Bullett Raja: Movie Review

"Braahman bhookha toh Sudama, samjha toh Chanakya aur rootha toh ... Raavan !"
"Shahar mein aayenge toh garmi thodi badh jaayegi..." ... Wow !!

These dialogues struck a very strong note in my mind when I saw this movie's trailers for the first time.
Out of 4 P's, the promotion has obviously been very good for this movie ;-)

(Obviously I chose it over the "R..Rajkumar" ... mujh jaise gande bande ko aur kitni gandi baat sikhayenge :D )

Plot: A struggling unemployed (and seeking one!) amateur outlaw Raja Missra (Saif) crashes into a wedding uninvited where he meets Rudra (Jimmy). 4 Hours and 4 pegs brings them so close that Raja jumps into a gun-gang fight to save Rudra and his side of kins. A bond gets sealed and the daring-duo "Raja-Rudra" forms up which teams up with the strongest king-maker Ram-Babu Shukla (Raj Babbar) and then on instrcutions of Shukla ji, they both go onto kill all the ill-intented enemies. But in this spree, they step on the tail of a rich industrialist named Bajaj (Gulshan Grover) and simultaneously bump into the over-fed Bong-babe Mitali (Sonakshi) who charms her way into Raja's heart.
All seems to be going great till Bajaj reappears with a contract killer Sumer Yadav (Ravi Kissen) to tick off Rudra from his hit-list. Raja vows revenge and kills Bajaj. In comes ACP Arun Singh (Vidyut Jamwal - "Force" fame) to counter and kill Raja...Rest is for you to discover, if you plan to.
Seems typical UP-Bihar meets Bollywood masala movie. And that's what it is.

Strengths: Jimmy Shergill, Saif, Vidyut, Action, Dialogues, Happy-Climax.

The 3 main young turks - Jimmy, Saif and Vidyut rock the screen whenever they are on it. Action is power packed and looks realistic. Dialogues are the main attraction. Special credit to the one which Saif smirks and says to an all pumped up Vidyut who is following him up "Tum kaun ho bey ? Dekh rahe haine tab se ... bahut excited ho ??"

Weaknesses: Sonakshi, Songs, Raja and Rudra doing some monkey antics in a song to decimate opposition parties' political rallies, bad-timing and irrelevance of some dialogues, hackneyed story line in 1st half.

Sonakshi seriously needs to go Bipasha (read size zero) way else she'll be soon turning into a typical Rakhi/Meena Kumari/Nirupa Roy kind of actress. Songs in the movie are more of a desperate attempt to look like a UP Bihar inspired chutney but they disengage from intent of movie on whole. I opine that best UP Bihar songs, shown recently, were in fact made by a Marathi babe - Sneha Khanvilkar (Gangs of Wasseypur). Wonder why Tigmanhsu didn't take her in this one ? Sajid Wajid suck, period.

Overall, the movie has a confused plot in 1st half, goes onto gain some strength in 2nd half. Climax is good. Actors are fine. Story is simple one.

You can watch it max once if you can tolerate an over-dose of ego-clashes of people who don't think twice before shooting from their hip :D

Rating-2.5*

Shuddh Desi Romance: Movie Review

Shuddh Desi Ghee , Shuddh Desi Achaar, Shuddh Desi Kudi ... sab suna tha ... But Shuddh Desi Romance ?

Well, only in movie teasers splattered on channels recently ... No Shuddh, No Desi, hmm...Thoda Romance ...

Plot/Story: A fake-barati cum clothes sales-man in Jaipur by name - Raghuram Sitaram (Shushant) meets another fake-barati cum ex-student - Gaitri (Parineeti) while going in a bus full of baratis for his own shaadi. They start up a conversation in the bus at night which ends up in an abrupt incomplete kiss. Next morning, Raghu runs away from his own marriage leaving the dulhan - Tara (debutante-Vani Kapoor) asking for a cold drink to bring her back to senses :-)
Next we see Raghu meeting up, flirting, courting and then mating with Gaitri as live-in partners.
They seem to be actually finally madly in love with each other .... Phew !! And They plan shaadi too.
But....This time the girl runs away !
Enter Tara.
Raghu falls for Tara.
Mind you, Tara is the same girl whom he had earlier abandoned right at marriage-hall-garland-stage. But subah ka bhoola, shaam ko ghar aa gaya hai ! Even they have kissed, made up, and made love.
Now audience (especially all wives and girlfriends holding their men by neck) starts feeling - Oh so finally the movie's coming to a happy ending !
Well No... ;-)
Re-Enter Gaitri. Raghu gets confused, falls for Gaitri again. Kisses Gaitri. Mistake, Kiss happened in front of Tara !
Next what ? Well ... It has just started ;-)


Go Watch the movie ... FYI-suspense is not worth it :-)

Weaknesses:
1. Theme: In purusit of being different and modern, this movie has proposed a kind of question mark on the very institution of shaadi. This is too bold a theme for Indian mindset. Tier-2 cities' audience won't be able to relate to the story or charachters. Bad for movie's commerce certainly.

Stregths:
1. All lead actors with special mention for debutante Vani. Confidence personified. And Not to forget our great entertainer - Rishi Kapoor (Without him, this movie couldn't go beyond even half-time)
2. Jaipur's picturization through camera
3. Some songs

As told earlier, this movie is a bold question mark on those who claim that a true-love is supposed to culminate in a shaadi. Whether this question is right or wrong one to ask, I can't comment. But certainly, this movie would be hated by many as it would irk their basic belief on Indian middle-class family values.
Should do extremely well with young student crowd (especially in Metros) as this movie entirely belongs to open-minded people who can discuss social issues within like-minded peers with maturity ...Marketing it on TV shows and all is waste as the best medium for promotion for these kind of movies is - word of mouth ...

My Ratings: 3*

Random thoughts of a cluttered mind :-)

The meandering paths ... went on to meet one day ... Twists and turns leading to few charachters ... Few friends ... from college may be ... second year ... yeah !! Where do they go ... ? Jungle ... Hmm ...No !! Someplace else ... A historical cave ... ? Hmm ... banal concept dude ! Ok ... think ... may be a cave in a jungle ... over smart ... ok ... leave it ... lets make some nice related and relevant point ... ok ... can they be onto a trip to a mountain ... hmm ... sounds interesting ... like "kilte hain gul yahan ..." ? .... Yeah ! .... Avalanche ... love ... trekking ... ghost ... yeti (may be) ... lost ... survivors ... murders (too filmy dude :-) ) ... let it be dude ! ... one by one ... psycho killer ... unknown ... old temple known to resurrect dead ... some weird god inside ... no priest ... just a shadow that lingers from daytime to evening due to sunlight ... guides the lost souls to a safe haven nearby in a cave ... you seem to be fixated by a cave dude !! ... Hmm ... so the cave can save till the next storm ... can't wait ... need to find food ... sleep ... cuddle up to your heart ... puppy love turns sensuous and then real hot session ... dreaming ... feeling a ghost in the cave ... asking to vacate it ... woke up ... the abominable guy ... really ??? Yeah ... no joke dude ... !! He he he he ... cook cook ... cook more ... so now what ? The guy looks like a long lost normal guy ... lost in his own byzantine life that he spent with civilization ... talks about world ... his family ... his friends ... and then something sparks up ... but a different sound diverts their attention ... snow ... through dark misty night comes a sound of a roaring river ... add visual touch ... they need to run ... but the guy asks them for something else ... a new place ... different from what they know till now ... treasure hunt angle ? Need research if that's a good angle ... but do connect him to survivors' past ... various directions from here ... you need to have a message ... look for a survey or data churning exercise for finding the best fit of events and flow ... it's withering away dude !! ... Yeah ... let's keep the focus ... You know very well how to make sense of this serpentine flow that you go through ... we all go through it dude ... few actually take up the task to make sense out of it ... that's why they are few ... :-) Challaa Taani !!

Lootera: Movie Review

Romance is in river, in snow, in trees and in air ! Just watched "Lootera" ... :)

Plot:
A slow paced light coloured romance between a fiesty rich landlords's daughter and a scheming shrewd "Lootera" which goes ahead to become a real heart-wrenching story of sacrifice and unconditional love.

Story:
Pakhi (Sonakshi) is daughter of a rich zamindar in Manikpur (WB). In comes a young handsome and well-behaved government archaeologist Varun (Ranveer) from state's archaeological department along with a request to excavate a particular plot of land in zamindar's estate where they claimed, lied some pre-historic remains. Zamindar allows Varun to start excavation work and also invites him to stay in his haveli till the time excavation gets completed. During this boring excavation activity, love was going to blossom ... Pakhi comes close to Varun and eventually both of them fall in head-over-heels for each other. Our honest and committed Varun proposes to zamindar to allow both of them to get married. Quite surprisingly zamindar  agrees to his proposal and movie seems to be ending right at interval. But this was not going to happen. Suspense element, right ? Enjoy it.
But after interval movie takes a different turn. Rather more mature and calm turn. First the setting shifts to Dulhousie and no more West Bengal. A general slow pace kicks in (exception being few sequences of thrilling chor-police chase) and movie moves into an intensely emotional realm. The intensity would pull you into their world and take you blind-folded wondering up to the climax. Sadly but peculiar taste of this movie's climax is actually common-place now and it seems it's the new in-thing in bollywood ... You would shout at the screen ... Why ??

Weaknesses:
For certain viewers, either the slow pace of movie, or the intense drama or the 1950's kind of romance can get dangerously boring. And viewers might exclaim - "Kya pakaau film thi yaar"... Not a mass entertainer for sure. May affect the business also :(

Strengths:
1. Story (Decision to adapt part of the movie from "The last leaf" was masterpiece ! O Henry Sir is a killer, anyday),
2. Ranveer (After diagonally opposite charachters in dhinchak roles like Band-B-B and Ladies Vs Ricky, this role gives him a chance to show his breadth of acting skills),
3. Sonakshi (for 1st time, I felt proud of her),
4. Direction
5. Cinematography / Background Scenes (The Johars and Chopras should learn that nice locations and backgrounds can be possible within India too)
6. Music (Rightly placed songs/tunes which add to the intensity. 10 on 10 to the background music for sure !!)

A must watch for romantic-at-heart people who can endlessly love to stare at the beauty of slow silent ripples in water.
A strict no-no for people looking for a weekend stress-buster ;-)

Stars: 4*

Chalaa Taani !
Neo.

Ghanchakkar: Movie Review

Sun Oye Ghanchakkar Babu, tere chakkar hain bekaabu, hua bheja tal ke sabu .....dana rey !!

Plot: A typical bank robbery goes into "Ghazni" mode which threatens to be taking shape of "The Usual Suspects" or "Johnny Gaddar" but dupes everyone by ending up in a brilliant question mark and that's signature saved "Ghanchakkar" ... Yes :-)

Screenplay: A slow pace session which ends up in strange yet orgasmic climax. Don't miss the climax if you ever start experiencing the foreplay :P

Dialogues: Good to start ... but very soon they get hackneyed.

Story: Sanjay (Emraan), an expert Lock-Picker, is married to fiery, fashion freak and loud-dressed punjaban Neetu (Vidya) and is leading a languid lazy metro life till he gets a call from Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Idris (Namit Das) to rob a bank. Fun kicks in here. Nice bank robbery sequence ensues. Post robbery the trio decide that they would divide the money after 3 months so as to let the post-robbery-police-heat settle down. Flash-forward -> Sanjay refuses to even recognise Pandit and Idris after 3 months claiming he met an accident that has caused an (Ghazni re-incarnate !) amnesia which would aggravate with time. He also claims that he doesn't know where he had kept the loot-money. Annoyed by this Pandit and Idris forcibly enter into Sanjay's home and give 7 day's ultimatum to remember everything and return back the entire loot. Fun takes a back seat and buffalo enters water here. To keep the interest in movie, the scriptwriter keeps pushing age-old or hollywood-movies-inspired-sequences including pouring in some "Bhediya Aaya , Bhediya Aaya" sequences and plunging the neck-line of Vidya's dresses. Both, in fact, would turn futile in front of a discerning audience. 

Movie goes straight into climax with hints of "Judas Kissing" at times. 

And, wo wo wo ... what a climax ... Loved It !! We, the audience, clapped and thanked Emraan for keeping the things small within a banana and a fork to tackle the last samurai :P 

Strengths: Climax, Ghanchakkar song, sequences like the bank robbery and "Ye fried rice hai ??"

Weaknesses: Slow pace in middle, length of movie, banal talks, Vidya Balan (why did she ever sign this movie??)

One time watchable.

Even though not rated an adult movie, avoid impressionable-aged-kids with you ... Vidya aunty is still in hangover of her "Dirty Picture" it seems ;-)

Stars: 3* (Don't ask for more !!)

Ranjhana: Movie Review

Some people love watching cricket or TV serials. It's like an addiction for many. But then there are people like me who are addicted to movies. Watching a real good movie and writing about it is one of the best pleasures I look forward to enjoy in life.

At times there are movies which can't be categorized as good or bad but they leave some strong impact on you. Something in them makes your pulse race faster than itself every next second. And then something in them makes your heart go for a toss and at the end it leaves a void, a small ache in your heart. 

Ranjhana is one such movie. 

Plot is set in two cities i.e. Banaras and Delhi. 

There's an average looking but super confident Kundan (Dhanush) who is son of a tamizh priest in Banaras. He falls in love with a local muslim girl, Zoya (Sonam) and falls real deep. In fact his love gets reciprocated through real dramatic-small-town-school-days'-wala love affair within 20 minutes from start of the movie. He got slapped numerous times, he cuts his wrist veins, jumps into auto, cycles on railway platform ... with his looks and actions, surprisingly, his love looks real ... this would indeed be a difficult feat for any six-pack-abs hero in bollywood ... But sadly, post this beautiful start, the movie takes various twists and turns. Countless twists. Movie moves ahead into real-life-problems ... In parallel, the love traverses it's journey through years...long years. If you see, the Ranjhana love starts with a line-segment, turns into a triangle, then a quadrilateral, then again a triangle and then again a line-segment. You keep getting colors of politics, murders, social-movements in the background too. Incidentally the Love-line-segment at the start and climax of the movie has same two end points but these two end points are real extreme and crazy souls. 

Let me not tell you entire story for two simple reasons: a. It'd kill the fun; b. It'd be difficult to narrate

Strengths: Dhanush, Sonam, Dialogues, Swara Bhaskar (Tanu weds Manu fame), Zeeshan Ayyub (No one killed Jessica, Jannat-2 and Mere Bro ki dulhan fame) , AR Rahman's Music.  

Weaknesses: the way story moves into weird unnecessary twists and for the climax. 

Abhay Deol is an over-kill. Director should not have hired a pro like him for a small role like this one. 

Must watch for small-town-guys-once-been-obsessive-impulsive-one-sided-lovers-during-school-fraternity ..... !! Yours truly couldn't have missed it ;-)

Stars: 3.5*