Nice thriller, but bad portrayal of Goldman spoils the movie : D Day

Directed by : Nikhil Advani
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2385104/

The post is full of spoilers... Read at own risk. 

The main plot of the movie is 'To bring back the most wanted man of India'. This reminds of 'Dark Zero Thirty' where the struggle to find Osama and get him back is superbly showcased. Whether that movie was the reason behind Nikhil Advani's attempt of doing same for Dawood or not, I have no idea. But looking at the past films of Nikhil Advani, one can easily say that its a huge transformation from the kind of films he had done earlier.

The story revolves around 3 agents, Wali Khan (Irrfan Khan), Rudra (Arjun Rampal), Zoya (Huma Quereshi) along with a prisoner Aslam (Aakash Dahiya) who is part of the team on account of the information he gathered from the people working for Goldman (Rishi Kapoor) in the prison. These 4 are choosen for this mission to get Goldman alive back to India.

The screenplay is very tight and gripping, though I couldn't understand the need of narrating in flashback. The reason being instead of directly starting with the 'We got him/We almost got him', it would had been better to show the struggle they have before the operation day. In this case, when flashback is going on.. you already knew that this is going to happen, only question while watching is why that happened and what are the stories of each agents which in any case would had been covered in linear narration too.

Another major problem for me was Rishi Kapoor's character, too much of his politeness is shown instead of menacing sequences like the one where a person comes for help for blasts in a particular city. I would had preferred much more serious portrayal of Goldman including such scenes that shows how much important it is to kill him. The other option was to not keep any scene of Goldman at all, but then the whole screenplay would had to change.

And I till now couldn't understand the point behind killing him in the end when throughout they aimed to bring him alive.. Why not kill in Pakistan and just bring him back dead.

I liked the choice of Irrfan Khan narrating all the stories as voiceover. Also special mention to the art direction, the feel of real Pakistan was visible in most frames.

The twists are good, and the action sequences are quite likeable.

Songs are very creatively used into narrative. 'Duma Dum' is parallely cut with the Goldman operation happening in background. 'Alvida' showing how Rudra's only relation dies in a different kind of flashback (I wasn't satisfied with Shruti in that song, though I liked her in rest film). 'Murshid Khele' one of very good qawaali in recent times, loved the scene of Wali Khan standing alone on terrace and Rudra going to kill the guy who gave scars to Shruti Hassan. 'Dhuan' starting point was one of my fav moments in the film, that tune gives me goosebumps and a good dialogue of Wali Khan follows it. 'Ek Ghadi' is used mostly as background which I dont mind as it was my least liked song.

Arjun Rampal delivers one of his best performances, perfect casting in this role. I liked the way Nikhil handles his and Shruti relation in the movie, hardly any conversations they have still they emote a relation they have build between them very well.

Irrfan Khan is as always brilliant and lovable, again special mention to the casting person, as he suited this role. I love the scenes where he is torn between his love for family and country.

Huma Qureshi is efficient, but I would had liked few scene stealer scenes for her. Aakash Dahiya who played Aslam was very good. I would had liked Chandan Roy Sanyal much more if his look was kept proper.

Sree Swara Dubey was surprise performer of the movie in her debut supporting role.


DDay as a thriller no doubt is very good film, but when you think about Goldman and the way he is showed.. slight dissappointment is going to be there. I overheard a couple saying 'Dawood hasega aisi film ko dekhkar ki kuch bhi bana dete hai mere pe'..  For good performances and Nikhil's step into a different genre, the film is a good watch.


Verdict : NICE 

Only 2 were good out of 5 that too with flaws : Shorts

Directed by : Shlok Sharma, Siddharth Gupta, Anirban Roy, Rohit Pandey and Neeraj Ghaywan

I have liked very few short films that I have seen till now, everytime the story fails to create a impact because it ends too abruptly or quickly. The same trend continues here with 3 of the five stories not clicking for me.

That makes me wonder if the films that are loved in festivals, are not the ones I associate with. Or I am generalising too much. Maybe if I happen to make a short movie, I might change my views.

Sujata works for me little bit for the topic it covers, relationship between a young girl and her cousin brother. But the problem is, all happens quickly.. I needed more scenes of the trauma she goes through, before she takes  revenge. Huma Qureshi does well in this story, though not among her best for me.

Epilogue totally went out of my head, the treatment was way too creative for my liking. Didnt like it at all. I kept waiting for this story to end.

Audacity was the 1st short that showed signs of 'finally kuch acha/awesome type ka dikh raha', but what a poor ending it has.

Mehfuz was too slow, Nawazuddin was good in a role that slightly looked inspired from Taxi Driver (to me)..  Again, too less a time to make a impact.

Shor turned out to be the one that I loved almost fully, only that final scene spoiled it a touch.. and the fact that Vineet once again talks in same lingo I have seen him in Gow and Bombay Velvet... making it not look anything new. But the female lead and the train sequence made it a lovely watch.


Overall, Shorts doesn't offer anything that would force me to watch it again someday.

Among best Bio-pics ever : Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Directed by : Rakesh Omprakash Mehra
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356180/

Yeh meri khud se ladaayi hai... 

Biopics always interests me, and more so when I know very less about that person. Lincoln was probably the last biopic that I saw (which covered only a certain phase of his life). Milkha Singh, a well known famous Indian athelete lost his parents in riots after independance. He somehow manages to escape from Pakistan, lands in India, survives days without food. And through all the struggle, he joins Army one day which didn't happen easily either, as he got rejected few times. But Army wasn't his last stop, it was the 1st step towards his new life, soon to become a athelete who would be hard to beat.

Rakesh covers almost every aspect of Milkha's life into the film. Only the marriage of Milkha and his love for Golf in later life isnt shown which would had only increased the length of movie by 5-10 mins. He has used fiction to his advantage to make sure film is more entertaining than a serious biopic which I guess most critics didnt like.. not so for me though. Non-linear narration is something I associate with his films and I am of a opinion that a history or biopic based movie should always be non-linear.

Rakesh focusses more on the emotions than the sport, having said that he doesn't make the race sequences look average in anyway.  His direction is top-notch, watch the scene where Milkha slaps himself, Rakesh wonderfully shows the anger towards himself Milkha has in that powerful scene, he realizes that he went away from his main goal and it costed him olympics race qualification. Or the scene where Milkha breaks down and releases all his pain out, again Rakesh lenghthens the scene because that pain was inside him for many years.

There are three main weak links in the movie, Dalip Tahil who never looked like Pandit Nehru - clear case of miscasting which resulted in Milkha-Nehru relation not develop at all when he asks for a favour in climax,  Yograj Singh who was inconsistent as many places he was hamming - wish Rakesh had control over those scenes and Meesha Shafi whose character was loosely written or I would say not really required though that dialogue of Milkha 'yeh meri khud se ladaayi hai' should had  been adjusted somewhere in that case.  That scene where Isri (Divya Dutta) re-unites with Milkha in Dilli was very melodramatic. And I would have preferred more shots of all races instead of scaling them into small portions. Much like was the case in Chak de India.

Editing was good, I specially liked the slow motions used at various places like the parallel cut of record break scene, or the place where he has bad memories when he is on bike. Also, liked many camera angles used, the starting scene of presenting Milkha Singh was well done.

Music is superbly used, not a single song looks forced. Rakesh once again uses the best song of album in completely different way, 'Zinda' comes at a time when you least expect it. Like it was with Rehna Tu, I loved his thought behind it this time too. Though I wish he had used some part of lines in any race, he actually used the tune in the first abdul khaliq race. Also, using the tune to introduce Milkha was perfect too.  'Maston ka Jhund' is very fun song, only problem I found was it starts suddenly almost cutting the ongoing conversation, could had put one extra army practice scene and then move to it. 'Mera Yaar' is total romantic, and is picturised in that way too.. a song that I didnt like initially but fell in love with the visuals, love the song now.  'O Rangrez' carries forward the romance with a flashback within flashback inserted in. 'Slow Motion Angreza' is very energetic, and choreographed brilliantly.  The title track has very nice lines 'Tu jaag ab tu bhaag milkha, tu hai aag, tu bas ab bhaag milkha'.. but the composition is weak, if it was as good as Zinda, it would had been great to see those practice sequences of Milkha reaching to the top in fitness. One best line of this song is used beautifully in a particular race.

The background score was touch dissappointing, except for one that is used in opening credits or when he re-visits his home in pakistan.. rest were not worth remembering.

I love the scene of Milkha's childhood where the leap to Farhan Akhtar introduction happens.. the smile expression on his face as he runs on train.. Yes its very much un-real and must had not happened with real Milkha, but isn't it great to watch on screen? I for sure did love it.

Farhan Akhtar has given the performance of his career till now, the effort he has put it in is visible in almost all frames. He enacts the struggle and rise of Milkha to the best, and special mention to the people who worked at his looks as he very much resembles like real Milkha Singh. Love the scene where he asks 'blazer kahan milta hai, pehnne wale ko jyada izzat mil rahi, main  bhi pehnunga', or the one where he tells Sonam 'ek din tere milkha ke naam pe bhi poore india mein chutti hogi', and my very fav when he re-visits his childhood place on bike with all the bad and good memories going in head.

Sonam Kapoor is tolerable thanks to small role though she shows signs of faltering in even the fewest dialogue scenes she has.. how awkardly she looks saying 'aaho sardarji'.

Divya Dutta as Milkha's sister is excellent, except for that one particular scene I talked about.

Pawan Malhotra is the pick of actors among the supporting cast, the person who motivated Milkha towards success. I like when Rakesh shows his expressions at two particular places, once when he asks to run without boots in Olympics, and other when tailor comes for measurements. Also, when he feels proud of Milkha's achievements, and the look on his face in the final race. He has the key dialogue in movie 'panchi dil lagana' one.

Good to see Prakash Raj in new avatar, and he did great work, though his dialogues were at places hard to understand. Also, Art Malik as Milkha's father was good in small cameo.

Special Mention to Jabtez Singh who as young Milkha did very good work as it was quite a lengthy role.

Rebbeca Breeds looks beautiful, and had good chemistry with Farhan, I love that shot where Milkha does push-up with her, and the look on his face when she is talking, probably not understanding a thing. She plays the young love part very well. Good thing was it was a short role too.

The final race gives goosebumps, excellently thought of.. very unlike finale one always sees in sports movies. Wont spoil mentioning what happens, but if you love the film, this scene would be your fav too.

I love the final two frames of movie, the one where Farhan is shown running with young Milkha, both running as Farhan looks at him and slowly a smile comes on him telling that he has finally overcome everything. And then the title he gets as his expression shows  feeling special and the slow fade away to end the film.


Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a film that is very inspiring for how focus, determination and hardwork results in eventual success. Plus, you see how in real Milkha Singh did it with all the struggles he has in his childhood or early days of army. Its a 3 hr 7 mins long movie, but I never felt boredom at any part.. despite the mentioned flaws, its a immensely loved movie for me.


Verdict : EXCELLENT 

This brutal contract killer must be seen : The Iceman

Directed by : Ariel Vromen
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1491044/

The film is based on true story of a contract killer Richard Kuklinski (played by Michael Shannon) who easily hides his identity from his family. They come to know about him only when Richard is caught and tried out in court, but almost 10-15 years later.

The director shows Richard as very cold person who isnt afraid of death as seen in the scene when Roy (Ray Liotta) points gun at his head and he shows no sign of fear. Only times when you see fear in his eyes is when a eye witness is girl while he performed a hit, and he had his rule of not killing girls or kids. Or when Roy came at his home warning of informing his family about who he is.

The brutal murders aren't shown in detail, except for the latter partnership Richard goes in with, where he is shown in some body exposing sequences but thankfully they aren't shown from close.

Michael Shannon (for me) looked fit to play this role, that beard and moustache look made him look even more dangerous, and the walk he has as if he lives a good normal person life. He easily played role of a guy who was different to the world, and so opposite to his family, almost like a multi personality disorder.

Winona Ryder does great work as wife of Richard in the movie, I like two scenes particularly, one is the opening date with Richard, and the other where she questions herself if she is a spoilt brat and then tells Richard, she likes the way he takes care of her.

Richard works in Porn lab, and gets interested in the offer of Roy to work for him. He doesn't think of denying his offer for a second because he sees the profit, the money he would earn and provide to his wife and future kids. His wife and the kids were the only people whom he cared for, as he says later in the movie.

He never feels regretful for the people he kills, he considers it a job and does it perfectly. Though, I somehow felt the montage of his killings came too soon, maybe 1 extra full murder like the beggar one would had been better, just to highlight how brutal killer he is.

Special mention to the scenes where Richard loses his temper, once while driving, and other time at his wife in his own home.

The later part of movie goes on the lines of Goodfellas, Roy parting ways and Richard in need to earn money finds new partner betraying Roy. The way he gets caught is very well shot (don't know if thats how it happened in real), it came very much as a surprise to me as it does to him in that scene. Probably it was a intention to catch the audience unaware without putting extra scene of 'yes, his end is coming now'.

I like the fact that no dialogue conversation is shown of his and family after or during the time he gets caught. There's one shot of his car passing by her car when police takes him in, and the shocked look on his wife at court trials learning what his husband in real was.


Great direction and Michael Shannon performance makes it a pretty good movie, though latter part of the movie slips down a bit and could had been dealt better. Still, worth a watch for sure.

One of best romantic movie ever : Lootera

Directed by : Vikramaditya Motwane
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2224317/

Vikram hits the right notes once again so well in just his 2nd movie after Udaan. Having Ranveer and Sonakshi as lead actors, one would had been skeptical about the quality of movie. Though for me Ranveer has been good in his earlier movies. Lootera is a welcome change to both actors who have given one of their best performance of career and who knows might turn out to be their best one even after many years.

The film is set in 50's  in Manikpur where Pakhi's (Sonakshi Sinha) father is a zamindar whose friend keeps advicing him of a potential chance of zamindari getting abolished with new laws. Varun (Ranveer Singh), a con-man arrives at Pakhi's place as a archaeologist with aim of taking away all the priceless statues Zamindar had at his place. But as expected in such situation, the character falls in love with the girl. Due to certain reasons, he choses his profession over love.. but destiny makes them meet again in Dalhousie allowing the love to blossom once again.

Vikram establishes key points of the whole film straightaway without telling the background of the characters like the health problem of Pakhi, the story his father narrates to him moments later, dreams of Varun. And that works in favour of the film. He keeps the pace of movie steady, some might find it slow but I felt it was in sync with the story.

He never tries to make Varun-Pakhi romance as priority, the purpose of Varun is more important in 1st half. That is why, their romance isnt given extra time to establish.. we see Pakhi falling in love instantly when she drives car into his bike, and Varun on other hand is slowly falling in love while he is working his way into the work he is doing secretly. I would say it worked for me this way, then it would had if there were more romantic scenes between them.

The best romantic scenes come when Varun and Pakhi interact with their eyes speaking minimal dialogues, or the slow whisper talks. Also, there's one scene where Pakhi and Varun look at each other in 2nd half when Varun is painting, and lips of both actors move very slightly as if they just talked to each other on something (my bad, that was only scene I couldn't interpret). That final dialogue conversation they have, and few secs of silence used when it ends.. loved the entire sequence, probably after mann-marziyaan my best moment.

Editing is good, excellent cinematography, that makes the initial moments of 2nd half more lovable. That is the only time in movie when the pace goes very slow, and again much to the requirement of story. Very good lighting, specially that romantic scene between Varun and Pakhi at her home in 1st half. Even the car scene is well done if the grainy part is ignored. I like how Vikram deals with the dreams of Varun, certain other directors may have glorified it a lot, but he keeps it just a part of story. Dialogues are good, 'ladki ne ladke se kaha ki woh sabse jyada duniya mein usse pyar karti hai ?'

Amit Trivedi's music and background score compliment the screenplay immensely. Ankahee background when Pakhi's father narrates story to her, interval bg and the haunting mann-marziyan bg were my most fav ones. Mann Marziyaan was such a romantic as well as emotional song the way its used into the movie, simply loved that moment in 2nd half. Only Zinda was the track where I would have preferred a good bg, as the song looked out of sort.

There are certain loopholes in the movie, one of that being some loud sound mixing. Like the violin that plays when Varun shifts at Pakhi's place, it was important that it started on low note and lifted up after that (making sure it was low always when dialogue is said). Then, 'taqdeer se bigdi huyi' song almost overlaps the dialogue conversation going on between Varun and Pakhi's father. Also, two grainy sequences, one in 1st half 'the car romantic scene' and the other in 2nd half', wonder if it was intentional or just a mistake gone un-noticed.

Sonakshi Sinha steals the show for me, something I didn't expect would happen as she was the only reason why I felt this movie wont work for me. If you add all her previous films, then also she would come no where close to what she did in just the 2nd half alone in the movie. She simply nailed it. Even  in 1st half she is very lovable, note that scene where she says 'mera dil rakhne ke liye toh haan keh dete'. Or when she cutely asks her dad that she wants to learn painting. and how she says 'mat jao' to Varun. The anger and love she shows towards Varun in 2nd half, the way she looks at the tree outside her house, specially the last time with a surprised look.

Ranveer Singh was complete opposite of the roles he did until now, and he did very well. Though at places, he under-played it, and at 1-2 places his dialogue didn't come out rightly, for instance 'tum meri zindagi mein woh eklauta mauka thi' which looks awkward the way he speaks it. I love the scene where his angst at Pakhi comes out in 2nd half, also the interval sequence when he is torn between two worlds.

Adil Hussain as the cop is efficient as always. That chase sequence is another of great sequence of the movie.

The actor playing Pakhi's father was effective too. Also, good performance by Vikrant Messey who plays friend of Deb who time and again imitates Dev Anand being a great fan of his. Dibyendu and Divya Dutta are fine in small roles.

In terms of entertainment, the film has not too much to offer, 1st half has some scenes like the bulb dialogue or painting scene or Pakhi scolding driver. But essentially its a romantic love story of Varun and Pakhi that may or may not find its way together.

I loved 2nd half more, while the final 15 mins is just splendid.

Lootera works for me, it isn't perfect movie but romantic movie lovers (non-fiction specially) should most likely love the movie, specially if you have ever loved anyone.


Verdict : MEMORABLE

Expected lot more crazy movie, dissappointed : The Lone Ranger

Directed by : Gore Verbinski
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210819/

Either I mis-read the trailer or the film was in real low on the crazy insane stuff it should had. There are some good scenes like the robbery one, or the train chase  when John (Armie Hammer) choses right way to punish wrong guys is law and not himself, as a result making a mess of what Tonto (Johnny Depp) was attempting. Or the final action sequence on the train. Thats all this film has.

Both Tonto and John (the lone ranger) share good sequences together, though the look of Tonto aint pleasant to eyes (I dont know the history behind it, not seen earlier movies of Johnny depp). I actually liked Armie Hammer's performance more than Johnny Depp. Its just the slowness of the proceedings that doesn't allow the movie to make a mark. Easily 30 mins too long.

The Lone Ranger is a decent watch for the lead performances, and some good one-liners. My fav is 'there comes a time when good man must wear mask'.

Below Average, but not as bad as it looked initially : Policegiri

Directed by : K.S Ravikumar
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2861320/

If you leave out all the over the top action sequences, and some punchlines repeated uselessly, and the silly Rajpal Yadav plot, then Policigiri is very much watchable. No, I didn't leave out the entire movie with that line.

The main plot somewhat resembles Singham, to fight criminals even if it requires out of police duty action. As Rudra (Sanjay Dutt) says in the movie, he considers himself Combo - buy one get one free. He is police as well as a gunda. The first sequence showing him using beer in different ways was over-done. The rivalry he has with Nagori (Prakash Raj) is what makes the film interesting. Rudra is always against him, but Nagori is so impressed that he isnt keen to make him his enemy until he loses his temper completely. No doubt Sanjay Dutt is given importance but Prakash Raj isn't sidelined as he was by Arbaaz in Dabangg2.

Some punchlines are very good, 'sur one' or 'combo' or karan arjun ayenge'.  Music is average, and they are used in the movie forcefully making them look even worse.

Sanjay Prachi pair look very odd. Prachi does fine job, but its time she experiments a bit. Sanjay Dutt has always looked great in cop roles, would like to see him do one such role in future on the lines of Kurukshetra, more serious than comedy.

Prakah Raj shines again, in a villianeous role giving his typical comedy touch to it.. but I feel its getting repeated too much. Time to do different roles, bhaag milkha bhaag would actually be a pleasant change in that respect.

Om Puri is wasted in small role.


Policegiri is watchable for Sanjay Dutt-Prakash Raj performances plus some good punchlines. If you love over the top action, then you may like the film.


Verdict : BELOW AVERAGE