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Try to find Amitabh Bachchan and you’ll end up scraping the nooks and crannies. What you’ll rather find is a progeric Bachcha, Auro - a funny, naughty preteen, all gnarled up because of his extremely rare disease that causes accelerated aging in children.

At 67, when most actors hang their boots to rest and reflect on their laurels, Big B takes a giant leap backwards to step into the shoes of the 12-year-old Auro; the transformation achieved with much more than just the layers of prosthetic make-up which, while giving an actor a completely new makeover, restricts his or her range of facial expressions. But Big B proves that not for nothing was he once (and arguably still is) the Paa of actors’ fraternity in Bollywood. In director R Balki’s Paa, he sheds his imposing baritone for the rasping slur of an adolescent, sheds his towering gait for the waggle of a school kid. But it’s his eyes - serenely reflective as ever - that do the most talking.

“Chromosome glitch” is how Auro’s mom Vidya (Vidya Balan) describes his genetic defect when a curious auntie in the park inquires. Auro is her love child from Amol (Abhishek Bachchan) with whom she snapped all ties after he asked her to abort the baby in the days when the two lovers, riding the rollercoaster of their hormones, ended up having unprotected sex. So while Amol chiseled out for himself a bright and promising career as a politician with a firm resolve to reform the society and system, Vidya, a gynecologist, raised her progeric kid along with her mom whom Auro lovingly calls ‘Bum’.

‘Paa’ is as much the story of Auro’s Maa and Paa as it is of the unusual kid with a geriatric body but heart and mind of a child. It’s equally the story of a couple (Abhi and Vidya), drifted apart years ago, but brought together in a dramatic set of circumstances by their son whose genetic defect won’t let him live long. And it is as much the tale of a son discovering the father he never had.

Writer, director R Balki pretty much gets everything right but falls a wee bit short of taking ‘Paa’ to the emotional crescendo that the story might have touched. Seasoned generously with wry humour revolving around Auro’s antics, his monkey dance, his ‘potty’ gags, and his schoolmates, ‘Paa’ is amusingly funny even as it tugs at your heart and develops into a bonafide tearjerker without becoming overtly sentimental.

Abhishek Bachchan, getting substantial footage in the film, is well into his character of a conscientious MP who believes in doing things the right way even while taking on the media. Vidya Balan, I must admit, overacts in the scenes showing her emotional outburst. Paresh Rawal (as Abhi’s pa) has a very little role to talk about, but a special mention ought to be made of the child actor Pratik Katare who plays Auro’s schoolbuddy Vishnu, poor in studies and slapped around by his dad at home.

Apart from performances, ‘Paa’ is propped by Ilayaraja’s soulful tunes and PC Sreeram’s simple yet slick cinematography. My only grouch is that the screenplay at times seems deliberately tweaked to bring out a message. For instance, the final sequence when Auro’s schoolmate (a girl he keeps running away from throughout the film) wisecracks that ‘the wrongdoer suffers more than the one who’s been wronged’ and thereby triggers the thaw between Auro’s estranged parents.

Besides these forgettable foibles, ‘Paa’, all in all, is a tour de force, an emotional ride that leaves you smiling moist-eyed. Carry your tissues and kerchiefs along.

On Wednesday, everything at Mumbai’s JW Marriott was in black and red, thanks to the movie My Name Is Khan theme for the event.

Shahrukh Khan, Kajol and director Karan Johar along with CEO of Star TV Uday Kumar were present for the special unveiling of ‘My Name Is Khan’. While talking to media, SRK claimed that his detention at the Newark airport in the US in August this year was not a publicity gimmick to promote MNIK.

As promotions for ‘My Name Is Khan’ kickstarted, SRK and Karan has several other plans prior to the movie’s release. However, he did not seem much impressed about Aamir Khan’s marketing gimmick for 3 Idiots. Aamir, as we know, is traveling incognito throughout India to promote the film.

King Khan is quoted to have said, “I am sorry to use the word but it is chichorapan to do something like this - to create controversy to sell a film. As far of promoting MNIK is concerned, I think every film has its own strategy. If we are asked to go to other states to promote the film, we surely will do it. But if you are asking if I will vanish, I don’t know. I am still here.”

Kajol looked stunning in a Manish Malhotra saree, SRK was dapperly dressed, even though Karan failed to make an impression with his dressing sense.

A most wanted terrorist lies wounded inside a vacated train and FBI agents close in. Two bombs have already gone off in different parts of New York, and the SWAT team must stop this one to prevent another explosion. They spot the terrorist having his last words with his wife, and guess what they do? They halt and give the lovers the privacy of their final intimate moment. Find that absurd? Don’t be surprised. Kurbaan directed by Rensil De’Silva and produced by Karan Johar is crammed with such absurdities.

Sample this - moments before the aforesaid scene, a shooting takes place inside a train. Saif Ali Khan and Om Puri go bang!...bang!...on Vivek Oberoi who’s turned out to be a snitch in the sleeper terror cell. Even as the bullets fly and ricochet in the crowded train, the locomotive keeps chugging on and none of the passengers press the emergency button. Not just that, a station comes and Vivek deboards the train while Saif stays inside with the dead body of Om Puri. Then guess what? The doors close and the train, with its passengers, moves on to the next station as if everything is hunky dory and the shooting wasn’t real but part of some movie shoot.

I can go on and on in exposing the ridiculousness of this so called blood-stained love story which is nothing more than a colossal sham in the name of serious cinema. If ‘Kurbaan’ was a no-brainer, such slips could’ve been overlooked. But when a movie dealing with a serious and sensitive subject as terrorism makes it all look farcical, it’s time to take the daggers out and do a kacha jhatka.

A great deal can be judged from the way a director opens his film. And I still reel from the embarrassment I felt while watching the opening scene of the film. Kareena Kapoor hails a taxi at India gate in Delhi. Saif steps in front of her and calls for a taxi. The two don’t know each other and there’s a little squabble over who should get the taxi first. A taxi comes, stops, Kareena gets in. Then Saif begins to cough uncontrollably. Kareena thinks he is sick, gets out of the taxi, and let him take the cab. The moment she makes the offer, Saif is well again. He smiles, sits in the cab and off he goes. I bet even a rookie writer can squiggle out a better opening than this harebrained start to ‘Kurbaan’.

In case you’re curious to know the story, here it is. Ehsaan (Saif) plays his charm on Avantika (Kareena) who’s come to Delhi from the US to take care of her ailing dad. Ehsaan is a professor at a local university where she too teaches psychology. Well, sparks fly and sooner than we know Avantika is married to Ehsaan, and he tags along with her to the US where the newly married couple moves into a desi neighbourhood next to a conservative Muslim family with perpetually scowling faces. Turns out that all of them have been victims of the US war on terror in one way or another and have now come to wage a war on the US soil. There’s a sleeper terrorist cell operating here and Avantika comes to know of it. But the biggest shock for her is when a darker side of her husband Ehsaan comes to the fore.

From then on, Avantika mostly stays confined to her bedroom while Riaz (Vivek), a TV reporter on a personal vendetta against the terrorists, penetrates the sleeper cell.

Absurdities pile up from then on in ‘Kurbaan’. Saif is involved in a deadly shootout with cops, but continues to roam scot-free even as FBI remains clueless about what’s going on in their backyard. Another absurdity - Om Puri (who’s the head of the terror cell) gives a strict instruction that no one in the sleeper cell could use cell phones, and what do we see in the very next scene - Saif getting a call on his mobile from none other than Puri. Another one - Vivek gets a lead on the terrorists and decides to take them on himself. No FBI, no cops for him! Why? Because he wants to avenge the killing of his sweetheart (Dia Mirza).

Karan Johar, who has written the film, ought to credit the audience with more intelligence than he imagines them to have. Saddled with a flawed script, Rensil D’Silva cobbles together a film that takes itself too seriously without ever becoming serious.

Only Kareena Kapoor and Om Puri come up with performances worth mentioning. Saif’s character sadly has little or no gravity. There’s nothing in his character to suggest the seething anger within him that makes him more loyal to his mission than his pregnant wife. Kirron Kher hams it up with her phoney Afghan accent. Vivek Oberoi is rusty at places but shows flashes of good acting at times.

The film’s music (Salim Suleiman) and cinematography (Hemant Chaturvedi) are good, but they fail to gloss over the gaping holes in the script.

In a nutshell, ‘Kurbaan’ is a massive disappointment. In fact, it’s almost terrorizing.

It has to be something different when it’s an Aamir Khan film. The music of 3 Idiotswas launched on the internet followed by a virtual tete-e-tete with the stars of the film. Though Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi aren’t newcomers, the fresh look and feel of the movie is undeniable. So, what music lovers have to say about its music?

Shifting to the year’s most anticipated movie’s music album. ‘3 Idiots’ has five originals and two remixes by critically acclaimed composer-lyricist duo, Shantanu Moitra andSwanand Kirkire. They are back after a hiatus, so is it with a bang?

The first song of the album, Aal Izz Well, can easily take you back to your college days with its spontaneity and sheer melody. Sung by Sonu Nigam, who’s vim and vigour personified, the number is best to hear on full volume, while you croon along Aal Izz Well, even if it is not. Loaded with beats and whistles, Aal Izzz Well remix also makes for an impressive track.

Shantanu once said, “I have to get a childlike glee out of making music.” The next song in the album, Zoobi Doobi, picturised on Aamir and Bebo, is quick to get you swinging with its zing as the charismatic Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghosal enthrall you with another romantic number. The only difference is the song is not as mellifluous as it is peppy and hummable. However, the remix version sounds a bit better because of its pace.

Behti Hawa Sa Tha Woh bears the stamp of Shantanu-Sadanand. The song in the voice of Shaan with a slight classical touch is a good composition but takes time to grow on you like most of the duo’s earlier songs.

The simple tune of this song makes it a number straight from the college campus.Give Me Some Sunshine sounds like a song composed by youngsters with unexposed, raw talent and just a guitar. Suraj Jagan gets to croon this song and is successful in making you feel nostalgic about your fun-filled college days while the feeling gets intense when you get to hear the wonderful lines uttered by Sharman Joshi, who chips in between the track. Yes and I too want to sing, “I want to grow up once again.”

The passionate song, Jaane Nahin Denge Tujhe, appears a situational track. Sonu Nigam’s intense voice for this powerful rendition does justice to the fervent mood of the number, but overall a weak song in the album. What I liked in the song is the casual use of word sala. Hats off!

The music album of ‘3 Idiots’ won’t bowl you over, but clicks with you instantly with its simple music. And this makes it different from other run-of-the-mill Bollywood movie albums. Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Co. doesn’t like to disappoint when it comes to music.

Song Aal Izzz Well has already picked up, while for the rest of the tracks wait till the movie hits the theaters.

He won’t grease anybody’s palm to get a sales order for his company. He’s persuasive but doesn’t spiel to sell off goods. Worst of all, he’s honest and believes in doing things the right way. Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) isn’t cut out to be a salesman. No wonder he gets the rap from his boss after he botches up a deal and is scoffed at by his colleagues who keep flying paper-rockets at him to remind him that he’s a loser.

After scraping through his college with minimal marks, Harpreet is determined to make his mark as a salesman. Working as a trainee in a company called AYS, which sells computers, he soon finds himself relegated to a corner, snubbed by his colleagues, insulted by his boss. Staring at the possibility of a ruined career, Harpreet stashes his honesty aside, and, while keeping his job as a trainee, secretly begins his own small company Rocket Sales Corp on the side, and ropes in co-workers from AYS and builds a customer base using the resources of AYS. Smart strategy, you would say. But then, Harpreet’s secret is exposed and time comes for him to pay the piper.

Coming from the director-writer-producer team of Shimit Amin-Jaideep Sahni-Aditya Chopra that gave us the cult movie Chak De India, Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year is an eminently watchable film that, however, falls a wee bit short of expectations. Granted that Shimit’s eye for details is as sharp as ever, and Jaideep’s writing (story, screenplay and dialogues) as steeped in reality as one could hope, but there’s something lacking. It’s hard to stomach the fact that people in AYS would risk their well-secured jobs for a rag-tag company run by a rookie who’s been branded a ZERO by his boss. Secondly, Jaideep Sahni ought to have given more depth and fire to Ranbir’s character. As a viewer you don’t feel the spark of the high-flying Sikh hitting pay dirt after convincing his clients with his mere honesty and willingness to take big risks.

The fuel of ‘Rocket Singh’ is its myriad characters that drive the story. There’s a porn-junkie computer engineer (enacted superbly) who sits cheek by jowl to Harpreet in the office and later helps him in Rocket Corp. There’s a feisty receptionist (Gauhar Khan) with a dream of rising to managerial position. There’s a street-smart team-leader who grills Harpreet but later joins him. There’s a sneering boss who’s interested only in sales figures and numbers rather than people. There’s a peon who’s tired of taking insults from his bosses. And, of course, aside from this melee is the newbie Shazahn Padamsee who gets only three scenes with Ranbir.

Ranbir Kapoor plays his part well but doesn’t modulate his voice much. Though his exterior, his body language (how he dances and adjusts his turban like a true-blue Sikh) is bang on, when he speaks, you almost hear a Sid or Prem talking. Prem Chopra, playing his father, is delightful in just a few scenes. But it’s the terrific performances by the supporting cast that makes ‘Rocket Singh’ what it is. It’s an almost perfect cast ensemble put together by Shimit, Jaideep and Aditya. The only three songs in the film (Salim-Sulaiman) play out in the background and cinematography by Vikash Nowlakha is a treat to the eyes.

Kudos to Shimit for the finesse with which he brings realism to a heart-warming story laced with wit and humour by Jaideep Sahni. But how one wishes the trajectory of this Rocket did not dip in the second half; and how the final message (that people are more important than numbers) did not feel shoved down our throats.

‘Rocket Singh’ is good, but it could have been much better.

Hats and caps off to Priyadarshan. Just when we thought that comedy - stifled in Bollywood by the silly slapstick we’re served in the name of humour - is dead, shrouded, coffined and buried, Priyadarshan the saviour strikes form and resurrects it in his latest screwball sit-com De Dana Dan.

Unlike the rib-ticklers that are solely propped on the charm of either Akshay Kumar or Paresh Rawal, in ‘De Dana Dan’, the script and story is the hero. It’s a comedy of errors based on mistaken identities in a mad melee of oddball characters that cross paths inside a hotel in Singapore. The cobweb of confusion is created with such craft that gags keep flying and whizzing by endlessly - left, right, up, down…de dana dan! And you come out of the theatre with every cell of your body giggling with joy.

It’s all about money, honey! Nitin (Akshay Kumar) wants money to free himself from the clutches of his authoritarian maalkin (Archana Puran Singh) and marry his rich GF Anjali (Katrina Kaif). Ram (Sunil Shetty), a courier delivery boy, too wants money to marry Manpreet (Sameera Reddy), daughter of an industrialist. And Harbans Chadda (Paresh Rawal), a serial conman posing as a millionaire, wants to marry his good-for-nothing son (Chunkey Pandey) to any rich girl whose father is willing to open up coffers for dowry.

After their respective lives hit the rock bottom, Nitin and Ram decide to kidnap someone important (not telling who?) to make some easy millions as ransom. But the kidnapping goes wrong as the duo check into a hotel where preparations are underway for Manpreet’s wedding.

Add to this melee a number of screwballs like a testosterone-driven, middle-aged lecher (an appropriately cast Shakti Kapoor) desperately looking for sex, or a nit-wit cop (Sharat Saxena) looking for the conman, or a prostitute (Neha Dhupia) waiting for a client, or an assassin (Johnny Lever) who carries chloroform bottles, or a bumbling waiter (Rajpal Yadav) on the verge of losing his job, or a harried father (Tinnu Anand) out to find his runaway daughter (Katrina), or a local don (Asrani) with a dead body nobody’s willing to take.

It’s a mad, mad world out here in this Singapore hotel.

The best part about ‘De Dana Dan’ is that gags aren’t just mindlessly stitched together but flow out of situations that arise out of mistaken identities. Full credit should go to its crispy script laced with punchy dialogues from Jay Master and full credit to Priyadarshan for executing it with his masterly skill that makes the movie a hell of a rollercoaster ride, leaving the audience doubled up with laughs.

Yet again, Akshay brings a lovable goofiness to his character even though he’s locked inside a wardrobe for a substantial chunk of the second half. Sunil Shetty is okay while Paresh Rawal and Manoj Joshi bring the house down with their remarkable bonhomie. The ladies, Katrina, Sameera and Aditi Govitrikar (as the money hungry wife of Rawal) are more of eye candies, though Neha Dhupia does get to shoot off a few smutty dialogues. The supporting cast chips in with fine performances.

The movie’s pace slackens a bit with the song ‘Paisa’ which, though a hummable ditty, acts as a bump in this joyride. Also the flood in the climax doesn’t add as much to the humour as it could have.

These sores apart, ‘De Dana Dan’ is the best comedy of errors to have come out of Bollywood in a long time. Anyway, it’s much better than the comedy of terror we saw last week.

Go for it. It’s loaded with fun.

Imagine getting titillated in the middle of hearty laughs! Well, Lara Dutta, who set the screen afire with her bikini act in the underwater action adventure Blue a few months back, is now raring to slip into the two-piece sartorial wonder once again in director Sajid Khan’s film Housefull.

Lara is quick to clarify that her bikini bit in ‘Housefull’ is not just for the heck of it but is intrinsic to a scene in which she dives into the ocean.

Without doubting that the said scene is ‘significant’ to the plot, we’re sure that Lara, who’s still continuing to flaunt the killer figure she acquired for ‘Blue’, will once again send the males of the species goggle eyed in ‘Housefull’.

The shapely belle says she enjoyed working at lot with her co-stars Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh in the movie.

‘Housefull’ has Lara returning to comedy again after the flopped Do Knot Disturb.

Nothing succeeds like success. But Katrina Kaif is in no mood to rest on her laurels.

The debacle of Yuvvraaj last year may have slowed the pace of her progress, but the stunning damsel has made up for it with two back-to-back hits: New York and Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani.

Emerging as the most bankable actress in B-town, Katrina isn’t letting success go to her head. Rather, she takes every new film of her as a new challenge.

“It's like a new journey every time and hence has never got that feeling that 'Oh, since I now have so many successful films under my name, let me take it easy',” Katrina is quoted to have said.

Now, this Friday, ready to hit the marquee is De Dana Dan, Kat’s second film with Akshay Kumar this year after her brief cameo in Blue. Many expectations are attached to this film because it marks the return of the Hera Pheri jodi - Akshay, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Kat is the icing on the cake.

Katrina says she did this film only because Akshay asked her to.

“I can’t turn Akshay down,” she said.

The visual splendour of the sea has never been captured before in any Indian film like it is in Blue. The opening reels of the film will have a viewer’s mouth agape with awe and beauty of the water world, caught on camera brilliantly by underwater cinematographer Pete Zuccarini, who has ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ to his credit.

But a sinking feeling begins to set in as ‘Blue’ steers into the second half and one notices that between the numerous stunts, both on land and under water, there’s hardly any depth or grip in the story to keep you glued to ‘Blue’. Thankfully, there is Akshay Kumar, once again working his charm with that flashy gummy grin of his. And, of course, there is Lara Dutta in those eye-popping bikinis to kick the hormones amid all the adrenaline rush….Enough of what one can expect for the cost of ticket and time spent on this aqua-adventure thriller.

Much of ‘Blue’ is set over land, in Bahamas. Aarav (Akshay Kumar) and Sagar (Sanjay Dutt) are good friends who bond over fishing and boxing. Aarav, who is rich and looking to be richer, seems particularly interested in a sunken ship called ‘Lady in Blue’. Why? Because it carries a treasure lost in 1949 when the ship sank on its way from England to India.

Before one wonders that how on earth did a ship from England to India ended up going down in Bahamas (which is way far off), one sees that Sagar has some emotional strings attached to the sunken ship. He won’t go there for any temptation, any except brotherly love.

Which brings us to Sam (Zayed Khan), Sagar’s younger brother, who’s left the home and is flaunting his attitude and bike-speeding skills in Bangkok. He gets into a mess with a local mafia don (Rahul Dev) and flees back to his brother Sagar in Bahamas.

From then on, Sagar is pushed into a set of situations where he’s got no option but to go looking for the sunken treasure trove with Aarav and Sam.

In this adrenaline burst of macho men, speedsters, and deep sea divers who swim with sharks, some glamour and titillation is thrown in in the shapely forms of the bikini-clad Lara Dutta and deadly-looking Katrina Kaif. There’s also Kylie Minogue, the Aussie pop icon, chiggy-wiggying with Akshay in a club song.

But what’s missing is a nice and tight story that could make the movie work besides its action, stunts and glamour. Pardon the little spoiler but the whole hunt for the treasure is justified in the end by a flimsy reason about preserving the family honour.

Watch the film for Akshay, who rocks once again. Sanjay Dutt looks tired, Lara Dutta hot. Zayed Khan does better than what we’ve seen from him in the past. Rahul Dev has a lengthier role than Katrina who’s there only for a few minutes.

Debutant director Anthony D'Souza, also the co-writer of screenplay, makes a fine debut but leaves a lot to be desired. If he had a tighter story and believable reasons to justify the motives of the characters in ‘Blue’, the film could have been an absolute delight and an edge-of-the-seat experience.

Such as it is, ‘Blue’ is still worth a dive.