Return of 'Perfection Personified' Prem

Release date- 12'th November 2015

One Word which describes the film - Melodrama

Most Overrated Dialogue - 'Main wapas aa gaya, main wapas aa gaya.' 

Genre- Romance/ Drama 

Music-Sanjoy Chowdhury, Himesh Reshammiya

Producer-Ajit Kumar Barjatya, Kamal Kumar Barjatya

• Rajkumar Barjatya
• 
  

Story & Screenplay- Sooraj R. Barjatya

Direction -Sooraj R. Barjatya

Cast- Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh

• Anupam Kher, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaska, Armaan Kohli

Budget- 80-90 Crores

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is out and out a typical Sooraj Barjatya film which simply proves the wisdom behind this dialogue ,'Har film ka ek hi hero hota hai..director.' In 26 years Sooraj Barjatya has directed just 6 films and except Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003), all have been blockbusters. All his films have a central character called 'Prem' who is very idealistic and can not hurt anyone even in his dreams. Prem is perfection personified.

Salman Khan and Sonam Kapoor sounded like a very odd pair from start but when you see them on screen you won't mind them as the film is not about their love, it's about family and the perfect Prem keeps reminding you throughout the film that, 'lucky hai wo log jinke pas family hai.'

If instead of Salman Khan, Sooraj Barjatya had casted anyone else the film would have not have been able to post such great collections as the audience has become very critical these days which can be seen from the poor box office collections of Shaandaar, Jazbaa , Phantom and Katti Batti.

Salman Khan combined with the 5 days Diwali holidays and no other major release

 helped the film to collect 100 crores in just 3 days despite bad reviews and word of mouth.

The film has a 80's-90's kind of simple plot where from the start everyone including the actors and audiences know who is good and who is bad. The events just keep unfolding at a slow pace without any thrill or drama. The music is ordinary.

Sonam Kapoor in her designer dresses and heavy jewellery designed by her mother Sunita Kapoor looks beautiful and keeps  smiling and dancing on the director's tunes.

Armaan Kohli was last seen in Big Boss 7. Though he didn't win the show and later
even parted ways with his true love Tanisha he got a major role in Salman's film. He and Neil Nitin Mukesh get many scenes to show their potential but  they remain expressionless throughout.

Anupam Kher has a very simple role and gets to say dialogues which he could say even in his sleep. 

Amrita Rao was offered to play the role of Prem's sister which she refused and it was then offered to Swara Bhasker. Her role is also very simple and when she is not chopping vegetables she also gets to dress up and dance with other characters.

The only thing which is not simple in the film are it's grand sets which look straight out of either Sanjay Leela Bhansali's  or Karan Johar's films. We wonder in which part of India are these huge palaces present where princess eat kachoris packed in Haldiram's boxes and princes order electronic gadgets from Chroma. 

In a line if Salman Khan's Jai Raam ji ki said at the start of the film has the power to make the film rise above all bad word of mouth and become a blockbuster just think what can it do for you if you utter it daily.

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

Review of Dolly ki Doli

Release date -23'rd January 2015

One Word which describes the film - Déjà vu

Best Dialogue - Main waisi bahu nahi hoon jo sirf apne pati ko doodh dungi. Main sabko doodh dungi

Genre -Comedy 

Music -Sajid-Wajid

Producer - Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan

Story & Direction -Abhishek Dogra

Cast -Sonam Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Archana Puran Singh

Budget- 25 crores

Dolly ki Doli is a poor copy of many bollywood films where the central character is a con artist who makes people fall in love with them and then cheats them

We have Sonam Kapoor who has to look beautiful in various attires and woo the prospective grooms.

We have Salman Khan's protégé Pulkit Samrat who dresses up like Salman, copies his body language and is also called Robin (Robinhood of Dabangg) .

We have a strong artist like Rajkumar Rao who is totally wasted as a Haryanvi sugercane farmer.

We have Malaika Arora Khan who gives an item song which is a poor copy of Munni Badnam and Anarkali.

The other artist try to make us laugh but as the film is too short even they don't get ample opportunity to leave any impact.

The story is weak and though there are few surprises in between, soon the film becomes repetitive and predictable.

The same formula must have worked in earlier films but this time there was no Big Brother Salman to save the film.

Sonam Kapoor as usual looks good in all the get ups and has tried to pull the film on her delicate shoulders but the weak script doesn't give her much scope to shine.

Sajid Wajid have tried to put an item song, a wedding song, club no. in the hope of getting a chartbuster but apart from "Mere Naina Kafir Hogaye"  none of the songs are memorable.

After registering big box office success with Dabangg and Dabangg2 this film has turned to be a big disappointment for Arbaz Khan. It collected around 10 crores in the weekend and it will be a task for the film to recover its production and marketing cost. 

In a line there is not much in the film which you haven't seen before.
Timepass. Can be seen in theaters only if you are a big Sonam Kapoor fan.

Review of Bewakoofiyan

Release date – 14 'th March  2014

One Word which describes the film – Directionless

Best Dialogue - 'Police commissioner mera dost hai, mujhe naughty sms bhejta hai.'

Genre – Comedy/ Drama

Music – Raghu Dixit

Producer - Aditya Chopra

Story- Habib Faisal

Direction - Nupur Asthana

Cast - Rishi Kapoor , Ayushmann Khurrana , Sonam Kapoor

Budget- 22 crores approximately

Nupur made her directorial debut with YRF's Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge which was about the young generation addicted to Facebook.

Her second film shows the love story of Mohit who has the perfect girlfriend, Myra.
Myra wants to marry Mohit but only with her father's consent.

As we are introduced to the characters , we start liking the film.

There is the father, the soon going to get retired IAS officer who wants the perfect guy for his daughter .
The boy who is passionately and madly in love with a girl and is ready to do anything to have her in his life.
The girl who loves her father as much as she loves her boyfriend.
We like the father daughter interactions especially when he says,'main aapse kabhi baat nahi karoonga' which must have been used by parents all over the world. We like the chemistry between the love birds but soon it starts getting repetitive and we can guess how the story is eventually going to end.
The main problem in the film is the lack of characters and events. In most of the scenes there were empty roads , empty hotels , empty neighborhood which made the setup look so unreal and made me wonder why a studio like Yah Raj could not keep more junior artists in the film.
Rishi Kapoor tried to add humor in the film with his superb sense of timing and acting, but he alone cannot save the film.
Sonam Kapoor wore a bikini for the film and even gave some really steamy kissing scenes but the songs in which all this was shown occur randomly and so failed to make any difference on the overall speed of the film.
Ayushman Khurana has the same troubled expression during most of the film. Least efforts were made on developing his character so in one scene he is shown as a very caring person and then he asks his girlfriend to get off from his car, he refuses to accept a job as a trainee but has no problems in asking his girlfriend for money.

The producers must have been equally dissatisfied with the end results and so they decided not to waste anymore in promoting and advertising the film because of which  the buzz of the film was pretty low.

In a line if you are a big Rishi Kapoor fan ,then only you should watch the film in theaters , otherwise the film hardly offers anything which you haven't seen before.
Avoidable. Can be seen when is aired on TV

Rank- 5 (Out of the 7 films I have seen in 2013)

Preview of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Release date – 12'th July 2013

One Word which describes the film – Motivational

Best  Dialogue (promos) – 
'Ye apki zindagi ki akhiri race saabit ho sakti hai .'
Milkha- ' Daudunga bhi waise hi. '

Genre – Sports /Biography

Story - Prasoon Joshi

Music – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Producer - Viacom 18 , Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Direction - Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Cast – Farhan Akhtar , Sonam Kapoor, Prakash Raj , Yograj Singh

Budget - 30 crores

Duration- 188 minutes

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the most awaited film of 2013 .The name of the film comes from the last words spoken by Milkha Singh's father, which were to save his life during the riots of Partition of India. The story tells about his perseverance and courage as an athlete.

Farhan underwent extensive preparation for the film's Ladakh schedule .He went to a  training center in the suburbs, which specialises in training people to adapt themselves to harsh conditions. He trained there and religiously ran around 10-12 km every day. While in Ladakh, he would sprint for hours together in the backdrop of jawans coming out for a jog. He would tie a rope to his waist and do a high intensity tyre and rope workout and run for several hours . All the preparation showed when the first promo was launched in which the 39 year old actor managed to look like a lean and well  toned athlete in his 20's.

Sonam Kapoor has charged only Rs 11 for the films  and claims that she blindly trusts the film-maker.
On being asked about her reason behind signing the film for Rs 11, Sonam said, "They had a budget and they told me they can't give money and that's why I said give Rs 11 and I will do the film.

After watching the film Milkha Singh said  ,"Farhan Akhtar has done a brilliant job. He looked like my duplicate in the movie.  It was my son's decision to make the movie for Rs 1. However, I mentioned a clause in the agreement that 10-15 per cent of the profit which the movie makes will go to our trust which promotes athletes. 

The music of the film is good. Hawan kund and Zinda have become popular among the young generation . 

The film will get a very good opening and can easily collect 30-35 crores or more in it's opening weekend. The only drawback can be it's 3 hour plus duration .I hope the director has made an engrossing  film which makes the audience forget everything and just be a part of Milkha Singh's journey from being a refugee to a carefree young guy to a devoted athlete.

Rank- 2 out of the 40 films I have seen in 2013 

Review of Raanjhana

Release date –21'st June 2013

One Word which describes the film – Intriguing

Best  Dialogue – 
"Mere piche scooter mai baithna padega. Main break maarunga toh mujhpe girna padega. Mere saath naachna-gaana padega. Girlfriend na sahi..feel hi dede"

Genre – Romance /Drama

Story - Himanshu Sharma

Music – A. R. Rahman

Producer - Krishika Lulla

Direction - Anand L. Rai

Cast – Dhanush , Sonam Kapoor , Abhay Deol , Swara Bhaskar , Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub

Budget - 35 crores

The promos of the film showed a love story in a rustic background and melodious music by A.R.Rehman . The film starts with the dialogue ,"Ek baat main samajh gaya hoon. Ladki aur rocket aapko kahin bhi le jaa sakte hain"  
We are presented with a hero who knows he is dark and not very good looking and still is madly in love with a pretty girl and wants to get her by hook or crook . Till interval the film has lots of comic moments.


Dhanush has done full justice to his role. It's hard to imagine any other 30 year actor play the role of a 17 year old. In his school dress and clean shaven look he looks like a teenager who is desperate to express his feelings to his crush.   
Dhanush and Zeeshan as childhood friends  share an amazing chemistry . The dialogues  they share like ,  "Tumhara pyaar na ho gaya..UPSC ka exam ho gaya. 10 saal se paas hi nai ho raha" is an important factor in the film's success .

Sonam Kapoor as the manipulative Zoya has given a good performance though in the second half most of the time she has the same expressions on her face .

Abhay Deol has a short role and totally fades in front of Dhanush.

In a line though the love story may not be perfect with everyone using everyone else for their benefit but the characters of the film are so real and down to earth that you can relate with them .

Must watch for a totally paisa-vasool first half . 

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