Bombay to Bangkok
wogma rating: Switch channels if it's on cable (?)
Same ole stuff. A senseless comedy with no thought put into any department. Only this time its Kukunoor trying to do a Priyadarshan and failing miserably. Now, how sad is that!?
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...actually it is. It attempts to be a comedy but succeeds at not making you laugh even once. It is a same-same romantic story but is different because it doesn't make you go "aaaaawww" once.
It is also different from other Nagesh Kukunoor products. While Hyderabad Blues was just about average and Iqbal was a regular story presented well. Teen Deewarein and Dor(though copies) were certainly worth writing home about. Bombay to Bangkok however is one of those you feel ashamed about...let alone because you made it, you wouldn't want people to know you have watched it.
How amateurish is it to have a 25-30 year old song play every time a certain character comes on screen!? So not funny, and such a sad way to romanticize anything. To add to the mayhem, voiceovers are used to avoid actual narration and shabby dream sequences appear to annoy.
Making a brainless flick is an art. An art that is not easy to master. Even if you accept sexual references, toilet jokes, stereotyping, etc. as indispensable part of slapstick, you need something extra to keep them together. The movie has to have a driving force. Watching Bombay to Bangkok made me feel as if everyone is just going through the motions, no one is really interested.
The cameraman just seemed to pick a few angles and the director played "eeny-meeny-miney-moe" to decide on the final shot. The editor seems to have been chopping stuff in his sleep. Only that can explain why some shots never seem to end and others are way too abrupt. The background music is pretty random too. Waltz replaced by some jingle-like tune for no rhyme or reason.
Like everything else the script too is not completely thought out either. After an east meets far-east basic concept, the rest seems to be just written sporadically - while thinking of a thousand other things. The screenplay like its character is just running from one situation to another without any connection in between. An aimless, listless approach.
Having said that, the cast does all it can to rise above all the flaws and does whatever best it can, given the constraints of a mediocre team.
What bothers me most is that Nagesh Kukunoor, arguably one of the better film-makers in the industry, has shown such a thoughtless attitude to film-making. It is truly disheartening to see him struggle and fail miserably in trying to fit into the mainstream.
- meeta, a part of the audience
Thumbs up, by Gaurav Malani, Glamsham.com : ...Nagesh hits the nail on the head.... full review
Thumbs up, Movie Talkies : ...The film has a kind of freshness to it which is very refreshing.... full review
So-So, by Jaya Biswas, Buzz18 : ...Vijay Maurya aka JAM K, the Don rapper, needs a special mention here... full review
So-So, by Bikas Mishra, DearCinema : ...Bombay to Bangkok is a hilarious film that could alternatively be gruesomely persecuting if you fail to get into its grooves in the first ten minutes.... full review
So-So, by Sindhu G. Murthy, Deccan Herald : ...The credit should go to the loveable boy-next-door Shreyas Talpade, who has sailed through with great ease... full review
So-So, by Renin Wilben, indya.com : ...The music of Bombay To Bangkok is pretty decent.... full review
Thumbs down, by Nikhil Kumar, Apun Ka Choice : ...Shreyas Talpade puts in a sincere performance but is not supported by a solid script.... full review
Thumbs down, by Baradwaj Rangan, Blogical Conclusion, The New Sunday Express : ...Even in a project as misbegotten as this one, you can hear the strains of the different drummer that Kukunoor marches to... full review
Thumbs down, by Rachel Fernandes, Bollywood Mantra : ...Meanwhile the screenplay has some genuinely funny and sweet scenes between the couple, but many of the comic gags have been done to death... full review
Thumbs down, by Fatema H Kagalwala, Business of Cinema : ...Tacky, listless and misplaced in its sense of humour... full review
Thumbs down, Express India : ...The story, screenplay and dialogue department needs to rapped and so does the editor Sanjib Datta for his not using his scissors at all.... full review
Thumbs down, by Shubhra Gupta, Express India : ...Kukonoor's keen eye for drollery, his true strength, seems to have gone missing.... full review
Thumbs down, by Khalid Mohamed, Hindustan Times : ...could be the normally excellent director’s claim to ill-fame... full review
Thumbs down, by Rajeev Masand, IBN Live : ...unimaginative and indifferent for the most part... full review
Thumbs down, by Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM : ... the zing is missing... full review
Thumbs down, by Gaurav Malani, indiatimes : ...Seems like Nagesh Kukunoor has been watching too much of Bollywood slapsticks off late.... full review
Thumbs down, by Vaibhav Wankhede, M TV : ...C'mon, this was so not a Nagesh Kukunoor film... full review
Thumbs down, by Amit R Agarwal, merinews : ...The first half moves at snail’s pace and second half gets tardier... full review
Thumbs down, by Mysorean, Mysorean : ...The problem with 'Bombay to Bangkok' is that it belongs to a film-maker called Nagesh Kukunoor (NK) and that is something I am unable to accept... full review
Thumbs down, by Anupama Chopra, NDTV : ...It was done by a low IQ evil twin who the family must have abandoned at the Kumbh mela.... full review
Thumbs down, by Jahan Bakshi, Now Running.com : ...I have to express in a decently articulate and detailed fashion what can be summed up in two words- skip it.... full review
Thumbs down, by Hanumant Bhansali, Radio Sargam : ...Lena Christianson is competent and adds to the glamour quotient of the film.... full review
Thumbs down, by Sukanya Verma, Rediff : ...the far fetched and farcical Bombay To Bangkok comes as quite an unpleasant surprise... full review
Thumbs down, by Pankaj Shukla, SmasHits.com : ...Shreyas is too young and cute looking to play a character that needs to bluff other people.... full review
Twitter reviews for this movie are not available.
This page has additional observations, other than the ones noted in the main review.
Plot Summary
Boy (Shreyas Talpade) is trying to save his life from soft-hearted gangster. In that attempt, he meets girl (Lena Christensen) and but, obviously falls in love with her. A silly turn of heart by the gangster and another silly misunderstanding and reconciliation later, we finally arrive to the end of the movie!
What Worked
Seriously - nothing!
What did not
Actually there are way too many to jot down, but here are a few subtles examples -
- Inconsistency in the Shreyas Talpade's language - once he uses a refined hindi word like "swayam" and calls himself "hum" and in other scenes he uses absolutely colloquial language like "haila"
- Lena's character, Jasmine is in dire need of money and she is shown working as a volunteer. To add to it, Manmeet Singh (a side character) actually explains "she is a volunteer, she works here during the day and there during the night, needs money."
- Again Manmeet Singh says he doesn't know Lena the first time he sees her at the parlor and the next day she is shown working in the medical camp and he says she is a volunteer.
- Use of various songs as tributes, while borderline cute, were too abrupt to make any sense. E.g., "bhor aa hi gaya andhiyaara" from bawarchi or aashaayein from Iqbal - actually the latter was not even cute!
- The editing of the scene in which Rati and Shreyas Talpade's character Shankar confront each other - really abrupt and shabby.
- The sound effects of the action scene towards the climax. Gave the scene an extremely artificial look.
- The climax was so long-drawn that it took the movie even lower just when I thought that was not possible.
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Comments (6)
[...] Kukunoor appears to have disappointed viewers. Meetu thinks you should switch channels even if the movie is on cable. Making a brainless flick is an art. An art that is not easy to master. Even if you accept sexual [...]
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This is rather cute comedy much like what Rishikesh Mukerjee used to make. Beautiful buildup of characters. Each character is a perfect story. I think it one of the better comedies I have seen. Pretty eclectic and international in taste. It showcases Kuknoor s international exposure. Very few people have understood him well. He is a very understated director. I am yet to see a bad movie by him. I have seen this movie 4 times already. Trust me, ignore all negatives and see it for yourselves.
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