Review 1.
by BT Kida...(Hardik Raychanda)
Do you love Hardcore Thrillers? If the answer is yes, go.. watch Woodstock Villa.
Yes, this Sanjay Gupta movie has substance too, with great styling.
A kidnapper who calls the man whose wife has been kidnapped and starts the conversation with a joke...!! Cool attitude, Right?. Yes, that's how the movie starts...
Upto Interval the cool combination of fast paced story, nice camera work, cleverly shot scenes, stylish execution, some thrilling moments, impact of dialogues, perfect acting by lead actors, nice screenplay, cool music and handsome background music holds you tight in your chair. And here comes the interval.... Yes the length of the film is too short (45 minutes) in the preinterval portion.
Post intermission, the screenplay starts loosing its pace. Some twists have no shock value at all and are too much predictable. And mainly songs are the culprit for the second half portions. "Dhokha", "Yeh Pyar Hai" interrupts the storyline. Accept, they are part of the storey but the songs could be trimmed to 1min song as it was done in Dus Kahaaniya.
Most missing element is the impact of the ending. Though, ending is very good but the impact is missing. The main plot on which storey reveals, zara and reshma track, is also not much good.
About performance, Sikander steals the show. The movie is the best preference for a newcomer like him to make a debut. The rough look and strong screen presence empowers his acting skills. He is a new comer to look out for. Though, BT Kida suspects about his suitability for romantic flicks.
Neha Uberoi adds spice to the thriller. She enacts her part with utmost comfort. She looks gorgeous and acts fantastic. Arbaaz Khan is okay. Sachin Khedekar cant play the cool cop,
overplays a lot. Dayashankar Pandey, Gaurav Gera, Shakti Kapoor(!!!) are wasted. Gulshan Grover adds chilling presence as Kalimbhai.
Milap Zaveri must be mentioned for Dialogues. Music of Annu Mallik will be restricted to Clubs and DJs for months. Cinematography and Camera work is Excellent!!!
In Short, Hansal Mehta has given the Hollywood touch to a Desi Film. Bollywood Lovers will like the movie, family audience (Vivah Lovers) can stay away.
Yes, this Sanjay Gupta movie has substance too, with great styling.
A kidnapper who calls the man whose wife has been kidnapped and starts the conversation with a joke...!! Cool attitude, Right?. Yes, that's how the movie starts...
Upto Interval the cool combination of fast paced story, nice camera work, cleverly shot scenes, stylish execution, some thrilling moments, impact of dialogues, perfect acting by lead actors, nice screenplay, cool music and handsome background music holds you tight in your chair. And here comes the interval.... Yes the length of the film is too short (45 minutes) in the preinterval portion.Post intermission, the screenplay starts loosing its pace. Some twists have no shock value at all and are too much predictable. And mainly songs are the culprit for the second half portions. "Dhokha", "Yeh Pyar Hai" interrupts the storyline. Accept, they are part of the storey but the songs could be trimmed to 1min song as it was done in Dus Kahaaniya.
Most missing element is the impact of the ending. Though, ending is very good but the impact is missing. The main plot on which storey reveals, zara and reshma track, is also not much good.
About performance, Sikander steals the show. The movie is the best preference for a newcomer like him to make a debut. The rough look and strong screen presence empowers his acting skills. He is a new comer to look out for. Though, BT Kida suspects about his suitability for romantic flicks.
Neha Uberoi adds spice to the thriller. She enacts her part with utmost comfort. She looks gorgeous and acts fantastic. Arbaaz Khan is okay. Sachin Khedekar cant play the cool cop,
overplays a lot. Dayashankar Pandey, Gaurav Gera, Shakti Kapoor(!!!) are wasted. Gulshan Grover adds chilling presence as Kalimbhai.Milap Zaveri must be mentioned for Dialogues. Music of Annu Mallik will be restricted to Clubs and DJs for months. Cinematography and Camera work is Excellent!!!
In Short, Hansal Mehta has given the Hollywood touch to a Desi Film. Bollywood Lovers will like the movie, family audience (Vivah Lovers) can stay away.
Though on the box office, it will be having less to offer to mr. distributer.
BT Kida's Comments: Abe kya Dhaanshu acting kiyela hai Sikander bhai ne. Baap ka naam, Hrithik ki tarah Roshan karega.. Ha wo 1.5 crore ke Bike Entry vaali baat kuch hazam nahi hui, 1.5 lakh hote to alag baat hoti. Aur ek baat sochne jaisi hai, ke Police ek scene me Arbaaz se Photo dikha ke puchhta hai ke "Aapki biwi ko acting ka shaukh tha?" uski jaga, journalist banke aane wala sikander vohi baat puchhta to uska effect kuchh aur hi hota.. baaki to Chhota Muh aur Badi Baat...
BT Kida's Movie Rating: **1/2
BT Kida's Comments: Abe kya Dhaanshu acting kiyela hai Sikander bhai ne. Baap ka naam, Hrithik ki tarah Roshan karega.. Ha wo 1.5 crore ke Bike Entry vaali baat kuch hazam nahi hui, 1.5 lakh hote to alag baat hoti. Aur ek baat sochne jaisi hai, ke Police ek scene me Arbaaz se Photo dikha ke puchhta hai ke "Aapki biwi ko acting ka shaukh tha?" uski jaga, journalist banke aane wala sikander vohi baat puchhta to uska effect kuchh aur hi hota.. baaki to Chhota Muh aur Badi Baat...
BT Kida's Movie Rating: **1/2
Review II
By Leo... (Saumil Mehta)
You might have watched "Dus Kahaniyaan" which was the last White Feather Films Production. If you take out all the songs and dance from "Woodstock Villa", it could have been titled "Gyarahvi Kahani - the 11th story...". White Feather Films has been considered as a prominent and lavish production house in the country. They pack style and glamour to give the viewer a 
definite larger than life images. That was the case in "Kaante", "Plan" and et al. The same continues in "Woodstock Villa". But alas, the pace of the movie tests your patience to the hilt.Lets get the plusses of the movie - to start with, the movie has a good story line and screenplay (Sanjay Gupta, Rajiv Gopal, S. Farhan) is flawless. The production values are top - notch. To be honest, the movie gives you an experience even better than many Hollywood Flicks that we see these days. Director Hansal Mehta has handled the subject beautifully. Post "Chhal" (Kay Kay Menon's major movie in his earlier days - Year 2002), this is Hansal's finest work. Also, it proves Hansal's capability to get the best out of rookies, newcomers like Sikander and Neha. Cinematography (Vikas Nowlakha) is top - notch. But, the production house - White Feather Films are just repeating golden hues in every movie. Nothing wrong with that - but, time for a change Mr. Gupta!!! Amar Mohile is becoming the numero uno background score director. Although Milap Zaveri is most of the times associated with comic flicks, his dialogues in such a thriller are worth applause.But the major sore point that actually over-shadows such a superb movie watching experience is - the songs and dance. Gone are the days when songs and dances were the quintessential part of Hindi Movies. Woodstock Villa would have been one of the best movies of 2008 had the songs and dances been removed. In fact, if one edits all the songs and dances, the length of the movie would get reduced to even less than an hour (Hence, could have got fitted with "Dus Kahaniyaan" and become the "Gyarahvi Kahani")One fine day, a successful businessman's (Arbaaz Khan) wife (Neha Uberoi) gets kidnapped by Sameer (Sikander). He demands hefty ransom from the businessman. But, suddenly things go awry as the wife gets murdered. Sikander tries to leave the city but he sees the wife once again. He decides to hunt for the truth and the mystery gets deepen. The plot takes ample twists and turns and moves in a serpentine fashion to keep the viewer guessing. Although a few twists are predictable, but by and large, the proceedings are quite interesting.But as has been stated earlier, the moment one twist occurs, a song props from somewhere. This actually dilutes the impact of the twist that the story had just taken. Lets face the reality - a thriller works only if the viewer is presented with one after the other twists continuously without any breaks in between. But Alas!!!!To talk about the debutantes - Sikander acts well, but going by the looks, he will have to be careful about the role he chooses for himself. The character has various layers and Sikander peels each layer with aplomb. Definitely an actor of tomorrow...Neha is an eye-candy - extremely sexy and glamorous. But, most importantly, she acts well. Way to go Neha!!!Others (Arbaaz, Sachin Khedekar, Shakti Kapoor) are just there. None of them register any impact whatsoever.To sum up, Woodstock Villa has most of the ingredients that a thriller must have. It has a reasonable chance in cities, esp. at multiplexes. The producers should have avoided its release with the climax of IPL. Hence, it will have a fairly average chance at the box office...Rating: **1/2
definite larger than life images. That was the case in "Kaante", "Plan" and et al. The same continues in "Woodstock Villa". But alas, the pace of the movie tests your patience to the hilt.Lets get the plusses of the movie - to start with, the movie has a good story line and screenplay (Sanjay Gupta, Rajiv Gopal, S. Farhan) is flawless. The production values are top - notch. To be honest, the movie gives you an experience even better than many Hollywood Flicks that we see these days. Director Hansal Mehta has handled the subject beautifully. Post "Chhal" (Kay Kay Menon's major movie in his earlier days - Year 2002), this is Hansal's finest work. Also, it proves Hansal's capability to get the best out of rookies, newcomers like Sikander and Neha. Cinematography (Vikas Nowlakha) is top - notch. But, the production house - White Feather Films are just repeating golden hues in every movie. Nothing wrong with that - but, time for a change Mr. Gupta!!! Amar Mohile is becoming the numero uno background score director. Although Milap Zaveri is most of the times associated with comic flicks, his dialogues in such a thriller are worth applause.But the major sore point that actually over-shadows such a superb movie watching experience is - the songs and dance. Gone are the days when songs and dances were the quintessential part of Hindi Movies. Woodstock Villa would have been one of the best movies of 2008 had the songs and dances been removed. In fact, if one edits all the songs and dances, the length of the movie would get reduced to even less than an hour (Hence, could have got fitted with "Dus Kahaniyaan" and become the "Gyarahvi Kahani")One fine day, a successful businessman's (Arbaaz Khan) wife (Neha Uberoi) gets kidnapped by Sameer (Sikander). He demands hefty ransom from the businessman. But, suddenly things go awry as the wife gets murdered. Sikander tries to leave the city but he sees the wife once again. He decides to hunt for the truth and the mystery gets deepen. The plot takes ample twists and turns and moves in a serpentine fashion to keep the viewer guessing. Although a few twists are predictable, but by and large, the proceedings are quite interesting.But as has been stated earlier, the moment one twist occurs, a song props from somewhere. This actually dilutes the impact of the twist that the story had just taken. Lets face the reality - a thriller works only if the viewer is presented with one after the other twists continuously without any breaks in between. But Alas!!!!To talk about the debutantes - Sikander acts well, but going by the looks, he will have to be careful about the role he chooses for himself. The character has various layers and Sikander peels each layer with aplomb. Definitely an actor of tomorrow...Neha is an eye-candy - extremely sexy and glamorous. But, most importantly, she acts well. Way to go Neha!!!Others (Arbaaz, Sachin Khedekar, Shakti Kapoor) are just there. None of them register any impact whatsoever.To sum up, Woodstock Villa has most of the ingredients that a thriller must have. It has a reasonable chance in cities, esp. at multiplexes. The producers should have avoided its release with the climax of IPL. Hence, it will have a fairly average chance at the box office...Rating: **1/2
