A Gentleman, Sundar ✔️ Susheel ✔️ Risky ❌

Directors: Raj and DK

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Jacqueline Fernandez, Darshan Kumar, Suniel Shetty

Budget- 50 Crores

Raj & DK are an Indian/ American film director duo known for their unique sense of style and humor. In 2013 they made India's first zombie film, Go Goa Gone which earned almost 25 Crores. Happy Ending (2014) wasn't a box office success but it's still remembered for the comedy scenes between Govinda and Saif Ali Khan.

Sadly their latest film, A Gentleman is neither unique nor very entertaining.

The film has not 1 or 2 but 4 party songs Chandralekha, Baat ban jaye, Dil Disco Disco and Bandook Meri Laila and the music album would have surely found a place in parties and discos.

The first half goes in telling about the lives of the two characters, Rishi and Gaurav, played by Siddharth Malhotra. 

Sidharth looks good and performs his roles with sincerity but the story and characters are so average that they hardly manage to hold our interest for long.

Jacqueline Fernandez is the new Katrina Kaif. Her only role in a film is to add glamour in the scenes, say some dialogues and do some difficult dance steps. Infact she is her best when she is dancing. (You must remember her dance moves in Sau tarah ke Rog from Dishoom). 

The film starts with this dialogue

“Jab jab jiske lagne hai ... tab tab uske lagte hai ... ab use ittefaq kaho ya phir what the f* ck!!”

From here the quality of the dialogues worsened and we have Gaurav's best friend Dixit who is pronounced by all Americans as ‘Dik-Shit’(how original!) telling him , 'I like thug-life’.

Then there is a scene where the hero asks the heroine,’ Tumne gaadi chalana kaha se seekha?’ and she answers, 'X- Box se’.

As if the directors were also under the influence of X-Box, there were long chase scenes full of gun shots and racing cars or bikes.

During the action scenes I really felt that playing “Call of Duty” would have been more entertaining.

Expert actors like Supriya Pilgaonkar and Rajit Kapoor have just 2 scenes in the film.

Sunil Shetty makes a  very disappointing comeback. The star known for his superb action skills has not a single action scene and is reduced to giving instructions to his protegees.

Darshan Kumar, who made an impressive debut through Mary Kom (2014) has a very forgettable role.

The film is mostly shot in Miami and Mumbai. There are few scenes in Goa and Bangkok too. When Dostana came in 2008, people used to lust at the blue beaches and bikini babes and think,”Wow, I’ve to go to this place.” But now most of us watch so many Hollywood series and films that we expect more than exotic locations.

Despite good promotions and publicity the film earned less than 16 Crores in 5 days. The film wouldn't cross the 20 Crores mark thus making it Siddharth Malhotra's lowest earner till now.

In a line, if you are a Sidharth Malhotra fan then for Sundar, watch Student of the Year, for Susheel, watch Kapoor and Sons and for Risky, watch Ek Villain.

Timepass. Avoidable.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz~ About small towns, sharpshooters, scandals, sex and sleaze.

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Divya Dutta, Jatin Goswami, Anil George, Murli Sharma, Shraddha Das

Director: Kushan Nandy

Best Dialogue: "Insaan to karke bhool jata hai, par uska Kiya hua ek din ghoom ke uske samne jaroor ata hai"

The film is an action drama which focuses on the life of  Babu Bihari, a small town sharpshooter. He’s a colourful character with a sense of humour.

When asked about his profession he says, “Hum to outsourcing karte hai...yamraj ke liye”

No-one could have played the character of Babu better than Nawazuddin. He’s ruthless, cold blooded and can kill anyone who dares to cross his path. But he can be tender too when he’s with his friends or when he's with the love of his life 'Phulwa’.

Bidita Bag is good as Phulwa. She's a tough girl who has seen too much in her life and is not scared of anything. Her character portrays a raw sexuality which draws Babu towards her.

Jatin Goswami plays the role of Baanke who considers Babu as his idol. The 'chela’ has so much admiration for the Guru that not only he has renamed himself Banke Bihari, he also copies his style of killing.

There are many scenes between Babu and Banke where we get to see the bond they share. At times their chemistry is more entertaining than the chemistry between Babu and Phulwa.

Divya Dutta plays the role of a corrupt politician with a high sex drive who doesn't mind having affairs with her Bahubalis. She’s cold and calculating and abuses non-stop. Her equation with Babu forms an important part of the story.

Ghalib Asid Bhopali, the writer of the film has told us a bold tale about characters who get involved in crime because of circumstances. The film is a reflection of our society where good coexists with evil. The dialogues are witty or hard hitting depending on the mood of the story.

The film was made on a moderate budget of 5 Crores. It was released in 1000 screen and has  managed to earn 4 Crores in two days.

The film has an A certificate and there  are certain scenes which may be considered too inappropriate by some people. To get an idea you can check the film's trailer

https://youtu.be/8Bakp3UKa3c

In a line, if you are over 18 and like desi action mixed with some powerful performances, you must not miss it.

Good one time watch.

Bareilly Ki Barfi..Not sweet enough

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kriti Sanon, Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Seema Pahwa, Rohit Choudhury, Swati Semwal

Director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

A house where nothing is normal

A free spirited girl

A broken-hearted boy

A little secret

Bareilly and all its small town charm

Bareilly ki Barfi had all the ingredients for a hit film.

The film starts with a voiceover of Javed Akhtar telling us about “Mishra Sadan” where nothing is normal. We are introduced to Bitti Mishra and her parents. Bitti shares amazing chemistry with her parents and we laugh at the events happening in their lives.

After 20 minutes, Ayushman Khurana makes his

entry and the story starts taking a predictable turn.

Like a typical small-town story the hero has a best friend who is his partner in every crime but doesn't hesitate in telling him that,“Bhaiya, aap bahute neech ho”.

After some time the story takes us to the third character, Rajkumar Rao and his opening scene is so hilarious that our hopes are raised.

There are many small incidents which make us laugh and with Javed Akhtar telling us

“Ek chalbaaz nahi, doosra Rangbaaz nahi par ek chaal Bana Raha hai, doosra jama Raha hai”, the first half comes to an end.

After interval the story manages to keep us entertained for another 15 minutes and then as if the writer/director has lost all interest in the plot, the story goes in all directions and ends in a very predictable manner.

Initially, Kriti Sanon gets good screen space and her body language and dialogue delivery is good too. She ends most of her lines with “Hai ki Nahi” or “laga lo 100-100 ki”, which is both cute and funny. But once the heroes make their entry she is reduced to being a showpiece, dancing to the occasional songs.

When Ayushman Khurana is being bad he is really good but as the love bug bites him he loses his charm. By the time he says with a long face, “Aakhir pyar ne hame doosre ki khushi mai bhi khush hona sikha hi diya”, everyone in the audience yawned in boredom.

Rajkumar Rao has got the best scenes and lines and he has played them to perfection.

Pankaj Tripathi, who plays Bitti's father is too good. In the scenes where he speaks with guthka in his mouth, he does it with so ease we forget that he's acting.

Seema Pahwa as the typical “log kya kahenge” Mummy gives equal competition to Pankaj Tripathi. In every guy who comes to her home, she sees a prospective groom for her daughter. When she asks them, 'Shadi ho gayi hai kya tumhari’ and the boy says “No” you can feel her happiness and the interest with which she serves them tea and snacks.

When the director, Ashwini Iyer Tewari has debuted with a socially relevant yet entertaining film like Nil Battey Sannata and the writer has given us the film of the decade, Dangal, we expect nothing less than a masterpiece.

In the film Javed Akhtar says in the end

“Agli baar jab aap Bareilly aye to jhumka dhoodne ki jagah Bareilly ki Barfi khana mat bhooliyega.”

Sadly the film hardly leaves any long lasting impression on the minds of the viewers and Bareli will still be remembered for the, “Jhumka gira re, Bareli ke bazaar mein” song from Mera Saaya (1966).

In a line, Bareilly Ki Barfi is just a light hearted film which one can watch for few funny scenes and hilarious dialogues.

Timepass