oazam Reviews

Gehraiyaan (2022)

Nothing new for this unique style of storytelling but watchable for the urban audience

[6/10 · 11 February 2022]

If you've seen Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna which explores the origins of extra marital affairs, then there you have Gehraiyaan with some twists. Shakun Batra has officially decided to introduce a domestic noir style of storytelling which has never been introduced in this kind of industry.

So the story focuses on Alisha Khanna, a yoga instructor who is in a slightly bitter relationship with her live-in boyfriend Karan, a jobless author who is struggling to get his book published. Alisha comes across her cousin Tia, who has recently just returned from the US with her fiancee Zain, a young real-estate tycoon. Then during some encounters, Zain and Alisha start having an affair behind Tia and Karan's back. So basically how their affair affects their personal and professional lives is basically what this film is about.

Shakun Batra has officially decided to introduce a domestic noir style of storytelling which has never been introduced in this kind of industry. The writing of the film did start off well and it felt like this film was going somewhere. Very balanced and nuanced which showed the characters in a very nice light. 2nd half also starts of well but then it slowly deteriorates to being a bit far fetched and then quickly identifying the consequences on the relationship between Zain and Alisha which could spoil the grip of the storyline of this film.

I felt that the story had too many plot holes such as a little shark tank scene where Deepika is struggling to launch her very own Yoga app and uses her affair with Zain to get the amount to invest in it, childhood issues between Tia and Alisha, these were the plot holes that took the whole purpose of this film away which was entirely not needed

This is a first to have an intimacy director to choreograph these scenes ensuring the cast are comfortable doing such scenes. Normally these scenes don't have anything to add in this film given the fact to showcase an extra marital affair but putting it out there, it's a surprise and a question mark for many.

The performances were remarkable and a vast improvement for some

Siddanth Chaturvedi portrays a flirtatious businessman who managed to pull off the role with ease. He was very nuanced and his role did add some spice and interest to where the story was going

Deepike Padukone as Alisha was somewhat bittersweet and very emotional. That guilt & balance that she had was there successfully but it was very shocking to watch her pull off such a risky role like this.

Ananya Pandey slightly improved but this was rather a very overcomplicated role that she failed to pull off throughout the film but she was decent.

Dhairya Karwa was just there in the film and didn't do much to provide. He was just okay for his part as Alishas BF, He was a overacting slightly and he just couldn't fit the part

Rajat Kapoor & Nasseruddin Shah were pretty good in their repsecitve roles as Jitesh and Vinod Khanna, Alisha's father

Cinematography done by Kaushal Shah was beautiful and well executed and ti showed Mumbai and Goa in a very scenic light and seeing it will just make you want to go there but the editing did lack a bit of crisp especially how the waves were moving. But all in all, a good execution.

The music was something new and refreshing. The title track is the main highlight which added that tuning of how a film of this genre should be justified.

Overall, a decent film with a few plot holes and long run time and an obvious predictably natural but great performances. And nice cinematography. Well directed and well composed music

3.5/5.

The Big Bull (2021)

More like "The Big Dull". Kooki Gulati should read this before frying more audience brains

[3/10 · 9 April 2021]

Biopics are a great example for this industry due to its coherent story and acting. It makes you inspired, motivated, and emotional but sometimes being too overambitious with this genre can come with a heavy price.

If you are all familiar with Harshad Mehta, then you know exactly where this story is taking you because this is what the film is all about.

Before this, Sony Liv streamed a 10 episode series called Scam 1992 which was directed by veteran Hansal Mehta who managed to raise the bar. Pratik Gandhi started from being an ordinary actor to the person who portrayed the scammer in a phenomenal light. The story was engaging and the BGM was a perfect match for the show. Then came this film!

The story may have had some relevance but the additional subplots in the film were very irrelevant and cliched. The story was poorly transitioned and that was caused by the pretentious editing. Kookie Gulati may have screwed an action film called Prince that starred Vivek Oberoi but if I had to do a comparison, I'd say that this one falls much more flat. The editing looked like some sort of cheap software was used and it didn't have that controversial thrill about Mehta. The background score was crass and it felt like a tiktok sequence. The direction and camera angles were shot poorly and it takes courage for a director to become this incompetent. The dialogues were out context.

Abhishek Bachchan has potential and is slowly making a comeback but accepting scripts like these will just make him a target of nepotism. He may have protrayed the role decently but the inept screenplay fails to cut it. Nikita Dutta, Illeana D'Cruz as Sucheta, and Saurabh Shukla, & Ram Kapoor were all average and couldn't do the justice to their roles.

Overall, this one fails and I would suggest a better experience with Scam 1992

2/5 - A stock market crash.

Coolie No. 1 (2020)

David Dhawan should read this (Consider this as a pension for your retirement)

[2/10 · 28 December 2020]

As we are near 2021, COVID-19 managed to hit the film industry really badly and we should be sort of grateful that this pandemic started because with so many films that were theatrically releasing but ended up on OTT, 80% of them fell short and were out of their league.

After being insulted by Jeffrey Rozario during a marriage alliance, Pandit Jai Kishen decides to teach that family a lesson and plot his revenge by hiring a coolie to pose as a wealthy suitor for Jeffrey's daughter.

David Dhawan's 45th film (I can guarantee that even Zoya Akhtar will retire right after her 10th film). (A filmmaker will obviously fail if doing too many excessive films)

Rumi Jaffrey is an example to show how detrimental scriptwriting can be if the industry continues to hire people of his stature. The writing was all over the place and took the actual elements from the old story and put it in a very peculiar and pretentious way. The plot was far too predictable and 80% of the dialogues by Farhad Samji were cheesy, tacky, out of context, and out of the league of dialogue writing. This redemptive remake is more like a failed succession of reliving its glory.

David Dhawan's direction really didn't match the script and worst of all, it shows the lack of coordination and harmony that would we see in his films. Take films like his previous remake, Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, and Mujhse Shaadi Karoge, these films had cringe storytelling but the humor was there. This one fails to take the cake.

The most dangerous achilles heel to any film release is when a parent or uncle/aunt casts their children. The acting was pretty horrendous and it just shows how favoritism is hurting our industry. Varun Dhawan's acting was so bad that literally he is more fit to do workout videos than act in front of a camera. Sara Ali Khan will eventually become victimized if she continues to accept scripts like this because since it is the start of her career, she could redeem herself but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Paresh Rawal and Javed Jaffrey were decent as well as Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav but seeing Lever and Yadav now, it look like their comedic sense is slowly dying. Vikas Verma should've thought a million time before choosing a role of a villain for this film.

Music was grim and horrifying. None of the remakes were good and it just proves to show that "WE DON'T NEED REMAKE FILMS AND REMASTERED VERSIONS OF SONGS".

Overall, this film was a travesty and the only place this film should be released in is a mental asylum because even the patients there will get mentally more ill after watching this eye candy of a mass masala entertainer (NOT).

1.5/5 - David Dhawan, retire buddy

Ludo (2020)

Eliminated tokens (Sub-Part Narration and Music) & Active Tokens (Cinematography and Humor). This one will still not fail to roll a dye of six (Spoiler Alert)

[7/10 · 13 November 2020]

Ludo is life! Life is Ludo!

Whether you win or lose in Ludo, the ultimate goal for every player is to get all their 4 tokens past round one and to the finish line without being eliminated in the process by the opposing teams. There are 4 color teams which are yellow, red, green, and blue.

Each story is coded by color and how the game plays a major role in those stories. The characters from each of those 4 stories cross paths with each other and the cause of that is through one major character, a crime boss named Rahul Satyendra Tripathi a.k.a Sattu.

Yellow: Akash Chauhan, a ventriloquist and stand-up comedian and his ex-girlfriend, Shruti Choksi who is getting married in 3 days find out that they were taped while having sex and their video ends up on the internet. Before getting into any more trouble, Akash and his lawyer brother get help from Sattu to remove the video and along with Shruti to find out where the sting was operated.

Red: Batukeshwar "Bittu" Tiwari just got out of jail but is having trouble adapting to normal life since his wife and daughter have moved on. His wife has a huge debt that needs to be cleared by Sattu. Mini is a six year old girl who is fed up by her parent's attention so she stages her own kidnapping with Bittu being the abductor after meeting. Bittu see this as an opportunity to use the ransom to pay the debt. Bittu looks at Mini like his own daughter and develop this strong bond.

Green: Pinky suspects her husband is having an affair but he gets arrested for the murder of a builder who was actually killed by Sattu. Pinky takes help from her school friend Alok Kumar a.k.a Aloo, a die hard Mithun fan who runs a diner along with his former gang buddies. She asks Aloo to help get her husband out of jail by first having to pay money to the mistress who her husband was having an affair with so she can give her statement to prove his innocence and takes shortcuts to get that amount of money.

Blue: Rahul Avasthi is a salesman who always faces reprimands from his boss and Sheeja Thomas, a Malayali nurse who is often teased by her colleagues for not knowing Hindi. Rahul comes home and witnesses a dead body in front of him. That body belongs to the builder that Sattu killed. He gets kidnapped by Sattu and is taken to his den which explodes in the process. Rahul and Sheeja meet while being transported in an ambulance with the crime boss on the gurney. The vehicle crashes, both Sheeja and Rahul dump Sattu in a lake even though he survives, and flee with his money. So now they're on the run.

Anurag Basu as the director and DOP of the film decided to introduce a similar way of storytelling just like his previous film Life in a Metro. Basu's concept is loosely based on the board game Ludo and how opposing teams cross paths.

The key point of the narrative was to immediately see the crossing of each story but this one was a bit all over the place. I don't get the idea of one story happening while characters from the other story appear in the background. Cross sequences will just make a story dry and out of context. The dialogues where whimsical and funny which can make the audience chuckle at times but the story was just a slight mess. The predictability of the story grew quite a lot at times but compare it with Jagga Jasoos, this one stands out much more than his previous film. It wasn't on the levels of boredom and this one will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was still a smart idea to use Ludo as a tool to tell a Black Comedy story.

There is a specific sequence throughout the film where Anurag Basu is narrating the story of the film to Rahul Bagga through a game of Ludo and walking through each engaging scene explaining the effects and fates of each character.

Yellow: Aditya Roy Kapur is potentially getting somewhere and his performance was earnest in a way that his ventriloquism will keep you entertained. Sanya Malhotra was very energetic and humorous but her acting didn't have much engagement. Their love story and chemistry were the achilles heel of the film.

Red: Abhishek Bachchan implemented the role of a former gangster perfectly if you take his character Lallan Singh from Yuva but his characterization barely came out and his command of speaking was very low. Inayat Verma performed flawlessly as Mini and she was very sweet and cunning throughout the movie. The bond between both the characters is what saved the narrative but the fate in the end became a compromise. Asha Negi's debut as Bittu's ex-wife still showed hope and she has potential of becoming a good actress

Green: Rajkummar Rao was the true winner of this film and his performance as the Mithun fan diner owner managed to set a new standard. He was funny and he nailed the foul language as well as his dance moves. Fatima Sana Shaikh plays Pinky Jain really nicely and her precision was watchable as a mother

Blue: Rohit Suresh Saraf had a very lukewarm performance as a runaway salesman as he barely spoke although he delivered a few dialogues. Pearle Maaney's performance was flat and very ordinary. She spoke a few dialogues in English and Malayalam throughout the film but she failed to add anything.

Pankaj Tripathi as Rahul Satyanand "Sattu" Tripathi managed to nail every aspect in the book. He was dark, gritty, engaging, funny, and stood out amongst the crowd as the best performance after Rao. The Nurse Kutty also performed well who helped in Sattu's recovery as well as developing a romantic connection with him.

Music is the only concerning factor even though Arbaad Barbaad is a good track but the standards of Pritam's magic is slowly deteriorating and it is lacking the rhythm to make the album enjoyable.

The the song "Qismat Ki Hawa Kabhi Naram, Kabhi Garam" which was both the murdered victim and Sattu's favorite song. This kind of did add a new vibe to this anthological black comedy.

Cinematography was also done by Anurag Basu as well as Rajesh Shukla. They did a good job with the visuals and it made the film very colorful and the serenity was solace.

Overall, The only tokens that stay in their spot and aren't playable are the sub-par narrative and Music. The active playing Tokens (Acting, DOP work, Direction, and characterization/humor). This is a game you won't regret! Despite its minor loopholes, this one is watchable.

3/5 - Wish this released in cinemas

Streaming on Netflix

Shakuntala Devi (2020)

What is the most important factor of a biopic? Excessive melodrama (Wrong Answer)

[5/10 · 1 August 2020]

Bollywood has a knack of doing such amazing biopics such as Sanju, Dangal, MS Dhoni, and Neerja. If you look at these films, they've managed to attain every well deserved award in the book based on its coherent storytelling and acting. Unfortunately for Bollywood is what they don't realize is that over complicating a biopic storyline is dangerous. Taking examples like Azhar and Mission Mangal because these films were more about family drama deriving from the actual story.

Shakuntala Devi known as the "human computer" breaks every exponential or mathematical record in the bookwhcih earns a Guinness book of world records recognition. But all of that is taken away by a failed marriage sacrificing her mathematical success also resulting in a broken relationship with her daughter.

Story and Screenplay (5.5/10)

Anu Menon should understand that even the slightest knowledge of producing a biopic is extremely dangerous because of one thing and one thing only, too much drama, less much about Shakuntala Devi.

The story and screenplay takes so much away because it describes more about Devi's family life than her life as a famous mathematician. This film is an insulting tribute to Devi who passed away in 2013. Drama is a sole purpose for a biopic but it should act more as a subplot than the original story of the film.

Direction (5/10)

The way the film was directed, it lacked the finesse that was supposed to be there such as the vfx which was incoherently all over the place. For example, Devi solves a math problem in her mind and then suddenly the answer is popped on the screen and it is done too much which takes away the glam and glory in its editing of a proper film.

Acting (7/10)

I feel bad for Vidya Balan because even her earnest performance couldn't justify anything for this film due to its mediocre writing. But leaving the writing to the side, she has potential to continue her career successfully

Sanya Malhotra was also fine in parts because she only had 2 expressions which really lacked the zest and balance in her role as Aparna Bannerjee

Amit Sadh was like Katrina Kaif in Dhoom 3 because he doesn't really have much to add in his role as Aparna's husband.

If I have to sum up the movie in one line, "Pass Nahi, Fail Toh Hain", poorly written and this film didn't respect the wisdom and empowerment of this successful mathematician.

2.5/5 - Anu Menon, just learn how to make a biopic

Love Aaj Kal (2020)

Just like his previous film, Imtiaz Ali should read this review for his own good and start considering new genres that will reclaim his image and recognition as a filmmaker.

[4/10 · 15 February 2020]

Imtiaz Ali is a marvelous filmmaker who always takes modern love stories and enthralls the audience with tears. Such classics may include Jab We Met, Rockstar, and Love Aaj Kal (2009). But his jounrey was extraordinary only until Tamasha which was a criticsed flick by the Audience but the music and the romantic feels between Ranbir and Deepika managed to do justice.

So this reboot is taken place in 2 time periods.

2020 - Zoe is a career oriented woman with an ambition that may interfere with romantic getaways. Veer is a man who has 100% interest in Zoe and based on their meeting at a club, he follows her around craving for her affectionate love but her career doesn't allow it. As a result, she confesses her trolling dialogue after Veer actually bothers her.

1990 - There is a cafe in which Zoe is a regular customer at and she meets the owner who also has a love story which winds the clock 3 decades ago. Young owner is played by the same character who falls in love with Zoe. His name is Raghu and falls in love with a girl named Leena. Spoiler- sadly he doesn't get the girl and moves on in life by partnering with a friend to open a cafe.

As much as I fanboy Ali's work, this movie unfortunately doesn't work out for me in any way. The story was far too fetched beyond a point that the elements from the previous film were taken and was put in this film only tweaking just the climax. It becomes apparent to why Imtiaz Ali is putting himself at a disadvantage. The romantic chemistry was very much the same but it lacked the inspiration that you would expect especially when a daughter decides to honor her father through a sequel. Very mundane and unnecessary.

The acting goes legitimately bonkers beyond a point especially when putting 2 people like Karthik and Sara together.

Sara Ali Khan has potential but acting in films like drama, action, or political but romance is what will put her in vulnerable situation. Her performance in this movie made me believe that her 30 minute role in Simmba did more justice. Only if she omitted that trolling dialogue, some potential would've appeared.

Karthik Aaryan did manage to defy the odds in the 1990 part of his role as Raghu but as Veer, there wasn't much to see and it failed to match the charisma and style Saif had as Jai in the previous film.

Randeep Hooda was decent in his part as older Raghu who owns the cafe in 2020 but his emotional parts in the climax were slightly dull and average.

Aarushi Sharma plays Leena who is Raghu's love interest and she was good but still expected better from her.

SImone Singh also makes an appearance for a short period of time but she was okay too.

Music as a whole was downright terrible especially when ADHM and YJHD fame Pritam and Imtiaz's usual lyricist Irshad Kamil are in charge. The songs were rough proposition and it was living in its own limbo. No thought or heart was put into the music. IF the music was good, the film would've had some slight potential but other than that, no bueno.

Overall, this film is a wreck from abysmal acting to horrendous screenplay.

A message to all valentine couples.

Don't spend your money on this rubbish and just focus on romantic candlelight dinners etc.

2/5 - Imtiaz Ali's Valentine Nightmare

Student of the Year 2 (2019)

Dear movie patron, your admission to this film has been rejected.

[3/10 · 10 May 2019]

Dharma Productions is on the verge of having a streak of underwhelming films starting with Kalank and now this one. The prequel has that lightness and overwhelmingness depsite some flaws it had and now the SOTY team decided to go beyond their redemption by keeling a sequel for the audience.

So the story evolves around a middle class chap Rohan Mehra who scores a seat under the sports quota in Saint Theresa. Mridula a.k.a Mia is Rohan's childhood crush who is also a student there and Shreya, the most popular gal in the institution. Manav is the son of one of the trustees as well as Shreya's brother who has a cold shoulder with Rohan with the ambition of defeating him to become Student of the Year. How Rohan's ambitious dreams come true basically forms the backbone of the story.

What was Punit Malhotra smoking before coming up with such a cocaphonous flick? The story was very predictable and too nepotistic because of what power and influence of one person can do to another person who doesn't have these traits. Dialogues were too "dramabaazi" meaning too 80's for such a delicate film.

Acting had some slight redemption but only for the newcomers.

Tiger Shroff acts basically like he is auditioning for a film for the first time just like his other films. Too much fighting and just seeing him kick ass and dance isn't going to make acting a redeeming quality.

Tara Sutaria was the only potential figure in the acting department because she had that natural glow of a college student and she was decent throughout the movie.

Ananya Pandey was also decent and she didn't disappoint at all. She had that personality of a popular college girl with snobbiness which is something to look for in a popular gal.

Aditya Seal didn't do much besides bullying Rohan throughout the film and same like Tiger Shroff, same identities but opposite.

Samir Soni, Gul Panag, and Ayesha Raza were fine as well but had short roles as they were educational figures.

Music was very average at best and no song stood out as such although Jawaani was a beautiful recreation but evrything else around was sub-par. Seems like Vishal and Shekhar overthought some things while composing.

Cinematography was well executed by Ravi K. Chandran who shot Dehradhun beautifully but transitionally, it was loose in terms of editing.

Overall, too nepotistic and predictable

2/5 - Grading Scale: F -53%

Kalank (2019)

The "Kalank" of watching this film will haunt the audience for a very long time

[4/10 · 21 April 2019]

Yash Johar conceptualized an idea for a film in hopes of something new for Dharma Productions 15 years ago but due to his demise, this idea was pushed until 2019. Abhishek Varman who received fame for his debut film 2 States was roped to handle this conceptualized idea by implementing the direction and screenplay.

Anticipating factors of Kalank 1) Multi-Starrer Seeing Madhuri Dixit & Sanjay Dutt back together after 3 decades 2) Alia-Varun's chemistry 3) Majestic feel

Husnabad is a city that lies between Pakistan & India near Lahore which was set in 1945. The city is known for breeding blacksmiths who produce swords for a living and an influential family with a power known as the Chaudhury's which consist of Balraj who runs a newspaper business and his son Dev whose wife is dying and is told by her to marry Roop. Zafar is a Muslim blacksmith who falls for Roop and their chemistry and their stigma is what forms the story

There is a saying that "all style and no substance" and that is exactly what this film did. A film that had the chance to dodge that bullet but turned out to be a headshot. The screenplay was very inconsistent in terms of its predictability and just messing up the film with such high hopes and aspirations that the audience had for this film by the commonality of religious love with already predicting the outcome of it. The dialogues were very new and it didn't fit that historical culture.

The acting in this film was somewhat lackluster.

Varun Dhawan's role as Zafar, a blacksmith with daring instincts wasn't that bad but he did overcomplicated while introducing his character during the 1st half of the film. The point where the action scenes started to emerge, that is when his role managed to do justice.

Alia Bhatt's role as Roop, a middle class married to Dev and Zafar's love interest with the passion and endurance of dancing was boring and bland at the same time. Her role didn't have that energetic brilliance that we were expecting.

Sonakshi Sinha should seriously get a new acting agent and maybe better roles that fit because the dress she wrapped up in was a wrong fit and that's how I can describe her acting.

Aditya Roy Kapoor's roles are all about drinking and getting drunk "beware" and that is exactly what Dev did throughout

Sanjay Dutt's look was fantastic but his acting was too underwhelming and he was on standpoint throughout.

Madhuri Dixit's role was like a repeat performance on how she acted in both Devdas and Dedh Ishqiya just dancing and little miss "begum".

Aesthetically it did have that wow factor in terms of its set design and somewhat there was that historical feel to cling onto even with the grainy screenplay.

Music was a headshot and seeing Pritam just messing up was just obliterating although Ghar More Pardesiyan is a good song.

Overall, potentially wasted and too baseless beyond belief.

2/5

Husband Material (2018)

Love triangle at its absolute best despite the slow pacing

[7/10 · 14 September 2018]

Love traingles has its ups and downs when it comes to Bollywood. Films like Kal Ho Na Ho, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, and Dil Toh Pagal Hai are classic love traingles which managed to win the hearts of the audience. I've grown up with Anurag Kashyap films but he is mostly specialized in films that are dark, gritty, and suspenseful like Black Friday, Dev D, Raman Raghav 2.0, and Ugly. So first time he has managed to present a different type of genre. Does it do justice to his fame?

Rumi is an Amritsari free spirited and open minded girl who shares a passionate yet lustful relationship with Vicky and you can see them making out and using Rumi's bedroom for their pleasure. Rumi wants to marry Vicky so she tries to bring the proposal to her parents but fearing that they won't accept Vicky because of his personality but she is caught and their relationship comes to an end which brings Robbie into her life through an arranged marriage and she reluctantly agrees. How this justified love traingle works is basically what this film is about.

Seems like Anurag Kashyap has done a remarakble presenting this conventional yet romantic love story. The script is refereshingly original and straight from the heart and the credit goes to the writer who managed to bring some sense in her writing after the disastrous Ra One which she co wrote with Anubhav Sinha. The film depicts complex and colloquial sitations between the 3 characters. Dialgoues are staright on point and it matches the expectations of this proverbial love story.

Acting was the main accomplishment implemented in this film.

Vicky Kaushal plays a remarkable chacter with so much finesse and he has that bad boy type personality and dwelled into his character wih good depth.

Taapsee Pannu has been on a role lately and seeing her shine is something worthwatching on screen.

Junior Big B was also good and his comeback did a lot of justice on screen especially with his humor. He was nuanced and well balanced and I can see that potential coming back within him.

Music was great but too many songs but Fyaar and Darya are my favorite tracks. The excessive amount of songs kinda pushed the movie to a very certain extent which compromised the depth of the film's pacing.

Direction is good and amritsar was shot nicely and cinematography was spot-on.

The pace kept tripping and the story during the 2nd half was slightly far fetched and too slow which made it broing in some scenes.

Overall, it is a good movie and its funny and romantic.

3/5 - Anurag Kashyap is on a roll with this new genre of his.

Laila Majnu (2018)

Despite the cliches in the film, Imtiaz Ali's perception on this Indian Romeo and Juliet manages to do some justice for the audience.

[6/10 · 7 September 2018]

Laila Majnu is based on a persian poem that was a implemented in A.D 584 by poet Nezami Ganjavi titled (Layla and Majnun) which focuses on Qais and his love sotry with Layla. Imitaz Ali is known for intorducing very modern and stranger based love stries which describes smiliarity of 2 people with the same feelings and love for each other perceptions of love. Does this film do any justice to this modern love story?

Set in Kashmir, Laila who is spoiled in life and dreams for the perfect man in her life belongs to a family with political ties and lives under the tutelage of her father Masood Ali. One day Laila finds her Majnu named Qais who is also a spoiled brat as well as a notorious flirt and they fall in love. Qais and Laila's families are both rivals politically and their love becomes unnacceptable which separates them under no cost. Heartbroken Qais leaves Kashmir after Laila's marriage is fixed with one of her father's people Abbas. Qais realizing his love for Laila makes him go back to India changed to get back the girl of his dreams. How Qais tries to break every rule in the Kashmiri book to win Laila back is basically what this film is about?

Sajid Ali, brother of Imitaz ali introduces a modern take on Romeo and Juliet and his script in my opinion was above average at best. The film started on a very strong note where they introduced both characters in a very romantic way which made the chemistry between both characters stronger. The one scene which became the cliche was the separation between the two characters and that was a cringe based moment for the audience. Post Interval is where the chemistry changes between both characters starting with a maniac Qais who has the seriousness of any other ordinary character and it slightly drags to an unecessary extent. But for sure meets the standards to any Imitaz Ali film.

Acting was justifiable in a simple manner.

Avinash Tiwary was the main star of this film. While watching the movie, you'll see how nuanced and loving this character is. He was humorous and he had that lover boy type mentality which makes it an enjoyable watch.

Tripti Dimri was just an average performer because although she has the face and the potential to become a better actress with a more coherent script, her performance in this film caused her to lose the plot of Laila's love story and she was soulless throughout the film.

Parmeet Sethi acted well and he gave that villanous type of performance just like what he did in DDLJ as Kuljeet.

Irshad Kamil is one of my favorite lyricists for Bollywood and he maaged to write some nice lyrics and the music may not be perfect but they're melodious enough for the ears of the audience.

The direction and cinematography were both spot on and the glistening and beautiful reosnance of Kashmir was captured nicely.

Overall, Imitaz Ali managed to step up his game and this film is above avergae but it does justice to a good weekend. Decently written with miniscule cliches but this is a love story at its finest.

3/5 - Imtiaz and Sajid Ali have done it

Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi (2018)

"Audience Phirr Bhag Jayenge" - Unusual Sequel

[4/10 · 25 August 2018]

The first movie was funny but it lacked the narratives necessary to entertain the audience to certain extents. Diana Penty is a decent actress with potential but these dreadful scripts she accepts will just put her through a vulnerable situation.

So basically a mix up occurs with 2 Happy Singhs played by Sonakshi Sinha and Diana Penty. Happy (Sonakshi Sinha) is a college professor who travels to Shanghai not to mention the fact upon arrival, she ends up being kidnapped misconception wise and then the other Happy (Diana Penty) who is happily married to Guddu from the previous film and along with the 1st Happy, Bagga and the Pakistani policeman Afridi get abducted as well.

Mudassar Aziz is known to make very average of somewhat films starting with Dulha Mil Gaya. The writing lacked substance and the plot just became a reuslted predictable mess. It can be very substantially dangerous for entertaining the audience with chinese people speaking proper and accurate Hindi. The dialogues were cheesy and the inadequacy of it just made it worse.

Sonakshi Sinha plays Happy #1 known as the mistaken one. Her acting managed to do some justice in parts but other than that, she has no potentiality as an actress even if Rajkumar Hirani or Vishal Bhardwaj casted her.

Jassie Gill is a phenomenal **drumroll** singer, not an actor. He was just there for making a quick buck on set.

Jimmy Shergill gave the same exact performance as Bagga from the previous film and he was above average to my expectations

Diany Penty appears for 60% of the film but no justice there

Piyush Mishra is definitely and undoubtedly one of the worst performers in the acting department. His acting feels like he is a asthma patient fighting for this life in the hospital based on his speech impairing.

Music has no color despite Chin Chin Chu which is a cute recreation of the old song

Overall, just an ordinary predictable comedy so wait until it comes on TV or Netflix

2/5 - No need for a sequel

Sanju (2018)

A biopic told well and Rajkumar Hirani nailed it in all aspects

[8/10 · 29 June 2018]

Sanjay Dutt has been an inspirational actor and I loved some of his films like Munna Bhai and Kaante which was a crime drama which I enjoyed and Bhoomi despite it being an average film, he gave a decent performance.

So the film primarily focuses on Sanjay Dutt's career starting from his first film Rocky to doing drugs due to family issues until ending up in jail under the TADA jurisdiction. Also in the process he is being interviewed by Vinnie Diaz for his autobiography so he tells his story and it shows the flashbacks and the necessary elements in the film. Sanju's life is basically what this film is about.

Rajkumar Hirani definitely deserves a bow for this film. The writing was very authentic and not much in detail about Sanjay Dutt's life which is a good thing so Raju and Abhijat managed to implement a very coherent script with moments that will give the audience the opportunity to enjoy those 2hr 50mins of it.

Acting was amazing and all that credit goes to Raju Hirani for sure.

Ranbir Kapoor was the bonafide rockstar of this film. He succesfully pulls off the Sanjay Dutt that me and the audience have grown up with. He was very nuanced, humorous, also he had a good resemblance which managed to fit the profile of Sanjay Dutt. So Kapoor has tackled all the points of executing a perfect biopic

Paresh Rawal was perfect as Sunil Dutt. Although I may not have much knowledge about him but I've seen him in Sanjay Dutt. The way he developed a loving relationship with his son was spot on and very dramatic and the way he also supoorted Sanju was spot on during the TADA case

Dia Mirza plays Maanyata Dutt who is the 3rd and current wife of Sanjay Dutt and she was pretty good in the film and her support for Sanju was remarkably conistsent so hats off.

Vicky Kaushal plays the best friend of Sanjay Dutt named Kamlesh Kapasi who is a businessman in NYC and we should all take a moment to applaud his strong performance in the film

Sonam Kapoor plays Ruby, ex GF of Dutt and my god what a disaster and the toilet bowl thing was the best scene that could help in describing her perfromance.

Manisha Koirala portrays Nargis and luckily, she shared the perfect resemblance of her and she was phenomenal in the film

Jim Sarbh plays Zubin Mistry who supplied drugs to Sanju and he was lukewarm so nothing much in the film. It is good he didn't play Salman Khan

Karishma Tanna, Boman Irani, and Mahesh Manjreakr were also good and managed to execute their parts well.

Direction and cinematography were both spot on Raju Hirani does well behind the camera

Music is okay but Kar Har Maidan Fateh is a nice track

Overall, check it out

Raazi (2018)

Definitely "Raazi" (Agree) on this film

[8/10 · 11 May 2018]

Meghna Gulzar has been known to making good films such as Talvar which starred Irffan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma. Before, she had a flop streak of films such as Just Married which was mediocre and Filhaal which was very slow and cringe-worthy. But luckily post Talvar, she managed to cross the border .

The film takes place during the Indo-Pak Border era of 1971 where a recent university graduate named Sehmat becomes an Indian spy under the authority of her father Hidayat Khan who is an Intelligence figure of the Indian government. She goes through training and manages to qualify for the position of a spy. She gets married to Iqbal Syed, a rogue Pakistani army officer as part of the mission. How Sehmat completes the mission and uses her married life to deliver the information to India is basically what this film is about?

Meghna Gulzar as mentioned before is a reviving filmmaker with true art. Post Talvar, she has been making films with grips and edgy experiences. Obviously, this one finally hits the ball out of the park.

It was beautifully written with elements that were integral to the concept of this film. It was raw and rustic and the chemistry itself was quite a surprise. The romantic factors were consistent and the patriotism based elements were there to satisfy the movie experience.

Alia Bhatt implements the role of Sehmat Khan, a rebellious and ambitious recent graduate who becomes a spy and goes undercover as a wife of a Pakistani officer. She was phenomenal and you can see how she succesfully fits the role of Sehmat in general.

Vicky Kaushal quite to my surprise was pretty good. He had the capability of representing the army of Pakistan and he was kept engaging throughout the flick. He is going somewhere atleast after a dissapointing perfroamnce by him in Zubaan and Bombay Velvet but he wasn't bad in Masaan.

Rajit Kapur plays the father Hidayat Khan of Sehmat and he was just okay. Now of course it makes sense that he has done over maybe 40 to 50 films in his career. But his acting is still the same and it kind of reminds me of Roy when he played a detective hunting the criminal or Zubeidaa in which he plays the son of his mother who was on the verge of getting answers about Zubeidaa's death. He was cold and average at best

Jaideep Ahlawat was fine who played Khalid Mir and he was in charge of assigning Sehmat to the mission and was trained by him. He was lukewarm in his performance and it just drags a bit for some time.

The music was nice and Shankar Ehassan Loy have made a remarkable comeback after the disastrous album they produced for Rock on 2 which itslef was a snoozefest. Ae Watan and Dil Baro were beautifully composed and it will give you that melodious feeling once you listen to them.

The location and cinematogrpahy was a pair of serenades. It had a great resonance on screen and the way Kashmir was depicted on the film was outstanding.

Overall, this film is a one of a million and goes halfway through 2018.

4/5 - A winner

Baaghi 2 (2018)

A rebel for torture ( call it quits for the trilogy)

[5/10 · 30 March 2018]

Ahmed Khan decided to reluctantly partner up with Sajid Nadiadwala and Fox Star Studios. Baaghi was enough to devour for the year of 2016 and seeing Tiger Shroff ripping his shirt off and defeating the baddies was just enough to bear. Now, a sequel perishes the theaters.

Ronnie, an army officer who ties his enemies onto the front of his jeep and uses them as a human shield is approached by his ex-lover Neha. Neha tells Ronnie that her daughter has been kidnapped but no police station or school can recognise the kidnapping girl. Does this little girl exist or is it a hoax?

Ahmed Khan is a revolutionary (drumroll) choreographer, not a filmmaker. He manages to fit into the Director/Choreographer category which also has Farah Khan, Remo D Souza, and PrabhuDeva. First he directs Fool N Final and now this piece of trash

The screenplay was filled with excessive amount of cliches and no to forget that the cliches were abided within the casting body of the entire film.

Acting was total nonsense and it didn't do any justice to the film.

Six pack abs, kicking, punching, and other jaw dropping stunts are things we see within an actor like Tiger Shroff. Although that isn't a bad thing but seeing him with expressions and feelings made me realise how he needs acting classes desperately.

Disha Patani may be an attractive and fit woman for the acting career but just like Shroff, she needs to work on researching better roles just like how she managed to fit the part in M.S Dhoni - the untold story.

Prateik Babbar successfully plays such an unconvincing charcter as drug addict Sunny and Neha's "jeeja ji". Although he was buff for the role but his voice felt like a sheep suffering from a throat infection.

Manoj Bajpayee was quite decent in his part as a commissioner of police but he needs to stop portrying roles of government employed.

Even Randeep Hooda and Deepak Dobriyal gave average performances and none of them did any justice to their roles.

The direction was an absolute atrocity based on the angles that were shot in (dutch angles are awfully irritating). Although the action sequences will give you the Rambo feeling but the cringe worthiest thing about the action was the way it was edited like the slow motion and the flipping.

Music was a something hard to consume big time and seeing remakes has just increased the boredom of usic listeners. Your ears will screech to a point once you hear the recreation of Ek Do Teen and Mundiyan. The old versions are far better and more realitic than these 2 current remakes.

Overall, Baaghi 2 (**vomit sound**) could be promising once you enter the theater but after watching the film, It'll just put you through tons of regrets such as relying upon the writing, acting, and not to forget the regurgitated music.

But yeah, based on the action sequences, this movie should have an average fare at the box office.

2/5 - No Baaghi 3 please

Hichki (2018)

Definitely an A+ for Rani Mukerji's performance but the lacks characterization

[7/10 · 23 March 2018]

It's wonderful that a new year has passed by and Rani Mukerji finally made a comeback for this film. Hopefully 2018 should go through the same streak especially for a film like this.

So Naina Mathur, a woman and teacher to be with Tourette Syndrome gets rejected from multiple schools within a couple of years until one elite school takes her in. Suddenly, Naina's good luck goes into turmoil when she discovers that her students are making her life miserable by pulling pranks on her and breaking the rules of the school not to mention how judgemental the students are towards Naina's hiccup. How Naina bonds with the students putting them on the right track is basicaly what this film is about.

Siddharth P. Malhotra has done a marvelous job with directing and also writing. He keeps the writing straight on point. The dialogues were consistently said in a toneful way engaging the audience. But some scenes will help the audience determine the climax of the film escalating the predictability of the film.

Characterization is surely an issue because the students portrayed in the film will give the audience the feeling that they have seen such films from before that facilitate things like peer pressure such as seeing kids smoking, drinking, showing bad manners, and gambling. Logic fails are ultimate such as not rusticating the ransacking students or the fact that there's only one teacher teaching everything at once.

Performances were simply outstanding and Rani Mukerji kills it. Her portrayal of Naina Mathur suffering Tourette Syndrome will just knoc your socks off. She was nuanced and rustic throughout the film. Shriya Pilagaonkar was pretty good as the mother of Rani and the guy who played Aatish a.k.a Harsh Nayar was just fabulous.

Music was nice and very simple and Jasleen Royal has been known to making great music. Madamji Go Easy and Oye Hichki are the highlights but definitely not the loop listening expectation.

Overall, Hitcki is a beatuiful school drama based on good performances but it majorly did lack characterization. Definitely should check it out at a theater near you.

3.5/5 - Rani Mukerji's comeback luck

Black Panther (2018)

Generic writing but still a perfect film especially for Marvel.

[7/10 · 16 February 2018]

Marvel has been on a streak of good superhero and I'm pretty sure they managed to outdo their work compared to DC Comics. Seeing Black Panther in Captain America Civil War was amazing and I was looking forward to seeing him in an actual film.

So this takes place right after Captain America Civil War when T'Challa returns back to this nation Wakanda after his father dies in an attack. While there, he decides to take his throne and rule Wakanda until suddenly a powerful enemy N'Jakada invades the nation and has intentions of destroying Wakanda. How T'Challa defeats N'Jakanda and protects the nation of Waanda is basically what this film is all about.

Creed fame Ryan Coogler introduces a superhero film also "the first black superhero" of marvel (not racist but praising Marvel for their generosity of how much respect they're showing towards human race). His script was abit of a dissapointment because the movie had a very predictable story and eventually after 45 minutes of the film, the audience will for sure find out what will happen to N'Jakanda. The pacing was a bit slow but that still doesn't shy away for mbeing a perfect.

Luckily there things that were integral to Black Panther such as showing a science fictional version of Africa to traditional clothing. The VFX was fantastic and that is all hats off to MS (Marvel Studios). The look of Busan and Wakanda was just commendable and delightful to watch on the big screen. The action was well choreographed and seeing Marvel with their remarkable efforts doesn't lack justice.

Acting was a phenomenon. Chad Boswick playing T'Challa/Black Panther will just knock your socks off. He was exhilirating and edgy which proves how he is superhero material. Michael B Jordan was the major highlight of the film and his villainous attempt as N'Jakande shows a perfect match of subtlety. Lupita Noyong'o and seeing her as the African spy was defintiely worth devouring espcially how she manages to come clean with ther accent.

Overall, this film may not be perfect because of the average writing but the entertainment of it is something the audience should go and experience.

3.75/5 - Atleast it is a perfect film for the audience.

Aiyaary (2018)

An espionage thriller which lacks subtlety

[5/10 · 16 February 2018]

Espionage thrillers are surely a good source of entertainment for the audience because of how it will keep you to the edge of your seat throughout those films but this one all of a sudden becomes a compromising victim especially for a famous filmmaker like Neeraj Pandey.

So Abhay Singh, a Colonel in the Indian Army who doesn't play by the rules and Jai Bakshi, a Major in the Indian Army and also Abhay's protege. Due to political corrupton, their friendship between dissolves and Jai goes into hiding. How Abhay finds Jai and set aside their differences also to take down the corruptive side of India is basically what this film is all about.

The trailer was very overwheming despite the way it was edited, I was still excited for this film but quite frankly, it doesn't work as a whole film. Neeraj Pandey is a revolutionary director but his screenplay is the demeaning crime for Bollywood. The story had a moral but the sudden escalation of boredom will just haunt the audience while watching this movie. The dialogues were very eccentric and it just didn't relate to the factors that were supposed to be included in an espionage thriller film.

As far as perfroamnces go, nothing to offer. Manjo Bajpayee was the only person who managed to nail it as the colonel of the army and seeing him in action was definitely a delight.

Siddarth Malhotra on the other hand isn't really known for his acting and seeing him in a new film doen't change anything honestly. Although he was fit for the role as a soldier but his acting dosen't alleviate the boredom.

Anupam Kher was only there for only a short period of time but he was vigilant in his role and Rakul Preet Singh and Pooja Chopra were just there.

The music was average at best and the album doesn't have much to offer. Lae Dooba is a song sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and she did a good job with it.

The action was shot nicely and it doesn't involve very high budgeted VFX and the cinematography really adds up to the locales of the film.

Overall, this film is a disappointment with poor writing and below average performances but Manoj Bajpayee will entertain you people for some time but this one is better worth watching on TV or Netflix.

2/5 - Neeraj Pandey, try again

Pad Man (2018)

Perfect example to describe the "Woman's problem" in India.

[8/10 · 9 February 2018]

Menstrual hygiene wasn't introduced in India until later in the 21st century, a social activist from South India introduces a tool to prevent from menstrual bleeding. So basically this film focuses on the aspect of menstrual hygiene in India.

So a welder named Lakshmikant Chauhan based in a village in the rural of East India gets married and lives a blissful life until he notices the women in his village are suffering periods even in his family. Due to the lack of affordability for those sanitary pads, Lakshmi decides to change that by producing napkin pads but his idea leaves the villagers in doubt and gives them the feeling of embarrassment and shame. How Lakshmi changes that is basically what this film is about?

Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and now Padman. R. Balki introudces a very straight on point script with deals with subjective matters of menstrual hygiene. This kind of hygiene is very essential for women across India which does have a very high poverty rate. Balki successfully shows the empowering factors of sanitary pads in such a way that managed to keep the audience engaged throughout those 140 minutes of the film.

As far as performances go, Akshay Kumar literally nails it as Lakshmi. Luckily since Airlift, he has been upping his game especially in this film. His motives on menstrual hygiene was simply outstanding and that village mentality of a dropout as surprisngly something only Kumar can pull.

Radhika Apte plays Gayatri, Lakshmi's wife who is against her husband's decision. She was great and simple but some dialgoues implemented by her were a bit off and it didn't comply too much to her character even as a villager.

Sonam Kapoor was outstanding in Neerja but this film, it gave the audience the feeling especially me that she went on set just to earn a big quick big.

Big B's appearance was quite a surprise.

Direction was quite weak and this is something very common in R.Balki's films. He is very known for adding too mnay close up shots in 80% of the scenes and zooming too much will just cover up the background.

Also there was a minor issue, it is okay to put comedy and drama which were both there but the script itself was a bit too factual. it is understandable that menstrual hygiene is a concept but putting too many of those elements will probably escalate the boredom in some scenes.

Amit Trivedi's album is surely a winner and Mika Singh's take on the title song is simply a treat to devour for the next 4 minutes and Aaj Se Teri sung by Arijit Singh will put you in a romantic mood.

Overall, 2018 is improving quite well at the start and this film will be counted in my top 10 best films of 2018. Nicely written backed up by a narrative concept also backed by powerful performances. But the direction of the film does dissappoint quite alot with the close ups but this is a perfect film.

3.75/5 - R. Balki's most perfect film after Paa

My Mother's Wedding (2018)

Icing was definitely on the cake with the cherry on top - A winning short film (spoiler review)

[8/10 · 28 January 2018]

A lot of short films released on youtube are mostly non-fiction (based on true stories) or released for the audience to raise social awareness. But this one definitely caught my attention after seeing the trailer on youtube.

Parinaaz Billimoria is a Parsi mother who lost her beloved son Arshan in a car accident a while back at the age of 21. Currently, she is getting ready for her 2nd marriage with a decent guy named Peter but without Arshan's presence, she breaks down into tears and becomes skeptical. But her son's imaginative presence changes everything.

Quite frankly, this film was nicely written and directed so hats off to Sanil Gosavi. The emotional factors in the film very consistent and intact which made those 17 minutes of the overall film watchable.

That scene where Parinaaz reads Arshan's letter really got me going like almost jerked a tear.

Acting was nice and seeing Delnaaz Irani after KHNH really raised the bar and she is ready for a comeback in mainstream films. Sanil Gosavi (also the writer and director of the film) was superb as the son and he was the emotional figure of the film. Other cast were also great in their roles too.

Cinematography and locales were simply spot on and the credit goes to the editor and DOP of Sanil's crew.

Overall, the film was beautifully done and it is live on Youtube.

The link is below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58ZROqLhAzA

4.5/5

Padmaavat (2018)

Despite the perfect execution, Sanjay Leela Bhansali should still read this review.

[6/10 · 25 January 2018]

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a recognised benchmark filmmaker and I really do admire some of his films like Black, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and Bajirao Mastani. His writing is very authentic and straight on point which makes any film worth watching. I was happy when SLB returned for Padmavaat (Padmavaati). The trailer was promising full of magestic elements which doen't shy away from being an perfect film. Ranveer-Deepika chemistry is something only SLB can implement otherwise it would be no one else.

If anyone is expecting any controversial factors based on this film, try to understand that this is a review and I don't have any intentions of spreading political statements.

Plot is the major issue in the film and addressing this to one of my favorite filmmakers is a priority for me. The historical elements related to the 1300 time era were consistent but film wise, it wasn't consistent. I understand what politics did to this film but the story didn't do much justice to the characters of the film and it failed to allocate the proper timing for each of the characters. The story was a bit predictable and too factual which increased the potential of boredom for the next hour. I felt that the film didn't have that historical feel that was there in Bajirao Mastani.

The acting was a phenomenon and the best way to end the beginning month of January. Shahid Kapoor nails it as Ratan Singh because his mentality and loyalty towards the Rajput clan were straight on point. Deepika Padukone as Padmavati in terms of acting and looks doesn't disappoint and she is the miracle of the film. Ranveer Singh as Alauddin Khilji was just outstanding because of his sick minded humor, it reminded me of Heath Ledger as the Joker.

The execution was something amazing out of the ordinary. Sudeep Chatterjee's cinematography in Bajirao Mastani helmed him a National Award and hopefully he gets one for this film because of the amount of hard work and potential he managed to put in this film. The direction was outstanding and Sanjay did a good job with the execution of the war scenes espeically the locales.

Overall, Padmavaat may not be a perfect film even if directed by SLB based on its slowly paced screenplay but based on its acting and execution, it is far beyond recommendable. Do check this out if chance is given!!!

3/5 - Writing needs work SLB but still a great job.

Kaalakaandi (2018)

The perfect Indian black comedy film after ages but with some slight flaws

[7/10 · 13 January 2018]

Delhi Belly created a benchmark in Indian cinema under the black comedy category. It was funny, humorous, and dark which made the film entertaining. Despite the fact that Kaalakaandi didn't create so much hype for the audience and just found out about the film at the last minute, I decided to go and watch it after seeing the trailer.

So a banker named Rauleen, who has the decency of any other human being by the fact that he doesn't drink, smoke, do drugs, or even eat butter has been diagnosed with stomach cancer and only has 3 months to live. So with these 3 months, he decides to change himself by drinking and doing drugs and going full on himself. Then there are few more parallel stories such as 2 gangsters that are hungry for money from their boss to a couple that go through certain situations. How these stories collide is basically what this film is about?

Let me start off by saying this, I thought that this could just be a timepass but quite to my surprise, I quite enjoyed this film. Akshat Verma who also wrote Delhi Belly managed to implement this with good ease. The jokes in the movie were so funny and realistic that the factors were there necessary to fulfill a good entertaining watch. The writing was good and the dialgues were simplistically consistent throughout the film

The acting in the movie was simply spot on. Saif Ali Khan gives a remarkable performance as Rauleen and the dialogues helmed by him just chuckled the living shit out of me. Vijay Raaz's take on giving foul words doesn't disappoint and he was also the hilarious factor in the film. Deepak Dobriyal was also amazing in his part and I really do fanboy him as an actor. Shenaz Treasury plays a hoity toity character and she was doggone good in the film. Kunaal Roy Kapur was just there because when I saw him Delhi Belly, he was cracked up well but in this film, he doesn't become the victim in any situation.

The music is average and the tracks doesn't have anything melodious to offer.

The pacing trips after quite some time because you will get the feeling that the film is doing well in soem point of time but later something interferes with that moment and yeah some scenes were direct ripoffs of Delhi Belly.

The direction was okay because the angles weren't shot properly and dutch angles were just unnecessary

Overall, I enjoyed watching a black comedy fater so many ages. It's dark, crude, hilarious, and peculiar. Definitely check this out in a theater near you.

3/5 - Bollywood is starting with something good.

Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)

"Script Zinda Nahi Hai"- but still watchable for Salman Khan and his kickass moves

[6/10 · 22 December 2017]

Salman Khan never dissappoints at the box office. So is this a complete recipe for success?

So Tiger and Zoya has been absconded from their respective agenices. They fall in love and get married and settle in a cottage in the Austrian Alps. Unfortuantely their peaceful life goes into turmoil when they find out about 25 Indian nurses who were kidnapped by a terrorist organization in Iraq and are held hostage. How the Indian and Pakistani spy travel to Iraq and engage in the mission of rescuing the nurses is basically what this film is about.

The prequel despite its low rating, the film still became a hit minitng over 300+ crores. Honestly I did like the film for its entertaining masala flick but the sotry was something that made me cringe for some time. Quite to my surprise, this film is far better in terms of masala than Ek Tha Tiger which was the prequel.

Ali Abbas Zafar brought in Tom Struthers who used to design stunts for Nolan's films like Incpetion and Dark Knight Rises. His stunts in TZH were exactly the same and executed the way Nolan would want it to be. The editing was crisp and the looks of the Austrian Alps and Iraq made it watchable.

The writing is the weakest link in the movie and the reason behind that would be the way the trailer was released. I felt 60-70% of the film was already shown and mentioned in the trailer. The plot was too far fetched and the gripping elements were a bit too low. But the dialogues had some pizzaz and some humor was relatively funny.

As far as acting goes, Salman Khan hasn't dissappointed his fans and luckily for this film, his roar was even louder as Tiger. He was watchable thoughout the film and his charm and charisma really suited the audience. Kumud Mishra as the hacker was pretty decent. Angad Bedi plays Tiger's right hand man and seeing him in an action film really shocked me. Paresh Rawal was humorous throughout the film and he made me chuckle quite a bit in some parts. Girish Karnad as Shenoy is the usual so nothing there. Sajjad Delfarooz was outstanding as a baddie and his un-stoical mentality really adjusted the depth of the film. Katrina Kaif's acting was overacted of course. Her dialogues were too cheesy and bleak which made some scenes a snoozer. Only Struthers outdid her performance.

The music was composed by Vishal-Shekhar. The hughlight of the album has to be Dil Diyan Gallan if you're in a romantic mood. Feeling groovy, Swag se Swagat is a treat. Irshad Bhai has done a remarkable job with the lyrics and Vaibhavi's choreography is a treat.

The apcing is also a minor issue because I felt that the film finished too quicky and that is what the story did. The pace kept tripping and then after 2nd half the pace kept tripping even more hich resulted in the quick climax.

Overall, this film is decent but the writing and pacing takes it away but it is a mass masala entertainer prefect for a good weekend. Definitely a cinema watch but critics would defintiely save their money and watch the piece of the action on cable tv.

3/5- Bhai did it again!!!!

Ittefaq (2017)

Not enough evidence to support the 2nd half of the film.

[6/10 · 3 November 2017]

Murder mysteries are my favorite type of genres. So this is a remake of Yash Chopra's 1969 venture which is directed by his grand-nephew and son of Ravi Chopra who made Baghban, Abhay Chopra. The trailer was exquisite and I was pretty excited for this film. So is this a recipe for success.

So an acclaimed NRI writer named Vikram Sethi comes back to his hotel room and finds his wife's dead body on the floor. After alerting the police, he might realize that he could be charged for his wife's murder so he runs away with his car. He gets into an accident during a high speed chase and finds shelter in an apartment that is owned by Maya Sinha who is a house maker. The cops manage to find Vikram only to be standing next to Shekhar Sinha's body. Both Vikram and Maya are taken into custody and Inspector Dev interrogates the two. How Inspector Dev catches the culprit behind the 2 murders is basically what this film is about.

Let me start off by saying this, I liked the first half of the film. It was gripping and very unapologetic but the 2nd half compromises the depth of the film. After the interval, the movie did slow down a bit and I felt that some scenes really bored the heck out of me. Abhay Chopra still manages to produce a decently paced screenplay and keeps the direction tight.

Acting has some slight improvements.

Akshaye Khanna was outstanding in his role as a cop and luckily his comeback really saved his career big time. His tone and depth was amazing and he really has that cop acting mentality. He was the reason why this film was worth-watching.

Siddharth Malhotra and Sonakshi Sinha aren't really known for their acting. Sonakshi SInha was average in her role as Maya but I felt that she overacted a bit in some scenes and the same thing goes to SId. Putting these two in a film like this speaks volumes for itself.

Only one track in the film but it has that good vibe from the original song so I'd say its a nice song to listen to but not on a loop.

The cinematography was good and the angles were represented nicely for a murder-mystery thriller.

Overall, this movie is a decent popcorn flick and it will keep you tot he edge of your seat during the some parts but based on the boredom during some parts of 2nd half along with Sinha and Malhotra's average acting, Ittefaq is definitely worth a one time watch.

Box office 50-70 crores at my expectation

3.75.5- In order to complete the investigation, increase the suspense of the script.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Marvel at its finest

[8/10 · 3 November 2017]

Although I don't fanboy much of Thor much but if Chris Hemsworth stays within the series, it is completely fine for me. From the Thor trilogy until the Avengers trilogy, Thor doesn't disappoint. I was extremely overwhelmed by the trailer of the third film and goody goody that Natalie Portman isn't doing this film. All she does is wear a pair casual clothes and makes out with Thor at the end of the film.

Marvel's best film of 2017 after Spider-Man Homecoming.

I was extremely grateful when I was saw this film. As a comparison to other films in the trilogy, this one is far yet the best out of the other 2 films. The writing was very smooth and gripping that it will keep you on the edge of your seat for the next 2 hours. VFX was consistent and it gave a clear justification for Marvel Studios when it comes to pre-production- something Fantastic Four failed to comply with back in 2014 during that particular stage.

Acting is always a phenomenon in nay specific marvel film of course.

Chris Hemsworth keeps his mentality tight when maintaining the role of Thor. He never disappoints a good superhero role especially when spending 15 dollars for a ticket.

Mark Ruffalo as Hulk is always an entertaining factor for any Marvel film.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki was outstanding and some humor was there in the film which I practically enjoyed.

Idris Alba and Anthony Hopkins were also delightful throughout the film.

Taika Waihiti manages to keep the direction integral to the screenplay of the film. The angles were perfectly adjusted right.

The background score and music was amazing and it kinda gives a good vibe to old superhero films in some way.

Very colorful setting and I felt that this is also a creative aspect of a film.

Overall, just get a ticket and go for this film.

4.75/5

Secret Superstar (2017)

A secret recipe for success

[8/10 · 20 October 2017]

Bollywood has been going through some tough times during 2017 starting from Salman Khan's disaster dilemma to Varun Dhawan's cheesy acting. Luckily some films during the year created some satisfaction such as Baahubali 2 and Mom.

So the story revolves around a 14 year old named Insia who resides in a suburban city that goes by the name of Vadodara which is in Gujarat. Insia's dream was to pursue a career in singing and her mother is highly supportive of Insia's decision to become a singer but her abusive and cold- hearted father invades her comfort zone which results in her dreams being crushed. So Insia decides to secretly pursue signing by posting a video and uses a burqa to hide her identity so her father don't find out. The video goes viral and it catches the attention of a failing and dim-witted Casanova music director Shakti Kumar. With the help of her mother and Kumar, how Insia manages to pursue her dream and what happens afterwards is basically what this film is about.

Honestly, the teaser and trailer made me more excited for Aamir Khan but watching this movie made me realize that Aamir Khan wasn't the only important factor in the film. I loved this movie for how it was and how it looked. Advait Chandan deserves a bow because this debut filmmaker managed to master the craft of producing a screenplay that kept all the emotional factors in its place which also kept the audience engaged throughout the 143 minutes of the film.

The acting in the movie was phenomenal.

Zaira Wasim steals the show completely. Her acting had a clear justification to never fear anyone before pursuing a dream and her Dangal mentality managed to cover that.

Meher Vij was nice and heartwarming as the mother for Zaira. Luckily in my opinion, she was not bad in Bajrangi Bhaijaan where she did the role of the little girl's mother but in this movie she manages to execute the mother role according to our expectations.

Despite Aamir Khan's role only appearing half of the film, he still managed to act like the same khan who we all adore a lot. His flirty and sleazy humor managed to ma laugh a lot of times.

Raj Arjun's first attempt as an abusive father figure kept the film smooth.

The music was nice but I felt some tracks had weak compositions and Amit Trivedi has done it in some films like Qaidi Band and Shaandaar. Lyrics were fantastically produced by Kaiser Munir.

Anil Mehta's cinematography keeps the script of the integral and consistent.

Overall, I loved this movie.

1) Beautifully written and directed. 2) Well performed 3) Nice Camera work

Enjoy your Diwali with this film at a theater near you.

Golmaal Again will surpass the box office for this film. Secret superstar should fall into the 50-75 crore range. But just rely on the film more than the box office.

3.75/4- Bollywood's most proper flick