DISHKIYAOON

1 star

Be forewarned: Dishkiyaoon is a tried-and-tested stuff of an over-exploited dark genre on the heinous world of weapons, gangstas and feuding between gangs and is ostentatious on celluloid.

Let's make the readers aware of the premise. Motherless, timid, avoided and bullied at school, Viki Kartoos (Harman Baweja) walks out on his father, owing to a rough childhood. When he comes into contact with Mota Tony (Prashant Narayanan), he desires to join the dark world and becomes a trivial Gangster eventually. Coming under the influence of Lakwa (Sunny Deol), how he manages to take on underworld biggies like Gujjar (Rajesh Vivek) and Iqbal Khaleefa (Sumeet Nijhawan), revenge on the death of Mota Tony and becomes the sole master of the crime world, forms the crux of the story with twists and turns galore.

Sanamjit Singh Talwar's dog-tired story has zilch novelty factor. The screenplay too, lacks meat to keep the viewers hooked and is egregious. The execution/direction (Sanamjit Singh Talwar) is top-notch incontrovertibly, but the overall impact is vitiated with poor detailing and the haziness of the story, the viewers have no idea where the story is heading toward. Songs (music: Sneha Khanwalkar & Palash Muchhal), popping out of nowhere, just add to the agony with crap lyrics (Sanamjit Singh Talwar). Dishkiyaoon was initially delineated to be a short film, though inspired from some of the best gangster films, but the 119 minutes result (editor: Rameshwar S Bhagat) is exhausting. Going by the guts of investing in such a poxy story (producers: Sunil A Lulla & Shilpa Shetty), I must admit that the idea might have appeared worthy on the paper. It won't be erroneous to mention that state-of-the-art cinematography (Axel Fischer) is the *sole* highlight of the enterprise. Bravo! The romantic angle of the film is predictable and gimcrack. There is neither any weight in the script, nor any vehemence whatsoever in its drama. There is a twist towards the final moments of the film, which leaves the audience gobsmacked. What's left in the end isn't a gangster tale but a routine revenge drama. There's an overdose of violence too, with background score (Amar Mohile), designed to highlight the impact, ultimately results in annoyance. The well-choreographed stunts (PK) are stylish indeed. Rocky S & Ayesha Khanna's costumes are ultra-modern, particularly Harman's character has gone through special treatment. Ranju Verghese & Kadambari Shetty choreography is ham-fisted. Overall, what has been treated as a comeback affair for oofy Harman, has no substance with cliched/flawed script.

Anupam Maanav has competently pulled off the casting. Harman Baweja still doesn't know how to emote in a right tone. Rest he's brilliant. Ayesha Khanna, Sunny Deol (getting the haryanvi nuances right), Aditya Pancholi, Rajesh Vivek, Harsh Chhaya and Rajit Kapoor (Harman's father in the movie) are wasted completely. Prashant Narayanan is fantastic. He's the sole respite when it comes to acting. Attaboy! Anand Tiwari, Sumit Nijhawan and Hasan Zaidi get their characters spot-on. Shilpa Shetty Kundra sizzles in the promotional track towards the end-credits.

On the whole, as mentioned at the outset, Dishkiyaoon is a ham-fisted hazed attempt. Wham!

first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/dishkiyaoon/md3184.htm

O TERI

0.5 stars

A filmmaker knows how to cash in on the favourable/unfavourable prevailing conditions of a country spot on, especially when it comes to bribery, charges of corruption, scams, kickbacks and frauds committed by certain politicians and bureaucrats. O TERI is a prepense attempt to invoke/stir up the aam junta about their rights, duties and above all, probity. At the same time, the flick also serves as a paradigm for an issue-based idea going awry in an attempt to commercialise it.

Now, first things first, the premise. Two ne'er-do-well intern journalists cum roommates in Delhi, Prantabh Pratab aka P.P. (Pulkit Samrat) and Anand Ishwaram Devdutt Subramanium aka AIDS (Bilal Amrohi), want to make it big in the field of journalism as they believe that they are very smart but the reality is utterly different because everytime they come up with an absurd sort of scoops, which, in turn, is driving their senior Monsoon Krishnacharya (Sarah Jane Dias) to nuts. They are in search of a big scam to prove a point when all of a sudden, the dead body of ACP Avinash Tripathy lands up in their car one day and they stumble upon a CD that will expose the fraudulent aspects of Bilal Khwaja (Anupam Kher) -- Politician/Chairman of the sports committee that is planning upcoming Asian Games, Sherry (Mandira Bedi) -- Bilal's partner in crime, Nahata (Murli Sharma) -- MD of Nahata Constructions and Bhanwar Singh Kilol (Vijay Raaz) -- Leader of the Opposition. How do they manage to expose the hollow-hearted and become the nation's heroes, forms the denouement.

The story (Umesh Bist & Neeti Palta) is heavily inspired from real-life episodes with emphasis on hard-hitting/thought-provoking dialogues (Umesh Bist & Neeti Palta) to agitate the hoi polloi, taking a dig on the media, government and political leaders. Take these, for instances: "Logo ko scandal chahiye, scam chahiye...rape, dakaiti. Ye sab kuch ho to lao warna shaqal mat dikhana."
P.P. recounting a scam to AIDS, "Jab chhote log chori karte hain to wo chori hoti hai. Magar jab bade log chori karte hain to wo scam kehlata hai."
Sarah Jane reacts to admiration on how well she 'managed' a murder, "Hamare desh me free media hai. Hume pata hai kya chupana hai aur kya dikhana."
Anupam Kher says, "Ye aaj ki yuvapeedhi hai. Jab inki batti lagti hai to ye sirf mombatti jala sakte hain, India Gate pe."
Though high on the satirical note, the execution/direction (Umesh Bist) is a complete let-down as the situational gags try too hard to tickle the funny bones of the viewers consummately and the essence of the story gets dissipated because of unwanted scenes galore with no tie-in to the ongoing (editing: Devendra Murdeshwar). Every single scene does kick off on a promising note but ends abruptly, leaving the audience gasping. The direction is middle-of-the-road, precisely as the writing lacks the meat and the sequence of events just don't work. Ganesh Rajavelu's cinematography alongwith Sailesh Mahadik's art are plain ordinary. Clocking on the dot at 107 minutes, the pace and additional screenplay (Atul Agnihotri) just mar the overall impact with songs (music: Gj Singh), shot at exotic locales & nightclubs and based on their own world, popping out of nowhere, act as killjoy. Ditto for the background score (Gj Singh), which is an earsore throughout. The lyrics (Abhinav Chaturvedi, Akshay K Saxena, Manish J Tipu & Rakesh Kumaar) are satirical up to the hilt, but capitulate eventually due to shoddy screenplay. Glaikit! Maa Poli (Dog) scene, Vijay Raaz's gay scene, Manoj Pawah's dhaba scenes and Pandit scene in the penultimate moments just add length to the proceedings. The costumes (Alvira Agnihotri & Ashley Rebello), though trendy, are designed to show the voluptuousness of the girls and the chiseled bodies of the male leads. There's an overdose of Salman Khan in the movie with dhaba's menu that the leads frequent has Wanted Parantha, Bodyguard special chai and Dabangg dal tadka namely. Both Salman Khan and his rumoured girlfriend Lulia Vantur feature in respective item numbers called 'oh teri' and 'umbakum' but the flick is unbearable to sit right till the end to watch the Bhai of the masses gyrating in the end-credits. Mudassar Khan and Remo D'Souza's choreography is exercise in futility. Overall, there's no scam whatsoever in the flick. Rather, there's merely a over-the-top murder sequence leading to rushed culmination.

The sole respite in the flick is Vijay Raaz's (a misprized actor) haryanvi antics, mouthing expletives now and then. Kudos! It's a delight watching him everytime he appears in the frame. The rest of the casting (Jogi) has nothing histrionic to portray. Right from his his comic timing, dialogue delivery to expressions, Pulkit Samrat is a revelation, beyond the shadow of a doubt. He's a talent to watch out for in days to come. He's phenomenal particularly in the climax. Bilal Amrohi, going loud in some scenes though, makes a confident debut. His chiseled body is worth drooling over. He's rustic and needs to overcome his amateurishness. Sarah Jane Dias, Mandira Bedi and Razzak Khan are wasted. Anupam Kher (seasoned actor) emits villainy. Murli Sharma is naturally vile. Himani Shivpuri (as Pulkit's mother) is natural. Supriya Shukla appears in a cameo and gives the viewers some chuckles. Manoj Pawah is an add-on throughout and his re-emergence in the climax is formulaic.

To sum up, O TERI is more of a chaos than a film with not a single one-liner to evoke mirth. The makers are so darn frustrated with the system that they thought of making a nickel-and-dime stuff and put the viewers in the turmoil in the name of Salman Khan. Stay miles away from it! Bummer!


first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/o-teri/md3295.htm

RAGINI MMS 2

2.5 stars


RAGINI MMS 2, the follow-up of 2011's sleeper hit RAGINI MMS, kicks off precisely from where the prequel culminated. After the uncanny death of Uday (Rajkummar Rao), Ragini (Kainaz Motivala) is admitted to Rane mental asylum. She's still in possession of the witch. The incident catches the fancy of Rocks (Parvin Dabas), a film director by profession and he decides to make a movie on the MMS, casting Sunny Leone, playing herself in the movie, to portray the part of Ragini. The entire cast and crew shift their base to the same sequestered villa where the MMS scandal materialized, to shoot for the movie. What follows is an overabundant dose of skin show entangled with cliched scares and an unsparing backstory of the witch........

Though the imagination of the writers are not roundly original but the story (Suhani Kanwar & Tanveer Bookwala) is way more perspicuous than the first chapter. The elements of horror & sex -- horrex, are tightly interwoven to keep the viewers hooked. What compliments the story is the eerily state-of-the-art production design (Sunil Nigvekar), murky lighting in the night sequences, brill vfx (Futureworks Media Pvt. Ltd.) and atrocious make-up. Spine-tingling! There is zilch predictability factor going on in its favor as well. The DoP (Naren Gedia), without using tilted camera angles or compact close-ups, captures the freakish mood of the narration with dexterity. Bravo! Bhushan Patel (director) seems to have mastered the art of flaunting the conventional horror tropes after 1920: Evil Returns (2012). He's in supreme command consummately. The abiding fear elements from the last edition -- secluded stately home, creaking doors/windows and sinister environ -- are enough to get the tempo going for this film, sprinkled with foot-tapping songs (music: Yo Yo Honey Singh, Meet Bros Anjjan, Pranay Rijia and Chirantan Bhatt) and yowling voiceovers. The heavy petting shower scene and much-talked-about smooch between Sunny & Sandhya Mridul are bound to titillate the hoi polloi. The costumes (Ami Patel) are trendy and aptly exalt the 'Adults Only' mood of the narrative. In a scene where Sunny Leone parodies herself and fakes an orgasm, is spellbinding. The first half is a skit, taken in good humor, where the muddled incident starts getting clarified which in turn, acts as catalyst for the relentless second half. The intricate climax, though being blatantly ripped off of The Conjuring (2013), is honest-to-goodness according to the Indian sensibilities and is not cliche-ridden. Clocking on the dot at 119 minutes, the editing (Tushar Shivan) never falters, which is rare in Bollywood movies. The movie doesn't succumb to the curse of second half, which itself is coup de maître.

Besides a riveting storyline, the film merely seems to be cashing in on the context of its prequel but falls flat in frightening the pants off the viewers with background score (Amar Mohile) acting as an earsore, throughout. Parikshit Lalwani and Kunal Mehta's sound design is a bummer. There isn't anything virgin to compliment the scare quotient. Being a horror affair, the flick is a *complete let-down* in terms of providing scares, which the trailer promised a gogo. The dialogues (Ishita Moitra) too, are showy but cheap and of poor quality. Take this for instance: Porno Se Rituporno Kaise Ban Gayi. The witch, after possessing Sunny in the climax, is talking dirty. Glaikit!

Aadore Mukherjee Mehra (casting director) has achieved a casting coup of sorts. Playing oneself in a movie doesn't seem to be much of a problematic task for Sunny Leone and after having watched her brilliance onscreen, I must admit the fact that she's quite a revelation, especially the way she's mastered Hindi and going by her assignments in Bollywood. One cannot take her eyes off from the Junoesque woman. She carries off the flick on her petite shoulders all by herself -- right from flaunting her curves uninhibitedly to exhibiting a stellar act in the climax. Attagirl! Her act is at par with her contemporaries in Bollywood. Well Done! Parvin Dabas (impeccable), Saahil Prem (brilliant), Sandhya Mridul (sultry to the core), Karan Mehra (A1) Anita Hasanandani (wasted...almost) and Divya Dutta (predictable).

On the whole, RAGINI MMS 2 is way more explicit than its antecedent but lacks the thrill, the scare quotient to raise the bar of horror genre. Sunny's to a T act and the generous dose of skin show are the saving grace of the flick but that's not worth the full measure. It's the viewers carte blanche to watch the movie or not. Que sera sera, if watching this movie is a must for you.

first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/ragini-mms-2/md2017.htm

BEWAKOOFIYAAN

2 stars


In the cyber city of Gurgaon, an MBA topper-cum-airline marketing executive Mohit Chadda (Ayushmann Khurrana), who recently rose from the ranks at work, is ousted due to the economic downturn all at once. The prospect of making an impression on his high-maintenance banker girlfriend Myrah Sehgal's (Sonam Kapoor) ex bureaucrat father, Vinod Kumar Sehgal (Rishi Kapoor), who believes that only a rich man can bring happiness to her daughter and a mid-level executive like Mohit simply isn't worthy, goes nonsensical with a depleting bank balance and no likelihood of finding employment. Comedy of errors befall the private sector's credit card junkies, Mohit-Myrah........

The story (Habib Faisal) seems like a slothful rip-off of 2000's American comedy film Meet the Parents and it's 2004's sequel Meet the Fockers - first things first. The knock backs of a confirmed lover by his ladylove's tyrannizing, old-school in thoughts father are portrayed in a desi avatar, to suit the Indian sensibilities. The plot raises a deeply rooted question apropos to taking the mickey out of young lovers -- Money or Love? Though the quirky one-liners fall flat after a given point of time, but right from the fights between the couple to the synchronous dialogues (Leepakshi Ellawadi) are almost palpable. Nupur Asthana (director) focusses mainly on the linchpins -- the two leads, instead of giving the plot some heft. Mukund Gupta's production design is exquisite, teetotally. The DoP (Neha Parti Matiyani) cinematographs the picturesque locales of Delhi and Dubai with majestic grandeur but a dearth of an overall peppy soundtrack (music: Raghu Dixit), to compliment the opulence of the proceedings, acts as killjoy. The background score (Hitesh Sonik) is ordinary. There is not an iota of doubt that the leads are styled fashionably (costumes: Leepakshi Ellawadi) and look marvellous in every frame they appear but they regrettably lack that vibe/experience to entwine this slice of life story into something emotionally rewarding or uplifting genuinely. The domineering father's scolding and pooh-poohing his future son-in-law and to put him on probation, packs a solid punch. The first half is fast paced and promptly moves from one situation to another. The penultimate & the ultimate moments are the highlight of the enterprise, just because of Rishi Kapoor's acting prowess. The continuous bantering in the climax over a scooty ride is a delight scene to watch.

The movie succumbs to the curse of second half. Clocking on the dot at 119 minutes 40 seconds, the editing (Antara Lahiri) is lazy, with unwanted scenes galore. For instance, Mayera’s decision to take up a job in Dubai scene and VK Sehgal digging into Mohit’s traffic fines, income-tax returns and all sorts of document verification, add to losing momentum. The flick gets underway with Ayushmann's character trying his hands on driving and in the following scene, he buys a car and drops Sonam home as if he's an accomplished driver. In a scene, Ayushmann, Sonam and their bunch of friends are shown enjoying a holiday trip, that too after Ayushamann lost his job to recession. C'mon, where is the logic? The wooden expression of the leads too, lack any real endearment. The hurried turnaround in the character of browbeating dad lacks meat. Director Nupur Asthana, who had given us Hip Hip Hurray and Mahi Ve on the small screen, fails to rise above the normal in her breezy outing.

Both Ayushmann Khurrana and Sonam Kapoor have got thier mirror images' characters. Ayushmann has nothing histrionic to portray as an urban cool guy. Sonam gives a plain ordinary performance of a rather dreary character of a demanding girlfriend while Ayushmann needs to work on his dialogue delivery. He tends to sotto voce in some scenes. Rishi Kapoor suffuses life into a muddled character, exhibiting once again his acting prowess. He's the saving grace of the film along with Gurpal Singh (fantastic), in my humble opinion, (as Gursharan). Take Rishi & Gurpal out of the flick and the result will be unbearable. Pratap Hada (as Ayushmann's office friend) is supremely talented.

To sum it up, BEWAKOOFIYAAN is cheerful; optimistic but lacks the heart. Rishi Kapoor's virtuoso act is not enough to buy into this love story. The story on paper is great but the execution keeps on meandering right from the onset, with no clear aim to make the viewers 'bewakoof'. Skip it! Wait for the DVD release.



first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/bewakoofiyaan/md3177.htm

QUEEN

4 stars

Rani Mehra (Kangana Ranaut) -- a 20-something virgin, shy, naive and conservative Punjabi girl from Rajouri Garden in New Delhi -- is cocooned around by her over-protective parents, adoring grandma and younger brother Chintu and is thus, leading a sheltered life. Vijay Dhingra (Rajkummar Rao), the son of their family friend, starts courting Rani incessantly after being introduced to her. By and by, she too falls for Vijay's enchantment and gets engaged. But after years of courtship, Vijay annuls the wedding just in the nick of time as he's a changed man now and states that they are different. Rani gets the biggest shock of her life and is utterly heartbroken. After her unsuccessful endeavour to plead with Vijay to revert his decision, she decides to go on her pre-booked honeymoon to Europe alone. In the first instance, she's perplexed but after hitting it off with half-French half-Indian Vijayalakshmi (Lisa Haydon), a free-spirited girl staying in the same hotel where Rani is staying, she fights off her blues and her wild escapade en route to self-discovery and self confidence leads her to finding unbridled happiness, which had eaten away at her after being bottled-up for years.

First things first! Vikas Bahl (director) deserves nothing less than a standing ovation for delineating the standard middle class sensibilities deep-rooted in a girl and her gradual transformation, with remarkably plenteous precision. Though improbable but his idea is pleasingly ingenious and Vikas seems to be au fait with the mindset of Indian movie buffs, who tend to fall in the idea of love more than the term of endearment. Vikas has mastery over physical and emotional details & his direction has that fine balances everywhere. Without veering into the superfluous melodrama of a woman wallowing in self-pity, Vikas passes on the message of optimism that women are second to none and have the capability to outmanoeuvre the impossible. The simple bag snatching scene and daadi's paragons, corroborate the statement. Vikas' narrative wisdom is palpable as every nuance has been mastered beforehand and the shots too, are of exemplary nature. The story/screenplay (Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar & Parveez Shaikh) is replete with sanguine episodes and buoyant dialogues (Anvita Dutt & Kangana Ranaut). As Bahl depicts his story, the viewers become one with Rani's emotional rollercoaster journey. A couple of the inadvertent funny scenes are howlarious. For instance, Rani gets drunk for the first time in Paris and Rani's facetious remarks with foreigners, to name a few. The beholders' hearts will be connected to the core of Rani's discovery of inner strength and will-power through her journey, that she didn’t know existed. Capturing, dissolving and merging life-defining surroundings from Delhi to Paris to Amsterdam, late Bobby Singh was evidently a doyen in the field of cinematography. Additional cinematography: Siddharth Diwan, is A1 as well. Amit Trivedi's music highlights the mood of Kangana at every juncture, making her expressions and feelings relatable and utterly believable. Ditto for Allwin Rego and Sanjay Maurya's sound design. The lyrics (Anvita Dutt Guptan & Raghu Nath) too are intelligible, as per the theme of the movie. QUEEN kick-starts proceedings with a Delhi-wala wedding sequence, with the adrenaline pumping track "London thumakda" playing in the background that sets the mood right away. The scene, in particular, is well stocked with clinging of bangles, flickering of lights and Vintee Bansal along with Namra Parikh, production designers for Mumbai/Delhi and Europe respectively, crafted the sets which show the nuances in sheer perfection, what happens in an Indian wedding roundly. Manoshi Nath and Rushi Sharma's costumes are a concoction of both middle-class sensibilities and à la mode. Kangana gyrating (Choreographers: Bosco Martis & Caesar Gonsalves) to the beats of "Hungama Ho Gaya" under the influence of alcohol shows her heightened state of exhilaration. Casting (Parita Mandalia & Atul Mongia), filtering, blending of characters together and depicting them in a complex film like this, without outlasting any one character's limit and to give off a cosmopolitan effect, is a lesson indeed and how! Doing away with the mawkishly over-sentimental & predictable love angle upraises the effect. The denouement is brilliantly executed as well, which will sate the viewers' appetite. In the end credits too, there are Facebook updates of Rani's 'honeymoon', which is innovative.

On the flip side, clocking on the dot at 2 hours  minutes, the movie unfolds at a leisurely pace and the bloated editing (Anurag Kashyap & Abhijit Kokate) should have been sharpened up, particularly towards the second half where the flick stagnates somehow. Too many songs in the first half act as party pooper.

Kangana Ranaut's sheds all her inhibitions in portrayal of crestfallen or euphoric Rani is a virtuoso act. Through her untamed body language, she takes life by the scruff of its neck and emotes through her eyes in an efficacious manner. She's a revelation, explicitly. It seems that she were born to exhibit the deglam look of Rani without even missing a beat. Watch out for her in the scene of burping in the car and the scene of her innocently buying adult toys, which is sure to bring the house down. Bravura! Rajkummar Rao fantastically raises abomination. Lisa Haydon is naturally/confidently first-class, neck and neck with Kangana. Yogendra Tiku (as Kangana's father), Alka Badola (as Kangana's mother), Mish Boyko (as Olik), Jeffrey Ho (as Taka), Guitobh Joseph (as Tim) and Marco Canadea (as Marcello) are amazing. Daadi is phenomenal, consummately.

QUEEN is a bold/daring step forward in exploration of the self, that too from the perspective of a female and thus, a nonpareil ode to Women's Day. For Kangana's superlative performance till date and transcendent story-teller Vikas Bahl, this slice of life affair is a crackerjack, which should not be missed for the world.


first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/queen/md2553.htm

TOTAL SIYAPAA

1.5 stars

Set against the backdrop of London, Asha Singh (Yaami Gautam) -- a punjabi girl cum tv reporter -- introduces her Pakistani boyfriend Aman Ali (Ali Zafar) to her cuckoo family for seeking permission to take the plunge. Asha's not big on head-to-head and so she handily hides information about Aman from her domineering mom (Kirron Kher) that he is a Pakistani. There’s Asha’s sexually liberated elder sister who's near-divorced single mother, Jia Singh (Saraa Afreen ) with a restless foot under the dining table, a blind septuagenarian grandfather (an ex-army guy walking with a loaded rifle) (Vishwa Mohan Badola), her naughty five-year-old niece who plays games that are unfitting for her age and a brother Maanav (Anuj Pandit Sharma), who’s intentionally racist towards his Pakistani neighbours. But soon there starts a lot of screaming, panic and pandemonium as they find out that Aman is a Pakistani. The series of unfortunate events ensue.....

TOTAL SIYAPAA is inspired from a Spanish film Seres Queridos (2004), in which the conflict between the Palestinian boy and his girlfriend's Jewish family was served through absurd episodes, in order to draw humour from the dysfunctional family's idiocies. But Neeraj Pandey (Story/Screenplay/Dialogues) adapts into the Bollywood way formulating on Indo-Pak strains. Borderline tension is a quick-witted idea to build a plot around. The first half is chock-a-block with astute dialogues and genuine funny moments. The movie boasts of clean comedy with no double meaning innuendos and refrains from social or political remarks about the two countries in a traditional animosity. Since the movie is a one evening affair, David Meadows' cinematography, capturing London's nightscape, is made to order. Simon Godfrey's Production Design is competent enough for a low budget movie like this. Lorna Gillieron and Falguni Thakore's costumes are modish. The versatile Ali Zafar's music, Sanjoy Chowdhury's background score and quirky lyrics (Ali Zafar, Aqeel Rubi & Rakesh Kumaar) gel well with the mood of the film. Aman with Daadu in the bathroom scene is a laugh-riot. There is a story of Jia's pinchpenny hubby Sanjay (Sagar Arya) running parallely too, which keeps the viewers smiling. He leaves Jia because he though that Jia has 'abused' his credit card. Yaami and Ali's face-to-face on India-Pakistan issue in the second half is the highlight of the enterprise. Each of the sequences involving Ali & Kirron are side-splitting. Had the casting by Naila Mughal & Vicky Sadana not eminent, the movie would've been exhausting.

Clocking on the dot at 108 minutes, the editing (Shree Narayan Singh) is substandard. The whole of Anupam Kher's track including his tryst with a British hooker is poorly executed and just adds to the length of the film. The film should have preferably ended in the first hour itself because the second half goes on an altogether different path. The story starts meandering and eventually fizzles out. The humor simply subsides in sloppy lumps. The scenes are just put together which checks the patience of the audience. The idea might seem novel/epigrammatic on paper but the execution is flat and what starts on a promising note, turns into a mess. The climax too, is hurried and abrupt. Eshwar Nivas' direction doesn't have much scope and is plain ordinary, teetotally.

Ali Zafar is supremely versatile and carries the part with credence. Yaami Gautam is photogenic and utterly natural, throughout. She's a talent to watch out for. Saara Afreen is the ultimate seductress. Anupam Kher is wasted. Vishwa Mohan Badola, Sagar Arya, Anuj Pandit Sharma, Alyan Abbas (as the scrawny Pakistani), Adnan Kapadia (flower vendor), Jasbir Rishi (as Bunty) and Kamal Singh (as Babloo) are competent. But it's Kirron Kher who takes the cake. Though she is loud but impeccable with her over the top act.

On the whole, TOTAL SIYAPAA stands true to its name. It has an utterly shaky and over-stretched plot which is 'siyapaa' for the audience. Notwithstanding its moments which appeal in bits and parts, it's a damp squib which will bore the viewers to death.


first appeared on http://www.desimartini.com/movies/total-siyaapaa/md3218.htm

IT'S FOR YOU......MIHI

PLOT: 3/5

CHARACTERS: 3.5/5

WRITING STYLE: 4/5

CLIMAX: 4.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5


Writing your very first book can always be a dismaying task. Not having conversant with the way of delineating a story can be a lot more labyrinthine than one might reckon. Taking into consideration the way of excogitating the story that will cast a spell on the readers' mind is momentous. Writing is verily an arduous work and whichever person who puts an exertion into inditing a nailing book he/she can and seeing it through the stiff editing and publishing process should be celebrated. But not every single tale resonates with me, not every author has an incantation that pulls me into a story. I am well-equipped with the fact that opinions are subjective and my evaluation may not be yours. However, every once in a while I take a novel up, crack the cover and read the first paragraph, then deucedly read the following, and I find myself falling into a story that twitches my soul. Whenever something like this befalls, I tend to slow myself down and wallow in the journey I was blest to peregrinate between the title page and the end. A feeling of deep contentment comes as I shut the cover for the final time.

IT'S FOR YOU....MIHI is full of pep and since the debutant writer Md. Asif evidently knows his lector, he knows how to go about it up to the hilt. For the readers who would be more than interested to see what the book is all about, the cover image of the book is neck and crop efficacious, with an apt font and design for the name. Though he has tried the time-tested college student who became successful in his love life formula, without going for more exploratory topics, I must admit that he becomes lucky to captivate the heed of the readers not only with his knacky way of particularization that jumps back and forth between the lives of the characters but also with the taut editing. The readers would throw their hearts to the narration consummately. The exquisite love-making moments, the tongue-in-cheek humor, the direful twists, the vibrant characters and the synchronous confabulation are abound to keep the readers on their toes and keep them wondering what will going to happen next. The novel will have girls/women as the lucky barge, who are sure to fall for the protagonist's charm. A commendable aspect is that the debutant writer has meticulously expounded even the minutest of details in the plot. The readers will gravitate to the author, who possesses the magical aptitude to state the story with poetic prose in-betweens. Yes, it's tons of fun, but real-life issues are proponed and resolved realistically with great satisfaction and such finesse. Some of the readers might even go out praying for the antagonist's love because in course of reading, the characters tend to become real to them. They would even cheer for the denouement. The penultimate and the ultimate moments are high points of the story. The author is sure to be lauded after such a thoughtful, romantic and poignantly melancholic ending.

On the flip side, some of the chapters may give a sense of deja vu because the scenes are really visual, almost movie-like, due to which the author seems to have lost his sight of giving the direction to the tale, to some extent. This novel might move a little slow for the avid readers, but I love a lingering read and this style fits perfectly with this novel too.

Literally, the author is talented and he is precisely looking for kudos rather than profit. IT'S FOR YOU...MIHI is a genuinely earnest and indelibly heartwarming story that stays in your heart. An absolute must for those who are romantic at heart. I, in person, give it my highest recommendation, one of the best I've read in quite a while.


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