Few weeks ago, back from office, I wanted to watch a movie. Sometimes, I get into this weird mindset of watching absolutely bad movies. I generally look at the recent released Bollywood movie lists (they hardly fail me) and pick one up looking at the reviews. On that particular day, I came across a movie named "Jayantabhai ki Love Story!" Surprised? Never heard the name? Well, it stars Vivek Oberoi and Neha Sharma. Neha...I really pity that girl. Not because she can't act (honestly, most bollywood heroines can't, at least the ones lighting the silver screen for the past few years), but just look at her co-stars!!! Started with Emran Hashmi, then Tushar Kapoor (I mean seriously!!! And she had to appreciate his bare body in the movie), followed by Vivek and finally Boby Deol. Doesn't she deserve at least Shahid Kapoor? A pessimistic friend of mine would have said -- "Lucky she didn't end up with Fardeen Khan." Ok, thank your almighty, Neha.
Anyway, lot of digression, getting back to "Jayantabhai ki Love Story!" As expected, this is a pathetic movie where a gangster tries to romance his next door neighbor. Well, let's not go into the movie. Vivek acted as a gangster, yet again. And believe me, he was convincing enough. He always is, right from his debut (Given his career in the movie industry, he can actually try being a gangster in real life).
That is when I felt, we need to talk about this actor. After his once "girlfriend" was hijacked by Abhishek Bachhan (on a separate note, Vivek, I believe, acts better than Abhishek), he has suddenly lost all the glamour and all the attention he used to deserve. Tell me when was the last time post that breakup, you saw him in Koffee with Karan (assuming you are a viewer of this show)?
Vivek, as we all know, made a dream debut. "Company" -- a highly acclaimed film, with co-stars like Ajay Devgan; he shot into limelight in no time. The bad gangster Chandu was highly adored. Within the turn of the year, we saw him romancing Rani Mukherjee in another blockbuster hit, Saathiya. This film is not just another "hit film" in his career, it also showed the audience that he can even play the role of a romantic hero. People started comparing him with the other two new-comers a couple of years back, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachhan (again!!!). Actually, these two had horrible 2002. Hrithik started his downfall with movies like "Aap mujhe achhe lagne lage" (has anyone even seen the movie in its entirety?), "Na Tum jaano na hum" and "Mujhse Dosti Karoge". Dad's kiddo Abhishek starred in "Haan maine bhi pyar kiya" with his the then fiance Karishma (Akshay Kumar had to be there to save the movie, but alas!!), "Shararat" (one of the innumerable crap films by the junior B) and Om Jai Jagdish (Anupam Kher's directorial debut massacre). Thus, Vivek, with his two hit films had a dream debut in Bollywood.
2003 saw Vivek acting in a remake of a Tamil film, Dum. An out and out action movie -- it was however rejected by the audience. The Bollywood audience of 70s might have accepted this angry young man movie, but the new millenium audience were not ready to. After playing some guest appearances, Vivek starred in what I'd consider his biggest mistake -- "Yuva". A Mani Ratnam direction, with excellent co-stars and a hit film!!! So what's the problem? Well, the problem is, if it's a 3 hero film and you play the weakest character, you lose the battle to the other two; and if one of them is your competitor (whom you've already defeated once), you are just shooting at your leg!!! Abhishek Bachhan excelled at Yuva, even ending up getting an award, while poor Vivek had to only romance Kareena in Mandarmani. Those people who were, a few months back, considering Vivek better than Abhishek, now had a clear platform of comparison, and clearly, Vivek was a failure. Why would you choose such a film, Vivek?
Then came a series of films to kill one's career. First, a mindless romantic flick with his girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. Vivek was so obsessed with Aishwarya (as he mentioned in the chat show with Karan), he could do such a pathetic piece of shit!!! Although he brought in some comic element in Masti, it wasn't enough to revive the downslide of his career. Then came a series of bad films, Kaal, Kisna, Pyare Mohan (why should you choose a film with co-actors Esha Deol and Fardeen Khan?), Naksha....Vivek's career was almost gone. But halt!!! Vishal Bhardwaj, an enterprising director, suddenly made Onkara, the bollywood version of Othello. Vivek, as Kesu was more than convincing. Again, he got to play the role of a gangster. Again, he had Ajay Devgan as his co-star. And again, like Yuva, someone stole the whole limelight!! Yes, it was Saif Ali Khan as Lyangra Tyagi, leaving our poor Vivek as a no-gainer from the brilliant film.
Vivek played the role of "Maya Dolas" brilliantly in Shootout at Lokhandwala. He would even win a Filmfare best villain nomination. However, this multi-starrer failed to provide a significant boost to his career. It could, at best, stall his downslide. Next year, he played a Turkish Commando Rizwan Khan (heard the name before) in Mission Istambul. However, with Zayed Khan as co-actor, you can hardly expect anything, and the movie fell flat. Vivek continued with another of his crap, action packed films "Prince", before he was cast into Rakht Charitra. Vivek did a brilliant work in the film, and it got considerable attention. His career, seemed to be revived for the time. Since the last year, he has been acting in films like KLPD (with India's only heroine with US+Punjabi accent -- Mallika Sherawat), Zila Ghaziabad and Jayantabhai!!! I had expected him to come back with a bang after Rakht Charitra, but things are again going downhill.
Vivek Overoi's career has been overall full of ups and downs. The guy, who started his career with such a loud bang, is now far behind Hrithik and Abhishek. He has shown moments of brilliance in some of his gangster roles, but all his romantic characters have fallen flat post Sathiya. He is expected to star in the Roshans' home production, Krish 3. Hope, he does a good job there. His career might never reach the height it reached in 2002, but, he can definitely move against the gravity and be in the race. Here's wishing all the luck for Jayantabhai!!
Anyway, lot of digression, getting back to "Jayantabhai ki Love Story!" As expected, this is a pathetic movie where a gangster tries to romance his next door neighbor. Well, let's not go into the movie. Vivek acted as a gangster, yet again. And believe me, he was convincing enough. He always is, right from his debut (Given his career in the movie industry, he can actually try being a gangster in real life).
That is when I felt, we need to talk about this actor. After his once "girlfriend" was hijacked by Abhishek Bachhan (on a separate note, Vivek, I believe, acts better than Abhishek), he has suddenly lost all the glamour and all the attention he used to deserve. Tell me when was the last time post that breakup, you saw him in Koffee with Karan (assuming you are a viewer of this show)?
Vivek, as we all know, made a dream debut. "Company" -- a highly acclaimed film, with co-stars like Ajay Devgan; he shot into limelight in no time. The bad gangster Chandu was highly adored. Within the turn of the year, we saw him romancing Rani Mukherjee in another blockbuster hit, Saathiya. This film is not just another "hit film" in his career, it also showed the audience that he can even play the role of a romantic hero. People started comparing him with the other two new-comers a couple of years back, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachhan (again!!!). Actually, these two had horrible 2002. Hrithik started his downfall with movies like "Aap mujhe achhe lagne lage" (has anyone even seen the movie in its entirety?), "Na Tum jaano na hum" and "Mujhse Dosti Karoge". Dad's kiddo Abhishek starred in "Haan maine bhi pyar kiya" with his the then fiance Karishma (Akshay Kumar had to be there to save the movie, but alas!!), "Shararat" (one of the innumerable crap films by the junior B) and Om Jai Jagdish (Anupam Kher's directorial debut massacre). Thus, Vivek, with his two hit films had a dream debut in Bollywood.
2003 saw Vivek acting in a remake of a Tamil film, Dum. An out and out action movie -- it was however rejected by the audience. The Bollywood audience of 70s might have accepted this angry young man movie, but the new millenium audience were not ready to. After playing some guest appearances, Vivek starred in what I'd consider his biggest mistake -- "Yuva". A Mani Ratnam direction, with excellent co-stars and a hit film!!! So what's the problem? Well, the problem is, if it's a 3 hero film and you play the weakest character, you lose the battle to the other two; and if one of them is your competitor (whom you've already defeated once), you are just shooting at your leg!!! Abhishek Bachhan excelled at Yuva, even ending up getting an award, while poor Vivek had to only romance Kareena in Mandarmani. Those people who were, a few months back, considering Vivek better than Abhishek, now had a clear platform of comparison, and clearly, Vivek was a failure. Why would you choose such a film, Vivek?
Then came a series of films to kill one's career. First, a mindless romantic flick with his girlfriend Aishwarya Rai. Vivek was so obsessed with Aishwarya (as he mentioned in the chat show with Karan), he could do such a pathetic piece of shit!!! Although he brought in some comic element in Masti, it wasn't enough to revive the downslide of his career. Then came a series of bad films, Kaal, Kisna, Pyare Mohan (why should you choose a film with co-actors Esha Deol and Fardeen Khan?), Naksha....Vivek's career was almost gone. But halt!!! Vishal Bhardwaj, an enterprising director, suddenly made Onkara, the bollywood version of Othello. Vivek, as Kesu was more than convincing. Again, he got to play the role of a gangster. Again, he had Ajay Devgan as his co-star. And again, like Yuva, someone stole the whole limelight!! Yes, it was Saif Ali Khan as Lyangra Tyagi, leaving our poor Vivek as a no-gainer from the brilliant film.
Vivek played the role of "Maya Dolas" brilliantly in Shootout at Lokhandwala. He would even win a Filmfare best villain nomination. However, this multi-starrer failed to provide a significant boost to his career. It could, at best, stall his downslide. Next year, he played a Turkish Commando Rizwan Khan (heard the name before) in Mission Istambul. However, with Zayed Khan as co-actor, you can hardly expect anything, and the movie fell flat. Vivek continued with another of his crap, action packed films "Prince", before he was cast into Rakht Charitra. Vivek did a brilliant work in the film, and it got considerable attention. His career, seemed to be revived for the time. Since the last year, he has been acting in films like KLPD (with India's only heroine with US+Punjabi accent -- Mallika Sherawat), Zila Ghaziabad and Jayantabhai!!! I had expected him to come back with a bang after Rakht Charitra, but things are again going downhill.
Vivek Overoi's career has been overall full of ups and downs. The guy, who started his career with such a loud bang, is now far behind Hrithik and Abhishek. He has shown moments of brilliance in some of his gangster roles, but all his romantic characters have fallen flat post Sathiya. He is expected to star in the Roshans' home production, Krish 3. Hope, he does a good job there. His career might never reach the height it reached in 2002, but, he can definitely move against the gravity and be in the race. Here's wishing all the luck for Jayantabhai!!
1. Vivek Obeoi does not act better than Abhishek Bachchan.
ReplyDelete2. Fardeen Khan rules.