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.

Cocktail - Movie Review

So, this week's big release is the Saif-Deepika-Diana starrer 'Cocktail', directed by Homi Adjania and written by Imtiaz Ali. Well, the awesome pairing, super cool soundtracks and good promos already generated huge hype around the film, but, does it live up to the expectations? Not really. I personally went looking forward to Adjania-Imtiaz duo and of course, the beautiful, Diana Penty!

The movie is set in London where Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) is the quintessential flirt, who is notorious for his 'angeenat pange', as his mamu (Boman Irani) refers to. He meets Meera (Diana Penty), the hindustani gharelu girl, who is duped by her husband. Arrives her saviour, the oh-so-rich-and-spoilt brat, Veronica (Deepika Padukone), who is a photographer by profession, but spends her riches on clubbing and drinking. How they bond and fall for each other is the remaining story. (quite predictable, nah?)

Well, nothing might seem new in terms of the basic storyline, but the vision in which the movie has been made is really huge. Deepika is amazing as the spoilt rich girl, Veronica, because her role is the most well defined one among the three leads. Just as Saif said in a recent interview, she is the wildest actor in town now. And by playing a complex character like Veronica, she proves him true. She is fiesty, she has the spunk and believe me, she oozes oomph into her character. Her acting abilities have improved and how! The sequence in the club in the second half is one of the finest examples of her performance in the film! 

Coming to Saif, its his usual role. He played similar ones in Love Aaj Kal or even Hum Tum. Diana Penty is a delight to watch. She uses her eyes beautifully, but still needs to work on her acting skills a little. Boman Irani is, as usual, good in his role as Saif's Mama. Dimple Kapadia, who plays Saif's mother, is another amazing actor in such an ensemble cast. She plays the typical Dilli woman, who wants her son to marry a 'desi kudi'. She is in her elements after a long time! (Probably after 'luck by chance', this is her best)

On the whole, the movie is quite entertaining, but the background score is a bit of a disappointment. The second half is sluggish, and could have been made shorter. But watch it with a heart. And all the MCP's out there might find some problems with Deepika's character, but thats how she is supposed to be. Final Verdict is- Watch it for its music, Adjania-Imtiaz and Deepika Padukone.

MY RATING- 3/5.

Bol Bachchan - Movie Review

The first post in 'The Filmy Basti' and what a perfect masaledar hindi film to start reviewing with! 'Bol Bachchan', directed by Rohit Shetty, is a laugh riot starring Ajay Devgn (funny name, hard to pronounce), Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Prachi Desai and a host of other actors! Coming from Rohit Shetty's stable, it carries his trademark stamp all over - From flying cars, to slow-motion-action sequences, Rohit has repeated all his patented gimmicks!

An official remake of the yesteryear classic, 'Golmaal', BB is a brutal murder and an insult to the cult classic that had Amol Palekar in the lead. Though the basic plot remains the same, a few cosmetic changes dont add to the fun much. Ajay Devgn reprises a role modelled on the lines of Utpal Dutt's  from Golmaal, while Abhishek tries getting into the shoes of Amol Palekar. Asin has a reasonable amount of screen space, but again is marred by a bad script. Prachi Desai just adds the heroine quotient, but is of not much use.

The supporting character in this double role-chaos generating comic caper are A grade! Archana Puran Singh leads the pack, followed by Krushna. They leave you in splits! :D (Both of them are part of the Comedy Circus on the small screen too). Asrani is good too, but Ajay Devgn with his rajasthani accent takes the cake! He is hilarious.

keeping aside any comparisons, and watching this film with an open mind, just like any other Rohit Shetty film, might make it even more appealing. One tends to like it even more, when they stop comparing it with its original. The film has its share of flaws and as well as crackling moments. Script loses its fizz in certain parts, but gains momentum soon. Not, one of the best comedies this year, but definitely worth a watch. My Rating- 2.5/5.