Bollywood Movie Review " Stop "
Sonia (Ishita Arun), Tina (Tejaswini Kolhapure), Puja (Gauri Karnik) and Om (Rohit Bhatia) are four home-mates in Dubai. They together share a huge apartment and are platonic best friends. While Puja is a host on an FM channel called Radio Hum, Tina is a stage actress, Sonia runs a boutique, and Om works in a corporate set up. While outwardly the four appear to live a carefree and modern lifestyle, there are many chinks in their respective armors. Puja wants to be the host of her own show, which she would like to call “Puja at 8″, but for that she may have to compromise and spend a night with her boss (Harsh Chhaya), at the same time she has promised her conservative India-based parents that she will meet the boy of their choice and settle with him. Tina’s skeleton in the closet contains her alcoholic dad (Om Puri), who is always asking her for money, though Tina would prefer to avoid him and never see him again, she has no option but deal with him whenever he suddenly shows up in their home unannounced; Sonia’s only male client, Rohit (Kiran Janjani) thinks she is hot and wants to marry her, however, Rohit is known as a womanizer and his affairs only last for a few nights. Om was in love with Shama (Dia Mirza) when he was in India, but then she had got married to Pawan. Now Shama and her daughter are in Dubai and both are about to re-kindle their romance for each other, not knowing that Pawan himself is on his way there. As problems arise, they tend to take a toll in their friendship as they start drifting apart. Finally it all boils down to a climax on the New Years’ Day. The film attempts to be a modern day take on friendships amongst today’s youth ala Dil Chahta Hai. While the friendship chemistry amongst the four friends has come out naturally well and some small sequences and lines shared amongst them have come out very identifiable, the overall impact is missing. The comic track between Tejaswini and Ali Asgar also falls completely flat. The culmination of Kiran and Ishita Arun’s story is unintentionally hilarious. Director Ajai Sinha who is a popular name in television circuit as a director who is a master in handling human emotions is let down here with a weak script. He does impress however in handling of some emotional sequences. The production values are fair but costumes especially worn by Gauri and Tejaswini are simply bad. Music by Vishal – Shekhar lacks the zing required for a youngsters flick. Newcomer Rohit Bhatia makes a confident debut. Tejaswini Kolhapure impresses a lot despite having been badly presented. Ishita Arun and Gauri Karnik barely get scope to showcase their acting talents. Dia Mirza in a small but important part is good. Harsh Chhaya is getting type cast in a lecherous boss roles. He has done similar type of parts earlier in Laga Chunari Mein Daag and Its Breaking News. Kiran Janjani fits the part. Himani Shivpuri, Om Puri and Anupam Kher lend able support as usual. While the film may not exactly be worth a visit to the nearest multiplex, it isn’t that bad either and can be caught up on home video on one lazy Sunday afternoon. Complete Story!
Bipasha Basu Out Of Race
Spurned by the Race producers, Abbas-Mustan are planning to revive their long-forgotten shelved project Mr Fraud for Tips’ rival company Astavinayak which stars Bipasha Basu.
Says Bipasha, “If Mr Fraud is revived I’d be happy to give dates.The film was shot in London and the styling was not time bound.”
Not that Bipasha is mourning her absence in Race 2. “I heard even Abbas-Mustan are not doing Race 2. If the original directors are not doing the sequel, who am I? I haven’t been approached for Race 2. That’s fine.
In Bollywood the heroines are never signed for sequels. It’s a tradition. Just check the sequels. The guys get repeated. The girls don’t. It’s a man’s world. I don’t feel like a second citizen for that.
When Raaz 2 was made everyone kept asking why I wasn’t in it. But I never worried about that. No point in crying about it.”
Moving on from Race, Bipasha has just signed her second comedy. Coincidentally comedy reprises the Mr Fraud trio.
Laughs Bipasha, “That’s right Sanjay, Ajay and I are together again in All The Best. This is the one film I’ll enjoyed doing. I had a ball doing No Entry. Intially I had too many inhibitions about Bollywod.
No Entry made me drop those inhibitions. I’m sure Rohit Shetty’s All The Best will make me more uninhibited. …It’s a fun film and I don’t have to always do roles that reflect my personality. Sometimes it’s fun to do fun film.”
Bipasha has signed only one film this year. “I don’t want do any more work than my pace allows me. I don’t want to compete with anybody. I’ve made a niche right from my first film. I’m Bipasha Basu.
I don’t think there’s any replacement for that. I enjoy my work. But there so much more my vocation as an actor than just acting.
I can do stage shows, be a businesswoman, work for social causes. I keep busy 24 by 7. At this stage of my life I don’t need to sit and pine for a role.”
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