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!

Filmistaan - Movie Review

Much has been said, written and filmed about India and Pakistan. For a change let us discuss Indians and Pakistanis today – people in flesh and blood and people with a heart! This in essence is the crux of Filmistaan and hats off to Nitin Kakkar for being honest to the storyline and bringing out this message so effectively. If this movie experience has to be described in one sentence it would simply be “you just can’t afford to give it a miss’.

An extremely sensitive plot and a tighter script when collude with larger than life performances you can’t expect anything less than a magic. The movie with a comical humor delves into the complex topic of creation of artificial boundaries over a set of people and making these people believe that they are two different entities with nothing in common. 

Filmistaan is a welcome break from the earlier stereo type narrations on similar plots - movies intending to create unnecessary jingoism. The filmmakers in the past have either ended up taking sides or fallen prey to the unnecessary and unwanted call for nationalism especially in sequences when it was not required. Even a biopic like Bhag Milkha Bhag couldn’t escape that. This movie however, treads cautiously into this sensitive realm, sticks to the storyline and ends up making story as the real hero. No wonder the movie has already bagged awards in international forums. Filmistan also goes on to prove that if you honest to your storyline you can still grab eyeballs and mint money at the box office. The preliminary reports do suggest that the movie is a hit.

Here’s a movie that forces you to rethink on the cultural continuity between India and Pakistan and how movies as art forms have bridged the artificial hiatus created by history. The name Filmistaan definitely has relevance here. Hindustan, Pakistan might be two separate entities but Filmistaan is a common entity that binds together both the regions and their people with films serving as the crucial bonding element between the two.

Sunny (Sharib Hashmi) is a happy-go-lucky fellow who always dreams of making it big in films someday. As part of an American crew he lands up in Rajasthan for a documentary shoot and in a case of mistaken identity is kidnapped and brought to Pakistan as a captive. Aftab (Imanullah) is a petty Pakistani villager who makes money by selling pirated Indian movie Cds in Pakistan. 

Aftab is himself a great movie buff and finds a true friend in Sunny - of course the passion for films in both serves as the boding element. Aftab fights all odds to help Sunny escape back to India. The movie ends on a note where Sunny and Aftab are about to cross the border with cross firing from both sides. The back ground music stops and then we hear the voice-over of Nehru in chaste Anglicized accent proclaiming the freedom in India and so does Jinnah in Pakistan. The message is loud and clear! Independence was for the ruling class!

The dialogues especially those referring to the common elements between the two countries are definitely food for thought. The madarsa trained Pakistani jihadi unnerves your spine when he narrates his story of how he became a jihadi. “Madarse me panch waqt nawaaz to tha par do waqt ki roti naseeb nahi thi.”

The movie definitely raises questions on the sad state of affairs on the villages of the border and how these villagers are left at the mercy of either the jihadis or the security forces. Another interesting and unique thing about this movie that definitely deserves a mention is that it doesn’t have a lead or even a secondary female cast in the whole movie. This should definitely be an eye opener for those filmmakers who believe that movies in India can’t work without a lead female actor or an item number.

Heropanti - Movie Review

A romantic movie that revolves around the social evil of honor killing - still rampant in certain parts of North Western India - and to make it a launch pad for a star son is by no means simple. And in this regard the director Sabbir Khan of “Kamakht Ishq” fame needs a round of applause. He has been able to do this in a quite lucid yet very convincing manner.

Ask your wife a simple question, “Who loves you more, you as the husband or her father?” She will “always” say her father. And you live with this hard truth forever. Heropanti boldly touches upon this complex love quotient with a dramatic yet convincing feel. The emotion of a father whose daughter has eloped with her lover is pitched against the emotion of the lover himself with his new found love in this “Father’s daughter”. This comparison of love quotient – one between father daughter and the other between daughter and her lover both from the male perspective is interesting. A subject that generally the film makers in India have not touched upon so far!

The film has to be watched or missed, re-watched or re-missed on only one count - Tiger Shroff. This new lad on the horizon is a complete star material – one who has dashing looks, dances well, and prefers to do his own stunts. In a nutshell Tiger has in him everything that makes a perfect star but misses slightly on one front – acting. Maybe we can spare him this time and wait for his next release to see his acting skills. Looks like, the weak script too was a reason that restrained him to come out with his emotions well on screen. For a debutant actor I would prefer to give him full credit for the movie, even with a weak script Tiger has pulled off the movie well all along his own shoulders.

The plot is simple! Choudhary’s (Prakas Raj) daughter Renu has eloped with her lover and Choudhary is out on the hunt for the couple along with his goons. Choudhary soon realizes that Babloo (Tiger Shroff) had helped the couple, so Babloo is taken captive and brought to the khap village. It’s here that Babloo falls in love with Choudhary’s second daughter Dimpy (Kriti Sanon). Romance unfolds in a melodrama leading to a series of fight sequences and ultimately Choudhary realizes that Babloo’s love for Dimpy was no less than his own love for his daughter. In a dramatic climax, Choudhary relents and gives the hands of his daughter to Babloo.

Prakash Raj as expected is the backbone of the movie and does it with a good mix of action, emotion and humor. The dance sequences are awesome. Tiger definitely seems to have done his homework well. The music especially the flute tune from Hero (Jackie Shroff’s debut movie) has a nostalgic feel. The movie has good action sequences and cheesy dialogues:

Tiger Shroff on Heropanti: “Kya karu kisi ko aati nahi aur meri jaati nahi”

“Jo dost kaminey nahi hote wo kaminey dost nahi hote.”

The movie falls flat on certain counts. The intensity of romance is nowhere to be seen. The body chemistry between the lead pair doesn’t seem to work well and this is quite obvious on the screen. Also on emotional dialogues Tiger looks hesitant and a novice. The script offers little for Kriti Sanon and nowhere has she tried to go beyond it.

On a final note you can give it a watch for Tiger Shroff if not for anything else. He’s definitely a star in the making.