The Bollywood Elephant

This week Bollywood had 2 major releases: The Rajkummar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor starrer 'Stree' and the Deols' Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se'.  I decided to watch the former and so here are my thoughts the Dinesh Vijan production, "Stree" starring an unusual pair of Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor.                                                 Leading the show is the ever-reliable Rajkummar Rao as Vicky who effortlessly pulls off the role of 'Manish Malhotra of Chanderi'. His comic timing is spot on and brilliant even better than Bareilly ki Barfi. On the other hand, Shraddha Kapoor surprises with her acting skills in this one as the mystery girl. Her chemistry with Rajkummar Rao is palpable. Adding to the fun are Aparshakti Khurana as Bittu, Abhishek Banerjee as Dana and Pankaj Tripathi as Rudra are once again amazing and brilliant. They just simply add more to this madcap ride.                                                       Bas

Amidst a plethora of releases this week, 'Mulk, a small budget release of Anubhav Sinha starring Rishi Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu and Ashutosh Rana in the lead roles. The movie deals with some relevant questions about humanity and gets you thinking as you leave the cinema.            With powerhouse performers like Rishi Kapoor as Murad Ali Mohammad, Taapsee as Aarti Mohammad, Ashutosh  Rana as Santosh, all of them outperform each other and are absolutely impeccable. They are ably supported by an eccentric Neena Gupta as the matriarch, Prachee Pandya as Choti Tabassum, Manoj Pahwa as Bilal Mohammad, Kumud Mishra as judge and Rajat Kapoor as Danish Javed all of whom do a terrific job. In this ensemble cast, Manoj Pahwa's performance deserves a special mention. He literally outshone everyone.                                          The script is the real winner of Mulk. Anubhav Sinha takes a little time to build this story and has some fidgeting camerawork but then