shiraj-dakshy Reviews

Happy New Year (I) (2014)

Too many & too much spoil the New Year

[4/10 · 24 October 2014]

Big Star cast and big production value do not necessarily give you a GOOD movie; I guess Bollywood directors should realize this…

"Happy New Year" is another such opportunity, but somehow falls short in the overall narration…

Written by Farah Khan, Mayur Puri and Althea Kaushal "Happy New Year" is your Bollywood take on "Ocean's Eleven" with the desi Bollywood tadka of Naach Gaana, Patriotism and over the top comic sequences. The story is of five losers headed by Charlie (Shahrukh Khan) who plan a heist to steal diamonds worth 300 crores , how they implement the plan and whether they are successful in the heist is what the movie is all about….

The story concept wise is brilliant but it is the screenplay which is full of loop holes and unnecessary sequences which do not add up to the overall movie experience. The first half drags, as it is solely spent to introduce the characters. The main issue in the narration is the emphasis on the Dance Competition and less screen time is spent in the planning of the heist. Though each character is defined excluding Charlie's well, but later the main characteristics are sidelined like Jag (Sonu Sood) is supposed to be deaf by one ear but this is conveniently over looked in many sequences, such is the case with other characters as well. The chemistry between Charlie and Mohini (Deepika Padukone) is missing completely. The climax looks too convenient and a bit stretched. Another issue is the 179 mins of screen time which is way too long and it could have been 30 mins short.

The dialogues are more of a spoof of previous Shahrukh Khan Movies, and there is nothing original.The dialect of both Mohini and Nandu are inconsistent. Excluding a few sequences the comic sequences falls flat and is hardly humorous.

Shahrukh Khan performs earnestly even in silly sequences, but definitely it is not his best. Abhishek Bachchan as Nandu Bhide unfortunately is a badly written character which is more of a clown without much to do. Sonu Sood as Jag is good in showing his abs but unfortunately the same could not be said for his performance. Boman Irani repeats his quintessential Parsi act as Tammy, I feel he is being repetitive and should re-invent himself. Deepika Padukone as Mohini unfortunately has nothing much to do but she is good and lights up the screen. Vivaan Shah as the hacker Rohan shows promise but his character is too one dimensional for any histrionics. Jackie Shroff as the antagonist Charan Grover looks too haggard to be a suave businessman and his act does not impress too much. Rest of the cast is also average.

Cinematography by Manush Nandan is full of glitter and gives a glamorous look. Farah Khan and Geeta Kapoor's choreography is pleasing especially "Manwa Laage" and "Main Lovely".

Farah Khan had an excellent cast and a huge production house backing her and off course a superstar like Shahrukh Khan, but she completely wasted this opportunity with a mediocre script and a narration which is full of loopholes. I think Farah should have concentrated more on originality rather than on spoof of other Bollywood movies.

The movie is neither very bad neither very good, and has nothing new to offer, in a nutshell a very average attempt….

Bang Bang (I) (2014)

All about glitz and glamor but no content

[5/10 · 5 October 2014]

"Bang Bang" is Sidharth Anand's first foray into action, a departure from his rom coms like "Salaam Namaste", "Bachna Aai Haseeno", "Tara Ra Rum Pum" and "Anjana Anjani".

Officially it is the remake of Tom Cruise's not so impressive "Knight & Day". "Bang Bang" has a wafer thin story by Patrick O Neil about Rajveer Singh (Hrithik Roshan) a thief who steals the Kohinoor diamond from London, falls in love with a dumb damsel Harleen (Katrina Kaif) and is in search of international terrorist Omar Zafar (Danny), why, when and how is what the movie is all about…

Screenplay by Sujoy Ghosh and Suresh Nair is equally unimpressive. The central character is almost like a super hero, I think the writers created an alter ego of Krish with Rajveer Nanda who jumps, leaps, uses state of art gadgets, shows his well sculpted body and kisses his damsel with passion, he is too perfect to be believable. The plot or should I say chaos is just a collage of some action sequences, car chases in international locations and songs in beautiful locations like Greece, nothing more than that. I did not expect such a half baked plot from Sujoy, it had a premise of a sleek spy thriller but the screenplay just does not pick up. Even the love story does not strike a chord, it only has some kissing sequences, and songs which pop up from nowhere. Half hour into the movie and you can predict the narration.

Dialogues by Abbas Tyrewala is amateurish and too mundane with desh bhakti punch lines like the 80's, even the dialogues could not salvage the bland script.

Performance wise Hrithik Roshan sleep walks through his portrayal and it felt that it was an extension of his previous character Krish. Katrina Kaif with her forced innocent act as Harleen Sahani the bank receptionist is irritating and she end up being an arm candy and only needs to look good. Danny has a hackneyed villainous character of Omar Zafar who is a quintessential bollywood villain, but his presence makes an impact. Pawan Malhotra is wasted as Intelligence Officer Dilawar, as his character is poorly written and half backed. Deepti Naval, Kanwaljit Singh, Jimmy shergill and Vikram Gokhale are wasted in insignificant cameos. Javed Jaffery as Hamid Gul has nothing much to do. In short a good ensemble cast is wasted in a half baked story.

The best aspect of the movie is its action by Parvez Shaikh, it is sleek and well choreographed. Choreography by Bosco Ceaser & Ahmed Khan is done well, especially the song "Tu Meri" song which showcased Hrithik's brilliant moves. Music by Vishal Shekhar is foot tapping and breezy, apt for the kind of subject, even the background score by Salim-Sulaiman is good. Another highlight of the movie is the cinematography by Vikas Sivaraman and Sunil Patel which added the glitz and style to the narration.

Sidharth Anand had everything going for him in this movie, superstar Hrithik Roshan and the beautiful Katrina Kaif, Fox star as the producer did not spare any expense in making "Bang Bang" a grand cinematic experience, but it is opportunity lost due to weak and half baked script. Even Sidharth's direction is inconsistent, he concentrated more on style and glitz and less on the content and eventually the movie falls flat.

A plot which could have been a good spy thriller, but fails miserably.....

Haider (2014)

A Complex subject handled with care .

[8/10 · 3 October 2014]

Vishal Bharadwaj completes his trilogy with William Shakespeare's adaptation of "Hamlet", earlier he made" Maqbool", an adaptation of Macbeth and "Omkara", an adaptation of Othello.

"Hamlet" was a difficult subject to adapt but Vishal Bharadwaj in association with Basharat Meer has adapted it beautifully. Vishal's "Hamlet" or "Haider" is set in Kashmir, year 1995, and it tells the story of Haider's (Shahid Kapoor) search for his missing father Dr Hilal Meer (Narendra Jha)who was captured by the army.

"Hamlet" had many layers to its premise and Vishal has tried to stick to the premise and interwoven those layers with élan. Each character right from Haider (Prince Hamlet) to the two Salmans (Courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) who play Haider's childhood friends who spy on Haider to the Gravediggers has been etched well. Vishal has been true to the play and the writing is so strong that you feel the pain and ethos of Haider. Haider's relationship with his mother Gazala (Queen Gertrude) has been portrayed with sensitivity and all the sequences between them are the highlight of the movie. It is Gazala's character which is the best written character in the movie, it is mysterious and unpredictable till the end. It is the second half when the narration slips a bit and slows down the pace; even the climax seems a bit overstretched. It is the 162 mins run time which is a drawback; it could have been 15 mins shorter. Dialogues by Vishal Bharadwaj is witty and at the same time with a lot of depth.

Performances by the ensemble cast are the biggest highlight of the movie. Shahid Kapoor as Haider is one of his best performances till date and you can feel the pain and anguish. In some sequences he surpasses all expectations especially the sequence at Lal Chowk, it tapped his versatility as an actor, he proves that only he could have played Prince Hamlet which is the most complex character in English literature. Tabu as Haider's mother Gazala is the best performance of the movie; she is brilliant and does justice to Vishal's writing and vision of Queen Gertrude. Kay Kay Menon as Khurram (Claudius), Haider's uncle proves again that he is an actor to watch out for; he is the most underutilized actor of Bollywood. Narendra Jha as Haider's Father (King Hamlet) Hilal Meer is the surprise element of the movie. He does an excellent job considering the strong actors in the cast, still he shines. Lalit Parimoo another brilliant but underutilized actor plays Parvez Lone (Polonius), the army chief of Kashmir, and his portrayal of this conniving character who loves his daughter is another highlight performance of the movie. His portrayal is underplayed aptly and that is the beauty of his performance. Irfan Khan (The Ghost) as Roohdar the Pakistani militant is a cameo but his portrayal makes it a memorable character of the movie. Shradha Kapoor as Arshi (Ophelia) Haider's love interest is good but her performance gets lost due to some brilliant performances by the rest of the cast. The two Salmans (Courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) Haider's childhood friends played by Sumit Kaul & Rajat Bhagat give you the comic relief but are the weakest characters written in this movie. Kulbhushan Kharbanda in a cameo as Gazala's father-in-law was a delight.

Shot entirely in Kashmir and it has been captured beautifully on celluloid by Pankaj Kumar. Dolly Ahluwalia again creates her impact through her costumes which were well researched and developed. Production Design by Subrata Chakraborthy & Amit Ray again was one of the best aspects of Haider. Music another forte of this movie by Vishal Bharadwaj in haunting, especially the Kashmiri folk inspired Bismil and the sensitive Jhelum sung by Vishal himself.

Vishal Bharadwaj again proves that he is a sensitive film maker and good with complex subjects. He succeeds in extracting some of the best performances of this year from his cast. The length and the overstretched climax make "Haider" a few notches short from being a classic.

This is definitely not an entertainer but if you want to watch a good sensitive movie (which is rare) go for it

Finding Fanny (2014)

A quirky tale with a Soul

[7/10 · 13 September 2014]

Homi Adajania is back after his commercial mainstream outing in "Cocktail" to what he does best, tell another quirky tale of dysfunctional individuals which he convincingly told with his debut "Being Cyrus".

"Finding Fanny" let me warn is not your run of the mill movie, it is abstract in its narration but the soul is at the right place.

Homi Adajania adapts Kersi Khambata's story again after "Being Cyrus". "Finding Fanny" primarily tells the story of five individuals Angie (Deepika Padukone), her mother-in-law Rosie (Dimple Kapadia), her naïve affable friend Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah), her mother-in-law's admirer Don Pedro (Pankaj Kapur) and her brooding secret lover Savio Da Gama (Arjun Kapoor). Based in a small village of Goa Pocolim, the story unfolds when these five principle characters take a road trip to find Ferdie's love, whom he confessed love 46 years back Stefanie Fernandes a.k.a "Fanny" (Anjali Patil). How each character comes to his own and discovers themselves is what the story is all about.

The story premise by Kersi Khambata is wafer thin but it is the screenplay which accentuates the narration. It is the situations that make the story funny; each character is defined well with their set of eccentricities and insecurities. Kersi has done a brilliant job in defining the characters well. But I felt the proceeding goes from quirky to awry as the movie comes to an end. The climax could have been written better. But overall the pace never dips and at the end you have a smile. Well as I said earlier this is not your conventional film so do not expect the obvious.

The Dialogues written by Kersi and Homi is the highlight of the movie which complements the narration and lifts the scenes. They are brilliantly written with subtle humor but the impact is hilarious.

It is the performances by the ensemble cast which is a major highlight and the reason why the movie is a delight to watch. Homi undoubtedly had an enviable cast. Naseeruddin Shah as Ferdie, the emotional affable post master is brilliant. Naseer underplays his character,he has modulated his voice and his body language to portray Ferdie and the outcome is just mind-blowing. Pankaj Kapur who plays the eccentric lusty painter Don Pedro, he again proves his brilliance with this portrayal. Although amongst the five characters, Don Pedro's character is wafer thin as far as the writing goes but Pankaj Kapur with his portrayal takes the character to the zenith. It was delight to watch both the thespians in one frame. Dimple Kapadia as Rosie is brilliant and gives one of her best performances; she captures the nuances of Rosie's character well. Deepika Padukone again gives a good performance with Angie, Homi extracts another cracker performance after her Veronica act in "Cocktail". Arjun Kapoor as Savio, the brooding loser and lover shows his range as an actor.

Anil Mehta's cinematography is so breathtaking that after watching the movie you want to take a trip to Goa. He captures the old Goa so well, something which has not been highlighted well after "Trikaal". Goa's beauty lies beyond the beaches as well and Anil has captured it brilliantly.

Costumes by Anaita Shroff Adajania are so well done that it actually blends with the narration and does not look out of place. Production Design by Manisha Khandelwal is another highlight, every detail is painstakingly executed. The last highlight being the Music by Mathias Duplessy especially the backgrounds score, it just transports you to another world.

Homi Adajania breaks the conventional norms of film making and tries to create an Indian "Little Miss Sunshine"; well he partially succeeds as well. The movie's unconventional take makes it for niche audience and it may not find takers in the masses.

Creature (I) (2014)

This Fear has No Face

[3/10 · 12 September 2014]

Just like Ramsays in the 80's and early 90's were the pioneers in the horror genre, similarly Vikram Bhatt is creating his niche in this genre, well now with technology like VFX and 3D Format.

But after watching "Creature" I felt that Vikram Bhatt has not really grown after his major hit in this genre "Raaz" in 2001. The tag line of the movie says "Fear has a New Face", well unfortunately Vikram offers nothing new to accentuate the fear other than the VFX created monster.

"Creature" tells the story of Ahana (Bipasha Basu) who purchases a property in a hill station Glendale in Himachal and starts a Boutique hotel. Things go awfully awry when her guests start getting attacked by a monster or Bhramha Rakshash. How the damsel in distress fights against the monster forms the crux of the story.

Story by Vikram Bhatt himself and screenplay by him and Sukhmani Sadana has nothing new. It is clichéd and the first half takes enough time to build up, with sub plots of Ahana's father and his suicide and the not so happening love story of Ahana and Kunal (Imran Abbas) which basically wastes a lot of screen time in songs and the mythological twist of Bhramha Rakshah almost kills the movie and what we get is a half baked VFX driven bland script. Some sequences in the movie instead of making your jump from the seat, makes you laugh. Overall the writing has immense flaws and too dated.

The dialogues by Girish Dhamija is so outdated that you feel you are watching a movie from the 90's, some dialogues are unintentionally funny like when the Kunal tells Ahana referring to bank officials as vultures, Ahana replies she is not dead yet.

The narration by Vikram Bhatt is sluggish and looks dated and in many sequences you are reminded of "Raaz", Vikram Bhatt's blockbuster of 2001 which was 13 years back. I think Vikram needs to re-invent his style.

Performances by the cast also do not help. Bipasha Basu who plays Ahana has a perpetual frown on her face throughout the movie and looks confused. Bipasha repeats her "Raaz" act again but she forgot that "Raaz" was 13 years back and times have changed, overall she gives a below average performance. Debutant Pakistani actor Imran Abbas as Kunal is least impressive and has only one expression for all the scenes whether it was Romantic, Sad or Fearful. Mukul Dev as Professor Sadana sleep walks through his portrayal, cannot blame him as the character was written half baked. Rests of the cast are equally unimpressive.

Music by Mithoon has no soul and the choreography by Raju Khan is extremely mediocre. It is only the VFX generated monster which looks like a amalgamation of Hollywood creatures from Aliens, Predator and Jurrassic Park, is impressive.

"Creature" could have been India's answer to "Predator", but alas the outcome is too bland and mediocre, even the 3D format could not salvage a weak script and sluggish narration.

Mary Kom (2014)

Mary Kom: An Inspiring story with a Sincere Effort

[7/10 · 6 September 2014]

Many times when you watch a movie especially a biopic which has an inspiring story you may overlook the flaws and technicalities, such was my experience with "Mary Kom".

Debutant Director Omung Kumar brings life the story of Boxing Champion "Mary Kom". The story & screenplay of Saiwyn Qadras charts the journey of a daughter of a simple farmer Mangte Chungneijang from Manipur to becoming the 5 times World Champion MC Mary Kom or Magnificent Mary as she is called.

Saiwyn's screenplay is shaky in the beginning but concludes on a high note. The first half looks more like a collage of incidents in Mary Kom's life put on celluloid with no cohesiveness in the narration and everything is shown in a hurry which does not have any emotional connect, but in the second half the movie takes a 360 degree turn in the narration and shows us Mary Kom's comeback after becoming a mother. The second half the narration shows a lot of depth and emotions which are depicted well concluding the movie to a high octane dramatic end. Though a lot of people will find the climax a bit dramatic but the bottom-line is at the end it strikes the right cord and you come out being proud of Mary Kom and her achievements. The other flaw in the script is that it does not delve deep in the other character's storyline.

The dialogues by Ramendra Vashishtha and Karan Singh Rathore is good but quite inconsistent in the getting the language and the dialect right. Though the dialogues has a few Manipuri words being used but sometimes the dialect and language of the principal cast look a bit out of place especially Mary Kom's character.

Omung Kumar's direction is sincere and honest and it comes through in the narration especially in the second half. The one flaw in Omung's direction is his hurried narration; he should have paid more heed to the characterization of other principal characters other than Mary Kom's. Though being Omung's first film as a director and choosing a biopic as a subject really needs a lot of conviction, and he shows the spark as a director.

Performance wise it is definitely Priyanka Chopra all the way. She is sincere in her portrayal as a boxer Mary Kom, her whole transformation from a glam doll to a boxer physically right from the body language to the way she talks is to be seen to believe. Frankly I had my reservations about Priyanka portraying the role but she has really surprised me with her portrayal. Another stand out performance is of Darshan Kumaar who plays Onler Kom, Mary's husband the real pillar of strength in the boxer's life. Darshan 's underplaying the portrayal gives the needed depth required, an actor to watch out for. Sunil Thapa as Mary's coach does a good job.

I have to mention the makeup artist Subhash Shinde who really did a marvelous job of Priyanka's transformation to Mary Kom, minute details like skin pigmentation etc has been taken care of. The production design by Omung's wife Vanita Omung Kumar is realistic and convincing. Stunts by Parvez Shaikh and boxing choreography by Robert Miller bring the required authenticity and thrills in the boxing sequences.

Although it is not a "Million Dollar Baby", but it is definitely an applauding attempt which is worth a watch.....

Raja Natwarlal (2014)

A Con Act which fell short

[7/10 · 30 August 2014]

Kunal Deshmukh and Emraan Hashmi combo is back after their successful association in Jannat & Jannat 2.

This time Kunal chooses a subject of a con man Raja (Emraan Hashmi) who after doing small con jobs with the help of his mentor Raghav (Deepak Tijori) wants to do a big con job so that he can fulfill his dream of marrying the bar dancer Ziya (Humaima Malik). The con job goes wrong and Raghav is killed by businessman cum mafia don Vardha Yadav's (Kay Kay Menon) men. Raja sets out to take revenge from Vardha Yadav by coning him with the help of famous con artist Yogi (Paresh Rawal) and sell him a fake cricket team worth One Fifty crores. The rest of the movie covers how Raja and Yogi execute their con act… Story by Parvez Sheikh is promising but where the movie loses its grip is with Parvez's screenplay with too many sub plots of hit man, corrupt police and the love angle which actually poses a hindrance in the narration and slows down the pace with its songs which look out of place especially the first half. The screenplay also has too many loopholes; some con acts look too convenient to be true. It is the climax which is impressive and brings the sub plots together. But it could have been better paced. The script had all the makings of a good con movie but falls short as most part of the movie the screenplay looks scattered and lacks cohesiveness.

Dialogues by Sanjay Masoom complement the genre and narration well with subtle humor and are realistic.

Emraan Hashmi has improved tremendously especially after "Shanghai" he does complete justice to his character Raja. It is Paresh Rawal who steals the limelight with his fantastic portrayal of Yogi; it is always a delight to watch such a brilliant actor perform. Kay Kay Menon is back with his impressive portrayal of the cunning and shrewd Vardha Yadav, he gives face to a true villain of Bollywood who is menacing as well as unpredictable, a true delight. Humaima Mallik's debut act is nothing to write home about but she somehow does a decent job. Deepak Tijori makes a comeback with Raghav and he creates an impact with his brief role. Rest of the cast also does a good job.

Music by Yuvaan Shankar Raja is average and does not create too much of an impact. Cinematography by Raaj Chakravarti is good but nothing out of the world.

Kunal Deshmukh tries to balance between being realistic and fictional, but fails a bit on the realistic front and goes a bit overboard with cinematic liberties becoming too fictional. Nevertheless Kunal's attempt is good and better than many movies which released in the recent past. Do not expect a "Special 26" and you won't be disappointed. I will go with Two & A Half Star….

Mardaani (2014)

Mardaani: A Celebration of Woman Power

[7/10 · 22 August 2014]

There are some movies which are made just to entertain but there are some which makes you think, Mardaani falls in the latter genre.

Human Trafficking is a business which is growing at an alarming rate worldwide and India is a hub of Child Trafficking and Mardaani deals with this topical subject.

Gopi Puthran chooses a controversial topic of Human Trafficking for his story and the risk with such subjects is that it becomes preachy. But thankfully Gopi's screenplay refrains from doing so and tells the story in a thriller format of a crime branch Inspector Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukherjee) who has a soft spot for an orphan Pyari (Debutant Priyanka Sharma). Life takes a turn for Shivani when Pyari goes missing, how Shivani busts the Human Trafficking nexus and finds Pyari constitutes the rest of the story.

Gopi's screenplay captures the modus operandi of how human trafficking is done in a thriller format which is engaging and keeps you at the edge of the seat; not much time is spent on the emotional quotient. It is the climax which looks a bit too convenient. The characters are realistic and so are the dialogues. But I thought the Thriller quotient could have been much better as the surprise element is missing in most part of the movie.

The performances are the biggest highlight of the movie. Rani as Shivani gives a crackling performance, everything from her body language to the way she speaks everything is spot on. Rani Mukherjee again proves that you cannot keep a good actor away for too long. Another brilliant performance is of the debutant Tahir Raj Bhasin who plays the antagonist Karan, he is so good that you start hating him, truly a brilliant debut. Tahir's portrayal of Karan is a perfect complement to Rani's portrayal of Shivani. Mona Ambegoankar gives a superb performance, though her role is small but she shines even in a brief role, sad to see that a brilliant actress like her is underutilized. Another debutant Priyanka Sharma as Pyari shows spark. Jishu Sengupta the Bengali actor is wasted in a brief role. Rest of the cast is cast well and they do a good job. I should mention Shanoo Sharma the casting director who has done a brilliant job of casting.

The second highlight is the cinematography by Artur Zurawski who captures the bylanes of Mumbai and Delhi well and keeps the tone as realistic as possible in lieu of the narration.

With "Mardaani" Pradeep Sarkar resumes his original form which was seen in "Parineeta" (2005). Though a dark and sensitive subject, but Pradeep handles it well and keeps the narrative simple though a bit of twists would have been better. But Pradeep is successful is extracting some brilliant performances from the cast which is commendable.

Kudos to Pradeep Sarkar for taking up such a sensitive issue for a movie and showing how women can defend themselves against odds. This movie is a true celebration of woman power....

Singham Returns (2014)

A complete Rohit Shetty masala fare

[7/10 · 15 August 2014]

There are some movies which defy all logic but still you enjoy it and "Singham Returns" is one such movie… The movie begins with a startling message "There are only 47000 people employed in the Mumbai Police force to protect 1.85 cr civilians of Mumbai", this message actually started me thinking. Well this movie is Rohit Shetty's tribute to Mumbai Police.

This time Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) is posted in Mumbai where he finds himself in between political tussle between Guruji's (Anupam Kher) party and their coalition party headed by Prakash Rao (Zakir Hussain). Prakash Rao has a strong backing in the form of Baba (Amol Gupte) who runs an Ashram which finances Prakash Rao's party. Things turn worse for Singham when a constable of his team is found dead in an ambulance with heaps of cash. How Singham solves the mystery of his constable's death and brings law and order in Mumbai forms the rest of the movie.

Story by Rohit Shetty tries to touch upon issue from corrupt politicians with black money to God man and politician nexus, and the role of a policeman and their sacrifices which keep the civilians safe. Screenplay by Yunus Sajawal is packed with clichéd situations of how police are puppets in the hands of the politicians, but where Sajawal's screenplay differs is the way the police is shown to solve the issue, though a bit too far-fetched especially the climax, still it conveys a very strong message. Some sequences stand out like the dead constable's wife is forced to work as a domestic help to run the household expenses or when a women lambastes Singham when he beats his son for taking money from the corrupt politician. I thought the villain's characters were too much of a caricature especially Baba's. Overall the screenplay is tight and crisp but with enough cinematic liberties.

What elevates the screenplay are the impactful dialogues by Sajid-Farhad, some of the dialogues are clearly for the gallery and gets enough whistles.

Ajay Devgn as Bajirao Singham again gives an impactful performance or should I say a seeti maar performance with his trademark dialogue from the previous Singham "Atta Mazhi Satakli", well in some scenes Ajay goes a bit overboard but looking at the response of the crowd I should say it was worth it. Kareena as Avni has nothing much to do other than looking pretty and mouthing some comic dialogues, I think Kareena should take a break from the bubbly roles that she is portraying since "Jab We Met" days. Amol Gupte's portrayal as Baba goes overboard and he hams all throughout the movie. Zakir Hussain as Prakash Rao is a caricature, which even an actor of his caliber could not salvage as the writing is weak. The rest of the ensemble cast Anupam Kher, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ashwini Kalsekar, Dayanand Shetty, Sharat Saxena, Savita Joshi do a good job, though I felt Govind Namdeo as Singham's father is wasted.

Action is a highlight of all Rohit Shetty movies, and this movie does not disappoint. Action designed by Rohit himself in collaboration with Jai Singh Nijjar and Suneil Rodrigues is filled with cars being blown, people flying and enough fisticuffs to keep the adrenalin rush and Dolby Sound blaring. Overall the action is typical Rohit Shetty style which an audience expects from his movies.

Cinematography by Dudley captures Mumbai well and the aerial shots and action sequences are worth a mention. Music is a big disappointment although it had an impressive lineup of composers from Jeet Ganguli, Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros and Yo Yo Honey Singh. Rather Yo Yo Honey Singh's song "Atta Majhi Satakli" sounds like a rip off from "Lungi Dance".

Rohit Shetty clearly plays to the gallery and the masses and gives a paisa vasool entertainer worth an addition to the 100 crore club.

It's Entertainment (2014)

Not Much of an Entertainment

[4/10 · 8 August 2014]

After a successful stint as writers of Golmaal series, Bol Bachchan, Housefull etc the brother duo Sajid-Farhad debut as directors with "Entertainment".

For the last few movies that I watched in the comedy genre there has been a flaw, in the second half the comedy becomes a mundane caricature and there are hardly any laughs, the same flaw is pertinent in "Entertainment" as well.

Story by K Subhash tells us the story of Akhil Lokhande (Akshay Kumar) who is struggling to make his ends meet, suddenly has a strike of luck when he discovers that he is the son of multi millionaire Pannalal Johri (Dalip Tahil) who is dead. When he reaches to claim his fortune he comes to know that his father has willed his entire property to his favorite pet dog Entertainment (Junior). The rest of the movie tells us how Akhil & Entertainment fight for the fortune.

Well the story premise sounds silly but the screenplay by Sajid-Farhad makes it completely chaotic. The first half still has some laughs but in the second half the screenplay falls completely flat with mundane sequences and forced situations which look completely out of place. Overall the screenplay's funny quotient depletes in the second half and looks kiddish.

Dialogues by Sajid-Farhad themselves sound funny initially but it gets repetitive and starts irritating. Sajid-Farhad dialogues have too much emphasis on rhyming of dialogues, which initially brings some laughs but later becomes too repetitive and sounds jarring.

Hamming is passed as acting in this movie. Akshay Kumar as Akhil the main protagonist tries hard to act funny but is successful initially but later he becomes repetitive and hams incessantly. Krushna hams all throughout the movie. Johnny Lever still is successful is bringing some laughs. Tamanah Bhatia is the decorative piece of the movie. The two villains played by Prakash Raj & Sonu Sood add up to the buffoonery. Cameos by Reteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade & Choreography Remo D'Souza are wasted. Mithun Chakraborty in a guest appearance has nothing much to do in this madness. The real hero is the dog Junior, whenever he is on the screen it is a delight but unfortunately the screen time of Junior is in the first half and then in the climax.

Music by Sachin-Jigar is nothing to write home about, rather the tunes seems a rehashed version of their previous movie "FALTU". Even the choreography by Remo D'Souza is average. Cinematography by Manoj Soni looks too artificial, what with too much of color being used in VFX.

Sajid-Farhad's debut does not create any impact and they come up with a below average fare. If you are a dog lover you may like the movie in bits and pieces but overall it is below average...

Kick (2014)

Kick: A Glossy Salman Masala Fare

[7/10 · 25 July 2014]

There is a new genre which has originated in the last few years and it is called the Salman Khan genre of Bollywood movie, which has only one highlight and that is Salman himself. Kick also explores the typical Salman Khan genre of movie and takes it to dizzying heights with a glossy packaging by Sajid Nadiadwala who debuts as a director with Kick.

Kick is the remake of Telugu blockbuster of 2009 with the same name, but Sajid has made enough and more changes in the screenplay to fit it to the bollywood mold. It tells us the story of Devi Lal Singh (Salman Khan) a Good Samaritan who gets a Kick by doing odd jobs which gives him an adrenaline rush, what instigates him to become Devil is explored in the 146 mins of screen time.

The Story is by Vakkantham Vamsi and screenplay by Rajat Arora, Keith Gomes, Sajid Nadiadwala himself and with additional screenplay by Chetan Bhagat. The beginning is weak which explores Shaina (Jacqueline Fernandez) and Devi Lal (Salman Khan) love story which goes nowhere excluding some funny sequences. The screenplay picks up with the entry of Inspector Himanshu Rai (Randeep Hooda) and Devil (Salman Khan) and it suddenly becomes a racy thriller till the climax. It has too many characters with too many plots going in parallel which has no relevance to the main plot. There are too many loop holes in the script which does not form a cohesive narration. But it is the dialogues of Rajat Arora which is the winner and brings the applause and the whistles.

Sajid Khan has not compromised on anything, whether it is the lavish settings, brilliant action sequences and grand song picturization. As a debut Sajid has shown a spark as a film maker. He does complete justice to Salman Khan the star, giving him a larger than life role and showcasing all the Salman antics which he knows will be lapped up by the audience. While watching this movie and the way the audience were going berserk it proved that Sajid has a winner in hand. I hope only if he invested a bit more on the screenplay then it would have been a complete package.

Cinematography by Ayananka Bose is another highlight of the movie; Ayananka captures Polland and India beautifully. Action by Anal Arasu is very impressive especially the Bus chase sequence in Warsaw.

Almost all Salman Khan movies are strong in music content, and Kick is no exception. Himesh Reshamiya (Jumme ki Raat & Tu Hi Tu), Meet Bros (Hangover) and Yo Yo Honey Singh (Yaar Na Mila) have given foot tapping music. To compliment it Ahmed Khan has choreographed the songs beautifully and on a lavish scale. Though as per the screenplay Jumme Ki Raat and Yaar Na Mila look a bit forced.

After Dabangg , Salman Khan looks at ease in Kick, he makes a strong impact with a tailor made role of Devil which was missing in his last few movies. Randeep Hooda as Himanshu Rai does a brilliant job and stands tall in front of Salman's larger than life portrayal. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the main villain Shivam brings the arch typical villain of Bollywood back with his portrayal and is excellent. In this movie it was important to have a very strong actor playing the villain to compliment Salman's Devil and Nawazuddin does complete justice. Jacqueline Fernandez does not have much to do other than looking good and she does add the glamor quotient well. Mithun Chakroborty, Archana Puran Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Mishra & Vipin Sharma are wasted in brief roles.

Sajid Nadiadwala does a successful job of creating a typical Salman Khan blockbuster and it will definitely rake in the moolah, but my humble suggestion please do not look out for logic and you will be not be disappointed. Kick is definitely a movie for the Salman Khan fans.

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014)

Humty Sharma Ki Dulhania: Nothing New about this Dulhania

[5/10 · 11 July 2014]

"Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" is not only a movie for a lot of us, but it is an experience which I have re-visited God knows how many times, that I have lost count….

"Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" is a tribute to the cult classic "DDLJ", and Shahshank Khaitan who debuts as a director with this movie tries to replicate the Raj & Simran magic with Humty & Kavya the two principle characters of this movie. But unfortunately the magic just does not happen.

Story & Screenplay written by Shahshank tries to replicate a lot of sequences from "DDLJ", like the cool father of Humpty Sharma (Varun Dhawan) or the quintessential strict typical Punjabi dad of Ambala girl Kavya Pratap Singh (Alia Bhatt). Kavya's Father Mr Singh (Ashutosh Rana) fixes her marriage to his childhood friend's son Angad (Sidharth Shukla). Kavya meets Humpty in Delhi, when she visits Delhi for her trousseau shopping or should I say lehenga and invariably falls in love with ever so imperfect Humpty Sharma. Humpty lands at her wedding celebrations in Ambala and confesses his love for Kavya to his father, well after which it is predictable and this is where the movie falters, there is nothing new. It has some moments especially the sequences with Humpty and his friends Shonty and Poplu or sequences when Kavya is pulling Humpty's leg. But it clearly misses the real core of the story, it is the love angle. There are no sequences which really help to develop the chemistry of the lead pair.

It is the dialogues written by Shahshank himself which lifts the screenplay. The dialogues are funny, witty and catchy. The lingo is typical Delhi as per the setting.

The performance of the lead pair Varun and Alia is crackling, especially Alia's, she is getting better with each movie. Varun as Humpty fits the bill and portrays his character well. Alia as Kavya overshadows all with her typical Punjabi girl act. Ashutosh Rana as Kavya's father is good. But it is Humpty friends Shonty played by Gaurav Pandey and Poplu played by Sahil Vaidya who add the zing to the narration; both the actors have done a brilliant job. Sidharth Shukla is introduced in this movie but he has very less scope and as his character is not developed well, nevertheless his good boy act is pleasant but there is no histrionics which is displayed by the débutant.

Music which is the highlight of all Dharma Production movies, unfortunately is average in this movie, excluding the peppy "Saturday Saturday" and the romantic "Samjhavan" rendered beautifully by Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghoshal and music by Sharib-Toshi ,are two of the best tracks, rest fails to impress.

The production design by Parichit Paralkar is realistic and it is complimented well with Neha Parti's cinematography which is true to the setting and narration of the movie.

Shashank Khaitan's direction shows a spark but it is the weak story & screenplay which fails him. Overall "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" is an average fair and worth one watch. So if you have nothing to do go for this movie.....

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil (2014)

Le Kar Hum Deewana Dil: An amateurish & pointless take on a Love .

[4/10 · 5 July 2014]

Arif Ali brother of Imtiaz Ali debuts in this movie as a director and introduces the new pair of Armaan Jain (Grandson of Raj Kapoor ) and Deeksha Seth (Miss India Finalist)…..

Arif who also is the writer of the movie is heavily influenced by his Brother Imtiaz Ali's movies like "Socha Na Tha", "Jab We Met" and even his recent "Highway". So as you guessed it right the story is of a young couple Dinesh a.k.a Dinoo (Armaan Jain) and Karishma (Deeksha Seth) who are utterly confused whether they are in love or are just good friends , but they decide to elope as Karishma is forced to marry a groom from a Shetty family. They get married and travel half way through India from Goa to Nagpur to Raipur to the forest of Bastar after which they realize that they are not compatible and call it quits and return home. They apply for divorce so the remaining plot surrounds whether they separate or they come together.

The issue of the screenplay written by Arif Ali himself first is the length of 140 mins which was not required for a wafer thin plot, secondly the screenplay which just does not go anywhere. Till the end the lead pair looks confused and not sure and so does the audience. After the movie is over you feel confused whether the couple were really in love. The first half when they elope has some moments but in the second half it drags unnecessarily. Even when they elope there was no requirement of putting the Naxalite angle, other than for a song sequence which looks straight out of the 80's & 90's movie wherein there used to be a song in the villain's den. Arif wanted to target this movie for the youth but unfortunately it does not have any elements which may lure the youth.

The lead pair of Armaan Jain and Deeksha Seth does not impress at all, especially Armaan who has a heavy hangover of his Uncle Randhir Kapoor style of acting and his dialogue delivery & Diction needs to be polished. Deeksha Seth looks completely confused throughout the movie and looks like "Alice in Wonderland" not knowing what is happening. The rest of the ensemble cast of Kumud Mishra, Sudeep Sahir, Anita Kulkarni, Rohini Hattangadi, Varun Badola, Gautami Kapoor try to put some sense through their performances but all in vain as the writing is so weak that they could not salvage.

Arif Ali's direction does not create any impact as his writing; he just fails to get the lead pair to act. Arif has concentrated more on the portraying the cool quotient like the lingo and the look of the movie but fails miserably to set the love story properly the first requisite in a love story, only if the look could make a movie work….

Well there are only two highlights of the movie which shines in this otherwise chaos is the cinematography by Laxman Utekar which captures right from the cool city life of Mumbai to the forests of Chattisgarh extremely well and beautifully. Second highlight is the music by A R Rahman, especially the peppy "Khalifa" and the ever so romantic "Allahada" which is written beautifully by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

"Le Kar Hum Deewana Dil" is pointless and does not make any sense as it misses the soul completely.

Bobby Jasoos (2014)

Bobby Jasoos: A thriller without thrills

[5/10 · 4 July 2014]

Vidya Balan strikes back as "Bobby Jasoos" wherein she plays an amateurish detective. But does it really create an impact????? In the beginning of the movie you get introduced to the world of Mughalpura in Hyderabad, the place where Bobby Jasoos stays and her struggle to become a famous detective and her immediate family of sisters and Khala's. Life changes for her when a stranger Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) gives her an assignment to find out a girl Nilofer in Mughalpura. Who is Anees Shaikh and why does he want to know about the girl….forms the rest of the plot.

Written by Samyukta Chawla Shaikh, the story and screenplay emphasizes not only on Bilkis Ahmed's a.k.a Bobby Jasoos's professional adventure but also her personal life and somewhere in the story and screenplay that takes pretence and the movie looses completely on the aspect of edge of seat thriller which is expected from a detective movie. There are many characters introduced in the movie but many of them have no relevance to the main plot. The sequence which involves Bobby's personal life is very well written. After an hour especially post interval is when the screenplay just falls flat and the not so impactful climax does not help either.

Debutant director Samar Shaikh tries his best to make the setting as realistic as possible and is successful as well, right from the dialect of all the characters to the settings, but where the movie falters is the absence of thrill which is expected from a movie based on a detective.

It is the superlative performances of the ensemble cast which lifts the movie. Vidya Balan as Bilkis Ahmed/ Bobby Jasoos does a good job. Ali Fazal as Tasawur is earnest in his portrayal but somewhere he gets overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Other cast like Arjan Bajwa, Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar, Aakash Dahiya, Rajendra Gupta, Benaf Dadachanji and Prasad Barve do a fantastic job rising above the writing. Tanvi Azmi and Zarina Wahab are excellent but are wasted in brief roles.

Another highlight of the movie is the Production Design and the Costumes. Production Design by Tariq Umar Khan is spot on and very realistic, the same goes for the costumes by Thei Tekchandaney & Sheetal Sharma which absolutely blends with the narration.

The third highlight is the Cinematography by Vishal Sinha which captures Hyderabad especially the locality of Charminar like a dream.

Shatanu Moitra's music is average excluding one song "Arziyaan"..

After watching the movie I was confused whether I liked the movie or did not like it, so I came to the conclusion that it is a" Thriller without the Thrills" I will go with five Stars, watch it for its performances...

The Villain (2014)

Ek Villain: A Violent Love Story

[6/10 · 27 June 2014]

After "Aashique 2 " Mohit Suri is counted amongst the top directors of Bollywood today and "Ek Villain" is his first movie outside Vishesh Films. Hence a lot of expectations were built before the release by Balaji's Marketing strategy and with good music to back it, this could have been a cake walk for Mohit .

"Ek Villain" is the Bollywood remake of the Korean movie "I Saw the Devil", Mohit with Tushar Hiranandani tries his best to put it in a Hindi Film formula. So it tells us the story of Guru (Sidharth Malhotra) who is the henchman of the local goon Ceaser (Remo Fernandes) who kills people for living but life changes for him when he meets Ayesha (Shradha Kapoor) and marries her but the happiness is short lived when a serial killer Rajesh (Riteish Deshmukh) plays havoc with their lives. How Guru copes up with the serial killer makes the rest of the story.

Written by Tushar Hiranandani the screenplay is bumpy and the problem is Tushar wanted to mix all genres in one film whether it was Romance or Thriller or Action and too many sub plots and inane characters in the sub plots weakens the main plot. The is no proper justification given as to why Rajesh becomes a serial killer, I felt some more work should have gone in making this character believable, it looks half baked. The biggest plus of the screenplay is, that it is fast. The dialogues by Milap Zaveri at times is good and at times it looks too dramatic for no rhyme and reason.

Mohit Suri's direction emphasizes too much into blood and gore. The confrontation sequences between the two main protagonists Guru and Rajesh looks interesting initially but later becomes repetitive. Mohit tries to put quite a few twists which makes the movie a bit interesting. But Mohit fails to keep the interest of the audience till the end which is important for a thriller.

It is the performances by the lead cast which lifts the movie especially the chemistry between Sidharth & Shradha. Sidharth as Guru puts his best till date, it is a good to see Sidharth doing something which is outside his comfort zone. Shradha Kapoor brings the freshness with her portrayal of Ayesha and her presence gives the audience a breather from the blood and gore. Riteish Deshmukh as Rajesh brings enough menace required for the role but it is the writing which puts him down, this could have been a memorable character. Other actors like Remo Fernandes and Shaad Randhawa are wasted. Kamal R Khan (Remember KRK) is irritating and wastes screen time.

The music is another highlight of the movie, somehow Mohit just like his uncle Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt gets the best from his composers. So again Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon and the Pakistani music band SOCH ( Rabi Ahmed & Adnan Dhool )give melodious music, especially "Galiyaan" composed and sung by Ankit Tiwari and "Banjara" composed by Mithoon and sung by Mohd. Irfan are the best.

Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is pleasing to the eyes. Editing by Deven Murudeshwar is good.

Mohit Suri could have made the movie into a classic thriller but alas misses it....

Humshakals (2014)

Officially Declared Sajid Khan the "King Of Trash"

[1/10 · 20 June 2014]

Sajid Khan strikes back with his slap stick comedy genre with "Humshakals" but the problem is that there is not enough laughs to sustain 159 mins… So Sajid goes back to his "Housefull " mould of European mansions, swanky cars, heroines wearing skimpiest costumes and too many characters who are a caricature. Sadly for "Humshakals" it falls flat and what we get is a trash in the name of comedy.

The Story written by Sajid Khan of three sets of Humshakals of Ashok (Saif), Kumar (Riteish) and Mamaji alias KANS (Ram Kapoor), one set of Ashok who is heir to the multimillion empire of Sighanias, Kumar who is Ashok's best friend and Mamaji who is scheming to confiscate the empire from Ashok, another set wherein all three are mental patients Ashok, Kumar & Jhonny, and third set consists of Ashok and Kumar who are feminine by nature and Mamaji who is bar dance owner. CONFUSED well this just the beginning, Sajid thought that he could actually better Shakespeare's Comedy of Error but alas there is no story.

Screenplay should I say the lack of it credited to Robin Bhatt, Akash Khurana and Sajid Khan is just a shocker and imagination just goes wild. A sequence has a doctor giving a medicine potion which makes human beings act like DOGS and you see both Reteish & Saif acting like dogs well this is utterly insane in the name of comedy. The Dialogues by Sajid Khan and Adhir Bhatt is equally bad what with "Aap Meri Zindagi mein Aaye to Mere Bacche Ka Baap Ban Jaye"….

The performances by the ensemble cast is just too childish to laugh, for Saif I think this is his worst performance till date. Making faces does not suffice for acting and Saif is so bad when he is imitating actors. Reteish still gives you a few laughs but he could not salvage the mayhem around. Ram Kapoor looks completely lost all throughout the movie. Satish Shah as the warden hams all throughout. The actresses have no scope to act, they are there as eye candy wearing skimpiest clothes. I can still understand for Tamanah Bhatia and Esha Gupta who are relatively new and hence they did this film but why the hell did Bipasha Basu do this film she looks like a glorified extra in the movie.

The only good thing about the movie is the cinematography by Ravi Yadav which is good and catchy to the eye. Music by Himesh Reshamiya is extremely average, excluding "Caller Tune" none of the other songs are worth mentioning.

Sajid Khan's "Humshakals" has outdone Ram Gopal Varma's "Aag" in making Trash, and RGV's "Aag " looks like a classic in front of SK's "Humshakals". Sajid Khan has to relearn what is entertainment before venturing to his next project.

Fugly (2014)

F*UGLY: A Half Baked Attempt of a good concept

[4/10 · 13 June 2014]

F*UGLY, the name seems unusual and hatke, I kept wondering what it really meant, well the beginning credits clarifies the same; it meant "FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE". The hatke quotient stops in the name itself.

So Fugly delves in the latest trend of exploring our Capital Delhi. The story is of 5 friends, Dev (debutant Mohit Marwah), Devi (debutant Kiara Advani), Gaurav (Boxer Vijendra Singh) and Aditya alias Haggu (Arfi Lamba), who lead a chilled and care free life. In one incident wherein Devi is molested by a grocery shop owner and the friends decide to teach him a lesson and kidnap him and en-route they have an accident with a police van and they meet Police Inspector Choutala (Jimmy Shergill). This incident changes their life forever and Choutala starts blackmailing them and how these friends fight against Choutala and the system constitutes the rest of the story.

The first problem is the story by Rahul Handa which is Rang De Basanti Meets Fukrey,it hangs between being comedy or a serious issue based movie and does not have the punch. The second problem is with the screenplay which is slow and the sequences look too half baked and without the punch and the transition from flash back to present looks disjointed. The songs have no relevance to the story and look forced. And the biggest is the climax which does not justify the overall narration. The dialogues by director Kabir Sadanand and Rajveer Ahuja ranges from being witty to unintentionally funny. The characters look too monotonous and repeated.

Performance wise it needed more punch from the debutants, Mohit Marwah as Dev looks too stiff and needs diction lessons as his dialogues are not clear. Boxer Vijendra Singh sleep walks through his role of Gaurav and is average as the fun loving Jat. Kiara Advani as Devi is crackling and justifies her character well and she shines amongst the other debutants Mohit and Vijendra, watch out for this girl. Arfi Lamba as Aditya becomes quite monotonous after a point and his comedy tracks look forced. Jimmy Shergill as R S Choutala is the bright spot of Fugly, he is just superb and rises above the writing with his brilliant portrayal, another under rated actor of Bollywood. Rest of the cast sleep walk through their portrayal.

Another problem is the editing by Shounok Ghosh, it is not crisp and overall flow looks bumpy. Cinematography by Milind Jog is good and captures Delhi & Ladakh well.

The Music by Yo Yo Honey Singh sounds repetitive and other music directors Raftaar and Prashant Vadhyar does not impress.

Kabir Sadanand took a topical subject but fails in the narration, it neither falls into the category of serious cinema nor a comedy. Kabir also stumbles is extracting a crackling performances by the cast excluding for Jimmy Shergill and Kiara Advani.

Filmistaan (2012)

Filmistaan: Worth a watch for all movie buffs .

[7/10 · 7 June 2014]

Nitin Kakkar's "Filmistaan" at last had a commercial release after 2 years doing the rounds of Film Festivals and winning various awards since 2012, the most renowned award being the National Award for best feature film in Hindi in 2012.

"Filmistaan" is a heartwarming story of how films bind two warring nations India & Pakistan. It is a simple story of a wannabe actor and movie buff Sunny Arora (Sharib Hashmi) who is struggling to become an actor and who gets an opportunity to work as an Assistant Director with an American Crew for a documentary in Rajasthan. During the Rajasthan outdoor shoot Sunny gets kidnapped by the terrorists by mistake and is taken to Pakistan and held captive in a small village near the border. In this village he befriends Aftaab (Inaamulhaq) another movie buff who has a business of selling pirated CD's of Bollywood movies. How their friendship becomes stronger and what partition is meant for a common person is explored in the rest of the movie beautifully.

The Story and Screenplay written by Nitin Kakkar himself is the strongest point in this movie. It has some funny as well as heartwarming moments which explore the sentiments of the people of both the nations well. Some of the sequences like when the whole village watching "Maine Pyar Kiya" in zapped attention, or how the kids get entertained by Sunny mimicking various actors, or when the video of Sunny is being shot as a captive is hilarious. All the sequences between the two friends Sunny and Aftab are written and executed beautifully. All the characters are written with a lot of depth. It is the climax which I think could have been written much better, it looks hurried and as if the director wanted to finish the film anyhow.

The dialogues written by Sharib Hashmi blends beautifully, this is again hilarious as well as emotional. It lifts the screenplay, like the dialogue when Sunny states to Aftab about a situation if the nation was one then the cricket team would be the strongest with Sachin, Dhoni, Afridi & Shoaib in one team. All in all the writing of the movie is the strongest point.

The second strong point of the movie is its performances. Sharib Hashmi as Sunny Arora is brilliantly portrayed and to compliment Inaamulhaq as Aftab again a brilliant portrayal creates the on screen bond stronger. Kumud Mishra as terrorist Mehmood creates the conflict well and his portrayal of a silent and yet aggressive character is just too good, I hope he gets more opportunities in the near future. Another brilliant performance is of Gopal Dutt playing Jawwad, the complexity of the character is well brought out by Gopal. The rest of the ensemble cast also does a brilliant job, taking the otherwise simple movie into a different level.

Cinematography by Subhranshu Das captures the rawness of the desert well and blends with the narration well. Editing by Sachindra Vats plays a key role in making the movie a worth watch.

Nitin Kakkar does a commendable job without being preachy as to how both nations India and Pakistan have so much in common and especially the Bollywood connect. For a movie buff like me it was delight to watch "Filmistaan".

Holiday (2014)

Holiday: Nothing to Cheer about this Holiday .

[4/10 · 6 June 2014]

"Holiday-A soldier is never off duty", yes that is the complete title of the movie which is the remake of Tamil Hit film of 2012 "Thuppakki" staring Vijay and directed by A R Murugadoss.

A R Murugadoss re-creates the same movie in Hindi for Bollywood as his second movie with Akshay Kumar after the blockbuster "Ghajani". Story & Screenplay by A R Murugadoss is the story of an Army Officer Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) who comes for his annual holiday to Mumbai and look out for a girl for marriage and gets entangled in a web of terrorist attacks which threaten to rock Mumbai through the Sleeper cells.

The story has a novelty wherein a detailed knowledge is given as to how the sleeper cells of the terrorist organizations operate and work but it is the over stretched screenplay of 2 hrs 51 min which completely dilutes the real essence of the movie. The romantic track between Sonakshi Sinha and Akshay Kumar is unnecessary and has no connection with the main plot. To justify the romance there are songs which crop in and slows the pace of the movie. The characters also lack depth especially the main villain's character, there is no background given. The screenplay looks disjointed at times. The Climax is too stretched. A R Murugadoss should have actually concentrated on the main plot of the terrorists and their sleeper cells and made it into a fast paced thriller which unfortunately "Holiday" fails miserably.

Akshay Kumar as Virat Bakshi the main protagonist is at ease in action sequences and when he is following the terrorists but fails miserably in romantic sequences, it is high time that Akshay should try to do some serious thrillers like "Special 26". Sonakshi Sinha as Saiba Thappar is just for eye candy and does not create any impact in the overall scheme of things, would love to see Sonakshi in movies like "Lootera". Newcomer Freddy Daruwala as the main villain the Head of the sleeper cells is one dimensional and has only one expression all throughout the movie and does not create any impact. Zakir Hussain is wasted in a brief role. Summet Raghavan as Mukund, Virat's friend, is the only actor who impresses.

The main highlight of the movie is the action by Greg Powell & Peter Pedro the action directors of the Harry Botter series, Skyfall etc, the action is realistic and believable. Cinematography by N Natarajan Subramaniam is good and captures Mumbai well. Editing by Amitabh Shukla is average and is one of the flaws.

Music by Pritam is average and does not create any impact. Even the choreography by Ganesh Acharya & Bosco-Ceaser is nothing great. A R Murugadoss fails to create another "Ghajani" and the movie remains half baked.

CityLights (2014)

Citylights : Falls short from being a classic

[7/10 · 30 May 2014]

Citylights re-unites the director actor duo Hansal Mehta & Rajkumar Rao after a superb "Shahid" which won each of them the National Award this year.CityLights Citylights is an adaptation of 2013 Award winning movie "METRO MANILA" directed by Sean Elllis and Hansal Mehta does complete justice to the original. The story is credited to Sean Ellis the original writer of METRO MANILA; the adapted screenplay is by Ritesh Shah. Ritesh stays true to the original but adapts it to the Indian context of people from smaller towns who migrate to the city of dreams Mumbai expecting to make a better living. Just a piece of advice if you are looking at an entertaining movie then this is definitely not the right choice.

Citylights is the story of Deepak (Rajkumar Rao) and Rakhee (Patralekha) who come to Mumbai from Rajasthan to make a better living but become victim of the shrewd reality of city life. The story by Sean Ellis captures the pathos of a small town guy well in his story and Ritesh's screenplay captures the nuances well. At times the movie's pace becomes sluggish especially during song sequences which was unnecessary. Some of the sequences are very well written albeit I felt the climax was a bit hurried and could have been presented well.

It is the performances which make the movie memorable. Rajkumar Rao gives another brilliant performance. His portrayal of Deepak Singh is so realistic that you wonder whether he is really acting. The Dialect to the body language is all up to the mark. Another superb performance is of Manav Kaul who plays Vishnu a friend of Deepak with ulterior motives. After "Kai Po Che" Manav again shows his caliber, this is an actor to look forward to. Sadia Siddique as Vishnu's wife is good albeit her role is small. Patralekha as Rakhee does show a spark but gets overshadowed by Rajkumar and Manav.

Production Design by Rajat Poddar is realistic. Editing by Apoorva Asrani could have been sharp. Jeet Ganguli's music is good but does not gel with the narration rather it hampers the pace.

Hansal Mehta's forte is to get the human emotions bang on and he succeeds in this movie as well but fails a bit in giving it a Thriller edge and finesse in the narration which was the highlight in the original METRO MANILA.

Kochadaiiyaan (2014)

Kochadaiyaan: A complete Rajni Masala Entertainer in animation

[6/10 · 24 May 2014]

Kochadaiyaan is India's first movie made on the technology of Motion Capture, a technique used in Hollywood movies like Avatar, Tintin & Bewoulf. Do not expect the finesse like its Hollywood counterpart, but the attempt is worth an applaud for the director Soundarya Rajnikanth Ashwin.

Having Super Star Rajnikanth was enough to make the movie a blockbuster but taking a path which was not explored in Bollywood and more so animation movies are not taken seriously in India, for Soundarya to try something out of the box is commendable.

But it is not only the technology but the story and screenplay by K. S. Ravikumar which is fast paced with trademark Rajni style histrionics and a story which is appealing, in short a complete Entertainer.

Kochadaiyaan is a story based in the 8th century, which tells the tale of Rana, Kochaiyaan's son who avenges his father's death. It could have been a mundane revenge drama but K.S. Ravikumar keeps it interesting with a lot of twists and turns.

Rajni as usual is the highlight of the movie with a double role of father Kochadaiyaan and son Rana and Rajni as usual does not disappoint, he is bang on with his histrionics and charisma. Deepika Padulone as Princess Vandhana does not have much to do but suits the part albeit her animation is the worst as compared to other actors. Jackie Shroff as Raja Mahendra does a good job so does Naseer as King Rishikodagan. Shobhana and Sarath Kumar are wasted in brief roles. Music by A R Rahman is apt as per the movie, though the songs are not memorable or hummable. Cinematography by Rajiv Menon is impressive. Neeta Lulla's costume design is as per the period. Editing by Antony is crisp and keeps the pace.

After Rajni it is Soundarya's direction which is the highlight of the movie. Overall the movie is a total masala entertainer.