Can Dangal get India the much-desired Oscar award?

Release date- 23rd December 2016

One Word which describes the film- Motivational

Best Dialogue- "Agar silver jeeti toh aaj nahi toh kal log tanne bhool javenge. Gold jeeti to misaal ban javegi , aur misaalein di jaati hai beta, bhooli nahi jaati."

Genre- Biographical Sports Drama

Music- Pritam

Producer- Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Siddhart Roy Kapoor

Story & Direction- Nitesh Tiwari

Cast- Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Aparshakti Khurrana, Zaira Wasim, Vivan Bhatena

Budget- 80 Crores approximately (excluding Aamir Khan's remuneration)


India has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1957. Out of the 49 films submitted over the years only 3 have been able to make it to the nominated list. Mother India(1957) directed by Mehboob Khan, Salaam Bombay(1988), directed by Mira Nair and Lagaan(2001), directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. Neither of the three managed to win the Oscar.

Dangal is a true story based on the life of Mahavir Singh and his two daughters, Geeta and Babita Phogat. The film traces the inspirational journey of a father who trains his daughters to become world class wrestlers.

Ever since Amir Khan was seen in his 98 kg avtar of an old man with greying hair there has been too much buzz for the film. In today's time when a film is completed in a period of 6-7 months, Amir Khan took 6 months just to gain 25 kgs.
During the time he was gaining weight he was also undergoing training from Kripa Shankar Patel, who is one of India's national coaches for wrestling.

In a You Tube Video Amir Khan said,"Putting on the weight was fun as I could eat and drink whatever I wanted. I had a ball, I have to say but it was uncomfortable. My wrestling training was affected because I was carrying so much weight and I couldn't move fast. You know, your breathing changes when you put on weight. Your whole body language changes, the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you try to stand up".

In October, the film's first trailer was released. In the 3 minutes trailer we got to see so many emotions, like a father's wish to have a son who could fulfill his dream of winning gold for India and how after an incident he realizes that a gold medal can be won even by a girl.
"Mai hamesha yo soch ke rota raya ki chhora hota to desh ke liye kushti mai gold lata, yo baat meri samajh mai nahi ayi ki gold to gold hota hai, chhora lave ya chhori."
After a month, Aamir Khan released a "fat to fit" video where it was shown how he lost weight to shoot the part of a younger Mahavir, who was a national wrestling champion and dreams of winning a gold medal for India at the Olympics.
From the starting, Amir Khan marketed Dangal as a film focusing on Women Empowerment. The first poster of the film had him surrounded by his daughters with the tag line, "mahri chhoriya chhoro se kam hai ke".
All the supporting characters of Dangal were selected after a round of auditions. 
Amir's mother who had seen various TV serials of Sakshi Tanvar suggested her name for the role of Mahavir's wife.
Dangal's music is in keeping with the film's theme. The title song sung by Daler Mehendi is very energetic and inspirational. Recently we also saw Amir Khan's version of 'Dhaakad' where he was dancing to the hit number.
Amir Khan has been creating new records since he acted in 3 Idiots in 2009. His last film PK, is the highest grosser of Bollywood, earning more than 700 Crores worldwide.
Dangal is being released in around 4300 screens in India and 1000 screens abroad.
Amir's films never need any reviews because of his image of a perfectionist. Every one who has seen the film has loved it, so the only questions which are left unanswered are
1. Will Dangal break PK's earning record?
2. Will it manage to get India the much-desired Oscar?

Wajah Tum Ho~ 50 Shades of Boredom

Release date- 16th December 2016

One Word which describes the film- Boring

Lamest Dialogue- "Qatil koi aur hi hai. Yeh pata lagane mein hi toh is vardi ki shaan hai, varna vardiyan toh kiraye pe bhi milti hai."

Genre- Crime Thriller 

Music- Mithoon, Meet Bros

Producer- Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar

Story- Sameer Arora

Direction- Vishal Pandya

Cast- Sharman Joshi, Sana Khan,Gurmeet Chaudhary, Rajneesh Duggal, Prarthana Behere, Himanshoo Malhotra

Budget- 15-20 Crores approximately

Wajah Tum Ho was advertised as a thriller from the makers of Hate Story 2 & 3. However, the film failed to generate the same kind of excitement as the director's earlier two films.

The film is about a person who hacks a TV channel and streams a murder on it. The idea was quite new but the way it was executed clearly told us that the director was as clueless about hacking as any of us.

The erotic thriller genre was reinvented in 2004 when Anurag Basu gave us Murder which also popularized Emran Hashmi as the serial kisser of Bollywood. Since then the idea has been exploited a lot by film makers but very few have been able to hit the bull's eye.

The film starts with a murder followed by an  investigation scene between a cop and the TV channel owner. Before we can blink our eyes, we are taken to some exotic location where Sana Khan is being romanced (rather smooched)  by one hero, on the recreated version of Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas, sung by Arijit Singh.

Some scenes later we get to see Zarine Khan doing a pole dance/ slithering on the recreated version of  'Maahi Ve', looking extremely fat, making us think of the gorgeous Malaika Arora in the original song from Kaante.

As if this much torture was not enough next we see Sherlyn Chopra too, who is trying to make her presence felt in Bollywood since the last 11 years. She tries to seduce one of the heroes in the swimming pool with Armaan Malik singing the recreated version of 'Aise na mujhe tum dekho' from Darling Darling(1977).

Sana Khan who has been doing small roles since 2005, gets her first protagonist role and she has totally sabotaged any chance of getting another film again. In most of the scenes she kept shouting in loud voice as if she was still in the Big Boss's house. There was no chemistry in the kissing scenes which she must have readily agreed to do because of the script's demand. Her dialogue delivery was bad and in one scene she also says, "I likes" which sounded unintentionally funny.

Rajneesh Duggal had a promising debut in 2008 with Vikram Bhatt's, 1920, but since then he has given only flops. In this film also his character does nothing except saying some lame dialogues and hitting on girls. He stays expressionless throughout the film.   

Gurmeet Chaudhary was added to encash on his TV popularity. He gets to romance Sana Khan on various occasions but the two have no chemistry and so they fail to generate any interest.

Sharman Joshi as ACP Kabir is the only saving grace of the film. He tries to put some sense in the film with his acting but his character is made to say lame lines like 
"Himmat tab mat dikhao jab aasaan ho" or "Revenge, you have many faces". Most of the time he's either talking to himself or just happens to solve the crime by chance. His subordinate, Asst Inspector Gaitonde is always smiling as if he gets some secret pleasure in beating criminals.

While watching the film one feels as if the director made it in utter laziness. There are 5-6 characters and by the end each of them is somehow linked to the murders. The film keeps oscillating between the murders and the erotic songs  which makes us wonder why the film was made in the first place.

In a scene Sana Khan asks a lady, "Are you really going to sleep with this rapist?" to which she answers ,"Will you pay my bills?".
Guess the director too thought that making this film was an easy way to mint money but sometimes even the best laid plans go askew.

The film was released in 2000 screens and because of bad reviews and poor word of mouth it collected around 8 Crores which was even lesser than the first day collection of Hate Story 3.

In a line, the only purpose of making this was to encash on the success of last year's mega hit Hate Story 3, but the audience was wise enough to ignore this booty trap.

Highly Avoidable.

Befikre- Emotion in motion

Release date- 9th December 2016

One Word which describes the film- Raunchy

Best Dialogue-
Dharam-"Palatne nahi wala hai."
Shyra- "Palatne ka wait to 90's mein karte the log. I was just checking out his ass."

Genre- Rom-com

Music- Vishal- Shekhar

Producer- Aditya Chopra

Story/ Screenplay/ Direction- Aditya Chopra

Cast- Ranveer Singh, Vaani Kapoor 

Budget- 70 Crores ( Including P & A) 

Aditya Chopra made his directorial debut in 1995 with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which till now continues to run in Maratha Mandir, Mumbai. He followed with Mohabbatein (2008) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008).

Befikre is his most daring and will surely turn out to be the least profitable venture.
Since the first poster of Befikre came out on 9th April, we were in no doubt on what the film was about. Aditya Chopra continued to tantalize us every month with similar posters and thus creating a good buzz among the youth for the film. The trailer was equally 'youth-friendly' with both the stars smooching at every opportunity and roaming around in bare minimums.

The film started with the song 'Labon ka Karobaar' where everyone is daring enough to kiss their loved ones. The story is about Dharam, who comes to Paris to work as a stand-up comedian in his friend's restaurant. Shyra is a carefree girl who works as a tour guide and on weekends helps her parents run their restaurant. They meet at a party and sparks fly.
The whole film is shot in Paris and beautifully captures the charm of the city.

Ranveer Singh is known for his energy and Aditya Chopra said in an interview that he wrote the character with Ranveer in mind. He's funny, he's naughty and throughout the film manages to entertain us.

Vaani Kapoor made her debut through YRF's Shuddh Desi Romance in 2013. She was in a total 'desi' look in the film. How, Aditya Chopra envisioned her as the hot and bold 'Shyra' is beyond imagination. In her washboard abs and firangi accent she looks like a mixture of Katrina Kaif and Nargis Fakhri. Her unconventional looks and brazen character is a little shocking in the start but by the end of the film we get used to her, even loving her chemistry with Dharam as they indulge in a sensuous dance.

Aditya Chopra has made a film, keeping a certain age group in mind, youngsters who are not ready to commit or are afraid of being in a relationship, and they are loving the film. There are several references to DDLJ in the film, showing Aditya's love for his first project. Dharam's character is a lot like "Bittoo" of Band Baja Baraat.
The film has earned almost 50 Crores in a week which is a good figure but considering the names and marketing involved, not very impressive. Dangal is going to release next week and so the film may end around 80-85 Crores.

Music is average and none of the song is melodious enough to be heard on loop.

In a line, there are love stories and then there are stories with lots of love making scenes and Befikre surely falls in the second category.
Time-pass. Can be seen in theaters for Ranveer Singh's energy.

Kahaani2- Durga Raani Singh

Release date- 2nd December 2016

One Word which describes the film- Dramatic

Best Dialogue- "Jo raaz raaz rehne the, wo aaj mujhe phir kholne honge." 

Genre- Thriller

Music- Clinton Cerejo

Producer- Sujoy Ghosh, Jayantilal Gada

Story & Direction- Sujoy Ghosh

Cast- Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal, Jugal Hansraj

Budget- 30-35 Crore approximately


Kahaani was made on a budget of 8 Crores and it earned almost 70 Crores at the box office, making it one of the super-hit films of 2012.
After 4 years we get another film of the same franchisee but this time the director has failed to recreate the same success story.

Initially, Durga Rani Singh was intended to be a standalone film starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, but later the makers made it as a sequel to Kahaani, starring Vidya Balan.
I think this was the biggest mistake as Kahaani is known for its suspense which kept the audience rooted to their seats till the end. This film was made in an entirely different way with events happening one after another and till interval any person of average IQ could have guessed what was going to happen next. The predictability factor disappointed the audience and most of them came out of the theater saying that though the film is good it's no match to the original "Kahaani".

Vidya Balan is perfect for the role of Durga. Her acting is flawless. The way she expresses the anguish, disappointment, pain and anxiety is so real that she manages to keep us involved in the story till the end.

Arjun Rampal looks fit and smart. As his character supports the main character, his acting is subtle and he has managed to give a decent performance.

Jugal Hansraj makes his comeback as an actor but his acting is average and he doesn't looks very convincing in his role.  

Lighting is one of the most critical aspects of a film. In most of the scenes the lighting is so less that we couldn't appreciate the beauty of the surroundings.

The film was released in 1250 screens and it managed to get an opening of just 4.5 Crores. With YRF'S Befikre occupying almost 60% screens next week, it'll be a task for the film to even make a lifetime collection of 30 Crores.

In a line, though the story is quite predictable, it can be seen for Vidya Balan's excellent acting.
Time-pass