Author: aninditaroy444

SATYANWESHI BYOMKESH:A ho-hum thriller with average content. Based on Sharadindu’s novel “Mognomainak”, the movie, set in 1971, unravels the killer of a woman. The movie suffers because of its incongruous, loopy plot. Also even at 1 hour 47 minutes, the movie stretches your patience. Be prepared to watch a Byomkesh clad in shirts and trousers instead of the usual dhoti-punjabi. Parambrata seems at ill-at ease donning the mantle of Byomkesh and looks too young for the part. Satyabati has a minuscule role in the movie. The movie has political undertones but refrains from taking a stand. An insipid Byomkesh who-dunit, the movie is watchable as an one-time fare.

PASSWORD:Invalid password, I must say. The movie talks about cyber-crime but the conflicts are settled through car chases, gunshots and fisticuffs. The storyline is confusing. The director puts more emphasis on style than substance. It is difficult to follow the going-ons and understand the movie. Dev is mediocre as usual. Rukmini follows suit. Adrit Roy is average. An avoidable movie even insufferable for timepass.

GUMNAAMI: This is a brilliant movie capturing the mystery shrouding Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s disappearance. Was Netaji killed in the 1945 plane crash, was he killed in Russia or was he the Gumnaami Baba in UP? The movie unearths a lot of facts but does not give a verdict. The screenplay is taut and the performances are superlative especially that of Prosenjit as Netaji and Anirban as Chandrachur. The VFX effects are superb. A lot of research has gone into the movie and the tension is intact throughout the movie. Music is mindblowing specially “Kadam Kadam Badaye Ja”, “Subhasji, Subhasji” and “Dhanno Dhannye”. At the end there is “Jana Gana Mana” with a tweak. An enjoyable movie meant for the family audience. Certainly a better effort than Shyam Benegal’s “Bose-The Forgotten Hero”.

DREAMGIRL: Set in the small town of Mathura, this movie is a romantic comedy involving a guy who can impersonate a female voice perfectly. At the onset, the movie is engaging and witty but it slowly loses its momentum and the female intonation sounds repetitive and nagging. Ayushman Khurana lives upto his reputation as a bankable star and gives a stellar performance. Nasrat Bhrucha is lost in an inconsequential role. Rajesh Sharma is adequate as the greedy call center owner. Vijay Raaz and Annu Kapoor give praiseworthy performances. The songs sometimes featuring Khurana in drag are a total waste of time. The plot revolves around a single premise and tends to get boring. The chemistry between Khurana and Bharucha is totally lacking. If you are expecting comedy of the ROFL variety, then this movie is definitely not it. The tenor of the female voice of Khurana fluctuates in between. The movie has a preachy climax where it mentions how social media is making human beings lonely and isolated.Watch this movie if you are a die hard Ayushman Khurana fan.

SECTION 325: This movie is a gripping courtroom drama surrounding an alleged rape case of a junior costume assistant by its movie director. The movie derives inspiration from the Nirbhaya case and perhaps that of Shiney Ahuja raping a domestic help. The movie scores because it does not take sides and the audience does not know till the end whether the defense or the prosecutor is going to win. A noteworthy performance by Akshaye Khanna who with his facial expressions and wry smiles form the life of the movie. Richa Chadda ably supports as the protege all set to fight the senior lawyer. Meera Chopra and the Rahul Bhat as the accuser andd the accused play their parts well. The judges played by Kishore Kadam and Krutika Desai make the courtroom proceedings seem real.Sandhya Mridul shines in a cameo. At 2 hrs and 4 minutes, the screenplay is taut and frills-free. There is no song in the movie to hinder the sombre pace. The audience does not get bored because numerous camera angles are used throughout the movie. The interrogation scenes are piercing and cringeworthy. There is excessive use of English words that might deter the vernacular audience.There is some utterance of Marathi words but their meaning can be easily understood. This movie is meant for the urban audience. All in all, a wholesome fare.

CHHICHHORE: This movie is an amusing take on the hostel life of a 90’s engineering college. It is mostly a boy’s comedy with not many girls in sight which is true for most engineering colleges in India. Shraddha Kapoor is merely a prop with very little to do. Somehow prosthetic makeup is not applied on her, making her look unconvincing as the mother of a teen. The movie would definitely remind you of “3 Idiots” and “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander”. It also has shades of “Dil Chahta Hain” where an ailing girlfriend of a protagonist triggered a reunion of old friends just like here an ailing teenager son of the hero prompts a get-together of classmates. Sushant Singh Rajput as Anni is adequate while Shraddha Kapoor as Maya falls short. She has only one expression throughout the movie. The development of romance between the two is forced and is not organic. The ensemble cast has a well-balanced script where all the characters are well-developed and support each other well. Of the supporting cast, Naveen Polishetty as ACID stands out. Somehow in their 40’s every guy has a receding hairline and a prominent forehead. Shraddha’s clothes just change with age. The comedy and the melodrama come in sprints and overall it is a well adjusted script. This movie will take the 40+ crowd on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The screenplay is fresh and the sports scenes are well shot. To keep the movie crowd-pleasing, its a sports competition and not one of the academic kind.One sample dialogue-“Khane mein kya hain; Melody Khao Khud Jan Jao”. Music is average but the song at the end “Fikar Mat” is quite peppy.The movie would remind everyone of the rites of passage that they went through in college from ragging to lifelong friendship. The movie also has an important message that it is not important if you failed, it is more important that you tried and tried hard. I would urge all parents to view it. Highly recommended. Two thumbs up.

GOTRO: This movie preaches communal harmony and how humanism overrides gotro or the clan.The movie is very entertaining with drama and comic interludes and a few great songs. Anusua Majumdar(Mukti Devi) plays the matriarch perfectly. She is a Vaishnavite and does Puja every day. Ambarish is a funny priest -he steals the show in every scene. Manali Dey(Jhuma) is the domestic help and she introduces herself ala Sholay’s Basanti. She is very loud and overacts for most of the part. Nigel Akkara(Tareq Ali) is an ex-convict hired as a caretaker for Anusua. Nigel gives a restrained performance-probably he could be a little more expressive.Soon love blooms between Jhuma and Tareq.Tareq helps out Mukti Devi in every possible way who soon acknowledges him as her son never minding the fact that he is a Muslim.Kharaj Mukherjee is a comical villain all set to grab Mukti Devi’s house Gobinda Dham. Santu Mukherjee plays a friend of Mukti Devi. Biswanath shows up in a song sequence. Saheb Chatterjee plays Anirban, the NRI son who cannot stay with his mother and Badshah Maitra plays Ritam the police officer under whom Tareq was jailed. The director could have asked Manali to learn to drive a scooty instead of showing pics on a static bike against moving road images. The ending is predictable but the treatment, the dialogues and the presentation make the movie an enjoyable watch. The songs are quite nice especially “Baishnabo shei jon” and “Hare Krishna Naam Dilo”. There is some product placement -Fortune Kachhi Gani and Senco.The movie tries to make a social comment about how Kolkata is becoming unsafe for the elderly retired population whose children are forced to work outside Kolkata due to the grim economy. Another bravura offering from the stable of Shiboprasad and Nandita.

PARINEETA: This movie is a romance with some bit of mystery. The storyline is original and not a remake. Set in North Calcutta, the plot involves a 16 year old Madhyamik student Mehul (Subhasree) who is in love with her private tutor (Babaida) (played by Ritwick). Babaida is compelled to commit suicide after which Mehul avenges his death. Although the mystery element is not that present, the movie is a delight mainly because of Subhasree’s skillful portrayal of Mehul. As an effervescent 16 year old her mannerism’s are spot-on but as an adult she looks too mature. Her scenes with Laboni Sarkar (Babaida’s mother) are over the top.The two friends who are actually 16 year olds also play their parts well. They are shown to be married with kids at the age of 20 (?????). Also the interview results are displayed in a notice board in the office which seems odd.Office politics looks juvenile.Top Tech TMT Bar gets a product placement slot.Ritwick is dependable as always. Adrit Roy plays a cameo as Ananda-the next big thing after Babaida. Music especially the song “Tomake” is exquisite. Gourab Chakraborty is adquate as the lecherous boss. The movie belongs to Subhasree-in some scenes she outperforms even Ritwik. Her no-makeup look coupled with her lissome demeanor is a delight to watch. Definitely, worth viewing.

SAAHO: This is Prabhas’ major outing after Baahubali and it’s a major letdown. Prabhas looks old opposite Shraddha Kapoor and his dialogue delivery is all screwed up. The movie has no story whatsoever. Only some action sequences have been clubbed together. Music is very jarring. The movie has a host of prominent actors like Jackie Shroff, Tinnu Anand, Chunky Panday, Mahesh Manjrekar, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mandira Bedi etc.Shraddha Kapoor is wasted. Jacqeline Fernandes shows up in one of the songs. At 174 minutes, idiocy reigns supreme.This movie is set to be a colossal flop. If mindless violence and gore are your favorites, then you can give it a dekho.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: This movie is a nostalgic take on Hollywood of yesteryears. Despite the presence of stalwarts like Al Pacino , Leonardo Di Caprio and Brad Pitt this movie fails to make a mark on the audience. Leo Di Caprio is a has-been, an anti-hero who last starred in the TV drama Bounty Law and he fails to make it in the movies. His stuntman/body double Brad Pitt is too out of work and drives him around LA. There are never ending sequences of Brad Pitt behind the wheels and this comes as repetitive. This movie is set in 1969 before man landed on the moon and radio features prominently in many scenes. Rick Dalton (read:Leo Di Caprio) is advised by his manager to go to Rome and act in spaghetti westerns -a kind of demotion for a Hollywood actor. There is one scene where Rick constantly fails to mouth his dialogues and how difficult it must have been for a perfectionist like Leo to come up with incorrect lines. The eminent director Roman Polanksi comes to stay next door to Rick Dalton who is very excited to be a stone’s throw away from the famous director. Rick then goes to Rome to earn money and comes back to the US with an Italian wife. Somewhere in between Brad Pitt gets acquainted with the Manson girls who live in a trailer owned by an ailing old man, George. A fight breaks off prompting retaliation from the Manson girls later at Rick Dalton’s residence.Rick and Brad Pitt kill all the members of the Manson family in Aug 1969 in the climax. Brad goes off to the hospital in an ambulance while Rick goes for high tea with the Polankis. THE END. The movie, barring the climax, is boring. The girl playing the starlet Susan Tate is very expressive and endearing. The hippie culture is depicted in a derogatory fashion and hippies are looked down upon. All the actors smoke, booze and do psychotropic drugs like LSD. Teenagers hitchhike and have sex with unknown men. Tarantino has tried to depict a utopian kingdom of free sex, liquor and cigarettes. There are too many closeups of bare feet suggesting the director’s foot fetish. This movie celebrates the friendship between a fading hero and his stuntman and the sheer joy of watching Leo and Brad in the same frame is immense. Apart from that, the movie does not have much to offer. At 2 hrs 45 mins the movie tests our patience. Watch this movie if you are a tinseltown junkie. Don’t miss the ciggie ad bit by Leo at the end.