Movie Analysis : Table No 21

Directed by : Aditya Datt
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2229842/

Game ka rule hai.. if you lie, you die. 

A couple Vivaan (Rajeev Khandelwal) and Siya (Teena Desae) comes on a vacation to Fiji which they in a lucky draw. They get warm welcome by the organisers. The owner Mr. Khan (Paresh Rawal) invites the couple for a 'Truth' game called Table no.21 where they will be asked 8 questions, whose answers have to be Yes or No, and after end of each question, a daring task would be given to do. They would get 21 crores as prize, and the game would be viewed live by 8 million viewers across internet.  But, the catch is.. if they lie, they die and they can't quit the game. As the game goes on, the couple starts getting uncomfortable and realizing there's something more to the intention of the owner then just playing this game.

The film begins mysteriously, taking the normal romance route before the couple gets introduced to the game and Mr.Khan. The narration is slow in terms of how a thriller should be, the editing needed to be quick with fast cuts. Plus, some of the dialogues are very dull and not funny as they are made to look like. The bald look of a girl in movie looks so fake, very laughable.

Climax is very shocking, and is the only sequence of the movie that totally engages you. Though, its a bit too late as you have already passed through entire screenplay by then. Except for Manipulate task, all the given tasks were good ones. Personally, I loved kiss task the most. Aditya Dutt's direction is okay, he does well to keep the romance part to a minimum and come to point of the film quickly but fails in narrating the story perfectly.

'Mann Mera' is very romantically picturised and I love the vocals too. One of good things about the movie, that its not burdened with songs into the narration.

Paresh Rawal is the only one who gives energy into this film, with his random shayaris and not revealing his intentions behind this game.

Rajeev Khandelwal is decent, somehow he didn't impress me as he normally has done in his past films. Teena Desae was fine in her debut.


Overall, Table No.21 turns out to be average movie, just like the game looks interesting to the couple at first and gets uncomfortable with every task, the movie looks good in the start but as it goes on.. the continuous flow goes missing, the numerous flashbacks breaks the flow of questions asked too.


Verdict : AVERAGE

Dead Man Down [Trailer]

Next film from the director of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', with Noomi Rapace playing female lead role. I loved her in the dragon tattoo movie, so looking forward to this movie. Appears to be lot of bloodshed action movie and stylish too. Trailer was nice. 

Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga [Trailer]

From the makers of 'Phas Gaye Re Obama', a film that was super funny.. this is first teaser. Sanjay Mishra always arouses interest to watch a film, though the rest of the starcast except for Zakir Hussain appears new. If the dialogues and the comedy punches are good, then this film might be good. The teaser was pretty okay...

Jack Reacher [Views]

Directed by : Christopher  McQuarrie
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790724/

Five random people shooted by a person, but was it just a insane act or there was something more to it. That is the main plot of the film.

The genre of the film being suspense mystery never really stands out due to the screenplay that loses track and is a bit slow. Instead what I liked was Tom Cruise one liners, replies, that 'hat' sequence (which most had seen in trailer only) and the final action sequence.

If they kept the pace of the film bit faster, the film would had worked much more. Like the scene where Jack (Tom Cruise) asks Helen (Rosamund) to meet families of those 5 innocent dead people, and feel the kind of pain they would be now in, mainly because Helen plays defense lawyer who has to save James Barr (Joseph) from being termed murderer. Jack digs deep into the case along with the help of Helen, and slowly the real motive behind the murders gets revealed.

Rosamund Pike was pretty average in her performance. Tom Cruise was excellent as always and very stylish. No so the case with the actors playing bad guys, none of them make a mark.

The action scenes were very well performed, specially the final scene in rain. The fingers chopped off kinda of stuff irritates me, probably one of few things that Hollywood films have a plenty every now and then.


In the end, Jack Reacher is a okay film, one time watch at the best.

Movie Analysis : Dabangg2

Directed by : Arbaaz Khan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2112131/

Lots of Expectations from the film as I fall into the category who loved Dabangg a lot. But, Arbaaz Khan fails miserably and this sequel dissappoints.

Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) gets himself transferred to Kanpur. He stays with his wife, Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha), father Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna) and brother Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan). And, this time he has to deal with a new villian, Baccha Ji (Prakash Raj) along with his 2 brothers, Genda (Deepak Dobriyal) and Chunni (Nikitin Dheer)...

The opening credits are brilliantly done, the background score fits in with the cuts as the recap of old Dabangg takes place. Just sets the mood right.

But the problem lies in the fact that in this sequel, Chulbul hardly faces any hurdles. He has no personal issues with Makkhi now, and also no differences with his father. His love life is set, so all he has to deal with is just the terror caused by the new villians of a new place. But, Arbaaz wants to be baised with Salman therefore Prakash Raj or his brothers get no meaningful or impactful scenes. Prakash Raj himself has only 1.5 scenes where he outdoes Salman Khan, which tells a lot that the movie was written just to please salman lovers, not caring about rest audience.

Only way this sequel would had worked was, if the rivalry between Chulbul and Baccha was kept in a way that it shifts from one person's tactics to others.. but that aint the case here. As a result, the film is limited to watching Salman Khan's heroics, his naughtyness with Rajjo, his corrupt nature while dealing with gangsters, masti with his dad through mobile or his entertainment at various dance bars or parties. And his one-liners, the style is almost similar with the goggle. Its Salman Khan that holds the film and keeps you interested, otherwise the screenplay is totally non-appealing.

The songs also break in for the sake, specially 'Saanson' track. Kareena was totally dull in her dance moves of 'Fevicol', the song is catchy audio wise though it lacks that madness which Munni had. The choreography also is weak, salman does lift up the song with his mad dance but still nothing worth remembering. Infact, I loved the choreography of Pandeyji Seeti much more, only problem was Sonakshi made to dance with Malaika which looked too odd, and to add to it her costumes were appearing very odd.

I usually don't talk about actor's looks, but have to admit Salman Khan looked very dashing in shirts. Talking of shirts, this movie isn't spared from a shirtless scene. But, with the over-dose of slow motions in that scene.. it only made people like me yawn at the scene.

Even the action is so much outdone, I usuallly accept the unrealistic action but not so for this movie. Such action is accepted only if the actor is labelled as Super Hero. The climax sequence so much reminded of Ghajini climax, though the anger is visibly less on Salman's face than Aamir's.. but the background score and direction made it look very alike, even the camera angles were similar.

Sonakshi Sinha was usual. Arbaaz Khan was decent. Mahie Gill yet again wasted. Prakash Raj, probably 1st hindi movie where he got such bad role, he still got 2 scenes to shine through, one in car, and other in press. Deepak Dobriyal was part of probably the best scene of the movie, the interval one, 'Personality ke hisaab se thora jyada nahi bol raha yeh'... one of best written lines. Pankaj Tripathy is completely wasted in a nothing role, should had got much more with the kind of talent he showcased in Gow series.

In the end I would say that the people who used to shout that without Abhinav also, Dabangg would had been a big hit - Sure it would had been, but then it would had been just like Dabangg2, useless movie with only single actor's performance to praise about.

Dabangg2 would be loved by the hard-core salman lovers, but for neutrals like me.. this movie would be a dissappointment nothing else. Wish the writing and direction went in sync with Salman's performance..


Verdict : AVERAGE

Hotel Transylvania [Views]

Directed by : Genndy Tartakovsky

Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837562/

Another animation 3d movie in english that I just saw today. It was fun movie, very enjoyable with some very funny moments. And for a change, a movie where monsters are afraid of humans. 

Dracula builds a resort where all the monsters and their families could come for a stay, and at a place where no human can reach. So, on the occasion of 118th birthday of his daughter Mavis, he invites all the monsters to come at his resort and enjoy the weekend. But, to the misery of Dracula, a human Jonathan by mistake lands up at his hotel and his daughter gets a liking for him too. Dracula has his own reasons for hating humans.. 

Adam Sandler gave voiceover to Dracula, and he was easily the scene stealer in the movie. The scream sequences he has with Jonathan, or the worry father sequences with Mavis, the fun sequence on table, or the song he sings, to name few of his best scenes.

Mavis looked cute, while Jonathan was kind of bearable. The scenes on the roof between them were good.

Also, the Dracula being helped to fly in day and the aeroplane scene with a dig made on 'Twilight' was very funny.

Hotel  Transylvania was a fun film, worth watching once atleast.

Movie Analysis : Khiladi 786

Directed by : Ashish R. Mohan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2166214/

When I saw its theatrical trailer, and saw 'Story by Himesh Reshammiya', the expression on my face was What the Fuck. And when I saw the movie, the same reaction by the audience (who was watching credits carefully, most don't do that) when the story credit came.

'Khiladi' brand is something Akshay has carried out very well in the past, and he could well be proud of that. But, not so with this film. The story is not new, its almost like a lighter version of Namaste London, difference being the actress takes less time to understand here. The screenplay is weak, depending on the gags that are hardly any, with most of the dialogues trying to force you to laugh (something that has become common in most of Akshay comedy movies).

The entire history of Akshay's family with Chinese,  British, African ladies was so not funny. And, the actor playing boyfriend of Asin getting himself in trouble everytime he is about to get released from jail.. was again over-done. So, was the logic behind Akshay's quick action. Infact, I would say the action by Akshay in Tashan was much more fun to watch than in this one, even Rowdy was great. Also, Akshay should take care that 'I am back' dialogue isnt attached to almost every new film of his. Its twice now that he says this in the movie.

The music is good by Himesh, though nowhere close to those musical albums he used to bring out some years ago. Balma, Lonely and title track being the best songs..  I couldn't understand the point behind playing background 'khiladi bhaiyya, khiladi bhaiyya' again and again. Some directors have no sense of how to use background score.

Akshay Kumar is fine in his performance, but seen too much of him in these roles. After a rocking Rowdy Rathore performance, this kind of film wasn't what I wanted from him.

Asin has yet to do a single great role ever since Ghajini, and this film doesn't help that track record. Another baseless role she accepts. Quality matters, not the big stars with whom you do films. Specially for actresses who get sidelined in films mostly with roles that are male oriented.

Himesh Reshammiya over-acts, but still not as un-bearable as I thought he could be. Possibly, the reason that he is just a supporting actor in movie helped.

Mithun Chakraborty is fine. Johnny Lever doesn't get any scene to make a mark. While Sanjay Mishra here and there gets his comic timing perfect. Raj Babbar and Mukesh Rishi are passable.


Overall, Khiladi 786 is below average movie, with few laughs at the most.


Verdict : BELOW AVERAGE