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sghosh07
Reviews
Sapne Vs Everyone (2023)
DO NOT MISS IT!
My fellow cinema/series enthusiast -> DO NOT MISS THIS ONE...it's available on YouTube/TVF's channel for free. The trailer wasn't super-impressive (rather a bit weird) and I was thinking whether to watch it or not. Then I came across some rave reviews online, from a few friends and watched it. I'm thankful...I did.
It's perhaps one of the best series of recent times and pretty much all of us can connect to it in some way. All the performances, script, direction, BGM are top notch and pleasantly surprising for the low budget. Some poems/lines in it would connect with you so well that you'd think...in some ways it's your story too. It's emotional, free flowing, inspirational and a bit different.
There are some tiny loopholes (or portions that are made too convenient for the plot) but most people would overlook them. This series doesn't just inspire you to hold onto your dreams but also urges you to live life to the fullest and without any hesitation.
The lines -
"Umr bhar khayali bhooton se agar main na darrta....
Khuda, main kya zor se jeeta...Khuda, main kya chayn se marta"...are still ringing in my ears.
Jersey (2022)
'Jersey' is beautiful and Shahid Kapoor is truly Bollywood's dark horse!
Jersey is absolutely a beautiful movie that never felt 2 hours 50 minutes long. I haven't watched the original South Indian version but I can tell Shahid Kapoor has done justice to the role. He's really Bollywood's unutilized dark horse who should get many more movies to work on. Mrunal Thakur, Pankaj Kapoor and others did very good too. Not just the performance but the storyline, direction, screenplay, background scorers etc. Make this movie a gem. Do watch this if you can.
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020)
A missed opportunity!
I found this movie to be decent but not convincing. I'll tell the good and bad.
The good: The father-daughter relationship shown, performance of Pankaj Tripathi, the visuals.
The bad: Jahnvi Kapoor wasn't at all a good fit for Gunjan Saxena. I'm not saying this because she's a nepo kid. She wasn't convincing for a moment and her expression has been pretty much the same throughout the movie. Even during the depiction of hardcore training...she looked like a doll posing and crawling in the mud. Nimrat Kaur in the Alt Balaji web series 'The Test Case' (where Nimrat was the only female candidate to join the Indian special forces) was far better and convincing. Because of Nimrat's performance...I probably liked that web series much more than this movie.
Above all...this movie should have focused more on the Kargil events since the title carries the phrase 'Kargil Girl'. It had very little of Kargil or Gunjan's missions and more of her family and professional struggles. Dharma productions/Karan Johar being what they are....generalized almost all IAF officers and showed them in bad light. Hence, IAF's notice to Karan Johar is justified. He had to obtain NOC certificate from IAF which he didn't. The movie is not a bad watch but it could be a much better one. Another missed opportunity.
PM Narendra Modi (2019)
Do not believe the hateful reviews - watch it and judge by yourself!
I went to watch this movie here in Virginia with no expectations and thinking I'll be alone in the theater. I was surprised to see quite a few people were watching it on a Tuesday night (after 1.5 weeks from its release) despite the bad reviews by the media. I stayed in the theater until after the end credits. I'd really urge anyone to watch this movie and judge for him/herself if this deserves such bad reviews from media or anti-Modi people most of whom didn't probably even watch the movie (and if they are so anti-Modi then why did they spend money to watch it in the first place? ;) ). Most bad reviews on imdb seemed to be from before even the release date of the movie. :D That tells you how a propaganda was run even via movie reviews. It's like people who spewed venom against Modi for 5 years couldn't accept his even bigger win in the 2nd term and exhaled their frustrations on this movie as a revenge!
I wouldn't say the movie is a cinematic excellence or Vivek Oberoi really fitted the role of Modi. But I'd say the movie is nicely done (the first 30 minutes seemed a bit tacky though). It was really eventful (a lot was shown in 2 hr 16 minutes) but the screenplay was smooth. Transition from one event to another didn't seem forceful. Bits and pieces of the movie may be fictionalized but I liked the overall movie. I'd give it 8/10 and urge others to watch it at least once to know more about the Indian PM. What he did in his life is no joke and no other world leader from the top 20-25 powers in the world has a story like Modi's.
PM Narendra Modi (2019)
Do not believe the hateful reviews - watch it and judge by yourself!
I went to watch this movie here in Virginia with no expectations and thinking I'll be alone in the theater. I was surprised to see quite a few people were watching it on a Tuesday night (after 1.5 weeks from its release) despite the bad reviews by the media. I stayed in the theater until after the end credits. I'd really urge anyone to watch this movie and judge for him/herself if this deserves such bad reviews from media or anti-Modi people most of whom didn't probably even watch the movie (and if they are so anti-Modi then why did they spend money to watch it in the first place? ;) ). Most bad reviews on imdb seemed to be from before even the release date of the movie. :D That tells you how a propaganda was run even via movie reviews. It's like people who spewed venom against Modi for 5 years couldn't accept his even bigger win in the 2nd term and exhaled their frustrations on this movie as a revenge!
I wouldn't say the movie is a cinematic excellence or Vivek Oberoi really fitted the role of Modi. But I'd say the movie is nicely done (the first 30 minutes seemed a bit tacky though). It was really eventful (a lot was shown in 2 hr 16 minutes) but the screenplay was smooth. Transition from one event to another didn't seem forceful. Bits and pieces of the movie may be fictionalized but I liked the overall movie. I'd give it 8/10 and urge others to watch it at least once to know more about the Indian PM. What he did in his life is no joke and no other world leader from the top 20-25 powers in the world has a story like Modi's.
Romeo Akbar Walter (2019)
Don't listen to the biased negative reviews....watch this awesome espionage thriller and judge yourself!
I'm astonished at two things. 1) This well made, riveting espionage thriller. 2) How low can the paid media and biased reviewers can stoop down to negatively project the movie for no reason. There is nothing political or jingoistic about this movie but the right amount of patriotism, good story-telling, cinematography, direction and awesome twist! this movie is based on true events/inspired by the story of the RAW agent Ravindra Kaushik (aka Black Tiger) but not exactly his story. However, this is tribute to all those unsung heroes who sacrifice everything in order to protect the Motherland from inside the enemy territories.
John Abraham did well, Jackie Shroff was pretty good, Sikander Kher was good and the others performed decent too. The movie could use better editing and handling of some loopholes but it's still a realistic and pretty good watch. Somehow I liked it even more than Raazi. So don't listen to the negative reviews and watch it yourself.
Some people are giving it low ratings purposely because perhaps they still can't digest the truth about 1971 Bangladesh liberation war/Indo-Pak war.
Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)
A Masterpiece!!
If I have to say in one word then it'd be MASTERPIECE. It can very well be a classic...a cult classic like Border. This movie doesn't portray blatant Jingoism but strikes the right chords of patriotism with maintaining the right balance. It is so well done that you'd crave for more even if it ends. Everyone performed very well and Vicky Kaushal was stunning. The movie is very inspiring and everyone especially the young generation should watch it to know what the army men do for them. The movie is not political at all but yellow media will try to demean it for 'certain' reasons.
I still can't get over the top notch screenplay, direction, background scores, visuals and performances. A straight 9.5/10 (or may be 10/10 if I don't be skeptical) from me.
Sanju (2018)
A good watch but fails to justify why was it even made
I'll categorize my opinion as follows:
The good: Marvelous acting by Ranbir Kapoor in most parts, the personality of Sunil Dutt as portrayed by Paresh Rawal (but he didn't look anywhere close to late Mr. Dutt), Manisha Koirala in a very short role as Nargis, the song "kar har maidan fateh", portrayal of the struggle of Sanjay Dutt, depicting the truth behind Indian media and how it twists facts, the visuals, overall direction.
The bad: quite cheesy in parts.
The confusion: Sanjay Dutt did have a colorful as well as struggling life. However, this movie is like an one sided justification of his actions/story. It is similar to how the movie "Azhar" justified the actions of Md Azharuddin. But the movie fails to justify why was it made and to prove what? late Sunil Dutt and late Nargis's story could have been a much better story to learn from than idealizing Sanjay Dutt who suffered from his own wrong actions and struggled,fought with his inner demons (to some extent who doesn't? :) )
My overall rating would be: 7.5/10.