Hindi Medium: Fair point well made, Mr Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal, Swati Das, Tillotama Shome, Amrita Singh

Director: Saket Chaudhary

Budget: 22 Crores including P&A

Hindi Medium is about a mother's desire to send her child to an A-list school because she thinks that in India, “Angrezi zabaan nahi hai, class hai”. She’s in a constant state of anxiety and always thinks that inability to speak fluent English leads to one being a social outcast which leads to depression which will lead to drugs.

Irrfan Khan as the doting husband who can't see tears in the eyes of his wife is excellent. He has no problem in accepting that, “My life is Hindi but my wife is English”.

Throughout the film he has given such a range of expressions that you can actually feel what is going on in his mind even before he utters his lines.

Saba Qamar has given equal competition to Irrfan in the acting department. Her chemistry with him is so natural that we actually believe that they are a couple who have been together since a long period of time. Though her character is a stereotype of many Indian mothers who are overprotective about their children or of newly rich women who want to be a part of the high society, she plays it with such confidence that all her actions are bound to make you laugh.

If Sanjay Suri and Neha Dhupia expertly portray the rich and snobbish elite section of our society, giving them tough competition are Deepak Dobriyal and Swati Das who are “paidaishi gareeb”.

These supporting artists make it sure that there is never a dull moment in the film.

The thing which sets Hindi Medium apart from all other films is that it doesn't try to change the mindset of anyone or bring any radical change. It doesn't give any lectures on a utopian kind of society. It’s a simple story of a couple who are with each other in thick and thin and have accepted the other with all their shortcomings.

The film was released in around 1100 screens and managed to collect 2.8 Crores on Friday. Because of good word of mouth the collections increased by almost 50% on Saturday and it made 4.25 crores thus proving that a good film always works in the long term.

In a line, there are satires and then there are courageous films which dare to question and judge the same multiplex audiences who have the power to make the film a box office success.

Highly recommended. Good one time watch.

Jazbaa ~ Rekindling our passion for dialoguebazi

Release date -9'th October 2015

One Word which describes the film - Electrifying

Best Dialogue - Sharafat ki duniya ka kissa hi khatam, ab jaisi duniya waise hum

Genre - Thriller/ Drama

Music -Amjad-Nadeem, Arko, Badshah

Producer - White Feather Films
Viiking Media & Entertaiment

Story - Remake of the 2007 South Korean film Seven Days

Direction -Sanjay Gupta

Cast -Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Jackie Shroff

Budget- 40 Crores approximately

Sanjay Gupta is known to make action thrillers generally inspired from foreign films. Kaante(2002) was inspired from Reservoir Dogs and Zinda (2006) was a remake of the Korean film Oldboy. Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) and Shootout at Wadala (2013) were inspired from real incidents. 
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who was last seen in Guzaarish (2010) makes her comeback with Jazbaa. Though the film was supposed to be made for Ashwarya but from starting of the film to its climax it's Irffan Khan's dialogues which steal the show.
The film starts with a senior officer telling Irffan Khan
'Inspector Yohan, tumhara ye Amitabh bachchan look aur tevar yaha kam nahi karega' to which Irffan says ,'To aap bataiye main kya Singham banke ghumu?'
In between he has many other ace liners like 

'Aajkal shareef sirf woh hota hai jiske mobile mein password nahi hota.' 

'Yahan sabka ek hi takia kalam hai, hazar ke note pe bapu ko salaam hai.'

'Main kahan rehta hun, yahan to intezar rehta hai.' and Irffan's personal favorite, 'Mohabbat thi isliye jaane diya..zid hoti toh baahon mein hoti.'

Ashwarya as Advocate Anuradha Verma has done full justice to her role. She is shown as  a true professional when Yohan asks her ,' Tum hamesha guilty logo ka case kyo leti ho?' and she says ,' kyonki begunaah hame afford nahi kar sakte.' 

Later we see a tormented mother when she tells the accused,'Tujhe zara bhi andaza nahi ki ek maa par kya guzarti hai, tera case bhi ek maa lad rahi hai, waqeel nahi.

Shabana Azmi has a small but vital role in the film and she plays it with full ease.

Jackie Shroff has a blink and miss role which could have been done by any junior artist. After giving a strong performance in Brothers, he totally disappoints in this film.

Chandan Roy Sanyal as the convicted guy manages to leave an impact in the minds of the audience even in the presence of the talented Irfan Khan and the beautiful Aishwarya Rai.

Siddhant Kapoor (son of Shakti Kapoor) whom I always fail to recognise is just average.

There are just two songs in the film. The slow song 'Jaane tere shehar' picturised on Irfaan when he is drowning his sorrows in a glass of scotch is quite melodious. The director has also added a dance no. ' Aaj raat ka scene' by Badshah to add some masala to the film.

In a line after a long time we have a film which is fast paced, full of twists and turns and totally entertaining.

Paisa- wasool. Must Watch.

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 The Lunchbox

Release date – 20'th September 2013

One Word which describes the film – Wistful

Best Dialogue  – 'Kabhi kabhi galat train bhi sahi jagah pahuncha deti hai '

Genre – Romance 

Writer- Ritesh Batra

Music – Max Richter

Producer - Anurag Kashyap , Guneet Monga , Karan Johar , Siddharth Roy Kapur

Direction - Ritesh Batra

Cast - Irrfan Khan , Nimrat Kaur , Nawazuddin Siddiqui

  

Budget - 10 crores

The film is an Indian version of the 1998 hit Hollywood film ' You've Got Mail '. 
In the film the heroine says a line , 'People are always telling you that change is a good thing .But all they're really saying is that something you didn't want to happen at all ,has happened.' 
This film is also about changes . A man who is about to retire and a lonely housewife exchange small notes through a lunchbox and develop a strong bond . The woman is young and is ready to take steps which can totally change her life but the man who is old enough to be her father has his doubts.

The direction of the film is it's finest point. It's really commendable that how with just 3 characters and a voice the director manages to present a story which makes the audience identify with the characters. We feel the fear of an about to retire man who was so engrossed in his work and daily life that he never realised that he has grown old. We feel sad for the housewife whose husband has lost interest in her and pays more attention to his cell phone . 

Irrfan Khan has played the role of a much older man with such ease that you forget the actor , you only see him as Mr. Fernandez .
Nimrat Kaur gives strong competition to Irrfan and it's difficult to decide who has given a better performance.
Nawazuddin is an amazing actor and though he has a vital role in the film ,this story isn't about him.

After a totally detailed sketch of Mumbai dabba system and local trains the abrupt climax was a bit disappointing . 

In a line the film is about how sometimes the small things can bring a big change in your life and it's better to take risks at time than to lead a mundane life .
Good one time watch.
Rank - 16  (Out of the 54 films I have seen in 2013)

Review of Sahib Biwi Gangster Returns

Release date – 8'th March 2013

One Line which describes the film – Anything is fair in love and war . 


Best  Dialogues –

Saheb-  “ Wo hamari sarkari biwi hai, sarkar to hai , par kisi kaam ki nahi ”

Biwi- “ Hume mard hi kyun milte hai... Shayar kyun nahi milte ! ” 

Gangster-  “ Hamari gali pe bhi taali padti hai ” 

Genre –  Drama / Thriller
 
Story - Tigmanshu Dhulia , Sanjay Chauhan

Music – Sandeep Chowta

Producer -  Tigmanshu Dhulia , Rahul Mittra , Nitin Tej Ahuja

Direction - Tigmanshu Dhulia

Cast - Jimmy Shergill , Mahie Gill , Irrfan Khan , Soha Ali Khan 

Budget – 7 crores 

The sequel is shot in the same haveli  in Deogarh which witnessed the  love, lust ,bloodshed and betrayal in the first part . Saheb  is in a wheel-chair and still making money by settling other people’s scores .He has started believing that the haveli  controls the lives and minds of its inhabitants . The paths of the Gangster,  Saheb and   Biwi cross when Saheb’s step-mother, plants the idea of an heir and a second wife in Saheb's mind.

The lead characters are introduced in the same fashion as in the first part .If the earlier one was a  fast and raunchy bedroom drama with sharp minded scheming characters who weave a web of relationships,  this one moves out of  the bedroom and focuses on  the political issue of division of the state .
Though the film is an extravagant and grander version of the one we watched two years ago, it is slow with  confused characters who keep falling in and out of love without any strong reasons or motives .  Every character is grey, they have their own selfish motives, their own insecurities and their own internal conflicts to resolve.The saving grace of the film lies in it's powerful dialogues and great acting .

Irrfan Khan 's character starts off nice. There's a scene where he interviews a politician who is busy watching porn on his laptop .But as the film progresses he is shown to be losing his focus . The climax makes you ponder on  what Irrfan was set to accomplish and what he achieves finally.

Jimmy Shergill as Saheb is flawless and spellbinding . His character has the maximum no. of shades . From the man who hates his wife , to a man who can go to any lengths to get the woman he wants  ,to settling scores with those who crossed his way, he is just perfect . His dialogue  “jante ho mard itni galiyan kyun dete hain…kyunki woh rote kum hain”  is followed by claps and whistles from the audience.

Mahie Gill is perfect as the seductive and lusty Biwi .  Her drunken enactments and dialogue delivery is flawless . Despite the history she shares with Saheb she still has feelings for him which may be shown in Part3.

Soha Ali has given a good performance ,though her character lacks the spice to stay in the third and maybe the finale of this saga.
  

The song ' Bas chhal, kapat, prapanchh hai , Har swaarth ka yeh munch hai'   reminds us of the song 'Arambh hai prachand ' from  Gulaal (2009) 

In a line though the story doesn't end here , it's excellent dialogues manage to create enough curiosity for Part 3.

Must watch for Jimmy Shergill 's fans and people who liked the first part .    

Rank - 5 (Out of the 18 films I have seen in 2013)