The Bollywood Elephant

As of the recent times, the Bollywood audience has been shifting considerably from star power to content driven cinema. Over the past few weeks movies like 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' and 'Shubh Mangal Saavdhan' has cemented that audience has started preffering content over anything else. 'Newton' adds to this list of content driven cinema. Aanand.L.Rai, the producer of content driven cinema like 'Nil Battey Sannata' and 'Shubh Mangal Saavdhan' delivers yet again a gem, 'Newton'!                                                     'Newton' is a movie of actors and not stars. Rajkummar Rao is literally on fire! Starting from 'Trapped' to 'Newton' he is simply outstanding. Portraying Newton Kumar, a slightly disillusioned man about how the world works, he is simply phenomenal. Pankaj Tripathi as Aatma Singh, Raghubir Yadav as Loknath and Anjali Patil as Malko are simply phenomena. They portray their roles to perfec

Shubh Mangal Savdhan finally released after a long time. Produced by Aanand.L.Rai under his banner "Color Yellow" which is known for its unique movies.  SMS is no exception. It tackles a very important topic in the world today of erectile dysfunction with brilliance.                                   Ayushmann plays a sensitive, caring, sweet and hopelessly romantic Mudit To perfection.  His problem and the frustrations are so well depicted that you vouch for him and care.  Bhumi as a hopeless "Bollywood Romance lover" and caring Sugandha is awesome.  She is surely the next generation "Vidya Balan". Ayushmann and Bhumi yet again weave magic with their chemistry. Seema Pahwa is on fire and quite literally.  Playing girl's mother she is phenomenal. All the characters were scripted and depicted themselves beautifully. Phenomenal Acts!                                        The movie picks up the theme of 'erectile dysfunction' and does

Barely one gets movies where the lead actors cannot act. What is even more surprising is that in India if you are a 'beautiful face' you get to face the camera even if you have no talent! "A Gentleman: Sundar, Susheel, Risky" is one such movie. Starring the "handsome" Siddharth Malhotra and the "glam doll" Jacquiline Fernandez. Lets see what is worth going for the movie.                                                       Siddharth Malhotra as Rishi/ Gaurav tries to give his best but fails miserably. His action sequences are least convincing. But his styling is sauve and adds to the glam quotient of the film. Jacquiline as Kavya does justice to her role of a glam doll. Her style, dresses and costumes make Kavya's mischiefs come alive. Suniel Shetty surprises by not being able to act well. Darshan Kumar, the only actor is unable  to pull the movie because of a screen time of barely 15 minutes. A perfect ZERO to the movie in the actin

Before I start this review, I want the readers to note that this is going to be a full UP style review of BKB which stars Ayushmann Khurana, Kriti Sanon, Rajkummar Rao, Seema Pahwa and Pankaj Tripathi. Directed by filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and written by her husband and director Nitesh Tiwari.And from her, begins U.P. waali bhasha.                                              Chirag Dubey aka Ayushmann Khurana ka kaam film mein ekdum tip-taap waala hai. Unki aur Bitti aka Kriti Sanon ki Jodi ekdum mast hai. Waheen pe humare Prem Vidrohi aka Rajkummar Rao apne abhinay se sabke muah se malai maar ke le jaate hain. Unki aur Bitti ki chemistry aag lagane ke kaabil hai. Magar sabse zyada hasaati hain humari Bitti ki Mummy aka Seema Pahwa aur Bitti ke papa Pankaj Tripathi. Acting vibhaag mein film toh sabki baap nikalti hai. Koi agar aapse bole ki acting jami nahi toh bejhijak aap unhe kantaap maar sakte hain.                                                         Iss

This Friday saw the release of Akshay's Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, a movie highlighting the sanitation problem in our country. The movie stars Akshay Kumar, Bhumi Padnekar,  Anupam Kher,  Divyendu Sharma and others.                                          Akshay Kumar as Keshav is phenomenal. Divyendu Sharma as Naru,  Keshav's brother is outstanding. Anupam Kher as Kala provide the much comic relief in a movie highlighting a serious issue. As for Bhumi Padnekar all one can say is "Hans Mat Pagle,  Pyaar Ho Jayega." Her portrayal of Jaya is unmatched by all other actors. Akshay and Bhumi's chemistry was sizzling and praise worthy.                                                        TEPK is a beautifully directed movie where a lot of credit goes to the director for bringing up an entertaining movie which could have been a plain lecture on sanitation.  The subtle comic dialogues, camerawork and other aspects are bang on.  The essence of a small town U.P/M.

With high hopes pinned on Jab Harry Met Sejal both in terms of box office figures and content, let's see what JHMS has to offer. Sadly but true, Imtiaz Ali seems to have lost his Midas touch. His intention of conveying a message about relationships and love falters and JHMS lands as his weakest movie to date. But the movie does have some good points! Which ones? Read along!                                                              What is commendable  about the movie are the performances. Shah Rukh Khan as the tour guide Harry does a commendable job. His act of a 'characterless' man is decent. Anushka Sharma as Sejal is outstanding. Her performance as a moron "modern" girl looking for her lost ring is impressive. Her dialogue delivery was amazing. Sadly, the iconic SRK- Anushka chemistry was missing.The rest of the cast do an average job in their whatsoever little roles.                                                               Imtiaz Ali

Finally Lipstick under my Burkha released in cinemas after a long battle with censor board. What Pahlaj Nihalani called "Lady Oriented" is what I call "Freedom of Expression of a Woman". But why are we recieving extreme negative and positive reactions. Lets find out!                                                                       Ratna Pathak Shah as Buaji/Rosy, Konkana Sen Sharma as Sheereen, Plabita Borthakur as Rihana and Aahana Kumra as Leela are simply outstanding in their respective roles. Their angst, frustration, that longing for freedom is evident through their eyes.  Sushant Singh, Shashank Arora and Vikrant Massey provide an able support to these terrific ladies. With performances so strong,  LUMB can alone be watched for the same.                                                                                     LUMB is an example of a movie where we see a sharp narrative co existing with an excellent sense of humour. The movie has a wa