Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

Na Ghar Ke Na Ghat Ke Stars: Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Rahul Aggarwal, Narayani Shastri Showing At: PVR & others Rated: 5/10 Bhaiyyas are in the news for all kind of wrong reasons in Mumbai but this one from a UP gaon is just too atypical to be either ignored or filed into memory as one of the horde. A parent-respecting, job honest, wife loving man who comes to Mumbai from the backwaters of eastern UP, Rahul Srivastava is quite a revelation. He stays poker-faced for most of the movie and yet compels you to respect his timid personality. Om Puri as the father and Rawal as the cop add to the interest nodes. The film just about makes it. Published March 14, 2010, Sunday Pioneer http://www.dailypioneer.com/241969/Just-about-makes-it.html

New In Town Stars: Renée Zellweger, Harry Connick Jr, Siobhan Fallon Showing At: PVR & others Rated: 5.5/10 A hardcore big town girl sent to Minnesota to lay off a bunch of well-meaning workers at a local factory, Renee Zellweger does a lot to insert some verve into the situation. She is an arresting character who speaks more with gestures and her twitching lips than actual dialogues. The film, which well catches the frozen ambience of this back alley city, is more about emotions that run high in smaller towns as opposed to cut throat competition and sub-human coldness that generally go with the professional world in big cities. The turnaround that this town gently forces Rene to make in her life priorities is what inserts love, humour, poignance and comment into this movie which may lack pace at times but ambles along pretty interestingly. Published March 14, 2010, Sunday Pioneer http://www.dailypioneer.com/241972/Renee-takes-it-ahead.html

Stars: Sunny Deol, Irfan Khan, Konkona Sen, Isha Koppikar Showing At: PVR & others Rated: 7/10 Why on earth the producer kept this gem without any publicity is one question that stares the success of this movie. On content this one is an overly arresting thriller about a twin murder, a police officer, a friendship and a reason that somehow makes you forgive the heinous crime. Sunny Deol and Irrfan Khan put life into the film though it is the tight and tense script that takes the cake. It keeps you on edge, makes you constantly wonder what’s going to happen next. Go see this film for sheer enjoyment. Published March 14, 2010, Sunday Pioneer;http://www.dailypioneer.com/241977/Surprise-of-the-week.html