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Thackeray

( January 2019 )



Balasaheb Thackeray ( Bal Keshav Thackeray ) is a personality for whom Mumbaikar Marathis have a special place in the heart , and I being a Mumbaikar Marathi feel the same . Where would the Mumbaikar Marathis be without the Thackerays….? Balasaheb's father Prabodankar Thackeray was prominent in the samyukta Maharashtra ( united Maharashtra ) movement that brought Bombay into Maharashtra , and Balasaheb changed the city's name to Mumbai...need I say more ?

The movie begins with Balasaheb working for Free press journal as cartoonist , but he is made to realise by his fellow Marathi colleague that other than them no one else is Marathi in that office inspite of it being in the capital of Maharashtra . His attitude to express himself freely by cartoons is tried to be curbed by his boss but Balasaheb frees himself from the job in typical Thackeray style ; he presents a cartoon showing himself kicking his boss on the backside to his boss....

As Balasaheb roams the streets of Mumbai , he realises that everywhere the Marathi manoos is being squeezed out by non Marathis . He decides to start a magazine to bring the marathis together for getting their due rights in Mumbai , but money for that is found from a money lender only after some search because many do not believe that Balasaheb's magazine could work . However Balasaheb's fiery writings become popular among Mumbaikar Marathis and Balasaheb becomes well known .

Many Marathis begin to come to Balasaheb with their grievances and Balasaheb advocates the path of violent agitation to get them their jobs in places where he feels non marathis are unjustly grabbing them . He feels that if made aware of injustices incurred on them , the Marathi people are fighters and this fighting potential can be utilised to get them their rights . As his popularity grows , the time has come to start a proper organisation to fight for their demands . But his father says that it should not be called an organisation but rather a 'sena' ( army ) , and so is born the Shiv Sena in honour of Shivaji the legendary medieval Maratha warrior king .

The Shiv Sena's first targets are south Indians and Thackeray coins the slogan 'pungi bajao , lungi hatao' . Shiv Sena takes the path of violent agitation attacking south Indians . But Shiv Sena's real opponent is deputy PM Morarji Desai , the same person who had violently opposed his father's 'samyukta Maharashtra' agitation to bring Mumbai into Maharashtra earlier . One can say he is the villain of the movie if anybody is . He comes to Mumbai and orders his car to drive on Shiv sainiks protesting to bring Belgaum into Maharashtra from Karnataka , thus killing the Shiv sainiks . The incident turns Thackeray away from the path of peaceful negotiations , and anyone opposing intake of Marathis into jobs receives a slap on his face as the manager of Air India discovers on opposing him .

When Indira Gandhi imposes emergency on India , there is pressure on Thackeray to merge his party into Congress , but Thackeray refuses even though his party is likely to be banned . But Indira Gandhi comes to Mumbai and a meeting is arranged between them . Thackeray counters her charges of regionalism by saying that whenever he hails , he hails the nation first and his state only later by hailing 'Jai Hind !! Jai Maharashtra !!' His party is struck off the banning list .

But when Indira loses power , the winner of the election is his arch enemy Morarji Desai whose Janata party storms to power . Morarji encourages his party workers to throw stones on Sena Bhawan , the iconic headquarters of the Shiv Sena . But Thackeray is now aware of a new problem on the horizon . Muslim boys celebrate on Pakistan's victories in cricket matches and cricket is a game very close to Balasaheb's heart....he at first tries to build bridges with the muslim community by organising meetings in their mohallas , but the riots in Bhiwandi outside Mumbai convince him that these people are not ready to change their ways .

Balasaheb decides to turn to Hindu nationalism and coins the slogan 'garv sey kaho hum Hindu hai' ( say proudly that we are Hindus ) . When Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad comes with Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar to ask for cricketing ties to be restored between the two countries , Balasaheb rejects the idea saying he cannot forget the Indian soldiers dying on the border . His sainiks pour inflammables on the pitch of Wankhede stadium putting paid to any idea of India and Pakistan playing each other .

He proudly acknowledges in court that his boys had a hand destroying the babri masjid , telling the lawyer that hindus believe that Lord Ram was born in the same place which was desecrated by foreign invader Babar who was born in Uzbekistan . As muslims take revenge for this by burning Radhabai chawl in Mumbai , Shiv sainiks start a full scale riot . But the riot has been kind of sidelined in the movie , as the violence has been only hinted at by scenes of Shiv sainiks having police co operation in them being shown but the actual riot is not shown .

Retribution for the riots is taken by the muslim mafia by bomb blasts in Mumbai , and Thackeray's life is under threat . But he refuses to remain home under police protection and undertakes a whirlwind tour of Maharashtra , coming to power in the state in subsequent elections . The movie ends at this high point in Thackeray's political career .

The movie in undoubtedly dominated by Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Bal Thackeray , and the movie heavily depends on his splendid acting skills just like the Shiv Sena depended on Balasaheb . And he delivers with aplomb . His wife Meenatai Thackeray is played by Amrita Rao , and she brings out how Meenatai was so important in stabilizing Balasaheb's household by her serene acting . Rajesh Khera effectively brings out the contemptuous attitude of Morarji Desai by his performance .

Background music is good and effectively dramatic in intense situations Colours and photography are decent . Dialogues have been written well and their timing in the movie is good .

Verdict---Decent .




Gully Boy

( February 2019 )



Gully boy charts the rise of a young man named Murad ( Ranveer Singh ) who lives in the slums of Dharavi in Mumbai to becoming a rap artist . He belongs to a typical muslim family from the slums ; his life is one of despair , the despair increased by the fact that his father brings another woman as wife and leaves his mother shattered .

Murad's only happy moments are the time he spends with his girlfriend Safeena ( Alia Bhatt ) and the time he listens to rap music on his mobile phone . But a rap artist called MC Sher a.k.a. Shrikant ( Siddhant Chaturvedi ) takes him under his wing and he begins to enthral audiences on youtube .

But the journey to big time success is mined with pitfalls . His father throws him and his mother out of their house , he has to take part in a criminal gang to earn money , and he is enticed into sex by another woman ( Kalki Koechlin ) which results in breakup with his girlfriend .

The background he comes from is totally opposite to the kind of life he dreams of , but luckily he has the kind of support from friends which make his arrival possible . Ranveer Singh plays his role in an understated manner , and it is left to Alia Bhatt to be feisty and aggressive . She beats up any girls daring to entice her boyfriend , as the character played by Kalki discovers to her chagrin . The smooching scenes between Alia and Ranveer and between Kalki and Ranveer are good .

The atmosphere of the slums of Dharavi has been well created , and the lingo is of the slums . The hall mark of the film are some real mean rap songs with fiery wording which is full of aggro , are downright disrespectful to the opposite person , and have been very cleverly written . For the first time I became a fan of rap music , a form of music I was not interested in earlier .

Verdict---Good .




Badla

( Retribution ) March 2019



Taapsee Pannu plays Naina Sethi , a young goodlooking married businesswoman who has won the businesswoman of the year award . But she is cheating on her husband and her lover gets killed when he is with her . The police suspect her of the murder and her lawyer hires Badal Gupta who is the best in the legal profession to save her in court .

But Amitabh Bachchan acting as Badal Gupta arrives three hours too early to meet Naina for the first time , and I instantly suspected that he was not Badal Gupta at all but someone impersonating him . With this suspicion in mind it was easy to surmise that he must have been sent to find out the truth from Naina and that only meant one thing---that she was the culprit .

So was my suspicion true ? Watch the movie for that....For me the whole watching experience had the heavy overhang of thinking that Naina was spilling out the beans to the wrong man. The story as told by Naina to the character played by Amitabh is full of twists and turns and keeps you hooked to the edge of the seat .

There are no songs in this suspense thriller and background music is decent . Photography is good , especially of Britain in conditions of winter and of lakes in dense forests and snowbound hotels . Colours are decent too . Acting is good , both by Taapsee Pannu and of course by Amitabh who is redoubtable .

Verdict---Decent .




Phir Ussi Mod Par---Talaq

( Back to square one---divorce ) March 2019



This muslim social takes us back to the era of the nineties when movies used to be embellished with several songs . And the songs in this movie are wonderfully old fashioned , melodious and filled with old world charm . And the actors of the movie are from the nineties too , who used to be regulars on television in the early era of satellite TV . But the topic is current , and it is the issue of triple talaq that has gone to courts and made headlines .

Ruby ( Kanika Bajpai ) falls in love with her childhood friend Shahid Khan ( Parmeet Sethi ) and the two get secretly married . She becomes pregnant with his child , but his father Zahid ( Govind Namdeo ) refuses to accept her as his daughter in law because she is not equal to them in status . Zahid forces his son to give instant triple talaq to Ruby and marry another woman . His goons beat up Ruby and try to kill her . But the daughter born to his son Shahid and his wife is blind , and the superstitious Zahid comes to believe that this has happened because of his sins . But it is too late for regret as Ruby has found solace in another man , a kind man ( played by Kanwaljeet Singh ) named Rashid....

Rashid's mother and a fanatical maulavi however have major objections to the marriage between a pregnant Ruby and Rashid , and Rashid's conservative mother agrees to accept Ruby as her daugher in law only after she has given birth to the child because it is unlawful to marry a pregnant woman in islam . The maulavi is another matter however . He lusts for other young women in the neighbourhood and thus come into clash with the fiesty Ruby who gives him a trashing . His goons burn down Rashid's dairy in revenge and Rashid dies in grief . Ruby is left to fend alone for herself , but she raises her son among all the vicissitudes of fortune to become a well educated young man .

But Ruby's son too follows the path of his real father Shahid and decides to give triple talaq to his wife and marry another woman . So Ruby is brought to face the same problem of triple talaq that had ruined her life and threatens to ruin her daughter in law's life too . But times have changed and the issue of triple talaq has been raised in the corridors of justice . Ruby decides to fight against her son in court to give justice to her daughter in law , and once again is brought face to face with her past as the judge of the case is none other than her son's father Shahid....

So will Ruby win the fight that has her pitched against the religious fundamentalists who do not even want a woman to give testimony in court ? What justice will judge Shahid give to his own biological son's wife ? Watch the movie for the answers .

The movie does succeed in raising the issue of triple talaq in an emotional and impassioned manner . Kanika Bajpai acts well , looking attractive in romantic scenes and suitably distressed in moments of grief . The melodious songs and music brings you back to the era when music was king . The acting is old world and so is the pace of the movie . The movie scores in sentiment and you are left yearning for the times of yore....

The film was the brainchild of Lekh Tandon the director of vintage movies whose influence is to be felt everywhere in the film , from songs to music to acting to the choice of actors . And the influence has done much good to the movie . Judging from the reactions of muslims on the internet , they have been left fuming at the depiction of some fundamentalists in the movie . And their ally the liberal lobby has predictably given bad reviews to the film . Actually the film is better than what they say and was a resounding success at the Berlin film festival .

Verdict---Decent .




Photograph

( March 2019 )



Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Rafi , a photographer who takes instant photos of people at gateway of India . He is under pressure from his grandmother ( Farrukh Jaffar ) to get married , and grandmother has stopped taking all her medicines because he is not getting married . One day he takes a photo of a shy girl named Miloni Shah at the gateway of India , but she disappears without taking the photograph from him .

The photograph of Miloni ( Sanya Malhotra ) remains with him , and he uses it to tell his grandmother that it is of a girl he is going to marry . He names her Noorie based on an old hindi film song , but grandmother wants to meet the girl .

Rafi sees Miloni's photo again , and this time it adorns the billboard advertisement of the class she attends for her CA exams as she is topper in class . Rafi tracks her down and requests her to pretend to be his fiancee Noorie just for appearances in front of his grandmother .

Astonishingly , Miloni agrees . Reason--she has been stifled all her life by her parents and older sister who have taken all her decisions for her , and she wants to hang out with a lower class man from another religion as an act of rebellion against her existence . The other reason--she has always been seen as plain jane by all her peers and family , and the photograph that Rafi took has made her look so beautiful that she passes it on to her other classmates to see....

But don't expect loud histrionics or dramatic developments in this act of rebellion . This is offbeat cinema and things happen at a relaxed pace . That's the way I like it , and the movie was making me as comfortable as possible in my cushy seat .

As Miloni meets the grandmother , she forms a bond with her and soon begins to like going out with Rafi to small tea stalls and run down cinemas showing old films . Rafi tries to do the best he can to impress Miloni ; searches for an old soft drink called campa cola which has been out of production for a long time just because Miloni has nostalgic affection for it and wants to enjoy the drink .

Rafi and Miloni take taxi rides together and his grandmother is so impressed that she gifts an old treasured piece of jewellery to Miloni . She asks Rafi to put his arm around Miloni's shoulder and Miloni is only to happy to oblige....and while all this is happening Miloni's gujarati middle class family is oblivious to everything . They make plans to marry her to a US settled boy .

However not everyone is blind and Miloni's maid ( Geetanjali Kulkarni ) becomes aware of her affair with Rafi , and her class tutor ( Jim Sarbh ) confronts her on her non attendance to his class which has happened due to her clandestine meetings with Rafi . At some point the whole thing is going to explode into confrontation and loud drama and histrionics are going to happen .

Or are they ? For both Rafi and Miloni play non confrontational characters , and they are acutely aware that their difference in class is too great to be bridged . But why not make hay while the sun shines and keep meeting and rebelling quietly as long as possible . For Miloni , the time spent with Rafi would be the only time she was herself in the well ordered life arranged by her parents . At some point the whole thing would have to stop but it would give them the memory of a lifetime to cherish .

The life and hustle bustle of Mumbai is too well photographed in the movie , and I never wanted the movie to come to an end because I was getting into a cozy mood in the smooth flow of the film . The acting by both the lead characters is just perfect and so is acting by the grandmother who puts charm in her role . Background music is decent but there are no new songs , only old melodies from a bygone era .

The movie will be appreciated only by those with a yen for offbeat and art cinema . It has been made by the maker of 'Lunchbox' and those who liked the earlier film may appreciate it .

Verdict---Decent .




Kesari

( orange colour of saffron ) March 2019



The movie is based on the battle of Saragarhi fought in 1897 , in which only 21 sikh soldiers of the 36th sikh regiment from British indian army chose to fight more than 10000 invading pathan tribals in defence of the fort they guarded . All 21 sikh soldiers died defending the fort , killing hundreds of marauding pathan irregulars before they were overrun .

Akshay Kumar plays hawildar Ishar Singh , who is commandant of the fort . He has been sent there because he disobeyed a direct order by his superior British officer to not interfere in the beheading of a pathan woman who was going to be killed because she had left her husband with whom she had been forcibly married . Ishar Singh saves the woman from being punished by the pathan tribal laws and angers the religious leader of the pathans . He declares jehad to avenge the insult to his authority . The whole situation regarding the pathan woman seems to be fictitious and not recorded history ; it seems to have been added to add colour to the story in an act of cinematic liberty .

Ishar Singh has been repeatedly insulted by his superior British officer that Indians are slaves because they are weak , so when the pathans attack the fort he claims to his soldiers that he has orders to evacuate the fort . They all refuse this as an insult to their profession , and choose to fight . This liberates them from British yoke in his eyes , for they have chosen to disobey orders . He then dons the kesari ( saffron ) turban signalling his steely will to sacrifice his life and prepares to fight . Before all this he has to discipline the men when he newly arrives to take command , because they are a disorderly bunch . This leads to some comic situations and some laughs . Ishar fondly remembers his wife ( Parineeti Chopra ) again and again as he is doing his job and there are some imagined moments of tenderness between them . Needless to say , all this is cinematic liberty taken by the director to add a touch of patriotism and romance to the situation . Luckily the kesari ( saffron ) turban is donned by a sikh in this case ; if it had been donned by a hindu the whole liberal/leftist lobby would have been up in arms against the movie !!!!!

The actual battle is well shown in the movie . The religious leader of pathans kills the woman who had brought on the confrontation by his sword in full view of the Sikhs . Hordes of pathans waving their flags and chanting their war cries attack the fort of saragarhi . They honk their war horns and beat their war drums . In response Ishar Singh beats his own drum and the Sikhs cry their own war cry---'Jo bole so Nihaal , Sat Sri Akal !!' They clash with rifles and guns and explosives till the final reckoning by hand to hand combat . When the sikh soldiers have finally laid down their lives taking scores of pathans with them , you do feel real emotion .

The movie has only one or two songs , which are good . Overall background music is good and so is photography . The colours are stark due to the stark landscape of the rugged north west frontier province . Acting is decent by everyone .

Verdict---Good .

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Hey Ash, I don't rep as often as I should on your reviews, but... daft question, do you know how to do the MoFo Popcorn ratings?
If you put them into the actual review, and tag the review when you post it, the Mods can add your reviews to the MoFo Reviews section and they'll go into the site's official page with your rating.


You do some really cool work in here, I'd hate to see it get glossed over by not being included in the official pages.



Just in case:


[rating]0[*/rating]
[rating]0.5[*/rating]
[rating]1[*/rating]
[rating]1.5[*/rating]
[rating]2[*/rating]
[rating]2.5[*/rating]
[rating]3[*/rating]
[rating]3.5[*/rating]
[rating]4[*/rating]
[rating]4.5[*/rating]
[rating]5[*/rating]


Just remove the * in that [*/rating] bracket and they turn into:















Yes I do the popcorn rating in my English movie review thread . I will have to discuss with the admin/mods if Bollywood movies are also acceptable to them in their reviews section .



Yes I do the popcorn rating in my English movie review thread . I will have to discuss with the admin/mods if Bollywood movies are also acceptable to them in their reviews section .


Don't see why they wouldn't be accepted, buddy. @Yoda ... sort something out for Ash? His reviews are pretty solid.
Be a shame to not have them in MoFo's pages.



Don't see why they wouldn't be accepted, buddy. @Yoda ... sort something out for Ash? His reviews are pretty solid.
Be a shame to not have them in MoFo's pages.
Thanks for the appreciation mate !! Praise like this keeps me going !!



I think you two have 18 pages of data to go through then (mwahahaha)
Ha, I just now tried to check out how many reviews Ash has, a lot! Maybe 150 or so that could be popcorn rated and tagged for official review submission. The more the better



I think you two have 18 pages of data to go through then (mwahahaha)
I will have to format them properly for getting tagged as reviews .



Ash, you might want to look for broken photo links and fix them while you're doing the popcorn ratings. I noticed a lot of my old reviews have missing photos, I'm slowly working on fixing that.



I gave up on the broken photobucket links on my thread tbh. I got like, 90,000 broken links to fix. Think I did about 14 image,s then gave up.
IMGUR is the way forward now if it makes any difference.



I gave up on the broken photobucket links on my thread tbh. I got like, 90,000 broken links to fix. Think I did about 14 image,s then gave up.
IMGUR is the way forward now if it makes any difference.
I have an IMGUR account, but learned long ago the easiest photo hosting is MoFo



well , i have started flagging reviews here . it's a mammoth task and i am going backwards from last so that the latest movies get flagged first . mods/admin---are you listening ?