Showing posts with label Vikrant Massey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vikrant Massey. Show all posts

Friday, 5 June 2015

Dil Dhadakne Do- Not Another Master Piece by Zoya

Release date- 5'th June 2015

One Word which describes the film -Scenic 


Best Dialogue - 'Is family ki yahi problem hai, sab upar upar se bat karte hai, asli bat to koyi karta hi nahi hai.

Genre - Comedy/ Drama




Story- Reema KagtiZoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar (dialogue), Javed Akhtar (additional dialogue) 

Direction- Zoya Akhtar

Budget- 60 Crores approximately 

The film was first announced as a story based on the brother- sister relationship between Zoya and Farhan Akhtar played by Kareena Kapoor and  Ranbir Kapoor respectively.
Over the years not only the cast was changed but from a brother- sister film it became the story of a dysfunctional Punjabi family who plan a cruise to celebrate the parents' 30'th wedding anniversary.
Most of the celebrities and film stars were all praises for the film as they must have identified with this ultra rich family who instead of chocolates and toys offer planes to their kids as bribe.

Initially I was happy to see that the film was 170 minutes long but once it started, within 15 minutes it became very clear that the journey is going to be a very slow one. There are 20 seconds dialogues followed by 10 seconds of silence. Some episodes are totally unnecessary and should have been totally edited from the film.

Anil Kapoor and Shefali Shah are perfect in their roles. In some scenes their chemistry is so good that you will feel that they are actually married to each other. Their characters have various shades of grey and like experts they manage to give the perfect expression in every scene.
Anil Kapoor gets to say this epic line which every kid must have heard at least once in his/her life 'Tumne aaj tak kiya kya hai ? Nothing ! You are lucky that I'm your father.' 

Priyanka Chopra has lost too much weight and looks tired. She has an excellent voice but in most of the scenes she has a bad throat and doesn't sound like her usual self.

Ranveer Singh is the life and soul of the otherwise reticent family. He is vibrant, makes the audience laugh and is cute in some scenes. He is paired opposite Anushka Sharma with whom he made his Bollywood debut in 2010 ( Band Baaja Baaraat ) and later was also romantically linked. Though now they are dating other people , they share a great on screen chemistry. As aptly described in a dialogue, ' Mohabbat ki shuruwat mai aisa hi hota hai, zabaan kam bolti hai, ankhen bolti hai, jism bolte hai.'

Anushka Sharma has a strong role and some good dialogues but as she is not part of the family she gets less screen space. First Bombay Velvet flops at the Box office and now this film is off to a bad start, guess the news lips are not that lucky for Anushka.

Farhan Akhtar must have been added in the film as an after thought as least attention is paid to his character. He is shabbily dressed in most scenes, doesn't even bother to shave or comb his hair which was quite disappointing for his fans. Moral he should learn from this film is, even when you are the producer and your sister is the director you shouldn't be over confident.
Javed Akhtar has penned some dialogues which are used in a narrative style. Loved this one, ' Doosre karte hai to use hypocrisy kehte hai aur jab khud wohi kam karte hai to use duniyadaari kehte hai.'

The main problem of the film is the presence of too many characters. So many parallel stories are running in the film that many scenes just add to the existing confusion. Many characters are introduced but near the end they just fade away and the focus abruptly shifts to the main members of the family.
The music is average and none of the song stays with us once the movie ends. Guess you really need a Honey Singh or Arijit Singh to have a chart buster song. 
The film has nothing to offer to the masses and so it will be a difficult task for the film to  reach the 100 Crore mark.   

In a line, the film is 170 min long, slow at times, will make you sleep in some scenes but overall it's a classy film made by a woman for other women.

Time-pass. Can be seen in theaters if you have nothing better to do. 


Monday, 8 July 2013

Review of Lootera

Release date –5'th July 2013

One Word which describes the film – Soulful

Best  Dialogue – 'Pehli baar jab tumhe dekha , toh thodi der ke liye laga ki main mar gaya ' 

Genre – Romance /Drama

Story - Vikramaditya Motwane 
(based on "The Last Leafby O.Henry )

Music – Amit Trivedi

Producer - Anurag Kashyap , Ekta Kapoor , Shobha Kapoor , Vikas Bahl

Direction Vikramaditya Motwane

Cast – Ranveer Singh , Sonakshi Sinha , Vikrant Massey ,Arif Zakaria , Adil Hussain

Budget - 35 crores ( approximately )

Lootera set in 1950's is the love story of a rich Zamindar's daughter and a young man who comes and stays at their home.
The film starts with a Ramleela scene where we are introduced to the two main characters of the film ,Pakhi  and her doting father the Zamindar of Manikpur. Pakhi is an artistic, strong willed girl who is not afraid of telling what her heart wants.
The Zamindar is worried because, post-independence the zamindari system has come to an end and he has to surrender his lands and precious artifects to the government.


The sets of the film look real with emphasis on minute details like the presence of a gramophone in the living room, antique furniture , vintage car, and an old radio playing songs of Dev Anand's film 'Baazi' . 
The second half shot in Dalhousie , captures the natural beauty of the town. 
So despite having good sets ,great music and above average actors why didn't the film appeal to the audience ?

All of us who have read 'The last leaf' , know it's a short story about two girls and an old painter who wishes to create a master piece. 

To convert this short story into a full fledged film the director converted it into a love story with lots of unnecessary tragedies and pathos. 

Sonakshi Sinha manages to give an award winning performance in the film. With her minimal makeup and rich sarees she looks like a rich heiress. In the second half her pale face and dark circles look so real that you feel pity for her.

Ranveer Singh's clean shaven look in first half wearing high waist trousers is quiet 1950's. Though , I wonder why most of his dialogues were dubbed in such a low voice that they were hardly audible.
In a line , the film is surely not made for the masses and has many slow sequences where you will get bored and  wonder when is it going to end.

Can be seen when is aired on TV .

Rank- 16 (out of the 35 films I have seen in 2013)

(You can read the story 'The Last Leaf ' here - http://www.online-literature.com/donne/1303/ )