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Shahid Movie Review

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Director: Hansal Mehta

Producers: Bohra Bros. Pvt. Ltd and AKFPL Production

Writers: Hansal Mehta, Sameer Gautam Singh and Apurva Asrani

Cast: Raj Kumar Yadav, Prabhleen Sandhu, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub, Baljinder Kaur, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vipin Sharma, Kay Kay Menon

Genre: Drama/ Thriller

Rating: * * * *

By: Keyur Seta

Story Outline: Shahid is a biopic on the life of the deceased lawyer Shahid Azmi. He was murdered in 2010 for defending innocents wrongly framed for terror activities.

The film traces Shahid’s journey from the 1993 Mumbai blasts. The incident has such a devastating impact on the youngster that he joins a terror outfit in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Fortunately, he realizes his mistake and manages to return home in Mumbai. Further circumstances ensure that he becomes a successful defense lawyer. But his real challenge starts now.

Review: There are good films and there are also very good films. But there are very few ones that make Indian cinema proud. Director Hansal Mehta’s Shahid is one such movie that has all the rights to hold its head high regardless of its fate at the box office.

Picture source - Zeenews.com

Picture source – Zeenews.com

The film is a fine example of an impeccable script (Gautam Singh and Mehta), gritty presentation and excellent performances. Result of the aforementioned mixture is sure to yield great results and that is exactly the case with Shahid. It is a good idea to reveal the climax at the start so that the viewer is able to concentrate Shahid’s journey. Although the protagonist’s life story is interesting, it is not an easy task to narrate such a tale, especially with such low budget.

The way diverse events and sub plots are woven together deserve special mention, especially Shahid’s love interest which doesn’t obstruct the proceedings whatsoever. Lastly, the flick throws a number of hard-hitting questions on the deterioration of democracy in today’s times. The only negative point one can find is that the ongoing appears a bit dragged after a point of time in the second half. Plus, the hardcore commercial audience might not appreciate this genre of cinema. However, these are not major flaws.

From the technical department, some crafty camerawork perfectly suits the need of the film. Few single-take shots through a hand held camera are very impressive. Some powerful background score and apt editing too deserve praise.

Some performances become a milestone in every successful actor’s career. Raj Kumar Yadav’s act in Shahid is one such milestone which will take his career to greater heights. His portrayal of different shades of the character can only be described as brilliant! However, despite such an act from the lead actor, Prabhleen Kaur manages to impress via her perfect portrayal as Shahid’s love interest.

After No One Killed Jessica, Jannat 2 and Raanjhanaa, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayub is once again super impressive. In the role of Shahid’s mother, Baljinder Kaur suits well. There some wonderful cameos too from Kay Kay Menon, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Vipin Sharma and Shalini Vatsa.

Overall, Shahid is a must watch. Those eager for meaningful cinema should surely support it if they wish to see such genre of films in the future. Positive word-of-mouth is the only hope for the film to make a mark at the box office.

Review: The Lunchbox

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Director: Ritesh Batra

Producers: UTV Motion Pictures, Dharma Productions, Dar Motion Pictures, Sikhya Entertainment and Roh Films – Germany

Writer: Ritesh Batra

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Genre: Drama

Rating: * * * ½

By: Keyur Seta

Story Outline: Leading a lonely life, middle-aged widower Saajan Fernandez (Irrfan Khan) works in the claims department of a government office in Mumbai. He has just a month to go before he retires from his services. Ila (Nimrat Kaur), a housewife, is also battling loneliness due to her husband’s avoidance.

Once Ila prepares tiffin for her husband like every other day. However, due to dabba wala’s mistake, the tiffin lands on Saajan’s table. This ensures a series of conversations between the two through letters. Slowly, their strange relationship blossoms into love. But how far can such a love story go?

Review: It is a norm in Indian movies to include dramatic, powerful dialogues or blaring background music to generate emotions. But debutant Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox breaks all these norms and how! By using just a subtle, simple narration, he narrates a difficult love story that is sure to move you.

The-Lunchbox-movieSuch a romantic tale is very difficult and tricky to narrate on celluloid. Batra not only conceives the romance intelligently but also maintains it. The latter part can be too tough as the letter reading scenes can become repetitive. But that is nicely taken care with some real yet witty conversations, mostly between Irrfan and Nawazuddin, and various rib-tickling moments from the simplest of everyday scenes. The success of this part alone is the backbone of the film.

The Lunchbox is also one of the rare films where the city of Mumbai can be called as a different character altogether. This doesn’t mean merely showing the city few times or placing your story in it. It is about various aspects of the city visible throughout the film. Examples – bus and train journeys, dabba walas, loneliness despite over population, Ila’s neighborhood aunty, group of people playing abhangas in train, inflation issues faced by the common man, especially when it comes to medical bills, painters outside Azad Maidan, kids playing cricket on streets, etc.

After such impressive plus points, you personally feel bad for the film towards the last 15 minutes or so. The events in the pre-climax and climax act as a dampener. If this hadn’t been the case, the movie could have been hailed as a classic.

The technical department (camerawork, background score and editing) goes with the simple nature of the film.

Performances play a large role in creating the desired effect. Irrfan Khan has proved time and again that he is one of the finest actors to emerge from India. He proves that again by generating a lot of appeal from his character despite underplaying himself. But despite Irrfan’s presence, Nimrat Kaur shines with a real and mature portrayal of a lonely housewife. She surely deserves more films!

In the midst of the two performances, Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivers a lovable act! He too is no doubt one of the most talented actors around currently. Although Bharti Acharekar doesn’t appear, her delightful way of speaking makes her presence felt.

Overall: Although The Lunchbox isn’t a classic, it’s still a must watch. It should slowly climb the box office ladder.

Review: Satyagraha

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Director: Prakash Jha

Producers: Prakash Jha Productions and UTV Motion Pictures

Writers: Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Arjun Rampal, Amrita Rao

Music: Salim-Sulaiman, Aadesh Shrivastav, Meet Bros and Indian Ocean

Genre: Drama

By: Keyur Seta

Rating: * *

Story Outline: Retired school principal Daduji (Amitabh Bachchan) is a man of Gandhian principles, who believes in fighting injustice. His son Akhilesh (Indraneil Sengupta), an engineer, follows his father’s footsteps in being an idealist. One day, Akhilesh’s businessman friend Manav (Ajay Devgn) comes to stay with them. Daduji has a clash of words with Manav due to the differences in ideologies. Soon, a part of a flyover, created by Akhilesh, is destroyed, which leads to his accidental death. This starts Daduji’s struggle against the system on various issues.

Review: Over the years Prakash Jha has acquired an identity of a filmmaker specializing in the hard hitting socio political genre. But since Raajneeti (2010) onwards, he has been showing an inclination towards commercialism while presenting social issues. Although he has succeeded in producing engaging films while doing this, the content hasn’t been up to the mark. He does it again with Satyagraha. This time, however, his effort stoops lower than ‘not up to the mark’ for he makes a mockery of a social movement by making it unconvincingly filmi.

Despite Jha’s stern denial, even a primary school kid would understand that the film and its characters are fully based on the Anna Hazare movement (Bachchan: Anna Hazare, Devgn: Arvind Kejriwal and Kapoor: Shazia Ilmi).

Satyagraha-movieBut his celluloid version of the movement just fails to create any impact whatsoever due to high degrees of Bollywood-isms thrown in which just makes it look fake! From these points, the romantic angle between Devgn and Kapoor deserves special mention for being the most forced and unconvincing love story in a long, long time. Although there are inspiring moments but they appear tiny in front of the fallacies.

What also kills the interest is the fact that the writers try to bring in too many issues which ensures a faulty narration. For example, at one point we see these characters trying to uncover the mystery of Akhilesh’s death but in the very next scene, they attack the collector’s office and start preaching anti-corruption. Likewise, the film keeps changing issues and leads up to a climax that can be best described as unintentionally hilarious.

From the various flaws, Kapoor’s character sketch takes the cake. In fact, it won’t be an overstatement to describe this as one of the stupidest portrayals of a journalist ever in Bollywood. So we have this ever-glamorous reporter who joins Daduji’s movement while on duty and even starts residing in his bungalow. Later on, her image is also included in the posters of the Jan Satyagrahi’s team! This is more than idiotic as no reporter would dare take a side in such a manner and if he or she ever does it, the person is fired the very moment. Well, did I see Anjum Rajabali’s name in the writers’ credits or did I misread it?

Perhaps the song ‘Raghupati Raghav’ is the best moment of the film. The rest of the songs weren’t required at all. The camerawork and background score are decent while the editing is passable.

Talking about the performances, Amitabh Bachchan does succeed in being an aged social activist who is never short of inner strength. But it hurts to see his super acting talent being wasted in such a film. It hurts even more when he is forced to ham in the climax. His character is also the same as in Aarakshan. Ajay Devgn is just average this time, which is a surprise. Most of the times, it looked as if he is trying too hard. Kareena Kapoor doesn’t impress due to the characterization as mentioned above.

Manoj Bajpayee turns out the best of all, although even his character is carried forward his character from Aarakshan. From the rating, there is half a star extra for Big B and Bajpayee’s performances. Arjun Rampal is likable as an aggressive political leader. He should have been given more screen space. Amrita Rao has hardly anything to do. She is strictly okay. The rest of the supporting actors just fit the bill.

Overall, Satyagraha suffers due to various flaws. The film will struggle at the box office after the first weekend.

Satyagraha Box Office Prediction

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Prakash Jha

Producers: Prakash Jha Productions and UTV Motion Pictures

Writers: Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Arjun Rampal, Amrita Rao

Music: Salim-Sulaiman, Aadesh Shrivastav, Meet Bros and Indian Ocean

Genre: Drama

Release Date: August 30, 2013

Analysis:

Star Value: With the presence of actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Manoj Bajpayee and Arjun Rampal, needless to say that the star value for Satyagraha is supremely high!

Hype: The promos of the film did have a positive impact due to its similarity to the Anna Hazare movement but it didn’t create the kind of hype that is expected from a film with such an ensemble star cast. The reason could be that the topic of patriotism and nation building isn’t much preferred by the Gen – Y of today’s era.

Music: The song ‘Raghupati Raghav’ has managed to impress and helped the film gain publicity. Apart from this, only ‘Aiyyo Ji’ is known.

Prediction:

Satyagraha will get a good opening at the box office. But the initial response won’t be too overwhelming due to the reasons given above. Hence, it is very vital for the film to impress at the onset if it has to be a winner at the box office. The chances of it earning Rs 100 crore also rest purely on its content. For a film of this genre, big names alone aren’t enough to help you earn big numbers.

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Box Office Prediction

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Milan Luthria

Producer: Balaji Motion Pictures

Writer: Rajay Aroraa

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Imran Khan, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh

Music: Pritam and Anupam Amod

Genre: Drama/ Action

Release Date: August 15, 2013

Analysis:

Star Value: Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara has high star value due to the presence of some big names like Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and Imran Khan.

Hype: The promos of the film received mixed reaction because the audience hadn’t expected the sequel of a gangster movie to be a love triangle. Nevertheless, there is some hype for the movie as the release date has neared, especially due to Akshay.

Music: Songs ‘Tu Hi Khatra’ and ‘Tayyab Ali’ are somewhat known. The overall music hasn’t quite made heads turn.

Prediction:

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Dobara will get a good opening. But due to the reactions to the promos and the fact that Chennai Express is still doing well, the Akshay starrer won’t set the cash registers ringing as expected. Nevertheless, if the content gets a good initial response, it will ensure good returns for the producers. The plus point the film has is that the subject suits the single screens as well as multiplexes.

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Chennai Express Review

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Rohit Shetty

Producers: UTV Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment

Writers: Rohit Shetty, Yunus Sajawal and Sajid-Farhad

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Satyaraj, Nikitin Dheer

Music: Vishal-Shekhar and Yo Yo Honey Singh

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Rating: * *

Story Outline: Forty year old Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) is forced to go to Rameswaram to immerse his grandfather’s ashes. However, he is eager to go to Goa to have fun with his buddies. In order to fool his granny into believing that he is going to Rameswaram, he boards the Chennai Express with the intention of getting down at a nearby station and head towards Goa. As soon as the train starts, Rahul helps Meena (Deepika Padukone) and a group of heavily built men board the train.

But he soon realizes that Meena has run away from her native place Kumban and the men are forcefully taking her back. Those thugs work for Meena’s father, who is a ruthless don of Kumban. Unusual circumstances force Rahul to accompany Meena and her group to Kumban. How will Rahul escape from the don’s den?

Review: Time and again, Rohit Shetty has succeeded in providing hardcore entertainment with his potboilers. This reason coupled with his association with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time ensured high expectations from his next Chennai Express. But as they say, every day is not a Sunday. This time Shetty misses the target due to various reasons. They are as follows:-

  • Chennai-ExpressIt is needless to say that one needs to keep anything related to logic far away while watching Shetty’s films. But there has to be some degree of conviction at least in the basic plot. I am referring to the whole idea of Rahul travelling to Kumban, which has no explanation. The thugs have come to take Deepika with them. So why are they so desperate to take Rahul along since he has nothing to do with their matter?
  • Writers Yunus Sajawal and Sajid-Farhad are known for creating some entertaining lines. But this time, their writing doesn’t induce the kind of laughter it should. The humor is surely there but it is way short of being a laugh riot.
  • Despite the above mentioned huge flaw in the story, the first half can still be described as moderately enjoyable. But the film just goes downhill post interval where there is just no story to tell. Then we have a climax lifted straight out of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which is not only unsatisfying but also cringe worthy for the bloody violence. It surely doesn’t gel with the nature of the film.
  • Chennai Express also goes onto the level of being offensive. They have tried creating humour out of the death of Rahul’s grandfather. If this wasn’t enough, the scene during his funeral is shockingly sadistic!

Vishal-Shekhar and Yo Yo Honey Singh’s music is not so impressive. The songs fall in the average or above average category. The camerawork is very impressive and creative while the background music suits the subject.

It is Shah Rukh Khan’s performance that makes the film a watchable affair. His wit, charm and innocence will keep you smiling throughout. Deepika Padukone surprises with a good act while playing a typical south Indian girl. Nikitin Dheer is alright. He doesn’t get much scope to showcase his talent. In the role of a don, Satyaraj shines. Kamini Kaushal and Lekh Tondon are likable in cameos.

Overall, Chennai Express gets derailed due to some weak writing and lack of proper entertainment. At the box office, the film will surely become a blockbuster. This doesn’t come as a surprise when your film has such big stars and you book almost every theatre in the country.

Chennai Express Box Office Prediction

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Rohit Shetty

Producers: UTV Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment

Writers: Sajid-Farhad

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Nikitin Dheer

Music: Vishal-Shekhar and Yo Yo Honey Singh

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Release Date: August 9, 2013

Analysis:

Star Value: When people like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and Rohit Shetty are involved in a film, it isn’t necessary to say that the star value of Chennai Express is supremely high.

Hype: The film has had a good hype even before the promotional material was released. And as the release date of the film is nearing, the hype has increased further. This doesn’t come as a surprise after SRK’s hardcore promotions. However, there is an absence of that craze which one associates with an SRK starrer and one of the biggest releases of the year.

Music: The songs of the film are becoming known slowly. Apart from the title track, ‘Kashmir Main’ and ‘Titli’ are also catching up with the audience, although there isn’t tmuch excitement for them.

Prediction:

Like all Rohit Shetty films, Chennai Express will get a very good opening at the box office. Its hardcore masala genre would ensure high footfalls in both single screens and multiplexes of metros as well as smaller centers. However, due to the absence of a craze (as mentioned before), it won’t get an earth shattering opening. Due to this, its chances of doing well after the initial hype and earning Rs 100 crore will depend entirely on the content.

Chennai-Express

Review: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Producers: Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures

Writer: Prasoon Joshi

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Yograj Singh, Divya Dutta, Pawan Malhotra, K K Raina, Dalip Tahil, Prakash Raj, Sonam Kapoor, Rebecca Breeds

Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Genre: Drama

Rating: * * *

Story Outline: The film is based on the life of the great Indian athlete Milkha Singh being played by Farhan Akhtar. Apart from Singh’s glorious and dramatic career, the film focuses on the effect of Indo-Pak partition on his mindset.

Review: The basic motto of a sports biopic is to narrate a fascinating tale that proves to be highly inspiring. Although that is the case with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, the film surely falls short of being superlative due to an unjustifiable length of 187 minutes and the various Bollywood-isms thrown in while narrating a realistic tale.

You can’t deny that Mehra has displayed cinematic brilliance while presenting a number of important (on and off the field) events from Milkha’s life. The race scenes are not only magnificently shot but one can also notice the pains taken in creating such a mammoth stage. The significance of the title and the heartwarming climax also deserves mention. But above all, it is Farhan Akhtar’s supreme performance that proves to be the biggest plus point.

Bhaag-Milkha-BhaagBut, as mentioned earlier, the film could have been much, much more pleasurable but for some reasons. First and foremost, there can be no justification for such an enormous length for this story. You surely don’t mind a three hour plus movie if it’s fully engaging and amusing (like 3 Idiots) but here, you are forced to check your watch regularly, especially during the long wait for the interval. Surely, the love track and various other scenes, including the flashback ones, (not possible to reveal much) should have been shortened.

The film also hangs between being a realistic biopic and a filmi tale. Most of the times, we are shown a real story of an athlete but on various occasions, it is peppered by some Bollywood-isms. After the inclusion of some fictional elements, the most questionable aspect is using lip-sync songs; from which some are just unnecessary. Needless to say, they also add up to the length. From the tracks, ‘Zinda’ is the only impressive one. Unfortunately and strangely, it’s hardly exploited.

Talking about the technical departments, it won’t be an overstatement that cinematographer Binod Pradhan is one of the biggest heroes of the film. Capturing such races with perfection is extremely difficult but he rises to the occasion and how! Background score generates the desired effect but the editing should have been manifolds tighter.

Some performances bring a character alive in such a way that you completely forget the actor who is playing it. There can hardly be a bigger compliment than this for an actor. Farhan Akhtar deserves such and many more accolades for his portrayal of Milkha Singh. The word excellent doesn’t do justice for the talent and painstaking hard work displayed by him. From the rating, an extra half a star is given just for his act.

The film is also blessed by some apt supporting acts from Divya, Dutta, Pawan Malhotra, K K Raina, Dalip Tahil, Prakash Raj and Rebecca Breeds. Yograj Singh (cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father) surprises with a dedicated performance, although he appears awkward few times which is understandable. Sonam Kapoor is getting painfully stereotyped. Her limited acting skills don’t help either.

Overall, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has its moments of glory but thanks to various factors, it falls in an above-average category. The tremendous hype and response will ensure the film becomes a blockbuster at the box office.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Box Office Prediction

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Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Producers: Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures

Writer: Prasoon Joshi

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Rebecca Breeds, Dalip Tahil, Prakash Raj

Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Genre: Drama

Release Date: July 19, 2013

Analysis:

Star Value: Farhan Akhtar has proved his acting talent quite a few times but he is not a big acting star. However, the fact that Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is based on the legendary athlete Milkha Singh itself adds star value to the film.

Hype: The hype for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has been tremendous ever since the first teaser released. And as the main trailer and songs are out, the excitement has just got bigger!

Music: The song ‘Zinda’ has already been appreciated. Although the rest of the tracks aren’t famous, they would rank up the charts if the film does well as they too are impressive.

Prediction:

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag will surely get a very good opening at the box office. If the initial reports are positive, the film will surely be a blockbuster. Even if the initial reports don’t fetch thumbs up, the film will still stand a chance of becoming a box office success. Its subject is such that it can score well in single screens (of both metros and smaller centers) as well as multiplexes. The only concern is its runtime or duration of 3 hours 8 minutes.

Bhaag-Milkha-Bhaag

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani Box Office Prediction

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By: Keyur Seta

Director: Ayan Mukerji

Producers: Dharma Productions and UTV Motion Pictures

Writers: Ayan Mukerji and Hussain Dalal

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Aditya Roy Kapur, Kunal Roy Kapur, Kalki Koechlin

Music: Pritam

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Release Date: May 31, 2013

Analysis:

Star Value: There is no doubt that Ranbir Kapoor is not only one of the biggest superstars but the most talented young actor currently. Due to this, he has a huge fan following not just in India but abroad as well. Plus, the film also stars Deepika Padukone. So naturally, the star value for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is very high!

Hype: The trailers and promotional campaigns have built a lot of excitement, which is continuing to grow as the film nears its release.

Music: The song ‘Badtameez Dil’ has become an instant rage. Other songs like ‘Balam Pichkari’, ‘Dilli Wali Girlfriend’ and ‘Ghagra’, which features Madhuri Dixit, have also added to the publicity.

Prediction:

There is no doubt that Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani will get a very good opening at the box office. The genre and its appeal are such that it will score well in both single screen theatres and multiplexes. In fact, even if the film receives negative initial response, it will still sail through due to Ranbir’s presence and the commercial appeal. And if it gets thumbs up at the onset, the film will surely be one of the biggest hits of 2013. All in all, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani looks like a very safe bet at the box office.

Yeh-Jawani-Hai-Deewani