Ashdoc's Bollywood movie reviews

Why? Wouldn't it increase their popularity and therefore make more people interested in them?

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

BA pass ( degree holder in arts ) 2013



I went to see this movie because the professional reviewers were going to town saying how good the movie is blah blah blah....

On the other hand I being part of the common public ( and you know what is the mindset of the public ) was frankly enticed by the prospect of seeing an experienced older woman deflower a young college going boy's virginity , at least on screen---a promise that was held out by what i had heard about the film.

A common comment made by young males about such adulterous ' aunties ' is---'' Where was she when I was in school ??!!!!! ''

Indeed , it is every young male's dream to meet such an ' aunty ' who will give uninhibited pleasure without attachment and take him to the gates of heavenly carnal bliss .

The movie blows away those dreams by exposing the dark underbelly of such dalliances with momentarily pleasure giving ' aunties ' and the hell that they can lead to....

So our hero Mukesh ( played by Shadab Kamal ) loses his parents and comes under the guardianship of his kindly aunt in Delhi where he pursues his BA ( bachelor of arts ) degree . He is only in first year of his BA course . His aunt's son does not like his presence however and there is constant friction between them . Besides this , his younger sisters are kept in a girl's hostel and Mukesh is their only protector .

And to his aunt's kitty parties comes the delicious ' aunty ' Sarika ( played by Shilpa Shukla ) , who constantly begins to invite Mukesh to her house for some pretext .

......And when Mukesh finally goes to her house , what happens next made me ask the same question asked by untold men when they hear about the escapades of such ' aunties ' ---'' Where was she when I was in school ??!!!! ''

.....For without further ado , Sarika takes Mukesh directly to bed and climbs on top of him and its '' Bang bang thank you young man ''.....
Mind you , hardly any foreplay.....
The sex is rough , direct and to the point .
And it happens again and again....

But before you start to think that at least one boy called Mukesh has unlocked the gates of heaven , reality comes hitting home....

.....For Sarika sends him to another such ' aunty ' who forces him by means of threats to unwillingly have sex with her.....

......And the price and prize of such sex---money showered on Mukesh in copious amounts.....
Mukesh has become nothing but a male prostitute---a gigolo !!
He is now nothing but a piece of meat to be used and abused by other older women who devour such young boys .

But fate has yet to strike its cruelest blow....
When Mukesh comes to Sarika's house to safekeep the money he has earnt by peddling his body to women , Sarika's husband walks in only to see the horrific scene of his wife in bed with this boy....

From then on is the path to catastrophe as things go from bad to worse to hellish in Mukesh's life.....

The movie is dark and nightmarish and likely to put you into the dispair of depression.....

Amongst all this depression Mukesh is aware that he has to also fend for his younger sisters---who are themselves under threat of being trafficked into the den of prostitution.....

To save them Mukesh is ready to go to any lengths , any.....

And the lengths Mukesh goes to save his sisters makes some really bad viewing....

To be honest , some of the audience was in titters as Mukesh goes into the depths of depravity to earn some money....
......But I was not enjoying seeing these parts at all.....

Mukesh's only friend in these times is a chess player named Johnney.....His only beacon of hope....

So can Mukesh survive with the help of Johnney ?? And what about his sisters ?? Can he save them too ??
Watch the movie for that...

Or dont watch maybe.... For this is the kind of movie that can put you in a really bad mood after watching it.....

The director creates a world of scheming lust filled older women and pimps and prostitutes and shady characters and fear of the law.....and the insight of this world fills you with foreboding.....
You feel relived that you dont belong to THAT part of town but also ashamed that you lead comparitively secure lives while not caring about others who suffering.....

.....And the plight of those who suffer is mot something that you would like to watch....

Verdict---Dark and depressing ; not recommended .

Sidenote---All those professional reviewers are saying the movie is good because it has a ' arty ' feel to it . There is something in it for the art movie lovers .
But I am not such a highfundoo person , so please forgive me....

Aandhi (The storm ) 1973



Saw this movie on DVD recently , but have already seen it so many times before....and would like to see it again !!
It is based on the life of Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi , and the hoardings of the movie when it was publicized openly promised ' Watch Indira Gandhi in Aandhi !! '
In real life Prime minister Indira Gandhi had a love marriage against her father's will , and married Phiroze Gandhi . But the lure of politics drove her away from her husband , and one day she walked away from him with her children....

Actress Suchitra Sen plays the role of Indira Gandhi , and like Indira she too is involved in her father's politics . Her father has big political ambitions for her , but they all are shattered when she falls in love with a commoner !! The commoner is played by the redoubtable Sanjeev Kumar , who is a hotel manager by profession . Her stern father opposes the marriage , saying that falling in love and marrying for love are things done only by the middle class ; upper class ladies like her should not fall prey to emotions of the common man....

But Suchitra is young and in love....and gets locked into holy matrimony with Sanjeev . They have a daughter together , and are seemingly headed towards marital bliss....
But destiny and her own nature have different plans for Suchitra . After having lived the heady life of a wannabe politician , she finds the humdrum of family life too tedious and begins to get bored . She is after all the scion of a powerful political family , and fate has huge plans for her....

Her husband would like her to settle down as a normal wife , but her upbringing draws her naturally to politics . He , a non politico , cannot bring himself to understand her desire to become part of a profession for which she has an inborn genetic flair . One thing he knows , and that is---that he loves her deeply....and cannot imagine life without her . But her father calls upon Suchitra to rejoin politics , for he knows that she has in her the makings of a fabulous politician .

Caught between her husband and her father , Suchitra one day takes a momentous decision---she decides to leave her husband....but unlike Indira Gandhi in real life , Suchitra also abandons her daughter to the care of her husband !! The young woman who was once in love with a man now becomes a cold calculating politician , and all is fair in love and war and also in politics---including abandoning your family for political ambitions .

Suchitra's husband Sanjeev is shattered , and retreats away from his city and her life---not to be heard of for years....
The daughter he sends to a boarding school . The common public and press do not know about Suchitra's husband and child , and she climbs the high ladder of national politics .

Years later , Suchitra has become a famous political figure with a mass following . She has also grown middle aged . One day she goes for electoral campaigning in a remote corner of India , and checks a hotel there....only to come face to face with the manager of the hotel---Sanjeev !! And she cannot keep her hands off him , and she cannot hide her emotions for him---especially because he has not remarried and has waited for her all these years !! And this leads to secret rendezvous in lonely places where they go on outings at midnight , and leads to romantic moments in the moonlight....

But the opposition parties are getting wind of her romantic meetings with this mysterious man , and gossip is on that the great national leader has abandoned her duties towards the nation and is having an affair with this man in her middle age . A scandal is brewing....or is it an 'aandhi' ( storm ) , albeit a political one....?? Many people want to know the answer....

So what will happen to Suchitra's political career ?? Will she leave politics , or can politics ever leave her ?? What will happen to her relations with her husband and child , and what about the fact that the lay public has not heard about them both ??
Watch the movie for the answers....

This film , embellished with many emotional moments , remains a classic for all times to come . The acting performances by both Suchitra and Sanjeev are just about perfect , and a poignant touch is added by the daughter never being shown in the movie.....one just yearns to see her in person....
Their venerable servant ( played by A K Hangal ) who has left Suchitra's father to take care of Sanjeev and her daughter , adds his own touch to the movie by some great acting . Suchitra's political advisor ( played by Om Prakash ) plays the crafty politico to the core .

The music is such that even now after so many years the music channels keep on repeating the movie's songs on TV ; suffice to say that it is sheer magic , and today's songs and music sound so shallow in comparison to it .

Indira Gandhi got the film banned in it's 13th week after release by court order. But later the courts realised that they were preventing the public from seeing a great film , and today it can be seen in all it's glory on DVD .

Verdict---fabulous .
Four and a half stars .

Kuch kuch locha hai ( Some trouble is brewing ) may 2015



Sunny Leone ( Indo-Canadian porn star )....I would go miles to see any movie of hers....
The fact that she is totally uninhibited in her body exposure gives her the edge over other heroines , and not only she has a delicious body but she is also genuinely goodlooking .

And like me , others are crazy about Sunny too....one of them being Ram Kapoor , who plays a gujarati patel living in malaysia . He wins a contest to date Sunny , and to him it is like a dream come true....
To add to his cup of joys , Sunny wants to live with his family in order to get a taste of gujarati life because she is going to play a gujarati in a film .

But complications arise as Ram has already claimed to be unmarried and living with old parents , though actually he has a wife and a grown up son . So the wife has to be packed off and the son and his girlfriend ( Evelyn Sharma ) have to dress up as his parents .

The first half is boring and Ram Kapoor hams repeatedly . The second half is better , as some laughs arise when Sunny arrives at his house and the son and his girlfriend try to pose as old parents . Ram's friend Mehul Buch arrives too , and gives some real entertainment posing as a lecherous old man who cannot keep his hands off Sunny and repeatedly keeps on wringing them in front of her trying to reach her .

Evelyn Sharma looks sexy , in blue bikini showing off her stunning figure . But the star of the show is Sunny , and her charms are on fully display in the movie . She undresses in front of everyone in a scene , and she plays seductress in a flaming red saree that just scorches the senses as she dances in a sexy song made famous already by Dimple Kapadia in the film 'Sagar' . Always wearing hot clothes , she gives you what you came for---real titillation .

But sadly , there is little else in the movie . The jokes and comedy are good only in certain scenes of Mehul Buch and the son and Evelyn posing as old people , while Ram Kapoor utterly fails to look funny inspite of trying hard---a little too hard perhaps . One wonders why this fatso has such a importance in the television and film industry even though he cannot keep his weight under control .

Music is okay however . Once again I went on pilgrimage to see the sex goddess Sunny Leone and got my quota of titillation . That quota is gonna last me many nights . Your satisfaction will depend on how much you are a devotee of the sex goddess . If you are not , or are plainly envious of her ( like many women are ) then you can safely give the movie a miss .

Verdict---Bad .
one and a half star , extra half star is due to sunny .

Piku ( motion sey hee emotion ) [ Piku ( name of the heroine ) the emotion is in the motion] May 2015



After all the praise and hype I had heard about the movie , the experience was underwhelming....
Worse , P Jani/Jagmohan ( a blogger like myself who writes movie reviews on the internet using various IDs ) revealed the ending in his review , and I already knew what was going to happen....no surprises were in store for me as the movie progressed . That further reduced my enjoyment of the movie . Had I not known the ending , I would have certainly felt some emotion at what happened at the end of the movie . And that would have made me like the movie more . This P Jani talks too much on the internet....is he like the character of Amitabh in Piku ??

For Amitabh talks too much too---does not care about the other persons feelings....diplomacy is not his forte , not by a long way....
He openly chides the owner of the taxi company from whom he has hired a taxi ( Irfan Khan ) about having put his father on ventilator on doctor's advice , claiming that it causes suffering for the patient . He deliberately tells suitors of his daughter named Piku that his daughter has slept with men and that she is not a virgin . And he is talking about his bowel movements for all the hours he is awake....no not 24 hours like I was tempted to call it , for he must be sleeping some of the time....

To all those reviewers who have been saying that piku's dialogues are like everyday conversation , how many old men ( however eccentric and modern they are ) talk about their daughter's sex life like this so openly ?? And some people's lives do centre around bowel movements , but how many of them talk nothing else ?? Not too many....

The daughter ( Deepika Padukone ) is supposed to be eccentric too , judging from the fact that Irfan's taxi drivers are reluctant to drive her to work . But the fact that she puts up with her father's oddities and loves him inspite of them , makes her character more endearing . Or is supposed to make it more endearing . Whatever...

Deepika is supposed to be this liberated female , empowered and all that---but all that is happening because she is cushioned by her father's money , lives in a big house , has slave like servants and yes men ( yes, even Delhi men are reduced to yes men in the movie ) at her beck and call , and has drivers drive her to work ( forget travelling by public transport , she does not even like to drive her own car ).....with such comforts , empowerment is easy....

So this old coot and his goodlooking daughter decide to go to Calcutta from Delhi by private taxi , and because Irfan's drivers refuse to drive them , it is upto Irfan to drive them all the way---a task that he is only too willing to do , since he is shamelessly attracted to Deepika....

So he refuses to drive till Deepika sits besides him , and then the journey starts....interspersed by endless yak yak about constipation and consistency of stools and all that . Amitabh carries a chair with a hole in it for the bowel programme , until Irfan teaches him a novel method of going to latrine---that of sitting 'Indian style' on a western commode....

The talk about colour of stools and frequency of going to WC between the three was so much that I felt that at some point I would be able to smell the smell of Amitabh's excreta in the theatre---fortunately that didn't happen....
And the talk was giving some entertainment to me as well as the audience , as was the chemistry between Irfan and Deepika .

There are some genuine moments when the affection between Amitabh and Deepika is brought out , and some fun is created by the bowel habits of Amitabh . You do go into a relaxed state where you like the flow of the film and wish the journey from Delhi to Calcutta would never end....

There are other liberated women in the movie too , like Maushami Chatterjee who has had three marriages and jokingly asks Irfan for a fourth...
It is the ending that really delivers on the emotional part , and the emotion is towards the climax and not in the motion ( whether loose or hard ) as the movie's title suggests....

Music is good , songs are truly hummable ( though all of them are in the background and not shown to be sung by the characters , in tune with the 'realistic' touch of the movie ) and photography is good too---of course, good photography is part of all films nowadays . Acting by everyone is great , but Amitabh is still the best...

The audience in the theatre was liking the film even more than I did , and I can sense a money spinner at the box office . Even I did get some entertainment and was glad to have seen it .

Verdict--decent .
Three stars .

What's a gujarati patel?

The other film sounds like it could be a British comedy/drama.

__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.

patels are the dominant business caste of the indian state of gujarat . nowadays they have become an extremely rich community due to their proficiency in business .

today they are in some numbers in the USA . read about them---

http://www.dailywealth.com/50/how-pa...ated-us-motels

http://www.firstpost.com/world/how-t...ls-299287.html

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2...otel-industry/

I might guess based on projections of long run economic trends that Indian film will displace Hollywood as the largest film industry in the world in 40 years or so.

So many films I have never heard of, I think that when I became bored of animation I might change focus into Indian films for a while.

yes it might . after all , this year india has even outmatched china's performance in economic growth to become a best performing economy among the bigger economies .

but some of bollywood's films and scenes in other original films are copied from hollywood . will it be able to become more original as it gets bigger or will continue to play second fiddle to hollywood---that is the bigger question .

Veer ( Brave )2010



the audience was laughing and making jokes on the film throughout,so laughable was the film.

salman khan's antics were nothing short of pathetic ,and his acting ,or what goes for it ---unwatchable.

newcomer zarine khan ,lookalike of kats baby( salman's ex girlfriend katrina kaif ) ,whom sallu has brought in the film to spite katrina ( which means their affair is truely over ) ,is hardly as goodlooking as the original - she's chubby compared to kats .

sallu ( salman khan ) is a pindhara.

now what is pindhara ?

the pindharis were ancillaries of the maratha ( a hindu caste ) armies when they ruled over malwa region of india and lorded it over rajputana ( another region of india ) ,who used to follow the main army and utterly ruin the countryside in their wake, leaving behind heaps of corpses.

when the marathas were finally defeated by the british ,the pindharis were crushed in a brutal war.

just because they fought against the british , in the film this bunch of locusts have been glorified into a tribe of freedom fighters.

the british of course are magnified in the film as cruel and brutal ........as is the trend in bollywood nowadays ........the reason being obvious .........the british were one bunch of foreign conquerors who well and truely left the country leaving no minority behind to take care of their ' interests '..........so the film-makers who have no guts to show the barbarity of the muslims ( as they are scared of that HUGE minority ) greatly magnify the british as super-tyrannical rulers and show them as villains hell bent on destroying india. this is truely unjust to the british , for they were the most civilized of india's various rulers down the ages and were responsible for bringing the modern age to india . but because today's india has no british minority and very few british descended voters or audience members , it is considered politically acceptable to vilify and demonize the british because no one is going to protest against this .

coming back to the film.......sallus father ( mithun ) has taken a oath to destroy the british and the rajput ruler who supported them in destroying the pindharis ( jackie shroff ).

he sends his son sallu to britain to learn the ways of the 'firangees '( whites were called as firangees in those days by indians ) .

predictibly sallu falls in love with the daughter of jackie who is also studying there.

after many stupid twists and nonsensical turns ,sallu manages to bring about his real goal --to make the rajputs realise that all indians ,whether rajput or pindhara ,must unite against the white man to drive him out of the country...........

verdict---laughable.

half star rating out of five .

Welcome to Karachi ( May 2015 )



Pakistan---a land bristling with guns of all calibre....
Where it is easier to get your hands on bullets than it is to get life saving medicines....
Where the boom of gunfire and explosions of bombs are easier to be heard than the celebrations of firecrackers.....
Where a happy event like a marriage is heralded by fire from automatic rifles....
Where every Tom Diick and Harry is in possession of a deadly weapon.....
Where children are taught to play with guns rather than toys since childhood....
Where rocket launchers and Stinger missiles are available like vegetables on the market....
Where having a kalashnikov like an AK 47 is considered necessary for sheer survival....
Where Americans play deadly cat and mouse games with the barbaric taliban and the murderous ISI....
Where drones attack militants from the air picking them off one by one....
Where the pathans are in hate filled rivalry with the mohajirs and the baluch lust for the blood of the punjabis....
Where minorities like hindus and sikhs have long been ethnically cleansed to near extinction....
A land prowled by thugs and thieves and terrorists and murderers....
A where suicide bombers are a dime a dozen....
The most dangerous country on earth....

And the most dangerous place in the most dangerous country is the port city of Karachi....
Where rival gangs play deadly games of death....
Where treading on the territory of another community ( like a mohajir going into pathan territory ) is tantamount to be given the death sentence....
Where every few days a massacre of innocents ( is anyone in pakistan innocent really ? ) is unleashed....
Where anti India anti west and anti Israel hatred is a mark of citizenship....
Where roadside and drawing room conversations discuss whom ( India or the west or Israel ) to nuke first....
Where kidnapping is a regular pastime....
Where wolves in the shape of human beings roam the streets searching for prey...

It is remarkable that Bollywood has so far kept mum on the unspeakable horrors that inhabit Pakistan---proof of the hold that the islamic mafia of Dawood Ibrahim ( based in Karachi what else ) has on the hindi film industry....

But one day someone is going to show the truth on celluloid....and that day has arrived....
At least Vashu Bhagnani has the guts to call a spade a spade and show the reality of Pakistan , though it is shown in a comic manner....

And the comedy starts when two dumbos ( Jacky Bhagnani and Arshad Warsi ) are washed off the shore of Karachi when their ship coming from India gets swept away in a storm....
Their arrival is heralded by a huge bomb explosion and the name of the film 'Welcome to Karachi' explodes into view through the smoke ; and such a spectacularly explosive welcome sets the tone for the rest of the film....
For throughout the rest of the film the two are seen only dodging bullets and rockets and bombs when they are not firing them....
And they are caught continuously in the crosshairs of warlords and criminals and terrorists and goons and politicians and whatnot....

The two Indians first try to hide their identity ( being identified as Indian brings certain death in Pakistan ) , then hunger takes over and they search for food....but the food packet they steal contains a pistol ( what else did you expect in Pakistan---food !!?? ) and that pistol leads then to a baluch gang....from here straight to the Afghan border to get training for jihad ( training for jihad is like training for school exams in Pakistan---every self respecting Pakistani has to do it )....then some more bomb explosions ( these explosions happen every few minutes in the movie ) ....then being caught in the crosshairs of americans after being chased by unmanned drones flying in the air....but the americans have no use for them and they are set free like a pack of wild dogs to try to reach their destination....

And their destination is their motherland India what else....
But you feel no sadness for the plight of the two---for their antics and those of the Pakistanis around them are enough to keep you in splits throughout the movie....
Jacky Bhagnani wins the dumbness contest by a fair margin , cheering for India in cricket matches in front of Pakistanis almost inviting their wrath , asking for vegetarian food ( he is a vegetarian of the gujarati Patel community ) thus revealing his hindu ( being hindu is unofficially a crime in Pakistan ) identity , and depending on Arshad Warsi for everything....not that Arshad Warsi is far behind in dumbness , as he shows by abusing pathan sportsman Shahid Afridi in front of pathans and nearly getting killed in the process....

In the midst of all this the dumb duo start rounds of gunfire between rival embassies of enemy countries due to their foolishness , give birth to a pregnant woman's baby with help of vaccum cleaner , dance with half naked girls in parties ( a Bollywood must , even when located in Pakistan ) , and save passengers who are about to be killed by the eternal scourge of Pakistan---terrorists....
And they never lose their cool or their hope or their zest for life....and give us entertainment by raising laughs in every situation....

In the end it becomes a little too tiresome---the stupidness of the antics , the jokes in the movie ; but what really tires you out is the endless violence in Pakistan !!
But before that tires you out , you get to see some funny situations and some mindless entertainment....
All frivolous but keeping you engaged....
The songs and music and cinematography is nothing special , but acting is good by everyone...
The Pakistanis in the film never look menacing inspite of all the machinery of destruction they carry , and some characters like the mullah Nasrullah who is leader of the taliban are really funny...
And the women in the film are beautiful , like they really are in Pakistan---one good point about their country....

The liberal lobby of reviewers of various media houses have been howling against the film because it shows the truth about Pakistan , and knowing their credentials I decided that if they are howling so much against the film then I must watch it....and so I had my little dose of fun...

So why don't you show the middle finger to the hypocrites by watching the film....

Verdict---decent .
Three stars .

Lootera ( Stealer---of the heart )



Women in the movies---why dont women in real life resemble their personas....??

In the movies its the women who on many occasions take the lead in wooing and pursuing love , and they fall in love so deeply that they never stop loving.....

That's what Sonakshi Sinha does---fall in love and never really stop loving even though the man she loves does not deserve it.....

Now why haven't I met such a woman in real life ??

LOOTERA---The title of the movie is fully justified....

The hero ( Ranveer Kapoor ) is not only a lootera of the heart but a real one....

And Sonakshi is the daughter of a zamindar ( landlord )who has lived a pampered life with her every demand being met by her indulgent father , and who falls in love with a guy who is a charlatan.....

He comes with his suave charm and smashing looks and sweeps her off her feet to the point that she goes to bed with him.....

And he falls in love too , but cannot go against those who control him and ditches her leaving her father devastated and dead.....

To question again---why haven't I met such women in real life ??

Because Sonakshi continues to love him deep inside even though she is angry and hurt that he did what he did to her father.....or so it seems from what happens in the movie....

And of course , their paths are destined to cross once more---don't they always do in the movies....

Only this time , he is getting payback for his sins and needs a safe haven to survive....

So does Sonakshi give him the safe haven he requires ??

And what happens to their love story ?? How does it end ??

Go and watch the movie to find that out....

The film has a depressing hang to it , and the mood of the movie throughout is dark and sombre....

Of course , the era of the fifties is well captured on celluloid and photography is good....

But the movie moves at slow pace as if to complement that slow paced era , and the events that occur seem to go from bad to worse....

The action , when it comes does little to lift the film's mood and in fact fills you with melancholy.....

.....For if there is justice in the world ( and there is , at least in the movies ) then the lootera will get his comeuppance for his deeds....

But the problem is , the lootera is also the hero !!

Sonakshi has acted really well and has put a convincing performance even though it was difficult to portray a woman who loves a person who has destroyed her life---how can you love such a person ?? But she alternates between loving and loathing him and does convince us of the authenticity of her emotions....

And Ranveer---this was the first film I saw of him....
He may have the looks but does he have the voice ?? In my opinion at least his voice is somewhat on the weaker side....

In fact I liked the voice of his sidekick more because he mimicked Dev Anand perfectly---yeah its the fifties and Dev Anand was such huge film star then....

The film starts off in Bengal and ends in Dalhousie in the himalayas , but it never picks up pace....

The perfectionists among movie fans may however find something to admire in it as the moviemaking style of the director spells class....

The music and background score is something to be admired too---especially the haunting violin music that plays at poignant moments of romance between the couple....

But to me at least , the class of the movie didn't make up for what it lacked in content....

Verdict---not good .

Tanu weds Manu returns ( Tanu weds Manu---part 2 ) June 2015



The movie rests fairly and squarely of Kangana Ranaut's power packed performance....while in one avtar ( that of an england returned mod babe who has the chutzpah to divorce her husband on the flimsiest of reasons ) she displays a bold personality who wears temperature raising backless blouses and openly flirts with young men , in the other avtar ( that of a earthy girl from haryana who speaks in a rural accent and has come to delhi to train as an athlete ) she plays an outspoken and gutsy and good hearted person who has the guts to defy her backward family to fall in love....

....And you can only say that may the best of the two kangana's win the race for the best acting performance---for it is difficult to choose between the two , though the heart beats for the rural kangana who displays a bravery and a large heartedness that wins your heart....and she wins the heart of the hero ( madhavan ) too at least for a while....

Madhavan has been divorced from Tanu ( the england returned kangana ) and comes to delhi only to fall in love with this haryanvi girl ( datto ) who looks largely the same---except for the cut hair and the buck toothed appearance....
And wedding bells are about to ring for the two , for datto has the courage to fight with her family and villagers to win her love....and has the ability to triumph over their opposition....

And all this while what has tanu ( the england returned kangana ) been doing ?? well , she has been painting the town red with available guys including her old flames....
But who is going to tell tanu that divorce over trivial reasons is not done , and ultimately she must go back to her husband for she has not really gotten over him and in fact never will....and who is going to tell madhavan that his love for datto is nothing but his longing for his wife , for why has he chosen a girl who looks the same....who ??

In the midst of this , the other guys tanu has been flirting ( played by jimmy shergill and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub ) with have got themselves into a heart losing situation with a tanu that they do not deserve , and datto has got her self into a heart breaking situation over a manu ( madhavan ) whom she will not get....
And such is kangana's acting that your heart goes out to datto....and if you are a guy ( like i am ) you want someone like datto to be in your life---someone who stands upto her ideals , and has the daring to fight the whole world for her lover....

I wish the movie was about only this , and it would have been a fine movie indeed....but the director crams a lot of corny situations and corny characters ( played by swara bhaskar and deepak dobriyal and eijaz khan ) and stupid incidents into the movie....and a lot of time is wasted in this nonsense....
Some parts of the movie are like a farce , and I am not a fan of farcical situations....

To me the best parts of the movie were when datto was around for they were memorably emotional , and I especially liked the ' old school girl ' english song that she sings in a haryanvi accent---been listening to it again and again and can't seem to let it go...

Rest of the movie does not match up , but it can still be watched for kangana as datto , or even as tanu....

Music is decent , and acting is the strong point of the movie---for it is good by everyone....
No great locations are filmed , and photography is only so so....does not seem like a big budget movie....

Okay for watching once....

Verdict---Decent .
Three stars .

I particularly liked this english song from the above movie sung in the accent of a rural dialect of north india called 'haryanvi' .

Ragini MMS part 2



Sunny Leone has come of age---finally !!....I mean , as a star....
Bodily she had come of age a long time ago ( he he )...and how !!

But now she gets to showcase all her delicious curves and her alluring charms as a heroine in a film that comes in the decent-to-good category , unlike ' Jism 2 ' and ' Jackpot ' which failed and the better made ' Shootout at wadala ' where she just had an item song .

And Sunny does what she does best---all the oohs and aahs in bed are done with the mastery of practice , and the wild embraces and the passionate scenes are enacted with the consummate ease of a professional.....

But Ragini MMS 2 is more than just soft porn---it's a combination of horror and sex and comedy that is nothing more than frivolous but does it's job of delivering entertainment neatly .

And you get regular doses of all---the ghost gives us the jolts and the chills every now and then , Sunny delivers on the sex part , but the surprise package is the acting of Parvin Dabas , Karan Taluja and Sandhya Mridul ( I hope I have got the names of the actors right ) who keep us in splits with their funny one liners....

Yeah , Parvin Dabas plays the role of Rocks who decides to make a film on what happened in the film Ragini MMS part 1 by taking Sunny Leone ( playing herself ) as heroine . And he is convinced by the writer of the film ( played by Saahil Prem ) to film it in the same haunted house where the earlier drama happened .

This Saahil Prem plays the role of hero but it is Parvin Dabas who entertains more....
....For Parvin is loud , leery and over the top . He openly makes sexual advances towards Sunny without any encumbrances---and that is exactly what we want . For Sunny Leone is no vestal virgin is she....
Above all Parvin's acting is comedy and keeps us laughing .

Ditto for Karan Taluja and Sandhya Mridul . Karan Taluja is funny as hell , a sex predator without inhibitions , and his one liners are a treat to listen to . Watch the scene where he amorously rushes into a lake wanting to have sex with Sunny ( Sunny Leone not actor Sunny Deol ) and saying in Dharmendra's ( Sunny Deol's father ) voice ' Sunny , come to papa....'' !

Sandhya has her eye on Rocks whom she wants to take to the casting couch to further her career and speaks perfect broken english---perfect to make us laugh though it is broken....
But she gets something even better than to bed the loudmouth Rocks ( Parvin Dabas ).....She gets to kiss Sunny Leone in person---only the third female to female kiss in hindi cinema ( hoping to see more in the years to come )....

In contrast to Karan Taluja and Parvin Dabas who make no bones about their desire to bed Sunny Leone ( Karan even brings out a pack of Manforce condoms made by Mankind company , presumably advertising for them ) , the hero played by Saahil Prem walks with a distressed expression throughout the film . His acting---I didn't like it . Looks like hypocrite by pretending to not like Sunny at the beginning---must be out of his mind to not like her....

And as the shooting of the film starts , the ghost slowly starts to make its appearance felt among all these all these people---and it makes it's presence clearly felt by killing them one by one . But the audience was giggling sneering and sniggering at the horror scenes for the film is more funny and sexy than fearsome....

Music ( these are only three songs ) is good enough though not great .
The film itself can by no stretch of imagination be called great . Nor is Sunny Leone ever going to crave a niche for herself as a great actress . But both the film and Sunny give us what we want---some entertainment ,some titillation .

Verdict---Good entertainment .
Three and a half stars .

Hamari adhuri kahani ( Our unfinished story ) June 2015



The film has been hyped to be be a semi autobiographical film based on the relationship between famous director Mahesh Bhatt's mother ( who was second wife of his father ) and his father and stepmother . But I frankly could not understand where the similarities between the film's story and Mahesh's real life story are to be found . It has been directed by Mahesh's nephew Mohit Suri presumably with inputs from Bhatt .

The similarities between Mahesh's real life story and the film can't be easily found because instead of one man having two women ( like Mahesh's father had , which is a commonplace occurance ) the film shows a woman having two men , or rather caught between the two .

Vidya Balan has been brought up in a hyper conservative family which forces daughters to marry husbands selected by their fathers without the daughter having a say in her marriage . So Vidya is married off to Rajkumar Rao , who himself is a fundamentalist and gets his name tattooed forcibly on Vidya's arm . But after a few years he is kidnapped by militants in the remote jungle area of Bastar and has his name falsely implicated in a murder case with the police while he is kept as a prisoner by the militants . Clinging to the ancient customs and traditions of the land , Vidya remains waiting for him along with her son instead of finding a man for herself as advised by her feisty and outspoken mother in law.

But her work as a florist comes to the attention of Emraan Hashmi ( who plays a big businessman who owns many hotels across the globe) due to their shared love for the same lilies . The reason for the attention---Vidya and her son's story is similar to that of him and his mother....and Emraan finds an emotional connect with Vidya . And he soon proposes to her , introducing her to his mother who coaxes Vidya to fall in love....

The lilies....sorry roses have just begun to bloom in Vidya's life when her husband makes his reappearance , and even though he is an innocent man falsely framed in a police case he behaves as a villain by refusing to accept Vidya's relationship with Emraan and harking to the ancient asiatic traditions which keep women bound forever to men in the backward east .

So what will happen to Vidya's romance with Emraan ?? Will love triumph over the odds ?? Can Vidya break the ancient shackles of tradition to reunite with her love ?? Or , as the movie's title suggests the story will remain unfinished waiting perhaps for a part two ?? What will her long lost husband do to stop her relationship ??
The movie has some interesting answers in true Mahesh Bhatt style....

While watching the movie I did feel that the director sure had the ambition of making an ambitious movie which would take us on an emotional roller coaster ride while raking up the issues of women's rights and the fallacy of holding on to useless outmoded customs and traditions . The combo of Mahesh Bhatt and Mohit Suri wanted to make a film that cries out against the injustice of it all....

Sadly , the women in the audience who were obviously being targeted for gaining their sympathy were not feeling any sympathy while much of the movie was happening....
Instead , the women were openly sniggering at some of the scenes and dialogues of the film , for they seemed so cliched and staged rather than spontaneous . Some of the male characters seemed excessively regressive in order the make them appear villainous .

But the director Mohit Suri was rentlessly persistent in his attempts to give an emotional touch to the movie and he finally silenced the sniggers with a fine climax that really finished the unfinished story and gave us the 'Mahesh Bhatt touch'---something that I had come to see in the movie . I was able to return home with some satisfaction on my face , for what is a Mahesh Bhatt backed film without a complex twist in relationships that crosses the line of the ordinary---something that I got to see in the end of the film .

Problem is , the first part of the film was without the intensity expected ; where was the depth of the emotion called love that was supposed to exist between Emraan and Vidya---it was not present . The dialogues seemed shallow and the audience was not able to empathize with the happenings in the story.
It was with the entry of Rajkumar Rao that the story got real impetus , and the audience was able to connect with the movie .

Of course , the director was nothing if not rentlessly persistent and the level of sacrifice to which Vidya goes for her husband Rajkumar Rao and the extent to which Emraan goes for helping Vidya and the fact that Rajkumar Rao is forced to admit the reality of the relationship between Emraan and Vidya in a most curious manner does take the film to a certain level....

Acting not really special by anyone , though no one was bad . Photography was okay , but not great either . But music was decent and songs were really hummable.

The film has many flaws , especially the fact that many characters seemed unnecessarily orthodox for educated and urbane people . It seemed that the orthodoxy was deliberately staged in order to try to make a compelling tale of a much wronged woman . But in the end I got what I wanted , a coherent ending to a complex and twisted tale . That the ending came in a beautiful field of Emraan's and Vidya's favourite lilies in the middle of nowhere made it all the more palatable....

Verdict---Decent .
Two and a half stars .

Dil dhadakne do ( Let the heart beat ) june 2015



The setting of this movie is among the upper class punjabis who dominate Delhi's elite . Anil Kapoor plays a self made businessman who never forgets to trumpet that he is self made . Shefali Shah plays his much suffering wife .

These elite probably consider themselves as the ones who are bringing India into the 21st century , but actually their morality is more like that of westerners in the first quarter of the 20th century . So the marriage between Anil Kapoor and his wife may not be going well , but divorce is out of question . They have to put up appearances of happy marriage for show purposes , though Shefali's friends make snide remarks behind the back as they know the truth...

Similarly , women are allowed to wear partially exposing clothes ( sshh no bikinis though !! ) but sex before marriage is not really appreciated .
And even the new generation cannot divorce....their daughter Priyanka Chopra's marriage with Rahul bose may be on the rocks , but she is firmly told that no one in the family has ever divorced....
Indeed her childhood romance with the son ( Farhan Akhtar ) of the business manager of the family has been broken by sending him abroad for studies , as he was not considered equal in status .

And the son ( Ranveer Singh ) is also a commodity to be sacrificed on the altar of the well being of business . His marriage is sought to be fixed with a beautiful girl ( Ridhima Sood ) who is daughter of a financial magnate as Anil Kapoor's business is in debt , even though Ridhima has begun to like the son of her father's business rival...

But the younger generation has different ideas and they want to lead their lives differently . So Priyanka is secretly hell bent on divorce and wants to reunite with her past love . Ranveer is destined to fall in love with a muslim hailing from Birmingham in England ( Anushka Sharma )---a quick search on the net revealed that Birmingham has a large muslim population that is 74 % Pakistani....aha !! so the Pakistani angle is ever present as always to keep the audiences in the neighbouring country interested....
Ridhima does not want to marry Ranveer....

And all the characters are invited to a fabulous cruise off Istanbul in Turkey to celebrate the lead couple's anniversary . And what does happen on the cruise ship ?? The younger generation is going to rebel , what else...
But how are they going to rebel ?? Watch the movie for that...

Of all the ladies in the movie Anushka Sharma ( who plays a dancer on the cruise ship ) looked the most divine , especially when she swam like nymph in the swimming pool wearing swimsuit . Acting wise Priyanka Chopra expressions are superb . Anil Kapoor acts every inch like a business magnate.

The movie does have some interesting moments and some entertainment , really . The twists and turns in the story mean that the party is spoiled for the older generation characters of the movie as some uncomfortable truths come out , but it is all for the better in the end . Photography is good too like it is always nowadays . Music is okay and songs are okay too . The movie will be appreciated by people in the cities and big towns , while rural folk will find the movie's setting a world apart from them...

Verdict---good .
Three stars .

Rang de basanti ( Colour this spring ) 2006



'Mohe Rang de basanti' was a poem sung by some of the most heroic fighters who laid their lives in India's struggle for independence against British rule . It means ' Lets us give colour to this spring with the colour of sacrifice ' .

In Britain one young woman named Sue is struck by the diary written by her ancestor , who was a British officer involved in suppressing the uprising against the British rule in India and had seen the deaths of the Indian heroes at first hand . She is particularly engrossed by one line in the diary , which says that her ancestor had seen two types of people dying---those who died without saying anything , and those who died begging for their lives ; but the Indian revolutionaries had died a third type of death---smiling and laughing without a care in the world . Sue is so interested in researching the lives of these young revolutionaries that she learns Indian language hindi and contacts an Indian young woman ( Soha Ali Khan ) and flies down to India to film a documentary on the revolutionaries .

But it is not easy to find actors for the roles in the documentary until Sue chances upon Soha's group of friends---who are led by a guy named DJ ( Amir Khan ) .These happy go lucky characters who live life without a care in the world and are always horsing about and dancing and having rowdy fun seem to be the ideal people to play the roles of revolutionaries who had died with laughter in their eyes and a smile upon their lips...

At first the filming of the documentary is not easy as the group finds it difficult to bring on the seriousness to their roles because they are fun loving rowdy guys and like to take life easy . But gradually as the filming progresses the group realises the depth of the sacrifice of the original freedom fighters and begin to fit their roles . Sue sees before her own eyes the transformation of a group of carefree individuals getting inspired by the freedom struggle of a bygone era and sinking neatly in their roles . And the roles change their carefree outlook towards life ; they begin to become modern day revolutionaries , but since the British have long left , they are without a cause...

But where their are rebels , their is a cause....and a cause does come along .
Already the young men have begun debating as to what has changed since the country's independence happened ; and the answer is nothing---the British have been replaced by corrupt rulers who do nothing for the country but are busy filling their own pockets with money . But a dramatic twist occurs in their lives as Soha's boyfriend Madhavan who is an ace fighter pilot in the Indian air force is killed in an air crash .The plane in which he was flying was made by faulty parts bought by a corrupt defence minister who bought cheap bad quality spare parts while pocketing most of the money meant to buy good quality spare parts .

But the government declares Madhavan to be a bad pilot who flew irresponsibly thus tarnishing his good name ; it tries to hide the true culprits behind Madhavan's death because they form part of the government . When Madhavan's friends and his girlfriend Soha and his mother and our young group try to organize candle light marches in protest , the government sends heavily armed police who brutally beat the group and send Madhavan's mother to almost her death by the injuries sustained . What the government does not know is that they have handed the young rebels ( who were hanging without a cause until now ) a real cause for revolution....

The young new era revolutionaries inspired by the roles of the British era revolutionaries they have played in Sue's documentary now decide to assassinate the corrupt defence minister who was responsible for death of their fighter pilot friend . But after they succeed in assassinating him , the government which cannot track the killers claims that the defence minister was killed by terrorists and declares him a great hero who died fighting against terrorism !!

It is clear that even if the young men decide to surrender before the police to let the common man know the truth , the government will suppress it by dispatching them without the trial where they can accuse the government . So the young men decide to take an extraordinary step ; they decide to storm they national radio station ( All India radio ) with weapons and take over it and declare the truth on live radio---how the government is responsible for deaths of fighter pilots by buying cheap quality fighter jet parts and why the young group has assassinated the defence minister because he was such a crook . They would like to start a revolution against the Indian government....

So does the plan succeed ?? Or is it too ambitious ??
Watch the movie for the answers....

The movie is embellished with top quality acting and fabulous photography and heroic scenes....what more can one want....??
Want ?? What I wanted was to pick a gun in my hand and join the revolution !! Finish off the corrupt and crooked people in the government who are draining the lifeblood of my nation....Bring a new era of justice !!
I watched with tears brimming in my eyes as the cruel government sent troops armed with the most modern weapons to kill my heroes who had stormed the radio station and declared the truth before an astonished and stunned and outraged public....
But it was too late for the villains who ran the government ; even as my heroes were dying tragic deaths ( but with a smile on their lips and laughter in their eyes , just like Sue's ancestor had described in his diary ) the public was in the mood for revolution....
The colour of this coming spring was one of sacrifice , and the sacrifice of these heroes not going to go in vain !!

Verdict---Awesomely inspiring .
Nothing less than a five star rating....

Bahubali---the beginning ( The man with the strong arms , part one ) July 2015



The costliest and biggest film ever to be made in India is finally here....promising special effects that even Hollywood would envy....

And it does live upto it's mighty name....producing an extravaganza of war and legend on celluloid like never before....

A roaring waterfall is beautifully shown falling from a height that is ten times that of naigara , with waters which cascade like milk over a slippery mountain that seems to head endlessly upwards...

And for the hero ( played by Prabhas ) who manages to climb the slippery heights of the waterfall to the roof of the world among snowy hills lies the ultimate prize---the kingdom of mahishmati , which is a wonder on earth with mighty bastions and magnificent palaces and superbly crafted temples....

And also waiting for him in the high heights beyond the waterfall is the beautiful Tammanah , a damsel with pink skin and smooth belly with a deep navel that would be dream to explore....

And it is Tammanah who eggs him on to invade Mahishmati alone...

But waiting for him in Mahishmati is another secret---that he is the one who has been chosen by destiny to lead the people of the kingdom towards liberation from the evil clutches of the villain ( played by Rana Daggubati ) ,who has kept many in the chains of slavery and unleashed tyranny upon the rest....

Yes , he is Bahubali---the ultimate warrior and the rightful heir to the throne of the kingdom....for he was whisked away as a child from the kingdom after his father who king was killed by the villain....

And he then hears the story of how his father fought an epic battle to save the kingdom of Mahishmati from a horde of barbarians---a battle that is brought alive on celluloid like no battle has been ever before....

He hears how his father tamed a giant bull---a huge bull with massive size and built , and a scene filmed with such spectacular skill....you really feel that bull's angry snorts as his attack is brought to a grinding halt by the hero's father ( Prabhas in a double role )....

And he sees really tall statue of gold being raised in the city---another superb effort of photography....

But the piece de resistance of the film is the epic battle fought with cruel savages who are crude enough to dream of violating the women of Mahishmati....

Precise battle plans are brought to perfection on the battlefield ; soldiers armed with gleaming pikes and shields form a impenetrable wall of steel....

Giant balls of stone are thrown by gigantic catapults onto the enemy , and a storm of fire is unleashed in the enemy's ranks....

Dramatic cavalry charges are made onto the plains filled with enemy soldiers , and sharp arrows are fired by huge bows....

Shining swords strike enemy bodies drawing red blood from them....

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are shown cramming the plains of battle like a dark cloud of locusts....

And all of this is filmed with magnificent special effects the kind of which India has never seen before....a literal splurge of money....

The music is pleasant too---all melodious songs and soothing instrumentation that pleases the senses....

Prabhas looks good too---muscled and leader like ; a true Bahubali....
Rana Dagubatti looks strong and beefy ; a strong contender for the throne that he wants....

But at the end of it all comes the real disappointment---that the film has not ended at all ; it has been left incomplete....the second part will complete the film in 2016 , a part named as 'Bahubali the conclusion'....
Some in the audience were swearing to themselves in sheer disappointment....for the first part of the film had raided the bar of entertainment high , but the incomplete ending had left audience feeling high and dry....
Many will return in 2016 however , hoping to watch another epic battle filmed in the second part like never before....
I will return too...

Verdict---spectacular entertainment .
Four stars .