Rishi Kapoor and Ranjeeta in Laila Majnu (1976)

“Laila Majnu” offers within its 19 reel, lavish sets, glit­tering desert exteriors, an ela­borate fantasy sequence, and gorgeous costumes. It all makes for an eye-catching pageant, except that the pageant often looks closer to being a comedy than a tragic tale of star-cross­ed lovers. For a tale of intense love and hate, director H. S. Rawail’s film generally strikes incongruous notes.

The lovers’ first meeting in the market place promises a forceful depiction of the first stirring of love, but, the sequence peters out when you see Kais (Rishi Kapoor) appear­ing and disappearing as if by magic. Later, during his noc­turnal visits into Laila’s (Ran­jeeta) bedroom, he recites ver­ses like one who was doing it without knowing the meaning of the lines.

Next, there is the fantasy sequence, which turns out to be an exercise in matching naive visuals with pedestrian lyrics (written by Sahir Ludhianvi). The lovers’ silent meeting at the Dargah captures for a mo­ment the intensity of their love. Perhaps part of the effec­tiveness of the scene is due to the fact that it comes close, on the heels of a particularly loud `qawwali’ with Kais making a full throated contribution—al­though you have earlier seen him wandering in the desert for days without food or water.

If the film fails to capture the intensity of love, it fails equally in projecting the hosti­lity between the respective families of the lovers — the main cause behind the tragedy. The violent confrontations which should have been telling omens of the impending doom, are re­duced to clowning by Kais’s friends (Asrani, Paintal, etc.). The last duel between Kais and Tabrez (Ranjeet), Laila’s bro­ther, borders on a caricature.

Ranjeeta makes a convincing Laila, despite being a bit heavy with her dialogue and she ma­nages aided by effective make­up to provide a measure of pathos in her later scenes. Rishi Kapoor as Majnu-Kais is effec­tive in serious moments but looks awkward during the song sequences. As the prince who marries Laila, Danny turns in a sympathetic performance.

The music is unimpressive with the exception of Koi Pathar sai na marey and so is the dialogue which keeps swinging between Urdu and Hindustani, occasionally threatening to lapse into Bom­bay Hindi – Shalini Pradhan

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1976, Genre – Historical/Romance, Country – India, Language –  Hindi, Producer – Ram B. C., Seeroo Daryani, Director – H. S. Rawail, Music Director – Madan Mohan, Cast – Sunder, Meena T., Aruna Irani, Raza Murad, Rishi Kapoor, Ranjeeta, Danny

De Dana Dan (2009)

Infused with wickedly funny dialogues, naughty one liners and hilarious situations, director Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan is a rip-roaring comedy which requires one to put aside his/her sense of logic to let the laughter sink in for the next three hours.

Shot entirely in Singapore, the film starts slow but soon the real fun begins as the characters unfold and situations gets wacky.

Buddies Kasha Kumar and Sunil Shetty are living off their girlfriends Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy, respectively. Akshay (Nitin Bankar) plays an arduous driver-cum-housekeeper who is treated like a dog by his strident lady boss Archana Puran Singh. Sunil (Ram Mishra) is a courier boy, and in order to repay the loan that Nitin’s late father once took, he accepted the odd job where even the pet pooch of the lady boss enjoys a better status and the indiscrimination ultimately leads to jealously against the poor canine.

Enters conman and money broker Paresh Rawal who is being chased by a cop close to retirement from service. Paresh is guilty of issuing fake cheques. Akshay and Sunil plan a shortcut to quick money and kidnap the dog for ransom. But the dog escapes and returns home safely. However upon discovering Akshay missing from home, the lady boss and police think it is Akshay who has been kidnapped.

The rest of the story is based on funny incidents, mistaken identities and finally discovering who is who. Handling so many situations with so many characters seemed like a tough job but the director didn’t lose his grip on the subject. The roles of Shakti Kapoor and Neha Dhupia along with those of Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever and Asrani flare up the comedy index and make the scenes more exhilarating.

Akshay’s comedic talents are quite subdued in the film yet quite effective at eliciting humour. Sunil Shetty also seems to be working hard on his comedic drive these days. Katrina couldn’t offer much as her role felt like it was chopped off during editing. Besides, her voice has been dubbed in the film.

The dialogue is the highlight of the movie. The music courtesy Pritam is average, however cinematography is competent. The film’s major pluses include slick characterization, intelligent execution and awesome performances. The care put into direction is equally praiseworthy. The only minus in the film were the post-hotel scenes where the director stretches the comedy scene too long and too thin.

De Dana Dan appears to have a massive budget, boasts of a stellar cast and contains good special effects – Asif Khan

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Ganesh Jain, Girish Jain, Ratan Jain, Director – Priyadarshan, Music Director – Pritam, Rdb, Ad Boyz, Cast – Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy, Johny Lever, Archana Puran Singh, Manoj Joshi, Tinu Anand, Chunkey Pandey, Asrani, Vikram Gokhale, Rajpal Yadav, Aditi Govitrikar, Supriya Karnik

Billu Barber (2009)

Billu Barber easily proves what you already know: Shah Rukh Khan has tremendous star appeal but when it comes to acting, he can easily be upstaged, in this case by the better Khan – Irrfan Khan.

Billu is a story set in the picturesque village of Budbuda, where Billu the hajam (Irrfan Khan) struggles to make ends meet and where Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), the Bollywood superstar ends up with his troupe to shoot for his next film. In no time at all, word spreads that Billu and Sahir were once friends and the entire population of villagers – until now who had absolutely no sympathy for Billu – attach themselves to him with undying support. Suddenly his childrens’ school fees are paid, the broken chair in his salon is replaced by a 25,000 rupee revolving chair and every night the electricity supply, which has been cut off due to non payment of bills, automatically comes back on.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch though and what they all expect in return is to meet the superstar who travels with a human shield of bodyguards and police cordons around him. The villagers feel Billu is their ticket to Sahir Khan. Billu, however, instead of enjoying the attention cringes away from it and even considers moving out of town until the entire brouhaha dies down. He is all too aware of the status incompatibility between him and Sahir Khan and wants to avoid putting either in an uncomfortable spot. Whether or not he actually knows Sahir Khan personally or not is not revealed until the end of the film.
Coming from Priyadarshan, the director who gave Bollywood comic hits like Hera Pheri, Hulchul, Bhagam Bhag, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Garam Masala, the film’s USP is essentially its comedy. But there is also an emotional sentimentality that connects and tugs at the heart. The film picks up in its second half after an unnecessarily long opening and ends with a predictable yet wholesome climax.

Billu is an adaptation of the Malayalam film Katha Parayumpol and reviews by critics who have seen the original suggest that it has been copied frame for frame. However, there are enough goof-ups in the film that have to be credited to Priyadarshan alone. For an immensely poor family with a scruffy father and children, Lara Dutta (who plays the role of Billu’s wife) is always immaculately made up: her saris, eyeliner and lip gloss always in place. That she has never looked better hardly makes up for the fact that she has been miscast as she is too English medium (which she cannot hide) to pass as a villager.

Secondly the film, which Sahir Khan is shooting for, is a futuristic Matrix type sci-fi flick. Why they chose to shoot in a village is incomprehensive, especially since they only shoot on sets that have nothing to do with the natural back drop. The three Bollywood bombshells Deepika, Priyanka and Kareena are added for their curve-appeal and they are limited to songs which are highly entertaining but again, irrelevant to the film.

Shah Rukh’s own role is glorified in an almost shameless way. From his ‘King Khan’ jackets to the body guards to the children wearing SRK masks to posters of all his films pasted to every wall in the village, it certifies that King Khan is the biggest superstar of India. It appears as a role close to reality, with the director portraying him as a star with a conscience.

It is interesting to see how Bollywood is being interpreted in films lately. From Om Shanti Om’s comic spoofing of the film industry to its flaws sketched out in Luck By Chance, ‘Bollywood’ itself appears to be Bollywood’s favourite theme these days. And Billu details it’s glamorous and yet biased towards good side only. In the end it is, like most Bollywood films, the star quotient and the soundtrack (which is quite catchy) that helps it work, not the story line – Aamna Haider Isani (Rating 2.5 OUT OF 5)

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2009, Genre – Comedy, Country – India, Language – Urdu/Hindi, Producer – Gauri Khan, Director – Priyadarshan, Music Director – Pritam, Cast – Shah Rukh Khan, Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Special Appearances -  Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone