Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (Chennai Express, 72 Miles – Ek Pravas and Vehicle 19) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Chennai Express

Chennai Express is a 2013 Indian action-comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Gauri Khan under her production banner Red Chillies Entertainment. The film features Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in lead roles. This is the second collaboration between Khan and Padukone after the 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om and the first between Khan and Rohit Shetty. Chennai Express is about a man's journey from Mumbai to Rameshwaram and what happens along the way after he falls in love with the daughter of a local don.

Chennai Express is a story of Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) who embarks on a journey to a small town in Tamil Nadu, only to fulfill the last wish of his grandfather to have his ashes immersed in the Holy water of Rameshwaram. En route, he meets a South Indian girl (Deepika Padukone) hailing from a unique family down South. As they find love through this journey in the exuberant lands of South India, an unanticipated drive awaits them. What follows is a series of adventures where he finds himself in estranged situations, challenged with an unfamiliar language! Chennai Express is an action packed romantic journey. The journey makes Rahul realize the importance of love, life, relationships and sacrifice!

Character Sketches:

Shahrukh Khan as Rahul: Rahul, played by Shahrukh Khan is a North Indian bachelor who stays with his grandparents in Mumbai. Rahul couldn't get married to anyone because of his over-loving and over possessive Grandfather who cannot live without him. Rahul accidentally boards a train that not only takes him to his destination, but also makes him realize the power of true love!

Deepika Padukone as Meena: Meena, played by Deepika Padukone is very fondly referred to as Meenamma by her loved ones. She is a South Indian lady who stays in Komban village with her huge family. She lost her mother when she was a child.

Nikitin Dheer as Tangaballi: Tangaballi, played by Nikitin Dheer is a Periyatalay of another village. Meenamma's father is very fond of him. 

Sathyaraj as Durgeshwara Azhagusundaram: Mr. Dugeshwara, played by Sathyaraj is a very well-known Periyatalay in Komban village. He is Meenamma's father and is very protective about her.

Other actors are Manorama as Meena's aunt, Priyamani in the item number 1 2 3 4... Get on the Dance Floor, Kamini Kaushal and Lekh Tandon.

The music and background score of the film is composed by the duo Vishal-Shekhar. Amitabh Bhattacharya stamped his lyrics in the album.

The film has songs like 1 2 3 4 Get On The Dance Floor sung by Vishal Dadlani, Hamsika Iyer, Sricharan Kasturirangan, Titli by Gopi Sunder, Chinmayi Sripaada, Tera Rastaa Chhodoon Na by Anusha Mani, Amitabh Bhattacharya, Kashmir Main Tu Kanyakumari by Sunidhi Chauhan, Arijit Singh, Neeti Mohan, Ready Steady Po by Vishal Dadlani, Brodha V & Smokey of Machas With Attitude, Enkore, Natalie Di Luccio, Chennai Express by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Jonita Gandhi, Titli (Dubstep Version) by Zoheb Khan, Phoenyx, Chennai Express (Mashup) by DJ Kiran Kamath and Lungi Dance by Yo Yo Honey Singh.

72 Miles – Ek Pravas

72 Miles - Ek Pravas is a Marathi film directed by Rajiv Patil and produced under Grazing Goat Pictures and co-produced by Akshay Kumar and Ashwini Yardi. The film is set in the time of 50's and 60's about journey of a 13 year old young boy who ran away from his hostel and how this young boy matures with time when he meets a lady and her kids. The story of the film is based on Ashok Vatkar’s autobiography. Smita Tambe is the main actor in the film.

Thus the film is a hard-hitting, poignant tale of a young boy who makes his journey into self-actualization against the backdrop of a rustic India. 72 Miles: Ek Pravas explores a beautiful, coming of age journey for the 13 year old boy Ashok and the companionable relationships he makes through his journey. This film aims to transport the audiences into post-independence India as experienced by the protagonist Ashok. The film explores the impact of a woman named Raddhakka on protagonist Ashok.

Vehicle 19

Vehicle 19 is a thriller film which stars Paul Walker, who is also an executive producer on the project, and centers on a foreign traveler who picks up the wrong rental car and ends up caught in the middle of a police corruption scandal. The entire film was shot from inside this one car. Written and directed by South African filmmaker Mukunda Michael Dewil, the film is a typical action movie.

The film has an interesting story. A recently paroled man unwittingly picks up the wrong vehicle, having just got off a long haul flight. He soon realizes that he is the target of an entire police force that will use any means necessary to stop him and the tied-up female “passenger” he discovers in the trunk, from getting to the courthouse to testify against top-to-bottom corruption.

Walker plays Michael Woods, out on parole after a stint for a hit-and-run and desperate to win back ex-wife Angie, now working for the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg. Violating parole to visit her, he's off on a bad foot in other respects as well: His plane is late, Hertz gives him a minivan instead of a sedan, and Angie, on the phone from work, peppers him with nervous questions like "You didn't stop at the liquor store, did you?"

And there's a bound-and-gagged woman in the minivan's storage compartment.

That woman, prosecutor Rachel Shabangu (Naima McLean), was clearly going to be killed by the man intended to pick up this van - witness the gun and the message-delivering BlackBerry that Hertz's clean-up team missed when they were busy not opening the trunk. Rachel has evidence of the chief of police's involvement in a sex-trafficking ring, and the chief's goons - as soon as they've stopped trying to convince Michael they're good guys who just want him to drive to an abandoned warehouse where they'll swap cars with him - soon put his face all over the news and issue a shoot-on-sight order to police. Thus the movie Vehicle 19 is interesting to watch.