Category: Movie Reviews

Mary Kom | Movie Review

Mary Kom

Mary Kom is an Indian boxing legend, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. But was it necessary to make a biographical movie on her, this I am not sure of. At least, the movie didn’t convey the necessity thanks to its feeble script.

Directed by newbie Omung Kumar, Mary Kom is a straight forward story of the boxers life. While it puts across Mary’s career in a crisp manner, what it really doesn’t show are the challenged she might have come across in reality. A film like Rocky works because of challenges, and unfortunately in the movie, there was not a real challenge until the climax. I’m sure Mary had to face many more challenges and push backs in her life to become what she is today. The movie puts across a couple, but these didn’t really make an impact for they seemed very contrived. Add to this a snail paced screenplay by Saiwyn Quadras, and the impact you’ve wanted to create is gone. Nevertheless, direction by Omung is pretty neat.

Priyanka might not look like Mary Kom, but surely brings across the boxers life in a convincing manner. She has put a lot of effort into the movie and it shows on the screen. However, it would have been nice if she’d avoided make-up and looked more natural. Darshan Kumar comes up with a commendable performance as Mary’s husband, and Sunil Thapa is pretty good as her coach. The rest of the cast is alright.

Music and background score are pretty good, and a couple of tunes are catchy. Editing by Rajesh Pandey and Sanjay Leela Bhansali is decent. Cinematography by Keiko Nakahara is of top-notch quality and deserves a special mention.

Is it worth your time and money??: But for highlighting Mary Kom’s life, the movie as such doesn’t achieve anything else and that’s where the problem lies. While Priyanka puts up a mighty performance, Wikipedia probably gives a better insight into Mary’s life than the movie does. Bottom line, Mary Kom definitely isn’t a must watch of the season, but it isn’t a bad watch either.

Worth mention: Priyanka’s performance in the climax and the cinematography.

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 6/10
Technical Aspects: 8.5/10

Verdict: 7/10

Rabhasa | Movie Review

Rabhasa

What happens when you pick up story lines from a bunch of movies and make a pot-pourri? You get a boring Rabhasa!

I never got to watch Santosh Srinivas’s first film Kandireega. By the looks of it, it must have been a better film for he actually got chance to direct another with the same producer. The problem actually is not with the director, but the script. Rabhasa offers nothing new: a young man fighting not for his love, but for his family. The only twist here is that he’s fighting for some stranger’s family reunion. To add value Santosh tried to twist the screenplay, but that doesn’t work well. Add to that innumerable number of uncanny fights, and there you go, another boring film aimed only for the masses. While direction is good in parts, it’s mediocre for most of the film.

NTR, who finally gets a release after a long time, is perfect to play the lead. But the problem is that you’ve already seen him play similar character in the past. So it’s a cake walk for him, but his choice of doing same roles baffles me. While he looks slim and fit in few scenes, he needs to lose weight (again). Samantha has a full fetched role and she’s alright (but for in few scenes). She looked really glamorous. Pranitha has a small role to play and doesn’t make an impact. I was surprised by the number of negative characters in the movie. While everyone starts off strong, they all end up being pussies with no one making an impact. Bramhanadam entertains in the second half, but again it’s the same old bakra character.

Music by Thaman is, as my cousin puts it, same-to-same. But for ‘Rakasi Rakasi’, you’ve heard every other tune in the past (just like you’ve watched most scenes of this film somewhere). Editing by Venkateswara Rao is alright. Cinematography by Shyam Naidu is pretty good. However, the graphics could have been better. You expect good dances in an NTR movie, but there was nothing on offer.

Is it worth your time and money??: Unless you are a fan, you can probably give this one a miss – not because it’s a bad film, but since you’ve already seen most of this in the past. NTR is a definite asset to the film, but I am not sure if people want to see him play the same roles again and again.

Worth mention: Cinematography. And to an extent, Bramhanadam’s episodes.

Acting: 7.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 5/10
Technical Aspects: 7/10

Verdict: 6/10

Mardaani | Movie Review

Mardaani

Rani Mukerji is definitely one of the best actors of this age and has enough talent to carry a movie on her shoulders. However, even she can’t do much when the script is meek and too predictable.

After four years of hiatus, director Pradeep Sarkar is back with another female oriented movie. Parineeta was a path breaking debut for both Vidya and Pradeep. While Vidya proved her mettle with every film thereafter, he failed to make an impact. And now, he’s back with his fourth feature Mardaani which has its heart at the right place, but unfortunately lacks the punch.

Inspector Shivani (Rani) plays a blatant crime branch cop trying to nab a child sex trafficking racket in this two-hour crime drama. While Rani does justice to her role, the circumstances in which she does them seem too contrived. Emotions seem muted, therefore episodes which are supposed to make your tummy churn seem like run of the mill stuff. And though the scenes between Rani and her antagonist are well conceived, it all results in a boring climax face off. While screenplay is pretty decent, the direction is pretty mediocre.

If it weren’t for Rani, a movie like this would/could have gone totally unnoticed. While she brings charm and adds flare to the film, the weak script fails her. However, she needs to be commended for her effort. Tahir Bhasin  is very good as her counterpart and has a bright future. The rest of the cast is alright.

Music and background score by Salim-Sulaiman is pretty decent. Editing by Sanjib Dutta is neat and cinematography by Artur Zurawski is very good.

Is it worth your time and money??: It’s not a bad film, no. Nevertheless it could have been so much better. But for Rani, there is nothing special the movie has to offer. Watch it only for her. 

Worth mention: Rani all the way!

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 6/10
Technical Aspects: 8/10

Verdict: 6.5/10

Run Raja Run | Movie Review

run-raja-run

I never imagined a day where I’d buy ticket in black to watch Sharwanand’s movie. I don’t think even he would have dreamt of this day (let’s be honest) where he would come across Housefull boards all over. But, here it is…

Having enjoyed a couple of Sujeeth’s short films in the past, I was eager to watch this film. Run Raja Run tells the story of Raja, a happy-go-lucky dumb guy who falls in love with police commissioner’s daughter. Add to this a parallel story of major kidnaps happening in the city. Instead of making a pure comic thriller in a subtle manner, Sujeeth chose to add all the regular masala required for a Telugu commercial film. While this hampers the pace of the film on most occasions (unnecessary songs, comedy tracks), he stills manages to hold the film together. The first half was pure fun and thoroughly enjoyable. However, the second half could have been handled better. The fierce commissioner turns out to be a joker in the latter half thanks to some uncanny characterization, and this to be a major flaw of the movie. That apart, the direction is pretty neat in general. The screenplay though could have been better, especially towards the climax.

Sharwanand is very good in the lead role. You needed someone who could ooze out innocence for this role, and he happened to be the perfect fit. His comic timing turned out to be bang on. Seerath Kapoor is cute as the leading lady. Sampath Raj had an important role to play and he does justice to an extent (but for the latter half where he loses it because of the characterization). Adivi Sesh is decent, while rest of the cast is alright. Vidyullekha Raman was trying too hard to ape Urvashi.

Music by Ghibran is alright. While a couple of songs are hummable, most of them act like speed-breakers to the film’s pace. Editing by Madhu is neat while cinematography by Madhi is of top-notch quality. The entire film is very colorful and has a jolly feel to it.

Is it worth your time and money??: While it could have been better, Run Raja Run is still a good film. After Oohalu Gusagusalade, it’s another must watch small film.

Worth mention: The first kidnap, and most of the dialogues.

Acting: 8/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 7.5/10
Technical Aspects: 8/10

Verdict: 7.5/10

Drishyam | Movie Review

Drishyam

Drishyam has garnered quite a bit of positive buzz within days of its release. A remake of Malayalam version with the same title, this one is a good film, yes, but definitely not a good thriller.

Scripted by Jeethu Joseph (director of the original), Drishyam tells a story of an ordinary middle class family who get pulled into unanticipated circumstances thanks to a guest (film term). Before I delve into rest of the details, here’s some trivia.

Immediately after watching the movie, I came home to watch the original. And to my surprise, the Telugu version happens to be a scene to scene rip off of the Malayalam version. Except for a few edits, everything including most of the character names, dates, dialogues, and even the camera angles happen to be the same. There was absolutely no change in terms of the screenplay either. Unfortunately though, the subtlety of the original was far left behind.

Back to the review now. Debutant director Sripriya had no role to play as most of the cast happened to be senior actors, and could replay the original to the ‘T’. At no point was her ability showcased with respect to direction or screenplay. As already mentioned, the subtlety was lost in translation, especially in the first half hour where the characters were established. Everything seemed loud and artificial. Talking about the screenplay, while it was decent, I wasn’t really impressed by it. And it definitely didn’t belong to thriller genre. When most of the story is revealed immediately after the scene’s occurrence, I don’t think that can be called a thriller. Yes, it had some (very little I say) suspense associated with it, but no, it wasn’t edge of the seat stuff. Oh, add unconvincing, and at times pretty slow as well.

Venkatesh did a commendable job as the lead, and it was more or less a tailor-made role for him. It would have been nice if he had let go of his cheekiness in the first half hour though. That apart, he had to downplay for most of the film, and he does a commendable job. It was a cakewalk for Meena, having played the role in the original. She was good, but again could have reduced the makeup (she looked so much better in the original sans makeup). Krutika is pretty good as the elder daughter, and Baby Esther was good in the role she essayed in Malayalam. Nadira was decent as the ruthless cop, while Naresh came up with a good performance. The rest of the cast is alright.

Music by Sharreth, borrowed from the original is alright. Editing by Marthand Venkatesh and cinematographer by Gopal Reddy were both decent. However, I’m disappointed that neither had anything special to add to the movie.

Is it worth your time and money??: It’s a good movie and an entertainer. But to call it the best of the lot thriller would be injustice to the genre (Go watch Anveshana (1985), that’s a thriller). Give it a watch without expectations and I’m guessing you won’t be disappointed.

Worth mention: Hero Venkatesh downplaying for most of the movie.

Acting: 8/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 7/10
Technical Aspects: 7.5/10

Verdict: 7.5/10

After watching both the versions, I have a different take on the movie. Spoiler alert, so only people who have watched the movie are advised to read on.

Instead of revealing the fact that IG’s son had shot a video of George Kutty’s/Venky’s daughter and him being murdered in the first half, I would have preferred if it was kept under wraps till the end of the movie. The family could have travelled to Vizianagaram, gone to the temple, come back, and the entire storyline of them being arrested and tortured could have been showcased without giving away the plot. In this case, you are more connected to the family for you as audience don’t know that they have committed the crime as well. Entire suspense could have been revealed in about 10 minutes in the last shot where Venky meets the IG couple. Voila, you now have a thriller! 

Should I be directing movies?? 😛

Oohalu Gusagusalade | Movie Review

Oohalu Gusagusalaade

Oohalu Gusagusalade happens to be one of the surprise hits of the year, and it is not without a reason. Well canned with a simple storyline, this movie is surely refreshing!

Scripted and directed by Srinivas Avasarala, the story revolves around a shy guy taking the help of his friend to woo his girl, little knowing that the friend loved the girl in the past. It’s an old story, yes, but Srini presented it in a very refreshing way. With relatively new cast, Srini excels in directing the first half. While he does pretty good in the latter half as well, I thought he failed to invoke emotions. The lead letting go of his love so easily, with a smiling face was lamentable. But now that I think of it, it might have been intentional to avoid the regular emotional scenes and show everything on a lighter note. Screenplay is very effective as well.

Shourya comes up with an exceptional performance as the guy caught up between love and family. He has ease to his acting, and is way better than any than the other breed of so-called actors. Rashi Khanna is really cute and puts up a fine performance. I’ve always liked Srinivas Avasarala’s style of acting and he doesn’t disappoint. Every cast member comes up with notable performances.

Music by Kalyani Koduri is pretty decent. While songs break the flow at a couple of instances, the tunes are really peppy. Stand out is “Em Sandeham Ledu”. Editing by Kiran Ganti is decent, and so is the cinematography by Venkat Dileep.

Is it worth your time and money??: Definitely yes. It’s a refreshing film with some fine performances. Though it lacked emotions, the flow of the film is great. A film not to be missed this season.

Worth mention: The cute little love story in the first half, and the climax scene.

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 8.5/10
Technical Aspects: 7.5/10

Verdict: 8.5/10

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania | Movie Review

Humpty-Sharma-Ki-Dulhania

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge released 19 years ago, and 16 years since the release of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. They were good movies, alright, but I really don’t think they are classics in any sense. Dharma movies seems to think otherwise.

Scripted and directed by Shashank Khaitan, the movie kicks off with our engaged heroine, Kavya flirting around with the hero, Humpty. Soon, as expected, they fall in love, and the rest of the story is about how our beloved Humpty convinces Kavya’s dad about their love. Sounds familiar na? While Shashank’s take on the story is pretty good, it is too predictable, and you start to wonder if you actually paid money to watch a rerun of a bunch of films. The first half is well executed, and then he loses it. Direction isn’t great and the screenplay is absolutely shoddy. And the climax was too filmy even to be featured in a film!

On acting front, Varun shines big time. He’s got a lot of energy and this is apparent on-screen. Alia on the other hand surprises me. While she was pretty good in 2 States, it looked like she refused to act in this film. She has the same expression for most of the movie. She’s got the looks and the nakhras, but no, she doesn’t act. Ashutosh Rana is pretty good as Alia’s dad. He can actually groom himself to be the next Amrish Puri. Siddharth Shukla is alright. Humpty’s side kicks Gaurav Pandey and Sahil Vaid are really good.

Music by Sachin – Jigar and Toshi Sabri is more or less mediocre. The only songs I liked were “Samjhawan” and “Daingad Daingad”. But for in the climax, editing by Manan Sagar was alright. Cinematography by Neha Parti Matiyani was very good.

Is it worth your time and money??: It’s a timepass movie. But honestly, you can give it a skip unless you have nothing better to do. The only plus point is Varun, nothing more.

Worth mention: The gay episode in the second half was hilarious.

Acting: 7.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 5/10
Technical Aspects: 7/10

Verdict: 6.5/10

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes | Movie Review

Dawn-of-the-Planet-of-the-Apes

In my opinion, Rise of the Planet of the Apes wasn’t a great film. While I enjoyed a couple of episodes, I was left wanting for more. The more is delivered by the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but…

A little into the near future, when civilization has almost gone extinct because of a virus, Caesar, our beloved ape, leads a new generation of intelligent apes. They soon realize that a bunch of humans with tons of artillery exist in nearby lands and need to access the forests to fix their power source. While most apes do not trust humans, Caesar does, and allows humans into their lands. The rest of the story is about whether his trust is reciprocated. Scripted by Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, the movie has better storyline than its predecessor. There is much substance and better emotions. While direction by Matt Reeves is almost perfect, my only problem was with the pace of the film. Understood that the director was trying to convey emotions and make a point, but I was kinda perturbed with its snail pace. There were times it felt more like drama than an action film. I also quite didn’t understand the human storyline much.

On acting front, Andy Serkis is absolutely brilliant as Caesar. Though it is performance capture, you can actually see his face on-screen. He actually outruns his own performance as Gollum in the LOTR series with this one. Toby Kebbell also comes up with an excellent act as Koba. Jason Clarke is decent as Malcolm, while Gary Oldman is pretty good in his brief appearance.

Music and background score by Michael Giacchino is way better than the predecessor film. Cinematography by Michael Seresin is a definite asset. Editing by William Hoy is decent. While the 3D effects aren’t worth a mention, the visual effects were very good.

Is it worth your time and money??: But for its snail pace, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ain’t a bad film. If that doesn’t bother you much, give it a watch for Andy Serkis and the visual effects.

Worth mention: The climax fight. It was quite spectacular.

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 6.5/10
Technical Aspects: 7.5/10

Verdict: 7.5/10

Bobby Jasoos | Movie Review

Bobby Jasoos

After The Dirty Picture and Kahaani, every movie of Vidya Balan releases with great expectations. While Bobby Jasoos isn’t as pompous or intense as the former two, it is definitely worth your buck!

Bobby is a beloved girl from a Muslim family of our Old City in Hyderabad, who considers herself to be a great detective. While solving a couple of petty cases in her neighborhood, she is called upon by a mysterious man paying big money, to find a couple of missing people. The rest of the story is about who the mysterious man is and whom does he want to be found. Scripted and directed by debutant Samar Shaikh, the story is kept simple and never gets too complicated. Showcasing the nativity of Hyderabad to the maximum, Samar brings out beautiful emotions from all his cast members. Direction is very neat, while the screenplay could have been little better. And ya, there is no real jasoosi in the move but for in the title, a disappointment.

Vidya owns the film big time and looks absolutely gorgeous. With this film, she once again proves that you don’t have to shed your clothes or have a perfect figure to look beautiful. Her expressions and smile in few episodes are priceless. Ali Zafar is great as the male protagonist. He had to downplay quite a bit to let Vidya take center stage, and he does it with ease. Arjan Bajwa is pretty good, while Supriya Pathak and the rest of Bobby’s family are perfect. The guy who played the role of Shetty, Prasad Barve, deserves a mention.

Music and background score by Shantanu Moitra are pretty good. While the first song was welcoming, the song in the second half was more like a speedbreaker to the film’s pace. Editing by Hemal Kothari is neat, and so is the screenplay by Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh. However, I felt that he could have captured more of Old City grandeur. Samar Sheik also deserves a mention for the dialogues in Hyderabadi slang.

Is it worth your time and money??: Yes. You might have already heard this before on various occasions – go watch the film for an amazing performance by one of the best actors in recent times, Vidya Balan! It’s no great film, but still enjoyable.

Worth mention: The entire episode before and after Ali Zafar talking to his abba jaan, and the message in the climax.

Acting: 8.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 7/10
Technical Aspects: 8/10

Verdict: 7.5/10

Autonagar Surya | Movie Review

AutoNagarSurya

I believe any movie needs a strong plot. Even if isn’t conveyed on-screen, the director should know his script. Unfortunately, Deva Katta has no clue on what he wants to convey, and so Autonagar Surya is close to a disaster.

Set in the 1990’s, Surya is our rebellious orphan living in a union run colony controlled by mafia. Like any other movie, our hero fights the goons from the word go, so much to an extent that he lands up in jail for murder at an age of 16. The rest of the movie is all about him fighting more goons and murdering more people, this time without being arrested. Looks like Deva Katta was very inspired by Hrithik Roshan starrer, Agneepath. I initially didn’t get why he chose to showcase the story in the 1990’s, but later realized that if he portrayed such violence and atrocities in the current age, people would laugh at him. Dev Katta got so confused that he had no clue on what to do towards the end, resulting in one of the quickest climax in recent times. But for the dialogues, the direction and screenplay are pretty weak.

Did I say Naga Chaitanya improved as an actor in Manam review? I would take that back but for the fact that this movie was shot much before Manam. He is absolutely pathetic. Just like Ram Charan in Racha, he tries to imitate his dad and fails miserably. Any B-grade actor would have probably performed better. Samantha looks cute but is as good as a doll. There is a huge cast, most of them come up with average performances. Most disappointing was the characterization of Sai Kumar for he is totally wasted in a purposeless role.

Music by Anoop Rubens is mediocre with songs popping in between for no reason. Cinematography by Srikant Naroj is average while editing by Goutham Raju is pathetic. The film is unnecessarily long with a number of scenes which make no sense. Visual effects by my childhood buddy Asif Bhushan are neat.

Is it worth your time and money??: I don’t think so. Give it a month’s time and it’ll be playing on your television. It’s a different discussion as to whether it’s worth watching it on TV as well. 

Worth mention: A couple of powerful dialogues being uttered by one of the most untalented actor in recent times.

Acting: 5.5/10
Story-Screenplay-Direction: 5/10
Technical Aspects: 5.5/10

Verdict: 5.5/10