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Trailer


Review

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 18th March, 2016
Time : 140 minutes
Director, Writer : Shakun Batra; Co-Writer : Ayesha Devitre Dhillon; Music : Various
Starring : Rishi Kapoor, Rajat Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Fawad Khan, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Sukant Goel, Fahim Shaikh



A sensational first half � witty, crazy, natural, superb dialogues, a fast-moving script, great characters, fabulous acting � followed by a second half, which goes in a different direction to what I would�ve preferred. Am not a fan of solving things via tears, melodrama, sorrow � perhaps there is another way, but our directors / writers have yet to get there. Anyways, should be grateful it doesn�t go awry � just in a different direction�



Rajat Kapoor and Ratna Pathak Shah live in idyllic Coonoor but argue like all married couples do, over things that most married couples do. Their sons, Fawad and Sidharth, live in UK and US respectively, are used to seeing their parents argue and also have their own unsettled issues. Fawad�s a successful author, his parent�s pet while Sid is still looking to find his vocation and has a huge chip on his shoulder about not being loved as much as his elder brother. However, what is fascinating is that, while all this may sound sad, morbid, the first half is anything but. Thanks to their grandfather, Rishi Kapoor (I want to grow old like him !) and Alia, who is the wild, zany one in a nearby tea estate.



Rishi Kapoor is endearing and full of life � so much so that he practices falling dead, just for kicks. Other pastimes include watching porn, smoking, weed, shooting his grandkids dead and making sure the hospital staff don�t forget him (the scenes with the nurse were excellent). Alia is always pulling someone�s leg � first Sid, then Fawad fall for her pranks and she ensures she always remains happy, sunny despite all around her



The stage is then set for the family drama to heat up in the second half, as secrets tumble out, things come to a head�


It�s been a long time since I saw such beautifully etched characters and crisp, natural dialogues in a Hindi film. The performances were fabulous � Rajat, Rishi were brilliant and Fawad, Alia, Sidharth also display their acting chops � both the men, especially, successfully put to bed all the unfair, unwarranted criticism that they�re just good looking boys who can�t act. Ratna is very good too, doing justice to the role given � her character is not someone who I would be fond of but can understand. Special mention of Sukant Goel who also shines through in a small role, as Sid�s best friend.


The film does hold a mirror up to how most of us live our lives, mired in our first world problems. Unhappiness, we discover, can be caused by so many factors � parental expectations, striving for approval, success, distrust, money issues, the search for love � all can prove to be so corrosive. But equally, isn�t it upto us to simplify things, to chart out our own course � to stop blaming others for our problems. Because, in the end, don�t we all just want to be happy ?

Rating : 3/10
Release Date : 22nd October, 2015
Time : 144 minutes
Director, Writer : Vikas Bahl; Co-Writers : Chaitally Parmar, Anvita Dutt; Music : Amit Trivedi;
Starring : Shahid Kapur; Alia Bhatt; Pankaj Kapur; Sushma Seth, Sanah, Sanjay Kapoor, Vikas Verma



This is a desperate attempt at cuteness

Frogs, an animation back story, dreams drawn on strips of paper, horses, damsels that need rescuing (or someone to make them sleep), glitzy sets, flying ladybugs, more abbreviations than in the Oxford dictionary, a cuddly kind of love, an unending supply of songs, Karan Johar, fireflies, Sindhi jokes rehashed, gold, a touching father-daughter relationship, imaginary cups of tea (with two cubes of sugar), fake moustaches and the gravelly voice of Naseeruddin Shah � everything is thrown at us in the vain hope that something sticks, something connects � anything to distract our attention from the fact that there is no story � and the only thing with real substance in the film is Sanah


Add to this potpourri, a dominating matriarch (Sushma Seth) � who has decided that Sanah, her grand-daughter (born to her son, Pankaj) will get married to a golden, glitzy, garish Sindhi family (headed by Sanjay Kapoor) - a kind of a business deal to save them from impending bankruptcy. The fact that Sanjay�s brother, the groom, Vikas, is a gym / protein shake obsessed, narcisstic idiot with eight (and a half) pack abs, and precious little else doesn�t make them think again. Nor does the fact that he so obviously doesn�t relish getting married to the slightly overweight but pretty, smart Sanah, make the entire clan even pause for thought.



Alia, meanwhile, is a poor, little, wee anath, brought home by Pankaj, against the wishes of his mom or his wife. Obviously, there is a predictable secret somewhere but no one really questions the otherwise jelly-in-front-of-his-mother Pankaj or dissuades him from doing so. Alia is an insomniac, reads a lot of books, is a trivia queen but like all good girls, is waiting for her prince to come and put her to sleep.


Enter Shahid. The wedding organizer in the rented mansion / hotel. Who also doubles up as lead dancer. He doesn�t hit it off with Pankaj. Does with Alia. And you can, pretty easily, fill in the rest of the blanks�


Alia and Sanah (Pankaj�s daughter in real life too) stole the show with their performances. Shahid and Pankaj tried just that teeny-weensy bit too hard. The rest hung around in the background for their two bit parts


This was an attempt at a fairy story. A kind of a reverse Sleeping Beauty � where an insomniac prince is needed to make the insomniac princess fall asleep � and learn to dream. Will work for you if you�re under 12. Or like songs. And big fat Indian weddings (pun intended). Or sets with twinkling lights, heart shapes and cuddly-wuddly stuff. But will stretch interminably and senselessly for all others. Vikas Bahl, after Queen, this Shaandaar failure ? Et tu ?!

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 10th July, 2015
Time : 159 minutes
Director: SS Rajamouli; Writer: V Vijayendra Prasad; Music : M M Keeravani
Starring : Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah, Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar



Karan Arjun (with a dash of Johar) meets Telegu film sensibilities meets Game of Thrones in a romantic, period drama, action thriller. Good fun, if you�re a fan of the genre and don�t mind being entertained emotionally (and loudly) vs logically�




Simplistic storyline goes somewhat like this. Young baby, carried by noble lady (Ramya Krishnan), is chased by bloodthirsty soldiers at the bottom of a giant, humungous waterfall. The baby, the only survivor, is adopted by a tribal chieftain but always yearns to go on top of the waterfall. After repeated failures, succeeds one day, when he�s grown to be a young, strong man (Prabhas), inspired by a feminine wooden mask, which falls from above. He finds another world at the top � revolutionaries (including his female, Tamannaah), struggling to overthrow a tyrant king (Rana Daggubati), who is protected by a loyal chieftain (Sathyaraj), sworn to protect the throne, despite his disapproval of the way he treats and has imprisoned an old lady, Anushka Shetty, who is awaiting the arrival of her supposedly dead son to avenge her�





Now, at every step of the way, add in hyper-emotion and hyperbole, and you get some sense of what awaits you�



Great special effects (think almost, about 60-70% The Mummy level) and our instantly likeable hero, Prabhas (switches seamlessly from romance to action at the flick of a switch), keep us entertained even when the story drags a bit. The dubbing feels a bit odd at first but you get used to it pretty soon. Tamannaah (could this spelling, be, anymore complicated?), luckily has dresses shorter than her name, and does justice to her fighter revolutionary role too. Sathyaraj & Ramya are very impressive, as is Rana in role in which he matches the hero step by step for the most part.





Period dramas, if done right, not only inspire awe and grandeur but also help transport you to other realms. A measure that they did succeed comes from the fact that you almost feel cheated when you realize that this is the first part of a two part series...and the story is left tantalizingly poised at an intriguing juncture�

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 28th November, 2014
Time : 114 minutes
Director, Writer : Rensil D�Silva; Co-Writer: Milap Zaveri; Music : Various
Starring : Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Kangana Ranaut, Sanjay Dutt, Neha Dhupia, Angad Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam



Sick of the systemic corruption, a gang of four, which becomes known as the Ungli (middle finger) gang, devise clever ways to name and shame individuals who�re doing wrong � whether it�s a smart-ass pension bureaucrat, an errant RTO official, or bribe-taking traffic cops.



While the heart is in the right place, and some of the tricks the Ungli gang pull off are fun, the screenplay falls into an all too common trap for Hindi films, lumbering what could�ve been a catchy, zippy storyline with back stories, dead fathers, wronged friends, sub-plots, a couple of romantic angles, and even an amazingly out of place item number�



Also, while the ensemble cast put together is highly competent, none of the actors really sets the screen on fire or breathes life into their character- all of them kind of doing only the minimum necessary to discharge their roles. The finale is fun but highly far-fetched, and while the film does enough to keep you in your seats for its two hour duration, there are plenty of occasions when your mobile seems to offer more entertainment than available on the screen, especially when some misplaced songs erupt like jarring jack-in-the-boxes�