PODCAST THIS YEAR - A-TO-ZED BOLLYWOOD MOVIE REVIEW
- Not a "TOP 10 HINDI MOVIES OF 2024" Episode
- MRS - An awesome typical married life
- Pushpa 2 AND Mere husband Ki Biwi - 2 Diametrically opposite bad movies.
- Superboys of Malegaon and Baby John - Very Good and Very Bad.
JAAT - HALF Star. R.
Directed by - Gopichand Malineni
Starring - Sunny Deol, Randeep Hooda, Regina Cassandra, Saiyami Kher, Vineet Kumar Singh
Hey Bhagwan, Why WHY. Why do I do this to myself. Why would I go to a theater on a non-discounted day to see the atrociously disgusting thing. Sunny uncle can't walk to save his life trying to act all Rambo.
He has some घोड़े के बाल installed on her head. You know what ... I am better off with my balding head, finally I put to rest the biggest question of my life - should I spend money to fix my baldness. Answer is NO. AND sunny papaji is not even the worst part of the movie.
This is a South Indian directed movie, you know what that means? It comes with all the garbage associated with it. Women used as sexual things, why would Sayami Kher do this crap? I guess my respect for her went down a notch. I guess everyone likes a quick buck. This is Jawaan do over just worse. I am not sure but we need to do a psychological research of mental state of south Indian movie makers why do they think what they think. AND how can they think the same stuff over and over. You know the gall they have? There was a story writer and dialogue writer of this movie!! yea... they had names of humans.
BE HAPPY - 2.5 Stars. PG
Directed by - Remo D'Souza
Starring - Abhishek Bachchan, Inayat Verma, Nora Fatehi
Remo bhai is back making movies about dancing. This time he decides to add a sob story with dance. A girl wants to dance, the dad doesn't want her to dance but yields. When a movie's name is 'Be Happy' you should have guessed its not a happy story. Dad daughter do their thing and go through difficulties of life together etc etc. Its an okay attempt at a dancing 'tear jerker,' but tears won't flow. Also in case you decide to watch it, A Warning - Movie will end abruptly so don't be surprised just get up and leave. It's like money ran out so they decided to end it.
AZAAD - 3.5 Stars. G
Directed by Abhishek Kapoor
Starring - Ajay Devgn, Diana Penty, Aaman Devgan, Rasha Thadani
Nepo babies are back. This one has Ajay's someone and Raveena's daughter. Indians are so obsessed with इसका बेटा, उसका भाई, उसकी भतीजी etc and still they are mad why do star kids do movies. BECAUSE you fund it. If a random actor was taken no one will fund that movie, but someone's someone is taken then you will be like ohhh.. उसकी बेटी आ रही है मूवी में. So don't complain just live with it. BTW this rant should be for a movie that is below this one (Nadaaniyan).
Azaad actually turned out to be a pretty good movie. The guy Aaman was pretty good and Rasha was .. well she is a teen kid. Not much to do for her. BUT let me answer what is the first thing on everyone's mind. रवीना की तरह दिखती है क्या? Yes, answer is Yes, she does. You know why? Because she is her daughter.
The special part about the movie was, it was probably the first love story between a man and his horse. I liked it, they tried something different and did it with sincerity.
NAADANIYAN - 2.0 Stars. G
Directed by - Shauna Gautam
Starring - Ibrahim Ali Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhry, Dia Mirza, Suniel Shetty, Jugal Hansraj
Another star kids launch and unlike Azaad this was a typical star kid launch. A recreation of 'Kuchh kuchh hota hai' kind of movies. The problem - the kuchh kucch hota hai crowd is old and balding... as you were just told.
I know I know I have to answer the only relevant question because of which this movie was created. YES YES... Ibrahim Ali Khan does look like Saif Ali Khan... right? Ali Khan and Ali Khan? And Yes, Khushi seems like Sridevi's kid. Yea!! so we got that out of the way. Now what? The kids don't know how to act, that is not a surprise and I don't hate on them because of that. Who cares! Someone wanted to use them to make a movie, so they said yes. They are kids what do they know? I feel bad for them, they probably think being known to millions of people is a great thing. It is not. I hope they find something to enjoy in life and not think having 'fans' is an important thing.
ohh.. you need me to talk about the movie? when did that happen. Whenever I hear feedback it is always how bad my ratings are. Everyone has the same issue, how can you give bad movies good ratings, BECAUSE you don't see crap like I do. Anyways.. this is an okay college romance with comedy without any comic timing. Kids fake to fall in love until they do. Nothing wrong with that.
MRS - 4.5 Stars. G
Directed by - Arati Kadav
Based on The Great Indian Kitchen by Jeo Baby
Starring - Sanya Malhotra, Nishant Dahiya, Kanwaljit Singh
I have talked enough in my Podcast. Did I say it enough? I have a PODCAST. Anyways, Sanya Malhotra gives a great performance and the script apparently based on a book is simple but effective. Beautifully portrays a simple life of a simple wife. It is the dream life that society wants us all to live, but there is a problem, it is not good enough.
Sanya gets married but as soon as she gets the label of wife, there are some obvious things that she should be doing. The obvious things are so obvious to people living the culture that only she and us can see the ridiculousness of it. The movie shows every scene that we have witnessed in our lives, it's just that when you see from vantage point of an alien it looks so much more 'ridiculous' than when we live it.
The problem is not just what patriarchy brings for the 'Mrs' the problem is it also not healthy for the beneficiaries like the father in law and husband, who live their boring mundane lives of 'privilege'. That privilege is not good for them as they too miss out on life. The Movie has so many great dishes being made in the great Indian kitchen, by the end of the movie you will develop a nice appetite.
DHOOM DHAAM - 4.0 Stars. G
Directed by Rishab Seth
Starring - Yami Gautam Dhar, Pratik Gandhi
Two great actors and reasonably simple and comic script what else you need? A no hassle fun movie this. Somehow these are in short supply, clean fun no tension movies. Pratik Gandhi and Yami meet and get married without knowing much about each other, as they discover each other in a fun ride. They are polar opposites and both are good at comedy. Go watch it.
MEHTA BOYS - 2.0 Stars. G
Directed by - Boman Irani
Starring - Avinash Tiwary, Boman Irani
1) If you are an actor you are not a director.
2) If you are a director at least don't direct yourself.
These are the 2 rules of cinema, I just made up. Both the rules are broken in this movie. Boman the actor directs Boman the actor. The movie is about father - son relationship that promises and teases something great but nothing happens. A good try but it doesn't move you. Not a bad movie especially given that someone tried something different, but it lacked emotions. Long artsy shots don't make a movie engrossing.
KAUSHALJIS VS KAUSHAL - 3.0 Stars. G
Directed by - Seemaa Desai
Starring - Ashutosh Rana, Sheeba Chaddha, Isha Tal
Kinda in the similar genre of Dhoom Dhaam but a notch below it. A formulaic middle class family setup. The premise is pretty novel, the guy wants his girl friend to meet his parents as she is obsessed with old school values of a happy family, only to find out that his parents are on verge of breakup. Good fun situations and circumstances are created, mostly fun but gets somewhat serious. as the movie progresses.
Overall easy on the eyes and mind. Girl meets boy, Boy takes her to his parents and parents are not what parents should be and all hell breaks lose. Not sure where this all hell broke lose phrase comes from but even I am saying that pretty much means the entire world is using without understanding the biblical context of it. O well. what am I talking now. Go watch it while doing dishes or folding laundry.
SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON - 4.5 Stars. G
Superboys of Malegaon - Trailer
Directed by - Reema Kagti
Starring - Adarsh Gourav, Vineet Kumar Singh, Shashank Arora, Anuj Singh Duhan
Another one that I talked about on my Podcast. A great movie / documentary. Bunch of friends in small town Malegaon decide to create movies a La Bollywood and make it happen. A dream come true, Malegaon till date is churning out small budget movies. They started with a parody on sholay, the story has a real feel to it.
Many times real life stories become so polished that they look fake. Not this one. The friends are real, their anger and greed is real. They hate each other and come back to love when things don't work out else where. A very typical human story of friends who banded together to make movies about their own little town for their own town.
One thing we found out Shashank Arora who we have seen in many movies turns out to be a great actor. A welcome surprise. This guy is better than all star kids combined, There I dissed on them. The movie is a must watch.
BABY JOHN - 2.0 Stars. PG13
Directed by - Kalees
Starring - Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff
Talking about south Indian directors and their fetish. Here comes another one. Atlee of Jawaan fame has directed it. As expected all the formulas of all south movies is available. After 3/4 of the movie suddenly fast forward scenes show how our hero is no normal human he is a super hero either a war hero or a great cop or a great underworld don. I don't know how it is a surprise when every movie shows it.
Anyways... this is another bhajan from Kollywood or Tollywood whatever it is. This time Varun gets to play the SRK, Sunny or Alu Arjun. Same script. Don't watch it. Jackie is enjoying his old age getting nice get-ups and getting to act all bat shit crazy.
PUSHPA 2 - 1.5 Star. PG13
Directed by - Sukumar
Starring - Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil Rao Ramesh
Pushpa had a catchy song. Pushpa 2 does not. Pushpa I could finish, this one I could not. Pushpa 2 has gone international also beyond my comprehension. To their credit. this one is actually a south Indian movie dubbed in hindi. So I guess they follow the script of the same bhajan they have been doing for 50 years. I think this guy Fahadh Faasil is the villain and he is the only guy who is of note. He makes all the scenes interesting by his interesting take as a villain. Oh lord climate change and all .... let's take down this earth before Pushpa 3.
SARFIRA - 3.5 Stars. G
Directed by - Sudha Kongara
Starring - Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Radhika Madan
Dreading an Akshay film? - You should.
Is it another Biopic? - Yes.
Run away from it? - Actually NO!
Just like broken clock is right twice a day. Akshay does give a good movie once in 5 years. The movie is about the guy who started the cheap airlines back in 2000s with Re 1 ticket. A pretty interesting story. Akshay and Rashmika have a cute relationship as a couple. Well done by Sudha Kongara as the director.
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BLACK WARRANT - 4.0 Stars. R
Created by - Vikramaditya Motwane, Satyanshu Singh
Based on Black Warrant by Sunetra Choudhury and Sunil Gupta
Directed by - Vikramaditya Motwane, Satyanshu Singh, Arkesh Ajay, Rohin Raveendran Nair, Ambiecka Pandit
Starring - Zahan Kapoor, Rahul Bhat, Paramvir Singh Cheema, Anurag Thakur
When you hear the name Vikramaditya Motwane you know the product will be good. Black Warrant is the warrant taken out when someone gets a death penalty. This is a story from 1980s when Charles Sobhraj was in Tihar Jail and the jailers had a hard time controlling the prison. Three very different people join the Jail after graduating from IPS and have their own trial by fire as they found their own way of controlling the politics and carving their own ways. Zahan Kapoor was good and so were others, fit perfectly, though its always easy to act in a good well directed show.
The series is slow, very dark and disturbing. As is most of the Motwane products. The hangings are shown in slow dark disturbing manner designed to stay with you for a long time. But only good shows can do that.
PAATAL LOK 2 - 3.5 Stars. R
Created by Sudip Sharma
Directed by - Avinash Arun
Starring - Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Gul Panag
The great character of Mr Hathiram is back. The disgruntled middle class Inspector with no future but a heart of gold and a loving wife. His relationship with his intern in the first season was special, the same Intern is now his boss (Ishwak Singh) and again the relationship works beautifully. Both want to call each other Sir but are awkward every time in a cute way. The scenes between them are the best moments of the show.
The show itself tries to go big and bigger in the process complicating a story about north east. Big chunk of the show is non hindi as they try to go too authentic with their North East depiction. It also is too big on the scale of crime for Hathiram to solve all by himself. But overall the show holds it's own and is a good watch.
DABBA CARTEL - 4.5 Stars. R
