Latest Bollywood Movie Reviews

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

An action packed thriller, Mardaani 2 gave a much needed relief with a meaningful cinema to the box office, that had been crowded by some reckless movies off late(Pagalpanti, Motichoor Chaknachoor and so on).

Rani Mukherjee as SP Shivani, picks up from where she left in the original and silked into her character effortlessly. She is energetic throughout that keeps the pace of the movie intact. Her nemesis this time is a contract killer named Sunny played neatly by Vishal Jethwa. He started shakily in the first half, but, got under the character's skin and matched her step to step in the second.

Director Gopi Puthran picked up an impactful story and created a fast paced script but it's the direction that lacked the grip invariably and ended up with somewhat a weaker climax. Movie went off the plot occassionally and that deviated the intensity. Perhaps he should have taken note from the remarkable series, Delhi Crime, based on rape and nabbing the culprits whereas Rani too should have taken blueprint from the unforgettable performance of Shefali Shah, as the cop in charge, to bring more depth to her portrayal.

Nevertheless movie has ample pace to keep you interested and proves to be a healthy one time watch....the original though is still incomparable.

My Rating: 3.5/5 less

The Good Newwz about mankind is that God has bestowed woman the gift of motherhood.
All married couples long for being parents at the earliest. But do all succeed? If not,what's the way out?
Here ( for the first time) the focus is on parenthood through IVF.
It could partly b inspired by the route taken by some celebrities ,partly because in the present set ups with stressful lives,some couples may have medical and psychogical problems in not going for the traditional route. ,the easy accessibility of IVF centres mushrooming all over,the working couples may b staying apart etc.
In the movie under review two couples with the same surnames are undergoing parenthood through IVF.
It so happens that because of the similar surnames the clinic personnel have mixed up the samples.The women are carrying the child of the other husband's.
Should they continue with the surrogacy? Should they abort?Should they seek legal redressal against the clinic?
At least both the surrogates and one of the two husband's have reconciled to go through it.The other husband was never inclined to raise a family and is against the continuance of the what has happened.Jn simple words ,he's for an abortion.
What ultimately happens? Go see for your selves.
To me ,a sensitive subject should have been handled in a calmer and sensitive manner instead of a loose ' comic ' approach.
The choice of abortion should always b with the mother.
It's surprising that Akshay Kumar's character is throughout indifferent and negative till the near end.
Double meaning ' humour' could have been avoided .
The compositions are forced and have been inserted to streach the length.
Daljit Dosanj has certainly outperformed Akshay.
To me the subject could have been handled much better by a woman director like Meghna Gulzar/ Gauri Shinde.
Am not sure about the box office success of GN.Why? Because it could be taken note of the urban moder elite segment only.
All in all an untouched subject has been focussed upon is apprecitiable. less

What a movie yaar mast hae bhai sid ka ye is time ka sabse mast picture songs ke baat na kare to acha he aur back ground music b bahut acha tha dil khus kar deaa. Tara ki baat to algh hae unka style unke acting bahut hi hard hae aur Rakul ka itna bada seen to nahi tha fhir bhi bahut ache se apna kaam Kiya aur Ritesh is a great actor who plays every character very smoothly and carefully her acting is jhakas mera to 10 se 9 aur apka...??!!?? less

Outstanding performance by the vicky kaushal

Such a relatable story it is

And vicky acting is marvelous .

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There are good movies, there are bad movies, and then there is Thugs Of Hindostan. The movie with a cast including Amir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, one would expect this to be the movie of the year. But that is not the case.

The movie doesn’t have much on its story line. A British Official brutally takes over a small kingdom in India, a few years later the surviving princess and her caretaker are now leading a group of bandits who pose as a challenge to Britiain’s forces. Thereafter comes Aamir Khan as a man named firangi who is constantly changing sides. less