Box Office Report: Baahubali 2 earns 1500 crore worldwide

Baahubali 2 stars Prabhas playing the titular role and Rana Daggubati as Bhallala Deva, Sathyaraj, Ramya Krishna, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah Bhatia in principal roles.The magnum opus collected INR 125 croreat the box office on Day One and proved that it can break all the barriers. 

Baar Baar Dekho Review

Let's give Nitya Mehra some credit that she thought of a novel way to say the same old story. Spare a look to the little joys of life, live in the moment. Love. Laugh. Somewhere in her is a little girl who loves her frothy rom-coms and on canvas, she comes pretty close to whipping up a satisfying, watchable love story. Childhood sweethearts Dia and Jai have been inseparable since they met as tiny tots, holding hands and enjoying life like kids. She pops the question and he goes with the flow. Alas, that ends up becoming their entire life. Jai is a man child, shirking from responsibilities, commitment, socially awkward and a flight risk. He is Chandler Bing minus the sarcasm. The biggest problem with Jai is that he lacks personality. You bet his students won't agree because they clearly are more interested in seeing him jabber about formulas than in the knowledge he is trying to impart. He is uni-dimensional with perpetually perplexed look on his face. He doesn't know why he is in love with his girlfriend. Maybe that's because they have been together for so long that they have become an old married couple. She knows his favourite dishes - butter nan with butter chicken and extra butter. She is family, she is his cup of nice perfect coffee, his sunshine but somewhere he takes the love for granted. Typical? Well, totally. She, on the other hand is the bubbliest she has ever been, the most she has ever acted. What really works is the chemistry. It is amazing how two such non-actors manage to make you feel all mushy and gooey. 

Dishoom Movie Review

Expect Dishoom to knock you out. What more can you ask from a day when Mumbai monsoons are getting the better of you? Well, we went in hoping for two hours of mindless fun and the Dishoom boys - John,  Varun and Akshaye,  sure know how to show the audience a good time. A pat on Rohit Dhawan's back for the perfect casting. The man-hulk John is in his steely, grim, brooding best. Flexing his muscles, flaunting his biceps and glaring intensely, he owns Kabir with elan. This Munnabhai finds a befitting Circuit in Varun Dhawan. His man-child,  masala boy act is adorable. He makes Junaid endearing. After Badlapur, one would've assumed that Varun is all about insightful characters. But watch this film and you'll know that the Dhawan genes in him are never too far away. There are very few actors who can make buffoonery look affable and Varun seems to be having so much fun at his job that you can't help be wooed. Right in the first few scenes of the movie,  you'll be reminded of the Hollywood flick Bad Boys. The references are hard to miss but that hardly deters Rohit from making a rousing concoction of the best bromantic movies of Hollywood.  Clichéd, predictable and equally entertaining, Rohit wins this wager. 

Kabali Movie Review : Watch it only for the Rajini swag

Reviewing a film like Kabali is an utterly pointless exercise.  Who cares about a review when there is someone as enamoring as Rajinikanth scorching the screens...It is hard to believe that the super (duper) star has been reigning at the movies since the last many decades but there is no shine lost. He dazzles with all his might,  his star power is overwhelming. And that's how this film is designed. Call it vanity, call it pompous but like every Rajinikanth outing of the recent past, this too is all about him. Suck out his swagger and the movie is just a dull show.

Sultan Movie Review

Eid aa gayi hai aur dekho who apni Eidi dene aa gaya….Isn’t that the best thing about a Salman Khan film? It always calls for a celebration! And, if the film turns out to be a Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the revelry quadruples. So no matter how much the 2 hours 51 minutes’ runtime tires you, the superstar makes Sultan worth a watch. His scorching star presence gives the film a unique charm. Director Ali Abbas Zafar takes his leading man through an array of emotions. He is seen evolving - from an aimless prankster to a man who falls irrevocably in love to being a fallen star. But there is a major flaw in Sultan. Wrestling is never his true love and hence, he can never make you buy into it. Sultan falls in love with Aarfa – a local wrestler and to win her respect and love, he learns wrestling. “Doctor ki biwi doctor toh pehelwan ki biwipehelwan...” is his logic. Zafar’s treatment is shaky. He tries to make it a bit of everything – a love story, a sports film, a redemption drama. In trying to find a middle ground between creating 2016’s Chak De India and appeasing Bhai fans with a masala film on Eid, Zafar loses grip over his plot. Neither does his writing have Jaideep Sahni’s (writer of Chak De India) finesse nor does his vision have Shimit Amin’s clarity. It is Zafar’s inadequacies that makes Sultan a slog in parts.

Udta Punjab Review

There is no non-preachy way to make a film about the drug menace in Punjab. It always runs the risk of turning into a documentary. But when there is a filmmaker like Abhishek Chaubey at the helm of things, the raw data and statistics are material enough to get you high. He is riotous from the opening scene in which a discuss thrower from across the border flings a kilo of heroin towards India and drugs come flying into Punjab. When you decode it, you realize that Chaubey makes so many statements sans words. Punjab is a crucial border state that is falling prey to drugs. Can you imagine the far reaching consequences if matters aren't taken into hands pronto? 

Udta Punjab walks on a tightrope, shifting between irreverent and insightful. Profanities are hurled, songs about coke and cock are sung and yet, there are deep conversations amidst shocking revelations.The grim tone finds respite in dark humour, as the director stays true to his style of narration, laced delicately with wit. You'll find yourself chuckling in the strangest parts, smiling to yourself at incorrigible instances. And when the drama plays out, you'll find yourself pondering over the issue over and over again, wondering if we've woken up too late to save Punjab.

Housefull 3 Review

Housefull 3 couldn't have had a more appropriate release date. In the week when the social media is hyperventilating about the thin line in between funny and offensive (over the whole Tanmay Bhat controversy), this movie makes an important point - Humour offends, deal with it. Writer-director duo Sajid Farhad surely must have a good enough explanation as to why their lame-lamer-lamest flurry of funny lines are poking fun at the disabled. They redeem with an equally gratuitous scene in the end where the film's leading ladies are praying for a disabled child. Well, talk about irony! Ahem... we are offended. But not enough to file an FIR yet. And if we do, it would only be for making a terrible movie.

Sarbjit Movie Review: A half-baked plot and screechy Ash let down a fiery Randeep

If you remember anything about Priyanka Chopra's Mary Kom, we bet you remember how infuriated you were when you saw director Omung Kumar reduce the boxing champion's inspiring life story into a soul-less snoozefest. Thank your stars that Sarbjit is at least a marked improvement to his last film, but similar problems persist. His well-intentioned effort is bogged down by an inadequate screenplay that just cannot do justice to the 23 years of Sarabjit's trauma, his family's anguish and his sister's undying fighting spirit is lost in Omung's tendencies to focus more on the more trivial things. You'll not be particularly intrigued by the story of incarcerated Sarabjit Singh. There was a time, he was the topic of hot discussion on news bulletins, triggering thought-provoking debates. People had found themselves polarized between the questions - Was he really a spy or an innocent man who got drunk and crossed over the border? Well, our director here makes it a pure homage film. He sticks to the version of Sarbjit's sister Dalbir Kaur's without meandering much from what she has told them about his life. At this point, it is necessary to point out that Omung never creates a hero out of his titular man. It is Dalbir's story all the way and the film could very well be named that instead of Sarbjit.  

Baaghi Movie Review

Chiselled abs - check. Smooth dance moves - check. Penchant for action - check. Probably these were the only pre-requisites for casting the male lead for Baaghi. Tiger Shroff is undoubtedly a natural fit here; especially because the one thing this film doesn't call for, is acting. Thankfully both Tiger and his leading lady Shraddha Kapoor don't look very inclined to indulge in that either. Bang-boom-thud-repeat is all that there in this sordid actioner and both Shroff and Kapoor blissfully play out their caricaturish parts without any zeal.

Two rebels fall in love against the wishes of the world. They romance on picturesque beaches, let cool blue waters and frequent rains wash off their troubles and brave enemies with their violent streak. It is easy to buy the fact that lovers turn against everyone but in this case, the rebellion looks unwarranted. Sabbir Khan spins off a regular love triangle and decorates it with some mind-blowing action pieces. The weak link in this film, however, is Shraddha, who once again plays herself. She is chirpy, dances uninhibitedly, laughs at silly things and talks to herself. Her porcelain face, cutesy charm and saccharine adorability is getting a little too repetitive. Yes, Sabbir makes her do some unbelievable stunts and in places, she does show a surprising flair for it but with a character so similar to her previous ones, there is a sheer lack of novelty. She has immense potential that goes unutilized in most of her films. As far as the villain Raghav goes, his character's build-up lacks the menacing factor. The transformation from deewana to deadly doesn't click. The fact that a man who can’t mew in front of his father brings him down, is unconvincing.

Fan Movie Review : SRK Wins it all in this Gamble!

When one of our friends first saw the trailer of Shah Rukh Khan's last release Dilwale, she groaned. "Not again!" While watching the film today, she was too engrossed to care about the munching. She lost herself in the world of GauravChandna, whom she kept defending to us while everyone around kept murmuring - "What a creep!" The box office fate of the film is irrelevant because in this one attempt, SRK definitely has won back his die-hard fans. Just with his sheer effort of making something that any mainstream superstar would never imagine risking, he has redeemed himself.

Fan is different for him. His dedication is hard to miss. As Gaurav, he is flawless. As the superstar Aryan Khanna, he is flawed. No matter what Gaurav does, you are compelled to believe he is faultless. You want to be his counsel, reason out his actions. It is not often that one of his King Khan's characters overpower him in a film, but Gaurav does. Despite being outrageous, incorrigible and sometimes silly, the film belongs to him. 

Rocky Handsome Movie Review

It is physically painful to sit through a film that had as much potential as Rocky Handsome but fails to realize it. For action junkies, John Abraham returns with a bang and packs a punch heavier than ever before. But the most disappointing thing about the film is that it lacks soul. You can give full marks to the stunt pieces, that are nothing short of spectacular, but it has no story whatsoever to back it. And to top it all, there is far too much gore than any ordinary person can handle. Director Nishikant Kamat should run a statutory warning with this - Not for the feeble hearted. There is a line that is used to describe its protagonist, played by John, in the film...'Ek baar kuch log iski training dekhne gaye aur shock se faint ho gaye...' We came pretty close to it. But the experience of sitting through something so depleted of soul, was just plain exhausting. After a while, you want the drama to pace up, story to speed up and actors to step up and just ACT!

The first half of the film will remind you of Rohan Sippy's Dum Maaro Dum. The plot is on the same lines, but it lacks a similar kind of depth. The slick action thriller it set out to be doesn't quite condense. The drug mafioso, the bratty cop, a drug addict all remain constant. The only bright thing in this is the young Diya Chalwad. She makes up for a lot that isn't going right for the film. But eventually, both she and the extremely earnest John Abraham is pulled down by the average script. The narrative and its characters are familiar, the twists predictable and the climax is known. In such a case, even the best action can make a movie feel drab. Even at its humble 126 minutes, the film is far too stretched. 

Kapoor & Sons Movie Review

Do you remember what a staple Karan Johar film is all about? Though it was a long time ago but the man has made the frames which has built the false hopes of our childhood. KJo is all about the razzmatazz of the crème de la crème, the glitz of the upper classes and their issues which cannot resonate with the rest of the world. His world is specifically restricted to the privileged classes and their unworthy problems. The only time the man and his banner has surprised us with its a typical thinking was in Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. The movie was a romantic comedy where the hero and heroine meet, become friends, fall in love but don't want to define the relationship they share. It was a refreshing change to see a film that has all the makings of an epic romantic comedy attempt a quirky ending. It could've easily backfired. But it rather made the instance worth being an example. Whenever Karan Johar was asked what made him try a film that could have gone against popular sensibilities, he credited it to his director Shakun Batra. In this film, Shakun tries to further Karan's Student of the Year story but induces his intrinsic maturity to it. It is no longer about naive children battling it over relationships.

Neerja Movie Review

When the makers announced a biopic based on the life of slain air hostess Neerja Bhanot starring Sonam Kapoor, there were suspicions. The lead actress in question is a fashionista, whose dressing sense makes more headlines than her acting laurels. But nine years after she debuted as a coy girl in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya, she has come of age. She might not be the best choice for a film like Neerja, but she will still make you root for her with her honesty and vulnerability. She bares her soul in this performance which any day, trumps over finesse.

Fitoor Movie Review

For those of us who are familiar with Charles Dickens’ stories would know how his characters can remain etched in human memory. The layers that Dickens’ writing brought to each character with the written word makes work easier for anyone who is adapting his stories.

It is baffling how Abhishek Kapoor could pick up one of the novelists most prolific work and create something this lifeless with it. Blame the casting, the lack of chemistry between the leads or Kapoor’s inability to absorb the soul of the material at hand, Fitoor is heartbreaking. Not because it is a terrible film…not at all. But it is too synthetic to come close to the soul of Great Expectations. It is quite ironic that a film whose name literally translates to passion could be so devoid of it.

Ghayal Once Again Movie Review

In 2016, when the movie terrain has changed so drastically, Ghayal Once Again is a thing from the days of yore! Sunny Deol in his superman avatar (minus the underwear on his pants) is just as fantastic but the film is unbearably outdated. Here's the recipe - Scoop out the story from the past film, add hi-tech terms and gadgets, blend it into a paste and garnish with the iconic punches of Sunny paaji. It is a vanity project for Deol and he is earnest, but the film is a desperate attempt at reviving his stardom. 26 years later, Sunny should have spared us the horror of sitting through this vain film that dims the shine of Ghayal's grandeur.

 

Sunny Deol, his dhai kilo ka haath and Soha Ali Khan are in a relatively better space in life. The man is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is being treated by a neurologist. His bad thoughts pop up in cartoon bubbles which disappear when he consumes a magic pill. From the first frame, you begin groaning and mentally resisting the film. Novelty isn't much of concern in cases of films with such recall value but with this movie, our fondest memories are tainted. The star, however, has a fan following which can pull audiences but a logical, thinking mind can't bear to sit through it.

Airlift Movie Review

Much like Ben Affleck's Argo, the newest Akshay Kumar outing Airlift is the celebration of human spirit. It is based on a highly improbable story that just couldn't have been true, had it not been based on a real life event. Though it isn't half as phenomenal as the former, Airlift, nevertheless, is a novel, earnest and compelling attempt at pressing every patriotic button on the remote and jerk out a tear or two this Republic Day.

The herculean task of evacuating 1,70,000 Indians out of war-torn Kuwait during the Gulf War was executed single-handedly by a man named Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay) in this story. Akshay quits his larger-than-life image to settle for being the messiah of the underdog and manages to lure us with his simplicity. The same cannot be said about the screenplay that despite being rooted in raw, powerful emotions is never half as good as it was touted to be. Gritty in parts and nail-biting surely, Raja Krishna Menon's film is an over simplistic account that never rings true. Though the actors give us enough and more to cheer for, the film manages to engage only in parts.

Wazir Movie Review

In the world of noir cinema, story is more about perspective than anything else - of wrong and right doing, of finding the middle ground and questioning the basics unapologetically. Wazir is a bold, uncompromising product of genius that is unfortunately weighed down by its cliches and predictable plotline. In this film, you've to take your pick on what you prefer holding on to - its abundant positives or its vital pitfalls. But definitely, it atleast gives you a reason to think, with a story that stays. Pretty much what good cinema is supposed to do - beyond the tubs of popcorn you gorge on and the glasses of coke you gulp down for 3 hours of precious entertainment time. Much after the curtains roll down on the film, you're compelled to walk through the twists again; only to realize that despite the reservations that one might have about the film, it has a streak of brilliance that the movie owes to its writers - Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Rarely does Bollywood come up with such an intoxicating concoction of thrill and emotions. On that account, the film delivers to the tee. 

Bajirao Mastani Movie Review

Realism as a word and theme remains obsolete in the exquisitely crafted world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's fantasies. Bajirao Mastani has been the noor of his eyes for over a decade and he is dangerously indulgent this time around. Luckily he had actors who were able to carry the weight of his intricate and lofty vision on their able shoulders. Had it not been for Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra and even the mesmeric Tanvi Azmi and the mantastic Milind Soman, the film wouldn't even be half as good. We daresay the biggest pitfall is that it suffers from weak writing, so much so that even its romance depends entirely on the chemistry of Ranveer and Deepika for its magical touch. A lot of what the film is made of and what it becomes, is derived from its actors who are top notch in every frame. Suck them out and it is flaccid. Ranveer, especially delivers his career's best performance. What is with that guy and acting. His raving energy, his zest, the perfection in his dialect, his canter, his eyes that speak volumes - Ranveer is superlative. Now this is a performance that catapults him into just another league altogether. Deepika dazzles in her role. She is subtle, fiesty and faultless. And Priyanka is first-rate in her act!

When you get down to decoding what about SLB's films cast that lingering, bewitching spell, you realize it has mainly got to do with the man's vision and his ability to mount his product on a scale with such confidence. The biggest strength of Bajirao Mastani is the faith everyone seems to have on the product. Besides the expense of its opulent set up, palatial backgrounds, detailing in the narrative and the picture-perfect cinematography, it is a painstakingly created labour of love. There is a lot of heart in the story which supersedes everything else and makes the movie Bhansali's most winsome work till date.

Dilwale Movie Review

The romance of SRK-Kajol after a wait for 5 years is like another chance at reigniting your unrequited love story. You can never have enough of it. However, as expected, Dilwale is out there to sell only for its lead pair - Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol - who still have enough merit to make you feel giddy. We have no idea how they manage it each and every time, better than ever before, but they stand true to the tag of silver screen's last, most enigmatic on screen jodi. They are like a dream, reminding us of their past glories of Raj and Simran, of Rahul and Anjali. Somehow it is far too difficult to take the names of Meera and Raj in the same breath as these iconic ones. The actors are still earnest, putting their best foot forward but we wish the duo had returned in a film that deserved them. Rohit Shetty's Dilwale brandishes its lack of brains and has absolutely no shame in admitting its low-IQ humour and underwhelming plot. The director banks heavily on the stock traps of the actors’ chemistry. People fall in love at the drop of a hat a la ‘spread-of-arms’ pose. Shah Rukh plays himself to the gallery and quotes his famous lines from past movies. Chal koi nahin…"bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai..."

Angry Indian Godesses Movie Review

Angry Indian Goddesses is such a break from the mundane films we are subjected to week on week. This one has the caliber to woo you over and in parts, it does until director Pan Nalin pushes his story towards a grim, cliched climax. Touted to be India's answer to Sex And The City, the film is about seven women and a bachelorette party in Goa. A fun premise right? The biggest problem with the film is that it is never sure of its tone. It shifts between dramatic to overdramatic to fun. A crucial tip that every Bollywood filmmaker must take from the West, is that you don't have to be boot-faced when dealing with such issues. Nalin still had a point, his title screams Angry!

Freida (Sarah Jane Dias) asks her girlies to come for bacherlorette to Goa. Our women characters are worth rooting for - be it the corporate b***ch Su or 'Katrina Kaif' type Joanna (Amrit Maghera). But even in its attempt to break away, the film never quite succeeds in letting go the misogyny so deeply ingrained in our systems. When Freida asks Su, to 'put on her black suit' and walk down the aisle, the first question that pops in your head is 'Why the black suit?' The shadow of a man to protect and care remains integral to our thinking.