Andhranews

Ahista Ahista

Cast: Abhay Deol, Soha Ali Khan, Shayan Munshi, Shakeel Khan, Kamini Khanna, Sohrab Ardeshir
Director: Shiivam Nair
Rating:**

Taking its title seriously, Shiivam Nair fashions a snail-paced love story about two ordinary people.
Based on a telefilm (by Imtiaz Ali who reworked his script), Ahista Ahista needed more meat and definitely a lot more humour and drama, if the simple story about a helpless girl and her benefactor were to go beyond the ‘timepass’ level.

Ankush (Abhay Deol), who hangs around the marriage registration bureau to sign up as a witness and make some money, feels sorry for a girl whose boyfriend has stood her up. Megha (Soha Ali Khan) has run away from Nainital to marry Dheeraj (Shayan Munshi, looking scruffy), who does not show up. Stranded with no money and nowhere to go, Megha depends on the good-hearted and, for Delhi, surprisingly decent Ankush to provide her with shelter and funds.

He gets her a job at an old folks’ home (run by a caricature ‘Father’), while he gets a bank job with better prospects so that he can be worthy of her, and then the missing Dheeraj turns up. “I am not a filmi hero who will smile and hand over his girl,” says Ankush to his buddies and does everything he can to shake off his rival.

Abhay Deol has a simple, likeable screen presence, but he can’t portray the transformation from an unpolished street guy to a white collar worker. He is just too nice, refined and bland for the part — just imagine Govinda and how he would have had the character make audiences laugh and cry. Soha Ali Khan looks pretty and quite expressionless.

The actors should have been made to dig out more energy and spunk — for instance the high-tension scene where Ankush takes Megha to a brothel for want of anywhere else to go, ends up lifeless because they treat it as such. And the scene where Megha expresses her confusion should have had audiences all misty-eyed, but just passes without impact. Except for Ankush’s loutish behaviour with an elderly neighbour, the film is mostly clean and inoffensive, and the best that can be said about it is that it never gets too syrupy.

Andala Ramudu

Cast: Sunil, Arti Agarwal, Akash, Venu Madhav, Kota Srinivasa Rao
Director/ Screenplay: P. Lakshmi Narayana A.K.A. Deepti)
Rating:***

More than half a decade back, Tamil Cinema grabbed an opportunity to highlight a social malaise and Sundarapurushan starring the comic-villain Livingston and “thunder thighs” Rambha turned out to be a runaway blockbuster. Now, Telugu Cinema, ever ready to copy, packages the social evil of virginity test and bingo! Andalaramudu too comes out a winner.
Not just that. It also brings to fore the histrionics of Telugu’s evergreen comedian Sunil. And boy, he can dance too. He had his agonising moments too. Not in reel life but in real, with Arti Agarwal getting hospitalised half way through the movie.

The story. Ramudu (Sunil), the estranged son of a village head, is a bumpkin who returns to his village as promised, only after the death of his bigamous father. He is in love with his maternal uncle’s beautiful daughter Radha (Arti). But then, she’s given her heart to the only educated one in the village Raghu (Akash).

Ramudu’s innocent encounters with Radha and his wily half-brother’s (Venu Madhav) evil designs get them into an awkward wedlock and the educated Raghu behind bars. Bumpkin, as he is portrayed, the marriage melodramatically remains unconsummated. But once Ramudu knows the truth he desires to undo the wedding. Not just that. He even gets Raghu freed and tries to get him married to Radha.

The dialogues by Ramesh-Gopi could have remained punchy throughout if not for the occasion repulsive ones. Odeon, the theatre which promises the best of acoustics, eats away most of the dialogues. No wonder, Sunil’s fans who paid double and more, fill the theatre with hoots and catcalls.

Arti Agarwal, unlike the ravishing Rambha in the Tamil original, remains beautiful, even in her post-accident shooting scenes. Sunil is fully at ease — as he is with his invectives against scribes in real life! One sincerely hopes, he moves on and not end up like Ali. Ali, who?

Andalaramudu’s music sells. The story, provided by Livingston, Sameer Reddy’s picture-postcard cinematography and Sunil’s histrionics, exploited by director P. Lakshmi Narayana, has the audience glued to the seats.

Katputtli

Cast: Mink, Milind Soman, Yukta Mookhey, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Seema Biswas, Sudhanshu Pandey, Mukul Dev, Vikas Kalantri.
Director: Sanjay Khanna
Rating:*

It would take a great director or a miracle to resurrect Mink Brar’s career as leading lady after her debut in Dev Anand’s disastrous Pyar Ka Tarana (1983). One can only marvel at the supreme confidence, that made her produce a film with her brother and cast herself in the main role.

Vaguely inspired by Gothika and directed by Sanjay Khanna, Katputtli is about a woman called Lisa, who loses her memory, and finds herself on the street with blood-stained clothes and a few lakhs in the pocket of her trench coat.

When Arjun (Milind Soman), a doctor, identifies her as his wife and takes her home (a weird set, cross between a circus tent and oil rig), it takes her a while to trust him. The funky neighbour (Yukta Mookhey, with rainbow make-up) and her husband (Sameer Dharmadhikari) seem to be somehow connected to the mystery. But what is the menacing maid in ramp clothes doing there, and then what about the neighbour’s mentally-deranged father?

Rather than being intrigued by Lisa’s plight and wondering about the strange things that happen to her (like a long-haired creep walking up and kissing her), you can’t help laughing at the hopelessly written and directed scenes and odd dialogue, not to mention the inept performances by all.

Some entertainment can be had by spotting Page 3 types doing cameos and walk-on parts — from models to TV stars to wannabe actors. At least shooting must have been a blast, too bad the audience won’t be in any mood to pop champagne after this crazy film from Bro and Sis Production!

Britney Spears has revealed her second pregnancy was an accident. However, the Toxic singer, who already has one son, 11-month-old Sean Preston, with husband Kevin Federline, insists she is looking forward to being a mum again. She confessed to People magazine, “It just kind of happened. I’m going to wait a while for the next one. I feel like I’ve been pregnant for ten years.”

Britney, who is rumoured to have put on around 40 pounds during her pregnancy, also revealed how having back-to-back babies has been an exhausting experience. The 24-year-old star explained, “It is now starting to get a little tiring, holding Sean Preston, but throughout the whole pregnancy I’ve done it a lot because he’s very attached. It makes me feel needed and wanted so I like it too.”

Britney has also confessed her favourite pregnancy treat, a melted chocolate bar. She confessed, “I’ll get up in the middle of the night and I’ll get a Hershey’s bar, the real big ones, and I’ll put it in the microwave and melt it and eat it. It sounds disgusting, but it’s so satisfying.”

Uma Thurman has reportedly bought out ex-husband Ethan Hawke’s share in their former marital home. The My Super Ex-Girlfriend star is said to have paid the actor £1.5 million to obtain full ownership of the Manhattan apartment they shared while man and wife. Uma and Ethan wed in 1998 and eventually divorced in 2004 after separating in 2003 amid allegations Ethan had cheated on her.

They have two children together, eight-year-old daughter Maya Ray and son Levon Roan, who is four. Earlier this week, Uma revealed she is afraid to show any emotion in public.

Gwyneth Paltrow can’t wait to get back to acting. The Shakespeare in Love star had two years off to raise her children, Apple, two, and baby son Moses, but is now itching to get back to work. She said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, “For a long time I thought, ‘I’ve done it. I’ve done what I wanted to do. I’m not interested. I just want to be home with my family.’”

She added, “I had no spark for work, but I have the feeling back. And I’m excited about the prospect. I want to do something kind of fun. I don’t want to do anything depressing or mad. I want to do a really great, funny, weird character.” The 33-year-old star, who is married to Coldplay star Chris Martin, appears in upcoming film Running With Scissors, which opens in US cinemas on October 11.

Beyoncé Knowles has warned fans not to copy her crash diet. The singer-turned-actress lost 20 lbs for movie Dreamgirls by sticking to a super-strict liquids only regime. Although she shed the pounds quickly, Beyoncé does not advocate the controversial eating plan.

She told British TV show GMTV, “I would not recommend it if someone wasn’t doing a movie, because there are other ways to lose weight. I needed to lose it really quick, and I put the weight back on as soon as I finished, so I am no smaller or bigger than I’ve always been. It was strictly for the film.”

Beyoncé, 24, says the best thing about the diet was coming off it and getting her curves back. She revealed, “The funniest part was putting the weight back on and eating doughnuts and all the other things. I’ve got my body back. I’m very conscious of being a curvy woman and I’m very happy that I am a curvy woman.”

She added, “It’s great because I look at the movie and I don’t recognise myself, which was the point.” Beyoncé, who is dating rapper Jay-Z, also confessed she has a soft spot for British men. She gushed, “I love the way the guys dress. I love their little tight pants, and their haircuts are so cute.”

Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock have got married yet again. The ceremony took place in a bar in Nashville in the early hours recently and is the third time the rocker and the former Baywatch actress have tied the knot.

Dustin Wilkes, a singer who had been performing at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge that night, told the crowd, “You guys aren’t going to believe what we have next, Kid Rock and Pam Anderson are going to get married on stage, and we’re not even kidding.” An onlooker explained to People magazine, “They did the regular vows, and when it came to the ‘I do’ part, he responded ‘Hell yes’.”