Monday, 19 May 2014

Review of The Xpose'

Release date – 16'th May  2014


Best Dialogue - ' Pyaar main galat bhi sahi hota hai.'

One Word which describes the film – Unexpected


Genre – Musical / Romance/ Suspense

Story & Music –Himesh Reshammiya

Producer- Vipin Reshammiya

Direction - Anant Mahadevan 

Cast - Himesh Reshammiya , Sonali Raut , Zoya Afroz , Honey Singh , Anant Mahadevan , Ashwin Dhar

Budget- 15 crores (approximately)

So let's start with accepting the fact that however  successful may Himesh Reshammiya be as a music director , as an actor we love to hate and bash him for all his acting attempts.
When promos of The Xpose were aired I was surprised by how much weight Himesh has lost and was impressed by the perseverance of the man to be accepted as an actor.

The film is set in 1968 and deals with the life of budding actresses , directors and larger than life superstars . Every character has grey shade and is out for blood. 

As a writer and co-producer of the film, Himesh's character of Ravi Kumar must be a role he must have fantasized about since years.
Ravi Kumar , angry policeman turned South superstar , is loved both by the masses and beautiful actresses. He has no fears in telling the director of his new film ,' Meri ek sharth hai, mei villain se maar nahi khaunga.' When the stylist tells him that they will have to work on his style and attitude he says with confidence ," style tum dekh lo , attitude par main bachpan se kaam kar raha hoon.' It's these dialogues along with some good acting which makes this film better than his earlier attempts. He stays away from any kind of dancing or comedy and sticks to his songs , though trying to pose like a fashion icon in a red trench coat and tight jeans or his style of holding a whiskey glass with a brooding look or holding an unlit cigarette in an attempt to copy Hollywood heroes was too much to take. 

Sonali Raut 's character Zara , who is making her debut through a film called 'Ujjawal Sheetal Nirmal' asks the director played by Anant Mahadevan , what will she have to do in the film to which he says , 'Na dance ,na expression na pose, sirf expose .' Her make up , hairstyles and dialogue delivery makes her look like the poor man's Priyanka Chopra .

The other actress Zoya Afroz also gets to show her assets in a bikini if not much acting talent.

The starting credits stated that the film is inspired by real life incidents and the characters of the two actresses may be based on Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman who both emerged as sex sirens in the 1980s .

Honey Singh looks sleazy and stylish but fails in the acting department.

Ashwin Dhir as the ruthless and unethical producer, director Bobby Chaddha  gives a fine performance.

Irrfan Khan is the narrator of the film and has a 1 minute role which will surely not be appreciated by his fans. 

The songs are nice and one will surely be humming Ice cream khaogi  or Catch me if you can or Darde dilon ke kam ho jate once they leave the theaters. 

The film has some really beautiful sets and outdoor scenes shot in Paris. Though some scenes are unintentionally funny but overall the film is fast and has an unpredictable climax.  

As it was a medium budget film the producers have already  recovered close to Rs 12 crore from the sale of Satellite, Music, Overseas Video, Home Video and other rights .The film also made a decent collection of 10 crores plus in 3 days which shows that word of mouth has the power of rising above critics' expert opinions .

In a line , if you can get over your aversion of spending money to watch Himesh Reshammiya on the big screen you will surely not be bored.

Time pass . You are in for a pleasant surprise. 

Wednesday, 30 April 2014

Review of Revolver Rani

Release date – 25'th April  2014

One Word which describes the film – Bizzare

Best Dialogue - ' Hum hai Alka Singh. I love fashion , fun aur gun .'

Genre –Political drama 


Music – Sanjeev Srivastava

Producer- Wave Cinemas , Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures , Nitin Tej Ahuja , Rahul Mittra , Tigmanshu Dhulia

Story & Direction Sai Kabir Shrivastav

Budget- 35 Crores

Sai Kabir (writer, Kismat Konnection ) makes his directorial debut with this political drama.
Kangana plays the role of Alka Singh , a Chambal dacoit turned politician who is ugly but orders all her clothes from Paris , likes to give interviews in English and is generous enough to build an entire Chambal film city for her boy friend. Her look inspired from Michael Jackson and Gabbar Singh  is quite innovative . 
Guess for her character , the director must have taken inspiration from Hollywood mafia films but watching an Indian dacoit wearing metallic bustiers and immersing her somehow perfectly toned body in a jacuzzi seemed too comic and out of place. 

The basic problem with the film is the story which starts as a revenge saga and then turns into an obsessive  love story along with some political planning and backstabbing . At every chance the characters are either shooting bullets, drinking whiskey or indulging in dirty politics . The film goes on and on and the climax really disappoints .

After Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur ' a trend has started of showing too much violence , bloodshed and killings in a film irrespective of the story which highly compromises the content of the film and becomes unsuitable for family viewing.

It was a great move by the producers to release the film just after 'Queen' and cash on Kangana's popularity. The critics who were dazed by Kangana's last performance gave rave reviews to the film but the audience who is much wiser waited for word of mouth and when there was none, stayed away from the film. The film, which was released in 1500 theatres managed to earn just 10 crores in 5 days which is pretty less considering the budget of the film.
Music  is average. Though it was a pleasant surprise to listen to Asha Bhosle sing ,' Kaafi nahi Chaand ', in her melodious and haunting voice.

In a line even though the  film  has some comic moments and fine acting by lead actors it could  have been much better if proper attention was paid on the story .

Avoidable . 

Monday, 21 April 2014

Review of 2 States

Release date –18'th April  2014

One Word which describes the film – Melodrama

Best Dialogue - ' Baat communities  ki nahi hai..baat ye hai ki kis tarah ke insaan ke sath hum apni jindagi bitana chahte hain'

Genre – Romance / Comedy

Music – Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy 


Story - Chetan Bhagat

Direction Abhishek Varman

Budget- 35 Crores

2 States is the love story of Punjabi guy Krish and Tamil Brahmin girl Ananya .
Abhishek Varman who has been an assistant director in films like  'Jodha Akbar' , 'My Name Is Khan' and 'Student of the Year ' has made his directorial debut with this film .
The first half where the two meet and gradually fall in love is interesting and colorful but after interval the film becomes repetitive ,  slow and dull. 

In the first half , the boy tells the girl that he wants to be a writer because he believes that 'Story mein hero na ho, story hero honi chahiye .'
Contrary to this line , there is a hero in this film who manages to save it and it is Alia Bhatt . She manages to outshine not only the other supporting actors but also the main protagonist . She looks beautiful , confident , and radiates the tension she is going through in trying to create a balance between her lover and her parents . 

Arjun Kapoor , on the other  hand manages to portray the same expressions through out the film. He tells his girlfriend that his mother has always been there for him but still when the scene demands he is neither able to express his love for her or his anger for not understanding what he wants. 

Amrita Singh , Revathy, Ronit Roy and Shiv Kumar have given decent performances but not much importance is given in building their characters so we are kept wondering why the boy's father sulks all the time or why his mother couldn't decide whether she wants to please her son or her husband or the society.

Whereas Alia Bhatt's last critically acclaimed film , 'Highway'  struggled to cover it's production cost , 2 States has managed to earn a cool 40 Crores plus at the Box Office in just 4 days which shows that audience prefer popcorn entertainment over serious soul searching films.  

In a line, the film is a scene by scene representation of the novel so if you have read the book there is nothing new there , except the pretty Alia Bhatt.
Timepass . Can be seen in theaters . 

Saturday, 29 March 2014

Review of Dishkiyaoon

Release date –28 'th March  2014

One Word which describes the film – Entertaining 

Best Dialogue - Dhanda goli se nahin, dimaag se chalta hai aur mera dimaag toh bachpan se hi bahut kharab hai.” 

Genre – Gangster / Action

Music – Palash Muchhal


Story & Direction -Sanamjit Singh Talwar


Budget- 20 crores (approximately)

The film shows the story of a young man who is fascinated by the underworld since his childhood and wants to be the next mafia king.  Though the story is old but the way debutante director , Sanamjit has presented it in  the form of flash backs is quite interesting. There are lots of characters in the film and though their roles are small , each one has a crucial part in the story. The film has good dialogues and excellent acting by most of the male stars. 

Harman Baweja , last seen  in What's Your Raashee? (2009) has made a comeback through this film. Apart from his changed look, he has also worked hard on his body and acting skills.Though this is his first action film, he looks comfortable in most of the scenes.

Sunny Deol plays a Haryanwi named Lakwa whose right hand is crippled except its trigger-pulling finger. Though he has a small role in the film but his character plays an important role in shaping up the story. He gets some really good dialogues like  , 'Dost se bada dushman koyi na hove hai .' 
At a time when actors spend months in getting a new look , Sunny Deol's joint eyebrows and floppy hair looked quite kiddish.

Ayesha has nothing much to do in her debut film and the songs in which she appears slow down the otherwise fast paced film.  

Music composed by 18 year old  debutante , Palash Muchchal , is average.
'Tu hi hai aashiqui ' , sung by Arijit Singh is the only song which stands out in the full film. 

Shilpa Shetty's item dance at the end of the film ,'Tu mere type ka nahi hai' is totally wasted . According to rumors, the cost of making the song alone is quoted to be almost at par with the budget of the film. The entire set was lit up with one lakh bulbs and it was designed to look like  Brooklyn, New York and London Broadway.

In a line , if you love gangster flicks then watch it and you will not get bored.
Paisa Vasool. Can be seen in theaters.  

Rank - 3 (Out of the 9 films I have seen in 2014)

Monday, 17 March 2014

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


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)

Friday, 14 March 2014

Review of Queen


Release date – 7'th March  2014


One Word which describes the film – Liberating

Best Dialogue - Kissing mein bhi Indians hi best hai '


Genre – Comedy/ Drama

Music – Amit Trivedi


Story & Direction -Vikas Bahl


Budget- 12-15 crores approximately

Queen is about a girl from Delhi , whose lover turned fiancé breaks with her a day before their wedding , telling her that he thinks that she would not be able to match his lifestyle in London .
What follows is a slow story with some flash backs , crying over the past and then a random decision by the girl to go on her pre planned honey moon alone .
Once the other female actress Lisa Haydon enters the scene the film turns into a glamorous , fun filled affair with the two females who are poles apart in their way of living , discovering a strong bond of friendship .
The film has powerful female characters like a single mother who works hard and parties harder , a lap dancer who is practical about how the profession earns her good money  and  a grand mother who makes her grand daughter realise that if she wanted to watch TV she could have better stayed at home .
The film shows Kangana's journey from a time where she is drunk and crying   "Mera toh itna life kharab ho gaya, itna life kharab ho gaya mera.." to a time where she happily says 'Thank You'.
Apart from Kangana's acting the other thing which stands out is the way the director has shown Paris and Amsterdam. The cities are not shown like some 'heaven on earth' as is done in Yash Chopra's films. There are small hotel rooms,shady roads and crowded night clubs.

Director Vikas Bahl said in an interview that they didn’t have the budget to shoot elaborate sequences or stay put at one location for long. “We were just 25 people from India for the shoot. We would book a place for a couple of hours, then rush to another location. We would eat at the nearest hotel where we were shooting, and at times Kangana would change her clothes in public toilets! We shot in about 145 locations in 40 days,” .
 The budget constraints gave the film the much needed realism . 

Rajkumar Rao has the weakest role in the film and keeps irritating the audience with his repeated i love you yaar and other cheesy dialogues.

The master stroke of the film is the climax where the girl uploads her memorable pictures on Facebook and her new friends comment on them.

In a line after watching Shaadi Ke Side Effects people will really enjoy how a woman luckily escapes getting married to a stereotypical Indian male and instead gets to live her dream and see the other side of the world.
Entertaining . Can be seen in theaters.

Rank - 1 (Out of the 6 films I have seen in 2014)

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Review of shaadi ke side effects


Release date – 28'th February 2014

One Word which describes the film – Mundane

Best Dialogue - 'Meri galti hoti hai to main sorry bolta hoon, meri wife ki galti hoti hai to main sorry bolta hoon. Ladai hoti hi nahi .' 


Genre – Comedy/ Drama

Music – Pritam


Story & Direction -Saket Chaudhary

Budget- 40 crores 

Saket Chaudhary made his directorial debut with  Pyaar Ke Side Effects (2006) . In this film he takes us to what happens after the romance , the candlelight dinners and the honeymoon is over. 
Farhan and Vidya are both talented actors and so we expected a lot of on screen fireworks on the screen. The film started in a good way showing great chemistry between the lead actors .But slowly as the love went away from their wedding , viewers also started losing interest. 
The main problem in the film is , the lack of well defined characters.
Farhan's character is confused most of the times and one can't understand whether he wants to be with his wife , his friends , wants alone time or wants to just watch a football match . 
Vidya since the start of the film is shabbily dressed and has no other work except for  having a baby , taking care of the baby , talking about that baby and then planning for another baby ! As if a housewife's life just revolves around a baby.
Purab Kohli , Vir Das and Ila Arun must have been added as after thoughts in the film as their presence took the film nowhere and after sometime they just made a silent exit from the film.

There were few good dialogues in the film like , "I felt like Sehwag. Ek do match kharab kya khele team se hi nikaal diya aur naya young, player rakh liya and ' doosro ke bacche and puppies sabko acche lagte hai ' but making a complete film just on the basis of few dialogues is not a very good idea.

In a line the film justifies its name and is like marriage which sometimes is sweet , sometimes exciting and sometimes so boring and mundane that we start wondering that were we better off as singles .  

Timepass . Can be seen in theaters.

Rank - 4 (Out of the 6 films I have seen in 2014)