Movie Review: Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola

Produced by: Vishal Bharadwaj, Fox studios
Directed by: Vishal Bharadwaj
Story by: Vishal Bharadwaj, Abhishek Chaubey
Starring: Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma and Arya Babbar

 

 

 

 

 

 

I kick-started my passion for movies with Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola and after having practically lost hope in Hindi Cinema in 2012, this movie finally proved to me why I used to have undying faith in this industry. Because in between all the masala packed, nonsensical maar-dhad movies you will find a movie like Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola.
And no, it is not a political sattire on the electricity crisis – but anyone who watched the trailer would be able to establish that, with its colourful songs and the infamous pink bhains. What it really is about is a bloke called Matru who works for the rich drunk Mandola and is in love with Mandola’s daughter Bijlee. Bijlee in turn, wants to get married to Badal (ironic, I know) who is the son of wealthy politician Chaudhari Devi who loves to flirt with her samdhi Mandola. Yes, its one big happy family until Mandola begins to sabotage his industrial career and Chaudhari Devi’s political career every time he gets drunk. We then begin to go deeper into the traumatic lives of all these people and who they really are beneath the appearances they put up.
So much for the plot. Sounds interesting doesn’t it? Well this is just the cream of the cake and I don’t want to dig deeper and spoil it for you. Coming to the direction – Vishal Bharadwaj has outdone himself yet again, by combining a happy go lucky atmosphere that prevails throughout the movie with a much more serious real life plot. There are minor flaws in the direction which I would prefer to overlook because I basically enjoyed the movie through and through. The acting was phenomenal – with Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi setting the standard with their remarkable acting skills. Shabana Azmi more than Pankaj Kapoor, because I have never seen her in a role like this one. Imran Khan proves that his roots are closely linked to Mr. Perfectionist and Arya Babbar performs well in every third scene or so. But he still does a good job for a first timer, though I would say that he still has a long way to go. But he may not lose hope seeing how Imran Khan has come a really long way since his first movie. The way he shows multiple sides of his character with completely ease is commendable. Anushka Sharma though is a bit of a let down, as she is barely there for most of the movie but proves her metal in the climax where she has a pivotal role. The dialogues on the other hand, are refreshing and wonderfully witty. All in all this is a well thought-out and well executed movie which you must not miss.

Movie review: Skyfall (007)

Produced by: Michael G Wilson

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Story by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench

 

 

 

 

 

 

The movie starts out with a typical Bond chase which takes place in Turkey, I think. And though we don’t know what Bond is up to, we still watch eagerly as he runs behind the bad guy, chases him over rooftops and trains, damages half the city and engages in varied number of fight sequences. And at the end of it all, he dies. Yes, James Bond gets shot by another agent and he dies. But of course, we all know that he can’t actually die and we wait and watch to find out what’s actually happening. The scene then shifts to M. And it turns out that the guy Bond was chasing, had a file which contained information of all the secret agents who were working undercover, most of them being placed in dangerous locations. Knowing that the person who had the file would soon expose these agents, M has to act fast. At the very same time, there is a security breach in the network of the secret service, and MI6 is bombed. Bond, who was vacationing on some beach till this point, decides to come back. And the rest of the movie follows how Bond and M uncover the identity of the person who has the file and has hacked into their network.
The movie is absolutely thrilling, with not a single moment of boredom. You blink, and you miss something. It really keeps the audience engaged till the very end. It has those moments where you think all is well and the movie is over but then suddenly there is a new twist in the story. The direction, action, acting, etc are impeccable of course, and Daniel Craig has outdone himself yet again. The dialogues are simply Bond-like; witty and quick. My favorite is when Bond is asked, ‘what is your hobby?’ And his quick reply is, ‘resurrection’. All in all, it is a typical Bond movie which has all the gadgets and the girls, but there is also something very unconventional about this movie, especially the climax. Something Bond fans will thoroughly enjoy and want to go back to, every now and then. In short, its a must watch!

7aum Arivu

Produced by: Udhayanidhi Stalin

Directed by: A. R. Murugadoss

Starring:  Suriya, Shruti Haasan

Music by: Harris Jayaraj

The movie follows the life of a Arvind, who works in a circus. His life takes an interesting turn when he meets Subha, a genetic engineering student, and falls in love with her. He coincidentally meets her in several places and the two soon become friends. Just when he is about to admit to her that he is in love with her, he finds out that their meeting so often hadn’t been a string of coincidences but a planned strategy by Subha. The angered Arvind goes to her to find out why she had been playing with his heart, when he finds out that she had other, more important reasons to meet him. Though reluctant in the beginning, he eventually decides to help her out. The movie then spirals out into a world threatening plot which can only be stopped by Arvind and Subha.

Though it doesn’t sound like much, the plot is quiet interesting. I haven’t disclosed much because it takes away the fun in watching the movie. It is a typical A. R. Muragadoss plot which is detailed, lengthy and yet – believable. The story-telling manages to engage the audience all through the movie and moves smoothly from one scene to the other. Suriya was fabulous. The transition that he showed from the character of Arvind to Bodha Dharman was clear and well-defined. The way he is agitated and restless as Arvind and calm and collected as Bodha Dharman is close to perfect. And after a long time I’ve seen an Indian movie where the actress actually had a pivotal role and wasn’t just kept in the movie to look pretty (but she does look ravishing!). Shruti Hassan played the role of a researcher impeccably. That slight part where she seems to be distracted because of her love interest is done well and does take over the rest of the movie. Most of the movie concentrates on the main plot and seldom gets side-tracked by the ongoing love story between the lead pair.

The music wasn’t very good and sounded like it had been pieced together from different songs. The action sequences too went on for longer than needed. It tends to be irritating when the lead is engaged in fighting when you are really eager to know how the story is going to unfold. They haven’t been done very well either and in today’s day and age of advanced visual effects they are quite disappointing. All in all, it is an innovative concept and you can’t help but be interested in knowing what is exactly happening. The second half does tend to drag just a bit but that is pretty much ignorable.

Verdict: I wouldn’t mind watching it again!

Ra.One

Produced by: Gauri Khan

Directed by: Anubhav Sinha

Starring:

• Shahrukh Khan
• Kareena Kapoor
• Arjun Rampal
• Armaan Varma

Music by: Vishal-Shekhar

 

The story follows the life of Shekhar Subramanium, who creates a game where the villain can never be killed just to please his son. But all hell breaks loose when a character from the game – Ra.one – comes alive in the real world. He is in pursuit of  Subramanium’s son – Pratheek – who had left the game half-played and wishes to finish him off. As Pratheek is helpless against such a huge monster, he gets the hero – G.one – out of the game to help him. But G.one’s survival chances against Ra.one is 0.01%. Will he survive or will he be killed by Ra.one taking the boy along with him?

The story line as it is, is very simple, basic and uninteresting. The whole cast had to add a lot more so that the story line wouldn’t be noticed, but it was. This movie is basically for kids – anyone below the age of 15. It pretty much follows Krish except with better effects. Direction was impeccable and the director manages to keep you interested in the movie. Performance wise, I would Shahrukh Khan was as usual – outstanding and delivered very well. Suprisingly so did Arman Varma – the child actor. He had a major part in the movie and he maintained to hold himself and match up to Shahrukh Khan’s level. Arjun Rampal, was an outstanding villain, with that menacing look of his livening the screen up just when you were starting to get bored. But he was brought into the movie very late and half the time, you just kept wondering, ‘where is Arjun Rampal?’ Kareena Kapoor on the other hand, was just in the movie to look pretty, though she did do something mildly useful and interesting in the second half. But the movie would have gone on just fine, even if she hadn’t been there. She is just there to look pretty and doesn’t in anyway fit into the role of a South-Indian housewife. Its a total let down from her performance in Bodyguard. Its basically a one time watch. Its got perfectly timed dialogues, just a touch of humour, great sound and visual effects and believable action sequences. But since the story isn’t much, it wouldn’t hold my attention for the second time. SRK did everything else perfectly in his movie, he just neglected the script. Also, you never really understand just how the characters got out of the game. The music is a typical Vishal-Shekhar album and you love the bollywood feel to it. I really loved the song ‘Raftaarein’ and it would have been much better if they had put Arjun Rampal in the song instead of SRK. Akon‘s two songs have also been received well by the audiences and Ganesh Hegde also did justice to the songs. So basically, its a fun movie ( better watched in 2D ). And the excitement created by the hype goes down when you watch it. I wouldn’t say it was a ‘oh my god!! it was amazing’ kind of a movie, it’s more of a ‘its good’ kind of a movie.

Bodyguard

Yet another guest post from another one of my best friends, this one being a die-hard Salman Khan fan (no wonder she chose to review this movie!!) Known to be spontaneous, unpredictable, creative, super smart and i’m also pretty sure she ate an encyclopedia when she was small, this friend of mine doesn’t have a blog yet, but after reading this review, if you feel that this one needs to create a blog ASAP, then please let her know.

BODYGUARD – By Sujatha Nayak Sujir

Produced by – Reliance Entertainment

Directed by – Siddique

Starring – Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor

Music – Himesh Reshammiya

It couldn’t get any better for a Salman Khan fan like me!! A bag of popcorn, a large Pepsi, and a rom-com to go with it on a rainy afternoon. Like I said, it couldn’t get any better! J J Salman Khan – romancing his lady love and fighting the gundas for her – basically doing what he is best at! Blush! Kareena Kapoor – The damsel in distress and some amazingly good songs – a perfect combination for a Bollywood blockbuster! (No surprises when it became the highest opening day grosser ever!)

Lovely Singh (Sallu Bhai), son of Balwant Singh, is indebted to Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) for saving his mother when she was expecting and hence gets on the mission to save Divya Rana (Kareena Kapoor), Mr. Rana’s daughter from the local goons. But Divya is not very happy with the idea of a bodyguard following her around college, invading her privacy! (Even entering the wash room accidentally! ) So after frequent and failed attempts to get rid of Lovely, Divya and her best friend Maya (Hazel Keech) prank call him with the name Chaya. Poor Lovely Singh, being a hopeless romantic at heart falls for the prank and coincidentally Divya starts falling for Lovely, knowing that they can’t have a future together. Sartaj Rana suspecting a romance brewing between the two of them sends his men after Lovely Singh! Just in time, Divya sends her “BFF” to Lovely to reveal her true identity! What happens next? Well.. you need to watch the movie to find out!

Salman Khan- The Bodyguard, the boy-next-door, the average Indian male doing more than average (rather extraordinary!) stunts. So many different shades of Mr.Commitment in a 3 hour flick! Kareena Kapoor looks stunning throughout the movie – a true fashionista! Hazel Keech, the debutante has a perfectly sound screen presence despite two other superstars sharing screen space with her! One character in the movie one can’t miss is Tsunami Singh – a little on the healthier side and hilarious – Tsunami is way too adorable!! Although Himesh Reshammiya has composed the music for this movie, guest composer Pritam takes home all the accolades for his romantic number ‘I Love You! (At least a goofy smile lightens up my face every single time I listen to it!)

Another one of Salman Khan’s Eid releases seems to have struck the chord with the general masses ofIndia! Although I have to admit that the storyline is wafer-thin, true SK fans will love this movie!! I wouldn’t mind falling into trouble if I had a Lovely Singh by my side… What about you??

Aarakshan

This is a guest post written by a budding writer, a devoted movie watcher, a true fan of this movie, a dedicated student, a marketing enthusiast, a Ranbir Kapoor fan and also a very close friend of mine. If you would like to write a guest post for this blog, please click here.

SINGHAM

produced by : Reliance Entertainment

directed by : Rohith Shetty

story by : Hari

starring : Ajay Devgan, Prakash Raj, Kajal Aggarwal

when i first heard that ajay devgan was starring in a Suriya remake, i didn’t expect much. but this movie  - blew my mind off!!!! i can’t say that this is better than the tamil version but it definitely matches up to the standards they have set. this usual good-cop-trying-to-rectify-the-political-system-story line actually worked for me. i have to admit that ajay devgn had style. every time he fake-bashed the heroes, he did it with such style that it became a little believable. the script was good and their comic timing was almost perfect. even the serious dialogues were placed and delivered properly. story was obviously not very individual. music was so-so. the title track didn’t really work for me and some of the other songs weren’t that bad.the heroine – a first timer, i assume – was good. not that she had much to do in the movie, but whatever little she did – it was good. she didn’t look small in front of Ajay Devgn (like i had expected). the villain – ah! well.. he is the perfect villain for me!!! Prakash Raj didn’t leave a single hole in his performance. it was perfect – as usual. its just a pleasure seeing him on screen. the action sequences were done well. i loved the way they showed the trauma that he undergoes – a guy from a small village entering a huge city and finding himself getting lost in the crowd. well, you will have to watch the movie to understand that. but it is very watchable – its basically your average hindi masala movie – but it has been done well. Rohith Shetty knows what he is doing, and the unfaltering  duo of Ajay Devgn and Rohith Shetty worked again!!

F.A.L.T.U

produced by : Vashu Bhagnani

directed by : Remo D’Souza

starring : Jackky Bhagnani, Puja Gupta, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi

initially i thought that this would be a movie for youngsters which the older generation wouldn’t understand or like. but my dad liked it, i liked it and turns out everyone else liked it too!!

it is based on three teenagers who don’t do very well in their boards and don’t get into any colleges. and as they don’t want to get fried by their parents they make a fake college. they think of it all – a fake name, a fake admission letter, a fake website, a fake ad in the paper, a fake premises(an old abandoned bulding which they polish), a fake principal and even fake students. but unfortunately the students turn out to be real. people very much like them who have no where else to go because of their low grades. they finally decide to keep the college open because none of them can go anywhere else. its a story of how poeple who are rejected by the world, come together, find themselves and prove to the world that they too can achieve a lot!!

this movie was not only touching but it was also fun and very real. it showed me that we do not have to follow the rules set by society. we can make our own rules and our own lives!! we can think out of the box and choose any career we want to. even though we have developed so much in matters of education and career opportunities, we are still compelled to go by the norms of society. a change in  our lifestyles and our thinking is very much needed and this movie proves it very well. not to mention the dance and the speech in the climax. that dance was probably one of Remo’s best work to date!! the songs too are a fresh change from what we have been hearing for the past few months this year. acting – well not that impressive. of course Arshad Warsi and Riteish Deshmukh were good and Jackky Bhagnani was not bad. but it is the movie as a whole that blows your mind. a great directorial debut by Remo and one you should definitely not miss!!

saat khoon maaf

produced by:- Ronnie Screwvala, Vishal Bharadwaj

directed by:- Vishal Bharadwaj

story by:- Ruskin Bond

cast:- Priyanka Chopra and

1. Neil Nitin Mukesh
2. John Abraham
3. Irrfan Khan
4. Aleksandr Dyachenko
5. Annu Kapoor
6. Naseeruddin Shah

and Vivan Shah.

a classic Bharadwaj with a touch of Ruskin Bond!! this is the story of a woman who chooses the wrong love-seven times!! the movie starts of with the death of Susanna and then travels back to her early life. the protagonist is a young boy whom Susanna saves from getting beat up – a boy who falls in love with her. “woh meri devi thi.. main unki pooja karta tha….” the movie is successful in showing us how because of Susanna’s disturbed childhood she tries over and over again to find love-but remains unsuccessful. for the first husband who took pleasure in beating everyone up and had a temper problem she wasn’t entirely sure what to do- but she instinctively kills him. from then on she slowly musters courage to murder each and every one of her husbands every time she has a problem with them. the second husband was a drug addict and was cheating on her. the third was too violent in bed, the fourth had another wife and the fifth she only married because he knew about the other murders and was blackmailing her into sleeping with him. the sixth one tried to kill her for her money and the seventh one is a mystery. i’m not going to spoil the movie for you by telling you who it is. but its a creepy tale ( as intended ) of 45 disastrous years of a women’s life. she tries everything out of depression caused by the sadness of her life. right from wooing the young boy who is in love with her to trying to commit suicide. a well executed tale which truly gives you the creeps!! and a surprise entry by Konkona Sen Sharma though she doesnt have to do much in the movie. Susanna’s faithful aids also play a comical role in the movie (by comical i mean creepily comical) as they help her to murder and get rid of each husband. towards the end they even start to enjoy it and they even tell one of the husbands how and why they killed all the husbands and they laugh about it as if they were amused by all their murders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLT-Nt-e_Vk

dhobi ghat

directed by :- Kiran Rao

produced by :- Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao

story by :- Kiran Rao

starring :- Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra

Dhobi Ghat is Aamir Khan’s wife- Kiran Rao’s directorial debut. and i have to say that she has lived up to the expectations that we have from a perfectionist’s wife. she is as creative and perfect as her husband. actually, a tad more creative than he is

dhobi ghat is a very interesting movie and it is about four people in Mumbai. they are as ordinary as you and me and it is the tale of the small things that happen in their lives which affect them in some way or the other. there is a painter who mostly keeps to himself, an investment banker from New York who comes to India to dabble in photography, a dhobi(laundry man) who aspires to be an actor and a newly wed bride.

as i said they have ordinary lives and the things that happen to them could happen to any one of us. in other words, they do not go through any uncommon situation. you just sit back and observe their lives and as the movie unfolds you begin to understand what the director is trying to potray.

i felt she was showing us the simplicity of life in Mumbai and how even those simple lives are so unique and interesting in their own way. it is a movie about love and life and the different people we meet and the things we experience and feel because of these people. every single person around us has a story, and if we listen we will know that every story is unique.

it is not a movie to feel, but a movie to understand. it is a simple movie and i do not understand why people claim that it is complicated and very heavy and you need to have patience to endure the movie and to understand it. it is very simple and each person can see something different in the movie.

(also known as mumbai diaries)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WdAS2-Czg4