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Showing posts from October, 2018

JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted ...

Bazaar- review

Bazaar (2018)  Directed by: Gaurav Chawla  This is more like watching The Wolf of “Dalal Street”, the movie has no connection with its namesake art movie released way back in 1982, this is more of an off-beat corporate drama based on stock market politics. Now just how many Bollywood films can be categorised as corporate themed? Maybe Shyam Benegal’s impressively canvassed Kalyug (1981) or Madhur Bhandarkar’s poorly etched Corporate(2006), maybe a few more. But that’s it.  The movie is one dimensional and follows the journey of an Allahabad based young boy Rizwan Ahmed (Rohan Mehra) whose keen and curious interest in the stock markets lands him in the big bad world of corporate politics in a high profile stock broking establishment helmed by Wadhwa(Denzil Smith). Rizwan soon joins hands with his idol the stock market mogul Shakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan) who’s a sharp minded aristocratic Gujarati tycoon. The collaboration soon turns into rivalry and they turn bitter foes, ...

Revisiting the Ramsay’s : Halloween 🎃 Month

REVISITING THE RAMSAY’s : HALLOWEEN 🎃 MONTH  With Halloween 🎃 approaching soon let’s revisit some spine chilling horror flicks from the house of the Ramsay Brothers. Undoubtedly Bollywood could never produce a horror movie that could be anywhere close to Hollywood classics like the Exorcist or Jaws but whatever technical support and limited resources were available to them, the Ramsay brothers certainly dished out some trashy B class horror stuff with the perfect Indian ingredients like songs and dances and generous dose of sex and violence.  1. Darwaza (1978) This suspense drama revolved around a city boy (Anil Dhawan) who visits his ancestral mansion in a cursed village only to face a blood thirsty monster and unveil a well guarded family secret. This crisp and sleek horror flick had good performances from supporting cast like Imtiyaz Khan and Anju Mahendru and edge of seat slasher scenes by 70’s Bollywood standards. Amit Kumar’s dreamy vocals in the song “Hosh mei Hum kah...

Badhaai Ho - Review

BADHAAI HO (2018)  Director: Amit Sharma  This slice of life comedy will help you revisiting the era when middle of the road cinema was championed by Basu Chatterjee and Sai Paranjpe, a simple wholesome entertainer is what this drama offers.  Based in Delhi, a young corporate employee Nakul (Ayushmaan Khurana) is dating an elite high society girl Reneé(Saniya Malhotra) and lives in the government quarters of Lodhi Colony, an area where neighbours intrude in other’s homes, young and the elderly meet up at day end to share and care at the ‘nukkad’ and the housewives Meet over low budget kitty parties. All hell breaks for Nakul when his middle aged parents declare an unexpected and unplanned pregnancy ! The family has to deal with this “good news” inviting wrath of their grown up sons, inquisitive inquiries of the neighbours and curious sarcastic taunts of relatives. This situational comedy is dealt with a lot of humour and a tinge of emotions.  The director Amit Sharma...

ANDHADHUN- review

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ANDHADHUN (2018)  Directed by : Shriram Raghavan  ~~~~~~NO SPOILER ~~~~~~~~~ “Don’t miss the Beginning” claims the subtitle of this thrilling black comedy layered with dollops of suspense and mystery. They’re right, the “Hare” hunt in the beginning is beautifully woven in the story leading to that shocking unexpected climax ! So don’t miss the beginning.  The story is based in Pune and revolves around a young blind piano player Akash (Aayushman Khurana) who despite his visual disability is a master of playing the musical instrument that attracts a lot of attention-good, bad and ugly. Akash gets inadvertently entangled in the web of crime and passion when he “witnesses” a cold blooded murder. Soon there is another murder and the witness this time is - yes you guessed it right Akash again! Now he has to run away from the chasing unfriendly cops as well as the octopus clutches of the murderer. As the story progresses the viewers get to watch how Akash outwits his detractors ...