The Bollywood Elephant

This week is the release of a low-key movie 'Baazaar' starring Saif Ali Khan, late actor Vinod Mehra's son Rohan Mehra, Radhika Apte and Chitrangda Singh in the lead roles and is directed by debutant director Gauravv K Chawla.                                                                                                                             Saif Ali Khan is back and how! He makes a fabulous act as a shrewd business Shakun Kothari and delivers a fabulous performance. Rohan Mehra, who makes his debut is literally outstanding and makes a debut which makes you want to see more of him. He does make his late father Vinod Mehra proud. Radhika Apte as Priya is in...

The kind of cinema Ayushmann Khurana is been associated with is rather amazing and surprising. He has been associated with taboo breaking cinema and this week's release 'Badhaai Ho' is no exception. He movie revolves around the central idea of parents in their early 50s, receive the news of the pregnancy.                                         Ayushmann Khurana is on fire and quite literally. If you thought Andhadhun was his career best, be ready to re-think your choice. He just expresses Nakul onto another level. The real boss here is Surekha Sikri who as dadi, gets the best one-liners and is surely one of the most compelling supporting actor one shall see. Gajraj Rao and Neena Gupta are fabulous and express their varied expressions with ease and share an adorable chemistry. Shardul Rana, Sheeba Chadha and Sanya Malhotra don't have much to do but are great in whatever li...

This week Varun Dhawan's 'Sui Dhaga: Made in India' released along side Vishal Bharadwaj's 'Patakhaa'. So, I decided to review this Sharat Katariya directed affair and it was a totally sound decision.                              Varun Dhawan is exemplary in his role as Mauji. His dialect, appearance and acting are all on point. He brings an unusual charm to Mauji. On the other hand, Anushka as Mamta is totally terrific. Her angst, emotions are all on point. They share a crackling chemistry which lights the screen. Raghubir Yadav as Mauji's father, Yamini Dass as Mauji's mother, Namit Das as Guddu play their role and to perfection. The movie is sound in the acting department.                                                  Writer-Director Sharat Katariya keeps the story sim...

An ace director like  Anurag Kashyap decides to helm the director's hat for something that is out of his comfort zone i.e. Romance and delivers a beautifully created mess called Manmarziyaan. The movie  stars Vicky Kaushal, Taapsee Pannu and  Abhishek Bachchan in the lead roles.                                                    Have you ever thought you'd fall in love with Abhishek Bachchan? Well surprisingly, Abhishek infuses an unusual charm to Robbie and aces his act. But it is the terrific acts of the Vicky Kaushal and Taapsee that really holds the movie together. They bring life to Vicky and Rumi and their chemistry is undeniably crackling. The terrific leads are ably supported by  Vikram Kochchar, Pavan Malhotra, Poonam Shah among others.                        ...

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 si...

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 s...

2018 has been a very successful and surprising year for Bollywood. From surprising money spinners to surprising flops, the audience has finally been able to give an indication that they would like to appreciate content driven cinemas more, over Salman Khan type of cinema.                                         Before we begin discussing the best Bollywood offered, let's have a look at Bollywood's worst: 3.)  Welcome to New York : Still figuring out what this movie was about.                                                         2.) Baaghi 2 : Calamity of a movie.                                               ...