Movie Reviews

Sea adventure is a fascinating genre. It holds a lot of intrigue. The West has attempted several movies on the subject, which have tremendous recall value -- 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, JAWS, TITANIC, LIFE OF PI and many, many more. The Hindi film industry has also had its share of movies that depicted the escapades and exploits at the sea/ocean, which includes SAMRAT and BLUE. Now Anubhav Sinha's WARNING, helmed by Gurmmeet Singh, attempts to catch the fancy of the spectator with a theme that's seldom explored here. WARNING is more of a survival story that's set in the middle of the ocean. How a group of friends cope with situations in perilous and precarious circumstances. With no hope of rescue or miracles. Just the newborn baby is aboard... Does it ring a bell? Filmed in Fiji, WARNING does emit fresh vibes to spectators of Hindi films, but the fact of the matter is that the film brings back memories of OPEN WATER 2: ADRIFT [2...

Story: Moods, delusions, fantasies and fear...this film follows the complexities of an architect's psyche as he moves to Prague for a project. Review: If you are the type who looks for reasons and answers in a story, Prague is not for you. It doesn't have an agenda, per se, nor is it easy to comprehend. It's free-floating, erratic, pensive and sombre, just like its protagonist's mind. The mood is kept melancholic as the camera follows an architect (Chandan Roy Sanyal) who keeps wandering around, attending to his random thoughts. More than a conversation, his every dialogue is him thinking aloud. The dark, non-linear storytelling helps build a psychological tension throughout, making you feel as if you are being sucked into a black hole, with no way out. If you are patient enough to appreciate and observe the intricacies of Chandan's behaviour, Prague won't disappoint you. What we particularly liked about the film was its layering. The film is ...

Story: Adventure at sea turns into calamity when school friends reunite after years on a yatch. Review: They were seven and half (a baby, plus a dog) of them at the high seas. With their complex love stories, ex-affairs, phobias and fears. All trying to find an anchor, submerged neck-deep in water. Estranged school-friends reunite in Fiji (yet again) on a yatch, supposedly owned by Bakshi (Santosh), the one amongst them who seems to have lived life king-size. Jeanine (Suzana) is his hot-pot gal gal who makes a sexy bare-back entry. Anshul (Varun), the dost with the most (size-wise) is also the most loved of 'em all. Sabina (Manjari), the school phataka -turned hot-momma joins with hubby (Jitin) and baby onboard. Aman (Sumit) is the rich spoilt brat who drifts without ambition. Gunjan (Madhurima) is the gutsy go-getter(with a hot- bod). The buddies set sail in calm waters, but soon their sweet soiree meets with a tumultuous turn. They all throw 'warning to the ...

Story: A bunch of bikini clad babes aspire to be super models and they're ready to fight it out to win the title. Review: Picture this. The beaches of Fiji. Five women in their itsy-bitsies, flashing plenty of ti**sy. A hotshot fashion photographer. And a coveted Super Model title up for grabs. One would think this is the ideal setting for a story sunwashed in sex and sin, with slow-mo shots of Baywatch babes lapping the lenses. Alas, it's not! The otherwise fabulous Fiji looks anything but that. The fashion-photog is a bare-bodied bronze beach-boy who captures no part of your attention. The wannabe models in terrible two-pieces and blurred cleavages are pancaked and passionless. So, while the director went sunbathing, this is what happened on the runway. Dev Walia (Chayya) assigns top fashion photographer Monty (Ashmit) to find a super model for his next calendar shoot. He selects a bunch of desperate damsels for a photo-shoot in Fiji (Viola! We soon realize...

Story: You can always make a fresh start in life but can you ever escape your past? Review: Florist Tarun ( Sumeet Nijhawan), his wife Srishti ( Mona Wasu) and their little daughter live happily in the beautiful hills of Mussoorie. While Tarun is calm as a cucumber, Srishti is vivacious and dominating. Their idyllic life however gets a sudden jolt when Tarun ends up confronting two criminals who misbehave in his shop. The repercussions of that event put his and his family's life in jeopardy, also bringing to the forefront some startling revelations and brutal confessions. It's commendable that debutant director Jaideep Chopra delivers a spine-chilling thriller that has an international sensibility and feel to it. The film starts brilliantly. Major credit goes to actor Pankaj Tripathi for creating that psychological tension, an underlying air of somberness, through his eerie prologue. The film then shifts gear. The tension mellows. A happy 'family track...

Story: An adopted daughter craves for undivided attention and love from her mother. Turns out she has a psychological disorder. Review: Raqt is a disaster. If it doesn't give you a throbbing headache, you deserve a medal for putting up with utter crap in the name of cinema. The film is loaded with terrible dubbing, out of focus scenes, sleazy songs, tacky dialogues, horrible outfits, a dumb story and pathetic direction. If you must know the story - Sonia (Sweta Bharadwaj) is an actress who adopts her niece Suhani ( Sheena Shahabadi), as her mother dies in an accident. Sonia adores Suhani but the latter fears if Sonia falls in love with anyone else, she might send her away to a boarding school. In no mood to share her mother's affection, she kills everyone who comes between them. Strangely, the mother has no clue about the happenings and is not suspicious of her daughter's behaviour. Thus, many more get killed and the film goes on forever, leading to nowher...

When we watch the trailer of Haani, first thing comes in our mind that it has something out of ordinary and something different from the current trends of Punjabi cinema. Even for Harbhajan Mann who carries the credit of lifting the Punjabi Cinema, it has been something new for him in terms of looks and the character in Haani. Haani has been amongst the highlights from last few days because of the different looks of the actors and old traditions have been shown in the movie. So now when it has been released, lets see what it has got to offer to the audience. About Story – The story begins with two close friends Ranjeet (Harbhajan Mann) and Jagir (Sarbjit Cheema) living in the same village. Ranjeet falls for a girl named Sukhan (Maninder Kaur) living to his next village and Jagir helps him to get near to Sukhan. But story takes a turn when Ranjeet gets shot dead and his soul stays there until Canada returned his grandson Harman (Anuj Sachdeva) starts interacting with him. The ...

Young Malang  was launched sometime in April this year with much fanfare. Initially, I was waiting for the film because of its starcast and a powerful business house backing it but from the last few days, my interest in the film couldn't build up, hence I went to the theatre expecting a very average film. Now, the question is, does the film fulfill the expectations, and frankly it depends. If you enter the theatre like I did, you'll be surprised by a lot of things in the film including the acting and technical finesse but if you expect to watch anything better than that you may be disappointed. The lackluster story almost killed the film. Synopsis:  Despite being from very different backgrounds, 6 friends (3 boys and 3 girls) create a friendship. Jaskaran Brar (Balli Riar} is wealthy and short-tempered person who has earned his nickname of Garari Bai. Kashmeer Singh (Vinaypal Buttar) is a Desi Jatt from Bathinda tries to be man of action like his father, earning himself th...

Star cast: Harbhajan Mann, Sarbjit Cheema, Mahreen Kaleka, Sonia Mann, Anuj Sachdeva, Rupan Bal, Shweta, Ashish Duggal, Sardar Sohi, Balwinder Vicky, Rupinder Rupi, Dlkhush, Gurdev Dhillon, Gursharan Mann and Gurbinder Sandhu Director: Amitoj Maan Producer: Harbhajan Mann, Babu Singh Maan Music: Jaidev Kumar Genre: Romance Censor Details: U (Punjabi) – 138 Minutes Synopsis : Haani is a romantic saga spanning two different generations of a family. It tells the story of love, friendship and honor immortalized by commitment. The plot of the film simultaneously narrates 2 plots. Ranjit (Harbhajan) and Jagga (Sarabjit) are best friends in 1964 where Ranjit falls for Sukhaan (Mahreen) and loves her to death. Other plot involves Harman (Anuj) and Preet’s (Sonia) love story in 2013. Somehow fate connects these love stories together. Review: Director Amitoj Maan makes a Punjabi film for the very first time after making 2 Hindi films – Kaafila and Hawaayein. One thing is clear about hi...

Story:   One loverboy and two lovely ladies. Live-in, walk out, make-up, makeout. In turns. Not necessarily in that order. Confused about love and marriage, they follow their heart (at times) and all that lies in between (pun!). Review:  So there, Bollywood breaks the stereotype. It steps out from behind the bloomin' trees in tulip fields and comfortably 'shacks-up' with the times. Here 'smooch-at-first-sight' happens in a bus-full with  baaratis .  Coffee dates are sipped in bed (Happy Endings? Huh!). Commitment is not the criteria. Marriage is not on the cards. And sexual compatibility is high priority. Yes, welcome to a modern day  shuddh  romance in desiland. Plenty 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang', tucked in with some emotion and drama too. Raghu-(Sushant)-the-Romeo is a tourist guide in Jaipur, who also doubles up as rental  baraati  for Goyal (Rishi), a  shaadi  planner. He meets the rebellious Gayatri (Parineeti) and feels a ...

Story : Two men - one driven by love for family, the other scarred for life by his troubled past, find their lives intertwined as a nefarious conspiracy unfolds... . Review:  Righteous bank manager  John Day  (Naseeruddin Shah) is devastated when his daughter is found dead on her clandestine camping trip with a boyfriend to a desolate estate. John suspects foul play when years later, his wife faces a similar fate. The mysterious tragedies ignite his quest for truth and vengeance. Turns out, John is a pawn in a bigger conspiracy that involves gum-chewing-gun-wielding, bad-ass cop Gautam (Randeep Hooda). Volatile and temperamental, Gautam has his own obscure motives. While he isn't intimidated by death, he's enslaved by the past. The two, in their pursuit of redemption and retribution, get embroiled in a vicious game of cat and mouse.  John Day , a rip-off of Spanish thriller  Box 507,  is dark, edgy and brooding thanks to the execution and backg...

Story:  A bunch of youngsters decide to barge into an abandoned hotel to check if it's indeed haunted. Review:  A few friends make an impromptu plan of exploring a desolate hotel. They are intrigued by stories of mysterious deaths occurring in its seemingly haunted room No. 3046. A Ramu- kaka  like waiter even warns, " Jis  din bhuton pe vishwas karoge, us din zinda nahi bachoge .' The group pays no heed. They enter the property, hoping to debunk paranormal occurrences. What do they discover? Friends, haunted mansions and eerie nights make for spine-chilling horror films. The makers have all the right ingredients to scare the living daylights out of you. But instead of utilising the classic setting differently, they borrow heavily from Hollywood films ( 1408, Mirrors, The Ring ). Cliched paranormal happenings, like a door shutting by itself, characters exploring the hotel solo, in spite of knowing they are most likely to get killed when alone, etc., get frustra...

Mark this moment. This is the moment when Bollywood breaks free. 'Grand Masti' is unabashedly gross, vulgar, crass, shameless and fearlessly adult. But for a moment one has to step back from the noise of dissent - from the guardians of Indian culture and their histrionic fatwas - and ask yourself one simple question: Who are we to choose for others?   A group of 23 teenagers were pleading for tickets at a multiplex booth this morning. Three didn't have IDs on them to prove they were adults. Even if they hadn't celebrated their 18th birthday yet, the fact that they were of the same clique where twenty of them had proofs should have been taken into consideration. What is 18, but a technicality in the age of the internet?  I am not celebrating   Grand Masti   like I did  Delhi Belly  (a film I had felt at the time would usher in change in the way we think of our cinema, much to the indignation of naysayers) because it does not share a similar level of...

Story:   Two strangers fall in love over a lunchbox of letters - do they ever meet? Review:  Like a tiffin carrier,  The Lunchbox  has levels - it is the story of a man so lonely, he's forgotten what any companionship means. It is the story of a suburban housewife, deeply alone. It is the story of meeting via eating. It is a love-story - and a love-letter to Mumbai, to trains that go  dhak-dhak , to dabbawalas and rain, to love and life, sugar and spice, the despair and hope that mark every heart. Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan) is an accountant. His wife having died, the childless Saajan is a cold, prickly grouch avoided by all. One day, a lunchbox prepared by Ila (Nimrat) for her husband somehow reaches Saajan instead. He devours her delicacies, the empty box returned evidence of his enjoyment. Annoyed by the stranger's lack of thanks, Ila sends him another lunchbox with a sarcastic note - he responds. Suddenly, the two are writing daily, sharing jokes, fears, p...

Story:  In his tryst to be a hero, Vishwas Rao ends up becoming a fake filmi cop. But fate offers him funnier choices. Review:  Star-struck (rather Salman-struck) small-towner, Vishwas (Shahid) lands in Mumbai with two  sapnas . First, his own starry dreams (ruled by Rajnikanths and Khans) of being a Bollywood superstar. Second, his high-on-melodrama  maa 's (Padmini) long cherished dream - " mera  beta  police  afsar banega ". But fate takes a hilarious twist when he's mistaken for a good cop (Thank Heavens, he has Chulbul Pandey for inspiration. With tighties, googles,  dabanggisms , and his own sizzling ' Munni '). He falls in love with the over-zealous Kajal (Ileana), a social worker with many chaotic-causes. Soon he's caught in  chor -police crossfire between the dreadfully funny gangster Gundappa Das (Saurabh Shukla) and the  asli  good cop (Darshan Jariwala) - both put up rip-roaring acts. In a comedy of errors and events...