Movie Review – Bareilly ki Barfi

One word review of this movie would be – Sweet! I know I am pretty late to the party but fortunately for me the movie is still running in the theatres. In the times when Bollywood is hooked on to Multi-starer big budget movies shot abroad with zero focus on content or acting, this movie is so refreshing, it feels like a fresh lime soda on a summer afternoon.

The best part about the movie are the characters. They are all quirky, real, unconventional and played amazingly well by the actors playing them. That includes the main characters as well as the supporting cast. Special mention goes to Rajkumar Rao for playing two almost opposite personas equally well.

This is a story of Bitti Mishra(Kriti Sanon), a free-spirited girl in the town of Bareilly(a small town in India), who happens to read a book and falls in love with the writer’s perspective. She wants to meet the author but he is nowhere to be found. And of course as all the cliched loved stories go she finds more than just the author in the bargain. She has a lovely set of parents: A father who treats her like a son and a mother is  forever in search for a suitable SIL. Chirag Dubey(Ayushmann Khurana), the author of the book, falls in love with Bitti but can’t reveal it to her and so enters the recitent Pritam Vidrohi(Rajkumar Rao) and the best friend – Narottam.

The story is as cliched as it gets but still leaves no room for boredom. It is the dialogues that put the zing in the story. There is a point in the movie where Rajkumar Rao says “Agar shakal dekhke ladiyan shaadi karti na toh Hindustan mein aadhe ladke kunware hote”. Also a few others like “aastin ka anaconda” and so on. There is one line however, which really got me “Aasaan nahi hai tumse pyar karna … magar tumse pyar na karna usse bhi zyada mushkil hai”. This I thought was incredibly sweet!

The writing is funny and light-hearted throughout and leaves you with a sweet aftertaste. Definitely worth a watch!

Go Goa Gone – Movie Review

I haven’t updated my blog from a long time and I thought Blogoversary( which is just a fortnight away) would be a good time for that. But then Life has its own way of spoiling your plans or should I say “Karma” has a way of getting back at you.

I don’t know what possessed me that I thought of watching this movie “Go Goa Gone” after reading a few online reviews. It is a good movie no doubt just not my kind. It is not a horror movie but a zomcom i.e. a zombie comedy or whatever that means. Dark humour at its best you can say. Who can imagine running around trees with a zombie while a romantic song plays in the background?

Though I personally loved a few comic scenes, I am not able to get a few macabre scenes out of my head. They are just too gory for my taste. Why am I writing this? Coz although it is a good movie if you can’t take that extra bit of violent scenes or take pleasure in dark humour, Think twice before you enter the cinema hall. Ditto if you are expecting a horror movie or a Hollywood type zombie movie or only a comedy movie. Everyone else will love the movie or so I hope. Nice story, characterization & acting. At least different if nothing else.

And yes no matter what is the reason, please don’t take your kids along. I saw a few kids in the hall & wondered why would any parent/ parents do that? Any thoughts?

Hum Hai Anari

Sab kuchh seekha humne na seekhi hoshiyari
Sab kuchh seekha humne na seekhi hoshiyari
Sach hai duniya waalon ke hum hain anaadi

Duniya ne kitna samjhaya
Kaun hai apna kaun paraaya
Phir bhi dil ki chot chupa kar
Humne aapka dil behlaaya
Khud hi mar mitne ki ye zid hai humari
Khud hi mar mitne ki ye zid hai humari
Sach hai duniya waalon ke hum hain anaadi

Dil ka chaman ujadte dekha
Pyaar ka rang utarte dekha
Humne har jeene waale ko
Dhan daulat pe marte dekha
Dil pe marne waale marenge bhikhari
Dil pe marne waale marenge bhikhari
Sach hai duniya waalon ke hum hain anaadi

Asli nakli chehre dekhe
Dil pe sau sau pehre dekhe
Mere dukhte dil se poochho
Kya kya khwaab sunehare dekhe
Toota jis taare pe nazar thi hamari
Toota jis taare pe nazar thi hamari

Sab kuchh seekha humne na seekhi hoshiyari
Sach hai duniya waalon ke hum hain anaadi

Movie: Anari (1959)
Music Director: Shankar Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri
Lyrics: Hasrat Jaipuri , Shankar Jaikishan , Shailendra
Singer: Mukesh
Movie directed by: Hrishikesh Mukherjee

This film won many awards and the song is a classic. One of my personal favorites.

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara movie review

Senorita_ZNMD

In this era of forgettable hindi movies ZNMD is a breath of fresh air. The cast, the locations, the adventures are amazing! It is not an experimental movie and in fact a very predictable one but that exactly is the challenge here. It is  worth watching in spite of it being so predictable.

ZNMD

One of the movies that lingers on even after you have come out of the theatre. After watching the movie you would want to do all of that: Visit Spain, go on a road trip, meet up with ur old frnds, do adventure sports, go to Spanish festivals, dance, have fun and well “seize the moment!”. It is a very cliched dialogue and kinda lost charm but nevertheless, the characters seem to be having fun and you would want to be a part of it. The trio Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan and Abhay Deol are irresistible. Katrina looks fab and so does Kalki. Music and dialogues are of course good too.

The movie is about conquering fear and living in the moment. What I could see while watching the movie was How beautiful Spain is, what a few days of vacation can do to your life, what is it to live life unburdened, what it is to meet up with old frnds and how good it is to have fun, how it feels to have met love unexpectedly, how good it feels to be silly and not worry what we did yesterday or how tomorrow is going to be.

The best part of the movie was the song “Senorita” where all the actors have sung the song themselves and the dialogues of Imran’s musings. It is a normal, typical hindi movie where all ends well and the characters have nothing to care about but to enjoy life, sing and dance. Totally worth my money bole toh paisa wasool. Thanks Zoya for such a refreshing movie !

Tanu Weds Manu

For long we have been complaining that Bollywood movies are not like Hollywood movies which make us think . Our complain seem to have been heard with this movie “Tanu Weds Manu” albeit with a different kind of question. I would like to hear your opinion too. Below is the question poll. Please vote.

Even all the charms of Madhavan couldn’t help the movie.

Saat Khoon Maaf -Movie Review

 

7_khoon_maaf

Saat Khoon Maaf is a Vishal Bharadwaj movie based on Ruskin Bond’s “Susanna’s Seven Husbands” . A dark-comedy about Susanna and how she kills her seven husbands. The beautiful, confident and zesty Susanne loses Mom and Dad early in life and hence their love. Later she is married to Maj. Rodrigues, her Dad’s choice. The perfect Indian husband boring, possessive, insecure. Her search for true love starts there and never ends. In the first half of the movie you sympathize with Susanna  for her choice of husbands but in the second half her irritability reaches a new high. Each of the husbands seem to have a despicable  flaw that she seems to grow weary of and decides to put an end to it. Some of the dialogues are worth remembering like “Miss Saheb apna Raasta nahi badlti, kutto ka khopdi udati hai”. In one of the scene during their wedding vows when they say “Till death do us apart” and you can’t help notice the wickedness.

 

Though you know what is going to happen next it still keeps you glued. The performances are all power-packed. Piggy Chops is all set to become the next Madhuri of the industry. Her acting and make up are both worth a mention. Neil’s character is damn convincing too. “Darling” – song is definitely the most beautiful part of the movie.  The music is good too. Only I would have preferred the ending presented in a better way. I know most people found the moving boring but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Dark is the new flavor of the season. Finally, one hindi movie I could write nice things about. Experimentation is a good thing not every experiment has to be huge success.

Anjaana Anjaani, Marley & Me – movie review

Image via Wikipedia

Anjaani Anjaani is a story about two strangers Kiara and Akash who meet at a bridge while both are attempting suicide. But fail at the attempt only to meet later. They decide to do it together and make a pact to do it on 31st Dec. And in the meanwhile they could do all the “Things to do before you die” from their wish-list and like you would have guessed they later fall in love, decide to give life a chance and get married and stay happily ever after. Oops! have I given out the ending. Doesn’t matter you would have known it anyway. That exactly is the problem with the movie. i.e The Script. Great locations, great costumes, great cast but no soul… And the fact that music is unforgettable goes without saying. We were waiting for the movie to get over.

What’s up with Bollywood movies these days. With their kind of budget and cast they can work wonders. Esp. these days since the audience are so much more open to experimentation. Looks like my wait for a good Bollywood movie is not getting over soon. So here I am taking an oath on my blog to not watch any more Bollywood movies in Multiplex that too on weekends. Hard way to learn “paise ped pe nahi ugte” 😦

I thought my lappy would come to my rescue and digged into my collection of movies and there was this movie “Marley and Me”. Wasn’t very keen on watching it coz it was about a dog. I am not too fond of them (And that does not mean I hate them ). In fact I don’t understand why people hate it when you call their dog a dog when in fact it is a “DOG”!!! Thought I’d watch it anyway and delete. At least that would create some space on my disk. Little did I know the movie could make me cry…

It looks so natural you feel it is actually happening right there in front of your eyes. Watching it is takes you to a different world, the one in the movie. Owen Wilson(John Grogen) and Jennifer Aniston(Jennifer Grogen) are amazing. In an attempt to keep Jennifer occupied and to delay her plans for babies, John plans to bring home a puppy. They pick this “clearance puppy”(Marley) and there starts the story. And what an amazing story….My saving grace for the day was “Marley & Me”.   Watch it to know more

I Hate Luv Storys

For a movie buff like me  not having watched a movie in the multiplex for nearly 2 months was a disturbing fact. When my rommie planned for the movie “I Hate Luv Storys” I simply loved the idea. And the money and effort was totally not worth it 😐 . The only good thing about the movie are the songs.

I thought watching Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor would be worth it. Though both look great individually, there is no chemistry between them. The magic they speak about in the movie is missing from the movie, story and the performances.  There is nothing new in the story and it looked like the makers wanted to make a spoof of all Yash Chopra and Karan Johar movies in this one movie itself. Bruna could have been better utilised. You end up feeling bad for Sameer Dattani. While the first half was ok, second half was a disaster and we were just waiting for the movie to finish. Few of my friends happen to write nice things abt the movie in FB. Don’t know why. So you may also like it but this is just a word of caution in case you plan to watch the movie.

Looks like wait for a good Bollywood movie is not getting over so soon.

The 3-D Experience

I remember the day when I watched my first 3-D movie “Chota Chetan”. That was a time when 3-D movies were a rarity. The excitement was also partly because of the glasses which were required to watch the movie. As kids we really enjoyed the movie and the chasma experience. The quality of these Kala Chasma( Black goggles) determine your 3-D experience. Fortunately, mine was a good one. and I loved watching Chota Chetan in action.

Now 3-D has become a norm, atleast for the animation movies. James Cameroon took the experince altogether to a different level. Avatar is a MUST-WATCH. Amazing imagination and a visual treat. Nothing could have been better but the experience is totally spoilt if you happen to get the wrong glasses. It takes you atleast an hour or so to just used to the glasses. This is esp. true of one of the best( and also one of the costliest) 3-D screens of Mumbai, IMAX Wadala. The glasses are too big and uncomfortable. The 3-D glasses are more uncomfortable than watching the blurred version of movie with bare eyes. I always wondered how do people with glasses for eyesight watch the movie without them unless you wear contact lenses or the 3-D glasses are really intelligent. I thought I was the only one but after reading a article in Mumbai Mirror I found out I am not the only one 🙂 .Lots of other people detest the 3-D glasses and haven’t had a very good experience.

I hope with the evolution of 3-D movies they come up with a better way to enjoy the movie than wear those hideous glasses.

De Dana dan movie review

This is copy-pasted from my own review@mouthshut.com

De Dana Dhan is a laughter riot. Truly a Priyadarshan movie. Ultimate Confusion has been created.  I wonder how Priyadrashan conceives such ideas. Anybody would get lost in such a plot. Unlike other Priyadarshan movies which end in confusion, this one starts with confusion.

I wouldn’t delve into the story because there is no story. It is a mindless comedy. You gotta leave your brains at home before you watching this one. But what makes it worth watching is that it makes you laugh. I esp. liked the scene when Tinu Anand crashes into the mirror to catch Akshay.  All the performances are good. Amazing cast and performances. Neha Dhupia requires a special mention. The movie has its put offs though. Demeaning language like Chi***l and kutte ki pilli and of course at times you find characters plain noisy. But there is enough comedy to compensate these.

It is a very light-hearted refrshing movie and you’ll love it. Go watch it !!!