Sankat City (2009)

Genre Thriller

Cast Kay Kay Menon, Rimi Sen, Anupam Kher, Chunky Pandey, Yashpal Sharma and Dilip Prabhawalkar

Director Pankaj Advani

Music Director Ranjit Barot

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Synopsis and Review

Guru (Kay Kay Menon) is a car thief whose partner in crime is a garage owner Ganpat (Dilip Prabhawalkar).

Fouzdar (Kher), an underworld don sends his driver to deliver Rs 1 crore cash to deliver it to filmmaker Gogi (Manoj Pahwa). But Guru ends up stealing this car and is over the moon on finding the cash bag inside.

But before Guru could savor the money, he is caught by Fouzdar. When Fouzdar sends his henchman Lovely (Jehangir Khan) along with Guru to get back his money hidden in garage, Lovely unintentionally ends up hurting Ganpat’s head.

Since Ganpat before that had hidden the money at a different place it gets crazier since Ganpat now has lost his memory with the assault on his head.

Now Guru is given three days by Fouzdar to get back his money or else face death. Guru then chances upon his old partner in crime Mona (Rimi) and both join hands.

What helluva crazy ride it all leads as Guru goes on to get Rs 1 crore forms the rest of the plot.

The film’s biggest assets are the zany humour and also the acting by each and every actor. Pankaj Advani’s narrative style is terrific and keeps you engaged throughout.

It is good debut by the filmmaker. While the first half breezes quickly, the second gets a little slow but however the film picks up well during the climax.

Amongst the most hilarious scenes are Anupam Kher’s sequences with a nervous wreck builder played by Yashpal Sharma, Kay Kay and Ganpat’s friendly banter, Kay Kay and Rimi’s theft at Yashpal Sharma’s flat and Kay Kay’s taxi ride with a Sardar taxi driver who is hunting for his lost brother. Ranjit Barot’s background music is impressive.

Kay Kay is simply superb while Rimi gives her best performance till date. Her constant Bengali banter is cute.

Anupam Kher is top class. Chunky Pandey in a double role is hilariously good. Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Sanjay Mishra, Hemant Pandey, Virendra Saxena and Sunita Rajwar lend able support. Rahul Dev in a short role of a hit man impresses.

Sankat City is a must watch for all those complaining to see something different yet full of fun.

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Morning Walk (2009)

Genre Drama

Cast Anupam Kher, Sharmila Tagore, Divya Dutta, Rajat Kapoor, Nargis, Shayan Munshi and Avika Gor

Director Arup Dutta

Music Director Jeet Ganguly

Synopsis and Review:

Professor Joymohan (Kher) stays alone in Kolkata. He is a heart patient and when he gets a severe heart attack on his birthday he realizes he needs to spend as much time with his family in Mumbai as possible.

He then goes to Mumbai to his son Indra (Rajat), daughter in law Rita (Divya) and grand daughter Gargi (Avika). While Indra and Gargi are delighted, Rita is not so happy about his arrival. She makes her displeasure more vocal. Joymohan starts going for morning walks to the nearby park in the mornings.

During one such morning walk he meets his old student Neelima (Tagore) and her daughter Anjali (Nargis) who wants to do a doctorate in the US. What secret Joymohan and Neelima share and what happens after it comes out forms the rest of the plot.

Morning Walk offers nothing new. The makers aren’t focused with one issue but try to pack in a lot of things together. Some sequences like those between Anupam Kher and Balika Vadhu girl Avika Gor and between Sharmila Tagore and Kher have been penned and enacted well. But the displeasure of Divya Dutta about her father in law’s arrival is ditto in the lines of Baghban.

Arup Dutta has handled few emotional moments well and is technical sound considering it is his debut directorial venture. However he is failed by a lackluster script. The music by Jeet Ganguly is extremely tuneful and worth a buy.

Veterans Anupam Kher and Sharmila try to rise above the script and succeed to an extent. Garam Masala girl Nargis needs a crash course in acting. Shayan Munshi is passable. Divya Dutta is good and so is Rajat Kapoor. Avika Gor is cute and immensely likeable.

Morning Walk is a movie that doesn’t need a trip to the movie hall, but it won`t harm you if you catch it on a lazy Sunday noon on home video.

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Shortkut (2009)

Genre Action / Drama

Cast Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao, Siddhant Randeria and Chunky Pandey

Director Neeraj Vora

Music Director Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Synopsis and Review

Shekhar (Akshaye) is a hardworking assistant director who is striving to become an independent writer director. He lives in a Mumbai chawl and all the chawl residents including the owner Kantibhai (Randeria) dote on him.

Popular actress Mansi (Amrita) and Shekhar are in love but her gold digger parents are against their relationship. Shekhar finally manages to write the perfect script that would give him the golden break.

Meanwhile Raju (Arshad) a good for nothing struggling actor becomes his unwanted guest after having been thrown out of his rented house. Raju manages to find a producer who would cast him as a hero if he gets him a great script.

Meanwhile at the same time, a producer agrees to make a film on Shekhar’s script and even gives him the signing amount. But a greedy Raju backstabs Shekhar and steals this very script and sells it to his producer, Tolani (Tiku Talsania). Since he is a very bad actor, Tolani hires Guru Kapoor (Chunky) an acting teacher to train him.

Smooth talking Raju manages to convince Guru to become his business manager as well apart from acting guru. When truth dawns upon Shekhar after Raju’s film’s trial show is held that he has been conned by the same person whom he gave shelter to, shattered and shocked he threatens to sue Tolani’s film.

A hapless Tolani begs him not to since he was pinning hope on this very film since all his previous projects had flopped. Shekhar agrees with a heavy heart.

Meanwhile, Mansi leaves her demanding parents’ home and comes to Shekhar and they get married. However, hard times fall on Shekhar as he is unable to concentrate on writing after Raju’s heartbreaking con.

While Raju goes on to become a big star with his debut film becoming a super hit, Shekhar’s family life suffers and he starts venting his frustrations on Mansi.

Frustrated, Mansi leaves Shekhar. How then a determined Shekhar rises up from the ashes with the help of his chawl owner and neighbours and manages to teach Raju (who is now King Kumar) a lesson and also win back Mansi forms the rest of the film.

Although modeled on a popular Malayalam film starring Mohanlal and Meena, Shortkut’s script is a mix of Hollywood films Big Fat Liar and Bowfinger (especially the climax portions). However, despite having a script writer of Anees Bazmee’s caliber, good actors like Akshaye, Amrita and Arshad and a prolific producer in actor.

Anil Kapoor, the film falls flat. One fails to understand why Neeraj Vora has made his every actor yell while mouthing their dialogues. While the promos of Shortkut have been giving the feel of the film being a full on comedy, it is far from one.

The best comic moments in the film are the ones you have been watching in the promos, rest is full on melodrama. The initial portions of the film manage to impress you as everything happens with break neck speed hardly giving you anytime to think but once.

Raju’s con is exposed, the film drops pace and only manages to come to life during the truly hilarious climax. Anees Bazmee’s script is the main culprit here. Shankar Ehsaan Loy’s music is average. The item song featuring grown up item boys Sanjay Dutt and Anil Kapoor appears forced.

Akshaye Khanna is a good actor but watching him yell almost every time while speaking his dialogues is not a great experience. Arshad Warsi as the wily star suites the role.

Amrita Rao is good as always. Her much talked about hot avatar works and is definitely going to increase her fan following. Chunky Pandey is okay. Siddharth Randeria is very good and the motley of Gujarati theater actors who play Shekhar’s chawl neighbours are mirth inducing.

After you come out from Shortkut the first thing that comes to your mind is that it’s a wonderful opportunity lost by the makers. Though it aims to be a clean entertainer, it disappoints big time and ends up being a wannabe Priyadarshan film.