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Kapoor & Sons
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor.
Director: Shakun Batra

Kapoor & Sons is the big release of the week, coming right from Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The film stars Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, and Fawad Khan, along with Rishi Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor. The film is directed by Shakun Batra, who made the lovely but underrated Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, that I totally adored. Let’s see if this film is as good as his first….

What’s it about:
The film is a heart-touching tale of a family that could be yours, but here it has a name – The Kapoor’s. Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Arjun (Sidharth Malhotra) are siblings and novelists, settled in different parts of the world. Their parents (Rajat Kapoor and Ratha Pathak Shah), as well as an ailing, but young at heart grandpa (Rishi Kapoor) are staying in their family house at Coonoor. Rahul is silent, mature and successful author, and is deemed as the ‘perfect child’ by his parents, while Arjun is brasher, rebellious and is struggling to stick to one job, while trying to break out as a writer. When the grandfather is hospitalised, both rush to their family home to be with him. As the family unites after five long years, we realise that, though, they look normal from outside but has very high tensions within. The mother accuses the father of having an affair, while the father is tired of her incessant nagging. The younger brother is kinda jealous of his elder brother’s success and feels he has stolen his idea for his successful novel, while the elder bro had a secret of his own. With all these issues, the grandfather wanted to bring the entire family together to click one happy family pic. And yes, there is also Tia (Alia Bhatt) who is like a beacon of light, that shines during the dark moments of the Kapoor brothers. Lots of tears…lots of smiles…lots of fights happens, as we and the helpless grandpa wait for that family pic!

What’s hot
Shakun Batra, take a bow! You have to be commended for taking a simple story of a dysfunctional family and making it such an engaging narrative. His Kapoor family feels like ours, all the squabbles and the sweet moments we see in the film feel like a part of our own family moments. If Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was all ‘it’s all about loving your family’, Kapoor & Sons is about ‘loving your family…despite all the fights and faults’. The way he had directed those family tiffs could go as a lesson in brilliant film-making. Check out the scene when the family has their first fight, and also in the second half when their family tries to come for their first family pic, and the skeletons spill out of the closet at the same time! But the film is not all about fights; there are also tender moments between them, like when the entire family comes together and spend time in each other’s company, reminiscing about pleasant memories. Or that scene when the father and mother finally have that heart to heart chat when they lie on the bed, while the brothers have their own touching moments in the next room. The director also needs to be lauded for handling an unconventional thread about sexuality that too in a mainstream film, without making us squirm in our seats.

Now for the performances. While everyone is fantastic, I have to admit this IS a Fawad Khan film! In the past, being a guy, I had no clue why the girls fuss so much about the man. I hadn’t see his serials, though he was great in his debut Pakistani film Khuda Kay Liye. He was okay in Khoobsoorat, but here he is finally given a very strong material to perform, and he bites into it with relish. Be it the emotional outbursts, the lighter moments, or just acting through his eyes, he is FANTASTIC in every scene he is in, and you just can’t take your eyes off him. Sidharth Malhotra is improving with each and every film, and here also, he is first-rate. We also have to commend him for letting his co-star getting the meatier scenes, while he himself supports the narrative pretty well. Rishi Kapoor is totally lost in the skin of his role of a jovial but loving grandpa, obsessing over Mandakini in Ram Teri Ganga Maili (a nice touch, since it was his father, late Raj Kapoor who had directed the film) and gives in one of the best performances of his career. We feel for the man, as he helplessly watches his dear slowly crumble during his happier moments. Alia Bhatt may have the least substantial role in the film, but she is absolutely delightful in whatever scenes she is in. Even Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah are first-rate, and share some of the best scenes among themselves!

What’s not
The film takes its own time to unravel its plot, so it might feel a bit tedious for people who have a thing for fast-paced films (but trust me, the buildup was absolutely required here). Also the plot, except for a huge revelation in the second half, is very predictable but then the maker’s intention about the film was not to surprise you but to make you feel for the family and their little joys and sorrows. Also for anyone who has got into the theatre to watch an Alia Bhatt – Sidharth Malhotra- Fawad Khan love triangle will be sorely disappointed! The film is not just about that! Kar Gayi Chull was pleasant to hear and comes at the right moment, but maybe they should have done away with the choreographed dance steps! It would have then complemented well with the sense of realism that the most of the film was striving for.

What to do
Kapoor & Sons may not be the typical KJo film drama you may relished in the past, set in foreign locales, huge mansion, love songs etc. yet it is one of the finest films Karan Johar has produced under his banner after a long time. Watch it for those sweet moments, watch it for the tear-jerking moments, watch it for the fantastic performances, especially by Fawad Khan and Rishi Kapoor…just watch the damn thing! And yes, with a box of tissues please…

Rating:

Movie Review : Kapoor & Sons

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Rocky Handsome

Star Cast of Rocky Handsome: John Abraham, Diya Chalwad, Nishikant Kamat, Sharad Kelkar, Shruti Haasan
Director: Nishikant Kamat

A drug-mafia infested Goa plus menacing mobsters plus a little girl who goes missing plus a muscled man on a mission is equal to ‘Rocky Handsome’. What all of it basically comes down to is this: a sculpted John Abraham donning a black singlet–pajamas–combat cap, walking slo-mo down corridors, beating the c—p out of sundry bad guys. Or slashing holes into ‘em. Same difference. That is the sole purpose of this film.
The baddies are a colourful lot. One is called Mantoo, or Muntu. Another has a ponytail and leaps about like a terrible carbon copy of a bad carbon copy. Another is bald-pated and twinkly eyed. These two have a bodyguard who comes from one of those lands in the East where kinetic martial arts are used commonly. I think I heard someone say Thailand, so okay, he’s Thai.

But really who cares about such specifics in a film which is determined to plumb all depths when it comes to grisly violence : from a man with an axe, to goons with knives and guns, and some kind of a vacuum drill, which is used in a most shiver inducing manner right at the start, every conceivable weapon is brought to bear. But before you can shout axe murderer, you ought to know that Abraham’s character is the most violent of them all. Particularly in a climactic scene, in which he makes like a veritable whirlwind, using everything he has, to carve through his opponents.

Of course he has a justification, because he is a Hindi film hero. Which is meant to make up for the absence of a coherent story-line, dreary set pieces, and long stretches of people shooting at each other. The film is based on a well-known Korean flick, and in Korean flicks which topline gore, the leading men are not saddled with back stories to make them look noble. Shruti Haasan shows up for a miniscule walk- on just to shed some good light on the hero, before he walks off into the shadows.

John Abraham’s Rocky Handsome is a double: the screen splits into two, with both Rocky and Handsome come striding towards us, just in case we were confused. He only appears bad, see, he’s actually a good guy with a terrible past. The rest of the space is filled with an eight year old (Diya Chalwad) who’s made to talk like she’s double that, and given a relationship with our hero which is meant to tear you up, but feels faintly creepy. Theres a young woman with a drug habit. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, you come upon the gracious Suhasini Mulay trucked out as a sleazy peddler of kids. Everything is all over the place in this Goa over-run by ‘Roosis’, and dark night clubs, and organ traders, and scenes of extreme, hard-core violence.

Why are we watching this one?

Rating: 

Movie Review: Rocky Handsome

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Ki & Ka
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapoor
Director: R Balki

It’s not a man’s world, not anymore. At least this is what R Balki’s Ki & Ka tries to establish: In this world, women behave like men, and men are already men. So it’s basically a tale of two men accusing each other of being a man.

Delhi-based Kabir Bansal (Arjun Kapoor) is in line to inherit his father’s multi-crore business conglomerate. Are you also reminded of the AIB Roast? Yes, Arjun Kapoor is playing a North Indian, again. Kabir wants to be like his mother because he believes being a housewife is nothing short of being an artist. One day, he meets a rising corporate star, Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan), and tries desperately to woo her. However, it’s a daunting task for one simple reason: Kia is unusually ambitious and doesn’t want the marriage to hinder her flight before reaching to the top.

Kabir’s father, Mr Bansal (Rajit Kapur), is not happy with his son’s ‘outlook’, and thus their relationship is very much strained. The bone of contention between the fighting Bansals is the treatment meted out to Kabir’s late mother by Mr Bansal. On the other hand, Kia’s mother (Swaroop Sampat) runs 4-5 NGOs and has also been a single parent. Now, when everyone has a reason to hate marriage, Kia (Ki) and Kabir (Ka) decide to tie the knot, but is this a good idea? Will they be able to sail smoothly through thick and thin? Is gender equality such an easy concept to adapt to?

You become sceptical about a film that advocates gender equality at any cost and opens with a Honey Singh song, but very soon you realise R Balki’s noble intentions. He has set his film in Delhi, a prototype of how ‘not to treat women’ in Bollywood’s eyes. He throws in a few chauvinistic characters around, including some funny bus conductors who teasingly ask: “Arrey madam, Delhi kab se auraton ke liye safe ho gayi (since when Delhi has become safe for women?)”. But, the real story begins once the audience is done with the heavy dose of Kabir’s ‘coolness’ and Kia’s ‘flamboyance’.

It’s a role reversal for Ki and Ka because only one of them can be the ‘man of the relationship’. Kabir doesn’t have any ambitions to become a ‘corporate robot’ and Kia is very much addicted to ‘social limelight’ and earning big bucks. You may get disturbed by the idea of an IIM-B topper playing a complacent ‘house-husband’, but not Delhi’s lovable aunty jees, so the wrinkles take some time to surface, but once it happens, everything becomes crystal clear. Here we find for the first time that the power equation of a relationship can ruin it forever.

The film presents an idea that it’s an individual’s choice to become a househusband or a housewife, but it never talks about financial freedom and what effect it will have on age-old gender roles in the relationship.That’s just one part of it though.

Ki & Ka is literally about turning the tables. We actually see people in restaurants coming to Kareena and Arjun respectively with photo requests at two different junctures in the film. And, before you say Abhimaan, let me tell you that Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan also feature in the film, but those are the best moments of this film.

The conversation between Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan is so real and hard hitting that it forces you to re-examine the situation carefully. It filters the debate of both genders being equal ‘inside a family’ by posing some serious questions. They’re so good with their expressions that it almost seems like an inward journey for them.

There is no denying that Ki & Ka has a noble concept, but hasn’t the director very conveniently confined himself to a comfort zone where he only needs to break some generalised stereotypes such as ‘women can’t be ambitious’ or ‘men can’t cook at home’ or ‘a woman’s career is finished after pregnancy’? The idea of one being superior to the other is deep rooted in our psyche, and that can be addressed when both the genders work for the same goal and not limit themselves with mere role exchange.

Ki & Ka is an important film because it talks about some unconventional and rather tough relationship goals, but it mostly remains a film which is immensely in love with melodrama. The characters converse in a strange tone and have outbursts at regular intervals. And then you remember what Arjun Kapoor’s character says in the beginning: “Har scene ko TV serials ki tarah finish karoonga (Will end every scenes like a TV serial)”, or something to the same effect. Basically with a hook point, but that makes the proceedings too obvious and predictable.

It’s the lead actors’ spontaneity that saves this 126-minute film. Both Arjun and Kareena look at ease and are ably supported by Swaroop Sampat and Rajit Kapoor. Kareena Kapoor’s best comes out in the scene where she delivers a long monologue on being manipulative. Only if the dialogues could have been as natural as her. Arjun Kapoor focuses on being the most lovable male around and succeeds.

Too much breakfast and coffee table drama make this well intentioned film lose steam. Ki & Ka isn’t a strong voice against gender stereotyping, but it’s one of its kind in mainstream Hindi film industry, and that makes it notice-worthy.

Rating: 

Movie Review: Ki & Ka

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Rangaa Patangaa
Cast: Makrand Anaspure, Sandip Pathak, Nandita Dhuri, Suhas Palshikar
Director: Prasad Namjoshi

When the death of people growing the food that makes its way to your plate everyday fails to ruffle any feathers, you know you’re living in a dysfunctional society. When the state of farmers is such that they have to fight and agitate against governments for paltry sums of money intended to cover for their failed crops, spare a thought about how we treat our animals.

Rangaa Patangaa is a charming story that builds in everything that is wrong with Maharashtra’s society today – an apathy towards the marginalised farmers, a ruling class of ministers and government officials who have stopped caring ages back and an administration pushed to its limits to fulfil hollow electoral promises against backdrop of a society still divide on caste and political lines.

A story of a Muslim farmer fro Vidarbha named Jumman and his childhood friend Popat, Rangaa Patangaa revolves around the disappearance of his two bullocks – Rangaa and Patangaa. What follows is a one-man search for his bullocks in time to get them back before tilling begins for the upcoming farming season and salvage his crops. Things change when journalists ‘covering’ the famine in Vidarbha find an interesting ‘angle’ to Jumman’s story when the Police refuse to accept his complaint and pitch it as a ‘Muslim farmer marginalisation’ story in primetime.

When this happens, everyone seeks their own agenda to fulfil. The political masters want to make a point about being efficient and vow to get the bullocks found in the next 3 days. What follows is a mesh of people driven to bizarre circumstances, with everyone caring about everything else than the missing bullocks. This is a story about disenchantment and strange self-realisation. Of deep friendships – with man and animal alike. Of biases and limits and overcoming them.

Director Prasad Namjoshi picks up a seemingly difficult-to-treat subject and makes it his own. His ace efforts at direction can be seen in the way he manages to create a world for Jumman inside the chaos that surrounds him. You are at once, able to relate to him when he speaks about his disillusionment and is on the verge of giving up his efforts to find the lost animals. The sensitivity and ease with which he treats relationships is evident.

Also top-notch is the writing by Prasad Namjoshi (again) and Chinmay Patankar, they have successfully balanced humour and sensitivity in a core subject that even the most sensitive of us viewers think twice about before giving a go. Throughout the film, they keep the viewer where he should be – at the position of an outsider. With the journalists, you find yourself in awe when the journalists ask the farmers the same questions swimming in your mind, questions your privileged minds never took the effots to find answers to.

But the real beauty of the film comes from the graceful performances of its primary cast, namely Makarand Anaspure and Sandeep Pathak. While many of those belonging to the younger section of the audience will be easy to dismiss Anaspure as a comic actor, this film will restore your faith in him as a terrific and sensitive performer all over again. He expresses the naivety of Jumman, a simple Muslim farmer suddenly thrown into focus and eventually disillusioned with finesse. Sandeep Pathak is graceful, with impeccable comic timing and delivers a solid performance. Special mention to Nandita Dhuri for her act as well.

Bursting with Vidarbha flavour, Rangaa Patangaa has moments where you will laugh out loud at the antics of the gullible villagers but also has enough and more of moments that will make you question your perspective towards farmers, their animals, their livelihoods and how detached we have become as a society to treat these people as just another headline. Must-watch, Rangaa Patangaa is another great film in the ongoing series of Marathi film treats!

Rating:

Sukhada Chaudhary

Born in Nagpur, a city located at the center of India, Sukhada completed her post-graduation from MICA, Ahmedabad – a place that helped her begin a lasting relationship with everything cultural. Moving to Mumbai was a step ahead in this journey, with weekends spent exploring the cultural scene of this larger than life metropolis. Her interests include quizzing and street photography and in her spare time, you will find her championing Marathi cinema. Sukhada is currently the Director of Culture for the Mumbai hub of Culture Trip – a global website dedicated to arts and culture.

Movie Review: Rangaa Patangaa

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

The Jungle Book movie review
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o
Director: Jon Favreau

Somewhere in downtown Los Angeles, there is a deep, dark jungle where animals speak in menacing tones of Idris Elba, hold you under their spell in the sultry voice of Scarlett Johansson and sing exactly like Bill Murray. (If you are planning to watch the film in Hindi, make it Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan and Nana Patekar). Probably they got coaching from director Jon Favreau on how to emote for the camera, or maybe they are just natural.

Before you think I have taken leave of my senses while writing The Jungle Book review, here’s the gist: The film is great but the CGI is even greater. Neel Sethi’s Mowgli may be the only living, breathing entity in this live action-CGI stew but you would consider Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan and party equally real by the time the show’s over.

Favreau and his team of tech wizards don’t just give you CGI for the heck of it, they make it an integral part of the storytelling. This film would never have been the same without the present day technology. The wizardry is overwhelmingly successful in the portrayal of the animals. They are so real – from the way they talk to their loping, sinuous walk to even their eyes – that you eventually forget that some graphic artist just made them up.

Just like the animals, the director turns jungle into a place of fear and, yet, home. From a burst of sunlight and colour in its happy moments, it seamlessly turns into a mist-filled horror with predators lurking at every corner when the mood takes it. Every little detail in this film is rendered with such precision and love that though dangerous, it has enough joie de vivre to carry you along.

The story of the film mostly is true to Rudyard Kipling’s timeless tale – abandoned ‘man-cub’ Mowgli was found by the wise panther Bagheera years ago. He brought the child to a pack of wolves which is headed by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and mother wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) brings him up with her other cubs.

Dry season approaches and a water truce is called. As all animals drink at the river together, battle-scarred tiger Shere Khan demands that the man-cub should be given up as per law of the jungle. He makes it clear that he will attack the wolves if Mowgli doesn’t become his lunch. To save Mowgli, Bagheera decided to take him to the village where humans live. On the way, Mowgli will meet the laidback bear Baloo, the mysterious serpent Kaa and gigantopithecus (not orangutan) King Louie.

The voice work is excellent all around. We hear Shere Khan before we see him and Elba brings an air of menace to the film. Khan is enjoying his cruelty and the actor shows it. Villain of the year, anyone? Ben Kingsley’s Bagheera, also the narrator, is a statesman-like figure, Mowgli’s father figure and the voice of sense. But the real winner is Murray’s Baloo. A slacker who is not above a bit of lying if it can get the job done, Baloo is the story’s comic relief. His relationship with Mowgli gives the film its heart and Favreau lets it breathe. The fact that he gets the film’s best dialogues also helps.

The duo also gets to sing the classic Bare Necessities together and that itself justifies the price of the ticket. The shaggy ambling sloth bear is a perfect fit for Murray and Murray’s lazy dialogue-delivery is a perfect fit for Baloo. All in all, a casting choice made in heaven.

That brings us to Neel Sethi, our Mowgli and a difficult find if the director is to be believed. The Indian American boy has a natural screen presence and brings an infectious energy to the role. He does particularly well in the action scenes – running towards or away from danger. He does rush through his lines at places but then, the boy was basically acting opposite tennis balls.

Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken are stupendous in their roles and we would have loved to see more of them, especially Johansson’s hypnotic Kaa.

So, how does it measure up to The Jungle Book versions we have seen till now – the Disney film made almost 50 years ago and the classic anime show on Doordarshan in the 90’s? It matches up. The tone may be different and it may be edgier, but at heart The Jungle Book is still an adventure and a coming-of-age tale. Favreau gives us that sense of wonder, something we so desperately desire in these days of one franchise too many. The fact that he manages to do it in a story we all know so well is remarkable.

And if you are a kid who grew up in the 90’s in India and are missing the ‘Chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai’ track, Disney took care of that too with this new-age anthem…

However, a word of caution, do take your children but prepare them for some awe and shock. I hate to break it to you but Pahlaj Nihalani may be a teeny weeny bit right when he said that young children may get scared at some points during the film. The Jungle Book is no longer cute and cuddly but a tale of survival. This time, it really is a jungle out there. But I can guarantee one thing, once you and your children do enter it, you would not want to leave.

Rating:

Movie Review: The Jungle Book 

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Fans have their own set of obsession towards the celebrities they idolize! And Gaurav Chanana, a character of fan played by Shahrukh Khan in his fresh release Fan, truly lives to this adage!
Gaurav Chanana (Shah Rukh Khan) from Inder Nagar, Delhi, eats, breathes, lives superstar Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh, again), This drunk-on-Aryan 25-year-old runs a cyber cafe and has as the sole purpose of his life meeting Aryan Khanna, the ‘AK Senior’ to Gaurav’s ‘Junior’. He’s not a spitting image of Aryan, but passes off as the colony’s AK during the local ‘Sitara’ competitions. So far, so good.

Gaurav wins the competition and a cash prize of Rs 20,000. He wants to go meet his superstar and dedicate the trophy to him on the latter’s birthday. And Junior wants every bit of his journey from Delhi to Mumbai to be like Senior’s first trip to the shores of the Arabian Sea. When “Aapka fan hoon, aapki zindagi ke paanch minute bhi nahi mil sakte kya mujhe?” from Gaurav is met with “Meri zindagi hai, main tumhe paanch second bhi kyu doon?” from Aryan, Chanana is pushed over the edge.

And that, the second half of Fan, keeps people on the edge. Maneesh Sharma’s story sheds its languidness of the first half and makes people sit straight and be scared post intermission. No one knows what the psychotic, obsessed, crazy Gaurav will do to get Aryan’s attention.

Between Gaurav and Aryan, Shah Rukh Khan excels in his stalker fan doppelganger, hands down. Gaurav is reminiscent of Shah Rukh’s Darr and Anjaam days. Khan pushing himself this way after his last few run-of-the-mill films is a welcome change. The superstar, as the slightly blurry version of himself, delivers a superb performance.

As the 50-something superstar ruling the box office for the last 25 years, Aryan Khanna is Shah Rukh Khan. When he doesn’t play himself, Khan does a fabulous job in front of the camera.

The supporting cast doesn’t have much to do in this SRK vs SRK play. But Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tikoo, Waluscha de Sousa, Sayani Gupta and Shriya Pilgaonkar are all able wheels to carry Fan forward. Acting-wise, everyone else fades in front of SRK’s Gaurav.

It is in the editing that Fan loses some crucial points. Namrata Rao could have snipped at least 20 minutes from the film and made it crisper and more racy. The inertia of many of the sequences in the first half is unbearable. In a film where there are no songs, this is a major drawback.

The cinematography is commendable in Fan. Manu Anand’s camera captures the bylanes of Delhi with as much expertise as the orange rooftops in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Fan, after Shah Rukh’s films like Dilwale, Happy New Year, Chennai Express and the likes, is a testament to the kind of work we have seen the actor do. After all, not for nothing has this man been able to rule people’s hearts for more than two decades. Maneesh Sharma helps dust that Shah Rukh out from under the debris of the last few years. And Khan puts his best foot forward for his fans.

In all, understanding exactly what goes on in the mind of an obsessed fan or a troubled superstar is not easy. ‘How can someone do this for a star?’ is a question that has plagued a lot of us at several points in our lives. Maneesh Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan hand-deliver that mindscape – of both the fan and the star – on the screen. And brilliantly.

Watch a slice of Gaurav Chanana’s life this week. The post-Dilwale Shah Rukh deserves that.

Rating:

Fan Review #Gaurav’s obsession beats Shahrukh’s stardom

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Baaghi
Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Sudheer Babu
Director: Sabbir Khan

The makers of Baaghi – the writer and the director, two separate but obviously like-minded entities – seem to believe that it is perfectly all right to rebel against reason, logic and good sense.

Without a credible screenplay to hold it together, this 140-minute action film can only heap endless misery on moviegoers who detest meaningless bone-crunching.

Watching an irate but purposeless combatant single-handedly demolish all his adversaries from Kollam to Bangkok is excruciatingly monotonous.

The protagonist, an angry young rebel, is trapped in a script so fluffy that it can carry no weight at all. It moves only in fits and starts, and aimlessly at that.

Director Sabbir Khan attempts to narrate something akin to a love story, but his anything-goes filmmaking style is unable to generate any intensity at all.

The action in Baaghi, which moves back and forth between the Kerala backwaters and the bright lights on the Chao Phraya, is a mish-mash of Kalaripayattu, Muay Thai and Chinese martial arts.

Making matters worse, its puerile plot is pounded to pulp by pumped-up posturing passed off as performance.

Cinematographer Binod Pradhan, on his part, spares no effort to deliver pretty images, frequently capturing Kerala in all its picture postcard splendour. But his labour is wasted on an insipid narrative.

Given the antediluvian storytelling methods on show, no panther, puma or Tiger Shroff can save this ride from swinging between the utterly fatuous and the hopelessly hackneyed.

Now, the story for whatever it is worth: a wannabe actress Sia (Shraddha Kapoor) is abducted by a badly smitten Bangkok fight club owner Raghav Shetty (Telugu actor Sudheer Babu).

The girl’s father P P Khurana (Sunil Grover, hamming unabashedly) who is directing the film aimed at launching Sia’s acting career, hires the baaghi of the title, the spurned-in-love Ronny (Tiger Shroff), to rescue his daughter.

I will do the job only for the money, not for love, Ronny asserts and heads to Bangkok.

But before the film can enter the second half and the bone-breaking can begin in right earnest, a long flashback reveals how Ronny and the rain-obsessed Sia met and how misunderstandings tore them apart.

The flashback centres on a kalaripayattu academy run by a no-nonsense ex-armyman Guruswami (commando trainer Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj in his acting debut).

Details revealed in this part of the film throw light on the bitter rivalry that develops between Raghav and Ronny over Sia as well as the legacy of the kalaripayattu guru.

Both men learn the ropes from Guruswami but decide to put their skills to contrasting uses.

There is inevitable talk of genuine successor and undeserving usurper as the two men go head-to-head in a bloody confrontation in which arms, feet and fists are freely employed to maim and immobilize.

The girl who causes the mayhem is a rain-loving damsel who catches the fancy of both the macho drifter and the man who never takes no for an answer.

Nothing thrills this winsome wench more than thunderclaps and raindrops. She does everything that formula Hindi film heroines do – she goes from being coy and coquettish to buoyant and bellicose, even showing her dainty fighting skills when the situation demands.

To establish how deep her connection with the clouds is, the film stages an entire rain dance on a railway platform complete with a raucous chorus.

That is when the audience first realizes that the girl is going to be no more than a silly old trophy for two spoilt brats.

Each punch that the hunky hero lands is like a body blow to the film because the man’s motivation is never completely convincing.

Where is this guy coming from? And is the murderous baddie only in the game to serve as a red rag to a bull on the rampage?

Baaghi is more jumbled-up questions than answers, more sound and fury than meaning.

At one point, the villain’s Chinese henchman gives the hero a run for his money and mocks him by extolling his own brand of martial arts.

No prizes for guessing, Ronny gets his own back quickly enough and takes a verbal swipe at the killing machine: “Bura mat manna, Chinese maal tiktaa nahi hai (Don’t mind, Chinese goods don’t last)!”

The Baaghi’s principal boogeyman, Raghav, is given the short shrift by the script. He goes on a murderous spree for no apparent rhyme or reason except for the fact that his actions provoke the hero to take the law in his own hands.

Low on genuine emotion, Baaghi is only as engaging as a badly designed video game.

The love story is interspersed with flashy martial arts action scenes, but given a male lead who is hard pressed to convince us that he has a genuine grouse against the world, the crass concoction simply does not get off the ground.

The insipid acting all around does not help the cause of this wayward rebel one bit.

Baaghi is eminently avoidable. Keep out of its path.

Rating:

Movie Review: Baaghi

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

“One Night Stand”
Cast: Sunny Leone, Tanuj Virwani, and Nyra Banerjee
Director: Jasmine D’Souza’s

Director Jasmine D’Souza’s Bollywood movie “One Night Stand” starring Sunny Leone, Tanuj Virwani, and Nyra Banerjee, has hit the theatres today and seen attracting the audience. This film is a ‘One Night Stand’ and focuses on how that one night changes the lives of the participants. Tanuj Virwani plays the role of a man who gets obsessed with the character played by Sunny Leone.

ONE NIGHT STAND starts with a flashback which is narrated by Urvil (Tanuj Virwani) from his past which is defining his today. The flashback starts where Urvil meets married Celina (Sunny Leone) at an event and both of them has the eponymous one-night stand. After that, Urvil comes back to his home in Pune, where his beautiful and dutiful wife Simran (Nyra Banerjee) waiting for him. Things are absolutely smooth between the couple, until one day Urvil accidentally met Celina and the things from past freshen up and gets translated into his desperation to meet her again. Thereafter begins his unending quest to hunt down Celina. And what happens next forms the crux of the story. As “One Night Stand” is a romantic thriller film high on the erotic quotient, but claims to offer a message to the public.

Sunny Leone has put a lot of effort and its come out in a way as a good performance, shows in the film. Sunny has done more than a skin show in this movie.

And on the other hand, Tanuj Virwani have done justice to his role, after watching the film one has to admit that, with ONE NIGHT STAND he has improved a lot as compared to his earlier two films. Nyra Banerjee, who plays Tanuj Virwani’s wife in the film, shows immense promise as an actress and is also the most natural performer.

The film has very good music tracks like ‘Do Peg Maar’ and ‘Ijazat’ which had already a chartbuster. The film’s background music is given by Sandeep Shirodkar which is good.

Overall “One Night Stand” has something that connects to the emotion..along heart and soul.

Rating:

One Night Stand connects to the emotion.. along heart and soul: Review

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1920 London
Cast: Meera Chopra, Sharman Joshi
Director: Tinu Suresh Desai

The witch in the Bollywood horror film 1920 London would kill for a soul. She wants it so bad that this demon, with tar-filled eye sockets and a perennial bad hair day, will destroy anyone that comes in her way.

Watching this supernatural thriller is so exhausting that the viewers may contemplate laying down their souls for her. For that would mean the torture in the guise of a horror film-meets-unrequited love story would mercifully end.

The gore fest begins when Shivangi (Meera Chopra), a London-based princess from a Rajasthani royal family, goes home to find an exorcist. Her husband is ill and she believes that his body has been possessed by an evil spirit. The only man who can save her is her ex-lover, Jai (Sharman Joshi). He is a shepherd-turned-exorcist. Ok, it is 1920, so a bit of poetic license is allowed.

Class and caste differences drove Jai and Shivangi apart, and he paid a heavy price for falling in love with royalty.

1920 London the third instalment in the 1920 series by producer Vikram Bhatt, exhausts every cliche that has been regurgitated in Bollywood love stories. Corny dialogues such as “we will live together and die together” and sappy songs with lovers dancing around in picturesque locations will make you nauseous.

It’s unfortunate that such cringeworthy reactions were not reserved for the spooky scenes. While the first few scenes in which the evil spirit unleashes her fury are startling, it gets tiring.

Joshi might be on a quest to explore different kinds of roles, but he comes across as a misfit in this horror film. Barring an interesting twist in the first half, the second half falls into a glorious mess. Director Tinu Suresh Desai seems to have faltered when it comes to casting and keeping the story together. Chopra, who plays the devout wife who’s also torn about her failed love affair, gives an insipid performance. Songs that are inserted at regular intervals don’t offer respite and just serve in prolonging this arduous torture.

Rating:

Movie Review: 1920 London

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Traffic
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Sheirgill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Parambrata Chatterjee, Sachin Khedekar, Divya Dutta, Kaveri
Director: Rajesh Pillai

Coincidences and happenstance play a major role in Traffic, the late Rajesh Pillai’s Hindi remake of his 2011 Malayalam smash hit of the same title.

But thanks to its sharply chiselled screenplay and near-perfect casting, this racy and gripping film leaves nothing at all to chance.

The paths of several unrelated individuals cross in unexpected, life-altering ways when a car jumps a signal at a busy Mumbai intersection and hits a motorcycle carrying two friends.

Traffic deals with the themes of loss, grief, betrayal, hope, second chances and redemption with impressive efficacy and lightness of touch.

Inspired by a real-life incident that occurred in Chennai in June 2008, the film stages a dramatic race against the clock undertaken by doctors and traffic policemen to save the life of a child.

The 105-minute Traffic plays out like a thriller, with each second that elapses invoking the ticking of a real clock.

Traffic is made doubly riveting by an eclectic bunch of fine actors led by Manoj Bajpayee in the role of Ramdas Godbole, a traffic constable suspended from service for accepting a bribe.

The writing department gets all its lines right. The screenplay by Bobby and Sanjay has been adapted into Hindi by Suresh Nair.

Dialogue writers Piyush Mishra and Prashant Pandey ensure that nothing is lost in translation.

In Mumbai, a cub reporter Rehan Ali (Vishal Singh) on the way to an early morning interview with a movie star Dev Kapoor (Prosenjit Chatterjee) is hit by a car. Declared brain dead, he has little chance of making it through.

In Pune, 160 km away, the star’s 12-year-old girl, suffering from a serious heart condition, is hours away from death. She needs a transplant real quick.

Pure visibility rules out the deployment of a chopper for the next three hours.

The girl’s desperate father requests a friend for his private jet, but that too is grounded by bad weather in Jaipur. The only hope now is the Mumbai-Pune highway.

As soon as the accident victim’s parents agree to donate their son’s heart, the Mumbai traffic police force swings into action to pull off a mission impossible.

Traffic is entirely content-driven. Its gallery of principal characters, each of whom has reason to seek redemption, are etched out with care and empathy.

At the heart of the film is the discredited traffic constable who volunteers to drive the dead man’s heart to Pune in two-and-a-half hours.

The joint commissioner of traffic police Gurbir Singh (Jimmy Sheirgill), daunted by Mumbai’s working day peak-hour traffic, is initially reluctant to accept the challenge.

The head of the hospital (Vikram Gokhale) from where the heart is to be picked up gives the police officer a piece of his mind when the latter tries to impress upon him the enormity of the task.

Doctors and policemen always take chances because their jobs are fraught with risks, the doctor tells the man in uniform.

The latter sees the point quickly enough for the mission to get on the road in the nick of time.

In the vehicle that sets out for Pune with Godbole at the wheel are Rehan’s friend Rajeev (Amol Parasher) and heart surgeon Abel Fernandes (Parambrata Chatterjee), a man with his own deadly secret.

Involved inextricably in the mission are the emotions of the parents of both the dead journo (Sachin Khedekar and Kitu Gidwani) and the hospitalized girl.

The self-absorbed movie star, who thinks nothing of missing his daughter’s birthday and parents-teachers meeting, and his desperate wife Maya (Divya Dutta) can only hope for a miracle.

The storyline does have minor gaps and a strong dose of contrivances, but the direction and the acting ensure that they do not derail the film.

Bajpayee is absolutely brilliant as the cop. He conveys a gamut of subtle emotions with minimum visible effort.

He is ably supported by the other actors in the cast – many of them are seasoned pros who know exactly what they are supposed to bring to the table.

Especially notable is the perennially underrated Jimmy Sheirgill, who lends to the character of the police commissioner a cloak of believable humanity.

Hindi movie fans have clearly lucked out. Only four months into 2016, they have already been treated to three amazing true stories brought to the big screen with elan.

Traffic extends the trend represented by Airlift and Neerja. Unfortunately, the director is no longer around to bask in the glory. He died in late February, aged only 41.

Traffic, both the original and its Hindi version, will forever bear testimony to the magnitude of the loss that Pillai’s untimely death represents for cinema.

This is a fitting swan song: an unmissable film.

Rating:

Movie Review: Traffic

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Azhar
Cast: Emran Hashmi, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Prachi Desai, Nargis Fakhri, Lara Dutta, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajesh Sharma
Director: Tony D’Souza One and a half stars.

When a movie is in the process of production, rumours play a vital role in generating enough buzz ahead of its release. Similarly, ‘Azhar’ starring Emraan Hashmi was promoted as a biopic on former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin. However, a disclaimer right before the film started clarified that ‘ it is not a biopic of the cricketer’.

So, point number one sorted in the head! Despite the disclaimer suggesting that the film is just ‘a theatrical enactment’ of the various chapters of his life ‘for entertainment purpose’, we know how much of it draws from real-life happenings.

Emraan Hashmi as the collared-up ‘Azhar’ plays his innings well, in a decently researched and appropriately etched-out role. But had the screenplay been smooth as butter, this master stroke could have ended with a high-fly sixer!

Let’s come back to the plot. Prachi Desai plays Naureen, Azhar’s first wife—who is coy, and a typical Hyderabadi. She was seen after a long time, and did pull off her part well. We are taken inside the cricketer’s household where his family background and journey of becoming a record-setter batsman is narrated. He picked up the game on his maternal grandfather’s (played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda) insistence. And it’s his words of wisdom (Tera balla bolega, to sab sunenge) which echo throughout the film and help Azhar sail past crisis.

Gautam Gulati has a brief presence, but his part ( reportedly a character resembling Ravi Shastri) will definitely make his fans happy and still take you back to his ‘Bigg Boss’ days as ‘mera naam mera naam hain Gauti’. He possibly can’t leave his flamboyance aside.

Azhar finds himself trapped in a match-fixing scandal. No one including the biggies from the then Indian cricket team stand up for him till the eleventh hour. His long run battle is finally culminated when his family comes to his rescue and a lawyer friend, here played by Kunaal Roy Kapur decides to turn the tables.

Then, the most controversial part, which made the headlines for the longest time is played by Nargis Fakhri. The actress has come a long way since her ‘Rockstar’ days, but still she has miles to cover.

She plays Bollywood actress Sangeeta Bijlani in the film, for whom Azhar falls and the rest is history. This movie produced by Balaji Motion Pictures does bring out the fact that although she was the second woman in his life but she did warn the skipper about how the people are going to criticise their relationship. That controversial and much-talked about episode in Azhar and Sangeeta’s lives has been presented in a positive light by filmmaker Tony D’Souza.

Okay, that’s enough said about the plot, and I know the audience shelling out money for an Emraan Hashmi film wants to know if there is a lip-lock in store. You won’t be disappointed is all I can say right now. But remember it’s not about your star but about an unsung cricket hero!

Lara Dutta plays a crisp and tough nut defence lawyer, who is impressive in her enactment but sadly loses in the end.

The ghost of match-fixing and the allegations run across the run-time, and what exactly a player goes through if he’s innocent is what ‘Azhar’ summarises. Go, watch it for the love of cricket!

Rating:

Movie Review: Azhar

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Sarbjit

Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda, Darshan Kumaar, Ankita Shirvastav
Director: Omung Kumar

” Sarbjit ” is a biopic of Sarabjit Singh Aitwal, a farmer from Punjab’s Bhikhiwind, arrested in Pakistan for crossing the border on August 28, 1990. But in reality, it is the 23-year-old journey of his sister, Dalbir Kaur , depicting her trials and tribulations in the course of her endeavour to bring back, from Pakistan, her brother, who is convicted for a series of bomb blasts and charges of terrorism.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Dalbir Kaur puts her heart and soul into her character. She delivers a fairly robust performance and evokes sympathy, not merely on the strength of her performance, but because of the powerful character she depicts. Unfortunately, even after modulating her voice and emulating the mannerisms of a Punjabi, by no stretch of imagination, can she pass of as a “Sikhni” one is made to believe she is.

Randeep Hooda as Sarbjit steals the show. His transition, physically and mentally from a happy-go-lucky man to an anguished imprisoned soul, is palpable.

Richa Chadda, in a fairly restrained manner, manages to make her presence felt as Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet, whom he fondly called “Sukhia. So does Darshan Kumaar as Owais Sheikh, Sarbjit’s lawyer in Pakistan. The rest of the cast too is natural and convincing.

Director Omang Kumar who had earlier delivered ” Mary Kom “, has handled the film fairly adroitly. Scripted in a non-linear fashion, the film starts off on an uneven note and gradually as the narration progresses, it settles on an even keel to unravel the compelling drama.

By avoiding the controversies that surround Dalbir Kaur and the existence of her other siblings, scriptwriters Utkarshini Vashishtha and Rajesh Beri’s screenplay skilfully manoeuvres the narration, to stir a sense of patriotism among the audience.

The film is emotionally draining. It brings tears to your eyes. The dialogues are everyday speech, but there are instances when the lines are dramatic and uplift the scenes. This is obvious in the scene where Sarbjit speaks to his lawyer Owais in the prison.

Some of the scenes in the film, seem inspired by classics. This is particularly evident. when Sarabjit breaks down emotionally and cries, “Save me sister, save me.” This particular shot reminds you of a scene in Ritwik Gathak’s “Meghe Dake Tara”, where the heroine pleads to her brother to save her. Here the scene may not be as dramatic as in Ghatak’s film but is eventually effective.

With excellent production values, the film is well-mounted. The cinematography by Kiran Deohans is steady and remarkable. With brilliant lighting, his frames are atmospheric. With his wide-angle lenses and tight close-ups, he brilliantly captures the claustrophobic space and the fine nuances of Randeep’s haunting performance.

The sets are realistic and transition of the colour palette, is evident in the costumes of the ladies, which from bright colourful clothes gradually turn into muted hues.

The songs mesh seamlessly into the narration and the background score effectively heightens the viewing experience.

The film is evenly paced with a few lengthy and unwarranted scenes but overall, Sarbjit Aitwal’s story is worth a watch, as it touches the right emotional chord.

Rating:

Movie Review: Sarbjit

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Veerappan
Cast: Sandeep Bhardwaj, Sachin Joshi, Lisa Ray
Director: Ram Gopal Varma

A society gets the criminal it deserves.

A 360-degree camera spin follows this Voltaire quote, and you find yourself surrounded by a dense forest and trumpeting tuskers. This territory belongs to Veerappan, a killing machine who counts LTTE chief Prabhakaran as his inspiration. You wish to know more about this rugged man, and a child appears with a camera mounted over his shoulders.

The kid takes you on a time warp and loud background score ensures you remain stuck there for a while. And then you breathe, recognise and realise it is that Ram Gopal Varma touch. Welcome to the world of omnipresent cameras.

Now, to the film’s story: Different task forces couldn’t kill or capture Veerappan (Sandeep Bhardwaj) in more than 15 years, so the project has been handed over to a no-nonsense cop (Sachin Joshi), who hasn’t been given a name in the film. He involves Shriya (Lisa Ray), an untrained civilian, in a highly confidential plan to eliminate Veerappan for reasons best known to Varma.

Though we know what happened on October 18, 2004, the day Veerappan was killed, we still sit in anticipation of RGV’s trademark storytelling, if we can ignore bad acting and touches like a candle in an already well lit room. There is a straight lift from Sholay as well. Who said RGV is out of his Aag hangover!

The disappointment grows when the script fails to produce any grip over the characters. Nobody other than Bhardwaj looks serious about the film. Thanks to his make-up artist, he reminds the viewer of the dreaded man from the beginning, but he has a gang that looks absolutely out of sync.

The cop, Joshi, takes this cluelessness many notches higher by inviting Lisa Ray to the interrogation room holding one of Veerappan’s aides. She breathes heavily, almost orgasmically, and it all becomes so ridiculous that you wonder who will faint first — Ray or the bandit?

Other characters bring no relief despite Varma’s flourishes of using camera from unexpected angles. The attempt to produce a taut thriller is hampered by the fact Veerappan states the obvious. Rather than how and why of the dreaded smuggler’s rise in the border areas of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it seeks refuge in dishing out the details of Operation Cocoon.

Instead of diving deep into Veerappan’s past, there is an effort to create a positive halo around him. At a point, he candidly describes how he received only Rs 7 lakh out of the total Rs 9 crore ransom in the kidnapping of Kannada superstar, Dr Rajkumar.

The basic idea is to present it as a morally ambiguous story where the good can also use evil means, but that isn’t enough.

Having said that, this 126-minute film has pace and a narrative technique which may give you a glimpse of RGV’s old charm. But, the mojo isn’t completely back yet.

Rating:

Movie Review: Veerappan

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Phobia
Director: Pavan Kriplani
Cast: Radhika Apte, Ankur Vikal

Pavan Kriplani’s Phobia has all the elements of a racy thriller — surprise, fear, mystery and shock. What it doesn’t have is the background music and actors preparing you for a surprise. In Phobia, the unexpected does happen. And, the film wouldn’t have been the same were it not for Radhika Apte’s powerful performance that will give you goosebumps.

The protagonist, Mehek Deo (Radhika Apte), is an artist who has Agoraphobia, an irrational fear of open spaces, and spends months inside her house before moving to a new one. Sexual assault at the hands of a cab driver triggered her condition. Even as she fights her fear, she starts hallucinating that the previous occupant of her flat was murdered and was seeking help.
Despite the element of horror, director Pavan Kriplani manages to keep the supernatural, religious drama at bay and opts for a psychological mayhem that makes for an impressive viewing experience.

The symbolism and subtle but strong message make Phobia Kriplani’s best film till date (he has Ragini MMS and Darr @The Mall to his credit). Though the film is fast-paced, it voices the concerns of women in a male-dominant society. There are even references to the 19th century English literature where a woman questioning the male supremacy is declared crazy and locked up — much like Mehek.

Her angry conversations with her male friend are aimed at the patriarchal society that takes pride in “protecting” the woman and keeping her confined to home. The fear of open spaces is as much about the sexual assault as it is about men preying upon women.

There are a few flaws in Phobia but Apte excels. Except for Manu (played by Ankur Vikal), people around Mehek are weak characters, which have not been thought through. Their lack of common sense is jarring which halts the pace of the film.

Rating:

Movie Review: Phobia

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Housefull 3
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Lisa Haydon, Nargis Fakhri, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Pandey
Director: Sajid-Farhad

Sometime in 2010, three masked men rob a museum in London. They have a face-off with the police and then we are taken to the present-day London. Batuk Patel (Boman Irani) hosts a party at his palatial mansion. When Patel’s friend puts forth a marriage proposal from his three sons to Patel’s three daughters Ganga (Jacqueline), Yamuna (Lisa) and Saraswati (Nargis), we realise the hitch. Batuk doesn’t want his daughters to get married.

Patel’s daughters Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, however, are in love with Sandy (Akshay), Teddy (Riteish) and Bunty (Abhishek) respectively. To keep his daughters from marrying their boyfriends, Batuk gets Akhri Pasta (Chunky Pandey) to dress up as an astrologer. When Pasta pronounces death for Batuk the moment his sons-in-law step into the Batuk Mansion, the sisters come up with a plan.

Akshay Kumar slips into his role easily and the laughs in the film are mostly courtesy his comic timing. Riteish Deshmukh and Abhishek Bachchan do their bit, and along with Akshay, are the saving grace of Housefull 3. As for Jacqueline, Lisa and Nargis, they try to get into their characters, but that’s hardly anything to applaud them for. Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Chunky Pandey and the rest of the supporting cast hardly make an impact.

Sajid-Farhad’s Housefull 3 is entertaining only for its male leads. The story has nothing much to offer in terms of either substance or laughter. There are no rib-tickling moments in Housefull 3; but the actors do manage to get a few spurts of laughter.

The film demands willing suspension of belief, and that is understandable given the genre it belongs to, but Housefull 3 does not even check the ‘hilarious’ box.

The charm of Housefull 3, whatever little that is, lies in its mindless comedy. There’s sure some of that in the film, but that’s hardly enough to keep one hooked for more than a few minutes. And the film runs for 2 hours 15 minutes.

There are one-liners in the film which make your ears bleed. Housefull 3 tries to use ‘literal translation’ literally. So, ‘Once upon a time’ becomes ‘Ghadi ke upar’, ‘Comfortable’ is ‘Table ke liye’, ‘Hang out’ is ‘Baahar latakte hai’ and heaps of such inane jokes. For most part, Housefull 3 tries too hard to be funny, but doesn’t quite succeed.

There are no catchy songs either in the film. Girls Like To Have Fun and Taang Uthakey are barely passable in terms of hummability.

Housefull 3 is not exactly like its predecessors, even though the idea is more or less the same. Watch the film only for Akshay, Riteish and Abhishek’s comic timing.

Rating:

Movie Review: Housefull 3

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Udta Punjab
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Diljit Dosanjh
Director: Abhishek Chaubey

After much controversy, Udta Punjab opened to audience on Friday morning, and unlike the censor board’s earlier claims, the film doesn’t glorify substance abuse. Instead, the film has its heart in the right place: Punjab is in the grip of drugs, and only its youth can unchain it.

What may look like an indigenous version of the hugely popular American series Breaking Bad, it circles around a group of people who operate on both sides of the India-Pakistan border. They are the ones ensuring a constant drug supply in the wheat bowl of India. Protected by the high and mighty in politics, it’s hard to pinpoint anyone. At its current scale, the onus is on nobody to contain the menace.

Enter fading rockstar, Tommy Singh (Shahid Kapoor), who is cussing and sleepwalking through his career. As we try to understand his circumstances and what’s driven him to this point, there are others like him, and all these characters keep crossing each other’s path. But can they stick together to put up a fight against the mafia?
Director Abhishek Chaubey unfolds his story with a lot of promise and takes the audience through the lush green fields only to give a shocker. What lies on the other side of the paddy fields is raw and appalling.

Then there’s a Bihari migrant (Alia Bhatt) whose zeal for a better life captures you. But just as you begin to empathise with her, you realise the futility of her efforts. It’s not a world she can control.

Similarly Sartaj (Diljit Dosanjh), a junior officer in Punjab Police, has questionable morality. He doesn’t get a hang of the reality until Dr Preet (Kareena Kapoor) shows him the bigger picture. But again, he is not on top of the food chain, and decision making is not his prerogative.

What begins as a satirical retort to Punjab’s social situation slowly turns into a thriller. Tommy and his gang’s antics amuse and ease us into this darker zone. He can’t control his actions. In fact, he is long past that now. He is only a mocking representation of our transformed musical sensibilities. You hesitate to laugh when he blames his fans for taking his verbal diarrhea as creativity. Every bit of a cynical singing sensation, Shahid Kapoor is a treat to watch.

Alia Bhatt, the show stealer, carries no baggage and delivers the performance of a life time. From accent to body language, she has got almost all of it right.

Diljit Dosanjh is nuanced and likeable and carries his ambiguous morality with ease.

Satish Kaushik deserves a special mention here. As Tommy’s manager, he knows how to ace the game.
Witty and humorous, Udta Punjab works mostly because of its tone and stand against drugs, though the second half is no match for the first. Sometimes though, it appears like an opportunity lost as the narrative keeps dragging in search of closure.

The film is entirely Chaubey’s. Bringing in inspiration from Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers and Vishal Bhardwaj, he showcases the paradox of Punjab in Bollywood films. The land of lassi and mustard fields isn’t about a romantic duet anymore, and if you don’t act fast… well, watch the movie to find out. There are no reasons not to.

Rating:

Movie Review: Udta Punjab

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Marathi movies are doing better at Box Office than many Bollywood movies. Most of the Marathi Movies in the recent times had created goodwill in the Film Industries. With Pind Daan, there is one more feather on a cap of Marathi Film industry.

Pind Daan movie is shot in very scenic locations. Of course the movie caters to upper middle class Educated Maharashtrians. Many scenes and concepts that are shown in the movie are those which only upper-class educated Maharashtrians can identify with. The musical tracts are thematic and keep ringing in the ears.

One major concept that was reflected in the movie is Indians may go anywhere in the world, yet they maintain their Indian cultural ethos. They do not forget their roots. Surprisingly, an British lady named Anna (played by Paula Mc Glynn) who speaks very fluent Marathi and speaks of Baba as her Guru seems to draw the Lead Actor played by Ashutosh (Played by Siddharth Chandekar).

The Lead Actress Ruhi (Played by Manava Naik) too displayed very good acting skills and plays a pivotal role in the Love Triangle which is the dormant topic that the movie revolves around.

The very lively, very jubilant yet elegant English Lady played by Paula Mc Glynn seems to bring life into the Lead Actor and the movie too. Ashutosh (Played by Siddharth Chandekar) and Ruhi (Played by Manava Naik) work together in a London-based culture channel as director and camera person respectively. Ruhi covets unexpressed love for Ashutosh.

Both the lead Ashutosh and Ruhi gets assignment of making a documentary film on Pindadaan, they come to India and reach a place called Nandikeshwar and stays at a heritage hotel. Driver Tukaram takes them to meet Rudrababa, a holy God man who can provide information for their documentary.

On his early morning visit to Manganga Ghat, Ashutosh meets a British girl, Anna (played by Paula McGlynn), who speaks fluent Marathi and has deep knowledge of Indian philosophy, as she is a follower of Rudrababa. This Marathi movie is a treat for Marathi movie lovers. One should really watch this movie.

Pind Daan (A mystical love story) is the movie which is recently released and is loved and appreciated by the Public. The movie is directed by Prashant Patil whereas Director of Photography (Cinematography) of the movie is done by Bunty Deshpande. Prashant Patil and Bunty Deshpande are the sons of our soil. They studied from Saint Francis De Sales College and then from Hislop college. Later they went to Pune for further studies. They were the first who introduce fashion photography in Pune in 1990 and later in Mumbai. They trained quite a few models like Pooja Batra, Prachi Desai and many more. They started making short films which were appreciated public.

Pindadaan is their first Marathi feature film which is produced and directed Prashant Patil and cinematography is done by Bunty Deshpande and costumes were designed by Deepali Deshpande who also hails from Nagpur.

By Swati Gan

Movie Review: Pind Daan

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Movie: Sultan
Cast: Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma, Randeep Hooda
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Aakash Oberoi (Amit Sadh), a young entrepreneur, is on the verge of a breakdown because his idea of bringing Mixed Martial Arts contests to India isn’t working out. His father advises him to rope in a local fighter, apparently because nobody thirsts more for victory than a “common Indian”.

The old man then suggests a name: Sultan Ali Khan.

Sultan (Salman Khan), a 40-year-old former wrestler, has seen the highs and lows of life. Going into flashback, we are introduced to Sultan’s younger self at a time when nobody could beat him in a sprint. A chance meeting with Aarfa (Anushka Sharma), an ambitious wrestler eyeing the Olympic gold, ignites a fiery passion in Sultan’s life.

But then, if Bollywood has taught us anything, we know Sultan isn’t going to come upon his happy ending that easily.
Today, Sultan is just a shadow of his former self. Life has been knocking him down for years, but he has always known how to fight back. He knows he is down, but not out.

Aditya Chopra’s screenplay eases us into a world 100 kilometres away from the National Capital. Though the girls here struggle to make a mark, Aarfa leads a brigade that’s determined to make its presence felt. In a welcome change for Bollywood, Sharma actually talks about women emancipation in a language that isn’t confined to “Ghar me maa behan nahi hai kya?”.

Here, amid canal-side roads and large bungalows with ‘akhadas’, live some of the most humble and lovable people this side of Earth. They dance together, understand and respect each other’s needs, and cheer for their wrestlers. The only problem is – their star wrestler doesn’t flaunt a local accent. Salman’s dialect differs from that of his folks, but never mind, it’s the least of the issues.

The director’s uncontrollable urge to make his characters break into a jig every now and then slows down the film. The songs consume time, and act as mere advertisements of Salman’s superstardom. However, that’s also Sultan’s USP.

Sultan treads a predictable line until it reaches the climax. In the best part of the movie, Salman carries forward his Bajrangi Bhaijaan act. The man you see in the ring is down to earth, humble and quite unlike your typical Bollywood superstar. He is scared of his opponents, and fails to hide his pain despite being the strong, silent kind.

Though Sultan keeps himself from throwing in the towel, he doesn’t act invincible either. He is aware of his age – something no character played by Salman has done in the past. For a change, it feels nice to hear him mouth sensible dialogues.

The director’s biggest success lies in taming Salman’s overpowering persona. Zafar further breaks the film into three distinct acts, and the actor excels in each of them. From playing a done-and-dusted homegrown wrestler to a wonder-boy of freestyle fighting, you see Salman put up a performance like never before.

Sultan takes a cue from Tom Hardy’s Warrior, but that’s about it. The pot-bellied, middle-aged wrestler is mostly his own creation.

Sultan has all the right ingredients of a ‘masala’ potboiler, and whistling and sobbing are likely to go hand-in-hand here. Don’t go looking for a twist ending, though. We all know what to expect from such a film, but it’s still a lot of fun to see the underdog win.

How Nagpur people reacted on the first day of release of hindi movie Sultan

With the release of the new movie Sultan which started off with a controversial statement by Salman Khan, many movie goers had a varied opinion.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bollywood movie, Sultan starring superstar Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma and Randeep Hooda seems to get an overall positive response from the city movie goers.

Photographer Ankit Bagde
Ankit said that the movie Sultan was full of action, emotions, comedy etc. The movie kept the pace and I personally enjoyed the movie. Many scenes in the movie give the viewer goosebumps. Salman Khan is full of energy as always. Catchy dialogues were used which people will remember for lifetime.

B.Sc. Student Nitya Pal
Nitya opined that the story line was good. Sultan’s acting certainly touches the heart. Salman gave a power packed performance. This is one of Salman Khan’s best movies till date. Sultan is a must watch movie.

Model Sunny Francis
Sunny felt that the movie has a superb story-line. Salman and Anushka displayed a perfect chemistry in the movie. This movie was a treat for all Salman Khan’s fans. Sultan will surely hit the Box-Office records.

Stock Incharge of Soni Polymer Akash Nagdive
Akash opined that Salman Khan gave a spectacular performance. The movie is a complete and all round entertainment. This is the best movie of Salman Khan till date. Like all Salman Khan movies this movie also conveys the message of “Beti Bacchao” (save daughters) to public at large.

Engineering Student Shahrukh Bandhukiya
Shahrukh said that the role assayed by Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma will steal the heart with their performance. This is one going to be one of the biggest blockbusters of Salman Khan till date. The movie Sultan definitely convinces the audience of the concept it wants to portray. It is a “must watch movie”.

Rating:

Movie Review: Sultan

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Great Grand Masti
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela
Director: Indra Kumar

Warning: This story is not for the faint of heart; nor is it for people who care about Great Grand Masti spoilers. Like really? Spoilers for this movie, seriously?

It was a normal July morning in Delhi. Our protagonist woke up to an overcast sky after snoozing the alarm clock 7 times. Little did he know that with his each snooze, he was only delaying the inevitable.

It was less than 24 hours ago, when he, in a bout of bravery and sadomasochism, volunteered to watch Great Grand Masti. Fast-forward to the story at hand, he enters the theatre. Being the first day and first show, he expected more than the 15 odd people present there. But he paid no heed to that. He had a movie to watch.

The movie began badly enough with horrible double entendres and sexual innuendos that only garnished the horrible dish that was the lives of three sexually frustrated Indian men who could not help objectifying anything and everything with breasts. But he kept calm; after all, he had endured the first two instalments of the film franchise.

In fact he recalled having enjoyed the first movie a lot, given that he was only a thirteen year old schoolboy then, which is incidentally also the mental age of Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmukh and all the willing audience of the movie.
The fifteen odd people in the theatre kept laughing at all the dreadful penis jokes, as if on a cue. He started getting a little worried. How was this possible? The conspiracy theorist in him immediately informed him of a dystopian universe where humans were conditioned to laugh at toilet humour, homophobic jokes and objectification of women. He promptly dismissed that voice in his head: this would mean that the world is completely messed up and that could not be his reality. He convinced himself of that, though his own arguments were a little shaky. But things were about to get bad.

The director of the movie decided to use some ironic humour for a change. Riteish Deshmukh’s new domestic help turned out to be a bodacious babe with a very revealing cleavage. But the twist came in the form of the bai’s name. Shiney. Yes. Indra Kumar decided to make a joke Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja, who had reportedly molested his domestic help. Not at all insensitive, right? And yet the 15 odd people around him continued to laugh like they were watching Family Guy.
Our protagonist was legitimately scared now.

As the movie progressed on, he shrunk inside his seat not being able to digest the fellatio jokes, the overtly unsubtle lassi innuendos and the stream of laughter that echoed inside the empty theatre. It was as if the ghost of regression was haunting him by possessing the people present there and then they hit the final straw: rape jokes.

It was a bittersweet moment for him because he saw two women walk out of the theatre at that juncture but it did not compensate the fact that the movie not only used rape jokes but also that they were not so much as jokes, but a humorous rape attempt on an elderly woman and also that it was funny to the audience.

When the movie ended, he felt violated. He ran out of the theatre and out of the mall and to his office where his colleagues tried to calm him down with a steaming mug of hot coffee and condolences. He had never felt this shaken after watching a horror movie.

In the end he realized that it was not the movie that scared him. It was a horrible excuse for a comedy that only the likes of Aftab, Riteish and Vivek could make happen. No. It was the whole idea that people found this funny that made him lose all hope in the world. He left soon after. He decided to dedicate his life to Pokémon GO.

Movie Review: Great Grand Masti

Nagpur Today : Nagpur News

Dishoom
Cast: John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez
Director: Rohit Dhawan

Two guys are racing against time to recover a hostage when a Gulf businessman asks them to enter his pool with only their underwears on.

The heroes oblige, standing bare-chested in knee-deep water with the clock ticking and someone’s life on the line. You’d think this is bizarre but in Dishoom, the six-pack swag has just begun.

What follows is a string of action sequences somewhere in West Asia amid exotic locales and glossy beach parties. Actors shake a leg before creating mayhem. And all this because a cricketer is missing.

Waagha (Akshaye Khanna) kidnaps India’s top batsman Viraj Sharma (Saqib Saleem) hours before an India-Pakistan finale.

Kabir is to John Abraham what Raj is to Shah Rukh Khan – a character that people identify only for the actor who plays it. He is an impulsive cop who throws people out of lifts if they object to his smoking. He hides his emotion, wears tight shirts and dances with difficulty. In short, he is your typical bad cop.

Dishoom has expensive action sequences.
Junaid, of course, is the good one. Innocent yet tough. Hanging from a helicopter and making baby-faces. He also wears tight clothes, but dances with ease.

Rohit Dhawan has taken the right call by focusing on the pace and style and not on the characters – because little can be done to help the wafer-thin plot. He doesn’t even try.

Very predictable, Dishoom is mostly about choreographed action scenes and slow motion shots. Akshay Kumar and Nargis Fakhri’s cameos add charm.

But what makes the movie strictly average is the core idea. From Rush Hour to Central Intelligence, a number of buddy cop films have already used it. But, to give the credit where it’s due, Dishoom still entertains.

Dishoom entertains despite cliches.
The director knows his strengths and keeps feeding us clichés. With whistles in mind, he makes us wait for the hero’s lethal moves, and increases the background score right before it happens. Been there, done that, but nicely done all the same.

The relatively short length of the movie (124 minute) helps Dishoom rise above the clichés. It’s a formula potboiler that serves the purpose of entertainment if you’re looking for some light moments.

Rating:

Movie Review: Dishoom