Always Kabhi Kabhi reviews

First Previous

Page

Frequent Posters

TintinleMechant

@TintinleMechant

Dazzler

Posted: 14 years ago

#11

Originally posted by: Da_BagarhBilla

o sorry... i confused it with john tucker movie... u r right zainab...

Bachna ae haseeno is inspired from broken flowers... abhi search karke dekha...😆

woah woah how is bachna ae hasseno inspired from Broken Flowers? The Bill Murray movie? There is no way...

Quote

BheegiBasanti

@BheegiBasanti

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 14 years ago

#12

This movie seems to be as shallow as the trailers seemed!

Quote

Looks like you are new here. Register for free, learn and contribute.

Mandy

@mandy0310

Alumni

+ 8

Posted: 14 years ago

#13

Originally posted by: zainab25
LOLLLZ. Is the Youth (with capital Y) really as superficial as they imagine? I hope the movie sinks without any trace. At least that other "youth" film (can't remember the name...but it was inspired from John Tucker Must Die) had good songs.

It was Luv Ka The End, I knew it was inspired by a Hollywood movie but I couldn't remember the name.

As for AKK, I can't say I am surprised the movie didn't look promising based on the promos.

Quote

Lara

@fly2me

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 14 years ago

#14

School's out!

Always Kabhi Kabhi

Rating: 1.5

June 17, 2011

Cast: Ali Fazal, Satyajeet Dubey, Giselle Monteiro, Zoa Morani, Satish Shah, Lilette Dubey, Navneet Nishan

Director: Roshan Abbas

Set on a sprawling Delhi campus where students spend the bulk of their time attending drama rehearsals or dancing merrily in the corridors, Always Kabhi Kabhi directed by Roshan Abbas channels those breezy High School Musical movies'but alas this film doesn't have the infectious charm of those feel-good Disney entertainers.

The kids in this film are your usual stereotypes: you have the resident nerd (played by Satyajeet Dubey), the firebrand (played by Zoa Morani), the charmer (played by Ali Fazal), and the pretty new head-turner (played by Giselle Monteiro). There's little by way of plot here ' the school's putting up a production of Romeo & Juliet, and our four leads sign up for assorted duties. Alongside we get a glimpse of their troubled home lives. The nerd is under pressure from his overbearing father to get admission into MIT, the short-tempered, snappy one longs for the attention of her busy parents, the pretty one is being bullied into realizing her mother's unfulfilled dreams, and Mr Popular has a strained relationship with his worrying father.

Much in the same sloppy vein as Faltu recently, the larger theme that's addressed here is the lack of communication between adults and their children. Pretty much all parents are painted as villains, while teenagers are dubbed the misunderstood generation. Some of this might have worked if the characters or their situations felt authentic. But very little feels real or relatable in this film, aside from the sporadic use of status updates to take the narrative forward, and the exasperation of parents watching their kids spend so much time texting on the mobile phones.

The real problem is that the film neither feels accurately representative of this generation and its lifestyle, nor does it have an aspirational quality to it like those campus portions of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai did all those years ago. As a result it feels very boring, and a closing-credits item-song featuring Shah Rukh Khan doesn't redeem it in any way.

Of the cast, Ali Fazal has a likeable presence, and Zoa Morani is blessed with abundant confidence. The clumsy script however, which throws in everything from a teenage pregnancy scare to a drugs bust, is limp to say the least despite the involvement of four writers.

I'm going with one-and-a-half out of five for director Roshan Abbas' Always Kabhi Kabhi. Watching this film is like attending a concert put up by ten-year-olds. It's amateurish, and tedious to sit through, and the only thing you can appreciate in the end is the earnestness behind the effort.

-Rajeev Masand

http://www.rajeevmasand.com/reviews/our-films/schools-out/

Quote

Lara

@fly2me

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 14 years ago

#15

**Review: Always Kabhi Kabhi is as bad as its name**

Last updated on: June 17, 2011 19:42 IST

Raja Sen feels Always Kabhi Kabhi is dull in the first half while the second half explodes into a flashy climax that ruins everything .

On a stage stands a boy in school uniform, his hands poised over an electronic keyboard, playing at nothing. He's in the background, you see, and any tinkling of the keys would interrupt the lead actors' conversation. His job is merely to make it look like there are other kids in this school and that they do other things. And so he stands marooned from the scene around him, a breathing prop hesitating to honky-tonk. I don't know the young man's name, but I would like to gratefully applaud his moment of restraint, however absurd.

Because nobody else in Roshan Abbas' Always Kabhi Kabhi is EVER quiet. Yes, I used caps. Just like the film does as it screams at the eardrums , with a moronic background score that never stops overselling the moment. One of the many clumsy product-placement stops in this film really ought have been for earplugs. So yeah, Casio boy, you did good.

Like Glee but without (the incredible Jane Lynch [ Images ] or) kids who can actually sing, the only thing authentically high-school about this film is how amateurishly it comes together. Potentially interesting ideas -- taking the narrative forward through status updates, for example, as a character goes from 'heading to a club' to posting party pics to saying 'hangovers are hell', in a matter of seconds -- appear but are instantly smothered by the next scene.

In this particular case, while the girl in class nurses her hangover, the teacher leaves the classroom and students of Class XI, at the very least, start throwing chalk at one another. Several of them look uncomfortable doing so, tossing it casually and without motive, just because that's what school kids do, right?

Um, no. And therein lies the bigger problem here, the inherent condescension towards the target audience. Teen films almost invariably dial themselves down into bubblegummy pap, predictable and plastic. Maybe that's good business sense, since any teenager with half a brain never ever watches a teen flick, but this neglect towards intelligence is criminal. Plus, it programs pre-teens directly, grooming them into candyfloss. It's the Stepford genre, really.

The story? A boy who presumably wants to be Vivek Oberoi [ Images ] when he grows up, is smitten by the pretty new girl. Meanwhile his geeky best friend constantly swaps barbs with the resident firebrand. Oh, and everyone's parents are kinda evil. (The kids seem pretty villainous to me too, though, pointing and giggling when one of their classmates fails to get into MIT.)

Nobody's worth talking about except Zoa Mirani, playing the feisty one with significant charm. There's confidence and presence here, and this girl -- who nabs the only genuinely good shot in this film, a quick and wonderful visual flourish involving lipstick and suicide -- is the only positive takeaway.

The first half is dull as can be, merely loud, and while the emotionally-laden second half begins to mildly resemble something sweet, it explodes into a flashy climax that ruins everything.

And then the producer's husband comes and ruins it all over again.

Right after the climax we see the promotional music video for the film, a DJ'd up version of the song we JUST saw a minute ago (whoa), a 'you grownups don't understand us kids' song mouthed by a megastar in his 40s. Double whoa. And that isn't even the worst part. In this video, as kids wriggle around a weird jail kinda setup, a gigantic metal crate is lowered from the ceiling, ushered in by fireworks and dazzling lights. Inside is Shah Rukh Khan [ Images ], the only surprise being the man footing the bill for the movie suddenly showing off his starriness, on a stage he's bought himself. Awk-warrrd. And say it with me, WHOA.

Rediff Rating:
Raja Sen in Mumbai

http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-always-kabhi-kabhi/20110617.htm

Quote

kheladi

@kheladi

Beginner

Posted: 14 years ago

#16

The movie reviews (on twitter) is equally bad. Shah rukh's slump continues with this movie as well. - http://kheladi.com/s/x5WYq49H

Quote

BlackStar

@BlackStar.

Sparkler

Posted: 14 years ago

#17

Watched it for the heck of it and SRK, it's S**T!

Quote

MaSqUeRaDe

@MaSqUeRaDe

Voyager

+ 2

Posted: 14 years ago

#18

Why oh why SRK decided to produce such a crappy flick..This thought has been lingering on my mind ever since i saw the promos..arghh!! the name is enough for me to stay away from watching this movie EVER!..Reviews are least shocking ughh:(