The Bollywood Elephant

Bollywood in 2017 has given us very bad movies sans a few beautiful and good movies. Many of these beautiful movies were low on promotion and small budget, hence their box office collection and worldwide recognition is far apart. This was reflected in Bollywood's stats where out of 85 releases only 12 have been average or hit at the box office which bring the success ratio to 14.16%. much lower than last year's 22.68%.   Bollywood needs to buck up its money game especially when the much anticipated Tubelight has failed miserably on our expectations. Though surprises like Badrinath ki Dulhania, The Ghazi Attack which restored my faith in Bollywood.   In this list I am going to talk about the top 5 movies that released in this half of the year as well as the worst 3 movies of the year with a short note for the reason of my choice. *Baahubali- 2 and The Ghazi Attack will not feature in this list because they are NOT Bollywood movies.   THE...

Tube Light is Salman Khan's 2017 Eid gift. In 2015 Salman Khan surprised us by offering Bajrangi Bhaijaan, a movie that struck the strings of our heart. 2016 was Sultan which otherwise was an average watch. Just as I thought Salman was getting better at his content game, Tubelight dropped.                                                                Salman Khan as Laxman Singh Bisht is a let down. A character where he was supposed to emote with his eyes and recreate something like BB, he somewhat fails and delivers an average performance. Sohail Khan as Bharat Singh Bisht, is surprisingly good. He essays the role with good conviction. The kid, Martin Tangu deli...

ADITG is a movie which perhaps many of us do not know about. To begin with, it is the debut of the fantastic actress Konkana Sen Sharma and features an ensemble cast of Kalki Koechlin, Vikrant Massy, Gulshan Deviah, Om Puri sir, Tanuja, Ranvir Shorey and Tillotama Shome. With such an ensemble cast of actors and not 'stars', ADITG surprises.                                                       With such brilliant 'actors' on board, a movie can never gone wrong on the acting stage. Like I have said earlier, Vikrant Massy has to be the 'find of 2017'. He plays Shyamlal 'Shutu' with finesse and to perfection. Gulshan Deviah as Nandu, Kalki as Mimi and Ranvir Shorey as Vikram give solid performances which are ably backed by Tanuja a...

'Baywatch' finally hit the theatres. Baywatch stars Zac Efron as Matt Broody, Dwayne Johnson as Mitch Buchannon, Priyanka Chopra as Victoria Leeds and Alexandra Daddario as Summer Quinn in lead roles. Baywatch could have been a funnier movie but settles for an average one. Where jokes could have risen above the basic 'gross' level to a better ones, our screenplay writer Mark Swift and Damian Shannon didn't seem to care much for the same.                                                     The ensemble cast of Baywatch deliver strong performances, but had there been more meat in their characters, the movie would have gone a notch higher. Nevertheless, Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron tickle your funny bone and Priyanka Chopra as Victoria Leed...

There is not much to say about Mohit Suri directed 'Half Girlfriend.' Half Girlfriend is an ode to most of the best-friend zoned lovers. Such category people are going to love Half Girlfriend which stars Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor in lead roles and super-ably supported by Vikrant Massay Rhea Chakraborty and Seema Biswas.                                                             Arjun Kapoor's portrayal of Madhav Jha is surprisingly good. His bihari accent, wretchedness are for the most time visible through his eyes! Shraddha Kapoor, who everyone thought was an upcoming actor sadly falls down to Level 0 and is unable to portray a stubborn Riya Somani. On the o...

............and cut it! Cinema and Life Take 1 complete. 15 minutes and we shoot the next and final sequence- Cinema and Life: Take 2." said the director and as usual I sat down by the busy set when I saw a young guy dying to meet the director but was forcefully being thrown back and not allowed to enter the set.                                    Looking at him I went into a flashback and began thinking about the sacrifices and the confidence people have on their kids. Certainly, not every child stops themselves from pushing themselves into a career which has no certainity. In my opinion there are 2 major fields where a person has to 'risk' some years of their life into Cinema or Sport- 2 fields where it is all down to one's luck and willingness to take risk and 'invest' their live...

"Life is a journey with problems to solve, lessons to learn but most of all, experiences to enjoy." "Cinema is a journey on life with all boring things cut." Life and Cinema are pretty much the same as defined above. It has always been said, "Do Not Mix Real and Reel Life" speaks volumes of the impact of Cinema in the daily lives of people.                                                                                      Sitting down on a movie set with a cup of coffee in my hand I transported myself into a different world of cinema. As a young child, all of us fasci...