Review of Anil Kapoor's Shortcut.

Friday, July 10, 2009 3:47 PM


Review of Anil Kapoor’s Shortcut.

Anil Kapoor had come up with another production venture titled Shortcut. The full name of the film is Shortcut –the con is on. Akshay Khanna had been a struggling assistant director in the film. He met a struggling actor Arshad Warsi and both dreamt about getting good start to their career. Although Akshay Khanna had merit and deserved a good project, Arshad Warsi was nothing better than a joker. He himself thought that he had a lot of potentials and deserved good role.

Arshad Warsi stole Akshay Khanna’s script and used it for his own purpose. Akshay Khanna got dejected. Even her wife Amrita Rao left her after she came to know about the entire incident. The rest of the film was related to the manner in which Akshay Khanna tried to reconcile with Arshad Warsi and manage with him for his own cause.

The film had been shot in the romantic locations of Thailand. Along with the comedy elements in the films there were romantic sequences as well. Anil Kapoor was ably supported by director Neeraj Bhora. Neeraj Bhora previously had experience in making comedy films like Hera Pheri, where his work was appreciated.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy composed music in the film. They had done a great job once again. Most of the songs were innovative, especially “kal nau baje” had a great romantic appeal. The song already had become hit even before the release of the film. The performance of Akshay Khanna and Arshad Warsi were brilliant. Akshay Khanna is probably the only actor in bollywood who had lost his hair, yet had maintained his steady stardom. Amrita Rao did well in the film.

Anil Kapoor as producer, can expect a good response. The viewers will also enjoy the guest appearance of Sanjay Dutt in a song sequence in the film. The film has all the elements of success and is going to be hit.

Will Anil Kapoor be successful as producer?

Thursday, July 9, 2009 9:57 AM


Will Anil Kapoor be successful as producer?

Anil Kapoor, the legendary superstar of bollywood films is inclined to concentrate on his career as producer along with acting. The viewers had seen his capability as actor over the last 25 years. He had acted in every type of role including romantic hero in films like 1942 – a love story opposite Manisha Koirala, angry young man in films like Tezaab and Ram Lakhan opposite Madhuri Dixit, patriotic roles in films like Nayak opposite Rani Mukherjee, comedy roles in films like No Entry opposite Lara Dutta, Mr. India opposite Sri Devi, to name a few. He got filmfare awards for best actor and national awards and proved his versatility in every type of film.

But in respect of production, bollywood history had shown that not many actor turned producer were successful. Probably Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt were the most successful producers and directors who were equally famous as producers in comparison with their acting stardom. Guru Dutt created such a team, that whenever even other directors directed his films, there was a stamp of Guru Dutt embedded in them. For example Raj Khoshla directed CID under Guru Dutt production. But the film had the team of Johnny Walker, OP Nayyar, Rafi, Wahida Rehman who were some of the best contributors in Guru Dutt. Some section of the viewers felt that Guru Dutt could have acted in the film instead of Dev Anand.

Raj Kapoor had the expertise in every field of a film including costume designing, music direction, picturisation of song sequences, casting, editing, etc. He produced the film Anari directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, also produced the film Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, directed by Radhu Karmakar. In Anari, Raj Kapoor’s team including Shankar Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Mukesh, Lata, Manna Dey contributed the most. It hardly appeared before the viewers that it was a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. In fact, Raj Kapoor won the film fare award for the best actor in both the above mentioned films. The big factor was that Raj Kapoor could create a separate benchmark for himself as a producer and whenever saw his name, they had a separate expectation from the film.

In the past Sohail Khan and Boney Kapoor created their identity as producers. Anil Kapoor had done few experiments with Akshay Khanna in the recent past. He has to produce few quality films to also keep his mark in the world of production. The viewers wish him the best of luck.