Bajirao Mastani ~ A cinematic treat for the Romantics

Release date- 18th December 2015

One Word which describes the film -
Passionate

Best Dialogue - 
'Tujhe yaad kar liya aayat ki tarah, ab tera zikra hoga ibaadat ki tarah.'

Genre - Period Romance/ Drama

Music - Sanchit Balhara, Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producer -Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Story - Based on Marathi novel Rau by N.S. Inamdar

Direction -Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast - Raveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Tanvi Azmi, Milind Soman, Mahesh Manjrekar

Budget- 100 Crores plus

We all know that in 2003 Sanjay Leela Bhansali  wanted to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai for the eponymous roles, but could not cast them together after their highly publicised break-up. After 12 years we are presented with his dream project and the film is surely worth the long wait.

As soon as the film starts we are struck by the grand and magnificent sets which take us to an era about which we have read in history books.

The film tells about the life of a commander who is loved and trusted by his army. He is brave and doesn't accept the norms of the society.

Ranveer Singh is the perfect choice for the role of Bajirao. Whether he is telling his army men ,'Cheeteh Ki Chaal, Baaz Ki Nazar Aur Baaji Rao Ki Talvar Par Sandeh Nahi Karte, Kabhi Bhi Maat De Sakti Hai' or saying romantic dialogues like Humare dil ek saath dhadakte hai Mastani', he says them with equal ease. We are so engrossed with his charm, exuberance and energy that we can feel his confusion, his love, his pain and his heart break.

Deepika Padukone has excelled as Mastani and looks like a real princess who believes in following her heart. All her costumes are so beautiful that we can't take our eyes off her. The moment she  makes her entry we can feel the chemistry between her and her real life boyfriend Ranveer Singh. If Katrina Kaif felt insecure after watching Deepika's chemistry with Ranbeer Kapoor in Tamasha, she should now watch Bajirao Mastani to see the real thing. She gets to say powerful dialogues in the film which will make you whistle and clap

Ishq, Jo Tufani Duniya Se Bagawat Karjaye Woh Ishq,
Bhare Darbar Mein Jo Duniya Se Lad Jaae Woh Ishq,
Jo Mehboob Ko Dekhe Toh Khuda Ko Bhul Jaae Woh Ishq.

Priyanka Chopra is touching new heights in her career these days so the only reason she must have accepted to do a supporting role can be that she was too much touched by Bhansali's dream project and wanted to be part of this epic saga. Her role is powerful but such is the aura of Mastani that it shadows all other female characters of the film.

In a line Sanjay Leela Bhansali's love sagas may bring a tear to your eye from time to time, but without tears every so often even smiles lose their meaning. 

Must be seen in theaters to experience the grandiose and magnificence of the film.

Tamasha ~ Why always the same review !

Release date- 27th Nov 2015

One Word which describes the film - Intense

Best Dialogue - 

Deepika- Main Mona, Mona Darling.
Ranbir-  Toh main aap ko Mona kahun ya darling?

Genre - Romance/ Drama

Music -A. R. Rahman

Producer - Sajid Nadiadwala

Story & Direction -Imtiaz Ali

Cast - Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone

Budget- 50-60 Crores

First of all Tamasha is not a romantic film, at best it can be described as a series of events,  some happy, some sad, some painful and some which will touch your soul.

It's about a guy who thinks that as a child he was special and as he grew up he became a mediocre common man who just does things to please his family and society. Who is running a race without ever hoping to be in the top bracket as the race is not of his choice.

It's about a girl who falls in love with a guy and keeps that image of him for years only to find that with time the guy has completely changed into someone else. She has no ego in confessing her love and her heart refuses to believe what her mind tells her.  

The characters are very real. You can identify with these young people who are carefree and want to live life to the hilt. They influence each other sometimes motivating them and other times hurting them unknowingly.

Imtiaz Ali may have been a little confused about how to present his 'different' story to the viewers but his decision of casting Ranbeer to play the role of ' Ved' was perfect.

Ranbeer Kapoor proves that he is a dynamic actor. How he transforms from a cool notorious guy to a well mannered guy to an angry young man to a hurt lover and finally to a confused guy who wants to know the end of his love story from someone else is truly amazing. 

Deepika plays the role of a catalyst in helping the guy discover his story. She looks beautiful and shares a very believable on screen chemistry with Ranbeer. Guess Ranvir Singh and Katrina Kaif must have felt quite uneasy while seeing how comfortable the two look with each other.

The music of the film is good but because of the low buzz of the film the music also suffered.

The basic reason behind the masses rejecting the film can be that the director takes too long to come to the main idea. The starting is so slow that till 15 minutes you will wonder what's happening. Once he establishes a theme he again takes the viewers to a different journey again taking too many side paths. It's not that people are not ready to accept a different story, it's just that the first and foremost requirement of the viewers is to feel entertained. When the hero is on one of his soul-searching trips I saw many people letting out deep sighs or playing with their mobiles and some impatient ones even leaving the theatres. 

The film has managed to recover it's production cost, against all odds.

In a line you may love the film or hate it but you will surely be impressed by the protagonist's changing body language in different scenes.

If you are a Ranbeer Kapoor fan you can see the film in theaters. Others can wait for it to be aired on TV.

Piku - Motion se Emotion tak

Release date - 8'th May 2015

One Word which describes the film - LOL

Best Dialogue - 
Amitabh Bachchan: Insaan ka emotion uska motion ke saath juda hua hai.

Irrfan Khan: Kamaal hai, ap har baat ko pet ke sath kaise jod dete hain

Genre - Comedy/ Drama 

Music -Anupam Roy

Producer - N.P. Singh, Ronnie Lahiri, Sneha Rajan

Story -  Juhi Chaturvedi
Direction -Shoojit Sircar

Cast - Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Irrfan Khan,
Jishu Sengupta, Raghuvir Yadav, Moushumi Chatterjee,

Budget- 30 crores approximately

Deepika Padukone plays the titular role of a single woman who manages her career along with her aging father. In recent films we have seen Deepika in ultra glamorous roles wearing bikinis or minis and doing steamy scenes. Here in simple kurtas or tees paired with palazzo pants she looks pretty and her love and concern for her hypochondriac father touches our hearts. She is the regular next door girl who is not perfect, gets irritated now and then and even shouts at her father.

Whenever Amitabh Bachchan does any role he is so much engrossed in it that we forget that he is Mr. Bachchan, the legend and just think of him as the character he is playing. Here he is Bhaskar Banerjee , a 70 year attention seeking man who thinks that his daughter should take care of him in the same way as he took care of her when she was a kid. He thinks that only females with low IQ get married. 

Irrfan Khan is the owner of a taxi company who has to accompany the two lead actors on a road trip.

The film has no story and is like a series of incidents taken from anyone's life but the dialogues and the scenes are so real and funny that we become part of the family and eagerly wait for what is going to happen next. There are no pseudo intellectual characters or inspirational message still the way in which the lead actors interact with each other through their eyes and expressions is commendable. 

When the three actors are together their timing is perfect and you can not stop laughing.

In a line the film has so many laugh out loud moments that they will make you laugh your heart out and leave you with a smile on your face.

Must watch.

Review of Ramleela

Release date –15'th November 2013

One Word which describes the film – Colourful 

Best Dialogues  –
Ram -'Guroor mei doob ke samundar ko kya pata tha rann ban jayega.'
Leela -'Jigar pe mat jaa, trigger dabaa doongi.'
Dhankor Baa - 'Goli aur gussa sahi waqt par kharch karna chahiye.' 
Rasila - 'Bada badtameez, besharam, khudgarz hota hai par pyaar toh aisa hi hota hai.'  

Genre – Romance / Drama

Screenplay -Sanjay Leela Bhansali , Siddharth-Garima
Rutvik Oza
Music – Monty Sharma , Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producer- Sanjay Leela Bhansali , Chetan Deolekar , Kishore Lulla , 
Sandeep Singh

Direction - Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast - Ranveer Singh , Deepika Padukone , Richa Chadda ,
Supriya Pathak , Gulshan Devaiah

Budget- 55 crores + P&A


Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known to create larger than life sets which give you the feeling of entering into a fairy land . As the characters are introduced which are very jolly , are singing and dancing at every given opportunity you start enjoying the ride. The story catches speed and when you are expecting it to gain more momentum it fizzles out and climaxes in a very disappointing way.

After directing films like Sawariya and Guzarish which failed miserably at the box office this time Bhansali decided to play safe . He took a simple story, added some double meaning dialogues , a sizzling heroine who kisses strangers and an item number for which reportedly Priyanka Chopra was paid 6 crores.

The film has great performances by  Ranbeer Singh , Deepika , Supriya Pathak and Richa Chaddha and it could have made history if instead of just focusing on how to make a hit , Bhansali had focused on the story and script. There were so many loopholes in the story that we kept wondering what was happening or kept matching the film with already seen films like ' Issaq ' and 'Ishaqjaade '. 
   
Bhansali's films are known for their melodious songs but except ' lahu munh lag gaya ' none of the songs fail to make any impact.

Priyanka Chopra's sizzling item song 'Ram chahe Leela may have got 5 million hits on  You tube  but in the film it looked  out of place and an unnecessary addition to an already stretched story.

In a line apart from the grand colorful sets and mesmerizing castle this adaptation of Romeo and Juliet offers nothing which you haven't seen before.

Can be seen in theaters. Time -pass.

Rank - 15 (out of the 54 films I have seen in 2013)  

Chennai Express - Rohit Shetty's tribute to Tamil films .

Release date – 9'th August 2013

One Word which describes the film –  Melodrama 

Frequently used Dialogue  –
'Don't underestimate the power of a common man '

Genre – Action /Comedy

  

Screenplay - Yunus Sajawal

Music – Vishal–Shekhar 

Producer - Gauri Khan , Ronnie Screwvala , Siddharth Roy Kapur

Direction - Rohit Shetty 

Cast – Deepika Padukone , Shahrukh Khan

  

Budget - 70-80 crores

Chennai Express started in a narrative style with SRK saying that 'Myself Rahul, 40 saal ka ho gaya hoon aur normally is age tak har kisi ki life main ek aadha twist to aa hi jata hai .' We prepared ourselves for a happening journey with lots of twists and entertainment. As soon as Deepika made her entry in the film a big twist came and suddenly everyone started talking in Tamil. There were no subtitles. In a Rohit Shetty's film we are used to flying cars but when 30% of the dialogues are being said in Tamil we wonder for which audience the film is being made. 


Deepika Padukone , after exposing to the limits in Coctail and Ye jawani hai diwani appears as a well dressed South Indian girl. She looked beautiful when she is quiet and expressing with her eyes but the moment she starts talking in the weird accent she has adopted for the film she starts getting on our nerves. She herself must be fed up of the simple look as in the item number 'lungi dance' at the end she is back  in her glamorous look in  see through sarees and low cut blouses.

Shahrukh Khan was the king of romance once. When he said to Kajol 'Kuch kuch hota hai anjali ,tum nahi samjhogi' we all felt his love for the girl who once was his friend . 
In Chennai Express , he himself was using all his famous lines in a comic way which was not at all humorous. Though we did laugh in some scenes but then we expect much more from Shahrukh Khan. 

The film shows some really beautiful and scenic locations  of the South which are at par with the Switzerland we see in Yash Chopra films.

Music of the film is very ordinary . Just one song 'Meherbaani nahi tumhara pyar maanga hai' is melodious .

In a line the film would have been more entertaining ,if Rohit Shetty had made it for the common man who doesn't understand Tamil .

Shahrukh Khan fans will watch it. Time pass .

Rank - 19 out of the 40 films I have seen in 2013

Review of Ye Jawani Hai Diwani

Release date – 31'st May 2013

One Word which describes the film – Joy-Ride

Best  Dialogue – ‘Waqt kisi ke liye nahi rukta , beetta waqt hai , par kharch hum hote hai’

Genre – Romance

Story - Mohsin Khan

Music – Pritam

Producer - Karan Johar

Direction - Ayan Mukerji

Cast – Ranbir Kapoor , Deepika padukone , Adtya roy kapoor , Kalki koechlin

Budget - 50 crores

The film is about some fun filled moments in the life of four friends who share a bonding with each other but are also practical and live life according to their own terms.

Ranbeer Kapoor has given so many award winning performances in the last years that this role was like a cake walk for him . His acting is so natural that whatever character he plays he totally erases the memory of his past roles. He can be the young and carefree Sid  and then he surprises you as the intense Jordan . You are still in awe of the Rockstar when he stuns you by playing the simple and golden hearted Barfi .

Last year , Deepika Padukone as the sizzling Veronica totally stole the limelight from Saif Ali in Cocktail . In this film , her character has the maximum scope of expressing different emotions and she successfully outshine others . Her dialogue, 'Jitna bhi chaho ,kuch na kuch to chootega ,jahan ho usko enjoy karo'  must be followed by everyone who in the hope of having a better future are running after unattainable dreams and ruining their present.

Aditya Roy Kapoor’s character seemed to be an extension of his role from Aashiqui 2 as most of the time he was seen with a beer bottle or a glass of scotch . He is a good actor , but this film was not about him so his character's story was not properly explored .

Kalki was shown as the confident and practical girl who knows what to choose between romantic dreams and  happiness . She adds to the glamour quotient of the film.

It’s the current trend to take stars for cameo roles but I wonder if Rana Daggubati really had to do that 30 seconds role. It was even worse than Abhishek Bachchan’s cameo in Nautanki Sala.

Though the  film is directed by Ayan Mukerji , it totally had the Karan Johar feel . It was full of glamour , grandeur , lavish sets , good music and foot tapping dance numbers  .

Madhuri Dixit fans totally loved her in  the item dance ‘Ghagra’  

Faarooq Sheikh as the loving and caring father who wants his son to follow his dreams leaves impact in his small role.

 In a line, don’t expect some epic romance like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge  or a saga  of great friendship like Dil Chahta Hai or Zindagi Na milegi dobara and  you will not be disappointed.

One time theater watch . Time Pass.

Rank- 6 (Out of the 29 films I have seen in 2013 )

Review of Cocktail

One word which describes the film -  Complicated

Best Dialogue – Na salim na ,aur bhi gham hai zamane main mohabbat ke siva .

Genre- Comedy / Romance

Director-  Homi Adajania

Producer –  Saif Ali Khan , Dinesh Vijan

Music Director – Pritam

Cast –  Saif Ali Khan ,  Deepika Padukone , Diana Penty

Budget –  45 crores

Cocktail is a mixture of Diana’s sweetness , Deepika’s hotness and Saif’s second hand jawani . The film dealt with free sex, booze ,live in relations ,  24- 7 parties . They just needed to add the psychiatrist angle to the film and it could have been a complete mirror of the American lifestyle.

Diana showed good acting potential in the first half of the film . It was her first film but she managed to stay at par with the other two actors.

Saif as  a womanizer was totally unfit for the role. We loved him in a similar role in  Hum Tum  but  then he was 8 years younger in that film . He looked better in the second half but in total it was a very average performance. 

The surprise element of the film for sure was Deepika Padukone. It  was an author-backed role and she gave such a powerful performance .Right from her entry to the last scene she totally charmed the audience. She was as comfortable in a bikini as she was in an evening gown or an Indian dress. She portrayed the part of a confused ,spoilt rich girl so perfectly that we could feel her pain and emotions.


Randeep Hooda had a good one minute entry as an angry young man but after that he was totally wasted .At this point in his career when he has received appreciation for his powerful performances in Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster  and    Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai  he should be very selective while choosing films . 

Boman and Dimple are veteran actors and they left an impact even in their very small roles.

It was the most awaited romance of 2012 but there is not a single  dialogue which will be remembered long after the film is totally forgotten. Don’t we still remember Deepika saying to Rishi  Kapoor in   Love Aaj Kal  - “ek akhiri  baar bye kehna kyon zaroori hota hai? Or Saif  in the climax saying  - “Tum bhi kamaal karti ho Jaaneman “

    

I hope the censor had clearer guidelines in giving a film A /  U certificate . Though the film had  no scenes or abusive language but the content was such that I would surely want  my kids to stay away from it.

In a line  if you are a die-hard Deepika fan you will love this Cocktail . Don’t expect a great romance and you will not be disappointed .