Bollywood's best movie of 2007

Johnny Gaddar ****

There is something to be said for low expectations, and Johnny Gaddar benefits a great deal from those. One of those typical heist-gone-wrong capers that is actually very atypical in Bollywood, Gaddar comes with low pre-release hype (unusual for nowadays) and pays homage to James Hadley Chase and 70's Bollywood "thrillers", but is actually far superior to both.

Five people, who refer to themselves as a gang, plan a routine get-rich-quick bag drop until one of them (our "hero", debutant Niel Nitin Mukesh in a finely nuanced performance) decides to betray his friends and pocket all the money himself. So far so predictable. But the movie actually catches fire in the moments he has to decide how far does he go in hiding his role - for example, is he willing to kill the other gang-members, even the ones he genuinely likes ?

With near flawless plotting and chracterisation, this is ultimately director Sriram Raghavan's triumph who is helped by some truly superb supporting performances (Zakir Hussain and the always reliable Vinay Pathak) and a fine score by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy - particularly the thumping Move your body, Mukesh's impromptu dance to which is our first hint that he might not be the innocent, obedient rookie he paints himself to be.

From then on, there is no let-up in either the pace or the twists, and most unusually for a Bollywood film, no plot holes (in fact if you have ever seen a better Bollywood thriller, do let me know). In the tradition of the best noir films, Gaddar is as much about the fickle nature of human morality as it is about the pursuit of tainted money, and one wonders how the film might have turned out had Raghavan stuck to his original instinct of shooting in black and white.

In many ways, this is the classic anti-Hitchcock film - rather than the innocent man accused of a crime whom nobody believes, this is the guilty man whom everybody thinks just couldn't have done it. Raghavan's signal achievement is to keep our sympathies equally divided between all the main characters right till the end, and the gang-members' comeuppance, while having an air of inevitability about it, is always achieved with surprise and panache.

My favourite moment: Govind Namdeo's quietly sadistic cop is stroking a cat when he surprises Mukesh and his lover (actually Hussain's wife with whom the hero is having an affair), and says in his most matter-of-fact Marathi accent "Nice pussy". A delightfully menacing, tasteless moment from a delightfully menacing, sophisticated film !

2007 Movie reviews (Hollywood)

Elizabeth: The Golden Age **

Dramatic cuts, Queen Elizabeth I's frequent change of costumes and AR Rehman's stirring score can't save Shekar Kapur's sequel from ending up as a shallow, plodding thriller. The problem is the script, which never quite brings together the film's disparate concerns - Philip of Spain's impending invasion of the Protestant queen, Sir Walter Raleigh's (Clive Owen in a wasted role) romantic angle and Elizabeth's personal turmoil in how far she will go to protect her crown.

The highlight is Cate Blanchett's bravura performance in the title role (and Kapur obliges her with ample opportunity to show off her talent - extreme close-ups, angry outbursts, and even a Henry V-like speech on horseback in full body armour !), again proving why she is one of the finest actresses of our generation.

Alvin and the Chipmunks *

Once you get used to the novelty of three talking chipmunks (which takes about five minutes), its all downhill from there. Based on the animated series of the "real-life" singing act, this film relies on viewer's familiarity with the original, and the cuteness factor of the three chipmunks (called Alvin, Simon and Theodore). Neither factor applied to me, and I found Alvin more irritating than endearing. A maudlin plot and indifferent music complete the picture.

The Golden Compass **^

The next franchise in the Lord of the Rings and Narnia tradition starts promisingly enough, introducing the main characters but not really closing any of the sub-plots. In a parallel world, humans have their souls manifested as animals (called daemons) which always walk beside them - just this idea alone is fodder enough for a fantasy movie, but there are many others (though none of them as powerful). Anyway the animals (in spirit form and otherwise) are responsible for the movie's best moments, as young Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards in an impressive debut, clearly meant for a career as promising as her famous namesake) and Mrs Coulter(Nicole Kidman, flawless as the cold, calculating but very stylish villain) battle for the golden compass, an all-knowing device that only Lyra can read.

While fans of the original Phillip Pullman story will justifiably complain that its edge and controversy have been diluted, there are enough characters and special effects here to keep you interested. My favourite: The magnificent, fearsome Iorek the bear (voiced by Ian McKellen) who befriends Lyra and provides the redemptive, noble element so essential to a story of this kind.