Padmaavat Review: Brilliant is an Understatement!

After a delay, Padmaavat finally hit the theatres and it is a typical signature of Sanjay Leela Bhansali! The man creates magic behind the camera. Padmaavat is SLB's  3rd best movie to date behind the Bachchan-Mukherjee starrer 'Black' and 'Bajirao Mastani'. 'Padmaavat' is a story of honour, valour, and obsession.

                

Ranveer Singh is the man of the moment. He displays the vivid layers of Alauddin Khilji to perfection. He is menacing, amusing and cynical and no one apart from him could have played this role. He should be ready for his award speeches now! Shahidas Maharawal Ratan Singh is impressive. He carries the honour, valour required for a Rajput king with perfection but his character lacks depth! 'Padmavati' Deepika essays brilliantly, especially through her eyes. She literally lives the role of 'Padmavati'. Aditi Hydari as Meherunnisa is stunning and Jim Sarbh as Malik Gafur is fun, wicked and amazing to watch. The rest of the cast does an amazing job in their respective roles.

                                         

Sanjay Leela Bhansali behind the camera guarantees some breathtaking, stunning, royal and magnificent visuals.The cinematography is brilliant, the screenplay is taut, the background score and the music by SLB are superb! SLB captures all the actors brilliantly! The war scenes are brilliantly shot and the editing, dialogues, and lyrics are pitch perfect! The movie has been fictionized but only a bit towards the climax to make it look dramatic. The historical facts are somewhat kept intact by the movie. 

                                         

In spite of a running time of 163 minutes, 'Padmaavat' keeps you interested in the 2 parallel stories of Maharawal Ratan Singh-Padmavati and Alauddin Khiljiin the first half and the brilliant interaction of the three leads in the second half! The movie is surely the amazing start to 2018 and it gets 3.75 stars! Go watch it! Beautifully made and acted!

                                        

                                        

P.S. 'Padmaavat' needs to be watched by Karni Sena before protesting! The movie, in fact, upholds the Rajput Valor.

                

                                                                  

The Best of Bollywood and Hollywood 2017.

Overall 2017 has been a disappointing year for cinema, both in terms of content and revenue. There have been 214 releases out of which there have been only 20 successes (semi hit and above) and hence Bollywood has been poorer compared to 2016. But amidst a lot of poor movies, there was some content-driven cinema which really made it tough for me to choose a Bollywood No.1! And surprisingly, this time I do not have a Bollywood favorite but a Hollywood favorite. So here are my Top 10 Bollywood and Top 5 Hollywood movies.

10. Meri Pyaari Bindu & Tumhari Sulu: Nuanced Performances, Storytelling, and foot tapping Music.
                                       

9. Qarib Qarib Singlle: Performances, Dialogues, Direction.
                                                                

8. Mom: Performances and Direction.
                                                                

7. Hindi Medium: Performances, Dialogues, Music and Saba Qamar.
                                                               

6. Trapped: Gritty Storytelling, Layered Story, and Rajkummar Rao.
                                                               

5. Bareilly Ki Barfi and Shubh Mangal Saavdhan: Performances, Simplicity, Music, Dialogues, and Direction.
                                                     

 4. Newton: Performances, Nuances of Social Issues, Direction. [The biggest flaw because of which Newton didn't feature in Top 3 was because it's pace, which tremendously lowered its impact.]

3. Secret Superstar: Emotional Quotient, Performances, water-tight screenplay, lyrics, climax, and direction.
                                                         

2. Lipstick Under My Burkha: Performances, Story, Direction, Cinematography, Screenplay, and Aahana Kumra.
                                                       

Bareilly Ki Barfi : Performances, Simplicity, Music, Dialogues, and Direction.
                                                    
So these were my pick for the Best of Bollywood 2017. And it is pretty evident that 2017 belonged to women as the Top 3 were either acted or directed by women and most films featuring here were dominated by females.

HOLLYWOOD:

5.The Greatest Showman:
                                                                  
4. Dunkirk:
                                                                   
3. Lady Bird:
                                                                       
2. Get Out & Breathe:
                                           
1. Wonder: 2017's BEST MOVIE.
                                                              

Thus 2017 offered a mixed bag when it came to the cinema but it the last month, it hit a six with Wonder. Brilliantly enacted, Excellently adapted and outstandingly executed!

Hope 2018 offers better films!