The Worst Film Ever

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It is difficult to fathom the minds of Indian directors - what drives them to create period movies with stories that are still relevant in 21st century. Whether it is Vidhu Chopra's "1942 - A Love Story" or Sudhir Mishra's "Khoya Khoya Chand". With too much focus on recreating the past, the story takes a back seat and as a result, the movie fails to impress.Time to time, Bollywood keeps making movies about itself - mainly the struggle for new comers and its dirty ongoings, right from Guru Dutt's "Kaagaz Ke Phool" to Zoya Akhtar's "Luck By Chance" (Best among the crop being Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Guddi"). Sudhir Mishra takes one step further - he makes a movie about 1950's Bollywood. He tries to cram everything into a story - new comer struggle, casting couch, art v/s mainstream cinema, etc., etc. But while putting so much efforts to recreate that "magical era", the story, the dialogues and the character development takes a back seat. The result is just a movie that seems to be going nowhere.The movie centres around Nikhat, an actress, played by Soha Ali and Zafar, a script writer/novelist/director/producer played by Shiny Ahuja. The movie centres around the ups and downs in their relationship, and between other characters along a time period. However, crammed with corny dialogues, annoying stereotype characters and clichéd situations, the movie drags right from the start. After a while, you just don't care what happens to the characters. Inconsistencies and loopholes are galore. Since the main characters have a Muslim background, it is customary to speak "khalis Urdu" and observe that "tehzeeb". However after few scenes, all that mannerism seems to disappear in thin air. The height of ridiculousness comes when to show her alcoholism, the director shows Soha Ali in a car parked on Bombay street side and Soha enjoying a glass of hooch.The character of Shiny is supposed to be some kind of deep brooding, which he plays to an annoying extreme. It reminds me of similar character played by Akshay Khanna in "Dil Chahta hai". But speaking in a slow baritone voice doesn't make you an intellectual, it just makes you look a phony.This movie somehow reminds me of Scorsese's "The Aviator". In "Aviator" however, with emphasis on recreating past, the director did not lose focus on the basic element for a good movie - a strong solid storyline. With "Khoya Khoya Chand" however, no such hope exists,sadly. The only positive aspect that I did not spend any money to watch this drivel, a simple walk to public library is all the effort that I put in watching this movie. I still gave 4 starts to the movie, as there are still movies that are worse than this and are still popular and made big monies at box office.

Movies from Sudhir Mishra's basket as always stand apart from the rest of the crowd. The subjects he chooses, the characters he brings to life and the way he presents them on the celluloid has always been different. And Khoya Khoya Chaand is no different. This time around he attempts a period movie against the backdrop of the Indian film Industry (I would abstain from using the word Bollywood as I very much doubt if the term existed in 1960's). He takes bits and pieces from the film magazines, scandals, rumours and biographies to weave a plot and base it on the love-story between the writer/director and the actress. Sounds familiar? Well, fact meets fiction and a thin line separates the two. For a novice it would seem KKC is a tale taking snippets predominantly from the lives of Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Kamal Amrohi, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. And perhaps more, if one were to ask an expert on the subject. As with Sudhir Mishra's movies he infuses the grey shades to the characters owing to which they flesh out very much true-to-life. ם Shiny Ahuja:: Does a good job. Its evident that his character loosely inspired on the life of Guru Dutt and perhaps Raj Kapoor.ם Soha Ali Khan:: Quite a matured performance indeed. Her character has many layers and safely manages to deliver the goods. I am sure the inputs from Mum must have helped.ם Vinay Pathak:: Initially you feel the actor is wasted in a pathetic character, but in second half the character gains momentum.ם Rajat Kapoor:: As usual dependable. ם Sonya Jehan:: Extremely pretty however her performance seemed very plastic. The set, makeup, songs, dances, costumes (and even the telephone ring) transport you into the era of 60's. Everybody who has contributed to the movie deserves to be acknowledged for the valiant effort. KKC is not Om Shanti Om, the goody-goody glorified industry, it is not Bollywood Calling, the dark satire and neither Luck By Chance which portrays the industry from the struggler's perspective but yes - it belong to the same genre. It does not shy away to tell the darker side of the industry and attempts to realistically portray the picture behind the iron wall without being derogatory. The movie caters to a cross-section of audience hence there is hardly any room for commercial or wider acceptance.

The title "Khoya Khoya Chand" is a song which was sung in a 1950's movie "Kaala Bazaar" by the late Mohd Rafi for Dev Anand. This is an indication that this movie, by Sudhir Mishra is based during that era - 1950's to 1960's. In fact, in a recent interview, he said that this film was his way of paying a tribute to those in that era.Nikhat, daughter of a well known actress, Sharda, is keen to join the movie industry and does so by learning to dance and catches the eye of the top actor Prem Kumar with whom she falls in love with. She later finds out that he is getting married to someone else, even though he has proclaimed his love for her. This is when script writer Zaffar liberates her from the actor's stranglehold but then events take another turn for Nikhat and she's left alone again.Soha Ali Khan, sister of Saif Ali Khan and daughter of the legendary actress, who herself was a excellent actress, Sharmila Tagore and also daughter of the famous Cricketing legend, the Nawab of Pataudi, has given an excellent performance in this movie. She, also, looks gorgeous. The other cast include Shiny Ahuja, who has also performed well, Rajat Kapoor,Sushmita Mukherjee and Vinay Pathak. The music director, Shantanu Moitra, has set a very good example of recreating the music style of the 1950's and the 1960's and not to mention the jazz genre in it, which makes the songs worthwhile listening to. Finally, the director, Sudhir Mishra, no doubt has created and directed a speciality movie by recreating the 1950's and 1960's era for the screen. Also what has made this movie interesting are the songs that are being played in the background - many of which were, and still are, most memorable tunes from that era. Soha Ali Khan, recently said that her mother helped her with the dressing for the movie. This is not surprising because Sharmila Tagore was a fashion icon at the time as well being a excellent actress of the 1960's. There were rumours that this movie was based on the romance between Waheeda Rehman and the late Guru Dutt,who was married to the singer, Geeta Dutt and who directed movies such as the classical "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam" and "Pyasa". But the director, in no certain words, has denied this. However, there may be certain parts that some viewers, and especially those of the elder generation, may consider the rumour to be true.Conclusion: Those who like to watch movies from the 1950's and 1960's - a worthwhile movie to watch and enjoy. But those who do not like such movies, or are not very keen on such genres, may not find it worthwhile.

'khoya khoya chand' prooves the amazing skills of the director sudhir mishra. although the writer sudhir mishra may still need to work a bit.the movie style is amazing. the story being set up in the early 60s is amazinginly displayed using all details of the era. from wooden badminton rackets to clothing...... each detail has been taken care of.the art direction and special effects also need an applause.the first half of the movie has great dialogues and great story. the second half seems to be a bit stretched.after the awesome movie ' hazaron khwaishien aisi', one expected an 'unexpected ending'. although the end could have been arrived earlier than it did, it was still 'unexpected'.