Pataakha, not a cracker but a Box-office Bomb!

Director- Vishal Bhardwaj
Writer- Vishal Bhardwaj (Based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story, Do Behnein)
Cast- Radhika Madan, Sanya Malhotra, Vijay Raaz, Sunil Grover 
Music & Background Music- Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyrics- Gulzar
Best Dialogue- “Hum Apne Dushman To Chun Sakte hai Par Padosi Nahe, Rishtey To Chun Sakte Hai Par Rishtedaar Nahi”

Pataakha is based on Charan Singh Pathik's short story, Do Behnein, which revolves around two sisters, Badki and Chhutki who grow up in a small village in Rajasthan. 

Radhika Madan plays the role of Badki (Champa) whose dream is to have her own dairy. She hates going to school and has no interest in studying.
Sanya Malhotra plays the role of Chutki who wants to become a teacher.

Radhika Madan started her career by playing the role of Ishani in the TV serial, Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi. In her debut film, she's perfect as Badki. Her body language when she is smoking the beedis or shouting abuses is too good. In every scene we see different shades of her character.

Sanya Malhotra has also done a good job as Chutki. She keeps wondering throughout the film if her father loved Badki more as she was the first born. 

Sunil Grover, called Dipper in the film, lives in the same village. He finds ways of starting war between the sisters so that he and the neighbors can have fun at their expense. He is not bad at heart as whenever the sisters are in some problem he comes as their savior.
Vijay Raaz who is addressed as 'Bapu' by everyone is a widower and finds it difficult to manage his wild daughters. 
The film starts with the sisters calling each other names which is followed by a 'yudh' between them over a stolen bidi. Till interval the story follows the same trend where the sisters keep fighting with each other over some issue. They are always finding ways to show that they are better than the other. 
In a scene their father thinks aloud that why do they keep fighting all the time. This thought comes in our minds too as after some time their dusty faces, untidy clothes and unwashed hair start looking repulsive. We have seen many films set in rural backdrop which were aesthetic and cinematic masterpieces. A film can be made on villagers without making them look like homeless people.
There were several humorous scenes in the film and an emotional climax but they were lost in the long story.

The film earned just 90 lakhs on Friday and with mixed word of mouth it won't be able to cross the 6-7 Crore mark.
In a line, a short 6 page story about 2 sisters fighting would have been good as a short film but as a film with a running time of 2 hr 15 min it became repetitive and boring.
Avoidable.

Manmarziyaan~ Somewhere between lust and love, the story is lost.

Director- Anurag Kashyap

Story, screenplay and dialogues- Kanika Dhillon

Cast- Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Vicky Kaushal.

The trailer of Manmarziyaan had a tagline- Love isn’t complicated, people are!

The film is not about complicated people but poorly written characters who keep changing their nature according to the whims of the storyteller.

The film is released internationally as “Husband Material”

Abhishek Bachchan plays the author backed role of Robbie, the perfect husband material. He is a London based banker who falls in love with Rumi, at the sight of her photograph. Even after seeing Vicky’s pictures on Rumi’s Facebook he decides to meet her. He’s so sweet and understanding that he looks too good to be true. There is only one scene in which he gives way to his anger but the next morning he asks for forgiveness saying he was too drunk. Still in comparison to the other two characters, Robbie seems to be the most sensible.

Rumi, played by Taapsee, is an ex hockey player who in the first 30 min says that she never goes back on her words and in the next 2 hours finds ample opportunities to do exactly that. She accuses her boyfriend of being commitment-phobic but herself fails to understand the sanctity of a relationship. Before interval, Rumi’s sister says,‘mujhe nahi samajh mai ata ye kaisa pyar hai apka’, to which Rumi replies, ‘wo wala hai jismai jitna karo kam padta hai’ . Then when her grandfather asks her about her well-being she says, ‘Pyaar khatam nahi hua, shaadi shuru nahi hui’
So we as an audience fail to understand why her further actions are not in sync with her grand dialogues.

Vicky’s character is the most inconsistent out of all three. We don't know till the end if he actually loved Rumi or was just having a good time. There are scenes when he’s shown angry and teary eyed but all his emotions tend to be momentary. The audience gets emotionally invested in a character and the sudden changes in their behavior confuses them and they feel cheated. So when a guy who was madly in love with a girl just exits the story without any explanation the audience doesn’t like it.
The first half of the film had some light comic moments but after interval the story kept dragging and becomes slow and predictable.

There are more than 10 songs but only ‘Sara jag chad ke’ stays in our mind for a long time.

Anurag Kashyap is known for his experimental films but this new age love story is nowhere near the classy DevD or the action- packed Mukkabbaz.

Avoidable.

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster 3~ Royalty versus Baba!

Director/ Writer- Tigmanshu Dhulia

Cast- Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Shergill, Mahi Gill, Chitrangada Singh

Best  Dialogues –

Saheb-  "I believe only three things can change our lives, dreams, suffering and love. Pareshaniyon se main nikalke aaya hoon, sapna main dekh raha hoon, aur pyar mujhe aksar ho jaata hai."

Biwi- "Sari galat adaten to apne lagayi, baki tabah hone mai is haveli ne sath diya. Yaha bure kaam karne ki lat lag jati hai."


Gangster- "Mere baare mein joh bhi suna hoga bura hi suna hoga, lekin main itna bura nahi hoon ki mere bagal mein khade hone se koi badnaam ho jaaye."

Gangster's Mistress- "Jab naam ke alawa kuch bacha na ho to naam ko bacha bacha ke chalna chahiye." 

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster franchise is a  story about a royal family of U.P. where Jimmy Sheirgill is Raja Aditya Pratap Singh and Mahi Gill is his wife, Rani Madhavi Devi. 

The first two parts were high-octane drama full of plot twists, volatile characters, good dialogues and sizzling chemistry between the lead pairs. Actors Randeep Hooda and Irrfan Khan had played gangsters in the previous films.

Tigmanshu Dhulia decided to add a star like Sanjay Dutt to add glamour to the film but guess his plan backfired. 

The story is supposed to be a saga of deceit, lust, ambition and revenge where the Biwi uses the Gangster to defeat the Saheb but ends up as a life saga of the gangster.  

The film starts with Sanjay Dutt as Uday Pratap Singh, a banished prince, who has made a fortune in London by playing Russian Roulette. A lot of time is wasted in establishing Sanjay Dutt's character, telling about his anger, his girlfriend, his family members which has no relevance to the story. The Baba theme track that accompanies Sanjay Dutt every time he says a winning dialogue, “He’s the baba.. dekho dekho dekho aya tera baap”, is the only memorable thing about the gangster's character.

Chitrangada Singh plays the role of a dancer and Uday Pratap's mistress. Neither she looks like a villager nor her accent helps her in fitting in the character. Her love scenes with Uday are boring as the character of the Gangster was supposed to be a raunchy man who loses his heart at every pretty face. To see the gangster settle into an easy romantic relation was a big turnoff. When the evil Biwi tries to flirt with him, an uncomfortable gangster tells her that there was no need of doing all this. It was like we went to watch "Jism" and ended up watching "Hum saath saath hai"!

  

Jimmy Sheirgill and Mahi Gill, who were instrumental in bringing success to the previous films get less chance to show their talent. Their scenes are poorly written and they end up looking like side character's in the gangster's story.

The film is full of character artists like Kabir Bedi, Nafisa Ali, Zakir Hussain, Deepak Tijori, Soha Ali Khan, Deepraj Rana who have nothing to do. Except few dialogues here and there and some fiery exchanges between Saheb and Biwi there is nothing entertaining in the film.

The climax was highly disappointing and though it hinted at a sequel I hope there is no 4th part.

The film was made at a budget of 20 Crore and has managed to earn just 3.8 Crore in 2 days which is less than what the first part made in 2011. The film is a disaster and will end up earning less than 10 Crore at the Box-Office.

In a line, the series was supposed to be a tale of power games, lust and deceit but the director's obsession with the gangster has lead to the death of this franchise.

Avoidable.

Parmanu~ Killing me softly..

Cast: John Abraham, Diana Penty, Boman Irani

Director: Abhishek Sharma

On 11 May 1998, Operation Shakti was initiated with the detonation of one fusion and two fission bombs. Later in a press conference Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared India a full-fledged nuclear state.

An event of such high magnitude and significance which made India a powerful force to reckon with required a much better portrayal on screen. The film could have created history if more importance was given to the story and screenplay than on John Abraham's lopsided smile.

First half is slow where the viewers are introduced to John Abraham's personal life and professional struggles which have no connection to the mission. A good writer could have outlined it in short and focused on the actual story. Boman Irani's entry adds some energy into a dull and lifeless film.

Diana Penty has few scenes and gets no scope to show her acting skills.

The story moves from Delhi to Mussoorie to Pokhran along with real TV footage of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, US President Bill Clinton and ex Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto to add facts to a fictitious story.

The successful mission was a result of the hard work of numerous agencies, scientists and engineers, who worked in absolute secrecy for decades but in the film the success is owed to a team of 5 people, occasional patriotic dialogues and lucky coincidences.

The last 20 minutes of the film managed to create a sense of urgency and the climax itself made the film worth a one time watch. Audiences would have totally ignored John's lethargic acting if the full film was as pacy and action packed as the climax.

In a line, Parmanu is not a film for fans of John Abraham but for those who have no idea of what happened in 1998.

Can be seen in theaters.

Mukkabaaz~ 'Ye pyaar nahi hai khel priye!'

Cast: Vineet Singh, Jimmy Shergill, Zoya Hussain, Ravi Kishan

Co-Writer and Director: Anurag Kashyap

Budget- 10 Crores approximately

Best Dialogue- "Jab boxer ko chot lagti hai to khoon coach ka hi behta hai."

If like me you also wondered that why is the film called Mukkabaaz, the director has kept an explanatory scene.

Ravi Kishan, the coach tells his student that he always wanted to be a boxer but he never got a chance to play professionally because he belonged to the lower caste..On streets people used to say.. "Wo dekho sala mukkabaaz ja raha hai".

So now he doesn't want his students to let go of the chance to be a professional boxer and tells them, “Ab ye tumhe tay karna hai ki tumhe mukkabaaz banna hai ya mukkebaaz”.

The film focuses on the caste system and the dirty politics in sports which is very prevalent in small-towns of U.P.

Shravan Singh, an aspiring boxer sees a girl at his coach Bhagwan Das’s house and falls in love. To impress her, he refuses to do the household chores which Bhagwan Das expects all his players to do. By mistake Shravan punches Bhagwan Das and he threatens Shravan that he will end his boxing career.

The film’s name suggests a film on boxing but most of the fighting in the film takes place outside the ring.

There’s a son fighting with his father who keeps taunting him for not landing a regular job like others. He tells him that he failed in studies because he wasn't a bright student. He doesn't mind telling his parents, “Jab aap dono shoonya hai to hum kaha se Aryabhatt ho jaye!

There’s a girl who is fighting with her mother that just because she can't speak she doesn’t want anyone to take pity on her or consider her a handicap. She wants to marry for love and do higher studies.

Then there is a honest coach who is fighting for his students.. He shaves off his moustache and when one of his students asks the reason he says, "jab tum mai se koi state jeetega tab rakhenge”.

There’s a Brahmin coach who for his greed for money and power destroys careers of aspiring boxers and crushes those who dare to raise a voice against him.

The characters are powerful and keep us entertained for the first half. The second half is darker and we cheer for the protagonist who despite the hurdles he faces, refuses to give up his dream.

The songs, Mushkil hai apna mail priye, Bahut hua samman, Bahut dukha man, Fir to ho gayi haathapai, Paintra are a part of the story and keep us involved in it.

Though I wonder what was Nawazuddin Siddiqui doing in a song which looked like a remake of the hit song, ‘emotional atyachar’ from DevD.

The climax of the film was beyond my understanding and  can be the reason for the mixed word of mouth.

The film had low buzz because of which it has earned less than 5 Crores in 4 days.

In a line, Vineet Singh is no hero material but the way he has transformed himself into Shravan Singh is commendable.

Can be seen in theaters.

Kaalakaandi~ LSD (It's not about love, sex or dhoka)

Cast- Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Oberoi, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Deepak Dobriyal,
Vijay Raaz, Sobhita Dhulipala,Amyra Dastur and Shehnaaz Treasury

Writer/ Director- Akshat Verma

Budget- 20 Crores approximately

Most informative Dialogue- You don't take LSD. You drop acid!

Kaalakaandi is a Marathi slang for when things go disastrously wrong.
The film is a dark comedy written and directed by Delhi Belly(2011) fame, Akshat Verma.

Life changes overnight for Saif Ali Khan (as we don't get to know his name till the end of the film) when he comes to know that depsite leading a healthy lifestyle he has stomach cancer and has just 3 months to live. To makeup for the lost time he decides to check off things to do from his bucket list. Though he only manages to get high on LSD and tell a transgender, "humko bahut curiosity hai aapke saman ke baare mai".

Along with Saif's story there are other stories of his brother getting married, two mafia henchmen planning to double cross their boss, a girl who has to catch a flight to the US to pursue her PhD, leaving her boyfriend behind because she thinks that they don't have the time, energy or money to get married.

Like Delhi Belly, the characters of Kaalakaandi are colourful and don't mind using provocative or abusive words as and when the script demands. So we have a drunk Shehnaz telling her BFF that she likes young boys because they follow you around and are always horny. A hot girl tells her timid boyfriend that she will teach Kamasutra to the whole country.

First half of the film is fast and keeps us rooted to our seats. The scenes where Saif is hallucinating from the effects of the acid are beautifully shot. We get to see dolphins on the streets, helicopter infront of the car and Saif holding a dropping comet on his hand.

After interval there is no surprise element and it looks like the director was in a hurry to link all the three stories.

The film was completed almost a year back but it's release kept getting postponed. Because of poor advertising and competition from Mukkabaaz, 1921 and Tiger Zinda Hai, the film managed to earn around 2 Crores in 2 days which is dismal considering the star cast.

In a line, despite having its moments, the film just starts and ends like an episode of a Hollywood series and has not a single memorable dialogue or well acted scene.

Avoidable.

Daddy~ Feared Gangster or a Victim of Circumstances?

Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat, Farhan Akhtar

Director: Ashim Ahluwalia

Budget: 15 Crores approximately

Daddy is a biopic on the dreaded gangster turned politician, Arun Gulab Gawli, who was for a long time associated with major kidnappings, extortions, contract killings and other major crimes in Mumbai. The film covers a time span of 40 years and is told from the point of view of six different characters who were connected to him.

The film starts with a man being shot to death in his own home by two unidentified men.

Arjun Rampal as Gawli, wearing a Gandhi topi asks his daughter why on TV they address him as Robinhood. His daughter says, “Jo chor to hai par villain nahi”.

We are taken to the 70s when Mumbai's textile mill industry witnessed mass strikes and eventual lock-outs. Many people resorted to illegal activities like matka gambling and hafta-vasuli.

When one of Arun’s friend is murdered he is forced by other friends to join them in taking revenge and thus Arun commits his first crime. When in jail the witnesses refuse to identify him and he is released, his friends tell him, 'Bhai Ko tumhari daring ka pata chala’ and 'Bhai ka haath hai tumhare upar’.

So it feels strange when unlike his other friends Rama and Babu, Arun refuses to bow to the supremacy of “Bhai” even refusing to shake hands with him on Eid.

In the full film there are several characters who try to tell that Gawli didn't choose this line, he wanted to leave crime, because he was born in Dagdi Chaal and not in a posh area, he became what he was. In the end also there is a statement that although he used his power and henchmen to get lands cleared but that land was used by big businessmen for making their apartments or malls.

I haven't seen a gangster film where from the starting till the end we are made to believe that the gangster was indeed a victim of circumstances.

Arjun Rampal used prosthetics to make his nose look  like Arun Gawli but he fails to portray the character of a feared Don who had the guts to organise a shootout of Dawood. In a scene shot in prison he tells his wife “Mujhe yaha se bahar nikalo ye log mujhe marwa denge”. When the wife arranges for his bail he tells her, “Mai jail Mai hi rahunga, bahar ye log meri fielding lagaya hua hai, maar denge mujhe”..If the feared Don was such a weakling what was the need to make a film on his life?

Arjun Rampal as Daddy is as bad as it can get. His dialogue delivery is flat. He’s expressionless in most of the scenes. Even when he tells the girl he’s attracted to, “Tu mujhe mast lagti hai” his voice has no energy.

In a scene, Arun & his ladylove are watching Hema Malini's, Dreamgirl in a theater. His friend, Rama, is making out with a girl in the back seat. Arjun looked as clueless in this scene as if was blackmailed to come to the theatre. Marathi actor, Rajesh Shringarpure as Rama outshone Arjun in many scenes.

Another actor who gives strong competition to Arjun Rampal in the poor acting department is Farhan Akhtar who plays the role of Dawood.

Although the film starts with a disclaimer that it is based on a true story, the name of Dawood is changed to Maqsood.

The only way we can connect Farhan's character to Dawood is that throughout the film he keeps wearing big shaded glasses. He is shown in every third scene but hardly has any dialogue worth mentioning. He’s shown watching cricket (so the audience can guess that he's a part of the Betting Syndicate).

Director, Ashim Ahluwalia made his debut with Miss Lovely in 2014 for which he won Special Mention Jury, National Award. In an interview before the release of the film he said that other directors were unsuccessful in presenting the real Mumbai of 80s. As he has lived through those dark alleys and conjusted areas he knew what Bombay was like in that time.

He has managed to recreate Dagdi Chaal and other shady areas. The crew also shot in areas where Gawli’s biggest rivals lived, an environment that was openly hostile to them.

In an interview Ashim also said, “I like putting people in this insanity. It is not healthy but it is very good for the movie. Taking people into really difficult locations and getting them out of their comfort zone. You are on edge there because you are getting yelled at by real gangsters or there are rats falling from the ceiling.”

All these background preparations would have worked if we had powerful actors in the key roles who had better dialogues to say.

The only actor who clearly shines in this dark film is Nishikant Kamat who plays the role of Inspector Vijaykar Nitin. He's non-affected by the sob-stories of Gawli’s friends and family and thinks that it would have been better if he had done Gawli’s encounter when he got the chance.

The film was released in approximately 700 screens and made less than 5 Crores in its opening weekend. It will be a difficult task for the film to recover it's budget.

“In a line, Daddy could have been more entertaining if the director focused more on making the lead actors act than on creating the perfect background.”

Timepass. Can be seen in theatres only if you like to watch documentaries on gangsters.