My most reliable test of judging a fantasy film is whether I notice the person sitting in the next seat - if I do, that means the film wasn’t gripping enough for me to be totally absorbed in it.

That’s what a fantasy film should do - transport you into its imaginary world and haul you back only when the end credits roll - for that matter, any film should do that.

Drona didn’t pass the test.

Cast: Imran Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Minissha Lamba, Vidya Malvade

Director: Sanjay Gadhvi

Music: Pritam

Rating: * *

The movie starts in a different manner unlike others, which depicts the suffering of the hero in his jail tenure in forms of sketches. By seeing that one comes to know how much the poor chap had suffered and is filled with utmost hatred with the person who had put him behind the bars.

Split Image Pictures brings together Bollywood and Hollywood to creat India’s first creature - feature film with the most stunning, never-before seen effects.

After contemplating and varying on a lot of working titles, the Bollywood-Hollywood film starring Mallika Sherwat and Irfan Khan will now be officially called ‘Hissss’. Produced by Vikram Singh & Govind Menon of Split Image Pictures & Directed by renowned Hollywood director Jennifer Lynch, the movie has been in news lately for its interesting amalgamation of top technicians of the west and the superstars of our Bollywood industry.

Cast: Nauheed Cyrusi, Nisha, Archana, Shakti Kapoor, Yudi, Aslam

Director: BH Tharun Kumar

Rating: *

‘A Pathetic Chakkar’

Rafoo Chakkar is a passe, painful, boring, crude, trashy, brainless and predictable comedy. And it’s not funny; it makes you yawn all the time. It only shows a typical 3rd degree, low class comedy.

This pathetic chakkar starts with Millie and Julie (Nisha and Nauheed) who run away from home because they do not want to get married. Similarly, Pappu and Munnu( Yudi and Aslam) escape for the same reason. These four meet in Mumbai and fall in love, when they were supposed to get married to each other in the first place.

Cast: Farooque Shaikh, Tanushree Dutta, Kirron Kher, Ankur Khanna, Masumeh, Lilette Dubey

Director: Shona Urvashi

Music: Blaaze, Bipin, Randolph Correa

Ratings : * * *

It’s a world where the economy ain’t in great shape. And so, “Saas Bahu Aur Sensex” may provide some good-old-those-were-the-days nostalgia for those who get the stock market.

Interestingly titled, “Saas Bahu Aur Sensex” always had me wondering how it would blend in the culture of saas-bahu soaps with the Indian stock market. After watching the film, I’m still left wondering.

Cast : Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Illa Arun, Divya Dutta, Ravi Kishan

Director : Shyam Benegal

Ratings : * * *

Welcome to Sajjanpur was previously titled Mahadev ka Sajjanpur because it is Mahadev’s (Shreyas Talpade) story of all the people residing in Sajjanpur.

The Urban Lear

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Preity Zinta, Divya Dutta, Shefali Shah, Prosenjit, Jishu
Director: Rituparno Ghosh

Ratings: * *

The film, ‘The Last Lear’ has a good performance of Amitabh Bachchan who tries to play a man who worked long in Shakespearian Theater and he starts living in the Shakespearian stories only. His skills in theatre is exploited by a movie director as he is called to perform a role in modern cinema. The actor is left with fatal injuries after the shoot. The film tries to say that cinema as a medium is less powerful and unrealistic, when compared to stage.

Star Cast: Randeep Hooda, Shahana Goswami, Rati Agnihotri, Jayant Kripalani

Director : Arjun Bali

Rating: * *

Ru-Ba-Ru is a Hindi version of Hollywood’s ‘If Only’ (2004; Jennifer Love Hewitt and Paul Nicholls).

Being made as a modern urban love story, Randeep Hooda and Shahana Goswami are the lead characters who are madly in love with each other yet find each other’s attitudes and ways of leading life clashing and creating a rift which they never expected.

Star Cast: Rajneesh Duggal, Arjun Singh Rathod, Adah Sharma, Lisa Singh Rathod

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Music Director: Adnan Sami

Rating: * * * *

If you think Ram Gopal Verma’s Phookh scared you to the core, here is a film which will scare you left, right and centre. Vikram Bhatt’s 1920 is the sole answer to Verma’s Phookh throwing the latter nowhere in terms of horror flicks.

Vikram’s 1920 is again an answer to his movie Raaz. People, who got on the edge of their seats while watching Raaz, can be rest assured that 1920 will certainly make them jump out of their seats.

Soha Ali Khan who maintained a low profile after her terrific performance in Rang De Basanti has been the most talked about actress of late now. With Mumbai Meri Jaan receiving a lot of critical acclaim at the box office, looks like producers are on the run for the actoress. Apart from Sudhir Mishra’s Tera Kya Hoga Johnny and Anil Senior Sharma’s Dil Kabaddi Soha has now been signed by producer Aditya Shastri for their forthcoming venture 99.