The Three Musketeers

Contrary to its title, there were four musketeers throughout, although one of them not an official one, but thoroughly behaved like one and thus movie should have been Four Musketeers. Getting in the fourth one right in the first part was a strange step unless one has it in his mind that its not gonna be a sequel, although climax suggests otherwise for sure.

Movie begins very dully and stays so unless the fourth musketeer shares the screen space with the other three and forces them to enter a sword fight with the cardinal's guards. As expected story was good since its an adaptation of world famous fiction "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. Screenplay didn't support the brilliant fiction plot and could have been more precise, flashy and directional. The setup created to portray 17th century France was impressive. Costumes were simply brilliant and makes one remember another movie based on France "Marie Antoinette". Cinematography was good and the scenes with the lush green countryside and the sky-view of 17th century France have been shot splendidly. 

Of all the characters only Ray Stevenson as "Porthos", Milla Jovovich as "Milady De Winter" and Orlando Bloom as "Duke of Buckingham" are worth being mentioned and they did justice to their characters to some extent, while the rest were quite mediocre. I feel there could have been more emphasis on all characters speaking out with a slight French accent as it would have felt more real and authentic. 

Director didn't make this one with a feeling to create a huge impact like what POC did. Though it is of the same genre as POC, it feels that it was made just for the heck of it. Not much care has been taken or working out on minute details was done to bring this masterpiece fiction in a lively and entertaining way on the screen which makes you feel for the length of the movie too and at times you may just want it to end. 

Overall a half hearted action, a half hearted adventure leaves an incompleteness feeling inside the viewer who may not be so interested in going for the sequel considering he already knows what could be in store there as well. A one time watch with no expectations of getting highly entertained.

My Verdict: 5/10

Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge

Now this was an unexpected entertainer. With no huge star cast, no biggies, no chart-busters, no item song and as such no general review from anyone I know, I really wasn't having much expectation and went for it just to kill some time. Surprisingly, I came out as a content soul. It was the sheer rawness of the youth presenting a may-be real life scenario in a practical, happy-go-lucky manner. A college with characters varying from frustrated souls to classy chicks and their interaction on and off social networking websites.

Direction was straight and crisp. Screenplay had a specific direction and was not wayward. Even though you know what was coming up, it still turns out to be fun. Story was new and based on the current addiction of a major part of the world's youth i.e "Facebook". Music was a let down and only contributed in increasing the length of the movie. Editing was fine. Camerawork was bit amateurish.

Performances from the main leads Saqib Saleem as 'Vishal' and Saba Azad as 'Preity' were appreciable and very natural. Support cast was mostly average but enough to support the leads and the movie as a whole. The character Hacky may remind you of some or the other college friend in flashes. Tara D'Souza as 'Malvika' was good but could have been bit better. Nishant Dahiya as 'Rahul' was pretty average and had problems in expressing different emotions naturally. Certain scenes are truly hilarious and make you laugh out your heart. The character of MacMohan has again hinted that bollywood is obsessed currently with using fat characters with big beards as the laughing stock in many a movies and it may go on for a while till everyone is fed up. Though I have to point out that the first scene with MacMohan was awesome and hinted on the kind of entertainment you are gonna go through.

Overall a light hearted entertainer which surely doesn't disappoint you at any moment, is worth the money for sure and attains the basic objective of a cinema to cheer the viewer. I would say, go have some light fun.

My verdict: 6.5/10

Mod

An almost milder version of a hybrid of Sadma and Kyun Ki with 'Kukunoor' trademark, that's what Mod is. It's surely a different love kind of love story altogether and was nice to see it the kukunoor way. Setup in a hilly lush green Ganga (somewhere near Ooty in actual), it has some breathtaking sceneries and houses with backgrounds so beautiful which makes your movie watching experience quite pleasant. 

There's not much suspense regarding the storyline as it unfolds right at the start but is still able to hold you till the end. The screenplay though a bit sluggish was ok. The movie begins and ends with some unexplained events like the abscence of Ayesha Takia's mother and his father waiting for her every morning to get down from the toy train running through the tranquil part of their world space. Nevertheless, the performances from all the supporting actors was appreciable. The focus, obviously was on Ayesha and Ranvijay and they didn't let down at any moment. Abhay/Andy surely was a tough character to play for anyone and considering the fact that this was the first movie by Ranvijay as the lead actor, his effort was commendable. The part of Abhay was so fluent that it was looking as if he is playing his normal self, although when he plays Andy it looks slightly forceful at times. Overall he did justice to his character and it needs to be seen as the emergence of a possibly new competitor to the young brigade of Bollywood male leads. Ayesha as Aranya was sweet, touching and worth applauding. She surely has matured as an actress post "Dor" and was nice to see her back to work after so long. The emotions portrayed in the movie aren't the same as Dor but you could feel the same effect here which she created back then.

The camerawork was great though it was more the result of what was in front of the camera than who was behind it as the sceneries were just magnificient. Background score was average. Music was quite normal with almost no hummable song good enough to have lasting impression. Also placement of songs was quite forceful and a big reason for the increased length of the movie, thus making the movie seem to be moving at a snail speed at times.

Kukunoor's direction is simple and neat as always. He knows when, where and in what amount to regulate the flow of emotions to make it look as natural as it can be and not turning it into a dramatic or melodramatic scene. Though he could have made sure that a semi-interesting plot is not hampered by a bit lethargic screenplay. Editing could have been slightly better too. One of the small errors was in a scene where the Kishore Kumar bhakt band is playing at a wedding and the Flautist suddenly has a mouth organ instead of a flute in one of the three frames that pass by within few seconds. There were some more of such glitches which could have been taken care of.

Basically "Mod" is all about the emotion called Love and it's power to overcome the toughest of situations, it's true and pure essence which can instill colors and the will to live into a dull and empty soul. It's not as strong and dramatic that it will make you cry and feel for the characters even after leaving the theatres but will surely bring a small smile at times, a slight amount of pain when the character feels so and a sense of relief and happiness when all winds up well in the end. Not the best but still one of the movies for which Nagesh Kukunoor will be remembered always.

My Verdict: 6/10