My Take: Ek Villain.

Knowing that Ek Villain is a rip-off of I Saw The Devil [Korean], I decided to do a little experiment. Now generally once i find out that a film is going to be copied from some another movie, it is likely that i have already seen the original and if i haven't then i watch the original before i go for the copied version [there's a good story behind why i do this, maybe i'll cover it in a later post]. Anyways coming back to the experiment, i decided to give Mohit Suri a fair chance and not watch I Saw The Devil before i watch Ek Villain. I did this so that i don't crib during the movie about how pathetic it is and oh boy! I was so... so... wrong.

Without ruining Ek Villain for anyone, like that's possible, or critically analyzing the whole thing i have these points:

• Shraddha Kapoor's acting was just absolutely pathetic.
• Song after song after song.
• Just when you think there's no more.....BOOM! there's another song.
• If I was casting Kamaal R Khan, I would make sure he acts like himself not like any other tom dick n harry.
• Remo reminded me of Katrina Kaif in Dhoom 3: I have no purpose here but i'll keep on popping in again and again to remind you that i'm in this movie. I can turn the lights off with Katrina but not with you, Remo.
• Too many cliches: mother's curse, things to do before i die, love turns bad into good, girl drops dairy hero picks it up and don't even get me started on the dialog.
• I have to give points to Mohit Suri for trying out the single shot on the ship.

At-least the plot had potential. So I thought well since I already know the plot, through this crap, how can I Saw The Devil possibly amaze me any further coz once you have a basic idea of how a story is going to turn out, you tend to loose interest at some point but oh boy! I was so... so... wrong again. 

The best way i can sum it up is:

Ek Villain is like the first draft of a film and I Saw The Devil is the master draft. In other words Ek Villain is what you get when you de-write I Saw The Devil. It's like if you have written a script for the first time, any seasoned writer will advice you to rewrite as many times as possible, coz every time you rewrite you will catch the cliches/weak scenes/bad dialog and what not. The writers of Ek Villain thought that we can't make I Saw The Devil any better so lets just dumb it down.

The worst part is that Mohit Suri has actually denied the fact that his film rips off I Saw The Devil. To which i have to say:

Dear Mr. Suri,

You can fool the world but not me. I have enough sense to know that at times stories can be similar, out of coincidence or when you are inspired and trying to pay homage to the source but when the whole structure and even scenes are the same but worse, you cannot deny that you plagiarized. Its film makers like you, Mr. Suri, who are the reason Bollywood is digging its own grave. You better sleep with an eye open...

Sincerely, Your Villain.

You may think that i'm overreacting to this whole ripping off business, when every other Bollywood movie is doing it. Well you see, i'm reacting to the damage it has done to the average Indian movie goer. They gave the audience this pathetic piece of crap about serial killers, so now if I have a good script about serial killers, minus all the love and songs which are needed for a commercial success, no producer will take it. He would even have a valid point because minus all the hype surrounding Ek Villain songs and 'from the makers of Aashiqui 2', the film is actually pathetic and wouldn't do well at the box office.

Fun Fact: Kin Jee-Woon is the director of I Saw The Devil, who also made A Bittersweet life which Mohit Suri ripped of as Awarapan.

That's the kind of exposure that is given to the Indian audience by film makers like Mohit Suri. The other side of this argument is that Indian audience wants this kind of masala so we have to Indianize a story like I Saw The Devil. To that i have to say 'Hum kichdi khana choddenge, tum acha pasta banake toh dikhao'. Stop treating us like retards. Make a genuine effort to make a good movie, even if you are ripping off at-least make a good rip off.

The Cursed Month Of January: Part 2

Has the curse of January been broken with the releases in 2014? Let's take a look:

January 2014: A new ray of hope for Bollywood.

• Mr Joe B. Carvalho: Why Mr Warsi, why do you do such films. Maybe Mr Warsi should stick to Hirani's Munnabhai series because most of what he does other than that is just, for the lack of a better word, shit.
• Yaariyan: If this movie reflects the youth of this nation, then the future is worst than it seems. The film did good business due to it's songs, all thanks to Dir. Divya Khosla Kumar's music video experiences. Maybe she should just stick to that.
• Karle Pyaar Karle: What do bored rich kids do? This film. If you are looking for the next Sachiin Joshi or Jackky Bhagnani look no further.
• Jai Ho: When Salman Bhai's film is tagged as a semi-hit, you know there is definitely something wrong with the month of January.
• One By Two: Does Abhay Deol have a family to feed? If not for the money, why else would Abhay do this film?

The above mentioned films are responsible for keeping the believe in the curse of January alive but change is nearer than it seems with the following films:

• Miss Lovely: This is the Indian Boogie Nights. I wish movies as such got a wider release. Indian audiences need some exposure to this kind of content driven cinema. This film was never even meant to release in India but got picked up at some festival a la Lunchbox.
• Om-Dar-B-Dar: This is a film that got released after 26 years. If, and only if, this film had been released in 1988, Indian Cinema would have been at par with the world by now. But better late than never. 
• Dedh Ishqiya: January seems to be a boon rather than a curse for Dir. Abhishek Chaubey. This turned out to be one of the better sequels Bollywood has to offer. Frankly, it could have been better but you what hey say: In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. Thank you Mr. Warsi for undoing the damage of Joe B Carvalho. 

On a side note i do have to mention:

• Sholay 3D: I do agree the 3D wasn't the greatest ever, nor did it set the Box Office on fire. But the very fact that i got to catch an Indian Cinema classic on the big screen was good enough for me.

The question still remains whether releasing your film in January is a curse or not. The answer to which is quite simple:

If you believe in Bollywood shenanigans, which include but are not limited to:  star power, over the top emotion, over the top action, over the top anything basically, Kapoor clan, Chopra clan, The Khans, 100 crore club, 200 crore club, she dated Bhai club....... If you believe in all of this and more, then yes you are the reason the curse exists.

On the flip-side:

If you believe that content is king, have enough exposure to good cinema and have a brain then this curse is null and void for you. You are the cure to this curse.

Unfortunately, majority will actually believe in Bollywood shenanigans and that is the reason Indian Cinema is on the verge of extinction in the shadow of Bollywood. Things are changing now, although not fast enough but something is better than nothing.

Did Ra.One, Himmatwala, Dabangg 2, Chennai Express, Dhoom 3, Krish 3, Besharam come in January? No and yet it appeared as if they were cursed. Well my friends, the truth is that the curse is not of January but the curse is of bad content. Be it January, May or December if your film is honest enough to bank on the power of  its content, then yes the curse does not effect you. If your film doesn't have content or the content is diluted due to the addition of Bollywood shenanigans, then may god be with you coz every month is going to be cursed for you.

The Cursed Month of January: Part 1.

It is Bollywood folklore that January is a month where movies come to die. Careers have ended due to a release during this month.This is not entirely true, there are always exceptions but they are few and far apart.

Should aspiring film makers be afraid of this curse? Is the curse real or just a mater of bad content? It is a fact that all major releases happen in the second half of the year to stay in the eyes of the awards. But does releasing a film in January mean its the end of your career? 

I could take a look at all the January releases till date but in this ever evolving world of cinema the audience tend to forget the past in the abundance of films that come out each year. But let me recap a few January releases from 2010 -2014.

January 2010: The month that ended a lot of careers.

• Dulha Mil Gaya [Ended Fardeen Khan's career.]
• Pyaar Impossible [Ended Uday Chopra's career.]
• Chance Pe Dance [Ended Ken Ghosh's career.]
• Veer [Started & ended Salman Khan's writing career.]

The Exception: Ishqiya [Director Abhishek Chaubey's exceptional debut salvaged Vidya Balan's career and bagged her a couple of awards.]

January 2011: The Exceptional Month.

• No One Killed Jessica [Rani Mukherji saved her career with this and Vidya Balan gained momentum.]
• Yamla Pagla Deewana [Commercial Exception. High point in Dir. Samir Karnik's career, did what Apne couldn't do for the Deols.]
• Dhobi Ghat [Dir. Kiran Rao made her mark with this debut, it also did exceptional business for an art film.]

Not The Exception:  Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji [Did not help Dir. Madhur Bhandarkar's downhill career, crashed Omi Vaidya's high dreams after 3 Idiots.]

January 2012: The month that wasted a lot of talent/resources.

• Players [Abhishek, Bipasha, Sonam, Neil, Bobby, Omi, Sikander, everyone involved with this film, including Dir. Abbas & Mustan, were on thin ice before this film. After the film's disaster their careers now lie in deep waters. Only a couple of them recovered.]
• Chaalis Chauraasi [Naseerudin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Kay Kay Menon, Ravi Kissen together on screen sounds like a safe bet doesn't it? but it wasn't.]
• Ghost [The end of Shiney Ahuja, luckily no talent was wasted here.]

The Exception: Agneepath [Debutant Dir. Karan Malhotra did justice to this remake, did not waste the talent and the resources he had for this film. Also, Hrithik Roshan managed a film in the futile 100 Crore Club.]

January 2013: The month that had hope.

• Table No. 21 [Good performance, average flick. Inconsistency ruined the potential it had.] 
• Meri Shadi Karao [Lesser known launch pad for Daler Mehndi's son. There was no hope to begin with.]
• Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola [With Dir. Vishal Bhardwaj there is always hope but reality is a bitch.]
• Mumbai Mirror [If no one else, at least Sachiin Joshi had hopes with this one.]
• Akaash Vani [There was hope with Dir. Luv Rajan due to his Pyaar ka Punchnama. But this one lacked the punch.]

The Commercial Exception: Race 2 [Only considered an exception for its commercial success.]

The True Exception: Inkaar [Bad marketing ruined this for most of the audience but the performances and Dir. Sudhir Mishra's vision made this an exception.]

Things have changed in Bollywood drastically since 2013. But has the curse of January been broken? Wait for the second part for January 2014 review and the conclusion to this curse.