Fitoor

http://maggyreviews.com/2016/02/13/fitoor/
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Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Actors: Aditya Roy Kapur, Katrina Kaif, Tabu

Rating: 2 / 5

As soon as I realized it's an Abhishek Kapoor's film, my hopes raised. But the movie was worse than its trailer. It is very slow but has a calm flow. The focus is harshly on love story only and nothing else. In fact there isn't anything else that's thought of. It's boringness often becomes killing. Second half tries to save it a little and hints some potential turner. However it boils down to the same uninteresting plate.

Abhishek Kapoor was a disappointment this time. I've stayed biased on him for so many years because of Rock On. His effortless performance is really disheartening. He was never able to bring the pieces together.

All the actors were below average and not worth mentioning. They were confused whether to act starry or be down to earth. There wasn't even a scene where the acting could be appreciated.

Amit Trivedi's soulful music was good sometimes but it lacked variety. May be he didn't get a variety in the storyline to perform inline.

Overall, a mere love story, that wasn't garnished by anything else.

Ghayal Once Again

http://maggyreviews.com/2016/02/05/ghayal-once-again/
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Director: Sunny Deol
Actors: Sunny Deol, Om Puri, Soha Ali Khan

Rating : 1.5 / 5

There were all assumptions that this will be a Sunny Deol style action movie. Luckily it wasn't like that, but unluckily nothing better than that. It has a very slow and a complex start. Build up of the characters are extremely poor. Even when a good background score starts to develop the movie flow, its complexity breaks it all. It has a  simple heroic theme, but not made in an interesting way.

Sunny Deol plays very simple, almost throughout the movie. There are times when it looks like he'll blast, but that's masked every time. His screen presence still is very strong and effective. Infact he's the only reason that one can manage to sit through the movie. Another reason was Om Puri's awesome acting. His aura itself was pulling movie up, but his small role was the mistake done.

The biggest disappointment is Sunny Deol's direction. His direction skills are so bad that I'll not even suggest to improve. He should never direct. May be he has written a good story, but the direction spoilt everything.

Overall, a no commercial sunny deol irritations, simple decent story, but still doesn't work because of pathetic direction.

Saala Khadoos

http://maggyreviews.com/2016/01/29/saala-khadoos/
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Director: Sudha Kongara
Actors: R Madhavan, Ritika Singh

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Recently we have seen so many sports' movies. Mostly they revolve around underdog champions. This movie has nothing new, but still gives a good angle to women's boxing. Has a good standard start where the coach develops the story, but the film keeps becoming slow. It picks up on various occasions, only to fall back again. Throughout, the viewers are left wanting for more. Nevertheless, it shows the true picture of sports in India, which is very disheartening. All of us know about the sports' politics, but this phenomena always daunts us.

Madhavan gels with his character immediately. He consistently scores, but there's not much help from others. Ritika Singh entered too much into her character, more than what was required. A little underplay would have really helped her.

Sudha Kongara tries well on her directorial debut, but there's a lot more effort she needs to put. She was impressive, despite there was no masala to support.

Overall, a complete Madhavan Saga that has nothing much, other than feel good sports glory.

Airlift

http://maggyreviews.com/2016/01/22/airlift/
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Director: Raja Menon
Actors: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur

Rating: 3 / 5

Pictorially this movie felt like last year's film Baby, but it certainly is different in all senses. Less in cinematography, it has no heroic angles at all. One of the most simplistic and genuine movie in recent times. It focusses heavily on story and sticks to it throughout its running time. It has a great scenic creation of Kuwait Iraq war sight.

Akshay Kumar blends himself as a soul of this whole storyline. He has perfectly underplayed his character without any starry effects. The way movie wanted its leading actor to be, he has set himself entirely like that. Nimrat Kaur is a decent support and has played her role effectively.

Raja Menon frankly hasn't done anything to raise movie standards. The good part is that he made sure nothing is out of place. Doing nothing bad and supporting the storyline authentically is a good experiment that he has done.

Overall,  a genuine and a simple flick that focusses only on the storyline.

Wazir

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Director: Bejoy Nambiar
Actors: Farhan Akhtar, Amitabh Bachchan, Aditi Rao Hydari

Rating: 3 / 5

Looking at the movie timeline and the thrilling theme that it portrays, it feels that it's crisply made. But often this short movie feels long. You will always want it to proceed further despite it being not irritating at any point. The plot is very interesting but not gripping. It's very little that the film justifies itself but the awesome ending says it all. All the thrill, story, cinematography steals the show because of the brilliant finish.

Farhan Akhtar not really enters completely into the role but still portrays a well focussed ACP. Amitabh Bachchan had a great acting success last year and is always a treat to watch. This time he's effective but nothing more than that. All other actors supported the cast well.

I'm a fan of Bejoy Nambiar's direction style. He successfully places his style in this one as well. He is brilliant in parts but also below average in many. Like his last ventures, again he goes above average but it's time for him to go beyond that.

Overall, an interesting plot that's not gripping, but the ending steals the show.

BEST OF BOLLYWOOD 2015 : MAGGY AWARDS

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TOP MOVIES:

First half of this year gave a scare as only few movies managed to hit the senses. But these few made their mark where a comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns shocked everyone with its brilliance. Movies like Baby and Badlapur that showed great thriller value and managed to save that season. Although second half of the year didn’t produce a master class, but gave us a stream of well made movies consistently. Short budget movies like Masaan, Titli and Angry Indian Goddesses showered the essence of directorial and acting excellence. Salman came out of his usual avatar and actually acted in a well made IndoPak flick Bajrangi Bhaijaan. In a year of comic less movies, Pyaar ka Punchnama 2 succeeded in producing few good laughs. It’s worth mentioning master class non Hindi movies like Bahubali (Telugu) and Court (Marathi) that will not come in Bollywood cateogry but certainly shouldn’t be missed.

Here is the list of TOP 5 Movies this year:

1. Tanu Weds Manu Returns
2. Piku
3. Drishyam
4. Masaan
5. Badlapur / Baby

TOP MALE ACTING:
Unlike last year, this was the great year as far as male acting is concerned. We got many amazing acting surprises in few low budget movies. Amitabh Bachhan again defied age and delivered two wonderful performances in Piku and Shamitabh. Ranvir Shorey in Titli gave his best performance of life where as debutant Vicky Kaushal completely submerged himself in the character role in Masaan. Few honorable mentions that missed the top list would be Akshay Kumar (Baby), Kay Kay Menon (Rahasya), Deepak Dobriyal (Tanu Weds Manu Returns), Varun Dhawan (Badlapur), Ajay Devgan (Drishyam), Sanjay Mishra (Masaan) and Nawazudding Siddiqui (Bajrangi Bhaijaan & Manjhi)

Here is the list of TOP 5 Male Actors this year:

1. Ranvir Shorey (Titli)
2. Amitabh Bachhan (Piku)
3. Amitabh Bachhan (Shamitabh)
4. Vicky Kaushal (Masaan)
5. Ranveer Singh (Bajirao Mastani) / Irrfan Khan (Talvar/Piku)

TOP FEMALE ACTING:
Lately, talking about great female acting performances and Kangana Ranaut have become synonyms. Yet again, she mastered her character and showcased an incredible piece of work. Angry Indian Goddesses saved the year for female actors and gave us goddess like performances. Honorable mentions that missed the top list would be Tabu (Drishyam) and Shweta Tripathi (Masaan)

Here is the list of TOP 5 Female Actors this year:

1. Kangana Ranaut (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)
2. Sarah Jane Dias / Pavleen Gujral (Angry Indian Goddesses)
3. Kalki Koechlin (Margarita with a Straw)
4. Anushka Sharma (NH10)
5. Bhumi Pednekar (Dum Laga Ke Haisha)

TOP DIRECTION:
No beyond the limits direction scene this year. But we had a good share of decent directors this year.

Here is the list of TOP 5 Directors this year:

1. Nishikant Kamat (Drishyam)
2. Shoojit Sarkar (Piku)
3. Neeraj Pandey (Baby)
4. Imtiaz Ali (Tamasha)
5. Anand Rai (Tanu Weds Manu Returns) / Neeraj Ghaywan (Masaan)

TOP MUSIC COMPOSERS:

1. A R Rahman (Tamasha)
2. Amaal Malik / Ankit Tiwari / Meet Bros (Roy)
3. Sachin Jigar (Badlapur)
4. Amaal Malik (Ek Paheli Leela)
5. Amit Trivedi (Shaandaar)

—

Bajirao Mastani

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Actors: Ranvir Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 2 / 5

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is famous for his styling and amazing movie sets. Again he comes up with some amazing setup and wonderful cinematography. This time the styling had the elegance and it made sense. Unfortunately all these amazing things lasted only few minutes from the start. Although setup remained fantastic, the movie starts poking the head at the end of first half. Warrior Bajirao converts full time to Lover Bajirao, which is the major backdrop of the movie. There's no balance maintained between the two, which irritates throughout the second half. There is a good set of wonderful dialogues where Ranvir gets the majority share.

Ranvir Singh is the star of the show. From the word go he justifies his character and delivers an awesome performance. His potential, that was noticed from the starting, has roared this time. Priyanka Chopra beautifully portrays her innocent character. Deepika Padukone was just average, didn't really attract.

Direction looked amazing in the starting but loosening of the plot affected Bhansali's performance. I would suggest him to focus more on the story, something which he's not doing it for a long time now. His music is good and brings stability, but halts the ongoing story.

Overall, a terrific performance by Ranvir, great meaningful sets, but still a head pain.

Dilwale

Director: Rohit Shetty
Actors: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon

Rating: 1.5 / 5

As soon as the movie starts you'll encounter a typical Rohit Shetty movie setup. Same sound scheme, presentation and nature of the cinematography. Time and again you'll notice the regular old cars bashing. Name any Rohit Shetty film and I'll have the similarities. Keeping aside this, there was no story on display. Rather I'll say there was definitely some story, but a real bad one. It looks like a saas bahu TV saga without any good moments. You'll find yourself waiting for the interval. Soon after, the struggle to sit through the movie will start.

Shahrukh Khan doesn't continue to irritate in this flick. Bearable but nothing special as expected. I'll still stay biased with Kajol. She should've chosen a better movie. Varun Dhawan gave all the laughs which can be counted on fingers. Kriti Sanon remains an unstirred sugar, as there's no reason doubting her potential.

Rohit Shetty has delivered this one without any efforts. Seems like it's time to reap some money effortlessly.

Music was average but it had all the interfering timings in the world.

Overall, a tasteless poor story that was created to reap some easy money.

Hate Story 3

Director: Vishal Pandya
Actors: Karan Singh Grover, Sharman Joshi, Zarine Khan

Rating: 2 / 5

There's an exciting movie tone that's build up from starting. Although there were little expectations from the story, a good effort was made in producing a doubt in the viewer's mind. But ultimately there was nothing much that can be appreciated. Things turned out to be very ordinary and cliché. One can say, it was a poor form of Abbas Mastan's frequent twists. Riding on vulgarity, there was nothing on that front as well. Thanks to the censor board. Second half created a suspense, again to hold viewers. But nothing was pleasing enough.

I'm not a fan of Vishal Pandya because of his previous version of this series. But he has put a decent effort in making this movie bearable. Good story would have increased the direction value. 

Zarine Khan looked really hot but her acting was hugely burnt under it. She had a bad screen presence and dialogue delivery was worse. Sharman Joshi pulled this up well and proved that his talent can never be overshadowed no matter what are the conditions. Karan Singh Grover was the best of the lot. He really surprised with his amazing body language and more than a decent acting.

Songs were very out of place and not at all framed well. Although the music was good for ears.

Overall, a hate story like a poor version of Abbas Mastan's twists where only Karan Singh Grover impressed.

Tamasha

Director: Imtiaz Ali
Actors: Ranbir Kapoor, Piyush Mishra, Deepika Padukone

Rating: 3 / 5

Movie trailer suggests a fun loving cliche love story but how can we forget it's Imtiaz Ali. It's a completely different plate in which the movie is served. Attempt is to mould a complex story into something understandable and yet present the theme that's intended. Confused ? That's exactly what you would be while watching the movie. It has a very slow but an interesting start. Slowness is maintained way too long till the interval. Although it gives a feeling that second half has a potential and should be good. Then the anticipation starts, that the movie will hit the right chords and luckily it does. Somewhere inside you something has been targeted. It's just that you have to stick patiently with the movie and it'll not disappoint you for sure.

Ranbir delivers a good performance but nothing beyond the expectations. Deepika is very average, her role itself is very average. Decent performance by other side actors but Piyush Mishra delivers a fantastic artistic performance in just 10 minutes of his role. His dialogues seals the movie theme with perfection.

Now this movie is a one man director army. Same Imtiaz style but the effort is so striking and noticeable. Whatever has been made, Imtiaz class is reflected all over. His writing abilities and thought process is amazing. Out of rating three, two goes just for Imtiaz.

There's an awesome use of background score by the director. Thanks to the great A R Rehman for awesome tunes that steadies the movie and sticks the viewer throughout. Matargashti is awesome and blends as a perfect song for this movie that you'll be humming for hours after seeing the movie.

Overall, a director's class that needs patience. It'll surely hit some chord, somewhere inside you.

Pyaar ka Punchnama 2

Director: Luv Ranjan
Actors: Omkar Kapoor, Kartik Aryan, Sunny, Nushrat, Sonali, Ishita

Rating: 3 / 5

Everyone is aware of the movie flavor as first part saw a good success among youth. Although my first reaction towards the first part wasn't that good, it was always great to relish few awesome moments that the movie had. Fortunately, the case was different for this one. Movie is consistently enjoyable and specially the first half leaves a good commanding impact. It has great starting dialogues that never fades. It consistently gives amazing moments at-least for the first half although second half also works according to the theme. Script writing is apt, specially the epic dialogue by Kartik Aryan that repeats again. Double sized dialogue this time and trust me, triple mazaa. Film reduces its sheen in the second half but for this theme, they have made a good cut.

Surprisingly acting shines throughout. New actors have nailed the timings and screen presence in the movie. Girls haven't left any mark but all the boys were just amazing. Omkar Kapoor out of all deserves a special mention here. His performance throughout was perfect.

Luv Ranjan who has considerably improved from his last two ventures, does a good job here. He has appropriately directed the movie and has taken good care of cinematography.

Music by Hitesh Sonik is a turn off this time but that doesn't affect the movie at all.

Overall, great acting, good script and certainly double the mazaa from the earlier one.

Talvar

Director: Meghna Gulzar
Actors: Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Konkana Sen Sharma, Neeraj Kabi

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Most moving part of the movie is when you realize that whatever you know has been shown in the first ten minutes only. That's how it's justifiable that it was so important to bring this story to everyone. A lot of hard work has been done for showing the fine grains of this plot. Around 50% of the movie is what no one is aware of and that's how all false perceptions were developed in these years. I'm sure the perspective towards this case and its family will completely change after this. Known fact about weak policing has been showcased in a very good way. Although we have great police officers but they constitute very few and are present only in the top level. Sympathy to girl and his family will again rise in the minds. Now the best part comes when all these details are shown in a beautiful cinematic way. Perfect kudos to the storywriter and producer Vishal Bharadwaj for putting great efforts in bringing this forward wonderfully.

Meghna Gulzar is back after many years and she showed that the trusted potential in her was not incorrect. Rising above all, this was the ultimate directorial venture. Nothing rises above the effort that is seen in her work. Although a lot of credit share also goes to the veteran editor Sreekar Prasad. Their partnership did the real wonders in this flick.

Acting of all the actors were above average where no one really blasted the screen. Irrfan was certainly better than all as he portrayed his usual amazing skills.

Overall, a directorial treat where great efforts have been put to portray the fine grains of this plot.

Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon

Director: Abbas Mastan
Actors: Kapil Sharma, Kunal Roy Kapur, Elli Avram

Rating: 2.5 / 5

The film gives a jibe of a stupid comedy and it certainly is. But there's a difference. It has a stupid story but a decent comedy. Plot is utterly foolish but the focus here is only on comedy punches. It has many good humor lines that somehow supersede the foolishness. Biggest flaw here is that lot of times it was tried to create a serious environment. That was a blunder and went horrible with the movie flow. Worse part is that these things are bound to end in a sentimental way. That was the case here as well that brought the film down. Interestingly it ended again with very good humor and again I'll not take anything away from the scriptwriter as far as the comedy punches are concerned.

Kapil Sharma played his character very well and did a decent job. Rising above all was Kunal Roy Kapur who nailed his full screen presence. He was perfect throughout and never left his character. Other actors including four girls were ok and fortunately no one was bad.

Abbas Mastan doing this kind of movie was a surprise. They were very clear what they were making and their motive of showing only comedy was visible. I'll suggest them to put some sense and story in future if they really want to continue this genre.

Music was one of the biggest hurdles and turn off here.

Overall, a good comic flick with focus only on humor and nothing else.

Katti Batti

Director: Nikhil Advani
Actors: Kangana Ranaut, Imran Khan

Rating: 2 / 5

Excitement was all spread when movie was promoted using Kangana's flavor. An intended romantic comedy that falls on most of the stairs and never able to climb. It has an average start where all characters just manage to hold you. Unfortunately comedy was tried in most scenes but laughing on even the best joke was hard. Although a slight good part was that you'll not cry at the worst joke. The big problem was the second half where it was unnecessary stretched towards the end without any fun. Head-scratching moment comes when you just think it's done and a twist in the tale merely to ensure happy ending extends it for another 20 minutes.

Kangana's screen presence is one of the few bearable things that make you sit throughout the length of the movie. She gave whatever she can deliver. It's just that the script and director didn't have anything for her. Imran was as usual irritating and incapable of pulling anything off. Other characters are not even worth mentioning although they delivered an average performance.

Nikhil Advani once again shows that his priority is not the content but the looks of the whole movie setup. He again failed to concentrate on the better part of the directorial responsibilities.

Music was below average and not mind scorching.

Overall, a bad cliché script that wastes Kangana's charm.

Welcome Back

Director: Anees Bazmee
Actors: Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, Shruti Hasan, Naseeruddin Shah, Shiney Ahuja

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Earlier Welcome that didn't get very well with me initially, over the time it rose up to entertain with good amount of funny moments that it had. That made some expectations and excitement for this sequel. Movie starts with almost the same theme as earlier but never feels repetitive. A good amount of hard work is done by the dialogue writer to ensure good funny bones with same ingredients as before. You'll get a feeling that you are being served a different drink in the same bottle. Although the drink tastes same but fortunately it tastes good. It has many good punches but no bad ones. Sometimes the rhythm becomes less funny but still gives a good time pass.
Worst part was the ending. Very religiously they stuck to the earlier theme of having a bad ending as well. If ending would have been shortened and improvised upon, smiles would have been wider.

Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor and Paresh Rawal once again picked the whole movie on their shoulders. All three characters had some good dialogues that they made awesome by their amazing dialogue deliveries. John was not much in his character and Shruti was very bad. Others are not worth mentioning.

After sting of bad movies for so many years, Anees Bazmee came up with something better this time. Hard work was seen but still he needs to pull up his socks to get things right.

Music was very poor and didn't get along with anything in the movie. First part had many good song sequences.

Overall, a good comedy sting with good dialogues by good actors.