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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 ...
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NIKAAH (1982)

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NIKAAH (1982)  Directed by: B R Chopra  Cast: Raj Babbar, Salma Agha, Deepak Parasher, Asrani, Iftekhar, Yunus Parvez, Henna Kauser, Chandrashekhar and others.  IMO this is one of the rare “bold and beautiful” movies from Bollywood archives, bold doesn’t necessarily mean raging political dialogues or skin show, sometimes it’s the concept and the overall treatment of the subject that can make you sit up and take notice of the brilliance of storytelling.  “Nikaah” is the poignant tale of a young student Niloufar studying at the Osmania university, who gets married to a wealthy aristocratic Nawab Wasim. One night in a moment of anger Wasim divorces Niloufar, she later finds solace and sympathy in a poet Haider whom she gets remarried to. Wasim soon realizes his true love for Niloufar and starts persuading her to divorce Haider and remarry him as that’s traditionally acceptable by the Sharia Law. The finale belongs to Niloufar and her golden moment of expressing her fee...
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MR BOND (1992) revisited

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MR BOND (1992) Revisited  Directed by : Raj Sippy  Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sheeba, Saathi Ganguly, Dolly Minhas, Ruchika Panday, Manjeet Khullar, Poonam Dasgupta, Ram Mohan, Hussain Khan, Subbiraj, Mac Mohan, Bob Christo & Pankaj Dheer.  We know Indianised James Bond in Bollywood like Jumping Jack Jeetu and muscular Mithun in 60s, 70s and 80s who played the agent with fine aplomb and their movies were box office hits as well, but do we remember our very own Khiladi Kumar playing the undercover agent in this forgotten “strictly for adults” thriller? When a bunch of kids from wealthy families get kidnapped by an Bangkok based underworld don Dragon, an Indian undercover agent Mr. Bond is summoned to rescue the innocent lives. Loaded with generous martial arts action, lot of bloodbath, flexing muscles and ripped bodies, this thriller could well be the lowest rated action movie on IMDb. Nevertheless it’s one of those delightful trashy Bollywood capers that make a random after...
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RASBHARI (2020) a review

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RASBHARI (2020)  Directed by: Nikhil Bhat Cast: Swara Bhasker, Ayushman Saxena, Chittaranjan Tripathy, Neelu Kohli, Pradhuman Singh, Sunny Hinduja, Sunakshi Grover, Akshay Suri, Rashmi Agdekar, Diptesh Das & others.  Amazon prime video’s latest offering is an eight episodic erotica webseries set in the quiet and culturally rich small town Meerut. One fine day a supposedly voluptuous English teacher moves in the town who is rumoured to have a high sex drive. All men irrespective of age start lusting for the teacher, including the sixteen year old protagonist who’s her student.  The director Bhat has a plot that has been used and revised several times, if it’s erotica as the theme then the recent Mastram (2020) series were better and had superior production values. Most of the supporting cast are new faces except Tripathy and Kohli as the lead actor’s parents.  Casting the talented Bhasker as the sexually attractive teacher backfires, undoubtedly she’s a brilliant...
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BULBBUL (2020) a review

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BULBBUL (2020)  Directed by: Anvita Dutt  Cast: Rahul Bose, Tripti Dimri, Avinash Tiwari, Pauli Dam, Hemant Bisht, Baby Ruchi, Master Varun, Parambrata Chattopadhyay & others.  Produced by Clean Slates productions (Anushka Sharma) expectations rise high if you’ve been impressed with their earlier offering Pataal Lok(2020), sadly this is a horror short that starts well and ends disappointingly.  The story begins with a child bride married into a wealthy Thakur household, her much older husband has a mentally unstable identical twin. The story fast forwards Bees Saal Baad and the little girl grows up into a vivacious beautiful Badi Bahu. Soon there are a series of murders, men are being brutally killed and a ‘chudail’ is blamed. The youngest Thakur of the family who’s freshly London returned starts investigating the crime Sherlock style.  Director Dutt builds up a promising plot, getting audience interest and setting intriguing clues. But the extended climax ...
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AARYA (2020) review

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AARYA (2020)  Directed by: Ram Madhwani  Cast: Sushmita Sen, Vikas Kumar, Sikander Kher, Manish Chaudhary, Namit Das, Ankur Bhatia, Jayant Kripalani, Sohaila Kapur, Maya Sarao, Sugandha Garg, Flora Saini, Joy Sengupta, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Chandrachur Singh(Sp.App.) A fresh thriller web series streaming currently on hotstar, official adaptation of the Dutch thriller series Penoza(2010) which was created by Peter Bart Korthuis, “Aarya” is just like its leading lady “achchi hai par bahut lambi hai”  Set in the Royal and culturally rich Rajasthan, a wealthy entrepreneur from an elite family is murdered, while everyone is reeling under shock his widow till then a submissive housewife transforms into a revengeful lioness to track down the killer and protect her cubs who are apparently under threat. She discovers dark secrets related to her dead husband and the patriarchal family business that has more to hide than reveal.  The makers rely on dark and gloomy atmosphere cre...
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PUSHPAK (1987) REVISITED

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PUSHPAK (1987) revisited Directed by: Singeetham Srinivasa Rao  Cast: Kamal Hasan, Amala Mukherjee, Sameer Khakkar, Tinnu Anand, Vasant Kamat, Farida Jalal, K S Ramesh, Loknath, Pratap Pothhen, P L Narayanan.  “Silence is golden” they say, and a silent film like this can convey so much more than a loud violent film, agree? Way back in the 80s it must’ve been a true big experiment to make a silent film in mainstream cinema, I watched it in the mid 90s and loved it immensely, I rewatched it and loved it all the more now.  A simple uncomplicated plot centred around a young unemployed graduate who has a “chance encounter” when he spots a “filthy”(quite literally) wealthy man in an inebriated state. He switches places with the rich man and assuming his identity starts living in a posh hotel called “Pushpak” where he finds comfort, respect, happiness, food, and an unexpected romantic liaison as well. There is also a “cold blooded” contract killer on the prowl targeting the you...
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VEERANA (1988) Revisited

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VEERANA (1988) Revisited  Directed by: Ramsay Brothers  Cast: Hemant Birje, Jasmin, Sahila Chaddha, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Vijendra Ghatge, Gulshan Grover, Narendra Nath, Satish Shah, Rajesh Vivek, Vijay Arora, Tina Ghai, Rama Vij, Rajendra Nath, Baby Vaishnavi, Baby Sneha & Kamal Roy.  Very few Bollywood horror lovers might dislike this classic horror movie which had almost all the mandatory ingredients to cook a delicious Bollywood horror meal. Romance, comedy, sleaze, action, haunting melody everything in abundance !  Centered around a wealthy Thakur’s family, they face the wrath of a doomed vampire when she possesses the body of Thakur’s young daughter. After growing into a voluptuous heiress she haunts in the wilderness singing in an high pitched tone attracting random men who are found brutally murdered later-on.  Directed by the horror specialist duo Tulsi & Shyam (Ramsay Brothers) this is one of their better conceptualised movies. It’s evident th...
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