Missed Reviews (Jan-Apr) - Hindi Movies

I hate to say this, but it has happened again.. missed writing on time and so here are my views on all the films I saw in few lines. There are films which deserve a complete review, and I certainly will do so whenever I re-watch those movies.

There will be spoilers in every movie post, so be careful.. read at your own risk only!


Baby :

Akshay likes doing 1-2 surprise movies where not just his performance but the film can be praised too and Baby falls in that category. Based on covert Counter Intelligence Unit, Ajay (Akshay Kumar) is part of an elite team whose job is to stop the terrorists who are a threat to India. Entire 1st half is consumed in setting all the characters with one un-necessary sub-plot of Ajay and his wife (Madhurima Tuli). The director Neeraj Pandey has this weird habit of spoiling movies with un-necessary romantic drama, remember Special Chabees, how the brilliant Manoj-Akshay tussle impact was affected with Akshay’s love for Kajal. Same happens here,  ‘Main pyar nahi karti’ melodramatic song and to make the matters worse, Ajay’s wife says dialogues like ‘bas marna mat’ again and again in movie. Phew! Keeping her aside, there’s not much to complain in this movie. 2nd half is edge of seat thriller, and does remind you of Argo a lot. Ofcourse they changed a lot to that, with a patriotic touch to it which to be frank I didn’t like. I would had liked the inspector go after the team and fail with the flight take off in time, a valid argument here would be that it would had been ditto Argo climax. Anupam Kher’s cameo is brilliant. Special mention however to Tapsee Pannu who totally surprises you in a very unexpected action sequence. Kay Kay Menon is kinda of wasted, Danny Denzongpa scenes with Murli Sharma were hilarious, specially when Akshay slaps Murli and later Murli is scared at his sight. Baby is worth a watch, if you liked Special Chabees then most likely you will like or love Baby too.
Verdict : 3.5/5


Rahasya :

Surprisngly good movie as the trailer looked average to me, plus I am more keen to watch Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Nyoda’ which is also on Aarushi murder case. Actually, Rahasya is loosely based on that incident, it does show a young girl murdered with her father accused and the police doing very loose job making CBI enter i.e Sunil (Kay Kay Menon). But the amount of fiction added is larger, plus the real culprit and its reasons comes as a surprise too. Kay Kay Menon is ofcourse the scene stealer, and good to see him in such a big role after quite a while. Climax is a let-down but still definitely a film that can be seen once. And yea, there are no songs in the entire movie, if I remember correctly.
Verdict : 3/5


Hawaizaada :

One of the most boring movies I have seen this year. It looked like Ayushmann Khurana was trying hard to imitate Ranbir as the lover boy, instead the scenes became utterly hilarious specially that scene ‘isse shaadi kar le’. Pallavi Sharda is much better in her performance after the debacle of Besharam. But its Mithun Chakraborty who gives some good fun moments. The plot of 1st plane built by an Indian had in it to be atleast a very good movie if not classic. But the first time director Vibhu Virender Puri needs to learn a lot about film-making and specially building a screenplay that doesn’t put audience to sleep. Even the music was a big let down, only ‘Maazaa my Lord’ was a decent track. Hawaizaada is pretty much avoidable movie, only Ayushmann fanatics will disagree.
Verdict : 1/5


Khamoshiyan :

The start of this movie till the end of ‘Kya khoya’ track made me think this could be a good horror movie, but not so as the movie from that point on derails down heavily. Sapna Pabbi irritates with her poor acting, she does look pretty hot though. The usual cliches of horror begins, and you know where they will be taking story. Gurmeet Choudhary actually suited the negative role a lot, unfortunately he got very less screen time. I have liked Ali Fazal in past films, like Fukrey and Bobby Jasoos but in this movie he fails to impress. The best thing about the movie, which isn’t new with a Bhatt camp horror movie, is the music, almost all songs are pleasant to listen to, and actually give you a good breather from the not so interesting plot. The wait for a good hindi horror movie continues.
Verdict : 1.5/5


Shamitabh :

A very good performance oriented movie, where Dhanush matches the scale of Amitabh Bachchan so well. Watch out how Daanish (Dhanush) shows his passion for movies in the track ‘Ishq e fillum’. R.Balki gets the humor spot on, as long as you accept the scientific solution shown for Daanish getting a voice in form of Amitabh (Amitabh Bachchan). The jealousy Amitabh goes through, for being rejected as hero once due to his looks, and now its his voice being a reason for Daanish success is to watch for.  The part where Daanish and Amitabh separate their ways due to the disagreement to each other’s way of working, and then try to work their way alone could had been avoided. I mean why show so much of both trying to make a unsuccessful movie and then let Akshara (Akshara Hassan) teach them why both are failing, and why their ego is not letting them say sorry to each other. Just like happens in Band Baaja Baaraat. They work best in team, and fail miserably when do on their own. The climax you can say is too emotional, I don’t think its bad though. But yea, I wasn’t happy with the way R.Balki reached to that part. All the songs that looked very average, are fun to listen with the movie. Amitabh’s performance is very good, specially good to see him in drunk role after quite a while. Akshara Hassan looks cute, and acts fine but her hairstyle was kinda of irritating to see, wonder how she manages it. Shamitabh ain’t as good as R.Balki’s last movie Paa, but with the kind of irritating trailers it had, I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a good movie in the end.
Verdict : 3/5


Roy :

Okay, this one beats Hawaizaada too in boredom. Yes the trailer wasn’t good but still Ranbir Kapoor movie, you don’t expect this. Why the hell did he sign this movie, I didn’t mind Besharam at all. Only other movie of Ranbir I hated to see him do was Anjaana Anjaani. Director Vikramjit Singh was hell bent on confusing the narrative, making it hard to know what is real and what is reel as he shows one story of Kabir, film director (Arjun Rampal) and Ayesha, documentary director (Jacqueline Fernandez). Other one of Roy, a theif in Kabir’s film (Ranbir Kapoor) and a look alike of Ayesha who falls in love with Roy in the Kabir’s film (not in real). So, the question is, all this confusion was necessary? A huge No! Forget Roy, even the movie Kabir makes was looking utterly crap, with a weirdly done action scene. The songs are good though, not talking of the over-rated ‘Tu hai ke nahi’, hate that track. But the other ones are pretty good! Arjun Rampal was pretty good in his performance, if the script and screenplay were good, it would had got noticed much more. Jacqueline looked uncomfortable to me, in a role that was harder for her to do. Lets just hope this is the last time we saw Ranbir in such a bad movie.
Verdict : 0.5/5


Dum Laga Ke Haisha :

Give us this Ayushmann Khuranna (Prem) more often, how good it was to see him in a character that speaks shuddh hindi. Also, the entire movie shooting happened in Haridwar. The other limelight of the movie was actress Bhumi Pednekar (Sandhya) who is so impressive in her debut, and how often do you see an actress gain weight for her 1st role as lead. And then there is the brilliant supporting cast of Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa and others. Love the scene when Sandhya-Prem keep changing the songs on cassette. How cool it was to see the opening credits with Kumar Sanu song as Prem plays a fanboy of Sanu, and Prem working at his cassette shop, rewinding us back to the 90s era when there was no cds or cd players. Also, the music by Anu Malik was a huge plus, specially Moh Moh ke dhaage. And the climax gets a huge lift by the inspiring voice of Kailash Kher with Nooran Sisters chorus in the title track during that lifting your wife competition and running.  I liked how they changed the track into the male version of Moh Moh ke dhaage once the race got over, that feeling of joy and love was wonderfully done. Yash Raj movies are definitely on a high these days, attempting projects you least expect coming out from them, lets just hope the pattern continues.
Verdict : 4/5


NH10 :

I had seen director Navdeep Singh’s last movie Manorama Six Feet Under, which I found way too slow despite being engaging. So, was worried if NH10 would go the same way, but its not the case, except for a very long opening credits which was good to watch too as Navdeep starts to build the atmosphere. Thats the beauty of this film, Navdeep is so good at creating that fear atmosphere even before the road journey of Meera (Anushka Sharma) and Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam) begins, the mood is already set. One must applaud the sound design for it, the background score and also the fact that Navdeep never changes the track of story after that well done night scene of Meera where she just escapes death. By now you know that Meera is going with Arjun on a trip with her mind-set not good, as seen by that swimming scene or the comment passed by a office colleague. Mostly I expected from the trailer that the bad incident happens due to Satbir (Darshan Kumaar) at NH10 road after Gurgaon, but it turns out to my surprise that it was Arjun’s ego that took them into trouble and there was no turning back then. The movie serves purpose of a great road journey horror movie where you are scared for the characters who have landed at a place where they will get no help, can they survive or not is the question that is in the mind. The scene where Satbir kills his own sister along with her boyfriend is the point where you feel sorry for Meera, for what is to come. Its hard to imagine how they even made Deepti Naval scare you when she comes to know about who Meera is. Love the final scene, beautifully done with ‘Maati ka palang’ track, and the extra moments Meera takes to kill Satbir, lighting a cigg and waiting to see him struggle to survive. Anushka’s performance (finally) was worth applauding, be that scene or the one where she says ‘Fuck you’ to the bad guys or the way she struggles on the night of her birthday. That birthday angle was a very good way to set the Interval too. Also, notice how at one stage, Satbir’s sister comes to Meera for help, but Meera stays away thinking she is a stranger so I shouldn’t step in any kind of trouble by helping. And later Meera becomes the one who seeks help from others but she doesn’t get any, not even from Police. Also later on, she refuses to take help from bunch of guys in a Jeep who looks wise didnt appear good guys, but turns out they were actually willing to help and weren’t bad, irony! Special mention to the Shilpa Rao version of ‘Le chal mujhe’ song, one of my favs. And nice of them to not include the popular ‘chhil gaye naina’ track in end credits, a mistake the makers of Badlapur did. NH10 continues the good run our Hindi Movies are having so early in 2015, not a film to be missed.
Verdict : 4/5


Hunterrr :

A movie on a sex addict, Mandar (Gulshan Devaiah) would had been terrific if and only if director didn’t go with a narration style that shifts from Present to 15 yrs back to present to 6 months back to 3 months further back to present to 10 yrs back and so much more. How the hell did the makers not realize that this kind of viewing would be a burden for the audience. Just when you concentrated and were about to love a portion of movie, they do a back jump to earlier life of Mandar. A linear narration would had worked lot more for the movie, with 1-2 past jumps at most. Gulshan Devaiah is a actor whose performances I have liked in past, and here too he is spot on in the kind of troubles he gets into at times specially when he goes after married lady, Jyotsna (Sai Tamhankar). Radhia Apte (Trupti) once again is very likable in a longer role after that cameo in Badlapur. Without a doubt, Mandar-Trupti jodi works the most for me, love the scene where Mandar is dreaming how she would react when he would tell her ‘Main vasu hoon’.  The climax is well constructed too, however I felt that ex bf angle of Trupti was unwanted. The humor and dialogues are wonderful, like the scene where Mandar tells 'always go for the 2nd best' among group of girls during his teenage times. Nice to listen Altaf Raja voice again, even though composition was pretty average. I liked the Gunmaster G9 kinda of feel given to title track, which is sung by Bappi Lahiri too. One thing is sure if I have to re-watch the movie, I would edit and remove all the past jumps, make the narration simple, should be a good watch then.
Verdict : 3/5


Dharam Sankat Mein : 

There are films where you ask yourself ‘Should I watch it or skip it’, and when you decide to watch, it turns out to be so good. Thats how it was for me with ‘Dharam Sankat Mein’, glad I went ahead to see it. The movie does remind you of Oh My God and to a lesser extent PK too. We again have Paresh Rawal (Dharam Pal) who aint religious and his family is very religious, and he finds all the babas dhongi, a particular Neel Anand Baba (Naseeruddin Shah) is whom his son worships because the girl who his son loves has her father following Neel Baba too. But this is just a sub-plot that aint much interesting, the main plot is the identity of Dharam Pal, i.e a Hindu, and suddenly he comes to know that he is a Muslim, which shakes up his life. He has a Muslim neighbor Mehmood (Annu Kapoor) whom he hated uptill now, but it is he who starts to help Dharam and ease out his tension, find his real father. There’s one excellent sequence where on one side Mehmood is helping Dharam all the things a Muslim guy should know about, including the language, namaaz etc, because the owner of place where his father is hospitalized asks Dharam that he can meet his father only when he turns into a complete Muslim person. So one one hand he learns from Mehmood to become a complete Muslim, and on other hand Dharam’s son brings a pujari home to make Dharam learn everything a hindu religious guy should know about. This creates plenty of laughable moments. Also, the scene where Mehmood takes Dharam to a friend’s gathering for a event to test how Dharam talks and behaves like a proper Muslim person. Paresh Rawal is outstanding once again, and brilliant supporting act by Annu Kapoor, the duo scenes together are a delight to watch. Naseeruddin hams as he has to in this role of baba, also has a very over the top entry scene, almost reminded me of Msg - the messenger. The last 10-15 mins is the weakest part of the movie, didn’t like the way they reveal Neel Anand Baba real identity, to be frank I wasn’t even interested in it, should had gone for a different ending. Leaving that asides, Dharam Sankat Mein is a pretty good watch.
Verdict : 3/5


Margarita with a Straw : 

Laila (Kalki Koechlin) suffers from cerebral palsy and has got a supportive family specially her mother played by Revathy. She lives in Delhi and has a crush on one of the band singers for whom she writes lyrics for. Love the scenes where she shows how much she loves him, and then how broken she feels to know he doesn’t love her. Also, one of her interesting  conversation with her male friend who suffers same problem telling her that she shouldn’t be trying to be close with normal people. The new and very different angle comes when Laila goes to USA for higher studies and meets Khanum (Sayani Gupta) who is blind. How Laila goes on her sexual discoveries, and feels in doubt thinking whether she loves Khanum or is she bi-sexual. There’s a brilliant scene where Khanum is heart-broken to know what Laila had done without telling her. Its in scenes like this where you admire this film, because it never tries to show sympathy for disabled person or trying to show how sweet/good they are. Instead we see Laila as like any other human, full of feelings, desires, wrong actions and betrayals too. I liked the bonding scenes of Laila and Khanum a lot, both Kalki and Sayani performed very well. Revathy was brilliant, love the scene when Laila thinks she has fooled her mother and doesn’t go inside college, while Revathy is hiding behind to see where she is going, and also her reaction when Laila tells her that she is in love with a boy. Its easily one of best performances from Kalki, love the scene where she tries to tell her mother 'main bisexual hoon’ and that last scene, her date with herself!
Verdict : 3.5/5 


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Movie Analysis : Avengers - Age of Ultron

Directed by : Joss Whedon
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2395427/


Good entertainer but doesn’t live upto the expectations the trailers promised. 

Spoilers ahead.. 


Tony Stark/Ironman (Robert Downey Jr) with the help of Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) attempts to create a peacekeeping artificial intelligence program that goes awfully wrong resulting in Ultron. Now, its the task of entire Avengers including new additions like Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and others to stop Ultron and his plans of destroying Earth
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Director Whedon had done building up the plot and getting all Avengers together in 1st part, and therefore we are taken by a surprise to see a action scene involving all the mighty heroes fighting at a Hydra compound in the very first sequence of the movie. But there’s a drawback to it too, it sets that 'tempo and expectations' very high and Whedon has to live upto it for entire movie. And he doesn’t quite do so!

The plot is so predictable with that typical Avengers fighting among themselves, breaking away and teaming up again. Despite a very good opening scene of Ultron, I missed Loki very much as Ultron didn’t quite have that personality even with excellent voice of James Spader. Also, there aren’t any clear valid reasons for the actions of Ultron.

Having too many characters in a movie did show its effects as there are times when the scenes of every avengers are cut so quickly. Though it does provide us with a terrific large scale action set piece in the climax with plenty of buildings shattered (over-dose to be frank). Its the 2nd act of the movie that has more flaws and slows down the narrative too. A unwanted and very awkward looking love angle between Bruce-Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) should had been avoided or dealt in a better way. Infact ideal scenario would had been develop it in a standalone movie of Black Widow or Hulk.

Without a doubt, the most exciting sequence of the movie is the tussle Stark faces to stop Hulk creating havoc across the city. Also, the one where Scarlet Witch breaks up into the minds of all avengers just to add dark layer to the avengers who all have gone through a lot. Black Widow gets affected the most, and makes you wanna see more of her past life and how she became part of Shield.

The smart humor is there, so are the great one-liners, like the one where Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) refers to a particular action situation with his bow and arrow. Also the hammer lift sequence is hilarious, notice the expression of Thor when he gets worried that Captain America might just do it, or when Vision (Paul Bettany) does it successfully.

Just like last avengers, there is one image to savor for us in the movie when Ultron says ‘This is what I wanted, all of you avengers against all of my army’.

Visuals Effects are fantastic, specially the entire city flying sequence.

Its Robert Downey Jr as expected to be most effective and loving among all avengers with his witty quick liners, having a go with Captain America as always. Mark Ruffalo is less exciting, I missed that sudden turning into monster kinda of scenes after saying a fantastic dialogue like ’Thats my secret captain, I am always angry’, though Hulk provides enough awe-inspiring moments.

In the rest cast, I found Elizabeth Olsen interesting and probably will have lot to contribute in future films. Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Scarlett Johansson were major disappointments, which is quite expected in such a big cast movie. The surprise appearance of Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) was pretty good, actually it would had been more of a surprise if he had no role at all.


Age of Ultron doesn't turn out to be as fantastic as Avengers was despite all the fun moments it is filled with. Its trailer promised a darker superhero movie, sadly thats not the case. Go with low expectations, chances are you would still come out satisfied and entertained. And do wait till mid end-credits, for a 10 second scene.


Verdict : 3/5

Movie Analysis : Detective Byomkesh Bakshy

Directed by : Dibakar Banerjee
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3447364/


Must watch for Dibakar’s brilliance, even though its not as great as his past movies. 

Spoilers ahead… 


When the news of Dibakar signing a 3 film-deal with Yashraj came, I knew something special is coming up. With the backing of Yashraj (great productional values and budget) and Dibakar’s style of film-making, you expect him to do wonders. But does he live upto the expectations ?

India’s first detective ‘Byomkesh’ is a fictional creation of 1930’s, by the Bengali bestseller writer, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. 

The story is based in 2nd World war torn Calcutta of 1940’s when Byomkesh Bakshy (Sushant Singh Rajput) fresh out of college takes up his 1st case. Ajit  Banerjee's (Anand Tiwari) father who is a chemical engineer is missing, he seeks help from Bakshy who starts connecting the clues. To his surprise, the case turns out to be very complex. How will Bakshy come out triumph in his 1st case against a very smart criminal in this bad, bad world of murder, international politics (involving Japanese drug lords) and seduction. 

I never read any of Sharadindu works, didn’t watch the televised series in 90’s either but that didn’t hinder my viewing at all. Dibakar sets up the mood perfectly with the 1st sequence of the movie, where Chinese people are loading opium from boat when a random shadow of a guy pops up. This guy kills Chinese telling them that he wants  his Calcutta back! Woah, the mood of the movie is set!

The film demands tremendous amount of patience which shouldn’t be a new territory if you have seen Dibakar’s Shanghai. If you are expecting a fast paced thriller, then you gonna be very disappointed. Also, you need to be very attentive as there is nothing insignificant shown in any frame, everything has a reason that you understand only in latter part of movie. 

The production design by Vandana Kataria demands extra praise, how well 1940’s Calcutta is re-created that for a moment I felt like I was myself present in that era. Notice how Dibakar shows the Calcutta streets through a tram window during opening credits. 

Normally we have a special entry for a detective in such movies, but Dibakar presents Byomkesh to us very subtly through a carrom scene in which he even gets slapped. Since its his first case, the journey of Byomkesh is full of vulnerable moments as he makes mistakes including his blood-phobia though that doesn’t stop him from investigating. Notice the scene when Kanai (Meiyang Chang) asks him how he came to know his real identity, Byomkesh answers and says ‘dheere dheere seekh raha hoon’, he is slowly learning the art of being a good detective. 

There is so much detailing done in each and every frame, that you feel like saluting Dibakar.  Each new clue excites you, as you see the movie from Byomkesh point of view. But, Dibakar does falter in the last act of movie. Why would Dr Guha (Neeraj Kabi) show up as a patriot to fool Byomkesh? Even if I accept it, then why won’t he kill Byomkesh knowing how big a threat he could be in his plans.

I loved the final scene of movie, a tad dramatic but it makes you wanna see next part straightaway. Also, the act of Neeraj Kabi in the climax was super-like! Some will say he hammed, but I think small dose of it ain’t bad at all.

Music as expected is used mainly in background, and at right moments with 'Chase in Chinatown’ standing out the most. Also the background score compliments the mystery feel of film very well. Nice of them to use my fav lines i.e female part from ‘Bach ke Bashy’ track.

The humor element I felt was slightly low, usually a spy/detective movie has lots of witty dialogues, like the climax when Ajit orders servant to make tea and not clean up all the dead bodies or blood.

There are several favorite moments in movie, one is when Byomkesh like a small kid excitedly shouts ‘khoon hua hai, khoon hua hai’ or the one where he and Ajit are being followed by a person, they enter inside a theatre place, get good make-over and change of clothes and come out following that person with Byomkesh dialogue ‘Chalo shikari ka shikaar karte hai’.

In performances, Sushant Singh Rajput nails the role perfectly, whether its his shyness while interacting with women or  smart mind that he uses at times too perfectly to his liking or how he comes up with quick ideas in tricky situations. Rajput brings alive Byomkesh character on screen, making it easy to connect and very likeable. 

Anand Tiwari is fantastic, specially his anger when Byomkesh would keep targetting his father as villain or dead. 

Swastika Mukherjee appeals with her acting skills and her beauty,  yet I was disappointed with the role written for her, specially when you think of it after end of movie. Her over dramatic scene asking  Dr. Guha ‘pyar karte ho ke nahi’ doesn’t help either. Wish she got a better debut, would love to see more of her in future Hindi movies. 

Neeraj Kabi is splendid both as smart Guha and crazy evil Yang Guang. Divya Menon is good in her small role, might have a bigger part to play in 2nd case if casting remains same. 

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is another great movie in bag of Dibakar Banerjee, however it does fall short of his previous gems. Even though the film failed at box-office, I would love Yashraj show faith in Dibakar and continue Byomkesh franchise.

Verdict : 4/5 

Trailer : Bombay Velvet

Not always does the MOST ANTICIPATED comes with the desired result. Same is the case for trailer of Bombay Velvet. Being a huge admirer of Anurag Kashyap cinema, I had been waiting for this since the day this movie was announced. Who doesn’t want to see Anurag go main-stream and have Ranbir as main lead. But the trailer says something else, mind you just the trailer, not the film!

The dark tone Anurag movies have isn’t visible in trailer at all, which was very surprising because even if its a commercial cinema I expect Anurag to insert all the dark flavors into it (ala Dev.D probably). The trailer has been badly cut, bg is very loud at start and end making the dialogues not easy to listen, and even felt the rhythm in cuts was missing.

The story is about journey of Johnny Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) who is a street fighter and wants to become a big shot of Bombay in the 1960’s.

Ranbir  shines in each and every frame, its bit early to say it but could be his career best performance even with that accent(though that means he has to surpass Jordan of Rockstar). Love the shot where he is practicing fighting while having cigg, and when he tells Anushka that it is just the start of becoming big shot, how far he still has to go. And the scarface tribute (maybe like GOW-Godfather car shoot scene), where Ranbir goes mad, oh how I would love if that is as long a sequence as it was in Scarface.

Retro feel is visible entirely, specially loved Anushka’s look who plays a jazz singer though I am slightly worried that maybe they revealed too much about her character unless Anurag did it intentionally.

Bombay of 1960’s looks spectacular, hopefully movie won’t be just limited to punchlines else we already have seen OUATIM.

Karan Johar could prove to be miscasted going by his shots, mainly for the dialogue delivery, he was looking very awkward while saying ‘main jo bhi karta hoon, khud ke liye karta hoon'.

Love the romantic bg that plays after 40th sec, I was hoping its Amit Trivedi but his tweet suggests that the bgs used in trailer are by Raju Singh, so have to wait for music release to know better.

Raveena Tandon(cameo), Kay Kay Menon (just one quick shot visible) and other cast aint shown in trailer.

I still fully believe in Anurag Kashyap, the ensemble cast this film has, plus Thelma as editor and Amit Trivedi as Composer.. this trailer would be the only low thing about the movie. And fingers crossed Karan might be likable in the movie. Lets just wait and watch!



Abhi toh apan Small se Large hua hai.. abhi Patiala hona baaki hai!

Movie Analysis : Badlapur

Directed by : Sriram Raghavan
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3678782/

Sriram Raghavan of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddaar’ is back!

Spoilers ahead… 


Revenge based themes have been happening a lot in our films since some years now, like Gangs of Wasseypur, Agneepath, Ek Villain, Haider etc. But Badlapur is very different from all of them, and it has the flavor of Sriram Raghavan that was found missing in Agent Vinod.


Raghav/Raghu(Varun Dhawan) loses his wife Misha (Yami Gautam) and son in a bank robbery, they both are shot dead by Liak (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and his partner Harman (Vinay Pathak). Liak is arrested but he hides his partner’s name. Raghu seeks revenge from Liak and wants to find his other partner at any cost even if he has to take a unusual path for it.

The tagline of movie says ‘Don’t Miss the Beginning’, which serves its purpose in a very skillfully directed long opening wide angle shot where it takes almost a minute for us to make out what is about to happen until Misha enters into the frame, or if you are watching very closely when 2 guys on bike enter and pull the shutter of a bank down.

If you belong to the category who prefers to see complete romantic story before the tragedy appears then Sriram will disappoint you, as he doesn’t believe in these cliches.  Raghu-Misha story gets least possible screen time, that too in 2 mins flashbacks. Consider the scene where Raghu is having coffee rewinding to a old memory and suddenly comes back to reality, makes a phone call, and enters song ‘Aaj mera jee karda’, its like Sriram keeps the key of romantic moments hidden with him and uses very rarely in narration, pretty much similar to how Raghu keeps his memories locked in a room shown earlier in the movie.

And what this does is that we end up watching almost 90% of Varun Dhawan in a not seen before role, most of it in that bearded look. Something I feared won’t happen before going for the movie, and how happy I was.

There are various dark humor elements inserted in very unexpected situations, like Liak’s conversations with fellow jail people or his hilarious attempts to run away from jail,  or Liak telling the guy who follows him everywhere that they should can go to Pune on sharing to save money, or wife of Harman so willing to sleep with Raghu to save her husband that she tells him ‘bedroom upar hai’.

Another high point is the various sub-plots that have their own significance while the Raghu-Liak tussle goes throughout the movie. Be it Liak-Jhimli (Huma Qureshi, playing a prostitute role) relationship where they share light moments in form of Liak’s ‘gandi baat kar na’ or post 15 yrs gap scenes where they miss the old times. Liak’s relation with his caring mother results in a very well done scene where his mother’s constant blabbering against his father makes him question her if she even remembers anything good about his father, and the decision he takes following that conversation turns the film around. Also the role of Shobha (Divya Dutta) in lives of Liak and Raghu, who is willing to find whereabouts of Raghu so that she could help Liak who suffers from cancer, a punishment for his deeds even before Raghu takes revenge. And Inspector Govind Mishra (Kumud Mishra) who wants to retire by solving the robbery case, and how he ends up seeking retirement fund with the robbery money.

Sriram’s movies always have references to old hindi movies, and he has a knack of doing it very stylishly, same is the case here when Raghu tells a landlord he wants house for 20 yrs and its cut to Sholay’s gabbar dialogue scene on Liak. Or the use of ‘Ek ajnabee haseena se’ song, and the brilliant bg piece used when Liak comes out of jail (was it RD Burman?).

Pooja Ladha Surti has done a commendable work in editing department, she cuts scenes before the action in them has even ended, and it works because there’s no need for us to see further, plus it provides a great pace to narration. Also love how she cuts the cafe scene.

Dialogue writing is good, but the standout one is when Liak comes looking for Jhimli after 15 yrs and gets sarcastic reply from a new prostitute (whose name is Imli), ‘Yeh maratha mandir nahi hai’,  damn hilarious!  The background score is top notch, but special mention to the sound mixing as I loved how they used the passing of train sound from Raghu’s home in different ways into narrative specially the one before Jeena song. Also,  the mixture of heavy rain sound and a religious song (don’t know lyrics) to return Raghu’s character builds that revenge emotion very well. Another religious bg is very well used in latter part of 2nd half too.

Every song by Sachin-Jigar is a gem in this film, and all are used in short background pieces only. 'Jeena Jeena', my least liked song from album is brilliantly used in a very emotional manner, probably the only scene where Sriram lets Raghu go deep into his memories as he dances with imaginary Misha, almost brings tears to eyes. 'Judaai' kinda of disappointed me, should had got more out of it. ‘Badla' is aptly used, specially those beats when we see word ‘Revenge’ written. 'Jee Karda' starts at very wrong note, making a sharp unpleasant sound but is cut brilliantly with no lip synch which I hated in its promotional video.

The promotional video is however used in the end-credits which is a shame as it reduces the impact of a very powerful and different ending dialogue scene.


There comes a point in the movie when Raghu indulges in a violent act which isn’t less evil if not more than what Liak did to his family (Remember Prisoners, something similar happens in it too). Its not a easy choice to make in the end, on whose side you wanna be, because both Liak and Raghu are grey characters, they are good as well as bad. Infact if you consider the timeline of film, Liak’s graph goes from bad to good and vice-versa for Raghu. As the years pass by to death of Misha, Raghu becomes heartless to the core, and in a superbly cut ‘date' scene with Shobha, you feel scared for her as it might be her turn to die, that reflects as to what extent Raghu’s character has changed by then.

Another great aspect of the movie is great use of violence and sex. Two scenes specially standout, one is Raghu meeting Jhimli to find out Liak’s partner, and other is the brutal violent hammer scene of Raghu which comes as such a surprise that it shakes you off your seat (Even after knowing from trailer, that a certain hammer scene will come at some point).

Kudos to casting director for such a great ensemble cast.

Varun Dhawan shines wonderfully in this new attempt, going away from those larger than life comic roles. His dialogue delivery does falter at some places in film, but if you see the larger picture, he succeeds very well in portraying his revenge and mad lover part. His imitation of Liak when he re-meets him after span of 15 yrs was too good, and when he plays around Harman (Vinay Pathak) and his wife Kanchan (Radhika Apte) at their home in one of movie’s most insane sequence. Also, he excels in the emotional hospital sequence. Special mention to that smile he gives after telling Liak that Harman won’t come.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is the real star of the movie when it comes to acting, completely flawless (as if its a surprise). Be it his numerous funny scenes, or his equation with his mother and Jhimli, specially love his 1st escape attempt scene, his reply to a fellow guy in jail ‘Bangkok mein bahut mazza aaya’ and his final dialogue to Raghu.

Huma Qureshi is very good in her supporting role, her chemistry with Nawaz has always been terrific. And how good her dialogue to Raghu is at end of movie.

Vinay Pathak has been one of my most fav actors, good to see him back and expectedly he does well, only disappointment was that it was a very small role. Watch his expressions when Raghu enters lift and Harman for a second thinks ‘I have seen this person but where.. Oh no, its him. Its that girl husband who died in robbery.. Does he know me, how can he know me. But if he does, then I am gone’, that was a super scene and very rightly done with Jee karda bg.

Don’t really remember Radhika Apte in a movie before, but here she does make her presence felt in a loving wife ready to go to any extent to save her husband. Her scene to watch out is, when she tries to convince Harman that Raghu didn’t even touch her but Harman cries and gives a non approval look, the irony of the scene is that just moments before Kanchan was pleading Raghu to forgive her husband because she trusts him that he didn’t kill Misha and his son.

Finally after Rockstar, Kumud Mishra gives a performance to applaud (he was good in Filmistaan too though). Watch out his superb desperation scene with Liak, when he literally pleads him to say ‘bol tune khoon nahi kiya hai’.

Yami Gautam, Divya Dutta, Murli Sharma, Pratima Kazmi, Ashwini Kalsekar and Zakir Hussain chip in with good cameos.


Badlapur is the first of brilliant dark thriller to come out this year and most likely will top the list by the end. Its unpredictable, brutal and insane at times. Not for usual masala audience, but for rest this film should work. Sridhar may not have outdone his previous works of ‘Ek Haseena Thi’ and ‘Johnny Gaddar’, but personally Badlapur might be my fav film of Sridhar till his next movie atleast.


Verdict : 4.5/5

Movie Analysis : The Theory of Everything

Directed by : James Marsh
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/

A biopic of a famous physicist that unfortunately prefers to show his love life rather than achievements. 

Spoilers ahead … 


Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne), a student of cosmology at Cambridge in 1960’s, falls in love with a art student Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). But soon its learnt that Stephen is suffering from symptoms of ALS and would not live for more than 2 years. Yet Jane agrees to marry him and thereby go through lots of years of pain and longing for a lover.

When a film is based on a real famous physicist Stephen Hawking, and with a title ‘The Theory of Everything’, what you expect is a very good biopic on his achievements in life with a sub-plot that showcases his love life. But instead this film ends up focussing completely on his two marriages and its struggle and that too in a very disappointing manner.

There’s one scene where Stephen’s roomie recalls him about a particular college work that was supposed to be done, and we see him quickly attempt to do it as he was more of a carefree guy then, cut to scene where he stuns every student including professor with the accurate answers he did. We aren’t told how he got this genius mind, instead we just get to see glimpses of how good he is, whenever director feels like taking a break from Stephen-Jane disaster marriage, like that blackhole speech he gives later on.

What’s disappointing is that the science aspect from Stephen’s POV is so far and few in the movie. Even if for a second you forget his achievements, and see the movie from the angle of the tragedy his life was while with Jane, its almost impossible to have any feelings for her. Because in all her scenes before marriage with Stephen, I never saw that love feel from her side for Stephen. And then all of sudden to see her ready to sacrifice her life for 2 yrs by marrying Stephen because she loved him, had no impact whatsoever. I could feel sorry for Stephen’s  declining health year by year, but watching Jane feel probably guilty (over her decision to marry him) or that longing to go away from this tired life that starts and ends at taking good care of Stephen, it didn’t make me feel bad for her. The new love angle only worsened her plot for me.

It would had been ideal if director James tried to show more love from Jane in early part of Stephen’s life when she met him, he rushed too soon to the denial phase. Now I felt that she hardly loved Stephen or tried coping with his health, and gave up too easily. The likable part of Felicity Jones performance was when she tries to take care of Stephen during 1st year of marriage, and the scene where she comes to a realization that no matter how much she tries, the marriage won’t work now.

What keeps me going in this movie is only Eddie Redmayne’s performance, the head tilt mannerisms were perfect, and so was that leg movement, or the smile. I hardly know real Stephen Hawking, but can bet that Eddie brought the character on screen completely with his performance. He makes the scenes where his organs gradually stop working look very uncomfortable to watch, reference to that scene where on his own he goes to college without anyone’s help or climbing stairs of home. Won’t be a surprise if he wins a oscar award.


The movie may work for you if you see it more like a dramedy rather than a biopic, but for me The Theory of Everything would had worked only if it was more a biopic of a physicist with details of his findings and success.



Verdict : 2.5/5 

Movie Analysis : Dolly ki Doli

Directed by : Abhishek Dogra
Imdb link -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4332114/

Sonam and Rajkumar makes this average movie watchable.. 

Spoilers ahead… 


Story revolves around Dolly (Sonam  Kapoor) who believes in fake marriages, and running away with belongings of groom and their family on the 1st night of marriage, and therefore named as Looteri Dulhan. She is accompanied in it by her team that includes a acting brother Raju (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) who actually loves her. But Dolly has a past story too behind this profession.

First time director Abhishek Dogra hits the right note with the start of movie, with Dolly’s victim Sonu (Rajkumar Rao), a haryanvi guy wanting to have romantic time with her, only getting denied as Dolly believes in marriage first. Even the hunt to get the next bakra Manjot (Varun Sharma) is well done.

Where the film actually misses out badly is, not trying to explore more out of Dolly-Raju subplot which was almost untouched. Infact it was surprising to see Raju first express his feelings, then betray Dolly in jail, and then return to team up with her again. Another plot that film didn’t work out was Sonu’s return to life of Dolly when she marries Varun. Inspite of all what Dolly did to him, Sonu still had love for her and wanted her back, but again we hardly see much story in that regards.

Instead we get the monotonous, another bakra and this time getting caught scenario that has Saif in a special appearance. The climax was a let down too, the message of ‘this is what I love and is good at, even though knowing it is bad’ was kinda of ridiculous.

The title song is hilarious, a montage of uncountable guys Dolly marries and runs away from.

Sonam Kapoor gives a good performance, which is expected as these roles are tailor-made for her.

Varun Sharma still had the hangover of Fukrey. Pulkit Samrat appeared like he was made to watch Salman’s Dabangg before started shooting and he forgot he was playing a new cop character.

Rajkumar Rao was superb in his haryanvi accent, wish his character had more significance in 2nd half though. There is a surprise moment in terms of his excellent dance you see for 1st time (whose glimpse we have already seen in one of song from 'Gangs of Wasseypur II').

Special mention to the lady whose only dialogue in movie is ‘beti de di, sab kuch de diya’, too funny.

Dolly ki Doli could had been a very good film, but average scripting and casting lets the film down. Still, it has some good moments involving Sonam and Rajkumar mainly.


Verdict : 2.5/5