Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993)

This film has the dubious title/honour of being one of the most expensive Hindi movies ever made, the honour still remains somewhat true till this day. Roop Ki Rani Choron ka Raja (Beauty Queen and the King of Thieves) flopped and lost Anil Kapoor who had invested heavily in the movie a lot of money. So why did this movie flop, i mean a lot had gone into producing it

Evil Jugray (Anupam Kher) kills Ramesh (Anil Kapoor) & Seema's (SriDevi) dad, the two kids meet in an orphanage and Ramesh promises that when he grows up he will avenge the deaths of their fathers by killing Jugraj

Do i look Evil?


Seema then gets adopted by a new family and Ramesh leaves the orphanage with the hope of finding Seema, he's picked up by a gangster Girduari (Paresh Rawal) who trains him up to be a highly wanted thief


Ramesh the most wanted thief

Seema too has grown up to be a diamond thief with the hope of catching her father's killer


Ravi ( Jackie Shroff) Ramesh's long lost brother is now a cop and is set on catching Ramesh, they both don't know they're brothers


After a long separation since their childhood, ramesh and Seema meet at a a function where they both plan to steal a necklace, Seema manages to get it and then puts it in Ramesh's pocket, he gets a way with it


One day during a chase by some men she had robbed she meets Jugraj who offers to protect her, in return she must help him persuade Ramesh to help him get the scerets to the location of diamonds he wants. Seema doesn't know that Jugraj is the man who murdered her father

Ramesh and Seema soon discover each other as the kids who had sworn to avenge their father's killer, and thus the search is on to find and destroy him

Will they be successful in their attempts? Will they succeed in killing him? Will Ravi realise the thief he is after is his long lost brother? For these and many more annoying reasons Watch Roop Ki Rani Choron ka Raja to find out

As i've said this film was billed as the most expensive in India at its time, so what could have made it so expensive

Could it have been the laser rays coming from Anil Kapoor's eyes

Could it have been the make up that made Anil Kapoor into an African man

or Sridevi as a chinese woman

Could it have been the sets (which by '90's standards i have to say is disappointing movies in the '60's and '70's that were cheaper had way much better sets)

the entrance to the villain's den

Could it have been one of the many zillion of outfits/costumes Sridevi wore?

Could it have been the glow in the dark Violin players?


Overall this film was somewhat fun but way too silly for '90's standards, add to that hammy editing and a tediously long film, while i'm used to the standard masala fare of 3+ hours this one seemed overstretched & padded with unnecessary scenes

The movie also seemed to have copied bits and bobs from other bollywood movies, for example the scene where Bindu gets her necklace stolen is very similar to that in Shaan (1980) where the same thing happens

a dance number with Sridevi in a wet sari looks very much like the karte nahin kat te number from Mr India


If you're Sridevi lover, which i am, there's lots of her in this one Happy Sridevi, Sad Sridevi, madrasi Sridevi, Chinese Sridevi etc. Although she's let down by the script she gives a somewhat enjoyable performance

madrasi Sridevi
see more sridevi pictures from the movie in the slide below

Anil Kapoor gives an energetic performance but the whole script and story of the movie couldn't save it in my eyes

Ramesh the most wanted thief vogues for the camera

The music by Lamikant Pyarelal whom i adore i found to be very average stand out tracks for me were Jaanewala zara rukh jao which sounds like its trying so bad to be the karte nahin kat te number from Mr India, the somewhat catchy title track 'Roop ki Rani choron ka raja' and the chinese pop sounding Bacha tuje mein which is my favourite with Anil Kapoor as African tenga and Sridevi as Miss China Chini of Chinc poki (what the hell was the director on???)


Total Score: 4/10 (A Somewhat fun but way too silly & tiring movie)

Aitraaz (2004)

Abbas-Mustan the modern hindi film kings of suspense thrillers strike their rod at yet another hollywood inspired movie 'Disclosure' (1994) which i am yet to see, however i did enjoy this bollycat (bollywood + copy cat=bollycat). I knew i was going to love Aitraaz (Objection) when i realised Amrish Puri & Priyanka Chopra were a couple in it

Priya (kareena Kapoor) an aspiring lawyer lands in Raj's (Akshay Kumar) house after an address mix up on her way to to a job interview

Priya and Raj fall for each other and then get married


They actually made a cute couple, i loved their Jodi

At work Raj is due for a promotion, on the day of his promotion the company chairman Ranjit Roy (Amrish Puri) announces his new wife Sonia (Priyanka Chopra) as the new managing director of the company


Sonia however was once Raj's girlfriend, they had split up when Sonia refused to settle down and marry him, she had also aborted his baby in order to keep herself on top of the modelling world

Sonia the model refuses to give up her job for a baby

I'm not sure Vogue will be happy with the huge samsung logo on the cover of their magazine

Although Raj was due to be promoted to the role of CEO, Sonia changes his role to one of the Board of Directors (i think we all know this means he would have to do some dodgy things for her)

Sonia soon starts seducing Raj, she invites him over to her house begs him to do her, Raj being a nice decent married man declines which sparks Sonia's anger

Sonia then reports to Mr Roy that Raj had tried to rape her, Raj is given the sack

A devastated Raj then decides to fight his dismissal and prove his innocence and Sonia's claim that he had raped her

Will Raj be able to get his life back, Will his wife Priya stick by him, for these and many more hilarious reasons watch Aitraaz to find out

I haven't seen Disclosure which this movie is said to have been inspired from, but i enjoyed this one, the story is entertaining and it held my attention

The star of this movie without doubt is Priyanka Chopra she steals the show as the conniving, sex starved Sonia with much panache and hilarity, she bagged the filmfare best villain award for her portrayal of Sonia Roy

Looks and evil Tactics Sonia

I enjoyed her antics in this, particularly the scene where she begs Raj to have sex with her

I loved her antics when Raj turned her down, i was rolling on the floor with laughter



i loved her bitchy one on one dialogues with Kareena Kapoor


There were some steamy scenes between Akshay and Priyanka as well


Akshay Kumar was calm and in his role of Raj, i think this is the first film where i've seen him act so mellow and not be his usual loud jokey self

Kareena Kapoor barely had much to do till the final scenes where she gives a great performance as her husband's lawyer


Of course it was a pleasure seeing the lovely Amrish Puri in one of his last roles as Priyanka Chopra's partner (what a hot couple na), though i wasn't too pleased that his character was subjected to many Viagra jokes


The music by the lovely Himmesh Reshammiya (why can't people stand this guy, ok i agree his acting isn't on par, but he's a fab music director) is very enjoyable, from the Hip Hop/ R'n'B tinged Gela Gela Gela, the mellow rhythms of 'Woh Tassawer' and Alka Yagnik in full blast and at her best in my favourite song from the film 'Tala Tum Tala Tum'


Total Score: 6.5/10 ( A very Enjoyable thriller drama)

Aitraaz is available in 19 parts with English Subtitles on Youtube

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