Movie Analysis : Knives Out

Directed by : Rian Johnson
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8946378/

Just the thought of lying makes me puke..

Spoilers ahead.. 


Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is found dead at his estate right after his 85th birthday. Detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) gets a anonymous letter from some family member to investigate as slowly we learn who killed and why through some hilarious dialogues and sequences.

I enjoy dark crime mystery thrillers more than the comedy ones which 'Knives Out' falls under, yet I did end up enjoying the movie for most part. The suspense level about the death is actually revealed very early with 30-40 mins into the movie, but you know there's more to it and either something is not what is it being told as or someone is hiding key details.

With a dysfunctional family, the suspect goes to everyone, and we have seen many films like that before. Also the staff that works there could be involved too. The film takes a while to get going though, needs your patience to pass the interrogative first 15 mins.  Its the moment character of Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) comes the proceedings start to get fun to watch. Reason being Marta who has been one of nice helper and used to give Harlan medical dosages, has a wierd condition, she always pukes if she speaks a lie. Now in a story where killer is to be found, Detective Benoit uses her like Watson (Sherlock way) and it helps lots of things getting revealed.

Its super fun to watch Ana de Armas play that role, specially love a scene where she holds the puke after lieing to get the confession out of somebody.

In the family, Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon) and Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette) standout in the performances. Though I felt most of them could had been given more screen-time, but thats the problem you have when you try to have a big ensemble cast. Its a joy to watch Chris Evans play a spoiled son mouthing out plenty of bad words at his own family.

Daniel Craig, who is plain observer for first 10 mins, gets into the act, playing a detective who doesn't seem to be going right direction until the climax where we see him decode every event.

Knives Out works for its good humor, some hilarious dialogues, interesting situations characters land into and twists that keep you guessing till the end even though you feel you have got the story in your mind.


My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Mardaani 2

Directed by : Gopi Puthran
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5668770/

Asthma hai na tujhe, le paint khaake marr..

Spoilers ahead...

Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) gets appointed as new DSP of Kota and soon gets to know about the rape and brutal murder of a young girl. She assures to the media that she would bring the killer down to her knees. And that hurts the ego of the psycho killer Sunny (Vishal Jethwa) who now will challenge her to the limits and in process hurt more girls.

What I loved about last film in this series was that you were quite involved with the antangonist Tahir Raj Bhasin to an extent that even though he was always wrong, yet the cat and mouse chase was a lot fun to watch and ofcourse he gave a brilliant performance as well which then made Rani Mukherjee's act even more to applaud and you actually let the 'heroic' act she gets to have in the climax work.

But in Mardaani2, everything is different, here we got Sunny who is pure evil to an extent that he would eat flesh (possible Hannibal fan) and breaks fourth wall to talk with us directly, an idea that gets irritating after a while. Then we see Shivani in Sherlock mode easily identifying the crime and people involved. Infact leaving asides 2-3 moments, her act is shown as a superhero cop who is just failing to catch the culprit because that would happen in last 5 mins since its a movie.

There's a big speech Shivani gives at one point to a news channel interview, telling the lifestyle of a woman and comparing it to a guy, and I have no problem with that as most of it was truth. But, how does that help the movie and the narrative, or if they could had altogether kept focus on the troubles a female faces even after been DSP, and let the guy get caught without all the drama.

Being such a serious topic, its strange how the director and writer duo mess up so much that the emotions that certain scenes should have brought just don't because it just feels like you aren't watching something real.

Vishal Jethwa is good in his performance as debut, slightly one note to my liking though. Rani Mukherjee just overplays the character this time but more of that is to blame the writing team.

Mardaani2 isn't unwatchable, its just a disappointment after having seen how well the franchise (I expect more films in future) started.


My Rating : 4.5/10 

Movie Analysis : Pati Patni Aur Woh

Directed by : Mudassar Aziz
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9680136/

Sense of humor.. 

Spoilers ahead..


Chintu Tyagi (Kartik Aaryan) is  middle class man who is not much happy with his life that lacks fun and has become boring, whether its at work or his wife Vedika Tripathi (Bhumi Pednekar) who herself is a teacher. She keeps telling Chintu that she would love to live in Delhi than Kanpur. And then enters Tapasya Singh (Ananya Panday), who has come from Delhi, on a work basis and meets Chintu. He is immediately attracted towards her and ends up lieing about Vedika having an affair to get sympathy and be able to spend more time with her.

Its a remake of the well known movie by same title in the 70s that starred Sanjeev Kumar. I haven't seen that movie, but knowing the story, there's definately one change, in that one it was the secretary at work he had affair with, and here its a client who meets regularly for finding a plot and thereby develops a bonding. In a way its more progressive, the melodrama even in a scene when Vedika finds out the truth, is very underplayed which was good to see.

But I just felt the comedy kept falling flat with most of the punchlines not really working. Kartik Aaryan is in his usual 'I have a fucked up life mode', and a monologue again thankfully shorter one this time. Its become tiring to watch him, maybe Imtiaz's movie would bring some change. Also it doesn't help when actress is Bhumi Pednekar who I somehow find not interesting enough even though she acts well. Maybe its the effect of her last few films. While Ananya Panday looks great, actingwise found her wooden throughout.

Shubham Kumar who plays 'Rakesh', a student in Vedika's class, in a somewhat of spoof from 'Main Hoon Na' was best part of the movie, albeit it was a small role. Also, Aparshakti Khurana playing best friend of 'Chintu' gets some good scenes, he is getting typecasted however in similar kind of roles everytime.

Pati Patni Aur Woh fails for me, despite it not taking a vulgar path which most other movies would having the affair story, if only the punchlines were strong and a lead cast was different.

My Rating : 4/10 

Movie Analysis : Hotel Mumbai

Directed by : Anthony Maras
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5461944/

Here at Taj.. guest is God.

Spoilers Ahead.. 


Its a movie that would be a different experience depending on if you were in Mumbai during those attacks day, or watched it unfold on TV in some other part of India, or you are a non-indian having Taj Hotel as one of the places to visit in future.  I myself been in Mumbai for almost 10 years, but in 2008 I didnt live here, ended up watching on T.V how horrendous and painful it was to see the terrorists do havoc.

Director Anthony Maras begins the movie with the boat scene on which Kasab and rest terrorists came into Mumbai, they are on a call where their boss is reminding what they have to do and basically brainwashing them which he must have done while making them join the training.  Maras builds the narrative 2 way, the arrival of the terrorists onto the Mumbai streets/cabs as you know where its heading and on other hand the head chef of Taj Hotel, Oberoi (Anupam Kher) telling the chefs and waiters how the guests are God and there shouldn't be any mistake from their sides.

You are literally waiting for the misery to start, how the happy faces at the hotel busy in their routine life will turn into 'Will I make it out alive?' There's a chilling sequence where the lady is hiding inside a closet with hands on mouth of the little kid so that he doesn't cry, and you wonder if he could die due to loss of breathe instead. Not much focus is given to the VT Station attack which is good in a way or it would had been a lot to watch. Having said that, Maras does show a nice detailed look at the attacks with good use of camera, something that Rgv's film some years back couldn't do.

We see terrorists knock on doors as room-service guys who then shoot down the guests as they open door, the lives meaning nothing to them like its a video game, you just kill the people on other side. Its very brutal and tough to watch knowing it had happened in real.

Oddly, the main leading actors don't really get enough scenes to shine through, Armie Hammer especially as the tourist american guy is totally wasted. Dev Patel also should had got few more scenes whether before or after the attacks. Nazanin Boniadi who plays wife of Armie Hammer, gives a good performance, love the scene where she tries to save herself through prayers not letting the terrorist kill her.

Hotel Mumbai mainly works because its well directed, and tries to not divert away from the main plot at anytime, it could had been lot better though if the main characters were written efficiently to make us care more about them. Definately not a easy watch and probably I won't see the movie again but its always nice to see how in such a situation there were some brave people who cared to keep others around them alive.

My Rating : 6.5/10

Movie Analysis : Frozen 2

Directed by : Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4520988/

When will you see yourself as I see you ? 

Spoilers ahead.. 

A mysterious voice leads Elsa (Idina Menzel) to find the place its coming from. Anna (Kristen Bell) isn't keen to let her sister go alone which means Olaf (Josh Gad), Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and Sven join in too. The adventure takes all of them to an enchanted forest covered with mist, as they all try to find the answers.

I personally liked the first part mainly for the bonding of the sisters, Olaf part and the music.... story wise it wasn't that special. Frozen2 very much delivers the same pattern!

Except for Kristoff musical number, everyone else was good though none as good as 'Let It Go' was.. 'Show Yourself', 'Into the unknown' and 'When I am older' were my favourite tracks.  Kristoff whole sub-plot was probably the weakest in the film. Instead I would had liked to see more of Elsa and her adventures that I felt weren't too many this time.

Totally adore Olaf character, but the best moment was when he enacts all the events of first movie. Also, when he talks about change which is basically the theme of the movie. Not much to savour in terms of emotional moments, and the story for most part is predictable including the mysterious voice everyone is after.

Even though the screenplay at some places isn't tight enough, its the great visuals that still keeps you engaged along with the Elsa-Anna scenes with the funny Olaf bringing smile on the face almost every time his character is on screen.

Frozen 2 may have its problems, and won't be my pick out of the two films.. but its still good enough to sit through for its duration of 1 hr 40 mins.

My Rating : 6/10

Movie Analysis : Pagalpanti

Directed by : Anees Bazmee
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9495690/

Tera bimaar mera dil, mera jeena hua mushkil.. 

Spoilers ahead.. 


Raj Kishore (John Abraham) is considered to bring bad luck to anyone he tries to work with.

Thats basically the main one line plot around which director Anees Bazmee and the writers tried to construct a 2 hr 30 mins long movie which not to my surprise fell flat right from the first firecracker sequence that tries to be funny but isn't, just like the rest of the movie.

If I had to count the number of times I laughed at the comedy scenes, then I would struggle naming 5 such instances. Pagalpanti just fails to deliver, lacks good punchlines and tries to use 'madness' to escape the fact that the film didn't deserve to be made once the writing team (whatever mood they were in while writing) got it done. Makes me wonder why don't such films ever get shelved and interesting ones usually do.

I totally felt like banging my head somewhere when in a scene out of no-where Patriotism comes out of every character, as if saying we are failing in the comedy department lets try this out to let the frustrated looking audience in theatre cheer up, well better luck next time!

Looking at the positives, there's Arshad Warsi who gets some laughs in few scenes specially that singham lion pose. Then, the glamor quotient was good, clearly both Kriti (plays a irritating dumb girl role) and Urvashi (another aatma role) were casted for that and not anything else. And Urvashi's 'Bimar Dil' (re-created version from Sridevi's 'Chaalbaaz') was actually quite likeable, guilty pleasure I guess I will call it.

When you got nothing to say about Anil Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla's performance, then that itself sums up a movie! Ileana is totally wasted in a nothing role and a very less screen-time, maybe she declined to be glamdoll like other 2 actresses and paid price (good one I would say) for it. I don't think John Abraham has ever worked for me in comedy roles, and this film proves it again.

Anees last movie Mubarakan despite how bad it looked from trailer was still a decent watch with some laughs, but with 'Pagalpanti' he has just made what could easily be his worst film (No Problem would be a close 2nd to it). He's got 'Bhool Bhullaiya 2' next, so he better get his mojo back or the angry akki fans are coming.

My Rating : 2/10

Movie Analysis : Bala

Directed by : Amar Kaushik
Imdb link -> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9420648/

Badalna kyun hai, kyun badle .. 

Spoilers ahead.. 

Balmukund Bala Shukla (Ayushmann Khurrana) is balding prematurely and takes on every possible remedy on earth to solve the problem and lead a 'hero' kind life he used to had during school days that included mimicking actors, having girlfriends and roaming on streets with style.

Such a good concept and Ayushmann who's been on fire in last 2-3 years, with director who's last film Stree was very entertaining, and a brilliant trailer, all had me in high hopes which Bala couldn't fulfill at all.

Where did it go wrong? Hate to say it but for once Ayushmann performance didn't work for me, it just felt like a long chain of sameness coming out in the character, and the fact that after a while there's a sense of overdose of 'how to solve this hair loss problem' that it gets tiring and boring to watch.

If there's something to love in the film then its Pari Mishra (Yami Gautam) who in the best scene of the film tells why she loves the fact that her usp is her looks and she won't shy away from admitting that her looks gets her comments on social media and she dreams of marrying a good looking guy. That monologue you could totally buy it, and also it was fun watching her tik-tok sequences with Bala where they do plenty of 90's hit songs, mine favorite being Ram Lakhan's 'Tera naam liya, tujhe yaad kiya'. Oh I wish the movie's main character was Pari and we were told the story from her point of view.

On the other hand there was Latika (Bhumi Padnekar) a dark skinned girl who hates society's take on 'good looks only matters' and has constant fights with Bala who during childhood calls her 'kaali'. Now my problem isn't with what she thinks, because she is right but the fact that Bhumi was casted to play this role where in many scenes the overdose of paint made her dark skin hard to look it plus the irony that they couldn't cast a dark skinned lady for the role.. Already her character wasn't strong enough and this just made you want her scenes just end quickly. Also, I ain't much of a Bhumi admirer minus her debut film.

There are few fun moments involving the supporting cast of  Saurabh Shukla, Seema Bhargava, Javed Jaffery, and actors playing Bala's brother and Bala's grandfather.

'Bala' to me is the most forgettable Ayushmann movie since 'Hawaizaada' which was a long time ago so thats a positive if any I can take away from this film apart from Yami's performance. It tries hard to give the message of 'why should we change ourselves for others, and not just love ourselves for the way we are' but sadly the route taken to this message doesn't work at all.


My Rating : 4/10