Thursday 7 July 2011

Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006)

My first contribution to Rum's annual bakwas list is this rather enjoyable but 'oh so silly' rom com

Our story begins with Car Engineer Aditya (Akshay Kumar) who gets engaged to his adorable fiancée Sonia (Bipasha Basu)

Soon after his engagement he's promoted to Canada and Sonia also leaves for Paris to showcase her fashion designs, the two lovers promise to stay in touch

(bollywooddeewana's note:While in Canada the film never shows him thinking of or even communicating with Sonia which makes me doubt how much they loved each other to even get engaged in the first place)

In Canada he meets and falls in love with another woman Jai (Katrina), who as usual doesn't take to him at first  but later warms up to him

They fall head over heels for each other but Jia doesn't tell Aditya she's engaged and about to be married to strict businessman Karan, Aditya too keeps news of his relationship and engagement with Sonia  away from Jia

How will all these melodramatic matters be resolved, find out when or if you dare watch Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (I'm Crazy about you)

Overall a rather silly & sparsely scripted rom com, watch it if anything for the songs, or if you are a Super Akshay fan like me. I really wanted to like this film more but I  couldn't sympathise with any of the lovers in this triangle and I found myself rooting for no one in particular, which usually is a good sign of a good rom com or love saga. As already noted above we get no real sense of how much Aditya and Sonia really love each other and I totally feel Bipasha was wasted in this, they might as well have broken up before his trip to Canada 

As for Katrina's Jia character, I found it rather annoying  that she had no voice of her own, the men in her life (her dad and fiancée) called all the shots and made all the decisions, that said though, I think Katrina was at her dramatic (or should I say melodramatic) best in this

And as for Akshay, I liked  him in this, his enthusiasm in the music numbers plus his good looks made this film a little bearable
Whoa!! Its crotch grabbing Akshay!!


And lest i forget it was great seeing some old faces a la Bhagyashree & Helen

Helen in particular had some hilarious moments, first was this classic dialogue, even Helen couldn't keep a straight face after uttering it, I wonder how the director convinced her to say that. I've captured it for your enjoyment below

How come all three guys 


Next up was this faux gay scene, the look on Helen's face is priceless

Funny scene from Humko Deewnaa Kar Gaye by kandigee


The music of this film by Anu Malik and Himmesh Reshammiya with lyrics by Sameer made it even more bearable, highlights are the hilarious for your eyes only, the lovely and 90's sounding title track 'Humko Deewana kar gaye' the groovy 'mere nazron mein' (she's a rockstar) and mera saath chalte chalte'. My favourite of the whole lot though is 'Fanaa Fanaa (yeh dil hua fanaa)' simply for Akshay's enthusiasm plus i love the black girls and their funky 'eh to fanaa, eh fan fan fanaa 'dance which I've captured below

Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006) - Dil hua Fanaa... by kandigee

Paisa Vasool rating: 4.5/10

Calling all Rekha Deewana's

I love this artist's impression of Rekha
As anyone who reads this blog knows or should know by now, Rekha is one of my all time favourite bollywood divas, I can never pick her as an all time favourite as I tend not to have a single favourite thing of anything, this is something i also adhere to in every other areas of my life, whether it be friends, food, music, place etc. I find the idea of having one thing as my favourite very limiting. What I do prefer to have instead are 'favourites', but if push came to shove and i was asked to pick my top three bollywood divas of all time, Rekha will surely be there. The main reason for my Rekha rant today was to share my love for a new Rekha photo blog which i think all Rekha fans would appreciate, from old film Magazine covers, advertisements, to photo shoots, The Rekha the Legend blog is one everyone will enjoy, here are a few pictures form the amazing blog

Vintage Magazine Covers
I love how young and Innocent she looks here
I love the serious tone and look she has on this Filmfare cover, I might track it down on e-bay
Vintage Adverts
I love Gold Spot, I had no idea it was in India too, it used to be a really popular soft drink back when i was in Nigeria
ahh cute and young Rekha, I love her look here


Head Wrap Diva
Rekha definitely loved her hair Wraps
My Favourite amongst the head wrap lot, I love how Diva-licious she looks here

Other Photo Shoots
Totally loving her pose and attitude here
Those sunglasses are fab, J'adore
This is such a seductive image of Rekha, Je T'aime
Questionable Choices
In as much she takes my breath away most times, Rekha also delivers a yeh kya hai (What is this) moments sometimes, case in point is the picture below, where i can only wonder what her inspiration was (Pierrot perhaps)



All images courtesy of Sonali's awesome Rekha Photo blog Rekha the Legend ( be sure to check it out, follow it or bookmark it)

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Aap ke Deewane (1980)

My second entry for the ongoing Kapoor Khazana going on around the bolly blogosphere is this fun delightful movie from the 80's, yes such adjectives can be used to describe an 80's movie, there were loads of such movies from that much maligned decade which I shall keep on evangelising about on here, we need more 80's bollywood converts

Ram (Rishi Kapoor) and Rahim (Rakesh Roshan) are high achievers at college, they also happen to be the best of buddies, now If being best buddies plus the fact that they consistently top their class wasn't enough for them, they proceed on affirming their superiority in matters of the heart when they keep interfering in College bad boy (every college needs one) Kundan's love affairs
Hurray for Bromance!! And Robert Redford does indeed approve
Kundan playing his game quietly in the corner
Kundan isn't too pleased with their cock blocking ways and he gives them a good dressing down (Gotta love Ranjeet)
Lol, very well said Ranjeet



In revenge for their cock blocking ways, Kundan sets ram up to be accussed of Rape which results in Ram being expelled from college (Don't ever mess with Ranjeet people)

Seeing that his friend Ram has been expelled, Rahim not one to take matters lying down gets into a bloody fight with Kundan to try and get him to confess how he had set Ram up, but such is the fight that Rahim leaves Kundan near dead and fearing arrest he flees college

Now that Ram & Rahim are out of college the two buddies must now find a way to make a living. Ram comes across an advert for an aged Urdu teacher, as such he disguises as an old aged teacher to teach urdu to Colonel Vikram's daughter

Upon getting there a fracas breaks out between Colonel Vikram (Pran) & Inshallal Khan (Ashok Kumar) over what language their daughter should learn as they had both brought her up together (Is there something the director isn't telling us)

To ease matters between them, Mr Khan eventually decides they get a Hindi teacher for Sameera (Tina Munim) as well, which results in Rahim dragging up to play the role of the wanted female teacher

Unfortunately for Rahim Mr Vikram takes a liking to him in drag, he also comes across his daughter's Urdu teacher without his disguise and decides he wants such a man for his daughter

Of course unknown to him is the fact that this same young chap is his daughter's tutor, and when you have a daughter who looks like Sameera, its inevitable many young men will find it hard to resist her, our two college buddies can't help but fall for her

Sameera eventually finds out their secret, but they beg her to keep schtum about it but she agrees to this only if they get up on stage with Jeetendra (in a special appearance possibly Item number)

Soon the two best friends get entangled in a love triangle with Sameera? Will this threaten their relationship? Plus Who gets the girl?

And lest we forget about Kundan, he decides to avenge the scarred face given to him by Rahim, will he succeed, watch Aap ke Deewane to find out?


Cool T-Shirt Rakesh


Aap ke Deewane (Crazy About You) is a sweet, fun filled Bollywood bromance film complete with just the right amounts of romance, bromance, comedy, drama with perhaps just a bit unnecessary action but alas the bad boy had to be dealt with. Overall I'd say Indulge in this 80's film plus unlike a lot of love triangles that annoy me by killing off one character, that doesn't happen here, instead both lovers are giving the freewill to make their own choices

Performance wise everyone one is on good form here plus Rishi just looked way too adorable

Rakesh was fun especially in his drag act

And Tina what can i say, she's such a babe, and she was fun in this, what a Lovely pair she and Rishi make (though at times their Jodi she was upstaged by Rakesh & Rishi's bromance), this was one of her many films with Rishi, I think they went on to do about four more films together. I am seeking Bade Dilwala earnestly, but they also appeared together in Karz, Yeh Vaada Raha and Deedar-E-Yaar

And of course how dare I end this post without giving props to Ranjeet, what a stylish bad ass college bad boy, of course he was way past it to be playing the college bad guy but so were our heroes (well apart from Rishi) but Ranjeet pulled it off, and no one could have brought the attitude and fierceness he brought to his Kundan Character, he even rocks some Jumpsuits as well (Ranjeet Zindabad!!!)


Lovely songs by Rajesh Roshan on here from the fun bicycle song 'Ramkaren Allahkaren' (I truly love the African/Caribbean guys at the beginning of the song) to the lovely 'Tumko khush dekhar' and my utmost favourite and one of my favourite bollywood snow songs 'Mere dil mein' (Tina Munim was surely one of the hottest beauties in 80's bollywood)


Paisa Vasool Rating: 6.5/10