Zor se Bol

Though the exam fever amongst youth has still not ended, multiple films continue to release week after week. Perhaps producers want to (literally) release their films before the April when films won’t release in multiplex following the boycott between the producers-distributors-exhibitors.

Most films releasing are small films but yet appear to be promising. This week sees as many as 5 Hindi releases and one Hollywood film. We give you a lowdown on which to the releases of this week. You decide your pick…

1. Aloo Chaat
Director: Robby Grewal
Cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Aamna Shariff, Linda Arsenio, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Story: Set in the chilling winter months in Delhi,  Aloo Chaat is story of one Punjabi family as they counter their fears and apprehensions of their US returned to be married son and his modern age thinking between crispy, mouth and eye watering bites of the  Dilli Ki Mashoor Desi ghee Ki Aloo Chaat  .

Nikhils falls in love with a girl, while completing his studies in America. On his visit to India for a vacation his parents start showing him Punjabi girls for wedding. Knowing the temperament of his father Purshottam (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), he feels hesitant to disclose about his love affair, hence approaches his fathers best friend who is a sexologist Hakim (Manoj Pahwa) by profession and has a great influence on his father. Together they plot to bring Nikhil’s girlfriend into the family…against all odds and opposition from Chhdami mama (Sanjay Mishra), Beeji (Dolly Ahluwalia), Seeto (Meenakshi) is what makes the funny, spicy, masaledar story of Aloo Chaat .

2. Firaaq
Director: Nandita Das
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra, Shahana Goswami, Nowaz, Mohd. Samad
Story: Firaaq is an Urdu word that means both separation and quest. The story is set over a 24 hour period, one month after a carnage that took place in Gujarat, India in 2002. This sectarian violence killed more than 3000 Muslims, hundreds of thousands were made homeless and the number of women raped is still unknown.

Firaaq is a work of fiction, based on a thousand true stories. It traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people
some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. It is an ensemble film that follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discrete. What unites them is their spatial and emotional context.

A middle class housewife closes the door on a victim and struggles to overcome her guilt. The loyalties of two best friends are tested in the times of fear and suspicion. A bunch of young men having suffered the violence, seek revenge to fight their helplessness and anger. A modern day Hindu-Muslim couple struggle between the instinct to hide their identity and the desire to assert it. A boy desperately searches for his missing father, having lost the rest of his family in the riots. A saintly musician clings on to his idealism, despite all the violence in the city, until an incident shakes his faith. Through these characters we experience the consequences of violence that impact their inner and outer lives. Violence spares nobody. Yet in the midst of all this madness, some find it in their hearts to sing hopeful songs for better times.

3. Barah Aana
Director: Raja Menon
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur, Violante Placido, Tannishtha Chatterjee
Story: Barah Aana is a comedy of real life, set in today’s Mumbai.  The story revolves around three unlikely friends:  a driver (Naseeruddin Shah), a watchman (Vijay Raaz), and a waiter (Arjun Mathur).  The driver is an older man, stoic but dependable.  The watchman, in his 30s, is a pushover at work but otherwise mischievous.  The waiter is a young, swaggering chap, brimming with ambition.  Living together, their different attitudes make for interesting banter.

At some point, misfortune befalls the watchman and, due to a series of chance events, he stumbles into a crime.  Striking upon a seemingly low-risk way to make good money, and discovering a new sense of self-confidence, he tries to entice the others to join him in a series of such crimes.  Cat and mouse games ensue between the three as personalities change, but events soon spiral out of control, leading them in a direction none of them had wanted to take…

Featuring a talented ensemble cast, Barah Aana is based on an original script.  The running time is 97 minutes.

4. Straight: Pinnu Patel ki Tedhi Medhi Love Story
Director: Paravati Balagopalan
Cast: Vinay Pathak, Gul Panag, Anuj Choudhary, Sid Makkar, Achla Sachdev, Damandeep Singh Baggam, Ketki Dave, Rasik Dave.
Story: The story is about confused sexuality of the central character Pinu Patel, played absolutely to the galleries by Vinay Pathak. Straight picks up from where Dostana left and weaves a comic tale around a motley group of Gujrati NRIs in London.

In the midst of central London, a successful Indian restaurant called ‘Gaylord’ is run by a Londoner of Indian origin called Pinu (Vinay Pathak). A simple soul at heart, Pinu has many complexes – a special one being that he is a virgin and has experienced no intimacy with a woman. To top that, his biggest fear is to be laughed at by people… an ever-repeating phenomenon with him. Pinu is quite an introvert and has no real friends…the closest he has ever gotten to a friendship is with his foster brother rajat, who is quite a contrast to his own personality –A casual air about him, he is the lead singer of a rock band. Rajat is very fond of pinu, though is often a source of annoyance to him as he finds pinu really funny.

One day, a young Indian fellow called Kamlesh comes to his restaurant and asks for a job as a stand-up comedian. Quite thrown off, Pinu initially refuses but finally lets him join as a cook, who also does a stand-up act in the evenings. On the same day, he hires a new cashier – Renu, a young art student from India, who has a passion for caricatures. Life changes dramatically for Pinu as Gaylord begins to transform… Renu works on the look of the place, makes cheerful caricatures for customers while Kamles is a fabulous cook with a great talent for making people laugh in his acts and soon the restaurant is more happening and the business is much better. But the greatest difference they bring to his life is friendship. There is a visible difference in pinu’s personality now as he lets himself hang out a bit with them.

One fine day, Pinu is thrown in to a daze as he walks away from the restaurant …he has discovered a totally new fear – he might be Gay!!

Pinu seeks refuge in Rajat’s advice which is quite simply – screw a woman!
On a mission now, Pinu goes on a rampage seeking available women for a sexual rendezvous. However, it leads to him suffering another string of tragicomic situations, ending up feeling humiliated…and laughed at!

Straight!!’ is a funny tale about Pinu, who struggles with himself, his fears and his complexes, to ‘come out’ as straight and find himself a love story.

5. Lottery
Director: Hemant Prabhu
Star Cast: Abhijeet Sawant, Sanjay Narvekar, Mukesh Tiwari, Rucha Gujarati, Manisha Kelkar
Story: Indian Idol winner popular singer Abhijeet Sawant makes his debut as the main lead in this thriller film. Television actress Rucha Gujarati makes her big screen debut opposite Abhijeet in this film.

Abhijeet Sawant plays Rohit Avasti a junior accountant with a leading fashion magazine “Trendz”. He enjoys every bit of his job because that’s the only way and place where he can meet his love Simran.

Just when things were going good for Rohit, he is made to participate in a bet without his consent. That turns things in his life.

6. Confessions of a Shopaholic
Director: P.J. Hogan
Cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow,
Story: In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood (ISLA FISHER) is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping—a little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can’t quite get her foot in the door—until ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company. As her dreams are finally coming true, she goes to ever more hilarious and extreme efforts to keep her past from ruining her future.

ISLA FISHER (“Wedding Crashers”) stars in the film from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”). The screenplay by Tracey Jackson and Tim Firth and Kayla Alpert is based on the books “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan” by Sophie Kinsella.