Sui Dhaaga - . "सब बढ़िया है "

Writer & Director- Sharat Kataria

Cast- Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav, Yamini Das, Namit Das

Music- Anu Malik

Lyrics- Varun Grover

Best Dialogue- "Ab Zindagi Ki Cycle Pe To Maarna Padega Pedal… Chahe Mile Ya Na Mile Medal."

Sui Dhaaga is the story of a lower middle class couple who decide to take the first step on the journey of improving their living standards. They face several roadblocks but instead of getting disheartened they treat them as life experiences and continue with their hard work and struggle. 

Mauji played by Varun Dhawan is the heart and soul of the story. He lives by the simple rule "Sab Badhiya Hai" even when everything is going wrong in his life. He is an optimist with a never say die attitude who can't see any of his family member unhappy. He has a low paying job where his employers constantly humiliate him, his father thinks he is good for nothing, he has no connection with his wife, he has to cycle for miles in the scorching sun to save few rupees, still, sab badhiya hai.

Anushka Sharma plays the role of Mauji's wife, Mamta. Though she talks less, she is not scared of expressing her opinions. She is a caring wife and the perfect daughter in law. There is only one scene when we see her in her original glory, otherwise through out the film she is shown in printed sarees with the pallu of her saree neatly covering her head. 

Raghubir Yadav as Mauji's father, shines in every scene. In the climax when Mauji wins his father's respect, we cheer for both the father and the son.

Yamini Das as Mauji's mother is a treat to watch. She's so sincere about filling the buckets from the municipality tap that even when she is in the hospital she keeps reminding Mamta about it. She is unlike any other mother- in- law shown in Hindi films and will surely win your heart with her performance.
  
After National Award Winning film, Dum laga ke Haisha (2015), Sharat Kataria is back with another heart warming tale about the underprivileged. The characters are so well written that when Mauji starts working on the sewing machine it looks like he was born to do this. The hospital scenes, the struggle to get a sewing machine, the first time the husband and wife hold hands despite staying in the same home are so real that you will fall in love with them.

The film hints at the corruption in hospitals, over-billing the patients, low wages for workers but mainly is about Mauji's family. How the neighbours unite in times of need is another strong point of the story. Though the director has taken several cinematic liberties, he successfully conveys the message that:"For those who dare to dream big, there is a whole world to win".

Chaav laga is a melodious song which stays in our mind for long.

The film has earned 36 Crores in 3 days and with rave reviews and positive word of mouth it's on it's way to become a box-office success.

In a line, Sui Dhaaga is a total roller coaster of emotions with Varun Dhawan giving his career's best performance. 
Must watch. 

Badrinath ki Dulhaniya~ The formula of a hit film, one dose of Feminism mixed with one dose of women empowerment and a pinch of random fun and humour

Release date - 10th March 2017

One Word which describes the film- 

Over-the- top

Best Dialogue - 'Are ye tedha munh karke kyo smile kar rahe ho, Shahrukh Khan ho kya?'

Genre - Romance / Comedy

Music- Amaal Malik, Tanishk Bagchi

Producer - Karan Johar

Story & Direction -Shashank Khaitan

Cast- Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt

Budget- 50 crores (approximately)

Gone are the times when you needed a very innovative or unique story to make a hit film. In 2016, most of the films which performed well at the box office had simple plots, had a female protagonist or dealt with women empowerment.

Badrinath ki Dulhania is a sequel to Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya(2014), which was a moderate hit.

Badrinath looks at Vaidehi and falls in love with her. His only target in life is to marry her.

Vaidehi is a career oriented woman who wants to be the son her parents never had. 

The story is a typical masala film which you must have seen 100 times and seasoned viewers will easily predict what is going to happen next.

Like Humpty Sharma there are more moments of friendship and comfort between the lead pair than any sizzling chemistry.

Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt have given excellent performances and have some how tried to make the slow film interesting with their comic timing and intense expressions.

The dialogues are not what you will remember after the film, it's the silent exchanges between the lead pair who have become the most bankable stars of current times.

The film has many supporting characters who have done justice to their small roles.

The film was released in 2700 screens and has managed to earn around 12 Crores on Friday. This figure is greater than the 2016 Varun Dhawan & John Abraham starrer, Dishoom which was a much bigger film with a higher budget and marketing expenses.

In a line, though the film is not about some epic romance or great love, the good performances manage to keep the viewers entertained.

Good one time watch. Time-pass.

Dishoom- Just another Bollywood Masala flick

Release date- 29th July 2016

One Word which describes the film- Masala entertainer

Best Dialogue- "Jab jab hamne aapse pyar karne ki kosish ki aapne apne daam badha liye."

Genre- Action

Music- Pritam

Producer-Sajid Nadiadwala
Sunil A Lulla

Story & Direction- Rohit Dhawan

Cast- John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, Akshaye Khanna, Jacqueline Fernandez, Saqib Saleem

Budget- 45-50 Crores approximately

Rohit Dhawan made his directorial debut through Desi Boyz in 2011. After 5 years we get another film from him which is just like his earlier film having all the elements supposed to be there in a Bollywood blockbuster like top stars, foreign locations, scantily dressed heroines, peppy dance numbers and big sets. But all these factors can not mask the fact that the film lacks an engaging screenplay which totally loses appeal in the second half. Like in the first film there is bromance between John and Varun. We have Pariniti in place of Bruna Abdullah doing a really bad item number 'Jaaneman Aah'. Like Sanjay Dutt did a really insignificant role of the owner of a Gigolo firm in Desi Boyz, here we have Akshay Kumar playing the role of a gay guy who is more interested in noticing Varun Dhawan's assets, even using the corny pickup line, 'Your father must have been a baker, cause you've got a nice set of buns'. 
Varun Dhawan and Akshay Khanna have managed to give some decent performances but John and Jacqueline as usual just manage to get whistles from the front benchers.
There is an item number Sau Tarah Ke, picturised on Jacquelin Fernandez, John Abraham and Varun Dhawan shot in Morocco with 200 junior dancers.  There is also a helicopter action sequence which is said to be shot in real time without any body doubles. If this much attention was given to the story we could have got a good film which had repeat value.
Desi Boyz got an opening of 9 Crores in 2011. Now when the ticket prices have almost doubled and the screens have also increased Dishoom getting an opening of 11 Crores can not be called as an achievement.
In a line, Dishoom is just another attempt of making money by just bringing all the elements together in a weak story and offers nothing new to the audiences.
Time-pass.

Dilwale ~ An attack on the hearts (read mind) of fans

Release date - 18th December 2015

One Word which describes the film - Mediocre

Best Dialogue - 'Hum shareef kya hue ... poori duniya hi badmash ban gayi.'

Genre - Romance/ Action/ Comedy

Music - Pritam Chakraborty

Producer - Gauri Khan, Rohit Shetty

Story - Yunus Sajawal

Direction - Rohit Shetty

Cast- Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Vinod Khanna, Johnny Lever , Sanjay Mishra, Boman Irani 

Budget- 100 Crores Approximately

First of all I want to say that I am not a fan of Rohit Shetty kind of comedy. I loved Singham (2011) but as it was a remake of the 2010 Tamil blockbuster Singam not much credit can be given to Rohit Shetty for it.

When you have the money and talented actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Vinod Khanna, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Mishra and Boman Irani it's really disappointing to see a film which reminds you of several other films you have already seen in the past.

The film starts with a very colorful set where the houses, streets, cafes have all the colors of rainbow which instantly remind you of Shetty's All The Best: Fun Begins (2009). Like Ajay Devgan here also our lead actors are car mechanics who modify cars.

For the next 40 minutes the film just keeps going on and on without any proper story-line. We wonder why Varun Dhawan who gave an award winning performance earlier this year in Badlapur agreed to play a character where he has to talk in a kiddish voice and say insignificant dialogues like, 'Mai apki maang mai sindoor bharna chahta hoon' (this to SRK).

When Kajol makes her entry the film catches some speed and we get engrossed in her style and beauty. Quite a makeover I must say as no where she looked like a mother of two kids. Her chemistry with Shahrukh is perfect. 

Shahrukh Khan sports two looks in the film. In his clean shaven look he reminds us of Raj from DDLJ but here he is called 'Kali'. In his bearded look when he looks like a gangster (the same look he has kept for his upcoming film Raees) the director calls him Raj. Guess the director got confused between the looks and names.

Jhonny Lever is back as Mani Bhai and brings the same 1990's kind of comedy.

Mani Bhai - Ye tune do ghadi kyun nikaali?
Veer: Main ye dono ghadi chor ke haathon me pehna dunga, is se wo do ghadi ka mehmaan ho jayega.

There is a 5 minute date scene in the film which Rohit Shetty has straightaway copied from the 2 minutes date from Hollywood series How I  met your mother.

The film has the usual cars colliding and flying in air. The only difference is that Scorpios have been replaced by BMWs and instead of small time gangsters we have mafias who deal in gold and use high end rifles.

Two songs of the film 'Rang De Tu Mohe Gerua and 'Janam Janam' sung by Arijit Singh are quite melodious. 'Rang De Tu Mohe Gerua' shot in Iceland reminds us of 'Suraj Hua Maddham' from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham.

In a line the film is made to cash on the chemistry of Shahrukh and Kajol and their fans will watch it.

Time-pass 

Review of Badlapur - A film sans Climax

Release date -
19'th  Feb 2015

One Word which describes the film - Brutal

Best Dialogue -
Log kehte hai apne dushman ko maaf kar dena chaiiye....
Main Bhi yehi Maanta Hun....Lekin unhe tadpa tadpa ke maarne ke baad 

Genre - Crime/Drama 

Music -Sachin-Jigar

Producer - Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla

Story & Direction -Sriram Raghavan

Cast -Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta, Radhika Apte

Budget- 25 crores

The film had a warning ,' Don't miss the beginning.' Unfortunately we missed it and for the next 2 hours we kept wondering who was the culprit. Later I came to know that the film was actually not about who did it as it was clearly shown in the beginning and it was only the hero who was unaware of what happened that day. The film is basically a revenge saga.

Varun Dhawan looks perfect in the role of a young man with a good job and family. His transformation from a carefree to a devastated man who loses everything in an accident is sudden but he plays both characters with an ease which defies the fact that he is just three films old. We feel his pain and anguish and though his dialogues are few he manages to connect with the audience through his eyes. 

His character is complex and we keep wondering about what his next move will be.

Nawazuddin plays the role of Laik who is sentenced to a 20 year jail term. His character has the maximum scope as in jail he deals with other criminals, outside he has his love interest Jumli. He is a criminal yet he has a tender spot for people he love.

The four ladies Huma, Yami, Divya and Radhika have small roles but they play important part in shaping up the story .

Vinay Pathak is totally wasted in the film.

Sriram is known for giving us thrillers like Ek Hasina Thi and Jhonny Gaddar. But here the storyline is predictable at times and the climax disappoints. There are certain scenes which are crass and have absolutely no importance in the story.    

In a line even though the main characters have given good performances, the basic story remains dark and there are just few scenes which provide entertainment.

Watch at your own risk.

If you really want to know what happened then you can check the wikipedia page of the film which surprisingly has a detailed  scene by scene  story.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlapur_%28film%29

Review of Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya

Release date - 11'th July 2014

One Word which describes the film - Entertainer

Best Dialogue - 'Main marriage wali parties par line nahi marta.'

Genre - Romance / Comedy

Music -Sachin - Jigar
Toshi Sabri

Producer - Karan Johar

Story & Direction -Shashank Khaitan

Cast -Varun Dhawan ,Alia Bhatt , Ashutosh Rana
Siddharth Shukla

Budget- 40 crores (approximately)

We all know Karan Johar's love for Aditya Chopra's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995). Not only he was an assistant director on the film he also played a small role and helped director Aditya Chopra in writing the screenplay. In addition, he selected Shahrukh Khan's costumes too.
Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya is a rightful tribute by him to the epic romance.
In 19 years, as there has been a revolutionary change in the younger generation same change can be seen in the way of thinking and actions of the lead characters.
We have a hero who has no interest in studies and want to have fun in life.
We have a heroine who is about to get married and wants to buy a designer lehenga.
The hero and heroine meet and become friends.
Though the basic story follows the DDLJ pattern yet it is different. The heroine is smart and confident. She is not afraid of her father and wants to take her own decisions in life. 
Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt are both Karan Johar's find and they are doing exceptionally well in the film industry. Both have given a wonderful performance and share a great on screen chemistry. 
Siddhart Shukla makes his bollywood debut. His role in small and he just has to look good. He has very few scenes and so getS no chance to show his acting skills.
Ashutosh Rana as the sometimes doting sometimes strict father looks quite good and realistic. 

Lavish sets and exorbitant budgets have always been Karan Johar’s style.
As the film shot in Delhi and Ambala had no scope for big sets, he has fulfilled his passion by creating a massive set in film city resembling the Colloseum in Rome.
The song 'Saturday Saturday' choreographed by Ahmed Khan has a whooping 3 crores budget and stars the lead actors along with 200 junior artists.

In a line, Humpty's romance may not be some epic love story but he is cute and lovable and his dulhaniya is bold and beautiful.
Good one time watch. Can be seen in theaters.