Ishq Actually [Teaser]

Teaser is decent. The plot is familiar, three way love.. such films work only on how good the romantic feel the film gives. Except for Rajeev Khandelwal, rest cast seems new to me.. even the director.

Like the line 'Ishq is the things you don't say'.. teaser is well cut.

Movie Analysis : AkaashVani

Directed by : Luv Ranjan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2423132/

Woh aaj humse mile anjaano ki tarah, 
hum yun hi raah takke baithe the deewano ki tarah..
har nigaah mein aur dur chale jaate hai,
humse nazar churaate hai beyimaano ki tarah... 

There will be spoilers in this post ahead, read at your own risk. 


Akaash (Kartik Tiwari) and Vani (Nushrat Bharucha) say goodbye to their parents and leave for their destination of graduation course in Delhi. They meet on the 1st day of college, and gradually click with each other. Eventually, both fall in love but the destiny has something else in store for both as Vani's parents are of conservative nature and Vani won't do anything to break their heart.

Ranjan begins the film by quickly showcasing how different set of families both leads have, Akaash father on one hand aint keen to see Akaash off knowing he is a grown up boy, while Vani's father questions his wife why can't Vani just complete her studies at Dehradun only (her homeplace). The lovely montage of both leads journey is covered up a good english background song.

What Ranjan does brilliantly is, that he makes sure that he keeps the fun and romantic part ratio just a way bit above family drama and emotions. That is the reason film works a lot to me, because its way too romantic not to fall in love with.

Most of the first 30-40 mins are spent in the romantic shayaris, masti/madness between Akaash and Vani, whether its on delhi roads, buses, or at Manali. The shift towards Vani family problems brings the movie to that 'vulnerable' position from where either you would love the film or hate it. The post interval 30 mins part is toughest, not because its directed badly but because its hard to see Vani suffer that much just because of her parents mistake. I like how through montage of marriage taking place is mixed with how Ravi (Sunny Singh Nijjar) forces with Vani despite her saying she isn't ready yet, plus the music theme in background, it was very well thought of.

Since a major part of movie goes serious, the scene where Vani remembers her past life, and those days of Manali, the romance with Aakash.. it brings back what the movie always wanted to show, the love between Aakash and Vani. For me, the shayari that Shekhar (Gautam Mehra) recites twice in the film is the story of AkaashVani.

The serious issue the film raises is the stubborn nature of parents, and their opinion that they have full right on their children to make them marry whoever they want forgetting they might end up actually spoiling their children's life. In the movie, the elder sister issue makes it hard to go against them but when Vani tells them what she is going through, the reaction of her parents is 'Goel bhabhi keh rahi thi', means her mother is bothered what the society is saying about her daughter and not about the hell she is living to please them.

For me such parents are sheer stupid, and the children need to have courage to teach them where they are wrong.. it's toughest thing to do though, to say something against parents but when its about your life, it needs to be done.

The story of movie isn't new, and many films in past would have been made.. but what makes this movie standout is the way Ranjan tackles the concept.

Editing was very good, the songs are so beautifully cut and the slowness he keeps at various places, be it romantic or the suffering sequences.. it helps in creating the feel this film has. Cinematography is good, and Ranjan does very well in the dialogue writing too. The background score was very good too, specially the one that is used in the 2nd trailer of the movie. There are portions in the movie which goes totally quiet, one scene I remember where from honeymoon talks suddenly Akaash tells Vani about her talking to parents, and the background goes totally quiet from a musical theme. Also, the theme when he runs off fast to the jeep.

Initially I didn't love the songs much, found them decent, but now after having seen them in the movie, I have to say Akaashvani album by Hitesh Sonik is easily among top10 (will re-do my album recap  blog). There's 2 english songs used in narrative, both not available in the album sadly. While Crazy Lover is sheer madness, and very well choreographed too.. though its the only place where I didnt like Nushrat in those costumes of final stanza. Padh Gaye Ji is total romantic with the feeling of 'we can be ourselves and do anything we like even if it looks silly/naughty to others'. Love the scene where eve teasers looking at Vani and Akaash gives signs of going there to beat them but instead joins them to see Vani like them. Shafqat Amanat Ali's Tera Mera Naam is emotional to the core and very aptly written showing the broken feeling Akaash goes through, and has the kind of visuals one would expect it to have. Bas Main Aur Tu, a feel good slow romantic song fitting the narrative very well, and great hill visuals along with that jugnu sequence. Rumani is very romantic but slightly naughty track, and used just the way I think it should have.

Special mention to the costumes, how much good both Nushrat and Kartik look throughout the movie. Also, Harshdeep Kaur's background vocals during post interval marriage part and the final punjabi song part.

Performances wise, Kartik Tiwari continues his great work.. in PKP he was one of few good things that I loved but here I think he had more scope which was gonna happen with him being main male lead, and he doesn't have a single hiccup scene. The way he flirts with Vani, the anger he has when she leaves him or the care he has during one of the scene when she meets him again. He was quite much purfect in his performance.

Nushrat on the other hand had a tough role, and she so easily pulled off the character. Specially the scenes where she has to show her concern about what will happen when she would tell her parents, or when she tells the news to Akaash, or when she sees her father crying, or when she makes the tough choice, when she suffers day and night, and when Akaash accuses her for everything she did with his life. She looked beautiful, cute, naughty and so romantic, also special reference to her voice that gets very soft at times when talking with Akaash. I love her final dialogue to her father 'kaash main aapko bata paati, ki aapki wajah se mujhe kya jeena padh gaya'. Easily gonna be among my top5 performers of the year.

Gautam Mehra and Sana Sheikh (Sumbul) gave great supporting performances, love the scene where Shekhar tells Akaash that he is himself responsible for his miseries due to his ego. And Sumbul's scene where she shows old memories of Manali.

Sunny Singh Nijjar was very hatable for his character, his acting was spot on. His character could easily be labelled as 'Asshole', or 'Bastard' as Sumbul calls him.

Kiran Kumar did good job as father of Vani, that scene where he breaks down and says why 24 years love becomes nothing to kids was one of my favs. Interestingly, Kartik, Nushrat also have breaking down scenes at various parts of story. Though, I think Kartik didn't look convincing crying but then someone told me once that people never look good while crying.

Also, the actor who played Vani's mother was pretty good. The rest cast did fair work.

The only question in the writing for me was, why parents of Akaash were missing at his marriage.


Overall, AkaashVani works for me big time.. its a romantic movie and covers up a issue that is still prevalent in India atleast. Excellent performances and very well directed/written by Luv Ranjan. You gotta be a asshole stone hearted unromantic person if you don't connect with the love story of Akaash and Vani.


Verdict : EXCELLENT

Les Miserables [Views]

Directed by : Tom Hooper
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/

I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I am living.

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) who is known as prisoner 24601 by the on duty officer Javert (Russell Crowe), is released from the prison on a parole. Valjean goes around a rich place completely tired and hungry, the person owning the place is very helpful and caring, as Valjean is given everything he wants yet Valjean tries to run away stealing things and eventually caught but the place owner lets him go telling cops he didn't steal anything. That incident changes Valjean's life for a good, as he breaks his parole and goes away. After a span of 7 years, he is now a well known Mayor of a place where he helps a suffering Fantine (Anne Hathaway) and takes her daughter Cossette (Amanda Seyfried) under his care and protection. Javert is always on a look out to find Valjean, while Valjean is looking to make sure Cossette leads a good life away from troubles that her mom Fantine faced, and Cossette is in love with Marius (Eddie Redmayne) but their destiny is in hands of what would happen in a rebellion that is about to happen in France where the movie is set.

The plot has lots of suffering, even begins on that note and goes that way for most part. There's fightback, and romantic moments mainly between Cossette and Marius, or Eponine (Samantha Barks) who secretly loves Marius. All this makes for a great viewing, but not to be so as everything is presented in form of songs. A loud opera or musical drama as many would call it. There's hardly a single regular conversation in the movie, so basically you are watching a 2 hr song performance oriented movie.

Such genres just don't appeal to me, for me normal conversations have to be in dialogues and not songs. Even if it was plain background music, I would have connected but the lip synch songs just made it worse. Though that doesn't take away anything from the lyrics of those songs, which very well keeps the narration of movie going but the imapact as a dialogue would had been much bigger to me.

My favourite among 20 some songs was Anne Hathaway's 'I dreamed a dream', Isabelle Allen's 'Castle on a cloud', 'Look Down' performed by lots of actors together, 'A heart full of love' by Samantha, Eddie & Amanda and 'One Day More'.

There's many moments in the movie where I felt for the characters, and the next moment they drop into a song removing my connection quickly. I think normal version of this movie has been released some 10 years ago, would love to see that, most likely I would have more good things to say for that one.

Cinematography is brilliant, special mention to the opening scene where large amount of prisoners are working as slaves to pull off the ship in rainy windy weather. Also, the rain sequence of Samantha, and the rebel where they build a post kind of place through furnitures.

Hugh Jackman delivers the best performance of the movie easily, so does Anna Hatheway as a badly suffered woman in the story, plus how well she sang 'I dreamed a dream' song. Russell Crowe is decent at best. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter provide great humour to the movie, though their 1st sequence has some yuck shots of food. Amanda Seyfried looks sweet, and plays her part very well. And that small kid who does his share of job in the rebel fight. Rest cast does fair job.


In the end, this musical Les Miserables gives some good moments for sure, but as a whole not a movie I would say I liked.

Movie Analysis : Raakh

Directed by : Aditya Bhattacharya
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290820/

Tum aise hi acche lagte ho
hmm...
Kaise the ? yaad bhi nahi hoga na..

There are spoilers ahead in the post, so read at your own risk... 

Amir Hussein (Aamir Khan) holds himself responsible for the rape of his friend come old love Neeta (Supriya Pathak). He seeks revenge but no one is willing to help him, neither the police nor Neeta herself. Inspector P.K (Pankaj Kapur) takes it upto himself to train Amir, and plan murders accordingly. But, P.K himself has his own revenge reasons for helping Amir, and add to it a small factor of guilt.

Watching the movie, I got the feel that its way ahead of the times when it was made. Santosh Sivan's excellent cinematography, he so well showcases how badly Amir's life has turned around leading to complete darkness. Sreekar Prasad's editing is top notch, I like how he intercuts credits with shots of Amir and his family with the haunting background score by Ranjit Barot.

When you have the technical aspects working that well for a film, its left to direction, screenplay and performances to make sure they don't go wasted. And Raakh doesn't dissappoint on that part either. The screenplay is very much linear, but its very fast to reach to the main plot. No time is wasted on Amir-Neeta past relationship, instead we are provided 3-4 slow dialogues by Amir to tell how it was, and then throughout the film flashbacks of their romantic moments (which could also be dream sequences).

Dialogues are mostly emotional. Aditya gives film a very dark feel, the conversations happen at very slow pace just to signify the kind of pain characters are going through. Like the one where Amir goes to police station for 1st time to file a report, and his hesitation to say the word 'rape' and then the name of victim. Or when he goes to Neeta thinking he would talk to her for helping him and police, but he returns back without saying a single word to her. And then, the van scene where Neeta suggests him not to do anything for him, as Amir quietly listens but deep inside he knows he still would do it because he won't be able to live his life without getting his peace of mind back which requires the people who raped her must be killed.

The happy childlike feeling Amir gets when he gets a gun in his hand, and then P.K gives him a good lecture how one bullet ends a person's life within seconds. The look on Amir face when he gets 1st murder done, he just stands there looking at the blood forgetting he needs to run off, and then quickly removes his clothes, crying over the fact that the gun he was loving playing with some time back has just been used by him to end someone's life.

Also, two characters, Sheikh (small child) and Naina (Naina Balsaver) bring some kind of support in the life of Amir, though he never tells them what he is going through, Sheikh is too young to be involved in all this, while Naina herself has her problems she never shared with Amir. Naina-Amir relationship is established through just 3-4 scenes, which is commendable.

P.K - Amir sequences are my favourite from the movie, the first time when Amir shows his anger towards him for not helping him twice in a row, once when rape happened and other time when he asked for help. I love the private conversation both have about each other's life, Amir does share his feelings about Naina with him but when he asks P.K about his marriage, he turns topic and switches light off, something writer didn't want the audience to know about, could well be main reason of P.K's anger against Karmali (Madhukar Toradmal), the raper.

Personally, the scened that I loved the most is when P.K watches Amir combing in mirror wearing a good looking sherwani, a look he never sports before that with P.K or any friends. P.K after looking for a while says to him, 'tum aise hi ache lagte ho, kaise the ?, yaad bhi nahi hoga na', and there Aamir Khan's well known smile appears.

Among performances, Pankaj Kapur was excellent, the way he feels being exploited by Karmali family and his own senior staff person. I loved that person's role too 'you have become very famous now.. kuch karo, nahi toh mujhe kuch karna padega'. In a scene, even Pankaj Kapur is shown like a typical police person would be when Amir is brought to him for charge of attempt to murder. The drunk scene of Pankaj Kapur where he takes out everything (mostly in reference to Neeta rape) he had in him against Karmali was so well executed and enacted by him. Also, the scene where he tries to sleep, gets up to kill boxes with a stick.

The voice of Aamir Khan looks slightly different, as it was among his young days work. Still, to be able to do such film at that age convincingly is applaudable, though I loved his debut Qayamat se Qayamat Tak a lot too but its easy to do a normal romantic movie then a movie like Raakh that demands much more. I like the scene where he looks at his parents concern over him, and decides he should leave home and return only when he is himself again.

Even now I can't figure out Neeta was actually Supriya Pathak, she has two great scenes of her own, one where she tells Amir that he shouldn't had come there and other when she tells him that she has to deal with all this alone.

Jagdeep has a funny cameo performance too, and also the small kid playing Sheikh was very good.


The climax is so well written, on one side they show the victory of Amir who has now got his inner peace back, and at other end they show Neeta getting married.


Raakh is easily one of best films in terms of everything associated with it. Not for the entertainment seeking audience though.


Verdict : MEMORABLE

Shortcut Romeo [Trailer]

The trailer has that insane feel, but will the film also be that mad or not is the point. Neil Nitin Mukesh's 3rd movie in span of few months, though at times his dialogue delivery style reminds me of Sanjeev Kumar (could be one of his favs probably or just I feel that way). I think his acting would get tested most in this movie than David or 3G.

Amisha Patel looks in a better role unlike Race2, might work for her if film is good. Puja Gupta looks sexy. Liked the background song 'aiyaashi, shaitaani..'

Main marte dum tak na.. ameer rehna chahta hoon.

Commando [Trailer]

Action in this trailer looks simply awesome.. if you don't believe then check 2:29 part. Dubbing spoils the trailer, I hope the dialogues look effective with film. Though, Pooja Chopra part didn't look impressive to me. Vidyut (made debut in Force) and Jaideep Ahlawat (Gow fame) would be the ones to watch out for.

Only problem I have is, why they had to keep eyes of villian like that.. always feel we can have normal villians without tampering with physical things (like eyes, hands often done in hindi films).

Kabhi aadmi leke nikalta hai, kabhi kutte leke.. akele nikla kar, mard hone ka ehsaas ho jayega. 

Himmatwala [Trailer]

I haven't seen the old film whose remake this one is. The trailer has complete feel of a 80's movie which means Sajid has re-created quite well. But two questions, one - Will it appeal to watch that kind of masala movie, villians, heavy dialogues in 2013 ?,  and two - When we are trying to move ahead through pathbreaking movies, won't movies like Himmatwala take us one step backwards again ?

Personally, I loved Tamannah the most in the trailer, she looks so beautiful in the 'Ta thaiya' track. Again, I can't compare old song visuals as I haven't seen that either. Ajay's scenes looked similar to Singham, and the tiger scene didn't help at all. Paresh Rawal + Mahesh Manjerekar duo would be great to watch, always liked this cliche jodi in our industry where the assistant (if its right word) to villian keeps saying funny liners.

Sajid dissappointed me in Housefull2, still hopes alive as this might be a good entertainer. The action no doubt will be over the top, quite visible from trailer itself. If you have a liking for entertainment kind of cinema, this one should be in your 'to watch' list.

Also, 1983 dialogue in trailer.. might be few more spoofs scenes in the movie.

Arre 1983 hai yaar, pallu phaado aur baandho...