Bengali Movie Bonkubabu 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

 Bonkubabu

Cast: Saswata Chatterjee, Rajatava Dutta, Laboni Sarkar, Arunima Ghosh, Arjun Chakrabarty, Rupa Bhattacharjee

Direction: Anindya Bikas Datta

One thing that you realize watching Bonkubabu is that comedy is not everyone's cup of tea. Bengali cinema has a long line-up of classic comic films — Basanta Bilap, Sriman Prithviraj and even the recent Bhooter Bhabishyat — but Anindya Bikas Datta's debut venture is definitely not one of them.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks is the casting of SaswataChatterjee, an actor who's in his '40s, as the 70-year-old Bonkubabu. Yes, Saswata is one of Tollywood's best and he has proved time and again that he can pull any role off. But sporting shoddy make-up — you can clearly see his false jawline — as Bonkubabu, he does nothing extra that a septagenarian actor can't. He's good overall as a bad-tempered old man with a heart of gold, but in a film that is a collage of crude jokes and a feeble storyline, his old-man act loses steam.

The plot of joint families breaking up and land sharks targeting the ancestral property has been explored in many films. It could have still been an entertaining watch had the film not gone overboard with sexual innuendo, slapstick humour and an overlong running time. Post interval, the film picks up pace. The credit goes partly to Debranjan Nag, who is excellent as a bookie-turned-villainous promoter, and to SumitSamaddar, who plays a thief. RajatavaDutta as Bonkubabu's eldest son, the meek Babushona, is worth watching. But Arjun Chakrabarty, otherwise a good actor, looks too young and naive as the sex-starved newly-married man. The song Tultuli, featuring him and on-screen wife Arunima, does not bring any laughs. However, the action sequence, where every member of Bonku's family tries to beat up the baddies, generates a few laughs.

Not everybody can be successful trying to mix comedy and romance with a dose of social commentary. The director loses focus while trying to do too many things simultaneously. He looks inspired by Priyadarshan's style of filmmaking but to get there, there is a long road ahead of him.

Hindi Movie Ek Villain 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Ek Villain

Director: Mohit Suri

Producer: Ekta Kapoor

Music Director: Mithoon

Lyricst: Manoj Muntashir , Mithoon

Singers: Ankit Tiwari, Mohammad Irfan,

               Shraddha Kapoor, Arijit Singh, Adnan Dhool
Cast :  Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh
            Kamaal R Khan.

Bollywood has steadily segregated itself into three broad groups. First group is the one who creates original content and the second is the one who adapts older content from elsewhere and gives adequate credits. Like what we saw in Citylights when director Hansal Mehta made it clear through half a dozen mentions that his film is an adaptation. The makers of Ek Villain, irrespective of what their earlier credentials may be, have treaded into the third group - the ones who copy and do not attribute original source. Not quite respectable.

Despite numerous reports that Ek Villain is inspired by Korean film I Saw A Devil the producers continued to rally that their film is a piece of original work. This Mohit Suri film derives heavily from the 2010 Korean hit.

And that is where Ek Villain falters. With a ready premise, the director and his team was left with a task to build a screenplay which could fit well for the Indian audience. They did come up with very impressive additions in characterization and story, but lost way in trying too hard to do the same. So much that the film slipped from being a thriller to a slower drama.

Ek Villain is the story of an ex-gangster, Guru (Siddharth Malhotra), who leaves his rowdy ways to be with his love Aisha (Shraddha). However destiny plays a cruel game as Aisha is murdered by a serial killer Rakesh (Riteish). The story from there on is about Guru's hunt for the killer and peace.

While there is no suspense element, it's the thrill that goes completely amiss as the screenplay goes back and forth tracing the love story between Guru and Aisha and the present. To make matters more interesting, the writers provide a back-story to the killer giving him a certain grey glow rather than an out-and-out dark character.

I would give marks to the writers for coming up with more rounded characters. But deduct marks for not managing to keep the screenplay from going haywire, as a result of which the pace suffered.

Among the pluses of the film include powerful performances by the leads and kickass music. Siddharth Malhotra indeed is turning into an actor to watch out for. He is a unique combination of energy, looks and visible dedication. Shraddha works well for her part. It is Riteish Dehmukh who manages to get attention for delivering something not many would have expected him to be capable of - that evil grin. He is provided a character that he should be proud to flaunt. I am not sure about the need for Remo Fernendes and Kamaal R Khan in the film. Better actors could have added to the respective roles.

I have long considered Mohit Suri as an extremely under-rated director. This film proves again that he does have a flair, only if not let down by the writers. This is a classic case of trying to provide a buffet meal and going wrong when the audience would have just been happy with A la carte!

While walking out of the theater I heard an aged couple talk. The lady says, "Chalo, at least this was better than Humshakals." The gentleman agreed and adds, "Yes, true!" Well, though unfair a comparison considering both films belong to completely different genres, it does speak enough.

Ek Villain could have been a far superior product. What it becomes is a lackluster thriller. You could watch it for the actors and the drama. Not if you wanted to watch the thriller Ek Villain was promised to be.

Hindi Movie Humshakals 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Humshakals

Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor,

            Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta, Bipasha Basu,
Music : Himesh Reshammiya
Director : Sajid Khan
Producer : Vashu Bhagnani
Writer : Robin Bhatt, Sajid Khan and Akarsh Khurana

So you thought Sajid Himmatwala Khan could sink no further. Watch just 15 minutes of Humshakals and you'd be disavowed of that notion.

Even by the pitiable cinematic standards that the director has so defiantly set for himself, Humshakals is the very pits. It scrapes the bottom of a barrel that seems to have no bottom at all.

Humshakals is an execrable comedy of horrors that plumbs the depths of stupidity and crassness.

If there is any purpose that this load of unalloyed trash serves, it is simply this: the film proves how delusional Sajid Khan is.

He thinks this is cinema. Sorry, Mr. Khan, no matter how much money your film ends up with at the box office, the joke is entirely on you!

Humshakals (screenplay: Robin Bhatt, Sajid Khan and Akarsh Khurana) makes a complete mockery of the medium.

It operates on the principle that a mindless mad hatters' party can be mined for laughs over a runtime of 160 minutes if three sets of lookalikes are thrown into the equation and a wild goose chase is orchestrated.

Not a fraction of the film (story and dialogue: who else but Sajid Khan?) comes remotely close to being funny.

The gap between what the director believes he is capable of achieving and what he actually delivers is yawning.

He has the gumption to pitch Humshakals as a tribute to the "masters of mad comedies" - Kishore Kumar, Jim Carrey and Peter Sellers. Seriously, how insane is that!

The acting is appallingly and consistently bad. But that does not stop Riteish Deshmukh from imitating Dilip Kumar on a couple of occasions. One can only cringe.

Neither is that all. The memory of Ashok Kumar, Hindi cinema's other recognized epitome of onscreen restraint, is evoked repeatedly through the names of the two principal male characters - Ashok and Kumar.

You squirm in disgust, if not disbelief, as a bunch of morons runs amok in London, taking the film - and in the free-for-all climax, an actor impersonating Prince Charles, no less - down with them into the dregs.

The ways of the ho hum hero of Humshakals are perfectly in keeping with the rest of the tawdry film.

The man is called Ashok Singhania (Saif Ali Khan), and he is the scion of a mammoth business empire.

He doubles up as stand-up comic who cracks PJs that drive away the audience.

He and his bum chum, Kumar (Riteish Deshmukh), have to contend with an evil maternal uncle (Ram Kapoor), who answers to the name of Kunwar Amar Nath Singh. The acronym, if you haven't guessed, is Kans. Wow!

Singhania senior (Akash Khurana) is in coma, and this greedy mamaji wants to usurp the business from under the nose of the rightful heir. He is bent upon declaring Ashok mentally unstable.

In a ward of the mental asylum where Ashok and Kumar end up after being turned into dogs by a potion created in a secret lab, another pair of guys with the same names and looks surfaces.

It eventually turns out that the villain, too, has a lookalike, a man who responds with great violence every time somebody sneezes in his presence. "I hate germs," he hollers.

As the mayhem takes on indescribable proportions, the soundtrack is helpfully overlaid with a musical refrain that goes humshakals, humshakals and adla badly ho gayi confusion shuru ho gayi, lest the audience misses the point.

Humshakals is consistent in one respect: the only way it goes is down. The gags turn more and more grotesque as the film progresses, ending in such an unseemly heap that it becomes impossible to fathom what the hell is going on.

If two sets of doppelgangers were not bad enough, a third set is introduced in the run-up to the climax.

This film's idea of slapstick humour entails poking fun at the mentally ill, at five-year-olds, and at canines.

If members of any of the above categories could lodge a protest, the makers of Humshakals would have had a battle on their hands.

If they do not, it is simply because their film is so god awful that it doesn't deserve to be taken seriously.

In the film's only sequence that might bring forth a mild chuckle, Satish Shah, in the guise a tyrannical warden of an asylum for the criminally insane, subjects two inmates to a screening of Himmatwala.

Heed the warning : Humshakals is infinitely more insufferable. Even if you possess plenty of himmat, use it elsewhere.

Hindi Movie Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi

Cast: Simran Kaur Mundi, Siddharth Gupta, Pallavi Batra, Brijendra Kala,
Director: Aman Sachdeva
Producer: Ektha Kapoor, Bejoy Nambiar
Production House: Balaji Motion Pictures, Getaway Films
Music: Parichay, Palash Sen, Mikey Mccleary, Anand Bajpai
Lyrics: Manoj Yadav, Parichay, Palash Sen, Deekshant Sehrawat, Tanmay Bahulekar, Ankur Tewari, Raghav Dutt
Cinematography: Uday Mohite
Editing: Bakul Matiyani
Costume Design: Himanshu Gadani, Vikram Borade.

Probably the best thing about Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi is one small scene when this quirky God-man (Bijendra Kala), who provides 'hot and fresh' blessings, tells Kuku that he just repackages people's lost faith in a new form and serves it back to his devotees. For Kuku, his moment of 'enlightenment', usually defined as coming of age, comes through strangest of signals - a flicker of the light during the voltage fluctuations.

Underlying texture of the story and very fresh characterization, set in sub-urban Delhi, are highlights of KMKJHG. It comes with its moral lessons but that's not on the face.

Kuku and Ronnie have grown up together and are best of pals. They manage to pass their 12th exams and now are supposed to decide on the future. For Kuku, a fantastic cook with a hope to start a restaurant, his father has already made the decision. He will have to go to college, study and get into NASA. Kuku of course has little inclination towards studies, much like his pal. Unlike him though, his pal Ronnie is luckier. His family soon gifts him a business to run! Things already at a tipping point, Kuku ends up looking foolish in front of the girl he has fancied all his life. With best friend suddenly too busy to understand Kuku's plight, he finds support in an elder cousin.

Siddharth Malhotra's naive Kuku and Ashish Juneja's perky Ronnie look convincing. Amit Sial lends his own to the character of Prabhakar, the opportunist cousin. Simran's character starts out well but suddenly loses soon all importance and has little to do in the story.

The problems in the film outweigh the good. For one, the film seems as long as it's title. The director, Aman Sachdeva, lets the story unfold in his own pace and fails to cut it short even after the climax is over. Also, Kuku as a character should have drawn some sympathies but fails miserable to evoke any emotions at all. The film ends up pretty bland and nothing to be reminiscent about - unlike something like Fukrey. And neither does it ever manages to make you laugh, despite being a 'comedy'. At least that's what the makers call it. Okay, there is one scene that made me smile - and this too about the God-man who can be contacted on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp!

KMKJHG makes for a decent home video watch. I could definitely check out the shots of Kuku cooking - chopping vegetables and making milkshake - clearly inspired by the opening montage of American TV series Dexter. Else this film holds no promise.

Hindi Movie Fugly 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Fugly

Director : Kabir Sadanand

Producer : Grazing Goat Pictures Pvt. Ltd, Ashvini Yardi

Cast : Jimmy Sheirgill, Mohit Marwah, Kiara Advani
            Vijender Singh, Arfi Lamba, Mansha Behl

Music Director : Prashant Vaidhyar, Shameer Tandon
                                   Yo Yo Honey Singh, Santok Singh

Screenplay : Sanjay Kumar

Editor : Shounok Ghosh
Story Writer : Rahul Handa
Executive Producer : Sohaib Hassan

Sample this - A reporter thrusts her mike into the face of a man with third degree burns asking him how he feels. Another pushes in to ask the patient why he tried committing suicide, before finally the ward boys pushes the stretcher nto the hospital. This happens in the first ten minutes of the film.

Quite often I have been left cringing as filmmakers create caricatures of the media. Usually I overlook these small incidents. It is however difficult for me to ignore it in Fugly considering much of the screenplay moves forward because the writer-director eagerly overlooks details. Fugly rather left me exasperated. Not because I take offence as journalist myself. But because I just hoped the director had researched better. For one, a news media camera is never allowed inside an ICU; At least not in the situation that is shown in film. And more importantly, live telecast needs lot of engineering. Channels don't just get live feed directly from a camera shooting something randomly. As a filmmaker you can't just make things happen for convenience for your screenplay. Things would have been acceptable had Fugly been an exaggerated satire, or one of those slapsticks that we have so often seen Akshay Kumar in.

Taking things for granted is just tip of the problems. Innumerable directorial goof ups follow.

To be fair, Fugly has a good plot. It is the story of four buddies caught in the trap laid by villainous policemen called Chautala. Soon these four kids are nothing but unwilling puppets in the hands of the man in Khakee. They try their best but every time they try getting rid of Chautala the kids land in worse trouble.

The trouble arises when the story moves on from a hero-villain tale to being one about reawakening the country's conscience. Kabir Sadanand makes an earnest attempt to take his film into the Rang De Basanti space but fails miserably. The film bores when it is supposed to create nationalistic impact. Worse, it made people laugh when it was supposed to make the audience emotional.

Among good things in the film are Jimmy Sheirgill, Arfi Lamba and cinematography. Newcomer Mohit Marwah has screen presence but will have to work on his skills to become a more recognized actor. Kiara too shows spark. Vijender should continue with boxing.

Fugly disappoints. The first half is still passable but the second half loses way completely. The screenplay could have done better with use of some logic. This a film that the director will have to take the fall for. 

Hindi Movie Chal Bhaag 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Chal Bhaag

Cast : Deepak Dobriyal, Varun Mehra, Tarun Bajaj.
Story/Writers: Tarun Bajaj
Costume Designers: Fatima Zaheer Mehdi, Tanu Krishna
Choreographers: Swarup, Robin-Darwin
Background Music: Amit Rathod
Music Director: Satish Kashyap, Satendra Riwari, Sanjay Pathak
Lyricist : Niket Pandey, Dr.Devendra Kafir, Sanjay Pathak
Producer: Mohammad Zaheer Mehdi, Fatima Zaheer Mehdi.
Director : Prakash Saini.

 
30 minutes into the film, a friend who was watching it with me tapped by hand and with a painful look on his face almost pleads, "Chal bhaagte hai" (Let's escape this). Of course I could not have left the film midway. As a reviewer it is my job to watch the entire film so that I can provide you, our reader, with proper insight. But as I look back at the film, that moment probably sums up the entire experience of watching Chal Bhaag.

Chal Bhaag is one more of the pseudo attempts at making a film about the underbelly of Delhi - the gangster, police and politician syndicate. So there are stupid goons, the gang-lords, corrupt policemen, lunatic politicians, loaded businessmen, the elections around the corner and the crime. The usual recipe. What it however does not have is a decent screenplay and a capable director.

At best Chal Bhaag is funny. Unintentionally of course! The writer, who has also cast himself as one of the leads, has come up with dialogues which must have taken a good deal of brainstorming. How else does one explain such hilarious lines? Too bad the situations were not comic. Add to that his unbearable acting.

It is such an uninspiring piece of job that even a usually fantastic Deepak Dobriyal looks intolerable. Yashpal Sharma is easily the only saving grace in the film. The rest are too caught up in trying to make sense out of the situations than actually put sense into their performance. Plus a shoddy job at the camera and edits - there is no way out for Chal Bhaag.

As a journalist I come across many aspiring filmmakers who spend years finding that one producer. Some of these are actually promising and have wonderful scripts. And yet they don't find one person who could fund their dreams. And yet there seem to be enough moneybags around to back ridiculous scripts and filmmakers with complete lack of discipline. My only fear is Chal Bhaag might just see one more enthusiastic new producer bidding adieu to the film industry- like scores of others do after funding a bad first film. This is one of the instances where I pity the producer more than I pity myself for having to go through such agony.

Hindi Movie Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Machhli Jal Ki Rani Hai

Cast : Bhanu Uday, Uday Saxena, Swara Bhaskar, Ayesha.

Director: Debaloy Dey

Lyricist: Puneet Sharma, Prashant Ingole

Editor: Aseem Sinha

Cinematography: Mahendra Pradhan

Action: P K Swain

Screenplay: Debaloy Dey, Nattasha Rana, Sailesh Pratap Singh.

If you go to watch Machhli Jal ki Raani Hai hoping it would be a horror film about fishes and water, you are going to end up very disappointed. Not that you are going to walk out happy with any other expectation. I am actually still trying to make sense out of the film.

One scene shows that the ghost likes fishes, as the possessed Ayesha (Swara Bhaskar) eats them raw. Another scene shows Ayesha get so aggressive that she almost rapes her husband Uday (Bhanu Uday). And soon after, it is revealed that there are actually multiple spirits trying to avenge their deaths. All these make me wonder which ghost is behind Ayesha's crazy antics. Clearly the writers did not intend to delve into any detail.

There actually is no definite storyline to this film. It starts with the story of a tantric and his family and ends being the story of family of an engineer. The screenplay is like the essay written by a five year old - one that starts with cow being a domestic animal and ends at Delhi being the capital of India. The essay would probably have some sense. Machhli Jal Ki Raani Hai has none.

Talking of the scare factor, there are instances when the horror in film grips. But the director gets into his act pushing in unwanted and tackily shot songs nullifying all the impact.

It is Swara Bhakar I feel pity for. This is one actress I have come to like for the kind of roles she does. She brings her honesty into this role as well. But the moment you ask her to do things she has never done - like dance to club song - she gets bad. The rest are no better. There is sincerity in Bhanu Uday and Deepraj Rana's performance but that hardly adds up to much. Hemant Pandey does bring in some laughs.

Machhli Jal Ki Raani Hai at best is amateurish. Save your time, and money ! You might as well watch an old Ram Gopal Varma horror film on DVD.

Bengali Movie Ramdhanu 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

Ramdhanu

 Cast :- Kharaj Mukherjee, Rachna Banerjee, Gargi Roy Choudhury,

               Shiboprasad Mukherjee

Director :- Shibprasad Mukhopadhyay, Nandita Roy

Presenter :- Atanu Roy Chowdhury

Story :- Suchitra Bhattacharya

Screenplay :- Shibprasad Mukhopadhyay, Nandita Roy

Dialogue :- Shibprasad Mukhopadhyay, Nandita Roy

Cinematographer :- Shirsha Roy

Editor :  Moloy Laha

Art Director :-Amit Chatterjee

Costumes Designer :-Ruma Sengupta

The rainbow of life is filled with colors. Colors of hope, achievement, failure and of course disappointment. The colors of success are too overwhelming and always comes with a smile, but the baggage that the colors of struggle and failure brings along with it are not too decent and at tines too difficult to adjust with.

Ramdhanu traces the journey of Mitali Dutta (Gargi Roychowdhury) and husband Laltu (Shiboprosad Mukherjee) who fail to get their son, Gogol (Akashneel Mitra) admitted to a reputed school. Their lack of awareness and inability to speak proper English comes in the way of their son's admission. The parents are paranoid and are getting dragged down to worry about their son's future as they desperately try to put him into a modern English medium school. They are tortured by the good news of their friend's children getting successful admissions. But they decide not to lose hope and patiently clear out the clouds by getting themselves enrolled to a grooming class.

There are an exceeding number of actors in Ramdhanu. But all of them play their designated role too sincerely and with ease. Shiboprasad nails it once again with his brilliant acting style that is too natural to resist. Gargi as the caring and loving mother replicates motherhood too peacefully and with a natural ease. Our child actor is also too suited in his role and establishes the dreamy, carefree child too well and is bound to pull you to the theatres once more for Ramdhanu and for his innocence.

Watch Ramdhanu to discover the triumph of a couple who face adversities just to win over them with repose. Ramdhanu (rainbow) brings forth the emotional journey of a family. The struggles of being hopeful. The difficulties of gulping in failures with a straight face.

Bengali Movie Chaar 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

Chaar

Cast :- Paran Bandyopadhyay, Saswata Chattopadhyay

          Sreelekha Mitra, Subhrajit Dutta

          Abir Chatterjee, Koel Mallick, Pijush Ganguly, 

          Sudipta Chakraborty, Rajatava Dutta

Director :- Sandip Ray

Presenter :- Srikant Mohta, Nishpal Singh

Music Director :- Sandip Ray

Story :- Parosuram (Raj Shekhar Bose), Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, Satyajit Ray

Screenplay :- Sandip Ray

Dialogue :- Sandip Ray

Cinematographer :- Shirsha Roy

Editor :- Subrata Roy

Art Director :- Manik Bhattacharya

Sound Designer :- Anup Mukhopadhyay

Four stories. Three writers. One on screen writer/ director. Sandip Ray's Chaar befits this description with glory and successfully represents four stories on screen clubbed tighter as a singular narrative. Stories have not been picked with a particular motive but are heart warming and define relationships distinctly by expressing different human emotions. The one hour forty five minutes of narrative is broken down into four parts. Part one Bateshwarer Abadan by Parashuram is the story of a writer who is forced to alter his tragic narrative. Part two Dui Bandhu (Two Friends) by Satyajit Ray explores the realms of friendship and therefore the various said and unsaid bond between the two. Part three Kaktaruya (Scarecrow) by Satyajit Ray explores realms of subconscious memory, imagination and unrequited attachment. The last part Parikkha (Exam) by Saradindu Bandopadhyay takes us back to the British Bengal and warms our heart through an innocent tale of love and trust.

Expression of emotions in each tale is weaved with simplicity and virtue. Music heightens the tempo and gels the narrative quite well. Ray's selection of actors is equally powerful and perfect. From Paran Bandhopadhyay to Saswata Chatterjee to Sreelekha Mitra, Rajatava, Sudipta and Swaralipi, Piyush to Abir and Koel everyone works their character too well and somehow create such an impact that at one point you would feel Chaar wouldn't have been possible without them playing their roles.

To summarize, simplicity, purity, heart warming are the few words that you will easily encounter after watching Sandip Ray's Chaar (Four). Satisfaction is just a low tribute for a film like Chaar. Watch Chaar to experience the entertainment of reading stories on screen.

Bengali Movie Game 2014 (Bengali Flim Review)

Game

Cast : Jeet, Subhasree Gangopadhyay

Director  : Baba Yadav

Music : Director Jeet Ganguly

Story  : A. R. Murugadoss

Screenplay  : N. K. Salil

Dialogue  : N. K. Salil

Cinematographer  : P. Selvakumar

Editor  : Mohammad Kalam

Action Director  : Rocky Rajesh

Playback Singer  : Nakash Aziz, Akriti Kakkar

 Army captain Abhimanyu (Jeet) comes home on vacation, only to unravel a terrorist plot to carry out serial blasts in Kolkata. He goes on to outwit and exterminate the terrorists involved.

Give us a believable plot and we're game. And that's what Game is — believable, though your belief gets a bit stretched at times. But what else can you expect from a commercial masala flick? It has the right dose of romance, comedy, action and incredulity to make it big at the box office. The script is crisp, thanks to its Tamil film industry origins, and the pace is engaging.

But — pardon my nagging curiosity — we would surely love to know the source of all the weapons in circulation in the flick. And, of course, the way they seem to materialize out of thin air! You may be in the army, may be a hot shot intelligence officer, but even the mai baap of them all, James Bond, is helpless without Q! So, Abhimanyu providing 12 bags with loaded handguns to his army-mates right after a black-tie wedding is a bit...ahem! How do we put it? Far-fetched? Guess that's the word.

But don't judge this book by a few of its pages. It's a good package — light in parts, nail-biting in others. Jeet looks every bit the shrewd army intelligence officer, Subhasree is all smiles as his pretty fiance, Sudipta Ballav shines as the tense cop and Abhimanyu's harassed friend while Saurav Chakraborty adds a Bollywood touch to his character of a merciless terrorist mastermind. And as we mentioned earlier, the storyline is engaging and racy. Director Baba Yadav deserves quite a few pats on the back for that.

As for the technical departments, well, P Shelva Kumar has done a commendable job as the cinematographer, especially during the adrenaline-pumping chase sequences. But the special effects leave one pining for some more realism. The blast scenes — in a bus and then a ferry — are too old-school in this time and age. The days of superimposing fire on an object to depict a bomb explosion are long gone.

The music is mediocre at best, though the song sequences are not ill-timed. But it's always kind of jarring when the lead pair suddenly starts dancing or riding superbikes in Dubai right after sharing romantic looks in some locality in, say, south Kolkata! That always gets my goat. Don't know about the rest of you. But trust me, Game is an intelligent movie, with a lot of firepower and mindless fun. It's the kind of movie that doesn't, for a minute, make you regret why you bought that ticket. So, go, have fun. The game is on.

Hindi movie Filmistaan 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Filmistaan

Cast: Sharib Hashmi, Innamulhaq, Kumud Mishra.

Direction: Nitin Kakkar

Side effects of piracy in the business of movies cannot be argued. However the large scale piracy of Bollywood movies in Pakistan has also affirmed one extremely important and often disregarded factor - the love for the stories, and the stars. Divided by the partition, the countries after all have shared the same ethos for centuries!

And while cricket manages to get both the sides competing, films and the love for the stars invariably get both India and Pakistan on the same side. The fact that Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan have as big a fan base in Pakistan is no secret. And neither is the popularity of Madhuri Dixit across the border, as the hilarious joke made popular by JP Dutta's LOC Kargil indicated. Probably this is where writer-director Nitin Kakkar finds his inspiration for Filmistaan.

Filmistaan is the story of a wannabe actor Sunny Arora (Sharib Hashmi). He lives movies and want to be seen on the silver screen some day. He goes for auditions but never makes it. He is one of those who could probably mimic every other actor but has no style of his own. As he struggles, his friend makes him believe that assisting a director might just help. After all, that's how Hrithik, Ranbir and so many others have made it! During the shoots of a documentary near the Indo-Pak border in Rajashtan Sunny is mistaken to be an American by a group of extremists and abducted hoping to negotiate terms with the US government. As he wakes up Sunny realizes that his in Pakistan now and there is no way to escape.

It could have been a drama from here. But the director opts for an unusual and refreshing comedy! The fun never dies, keeping the laughter going till the very end. Yet again a dangerous proposition, as on countless instances directors have lost out on the screenplay to keep the humour alive. Providing Nitin absolute support is Sharib Hashmi, with not just his performance but the dialogues that he has written. Sharib along with co-actor Inaamulhaq (plays Pakistani villager Aftaab) breathe life into each scene, wowing the audience.

The two represent the masses of each country, who could blend in without traces had it not been for the border. The food is the same, so are the hopes. And source of entertainment as well! They bond over movies and build trust in each other. A scene where Sunny confesses to Aftaab about his hopeless big screen dreams touches. Friendship knows no boundaries.

Also commendable are cinematography and music. Both play up the emotions beautifully.

Comedy is serious business. Even more so when it is the route taken to drive home a significant message, which is anything but funny. And it is always easier to lose way than leave a mark. Of course Filmistaan could have been better had the writer not left some strings untied and not fallen for a couple of moments of commercialization. Nevertheless Filmistaan is a remarkable job.

Finally making it to the release two years after it received the National Award for Best Film in Hindi, Filmistaan is also a step ahead for the film industry. Of course it would have of been better had it managed to make it to the theaters in time to celebrate the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema. But it's never too late for the good! Jai cine-maa ki! Filmistaan is a movie recommended for one and all !

Holiday Review 2014 (Hindi Flim Review)

Holiday

Director: A.R. Murugadoss

Writer: A.R. Murugadoss

Stars: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Govinda

Music : Pritam Chakraborty

The last scene before the interval of Holiday A Soldier is Never Off Duty shows a tele-conversation between the hero (Akshay Kumar) and the villain (Farhad). The villain threatens to kill the hero as soon as they meet. The hero, stylishly tilting his head to his right, says, "I am waiting." I could have clapped and whistled for the way it was done. But then, I had already seen the exact same scene in the original Thuppaki. Except that the hero in the Tamil film, Vijay, tilts his head toward the left.

Remakes have often drawn complains about lack of original content. I am not averse to them. But it certainly is only worthy if the filmmaker decides to bring in some novelty. Why remake a film else?
HASINOD could pass off if it was shot alongside Thuppakki, like Mani Ratnam's Raavan where both Tamil and Hindi version were shot simultaneously. Except this one comes two years too late. Hence all it becomes is a film which has been reshot with a few different actors in the same locations. So we have exactly the same shots, same dialogues - merely translated into Hindi and in some cases even the same actors!

In an age where content is so easily available, could I not watch a Hindi dubbed Thuppakki?

Do not get me wrong. As a standalone effort HASINOD is not a bad film. It does have its drawbacks, but as a remake of a super-hit Thuppakki, it stands on firm ground when it comes to the story. This is the story of an army guy who is on a vacation. But situations demand that he gets to work even when not in his uniform, as he finds a group of terrorists trying to create havoc in Mumbai city. And while he systematically takes them out there are also a fair number of lighter moments which keep the audience entertained.

The screenplay is cleverly drafted keeping the thrill going with regular doses of laughter and romance. The first half does stretch by quite a bit. It almost runs to one and half hours for a film which is 160 minutes long. The second half moves swift with loads of action. The scene where Akshay leads the team of 12 army-men to finish of as many members of a sleeper cell who are on their way to plant bombs across Mumbai is high adrenalin stuff. Also the climax builds a lot of anticipation and is executed well. The director could have polished off the last five minutes, which suddenly makes the film appear stretched. The entire tribute to army could have easily fit into the end-credits.

There are a couple things changed for the better in this remake. For one, they have removed two scenes that have reduced the length by ten minutes. And of course, a bigger Sonakshi Sinha playing a boxer is far believable than a delicate Kajal Agarwal playing one.

Talking about casting, Akshay does look good and performs in his limitations - considering he is guided by what Vijay had done in the Thuppakki. But you got to give it to the actor for looking as fit at almost 47! Farhad (earlier known as Freddy Daruwala) is good, but in comparison to Vudyuth Jamwal is not quite as menacing. Especially towards the climax when he needs to look dangerous and almost capable of getting the better of the Akshay. Sumeet Raghavan, playing the hero's bestie, will make you smile with his comic timing.

The technical aspects of the film are as good as the Tamil version. Director AR Murugadoss would not have it any other way. The songs do not match up to the film. For once Pritam seems to have come up with a score that does not impress.

The bottom-line is if you have watched Thuppakki you might not find this remake anything to be excited about. But if you have not, Holiday A Soldier is Never Off Duty is a fair watch. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph, there are at least a couple of scenes which will leave you pleased.