I have stopped using Indian Film Critics as my Barometer of whether to go see a movie anymore. I use my own judgement. Infact with Raja Sen and Taran from Indiafm there is definite bias. I have never seen such outlandish and biased reviewers. Most critics in the Us have appreciated movies that are quality cinema and encourage the audience to watch those movies. Here it is the opposite. Plus, they tell the whole story line and make a judgement about their box office fate. I am sorry what does box office fate have to do with whether a movie is good or bad. Some of my favourite movies have flopped miserably, but the focus of critic should not be the box office fate. They should encourage the audience to see a good quality movie. For example, aaja nachle, Chak de, jab we met, guru,johnny gadaar were the the great movies of the year. They should of gotten first class reviews. OSO, Saawariya, Laga Chunri should of gotten 2-3 stars and finally Hey Baby, Goal, Dhamaal, Dhol, Bhool are absolutely crap movies and should of gotten the lowest ratings. I did not see that. OSO was an average movie but got higher reviews then Chak de and Aaja Nachle. It makes no sense. In fact everyone I talk to also feel they will no longer use Indian film critics as their barometer.
RE:Stopped using Indian Film Critics as my Barometer
by Rekha Menon on Dec 10, 2007 05:41 PM
I wouldn't agree with you. There are a few Indian movie critics that do provide a good barometer of what's watchable and what's not. And Raja Sen is incidentally one of them. Most of his pronouncements on good/watchable movies are pretty much spot on. I don't always agree with entire analysis (and don't think its necessary to) but by reading his reviews I can decide which movie is worth watching and which is not. AND THAT's what a critics job is after all.
OSO was an averagely intellectual movie - but extremely watchable. Hence I think it should have been rated 3 star and above. which it was. Chak de was a fantastic movie - and it was accordingly rated very highly by nearly all critics. Aaja nachle, I have yet to see. So will reserve my judgement.
Dude you revealed your true colors with the OSO reviews, you even mentioned that SRK(Rukh Rukh Khan) was the best actor in the Universe( AH!).Get a life, don't try to hide your true intentions with this article. It's not an accusation, its a fact that you are a SRK puppet!!
RE:Raja Sen
by Sameer Bhagwat on Dec 06, 2007 11:33 PM
And by the way here is what you wrote about !Don! and I quote..Shah Rukh Khan is undeniably good,Plus, SRK manages to balance out Don by occasionally tossing us something new, and much fun.
You need any more proof that you are a SRK puppet??
RE:Raja Sen
by Maninder Singh on Dec 07, 2007 12:04 AM
SRK is supremely charismatic, intelligent and talented. And all those who say he isn't 1. Are showing off. 2. Are lying to themselves. 3. And can go fly a kite.
Poor creatures -- they don't even warrant sympathy coz they're just so darn filthy!
Tsk Tsk.
And Raja Sen, you - how shall one put this - ROCK!
RE:RE:Raja Sen
by Sameer Kumar on Dec 07, 2007 10:06 AM
tsk. tsk. It is precisely the kind of people with this intellect that cannot recognize the brilliance of Shahrukh Khan.
RE:Raja Sen
by Maninder Singh on Dec 07, 2007 10:14 AM
it's language like this that shows a lack of confidence in your own beliefs, thereby proving Maninder's point.
RE:Raja Sen
by ankur srivastav on Dec 07, 2007 06:06 AM
If Shahrukh khan is a good actor then himesh reshammiya is an amazing singer, zimbabwe is the best cricket team, india has the best infrastructure and maninder singh has an IQ of 500. Get some education on acting Mani.
RE:Raja Sen
by Maninder Singh on Dec 07, 2007 10:12 AM
Sameer is right.
We need to accept that there is a group of people that is too foolish to be able appreciate SRK's spark. And these people don't need to be convinced, because their opinion doesn't matter.
RE:Raja Sen
by ankur srivastav on Dec 07, 2007 10:51 AM
And your opinion is that of a God. Huh.. Shahrukh khan does not know acting and he is the first one to admit that. With crazy fans like Maninder on his side SRK will torcher us for many more decades.
You missed the point that OSO copied Madhumati unabashedly for the whole of second half.
The first half of the movie was something unique in history of so-called bollywood- spoof cinema. The second half balanced and product was a let down. You seemed to have been biased about the movie for sure! No two questions...
Any sane man who visits Rediff and has had a bad luck of reading the film review by Mr. Raja Sen would know what it takes to critisize a blockbuster and term it as a poor movie. This very person who thinks he is critic is actually an uneducated man when its comes to understanding and critisizing a film. I wonder why the hell was he choosen to answer the querie.. Another publicity stunt by rediff.. Actually they seem fit on line "Jab se mein jara sa badnam ho gaya Ram kamas mera bada naam ho gaya" Raja sen and rediff caching on this.. To bad.
just like taran adarsh.. Learn how to be a film critic from Mr Rangan, no personal attack on directors , no hyper emotional diatribes, Just the facts//
You are a self styled "film critic", in truth you are nothing but a hack.. have you ever taken courses in film studies or film critisicm?
Compare your Saawariya review to Mr Rangan's ..Yours was nothing but a personal attack on the director.. you fool.. i have lost all respect for you
'if the tail has in fact begun to wave the dog.' wave??? and in the last question: 'most favorite?' not to mention the spelling of favorite. and raja, thank you for adding a new word to my voc: prestidigitator. :-) Bolly Woods, it snowed in new york yesterday.
Indian Film critics alsways promote block buster movies as (arguably) those movies to give a fair share of their profit to all media people.. This is THE FACT.. withtouy any proof... Many movies which really need good reivews never gets... as those movies are on low budget and hence only high budget films are given good and more coverage (wud not say that as film critic/review)...
From the kind of films being churned out from Bollywood,are they even worth writing a one page review dissecting and analysing it?Most succesful films being made in Bollywood are either musicals or comedy,how much do you want to dig deep into it? Brevity is the key,keep it short and may be put it in 2 paragraphs anything more than that is simply an overkill.So my point is,if we find our reviews inconsistent and out of context,its not the reviewers,the blame simply lies on our popular movie format
