Shanghai

My rating: 4 and a half stars out of 5

Starring: Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi and Kalki Koechlin.

The movie is based on a political shindig in a fictional town of Bharatpur. The CM is planning a major housing and commercial development thereby moving a large population of slum dwellers. A fiery activist, Dr. Ahmedi, speaks against it and is murdered in the process which is declared a drunk-driving accident. Shalini (Kalki Koechlin) wants to reveal the truth and meets a cocky photographer Jogi (Emraan Hashmi) who has some evidence to help her. IAS officer, T.A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol) is handed the task of inquiring the murder-accident and stumbles upon some dirty secrets of the political world.

The beauty of the movie lies in the way Dibakar Banerjee has portrayed the notorious world of beaurocracy and the superb acting by the cast. Emraan Hashmi is the soul of the movie and plays the role of a small town photographer to par. The make up is flawless and a lot of attention to details have been given which lends a sense of authenticity. The two songs in the movie took a minute too long which could have been done away with. The rest of the movie was tactfully music lacking which had the desired effect of making people grip. I admit the Tamilian accent of Abhay Deol wasn't convincing at all and the starting of the movie was a bit darb, but it is the best Bollywood movie in a long long time. I hope the trend continues

Ek mai aur ekk tu...

My rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.
Starring: Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan, Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak.

Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) is an architect in Las Vegas trying to fulfill all the expectations his parents have from him, making him uptight and straight-laced. On losing his job and falling into an abyss of hopelessness, he meets Riana Braganza (Kareena Kapoor), a hair stylist. They drink the whole night and finally end up marrying each other. They plan to annul the marriage and in the process become very good friends. They story then progresses showing how Rahul found himself in the time he spends with Riana who is everything he isn't.
The movie is a sweet tale of friendship between two opposites. Imran Khan and Kareena being the most unlikely couple on screen, look quite real together, though Kareena's role was essentially the common happy-go-lucky girl she plays mostly. The movie took the basic idea from What Happens in Vegas but the over-all take is very different and fresh. Imran looked adorable in the timid role he played. The fact that the movie had cool feet-tapping music just added the relief from the daily life the movie was set out to give.

Don 2

My rating: 2 stars out of 5.
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani, Kunal Kapoor, Lara Dutta

The movie continues what was started eons back by Amitabh Bachchan and more recently by SRK himself.
The underworld wants to out Don as he is a threat to their business. To save himself and make money in addition, he chalks a mega plan which primarily includes looting a bank's vault and stealing the money printing tablets. The movie has a lot of twists and turns which are revealed with time. For this plan to be successful, he takes the help of his one-time-enemy, Vardhan (Boman Irani).
As there is nothing in the movie which will keep you on the edge of your seats, I can go on with spoilers. But for all you SRK fans, I will refrain from doing so. The movie takes the cake for direction and stunts but lacks very sadly in dialogues, which range from 'Don?''haan, autograph matt lena please' to "tumhare aur arjun ke beech mei kya chal raha hai". Too cheesy for the taste buds. Also, SRK didn't do justice to the role given to him. He was too caught up in being G.One and Suri Saab from Rab ne bana di jodi. He should stick to the lover-boy roles. He does them well, but action hero... not so much. Maybe wait for torrent for this one.