Author: aninditaroy444

MITIN MASHI: This offering from Arindam Sil is a simple whodunit involving the kidnapping of a Parsi child in Calcutta. Earnest performances, sleek editing, good cinematography, good music are the plusses of this movie. Koel, though unconvincing in the fight sequences, pull the movie well. Riya and Subhrajit support her well as assistants. Vinay Pathak is brilliant as the Parsi businessman but it is difficult to digest June Malia’s screaming and overacting. The plot is too simplistic but the director ties up the loose ends and puts forward a coherent script. Good for an one-time watch.

HOUSEFULL 4: This movie is the biggest block-disaster this Diwali. There’s no story whatsoever. The proceedings are very confusing and regressive. The three girls, who can be interchanged pretty much, serve as eyecandy but that cannot save the movie from being a colossal calamity. Music is average. Popular songs are parodied without much success. One of the songs has British royalty-lookalikes shaking a leg or two.Akhshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Riteish Deshmukh just play along.Yesteryear’s Ranjeet, Chunky Pandey, Johnny Lever (also his daughter Jamie Lever) appear in the ensemble cast. Rana Daggubati appears as the villain Gama. Nawaduddin Siddiqui shows up in a special appearance. I did not find much comedy in the entire chain of events. This movie is utter trash, so avoid it like the plague.

THE SKY IS PINK:This movie, based on a true story, tugs at your heartstrings. The story is narrated by Aisha, who dies at the age of 18 from pulmonary fibrosis, an aftermath of chemotherapy for her immunodeficiency. The parents, Aditi and Niren try their level best to fill Aisha’s life with love, happiness and laughter and make her living years well-lived. The movie is soul-stirring and does not resort to melodrama. The film documents the valiant and earnest attempts of the parents to battle against something as inevitable as death. Farhan Akhtar gives a restrained performance. Priyanka Chopra is brilliant-the movie is watchable just for her acting prowess. Zaira Wasim gives a mature performance that belies her young age. Too bad, she has retired from acting already. The songs,penned by Gulzar, are noteworthy. A poignant tale of parenthood and togetherness, the movie puts an important message of family coming first. A must watch.

WAR: This movie is all about high-octane action sequences, car and bike chases, display of brawn, rippling muscles and chiseled torsos. Borrowing heavily from Hollywood action movies, this movie pulls no new stunt and is predictable. Hrithik and Tiger fans wont be disappointed but both the heroes dont have to do any acting, they just pose and strut their stuff. Vaani Kapoor is merely a prop. There is no logic to the mindless action and mayhem. The movie lacks soul and substance. Music is good but is limited to two songs. Some of the action sequences are choreographed to opera music and are in slow motion. If you an actionbuff, you’ll probably like this caper or else it’s just a timepass movie for those who have the time.

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.