Sasikanth | - Page 38

Alex Kitchen | Restaurant Review

Place: Alex Kitchen
Location: Liberty Circle, Opp. TTD Kalyanamandapam
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: Dinner

Alex Kitchen is one of the oldest and famous Chinese restaurants in town. It’s a small place right next to Universal Bakery, a little inside the building, is little cramped, but has decent décor. I remember my brother bringing me here along with his friends while he was doing his Hotel Management. They knew the Chef back then, and used to get into the kitchen. Over years, Chefs have kept changing, and the standard kept falling. But still, hoping for some miracle, me along with a couple of friends dropped by on a Friday evening. And to my surprise, it was packed even after all these years.

It took about 10 minutes for us to be seated at our table. Once seated, it took forever for the waiter to serve us water and take our order. We almost had to struggle to get his attention. We ordered Noodle Soup, Spring Rolls, American Chopsuey, Soft Noodles and Manchuria (all Veg.).

The soup was served first. The quantity was pretty good, but it tasted bland and had no flavor to it. Even adding tons of chilly sauce, salt and pepper dint make any difference. Next came the Spring Rolls. I remember them being really good, and for once I wasn’t disappointed. They were in fact excellent. Crispy, fried to perfection. Yummy!

After a long wait came the Chopsuey, Noodles and Manchuria. The Chopsuey was very very sweet, and I’ve never tasted an American Chopsuey so sweet. It had some crunchy noodles in between, but not a lot.

Thankfully, the Noodles and Manchuria weren’t sweet. The Noodles was alright, nothing great. Manchuria was good. The sauce was thick and tangy, and the balls were well cooked.

We somehow finished everything but just weren’t satisfied. We had definitely hoped for a better meal, but I at least was disappointed. The quantity of food served was good, but what is the use if it doesn’t taste good? The service was pathetic. I had to ask 3 people to get some water. This place is the best example to show how bad a restaurant can get if the standards are not maintained. Except for the Spring Rolls, rest of the food was forgettable.

Food: 7/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Service: 4/10
Meal for 3: Rs. 500/- (Approx)

Verdict: 6/10

Oosaravelli | Movie Review

Plot
Oh boy, this is gonna be tough. Tony (NTR) and Niharika (Tamanna) are kidnapped by terrorists in Kashmir. They somehow manage to escape from there. Tony follows Niharika to Hyderabad, and makes her fall in love with him. At the same time, he is also plotting to destroy a gang of goons. The rest of the story deals with establishing why he is after the goons, and how Niharika is involved in all of this.

Artists Performance
NTR is good in the lead role. As the tittle suggest, he is a Chameleon in the movie, in all aspects. He is brilliant in few scenes, and sucked in a few others. You think that he’s looking good for a second, and immediately there is a fatso in the next frame. He looked terrible in the last song. But otherwise, he was pretty decent. His comic timing was good, and he was pretty much the only one to provide laughter in the movie. His dances for ‘Dandiya’ song are really good. It would be great if he could lose some weight and maintain his figure (sheesh, never thought I would say that for a guy!!).

Tamanna has a very very good role in the movie, and is excellent. She should be really thankful to have bagged such a meaty role in a Telugu movie. She was actually brilliant in few scenes, especially the flashback episode. She looked gorgeous in the songs.

Prakash Raj has a relatively small role, but is excellent. Jaya Prakash Reddy was really good, and so was Raghu Babu. Vidyut Jammwal (Force fame) was absolutely wasted. The girl who played Tamanna’s freind, Payal Ghosh, was good. The rest of the cast was alright.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
It was one hell of a story by Vakkantham Vamsi. It in itself was a Chameleon. It apparently is inspired from a Chinese movie ‘Vengence’. The first half of the movie made no absolute sense. It was only in the second half that the motive was established. The problem is that the motive aint strong enough. As mentioned, its a story which changes colors. A small girl sitting in the next seat couldnt make head or tail of the movie. But even though it looks so complicated, it is actually not. Its the screenplay which makes it look so. Director Surender Reddy did a decent job. Only glitch was that he tried to hold the main plot till almost the end of the movie, which made the audience feel uncomfortable, as they (me included) couldnt understand the motives behind what was happening. But otherwise, the screenplay and direction were alright. Unlike Dookudu, the movie didnt have much comedy, but makes it up with a better story line.

Other Departements
Music by Devi Sri Prasad is good. I loved the first track of the movie ‘Brathakali’. The background score, especially the theme bg score is excellent. Dialogues by Koritala Shiva are pretty neat. There were a number of words which made the cut during sensor, which was a little irritating. The climax set work (Art by Ravinder) looked really fake. Otherwise, it was pretty decent. Fights by Ram-Laxman are decent. If you thought that Dookudu was shot beautifully, watch Oosaravelli, cos the camera work by Rasool Ellore is absolutely brilliant. Graphics by Cgtrix are of top notch quality. My friend who works for them just happened to mention that they they really had to work hard for this movie, and it shows on screen. Production values by BVSN Prasad are good.Thought he didnt spend a lot, he made sure to mint money by releasing the movie in record number of theaters.

Verdict
Its one hell of a movie. Whether you take it positively or negatively is your choice. It was a different film, alright, but could have been dealt with in a much better way, A strong motive in the flashback episode would have done wonders to the film. Its good to see a heroine oriented film in Telugu. Though its all and out NTR film, the narrative is based on Tamanna’s character. Plus points are NTR (not the fatso), Tamanna, good music and excellent cinematography. Though the movie was long, it dint feel long. On the downside is the complicated looking screenplay. Its a pretty decent watch, but everything depends on how audience reacts to such different story line. In my opinion, it is better than Dookudu (by a wafer thin margin), but am sure not all of you would agree with me.

Verdict: 7/10

Force | Movie Review

Plot
Yashwardhan (John Abraham) is a force/tough police officer working for the narcotics control bureau. He keeps bumping into a social worker Maya (Genelia D’Souza) often, and eventually falls in love with her. On job front, he kills a drug lord Anna (Mukesh Rishi). Anna’s brother Vishnu (Vidyut Jammwal) kills Yash’s team member to avenge his brothers death, and is after the rest of the team. The movie ends with an wrestle fight between Yash and Vishnu.

Artists Performance
“I don’t want to do action like that because it does not look real, but the masses like it and the film becomes a hit. Maybe sensible people don’t like it, I don’t know. I am comfortable doing realistic stunts.”
–John Abraham in an interview with Rediff.

Oh John, what was all that about?? He himself says that sensible people might not like it, and still goes ahead with the project. That’s fine, but I really dont understand why he had to look so beefy in the movie. He looked more like a goon or the villain than the hero. And in which country does a police officer walk around wearing a vest while on duty?? John is not a great actor, period. His assets are his body and good looks. But since they aint enough for a movie to work, he needs modulate his expressions in a better fashion. In certain scenes, it was like, as my friend put it, watching a piece of furniture act. He was alright, but could have been much better. I cant think of a better choice than him for this remake, but he was no where close to match up with Suriya (Tamil).

Genelia needs to realize that Bommarillu (Telugu movie) is a thing of the past. Yes, she is great while portraying such bubbly characters, but I believe this was a more serious kinda role. After watching Jyothika (Tamil) and Asin (Telugu) do such beautiful job in the regional versions, it was quite difficult for me to watch her. She was good in parts, and a little irritating in few other.

Vidyut Jammwal is a cool hunk. Similar to all the guys with the great body, he cant act much, but can do much better if he works on it. He gave a tough fight to John in the climax. Mohit Behl, Mukesh Rishi, Raj Babbar were alright. Sandhya Mridul overplayed her role.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
It is very tough to remake a film. There are a number of factors which help a film work, and you cant get all of them right every time. The original will always be better (and mostly work better) when compared with the remake. Keeping all this in mind, I deem Nishikant Kamat did a pretty good job. He stuck to the original Tamil plot while making very few changes, but he could have worked a little more in fine tuning the script to suit Hindi junta. The screenplay was really good. I loved the way where in he showed multiple fights at multiple locations in parallel. Direction was good in parts. He should have tried to generate more from John while extracting little less from Genelia.

Other Departments
Music by Harris Jayraj is good. He used two of his old tracks, Uyirin Uyire from Tamil original and Manasa from Munna (Telugu). Other than these two, the rest were nothing great (He should have used Ennai Konjam as well). Background score by Sameer Phatarpekar was mediocre. The sound mixing and recording was good. Action by Alan-Amin was fine, but went overboard at times. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose, and editing by Aarif Sheik was alright. It was comparatively low budget film.

Analysis
Frankly, I liked it better than the Telugu ‘Gharshana’ according to the story line. The Telugu one was a drag in the second half, but this one had better screenplay and left out lot of unnecessary senti crap. Acting wise, Tamil ‘Kaakha Kaakha’ wins the trophy hands down. Both John and Genelia could have performed better. Music is a plus. Overall, a gory but neat film, and a decent watch.

Verdict: 7/10

Dookudu | Movie Review

Plot
Dookudu is story Shankar Narayan (Prakash Raj), a responsible political leader, who wants his son Ajay to follow his footsteps and become a politician in the future. Shankar is hurt in an accident and goes into coma. Ajay (Mahesh Babu) grows up to instead be a police officer, and is put in charge to track down a mafia don Nayak (Sonu Sood). Shankar recovers from his coma after 14 years, and to satisfy his father’s wishes, Ajay dons the role of a MLA. The rest of the story is about how Ajay hunts for Nayak, and takes revenge on the people responsible for his father’s accident.

Artists Performance
It’s a tailor made role for Mahesh Babu. He is absolutely brilliant in the movie. He looks dashing all throughout and I loved his styling (I believe he is one of the best dressed actors in the industry). I thought his dialogue delivery was a little awkward in few scenes, especially the use of Telangana dialect. Having said that he was brilliant, I feel that he could have done much better in senti scenes. Probably because of his films being dubbed into Hindi by Salman, he used a number of punch dialogues.

Bramhanandam and M.S. Narayana have better roles and more screen time than Samantha. They are outstanding in their respective characters. Bramhanadam once again proves his mettle. His portrayal in the scenes where Mahesh describes the requirements for the reality show, and where he talks to Nagarjuna over the pen cam is terrific. M. S. Narayan entertains us with his show reel.

Samantha is alright as the female lead. There is no proper characterization to her role, and had less than 30 minutes of screen time on the whole. I believe Samantha suffers from the same problem as Vidya Balan and Kamalini Mukherjee; after essaying a beautiful, deglamorized roles in their first movies, it is quite difficult to accept them flirting and romancing with the hero. It looked quite odd. She also looked very lean.

The rest of the cast was alright. Sonu Soon had a different get up and was good. I felt that Prakash Raj’s character went a little over board. Bharani, Chandra Mohan, Suman, Nazer, Naga Babu, Ajay, Subbu Raju, Bharat, Sayaji Shinde, Kota, Dharmavarapu, Shafi, Vennela Kishore, Sonia, Parvati Melton, and the list goes on – this movie had them all. It was like watching a mini Maya Bazaar.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
In the first ten minutes, I thought the screenplay was running really fast. At the end of the three-hour long moving, I realized why Srinu Vytla was rushing through the movie. It’s because he tried to infuse so many stories into one film. Funnily, the stories he tries to infuse are all from his old movies. It was like watching all his movies together, right from Anandam to Namo Venkatesa. Senti scenes, family bonding, comedy bits, marriage song, we’ve seen them all before. But luckily, it works for most of the while. He also inserted a number of unnecessary concepts which made the movie lose its steam in between. Though there is absolutely no freshness in the story line, the strong cast helps him hold the movie together.

I have a lot of qualms regarding the story, but since it’s a Telugu film, won’t complaint much. Most noticeable was the lack of chemistry between Samantha and Mahesh. Except for the first few scenes after they first meet, there is not much happening around them. Also, Sonu Sood, who is shown as a big time scary don, seems to lose his steam towards the end. Him running away from Mahesh in the climax fight made no sense.

The screenplay, as mentioned, though rush in the beginning was fine toward the end. Direction was good in parts. Srinu Vytla’s plus point is his ability to create humor without trying much, and he was able to do that through most of the movie.

Other Departments

Music by Thaman is average. Except for the title song, none of them had any impact. Background score was good in parts. Though the punch dialogues lacked punch, dialogues by Kona Venkat are really good. Editing by Varma could have been better. A number of scenes should have made the cut. Cinematography by Guhan and Prasad Murella is absolutely brilliant. Thanks to them, people dint notice that Mumbai’s police commissioner had his office on top of a multi storied building. The shots in Istanbul, and for one of the songs in US are really good. The graphics could have been much better. Producers Ram Achanta, Gopichand Achanta and Anil Sunkara spent a lot of money and it was visible. They had most of the Telugu industry cast in the movie.

Analysis

It was a boring, draggy, potpourri of movies which would never end. But still, it had its brilliant moments which makes the movie work. More than being a Mahesh’s film, it had Srinu Vytla written all over it. Mahesh just helped it reach the pinnacle. Bramhanadam and M. S. Naryana’s video clips shall be on almost everyone’s facebook pages in the near future. Actually, its not Mahesh, but them who make the movie reach its pinnacle. Better editing and screenplay could have helped. On the whole, a decent film. Could have been much better, but with the recent dearth of good Telugu films, this movie is something most of us can feast on (count me out!!).

Verdict: 7/10

Sri Sai Santosh Dhaba | Restaurant Review

Place: Sri Sai Santosh Dhaba
Location: Beside Anand Theater, Begumpet
Cuisine: North Indian
Meal: Dinner

On a fine evening, me and my friend were travelling towards Begumpet. We happened to be really hungry, and stopped at this Dhaba Ive been wanting to visit for a while. Its a small place, right on the main road. Walking in, it looked alright and was not crowded. The decors seemed ok, and tables were fine. And so, we were ready to hog.

Firstly, I noticed that the prices were pretty reasonable and comparable to my favorite Santosh Dhaba. We ordered Rani Kofta, a Garlic Naan, Stuffed Kulcha and Kaju Biryani.

There was only one waiter serving about 4 tables and it took forever for the order to arrive. We were getting really impatient and I was on the verge on screaming at the guy when food was finally served. The Kofta looked good, but seemed less in quantity. It was empty in just one serving for each of us. The gravy was thick and really tasty, but the Kofta ball was a little raw.

I’ve never tasted Garlic Naan before, but I thought that this one was pretty good. It was well baked, had chunks of garlic to give a good flavor. On the other hand, the Stuffed Paratha was a big disappointment. It wasn’t stuffed properly and was under cooked.

Next came the Kaju Biryani. And it turned out to be really good. I was disappointed that there were not many cashew nuts, but the masala was really tasty and spicy. The quantity served was also really good. A happy ending to an average meal. (I thought it was little overpriced at Rs. 150/-)

Overall, a decent place with decent food. The service wasn’t too great, and neither was the ambiance. Every time the door opened, the place was close to rattling because of the traffic outside. I still prefer Santosh Dhaba, especially for their super fast service. But a change is good once in a while, and this place fits the bill.

Food: 8.5/10
Service: 7/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Meal for 2: Rs. 267/-

Verdict: 7.5/10

Utupura Kerala Restaurant | Restaurant Review

Place: Utupura
Location: Road No. 10, lane adj. Karvy, Banjara Hills
Cuisine: India, Kerala Food
Meal: Dinner

Amma and I were planning to hog on Onasadhya on Onam for about a week. We couldn’t eat at the restaurant, so instead brought parcel. I did read that this place is small does not have great ambiance, but on Onam, it was jam packed. I had to wait for more than 30 minutes to get my parcel.

The food turned out to be great though. The Sadhya had 17 items (I believe one item was missing). I am not fully aware of the items served, so Il skip that part. It was served with brown rice. I and amma struggled to finish one meal. I initially felt that it was too expensive, but later realized that the price was justified. I was really impressed with the food and decided to give the place another try, this time for regular mallu food.

So here I was again 3 days later, this time for dinner with mom and dad. It is on the first floor of an apartment building, on the lane next to Karvy office. As mentioned, it’s a small place with so so ambiance. It is basically an apartment turned into a restaurant. From the looks of it, it seemed like a famous food joint for nearby office crowd (lunch) and non-veg eaters. It wasn’t packed for dinner though.

As expected, there was nothing much vegetarian on the menu, except for Appam, Idiappam, Porotta, etc., and a couple of wet dishes like Stew, Veg. Korma, Channa Masala and Mushroom Masala. The Appams and Porottas were reasonably priced, but the rest seemed to be a little expensive. Anyways, we ordered Appam with Veg. Stew, and Porotta with Channa Masala (I wanted to order Veg Korma, but the guy suggested Channa Masala).

It took about 10 minutes for the items to be served. Weirdly, the Stew and Channa Masala were served first without the Appams or Porottas. The Appams were cooked at a live counter at the other end of the restaurant. The Stew smelt really good and tasted excellent. It was a little sweet and I could make out that it was made of fresh coconut milk. The Appams were very good. The Channa Masala was a little disappointing though. It was made with black channa, and was a little thin. The Porottas were the best I have had in twin cities. They were amazingly good, and I immediately ordered for another one.

We did order Idiappams and a Chapati later on. The Chapati turned out to be really soft, while the Idiappams were cold and were not so great.

Overall, we were satisfied with the food. And it went easy on the pocket as well. A little better ambience, and better service could have made this a great experience, but it was good one nevertheless. From the menu, and as expected, this place should be a feast for any non vegetarian. For my vegetarian friends, as long as you don’t mind beef and fish being served around you, this is a place you should try. As I said, their Porottas are the best I have had so far!

Food: 8.5/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Meal for 3: Rs. 216/-

Verdict: 7.5/10

Mere Brother Ki Dulhan | Movie Review

Plot
Luv (Ali Zafar) breaks up with his girlfriend Piyali (Tara D’Souza) for no particular reason while in London. Post break up (in the next one hour), he assigns his brother Kush (Imran Khan) to find him a bride. Kush relentlessly tries to find a good dulhan fro his brother and finally zeros on Dimple (Katrina Kaif). As expected, Dimple and Kush fall in love instead, and the rest of the story is about how Kush ends up marrying his brothers dulhan.

Artists Performance
Fifteen minutes through the movie, I was starting to wonder if whether I was watching a Yash Raj movie, or if it was a soap on Star Plus!! Cos not a single actor in the movie was acting. Instead, they were all overacting (trust me, that’s an understatement). Imran Khan, high on success post Delhi Belly, seemed to be the only actor who dint overact as much as expected. He was alright. He does look like his mamu Aamir in few frames (With beard on, he reminded me of Aamir in Andaz Apna Apna). Katrina, who played such a beautiful and matured role in Zindagi, was absolutely wasted. I wonder how she even accepted to do such a dumb role. She was good in parts, but I couldn’t watch her plummet so much. And where do I even start about Ali Zafar?? Agreed, he wasnt great in Tere Bin Laden either, but he crosses the line totally in this movie. Right from the first frame, he seems to be in his own world, of over-action. Even talented actors like Kanwaljit Singh and Parikshat Sahni were absolutely wasted in this mindless film.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
First time director Ali Abbas Zafar (Assistant Director of Badmash Company, New York, Tashan etc.) brings to screen a totally mindless entertainment flick, which doesn’t even entertain us totally. Talking about story, there was absolutely none. It is well known (right from the title) that the movie is about falling in love with your brothers dulhan, but seems like Ali Abbas Zafar forgot that he needs to run a thread where in they would actually fall in love. The way Kush and Dimple fall in love makes no sense. Who asked you to flirt around with your brothers bride and get close to her in the first place?? Added to this, there was absolutely no chemistry between them. His direction was totally melodramatic. In one word, it sucked. Big time. Screenplay was alright.

Other Departments
Music and Background score by Sohail Sen was average. Except for “Choo Mantar”, all other tracks made no impact. I liked the way he used old classics for BG. Editing by Ritesh Soni is alright. Cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee is good. Production values by Yash Raj are excellent. I wish they invested in a better script though.

Analysis
There are so many useful things I could have done on a Saturday night. Instead I wasted two and half hours watching total crap, which did entertain once in a while. Actually, it was the over-action which entertained. Few people around me did seem to have fun (I wonder why). Katrina, though thoroughly wasted, is the only saving grace of the movie. A better script and much better direction, could have made this movie a good watch. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either. Overall, overacting overdose!!

Verdict: 6/10

News Cafe | Restaurant Review

Place: News Cafe

Location: Inorbit Mall, Hitech City

Cuisine: International

Meal: Dinner

Was supposed to hit a pub on Saturday night. This time around, I even had company to go with. But as unfortunate as I am, headed off to News Cafe for a meal. I’ve heard some good stuff about this place so was very eager to try it out. Also, having starved the whole day, was very very hungry.

At 9 PM on a Saturday night, the place looked quite empty. Only the tables on the balcony facing Secret lake were occupied. There were four of us, and we found a table to the far end of the balcony, under the air-condition compressors. Beautiful view of the lake made us accept this table, but we began to regret sitting here after a while. There were loads of mosquitoes, and there was nothing the guy could do to help it.

Anyways, unable to bear our hunger, me and my friend ordered a pasta each while the other two planned to skip a meal. My friend ordered Penne in Alfredo sauce, while I went for Spaghetti in Walnut cream sauce (Spaghetti on consecutive days). We also asked for Apple flavoured Hookah (not for me).

The Hookah was served first. I took a taste of it for the first time. Strangely, I couldn’t feel a thing, it was as if I was breather air. But the second time, it made my throat go dry. I wonder what pleasure people get from it. I personally didn’t like it one bit!

My friend’s pasta was served first, and it looked alright. But it apparently dint taste that good. I took a taste, and thought it was very very bland. Mine was served a while later, and was much much better than his meal. It wasn’t as great as the one I had the previous night at Little Italy (Review), but no qualms. It was creamy alright, and there were a couple of crunchy walnuts here and there. The garlic bread served along was good, so ordered more of them. Since I was really hungry, I actually dint care much for the taste.

We sat here for about two hours, but the place got duller and duller. There seemed to be absolutely no life at the place. All four of us were starring at each others faces for most of the while. The prices of the food and liquor were exorbitant, and the food dint taste amazing either. The quantity of food served was also quite less. Added to this, the server was quite rude. He wanted us to move to a table for 3 in between, as we were having only food and hookah (he actually said that!!). On the whole, I was very very disappointed. I was hoping for a better end to a long day, and it was absolutely thwarted!!

Food: 7.5/10

Ambiance: 6/10 (Thanks to the beautiful view of the lake)

Service: 5/10

Meal for 2: Rs. 1850/- (Including the Hookah and a pack of cigarettes)

Verdict: 6/10

Little Italy | Restaurant Review

Place: Little Italy
Location: Rd. No. 92, Jubilee Hills, Rd. adj. to Volkswagen showroom
Cuisine: Italian
Meal: Dinner

On a Friday night, I badly wanted to go to a pub. But lack of company got me sitting at home as usual. Determined not to stay at home again, decided to go out and eat some good food. So here I was at Little Italy, my favourite Italian restaurant in town. Not wanting to leave amma alone at home, I treated her to loyalty (I am such a doting son :D).

Since it was a Friday night, I thought the place would be packed, so decided to reserve a table by calling an hour ahead. But surprisingly it was quite on this night. Located on top of a hill at Jubilee Hills, this place has an awesome view of the city, and has great ambiance. But the tables are placed quite close to each other which makes it look a little congested. They have cozy tables for couples outside on the balcony, which provides a better view of the city. The dim lights set you in the right mood to enjoy a sumptuous yummy meal. A great place to visit with family as well as with your better half.

I should have clicked more pictures

I was not really hungry after munching something at home late evening, so decided to go light on the meal. We ordered Crostini Alla Ragusana for starters (Sliced farmer’s bread, grilled and topped with artichokes, olives, capers, Italian mayonnaise, pesto and fresh chopped tomatoes). I am actually not so fond of Bruschetta, but wanting to taste something different made decide on this one. Also, the sound of Italian mayonnaise was tempting enough.

And I was very happy with my order. Ten pieces of bread were quite yummy. The tomatoes were fresh and juicy, and the artichokes very tender. The mayonnaise was a little too sweet, but had good flavor.

For the main course, I ordered a Lasagne alla Gypsy for amma (Layers of home-made pasta, béchamel sauce, tomato sauce, mozzarella, pecorino cheese, mushrooms and aubergine, baked in oven), and a Pasta Gambaza for myself (White creamy sauce, mushrooms, asparagus and Italian herbs).

The lasagna looked very good, but tasted alright. It had a strong after taste, probably because of the pecorino cheese. The mushrooms were strong and had good flavor to them. It wasn’t the best lasagna I’ve had here, but amma seemed to love it.

I choose spaghetti for my pasta. It turned out to be delicious. Very very creamy, as I asked him to make, it was cheesy as well. The spaghetti was tender and perfect. I had little trouble forking it but made my way through the entire bowl in about ten minutes. Amma had a taste, and thought it was a little too bland. I asked for some oregano, which disappointingly was very very dry. The mushrooms here weren’t as strong as in the lasagne. Overall, Bliss!!

The service was very friendly. It took a while for the food to be served, but we weren’t in a hurry, so it didn’t matter. Great food and good ambiance makes this place a must visit. The prices are on the high-end though. Their large vegetarian menu is something you don’t find at any other Italian eatery in town. They also serve a good range of mocktails and Wine. I dint know that these guys had branches in Mumbai, Pune, etc. till recent, with the same menu served everywhere. So, if you looking for a lavish Italian meal, head on to Little Italy.

Food: 9/10
Ambiance: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Meal for 2: Rs. 1200/-

Verdict: 8.5/10

Amma’s Verdict: 8/10

PS: The price played a big factor for the final rating.

Bodyguard | Movie Review

Plot
Lovely Singh (Salman Khan) is a bodyguard working for a security firm. He is hired by Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) to guard his daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor). Lovely regards Sartaj Rana as god, for he once saved his life. Divya does not like Lovely following her around, so plays a trick on him by making prank calls. She falls in love with him and confesses her love anonymously. She later fears that Lovely wont accept her out of respect for her father. The consequences form rest of the story.

Actors Performance
Salman Khan is brilliant in the lead role. High on success after Wanted, Dabaang and Ready, he entertains with one of his regular dumb flicks (oops!!). He looked very stylish in the movie. I loved the way he flexed his muscles in the title song. Its a tailor made role for him and he did absolute justice. Looks like Kareena put on tons of wight post the size zero effect, she looked fat in certain scenes (I was shocked to see her with thunder thighs). She was alright, nothing great. I loved the salwars she wore in the film (designed by Manish Malhotra). Hazel Keech plays Kareena’s friends role, and was ok. She wore tons of make up though. Asrani and Rajat Rawail tried to produce some humor. Raj Babber, Aditya Pancholi, Mahesh Manjrekar were adequate. Katrina Kaif sizzled in half a title song.

Story-Screenplay-Direction
In simple words, there was absolutely no story. The consequence of a prank call was dragged and dragged to make a two and half hour movie. I haven’t watched the original Malaylam version of the film, but looks like director Siddique stuck to his original without any changes (he provided the story, screenplay and direction for both the versions). The first half was funny and alright. The second half was a bore. It had its moments, but went on and on. The climax was pathetic. People started laughing for senti scenes, imagine that! Direction was good in parts, but could have been much better. Screenplay was alright.

Other Departments
Music by Himesh Reshammiya was alright (for a change). I loved the title song for its peppy beats (sung by Salman himself). The best track though is the one composed by Pritam (I Love You). Its a soothing melody Il remember for a while. Background score by Sandeep Shirodkar was average. Cinematography by Sejal Shah and Editing by Sanjay Sankla were acceptable. Production values by Reliance Entertainment and Atul Agnihotri are passable. They banked a lot on sponsorship (Blackberry, etc).

Analysis
Its a out and out Sallu bhai’s film, made for the masses with class people in mind. It should be a hit among the B and C center crowds, only if they can sit through the boring climax. It might prove to be his fourth consecutive hit. It has its moments with high energy supplied by Salman. Plus points are a couple of fights, entertainment quotient, and Salman. Kareena had a meaty role, but she dint live up to expectations. Overall, a time pass entertainer. Do not watch the film with high expectations. If you can bear Salman Khan, and dont mind the dismal climax, you might actually enjoy the movie.

Verdict: 6.5/10
Amma’s Verdict: 5.5/10