The Bollywood Elephant

'Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety' is this week's release and has 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama' cast of Nushrat Bharucha, Kartik Aaryan, Sunny Singh in the leads and revolves around an 'upgraded' idea that marriages in India are not only between 2 families but also best friends.                                 Kartik Aaryan as the saviour Sonu is the rightful show stealer. His accent, panache and his chemistry with Sunny Singh aka Titu is excellent and better than Titu's with his fiance Sweety played by Nushrat Bharucha. She plays her part well which is more or less an 'upgrade' from the PKP series. The man in question, Sunny Singh aka Titu, gives an honest performance. His performance could've been better. Alok Nath as Ghasite, Virender Saxena as Lalu and Ishita Sharma as Pihu are excellent beyond words. Their comic timings are brilliant and ensure that you run out of breath due to laughter.                                                       

Aiyaary means 'Treachery'. 'A Wednesday' director Neeraj Pandey helms this venture his shapeshifting has cost him a well-intentioned film named  'Aiyaary' and he, Siddharth Malhotra and a sub-plotted story are responsible for it.                                                           How can a director after working with actors like Akshay Kumar, Rana Daggubatti, Taapsee Pannu resolve to work with Siddharth Malhotra as the lead protagonist? He is such an expressionless actor that he fails to justice to Major Jai Bakshi.The only plus point he has is that he looks like a soldier. He also 'Lae Dooba' his chemistry with Rakul Preet aka Sonia, who practically had no role in the movie. It was only Manoj Bajpayee, Kumud Mishra and Naseeruddin Shah out of the ensemble cast who pulled this movie. Seasoned actors like Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher, Pooja Chopra, Vikram Gokhale have merely reduced caricatures and have been wasted.                      

Talking about Taboo topics are finally coming in fashion to Bollywood! Padman focuses on the life of a social activist Arunachalam who invented low-cost sanitary napkins for women. The movie does deliver its message but sadly misses the emotional rooting that could have been possible.                                As depicted in this poster, Radhika Apte leads the cast as Gayatri, Lakshmi's wife. Her emotions, acting are all on point. Akshay Kumar as Lakshmi is delightful to watch but sometimes misses the skin of his character.  The rest of the cast do an outstanding role in their parts. With such amazing performances, there was Sonam Kapoor's performance as Pari that was pathetic and bashed up the movie in the acting department. Her performance can easily go down as One of the worst performances of the year already. Even her costume, make-up was equally disappointing as her performance.                                                                          

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. Th

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.