Join the Joyride

Film: Ferrari Ki Sawari

Cast: Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Ritwik Sahore

Directed by: Rajesh Mapuskar

Duration: 140 mins

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

For a change, here is some clean fun and wholesome entertainment for the family. Directed by Rajesh Mapuskar (Rajkumar Hirani’s assistant) and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ferrari Ki Sawari provides a few laughs, some emotional moments and some morals thrown in – effectively. It is furlongs ahead of the brain numbing films released at the theatres every Friday.

Sure, it is not a flawless film. The finale is a bit melodramatic and long but nevertheless the positives are far more than the negatives – the heart is in the right place and it is executed with the same sincerity. What is also commendable is the fact that the film doesn’t have any A-list stars and solely relies on good actors to pull it off.

Sharman Joshi plays Rusi Deboo, he is the head clerk at the Worli RTO office and you won’t find a more honest man even if you take a lamp and search for one, as the old Hindi saying goes. Since he is a widower, he has to take care of his son Kayo (Ritwik Sahore), who is an extremely talented cricket player. His father Behram (Boman Irani) is a grumpy old man who was a promising player, once upon a time long long ago.

Kayo is selected for a cricket camp at Lords, London but papa doesn’t have enough money to finance the trip. Meanwhile, a wedding planner (a first rate Seema Bhargava of Hum Log fame) is organising the wedding of a local corporator’s son and she has sold them the idea of the groom coming in a Ferrari. Rusi contemplates borrowing Sachin Tendulkar’s Ferrari for a day and making some money, but things don’t go as planned when he visits the Little Master’s house.  He is forced to compromise on his principles to make his sons dream come true.  

A security guard and the domestic helper (Deepak Shirke and Aakash Dabhade) are responsible for the loss of the car and their exploits to get it back provide a lot of chuckles, thanks to their sense of comic timing and the dialogues.

Ferrari is the kind of film that has a very smooth sailing while you watch it. If you dissect it thread bare later, you will find some flaws in terms of logic but then that would also apply to virtually every movie ever made. The climax though that involves the father’s antics on live television could have easily been done away with, it doesn’t particularly enrich the film in anyway.   

Pritam’s music is easy on the ears and thankfully the songs are well spaced. On the acting front, the supporting cast of Seema Bhargava, Deepak Shirke and Paresh Rawal is terrific. Boman Irani is a seasoned actor for such roles and Shraman Joshi is sincere in the portrayal of his character. But Ritwik Sahore as the little boy is the most impressive of them all. In sum, check out this Ferrari and join the joyride.

Let’s get rocked

Film: Rock of Ages

Cast: Tom Cruise, Julliane Hough, Diego Boneta

Directed by: Adam Shankman

Duration: 124 mins

Rating: * * 1 / 2

Much like Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe which had the music of the Beatles and Phyllida Lloyds ‘Mamma Mia!’ that had the music of you know who, Rock of Ages pays a tribute to the rock music of the 80s. Adapted from the 2006 Broadway musical of the same name, the film is a fun nostalgia trip as far as the music is concerned, but on the whole, as a film, it could have done better, especially in terms of the story.

Set in 1987, Sherrie (Julliane Hough) travels from her hometown Oklahoma to Los Angeles with the aspiration of becoming a singer. She meets Drew (Diego Boneta) who works at the Bourbon Room, one of the most happening clubs on sunset strip in LA. He helps her get a job there, they sing Foreigner’s Waiting for a girl/boy like you under the Hollywood sign, and fall in love. Dennis (Alec Baldwin) runs the club with his partner (Russel Brand), but the mayor of the town wants to shut down the place. Moreover, his wife (Catherine Zeta Jones) manipulates religious groups into opposing rock and roll music.

Tom Cruise plays Stacee Jaxx (modelled on Axl Rose) a rock idol whose career has hit a few bumps, thanks to his weird habits and ideas. Drew and Sherrie split after a misunderstanding only to reunite again and Stacee gets enlightened by a Rolling Stones journalist.  

For music lovers, there are quite a few songs like Pour some sugar on me, Hit me with your best shot, More than words, Cant fight this feeling, We built this city, Every rose has its thorn and many more to sing along. What the film suffers from is a story that doesn’t really keep you very interested and the main protagonists are pretty much stereotyped.

Julianne Hough does well as the girl with starry dreams but it is Tom Cruise as a rock star that saves the day.  He plays his role with great élan.

Oh fish!

Film: Piranha 3D

Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Matt Bush, David Hasselhoff

Directed by: John Gulager

Duration: 80 mins

Rating: * *

Move over sharks and anacondas, the Piranhas are back. There is of course no good reason for them to be back considering that it was only in 2010 that a Piranha film starring (Elisabeth Shue) was released and here we have the sequel. The reason for the sequel is mainly that the first one gave the producers very good returns on the money they invested.

 There isn’t much of a story here, after the incident at Lake Victoria in the previous film, the piranhas come to a new place this time, a water park. Before that they attack nearby water bodies and you can trust young boys and girls with considerably low IQ to venture into dark places in the middle of the night. Needless to say they get bitten by the piranhas, some of them in rather sensitive parts of the anatomy.

David Hasselhoff plays himself and pokes some fun at his own popularity as well. The climax looks funnier rather than serious although not sure if it was intended to be that way.

As far as these kinds of movies are concerned, you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.