Making up for lost time....

Here are snippets on two movies I have seen in the past few months, but havent had a chance to blog about....


Title: Welcome
Year: 2007
Cast: Nana Patekar, Feroz Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshay Khanna, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal.

The long and short of it: Truly not a bad movie. Nana is looking out for a groom for his sister katrina, but cannot find any matches in town- everybody is terriefied of him since he is a gangster. When Akshay does fall in love with Katrina, the road to the altar still requires some clearing- since his uncle Paresh is a honest man who cannot bear criminals.

High points:

1. Nana Nana Nana- its him all the way for me- he finally gets a chance to display his comedic skills, and he goes to town with it. Very controlled, and very uncontrolled too- as needed.
2. Katrina still cant act- but at least she manages to look ravishing- should keep the boys happy.
3. Anil looks good, and delivers the goods- I cannot beleive this man has hit 50!

Quibbles:

1. Paresh does not live up to his comedic potential at all.
2. Very uneven: The movies starts off well, then flags, then picks up towards the end....
3. Akshay looks plain tired doing the same 'ol comedic-hero-type....someone give him a decent role!

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Title: Aja Nachle
Year: 2007
Cast: Madhuri Dixit, Akhshay Kumar, Konkana Sen, Kunal Kapoor.

The long and short of it: A huge let down. Madhuri runs out of a Shayamli, a village in India to the US with her beau. She comes back years later when she gets a call from her dying dance/theatre teacher. She come back, and faces the social stigmas of having run away, divorce and being a single parent, while saving her teacher's theatre from being demoilshed. And of yes- did I mention she also finds time to ensure that Konkana and Kunal fall in love, and herself nabs Akshay Khanna (swoooooooon) while bringing the community closer? :D

High points:

1. Akshay Khanna just kills me with hotness- if he got any cuter, I am certain I'd faint.
2. Madhuri's charisma, Konkana's acting and Kunal's good looks.

Quibbles:

1. The movie just isnt a adequate vehicle for Madhuri to show her talents. She dances throughout the movie- but so what? There are about 20 million young women out there dancing as well, and they are pretty too. She gets little opportunity to show off her acting skills, which are certainly commendable, from what I recall of them.
2. Its quite rediculous that a village has a theatre that is supposedly falling apart- and in 1 month, Madhuri performs a miracle of set deisgn and has a put up a Broadway-level production. We arent clued in as to exactly how this is accomplished...
3. Akshay Khanna (he plays the local MP) plans to demolish the theatre and build a mall- mmmm... as much as the country has advanced, I am not certain what use a mall would be in a village. Are people from other villages/towns/cities supposed to visit? Not sure how it will raise the village's income...mmm...