Dus Kahaniyaan

Well, taking cue from RGV's "Darna...." series (and Tarantino/ Rodriguez), Dutt Baba conceives Dus Kahaniyaan on similar lines. At the very outset, it seems all the segments are crammed thereby leaving with ""Bang-Bang Thank You Ma'am" feeling. Perhaps more time was warranted for the characters to take shape and the plot to sink in.

Matrimony:: The plot is a straight lift from one of the email forwards. Arbaaz looks suave and Mandira quite convincing.

High on the Highway:: Very contrived of the entire lot. Jimmy's performance is at its worst and somebody please give him a truth serum of his awful hair color.

Puranmaashi:: Probably owing to time constraint the plot seems extremely lame. Coming from Meghna, my expectations were riding high owing to Gulzar genes.

Stranger in the night:: Again, not one of the brightest crayons in the box. In short the plot is "Looking London - Going Tokyo", if you know what I mean.

Zahir:: Again a downer plot, topped up with great performance by the two. Also perhaps Dia would have been a ideal choice in High on the High on the Highway segment.

Lovedale:: Seemed straight out of Yashraj camp - too coincidental.

Sex on the beach:: Plot is copied from Darna series. No great shakes in there.

Gubbare:: My vote for the Number One segment. Short, crisp and effective. The conversation of Nana to his wife should have been edited for creative impact.

Rice Plate:: Number Two vote. Thought the plot seems to be copied from one of the email forwards, its the Shabana and Naseer who make up with the top-notch performance.

Rise and Fall:: The plot needed more space. Also the non-linear format confuses. The background score is loud. Otherwise a meaty plot.

Watch it if you have nothing to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Dus Kahaniyan - Six Director's 10 short stories in one film is the novel part which can be compared with "Darna Mana Hai" kind of movies. The only difference is that here "Its like seeing 10 short films at one go" as they are not related with each other and no linking scenes. Here I will rate each story for you and that will give you the whole idea of the movie :

The Best of 10 Stories 1. Puranmaasi (Amrita Singh, Minisha Lamba and Parmeet Sethi) If this short story does not inspire our film-makers to look into our own literature in Hindi, Urdu & Punjabi for new subjects then no one can inspire us really. Directed by Meghna Gulzar its based on the short story of Kartar Singh Duggal. The plot is so powerful and shockingly impactful that you feel surprised, why it was not adopted for a complete movie. The most impressive of the 10 and the unarguably the best part of the movie. You will only remember this at the back of the mind after watching all the 10.

Other Good Stories 2. Strangers in the night (Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar) (Good use of surprise element, human touch and sensuality) 3. Zahir (Manoj Bajpai, Dia Mirza) (You find it funny as you get to know the real thing though its quite serious) 4. Rice Plate (Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah) Rohit Roy makes his directorial debut but chooses an inspired theme. Though he does a fine job but the similarities with the short film "The Lunch Date" (1989) are really questionable. Check out : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100076/plotsummary

Below Average Stories 5. Matrimony (Mandira Bedi, Arbaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey) (On Out of marriage Relations told many times) This story is inspired from 1st Episode of SEASON 6 of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" Titled : Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat Check out at : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047708/episodes#season-6 http://www.alfredsplace.com/presents.htm 6. High On The Highway (Jimmy Shergill, Masumeh) (About a drug addict couple..Not impressive) 7. Love Dale (Anupam Kher, Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Oberoi) (Follows the "Darna Mana Hai" tradition with Ghosts) 8. Sex on the Beach (Dino Morea and Tareena Patel) (This too follows the "Darna Mana Hai" Ghost thing) 9. Gubbare (Anita Hasnandani, Nana Patekar and Rohit Roy) (Again on "Darna Mana Hai" lines) 10. Rise and Fall (Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty) (Gang Fights and Stunts……Just Passable)

So with only 4 out of 10 watchable stories, it gives only average rating to the movie. Rating : 2.5 Stars (Dont miss "Puranmaasi", the story is the pride of our rich literature)

Dus Kahaniya falls in the line of the daring attempts made by few directors of presenting different stories of different people in one movie. But this was the most unique of all them, till today. Dus Kahaniya is just like somebody buying a short story book from a book shop which comprises for 10 different stories. But the real flaw, which i think was, i was never attemted to establish a link between these stories which may also be said as the unique point of the movie. But i don't think this gamble paid off.

Also i would certainly mention about a few stories which i personally liked, from the flock presented,were Rice Plate(Nassir Sahab and Shabana Aajmi ji,directed by Rohit Roy), Zahir (Manoj Bajpai and Dia Mirza, Directed by Sanjay Gupta) and Puranmasi(Amrtia Singh,Minnisha Lamba and Permeet Sethi, directed by Meghana Gulzar).

I would certainly say that people should watch the movie and if you don't watch it expecting links between the stories this one you will certainly like.

Here i would also mention that the most disappointing person was Apporv Lakhiya. I think the story was not new to the public, for me at least. I expect more form him after seeing some of his brilliant work.

You can blame Sanjay Gupta for making violent movies, based on the underworld or the bizarre. But one needs to give him credit for doing stuff thats not too run-of-the-mill.

Having gathered a young crew of directors, mostly novice, comprising of Meghna Gulzar (Just Married), Apoorva Lakhia (Shootout at L'wala/Ek Ajnabee), Rohit Roy amongst others, Gupta gives them less than 15 minutes time to showcase his own concepts.

The collection opens with MATRIMONY (4/10). Mandira Bedi is surprisingly good.

Next up is HIGH ON THE HIGHWAY (1/10). Jimmy Shergil gets irritating.

POORANMASHI (3/10) brings Meghna on who gets a good job from Amrita Singh. Lamba is wasted. Nice rural touches.

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (4/10) gets one added star for its narrative style. It is made to deceive. But unbelievable. Manjrekar disappoints as the husband.

The last pre-intermission segment is ZAHIR (4/10) and this one disappoints. Crudely shot by Gupta. Manoj Vajpayee is uninterested & way below-par.

LOVEDALE (4/10) is a slow tale and you can smell the super-natural halfway through the story. Anupam Kher is wasted.

Apoorva Lakhia's SEX ON THE BEACH (1/10 is the worst of the lot. Poor performances. Crudely presented.

RICE PLATE (9/10) by debutante Rohit Roy is a pleasant surprise. Roy infuses immediate charm and is considerably helped by Shabana Azmi's brilliant portrayal of an orthodox religious Southie. Azmi takes just a few frames to warm up but ends up in control. Naseer Shah is understated. (This, in fact, is 'borrowed' from a Jeffrey Archer short story).

GUBBARE (3/10) is passable only because of Patekar. Gulzar's script doesn't really shine. Nana is a natural.

RISE & FALL (5/10) has two stories intertwined (gets very confusing too). Lots of style. I personally found Suniel Shetty a notch above than Dutt. The two teenage taporis are really good.

Overall worth a look. Technical values are pretty good. Some segments have good editing but sound designing is improper for this genre.

Thankfully,Dus Kahaniyaan has more good kahaniyaans than bad ones.Here

are some stories that didin't match up:

High on the Highway directed by Hansal Mehta starring Jimmy Sheirgill. Didn't do it for me.I felt bored quickly. This was ten minutes long but it felt much longer to me.The story was pretty bad and the acting got annoying after awhile.

Sex on the Beach directed by Apoorva Lakhia and starring Dino Morea. With a title like that and *taring Dino,you probably know what your'e getting into! Its a supernatural thriller and some parts in the beginning did keep you interested but the ending totally killed the movie.

Rise and Fall directed by Sanjay Gupta Starring Sanjay Dutt and Suneil Shetty.

No,its not totally bad.But for most part,it does leave you confused .Good performances,no doubt,but definitely could have been better handled.

Love Dale by Jasmeet Dhodi starring Anupan Kher and Aftab. A modest debut by Dhodi.Sweet story but predictable.

The rest of the stories were good.Sticking out are Rice Plate starring Nasseruddin and Shabana and Gubbare mainly because of Nana Patekar.

Overall,DK does have enough stories to keep you entertained for two hours.The song in the end was nice but unnecessary.