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Border 2 review: Heartfelt and sensible war saga

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Storyline: Border 2, like its predecessor Border (1997), throws light on the Indian defense forces’ bravery during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. But unlike the 1997 film, this one focusses on different characters who took part in the war.

Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya (Varun Dhawan) of the Indian Army, Flight Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon (Diljit Dosanjh) of the Indian Air Force and Lieutenant Commander Mahendra S Rawat (Ahan Shetty) of the Indian Navy become thick friends during their training days at the National War Academy. They share a respectful relation with their trainer Lieutenant Colonel Fateh Singh Kaler (Sunny Deol).

Years later in 1971 when the trio gets together for an occasion of celebration, they are forced to abruptly return to their respective base camps as a war-like situation erupts between India and Pakistan. The task in front of Hoshiar, Nirmal, Mahendra and Fateh Singh is immensely challenging but they, along with hundreds of members of India’s defense forces, are sure that they will protect India’s borders come what may.

Review: We come across a lot of films that don’t live up to its grand or exciting trailers. But when it comes to Border 2, it’s the opposite. The teaser and the two trailers couldn’t generate excitement for the movie. However, the film turns out to be way better than the promotional material.

Border 2

Border 2 isn’t a routine war film where it’s all about two nations fighting it out. The movie, instead, is nicely spaced out with a lot of importance given to the main characters and their background. It shows the fighters as humans who go through the same emotions like common citizens do.

A good amount of time is spent in light-hearted and humorous situations between the characters. However, these moments are organically included in the narrative and they don’t appear forced by any means. Plus, the writers have used simple techniques to induce humour. These instances don’t put a break on the proceedings as they immensely help in the audience feeling for the main characters.

The film also scores high in the all-important war sequences. The action and stunts keep you on the edge. Most of these battle sequences are narrated while keeping the thriller quotient in mind. It’s not just random killing between two warring camps. These sequences are finely peppered with rousing patriotic dialogues. It is only on a few occasions that these lines become jingoistic, which could have been avoided. Also, a lot of these dialogues are already featured in the promotional material. Else, they could have made a larger impact.

Apart from showing the bravery of the Indian Army, Border also scored high for giving an anti-war message in the end. Border 2 does that in an indirect way through a few sequences. And the very last frame moves you as it provides a nostalgic feeling for the 1997 film.

Coming to the music, the two tracks that impress the most – ‘Ghar Kab Aaoge’ and ‘Toh Chalun’ – are recreated versions from the first film. Anshul Chobey’s camerawork is impressive, especially during war sequences. John Stewart Eduri’s background score aids the proceedings.

From the other flipsides, the film could have easily ended before 3 hours and 19 minutes. The light-hearted portions in the first half and, more importantly, the battle sequences in the last hour could have been shortened.

As expected, the film provides maximum footage to Sunny Deol and the veteran artist lives up to his reputation. Despite being close to 70, he does complete justice to a challenging character, be it while performing action and fights or mouthing those powerful lines in his own fashion.

Despite Deol’s presence, the rest of the main cast succeeds in getting more than noticed. Varun Dhawan comes up with a mature act and portrays different emotions with ease. This is his best performance after Badlapur and October. Diljit Dosanjh is subtle but yet full of life. Ahan Shetty is decent during action but struggles otherwise. The rest of the Indian armed forces, played by Anurag Arora, Pramvir Cheema and Vansh Bhardwaj offer good support. The actors playing Pakistani armed forces are shown to be ‘border’line buffoons, which doesn’t come as a surprise.

From the female cast, Mona Singh shines the most, followed by Sonam Bajwa and Medha Rana. Anya Singh, surprisingly, is hardly there.

Overall: Border 2 is a heartfelt and sensible war saga about the sacrifices and valour of India’s armed forces. National Award-winning director Anurag Singh makes his presence felt through his mature handling. He overcomes the challenge of making sequel to a much loved film.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Anurag Singh

Producers: JP Films and T-Series Films

Writers: Nidhi Dutta, Sumit Arora and Anurag Singh

Cast: Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, Ahan Shetty, Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Medha Rana

Ikkis Review: A war film that gives an anti-war message in a profound way

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Storyline: Ikkis tells the story of India’s youngest Param Vir Chakra Awardee Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal (Agastya Nanda), who achieved martyrdom at the age of 21 in the 1971 India-Pakistan war. The movie also narrates a parallel story of Arun’s father ML Khetarpal (Dharmendra) who visits Lahore in 2001 to attend his college reunion. He is hosted by Pakistani officer Brigadier Jaan Mohammad Nisar (Jaideep Ahlawat) for a deeply personal reason.

Review: Ikkis is primarily about a young man who fought the 1971 India-Pakistan war and attained martyrdom. In a typical Hindi war film, we would have shown his life from childhood or teenage years to him joining the army, fighting for the nation and ultimately sacrificing his life for the country.

But Ikkis isn’t a typical war film by any means. Along with portraying the martyrdom of the young man, the film gives equal importance at giving an anti-war message through the track of Dharmendra and Jaideep Ahlawat. It says loudly without saying much – ultimately there are humans on both sides of the border who die during a war. And the film achieves this even while showing the bravery of a young martyr.

Ikkis movie

The genre itself in both the tracks is different. But Sriram Raghavan, Arijit Biswas and Pooja Ladha Surti’s writing and Raghavan’s handling as a director doesn’t make it appear so. This is largely because the pre-war portion and, more importantly, the war sequences in 1971 are devoid of any glorification of war and jingoism.

Hence, this is a rare Bollywood film on India-Pakistan war where, as an Indian, you don’t rejoice when the Pakistani soldiers are killed. The presentation is such that it won’t let you simply because it treats the killing of soldiers on both the sides as nothing but war casualty.

Ikkis peaks the most in the pre-climax and the climax. This portion is lit up by the genius of Dharmendra. In fact, he is lively in the entire film. One just can’t stop getting moved every time he says or does something. His final good bye will be talked about for long.

However, Jaideep Ahlawat matches Dharmendra and doesn’t let the latter overshadow him. This is no mean achievement. This one is easily one of his best acts, if not his best. However, it is surprising to see his character look almost the same in scenes where he is 30 years younger in 1971. Agastya Nanda, in his first theatrical outing, displays utmost confidence and the right skills needed to play this character. Simar Bhatia displays her charm and acting talent in her debut.

Rahul Dev, Sikandar Kher and Vivaan Shah chip in with useful supporting acts as Khetarpal’s fellow army men. Ekavali Khanna once again shows how talented she is while playing Ahlawat’s wife. Avani Rai, as his daughter, also gets noticed. Deepak Dobriyal is memorable in a cameo.

Ikkis is also technically sound, especially when it comes to the camerawork by the veteran Anil Mehta.

Coming to the minor flipsides, the movie could have been crisper in the first half. The competition that Khetarpal and his fellows take part during their training days could have been shorter and better explained.

Overall: Ikkis is a war drama that gives a powerful yet subtle anti-war message. The movie brings forth another dimension of the highly talented Sriram Raghavan. Due to the nature of the subject, the film isn’t expected to do much at the box office.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Director: Sriram Raghavan

Producer: Maddock Films

Cast: Dharmendra, Agastya Nanda, Jaideep Ahlawat, Simar Bhatia, Ekavali Khanna, Avani Rai, Rahul Dev, Sikandar Kher, Vivaan Shah

Also read: Dhurandhar Review: Well-crafted spy drama

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs on the web as per FeedSpot. See the full list here –https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Dhurandhar Review: Well-crafted spy drama trapped in the wrong medium

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Storyline: Angered by the Kandahar Hijack of 1999 and the Parliament Attack in 2001 by Pakistani terrorists, India’s IB chief Ajay Sanyal (R Madhavan) proposes ‘Mission Dhurandhar’, which is a plan about an Indian spy infiltrating Pakistan’s underworld and thereby its terror network. After his proposal is accepted, India’s secret agent (Ranveer Singh), who identifies himself as Hamza Ali Mazari, discreetly enters Pakistan in 2004. As per his mission, he enters the Lyari area in Karachi, where underworld activities are rampant.

Hamza gets employed at a juice stall by its owner Aalam (Gaurav Gera). He gets to know from his boss that Lyari is infested with the underworld war between Babu Dakait and Rehman Baloch aka Rehman Dakait (Akshaye Khanna). Hamza earns Rehman’s trust by saving his son’s life from an attack by the men of Babu Dakait. Hence, Hamza’s initial mission of infiltrating Pakistan’s underworld turns out to be a success as he becomes a member of his gang. But he has a long and difficult road ahead of him.

Review: Since more than a decade, mainstream Hindi cinema has seen a number of films about spies on secret missions for the sake of the country. The aforementioned story of Dhurandhar might also sound similar to some past Hindi movies. But the film stands apart when it comes to the treatment. Instead of including high-octane and larger-than-life action stunts, glamour and dialogue baazi, it relies on a narrative more on the realistic side. Of course, there are creative liberties being taken but they are believable.

Dhurandhar Ranveer Singh

What sets Dhurandhar apart is also the main content. One won’t find spy activities between both countries as the center point. The film is more about the politics and mafia of Pakistan with the issue of terrorism kept in the background for a majority of the duration, especially in the first half. Dhar should be commended for the research on this topic and choosing to explore it, which hasn’t happened before. This also makes it advisable to do some research on the underworld of Lyari and its connection to Pakistan’s politics before watching the film.

Dhurandhar goes onto high gear once things hot up in the second half, where the real espionage drama takes center stage. The portrayal of 26/11 terror incident from the point of view of Pakistan is applaud-worthy. This period also gives rise to some dramatic and thrilling moments with the film ending on a high note.

However, despite these plusses, when it comes to narrating the story, Dhurandhar appears to have been trapped in the wrong medium. This narrative suits more for a web series, going by the way characters are explored and the story is fleshed out. This becomes an issue as the first half becomes as lengthy as two hours. It is not possible to edit out any portion, including the love angle (which is closely knit to the main story), thereby making it more suitable for the longer medium. This is also because the story doesn’t end as the film is set to return for a second part on March 19, 2026.

The other slip up here is the development of the love track about Sara Arjun, which should have become a scandal considering that she is the daughter of such a prominent politician and that too in Pakistan.

And as expected, Dhurandhar indirectly appeases the supporters of the current government of India on a few occasions.

The film scores high when it comes to the production design by Saini S Johray. A lot of thought and detailing has gone into this area while recreating Lyari of the yesteryears. Vikash Nowlakha’s camerawork is spectacular. From the music, the title track and ‘Ishq Jalakar – Karvaan’ are brilliant. Shashwat Sachdev’s background score doesn’t go overboard in providing thrill. It becomes loud only when needed. The action is also more into the realistic zone, instead of over-the-top stunts.

The performances too are top draw. Ranveer Singh is fully believable as a spy who becomes a trusted ally of Rehman Dakait. He scores in the emotional moments as well as while performing action. But the one who steals the show is Akshaye Khanna. He brings his entire talent onto display as he performs various moods of his character with perfection. Arjun Rampal and Sanjay Dutt succeed in being wild with restraint.

R Madhavan provides a mature act. His character looks unrecognizable. In such an ensemble cast, Rakesh Bedi gets more than noticed as the prominent politician of Lyari. Sara Arjun makes a confident and successful debut as Hamza’s lover Yalina.

Overall: Dhurandhar is a well-crafted spy drama with fine performances. However, its narrative suits more for a web series. Hence, the film is more inclined towards the multiplex audience instead of the masses. This makes it doubtful whether it will become a major success at the box office.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Aditya Dhar

Writer: Aditya Dhar

Producers: Jio Studios and B62 Studios

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Akshaye Khanna, R Madhavan, Arjun Rampal, Sanjay Dutt, Sara Arjun, Rakesh Bedi

Also read: Haq review: Yami Gautam excels in this one-time watch courtroom drama

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs on the web as per FeedSpot. See the full list here –https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Haq review: Yami Gautam excels in this one-time watch courtroom drama

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Storyline: Haq is a fictionalized and dramatized version of the historic Shah Bano Begum vs Mohammed Ahmed Khan case. The film is adapted from journalist and author Jigna Vora’s book ‘Bano: Bharat Ki Beti’.

The film starts off in 1967 in a town in Uttar Pradesh. Shazia Bano (Yami Gautam Dhar), a young girl full of life, gets married to the lawyer Abbas Khan (Emraan Hashmi). She is happy with choosing him as her life partner. She gives birth to two children and is pregnant with the third. This is when Abbas goes on a three-week visit to Pakistan to settle some property dispute in their ancestral place.

However, Abbas returns after three months and that too after marrying a young girl, Saira (Vartika Singh). Shazia devastated to know that her husband had a second marriage and that too by keeping her in the dark. Things start getting murkier for Shazia from here on, which eventually compels her to take Abbas to the court.

Review: It is widely known that Haq is a courtroom drama. Hence, it is obvious for the audience to anticipate the narrative to go on the legal route. There is also this danger that the portion before the courtroom scenes might make you impatient. Thankfully, nothing of that sort happens here.

Yami Gautam Dhar in Haq

The route to the court is finely structured and presented. The whole journey of Shazia’s happy marriage turning sour is well narrated. This was also possible because of the smooth transition of Abbas’s character from being the hero to the antagonist. Emraan Hashmi has always been a fine performer (even when he was labeled as a ‘serial kisser’) and he has proved the same here as well.

Once the film goes onto the legal route, you, naturally, expect it to go into overdrive. However, for some strange reason, the opposite happens. The narrative during this half doesn’t turn out to be as gripping as before. There are also some portions where the goings appear dry and episodic.

The film ends on a fine note with Shazia’s monologue but it seems too much dependent on the final part. Even for this, it is Yami Gautam Dhar’s bravura act that keeps you glued and moved.

Also during the rest of the film, she lives the journey of Shazia Bano with a lot of maturity. This one is easily one of her best acts and one of the best performances of the year. However, it is a mystery that both Yami and Emraan look almost the same even after a span of 18 years.

Danish Husain’s character as Shazia’s father is shown to be very progressive, even by today’s standards. He does full justice to it. Sheeba Chadha and Aseem Hattangady are impressive as Shazia’s lawyers. Vartika Singh shows promise as Saira.

Haq scores high in production designing. The colour grading too makes the bygone era believable. Vishal Mishra’s music is nothing much to speak about. The film needed, at least, one impressive theme track. Sandeep Chowta’s background score enhances the proceedings.

Overall: Haq is a one-time watch courtroom drama, aided by Yami Gautam’s fine act. As far as the box office is concerned, its appeal lies in the urban multiplex centers.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Suparn Verma

Producers: Junglee Pictures, Insomnia Films and Baweja Studios

Writers: Jigna Vora (original book) and Reshu Nath (story, screenplay and dialogues)

Cast: Yami Gautam, Emraan Hashmi, Danish Husain, Sheeba Chadha, Vartika Singh

Also read: Homebound review: Neeraj Ghaywan’s film reminds you of your privilege in a hard-hitting way

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs on the web as per FeedSpot. See the full list here –https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Thamma review: Shows hope but loses ‘blood’ in the second half

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Storyline: The film revolves around a struggling television journalist Alok Goyal (Ayushmann Khurrana) staying in Delhi with his parents (Paresh Rawal and Geeta Agarwal Sharma). He once goes on a jungle adventure with his friends outside the city. He becomes a victim of a bear attack and is forced to hide in a cave-like place for safety. Just then, a beautiful girl (Rashmika Mandanna) rescues him.

Alok gets to know that her name is Tadaka and she is a part of a tribe of Betaals led by the crazy Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). People from the tribe capture Alok just when he and Tadaka are getting attracted to each other. Tadaka defies the tribe’s rules and frees Alok. But in order to save herself from her tribe for being a traitor, she too moves to Delhi with him. This encounter changes Alok’s life forever.

Review: Thamma has an interesting storyline that gains your interest right at the onset. There is a right amount of humour and thrill after Alok and Tadaka enter each other’s lives and face numerous funny and thrilling situations. Once the two reach Delhi, the intrigue level increases as Tadaka constantly tries hiding her real self. The interval point comes across as a surprise.

Thamma movie

The second half takes off well from that point and makes you interested in knowing where will all this lead. However, the film goes downhill from here on. The narrative becomes too complicated and self-indulgent. It seems that the makers were trying too hard in providing thrill through this genre and thereby ended up going overboard. A few of the rules of the Betaal community also appear weird and too convenient. The finale too is quite underwhelming.

The film also leaves a few questions unanswered. For example, we are shown an encounter with King Alexander at the start but the character never returns. But the most bewildering part is the sudden disappearance of Alok’s mother without any reason whatsoever!

Thamma scores well in the technical department through. Saurabh Goswami’s camerawork is impressive. The film is also rich in visuals, mostly because of the VFX. The background score (Sachin Jigar) adds to the thrill.

The performances are a mixed bag. Ayushmann Khurrana is the best of all. He goes through various emotions and situations with relative ease. Rashmika Mandanna is better than a couple of her previous outings as far as her expressions and body language are concerned. But her heavy south accent hampers her act yet again. Paresh Rawal once again shows how dependable he is when it comes to displaying humour with subtlety. Geeta Agarwal Sharma is memorable despite limited screen time.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui appears entertaining initially but starts becoming repetitive. It seems he was trying a bit too hard in being funny later on. He also brings back memories of his act from Kick (2014). Faisal Malik of Panchayat fame shines as the cop. Varun Dhawan is decent in a cameo from Bhediya. Abhishek Banerjee fares better in his cameo.

Overall: Thamma has an interesting and entertaining build up but it suffers from a messed up second half. The film will score well at the box office in the six-day extended Diwali period but will slow down from Monday onwards.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Director: Aditya Sarpotdar

Producers: Maddock Films

Writers: Niren Bhatt, Arun Fulara and Suresh Mathew

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Paresh Rawal

Also read: The Ba***ds of Bollywood Review: Unabashedly whacky take on Bollywood with an overdose of expletives

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs on the web as per FeedSpot. See the full list here –https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Homebound review: Neeraj Ghaywan’s film reminds you of your privilege in a hard-hitting way

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Storyline: Homebound is a story of two best friends from the less fortunate backgrounds and what all they go through because of their identities. Mohammed Shoaib Ali (Ishaan Khatter) and Chandan Kumar (Vishal Jethwa) hail from a small town in India. The families of both lead a life of poverty. But that’s not all. Shoaib and Chandan also regularly face discrimination on the basis of their religion and caste respectively.

In order to get respect from the society, the two friends appear for a police recruitment exam. They believe that once they join the police force, the attitude of the society will change towards them. While they are on the way to the examination centre in train, they meet Sudha Bharti (Janhvi Kapoor), who is also from the lower caste. After giving the exam, Shoaib and Chandan anxiously wait for the examination results, which keep on getting delayed.

Review: There is a scene in Homebound where Shoaib is made fun of by his office seniors because Pakistan loses against India in a cricket match, thereby assuming that his loyalty lies with the neighbouring country. The guy’s friendly colleague tries to pacify him saying that those who are targeting him for his religion are drunk and they are doing it just for some ‘fun’.  


In another instance, a woman is not allowed to cook mid-day meals for kids in a school after the parents realize that she belongs to a lower caste.

The film also shows the severe struggle of the people from the lower strata of society to survive the COVID-19 pandemic in what can be described as a heart-wrenching part of the film.

Homebound isn’t the first film to show these miseries of the less fortunate and it won’t be the last either. But its starkly appealing manner of representing the atrocities one faces due to one’s religion, caste and social positioning moves you profoundly.

At the same time, it also makes us realize how privileged we are. Even though we might not be millionaires but the kind of lives we are living is a dream for a large majority of our country’s population.

The performances of the two lead actors play a vital role in creating the impact. With this performance, Vishal Jethwa has announced that he is one of the most talented actors around. His portrayal of the journey of Chandan is completely praiseworthy, especially during the ending moments. Ishaan Khatter is not behind though. He has provided a thoroughly mature act as his character goes through different challenges throughout the film.

The actors playing the family members of both Chandan and Shoaib are also praiseworthy. Janhvi Kapoor acts decently but she is a miscast in the role of Sudha Bharti.

The other negative point, although minor, is the length, which could have been shorter.

Overall: Homebound is one of the finest films to have come in recent years. Its selection for the Oscars in the Best Foreign Language category appears to be the right decision.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Director: Neeraj Ghaywan

Producers: Dharma Productions

Writers: Basharat Peer, Neeraj Ghaywan and Sumit Roy

Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, Janhvi Kapoor

The Ba***ds Of Bollywood review: Unabashedly whacky take on Bollywood with an overdose of expletives

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Storyline: The Ba***ds Of Bollywood revolves around Aasmaan Singh (Lakshya), who dreams of becoming a famous movie star. After arriving in Mumbai from his hometown Delhi and struggling for some time, he gets an opportunity to showcase his heroic skills and bags the film Revolver. The movie becomes a hit and he achieves initial stardom.  

Aasmaan stays with his uncle Avtar (Manoj Pahwa), who has been struggling all his life to become a singer and musician, and his loyal best friend Parvaiz (Raghav Juyal). His mother Neeta (Mona Singh) once dreamt of becoming an actress but could not be more than a background dancer. His father Rajat (Vijayant Kohli) is suffering from a liver disease.

The producer of Revolver, Freddy Sodawallah (Manish Chaudhari), asks Aasmaan to sign an exclusive three film deal with him. Aasmaan’s manager and friend Sanya (Anyaa Singh) urges him to take his time and not sign in a huff as she wants bigger producers to sign him. She convinces Karan Johar (Karan Johar) to cast Aasmaan in his next. However, unknown to Sanya, Sodawallah tricks Aasmaan in signing the three film deal.

Meanwhile, Karishma Talvar (Sahher Bambba), daughter of the superstar Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol) and hence a ‘nepo kid’, gets pissed off with Aasmaan during a roundtable interview. Later on, it is revealed that Karan wants Karishma to star opposite Aasmaan in his film. Ajay, for some reason, hates Aasmaan and wants him removed from Karan’s film.

Review: The Ba***ds Of Bollywood is basically a tale of a simple boy with big dreams of becoming a film star. But his story is told while giving an inside glimpse of the workings of the Hindi film industry in an over-the-top manner.

The USP of the show is the whacky humour and the unpredictability of the situations. The humour relies a lot on meta references, mostly about characters that play themselves (Karan Johar and a number of others from the film industry). But it’s done in a smart and witty manner, except in the scene where a producer brutally kicks a female production designer, which wasn’t funny.

Debutant writer and director Aryan Khan’s sense of humour does take you by a pleasant surprise. What’s noteworthy is the self-deprecating humour on himself and his drug case. The show also has a few fictional characters who seem to be inspired from real-life stars from the industry. If you are able to guess about them, it increases the fun element.  

But the show suffers from an unnecessary overdose of cuss words. So much so, that they cease to have an impact after the initial episodes itself. In fact, it won’t be wrong to state that there is an expletive in almost every sentence. Some developments are also too convenient. But a bigger negative is that the proceedings become too serious and don’t fit the nature of the show after a few episodes.

However, the narrative brings in an unexpected and major twist in the end, which gives you a jolt and turns the whole show on its head! This also takes care of a question of why one character hates another to the core. There are chances that the twist won’t work for many. It worked for this reviewer though.

The Ba***ds Of Bollywood has a long list of cast members and none of them disappoint. Lakshya fits in the role of a struggler who becomes a star and goes through unusual circumstances. He makes the journey of the main protagonist believable. Bobby Deol shines while playing a grey character. He also excels in fight scenes. Sahher Bambba succeeds in displaying her talent as a star kid. Anyaa Singh is perfect in the role of Aasmaan’s manager.

Manoj Pahwa, Mona Singh and Vijayant Kohli are also fine as Aasmaan’s family members. Mona gets a meaty part later on. Manish Chaudhari is excellent as the veteran producer. Karan Johar’s character is different from him in real life and he too provides a fine act. Rajat Bedi sportingly plays a character inspired from his real character. He leaves behind a strong impact. Divik Sharma as the weird brother of Karishma fits the character to the T. The rest of the supporting actors like Gautami Kapoor, Meherzan Mazda and others are fine too. Eshika Dey gets noticeable at the very end.

From the cameos, Shah Rukh Khan, Arshad Warsi, Emraan Hashmi and Ranveer Singh impress the most.

But the most impactful actor of the show is Raghav Juyal. He is extremely likable and humorous. To stand out from such a long list of cast and special star appearances is a major achievement.  

Overall: The Ba***ds Of Bollywood is a fun ride with a few potholes that are taken care of by the final twist.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Aryan Khan

Producers: Red Chillies Entertainment

Writers: Aryan Khan, Bijaj Siddiqi and Manav Chauhan Cast: Lakshya, Sahher Bambba, Bobby Deol, Raghav Juyal, Mona Singh, Manoj Pahwa, Manish Chaudhari, Karan Johar, Vijayant Kohli

Also Read: Jolly LLB 3 review: Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi & last 30 minutes are the highlights

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs on the web as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Jolly LLB 3 review: Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi & last 30 minutes are the highlights

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Storyline: Jolly LLB 3’s backstory dates to 2011 in Parsaul, a remote village in Rajasthan. An aged farmer Rajaram Solanki doesn’t agree to sell his land to India’s richest businessman Haribhai Khetan (Gajraj Rao) for his ‘Bikaner To Boston’ residential complex project. He is then framed in a fake case about non-payment of dues. He loses the case. Dejected, he dies by suicide. But his wife Janaki (Seema Biswas) vows to get justice, not just for Rajaram but also for various other farmers, whose lives are negatively affected by the project.  

The story moves few years later in Delhi, where advocate Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly (Akshay Kumar) from Lucknow and advocate Jagdish Tyagi aka (also) Jolly from Meerut are always seen fighting over stealing each other’s cases in a lower court. The two can’t see eye to eye. One day, Janaki approaches them with her late husband and other farmers’ case. However, she no fees to pay to any of the two Jollys.

Review: The first film in director Subhash Kapoor’s franchise Jolly LLB (2013) was entertaining but it kept the court proceedings close to reality. The second one Jolly LLB 2 (2017) went more mainstream and had a second half full of unbelievable filmi events. Jolly LLB 3 goes more commercial but still turns out to be better than the 2017 movie.

Jolly LLB 3

Kapoor’s narrative gives a good amount of footage to a very serious issue, which comes as a surprise. But he has also succeeded in mixing the humorous portions and maintained the balance for a good amount of time in the film. The antics and rivalry between the two Jollys provide some hilarious moments, especially through the dialogues, which are also penned by Kapoor.

The film should also be lauded for portraying the serious and controversial issues of farmers losing their lands and the lust for more wealth by the crony capitalists. There are some bold sequences in this regard considering that this is a mainstream commercial cinema.

Jolly LLB 3, however, has quite a few sequences that are unwanted. These unnecessarily add on to the length of the film and, more importantly, are not related to the main story. For example, the scene at the restaurant on Valentine’s Day. Even the Formula 1 type race could have been avoided as its purpose was already met in the previous scene where both Jollys meet Janaki.

Even the main case involving Janaki and the farmers lack complete clarity.

But these factors are kind of forgotten in the last 30 minutes when the film goes onto an intense and powerful mode. The makers have given importance to both Akshay and Arshad during this portion. The two actors too have complemented each other well. There are moments where they create a riot. They also shine during serious and emotional moments.

Saurabh Shukla is actually the third hero of the film. You can’t help but feel amused every time he comes on screen. Seema Biswas, however, is the best actor here. She provides a heart-wrenching performance where she speaks through expressions and body language throughout. Gajraj Rao evokes power and fear every time he appears on screen while playing a negative role. Ram Kapoor is decent as the opposing lawyer.

Huma Qureshi and Amrita Rao, as Akshay and Arshad’s wives, don’t have much to do. This is good because giving them more importance would have further increased the runtime. The actor playing Rajaram, DM and others provide fine support. A talented artiste like Shilpa Shukla is cast in an inconsequential role.

Overall: Jolly LLB 3 surpasses the second film in the franchise but not the first one. It is worth watching more for Akshay Kumar and Arshad Warsi’s chemistry and the final 30 minutes.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Subhash Kapoor

Writer: Shubash Kapoor

Producers: Star Studio 18 and Kangra Talkies

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi, Saurabh Shukla, Seema Biswas, Gajraj Rao, Huma Qureshi, Amrita Rao

Also read: Inspector Zende review: Manoj Bajpayee’s period crime drama is a one-time watch

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs in the world as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

Inspector Zende review: Manoj Bajpayee’s period crime drama is a one-time watch

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Writer and director Chinmay D Mandlekar’s Netflix movie Inspector Zende is loosely based on the story of Inspector Madhukar Bapurao Zende capturing the dreaded criminal Carl Sobraj in 1986.

The story starts off when the mastermind criminal Carl Bhojraj (Jim Sarbh) is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. One fine day, he succeeds in escaping from the prison along with his gang members. They later enter Mumbai. Hence, the case comes under Mumbai Police’s jurisdiction.

The Director General of Mumbai Police Purandhare (Sachin Khedekar) hands over the task of nabbing Bhojraj to Inspector Madhukar Bapurao Zende (Manoj Bajpayee). Apart from he being a reputed cop, the reason for asking Zende to lead the case is that he had heroically caught Bhojraj in 1971. Zende gets along the task with his team comprising of fellow cops Patil (Bhalchandra Kadam) and others.

The makers make it clear in the initial disclaimer that the film is only loosely based on the real story of Inspector Zende and that they have added a lot of fiction. But even then, the creative liberties turn out to be a bit too much as soon as the film starts. You wonder why the real story of a heroic cop is told in a comedy manner and that too slapstick humour in some places.

But the actual issue is that apart from a giggle here and there, the jokes fall flat. The proceedings are fast-paced and they keep you engaged. But you constantly wonder about the need for such kind of humour while narrating this story. Even Paresh Mokashi’s Harishchandrachi Factory narrated Dadasaheb Phalke’s real story in a comical way but the humour in that movie was actually funny.

Thankfully for Inspector Zende, the narrative becomes more engaging in the last 30-40 minutes when the story shifts to Goa. The mission carried out by Zende and his team is different from what we regularly see in crime dramas taking place inside the country. The story reaches at one point when you highly root for Zende and his team. This also leads to a few nail-biting moments in the ending portions.

Apart from the latter part of the second half, Manoj Bajpayee’s act keeps the film going, even when the narrative isn’t pleasing enough. He gets plenty of opportunities to display his talent. He makes sure to not reduce the real character of Zende to a comical one even during humorous moments. Jim Sarbh is perfectly cast as the half-foreigner suave criminal who mostly speaks in English. He also subtly switches over to a ruthless mode.

Sachin Khedekar and Girija Oak offer good support. Bhalchandra Kadam does what he is known for. He appears sidelined in the first half but gets more opportunity later on. Vaibhav Mangle is funny as a Goa cop. Harish Dudhade, Onkar Raut, Nitin Bhajan and Bharat Savale provide able support as Zende’s team members.

Technical areas like Rajesh Choudhary’s production design and Ketan Sodha’s background score succeed in recreating the bygone era.

Overall: Inspector Zende is saved by the last 30-40 minutes and Manoj Bajpayee’s act.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Director: Chinmay D Mandlekar

Writer: Chinmay D Mandlekar

Producer: Northern Lights Films

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jim Sarbh, Sachin Khedekar, Girija Oak, Bhalchandra Kadam

Also read: Mahavatar Narsimha review: Uplifting mixture of devotion and entertainment

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs in the world as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/

War 2 review: The actual war is to decode what the film is about

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War 2, the sequel to the highly successful War and the next film in the Yash Raj Films’ Spy Universe, carries the story forward from the end of the first film but it also doesn’t. Actually, it doesn’t appear like a continuation of the first film, although the makers want us to believe so. Hence, the actual war is fought by the audience to try and decode what the film is about.

So, at that start of War 2, which is directed by Ayan Mukerji, we are told that one of the best R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) officers Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) has gone rogue and there is absolutely no major reason given for the same. We expect to be told Kabir’s back story later which led him to take such an extreme step against his agency and country but that never happens.

Kabir has now started working as a ‘freelancer’ (yes, that’s how he describes his current profession) to assassinate people across the world for various clients. In order to stop Kabir, the new R&AW chief Vikrant Kaul (Anil Kapoor) gets their tough officer Vikram (Jr. NTR) to finish him off. In between all of this, Kabir’s equation with Colonel Luthra’s soldier daughter Kavya (Kiara Advani) changes after what he does to her father, who considered him as his son.

The main crux of the so-called story is the war between Kabir and Vikram. At least, this is what it seems like at the start. But the two get involved in strange games. They are sometimes against each other, sometimes not. There are times when they are against India, sometimes with India, either together or individually. Even Nitish Kumar doesn’t switch sides so often.

This makes War 2 is one of the most confusing films to have come in a long time. The confusion starts at the end of the first half and goes onto another level in the second half. By this time, you literally give up in trying to understand the motto of the two protagonists and the film.

Some of the action sequences are impressive but there are just too many of them. In fact, the fights and stunts become an overdose in the first half itself!

War 2 also features a secret society named ‘Kali’ which is formed by powerful individuals from different countries, like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Russia, etc. They are shown to be ‘running’ the world, which appears as easy as running Gokuldham Society. Also, why would India and Pakistan agree to be on the same side in this weird mission? Their aim is not even established or explained properly, just like many other things in the film.

The performances are just about fine. Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR share a good chemistry needed in a two-hero film. They are up-to-the-task when it comes to action but the content doesn’t let them display their acting potential. Kiara Advani is decent while depicting emotions and better when it comes to action. Ashutosh Rana and Anil Kapoor are the best of the lot. Varun Badola is good in a cameo.  

The other saving grace is the choice of exotic international locations.

But these are just a couple of green patches in an otherwise barren land. Overall, War 2 has turned out to be much worse than what the trailer indicated.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Producer: Aditya Chopra for Yash Raj Films

Writers: Aditya Chopra, Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Jr. NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana, Anil Kapoor

Also read: Review: Dhadak 2 shows the mirror to those who feel caste-based atrocities don’t exist in India anymore

This blog is one of the Top 30 Indian movie blogs in the world as per FeedSpot. See the full list here – https://bloggers.feedspot.com/indian_movie_blogs/