Producer: Director: Vikram K. Kumar Cast: R. Madhavan, Neetu Chandra, Sachin Khedekar, Murli Sharma, Poonam Dhillon, Murli Sharma, Deepak Dobriyal, Dhritiman Chatterjee Synopsis: In today's world of unrelenting pressures, challenged survivals and super fast life styles, the major source of Relief, Information and Entertainment is... the TV. So much so, that it has moved up from its modest position of being just another 'house hold appliance' to actuall... Full Synopsis
13 B Movie Review:
Vikram K Kumar, the writer director of 13B has had an illustrious career, which began as an assistant to Priyadarashan. His latest film, 13B, has been made in Hindi and Tamil, with R Madhavan and Neetu Chandra playing the lead in both versions. The film, which belongs to the horror genre might just about arouse curiousity and generate a tad bit of suspense, but if it's horror that the makers are doling out, then they have definitely got the wrong address. There is nothing in the film which could get one scared; startled maybe. 13B has an interesting premise and towards the climax it does manage to pick up pace. But the overall impact is hardly exciting.
The problem with most Hindi horror films is that makers generally go over the top in the manner in which they use the background score, right from the first frame, even before anything horrifying has begun. It continues right up to the point where they build up suspense over every little thing. In this film, for instance, there is an illustrious Bengali film actor called Dhritiman Chatterjee, who plays the role of a blind man, who has a guide dog. As he lives in the same building as Manohar (Madhavan), the protagonist keeps bumping into him. He hardly has any role to talk about. In fact, the dog probably has more to do in the movie. The director just uses this actor as a red herring, as there is no reason for him to be there in the film. This over the top attitude is also evident in the choice of camera angles, specially seen in the first scene.
The film revolves around Manohar and his family, who have just moved into their own flat. It is on the 13th floor and the flat number is, 13B. The women of the house, which includes Manohar's wife (Neetu Chandra), his mother (Poonam Dhillon) and his sister in law, spend most of their time in front of the television, catching all the soaps being aired. After a while, strange things start happening in the life of Manohar and his family. It starts with little things gradually, till one day, when Manohar discovers that one of the TV soaps called 'Sab Khairiyat Hai', which is telecast everyday at 1pm in the afternoon, seems to be strangely mirroring everything that is happening in his familoy. It happens in the soap first and then the very same incident is played out in his family. His suspicions get confirmed when his wife has an accident in the kitchen and is admitted to hospital in a serious condition. She suffers a miscarriage and the doctors are unable to diagnose her condition. All of this is shown happening to the wife of the protagonist of the serial as well. It's only after her recovery is shown on the soap that Manohar's wife recovers, much to the surprise of the doctors. Incidentally, the soap is only beamed in Manohar's house. He confides in a friend of his, who is a cop (played by Murali Sharma). The two try to investigate into the matter. They dig up some clues and discover that the family which appears in the soap, was actually bludgeoned to death many years ago. The bunglow, where they lived, used to be on the same spot where the building in which Manohar lives, has now come up. The address of their house was 13B, which is Manohar's flat number. Digging into the past, the two discover a tale of murder and revenge. Manohar needs to unravel the mystery fast if he wants to save his family from a killer who is out on the loose.
While the part about the uncanny similarity between the events in the serial being replicated in real life, is a little unsettling, the film loses its bite once the mystery starts to be unraveled. The journey back into the past and the story of the unrequited lover is not sufficiently moving enough. Hence when Sachin Khedekar, the friendly GP, sheds his friendly image, there is not much of a shock. In fact, one is really not drawn into the movie and the plight of its protagonists, except perhaps for Manohar. The problem lies in the manner in which the film has been written. There is little that writer director Vikram can do to retrieve the movie. The music of the film has been composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, who deliver a fairly decent score. The cinematography by PC Sreeram is good.
The only thing that keeps the film going is the acting prowess of R Madhavan, with some great support from Murali Sharma. But a Madhavan is not enough to prop the film. He does his best and tries to be as natural as possible. He receives little support from the cast, which includes veteran actress Poonam Dhillon and talented newcomer Neetu Chandra. Deepak Dobriyal is just about OK as the madman, while Sachin Khedekar's character's motives do not appear to be strong enough to warrant such a crime.
13B comes with a tagline saying that 'Fear has a new address.
Unfortunately, the film and its treatment do not bear that out. On the whole, a disappointing experience.
8 X 10 Tasveer; Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Javed Jaffrey, Anant Mahadevan, Rushad Rana and Uttara Baokar; Director: Nagesh Kukunoor; Rating: **1/2 - Could have been much better.
Jai Puri (Akshay) is a forest ranger in Canada. For over a year he is having a live in relationship with Sheela (Takia) and staying separately from his parents Jatin (Benjamin Gilani) and Savitri (Sharmila Tagore) because he doesn’t approve of his father’s business dealings. Jai is blessed with supernatural powers with which he can look at any photograph and can actually go right into that moment when it was actually clicked. Through this he helps the needy who come to him to seek answers but at the same time this whole process is dangerous to his health as the high anxiety caused because of it can even kill him. His life gets shattered when he comes to know about his father’s death. It is supposedly an accident as his father slipped down their yacht and had a heart attack when fallen into cold water. His mother, father’s business partner cum brother Sunder (Anant Mahadevan), business associate Adit (Rushad Rana) and good friend cum lawyer Anil Sharma (Girish Karnad) were present on the yacht when the accident took place. While Jai too dismisses it as an accident, Habib aka Happi (Javed Jaffery) a whimsical ex-cop meets him and explains the possibility of a murder. Jai in the beginning disbelieves him but Happi tries to bring to notice proofs that lead Jai to believe that it was indeed a murder. Jai starts using his special gift to trace the murderer through that one photograph which was clicked just minutes before his father died. But then two more murders take place and Jai is left stunned. How one shocking revelation leads to other and what “truth” comes face to face at the pre-climax forms the rest of the film.
The film begins well. Though slow paced you understand it is intentional and go along the flow. The premise of the film and the setting keeps getting really interesting and also some superbly shot sequences keep you on the edge. It is almost like watching a Hollywood suspense thriller directed by M.Night Shyamalan. But the whole premise falters during the last 30 minutes in what appears like a never ending climax. With the big suspense tumbling out and the reasons given by the murderer appearing far from convincing, you stop taking it seriously. But one can admit, the identity of the murderer is indeed very shocking and something that even the biggest of suspense film fan’s can find it difficult to predict. However, even after it is revealed, the film takes too much time to wind up. After a point you lose count of how many dead bodies are fallen.
But to give him due credit, Kukunoor shows tremendous progress as a technician and has done just the perfect casting for all the parts. His interval point is simply superb as it wipes out all the predictions you are making up till then. Kukunoor was always considered a master story teller but this time he has faltered in this area.
Akshay Kumar deserves a bow for taking the risk to be a part of such an unusual project. He has acted sincerely and given it his all. It is not the typical Akshay that you have got used to watching in the last two years. Ayesha Takia is back in form and impresses. Javed Jaffrey is simply superb right from his entry to exit. Girish Karnad makes a rare appearance and is good as usual. Sharmila Tagore lends grace to her character. Anant Mahadevan and Rushad Rana are good as well. The actress playing Javed Jaffrey’s nurse ex-girlfriend is natural.
The film hardly has scope for music and thankfully songs are kept minimized. The background score by Salim Suleiman successfully elevates the thrill element.
8X10 is not entirely a bad film. If you can digest the revelation in the climax, it can work for you otherwise you will end up coming out pulling your hair.-Sampurn Media
The film begins in 1999 Mumbai. Sachin (Kunal Khemu) and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha) are two small time crooks who make moolah duplicating mobile SIM cards. It was a time when mobiles craze was just catching on and not many people carried mobiles. When cops raid Sachin and Zaramud’s place they steal a posh Mercedes and try to run but end up ramming it into a lamp post. Their problems multiply as the expensive car belongs to a ruthless underworld don cum bookie AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar). To recover his huge loss from them AGM gets the duo working under him. AGM then sends the two to Delhi to recover Rs. 20 lakhs from Rahul Vidyarthi (Boman) who had laid a bet on a India v/s New Zealand match under his syndicate. Now this Rahul is a chronic gambler and is forever in debt evading all those demanding back their money. He tries the same with Rahul and Zaramud. But the two succeed in getting back the money but then to their bad luck it gets stolen on their way to the airport. Now their only chance to recover all that money is that one match between India v/s South Africa that Rahul plans to bet on which he knows is fixed. But he is not sure on whose favour. How the trio with the help of Pooja (Soha), hotel employee and Kunal new found love try to find a way out of this forms the rest of this comic thriller. The film carries the tag line - Part Fact, Part Fiction, Pure Fun. Rarely Bollywood film tag lines live up to the expectations raised but 99 is bang on. The makers have intricately woven situations (betting scandal, mobile phone nuisance) that actually took place in 1999-2000 with a fictional story and made it extremely entertaining. This film might just end the drought multiplex audiences were subjected to. What lifts the film to a great extent are the dialogues. The one-liners are terrific and all the actors are bang on with their comic timing. Director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK have done a fantastic job over all but just that they could have kept the pacing even. All the scenes between Boman and his wife played by Simone Singh tend to drag and bring the pace down. But thats just a minor flaw. The film’s treatment is fresh and it keeps you hooked throughout. Kunal Khemu’s fan following should multiply with this film. He is just too good. Cyrus Broacha in his first full fledged role in a Hindi film is howlarious. He is even funny in scenes where he doesn’t even have a line to speak. Boman is back in form after a long time. Soha’s shows she can be very good with comedy too. Simone Singh playing Boman’s wife is fair. But the two guys who stand out tall are Mahesh Manjrekar and Amit Mistry. Manjrekar’s poker faced humour leaves you laughing out loud. All his scenes with Kunal-Cyrus and the ones where he tortures his clients are extremely funny. Amit Mistry had last impressed in Ek Chalis Ki Last Local playing Abhay Deol’s gambler friend. Here he plays Manjrekar’s Delhi associate and he impresses yet again. In a cameo role, Vinod Khanna exudes style and fits the part perfectly as the big bookie and Boman’s nemesis. 99 is a cool movie to be enjoyed in this hot 2009 summer. Don’t miss it. Finally there is a clean, innovative comedy thats worth your money.
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