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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/

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

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It is not often that you see the notion of caste and its atrocities being explored in mainstream Hindi cinema. The one name that comes to our mind is filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Article 15 (2019). Now, director Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2 enters the rare list. It is hugely different from the Khurrana starrer despite addressing the same subject.

Dhadak 2 is the official Hindi remake of the 2018 Tamil hit Pariyerum Perumal. It takes place in a semi-urban city in India. The story revolves around Neelesh Ahirwar (Siddhant Chaturvedi). He hails from the lower caste and lives under challenging economic conditions with his parents. He is eager to rise above poverty by becoming a lawyer. He gets admission in a reputed law college in the city under reservation.

Neelesh’s family and people from his vicinity regularly face atrocities because of their caste. But he somehow wishes to ignore such realities and focus on becoming a lawyer. That’s why he doesn’t take part in political activities carried out by people belonging to his caste in his college.

Neelesh meets the bubbly Vidhisha Bharadwaj aka Vidhi (Triptii Dimri) as his classmate. They click instantly and fall in love. However, as she is from the upper caste, her family becomes strongly against any kind of relationship between the two. The biggest thorn in Neelesh’s path is Vidhi’s cousin Rounak aka Ronnie (Saad Bilgrami), who studies in the same class.

On the surface, the basic tale of Dhadak 2 might appear similar to countless Hindi or even Indian films. A guy and girl from different worlds falling in love and facing opposition is a theme done to death. But the treatment of that theme has been quite fresh here, especially with the reverse gender roles.

But when looked deeper, Dhadak 2 is far more than just a love story. It not only explores the dirty reality of caste in today’s so-called modern India but also boldly portrays atrocities committed on the lower castes by the upper castes. This turns out to be a wake-up call for those who have been living in a bubble and proclaiming that casteism isn’t practiced in India any more.

There is a scene where Neelesh recalls a disturbing past incident to Vidhi where he and his family faced atrocity and humiliation because of their caste and social status. Vidhi says that she didn’t know such things still happen in non-rural areas. To this, Neelesh says, “We don’t know all this happens, unless it happens with us.” This sentence sums up the film and its necessity.

After a successful build up, Dhadak 2 keeps the momentum alive and ends with a powerful and overwhelming climax.

But the narrative also faces a few issues. The film could have ended before 146 minutes. But the biggest negative here is the culmination of the student leader track. Although it seems inspired from a real event, it adds on to the length and doesn’t offer much to the film. Also, despite facing humiliation for his caste, Neelesh not feeling anything for those fighting for the fight for equality among members of his community is a bit difficult to digest.

The performances are one of the strongest plus points. Siddhant Chaturvedi had played a lower caste character who faces humiliation for his lower status in the web show Inside Edge. But his character and performance are entirely different here. The way Neelesh goes through various atrocities and humiliation make you feel for him. He also rises in scenes where he appears confident and heroic.

Triptii Dimri perfectly fits the strong character of Vidhi and comes up with an impressive act. She is especially noteworthy in the climax. Saad Bilgrami shines as the antagonist. You love to hate him. Saurabh Sachdeva and Vipin Sharma are appealing despite limited screen time. Zakir Hussain provides a mature act as the college principal.

Priyank Tiwari as the Dalit leader Satish is instantly likeable but, as pointed above, his track doesn’t end well. Harish Khanna, Abhay Joshi and Deeksha Joshi, as Vidhi’s father, uncle and elder sister respectively, chip in with good supporting acts.

Overall: Dhadak 2 is a hard-hitting love story that shows the mirror to those who are under the impression that casteism and caste-based atrocities don’t take place in India any more.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Shazia Iqbal

Producers: Dharma Productions, Zee Studios and Cloud 9 Pictures

Writers: Rahul Badwelkar and Shazia Iqbal (adapted screenplay and dialogues)

Cast: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri, Saad Bilgrami

Saiyaara review: Emotional rollercoaster about selfless love

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Over the last several years, mainstream Hindi cinema has been guilty of showing more than half or at least half of the film in the trailer itself. When the promo of Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara and the video of its title song came out, it gave a feeling about the film being in the Kabir Singh zone about a frustrated lover living a toxic life.

However, as it turns out, the film is nothing like that. It’s hugely different from its trailer. In fact, it’s one of the rare mainstream Hindi film to completely hide its main plot.

Saiyaara is based in today’s era in Mumbai. It revolves around a hot-headed and arrogant struggling singer and musician Krish Kapoor (Ahaan Panday), who is a part of a music group. He once roughs up the editor of a digital publication for mentioning only one person’s name from their band in their review of their album despite he being the lead singer. During this time, he comes across Vaani Batra (Aneet Padda), as aspiring journalist who was there for a job interview.

Vaani also possesses the skills of writing lyrics. Krish comes across her diary and is impressed by her poetry. She becomes a part of his musical journey and they both slowly fall in love. However, the road ahead of them isn’t as easy-going as their love for each other.

Saiyaara

There have been countless films about a guy and a girl unexpectedly meeting and falling in love, not only in India but world over. But Saiyaara adds a lot of freshness to this part. The most challenging initial part for any romantic film is to convincingly show both the characters falling in love with each other. The film does that resoundingly well. Along with the direction and music, the movie is also blessed with a fast-moving and convincing writing by Sankalp Sadanah and Rohan Shankar.

Saiyaara becomes emotional once the story goes into the sad zone but doesn’t make you depressed because of its exploration of a medical condition. The makers have clearly taken creative liberties while exploring it. But you don’t mind this much as by this time, the film has had you emotionally gripped to its story and the characters. The medical condition also provides mystery and thrill elements.

Saiyaara is a rare Hindi film of today’s times where every song falls in the impressive category. Plus, all the songs by Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nizami take the story forward and are not added just like that. The title song deserves special mention as it is a character in itself. You can’t help but applaud when it arrives in the film at the right moment. The writers have also handled the climax in a creative and moving manner.   

The two newcomers successfully carry the film on their shoulders. Ahaan Panday makes a terrific debut as a short-tempered musician who softens up later. He handles the transformation part convincingly. There is some rawness though in scenes where he has to scream. Aneet Padda, who plays a lead character for the first time, is nowhere behind. She handles the development of her character later on skillfully and comes up with a phenomenal act.

Alam Khan, Varun Badola, Geeta Agarwal, Rajesh Kumar and the rest of the supporting actors provide good support.

Everything, however, isn’t hunky dory in Saiyaara. The film’s main conflict reminds you of a movie starring Ajay Devgn and Kajol. There are quite a few questionable aspects related to the illness being explored and the turn in the tale in the second half. The character of Mahesh Iyer (Shaan Grover), who should have been serious, actually becomes unintentionally hilarious.

But Saiyaara has enough going for itself to be a rollercoaster ride about selfless love, something that has been sorely missing from our movies. And the reprised version of the title song in the end becomes the icing on the cake.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: Mohit Suri

Producers: Yash Raj Films

Writers: Sankalp Sadanah and Rohan Shankar

Cast: Ahaan Panday, Aneet Padda, Alam Khan, Varun Badola, Shaan Grover

Music: Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah and Arslan Nizami  

Also read: Sitaare Zameen Par review

Sitaare Zameen Par review: Yet another entertaining and moving saga by Aamir Khan

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Since more than a decade, one has seen a large number of sports movies being made in mainstream Hindi cinema. So much so that it has now become exhausting. Filmmaker RS Prasanna and Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par, thankfully, doesn’t appear as just another sports film from the industry.

Sitaare Zameen Par is the official Hindi remake of the Spanish film Campeones (English title: Champions). The story is based in Delhi and it revolves around the assistant coach of Delhi’s basketball team, Gulshan Arora (Aamir Khan). He is an arrogant, brash and a hot-headed guy. His nature once gets him into trouble when he hits his senior coach Paswan (Deepraj Rana) in a fit of rage. Hence, he gets suspended from his job.

Gulshan is also having problems with his wife and former actress Suneeta (Genelia Deshmukh). Frustrated with his life, he gets heavily drunk and bangs his car with a police vehicle. He is arrested and brought in court. As he has had a clean record, the judge orders him to coach a basketball team consisting of players suffering from Down’s Syndrome and Autism. Gulshan doesn’t think much about the players and used words like ‘pagal’ for them. His first day with them turns out to be a nightmare.

Sitaare Zameen Par has a lovely first half with equal doses of funny and moving sequences. The portrayal of Gulshan’s character is a job well done. He is a bad mannered guy but the humour quotient in him will never let you hate him. In fact, he always makes you laugh.

Sitaare Zameen Par

Once, the basketball team members arrive on the scene, the film goes onto another level. They have been portrayed in a mature and intelligent manner. They either make you laugh or move you. The scene just before the interval point is the best moment of the film.  

The biggest challenge here was to transform the character of Gulshan. The film does this successfully by making it gradual.

However, the second half doesn’t match up to the goodness of the first half. Post-interval, the film doesn’t have much of a story to tell before the team heads to the last match. The scenes that fill the gap do entertain you but you expect more conflict and drama, which doesn’t happen. There is one conflict moment but it gets solved soon. The final moment of the match is thrilling but it’s right out of a sports film released pre-Pandemic. The visuals used are also exactly the same.

There is also a questionable aspect in terms of the tournament the Sitaare team plays. They enter the semi-finals by being the fourth team on the points table. This means that they would have lost at least 2-3 matches in the league stage but they are never shown losing a single match.

Thankfully, the ending moments make up for the minuses to some extent and you leave the cinema hall with a good amount of satisfaction.

As far as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is concerned, it doesn’t feature a single impressive song. This is quite needed in a film of this nature. The film is fine in terms of the technicalities.

Despite Sitaare Zameen Par being a film about a sports tournament, Aamir’s personal story takes the front seat. The actor makes the character of Gulshan Arora believable and, more importantly, goes through the transformation convincingly. But during some close up shots, he appears to be trying hard and ends up reminding you of his character in PK (2014). Genelia Deshmukh gets scope later on and she makes good use of the opportunity.

Gurpal Singh, as Kartar Singh who looks after the team, provides a lovely performance. He matches up to Aamir during their confrontational scenes. Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari, as Aamir’s mother, is hilarious. Brijendra Kala once again scores. His characterization itself will make you laugh. Aamir’s sister Nikhat Khan Hegde is likeable in a cameo.

The actors who are part of team Sitaare provide applaud-worthy acts. These include, Ashish Pendse (Sunil), Simran Mangeshkar (Golu Khan), Aayush Bhansali (Lotus), Naman Misra (Hargovind), Gopikrishnan K Verma (Guddu), Rishi Shahani (Sharma ji), Aroush Datta (Satbir), Rishabh Jain (Raju), Samvit Desai (Kareem Qureshi) and Vedant Sharma (Bantu).

Overall: Sitaare Zameen Par might not be one of Aamir Khan’s best movies. But it certainly moves you and gives a message about the acceptance of specially abled children in a profound manner.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Director: RS Prasanna

Producers: Aamir Khan Productions

Writers: Divy Nidhi Sharma (adapted screenplay and dialogues)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Genelia Deshmukh, Gurpal Singh, Ashish Pendse, Simran Mangeshkar, Aayush Bhansali, Naman Misra, Gopikrishnan K Verma, Rishi Shahani, Aroush Datta, Rishabh Jain, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari, Brijendra Kala

Also Read: Criminal Justice (Season 4): A Family Matter review: Interesting murder mystery plus courtroom drama

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