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Home entertainment for couch potatoes
Return Of Hanuman presents the popular Indian deity in a much different, humanised and contemporary garb. The idea succeeds and the resultant modernised Indian super-hero tale keeps you thoroughly entertained.
- Gulf News Reports
- Published: 00:05 April 3, 2008
- Image Credit:
Return Of Hanuman
Writer-Director: Anurag Kashyap
Return Of Hanuman presents the popular Indian deity in a much different, humanised and contemporary garb. The idea succeeds and the resultant modernised Indian super-hero tale keeps you thoroughly entertained.
Anurag Kashyap (in a stark departure from his reality drama Black Friday) has written and directed the film with wit, verve and style.
The film shows Hanuman getting bored with his routine, uneventful existence and coming back to Earth after a special request to Brahma. Born as Maruti in a poor pandit's household, he grows up to be a special child who is cute, naughty and super-strong.
With his gang of school friends in tow, Maruti not only cracks the village's ongoing mysteries but also defeats the demons and plays saviour to the Earth's environment!
The plot cleverly fuses fun and action elements from Hindu mythology, Hollywood hits (Disney films such as Hercules and Tarzan, and even the Harry Potter films) and Bollywood characters and actors (from Gabbar Singh to Himesh Reshammiya) The film's language is hip, cool and contemporary and the animation (directed by V.G. Samant) is top class. The editing could have been better as the film loses pace at times.
Return Of Hanuman is a good animated film that keeps both adults and children entertained.
- By Dr Mandar V Bichu
Johnny English
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich and Natalie Imbruglia
Rowan Atkinson made a big impact as Mr. Bean – the witless chap who somehow manages to get into unbelievably funny situations.
Then someone came up with a new twist. Why not have a spy spoof in the style of James Bond, complete with a cool car, gadgets and a beautiful woman?
It was in 2003 that the big screen saw the face of a new agent. His name was English, Johnny English. As the theme song notes, he had to be charismatic with an automatic, a man for all seasons.
It turns out he's the only man who can save the Queen of England and the country. The crown jewels are stolen and the entire Secret Service team is eliminated. Johnny and his sidekick happen to be the only survivors.
Soon they are shadowing French businessman Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) who believes that he is the rightful king of England. He plans to usurp the monarchy and turn the country into one large jailhouse to house the world's largest criminal fraternity. But like the Scarlet Pimpernel of yore, Johnny's here, there and everywhere. So will the clumsy spy manage to save the day?
Special features include the Making of Johnny English, Deleted Scenes, Spy Tips and Character Profiles.
Rating: PG.
- By Cyril Pinto
Mysteries of the Nile
This documentary shows how two men forever changed the way the world looked at Egypt. Italian circus strongman-turned-treasure hunter Giovanni Belzoni seriously documented Egypt's ancient monuments while British archeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamen's tomb.
- By Dr Mandar V Bichu
Secrets Of
The Pharaohs
This interesting National Geographic documentary sheds light on how the ancient kings of Egypt – the Pharaohs – had the magnificent pyramids built in 70 years and how the kings from that era were mummified before burial to keep them ready for the next life.
- By Dr Mandar V Bichu
Rama Rama Kya Hai Yeh Drama
Cast: Rajpal Yadav, Neha Dhupia and Amrita Arora
This film tries to portray different colours of husband-wife relationships through the intertwined stories of three married couples. The comic situations aren't very funny but the actors do manage to raise a few chuckles.
- By Dr Mandar V Bichu
Red heat
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi, Ed O'Ross
Red Heat, the 1988 action blockbuster which was remastered for DVD a couple of years ago, is still doing the rounds. Perhaps the distributors are pushing it for the benefit of the youngsters who may have missed Arnold Schwarzenegger's antics in his younger days.
Anyway, though the action is predictable, it's a watchable buddy cop movie. Captain Ivan Danko (Arnie), a tough Russian cop aka Iron Jaw, is sent to Chicago with orders to bring back Viktor Rosta (Ed O'Ross) a drug dealer on the run. As Rosta had killed Danko's partner Yuri before decamping, for the Russian officer it's more than national esteem that's at stake.
Landing in gangsterland, Danko is teamed with a reluctant escort, officer Art Ridzik (James Belushi).
It's the East vs the West, and a play on cultural distinctions is obligatory to provide the occasional chuckle. Naturally, to the home team, the uniformed visitor appears "like a glorified postman out of World War II." (He sheds it later, to go "under cover".)
Danko also manages to tread on a few toes, and the chief of detectives has to warn him to keep a low profile. "I don't want the press around you. I don't want you to roll around like the Red Army," he says.
Danko and Ridzik make a nice pair, each trying to get the better of the other.
When Ridzik talks about Miranda, which gives an arrested person the recourse to an attorney, Danko quips, "In the Soviet Union, scumbags can talk to a lawyer only after two days of questioning."
By the way, Red Heat is the first American movie (the opening scenes) to film in Moscow's Red Square. Surreptitiously!
Rating: 15
- By Cyril Pinto
Rendition
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal,
Omar Metwally, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep
He was born in Egypt and his name is Anwar Al-Ibrahimi. In the post-9/11 United States this is enough to make alarm bells clang, especially when 'circumstantial evidence' indicates a connection to a terrorist outfit.
It doesn't matter that Anwar (Omar Metwally) moved to the States when he was a child; it doesn't matter that he is a chemical engineer married to the American- born Izzy (Reese Witherspoon); it doesn't matter that he has a son and that his wife is expecting another child.
A suicide blast in Morocco kills a CIA operative, and Anwar, flying from Cape Town to Washington after a business meeting, is whisked to North Africa for questioning.
As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says elsewhere in the special features section, America believes in the rule of law. America does not torture.
But America snatches suspects and transports them to other countries, a practice that was initiated by the Clinton administration.
And while America sleeps with a clear conscience, elsewhere the pursuit of truth exacts a heavy toll. The torture scenes in Rendition are intense and harrowing but not far-fetched.
In one of the special features, Khaled Al-Masri, a German kidnapped while on holiday in Macedonia, tells of his 23-day ordeal in a detention centre in Afghanistan.
Another suspect, Binyam Mohammad, an Ethopian arrested at Karachi airport and taken to Morocco, says he didn't see the sun for 18 months and that he was forced to listen to rap and hip-hop day and night. The headphones were on even while he slept.
Rating: 15
- By Cyril Pinto
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