Munna Bhai Lage Raho

Rating: 9/10

I was thinking of giving this movie 8/10, but when you look back at the movie, there are no obvious flaws, in fact it does warrant a second viewing just like sixth sense to check if the director left any gotchas. But with Vidhu Vinod Chopra at the helm you can expect a good film. Here Gandhi’s principles are put to litmus test to see if it is still valid for today’s world. A boring exercise it might sound, but when you put Circuit and Munnabhai into the fray it assumes a totally different and hilarious dimension. I think the ‘Munna Bhai Lage Raho’ team has struck gold here. The movie is not a continuation of the first part, more in the Laurel Hardy league, where the main characters are same but a different story each time. I think this is cool, it leaves you wanting to see the duo more. I don’t have enough words to describe how good Arshad Warsi as Circuit is, he compliments Munnabhai’s character so well that without him you can’t image this or the earlier prequel. The songs are average and forgettable, probably the only downside of the movie. Vidya Balan in her second movie feels very much at home. The movie will bring to your mind a recent English movie, but that might give away the fun, but if you have to guess, one of the words in this sentence is part of the name of the movie ;-)

Shaadi Se Pehle

Rating: 5/10

Shaadi se Pehle starts of well, like a formula one racing car, the cast appear perfect for a good comedy film, Akhsay Khanna, Rajpal Yadav, Aftab shivdasani, the plot appears funny too, but quickly runs out of steam, and towards the end its almost like you are pushing the car across the final line. Sunil Shetty as the underworld don and brother of Mallika Sherawat does well. Akhsay Khanna, since Hungama has been good with comedy, there is hardly any role for Aftab with Rajpal Yadav getting more airtime then him. Aayesha Takia as the lead fails to make an impression, Mallika Sherawat as the wamp is funny at best, but doesn’t look ravishing or anything. The basic plot is about a guy who is too finicky about his health that even a sneeze would compel him to visit a doctor. During one such visit things go wrong for him and then you are left with 3 hours to watch his antics. A couple of songs like ‘Mundaya…aa bhi ja..” is good.

Chup Chup ke

6.5/10

Another one from the Priyadarshan House, another feather in the cap for Rajpal Yadav. In the eighties for a short period the duo of Kader Khan and Shakti Kapoor ruled the bollywood comedy world and were mainly responsible for making a below par movie watchable. Here its Rajpal Yadav and Paresh Rawal, you wait for the love songs to get over so you can watch these guys in action, in particular Rajpal Yadav. The movie definitely has its funny moments as you would come to expect in a Priyadarshan movie. However Priyadarshan has set himself too high a bar after doing ‘Hera Pheri’ that all his subsequent movies have failed to match up to it, probably ‘Hungama’ was the best of all his later movies. The storyline is unconvincing, and for that reason you can say it is different too. I think it is worth a watch if the fast forward button on your remote is still working, just get all the songs out of the way. It also stars Shaheed Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Neha Duphia, Anupam Kher, Asrani, Sunil Shetty and Shakti Kapoor. Of the lot, Kareena delivered a stellar performance.
Verdict: Must watch for Rajpal Yadav fans.