Movie Reviews

Humraaz

BEWARE...SPOILERS OF MOVIE!!!    BEWARE...SPOILERS OF MOVIE!!!   BEWARE...SPOILERS OF MOVIE!!!

Starring – Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Amisha Patel, Johnny Lever

Release Date – July 5, 2002

SYNOPSIS -  Karan (Akshaye Khanna) is a musician who leads a song and dance troupe. A part of this troupe is Priya (Amisha) who, besides being a lead performer in the band, is a close friend of Karan. The two often share their emotions frankly but neither has accepted love openly.

Then comes along millionaire Raj Singhania and sweeps everyone off their feet.

Raj is an outgoing person who lives in an opulent Jaipur Haveli, and often trots the globe in his private cruise ship. He gives Karan’s musical troupe a contract to perform on his ship on sail to Malaysia. On this trip Raj comes across Priya, and is instantly drawn towards her.

Raj begins to make subtle advances towards Priya. By the time the trip ends he proposes to Priya. Priya is shell-shocked.

She had so far been impressed by Raj’s lavish style of wooing her. But she didn’t expect a marriage proposal from one of the most eligible and richest bachelors around. Being an orphan she hasn’t been loved so much in life before meeting Raj. She readily accepts Raj’s proposal.

This leaves Karan on the sidelines. He loves Priya but he also sees that she loves Raj. Meanwhile Priya too begins to realize how great a part Karan has played in her life. There is a clash of emotions. On one side is Raj, a happy-go-lucky millionaire, and on the other is Karan, a simple musician and a good friend. Which way will she go?

Okay, I already heard the great reviews on Humraaz and heard about Akshu's remarkable performance. On top of that, read and heard that it is a remake of A Perfect Murder. Now, I really liked A Perfect Murder too. It is different for Bollywood. I have no problem with that but like everyone says. Remake after remake after remake. When will the list end? ;P But did you know that A Perfect Murder is a remake of a 1950's film called Dial M For Murder?

Wasn't sure if I should write the movie review with SPOILERS but I was like why not? A lot of people have seen the movie already so might as well...but I had to warn the people who haven't seen the movie yet about what I am going to discuss. I couldn't imagine Humraaz being like A Perfect Murder since in the movie, Michael Douglas and Gwenyth Paltrow were already married and later he finds out that Gwenyth has been cheating on him with Viggo Mortensen. The only similarities that I really saw was the whole plot with the husband and the lover trying to kill the wife. Everything else, Humraaz was a little different from. Of course, it ended with Bollywood style.

When I was watching the movie, I was wondering why everyone was raving about Akshu's performance. I mean, I know he's a GREAT actor and just have been choosing wrong films. It wasn't until the middle of the film that you really get to see his true character in the film. I was stunned by his performance. His dialogues and facial expressions were amazing. It'll be great to see him take home the villian award. I know he has a strong competitor this year against Amitach Bachchan for Aankhen. However, we have seen AB in negative roles already. This is the first time that we've seen Akshu in a negative role and he does it well. Last year I was a little disappointed that Akki took home the villian award for Ajnabee instead of Aftab for Kasoor. Both did good but Akki has done that role before. I hope Akshu's forthcoming films are going to take him to the top because he deserved that long ago. He is back again especially after Dil Chahta Hai. Akshu's expressions where amazing when he was going byserk with Amisha when she told him she wanted to stay with Bobby...and then he calmed down. He kinda scared me for a minute there. :)

Bobby Deol. Gosh, I love this guy. I always did and managed to watch ALL his films. Even though I am not a big fan of Sunny. I don't know why either! I mean he IS a good actor but I have a thing for the younger Deol brother instead. I always thought that Bobby looked cute but in Humraaz, I think he looks EXTRA HOT!!!! He looks so good with glasses and especially he was all dressed up. Gosh, he looks so good....and on top of it all, his acting was great too. I always liked his acting since Soldier. Also thought he was good in Dillagi, Badal, Biccho, Dillagi, and Ajnabee but he wasn't getting the recognition that he deserved. Sure Hum To Mohabbat and Aashiq sucked but that doesn't mean that he is a bad actor. EVERY star has his or her shares of flops. It doesn't matter if the movie is a flop but whether or not the performance is great. I just thought that Bobby's sweet character brought out the best of him. Especially in the beginning of how much he loved Amisha, did everything for her and how he respected her wishes and desires. Girls get turned on by these sort of things. That's one reason why Shahrukh Khan is loved by so many. My cousins are in love with Shahrukh Khan cause of how he portrays himself in his romantic films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein, etc.

Amisha Patel. I think she's an okay actress. Of course she's always going to be compared to Kareena because they are both the top newcomers now (although I have to debate since my fave female newcomer is Bipasha Basu and I think she's much better than the two - have ALL HITS, a great personality, and is beautiful!!!! Okay, enough said...back to Amisha). Another reason why Ami and Bebo are being compared is with the chemistry with Hrithik. Who has better chemistry with Duggu? Ami or Bebo? I admit that Bebo is a better actress than Ami but I think it's mainly cause she has gotten the opportunity to be in better films and top directors...that's only my opinion. Ami had hardly anything to do in KNPH since Duggu took away  all the credit. Then she had Gadar which she surprised everyone with her acting. Then later she had a series of endless flops until now - Humraaz. I thought she looked and acted well in Humraaz. I don't know why everyone is talking about her long hair. I think it looks good. I wish I could grow mine that long but I always end up cutting it. She's the very few actresses who have long hair. I remember most of the actresses had long hair like that back then. I admit that that one scene in the film where she had that dreamed and she had short hair - it suited her perfectly but I think her hair is fine. I thought her clothes were cute too. She has lost a lot of weight and is looking good. She reminds me so much of Neelam and Preity. She has Neelam's baby face and smile - and that long hair that Neelam used to have. And Preity's face structure and voice. Both are innocent looking with that baby face too and has a deep voice. They both laugh similar to me too. Her acting was good especially towards the end. In the beginning, her character was kinda annoying because she was so perky (like when she was telling her friends about the date with Bobby) but later she proved that she can act.

I knew that Akshu was going to have a negative character after he killed "Jojo." Isn't that guy the same "Jojo" as in Soldier? His name was also "Jojo." But the part that was the biggest shock to me was Akshu and Amisha planning that scheme all along. Wow!!! I always looked at Akshu that he had that jealous look. I thought he was going to kill Amisha and/or Bobby when he find out that they were going to get married. That surprised me a lot.

Overall, I loved the movie.

8.5 out of 10

NiCKi

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