A Weekend to look forward to?

The last few weeks at the Cinemas haven't been anything less than disappointing. While Mausam fell way short of expectations, more so because coming from one of the finest actors in Bollywood, Pankaj kapoor, it looked as run-of-the-mill as the puerile romantic fare the debutant director had consciously avoided his entire career. Like a reviewer rightly pointed out, "everyone in the cast and crew of the film was determined to deliver nothing short of an epic". It turned out to be an epic miss, if nothing. Another big budget film 'My Brother ki Dulhan' turned out to be as drab as any other Imran Khan film in the recent past, however it made modest profits. While Speedy Singhs, not as ambitious as these other two, ended up upsetting more movie stars and annoying more fans than it'd have hoped for.


But the film industry has turned us into eternal optimists, hasn't it? We either learn to accept the films as they are and learn to enjoy whatever is served or hope for a change of fortune every weekend. However this Friday, with the four films releasing, one could be at least assured of variety and unconventionality if not quality. The first and the most intriguing is Tigmanshu Dhulia's ‘Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster’. Dhulia has written and directed some fine films in the past, most notably Haasil, a realistic portrayal of university campus politics, starring Irrfan Khan and Jimmy Shergil. The title of his latest film is a pastiche on the Guru Dutt classic, ‘Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam’ (to which effect he showed the film to Guru Dutt's family at a private screening.) The film is about an erstwhile Prince Jimmy Shergill, his sly wife Mahie Gill and an opportunist local goon, Randeep Hooda. While Mahie and Hooda have already played similar characters before, it'd be interesting to see Jimmy don the role of a scheming Nawab.


The second film lined up for this weekend is ‘Force’, a remake of an eight-year-old Tamil blockbuster, Kaakha Kaakha, with John Abraham, Genelia D'Souza and Vidyut Jamwal in lead roles. Directed by Nishikant Kamat (whose previous films include Mumbai Meri Jaan, and 404 Error Not Found) looks to continue with the trend set by Dabbang and Singham, the difference being in Force, John's brawns are evenly met by Vidyut's.
The third film is ‘Tere Mere Phere’, starring Vinay Pathak and Riya Sen, directed by the most controversial actress of her time, Deepa Sahi. The promos don't suggest to seem anything novel, although Vinay Pathak can be trusted with bailing the movie out single-high-handedly.


Lastly, we have the Tushar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade & Minisha Lamba starrer Hum Tum Shabana. There is nothing simple about this madcap story, a love triangle. Soon enough, this battle to woo the girl turns into a desperate battle to lose the girl! All in all, the weekend promises to hold enough pleasant surprises, no mean feat given the recent no-shows. So go buy your bucket of popcorn and prepare to sit back and enjoy.