Aap Ka Suroor

Movie: Aap Ka Suroor (2007)
Starring: Himesh Reshammiya, Hansika Motwani
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Favorite Songs: Tanhaiyaan, Assalam Vaalekum, Ya Ali (Dil Lagi), Mehbooba
Favorite Music Video: None, but the music is totally awesome. Boys, I believe Mehboobha will be to your liking.
Story: 2 out of 10 Music: 8 out of 10

Plot: Himesh plays himself as Himesh, a singer who is popular all over the world (still wishful thinking, HR!). He and Ria fall in love, but the fast lawyer chick is obsessed with Himesh. His lawyer (Mallika Sherawat) wants to do anything she can for him, including at night. And she is a skilled backup dancer. I think the director was thinking, "the boys love her, so how do we get her in this movie without just sticking her in there?" The answer was: "make her his lawyer!"So anyway, somebody frames Himesh. The motive could be to prevent him from marrying Ria or it could be something totally different. Is it tanhaiyaan for Himesh in jail or will he clear himself of suspicions and finally be able to marry his true love?

Verdict: Rocking!!! Sweeet! I love Himesh's music! He gives us eight (yeah eight!!) totally different songs in this one movie. This makes sense because the movie is basically a showcase of his music. I love it! But the music videos are really not special because they are mostly Himesh walking (yuck-walking) through the scenes and getting quite a bit of screen time. Expect nothing much from this film except excellent beats, and he's delivering that 100%. At least 4 of the songs created for this film were hits. Really all you're gonna get if you decide to watch the whole movie and not just the music videos is creative, soaring background orchestral beats based on the main numbers. It is easy to tell that Himesh's musical mind contributed a lot to the production. It is so funny when Himesh hears the Gayatri mantra when he sees his true love. Oh god! That's great.

It's funny to watch Himesh try to act. He says every line like it's his last with as much emotion as he can. This turns out to be the same emotion every time, and it gets boring pretty fast. This is where SRK is king. He's got a large range of admittedly the same stuff, but it is large and he is an expert at timing and recognizing opportune moments. Well, since Aap Ka Suroor did well there is news of a forthcoming Aap Ka Suroor 2. I'll be waiting more good music from the rising Himesh, but I think next time around I'll just skip the cheap plot wrapped around his awesome songs.

36 China Town

Movie: 36 China Town (2006)
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, introducing Upen Patel
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Favorite songs (all of them! Yeah Himesh!): Aashiqui Meri, Dil Tumhare Bina, Jab Kabhi, 24x7 I Think of You
Favorite Music Video: Aashiqui Meri (this is my all-time favorite newer music video- Upen Patel should be arrested for spontaneous combustion of the surrounding air, it's by Himesh, and it's in Chinatown. What more could I ask for?)
Story: 3 out of 10 Music: 9 out of 10

Plot: Sonia Chang is murdered. Everyone in this huge cast gets implicated in the crime because they are all trying to cover their own backsides by lying a little. Shahid and Kareena's characters find Sonia Chang's kidnapped son and get involved when they try to collect the huge reward for finding him.

Verdict: All my friends who like method criminal dramas like this one. I don't really care about it except that Shahid has some pretty good music videos. Here again, the music and music videos are the real draw for me.

Chup Chup Ke

Movie: Chup Chup Ke (2006)
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Sunil Shetty, Anupam Kher, Om Puri
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Favorite song (ALL of them~! Yeah Himesh!): Shabe Firaq (deleted song), Aya Re, Ye Ankhen, Ghoomar Re
Favorite Music Viedo: Aya Re- Shahid is so sexy and sweet
Story: 5 out of 10 Music: 7 out of 10

Plot: Jeetu (Shahid Kapoor) is a well-meaning entrepreneur whose business ideas have always failed. Because of this, he owes a lot of money to a long list of creditors. He tries to commit suicide by jumping into the ocean to allow his family to collect the life insurance money. But he is pulled up in a fishing net and his new life begins. He plays deaf and dumb when he figures out that the two fishermen who pulled him up want to be paid for helping him; on top of that he's really in a jam because they think he is a millionaire. He meets a rich family with a dumb (cant' speak) girl who is engaged to someone who wants her for her money. The gags and cracks start from there.

Verdict: It's better than Fool N Final by a lot but doesn't come close to Vivah or Jab We Met. The music by Himesh and the music videos make it definitely watchable. Don't miss the deleted song, Shabe Firaq, because it has a really great beat and a cute music video. There was a crazy funny scene in the beginning when Jeetu is in the hospital and Gundya and Bandya are trying to mime places in India. I think a lot of the puns are based on linguistic differences between Hindi and Gujarati, which was hard for me to appreciate.

Top left: Ye Ankhen Top right:Shahid and Kareena in Aya Re

Fool N Final

Movie: Fool N Final (2007)
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Sunny Deol, Vivek Oberoi, Ayesha Takia
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Favorite songs: Yeh Dooriyan followed by Ek Kalsa, Tere Layee, and Sigdi (ALL of them!!--I love rap/techo-pop)
Story: 1 out of 10 Music: 7 out of 10

Plot: Moscow Chikna and J.D. are underworld dons who create problems for the other characters in this movie. Shahid plays a robber and Sunny Deol plays Munna, a strong man who owns a garage and fights to get extra money.

Verdict: What the heck is this mess of a movie? It's all over the place, thou the absurdity is funny sometimes. No worries though, the soundtrack is awesome because it is from Himesh, and this time he is doing a lot of rap beats. Shahid sets the house on fire in Yeh Dooriyan. All the other songs are rocking too.

Dil Maange More

Movie: Dil Maange More (2004)
Director: Anant Mahadevan
Music: Himesh Reshammiya
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Ayesha Takia
Favorite song: O Makhna Ve followed by Shikwa Bhi Tumse and Aisa Deewana Hua Ye Dil
Story: 3 out of 10 Music: 7 out of 10

Plot: Not memorable. Shahid's character finds himself with three women chasing after him, and he handles the situation with all three of them horribly.

Verdict: This movie is nothing. I was just watching it to see the music videos that Shahid is in. The music is pretty good because it was composed by Himesh. The music videos are captivating and Shahid even does some wire-fu to spice up his moves.