Rang Rasiya :: Movie Review

Rang Rasiya is something which definitely steals your heart, leaving you spellbound as it introspects art, passion blending melodrama with subtext on human psyche but dares not to play by rules. ‘Beauty captures your attention, personality captures your heart’. Finally Ketan Mehta’s passion ‘Rang Rasiya’ is able to show its true colours on the marquee and beyond any iota of doubt it’s a fascinating, appealing, compelling, inspirational, effective, bold and of course beautiful move beyond the brush and b-town mush. But, let me warn you that in case you are looking for that typical bollywood kind of masala entertainment than it is not your cup of tea. Morality is often monopolised by ugly, unemployed men. Who else gains anything from it anyway? And such people have been around forever. While this film is a biopic on artist Raja Ravi Varma, at the centre of it is a court case involving a painting where the painter depicts a mythological character in the nude. This is seen as an affront to both Hindu religion and Indian culture.  The relevance of this movie then will be lost on no one in the audience. The relationship between art and morality (or the public and morality itself) has not been a linear one. We tend to go back and forth on this subject every few generations. It is really sad & unfortunate that despite completion, this movie was lying in cans for the last six years and Indian movie connoisseurs  got to watch this movie so late. I learnt some facts about the history which i never knew before ; Here’s what I learnt if the facts in this film are true. I didn’t know, for one, that the reason we could take Hindu Gods out of temples and into people’s homes, at least in a two-dimensional form, was because Raja Ravi Verma decided to get into block printing (a new invention) and reproduce his mythological and religious portraits. This democratized religion in some ways. In fact Gods, as we know them, are mostly from Varma’s paintings. He made sarees of the festival kind popular. He even invested in India’s first feature film. I could go on and on.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                                  ::                              The story has been adapted from Ranjit Desai’s novel ‘Raja Ravi Varma’ and the story as well as screenplay for the movie has been written by Ketan Mehta along with Sanjeev Dutta. The dramatized version of Ranjit Desai’s novel ‘Raja Ravi Varma’ - the renowned 19th century painter who gave gods their face, ‘Rang Rasiya’ is a well crafted beguiling and fascinating chapter of Indian art history coming to life on the silver screen.  Starts ‘beautifully’ and turns ‘special’ in its due course when Ketan explores the wars between two different worlds - The one who knew Raja Ravi Varma and the one who didn,t. It’s so striking to find the clash continues even today as the naivety to understand the beauty in nudity (truth) still prevails and the holiness of art, freedom of expression, still fights its battle. It takes you to an inspiring journey of legendary painter Raja Ravi Varma (Randeep Hooda). A simple guy born in Kerala and he takes the entire world by storm through his paintings. First he gets title of 'Raja' from a king (Ashish Vidyarthi) and then he leaves his wife who never appreciated his paintings and rather colorful carefree lifestyle. He lands in Mumbai in 1880 and then becomes first ever painter to paint Hindu Gods. This creates uproar among extremists and he faces wrath of certain religious groups headed by Chintamani (Darshan Zariwala). Beautiful lady Sugandha (Nandana Sen) whom he painted as Goddess was actually a prostitute and that becomes even bigger sensational issue. Later he paints her nude paintings inspired from Khajuraho which made extremist group file a case against him. But Ravi Varma never cared about anything but his art. He becomes first artist to take Hindi Gods in the house of every common man and even people from lower caste can worship who were not allowed inside temples. Sugandha faces wrath of society when her nude paintings come out in open due to selfish nature of Varma's business partner (Paresh Rawal). But against all odds Ravi Varma wins the case and went on to establish India's 1st printing press and started mass production of paintings. In the end, he gives his money to Dada Saheb Phalke who went on to become father of Indian cinema.

STARCAST                                                         ::                                    Randeep Hooda gives his career best performance till date. Growing in strength to strength from a selfish painter to a selfless fighter, passionate lover, virtuous soul, moody and a genius it’s a dream for any actor to portray such range of emotions in one character and still keep the right balance of neatness with a personal nuance. Randeep Hooda does that Brilliant. Nandana Sen has tried to adapt to the needs of the strong character of Sugandha well, and this character gave her ample scope to prove her acting mettle which she has successfully done. Paresh Rawal has fitted the bill as mean business minded Govardhandhas perfectly. Darshan Jariwala as Chintamani Pandit has done full justice to his character portraying himself as the guardian of Hindu Culture. Vipan Sharma as Raja Ravi's servant although has any dialogue to speak in the movie but he has made his presence felt with his effective portrayal. Amongst the ensemble starcast noticeable performances have been performed by Vikram Gokhale as opposition Lawyer, Ashish Vidyarthi as the King & Sachin Khedekar as Dewan. A special mention of Gaurav Dwivedi for his apt portrayal of Raja Varma who was brother of Ravi Varma. Gaurav has ably delivered a nuanced performance.      

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                                   ::                     Sandesh Shandilya has composed the soundtrack of the movie. Sandesh Shandilya has done a decent job at the soundtracks that feature beautiful classical symphonies keeping the British Raj period in mind. The cinematography of the movie has been handled by Rali Raltschev & Christo Bakalob who have astoundingly captured a sense of purity in their cinematography, luscious with light, undaunted by grain in the dark which is rare in most movies. The use of colors and lighting be it in frames, background, scenic spots or even inside premises is so audacious that it enhances the flow of romance and you are captivated by the enchanting visuals. The movie has been edited by Yves Belonaik & Pratik Chitalia who have faced flak from some of the critics regarding the editing of the movie but on the contrary i feel they have done a brilliant job. It can never be easy to edit such an intense movie wherein you have to maintain artistic aesthetics of an intense story while also keeping commercial success or turnover in mind. The talented production designer Nitin Chandrakant Desai does it again it takes us to the era. As a director, Ketan Mehta has really impressed via this movie. It is not easy to hold interest of the audience in such a historical piece of cinema but to his credit, he has done it wonderfully. Kudos to him for choosing such a bold subject for making a movie and presenting it in such an entertaining manner.  

CONCLUSION                                                             ::      Watch this movie if you have a thing for history, inspirational, effective, bold and of course beautiful movies that are beyond the masala  and b-town mush. It is a must watch for the lovers of art and cinema. 

 ROHIT SHARMA.

Follow me on twitter at  https://twitter.com/smgr105

rohitreview@gmail.com

  

The Shaukeens :: Movie Review

The Shaukeens, is another offing in the series of remakes being churned out these days albeit this one stands nowhere close and falls flat when compared to the original Shaukeen ( 1982 ). Where as the storyline of Shaukeen ( 1982 ) was genuinely funny with humor quotient flowing in regularly along with the narrative, in the remake they have tried hard to inject the humor which works only in parts and looks forced. So what’s common between Katrina Kaif of Bang Bang and Anupam Kher, Anu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra of The Shaukeens?  Well, they all want some bang bang in life, they all chase their love/lust interest and they all are denied action right till the end! Anupam Kher, Anu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra play Lali, KD and Pinky respectively (and one can’t decide what’s more weird --- their names or their satyriasis?). KD is a 60-year-old bachelor, Pinky a widower and Lali has a spiritual wife, hence they bond over let’s-leer-and-lech and make Shakti Kapoor look like Alok Nath. The film ruthlessly judges the youth about their obsession with sex, ironically coming from a character (Anu Kapoor) who is himself a chalta-phirta male version of Savita Bhabhi dot com. Distasteful !! Then there is Lisa Haydon who is in a relationship with her Facebook timeline. She plays a designer, the one who uses used toothpicks to make a hat and her toe nails to make quirky coolers. And I lost my breakfast to the fancy seats of the cinema hall. As Akshay Kumar, who plays a superstar in an extended cameo, explains: “Men are like dogs, the sight of a woman makes their tongues wag and eyes bulge.” If that was supposed to negate their creepy behavior, then it just didn't work. 

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                                      ::              The story of the movie has been co penned by Sai Kabir & Tigmanshu Dhulia. The credit for the screenplay & dialogues goes to Tigmanshu Dhulia which is a big big surprise as Tigmanshu is one of the finest writers we have today and the screenplay of this movie goes awry consistently. In fact, there are two different tracks running in the movie ; one is about lusty desires of three lecherous oldies and the other is about discontentment brewing in a Super Star regarding quality of roles that he has been doing in movies. Amalgamation of both these tracks at the sweet will of the writer hampers the pace and reduces the fun quotient from the movie to a great extent. Dialogue writing has always been the forte of Dhulia as he has written some real hard hitting dialogues in his previous works but in this movie he fails on this front too. Use of cuss words like Ghastikhana & Ye Degi kya repeatedly is in bad taste and fails to tickle your funny bone. The movie begins with 'The Shaukeens' - three 'andropausal' friends from Delhi; each one with a bursting libido and a desperately roving eye. Meet KD (Kapoor), Laali (Kher) and Pinky (Mishra) who lech without restraint. Thus, the movie refers to them as 'HKPs' (Hawas Ke Pujaris). But what the eyes feast upon, is not what satisfies 'what lies beneath'. Thus, goaded by the single and sexed-up KD, the teetering trio decide to go on one last fling of fantasy - pre-posthumous-puberty no less. So they pack their swim-shorts and kachchas and head into the blue yonder of Mauritius. (What a wonder). To rent a family-home owned by a nubile nymphet Aahana (Lisa) and sow their old oats. She's just had a break-up, and her state of mind (mindless, mostly) depends on the number of 'likes' on Facebook. Desperate to 'get some action', the oldies offer their sunken shoulders and paunches to cry on. Meanwhile, her hot-fav superstar Akshay Kumar (playing himself in a cool cameo), makes an entry and she tosses around the toofani threesome to get up-close with AK.

STARCAST                                                                      ::                                  The only department where the movie scores full brownie points is its acting department as almost all the actors seem to have given their best as per characters assigned to them. Akshay Kumar who has played himself in the movie is at his comic best. He has delivered some of the finest comic punches in this movie. It is not easy to invoke laughter by taking digs & hitting pot-shots at himself but Akshay has done it with ease. Lisa Hayden seems to have started from where she left in Queen and does it in style in this flick too. She has played the character of a free spirited designer who is a big time fan of Akshay with aplomb. Amongst, the three lecherous men, Anupam Kher as the sophisticated Laali has yet again given a solid performance. Annu Kapoor as the bachelor n flamboyant KD is simply flawless. His performance n mannerisms reminds of the character that he played in Vicky Donor. The best of punchlines and dialogues are delivered by him in the flick. But the actor who walks away with the cake is Piyush Mishra who has nailed the character of lusty widower to utmost perfection. His body language, facial expressions eespecially the way he flicks his lips are a treat to watch. The scene where he literally forces Akshay & event organizer to garland him n Lisa has turned out to be the most rib tickling scene of the movie. How, I wish if we could see more of Piyush on big screen.

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                                                  ::                      The soundtrack of the movie has been composed by a battery of music directors that include Yo Yo Honey Singh, Hard Kaur, Vikram Nagi, Arko Mukherjee & D J Notorious but despite contribution from so many composers, the album is nothing to write home about as none of the songs has a repeat value. The cinematography of the movie has been handled by Chaudhary Amalendu and he has done a fine job behind the lens. He has captured the streets of Delhi, beaches and picturesque locales of Mauritius with aplomb with the frames being rich and vibrant. The editor of the movie is seasoned editor Rameshwar S Bhagat who has botched up this time. The editing of this 155 minutes long movie is tacky, uneven and patchy at times which takes the attention of the audience away from the movie. Director Abhishek Sharma has failed this time as lot was expected from him especially after his last offering " Tere Bin Laden " which was a thorough entertainer. No Doubt, there are some real good entertaining moments in this movie too but they are too few. He has not been able to extract the best from his crew and has been let down especially by the writing, music and the editing departments of the movie.

CONCLUSION                                                                          ::                  If you have the patience to sit for close to two and half hours and wait for those LOL moments to arrive in-between, than you can go and watch this movie else wait for it to be telecast on satellite channels. 

ROHIT SHARMA.

Follow me on twitter at  https://twitter.com/smgr105

rohitreview@gmail.com

  

Yoddha : The Warrior :: Punjabi Movie Review

Yoddha : The Warrior, is a Punjabi flick that stays honest to its genre with its focus on the nexus between drug mafia & politicians prevalent in Punjab with some of the Cops being a part of it. In fact, right in the beginning it is proclaimed that the movie is based on True Incidents. The recent case of a Punjab Police Cop who was shot dead in broad daylight at Amritsar when he was trying to protect his daughter from some eve teasers which included a political party leader has been incorporated into the storyline. The best part about this movie is that it never deviates from its path in any way which is a seldom case especially in Punjabi movies. There are no extra comic characters introduced in-between to provide so called comic punches, there is no extra rona-dhonaa or un-necessary naach-gaana apart from an item number which has been placed in the movie. I mean, when i went to see the movie, i was expecting all these frivolous elements to come as a package with the movie but surprisingly I was more than delighted to see none of them appear on-screen. Full credit goes to the director, Mandeep Benipal for putting up a good show and making a well knit movie which never looses its focus. This movie can definitely be called different in true terms when compared to other Pollywood offerings we have seen lately. 

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                                ::                 The story of the movie has been co-written by Kuljinder Singh Sidhu and Ambardeep Singh Gill. They have very cleverly amalgmated some recent incidents of Punjab that hit the headlines in this story of a common man who transforms into a warrior to take revenge and fight against the injustice. It is those real incidents that make you relate to the movie and keep you engrossed in the proceedings. The movie begins in border area of Punjab where drug mafia rules under the patronage of MLA Sucha Singh ( Girija Shankar ) and his illegal activities are kept under the wrap by DSP Dogra ( Nissar Khan ). Our hero Ranjodh ( Kuljinder Singh Sidhu ) who is a N.R.I. comes back to his village from U.K. & falls in love at first sight with Navdeep ( Unnati Davara ) who is daughter of A.S.I. Balwinder Singh (Hardeep Gill). Ranjodh manages to convince Navdeep & her parents and they get engaged. Now, comes the twist in the tale. Goga ( Rahul Dev) who is younger brother of MLA is smitten by Navdeep & gets enraged with fury on her getting engaged with someone else. He tries to abduct her from marketplace but her father comes in-between and in rage of anger Goga shoots her father point blank. Now, the official machinery ( Cops ) work at the behest of MLA & someone else is implicated for the murder letting Goga scot free. Ranjodh & Navdeep file a petition in the court and an independent inquiry is marked to an honest IPS Officer. But, even he gets killed in a road accident staged by henchmen of MLA and Ranjodh & Navdeep are kidnapped. Navdeep is killed & she along with Ranjodh are thrown into a river. Ranjodh is rescued by a sect of Khalsa cult & his life changes from there as he transforms himself into a new avatar of a Yoddha. Embodying the qualities of courage, strength & determination he becomes a forceful soul and decides to fight against the injustice, corruption prevalent in the society. 

STARCAST                                                                             ::        Kuljinder Singh Sidhu has portrayed his character to utmost perfection. He seems to have worked really hard not only on his chiseled body but also his acting skills which is evident on screen. The ease with which he transforms from a carefree N.RI. unto a man on mission with fire in his belly is commendable. He is soft, mellow in romantic scenes and breathes fire in confrontation scenes. Unnati Davara as the leading lady has played her part well and given a good performance. Rahul Dev has put up a great act as Goga. His expressions, body language as a villain are impeccable. The best way to judge an effective portrayal of a villain by an actor is to see how much audience hate him when he appears on screen & in Yoddha he has been able to do that with distinction. Girija Shankar has done justice to his character of mean and menacing MLA Sucha Singh. Amongst ensemble cast some noticeable performances have been given by Nissar Khan, Hector Sandhu & Dinesh Sood.

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                ::     The soundtrack of Yoddha has been composed by Gurmeet Singh who has cut out a fine album. Couple of tracks which stand out are the title track Yoddha sung by Daler Mehndi & the other track is Ghoda sung by Jazzy B. The cinematographer of the movie is Dhirender Shukla and the guy deserves applause for his fine work behind the camera. His frames are rich, vibrant, full of visual opulence and some of the aerial shots have been captured beautifully. The editor of the movie is Vikrant Sidhu who has done his job well and kept the runtime of the movie to 123 minutes. The editing is edgy n sharp and the movie does not seem to linger on at any point of time. Now, coming to captain of the ship i.e. Director Mandeep Benipal, he has done an outstanding job. He gets straight to the business right from the first frame and never looses the grip on the narrative all through the movie. He has ably extracted the best out from his cast n crew. He keeps you engrossed in the movie with his no-nonsense approach towards the subject and this dedication has resulted in delivering a different entertainer in the form of Yoddha.

CONCLUSION                                                ::      I'll say that Yoddha is a must watch movie especially for Punjabi movie connoisseurs. It is an honest take on the prevalent rampant corruption in Punjab albeit in an entertaining way. 
   

Embodying the qualities of strength, courage and determination he becomes a forceful soul. Upholding the reality of his life, with his new avatar he raises his voice against corruption and fights a social and personal battle. As a true warrior Ranjod Singh knows there are causes to serve, battles to win and struggles to be overcome which is why Ranjod Singh fights against people promoting drugs and also take many steps for the welfare of society. - See more at: http://punjabigrooves.com/movie-review-yoddha/#prettyPhoto

 

ROHIT SHARMA.

Follow me on twitter at  https://twitter.com/smgr105

rohitreview@gmail.com

 

f the screenplay and dialogues(Amardeep Gill & Kuljinder Sidhu) are par excellence, the performances of the actors are out-of-the-world! Kuljinder Sidhu, it would seem, was born to play this role. He is absolutely extraordinary as yoddha and breathes fire in the scen - See more at: http://punjabigrooves.com/movie-review-yoddha/#prettyPhoto

HAPPY NEW YEAR :: MOVIE REVIEW

 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR is a purely masala flick that has everything going in its favor business wise and if you can digest Farah Khan's obsession for her trademark kitsch of  song and dance, obsession for SRK, then this one's for you. Director Farah Khan maybe just four movies old, but her trademark Bollywood kitsch is painfully predictable and requires an appetite for flamboyance. Low on logic, and high on opulence, her movies flourish on song and dance, and rides purely on Shah Rukh Khan’s shoulders, or might we add abs! Farah’s frames are about abundance. An abundance of skin show, might we add. We all know Farah Khan loves her escapist entertainers and, literally, her own ones as well. She packs her scenes with spot-the-reference cues, even some self-referencing ones, generously. A vault is named after the retro heist film Shaalimar, the dancer heroine is Mohini (because you know, Tezaab), there’s the Chak De sattar-minute speech rehashed, the Amitabh Bachchan Mohabbatien line (Parampara, Pratishta, Anushasan), the ‘Picture abhi baki hai mere dost’ line from Om Shanti Om. So what happens when Bollywood tries its hand at heist? Usually, the result is Don 2 or Dhoom 2 or 3 — a wannabe Hollywood-looking film with car chases shot in foreign locations minus the logic and plausibility. Full credit to Farah Khan for not going there and for choosing to embrace the genre with all that’s truly Bollywood — song, dance and drama. So while the template is decidedly heist, the treatment is completely Bollywood. Each character is introduced one by one with their skill sets and quirks — some of these quirks and eccentricities are dumb and contrived in a trying-hard-to-be-funny way. Nandu (Abhishek Bachchan) loves to drink and throw up. Jagmohan (Sonu Sood) is hard of hearing and gets worked up if anyone says anything about his mother (this joke is used purely to orchestrate a nine-month-long comic fight sequence that is of no consequence to the film). And Tammy (Boman) gets random convulsions for 30 seconds exactly and dresses like he’s seven years old. Imagine you are out with an old friend who isn’t all that funny but you laugh anyway because you know he’s a good guy and also because you have become used to his sense of humour. Watching Happy New Year feels exactly like that. It requires you to wear your bar mood and after that, it’s not such a bad night.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                              ::           The story of the movie has been penned down by the trio of Farah Khan, Mayur Puri & Althea Delmas Kaushal who had their work cut out substantially because when you have a reigning superstar, a spectacular ensemble cast and a canvas as vivid as your imagination, it’s indeed clever thinking to adapt the most successful plot of Bollywood and turn it into a colorful visual spectacle. Director Farah Khan does just that in one of the most awaited films of the year, and in style! It’s the tried-and-tested (and also seldom gone wrong) idea – the lead protagonist putting together a team of underdogs to achieve the unthinkable. Happy New Year is too self-aware for its own good but thankfully, it packs in some laughs with moments of irreverence and political incorrectness. The sporting Anurag Kashyap-Vishal Dadlani cameo, or the scene where the team hacks into the results to eliminate a talented children’s team called Angels, Abhishek Bachchan’s snake dance (which is likely to go viral in nightclubs) or racist digs at the Korean team. The film starts off with a world dance championship finale, wherein 'Team India' goes missing. Team India is led by the 'Boston University topper' Chandramohan Manohar aka Charlie (Shah Rukh Khan), whose 'entry' is shown in a illegal kick boxing match, wherein SRK mouths the rehash of all his famous one liner dialogues from his previous movies. Charlie is out on a mission to take revenge for his father, Manohar (Anupam Kher), who is conned by the evil mind Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff) and imprisoned for 12 years. Charlie's plan is to steal Rs. 300 crore worth diamonds that are under Charan's security in Dubai. His partners in crime are: A partially deaf Jagmohan Prasad aka Jaggu aka Jag (Sonu Sood) who is an ex-army bomb squad member, a self confessed Parsi 'stud' Tammy Irani (Boman Irani) who is an expert at opening sophisticated lockers and who carries a mini supermarket in his bag, a young hacker Rohan Singh (Vivaan Shah) who is a 'loser in real world, Nandu Bhide (Abhishek Bachchan) whose 'USP' is that he can puke anytime, anywhere, and then there's Mohini (Deepika Padukone), who is a bar dancer with a dream of opening a dance school for young girls. Mohini has a huge weakness for English speaking people! She is someone who lives by the saying 'Haaro toh haaro, Ijjat mat utaaro', which means for her 'ijjat' is everything. The plan is to not just steal expensive diamonds from Charan, but also to restore the lost glory of Charlie's innocent father, by putting Charan in jail. To execute this plan however, the team needs to participate in the 'World Dance Championship' which takes place in the Atlantis hotel, exactly where Charan will be keep the diamonds for a one day display in Dubai. Charlie and his team enroll in this competition and despite all the boys being non-dancers, they use their antics to survive amongst the best dancers in the world. True to the saying 'When the going gets tough, the tough gets going', Charlie and his team go all out to successfully execute the plan, even if that means to win the dance championship, despite being non-dancers. Will Charlie and his 'Team India' be able to steal the diamonds from Charan's sophisticated locker, will they be able to win the dance championship despite being non-dancers and will Charlie ever be able to restore the lost glory of his father forms the rest of the story.

 

STARCAST                                                    ::                             Full marks must be given to the casting director for choosing the right cast. In this movie,  Shah Rukh has offered the audience abs of steel that have quite clearly been contoured with eye-shadow or bronzer. Shah Rukh Khan has worked hard on his body for this film and he does a fine job of flaunting it. Extremely full of energy most of the times, he manages to  entertain you in all his scenes : be it comedy, fight or romance.  Deepika plays a dancer who teaches the men how to move so they can take part in the competition and has a Chennai Express hangover with a suspiciously Tamilian lilt to her accent. She has played her quirky character to perfection. Sonu Sood, as the half-deaf meat head with a body that has the ladies swooning, is brilliant. Vivaan Shah is perfect as the nerdy teen hacker; Mark Zuckerberg watch out – if The Social Network was made in Bollywood Vivaan would definitely win the part, replete with the unpopularity with the ladies. Boman Irani, who plays a chubby master of breaking into safes, gave us some of the best laugh-out-loud moments of the movie with a quirky Parsi accent, sorry fits of epilepsy and a bevy of ageing Parsi gals vying to wed him post his dance win.  The support system of the movie is a zany performance by Abhishek Bachchan. Simply said, he seems to have had the maximum fun making this film. He’s let loose and his character revels at grossing you out and making you chuckle with consummate ease.

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                         ::                        The soundtrack of the movie has been composed by Vishal - Dadlani which is already a chartbuster. Since, its a dance show based movie, music plays a vital role in carrying the movie forward and the duo has been successful in charting a good album. The background music by John Stewart is apt enough and enhances the level of on-screen proceedings in the right way. The cinematographer of the movie is Manush Nandan who has done an excellent job behind the camera. He has captured both the lavish grandeur of the dance sets as well as the outdoor locales of Dubai with equal finesse. Farah Khan and Geeta Kapoor have choreographed the songs beautifully especially the extravagant dance numbers. Shashank Tere who is the production designer also deserves a special mention as the frames looks visually stunning and opulent. The movie has been edited by Anand Subaya & Tushar Parekh who have kept the run-time of the movie to 179 minutes. They deserve a pat on their back for their crisp editing as they have managed to keep the flow of narrative at an even pace all through the movie. Farah Khan, who is the co-writer as well as the director of the movie has dished out a typical masala fare this time. Its not easy to catch hold of audience's interest for as long as close to three hours but somehow she has managed that this time. Reason being, she has stuck to the basic formula plot of a commercial potboiler and has not even slightly tried to offer something new. She has made a purely no-brainer masala movie which contains no vulgarity, preachiness but just pure pop corn entertainment.       

 

CONCLUSION                                                  ::        It all depends which kind of movies you like, If you like to have fun and you don’t mind entertainment over cerebral arguments, Farah Khan’s Happy New Year is worth your time. Happy New Year could steal your heart if you don’t use your head. When you wake up the next morning, you probably won’t remember much. Except that you laughed out loud a few times for some strange reason. 

ROHIT SHARMA.

Follow me on twitter at  https://twitter.com/smgr105

rohitreview@gmail.com

Khoobsurat :: Movie Review

Khoobsurat is a contemporary take on a (fairy)tale as old as time – girl meets boy, girl thinks he’s a frog and boy thinks she’s insufferable, girl kisses (engaged!) frog and turns him into the prince of her dreams. Khoobsurat with its share of candy floss romance with just the right tadka of royalty has a lot going for it. The best part about the movie is that it portrays the tale in a simple way without making things look exaggerated and stays true to its genre. Even though, over the top Milli (Sonam Kapoor) widely touted as royal misfit in the promos, runs the danger of turning loud, but with fair degree of directorial restraint and whole lot of effortless effort on Sonam's part, this Milli manages to be an aafat alright, but a delightful one. Disney's Khoobsurat takes you in to the lives and luxuries of Rajasthani princely states. Through the story of a quintessential Delhi girl's tryst with a prince and his family, you too can roam the vast expanses of pure luxury. Experience the old world charm of an India mostly reserved for tourist brochures. And you can soak in all the opulence with a charming young adult romance. Yes, the film is predictable, and recycles well known rom com and fairytale tropes, but the packaging is in such shiny and colorful paper that one is enthusiastic to unwrap it and see what lies in store. The result is a film that is surprisingly layered and feel-good in every sense of the word.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                       ::                       The screenplay for the original story that was written by D.N.Mukerjee has been penned down by Indira Bisht who has given it a new premise but has ably maintained the essence of the cult. The new Khoobsurat is  like a rainbow puked all over the old Khubsoorat on its Disneyland vacation in Rajasthan. If old Khubsoorat was about the clash of lifestyles between two families, the new Khoobsurat is more about the young couple’s love story. The most lovable part of the movie is its well etched characters. Behind their happy-hello-how-are-you smiles, both Mili and Vikram whisper through their teeth and greet each other with tags like, “khadoos” and “aafat.” The chemistry between the lead pair is so adorable that you will find yourself going ‘aww’ at their romance (or even feel your heart turn gooey. The film starts off with the introduction of a professional physiotherapist Mili Chakravarthy (Sonam Kapoor) who is in charge of treating the players of IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders' team, an 'achievement' that qualifies to get her a suitable match, according to her typical Punjabi mother Manju Chakravarthy (Kirron Kher). Due to the inability of Mili's colleague to go to the royal house, Mili fills in for him to treat the King of the palace. Right from the word go, the very vocally outspoken Mili finds herself to be a 'royal misfit' in the royal palace of Sambhalgarh, which is 'manned' by the lady of the house, Queen Nirmala Devi Rathore (Ratna Pathak Shah). Nirmala's life revolves around her family members which consists of her husband Shekhar Rathore (Aamir Raza Hussain), son Vikram Rathore (Fawad Khan), and daughter Divya. In due course of treating Shekhar, Mili realizes that there's more than what meets the eye. That's when she changes her course of treatment by befriending the King and making his life livelier and fun. Despite the fact that Nirmala and Vikram do not like Mili due to her brash behavior, they gradually come to terms with her after seeing Shekhar respond very positively to her treatments. Despite Vikram being engaged to a royal and rich Kiara (Aditi Rao Hydari), he starts liking Mili, even though being aware that there is nothing similar in them! By now, Mili also starts nurturing similar feelings for him, but refrains from confessing as she learns about Vikram's engagement with Kiara. Will Vikram choose Mili over Kiara as his life partner and does Mili succeed in treating Shekhar? And above all, will Mili manage to melt Nirmala Devi's toughened heart is what forms the rest of the film's story.

STARCAST                                                                ::                            Full marks must be given to the casting director i.e. Nalini Rathnam as she has chosen the the right starcast who have made the characters look believable which is a big strength of the movie. We all agree that Sonam Kapoor is no Rekha but in this modern day version of Khoobsurat she has played the character of Milli with aplomb and virtually wins you over. She has an undeniable star presence and a gorgeous, infectious smile and that works well for her in the film. She gets to play an author backed role here and has completely justified her character by playing it to perfection. Coming to Fawad, the debutante actor knows his craft and given the space he is allowed in a women-centric film, he has shone brightly. He’s bang on as the emotionally-unavailable, brooding prince. He’s a man of few words and his acting is as sharp as his tailored suits. There’s no over-the-top melodrama and we buy into his royal, ruthless act. I have to add that apart from the lead actors Khoobsurat wouldn’t have been half as entertaining had it not been for Ratna Pathak Shah and Kirron Kher. As the two polar opposite mommies, these veterans have not so surprisingly given solid performances. Kirron Kher might have played the loud mouthed Punjabi Mom for the umpteenth time but she still manages to raise lotta guffaws with her witty dialogues and bring smile to your face. Ratna Pathak Shah looks every inch the strict, commanding and disciplined Queen of the royal Rathore family. Aamir Raza Hussain's performance as the wheel chair ridden King is impeccable and how i wish we could have seen more of him in the movie.

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                       ::                                        The soundtrack of the movie has been composed by Sneha Khanwalkar which is a virtual treat for the music lovers. She has put in a coterie of numbers of all genres which include peppy numbers like Engine Ki Seeti, Maa Ka Phone as well as soulful songs like Naina and Preet. The cinematographer of the movie is Tushar Kanti Ray whose lens has captured some lovely, unfussy images unto the screen. The cinematography is plush and passionate & makes the visuals an occasion for optical enchantment. He has captured both the outdoor locales as well as inner shots with elan. Two more persons who deserve a special mention are Shruti Gupte for her Production Design & Prajakta Ghag for her art direction as they have done their bit with utmost finesse. The movie has been edited by Bakul Matiyani, who although has done a good job but i feel it could have been better. The run-time of the movie is 130 minutes and slightly more crisp editing would have made it more interesting.  Director Shashanka Ghosh  knows his job well and knows how to tell a story embedding individual scenes with a distinctive personality without straining for effect. It is never easy for a director to spin a narrative which has a clear ending from its first frame. To draw the audience in, he must create a film that is crisp and engaging, peppered with just the right amount of Bollywood kitsch that will entertain for more than two hours which Shashanka has not only done well but also scored Brownie points for the same. 

CONCLUSION                                                      ::                                      Despite it’s caricatures for characters, it's clichés and predictable plot, the film is cheeky, relatable in its relationship drama and has a  easy, breezy, gorgeous and inoffensive feel attached to it.. Watch it once. It won’t hurt.

ROHIT SHARMA.

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Daawat E Ishq :: Movie Review

Daawat E Ishq is like that cake which looks real sumptuous garnished with walnut & other toppings but when you savor it, it turns out to be half baked, making you relish only the toppings. Donning a chef’s hat, the director steps into his kitchen of film making and uses the available ingredients to make out a sumptuous dish and invites us to a fiesta called Daawat-e-Ishq which unfortunately pampers your taste buds only in parts. But notwithstanding its share of false garnishing, Daawat-e-Ishq, written and directed by Habib Faisal, is not a soulless film. In fact, it has its heart in the right place. Despite being written and directed by Faisal, who wrote that warm cupcake of a film Do Dooni Char, Daawat-e-Ishq tries to root itself in a similar, realistic universe of realism, but with a few Bollywood accents. As a result, if you've managed to sit through till the interval, you know exactly what's going to happen in the end. The film kicks off in the manner of a social drama, turns into a mild crime caper, then takes on the dimensions of a culture clash comedy, and finally winds up like a love story with a happy ending.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                     ::          The story has been penned down by Habib Faisal & Jyoti Kapoor who have written a screenplay which is a light-hearted take weaved around the consistent demand of dowry from the groom’s side in India, and how an educated girl counters it with her wickedly twisted understanding of Section 498 A. Loosely, and without giving the plot away, dowry is, in many ways the central thrust of the film. Good food and youthful amour do work well in tandem, but the principal trouble with Daawat-e-Ishq is that allows the two ingredients to recede to the background all too often in pursuit of larger issues of life. It moves the plot and its ensuing romance, neatly tying the story together at the end. As per the storyline,  Gulrez Qadir (Parineeti Chopra) is a feisty, smart college-going girl in Hyderabad. Her father, played by Anupam Kher, is a senior clerk in the high court. Gulrez topped her batch in class XII exams, does a part time job in a shoe shop and is also studying in college. Her father, however, wants her to get married as soon as possible and lines up several prospective grooms for her. Not only are these men caricaturish, silly and undeserving, they also demand steep dowry for marrying Gulrez, aka Gullu. Fed up of these obviously evil people, Gullu hatches a plan to con a rich guy who demands a hefty dowry. She'll have a fake nikah with him, then frame him in a dowry harassment case, wrench a lot of money out of the guy's family in an out-of-court settlement and finally escape to New York to study fashion designing. She manages to rope her father in to help her achieve her target. They decide to target the hapless gents of Lucknow who have signed up to matrimonial websites. And then Gullu meets Tariq aka Taru (Aditya Roy Kapur). His family owns the oldest kebab place in Lucknow, which is the daawat part of the title. Gullu, then in the disguise of Sania from Dubai, chooses Tariq as the target of her con because he's the richest of all the prospective grooms she's encountered.

 

STARCAST                                                            ::             The performances of the star-cast is the major highlight of the movie for which due credit must be given to the casting director, Shanoo Sharma, as she has chosen the apt actors as per their characters.  It's never been very difficult to sit through a film that has Parineeti Chopra in it. There is something intensely endearing about her. That's perhaps because she makes the ordinary seem engaging, the odd seem cute. and doesn't let her audience's attention stray from her when she is onscreen. She has portrayed the character of Gulrez to perfection. Although, Aditya Roy Kapoor gets considerably less screen space but he manages to bowl you over with sincerity of his performance and doesn't let  audience's attention stray from him when he is onscreen. Anupam Kher has given an impeccable performance as Parineeti's father who has lived an honest life by never taking a bribe but due to excessive dowry demands helps Parineeti in playing a con game. Another actor who makes his debut on big screen is Karan Wahi who looks cute but gets minimal screen space.

 TECHNICAL FINESSE                                         ::                        The film’s music has already made its place in the chartbuster. Music composers Sajid-Wajid with their commercial sensibilities have poured in the right amount of drama in the songs. The qawwali number ‘Daawat-e Ishq’ is pick of the lot. The cinematography by Himman Dhamija is well-executed, with liberal shots of kebabs and jalebis, enough to make you squirm in hunger. Like the plot, the camera is more skilfully used for scenes in Hyderabad than in Lucknow. However, most of the scenes are indoors and thus it is only during the songs that you actually get to see the beautiful city and enjoy the cinematography to the core. The movie has been edited by Meghna Manchanda Sen who has done a good job and kept the run-time to crisp 123 minutes. She has ensured that the narrative flows at an even pace with not many highs or lows. Habib Faisal as a director has ably extracted the best of performances from his actors. He has made a movie which is not only about celebration of  food, love, relationships but also depicts the evils of dowry system prevalent in society.

CONCLUSION                                                    ::                      Daawat-e-Ishq may not be a perfect film but it's an adorable love story and the two young actors make ita good one time watch.

 

ROHIT SHARMA.

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Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo :: Movie Review

             

 GOREYAN NU DAFFA KARO is a lavishly mounted pleasing Punjabi movie by Pankaj Batra which has the stamp of entertainment marked on each n every frame of it and has definitely elevated the stature of Punjabi cinema.  Although, the genre of the movie is comedy but it is in stark contrast to those mindless comedies that have hit Punjabi screens in the past and were out rightly rejected by the audience. Most of the makers proclaim their movie to be "Hatke" which though turns out to be the same run of the mill stuff but this movie has a real pleasing & fresh feel attached to it. It has a proper well written script with some lovable characters being a part of it and Kudos to Pankaj Batra who has made full use of it and portrayed the story in the most effective manner. Unlike his last offering "Naughty Jatts" which relied more on gags, comic punches this one relies on humor which is not forced but comes through various situations in the movie. This is not a slapstick comedy but it still manages to raise lotta guffaws and brings smile to your face umpteen times.  The movie has portrayed a fine tuned amalgamation of Desi & Western culture in a humorous way which has never been portrayed on Punjabi Celluloid before.

STORY & SCREENPLAY                                                  ::                            The story of GNDF has been penned down by Amberdeep Singh who deserves accolades for his writing skills. He has picked up a  different subject and concocted a storyline which is invigorating and exhilarating especially for Punjabi Cinema. He has worked hard on baking his characters which is one of the prime reasons of the continuous flow of humor in the movie. The dialogues of the movie have also been written by Amberdeep Singh & he deserves a pat on the back for his dialogue writing skills also as the dialogues of the movie neither go over the top nor hit below the belt. The story begins from a village in Punjab whose headman is Najjar Singh (YogRaj Singh) who hates White people like anything. He has a solid reason for doing so as his father was killed by a blow from a British during pre partition days. But, as luck would have it his elder grandson Roop (Aman Khatkar) studying in Canada falls for a white girl there and decides to marry her. The only person who can help in getting married by convincing grandfather is his bother Kala (Amrinder Gill). Kala thinks of a plan and by firing a volley of lies finally convinces Najjar Singh that by bringing a white girl into their household they would be able to get even with whites. So, the father of the bride is invited to the village and with him comes Punjabi gori Alisha (Amrit Maghera) who captures the heart of Kala. Now, whether Kala will be able to get his brother married to a white girl & win over the love of  Alisha or his lies will be unearthed form the rest of the plot.   

STARCAST                                                                            ::                 Amrinder Gill as Kala is just awesome. He has portrayed the character to perfection and undoubtedly this is his best performance so far. He has not only looked cute which he is referred to by heroine of the movie but has worked immensely on his expressions & body language. Yograj Singh looks every inch the village headman that he portrays on-screen and has given a dynamic performance. The actor who manages to raise maximum number of guffaws with his impeccable comic timing is Binnu Dhillon. Be it the automatic door scene or his letter orating scene, he manages to keep you in splits whenever he appears on-screen which is aplenty. Though, both Aman Khatkar & Amrit Maghera are watchable but they need to work hard on their acting skills. But is the ensemble cast of Sardar Sohi, Karamjit Anmol & Rana Ranbir who have portrayed their comic characters to perfection and add up to the humor quotient of the movie. 

TECHNICAL FINESSE                                                        ::           The soundtrack of the movie has been composed by Jatinder Shah who has cut a chart buster album with some fine songs in it. Laazmi Dil Da Kho Jana by Amrinder Gill,  Pyar Tere Da Assar by Prabh Gill  and even the title track Goreyan nu daffa karo are the best picks. The man behind the lens and responsible for the visual enhancement of the movie is, cinematographer, Vineet Malhotra who has done an excellent job. Be it the rural beauty of Punjab or the Skyline towers of Canada, Vineet has captured them in the frames with elan. The movie has been edited by Parveen Kathikuloth who has done a crisp and taut job. The movie maintains a stable pace and manages to catch hold of your interest all through its runtime. As a director, Pankaj Batra has affirmed that he is not only master of his craft but has also been able to judge the pulse of the audience. He has stuck to the basics with the humor being driven in by characters and situations as there are no exaggerated dramatic flourishes, no playing to the galleries. He has ably extracted the best out of his cast n crew & made a thorough entertainer with all the blockbuster ingredients in it.  

CONCLUSION                                                            ::             GOREYAN NU DAFFA KARO is a well made, entertaining Punjabi movie which can be surely relished by Pollywood lovers along with their families. It wont disappoint you at all. 

ROHIT SHARMA.

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