Hindi Medium: Fair point well made, Mr Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal, Swati Das, Tillotama Shome, Amrita Singh

Director: Saket Chaudhary

Budget: 22 Crores including P&A

Hindi Medium is about a mother's desire to send her child to an A-list school because she thinks that in India, “Angrezi zabaan nahi hai, class hai”. She’s in a constant state of anxiety and always thinks that inability to speak fluent English leads to one being a social outcast which leads to depression which will lead to drugs.

Irrfan Khan as the doting husband who can't see tears in the eyes of his wife is excellent. He has no problem in accepting that, “My life is Hindi but my wife is English”.

Throughout the film he has given such a range of expressions that you can actually feel what is going on in his mind even before he utters his lines.

Saba Qamar has given equal competition to Irrfan in the acting department. Her chemistry with him is so natural that we actually believe that they are a couple who have been together since a long period of time. Though her character is a stereotype of many Indian mothers who are overprotective about their children or of newly rich women who want to be a part of the high society, she plays it with such confidence that all her actions are bound to make you laugh.

If Sanjay Suri and Neha Dhupia expertly portray the rich and snobbish elite section of our society, giving them tough competition are Deepak Dobriyal and Swati Das who are “paidaishi gareeb”.

These supporting artists make it sure that there is never a dull moment in the film.

The thing which sets Hindi Medium apart from all other films is that it doesn't try to change the mindset of anyone or bring any radical change. It doesn't give any lectures on a utopian kind of society. It’s a simple story of a couple who are with each other in thick and thin and have accepted the other with all their shortcomings.

The film was released in around 1100 screens and managed to collect 2.8 Crores on Friday. Because of good word of mouth the collections increased by almost 50% on Saturday and it made 4.25 crores thus proving that a good film always works in the long term.

In a line, there are satires and then there are courageous films which dare to question and judge the same multiplex audiences who have the power to make the film a box office success.

Highly recommended. Good one time watch.

Return of 'Perfection Personified' Prem

Release date- 12'th November 2015

One Word which describes the film - Melodrama

Most Overrated Dialogue - 'Main wapas aa gaya, main wapas aa gaya.' 

Genre- Romance/ Drama 

Music-Sanjoy Chowdhury, Himesh Reshammiya

Producer-Ajit Kumar Barjatya, Kamal Kumar Barjatya

• Rajkumar Barjatya
• 
  

Story & Screenplay- Sooraj R. Barjatya

Direction -Sooraj R. Barjatya

Cast- Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh

• Anupam Kher, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaska, Armaan Kohli

Budget- 80-90 Crores

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is out and out a typical Sooraj Barjatya film which simply proves the wisdom behind this dialogue ,'Har film ka ek hi hero hota hai..director.' In 26 years Sooraj Barjatya has directed just 6 films and except Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003), all have been blockbusters. All his films have a central character called 'Prem' who is very idealistic and can not hurt anyone even in his dreams. Prem is perfection personified.

Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor sounded like a very odd pair from start but when you see them on screen you won't mind them as the film is not about their love, it's about family and the perfect Prem keeps reminding you throughout the film that, 'lucky hai wo log jinke pas family hai.'

If instead of Salman Khan, Sooraj Barjatya had casted anyone else the film would have not have been able to post such great collections as the audience has become very critical these days which can be seen from the poor box office collections of Shaandaar, Jazbaa , Phantom and Katti Batti.

Salman Khan combined with the 5 days Diwali holidays and no other major release

 helped the film to collect 100 crores in just 3 days despite bad reviews and word of mouth.

The film has a 80's-90's kind of simple plot where from the start everyone including the actors and audiences know who is good and who is bad. The events just keep unfolding at a slow pace without any thrill or drama. The music is ordinary.

Sonam Kapoor in her designer dresses and heavy jewellery designed by her mother Sunita Kapoor looks beautiful and keeps  smiling and dancing on the director's tunes.

Armaan Kohli was last seen in Big Boss 7. Though he didn't win the show and later
even parted ways with his true love Tanisha he got a major role in Salman's film. He and Neil Nitin Mukesh get many scenes to show their potential but  they remain expressionless throughout.

Anupam Kher has a very simple role and gets to say dialogues which he could say even in his sleep. 

Amrita Rao was offered to play the role of Prem's sister which she refused and it was then offered to Swara Bhasker. Her role is also very simple and when she is not chopping vegetables she also gets to dress up and dance with other characters.

The only thing which is not simple in the film are it's grand sets which look straight out of either Sanjay Leela Bhansali's  or Karan Johar's films. We wonder in which part of India are these huge palaces present where princess eat kachoris packed in Haldiram's boxes and princes order electronic gadgets from Chroma. 

In a line if Salman Khan's Jai Raam ji ki said at the start of the film has the power to make the film rise above all bad word of mouth and become a blockbuster just think what can it do for you if you utter it daily.

One time watch. Can be seen when is premiered on TV.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns - Reality Check !

Release date - 22'nd May 

2015

One Word which describes the film -Laugh riot

Best Dialogue -
Tanu-' Haalat dekhi hai apni? Adrak ho gaya hai ye aadmi. Kahin se bhi badh raha hai!' 
Manu- "Haan toh shaadi se pehle Hrithik Roshan tha kya?

Genre -Comedy/ Drama 

Music - Ramesh Vinayagam

Producer - Kishore Lulla
Anand L. Rai

Story- Himanshu Sharma

Direction -Anand L. Rai

Cast -Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Deepak Dobriyal

Budget- 35 Crores 

After giving  two hits Tanu Weds Manu (2011) and Raanjhanaa (2013), the director-writer duo  Anand L. Rai and  Himanshu Sharma have hit the jackpot with their third tongue in cheek comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns which has become the first film of 2015 to enter the 100 Crore Club. 

With big budget films like Baby and Bombay Velvet failing to touch the 100 Crore mark it's no mean feat.

Kangana Ranaut is slowly and steadily becoming the poor producers' Amir Khan (pun intended).

When Tanu tells a small kid to write a letter which says , 'Laal kalam se likh do unko bahut hua sammaan..' we know that the rebellious Tanuja Trivedi is back and we can expect some fireworks . She has no second thoughts about hugging a rickshaw wala who once used to study in the same college with her and telling him ,'Bahut acche din the yaar wo, waqt aur umar ne sab barbaad kar diya yaar.' 

Kangana as Datto is the real surprise package of the film. Tanu and Datto are like chalk and cheese. It's hard to believe that both the characters are played by the same woman. Where as one is a drop dead beauty who attracts men like moths to a flame the other one is a dedicated athlete who has no time for love or to enjoy the finer things in life. When a befuddled Manu collides with her she shouts at him in Haryanvi , 'Ke kar raha tha bahen faela ke, yo jagah se Shah Rukh Khan bannan ki?'

Madhavan is an excellent actor who always manages to express his feelings through his eyes. Every married man in the audience must have identified and sympathized with him. His silent nature and simple looks act as the perfect foil for Kangana's beauty and exuberance.
His recent weight gain may have acted as an advantage in portraying the role of a 40 year old married man but if he has any intention of playing other mainstream roles he should seriously start working on loosing the extra kilos.

Jimmy Shergil has few scenes in the films but he manages to leave an impact. His character has matured over the years and now instead of raw anger his character depicts maturity. He gets irritated now and then like when he tells Tanu, 'Hum kahe tum nahi tumhare jaise hi sahi, lekin tumhare pati se wo bhi dekha nahi ja raha! Saley ko original bhi yahi rakhenge, duplicate bhi yahi rakhenge.'

Deepak Dobriyal first came to limelight for his award winning performance in Omkara (2006) .  He is totally loyal to Madhavan and plays the role of his inner conscience. You can't stop laughing when he tells Manu ,' Tum kya Salman Khan ho jo tumhe commitment issues hai.' With him around, there's never a dull moment.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Chintu is a new addition in this sequel. He is in awe of Tanu and wants to win her by hook or crook. He tells Raja ,'Bhaiya, hum kandha. Bhaiya Kandha ek biradari hoti hai na ladko ki, hum tab ate hai jab kanya bahut udas hoti hai, sare rishto se pareshan hoti hai.'
All these characters along with a well scripted story and screenplay keep you entertained and teach you some basic facts about life.
1. In life there is no happy ending. Till you are alive there will be ups and downs.
2. Never say things which you don't mean.
3. Just because you're mad at someone doesn't mean you stop loving them.

In a line, over the years you must have heard the quote 'Love is blind, marriage is an eye opener' a 100 times, this film just explains it to you  in a very detailed and funny manner.'
Must watch. Paisa vasool.