Gimme back the money!. Review on Five Hindi Films Which Did Not Deserve To Be Hits

This is a very, very controversial topic. By choosing to write on it, I invite controversy. Reason: If a film was a hit, obviously some, in fact a lot, of people must have really liked it. And those people won't take it kindly if their favourite movie is panned. So, when you're through, just remember: I am sorry if your favourite movie was mentioned, I didn't mean it, but I didn't like it as much as you did.

So here goes: 1.Bunty aur Babli: To be honest, I enjoyed the film for the first half hour or so, it did seem refreshingly different. But, the problem is, the film doesn't move forward from there. Bunty and Babli just can't stop robbing. Every robber worth his salt knows when to hold his cards. Not these two. What's more: they're proud of their ingenuity in the art of robbing. So, they land up in Mumbai originally to clean up and take jobs, but their devotion to their 'art' wins through.

So, what's there in this film that people actually didn't see in countless others? Nothing at all. It's just that Public Relation spin doctors have become very adept at drawing people by the hordes to a film. I concede that this is a half-decent film alright, certainly worth half-a-dekko (exit at the intermission!), but not every half-decent film becomes a superhit. B & B did. That's why it's here. 2.Chalte Chalte: Saathiya was a remake of the Tamil superhit Alai Payuthe and Chalte Chalte was a rehash of Saathiya, with Shah Rukh Khan in a cliched role, Rani Mukherjee looking jaded and even Jatin-Lalit's songs sounding very familiar from their earlier scores. Maybe, it was just that a lot of people missed Saathiya, so they found Chalte Chalte original. Not for me, watching 3 hours of more of the same is a no-no.  What's the fun if you can predict each dialogue in your sleep? 3.Baghban: I know this movie struck a chord with older audiences. But ultimately, in today's market, a movie can only ever succeed if it gets youngsters to fill up the cinema halls. Hey guys, how could you all be so gutless and submit to this completely biased and one-dimensional potrayal of people like you, just for the sake of entertainment, if any? One department in which the movie did do a good job though: it promoted a certain bank and a certain luxury car very well. I don't remember the name of the cafe, it promoted it well too! This movie means business! But we want cinema, boss! 4.Gadar: Again, a typical example of where our film-makers go wrong. A superb first-half, a juvenile second-half. OK, when Sunny Deol displays his reel power the first time, you go, ''Baap Re!'' But when he does it again and again and again, you have to ask, ''Oye yaar, tum subah kitne ande kaate ho?'' Cut the crap, man! You know, the film should have been made before the Kargil war. Then, we could have sent Sunny to Pakistan and he would have solved the whole Indo-Pak problem in Sunny ishstyle. Yuck! 5.Darr: I know this movie makes it in all best of SRK lists and yes, it is one of his best performances. But Yash Chopra has taken up a very unoriginal plot here. Come on, isn't Darr just an artful combination of Baazigar and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa? The anti-hero of Baazigar and the jilted lover of KBKN goes, ''K....k...k..kiran!'' Even Baazigar had its flaws, but since it was Pehli Baar, it was OK. KBKN was really endearing and enjoyable. Darr is just out-and-out-commercial made with an eye transfixed on the audience meter.      There will be many of you out there raring to ask me, ''So, WHAT sort of movies DO you LIKE?'' Sample this: Dil Chahta Hai, Jhankaar Beats, Page 3, Lakshya. All these movies have their own flaws, but at least they are honest story-telling efforts. It's not as if the producer and director are carefully analysing which territory will react in what way to which scene, which is very much the case with these movies.