Half Girlfriend (2017) (Hindi)

So if you haven’t seen Fitoor Mishra's CommentArré on the Half Girlfriend Trailer then believe me, the 2 minute narration by this man is definitely better than the 2+ hours of Half Girlfriend – Damn I have to stop stating the obvious.  Have a dekko at the Fitoor Mishra CommentArré first https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMLg6s68HIc.  And for those who aren’t familiar, Shuturmurg = Ostrich.

Tevar

Tevariffic is what the campaign building up to the movie said.  A nice play on words and a decent campaign leading up to a decent movie.  But barely there.  If there was any way to pay tribute to Bollywood to begin a fresh year, Tevar is exactly the way it should be.  Music, Masala, Action, Drama – almost everything that you could expect from B-town and all reasonably packaged.

Finding Fanny

I cannot classify Finding Fanny as a Romantic Comedy but it is one.  I cannot classify it as a satire but it is one.  I cannot classify it as a Romance movie either but it is one.  To typecast Finding Fanny under one genre of cinema would be a travesty because it has a bit of everything in it.  And therefore I will take the safe way out and put it under that ever safe genre called, “Drama”.

2 States

The most difficult part of this review is going to be the beginning.  I have just walked out of Screen 4 @ PVR Mulund feeling overawed by the performances from 5 brilliant actors and a sincere but not so talented one.  I am also confused because I don’t feel the thrill that I felt after Highway or Queen.

Gunday

I was in a conversation with a good friend last night and she asked me what I thought about Gunday.  My reply to her was, “It seems like an overly done up movie with more emphasis on looking good and creating hype than focusing on quality cinema”.  Her reply to me was to go in without a bias.  I did exactly that.  But at the end of the day, my expectation was met.

Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb was known for his resoluteness towards one goal and one goal only – that of taking the empire from his father.  He went to the extent of jailing his own father for no apparent reason other than greed for the throne.  That, is the apparent logic for this thriller based out of Gurgaon that shows the deep rooted nexus between politicians, gang lords (mafia) and cops.

Ishaqzaade

If there was ever a movie which could have been a great launch pad for 2 newbies in show business, it would have been Ishaqzaade. Writer Director Habib Faisal has given the proverbial lion’s share of the script and screen time to the lead pair in this story line which can be best described as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak meets the true story of Bonnie and Clyde. Both the protagonists cannot remotely complain about not being given a chance to show what they are capable of or for that matter not capable of.

Habib Faisal is the director of what I called out as one of the top 5 movies from last year – Do Dooni Chaar. Not only did he leave a solid impression with his direction but also with his writing skills. One would have expected him to take his film making to the next level with Ishaqzaade and I would guess that he has given it his best. But this time around, one doesn’t leave the hall with a feeling of 100% satisfaction. I cannot really point out any flaws in the direction or writing per se. I can only say that it probably didn’t come together as well as DDC did last year. Nothing to be disappointed per say Habib Sir. No question about your skills out here.

The Chauhans and the Qureshis are the leading political rivals of a small town in UP called Almor. The youngest son of the Chauhan clan is your atypical village MLA’s son who believes that he owns the town simply because his family is a powerful one. He goes by the name of Parma (Arjun Kapoor) and as per his mother has actually taken the family name to a new level of disgrace. He is however not highly regarded by most of the family and chiefly his grandfather, Suraj Chauhan (Anil Rastogi).

The Qureshis on the other hand are the residing MLAs which just one concern – their firecracker daughter Zoya (Parineeti Chopra). She harbours hopes of being an MLA one day and is always @ loggerheads with Parma in college. One such violent encounter gets Parma to fall head over heels with Zoya. He is floored by her fearless approach to life in general. And over time Zoya begins to reciprocate. But the two are flirting with a possibility of a failed relationship. When was the last time a Hindu Muslim romance succeed in UP?

With music from Amit Trivedi which is probably below par, Ishaqzaade’s best performance actually comes from the support cast. Gauhar Khan in her role of the local village dance girl with precisely 10 minutes of screen time actually steals the show. I have always wondered why she doesn’t get more meaty roles. Even the aged Anil Rastogi was exceptional in his role as the Sr. Chauhan. I for one thought Arjun Kapoor was not remotely bad as the world seems to be saying. He did reasonably well to make the cut and can make it to better roles. People may not like his face though. Cannot classify his permanent scowl as good looking by a country mile.

People are raving about Parineeti Chopra but I think she has loads of confidence which typically gets confused with great acting talent. Give her time. The true talent will come to the fore if there is any. For now, she has had one role of an atypical Dilli girl in Ricky Bahl and this one. Not enough to make up ones mind regarding acting talent. Definitely strong and I am taking nothing away from her at all.

Ishaqzaade is not a bad movie at all like people are making it out to be. It is definitely worth a dekko. It has a lot of intensity. Could have been chopped at a few places. Also is predictable in a lot of places. But what it lacks in cuts, it makes up with intensity in all aspects. As I mentioned earlier, I thought Habib Faisal could have done a tad better than the 6 on 10 I am going to give it.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1mnWqUu_I