Betrayal  is survival !
The much awaited Race 2, a sequel to 2008’s Race by director-duo Abbas and Mastan is finally here. Now the question remains, “how far does it race ahead of the original?”

Race 2 is a revenge thriller with a few gripping turns and some stylishly executed action sequences. The action, glamour and the comic subplot holds the movie together however, the story continues to be the weak point. One can term this movie as expensive, stylish, and full of chaos where everybody is a crook. The men seem to have it all, living in casinos and hotels and are always surrounded by beautiful women.  Deepika, Jacqueline and Ameesha add on to the glamour quotient in the movie, making it a one-time watch.

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Inspector Robert (Anil Kapoor) voice over introduces Armaan (John Abraham) and Ranveer (Saif Ali Khan) as he arrives in Istanbul to avenge the murder of Sonia (Bipasha Basu). Armaan’s insatiable desire for money and power is evident in the entire movie. Armaan’s half-sister Eleana (Deepika Padukone) is an equal partner and leaves no stone unturned in getting what she wants. Deepika’s stylist deserves a pat on the back for making her look gorgeous. Omeesha (Jaqueline Fernandez), Armaan’s girlfriend also happens to be Sonia’s sister. Ameesha Patel plays her role of a desperate secretary of Robert who is brain-dead and lacks what one calls ‘common sense’. Her part has no real spark in the absence of good dialogues and a substantial role in the movie.  Others have fared well in terms of acting while Khan has acted with the right amount of poise and charm. The ladies look seductive and are definitely a treat to watch.     

To wrap it up, Race is a splendid display of action, style and race cars with several grey characters. It fails to leave an impression as one expects it to be better than Race, which was indeed a better suspense builder than Race 2.  


 
So yes, It began in the year 1913 and it’s still the most common way of providing entertainment to the audience around. Oh well, do I give out an impression of discussing and explaining a history chapter? I am afraid that I might be disappointing you and with all due respect to history lovers, it’s a No.  When Indians come to think of entertainment, majority of the people would rush to gather a bucket full of butter popcorn  or ‘shingdaana’ or ‘time–pass’ a la potato chips and relax ;  catching up on the latest blockbuster. Yes, we talk about Hindi Cinema aka Bollywood today.
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Watching a movie, during a few decades back was all about a family get together - enjoying, whistling, clapping on action scenes, throwing chawanni on the screen when the hero came out as a winner. It was all about Amitabh Bachchan’s action movie, the tragedy king Rajendra Kumar, Rajesh Khanna’s  charming style of romancing with his heroines and Mithun Da’s Disco steps and Helen’s gorgeous moves, Hema Malini as the Dream Girl, Asha Parek’s experimentation with the choice of roles to mention a few. Movies were so much about the acting skills of the actors and the unsurpassed beauty of the actresses. The dialogues and the scripts are recalled and appreciated even in today’s time. How can one forget the memorable dialogues like “Inn kutto ke samney matt nachna” or “Kitney aadmi thhe” or “rishtey mein toh hum tumhare baap lagtey hai, naam hai shehensha”. Also,  who can forget Mr. Mogambo or Crime Master Gogo and the very famous, Gabbar? The movie, actor, actress, costume, songs, villain, vamps , dialogues, to sum up ,just about everything in the movies then were so well described and intricately defined.

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Let’s just forward the time a little, well, the check list goes somewhat like this – Actor, Actress, Action scenes, Item number, masala songs, big budget. About the movie script and the acting skill – Let’s just leave it here, depth analysis might just spoil the fun.
No doubt that the actors are loved for the performance of the action scenes, dancing on the foot tapping tracks, showing off their six-pack abs. Only the acting and the script remain a question  mark in today’s big budgeted cinemas. It’s a race among the Khans to reach the big hundred crore target. The rest of the elements take a back seat.

I am not an accredited critique to criticize the changing trends in the Bollywood Cinema because no matter how much we say that acting skills have gone far away, the actors make a serious attempt  to sell and their confidence sells too.  After all, nobody minds two hours thirty minutes of complete entertainment be it Shahrukh’s romancing, Salman’s dialogue delivery or Akshay Kumar’s comic sense. Nobody refuses to shake a leg on songs like “Chammak Challo” or “Fevicol”. It’s an evolution in the Bollywood cinemas which is undoubtedly appreciated and accepted by the audience irrespective of whether  the scenes are even remotely close to reality. Very rightly said, Jo dikhta hai, who bikta hai…and hence, the story continues.

Picture Courtesy : Google
 
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Those brown orbs of eyes, those perfect whites etched in a beautiful smile , perfect angular  face, chiseled masculature & charasmatic persona. I am talking about none other  than Ranbir Kapoor (Most of the girls would be suffering battering butterflies by now). Born to 70s superstars Rishi kapoor and Neetu singh , on 28th September 1982, one can guess where he inherited his looks from. His name Ranbir Raj Kapoor inspired from none other than his own grandfather, Raj Kapoor a.k.a legendary SHOWMAN. 

Kapoor studied film in America  and  began his career by assisting, one of the established director's- Sanjay leela bhansali (for movie Black) and hit screen with his debut in the year 2007 in movie Saawariya . The movie may not have been box office hit but the towel dance certainly brandished headlines .  The cute- chocolate- boy image created then, prevails till date.  He broke thousands of girls heart, when news of his being involved with one of the leading contemporaries’, Deepika Padukone, started doing the rounds. However , this relationship did not last very long and the news of their break up was soon hitting air. Later, the actor was linked with  many of the leading ladies such as Katrina Kaif and Nargis Fakhri. Tagging his name with that of a Cassanova. This ,however, did not stop people from loving him. He's a charmer  all the same. [Being friends with many dosen't make you flirt with them.]


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Contrary to the popular belief , Ranbir Kapoor is a mumma’s boy . He confines everything in his mother, be it his girlfriend or a usual emotional turmoil and contrastingly a very orthodox relationship with his father.  Kapoor was an average kid throughout his life, scoring in late 50’s. [No, Im not kidding]. Getting his report card from school was worse than being hit by a truck , as for most of us it still is.



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His limelight era began with his performances in Wake up Sid, Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani and Rocket Singh, even thought these movies weren’t much of a hit with lay man. Then released Rajneeti, which was a huge commercial success and since then there’s no looking back for Ranbir. Well it never was, climbing the ladder of success, banking one hit after another. Ranbir Kapoor happily joined hands with the 100 crore club with Rockstar, a huge hit. His rogue persona in the movie was considered ‘Lascivious’ by many, recent accomplishment being Barfi , which is now NOMINATED for the OSCARS. However , the film has also been accused of copying other legendary movies [Copied or not , the movie was outstanding] .

Kapoor's currently working on ‘Yeh jawaani hai deewani’, Deepika Padukone being the female lead. It will be a must watch for obvious reasons!

I'd rather conclude with a heart warming line- Ladies, don’t lose hope, the most eligible bachelor in country is still Available!



Nikita Sud
Correspondent
University Express