Sonali Cable (2014) User Reviews

A good attempt .......

[ketgup83 · 6/10 · 18 October 2014]

Bollywood is the biggest movie industry in the world where each Friday churns out a new genre of films. Sonali Cable is a daring attempt never seen before on Indian Cinema. Unfortunately it has few moments to hold your attention.

A small-time cable shop is threatened by a big tycoon who is willing to take over the city of Mumbai. Sonali Cable tells the story of young and dynamic Sonali who must survive the wave and get back her shop which she proudly runs.

I would like to mention here that as a first time director Cahurdutt Acharya has put in a sincere efforts. Full marks should be given to him for tackling the story so efficiently. The cinematography of the flick is an average. Background score is poor. The screenplay could have been a bit tighter. Rhea Chakraborty is a fine actress. She plays the chirpy yet fiery role with aplomb. Ditto goes for the performance by the rest of the star cast.

Overall, the movie is a decent watch. You may want to give it a try. Decent – 2.75 / 5

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• Ketan

Sincere efforts by director

[sourabhscd · 6/10 · 14 November 2015]

Simple plain story of a spunky girl from mumbai sub urb. The movie may not please all audience but its the story of common people in sub urbs. Director has put in sincere efforts and the cast has performed fairly well. The lead character by Rhea has done very well. Average movie but worth a story. Background scores are okay. Cinematography is average. Songs are not that good. Female protagonist introduced while jumping one roof to another like cakewalk. I was expecting some realistic touch from this movie but this shot shattered my expectation. Cuts from one scene to another are beautiful. Love is second plot but it is assumed that they are in love rather than showing some beautiful romantic moments. Performance wise Ali Fazal as Raghu is OK. Reah Chakraborty as Sonali is fine. An actor who played Bobby Bose is impressive. Raghav Juyal as Sada is very good. Anupam kher is OK. Rest is okay and not so appealing.

Thanx team 'Sonali Cable'. I liked it!

All the best!

A sweet, feel good film which could be much better, mocks at the greedy corporates and remains watchable for Rhea alone.

[bobbysing · 5/10 · 5 January 2015]

Its always refreshing to see films with some new likable faces without any prior information of what they are going to offer in those two hours. And considering this particular viewpoint, SONALI CABLE remains a pleasant one time watch based on an interesting realistic plot talking about the cable network and their local owners personally handling their connected households. However sadly it can also be rated as a film which could have easily become another KHOSLA KA GHOSLA, FUKREY or BAND BAAJA BAARAT with its immensely likable content, but fails to take its all realistic characters to the next level and manages to deliver just a feel good average result due to a hurried and weak final hour.

The film begins well with a fresh approach and starts placing all connecting dots intelligently pointing towards a good script in hand. The progression delivers few entertaining moments in the first hour along with a fine satire pointing towards the greedy corporate culture eying at every single person living in the city. But the culmination starts happening at a quite hurried pace and it more or less becomes all routine or clichéd towards the climax. Also the camera-work & background score remain above average with editing thankfully maintaining a racy pace throughout.

But despite the above mentioned shortcomings, a female protagonist straight out of the real life fighting back against a powerful corporate giant largely works in the favour of the film and one doesn't mind watching it mainly due to the enjoyable performance of Rhea Chakraborty alone, fluently speaking her Marathi lines with confidence. The young, straight forward and bold character shiningly played by Rhea (in only her second film) becomes the sole attraction of the movie undoubtedly along with few good supporting acts coming from Ali Fazal (also in his second film), Faizal Rashid and Smita Jaykar. Anupam Kher in a not so lengthy role of a cunning businessman once again shows his versatility in playing different characters post his fabulous act in EKKEES TOPPON KI SALAAMI. Plus both exceptionally talented Swanand Kirkire and the debutant Raghav Juyal surely deserve a special mention here for being the surprise elements of the film with their impressive acts.

In his first attempt writer-director Charu Dutt Acharya could have delivered a much better and impactful film if he had given more attention to its conclusive hour adding a different climax twist than the usual 'seen before' one. He shapes up his well-placed characters superbly (especially Sonali's) but isn't able to play with them as effectively as desired in the second half. For instance, the sudden ineffective revelation of his wife's departure and no logical depiction of the serious crime committed by Swanand Kirkire in the end simply looks weird with his daughter being least concerned about the same enjoying her own success. Further being a small film, I strongly feel that a director must look out for at least one catchy, enjoyable song from his music directors to get that much required attention from the viewers which is strongly missing in the film's weak soundtrack.

Nevertheless, I would still like to appreciate the Sippy's for backing such small venture with all fresh faces as this is only the way to tap the new hidden talent among the youngsters. Yes, SONALI CABLE surely could have been a great film with a potential plot line revealing the ugly games of the corporates played with the common man. Yet its much better than many hugely publicized silly films and has its heart right in place with a very sweet and worth praising performance of Rhea Chakraborty. So it can certainly be seen once for Rhea & Raghav alone to support the effort made.

Memorable Characters and a Good Story

[inanytime · 18 October 2014]

This is an emotionally powerful film without any unnecessary melodrama. Without being the typical bollywood it gives some insight into the challenges faced by small business owners from big corporates. The main plot is engaging and well paced but I found myself more interested in the lives of the minor characters. More scenes with the Bengali operator Beedi talking about his past life, and his dreams and aspirations would have been fun. Similarly the lives of other minor characters explored more in depth would have been fun to watch. Anupam Kher could have been more humiliating towards his employees to realise the full potential of his character. I didn't like how he kept a cotton swab lodged in his ear, that was unrealistic. I feel that the director was trying to keep the film mainstream by using colourful scenes with choreographed dances and such but it would have worked better if there was a push instead towards making this film look even more like parallel cinema. On the positive side, everybody acted well and the script worked emotionally.

not worth watching

[testfyji · 1/10 · 17 October 2014]

Sonali Cable starts off as an intriguing story but disconnects itself from the point of the film incredibly fast.. For the Orwellian nightmare that it sketches, for when Sonali steps across the foyer of Shine Inc and on to the shining image that is A, for Sonali's monologue for the Little Person towards the end, and for portraying death and dreams with a finesse I haven't seen in a while don't want to give away the plot but when Hartline's go offline BE PREPARED TO CRY. 1. A pretty Rhea C, who struggles in the acting department. Ali Fazal too is patchy, I've-acting for half of it & playing it real for the other.

2. A very dry treatment to an otherwise exciting premise. Just gets plain boring after a point.

3. One song too many, quite unnecessary.

4. Absolutely no chemistry between the lead pair.

5. Pretty random climax.

To sum it up, Sonali Cable is a cute small film that meanders away after a point. Give it a miss

Good movie

[sharmagaurav_78 · 7/10 · 12 January 2015]

good movie. Indian audience love to see big stars blunders so they might don't like this movie but movie is good and sensible unlike big projects in bollywood. Although all actors are not good but overall I enjoyed the movie. These types of movies are keeping bollywood's image. Else big projects are ruining it.

good movie. Indian audience love to see big stars blunders so they might don't like this movie but movie is good and sensible unlike big projects in bollywood. Although all actors are not good but overall I enjoyed the movie. These types of movies are keeping bollywood's image. Else big projects are ruining it.

Please watch out this.

1 star

[sanjudevilmeister · 1/10 · 17 October 2014]

It is laborious to sit through the 127 minute-long film, and soon you are left wondering if director-writer Acharya bit off far more than what he could chew with this one. After watching the film, one gets the feeling that he put way too many issues on his plate, and when it came to arranging his full plate, he couldn't handle the task. Simply put, he fails miserably in establishing his credibility as someone who is serious about handling the issues.

Ditto for the emotions, the obvious by-product of any big versus small player fight: Acharya, it seems, just forgot the cardinal rule that one needs to build the tempo if you want those vulnerabilities to resonate with the audience.

pathetic

[victorybj21 · 1/10 · 17 October 2014]

awful is the word. specially that dancer was the most annoying character in the movie. Screenplay is forced. Nothing appealing in duologue's even. Every possible twist is tried to incorporate without justifying them. Anupam sir talent seems to be wasted. We just went to the theater that it must be an art movie or something like that. but swear it was a joke in name of a movie. seriously i am to much annoyed.

There are some vivid patches in this David-Goliath war, but overall consistency and credibility is a problem. The leading lady tries for perkiness but comes off as a weak link, her foul-mouthiness more forced than natural. Kher is over-the-top. Fazal is a good addition to the team, even if he is in the same mode as he was in 'Bobby Jasoos'. And I like Swanand Kirkire in his acting gigs : he makes things believable even when he is patently on a set.

This could have been a modern day fable, but 'Sonali Cable' is not that film.

Somebody tell this woman to go learn acting

[user51555 · 1/10 · 2 January 2021]

Somebody tell this woman to go learn acting if she dreams to earn a living in movies. A total flop

Not bad, plain simple story pretty well executed...

[Spectacula · 8/10 · 18 October 2014]

Rhea Chakraborty in the pivotal role of Sonali, has done a commendable job. Gabriella Demetriades playing Zoomi has a glamorous appearance in the film. Raghav Juyal (Sada) and Ali Fazal (Raghu) have done remarkably well. Script and Dialogues could have been better. Anupam Kher as Shining's Chairman (Narayan Singh Vaghela), Swanand Kirkire as Sonali's dad (Dattaram Tandel) and Smita Jaykar as Raghu's mom (Minatayi Pawar) have given great performances individually.

The story is about a small local brand Sonali Cable vs big national brand Shining Group. Shining invades Sonali's territory and in order to uproot Sonali Cable, hires goons (who happen to be Sada's elder brother) to attack Sonali's Cable Centre. Sada dies fighting one of the goons. In due course, RaceNet's owner's daughter Zoomi cheats Raghu and Sonali by making their company RaceNet's partner without disclosing that RaceNet had already decided to enter in partnership with Shining. Sonali then takes revenge by hacking into Shining's computer and publicly leaking them through 'Sonali Leaks'. Vaghela goes to police custody, his company Shining Broadband's license gets suspended, and Sonali Cable is revived as Sada Cable. Raghu and Sonali, who love each other, reunite again. Sonali had earlier suspected Raghu of holding knowledge of Zoomi's plan.

Decent story, pathetic actress Rhea

[abhishek-madmax · 1/10 · 19 August 2020]

The movie has a decent story and could have been interesting but for the actress Rhea...totaly uninvolved in acted and makes one lose interest in the movie very quickly...a decent or good actress could have done justice to the role...whole movie spoiled and destroyed by this good for nothing so called actress

Bad film

[befyhypu · 1/10 · 10 November 2020]

Bad cinematography and poor editing. Stale story.

Actor seems like she is on drugs and can murder anyone.

Pathetic acting

[aapkifakaalat · 1/10 · 29 August 2020]

The lead actress is so pathetic and so emotion less that if we compare it with a still image to her, the still image will earn more brownie points that the actress.

It's a roller coaster disaster and a drop to humanity and to every human ground.!!

It is entangled

[dineshprakash · 3/10 · 17 October 2014]

There is an idea in the name of story. Screenplay is forced. Nothing appealing in dialogues even. Every possible twist is tried to incorporate without justifying them. There is love, politics, murder, hacking and fight for existence. I was unable to understand the title itself and remained so after watching the film. Every big company wants to undertake or buy a small venture by hook or crook, its very old thing but there was nothing new so I could feel attached with the fight for survival of Sonali Cable. Female protagonist introduced while jumping one roof to another like cakewalk. I was expecting some realistic touch from this movie but this shot shattered my expectation. Cuts from one scene to another are beautiful. Love is second plot but it is assumed that they are in love rather than showing some beautiful romantic moments. Performance wise Ali Fazal as Raghu is OK. Reah Chakraborty as Sonali is fine. An actor who played Bobby Bose is impressive. Raghav Juyal as Sada is very good. Anupam Kher is just OK.

Ok for 1 time watch

[lataashoks · 3/10 · 11 August 2018]

A simple movie that mainly Mumbaikars might be able to connect..it could have been better..shows how politics and goondagardi exists in every walk of life nowadays..the supporting starcast are ace actors..leads are just ok...Rhea's attempt to speak Mumbai ya English seems to be forced.. are the reviewers here confusing Raja Kher with Anupam Kher..he is a good actor bit gone over the top here...just ok for a 1 time watch.

A light-hearted feel-good drama

[mahapatraakash · 9/10 · 7 March 2019]

Sonali Cable is a fine movie with lots of good moments. A must-watch for a break from the regular commercial Bollywood movies. Each and every actor has done a great job. Rhea as the protagonist Sonali is especially a delight to watch. Not to forget Ali Fazal as Raghu and Raghav Juyal as Sadaa. Such movies should be watched on television and apreciated.

Correction to my previous review

[lataashoks · 3/10 · 11 August 2018]

In addition to my previous review..correction it is indeed Anupam Kher and not Raju Kher..His acting was just ok towards the end.