The Bollywood Elephant

A smaller budget movie 'Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota' released alongside the magnum opus 'Kesari' and stars Bhagshree's son Abhimanyu Dassani making his Bollywood debut alongside Radhika Madan and Gulshan Devaiah. It is directed by Vasan Bala and has even won the 'People's Choice Award 2018' at the Toronto International Film Festival.                                                  What's Good:    (This section is going to be super huge) Story:  Vasan Bala keeps the story fresh, original, grounded and pitch perfect. Performances: Abhimanyu's Surya is outstanding, Radhika Madan's Supri is even better but it's Gulshan Devaiah's Jimmy which steals the show! An Ode to Bollywood:  The use of various songs, movie references is absolute nostalgia and yes, will bring tears of joy as the movie progresses. Dialogues:  The dialogues bring back t...

The Battle of  Saragarhi was a battle that took place in the British era of 1879 in India where 21 Sikh soldiers fought against 10,000 afghans to protect the Saragarhi fort. It was a story that was begging to be brought to celluloid and finally the master of patriotic acts Akshay Kumar brings this story to life with the help of Dharma Productions and director Anurag Singh.                                 What's Good:   Story:  The Battle of Saragarhi is a reason alone you should watch Kesari. Performances:  Performances are outstanding. Right from Akshay Kumar to Parineeti's special appearance, everything is outstanding. Action:  Most of the action sequences are well choreographed. Dialogues: The dialogues are rousing and patriotic. Music:  The song 'Teri Mitti' will echo long after you leave the theatre.                  ...

To begin with, it was an absolute delight to have Neena Gupta back on-screen after a long hiatus. She portrays the role of Mrs. Priyamvada Kaushik, a normal housewife with care and perfection. Not only is she a housewife, but also a wife, a mother and a daughter in law.  Playing a normal middle-class woman can be tricky but Mrs.Priyamvada Kaushik is a bit different. She is soft and mellow most of the times but strong and opinionated when it comes to dealing with her unborn child. She is patient, honest and constantly bears with her nagging mother in law who never misses an opportunity to belittle her in front of his son especially in the sequences where they have mango and she refers her to Mandodari (Ravana's wife).  She has her own small kitty party, where she prefers playing tambola the way it should be (fancy articulation of numbers) and keeping the regular normal gifts and surely treats her neighbors, her son's girlfriend and every visitor the way Indian cul...

This week was a quiet week at the box office considering 2 small budget movies 'Photograph' and 'Milan Talkies'. 'Photograph' is directed by Ritesh Batra (of Lunchbox fame) and stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Rafi and Sanya Malhotra as Miloni/Noorie in the lead roles who are ably supported by Farukh Jaffar as Rafi's grandmother. There was a bit of sceptical as I would have preferred Tigmanshu Dhulia's Milan Talkies to this movie. Here is my take on Ritesh Batra's Photograph.                                                What's Good:   Performances:  With Nawaz in the lead, there is not a single folly in his act as Rafi but it is Sanya Malhotra's Miloni who stays with you long after you leave the theatre. Terrific! An Ode to Mumbai:  Ritesh Batra gives a tribute to Mumbai in a unique way, unlike the way he did in 'The Lunchbox'. Cinematograph...

Amazon Prime's new original 'Made In Heaven', starring Arjun Mathur, Shobhita Dhulipala, Shashank Arora, Shivani Raghuvanshi in the lead roles and are ably supported by Jim Sarbh and Kalki Koechlin. The show is directed by Reema Kagti, Nitya Mehra, Alankrita Srivastav and Prashant Nair and written and produced by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar. The premise revolves around a wedding planning company 'Made in Heaven' and their encounters with their inner selves, their clients amidst the hassles of executing a wedding.                       What's Good:   Characters:  The characters of MIH are fabulous, realistic, relatable and everything a typical masala Bollywood male/female character is not. They alone become the reason enough to watch this show. Story:  Pretty much on the similar lines on the show Rishta.com,  MIH deals with the inner conflicts in great detail and offers logical solutions to them. Zo...

After making thrillers like 'Kahaani', 'Ahalya' and the screenwriter for movies like 'Kahaani 2', 'Te3n' etc. Sujoy Ghosh, one of the best directors of Indian Cinema delivered these intense thrillers but soon after made 'Kahaani 2', which made his credibility in danger. He delivers 'Badla' this week, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Amrita Singh and Taapsee Pannu in lead roles and all that can be said is, 'Revenge is best served COLD'. 'Badla' is an official adaptation of the Spanish film, 'The Invisible Guest'.                                                  What's Good:   Performances:  Amitabh Bachchan is at his usual best as Badal Gupta. Amrita Singh as Rani is an absolute delight and we need to see more of her. Manav Kaul as Jimmy is good in his small cameo.  Dialogues:  The dialogues are decent enough. The Twists : The twists ar...

Recently, I was in conversation with someone regarding Tigmanshu Dhulia's comment as to why trash like Total Dhamaal mints unimaginable numbers at the box office. To this, I had a simple reply that not everyone can make a movie like 'Stree' or 'Badhaai Ho' which has the right amount of comedy and subtle social message. The same producers who delivered 'Stree' last year, present 'Luka Chuppi', a movie that exactly falls in between the likes of Total Dhamaal and Stree.                                                     What's Good:   Characters: The characters apart from that of the leads are well etched for a small town setting and make everything look authentic. Dialogues: The dialogues are hands down the real hero of the movie. Super-Strong Supporting Cast: Alka Amin, Aparshakti, Atul Shrivastav, and the maestro Pankaj Tripathi provide the m...