Movie Reviews and More ...

‘What went wrong’? Or rather why it went wrong, it’s not that easy to dissect and find out why some artists just fizzled out after an initial spark! Revisiting some dashing leading actors who ‘sparked’ and then vanished from the silver screen.  Prithvi was almost like an 90s Hrithik Roshan, those light eyes, a good height and he could act as well. Dil ka Kya kasoor(1992) a musical that made him a star. Followed by second lead roles in Platform(1992), Ikke Pe Ikka(1994) and then sliding lower to a junior artist in Daraar(1996) and then shifting to tv. He had it in him, but luck didn’t favour.  Avinash Wadhwan had a good personality, and acting skills as well. Movies like Aayee Milan Ki Raat (1991) and Meera Ka Mohan(1992) did well with good music, but did very little for his career. He was unceremoniously pushed into the supporting role category and soon vanished from the big screen only to surface on tv in Daddy roles.  Ravi Bahl  could dance well, Narsimha (1991) ...

Directed by: Bornila Chatterji and Alankrita Shrivastava  Streaming on : Netflix India Cast: Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Plabita Borthakur, Aadhya Anand, Manish Chaudhary, Vivek Gomber, Rahul Bose, Danish Hussain, Imaad Shah, Sanghmitra Hitaishi, Neel Raj Dewan, Nauheed Cyrusi, Ekavalli Khanna, Prashant Singh, Rituraj Singh, Rio Kapadia, and others.  Never judge a book by its cover or so they say, though the teasers and posters of Bombay begums could well give it a leftover Four more Shots Please vibe, it’s not that bad. Leaving the now out of steam feminazi brigade this show certainly had some high points particularly the handling of a sensitive subject like sexual exploitation at work place (not new on the celluloid but better dealt with here).  The director duo had a good strong storyline but except the sexual harassment episode there’s nothing else extraordinaire about this web-series and that’s such a let down.   Set very obviously in the big b...

In the fourth segment on artists in Bollywood who started their careers with ambitious goals but turned into one hit or one film wonders.  Deepak Parashar With the Mr India title earned in mid 70s tall yet lanky Parashar is best remembered for playing the adab arz hai Nawab in the blockbuster Nikaah(1982), he had some hits like Sharaabi(1984) where he was in a minor role, it was a joke that he had a better chemistry with Raj Babbar than the leading ladies as they starred in a spate of multiple movies in the 80s. Parasher wasn’t able to repeat his Nawaabi Andaaz ever again.  Suneil Anand  Son of debonair evergreen Dev Anand, Suneil was launched by daddy with the musical Anand Aur Anand(1984) or was it Anand hi Anand? Whatever the title, there was no Anand for the Anand’s considering beta Suneil failed to impress the viewers. Not a chip of the old block he appeared in disastrous relaunches like Car Thief(1987) and soon vanished into oblivion.  Harish   He debuted...

Director: Hansal Mehta  Cast: Rajkumar Rao, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub, Nushrat Bharucha, Satish Kaushik, Saurabh Shukla, Ila Arun, Naman Jain, Jatin Sarna, & others.  This offbeat ‘coming of age’ movie belongs to those Bollywood fares where as a viewer you know what’s going to happen in the end, that it’s the hero who’ll triumph victorious, and yet you flow with the tide notwithstanding the predictability.  Set in Haryana, it’s a simple story about a young PT teacher in a govt aided school played by Rao (brilliant), who’s laidback, callous and has a ‘chalta hai’ attitude towards his work. Things take a major u-turn when a rival PT teacher joins the school and is determined to displace Rao from his position. Realising how he’s been taking his life, work and the students for granted, Rao undergoes an attitude transformation to consolidate his position and prove his capabilities.  We’ve seen such stuff earlier in Hollywood as well as Indian movies, there have been some ...

Like me there are a host of others who are die hard fans of the golden boy of golden era, Goldie aka Vijay Anand. While we grew up watching him play the curious detective Sam Dsilva in the tv series Tehkikaat(1995), he was better known for directing some timeless classics in the retro era of Bollywood when at its classiest best. As a filmmaker he was ahead of his times, progressive, innovative and far sighted. The sensitivity with which he dealt his subjects was evident on screen. Also his keen ear for good music can still be heard from the classic songs from the below five albums. He also made his heroes look as beautiful as his heroines. Revisiting five of his best movies which are my favourites forever.  GUIDE(1965): based on R K Narayan’s classic novel by the same name, this is by far one of the most authentic and beautiful adaptations of a novel, Goldie’s charismatic hold over the complex characters is enviable. The mystical relationship between a neglected wife and a wanderin...