MOHENJO DARO~ There's nothing new under the sun.

Release date- 12th August 2016

One Word which describes the film- Uneventful

Best Dialogue- 'Antar hai, tujhe Mohenjo Daro pe raaj karna hai aur mujhe sevaa"

Genre- Period Drama/ Romance

Music- A. R. Rahman

Producer- Siddharth Roy Kapur, Sunita Gowariker

Story & Direction- Ashutosh Gowariker

Cast- Hrithik Roshan, Pooja Hegde, Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh 

Budget- 100 Crores approximately


Ashutosh Gowariker was first inspired to make a film set in the ancient Indus Valley civilization way back when he was in Bhuj, Gujarat, scouting locations for his then-upcoming Lagaan (2001), and stumbled across the massive excavations in progress at the ruins of Dholavira.
Over the years he must have thought a lot about his dream project, the ancient city, its inhabitants and their life styles, as a lot of hard work and planning is visible in the larger than life sets, the different seals, the statues, the depiction of the 2016 BC era.

The film starts with the famous crocodile fight and the people talking in some different language. Slowly the language starts resembling hindi with just few new words here and there like sapina (dream), janawar(animal), son(gold), turinto(immediately) and hamalkhor.
As the film progresses, the story starts resembling any other typical Bollywood film,where boy sees girl and tries to woo her.
There is a grand set made of a market place where the director has tried to show people from different countries coming for trade, but the characters are so stereotyped that it looks more like a fancy dress show.
Hrithik Roshan plays the role of an indigo farmer who sees unicorns in his dreams. He believes in honesty and justice. He is a born leader who unites the poor farmers and motivates them to fight for what is right.
"Jo muthhi ab tak khuli hui thi..usse band karne ka samay aa gya hai."
Pooja Hegde doesn't get much opportunity to show her acting skills. She is quite thin and wearing those elaborate headgears for hours must have been a task in itself.

The main problem of the film is that instead of focusing on the city as a whole the director has focused just on one individual. There is no team-representation, no grand sequences. If the director had to show a love story then why did he spent crores on making a big set even differentiating it into the upper city and lower city. The pace of the film from the starting itself is so slow that by the time it catches some speed most of the audience has already lost interest.  
A.R.Rehman's music is set according to the era but except 'Tu Hai', all other songs fail to leave any impact on the mind of the viewers.
The film has collected 18 Crores in two days and as it's getting fierce competition from Rustom, it will be a task for the film to even recover it's production cost.

In a line, with such a grand set and a talented actor like Hrithik Roshan the film could have been a magnum opus, it's sad that the director wasted this golden opportunity and chose to focus just on the central character's love story.

Time pass. Can be seen for Hrithik Roshan.

Buddha In a Traffic Jam ~ Don't just love India, Be in love with India!

Release date- 13th May 2016

One Word which describes the film- Eye-opener

Best Dialogue- 'Guns have to be our minds and the ammunition are our thoughts.'

Genre- Political Drama

Music- Rohit Sharma

Producer-Suresh Chukapalli, Vivek Agnihotri, Sharad Patel

Story & Direction- Vivek Agnihotri

Cast- Anupam Kher, Arunoday Singh, Pallavi Joshi, Mahie Gill,
Anchal Dwivedi

Budget- 5 Crores approximately

Richard Buckminster Fuller, known for his comprehensive perspective on the problems of the world, said that, 'You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete'.

Buddha in a Traffic Jam is an autobiographical film based on it's writer & director Vivek Agnihotri's life. Based on true life incidents, the film delves into corruption, crony capitalism, socialism, campus politics, moral policing and explores the NGO-naxals-academia nexus. 
When asked about the relevance of the film's title, the director said,“When we did our research, we realised that the biggest problem in India is that we’re suffering from so many diversions from the main narrative and that’s when I realised that when the society was suffering, Buddha showed us the path. So if we need to become a strong country, if we wish to shine, we need thousands and millions of Buddhas who can fight the traffic jam.”

“It is a disturbing film, one that is political without a politician being shown. Be it at JNU or any institute, students want India to shine. They want the country to get rid of mediocrity and hypocrisy. The story shows how naxals take advantage of rebellious students, show them utopian dream and make them intellectual terrorists,” says Vivek.

Vikram Pandit is a management student who when told that, 'Corruption is like tonic' questions his professor  that, 'Don't you think it's time to change this tonic?'
He thinks that an army of incorruptible youth can fight the imperialists and bring them down. How his thoughts change and how he finds his way out of the traffic jam he gets stuck into, is what the film is about.

Though the film deals with serious issues, the story is told in a very interesting and entertaining way. There are episodes which will make you feel wistful and take you back to your college days. The film is pacy with each episode being inter-linked with the other. The two Indias, which the director has shown through the film are so much in contrast with each other that it will definitely make you think that can this gap between the rich and the poor pose a threat to our democracy?

When Pallavi Joshi says,'I'll trust you, because I don't have a choice in the matter', it shows how our society still tends to be a male-dominated one.

There are 4 songs which form a part of the narrative. 'Sarkar ki Duniya' is a folk song with rock undertones. 'Chand Roz', sung by Pallavi Joshi is a tribute to the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

Despite being controversial, the film was cleared by the censor board without any cuts. It has been a part of many film festivals and won awards in many categories.

In a line, if the film is successful in motivating the youth to find their own ways in which they can bring about change, the very purpose of making the film will thus be fulfilled.

Must-watch. It's for 18+, so if you are over and above that age you must book your tickets now.