This Romeo-Juliet won't be remembered : Issaq

Directed by : Manish Tiwary
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2215163/

Tale of Romeo- Juliet set in Banaras. The initial scenes between Rahul (Pratiek Babbar) and Bacchi (Amrya Dastur) is the only time I felt something good about the movie.

Bad script is lifted by good directors, but here the direction is simply poor.  Dialogues are plain bad. To make matters worse, Pratiek's performance is very ordinary. Amrya Dastur looks lovely and acts well too, she brings good innocence to her character though her voice reminded me bit of Dia mirza.. nevertheless I quite liked her.

The rivalry between Kashyaps (Sudhir Pandey) and Mishra's (Sandeep Bose) is very badly handled. There's a wierd character who is always eating paan while speaking, and then woman of Kashyap has affair with their main leader Teetas (Ravi Kissan). All these cliches take the story no-where. When you reach the climax, there is no sympathy towards the lovers. You just don't feel bad, like you did in Qayamat se Qayamat Tak or for that matter even Ishaqzaade (No i didnt reveal climax, romeo-juliet story itself reveals it).

Had the director foccussed on showing proper history of both families and the rivalry, it would had made the love story look much better. Also, too many slow motion dream kind scenes of Rahul were un-necessary. The use of Mohit's song happens way lot, and dissappointed how badly 'ek aag ka dariya hai' song is used.

Among supporting cast, Ravi Kissan does very well. Vineet Kumar gives good performance but the same dialect.. when will I see him in a different role. Prashant Narayanan is wasted, didnt like how they show the naxals, looked un-real.  Evelyn Sharma is fine in small appearance.


Overall, Issaq turns out to be complete bore. I expected a decent movie, didnt knew I was in for a torture.


Verdict : INTOLERABLE

Loved Aida story, other 2 clicks in parts: Ship of Theseus

Directed by : Anand Gandhi
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1773764/

Indian films with english dialogues turns me off immediately, a reason why I never felt interested in this movie after watching trailers or hearing all the praise from industry people on social platform. Now that I have watched it, I would say it was good movie.. time not wasted but its not a masterpiece or special movie as it has been labelled by many for me.

If the parts of a ship are replaced, bit by bit, is it still the same ship ? The film is based on this idea referenced to human body. Three stories of three people, one with cornea transplant, one with liver cirrhosis and one with donated kidney. All these stories are wonderfully inter-connected in the final scene.

For me, the story of Aaliya (Aida El Kashef) was the best one. Love her reply to the interviewer who indirectly questions if she has limits, or the arguements she has with Vinay (Faraz Khan) or when she gets her eyes back how she feels about her photos she clicks now to her old photos or her struggle to find that one great photo clicked. My most fav moment is when she returns home from hospital after successful operation, and she checks all the photos she had clicked until now, I liked that the scene was extended one. The final shot of this story is very beautiful too.  Aida El Kashef delivers a very fine performance.

There's nice philoshopical conversations in almost all 3 stories which engages you very much. The story of Maitreya (Neeraj Kabi) ailing with liver cirrhosis is good until he accepts cure after having denying the meditation for the fact that its involves animal product. There's a young lawyer who strongly opposes his views to which he reacts very well but the change of heart didn't go well for me. Though Neeraj Kabi's performance was superb. Felt this story was 5-10 mins too long.  I liked the way only song of movie is used in this story, also special mention to cinematographer for capturing some great scenes where Maitreya who walks on and on through roads.

The humor which was to a minimum in 1st two stories, was highly used in the 3rd one involving Navin (Sohum Shah) who has just undergone a kidney transplant. How he gets interested to find about another person who had kidney donated, first thinking he might be the person mistakenly got his kidney and later to find the real person and get justice for him. I love the end to this story, but the friend with whom he goes to the real culprit got additional scenes that I felt were un-necessary. Editing is infact quite loose. The friend who initially helps Navin brings many laughs, specially the scene where they try to find the guy whose kidney was stolen. There's one awkward scene in this story which I wont have liked to be there, trying to get too real. But I liked conversations between Navin and his Ajji, specially the final words of Ajji.


Ship of Theseus is definately worth a watch for something different, there are some great moments to admire in the movie. Yes as a whole it fails to attract me, but I didn't regret watching it at all.


Verdict : NICE

Timepass but very average : White House Down

Directed by : Roland Emmerich
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/

Cale (Channing Tatum) goes to White House along with his daughter Emily (Joey King) for a interview to be a guard of President (Jamie Foxx). But he fails the interview, the irony is that white house gets attacked while he is checking history presentation of the house with his daughter. Now, he has to show his skills and save President, his daughter and every person that is inside the white house.

I dont know why but watching Jamie Foxx kept reminding me of Django Unchained, that affected concentration to certain level. Some of his scenes with Channing were humurous, specially when he is made to do things which a President wont have to do in normal cirumstances.

What the film lacked was dramatic moments, and good twists. The motive behind the attack isnt shown convincingly. Also, I would had liked to see more of Jason Clarke.

I liked Joey King the most, while Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum were good at best.


White House Down would probably count among the films that I may watch again but I may not be interested to watch category. Its good timepass but nothing worth spending 2 hrs.

Nothing new to offer, waste of time : Ramaiya Vastavaiya

Directed by : Prabhu Deva
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2357926/

Not a movie I expected from Prabhu Deva after the much entertaining Rowdy Rathore (yes I liked it, problem?). From the trailers itself, it looked like a film that wont appeal to me, and it lived upto those expectations.

Sona (Shruti Hassan) meets Ram (Girish Taurani) at her best childhood friend's wedding. Initially they don't like each other, but with time they find tuning and fall in love. But,  Ram comes from a rich family so her parents aren't ready to accept Sona whose brother Raghuveer (Sonu Sood) is a farmer. There's a scene where Ram goes out, and in the meanwhile her best friend's parents and few others insult and accuse her for the money she is after and not Ram's love. And Raghuveer makes a entry just when she tries to walk away crying. That is Maine Pyar Kiya revisited. And then the lead hero Ram goes over her village, and tells Raghuveer to give him one chance and he will stay there and earn money like a farmer. That is again Maine Pyar Kiya, plus the conversations between them reminds of Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya. Maybe the script-writer was in awe of Salman Khan when he wrote these scenes.

Music is decent, 1-2 songs are good. Though most of them aren't used well.

Girish Taurani plays Ram in a very over-top hamming manner, with all the wierd expressions and stuff he keeps doing. I will need to see him in a proper role to say about his acting, hard to tell on basis of this film despite being a full fledged role.

Shruti Hassan looks innocent but doesn't act it that well as many good actresses have done in past. Her non-acting visible in many scenes.

Prabhu Deva's direction was way below average, there's too much of comedy and drama forced into the movie. There are scenes that look like 'mast hai.. pasand aa gaya' and instead of stopping it at that moment, it goes on and now you feel like 'sab kharab kar diya'. And what was with 'Jeene laga hoon' lyrics used again and again. Some directors should be told that using a bg again and again is acceptable as it does still look good but a high pitch lyrics usage again and again makes it terrible.

Special mention to that unintentional comical character who is around Govind Namdev, couldn't stop laughing whenever he was shown. Also, the spoilt rich girl character wasn't less funny either.

Only Vinod Khanna and Sonu Sood to some extent were likeable.


Ramaiya Vastavaiya failed for me for a cliche old story presented in same manner with nothing new to offer and even low on entertainment quotient.


Verdict : INTOLERABLE 

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