We Are Family (2010)

It’s Sidharth Malhotra’s directorial debut but We Are Family (WAF) reeks of Joharism in every single frame of the film. This family has all the essential values of an A-class Bollywood production: A-list casting (Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal), foreign locales (Sydney), the NRI (non-resident Indian) angle and the ever-important disco track (a brilliantly Indianised version of Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock). Costumes and cars are all spiffy and everything screams of a new age India — as did Kal Ho Na Ho, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, My Name is Khan and even Dostana, which like WAF, only Johar produced.

This film is entertaining and yet the Family is still dysfunctional. As apparently dysfunctional as a new age India that refuses to let go of time hardened and obsolete traditions.

Maya (Kajol) and Aman (Arjun Rampal) have been divorced for three years and Aman is living with his new, much younger love Shreya (Kareena Kapoor) while Maya is full time mother to their three kids, Aleya, Ankush and Anjali. Their lives are balanced until Aman attempts to bring Shreya into contact with the kids. They strike an immediate, mutual dislike, love triangles and jealousies are riled up and all balance is tipped over when Maya shares that she has a terminal disease and needs Aman to take responsibility of the kids.

Interesting in theory, the lack of back up leaves pit holes in this potboiler of a film. That Aman, so passionately in love with Shreya, can just get up and leave her for his ex-wife is disturbing. It doesn’t say much for relationships. That Shreya, so passionately involved with her fashion designing, can give it all up to help Maya and the kids (who initially make her life living hell) after Aman has broken up with her is way too idealistic. Hello, Mother India! And most of all, that three kids being raised in Sydney should have indigenously south-Indian accents and absolutely no acclimatization to the idea of divorce is stretching the Indian ideal a bit too far.

Stereotypes in WAF are equally irksome. Mothers are portrayed as asexual beings, having no passion other than packing the kids’ lunch boxes. When single women take on the role of a mother, they too lose all passion. Any chemistry that Aman and Shreya share in the first three minutes of the film quickly dissipates once they take on roles as dad and stepmom. The kids are cut out of the same mould as those in Thora Pyar Thora Magic and Tara Rum Pum. Are all kids this annoying, one is forced to ask.

The character Kajol portrays is the biggest stereotype of all. From WAF to Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and My Name is Khan, Kajol has played the Mother India card to death.

Kajol is wasted on this film and one feels sorry for Arjun Rampal who has very little character to work with. If you thought Ed Harris was spineless in Stepmom, you’ve got a rethink coming. By the end of the film you feel Aman’s the one with cancer, not Maya. The only saving grace is Shreya (Kareena) who applies herself to the role to perfection. It could be attributed to her own life and adapting to Saif Ali Khan’s children or simply the fact that she continuously blossoms as an actor and has incredible screen presence. This is Kareena’s film through and through.

But despite having all the fabulous credentials, We Are Family fails to rise for its unconvincing (albeit legal) adaptation of the 1998 Hollywood blockbuster Stepmom. It is a very diluted version of the Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts starring original, diluted in impact while unbearably strong on influence. For people who have watched and enjoyed the original, it is a dampener to constantly have to experience an English to Hindi translation. WAF perfectly fits the adage: ‘lost in translation’.

That said, those who have not watched the original have much to look forward to. In its songs, dances and rare comic moments, it boils down to being a popcorn entertainer, to be avoided though if you don’t like popcorn! – Aamna Haider Isani

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Karan Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Director – Sidharth P. Malhotra, Music Director – Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Cast - Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Aanchal Munjal, Nominath Ginsburg, Diya Sonecha

We Are Family (2010)

We Are Family has had a good opening and is turning out to be yet another decent success of this season. How far it eventually would go would be known next week but as of now, this Karan Johar production is certainly on safe grounds. Before the release of the film, a few were apprehensive that due to mighty presence of Kajol and Kareena, Arjun could perhaps be sidelined. However, now that the film has released, audience can see that Arjun actually had a good role to play in the film’s narrative.

“Well, Arjun always had a place of his own in We Are Family,” says Karan who stood behind his lead actor right through the making of the film and release. “During the writing process itself, it was made sure that Arjun had a meaty part. He was never supposed to be a bystander with two females around him. You can see for yourself the kind of wonderful moments that he shares not just with the two women but also his three kids,” adds the film maker.

When it comes to Arjun Rampal, the first image that comes to mind is a handsome personality with an attitude of his own. However, in We Are Family, one sees him getting into some real acting zone once again after Raajneeti. For Karan, it must have been one tough decision to pick him up for the role, isn’t it?

“In fact the reason behind roping him in for the role was that he is a father in real life and hence can understand the sentiments just perfectly right”, reasons Karan, “His real life personality suited the film since he could get an element of that into the film. Full credit to Arjun for holding it all together despite the presence of Kajol and Kareena! In the past, whether it is Raajneeti, Rock On or Om Shanti Om, he has played an edgy character but this is for the time that he has played a quintessential family man. He has done it all brilliantly and lived up to the expectations.” – Sampurn Wire

Rajneeti (2010)

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Bollywood fans have been craving for good cinema since quite a while and Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti seems to quench their thirst well. There is no doubt that the movie lacks Bollywood masala, glamorous clothes, dances numbers and romance, which Indian cinema thrives on but there’s something in this film which sets it apart from the rest!

Rajneeti is a complicated story about politics, democracy and elections in India. It’s a story that shows how some people have control on the lives and destinies of millions. It’s a story about how political ambitions make a person extremely bitter and violent. It’s a story about how the young generation becomes wildly involved in politics after the death of the family’s head. It’s a story about how an ultimate outsider to politics, Samar Pratap (Ranbir Kapoor) comes from abroad for his uncle’s birthday and gets involved into the battle-ravaged ground of family rivalry and becomes the mastermind behind the entire political warfare. It’s a story about how his life changes from a peaceful one to one that contains a lot of aggression! It’s a story of the woman who loves him and lost him and the one he loved and lost! It’s a story of a simple man’s fall into the moral hell, politics. To cut it short, it’s a story of the ugly side of Indian democracy, politics and beyond.

Rajneeti is a great attempt by Prakash Jha to shed light on the many social problems that prevail in the Indian society and he tries his best to expose them through this film. It also shows how politics is driven by corruption, greed and most of all revenge. Nothing more can be said about the plot because that would confuse you even further.

Ranbir Kapoor can easily be called the lead of Rajneeti even though there are many other actors with equally important roles. I never doubted Ranbir’s potential but this role was just performed to excellence. The way he has acted his role with such intensity shows that these young actors are not just eye candy and they can actually do serious parts. His acting in Rajneeti could easily give the best actors of Bollywood a run for their money. Throughout the film, his emotions were intense, his dialogues strong, his actions just perfect and can I also please add his looks were absolutely killing?

Surprisingly, Katrina too fit in the role perfectly, even though I never thought she would be able to do justice to such a serious performance. Considering Rajneeti is her first mature role, she has done a great job and the way she portrays her emotions leaves you in tears and shows that she has matured as an actress. Arjun Rampal has also shown great acting skills and portrayed the role of a violent politician perfectly while Ajay Devgan is just another actor in the film and it’s clearly not even near one of his best performances. The supporting cast has done an excellent job too.

The songs were beautiful especially ‘More Piya’, ‘Bheegi Si’ and ‘Ishq Barse’ and anyone can get addicted to them easily. Direction was beautifully done, the script was very well written and the dialogues were extremely strong, which breathed life into different roles. Coming to the technical side of Rajneeti, the camera work was brilliant, the art direction was superb and the background score was just ideal.

However, Rajneeti does come with a few flaws. To begin with, it takes a bit too much time to settle down the plot and narration and you need to watch it with a lot of concentration otherwise it will only make your head spin! 40 minutes into the movie and all that has been shown is politics. Those who want to see Ranbir and Katrina spark on the screen will be extremely disappointed as there are hardly five scenes of them together. I also believe that there were a few (read: very few) parts where the movie seemed stretched and a little more editing would have made it is flawless but this does not mean that one could get bored during the movie!

All in all, it’s one of those movies that make you enjoy every part of the film and the popcorn as your eye balls pop out at literally every scene and at times you even jump in your chair out of shock with what just happened. It makes you feel the money and time was well spent as you walk out of the cinema.

Whether Rajneeti makes millions on the box office or not is still a question considering a hefty budget of 20.91 million was spent on it and recovering such huge amounts is not that easy, but it’s one movie you shouldn’t miss this summer. It shows how Indian cinema is much more than sugar coated stories and happy endings – Hafsah Sarfraz

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 2010, Genre – Drama/Action, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Prakash Jha, Director – Prakash Jha, Music Director – Wayne Sharpe, Pritam Chakraborty, Aadesh Shrivastava, Shantanu Moitra, Cast - Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Ranbir Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Manoj Bajpai, Sarah Thompson, Darshan Jariwala, Shruti Seth, Nikhila Tirkha, Chetan Pandit, Vinay Apte, Kiran Karmarkar, Daya Shankar Pandey, Jahangir Khan, Ravi Khemu