Ujda Chaman

#FinalVerdict: Flimsy!

2 Stars

Ujda Chaman is a very simple film which will bear the brunt of haste to release before producer Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films' Bala, based on the same issue. The haste will surely prove fatal for it. Won't strike a chord with the audience.

It won’t be erroneous to state that Ujda Chaman has the right intentions but it fritters away its advantages & director Abhishek Pathak gives us a half-baked product. Also, the loud background score (Amar Mohile) ensures that there is no scope for subtlety or gentle humour. Even the claim - Takle ki Pehli aur Asli film - is false because Ujda Chaman is a *poor* adaptation (Danish Japjeet Singh) of 2017 Kannada film Ondu Motteya Kathe. Even the first hour doesn’t cut ice, focusing on the mandatory light moments that seldom seize your attention. While the original Kannada film held the spectators by its ears and eyes, Ujda Chaman suffers because the grip is absent from the very start itself. The inane comedy drama is without wit & warmth, making it unfunny, tiresome and also frequently cringeworthy.  The best they should’ve done it is to copy and paste the material. The second half redeems itself to a certain extent by bringing in the message of accepting people for who they are but overall, the writing (Danish Japjeet Singh) gyrates from interesting to ordinary to unconvincing and that bogs the film down.

Director Abhishek Pathak has handled a few scenes well, but the writing is ineffectual. The most important angles of baldness & fat shaming are wasted and appear to be dragged spoofs. Gourov-Roshin's music is nothing to write home about. Sudhir Chaudhary's cinematography is of inferior standard/quality. The movie is so exhausting that the run time of two hours feels like four (editor: Mitesh Soni).

Performances are decent but easily forgettable. Sunny Singh & Maanvi Gagroo portray their parts with elan but they deserve better written characters. Gagan Arora has a charming screen presence & contributes to some light moments. Saurabh Shukla and Sharib Hashmi are wasted. Atul Kumar, Grusha Kapoor, Karishma Sharma and Aishwarya Sakhuja play their parts well despite characters not being properly fleshed out. Guru Randhawa's special song in the end credits lights up the screen.

Final words - Lack of directorial skills and facetious writing rob Ujda Chaman of any possibility of being realistic and relatable. Also, the repetitive silly gags and heightened bickering make this film a non-starter! Flop!

Housefull 4

#FinalVerdict: Unforgivable Farce!

1 Star

#FinalVerdict

Housefull 4 is that rare genre of films which will test your patience with its foolishness, shock you with its lack of logic & launch a vicious assault on your senses. Utter nonsense!

Usually, a paragraph is devoted in reviews to detail the plot & screenplay but to say that Housefull 4 has even a semblance of the two is a poor joke. The audience is just going to shake their head in dismay & frustration as the intolerable cruelty unfolds.

Fridays are becoming a messy hodgepodge in Bollywood with each transient months, in the matter of getting an epochal release and a Diwali release is an event in itself. But the makers of Housefull 4 have literally shown a middle finger to the audiences. Sure, we relish madcap entertainers, but what director Farhad Samji serves in Housefull 4 transcends all limits. He attempts a crazy, simple entertainer yet again, but peppers it with inane, ridiculous episodes that makes you wonder, is this for real? Sara Bodinar and Sajid Nadiadwala's story drains you at the end, despite the actors putting their best foot forward to make you giggle. The banal jokes & the lame PJs coupled with the muddled screenplay are clearly responsible for the EPIC mess.

The soundtrack of Housefull 4 is pleasant, with the composer (Sohail Sen) belting out a couple of hummable tunes. The plush locales of London & the grandiose production design ( Subrata Chakraborty-Amit Ray) gives the film the required scale. And that's it.

VFX should've been better. Editing (Rameshwar S Bhagat) is uneven. This singularly unfunny film plumbs the depths of comedic bankruptcy by a director who quite frankly, hasn’t delivered anything funny in a long time.

Akshay Kumar plays to the gallery but is letdown by the writing. Also, he tries too hard to be funny. Riteish Deshmukh hams to the hilt. Bobby Deol looks out of place completely. The leading ladies - Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegd and Kriti Kharbanda - are pure eye candies. Chunky Panday is wasted. Ditto for Ranjeet, Johny Lever, Sharad Kelkar, Rana Daggubati and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

On the whole, it'll be difficult for Housefull 4 to sustain once the initial euphoria settles down. It’s all bad. All of it, every last instant, every single word. Simply put, Housefull 4 is an unforgivable farce. This is public harassment - a precise sentence I'll use to describe the experience. If you thought comedy could sink no further. Watch just 15 minutes of Housefull 4 and you’d be disavowed of that notion.

Made In China

#FinalVerdict: Fatuous!

2 Stars

The movie suffers from a weak script & vacuous screenplay which will be a huge turnoff even for its target audience. The masses will be disappointed and box office prospects will also be a grim disappointment. Director Mikhil Musale is making his Bollywood directorial debut with Made In China & even though one is mentally prepared for the kind of adult humour that the film promises to offer, still, one feels let down because it goes extremely overboard & directionless. Add to that, the puerile story (Mikhil Musale, Parinda Joshi & Karan Vyas, with Niren Bhatt's additional screenplay) only makes the film cringeworthy. The film is nothing but an onscreen amalgamation of one-liners & double entendres. Replete with outrageous dialogues (Niren Bhatt & Karan Vyas), Made In China hinges on a wafer-thin plot, relies largely on jokes & gags which appear funny at times but cheap in the overall perspective and turns into a serious letdown.

Though there are instances where you feel like director Mikhil Musale has somehow managed (read 'struggled') to maintain the film's proceedings, they are few and far between. What Made In China really needed was a good dose of the magic soup itself.

While the music (Sachin-Jigar) is nothing to write about, it remains an average fair. The background score (Sachin-Jigar) helps lift a few moments but is not enough. The editing (Manan Ashwin Mehta) too, is plain average. As for the performances, Rajkummar Rao stands out with a magnificent act. The actor hasn't let the shimmer of his success taint his acting. Although this is Mouni Roy's second Bollywood film, she owns every bit of the screen time she gets. Amyra Dastur, Paresh Rawal, Gajraj RaO and Sumeet Vyas also keep you interested in them with their limited screen time. Boman Irani, however, is the one who takes the cake in Made In China. His performance dwarfs everything and everyone else on screen.

To sum up, Made In China carries the message of normalizing conversations around sex, exposing the taboo & hypocrisy surrounding it, which is commendable but it also gets cringeworthy. A wise-cracking mentor tells the protagonist - "the customer is a ch***ya (the unmentionable isn't uttered, the audience is left to read the lips of the two actors) - and you wonder if the makers of this film believe in that axiom themselves. Wait for it to come on the streaming platform. Don't watch it in theatres!

Saand Ki Aankh

#FinalVerdict: BRAVURA

3 Stars

Producers Shibasish Sarkar's Reliance Entertainment, Nidhi Parmar & Anurag Kashyap have a winner on hands, yet again! Director Tushar Hiranandani hits the bullseye in his debut and encourages us to celebrate womanhood.

The film stands tall for its substance & most significantly, for the sparkling implementation of the written material. Kudos to Balwinder Janjua (story/screenplay). Brilliant product!

One solid reason why Saand Ki Aankh works is because director Tushar Hiranandani brings alive everything you've read in newspapers or watched on TV as an outsider, to the big screen. And that works and how! A number of sequences leave you tongue-tied. Exemplary! A film-maker is only as good as the story he tells & what Tushar Hiranandani creates in Saand Ki Aankh is creditable, besides working on the look & sound of the film as much as its content. There's no stopping him now. His level of maturity surprises you completely.

Music (Vishal Mishra) does boast of a couple of lilting tracks that fit so well in the narrative along with Raj Shekhar's meaningful lyrics. Advait Nemlekar's background score elevates the impact to an extraordinary altitude altogether. National award winner cinematographer Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti captures the rustic locales with finesse. Also, the shooting scenes are spectacularly shot. Watch out for the scene where all the important movements of characters are captured in the rear-view mirror of a motorbike.  Debutant Jagdeep Sidhu's dialogue are natural and fit beautifully into the narrative.

Hiccups - Lengthy run time coupled with Devendra Murdeshwar’s slog editing tone down the impact considerably. Also the poor prosthetics & patchy make-up end up distracting you. Nevertheless, Saand Ki Aankh deserves to be told & seen as a film. So don't miss it!

Both Taapsee Pannu & Bhumi Pednekar are remarkable all through. Saand Ki Aankh is another medal that shines the brightest when you look at their enviable repertoire. They pitch in awesome performances with infectious confidence which deserve an ovation. Prakash Jha is menacing as the antagonist & one can’t help but hate him throughout! Vineet Kumar Singh stands out with another realistic performance. From his dialogue delivery to his expressions, he's top-notch. Shaad Randhawa makes his presence felt.

On the whole, Saand Ki Aankh has several plus points to its credit. It's bold & cheerful, with a heavy dose of feminism, based on the lives of Chandro Tomar and Prakashi Tomar. It is an inspiring cinema narrated with ferocious enthusiasm. Must watch!

Laal Kaptaan

#FinalVerdict: Unendurable!

1 Star


Laal Kaptaan is excruciatingly slow and bizarre. When the director sometimes starts thinking that 'Apun-ich God Hai', then the fate is similar to the second season of #SacredGames. DEBACLE!

Not just the unconventional story/screenplay (Deepak Venkatesha & Navdeep Singh), even the execution leaves the viewer clueless & the lack of subtitles adds to Laal Kaptaan's woes, especially when so many characters are speaking in different dialects throughout. On top of it, the editing (Jabeen Merchant) also spoils the overall impact as Laal Kaptaan has multiple tracks and a lengthy runtime with dreary and dull proceedings, repetitive imagery and banal dialogues (Sudip Sharma). The movie attempts to amp up suspense & tension but fails to sustain either. Director Navdeep Singh has directed a hollow period drama with nothing interesting to say. Shanker Raman's cinematography is the only saving grace in an otherwise barren film. Opting for generic combat sequences & seen-to-death sword fights, director Navdeep Singh fails in executing anything memorable here. The pre-climactic battle sequence is intriguing but soon fizzles out because the ultimate moments are also silly. Abdul Salam Ansari's authentic action scenes deserve special mention. Doesn't go over the top.

Zoya Hussain appears desperate, disheveled and has a haunting presence as per the requirement. Simone Singh, too, has an arresting presence but reduced to a bickering wife. Despite the physicality, Saif Ali Khan looks disinterested. He's too wooden, bereft of any allure or mystery, both key components for a character like this to work. Deepak Dobriyal, accompanied by two dogs: Sukhiram & Dukhiram, is a delight to watch as usual. Manav Vij is FANTASTIC. His intense eyes compliment his character. Neeraj Kabi and Sonakshi Sinha are wasted.

All in all, Laal Kaptaan also has a menacing BGM (Benedict Taylor-Naren Chandavarkar) but the movie is insufferable. FIASCO! Avoid at all cost!

Ghost

#FinalVerdict: Crashing bore!

1 Star

In recent decades, the horror genre has risen to scarier levels. But director Vikram Bhatt still follows the old spooky-tired format with dated makeup and prosthetics. Ghost is tacky, illogical & a snooze fest.

Where do I start? A lazy writing (Vikram Bhatt), poor direction (Vikram Bhatt) & an even more unconvincing act! This film uses every trick in the book & still fails to scare you. Only the really, really weak-hearted could get scared! Ghost is a yawn-fest. Since there is not one scary scene in the film, the only relief is its crisp runtime (editing: Kuldip Mehan). Even the finale is illogical & unintentionally funny. Also, there are plenty of songs which are presented almost back to back & break the continuity factor. The special effects/VFX are worse than a B-grade tv serial or web series. Ghost is an excuse of a horror film. In fact I would say, the dialogues were way creepier than what we were subjected to on a visual front. Several scenes are left incomplete as well.

Shivam Bhaargava and Sanaya Irani compete with each other to give the most wooden expressions. Shivam Bhaargava wins the contest by his lethargic body gestures, which further pulls this film down. Vikram Bhatt has a short role too but nothing histrionics to portray.

The background score (Sangeet Haldipur-Siddharth Haldipur) is obviously worked upon but it's a giveaway for what's about to come next & kills the excitement completely. To sum up, Ghost is a complete waste of time if you want to satiate your frightful taste buds.

#Yaaram

#FinalVerdict: Buzzkill!

1 Star

#Yaaram is a pea-brained rumpus of love and friendship that stutters & splutters all the way through to a hopelessly bizarre climax. Apparently, it's appalling!

#Yaaram attempts to be mature about friendship, love and triple talaq but continually slips into cliche. It’s the script (Veejay Mulchandani) that is to blame here, given that it suffers from lazy, loopy writing. As a result the film becomes completely superficial. #Yaaram also never offers a real sense about the characters. By the time it works itself between the messy love triangle & triple talaq, it feels as if director Ovais Khan is driving around aimlessly, lost for direction. It's mind-numbingly idiotic.

#Yaaram has a chunk of predictable scenes in the first half that make the film drag and leave you wondering how it will wind up. The characters lack depth and the dialogues (Abir Sengupta and Anushree Mehta) barely add weight. It is so bewilderingly bad that you keep watching just to see where the incoherent narrative will go next. And #Yaaram is stuffed with banal but infectious songs (Jeet Gannguli, Rochak Kohli, Sohail Sen) that lodge themselves in your head.

The acting in #Yaaram is pretty pedestrian although Siddhanth Kapoor is a talent to watch out for. Prateik Babbar tends to overact and over-deliver throughout. Ishita Raj gives evidence of an as-yet-unseen confidence. Subha Rajput is refreshingly natural.

All said & done, #Yaaram is mostly flat that could’ve done with more heart. It talks about a whole lot of things - friendship, trust, love, tolerance & triple talaq - but makes no sense at all. It would make perfect sense to give this film a miss.

The Sky Is Pink

#FinalVerdict: Triumphant tear-jerker!

4 stars

Few filmmakers stick their necks out to tell difficult stories. For their intentions alone, Ronnie Screwvala's RSVP Movies & Roy Kapur Films deserve a thumbs-up. Take a bow, Shonali Bose!

Some films are more than just cinematic expressions and The Sky Is Pink is one such film where director Shonali Bose has worked herself to the grind & her presence is felt in every frame. Her devotion and dedication towards her craft is truly inspirational. The Sky Is Pink is special in more ways than one. In my individualistic opinion, it easily ranks amongst this year best works so far. Just don't miss this one!

Clearly, the writing (Shonali Bose & Nilesh Maniyar) is smart, taut and absorbing. Kudos! The emotions in The Sky Is Pink would've fallen flat had the writing been sub-standard or the execution of the material been humdrum or the actors been inferior. But, thankfully, it scores in all three departments. All said and done, it's an outstanding film!

The story is complex but The Sky Is Pink is *not* disheartening or unsettling. The emotional quotient is tremendous. You'll overhear a lot of sniffs & see a lot of moist eyes once the lights are switched on. But it's a positive film & not a rona-dhona movie. Irrespective of how this film performs at the box-office, but note this, director Shonali Bose would be a force to reckon with after The Sky Is Pink. Pritam's music is soothing. Nick Cooke & Kartik Vijay's cinematography is incredible. The very effective and subtle background score (Mikey McCleary1) is The Sky Is Pink's very backbone. For the very first time, I felt that I was not hearing the background score, I was feeling it. Dialogue (Juhi Chaturvedi & Nilesh Maniyar) will touch your soul.

Now to the performances! Farhan Akhtar & Priyanka Chopra make the characters so plausible. It must be said that Farhan Akhtar & Priyanka Chopra exude a certain dignity and elegance, much needed for a sensitive film of this magnitude & caliber. Kudos to them! That doesn't mean that the remaining performances get dwarfed. Not once does Zaira Wasim dither from her position. This is the hallmark of a tremendous actor, which Zaira Wasim is. Rohit Saraf is a revelation, another surprise of The Sky Is Pink. Amazing!

Manas Mittal's editing is so well synchronized that the 2+ hours of your precious life that you would spend on this movie are absolutely worth your while.
On the whole, The Sky Is Pink is an amazing experience. Should win awards & also box-office rewards. It should strike a chord with everyone with a heart. An unmissable film which encapsulates the true essence of life & death & seduces the viewer with a strong emotional quotient.

WAR

#FinalVerdict: All Style and No Substance.

2 Stars

To say that War has a wafer-thin plot is an understatement. War has a lot of visual appeal but the all style and no substance approach makes this 2 hours 36 minutes film a real drag. DISAPPOINTING!

It isn’t completely unwatchable, but it certainly tests your patience. How many times have you ordered a dish that looks terrific photographed in a menu but disappoints when it shows up on the table? War is that kind of meal and a golden opportunity lost. It has two handsome leads, some eye-popping stunt scenes (Paul Jennings, Franz Spilhaus, Oh Sea Young & Parvez Shaikh) and a slew of beautiful locales. It would take an especially awful script & an incompetent director to deliver a mess out of those ingredients. Everything here is laid out crystal clear at the lowest common denominator. Sure enough, the film packs enough twists & turns. But those particular twists are so ludicrous that it is hard to imagine someone could still be thinking in such formulaic ways. Abbas Tyrewala's dialogues are so clunky, they make you cringe. Director Siddharth Anand, the man who gave us such excruciating films as Tara Rum Pum, Anjaana Anjaani & Bang Bang, applies the same pedestrian sensibilities to what could’ve been a slick enjoyable romp.

Siddharth Anand & Aditya Chopra's story rests on the assumption of suspension of belief. The film is weighed down by a teary familial back-story and a major twist that anyone who’s watched even three masala potboilers can predict from a mile away. It's a pity to see a production house of the stature of YRF go down the same path again and again. And yet if there’s one reason to watch War, it’s Hrithik Roshan. He’s charming, charismatic & appears to be having a good time. Here’s a movie star who actually looks like he could pull off those action scenes for real. Vaani Kapoor is wasted. Soni Razdan is Perfect. Ashutosh Rana is dependable as always. Arif Zakaria, Swaroopa Ghosh (Sherna Patel), Dipannita Sharma, Anupria Goenka are just fine in their respective roles. Tiger Shroff can dance effortlessly, fight in style and charm the audiences. But what one really needs to applaud is the way he carries the film. His role in War seems to be a hundred notches ahead of what he did in his previous movies.

For the most part War is all action, no talk. Its pace remains inconsistent. At times, it runs very slow but catches up with the action sequences that follow. Overall, the star cast will ensure that the movie sails through comfortably at the box-office. Skip it!

SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy

#FinalVerdict: Prodigious

3 Stars

SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy is a king-sized extravaganza expressly designed to be a blockbuster. The scale is colossal, the plot is invigorating & the outcome leaves you mesmerized. Don’t miss it!

It is an experience that should be enjoyed on the big screen.

Scale of ambition(Director: Surrender Reddy): Gargantuan.

Quality of VFX(R C Kamalakannan): Out of the ordinary.

Content(Paruchuri brothers): Gripping.

That, in a nutshell, is the epic SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy.

SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy manages to enchant you with its sheer scale & grandeur. Director Surrender Reddy has given acute attention to detail for the minutest of sound and visuals. He ensures that the larger-than-life execution matches his grandiose vision. Though this swashbuckling adventure relies heavily on CGI & VFX, SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy manages to be much more than a blood-soaked romp because it is seeped in Indian ethos while the drama is garnished with several awe-inspiring sequences & jaw-dropping visuals. The writing is smart & clever, the episodes are ingeniously integrated in the screenplay & the culmination leaves you spellbound. It has an unfaultable start, A1 middle and applaudable end, which is a rarity as far as Indian films go.

After watching the dubbed Hindi version, I feel that filmmakers should avoid dubbing films in different languages & rather release them with subtitles. The editing(Sreekar Prasad) could've been tighter as SyeRaa clocks on the dot at 170 minutes. The wondrous cinematography(R. Rathnavelu) and grandiose production design(Rajeevan) impart sheen & sparkle. Julius Packiam's BGM is electrifying. Lee Whittaker, Greg Powell & Ram Chella-Lakshman Chella's exhilarating action portions command repeat viewing.

Director Surrender Reddy is a consummate craftsman. He skilfully uses rousing BGM, slow-motion technology and several clap-trap moments to sweep you up in the filmmaking. An Indian filmmaker dared to dream & the results are for all to see.

SyeRaa has BRAVURA performances. Amitabh Bachchan, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ravi Kishan, Jagapathi Babu, Vijay Sethupathi, Kiccha Sudeep, Nayanthara, Anushka Shetty, Mukesh Rishi, every actor triumphs. Megastar Chiranjeevi's sheer mien & intensity is a sight to behold. A committed, extraordinary act!

On the whole, SyeRaa Narasimha Reddy is a cinematic extravaganza, indeed. A big screen spectacle that will keep you hooked with some incredible characters that are sure to stay with you for a long, long time. A feast for moviegoers! Courage, bravery, valour, fearlessness, SyeRaa encompasses all this and more!

JOKER (2019)

#FinalVerdict: MASTERPIECE


5 stars



Joker movie is a thunderous masterpiece! Can easily compete with the best comic book films of all time. The best movie of 2019 which belongs more in the Joaquin Phoenix Universe than the DC Universe.

 In the media, director Todd Phillips's Joker movie has been frenetically celebrated and a possible Oscars 2020 blessing (otherwise unthinkable for a comic-based film) is speculated violently. Let me say it loud and clear: there is not a word of it exaggerated.

Joker movie is an "origin story", which tells how poor Arthur, nicknamed Happy by his mother, will become one of the most famous enemies of Batman. However, here there is no question of the Dark Knight, the story unfolds when Bruce Wayne is still a child.

Surprisingly, Joker movie is totally a drama. A hard drama, rough, bitter, in a sticky environment. An environment that does not help Arthur to adapt. Director/writer Todd Phillips & cowriter Scott Silver take time to present the characters, places and situations.

Joker movie is a work closer to auteur cinema. It's important to note that there's nothing wrong with this movie. Director Todd Phillips manages to infuse a very stylized colorful theme with the dark at the same time. It's bold, devastating & utterly beautiful.

The sombre staging tackles you from the first second, shaking you through for two hours and never letting go until the last second. Joker movie is a horror story, not the celebratory tale of an antihero. Joker is a game changer and plays in a league of his own.

The great soundtrack consists mainly of classics of the swing era (Frank Sinatra et al) and is an integral part of the plot. The congenial score of Hildur Gudnadottir amplifies the power of the images many times, so that every scene penetrates deep into the bone marrow.

Director Todd Phillips is a revelation at the helm and does the best directing job of his career with the twisted material, able to strike a tone that straddles stabs of bleak darkness, gasps of hope and pangs of inevitability. I doff my hat to you sir!

DOP Lawrence Sher's no-frills work to emphasize twisted, dark cityscapes, streets & nightmarish forms deserves a huge shout-out. With picture-perfect contrasts & color, sublime compositions, the rich and complex mise-en-scène succeeds in elevating the movie.

But all of this impressive, stylish construction wouldn’t have worked without Joaquin Phoenix. He inhabits his role with a commitment that’s magnetic in its unpredictability. His unbelievable performance will leave the most lasting impression on the audience. Robert De Niro - one of his best roles for a long time! Zazie Beetz is remarkable.

I left the cinema with lasting impressions & my mouth open. Beneath this gripping, bold, revisionist psychological thriller, Joker is the comic book villain we deserve right now.

Joker movie is a masterpiece! Its understanding doesn’t cross the line into sympathy, as we’re left watching a man who becomes less & less human as his tragedy unfolds. We repeatedly see him burst into laughter, but can never rule out whether he’s actually crying.