Category: Movies & Entertainment Page 8 of 9

Raanjhanaa :My Review

On June 21, 2013

Cast: Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub

Director: Anand Rai
Dhanush makes a grand entry into Bollywood by doing what he does best. A Hysterical lover.

And this time he does it with added cuteness in Hindi with certain charm and accented originality. He is undoubtedly the star of Raanjhana, a love story with amazingly written dialogues and screenplay, that keeps you hooked in anticipation of what comes next. A love story that lets you feel the pain of the protagonists’ love, dilemma, innocence through the shifting window of time, through which Kundan (Dhanush’s character in Ranjhnaa) grows and so does his love for Zoya (Played by Sonam Kapoor).
AR Rahman puts his magic in the songs and makes you connect with the plot. Songs are literally the type which can make you dance, with the crowd as well as in the solace of your bedroom.
Kundan is the perfect epitome of teen innocence and craziness, trying to be different in “professing her love”. He is persisting, even enjoys 16 slaps that are offered by the lady he is in love with. In a perfectly depicted scene of how a hysterical lovers act around India, he cuts his wrists making Zoya hug him. She gets sent to Aligarh to study as her family comes to know about this, while our Lover boy waits in Benaras. Old school, some would say.

But when Zoya returns. She had left those old benaras days behind her. But the hero’s persistence remains intact. He makes sure that she doesn’t get married by employing tricks then and now, on Zoya’s insistence. Why ? Well lets leave that as a suspense.
Filled with twists and turns, this is not just a love story about these two. There’s politics and power, there’s the benaras flavor, friends who will always have your back.
Apart from Dhanush, his onscreen friend Murari, played by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, who has some of the best dialogues to his credit, does a great job. Highlighting the plight of small town lovers he comes up with, “Mohalle ke aashiqon ke pyaar ko aksar engineer doctor hi udaa lejaate hain”. While dhanush is crazy for Zoya, Bindiya (Played by Swara Bhaskar of Tanu weds manu and Aurangzeb fame) is crazy for Dhanush, with bold dialogues like, “baapu ke kapde to phaad diye, hamare kab ” to which Danush replies, “Kundan ke pyajame ka naada itna dheela nahi, ki blouse ke huk se khul jaye”
Murari and Bindiya put the life in the first half of the movie, while the politics in the second, coupled with some great one-liners and scenes involving Dhanush makes it worth a watch.
Director, Anand Rai utilizes these two characters to keep the tempo going with their amazing dialogue delivery and support to the leads. The knack with which Dhanush has understood the character and puts his life in it in every scene is amazing. The credit also goes to the director for it.
Sonam‘s is a character that you will hate, although chances are you will hate her acting as well. Except scenes where she is crying, where she surprisingly does emote, she is the only flaw in casting. It’s an all-out Dhanush movie.
To sum up, Ranjhna is a story of a hindu boy being in love with a Muslim Girl, in the town of Benaras. The colorful town, filled with vibrant images of religious diversity, but stark opposition when it comes to marriage.

Avoiding a few clichéd plot elements, one can enjoy this lovely outing of Dhanush. A Good entertainer, one shouldn’t miss.

I’m going with 4 out of 5, for this Dhanush Starrer. Indulge yourself.

Man of Steel: My Review

By farooq

On June 19, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Henry Cavill, Russel Crowe, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon

Director: Zach Snyder

It’s the simplest of Superhero stories, with effective usage of flashbacks in between, explaining everything that could cross your mind, in just one Sci-fi’d adventure. Super-man origins or Man of Steel as it is called is Mesmerizing. A good start to a promising series.

Krypton. A planet, which is on the decline, is on the verge of an attack from General Zod played by Michael Shannon, a rebel who is trying to bring back Krypton again to its glorious days. Jor el, played by Russel Crowe, and Lara, played by Ayelet Zurer, have krypton’s first natural birth after years, and foreseeing of what was coming, they decide to launch him (Baby Superman) out of krypton, with a genetic codex with all of Kryptonian data in his cells, so that one day, krypton might live again. A ray of hope.

Russel Crowe and Ayelet zurer: The Superman's Original parents.

General Zod and his army are ultimately arrested and sent to a phantom land to die, but before that Zod already kills Jor El. Since, Jor had taken the kryptonoan codex and put it all into his new born, kal!!

With krypton getting destroyed, along with our Supersman’s mother, and General Zod and his army escaping, superman got delivered on earth. His new home and with new parents in Martha and Jonathan Kent. Growing up was tough, first he had to adjust to the earth’s atmosphere and then the surroundings, where it was difficult to keep his powers hidden from others. But with his father’s consoling words, he finally grows up controlling it all, until one hurricane takes away his father. And a death which Clark could have avoided with his powers, yet just for the sake of not letting it out to the world as that moment wasn’t right.

Superman trying hard to hide his powers, but situations keep arising, where he has to do otherwise

Living on with a nomadic life, of forged identities and controlled anger he ends up meeting Louis lane, played by Amy adams, the journalist from Daily planet who ends up uncovering the truth about him.

Meanwhile, General Zod ends up locating Superman and makes a deal with the inhabitants of earth to hand him over to him to save themselves, else face consequences.

General Zod played by Michael Shannon

The story unfolds into what Zod does next and how Superman has to face a choice of getting back his world, the krypton or saving the Earth from Zod.

This whole simplified story, where Superman comes to know about his origins, what ended up turning him into the kind of person he is now, who even after being an alien living on earth has controlled himself into not showing his powers. The reason of it all has been explained beautifully by using flashbacks then and now. Zach Snyder, the director, has made it simple without any sort of attempt to complicate it even by a bit.

SuperMan: MAN OF STEEL

In simplest terms, it’s about an alien invasion on Earth to take back one of their own kind and in return destroy the whole earth to establish their own world, as they don’t have any other. And how this one, Alien who has been living on earth for 33 years tries to stop them.

The treatment as I told earlier has been simple, yet effective in bringing out the human emotions and sensibilities attached. Be it the way in which Clark’s dad consoles him or how for his mother, he is that valuable gem. Or how, even in the face of calamity, some men never leave others to suffer.

There is one scene in the movie, where Superman is trying to rise above his limitations, (of being weak in the Krypton’s atmospheric conditions) and on the other a journalist’s boss holds on to her (when she is stuck in the debris) even though there is the greater risk of both of them dying from it. The superman near the Krypton’s atmosphere like condition and the human saving another’s life even by risking his won. This scene, of two different beings, doing what it takes to save humanity will touch you.

Man Of Steel

Chords like these are what Zach Snyder touches beautifully and makes this origin a wonderful watch, with some really great physical action along with the mesmerizing sci-fi content.

Henry Calvin makes an impressive start to the superman adventure that unfolded with this movie, wearing a suit with undies tucked in (something which is a first), and not just does makes it look great but even explains from where does the suit came from. He brings in the character of Superman with years of consoling, where humility and understanding are visible, to life.

The pretty AMY ADAMS as LOUIS LANE

Amy adams, is pretty in her role as the journo from Daily Planet. While Shannon playing Zod makes an emphatic impression with his rage to save his planet Krypton and how he never wanted to kill Kal’s father and how he regretted it. That regret is visible in his eyes, even though it’s being very subtly shown.

But one other person that makes sure he will be remembered is Russel Crowe. As superman’s dad, he shows what a leader is. The opening scenes featuring him, where he fights on the army of Zod, are such a treat to your eyes. The action scenes are wonderfully shot and so are the visuals. Russel deserves a big applause for it.

Fuora : Antje Traue

Also, amazing are the fight scenes between Faora played by Antje Traue, and Superman, the action scenes which she is part of, makes a solid case of special effects making it look real, and making it look fantastic. This German is surely good in action stuff and sure does look hot.

Kal el, or Clark’s (as he is called by his earth’s parents), played by Diane Lane as Martha Kent (mom) and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent (dad). Both of them do put up a good show. Putting themselves at risk for the sake of their alien child and making sure that he does not go astray. They put that into their characters. Scenes in flashbacks, where the child Clark is depicted as someone trying to break free and where his father consoles him are reassuring.

Superman isn’t some cult classic that is on display here, just a great start to a promising series. Special effects were mesmerizing and dialogues were not typical superhero-tailored. Calvin makes a Superman that realizes his potential and is faced with dilemmas, and is aptly portrayed by him.

It’s good entertainment. Nothing really new here of course, but instills faith in the idea of Human spirit, and even an alien can vouch for it.

I’m going with 3.5 out of 5 for Man of steel, it sure packs a punch and a promise for more to come.

Fukrey : My Review

By farooq

On June 16, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Manjot singh, Varun sharma, Priya anand, Vishaka singh, Ali Fazal, Richa Chadda

Director: Mrighdeep Singh Lamba

Producer: Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani

Genre: Comedy

Runtime: 139 minutes.

Its’ one of the best mad comedies to have graced Indian screens after Delhi Belly, and yes, Delhi becomes the backdrop yet again.

The story is about 4 “Fukreys” or loosely translate to people not having enough money, yet showing off.

Fukra 1 is Lalli, played by Manjot Singh. Who wants to explore the college life more than what his “correspondence course” offers. His girlfriend already vying for guys with more moolah, and his task was only to drop her to college. Realizing the same, he also makes up his mind to roam in front of her, with other girls just to show it off. Colleges’s which Manjot aspires to go to, are difficult to get into for a student like him. Also noteworthy is the story of how he gets looted everytime he walks out from the Gurudwara.

Fukey 2 and 3 are chaddi-buddies. One of them is the cool dude, played by Pulkit Samrat and is named Honey. While the other is somehow like his sidekick, called Choocha played by Varun Sharma, who is crazy and a little idiotic. But this idiot has been blessed with a gift. The gift is that he dreams some weird stories where our Hunny is often rescued by him from dangerous situations. And his dreams are decoded by Hunny to form a lottery ticket name which is a sure shot guarantee to win.

Fukra 4 is Zafar, played by Ali Fazal, who is an aspiring singer with no luck in terms of making it big. Even though he comes from a family of limited means, his only aim is to become a musician. Even at the cost of his long time girlfriend Neetu and a family to support.

Apart from these 4 fukras, on which the film revolves around, there are many notable characters that are part of the story which have their own importance.

Fukrey

The three ladies in the movie are a treat as well. Priya anand, palying Priya, a typical Delhi girl and love interest of Pulkit (Hunny), is a easy to eye character. The simplicity of a Punjabi girl coupled with innocence, is what this girl oozes with. Scene where she decides to be friends with the hero is innocence personified. Refusal to even talk at first, and then she agrees to come to the terrace. Pulkit flies in a kite near her with a message for friendship, “Fraadnship karni hai to kanni de”, which means “fly the kite if you want to do friendship”. What follows that is the hero jumping terraces to come to her and then charming her, only to act that she didn’t liked all of this and running away. This is what mohalle waali flirting is and has been shown brilliantly. There’s more to follow here, which I leave for you to see in that one scene.

Priya Anand in Fukrey

The second lead is Neetu maa’m, played by Vishaka Singh, yes the same Neetu who plays Zafar’s love interest and who is now the Accounts teacher that Lalli starts taking tuitions for exam preparations. The scene in the bus where she agrees to teach him, makes you laugh at the way a co-passenger reacts to their “business”, where she asks him to come in the evening for tuitions.

There is a time in the movie, where both Lalli and Zafar land up at the door of Neetu asking each other, “How do you know her? “ what follows is equally hilarious, where Neetu is blamed for giving dhoka by Lalli.

And last, but definitely never the least. At least not here in Fukrey is Richa Chadda playing the role of Bholi panjaban, who is Bholi for namesake. Someone, who runs almost all illegal activities under one umbrella, be it betting on sports, making pirated CDs, ponzi schemes, escort services and even internet based fraud mails, etc are all done by her. With African bodyguards for company and a mouth blurting out expletives, our Bholi is one helluva Lady. Richa fills in her raunchiness, something that she had in Gangs of Wasseypur as well, in this character of Bholi panjaban. But not just that, she does a great job in scenes where our Choocha, the dreamer tries his craziness on her.

Don – “Bholi panjaban”

Now, the plot revolves around, how the three fukras, Lalli (Manjot), Huney( Pulkit) and choocha (varun) will arrange for the money to be invested to get seats through backdoor entry in college as well as for the leaked 12^th board papers. Reason being, they just won’t be able to score the kind of marks that these colleges require to get admitted to. Huney and Choocha have already failed their 12^th twice and as their teacher says them, this may just be their hattrick of sorts. Although college life is what they dream about, of girls, bunking classes, and an unrestricted life. But the only glitch is that they ought to pass with good marks, which is a distant and impossible dream.

Fukrey

Here enters, our Panditji, played by Pankaj Tripathi, a jugaadu watchman, who is ready to provide them the exam papers a day before, and in his words, “Papers choo gaye hain”. But then this has a price, and for fukreys like these two it is a Big price. Also, interested in the papers was Our Lalli, but then who is gonna pay that big an amount?? Not his dad who is scolding him enough for everything he does. Also, coming into the picture is our 4^th fukra, Zafar who is in dire need of money to help his ailing father, and he is the one suggesting that they ask Bholi Panjaban to invest in their crazy plan.

Plan. The plan is to invest on the God-gifted talent of Choocha and Huney. Of investing in the lottery ticket that Huney decodes from the dream of Choocha. Investor is Bholi, the guarantee is Lalli’s dad’s Shop and then the Real game of these Fukreys’ start.

What follows is how they end up failing first, and how they make it all right in the end.

Fukrey is the kind of comedy that made Delhi belly and partly Go Goa Gone a hit. The raw real life scenarios, great timing of dialogue delivery, unintentional comic scenes and non fabricated dialogues, an ensemble of good casting, a good screenplay with a solid storyline.

The minor area of concern was the character of Zafar, something that doesn’t go well with the scheme. Like, you wonder for a guy whose love is singing, is still not able to give his best shot even in some of the rare opportunities that he gets. But then, ofcourse, there are people like that and you just cannot expect a polarized mini-story at its every point.

Fukrey

The songs are good. The Rabba song, which plays on when Choocha, Huney and Lalli get inside the college for the first time actually sums up the mesmerizing thoughts of the young lads and is kind of the youth anthem that defines youth, although a bit on the fun side. Ambarsariya is again a really good soulful track, Sona mahapatra has done a brilliant job in putting life into it and the picturization of the same on Priya and Punit’s story fits well. Other songs are decent, with the fukrey title track and Jugaad sounding good. Although the party song by Mika isn’t much to brag about and is a feeka types.

All in all, the movie has been a great comic experience and a promising debut for its young stars as well as the recent faces. Punit and Priya, are surely the ones to look forward to in the coming days of bollywood.

I’m going with 4/5 for Fukrey. Don’t miss this laugh-riot unless you are allergic to laughing your heart out.

Ye Jawani Hai Deewani: My Review

By farooq

On June 1, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Ye Jawani Hai Deewani: My Review

CAST: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, kalki Koechlin, Aditya Kapoor

DIRECTOR: Ayan Mukherjee

If you just cut small pieces from your favourite clothing and then stitch it together into a new dress, it might not end up becoming another favourite of yours. Even though, those pieces still are your favourite, the “new dress” won’t give you that amount of comfort. Well, Ye jawaani hai deewani just ends up becoming that “New cloth”. You can see a very strong effect of movies like Rock on, Zindagi milegi na dobara, and Ayan’s own Wake up sid! and all of this with added philosophy and an extra oomph factor.

It is not like you won’t like this movie, it is not bad at all, but there will be a sense of having already seen-it-all. When something on similar lines have already been made into cult status, another one coming your way has to be of that level and this is where this falls a little short.

But judging this purely on this new outing of Ranbir and deepika, it is indeed entertaining, thoughtful and charming.

The story is of Naina (Deepika) and Karan, who prefers to be called Bunny (Ranbir), with contrasting personalities. Naina, the scholar who is studying medicine has been a bookworm, taciturn, having no friends all her life. A life based on parent’s wishes and pressures, is what she had lived this far.

While Bunny is a flamboyant, charming guy who has dreams to fly around the world and explore each of it, bit by bit. How he defines his wish is, that he wants his life to have raftaar (Speed). He loves flirting and has this saying that, “flirting is very good for health, like yoga”.

Naina and Bunny have studied in the same class long before, along with Aditi(Kalki Koechlin) and Avi (Aditya roy kapoor). Although Aditi, Avi and Bunny are the best of friends, Naina had no connection with all these, until one day Naina meets Aditi and how her, not-caring-too-much-about-life attitude and her plans for a Trekking trip to Manali makes her look deep into his own life. Also, Aditi is in love with Avi, but he is always in search of “greener pastures”.

Fed-up with the whole ONLY-STUDY schedule, she decides to have a break. A morning letter at the dining table for her mom and a last-minute arranged trip to manali, tags her with Bunny and friends.

A crazy ride, where Naina discovers herself, rather reinvents herself, ends up falling for the charming bunny, but ends up not disclosing her feelings to him. Reason being, Bunny has a totally different plan for life. Love, marriage and family are things he wants to be away from, and then there is his dream of Globe-trotting.

8 years down the line, at Aditi’s marriage they again meet and the romance mushrooms again. At the same time, Aditi, has found herself a rich-engineer(played by siddharth kappor of Delhi belly fame) to get married to, while Avi, with his drinking and gambling habits (Carrying forward from where he left in Ashiqui2) has lost it all and is now bankrupt. But more than that, what he misses is their friendship that got ruined because of Bunny’s career plans, where he just couldn’t find time for anything.

How, Why and when it all falls back into place is what the movie is all about.

The movie brings along the innocence in its characters and tries to pack in little life lessons in them. Ranbir kapoor is definitely a star that leaves no stone unturned to make the movie his own; emotions come flowing down from him. Be it, those scenes with Deepika or with his friends, or even his dad (Played by the Farooq Sheikh). One particular scene where Farooq waits for his son, who usually comes late at night, and has already made plans for Manali without telling him, is where the father-son relationship has been shot beautifully. It does not exaggerate anything, neither the dad’s care, nor his son’s, just sweetly says it all.

Deepika is all guns blazing here as well. She not only looks her geeky best in the first half, but uses her sexy sarees to make you go Wow!! She can just cry and smile at the same time, and still look good. And man, she does act unlike many others.

Kalki koechlin is again has amazing bubbly character in the movie, credit for her to be choosing roles that suites her. While, Aditya is very mediocre as Bunny’s friend, emoting is what this young lad still needs to learn.

There is a blink-and-a-miss scene of Rana duggubati in the movie and you wonder why he needed to be there??

Songs are really good and have been timed perfectly. They do bring in an added energy to the plot. The foreign location shots are amazing too, making you want to just go and explore (Another ZNMD reminder).

Overall, the movie isn’t at all bad, it is actually good. The only point of contention being that it will remind too much of Zindagi Na Milegi dobara, with an extra oomph factor with it. But other than that, I would recommend a watch.

I’m going with 3/5 for Ayan Mukherji’s Ye Jawani Hai deewani, its good if you don’t start comparing with other movies of same genre.

[You can also read the reviews of Deepika’s other hits: Raamleela, Piku, Finding Fanny]

Fast and Furious 6: My Review

By farooq

On May 24, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Vin Diesel as Dominic

Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner

Dwayne Johnson (Rock) as Luke Hobbs

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty

Director: Justin Lin

Fast and Furious 6!! It’s definitely better than the last outing of these “men with the fast machines”. Great action scenes, some of them will just make you go WTF!!!

If you have followed the franchise from the start would be great, otherwise some scenes are going to be a little confusing.

The film, as Fast Five, made it to be, has changed from the underground street race adventure to a more action heist movie on the lines of Italian job, and finally with this one has tried to build on to that.

Talking about the story. It takes you back to the point where they left. After a successful heist in the prequel, the retired team is spread out across the globe. The catch is, that Letty (Dominic’s supposed to be dead girlfriend) is back in the frame. And to crackdown on a gang, Rock needs help. And this girl proves to be the bait as to why Dominic would agree to help him out by coming out of retirement.

In a nutshell, the story is about getting her back and to make matters interesting, there are the bad guys with which the team has to fight.

The fight scenes are classy. The ones with the ladies’ are even more raw and amazing, and are not to be missed.

There’s a point where you’ll feel, dude, are they ending this here???

But then hold your horses, there’s a Grand ending that awaits you.

It’s fast, its furious in the first half but a bit draggy in the second half. But with a lot of emotions at play, you have to be lenient on that, I guess.

Watch it for the amazing action scenes, although some scenes will make you wonder that its just not making sense. But It’s fun to watch the rest of the Action adventure, which will keep you hooked onto the seats.

I’m going with 3/5 for this action extravaganza by Justin Lin. Those action scenes can be watched time and again, and that’s what you expect from Fast and Furious!

Aurangzeb : My review

By farooq

On May 19, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Cast: Arjun kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Prithviraj, Sasha Agha

Director: Atul Sabharwal

Actors take a movie forward, of course with a good story to tell. And when an actor like Arjun Kapoor makes sure to strike all the right notes in the midst of other noteworthy performances, then the Movie is sure to turn out good.

The plot is interesting, and takes you in the middle of the land mafia-corporate-politician nexus in Gurgaon, which depicts how the situation is, not just in there but the whole of country. A real estate baron (Jackie shroff) who runs illegal business behind it, has a son Ajay (Arjun kapoor), who is arrogant and wild, a mistress in Neena (Amrita singh) who tries to keep this bad-boy image of Ajay alive by bringing in Sasha Agha as his girlfriend who will keep him “occupied”, so that Neena’s son could become the waaris of the whole business.

Sounds an 80’s drama, Salim-javed types?? Well, you are in for more. Director, Atul Sabharwal makes sure of that.

There’s a family of police officers, corrupt police officers, who have their “collection” racket going on behind the scene. The family has Rishi kapoor as the chacha while Sikander Kher plays his son, and Prithviraj plays the nephew, whose father(Anupam kher) used to be an honest policeman before an ugly encounter shamed his life. This “encounter” actually holds the ropes as to how the story would change and why the movie is named Aurangzeb!! The family tradition somehow reminds you of Godfather in many shades. The grey characterizations, keeping things away from their imaandaar son-in-law about their “collection business” and yet trying to keep the whole family together, would give you little reminder of Godfather!!

The story, in a nutshell, is about these two big families’ battle to gain control and how they are related to each other. And as is repeatedly said in the movie, “Kingship knows no kinship”, there are guns and bullets out there to clear the hurdles as well.

There are twists and turns in between, that is best left for you to experience rather than letting you all know. And even though, many of it might just look so filmy yet, it’s interesting to go with the pace with which it all happens.

Talking of the story, it is interesting. Barring a few loopholes which keep you grounded that this is a Bollywood flick. Other than that, the plot moves at a good pace, with good dialogues and screenplay add to the stories’ effectiveness.

Acting is pitch-perfect. While the biggies like Rishi kapoor and Jackie shroff have strongly put their case in important roles. Where you get to see the two side of a Real estate baron in the form of Jackie shroff, at the same time the police commissioner in Rishi kapoor again displays his darker side yet again after his amazing outing in Agneepath as Rouf Lala!!! Playing a villain is what this guy is loving to do more recently it seems. And we ain’t complaining either. He makes it so classy and natural. Be it the interrogation scenes that he will be a part of or the way he describes about Aurangzeb, its brilliance out there on display.

Prithviraj, well this guy sure did put on a lot of effort to gain in the linguistic skills ahead of this role, but none of it would be visible. Because what you see here is just great command over it. Be it the narration all along the movie, the way he emotes is just good. Being a police officer is what suits him and he shows no signs of being laid back either, delivering a punch with this performance.

But in the midst of this all, the one person, or should we say two?? Who makes a great impression is Arjun kapoor, who carries on his natural acting skills post Ishaqzaade to a new height. The two roles that he essays, although apart from the start and a few scenes in the end, there’s not much drastic difference between them. But whatever he has been part, he makes his own. From laughing out ridiculing others, from his dad to his mother, to being the innocent chap in between, he does it like he has been there like a veteran. One of the many good prospects in Hindi Cinema among the new crop of youngsters!

Surprisingly, the female lead, Sasha Agha (daughter of Pakistani actress Salma Agha) plays a role a glam doll yet leaves a little mark behind. Maybe with a bit longer role, we would be seeing more of her than just the hot body she has!! Yes, she does know how to act as well.

There was hardly any need for songs, and the filmmakers have taken note of this as well.

The movie does try to put efforts to the political-corporate nexus and how the administration is part of it. And the movie does end with a realistic message, “paisa bohot kama liya, ab Raub kamate hain”!

I am going with 3/5 for Aurangzeb, it’s interesting storytelling with good acting. Watch out for Arjun kapoor and Rishi kapoor!!

Go Goa Gone: My Review

By farooq

On May 10, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Diirector: Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Kunal khemu, Vir Das, Puja Gupta and Anand Tiwary

It’s like a normal day in a youngsters’ life, where laziness beats any other thing that comes their way. Go Goa Gone starts off with the same note, where the leads Kunal Khemu(Hardik) and Vir das(Luv) , try to force each other to change the channel where the remote rests a little far from their reach. Not able to come to a conclusion, post which they continue to watch the same thing that they were watching earlier. Crazy, right?? Yet, so similar to our everyday life or to say a youngsters’ life.

Smoking, Alcohol and drugs rule the roost in these bachelors’ life, work is something that they care very little about, and lazying around is what they find solace in.

Their saving grace is the other roomie, Benny (Played by Anand tiwary), the “adarsh” boy types, and whose office trip becomes the excuse for these two to have a small vacation.

Enter goa!!

Luv, whose girlfriend dumps him in a very peculiar fashion, seeks to find another one to get over her and he meets Luna( played by Puja Gupta), the hot chick who happens to be one of the many friends’ in his facebook profile.

Now, the things change when Luna invites him for a rave party to an island which has been organized by the russian mafia!!

It is all happening in the crazy Goa, before the Zombies enter!!! Now something like this has never been attempted in India, so full marks for this attempt. But then, they do fall short of turning into something really remarkable. It draws similarity from Hollywood movies on the same, but then almost all the films these days have something of that sort.

Saif Ali Khan, who plays boris, the look makes him look one of the Russian too. With zombies, almost everywhere, thanks to a drug offered at the party. Saif takes him upon himself to kill them all by becoming a Zombie hunter. Or as he says, “I keel dead peepal” . Trying to put on the Russian English accent, and then switching to hindi slangs in between, saif does put up a good show, with some killer gun shots out there to show.

The film has its moments, many actually. But they are not tailored to be any sort of melodramatic or theatrical. There are just simple comic dialogues. The main point of little discomfort perhaps for me was the dialogue delivery between actors. They could have taken it to an all new height, had it been little perfected. Certain dialogues were way too witty but their pure placement in between some makes you even miss them.

One of the rare movies, that I felt a song or two was actually necessary to do justice to the story. If not many, at least a Party song was a must.

The movie definitely was fast paced, and little short of 2 hours of running time, won’t make you feel your time getting wasted.

A one-time watch, and would be more enjoyable if watched with a bunch of crazy friends.

A 2.5/5 for Go Goa Gone.

Django unchained- My review

By farooq

On March 24, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Jamie fox, Leonardo diCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L jackson

Its showmanship at its best, in quentine tarantino’s Django unchained.

Normally, if you look at it, it’s nothing but the quest of black slave to reach out to his wife who has been enslaved by someone else with a background of an American setup which continues to provide them hardships.

Coming from director Quentin Tarantino, who makes sure that it look classy. And no points for guessing that he does it with finesse.

Django, played by Jamie fox, is a slave who is freed by Dr Schultz(Christoph waltz) in a rather dramatic way to help him catch some people for whom he has a bounty. Now our Bounty hunter, gets a partner for this assignment to catch hold of the “bounty”. Looking at the way django works, Dr schultz offers him to make his partner for other assignments as well. The extra thing, apart from money that Schultz would be offering to him is help to get back his wife.

After spending the winter, killing off their bounties and earning cash in the process by bringing back the corpses, they start on a plan to bring bloomhilda, django’s wife (played by Kerry Washington). After due, checks, they zero in on a certain Mr. Calvin Candie (played by Leonardo dicaprio).

The story revolves around this quest of Django to get her wife back, which seems to be some sort of a heinous crime. Slavery, at that point of time, was so deep rooted that each and every thing that Django does, was seen as a violation of something. The depiction is cruel to say the least. People staring with disgust to see him ride a horse, share a drink or even stand near them. The human race’s terrible age of racial abuse is something that is horrifying and has been depicted in the raw and cruel way, as it is meant to be.

Continuing his amazing performance in Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards, Christoph waltz gives out a performance of a genius in a role that has been hand-crafted for him. The easiness with which he shifts between the character’s seriousness as well as temperament is amazing to say it humbly. The opening scene in which he frees, or rather unchains Django makes a solid case for his sheer brilliance, not to mention each scene that he is part of.

Leonardo dicaprio, comes into a role, which is something that he has never done before, and makes it his own. He has a different story altogether deep in himself to let out of his character of a wicked businessmen, who loves to see fights between niggers where one ultimately kills the other and he makes money out of it. Such is his business mind that even with knowing that someone has betrayed him continues to skim out a profitable deal out of it.

Samuel L Jackson, plays the character of leonardo’s faithful black-servant, who is worse than the white-folks around. His look itself will tell you, as to what is going underneath his brains, which is dark and wicked to be generous.

Jamie fox, displays utmost showmanship, in playing Django. He not only brings out the fear, fun and seriousness of the character, but also does it by being the most entertaining one. A fast learner, from being just a suffering slave to being an accomplice of a bounty hunter to actually gathering the negotiating aura of his senior partner to turn the climax around, is something that his character makes a case for.

Although, almost each scene and each frame has something that will make you hooked onto it, but the one where a whole gang of white people, try to teach the “nigger and his nigger-loving-German” a lesson will make you laugh not at the stupidity they display but the amazing human nature of fun brought out by Tarantino.

Also, mentionable is the scene where the negotiable Dr Schultz displays his skills to get rid of a 100 rifles pointing out at them.

Its showmanship at its best, watch him Unchain to bring about a smooth 160 odd minutes of entertainment, and not to forget the Old-style-credits at the start and music in between.

Jolly LLB- My review

By farooq

On March 17, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

It is amazing how Arshad warsi, fills in the jolliness and simplicity in order to display the complexities of the system and being a small town lawyer. It is sheer joy to watch him perform and he is no doubt one of the finest performers out there. It is his part that puts in the extra punch in this Subhash kapoor directed film.

Boman Irani (Tejinder Rajpal) , playing a shrewd lawyer who has a stature and power of the system in his pocket, which makes him manipulate anything to suit his taste buds.

Amruta rao (Sandhya), playing Jolly’s love interest and support in the movie, has a short role where she is a school teacher.

The plot involves a hit-and-run case of a rich dad’s kid, and how with influence and a lawyer like Rajpal (Boman irani), he gets away. The story takes a turn, when Jagdish tyagi (Arshad warsi) decides to file a PIL to open the case again, purely on the basis of media reports and zeal to be famous. But his idea actually gets remote controlled by the terrible law and order system. With a little hurdle where he is faced to choose between what’s right for him and what is actually right, he finally decides to fight for the cause of justice and prove that “justice milta nahi hai, ladna padta hai”. The story takes a hilarious yet introspective look at the judicial system of the country and how influence, power and money is used to change or completely kick it out.

Saurabh shukla stands out with his performance as a judge. The scene where he loses his cool is both hilarious as well as impactful. He presents with him, the character without holding back anything. Be it the dialogue delivery or the little miniature showdowns then and now.

Songs are okayish, but the movie didn’t need them at all. Rather could have benefitted better of leaving them out. Songs push in themselves between scenes, one song, “ajnabi” starts off when our lawyer Jolly is manaoing his lady love, whom he calls Sandhu (prem se) inside the school where she teaches. Now the precursor to the song involves a lot of nakhre from our heroine which takes place when she happens to be inside the school!! Imagine a teacher doing all that, in our school??!! But then, it’s a movie right??

One very important thing that was missing from this film was the shelf value of the characters. All of them did worked on to give you a decent movie, yet the idea of each character being there in your mind like Munna bhai’s parsi doctor, that sweeper in the hospital getting a jadoo ki jhappi from Munna or the patient Anand or be it the milimetre from 3idiots. These small characters are the backbone of a movielike this. and that’s what makes it fall short of a masterpiece. For instance, a notable actor like Sanjay mishra, who is seen playing a head constable conducting an auction involving lacks of rupees for senior inspector’s promotion!!!! There seemed to be something missing in terms of collaborative input and hence that is visible in the output. Although, with performances of Saurabh shukla as the judge and Manoj pahwa as Arshad’s onscreen brother in law adds value.

The best part of the movie lies between three characters. The judge, the prosecution and the opposition, played by Saurabh shukla, Arshad warsi and Boman irani respectively. The movie could have benefitted by developing other characters a little more to highlight the system’s inadequacy and plaguing nature. Yet, there is a silver lining in everything, and glimpses of good, even in places where it cannot be are shown every now and then in the movie.

I’ll give a “3 out of 5” for Subhash kapoor’s Jolly LLB and recommend you to take time out and watch a hilariously insightful film.

Kai Po Che Movie Review

By farooq

On March 4, 2013

In Movies & Entertainment

They say the film cannot be better than the book. “Kai Po Che” is one movie that proves otherwise.

Although, I must add the bar was not raised that high by Chetan bhagat in his book, “3 mistakes of my life”, on which the movie is based.

“Kai po che” is a Gujarati term used in Kite flying. When someone cuts a kite, thsi expression is cried out in excitement. The movie tries to co-relate this with the bond of friendship and their ups and downs.

Introducing Sushat Singh Rajput and starring a young cast, comprising of RajKumar Yadav, Amit Sadh and Amrita Puri being the female lead, the film is seriously one of the best offerings of this year.

The film, as the name is from, is based in Gujarat and the story revolves around three childhood friends and their ambitions. Govind (Raj Kumar Yadav), is someone who wants to be something big and has huge entrepreneurship goals but money is something that he falls short of to start off. Ishant (Sushant singh rajput) is a cricket-crazy lad, who was a district level cricketer too, but failed to make it further and Omi (Amit sadh), son of panditji whose mama(uncle), played by Manav kaul, always tries him to pull him in the Saffron party-fold of which he is a part of.

With family expectations and eyes on future, their business idea starts off with a sports equipment and cricket coaching centre , where Ishaan gives cricket coaching. Sabarmati Sports centre kicks off quite nicely, although to start it off they had to take help from Omi’s mama who belonged to a hindutva-ideology supported party. On Ishaan’s request, Govind, a part-time tutor had to take private tuitions for Divya (Ishaan’s sister played by Amrita puri). With an “over-active” and good looking student and with the Bro-code to keep intact, being the teacher becomes tough.

Even with issues, their lives were flying like a kite, but with an earthquake and a subsequent Hindu-Muslim riot, things turn ugly. With nature and situations taking regular tests of their ideologies, thinking, ambitions and more importantly friendship, they try to steer their kite. The film is all about that.

It raises a lot of issues in just a 2-hour stretch of a movie and its treatment is something that Abhisek kapoor has done brilliantly, with the cast giving it great support. Sushant Singh Rajput makes a great entry to the silver screen by being natural yet affirmative. Raj kumar yadav, whom we had seen in smaller roles before, makes a case for him by being the shy and low-key Govind. While, Amit sadh and Amrita puri too, do a commendable job in the movie. It’s not just the lead characters that fill in the movie, but actors like Manav kaul and Asif Basra who pitch in with performances.

The film doesn’t try to overdo anything and that is what stands out. The hindu-muslim equation and its complexities are depicted in a sensible manner without much drama. The sweetness of the story dealt with innocence is something that you would bring back, although there aren’t enough dialogues for which one can say the same. The music by Amit trivedi is amazing, with all the songs helping build the flow instead of being any sort of distraction. He is sure to give A.R rahman run for his money in the future.

Scenes involving cricket, are a treat to watch and instead of being any melodramatic, one enjoys it. The last scene, where Ishaan’s favorite student plays the cricketing shot in Team India colors, is something that is sure to make your eyes go wet.

A 4-out-of-5 for Abhisek kapoor’s Kai po che, which takes you back to Dil chahta hai and Rock on!!

A treat in the offing!!