New York movie review.

NEW YORK is PRETTY HOLLYWOOD

SPOILER ALERT: Some storylines are revealed.

I have my own strange way of judging a movie. However it may have begun, at the very end, when the credits are about to appear, if the audience is reluctant to get up, then it pretty much guarantees that you’ve watched a decent flick.

New York is pretty much the same. It starts off kinda slow but by the end of the movie, without knowing you begin to care for the characters.

If you don’t know much about the movie then go for it with a clean slate and let it surprise you. And here the surprises are very well incorporated.
And I don’t mean it in the “RACE” kinda way where there were twists and turns just for the sake of shock value.

Kabir Khan whose previous movie was the debut “Kabul Express” is actually a documentary maker and maybe its this non-bollywood background but there is a certain un-jaded freshness about many scenes which could have become the usual Hindi clichés.

In the Hai Junoon song watch how realistically yet warmly the growing friendship between the 3 characters are shown. And in the Mere Saath Chal song John’s pain and hesitancy slowly blossoms in Katrina’s love and again its done refreshingly well. Nothing choreographed about it.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is very uneven. Sometimes he overacts (watch him when he find out Kat loves John and you’ll think that with all the face twitching going on he’s about to sneeze) and sometimes he very good (in his scenes with John there is a palpable sense of friendship and when he joins the college his gauche act is also very well done.
I just wonder if he can make a conventional Hindi hero though. It can never be a good sign when your lips and cheeks are more pink than the heroine’s. And the poor fellow isn’t even using make-up. Its natural.

Katrina is just about okay in the first half but you are too dazzled by her beauty to notice. However in the second half she’s actually good and does the heavy duty emotional scenes very convincingly. Atleast I think so or maybe I was still dazzled by her beauty.

John sadly is the weakest link. To give him credit he is not bad at all. Infact he is pretty decent. The problem is that in this role much is expected of him and while he can smile shyly and flex his muscles, his acting leaves much to be desired. After Neil shoots a man, watch him overreact.

“Tu Paagal Ho Gaya Hai Kya” he screams while violently shaking his own head and you wonder for a moment if he is the one going insane. However he is very convincing in the torture scenes.

And the basic purpose of his casting is to get the women into the theatres and serve as eye-candy and you have to agree that he does that commendably. Fair Enough.

P.S. In the detention scene, when John is pee-ed on and humiliated, he breaks down and weeps but its another character who just looks his way and cries silently and your heart goes out to him. Great acting in such a subtle manner and it only highlights just how weak John’s acting is.

The best thing about this movie for me was that among all the twists and turns the characters all behave within the realm of reason. Almost every action is justified and very reasonable.

When Kat finally reveals she knows about John’s secret, her reason is as simple as it is credible. “If he thinks I don’t know about him, then there’s hope he can still come back to me” she says and you cant help but see reason in a wife’s blind love.

And what to say of Irrfan Khan? At the end when John & Kat’s son asks him if he likes pasta, he pauses, looks the other way and says “Yes….Yes I Like Pasta Baby” and you smile becoz you know he doesn’t.

Also very good was the way the World Trade Centre Twin Towers are subtly placed throughout the movie & the debate on terrorism too wasnt sermonising at all.

Not in your face as Hindi Movies tend to usually do and the special effects too are pretty impressive. It doesn’t look like it was made in an amateur’s studio.

Hindi movies are finally growing up.

Hurrah for that atleast.

Happy Viewing.