There are many reasons to look forward to Subhash Ghai’s upcoming musical, Yuvvraaj. For one, we will get to see Salman Khan and his girlfriend Katrina Kaif on screen after three years. And then, there is the brilliant A R Rahman, who provides the film’s music.

More on:Rediff Specials

Ghai’s confidence in YUVRAAJ

Ghai is supremely confidant of his Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer, YUVRAAJ. As per Ghai himself, the big budgeted musical (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar) will show that he is still way ahead of others in showbiz.

More on: Glamsham

Prague sets Katrina’s heart racing!

But good friend Salman Khan need not lose his cool or his shirt yet. The actress has not fallen in love with a guy, rather it’s the beautiful Prague — where she had recently been shooting for Subhash Ghai’s Yuvraaj — that has set her heart racing.

More on: Indiatimes

I am a little unprofessional

“This is the third time I have worked with Katrina. We earlier did “Partner” and “Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya”, both of which were comedies but we weren’t paired with each other. She was opposite Govinda and Sohail Khan. But in “Yuvraaj”, she’s been paired with me,” says Salman.

More on:Masala.com

Katrina married to Salman!

Katrina and Salman took ‘Saath Phere’ and everyone witnessed this ceremony where real life couple actually getting married for the reel. Earlier many filmmakers tried to showcase their chemistry in a movie but failed to do so as Salman and Katrina were adamant not to display their love in public to promote any of their films.

More on:Bollywood Mantra

Yuvraaj - A little More Than Just a Review!

Yuvraaj music was perhaps one of the most awaited music album of the year as it marked the two titans subhash ghai and A.R.Rahman joining hands after Taal ( not counting Kisna) . That it will be released so silently was never expected but Ghai has his own style. I logged into orkut to see members blasting forums with reviews of Yuvraaj music .

More on:Shouvik-S-Mazumdar

Subash Ghai back with Yuvraaj

After legendry Raj Kapoor, Subash Ghai has been given title of Showman of India. His movies have larger canvas and his characters in the movie are larger then life image. He has given so many movies, which Indian Cinema is proud of.

More on:MSN

Jahan Bakshi, Nowrunning ”Can someone quickly hand us a long piece of rope so that we may hang Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra together on the nearest tree and spare millions of Bollywood fans further agony from this troika’s simian antics on the screen.
Oops, we almost forgot to tighten the noose around the neck of the worst actor in the Milky Way - who else but Buffoon Deol a.k.a. Bobby Deol, who makes a brief appearance in this horror of a flick…”

Searchindia Blogs “Dostana is exactly as you’d expect from the trailers. Shilpa Shetty pops up wearing a bikini, Priyanka Chopra makes Neal’N'Nikki leftovers look very good indeed, and John Abraham’s bottom plays a starring role. In between, there’s a plot cobbled from I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, and a surprisingly broad Jhoom Barabar Jhoom feel given to Abhishek Bachchan, who inevitably does much better this time around…”

Raja Sen, Rediff Movies “… The screen chemistry between the Abhishek-Priyanka-John trio is palpably cozy. Priyanka Chopra looks gorgeous and is perfectly poised in her performance. She never under-acts or goes over-the-top. John has more to show-off than his chiseled physique. He is easygoing in his role of the dominant male. Abhishek Bachchan is splendid in his sissy act (in the initial reels) and even otherwise is impressive. Bobby Deol thankfully underplays his character. Boman Irani is accurate in his gay act though his petty portion was avoidable. Kirron Kher repeats the Om Shanti Om act with precision…”

Gaurav Malani, Indiatimes Movies

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian ”So, if Quantum of Solace lacks Casino Royale’s narrative drive, and is less than the sum of its parts, those parts are often terrific. See it for them, and see it for Craig’s fully-formed Bond: angry, icily unsentimental, and fleetingly borderline psychotic at the close.”

Mark Monahan, Telegraph “Quantum Of Solace is a crushing disappointment. Try as you might, you’ll be unable to invest in any of the characters – now Bond’s heart has been broken, it’s like nothing ever changed and the character exists simply to get to the next location and car chase and gun fight.”

The Shiznit “…for the most part the villainy rightly takes a back seat to Bond’s emotional journey.”

Lizo Mzimba, BBC

Aparajita Ghosh | apun ka choice Also, the ramp walks could have been done with slightly more élan and subtlety. Eventually, the evocative screenplay decides to give its fallen heroine a second chance. But that seems more like cinematic liberty. Bhandarkar takes us through a labyrinth of emotions, some devastating in their gut-level directness. But at the end, we come away with a film that gives us something to hold on to permanently even as the characters on screen lose practically everything worth holding on to. A truly outstanding film.
IANS | indiainfo There is always some kind of excitement over Madhur Bhandarkar movies… the only reason for this is, he chooses the topics which no one has thought of… I really appreciate his choice of subjects but what I do not like is, he gets lost too much into the subject and this affects the movie badly… it had happened with his recent movie Traffic Signal and it is happening again with Fashion.. The story is pretty straight forward.

Deep | Deeps Home

Roadside Romeo is no ordinary film in today’s Indian cinema. Perhaps Bollywood’s first fully animated film built on pure fiction (you see Hanuman may not necessarily be pure fiction), Roadside Romeo rocks with every dog, cat, municipal van, train, steamer boat and what not!

Animation is absolutely neat by Indian standards. Considering the small budgets we work on (compared to international industry standards), I’d say its fantastic.

Voiceovers provided by Saif and Kareena are alright considering they’re the usual hero and heroine who fall in love. What scores very heavily in favour of the movie is Charlie Anna’s characterization. He plays the villain and a very daaaangerous one, mind it! Jaaved Jaaferi’s voice brings life to Charlie beyond the script. You can’t help laughing each time Charlie Anna comes into the frame.

The plot is pretty ordinary. Dog meets bitch, falls in love but she has a mafia boss trying to woo her. We’ve seen it many a times…..predictable and boring. What makes Roadside Romeo special is the treatment to the film in 3 departments primarily.

Charactertisation is fantastic in case of Charlie Anna and Romeo. Both are wonderfully dissimilar and have their own special style. The cool, sexy, stylish Romeo pitted versus the rough, ugly, paunchy Charlie……..works wonders.

Dialogues I felt were incredible. Quite a bit are lifts from hindi films over the years, but they’ve been inserted at the perfect spot in the narrative which makes it a laugh riot.

Every animated film depends hugely on the quality of voices that are given to the character. In international animations, the top artistes of the country lend their voices to animated characters, a trend which began in India with Shah Rukh lending his voice for Mr.Laajawab (The Incredibles in Hindi). Jaaved Jaaferi’s voiceover for Charlie, Vrajesh Hirjee for Guru, Tanaaz Irani for Mini and Sanjay Mishra for Chamcha really stand out for their voice over’s. I was in splits everytime Chamcha said something.

Roadside Romeo is a must watch for exceptional voiceovers, superb dialogue inserts and great characters.

Director Samir Karnik hasn’t been celebrating a lot in the past, with Kyon Ho Gaya Na and Nanhe Jaisalmer getting bad grades in the critics’ report card. Though this time we can expect something more exciting, especially with an ensemble of actors which can be good fun to expect.

One good part is the music, which is by Monty Sharma and Sajid-Wajid, who have their brilliant work showcased already.

Synopsis of Heros:

Sammy and Ali are two bosom pals. Everything they do, they do together and are highly dependent on each other. While Sammy is an eccentric, high-spirited and has an uncanny knack of finding humor in the weirdest of situations, Ali is quieter and more mature. When the two friends travel a thousand miles to deliver three letters as a part of their film school assignment, little do they know that the journey that they have embarked on will give them a new meaning of life.

“What happened to the much awaited funnier, nastier and deadlier? Wasn’t it releasing this Friday?”, is the question on every masala-bound, fanatic Bollywooder’s mind. So the film has been mostly planned to be released on the 31st of October, which will be the last streak for diwali.

The silm ‘in the news’ Kareena was the incentive for the audiences as they were bored of reading articles on her slimming routine. The ravishing bebo makes a comeback along with Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Celina Jaitley, Amrita Arora, Anjana Sukhani and Paresh Rawal. Now thats the perfect multi-starrer!

Golmaal Returns promises to tickle you on every dialogue as every star mingles with the other to create a starship of humor. So all Bollywood fans, although it didn’t make it this Friday, next one for sure.

It is Jugal Hansraj who anticipated a strong potential for a purely Indian animated theme. Jugal thinks that if the animation is killer and the theme is appropriate, why won’t it rock the audiences? Looks like he’s taken the perfect steps till now. Planned a Disney venture, voices by Saif, Kareena and Jaaved Jaffery. This itself makes it worth a watch.

Best of luck to the team of Roadside Romeo. Can’t miss this one, what about you?

It features solid performances from a committed cast, a timely story that plunges into the murk of the Middle East, and a director who seriously wants to understand and capture on film all of the nuances, complexities, double-crosses and dangers our war against terror has ignited overseas.

Christopher Smith | Bangor Daily News (Maine)

There always seems to be a gunfight, torture, or fireball explosion to keep you mindlessly entertained.

Dennis Schwartz | Ozus’ World Movie Reviews

Body of Lies is the movie Syriana and The Kingdom wanted to be.

Stephen Silver | The Trend

Obnoxiously typical, and only its pointlessly convoluted series of double crosses in the middle even gives it the semblance of drama.

Tim Brayton | Antagony & Ecstasy

Just because Leonardo DiCaprio gets worked like a speed bag doesn’t mean Ridley Scott isn’t pulling the punches he usually packs. It’s emotionless chaos that’s more like “Collateral Damage,” less a film weighing what collateral damage really means.

Nick Rogers | Suite101.com

It looks really good and has really great acting in it, [but it] doesn’t amount to much in the end, emotionally.

Eric Melin | Scene-Stealers.com

Lipika Varma | Sanskriti Media & Entertainment via AOL First up, I haven’t read Chetan Bhagat’s “One Night @ the Call Center”. So rest assured, there’s no “book better than movie” verdict in this review. Before going in for this Bollywood disaster, I read that director Atul Agnihotri stated he’d stop making films if “Hello” didn’t perform well – or something like that. My opinion, he should seriously stop, regardless of the strange ways of the Indian box office.

Vinita Bharadwaj | masala.com And now coming to the acting, Sohail Khan and Sharman Joshi were the only two actors who made this movie a little interesting or atleast for me to give the movie one star. Everyone else were wasted. On the whole, Hello is the cheapest way to reach hell and come back. Beware of this movie and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Author at Gyanguru | gyanguru.org I always wondered when audiences complained how cinematic adaptations of international bestsellers never reached up to the preconceived expectations of the literary work. Back in India we never encountered a similar scenario since filmmakers barely attempted adapting contemporary literature. But with Hello director Atul Agnihotri reinstated the theory of prose over picture.

Gaurav Malani, | Indiatimes Movies

With the festive season approaching, Pune gets ready for yet another cinematic extravaganza. Presenting the 6th Asian Film Festival at Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. .

The Festival will start from Thursday, 16th October to Thursday, 23rd October 2008. Three locations will host AFF this time:

• CityPride Multiplex (Kothrud)
• National Film Archive Theatre (Prabhat Road)
• Dhruva Auditorium at the Indira Universe Campus (Wakad)

Some highlights of the festival:

• Spectrum Asia: Exclusive 50 films from China, Japan, Israel, Iran, Taiwan, Srilanka, Thailand, Egypt, Bhutan, Mangolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon. It will include latest films made during 06-08.
• Indian Vista: Indian Films made during last two years presenting a mix of regional languages.
• Sark Special: Special package of best films from Sark countries is attraction of this year.
• Asian Masters: Asian cinema, was put on the world cinema map by master directors in Asia. This section will feature, those classic films from various countries.
• Retrospective: Retro of world known Director’s films will be attraction of the festival.
• My Marathi : In this section of Marathi cinema, 7 best films of last year & Some New releases will be screened.
• Zenith Asia Award: This award has been instituted from last three years. Hon. Aparna Sen, Iranian director Hon. Mazid Majidi & Hon. Yash Chopra were recipent of this award.
• Focus: Many asian films do not get screened in India. Focus section is devoted to such asian countries.

BookEazy is the official online partner of the 6th Asian Film Festival. Schedules will be displayed online on 15th of October.

Click here to register yourself, now!

No prizes for guessing that Dostana is about Friendship and Love. Director Tarun Mansukhani take on what inspired Dostana,

Having studied in boarding school, friends have always been an integral part of my life. So, when I ventured into the mortifying territory of writing a script of my first film, I felt no other story was closer to me than that of friendship. Having achieved that clarity, it hit me that friendship is just like love. Unexplainable, Complicated and Unpredictable.

Synopsis:
When Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan) and Kunal (John Abraham) are turned down for an apartment because the land lady doesn’t want 2 strapping young men to corrupt her young sexy niece Neha (Priyanka Chopra), they go to plan “G” – they pretend to be “Gay” to secure the apartment.

All is well till they meet the sexy siren Neha and thus begins a journey of fun, frolic and a test of friendship like never before.

Vishal & Shekhar’s music is climbing the charts already and I couldn’t resist setting Jaane Kyu as my ringtone A young fresh and happening look, Dostana seems to have all the right ingredients for a box office hit.

See the pretty-pretty Dostana Official Site.

Khalid Mohamed | Hindustan Times Most Pakistani films are synonymous with loud acting, garish sets and blood-n-gore. But Khuda Kay Liye earlier and Ramchand Pakistani now signify the changing times, the changing outlook, the changing mindset. Ramchand Pakistani is a simple story, a true story in fact, of a kid and his father crossing the LOC and being held captive in an Indian prison.

Taran Adarsh | Bollywood Hungama via Oneindia ‘Ramchand Pakistani’,based on a true story, tells it like it is, without embroidery or excess. And that is debutant director Mehreen Jabbar’s film’s real strength. The village in which Ramchand (Syed Fazal Hussain) lives with his father Shankar (Rashid Farooqui) and mother Champa (Nandita) is all mud huts and abject poverty.

Shubhra Gupta | Indian Express After Khuda Kay Liye, comes Ramchand Pakistani. What’s heartening is the fact that this film too tells a compelling story culled from today’s headlines and proves that change is indeed the cornerstone of Pakistani cinema currently. The film deals with the topical issue of cross-border prisoners who are languishing in jails, both in India and Pakistani, often, for no reason at all.

Nikhat Kazmi | Times of India

Awesome is the word! I am all admiration. And this is after reading a negative review just before I left for the multiplex.

Action starts right from the word go. Ok, the very first one is some leg-shaking action (which is not at all bad), but kidnap comes soon after, and without much ado. Imran very well created the image of a young man who was victimized when he was a kid, and of an intelligent, determined kidnapper. Nothing chocolaty about him here.

The photography, the outdoors, the indoors are great. Suspense is binding, and events are not at all predictable. Action, particularly of Sanjay chasing Imran is nail biting. Sanjay is fatter than his stories of weight loss had us believe. Music and dance numbers are very good and should be here to stay. Story is convincing, though the ‘clues’ left me clueless. But the story telling made up for the loss and filled in the gaps. The message is loud and clear — don’t be unjust to kids, even if one’s own kid is involved. Marital problems (which get sorted out) are also thrown in.

The critic had criticized Imran for his accent. But to me it appeared well suited to his role. His expressions are awe inspiring. He had also objected to dressing of the women. But I think the heroine had a right to show off her flat, muscular stomach. What a fit body! It can be interpreted as rightful display of feminine beauty, don’t see what was wrong with that. And critic has no business to demand how the kidnapped girl got her wardrobe all the dresses there. Film, stupid!

The critic had given me an impression that the story would be disjointed, patchy as bad movies have. But nothing like that. All and all, it was a very engaging movie. I enjoyed it a lot.

Drona is a superhero. A clichéd story, his powers unknown to him, one secret carefully camouflaged by the universe, blah blah. Until she enters the scene. Baujee’s very own Priyanka Chopra. Whats with Baujee? The only entertaining part was when Priyanka is persistent at saying, “Baujee kaha karte the..”. After every frame whenever she is wants to speak anything, she’d start as, “Baujee kaha karte the..”. Later it became so funny that the audience would start as, “Baujee…” before Priyanka’s every dialogue!

The superhero is a dimwit first, so we think, “now he’ll realize his powers”. After an hour we think again “now…”, by the end of the first half he declares, “guys, I’ve realized all that jazz”. After the interval, he still hasn’t realized his powers. By the end of the movie, I guess Goldie didn’t have a choice. But still, I don’t know how, the villain (KK Menon) wins! This is preposterous!

The special effects are so corny, reminds you the superhero movies of the 70s. At least there used to some originality in those times despite the limitations.

The only scene that could be still called ‘not bad’ - The train chase. Very nicely done, Goldie Behl should focus on movies devoted to action. Rather than making Dronas with scenes in the middle that take away your patience.

Priyanka is beautiful, but you will want to see her in better, more meaningful roles. Same goes for KK’s adroit expressiveness. I really have no comments for Abhishek and Jaya Bachchan. I think I’ve thrashed this movie enough, please don’t feel its due to any grudges, probably because the tickets were priced at 200..

Still, you can -

Yes..! Here’s the inescapable bunch of flicks for the coming week!

Drona

Cast:
Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan

Synopsis:
From the times, when time itself was a newborn babe, the universe has kept one secret carefully camouflaged within its folds. A secret, which if unraveled, could unlock the destruction of mankind and the entire cosmos. Today, only one man can protect the universe’s precious secret and thus, save the human race from absolute annihilation.

[ Book your tickets for Drona ]

Kidnap

Cast:
Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Minissha Lamba, Vidya Malvade, Rahul Dev, Reema Lagoo

Synopsis:
From Sanjay Gadhvi, the master directors of mega blockbusters like Dhoom and Dhoom: 2, Kidnap is a high octane edge of the seat drama about a power tussle between a young boy and the father of the girl he kidnaps.
Sonia (Minissha Lamba - Bachna Ae Haseeno) lives with her mother, Mallika (Vidya Malvade - Chak Dey India) and grandmother because her parents divorced when she was ten. A week before her eighteenth birthday celebration, she gets kidnapped.
The abductor, Kabir (Imran Khan - Jaane… Tu Ya Jaane Na) is interested in speaking only to her father, Vikrant Raina (Sanjay Dutt), an affluent New York based Indian businessman, with whom he has an old score to settle.
Vikrant returns to India to retrieve his daughter from Kabir’s clutches but has to carry out a series of daunting tasks set out by Kabir as a condition to rescue her. At the end of each task is a clue that helps Vikrant in coming closer to Sonia.
Is his mission as easy as it seems? How far will a father go to save his daughter? What redemption is there for Kabir at the end?
Sanjay Dutt’s first release of 2008, co starring the latest teen sensation, Imran Khan, Kidnap makes for compelling viewing as the big festival release on Eid. It features music by Pritam.

[ Book your tickets for Kidnap ]

Ramchand Pakistani

Cast:
Nandita Das, Noman Ijaz, Navaid Jabbar, Syed Fazal Hussain, Adarsh Ayaz

Synopsis:
Ramchand Pakistani is derived from a true story concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period (June 2002) of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the ‘untouchable’ (Dalit) caste, and the extraordinary consequences of this unintended action upon the lives of a woman, a man, and their son.
The singular theme of the film is how a child from Pakistan aged eight years learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner, along with his father in the jail of a country i.e. India, which is hostile to his own, while on the other side of the border, the wife-mother, devastated by their sudden disappearance builds a new chapter of her life, by her solitary struggle for sheer survival.
The film portrays the lives of a family that is at the bottom of a discriminatory religious ladder and an insensitive social system, which is nevertheless tolerant, inclusive and pluralist. The irony is compounded by the fact that such a family becomes hostage to the acrimonious political relationship between two neighbor-states poised on the brink of war.

[ Book your tickets for Ramchand Pakistani ]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Cast:
Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones, Luke Goss

Synopsis:
After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it’s up to the planet’s toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it’s time to call in Hellboy. Along with his expanding team in the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense–pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz, aquatic empath Abe and protoplasmic mystic Johann–the BPRD will travel between the surface strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become corporeal. And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who’s accepted by neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny that beckons him.

[ Book your tickets for Hellboy II: The Golden Army ]

Flashbacks of a Fool

Cast:
Daniel Craig, Helen McCrory, Olivia Williams, Emilia Fox, Harry Eden, Angie Ruiz

Synopsis:
A hedonistic British actor’s Hollywood career is starting to nosedive as he hits his 40s. The death of his best friend from his English seaside childhood causes him to journey back home for the funeral, and prompts flashbacks to the tragedy that forced him to flee for a new life.

…If you’re one of those who is long done with cheap imitations of super hit Hollywood blockbusters, then you better stay away as this one’s certainly not for you! The only thing that will come to your mind if you chance upon to catch this one would be - for how long will we be subject to stupid remakes and rehashes of Hollywood diasporas. … Spicezee Bureau [ Zee News ]
… The set-up is contrived. Even though approximately thirty percent of the film is a direct lift, the directors still manage to mess up every scene. To make it seem like its different, instead of a single child being left behind, a boy and a girl are left behind. It is beyond comprehension as to how in a family of ten children, the littlest, the ones most doted on, can be forgotten at home. If the Home Alone series managed to make everything believable, this film makes even the plausible look impossible… Sanskriti Media [ Aol.com ]
…The directors of this show could not put the entertainment element aptly in this movie, which was required to make it a big entertaining kiddie film. Result: A mammoth lackluster at the box office…a poor upshot in every sense of the word. Wonder…what happened to the directors when they passed this script to make the movie on..? Did they not know that today’s kid is much smarter to figure out what is good or what is bad..? … Iqbal Goher [ Radio Sargam ]
…Movie studios are big on protecting their intellectual property, which is certainly understandable — but sometimes they come down too hard. Take this new case. Warner Bros. is suing to stop the Indian release of a domestic film called Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors. Why? Because Hari Puttar is close to Harry Potter… Eugene Novikov [ Cinematical ]
… Hari Puttar is getting released this week after much controversy because of its name similarity with .. yes you guessed it right Harry Potter . Based on the promos Hari Puttar scripts looks to be a bad copy of Home Alone , earlier Bollywood werer copying scripts but showing some creatvitiy in name and tagline now they are copying everything. Creativity is going down the drain day by day… Veresh [ Crux of Bollywood ]

So don’t wait anymore.

Here is what Sanjay Gadhvi has to say about the cast:

In the search to cast this film appropriately, Sanjay Dutt was the only actor that Shibani and I could think of to play the part of Vikrant Raina. Had he refused the film, there would be no Kidnap.
For the role of Kabir I was clear in my mind that I wanted a very young looking actor … almost a boy.
It took me 3 seconds to decide on Imran Khan for the part, when I saw him for the first time. And as I see Kidnap take its final shape, I see that I was not wrong at all.

“Does committing a crime make you a criminal?” forms the theme of the film.

Synopsis:

Vikrant Raina’s only child, Sonia has been kidnapped. The kidnapper(Kabir) does not demand a ransom; instead he wants to play a game.
The game requires Raina to be on the run and complete a series of tasks. If Raina completes every task successfully his daughter lives, but if he leaves even one task incomplete …
What will Raina do in a world where all his money and power mean nothing

Unlike the non-violent, cho-chweet character that Imran played in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Kidnap showcases his “violent streak” Playing a negative role in his second movie, Imran shows us that the new generation of Bollywood dares to be different.
Going by the trailers, I think he is going to woo the audiences yet again.

Visit the Official website of Kidnap.