Dilwale (2015) - Movie Review

     With all the base in his voice, he holds her tightly by her arms, quite man-handling her to make her calm, he says, "Mere aankhon mein dekho Meera, tumhe sach pata chal jayega."

Now that's what we want when we see Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol doing an emotional romantic scene.

Dilwale gives you almost 100s of them.

Alright..Alright... much more than 100s of them. Okay?

It must be happening this way -

- Rohit Shetty starts his film with Casting Cars - 10 Lamborghinis, a couple of Hummers, Some Ferraris, Mustangs, a couple of cars designed by Dilip Chhabria (DC) and then Audis, BMWs, Mercs, and so on for the crowd in the background.
- Then Mr. Shetty goes to the Govt. of Goa and buys permissions to shoot in almost all nooks and corners of Goa.
- After that he must be getting some invitations of Ramoji Film City to use its London Lane.
- Once that is done he hires Choreographers and Action directors to handle the 40-40% of the film respectively, and then manages to pull of whatever is left of the film after the 2nd Unit director, Associate Director and In-Frame marketing sequences do their part of jobs.

Result of all this -

- Rohit Shetty gets to do all the car stunts by himself.
- He gives you a perfect Entertainer.
- He has everything that is sellable and ever sold over the years in any damn bollywood mainstream film ever made.
- He gets the best promotional cuts coz the whole film is made with a view that any damn part of the film, if by chance gets leaked, would also look like a promotional clip.
- He gives us all the reasons to keep all our stresses aside and just let ourselves enjoy every bit of entertainment that he has stuffed all the way in the film.

What happened here -

- Here he casted SRK yet again. SRK though he plays Raj in this film, SRK is here to play SRK himself. He is in the film to do that, doing what he became the KING KHAN. And to hell with all the ethics of Film-making and film language - I Enjoyed every single bit of it.

- Moreover, he had Kajol opposite SRK. SRK-Kajol are arguably the best ever screen-couple bollywood ever had. And after so many years we have them back on screen. The kids of 90s who were their fans couldn't ask for more. Shetty has done the complete justice to this couple.

Especially in the One-shot sequence of "5-minute Date", and songs - Gerua and Janam Janam.

They capture your attention and you just don't want them to stop playing the hit-jodi.

- Apart from that he has two youngstars - Kriti and Varun. So the kids of 2000s who do not know the magic of SRK and Kajol, but think that these youngstars are magical would also come to the screens to watch them.

- And with everything already served in the most entertaining dish, he has his own set of most talented force of sweet dishes - Johnny Lever, Boman Irani, Sanjay Misra, Pankaj Tripathi, Mukesh Tiwari, Vinod Khanna and Kabir Bedi... for their incomparable timing of humour and dialogue delivery.

The film is a treat to the eyes with uncompromising production design and VFX.

Finally,
I loved this film more than Bombay Velvet (NO comparison in the quality of cinema, but I am taking about the expectations part of it)...because, there, When you go to see a Kashyap film, you get something else, but here, YOU get EXACTLY what you go in for.
Here, you get what you expect from Rohit Shetty and he delivers it with his head all high.

Staying true to the genre and without getting into any correct or incorrect part of criticism -

My Verdict : 8/10.

P.S. -

I would make a film like this atleast once in my lifetime. Not this Dilwale type of film... but a film where in I would think like Rohit Shetty.

Casting Ranbir Kapoor for playing a hardcore Artist,
Casting Boman to play a character totally undefined on paper (Coz only Boman Irani can define what is undefined for anyone through his acting.)
Casting Farhan just so that I can use his voice,
Casting Hritik so that I can use a song so charismatic that it would be an epic dance number.
Casting Shahid Kapoor so he plays that monologue of Haider again.
Bringing in all the vehicles I dream of boasting in front of my Mansion as the owner,
Taking all kind of shots I imagine every time I write a script for cinema.
Make a film where in any person involved is involved because he has to give out what he is best at. Including Myself.
A film where the Maker of the film would be the Hero of the project.

Rohit Shetty - Respect!

Tamasha

     "Voi Kahani Fir ek baar, Majnu ne diye Kapde phaad....maar Tamasha beech bazaar" and with the tag line of  - why the same old story every time? - Tamasha's trailer hooked me instantly.

     Being a Ranbir Kapoor's super fan and the guy who adores Imtiaz Ali's films like my ideal Romantic Genre films, the colourful trailer was a confirmation that there isn't going to be any disappointment.

And there ISN'T.

     Tamasha is a journey on which we all should go at some point of our lives. Be an 'Interpol officer' and 'Don' the 'Cap' of the 'evergreen superstar' and star in the story where you go to find yourself within You.

     Tamasha is a film that is shown in two lenses and two tracks - one linear and one non-linear. All four of them going simultaneously hand in hand. It starts with a Tamasha (drama/play) having a Mediocre (this is the word which has more footage than Ranbir-Deepika together in this film, and thus I have to mention this word.), boring and Robotic life of a common man. Which is our first linear track taking us back to the flashbacks which is our second and non-linear track. In that flashback we have a girl (who the guy meets bohot kos door, dil aur duniya ke beech), Tara (Deepika Padukone), who is our first lens of the film. The film starts from the lens of Tara and how the guy who has come in her life enchants her mind completely in seven days with a promise of never meeting again. 4 years later, after taking along his thoughts all the time with her, when Tara meets that Guy, she learns that he is Vaid (Ranbir Kapoor) and lives a very different life than what she carried along with herself about him. And then comes up the question for Vaid that Which one of him is the true him. The one who met Tara 4 years back or the One who he is right now. With this, the film shifts to the 2nd lens from Vaid's perspective and continues itself to the climax.

     Ranbir and Deepika both look stunning and have beyond imagination chemistry. Both stay in your mind individually. Ranbir is the finest actor and Deepika can pull off anything with the deep sincerity and conviction.

     Ravi Varman's camera seems disoriented in the beginning coz of certain inconsistency in the clarity of the story. But that's just in the beginning until the characters know each other. Once that happens the camera work grows with the age of our characters. Well planned shots and well edited sequences by Aarti Bajaj gives this film something to look up to.

     Production Design by Snigdha Basu, Sumit Basu, Rajnish Hedao, and Art by Arnaud Putman is one of the best things of this film. Amazing Locations, very good decorations and uncompromising use of sets and properties to make everything authentic yet polished, has stolen the show of rest of the departments except Music.

     A.R. Rahman once again has scored a great great score and has made feel of the film magical. You have to watch the film to have the 100% impact of the music. The film is incomplete without its Music and the Music is a little short of something without the film.

     Finally Imtiaz Ali.... Imtiaz has given us another piece of art. Another reason to be what you really are. His visualisation and his ease in his films make us connect more. Though his films are always giving us the false hopes of meeting someone like Deepika, Kareena, Nargis or Alia,  on a trip or something, or someone like Ranbir, Shahid or Randeep  helping you to make a call for yourself when you are in deep shit, even though this is the case, it does caters to your alter ego where you want something like this to happen.

     He is just like me. Whatever he feels like doing in his own life, he makes his character do it for him. He lives the life through their eyes and makes every one of his viewers get in their skin for those few minutes of the film's run time.

     Yet another escapist story, where the escapism turns into a very soft rebel of being someone you always were and doing what you want to do to have a perfect ending for the story of your life.

     The last part after titles where Deepika and Ranbir are dancing listening songs in their respective headphones is the cherry on the cake, which suggests that though they both lead a life together they have an individuality of their own and they both are still in the character who they enjoy being.

Verdict - 8.5/10

Shaandaar (2015)

A little too late but I felt like writing this.

     This is probably my first review of a film, which I am writing after reading many other reviews of this film. And I don't choose to differ only for the sake of it. It is not a rebel movement of some kind which people had put up after the audience ripped apart Bombay Velvet. But I genuinely feel that Shaandaar is not as bad as it is being portrayed by many people.

I ain't gonna waste time explaining the plot in detail. The movie is a destination wedding film which is a sort of business deal between two leading business families more than a marriage. Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor) is the wedding planner, Esha Arora (Sanah Kapoor - Shahid's Sister) is the bride, Alia Arora (Alia Bhatt) as the bride's sister and Vipin arora (Pankaj Kapur) is the father of the bride. That's the whole of it.

     There is no specific story to the film. It is just the unfolding of the events in this period of destination wedding between Aroras and Fundwanis. And if we see it that way, as a - no-brainer - film, one can do tend to enjoy it.

Is there Anything Right in this Film?

Yes. There are many things that are right in this film.
Anil Mehta's cinematography is very rich. The film is a visual treat.
Amrita Mahal has done a fabulous production design. The whole feel and bliss in the film is worth a few minutes of your life for sure.
Shahid Kapoor looks stunning. Alia Bhatt looks so cute that I felt like packing her up and bringing her home.
Background Score by Amit Trivedi is very much well worked with the visuals.

Is there anything that is Not-Wrong?

The animation is not that bad. Atleast we do have a Disney - animation feel and pace. And not like the one where characters look dysfunctional and paralytic.
A lot of use of VFX in the film. And the VFX is not amature.
It does look like a fairy-tale film, and maybe that's what the makers wanted to make it like.

What are the limitations?

There is no firm story. Yes the film has no story at all.
Less gripping screenplay - The screenplay is not the best part of this film. Infact it is pretty loose in its end, but then again we have many Modern American Rom-Coms which do not have the best screenplays but are quite much celebrated by our audience.

What must have gone wrong?

- Imagine if this nonsensical film was made by Rohit Shetty. Now what went wrong is we went to see a film by the director of Queen - Vikas Bahl. Had we gone to see a film of a maker who made Bol Bachchan, we might have enjoyed it.
- The maker tried to make the film 'Character-oriented'. The characters in the film are more defined than the story. The other person who does this in his films and does it freaking awesome is Priyadarshan, but then too he has a gripping fastened screenplay at his disposal with the characters.
- The humour was pretty new to us. This kind of quirky humour which the maker tried to put in a family drama was not a cup of tea for the audience the film was made for. No mother of an about-to-get-married Daughter would enjoy watching the would be bride's sister to receive her undergarment on the breakfast table by their wedding planner. It was a wrong cuisine served in a right plate.
- The narrative was less defined. Though they have tried to make the narration as well as Dil Dhadakne Do, even Naseeruddin Shah was unable to make the matter-less narrative impactful.

     With a 50-50% of wrongs and rights in the film, all we had to do was change the context of viewing the film to make it enjoyable.

     Cinema is changing in India. Today is the era of film-makers experimenting with their style of making films. A little of acceptance to the changing narratives would help a number of makers to bring forward their way of talking through the cinema.

     The tried and tested formula always work. There is nothing ambitious and brave in it. But if the cats want to roar, let them be the Lions.

Phantom by Kabir Khan

     As mentioned in the trailers Phantom is regarding the fictional justice that is imparted to the direct and indirect victims of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The film specifically sticks to that what is mentioned. Yes, It is a story that we all Indians wish were true.

     A loyal agent of RAW, Roy (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty) who has served the nation all his life is been suggested by a newly recruited agent (Zeeshan Ayyub) that officially or unofficially we should be avenging the people who are responsible for the terrorism in India. They won't stop attacking unless we give them an appropriate and similar reply.

An ex-army man who was court-martialed at a very young age is roped in as he has no record of his existence and would be untraceable, just like a Phantom, Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan). He is been sent on the missions to kill 4 top level Men of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (mentioned only as LASKHARs in the film) from Hafis Sayeed (named as Haris Sayeed in the film) to David Coleman Bradley, who are regarded as the prime planners of 26/11. He is assisted by an ex-RAW agent, Nawaz Mystri (Katrina Kaif) as she is the only agent who has seen Wajid Mir who is known as the master of disguise. Initially the title of the film was going to be Daniyal Khan, but later it was changed to Phantom.

      Based on a book written by S. Husssain Zaidi along with Gabriel Khan called "Mumbai Avengers" this film by Kabir Khan, is made with required changes in the screenplay and dialogues, so that they could complete the story in given limited duration. Hussain S. Zaidi, the journalist and the author of the best-seller books like 'Dongri To Dubai' and 'Black Friday' is the writer who has some cinematic element in his book. Sanjay Gupta's 'Once upon a Time in Wadala' is based on a few chapters from 'Dongari To Dubai' and A whole film based on the entire book with the same name, 'Black Friday' was the first release of Anurag Kashyap.

     For a budget like Rupees 55crores, this film is ambitiously shot and made.

     The team of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is back. Parveez Sheikh and Kausar Munir in the writing department. Aseem Mishra the cinematographer, Juilus Pakiam for the background score. Production design is quite better than ordinary.
The Locations and the countries they have shot the film are something that we have never seen many times on the big screen. For a change the same old names like Istanbul, Iran and Morocco are avoided.

     A few shots are very well composed but a about many other shots, the efforts and the struggle to look like 'The Hurt Locker and Black Hawk Down' is vastly understood. Finally the film over all is an attempt to make D-Day with a feel of Baby inspired by 'Zero Dark-Thirty' and not even giving justice to any of it. Maybe somewhere Saif Ali Khan gives justice to his role in Agent Vinod.  

     However, Saif  Ali Khan is Okay. Letting go a few unavoidable sequences because of the way the makers wanted it to be, Zeeshan Ayyub suits in his role and is highly convincing. Though he is the supporting cast, what his character speaks in the film is important, sensible and implemented as well.

The Climax - A very convincing shot of submarine coming out of the waters is something that Indian Audience has never seen in a Bollywood film. The magic of emotions that Kabir Khan was able to bring in Bajrangi Bhaijaan is, to some extent, brought back here as well. The last 7-8 minutes of the film saved this film from being rated miserably.

     Phantom couldn't be up to the mark. The film is boring till the interval and slowly but not much, takes some grip after the story goes in Pakistan. The shots and the screenplay are very conventionally put up and the missions that seem quite intricate are very conveniently taken care of which makes everything all the more stupid and unbelievable.

     They have tried to include the edge-of-the-seat 'thrill', but all they could do is raise the volume of the base sound and stop it abruptly at the awkward cut.
The film has sudden unconvincing switching between the patriotic-thriller mood and the unexpected emotional drama.

Seems the Team has used major technical facilities for this film but has failed to keep it true to the conscious.

Stupid dialogues by a very Top level ISI agent and a very inspiring lines said by dumb Katrina makes it idiotic. Katrina is just what she is in every film. She is in this story because she used to drink tea at Taj Hotel and she felt the burns when it was attacked and something like that. We can understand her efforts for the attempt to look convincing and determined in her role. 

The book is a distant relative of feasibility and the film is the distant relative of the book.

Yet again, Yes, It surely is a story that we wish to be True.

Verdict - 5.5/10

Drishyam

     A little disappointed after hearing that the guy  who made "Mumbai Meri Jaan" and "Force" has made a remake of a Malyalam Film of the same name, I went to watch this one for the other working departments - Avinash Arun's cinematography, Gulzar's lyrics and Vishal Bharadwaj's Music.

     However, I was not at all skeptical while watching the film, I was excited as always I am for watching any movie and even if I was skeptical, the film would have changed my way of looking at it. The original story of Jeethu Joseph, the writer and the director of the original Malyalam film, Drishyam, which stars Mohanlal, is way too good. Though the film I saw yesterday was Nishikanth Kamat directed Drishyam, made in Hindi, I would still praise Jeethu Joseph who had written the original screenplay for the Malyalam original. It is written very well after a careful and in-depth study of the situations and characters.

     Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgan) is a 4th grade failed orphan, who has made his way by trying out various businesses and has now settled at providing Cable connections in Pondulim Goa. He has a family of two daughters with a significant age difference Anju Salgaonkar (Ishita Dutta - the elder one), Anu Salgaonkar (the younger one) and a wife Nandhani Salgaonkar (Shriya Saran) and it is his hobby of watching one film every night in his office. A very contend family with hand to mouth earning comes across a serious problem leading to an accident that takes place as they defend themselves, which makes the Salgaonkar family take some further courageous steps, that then holds the attention of the local Police, Inspector Gaitonde (Kamlesh Sawant), the Inspector General of Goa, Mrs. Meera Deshmukh (Tabu), her husband (Rajat Kapoor), the religious guru Swami Chinmayanand, the Media, the entire village and the curiosity of the audience.

     Ajay Devgan initially feels disinterested in his role with the dialogues that are slow and are forced to be crispy and light. And even worse is the dialogue delivery of Shriya Saran. Even the first picnic song, Carbon-Copy, is not that great except the symphony part of it.
But as that "accident" takes place, the film takes a solid grip, the actors then become the artists for which they have been casted and every one fits the mould just perfectly. Even the journey song that is just a playback, sung by Rekha Bharadwaj is impactful.

     Principal Photography is very well done. The stylized shots are put at crucial stages in the midst of very simple and traditional way of shooting a film. As the story clenches us and with the rising graph, the high-speed, the zero cuts forms and match cutting shots come to life, giving out an impact of us smiling over the unexpected twists in the story. Avinash Arun is my favourite and he stays on that level. Of course the magic he has brought in shooting Killa is not here, but then Killa was his own directorial venture, he will keep something unique in it for sure.

     Aarif Sheikh's Editing is fine. Fine enough where you do not have anything to complain about. The film stretches up to  long 163 minutes. We do feel the length and the stretch coz of the first half that is very slow. However, the whole first half is just the establishment of the sped up, gripping and impactful second half.

     Ultimately the film is a thriller and it goes closer to the attitude of "A Wednesday" on the lines of what a common man is capable of doing if it comes to doing it for the thing of utmost importance to him. Tabu is very very impressive. As always she just gulps in the character and that reflects on every inch of her body language and expressions. Rajat Kapoor looks Rich and mature. It is one difficult role to play coz he has no defined character, the actor either had to be a director's puppet or design and implement a character for himself. The change in the emotions in his eyes in the 2nd last scene near Vagatore Beach is you know why it is Rajat Kapoor for that role. Shirya Saran looks convincing only when she is scared.

     About the direction, I havent seen how the Malyalam original by Jeetu Joseph is made, or even the rest of the remakes in Tamil, Kannad and Telugu, but this one is a must watch. It is a simple story that raises its graph higher and higher. The conflicts are the ones that keep coming in keeping us on the edge of our seats. The level of curiosity keeps going up. The last scene of Rajat, Tabu and Ajay is the scene which is amazingly written. That can be one of the examples of most appropriate situational dialogues written. Of course the super twist at the end is something that makes you love the film even more.

     The film talks about many other between the lines stuff. Maybe the writers didn't mean to put them but the concept of Karma is what I saw in this film. How situations make their ways so that the circle of Karma completes itself.  Maybe it is not what the writers wanted to give out, but it is there.

However the Hero of the film is The Script. Worth a make in Five different languages.

Verdict - 8.2/10

Bajrangi Bhaijaan

     Don't judge a book by it's cover - Had my decision of watching or not watching this film had been upon the "Selfie Le Re" song that was released initially, I would have missed a very strong and sweet film.

     Salman Khan - Bas naam hi kaafi hai. The morning shows were houseful, the booking box offices are flooded with people. Plus this happens, as every year, during the celebration of the festival of Eid.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan the second collaboration of Salman Khan and Director Kabir Khan after Ek Tha Tiger was very much awaited by the "Bhai ke fans".

     

     The plot was pretty much revealed in the trailers itself that a six year old Pakistani girl Shahida/Munni (Harshaali Malhotra), who cannot speak, is lost in India, where she finds Pavan Chaturvedi a.k.a Bajrangi bhaiiya (Salman Khan) who, against all the odds, risking his life, by going in Pakistan without any passport and visa, out of love and humanity only to help the girl get back to her parents.  

     Pretty much same in the film but with much more detail and humour.

The writing credits include Vijendra Prasad's original story, who has also put his share in the screenplay along with Parveez Sheikh, Asad Hussain and Kabir Khan. Dialogues are penned  by Kausar Munir..which are impactful. Especially the dialogues that come out of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character, who plays a reporter.

     Music is both good and bad... the Sufi music at the beginning and at the end is divine (Here they have kept a typical bollywood format of having a powerful song before the climax begins, which I like if the song is that good). The couple of background theme tracks do bring goose bumps and tears. The background score pulls up the movie very well.  The songs are good. A few are add-ons which are not very much required but still, they do not bore you.

     The film has a steady pace in the first half and the graph increases in the second half and it keeps going up till the last frame pauses. Screenplay is somewhat typical but the actors have done an indisputable job to make it look different and surprisingly original.

     Nawazuddin is a diamond that this film industry has found. The 1st half is humourous, it is light and funny and gripping but for the first few minutes of 2nd half you start sliding down the chair, but then an awkward frame cuts in with Nawazuddin holding a microphone, it's a small one shot where the guy starts his batting with a boundary.....and stays Not-Out till the innings end with his strike-rate getting better and better. How can someone be this simple and still be this awesome! This guy is gifted.

     The Cinematography and Editing is pretty decent. Few frames of silhouette do look beautiful. There are not many fight sequences and that is because maybe for a change they were making the film for the story and not to show Salman's Body (Do not get disappointed, you do get to see him shirt-less). Sham Kaushal is my favourite Action Director anyways...the guy has kept it Sallu-style ki maara-maari.

     The best thing other than the film was the response of the audience. The Entry of Salman was filled with whistles and hoots and roars...(I too attempted to whistle with the fingers in my mouth...I succeeded after everyone stopped doing that, and with that everyone started the chaos again.) The hoots and roars on every good thing Salman Does kept going on throughout the show. Harshaali is impossibly cute. She is the epitome of cuteness and I am sure the girls will go awww... also the small kid who plays Kareena Kapoor's brother.

Oh yes!! the Film also stars Karrena Kapoor, who looks quite a Khan now. Doesn't matter I still like her. But yes... You do need to remind yourself that even she is there, coz for the first time, Harshaali is the concept, Salman Khan is the Hero and the sentimental story is the Heroine of this Film.       

     I have been attending the film festivals since last 5 years now. The audience there is supposedly the one who has a knowledge about the language of cinema or have their indulgence in the film industry, after a film the viewers appreciate the film by clapping, or if the film is worth it, by applauding. Never ever I thought that I would shed a few tears while watching a Salman Khan Film. Never ever I thought that I would clap for a Salman Film. And on top of everything, never ever I thought that I would see the whole theater clapping at the end frame of the film at a local cinema-screen.

     Today was a realisation point that not every time to get the claps you need to be technically strong, not every time the viewers need to understand the language of cinema. If your story gives out the right emotions and if you present them in the right manner...people get connected.

Even a film like Yaariyaan, Vivah, and many other Yash-raj, Dharma films were emotional, but then no one clapped for those films, reasons being the way they were narrated was not the correct-most manner. But Bajrangi Bhaijaan has a uniformity in its emotions. The whole film proceeds with a cause and that cause is what makes you connect with the story.
You fall in love with the characters. You feel the sentiments. You get involved.

     If you go to see this film without a skeptical mind you will surely have a very good experience. You will know that this is one of the good films made.

     Verdict - 7.9/10 

S.S. Rajamouli's - Baahubali - The Beginning

     First of all I saw this film for the Guy - S.S. Rajamouli. He is the director of this film. Do you know S.S. Rajamouli? Well, maybe not personally but we are for sure aware of his works. The dubbed films that are shown on SetMax, like - "Hukumat ki Jung", "Aar-paar - the Judgement day" and "Yamraj Ek Faulaad", are his films originally in Telugu. Plus Prabhudeva's Rowdy Rathore and Ajay Devgan's Son of Sardar are the remakes of S.S.'s Telugu films. And the film that won the National Award and the one that too many festivals awarded, invited and screened  - Makkhi (Eega), which was a surprise entertainer, is made by him.

     And then he brings us the Epic - Baahubali. It is a historic period drama and the film is an epical fantasy. But then, what he has given to India is an epic in itself by making such a magnificent and majestically over the top film for today.

     There is no point telling anything about the story coz the story is not completed in 'Baahubali - the beginning', you have to wait till 2016 for it to complete itself.

     Characters - Baahubali (Prabhas), Bhallala (Rana Daggubati), Devasena (Anushka Shetty), Avanthika (Tamannah Bhatiya) and Kattappa (Satyaraj) with Bijjaladeva (Naseer) are made with a lot of passion and drama in them.

     The whole film has extensive level of Drama and actors have dramatised it even more.

     The cinematography by Senthil Kumar is mature. Music by M.M. Keeravani is very good... few pieces are extremely good. Production Design by Sabu Cyril is top notch. And the 100-200 people who worked on the VFX have my standing ovation.

The screenplay is well crafted but the rest of the things are just happening just like that.

'Anything can happen' is what you have to keep in mind before entering the theaters - However, HOW 'S.S. Rajamouli' has directed that ANYTHING in this film is what you have to see this film for. That is the best part.

     The Hero of the film is Hero. He has everything a man would want to have and a woman would always dream of. He is the perfect person, with perfect etiquettes (well it's like some 100-200 A.D, so whatever would be marked as 'etiquettes', the hero has them all). The Villain is the Villain, he is ruthless and heartless and somewhere more benefited and powerful than the Hero. Well that's all.

And yeah there is a Heroine who fights a couple of people and has a couple of songs to dance and show some skin.

Now...

The VFX...
     The Grandeur of the kingdom is exceptionally amazing. You will forget everything, the Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Troy... everything! I am sure it will be a little tough to believe that it is an Indian film that we are watching.

Yes, an avalanche scene, lacks somewhere but then... that's just the 3% of VFX in all. As the film proceeds you will be awed and surprised and...might feel like it is actually there.

The ACTION...

     That is what you watch a South Indian film for. Amazing action sequences designed and executed. The plan, the surprise attacks, the display of strengths and the bravery and the strategies to attack and defend, everything is a feast to watch.

Just take your Eyes, Ears and Your feeling of JOY with you to watch this film. Leave back your brains, your mind and your logic.

Verdict -
With my brains - 4/10
Without my brains - 7.5/10.

I recommend you to consider the 2nd verdict.

And yes - Stay tuned for more "S.S. Yallattikar's" reviews of upcoming awaited movies.       

Terminator Genisys

     In 1984, when the T-800 or The Guardian came inside a house crushing the door asking for Sarah Connor, everyone was thrilled with that. When in 1991, Arnold Schwarzenegger returned with his black leather jacket, a Harley-Davidson and the superb shot gun being loaded and fired with one arm, it was something out-standing for the world. And the reason behind this was only one  - James Cameron.

     Two more Terminator films that came following it, were not as impactful as the first two. Though the fourth one, did made the box office flow as it had Jonathan Nolan as one of the writers and Christian Bale starring in it, yet it couldn't keep the mark of the initial two.

     Terminator Genisys is the fifth and it is not the end. There is more to come.

Here, the film plays in three time spaces starting with 2029, going back to 1987 and jumping to 2017, to avoid the roots of that what's going to happen in 2029.

T-800 i.e. The Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the man you have to go to see this film for. Though he plays a better version of the T-800, he is quite HIM. Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) is another reason to watch this film. Then for some visual effects and finally so that you do not have to be amongst the people who did not see a Terminator film.

     It felt as if the story has some questions to answer but ultimately it doesn't. Good thing is that they do not create too many questions. The screenplay is scattered, too much of time traveling confusion. That's what they have did - they have tried too hard to convince us the chronology of time-line and finally ended up confusing us and probably even themselves. Even the actors had no clue of what's happening. The Khaleesi held the weapon when she was told by the director Alan Taylor, who had directed a few episodes of the Game Of Thrones' 1st and 2nd seasons, without knowing why she is really doing that.

The smile that Arnold gives as the T-800 is priceless. It is good to see Hans Zimmer's name in the Executive Music Supervisor.

     Jason Clarke as John Connor is very good except he gives us a very bad feeling in his screen presence. Well, he is supposed to do that so, good for him.

     The VFX has everything in this film, all the effort of the film was put in completing the Vfx and to make everything look real, which, in some parts, has failed. But the rest is very well done with the total budget of $ 155 million.

     Technicians have done their job well. Watching the film is a bumpy ride of the mountains -  when you are slow, you are too slow, when you are fast you are too fast.
And when there is logic there is too much of logic, science and jargons used or otherwise they have taken too much of liberty.

     The people doing this project have put in lots of efforts, but they should have kept in mind the value of what this franchise was, in the past, and should have written something worthy its respect.

     They have also tried to bring in some Iron-man style humour, but they have failed there too.

     The two things that worked very well here are Emilia's beauty and Arnold's smile.

     Verdict - 5/10

     

    The point where they have a satirical part where they subtly & cinematically state that 'smart-phones & tabs are the coming destructions', was when I thought the film has some meaning, but then, Arnold came in with a Gun and.......

....never mind!

ABCD-2 - Any Body Can Dance 2

     And one of the awaited films released today. For a guy like me, two girls had asked me in advance to watch this film with them individually. I mean, this movie could really do wonders. However, I went to the film alone to have my uninfluenced opinion after watching it.

     Before taking up any legitimate education about film-making; before meeting anyone who could pour the quotes about film-making in my head, when I had only decided to make films for the life-time, I knew one basic thing about films - Story, Screenplay and Dialogues are the most important aspects of any film. They are like the Heart, the Brain and the Intelligence of any film.

     ABCD2, the 2nd installment of the ABCD series an abbreviation for 'Any Body Can Dance' by Remo D'souza is a film heavily dependent upon Dance and Dancers and choreography, and Dance and Dancers, and choreography, and dance and dancers.

Based on a true story of a dance group of Nalasopara, Mumbai; This film has a plot of a group of dancers who were humiliated at a Television dance show for performing a copied dance performance from the internet streaming video and to gain back their respect, they go to Worlds Hip-Hop Competition at Las Vegas and prove their worth representing India.

     If I were a pervert or a sex addict, and to take out all that I want to do with the opposite sex, I would have made an intense sexually psychotic film and I would have made the protagonist, who would be representing my alter-ego, do all that, what I would want to do to someone. But Remo D'souza is not a sex addict (I would like to think that he is not), He is a choreographer and a student of dance. Hence, he wanted a platform where he could choreograph everything that is there in his mind, the way he wants it and to show off his talent.

     The dances are stunning and breath-taking, they keep you glued and they make your eyes pop out. He has put in all his heart and mind in the dances.
Prabhudeva's entry in the song - Happy Hour, is something very good.
Dharmesh's audition dance is impressive.
Punit Pathak (as Vinod) is impressive too, his fingers have more footage than his steps in the overall film. At one point of time I felt that Remo wants to kill him in this film as well.
Raghav Juyal (as Raghu) is very impressive in his acting. In fact Raghav Juyal is the only person who acts well in this film.
Lauren Gottleib (as Olive) is Hot. Super hot. And dances even hotter than she looks. Varun Dhawan is impressive as a dancer but has a bad choice and that is clearly understood when he chooses Shraddha Kapoor over Lauren. That also explains why did he sign this film altogether.
Shraddha Kapoor is very impressive as the dancer. Really, she has worked very hard and it is seen that her efforts will give her a long life as a dancer.

     Compared to ABCD, ABCD2 is bigger and gigantic. The money is poured in for choreographing the dance pieces and on the lights and cinematography. The film looks richer and much better.

     Music is like what starts at the 1st minute of the film, slows down at 'Sunn Sathiya' and resumes back to the same genre till the Vande Mataram Song and ends with a Synth cord. Still, praises for the efforts and hard work of the musicians and the arrangers for finding and putting in all sort of sound effects, bass, reverb and EQ and all weird sounds that can be produced.

     The title sequence is an experimentation but a better version is available at Ramoji Film City, that too Live entertaining and much awesomely choreographed.

Plot twist at the interval is interesting, but then the cracker doesn't burst in the 2nd half.

'Bezubaan Phir se' has something good in it.

     Remo has tried very much to create artistic something in the beginning with the contemporary dance by Varun Dhawan. However, the impact of this "contemporary" is very temporary. There is no reason for the film to be in 3D.

     Having said everything, I would say that everyone has done this film with a lot of passion and heart. But that's to impress and not express because they know that the film will earn.

Over all I would rate this film 6/10. Good effort by the whole team. Masses would like the film.

     Right after the initial title sequence, there is a 30 seconds performance of Jackson5...something worthy.

P.S. - Good dance and Good Film are two very different things.

P.S.1 - If ever I make a sexually psychotic intense film, It will surely have a lot of sense as well.

P.S.2 - Story, Screenplay and Dialogues are the exact things that this film lacks in, apart from direction, acting, concept and sensibility.

P.S.3 - 'Life is all about the next step.' a quote by Remo, is what this film ends with, you get that? A BAD NEWS - they are making a part 3. #sick

P.S.4 - Yes...Sony Play Station 4 [PS4]. Install a PS4 and play video games instead. Spending 12,000 is much better than wasting 120.

#unbiasedreview.