Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

This week we have the Akshay Kumar- Shruti Hassan starrer ‘Gabbar Is Back’ releasing in theatres. This film is a remake of the 2002 Tamil movie Ramanna Ramanna.

The story revolves around Gabbar Singh Rajput, played by the Khiladi Kumar, who creates his own army of vigilantes called the Anti-Corruption Force which kills the corrupt elements in the society. As the police is clueless about who is causing these murders, the truth slowly comes to the fore through a constable who sees the underlying design.

The quirky & offbeat promotional activities used for the film have indeed created a lot of awareness & excitement about the film. And Akshay Kumar too has a lot riding on his shoulders after the success of Baby to elevate the film. So will Gabbar strike at the box office? Let’s find out.

Cinema Today: ‘Gabbar Is Back’, the Movie Review

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

This week we have Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan starrer ‘Piku’ releasing in theatres.
After ‘Vicky Donor’, Shoojit has come back to the family fold with a story that beautifully meanders through the finer nuances of the relationship between an unusual father-daughter duo.

Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) is a Bengali, based in the Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park with his roots deeply soiled in his hometown – Kolkata. His bizarre passion and obsession for constipation drives his only daughter Piku (Deepika Padukone) crazy.
Here is what people have to say about Piku..

Cinema Today: ‘Piku’, the Movie Review

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Tanu Weds Manu Returns : A juggernaut of relationships

Anand L. Rai. , after 2 duds in 2007 and 2008, he found his success mantra in the form of “Tanu Weds Manu” which was released in 2011. Then came Raanjhanaa. These are both Love Stories from the small towns of hindi belts interweaven beautifully with emotions of friendships, parents, lovers, etc. using contrasting and non-confirmatory characters, rustic language and local slangs in witty dialogs, these films touch audience hearts. And again Anand is back with “Tanu Weds Manu Returns, a sequel to the original release 4 years ago.

The story in the film has also moved ahead by 4 years. It starts with portrayal of Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) and Manu’s (Madhavan) marriage situation after 4 years. Apparently Manu could not handle the free spirited and rebellion Tanu and their marriage is on the verge of breaking. Tanu returns back to her parents in Kanpur and Manu to his in Delhi. While secretly waiting for Manu’s call, Tanu befriends with the unwanted tenant Advocate Arun Kumar Singh aka Chintu(Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), in her home. But as she does not get any response from Manu, she goes back to her wild life before the marriage.

In the meantime, Manu meets Kussum aka Dutto who is a look a like of Tanu. She is a state level athlete and Manu “feels” that he is fallen in love with her. What happens later is an exciting rollercoaster of emotions and laughter.

Anand’s Trump Card, Himanshu Sharma, the writer of the film, delivers yet another stunning screenplay laced with witty and interesting dialogs. His strong writing is the backbone of the movie. The rustic flavor of the small town slangs, intertwined lives of the people living there, emotional connect of the people with each other, rotting traditions but still open to move forward due to compassionate hearts, etc everything is brought up beautifully by the writer. He also tries to touch social issues and give a message about few without being too preachy. Another of his forte is detailed and strong characterisation due to which Audience connect with and remember even the smaller roles. Simply superb writing. And the dialog writing need special mention too.

With correct writing material, a director’s job is half done. Still film making involves many aspects which can go haywire and a good director has to make sure that everything remains in control and narrative is entertaining and swift. Anand L. Raid proved that with good content, he can do wonders and he does that again here. Swift and flowy narrative with entertaining and witty scenes having strong emotional connect help the audience get immersed in the world created by the filmmaker. He has given justice to every character from the original and they all help in telling the story correctly in the sequel.

There are few loopholes here and there which may make the audience lose attention from the movie at some places, but overall Anand has a total grip on the narrative and tells the story beautifully. Do notice all the detailing of the small town people and life, which you can easily identify with. He has also tried to elevate the scenes with unconventional use of songs like the english number in the movie and the old song in the pre-climax.

By the end of the movie, audience gets confused about whom to root for because the writing is so balanced that every character and his point of view seems correct. In fact, one can identify with the dialog by Manu’s Mother “Hume to yahi nahi samaz raha hai hum konse side se hain. Right side se hain to right side konsa hai?” So basically, things are unpredictive and that makes them glued to the screen even more.

The movie has strong performances by everyone which makes every character memorable. Kangana is so good that there can be a separate article for her performance itself. She makes it very hard for you to not fall in love with her. She looks gorgeous, stunning, hot in various avatar’s of Tanu and as common as any girl in character of Kussum/Dutto. She emotes through her eye, her expressions and body language. This movie will remove any doubts about her acting abilities if any remained even after playing the adorable Raani in the movie “Queen”. Hats off to her.

Madhavan underplays and keeps low profile giving prominence to the story and other characters and it helps the movie a lot. He did a fabulous job in his role.

Swara Bhaskar, Eijaz Khan, Jimmy Shergill and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, everyone delivered memorable performances, but Deepak Dobriyal gets huge screen time and steals the show with his portrayal of the character. You will remember his scene when he reads Manu’s minds and alerts him not to go that way or when he says “Paap hai ye” in the climax scene.

Production and technicality wise, every department did superb job. Cinematography by Chirantan Das is fantastic. Songs are good and bgm is effective. Editing is accurate. Even the costumes by Ankita Jha and Reza Sharifi are worth of a mention.

A good movie in my opinion is the one which takes control of my heart and makes me go through emotional ups and downs and mesmerises me at the end of it all. This is one of those rare movies which can do this to the audience.

Ratings:
Recommendation: A clean family entertainer barring the drinking scenes, do watch this movie with all family and friends. It is a tell of people who are real and ALIVE. Zinda logo ki Zindi kahani. Go, buy the tickets.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Welcome to Karachi : Spoof gone poof

Arshad Warsi has great comic timing. He is versatile actor too. He can deliver good performance if an author backed role is given to him. Unfortunately he rarely gets good scripts which can showcase his talents fully and give justice to them. He always tries to work in films which suits his style of acting but the writer/directors can not deliver what is promised on paper. “Welcome to Karachi” also isn’t an exception to this observation. It is a pity that such a good talent in comedy is wasted.

“Welcome to Karachi” starts on a good note. A young, stupid gujju boy, Kedar Desai (Jacky Bhagnani) wants to get American Visa by hook or crook. When he gets rejected second time even after changing his surname to Desai from Patel, his friend Shami (Arshad Warsi) gives him idea to go America by Boat. They both steal the Kedar’s father’s boat and leave the shore in pursuit of the land of opportunities. However, they get struck by cyclone and find themselves stranded in Karachi. What happens next forms the story of the movie.

The story is mostly dependent on stereotyping of Pak, Taliban, USA, India, Gujjus, etc. Pakistani stereotypes are used so blatantly that even we feel ashamed of the onscreen proceedings.

There are 4 writers (Kushal Ved Bakshi, Vrajesh Hirjee, Danish Hussain, Ashish R. Mohan) credited to the writing department proving that too many cooks spoil the broth. Though the idea looks promising, it did not get through in writing. Most of the gags fail, though some work. Dialogs work somewhere and many times they fail. So inconsistency is main feature in the writing.

Director Ashish R. Mohan could not salvage the ship. A Director’s main job is to make the right choices for the project and many of his choices seems gone wrong. It is evident from the ugly title graphics, low quality vfx, character introduction as the movie continues (as if it is a feature length trailer). The is a spoof on terrorism, wars and global affairs focusing mostly on India, Pakistan and Taliban. It had a good promise which remained unfulfilled. Ashish R. Mohan has a long way to go. Hope he gets enough chances (or better writers) to prove his potential.

Editing by Steven H. Bernard is inconsistent and could have been crispier. Music by Jeet Ganguly is lifeless. Cinematography by Mark Nutkins is decent. Casting by Rohan Mapuskar and Naila Mughal is fine. The actors performed well.

Performance by Arshad Warsi is good. He tries to save the film but it was out of his capacity. Jacky Bhagnani is always in the character of the dumb, stupid but good hearted Kedar Desai and he is earnest in his work. Lauren Gottlieb is wasted.

Overall, it is a good intended project which could not get the desired shape. However, few gags are good and there is enough which can keep you in your seat till the end.

Rating : 

Recommendation : Avoid it. Watch when available on satellite or home video. But if you enjoy watching stupidity with your group of buddies, you may choose to watch it.

Welcome to Karachi : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Dil Dhadakne Do : This heart beats too slow

Anyone who saw the title sequence of “Luck by Chance” was sure that there is something special about Zoya Akhtar. The film was good and did average business. Then “Zindagi Milengi na Dobara” happened and removed any doubts anyone had about Zoya’s capabilities. There’s a 4 years gap since ZNMD and the stories and promos of “Dil Dhadakne Do” created quite a buzz about the movie.

The movie is about “The Mehras”, who are high society family people. They pretend to be having the perfect life even when there are cracks every where in the relationships within the family. In such pretentious act, Mr. Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) and Mrs. Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shetty) plan a 15 day cruise tour with family and friends for their 30th anniversary. Their daughter Ayesha Mehra (Priyanka Chopra) plans and executes the whole event. And they all set to sail the roughs sea of their relationships.

Before that there are many backstories given for each of the character which continues its progression through the cruise journey. Like Mehra’s son Kabir (Ranveer Singh) is not very happy doing Papa’s business, Ayesha has some issues of her own. Kamal and Neelam also have some unresolved conflicts and so does few other characters. All these come forth due to some fortunate and unfortunate incidences which happened through the journey. What happen to these issues and conflicts is the story of the movie.

It is a coming of age kind of movie but instead of one or two characters, it is coming of age of the complete Mehra family. Story and screenplay is by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti. Most of the story tracks looks and feels made up. There is no big story as such. There is a basic conflict, few issues and mostly it is all about treatment. And that should not be the problem. Problem is when the treatment is also average.

Director Zoya Akhtar chose a very slow and leisurely pace for the movie. I am not sure that such slow pace represents slice of life films. Zoya’s earlier films were having the slice of life feel and still they were comfortably pacy. This one is so slow that we get disconnected from the on screen happenings. There is enough material to root for the characters, get emotionally connected with them but the pace kills it.

Many of the reasons, sequences, tracks feel unconvincing or made up. Many a times there is a disconnect. But the movie works in bits and pieces and it is good enough to make it a one time watch. Second half is much better than first half. But the climax is predictive and a big let down. Pre-climax events are much immersive than the climax.

I am not sure why they chose to tell the story from a Dog’s point of view. I did not felt there was any necessity of voice over narrative. Audience now a days are enough mature to understand the movie without a specific narrative. The movie is more on style than substance. It shows elite fashion more than elite art. In short, one of the weak work by Zoya. Better luck next time. Because it is a disappointment for audience also who like your work and then they wait for your film’s release and it does not work. As you, they are also attached with your movies.

Nandini Shrikent has arranged an impeccable cast. It is a huge cast and not everyone get enough time. Still they did their best in whatever small screen time they get. Rahul Bose seems a misfit in the film as his character is in Ayesha’s life. He is wasted like many other veterans who did not get enough meat in the writing to showcase their talent.

From the main leads, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shetty all did great job. Farhan Akhtar is credited for a special appearance but he has enough big role and he is able to make a good impact in it. Anushka Sharma again have a half sketched role and has nothing much to do. But she did best in whatever she can. Her role seem similar to that of Katrina in ZNMD.

But Ranveer Singh steals the show and so does Priyanka Chopra. Their chemistry as Brother-Sister is a delight to watch. Overall, good performances to watch out for.

Production design by Neil Patel, Costumes by Arjun Bhasin, Art Direction by Shekhar More, Cinematography by Carlos Catalan is excellent. They all provide the shine and dazzle required by the product to display the elite class, high society lifestyle. Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is a big let down.

Overall, It is a good one time watch but disappoints if we go by the previous movies by the director.

Rating:  
(0.5 stars more for the performances by the lead actors)
Recommendation : It is a nice enough one time watch if you have patience to sit through a 170 min slow paced family saga. So I would say good enough for movie lovers and not for the ones who watch only the perfect movies.

Dil Dhadakne Do : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Hamari Adhuri Kahani : Regressive and regrettable

Mohit Suri is a dependable name. Few flops but most of his films are hit. They have the typical Mahesh Bhatt formula of always agitated, sad hero with a troubled childhood, a heroine who is damsel in distress and a friend who is always there. Hero is always in search of a solution to heal his troubled past and heroine provides that solace. Many a times hero has weird indigestible reasons for all that agitation. Nevertheless, coupled with good music and decent performances, these movies provide sufficient mainstream entertainment. And when names like Vidya Balan, Rajkumar Rao gets attached with a project by Mohit Suri and that too written by Mahesh Bhatt, expectations ought to be there.

Hamari Adhuri Kahani is a story which is too late in time. In hindi films, such stories had acceptance in the decade of 50-60s (and somewhat in 80s). It lost relevance even in regional cinema before 20 years. It is a story of a woman, Vasudha (Vidya Balan), who is suppressed by her father and then her husband, Raj Kumar Yadav (Raj Kumar Rao) under the pretence of traditions and culture. She is told and made to believe that she is property of her husband and shall be under his debt for the life-time.

1 year after the marriage and having a kid, Rajkumar disappears. For 5 years, Vasudha managers her life and bring up his child. She regularly keeps followup with the police about her absconding husband. One day the same police tells her that her husband is a terrorist and killed the american journalists he took to jungles. Vasudha gets shattered but continues her life strongly.

She is a florist working at a big hotel. One day a VVIP guest Aarav Ruparel (Imran Hashmi) is impressed by her work and gives her offer for his Hotel in Dubai. Later they fall in love. But at the same time, Rajkumar returns in Vasudha’s life. What happens after that ? Was he really involved in the terrorist act? Does the distance of so many years change his attitude towards his wife? What choice Vasudha makes? All this answers are in found in the film.

Mahesh Bhatt returns to writing after a hiatus and unfortunately this is the worst of the story he could pen. The film, supposed to be based on his own life (as always?), is utterly weak in writing and the suspension of disbelief does not work at all. Not only weak, the writing is cringeworthy with dialogs suitable for films releasing decades ago. It is outrageously silly and makes us wonder where things are going and why it is happening. The story is about a woman who breaks free from traditions and stands on her own. But the film is about everything other than that. She just appears to be dependent and trapped in tradition and silly beliefs even after being a working woman in a very upmarket industry. It makes us harder to root for any protagonist as we do not connect with their thought process.

With such weak writing material at the hand, Director Mohit Suri could not salvage the film from sinking. His craft and technical skills are visible but the content is really weak. It is a big question why he started the production with such weak script. The film does have nice narrative style which holds us but the inherent problems makes us feel run away from the theatre. After 2 consecutive blockbusters, Mohit Suri now needs to rethink his decision to continue repeating the same Mahesh Bhatt pattern in his movies.

Performance wise Imraan Hashmi is at his usual self. Vidya Balan is good but because she is Vidya Balan, a strong woman, it even further reduces the believability. She definitely needs to watch her weight. Rajkummar Rao does a fabulous job in portraying the selfish and mean MCP. However, he must not get type-casted in similar roles (like in “Queen”). Other actors too did good job in their space.

The film’s plus point is its production quality. Cinematography by Vishnu Rao is extra ordinary and beautiful. The locations are breath taking and this makes the movie easy on the eyes. Songs and BGM is decent but not chartbuster like the trademark Bhatt Movies. That further adds to the woes. Editing is fine.

After seeing strong woman characters in films like Kahani, Queen, Tanu Weds Manu series and reaching to common but perfectly adorable and independent character like Datto aka Kussum, Vasudha feels regressive and going decades back in time. It is like seeing those melodramatic family serials on big screen. To sum it up, it leaves a bad aftertaste.

Rating : 
Recommendation : Skip. I can not think of a single reason to recommend this movie.

Hamari Adhuri Kahani : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

ABCD2 : From Reality to REELity

From the unknown lanes of Nala Sopara, emerges an ambition to compete with the best Hip-Hop groups in the world. After tackling all real world problems, it gets fulfilled as the group “Fictitious” becomes a well known names through competitions and reality dance/talent shows.

ABCD2 is the tribute to this undying spirit in common Indians. It is a salute to their belief that they can be at par or sometimes even better than the world. It is not the progression of the first part but a separate new story with glimpses or formulaic impressions of the earlier instalment.

Suresh (Varun Dhawan) and his dance group who do different jobs to make livelihood, are passionate hip-hop dancers. They get outstayed from an Indian reality show due to copying complete dance routine of someone else. They are shamed across the nation and to get back their lost reputation, they want to participate and win international hip-hop competition in Las Vegas.

For this, Suresh tries to woo Vishnu (Prabhu Deva) to be their mentor and choreographer. After he agrees, they get new members like Dharmesh (Dharmesh Yelande) and others. They win entrance competition at Bangalore and visit Las Vegas. But someone has a different plan? Who is that person? What happens in Las Vegas? Are they able to realise their dreams? Do they win the competition?

Story by Remo D’Souza is interesting but the Screenplay by Tushar Hiranandani is a not very crisp and filled up with made up emotions. First half is breezy but the second half drags and is predictable. Dialogs by Amit Aryan and Mayur Puri are good. Whopping 2hr 32mins timeframe is problematic due to poor writing. Though the scenes are written as gags and those work, but the flow in totality does not work. There are too many subplots and each are wrapped up quickly without sufficient justification.

Director Remo D’Souza, through dances and music, makes sure that the audience do not get chance to think about the “Cinema” aspects of the movie or worry about the flaws in writing. Though the editing by Manan Sagar is lethargic in “Story” part of the movie, the musical n dancicle part of it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Remo is able to get good laughs and entertain in the first half. He is able to showcase camaraderie within the group properly. The dance sequences are absolutely stunning and so are introductions of dancers which are audience favourites. We hear claps now and then which enhances the viewing experience. Though the last but one ganpati song is ineffective for me. Also the climax act tries to cater to too many emotions diluting the experience.

Only problem is he tried to cramp in to many subplots to include many emotions to play to the house. Not only that, he included a lengthy in film promotion for Puja Batra’s “Nirvana” restaurant in Las Vegas. Also the love song between Varun and Lauren in second half is unnecessary. If he could have cut down on the portions in second half and reduced the length by 20-30 mins, it could have been a better experience.

Sticking to the real world dancers in the supporting roles is the best decision taken by the Director which gives the authenticity to the movie. And even though lead roles are played by Varun and Shradhdha, each of them have good screen time. Varun and Shradhdha provide the required star value to the film and do their work properly. They danced well and acted well. But there is nothing extraordinary to mention.

Prabhudeva steals the show and excels in the comic portions. But his role gets sidelined in too many plots. Those who follow DID and other dance shows react and clap to the entry of each of the dancers/actors. And we connect more to them and remember them more.

The movie is technically very strong and production quality is very high. Cinematographer Vijay Arora has done excellent job and the movie is a delight to watch. The dockyard backdrop provides a breath taking view so does the grand canyon. Music by Sachin Jigar is superb. There are 1-2 songs which are from previous movie but they are used properly. The song “Chunar” is very good.

To sum it up, Remo’s movies are collection of gags or “acts” than a proper cinema, but they do provide the required entertainment. They may lack in technic but they are made with lot of heart. So is ABCD 2. Remo tries to give justice to everyone who was in his life of “Real to REElity”. I particularly loved the end shot of “Fictitious” group standing besides Nala Sopara sign mark.
Rating :

Recommendation : It is a good watch. Dance lovers will enjoy it more. Do watch it if you can live with erratic screenplay, length and draggy. It is not a bad bet for a good weekend movie. Just make sure to watch it with “unsophisticated” audience who do not hold back clapping and whistling. You will enjoy it more.

ABCD2 : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Guddu Rangeela : 3rd time unlucky

Jolly LLB won Best film in 61st National Awards along with best supporting actor for Saurabh Sukla. His earlier Phas gaye re obama also was a good watch. Through these 3 films, he developed a signature style that he uses comedy as an outer shell of story telling where at inner level it handles a very serious subjects. Phas Gaye re Obama put light on the kidnapping industry, Jolly LLB beautifully brought forth how day to day proceedings happen in court and now with his new offering, “Guddu Rangeela”, he highlights the Khap and Honour killing problem.

This style works beautifully for marketing of the film. The marketing guys can use the comic content to pull audience to the theatre and the content (if good) makes them spread good word about the product. And sometimes, if all gels well, critical acclaim and awards are also possible. Subhash continues this style in Guddu Rangeela too.

This is a story about Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi) who are local orchestra event performers (Singing “Kal Raat Mata ka muze email aaya hai”. As they are called to perform at various happy celebrations (like Visa application approval), they sniff around for tips about how wealthy are their customers so that the tip can be sold to dacoits to loot the customers. Arshad needs all this money to fund a case which he is fighting against Billu Pahalwan (Ronit Roy) who had killed his wife and tried to kill him also to execute an order issued for the Khap Panchayat. Since then Rangeela is burning to take a revenge.

This good business gets a halt when a new inspector (Amit Sial) asks them for 10L Rs to avoid being jailed for all those loots. While they are worried about how to get rid of this problem, they meet Bangali (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) who offers them 10L rs to kidnap a deaf and dumb girl, Baby (Aditi Rao Hydari).

When Guddu Rangeela does this successfully, a big twist happens and they come to know that they are part of a bigger plan. Do they continue to be part of it? Why was the girl kidnapped? What happens to Rangeela’s revenge? All these and more answers are in this movie.

The story is good and screenplay has multiple tracks and non-linear narration. It is good in parts but fails at many. The first half has good pace but the movie falters in second half. The film keeps the audience hooked through witty dialogs. Story-Screenplay-Dialogs are all by Subhash Kapoor. In Director’s seat, this time Subhash got to much carried away in trying to give the film commercial treatment. Due to that, it couldn’t become the hard hitting film on honour killings nor it could become the comedy entertainer.

He is extremely good when he shows the fun in day to day life of the police or that of the kidnapping gang. He should use that skill more. But the film gets harmed by the cliched plots and scenes like the climax. There are many illogical situations like CM visiting out of the blue in between a Khap panchayat to stop Billu from Killing the couple or Rangeela doing full blown bollywood climax fight with Billu, etc. However, we must give credit to him for the scenes where he is able to bring out the irony in understanding and belief of the society about what is justice and what is injustice. When Billu speaks about justice and villagers cheer, we all feel that this is wrong and that is when the writer/director wins.

Performance wise Arshad Warsi is at his usual best. He shines in comic as well as serious scenes. But he doing Salman Khan style fight in climax is unnecessary and unbelievable.  Amit Sial is a miscast. He doesn’t add anything as an actor to such important character making it an average performance. Aditi Roy Hydari impresses but her role’s nose dive from prominence to insignificance, make it forgettable as you come out of the theatre. But she did her best in what she got.

As always Ronit Roy steals the show. He is brutal and evil as Billu Pahelwan. I am just worried that he shall not get repetitive in negative roles. Brijendra Kala and Dibyendu Bhattacharya are good actors who add value to the film.

Production wise the film is decent. Songs in film mars the pace of the movie and are hardly good. This is at most an average work by Amit Trivedi and being from Amit Trivedi, that is very disappointing. Film editing by Arindam Ghatak could have been much much better. BGM by Hitesh Sonik is ok. Cinematography by James Fowlds is good.

So this can be said another dud from Fox Star Studios in the recent list of flops from there. After brilliant Phas Gaye Re Obama and Jolly LLB, Subhash Kapoor is, on the contrary, 3rd time unlucky.

Rating : 
Recommendation: If you can’t live without movies every weekend, this can be an OK watch. Otherwise wait for satellite or home video release.

Guddu Rangeela : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Bahubali : Visually Spectacular Epic

S. S. Rajamouli’s name will go down in the history of Indian Cinema as one of the most important filmmaker. Through his films Magadheera and Ega, he tried to push the envelop in terms of VFX and scale. With his latest offering “Bahubali”, he is successful in declaring that India has arrived on the VFX scene.

Story of Bahubali is often repeated tale of an ordinary mind realising that he is actually the chosen one and the messiah of public. It also draws a lot of references from Mahabharata. Story is written by S. S. Rajamouli with Madhan Karky, Rahul Koda and Vijayendra Prasad. Screenplay is flawed and draggy in first half. It takes time to warm up but as it goes into second half, the film takes momentum and increases the grip on the audience. It ends on a note where you can not help but get eager for the second film releasing in 2016.

Director S. S. Rajamauli totally owns the film. This is his film from start to finish. Though the story telling is draggy, cliched and inconsistent, you can not help but applaud Rajamauli just for the grand vision this man had about this film. He makes every frame appear like a painting and infuses creativity in every scene. I particularly loved the artistic efforts put into the courtship of Bahubali (Prabhas) and Avanthika (Tamannaah Bhatia). Some may found it laughable but it sure is a piece of creative.

As the movie proceeds ahead, we are in awe of the visual spectacle that unfolds on the screen. Rajamouli makes it interesting with the war strategies. Without being preachy, he highlights that a great leader needs to have a perfect balance of compassion and wisdom.

Rajamouli extracted good performances from all the actors though the acting is a bit loud. There are few well itched characters like Kattappa (Satyaraj), Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan), Nasser (Bajjaladeva) and these actors did outstandingly well in those roles.

Prabhas looks and acts the part of Bahubali. Through his performance, he makes it easier for the audience to route for him, his passions, his love and his troubles. While he feels perfectly cast for the role, we can not say the same about Tamannaah Bhatia. I think did just enough for the role but a better actress could have taken it to greater lengths.

Editor Venkateswara Rao Kotagiri could have cut down the movie to make it faster in the first half and could have avoided the songs when the story takes momentum. Also opting for linear narrative could have made each movie complete and self contained. Nevertheless, good work.

Music by M. M Keeravani is ok and songs feel like they are just dubbed in hindi. Even I felt lip sync to be imperfect. Background music is superb. Cinematography by Senthil Kumar is outstanding. Production Design by Sabu Cyril and Art Direction by Manu Jagadh is world class and proves. All these people along with the clap worthy VFX team prove that India is now at the start of the revolution where such big scale VFX driven movies will be part of our cinema. Multipart films will also become a norm to make the project viable. The VFX team really deserves a standing ovation.

Overall, Bahubali is an epic saga which is presented at the grand scale matchable to Hollywood. Ignore the story telling, the flaws, the draggy first half, just watch the movie with full family and friends. This movie needs your backup if you want Indian films to shed the masala formula and give tough fight to the Visual Spectacles from Hollywood.

(2.5 for the cinema and 1 for the VFX and scale)
Recommendation: Must watch for the visual treat it offers.

Bahubali : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Bajrangi Bhaijaan : A Salman Khan Film does a PK

Salman Khan films rarely have something called as story. His films rest on his strong shoulders and rely on his charisma. Once in 2-3 years, he gets a good script and which rejuvenates his career for 2-3 years more so that he can dole out the other average stuff. After Jaaneman and Dabangg, here comes another movie from Salman with “some” story. Being an Eid bonanza, this is critic proof and sure to rock he blockbuster but how does it fair on the Cinema scale? Let’s see.

Bajrani Bhaijaan is about a mute girl, Shahida aka Munni (baby Harshaali Malhotra) from Pakistan who gets departed from her Mother (Meher Vij) when she is taken pilgrimage to Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi. She finds a saviour in the kind hearted and caring Hanuman Bhakt, Pawan Chaturvedi aka Bajrangi (Salman Khan) at some Delhi mohalla. She follows him and he can not leave her alone.

Bajrangi takes her to police who ask him to take care of her till her parents are found. As Munni can not speak, it becomes hard for him to know exactly about from where she is. Twists and turns happen so that Bajrangi decides to take Munni to Pakistan himself and reunite her with her parents. He crosses the border illegally (but with permission :p ) and what happens after that is entertaining enough to book tickets for this movie.

Story by Vijayendra Prasad is interesting. The good thing is it is converted into a good screenplay (though it falters in the first half) by Vijayendra Prasad, Kabir Khan and Parveez Sheikh.. The movie grips the audience from the start frame itself till Bajrangi starts telling his story. It is a stale love story between him and Kareena Kapoor with total thanda chemistry. The first half is entertaining and gripping in parts but looses the hold at many places. The film actually gets into momentum after interval and drags the audience through emotional ups and downs with good laughter. Dialogues by Kausar Munir are good.

Director Kabir Khan has a commercially growing graph which is exponentially opposite to quality of his cinema. A career which started with a promising “Kabul Express”, with fairly good movie “New York” and reached to the blockbuster but lacklustre “Ek Tha Tiger”. But Bajrangi Bhaijaan is good enough to redeem his cinematic sins as he gets back to good old story telling without any Bhai(gi)mmicks and really touches the heart of the audience.

There are many shots and scenes which can be applauded for its cinematic brilliance and aesthetics; like the sequence when Munni departs from her mother. No doubt there is melodrama and stretched scenes but as the heart of the movie is at right place, it does connect with the audience. Kabir Khan is able to deliver the typical Bollywood movie where audience whistles, claps, laughs and sheds tears. Such movies come rarely and thanks Kabir Khan for that.

Salman Khan restrained himself and let the vision of the Director and core of the story take shape by not letting his larger than life image harm the innocence and simplicity of the story. There may be a lot of people who will complain that this is not a typical Salman Bhai type movie but at the end of the day it works for the movie. Salman’s role is so subdued that barring the sequence at the brothel it his typical heroism does not appear again. In fact in second half, the author backed role of the super talented Nawazuddin Siddiqi completely takes over the movie. He gets more whistles, claps and laughs than Bhai and rightly so. Nawazuddin steals the show.

Baby Harshaali Malhotra is the real star of this movie along with Nawazuddin. It is because of her even the staunch religiously orthodox audience will identify with whatever Salman does for her. Meher Vij who plays her mother is equally good. Om Puri is nice in his small role. All other cast lend their able support to the movie thus proving casting by Mukesh Chchabra is on the spot.

The only forgettable performance is by Kareena Kapoor. She does not get anything to do except look at Salman with love and amusement.

Technically the movie is top notch. The movie itself starts with breathtaking beauty of Kashmir captured by Aseem Mishra Production design by Rajnish Hedao (a Nagpurian) is superb. Film Editing by Rameshwar S. Bhagat could have been better. Pritam Chakraborty’s music is pleasing but not huge chartbuster. Background music by Julius Packiam is very effective.

At the end, Bajrangi Bhaijaan is Salmans take on PK type narrative. Like Rajkumar Hirani uses the complete truthness of the Alien and his unbiased outer view to demonstrate the obvious disparities and contradictions in the society, here the Bhajrang Bali bhakt Bhaijaan brings to fore how we are all limited by our own narrow views about other religion and even the enemy country, Pakistan.

In this movie, there is no too bad villain. Everyone is good hearted and many things turn melodramatic (like the dialogue by Pakistani Police Inspector in the pre-climax portion). But at the end of if a movie touches the audience heart and makes them emotional and happy as they exit out of the auditorium, what more one can ask from a movie?

Recommendation : Do watch this emotional entertaining story of good hearted people on both side of the Indo-Pak border. Go with your friends and family and don’t forget the carry hand kerchief.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Director: Karan Malhotra
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie Shroff

‘Brothers’, an official remake of the 2011 film, ‘Warrior’, is about the Fernandes family that loves a special kind of sport, Mixed Martial Arts. And as we know by now, this sport means no stopping at anything when it comes to beating your opponent to a fine pulp. So no prizes for guessing what the always frowning Fernandes’ do to fill their free time or whenever they are in need some extra cash.

Old and ailing ex-streetfighter Garson Fernandes (Jackie Shroff) is released from jail, and his son Monty (Sidharth) receives him at the prison-gates. Garry (Garson) inquires about his elder son David (Akshay), who is conspicuous by his absence on his dad’s big day. And we realise that there’s hatred for David running deep in Monty’s veins. Flashbacks of his dead wife Maria (Shefali Shah) greet Garry once at their place. A long-drawn-scene-involving-innumerable-memories later, we’re given the preface to David and Monty’s story.
In another part of town, David lives a happy life with his wife Jenny (Jacqueline) and daughter. This high-school physics teacher is an intriguing subject to his students, who don’t miss an opportunity delving into his ‘other’ side. David and Jenny try to make ends meet, with his daughter’s kidneys needing dialysis frequently. When he is sacked from his school, David re-enters the arena.

Billionaire Peter Briganza (Kiran Kumar) gifts streetfighting a legal status by beginning R2F (Right 2 Fight), a two-day Mixed Martial Arts tournament. And much like O’Connor’s original, this winner-takes-it-all tourney has prize money of Rs 9 crore, which is the motivation for David. For Monty, it is his angst.
Brothers has been touted as India’s first out-and-out MMA film, and it does justice to that claim. Post interval, the pace of the film peaks, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The need vs anger divide shines through after long, and after much drama (read: melodrama). The snooze-fest-y sepia-tinted sequences are a major drawback of the film. The ‘special song’ Mera Naam Mary again serves no purpose apart from making people drool over the uber-hot Kareena Kapoor Khan.
Akshay and Sidharth’s fight sequences make jaws drop. The contact fighting scenes look brutally real, with the bloody faces and broken noses making you twitch more than once. Brothers achieves what it sets out to do: Portray MMA in all its glory (and goriness). That the two leads have worked their butts off in getting their moves right emerges through the film. Even though emotions, and not the fights, have been called the USP of the film, it is quite the opposite. The thoroughly enjoyable parts of Brothers are the ones inside the cage. Nothing else matters. And that Akshay and Sidharth emote well is the icing on the cake. Sidharth, though, looks like he’s straight out of the Ek Villain sets. His Goan accent, mannerisms, the angry-young-man act, et al is reminiscent of it.

Jackie Shroff is good at times and unbearably hammy at others. Jacqueline doesn’t have much room for anything apart from shedding tears, either out of happiness or sorrow. The supporting cast manages to get their parts right, with Ashutosh Rana’s Umesh, the Arjun in this Mahabharat, deserving a special mention.
The fights don’t let anything else dominate the mind long after one exits the theatre, and kudos to Hemant Chaturvedi’s cinematography and Ajay-Atul’s background score for the same. Akiv Ali’s scissors go limp towards the end again, with the final scene dragging on more than what is necessary, but that’s forgivable.

Rating:

Akshay Kumar needs to do more of these high-action roles. And not necessarily the mindless action. Watch Brothers for the kicks, punches, grappling, chocking and the un-understandable MMA jargon. You’ll come out with the Akshay you want to see, hopefully. Welcome back to the cage, Khiladi Kumar!

Brothers Review: Akshay Kumar wins the heart of audiance

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Manjhi – The Mountain Man : Shaandar, Zabardast, Zindabad

Films are supposed to be reflection of the society. They mirror what happens around us. And films such as “Paan Singh Tomar”, “Mary Kom”, “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” are documentation of all that is wrong with India and all that is right with Indians.

Another such tell waiting to be told was that of Dashrath Manjhi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a very very common man from Gehlaur, near Gaya in Bihar, who created a road through a mountain using only a hammer and chisel. It took him 22 years of consistent hard work to cut through the through a 360 ft long, 30 ft wide and 25 ft high mountain. And he does all this to take revenge on the mountain from which his wife fell and died. He could not save her as there is no road through the mountain which can take him to the hospital in the town across the mountain. So he wants to make a road through the mountain so that no one has to face tragedy again.

The one liner story seems very appealing but is equally difficult to turn into screenplay because all our hero did is to break the stones of the mountain for 22 years. But the writer Jakhar Mahendar & Ketan Mehta did a fine job regarding the same. Shahzad Ahmad, Varadraj Swami too did fabulous on Dialogues.

The screenplay beautifully uses and interweaves casteism, social injustice, political hypocrisy and corrupt bureaucracy. It even has references to the emergency period as well as naxalism. The first half is very entertaining due to superb characterisation. The second half becomes dull and lengthy with lack of it.

Director Ketan Mehta ably treks through this “uphill” task and carves the road for a decent movie watching experience. He is able to maintain the grip on the audience and even make the laugh and cry as the story flows till the end. There is lack of content in the second half which he makes up using drama and fantasy.

Ketan did a commendable job in avoiding melodrama, going over the top, preachy. Still he is able to highlight the injustice due to casteism, brutality of the feudal lords, apathy of the bureaucracy and opportunistic approach of the politicians. He also did a fine job in maintaining the balance of sensible cinema and commercial appeal. He remained as close to reality as possible and that can be the reason of lack of emotional up and downs which can be problem for mainstream audience. However, he succeeded in extracting great performances by every actor.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui totally owns this movie. He has the biggest screen time and never ever makes the audience feel that they are bored watching him. He plays the full of life Dashrath in the first half and determined, focused and pained Dashrath in the second half with equal panache. We can’t help but be in awe of his performance.

Nawazuddin is ably supported by Radhika Apte. She looks beautiful and sensuous even in those rural attires. She did her part of the strong-willed, determined and caring wife perfectly. Tigmanshu Dhulia has now perfected the role of cruel Jamindar and does his job well. Similarly, Pankaj Tripathi as Jamindar’s son does his job perfectly. Prashant Narayannan as Jhumru/Naxal has a small role but makes his mark. I don’t know why this talented actor does not get more movies. Casting by Vijay Singh is good but many supporting actors are too good looking to look like a villager.

On the technical side, Cinematography by Rajiv Jain and Production Design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai are two major plus points of the movie. The mountain’s enormity comes out correctly. DI, Color Correction, CGI and VFX increase the production value of the movie…. and makes it look grand. Editing by Pratik Chitalia is good but could have been crisper or may be the lack of content restricted the available choices for him.

On the whole this is a story which is heart wrenching and motivating at the same time. It may not be fully entertaining but does connect with the audience. It tells a captivating story and also highlights the plight of the poor and the downtrodden without being too preachy.
Rating :


Recommendation : Must watch for Nawazuddin Siddiqui fans, a Good watch for quality content lovers, one time watch for a general cinema lover. But if you expect your movies to be 2-3 hrs complete entertainers, you can skip this for sure.

Manjhi – The Mountain Man : Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Kabir Khan is expert of films based on terrorism it seems. All his movies have terrorism, Afghanistan, USA, Pakistan background or references. He seems like the RGV of terrorism films. His recent blockbuster “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” broke all records and was liked by critics and masses alike. With “Phantom”, he portrays a flight of fantasy where Indians do “justice” to the masterminds of 26/11.

Tag-lined as “A Story You Wish Were True”, Phantom is a fiction about India’s RAW hiring a mistakenly disgraced Indian Soldier to execute covert operations in USA, Seria and Pakistan to avenge the terrorists involved in 26/11 attack on Hotel Taj. Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) is that disgraced soldier. After much coaxing, he agrees to do the operation and heads to London where he meets Nawaz (Katrina Kaif), who helps him in identifying the first mastermind and later moves with him in the Serian and Pakistani operations.

Story is written by Hussain Zaidi and Screenplay by Kabir Khan and Parveez Sheikh. It was a brilliant concept at the story level which is faltered at the screenplay stage. Phantom has a loosely written, inconsistent screenplay and has a very flat and uninteresting narrative. Dialogues by Kabir Khan and Kausar Munir are average.

The movie does not seem directed by Kabir Khan at all. It feels like some amateur Director ghost-directed the movie and it is evident from the over the top performances and spoon feeding treatment. Can’t forget the scene where Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub pumps his fist when a Daniyal kills a terrorist. There are such and many more scenes which makes us believe that the Director is assuming a dumb audience which apparently they are not. Also why question is why a Saif Ali Khan starer Secret Agent movie has to end like “Agent Vinod”?

The narrative is totally flattened and with the Director, Editor Aarif Sheikh shall take the blame. This movie certainly could have been better with better editing.

Another proof of ghost Direction is the performances by all the actors. Good actors are made to act bad and bad actors do their worse. Including the lead cast i.e. Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, everyone overacts. This can be said as the worst role played by Saif in recent times. Katrina looks unbelievable as an ex-RAW agent and arms dealer.

Actors like Sabyasachi Chakrabarty and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub are wasted and made to look like fools. The actor who plays Pakistani restaurant owner leaves an impact. Good work by casting agent Honey Trehan is wasted by the Director.

Production wise the movie is a quality product and has all the gloss and shine required for such movies. Cinematography by Aseem Mishra is excellent. Music by Pritam Chakraborty is good enough with “Afgan Jilebi” being the chartbuster track. Thankfully, the Director kept love story to minimum and songs too. BGM by Julius Packiam is decent. Action by Sham Kaushal has nothing new.

Overall, “Baby” and “Phantom” even being on same concepts, Phantom proves how one can make a bad or bad movie on similar story.

Phantom : Movie review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Welcome Back : Not so welcoming!

Nagpur: Anees Bazmee has a great track record of comedy movies which actually made audience laugh. Few movies like “Welcome” and “Singh is King” have good repeat value too. His movies require you to leave your brains at home but they do entertain you. After creating many such good brands, he is coming back with sequels of those i.e. “Welcome Back” and later “No entry me entry”.

“Welcome Back” starts with “Sharif” Udaybhai (Nana Patekar) and Majnubhai (Anil Kapoor) wanting to get married and getting conned by Poonam (Dimpal Kapadia) and her daughter. Poonam and her daughter do not want to get married but just mint money from them. Out of the blue Uday’s Dad brings his daughter (Shruti Hassan) from his 3rd marriage and asks Uday to get her married. Poonam grabs this opportunity to put a condition before Uday-Majnu to get his sister married before his own marriage. At the same time Dr. Ghunghroo (Paresh Rawal) comes to know that he has another son Ajay/Ajjubhai (John Abraham). So Uday-Majnu pressure him to get Ajay wedded with Shruti. What happens next forms the long-winded story.

Story is credited to Anees Bazmee and Rajeev Kaul. Rajan Aggarwal & Praful Parekh joins the duo for screenplay. There is nothing to comment on the writing part than saying it heavily depends on cinematic liberties and stretches them too far. Anything can happen anytime and that too for no reason. It is totally haywire. Suspension of disbelief is being pushed to limits. However, the writing department is saved by witty dialogues by Raaj Shaandilyaa.

Director Anees Bazmee tries to keep the movie pacy and interesting but the unconvincing writing makes it hard for the audience to get involved. Also the characters of Uday-Majnu feel like helpless and powerless which does not feel right to look at. He along with the Editor Steven H. Bernard keeps the pace fast but the happenings are lifeless. The gags doesn’t work. There are portions which make us laugh but those are far less. We do not mind headless comedy but it should at least make us laugh otherwise our focus tends to be on the lack of logic more than the joke.

Performance wise Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor looks handsome at this age to and they are the backbone of the movie. But their characters are compromised to make John Abraham and Nasiruddin Shah’s characters look good. That weakens their impact. Paresh Rawal is fine. Shruti Hassan has nothing else to do that look good. Dimple is wasted. The actress who played her daughter overacts. Nasiruddin Shah fails to make an impact. Shiney Ahooja is fine. Casting by Shahid Hasan is good.

Technically the film is very sound except the tacky VFX. Cinematography by Kabir Lal is excellent. Production Design by Shailesh Mahadik is superb. Music by Adesh Shrivastava is not that good. Lyrics are cringeworthy.

Overall, it is a very loud film with senseless happenings with ineffective gags. It may make you laugh in some parts but in others we will laugh at it.

Recommendation : Skip unless you have must watch a film every week. Otherwise you can wait for its satellite release.

Welcome Back : Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Rating:

Hero: Movie Review by Prashen H. Kyawal

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

It would be bad news for the makers of the film if one were to take Kapil Sharma’s big screen debut with any degree of seriousness.

Ironically, Abbas-Mustan’s Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, a rough-hewn vehicle designed to extend a very, very long rope to television’s number one comedy show host, wants to be regarded as a serious cinematic effort.

And that is bigger than any joke that the film can throw at the audience. The obvious mismatch between aspiration and result is too glaring to be missed.

It is one thing for a popular stand-up comedian to spin out witty one-liners and string them together to create an entertaining television show.

Put that self-same guy in an outlandish tale of a polygamous man struggling to stave off the ill effects of a marital mess and the outcome isn’t the same anymore.

Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon strives very hard to be funny. But neither its half-baked characters nor the unconvincing situations that they are plunged into are hilarious enough to hold a patchy screenplay together.

Kapil Sharma seeks to straddle a wide gamut of emotions: love, anger, grief, confusion, et al. He obviously gunning for acceptance as a mainstream Bollywood leading man.

But he comes up short owing as much to his own limitations as an actor as to the weaknesses inherent in the script.

Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon is a lame and laboured comedy that might work only for those that have unshakeable faith in Sharma’s ability to raise a few chuckles on the odd occasion. This critic doesn’t.

Logic isn’t the film’s strong suit. Sharma is cast in the role of a man called Kumar Shiv Ram Kishan.

It isn’t just three gods that this oddball has in his name. His life is a hopeless jumble calling out for divine intervention: he has as many as three wives (Simran Kaur Mundi, Manjari Fadnis and Sai Lokur).

The explanations and alibis offered for this act of brazen polygamy borders on the bizarre.

Seriously, who would believe that a man who lives in separate units of the same building with three different women could keep them apart for as long as he manages to do?

Neither is that all. The three women end up befriending each other without learning that they share the same man as husband.

The film’s climax is even less convincing: all that the errant gentleman has to do in order to ensure an-all’s-well-that-ends-well ending is deliver a cheesy confessional speech.

Kumar’s treble trouble is aggravated by the fact that he also has a girlfriend (a laughably wooden Elli Avram), a woman who he really wants to marry.

Now, it cannot be easy keeping three wives and a girlfriend in the dark about each other’s existence. So, the hero needs constant help from a lawyer-friend (Varun Sharma, who is about the only saving grace of this film).

Thrown into the rusty pot are perennially pissed-off parents, a deaf don who doubles up as a bro-in-law, and a doubting Thomas for a would-be father-in-law. The mayhem they whip up is more jarring than comical.

Marital rigmaroles are a tried-and-tested comic trope and films like Saajan Chale Sasuraal, No Entry and Garam Masala have done much better in the past with it.

Though the returns might be meagre, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon is not the end of the road for Kapil Sharma’s big screen aspirations.

But if he hopes for his influence to go beyond the idiot box, he would definitely need to try much harder and look for less idiotic scripts.

For masala movie fans, it has admittedly been an awful month at the multiplexes – Welcome Back, Hero, Katti Batti, and now this.

Even if one walks into Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon with zero expectation, the film would still be hard pressed to measure up.

Verdict: If you have any pyaar to spare, shower it on better fare.

Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon Movie Review

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

There’s a scene in Nisha Pahuja’s documentary The World Before Her when a Miss India contestant whimpers that she doesn’t want whatever Dr Jamuna Pai wants to inject into the young girl’s face. It’s going to make her lips plumper, Pai promises. “Please let me do it,” says Pai in a voice that’s so polite and so uncompromising that it will give you chills.

For those who have seen The World Before Her, Madhur Bhandarkar’s new film Calendar Girls packs a punch with its very first shot. There on screen, with her upper lip plumped to artificial perfection, is Ruhi Singh from The World Before Her. She’s playing a young model from Rohtak who’s been selected for a much-publicised modeling event. The similarities between Singh’s real life and the role she has in Calendar Girls are unmistakable.

The parallels are a reminder that Bhandarkar may be lamentable director and a terrible actor, but the reason he can’t be dismissed is his ability to spot interesting stories in real life. He’s shown this skill ever since Chandni Bar and it’s why actors like Tabu, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra have worked with him. It’s also the reason Bhandarkar has so many National Awards to his name.

Unfortunately, Bhandarkar’s nose for stories isn’t matched either by his writing or directorial talent. It doesn’t help that he chooses to collaborate with people like his writing partner on Calendar Girls, Rohit Banawlikar. There are a lot of people who work hard to make Calendar Girls worse than it could have been, like the sound department that not only layers the film with a terrible background score, but also makes it painfully obvious that the dialogues were dubbed. However, few can match Banawlikar’s contribution to Calendar Girls’ downfall. His dialogues are so awkward and stilted that you will feel physical pain while listening to the actors struggle with their lines.

This is particularly disappointing because – brace yourselves – a lot of the conversations in Calendar Girls pass the Bechdel Test. Much like in real life, the women chatter a lot about work. They’re ambitious, hardworking, and a credible mix of good and bad qualities. They’re all friends who accept each other’s quirks with an eye roll and a grin. Barring their terrible make-up and wardrobe, these women are all surprisingly normal, which is a huge improvement from the last time Bhandarkar wandered into the world of glamour, in the godawful Fashion.

Mayuri from Rohtak, Paroma Ghosh from Kolkata, Sharon Pinto from Goa, Nandita from Hyderabad and Nazneen from Lahore-via-London are the calendar girls of the title. All of them come to Mumbai with dreams of success. None of them wants to return to the stifling worlds they’ve left behind. There’s one moment where someone asks Sharon (Kyra Dutt), “Isn’t the glamour world all about booze, drugs, sex and orgies?” Sharon drily replies, “I really hope so.”

There are moments of insight that Bhandarkar sprinkles in Calendar Girls that will make you desperately wish this film had been attempted by a better director. For instance, Mayuri (Ruhi Singh) from small-town India is keenly aware of social media and adept at using it. She also gives us a hilarious description of a make-out session in a tabela.

Nandita (Akanksha Puri) from Hyderabad giggles and confesses she’s ‘experimented’ with a girl. It’s poignant that Nandita is the first to rush into marriage. You can’t help but remember how vehemently and unconvincingly she’d protested, “I’m straight” when she’d first mentioned her lesbian experience. It’s almost as though she’s being goaded into marriage by an anxiety that she may not be straight.

At the same time, Calendar Girls gives us bowtie-wearing photographers named Timmy (one expects a Pomeranian, but sees Rohit Roy instead); a Bengali family (with ghastly non-Bengali accents) that could be out of a soap opera; and every cliché you can imagine. Suhel Seth does his best to be Vijay Mallya (La Martiniere Kolkata has given us such great, great men). Ashoke Pandit also has a cameo, as a hardworking CBI officer. A rich, aristocratic home has a replica of David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” and fake Greek columns are randomly scattered around the dining room.

True to Bhandarkar’s oeuvre, there are horrible things that happen to all five models, though some suffer more than others. But Calendar Girls isn’t as judgmental as Fashion. Bhandarkar focuses on the women instead of the industry, which makes it both more tantalising and more frustrating. Character dramas are hard to write and this one had good ideas that were mutilated in the process of being scripted.

Calendar Girl follows Bhandarkar’s tried and trusted formula of following young women as they get a break, climb up the ranks and then find their world crashing around their ears. It’s marginally less predictable this time round because Bhandarkar can distribute disasters and clichés between five characters, instead of lavishing them upon one.

Especially in comparison to this week’s other Hindi release, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon, the way Calendar Girls champions its heroines is actually refreshing. There are a lot of impractical, revealing and ridiculous outfits that the heroines of Calendar Girls wear, but Bhandarkar makes it very clear that sleaze lies in the eyes of the beholder. He doesn’t put the blame on the women or ‘punish’ them for their ambition, the way he did in films like Heroine and Fashion.

The real failure of Calendar Girls lies in how fake it seems, which is terribly ironic because so much of it is drawn from real life. From anti-Pakistan sentiment to Bigg Boss and match-fixing in IPL, Calendar Girls shows Bhandarkar reads newspapers (or at the very least, the headlines). Unfortunately, it’s all so melodramatic that nothing looks or feels real. Actually, Calendar Girls is surprisingly balanced and even sensitive in parts. Scrape past the flawed layers and deep under Calendar Girls’ tackiness, there’s a plot that could have been a winner.

Calendar Girls review: It’s tacky, melodramatic, disappointing but still better than Fashion

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Nagpur: I am really happy and proud that an offbeat movie like Talvar has opened to full houses in Nagpur – though most multiplex’ have only two shows of it daily at odd hours. Commercial considerations have a one star movie like Singh in bling running continuously while a thought provoking and disturbing Talvar gets pushed to the late night, 10.30 slot. But what gladdened my heart was seeing crowds, who I was sure were there to see the pot boiler, getting tickets for Talvar instead. ( Even those who shouldn’t have – like parents with little children who could be quite disturbed by the contents)

Actually,Talvar isn’t a film at all, it is a mirror of today’s India and how our police, the CBI and even judiciary functions. How the electronic media conducts Kangaroo courts and holds a couple guilty so comprehensively and so completely that many educated Indians too will swear that the “parents did it – no doubt about it” without bothering to know the facts.

It is about how a high dignitary like the CBI Director who should be of the most sterling integrity is easily compromised by crony consideration and ego gratification – to hell with truth and justice! Viewers will be shocked to see how to serve his ends, he bribed one officer with out of the way promotion and handed over the case to an Asst. Superintendent of police Kaul who consistently figured in the agency’s(CBI) ODI list of “Officers of Doubtful Integrity”. Like many policemen, he appeared to have been fond of using strong-arm tactics, threats etc.

Vijay Shankar, director, CBI retired two months after the agency was handed over the investigation. After Talwars were found guilty he has often said, “This is one of the most unfortunate cases, one in which the cause of justice has not been served as yet. I’ll say that”.

What makes the movie worth watching is also how well the subject has been handled by the trio of Meghna Gulzar, Vishal Bhardwaj and Vineet Jain of Times of India. The film has been produced by toi as well. May be because of this fact, it stays close to the real characters and real happenings a 100%. In any one else’s hands it could have degenerated to sensationalism or become boring like a documentary, but not when you have names like Vishal Bhardwaj, Konkona Sen and Irfan Khan to back it up.

Finally the name of the movie – Talwar isn’t based on the name of the characters ( though it is a handy pun). It evolves out of a dialogue between CBI Director Vijay Shankar and meritorious officer Arun Kumar who had succeeded in painstakingly cracking the case before the CBI itself sabotaged it.

Says Shankar “we all know that the Goddess of Justice is blind and holds a balance in her hands. What not many are aware is that she also holds a ‘talwar’-sword. This sword is to strike away the falsehoods and get at the truth, in our country, right now, it is all rusted. You have to remove that rust”.

Yes, we are all waiting to see that day. When we have police who are well trained and do their job as it should be done; when we have investigating agencies who are free and fair and judges who are compassionate, wise and of impeccable character.

What we have today is so far removed from these ideals that it seems a lost cause.

Just imagine this scene – Dr. Rajesh and Nupur Talwar spent their 25th wedding anniversary in jail last December. Their plea for bail was turned down by the Allahabad high court. When their lawyers pleaded for bail, pointing out that they had been model citizens and an affectionate father, a high court judge icily and insensitively retorted that they wouldn’t be able to kill another child of their own as they had none left.

A judge can say this, really? Who put him there we would like to know.

… Sunita Mudaliar- Associate Editor

Why every Indian must watch movie ‘Talvar’

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Film: Jazbaa
Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Chandan Roy Sanyal
Director: Sanjay Gupta
NT Rating: 1.5/5

It is but natural for a Bollywood diva making a comeback to go hell for leather.

Likewise, a consummate actor taking each scene as it comes, with customary poise, is par for the course.

Together, however, they make Jazbaa, another flashy but torpid remake of a Korean thriller from Sanjay Gupta, a rather disorienting affair.

As Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Irrfan Khan peddle their distinct wares, it is like watching two different films at the same time.

One features an overcharged female lead who stretches every sinew, flashes bloodshot eyes, flails her arms, and raises her voice at the slightest provocation.

Her job is to capture the anguished persona of a hotshot lawyer who is compelled to defend a rapist in order to save her kidnapped daughter. The actress takes no chances.

The portions of Jazbaa that are designed for Aishwarya border on the overly zestful and melodramatic. These stretches of the film will of course work for some sections of the audience.

Passages of a far less demonstrative kind are delivered by Irrfan. He resorts to measured moves in playing a much-decorated but suspended Mumbai policeman.

Neither the two actors nor the characters that they play have anything in common but for the fact that both have clear goals, both on duty and off it.

They join forces in a race against time to get to the bottom of the conspiracy hatched against the advocate, Anuradha Verma.

It is Inspector Yohaan’s one chance to prove that he has lost none of his wiles.
The discredited crime-buster also has secret crush on the lady, who he has known since their school days.

Bunty Nagi’s editing is crisp and Sameer Arya’s camerawork is impressively nifty. Both complement the pace of the story.

Yet, Jazbaa is never particularly pulsating despite being occasionally intriguing.

It springs a few surprises, especially in the climax, but its principal characters, the legal eagle and the cop, respond in largely predictable ways to the threats posed by the flawed system that they work within.

Within the folds of the narrative are drug dealers and addicts, an ambitious politician with a dark secret in his backyard, and vulnerable women who suffer at the hands of sexual predators.

But Jazbaa, despite the disturbing rape statistics and low conviction rates that it reminds us of before the end credits roll, isn’t really about the big picture.

Its focus is squarely on the story of an individual striking back when she is pushed to a corner.

The dialogue written by Kamlesh Pandey is lively and witty at times, but the punchlines, reserved mainly for the cynical policeman, do not propel the film out of its inertia.

One guy asks the off-duty cop to back off when the latter goes after him. “I know my rights,” the suspect says.

The tainted policeman sniggers at him: “India mein rights? Hollywood filmein bahut dekhta hai. Yeh Bollywood hai.”

Jazbaa throws up a few such stray moments that allude to the grave distortions in India’s legal system, but the script (Sanjay Gupta and Robin Bhatt) does not follow this narrative line consistently enough.

It might have raised Jazbaa above the level of a straightforward thriller.
Earlier in the film, the audience is provided a glimpse into the mind of the female protagonist.

Asked why she works only for the moneyed and the crooked, she replies: “Joh beqasoor hai woh mera fees afford nahin kar sakte (Those that are innocent cannot afford my fees).”

Jazbaa works only sporadically. The fact that Seven Days, the film that Jazbaa is ripped off from, was no cinematic gem does not help.

The laboured contrivances of the original inevitably find their way into the Hindi rehash. Only, they are exaggerated beyond reasonable limits.

Jazbaa loses no opportunity to play up the mother angle. Aishwarya’s divorced character reminds the criminal she defends under duress that she is in the game as a mom, not just as an advocate.

She isn’t the only mother in the plot. Shabana Azmi plays estranged mom to a free-spirited, headstrong artist-daughter who is raped and murdered by the convict who is days away from the gallows.

The oodles of flamboyance that director Sanjay Gupta pumps into the film cannot conceal its lack of depth.

Jazbaa is a slick production all right and it does deliver a few thrilling moments and an above-average climax.

But much of its flashy dialogue-baazi is reminiscent of a time when Hindi potboilers banked on slickly packaged vacuity to enhance their mass appeal.

Overall, Jazbaa feels like a wasted effort, a clear case of superficial style triumphing over substance by a fair distance.

But it has just enough for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan fans to justify a trip to the multiplexes.

Jazbaa, however, is just as much, if not more, Irrfan Khan’s film.

Jazbaa review: Aishwarya is not convincing

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

LIKE ITS PREQUEL, PKP2 PROVIDES EYE CANDY AND SOME LOL MOMENTS

STORY: Roomies Anshul (Kartik), Tarun (Omkar) and Siddharth (Sunny) are also close buddies. They find love simultaneously with Ruchika (Nushrat), Kusum (Ishita) and Supriya (Sonnalli), respectively. However, they discover the perils of being in a relationship soon enough.

REVIEW: The makers of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 (PKP2) should sue the CBFC for beeping out portions of punchy dialogues because the lines happened to be prefixed or suffixed with cuss words. Five minutes into the film, there are some six be…eps that act as irritants. Come on Censors, the film is certified ‘A’, then why moral police things further? That apart, there is not much difference between Luv Ranjan’s PKP2 and its prequel. The same philosophy — women nag, which is why men prefer to sh*g — is flogged. There are several LOL moments in the first half, when the roomies initially find love.
Siddharth/Chauka finds himself attracted to Supriya at a wedding in Meerut. She downs her whisky with half soda and half water. But in front of her parents, she pretends that she’s a vestal virgin! Anshul/Gogo falls hook, line and sinker for Ruchika/Chiku. She’s a rich bimbette, a la Veronica from Archie comics. But this one whines and wails. Tarun/Thakur ends up loving a shrew called Kusum, who is calculating. So exaggerated is the shrewish aspect of her character, it rankles.

What’s welcome as far as these bimbettes go is that they have envious figures and they work as terrific eye-candy. However, despite their hot bodies, they lag way behind as actresses. Instead of being flesh-n-blood characters they end up being lipstick-n-pancake caricatures.

The camaraderie between the boys rings true as does their claustrophobia around their women. The saving grace, in the not-so-sharp second half, is a seven-minute monologue done by Gogo, where he explains, no matter how hard you try, you can never please a woman! What’s sad is that the squabbles between the men and their girlfriends lose steam as they are grossly exaggerated, repititive and puerile. In all fairness, this film may resonate with some masochistic sorts who like taking a whipping in love. Or still others, who just enjoy a few laughs at the cinemas each week!

Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2