WITHOUT GIVING THE MOVIE AWAY (Hindi movie reviews...and a little more)
25th April 2008

Tashan - Notepad

posted in Hindi Movies, Movie Notes, meetu |

This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review. Warning: this section has some details that could distort your experience while watching the movie. I strongly recommend reading this only after you have seen the movie or if you have decided not to see it.

Quick Review

No ishtyle, No chaaram, no kewl action, no ROFL jhokes (1.5 LOLs, tho). Fitting it into a stereotype - a very 90-ish film!

Rating: Switch channels if it’s on cable! (Rating Scale)

See full review

Plot Summary

Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) falls in love with Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). Pooja falls in love with Jimmy too, however they are employed by Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor) who has reasons to not let them go. Bachchan Pande (Akshay Kumar) who idolizes Bhaiyaji is employed by the latter to take care of a situation that Jimmy and Pooja have created.


What worked

  • The scene which had the Mona Lisa portrait in the background and Kareena Kapoor’s close-up in the foreground. Somehow added beauty to both the portrait and Kareena.
  • Bachchan Pande is wearing his chudidar (with a rich sherwani) up while riding a cycle - fits with the character. Also the cotton scarf he wears all the time.


What didn’t

Note: This section simply lists the things that I did not like in this movie. This is not the overall impression about this movie. Please read the full review here
  • Why does Pooja lead Jimmy to a robbery which would make them run away from Bhaiyaji when killing bhaiyyaji is what her aim was!?
  • I really want to know where the opening shot was located. A lake right beside a highway on a running through an arid desert?!
  • The overuse of voiceovers narrating the story.
  • Kareena Kapoor’s back turning to show her side profile - the turn looked too artificial, as if to exhibit her acting skills when she cries.
  • That seemed like too extravagant a house for a call center worker cum English teacher!
  • Was the gay joke really that irresistible?
  • The water hose wetting of Kareena Kapoor, was so randomly placed in the climax fight scene.
  • The Hollywood director had no song his movie but for some reason had the costumes and choreographer ready. Btw, did he also not have cameras or lighting equipment to shoot the movie either?!?!
  • But of course, there’s a character called Bachchan Pande in the movie for a reason, to make a silly quip about Amitabh Bachchan.

Nitty-Gritty

This section lists things that I think are not important to the overall impact of the movie. In most cases, it could be explained away by something like, “we noticed the glitch after the scene was shot and there were schedule/budget issues and thus we could not re-shoot it”. I like giving the makers the benefit of doubt, but I am amused nevertheless. Hopefully, they will tickle you too.
  • They took all the trouble to show the logistical problem of not being able to travel while wearing wet clothes. But Kareena had fresh lipstick glaring at you just after she has been in the water.

Back to main review

This entry was posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 11:49 am and is filed under Hindi Movies, Movie Notes, meetu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 17 responses to “Tashan - Notepad”

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  1. 1 On April 25th, 2008, vishnu said:

    nice honest review

    posted on April 25th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

  2. 2 On April 26th, 2008, ranji said:

    well said!!! true!!

    posted on April 26th, 2008 at 1:50 am

  3. 3 On April 26th, 2008, Anu said:

    Perfect Review!!!

    posted on April 26th, 2008 at 11:55 am

  4. 4 On April 26th, 2008, Saurabh said:

    Excellent Review… No Biases..

    posted on April 26th, 2008 at 3:33 pm

  5. 5 On April 26th, 2008, Shweta said:

    Awesome review..The most perfect observation.

    posted on April 26th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

  6. 6 On April 26th, 2008, Kaustubh Verma said:

    true review…. its a waste of time and money …. the cheap dialogs further glorifies the movie …

    posted on April 26th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

  7. 7 On April 27th, 2008, Nik said:

    In one shot, while at Rajasthan, all 4 were attacked by commandos , and akshay got hit by a bullet in his shoulder … the very same day , when he was with kareena in boat and identified her , there was no bullet or wound .. and he was wearing a sleeve less …. totally absurd direction and movie .. dnt waste ur time , save your money

    posted on April 27th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

  8. 8 On April 28th, 2008, deepak desai said:

    Bollywood needs to be congratulated…Mr. Yash Chopra, the grand daddy and avant guarde
    champion of the crawl towards one day attaining the doubtful paradise of becoming a Hollywood
    clone…has bestowed supreme respectability to the crook brigade…the taporis, the mawalis
    and the bhais of India…now the crooks are not only celebrated and honoured, but also showcased as
    role models…”Nice guys always lose” (Hollywood’s entertainment formula) is now also Bollywood’s
    …copyright ignored, as usual. The always awful migraine generating background music of all
    Bollywood films is for the sole purpose of shutting up any critical thoughts arising by mistake
    in the viewer’s muddled brain.
    Mr Chopra also deserves an award for rendering the now indespensible ITEM NUMBER jig into
    the narrative form by making the entire movie an ITEM NUMBER! Talk about being ahead of others…
    Mr Grand Daddy has already left all wannabe competitors behind by such a huge margin, that
    the poor sods ‘dekhtey hi reh gaye! Hats off…er brains off to him!

    posted on April 28th, 2008 at 12:46 am

  9. 9 On April 28th, 2008, deepak desai said:

    Now if only a similar revolution happened with regard to our much abused and maligned
    politicians and their sidekicks, the cops…who are insolently and habitually depicted as demons
    and perverse caricatures beyond redemption…consider what a patriotic duty would the ‘now truly
    international’ Bollywood Multinational be rendering the new India…one or two politicians and cops
    might even choose the reform track when they see movies…buttering up their blackened images
    with not just a little grease…may just influence the firangis to ’stop looking at us through
    the jaundiced eye!
    Is Bollywood up to the challenge?

    posted on April 28th, 2008 at 1:12 am

  10. 10 On April 28th, 2008, Shubham said:

    Tashan was a pain to watch. Its terrible. All they have done is make fun of Kanpur. I feel cheated being from Kanpur.

    posted on April 28th, 2008 at 3:30 am

  11. 11 On April 28th, 2008, meetu said:

    @ vishnu, ranji, Anu, Saurabh, Shweta, Kaustubh - thanks!

    @ Nik, deepak desai, shubham :D

    @shubham, I too was wondering why Kanupuriya’s were targetted so ruthlessly.

    posted on April 28th, 2008 at 4:12 am

  12. 12 On April 28th, 2008, Sahil said:

    Tashan was one of the worst movies I have seen recently and Iam so confused rite now,
    whether Tashan was poor or was Race worse. Can anyone have enough time to waste, comparing
    tashan against race. I somehow feel race was worse. Why did I watch these two.. huh..
    Sahil

    posted on April 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

  13. 13 On May 2nd, 2008, cinemaster said:

    Tashan was a great film, it had loads of attitude and style, and why are the bhaiyaas groaning so much, the intention was to entertain, to create a completely nonsensical film with everything thrown in. So it is the classic buddy movie, with a road variation, with the heroine out for revenge against a bad ass villain; the classic plot of mainstream hindi films. Did not hear anyone groaning about Don(with amitabh) or Saccha Jhoota etc.
    Love, Friendship, and ultimately redemption are the three main themes, what is wrong with that?
    It is not an intellectual movie at all, and the fight scenes are so unrealistic so that we know it is unrealistic, some of the moves seem to be copied from Shivaji.
    If Om Shanti Om could do it, so could this film, I think it is better, Shahrukh is a pain, here Akshay is good, very good in his role. Kareena looks old in her efforts to fit into the bikini and Saif looks all bulked up.
    And yes, why not remind the audience that it is about tashn; it is all surface and nothing else, that is what life is all about now.
    Quentin Tarantino, John Woo, and assorted Kung Fu films are the inspiration it looks like for the stunt scenes.
    And a very interesting comment about english speaking city types versus city boys, and would be small towners trying to be hep city boys.

    posted on May 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm

  14. 14 On May 10th, 2008, Rhea said:

    Tashan was officially the most painful three hours of my life (even though it felt like much longer). I wanted to like it as I thought the combination of Saif, Akshay(again) and Anil would be something to watch out for [I don't care much for Kareena]. But I was deeply disappointed. Saif was not even needed in the movie. They could have taken anyone. Akshay and Kareena had no chemistry (unlike their earlier movies together). The entire movie was a laugh riot. Even though I don’t think that was the theme ;) I laughed through romance, action…everything. The background music was very overbearing, even for an action flick, giving a complete headache.
    The movie also made a lot of fun on itself leaving a bad taste.
    I don’t think I can even compare Race and Tashan. my personal view tells me that if i consider Tashan remotely good, then Race would be the next Lagaan or something.
    Nether can I compare this movie to OSO. No biases, OSO was MUCH better.
    I want to meet the guy who wrote the dialogues. All the ‘the’ and the indianisation was a bit too much. Not really funny after a while.
    In the end, i would still give it 3/4 star. Quarter because it ensued some magic. The magic that the movie wanted to make you kill yourself. Another quarter as people in the theatre only started leaving after 15 mins into the movie (that’s quite long in my book!) and the last quarter for “Dil Haara” which I actually like.

    P.S. For the record, I sat through the entire movie only because, no matter how painful, i can’t leave a movie in the middle.

    posted on May 10th, 2008 at 10:10 am

  15. 15 On May 10th, 2008, Shubham said:

    Rhea: Honest and perfect review. All it indicates is that even many big bannered film makers are yet to evolve.

    posted on May 10th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

  16. 16 On May 13th, 2008, Rhea said:

    Shubham: that’s absolutely right…

    posted on May 13th, 2008 at 4:54 pm

  17. 17 On May 27th, 2008, bollywoodqueen said:

    Kareena Kapoor Video Bikini Scene In Tashan

    This is the bikini scene video in Tashan that all are raving about !!

    http://www.dubbagol.com/Entertainment/Kareena_Kapoors_Bikini_Scene_In_Tashan-1/

    …a must see!

    posted on May 27th, 2008 at 9:47 am

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