Pink (16 Sep 2016)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Raashul Tandon, Tushar Pandey, Vijay Verma, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Piyush Mishra, Vinod Nagpal, Mamta Malik, Mamata Shankar

Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury

Producer: Rashmi Sharma, Shoojit Sircar

Story & Screenplay: Ritesh Shah

Cinematography: Abhik Mukhopadhyay

Music: Shantanu Moitra, Faiza Mujahid, Anupam Roy

Editor: Bohaditya Banerjee

Duration: 136 minutes

Say, an individual enters into a contract with an international tattoo artist, so as to enable the tattoo artist to create a world record, by creating some intricate tattoo on the individual's arm, which would require considerably long hours of painful tattoo creation. Out of some sudden jitter, this individual refuses to participate at the last minute. Can the concerned tattoo be drawn on his body part against his will?

Say, an individual is travelling for the first time, in an international aircraft, carrying five hundred plus passengers, during prime business hours. Just few minutes before the ignition of the aircraft's engine, the concerned individual displays an extreme phobia of flying, and becomes hysterical and uncontrollable. Will the aircraft still take off, with him on the board?

The answer to both the aforesaid questions, is simply NO, irrespective of the fact that, they involve great loss of time, money and aspirations of other people. The protagonists in the aforesaid cases, may end up paying the required penalties. But they cannot be forced upon, by any entity, to bodily participate into anything, that they wish to stay away from, for the simple fact that, the right of an individual's body privacy, simply belongs to him/her and no one else.

So, if under any given circumstance, in spite of any previous understanding and stake at hand, an individual cannot be forced to bodily participate in any activity, then how come on the mere basis of short dresses, late hours, exchange of smile or drink, and sexual history, some men find it rightful to force themselves upon women and violate them?

Aren't they WRONG in doing so? Of course, they are.

Way back, it took a Bal Gangadhar Tilak to declare the essence of our existence via the line "Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it", and now, it took an Amitabh Bachchan to declare the essence of our right over our body privacy via the line "No is not just a word, but a sentence on it's own, which doesn't require any argument, clarification, explanation or briefing", meaning to say that when a woman says No, she means No!

The movie 'Pink' is a tight and intelligent story weave, spun around all the extreme scenarios, that are considered as signals and invitations by women, to have random good time with men folk. The movie further displays the general notion that, any kind of refrain exercised by such ‘inviting women’, is simply meant to be ignored, going in flow with the misogynistic concept - "they asked for it, so they got it"!

However, by the end, the movie and it's impressive cast and crew, successfully manage to nullify this pathetic concept, and further establish the fact that, not just violation, but even molestation is a grave and heinous crime.

Three working ladies cum room partners - Minal Arora (Taapsee Pannu), Falak Ali (Kirti Kulhari) and Andrea (Andrea Tariang) share a great bond, along with a rented flat, in a residential area of Faridabad (NCR).

One fateful night, while enjoying a late night rock show, this gang of three, bump into the trio of Rajveer Singh (Angad Bedi), Dumpy aka Raunak Anand (Raashul Tandon) and Vishwa aka Vishwajyoti Ghosh (Tushar Pandey). Minal and Rajveer happen to be old school mates. All six of them retreat to a resort for food, and then retire to Rajveer's booked room therein, for further partying. Eventually, upon finding her alone, Rajveer tries to enforce himself on Minal. After a spate of repeated Nos and physical restrains, finding herself helpless to control Rajveer's passionate advances, and in order to free herself from his grip, Minal hits him with a bottle lying nearby. Unfortunately, this hit creates an ugly blood oozing gash, very near to his left eye. This jitters everyone. The girls rush to their flat, and the the boys speed to the nearby hospital, to avail Rajveer, the required medical aid.

Upon return, the girls undergo immense fear and tension, speculating the upcoming revengeful moves of the boys. Even a mere door bell puts them on high alert! Whereas, the brash Rajveer, further fuelled by another friend Ankit Malhotra (Vijay Verma), seeks to humiliate Minal. A couple of folks from both the sides, try to play truce, but things worsen, and end up in the abduction and further molestation of Minal in a moving four wheeler, on her way back from an early jog!

The girls try to file an FIR of this mishap, only to get snubbed at different police stations. When they actually succeed to file one, a back dated FIR is filed by the Rajveer team, which terms the girls as prostitutes, who baited the boys at late night hours, demanded money to impart their services, and when the decent boys refrained from giving in to their demands, Minal ended up in wounding Rajveer, who may have lost his left eye, if a shard of glass did not miss the concerned eye by an extremely small measure!

Resultantly, Minal gets arrested and is put under police custody. Shocked and humiliated by the sudden course of unfair actions, the rude comments of the neighbors, the nonchalance of the appointed lawyer, and the state of no support from the concerned police station, the baffled and broken girls find a supporter and crusader in Deepak Sehgal (Amitabh Bachchan), an efficient but old lawyer who is out of practise since long. Wearing the hat of the girls' new lawyer, and pitted against the cunning and condemning Prashant Mehta (Piyush Mishra), who is Rajveer's lawyer, Deepak Sehgal fights a patient, heartfelt, painful and logical battle, to ensure the appearance of the right picture in front of the judiciary, as well as, the public.

'Pink' is an extremely well made movie with a strong social message, and the film imparts this message with immense conviction and clarity. The film excels in story idea, screenplay, direction, acting and editing. The film's music comprise of a total of four songs, sans any item number or dance routine. 'Kaari Kaari', a background number gels well with the displayed turmoil of the victim protagonists.

A special mention needs to be made of the beautiful and respectful reference of Meghalaya, an Indian State, by Deepak Sehgal. It is heartwarming, the way he refers to the state's scenic beauty, music etc., so as to dignify the hailing of Andrea from this very state, who did confess that, girls like her, have to undergo more trouble than the normal Indian girls, just because they hail from the north-east!

Deepak Sehgal is often shown, taking care of a terminally ill lady, Sara (Mamata Shankar), who also dies midway. The purpose of this character, and her actual relationship with Deepak Sehgal remains unclear.

Amitabh Bachchan is simply excellent in his new avatar of a crusader of women's rights. His dialogue 'No means No' carries more impact and weight than multitude of slogans fired by various women's rights organizations. Looking old, frail and forgetful, he displays a lot of pain and pent up emotions, to put forth his points in the courtroom scenes. The seventy plus megastar, still holds the court strong, is ready to take up unconventional meaty roles, and manages to surprise us with his acting skills and ever emerging new acting techniques! Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang are very convincing as victims of social abuse and injustice. They appear natural in their bonding, and submissive but defiant in the courtroom scenes. Angad Bedi has well played the role of strong silent brat, who is used to his family's political clout, and feels not an iota of remorse over his misogynistic actions. Dhritiman Chatterjee, the judge is also quite effective as the courtroom patriarch, who gets shamed by the unfolding drama, is unable to display any prompt human empathy, but tries his best to maintain the courtroom decorum, and also safeguard the girls' dignity. Piyush Mishra has displayed his usual brand of fine acting, with expected eye twitchings. Rest of the cast is also good. Background score and cinematography are also nice.

All in all, 'Pink' is a fantastic movie, made upon a long pending women's rights issue, which suggests a giant leap in the sensibility of the Indian cinema, along with a massive evolution in the social behavior of the human kind.

Akira (2 Sep 2016)

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, Amit Sadh, Atul Kulkarni, Smita Jaykar, Mukesh Hariawala, Konkana Sen Sharma, Mishiekka Arora

Director: A.R. Murugadoss

Story: Santha Kunar     Screenplay: Santha Kumar and A.R. Murugadoss     Dialogues (Hindi): Karan Singh Rathore

Music: Vishal-Shekhar     Background Score: John Stewart Eduri

Duration: 139 minutes

Imagine yourself as a village kid, who is intently looking forward to attend the upcoming ‘mela’ (fair), as he has heard about the new joy ride, which is expected to be the crowd puller of the season. In his mind, all he can spell is, the usual ‘masti’ (fun) plus a brand new ride!

Now, imagine his dismay, when he actually goes to the ‘mela’ and finds out that, apart from the new joy ride, all the other rides are absent, including the free-for-all swings and see-saws! Also, the new ride comes with a catch. The ride duration is considerably less than the usual ones!

This is exactly how I felt upon watching ‘Akira’.

Being a product of A.R. Murugadoss, the maverick director of action thrillers (Ghajini, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty), and being enacted by Sonakshi Sinha, the A-lister, tall, stoic and healthy Bollywood heroine, who looks natural enough to punch a pack or two when required, ‘Akira’ was expected to be a high energy action thriller, with enough adrenaline pumping fight sequences, and an intelligent story weave. Instead, it turned out to be a low budget action film, with the storyline, mostly leading towards the action, and not actually displaying the action!

‘Akira’ is an official remake of the Tamil film ‘Mouna Guru’ by Santha Kumar, wherein, the protagonist was a male actor.

Akira Sharma (Mishiekka Arora), a fearless, self reliant and strong opposer of anything wrong, is well assessed by her deaf, dumb but wise father (Atul Kulkarni), who chooses to enroll her to a martial arts class, rather than a dance class in Jodhpur. Her mother (Smita Jaykar) is the usual run-of-the-mill town lady.

In her bid to teach some hoodlums a lesson, Akira enters into a fight with them, and in her self defence, she  accidentally spills some acid on one of their faces. In spite of the fact that, the acid bottle belonged to the victim lad, and even the acid attack was initiated by him, Akira ends up spending three years in a Child Remand Home!

Upon reaching the college going age, Akira (Sonakshi Sinha) and her mother (father is now deceased) are made to shift base to Mumbai, by her brother, who is already settled there with his spouse and a newly born baby. His brother-in-law Sidharth (Amit Sadh) is also putting up with them, on a temporary basis.

Upon sensing a non-friendly environment, Akira chooses to stay in the college hostel, and this is where she faces trouble from a rowdy student gang, and eventually a group of four corrupt cops. The cops brigade is headed by ACP Rane (Anurag Kashyap), the evil cop who doesn’t think twice before doing anything unlawful or sinful.

In their sheer greed for big money, these cops commit a crime, and mistake Akira for someone else. Things boil down to such a point that, serious attempts are made, to encounter her! Finally, she is disposed in a government run mental asylum, and given inhuman electric shocks, so as to turn her into a vegetable, and brand her as delusional!

Alongside, a heavily pregnant SP Rabia (Konkona Sen Sharma), a woman of small physical stature but steely resolve is assigned to solve a young lady’s (mistress of ACP Rane) suicide case. Slowly but sure footedly, she manages to join the dots and draws the big picture, which entails the aforesaid suicide, the cops and their big crime, the college principal (Mukesh Hariawala), and finally Akira.

In the meantime, Akira, whose name translates in Sanskrit as ‘graceful strength’, turns from being a resilient, aloof and confused girl, to an angry, hard hitting and self-defending warrior.

Rest of the story entails, consequent captures and running aways of Akira, till all the evils are put to rest, and she ends up sacrificing some more period of her life, staying in captivity, for the general good!

A movie sans the usual songs, dance, romance, and elaborate sets, needs to have an ultra crisp storyline, and enough thought provoking executions. Sadly, though ‘Akira’ has some juicy female action, it still lacks the entertainment factor.

Even the action scenes are far paced and of considerably short duration. You end up waiting the full first half, and more than half of the second half, expecting Sonakshi to turn 360° like an Uma Thurman or an Angelina Jolie, and evolve as a lady full of wit, shrewdness and confidence, and go bang-bang on the baddies and every other evil soul that falls in her way. But instead, you come across a physically strong, but mentally naive and unsuspecting girl, who keeps on going to the wrong people and places!

The movie tries to establish a slight romantic angle between Sonakshi and Amit Sadh, which falls flat on the face. Music as such, in the typical ‘hindi gaana’ style is absent, not that the storyline required any.

Though the film’s main portrayal are the consequent attempts of mental and physical breaking of Akira, thankfully, there are no gruesome depictions of exploitation, violation or brutality. The director has conducted his scenes wonderfully in a restrained environment, wherein you do get the gist of the matter, but are not left feeling repulsive.

Actingwise - Sonakshi Sinha, Anurag Kashyap and Konkona Sen Sharma are excellent. Sonakshi looks quite natural as an angry fighter. She has well trained for this role, and played it sans any botheration of camera angles. It’s difficult to imagine that this is Anurag’s first attempt as a mainstream villain. The otherwise director, is quite natural in his inning as an actor, and has displayed the required cold blooded evil, without any exaggerated effort or costume drama. Konkona is extremely believable in her stance as a heavily pregnant woman. Mishiekka Arora, the child actor has also acted well. Also, she is a great find by the casting team, as her body-type and caricature, quite well matches that of Sonakshi’s own. Other actors have also worked well.

But, why on earth is Konkana shown such pot-bellied pregnant? Was it to underline the fact that ‘naari shakti’ or woman power, can be brought to play by a fit bodied, tall, stoic, agile and martial art trained girl, as well as a, short, petite, heavily pregnant, and sharp brained woman?

Last but not the least, this movie deserved a little more of Anurag’s and Konkona’s drama scenes, and much more of Sonakshi’s actions scenes.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (12 Nov 2015)

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Swara Bhaskar, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Samaira Rao, Armaan Kohli, Deepak Dobriyal, Prem Khan, Sameer Dharmadhikari, Sucheta Khanna

Director: Suraj R. Barjatya   Story & Screenplay: Suraj R. Barjatya   Dialogue: Aash Karan Atal

Music: Sanjoy Chowdhury, Himesh Reshammiya  Casting: Vicky Sidana

Production Design: Nitin Chandrakant Desai   Costume Design: Alvira Khan, Ashley Rebello

Duration: 164 minutes

Ever since its announcement, ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ has been a much awaited Diwali release of Rajshri Productions, featuring the unique director-actor duo, Suraj Barjatya and Salman Khan, the partnership responsible for three back to back blockbuster family entertainers – Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) and Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999)!

Who could ever present any hero as the, quintessential son, brother and lover, like Suraj has always presented Salman? Not to forget, the director’s projection of the hero’s all encompassing love for children, pets and staff as well. May what the storyline, a Suraj-Salman movie is expected to be a clean family entertainer laden with coy romance, joint family setting, family values, designer clothing and set design, heartwarming array of songs, and basically anything that makes you feel rich, complete and righteous.

PRDP has it all, but the storyline is too predictable and at times illogical, characterizations are half hearted and the expected chemistry between the protagonists is simply not there!

Vijay Singh (Salman Khan) is a modern day billionaire prince, who is strict, short tempered and stickler of traditions. He has an emotionally disturbed step brother, Ajay Singh (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and two perennially angry step sisters, Chandrika (Swara Bhaskar) and Radhika. Four days before his public coronation, his step brother and estate manager (Armaan Kohli) make a fatal assassination attempt on his life. But his stern loyalists ‘Diwan’ or advisor (Anupam Kher) and security head, hide him in a secret chamber, and arrange all possible medicines, machines and doctors to get him treated there itself. Secrecy is maintained for security reasons.

Absence and no news of Vijay Singh, will result in coronation of Ajay Singh on the supposedly sacred date. This dilemma of Vijay Singh’s loyalists is answered in the form of Prem Dilwale (Salman Khan, double role), who is a look alike of Vijay Singh and performs contemporary ‘Ram Leela’ on stage. He is jovial, generous, kind and loving. He is also smitten by Vijay Singh’s fiancée Maithili (Sonam Kapoor), whom he once saw in a relief camp. Since then, he unfailingly donates a big share of his earning to ‘Upahar Foundation’, a charity foundation of Maithili.

Maithili is scheduled to arrive at Pritampura, the coronation site of Vijay Singh. Just to meet her, Prem travels there, along with his friend Kanhaiyya (Deepak Dobriyal). Instead, he is spotted and picked by Vijay Singh’s security head. As expected, he is taught the ‘walk and talk’ of Vijay Singh. The idea is to use Prem in place of prince Vijay in the coronation ceremony. But alongside, he is also required to deal with Maithili’s complaints and advances.

Gradually Maithili is also smitten by the ‘changed’ prince, without any awareness of him being Prem! Prem not only handles Maithili with dignity and care, but also solves the age old discord between the prince and his step sisters. The story gradually unfolds and Vijay Singh and Maithili are made aware of the Prem angle. The movie goes on to display, how the prince confronts and combats his rivals, and how the princess acts upon the realization of her new found love.

This movie has – sensibility of Suraj Barjatya, personification of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ (Salman’s latest 2015 blockbuster) and opulence of Sanjay Bhansali’s (Salman’s another blockbuster director) movies. But all the best elements fail to make a smashing compound.

Costumes, music, background score are very good. Storyline is too predictable and illogical in places. Characters are not well developed. Haldiram’s on-the-face promotion looks ridiculous. Lead protagonists emit an easy camaraderie, but fail to establish any chemistry. Besides, Salman Khan and Anil Kapoor (Sonam’s father) have worked together as friends before, and have also appeared considerable times on stage and TV shows. Resultantly, an average Indian mind will always consider Salman, as an uncle of Sonam.

Audiences would like to know the answer to the following queries –

- Why Vijay Singh’s hair is black, but moustache is brownish?

- Who makes an opulent ‘sheesh mahal’ (mirror palace) atop a raging waterfall, that too for four kids? Please note that these kids belong to three different mothers, two queens and one mistress!

- When Chandrika performs Vijay Singh’s ‘raj tilak’ or coronation, why on earth does princess Maithili run berserk full of beloved’s emotion before breaking into a song?

- Vijay Singh is a billionaire. So, why his most trusted personnel, Diwan, the second-in-command’s attire has a shoulder sling, where a long and ugly velcro is visible in the front?

Salman Khan is the soul of the movie. He is energetic and endearing, albeit his hulk like figure looks quite out of place, as per the current trend, wherein everyone looks reed thin. He looks natural as Prem, but quite enforced as Vijay Singh. Sonam looks beautiful and wears all kind of designer attires possible in the given role – sari, lehenga, short dress, night wear, high waist pants, safari attire etc. Deepak Dobriyal looks seasoned as ‘Sita’ in ‘Ram Leela’ scenes. Swara Bhaskar has less screen time. But she has managed to portray continuity in her character. Neil Nitin Mukesh has well captured the expressions of an eccentric and emotionally disturbed person. Still, his performance needs the element of continuity. Rest of the cast is fine as well.

This movie has been released in twelve countries, including India. In France and Russia, it has been released as ‘Un trésor appelé Amour’ and ‘Неуловимый Прем’ respectively.

Any Body Can Dance 2 (19 Jun 2015)

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Shraddha Kapoor, Prabhu Deva, Lauren Gottlieb, Punit Pathak, Dharmesh Yelande, Raghav Juyal, Sushant, Allu Arjun, Karthik, Prachi Shah, Pooja Batra, Will Roberts, Manmeet Singh, Tisca Chopra

Cameo Appearance: Navjot Singh Siddhu, Kapil Sharma, Remo D’Souza, Terrance Lewis, Ganesh Acharya

Director: Remo D’Souza   Story: Remo D’Souza   Screenplay: Tusha Hiranandani   Music: Sachin-Jigar

Casting: Mukesh Chhabra (lead casting)   Cinematography: Vijay Arora   Choreography: Remo D’Souza

Duration: 154 minutes

‘Any Body Can Dance 2’ is the sequel of ‘ABCD - Any Body Can Dance’ (2011), woven around the same concept, i.e. the dancing underdogs getting the much deserved recognition at the end. While it is claimed to be based upon the real life story of Suresh Mukund and Vernon Montero of ‘Fictious Group’, a suburban Mumbai dance group, which, to everyone's astonishment, carved a niche for itself in the ‘2012 World Hip Hop Championship Finals’, it is actually a sumptuous platter of world class dancing, presented by Remo D’Souza, dance guru turned director, on a much bigger and better stroked canvas, than his earlier two films (F.A.L.T.U, ABCD).

Suresh aka Suru (Varun Dhawan), a Nala Sopara (Mumbai suburb) lad, along with Vinny (Shraddha Kapoor) and other dancing enthusiasts, keeps together, ‘Mumbai Stunners’, a dancing group, which performs amazingly, but garners lot of shame in the TV reality show, ‘Hum Kisise Kum Nahin’. All the three judges rebuke them for copying their entire piece from an acclaimed Philippino dancing group. This results in – personal shame of mammoth proportions, voluntary exit of more than half of the group members, and non-ending comments and condemnations from members of their respective families, as well as, people that they come across during their day jobs.

Suru is broken by such an experience, and is in dire need to gain back his lost pride. Only question is, he neither knows the way to go about it, nor knows anyone who will support them in the given circumstances. Vishnu (Prabhu Deva) is a yesteryear dancing diva, who currently leads a dormant and drunkard life. Both of them collide in the lounge bar, wherein Suru works as a waiter and Vishnu visits as a client. An impromptu and super sleek dancing jig by Vishnu, gives Suru the idea of convincing him to prepare their group for the international hip-hop dance competition in Las Vegas, as winning this mother of all competitions will be instantly instrumental in giving them back their lost pride. And so, starts the long series of efforts to - convince the comically reluctant Vishnu, add the required number of able members to the group, and practice and practice. Throughout the entire melodrama, Vinny is Suru’s constant support, who believes in him unconditionally.

One thing (read problems, like – Vinny meeting injury and being unable to perform for semi-finals, Vishnu eloping with group’s money in Las Vegas etc.) leads to another, and ultimately Suru and group’s sacrifice, determination and extreme hard work, enables them to enter the aforesaid Las Vegas competition, wherein they enter as ‘India Stunners’, and also manage to reach the finals! Thereafter, the movie is about high tension energy, grand showmanship and the ultimate climax.

No doubt, this is the best Bollywood dance flick till date. Professional dance styles and performances, which are a big time craze amongst the current youth (like – hip-hop, locking & popping, pyramid formations etc.), keep on bombarding the screen one after another. In fact this dance parade starts with the starting rolling credits. In spite of being many in number, neither quality nor innovation is lost in any of the performances. Story line is kind of expected and its implementation is average. As an audience, you do wonder - why Suru and group did the foolhardy of copying, in spite of being so efficient? Or, why Vishnu Sir needed a TV broadcast to come back with the dance competition fees money? And, why the objective of winning the international dance competition turned from being a personal need to get back the lost pride, to the need, to shine India in the international arena? But these glitches appear passable in front of mammoth dance performances by Vishnu, Suru, Vinny, Dharmesh, Vinod, Raghu, Raju, Olive and others. It goes without saying, that all the performers also display a super fit and agile body.

The movie has ten songs. ‘Bezubaan phir se’ and ‘Sun saathiya’ are pretty soulful. As per requirement, background music successfully generates the required tension and energy. Casting is apt and cinematography is good. It is wise of the makers to use the harbor area for dance practicing scenes (which are galore), instead of any cramped and unkempt hall. With the right camera angles, scenic sea and ship background, a nice grunge look has been created, which appears soothing to the eyes. It’s a 3D movie and it’s 3D effects are best till date, in any Indian movie. In fact it’s even better than many Hollywood flicks! At times it resembles the finesse of ‘X-Men: Days Of Future Past’!

Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor have acted well and danced in tandem with the professional dancers. This is no mean feat. While Varun displays a fine balance of passion and pain, Shraddha has an expressive face, and emotes very well, even in the dance sequences. With this movie, they will definitely garner a firmer spot in the hearts of the youth. Prabhu Deva is the undisputed dance diva of India and his opening number in the movie is simply amazing. The way he moves his noodle legs needs to be seen to be believed. Lauren Gottlieb appears midway, but while performing, she simply eats up the dancing space. In the semi-final performance, she performs a lift with stretched legs which needs special mention. Even in such a difficult lift, her grace, posture and confidence are intact. Punit Pathak, Dharmesh Yelande, Raghav Juyal, Sushant, Allu Arjun, Karthik are reality TV’s dancing sensations who have danced as per expectation. The former two were also present in ‘ABCD’, and they appear considerably senior in their dance and ease in front of the camera. In fact Punit has well played his deaf and dumb character. Dharmesh makes amazing eye contact with camera (like a la Govinda) while dancing. Rest of the cast has also performed well.

Last but not the least, the movie establishes two facts – the power of reality TV and the power of social media. It is the golden era of talent display and it’s no more necessary to be a celebrity to get both good and bad coverage. If you have a single dancing bone in your body, or, if you even enjoy a single dancing bone in another’s body, do watch the movie.

Dil Dhadakne Do (5 Jun 2015)

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Parmeet Sethi, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab, Ridhima Sud, Vikrant Massey

Director: Zoya Akhtar   Story & Screenplay: Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti   Dialogue: Farhan Akhtar

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy   Cinematography: Carlos Catalan   Casting: Nandini Shrikent

Duration: 170 minutes

For unperturbed existence, a society requires steadiness, which requires discipline, which gives birth to a list of dos and don’ts, which become unnecessary rigid and complex with time, as people start misusing them to suit their personal objectives and/or hide their personal shortcomings. Resultantly, these so called social rules and diktats give way to a perturbed society, which functions like a robot i.e. without any heart. Life becomes all about never ending materialistic gains, small time personal goals and jazzy & fake public appearances, whereas, it should be about strong and giving relationships, unconditional personal freedom and eternal true love. This is what the movie urges via both it’s screenplay and title ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’, meaning to say that the society needs to switch from the dead beat robot mode to the heart beating human mode.

Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor), a Delhi based business magnate, decides to celebrate his 30^th wedding anniversary with full grandeur, on a cruise ship to Greece and Turkey, along with his family, friends and business associates. And thus, the luxury ship is boarded by him, his wife Neelam (Shefali Shah), son Kabir (Ranveer Singh), daughter Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra), her husband (Rahul Bose) and mother-in-law (Zarina Wahab). They are accompanied by - Kamal’s younger brother’s family, Kamal’s company manager, Neelam’s full-of-gossip girlfriends and others.

As expected, all host appearances are fake and they gradually unravel. Beneath the champagne glasses, lavish buffets and content Mehras, lie – a bankrupt Kamal, who pops pills even to digest the cruise’s lavish bills, a lonely and on-the-edge Neelam, a trapped in unhappy marriage Ayesha and a confused Kabir, who is highly expected to, but has zero interest and ability to take up his father’s business!

Sood (Parmeet Sethi) and family were earlier uninvited, as they happen to be family foes with one of Mehra’s existing guests on the cruise. But if Sood’s left-at-the-altar daughter (Ridhima Sud) gets engaged with Kabir, then Sood will not think twice before investing in Mehra’s sinking company, thereby making it profitable. What better way than a cruise to let the two kids meet and gel? Keeping this in mind, the last minute invitations were sent to the Soods.

However, Sood’s daughter ends up falling in love with the aforesaid family foes’s son (Vikrant Massey)! Kabir, the supposedly trump-card son ends up falling in love with Farah Ali (Anushka Shetty), the lead dancer of a dance group on the cruise! Kamal’s company manager’s son, Sunny Gill (Farhan Akhtar) joins them midway, and he turns out to be Ayesha’s ex-flame (re-kindled)!

In short, gradually things get topsy turvey for conservative and upper class Kamal and Neelam Mehra, whose prime objective in life is to appear prosperous and well settled in the eyes of the society. The movie gradually unfolds myriad confusions, confrontations and eventually right actions.

‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ is a wisely made movie, depicting the problems and dilemmas of the Indian upper class, with the backdrop of a cruise liner and a comical approach. This saves the film from being corny and boring. Ugly lines of frustration are well hidden by well toned bodies, designer wear and smart dialogues.

It’s an effective satire on – gender bias, social ridicules in the name of culture, and, use of children as business deal bait. Like – post marriage, Ayesha sold her jewels to start an online portal ‘Musafir’, and turned it into a successful mega operation. But still she is discouraged from doing business talks at the food table by her mother-in-law. Her husband feels elated that he has ‘allowed’ her to do her own business. Her father is dismissive about her achievement. Rather, he waits for the day when she will make him a grandfather; the Mehra couple blast their children for seeking/supporting divorce. They term them uncultured, while Kamal Mehra’s infidelity trips in the garb of business trips are quite an open secret, and his wife still chooses to stay with him, simply because she has nowhere else to go; and, Kabir is pressurized to get a scene going with Sood’s daughter, so as to revive the family business.

By now it’s well established that, the Zoya-Reema duo’s cinematic offering is sure to be heartfelt, original and well crafted, very much like a la Aamir Khan, who also happens to have lent his voice to the narrator of the movie, Pluto Mehra, the pet dog. They duo were pretty good with their last and second film (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara), but they are brilliant with their current and third endeavor. While the former could only touch base with the upper class metro youth, the latter touches the Indian pulse. Zoya Akhtar, the director  captures the settings and emotion of upper class urban India, like Anurag Kashyap does the same with rustic rural India (Gangs Of Wasseypur). Also, she well handles the presence of multi star and supporting cast.

This is one of the best roles essayed by Anil Kapoor till date. He lives and breathes the role of a super rich business class Punjabi family patriarch. His appearance, dialogue delivery, pauses, and reactions are just perfect. The scene in which he stands up for his daughter and catches Rahul Bose by the neck, requires years of acting and passion for acting. Shefali Shah has matched him very well. Be it anger, frustration, or curt wife-type responses, she is bang-on in all the scenes. A steely scene between Priyanka and herself, enacted at a ‘hamam’ (Turkish bathhouse), is again a difficult one to crack. In the movie, Priyanka has the best defined character. In most of the scenes, she is required to play the submissive one, and she has played that well. It’s a welcome change from the usual robust and hero like Priyanka. Ranveer Singh is very natural and brings most of the comic relief. His pun filled soliloquy after a vomit scene is a treat to watch. Priyanka and Ranveer look very natural as brother and sister. Anushka Sharma has an extended cameo. Out of the three songs, she performs cabaret-cum-ballet dance on one, an impromptu jig on another, and shines in both. In fact in the former number, her body language, kind of reminds you of Catherine Zeta-Jones in ‘Chicago’ (2002). It’s a difficult dance that requires lot of speed and abundant grace, and she has managed to strike the right balance. Rahul Bose has a small role. For a change, he has also attempted quite opposite of what he has played till date i.e. the middle class submissive metro guy. Here, his character is rich, rigid and conservative. Almost everyone has looked well and acted well. Costume Designing is quite in tune with the characterizations. Casting is also apt. There is striking feature resemblance between Shefali & Priyanka and Anil & Ranveer. Cinematography is also good. There are lot of aerial angles, which well capture the Mediterranean sea region and charming Turkish locales.

Last but not the least, it’s an almost three hour long movie, and you don’t feel bored for a single minute. This really calls for a round of champagne.

Tanu Weds Manu Returns (22 May 2015)

Cast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Deepak Dobriyal, Jimmy Shergill, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Swara Bhaskar, Eijaz Khan, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K.K. Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma

Director: Anand L. Rai   Music: Rdb, Krsna Solo   Writer: Himanshu Sharma

Duration: 128 minutes

‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ is the sequel of ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ (2011). The sequel is a logical continuation of its prequel, and also an independent and entertaining film in itself. With around four years gap in between, but almost the same cast and crew, and similar town type comic sensibility, two major differences noteworthy in the sequel are – a much more confidant and polished Kangana Ranaut and a much rounder (obese) R. Madhavan.

The prequel ended with the protagonists’ marriage in Kanpur and the sequel starts with their marriage counseling in London. Tanuja aka Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) feels utterly lonely in suburban London housing and desperately seeks the ‘fun and spark’ of earlier romance, while Manu (R. Madhavan) considers his role of ‘provider’ of the family as task enough, and is considerably irritated by the naggings of his four year old wife.

Counseling gets heated and Manu’s impromptu act of violence results into his detention in the mental rehabilitation facility. After sometime, bizarre as Tanu is, she returns to her parental abode in Kanpur. Prior to this, she informs Pappi (Deepak Dobriyal), Manu’s Delhi based best friend, to fly off to London and get him released!

In Kanpur, Tanu is as stylish and robust as before. However, she is highly disillusioned with the institute of marriage, and is indulgent to all her suitors, both ex and present, which include – Deepak, a friend turned rickshaw puller; Chintu (Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyun), her father’s non-paying tenant and law student; and Raja Awasthi (Jimmy Shergill), Tanu’s goon type ex-lover turned building contractor.

Pappi releases Manu and brings him back to his parent’s house in Delhi. A disgruntled Manu sends a divorce message to Tanu, which is eventually replied by a divorce notice. The reply is masterminded by Chintu without Tanu’s approval.

While in Delhi, Manu spots Kusum Sangwan aka Datto (Kangana Ranaut), a Haryanvi student-athlete and look alike of Tanu. With some initial hurdles, they fall in love and decide to get married. Coincidently, an arranged marriage is already on the cards between Kusum and Raja Awasthi! The film then goes through various twists and turns, ultimately giving in to the Bollywood style righteous action.

The movie is well written and directed. Its comical in nature and draws some serious laughs now and then, which is quite an achievement. Kangana is a revelation, especially as Kusum. She successfully creates a clear demarcation between Tanu and Kusum – in appearance, body language and dialogue delivery. Never before, the Indian screen has witnessed such an excellent take on double role. Her Haryanvi student-athlete impersonation – with bucked teeth, matter of fact and asexual attitude, pride for being a state level athlete, and last but not the least, super wide and honest eyes, is simply superb. Till now, the only other actor who has perfectly played a Haryanvi is Randeep Hooda (‘Highway’), but then, he actually hails from Haryana. Deepak Dobriyal is excellent in his comic timing, and brings about most of the laughing roars. R. Madhavan, as usual, has well played the role of being subdued and well educated. Jimmy Shergill and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub have also acted very well. With time, Jimmy has been able to carve out a kind of magnetic screen presence. He has come a long way from ‘Mohabbatein’. Rest of the cast has relatively miniscule role. But they have also acted well. Music is average.

In the movie, the storyline travels from London to Kanpur and Delhi, then to Chandigarh, and then finally to Jhajjar, thereby depicting a wide range of sensibility, ranging from that of an international metro to Indian metro, small city, and town. Be it set design, apparels or supporting caricatures, the right flavor has been maintained throughout the movie.

Bombay Velvet (15 May 2015)

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Satyadeep Misra, Karan Johar, Manish Choudhary, Siddhartha Basu, Raveena Tandon Thadani, Remo Fernandes, Vivaan Shah, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Sandesh Jadhav, Shaanti, Denzil Smith

Director: Anurag Kashyap   Screenplay: Vasan Bala, Anurag Kashyap, Gyan Prakash, Thani

Music: Amit Trivedi   Production Design: Errol Kelly (Sri Lanka), Sonal Sawant   

Set Decoration: Kazvin Dangor, Rose Maria, Tharakan   Cinematography: Rajeev Ravi

Running Time: 149 minutes

Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ saga reaches its closure with ‘Bombay Velvet’. While the former dealt with the rural terrain of newly independent India, the latter deals with the mother of Indian urban terrain aka Mumbai, or Bombay, as it was called in those days.

Both the movies, more or less, have the same outline – new India with new policies and vast untapped potential; cartel of politicians, police, gangsters etc. striving for the largest chunk, power strife amongst men of power and ambition; rags to riches climb of ruthless and determined protagonist; and his vulnerable moments with his lady love. In fact, in both the movies, before taking his last breath, the protagonist guns down his foes like a driven maniac! However, in spite of the aforesaid similarities, the backdrop, narration, casting and overall sentiment is quite different in these movies.

In 1949, Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Chiman (Satyadeep Misra) arrive at Bombay as kids. They come across each other, and end up becoming lifetime friends and partners in crime. They are street smart, self taught in the ways of the city and dream of making it big. Their prayers are answered in the form of Kaizad Khambatta (Karan Johar), who employs them, rechristens Balraj as Johnny and adds the required moolahs and style into their lives. On the surface, they are the managers of Khambatta’s brand new and high end club, ‘Bombay Velvet’, but in reality they are the executioners of all his dirty works (read blackmailing, kidnapping, murder). Khambatta uses his club to hold meetings with the high and mighty, like - the mayor, Romi Mehta (Siddharth Bas) to execute vast land deals that will yield gold after Bombay’s Reclamation. He also runs the paper ‘The Torrent’ and uses his wife (Shaanti) to seduce and catch his foes off guard!

Jimmy Mistry (Manish Choudhary) is Khambatta’s arch rival, who runs his own paper and is against such closed door capitalistic deals. He is on his own mission to divulge the misgivings of Khambatta and company. He is also rich and efficient and considers himself a follower of Communism.

Rosie (Anushka Sharma), an aspiring jazz singer with abused Goan (Portuguese ruled) past reaches Bombay and travels the clichéd path of – semi nude photo shoots, small time bar singer, mistress (of Jimmy Mistry), and ultimately the cherished lady love (of Johnny) and celebrated jazz singer of a high end club (Bombay Velvet).

In a bid to make use, Johnny’s immense liking for Rosie, Jimmy sends her to Johnny, to gather a game changing evidence. Instead, they end up becoming two youthful and passionate lovers. Alongside, Johnny becomes, more ambitious and is not satisfied with just managing the club. Instead he seeks a slice of Khambatta’s real estate deals! This turns the cartel of high and mighty against him, leading to the onset of a cat-and-mouse game, which leads to Rosie’s fake death and investigation of the same by Inspector Kulkarni (Kay Kay Menon), a detective.

Set design and Ranbir Kapoor are the two best things about this movie. The former shows immense r&d and immaculate detailing, and the latter has made full use of his acting genes, intelligence and histrionics to sink his teeth deep into the character. Its impossible to think that he is the same guy who played the couch potato in ‘Wake Up Sid’. Throughout the movie, both by his body language and dialogue delivery, Ranbir exudes a sense of earnestness, which is a treat to watch. Anushka Sharma looks tall and elegant and surreal till she plays docile and silent. Her dialogue delivery is same as all her other movies, as well as TV appearances! She wears an enviable collection of larger than life gowns with immaculate jewelry, make-up and hair-do. In some of the initial frames, this hero heroine duo does remind you of Raj Kapoor and Nadira! Apparently, Karan Johar has acted pretty well. But his non-stop reality TV show appearances displaying his real life fun loving personality loom so large in your head, that you somewhere fail to connect with his on-screen character. Satyadeep Misra has acted very well. His understated acting is very precise. Raveena Tandon Thadani appears twice as the lead club singer and takes care of the required style quotient pretty well. Manish Choudhary, Kay Kay Menon and others have also acted well. Cinematography is very good. Music is good. Screenplay has some loop holes, which could have been taken care of. The movie is based on historian Gyan Prakash’s book ‘Mumbai Fables’.

P.S.: A yesteryear pairing that comes to one’s mind, that would have done full justice to this movie, is that of Amitabh Bachchan and Parveen Babi.