Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Mini-reviews, part 10.

Once upon a time in the land of lazy blogging, long long ago, I drew up a list of every Indian film I'd watched up until that point (the overall sum came just under 200 those days), randomized it and started posting "mini reviews", short reviews on what I thought of each film, in batches of ten.

This is the tenth installment in the series. Enjoy!



91. Johny Mera Naam (1970) - I watched this Vijay Anand thriller quite early in my Hema loving days, and I don't quite recall what my problems with it were, to be honest. Perhaps it's that I'm just not that in love with Dev Anand as an actor, but I do recall enjoying the cute songs and Hema of course. Time for a rewatch? Possibly.


92. Singh Is Kinng (2008) - Remember when Akshay was the box office king? This was then. I enjoyed it, being down with a cold while watching and all, because as inane as SIK, there was something about the Akki-Kat jodi and I still think fondly of the hilarious climax scene (I won't spoil it, but it's action-packed, it's romantic, and it's just fun).

93. Jhumroo (1961) - My CD of Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi had the soundtrack of Jhumroo as well, so I had to watch it after falling in love with the songs. It was okay, but Chalti and Half-ticket are definitely the more recommendable Madhubala-Kishore comedies of their time.

94. Indra (2002) - My first taste of Chiranjeevi, the king of Telugu cinema. I was not in love, but neither did I dislike the film. It's a perfectly passable, fun Southie masala. I blogged about it at length here.



95. Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) - Wonderful memorable classic. Makes cricket seem interesting even if you know nothing about it. I love it, though I always forget how much, until I rewatch it again.

96. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) - Charming oldie comedy where Ashok Kumar inforces a "no girls allowed" rule to a car repair shop, Kishore Kumar goofily breaks this rule by cavorting with the stunning Madhubala, and many memorable tunes are sung. Gem!

97. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) - Gandhigiri for the new generation; feel-good classic with the second outing of Sanjay Dutt as the nation's most beloved goonda. Get well soon, corrupt politicians and the like. If you missed this one, watch it, watch it now.

98. Lal Patthar (1971) - Hema Malini's own favourite out of all of her roles. I found it interesting, but loathed the treatment of Raj Kumaar's character and all that he is forgiven for. I blogged about it at length here.

99. Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) - I used to like this film a lot, as it was cute and my introduction to  Saif Ali Khan. Nowadays, well.. not so much.



 100. Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (2001) - This is the little comedy that could. Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Sonali Bendre, Twinkle Khanna and Saif Ali Khan star in this slightly off-beat situational comedy that rather won me over when I first watched it in the middle of my worst Saif enthusiasm. Check it out if you're curious but be warned, I'm not entirely sure how well it holds up. I do recall Johnny Lever being exceptionally good in this, and actually funny!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you watch any Chiranjeevi movie, go with Yamudiki Mogudu! Chiru is young and an even better dancer back then: plus this is funny, fanciful, and has great songs.

I like some of his more recent stuff, but the 1980s Megastar is hard to beat.

veracious said...

Anon - Thanks for the rec!

Filmbuff said...

Lal pathar is in my "towatch pile".

Anonymous said...

I watched Indra partly because of your longer review and enjoyed it, and your semi-thumbs up on SIK on Bollywhat encouraged me to give that one a try, and I rather liked it as well. (Now THAT was an epic wedding ceremony...)

So, uh, belated thank you :)

veracious said...

Filmbuff - Hope you enjoy it!

odadune - SIK had some questionable elements for sure, but I just cannot forget about that climax! Teri Ore is also one song I still listen to from that movie. Glad you liked it!