The girl with the 'buy'line

Film: Confessions of a Shopaholic (English)
Star cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter, Joan Cusack
Director: PJ Hogan
Theatres: PVR, Fame, Fun, Inox
Rating: ***

What's it about: If you loved The Devil Wears Prada or Sex and the City,u00a0 Confessions of a Shopaholic will steal your heart.

Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher) is a young journalist whose dream is to work at a ritzy fashion magazine. She looks forward to the time she'll be marooned in a sea of smart shoes, expensive designer wear and classy handbags. But in a cruel twist of fate, she finds herself at a money magazine, where she has to offer tips on Successful Saving.u00a0 How she lands the job is itself a terrific story.u00a0 Her role now is to dole out financial wisdom to her readers as The Girl with The Green Scarf, a psuedonym that she earns after a chance encounter with her new boss. Rebecca, who is drowning in debt, has zero knowledge on saving but she writes from the heart and touches readers far and wide. Does she emerge unscathed from her own debt trap? Go check her out.

What's hot: The whole shopaholic act by Isla Fisher is brilliant.

What's not: There's nothing novel about a troubled girl trying to sort out her life (and her wallet). Those who think of shopping as a necessary evil would want to give it a miss.

Dramatic and disturbing

Film: Firaaq (Hindi)
Star Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Mohammed Samad, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra, Shahana Goswami
Director: Nandita Das
TheatreS: PVR, Inox, Fame, Fun Cinemas
RATING: ***

What it's about: Nandita Das's directorial debut, Firaaq, is based on one day, a month after the 2002 carnage in Gujarat, in the life of five people. The film begins with trucks pulling into burial grounds with dead bodies.

Muneera (Shahana Goswami) is unable to get over the nightmare of her house being set ablaze. Next door, a Gujarati housewife (Deepti Naval) can't get over her guilt of refusing help to a Muslim woman who was being hounded by a mob. Au00a0 young couple (Tisca Chopra, Sanjay Suri) are packing their bags to leave the city as they worry about what will happen when their neighbours discover that one of them is Hindu and the other, Muslim. In the midst of this turmoil lives musician Raghuvir Yadav (Naseeruddin Shah) and a child who lost his family to the riots. Their stories make the film riveting.

What's hot: Nandita's deft direction and the fact that her film lingers on in your head and heart, long after it's over.

What's not: With five skeins, you wish more justice, in terms of screen time and story,u00a0 had been done to some of the characters.

Chaat with no masala

Film: Aloo Chaat
Star cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Aamna Sheriff, Khulbushan Kharbanda
Director: Robby Grewal
Theatres: PVR, Inox, Fun Cinemas
Rating: **