Review of Kill Dil - Style without Substance

Release date -14'th November 2014

One Word which describes the film - Musical

Best Dialogue - "Maarna hai to maaro. Ghoor ke mera time waste mat karo." 

Genre - Action/ Romance

Music -Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Producer - Aditya Chopra

Story & Direction -Shaad Ali

Cast -Govinda ,Ranveer Singh ,Ali Zafar ,Parineeti Chopra

Budget- 40 crores (Including P&A)

Director Shaad Ali made an impressive debut with Saathiya (2002) followed by Bunty Aur Babli(2005). In 2007 he totally antagonized the audience with Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Everyone was eagerly waiting for his comeback film which had a bunch of talented actors. The promos were quite stylish, the music catchy and the film looked just perfect. The film starts with the bad guy Govinda and his boys humming and dancing to the title song. 

Govinda is the merciless bhaiyaji who can kill for money , can be generous or ruthless depending on his moods. He laughs on jokes, likes singing and dancing and plans his moves like an expert game master.

Ranveer and Ali are the modern 'Jai-Veeru'. They are stylishly attired through out the film, one in black other in white. Huge posters symbolizing their friendship are adorned on the walls of their house. They move around in bikes singing and dancing looking like cool dudes rather than killers. Most of their time is spent in styling their hair and drinking whiskey. 

Parineeti plays the role of a rich girl who instead of joining her father's business decides to help the criminals in rehabilitating themselves. During the whole film she is only playing the part of a rich girl who visits night clubs in skimpy dresses or is lazying in the pool or is just painting the town red in her sports car. The characters are well defined and the film starts in a good way with some action scenes and good dialogues. But after 15 minutes the film loses its speed ,there is no plot and the only action shown is the lead actors putting bullets on their target .

The director has paid so much attention on characterisation and style that he totally forgot that there should be a good story to bind the characters together.After every 10 minutes there is a new song and it looks as if everyone is just waiting to find an excuse to dance. Though the background music is good and the songs are melodious but still a film should have a good screenplay to keep the viewers engrossed till the end.

There were huge expectations from the film and despite being released in 2500 plus screens the film just had a 25% opening (6-7 crores ). It will be a big task for the film to even cross the 30 crore mark .

In a line if you are a very big Govinda / Ranveer fan then also it will be a task for you to watch this 2 hr film in theater.

Avoidable. Watch the promos and endless songs on you tube and save money.

Review of Happy New Year

Release date - 24'th October 2014

One Word which describes the film - Over-the-top

Best Dialogue -Duniya mein do tarah ke log hote hai,winners and losers...
Lekin zindagi har loser ko vo ek mauka zaroor deti hai jisme wo winner ban sakta hai.

Genre- Heist/Musical/Dance/Drama/Patriotic

/Comedy

Music - Vishal Shekhar

Producer - Gauri Khan

Story & Direction -Farah Khan

Cast -Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah

Budget- 80 crores + P&A

Film making which was earlier considered an art has now been reduced to strategic planning and marketing. 

Shahrukh Khan the king of romance has now turned into SRK the business man whose main focus is to recover the money put into the film by his production company. Before the film's release Happy New Year had already made profits through the film's promotional tour SLAM.

The film was released in almost 4500 screens in India and 500 screens abroad which in itself is a record. The timing of the film was perfect. Because of Diwali holidays and competition from no other film Happy New Year had a grand opening of 45 crores on Friday. In 6 days the film has collected close to 150 crores. 

Happy New Year is Farha Khan's magnum opus. After the super failure of Tees Mar Khan Farha realised that only SRK ,the king of marketing can project her superfluous films as entertainers and help her recover her lost money.

I would like to mention that Farha Khan is not a bad director, her vision is good, it's just that while turning the vision into reality she has a tendency of going over the top. Her films are too colorful, the sets are unnecessarily huge, even the bar where the heroine dances looks more like a Broadway theater. She turns even a 50 year old bald guy with a beer belly into a stud who is pursued by a line of women which is too hard to digest. She doesn't spare even her brother and project him as a stupid director. The story is predictable from the start still she takes 2 hours 59 minutes & 50 seconds to unfold the events in a TV serial kind of way which make people doze during some scenes.  

We know that she is talented as every time she comes up with a new idea to list the end credits, the problem is we have to bear the full film to see that 5 minutes of pure fun.

The film is a visual delight for Shah Rukh fans. In the first half he finds ample opportunities to show his eight packs. In the second half he goes clean shave and we get glimpses of the young Raj /Rahul who stole hearts of women of all ages. 

Deepika Padukone looks pretty and does justice to the small role given to her. 

Abhishek Bachchan 's acting is being appreciated by the critics and audiences. There is one scene where we get to see Farha's sense of humor. 

Nandu-  Charlie bhai , Mere se nahi hoga, mereko wapas bhejo

Charlie: Nandu , Tum akele nahin ho, Johnny Bhai bhi tumhare saath hain ,apni left pocket main dekho ( The camera focuses on a small Johnny Walker bottle).

Sonu Sood gets equal opportunity to show his abs . Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah have  acted well . 

The team in all is good and their reaching till the semi finals of the World Dance Competition as a wild card entry was OK but what happened afterwards is just Farha's exaggerated way of making everything end happily as she strongly believes that

' Hamari zindagi mein bhi end tak sab kuch theek hi ho jata hain, happies ending, aur agar theek na ho to woh 'the end' nahin, picture abhi baki hain mere dost.'

In a line even though the film is too long ,too dramatic,too full of songs but still there is something for everyone and is entertaining in parts.

One time watch. 

Review of Dawat-e-Ishq

Release date - 19'th September 2014

One Word which describes the film - Uncomplicated

Best Dialogue - Humari country main jabh tak black nahi diya tabh tak ghar nahi kahrid sakte, Dahej nahi diya toh shaadi nahi hoti.

Genre - Comedy/ Drama

Music -Sajid-Wajid

Producer - Aditya Chopra

Story & Direction -Habib Faisal

Cast -Aditya Roy Kapur ,Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher, Karan Wahi

Budget- 35 crores

Habib Faisal made his directorial debut with Do Dooni Chaar in 2010  followed by Ishaqzaade (2012).

This time he gives us another comedy drama which revolves around two simple hearted people who love good food and have their individual dreams in life.

The first half of the film is shot in Hyderabad and has Hyderabadi dialect. The second part shot in Lucknow has Hindi mixed with Urdu.

Anupam Kher and Parineeti Chopra share a good father daughter chemistry. The hero makes his entry quite late and afterwards too has nothing much to do except chop vegetables, serve food ,sing songs and dance.

The songs are quite like those of the 90's and hardly manage to leave any impact.

The basic problem in the film is that the story just keeps on going on and on without any twists and turns. There is no element of surprise and while you are watching one scene you can easily predict what will happen in the next scene.

If the hero was Salman Khan then even this film could have been a blockbuster but as Aditya Roy Kapoor hardly has any fan following it would be quite a task for the film to even recover its production and marketing budget.

In a line though this daawat doesn't promise any gourmet cuisine , the simple flavored love story may make you smile at places.

Time pass. Can be seen in theaters at your own risk. 

Coming soon - Review of Raja Natwarlal

Release date -29'th August 2014

One Word which describes the film -

Best Dialogue - 'Risk aur oopportunity ke beech main hi to chance milta hai aur jo us chance ke sath romance karta hai wohi asli raja kehlata hai.'

Genre - Crime / Comedy

Music -Yuvan Shankar Raja

Producer - Siddharth Roy Kapur

Story-Parveez Shaikh

Direction -Kunal Deshmukh

Cast -Emraan Hashmi ,Humaima Malick ,Paresh Rawal ,Kay Kay Menon

Budget- 30-35 crores

Raja Natwarlal was originally called Shaatir. Pakistani actress and model Humaima Malick makes her debut in Bollywood with this film.

Director ,Kunal Deshmukh started his career as an assistant director in Zeher (2005), Kalyug and Woh Lamhe (2006), under director Mohit Suri and Vishesh Films.He made his directional debut Jannat in 2008 followed by Tum Mile (2009) and Jannat 2 (2012).

Review of It's Entertainment

Release date - 8'th August 2014

One Word which describes the film - Laugh Riot

Best Dialogue - 'Tum ye maanti ho na ki shadi ke baad har aadmi kutta ban jata hai. Mera to yeh kehna hai ke tum kutte se hi shaadi kar lo.'

Genre - Comedy

Music - Sachin - Jigar

Producer - Ramesh S. Taurani ,Jayantilal Gada

Story & Direction -Sajid-Farhad

Cast - Junior (The wonder dog), Akshay Kumar ,Tamannaah Bhatia ,Krishna Abhishek ,Mithun Chakraborty ,Johnny Lever ,Sonu Sood ,Prakash Raj

Budget- 70 crore

When a dog's name comes before the Hero's name in the credits you know that the film makers have a sense of humor. Over the years, comedy in films has just been reduced to internet jokes and double meaning sentences. The hero apart from romancing the heroine and fighting with villians plays the role of a comedian too.  

It's entertainment is the story of Akhil who does petty jobs but dreams of being a millionaire so he can marry the girl he loves . His friend Jugnoo is a Bollywood addict and uses names of famous films or film stars in every dialogue.
Till interval the combination of Jhonny Lever , Akshay , Krishna and the dog keep us thoroughly entertained. In some scenes we laugh till our stomachs ache. The comedy reminds us of 1990s films and has a typical Kader Khan touch especially the threesome dialogues used by Akshay repeatedly in the film.

Riteish Deshmukh-  Abey khade khade tamasha ho jaega yahan
Akshay Kumar- Kyun madaari hai tu?
Riteish- Main bol raha hun maine apne haath mein chooriyan nahi pehni hain.
Akshay- Kyun widhwa hai tu?
Riteish- Maar dalunga tere ko main
Akshay- Kyun villain hai tu? 

After interval two more characters Karan and Arjun are introduced in the films. The story becomes a bit stereotypical and some scenes look straightaway copied from films like Welcome and Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge .
The climax is so stretched that we wish the story had a more comic ending.
The film had a good opening and managed to earn 59 crores in a week. But a huge budget and release of Singham Returns this week will surely effect the film's business.  

In a line even if you are not a dog lover the film has some really hilarious scenes especially in the first half.

Good one time watch. Children will love it.   

Review of Singham Returns

Release date - 15'th August 2014

One Word which describes the film -
Mass entertainer

Best Dialogue - 

' Aaj raajneeti mei sabko insecurity hai is liye sabke paas security hai . Mujhe kaun marega?

Genre - Action

Music -Jeet Gannguli ,Ankit Tiwari,Meet Bros Anjjan, Yo Yo Honey Singh

Producer - Reliance Entertainment ,Ajay Devgan,Rohit Shetty

Story- Sajid-Farhad

Direction - Rohit Shetty

Cast - Ajay Devgan ,Kareena Kapoor Khan, Amole Gupte , Anupam Kher, Dayanand Shetty

Budget- 70 Crores

In 2011 Rohit Shetty created a character Bajirao Singham which became an instant hit with the audience. His dialogues 'Aata majhi satakli' and 'Jismain hai dum,toh fakht Bajirao Singham' were used in day to day conversations. The film was a big hit.

Singham Returns has Bajirao Singham in the role of DSP of Mumbai. The film like its prequel has lots of action, powerful dialogues and strong on screen hatred between the protagonist and the villain.

Ajay Devgan is the life and soul of the film. His body language and expressions are so perfect that we forget the hero Ajay and just think of the honest policeman who leads a tough life. His eyes express his anguish when his subordinates become victims of the corrupt system.

Amol Gupte as the fraud and corrupt Baba gives tough competition to our Hero. He is merciless but his body language is funny .His dialogues like 'Tu do baar BA kar lega na to bhi BABA nahi ban payega' are hilarious and make us laugh. Despite this, Prakash Raj's character as a villain in Singham was better written and had more scope of creating fear in the minds of the viewers.

Kareena Kapoor Khan provides fun and glamour in the film. Her role has no significance in the basic story and could have been done by any other heroine. At this stage in her career when Kareena can choose any kind of roles she should stay away from such films.

Anupam Kher and Mahesh Majrekar have small roles but they manage to leave an impact on the minds of the viewers.

Rohit Shetty surely has a funny bone as even in the most tensed situations he manages to make the audiences laugh when Ajay tells his junior Daya( who also plays the same role in CID) ' Daya, darwaza tod do.'

The audience was totally engrossed throughout the film and whenever the hero succeeded in a task it was greeted by lots of clappings and whistles. 

Due to Independence Day release the film had a huge opening of 32.09 crore , beating Kick's opening of 26 crore and has become the biggest opener of 2014. The film has collected 80 crores in three days and is going to become Ajay Devgan's biggest hit till date.

In a line though the film has the usual good conquers evil theme but the story is fast and will surely entertain you.
Must watch. Can be seen with family and kids. 

Return of The Marketing Queen - Ek Villain

Release date - 27'th June 2014

One Word which describes the film - Psychotic

Best Dialogues -
Shraddha Kapoor-  'Jab tak hum kisi ke humdard nahi bante  ,tab tak hum dard se aur dard humse juda nahi hota.'

Riteish Deshmukh - 'Tum sabki nikalti jaan ke sath ..meri har chinta , sara stress bhi nikal jata hai.'

Sidharth Malhotra -'Main tuujhe marne nahi doonga lekin main tujhe roz maroonga ..ek baar nahi hazar baar maroonga.'

Genre - Thriller 

Music -Ankit Tiwari , Mithoon

Story - Milap Zaveri , Tushar Hiranandani

Producer - Ekta Kapoor ,Shobha Kapoor

Direction -Mohit Suri

Cast - Sidharth Malhotra ,Riteish Deshmukh ,Shraddha Kapoor ,Aamna Sharif

Budget- 30 Crores

Ekta Kapoor may have made a wrong decision when she decided to release Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai Dobara along with Rohit Shetty's Chenai Express. She broke her own rule of producing small budget films and spent almost 25 crorers in P&A taking the film's cost to 90 Crores which the film could not recover and was a huge flop. In the same year two other films co produced by Balaji Productions Lootera and Ek Thi Daayan also flopped at the box office. 

Ekta Kapoor said good bye to big budgeted films and again shifted her focus to medium budgeted films with peppy songs and lots of marketing.

Ragini MMS2 made on a budget of 20 crores earned 40 crores with it's two songs Babydoll and Char botal Vodka becoming big hits.
Ek Villain much before it's release managed to create a big buzz amongst the younger generations because of its romantic songs, 'Teri Galliyan' , 'Banjara' and ' Main Adhura.' Not only the film was promoted on reality shows , Ekta promoted it on her TV shows too. To cash in on the hit music a rock concert was also organised for the music launch.
Because of these rigorous promotional activities Ek Villain managed to get an opening of 65% which is quite huge considering Akshay Kumar's Holiday released in the same month got just a 30% opening.
It was shown on a show that Ekta Kapoor herself was shocked when the film crossed the 100 crores mark as she never expected it to be such a big hit.
Except the music and some scenes where Ritesh Deshmukh managed to create fear in the minds of the audience there was nothing much in the film. The story from the start was predictable.  
Sidharth  Malhotra should really start working on his acting skills as his other two co-students of the year Varun and Alia are way ahead than him.

In a line Indian film industry has started focusing more on show and publicity because of which the films lack in story and content and though they make money they fail to leave any mark on the viewers and are soon forgotten.
Note to Producers - Please make more films like A Wednesday , Sarfarosh , Border or DDLJ.