Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (D-Day, Ramaiya Vastavaiya, RED 2, Turbo, White House Down and Ship of Theseus) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

D-Day

D-Day is a 2013 Indian crime-thriller film co-produced by DAR motion pictures and Emmay Entertainment Private Limited. The Hindi feature film D-Day is the next directorial offer from Nikhil Advani, starring Arjun Rampal, Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Shruti Haasan, Sandeep Kulkarni and Huma Qureshi in the lead roles.

The film has an interesting story. Nine years ago Wali Khan (Irrfan Khan) was sent into Karachi, Pakistan by the Chief of R&AW Ashwini Rao (Nassar) to report the activities of the Most Wanted Man in India.

Nine days ago, Rudra Pratap Singh (Arjun Rampal) of Indian Armed Forces, MARCOS unit, Zoya Rehman (Huma Qureshi) of R&AW Explosives expert and Aslam (Akash Dhaiya), a petty thief from the streets of Mumbai, recruited by R&AW infiltrated Pakistan to join Wali Khan and carry out the mission to bring back The Most Wanted Man in India. The man who was going to break all ISI protocol and security and attend his own son's wedding. The man who could on that day be abducted and brought back to India to face justice...

Everything was going according to plan till that fateful day. The team sent to bring in The Most Wanted Man in India did the unthinkable. They carried out the most daring operation and almost got away with it - almost because something went horribly wrong.

The film has Arjun Rampal as Captain Rudra Pratap Singh, Irrfan Khan as Wali Khan, Huma Qureshi as Zoya Rehman, Rishi Kapoor as Goldman, Shruti Haasan as Suraiya, Nassar as Chief of R&AW Ashwini Rao, Sandeep Kulkarni, K K Raina, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Shriswara as Wali Khan's wife, Dwij as Wali Khan's son, Imran Hasnee and Maryam Zakaria.

Thus D-Day is the story of four unassuming protagonists, all with varying back stories and a common mission that brings them together on foreign soil to execute one such mission. It explores their journey, their choices, their loss, their victory.

This action drama has music created by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy.

The film has songs like Duma Dum sung by Mika Singh, Mani Mahadevan, Gaurav Gupta, Devendra Chitnis, Arun Ingle, Alvida by Nikhil D'Souza, Sukhvinder Singh, Shruti Hassan, Loy Mendonsa, Murshid Khele Holi by Munnawar Masoom, Javed Ali, Shankar Mahadevan, Gaurav Gupta, Rajiv Sundaresan, Mani Mahadevan, Raman Mahadevan, Ek Ghadi by Rekha Bhardwaj and Dhuaa by Rahul Ram, Siddharth Mahadevan, Alyssa Mendonsa, Thomson Andrews, Keshia Braganza, Crystal Sequeira, Leon D’souza.         

Ramaiya Vastavaiya

Ramaiya Vastavaiya is a Bollywood romance film directed by Prabhu Deva. The film introduces producer Kumar Taurani's son Girish Kumar, opposite Shruti Haasan. It is a remake of Prabhu Deva's directorial debut Telugu blockbuster Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana which in turn was inspired by the 1980s romantic cult movie Maine Pyaar Kiya.

The movie has an interesting plot. The story is based on youngster Ram (Girish Kumar) who falls in love with Sona (Shruti Haasan), who is his cousin's best friend and lives on the fields of Punjab. He follows her to her farm, where her elder brother (Sonu Sood) challenges him to produce more seed on their fields.

The film has Girish Kumar as Ram, Shruti Hassan as Sona, Sonu Sood as Sona's elder brother, Randhir Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon, Vinod Khanna, Paresh Ganatra, Satish Shah, Govind Namdeo, Sarfaraz Khan, Zakir Hussain, Nassar, and Prabhu Deva and Jacqueline Fernandez in special appearances in song Jaadu Ki Jhappi.

All songs of this film are composed by Sachin-Jigar. The film has songs like Jeene Laga Hoon sung by Atif Aslam, Shreya Ghoshal, Hip Hop Pummy by Mika Singh, Monali Thakur, Bairiyaa by Atif Aslam, Shreya Ghoshal, Peecha Choote by Mohit Chauhan, Rang Jo Lagyo by Atif Aslam, Shreya Ghoshal, Jadoo Ki Jhappi by Neha Kakkar, Mika Singh and Jadoo Ki Jhappi (Reprise) by Mika Singh.     

RED 2

RED 2 is a 2013 American action comedy film and sequel to the 2010 film RED, which was inspired by the limited comic book series of the same name created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, and published by the DC Comics imprint Homage. The film stars Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-hun, Anthony Hopkins, and Helen Mirren, with Dean Parisot directing and a screenplay by Jon and Erich Hoeber.

The film has an interesting plot. While trying to lead a normal life, Frank is notified that Interpol is hunting for him. When he tries to clear his name, he is told of a Cold War project to sneak a nuclear weapon into Russia, and that it may have been assembled and activated. In order to successfully defuse it, he is reacquainted with the man who helped set up the project (who has been confined to a mental hospital) and finds himself hunted by Victoria (who has apparently left retirement) and one of the best assassins in the business. It doesn't help that he is also reunited with an old flame who is eager to rekindle their relationship...

The film has Bruce Willis as Frank Moses, John Malkovich as Marvin Boggs, Mary-Louise Parker as Sarah Ross, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Miranda Wood, Lee Byung-hun as Han, Anthony Hopkins as Edward Bradley, Helen Mirren as Victoria, Brian Cox as Ivan Simanov, David Thewlis as The Frog and Neal McDonough as Jack Horton.

Turbo

Turbo is a 2013 American 3D computer-animated sports comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox respectively. It is based on an original idea by David Soren, who is also directing the film. The film features an ordinary garden snail whose dream to become the fastest snail in the world comes true.

Along with Ryan Reynolds, who stars as the eponymous character, the film also features Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Snoop Dogg, Maya Rudolph, Michelle Rodriguez and Samuel L. Jackson.

The film has an interesting plot. Theo, a.k.a Turbo, is a garden snail who dreams of being the greatest racer in the world, just like his hero, 5-time Indianapolis 500 champ, Guy Gagne. His obsession with speed and all things fast has made him an oddity and an outsider in the slow and cautious snail community, and a constant embarrassment to his careful older brother, Chet. Turbo desperately wishes he could escape the slow-paced life he's living.

As luck would have it, Turbo gets that chance one fateful day after a freak accident when he gets sucked into the supercharger of a drag racer, fusing his DNA with nitrous oxide on a Street Race when he suddenly finds himself vested with the power of incredible speed and accuracy, as well as some of the characteristics of a car, such as eyes that light up like headlights, and a shell that blinks red like taillights and makes car sounds and music from a radio.

Turbo and Chet are then captured by Tito, a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver and is brought to race with other snails. Impressed by snail leader Whiplash, he is accompanied by the rest of his crew: Smoove Move, Burn, Skidmark, and White Shadow.

Turbo embarks on an extraordinary journey to achieve the impossible: racing against the best that IndyCar has to offer, but in the Indianapolis 500 there is no way a snail can race in a competition that is meant for cars. He is the ultimate underdog who achieves the impossible by refusing to let his limitations get in the way of his dreams.

The film has the following voice cast: Ryan Reynolds as Theo aka Turbo, a garden snail who dreams of becoming a racer, Paul Giamatti as Chet, Turbo's brother, Michael Peña as Tito, a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver who finds and befriends Turbo, Snoop Dogg as Smoove Move, a snail, Maya Rudolph as Burn, a snail and Turbo's love interest, Michelle Rodriguez as Paz, a car mechanic, Samuel L. Jackson as Whiplash, a snail leader, Luis Guzmán as Angelo, Tito's brother and a "Dos Bros" taco truck driver, Bill Hader as Guy Gagne, a French-Canadian Indy 500 champion, Richard Jenkins as Bobby, a shopkeeper, Ken Jeong as Kim-Ly, a shopkeeper, Ben Schwartz as Skidmark, a snail, Kurtwood Smith as TBA, Michael Bell as White Shadow, a snail, Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Mario Andretti as an Indianapolis Motor Speedway traffic director and Paul Page as a booth announcer.

White House Down

White House Down is a 2013 American action film directed by Roland Emmerich about an assault on the White House by a paramilitary group. The film's screenplay is by James Vanderbilt, and it stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx.

The movie has an interesting plot. John Cale (Channing Tatum) is a police officer at the U.S. Capitol but is looking for something more glamorous. He is an Iraq War veteran and has a 10-year-old daughter, Emily, who is enamoured with U.S. politics and is as excited as her father when he gets an interview to work as a Secret Service agent. The interview does not go well, but since the film would have us believe this kind of meeting takes place inside the White House (codenamed "the Castle"), it is very convenient for him to take Emily on a White House tour, too.

The tour guide mentions that the residence was blown up in the director's own Independence Day, and while we don't get a repeat, we soon get something very comparable: A bomb goes off inside the Capitol and the dome collapses. President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) is taken to safety by the head of his Secret Service detail; Emily has got separated from the tour group, which is cordoned off inside the presidential residence, but before long, John will take it upon himself to find his little girl, and his military training will certainly come in handy if (rather, when) he meets some terrorists inside the White House. The terrorists, here as in many other films, have only one thing on their minds: the president's nuclear launch codes.

The film has the following cast: Channing Tatum as John Cale, a U.S. Capitol Police officer, Jamie Foxx as James Sawyer, the President of the United States, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Carol Finnerty, a Secret Service agent,  Jason Clarke as Emil Stenz, a disavowed ex-Delta Force operative and the leader of the mercenaries that invade the White House, Richard Jenkins as Eli Raphelson, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Joey King as Emily Cale, the daughter of John Cale, James Woods as Martin Walker, the Head of the Presidential Detail and the mastermind of the White House takeover, Nicolas Wright as Donnie, the White House Tour Guide, Jimmi Simpson as Skip Tyler, Stenz's computer hacker, Michael Murphy as Alvin Hammond, the Vice President of the United States, Rachelle Lefevre as Melanie, the ex-wife of John Cale, Lance Reddick as General Caulfield, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Matt Craven as Kellerman, a Capitol Police officer, Jake Weber as Ted Hope, a Secret Service agent, Peter Jacobson as Wallace, Barbara Williams as Muriel Walker, Martin Walker's wife, Kevin Rankin as Carl Killick, one of Stenz's mercenaries, and radical right wing militant, Anthony Lemke as Hutton, Vincent Leclerc as Ryan Todd, Garcelle Beauvais as Alison Sawyer, the First Lady of the United States, Kyle Gatehouse as Conrad Cern, one of Stenz's mercenaries, Falk Hentschel as Motts, one of Stenz's mercenaries and Jackie Geary as Jenna, assistant to the Vice President.

Ship of Theseus

Ship of Theseus is a 2013 Indian drama film written and directed by Anand Gandhi, and produced by actor Sohum Shah. The film explores "questions of identity, justice, beauty, meaning and death through the stories of an experimental photographer, an ailing monk and an enterprising stockbroker”; played by Aida El-Kashef, Neeraj Kabi and Sohum Shah.

The title of the film alludes to Theseus’ paradox, most notably recorded in Life of Theseus, wherein the Greek philosopher Plutarch inquires whether a ship that has been restored by replacing all its parts, remains the same ship.

The film has an interesting plot. Aaliya Kamal (Aida El-Kashef) is a visually impaired and celebrated photographer in the process of undergoing a cornea transplant that will restore her vision. Though the surgery is a success and Aaliya’s vision is restored, she has trouble adjusting to her newfound sense of sight and is dissatisfied with her resulting photography.

Maitreya (Neeraj Kabi), an erudite monk, is part of a petition to ban animal testing in India. When he is diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, his reluctance towards medication is questioned and he must now depend on the people he’s been fighting against - a path he refuses to take.

A young stockbroker, Navin (Sohum Shah), has just had his kidney transplanted. He soon learns of a case of kidney tourism involving an impoverished bricklayer, Shankar. His initial fear is that his new kidney originally belonged to this man. Further investigation proves otherwise, but Navin takes matters into his own hands and confronts the actual recipient in Stockholm.

The film has Aida Elkashef as Aliya Kamal, Neeraj Kabi as Maitreya, Sohum Shah as Navin Parnami, Amba Sanyal as Bhanu Ajji, Faraz Khan as Vinay, Vinay Shukla as Charvaka and Sameer Khurana as Mannu.