Ab tak Chhappan 2

Director: Ejaz Gulab
Actors: Nana Patekar, Gul Panag, Ashutosh Rana

Rating: 1 / 5

Already down on expectations, this movie was predicted to be a standard police story. Unfortunately that was the case which led it to be an extremely bore flick. There's nothing new or exciting. Almost throughout the story, I kept wondering why the movie was even made. Towards the end, it seemed that there was a little silly theme because of which movie was formulated. There was no sincere effort put at all in development of the story. It's runtime is less but still it manages to irritate you throughout. Time is wasted by constantly showing people trying to kill Nana Patekar. A stupid suspense is shown at the end in a way that it's very good. For these types of useless cop movies, Salman should be preferred instead of wasting Nana Patekar.

There was no scope of character acting or even some consequential acting in this movie. Nana Patekar was repetitive but still gives a good performance. Gul Panag looked good but again there was no chance for her to perform well. Ashutosh Rana was completely wasted and I will not blame him for that.

Debutant director Ejaz Gulab had no idea what he was doing. There was no sincere effort put to pick this movie up. Direction and editing was scattered all over the place.

Overall it's an extreme bore flick not even for Nana Patekar fans.

Badlapur

Director: Sriram Raghavan
Actors: Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi, Yami Gautam

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The storyline of this movie was straightforward right from the start. There was no attempt of confusing and creating suspense whatsoever. The main focus was Revenge and that dedicated focus led to a brilliant cinematography along with awesome presentation of the script. Movie flows brilliantly right from the word go and all the chords are hit correctly. Few inconsequential things were there but they were important to feel the overall essence of the movie in a complete way.

Full marks to Sriram Raghavan as the credit for brilliance goes to the director. Perfectly crafted throughout, Raghavan always knew what he wanted to show and how the scenes have to be presented. With magnificent Johny Gaddar and Ek Hasina Thi under his belt, he improved amazingly as per expectations after a lull Agent Vinod. A dazzling effort which is more than worth appreciating.

Most important of all, the movie was an Acting treat. Varun Dhawan entered his name in the list of flawless actings in bollywood. His transition in various characters according his timeline was breathtaking. He showed perfect amount of aggression all through which was completely in sync with the scene. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a person you can watch for 10 hours non-stop. Single handedly he picked the movie in the starting with his sheer brilliance. His expressions and body language just come out perfectly every time. Combined with few magnificent short roles by various characters, it was a deluge of brilliant performances.

Background score often connected well and the music was good as an independent entity.

Overall, acting treat to the viewers along with a great thrilling direction.

Roy

Director: Vikramjit Singh
Actors: Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandes

Rating: 2.5 / 5

This is one movie that has the potential to make you think in vain for a very long time. I really don't know if I'll be appreciating the movie or cursing it because continuously it kept me in that state of mind without letting my mind divert till the end. Certainly lot of effort was being put in the script writing and it had all the ingredients to become one overwhelming watch. First half portrayed two stories running in parallel in a perfect sync. It showed something awesome is around the cards that may keep you spellbound. There were few very good dialogues that made sense in some way and kept the essence of the movie flowing. It's hard not to mention : Zindagi bhar hum sawaal mei hi rehte hain, bas jawab badalte jate hain. Second half was no different and didn't come out as expected. Little disappointing and may be irritating also for many.

Acting was pretty good by both the male leads. With whatever chance they had, they performed brilliantly. Jacqueline on the other hand is still struggling with her acting skills. But this movie had nothing to do with acting. Full time I was lost in understanding what director wants to show. Not breathtaking but certainly a decent direction effort that was amazingly supported with the editing. I would definitely say that Anurag Kashyap would have nailed the script and direction if Vikramjit would have fed him with this. Although I'll give full marks to Vikramjit for the thought and effort he has put into this.

Music was good but was never well connected with the movie albeit the background score was appreciative in parts.

Overall, a nice illusion created to make you think but nothing really delivered. Even if it makes you frustrate, it's worth a watch.

Shamitabh

Director: R Balki
Actors: Amitabh Bachhan, Dhanush, Akshara Hassan

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Shamitabh is a well thought script especially for movie making. It has some unnecessary technological hype but that is easily pardonable. The best part is the way it has been executed especially in the first half. Just when you think that movie has something more to offer, it enters a bleak mode. Movie flow along with the script is ruined towards the end. Loads of drama and stretch towards the end extract the unique script essence from the movie and make it ordinary.

Rising above everything was Amitabh Bachhan. As soon as he enters, he heavily augments the movie standards. One description that will literally make sense for him is Classic Artist. Everything about him was pitch perfect. Definitely one of his best flairs in recent times. Dhanush was pretty good albeit he was playing a mute guy. Akshara Hassan gave a very poor performance. Whenever she was onscreen, it was putting questions on every aspect of movie making. But soon it was understood that no other good aspect could make a scene better if she's there.

R Balki has a good track record of his previous two movies. Although Cheeni Kum and Paa were very well directed, this one was an average effort. At many places, direction weaknesses were easily seen. Definitely a better attempt was expected from him.

Music chords were often connected well with the movie flow. Neither music director Illayaraja did anything extraordinary nor it was asked or expected from him.

Overall, potentially good script ruined by the drama in the end.

Hawaizaada

Director: Vibhu Puri
Actors: Ayushman Khurrana, Mithun Chakraborty, Pallavi Sharda

Rating: 1.5 / 5

The movie appears to be very kiddish in the starting. It was tried to make serious at the same time that fueled the sluggishness constantly. A boy thrown from his house in a weird manner is caught by a peculiar scientist who identifies his talent and then they both start to build a hawaijahaaz. It exhausts you both towards the end of first half and second half. Movie sets looked very specious and added to the viewers' trouble. It has a good vedic reference that slightly enforces few philosophers thought that vedas are more scientific than religious.

Ayushman looked good in various scenes and gave a decent average performance. Mithun's character was very distinct and somewhat funny at the same time. Like in all his roles, he has developed a skill to never disappoint, at least at this point of his career. Other actors were just average despite not getting good dialogues to enhance their performance.

Dubutant Vibhu Puri gave a failed attempt taking set decoration too seriously and missing on other important aspects. He has assisted Sanjay leela bhansali before and that relation was visible in the movie. He might have to think out of his comfort zone to get the things right next time.

Music and background score always looked disconnected.

Overall, a confused and a failed attempt that probably could have been better.

Baby

Director: Neeraj Pandey
Actors: Akshay Kumar, Danny, Anupam Kher

Rating: 3.5 / 5

As soon as the movie starts, it gives a feel of a sensible thriller without any unnecessary commercial touch. First half is a little build up and comparatively boring but the second half sets the pace perfectly and justifies all the actions that director wanted to show. There were no dramatic scenes to create needless emotions. Dialogues were very discreet and action scenes looked very realistic. Best part was the inclusion of absolutely correct amount of perfectly suited humor. Movie is lengthy but so detailed and thrilling that you'll not want it to end at all. It keeps you at the edge constantly for a very long time.

Akshay Kumar did almost a perfect job making us think why he doesn't concentrate on only these type of roles. At each instance, he was stupendously delivering what exactly was required. Other actors were just above average but supported Akshay amazingly.

Neeraj Pandey's direction was repetitive but repeating the feel of his earlier flicks like Wednesday and Special 26 will not bother anyone. A lot of hard work was sensed in both direction and cinematography that is really appreciative.

Background music was attempted with little success albeit it didn't matter at all.

Overall it was a wonderfully directed thriller that will literally show what "on the edge of the seat" means.

Tevar

Director: Amit Sharma
Actors: Manoj Bajpayee, Arjun Kapoor Sonakshi Sinha

Rating: 1 / 5

When we think of thoughtless South Indian movie remakes, they make some sense when are coupled with big stars. At-least they have a justification that from box office point of view they'll generate revenue and will showcase star power. This meaningless flick was another senseless copy that lacked in all aspects. Neither the characters were developed well nor the story. Things that could have been shown in a 20 min episode were unnecessarily elongated to make a 2.5 hr movie. Although that episode also would have been unwatchable. Only few starting Manoj Bajpayee scenes were decent but that's not the redemption at all.

Arjun Kapoor tried to imitate Salman and Ajay movies but he or the producers have to understand that Arjun is not a person who can carry foolishness on his shoulders. Every person acted horribly and there was no support whatsoever as far as acting was concerned. Manoj Bajpayee didn't had anything to act and that surprises me how he said yes to this one. Sonakshi was as bad as before and successfully ruined this movie as well.

Amit Sharma made his debut in movies and I'll blame him for this damp squib. No effort was put and nothing was tried to make people act in a better way. Although there was absolutely no story to support him in any way which might get him some optimism to perform better next time.

Music was average and didn't help the movie in any way. Although Shruti Hasan's item song was very hot, it brought some coolness to the head.

Overall a complete disaster that fails in all aspects.

Best of Bollywood 2014

After a rocking early start this year with Queen, Highway and Hasee to Phasee, Bollywood was unable to produce a streak of good cinema. With a very few just good movies and of course many dull ones, it was a below average year. Somewhere between this, a masterpiece Hawaa Hawaai was delivered by Amol Gupte who showed yet again that children movies can be unique and brilliant every other time. Mardaani, Samrat & Co, Aakhon Dekhi, Haider showed some promise. Although it was a very good ending of the year starting with PK and marvelously acted and directed thriller Ugly.

Here is the list of my TOP 5 Movies this year:

1. Hawaa Hawaai
2. Queen
3. Ugly
4. Highway
5. Mardaani

After movies, it's worth mentioning other important attributes of cinema that floored us this year.

Best Actor: Aamir Khan (PK) / Girish Kulkarni (Ugly)
Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut (Queen)
Best Director: Anurag Kashyap (Ugly)

This has to be followed by summarizing these aspects and mentioning other great entities that just missed the top list.

Male Acting:
This was one of the rare years where none of the Male lead actors nailed the performance. Till end of the year it was only Shahid Kapoor in Haider who was appreciative. Other than that only few character artists were watchful but in very small roles. For instance Pankaj Kapoor in Finding Fanny, Irrfan Khan in Haider and Vijay Raaz in Kya Dilli Kya Lahore. Other well performed commercial roles include Rajeev Khandelwal in Samrat & Co and Partho Gupte / Saqib Saleem in Hawaa Hawaai. Again towards the end, there were two terrific performances by Aamir Khan in PK and Girish Kulkarni in Ugly. Aamir performed brilliantly throughout whereas Girish Kulkarni mirrored perfection in whatever valuable minutes he got.

Female Acting:
Similar to the unusual male act year, Female performances were also a rarity but in a complete opposite way. It was a definitely a female centric year that saw many astonishing performances by female leads. Starting from Parineeti Chopra in Hasee to Phasee, it was Alia Bhatt who took all the attention with a breathtaking performance in Highway. Unfortunately for her, soon after Kangana Ranaut came with a splendid performance in Queen which was stamped as the best performance in starting of the year itself. The year was hence followed by three more good performances that include Rani Mukherjee in Mardaani, Priyanka Chopra in Mary Kom and Tabu in Haider. Undoubtedly 2014 will be remembered as the feminine year.

Direction:
With few good directed movies by Vikas Bahl (Queen) and Amole Gupte (Hawaa Hawaai), it was Imtiaz Ali who showed some brilliant skills again in Highway. He was responsible for each and every point of success that the movie tasted. It was the last movie of the year that took all attention with a splendid direction by Anurag Kashyap in Ugly. Each scene was tailor made and movie was directed to perfection. The vibe and excitement that he created were just awesome. Full marks to him for all the fervor he inserted into the viewers.

Best Music:
1. Highway - A.R. Rehman
2. Queen - Amit Trivedi
3. Ek Villain - Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari
4. 2 States - Shankar Ehsaan Loy
5. Hasee to Phasee - Vishal & Shekhar

PK

Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Actors: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma

Rating: 3 / 5

Cruising on Raju Hirani's formula and heavily forecasted as an entertainer, PK certainly has not disappointed. Problem lies in more than few places where you'll really mourn that why the main essence is highly extended and deviated. It starts slow to build some trivial story but Aamir's entry takes off the movie to a different level. Although looked like a used concept initially but throughout the first half Raju Hirani miraculously proves that he's a pure comedy master. Everything was nailed with genuine laughs including awesome use of Bhojpuri accent. After a continuous flow of wonderful comedy and great content, second half pulls out the main entertaining crux from the movie. Use of god and religion were over protracted that keeps you waiting for revival of the good times.

Aamir Khan spectacularly performed the character that looked hard for an actor to make it unique. It was his movie completely with other actors just having a minor support to play. Although movie trailed in second half but Aamir's performance was rock solid throughout.

Despite the fact that Raju Hirani's directorial performance was good, he copied his success mantra from all his previous cults. It looked like a mixture that fortunately was presentable. It worked this time for Raju but next time repetitiveness might hurt albeit I can take the risk of saying that I'm confident Raju will excite us again.

Music was substandard and was restless at many places although presence of Aamir Khan made it watchable.

Overall, a terrific first half riding on tremendous performance by Aamir Khan that mourns you why second half was poor.

Ungli

Director: Renzil D'Silva
Actors: Randeep Hooda, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Movie starts with a very strong theme accompanied by a good vibe that was created by the director right from the word go. Only thing one can hope was that it continues. Every time the scenes play with you by attracting your attention but eventually they keep fading away. Ideas are really nice and deserve appreciation. In fact the ideas and the way they have been implemented are the only highlight of the movie. Rest everything is not cinematographed in a good way that went against it becoming a very good product. At interval you are not very excited and the dramatic turn towards the second half makes it worse. I'm waiting when these type of movies will get over unnecessary emotional add-ons.

Acting is not the highlight but certainly an important part to bear all the negativities. Randeep Hooda stood best amongst all above average acting contributions. The way he has handled and executed his role is remarkable. Kangana Ranaut showed good body language and was impressive. Lot was expected from Emraan Hashmi but it was just another average performance by him.

Film certainly has good content and few scenes shot very nicely but still there's something missing that's unfortunately harsh on director. Renzil's overall direction was not up to the mark but certainly it looked well in parts. I feel lot more hardwork might take him potentially to next level.

It's taken care that songs don't hamper the flow of the movie but one risk with Dance Basanti didn't go well at all. Music in background is decent although didn't connect well with the screenplay.

Overall, a movie with good content but below average execution.

Happy Ending

Directors: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru
Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Ranvir Shorey, Govinda, Kalki Koechlin, Ileana

Rating: 2 / 5

Portrayed as a Romedy (Romantic comedy), there were at least some expectations that directors and writers will work on making it something special or unique for the viewers. But the answer is no. This is somehow made watchable due to consistent laugh ingredients that flow throughout the first half. Story has nothing to offer and rides on the same formula that has been used hundreds of times. Moviemakers have hence not kept any potential expectations from the second half. Moreover, second half is stretched and haunts you to ponder for its ending, no matter Happy or sad. When the movie actually ends, it will certainly make you happy, but not because of it's content but the relief that you'll get.

Ranvir Shorey and Kalki have done excellent acting and mostly are responsible to make this movie bearable. Their small roles were directed well into the movie at proper intervals. Govinda had his fair share of dialogues that he delivered in a charming way. Saif was average but repetitive and Ileana didn't had much to do.

I'm a decent fan of director duo Krishna Raj because of their sense of doing something different in their previous flicks such as 99 and Go Goa Gone. They had brought an impressive unique flavor every time they came together to write and direct. But it's really disappointing that aforementioned effort was not sensed at all this time.

Sachin and Jigar were unable to make any impact this time with their music. Songs interrupted the movie badly although I had found my ways to engage into something else to liberate myself from meaningless possessions.

Overall, a pointless effort that was probably put just to satisfy producer's fantasies.

Kill Dil

Director: Shaad Ali
Actors: Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra, Govinda

Rating: 2 / 5

Portrayed as yet another Yash Raj movie with grey shades, this movie had nothing new and even old formulas didn't work well. Good background laughter was tried throughout the first half and they succeeded more than few times in that. Unfortunately no attempt was made to build a plot whatsoever. Rather whatever was being shown had no directions at all. Only at the end for a minute moment, something made sense but the movie was over by then.

It gave a feel that director had no interest to make this flick meaningful and he is happy with whatever substandard commercial material is being made. Shaad Ali is still struggling for more than a decade now after Saathiya, to direct something concrete.

Govinda came into a character role this time and showed some promise. Unfortunately for him, his full potential was not extracted as he could have been used more and in a much better way. Ranveer Singh and Ali Zafar had nothing unique to show and their acting was substandard. For the first time in so many movies, I'd not praise Parineeti Chopra although I'll blame director for that.

Songs were not up to the mark and stopped the movie flow consistently. Albeit the Kill Dil title track was good and background score was the only thing that kept the movie alive.

Overall, a disappointment in all major fronts which was just made watchable somehow.

Rang Rasiya

Director: Ketan Mehta
Actors: Randeep Hooda, Nandana Sen

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Movie was poised in a way such that the first impression of the viewers is about nude painting of gods. Although this is true to an extent but the main motive of the writer was to present how and why an artist thinks to create these art pieces. Movie is a vision from artist perspective that what exactly passes through their mind when they take this step. Apart from the reason behind these types of art makings, this movie is a journey of a painter. It details how a true artist just cares about art and nothing else. It also shows how common people are affected by experiencing gods when they see their stories in paintings. A good war of creativeness vs business is shown.

As per entertainment is concerned, it has a very slow start and rarely picks up in between. It has few good moments but never rises up to the expectations. Second half has some meaning but the best part of the movie is it's ending. The makers deserve some amount of appreciation for the work done towards framing a wonderful ending. It justifies the most part of the movie and passes the message in a very elegant way that nudity is not offensive.

Acting and direction were below average and music was lost somewhere. For this movie, I don't think these things are even relevant to talk about.

Overall, a test of your patience that flourishes a wonderful end.

Bang Bang

Director: Siddharth Anand
Actors: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif

Rating: 2 / 5

It takes heart to assess another conventional big hyped movie that has nothing special in it. Although it was expected that this would be a similar high action commercialized flick, it looked dud even after having that presumption. It's a mixture of Dhoom plus some common things that adds up to simply nothing. It's a full pack of saleable stuff that gives zero content to the viewers. At the end of first half, it can be guessed that some stupid sentiments will be introduced in the second half. That's what exactly happens and unfortunately that also adds up to nothing. A very silly story that was tried to make exciting using uninteresting things.

Hrithik's performance was applaudable and he was the only reason one can sit through this entire no brainer leaving apart katrina's beauty. He did his best, but again that also sums up to nothing as far as the overall movie is concerned. Reason for decent rating is only him and the way his action scenes were executed. I don't want to comment on anyone's acting as that was of no significance here. Despite that I'd like to appreciate a very small Jimmy Shergil's role that gave false hopes that the movie will be throughout exciting.

Siddharth Anand tried action this time and again succeeded in putting no effort. I've disliked almost all his previous flicks that includes Anjana Anjani. He needs to start thinking creatively to show up something better in future.

Music is good in spite of being the reason for interruption that was charmed by Hrithik's moves.

Overall, a bang bang to heads that Hrithik's antidote also couldn't heal.

Daawat-e-Ishq

Director: Habib Faisal
Actors: Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapoor

Rating: 2 / 5

Hyderabadi flavor is on a rise nowadays in Bollywood. A little pinch also brings a smile to viewer's face. This movie offers a sweet start with like-able Hyderabadi accent. It's faintly inspired from Ladies vs Ricky Bahl although it has a different take. Even after a good start and exciting interval, it lacks content in between. It slows down and leaves hope for a better second half that justifies the first one. Unfortunately the later half is just average that neither helps the ongoing slow pace nor increases the entertainment level. It's a good concept, but not compelling enough. Despite that, I'll appreciate the way the theme was calmly flown into the minds and a very good message was passed in a modest way.

Parineeti was the best thing in this movie. She has developed her different flavor that is increasing in it's charm with every movie. The way she delivers the character in her own way is amazing to watch. After every movie of hers, I remain bound to say that my fan level towards her is increased. Aditya Roy Kapoor and Anupam Kher were decent and supported Parineeti nicely.

There was nothing special done by Habib Faisal in direction. It was a below average effort. I loved his work in Do Dooni Char but he hasn't improved a bit after that. I'll expect some hard work from him in his next venture.

Music was good, non interfering and acceptable.

Overall, a good theme delivered in not a very exciting way. Strictly for Parineeti Chopra's fans.