Deep insight Apaharan
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Ayub Khan, Yashpal Sharma, Murli Sharma, Mohan Agashe
Director: Prakash Jha
Showing at: E-Square, Inox, City Pride (Satara and Kothrud), Gold Adlabs, Mangala, Laxminarayan, Vasant, Alankar
Very few films live up to the hopes raised by both what the film-maker has done before, and to reports of how it has shaped up. Apaharan scores high on both counts. Prakash Jha, back in Bihar after Mrityudand and Gangajal, with a window on the murky world of corruption, cops and kidnappings, is still in crackling form, and delivers a film which spares you none of the savagery which goes with the territory. The film hits hard and makes you think.

Kidnappings are big business in the badlands of Bihar. Jha has done his research: terms seen in news reports like parcel and delivery are used liberally, so is the modus operandi—- bundle the victim into a speeding van and stash him in a deserted warehouse, while his price and his fate becomes a bargaining point between warring politicians and policemen and ganglords.

Ajay’s (Ajay Devgan) entry into the kidnapping elite, whose satrap is Tabrez Alam (Nana Patekar) could be the story of any young, disillusioned man. His Gandhian father (Mohan Agashe) refuses to lift a finger to help Ajay get a job in a state where caste and connections make the cut, not merit. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Ajay descends into darkness, deserted by childhood sweetheart Megha (Bipasha Basu).

Jha’s film has a couple of flaws. The detailing of the labyrinthine maze spun by the nexus of that very Bihari creature, a neta who also controls the strings of crime, and his spread-out network of goons, gets repetitive. We could have done with some tighter editing. We could have also done without a dressed-down Bipasha Basu, desperately trying to live the part of a small-town Bihari girl on her way to become a doctor. Bronzed diva Bips in a top-to-toe salwaar kameez? Have a heart, Jhaji.

What makes Apaharan such a terrific watch, despite the often misguided attempts at the lead actors trying on Bihari-accented Hindi and English, are the other performances. The ensemble cast is very good, especially Jha’s staples such as Yashpal Sharma, Murli Sharma and Ayub Khan. After a dismal year, Ajay Devgan gets full-on: this is an actor who needs intelligent, meaty roles and Prakash Jha seems to write them for him. And Nana Patekar, who is such heavy-going when he goes over the top, which he does too much of the time, comes out tops. Pot-pourri

Home Delivery
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Ayesha Takia, Boman Irani, Mahima Choudhary, Saurabh Shukla, Tiku Talsania
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Showing at: Inox, City Pride (Satara and Kothrud), Gold Adlabs, Mangala, Westend
some films are a colossal waste of time and expectation. Home Delivery goes right to the top of the class. It has no script-sense. It has actors largely ricocheting off randomness. At the end of the excruciating two-and-a-half hours, you emerge shell-shocked: is this the same guy who gave us the absolutely delightful Jhankaar Beats?

Sujoy Ghosh showed such a high degree of comic inventiveness in his debut that he was dubbed the next best thing on the spot. In his story of three R D Burman-mad guys trying to win a music competition, there was flair and fun, qualities patently missing from Home Delivery.

Sunny (Vivek) is a deadline-phobic gyan guru, who dishes out advice to the love-lorn and pimple-ridden populace via his laptop. He’s also struggling to write a script which Karan Johar (K Jo, playing himself) has promised to produce. His sweet fiancee Jenny (Ayesha Takia) puts up with his late-lateef ways, and his reluctance to marry, specially when he runs into his teenage pin-up fantasy, Miss Cleavage Kumari Maya (Mahima Choudhary).

The ingredients, including a string of filmy celebs (Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Naseerudin Shah, all in blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em appearances) are all there. But Ghosh clearly has no idea what to do with either the bit parts or the leads. Mahima, as the booby no-brainer actress, is unintentionally hilarious.

Boman Irani, who plays the simple-but wise, profusely-bearded pizza-delivery boy Michael is more Sad Sack than Santa Claus, and is shockingly ill-used. Saurabh Shukla and Tiku Talsania, as Vivek’s crazy neighbours, start grating the moment they come on. And a couple of tender moments between Vivek and Ayesha, the only good things in the film, disappear into the din.

With a string of films ahead of her, Ayesha can probably soon put Home Delivery behind her, but is certainly not the best come back for Vivek. With his geeky glasses and cheeky passes, he tries very hard, but is helpless in a film which has a dim idea of where it wants to go, and how it gets there.

Miss-take Mr Ya Miss
Cast: Antara Mali, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Divya Dutta, Bharat Dhabolkar, Aftab Shivdasani
Directors: Antara Mali, Satchit Puranik
Showing at: E-Square, Inox, Gold Adlabs, Neelayam, Rahul, Mangala, Westend
A skirt-chasing chauvinist is sent back to earth in a woman’s body: where have we heard that one before? You could forgive rip-offs if you get something solid in exchange. Antara Mali, who is credited with the story, screenplay and co-direction, shows more promise behind the screen than on it: Mr and Miss has some hilarious situations, but Ms Mali, who gives herself maximum space in the movie, doesn’t quite rise to them.

Sanjana squeezes herself into a frightful wig, the tightest and shortest of sheaths, and the highest of stilettos, as she (and the hidden-inside-her-body he, who is clunked on the head by a jealous lover, and dispatched to heaven) learns just how hard it is to handle randy men. Sorry, but women having bad hair days, and screwing up their faces, is not our idea of a rip-roaring comedy.