Udta Punjab

Release date- 17th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Distressing

Best Dialogue- "System main rehke kuch karna aur bahar se baithke halla karne main jo fark hai wo ab pata chalega aap ko."  

Genre- Crime/ Drama

Music-Amit Trivedi

Producers- Balaji Motion Pictures, Phantom Films

Story-Sudip Sharma

Direction-Abhishek Chaubey

Cast-Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Diljit Dosanjh, Satish Kaushik

Budget- 40 Crores approximately

I went to see this film with little expectations, thanks to all the biased reviews of the critics and mixed word of mouth. The starting was quite unimpressive with Tony 'Gabru' Singh, shaking his pelvis on the title song. My eyes kept shifting from his tattooed chest to the song subtitles which were equally shocking.
In next scene Shahid is seen mouthing all kind of abuses while composing a song which went like Cock-Coke-Cock-Coke. The song was actually so bad that his producers cancelled his contract.
That's the point from where the film starts becoming interesting.
When Tony is sent to Jail and the police inspector puts him in a cell with other criminals telling him, 'Pehle banda ban ja phir banna VIP', he feels his castle of stardom falling like a pack of cards. Later we see him telling an equally distraught Alia, 'Agar tujhse koi bole, 'jo nikal gaya na vo teri life ka sabse achcha time tha, wapas nahi aana. Maal khatam. Party over. Go Home', we could feel how hard it was for him to accept that his life as a pop star could just be a thing of the past. I feel Shahid has given a very good performance.

Alia Bhatt has proved that while bubbly and energetic may be her niche, she can also be gritty and subtle to great effect. In most of her films Alia has to look pretty and show lots of leg and cleavage but here in shabby clothes, dirty hair and no makeup she gives the best performance of her life. I just wonder with Shandaar being Shahid's and Alia's last film how could the director imagine both of them for this film.

Diljit Dosanjh as Assistant Inspector is at par with Shahid and Alia in the acting department. He looks innocent and naive when he's trying to impress his lady love. He has a ruthless side too which we get to see when he is talking to his corrupt cousin,'Baat Aapki Aur Meri Nahi Hai, Yeh Baat Hai Punjab Ki'

Kareena Kapoor as Dr Preet was never the focus of the film so she just manages to give a decent performance.

The film does not glamorize or show any highs which a person can achieve because of drugs. Instead it shows how drugs destroy all the beautiful things in not only your life but also in the lives of the people associated with you.

So why would anyone want to see a movie about drugs, despair and death, regardless of how well crafted it is? Because Udta Punjab is an interesting, sometimes funny, and involving tale with empathetic, down to earth characters. To be fair to the film, it doesn't tie up all the loose ends into a nice pretty package. We are given cause for hope, but the open-ended nature of the final scenes suggest that the struggle will go on.

In a line, this movie through its characters teaches us important lessons like too much indulgence, greed or expectations can be injurious to health and the lessons are well taught.

Must watch for 18+ audience. 

Junooniyat~ "Love knows not its own depth, until the hour of separation."

Release date- 24th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Picturesque

Best Dialogue- 'Jahan pyar hota hai wahan khalish nahi hoti, aur agar khalish ho to samjho pyar tha hi nahi.'

Genre- Romance/ Drama

Music-Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros, Jeet Ganguly

Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar

Story- Priti Singh

Screenplay & Direction-Vivek Agnihotri

Cast- Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Gulshan Devaiah

Budget- 10 Crores approximately

The film starts with a beautiful shot of Kashmir showing lush green meadows of flowers with a backdrop of the snow capped mountains.

Ek hawa chooke gayi abhi abhi
Chandni pighal gayi abhi abhi
Yeh mujhe kya ho gaya
Yeh kahan main kho gaya

These words take us back into the era of films like Kabhie Kabhie (1976), when instead of emoticons people expressed their love in form of poems and love notes.
The story is simple. The boy and girl fall in love and not everyone in their lives is happy with this.Their love life has a couple of ups and downs in which they have to weight some choices for themselves against choices for their love together
Although the story sounds like any other love story, the movie itself doesn't try to be sappy or over dramatic. The movie doesn't attempt to make you cry, by putting in over-the-top dramatic filmed moments with loud music and pathos. Instead the movie chooses to take a realistic approach. They meet, spar, fall in love, make choices and then meet again in different circumstances.

The secret to an effective love story lies in it's simplicity. Director Vivek Agnihotri wisely presents the various characters in a concise and straightforward manner, allowing audiences to become enamored with them and later feel their pain.
Forced to keep the film's budget in check, he demonstrates creativity in the staging and handling of the material. We are presented with a kaleidoscope of beautiful sceneries of Kashmir, but equal importance is paid on the the little, telling details such as lanterns hanging from the trees, candles lighted all over the stairway and the walls of the rooms adorned with beautiful pictures.
It's such a colorful film that when I came out of the theater, I found the empty roads too dark and bleak.
Pulkit Samrat looks fit and delivers the poetic lines with emotions. When he tells Yami, 'Agar tum mujhe samjh pati to apology letter nahi, love letter likhti', we feel his love for the girl. He can improve on his expressions in the tragic  scenes though.

Yami Gautam as the chirpy Punjabi girl is good. We get to see her inner conflict when she tells her sister in law, 'Pyar se nahi apani Junooniyat se darti hun'. In some scenes her chemistry with Pulkit looks too real. 

Gulshan Devaiah has a short role but he manages to leave an impact.

The other characters have worked well together to create the impression of a loving family who respects each others' wishes and cares for their happiness. 

The title track of the film 'Junooniyat hai yahi' sung by Falak Shabir is intense and very well describes the theme of the film. Mujhko barsat bana lo sung by Armaan Malik and Ishqe de lat are melodious too.

T Series released a love story, 'Sanam Re' starring the same stars in February which didn't appeal to the audience much. As the pairing had lost the novelty effect it failed to bring the audiences to the theatres.

In a line, the film has a lot of beauty and romantic moments which will stay in your mind long after the film has ended.

Must watch for the Romantics. One time watch.

Junooniyat~ "Love knows not its own depth, until the hour of separation."

Release date- 24th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Picturesque

Best Dialogue- 'Jahan pyar hota hai wahan khalish nahi hoti, aur agar khalish ho to samjho pyar tha hi nahi.'

Genre- Romance/ Drama

Music-Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros, Jeet Ganguly

Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar

Story- Priti Singh

Screenplay & Direction-Vivek Agnihotri

Cast- Pulkit Samrat, Yami Gautam, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Gulshan Devaiah

Budget- 10 Crores approximately

The film starts with a beautiful shot of Kashmir showing lush green meadows of flowers with a backdrop of the snow capped mountains.

Ek hawa chooke gayi abhi abhi
Chandni pighal gayi abhi abhi
Yeh mujhe kya ho gaya
Yeh kahan main kho gaya

These words take us back into the era of films like Kabhie Kabhie (1976), when instead of emoticons people expressed their love in form of poems and love notes.
The story is simple. The boy and girl fall in love and not everyone in their lives is happy with this.Their love life has a couple of ups and downs in which they have to weight some choices for themselves against choices for their love together
Although the story sounds like any other love story, the movie itself doesn't try to be sappy or over dramatic. The movie doesn't attempt to make you cry, by putting in over-the-top dramatic filmed moments with loud music and pathos. Instead the movie chooses to take a realistic approach. They meet, spar, fall in love, make choices and then meet again in different circumstances.

The secret to an effective love story lies in it's simplicity. Director Vivek Agnihotri wisely presents the various characters in a concise and straightforward manner, allowing audiences to become enamored with them and later feel their pain.
Forced to keep the film's budget in check, he demonstrates creativity in the staging and handling of the material. We are presented with a kaleidoscope of beautiful sceneries of Kashmir, but equal importance is paid on the the little, telling details such as lanterns hanging from the trees, candles lighted all over the stairway and the walls of the rooms adorned with beautiful pictures.
It's such a colorful film that when I came out of the theater I found the empty roads dark and bleak.
Pulkit Samrat looks fit and delivers the poetic lines with emotions. He can improve on his expressions in the intense scenes though.
Yami Gautam as the chirpy Punjabi girl is good. In some scenes  her chemistry with Pulkit looks too real. 
Gulshan Devaiah has a short role but he leaves impact.

The title track of the film 'Junooniyat hai yahi' sung by Falak Shabir is intense and very well describes the theme of the film. Mujhko barsat bana lo sung by Armaan Malik and Ishqe de lat are melodious too.

T Series released a love story, 'Sanam Re' starring the same stars in February which didn't appeal to the audience much. As the pairing had lost the novelty effect it failed to bring the audiences to the theatres.

In a line, the film has a lot of beauty and romantic moments which will stay in your mind long after the film has ended.

Must watch for the Romantics. One time watch.

Review of Kriti

Release Date- 22nd June on You Tube

Genre- Psychological Thriller

Cast- Manoj Bajpai, Radhika Apte, Neha Sharma

Direction/ Background Score/ Editing- Shirish Kunder

Production- Muvizz.com

Releasing short films on You Tube came into fashion after film makers realized that the younger generation preferred You Tube over TV and even theaters.
Sirish Kunder who has been black listed in the audiences' mind for making films like Jaaneman and Joker has tried to reclaim his directorial skills with this 18 minutes short film.
The film starts with Manoj Bajpai's interaction with his psychiatrist. In just a short span of time his expressions turn from excitement to anxiety to anger and finally to realisation. He will surely keep you guessing till the end.
Though Radhika Apte has acted in few films, she has the confidence of a seasoned actress. She has just 3 scenes but she will leave her impact on your mind.
Neha Sharma has done 4-5 films but she will always be remembered as the girl with a chirpy voice, long legs and no expressions. She just adds glamour to the film.
Background music is a bit weak. Overall the film is fast and triggers your thinking process.

In a line you can surely find 18 minutes from your busy schedule for Manoj Bajapi, the guy who has entertained you since the mega TV serial, Swabhimaan (Doordarshan) days.

You Tube link of the film ~
https://t.co/p91XOtLp77

Housefull 3 - Dumb,dumber and dumbest!

Release date- 3rd June 2016

One Word which describes the film- No-brainer

Dumbest Dialogue- 'Hum bacche nahi bana rahe' (We are not kidding)

Genre- Slapstick Comedy

Music-Sohail Sen, Mika Singh, Sharib-Toshi, Tanishk Bagchi, Milind Gaba

Producer-Sajid Nadiadwala

Story & Direction-Sajid-Farhad

Cast- Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Lisa Haydon, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Chunkey Pandey 

Budget- 90 Crores including P & A approximately

Housefull (2010), directed by Sajid Khan was made on a budget of 50 Crores and earned almost 100 Crores at the box office. It's a copy of Tamil movie 'Kaathala Kaathala' starring Kamal Haasan and Prabhu Deva.

Housefull 2: The Dirty Dozen (2012) was also directed by Sajid Khan. It had a budget of 60 Crores and earned almost 120 Crores at the box office.The movie was a remake of 2003 hit Tamil movie Banda Paramasivam.

Housefull 3 is directed by Sajid-Farhad who have written dialogues for many films including Housefull 2,  Bol Bachchan & Chennai Express. It had a huge budget so the makers have used every trick in the book to make it a big film.

There is a huge castle, beach wedding, garden wedding, exotic locations, beautiful heroines in skimpy clothes, yacht parties, car races and even a Madam Tussauds set to add grandeur to the film. Cinematography is excellent and you find yourself in a dream world.

The only problem is that in this dream world all the characters are purposely made to look dumb. There are thieves who steal diamonds without any planning, a side hero who tries to win a car race by running to the finish line, a rap-singer who starts abusing the judges in Hindi when he is rejected and last but not the least three girls who try to keep screwing English phrases by translating them in Hindi.

So when a girl says, 'Kaamwali gayi, kamwali gayi', she means 'let bygones be bygones' , 'Naukri neeche' means 'Calm down' and Saandh ki aankh maarna' means 'Hit the bull's eye'. 

Then there is Boman Irani who still uses  the much used and abused whattsapp jokes like ,'Phal dho ke khane chahiye, dirty to picture bhi hai' or 'Insaan ko humesha khush rehna chahiye. Gambhir toh Gautam bhi hai'. Like in Chennai Express, here too many times the actors start speaking in Gujarati which further breaks the already slow pace of the film.

Akshay Kumar is the most expensive star with a great fan following so he is given the maximum screen space and dialogues and all other artists just seem to give company to him. This one conversation which I think was a bit funny will give you an idea about the level of humor.

Akshay- Kitna loan hai?

Jacky Shroff- 5000 Crore

Akshay- 5000 crore ka loan khud ke liye nahi lete, desh ke liye lete hai.

Though I wonder how he manages to alternatively do films like Singh is Blinng followed by Airlift and then Housefull3 followed by the upcoming Rustom.

Apart from Akshay Kumar, Boman Irani and Chunkey Pandey, Ritesh Deshmukh is the only actor who has been part of all the three films. In earlier films his character was that of a simpleton who gets caught into hilarious situations but here he is made to act dumb by saying dialogues like 'Love is blind ... but in my case the lover is blind' and ' Will you be my tawayaf, i mean wife', which is hardly funny or entertaining.

Abhishek Bachchan's last venture, All Is Well(2015) was a big flop so it's good for him that he got to be a part of this money making franchisee. And as they say, 'Every dog has it's day'. In the last 20 days three films of the Bachchans were released, Aishwarya's Sarbjit, Abhishek's Housefull3 and Amitabh Bachchan's Te3n and we all know which film has entered the 100 Crore club.

Chunkey Pandey is back as 'Aakhiri Pasta' and gets 2-3 scenes where he has to say lame dialogues. It's sad that now everyone knows him by this name instead of remembering him as Baban of Tezaab(1988).

Jacky Shroff must have taken some health tips from son Tiger as he looks fitter and smarter. His role is small and he is not expected to show any great acting skills so he also just parties along with the rest of the star cast.

Though the music is good but again the songs have lyrics like 'pyar ki maa ki' and 'taang utha ke' which any person of reasonable IQ won't like to hum or listen to.

The only saving grace of the film is that there is no vulgarity or abusive dialogues because of which it can be seen with kids and maybe is the only reason why it has earned almost 100 Crores in 10 days.

Sajid Nadiadwala has already declared that Housefull 4 is on the cards so guess till we keep watching such films, the makers will keep cashing on this franchisee and Akshay Kumar's popularity.

In a line, this film is the weakest of the three and has just 3-4 scenes where you will genuinely laugh, so if you have been lucky and avoided the series till now, keep doing so.
If you have nothing better to do and you are a big Akshay Kumar fan then only you should see it.  

Te3n~ More of a one-man show.

Release date- 10th June 2016

One Word which describes the film- Perplexing

Best Dialogue- "8 saal pehle jo hua wo phir se ho raha hai, wo tumhe ek aur mauka de raha hai, ab God ki bari hai, baki sab ko to tum pehle se hi nirash kar chuke ho."

Genre- Thriller

Music-Clinton Cerejo

Producer- Sujoy Ghosh, Gulab Singh Tanwar, 
Hyunwoo, Thomas Kim, Suresh Nair, Sameer Rajendran, Gauri Sathe

Story & Direction- Ribhu Dasgupta

Cast-Amitabh Bachchan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vidya Balan, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty

Budget- 28 Crores Including P & A approximately

Te3n has three characters, an old man who keeps visiting the police station to find clues related to the unsolved kidnapping case of his grand daughter, a cop, and a priest who was once a cop.

The film starts on a slow pace and the the director wastes time in showing Amitabh riding his old scooter and bargaining for fish in the vegetable market. There is the talented Nawazuddin who because of one failed mission resigns as a cop and becomes a priest but regains his sense of humor when he is joining a couple in holy matrimony.
'Father, meri shadi ho rahi hai koi mara nahi hai.'
Nawaz- 'pata hai mujhe, koi jyada farak nahi hai dono mai.' 

When all doors seem to have closed, the old grandfather finds a clue. 
The cops come into action when another kidnapping happens which is planned in almost a similar fashion.

Amitabh Bachchan as John, is the life and soul of the film. He looks like a tired old man who doesn't want to accept defeat . He manages to keep the audiences engrossed in the story for some time but as there is no help from the other characters, soon the story starts to drag.

The talented Vidya Balan is just wasted in this role where she has neither powerful dialogues nor any scope of showing her acting skills. She is in such a de-glam look that we wonder why didn't the makers cast some side actress  which could have at least reduced the budget of the film. There is a hint of a relation between her and Nawaz but it isn't explored anywhere in the film.  

Before interval Nawazuddin's character is confused and he just sleep walks in the film, afterwards he has some good scenes but till then we have already lost interest in the story.

The director has unnecessarily tried to confuse the audience by showing two different stories which were happening in different timeframes, simultaneously. Much before the climax most of us were able to guess what was happening. I wonder, why do makers try to make such pseudo intellectual films when in reality simple films like 'PIKU' make more money at the box office.

Music is average. 'Kyun Re' sung by Amitabh Bachchan, which depicts the pain of a man who has lost his granddaughter, touches our soul. 

The film will collect around 10-12 crores over the weekend which is quite less considering the powerful star cast.

In a line, ideally the story should have been about three powerful characters who work together to solve the case, in reality the film turns out to be a badly conceived thriller made to encash on Mr Bachchan's popularity.

Timepass. If you are a big Amitabh Bachchan fan, only then you should think of watching it in theater.