snaidu422 Reviews

Kaabil (2017)

Worthy enough to take on King Khan

[8/10 · 26 January 2017]

It does take lot of guts to release your film on the same day as a Sharukh Khan starrer and the result could always spell doom for you unless you are a member of the khan trio. People considered Hrithik was committing professional hara-kiri going ahead anyways, it is only when you watch the film, you realize why Hrithik was KAABIL to take a Khan starrer a la David Vs Goliath.

Rohan (Hrithik Roshan)is a blind man, but his other senses are working in perfect sync with his thoughts. He is also an expert on mimicking people's voices and works as a dubbing artist for animation films. He meets Supriya (Yama Gautham) a blind pianist when a common benefactor sets them up on a date.

Hrithik and Supriya get married and dream of a bright future. Their happiness is short lived when Supriya gets gang raped by their neighbor Wasim (Sahidur Rahman) and a politician's brother Amit (Rohit Roy). The police turn down the case as the bigwigs manipulate things and everything fizzles out.

The blind couple decide to accept fate and go ahead with their life, but the rapist duo return and rape Supriya yet again. Supriya takes a drastic decision which changes Rohan's life as he takes on the might of the politician Madhav Rao (Ronit Roy) and the rapists and how he eliminates each of them without evidence forms the rest of the plot.

Hrithik Roshan gives a fantastic performance and comes out a winner, be it as the love struck guy, or the helpless husband or the vengeful person, he outshines every other character in the movie.

Yami Gautam for a change decides to act and yes she does a wonderful job too, her performance as the rape victim is excellent and makes you feel for the character.

Rohit Roy as the rapist comes out with a fabulous performance that you start hating his character right from the word go and cheer when he meets his brutal end.

Ronit Roy on the other hand is OK and it is evident he is trying very hard to come up with a performance to match his co-stars, but he fails.

Music by Rajesh Roshan is not wow but is soothing to the ears and the remix of "Haseena ka Deewana" should be avoided as well as Urvashi Rautela's acrobatics which are supposed to be dance moves.

Sanjay Gupta comes out with a winner and a bravo performance from his lead stars, though the movie lags a bit in the second half, he manages to set it back on track.

Watch it if you are in a mood to watch a good film with stellar performances and if you are in a mood to go down on an emotional roller coaster ride.

Raees (2017)

A Wealthy Entertainer

[8/10 · 25 January 2017]

Every Sharukh Khan release is an event in itself, RAAES is no different. Most of the characters the Khan had been portraying in the recent past have been disappointing to his fans…even the much admired Jahingar Khan of Hello Zindagi was not of much satisfaction due to the limited screen time. And now Raees is something his fans had been waiting and praying that it would tip the balance of fortune towards their much loved star

And yes….from the word go, we know a masterpiece is unfolding on the screen. Though the story is not new..a rise and fall of a righteous don has been done to death in Bollywood from times immemorial, but what sets Raees apart is Sharukh Khan, his performance and the amazing screenplay.

Jaideep Majumdar (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) reminiscences his tryst with bootlegger Raees (Sharukh Khan) way back in the 90's. Raees story unfolds right from his childhood where he is touchy about his short sight (has to wear glasses) and people calling him "battery" due to this impairment. His Ammi (Sheeba Chaddha) is his greatest influence and her words "business is bigger than religion as long as it does not harm anyone" remains in his mind and starts working for a local don (Atul Kulkarni).

Raees once when he is old enough decides to start his own business and miffs the don and joins hands with a Mumbai don Moosa who funds Raees's bootlegging business.

Raees falls in love and gets married to Aasiya (Mahira Khan) and soon becomes a father. His rise disturbs the local don who tries killing Raees and fails and ends up getting killed by him.

Jaideep Majumdar, a honest police officer is hot on the trail of Raees and uses every method at his disposal to bring Raees down, but he is unsuccessful as Raees has the support of both the ruling and the opposition party.

But soon, Raees's ego makes him a commit one fatal error which turns things in favor of Majumdar…..

Sharukh is back to doing what he does best, hogging the screen time and also giving one of his career's best performances, his ire when called Battery, or when he is weeping away to glory in his wife's arms after a major setback or his astounding performance in the climax undoubtedly proves the crown is still his.

Mahira Khan performs well in what little screen time she has, as the only person who gets away after making fun of Raees's short sight. Wish she had more screen time.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is wow as Jaideep Majumdar, the scenes involving him intimidating his superiors, or the several faceoffs with Raees showcase his talent.

Sunny Leone brings the house down with the peppy item LAILA and her tumka's are well synchronized to the beats

K U Mohanan's Cinematography captures rustic Gujrat at its best, the filters highlighting the era in which the film is based

Deepa Bhatia's editing ensures the movie does not drag and uses the scissors the right way in making the film crispy and entertaining.

Rahul Dholakia's direction is top notch and it is not a mean task handling two live wires Sharukh and Nawazuddin together, but he has managed to extract the best possible scenes involving both of them. He has also managed to recreate the 70-90's era with just the right touches

Watch it if you are a hardcore Sharukh khan and also if you have a major crush on Sunny Leone and also if you have been missing the wonderful action sequences of the 80's.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016)

when love meets lust

[5/10 · 31 October 2016]

When it comes to Bollywood, every release of Sharukh Khan or Karan Johar is an event in itself. Expectations were soaring for AE DIL HAIN MUSHKIL owing to a fantastic trailer, the controversy involving the Pakistani actors and the love making scenes between Aishwarya Rai and Ranbir Kapoor. Alas! to sustain a movie at the box office, the abovefeatures can never be the proper ingredients.

Ayan Sanger (RanbirKapoor) meets Alizeh (Anushka Sharma) during a one night stand whichfizzles out when Alizeh makes fun of his sloppy love making, but end up being good friends later on. Ayan falls in love with Alizeh but she goes back to an old flame Ali (Fawad Khan) and to rub salt on wounds invites Ayan to the wedding. Ayan proposes to Alizeh on the wedding day and walks out and meets Saba Khan (Aishwarya Rai) on the flight back home. After a hurried love making scene, saba and Ayan became a couple.

Ayan tries reconnecting with Alizeh to show off his beautiful new girlfriend and then…. It's Anushka Sharma's show all the way. She has a wide range of emotions on display for her character in this film and a daring look in the second half demands respect from the audience. Thepep talk she gives Ayan when he goes through a break up, the scene when Ayan proposes to her behind closed doors showcase her performance.

Aishwarya Rai is perfect as the cougar. She uses her charm to a good extent and yes she is seductive and that's all there is to it.

RanbirKapoor looks like he walked off the sets of Rock Star and Tamasha andlanded up in this one. He is good but he sure is getting repetitive.

Pritam's music is excellent and is the only good thing about the movie apart from Ms. Sharma.

Anil Mehta's cinematography is good.

Karan Joharhowever disappoints…though the premise of lust leading to love is good enough, but the movie drags on and enters an unnecessary terrain towards the climax. The movie should have ended a good half an hour before, but I guess Karan Johar wanted to increase the emotional quotient… …..well salt is good, but too much of it can certainly ruin a good dish

watch it if you have just gonethrough an awesome breakup

Abhinetri (2016)

a ghost debut

[7/10 · 12 October 2016]

There was a time when horror films and comedy films were in the lower category when it came to mainstream cinema, but things have changed incredibly that we see that they are in the A list now and like Hollywood, filmmakers are combining both the elements together and are dishing out horror comedies. Abhinetri is one such film, but surprisingly it is not cheeky like most of its counterparts. The screenplay ensures that we get what we paid for……entertainment.

Krishna Kumar (Prabhudeva) is a 34 year old working in a advertising agency in Mumbai. He is desperate to shed his single status and get married to any girl as long as she is modern and has the right figure. As luck would have it a dying grandmother gets him married to a village girl Devi (Tamannah). Krishna despises Devi and keeps his marriage a secret from his colleagues. One day, he changes his mind and takes her to an award function sponsored by his company and Devi undergoes a dramatic transformation. She becomes a different woman, wears minis, dances, speaks flawless English and flirts around. Back home, she becomes the village girl, wears sari, speaks nothing but telugu and does not remember that she has been out. Krishna soon finds out through his neighbors that an aspiring actress called Ruby killed herself in the very house he is staying. It is clear Devi is possessed by Ruby. Ruby makes a deal with Krishna, he should let her use Devi's body to fulfill her starry ambitions and she would leave him and Devi alone. Krishna reluctantly agrees with a promise that Ruby should leave Devi's body the moment the first film is released….Ruby agrees, but soon we learn that she has other plans…..

Tamannah is spot on with both the characters, she effectively changes her body language for both the characters. The scenes where she threatens Prabhudeva and her dance sequence at the award show showcase her acting abilities which has surprisingly evolved over a decade. A Special mention is the scene where she sees herself for the first time on the screen at the premiere..her expressions speak volumes

Prabhudeva is excellent when it comes to comic timing and the mandatory item song with Amy Jackson proves he is still the best of dancing stars around….even though the quality bar is dipping. Sonu Sood is good, carries off what little is expected of him. Music by Sajid wajid has more of a north flavor even though the film was originally shot in south. The songs are bad, but the music is good.

Screenplay and direction by Vijay are excellent and lifts what could have turned into a mundane film to a well executed comic thriller

Pink (III) (2016)

Dyeing our conscience

[10/10 · 16 September 2016]

When a girl says NO, (she could be anyone, your girl friend, your date, your wife or even a sex worker). it means a NO. This is exactly the point which PINK drives to the audience, all the while shaking up our conscience and questioning ourselves.

Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu) Falak Ali (Kriti Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) are three friends and room mates who choose to go to a rock concert and run into Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi) and his friends. The girls are invited for dinner which they choose to accept and it is implied that Rajveer and his friends tried to act fresh with the girls and Minal in an act of self defense hits

Rajveer with a bottle, making him almost lose an eye. Both the parties choose not to go to the law enforcement authorities and few days later, the girls are threatened by phone calls and their house owner is given threats to have the girls thrown out. Minal goes to the police and reports the incident which happened that night and an FIR is filed. But to her shock, she is arrested on the charges of prostitution and murder attempt.

Steps in Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachan) a once famous elderly lawyer who has quit practice mainly due to his bipolar disorder. Sehgal offers to defend the girls in a case which almost appears to be a lost cause as the girls are subjected to humiliation and are portrayed as criminals.

Amitabh Bachan as Sehgal gives once again a magnificent performance, his gas mask, his blank stares in the courtroom all add up to his fantastic portrayal of the character.

Taapsee Pannu gives the best performance of her career, her body language, her mumbling, frightened looks and especially the scene where Sehgal calls her to the stand, make it the most outstanding performance of the year.

Kriti Kulhari need s a special mention, especially in the breakdown scene on the stand.

Angad Bedi is good as well and actually makes us loath the character, especially in the final cross-examination scene which brings out the double standards the society is into.

Screenplay by Ritesh Shah deserves applause and especially the dialogues when Sehgal lists out the safety standards for women/girls.

Direction by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary is classy and does not deviate from the plot with inane sub plots. Right from the word go, he ensures every scenes grips our conscience and tugs us into self- examination.

I would not recommend it to anyone who wants to watch flashy item songs, or duets set in Switzerland or out of the world costumes. This movie is for patrons who are into serious cinema and can appreciate good performances.

Irumugan (2016)

A different face of love

[8/10 · 14 September 2016]

Vikram like Kamal Hassan has always been more inclined to experimenting with roles rather than take up plain every day stuff that every other star is doing. IRU MUGAN is just one of those experiments and yes he has pulled it off with ease.

The movie opens with a 71-year-old creating a havoc in the Indian Embassy in Malaysia with super human strength and finally dropping down dead.

RAW is pulled into the scene and a Rookie Agent Aayushi (Nithya Menon) discovers a "love tattoo" on the dead man. RAW chief Malik (Nasir) remembers that the tattoo is a symbol of a dreaded terrorist Love (Vikram) in whose pursuit RAW lost one of its best agents Meera (Nayantara) when she was shot dead and Meera's Husband Akhilan (Vikram again) another RAW agent had a nervous breakdown and had to be discharged from the unit.

Since Akhilan was the only one alive who has seen Love, Malik recruits him unofficially and sends him to Malaysia to investigate along with Aayushi. Aayushi discovers that the dead man happens to be inhaling a drug called Speed, the same one which Adolf Hitler was rumored to have given his Nazi troops to fight the war with super human strength. The drug was known to increase the Adrenalin rush in the body.

Following some leads Akhilan and Aayushi finally come face to face with Love only to discover that all the while Love had been hiding a secret……..

Vikram is fantastic as LOVE, the body language, the expressions and the one liners all make this character as one of the best villains Indian films have come up with. Vikram as Akhilan is just OK, he does the same thing which is expected of a south Indian Hero, it is LOVE that steals the show here.

Nayantara as Meera is as hot as anyone can get, she has different shades to her role. Like Vikram's LOVE, she too has an evil alter- ego ROSY. She is equally good as the bad girl.

Nithya Menon is just OK as the rookie agent, but its her voice modulation for the character which saves the day for her. She just uses the right tone when interrogating people or when making a point. It shows how important it is for an actor/actress to dub their own lines.

Back ground score by Harris Jayaraj is excellent and the song "HALENA" needs a special mention.

RD Rajashekhar's cinematography captures the well choreographed chase sequences and the flashy sets magnificently. Anand Shankar's screenplay and Direction are top notch and he really proves he has what it takes to come up with an excellent sci- fi/espionage thriller.

If they had edited Thambi Ramaih's character completely, the movie would have been more crisper and tight. The character is down right silly and only helps in slowing the plot.

I would recommend it to anyone who loves flashy thrillers with good action and chase sequences and out of the world plot.

Great Grand Masti (2016)

Masti with a Succubus

[7/10 · 16 July 2016]

When we talk about sex comedies, we usually have people curl up their lips in disgust and yes they have a reason to do so, since the kind of films which were dished out in the last couple of years in the name of sex comedies. Sex comedies was a genre which was introduced to dish out films which were "naughty" and not "vulgar". Vulgarity makes you disgusted, while naughty makes you blush. This was where the British Comic series "carry on" won the hearts of its audiences.

While it is too over the tops to compare "Great Grand Masti" to the "carry on series", it is surprisingly a funny movie which manages to become naughty with out being too vulgar (yep I am emphasizing on "too", since there were scenes which bordered towards it). End of the movie, you realize the movie achieved it's objective which is making you laugh at all the various out of the world sexual situations the three protoganists find themselves in.

Amar (Ritesh Deshmukh), Meet (Vivek Oberoi) and Prem (Aftab Shivdasani) are 3 friends whose conjugal lives are not going as they would have loved them to go. The three friends run into Shiny, (Sonali Raut) a maid and they are bowled over and decide to go to her hometown "dhoodwadi" which according to them would have more shineys for fun.

Incidentally Amar has a mansion in Dhoodwadi where they decide to spend their time. Unknown to them, the mansion is haunted by an evil spirit Ragini sms (Urvasi Rautela) who died a virgin. Now Ragini traps the three guys and lays a condition that one of them should help her loose her virginity and travel to the afterword with her while the other two will be left alive.

Uravasi Rautela looks hot as the succubus, but the same cannot be said of her performance. Shedding clothes at the drop of a hat cannot compensate for poor acting skills, but then when have such films relied primarily on the acting skills of the actresses.

Ritesh Deshmukh is the best among the trio, his weird facial expressions, the body language etc., is bang on target. Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani too are excellent in their own way.

Shreyas Talpade as the gigolo Babu Rangeela manages to hog the attention the 20 or so minutes he is on screen, especially in the scene where the trio's wives try to sell the bungalow to him and he thinks they are his customers. The major disappointment in the film are the trio's wives played by Misthi, Shraddha Das and Pooja Bose with no screen presence and yup, they cannot act to save their life.

Story by Tushar Hirandani is witty to the core. CGI sucks big time Music is forgettable

Direction by Indra Kumar is good as he managed to be successful in making the audience laugh and choosing the right script (even though the karwa chauth angle will leave everyone squirming).

I would give this 3 on 5 and puritans please stay away from this one and yep and the rest who are born with naughty gene, watch it!!!!!

Sultan (2016)

wrestling with life

[9/10 · 6 July 2016]

well,when its a salman film you were walking into, you are always forewarned about the no-script endeavors and nonsense catering to only to his fans. well! things changed a little with "bajrangi baijaan" last year and things also changed favorably with this year's SULTAN.

Sultan is a beautiful love story set within a sports backdrop. The sport is an oft-ignored and oft-looked down upon Indian wrestling and chronicles the journey of a down and out Indian Wrestler to the arena of free style wrestling, all for the sake of the love of a woman.

Sultan (Salman Khan) is a wayward cable operator in remote town in Haryana. His only past times include hanging out with his good for nothing pals and grab kites as they are cut down. During one of his misadventures with kites, he runs into Aarfa (Anushka Sharma), a wrestler aiming for the Olympics. Aarfa makes it clear that she only wants to get married to a wrestler and Sultan joins Aarfa's wrestling Aakhada to get trained to be a wrestler. He makes it to the state selection and gets married to Aarfa. Aarfa sacrifices her olympic opportunity to become a mother. Sultan starts winning bout after bout including tasting success at the Asian as well as the olympic games. Success makes him arrogant and it slowly blinds him with power. He heads for turkey to win an international bout inspite of Aarfa requesting him to stay back as her delivery date is fast approaching. Sultan leaves anyway. He receives the news that Aarfa has given birth to a boy. Ecstatic, he heads back to India and that's when tragedy strikes....

Salman Khan is a revelation in the film, yes he proves that he can "act" and not just stand there as if doing the audience a favor. The scene where he looks at himself with a paunch and breakdowns is one scene where he showcases his acting abilities to the fullest. The scene where Aarfa slaps him and the scene where Aarfa proposes to him are some of the scenes where he truly excels. Anushka Sharma is mind blowing, she literally overshadows the khan in their combination scenes, be it the pre-interval Hospital scene, or her re- introduction scene in the flashback or the scene where she puts Sultan in his place by slapping him, or the silent reactions to sultan's information on TV really proves what an excellent actress she is.

Randeep Hoonda also does his best in the little time he has on screen.

Music By Vishal-Shekhar is good, especially the "baby ko base pasand hain". The lyrics may sound lewd, but watching the song in context of the scene would definitely bring a smile to your lips. Cinematography by Artur Zurawski is good, especially the wrestling scenes, which by the way were well choreographed.

Screenplay by Aditya Chopra lays more emphasis on the romantic aspect which pushes Sultan to his rise and fall and....well! no complaints here as it was engaging.

Ali Abbas Zafar's handling of the subject deserves a pat on the back and kudos for attempting a film of this sort with Salman Khan and still come out a winner.

I would give it a 4.5 on 5 and would recommend it to everyone without any discrimination to their movie tastes.

Jai Gangaajal (2016)

Not so Holy

[6/10 · 7 March 2016]

Just to make it clear JAI GANGAJAL has nothing to do with 2003's GANGAJAL, apart from the fact that both the films had the same director, both the movies deal with cops and both have something to do with police department against vigilante justice, in the former it was vigilante cops, here it is a whole neighborhood which resorts to vigilante justice.

Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) arrives as the New SP of Bankipur, Bihar a kind of recommended position by a minister with whom her family has good relations. Once she takes charges, she realizes that the law and order situation is in a toss in the hamlet. Bhola Nath Singh (Prakash Jha) the circle inspector is on the payroll of the local MLA (Manav Kaul) and gives them ample protection from the law. The MLA's brother Babloo Pandey(Ninad Kamat) has a terror hold on the people and right at the moment they are trying hard to acquire land for a certain power plant. Babloo Pandey faces opposition from Sunita (Vega Tamotia) a teenager who refuses to part with her land even after Babloo KIills her father. She is soon kidnapped, raped and killed by Babloo. This brutal incident causes a change in Bholanath and he decides to become a honest cop and arrest the culprits, but he is too late, as the people have formed a vigilante group and decide to make the first strike, the first step taken by the 14 year-old Nagesh (Ayush Khedkar), Sunitha's brother. Though the whole thing sounds like a climax sequence, it is a sequence which happens right in the 10 mins of post interval. Now Abha has to control the law and order in Bankipur where the people and the politicians/goons are with an internal war with one another and the police are forced to become mere spectators.

The premise is awesome, but is completely drained out because of a weak screenplay, which goes wandering in the oft repeated scenes of honest police offer, corrupt police officer, politicians etc., in the first half, and even when the twist happens, the movie again seems like we are watching the same lady cop versus corrupt politician saga.

Priyanka Chopra is excellent as Abha Mathur, she carries the film well, especially in the interrogation sequences and the final showdown.

It is Prakash Jha as Bholenath who actually carries the film on his shoulders, as a corrupt cop turned vigilante supporter, the role has many shades. Rahul Bhat is wasted, nothing much to discuss about him.

It is Ninad Kamat, who steals the show as Babloo Pandey, he makes the role so loathsome that you in fact cheer for the fate which awaits him.

Vega Tamotia is good as the unrelenting girl showing defiance even after being aware of the fate which awaits her. She performs ably and holds her own against Prakash Jha and Priyanka Chopra. The rest of the cast do what is expected of them, nothing to write home about .

Salim-Suleman's music is OK, not so great, just flows along with the movie.

If only the screenplay had been tighter, we would had a classic, but this where Prakash Jha falters,

Disappointing fare, but not a bad movie.

Watch it if you are a PC fan, otherwise stay put till you get to watch it on TV.

Deadpool (2016)

A super hero with a bad mouth

[7/10 · 14 February 2016]

When a Deadpool movie was first announced, it sent the fans into a frenzy but things were little pessimistic considering the content would be too mature and too ugly for a comic book super hero and a possible R rating could actually be cutting off a large section of the target audience, this resulted in a development hell for over 10 years.

Finally the reins were transferred to Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds was roped in to play the eponymous role. Deadpool was the first of its kind superhero who comes in with an inbuilt sarcasm trigger and knows how to use his superpowers both selfishly and irresponsibly. Well! You can say therein lies the charm of it all.

Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is a kind of mercenary who helps teenage girls get rid of their stalkers. He runs into Vanessa Carlysle (Moreanna Bacairn) an escort and they both hit it off instantly. They move in together and start making love as much as they can and finally year later, Wade proposes to her, which Vanessa readily accepts. Their joy is short-lived as Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chooses to break up with Vanessa as he cannot bear the thought of her being stuck with him, Vanessa refuses. Wade is soon approached by a recruiter (Jed Rees) of a top-secret private program which promises Wade to cure him of his cancer but also give him super powers as a bonus. Wade brushes of it as a joke, but then one night leaves a Sleeping Vanessa and enters the program.

The program is run by Ajax (Ed Skerin) and assisted by Angel Dust (Gina Carano) who run a series of tests on Wade bordering on gruesome tortures and finally insulted in a verbal battle Ajax reprograms things in such a way Wade's cancer is pushed to go as far as it can go triggering the mutant factor, leaving Wade with a disfigured face and strong super powers.

Faking his death, Wade goes in search of Vanessa, but comes to a conclusion with his disfigured she may not accept him, he stays clear of her.

He soon dons the red costumes names himself Deadpool based on a death guess game which his friend runs in the bar. Deadpool goes after Ajax aka Francis as the latter had once commented he has the power to change the former's face back to normal.

Meanwhile on deadpool's tracks are Collossus (Stephen Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Gina Carino) who want him to join the x- men team.

The movie is one hell of a laugh riot and a roller coaster ride of gruesome violence and curse words. Ryan Reynolds is a wow as Deadpool, and brings the character to life.

Morena Baccairn is enchanting with her trademark smile and It is Gina Carino as the teenage warhead who gives the movie's most funniest moments, her dead pan expressions are a riot.

Tom Holkenberg's music complements the movie's theme as does the crazy credit sequence in the beginning of the movie

Tim Miller has been successful in getting the comic superhero to life and at the same time should have opted for a more dangerous villain than Francis (Ajax), all in all the movie delivers what it promises.

I was just a tad disappointed because of the weak villain, but yes I would recommend it to anyone who would want their superheroes delivered a bit differently

Fitoor (2016)

Great Expectations met

[9/10 · 13 February 2016]

When Fitoor was announced as the umpteenth screen re dentition of the Charles Dickens's Novella "Great Expectations", it aroused curiosity by its impressive casting of Katrina Kaif, Aditya Roy Kapoor and Rekha (who soon bailed out and Tabu Stepped in).

The movie deals with an innocent one-sided puppy love of Noor (Aditya Roy Kapoor) towards Firdaus (Katrina Kaif) which blows out into a full fledged obsession.

The movie begins with the exact same scene as in the novel, A 10- year-old Noor is waylaid by a militant (Ajay Devgun) who bullies him to get him some food, which Noor does and in addition to it also gets some blankets for the man.

The next day, Noor along with his brother-in-law Junaid (Rayess Mohiuddin) is summoned to the mansion Anjuman in which lives a wealthy single woman Begum Hazrat (Tabu) and her adopted daughter Firdaus. Junaid is called in to fix a decaying roof and Noor tags along to assist him. Noor falls in love with Firdaus in first sight, while the object of his affection merely treats him like a domestic help.

Begum Hazrat recognizes the feelings of Noor towards her daughter and fuels them further by saying he can enter her world only by proving himself worthy of her, hinting at his present social status. Firdaus leaves for London for further studies and a love lorn Noor is left alone to grieve for his lost love and his sister who was recently killed in a bomb blast.

When Noor is an adult, he is visited by a lawyer who tells him his client is supporting him for further studies and also getting him an internship in at a curator's office. Noor is overjoyed all the while thinking the unknown benefactor could be Begum Hazrat.

Noor in Delhi meets Firdaus again, who tells him that she is engaged to Pakistani politician Bilal (Rahul Bhat), but even has a small romantic fling with him and leaves him suddenly.

Noor obsessed with her tries to find and get her back into his life at the cost of his own future.

Katrina Kaif is perfectly cast as the heart breaker Firdaus and she manages to convey a lot of things through her eyes, be it her admiration for Noor, or the appreciation for his growth, or the wonder when she looks at all the portraits of her at Noor's studio, or the realization which hits her when she realizes why Begum Hazrat is so hell bent on her getting married to Bilal.

Aditya Roy Kapoor is pretty decent and emotes well, he does get into the skin of the character and portrays the obsessed lover magnificently.

Tabu scores over everyone as the jilted Begum Hazrat who tries to make Noor the scapegoat of a personal vendetta.

Music by Amit Trivedi holds its own especially the pashmina song, which already is a chart buster. Although one must admit the actual picturization of the song (as shown in the movie) is way better than the one floating on the you tube.

Anay Goswamy has captured the scenic beauty of Kashmir, London and Agra excellently .

Though there are a few glitches, Abhishekh Kapoor has managed to get a pretty decent adaptation of the classic ably supported by a fine cast.

I would recommend it anyone who loves dark love stories, people expecting to see a DDLJ, please stay miles away from this one

Bajirao Mastani (2015)

Warrior and the women in his life

[9/10 · 24 December 2015]

If it is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, the viewer is rest assured that whatever may the storyline be, their eyes would have feast of grandeur-the sets, the costumes and of course ace performances and a stellar cast.

BAJIRAO MASTANI is no different, the movie was in development hell for over 10 years and names like Salman, Hrithik, Sharukh, as well as Kareena, Rani Mukherjee and Bhumika Chawla were associated with it and finally when it hits the screen we have Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone electrocuting the screen.

The movie starts with a disclaimer that it is actually a semi- fiction based on actual historical characters and we start realizing a quarter into the movie that cinematic liberties were used with complete freedom as there are too many coincidences in the script to make it seem a real.

The Movie is about Bajirao 1 (Ranveer Singh) and his concubine Mastani (Deepika Padukone)and their scandalous relationship.

Bajirao, who is a peshwa (position equivalent to a prime minister) under Chattrapathi Sivaji's grandson Chattrapathi Sahu (Mahesh Manjrekar has a loving wife Kashi Bai (Priyanka Chopra) and a doting mother Radhabai (Tanvi Azmi) and he is a complete family man when he is not the fierce raging warrior in the battlefield.

Mastani, the daughter of King Chattrasal of Bundelkhand (Benjamin Gilani) approaches Bajirao for help when her kingdom is attacked by the Allahahabad Pathans. Bajirao impressed by Mastani's approach agrees to help her and wins the battle for her.

King Chattrasal in gratitude bestows on Bajirao enough wealth that makes the Maratha and his men happy.

Mastani then reveals to her father that she is in love with Bajirao and follows him to Pune.

Radhabai does not like her son's relationship with a woman who is rumored to be the king's concubine's daughter and tries hard to sever it, but in vain.

The film chronicles the struggle of Bajirao with the three women in his life, his wife, his mother and his lover.

Priyanka Chopra chews up the scenery and her co-actors whenever she graces the screen. Her performance is top-notch especially the scenes with Ranveer and Deepika. The scene where she taunts Deepika just before the Pinga dance has all the characteristics of a classic.

Tanvi Azmi is perfect as Radhabai and showcases the two sides of her character, on one hand she is a caring mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law Kashi and a loving mother to her sons and on the other, a Manipulative cold blooded scheming woman who coolly plots the exit of her son's lover.

Ranveer Singh takes on the role of Bajirao with a confident air and does not falter even once. His performance as the fierce warrior and a man totally in love with his concubine and at the same time has a guilty conscience towards his wife is portrayed with complete perfection

Deepika Padukone has another feather in her already crowded cap, though her Urdu diction falters but that can be overlooked if you look at the fiery performance delivered especially in the closing chapter. She brings to life the character of a woman so blinded by love that she is willing to risk her place in the society for the man she thinks she owns.

Prakash Kapadia's dialogs remind us of the poetic/lyrical dialogs of Mughal-e-azam. Listening to the dialogs is worth the price of the ticket especially the dialogs between Kashibai and Mastani, Mastani and Radhabai and of course Bajirao's dialogs with the Deccan Nizam (Raza Murad)

Cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee is mind blowing and he has managed to capture the grandeur of the majestic sets and assists the director in unfolding a difficult tale on the celluloid.

Editing Rajesh Pandey could have been more crispier, but no complaints here too.

Direction by Sanjay Leela Bhansali is classic as he has managed to extract noteworthy performances from the junior level actors to the stars. He is also the music composer of the film ( a little let down in that department).

I would recommend it to anyone who loves watching movies with grand sets and powerful performances and yes! If you liked Mughal-e-azam, I guess you will fall in love with this one.

Dilwale (2015)

The 15 year Itch

[4/10 · 22 December 2015]

Kajol and Sharukh together in a movie always raises expectations, because this is one pair who we know will not disappoint their audience, no matter how bad the script or film is. Well Rohit Shetty ventures to prove this very thing with DILWALE, a crappy script, a stinking screenplay , and two stars desperately trying to save the movie from falling apart, and yes he does succeed to an extent.

The movie is ridden with all the clichés that you have been seeing right from the '70s and you lay back on the comfortable (not so comfortable now) seats and ask the one question which keeping popping in your head Why Sharukh why? Why Kajol why?

Getting into the story, it is about Raj Randhir Bakshi (Sharukh Khan) who owns a garage in Goa and who dotes on his younger brother Veer (Varun Dhawan). Veer falls in love with Ishita (Kriti Sanon) and Raj decides to meet Ishita's elder sister to get the wedding going. Turns out the lady in question is Meera Dev Malik (Kajol) who says no to the wedding as she and Raj where lovers in the past and belonged to rival gang families and she believes that Kali (Sharukh Khan), as Raj was called then was behind her Father's (Kabir Bedi)'s death.

The young lovers now decide to get the elderly lovers together so that their marriage can go ahead without any problem. Kajol is excellent as Meera, and she excels more as the bad girl then as the love lorn spinster. She gives a wow performance in the scene where she reveals her true identity, would have been a lot more interesting if Rohit Shetty had worked on the Bad girl angle.

Sharukh is well Sharukh all the way, trying to raise above a mundane script, but gives his 100% to the role, the scene where he goes on the 5 minute date has flashes of the old Sharukh we knew and loved.

Varun Dhawan looks as if he is trying to fit into the vacant slot left by Govinda, he is loud, and hams through the movie.

Kriti Sanon tries to act, and joins Rohit Shetty in a losing battle.

The other saving grace is Johnny Lever, with his weird South Indian Accent, manages to get you laughing every time he appears on the screen.

Vinod Khanna and Kabir Bedi are just glorified extras. By the time you realize whether Boman Irani is a comedian, or a Villain, you are on your way home

Cinematography by Dudley is excellent especially for the song "Gerua" and the Bulgaria Episode.

Pritam's music is OK, not a chart buster which you would expect from a Kajol-Sharukh starer.

Screenplay and Direction by Rohit Shetty is nothing but like a child's scrap book where he has collected scenes from all the movies produced from the late 70's till date and glued them together.

Watch it for Sharukh and Kajol-at least the pair is worth the ticket.

Size Zero (2015)

A Weighty Film

[8/10 · 6 December 2015]

There was a time, especially in south India when heroine oriented films meant a long suffering heroine shedding oceans of tears, praying to countless gods to end her misery and finally alls well and ends well. Thanks to new age heroines and new age directors, this concept of debauched heroine oriented films have come to an end, and given rise to a new era of heroine oriented films where the heroine picks a cause and fights a relentless battle against it.

SIZE ZERO is one such movie which fights against a very dangerous business concept which has weeded itself and spreading its tentacles. The message is told in clear manner and hits it mark as the whole conceptualization is in a light hearted manner with a flawless performance by Anushka Shetty.

Soundarya aka Sweety (Anushka Shetty) is an obese female obsessed with weighing machines and fortune cookies. She is friends with her colleague Jyothi (Pavani Gangireddy) who is preparing for a miss India contest and enrolls herself in a weight loss clinic run by Satyanand (Prakash Raj). Jyothi often advises Sweety to enroll too, but Sweety does not believe in unnatural methods of losing weight. Sweety's mother (Urvashi) is off the rocker as her daughter is not getting married as all her matches go down the drain because of her weight.

Sweety has a crush on Abhishekh (Arya) a documentary film maker who is a fitness freak and as luck would have it, Abhishekh is already going steady with Simran (Sonal Chauhan) a drop dead gorgeous NRI. Shattered by this revelation, Sweety comes to the conclusion, that her romance failed because of her weight and enrolls herself into the weight loss clinic.

Disasaster strikes, when Jyothi collapses during a routine weight loss exercise and is diagnosed with liver damage, a direct result of the illegal weight loss drugs administered by the clinic. Sweety decides to take upon the clinic and bring it down and helping her is a rich business man Shekhar (Adivi Sesh) who is besotted by her.

The movie totally belongs to Anushka, who has put on oodles of weight for this role and her comic timing is perfect. She is good in the comic as well as the emotional scenes.

Arya is decent as the documentary filmmaker confused between his love of simran and friendship with Sweety. He holds his own even in scenes where Anushka is the obvious showstopper.

Prakash Raj hams his way through as usual, it is getting boring to watch him with the same expressions over and over again.

Sonal Chauhan's role is as skimpy as her outfits and manages to give us a guessing game as to what her expressions actually mean, she has the same expression when oozing oomph, when she is sad, and when she is happy.

Screenplay by Kanika Dhillon is excellent, the comic sequences are well timed into the narrative and scenes free flow.

We can forgive Prakash Kovalemudi for Anaganaga O Dheerudu,and thank him for giving us a movie like SIZE ZERO. The direction is perfect and though he relied on some unnecessary scenes involving Ali and a Little over the top item dance by an overweight Anushka Shetty, the movie is entertaining enough for the whole family barring one or two naughty dialogs by the lead actress.

I would recommend it to anyone looking for a different fare and also have a hearty laugh at the same time.

Hate Story 3 (2015)

Indecent proposals

[6/10 · 5 December 2015]

Erotic thrillers have been huge money-spinners worldwide, but it was not until Vishesh films took the first step and started making films like "Fareb" & "KASOOR" that bollywood jumped into the bandwagon.

The "Hate Story" series is one successful franchise and a new film coming from it would arouse among other things our curiosity and with a loads of help from the no holds barred teasers and trailers.

HATE STORY 3 comparatively is the best of the lot in the franchise, if you ignore the bad acting and the poker faces. The girls show lot of skin, but cannot act to save their lives ditto with the guys. But it is the screenplay with its twists and turns which holds your attention that you are willing to forgive everything else even the fizzled out climax.

Aditya Diwan (Sharman Joshi) a successful Industrialist happily married to his late brother Vikram Diwan (Priyanshu Chatterjee)'s ex Siya (Zarine Khan) is jolted out of his idyllic life when Saurav Singhania (Karan Singh Grover) a multi billionaire barges into his life offering his friendship to the couple. Things go well till Saurav asks Aditya to let him sleep with Siya for a huge financial benefit to the latter. Aditya walks out on Saurav.

Saurav meticulously plans Aditya's financial ruin, and extends the proposal to Siya. An enraged Aditya plants his secretary Kaya (Daisy Irani) in Saurav's domain. Saurav and Kaya get tangled physically and Kaya feeds information related to Saurav's business to Aditya and also a deadly secret related to Aditya's past connected to Saurav which could pretty well be the driving force of Saurav's vengeance.

Armed with such information, Aditya is all set to ruin Saurav when the latter turns the tables on him and Aditya ends up in prison. Saurav renews his indecent proposal to Siya who agrees to sleep with him in exchange for her husband's acquittal.

The task completed, Siya learns a deadly secret of Saurav and she realizes he is not what he claims to be and………

Alas, if only the film makers had chosen people who could actually act, the film would have been a masterpiece in the erotic thriller genre.

Sharman Joshi is OK when it comes to scenes where he is required to stand and do nothing, but when he is supposed to mouth his lines that when the hamming starts.

Zarine Khan is ready to strip at the drop of a hat, but struggles when it comes to emotions.

Daisy Shah is pathetic both in the erotic as well as the emoting department.

It is Karan Singh Grover who puts up a great act, there are moments when he gets so deep into the skin of the character he radiates an aura of danger in the scenes where his true character is revealed.

Screenplay by Vikram Bhatt is clever and holds our attention, even minus the erotica, the movie would still make a good thriller. The only sad part is they should have concentrated more on the ending, tying the loose ends is just not enough, when they are not done satisfactorily.

Music by Amaal malik is good, especially with songs like "Tumhe Apne banane ki" and "love to hate u".

The movie has high production values and the direction is decent, Vishal Pandya succeeds in making this the best entry in the series. Hope he concentrates a bit more in casting in the next installment.

I would recommend it to anyone who are fond of thrillers.

Tamasha (2015)

What Happens in Corsica, should not stay in Corsica

[8/10 · 2 December 2015]

An Imitaz Ali film always raises expectations as this is one director who has never gone wrong with his sensitive portrayal of love on the silver screen. He does not disappoint us with TAMASHA either.

On the surface it might appear as just another love story but in fact is a psychological journey into the protagonist's mind and exploring his psyche. Not many filmmakers would have dared to venture to try something out like this, but kudos to Imitaz Ali for exploring the side untalked about.

Tara Maheshwari (Deepika Padukone) is a huge Asterix comics fan, her favorite being "Asterix in Corsica". She is such a huge fan, she decides to visit Corsica at the first opportunity she gets. In Corsica, she loses her purse which contains her passport and all things dear to a girl on a foreign trip. In drops, as stranger offering her help, who convinces her for a role play (not the sexual kind), He says they would just be fictional characters for a week and then go on their own way. He introduces himself as DON (Ranbir Kapoor) and she chirply plays along calling herself Mona Darling. Tara discovers Don to be very free spirited and on the verge of madness, he springs surprise upon surprise on her and takes her on a roller coaster ride of fun which slowly makes her fall for him. They part as agreed without revealing their addresses or their true identity.

Four years later, Tara decides to go looking for Don, her only clue a lending library in Delhi whose book Don happened to be carrying with him in Corsica.

She runs into him after a week of going to the library on a daily basis and he is glad to see her and introduces himself as Ved Vardhan Sahni, a product manager in some company.

Tara and Ved start dating and it is here that she discovers that Ved is nothing like the Don, she met in Corsica, but is in fact a boring individual with a 9 to 5 job. She breaks up with him.

The break-up has a weird effect on Ved and he starts falling apart and how he deals with it and how it affects the people around him is what is told beautifully by Imitiaz Ali.

Cinematography by Ravi Verman is excellent and covers the beautiful landscape of Corsica in all its glory and at the same time effectively scans the dark dim lit streets where Ved finds solace after the break-up.

AR Rehman's music is on the mark and especially "Matargashti" and "wat wat wat". Music is used here to actually carry the story forward instead of being a break, which is highly appreciative.

Deepika Padukone is amazing as Tara, the varied emotions she portrays, as the girl in love, blushing and the disappointment when she realizes that Ved is not the same guy she fell in love with, and the guilt complex when she discovers what the breakup has done to him.

Watch out for her in the opening sequences, when she plays a clown. Talent at unabashed display here.

Ranbir Kapoor as usual is excellent, both as Don and Ved, the transformation is fantastic and the way he handles the character is too good, especially the scene where he narrates a story to his father (Jawed Sheikh).

Imitaz Ali has come up with a prose of a film which is poetic in its approach, most people may find the second half boring, but when you sit through the film and watch it not as a love story but as a story of an individual who has bid goodbye to his dreams to join the bandwagon of what the society brands as successful people, then it would all make sense.

I would recommend it to each and everyone.

Spectre (I) (2015)

Unbonded

[6/10 · 20 November 2015]

There was a time when a release of Bond movie was considered an international spectacle and a celebration at the auditoriums and they all lived up to the promise. The world started embracing Bond mainly because of the witty one lines (made famous by Roger Moore and carried forward by Pierce Brosnan), the girls, the gadgets and the fact that Bond lacked emotions when it comes to more humane things. The reboot made James Bond human, which could have worked if only there were better scripts, lot less darker and the choice of Daniel Craig was not really welcomed by the Bond fans.

SPECTRE makes it worse, but surprisingly with a good prologue in line with the tradition of bond films and also some high octane chases, it falls flat the moment it starts taking a course into Bond's past.

James Bond (Daniel Craig) returns from Mexico after blowing up a block during the celebrations of "day of the dead". In Bond's defense, he states that he did it to prevent the blowing up of stadium which could have caused more casualties. But in fact, Bond was following a cryptic message from his former chief M (Judi Dench) to assassinate Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremano), who he finds out is a member of a dreaded organization called Spectre and before pushing him off a helicopter, Bond manages to get his ring.

Bond is grounded by the M (Ralph fiennes) who has problems of his own when C (Andrew Scott), a member of the British Government is planning a merger of MI5 and MI6, which would obliterate the 00 division.

Bond manages to elude the MI6 radars with the help of Q (Ben Wishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) and makes it to Italy to attend Sciarra's funeral. He saves Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), his widow from a murder attempt, seduces her and gets information about Spectre's rendezvous.

At Spectre, Bond is outwitted by Oberhauser aka Ernst Stavro Blofield, the leader (Christoph Waltz) who recognizes Bond and Bond manages to escape while eluding a spectre assassin Hinx (Dave Bautista).

With Q's help, Bond discovers that Oberhauser who was presumed dead is now alive (which can be proved) and his search leads to Mr. White (Jesper Christensen)

White is dying of thallium poisoning, but strikes a deal with Bond to bring down spectre if he would protect his daughter Madeline Swan (Lea Seydoux). White kills himself the moment Bond gives his word.

Daniel Craig as Bond is not as witty or agile as either Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan (which is understood right from Casino Royale), but when we take into account that he is just an actor playing just another role, than his performance is quite extraordinary, emotion-wise, but then Bond is just not another role.

Lea Seydoux is perfect as a bond girl, knows how to handle guns, give a seductive smile, look dangerous and turn romantic at the drop of a hat.

Christoph Waltz as Blofield is cool, but then Donald Pleasance was cooler, but taking the reboot into consideration, it must be said he is one of the cooler actors to play the villain.

Naomi Harris steals the show a money penny both witty and clever, the scene when she has a man over at her place but ignores him to help Bond is one of her best performances in the series.

Monica Belucci is a disappointment.

Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is what bring the movie to life, excellent capture of the locations be it the festivities at Mexico, the high octane chase sequences, it's as though the camera fell in love with the script.

Music by Thomas Newman is good and on par with bond traditions.

It is high time Sam Mendes stopped treating Bond Movies as Oscar Material and start working in the tradition which made the movies closer to the audience in the first place. But yes credit should be given for the handling of the action sequences and trying to get the old bond feel to this one. Hope he manages to get it right the next time around…

The welcome thing is the return of the gun barrel sequence.

I would give it on 2.5 on 5 and I would recommend watching it only if you are a James bond fan and do not want to miss any movie in the series no matter how bad it is.

Kanche (2015)

Of Love Sacrifice and Hope

[6/10 · 28 October 2015]

A young Indian fighting for the British against the Germans on a suicidal mission to rescue a bunch of POWS.

A German who marries a Jew and fathers a child and is on the run as the Germans want to kill the child as Himmler believes the German tainted their race.

A Young Indian woman who breaks all barriers and falls in love with a lower caste youth and is suddenly hurled into a battle between her brother and her lover .

A commander who comes face to face with his arch rival from back home and is witness to the ultimate sacrifice. A bunch of British and Indian soldiers who decide to take a group of Jews to a safer land away from the Germans.

An Italian farm girl who sheds her modesty to protect a group of soldiers who she believes might get her people the freedom they crave for.

KAANCHE (Fence) brings all these interesting characters and weaves a superb connection between all of them and spins a fantastic tale of love, sacrifice and hope.

The tragic love story is set in the pre-independence era and meanders till the aftermath of Mussolini's death during the second world war.

Doopati Hari Babu (Varun Tej) is a solidier in the British army fighting the Germans in Italy soon after Mussolini's death. His story unfolds through his letters to his wife Seethamma Devi (Pragya Jaiswal) who we are led to believe is back home waiting for him. Hari comes face to face with his new commanding officer Colonel Eshwar Prasad (Nikitin Dheer) who also happens to be Seetha's brother. We soon realize that there is no love lost between both the guys.

We are taken on a time ride back to 1934, where seetha meets Hari for the first time in a restaurant where he is working part time as a waiter. She is bowled by his poetic talent and nicknames him Shakespeare, only to realize that they both are from the same village and also study at the same college.

Love blossoms between them even though she is the daughter of a zamindar and he from the lowly tribe of barbers. Seetha is confident that her brother Eshwar would approve the match, but she is in for a shock as Eshwar disapproves it and both the lovers get married defying everyone.

Back to 1944, where the British troops are ambushed by the Germans and Eshwar along with a bunch of officers are taken as POWS. Hari and his friend Dasu (Avasarala Sreenivas) manage to stay hidden and plan a rescue mission.

The rescuers are saddled with a group of Jews who seek their help in getting to the border.

Kaanche offers this and much more to the hungry tollywood audience, a movie of this canvas and period setting is totally unheard of here, but Krish manages to tell a fine tragic love story set in the period of world war II with lot of care to the costumes, the trains of the era, the armored cars, planes and even the pathways.

There were instances when cinematic liberty took over, but all in all, it could be forgiven on the strength of the rest of the film. Poignant scenes such as the Italian girl getting undressed to show the Germans that she is all alone in the washroom and Das's lines immediately are an ode to womanhood.

The German officer mercilessly shooting all the unarmed British soldiers and also civilians paints a horrifying picture of the war.

The lines between Radha and Hari are romantic and it is a pity that the love story was not given enough screen space to grow.

Varun Tej as Hari is impressive especially in the pre climax scenes and also scenes where he opposes the caste system.

Avasarala Srinivas manages to evoke laughter and at the same time is equally good in the emotional scenes.

Nikitin Dheer as Eshwar does justice to the role.

Pragya Jaiswal is the only loose end in the movie, bad acting reduces her character to a caricature as most of her emotional lines turn into unintentional funny lines. A woman with that figure is unheard of in 1930's in this side of the world, Krissh should have cast someone from the south as it would have made a good impact.

Sowcar Janaki, and Gollapudi Maruti Rao excel in the climax scenes, proves that given the right roles veterans can still steal thunder from under their younger counterparts.

Dialogues by Sai Madhavi Burra are what drove the movie forward, the difference between love and like, the role of a woman in the Indian household, the common factor between all the women in the world are explained quite beautifully in the form of simple dialogues.

Cinematography by Gnanasekhar is excellent and gives the movie a Hollywood feel, especially the battle scenes.

Direction by Krish is top notch, though there were instances where the movie lagged, but the subject and the period setting he chose made the movie a winner. A special mention for the beautifully staged battle scenes, actually give you the impression of watching Hollywood War Classics, proves the fact that given the right budget and proper screenplay and good actors, Tollywood could come up with world class movies………………………………………………….only if they could just try.

I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a different fare from tollywood

Bruce Lee - The Fighter (2015)

Undercover Stuntman

[3/10 · 18 October 2015]

An IB chief who handovers an important mission concerning national security (or so as he believes) to an ordinary stuntman who is in love with is daughter.

A dumb heroine who does not even get to put 2 and 2 together even though her boyfriend on numerous occasions says things, like shooting, lights, director, stuntmen, bathas and still believes he is a policeman and not a stuntman and at every impromptu occasions wears dresses made of ribbons and breaks into a song with him.

A Villain who organizes a mass killing in a restaurant and blames it on Al-qaida just to silence two people.

A IB officer who goes to Afghanistan on an undercover mission and sets up a barber shop there and still the IB manages to have him in the department.

A hero who has nothing to do with Bruce lee except a tattoo of him on his hand and still prefers people calling him Bruce Lee.

The above is a list of characters of the tollywood flick "BRUCELEE- THE FIGHTER". I guess this would be enough to make a judgment on how the filmmakers take the intelligence of the audience for granted. Coming to the story (if you can call it that) Karthik is an intelligent student as a kid who sacrifices his education so that his elder sister Kavya (Kriti Kharbanda) can get to study and become an IAS officer. His father Ramchander Rao (Rao Ramesh) has enough financial capacity to educate only one of the kids. Karthik becomes a stuntman and for some whacko reason people call him Bruce Lee.

Enters a dumb girl Riya(Rakul Preet Singh) who wants to get married only to a police officer and seeing Karthik in a police costume beating a goon mistakes him for the real one and designs a computer game on him as the lead character (?????).

Karthik and Riya fall in love. Riya on numerous occasions manages to pull Karthik into situations where he has to behave as a police officer and actually fight hardcore criminals.

On one of his escapades, Karthik sends a notorious gang leader Deepak Raj (Arun Vijay) into a coma and his father Jayaraj (Sampath Raj) screams vengeance.

Now Jayaraj is legally wedded to Vasundhara (Nadia) whose son is getting married to Kavya and Deepak is his secret legal wife (???) Malini (Tisca Chopra)'s son.

When Karthik learns about Jayaraj's double life, he decides to play a trick like all Sreenu Vaitla's heroes and lands up in his house and using IB officer Suzuki Subramanyam (Brahmandam) as a scapegoat manages to uncover his evil deeds to Vasundhara.

Phew! That's what the movie has to offer people, if this is one side of it, the other thing which actually makes us laugh out loud is the reason why Chiranjeevi makes an appearance in this flick. Comeon people! You don't rescue a girl and then leave her in the villain's hideout while you go horse-riding with your pal, that's exactly what Ramcharan and Chiranjeevi do.

The one positive factor of the movie are the dances, Ramcharan is a good dancer and it would have worked better if they had named the movie "micheal Jackson" or "Prabhudeva" or "birju Maharaj" instead of Bruce Lee. The guy has a single expression throughout the movie, be it love, anger or ecstasy.

Rakul Preet Singh cannot act to save her life. The less said about her the better.

Kriti Kharbanda has nothing much to do except cry, run and hug her brother in every scene she is in.

Sampath Raj is good as the suave villain who leads a double life, if only his character had been worked on a little more, we would had a real dark villain, but alas!

Music by Thaman is average and not a single song is worth remembering.

Srinu Vaitla's direction is pathetic, he only uses his own movie making template which he has been using for a decade and every movie of his is the same.

His proclamation is loud and clear "no matter what, I will not change. I will continue making the same story with different lead actors".

I would give it 3 on 10, just for the well choreographed dance sequences, would I recommend this to anyone? Please embrace the plague but not this movie

Rudhramadevi (2015)

The Fable of a Warrior Queen

[7/10 · 12 October 2015]

When A heroine oriented historical epic is announced in an otherwise sexist industry like Tollywood, all heads were bound to turn, and the only question was would Gunasekhar (the director) be able to pull off such a spectacle while the audience were still swooning over Bahubali. The answer is Yes, he did manage to pull it off with an excellent casting and a water tight screenplay making RUDRAMADEVI, one of the best heroine oriented movies to be filmed down south.

The advantage Gunasekhar had was that very little is known about this warrior queen apart from the fact that she was a great ruler, fighter and brought out innovative methods of agriculture and is also considered to be the pioneer of the rain water harvesting system we have today. This gave the director enough material and also a good cinematic liberty to weave a fantastic tale of epic proportions.

King Ganapathi Deva (KrishnamRaju) is faced with a difficult situation when is wife goes into labor. Those were the days when females where not expected to be heirs to the throne and enemies of the empire were waiting eagerly for the news of the newborn. People pray to the gods that the new born child should be a male and the enemies hope that it should be a female so that they can wage a war against a kingdom without a heir.

As luck would have it, a female child is born and on the advice of the wise minister Siva Devaih (Prakash Raj) announces that a male child is born and brings the child as a male child naming her Rudradeva.

Rudradeva becomes aware of her sexuality when she attains puberty but chooses to remain a male child to protect the kingdom. Moogambika (Nithya Menon) falls in love with Rudradeva (Anushka Shetty) and the emperor announces a marriage to lay any doubts to rest about his daughter's secret.

Rudradeva on one hand has to deal with outside enemies like Mahadeva Nayakudu (Vikramjeet Virk) as well as her cousins (suman and Anoop Menon) lusting after the throne. To make matters worse a new nemesis approaches in the form of her childhood friend Gona Gana Reddy (Allu Arjun) a dethroned prince turned robin-hood craving for the royal blood as he feels the emperor is directly responsible for siding with his father's killers.

To make matters worse Chalukya Veerabhadra, (Rana Daggupati) Rudradeva's best friend and brother in arms, chances to see Rudradeva in her feminine form and falls in love with her.

Soon things take a turn when the royal secrets are brought out of the closet all at a time and all hell breaks loose.

Anushka Shetty is at her best, be it as the sword yielding disguised prince or as the ravishing princess. Her performance is top notch especially in the battle scenes..

Allu Arjun as Gona Ganna Reddy chews the scenery and he manages to shift the attention from Anushka to himself in all the scenes he is present. The telangana dialect plus his poker faced approach to the role make it one of the best roles he has ever played.

Rana Daggupati holds his own among the ensemble cast, but he has very little to do what with Anushka and Allu Arjun hogging most of the limelight.

The surprise package is Prakash Raj as Shiva Deviah, with a very subdued performance but hitting the mark whenever necessary.

Nithya Menon is at her comic and emotional best, especially during the pre-nuptial scenes and the scene where she discovers her "husband"'s secret.

Background score of Ilyaraja takes the movie to all new level and often reminds us of the score of Hollywood greats like BenHur and Ten Commandments. The less said about the songs the better.

Voice over by Chirranjeevi lends the special touch and propels the movie forward.

Ajayan Vincent's cinematography is what makes this movie a cinematic wonder, the visuals are so good, and the actresses are captured in all their glory.

The biggest letdown are the visual effects which are like as if they have been borrowed from a bad sci-fi channel movie, but the performance of the cast, lets us forgive the herculean blunder.

Screenplay and Direction by Guna Sekhar are excellent, trying to make a movie on queen revered as a goddess in most parts of telangana is very risky effort especially when themes like sexuality, and same sex marriage are involved and at the same time making it reach out to a family audience. Kudos to the filmmaker for achieving the impossible and forgiving him for the dumb visual effects, we just need to give him a pat on the back for braving all odds to make and bring a Heroine Oriented war Epic.

I would recommend it to anyone looking out for a different fare in tollywood.

Phantom (I) (2015)

A Tit for Tat of a story

[9/10 · 30 August 2015]

When we hear about an espionage film made in India, our thoughts go back to the jeetendra era where we had the Desi bond fight international smugglers and the sunny deol starrer Keemat and we are still trying to wash off the bad taste we had in our mouth watching these films. Yes! Baby did change the concept of espionage films in India but then PHANTOM takes it to all new level. The movie begins with an elaborate disclaimer and gives us a hint of what is in store for us in the coming few reels. Then it cuts to a prologue which explains to us in detail about the 26/11 Mumbai attack then moves to London where a road rage claims the life of a car driver and the accused (Saif Ali Khan) is sentenced and sent to prison for 35 years. We go back 6 months earlier when a rookie RAW agent comes upon a plan to avenge the Mumbai attack and convinces the RAW chief (Sabyasachi Chakraborthy) to go along with it without government approval. They bring in a court-Marshalled Army Deserter Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) who is persuaded to go on a mission and assassinate all the master minds involved in the attacks and in return he will be reinstated back into the army with full honor. Daniyal is assisted by a RAW informer Nawaz Misty (Katrina Kaif) in tracking down the people involved and assassinating them. A goof-up happens when during a mission in Syria and Daniyal is identified and RAW refuses to acknowledge him but orders him to abort the mission. On Nawaz's insistence, Daniyal turns rogue and enters Pakistan to eliminate the other masterminds. The movie is crisp and does not waste time with inane subplots and takes the viewer on a ride through conspiracy theories, government plots, and innocent initiations. All through it, the film manages to hold the viewer's attention without confusing them. Saif Ali khan puts in a decent performance as Daniyal Khan and is get in most of the action sequences. The wooden face approach suits his character as he is supposed to be an agent lacking emotions. The scene where he tries to prevent an old man and a kid from an eminent death brings out the actor in him as does the pre-climax scene when he tries to assassinate the mastermind in packed meeting ground. Katrina Kaif springs a surprise with a controlled performance and she too like Saif works with a wooden approach suitable for an remorseless spy. The scene where she talks about her tea with her father and sisters brings out an hitherto unnoticed good actor in her as well as the scene where she sits in front of the taj with a cup of tea in the end and thinking was done so brilliantly that we actually understand whats going in her mind. There were lot of scenes where she managed to get her thoughts across to the audience without any dialogues. Sabyasachi Chakraborthy as the RAW chief also gives a controlled performance and is excellent in whatever little screen time he had.

Cinematography by Aseem Mishra is excellent and manages to capture the beginning chase sequence and the Syria episode in all its glory. Background Music by Julius Packiam is excellent and does it bit in contributing to the thrilling ride. Kabir Khan's direction is top- notch and hits the bulls eye. He manages to bring forth to the screen a complicated and controversial story line with a clear approach in a manner in which even a layman would be able to understand it.

I would recommend to anyone who takes their cinema seriously

Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)

an Offbeat Salman

[9/10 · 18 July 2015]

What do you expect from a Salman Khan Movie? A movie with no script, the lead actor behaving as if he is doing us a favor by being in the movie, an item song which is modeled after every household item you could hold on to? Well! BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN will totally disappoint you if you are one of those hardcore bhai fans who walk into the auditorium screening this one, expecting to see all the above mentioned. This by far is the best movie Salman Khan has done in his entire career of 26 years and lets hope this is just the beginning.

What works so well for the movie is that Salman Khan graciously sidesteps to give his little co-star Harshalli Malhotra center stage and lets her walk away with all the glory. He even steers clear of his regular heroism and lets himself get beaten up a couple of times in the movie which must have caused quite a fit among his fans.

Coming to the story, it revolves around Shahida (Harshali Malhotra) who comes to visit Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah along with her mother from Pakistan, so that her mother could pray that her daughter becomes normal. Whats wrong with her? Well! Shahida cannot speak. On the way back to Pakistan, Shahida gets separated from her mother and ends up wandering in Kurukshetra, and latches on to simpleton loser Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi aka Bajrangi (Salman Khan). Pavan is in love with Rasika (Kareena Kapoor) whose father (Sharat Saxena) puts a condition that Pavan should first make something out of himself and also get a decent house and only than would he allow him to get married to his daughter.

Things take a turn, when Pavan comes home with Shahida who he mistakes for a lost Brahmin girl. Rasika takes a liking to the girl and tries to support Pavan in getting her back to her parents. In a quick turn of events, The whole family discovers that Shahida is a Pakistani, and a Muslim and also a non-vegetarian, and Rasika's father orders Pavan to get the kid on the next train to Pakistan.

With things getting worse at the embassy, Pavan enters Pakistan illegally and befriends Chand Nawab (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) a reporter who helps him in trying to get the girl back to her home. All the while the Pakistan army is looking for Pavan as they think he is a spy........

Salman Khan gives his 100% to his role as simpleton Pavan, you immediately start liking him right from the moment he appears on screen. This is the first time you actually get to see a character and not Salman Khan on screen. Full marks for Director Kabir Khan for achieving the impossible.

Harshali Malhotra is the real star of the movie and like Pavan takes over the audience with her innocent looks and cute smile. She really scores in scenes where she makes faces when ever Pavan lands both of them in trouble because of his truth addiction and she completely takes over an emotional scene as well. All the while, without even speaking a single syllable.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui keeps you in splits with his role as Chand Nawab, the bumbling Pakistani Reporter with a heart of gold. Scenes where he and Salman Khan act as a couple (salman all decked in a burkha) are hilarious with Nawazuddin bagging the best one liners ever.

Kareena Kapoor proves once again that she is a versatile actress, no matter what the screen time is, she does make her presence felt. She excels in two of the best scenes in the movie, one where she reprimands Pavan over his staunch Hindu Brahmin beliefs which prevent him from entering a mosque to look for Shahida and a scene where she takes on her father threatening to go to Pakistan to look for Pavan.

The movie gets rid of traditional stereotypes and gives the audience a new perspective/vision of Pakistan, where we are shown people who are good, helpful and completely human. The scene where a Moulvi (Om Puri) who runs a Madrasa bids farewell to Pavan with Jai Shree Ram, as Pavan a Hindu Brahmin cannot bring himself to say Khuda Hafiz. And an exact opposite of the scene where in the climax Pavan turns and does a salaam to Pakistan would be taken as classic examples of bridging gaps between two countries/religions.

Story by Vijendra Prasad gives enough scope for people to understand that people on either side of the border are human too and are no different from one another.

Screenplay by Kabir Khan moves forward mostly in the lighter vein, scenes where Pavan and Rasika discover that Shahida is a non-vegetarian, scenes where Pavan calls Rasika as Behenji for first 30 minutes in the movie and Pavan's truth addiction all add up to a wholesome entertainment.

Kabir Khan's direction is top notch and he does have a winner on his hands. Taking a very serious message and sugarcoating it for an orthodox audience is one hell of a feat.

Yes, I would recommend this movie to everyone irrespective of whether you are a salman khan fan or not and yes I would give it 4.5 rating (the first for any Salman film)

Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)

All Hype No Heart

[5/10 · 14 July 2015]

When it is announced that tollywood is embarking on a first of its kind visual "epic", curiosity rose to the skies, the budget (250 crores), the stellar cast and the technicians all brought goose pimples to tollywood audience, especially when it was announced that the story was so mammoth it needed two parts to tell it. While we walk into the multiplex screening this mammoth spectacle of epic proportions, we prepare ourselves for a visual grandeur of a la Cleopatra, ten commandments, Spartacus or even Ben-hur, but sadly that was not to be, and "BAHUBALI" does disappoint on lot of areas, primarily the screenplay and the story.

The movie begins with queen mother Sivagami (Ramyakrishna) trying to save an infant from some soldiers and dies just after handing over the baby to a tribal queen Sanga (Rohini). Rohini christens the boy as Sivudu (Prabhas), who actually develops an infatuation over a mountain peak and wants to see what lies beyond it.

One day he succeeds in his mission and goes over the peak and runs into a rebel Avanthika (Tamannah Bhatia) and falls for her. Avanthika is on a rescue mission to save a certain Devasena (Anushka Shetty) who was imprisoned by the cruel king Balala Deva (Daguppati Rana) for more than 25 years. Devasena is waiting anxiously for her son to come and rescue her, though repeated requests from her loyalist Kattappa (Sathyaraj) to free her fell on deaf ears.

Sivudu, takes over the mission from Avanthika and enters the kingdom of Mahishmathi to rescue Devasena. He succeeds in rescuing her and also killing the crown prince. Out in the wilderness, he learns the truth about his father Bahubali (prabhas again) and how he was treacherously killed by none other than..........................

Sure, the movie was mounted on a mammoth scale, but what was lacking was a proper storyline. I know fans of the actors would argue that the real story is in the part II and this was just giving us a taste of what was to come. Well! I still say that they should have done a better job at giving us a good taste. The battle scene (only one) was neatly choreographed by Peter Heins and yes it does bring to memory lot of Hollywood epic battle scenes most notably 300 and Troy.

Anushka Shetty was breathtakingly horrific as Devasena, her eyes spewing venom and the prosthetic makeup on her was natural and radiated a kind of zombiesque look, but it was magnificent.

Tamannah Bhatia was the surprise package, she looked glamorous in the strip battle scene ( a format borrowed heavily from Zorro series starring Catherina Zeta Jones and Antonio Banderas) and was chilling as the blood thirsty rebel hacking and chopping her way in her actual introduction sequence.

The movie belongs to RamyaKrishna who takes charge as Sivagami and radiates an immense presence even in scenes where she is not to be seen. Her performance when she cuts the throat of a traitor and immediately goes back to singing a lullaby to her baby was chillingly horrific.

Prabhas disappoints big time, what was he thinking using the same bhimavaram accent and the hairstyle, they should have at least done something about these two. He does appear confused with both the roles, maybe we get to see some performance in the second part.

Rana too dashes hopes, he is not so menacing as the publicity designs make him to be. He is just a sorry mess of Duryodhana and Rameses, the Egyptian pharaoh.

Sathyaraj's character reminds you too much of Bheeshma from Mahabharata, a person who knows his king is wrong, but what the hell, he has sworn allegiance and he is to stand by the king.

Music by Keeravani is forgettable, you don't remember any of the songs except the "pachhabottu" song, even that because of Tamannah's strip act.

KK Senthil Kumar's cinematography is a wow, he has managed to capture every single thing the way it was meant to be. The battle scenes were beautifully covered, so was Sivudu's mission impossible mountain hike as well as the palace grandeur.

End of the day, it only looks like SS Rajamouli has bitten more than he can chew this time. But yes he does deserve a pat on the back for even thinking of mounting a movie on such a scale, if only he had concentrated on the story as well, we would have had a epic adventure on our hands.

Terminator Genisys (2015)

old but not obsolete

[8/10 · 4 July 2015]

What would be on your mind when you walk into a cinema showing a film of a movie franchise, whose mythology you know like the back of your hand? For starters you think you know everything about every character-the heroes, the villains, and the situations they are put in. The first 10 Min's of TERMINATOR GENISYS puts you at ease with yourself and you think you know what could be in store for you. You start predicting the movie, then the next 5 minutes shocks you into thinking you are actually watching a reboot of the franchise, but then the next 5 minutes makes you stand up and clap for you are actually seeing something which you never expected from a movie franchise which you thought was too predictable!!

Discussing the storyline would lead to a lot of spoilers and would ruin the fun for most of you. But locking the surprise as best I can, I will try and discuss the storyline.

The movie takes place in a world which is taken over by SKYNET (Artificial intelligence program) and the war is in full swing between SKYNET and a human resistance group headed John Connor (Jason Clarke). The resistance wins the war, but SKYNET in a last attempt to save itself sends a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to 1984 to kill John Connor's Mother Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke)

Connor discovers the time machine and realizes what happened and decides to send someone back to save his mother. His good friend and soldier Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) volunteers.

In 1984, we witness several scenes which are an exact replica of the first movie and the twist comes when the Terminator is killed by the Terminator from the T-2 movie (Arnold Schwarzenegger again) assisted by an unknown sniper.

Kyle arrives similar to the first movie, but the twist here the cop who comes to arrest him is actually the T-1000 (Lee Byung Hun) and who proceeds to terminate him. Kyle is saved by Sarah Connor who to his surprise is teamed up with the T-2 who she calls Pops.

Kyle realizes that someone somehow changed an entire time-line and Sarah Connor is not the weakling waitress who he thought she would be.

The trio destroy T-1000 and decide to go to 1997 (using a time machine which pops had created) and destroy Genesis, a program which would later be known as sky-net. A quick calculation by Kyle with regard to the changed time-line-it is decided to go to 2017. Since Pops was injured in the battle with T-1000, he decides to stay back since his exposed metal would not allow him to time travel. He promises to wait for them in 2017 with clothes when they land (since time travelers are required to travel naked).

Kyle and Sarah land in 2017 and pops gets delayed in traffic and the naked duo get arrested by the cops. And it gets even better when John Connor makes an appearance at the police station and springs them free........

Arnold Schwarznegger is back as the terminator and he really proves no one can do it better than him. Though he appears jaded in some scenes on the whole he ensures he is old but not obsolete. The stiff laugh, the crazy one liners, the weird talk, all these are back to remind us of what we used to love about this role.

Emilia Clarke as the Iconic Sarah Connor (a role immortalized by Linda Hamilton) is good especially in the action sequences

Jai Courtney does his best as Kyle Reese (a role which made Micheal Biehn a household name) and his interactions and arguments with Schwarzenegger are the best in the movie. He is good in the action parts, but is overshadowed by both Schwarzenegger and Emilia.

Jason Clarke as the now very famous JOHN CONNOR is a case of excellent casting choice. Fans of the franchise have never seen Connor in action, this movie provides a lot of scenes where we get to see THE JOHN CONNOR in action and yes if not John Connor who can bring a surprise edge of the twist to the franchise and he proves it.

Alan Taylor managed to hold his own with this movie-it was tough when the originals have becomes classics and were helm-ed by James Cameron.

Laeta Kalorgridis and Patrick Lussier's screenplay is excellent and remains true to the movie mythology and also provides an insight into the first movie and then works its way creating a whole new screen-story. The screenplay does appear confusing at parts, but is handled rather well with the occasional cinematic liberties like the scene where the two kyles meet in the end-theories of time travel do propagate that you cannot meet your future self or past self face to face since it would lead to disintegration of both (a theory which works as a very important plot line for back to the future trilogy)

Cinematography by Kramer Morgenthau is mind blowing as it manages to capture most of the action and works in tandem with 3D imagery. The 3D effects are quite decent when compared to the other forced 3D ventures which hit the screens the past few months.

I would recommend this movie only to people who are familiar with the TERMINATOR mythology and the time travel Paradox, to the rest it will only be a confusing plot which will go hammer and tongs.

To sum it up, I would say this movie earns its respectable place next to Terminator and T2.

Any Body Can Dance 2 (2015)

A Foot Tapping -Eye Popping Spectacle

[7/10 · 21 June 2015]

When a movie is based on an international dance competition, you do expect lot of foot tapping music, excellent choreography, popping, hip-hops and when the movie is in 3D, lot of things flinging out the screen. Yes! ABCD2 hit its mark and delivers all of the above. There are some shortcomings, but like a good choreographer that he is Remo D'Souza (he is the director too), made a good job of covering the flaws in the script and highlighting what needs to be highlighted.

The movie fails as a sequel as none of the characters in the movie are from the original nor is it a continuation of the former. We have brand new characters with few of the actors joining from the prequel (if we can call it that) playing new characters. The only thing which connects the prequel and the sequel together is just the name and nothing else.

But, minus this blindside, you can actually notice the canvas is bigger, the dances are better choreographed and the music is a whole lot better.

The movie chronicles the journey of losers Suresh (Varun Dhawan), Vinnie (Shradhha Kapoor) and their team who actually get disqualified from a national competition when one of the judges (Terrence Lewis) notices that the steps and formations have been copied from a Filipino dance group.

Back home the team is further humiliated by everyone they know, which forces Suresh to take a decision that he will perform with his team in the "International Hip Hop Tournament" held in Las Vegas. They manage to convince Vishnu (Prabhu Deva) to choreograph their team and pledge everything they have to raise money for the Vegas Trip. They win the selections and land in Vegas. But unknown to them, Vishnu has a darker agenda of his own and just before the finals, he disappears along with the money leaving the team in a lurch. To make matters worse, Vinnie hurts her foot and the team gets in Olive (Lauren Gottlieb) as a replacement, and thus begins one of the most short-lived love triangles in bollywood history, as both the girls vie for the affection of Suresh.

Prabhudeva is perfectly cast as Vishnu, the selfish choreographer who puts his needs before the teams and back stabs them in their hour of need. His character is multiple shades, as an ex husband begging his ex (Tisca Sharma) to meet their son, or feeling embarrassed at a new found romance with Pooja (Pooja Batra) or when he appears as a father figure to his team and as a perfect villain when he breaks their trust.

Shraddha Kapoor is an excellent actress and she manages to convey a lot through her facial expressions, that said, she is a star when it comes to dancing too, but when you judge two things, I found her acting levels on an higher scale than her dancing skills.

Lauren Gottlieb, one actress who cannot act even to save her own life, but she manages to cover that aspect by her over the top dancing skills. You feel disappointed at her performance, but at the same time clap for her brilliant dance moves, alas ! if only she had managed to balance the both like Shraddha tried, we could have had a dancing-acting sensation.

Yeah, before I forget, Varun Dhawan is there in the movie too, and the director does a good job of reminding us about it, as and when he stops concentrating on Prabhudeva and Shraddha Kapoor. Thought the movie is based on his character's true story, we do not see much of him in any of the twist scenes which contribute a lot to make the movie run forward. He is a brilliant dancer, but had he been given enough scenes to actually prove his acting abilities then I believe we could have talked about him much more.

It is good to see Pooja Batra return after a long hiatus as Pooja, an Indian Restaurateur in Vegas smitten by Vishnu. Though the screen time is less, she does have enough scenes to make us notice her.

Tisca Chopra as Swathi-Vishnu's Ex gives out another brilliant performance as the caring but selfish Ex.

Screenplay by Tushar Hiranandani is OK making use of lot of cinematic liberties that have been tried and tested from time immemorial, but he has actually managed to place these clichéd scenes in the right places, so it does not actually make you have that "seen it all, know it all" feel.

Music by Sachin-Jigar is not exactly something which you carry along with you till the parking lot, it fades away sooner then you know, but it does make quite an impact when you are watching it on screen.

The guys who made this movie a great experience are Chandan Gupta and Maninder k Saini (3D supervisor, and sterographer respectively), who along with Vijay Arora (DOP) give us a full length 3D experience, be it the title song or the rehearsals or random scenes with things popping out of the screen.

Remo D' Souza has come out a winner with this directorial venture, the audience is given a treat of dance movie turned Thriller turned into a dance movie once again, and full marks to his presentation of the climax where he did not bow down to the normal clichéd endings such movies tend to have.

I would recommend this movie to everyone who loves dancing and would feel excited at seeing pretty good dance moves.