Category: Movie Reviews

Reviews of movies I watch, I like or dislike.

October – Movie Review

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Varun Dhawan

I am completely bored of Hindi movies. Especially those which fall into romance genre. It is always the usual crap. The crux of such movies doesn’t change. Only the treatment of the movie makes it different. Since the last decade, they are reaching new heights of vulgarity. It’s unbearable but yet many of those make it to the 100 Crore club. Thanks to the audience which is not yet ready to fully accept offbeat or parallel cinema.

October is one of those rare gems which doesn’t need anyone else to determine it’s value. A milestone in Hindi movies which can lead Hindi movies into a completely different era where parallel cinema doesn’t exists. It becomes a part of mainstream cinema itself.

This is a simple love story between Dan and Shuili. Both are doing hotel management in the same hotel. They are shown as good friends and nothing else. Then one day, Shuili falls from third floor and slips into coma. Dan is disturbed when he sees her disfigured and attached to life saving machines. A couple of days later, he comes to know that Shuili was asking his whereabouts just before the fall. This changes Dan’s perspective towards her. He starts to think that she loves him which results in his frequent visits to the hospitals. The rest of the movie showcases their bond. Is it love? It looks like that. Or is it something more than friendship? That is totally up to you to figure out.

Dan’s character is something you’ve never ever seen in reel life. Many of you may not have seen such a character in real life. That one character scores home run for this movie single handed. He is weird, absurd, unconventional, unreal, crazy, stupid etc. etc. but you will love him. You will laugh at what he does. He makes you think from his simple talk. Dan reminds me of Ove from ” A man called Ove” which made me love him more. Towards the end of the movie, there’s a mysterious scene. The way I interpreted it was that, Shuili meets Dan for one last time before continuing her journey forward. Let me know what you thought about the scene.

If you are hungry for watching good cinema, just grab the ticket for the next show and watch it. Don’t watch it if you are too much into movies starring Khan’s. This is not for you. 10/10

Gulabjaam

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जेवणाची चव ते करणाऱ्याच्या भावनांवर अवलंबून असते. म्हणूनच घरातल्या जेवणाला चव असते. बहुतेक वेळा.. म्हणजे जेव्हा चव बिघडते तेव्हा समजायचं की “भांडे” जास्त गरम झाले होते. लंडनमध्ये रहाणार्‍या आदित्यला अस्सल पुणेरी शाकाहारी स्वयंपाक शिकायचाय. तो आपली नोकरी सोडून पुण्यातील मित्राकडे रहायला जातो. त्यांच्या जेवणाच्या डब्यातील गुलाबजाम खाऊन त्याला आपल्या बालपणाची आठवण होते. विचारपूस केल्यानंतर, आदित्य राधाकडे जेवण शिकायला लागतो. इथे कथेत पुणेरी टोमणे हसायला भाग पाडतात. त्यानंतर जो काय अप्रतिम कॅमेरा वापरलाय… अहाहा!! ते जेवणाचे पदार्थ तोंडाला पाणी आणतात व त्या पदार्थांना बघून डोळे सुखावतात. जेवणातील पदार्थ, साहित्य यांच्या उपमा देऊन सुंदर तत्वज्ञान मांडलंय. कथेला अनुसरून लिहिलेले संवाद वाखाणण्याजोगे आहे. चित्रपटाची मांडणी फारच मजेशीर आहे व कुठेच कंटाळा येत नाही. सिध्दार्थ चांदेकर आणि सोनाली कुलकर्णीने प्रभावी व्यक्तीमत्वं साकारली आहे. एकंदरीत हा चित्रपट एकदा बघून समाधान होणे शक्य नाही. एकदा तरी चव चाखून बघाच… ९/१०

मुरांबा

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muramba movie review

काल “मुरांबा” चाखला. “दोन पिढ्यातील अंतर” हा विषय चिरंजीव आहे. त्याचा परिणाम असा की नवीन पिढीला वाटते की जुनी पिढी “टिपिकल” आहे. पण हे “टिपिकल” असण्यामागचे कारण काय ते कधी जाणून घेण्याचा प्रयत्न मात्र करत नाही. खूपच.. फारच.. अगदीच.. “टिपिकल” असा शिक्का मारून मोकळे व्हायचे. आता हा “टिपिकल” शब्द वारंवार वापरण्याचे कारण म्हणजे तो असाच या चित्रपटात देखील वापरला आहे. चित्रपट मात्र “टिपिकल” नाही.

अलोक आणि इंदू यांचा ब्रेकअप हा या चित्रपटाचा मुख्य विषय. पहिल्या पाच मिनिटांतच आपण या कथेशी जुळतो. वेगळेपणा कुठे जाणवतो तर अलोकचे आई-बाबा ज्या पद्धतीने हा विषय हाताळता तिथे. वादविवाद खूप असले तरीही इथे प्रखरता जाणवत नाही. हलके फुलके पणाने कथानक पुढे जात रहाते. यातूनच हसण्याची संधी परत परत मिळते. मध्यंतरानंतर थोडा वेगळ्या वळणाने कथानक पुढे जाते. अपयशाची चव माहिती नसली तर नात्यांमध्ये काय प्रश्न येऊ शकतात हे सांगण्याचा प्रयत्न केलाय. आजच्या या गतीमान जीवनात निर्णय झटकन घेतले जातात. नात्यांविषयी सुद्धा असेच होते. ते किती चुकीचे आहे हे चित्रपटाच्या शेवटी उमगते.

चित्रपटात कुणी अभिनय केलाय असे वाटत नाही. सगळे सहज घडत आहे असे वाटते. प्रेम आहे. रोमांस आहे. पण चवीपुरते. थोडासा बोल्ड आहे म्हणून मला तरी ही फॅमिली फिल्म नाही वाटत. अजून एक गोष्ट. गाणी नाही यांत. “अगं! ऐक ना?” मला मोठ्या पडद्यावर बघायचे होते. ते पण नाहीये. बाकी चित्रपट एकदा तरी बघावाच. ८/१०

I (2015) Review

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The second movie I watched this weekend was one I have been waiting for last 15 days. That is since the day I watched the trailer of the movie. The movie is “I“. There was a scene where the hero bears the look of someone from Planet of the apes. That caught my attention. Though I was disappointed that the look is only limited to one song.

I Vikram movie

Our hero, Lingesan who later gets a fancy name Lee, is a huge fan of Arnold and runs a gym with his name and photo. He is also a huge fan of Diya, an ad model. He is so crazy about her that he collects every photo of her wherever his eyes catch one. He even buys every product for which she is modeling. Even bras(which his mother uses for cooking idlis. Whattay jugad!!) . And sanitary napkins. These Tamil guys are crazy fans. I love this about them.

“Coincidentally”, Our hero gets an opportunity to get close to her as her security guard for a shoot. Diya.. Mannnn.. She is one damn hot chick. I bet you’ll be romancing with her in your dreams at least the night you watch this film. (Focus man. Focus on review.) So Diya is “Not that type of girl”. And her humility flatters our hero. Now he sees her everywhere. His Nokia phone, Royal Enfield bike, Dumbells and even his sprouts. Just imagine Diya dressed like above. Crazy huh..

Then comes the villain. John, who is coupled with Diya in most of the ads, wants to have dinner with her followed by some “fun”. But since Diya is “Not that type of girl”, she refuses. This is when John uses his influence and replaces her with a model who agrees to have “fun” with him. Devastated Diya falls into depression until “coincidentally” she finds an ad on a local newspaper featuring our hero for a local product. (This is why my friend, You should read local newspaper. It may provide you with much needed solution.) Then Diya and Lee go to the land of Bruce Lee for an ad shoot.

<insert romantic scenes between Diya and Lee>
<insert romantic scenes between Lee and his gay makeup guy>
<insert a song>
<insert scenes which are results of John’s jealousy>
<insert revenge scenes by Lee>
<insert Happy ending>

The Good
Diya, I mean Amy Jackson. She is SUPER HOTTT! She is stunning in every costume she wears. She looks beautiful when she is wearing Indian dresses. Secondly, Vikram. He’s got the body of Arnold with impeccable acting skills. Third, Locations and Camera work. The scenic China has been captured in such a way that it pleases the viewer. You won’t let your eyes off the screen because of this. (And because of Amy Jackson). Fourth, Special effects. Do I have to mention this? It’s a Shankar’s film. It will have special effects using latest tech to blend with the movie.

The Bad
The ads. Though they are innovatively used in the film, they irritate you because of the screen time they consume. Secondly, songs. A couple of unnecessary tracks as usual in any Indian movie. Third, duration. Refer one and two.

The Ugly
Lingesan with that “bubbly” look. And then later in second half, his victims. They are UGLY. You want them out of  your sight. That says about the skills of the makeup artists.

Conclusion: This movie is total entertainer. Action, romance, Drama, Special effects, Hot chicks. It has everything. It’s worth every penny.  8/10

Home Sweet Home

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My weekends for last couple of months are turning out to be delightful. There’s a party, a movie night, Get together or be it a book. There’s always some new experience. And as McDonald says, I’m lovin’ it.
So this weekend started with two movies. Home Sweet Home, a Konkani movie and I, a Tamil movie.
First it was Home Sweet Home. The movie was released during Christmas time and I was yet to watch it. Twice I made plans and they failed at the last moment. But today, Maybe luck was on my side. I maybe the last person in Goa to watch this movie. But I watched it. (#AchievementUnlocked)

The movie revolves around John and Raj. (Chuck it yaar. You can’t even get creative at names? Same typical names from Hindi movies? Duh.) Moving on.. John is an NRI(like most of the Goan youth who don’t get past matriculation) who returns to Goa. Correction. Deported to Goa. He now wants to go back to his house (named Home Sweet Home), marry a girl and live happily ever after. Sounds like typical Goan. But his plans vanish in air when he discovers that his house has been replaced by a three storied building. It’s a magic trick, Courtesy of a builder named Shah. The rest of the movie is about how John puts up a fight with the builder to punish him for destroying his house and his dreams.

home sweet home
The problem with local movies is that they don’t get enough funding and they turn out to be movies made on handycam. This one is different. Decent amount has been spent on making this movie on par with mainstream cinema. Well.. Other than the cheap name for production house. Go Goa Gollywood. Really?? Are you effing kidding me? Why did you borrow a name from some cheap movie? (Go Goa Gone. If you fail to recall)

What I liked about the movie was a fresh cast. Most of the faces were new. At least for me. The story  is “hutke”. It deals with the problems of common Goans. When was the last time you saw someone make a film on this? (Oh right. Rakhtayug). Opening song is catchy. I need to grab it somehow. Just that song. The camera work is good apart from repetitive shots towards climax.
What I didn’t like about the movie was a rather dull second half. Throughout the movie, there are monotonous conversations. Long pauses where you want to stand up from your seat and scream “Kitem tari ulay mare C#$&$#%=&a”. And that reminds me of another thing I didn’t like. The swearing. Sometimes it’s muted and sometimes it isn’t. What the heck?? And on top of it is the ending. I’ll rather not talk about it.

But said so, I liked this attempt. Commendable effort by the whole team. I wish them good luck for the sequel (Oops! Does that count as spoiler?) May that film turn out to be better than this.  8/10 for Home sweet home.