aakash’s future father-in-law puts him onto a prestigous case in Kashmir to boost his career and Siddhant talks his friend into getting posted there with him. As it turns out the ambitious Aakash becomes the prosecutor and the easy-going Siddhant the defender of Capt. Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal) who is accused of having killed his commanding officer.

Siddhant gets into trouble on the very first day when he gets fooled into giving away confidential data by journalist Kavya (Minissha Lamba) who boldly uses it to make news. For that Siddhant not only receives a serious blasting from the superior authorities, Kavya also made him realize that a human life lies in his hands and he has not even researched the case thoroughly. This is the beginning of a change in Siddhant’s personality which creates a certain distance to former best friend Aakash and ultimately leads him to a court showdown with Brigadier Pratap (Kay Kay Menon), a highly decorated officer with a narcissistic obession for power. What makes things even more difficult is that the accused Captain remains silent.

The stunning performances by Kay Kay Menon and Deepak Dobriyal and good performances by Rahul Bose (MR. AND MRS. IYER, TAHAAN, BEFORE THE RAINS, DIL KABADDI) and Javeed Jaffrey go hand in hand with a solid direction.

Mad Professor Marks: 6.5 out of 10

Woah! Never ever could have imagined that I am rating a Sharukh Khan movie higher than an Aamir Khan-starrer! Anyway, as in 2007 both had a really good film in the theatres (TAARE ZAMEEN PAR and CHAK DE!), Dec 2008 brings us Aamir all biceps and SRK in a highly emotional romcom directed/written by Aditya Chopra with lyrics by Jaideep Sahni. This film produced by Yash Chopra is a typical Yash Raj production supplying high-pitched emotions for nearly 3 hrs. Sharukh Khan was reportingly quite nervous before the release, not surprising if one considers this not a cool and hip flick like Dhoom 1 & 2 or Golmaal 1 & 2. It is rather an old-fashioned film about shy and introverted husband who finally succeeds in winning the heart of his wife Taa. Austrian friends of mine saw it and were delighted “that such movies are still made”. You will either love it or hate it!

SRK is shy, introverted, and kind-hearted Suri “I work for Punjab Power”, a nerd and clerk par excellence. By matter of circumstances Suri and Taani (newcomer Anoushka Sharma), the pretty daughter of his former professor end up getting married in an arranged marriage according to her father’s last wish and arrive after a hasty wedding at Suri’s ancestral home in Amritsar.   While his good nature leads Suri to treat her with exceptional care and patience, he is too shy to express his feelings. Suri’s best friend, a barber called Bobby (VINAY PATHAK!!!) functions as a comic sidekick and does so very well.

As Taani starts taking dance classes, Suri takes help from his friend Bobby to become an all-new and cool bigmouth Raj, Taani’s dance partner.

RNBDJ is definitely a film for the villages, for the big masses of India and less for the hip urban crowds of colleges and IT companies. It mirrors a lot of Indian traditional values and culture and takes you on a colorful rollercoaster ride of typical Yash Raj entertainment. At the Box Office it did exceedingly well.

All in all an ok-experience.

After 12 yrs the duo Anupm Kher and Naseeruddin Shah  returns to the screen, here with Anupam Kher as an about-to-retire Police Commissioner narrating a sequence of events that unfolded on a particular Wednesday and with Naseeruddin Shah being a calm and dignified terrorist having placed five bombs at sensitive places all over Mumbai on just that very Wednesday.

Neeraj Paney’s debut as director/writer is one of the several films which came out of the Bollywood film industry in the last three years and is so atypical for everything Bollywood stands for. A WEDNESDAY! does not only prove that there are young filmmakers creating intelligent and engaging  films but also that there is an audience for these breed of flicks out here!

Must-see!