Yes, indeed #sanju is going to be a movie of the decade. A convincing biopic that portrays Baba in his grey shades, the real shades.

Biopics in India generally end up giving a flowery picture and consciously attempt to hide or downplay the negative shades. What we saw in biopics like Dhoni or Bhag Milkha Bhag were more like an eulogy glorifying the already declared heroes.

But #sanju is different. Its completely convincing in the sense that, it portrays Baba what he really was and what he really is. Infact the movie focuses more on his negative shades, and this makes the movie a class apart.

The hit machine Raj Kumar Hirani focuses on two major phases of Baba's life, one as the drug addict and the other on his conviction and acquittal in Mumbai serial blasts. Hirani's treatment of real life sequences of Baba's life is so convincing that you end up wanting more and more of it.

Ranbir Kapoor has created history for sure. The movie turning out into a block buster will only be a fallout of this already created piece of history.

Five minutes into the movie and you forget its Ranbir on the screen. All you see is Baba, Baba and Baba.

Vicky Kaushal who has already proved his worth in Raazi is another show stopper. Enacting Baba's best friend Kamli, his screen presence, acting and his chemistry with Baba will be remembered forever.

A must watch movie for all Baba fans, Ranbir fans, Raj kumar Hirani fans, Bollywood movie fans. In effect its a must watch movie for all.

The movie also has shelf value. You can watch it again and again and still would want more of it.

A standing ovation to Raj kumar Hirani for creating this master piece!!

 #AnuragKashyap 2.0 rightly takes relationships to the next level in #manmarziyan.

Clearly its a welcome break from the stereotyping of relationships which we have been fed through decades. The movie takes a bold attempt in concluding that lust and love might not always be poles apart. Both can go hand in hand and one might complement the other.

#Tapasee literally carries the movie on her own shoulder. Abhishek and Vicky are amazing, both in their own character and bind up Tapasee's emotional oscillations between lust and love.

The emotional flow looks so natural. #Manmarzian has no room for melodramatic love, tears and staged emotions.

Overall a brilliant movie and a must watch. Anurag Kashyap rocks as always

Movie Review - SHAMITABH

Here’s another masterpiece from Balki  - the one that completes his trilogy with Mr Bachchan. Shamitabh for sure is a larger than life fit after Chini Kum and Paa.

 If you have ever been in love with God’s own voice, you know, you have to watch this movie. Shamitabh tries to bring out and delve upon the two magical things from Big B – his voice and his drunken acting scenes. If you are a true movie buff, you know what these two things mean. The whole movie in short seems to be an attempt to bring out the best of these two and serve them to the millions of diehard fans of Mr Bachchan in a compelling story. What else would you need?

Dhanush, one of the finest upcoming actors, who has already proved his worth in Hindi movies with Ranjhana, has been pitched against Mr Bachchan. It’s a delight to watch these two best actors and they have been together in the frame for more than eighty percent of the movie run time. 

The extraordinary performances, larger than life dialogues and tightly woven script keep you glued to the screen without a yawn. You get the déjà vu of Dilip kumar standing with Naseruddin Shah in Karma or maybe Dilip Kumar standing with Amitabh Bachchan in Shakti. The magic is recreated once again!

The movie takes deep dive into the character of a small town boy who is so passionate about movies that everything else in the world takes a back seat for him. Dhanush is a samosa seller in a small bus stop at Igatpuri who has movies running into his blood. His passion for movies brings him to Mumbai and here he accidentally comes in touch with Akshara Haasan an assistant director who has plans for making her own movie someday. Dhanush cannot speak -is dumb from his childhood and to be able to make a mark in movies is in search for a voice. A wonderful play of technology helps him get the voice of Mr Bachchan.

Mr Bachchan is himself a failure who lives in a cemetery almost as a recluse who fears not the dead but the living. Dhanush along with Mr Bchchan’s voice and his terrific acting skills becomes a superstar overnight but things start changing soon. Ego comes up between the two – who is important is the point in question but both fail to realize that each one without the other was a nothing, and that they could create magic only when together.

Mr Bachchan’s costume matches his enigmatic personality and perfectly blends his character. He has reserved a place in the cemetery for himself to be buried after his death and uses that space during his lifetime. The sequences around this cemetery and powerful dialogues are food for thought.

The Piddly song in God’s won voice is the icing on the cake. With terrific music, powerful lyrics and extraordinary cinematography this song will go into the list of one the best songs by Mr Bchachan. Akshara Haasan looks promising will reach greater heights.

The movie is thought provoking many a times. The whisky water analogy – which one is greater whisky without water or water without whisky? Whisky is whisky because of water 47 percent volume by volume is simply awesome. It has been brought out in the movie very intellectually. The name Shamitabh as a concept – SHHH…..Amitabh, where SHHH signifies Dhanush who cannot speak and Amitabh who without SHHH is a failure - is Balki’s intellectual climax!

This movie needs to be watched twice, first time with open eyes to watch the two best actors performing together and the second time with closed eyes to hear the best possible modulations of God’s own voice. Trust me its bliss!

Movie Review - Dolly Ki Doli

Yes it’s different. Once ditched in love, distrusts men as a whole, refuses to accept marriage as an institution, meets the man who ditched earlier and who wants to make things work again, should end in a happy married life, right? The Director, Abhishek Dogra thinks otherwise.

It’s not always necessary to complete the story saying the prince and princess lived together ever happily. The princess prefers to go back to doing what she is good at and rejects the institution of marriage altogether. In a country where marriage is a national obsession, any attempt to reject it is nothing less than rebellion. Abhishek doesn’t reject the institution of marriage altogether but he simply tries to say that while many people would tread a set path but there could be few who would have the balls to follow their conscience and do whatever they are good at. This makes the movie an interesting watch.

This light hearted comedy hits you at the right place. The movie takes a deep dive into marriages in North India, the razzmatazz around it with focus on a Haryanvi family and a Punjabi family. Raj Kumar Rao, the Haryanvi lad is more than better in his character, has picked up the Haryanvi accent extremely well and gives a perfect start to the movie.

Varun Sharma the next bakra has done an extremely fantastic job. This Mama’s boy who is also in love with Dolly gives the movie those regular comedy shots. Archana Puran Singh who plays his mom adds quite a lot of flavor in her capacity as a mom and as a Saas. Pulkit Samrat, a clone of Chulbul Pandey is a weak link though.

The looteri dulhan aka Sonam Kapoor has come a long way indeed. The pretty diva plays the looteri dulhan well, though at times you feel that she is too good to be a looteri. No wonder even in the movie the bakras who seem to have been duped by her, still seem to be madly in love with her. This makes Dolly a more than perfect character in the movie. Arbaaz Khan seems to have given her a free hand for her wardrobe in the movie. No wonder the wardrobe that she flaunts is another good reason to watch this movie

A good script, an even better climax and the extraordinary performances by almost everyone make this movie a perfect watch. An item song by Malaika Arora is Arbaaz Khan’s signature in all movies from his production house, Needless to say Malaika is awesome. Dadi’s monologue “Ladki de di sab kuch de diya” and Varun Sharma’s one liner “Agar ek baar Dolly de deti to dil me kuch malaal na reh jata” will make you roll on the floor laughing indeed.

Full credit goes to to Abshikek Dogra and the team for this fantastic movie. Sonam needs to improve on her dialogue delivery and voice modulation for sure. She comes out with the same submissive, feminine pitch irrespective of the character or the sequence. Overall this hundred minute comedy is worth your time and money.

Movie Review - Alone

If you have the appetite for erotic thriller genre, don’t give this movie a miss. The movie has everything in it. Probably it’s the first time in India where someone got the guts to make a movie on conjoined twins, the director Bhushan Patel of Ragini MMS fame has done an extremely decent job.

The movie is a remake of the 2007 Thai horror film with the same name.

Good cinematography, camera angles and excellent special effects, sound effects all fall in perfect place to give you goose bumps throughout the movie. Sanjana and Anjana both played by Bipaasha Basu are conjoined twins and are living a quite happy life until Kabir (Karan Sign Grover) comes into their lives. 

Sanjana and Anjana both fall in love with this Kabir, but Kabir reciprocates this to only one of them. Jealousy and feeling of rejection build up in the other to an extent that she goes ahead kills the other and get separated to enjoy the marital bliss. Years later when the couple comes back to their village the revengeful spirit comes back into their lives and the thrill begins.

The sequences have been articulated carefully to keep the artistic element in this fear genre. Bipasha has done a great job playing a double role as the conjoined twins. She also doubles up as the revengeful spirit that wanted to avenge her own killing.

Practically the whole movie is shot in the picturesque Kerala. The boats, the backwater, coconut grooves and the rainforest of Kerala have been beautifully captured and keep you mesmerized throughout the movie. The well toned curves of Bipasha and the eight packs of Grover is also a treat to watch.

So go ahead, enjoy the evil spirits in the backwater of Kerala with a bucket of popcorn. You will not regret the time and energy spent on it.

Movie Review - Tevar

 

If you are a fan of Manoj Bajpayee, you simply can’t afford to miss this movie. This lovelorn villain is an absolute treat to watch. The muscleman and brother of a local leader, Gajendar (Manoj Bajpayee) falls madly in love with Radhika (Sonakshi Sinha). The whole sequence revolves around this one sided love - Gajinder trying all his means to win Radhika and she trying to save herself from this goon. Arjun Kapoor (Pintu) accidentally comes into the scene who tries to protect Radhika from Gajinder and in due course of time falls in love with her. Short and simple story but powerful performance by all the three makes this movie an absolute delight to watch.

Despite being his debut film the director Amit Ravindernath Sharma has done an extremely superb job. The dance numbers are awesome and so are the fight sequences. The film has been picturized in the backdrop of Agra and Agra has been beautifully captured in the whole movie.

  

Again if you are lover of Taj Mahal, you should definitely not give this movie a miss. Go and watch this movie now. Taj Mahal seems to be an integral character of the movie and has been at the backdrop in more than half of the movie. Taj has been so beautifully captured in this movie, different angles and in different backgrounds that it keeps you glued to the movie. Arun Kapoor has already proved his worth in Gunday and Aurangzeb and does it yet again. Sonakshi as a small town girl caught between the lust of Gazinder and love of Pintu has done complete justice to her role.

Overall, this movie should be watched for two extremely strong reasons; cinematography with Taj Mahal in the background and the extraordinary performance of Manoj Bajpayee.

Movie Review - PK

I have always been a huge fan of Hirani’s films, but this was different, fizzled out even before it began. Movie reviewers almost in unison have rated it five and above. A section of the media including Tweeter and facebook tried to give it a communal angle, accusing Hirani of targeting a particular religion and not all. I disagree with both, somewhat with the first but completely with the second.

The movie does not in any way approach even closer to the Raj Kumar Hirani genre that we are used to, at least in its intellectual capacity.

A great subject needs great intellectual muscles to carry it and it’s here that Hirani has failed miserably. The movie does not have the intellectual muscle to carry the bold subject that it starts with and every 10 minutes you feel like the subject gets drowned under the weight of some compulsions, societal, political or whatever.

Hiani starts with challenging religion itself, no doubt a really bold topic for the Indian audience, but very soon you realize that Hirani prefers to go the Buddha way and treks the middle path. He ends up challenging godmen instead. Godmen have been challenged every now and then, so what’s the new thing Hirani?

Not a single punch line or dialogue worth remembering. Not a single takeaway from this movie. Amir khan acts an alien, but could have definitely done better. Was he autistic or alien, you don’t seem to conclude at least seeing the way he acts.

The script is tight; no problem with the screenplay, just that Hirani did not have the guts to carry on with the theme that he started with. The film is a big hit, has already made records but that is not the point. Today even Prabudeva’s films make records. You need to stand out Hirani.

Let not the Hirani factor miss in your films MR Rajkumar Hirani!