Yeto Velipoindi Manasu- Movie Review

'Priyatama Nee vachata Kushalama, Nenu ichata kushalame...', thats the song from Kamal Hassan's 'Guna' that was sweetened by Maestro Ilaiyaraaja for Samantha-Nani starrer, 'Yeto Velipoindi Manasu', that drew the crowds to this Gautham Vasudev Menon flick. Coming from the director who gave us two gems through 'Ye Maya Chesave', ie.., a beautiful musical love story and the gorgeous, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, YVM doesnt really lives upto the hype that was created around it.

Simultaneously shot in tamil, telugu and hindi, YVM is the on-and-off love story of Varun (Nani) and Nithya(Samantha). The film traces the love life of teens, then college romance and finally, real love. All between the same couple. Sounds nice? But two-and-a-half hours is too long a duration for such a movie. And thats the biggest spoiler.

The pace is slow and there are way too many sequences which could have been done away with, to make it a crisp yet intense romance. But, having said that, the lead couple, Nani and Samantha look uber cool, super cute and their unconventional pairing works well. Tall, dark and handsome lad and petite, gorgeous belle- AWESOME!!

The music was touted to be the highlight and is really good, thanks to Illaiyaraaja!! But, having a song as frequently as every 10 minutes, makes it quite a pain. The cinematography, the costumes and the dialogues are good! Wish i could say the same about the screenplay! :/

Well, it may not be the best that Gautham Menon has given us in the past, but is definitely worth a watch, ONLY if one loves love stories to death. Hope the hindi version which is due for release, is made shorter and better.
MY RATING- 2/5

Talaash - Movie Review

To sum it up in short- Good, but greatly flawed. Aamir Khan-Rani Mukerji- Kareena Kapoor starrer 'Talaash' is of the same genre that bollywood is turning towards now- thrillers. With the same kind of cinematic treatment that was dished out in the superbly well crafted Vidya Balan starrer, 'Kahaani', Talaash has come out with huge expectations! But for me, it falls short, somehow.

Directed by Reema Kagti (such a refreshing change after the oh-so-boring Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd) and co written by Zoya Akhtar, the film works for its dark and gritty sequences, but falls flat for its pace. There are way too many scenes where the narrative becomes boring. For instance, the sequence where Aamir meets Kareena in a hotel room, and many such situations, where the movie could have been paced up a little.

With fantastic cinematography by Sharmishtha Roy, the similarities between Kahaani and Talaash end with  the realistic picturisation and the basic premise- Avenging a death! Suri Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) is a cop who is investigating the mysterious death of superstar Armaan Malik(TV fellow, Vivaan Bhatena) in an accident. He is also battling an inner turmoil, along with his wife, Roshni (Rani Mukerji), after the loss of their 8 year old son. In the course of his investigation, he meets a lot of shady people and his biggest informer, Rosy(Kareena Kapoor -_-). How he solves the case forms the rest of the story.

With a host of good actors, Talaash stands out as one of the really well made films this year. Kareena as Rosy is good as usual, and looks beautiful in her role. Rani Mukerji shows why she deserves to be the rani of acting skills by playing with restrain and emoting naturally. Aamir steals the show, with not just maximum footage, but with his serious act as a tough cop and a shattered father.

But.... Not such a smooth sail. There are various questions that arise after the film. Like, why did the 'murderer' take three years to kill them, why not directly? And Kareena's character needed more definition. May be making it a little more pacy could have add more thrills and shrills. Being a art-house pro, the director got stuck with similar pace i guess. Overall, a good watch, but nothing great.
MY RATING-3.5/5. (Am i being too generous :P)

English Vinglish - Movie Review

Looks like meaningful cinema has finally made its inroads into Bollywood. After Barfi!, we have a small and simple film, English Vinglish carrying the baton. Directed by R. Balki's wife, Debutante director, Gauri Shinde, English Vinglish is the perfect comeback vehicle that any actress could ask for.

Unlike Madhuri Dixit, who chose a movie based on dance(something which she is known for since her hay-days), Sridevi returns to the big screen with a fantastic film where she plays her age, is real and most importantly, totally adorable! She gives a stunning performance and its hard to believe that she has been away from the arc lights for 15-odd years. Barring her voice, hindi accent and her botox face, she still has the same potential and lightens up the screen with her charisma!

Set in India and 'The United states of Amrika', the movie traces the journey of Shashi (Sridevi) as she tries to learn speaking in English, primarily to get her some respect from her family. To be frank, i thought the movie might turn out to be a film version of  the TV show, 'angrezi mein kehte hai', but its so much more than that. Its got such small yet brilliant moments, which make one realize how we take women for granted.

Its sheer brilliance lies in its story- nothing new, nothing unpredictable, but has such poignancy in it! Ones heart goes out to Shashi, when she feels guilty of embarrassing her daughter at her school PTA. One can feel her pain when she runs out of a coffee shop, all humiliated or in any of the scenes where her husband and children make fun of her.And, One can relate to her when she acts like a perfect mom! (I could see my mom in so many of the scenes, and i realized how much i take her for granted!! SORRY MOM :*) And thus, the heart and soul of the film is SRIDEVI! She is absolutely brilliant and looks real in almost a no-makeup n sari clad role. What a wonderful film to make her comeback!

And along with Sridevi, Laddoos make a comeback too! Haha! Supporting her is Priya Anand, as her niece. The rest of the cast is fantastic too, but as i said, Sridevi's aura is unmatchable. Technically, it has a very good screenplay and the direction is A-Grade. Gauri Shinde, take a bow! Final word, its a wonderful film thats definitely a must watch!!
MY RATING- 4/5.

Barfi! - Movie Review

After a really long time, saw a really good film! Barfi, directed by Anurag Basu (mera naam-bandhu), is a fantastic attempt that stays with you even after you come out of the theatre. Breaking the stereotypical caricatures that our Bollywood films often build around mentally challenged or physically disabled people, Barfi is a heartwarming take on the love story between a deaf and mute boy, Murphy (barfi is what he calls himself, payed brilliantly by Ranbeer Kapoor) and an autistic girl, Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra in yet another terrific role).

Before i forget, the movie is incomplete without the mention of its second protagonist, Shruthi, played by mana tollywood ammayi, Ileana. She plays Barfi's love interest, the film's narrator and a strong bolt that binds the film together. A perfect debut in Hindi films, i guess! The film is based in Darjeeling and kolkatta and the camerawork as well as the cinematography is just awesome! every frame looks amazingly beautiful, and the film, set in 1970's looks every bit authentic.

Though a lot of the scenes seem to be influenced or inspired from some of the finest foreign movies, like the ones starring Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean, Ranbeer competely takes your mind off that and makes you fall in love with his character. Offering him stiff competition is Priyanka Chopra, who plays an autistic girl with such conviction, that she outshines SRK's autistic act in MNIK. They are brilliant! Ileana, looks beautiful, and every bit a bengali but has a relatively less challenging role. But, she emotes beautifully through her eyes. Well, that again proves that our heroines are wasted in Tollywood, and their potential is wasted.

Coming to the technicalities, the music, lyrics, cinematography are absolutely A grade! But, the story and the screenplay take the cake! Mixing a love story with other tracks, and executing it without even a single dialogue for its lead pair, is most certainly a great achievement. Kudos to Anurag Basu for this.

On the whole, though it might seem a little dragging in some parts, the second half is amazing. A perfect film after a perfectly long time. MY RATING: 4/5

Ek Thha Tiger - Movie Review

Back to reviewing a movie after a long time! Having seen Step Up 4, Julaayi in the last few days, nothing could draw me to write a movie review, until i saw ETT today! This Salman-Katrina starrer is definitely better than salman's last two money churners, Bodyguard and Ready. But misses the brownie points that Dabanng had in its simple charm.

Directed by Kabir Khan, the movie is similar to his last two films- New York and Kabul Express. Similar anti-national themes or cop stories and the same emotional connect. The Love story is cute, their chemistry is sweet, but doesnt really look convincing. And that is the biggest weak point for the film. The action sequences, the crisp editing and the typical hindi-spy flick suspense twists are really good, if only the story was equally good.

The film Tracks the life of a RAW agent, Tiger aka Kaddu (Salman Khan) who is out on a mission all the time and has no social life, except for sipping whiskey with his boss and making Daal for him. On one of his missions to 'observe' a professor working in Berlin on some indian nuclear weapon (YAWN), he bumps into the petite beauty, Zoya aka Z (Katrina Kaif). Well, a dance teacher and choreographer, who works part time as caretaker of a professor's house. (But she still manages to look like a zillion bucks in every frame and wears amazingly hot (and short :P) designer clothes! What a life :P)

Expectedly, they fall for each other only to discover that she is a 'dushman mulk' ki ISI agent! UFFF! and the rest of the film is how Pak's ISI and India's RAW try to over-smart each other. Throughout the film, whatever 'intelligence' work that RAW does, is shown to be dishoom-dishoom, and nothing else. But, those action sequences are really awesome!

Coming to the cast, Salman is good as usal and is the modern Hanuman!(Not because of his celibacy in real life, but because of his flying skills in the film) He flies from one building to the another and doesnt seem to get even a drop of blood, or even sweat! Katrina Kaif looks gorgeous and complements Sallu Bhai amazingly! And she gets to do a few stunts too, and she does kick some asses! :D The other supporting cast is just fine, but Girish Karnad overacts in some scenes!

On the whole, its definitely worth a watch! Had the love story between the leads been developed well, then it would have looked more convincing. None-the-less, considering the cinematic liberty that Kabir Khan has taken, its a paisa-vasool salman flick for sure! GO for the awesomely choreographed and fast paced action sequences and of course, Sallu-katrina!
MY RATING-2.5/5.