Akaash Vani Movie Review

Like PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA, AKAASHVANI also has a bond with realism. It's about the present times. It communicates the contemporary lingo. Yet, it has the old world charisma that still makes you go weak in your knees. It has shades of everything, from fidelity and commitment to resentment and mistrust to anguish and betrayal. Handled most efficiently, with several authoritative moments, AKAASHVANI is, without doubt, a delicate love story that triumphs. With PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA, Luv Ranjan demonstrated he's a commendable storyteller. With AKAASHVANI, he only seals it furthermore! On the whole, AKAASHVANI appeals for the characters that Luv Ranjan has created as well as the buoyancy and gusto with which the principal actors bring alive the characters on screen. The movie contains just the right blend of sparkle and spice and is definitely worthy of a watch. Go for it!

David Movie Review

What’s similar to God and underwear? If this has you bemused or offended, David is that necessary kick-in-the-seat of your pants to remind you of what intelligent movies with style and substance look like.

Bejoy Nambiar’s David is the stories of three men, across three time periods and places who share little more than their first name.

Set in black-and-white in 1975 London, David (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is the dreaded gangster Ghani’s henchman. Loyal to Ghani since his father’s death, David protects Ghani with his life while his master holds him more precious than his own son. When Indian officials come to London to end Ghani, they realize that they can’t touch him with David in the way. Dirty secrets have a distinct way of persuasion that even threats don’t.

While this dreadlocked David (Vinay Virmani) spends most of his time strumming the guitar – giving lessons, playing gigs and buttering industry-people to give him a chance – his father (Nassar) is a pious man of the cloth. Though he can’t get enough of his tiffs with his father, David loves his sisters and dreams of getting them well-settled in life. But when the politician Malati Tai (Rohini Hattangadi) targets his father, David starts turning into something even he can’t recognize.

Sloshing his bottle, beating up people at the bar and going on eccentric bride hunts with his mother have made David’s (Chiyaan Vikram) life more than boring. Between talking to his father’s spirit (who possesses the bodies of innocent passers-by just to enjoy drink or two) and dawdling with his friend Peter (Nishan Nanaiah), David falls head-over-heels in love with the Roma (Isha Sharwani). While David loves her despite her “speaker and mike being (switched) off”, the problem is that she’s betrothed to Peter. Poor David only has his “spirited” father (Saurabh Shukla) and super-awesome friend Frenny (Tabu) to go to.

Inkaar Movie Review

Director: Sudhir Mishra

Cast: Arjun Rampal, Chitrangda Singh and Deepti Naval

Through the two odd hours that Inkaar played out on the theatre screen I kept twisting and turning, trying to recollect which film it reminded me of. Its boardroom politics, its corporate seduction and its weird love setting was engaging, but the thought that it seemed all too familiar just kept nagging me. Cut to, back in office, a simple Google search string ‘film on sexual harassment’ cleared my muddy mind. It threw up the name of a 1994 Hollywood film with Michael Douglas and Demi Moore called Disclosure.  Before the fancy lawyers of Inkaar send me a defamation notice, let me make it clear. Inkaar is not a copy of Disclosure. It just has a similar theme, setting and a few similar scenes.

Unlike Disclosure, Inkaar adopts a slightly philosophical mood while playing out its story. But like its Hollywood counterpart, Sudhir Mishra’s film mainly highlights how sexual harassment cases can destroy careers, end relationships and of course bring out the worst in people. That Mishra attempts to tell this not-so-conventional story (in Indian context) is fantastic. Inkaar is a brave film. Not every day do the lead characters of a Hindi movie exhibit such grey shades. Chitrangda Singh plays the ambitious Maya who doesn’t mind sleeping with the boss. Not because she’s an opportunist, she actually falls for his charming ways. But that doesn’t stop her from cashing in on the advantage and speeding up the promotions. Likewise, Arjun Rampal plays the self- absorbed boss who believes flirting; passing sexual comments etc is cool corporate culture. But the edge that the settings and characters lend to the film, its unimaginative writing robs away. The ‘love’ angle just doesn’t work.

What works is the chemistry between Arjun Rampal and Chitrangda Singh. Not just their individual performances but their love-hate relationship drives the drama of Inkaar. Both Arjun and Chitrangda handle their characters to great effect.

But good performances can give you a watchable film, but not a believable story. And that is the big letdown in Inkaar. The film’s logic and the climax just don’t make sense. Not from characters who spent the last two hours (or seven years in case of the movie’s narrative) convincing you that they’d do anything to come out on top. A film that promises to hit you hard in the solar plexus, doesn’t even tickle you.   

Table no. 21 Movie Review

“If you lie, you die… you die.” Cheesy as it may sound, there are some really good flicks made on that clichéd line (I haven’t repeated the “you die” for effect, it’s verbatim from the movie) with the brilliant Phone Booth being the most memorable. However, Table No. 21 tries hard to be a psychological thriller but ends up being a me-too, and then ruins things further with a social message type ending.

Vivaan (Rajeev Khandelwal) and Siya Agasthi (Tena Desae) have just won a free trip to Fiji. It’s a timely getaway for the couple who are not only in a rough patch due to Vivaan being out of a job, but also because it’s their wedding anniversary. Between the clink of glasses, a certain Mr. Khan (Paresh Rawal) makes them a mouth-watering offer. What lies between them and Rs. 21 crores are just 8 questions and answers. The catch? They have to answer all the questions truthfully and complete their dares.

Unable to resist, Vivaan and Siya sign on the dotted line and the game begins. Before millions of online viewers, Vivaan and Siya answer personal questions about each other and do things that they never imagined they would. While it starts off with something as simple as kissing in the middle of a crowded street, the tasks get more absurd and dangerous at the proceeding levels. When they try to escape, they are informed that the lie-detectors on their wrists will detonate if they go beyond a certain distance.

While Vivaan and Siya think they know everything about each other, the game shows them otherwise. How long does this sinister game continue? What is the real reason behind the questions? Will they win?

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola Movie Review

Vishal Bhardwaj started out as an unusually rooted film maker. He was imaginative, he was experimental, he was original (yes, even when adapting Shakespeare). Vishal Bhardwaj of Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (MKBKM) is still experimental and original but not rooted anymore. He is quirky and increasingly whimsical. The rootedness rears its head now and then but clashes badly with the quirks and the end result is part likeable and part absurd.

Mandola village is lorded over by an eccentric industrialist Harry Mandola (Pankaj Kapur). When not drinking himself silly, he dreams of usurping the villagers’ land and building an industrialist town there. Helping him achieve this dream is the scheming politician Deviji (Shabana Azmi) who wants her son Baadal (Arya Babbar) to get married to Mandola’s only daughter Bijlee (Anushka Sharma). Mandola’s Man Friday Matru (Imran Khan) seems like the perfect servant but has a hidden agenda of his own. MKBKM is basically a simple story about the common man vs the big bad system. What sets it apart is how it is told – slowly, whimsically, crazily.

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is as frustrating as it is enjoyable. It is downright banal in places but then springs such wonderful scenes and hilarious cuss-words-filled-dialogues that it is difficult to not keep smiling. The tone of the film keeps varying so much that it never lets one settle down to one mood. Unseasonal rains bringing misery to the helpless farmers and the absurd UFO sighting – both belong in different films. Bhardwaj tries to merge the pink buffalo with Special Economic Zone issues seamlessly but the satire just doesn’t work.

Unusually for a Vishal Bhardwaj film, the characterisation too is not strong. While Deviji is a political caricature, Harry Mandola is plain ambiguous. While the drunk Mandola is kind and compassionate, the sober man is a cruel and greedy tyrant. One never gets clarity on who exactly is the real Mandola and what drives him – love or ambition. Bijlee too comes across as strangely directionless despite being strong minded and well educated.

And yet the film works because it keeps throwing these odd little surprises that are so delightful that they don’t let one give up on it. The little touches like a eunuch being treated as just another person in the village, Mao-Lenin being used in a sentence originally worded as Maa-Bahen, the Macbeth reference.

A Vishal Bhardwaj film promises two things – good music and good performances – and MKBKM lives up to both. Gulzar’s lyrics weave their magic and Bhardwaj’s music provides ample support. Though Imran and Anushka are the token lead pair, the film truly belongs to Pankaj Kapur and Shabana Azmi. Despite an ambiguous role, Mr. Kapur owns every scene he features in and is a delight to watch. Shabana Azmi takes a caricature and raises the character to another level with her sheer brilliance. Anushka plays the same role here that she has played in all her films till now, and to her credit she manages to not look repetitive. Imran Khan is miscast as a Haryanvi but his sincerity and good-boy-screen-presence help him hold his own among the thespians. Arya Babbar is the surprise package with his perfect comic timing.

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola is a noble attempt, though the treatment is not everybody’s cup of tea. The film is quirky in both a good and bad way. At times absurd, at times too clever for its own good. Watch it for its originality if nothing else.

Race 2 Movie Review

‘Race 2’ has every ingredient of an Abbas Mustan flick. It’s got oodles of glamour, scorching style, sleek Bond-ish heroes, gorgeous ladies, characters with more than fifty shades of grey, some enjoyable background music, talks of yachts, and oh boy - some cars, and overshadowing every other thing – money!
In all, ‘Race 2’ is a grand display of money. The adrenaline-pumping action is the plus point of the film, but too much of that does no good to it. Two and a half stars from me for this Friday’s ‘expensive’ release.

Samar Movie review

Starring : Vishal, Trisha, Sunaina, Manoj Bajpai, J.D. Chakravarthy
Direction : Thiru
Music : Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production : T. Ramesh

Story:
Vishal plays Sakthi the straightforward Forest trek guide unconventionally in Love with Roopa essayed by Sunaina. In search of his damsel he leaves to Thailand and gets stuck in a web of bizarre events. Trisha as Maya helps Sakthi who is facing everything new at his footstep. As evident it was in the trailer the hero is stuck in Thailand facing threats, unrelenting respect and as a millionaire at stake. Manoj and JD play the ruthless villains who are billionaires with little respect for humanity and the nature of it. The first half is racy and action packed with rich visuals of Bangkok and gives the audience a sense of anticipation on what’s in store, why, how and a string of questions unanswered.

Post intermission the answers unveiled makes us in search of a fitting reply which was expected and the justification is questionable. How the hero gets himself out of this chaotic maze, what happens to his love, forms rest of the plot. Thiru makes you predict and gives all the twists up his sleeve only to make the audience leave the theatre with a sense of “Could’ve been more!”

Kumki Movie Review

A piece of art can break the barriers and hold a position in everyone’s heart forever. Very rarely, filmmakers stick to this ritual as they succumb to the theory differentiating two terms ‘Offbeat’ and ‘Commercial’. An excellent art will diminish the gap between these so-called two terms gaining the favour of everyone.

Left with speechless words, one would boast Kumki to be one of such best exemplifications. What does it require to take Tamil cinema to next level? Going by Hollywood-fangled flicks of action and technological extravaganzas? Explore the unexplored is the absolute key and Prabhu Solomon touches it with a greater intensity. In the past, we have seen many filmmakers like Ramanarayanan showcasing animal creatures as the central subject, but it’s Prabhu Solomon, who portrays an elephant as a herculean hero.

Every frame sketched in the film marks the arduous effort of entire team to make a challenging film. Be it technical and narrative aspects, Kumki touch the surpassing graph. It’s evident that Prabhu Solomon had taken quality time over preproduction phase leaving no stone unturned over drawing perfect quotients in screenplay and other elements.

To make it simpler, as you walk out of theatres, it’s like getting out of a fantasy world, where you spent years with a friend like ‘Kumki’. It’s a crowned theory that animals exhibit unconditional love towards their masters and many Hollywood films have portrayed it elegantly. An epitome of such a colossal film was Richard Gere’s Hachiko that was based on a true story of faithful dog breathing its last outside a railway station awaiting the arrival of its master, who has passed before years. Kumki doesn’t follow the same route, but touches your heart with more mercy towards the heroic elephant.

Set in backdrops of an isolated village Aadhi Kaadu, the village folks are disturbed by the demonic wild elephant ‘Komban’ as it destroys the houses and farm crops. When their every source of aid fails including the forest department desolating their urge need, they have only option left – to bring in Kumki, the elephants that are usually utilized to tame the wild elephants. Here enters Bomman (Vikram Prabhu), a mahout of a Temple elephant Manickam, which is so harmless and gets scared of wild ox. Bomman tries to help his friend, who fails to bring the original Kumki due to some problems on the spur of moment. Assuring that he can manage with Manickam for couple of days until the original Kumki elephant comes in, the drama begins unaware about the consequences that will see the innocent creature rising with a new avatar to save its master.

Maybe, the film had the promotional lines of introducing Sivaji Ganesan’s grandson Vikram Prabhu. However, while walking out of the theatres, it’s the Kumki that overshadows everything in spite of the lead actors Vikram Prabhu and Lakshmi Menon exerting the best performances. Much alike Mynaa, the film is laced with humour, adventure and emotions. The scenes involving Vikram Prabhu training the temple elephant to gain some qualities of Kumki is pictured excellently. The elephant doesn’t miss to evoke laughter and finally to let you understand, what faithfulness, love and affection means. Lakshmi Menon as Alli looks cute as an innocent village belle and keeps us engrossing with her performance. National award winner Thambi Ramaiah is one of the greatest assets in this film. His performance in the climax alongside Kumki elephant is awe-inspiring. Ashwin Raja, the young guy, who tickled funny bones with his role as a tutorial student in Boss Engira Baskaran keeps you high on laughter with his comedy tracks. Being the third generation of actor from Legend’s family, Vikram Prabhu has clearly understood the present status of Tamil heroes and has chosen this film. It’s a grand start by the actor and his adeptness in emoting towards different situations is brilliant.

If Prabhu Solomon’s narration, elephant and lead actors contribute 40% to the finest outputs, the major factors determining the film’s top-notch quality are D Imman’s songs-background score and Sukumar’s cinematography. It’s quite unimaginable how he could get down to the steepest and the highest peak of Rock Mountains and waterfalls.

Watching Kumki over the big screens is more like an adventurous trip through the exotic locales with four friends that include the elephant. You’ll soon forget your identity as audience and feel like being a part of this drama. You laugh when the characters enjoy and cry when they weep.

Verdict: Strictly for everyone... Don’t miss to meet a new friend Kumki.

Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaiya Movie Review

The story of KLTA is nothing new but,this movie has been widely expected by netizens around the world right from the day it was announced that Youtube sensation Powerstar Dr. Srinivasan was roped in the movie along with Santhanam.The movie lives up to all the hype surrounding it courtesy Santhanam-Powerstar combo , they bring the house down with their one liners .

The films premise is hugely inspired by K.Bhagyaraj’s yesteryear flick “Indhru Poi Nalai Va” , three people from various age groups who come across as friends try to woo a girl and who succeeds is the rest of the story.Casting plays a major role in this movie.Right from the introductory scene Santhanam and Powerstar score and make us continue to laugh.As this is the first time most people are watching Powerstar on screen , they get excited in whatever he does.Powerstar does everything effortlessly and he is the but of most of Santhanam’s jokes.

Sethu the main lead of the film has done a decent job , Santhanam and Powerstar steal the screen space from him most of the time.All the supporting actors VTV Ganesh,Kovai Sarala, Vishaka  Dhivyadarshini have done a good job.

The sequences involving Power’s family is the most interesting part of the film The cameo by Simbhu and Gautham Menon has been well utilized. But, the songs seem to be forceful at certain places  but Power’s presence makes it interesting.

Viswaroopam Movie Review

Kamal Hassan's biggest-ever film Viswaroopam, which has been delayed for one or the other reason, has seen the light of day in foreign countries but not in Tamil Nadu and other Southern states as the High Court has stayed the release after several Muslim groups raised objection.
After a gap of three years, Kamal Hassan is back with Viswaroopam, which is written, directed and produced by himself. The film was supposed to be directed by Selvaraghavan but as the director walked out of the film due to other commitments, Kamal took the responsibility of directing the film.
The film is simultaneously made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It is made with the budget of Rs 95 crore, which is the second highest budget Tamil film after Rajinikanth's blockbuster Endhiran. What does the multilingual action-thriller has to offer? A reader named Praveen Kumar from New Jersey reviewed the film, as the movie was not released here.
Read on for the review...
The movie starts in America. Viswanath (Kamal Hassan), who will be seen as Kathak trainer, is surrounded by girls and one among them is Andrea Jeremiah. This makes Dr Nirupama (Pooja Kumar) to doubt on her hubby's character and hires a detective, who gets killed by Al-Qaeda group.
The Al-Qaeda is planning to plant a Nuclear Bomb in New York and Kamal Hassan is well-aware of it. How? He has a past where he has a connection with the terrorist group, which is headed by Omar (Rahul Bose). Will the terrorist organisation succeed in their mission? What role does Kamal play? Is he a terrorist or an undercover agent? To know all these, you should watch the film. The story of the film begins on a slow note but it is gripping.
The first half is entirely shot in the US, and keeps you engaged and generate a lot of curiosity. When it comes to second half, the narration is dragging at parts but gets interesting with Kamal Hassan's past getting revealed.