“ALADDIN” – Fantasy at its best

As discussed earlier the box office is going to see a slew of movies that are at the advent of their release and audiences like us just wait to queue up at the ticket window. Well, at least in my case I am always there for the first day first show. My reactions are always jubilant when it comes to a new Hindi movie, especially when it has a certain zing attached to the name.

Aladdin has that zing. It has the BIG B, Sanjay Dutt and obviously a newcomer such as “Jacqueline Fernandez” – just a little trivia about the former Ms Sri Lanka pageant winner; not many know this and Ms Fernandez herself never seems she want to say that she has spent many years of her life in the beautiful island of Bahrain. Ahem Ahem – I need that little bit of applause. Now, coming back to the movie; “Aladdin” which has apparently just done horrible business. Sometimes I wonder as to what the Indian public want. Any international fantasy film released in India is a super-hit. I have always been a Walt Disney Pictures & Pixar Animation person, but then again when Indian production houses make an original like this movie, why don’t they work??? The answer to which I probably could not give. Aladdin is a fantasy film; it is a children story which is as old as the planet, so I really don’t know why people are expecting something different. The truth is that Aladdin has some brilliant performances and fantastic graphics which is just a marvellous watch. It has all the ingredients such as fantastic music by Vishal & Shekar, great designer costumes, great graphics, brilliant acting by Mr. Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh and Ratna Patak Shah I have to admit that Princess Jasmine does not have too much of a part to play but then again even in the fable Princess Jasmine is Aladdin’s romantic interest, thus if people want more of the female part then the story or the film would not be called “Aladdin”. Ritesh Deshmukh fits the role of Aladdin brilliantly and I doubt if anyone else could have played the character and the lead better, his real life appearance does fit the image of Aladdin (Off –course the image of Aladdin for me is the Disney picture’s animated movie), Mr Amitabh Bachchan keeps out doing himself all the time and he has done a brilliant job as the Genie once again, he also probably kept the real blue Genie in his mind when he was preparing for the role. I remember Jaffar the ugly goon who loves to practice witch craft to destroy the genie and over here we have the super duper Sanjay Dutt who just excels himself and to a certain extent also overshadows some of the others in the film. His delineation of evil and menace is just super and brilliant. I have to agree that I was a little disappointed to see Ratna Pathak Shah only for a short time because she was just super firecracker. Her comic timing was stupendous. The movie has a fast pace which does not at any point in time halt and exhaust the audience. The music is fabulous and off –course the comic driven sequences are really hilarious. I am not mad to write like this and neither do I get paid but Indian audiences are only used to seeing social satires or some story of extra marital affairs, something that ogles to the luxuries of life. Personally if you are a parent then you should take your children and if you are just another movie buff then you should watch the movie because the fantasy is present and it is a movie that does take the onlooker to the fantasy world. Sometime it is important to have films which just help to take the audience for a journey in someone’s deep imagination and give them 3 wishes. Honestly, I am 26 and I still dream of 3 wishes which I could get, I would be at the top of the world. I am not sure if the producers are going to break even on this one but the movie is definitely a fantastic watch because it is a great experience.

Watch it guys!

Cheers – Soouviek