Aladin is the movie from the land of myths and legends- India- comes, a fantasy adventure for the entire family. Directed by Sujoy Ghosh, 'Aladin' is a modern re-imagining of the classic tale of 'Aladin and The Magic Lamp'.
Aladin Chatterjee (Riteish Deshmukh) lives in the city of Khwaish, an orphan who has been bullied since childhood by Kasim and his gang. But his life changes when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) gives him a magic lamp- because it lets loose the genie Genius (Amitabh Bachchan). Desperate to grant him 3 wishes and seek the end of his contract with the Magic Lamp, the rock-star Genius makes Aladin life difficult until the real threat looms on the horizon: the ex-genie Ringmaster (Sanjay Dutt). Why does Ringmaster want to kill Aladin? What is the dark secret about Aladin past that Genius is carrying? And what is Aladin destiny?
Aladin
Maxabout Review
A terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Aladin starts with a bang, with the initial portions holding a lot of promise. But no sooner does the genie appears, he breaks into a song and you realize that Aladin is no different from those mundane films churned out week after week.
In accordance with a prominent line from the film “ Buri aadat badal daalo, Aladin ko maar daalo ”, director Sujoy Ghosh kinda kills the magic of the legendary fairy tale character in his contemporary adaptation of the Arabian Nights account. Certainly the inspiration is interesting but the execution tends to become formulaic.
Aladin promises the moon, but what you get is a mere flicker. This fantasy had the trappings to transport you to fantasyland, but... Seriously, Sujoy could've run his imagination wild and come up with a film that would've made the child in you jump, scream and clap with glee. But 15/20 minutes into the film and you realize that Aladin is merely a visual spectacle. A film that lacks soul!
Sujoy Ghosh's screenplay is bad, to put it bluntly. Given the kind of stars and budget at his disposal, the director should've come up with a slick entertainer, but Aladin comes across as
a feeble clone of a poor Hollywood film. Like his last outing Home Delivery, this one too is high on gloss, but low on content.
Sadly, Aladin only slides downwards after this point. Sure, there're some interesting moments, but you can actually count those sequences. The problem is not with the story, but the screenplay (also penned by Sujoy Ghosh). It rests on absurdities. Okay, one expects absurdities in a fantasy, you can be pardoned for it, but at least they should have the power to keep you hooked. In this case, they don't!
The visual effects are excellent at places, but tacky at times. Vishal-Shekhar's music is strictly okay. However, too many songs in the initial reels act as roadblocks. The cinematography is top notch. Sabu Cyril’s art direction gives a fantasy feel to the hill-station town.
Aladin belongs to
Riteish, who's easy on the eyes. The best part is, he looks the character and enacts it without going overboard. He's at his natural best here. Surprisingly,
Amitabh Bachchan is over the top this time, which puts you off after a point.
Sanjay Dutt has two standard expressions from start to end.
Jacqueline Fernandez gets no scope, but she looks gorgeous nonetheless.
Ratna Pathak Shah is wasted. Ditto for Victor Banerjee. And what is a wonderful actor like Mita Vashisht doing in this film? Saahil Khan and Arif Zakaria are okay.