Hum Hai Raahi Car Ke

Cast: Adah Sharma, Dev Goel, Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher, Chunky Pandey, Sanjay Dutt

Direction: Jyotin Goel

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Story: Two friends take an impromptu road trip to Pune, which doesn't turn out as planned.

Movie Review: The film begins well with a gawky call centre executive Priyanka (Adah Sharma) answering weird medical queries over the phone. She even warns a client that 'beauty creams' are for external use only. The scene evokes laughter, thus making you believe the film could turn out to be a fun comedy.

Unfortunately, within few minutes, you realize the film has no story in the first place. You see Priyanka's bachelor neighbour-cum-best friend Shammy (Dev Goel) loitering around in his house in colourful underwear. He even sniffs one of his underpants, thankfully, when he isn't wearing it!

The hyper-enthusiastic, forever-smiling Shammi (much to your annoyance) all of a sudden decides to attend a wedding in Pune and convinces Priyanka to accompany him. The film is all about what happens on that road trip.

The journey gets unbearable for you as an audience as there is nothing funny or adventurous about anything or anyone here. The film fails to qualify as a comedy to begin with. The jokes won't even make a 5-year-old laugh.

For instance, a man dressed as a gorilla scares off the hero in the jungle, a boy dressed as a Spider-man chases the heroine, a rowdy goon Amladi (whose dad is supposedly associated with common wealth games, get it?) gets into pointless banter with the lead actors, Chunky Pandey plays not double or triple, hold your breath...some 4-5 roles and hams endlessly. Actors speak in South Indian, Parsi and Bengali accents in an outdated attempt to make you laugh!

Sanjay Dutt, Anupam Kher and Juhi Chawla are in guest appearances. Given the lack of a story, even their presence fails to salvage the film. Adah Sharma is decent. She must choose her films wisely. Dev Goel smiles from the beginning of the film till the end for no reason. His over-acting is irritating. However, the two cannot do much, given how silly and 'wannabe funny' the film is.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Aditya Roy Kapur, Kalki Koechlin

Direction: Ayan Mukerji

Genre: Romance

Duration: 2 hours 41 minutes

Story: Four friends take off for adventure sport and discover little-known personal aspects of one another. Years later they reunite and this time the equation is even more combustible. 

Youth is a many splendoured thing. An alive, fresh vibe dominates Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani invigorating you through it's entire run. The story is not novel, but the treatment is A-grade. 

Ranbir Kapoor(Kabir Thapa aka Bunny), Deepika Padukone (Naina), Kalki Koechlin (Aditi) and Aditya Roy Kapur (Avi) go on a trek. While Bunny, Aditi and Avi have always been close, Naina, the staid, studious girl is a last minute addition to the group. The group just wants to live life king-size. Early enough in the film, Bunny announces—marriage at 25, children at 30, retirement at 50 and then waiting for death—is not how he sees his life playing out. He wants to travel the world, he wants to be free. Aditi and Avi share his thinking to a degree. But Naina is different. She is studying to be a doctor, believes in family and is a rooted young lady with traditional values. 

The first half of the film is a fun-ride. Watching Madhuri Dixit do a ghagra number with Ranbir is a ceeti-moment. At intermission point, the film rightly leaves you yearning for more. 

The first twenty minutes of the second half is mundane. But the action comes together again at Aditi's wedding. Against the backdrop of the big, fat Indian wedding in picturesque Udaipur, the friends unite for the festivities. But the chinks in the armour show by way of their mixed ideologies and changed priorities. Of course there's no battle big enough that friendship cannot surmount. So, between tears and cheers, Bunny, Naina, Aditi and Avi forge equations that are more real with one another and with the audience. 

Ranbir is delectable and a true-blue superstar. This pedigreed actor dances like a dream, looks terrific and emotes effortlessly. Watch out for the scenes with his father Farooque Shaikh. Deepika is first-rate as is Kalki. Evelyn Sharma and Kunal Roy Kapur provide humour.

Mere Haule Dost

Cast: Anirudh Loka, Raghuvardhan Garlapati, Aadil Abedi, Rishit Samala, Kiran Gadalay, Preeti Gupta, Catherine Fallows

Direction: Nitin Raghunath

Genre: Drama

Duration: 1 hour 42 minutes

Story: Five unambitious friends plan on participating in the Himalayan bike rally for over a year. Do they make it happen?

Movie Review: Set in Hyderabad, Mere Haule Dost revolves around the daily lives of five laidback youngsters who are perpetually broke. The film begins with Bheja sharing stories of his past girlfriends with his fiance. That's how we are transported to his college days, where we meet his haule (slow or dim-witted, we suppose) friends. They are called Bong, Dada, Paisa, Mota, etc., who will have to overcome their respective problems to make it to the rally.


The film aspires to be a light-hearted, slice-of-life youth film with guy jokes and buddy chemistry. Unfortunately, none of that is achieved. The characters lack personality. They aren't likeable enough to draw your attention to them or make you identify with them.

The film has no particular story to tell and we are fine with 'nothing-ness' as long as something keeps you amused. For almost two hours, you see uninteresting characters having insignificant conversations. The result is obviously uninspiring.

The script lacks situational humour and that's the biggest drawback. When you crack private jokes with your buddies, it's expected that others won't get it, but they must at least sound funny! Nothing amuses you about the boys who paint fake burgers on the walls and try eating them or beg for pocket money from their ex-girlfriends.

College days, impromptu parties, bike rides, canteen conversations, secret crushes...in spite of incorporating it all in the film, not a single scene touches your heart or takes you down memory lane. The gang's passion for bikes is barely visible. The boys seem more besotted with silly girls who
wear terrible make-up. A rock chick keeps forcing Bheja to listen to rock music. She ends up chewing your brains more than his.

The film is as purposeless as the characters in it. The title track of the film, where you see the friends taking off on their bikes to celebrate their freedom, is probably the only good thing about this amateurish film.

Yamla Pagla Deewana 2

Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Neha Sharma, Kristina Akheeva, Annu Kapoor, Johnny Lever, Anupam Kher

Direction: Sangeeth Sivan

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes

Story: Pious Paramvir's crooked father and brother, Dharam and Gajodhar, try scamming a British businessman - and his daughters. Will Param let the duo do it? 

Movie Review: Rather like one of the many people Paramvir Singh ( Sunny Deol) pummels, Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 (YPD 2) totters between GJs (good jokes) and PJs (poor jokes). The GJs are sometimes very good - as scamster Gajodhar-turned-gentleman Prem, trying to impress Reet (Akheeva) with his knowledge of art, Bobby Deol hilariously confuses Zakir Hussain ("Woh 'Wah Taj' wala - woh toh tabla bajata hai, na?") with MF Hussain. Bobby then reappears as his artist-twin 'Q' - accompanied by "Hussain sahib ki ghori, Gaja Gamini". And there's the British lady overwhelmed by a painting, calling Mark and Spencer to come see it too. 

But the GJs get flattened by the PJs, which include an over-smart orangutan called Einstein, a blond Anupam Kher as astronaut-villain Joginder Armstrong, Johnny Lever and Sucheta Khanna in un-funny 'villain' suits (including an objectionable Hiroshima-Nagasaki one), Chinese warriors, Sumo wrestlers, Annu Kapoor's accent flying from London to LA via Ludhiana (he introduces Reet as "daughter of late Lady Alizabeth Waltar Khanna") and so many more. 

Minus 30 minutes, YPD 2 could have been much funnier - and much shorter. It does have its moments - Sunny in the shower sweetly sparkles while Suit Mera Laal Rang Da will rock shaadi-season. But despite two pretty heroines, three Deols and an assortment of nutty buddies, YPD 2 frequently stumbles into blunder-land. Paramvir works for the world's most soft-hearted bank (its manager drawls, "Cheques are better late than never,"), Suman (Sharma) walks through Banaras in skimpier shorts and tighter push-up tops than what she wears in London, Reet stresses, "Thaynk you sooo much!" to everyone, while Einstein enjoys an awful 'item number'.