Bollywood World

Rating : 6 /10
Release Date : 15th April, 2016
Time : 143 minutes
Director, Writer : Maneesh Sharma; Music : Vishal-Shekhar (songs), Andrea Guerra (background score)
Starring : Shahrukh Khan, Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tiku, Sayani Gupta



A young boy (Gaurav) is obsessed with Shahrukh Khan, the star (named Aryan in the movie), and coincidentally looks like him too. In fact the high point of his life is winning the local star look-alike show. And then, on SRK�s birthday, he decides to make the trip to Mumbai and meet his idol � with dreams of handing him the trophy he won, hugging him etc. Things don�t go to plan (understatement of the century) and when he returns from Mumbai, he decides to make the star pay � especially as he was found wanting on one of his favourite sign off lines � �I am what I am because of my fans, if the fans aren�t there, I am nobody�.



It�s a fascinating premise � who in India doesn�t recognize obsession after all, and what if that infatuation turns sour - and it�s fabulously enacted by Shahrukh, but thanks to two bloated chase sequences and an end that goes nowhere, it pulls you down. There is a strong message somewhere � but it�s lost in all the filmy touches and several implausible moments.



Our boy has the cutest, most supportive parents imaginable � and his normal life pretty much revolves around his idol. Several touching scenes � the imaginary conversations in our head, the wall to ceiling posters, the fighting with others for our star � we would recognize these traits, after all, we all have idolized someone at some point. And, we�ve all felt at some time or the other, that our stars have let us down, they sometimes let success and adulation get to their head, become arrogant, forget why, who made them big in the first place. And in this film, the star�s biggest fan, decides to teach him a lesson.


SRK is very good, after a long while. It�s been ages since he did a film with some meat, substance and this couldn�t have been an easy project to say �Yes� to � so kudos to him for agreeing to it, making it come alive with a great performance. Unfortunately, at script level, there were too many inconsistencies � events happen that have a close to zero chance happening in real life � and the end just didn�t connect. Wasn�t something else possible here ?


As a total aside - it was nice to see Dubrovnik, a lovely, quiet Croatian coastal town feature in a Hindi film � Star Wars VIII, Game of Thrones have also been shot here, quite extensively too.


Obsessions, especially those not our own, don�t make for easy viewing, especially on the big screen. Several moments when you wish the character didn�t do what they did, you cringe, face-palm, which ensures that the repeat viewing potential of this movie is nil. But then, as our star obsessed fan points out several times � what they do isn't done or possible for others to understand. And at the end, who are we to judge ?

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th February, 2016
Time : 156 minutes
Director, Writer : Alejandro G Inarritu; Co-Writer : Mark L Smith (based in part on the novel by Michael Punke); Music : Alva Noto, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Starring : Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter, Forrest Goodluck



In a nutshell, Jaako raakhe saaiyan, maar sake na koi�


There is nothing much, from a storyline pov, to distinguish this film from a hundred Hindi film revenge plots that have come before this. Yes, it�s gritty, more real, less melodrama � but from a basic story, it�s no different, apart from being excruciatingly slower and far less entertaining.




In the era when Indian tribes still roamed free (and hadn�t yet been butchered by the settlers), Leo DiCaprio works as a guide / tracker for the American�s, who�re out in the cold and wilderness, seeking pelts / trading. Not much is known about his past apart from the fact that he�d lived with some Indians before, had married one of them, lost her (to soldiers) and has a son, Forrest, who accompanies him everywhere.



When their group, led by Domhnall, is attacked by a tribe and flee � they must find their way back through dangerous territory that only he knows. Not the entire group is in agreement on taking that particular route (land vs water), most notably Tom Hardy, who�s quite voluble in his criticism. However, when, in a freak accident, Leo is mauled by a giant grizzly, all equations change and he finds himself, his son, and another boy-trader, Will Poulter, at the mercy of Tom



It�s quite gory, bloody and violent � every blow, every wound is shown in vivid detail. Also the landscape, snow-bound, cold, desolate is beautiful but bleak, almost behaving as another character in the storyline. Leonardo acts very well � not an expression out of place � and is quite convincing as a man preoccupied first with getting better and then consumed by revenge.



It�s not a film for everyone � there is a point or two made somewhere, especially via the Indians who flit in and out of the story � but you don�t know enough about Leo�s character to be cheering for his survival. And without that emotional attachment, the film is like the weather it�s set in � very cold, very bleak.

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 30th October, 2015
Time : 101 minutes
Director : John Wells; Writers :Michael Kalesniko; Music : Rob Simonsen;
Starring : Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Riccardo Scamarcio, Omar Sy, Sam Keeley, Matthew Rhys, Emma Thompson, Uma Thurman, Alicia Vikander, Sarah Greene




Gorgeous visuals of food � both raw and cooked ingredients. Fancy plate settings, culinary flourishes. Beautiful, minimalist decor restaurants. And, as one investor exasperatedly put it, chefs who �behave like schoolgirls�.


Bradley Cooper, a two star Michelin Chef, wants to redeem himself. He�d crashed and burnt spectacularly in Paris a while back � wine, women, drugs � had hurt himself and those around him. He�d done his penance, he feels, by shucking a million oysters. And now he wants to go for the third Michelin.



At first, in scenes reminiscent of A Team, he goes around putting his team of chefs together. And then, convinces an investor, Daniel Bruh�s family, (who�d already been badly burnt at his hands once in Paris) to invest in a restaurant with a clever bit of blackmail. Daniel, himself one of the best Maitre�D�s, eventually reluctantly agrees but does post some unusual conditions and Bradley begins work� Will his demons come back to haunt him ? His drug debts from the past ? Will he be able to get his motley crew to work together ? And, most importantly, what of his rivalries from the past, especially with Matthew Rhys, who has already bagged the coveted third star ?



The food part is fun � especially watching the ingredients transform into those beautiful dishes. Some of the conversations about food are fun too, such as �Why wouldn�t you eat at a Burger King vs a fancy restaurant which charges a 100 times� � though the ones which try to be a bit deeper, like �What cooking means to you�, come off as a bit contrived.


Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander and Uma Thurman have small cameos and Daniel, while he has an important role, it lacks the layers he�s so capable of � he seems a bit wasted. Bradley is good (his eyes look so blue!) but is a little flat. The ones who really impress are Rhys, Omar and Sienna � all chefs under Bradley


There is a layer of predictability around it � you can foresee some of the �twists� a mile away. And finally, thanks to the proliferation of cooking shows on TV (Gordon Ramsay is a Chef Consultant to the movie), you wonder if there is really something new here at all�

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 10th April, 2015
Time : 92 minutes (100 minutes in USA)
Director & Writer : David Robert Mitchell; Music : Various
Starring : Maika Monroe, Lili Sepe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi, Bailey Spry



You get the atmosphere - the unmistakably horror film kind � where spooky, unexplained bad things happen. Where you watch almost every frame in anticipation of the next attack. Where the music plays tricks with you � building up a crescendo all too often, including for a few false alarms. But what you miss a credible story � where the mystifying events begin to make sense and get woven into a satisfying conclusion.




Something or someone begins to follow you, steadily, slowly but surely. Has the potential to do you great harm. Can come at any moment, will walk at a gentle, even pace but will make a beeline for you. Will not be visible to anyone else. And the only way to get rid of it is to have sex with someone. In which case it begins to follow your partner�but beware� in case it manages to kill him/her, it will circle back and begin to follow you again !



Its this evil that enters the life of Maika � unexpectedly and after some good sex, of course. It changes her, her life. And also the life of her motley group of childhood friends � Lili, Keir, Olivia. Lili and Keir are siblings, Keir has a huge crush on Maika, likes watching her secretly and they had also been each others first kiss� Daniel, a good-looking slightly older neighbor joins the circle a little later, to help save Maika, much to Keir�s underplayed disgust.



And so the movie goes�there are attacks, saviours, escapes and more attacks�Whatever it is that follows, does so relentlessly. There is some sex also that happens but the Indian censors obviously don�t deem us worthy of watching as the movie is 8 minutes shorter vs the US length�.Such movies work for me only if there is a satisfying conclusion, one where all the threads get neatly tied up�and unfortunately, that is not the case here�which lets the entire film down for me�

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 20th February, 2015
Time : 134 minutes
Director, Writer : Sriram Raghavan; Co-Writer: Arijit Biswas, Pooja Surti; Music : Sachin-Jigar
Starring : Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Quereshi, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta, Radhika Apte



A chance encounter during a bank robbery leads to unwanted, unnecessary death and a vicious cycle of revenge that lasts over fifteen years. Its not pretty, its not pacy and it most definitely doesn�t follow a path treaded by most Hindi films. However, not everything makes sense and it doesn�t really hold our attention all the way through, though the climax is interesting.



Nawazuddin and Vinay�s getaway after a bank job goes horribly wrong and results in the death of Yami Gautam and her young child. Nawaz is caught, jailed but not before he is able to let his partner escape with the loot. Varun Dhawan is the sadly bereaved husband, father, who�s world comes crashing around him. And the twenty year sentence given to Nawaz for his part in the robbery (he claims his partner did the killing, he was merely the driver), is not enough for Varun�



Kumud Mishra is the police inspector who hates an unsolved case on his record � especially as the cops are never able to track down the partner or the loot. Pratima Kannan is Nawaz�s mother, who can�t believe her son is a killer. Huma is Nawaz�s favourite call-girl, who also doesn�t believe he is a killer. And later in the movie, Vinay Pathak and his wife, Radhika Apte play a critical part, as does Divya Dutta as an NGO worker who works with prisoners.




I really liked Varun in this vengeful avatar � he hit the right buttons in a role outside his comfort zone. Nawazuddin does full justice to a role right up his street, especially in the closing stages. The ensemble cast is excellent. The music really good. But the fatal flaw is you don�t quite understand why some of the characters chose the paths they do � even if the end objective does make sense. And that can really make you wonder, even disconnect with what is shown happening on the screen�

Life can be cruel. Revenge can be salvation. And where better to find it than in Badlapur�

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 5th December, 2014
Time : 144 minutes
Director, Writer : Prabhu Deva; Co-Writer: Shiraz Ahmed; Music : Himesh Reshammiya
Starring : Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Manasvi Mamgai, Yami Gautam, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Anand Raj, Ketan Karande, Puru Raaj Kumar



Much to my surprise, and despite its senseless story, over-burdened script, I enjoyed this one. Its one of the rare Hindi film�s where the second half is actually better than the first (quite ordinary, standard tapori stuff with the romance thrown in). The film suddenly shifts gears in the second, almost as if, directed and styled by a different director, becoming a homage to Kill Bill / Shoot �Em Up � way over the top but then reveling in it being so. And no one relished their roles more than Ajay Devgn and Manasvi Mamgai (Ooh, La La !), who both stood out with their performances, physiques�



The story, if one can call it that, is all over the place. The first half is about a small-time Mumbai villain, Ajay Devgn, with his side-kick, Kunaal, earning their money by bashing up people. There is also a long romance with Sonakshi, with her trying to reform him. And then, suddenly, in the second half, the film becomes a story of an international crime-lord, Anand Raj, his lustful, psychotic sister, Manasvi and our ball-busting, ass-kicking hero, Ajay Devgn, in his Action Jackson avatar, protecting Yami Gautam from them.



There are plenty of silly moments, cheap laughs � none more so than the motorcycle ride in the beginning with pani puri playing a key role or even Sonakshi�s belief that her luck will change if she see�s Ajay naked. Almost inevitably, this is mixed up with moments of cringe-worthy sentimentality � the school admission / the neighbour�s glowing recommendation � as our hero has to have a heart of gold. The second half, despite again having distracting songs which slow down the pace and some moments of redundant comedy, works better simply because its better styled, slicker and has stuff which you haven�t seen before in Hindi films � the action sequences go a bit beyond just people flying in different directions / slow mo shots of bones breaking. And Manasvi, till her role makes her half-crazed, is simply wow ! (Did I mention that before ?).



Prabhu Deva�s mind popping moves with the end credits are not to be missed. And its important in an over the top film that the actors perform their roles with a knowing smirk, helping the audience realize not to take them too seriously. Which Ajay pulls off with elan.