Review of Dabangg2

Release date- 21'st Dec 2012

One Word which describes the film -  Déjà vu

Best  Dialogue – “Waqt tumhara kharab aaya hain aur din hum gine! “

Genre -  Action / Comedy

Story - Dilip Shukla

Music -  Sajid-Wajid


Producer –  Arbaaz Khan , Malaika Arora Khan

Direction -  Arbaaz Khan

Cast- Salman Khan , Sonakshi Sinha , Prakash Raj

Budget - 40 crores

Dabangg2 has three features which can make it a hit 

1.Chulbul Pandey

2.Kung- fu Pandey 

3.Robin Hood Pandey 

This should give an idea of what is in store for you .It was totally a one-man show .

The film started with stills from the earlier Dabangg  . Then came our hero in a flying car breaking bones of anyone who dared to do any wrong deed.

When a sequel comes it is natural for the audience to compare it with the original. Dabangg2 fails to create the excitement which was in the first part .The first part had so many parallel stories ,hero's relation with his mother , his step father , his step brother , his attraction to the village belle ,her story with her father and brother ,his step brother's love story with Nirmala and last but not the least a villain who gave competition to a bare chested Salman Khan .

This film was full of references from the first part , random songs which came from nowhere making the film look more like an extended version of Chitrahaar . Vinod Khanna , Arbaaz Khan , Mahi Gill etc had such small and insignificant roles that it was very clear that the producers and director had clearly focused on the most reliable element Salman Khan . Even a powerful actor like Prakash Raj  had no significant role or memorable dialogues.

Sonakshi Sinha as a devoted wife who wore sarees with printed blouses which showed her full back , looked pretty but had none of the 'thappad se dar nahi lagta sahab,pyar se lagta hai ' kind of punch lines.
Even Malaika Arora's one minute item dance had none  of the karizma  of Munni Badnam .

In a  line Dabangg2 was made just to cash on the current popularity of Salman Khan and the makers have completely succeeded in their mission .
It's a Salman film so most of the people will watch it in theater but it is better not to expect much from it. 

Review of Khiladi 786

Release Date - 7'th December 2012

One Word which describes the film - Mock-tail


Most Repeated  Dialogue – Duniya main teen cheezen logon ne suni to bahut hai par kabhi dekhi nahi-

1. Bhooto ka sansar

2. Saccha wala pyar

3. Bahattar singh ki raftaar

Genre - Comedy /Romance / Action /Drama (now you know why the word mocktail describes it best )

Story & Music -  Himesh Reshammiya

Producer –  Twinkle Khanna , Himesh Reshammiya , Sunil Lulla

Direction -  Ashish R Mohan

Cast- Mithun Chakraborty , Akshay Kumar , Asin Thottumkal , Raj Babbar , Himesh Reshammiya


Budget- 40-45 crores(approximately)

We can't expect some great love story or action from director Ashish who has earlier worked as an assistant director for films like Golmaal, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3. To add to this the story is written by Himesh who as a music director was famous for getting inspiration from international music numbers.

So the story is a complete copy of several masala films , with some foot tapping song and dances and  jokes you must have already heard a hundred times. 

When the films starts with the narrator telling you that " is sansar main 2 type ke log hote hai kamane wale aur kharch karne wale, inhe pati aur patni ke naam se bhi jana jata hai " you know what is in store for you. 

Akshay Kumar makes his entry in the Khiladi bhaiya song which is  completely inspired from Dabangg's title song. It is followed with inspired scenes from Devdas , Gadar , Welcome ..After interval they even copy a 20 minute scene from Akshay's Namastey London (2007) . There is a song Long drive  where Akshay and Asin are driving around in Dubai in a red Ferrari which reminds you of the Hairat song in Ranbeer Kapoor's Anjaana Anjaani .

Akshay Kumar looked fit and apart from action has  done energetic dance steps . Though instead of repeating the same act again and again he should consider doing some powerful performances which justify the Khiladi tag.

Asin has tried several looks in different songs , a Marathi bride, a dusky beauty , a sultry siren and succeeds but we wonder when will we get an award winning performance from her .

Himesh as the producer, story writer, music director, singer and actor must have hugely cut on costs but guess to make a master piece you have to get a team of experts. 

The film had so many character artists that very few actually got to play a significant part in the film. Johnny Lever and Bharti were totally wasted in their small roles.

In a line if you are a fan of Akshay Kumar films then on a scale of 10 to 0 where Rowdy Rathore is a 10 and Tees Maar Khan is a 0 the film is a 6 . 

Time pass .One time watch .

Review of Life of Pi

Release Date - 21'st November 2012

One Word which describes the film - 

Captivating

Best  Dialogue –

"See, it's all about believing in God!"

Genre - Fantasy / Adventure

Story- Yann Martel

Direction - Ang Lee

Producer –  Ang Lee , Gil Netter , David Womark
 Cast-  Suraj Sharma ,Irrfan Khan ,  Tabu , Adil Hussain , Gerard Depardieu , Rafe Spall

Budget - $ 120 million

Life of Pi is a  fantasy adventure drama based on Yann Martel's novel of the same name Life of Pi  (2001) 

The protagonist, Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

The story reminds us how little we need in life to be happy. Pi, when stuck in the middle of pacific ocean is delighted to have a knife, some bottles of water and a few tools, which can help him stay alive. Stranded in the middle of the ocean, he finds a new reason to live everyday, one day escaping death from the jaws of the tiger , another day finding food for the tiger in the ocean to keep his appetite satisfied, then trying to come even with the tiger by sharing space with him on the same boat, later protecting this tiger from dying of hunger. 

The movie starts with a funny note telling how the name of the young boy got transformed from PC to " pissing " and then his struggle to get himself called Pi. Pi, an Indian living in Canada, narrates his story to an author who has come to him in quest of an interesting story. The movie touches intense human emotions such as losing dear ones, human tendency to develop fondness for the ones we live with etc. It also has a touch of interesting science fiction when Pi is shown to have reached a strange island with strange flora and fauna. Pi's narration takes his guest through a journey that makes him believe that God exists and is always with us showing us the path ahead.

In a line though the film takes a while to get going, the special effects are really effective and most of the parts of the film are entertaining  . 
Must watch for children. .

Review of Talaash

Release Date - 30'th November 2012

One Line which describes the film - Too many cooks spoil the broth

Best  Dialogue – "Koyi kab tak  dooba rahega, kabhi to bahar ana padega " 

Genre - Suspense 

Story- Reema Kagti , Zoya Akhtar

Direction - Reema Kagti

Producer –  Ritesh Sidhwani , Aamir Khan , Farhan Akhtar

Cast-  Aamir Khan , Rani Mukerji , Kareena Kapoor

Budget - 40 crores

When the credits were rolling and I read that Farhan Akhtar has written the dialogues and Anurag Kashyap has written the additional dialogues ,considering their past works I was very excited  . The story and screenplay was written jointly by  Reema Kagti and  Zoya Akhtar  who in the past have given us entertaining films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd  and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

The film started at a good pace but after 30 min I started wondering all these great writers together have given such an average film. I kept waiting for some thrills or dramatic turn of events which didn't come even by the end. Though the events of the first half were entirely connected with the second half but in all it was not a very entertaining experience. They show better stories in Dastak or  X-Files these days on TV .

Reema and Zoya started the work on this film in early 2010 and the film was supposed to release on oct 2011 but the film got delayed . 

   

I was wondering that how could  Nawazuddin Siddiqui do such an insignificant role  after playing the main lead in Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2  but maybe he had signed this film much before GOW . 

Amir , Rani and Kareena are seasoned actors and good acting from them is expected.

It's when Rani gives us a film like  Aiyyaa we start questioning her judgement. 
Kareena plays the role of a prostitute .Whereas in Chameli (2003) her dressing style and loud make up suited the character ,this time she looked too glamorous to belong to the red light area . Most of the time she was dressed in designer gowns with salon styled hair , expert make up and glossed lips. 

Amir Khan gave us Satyamev Jayate and  as truth prevails the truth of Talaash is that Amir's role could have done by any actor . The story was far from perfect and even if it  manages to cross 100 crores the truth is that  8 out of 10 people didn't like the film.

( Amir said in Anupama Chopra's show The Front Row  " if 8/10 people don't like the film then I don't think the film is a success even if manages to cross 100 crores " )

In a line 2012 has been an year of  disappointing films and Talaash is the biggest disappointment  of all.

Watch it at your own risk .