We celebrate love, light, happiness, friendship, and heartbreaks... Basically, Diwali is a festival in India that celebrates emotions. And that is what Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is about. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is a 2016 Hindi Film talks about two people, Ayan Sanger (Portrayed by Ranbir Kapoor) and Alizeh Khan (Portrayed by Anushka Sharma). In this movie, both Ayan and Alizeh explore the different shades of love, which is what the whole movie is about. This movie shows us what love can do to people. From the toll it takes on us to the way it shapes our perspectives to how it can horrify us emotionally and even to how it can take us on emotional roller coaster rides. This movie has proven that Ranbir Kapoor is a way more talented actor than Ranveer Singh. Ranveer Singh has a lot of energy, I agree. But then, how to adjust his energy level in each movie, Ranbir does it much better than Ranveer. Ranbir, for me, is a joy to watch and I never get disappointed seeing him. I prefer watching mature actors like Ranbir on screen than Ranveer. Ranbir was a joy in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil! I loved his acting and how smooth he was. The way he emoted his emotions in this film was just amazing! I can't express how much I enjoyed watching him in this film! And his dancing skills... My God! I fell in love! Ranbir, Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan and Shahid Kapoor are probably the best dancers of Bollywood! A special mention to Aditya Roy Kapur as well. I fell in love with Anushka Sharma in this film. I loved her here because she was just so refreshing and vibrant. She was joyous to look at and watch as a whole. She's a very talented actress indeed. I loved her style of dancing because it was so expressive and she was so energetic and like Ranbir, she played with her energy levels and knew how to adjust her energy level. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was also someone I looked forward to watch in this movie. It was sad that she did not get many scenes in this film. But whatever it was, she shined out as much as Ranbir and Anushka did in this film. She did well with whatever she got. And I must admit, she was really sexy and stunning to look at! Those smouldering eyes... MY GOD! I wish I had eyes as beautiful as hers! Lisa Haydon, Fawad Khan, Imran Abbas, Alia Bhatt... Although these four actresses had cameo roles, they were fantastic and were a joy to watch! After watching this film, I honestly wish that Bollywood could take in Pakistani actors into Hindi films because they are really talented as well. And in fact, there are some Pakistani actors who probably nail acting better than some of our actors! The music of the film was composed by my favourite music director, Pritam. Being a Bengali, he is naturally inclined to music and he constantly knows how to make rocking songs in different types of genres. From Pop to Rock to Classical to Slow Ballads... He does it all and he never disappoints my ears. When I was watching this film, I wanted to understand what were the negative reviews that the critics gave. However, after watching this film, I totally do not understand what were the negative reviews for! Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was such a joy to watch. It is a movie that I could emotionally relate to and that is what made the film very joyful to watch, from my point of view at least. I found a lot of joy seeing Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai in one frame. They looked like sisters and they just looked so refreshing and cool together that you would enjoy seeing them together and that you would want them to be together more frequently in the future to come. After watching this movie, I will never, ever, listen to the critics because they are biased to only these two actors: Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone. I would rather see the trailer and review of spectators because with the audience, you will see different perspectives of the same film whereas with film critics like Rajeev Masand, you will only see one-sided perspectives and negative reviews towards other actors and when it comes to Ranveer Singh, you will see only good reviews. Even now, audiences are starting to get tired of Ranveer Singh and his loud energy and would rather see actors like Vijay Sethupathi or Parvathy or Vijay Devarakonda. Should I watch it?
Watch it. Watch it for the love, the romance and the passion. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - People aged 18 and above - People who are romantic and passionate at heart - Fans of Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Anushka Sharma My Personal Film Rating: Music: 5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 4.5/5 Storyline: 3.5/5 Performance: 4.5/5 Overall: 21/25 In 100s: 84/100 IMDB: 8/10
0 Comments
Honestly, I do not know where to start. I have always been finding ways on how I could write my review on this but now, I hopefully can pull it off! Mardaani is a 2014 Hindi Film that talks about cases where girls get kidnapped and trafficked in India. Young girls aged 8 to 18 will be sold to older clients for sex and while trafficking girls, drugs are also trafficked here. Shivani Shivaji Roy (Portrayed by Rani Mukherjee), the senior inspector of the Mumbai Crime Branch, who sets out to bust the mastermind (Portrayed by Tahir Raj Bhasin) behind a child trafficking business in India. This was Rani's comeback film to Bollywood post her marriage. And after seeing Mardaani, I fell in love with her even more. This is because she has proven her versatility in Bollywood. Normally, she is known to be that sweet innocent woman from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006 Hindi Film) or Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007 Hindi Film) or even Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998 Hindi Film). and I have grown up watching her films and seeing her on screen. However, never have I ever thought that Rani would take up such a role. This shows to me that she is a woman who is willing to explore different roles and storylines and who will go out there to prove her mettle and capabilities as an actress. Rani is the real Lady Singham, not Kareena Kapoor Khan. I do not have any enmity against Kareena personally and professionally. In fact, Kareena is one of my 11 role models in real life. Just that, when you call Kareena Lady Singham when she did not do anything much in Singham Returns (2014 Hindi Film), except humiliate the politician for her inspector boyfriend Bajirao Singham (Portrayed by Ajay Devgn), there was no challenge in her role in Singham Returns. Bajirao Singham (Portrayed by Ajay Devgn), is an honest police officer who would go to any lengths to fight against corruption and corrupt people, be it politicians or criminals or whoever. And if there would be a Lady Singham, it would be Rani Mukherjee in Mardaani, not Kareena Kapoor due to the lack of challenge in her role in Singham Returns. I will write my review on Singham Returns when I am back from India. Tahir Raj Bhasin, who portrayed Karan Rastogi aka Walt, is an actor who made an impressive debut in Bollywood with a negative role as the Drug and Sex trafficking kingpin in Mardaani, a dropout from Hindu College (University in New Delhi) and someone who does not respect women and only care about his needs, he has done his role really well. I just loved that edginess and rough attitude that he has just portrayed for his character Walt. The way he speaks English too is also very impressive! Let me come to the supporting cast. First up, Jisshu Sengupta, who portrayed Rani's husband in the film, a Bengali doctor named Dr. Bikram Roy, he has portrayed the role of a Bengali man very well. But more than that, Jisshu is a Bengali in real-life himself. So, he would know how a Bengali man carries himself off or the fashion sense of an every day Bengali man. Mona Ambegaonkar, portrayed a strong acquaintance of Vakil (Portrayed by Anil George), named Minu Rastogi. Minu was a famous prostitute in Delhi who has been in this line of profession for years. She's also the mother to Walt. Mona's expressions would pierce you through your heart. From the elegance in her body language to her head and facial expressions, she has nailed it all perfectly. Anil George, having portrayed the character Vakil, a North Indian man from Delhi, despite being a Malayali (South Indian) ethnically in real life, he has spoken like a hardcore Dilli-wala. It's so hard to believe that he's a South Indian native from the way he carried off the Delhi accent. There is nothing much to write about the music. So, I will go on to the direction of the film. Directed by Pradeep Sarkar, a Bollywood Film Director who hails from Kolkata (West Bengal; East India), he has made a mark in Bollywood through his 2005 Hindi Film Parineeta, starring Vidya Balan as the female lead while marking her Bollywood debut through that film. Honestly, when I found out that Pradeep dada (Dada means brother in Bengali while in Hindi, it means paternal grandfather.) directed Mardaani, I was shocked because normally, he is known to direct light-hearted, soft, romantic, comical films. But however, Mardaani has shown his efforts into making a film serious and intense. He has done really well to make Mardaani a beautiful film, despite the disturbing scenes that can haunt kids mentally. Though I do feel like, if you watch Mardaani 2's trailer and compare it to Mardaani, Mardaani is nothing to Mardaani 2 (Upcoming 2019 Hindi Film). Mardaani 2, I can say, is way more disturbing than Mardaani. But nevertheless, I am dying to watch Mardaani 2! And if you ask me, I would rather watch films like Mardaani 2 (Upcoming 2019 Hindi Film), Kahaani (2012 Hindi Film), The Dirty Picture (2011 Hindi Film) or Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016 Hindi Film) or even Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006 Hindi Film) rather than a stupid film with no precise storyline or topic like Piku (2015 Hindi Film) or a Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013 Hindi Film; Sorry Ranbir Kapoor, I love you but I could not enjoy the movie because I did not understand the story and ending exactly). I can't understand the ending of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and I can't understand what Piku was exactly about. All I know was that Deepika Padukone's father in the film (Portrayed by Amitabh Bachchan), would constantly talk about constipation problems 24/7, making it look like the film is all about constipation. Should I watch it? If you want to see Rani kick ass, go for it! Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - People who want a different sort of Bollywood film, especially a shady one - Rani Mukherjee fans - People above 18/16 (I would still not recommend showing this film to kids who are 16 or 17 unless they are really mature and sensible) My Personal Film Rating: Music: 4/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 4/5 Direction: 4.5/5 Storyline: 4.5/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 22/25 In 100s: 88/100 IMDB: 9/10 Below, I will be attaching the trailer to Mardaani and Mardaani 2! You should check out the Mardaani series if you can! You guys will love Mardaani and Mardaani 2. I've always had the desire to watch and check out Udaan and I finally did! My misconceptions of this film has been cleared. I did not know why I thought of it as a superhero kind of a film since I heard that Ronit Roy was the villain or antagonist in this film... So, I thought it was some thriller kind of film or a superhero film. Udaan is a 2010 Hindi film which talks about a boy named Rohan Singh (Portrayed by Rajat Barmecha), a 16-year-old boy who aspires to become a writer/poet. However, he gets expelled from his school in Shimla, making him return to Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and that also means returning back to his father Bhairav Singh (Portrayed by Ronit Roy), the father of Rohan. Bhairav abuses Rohan, is a hardcore smoker, is an alcoholic and swears at his son Rohan a lot. Rohan later finds out that after his mother's death, his father got married. However, his second wife passed away. And from his second marriage, Bhairav has a 6-year-old school going son named Arjun Singh (Portrayed by Ayan Boradia). Bhairav forces Rohan to give up his dreams and to start working at the family factory. Rohan starts to find ways to make his life better and to get away from Bhairav. Rajat, in this film, was mind blowing! His character reflects kids out there, in this world, who come from abusive families and who are dying to live a better life. There are kids out there, who have dreams and goals. However, they just do not have the courage to speak up due to the fear of the reaction of their parents. However, when they do, some parents will be open and supportive, some will just smack their kids on their face, like how Ronit does with Rajat in this film. Ronit Roy... Where should I start in what to write about him? I have so many things to say that I do not know where my starting point should be. Ok, so I watched this film for Ronit Roy. And... He got me glued to the movie. I was watching the film thoroughly. While seeing Ronit Roy getting into the shade of Bhairav Singh and portraying out the character, I actually got shit scared of his character. I just could not bear the way Bhairav abuses Rohan or even a delicate Arjun for that matter. In fact, I can't handle it when any parent is not supportive towards their child. The fact that Bhairav says nasty things to Rohan like "I'll slit your throat", "Disgraceful", "Writing is for girls. They carry a bag, wear a kurta, write and think they are so great." or even "You're not even a real man. You have not had sex yet." just makes him an abusive father who is really toxic and negative. Since Bhairav is also an oppressive man by nature, he is harsh by nature. He does not know how to smile. He only smiles when he has a glass of alcohol or a cigarette with him, which shows his coping mechanisms with his problems in life. I hated Ronit's character, true. Because of how harsh he is towards his sons Rohan and Arjun (In the film). He is a narrow-minded towards occupations outside engineering, which shows a typical mindset of a man from a family that thinks one earns their bread and butter only through good jobs such as engineering. But now, let me write from the perspective of Ronit's character in the film. We know that parents slap their kids because they love them. And we always become what our parents teach us mostly, though we do have a choice. Bhairav had a shady childhood. His father sent him to boarding school at the age of six, not being there for Bhairav during his tender and formative years. Because of this, his emotions become screwed up, tendering towards looking and being emotionless while growing up. His dream to send Rohan to England helps him to winnow his own parents. From Bhairav's perspective, the way to make someone understand that something is wrong is not through love and kind words. But rather, he would verbally and physically abuse the person and will ask for forgiveness because he thinks he can always be forgiven by the victim for his actions. Bhairav got married three times. His first two wives passed away, which leads to Rohan and Arjun being motherless kids. He is not able to feel or reciprocate the emotions of a woman, which makes him have less harmony and more tension with a woman. Honestly, more than hating Bhairav, I would hate his father, for being a horrible and an abusive father to both Jimmy (Portrayed by Ram Kapoor), Bhairav's younger brother and Bhairav himself. But at the end, though it was not wise of Rohan and Arjun to leave their father due to financial status of not working yet, I felt that Bhairav deserved his own sons leaving him ONLY BECAUSE he needs to learn what the word "Love" means. He takes people for granted and keeps and chases people away as and when he likes, like what he has done to Jimmy. He will only come to Jimmy when he has a problem in his marriage. He also needs to stop physically and verbally abusing his near and dear ones too. Coming to Ayan Boradia, he was so cute in this film. His innocence is so fragile and depicts how a six-year-old would fell when around an abusive and toxic parent. All kisa would want is love and a family. Ram Kapoor is known to be the light of this film. His character, Jimmy Singh, is way opposite of what Bhairav is as a person. Though he was given the same upbringing as Bhairav by both their own father, Jimmy chose not to become like his father. He chose to become a more compassionate person and a more open-minded and positive man. Ronit Roy and Ram Kapoor share an amazing chemistry as brothers, probably because they are really good friends in real life for years. Probably since the early 2000s. The music of the film was composed by Amit Trivedi. The film's music was used perfectly in this film. When to use music, where to locate the music, the directors have done it perfectly! And the film was directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. The film was also written by Vikramaditya himself, along with Anurag Kashyap. Only people like Vikramaditya Motwane or Anurag Kashyap can make such realistic films with an inspiring story. And I love films made by Anurag Kashyap! Especially his segment in 2018 Netflix film, Lust Stories, is my most favourite segment in the whole film. The film, Udaan, was not commercially successfully because most Indian audience would not watch something like this. However, this film was critically successful. So successful that it ended up being screened in the Cannes Film Festival 2010 under the Un Certain Regard section. This film was also screened at the 2011 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and the Giffoni Film Festival. Should I watch it?
You should. It's important to learn about domestic violence towards kids. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - Families. - Ronit Roy fans. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 4/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 4.5/5 Direction: 4/5 Storyline: 4/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 21.5/25 In 100s: 86/100 IMDB: 9/10 It's been very long since I've watched a Bollywood film. Honestly, I am not too fond of Ranveer Singh as a person, despite him being a really good actor in today's generation. However, Padmaavat is one of the films featuring Ranveer Singh as the male lead that I am very fond of. Because of his acting and Shahid Kapoor's acting and the music of course. Padmaavat is a 2018 Historical Drama Hindi film which talks about a sultan named Alauddin Khilji (Portrayed by Ranveer Singh). His desire is to rule the whole India and was told that for his desire to become reality, he needs to capture the beautiful queen of Chittor, named Rani Padmavati (Portrayed by Deepika Padukone). Her husband, Maharawal Ratan Singh (Portrayed by Shahid Kapoor), goes to all lengths to protect his beloved wife from the evil sultan. Even though Ranveer Singh is not the best actor of Bollywood despite being very talented, he proved his talent in this movie. The fact that he locked himself in a room for three weeks just to get into the character proves how hardworking he is as a person. It is debatable on whether he is a star kid or not because even though Sonam Kapoor is his maternal third cousin, he did not grow up with them. Deepika Padukone, even though I am not fond of her, was not bad. To be honest, I was wanting to see her as a warrior. When I heard of this film coming out in 2017/2018, I thought it would be a woman-centric film, where she would fight for her community or dynasty. However, nope. I was proven wrong and I was disappointed. All she did in the film was save Shahid Kapoor from jail and commit Jauhar (Mass suicide) with other Rajput women in the film. Shahid Kapoor was the parallel lead in this film. His performance was just as good as Ranveer Singh. Just that, his character was not as strong as that of Ranveer Singh's. Strong in the sense of being prominent. But whether he is playing a supporting role or the lead role, Shahid gives his best and puts in lots of hard work. He is a diligent actor at heart and that is what makes me very fond of Shahid, not just his looks and character. The prominent supporting actors in this film were Aditi Rao Hydari and Jim Sarbh. First I will write about Aditi. Although her role was not important, she did well in her role. And now I will write about Jim Sarbh. Though I have not seen Neerja (2016 Hindi film), which was his debut film, I want to see it for his negative character. With the role of Malik Kafur, where his character is a eunuch and a servant to Khilji, he has portrayed this character very well. As much as Ranveer Singh stole the show, I felt that Jim Sarbh stole the show as much with his acting. He makes Parsis very proud and definitely deserves more Bollywood films in the future. Coming to the music, I love the music in this film. My favourite songs in this film are Nainowale Ne, Binte Dil and Ek Dil Ek Jaan. Especially Binte Dil, which was sung by Arijit Singh, I can't get over that song and Jim's acting in that music video. Sanjay Leela Bhansali made this film a beautiful film. He has glorified history, the Sultan culture and the Rajput Hindu culture in such a beautiful way. Another film that he has glorified was Devdas (2002 Hindi film), where he has made the Bengali culture so beautiful that you would want to experience the Bengali culture. I love the Rajputs for their fearless, dignified and courageous personality. They are the ones who would teach us how to be strong and bold in our actions and to not fear anything and just go for it. Should I watch it?
You should. Do not watch it for Deepika Padukone, but watch it for the men. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - Families. - Historical lovers. - Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor fans. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 3.5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 3.5/5 Storyline: 4/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 19.5/25 In 100s: 78/100 IMDB: 8/10 It is true that Bollywood lacks creativity as most of our films have the same plot and same ending as a whole. The good Bollywood films are either biopics or remakes of a regional Indian film. Drishyam is a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam. Drishyam is a 2015 Hindi film that talks about a man named Vijay Salgaonkar (Portrayed by Ajay Devgn), who is a fourth grade dropout and an orphan. He is a middle-class man and has a family consisting of his wife Nandini Salgaonkar (Portrayed by Shriya Saran) and his daughters Anju Salgaonkar (Portrayed by Ishita Dutta) and Anu Salgaonkar (Portrayed by Mrunal Jadhav). The Salgaonkar family's family rhythm was consistent that nothing else mattered to them and they were all living happy lives. One day, a boy named Sameer Deshmukh aka Sam (Portrayed by Rishabh Chaddha), drops by Anju's house and shows her a video that he has on his phone, which was basically Anju bathing in the bathroom at camp, and asks her to sleep with him for one night. At night, when Sam came over to the Salgaonkar's backyard house, Anju and Nandini have requested Sam to delete the video and to not upload it on the Internet. Initially, he refused to give in to Nandini's pleads. After finally giving in to Nandini's request, he has shared that he will delete the video IF Nandini has sex with him. Unintentionally, Anju kills sam with a metal rod in their backyard house. After killing Sam, they have buried him in their compost pit which Vijay has dug. Vijay becomes aware about the situation and will go to any lengths to protect his family from the Goa police department, including Sam's mother, Meera Deshmukh (Portrayed by Tabu), who is the Goa Inspector General of Police officer. I just love Ajay Devgn's consistency in his performance. He never fails to disappoint me. From Deewangee (2002 Hindi film) to U, Me Aur Hum (2008 Hindi Film) to All The Best (2009 Hindi Film) to Singham (2011 Hindi Film) to Singham Returns (2014 Hindi Film), then Drishyam (2015 Hindi Film) and Baadshaho (2017 Hindi Film) and now De De Pyaar De (2019 Hindi Film). Well, I have not seen too many of his films, especially those in the 90s. But from whatever I have seen, I just enjoy watching his films as a whole. I like his choices of films. In fact, he has bagged a few amazing films for 2020 such as Bhuj: The Pride of India, Tanhaji - The Unsung and Maidaan. Coming to Shriya Saran, I fell in love with her after seeing her in this movie. By the way, this was the first Bollywood film of Shriya Saran that I've seen. She has other films, but I've not seen them. I chose to see her in Drishyam as I know the plot and also, I have seen the Malayalam version of Drishyam, the original basically. So, my experience in watching Shriya Saran has maximised and in fact, I prefer her over the South Indian actress Meena, who portrayed the wife of superstar Mohanlal in the Malayalam Drishyam. Ajay Devgn portrayed Mohanlal's character in the Hindi version. I feel so sad for Shriya because she gets offered so many crap films down South and I've seen her in Tamil films, where she is basically offered nothing to do in the film. She is just offered roles that doesn't unleash her acting potential. After watching Drishyam, I do feel that Shriya needs to work in Bollywood more often and she needs stronger roles. Also, Shriya could have done Bajirao Mastani (2015 Hindi Film) much better than Deepika Padukone as she is way more talented than Deepika. AND, she knows Kathak. I adored Mrunal Jadhav in this film. Other than being a cheeky kid in this film, her expressions were so real that you would just feel her as a whole. I felt her fear. It made me want to cry and my heart sank while watching her emotions of fear, love, joy and sadness. She is an amazing actor! Mrunal Jadhav and Amrita Mukherjee are my favourite child actors of all-time! I love chubby kids too as they are just so cheeky and innocent by nature, which makes people's heart melt and makes them happy as well. And coming to Ishita Dutta, this was probably the only film that I have seen of hers. But on the basis of this film, I feel that of course, Ishita can always improve in her acting skills as it feels like she was a little fake. But nevertheless, she has proven that she has the potential to act and can improve in her skills. Coming to Tabu, this was the first film of Tabu's that I have seen in my entire life. She played a mother and a police officer as well. Her acting was just so real and so gripping that as much as a woman is a working woman with a high position, she is a human being and a mother at the end of the day and she is bound to be emotional about her child. Rishabh Chaddha, who portrayed one of the negative characters in this film, did his role well. He perfectly portrayed how a notorious boy behaves. His behaviour normally reflects the upbringing of his parents and what they have taught him. Rajat Kapoor, who portrayed Mahesh Deshmukh, aka Sam's father in this film, has shown that not every rich parent wants their child to be pampered to the extent that they must get everything they want or that they will start taking advantage of their parent's love. I do not know if this is true but from my observations, women tend to pamper their child more than men do. I could be wrong but this is a possibility. The supporting cast of this film were good in the roles they did, even though they were small ones. They have added whatever they can to make this film amazing. Even though this film was not the typical singing and dancing film, this film had 2 songs which depicted the emotions of the Salgaonkar family perfectly. The first song, Carbon Copy, sung by Ash King, shows the happy life of the Salgaonkar family and how much they love each other and how strong their family bond is as a whole. The second song, Dum Ghutta Hai, sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Rekha Bharadwaj, depicts how the Salgaonkar family sticks with each other during their bad times and how they feel at this point of time. The music of this film was directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, although the film Drishyam was not directed by him. When I saw this film, I felt so sad because this film was so good and it deserved so much more than what it got. Shriya Saran and Tabu deserve much more love than what they are getting. Ajay Devgn deserves to be appreciated by the audience more often. Such nonsensical films like Bajirao Mastani does well and becomes one of the highest grossing Bollywood films WORLDWIDE. Overrated actors like Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh get a lot more recognition than very talented people like Tabu or Ayushmann Khurrana or Rajkumar Rao. But anyway, let's leave all that. One thing I can definitely say about Indian Cinema... Primarily Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam and maybe Telugu Cinema (I can't say about Marathi or Kannada Cinema as I have not seen many Marathi and Kannada films), is that they are progressing in what they show to the audience. I'll explain how. Initially, couples were often shown to have boys as their kids as sons were seen to be capable and the ideal kids that parents want to have. In the past, Indian Cinema has shown that daughters get less love than sons and that they are seen as incapable or not worthy. However, films like Drishyam represent progress because in this film, Ajay and Shriya's characters have loved their daughters so much that they mean the world to them. I like this progress. Even this Hindi television show, Bade Acche Lagte Hain, which is one of my favourite Indian television shows of all-time, shows the female lead in an unconventional manner as the female lead character is shown to be working as a teacher, or being a single mother and working and taking care of her only daughter in Dubai, UAE five years after her daughter entered into this world. The show has also shown that nine years later, the male and female lead have three daughters and again, the daughters mean the world to them and they never treated them any less than that of a son. I really love this initiative because this will change the mentality of Indians or Asians towards daughters. India will take a long time for the mentality there to change, but I am hopeful that the mentality of Indians will change. Should I watch it?
You must. In fact, to maximise your experience while watching Drishyam, before you watch the Hindi version, watch the Malayalam version. DO NOT THINK OF WATCHING THE TAMIL VERSION OR ANY OTHER SOUTH INDIAN VERSION. They can't match up to the standards of the original or the Hindi version. Just stick to watching the Hindi and Malayalam version please. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - Families. - People who want an unconventional Bollywood film. - People who do not like too much singing and dancing in a film. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 3.5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 5/5 Storyline: 5/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 22/25 In 100s: 88/100 IMDB: 9/10 Mom Review - Although I hate Sridevi as a person, I will admit, she is really good at acting!8/23/2019 This is probably my second film of Sridevi that I have watched but the first that I loved. I am not too much a fan of the film English Vinglish (2012 Hindi Film). I generally like films that are more intense in terms of the story and the acting and all of that. I do not know how to explain it, but you will get what I mean. Ok, so coming to the story... Mom is a 2017 Hindi Film that revolves around the life of a Biology teacher named Devki Sabarwal (Portrayed by Sridevi). A second wife to Anand Sabarwal (Portrayed by Adnan Siddiqui) and step-mother to Arya Sabarwal (Portrayed by Sajal Aly), she led a happy life until her step-daughter gets brutally gang raped by four people, Mohit Chadda (Portrayed by Adarsh Gourav), Charles Deewan (Portrayed by Vikas Verma), Security Guard Baburam (Portrayed by Pitobash) and Jagan (Portrayed by Abhimanyu Singh). CBI officer Matthew Francis (Portrayed by Akshaye Khanna) is the investigating officer of Arya's case. However, since traces of alcohol was found in Arya's body, the law could not give her justice and have released the four boys. Since the law can't punish the rapists, Devki seeks help from a detective named Daya Shankar "DK" Kapoor (Portrayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui) to get justice for her step-daughter. Minus her cameo appearance in Zero (2018 Hindi Film), this film marks Sridevi's last film of her acting career as a whole before she passed away on 24/2/2018 in Dubai due to accidental drowning in her hotel room. Ok, let me put my dislike or hatred for Sridevi aside, I will admit that she looks very pretty and that she was amazing in this film. My favourite scene was especially at the start, where she confiscates Adarsh Gourav's phone in class. She was so firm and it was so good like seriously. I do not know what to say when I saw this film... Her acting as a whole was amazing in this film. You would fall in love with Sridevi's acting after watching this film. By the way, Sridevi followed a vegetarian diet and was raised as a vegetarian, which is why she was good looking. (Although Madhuri Dixit looks better than Sridevi. Madhuri Dixit is also vegetarian, by the way.) Coming to Sajal Aly, who also played the female lead in this film. Other than finding her really beautiful in this film, her acting skills were amazing. Sajal acted so well in this film because she had a tragic childhood as well, where her father left her mother, her siblings and Sajal herself for another woman. So, when her mother passed away just before the release of Mom. So, that pain that her character, Arya Sabarwal, was so real and believable because Sajal acted in such a way that makes us believe that she really feels this way. If her acting is so real and so believable, we just think that it's not a movie and that's a good sign. Sajal Aly is not an Indian. She is a Pakistani. I have seen Pakistanis in Bollywood films and those singing Hindi songs and I admit, they are super talented. Pakistan actually makes use of real talent, which India needs to focus on. India needs to stop prioritising nepotism and start focusing on real talent. As audiences, we are fine with star kids, PROVIDED that they are talented. I love Pakistani artists as much as I love Indian artists. In fact, I am right now, fangirling over Coke Studio Pakistan Seasons 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10. When I hear songs from Coke Studio Pakistan, I just enter a whole new world. I'll write about the supporting cast of the film now. Adnan Siddiqui, again, a Pakistani, played Sridevi's husband in this film. He has perfectly portrayed how a father of a daughter feels when he hears that his daughter gets raped and what he would do to actually get justice for his daughter such as appealing to high court or finding a better lawyer. If he can't do anything, his anger just burns internally and tries to move on or he tries to distract his daughter from the situation by suggesting to leave the city or to go for a holiday. Akshaye Khanna, who played a investigating officer in this film, made me actually think about his performances in the past, such as that of Humraaz (2002 Hindi Film), Deewangee (2002 Hindi Film) and Race (2008 Hindi Film). I'd often remember him playing negative characters rather than the good guy. He has made a mark in the industry through negative characters. I even heard that in Dishoom (2017 Hindi Film), he played a negative character, though I have not seen the film. Sad to see that good actors like Akshaye do not get as much films now. Akshaye is talented and deserving but is not lucky. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, was just marvellous. Other than looking like a detective, he acted like one. People will say how? I will suppose that a detective can't be going around in a coat and everything and just showing to the world that he is a detective. If you do that, you are dead. Another case where an actor is very deserving and talented but doesn't have luck by his side. Nawazuddin Siddiqui deserves more films and he needs directors that will have faith in his acting and who can bring out the best in him. Coming to Vikas Verma, Aadarsh Gourav, Pitobash and Abhimanyu Singh, who played the main negative characters in this film, they did well in their respective roles. Adarsh Gourav shows that there are men, who have chauvinistic mind sets and think that girls are their property. Vikas played the typical playboy, who would charm girls and be a gentleman until he gets what he wants. Abhimanyu and Pitobash were good in their respective roles, although it was not much. The music director of this film is A.R. Rahman. We do not hear his music often nowadays as compared to the past. But, when he does compose music, he strikes hard. The songs in Mom were wonderful! My favourite songs from this film were Kooke Kawn, Freaking Life and O Sona Tere Liye. Normally, I do not think that A.R. Rahman would compose party songs often except, he composed Chiggy Wiggy, which was a party song from Blue (2009 Hindi Film). But, that was not as good as Freaking Life or Kooke Kawn, for that matter. I hate Sridevi as a person because of the fact that she chased married men like Mithun Chakraborty and Boney Kapoor and tried breaking two marriages, though she was successful in breaking one, which was Boney's first marriage to Mona Kapoor, ruining Arjun Kapoor's happy family in the past. So yeah, despite her being good at acting and her career being really successful, I hate her as a person for what she did to Arjun's relationship with Boney Kapoor and what she did to Mona Kapoor and Arjun's happy family as a whole. And yes, she feels no shame about stealing another woman's man. After watching Mom, I just wish that Pakistanis can act in our films or sing in the Bollywood industry. Some of the best songs were sung by Pakistanis themselves. It's so sad, how politics actually comes in the way of our relation. A few months ago, Bollywood singer Sunidhi Chauhan, sang in Pakistan. If Pakistan can allow Indians to sing in their country, why can't we do the same? Why bring politics into our equation? I just wish and pray that Indians and Pakistanis would put their differences aside and just become one. We share similar interests such as Music and Bollywood. We speak different but similar languages, which is Hindi and Urdu. Hindi-speaking people can understand Urdu as Urdu has similar words to that of Hindi, which is what makes it easy for Urdu-speaking people to understand Hindi well. Indians and Pakistanis share the same culture. So, why not we just put our differences aside and just respect and love each other? Should I watch it?
Yes. Watch it. Watch it and you will know why I loved this film. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - People aged 13 and above - People who want intense stories - Those who want to remember Sridevi and appreciate her acting skills in this last film of her career. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 3.5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 5/5 Storyline: 5/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 22/25 In 100s: 88/100 IMDB: 8/10 (Instead of being exact for IMDB, I have decided to go in whole numbers as I just found out that is how one rates on IMDB rather than giving exact numbers.) After two weeks, I have decided to go back to the 2000s and watch a film between the period of 2000 to 2009. So, since I am currently in that Shahid Kapoor fangirl mode, I have decided to watch Kaminey. Kaminey is a 2009 action film that talks about two estranged twins named Charlie and Guddu (Both boys portrayed by Shahid Kapoor). While speaking, Charlie lisps while Guddu stammers. Charlie has a dream of becoming a bookmaker at the racecourse, where he works for three Bengali brothers who fix races at the racecourse. Charlie is closer to Mikhail (Portrayed by Chandan Roy Sanyal) than he is to his own brother, Guddu. On the other hand, Guddu is in love with politician Sunil Shekhar Bhope's (Portrayed by Amol Gupte) younger sister, Sweety Shekhar Bhope (Portrayed by Priyanka Chopra Jonas). Sunil is a politician of Indian state Maharashtra and takes pride in being a Marathi-speaking man, to the extent that he wants to marry Sweety off to a rich, Maharashtrian man. However, Guddu is an immigrant from Uttar Pradesh, North India, which pisses Sunil off and makes him want to kill Guddu to save his votes and honour to the Maharashtrian society. On Charlie's side, Charlie has to give a guitar suitcase full of drugs to the Drug Lord Tashi (Portrayed by Tenzing Nima). Guddu, who was earlier mistaken to be Charlie by Inspectors Lobo (Portrayed by Shiv Kumar Subramaniam) and Lele (Portrayed by Hrishikesh Joshi), asks Guddu to find a guitar case full of drugs and give it back to them. So, from then on, the search for the drugged guitar case is what makes both Guddu and Charlie meet again and unite them again to fight off their respective villains. First up, I have fallen deeply in love with Shahid Kapoor, like literally, in a fangirl manner of course. After watching him in his latest movie, Kabir Singh (2019 Hindi film), seven times, that too, in the cinema, I have decided to watch his work more often. When I saw Kaminey, I felt so sad for Shahid because he is such a talented actor, way more talented than the overrated and overhyped Ranveer Singh. However, he does not get the hype and recognition that he actually deserves, which is what makes me cry emotionally. I mean, I just wonder... Why is it that male actors like Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur and Varun Dhawan for instance, who are super talented, super hardworking and super good-looking, do not get the same craze, recognition and hype like that of Ranveer Singh? In fact, I feel that Ranveer Singh is a very loud, arrogant, over the top actor who is full of himself and can never match the standards like that of the six male actors I have mentioned above. What baffles me or makes me laugh out loud the most is that on Koffee With Karan Season 3, Ranveer Singh said that he can play Shahid Kapoor's characters in Kaminey better than Kaminey himself... I mean what kind of over-confidence is that? First up, Ranveer is a childish and loud actor who can't become subtle and passive. Secondly, he is an arrogant person who will take everything to the top and has fame in his head. I don't understand how Ranveer can just boast that he is a better actor than Shahid. In fact, the audience prefers Shahid Kapoor over Ranveer Singh as an actor. Even a good script like Gully Boy (2019 Hindi Film), which features Ranveer Singh as the lead of the film... His performance is not as memorable as that of Shahid's in Kabir Singh, Ranbir Kapoor's in Sanju (2018 Hindi Film) or even Vicky Kaushal's performance in Raazi (2018 Hindi Film)! This proves that there are so many actors who are much more talented than Ranveer and who deserve the greater hype and better recognition and appreciation. Ranveer just has an over-enthusiastic PR team that helps to overhype Ranveer Singh to keep him at the top and bring other actors down, which will not last in the long run. I think actors who can portray Shahid's characters in Kaminey well would be someone like Ranbir Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra or Varun Dhawan. They are a bunch of talented men in today's current lot of actors. All they need is a well-written script that can unleash their talent. Now let me come to Priyanka Chopra Jonas in this film. I am a big fan of Priyanka and her work. I see her work very often and when I saw Kaminey, I just wish that she would come back to Mumbai and do more Hindi films, because I think Bollywood really needs to bring in talent back and stop prioritising nepotism. Oh! I forgot to mention, she looked really gorgeous in her Marathi avatar in this film! Honestly, I have no problem with star kids, PROVIDED that they are super talented like Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur, Ishaan Khatter or Varun Dhawan for instance. I have a problem if Bollywood brings in star kids who have no talent like that of Janhvi Kapoor and Athiya Shetty. Maybe to some extent, Shraddha Kapoor and Ananya Pandey, although they are good-looking (Shraddha and Ananya), it will not last long in the long run. It's your acting skills that matter, at the end of the day. People who say that Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha are not talented, please watch their films Sanju (2018 Hindi Film), Neerja (2016 Hindi Film), Lootera (2013 Hindi Film), Kalank (2019 Hindi Film), Ishaqzaade (2012 Hindi Film) and 2 States (2014 Hindi Film). Stars like them actually need a really good script that can unleash their acting skills. In fact, I think that really good scripts and storylines can help unleash the best of an actor or an actress, most of the time. Let me write about one of the main antagonists of the film, Amol Gupte. I knew about Amol Gupte through his 2014 Hindi film Singham Returns, where he plays a corrupt sage, who runs an illegal drug business and traffics girls at red light areas in Mumbai to remain rich and to also keep to the trust of Mumbai citizens. He is so good in his negative roles that I feel he needs more villainous roles like that of his in Kaminey or Singham Returns... Because he scared the s*** out of me while I was watching Kaminey. Coming to the other actors, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tenzing Nima, Hrishikesh Joshi and Shiv Kumar Subramaniam and the whole cast... I just loved their contribution to this beautiful movie. I just loved the whole cast as a whole for whatever roles they have done. Now, coming to the music of the film, which was composed by the director of the film, Vishal Bharadwaj himself... I just loved the songs of the film. One song that is very addictive is Dhan Te Nan, which is basically an iconic Indian song as a whole, more than Why This Kolaveri Di, a Tamil song from 2012 Tamil film 3. Though I love Dhan Te Nan, my most favourite song of the film is Pehli Baar Mohabbat, which plays at the end of the film. Initially, I watched this film just to gaze at Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra Jonas... However, I am glad that I have watched this film. Not just for Shahid and Priyanka, but because of the storyline and music. It touches on the dark side of Mumbai, where all the underworld business happens like that of illegal drugs, trafficking of girls, black money and all of that. The storyline is very realistic and it is just so intense to watch that you will be immersed in the film. The film, as a whole, is pretty dark and shady, so that is what makes the film more intense and exciting for viewers to watch. That is what kept me engaged to this film! And, I would say that this film is one of Shahid's finest and top notch films EVER! In his career! He deserves a lot more than what he is getting right now. He deserves a lot more fame, hype and recognition. Should I watch it?
Yes, IF you are open to watching shady films with good storylines. It's not your typical loud masala story like that of Simmba (2018 Hindi Film) or Chennai Express (2013 Hindi Film). Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - People aged 16 and above - People who love dark and shady films - People who want to see if Ranveer can overtake Shahid in terms of acting or whatsoever. Well, since Ranveer boasted that he can do Kaminey than Shahid, you should watch the film and find out for yourself. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 3.5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 4/5 Storyline: 4.5/5 Performance: 5/5 Overall: 20.5/25 In 100s: 82/100 IMDB: 8.2/10 So, initially, I wanted to write about Udta Punjab (2016 Hindi Film) and release my review today. However, I could not watch the movie as the story was not my kind of story, for some reason and decided to watch Chopsticks, which was recommended by Indian Cricketer Shreyas Iyer. Chopsticks is a 2019 Hindi Netflix Film that talks about a lady named Nirma Sahastrabuddhe (Portrayed by Mithila Palkar), who works as a Chinese translator. Even though she is humble and diligent by nature, she is low in self-esteem. On the same day when she bought her new i10 car in Mumbai, her car gets stolen. She gets the contact number of the Artist (Portrayed by Abhay Deol) and contacts him. From then on, while the Artist helps Nirma to find her car, Nirma starts exploring the other side of herself and starts to grow as a person. This is the first film of Mithila Palkar that I'm seeing. I can definitely say that she is a really talented girl because other than looking like a cute but socially awkward girl, she knew how to act like one. Another film of Mithila that I want to see would be Karwaan (2018 Hindi Film), which stars Mithila herself, Dulquer Salmaan and Irrfan Khan in lead roles. I just found it a joy to watch her perform and also, to admire her curls and the way she spoke Marathi in between. And... Mithila's Chinese language was a joke! It was so funny that I just laughed in between! Now, let's move on to Abhay Deol. Abhay was just so handsome in this low-key manly look of his in the film! I just fell head over heels for him while watching him in Chopsticks. The last film that I have seen of his was Zero (2018 Hindi Film), where he played Katrina Kaif's love interest. But as usual, Abhay has proven his potential to act and he has the talent, way more talent than Ranveer Singh. It is just so sad how Bollywood just goes for popularity over talent. Abhay Deol deserves a lot more than what he is getting right now. But with Indian films starting to be directly released to Netflix India, I am glad that actors will now get more opportunities to unleash their talent. Now, let me write about Vijay Raaz... I have not seen him in Delhi Belly (2011 Hindi Film), so let me say that Chopsticks was the first film of his that I have seen. He is perfect for supporting roles. Though, I do not know on whether Vijay Raaz is a character with grey or black shades... I am still trying to find out about that. Though Achint Kaur did not have a big part in the film, she did whatever she was given really well. The last film that I have seen of hers would be Kalank (2019 Hindi Film). And trust me, she nails every role that is given to her. Though there was no soundtrack released for this film, the song, Dil Uda Patang Sa, is my favourite song from the film. The second song, Mujhme Main Naya Sa, was not really my kind of song, though overall, I did enjoy the songs in this film. I personally found the lessons of the film beautiful. The first thing up is that when you do things that you have never done before, you just grow into a more confident person as a whole and you start to explore yourself and find the other side of yourself. Secondly, you have to treat people the way you want to be treated. Nirma stole Faiyaz Bhai's (Portrayed by Vijay Raaz) goat Bahubali only because she wanted him to know how it feels when you steal an item that means a lot to another person. Third up, what I really loved about this film is the setting. The story was set in Mumbai, the capital city of West Indian state Maharashtra. And, personally, I have not been to Mumbai for the last 11 years and I really want to go to Mumbai again. If possible, I would love to move to Mumbai and be with my family and friends. And definitely I would say that even though Mumbai has a fast-paced life, it is a city where you will feel waves of emotions. Mumbai has a fast side to the city and an emotional side to the city. This is what makes Mumbai stand out from other cities... In fact, other metropolitan Indian cities like Bangalore, New Delhi and Kolkata radiate the same vibes of having a fast-paced life and an emotional city. This is what I love about India. And since I have the Overseas Citizen of India card, which makes me a Permanent Resident of India for life, I can move to India as and when I want. I still call myself an Indian even though I am not an Indian citizen. In fact, I feel that the Indian film Industry needs to film within India more often instead of glamorising foreign cities too often so that we can just appreciate the beauty of our country. Should I watch it?
It's a nice movie. You can trust the taste of Shreyas Iyer. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - Families - People of any age - Anyone who wants quirky films My Personal Film Rating: Music: 3.5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 3.5/5 Direction: 3.5/5 Storyline: 4/5 Performance: 4.5/5 Overall: 19/25 In 100s: 76/100 IMDB: 7.6/10 Normally, I do not watch horror films as I often get nightmares. However, as a kid, when I saw the poster of Drag Me To Hell, I have always been curious to watch this movie, for some reason. Drag Me To Hell is a 2009 Horror film that talks about a loan officer named Christine Brown (Portrayed by Alison Lohman), who works at Wilshire Pacific Bank in Los Angeles, a city in the Western state of the United States, California. Christine talks to her manager Mr Jacks (Portrayed by David Paymer) about the assistant manager position and he tells her to demonstrate tough decision making and uses Stu Rubin (Portrayed by Reggie Lee) as an example, sharing that even though Stu is a new guy in the block, he is able to punch the numbers and make tough decisions, which is what Mr Jacks wants to see in a bank manager, whether he or she is an assistant or not. An elderly woman named Sylvia Ganush (Portrayed by Lorna Raver) drops by Wilshire Pacific Bank and waits for Christine to attend to her. She requests Christine for another extension on her mortgage payment as she has been spending money on her sickness and to get it treated. Christine initially refused to give the extension, until Sylvia insisted on Christine talking to her manager. So, Christine went to Mr Jacks's cabin and speaks about extending the mortgage payment of Mrs Ganush. However, Mr Jacks has shared with Christine that the back has already given two extensions for the deadline of her mortgage payment and on such foreclosures, the bank will seize the trapped equity and make the fees a sizeable amount. Christine understood that Mr Jacks was implying a no on the extension, and explains that if the bank does not extend the deadline of Mrs Ganush's mortgage payment, she will be kicked out of the house. Mr Jacks tells Christine that it is a tough decision to make, so it will be Christine's decision. Since Christine knew that Mr Jacks was wanting Christine to demonstrate tough decision making and that it was a test for her, Christine made her decision to not extend the loan. Christine goes back to her seat and sees Mrs Ganush stealing all her candy and being all unkempt, especially with her dirty dentures on Christine's table, disgusting Christine out. She tells Mrs Ganush that the bank is not able to extend the deadline of her mortgage payment for her house. Mrs Ganush was shocked and upset. However, Christine tried to help her by suggesting to Mrs Ganush to live with her granddaughter as she has listed her granddaughter's name in her mortgage payment form's reference list. However, Mrs Ganush has an ego problem and refuses to live with her granddaughter. Christine then tried to tell Mrs Ganush to live in a nursing home and again, Mrs Ganush refuses to live there. Since then, Christine could not help anymore. Mrs Ganush begs to Christine in front of everybody to extend her loan and Christine calls the security since Mrs Ganush tried licking Christine's skirt while begging to her. Mrs Ganush tells Christine that she has shamed her in front of everybody. Feeling bad Christine calls out to Mrs Ganush and suddenly, Mrs Ganush was chanting some black magic spell and tried to strangle Christine until the security guards took her away. Before Christine leaves the bank, Mr Jacks tells her that he loved the McPherson loan and wanted Christine to finish it up at home tonight so that he could present the loan to the Regional Vice President. Christine happily accepts it. Also, Mr Jacks shares with Christine that she is his first choice of becoming the assistant manager. As Christine enters the carpark, she finds Mrs Ganush sitting at the back of the car and trying to attack Christine. Eventually, Christine thought that she won the fight. However, Mrs Ganush manages to break her window car and rips off a button from Christine's coat and chants the demon's name, which is the Lamia, and curses the button and returns it back to Christine. Christine's boyfriend Clayton "Clay" Dalton (Portrayed by Justin Long), finds Christine attacked in the carpark and is glad that she is at least safe. As Christine and Clay both walk around together, Christine thought that she could have extended Mrs Ganush's mortgage payment. However, Clay said that she did the right thing and Mrs Ganush can't keep on asking for extensions constantly. As Christine and Clay pass by a Spiritual Reading shop, Christine shares with Clay that she wants to get her fortune read. They enter the shop and then comes Rham Jas (Portrayed by Dileep Rao), the owner of the shop. Christine shares with Rham Jas that she wants her fortune to be read. Rham Jas reads Christine's fortune and shares with her that a dark spirit has come upon her and that somebody has cursed her to go to hell. Which means that Mrs Ganush has performed some black magic kind of spell on Christine to make sure that she is dragged to hell for not helping her out. Rham Jas shares with Christine that she only has a few days to get rid of the curse before she gets dragged to Hell. First up, this film I would say, is a woman-oriented film as the main character was portrayed by Alison Lohman, which means that I will obviously talk about her first. I like her performance very much in this film. In fact, I felt bad for her character because it was not like as if she wanted to not extend Mrs Ganush's mortgage loan in the film. There were many reasons on why one would not extend the loan. Alison's character might have done it to impress her manager in the film. But if it were me, I would not extend the old lady's loan because how many more times will she ask for her loan to be extended? The more you ask for your loan to be extended, then the higher the interest rate will be for you, which then means that you will have to pay a higher amount of loan, which lands you into more financial trouble. Alison did try to help Lorna Raver in the film but of course, Lorna's character is an egoistic and fussy old woman because she has developed an attachment to her own house. I understand this situation that old people will face but the old lady needs to think from a different perspective. Coming to Justin Long, the guy who played Alison's boyfriend in the film and Professor Clayton "Clay" Dalton, I mean... He is the guy that almost any girl would want to have. Someone who has an open and liberated mind, someone caring, someone understanding and helpful, someone who will protect the people that he loves, someone who is intelligent, financially stable, logical and practical with a touch of romance in his personality. But he did show one thing that can be true about most men. Most men GENERALLY do not believe that such things like Black Magic or evil spirits exist and rather, it is in someone's head. However, GENERALLY, women do believe that there are evil spirits and people who do practice black magic. There will be some women who do not believe that there are such things and there are some men who believe that such things do exist. So, it actually depends from person to person. Lorna Raver's performance scared the **** out of me. She is the main villain of the film, I would say, because after all, she has performed a black magic spell on Alison Lohman in the film, just because her loan could not be extended.That was very wrong of the old lady. Why curse an employee when she has tried her best to give you other solutions? Lorna's character is just a f***** up woman who acts like the world revolves around her and acts like a spoilt brat because of her age. But then, if Lorna has made you feel this way while she was acting in this film, then that proves how good of an actress she actually is. Let me now write about the supporting actors of the film. First up, I would say David Paymer was partially at fault, but again, he had a reason for being hesitant about extending the mortgage payment. I kind of understand because it is a mortgage payment for the house and one needs to pay the full amount and it will not be fait to other people on mortgage payment if the bank keeps on extending the old lady's mortgage payment deadline. Reggie Lee, who also played another negative character in the film named Stu Rubin, has performed well and has perfectly displayed how company politics works out and is like. I would say Reggie's character is negative because in the film, Reggie was out to become the assistant manager of Wilshire Pacific Bank and wants to defeat Alison (in this film) for the position. Next, I will come to Dileep Rao, a South Indian culturally but born and raised in the United States, Dileep was a joy to see in the movie. Though you will notice that in Hollywood, people who are ethnically South Asian will be seen as someone who reads fortunes, or are geeks, or have strong Indian accents.... And this honestly, irks me sometimes. But otherwise, I am ok. I just feel that Hollywod needs to stop stereotyping South Asians like Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Nepalis and Bangladeshis and maybe explore the new side of South Asians so that other people will know that South Asians are not only about spirituality and studies and all of that. The other minor actors and actresses, Adriana Barraza, Bojana Novakovic, Chelcie Ross and Molly Cheek, they did well in their own respective parts. Since this film is not a musical film where there will be actors and actresses dancing, I will not write about the film's music and I will not include it in my ratings at the end of the article. Honestly, when I was 12-years-old, I have always wanted to see this film because I thought that Alison Lohman looked so pretty. So, as I grew older and turned maybe... 18-years-old, I saw snippets of the film on youtube. It was just pretty recently that I watched the whole movie. But, I watched it with my friend as I knew that I would be frightened during the night. The fun fact about Alison Lohman? She is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, a vegetarian who consumes everything except red meat, white meat and seafood. So, after knowing that the actors that I like, whether from Hollywood or Bollywood, I realize that at least 40% of the ones that I adore are vegetarians or vegans. This will push me into being firm on my stand on turning vegetarian in the long run. I am on the slow progress towards vegetarianism and I am very happy about my gradual progress. Normally, I do not watch horror films because I get really scared to the extent that I can get nightmares nd that my beauty sleep will be affected. However, this is one of the few horror films that I can stand. If Bollywood were to ever remake this film, and I think they should, I would want either Shraddha Kapoor, Anushka Sharma or Alia Bhatt to play the main character Christine Brown in the Hindi version. Vyjayanthimala should play the Hindi character of Mrs Ganush, Ranbir Kapoor or Sidharth Malhotra should play the Hindi character of Stu Rubin and Neil Bhoopalam, Aditya Roy Kapur or Zain Imam should play the Hindi character of Clayton "Clay" Dalton. Manish Choudhary should play the Hindi character of Rham Jas and finally, Akshay Kumar should play the Hindi character of Mr Jim Jacks. Should I watch it?
Watch it! BUT, do watch it with one person at least if you are someone who gets frightened very easily. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - People aged 16 and above. - Friends who want to watch a horror flick together. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 0/5 (NOT APPLICABLE) Screenplay & Dialogues: 5/5 Direction: 3.5/5 Storyline: 4/5 Performance: 4/5 Overall: 16.5/20 In 100s: 82.5/100 IMDB: 8.5/10 Before this film got released, I was so excited to watch it because the songs were mind blowing, the trailer looked so promising, the cast was marvellous in their own respective character shades. I mean... This just looked so grand that you'll fall in love with the movie. Made on a INR150 Crore budget, it sadly flopped at the box office, earning around INR145-146 Crores worldwide, which means that from the India and International box offices, the film has only earned a total of INR 145-146 Crores. So, Kalank is a 2019 Historical Drama film that talks about the lives of six different people, Roop Chaudhry (Portrayed by Alia Bhatt), Satya Chaudhry (Portrayed by Sonakshi Sinha), Dev Chaudhry (Portrayed by Aditya Roy Kapur), Zafar (Portrayed by Varun Dhawan), Bahaar Begum (Portrayed by Madhuri Dixit Nene) and finally, Balraj Chaudhry (Portrayed by Sanjay Dutt). So, the main story is that everyone was living peaceful lives until one tragic news came in. That tragic news would be that Satya has cancer and that she has only one more year to live. Before she dies, she goes to meet her village acquaintance Roop Chaudhry, and asks Roop to marry her (Satya Chaudhry) husband Dev Chaudhry so that Dev will not be alone after Satya passes away. Initially, Roop refuses, but however, accepts the proposal. Dev has made it clear to Roop that their marriage will have respect but no love as Dev will only love Satya, even after she dies. However, in between Roop's marriage, while she learns music from Bahaar Begum, who is a brothel musician and dancer, she starts to fall in love with Zafar as they both spend more time in the district of Husnabad, Hira Mandi. However, Balraj comes to find out about Roop and Zafar spending a lot of time together and goes to Zafar to warn him directly to stay away from Roop and Dev's marriage or he will have to suffer the consequences. However, before Balraj could warn him, Zafar's mother, who is Bahaar Begum, warns Zafar to not use Roop for his own goals as she loves him. Ever since Roop and Zafar started spending time together, that is the actual point where all the dark secrets and the real story unravels. To be frank, when it comes to which actor I should talk about first... I just can't choose. But since I have so much to write about, I will start with Sonakshi Sinha and Alia Bhatt first. Whenever I see them both together, I literally get goosebumps and my heart just softens down. I feel their emotions and the love and everything that their respective characters feel. They are so talented that you will enjoy them in doing such films. Besides, Sonakshi Sinha has done a similar role before her character Satya Chaudhry and that was as the main character, Pakhi Roy Chaudhary from Lootera (2013). Sonakshi has a lot of acting potential, it is just that... You need to give her scripts that actually unleashes her talent and that can keep her at the top. Coming to Alia Bhatt, she is just improving and improving. She never backs down on her work and takes it passionately. Especially her dance item in Kalank, it is clear that she is passionate about what she does and even though her Kathak dance was not perfect, it is again obvious that she was into the song and that she has given her blood and sweat. Trollers may say that she isn't putting in all the effort but look at where she is and the kind of films she is getting in her kitty. Clearly Alia Bhatt is high in demand for her talent and I am very happy for her. She deserves it. Now, before I go to talking about Varun Dhawan's talent in this film, I will write about Aditya Roy Kapur's acting in this film. I feel very sad for Aditya because he definitely deserves a lot more fame and success than what he is getting now. It is just sad how actors like Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Shahid Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan and similar actors like them do not get good scripts very often as compared to Ranveer Singh. Trust me, if these people do no, then they will definitely surpass Ranveer Singh when it comes to success level and acting. And coming to Varun Dhawan... I just do not know what to say. I was intensely focusing on his acting and his work in this movie, I just knew that he is very passionate about what he does. Like Aditya, I also feel sad for Varun as he does not get as many good scripts as Ranveer Singh does. He definitely needs more intense scripts for filmmakers to go deeper into Varun's acting skills, then that is when we know his real talent and potential. Coming to Madhuri Dixit Nene, I am glad that she played the role of Bahaar Begum instead of Sridevi. So, the story behind the casting is that before Madhuri was roped in, it was late Sridevi who was going to portray Bahaar Begum. However, since Sridevi passed away on 24/2/2018, it would not be her to play the role of Bahaar Begum anymore of course and instead, Madhuri Dixit took over Sridevi's character and she did full justice to the character with her grace, emotions and dancing skills. And finally, let me write about Sanjay Dutt... It is just a nice feeling to see him as Balraj Chaudhry because I do not think any other senior actor would play this character better than Sanjay Dutt. He is the perfect fit for Balraj Chaudhry.... Well, maybe Rishi Kapoor could also play this role since he has done intense roles before. But yes, overall, I am very happy with this casting because the people selected to be featured in this movie are perfect fits for their respective roles. Now, coming to the supporting actors of Achint Kaur, Kiara Advani and Kunal Khemu, you just love their contribution to the film. Even though their characters were supporting characters in this film, they have done as well as the main characters as they also had a part to play in the story, a major one especially. Coming to the songs.... I just find them amazingly beautiful! The soundtrack for this film was composed by Pritam and personally, he has always been my most favourite music composer in Bollywood. Even if you do not listen to them every day no, it will still play in your head once in a while! When I watched this film, I do not honestly understand why this film is a flop. It is such a beautiful story and the cast would just give viewers goosebumps while they act because you can feel the pain of the characters, what they go through every day, especially Varun's character, being an illegitimate child and what an illegitimate child has to go through every day, especially the fact that he has been abandoned by his parents. You would just pity these characters. Also, I know that earlier in my Bajirao Mastani review I wrote that Alia's marriage to Aditya in the movie is not adultery or any sort of that. The situation in this film is very different from the situation in Bajirao Mastani. So, the situation in Kalank is different and cannot be considered adultery because first up, Sonakshi was going to die in the film and because she does not want her husband to spend the rest of his life alone, knowing that he will cry every day, she asked Alia to take her place as his wife. But even before Sonakshi could ask Alia to marry her husband, Alia asked Sonakshi to let her enter the Chaudhry house as Aditya's wife, not a mistress. The thing is, being a mistress does not only ruin your reputation, but it reflects badly upon the kind of family you come from and what kind of upbringing your parents gave you. Personally, I do not think that there is anything wrong with the situation in Kalank. I mean, you would not want your spouse to keep on crying every day after you pass away. So, it will be natural for us to ask someone to marry your spouse so that they will not die alone. In fact, I feel that there are a lot of good lessons that we can learn from this movie, more than Bajirao Mastani. You know, after watching this movie, I am now very convinced that Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone's PR team would pay the media and critics to write bad reviews about all other movies and write only good reviews about their movies so that one, they can look good in the eyes of the audience and two, they can bring other actors and actresses down so that they can remain at the top. This also happened with Shahid Kapoor's latest outing, Kabir Singh as well, by the way. However, despite all the negative reviews for misogyny and toxic masculinity that Kabir Singh got, people were still interested in watching the movie and they loved it. After watching both Kabir Singh and Kalank, I have decided to not listen to the reviews of the critics anymore, especially that of Rajeev Masand. Should I watch it?
Watch it! Do not listen to the critics. It's really nice! The critics are just paid by the PR teams of Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh. Who is it suited for? It is suited for: - Fans of Madhuri Dixit - People who love historical settings, and grand ones. - People who want good music. My Personal Film Rating: Music: 5/5 Screenplay & Dialogues: 4/5 Direction: 3.5/5 Storyline: 4/5 Performance: 4/5 Overall: 20.5/25 In 100s: 82/100 IMDB: 8.2/10 |
|