Reviews

It's... strange. Gets almost surreal in the end. But I tell you what, that aussie Coca- Cola song is catchy as hell.

Moments for me in the film -

• Mother and daughter showering together - I don't think I have seen anything like that anywhere. I don't think you can even shoot something like that nowadays.

• McDowel shooting the American kid while the jungle noises intensify.

• The weird train-trucks at McDowel factory.

• Landing of the crop duster on an outback road.

And of course the Aussie Coca-Cola song.

I must mention that I have not had a soft drink in the last 10 years or so and no one in family does either.

I went to the limited screening of The Furnace at Perth to watch it from the perspective of Sikh community, but I ended up forgetting that and got immersed into the film's astonishing narrative. In my opinion there is something for everyone in this film, a weekend watcher will enjoy the quest side of it, a regular watcher will enjoy the exposition of characters without need of too many dialogues, the acting, the beautiful pace of the film and an avid watcher will end up finding a lot of subtle touches within the film like the significance of the dates and the fallen tree.

Roderick is the director and writer of the film and to me that is the most beautiful arrangement. To him I say, keep making movies. Nothing that he creates in future will be dull or lazy. This film could have gone wrong at so many points, but it's very finely put together. It clearly shows that Roderick understands the pitfalls of lazy writing and how Hollywood ruins beautiful constructed plots by giving into establishing larger than life characters or clichéd plot devices. None of that here.

A word has to be said about the editing and the soundtrack of the film. Editing is so subtle, so gentle and well done that it is pretty much a lesson in how to pace a slow burner. A plot like this usually suffers from unnecessary exposition and long monologues or the lack of them and long cinematic shots which try to create importance of the narrative by trying to convince you that this is an important and serious work of art (The Grey comes to mind) - pretty much spoon feeding the viewer. But in The Furnace, the editor balanced the film so well that in my opinion a lot of big budget Hollywood films can learn a lot from it.

And of course, the reason why I was invited by one of my mates to go to this screening. The film is historically quite accurate. Sikhs and Muslims have been part of the Australian outback longer than many could imagine. Their stories, rituals and routines are nicely interwoven into the fabric of the film. The turbans are accurate (for once). Many a times I've been pissed at the ready made look of Sikh turbans but in the Furnace, they are proper. Being a Sikh I can say, yes, that is us.

Well done. It's so fulfilling to see Australian cinema coming into its own. It's a film that me, a Sikh and an Australian, is proud of.

I enjoyed this movie immensely for some reason. Quite atmospheric with extended long takes. I know Delhi and the movie is really a night's ode to the milieu of the city. Very well done. There is no rush, there is no melodrama. A slow paced, character driven film.

Seriously, the film is confused within its own genre. It can't decide if it wants to be a comedy or if it's trying to be a quest driven heroic tale. At times it become downright gory and at other times it becomes cheap sex tease.

To think that Portman actually became a part of this film is disturbing and to think that Hollywood waste so much money on a trivial film like this is.. well.. they kinda do it all the time.

The film's premise is not so bad and it could have been so much better. But most of it is lost in between transitions. Your Highness could have been Robin Hood: Men in Tights, but lacks a lot of the comic premise. There are so many gaps between laughters and at times the film drags at unholy pace.

While watching the film, there always is a feeling of dissatisfaction. A feeling of being in the middle of nowhere.

They've tried to make it a classic location based romantic film for teenager girls, but while doing so they've tried to target the mature audience as well with half-attempted tongue in cheek dialogs. For me, this has failed miserably as the whole Brit Vs Americano recipe really doesn't work in this pan.

Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan simply do not develop any chemistry on the screen, which gives Gael García Bernal a clear lead in the acting department. Amanda Seyfried is a wooden actress with no acting in her eyes and both she and Christopher Egan are painfully slow with their meant-to- be-sharp dialogs.

Plot wise it doesn't offer any salvation either. The moment Christopher Egan enters, you know what's going to happen. Stereotypical first hate and than love story line. I enjoyed the locations yes, but all in all it's a an avoidable movie with predictable plot.

A great stepping stone for Punjabi Movie Industry. With Carry On Jatta Punjabi Industry will prove that we can now handle situational comedies as well and that we have something that neither Bollywood nor Hollywood has. I'm talking about one-on-one comedy talent. Read on…

Carry On Jatta has the kind of one-on-one comedy which I have never seen before in any other Punjabi or Hindi Movie. The kind of wit battles they have are very unique. While in other movies you get to see one single pair performing this type of comedy (The Trip and The Odd Couple for example), CARRY ON JATTA has multiple comedy artists witting each other in multiple scenes. Here are some of the one-on-one combos in CARRY ON JATTA: Bhalla vs Ghuggi, Bhalla vs. Binnu, Bhalla Vs. Gippy, Binnu vs Ghuggi, Ghuggi vs Gippy, BN Sharma vs. Ghuggi, Ghuggi Vs. Binnu etc. The dialogs are mostly improvised and you can make out the brilliant performances of these proved comedians. This alone is a hardcore factor for anyone to watch this film. Every single one of these scenes is a masterpiece. I have never seen so much comedy talent at one single place before.

There might be one objection coming from the audience, that being that the film tends to get slow at times. For example the beginning of the movie might seem slow for most part and many might object that the climax is terribly dragged. But after you have seen the movie, you can easily deduce that this happens because the comic part is very fast. When the comedy starts and situations are built, the film moves at a very fast pace and you laugh continuously for minutes at length. Due to these much paced scenes, the rest of the movie seems quite slow.

The climax of the movie is a very well crafted ploy, but it is stretched. The whole idea of such a brilliant chase is mind blowing. The whole theater was literally jumping of out their seats with laughter. I have never seen so much craziness in the theater. But it gets too long. You keep laughing and laughing and laughing and it doesn't end. Extreme laughter for a long duration and that's my complaint. It's really hard to laugh that long and If it was a bit short, it would have been perfect.

Acting wise everyone is awesome. Not a single complaint there. Even the stock characters played their part well, be it the Sarpach and his son or even the Motta Naukar.

Gippy Grewal has acted well and you can observe him giving his 200% to his character. Some of his scenes are hilarious, especially his visual comedy in the scene where he goes to Khushboo Grewal thinking of her as his wife. Gippy and Ghuggi had a great chemistry as well and their scenes at the "Bhatha" are brilliant. Ghuggi and his shy gestures are at full swing and some of his dialogs will make you laugh forever. However the casting of Khushboo against Ghuggi didn't seem fit. They made an odd pair. I wonder how it would have turned out if they had exchanged Binnu Dhillon's role with Gurpreet Ghuggi's. :D

The most awesome performance comes from Jaswinder Bhalla and his slapstick comedy. JUST PLAIN BRILLIANT. A much deserved role and act on his part. Binnu supported him well and two of them made a great team. Binnu has done a major comic role here and the scene of "Ghoddi" are genius.

BN Sharma did some really good comedy, especially at the climax it was just pushing me out of my seat with laughter. He really deserves to play a bigger role now. Another sufficient act is done by Karamjot Anmol. He has a small role, but as always he wins your heart. Rana Ranbir has a very brief role, but his act this time is very timely and very suggestive. His play with his father's name is very funny.

Mahi Gill did her part well, but it will come as a surprise that the film is not devoted to her solely. The film does pure justice to the comic element by concentrating on one on one comedy and makes full use of the talent of Jaswinder Bhalla, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Binnu Dhillon, BN Sharma and Karamjit Anmol.

I also want to appreciate the cinematography of the movie. Considering that the 90% of the film has been shot at single location and most of that is in interior, the camera work doesn't bore you. Every scene has a fresh appeal and a lot of credit goes to lighting as well.

CARRY ON JATTA is a new type of comedy for Punjabi movie Industry. This type of film has never been made before in Punjab and Smeep Kang has captured it well. It's not easy to manage a film like this but it has been done like a pro. Lots of appreciations for the director.

In the end I would say it's a great movie and great follow up after the success of Jatt & Juliet. The film will be successful for sure and will reassure the trust of audience into Punjabi Movies. Oh what a wonderful time for Punjabi Cinema! Two awesome movies one after another and CARRY ON JATTA introduced a new sub-genre of comedy movies.

Carry On Gippy and Carry on Smeep Kang…. you keep carrying on Punjabi Cinema forward… and Punjabiportal will keep carrying on you :D

Serious Political Suspense Thriller, that is what Dharti is and I don't think I'm mistaken while saying that this is the first time a Punjabi film has fallen into this category. It's a pleasing thought that such a film has been made and on such a large scale. In more than normal way this shall be considered a risk on the part of producers to grab upon such a theme. It is a bold step in Punjabi Industry and it signifies the trust of big production houses in the audience of Punjab that they are mature enough to accept a movie like this. However the film was promoted as something largely associated with Air Force, but it didn't have much to do with that. It's just that Jimmy Shergill's background comes from Air Force as he is the Squadron leader. Apart from that he is mostly wearing his Air Force uniform and wears Aviators. Nothing more than that. This was a letdown as I was hoping it to be a patriotic film on national level. In truth the film is largely based on politics in Punjab.

Won't reveal the story as it's crucial to keep the suspense of the film. But let it be said that the plot is quite complex and a lot of characters are involved in the film. There are a lot of twists and turns in the film and the story goes here and there quite often. Its not a perfect plot, but not a bad one either. There is too much to say in the film, a lot indeed and it's a long story, perhaps that's exactly why there are very few tracks. You only get to see three proper tracks in the film, rest of them are used in background score.

In acting department, there are no complaints. The film totally belongs to Jimmy Shergill and Rahul Dev. Rahul Dev speaks in such a menial way that it totally blows you over, great dialog delivery which hasn't been seen in Punjabi cinema for a long time. Very serious acting and the same goes for Jimmy. Jimmy has played the role of a serious Air Force officer and he never flinches from his character. He stays the serious guy and his dialogs pertain to the same. The scenes where Rahul Dev and Jimmy clash together are the best viewing experience.

The greatest factor and the proud feeling was that the Punjabi spoken in the film is pure. Apart from a few words like "ped" (which should have been "drakhat" in Punjabi) it's easily forgiven. It's a great feeling to see such names as Rahul Dev, Prem Chopra and Ranvijay speaking in pure Punjabi accents and how deeply en rooted they all are in our beloved language Punjabi.

Technically, there were a lot of blemishes. Normally Navaniat 's films have a grace and beauty of their own as seen in TMKR and MKR. But Dharti lacked that finishing.. that color tone, that beauty… Camera was shaky, especially in the opening sequence where the title track Dharti plays. Most importantly whenever there is a close up of Jimmy wearing Ray-Ban sun glasses, you can always see the camera crew in the reflective glass of the Ray Bans. This should have been avoided.

But all in all, a great attempt and a movie worth watching. A few more movies from Navaniat Singh and he will be making films to compete with Hindi Cinema. In fact probably better than Hindi Films. Dharti is a very different kind of movie and it has substance, lets see how the public takes on a political motive.