RE: Sunday - 2008 (25. Januar) - 3

Published on Sat, Jan 26, 2008 at 00:07

This weekend, skip Sunday

I'm not sure how to approach writing a review of Sunday, because I can't seem to make up my mind about the film. It was certainly more watchable than a lot of bad comedies I've seen recently, but I can't exactly say it's a film I enjoyed in its entirety either. Director Rohit Shetty's Sunday, remake of a super hit Telugu film, is what I suppose you'd describe as a comic thriller.

Ayesha Takia plays a young, Delhi girl who can't seem to account for the last Sunday in her week. She remembers going to a nightclub on Saturday night, and then she spent almost all of Monday with her friends. It's the Sunday in between that she has no recollection of.

It's important for her to find out though, because suddenly she's being chased by goondas who're trying to kill her, and a taxi-driver who's demanding money for a ride he insists she took with him.

It's pretty clear these people and these events are linked to that mysterious Sunday, so she enlists the help of a local cop, played by Ajay Devgan, to solve the jigsaw puzzle.

The first half of Sunday is a pretty smooth ride. If you're willing to suspend disbelief and give the film a chance, it's very likely you'll find yourself amused at least until the film breaks for intermission. Arshad Warsi as the smart-ass taxi driver and Irrfan Khan as his struggling-actor buddy provide most of the laughs in this picture.

Particularly hilarious is that scene in which Irrfan, all dressed up to audition for the part of Ravan in an upcoming mythological film, finds himself sharing a ride with a canine friend. It's one of those rare laugh-out loud scenes because it's written so well, and it's performed so spontaneously by Irrfan.

Also quite humorous is that scene in which Ayesha Takia scares the heebie-jeebies out of Arshad and Irrfan after she takes a ride with them late that Saturday night. A few such scenes stand out among the string of pedestrian jokes that the film is full of, including those tasteless gay jokes that are done in abundance here.

Sunday slips up in its second half, when the film takes the thriller route. The so-called suspense, when revealed, is so lame that you wish they hadn't digressed from the comedy at all. At a running time of approximately two hours, Sunday still feels very long because there's very little happening in terms of movement of screenplay. Too many songs and none that are particularly memorable, further slacken the film's pace.

Of the cast, it's interesting to see Ajay Devgan lighten up a little, but he was way funnier in Golmaal by the same director, and that's because Golmaal was a way better script. Ironic that Ayesha Takia's cast as a dubbing artiste who can modulate her voice to suit various jungle animals -- how you wish she could modulate her voice when expressing something as basic as different emotions.

Nevertheless, she's cute as a button and there's little else expected of her in this film. Sunday belongs to Arshad Warsi and Irrfan Khan who save this film from being entirely pointless, by injecting such a generous dose of spontaneous humour.
That aside, sadly, there is little else on offer here. So I'm going with two out of five and an average rating for director Rohit Shetty's Sunday, it's a just-about tolerable watch for those with high patience levels. For the rest, surely you can find something better to do on a Sunday!

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

Quelle: http://www.ibnlive.com/news/review-this-...ay/57390-8.html
Video: http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/57390/revi...kip-sunday.html

January 25, 2008 16:58 IST

Sunday has comedy but no thrills

Behind every murder there is a method, motive and mystery. Leave out one and you won't really get anywhere. Put it all together and you know who did it. The theory of crime and guilt, however, is hardly explored in director Rohit Shetty's comic thriller, Sunday.

Instead, the suspense flick, inspired from Telugu's Anukokunda Oka Roj, goes about finding missing clues with the same vacuum and puzzlement as faced by its key player Sehar Thapar (Ayesha Takia).

Sehar is an absent-minded dubbing artist for animation films who, after a strong dose of rophynol, wakes up to find one Sunday gone missing from her life. Thereafter, she's addressed as 'bhoot' by a taxi driver-struggling actor (Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan) duo while a bunch of unkempt goonies make multiple attempts on her life.

While the obvious 'whos' and 'hows' pop in the viewers' head, cornetto-chomping bribe-philic cop Rajveer (Ajay Devgan) and sidekick (Mukesh Tiwari) make a dude-level entry into the picture, cashing a blonde-haired drug peddler through the roofs and terrace of Masjid Lane dwellings.

The implausible pieces and protagonists are somehow interlinked to each other courtesy two dead persons found in connection.

More whos, whats and hows lead to an utterly depressing and lame climax for which Shetty simply cannot be pardoned. I mean the entire movie is an exercise in building up a mind-boggling suspense. So how do you explain an incentive as lousy as what it eventually turns out.

Ayesha Takia and Ajay Devgan in SundayAnother flaw worth nitpicking over is the muddling of genres -- comedy (something Shetty is quite comfortable with) and thriller, which struggle to do a balancing act in the dijointed scheme of going-ons. One minute Arshad Warsi is Circuit turned cabbie shot in the butt. Another he's a miserable, bechara types lamenting over his kidney ailment and shortage of funds. Warsi plays the self-created stereotyped of a fast-talking, wise-cracking jolly street smart fella with expected fluency.

Then there's an underutilised but brilliant Irrfan Khan (doing a hilarious take off on Ravana, Dracula, SRK's Don and Himesh Reshammiya), Rajnikant-inspired Chuckie Chan (Vrajesh Hirjee) and Salaam-E-Ishq discovery Anjana Sukhani slipping into the heroine's best friend mode. While Irrfan Khan stands out simply because he is a fabulous actor, others are simply time-consuming props in this plot-less parade, high on homosexuality jokes and low on intrigue.

Speaking of time, even at a mere two hours running time, Sunday feels longer than it actually is. Perhaps the sluggish pace and run-of-the-mill songs have something to do with it. Two of the songs feature Tusshar Kapoor (for luck?) and Esha Deol (to pitch in some glamour in a diva avatar?) making a special appearance.

Ayesha Takia, of course, is the leading lady of the enterprise. Seeing as the whole story revolves around her lapse of memory, Ayesha lends her Sehar tons of vivacity and vulnerability. Longevity in terms of screen time aside, Sehar is rather one-dimensional in her emotional reflexes. Even so, full marks to the spontaneous youngster for making the most adorable toon voices. He's no Amitabh Bachchan, yet Ajay Devgan is suitably rakish and cheeky as a Shahenshah brand of police officer who often takes a joke on himself.

Ayesha Takia and Anjana Sukhani in SundayUnlike Khosla Ka Ghosla, wherein Delhi's attitude and lifestyle is reflected in the film's language and characters, the Capital city plays a twin role here. On one level it is at the receiving end inciting remarks on Delhi police's efficiency (or lack of it), ever-growing crime rate and how it's getting increasingly unsafe for women, etc.

At the same time, cinematographer Aseem Bajaj pays a visual ode to the land of Qutub Minar and Red Fort with imaginative angles and ingenious lighting. Instead of a cliched sunset/rise shot against the backdrop of India Gate, you get to see the majestic Old Fort and Humayun's Tomb, intimidating Rashtrapati Bhavan, chaotic Chandni Chowk and grand Jama Masjid in a new light altogether. Even an ordinary chase sequence turns into a super sleek one thanks to Bajaj's ability to think outside the box.

Contrary to Shetty's hit comedy, Golmaal which was consistently funny, Sunday entertains as long as it tries to be funny but isn't sly enough to find a mention in the archive of whodunits.

Rediff Review: 2.5/5

Quelle: http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/jan/25sunday.htm

EXCLUSIVE REVIEW BY HANUMANT BHANSALI

Director Rohit Shetty shot to fame with his last comedy Golmaal, and this weekend he has got a Sunday in store for the comic onlookers. With a blend of mystery and comedy, ‘Sunday’ has a little bit of everything to make it a average watch this Sunday.

Sunday has no fundas, not for critics atleast. The director and his team have worked on to make a product which is viable for a few weeks at the box office. The first half holds your attention with its unfolding mystery and variety of characters but the second half loosens up a bit with a few item numbers and tracks forced into places.

Technically, Sunday has a whole bunch of positives and negatives in store for the moviegoers. Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography is class apart. Tushar Hiranandani, K Subhash and Robin Bhatt’s screenplay works but in parts. While, the film entertains in the first half, the second half loses out due to unwanted songs, action sequences and elastic storyline.

The suspense loses it elements towards the climax, thereby leaving the audience with little to awe about.

Considering Sunday as a comedy, the music of the film hardly makes an impact on the viewers. None of the songs stay on the lips when one leaves the theatre. The two item numbers picturized on Esha Deol and Tusshar Kapoor (as an item boy!) look good in music videos on television but when it comes to a film, the songs just slowen the pace of the film.

Sajid and Farhad have added a lot of wit and value to the dialogues spoken by the different characters of the film, making them strikingly memorable.

Performance wise, all the actors have done justice to their roles. They look flamboyant and stylish in almost every frame they appear. Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Ayesha Takia and Irrfan Khan are simply good. Arshad delivers an immaculate performance. Ayesha is beautiful, and loyal to her character as ever.

Overall, the hickory dockory of performances and storyline, makes Sunday an average time pass flick for this weekend. However, hard core movie buffs need to take chill pill to take digest the loopholes in this Missing Sunday.

Radiosargam Movie Rating: 6/10

Quelle: http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archive...unday-2008.html

Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, FilmsJanuary 25

Director Rohit Shetty’s Sunday has one wonderfully funny character. Irfan Khan plays a struggling actor who we mostly meet when he is in costume. So one day he is Dracula and the next Don.

My personal favourite is when he puts on a cap and starts shrieking because now singers can also become stars. But even Irfan’s deadpan brilliance isn’t enough to inject life into this sagging Sunday.

The film, a remake of the Telegu hit Anukokunda Oka Roju, is supposed to be a comic thriller but it isn’t particularly funny or thrilling.

There are a few murders, a woman who can’t remember what she did on Sunday, several goons and a mildly corrupt police officer, played by Ajay Devgan, trying to tie it all together.

The trouble with Sunday is that the film is never quite sure of what it is: a madcap comedy like Rohit’s earlier Golmaal or a murder mystery. So in between bouts of low brow humour, we are supposed to get solemn about a date rape drug and a kidney ailment. Golmal had an inspired lunacy.

The lines were superbly silly. Like when a blind couple tell four young boys Aaj Se Tum Hamare Shravan Ho, one of them replies, aur Nadeem bhi.

Sunday never hits that note and the madness is diluted by the mystery, which when it is finally revealed, is so limp that the film seems pointless.

It never rises above strictly time-pass.

Quelle: http://www.ndtvmovies.com/reviews.asp?la...oviename=Sunday

25 Jan, 2008 08:09 pm ISTlGaurav Malani/INDIATIMES MOVIES

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia, Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan
Director: Rohit Shetty
Rating: 3/5

Here’s another suspense-comedy (a genre rapidly overtaking romantic-comedy). And thankfully the humour over here is laughable and the mystery engaging. But aren’t appealing ideas often unoriginal in Bollywood? This one too is derived from a Telugu film Anukokunda Oka Raju . And despite buying the rights, three writers are employed to pen the screenplay. Wonder if translation is so tough, tedious and needs teamwork! Nevertheless let’s take a holiday from preaching on plagiarism and digest some Sundae.

So there’s a Delhi inspector Rajiv (Ajay Devgan) surviving on some ice-cream sundaes. So the title ‘Sunday’? No! Blame that to a cartoon dubbing artist Sehar (Ayesha Takia) who has a Sunday missing from her life. What does that mean? Well even I asked the same till the interval point. Sehar suffers from regular bouts of amnesia. And when she sleeps after one Saturday night outing, she wakes up only on a Monday morning to realize that she doesn’t recollect anything that happened on the Sunday in between.

Thereon she starts meeting strangers who claim to know her but she fails to identify any of them. There’s a taxi-driver (Arshad Warsi), a wannabe actor (Irrfan Khan) and a gang of hoodlums who are constantly on her trail. Of course the inspector comes to the girl’s rescue. Love is mandatory between the two. And what’s the formula to make hurried love happen in a hush-hush plot? The regular redundant romantic song!

Cut back to the suspense. A series of sequences connect up to unravel the mystery of the missing Sunday. And the idea of incorporating a murder-mystery is inevitable in a suspense film. So there’s a ‘who-dun-it’ interlinked with the chain of events. The suspect arrives in the standard setting of a nightclub in the pre-climax, amidst an item number. After some expected somersaulting car chases, the suspense is solved with the killer turning out to be none of your usual suspects.

Sunday, just like your Sunday outing brunch, comprises of a platter that serves you more than you can digest. If you could excuse the sinful elements over the savoury ones, relish this recipe.

The savoury elements come in the form of believable characters and an incredible amnesiac idea that is made convincing though the screenplay. The ambiguous affairs onscreen keep you amazed and amused till the interval point where you realize its all’s an aftermath of the missing Sunday. Till that point there's no hint or mention of the lost day.

The sinful elements, obviously, are those interrupting item numbers, an overdose of action (the director was an action assistant earlier) and some caricatured characters like a long-haired, stammering don (Shereveer Vakil – getting annoyingly typecast). The item numbers are almost set as the yardsticks for the starting and finishing points of the story. Thankfully Tusshar Kapoor is featured in the first item number (you have more to look forward to) and Esha Deol sums up the second (look no further). The music composed by some six composers is a clear case of ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’.

The movie clicks for the fact that humour is integrated with the mystery and the comedy tracks aren’t kept parallel to the plot. Arshad Warsi is expectedly good in a character tailor-made for him and tickles your funny-bone effortlessly. Ayesha Takia has the whole film revolving around her which thankfully doesn’t sideline the heroine. Ajay Devgan has the conventional character of the central hero and he plays it pretty well. But the scene-stealer clearly is Irrfan Khan who goes on imitating everyone from Shah Rukh to Himesh in the film and has you in splits with his straight-faced expressions and unusual comic antiques. Habituated to see him in serious roles, the comic characters he attempts to play off late ( Life in a Metro ) are a pleasant change to his personality and undoubtedly hilarious. See him in the garb of Raavan carrying 10 heads and he falls 10 times heavy to any comedian from Johny Lever to Rajpal Yadav.

Sunday is a sundry-genre movie. But the comedy doesn’t demand your logic to be on leave. The suspense doesn’t seek your sensibilities to go on a holiday.

Thank god there are Sunday’s in Bollywood.

Quelle: http://movies.indiatimes.com/moviereview/2732309.cms

By Martin D'Souza, Bollywood Trade News Network, January 25

Picture this: There is a cold blooded murder. Murli Sharma suspiciously hovers in the background near the place where the body is found. Great beginning. Director Rohit Shetty deserves a clap, just for the beginning.

For the next half hour the movie meanders along. You see goons who can easily pass off as buffoons trying to kill Ayesha Takia. She has no clue why, nor do we. During this time Rohit Shetty gets busy sketching the character played by Ajay Devgan. I guess, even he has no clue as to what to do. The end is something you would want someone to sit near you and explain! And yes, Murli Sharma is the one who had tucked Takia into her bedroom after finding her wandering on the streets of Delhi. What he was doing at the crime scene in the first place no one knows!!!

The story is about a day which goes missing in Ayesha’s life which connects what is happening to her now. It appears that Takia had gone to a night club with her friend on Saturday night and her drink was ‘spiked’ by two guys. From then on she spirals out of control on the streets of Delhi meeting five people along the way. The Sixth one tucks her in bed. She sleeps the entire Sunday. That explains the two milk packets kept outside her door on Monday morning. Makes sense? Not yet, right?. Forget it.

Let’s get to the performances. Ajay Devgan is trapped in a role which he should have left behind ages ago. Ayesha Takia does what is asked of her. But it is Arshad Warsi who puts life into his role, closely followed by Irfan Khan. After his act as Circuit in Munnabhai, I guess, this one is very endearing. Perfect comic timing and ‘on the cue’ dialogue delivery, Arshad is a treat. Irfan as the ‘wanting to be a movie star’ is another act that is worth mentioning.

Yes, Esha Deol does sizzle in her item song. The girl is all attitude. Sorry, can’t add anything more, am at a loss for words!

TO GO OR NOT: There is this one dialogue which Ajay Devgan keeps repeating: “Mujhe choo, choo pasand nahi.” If you like “Choo choo” Teri marzi!

Ratings : 1 / 5

Quelle: http://www.glamsham.com/movies/reviews/2...nday-010813.asp

By Naresh Kumar Deoshi
Film critic, ApunKaChoice.Com

No choo chaa. No beating about the bush. Let me come straight to the point. Rohit Shetty’s movie ‘Sunday’ is no laugh riot. But it is indeed a good fun to watch once.

Thankfully, ‘Sunday’ is not a senseless comedy like Welcome . It doesn’t string one gag after another without any direction to the story. ‘Sunday’ does have an engaging tale, a murder mystery, at its heart. Around it revolves the humour – a healthy cocktail of situational comedy and plain slapstick. Add to it some stunts, action and romance. And voila, you have the recipe for a true-blue masala entertainer. That is what ‘Sunday’ is.

The movie begins with a murder. The killer, his/her face unrevealed, dumps the girl’s dead body in a park.

Sehar ( Ayesha Takia ) has a gift for mimicking different voices – a talent that she puts to use by working as a dubbing artist for animation films. But she has a habit of forgetting things.

On a Saturday night, Sehar, along with her friend Ritu ( Anjana Sukhani ), goes to a discotheque, where two guys try to get fresh with them. Sehar teaches them a lesson in her own way.

The next day when Sehar wakes up, she finds something amiss. Odd things begin to happen to her.

A cabbie named Ballu ( Arshad Warsi ), whom she runs into more than once, keeps asking her for his unpaid taxi fare, an exact amount of Rs. 420. A struggling actor named Kumar ( Irrfan Khan ), screams bhoot every time he sees Sehar. And there are also a bunch of goons who are out to kill Sehar.

The poor girl doesn’t know who all these guys are and why they are after her.

And there is also an ice-cream-gorging Inspector Rajveer ( Ajay Devgan ) and his Haryanawi colleague Anwar (Mukesh Tiwari), who are open to bribes, and have their own unique way of functioning.

Rajveer falls for Sehar. But as he goes about investigating the murder case, all the clues point to Sehar. And after some brainstorming, he discovers that Sehar cannot remember anything about a particular Sunday in her life, the one right after the night she went to discotheque. The rest of the film is about finding the missing Sunday and linking the pieces of the puzzle together to get to the real killer.

First things first. ‘Sunday’ is not so much of a murder mystery as it is a comedy. And the main drivers on this front are Irrfan Khan and Arshad Warsi.

Irrfan is terrific playing a struggling actor who is always dressed in different guises – a lawyer, a ravana, or a don. Irrfan’s style of comedy is unique. He doesn’t do anything goofy or make funny faces, yet with his facial expressions and dialogue delivery, he brings his comic timing to bear.

Arshad Warsi shows his flair for comedy yet again, playing a clever cabbie who crams his taxi with passengers or pulls a fast one on a corrupt cop to earn an extra buck.

Ajay Devgan is pretty likeable in a performance that wouldn’t have registered without ample support from his sidekick Mukesh Tiwari, who gets to deliver some of the best lines.

Ayesha Takia looks cute in a role that doesn’t put great demands on her acting skills.

The music of ‘Sunday’ is average but the film could have done better without the song ‘Loot Liya’. The cinematography is superb. There is a good stunt sequence on top of the houses of congested Chandni Chowk at the very beginning of the film. The car chase sequence in the second half is pretty ordinary.

‘Sunday’ should be seen mainly for its comedy and suspense. As the missing links fall in place and the dots are connected, the mystery becomes more and more engrossing. But director Rohit Shetty commits hara-kiri in the end. He doesn’t care to explain to the viewer how the cop (Ajay Devgan) unraveled the mystery and figured out who the killer was. Shetty simply reveals the killer without any logical explanation.

Anyway, I didn’t go expecting much logic or methodical approach from ‘Sunday’. Because if you do so, my friend, then the joke is on you.

Rating: ***

Quelle: http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20080125-4.html

Mumbai, January 25, 2008

Rating: **1/2

These two are made for each other in Rohit Shetty's La-la Land — he is addicted to ice-cream she dubs for kiddie cartoons. He is a cop and she is a damsel who has a Sunday missing from her week.

While she was sleeping-walking, there were a couple of murders, rape attempts, a fancy dress dance at a dargah, and when she wakes up, she is chased all over Delhi, by a gang of goondas led by a long-haired freak with a squeaky voice, while she zips around on a scooter.

Plot picked from Telugu hit Anukokunda Oka Roju, has Seher (Ayesha Takia) cutely pucker her brow because she is so forgetful! Ice-cream devouring cop Rajveer (Ajay Devgan) and his sidekick (Mukesh Tiwari) try to solve the mystery of her amnesia, while a cabbie (Arshan Warsi) and his sidekick (Irrfan Khan) keep popping up demanding Rs 420 from her.

As it happens so often in films with a strong supporting cast — Warsi and Khan just lift up the sagging film with its non-happening thrills and thanda romance. They have the funniest dialogue, a dance number and a fight sequence, which is more than can be said for the bored-looking hero.

Devgan must have seen the rushes and demanded some action, because he gets a long-winded chase sequence through the gully-mohallas of Chandni Chowk to catch a crook of no consequence. But it must have made him feel like James Bond or Jason Bourne — stars have their quirks.

Sunday is also a lesson on why not to put TV actors in key scenes, because they overact and try to grab footage that can't be edited out. Why take great pains to establish the heroine's unusual profession if it is not going to come into use anywhere? Why put in an item number (Esha Deol), when the film is about to end and audiences are looking at their watches?

Ajay Devgan, should get this straight — he is not 'cute' and using an ice-cream cone as a prop won't make him more likeable.

Ayesha Takia would be heroine material if she just took more care of her wardrobe and appearance. As for the rest… amnesia will strike the minute you leave the cinema. That's one missing Friday in the life of everybody who bought a ticket to this movie.

Quelle: Hindustantimes

Rating : 3.75 / 5

Presentation

The presentation is good with respect to screenplay but there are some unwanted scenes and overdosed action episodes which may not be required at all. A song was shot on Esha Deol and that was ok. The climax fight with jumping of vehicles is something very odd and impractical killing the tempo of interesting narration. Ajay Devgan performed very well and Ayesha also portrayed the role well which requires confusion and conviction in various scenes. She hardly acted in the movie but lived. Mukesh Tiwari, Murli Sharma, Vrajesh Hirjee and Ali Asgar have done their best by standing firm in the shoes of their characters.

Conclusion

The movie runs well in many centers and grabs the attention of audiences as well. It's a different genre of movie where humor is missed with suspense and thrill. Initially it appears to be an occult movie but later we pass through a thrilling experience of crime theme. Then we get into a suspense element that makes everyone glued to the seats till the end. Little trimming of unwanted action episodes is welcomed but that wouldn't be a big harm for the film. The film deserves a watch for its screenplay.

Bharatstudent Verdict

It's worth watch for all movie goers. Dont miss it.

Quelle: http://www.bharatstudent.com/cafebharat/...?id=17532&cat=1