Film Review : Mod

Nagesh Kukunoor never has tried a romantic film, with Rannvijay Singh as male lead for 1st time in his career.. he had the stakes against him. To quite a extent, he achieves to hit a note with his storytelling.

The story is of a girl Aranya (Ayesha Takia) living alone at a hill station, Ganga.. who never allows her father to enter her home until he quits drinking. Her father is a huge fan of Kishore and also works as a singer at a restaurant place. Aranya meets Andy (Rannvijay Singh), over a course of few meetings, she starts to have a special liking and place for him. But the problem is, she doesn't know who he actually is, what he is upto. What Aranya would do, when she will know the truth, continue her relationship or leave him...

The storytelling of Nagesh is slow, he very much believes in building the sub-plots fully, before bringing the main plot i.e Aranya-Andy relationship into the core of the story. The drama is very well incorporated by Nagesh into the story. He brings some good twists, the interval sequence being one of them.

Screenplay is effective. The songs are used perfectly, even though most of them lack the appealing power, tu hi tu is quite romantic. Cinematography is good. Editing is fine.

The reaction's of Andy's mental health at a point looks over-done, during the hospital scene with Aranya. Also, how normal he behaves in the climax is a question to be asked too.


Performances wise,

Ayesha Takia is as always lovely and sweet. I have always liked her acting though seen very less of her films. She has that simplicity in her looks yet very beautiful.

Rannvijay Singh, does very well in his attempt at solo lead for first time. I can't predict his future in hindi films as main lead yet, but he surely can act.

Raghuveer Yadav is good. Tanvi Azmi is excellent in her supporting role. (A confession to make, I came to know only now that she has a connection with Shabana Azmi). Anant Mahadevan is just about okay.


Overall, Mod is a sweet romantic film dealing with a relationship that faces problems and overcomes it very well. The film lacks entertainment value to a certain extent, so not for that section of audience.


Verdict : Nice 

Film Review : My Friend Pinto

Sanjay Leela Bhansali co-produces this film with UTV , a comedy genre which he hadn't gone into before in his career. Much like Madhur Bhandarkar, only difference the director is newbie 'Raghav Dar' in this case.

The story is about Michael Pinto (Pratiek Babbar) who has come to Mumbai to live with his childhood friend Sameer (Arjun Mathur) after the sad demise of his mother. He is a very honest and simple living guy, who often lands himself and sometimes the people around him in trouble. He is a good musician and wants to become a priest one day. How Pinto's arrival brings a change into the lives of Sameer, and many more, in just one whole new year eve night.. is the story all about.

It takes time in the start as all the characters get introduced. After that, what you enjoy the most is, how well the writer connects all the stories, and the screenplay that makes it interesting. What you miss the most is the good punches to make it that much comical. There are many moments that are good, but you wanted them to be very good.

Except 'Do Kabootar' which also in a way narrates story, the songs are well placed.

The good moments ----
• Pinto giving new mantra to a drunkard gambler about winning by going with heart.
• Pinto with Don helping him play instruments.
• The drunk scene of Don's girlfriend with Pinto on the road, and later in her house.
• The whole dhinchak zindagi track, full of energy and very well edited.

Performances wise,

Pratiek Babbar is back on track, in comparison to his last two performances, this one is much better. He just needs to keep choosing the right films.

Kalk Koechin fails to impress, plus her romantic part with pratiek is given very less screen space.

Arjun Mathur and Shruti Seth are good in supporting roles.

Divya Dutta is awesome in her drunk scene, apart from that she has very less part in the film.

Makrand Deshpande impresses with his dialect. Shakeel Khan is good in few scenes he gets in the film. Raj Zutshi irritates, thanks to the bad look given to him.


Overall, My Friend Pinto despite being able to connect many events together so well, is good in parts only as you end up wanting for much more than you get.


Verdict : Average

Film Review : Jo Dooba So Paar

There were 3 reasons that I went to see this film. One was Rajat Kapoor, 2nd was Vinay Pathak and 3rd was the tagline 'Its love in Bihar'. None of these 3 factors helped me to like this film.

Kishu (Anand Tiwari) gets thrown out of school for being involved too many times in wrong means. He now joins his father in their village in Bihar who runs a truck there. With time Kishu gets to see lots of kidnapping, and bomb supply activities happening around him. One day Kishu watches a beautiful american girl at police station, and falls in love at first sight. Only to know later, that the girl has a american boyfriend. The story revolves around Kishu's love, the kidnapping issues and the police which is corrupt to large extent.

The main problem with the film is, it just keeps dragging on. The screenplay is poor. There are 2-3 good moments in the film, for instance the starting school scene or Kishu meeting Sapna (Sita Ragione Spada), or the climax.

There is very less action in the film, and the pace is too slow, with a story that's not new too. The writing is very weak, there was a chance to make it very comcial but it didnt happen. Plus, its not a performance oriented film either. Even the songs don't give any respite.

Performances wise,

Vinay Pathak is okay. I don't think he had any scope to perform in this film. Same holds true for Rajat Kapoor, though he still gets 2-3 scenes to make little impact.

Anand Tiwari, remember the friend of Hrithik in Kites. He has a good screen presence, and acts well too. A better written film would test him more though.

Rest of the supporting cast is just about fine.

Overall, Jo Dooba So Paar has very few good moments.


Verdict : Poor

Film Review : Azaan

The promos were terrible, and you know how bad his direction was in his debut film 'Aap ka Suroor - the movie'. Yet, just that stubborness to watch new releases, made me see this one hell of a boring, and just boring film, that had only one background piece to attract me in whole film.. which also wasn't original, heard before in films.

The story is of a Doctor (Sajid Hassan) who wants to destruct India, first by planting bomb in peace conference at Germany, then the Ebola virus which if spread could completely destroy India. One man stands in his way, Azaan Khan (Sachin Joshi), a army officer now secretly working for Sam (Alyy Khan) and Pandey (Ravi Kissen). But how he deals with the job, when he is told about his brother whom he has been searching since long, is a terrorist.

There is nothing new in the story, the virus part isn't tried before in our films in major way, like Contagion. But, Azaan mostly keeps Ebola virus as a backdrop only. Prashant Chaddha shows no improvement in his direction skills, possibly gets worser than his debut. The screenplay is nice, but when your lead actor has got single expression in entire film, it's hard to like such a film.

Doctor's 1st appearance in the film, Azaan going to check what his friend is going to get n then coming back into the car, and the sand painting 1st scene of Afreen were among the few good moments of this dull film.

The songs are forced into the narration, though Salim-Suleiman have given nice music in the film. Editing is okay. Cinematography is nice. Some of the action sequences are well done, though one scene is straightaway lifted from Bourne Series.

The love angle of Candice was completely off track, in a already non-appealing film.

Performances wise,

Sachin Joshi will need to improve a hell lot, else his career wont last too long.

Candice Boucher reminds of Celina Jaitley when she was new in acting. No expressions, just beauty.

Ravi Kissen is totally over the top. Alyy Khan is his usual. Sajid Hassan impresses in 1-2 scenes. Sarita Chowdhary is fine. Sachin Khedekar, Dalip Tahil and Aarya Babbar get no scope in small appearances.



Overall, Azaan has nothing to make you like this film.


Verdict : Avoidable

Film Review : Mujhse Fraandship Karoge

First of all, its not a hindi version of the famous hollywood film 'The Social Network', if at all there were any people with such misconception.

Vishal (Saqib Saleem) goes to his college friend Rahul's (Nishant Dahiya) concert, and happens to fall in love at first sight with a girl Malvika (Tara D'Souza). Malvika is room-partner of Priety (Saba Azad), who dislikes boys a lot, and is working on a project with Vishal together for their college. Now, Priety has a liking for Rahul, while Vishal has a liking for Malvika. They can't express it in real face to face, so what they do is.. log in from their room-partner's account, and Priety becomes Malvika, Vishal becomes Rahul. They start communicating with each other. But how long would it last, what would Rahul and Malvika do when they know, and what will happen when Priety and Vishal would know, they were talking to each other through means of Facebook.

Some director's use the 1st scene of the film to explain, what kind of film is in store for them instead of starting directly with opening credits. Same is the case here, as we see 2 guys having fun with one of their college mate online on facebook. You are hereby told, the film would be funny and very youthful. And thats how it is for the entire time span.

Usually in films where you are cheating over a person, you expect a kind of slowness to come into the film before it ends happily, that doesn't really happen here. There is no emotional drama, people are shown as understandable and smart to understand what is right and wrong. This as a result takes the climax to an extra high for me. Notice the reaction of Vishal when Priety speaks to her on stage in climax.

Nupur Ashtana is very good as debut director. Editing is superb, the way they have put up the facebook profile shots was really good, also the camera angles used in them. Screenplay is impressive, hard to find any dull moment. Also, how well the cut away shots are kept, about college mates speaking on Priety at various stages of film with every person remaining in one tone, the last one always makes you laugh 'I think she wanna get laid.. slaaaaaap'. This is what I disliked in Soundtrack, and here it's so effectively used into the screenplay.. clear eg of how a particular idea can be executed into ur screenplay properly.

All the songs were well used, one may argue about har saans song to some extent but I feel it was a good way to conclude the just ended scene. Also, every song is very good audio wise, good work from Raghu Dixit, the composer.

The best moments of the film ----
• The opening facebook share sequence by Vishal and his friend.
• All the fight sequences between Vishal and Priety.
• The scene between Vishal and Malvika at the disco place.
• Rahul and Malvika meeting for 1st time.
• When Vishal and Priety for 1st time check each other's facebook accounts(they must have earlier too, but in the film you see it only once, that is in this scene)
• The finale sequence.

Performances wise,

Saqib Saleem is excellent as a debut. At times he did reminded me of 'Rajjo' of pyar ka punchnaama to be precise. But, he was too good, confident, has got a good screen presence and as mentioned earlier amazing in that stage sequence.

Saba Azad, had done Dil Kabaddi before this, I can't recall her role in that film.. must be small one. In this film, she is very cute, beautiful as well as sexy. I just fell in love with her, every time she came in a scene. And along with her looks, she acts very well too. Would love to see her do well in her future career.

Nishant Dahiya doesn't really get much scope in his role in the film. The only 2 scenes that he has hiw own were the first meeting with Malvika and the scolding scene with Vishal. His future films would give a better picture of his acting skills.

Tara D'Souza was nice, after Mere Brother ki Dulhan, I would say she does much better in this film..

Meeta Vasisht was good in small cameo. Though, she made me wonder how can a teacher look so hot. Maybe, I was unlucky not to have such teachers in my college life.

Prabal Punjabi reminds of Vir Das so much. He was nice though.


Overall, Mujhse Fraandship Karoge would appeal specially to the youth audience, it has that connectivity, with lots of fun and entertainment, and a good love story.


Verdict : Very Good

Film Review : Pyaar Ke Side Effects

Another of those long pending films. Thanks to youtube, some of its clips were so good.. that the film eventually became a must watch for me. And it was totally worth it.

Sid (Rahul Bose) who is a DJ, is asked to work at a marriage, which is of Trisha (Mallika Sherawat) who is about to run away from her marriage. Sid and Trisha meet again later, date each other and fall in love. But the problem comes when Trisha wants to get married with Sid, who is reluctant going into the married life, with his own reasons and doubts. The opposition of Trisha's father addds to his and Trisha's problems.

The story is pretty much old, but the way its presented and the screenplay written.. you never complain. There are numerous places where Sid talks to himself, but the director shows it as a talk to us the audience, which appears funny always, and all of those times.. its his thoughts on the other person, disagreements whether its with Trisha or her friend who he calls Dracula.

Editing is good. There is a very good romantic feel in the film, thanks to the chemistry of Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat. Quite a unsual pair, but it worked.

The songs are well placed, feeling blue being the best of all with Sid adding the laughing dose in a emotional song through those breakups ke side effects.

The best moments of the film ----
• The opening sequence, Sid watching Ind-Pak match, and Trisha proposing.
• The scene in office, Sid and Trisha, war time.
• The conversation between Sid and Trisha on their unofficial 1st date.
• Nanoo, Kapil and Sid together in a pub.
• Sid tackling Trisha's dad, in car or home or golf.
• The coffee sequence.


Performances wise,

Rahul Bose has a superb comic timing. He is almost flawless. Specially, his eye expressions during all of his fights with Trisha.

Mallika Sherawat, is actually good in her comedy. In emotional scenes, she does look a bit awkward.. otherwise she was pretty much perfectly matching Rahul Bose.

Ranvir Shorey and Aamir Bashir give in a very good supporting performance. Suchitra Pillai is fine, though one wonders at her sudden change in heart during the climax. Sharat Saxena is good as always.


Overall, Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a very humurous film, and romantic at same time. Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat are the main show stealers of the film.


Verdict : Very Good 

Film Review : Love Breakups Zindagi

There was a sense of freshness in its promos, though when one of the three male leads is Zayed Khan.. you have to lower your expectations. The film turned out to be pretty good and fun, infact it was personally much more than that to me.

Jai (Zayed Khan) and Naina (Dia Mirza) have a partner which is pretty much incompatible with them. They both happen to meet at a common friend's wedding place. During the journey, Govind (Cyrus Sahukar) who has had 2 marriages before, happens to meet Sheela (Tisca Chopra) and fall in love. What happens thereafter, isn't tough to predict ...

Despite the predictability factor, what keeps you happy is the regular humourous scenes kept in the screenplay, even in the 2nd half when the story goes on a emotional side.. you keep getting those laughable moments.

The first time director Sahil Sangha handled some scenes beautifully, for instance the start of film though it reminded me of a south film but it was good. Specially the complete marriage place part, was very well directed. He does falter though in 2nd half including climax, but more blame should go towards the editing as well as the screenplay.

Unless you are able to connect to the characters, which I did... the movie would start looking boring from interval onwards which gives a deja vu of I hate luv Storys. Some scenes also appear stupid, especially the 'Jab we Met' theory revisit that takes place, when Naina's friend talks to 3(or four) of her bfs.

Every song is well used, though the much talked about Rab Rakha wasn't quite my fav in the film. I preferred the other 3 songs much more, special reference to love love love.. which I feel was romantic, and ofcourse Benny Dayal sang it very well.

The best moments of the film ----
• The conversations between Jai and Govind.
• The conversation on the 'Hot' topic between the three friends.
• Govind and Sheela's meetings.
• Govind meeting Sheela's dad.


Performances wise,

Zayed Khan is good. At places, he goes over the top.. but much above that what one expects from him these days.

Dia Mirza was looking so gorgeous. Plus, she always looks innocent, and acts well too.

Cyrus Sahukar was really good. I haven't liked him much in his previous films, but in this film his humour works a lot.

Tisca Chopra, impresses. She has probably only 2 long scenes in the film, and she comes across as a very good actress in them.

Satyadeep Mishra and Auritra Ghosh are nice in their supportive roles.

Umang Jain is good, leaving apart that over the top jab we met scene.

Pallavi Sharda is fine.Vaibhav Talwar looked completely suited to his role.

Good to see Farida Jalal back in a film, should do more films.. she was lovely as always.

Among the cameos, Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi were the best.. awesome actors they are, one scene they get each, and yet they shine in them like how. Shahrukh Khan looks very old in his sequence, as he plays himself.


Overall, Love Breakups Zindagi is a nice film, with some humour, emotions, and little talk on relationship handling.. nothing preachy.


Verdict : Nice