Production: Ram Gopal Varma Productions, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Uberoi Line Productions

Writer: Nilesh Girkar (Story, Screenplay and Dialogues)

Cast: Amitabh Bachchcan, Sanjay Dutt, Rana Daggubati, Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh, Madhu Shalini, Vijay Raaz, Laxmi Manchu, Deepak Tijori

Music: Dharam Sandeep, Bappi Lahiri, Vikram Nagi

Rating: * ½

Plot: The increasing underworld activities and gang wars forces the Home Minister of Maharashtra to start a secret organization called Department, headed by encounter specialist Mahadev Bhosle (Sanjay Dutt). The aim of the Department is to finish off the underworld members one by one. Bhosle includes suspended encounter specialist Shivnarayan (Rana Daggubati) in his squad.

Shivnarayan and Bhosle share a brother-like bond. But their relationship starts becoming shaky once the gangster-turned-politician Sarjerao Gaikwad (Amitabh Bachchan) enters the scene.

Review: Underworld movies are done to death in Bollywood. Still, if a filmmaker wishes to make a film on the subject, he needs to be doubly sure that the story which he has selected to narrate has something novel. Ram Gopal Varma’s Department not only lacks the novel factor but also suffers from a weak script which also goes haywire in the second half.

Forming of the secret department was supposed to be the main point that takes the story forward. But that hardly happens as the two characters continue to do the same thing which they used to do before it was formed – killing criminals. Some tried and tested encounters between the police and the underworld fail to either amuse or entertain, especially the forced Yerwada encounter.

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Situation is further aggravated by the inclusion of some dance numbers. From these, Nathalia Kaur’s item song turns out to be an exhibition of private parts and her horrible expressions. There was also no need to give too much footage to the dreary conversation between Vijay Raaz, Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh and Madhu Shalini’s characters. But the proceedings do become a bit interesting after the arrival of Amitabh Bachchan, who makes sure the first half ends in a watchable manner.

The post-interval part is peppered with twists and turns. The writer makes a juvenile use of them by including a series of lengthy trigger-happy scenes. Due to this, you desperately wait for something different to happen. However, when it does, you are left confused as you wonder who’s on whose side? After going through such ordeal, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the climax turns out to be an illogical and unconvincing one!

If the script wasn’t enough, the audience also has to deal and adjust themselves to RGV’s over-creative and mostly weird camera angles, which trigger irritation!

As hinted earlier, the songs (Bappa Lahiri, Dharam Sandeep and Vikram Nagi) are forced into the narrative. ‘Thodi Si Jo Pi Lee’ is the only bearable track. The background score is average while the editing needed to be sharper.

Although not very impressive, Amitabh Bachchan manages to put forth a decent act, mostly while showing his comic side. Sanjay Dutt doesn’t rise to the expectations and is strictly average. He is out-performed by Rana Daggubati, who is impressive as an honest cop. Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh does well although he is capable of much more. But the writing is to be blamed for his character not being much powerful.

Mostly over the top, Vijay Raaz turns out to be just average. Madhu Shalini is the surprise package! She is terrific as a lady gang member with lots of attitude. A sure lookout for the future! Anjana Sukhani and Laxmi Manchu provide good support. Deepak Tijori is hardly there!

Overall, Department is a major disappointment. The film has no chance at the box-office!

Production: Ram Gopal Varma Productions, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Uberoi Line Productions

Cast: Amitabh Bachchcan, Sanjay Dutt, Rana Daggubati, Deepak Tijori, Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh, Laxmi Manchu

Music: Dharam Sandeep, Bappi Lahiri, Vikram Nagi

Release Date: May 18, 2012

Star Value: Apart from the biggest superstar of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan, Department also has Sanjay Dutt. These two names ensure that the star value of the movie is very high. Good performers like Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh and Rana Daggubati also fill in the ranks.

Hype: The hype for Department is low. This is highly surprising considering the big names in the star cast and a well-known director. This can be due to the fact that the promo, which although created a buzz, was unable to create much excitement. Even Nathalia Kaur’s item number didn’t manage to turn too many heads. Due to this, one can say the makers have failed to promote their film properly.

Music: Due to the nature of the film and the type of genre in which Varma believes, there is hardly any scope for music. The remake of Sharabi’s hit number ‘Thodi Si Jo Pee Li Hai’ is somewhat known.

Prediction: Department will get an average to descent response, which is much below expectations. The makers would be hoping that it manages to super impress initially because that’s the only way they can recover their money. If it doesn’t, it will have a very tough time at the box-office.

Production: Neha Nitin Desai, Meena Chandrakant Desai

Writers: Nitin Chandrakant Desai, Mandar Joshi

Cast: Sonalee Kulkarni, Philip Scott Wallace, Manoj Kolhatkar, Avinash Narkar, Murli Sharma, Makrand Deshpande, Reena Aggarwal, Manoj Joshi

Music: Kaushal S. Inamdar

Rating: * * * ½

Plot: During a hunting expedition in 1819, a British officer Captain James Smith (Jian Bostoch) accidently discovers the Buddhist caves of Ajanta which date back to the Satavahana dynasty in the 200^th B. C. Smith is astonished by the beauty of the pictures inside the caves. Later on in 1844, the Britishers send Captain Robert Gill (Philip Scott Wallace), who is a top quality painter, to recreate the paintings on canvas to enlighten the world about the great Ajanta caves.

As soon as Gill arrives at Lenapur for his task, he falls in love with the cave paintings and the surroundings. In recreating the paintings, Gill gets much needed help from Paro (Sonalee Kulkarni), a girl from the tribal community. As fate would have it, the couple falls in love. But will the society accept such a relationship?

Review: Love is a feeling that is devoid of language barriers. It really doesn’t matter if you can’t understand a word of what a person speaks if your heart has struck a chord with him or her. Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s Ajintha explores this pure form of love while offering a visually stunning cinematic experience. Naturally, due to such genre, the film caters more to the art-house audience.

The subject of Ajanta caves provides plenty of scope for Desai to showcase his artistic skills, which he does brilliantly in creating sets similar to real caves. The images and the architecture inside and outside of it put you in awe of the art. Add to this, Rajeev Jain’s breathtaking and artistic cinematography (especially while capturing waterfalls and landscapes) and you get nothing less than a visual treat, which has the capacity to impress the audience world over.

As mentioned earlier, there is a huge language and cultural barrier between Paro and Gill. Therefore, it can be very difficult for the writers to show love blossoming between them as they can’t use proper dialogues. This difficult task is managed well as the love story between the couple is made believable with the use of intelligent situations and circumstances. Due to this, the audience instantly starts feeling for the characters. In between, explanation of the philosophy related to the cave paintings and Indian mythology adds further colors.

The second half deals more with the circumstances of the love story of the couple. It is this part that will test the patience of a section of the audience due to the inclusion of a number of songs. Even the duration of some scenes could have been shortened. But if you are an admirer of such genre, it shouldn’t bother you much, especially after witnessing the moving climax that extends till the ending credits.

It necessary to mention that a good part of the movie is in English. Although there are sub-titles provided during English dialogues, it is doubtful whether the Indian audience is used to reading them while watching a movie.

Kaushal S. Inamdar’s compositions and N D Mahanor’s lyrics add more soul to the proceedings. Neeta Lulla also deserves praise for creating costumes that look believable to be of that era.

Sonalee Kulkarni moulds herself brilliantly in the role of Paro and expresses every emotion with ease. She impresses with her dancing skills too. This will surely be a talked about performance from her career even after decades. British actor Philip Scott Wallace deserves equal praise for a mature act. The chemistry between both the actors is appealing.

Manoj Kolhatkar gives a fine act (Jalal-Ud-Din) and so does Avinash Narkar (Pandit). Murli Sharma and Makarand Deshpande play the bad guys with ease. Reena Aggarwal provides good support. Manoj Joshi and Jian Bostoch excel in cameos.

Overall, Ajintha is a picturesque saga defining the true meaning of love. The film has a chance of succeeding at the box-office.

Production: Reliance Entetrainment, BVG Films, Dar Motion Pictures

Cast: Karisma Kapoor, Rajniesh Duggal, Jimmy Shergill, Divya Dutta, Arya Babbar

Writers: Amin Hajee (Story and Screenplay), Girish Dhamija (Dialogues)

Music: Himesh Reshammiya

Release Date: May 11, 2012

Star Value: Karisma Kapoor is one of the most admired actresses ever in Bollywood. So, if she is making a comeback after a long time, one can say that the star value for that film (Dangerous Ishq) is high. But it is left to be seen whether the audience will be excited enough to go to the theatres to see her.

Hype: The hype for Dangerous Ishq has been decent. It’s surely not as high as one would expect from Karisma’s comeback film. The issue of past-life regression and the prolonged clip from the movie has managed to make it somewhat popular.

Music: Himesh Reshammiya’s music hasn’t created any hype. Not a single track from the movie is known. This is due to the fact that the makers haven’t used the music to popularize the film.

Prediction: Dangerous Ishq doesn’t stand a good chance at the box-office. It will, at the most, get an average or above-average opening. It relies heavily in super-impressing in the initial days. It also faces a tough opposition in the form of Yash Raj Films’ Ishaqzaade.

Production: Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra

Writers: Habib Faisal (Story, Screenplay and Dialogues), Aditya Chopra (Story)

Music: Amit Trivedi

Release Date: May 11, 2012

Star Value: Parineeti Chopra is just one film old but despite that, she is quite well-known due to her confident performance in her debut flick Ladies VS Ricky Bahl. Although Arjun Kapoor is making his debut in Ishaqzaade, the lad has already managed to make heads turn. Hence, we can say Ishaqzaade is quite high on star value despite the inexperienced lead pair.

Hype: The makers have succeeded in generating hype around the film especially amongst the youth. It is Arjun and Parineeti’s bitter-sweet and a kind of wild chemistry that has been the impressive factor from the promos.

Music: Amit Trivedi’s compositions have struck the right chord with the audience. ‘Pareshaan’ has become the most popular track from the album while the title song and ‘Aafaton Ke Parinde’ are well received too.

Prediction: Ishaqzaade will surely get a good opening weekend at the box-office. The business in the days that follow will largely depend on the initial response. All said and done Ishaqzaade looks like a safe bet for Yash Raj Films.

Production: Great Maratha Entertainment

Writer: Girish Joshi (Screenplay and Dialogues), Usha Datar (Story)

Cast: Sachin Khedekar, Priya Bapat, Ketaki Mategaonkar

Music: Rahul Ranade, Ajit-Sameer

Rating: * * * ½

Plot: Based on a story by Usha Datar, Kaksparsh, set in the pre-independence era in Konkan, Maharashtra, revolves around Haridada (Sachin Khedekar), who is the head of the Damle family. Haridada gets his younger brother Mahadev (Abhijit Kelkar) married to the adolescent Durga, who is later named Uma (Ketaki Mategaonkar). However, the happiness of the Damle family is short-lived as Mahadev passes away due to illness on the night his marriage was to be solemnized.

Being a widow, Uma now has to live life full of atrocities. But Haridada comes to her rescue. His affection and care towards Uma raises a lot of questions.

Review: It is believed that love is the greatest feeling on earth. And what goes hand-in-hand with love is loyalty. It is this loyalty that compels you to sacrifice everything, including your life, for the one you love. Director Mahesh Vaman Manjrekar presents this fact in his latest offering Kaksparsh, a film that leaves an impact long time after you leave the cinema hall. But one has to mention that the film caters more to the lovers of serious, hard-hitting cinema.

The makers succeed in the difficult task of taking the viewer back to the 1930-50s era right at the onset. For this, the art director’s sincere efforts need to be appreciated for creating the bygone era with realism. Ajit Reddy’s artistic camerawork too deserves equal applause. Rahul Ranade and Ajit-Sameer’s compositions and the background score (which are apt for the subject) add further realism. But these things wouldn’t have created much impact without a creatively written script (Girish Joshi).

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Slowly but surely you get involved in the tale and subsequently start relating with the characters; their joys and sorrows. The writer does well in not extending the death and post-death scenes which would have also increased the length of the film. Extinguishing a lighted diva (lamp) as a symbolism for death was impressive. The writer and the director also leave a mark in the all important issue of widow’s rights and Sachin Khedekar’s stand on it.

The idea of narrating the tale in the form of a flashback in the second half works very well for it makes the audience curious in knowing the final outcome. The pace does drop in the latter part of the second half. This is where the patience of the entertainment-hungry audience will be tested.

But the moving and thought-provoking climax, which follows, sums up a well-made product. This was largely possible because of Khedekar’s terrific act in the finale that touches you. It is the performance of this veteran star that is the backbone of Kaksparsh as he gets into the skin of Haridada and pours plenty of life in it. This one is easily one of his best acts.

After her impressive act in Shala, Ketaki Mategaonkar continues her good work by portraying a difficult character. Priya Bapat, who plays the elder Uma, too gives a terrific performance. The scenes where she depicts pain and tragedy prove her talent. Savita Malpekar easily essays a character which would have challenged any talented actor. Vaibhav Mangle excels in a negative role and so does Sanjay Khapare as Haridada’s friend. Fine acts are also provided by Medha Manjrekar and Abhijit Kelkar.

Overall, Kaksparsh is a moving saga which will surely interest the thinking audience. Due to the positive opening it has received, it will turn out to be a winner at the box-office.

Production: Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt for Vishesh Films, Fox Star Studios

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Randeep Hooda, Esha Gupta

Writers: Shagufta Rafique (Story and Screenplay), Sanjay Masoom (Dialogues)

Music: Pritam

Release Date: May 4, 2012

Star Value: Over the years, Emraan Hashmi has become one of the bankable actors of Bollywood. A movie starring him does manage to create curiosity and interest among cinegoers. Due to his presence, we can say Jannat 2 has a decent star value. Esha Gupta, who makes her debut, has already managed to make heads turn, mostly due to her resemblance to Angelina Jolie.

Hype: There has been a decent hype for Jannat 2. However, the excitement isn’t as much as one would expect from a Bhatt-Emraan combo. The promos of the movie have received just an average response.

Music: ‘Tu Hi Mera’ song has managed to popularize the movie. The rest of the tracks haven’t succeeded in creating a buzz.

Prediction: Jannat 2 won’t open to a very good response. It relies heavily on the initial reports. Even if it receives an above average response, it will help the producers recover their money as it’s not made on a high budget.

For making this possible, we all movie buffs should be thankful or even indebted to the Father of Indian Cinema Dhundiraj Govind Phalke aka Dadasaheb Phalke. It was his strong dedication and belief that made cinema possible in India. But when Phalke decided to make India’s first film Raja Harishchandra in 1912, there were many who tried to discourage him. There were some who even considered him a mad man.

Dadasaheb Phalke (Picture courtesy - Wikipedia)

But his dedication and passion was so strong that it had no effect on him. This was also because his wife Saraswati and his two kids too joined him in the mission. So, it won’t be wrong to say that the first Indian movie was made by the whole Phalke family.

After that, he could have easily settled in England and made films for the English. Financiers from London were ready to shell out huge amounts of money to produce his films. But he chose to stay in India so that the film industry develops and flourishes in our country.

It was filmmaker Paresh Mokashi and his team that enlightened the cinegoers about Phalke through his first film Harishchandrachi Factory (2009). Personally speaking, I will always be thankful to Mokashi for giving this hugely needed tribute to the great man. Without going overboard, the filmmaker presented Phalke’s struggle and the subsequent achievement by just using the visual medium.

However, from the huge number of movie buffs, how many are truly aware about Phalke? And from those who know about him, how many are there who truly think about him? I am sure a lot of people from the Indian film industry might not know about him.

I think even the mass media hasn’t given much importance to Phalke in all these 99 years. It wouldn’t cost much to our filmmakers to give tribute to Phalke at the start of their movie. After all, they are able to make movies only because he brought the medium to India. Apart from Harishchandrachi Factory, the only movie I remember doing this was Swarajya (2011).

I would like to give special mention to Fame Nakshatra (Dadar) for honoring Phalke by putting his picture with a garland inside their theatre (See below picture). I haven’t seen any other theatre doing this.

Monday April 30, 2012 marks the 142^nd birth anniversary of Phalke. As expected, there is just no excitement or even awareness about it. But that is not going to stop me from rejoicing for the Father of Indian Cinema since it's a day every cinema lover should be proud of! 

Watch the 11 minute footage from Raja Harishchandra (1913), the very first film of India!

Nandu Madhav and Vibhawari Deshpande in a still from Harishchandrachi Factory

Picture of Dadasaheb Phalke inside Fame Nakshatra theatre, Dadar.

Production: Ratan Jain for United 7 Entertainment Ltd

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Boman Irani, Zyed Khan, Sameera Reddy, Kangana Ranaut, Mohanlal

Writers: Robin Bhatt, Aditya Dhar

Music: Sajid-Wajid

Rating: * ½

Plot: Aakash Rana (Ajay Devgn) loses his money and assets for living and working illegally in the UK. As he is deported back to India, he is also estranged from his wife Nikita (Kangana Ranaut). Four years later he returns to the country to avenge the damage done to his life. To do this, he plots a bomb in the London-Glasgow train with the help of ex-colleagues Abid Khan (Zyed Khan) and Megha (Sameera Reddy).

Aakash demands a huge ransom from the UK government in return for the lives of the people in the train. He is pitted against the anti-terror officer Arjun Khanna (Anil Kapoor) and the railway traffic chief (Boman Irani).

Review: Judging by the action thrillers released in last few years, we can say Bollywood has taken giant steps when it comes to stunts, sleek editing and special effects. Examples – Cash (2007), Blue (2009), Prince (2010), Ra.One (2011), Players (2012), Agent Vinod (2012), etc. However, despite these films being superlative in the action department, they all suffered due to some weak writing.

The promos of Priyadarshan’s Tezz suggested that the film wouldn’t fall in the above mentioned list. But promos can be misleading and that’s exactly the case with Tezz. Therefore, it easily falls in the list for the same reason – poor script, which is also unintentionally hilarious during several scenes and dialogues.

The biggest problem with Tezz lies in its basic plot which defies logic. Why would the audience sympathize with someone who has been living illegally in a country and when punished for it, plots a bomb in a train to take revenge? Due to this, there is almost no emotional connect with the audience right at the onset.

What follows is a series of negotiation and action scenes (till the end of the movie) that hardly create an impact. In fact, after a point of time you barely feel the thrill by the repetitive chase sequences. All these instances will also remind you of various Hollywood movies; mostly Speed (1994) and The Taking Of Pelham 123 (2009). Although the first half turns out to be unsatisfying, you still feel like giving the movie a second chance after intermission.

However, the same negotiation and action is continued in the pre-interval portions as well. And as the story unfolds further in this part, a good number of scenes and dialogues inadvertently tickle your funny bone. Try to fathom this line where a character tries to explain the reason behind naming her son Aakash – Aakash mein ek kaash hai ki kaash tum yahan hote.

Later on, as the climax nears, you realize the film is stretched although the overall length is under two hours. It is difficult to believe how an experienced producer like Ratan Jain agreed to finance such a script!

There is just no scope for music (Sajid-Wajid). All songs are just thrown in unnecessarily but none more than Mallika Sherawat’s item number ‘Laila’.

Areas like action (R P Yadav) and cinematography (Thiru S. Appun) are the biggest plus points. Sandeep Chowta’s background score, however, forcefully tries to create thrill with some unnecessarily loud noises.

From the actors, Anil Kapoor stands out with a mature act. Boman Irani is another actor who impresses with a powerful act. The writing doesn’t give Ajay Devgn much scope to showcase his acting skills. Most of the times, he just has to be on the phone in order to negotiate and give threats to the railway officials and the anti-terror squad. Zyed Khan’s limited acting skills are seen here too while Sameera Reddy is average.

It is quite clear that a fine performer like Mohanlal opted to act in the film only due to his good relations with Priyadarshan. Not only is he a mismatch in the role of a London cop, but also his character is ill-defined. A scene where he clings on to a moving train is one of the various funny (pun intended) sequences. Kangana Ranaut disappoints too. The way she screams in her typical harsh voice in the pre-climax makes you wince!

Overall, Tezz falls flat due to a large number of minuses and hardly any plusses. At the box-office, it will have the same fate as Ajay-Priyadarshan’s first film together Aakrosh (2010), although the latter was a fine product.

Production: Rampage Motion Pictures Ltd, Rising Sun Films Pvt Ltd, JA Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Eros Entertainment

Cast: Ayushman Khurana, Annu Kapoor, Yami Gautam

Writer: Juhi Chaturvedi (Story, Screenplay and Dialogues)

Music: Akshay-Ajay

Rating: * * * ½

Plot: Vicky (Ayushman Khurana) is an unemployed youth who is under pressure to start earning. On the other hand, Dr Chaddha (Anu Kapoor), a fertility expert, is having a terrible time as none of his patients are able to conceive. One fine day, Chaddha’s eyes fall on Vicky. He gets a feeling that Vicky is the right person to become a sperm donor in his clinic. After strictly refusing Chaddha’s offer a number of times, Vicky finally agrees.

Due to this, Chaddha’s business suddenly zooms up while Vicky starts making a lot of money. In between, Vicky comes across a banker Ashima Roy (Yami Gautam) and falls for her. But will he ever be able to reveal his profession to her?

Review: What will be your reaction when a person reveals that he is a sperm donor? As the profession is hardly known in India, chances are you will consider him shameless or immoral. However, your opinion on sperm donors will change drastically and, in fact, you will also start respecting them after watching Soojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor, a tale which, although not a classic, will surely touch your heart.

The promos of Vicky Donor suggested that the film is a humorous account on sperm donation. But, apart from that, it is a mature and realistic take on a person who becomes a sperm donor with an important element of a love story. Juhi Chaturvedi (story, screenplay and dialogues) deserves lots of applause for carrying out this task while giving humour a high place in the narration through some intelligently witty dialogues.

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The kind of topic had lots of scope for the writer and director to go overboard especially in the choice of humour but fortunately that doesn’t happen here. Even in the jokes related to sperms and sperm donors, every care is taken to keep any kind of cheapness and vulgarity away.

The flawlessness does take a backseat in some portions of the second half where the emotional part seems extended. However, then comes the superlative and moving climax that deserves plenty of applause. In fact, the message given in the end is path-breaking as far as India is concerned.

From Akshay-Ajay’s compositions, ‘Rum Whisky’ and ‘Paani Da Rang’ manage to stay with you, although a couple of songs (although they are shortened) in the second half weren’t needed. Kamaljeet Negi’s cinematography suits the nature of the film and so does the background score.

Ayushman Khurana makes a superlative debut as he does the very difficult task of carrying the film on his shoulders in his very first film with ease. He shows his talent in both comic as well as serious scenes. A sure a lookout for the future. With another lovable act, Anu Kapoor once again proves why he is one of the best actors in India. His comic timing is terrific.

Yami Gautam, who also makes her debut, gives a confident performance too and looks gorgeous. Kamlesh Gill and Dolly Ahluwalia provide good humour in the role of nagging saas and bahu. In supporting roles, Jayant Das and Bhupesh Kumar do well.

Overall, Vicky Donor gives a daring message while providing good quality entertainment. The film will be the surprise of the season at the box-office.