Tag: movie review

Roohi Movie Review: Laughter Guaranteed In This Small Town Ghost Story

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Roohi

Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Varun Sharma

Director: Hardik Mehta

There is a very clear Fukrey vibe to Roohi, in fact there are scenes which will immediately remind you of Choocha and his unhinged love for Bholi, only that there’s a ‘churail’ (ghost) around. And it’s not any ordinary ghost but ‘Mudiya Pairi’ (literally twisted ankles).

In and around Bagadpur, which has people speaking several dialects, there’s a tradition of ‘pakdai byah’ (bride kidnapping). Bhawra Pandey (Rajkummar Rao) and Katanni (Varun Sharma) are among the contract goons who get such weddings done. The twist in the tale comes when they abduct a possessed girl Roohi (Janhvi Kapoor) and then fall in love with her as Sharma hilariously calls it ‘the exercise of imlie’.

Written by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra, Roohi is totally about spontaneity and a solid beginning. Though both Rao and Sharma are in their favourite zone, but their back and forth and punchlines evoke laughs. The first 15-20 minutes of the film have more spoken words than an entire Vishal Bhardwaj film. Director Hardik Mehta (Amdavad Ma Famous, Kaamyaab) has got his hands on the pulse of the young audiences. He knows when to go for the oneliners and when to use overpowering background score to enhance the charm of a jungle and a funny ghost situation.

Because Stree came first, so you might notice similarities but at the core of Roohi lies a lesser complicated idea. The only hindrance is that by the time we reach the point of resolution, almost everything has been repeated at least twice and the viewers are hammered with Choocha and Aaloo (Rao, Ludo) antics. If we avoid nitpicking then it’s actually quite enjoyable, certainly better than the heavy-duty notions hurled at us in the second half.

Kapoor’s quickly shifting moods and voice modulations seem funnier than intended. At one point of time, it begins to feel like a split personality film gone completely awry. Thankfully, Rao and Sharma, mostly the latter, know their boundaries and stick to their strengths.

Mehta, as director, while working with a convoluted script, creates some praiseworthy imageries, like that of an old lady doing cardio or Rao spreading his arms like Shah Rukh Khan in a silhouette. Such ploys instantly create a light mood where one would be more inclined to appreciate the efforts to create situational comedy. Despite being predictable and some disconnected scenes, Roohi has a tone of its own. It’s very talkative and has one point agenda — word play to the most.

You may not remember this 145-minute film for its ideas but you’ll remember it for high entertainment quotient. Just like Hera Pheri, Thank You and Ankhiyon Se Goli Maare, Roohi too establishes an instant connect in spite of outrageous situations and extremely over the top comedy.

Rating: 3/5

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Namaste Wahala Movie Review: Crossover Love Story of Cliches

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Namaste Wahala

Cast: Ruslaan Mumtaz, Ini Dima-Okojie, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Joke Silva, Sujata Sehgal, Ibrahim Suleiman, Hamisha Daryani Ahuja

Direction: Hamisha Daryani Ahuja

We aren’t in a Bollywood movie, Indian boy tells Nigerian girl. For their sake you wish they were, their love story would be far more exciting.

Namaste Wahala harks back to the way Bollywood doesn’t make love stories anymore. You have a boy and a girl in love. You have a fuming parent on either side who does not approve of the match. Throw in some ‘thanda naach-gaana’, tired rom-com, zero chemistry plus random melodrama, and what you get is 106 minutes of poorly cooked masala potboiler that’s too amateurish to regale.

For the record, the film is an Indo-Nigerian attempt. So, the Bollywood-Nollywood crossover mush is naturally pitched as a USP. It all ends up in a mess.

Writer-director Hamisha Daryani Ahuja casts Bollywood actor Ruslaan Mumtaz as Raj, an investment banker in Lagos, Nigeria. He bumps into social worker Didi (Nollywood actress Ini Dima-Okojie) on the beach during an early morning jog, and it is love at first sight for both.

One love song later, it is time for Didi to introduce Raj to her parents. Of course, Didi’s father (Richard Mofe-Damijo) has a nice Nigerian boy (Ibrahim Suleiman) tucked away for her in his office. He is about to unleash the vintage Amrish Puri brand of rage as Raj goes for the good old ‘paye lagoo’ drill.

Didi has similar fate in store when Raj’s very Punjabi mamma (Sujata Segal) comes calling. She is a fullblown Kirron Kher parody, grumbling over how thin Raj has become living alone, asserting that she’ll feed him “nice butter chicken” so he’ll become “nice and fat” again. Her retort, as Didi tries to fall comically at her feet on their first meeting, is supposed to add to the comedy — she asks Raj if Didi can prepare chhole bhature.

At times, a bad formula film becomes inadvertently funny for the very cliches it tries to hawk. The problem with Namaste Wahala is even cliche-ridden bad formula films in the Bollywood rom-com genre went past expiry date quite some time ago.

For the sake of authenticity, writer-director Ahuja maintains a mix of English, Hindi and local Nigerian lingo. You sense a lack of coherence in the overall mood the dialogues try to establish, just as the screen-writing (Diche Enuwa and Temitope Bolade-Akinbode) struggles to craft engaging storytelling. This, in turn, affects the performances as the cast strives to get over poorly-penned roles.

Namaste Wahala broadly translates to ‘Hello trouble’. For the sake of an interesting watch, we wish we could spot a speck of trouble somewhere in this story.

Rating: 2/5



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Lahore Confidential Movie Review: Half Hearted Attempt at Espionage Drama

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Lahore Confidential

Cast: Richa Chadha, Karishma Tanna, Arunoday Singh

Director: Kunal Kohli

Even at the run time of a little over one hour, ZEE5’s latest film Lahore Confidential is not intriguing. It tries to project itself as an espionage drama, based on Indo-Pakistan relationship and distrust, but uses no context whatsoever to rest its storyline on. The mere fact that the two neighbouring countries have been on not-so-friendly terms does not seem enough to carry the film forward. Moreover, this one has no juice or even a decent plot to be taken seriously. On top of everything, the cast also appears misfit.

Ananya (Richa Chadha) is sent to Pakistan on a diplomatic assignment. There she meets Yukti (Karishma Tanna), who is a RAW agent. The two women have different outlooks in life. While Yukti is fun-loving and gets joy out of risk-taking, Ananya is subdued and introspective in nature. Their camaraderie is acceptable to a point in the film but the give and take only works to a certain level as it does not help the story progress forward.

Enter Rauf (Arunoday Singh) who charms his way into Ananya’s life. But in the matters of the heart, she is bound to lose as he plays from the enemy’s side. Their romance takes the story ahead but the chemistry between the two is completely off-track. In fact, a couple of intimate scenes between Arunoday and Richa only indices more distraction. Ananya is seduced by the enemy, who she believes to be a vigilante. Will she betray her country for love?

It might be based on some ground realities, but Lahore Confidential does very little to push the envelope. We are just led from one scene into another without delving deep into anything. It’s nothing better than a half-hearted attempt.

Rating: 1/5



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The White Tiger Movie Review: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Try Lifting A Jumbled Up Film

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The White Tiger

Cast: Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra, Rajkummar Rao

Director: Ramin Bahrani

“The Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, all at the same time.”

Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav), while continuously breaking the fourth wall through dialogues and gestures, readies us for the ‘dark times’. He asks us to not take the opening of the film on its face value as his story is not what it seems to be.

Director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, 99 Homes) focuses on the difficult choices made by an ambitious, fast learner and conniving Jharkhand boy in The White Tiger, based on a synonymous book by Aravind Adiga. In the process, he tries to explore the caste and economic divide and how they’re interrelated in modern India, which is not always about the shining module projected to the world. However, most of it fails to fetch any second looks.

Gourav stands his ground against Priyanka Chopra, who is brimming with confidence and a fantastic screen presence, and Rajkummar Rao, who struggles during accent swap. Because the narrator and the central character are one, bringing many sides of the story must have been tedious for Bahrani, but he somehow manages to give the audience a picture of how the rural-urban segregation could have worked during the initial days of liberal economy.

Despite promising a darker tale in the beginning, The White Tiger rarely ventures beyond the obvious. There is no denying that the privileged part of the West might find some portions unsettling, but overall, it doesn’t impact to the level that you begin pondering about the natural progression the story could have followed otherwise. Not comparing with Slumdog Millionaire, but at least Danny Boyle got the shock value to the optimum. Here, Bahrani entangles himself in metaphors that don’t generate any curiosity or are totally lost in translation.

Read: Coolie No 1 Movie Review

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I also have issues with celebrating grimness or justifying poverty or being underprivileged as the ultimate catalyst to crime, which unfortunately is the sole reason behind the bulk of Gourav’s deeds in the latter half. Even if it is not directly about the victim and the predator, you wouldn’t want the makers to cheer for the right person while standing in the wrong court.

Also, because a lot has changed since the release of the book in 2008, some plots could have been read in a new light. One thing that has categorically changed in last 12-13 years is the upliftment of the high aspirational values of the youth, both rural and urban. With the support from the government and some protection by the law, youngsters probably wouldn’t go down the ambiguous path of fraud and crime. It’s debatable though.

The White Tiger,streaming on Netflix in India, keeps feeding the same poor-guy-turned-criminal narrative to its takers. It hardly shows any intentions of scratching beneath the surface. Not intriguing enough.

Rating: 2/5



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Coolie No 1 Movie Review: Varun-Sara’s Film Is Not A Patch On Govinda-Karisma’s Film

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Coolie No 1

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Sara Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal, Jaaved Jaaferi

Director: David Dhawan

Not that the Govinda-Karisma starrer Coolie No 1 of 1995 was a great film but it had an inherent and very natural funny vibe to it, so typical of most of David Dhawan’s slice-of-life comedies. A simple storyline, absolutely spot-on comic timing, and addictive songs.

Dhawan’s films such as Aankhen, Shola Aur Shabnam, Coolie No 1, Judwaa, Hero No 1, were mostly those middle class poor guy-rich girl type of stories that made us notice the simplicity of the idea and their fun execution. Unfortunately, nothing similar can be said about Dhawan’s latest—Coolie No 1 remake—featuring his son Varun Dhawan and Sara Ali Khan. It’s tiring and irritating to see Dhawan senior losing his touch and presenting a half-baked product that has nothing to call its own, other than a couple of unremarkable oneliners and surprisingly tacky makeup.

The story remains the same. Rozario (Paresh Rawal), a Goa hotelier, insults Jaikishan (Jaaved Jaaferi), a matchmaker, and the latter settles the score by getting rich Rozario’s daughter Sarah (Sara Ali Khan) married to a poor station porter Raju (Varun). In between, there are song remakes, scenes remakes, and dance remakes. Imitation is definitely the sincerest form of flattery, especially if it is of your own film!

For a movie that is still stuck in the ‘90s, the absence of actors like Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor, and Sadashiv Amrapurkar, is a big blow even if you refrain from comparisons. There’s not much left to do though!

Totally lackluster dialogues and the absence of intent don’t raise the level of cringe to the required level. Where is that spontaneity and the Govinda magic?

Sample this dialogue:

Heaven on the docks man,

I am ‘lomdi’ and the fox man!

Or, this one:

Jab meri beti ho gayi iski,

Toh it’s only rum and whiskey!

I don’t see anyone laughing!

Then there are frequent imitations of Bollywood stars in bizarrely disinteresting ways, and in the middle of all this unintentional chaos, Sara Ali Khan keeps standing on the balcony in search of a savior, not for her but the film. Either she knew what was going to happen to the film and wanted to get out of the sets as soon as possible, or what they say about nepotism is true. It’s not a film she would like to be remembered for.

Read: Chhalaang Movie Review

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And I haven’t even touched on the issues of the generational gap, gender sensitivity, religious bias, and Rajpal Yadav’s acting.

A dialogue from Govinda’s Dulhe Raja sums up Coolie No 1 remake: “Nanga nahayega kya, nichodega kya.”

With 134-minute runtime, it seems like a never ending saga of painful comedy and mistimed tragedy. Please carry your own luggage.

Rating: 1/5

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AK Vs AK Movie Review: Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap Shine In Vikramaditya Motwane’s Terrific Film

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AK Vs AK

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Anurag Kashyap, Yogita Bihani

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Easily one of the finest Hindi films of the year, and definitely the most unique with a mainstream star in it, AK Vs AK has Anil Kapoor and Anurag Kashyap playing themselves amid heightened emotions, surreal moments and twisted plots. It’s different, enjoyable, trippy and a total blur between reality and fiction.

It all starts when an ageing superstar AK (Anil Kapoor) gets into a heated argument with another AK (Anurag Kashyap), a self-obsessed filmmaker, and Kashyap kidnaps Kapoor’s daughter, actress Sonam Kapoor (Sonam Kapoor). Then begins a chase which, in a way, tries to bring forth the paradoxes of a Bollywood star’s life and how they’re expected to ‘act’ even during the depressing times.

Director Vikramaditya Motwane, whose placements of handheld camera with gloomy surround lighting in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, impressed me a lot, is in an even better mood here as he gets voyeuristic, sensational and under the skin. I forgot to tell you that Motwane has a representative in Yogita Bihani, Kashyap’s assistant in the film, who is recording Kapoor’s moves.

Of course, some restrains have been maintained but Motwane has stretched till he could as Kapoor and Kashyap flaunt self-deprecating humour almost to the verge of unsettling the viewers. For example, Kapoor taunts Bihani of being Kashyap’s girlfriend, or Harshvardhan Kapoor, Anil Kapoor’s son, trying to impress Kashyap with his acting chops in the middle of a crisis.

The other side of a star life has also been expressed as onlookers keep asking Kapoor to do his famous Ram Lakhan steps, a song that came more than three decades ago. The perception of a Bollywood star as the ultimate public influencer has been challenged. It’s so ironic and tragic to see Kapoor dancing to please the audience in the middle of the search for his missing daughter.

There are enough Kashyap jokes as well, like the one about his brother being the most commercially successful filmmaker in the family. At times, it even attempts to look beyond Kashyap’s tough exterior of being an outspoken, perennially angry person. It’s hard to find out how much of this is ‘acting’. Full marks to Motwane for making his actors comfortable enough to make them visit the dark alleys of their subconscious where there is no right and wrong, only the immediate reaction to clear and present danger.

Interestingly, despite the handheld camera recording everything, it’s not exactly a fly on the wall documentation. The filmmaker has quite strong opinions about many developments. Motwane, in no uncertain terms, pushes his characters to make bold comments about Bollywood, insider versus outsider and lack of resources. Needless to say, such ploys add depth to AK Vs AK.

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Kapoor has excelled. It’s funny to even write this because he is playing himself but we don’t know how much of this is not script-bound! Kashyap has once again shown his love for unique material, and he has bared all, sometimes literally. While Harshvardhan Kapoor shines in a cameo, Yogita Bihani also fits the bill.

Another lovely film from Motwane’s repertoire. It reaches where mainstream Bollywood films hesitate to go.

Rating: 4/5

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Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Movie Review: Viola Davis-Chadwick Boseman’s Film is Oscar Worthy

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In a year when thousands gathered on the streets chanting ‘Black Lives Matter’, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom finding screen space appears like a detailed explanation to why the movement is so important to many across the world. In the undertones of recording an album, the film unabashedly talks about social injustice, oppression and racism in late ‘1920s.

Based on the play of the same name by August Wilson, the Netflix film begins with a concert in a tent. It is a sweaty and sensual extravaganza of the blues in action as the workers line up to listen to the ‘Mother of the Blues’. After introducing the audience to Ma Rainey, one of the earliest African-American professional blues singers, we see her in Chicago recording an album with her band.

Undoubtedly Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman are the cores of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottoms and early on director George C Wolfe makes it clear that the two will share the same spotlight. Viola as the titular character is a headstrong, starry woman who lives by “You play by my rules’ mantra. Even though she’s at the pinnacle of her game, she’s fighting for her worth at every moment. She knows she’ll be soon taken over by a new voice, but she also knows that if she exposes her vulnerabilities she’d succumb to society’s prejudices dictating her merit.

Contrary to Ma Rainey, Boseman’s Levee represents change. He’s impulsive and occupied with ‘I know what I’m doing’ but to all intents and purposes, he’s looking for a shortcut to be like Ma. He’s in perfect sync with his band on the stage, but his understanding of the world is completely off the tune with them. While he wants to make it big, his much more experienced band members have come to terms with their lives. It is through his ‘blasphemous’ conflicts with them that the film makes a commentary upon the cruelty the people of colour have endured over the years.

Having watched Davis in the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play Fences and the comedy-drama The Help, it was expected of her to dominate the screen every time she mouthed a bossy dialogue as the unapologetic celebrity. So was Boseman. However, watching him as the loudmouth and ill-tempered Levee was a pleasant contrast to his popular superhero character Black Panther.

Sadly, Boseman passed away in August 2020 during the film’s post-production, making Black Bottom his final film appearance. Every time he’s on the screen you can’t help but wonder what an irreplaceable powerhouse of talent he was. It will be fair to say that his final screen moments are the finest in his acting career.

Apart from Davis and Boseman, one has to acknowledge the brilliance of film’s supporting cast — Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo and Michael Potts. One gets to comprehend what these charismatic actors are capable of when their mere conversations in a rehearsal room give you a pictorial representation of what precisely happens when a person of colour is subjected to discrimination, public humiliation, emotional violation and sexual abuse.

The film neither exaggerates nor underplays racial tensions. Instead, the director impersonates it rather subtly in silent, awkward scenes when a group of black men walk through the Chicago streets or when they enter a store full of white people. In doing so, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom hits the audience with a hard pungent punch when they’re least expecting it. There are no conversations in these scenes but the uneasiness and awkwardness are palpable.

For the most part of the film, it doesn’t feel like you’re watching a movie. It’s more like you’re eavesdropping and listening to the private conversations of a band as they wait to record their song. However, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom can’t be treated as just another film you can watch while scrolling through your Instagram feed. It’s powerful, layered and must-watch. Don’t be surprised if you find the film as one of the favourites at the global awards, it is that good.

Rating: 4/5

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Darbaan Movie Review: This Rabindranath Tagore Drama Adaptation is an Insipid Affair

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Darbaan

Director: Bipin Nadkarni

Cast: Sharib Hashmi, Rasika Dugal, Flora Saini, Harsh Chhaya, Suneeta Sengupta, Varun Sharma

Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s stories are universal and have an essential timelessness about them – 0ne of which is Khokababur Pratyabartan (The Return of Little Master). Penned in 1891, this tale was adapted in a 1960 Bengali language movie with the evergreen matinee idol, Uttam Kumar, essaying a loyal servant in a sprawling zamindari haveli in the coal-mining town of Jharia. I have not seen the film, but Zee5 has just begun streaming a Hindi adaptation of the Tagore story, and co-scripted and directed by Bipin Nadkarni, Darbaan (Guard) – that is the title – begins in the early years of the 1970s when the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, nationalised dozens of coal mines, a move that ruined several wealthy private owners.

Nadkarni’s Darbaan begins on a happy note in Jharia with coal-mine owner Naren Tripathi’s (Harsh Chhaya) baby son, Ankul, sharing a warm and affectionate relationship with their darbaan, Raicharan (Sharib Hashmi). But when the mines are taken over by the Government, Tripathi sells his haveli and moves out. Raicharan returns to his wife, Bhuri (Rasika Duggal), and farming in village.

Years later, a grown Ankul buys the haveli back, settles down there and still nursing fond memories of Raicharan, asks him to take care of his little boy. But a tragedy with the child drowning in a swollen river destroys the trust that Ankul and his wife, Charul (Flora Saini), had placed on their darbaan.

Although Tagore’s stories have been made into excellent adaptations for the screen, and they have worked, Darbaan has not aged well. It is disappointing, and some issues appear out of place in today’s times.

For instance, why does Ankul return to Jharia, back into his old haveli? Or, why is Raicharan willing to be enslaved to the third generation? With the plot stretching to 2000 or so, Raicharan’s sense of loyalty, unquestioned and complete, 30-odd years later seems not just odd, but unbelievably farfetched. What is more, this loyalty or sense of submission pushes him towards a supreme sacrifice!

The only redeeming feature in the film is Hashmi, who portrays well the joys and sorrows of being part of a household whose fortunes swing from one extreme to another. Most of the narrative looks too superficial, and the writers have not been able to capture the essence of the times, the regality of the coal-miners’ lives does not come through with any conviction. Certainly, Tagore could not have bargained for this.

Rating: 1.5/5

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