Monday 21 July 2014

Return of The Marketing Queen - Ek Villain

Release date - 27'th June 2014

One Word which describes the film - Psychotic


Best Dialogues -

Shraddha Kapoor-  'Jab tak hum kisi ke humdard nahi bante  ,tab tak hum dard se aur dard humse juda nahi hota.'

Riteish Deshmukh - 'Tum sabki nikalti jaan ke sath ..meri har chinta , sara stress bhi nikal jata hai.'

Sidharth Malhotra -'Main tuujhe marne nahi doonga lekin main tujhe roz maroonga ..ek baar nahi hazar baar maroonga.'

Genre - Thriller 

Music -Ankit Tiwari , Mithoon

Story - Milap Zaveri , Tushar Hiranandani

Producer - Ekta Kapoor ,Shobha Kapoor

Direction -Mohit Suri


Budget- 30 Crores

Ekta Kapoor may have made a wrong decision when she decided to release Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai Dobara along with Rohit Shetty's Chenai Express. She broke her own rule of producing small budget films and spent almost 25 crorers in P&A taking the film's cost to 90 Crores which the film could not recover and was a huge flop. In the same year two other films co produced by Balaji Productions Lootera and Ek Thi Daayan also flopped at the box office. 
Ekta Kapoor said good bye to big budgeted films and again shifted her focus to medium budgeted films with peppy songs and lots of marketing.
Ragini MMS2 made on a budget of 20 crores earned 40 crores with it's two songs Babydoll and Char botal Vodka becoming big hits.
Ek Villain much before it's release managed to create a big buzz amongst the younger generations because of its romantic songs, 'Teri Galliyan' , 'Banjara' and ' Main Adhura.' Not only the film was promoted on reality shows , Ekta promoted it on her TV shows too. To cash in on the hit music a rock concert was also organised for the music launch.
Because of these rigorous promotional activities Ek Villain managed to get an opening of 65% which is quite huge considering Akshay Kumar's Holiday released in the same month got just a 30% opening.
It was shown on a show that Ekta Kapoor herself was shocked when the film crossed the 100 crores mark as she never expected it to be such a big hit.
Except the music and some scenes where Ritesh Deshmukh managed to create fear in the minds of the audience there was nothing much in the film. The story from the start was predictable.  
Sidharth  Malhotra should really start working on his acting skills as his other two co-students of the year Varun and Alia are way ahead than him.

In a line Indian film industry has started focusing more on show and publicity because of which the films lack in story and content and though they make money they fail to leave any mark on the viewers and are soon forgotten.
Note to Producers - Please make more films like A Wednesday , Sarfarosh , Border or DDLJ.

Saturday 12 July 2014

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


Producer - Karan Johar

Story & Direction -Shashank Khaitan

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.

Wednesday 9 July 2014

Review of Bobby Jasoos

Release date - 4'th July 2014

One Word which describes the film - Mundane

Best Dialogue -' Tereku malum nahi ki kis se panga liya hai , choregi nahi Bobby tereku.'

Genre - Comedy

Music - Shantanu Moitra

Producer- Dia Mirza ,Sahil Sangha ,Reliance Entertainment

Story & Direction -Samar Shaikh

Budget - 30 crores

Sherlock Holmes after solving complex cases used to say to his assistant "Elementary, my dear Watson" , while explaining the case to him.
Guess the makers of the film took this phrase too seriously and made such an elementary film that in no way it can be categorized as a detective film. The characters,the plot,the suspense everything is so simple that it just borders on being boring.
Though the story is simple the director has paid ample attention to detailing and giving authenticity to the sets. The hyderabadi dialect ,the small houses,the busy streets all look real but sadly the current generation who like thrill and speed will hardly be impressed by these things.
Vidya Balan is an excellent actress but after giving flops like Ghanchakkar and Shaadi ke side effects ,we have started doubting her choice of films. Once you have given master pieces like , The Dirty Pictute and Kahaani people expect nothing but the best from you.
Ali Fazal has a small role but has given a good performance.
Other veteran acors like Zarina Wahab , Tanvi Azmi and Supriya Pathak have also done justice with their roles.
Music is average and all the songs are forgettable.
The film had a poor opening and managed to earn just 10 crores in a week. As the film has a big budget it is a big loss for the producers.     
In a line if you are a very big Vidya Balan fan then also you must think twice before spending money on watching this film in theaters.
Can be seen when is aired on TV.

Saturday 5 July 2014

Review of Lekar Hum Deewana Dil

Release date – 4'th July 2014

One Word which describes the film – Crap

Best Dialogue - ' Yaar , ye to epic fail ho gaya.'

Genre – Romance/ Drama

Music – A. R. Rahman


Story & Direction - Arif Ali

Budget- 10-15 crores (approximately)

The film marks the directorial debut of Arif Ali , Imtiaz Ali's brother . 
The promos of the film looked promising as it was being produced by Saif's company Illuminati films and music was by A.R.Rehman.

Close to it's release date all the buzz related to the film died and there was almost no promotional activity. When I reached the theater , it was fully deserted and there were just 6-7 poor souls. The film started with the popular 'Khaleefa' song. After that the film became so nonsensical that within 30 minutes half of the audience left the theater.

Armaan Jain, with his thick eyebrows and bad hair looks like a kid and fails to put any emotions in any scene or dialogues. His character calls his girl friend 'jaaneman' every now and then like Saif of Love Aaj Kal , is carefree and a party animal like Sid of 'Wake up Sid' and is confused about his feelings for his best friend like Jai of 'Jaane tu ya Jane Na'.   
Deeksha has already acted in many hit South Indian films , so although she is confident ,yet the story doesn't give her much scope to show her acting talents.
The melodious songs which came after every 15-20 minutes were the only welcome relief.
The film has performed badly all over India and in many cities many shows were cancelled because of no audience. It will be a difficult task for the film to even collect 2-3 crores over the week and without any doubt is the worst bollywood debut of 2014.

In a line, when the hero himself tells you that his love story is an epic failure , you should take it as a warning and steer clear of this romance.

Highly Avoidable.