Badla~ The Invisible Guest

Director- Sujoy Ghosh

Cast- Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Manav Kaul, Amrita Singh

Best Dialogues-
1. Sabka sach alag alag hota hai

2. Woh moorkh hota hai joh sirf sach ko hi jaanta hai aur sach aur jhooth ke fark ko nahi jaanta hai

Badla is the official remake of Spanish hit film, The Invisible Guest. It’s a scene by scene remake so if you have seen the original film on Netflix, this one can be skipped.

The film is about Naina Sethi, who has recently been facilitated with the Businesswoman of the year award and Badal Gupta, an advocate who hasn't lost a single case in his 40-year legal career.

Naina Sethi is accused of murder and her lawyer thinks that only Badal Gupta can save her. Badal agrees to take the case on the condition that Naina should tell him the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 

As the film progresses, through the table discussions of the two protagonists we come to know about the other characters and the plot slowly unravels.
Amitabh Bachchan as Badal Gupta is superb. It's his screen presence and dialogue delivery which keeps us hooked to the film.

Taapsee Pannu has the same bored expression throughout  the film. 

Amrita Singh shines in a small role.

The film is made on a  small budget, there are no grand sets or songs, and most of it is shot in a room.
The story has several plot twists, though the climax could have been better.
The film has managed to earn 30 Crores in 5 days and has turned out to be a profitable venture for the producers.

In a line, if you are a Bachchan fan, the film can be seen for his energy otherwise watch the original on Netflix.

One time watch. Can be seen when is aired on TV.

Made In Heaven

Creators: Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti

Cast: Arjun Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Kalki Koechlin, Jim Sarbh, Shashank Arora, Vijay Raaz, Shivani Raghuvanshi

Made in Heaven is about Delhi-based wedding planners, Karan and Tara, who have an event management company by the same name. The series has nine episodes of 1 hour each. Every episode tells us about a wedding and also discloses some secrets from Tara and Karan’s lives.

Made In Heaven’s trailer link.
https://youtu.be/u0UkDQaR5KQ

Don't let the trailer make you think that this is just another chick-flick about designer clothes & huge sets. It's emotional & hard hitting. It'll make you think and inspire you to be a better person who once in a while does something for others too. It deals with pain, courage, dreams, ambitions and honesty.
Arjun Mathur as Karan is outstanding. By the end of the series you will surely wish that you had a person like that in your life.
Sobhita Dhulipala as Tara  is amazing too.

This 9 hour long series is worth your time and shouldn't be missed.

Review of Sonchiriya

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey, Ashutosh Rana, Manoj Bajpai, Jatin Sarna

“Apni apni Sonchiriya, apni apni mukti.”

Sonchiriya, set in the Chambal of the seventies is a tale of rebellion, justice and salvation. There are several gangs of dacoits (called baaghi in the film) who live in Chambal and have their own set of principles. They question each other about the “dharma of the baaghi” but fail to give satisfactory answers.

There are fights between police and baaghis, within family members, between Gujjars and Thakurs and also between villagers and baaghis.

We are shown that the baaghis live a difficult life where there is no surety of life, they don't know when they will get food or where they will take shelter.  They know that surrender is not an option as mostly the police is going to shoot them at sight.
Sushant Singh Rajput, Bhumi Pednekar and Ranveer Shourie are the soul of the film. They are so good in their respective roles that you actually sympathise with them even when you know the crimes they have committed and their dark secrets.

Manoj Bajpai and Ashutosh Rana outshine in their short roles.

In his earlier films like Ishqiya, Dedh ishqiya and Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey has always shown strong female characters. Here though the females are shown as victims they do have that internal strength which makes them survivors.

There are only 3 female characters Indumati Tomar, Phulwa and the youngest of them named Sonchiriya but how these characters change the life of the others is what the film is about.

According to a female character, Phulwa, “Division according to caste is only for men and the women have a different caste which comes lowest in this social system.”

If you saw the film's trailer, you know that the film is not everyone's cup of tea.
Sonchiriya’s Trailer link-
https://youtu.be/aejAkKGiimk

The film starts with a shootout where many baaghis are encountered and throughout the film there is violence, bloodshed and elaborate fight sequences. There is hardly any entertainment for the family audience because of which despite good reviews the film couldn't do much business over the weekend.
It was released in 720 screens and collected just 4.5 Crores over the weekend which is nothing as compared to 32 Crores income of Luka Chuppi.

It’s a minor setback for the producers, RSVP films as they are still reaping money from their last release, URI, The Surgical Strike.

In a line, despite good performances by the lead actors, Sonchiriya couldn't attract much audience but may become a cult film with passage of time.

Can be seen in theatres if you like this genre.

Review of Luka Chuppi

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurrana

Luka Chuppi, set in Mathura, is a situational comedy about a local news channel reporter, Guddu Shukla who falls in love with a politician's daughter, Rashmi and wants to marry her. Rashmi likes Guddu but wants to be sure about him before taking the final plunge.

The first half is slow with introduction of characters, occasional songs and few comic scenes.
In the second half there are few plot twists which make the story slightly better but in the absence of strong emotions the viewers don't feel connected to the characters.

Laxman Utekar, who has been the cinematographer for films like Dear Zindagi, 102 Not Out, English Vinglish and Hindi Medium, makes his directorial debut with Luka Chuppi.
The film is shot in Mathura and Gwalior and gives a good tour of both the cities.

Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon use the local lingo but they look too urbane in some scenes. They share a good chemistry but there isn't even one scene where we could see the love and understanding between them.
Aparshakti Khurrana has a small role but manages to leave an impact.
Talented actors like Pankaj Tripathi and Vinay Pathak are totally wasted in their poorly written  roles.

The film will manage to collect around 50 Crores in its first week because of Kartik Aryan’s popularity and no competition from Sonchiriya.

In a line, despite good performances by Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon, an average story and lack of emotional quotient will effect the financial prospects of the film.

Timepass. One time watch.