Bajirao Mastani (Hindi) (2015)

At the outset, let us first tip our hat or in fact give a standing ovation to a few people involved in Bajirao Mastani.  Fistly – Sriram Kannan Iyengar, Sujeet Subhash Sawant, Yantra Design Studio and Saloni Ankush Dhatrak for some breathtaking Production Design – probably the best we have seen since Mughal-e-Azam!!!

Tamasha (2015) (Hindi)

He started with a very simple movie 10 years back.  One which would qualify to be a sleeper hit.  It was called Socha Na Tha and starred a certain relative of someone with a 2.5 kg fist.  He has released a movie around every 2 years since.  Jab We Met (2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009), Rockstar (2011), Highway (2014) and now Tamasha (2015).  He is one of my favourite writer directors in India today – Imtiaz Ali.

Happy New Year (2014) (Hindi)

Recipe for a successful Farah Khan Movie

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”.

Kochadaiiyaan (Tamil)

Somewhere between a heavily interrupted show of Kochadaiiyaan (Tamil) @ Cinemax Sion, my good friend Varun Suresh decided to figure out what did it cost to make Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn.  Apparently the estimated spend was between $100-125 million.  It cost less than the difference in the range to make Kochadaiiyaan.

Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram Leela

Extravagant. Lavish. Profuse. Gargantuan. Giant. Excessive. Vivid. Rich. Intense. Passionate. Erotic. Sensual. Sinister. Scheming. Blatant. Luxurious. Romantic. Foolish. Stupid. Tragic. Brilliant. Beautiful. Bright. Radiant. Lustrous. Lambent. Splendour. Flagrant. Bold. Dramatic. Stretched. Exciting. Busy. Sharp. Inspired. Massive. Magical. Emotional. Amazing. Superb.

Chennai Express

Someday, I am going to give up wondering about the reasons for audiences laughing at attempted humour on screen when actually, the joke is on them.  I am only tempted even more to make it a subject of my thesis (whenever I get to it).  I was not just flummoxed but downright exasperated to see the reaction in the hall to Chennai Express. I hope the audience realizes someday that quality cinema is their right.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

5 minutes into Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, you see Mohini played by an obviously botox treated Madhuri Dixit (looking really hot despite the botox). What makes it even more sizzling is that at nearly 40 years of age, this woman can dance better that all of the extras. And as tells Ranbir Kapoor something to the extent of, "Abhi Ladke ho. Ladke aur mard meing fark hai". If you r an MD fan, you may have a heart attack (in the positive sense of the word).

Karthik Calling Karthik

It was only a matter of time before I got around to writing the review for this one.  Yes you can get the snide remarks started in response to this post.  Or even the corny jokes because nothing lesser would be expected as a response.  I am well aware and totally prepared for the same.

Race 2

All of you would know what to expect when you walk into a movie that has the tag of the Burmawalas associated with it.  One can expect a lot of colour.  By colour I mean every perceivable shade of every perceivable colour would be splashed all across the screen in primarily in the form of the outfits that some gorgeous specimens of humanity would be seen wearing.  In Race 2, the colour extends itself to the houses, the parties, the aircrafts, the scenery, the ruins and of course – the parachutes.

Desi Boyz

I never managed to watch Desi Boyz till a couple of days back when I caught up with it on TV. I cannot remember the channel for the life of me. But I don’t think it really matters. I was told all sorts of things about how I should avoid the movie like the plague and I should not consider watching it even if I was paid for it – amongst other heinous things.

And I guess that age old rule applied once again – If you don’t set your expectations of a movie then chances are that you may not find it that bad. I must say that I found Desi Boyz to be a movie that could be tolerated. And quite comfortably at that. Probably because I saw it without any expectations whatsoever. But there were some other factors that helped in getting my expectation so low.

I have not been much of an Akshay Kumar fan in the past few years. I strongly believe that he has lost his comic timing. If memory serves me right, the slide began with either Garam Masala and then all was lost by the time we came to CC2C. The good comedian in him has over time been replaced by someone who is quite slapstick and seems to be struggling to keep even himself humoured. Desi Boyz was probably a bit better than his recent disasters.

My expectations from John Abraham the actor have never been too high. Sincere effort always put in. Definitely lots of hard work. But I believe he can at best be eye candy and nothing more. And what candy!!! As regards Deepika, I have been a fan of the confidence and will continue to be one – despite the fact that it seems to be deteriorating over the past few movies. And Chitrangadha in this new sultry avatar was a surprise – if only the strip teaching exercise would have continued just a bit more.

Desi Boyz is a cheap effort at mimicking The Full Monty but only with 2 people and a lot of Desi Masala also thrown in which doesn’t help much. Jignesh Patel (AK) is left with the task of taking care of his sister’s son after an accident takes them away. Jignesh works in a security services company. His best friend is Nikhil Mathur (John) who is an MBA from London School of Economics (WOW!!!).

Both are hit by the “recession” and find themselves jobless. Nikhil has to take care of his girl friend Radhika’s (Deepika) utopian expectations of marriage and a family after. Jignesh has to prevent Social Security from taking away his nephew. Desperation drives them to Boss (Sanjay Dutt) who runs a high level escort service and they start making the big bucks after a lot of reluctance.

If you are willing to ignore the basic errors and cheesy dialogues that come with most movies of this kind, Desi Boyz can actually be a great watch. The music is quite decent with some popular songs in the recent past. Overall as I said earlier – not disappointing because my expectations were lower than what I got. I thought you could tolerate it. Watch it if you have nothing better to do. 4 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlorjdK8cI

Cocktail (Hindi 2012)

Cocktail is directed by Homi Adajania whose first movie was Being Cyrus (remember) which I thought was a very good piece of work. And I was quite amused at the expression that someone gave me when I predicted that Cocktail will be a very good movie. I trusted Homi to deliver a movie that was at least as well made as his singular previous attempt.

For those who came in late, by well made, I mean attention to detail, getting the finer aspects correct, ensuring that the right cuts are made, making sure that there are minimal or zero consistency errors etc. etc. etc. At the end of 150 minutes, I was disappointed with all these aspects of the movie – I can now visualize my friend grinning ear to ear saying “I told you so”.

Thanks to a decent story line, this RomCom which is written by Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali (and it has Imtiaz Ali ALL OVER IT), turns out to be a decent watch. Cocktail is the story of three people who get thrown in together by some twists of fate and go onto become really good friends. Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) is a Casanova of sorts. A software engineer in London who hits on anything that is in a skirt or a saree or salwar or even a pair of jeans. And is successful more often than not. Veronica (Deepika Padukone) is the female equivalent of Gautam who spends most of her non working time getting smashed out of her wits on endless rounds of tequila shots and other varieties of alcohol.

And then there is Meera (Diana Penty) who is a demure damsel from India. She has flown into London only to find out that her husband (Randeep Hooda) is part of an elaborate immigration scheme and doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore. She bumps into Veronica who takes her in and they become close friends in a short while. In comes Gautam and so does a steamy relationship with Veronica. Meera makes sure that she stays out of their way and makes her dislike for Gautam quite obvious at all occasions – but then one cannot help remember the Airtel tag line about friends.

Cocktail turns out to be a good enough film to be seen once at the end of the day. A story line that has been seen before in Indian cinema but hasn’t been portrayed in a RomCom sort of way. Cocktail bridges that gap for sure but it could have done with some better finishing. The performances are reasonably strong across the board but I was disappointed with Deepika who has gone over the top at times. Diana Penty is quite good if you manage to look beyond her stunning looks that is (I can assure you it was extremely difficult) – but I guess she will stick around just on the basis of the latter for a while to come.

Superb performances from Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia who outshine everyone else with little or no effort. Pritam’s definitely inspired music sounds good in parts but not so great in parts. Lot of psychedelic effects to show the pain and conflict in Veronica’s mind towards the end. Was irritating but good. Overall, worth a dekko. Don’t expect much and definitely don’t expect something as good as Cyrus. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FfBzyiU0ZU

Aarakshan

The power of marketing or should I be more specific and say “Jab PR kiya toh darna kya”??? (Corny as hell ain’t it :P). But that is exactly what you could describe the events over the past 2 days as. First there were reports from Uttar Pradesh and then Punjab if I am not mistaken. And then finally Andhra Pradesh joined the bandwagon. One can be quite certain that this bandwagon is not going to grown exponentially. The reason – Because there is nothing objectionable at all in Aarakshan. Its nothing but a brilliant piece of PR and I tip my hat to the agency behind it. A superb way to generate more excitement around a movie that was anyways expected to be good and fare quite well at the BO. The news of the ban and the intense promotion around the news has only helped it more – or has it? I would have thought that people would have anyways gone to see the Big B in his 2nd movie for the year and his first truly respectable role since Paa. I thought BBuddah was OK but nothing immensely respectable by a country mile for the biggest star in Indian cinema. As such the entire PR stunt was generally much ado about actually nothing. In fact I thought I may have missed a thing or two since I was so eagerly looking out for what was it that people of UP or AP and most surprisingly Punjab found in the movie to ban it. Weird I say.

Aarakshan (Reservation) tries to deal with the ever controversial topic of reservation on the basis of caste and creed. Is it justifiable to use reservation as a means of getting back at another caste or group of people from a specific caste purely because hundreds of years back, you were a victim of the same? Doesn’t it make sense to reserve seats for the truly economically backward and that too if and only if they really show some spark? Why is it that teaching as a profession is not given as much importance as say the Police or Civil Services. So where you have options to become an IAS Officer or an IPS Officer, why is it that you don’t have the option of becoming an ITS Officer (Indian Teaching Services)? And then again should the government not be doing its bit to really work on quality primary education and providing facilities to those who are economically backward or for that matter from the so called backward communities which give them a level playing field with anyone else and encourage fair competition? Are these coaching classes just converting education into a full fledged money making business and nothing else? Just some of the questions that Aarakshan throws up. What was so controversial about it, I would never know. Just leads me to believe that we are still just a literate nation and far from being an educated one.

I have always loved Prakash Jha’s direction especially since Gangajal where he really got his levels of intensity into direction really high. A trait which kind of seems missing in the first few minutes of Aarakshan but if you are a bit patient, it slowly creeps up and comes to the Prakash Jha that we are familiar with. The tempo also keeps fluctuating but Jha keeps the overall interest alive all through. What I did find a tad tacky was that some scenes were not seamlessly stitched together. From a perspective of performances, I could only find fault with Pratiek Babbar who still seems like a struggling child artiste. The screen presence of the Big B and Manoj Bajpayee are superb to say the least. And Saif continues to do reasonably well with the exceptions of some robotic moments. The same case with Deepika (who is totally stunning especially for 10 seconds when she wears the blue saree and pink blouse). Music was average. A couple of consistency errors which I found too surprising just added to the feeling that not only was this clearly not Jha’s best effort to date but also one where not much attention has been put in either. A tad disappointed but still a good movie to catch up with. 6.5 on 10 is the verdict.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi792042521/

KHELEIN HUM JEE JAAN SEY

Very little or nothing has been written or made about some of the smaller instances of the Indian Freedom struggle. Surely it would not have been possible without the small but significant and heart rendering contributions from the unknown citizens of this country. Who spent their blood, tears, toil and sweat to give us a freedom that we probably don’t value as much – or at least that’s what most of the people in the movie hall, watching Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (KHJJS) felt – coz they found a lot of the stuff in the movie quite funny to say the least. I wonder why. Considering that the movie, as most of you would be aware of by now, is about the armed resistance in Chittagong (or Chattagram / Chottogram) between 1930-34. One of the several small but extremely concentrated efforts by the average Indian.


They year is 1930. Surjya Sen (Abhishekh Bachchan) is a school teacher in Chottogram (now known as Chittagong – Bangladesh). He is approached by a whole bunch of teenagers thanks to being famous as a freedom fighter. Their playground has been taken away from them by the British Army and they now have nowhere else to play football. Exasperated, they approach Surjya to help out. Surjya has over the years since the loss of his wife rallied a few people who are committed to the struggle for freedom. Nirmal Sen (Sikander Kher), Ananta Singh (Maninder Singh), Ambika Chakroborthy (Shreyas Pandit), Ganesh Ghosh (Samrat Mukherjee), Tarakeshwar & Lokenath Bal (Feroze Wahid Khan). They are a small bunch of people but willing to rally around Surjya, to start a movement which they hope will be the spark the nation has been waiting for – like most other freedom fighters of their time surely.

Nirmal is also in a romantic relationship with Pritilata Wadedar (Vishakha Singh) and has just returned from spending a few nights in prison for good measure. Pritilata is close friends with Kalpana Dutta (Deepika Padukone). Both of them are quite taken in by the concept of the freedom struggle and are extremely keen to make a difference. Their request to join Surjya Sen’s movement is accepted, albeit reluctantly. Hot on their heels, a small incident leads the teenagers to also enlist themselves in the movement. Now this is a tricky situation for Surjya but he is convinced that the kids have the right fire in the belly to really make a difference. This, in fact pushes him to recruit a whole bunch of fresh teenagers also. Once the troops are ready they go about planning a small but very pivotal uprising in the freedom struggle. The idea is very simple actually. Hit the Brits where it hurts them the most – The Telegraph Office, The Nangalkote Railway Line, Police HQ, The Cantonment and European Club – All at the same time.

KHJJS is yet another attempt by Ashutosh Gowariker to regain the credibility that he had kind of lost with the masses after the debacles of Jodha Akbar and Whats your Rashee? But well – he doesn’t come too close honestly. I mean there is an improvement but nothing that really inspires a huge amount of confidence. This is a Gowarikar that comes nowhere in the thinking vicinity of the expertise that he showed with a movie like Swades which I believe is one of the best movies made in this decade. But the story is strong enough to strike a chord with the viewers. Anything that is about the freedom struggle should logically right. I was quite disappointed though to see some 8-10 people who walked out. I mean what do you expect from Gowarikar – as the recent joke goes – even if he were to make a movie on premature ejaculation it would go for 4 hours. This one finished in under 3. Have come to expect the pregnant pauses and stretch in his movies in an attempt probably to pay attention to detail but falls woefully short.

KHJJS was above my expectations. I expected a complete flop but turned out to be average. Nothing too great very honestly but just about makes the cut. Performances were decent all over. AB Junior is still in the shadow of Yuva and cannot come upto the level that he is capable of.  Deepika continues with her confidence on screen but is below par. Vishakha Singh seems to be an earnest actress. So does Sikander Kher. Most of the support cast comes out with a sincere performance. The teenagers actually stand out the most with their attempt – at times overshadowing the lead actors. The actor playing Subodh Rai stands out the most for my money’s worth. Pity I don’t know short hand and could not take down the names in the credits as they were running.

The sad part though is the complete lack towards consistency. Freedom fighters in crisp white shirts, random shots of Deepika @ yoga, hard bound books on the Russian and irish revolution which don’t seem like they are from 1930 at all, revolutionaries having canvas shoes etc. just don’t add up for a director of the class of Gowarikar. Guess there is not much of class there. Some poignant scenes and decent music round off KHJJS for me. Not terribly disappointing. Worth a dekko I guess. 5 on 10.

Break Ke Baad

I had predicted 2 successful flops for Deepika in the current week with Break Ke Baad (BKB) and then next week with Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se (KHJJS). The rushes didn’t enthuse any confidence in me. But I am pleasantly surprised and happy to have been proven wrong in the case of BKB. But in the same breath, I wasn’t too far off. Its not a very good movie but it isn’t too bad either. And this doesn’t come from the soft spot I have for RomComs.

Aaliya Khan (Deepika Padukone) is a rebel without a cause. Her core motive in life seems to be to do something that the world doesn’t want her to do. OR not to do what the world expects her to. As a child she doesn’t do her homework and actually convinces her teachers that she cannot because her actor mother, Ayesha (Sharmila Tagore – Coincidentally Ayesha is Mrs. Pataudi’s name after marriage), doesn’t have the time to pack her lunch box. She is more into movies than anything else and her only dream is to be an actor one day. Always on tenterhooks and living life on the edge, her pillar of support is Abhay Gulati a.k.a. Gulati a.k.a Gelato who is her exact opposite. Calm, composed, stable head on his shoulders, petrified of adventure sports and 100% dependable. Although he doesn’t quite know what he really really wants to do in life, he is currently biding his time helping in his father’s business as Vice President of Jeet Cinemas. No points for guessing that Abhay’s father is Jeet Gulati (Naveen Nischol)

All seems to be going well other than the fact that for a couple who has been seeing each other for nearly 10 years and has known each other for over 10 years before that, there seems to be little or no chemistry between them. I mean the only kiss they share is also very bland. But as expected, there has to be a break. I mean whats the point in calling the movie BKB if there is none right. Aaliya decides to pursue her acting ambition through a University in Australia. But has disguised it as a course in Mass Communication instead. However, mum is smarter and sees through the ploy. All hell seems to break lose. But with the Gelato’s support, she makes her way to Oz under the condition that she will focus only on mass com. Now how does a couple manage a long distance relationship. They go about it under the garb of just a break from each other and not a break up. Easier said than done as our leading couple finds out soon enough.

BKB is Danish Aslam’s first directorial venture. There is definitely some talent there but there are also some obvious faux pas. Like Mr. India and Tezaab seemingly released in the same year. Or if it is around midnight in India, it cannot be broad daylight in Australia. And how in the blazes does one get to Australia overnight – has getting a visa become that easy or is Oz Visa on arrival (I hope so considering I am travelling next month). Obvious to the movie buff like me but may not be for the not so particular right? Although Danish keeps it fairly compact throughout it does drag towards the end quite a bit. Luckily the movie is under 2 hours and the drag lasts for only about 10-15 mins.

The support cast is fairly decent. Shahana Goswami (Nadia) continues where she left off from Rock On. Strong performance but again a very cynical role. Sharmila Tagore is as ethereal as ever. Pleasantly surprised to see Navin Nischol back on screen doing what he does best – play understanding daddy. DJ Yudi plays the role of the over excited, promiscuous Cyrus (Nadia’s brother) and should probably stick to only VJing. But even there he would be too old for it. The star of the support cast is however Lilette Dubey who plays Pammi Gulati and gives a 100% to her role as the supporting Aunt for our hero and has excellent crude and crass dialogues to back her up as well – chief among them includes referring to our heroine as a “Chudail” (Witch for those who are unfamiliar with the local lingo). The music is way below Vishal Shekhar’s best. Just about makes par. The timing of the songs also is fairly awry. Something that young Danish can look at. But overall BKB is an average movie. Average Songs, Average Story, Average Direction, Great Titling, Average acting from the lead cast, some strong performances from the support cast, Decent editing – AVERAGE – 5 on 10.

Lafangey Parindey

Read in Hindi - “Dard Aur Mard mein Duh or Muh ka fark hota hai. Duh aur Muh matlab Dum. Dum hai to Dard mein bhi Mard ban sakta hai”. What could have happened after a line like this in a movie?

a. The Audience gives a standing ovation with whistles and cat calls galore and in some instances even showers a few pennies onto the screen
b. The Audience does not even understand it and realizes it much later while reading a review like this one that there was this line said in the movie

The former is possible if and only if, it was done in the 70s by our very own Angry Young Man OR more recently in a movie that I am desperately waiting for starring Salman Khan in the lead doling out such dialogues. Expect the former to be magnified manifold. Lafangey Parindey unfortunately falls in the latter category. How did someone as versatile and talented as Pradeep Sarkar expect the grandson of one of the most famous singers in this country to pull this dialogue off is completely beyond me. What I mean to say is wasn’t there enough evidence in all movies after Johnny Gaddar that this gentleman is a little challenged in the acting department and definitely does not have the capability of pulling off Salman Khanish dialogues????

Anyways, lets get to the story now. Pinky Palkar (Deepika Padukone) works @ a skating rink @ R City Mall (proudly and prominently displayed - Make mental note to visit skating rink when possible). She is considered to be God’s gift to skating in India by her colleagues and partner. But her life in an unknown chawl in the by lanes of Mumbai has till now kept her protected from the possibility of getting her ticket out of the grime and the rut that she believes she was born into out of lack of choice. Nevertheless, she stumbles upon “India’s Got Talent” which has a cash prize of 50 lacs and that would become, no points for guessing, her ticket out of the chawl.

Now there is our hero, One Shot Nandu (NN Mukesh) who makes his living out of fighting blindfolded. Lives in the same chawl as Pinky but has not romantic inclinations whatsoever. Is our atypical chawl dude whose kicks in life come from the fact that his friends think the world of him. Women have no place in his life. Not interested. Nada. His hero in life is Anna (Kay Kay Menon) who is makes his living as a hired killer. Both pay obeisance to Usman Bhai (Piyush Mishra) the local don. Nandu wants to grown up to become Anna and in the enthusiasm accepts a job of being Anna’s driver on a job to knock off a rival gangster. Things go horribly wrong and Anna gets shot. As they are getting away, Nandu also runs over someone coz his attention was towards Anna who is half dead. Anna doesn’t make it and the someone turns out to be Pinky who slips into a coma and eventually loses her sight for good.

I did not expect much from Lafangey Parindey as such. I had mentioned that in my update on the first look as well. I must say, it kind of lived upto my expectations. The story is quite decent but as we are seeing quite often these days, the execution fails quite badly. Deepika continues to get full points for confidence in front of the camera but really does not execute the role of the blind Pinky to perfection. Neil Nitin Mukesh shows flashes of his Johnny Gaddar days but doesn’t capitalize on it. And as I had mentioned earlier, Pradeep Sarkar kind of lets you down. One would have expected much better from his side. Dialogues are quite insipid. Music not too great. Would anyone know if they used body doubles for the skating sequences? If not then that would be the only impressive aspect about the movie. Below average overall. 3 on 10 is the final verdict.