Jolly LLB 2- Commercialisation of a tried and tested idea

Release date- 10th February 2017

One Word which describes the film-  Stereotypical

Best Dialogues -

Akshay Kumar- "Beta, jo vakil paise wapis kar de naa wo vakil nahi hota."

Sourabh Shukla- "Bhare court ke andar thappad maar diya inko, ab kya RDX laga dega inke neeche."

Annu Kapoor- "Pepsi aur Pramod apna formula batate nahi."

Genre - Court Room Drama

Music- Manj Music, Meet Bros

Producer- Fox Star Studios

Story & Direction- Subhash Kapoor

Cast - Akshay Kumar, Sourabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Kumud Mishra

Budget- 30 Crores excluding Akshay Kumar's remuneration

Jolly LLB was a sleeper hit of 2013 where Arshad Warsi played the titular role of Jolly. The satirical court room drama was loved by all and it also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.

In 2016 when the sequel of Jolly LLB was announced, Arshad Warsi was asked why he was not doing the film. Arshad said that Fox Star Studios needed a bigger star, so they chose Akshay.

“It makes it easier for marketing and to have a hit. With me, you have to make a good film, so that is the problem. You can make money with me only if it’s a very good film. If you have a bigger star, then even if the film is not that good, you still manage to cover the money so risk factor from the producer’s point of view is less,” he added.

Guess Arshad Warsi knew what the sequel would be like even before the film was made. The film follows the same story line of its predecessor where a corrupt advocate becomes a responsible person when some events shake his soul. The film uses all the gimmicks to make it into a blockbuster even adding a Holi song and some dialogues about soldiers fighting at the border to awake the feeling of patriotism inside you.

The first-half is slow where we see different aspects of  Jolly’s life and his equations with his father, employer and wife. The story tries to take a serious turn but again it's followed by some light events as if the director can't decide the direction where he wants his film to go.

Post interval the film is shot mostly in the court like the other two hit films of 2016 Rustom and Pink.

We have some good scenes between the judge and the two advocates. But soon we get to see a scene where the lawyer calls the judge a 'Tuglaq' and then sits on a dharna, which is followed by the judge himself sitting on a dharna, when the others are busy sleeping in the court. This scene was so ridiculous that we wondered what kind of satire was this.

Akshay Kumar is more believable in the comedy scenes than in the courtroom scenes where he's trying to question the witnesses.

Huma Qureshi just sleep walks throughout the film and afterwards you wouldn't remember even one scene where she has left her mark.

Saurabh Shukla as the judge who recently had a by-pass surgery is the best thing about the film. He is an Alia Bhatt fan even saying that 'Alia is Mahesh Bhatt's best contribution to Bollywood after Saaransh. His dialogues are witty, often adding pace to a slow scene.

Annu Kapoor as the lawyer of the corrupt cop, Kumud Mishra is good and gets to say powerful dialogues. Sometimes his arguments are silly but guess that must happen too in real court cases.

In between the commercial film there are few scenes which touch your heart like when a victim confronts the errant Jolly in front of his wife and father, or when Jolly’s mentor comes to his rescue, or when Jolly sells his cabin just to get some evidence but they are so few that they stop the film from becoming a masterpiece.

The film was released in 3600 screens, thus becoming Akshay's biggest release till date and managed to earn 13 Crores on Friday.

The critics have given it 3.5 to 4 stars even when the film is just average proving that if you have good terms with the star then  being politically correct is more important than being right.

In a line, though the film tells you now and then that "Muskuraiye, Aap Lucknow mein hain," there are very few scenes which will actually warm your heart or make you clap for the protagonist.

Time pass

Rustom~ The man every woman wants.

Release date- 12th Aug 2016

One Word which describes the film- Charismatic 

Best Dialogue- 'Matlab baazi jeetne se hai ... phir chahe pyada qurbaan ho ya phir rani.'

Genre- Crime/Mystery

Music- Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Ganguly, Raghav Sachar, Arko Pravo Mukherjee

Producer- Neeraj Pandey, Aruna Bhatia,Nittin Keni

Based on- K. M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra

Direction- Tinu Suresh Desai

Cast- Akshay Kumar, Ileana D'Cruz, Arjan Bajwa
Esha Gupta, Pawan Malhotra, Sachin Khedekar

Budget- 50 Crores

Rustom is based on the famous Commander K. M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra (1959) court case which received unprecedented media coverage and inspired several books and movies. The case was the last to be heard as a jury trial in India, as the government abolished jury trials.
The film is set in the 60s and despite the disclaimer that it's a work of fiction most of the story line and the characters are taken from the Nanavati case.
In the first half of the film we are introduced to the central characters who belong to the upper-class of Bombay. They drive the swankiest cars, drink the finest wine, are members of elite clubs and throw the most happening parties.
The second half is a court room drama between the judge, the public prosecutor, the defense attorney and the witnesses.
The full story revolves around Rustom and Akshay Kumar has given his best performance till date to bring life to the otherwise dull and predictable story.
Akshay Kumar is known either for his action or comedy roles. In this film he does neither. There is not a single scene where he gives the audiences' an adrenaline rush by doing some daring action stunt or makes us laugh till our stomachs ache, still by the time the film ends we are so enamored by Rustom that it seems that we can't get enough of him. As a decorated naval officer his look is just perfect. He delivers every single dialogue with such sincerity and confidence that we believe in him. We feel his frustration, his pain, his helplessness and anger. He's the perfect man, who even for his wife's mistakes, blames himself.

Pawan Malhotra as the investigating officer has done complete justice to his short but significant role. He's also in awe of Rustom and time and again tries to create a balance between what his mind tells and what his heart feels.
Ileana's character mainly had to look pretty and she has done a good job in getting the 60's look right. Her on- screen chemistry with both men is quite weak and no sparks fly when they are together.

Esha Gupta adds to the glamour quotient. In her sleazy dresses, perfectly coiffured hair and brightly painted bee-stung lips, she looks like the Indian version of Marilyn Monroe. She has very few dialogues and in most of the scenes she's either looking smoking-hot or smoking a cigarette.

Most of the songs of the film are melodious though they are not part of the film. 'Karam khudaya hai' and 'Tay Hai' can be heard on loop.

The film has collected almost 30 Crores in two days. Once the film crosses 100 Crores, Akshay Kumar will be the only actor to have given three 100 Crores plus films in a year.

In a line, though the film is a court room drama, the events unfold in a very interesting way and keep the viewers engrossed in the story till the end.

Must watch for Akshay Kumar fans. Good one time watch for others. 

Housefull 3 - Dumb,dumber and dumbest!

Release date- 3rd June 2016

One Word which describes the film- No-brainer

Dumbest Dialogue- 'Hum bacche nahi bana rahe' (We are not kidding)

Genre- Slapstick Comedy

Music-Sohail Sen, Mika Singh, Sharib-Toshi, Tanishk Bagchi, Milind Gaba

Producer-Sajid Nadiadwala

Story & Direction-Sajid-Farhad

Cast- Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Lisa Haydon, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Chunkey Pandey 

Budget- 90 Crores including P & A approximately

Housefull (2010), directed by Sajid Khan was made on a budget of 50 Crores and earned almost 100 Crores at the box office. It's a copy of Tamil movie 'Kaathala Kaathala' starring Kamal Haasan and Prabhu Deva.

Housefull 2: The Dirty Dozen (2012) was also directed by Sajid Khan. It had a budget of 60 Crores and earned almost 120 Crores at the box office.The movie was a remake of 2003 hit Tamil movie Banda Paramasivam.

Housefull 3 is directed by Sajid-Farhad who have written dialogues for many films including Housefull 2,  Bol Bachchan & Chennai Express. It had a huge budget so the makers have used every trick in the book to make it a big film.

There is a huge castle, beach wedding, garden wedding, exotic locations, beautiful heroines in skimpy clothes, yacht parties, car races and even a Madam Tussauds set to add grandeur to the film. Cinematography is excellent and you find yourself in a dream world.

The only problem is that in this dream world all the characters are purposely made to look dumb. There are thieves who steal diamonds without any planning, a side hero who tries to win a car race by running to the finish line, a rap-singer who starts abusing the judges in Hindi when he is rejected and last but not the least three girls who try to keep screwing English phrases by translating them in Hindi.

So when a girl says, 'Kaamwali gayi, kamwali gayi', she means 'let bygones be bygones' , 'Naukri neeche' means 'Calm down' and Saandh ki aankh maarna' means 'Hit the bull's eye'. 

Then there is Boman Irani who still uses  the much used and abused whattsapp jokes like ,'Phal dho ke khane chahiye, dirty to picture bhi hai' or 'Insaan ko humesha khush rehna chahiye. Gambhir toh Gautam bhi hai'. Like in Chennai Express, here too many times the actors start speaking in Gujarati which further breaks the already slow pace of the film.

Akshay Kumar is the most expensive star with a great fan following so he is given the maximum screen space and dialogues and all other artists just seem to give company to him. This one conversation which I think was a bit funny will give you an idea about the level of humor.

Akshay- Kitna loan hai?

Jacky Shroff- 5000 Crore

Akshay- 5000 crore ka loan khud ke liye nahi lete, desh ke liye lete hai.

Though I wonder how he manages to alternatively do films like Singh is Blinng followed by Airlift and then Housefull3 followed by the upcoming Rustom.

Apart from Akshay Kumar, Boman Irani and Chunkey Pandey, Ritesh Deshmukh is the only actor who has been part of all the three films. In earlier films his character was that of a simpleton who gets caught into hilarious situations but here he is made to act dumb by saying dialogues like 'Love is blind ... but in my case the lover is blind' and ' Will you be my tawayaf, i mean wife', which is hardly funny or entertaining.

Abhishek Bachchan's last venture, All Is Well(2015) was a big flop so it's good for him that he got to be a part of this money making franchisee. And as they say, 'Every dog has it's day'. In the last 20 days three films of the Bachchans were released, Aishwarya's Sarbjit, Abhishek's Housefull3 and Amitabh Bachchan's Te3n and we all know which film has entered the 100 Crore club.

Chunkey Pandey is back as 'Aakhiri Pasta' and gets 2-3 scenes where he has to say lame dialogues. It's sad that now everyone knows him by this name instead of remembering him as Baban of Tezaab(1988).

Jacky Shroff must have taken some health tips from son Tiger as he looks fitter and smarter. His role is small and he is not expected to show any great acting skills so he also just parties along with the rest of the star cast.

Though the music is good but again the songs have lyrics like 'pyar ki maa ki' and 'taang utha ke' which any person of reasonable IQ won't like to hum or listen to.

The only saving grace of the film is that there is no vulgarity or abusive dialogues because of which it can be seen with kids and maybe is the only reason why it has earned almost 100 Crores in 10 days.

Sajid Nadiadwala has already declared that Housefull 4 is on the cards so guess till we keep watching such films, the makers will keep cashing on this franchisee and Akshay Kumar's popularity.

In a line, this film is the weakest of the three and has just 3-4 scenes where you will genuinely laugh, so if you have been lucky and avoided the series till now, keep doing so.
If you have nothing better to do and you are a big Akshay Kumar fan then only you should see it.  

Singh Is Bliing ~ Comedy of Errors

Release date - 2'nd Oct 2015

One Word which describes the film - Stupidity Reloaded

Best Dialogue- 'Singh jahan pair rakhta hai ... woh ilaaka uska ho jaata hai.'

Genre - Action/ Comedy 

Music -Meet Bros Anjjan, Manj Musik, Sajid-Wajid

Producer - Akshay Kumar, Ashvini Yardi, Jayantilal Gada

Story-  Shiraz Ahmed

Direction -Prabhu Deva

Cast -Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta, Kay Kay Menon, Rati Agnihotri

Budget- 50 Crores approximately

In 2008, producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah and director Anees Bazmee gave us a character Happy Singh who was a good at heart simpleton and used to tell whoever he met,' Main to sach bolta hoon, acchi apne aap lag jati hai.'

After 7 years the producers and director have changed and now we have Raftaar Singh who is an equally happy go lucky guy and loves to spend time with his friends and according to his father has this bad habit of leaving all jobs unfinished.

The film is Akshay Kumar's journey from Punjab to Goa, then again to Punjab and again to Goa, then to Romania and finally back to pavilion Punjab.

Though the film is called Singh is Bliing, it's not Singh who shines but his love interest Amy Jackson who not only gets equal screen space but also better action scenes. In fact it's really surprising to see a slender actress like Amy do action stunts with such perfection that you will be reminded of Hollywood characters like The Bride from  Kill Bill or Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. But then as it's Bollywood the director had to spoil her charm by making her dance in silly songs like Cinema Dekhe Mamma and Dil Kare Chu Che!

Lara Dutta who made her debut in Andaaz opposite Akshay Kumar in 2003 is now reduced to playing the role of a translator which any junior artist could have played.

Kay Kay Menon's entry is good and his dialogue,'I am too good' remind us of the great roles he has done in the past but here he gets no opportunity of showing his talent.

Rati Agnihotri plays the role of Akshay's mother and they are shown sharing a great bond which we can feel when during a telephonic conversation she asks 

'Bada khush lag raha hai tu, ladki kaun hai? ' to which Akshay replies, 'Kamaal hai maa, tujhse kuch nahi chupa sakta.' 

The director has combined all these characters along with lots of junior artists in a 2 hours 25 minutes film which has absolutely no story. To make up for the lack of screenplay there are many songs and dances and some comedy scenes which will make you laugh but by the end make you wish that all this glamour and bling could have done better with a good story. There is also a scene where the hero tries to pass off a bull dog as a lion!

But the tragedy is that this Akshay Kumar starrer got a better opening and business than his last two meaningful films Baby and Gabbar is Back.

The film collected around 21 crores on Friday because of Gandhi Jayanti and almost 65 crores in 5 days.

In a line if you liked Happy Singh and his mind boggling tactics of making you laugh then maybe you can come to like Raftaar Singh too.

Time-pass. Can be seen for Amy Jackson.

Brothers ~ Over dramatic Warriors

Release date - 14'th August 2015

One Word which describes the film - Melodramatic

Best Dialogue - ' Duniya badi zalim hai Master, dard par hasti hai.'

Genre - Action/ Drama

Music - Ajay-Atul

Producer - Hiroo Yash Johar, 
Karan Johar, Endemol India

Story- Gavin O'Connor, Cliff Dorfman ( Official remake of the 2011 Hollywood film, Warrior)

Direction - Karan Malhotra

Cast - Akshay Kumar, Sidharth Malhotra, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jackie Shroff,  Shefali Shah 

Budget- 65-70 Crores approximately

Karan Malhotra made his directorial debut in 2012 with Dharma Productions' Agneepath. This time both Karans are back with a Bollywood version of the 2011 American sports drama film Warriors.
The basic story revolves around two estranged brothers whose entrance into a mixed martial arts tournament forces them to come to terms with their past and each other.
The first half of the film is quite dark and gloomy. We have a shabby Jackie Shroff and a bland Siddharth who move around in slow motion. The director tries to build a story around the main characters but fails to create interest among the audiences. 
We get to see Kareena Kapoor trying to do a Sunny Leone type item dance, 'Mary'. So Karan Johar did give you a Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham at the starting of your career but Bebo, now that you are the Begum of a billionaire you don't need to do such cheap songs to stay in limelight.   
Akshay Kumar and Jacqueline's 6 years relation is shown in a 5 minutes song which reminds of a similar Teri Meri Kahani song from Gabbar is Back showing the flash back of Akshay and Kareena's love story. Afterwards both Akshay and Jacqueline carry the same pained expression in most of the scenes.
Jackie Shroff looks old and haggard but in some scenes he has given such an excellent performance that we forget that he is acting and start sympathizing with the poor father who is repenting for his sins.
After interval the film takes a sudden change and we are literally taken from the darkness to light. There is a big lighted stadium with thousands of people cheering for their first winner of the Right To Fight championship. Raj Zutsi who plays the role of a commentator has some good dialogues and manages to make the repetitive fights entertaining.
The film got a 35% opening and managed to earn around 35 crores in two days which is a little less considering the production houses involved and its big budget. The film didn't receive many positive reviews because of it's over dramatic story and a slow first half.
Akshay Kumar fans must watch this film as he looks fit and has performed most of his martial arts stunts himself. 
If you are a lover of Hollywood films don't watch Brothers hoping to get another Warriors. Watching Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation will be a safer bet.
In a line though the first half is quite slow and stretched, the second half makes up for it and you emerge out of the theaters with a smile on your face.
One time watch. Can be seen in theaters.  

Gabbar is Back- The Dream of creating a corruption free India

Release date - 1'st May 2015

One Word which describes the film - Over-the-top

Best Dialogue - 'Sabke Karam Saamne Aayenge, Woh Kya Hai Na Karma Rishwat Nahi Leta.'

Genre - Action/Drama

Music -Chirantan Bhatt, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Manj Musik

Producer - Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

Story- Remake of Tamil film Ramana written and directed by A. R. Murugadoss

Writer- Rajat Arora

Direction -Krish

Cast -Akshay Kumar, Shruti Hassan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Suman Talwar, 

• Sunil Grover
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Budget- 80 crores  approximately.

Gabbar is back is a scene by scene remake of the hit Tamil film  Ramanaa (2002), directed by A. R. Murugadoss. It's remade in Telugu as Tagore, in Kannada as Vishnu Sena and in Bengali as Tiger. All the remakes have earned money at the box office. So it was expected that Gabbar will also open to full houses. It has collected almost 46 crores in 4 days. 

The press gets information that 10 tehsildars across Maharashtra have been mysteriously kidnapped. But they are as mysteriously returned, except the most corrupt one. Other corrupt officers of various departments also become the target of Gabbar's fury who wants a corruption free India.
The film is very fast and has spicy one liners by the king of dialogues 'Rajat Arora',.
Digvijay Patil- Rishwat li to Gabbar maar dega, nahi li to main maar dunga.
Sadhuram Yadav- 'Jab mujhe expert advice chahiye hoti hai to mai khud se baat kar leta hoon.'
At times the film becomes too unreasonable and overblown which I think is a regular feature of any South Indian film.
Akshay Kumar who is known as the fitness icon looks bulky and has a very funny hairstyle. The moustache and grey beard do nothing for his look. In scenes with Shruti Hassan the age difference is very much visible.
Shruti Hassan who is a lawyer but also helps in successfully delivering a baby in the backseat of a car just based on google research is loud and most of the time looks like a fashion model.
Sunil Grover who plays the role of an intelligent hawaldar has given a good performance.
Suman Talwar comes across as a powerful antagonist.
Kareena Kapoor appears in the Teri Meri Kahani song and adds to the glamour quotient of the film. 
Chintragada Singh who was declared as the next Smita Patel when she made her debut in Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi(2003) is now reduced to doing steamy item numbers. Aao Raja recreated by Honey Singh is his worst creation till date.
So the question is whether you should listen to all the critics and just avoid the film as it's nowhere near the magnum- opus 'Sholay' or you should leave your brains at home and just enjoy this masala entertainer.
In India the audience is already divided into classes and masses. The teenagers totally avoid Hindi films and stick to films like Fast and Furious and an equally mindless Avengers as they think it's cool to watch them.
Any film which has some patriotic message should be seen by all countrymen. So I would say go and watch it and if even one scene touches your heart and brings a minor change, the purpose is solved.  

In a line the message conveyed to the audience  is very good, I just wish the way in which it was presented was a little better. 

One time watch. Timepass