Sunday February 25, 2008
Posted by Shujath in Hindi, Movies, Reviews.Tags: 2008, Ajay Devgan, Anjana Sukhani, Anukokunda Oka Roju, Arshad Warsi, Ayesha Takia, Bollywood, DVD, Esha Deol, Farhad-Sajid, Film, Hindi, Irrfan Khan, Missing sunday, Movie, Mukesh Tiwari, Mystery, Review, Rohit Shetty, Sunday, Tusshar Kapoor, Vrijesh Heerji
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I haven’t seen Chandrasekhar Yeleti’s Anukokunda Oka Roju – the film on which Sunday is based. But after watching the latter I can rightly take a guess that those who have seen both would no doubt have few good things to say about this one.
It’s supposed be about this lady (Ayesha Takia) who keeps forgetting stuff but trouble starts when certain people she doesn’t seem to recognize are after her. It turns out to be that all those are connected to a series of incidents which happened the previous sunday. Sounds interesting enough but when you actually watch the movie it rather turns out to be a bunch of gags (which thankfully work most of the time) strung together by a lame mystery plot.
Director Rohit Shetty treads the same path as in in previous film Golmaal. He is effective in handling some funny sequences but that’s about it. The guys who make the most impact here are Arshad Warsi and Irrfan Khan who complement each other extremely well and manage to bring a smile to your face even with mundane gags. It would be quite interesting to see them together again in the upcoming Krazzy 4. Vrijesh Heerji and Mukesh Tiwary are also quite hillarious at times. Ajay Devgan who generally has trouble doing comedy somehow manages to get his act right in Rohit Shetty’s films. Ayesha Takia is given another role (though a lengthy one) which doesn’t do full justice to her talent. Also, there are five songs composed by five music directors which aren’t great except “Pyaar Ko Ho Jaane Do”. The action sequences seems extremely out of place.
Apart from the comedy the only other thing I liked is the way the architectural beauty of Delhi is captured on film. Rohit Shetty’s Sunday ultimately manages to be a watchable flick purely for the laughs but only for those who haven’t seen the original.
ohhhhh! It’s that movie?!
Hardly lame considering there’s no pizzazz and frills associated with bollywood.
AOR was very nicely done. Excellent. You should see it
Can’t believe you are actually giving a thumbs up for this movie!!! I mean the movie has nothing to write home about. Even good actors like Irfan and Arshad have been wasted. It was as though I was expecting something when these guys came on screen, but still couldn’t laugh ….
You gotta get a break mate!
Shakir.
I thoroughly enjoyed Chandrasekhar Yeleti’s Anukokunda Oka Roju. However, I found Rohit Shetty’s Sunday to be an extremely lame remake. If you haven’t seen the original, you might not hate this one as much just because you see the low goals that Shetty sets for himself and prepare yourself accordingly. Shetty makes what is an unintelligent action comedy (which was mostly unfunny or unintentionally funny for me) unlike the original, which was a reasonably realistic suspense thriller filled with subtle humor (aimed at the intelligentsia).
Firstly, Shetty has no idea about something called “suspense”. There is nothing in this film that makes you even want to use your brain to try and figure out what happens next. The uneven tone of this film and a lot of his directorial decisions are appalling to say the least. Some of the flying vehicles looked good though they were totally unnecessary and maybe a few scenes made me laugh but thats about it.
Shetty and his writers (Tushar Hiranandani, K Subhash, Robin Bhatt) take Yeleti’s screenplay and dumb it down considerably and create what is essentially a completely different film using some of the same elements. The believable characters in the original are replaced with over-the-top caricatures that you have possibly seen in many Bollywood films. The original film had a climax that met with some mixed response but was a good culmination for that film (and it had a deeper message than what most people understood). That is replaced here with a flimsy and unconvincing end to a disastrous effort.
The acting isn’t good but it would be wrong to compare the performances in this film with the superior ones in the original. Ayesha Takia would have been a great choice for an authentic remake but she is unimpressive here and I don’t really blame her. It seems like the other actors were also confused as to what the director was really aiming for. Ajay Devgan and Mukesh Tiwary aren’t bad but I found Vrajesh Hirjee to be irritating. Arshad Warsi and Irfan Khan are the only saving grace (the latter in particular) even though I found some of their scenes to be stupid.
Comparing the original film with this one would be a great way to understand the impact that a director has on a film. Rohit Shetty’s mutilation of the orginal provides a great example of how not to remake a film. Apart from this, there is no other reason to watch this film.
looks like I am the only one on the planet who seems to have liked this a bit!
I have a hunch that you will dislike even that “bit” once you watch Anukokunda Oka Roju…