I finally got to watch Nikhil Advanis D-Day,a film that had stoked my curiosity with its promos. I must say that the film,based on a fictional scenario of Dawood being brought to heel,made for a riveting watch. With twists in the tale galore,D-Day keeps you on the edge of the seat till the very end. The attention to details was notable as were the actors Arjun Rampal,Huma Qureshi,Irrfan and Rishi Kapoor each,delivering a competent performance. Nikhil Advani after a spectacular debut with Kal Ho Naa Ho starring Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan is back in the reckoning with his new offering. After his earlier outings Salaam-E-Ishq and Patiala House,both within the tried and tested templates of romance and a family drama,Advani has sprung a neat surprise with this well paced and ably crafted thriller. Instead of setting the story in some exotic location,he brings it closer home to neighbouring Karachi and lets the drama unfold sans interruptions. The film,without any major stars predictably opened to a slow start,but a good buzz is building up already and business is likely to pick up over the week. D-Day,which was a litmus test of sorts for Advani,is likely to put him in the list of directors to watch out for. Nikhil Advani after a spectacular debut with Kal Ho Naa Ho starring Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan is back in the reckoning with his new offering D-Day. It is likely to put him in the list of directors to watch out for Arjun Rampal who has been rather eclectic in his choice of films Chakravyuh,Inkaar,D-Day and the forthcoming Satyagraha,is on a good wicket too. His performance as Rudra Pratap adds to Rampals repertoire of interesting roles that he has been picking up ever since he was noticed in Raajneeti. Regardless of whether the film notches up the numbers,it is wonderful to see directors and actors throw in their weight behind films wherein the story is the king. Southern spice Meanwhile,traversing through Gods Own Country I assumed one would see the usual film posters dominated by the Superstar duo Mammootty and Mohanlal,but the assumptions were rather misplaced. Clearly,the Malayalam film industry is thriving once again with a slew of commercial films of all kinds. Although,on the roadways across Cochin,there were scores of posters of Mohanlal and Mammootty endorsing various products,a range of film posters starring newer actors with films promising new concepts were also visible. The most striking among these posters being one of a rom-com titled Crocodile Love Story with a Croc on a leash being walked around by a portly young gentleman! And then yet another film called Buddy,about college buddies in Kerala with an unexpected Sardarji character thrown in for good measure (incidentally,a Malayalam film actor Babu Antony plays the Sardarji). Given the exchange of ideas between Bollywood and the film industries down south,one wonders if one will see a Hindi remake of the Croc-Com if it turns out to be a big hit! l
