Saheb Biwi aur Gangster 3~ Royalty versus Baba!

Director/ Writer- Tigmanshu Dhulia

Cast- Sanjay Dutt, Jimmy Shergill, Mahi Gill, Chitrangada Singh

Best  Dialogues –

Saheb-  "I believe only three things can change our lives, dreams, suffering and love. Pareshaniyon se main nikalke aaya hoon, sapna main dekh raha hoon, aur pyar mujhe aksar ho jaata hai."

Biwi- "Sari galat adaten to apne lagayi, baki tabah hone mai is haveli ne sath diya. Yaha bure kaam karne ki lat lag jati hai."


Gangster- "Mere baare mein joh bhi suna hoga bura hi suna hoga, lekin main itna bura nahi hoon ki mere bagal mein khade hone se koi badnaam ho jaaye."

Gangster's Mistress- "Jab naam ke alawa kuch bacha na ho to naam ko bacha bacha ke chalna chahiye." 

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster franchise is a  story about a royal family of U.P. where Jimmy Sheirgill is Raja Aditya Pratap Singh and Mahi Gill is his wife, Rani Madhavi Devi. 

The first two parts were high-octane drama full of plot twists, volatile characters, good dialogues and sizzling chemistry between the lead pairs. Actors Randeep Hooda and Irrfan Khan had played gangsters in the previous films.

Tigmanshu Dhulia decided to add a star like Sanjay Dutt to add glamour to the film but guess his plan backfired. 

The story is supposed to be a saga of deceit, lust, ambition and revenge where the Biwi uses the Gangster to defeat the Saheb but ends up as a life saga of the gangster.  

The film starts with Sanjay Dutt as Uday Pratap Singh, a banished prince, who has made a fortune in London by playing Russian Roulette. A lot of time is wasted in establishing Sanjay Dutt's character, telling about his anger, his girlfriend, his family members which has no relevance to the story. The Baba theme track that accompanies Sanjay Dutt every time he says a winning dialogue, “He’s the baba.. dekho dekho dekho aya tera baap”, is the only memorable thing about the gangster's character.

Chitrangada Singh plays the role of a dancer and Uday Pratap's mistress. Neither she looks like a villager nor her accent helps her in fitting in the character. Her love scenes with Uday are boring as the character of the Gangster was supposed to be a raunchy man who loses his heart at every pretty face. To see the gangster settle into an easy romantic relation was a big turnoff. When the evil Biwi tries to flirt with him, an uncomfortable gangster tells her that there was no need of doing all this. It was like we went to watch "Jism" and ended up watching "Hum saath saath hai"!

  

Jimmy Sheirgill and Mahi Gill, who were instrumental in bringing success to the previous films get less chance to show their talent. Their scenes are poorly written and they end up looking like side character's in the gangster's story.

The film is full of character artists like Kabir Bedi, Nafisa Ali, Zakir Hussain, Deepak Tijori, Soha Ali Khan, Deepraj Rana who have nothing to do. Except few dialogues here and there and some fiery exchanges between Saheb and Biwi there is nothing entertaining in the film.

The climax was highly disappointing and though it hinted at a sequel I hope there is no 4th part.

The film was made at a budget of 20 Crore and has managed to earn just 3.8 Crore in 2 days which is less than what the first part made in 2011. The film is a disaster and will end up earning less than 10 Crore at the Box-Office.

In a line, the series was supposed to be a tale of power games, lust and deceit but the director's obsession with the gangster has lead to the death of this franchise.

Avoidable.

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.   

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)