Story: Azaan (Sachin Joshi), a special agent of the Indian intelligence, single-handedly fights India's war against terror.

With muscle and brawn, he battles the enemies who want to unleash a deadly biological warfare against India from distant shores. Can the loner pull it off? Movie Review: It's the good Muslim versus the bad Muslim thesis which the director tries to showcase in the film through the characters of Azaan, the diehard patriot, and his brother Amaan, a terrorist. Of course, don't go looking for something really deep and incisive in this popcorn thriller which has nothing to boast about except its exotic locales and its high decibel action cuts. The film hurtles across the globe as Azaan chases the evil Doctor and his gang in Germany, Poland, Hong Kong, Morocco...and tries to bring them to book before they smuggle the killer virus to Indian shores. Salim-Suleiman's music too strikes the right note with a few tuneful numbers, but finally it is the action sequences which score above all else. Done with a pizzazz, the chases, the shoot-outs and the fights have a gritty feel to them. More importantly, they cover up for the total lack of emotions in the drama and on the part of the actors. Newcomer Sachin Joshi strangely plays it deadpan from beginning to end and Candice Boucher is mere eye candy. Only Arya Babbar as the mercenary who is heady on the cocktail if jung and jihad shows spunk.

Ayesha Takia, a watch maker in a picturesque hill station, finds a strange customer at her door one day. He introduces himself as Andy (Rannvijay Singh), the highschool back bencher, and turns up silently at her door, daily, without fail, with his damaged watch. Is this shy, introverted, somewhat crazy man the boyfriend she has been waiting for all her life, or is he a mystery man with a dubious history? Movie Review: It's a sweet, small and simple film spilling over with charming locales and charming people too. All the lead actors have lived their roles with an authenticity, including Tanvi Azmi as the buddy aunt and Raghubir Yadav, the fond daddy who is a diehard Kishore Kumar bhakt. Ayesha Takia and Rannvijay Singh bring to life a tender and unusual romance with their slightly dysfunctional comings and goings. Then what goes wrong? It's the pace of the film that takes its toll on you. Understandably, life follows a languid rhythm on the hills and cannot move at lightning speed. But hey, a film's got to have sufficient movement and pace to keep the drama flowing. Here, the events unfold with extenuating lethargy and test your patience time and again. Also the manner in which the mystery angle to Andy's personality is dealt it has an amateur touch to it. Got a lot of time? Go for it.

Life loses its meaning for Pinto, a Goan priest in the making, when his only soul mate, his mother, passes away. Time for him to take a break from Goa and move to Mumbai in search of his long lost (other) soul mate -- his best buddy, Sameer. Only later to realise the maximum city has turned Sameer into Sam. Will he get his friend back? And will that be a cakewalk? Movie Review: Pinto ( Prateik Babbar) is from Goa. And the ways of Mumbai are unknown to him. First, he's out meeting his long lost buddy, Sameer, after a prolonged gap, hoping the latter is still the same, but in vain. Second he tries saving a street dog for a bunch of street kids ending up losing his wallet. Third, Vada Pao is something totally alien to his taste buds (and popping eyes). Now does this really make you laugh? Enter the sub plots. First a don who wants his boss killed. Second the Big Boss (Makrand Deshpande) who wants a puppy to gift his Mona darling. Third is a new buddy who wins only when he lets his heart take over his mind in the game of betting (now that's a lesson for free given by Pinto). Fourth, the Don's mole (Divya Dutta) who gets drunk when she smells her husband's infidelity. Now does this keep you wondering what lies next? So what is it that actually tickles the funny bone in here? Definitely not Pinto's slow and steady steps. Not even his favourite one liner all through his journey: `Momma said...' Or for that matter the stupid antics of a don and his team caught by an overweight kid who can't get over his burger. The only respite comes when Pinto meets Maggie ( Kalki Koechlin). Unfortunately though, even Kalki cannot do much for lack of screen time -- in totality some 20 minutes. As for Divya Dutta and Makrand Deshpande whipping each other after a couple of on the rocks just isn't acceptable. Finally, it's back to Pinto who's taken it on him to make the world a good place to live in. Of course, all the goodness

seems lost in too many subplots.... Prateik's a fine actor. He needs to make the right choices.

You don't have the courage and confidence to walk up to the guy/girl you like in this age of FB. What do you do then? Send a friendship request. That's what Vishal and Preeti do. Simple? Not really... also in this age of hidden identities.... Movie Review: The first thought: Why fraaandship and not friendship? Even before you can actually find an answer to that there's more: Why ssmoooching and not smooching? Why lip-is-stick and not lipstick? Why sup and not super? Maybe that's how it's meant to be. Saqib Saleen, aka Vishal becomes Vish who has the hots for Malvika (Tara D'Souza), aka Malu. But Malu it seems has the hots for Rahul ( Nishant Dahiya). Begins mission FB. Vish realises the one posing as Malu on social network is actually his classmate Preeti (Saba Azad) -- in short Pree -- who in turn likes Rahul. Too confusing? Wait, there's more.... Before the friendship request sent between the two college goers turns into love forever, it takes a lot of dynamics -- teasing, taunting, Ican't stand-you-moments, I-actually-miss-you syndromes... till the buddies actually admit being in love. Of course, after revealing their true identities beyond the virtual world. And that's exactly when the friendship turns into fraaandship... and goes all kitsch. The newcomers do invest an upbeat energy in their roles, specially Saqib Saleem and Saba Azad.

Tip Off: A babalog film, brimming over with youth iconography....

Jo Dooba So Paar -- It's love in Bihar!

Keshu ( Anand Tiwari), a student in a small town in Bihar, is hardly interested in the routine business of life. He hangs out with his odd medley of friends and thinks of innovative ways to add spark to their lives. But that's only when he's not assisting his father, a truck driver, who ferries cargo for kidnappers and insurgents in the wild interiors. Everything changes when he meets the new girl in town, an IndianItalian who is doing research on Madhubani art. Can the small town upstart hope for reciprocity in romance? Movie Review: There is a refreshing honesty in this film which makes it a small time sparkler. Set in the interiors of Bihar, the director manages to recreate the perfect backdrop of mofussil India where the youth are disoriented due to lack of opportunities and law and order is a far far cry. The lament of disillusioned constable Vinay Pathak, as he drowns himself in alcohol post duty and cries himself to sleep every night is symptomatic of the rot in off-the-map India. But Pathak isn't the only character who touches your heart with his angst. Almost all the other characters are flesh and blood forms and strike a genuine note from the word go. Leading the pack is Keshu, the rebel without a cause who has all the makings of a hero. Not at all intimidated by the girl's upper class family, her firang boyfriend or his father's lashings, he shows unusual bravado in expressing his love, so what if it is in pidgin English. Equally alluring are his parents, specially his mother who has just one cure for her

husband's anger -- seduction -- and Keshu's gang of loser friends. The film holds up a charming mirror on the small town milieu and creates heroes out of ordinary folks. Surely, a different experience. Tip Off: This one's not routine cinema, nor does it have mass appeal. But the niche audience will enjoy the integrity of tone and character.

Story: In a turbo charged futuristic setting, the favourite sport for the human species is robot boxing. Failed boxer Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) keeps trying to win these with his scrap-style, old-fashioned bots and ends up running from towns in his monster truck to escape the mounting debts. Troubles compound when he discovers he has an 11-year-old son Max (Dakota Goyo) who needs a dad, after his mother dies. But the reluctant dad is willing to take custody, only for the summer, and that too after being paid a hefty sum by the kid's prospective foster parents. Needless to say, the summer turns out to be a monumental one where new bonds are forged and an antiquated robot, Atom, found in a scrap yard, becomes the new age champion of Bot bravado.

Real Steel
Movie Review: A real steal, this new film from Hugh Jackman which is imbued with so much heart, so much soul and is so high-spirited, it brings you to your feet too to avidly cheer the proverbial underdog. And when it doesn't have you playing the flamboyant cheerleader for the father-son duo -- and their outmoded, yet adorable robot -- it has you shedding silent tears for the tender re-awakening of the most primordial,

most natural bonds between a father and his estranged son. And no, the actors themselves aren't shedding tears (they would, in Bollywood); instead, they are tugging at your heartstrings with their awkward attempts to reach out or resist in this dysfunctional relationship that has nothing going right for it, yet strangely does seem to be moving towards a perfect future.

Best Reader's Review

awesome movie .....great flow and it truly shows up the true father son relationship is mo...Read more Aniket sahani (Pune) 08/10/2011 at 12:24 PM
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Hugh Jackman's Charlie Kenton is the most unusual father figure to hit the recent screen. On hearing about the existence of his son from two strangers, after losing all his money and his robot in a fight, he asks: Is he dead? On being told the contrary, he doesn't bat an eyelid before selling him off for a thousand dollars to foster parents, simply because he needs the money to buy a new robot and enter the boxing rings again. Naturally then, he is infuriated with the idea of being saddled with the 11-year-old for the summer -- another deal -- and doesn't think twice before trying to leave him with his girlfriend, Evangeline Lilly, while he hits the road, a free man again. But young Max, bred on a culture of video games and bot boxing, is the smartest cookie in town. Not the one to be left out of the fun and games, he bribes his way into his father's truck...and gradually into his life too. This time, with his adorable ways, which aren't too different from his dad. For Max is brusque, stubborn, determined, a boy of few words and

knows his mind too well to be pushed around. More importantly, he's the smartest 11-year-old in town, as he goes about rebuilding the robot he single-handedly rescues from a scrap yard and prepares it for his dad. Now, it's dad's turn to turn the shadowboxing relic from the past into a boxing champ...And somewhere amidst the guts and glory of the boxing bouts, the duo discover each other too. Everything seems to fall into place in this film. The cross-country setting of desolate American towns coupled with the glitzy finale are spellbinding. The performances of both Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo are mesmerising. Even Evangeline Lilly is winsome and sweet as the girlfriend who wants to give up this unsuitable man, but simply can't. But more importantly, it's the story and the screenplay (John Gatin) which cement the whole show together into a perfect whole. Anybody out there making a film on bots? This one's a classic on how to blend techno-splendour with high emotions, without going all mushy and sentimental. Sporty. Soft. Super. Scram for it.

30 Minutes Or Less
Two wannabe criminals kidnap pizza delivery guy, Jesse Eisenberg, strap a bomb around his chest and give him ten hours to rob a bank...or end up dead. Will Jesse deliver? Movie Review: This should have actually been one of the smartest films

off Hollywood's coveyor belt, this year, coming straight after two trailblazers from the lead actor and the director. If Jesse Eisenberg hits the screen after his wow performance in The Social Network, then Ruben Fleischer returns with a second film after the high octane, whacky winner, Zombieland. Okay, 30 Minutes...isn't a fitting follow-up to neither of them. The setting, the story and the sequences are quite banal compared to the earlier films. Nevertheless, there is some high energy performances and an effervescent spirit that keeps the goofy film galloping in its short span. Leading the actor's bandwagon is the talented Mr Eisenberg who seems to add new dimensions to your friendly neighbourhood pizza boy who can successfuly double up as a bank robber too. Aiding him in his antics is the spirited Aziz Ansari, his childhood buddy who is responsible for his parents' divorce (funny aside!) The other Indian American in the caper is Dilshad Vadsaria, Ansari's twin who turns up the temperature for buddy Jesse. Of course, Ansari ain't cool with that, but does love care.... Crazy bank heists, gangster encounters and car chases make for some funny situations which keep the minutes flying. The film delivers the goods.