Latest Bollywood Movie Reviews

One understands that the opposites attract each other.This has been happening ever since the first Adam ate the fruit offered by Eve.
So what's new about LAK?
It has two periods- 1990,2020.One pairing for each period.In both periods,what's the end? Unclear?
The lover boy in 1990 wears half sleeved bushirts.Is clean shaven.Is a medical course drop out.Way ward.Been a waiter in a hotel,until he has owned a ' mini bar' financed by a foreign investor.He has been changing partners .
The lass has been desiring that the boy follows her as a routine from her school days.Wears salwar- kameez,her longish hair are woven in the snaking paranda.They meet secretively in parks,abandoned ruins,train.Their ' affairs' have gone ' viral'in the neighbourhood.
The lass longs the boy to remain committed.Instead he's always changing his ' woh's'.
The relationship breaks.
In the second period the lover boy he has a bike.Wears jeans.Is unshaven.Caries a lap top ,but is' supposedly ' a software programmer.Longing for a commitment from the girl.But?
She's dreaming about a career..Has joy rides with the boy.Is fully liberated ,both in her attitude and behaviour. Prefers a ' performing partner ' in the bed.When responding to a query in an interview for a job,she unabashedly speaks about wearing an unbuttoned blouse as a ' strategy' to draw ' attention' .She thinks that her confidence level increases this way .Damn with what others ' pretend' to be ' lechrous'.
She lands up with a high-fi job.Her sips at a bar are routine.She is prepared to abuse her mother even.
' Oh maa,just chill,don't poke your nose in my affairs'.
What happens to the boy? Don't ask.
The few words repeatedly uttered by the lass of the next gen are distinctly audible are whatever,s..t,s.x and f... u.
To me ,LAK is a ' rare' flick which is direction less,all round OTT performances,irrelevant,the entire second is redundant.Not a single number is worth.The ' post climax' number is the nth version of the naagin number.
The media hype of the new gen pairing is a ' publicity stunt'.
Avoid.
Instead pay homage to the martyrs of Pulwama on the Valentine's Day and prepare for your boards.
In the post climax' number the viewer is posed a question- could 2+2 be greater than 5?( perhaps drawing inspiration from Do Aur Do Paanch Banadey).
Nah.
Infact the movie under review is much lower than 2+2 being 4 even( pun intended). less

It seems the next gen is care free,it has disengaged with family values and intends to lead an independent life style as ' malangs'.
One such footloose pairing of a boy and girl have met each other in Goa.They have been into partying,booze and drugs at rave parties in this city.Off course,they are only in a live in relationship and not married as yet.
The girl is pregnant.Not inclined to get the child aborted.
Another person( not to be revealed in this review) whose stigmatized by his friends as an impotent ,has by mistake entered the premises of this girl ,to prove his masculinity.
In the tussle,the girl gets killed? By whom?
Now revenge begins.
How things get sorted out ,is the rest of the story.
To this writer,the theme represents the changing values in the society,the drift of the youth into the zone of ecstacy ,freedom from peer pressure and leading a life as if there's no tommorow.
The cops believe that they can get away with encounter killings in settling scores.All this because of pressure on them to some how or the other to procure evidence during the remand period,which they are seldom to get.
The plot involves a series of killings.The mystery is whose behind them?
An ordinary viewer may not empathise with such malang time attitude.
What kind of offsprings would get born whose partners are on drugs?
It's not known how the malangs' finance their interests?
All the numbers are back grounders.How far they uift the narrative is difficult to fathom.
All in all,Malang doesn't seem to be easily understood with editing being backwards and forwards.
Could b given a miss despite highly being publicised. less

This film is about DRDO Scientist Akshay Kumar and his group of lady scientists planning and successfully launching a space vehicle to Mars. The protagonist played by Akshay is determined to see the project to completion and despite the obstacles he successfully does this. The 4 lady scientists and one senior citizen scientist have their personal problems to solve and initially they are not motivated enough, but leader Akshay motivates them to this project not as a 9 to 5 job but a national mission to be accomplished with zeal. One of the ladies Sonakshi Sinha is trying to get to NASA through Dilip Tahil who is sceptical of the success of Akshay's mission. Budget for the mission is a big issue and Akshay goes way out to request and beg for finance from the authorities. Vidya Balan,Tapsee Pannu , and Sonakshi Sinha put up spirited performances. The film makes for fairly interesting viewing and is worth a visit. It brings out that when ordinary people are motivated they get persistent and determined to achieve something against odds. Finally success does come to them.
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This is yet another biopic about an underdog overcoming all obstacles through sheer tenacity of will to finally achieve success in the teaching profession. So we begin with young man Anand Kumar ( Hrithik ) the son of an economically backword family in Patna. Anand has a passion for solving mathematics problems and this takes him to the University library to study the latest journals. He is caught by the attendant (since he is not a student) who tells him to send the solution to Cambridge University, and if they accept his work, he will get a lifetime supply of the journal.
Fortunately for Anand, not only only does the University like his work, they offer him admission to the undergraduate course. Anand is ecstatic but his father ( A postmaster ) is not able to arrange funds inspite of all his efforts. Heartbroken and hugely disappointed Anand gets down to his humdrum life of selling papads in hinterland Bihar. There he is " "discovered" by an owner of a coaching Institute ( read teaching shop ) who sees an opportunity to use Hrithik's talent to make money. Some developments take place and Anand is sucked into the vortex of money earning through teaching forgetting about the economically backward students. Later he realises his folly, and gets down to the task of coaching his poor students with excellent results.
The film is worth seeing for the first class acting of Hrithik as the simpleton. The make up to give him a dark complexion is a little jarring to the eye but the interesting narrative makes up for it. On the whole a good film. less

JJ is a presentation with two ' twists' in one go.What? Read below.
There's a well settled PIO family from Punjab whose main business is of estate brokerage in London.One of the sons Dimpy( Kumud Mishra) is the busy guy,the other ,Jazz( Saif Ali Khan) is a jugadu,staying alone and a womaniser.For him marriage and family responsibilities at a ' no no'.He's a boozer,a one night stand walls with partners ' eyed' from night clubs.
Each such indulgence is ' raat gaai,baat gayi'.
In one such case,his eyes fall on a pretty gal,whose in her 20s.
The gal willingly follows the Casanova.But why?
She has a ' hunch' that this person could be his dad who has ditched her unwed mother.
Her hunch turns out to be true.
What more?
That the daughter herself is impregnated by her boy friend.
These ' twists' changes the persona and outlook of the paapa- naana.
He becomes more caring,responsible and accepts his own fling with Ananya( Tabu,as the unwed mother of Tia,his daughter,played with confidence and sensitivity by the debutant Alaya Furniturewala) and his daughter's even at the cost of loosing a high brokerage from a settled deal.
Moral of the story - one shouldn't be judgemental in relationships that are consented and that family provided love,care and legitimacy.
It's difficult to say whether such a plot could have been acceptable in the Indian setting?
By now Tanishk Bagchi has become the master composer of rehashed numbers.
Just a single night club scene ( where the story takes a turn) would have sufficed.
To me the title itself has to do nothing with the narrative.
Go for JJ with an open mind,shedding all societal and finger pointing stigma's . less

Remo D'Souza's ' dance drama' is'nt in 3D format,though it's about two warring street dancing groups ( of Indian and Pakistani immigrants) based in London.
The former is led by Sahej( Vatun Dhawan) and the latter by Inayat( Shraddha Kapoor).The ' cold war' between the two takes place partly because of attitudes/ego and partly because of the ' animosity' between the two nations in real life.
A big prize money dancing competition is announced .The local British team engineers defections from the immigrants to some how win the big prize.
An intermediary,Anna( Prabhu Deva,running a restaurant and a ' silent dancer' himself) advices the immigrants to unite and challenge the British.The advice is heeded and the title won.
Mission accomplished.
What appeals? All the dance numbers are well choreographed,put into execution and keep the viewers engaged.The unity shown between the two immigrant factions could b replicated in the arts and culture field in real life as well. Illegal immigrants should'nt fall in the 'trap' that the grass on the other side is greener than at home
.Dancing at a professional level has rich dividends a la sports.
What could be better? Presentation in the 3D format would have had more visual impact .Rehash of old numbers is thought to be an easy route to success at the box office.But is it so?
All in all,SD 3D may appeal to the younger lot who shake and live on pop.
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There is something straight about sequels. The original is always better than the first sequel and the first sequel is better than the second sequel. Dabang 3 is a thoroughly diluted version of the original. Salman is older and it shows. There is no Vinod Khanna and he is missed. So also Dimple Kapadia as the loving mom. The scenes and dialogues are rehashed and recycled versions of the original. Even the cameos of brothers Arbaaz and Sohail don't help in any way. What is left is the desperate effort of Salman to come up to the benchmark set earlier. Even his constables do not create any impression.
So what is there to write about. We have a new heroine ( as a part of a prequel) to bring up Chulbul Pandey's past. But then Salman takes over the job of pleasing his fans by doing things they love . So the the goggle is hurled up to position itself behind his shirt collar, you have badnaam munna instead of munni, and the belt is moved on the trouser etc etc. We have seen similar stuff in the original.
No doubt die hard fans of Salman will lap it up in glee and the producers will laugh all the way to the bank. Nothing special in this film but then one viewing of a Salman film by all is the order of the day. less

This film is no doubt high on action, special effects and heavy dialogue but painfully slow in unfolding of the narrative, and the supporting cast is unimpressive. In addition I found the story line confusing.If you are fond of spectacular action augmented with 3D then this is the film to see. It would help if you like historical films, because in that case you would be swept away by the wide canvas of the film, and the larger than life characters. But something is missing inspite of the determination of Ajay Devgn's title character. I think the benchmark set by Ranveer- Deepika- Priyanka in a previous film is far too awesome and it is not easy to surpass. And as far as direction is concerned director Om Raut is positively no patch on Bansali the wizard. The film drags consistently throughout and is definitely boring at places. Kajol and Sharad Kelkar are a huge disappointment. Kajol just fails to bring out the pathos of the character. Kelkar's Shivaji maharaj suffers due to weak characterization and indifferent direction. A silver lining and a redeeming feature is Saif Ali as the quirky and scheming subedar. He excels with his amusing mannerisms and provides the much needed relief. less

With Panga,Ashwini Iyer Tiwari,scores a hat trick in soulful,inspiring and sensitive presentation.
In all three( the ordinary woman in in the lead role,has a desire to attain a goal at the cost of sacrifice,social and economic barriers).
In Nil Buttey Sannata it was to educate her daughter despite the mother being an illiterate maid.
In Bareilly Ki Barfi ,it was letting the daughter choose her partner despite patriarchal obstacles.
Her it's a mid gen working mother wih a school going child to make a come back in Kabbadi.
Does she succeed?
The positives : 1.Where their's a will,forces -within and without - combine to enable one hit the bull's eye.In Saand Ki Aankh it was shooting.2- Ghar Ka Khaana is the best.3- The Iranian women's team sporting hijab is in tune with their faith.4-Kangana's casting is perfect .5-The climax is a photo finish to build the tempo- she enables her team to win a championship in the last thirty second 'raid' despite being held back as a ' non participating player ' throughout the Asian's.
The negatives-1-It's the women folk themselves who seem to be the spoiler's( the lead roles mother,the coach and the captain in the championship).2-To allow cell phone at any stage of training is a distraction for the sportsmen.3- To me ,the seven year child artist's IQ and behaviour was much above the child of his age.
All in all,the son( Tu),the supportive husband ( Main) and Kabbadi( the target) sum up the essence of the movie in first person.
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Hindi Movie plots nowadays pick up topical issues which were considered taboo earlier .This movie speaks about one aspect of the phenomenon of body shaming, that is male pattern baldness . A little  bit of trivia related to this film is that 3 films including this one were made simultaneously with the same plot and hence the other two couldn't do well. Many young people will be able to identify themselves with the embarrassment faced by Ayushmann in the film as he starts getting bald as a young man after a perfectly happy childhood and teenage years.The rejection he faces in social life and the workplace because of being bald has been brought out by the director very effectively. Ayushmann has proved to be a pioneer in the portrayal of persons of some type of social disability. Not just satisfied with tackling the issue of male pattern baldness, the director also deals with the issue of dark skin of the female character ( Bhumi Pednekar). Incidentally a jarring aspect is Bhumi's makeup  as a dark person as it appears artificial.
A fairly well made film which makes a point through entertainment that one needs to be happy and satisfied with one's body as it is. Direction by Amar Kaushik is impressive as he goes about showing the trauma faced by the hero and the difficulties faced by him in getting accepted by society with this so called disability. The actors Ayushmann,  Bhumi and Yami  have performed well.  less

We have had a number of movies where the patriarch is against the relationships between their off springs for reasons of faith ,caste,economic status etc.
Here it's the matriarch on both sides who are the antagonist.
Why? Not known though.
The neighbouring moms ( Pinky Bhalla and Lalli Khanna) are domineering and reject the relationship of their daughter ( Saanjh) and son ( Puneet) respectively.
As predictable ,the hiccups are sorted out in the climax.
How? Go view for yourself.
Veterans - Poonam Dhillon and Supriya Pathak Kapoor play the warring moms while Sonnalli Seygal and Sunny Singh the lovers.
Though low budgeted,JMD is over streched ,forced and irrelevant .Songs only act as the fillers ,with nothing to do with the ' thin plot'.
Could have been better had it been made in Punjabi.
Make your own choice. less

Timely, topical and traumatic to watch, this movie makes a serious analysis of the agony of an acid attack victim. It is based on a real case of Laxmi Agarwal. Megha Gulzar deserves all credit for having the courage of conviction to take up this subject which had hit headlines some time earlier. Not to be left behind in this project is Deepika Padukone who delivers a rock solid superlative performance as the the physically and mentally agonized girl. No doubt the acting which should fetch her a national award. These two highly talented women have brought to life a heart wrenching story, which will keep the viewer riveted. There are some scenes which will move you to tears if not give you a lump in the throat. The film avoids all trappings of a melodrama as it unfolds the story in a simplistic manner. Even the courtroom scenes are kept at a realistic level. Vikrant Massey as the NGO boss gives solid support with his restrained and underplayed acting. The reaction of the media persons are also shown realistically. An impressive feature of the film is the music .The lyrics have a soulful quality and Gulzar's work is commendable. The songs are well knitted into the film and enhance the emotions. These songs will stay with you long after you have leave the theater. The title track is indeed haunting and a brilliant combination of music plus lyrics plus picturisation.
Certain aspects of the film standout. While it is a woman who throws acid on Deepika, there are other two women who go out of the way to help her, one her lawyer and the other her father's employer. There are other subtle directorial touches which leave an impression.
The film is a huge change from the crop of no brainers which are presently collecting crores in theaters. It will not be as commercially successful as those films, and this was obviously known to both Meghna and Deepika. Nevertheless a brave and an impressive effort. less