POPULAR 'BOLLYWOOD'
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Simmba - 4.0 Stars. PG-14. (Thriller)
Director - Rohit Shetty
Actor - Ranveer Singh, Sara Ali Khan, Sonu Sood.
By now everyone has seen this one. Rohit Shetty has enjoyed lot of success at the box office but he never has found any success in this blog (Major blot on his career). Well ...here comes Simmba.
The movie ticks all the boxes of what a typical masala 'Bollywood' big budget movie should be. Hero Vs Villian, fighting, songs, dances, wafer thin plot, comedy and drama with bro, sis, mom, dad bonding scenes. The movie does it all.
Obviously movie belongs to Ranveer Singh, he is in his purple patch, whatever he touches turns to gold. He plays the corrupt cop and his journey into becoming honest. His comic timing is perfect, he has seen enough, Bachchan, Anil Kapoor movies on 80s to know exactly how to do over the top comedy and how to show over the top emotion. He is all in and is loving it. Movie reminds me of at least dozen movies, including Shahenshah and Indrajeet (I know you don't know this one, sorry).
So .... I know what you are thinking. This is how all Rohit shetty movies are but he never got a 4 before! This time he does something better, he does improve with the times in few areas.
- Not depicting 'rape' as some kind of a opportunity for titillation.
- Handling court scenes with at least some difference by turning them into a message of country's culture of rape.
Now that Mr Shetty is getting responsible, I will like to suggest him to continue his progress and next time show a Mom, and a Sis wearing western clothes, and don't need to be submissive sobbing do gooders who are clear second fiddle to everyone in the society. And the love angle of hero does not need to be westernized 'aankh maaring' girl all the time.
Fraud Saiyyaan - 0 Stars. G. (Comedy?)
सैयां भी फ्रॉड और कॉमेडी भी
Director - Saurabh Srivastav
Actors - Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla
Arshad Boss, we respect you, please do something good. Though I am proponent on not watching trailer but for this one, just watch the trailer and skip the movie. Arshad obviously is great actor and even better comedian, but this is just jaded and old school.
Zero - 1.5 Stars. G. (Drama)
ज़बरदस्ती का जीरो नहीं बनता आज का हीरो
Director - Aanand Rai.
Actors - Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif.
Shah Rukh's Ganga Jamuna Saraswati Phase is just not ending. He is refusing to understand. SRK you are what you are, and you are not what you are not.
All I remember from this movie is Short SRK running on the streets in 'फ़ातेदार कच्छा' Why SRK? Why? You are not Kamal Hassan and you never will be. Stop trying to get sympathy and think you will someday pull off a 'Sadma'. You won't! Sorry! Do a regular movie, stop being over the top Don, or some art-ish movie where you are crippled, or some Sci Fi. Just stay away from doing something 'special'.
The movie is a love story between 2 physically challenged people, it just does not jell. When the physically chanllenged are Anushka and SRK, you just know both are acting and they both can do magic if they are given the right project. Instead the movie belongs to a 'Non Actor' turning into an 'Actor' - please welcome Ms Katrina Kaif the actor. Nice knockout performance from her.
Kedarnath - 3.5 Stars. G. (Love Story)
प्रेम कथा को भूकम्प
Director - Abhishek Kapoor
Actors - Sushant Singh Rajpoot, Sara Ali Khan.
Kedarnath is a love story set in ..... yes you guessed it right.. Kedarnath and it is intertwined with the actual event that happened there.... and yes you are right again.. the earth quake. I struggle to understand why they decided to do it. But o well.. they did. Good to ok love story and has got few moments that are pretty good, does not elevate to something special though. Sushant is a good kid and puts his heart into every movie he does. Sara is the new star kid on the block. She is like a star kid is. I don't know I am getting too old to comment on these kids, they all look same to me and act similarly until they find something to blossom.
Thugs of Hindostan - 3.5 Stars. G. (Thriller)
पुराने ज़माने की बिग बजट फिलम
Director - Vijay Krishna Acharya
Actors - Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh.
The movie that everyone loved to despise. I never thought very highly of public opinion as it is made by a handful of people and then rest en masse follow the popular opinion on twitter, instagram and A-to-Zed.blogspot.com.
This movie probably is a ode to old 70s movies which were multistarrers wth big sets etc. It is a 'Raj Tilak' of 2000s.... mmm... what is Raj Tilak? Google it, yes I am super old.
Aamir has always acted like he has rehearsed everything 500 times and the freshness has been lost, but he is good as a comic ' कमीना' who can change sides and can be with Brits or Indians depending on which scene we are at. Bachchan is too old to do stunts they show him do and hence the fights look weird. Overall the movie is enjoyable if you are ok looking at it like an ode to big budget multistarrers from 70s.
Dussehra - 3.0 Stars. PG-13. (Action)
हीरो और विल्लिअन मारो और ठोको
Director - Manish Vatsalya
Actors - Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tina Desai.
Cop couple are good people but being good cop doesn't help. Rest you know what happens. Thank you.
Genius - 2.5 Stars. G.(Action)
बीस साल लेट जीनियस
Director - Anil Sharma.
Actors - Utkarsh Sharma, Ishita Chauhan, Mithun.
Anil Sharma of Sunny and Dharam Papaji's mindless entertainer fame is back with a movie for his baby boy. Whenever this happens you know it's not going to work. Countless yester years directors come out of hiatus to give there kid a breakthrough. Most of them are like Papa Roshan gave to Hrithik. This one is no different, the kid is a genius Patriotic Agent who can fight anyone and everyone. There is a love interest and you know the rest.
Dil Junglee - 2.5 Stars. G. (Love Story)
बस एक लव स्टोरी है
Director - Aleya Sen
Actors - Tapsee Pannu, Saqib Saleem.
Tapsee can do whatever she wants to do. I am not sure why she is doing this movie, my theory is this must be long in the making and is ready now once Tapsee became a star. Not a bad movie at all, if Tapsee is there you can't go wrong. It is a good love story, a good for nothing boy friend and Tapsee plays dumb rich girl with messed up priorities. Life happens takes the movie from India to London. Yea.. a love story.
Bhaiaji Super Hit - 1.5 Stars. G. (Comedy?)
अमीषा और प्रीति की वापसी.. उफ़
Director - Neeraj Pathak
Actors - Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Ameesha Patel.
I don't think there is anyone who can tell Sunny papa that his time is up and he better stop it. No... I am not going to say it either. So.. Sunny stars in another movie .... he is a Don who has Gharwali Baharwali problems. It is a comedy without laughs. If you were alive and young a decade or 2 ago, you have a treat to watch! Preity Zinta and Ameesha Patel both star together in one movie. So you get to see both of them. Ameesha surprisingly has no clue she has aged nor did the director so she is acting exactly same as a decade ago. Actually I liked both of them .... at one point of time.
BUDGET MOVIES
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Udanchhoo - 1.0 (4.5 In alternative Universe). PG (Comedy)
इतनी गन्दी की मज़ा आ गया
Director - Vipin Parasher.
Actors - Ashutosh Rana, Prem Chopra.
If you like bad movies that are good. This one is for you. I think the actors know that they are making a garbage master piece and they do a good job with it. Prem Chopra plays a corrupt God man who's 'mantra' is - 'Ding Dong Baby Sing Song'. So when he shows up the crowd chants - Ding Dong Ding Dong. Now if you like it (I do) .... give it a shot. Also Ashutosh Rana with his garrish wardrobe and 'घटिया' acting is hilarious.
Mohalla Assi - 1.0 Stars. G. (Don't know)
सनी संस्कृत बोलने वाला पंडित!
Director - Chandra Prakash Dwivedi.
Actors - Sunny Deol, Sakshi Tanwar.
Simply put - Who the heck thought of making Sunny into a Sanskrit speaking pandit! Come on dude... he is Sunny not Suresh! Sunny giving his best shot at playing a Sanskrit speaking upright Pandit. If you want to see that happen, this is your chance.
Pattakhaa - 4.0 Stars. PG13. (Whacky)
दो बहेनो की प्रेम कथा
Director - Vishal Bhardwaj
Actors - Sanya Malhotra, Radhika Madan, Sunil Grover.
When it is Vishal Bhardwaj at the helm rest assured it won't be your regular cinema. You know it is common knowledge that if there are 2 Sisters with little age gap they fight a lot. Well this is a story of 2 Sisters but their fight is not your regular fight and it takes weird out of whack twists and turns. When you think you have seen the bad it turns to worse. The entire joy ride is worth taking, the guy who enjoys the entire ride with us is the narrator and confidante of everyone in the village - Sunil Grover. He has a great role and he does complete justice to it. If you want to be surprised - this is the movie for you.
Bombairiya - 3.5 Stars. PG. (Thriller)
जाने भी दो यारों यह बम्बई है
Radhika Apte is every where and she has this peculiar personality no matter what role she plays. Sometimes it fits and sometimes it annoys. This movie is about lot of things happening around an ill timed accident on the roads of Mumbai. A film star, a secretary, under world, politicians, cops all get involved due to simple incident that happens. You have seen this before but it is a pretty good joy ride if you couple of hours to kill time.
Nanu Ki Jaanu - 4.0 Stars. G. (Comedy)
भूत के परेशानियां भी परेशानियां होती है
Director - Faraz Haider
Actor - Abhay Deol, Patralekhaa Paul, Rajesh Sharma
Bhoot movies with Abhay are always fun. This Bhoot movie has nothing scary about it, so go ahead and watch it because you don't get many that have a bhoot and not scary at all. A small time Don Abhay has a tender heart and then he gets introduced to a Bhoot. Obviously the Bhoot is a she. It is a fun movie with some side actors playing a good hand of comedy.
Teri Bhabhi Hai Pagle - 1.0 Stars. G. (Comedy?)
फिलम क्यों बनायीं है पगले
Director - Vinod Tiwari
Actors - Rajneesh Duggal, Krushna Abhishek.
Looking at some successful comedies people think it is easy to make a 'foolish, stupid comedy'. In fact it is hard, and it needs a lot of luck. Otherwise you make this kind of a comedy. Everyone is trying their best but I can't find a laugh.
Ishqeriya - 1.5 Stars. G (Love Story)
लो भाई एक और लव स्टोरी
Director - Prerna Wadhawan.
Actors - Neil Nitin Mukesh, Richa Chaddha.
I don't know what was worse - seeing Sunny as a Pandit or seeing Neal Nitin Mukesh and Richa Chaddha as college going teenagers. Both will leave you scaaared. How is Richa Chaddha a teenager? She is all smitten in love and acting o so cute and innocent! Isn't she at my age? We are called Uncle Aunties... what is going on? I don't know.
ARTSY
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Soni - 4.0 Stars. PG-13. (Drama)
दर्द ख़ामोशी और सोनी
Director: Ivan Ayr
Stars: Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Saloni Batra, Vikas Shukla
Soni is the low level cop who is brooding and has a sad demenor, a La Kala Patthar Bachchan. I love it, the girl is awesome. She broods and then broods more, she is not happy because being right and living in this life is not fun. She has a understanding boss, but women have an uphill battle with society just to survive, and if you want to do something special, you gotta take all your efforts a notch up. Next time you see a girl achieving as much as you... remember she worked twice as hard.
Monsoon Shootout - 4.5 Stars. R. (Drama / Thriller)
यु होता तो क्या होता। .. के यु होता तो क्या होता
Director: Amit Kumar
Stars: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Neeraj Kabi
I have heard of these movies that show alternate endings, I never saw one ... until now. Our lives are formed of moments, and moments are formed of decisions. Generally we can take 2-3 routes in every given moment, whether it is speeding and crossing a yellow light, or taking a new job. As Ghalib would say - yu hota to kya hota, ke yu hota to kya hota!
The movie gives you options during a shootout, if the cop takes any of the given option what would happen? The greatness of the movie is it steers clear of Black / White and True / False and tells you Life is messy and keep your ego in check because you can make whatever decision you want... life can still come back and smack you. There is no way out, just live it as it comes. Beautiful.
Tumbbad - 5 Stars. R. (Drama / Horror)
हस्तर मेरे अंदर बैठा है
Director - Ravi Barve, Anand Gandhi
Actors - Sohal Shah, Jyoti Malshe.
It has been months and I still think about the movie. It is definitely more artsy than commercial so take the rating with the tag. Tale of 'God of Greed' is a mythological story about how he is born and how he gets powerful. But the presentation is great and the philosophy behind it awesome. Generation after generation are advised not to fall for it and instead we keep going forward and keep trying to get more and more. First one coin is good, then entire bucket is not enough. It serves no one any good, I see Hastar lurking on my bathroom ceiling and sometimes in my living room wall.... He is there and if you are not careful he will get you.
