Review of Sonchiriya

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey, Ashutosh Rana, Manoj Bajpai, Jatin Sarna

“Apni apni Sonchiriya, apni apni mukti.”

Sonchiriya, set in the Chambal of the seventies is a tale of rebellion, justice and salvation. There are several gangs of dacoits (called baaghi in the film) who live in Chambal and have their own set of principles. They question each other about the “dharma of the baaghi” but fail to give satisfactory answers.

There are fights between police and baaghis, within family members, between Gujjars and Thakurs and also between villagers and baaghis.

We are shown that the baaghis live a difficult life where there is no surety of life, they don't know when they will get food or where they will take shelter.  They know that surrender is not an option as mostly the police is going to shoot them at sight.
Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar and Ranveer Shourie are the soul of the film. They are so good in their respective roles that you actually sympathise with them even when you know the crimes they have committed and their dark secrets.

Manoj Bajpai and Ashutosh Rana outshine in their short roles.

In his earlier films like Ishqiya, Dedh ishqiya and Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey has always shown strong female characters. Here though the females are shown as victims they do have that internal strength which makes them survivors.

There are only 3 female characters Indumati Tomar, Phulwa and the youngest of them named Sonchiriya but how these characters change the life of the others is what the film is about.

According to a female character, Phulwa, “Division according to caste is only for men and the women have a different caste which comes lowest in this social system.”

If you saw the film's trailer, you know that the film is not everyone's cup of tea.
Sonchiriya’s Trailer link-
https://youtu.be/aejAkKGiimk

The film starts with a shootout where many baaghis are encountered and throughout the film there is violence, bloodshed and elaborate fight sequences. There is hardly any entertainment for the family audience because of which despite good reviews the film couldn't do much business over the weekend.
It was released in 720 screens and collected just 4.5 Crores over the weekend which is nothing as compared to 32 Crores income of Luka Chuppi.

It’s a minor setback for the producers, RSVP films as they are still reaping money from their last release, URI, The Surgical Strike.

In a line, despite good performances by the lead actors, Sonchiriya couldn't attract much audience but may become a cult film with passage of time.

Can be seen in theatres if you like this genre.

Raabta- Divine Love and Reincarnation, Recipe for disaster

Director- Dinesh Vijan

Budget- 50 Crores approximately

Best Dialogue- "Agar roze nahi rakhe to phir Eid ka kya maza."

Raabta's first look suggested that it was a mushy romantic comedy and as we all are suckers for a good romance, we eagerly awaited for its trailer.

In the trailer, Irffan Khan says, "Ab ye bhi koi kahaani hai, chalo kahaani badalte hai, raja badalte hai, rani badalte hai, kal jo adhoora tha aaj badalte hai", we realized that it was a reincarnation drama and half of the buzz of the film was lost.

Then we were shown a glimpse of the item song "Raabta" featuring Deepika Padukone and some buzz was again created.

Guess the leading lady Kirti Sanon wasn't much pleased with this shifting of focus towards Deepika's long legs so the makers took J Star's hit song "Mai Tera Boyfriend" where we get to see Sushant's six packs and Kriti's long legs. Sadly, this song was kept at the end of the film and most of the audience had already left after watching Deepika's item number.

The hero is from a middle class family who does stupid things like jumping from bridges and his logic is, "Saare din mai legal kaam karta raha to bacchon ko kahaniyan kya sunaunga?"

Yes, that's how bad the character development is and it is followed by worse lines like, "Meetha Bechti Hai Par Dard-E-Dil Dikhta Hai Teri Ankhon Se" or "24 Ghante Tu Itna Acha Smell Kaise Karti Hai? Kaunsa Sabun Lagati Hai?" 

It could have been intentional as even the heroine tells him, "Kitna Cheesy Hai Tu?" to which our hero replies, "Mera Kuch Part Chocolaty Bhi Hai"!

I'm still wondering what that line meant.

In the first half of the film both the hero and heroine keep saying "hum kar kya rahe hai". After the interval the heroine gets to know what is going on and there is one more character who from the beginning knew what was going on. Then when the heroine tries to tell the hero the reason behind their actions he doesn't believe her.

If this sounds confusing to you then you have no option left but to spend 2 and a half hours of your precious time and some hard earned money and find how everything is connected.

The starting credits thanked Deepika Padukone, Rajkumar Rao and 10 other people. During the whole film I kept waiting for Rajkumar's appearance and later when i googled, I came to know that the highly insignificant role of the 300 year old man was enacted by him.

Jim Sarbh, who excelled as the terrorist in Neerja, plays a rich NRI but guess he can't decide between Pakistani accent or British accent and so talks like a mentally retarded person saying stupid lines like, "Mujhe dekhne se fursat mile, to kaunsi drink piyogi bata dena".

It's surprising that Dinesh Vijan of Maddock films who chose to produce a sensible film like Hindi Medium selected Raabta for his own directorial debut.

The film was released in 1800 theaters and got an opening of just 5.6 Crores. The film will be lucky if it can even make a lifetime earning of 25 Crores which is less than half of the film's budget.

In a line, item songs and chemistry between the lead pair can bring the audience to the theaters but it's only the content accompanied by good dialogues and acting which can make the film a hit.

Avoidable

Review of PK

Release date - 19'th December 2014

One Word which describes the film -Heart-warming

Best Dialogue - 'Jo dar gaya wo mandir gaya.'

Genre -Comedy/Drama 

Music -Ajay Atul,Shantanu Moitra ,
Ankit Tiwari

Producer - Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Story, Direction & Editing -Rajkumar Hirani

Cast -Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Dutt ,Sushant Singh Rajput

Budget- 50 crores +P&A 

PK was the most awaited film of 2014. Rajkumar Hirani uses his time tested formula of questioning the current system and providing an alternate solution.

The plot is simple, the characters are down to earth,there is no item song or exotic locations still the director manages to evoke emotions with the tale of a person who is not used to the corrupt ways of our world.

Amir Khan is the soul of PK. He is the wide eyed, big eared alien who manages to steal all attention with his weird dresses and innocent questions. The shooting of PK started in 2012 when a similar film OMG – Oh My God!  was released. Any other actor would not have dared working in a film with an almost similar story. It's Amir's belief in the director and his own acting capabilities that made him do this film.
Anushka Sharma as the young and enthusiastic journalist gives stiff competition to Amir and manages to leave an impact in the mind of the audiences.
Other characters have small roles which provide ample drama and keep us fully entertained.
As expected the film got a good opening day collection of 26 crores. With no competition and good word of mouth the film has the capability of earning 200 crores plus at the box office. 
Other superstars who are busy in just making money and working in forgettable films like Happy New Year, Kick, Happy Ending, Kill Dil, Bang Bang, Action Jackson should learn from Amir the art of choosing films which touch hearts and make a special place there forever. 

 In a line, though the story is simple but it's presentation is such that you will get attached to the characters and wish to have people like that in your life.

Must watch for Amir Khan fans. Paisa vasool. 

Review of Shuddh Desi Romance

Release date – 6'th September 2013

One Word which describes the film – Sizzling

Best Dialogue  – ' Doubt ghadi dekhkar thodi na ate hai .'

Genre – Romance / Comedy

  

Writer- Jaideep Sahni

Music – Sachin - Jigar

Producer- Aditya Chopra

Direction - Maneesh Sharma

Cast – Rishi Kapoor ,  Sushant Singh Rajput , Parineeti Chopra , Vaani Kapoor

  

Budget - 20 crores 

Yash Raj films had promoted the film as a bold film dealing live-in relations by giving statements like ‘In a survey 80% people thought that those who were in a live-in relation had loose characters.’

The song ' Chanchal man ..ati random..kal ispe aya tha , kal uspe ayega ' sets the theme of the film. 

The characters were introduced in a humorous way and then started the kissing scenes which came every now and then till the movie ended.

Sushant Singh Rajput’s  character who is a tourist guide but is hardly shown doing any work is a bit hard to believe. In Rishi Kapoor’s words ‘ tujh main aisa hai kya jo sari ladkiyan tere paas ati rehti hai !’ He dresses shabbily, uses lame pick up lines and still manages to impress everyone.

Parineeti Chopra’s character is bold and fiery. She has had lots of relationships and affairs and she is open about it . She believes in doing what her heart tells her to do and is not concerned about what people will say. She represents the generation who stay away from their parents to avoid questions about their way of living.  

Vani Kapoor , a model turned actress makes her bollywood debut with this film. Her acting is effortless and she looks pretty . Her character is not very well defined , so we are clueless about the reason behind her actions. She has signed a three film deal with YRF so hopefully we will see her in a full fledged role in future. 

Rishi Kapoor as the ,wedding planner cum  caterer cum advisor manages to outshine all the three young actors.  

After watching twice in every movie how ‘Mukesh Harane’ died because of chewing tobacco it was quite a turn off to see the lead actors smoking throughout the film.      

  

‘Shaam gulabi , sehar gulabi’ is the only melodious song in the film which one would want to listen more than once.

The title of the film is very misleading as there is neither anything pure (Shuddh ) about it nor Indian ( desi) . As far as Romance is concerned , jumping into bed at any opportunity is not the kind of love story  you will like to see with your parents or kids. 

In a line watch this film for it's situational comedy and some sizzling scenes between the lead actors.

Can be seen in theatres only with friends or spouse. Time-pass

Rank - 19 (Out of the 54 films I have seen in 2013) 

Review of Kai Po Che !

Release date –  22’nd  February 2013 

One Line which describes the film – 
"Friends are the family we choose for ourselves "

Best  Dialogue – Lines from the song Manjha -

'Soi takdiirein jaga denge
Kal ko ambar bhi jhuka denge
Haa haa hai jazba
Ho ho hai jazba
Suljha lenge uljhe rishton ka Manjha '

Genre –  Drama
 
Story - Based on The 3 Mistakes of My Life  by Chetan Bhagat

Music – Amit Trivedi

Producer -  Ronnie Screwvala , Siddharth Roy Kapur

Direction - Abhishek Kapoor

Cast - Sushant Singh Rajput , Raj Kumar Yadav , Amit Sadh , Amrita Puri

Budget – 12 crores

Over the years we have seen many films based on friendship . The last , Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara  was about three friends, Arjun, Imraan and Kabir, who have been inseparable since their childhood. They set off to Spain on a bachelor trip and face their fears.

Change the urban ,rich background to rural ,middle class  and we have Kai Po Che ,a  story of three friends where one is an Ex district player who was a victim of politics in the cricketing space, the other one is the nephew of a hindu politician who funds their business and third one is cautious 'baniya'  who wants to make it big in life and is the mastermind behind starting a sports shop and also a sports academy . 

The film is based between 2000 and 2002, real life incidents like the devastating earthquake and the horrendous post-Godhra riots are a part of the film . But the director has steered clear of focusing too much on the controversial parts and the main focus is on how the bonds of friendship are tested in difficult times . 

Rajkumar Yadav ,earlier seen in small roles in  Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 , Talaash etc leaves a lasting impact in the character of  Govind who is practical yet readily gives in to his friends' wishes .

Sushant Singh as Ishaan who is  obsessed with grooming a young Muslim kid with immense batting potential has given an award winning performance . He has wonderful screen presence and in the shirtless scenes he easily gives competition to Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan !

Amit Sadh has given some forgettable performances in the past but he is perfect as  Omi, a guy who has no great ambitions in life and is happy to just be with his friends  .

Kai Po Che is a Gujarati phrase that means "I have cut the kite" which refers to a kite competition where one of the competitors uses his kite to cut off another competitors kite and yells "Kai Po Che!" 

In the film they have a one minute scene where all friends are flying kites but I still wonder why they chose it as the film's title . In Chetan Bhagat's  novel 'The 3 mistakes of my life '  Govind is the narrator and the central character of the novel, and the story revolves around the three biggest mistakes of his life . As the film is a complete copy of the novel the original title would have suited it better.

In a line if you are a cricket fan and haven't read  ' The 3 Mistakes of my life ' you will love the film ,others can watch it for some heart touching emotions exchanged between the three friends . 

Must watch for excellent performances by the lead actors .

Rank-  3   (Out of the 14 films I have seen in 2013 )