Review of Luka Chuppi

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurrana

Luka Chuppi, set in Mathura, is a situational comedy about a local news channel reporter, Guddu Shukla who falls in love with a politician's daughter, Rashmi and wants to marry her. Rashmi likes Guddu but wants to be sure about him before taking the final plunge.

The first half is slow with introduction of characters, occasional songs and few comic scenes.
In the second half there are few plot twists which make the story slightly better but in the absence of strong emotions the viewers don't feel connected to the characters.

Laxman Utekar, who has been the cinematographer for films like Dear Zindagi, 102 Not Out, English Vinglish and Hindi Medium, makes his directorial debut with Luka Chuppi.
The film is shot in Mathura and Gwalior and gives a good tour of both the cities.

Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon use the local lingo but they look too urbane in some scenes. They share a good chemistry but there isn't even one scene where we could see the love and understanding between them.
Aparshakti Khurrana has a small role but manages to leave an impact.
Talented actors like Pankaj Tripathi and Vinay Pathak are totally wasted in their poorly written  roles.

The film will manage to collect around 50 Crores in its first week because of Kartik Aryan’s popularity and no competition from Sonchiriya.

In a line, despite good performances by Kartik Aryan and Kriti Sanon, an average story and lack of emotional quotient will effect the financial prospects of the film.

Timepass. One time watch.

Review of Badlapur - A film sans Climax

Release date -
19'th  Feb 2015

One Word which describes the film - Brutal

Best Dialogue -
Log kehte hai apne dushman ko maaf kar dena chaiiye....
Main Bhi yehi Maanta Hun....Lekin unhe tadpa tadpa ke maarne ke baad 

Genre - Crime/Drama 

Music -Sachin-Jigar

Producer - Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla

Story & Direction -Sriram Raghavan

Cast -Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta, Radhika Apte

Budget- 25 crores

The film had a warning ,' Don't miss the beginning.' Unfortunately we missed it and for the next 2 hours we kept wondering who was the culprit. Later I came to know that the film was actually not about who did it as it was clearly shown in the beginning and it was only the hero who was unaware of what happened that day. The film is basically a revenge saga.

Varun Dhawan looks perfect in the role of a young man with a good job and family. His transformation from a carefree to a devastated man who loses everything in an accident is sudden but he plays both characters with an ease which defies the fact that he is just three films old. We feel his pain and anguish and though his dialogues are few he manages to connect with the audience through his eyes. 

His character is complex and we keep wondering about what his next move will be.

Nawazuddin plays the role of Laik who is sentenced to a 20 year jail term. His character has the maximum scope as in jail he deals with other criminals, outside he has his love interest Jumli. He is a criminal yet he has a tender spot for people he love.

The four ladies Huma, Yami, Divya and Radhika have small roles but they play important part in shaping up the story .

Vinay Pathak is totally wasted in the film.

Sriram is known for giving us thrillers like Ek Hasina Thi and Jhonny Gaddar. But here the storyline is predictable at times and the climax disappoints. There are certain scenes which are crass and have absolutely no importance in the story.    

In a line even though the main characters have given good performances, the basic story remains dark and there are just few scenes which provide entertainment.

Watch at your own risk.

If you really want to know what happened then you can check the wikipedia page of the film which surprisingly has a detailed  scene by scene  story.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badlapur_%28film%29