Starring: Sameer Dattani, Nauheed Cyrusi and Satish Kaushik.

Directed by: Rajan Waghdhare

Rating: 1/5

A baseless film with no storyline is what Love Ka Tadka is. What else do you expect from a film that revolves around vegetarian and non-vegetarian food habits? So, it’s definitely not recommended but if you still want to know why, you may read the rest of the review.

The film starts with an item number which brings no joy to the audiences. Anyway, so once the film actually begins, it’s about a guy, Aditya, who works as a small-time executive and is flanked by his bearded best friend and his sick boss who likes chasing after much younger women. Then arrives the female lead, Sheetal, accompanied by her loud father.

Aditya gets married to Sheetal but that’s not enough. They need to impress her dad for which they need to buy a flat. And you know what’s strange? Daddy dearest is left roaming on Mumbai’s streets and then put into bearded friend, Vicky's house, while they get a loan for the house. But acquiring a house wasn’t the end of all issues. The couple has now moved into a strictly vegetarian society and it means trouble for the couple that survives on non-veg. food. They somehow manage to get the people from the society to follow their non-vegetarian food habits and preach about tolerance towards all kinds of food.

So, all in all, a pointless script coupled with bad performances makes it very easy for audiences to give this movie a miss. Thus it is absolutely not recommended.

Starring: Boman Irani, Mahesh Manjrekar, Dia Mirza and Cyrus Broacha.

Directed by: Kunal Vijaykar

Rating: 2/5

Kunal Vijaykar’s efforts to make a comedy film resulted in – a few funny jokes strung together to make a storyline. It promises to be a senseless comedy that will make you roll on the floor with laughter. Sadly, it only remains senseless and not funny enough to make you smile more than a time or two.

The story is about a simple man named Jolly Maker. He is a hardworking, middle class guy who is on the lookout for money, friends and love. He works for a corrupt builder named Khandar as his accountant. He makes a classic protagonist with being a nerd and un-cool along with being accident-prone.

Jolly Maker’s smart, pretty and sexy snob of a colleague, Monica, gets kidnapped under mysterious circumstances. A series of events lead Jolly Maker to a crazy Ex-Maharaja who plans on destroying Mumbai. The film is then all about if Jolly Maker is able to save Mumbai and find love.

While a lot of effort has been put into it by the director, the story doesn’t have a strong base. Performances by all the actors are fitting for the film. Boman Irani and Mahesh Manjrekar have done a good job while Dia Mirza has been unnoticed as ever. And Cyrus Broacha carries on in his own wave, whether people like it or not. This film is not exactly a must-watch but not totally horrible either.

ll The Best: Total time pass flick

Rating: 3 out of 5*

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar and Mukesh Tiwari

Director: Rohit Shetty

Settled in Goa, Veer (Fardeen) is a singer by profession and is making a daily living out of his older brother Dharam’s (Dutt) sent pocket money. Veer has even lied to Dharam that he is now married and aiding him in all his lies is his buddy Prem (Ajay Devgan). Though in reality Veer is in love with Vidya (Mugdha) but her father hates him. Prem however is married to Jhanvi (Bipasha) who is looking after his ancestor’s outdated gymnasium. Things go awry for Prem and Veer as they end up losing a lot of money and are neck deep in debt. Just then Dharam takes a detour to Goa en route his travel to Lusoto. With his sudden arrival, Veer and Prem don’t get time to cover up their lies and Dharam mistakes Jhanvi to be Veer’s wife and Vidya to be Prem’s girlfriend. What chaotic situations it all leads to with multiple characters dropping in to make their problems more complicated forms the rest of the film.

All The Best is undoubtedly the most entertaining film amongst the 2009 Diwali releases. Rohit Shetty has yet again got it right when it comes to keeping his audience laughing without resorting below the belt humour and vulgar interludes. Witty one-liners and hilarious sequences involving Dutt and Johnny Lever have you laughing out loud. However, the first half isn’t that gripping. But the second half covers up for it with confusions multiplying and each actor also contributing his comic best. The length however appears stretched as it runs around 2 hours 25 minutes. Some gags could have been shorter one feels. Pritam’s music is perfect for the film.

Ajay Devgan showcases his improved comic timing and towers above the rest. Dutt too is in top form and entertains. Fardeen is passable. Bipasha and Mugdha don’t have much to do but be a part of the chaos which they do ably. Johnny Lever finally after a long time gets a meaty funny part and he utilizes this opportunity to the maxim. Sanjay Mishra and Ashwini Kalsekar make the proceedings funnier.

It’s a total paisa vasool entertainer and worth a Diwali outing. Go for it guys and forget your recession worries!

Main Aurr Mrs Khanna: Could have been better

Rating: 2 out of 5*

Starring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sohail Khan, Mahek Chahal, Nauheed Cyrusi, Yash Tonk and Bappi Lahiri

Director: Prem Soni

Samir (Salman) and Raina (Kareena) are married and settled in Melbourne, Australia. What started of as a loving relationship which lead to a quick marriage between the two has now turned into a complicated situation what with Samir facing major hurdles in his career to some wrong work decisions that he had taken. Raina is working as a waitress to support their house. Jobless Samir gets an opportunity to work in Singapore and make a new beginning. He takes Raina along with him but only to tell her at the airport that he has booked her ticket for India to go back to his parents and that he will come back to her once things fall in place in his career. After Samir catches his flight for Singapore, a dejected and sad, Raina keeps waiting at the airport lounge right till the final boarding announcement for her flight to India comes in. A bar tender at the cafeteria in the departure lounge, Akash (Sohail) sees her plight and offers help. He falls for her instantly but only to realize she is married. Raina gets confused whether to go to India or stay back in Australia. Just then, help comes in form of her friend Nina (Nauheed) who arranges for a job through a friend (Mahek Chahal) and Raina decides to stay back. Incidentally, Raina gets a job at the jewellery shop situated bang opposite of that of Akash’s café. Gradually friendship grows between the two. But what happens after Samir arrives back to take Raina along with him to Singapore forms the rest of the film.

Debutante writer-director Prem Soni must be called truly lucky to get a top line lead pair of Salman – Kareena and a reasonably good budget basing his film completely in Melbourne. While his film begins well, establishing his main characters and their issues without much deviation to sub plots, he fumbles in the second half. While there are a few extremely well handled and well penned sequences in the second half, but the points that the film downhill are – unconvincing situations, lack of depth in emotional issues, too simplistic solutions and most importantly you feel zero sympathy for Mr. Khanna (Salman) or Mrs Khanna (Kareena) or even Akash (Sohail). The drama is just not engaging towards the climax. The actors however have risen above the script and have pitched in wonderful performances.

Salman looks smashing and shows he can play a serious romantic role extremely well too. Kareena looks WOW and acts superbly, especially in the emotional scenes. Sohail in what one may call one of his career best roles does complete justice to his character and rises much above his written role. Yash Tonk aids him perfectly. He is hilarious in the second half especially in his scenes with Salman. Nauheed and Mahek Chahal (last seen as the gangster’s moll in Wanted) add glam quotient and act ably. Bappi Lahiri is hilarious as the jewellery shop owner. Deepika Padukone in a special appearance has nothing much to do.

Sajid Wajid’s music is very good and has been well incorporated in the film. Also, the use of RD Burman’s song sung by Amit Kumar – Bade Achche Lagte Hai has been made smartly use of two times in the film.

As you come out of the film, you do keep feeling that film could have been much better had the second half been handled well. But overall its not a bad film and you won’t regret your time wasted watching it.

BLUE: A BIG dissappointment

Rating: 1.5 out of 5*

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Rahul Dev and Katrina Kaif (Sp. App)

Director: Anthony D’Souza

Sagar (Dutt) and Aarav (Akshay) are good friends settled in the Bahamas. While Sam is a happy go lucky rich businessman, Sagar is down to earth and not as ambitious as him. Aarav on many occasions tries to instigate Sagar on coming out with the secret of ‘The Lady In Blue’ a ship carrying a huge gold treasure that was sunk in 1949 in the Bahamas seas. Aarav believes Sagar knows the route to the deep sunken ship and they both can benefit from the huge treasure that lies inside it. Sagar however doesn’t like to discuss about the ship nor has any interest for the treasure hunt. Just then Sagar’s younger brother Sam (Zayed) arrives from Bangkok after five years. Mafia boss Gulshan (Rahul) is hot on his trail for an assignment worth 50 million dollars gone wrong. With Gulshan too arriving in Bahamas and kidnapping his girlfriend Mona (Lara), Sagar has only 24 hours left for paying back the huge money which Sam has messed with. He is now left with no option but face his old demons and plunge into the deep sea with Aarav and Sam for the treasure hunt.

A really interesting premise shot beautifully but messed big time by unimaginative writing and lackluster direction is what Blue shall always be remembered as. The setting is different no doubt, but where are the requisite twists and turns and pace which are a must for this genre of films? The so called major twist that comes out in the end can be guessed quiet earlier in the first half itself. Also, almost the entire first half moves around with zero grip on the audience with more than enough time wasted on character establishment. The much hyped shark sequences are a big let down what with barring the opening sequence of few minutes (where believe it or not Akshay and Dutt literally ride a shark) there is not a single scene where the sharks are a threat and get you on the edge of your seat. The bike chase sequences have been shot very well though. The underwater sequences have been superbly lit up and one needs to salute the team of cameramen involved for it. The climax is extremely ‘thanda’ and derives unintentional laughter as well. Songs don’t really fit in well and the Kylie Minogue starring Chiggy Wiggy number doesn’t really work on screen. However, the background music and sound editing is excellent.

Akshay is in his element in here playing the flirty cool dude with a hidden agenda with amazing natural ease. Dutt approaches his part with zero enthusiasm and worse, his paunch is visible in many sequences. But Zayed is good and Rahul Dev impresses too. Lara Dutta is super hot and does ample skin show. Katrina Kaif in a special appearance doesn’t work at all.

Said to be over Rs. 100 crore in budget, Blue doesn’t justify the mega budget it has been allotted and first timer director Anthony D’Souza gets it all wrong mistaking style and extra coolness quotient for substance.

If you want to experience some good underwater photography on a big screen and a few well shot action sequences, then you can go for it but if you are expecting something more then let us warn you that you will be in for a BIG disappointment!

Plug in here to check out the latest and hottest music albums on the shelves ...

BREAKTHROUGH | Colbie Caillat
Judging from the way her music almost surrounds you like early morning mist, you wouldn't expect Colbie Caillat to go ahead and do something as radical as posting all her songs on myspace.com! She is, after all, the same girl, whose hippie ethos evidenced itself hugely on her breakthrough hit Bubbly (2007). Do you remember "the rain is fallin' on my window pane / but we're hiding in a safer place" ? Now, you really don't think someone like that would be WWW-savvy , huh? But she is, and in 2006, Caillat's myspace profile made her the #1 unsigned artist in her genre for four months running, compelling major record labels to deluge her with lucrative contracts! Now, her second album Breakthrough has hit the shelves and seems set to smash the records set by her debut effort, Coco. The balmy surf vibe, which has become her trademark, spills over from her first album and is shaped into beautiful aural experiences on tracks like Fallin' For You. The difference this time around lies in the bolstered up classic rock quotient, which had to surface sooner or later given the fact that she's the daughter of Ken Caillat who has co-produced Fleetwood Mac's gazillion-selling albums, Rumours and Tusk. Go ahead, buy this one. (Soft rock, Universal, Rs 395)

PLAYLIST PICKS
Fallin' For You (uptempo beat, catchy chorus, breezy harmonies); Fearless (slow, brooding, piano-based ballad with a message of hope); Running Around (a rollicking country groove, traces of twanging steel guitar and gloriously free-spirited vocals)

PLAYING FOR CHANGE
Various artistes Like with all great ideas, the premise behind this album's title is simple. It comes from busking where musicians play at street corners and get small change for their music. The concept is anything but small though. The brainchild of Grammy-winning producer/arranger Mark Johnson, PFC has been 10 years in the making and bears testimony to the transformative power of music. It takes musicians from the world over - India, South Africa, Jerusalem - and blends the distinctive strains of their music with songs that have become anthems in popular music. It underscores the fact that geopolitical barriers cannot hold back the power of music or the message of peace and love. (World music, Universal, Rs 395)

PLAYLIST PICKS
One Love (we all know Marley's rasta anthem but ever heard it with a sitar and a serpentine Eastern melody?); Chanda Mama (Hindi lyrics channelled via Jamaican patois); Talkin' Bout A Revolution (when Tracy Chapman wrote this, it was a very stark, acoustic guitar-led comment; Afro Fiesta's interpretation adds subtler shades)

THE BLUEPRINT 3 | Jay-Z
Any which way you look at it, hip-hop is a young man's game. That is not to say that you cannot be hip after 30, but there is an edgy vibe to the genre that only manifests itself in its purest form when you're 18 and in close contact with the grimy underbelly of urban existence. And that is one of the reasons why The Blueprint 3 evokes such sceptical initial reactions. It's been a long time since Jay-Z was out there hustling on the streets and while a lot of rap music is based on how much bling you boast of, this is a man who rolls in luxury and has the delectable Beyonce as his mate. Allegedly. Will he really deliver or will he come across as a once-relevant artist who is just going through the motions right now? The answer: A bit of both. The star quotient on this album is that the brightest lights in the business have stepped up to the plate to make the biggest rap album of 2009. Rihanna, Kanye West, Timbaland and Alicia Keys are all here and while marquee name checks aren't enough to ensure a great album, they certainly do no harm either. (Hip-hop , Roc Nation, Rs 395)

PLAYLIST PICKS
D.O.A. or Death Of Auto Tune (groovy guitars and saxophone combine to yield a slinky backdrop to Mr Z's diss at the pitch-correcting and error-rectifying gadget that allows artists to sound perfectly in tune, even if they actually aren't ); Run This Town (soaring vocals by Jay-Z protege Rihanna and production plus cameo appearance by the supremely gifted West make this a standout track, with strong old-school leanings minus the gangsta clichés )