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Movie review: Aladin
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November 9, 2009
 By Debashine Thangevelo
ALADIN
DIRECTOR: Sujoy Ghosh
CAST: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Saahil Khan
RUNNING TIME: 150 minutes
CLASSIFCATION: TBA
RATING: *
Sujoy Ghosh doesn't have the best track record as a director. His 2003 debut, Jhankaar Beats, was nothing to write home about, despite it bagging three Zee Cine Awards nods. Two years later, he returned with Home Delivery: Aapke... Ghar Tak - a dud.
After a four-year sabbatical, he is back with Aladin. Given that he managed to get heavyweights Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt on board, we should, at the very least, be keyed up about it. Unfortunately, any magnetism fades 15 minutes into the fantasy adventure. Then again, I am not part of the under-10 brigade.
As the title suggests, Aladin (Deshmukh) is the protagonist in this tale. Having lost his parents when he was a little boy, he leads a lonely life that is made worse by the daily taunting of Kasim (Khan) and his gang. And these intensify when Aladin falls for Jasmine (Fernandez), a girl Kasim is also besotted with.
But Aladin's life changes, for the better, when Jasmine gives him a magical lamp on his birthday and he unwittingly summons Genius, the larger-than-life genie, for three wishes.
In giving the well-known fable a Bollywoodesque twist, the shocking revelation that Aladin and Genius crossed paths when he was a young boy comes to light, thanks to the artful machinations of the evil Ringmaster (Dutt).
What follows is a face-off between the Ringmaster and Genius as Aladin becomes a pawn between them.
There are several reasons why Aladin doesn't work.
But let's just look at the basics - the story is unimaginative and feeble, the cinematography falls into the tacky realm and the execution is ham-fisted.
While Bachchan is charismatic, it isn't enough to sell one on this film. Deshmukh works that boy-next-door-charm to the hilt and Fernandez gets an awesome platform.
Ghosh bombs on the Harry Potter style he was aiming for. Besides a few chuckles, Aladin is all gloss and no substance.
If you liked...Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic and Vaah! Life Ho Tho Aisi!...you should enjoy this.
AS the release date of Rensil D'Souza's Kurbaan draws nearer, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan share their thoughts on how they felt about the US shoot.
Khan told SantaBanta.com: "Kurbaan was hard work. Period. In fact, the Philadelphia schedule was plain hell. It's dark there by 4pm. And, it's cold - 10176C, cold.
"Since we were shooting at that time, it was extremely difficult to get the pitch and tone right while delivering our dialogue."
But that wasn't his only memory. It was around the same time that the Mumbai terrorist attacks made headlines.
"Because of that, it was so difficult to concentrate on the film's shoot.
"Thankfully, Bebo (Kapoor's nickname) was there with me. But both of us were very depressed."
When asked about the film he found the most fun to shoot, the actor immediately replied: "Abbas-Mustan's Race. That's what I call a real picnic - the working hours were quite comfortable, as were the locations.
"It was fun driving fast cars, saying cool lines, being a hero and stuff like that."
He added: "On the other hand, Kurbaan has me playing this complicated character, which makes it all the more difficult for the actor in me."
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