Category: Movies & Entertainment Page 7 of 9

Elysium: My Review

On September 27, 2013

Director: Neil Blomkamp

Cast: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster

Runtime: 105 Minutes

There are movies based on Games and then there are Movies that aspire to be Games. And then there is Elysium, confusing them all. It’s nothing short of a boring game-look-alike-film lacking the kind of emotional connect that the plot wishes to portray through the class-divide, over-population, and future inevitable problems that the world is going to face, while just trying to satiate the sci-fi taste buds in roughly a little more than 100 minutes.

It’s the story of two Worlds, of the rich and of the poor, who can’t buy out their way towards the protected Elysium where the habit has been protected from the disease filled atmosphere of the “Earth”.

Neil Blomkamp, the director of movies like District9 fails to live upto his track record, in building this concept to an actual movie and not just a prelude to a game.

Matt Damon couldn’t just pull it off, except the sci-fi action scenes, he looked out of place in most of the duration of the film, be it the emotionally-induced scenes with Frey, his childhood friend (Played by Alice Braga) or scenes where he has to be the One-force that can change the course of the film. He just doesn’t look the protagonist who will take the plunge to do it all.

With some little drama put in, Elysium may even seem looking like borrowing some ideas from Bollywood!! But if you see it from that angle as well, it still fails to add the glitz required to make it an pot-boiling entertainer as well.

Jodie Foster playing Jessica Delacourt looks stylishly cunning in a powerful role of Defence secretary, and yet falters on with the role treatment in the later part of the movie, same as the movie which promises to build up initially only to be marred down by the plot, which basically runs on a very thin ice.

It’s highly avoidable, and even though the sci-fi sequences and the Elysium planet set looks just superb, it is just a waste of your time and money.

I’m going with 1.5 out of 5 for Neil Blomkamps’ Elysium.

Grand Masti: My Review

By farooq

On September 13, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Director: Indra Kumar

Cast: Ritesh Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi , Aftab Shivdasani ,Sonali Kulkarni ,Manjari Fadnis ,Karishma Tanna ,Kainaat Arora ,Maryam Zakaria ,Bruna Abdullah, Suresh Menon

Runtime: 143 Minutes

It’s gross, filled with stupefied age-old jokes with vulgarity peeking from every corner, mindless-song sequences to make you believe that its’ still bollywood, a fantasy-like storyline with a similar masti-like conscience-hitting scene pulled in, Girls; actually hot-looking girls with clothes as short as their acting prowess but of course justifying their presence with a little help from the doctors’. But at the end of it all, the one thing that holds it all together is the same mindlessness with which the movie is made. Its adult and it is indeed fun. Might not be India’s American pie but a wannabe attempt to make it possible, by borrowing one from American pie: Reunion.

Married couples with a sex-deprived life for work, family or kids and the frustration brewing out of it, only to be maneuvered in a no-holds barred College re-union to live life without any of the marriage-barriers. The three leads stroll out to attend the re-union of their castle-like College with aspirations of reliving their Adult-Alphabet like fascination, where A, B, C & D don’t mean Apple, Balls or Cats. (Yea, you can figure that out).

What happens next, how their aspirations of “Grand Masti” unravel and how stupid things can get, is what the movie is all about.

Ritiesh is the only one, who actually acts in the movie, while Aftaab comes up with weird expressions while coming up with his crazy ideas. Vivek forces himself upon the story, where clearly he could have done great by not being too overboard. Girls, well there are too many. While, Karishma Tanna, Sonalee Kulkarni, and Manjari Fadnis, play the wives of the three leads. And the other three (Maryam Zakaria playing Rose,Kainaat Arora playing Mary and Bruna Abdullah playing Marlo) also add up to make matters interesting.

Jokes revolve around names, used and re-used adult lingos and excessive exposure to feed the testosterone starved audience, but still works in parts to make you laugh sometimes at the mere stupidity or the adult jokes which pulls themselves from your circles to the big screen. In many of the scenes it actually makes no sense at all, making you wonder on the logic. But finding logic is not what this film boasts of, and anything like logic or making sense is strictly absent.

Imagine letting a thief steal from your house to not disturb your plans of having sex with your wife, and even suggesting him to take away your kid so as to reduce any trouble. Well, scenes like these are baffling enough to surprise you.

With strictly for adults and in no way being compromising on not being vulgar it works for the target audience for which it is made. Its’ a mindless stress buster entertainment package and a different genre altogether and definitely targeted towards it, watch it with a group of friends to laugh it off.

And yes, only for adults. A 2/5 from me for this Adult comedy by Indra Kumar.

Shudh desi Romance: My Review

By farooq

On September 6, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor, Rishi kapoor

Director: Maneesh Sharma

Runtime: 141 minutes

Desi fun with modern relationship issues in the midst of the chaotic, traditional and desi India is what Shudh desi Romance serves you by garnishing itself with wit, lots of kisses (Yes, lots of them), innocent acting, charming dialogues and amazing screenplay. A refreshing Rom-com, with a desi touch.

Divulging anything would be spoiling the fun of the whole saga, which has been told in a very refreshing manner with the young audience as the target.

Set in jaipur and parts of Rajasthan, focusing on the premise of Traditional Indian marriages and culture, this romance explores many relationship aspects with its colorful attempt of presenting something modern on the platform traditional customs.

Sushant Singh Rajput plays the innocent looking flirt named Raghu who is confused as to his desire in a relationship. Two beautiful ladies, Parineeti Chopra as Gayatri and Vaani kappoor as Tara, makes matters worse. Sushant brings to the character the charm and innocence of a confused romantic desi lad with the same panache as he did the character of a determined and energetic hero in Kai po che. His chemistry with both the lead actresses is what makes it look all so easy on screen.

Parineeti chopra displays the same flamboyance and bubbliness, with added desi attitude in her character. While debutante Vaani is easy on the screen, looking beautiful and vivacious, and at the same time making a mark in a role which gives her scope of showing various facets of her acting. Putting them in one frame, she wins the battle with Parineeti with her matured performance. Romantic scenes with both the pairs appear natural and enticing.

Rishi kapoor binds the three characters through his Rajasthani tau avatar, displaying his panache and the character’s simplicity with perfect comic timings.

Director Maneesh Sharma has a very refreshed storytelling pattern which was evident in Band bajaa baraat, and here he goes a notch higher in making this rom-com an amazing watch. The smooth flow of scenes with role reversals and dialogues helping it, lets you remain hooked onto anticipation of what else is going to come your way.

Music syncs with the mood of the movie, gulaabi not just has been picturized brilliantly but the cinematography is at its best in displaying the pink city’s beauty figuratively. Kudos to Sachin-Jigar for the songs as well as the instruments which are a very important part of the movie.

Although the storyline is a little weak but with the method of storytelling makes up for the little glitches. Towards the climax, some scenes appear to be a little tiring but then with the message of the movie summarizing it all up beautifully; it’s a treat for the audience.

A rom-com with a difference, resonating the youth’s mindset, it’s like a digital graphic figure on a colourful rock painting which is highly recommended for some sweet and enjoyable weekend spend.

I’m gong with 4/5 for Maneesh Sharma’s Shudh desi Romance.

Satyagraha: My Review

By farooq

On August 30, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Kareena kapoor, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal

Director: Prakash Jha

Runtime: 153 Minutes

It starts off abruptly and then does the same treatment with its’ ending as well, Satyagraha shows some promising sequences in the start but more or less ends up becoming a big boring party, where you have to check your watch several times, thinking as to when the movie will finally end.

Based on the caricature of the “Jan Lokpal samiti” fondly remembered for the euphoria that Anna Hazare and his fast created, the film starts with definitive roles, Amitabh Bachchan as Dwaarka Anand (Daduji) essays the role of an old and frustrated Indian citizen having strict desi principles effusing out of every pore. Ajay devgan represents the Hypocrite Youth, who is willing to tamper with the system in order achieve success but finally his Conscience wakes him up. Arjun Rampal as the wannabe-opportunistic local gunda-cum-politician, whose only work is blurting out dialogues like “saalon ko phod denge” and being a side-kick to Ajay, Kareena Kapoor plays the TV Journalist, a very high profile one who conducts a sting operation on the Telecom minister and takes the trouble of showing it live on a tablet to him in the midst of a party, but just after the start of the “Satyagraha” movement, leaves aside all her important work to be counted as a permanent resident first as a guest and then as the Committee member for Satyagraha, all the while still being a reporter. (Wow!! Journalism at its best). Manoj Bajpai plays the cunning, but often used as the fun element that the movie somehow feels required for. It also adds up Amrita Rao as part of its initiative to do something good towards the societies downtrodden.

The plot revolves around the common man’s frustration because of Corruption and Red tapiesm in the system, with a dash of Indian politics in it. An ex-school principal’s struggle to get the compensation awarded due to the death of his son dying in a road accident. The issue becomes a sensation due to the inter-party politics, the common-man’s frustration finally oozing out and of course the Director Prakash Jha’s insistence on turning a rural district to be the centre of the country’s attention, more so in the Social media gang. Twitter and Facebook may also be included as part of the star cast here.
The only positives in the movie are the scenes involving Manoj Bajpai and Vipin Sharma (playing Opposition Leader), they highlight the dark and dirty political game with putting too much of over-the-top drama into it.

Music is decent, but picturisation has been real bad. The old-style love-making scene between Ajay and Kareena was unnecessarily added, as if they have all the time at their disposal, enjoying each others’ company while Satyagraha is still ON.
Prakash Jha again commits the mistake of including “stars” where actors were needed. Reason for the success of movies like Gangajal and Apharan were the apt casting, which he seems to have forgotten.
Among the many flaws in the movie, is the abrupt ending, although what leads into the same is equally terrible. The second half was shot on a treadmill while still trying to complete all the exercises in a gym, not to mention failing miserably in doing so.

I’m going with 1.5/5 for Satyagraha and strictly advice you to not invest time and money in being part of this Movement, rather the Media coverage of the Anna hazare movement would be more entertaining.

Madras Cafe: My Review

By farooq

On August 23, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi khanna

Director: Shoojit Sircar

Runtime: 130 Minutes

A political thriller set in the midst of Srilankan Civil war and Rajiv Gandhi Assassination, with a documentary-like treatment in terms of storytelling, realistic depiction for an inglorious event in our political history is what Madras Café is all about.

The draggy first half does hinder the progress, but once crossing that hurdle entertains you with its intensity. If not for the last hour, this would have turned out into a boring war-account journal of a soldier.
The buildup takes time, almost the whole of the first half and only ends up becoming interesting towards the end. Perhaps a different approach in depiction, like a to-and-fro flash back or a stroke of Vantage-point analysis, would have worked better. Rather, they go in sequence which limits the story and stops it from going to a level that this could have achieved.
Madras café revolves around the Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, LTF (as LTTE has been named)’s agenda on tamil liberation, how an Intelligence failure may result into becoming a game changer and the life and times of a Soldier-turned Raw agent to bind it all.

John Abraham plays the character of Vikram Singh, who has been deployed in a covert operation to find the solution that the Indian Government needs, i.e, Bring Anna (LTTE Chief Prabhakaran) onto a feasible negotiation. The mission is to install peace in Sri lanka to not let it become another security threat to India in future because of any western influence.

Although John’s acting skills haven’t been his forte before, but his dedication to try and fit-in this one, shows. Yet, the idea of Director Shoojit Sircar to portray him as someone who could get lost in the midst of the crowd so as to attempt at playing a spy, doesn’t exactly fall into place. There are of course patches where he does appear good and is an improvement.
However, the real catch out of Madras café is Nargis Fakhri, playing the role of an international war journalist named Jaya, and having to only speak in English with a British accent which she is familiar with, makes her repeat the mistakes that she was part of in Rockstar. This is actually her re-launch. She not only makes the character her own, but makes it meaningful.

Other notable characters include Siddharth basu as Robin Dutt (RAW Cheif ), Prakash Belawadi (Playing the role of Bala) and Rashi Khanna (Playing the role of John’s wife Rubi), who leave a mark with their performances.
The background score, as well as the use of real guns and bullets, has put in a sense of authenticity to the thriller, while shots in various south Indian cities, Thailand, Sri-lanka give you the feel and idea of the Civil-war like situation.
If it wouldn’t have been for the intense pace and perhaps the events that followed in the second half, the film wouldn’t have turned out to be the way it is. There were a couple of things that Shoojit Sircar, could have used a bit differently, yet for the realistic depiction and trying to not show the issue in just pure white and black, he deserves an applause.
It’s not great, even takes time to shape up but promises to have depth in everything that it does. With a little patience, you can watch this espionage thriller, which could have been so much better, with a vantage point like treatment.

I’m going with a 3/5 for a new kind of genre attempted by Shoojit for an espionage thriller, which could have been better.

[Here’s another Shoojit Sarcar movie, which I rated 5/5. Click here to read it. ]

Once upon a time in Mumbaai Dobara: My Review

By farooq

On August 15, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Akshay kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Imran Khan

Director: Milan Luthria

Run time: 160 Minutes

A large sized canvas, with glossier looks and added star power, but failing to realize the true essence of something as necessary as casting and trying to implicate the effective and power-laced dialogues in the previous movie, with just too much of an overdose here, is what Once upon a time in Mumbai Dobara is all about. Disappointing and something which you would never like to watch “dobara”.

On the already laid caricature of its predecessor and branding itself as the sequel, it made the hype it needed with added star power, to try and convert it to be another box-office success. Riding on the success of a previous hit, isn’t easy and this film presents a solid case demonstrating on how not to continue with a franchise, you could just ruin it all.

The plot shapes develops itself as a love triangle between Shoaib (Played by Akshay kumar), Jasmine (Played by Sonakshi Sinha), an aspiring actress coming to Mumbai and ending up becoming the interest of Don Shaoaib and Aslam(played by Imran khan), a loyal of Shoaib working for him from his childhood ends up being in love with Jasmeen as well. The conflict between the two of them for Jasmeen, with the backdrop of a territorial expansion and control over Mumbai and his increasing authority in cricket and films.

The plot resembles on the previous film, with the interchange of good-bad (Ajay-Emraan hashmi) to Bad-good(Akshay-Imran), presence of another item number like the disco number of Parda, this time featuring Hazel crowney, and trying to fit in the essence of OUATIM wherever he could, but failing to match up. This is disappointment for someone with his track record.

Talking about individual performances, Akshay is way out of shape and the character doesn’t approve of him in this shade, even though he hardly removes his shade in the movie, Imran khan is consist in giving out a college students’ performance here again, and Sonakshi Sinha just carries on with the motion except in the last scene where she does show some nerve, but by then all was over.

The biggest blunder which the movie commits is over the top acting by each and everyone, making you exclaim on the proximity of their loudness in expressing their characters in extremely melodramatic manner. The casting is terrible and hardly anyone gets any screen space other than the three leads, which have been put on a dialogue churning spree, with each sentence appearing to be studded with dialogues as if over-the-top ones are being distributed for free.

Director Milan Luthria, whose previous works boasts not only of depth in characters as well as provide space for scenes to speak, appears to be in a hurry. He races through scenes, with nothing but dialogues being machine gunned towards the audience.

The music isn’t anything great and there’s hardly any song that deserves any mention, although the scenes involving Sharjah/UAE has been captured beautifully.

The only scene providing the saving grace is the ending, providing depth which the whole movie couldn’t. maybe a different director, could give it a less glossier but a more intense approach and that would make it at least worth a watch.

I’ll highly advice you to excuse yourself from watching this, there’s nothing impressive out there and the weekend can be put to some better use.

I’m going with a very generous 1/5 for Once Upon a time for Mumbaai Dobara, you might wish to be let this “Once Upon a time…” fable remain there in “once upon a time…”.

Chennai Express: My Review

By farooq

On August 10, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Padukone

Director: Rohit Shetty

RunTime: 141 minutes

Entertainment is what you should seek before boarding the Chennai express and you might just get it, for the most part of it, albeit some tamil-telugu movie rip offs and clichés put together in many of the scenes. Nevertheless, the pace, Shahrukh’s performance, Deepika’s attempt in tamil and of course the Entertainment quotient attached through the journey keeps you seated in your berth, although doesn’t offer anything different.

The story is about Rahul (Played by Shahrukh Khan as always: P) and his accidental trip to a village near Chennai where Meena’s Dad, a don (Meena played by Deepika padukone and Sathyaraj playing her Dad) rules and forcefully wants her to be married off to another of his kind. She flees her home, only to be caught by the goondi (as she calls it) of her powerful dad. But this time she has company, Rahul ending up becoming a part of it all. The whole saga of running away, ultimately falling in love in the due process and fighting for their love in typical south-Indian movie style is what Chennai Express offers you.
Shahrukh charms his way through with witty one liners delivered effortlessly and this might just be the funniest that you have ever came across him before in a complete comic role. The king shows why he is called a king.

Deepika tried hard to match up the Tamil accent and language, the effort is visible, but appears a stereotypical caricature in most of the parts. But makes up for it, with her chemistry with Shahrukh. Emoting has always been a big addition to her role-play, and she does it beautifully apart from looking beautiful in kanjeevaram sarees.
When it comes to direction and depiction, Rohit Shetty has used Tamil language as it is used, rather than accented Hindi version which hardly anyone in the rural parts of TN speak. Kudos to him for not falling prey to “making tit easy for the audience” rather than telling the story the way it should be. Scenes where the characters shift to Antakshari mode in order to talk something secretive are done creatively.
There’s spoofs filled in between from old SRK movies, the famous DDLJ train scene being one of the highlights. Ridiculous for times like ours but works surprisingly. The south’s’ version of North-stereotyping has also been shown, perhaps a first for a mainstream Indian-movie.
Cinematography is an integral part and helps the narration sail with Srks way of letting the story come to life. Shots are breathtaking, the south was never shown with so much elegance, and the sets are made amazingly well.
First half is entertaining and funny, while the second half tried to describe the romance between SRK and Deepika. The idea here was that deepika fells for srk before he does. Rohit tried to this “love bloom”, and the climax all in the second half. Like his Golmal brand of comic movies, where everything is fitted at the end of the spectrum. Although this makes it looks a little shabby. Not that the chemistry between the pair doesn’t work, but it’s the story that finally decides that it just cannot forego all the tried-and-tested tricks of movie making, and falls in the trap of giving an ending which we have seen many times.
Songs are good and few for a Shahrukh movie, but does their job of lending support to the plot and are a way to celebrate the North-south diversity, differences and unity. The shots taken in some of the songs are breathtaking.
The film works due to the banter between the lead pair, and resonate the north-south tiff but finally giving way to love. Instead of continuing with the slap-stick comedies, the come-as-it-may funny banter does well in the film. If not for the clichéd ending, with almost the same dish to offer eventually, it falls short of being a great entertainer. Not that it doesn’t provide you that, but in packets mostly spanning the first half of the movie.
For a festival season and a commercial tone underlying, Chennai express is fun to board if you are okay with eating the same dish for dinner, which you had in lunch, served with genuine jokes which are fun.
I’m going with a 2.5 for Chennai Express, enjoy your weekend if you don’t mind watching “nothing-new-yet-entertaining stuff”. It’s sure to “Ready-steady-po” towards box-office success.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: My review

By farooq

On July 12, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Divya dutta, Sonam kapoor, Pawan Malhotra

Director: Rakesh Omprakash Mehra

Running time: 187 minutes.

It runs flawlessly with splashes of adrenaline rushing sequences induced with hair-raising background score from the very first moment it unfolds. Add to that the emotionally stirring scenes, pitch-perfect casting, hair-raising background scores, a very detailed screenplay, solid supporting cast and the dedication of Farhan essaying the role of Milkha Singh and you have the perfect recipe for a blockbuster in the form of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. If there is something that can make you put on your running shoes and run that extra mile for your country, then this is IT.

A movie on the flying Sikh’s life is expected to fly through smoothly. Well, this doesn’t disappoint you, even with a running time of 3 hours and 7 minutes!!!! The story of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, of course based on the life of Milkha Singh, is inspiring in itself. From being a child affected by partition to ending up in the Indian army, which ultimately paves his way towards the being the athlete, winning laurels all over the world, the topsy-turvy journey explained through Rang de basanti styled flash-backs. The complexity of his life has been simplified with every detail possible.
The casting has been done brilliantly; you cannot single out even one character which didn’t fit the bill. Even Sonam kapoor doesn’t leave a single trace of her “acting” in the smallest role that she has played yet. Guess, that’s why she agreed to be paid just Rs 11 for the same.
Apart from Sonam, Rebecca Breeds with which Milkha has a small fling in Australia and the Indian swimmer (debutante Pakistani model Meesha Shafi ) from which he despises in the movie but is (in real life) his present wife have roles where they look and act great.

Divya dutta as Milkha’s sister Isri kaur and Pawan Malhotra as the endearing coach Gurudev singh put an emotionally uplifting performance on screen. The brother-sister relationship in times of the partitioned struggle and the Guru-Shishya bond during Milkha’s early days explaining how he became one, is lovable.

Prakash Raj playing the strict Army man, puts in the light moments.
Prasoon joshi, with the story and screenplay, does a brilliant job in putting this biopic which is no less than a tribute to the Legend. Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, best known for Rang de Basanti directs this with this heart-warming tale encompassing the whole life of Milkha. His eye for detail is evident in not just the casting, but also the picturization of the scenes. Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy compliments the scenes inspiringly.
It is filled with cinematic melodrama to please the audience, but it all works out well. Credit of course has to go to Farhan, not just for the sincerity and dedication that gets shown in the way he trains, be it in the army camp, or on the high-altitude along with Yograaj Singh (Cricketer Yuvraj singh’s father playing Team india coach) brightens you up.
Milkha and Farhan are just inseparable. You won’t find an ounce of Farhan here, just Milkha being portrayed beautifully. He has actually lived Milkha in the movie. Not just the looks (Although that is some inspiration to hit the gym straightaway!!!). Scene where he slaps himself in the mirror for a failure to qualify goes to show how much of a character-actor he is.

The dedication is evident in the training that has gone through and the humungous effort that has been put into making this epic of this magnitude.
Believe me, if it wasn’t for this movie, hardly many from our generation would come to know of the struggle of Milkha went through.
For the dedication of Farhan, inspiration of Milkha and for bringing back the athletic spirit, I’m going with a 4.5/5. Don’t miss this biopic.

Lootera : My Review

By farooq

On July 5, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Lootera

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi sinha, Adil Hussain, Barun chanda

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Running Time: 153 minutes
It’s the little nuances of Bengal and the bygone era that has been beautifully captured in Vikramaditya Motwani’s Lootera. Filled with some really good romantic moments, while presenting you with the complexities of the characters, this mixture of romance, innocent light-hearted moments make your eyes a little moist and makes Lootera, a good movie. The intensity grows on you as the film progresses, only to form a lump in your throat towards the end as you leave the theatre.

Coming back after the critically acclaimed Udaan, Vikramaditya’s Lootera brings up the romance come alive. Set in 1950’s and loosely based on O.Henry’s Last leaf, it builds up as it progresses in its intensity.

The story in the first half of lootera revolves around a Zamindar‘s daughter Pakhi (Sonakshi sinha) and the new-in-town Archaeologist Varun (Ranveer singh)’s brewing love story which cannot materialize because of the baggage with which the clean-shaven hero comes from. But as destiny would have it, they do fall in love.

Things take a turn, and they are separated. Only to meet later, knowing that they still love each other, yet not feasible to be together. The story is about why they were separated and how they meet again and what happens post that.

It works all fine, except for the fact that the many of the available talent at Motwane’s disposal wasn’t used. Be it Adil hussain of English Vinglish fame (playing the cop), or Divya dutta (playing the maid of sonakshi in the second half). A little more on these characters would have worked wonders. Although Vikrant Massey as Ranveer’s friend is impressive and so is Bikram chanda as the Manikpur Zamindar, playing Sonakshi’s father.

The love story does compensate for every other minute fault by being as earnest as possible, while at the same time, keeping you entertained. Screenplay by Vikramaditya and Bhavani Ayer is refreshing and keeps you engaged.

Sonakshi Sinha is undoubtedly the star of the movie displaying amazing understanding of the character, pulling off the Bengali look with élan and making you feel sorry for her character which goes through so much for the sake of love.

Ranveer singh, with the unshaven look displays maturity and brings about a new side to his acting. But in the second half, where his dark side takes over, rather gets revealed, is inconsistent.
Scenes involving the couple have great depth, certain romanticism rarely seen; keeping the sensibilities of that period of 50’s in mind. The small and only love-making scene is effective. The dialogues are not exaggerative, even for a movie set in the early 50’s Bengal, their innocence in terms of delivery will put on a smile on your face, while sometimes even making you feel their pain from it.

Director Vikramaditya puts in his effort by making Lootera look perfectly like it was set in the 50’s Bengal, with too much detailing on each and every little thing shown in the movie. While the Amit Trivedi–Amitabh Bhattacharya duo works wonder with the music and lyrics again. Sawaar loon adds to the romantic feel while Zinda is equally good.

The first half is perfectly brilliant, not just for the cinematography by Mahendra J shetty but the consistency in the characters and the sublime and subtleness attached. They bring about the complexities of the human minds out in front of the camera.

I’m going with a 4/5 for Lootera. Watch it for the amazing details and depth. The variety that Sonakshi brings in her character and the 50’s Bengal captured brilliantly.

Ghanchakkar: My review

By farooq

On June 28, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya balan, Namit das, Shekhar kapoor

Director: Raj kumar Gupta

It runs smoothly in bits but refuses to take off every single point it tries to. And there’s trouble in those “smoother parts” as well. Ghanchakkar, isn’t impressive cinema although was designed to be one, and as it turns out, is forgetful, much like the protagonist in the movie. The one-liners do make you laugh, but it all loses as the plot progresses. The end product disappoints.

Ghanchakar, starring the serial-kisser-turned-actor Emraan Hashmi, who after a bank robbery forgets where he has kept all the money and turns into “Ghajini’s Aamir”. The film also stars, The Vidya Balan, who after a series of amazing performances, in movies like Dirty picture and Kahaani, is a ultra-modern fashion freak, wearing obnoxiously loud colors, a mix of 70s and 80s, yet calling it all as the latest from Femina, Vogue and the like.

The plot revolves around the memory loss of Sanju (Played by Emraan Hashmi) who has slashed away the money somewhere, to be taken out when things get a little thanda. But forgets the place where he hid the money filled suitcase. The other characters in the movie, Pandit(Rajesh Sharma of Khosla ka ghosla and No one killed Jessica fame) and Ilyas( played by Namit das of Wake up sid fame), his partners in the now-forgotten crime, are adept at trying to help him remember the location of their heist. Neetu bhabi (Vidya as called by pandit and Idris), without too much of visible tension regarding all this, even with the threat of being killed by the two associates of the crime, continues to be obsessed with her loud fashion statement.

The movie, centering on Sanju’s memory, tries to move with a pace which this plot doesn’t require, it is sloppy. The only thing you look forward to in a movie like this is, where this all unfolds to. Whether he had really forgotten as to where he kept the money? Or just trying to double cross others? The build up to this most important suspense is uninspiring.
There are of course, some really good scene picturizations, but then still fails to make a mark. One seriously funny impact one scene had, was the one in which the characters’ are robbing a bank. The funny part is neither the dialogues, nor the situation, but only the masks (Dharmendra, Amitab and Utpal dutta) that they wear, making you laugh. Here also, it just fails to turn it into great scene, even with an interesting concept.

The actors do try put in excessive amount of effort to end up being in the middle of nowhere. Vidya playing the highly fashion-obsessed panjaban, does try to put in her best foot forward, but still with this plot you may end up finding faults. Emraan, makes a solid case of displaying the confused amnesia look. Even scenes where he has to eat, the less/more salt laden food of his wife brings out the sufferings of the average husbands.

Rajesh and Namit are wasted. The first half tries to portray them as the being the comical gangsters, laughing at one-liners on each others’ faces, while the second half makes them be frustrated because of Emraan not able to get them their money. These two could have given the plot, the much needed impetus to kick itself out of the egg-shell which it confines itself to and make this worth the price and time of your ticket. Director Raj kumar Gupta, who directed Amir and No one killed Jessica, falls short of making the concept work. The innocence of Amir or the intensity of Jessica was missing.
Amit trivedi again puts the life in terms of music, understanding the plot and making music accordingly is what he again excels in. Ghanchakkar babu and Allah Meherban are really amazing.
Ghanchakkar, isn’t bad but with the plot ending up being nowhere, is sure a waste.

I’m going with a very generous 2/5 for Ghanchakkar. Watch it if you don’t have anything else to do, this Ghanchakkar might not be the crazy option you are looking for the weekend fun.