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Romantic films are an anathema to me but one has to ignore the schmaltz and the silly acts because the cast includes Keya – unquestionably the most sensational gal in Dhaliwood. Svelte, agile and somehow reminiscent of the pouting Marilyn Monroe, this gal would have gone a long way but grapevine has it that she has married a guy living in the states (she will catch stars now). What a shame! Anyway, Mohabbat Zindabad, the title is self explanatory and like the name the film is a celluloid tribute to love and what this emotion can do our senses.
   Sathi (Keya) is a bombshell and walks about on the roads in skimpy dresses and whoever seen her is a victim of her charm and fiery beauty. Half way through the film we have three casualties, Shimul, Shakil Khan and Fardeen. Shimul worships the Tk100 note given to him by Sathi because it has her touch, Shakil keeps on listening to the Sathi’s voice recorded in his mobile and Fardeen is actually having an affair with her.
   Though Akash (Shimul) and Fardeen are bosom friends the matter of the affair between the latter and Sathi is kept under wraps. Why, only heaven knows. Akash is the son of a professor and we have Prabir Mitra playing his dad (who else is there?). They live in a grand apartment block though it’s hard to reconcile their status with the income of a teacher; his friend Fardeen is depicted as a son of a poor family but his clothes are designer items (walking model of CK?).
   As everyone is head over heels for Sathi, it transpires that she is actually the daughter of a dominating female police officer and has shifted to the same apartment where Akash lives (if real life had so many coincidences!). When all the diwanas are worshipping the path Sathi walks on, Fardeen is forced to go abroad. Then things start happening very fast: Sathi is ordered to marry Shakil Khan, a rich man’s brother but is taken from the wedding ceremony by Akash, the latter phones Fardeen and is asked to keep Sathi with him for the time being and when police come to the scene and are about to send Akash to jail, Sathi comes and says that they eloped. Both of them are kicked out of their homes and earn a living by selling dolls on the street. However, they stay in the same apartment though they do not have any relation; after all she is waiting for Fardeen to come (really?). But, we all know that she has to fall in love with Shimul and after ridiculous twists in the film and uncountable scenes of melodrama and ‘pitti-jola-nakami’ the two are united in a rail station. Interestingly, when Sathi prepares to leave in a train the station is full of people but when she is taking the 100 metre sprint towards Akash, we see that the whole place is deserted. But maybe, all the people cleared to give the love birds a chance. And remember the Tk one hundred note? Well, that plays a dominating role because as it had the touch of Sathi, Akash never spent it (dhong!). Thank God for the serene and relaxing interior of Balaka, otherwise it would have been impossible to sit through this yarn of mind numbing sequences. If you are preme pagal then you may like this as when cupid has hit you, senses take their leave; and the choreography of the songs is great though the numbers are bland. By the way, Whose story is this? I mean the question should be, ‘koy chhilim tansilen bhai?’

Polish director Andrzej Wajda said, he planned to make a film about the massacre of thousands of Polish officers in Katyn forest in 1940.
   ‘It is my sad duty,’ he told the private radio RMF FM.
   The script of the film about Katyn would ‘not be a historical account but will concentrate on a few characteurs’ and draw their psychological portraits, he said.
   Filming will begin at the end of 2005. The working title of the film is ‘Post mortem’.
   Some 22,000 Polish officers and men were taken prisoner by the Red Army when the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland in 1939 following the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany that year.
   On orders from Stalin, the Poles were shot in Katyn forest.
   The Nazis revealed the crime in 1943, but the Soviet Union blamed Hitler’s Germany for the massacre. In 1990, the year before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev acknowledged Soviet responsibility.
   Polish and Russian legal interpretations of the massacre are at odds with each other.
   Poland considers what happened at Katyn a war crime and, therefore, outside the legal statute of limitations, but Russia’s military prosecutor last year classified the incident as a crime under civil jurisdiction and no longer subject to prosecution.
   Wajda, whose past classics include ‘Ashes and Diamonds’ (1958), ‘Kanal’ (1957), and ‘Man of Iron’, about the Solidarity strikes in Gdansk in the summer of 1980, received an Oscar in 2000 for his life’s work.

June 16
   Munna Bhai MBBS, (comedy), 155 minutes, India, 2003, 3:30pm, I am Sam, (drama), 133 minutes, USA, 2002, 6:30pm,
   June17
   Special Movie Show, 4:00pm,
   June 18
   Marooned in Iraq, (drama), 97 minutes, Iraq, 6:30pm,
   June 19
   Outbreak, (drama), 128 minutes, USA, 1995, 6:30pm,
   June 20
   Glengary Glen Ross, (thriller), 96 minutes, USA, 1992, 6:30pm, Death in a French Garden, (thriller), 101 minutes, 1985, 8:30pm,
   June 21
   Second Skin, (thriller), 91 minutes, South Africa, 2000, 6:30pm,
   June 22
   Cast Away, (drama), 120 minutes, UK, 1986, 6:30pm,

Harano Sur will be screened at Indian Cultural Centre, at house no. 25, road no. 96, Gulshan-ll, at 6:00pm today.
   Complementary passes will be available at the Information and Cultural Wing of the High Commission of India, house no. 2, road no. 142, Gulshan-l, Dhaka.

G series has released recently Lal Sabuj, a feature film produced by Impress Telefilm Ltd, on VCD. The film is directed by Shahidul Islam Khokan.
   Different roles are played by Mahfuz Ahmed, Simla, Salahuddin Lovlu, Challenger, Prabir Mitra and others.
   The VCD is available in the market.

The Rock plays Beck, a bounty hunter on one last mission to bring back his mob boss’ errant son, Travis, from the Brazilian rainforest.
   Travis, comically played by Sean William Scott (American Pie, Evolution), is treasure hunting for a priceless Indian artifact also sought by corrupt, slave-driving, goldmine owner Hatcher (Walken, Catch Me if You Can, The Deer Hunter).
   It’s at this mining town, El Dorado, that Beck runs into Mariana — a bartender and rebel leader fighting against the evil Hatcher. Beck’s attempts to retrieve Travis wind up with them both lost in the jungle and pursued by Hatcher.
   Cue hair raising action scenes with lots of comedy thrown in - all interestingly gun-free. Beck prefers to sort out his opponents, kung fu style.
   Following ‘The Scorpion King’, this is further proof that The Rock can cut the mustard as 21st century heir to Schwarzenegger’s action throne. Walken, meanwhile, excels in the kind of eccentric evil role we have come to expect from him. A rollicking, fun-filled adventure not to be missed
   HBO
   9:30pm
   Starring
   The Rock, Seann William Scott, Christopher Walken