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Tag: Akshay Kumar

  • The three runs (21km, 10km and 5km) of the Stayfree Women For Change DNA I Can Women's Half Marathon saw over 3800 women participating

    Over 3800 participate in DNA’s women half-marathon

    By A Correspondent

     

    Actor Akshay Kumar with radio jockey Malishika and fitness expert Mickey Mehta

    All roads in India’s new corporate district of the Bandra Kurla Complex led to the flag-off of the DNA women’s half-marathon on Sunday. It was the festive day of Mahashivratri, but that didn’t deter the 3800+ women who participated in the three runs (21km, 10km and 5km) which were part of the Stayfree Women For Change DNA I Can Women’s Half Marathon.

     

    Just the second edition of the event, the half-marathon drew participation from regulars in the running circuit as well as first-timers. Actor Akshay Kumar led a committed showbiz contingent at the event. While cheering participants, he said his key to fitness was getting to early to bed and rising early.

     

    Uttarakhand’s Kiran Tiwari from Western Railway won the Half marathon in 1 hour, 24 minutes. Ms Tiwari won a bronze medal in 2009 Asian Championships in China in the 3000 metre staple race. The others who followed Ms Tiwari were: Nilam Rajput (1:28:3), Nikite Nagpure (1:29:1), Rashmi Gurnule (1:33:6) and Sunite Wasghmode, (1:36:2).  In the 10 km run, the winners were: Supriya Patil (38:35:7), Heena Mali (39:10:9) and Priyanka Patil (40:43:0). And in the 5 km run, the winners were:  Teja Naik (21:22:7), Mrudula Bhande (24:37:5) and Rekha Haldipur (25:25:0) (Info source: DNA news report)

     

    Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree was presenting sponsor along with a host of partners and associates. SportzConsult executed the event.

     

  • Every week, Deepa Gahlot casts a critical eye over media reviews of Bollywood releases… in Reviewing the Reviews

    Reviewing the Reviews: Khiladi 786

    Khiladi 786

    Key Cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin

    Written By: Himesh Reshammiya

    Directed By: Ashish Mohan

    Produced By: Twinkle Khanna, Sunil Lulla, Himesh Reshammiya

     

    The common belief is that a certain kind of Bollywood commercial film is critic-proof, or a Housefull 2 or Rowdy Rathore would not have succeeded. But once in a while critics must feel vindicated, when a film like Khiladi 786 comes out, thumbs its nose at anything that spells sense, and is confident of its power over the masses.

     

    Critics pan it – with a couple of exceptions – and the ratings hover between 1 and 2. This film is not likely to hit the 100-crore mark, and it’s not because of the reviews; the audience got sick of having garbage thrown at it.

     

    Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express rants, “There is, of course, no plot. The attempt is to piggyback on the Khiladi brand that belongs to Akshay, marrying it to the currency of Chulbul from Dabangg. But when Akshay turns to us at the start of the film, having finished with a fight sequence, and declares – ‘The Khiladi Is Back’, I didn’t hear any clapping, though I did hear a few obligatory titters at the most distasteful parts (Akshay doing blackface is one). Lower the denominator as much as you want, you will always get some laughs. In the end, I was left looking at a straw to clutch. Any little thing. I found, dear viewer, none. Not. A. One.”

     

    Anupama Chopra of The Hindustan Times was unimpressed too, “All through, the funny bits were rare and mostly unintentional. Akshay swaggers above this messy material, which includes African-American characters and dancers in blackface. If I wasn’t so exhausted, I would have been offended. Box office figures suggest that many people enjoy this school of cheerfully moronic cinema, but Khiladi 786 really isn’t my idea of a good time.”

     

    Rajeev Masand of IBNLive commented, “Directed by first-timer Ashish Mohan, an erstwhile assistant of Rohit Shetty, Khiladi 786 is funny, but only in spurts. For the most part, it’s as enjoyable as watching a kitten struggle to shake off the firecracker that some mean kid tied to its tail. If you laugh, they’re probably guilty laughs – how can you be amused by such cruelty? At the receiving end of writer Himesh Reshammiya and director Ashish Mohan’s tasteless sense of humor are dwarves, handicapped people, and particularly foreigners who’re reduced to embarrassing racial stereotypes.”

     

    Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV was left cold. “Khiladi 786 has nothing new to offer. It is cut from the same cloth that has yielded many of Akshay Kumar’s recent vehicles. These films have sought to cash in on his rough and rowdy screen persona. Khiladi 786 does more of the same. In short, it is another outright assault on the senses. The comedy is crass, the acting borders on the slapstick, and the general air that hangs over the film is one of utter lunacy. The loudness is accentuated manifold by a ear-splitting background score.”

     

    Shubir Rishi of rediff.com gave it a low half star and wrote, “Debutant director Ashish R Mohan does try, but everything becomes dim and dull because of a really weak script, with unacceptable dialogues which are constantly in bad taste, and a single-finger synthesizer which is utilized for filling in as background score. This is no Rowdy Rathore, folks, this is just a gimmick. True, they did infuse it with a lot of other delightful innuendos, and some reference to comic books, but at the same time, ruined with unclever lines and expectant looks. This is a wannabe funny movie, an assault on our collective intellect.”

     

    Nandini Ramnath on Livemint commented, “The anything-goes movie is packed with so many random characters and even more random jokes that moments of inspired humour emerge out of the hodgepodge. Bahattar Singh, his father (Raj Babbar) and uncle (Mukesh Rishi) pretend to be policemen to impress the other side, as do Indu’s brother TTT (Mithun Chakraborty) and his hoods. A police inspector who is locked away for threatening to spill the beans loudly protests his treatment, saying he will “complain to Kejriwal”. The rest of the time, much of Bunty Rathore’s dialogue depends on rhyming words for laughs (bayko, the Marathi word for wife, is matched with psycho; Sikh with seekh kebab). It’s hardly enough to sustain the running length of 2 hours and 20 minutes, but you might just find yourself occasionally sniggering without meaning to.”

     

    Shabana Ansari of DNA observed, “Khiladi 786 is the kind of movie that critics pan and audiences lap up. Bahattar (72) Singh (yes, that is really Akshay’s name in the film) beats villains black and blue and makes walls crumble with just a single punch! What he can’t do is find himself a bride because of his reputation. When an out-of-work matrimonial agent (Himesh) offers to get him hitched to Indu (Asin), the spoilt sister of an underworld don Tatya Tendulkar (Mithun), both families pretend to come from respectable backgrounds. What ensues is as unbelievable as Akshay lip-syncing to Himesh’s songs.”

     

    Did anyone find any merit in the film? TOI’s Madhureeta Mukherjee did. “Debutant director Ashish R Mohan’s masala potboiler style is unmistakably reminiscent of his guru, Rohit Shetty’s films. There are flying cars, flying bodies, flying fists and a flying Singh too. He shows flair for comedy, but for a film titled Khiladi, it lacks hard-core action, heat and the adrenalin rush that is synonymous with Akshay’s Khiladi series (maybe intentionally). With a feel of hip-hop, rap, rock and our good ‘ol Burmanda, Himesh’s music pumps life and energy into the story. For those looking for some logic-less laughtime, groovy tunes topped with some todh-phodh – this one could bring some action to your weekend.”

     

  • Every week, Deepa Gahlot casts a critical eye over media reviews of Bollywood releases… in Reviewing the Reviews

    Reviewing the Reviews: Joker

    Joker

    Key Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha

    Written and Directed By: Shirish Kunder

    Produced By: Farah Khan, Akshay Kumar

     

    Joker jokes had started making the rounds on the net when the first promos came out. By then Shirish Kunder’s stock had already hit a low in Bollywood (for reasons other than his filmmaking) and it was as if people wanted to hate the film… and to make it easier, Kunder delivered a custom-made dud of epic proportions. No wonder everybody connected with the film deserted the sinking (space)ship. It’s an embarrassment the makers won’t be allowed to forget in a hurry.

     

    It got panned universally with one or 1.5 star ratings. Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror was one of the few relatively kind ones with 2.5 stars. He wrote, with uncharacteristic generosity . “I’ll give credit to Kunder for attempting to execute new (strictly relative to a mass Indian audience) ideas in a commercial set up. I found his last directorial venture Jaan-e-Mann good fun as well for its experiment in the mainstream. Unfortunately it didn’t work at the BO, and now I wonder about Joker. Let’s be perfectly clear that Joker is not for you if you’re over 12. This is a kids’ film and must be considered, ie reviewed, as one. That it has not been promoted as a children’s movie is confounding because surely the producers did not mean for it to be seen and enjoyed by thinking adults. Once you accept this, at a breezy 105 minutes, some sense can be made of this Joker.”

     

    Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times wrote, “Joker testifies to the power of the star in Bollywood. It is staggeringly inept. I can’t imagine that it was persuasive even as a concept. Yet it got made, in all likelihood because Akshay Kumar said yes. (Curiously, after making it, he disengaged from the project and didn’t do any promotion)….. The humour is so lame that it physically hurts and, by the second half, the film loses all semblance of coherence. The White House, the FBI, the Indian Army and aliens who look like vegetables with limbs make appearances.”

     

    Rajeev Masand of IBN Live commented, “It’s easy to write off Joker as a complete failure, but to give credit where it’s due, the film is less offensive than many Akshay Kumar films we’ve seen recently. Devoid of double-meaning dialogues and sexist jokes, there is stuff here that might have made for an engaging children’s film, had Kunder not fallen prey to that oldest mistake – of treating his audience like fools…. Joker unfolds briskly and predictably. Alas, just as you’re confronted with an unpredictable twist in the tale, the film comes to a screeching halt. Once again, an opportunity wasted. ”

     

    Shubhra Gupta of the Indian Express was left aghast. “At one point, a character in Joker says : sweet mother of god, what the hell is going on? In my humble opinion, he leaves it too late. I tried saying much the same as soon as the film opens, but I couldn’t get it passed my dropped jaw. Within a couple of minutes, the films establishes that it will connect the dots between a NASA scientist in search of aliens, and a village that fell off the map somewhere in the middle of India, and a bunch of ‘mad’ people. A NASA man in search of aliens? A village populated by ‘maniacs’ that fell off the map somewhere in the middle of India? Seriously? Could this be the film that would really be completely and entertainingly out of the box? I was all set to be regaled. But it was not to be, not once in its mercifully short run time of less than two hours.”

     

    Raja Sen of rediff.com scoffed, “So what happens if a film — one ostensibly in the guise of a comedy — doesn’t try too hard? The humour here isn’t grating, overdone, outrageous, offensive, excruciating, unwatchable. This, then, may just be an approach that could be called a step forward in an Akshay Kumar comedy if only the aforementioned humour wasn’t also nonexistent. There isn’t a single line in Kunder’s film that actually works, leaving us with a film that, while commendably brisk in a 100-minute package, refuses to get going at all.”

     

    Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV ranted, “Joker is a crude joke of a film that will leave you in tears unless you have a stomach strong enough to digest such unmitigated junk. Occasionally, trash does have its uses in the domain of entertainment. But when it decomposes and turns into putrid garbage, it stinks. Yes, Joker is a load of rubbish that belongs in the dump yard.

     

    The single star that the film gets is for the fact that Joker is probably the first mainstream comic fantasy made in Mumbai. That apart, it has nothing that remotely resembles a redeeming routine. Pity, even Chitrangada Singh’s Kaafirana dil can make no dent. What Joker delivers in the garbled guise of the genre plumbs such depths of vapidity that it stands no chance of ever coming up for air. The run time of the film is an hour and forty-five minutes. Thank God for small mercies. But even at that length, Joker is difficult to deal with.”

     

    Even Taran Adarsh of bollywoodhungama threw up his hands and called it a disaster. “Although the title may give an impression that it’s all about a funny guy trying to make people laugh, the fact is that this one’s about guys pretending to be aliens and how, eventually, they face an actual alien in the end. On the brighter side, the setting and structures look magical and to build an entire story around a desolate village must have been enchanting. But interesting concepts don’t necessarily translate into interesting films. Joker runs out of gas as soon as director Shirish Kunder establishes the plot, because neither does the comic quotient work, nor do the aliens [fake and actual] salvage the show. In fact, the film makes a mockery of everything you may have seen or heard of UFOs and aliens.”

     

    There’s always the TOI’s 2.5 to salvage egos. Srijana Mitra Das write, “Straight up - Joker arouses extreme passions. You’ll love it or hate it. It’s a totally off-the-wall entertainer powered by corny jokes, OTT filmi characters and tongue-in-cheek sequences. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll laugh out loud. If you don’t, it’s not for you.”

     

    The question then is: who is it for?

     

  • Hard Knocks: It could do well if briefs were concise and precise… perhaps in 140 characters!

    Anil Thakraney: Any one for brief briefs?

    By Anil Thakraney

     

    A firangi ad pal has come up with a fantastic idea: Clients and ad agency client servicing people should brief creative people only on Twitter. That, no other method should be used, and all current briefing formats must be junked. Brilliant! Because this means the suits will be compelled to tell their creative folks what the advertising needs to communicate in just 140 characters. And it will cut the temptation to file pages and pages of irrelevant info and put out excessive demands from an advert. This will result in sharp, focussed communications.

     

    I recall some years ago when I was in the advertising biz, I did recommend a similar sort of thing. I once bought a wad of tickets from a Mumbai BEST bus conductor. And then circulated the little tickets amongst the agency client servicing people and account planners, insisting that briefs must only be written on the back of the bus ticket. One brief per ticket. Of course, they were outraged. How can one state everything on that size of a paper, was the common protest. Yes, they missed the point completely. Which is the need to keep the brief simple and single-minded, state one promise that the ad must deliver on, and remove all the so-called secondary data, which planners and suits feel very tempted to load on. And which is not just unnecessary, it confuses the hell out of creative people.

     

    Well, no need for bus tickets any more. Technology has provided the answer. Tell your creative people in 140 characters what the ad must communicate and who it should address. If you can do this, chances are very high you’ll get a much better creative output. And if you refuse to tweet and continue to dart out large e-mails, then don’t blame your creative people for coming up with laundry garbage.

     

    Now let me sum up the above column in exactly 140 characters and you’ll notice it still works! No reason a brief should not.

    My tweet: “Mr Suit: Tell me who the target audience is. The brand promise. The desired brand personality. The media vehicles. And then leave me alone!”

    Happy tweeting!

     

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    PS: Loved it that hunky star Akshay Kumar chucked the empty ciggie pack back into the face of the car driver who had carelessly thrown it on to the street. We must all learn from Akshayji. Just one question: How did the hero manage to grab a picture of the incident? Does he take his publicist along wherever he goes? Hmmm.

     

    Image courtesy: Mumbai Mirror.