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Reviews
Highway (2014)
Stockholmed!
¬Imtiaz Ali's Highway was my second movie starring one of these new breed of young actors, first one being a huge disappointment - 'Hasee to Phasee' starring Parineeti UnfunnyOveracting Chopra and Siddharth WaxedChest CannotActToSaveHisLife Malhotra. After watching Highway, I realized how stupid I was to compare these two films. I entered the hall with very (very!) low expectations. And my expectations were almost met for the first 15 minutes of the movie where Alia (who at that point of time was starting to look like another Katrina Kaif in the making, she appeared as one of those actresses for who didn't have Hindi as their first language) is going for a late night drive with her Mr. BadActor fiancée(Fatoo is the only word I can use to describe this guy). I was almost getting ready for my stupid-movie nap (Frequency of which is increasing day by day. ThankYou commercial cinema) when I heard a gunshot. Hoho. Enters Randeep Hooda. And our journey began. And boy was it a good one. The movie though predictable at a lot of places is amazing. We have had a very few movies which have explored this theme of Stockholm Syndrome, this one I believe is the most accurate or at least the most researched.
(If you haven't yet watched the movie and Even if you know what SSyndrome is, I advise you to listen to the HowStuffWorks Podcast on 'Stockholm Syndrome' before watching Highway. This will really help you understand what really is going on and why.)
Maybe it is Gurgaon NCR that I miss, or just that sweet music-to-the- ears Haryanvi tongue which I haven't heard for the longest time, but I absolutely loved Randeep Hooda's role. I can't think of any other actor who could speak such flawless or at least convincing Haryanvi. I had almost lost hope on this guy after Jism and Murder and whatnot but boy is he back! He plays the role of a typical gangster Haryanvi Jatt, someone you don't want to mess with, he looks scary and he talks scarier. Alia Bhatt was only decent before the interval. But she has really done a great job towards the end; it's difficult to believe that this is only her second movie. I was lucky enough to 'almost' get a photo clicked with Imtiaz Ali and Alia Bhatt as I walked out for some snacks during the interval. These guys were standing at the door asking people how are liking the movie, by the time I realized what was going on half the country's population beat me to it. Though I did take some pictures as reconciliation. I have got to say Hats off Mumbai, you are a bunch of really civilized people. I wish Sachin was there too, so I could say Aliaa Sachin! Yes, coming back to Highway, there is nothing wrong with it except maybe the first fifteen minutes I believe. The road scenes which make most of the movie were a treat to watch, you could see glimpses of Ghaziabaad, CP, Manali, Rajasthan and the hilly roads of North India where you can see mountains that are cut to make roads (Googled a lot could not find a name for this place). Another thing I like about this movie is that there are no imposed dance/music sequences except one which was quite funny as it was meant to be and Thank god for no Item number. So yes, all in all best movie of 2014 so far, which again like 'Shahid' and 'GOW' will not get the commercial success like Dhoom3 or some other trash did but Highway deserves it. My humble plea to the Indian audience - Please encourage such movies. Go watch it. Spend some Monay. Personally, my list of 'best Indian directors' just had a new addition. OkBye! Varun
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-leela (2013)
why SLB why?!
Walked out in the interval. Yes Deepika was looking good. Yes she is a good actress. Apart from that I found the movie to be a desperate attempt to grab attention by double meaning dialogs and unwanted vulgarity. and unwanted cleavage(Ranvir Singh, please wear a shirt if you are wearing a shirt). Other than that I just think SLB did a Miley Cyrus. There was no romance in this so called tribute to Romeo and Juliet, it's just two people(with seriously elevated estrogen/testosterone levels) looking at each other for the first time and falling in love/Tharkiness. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. Apologies in either case.
The music was so bad. "ram chahe Leela, Leela chahye ram, in do-no k love main duniya ka kaam" "bhaiii bhaii *gunshot* *gunshot* bhai bhai *gunshot**gunshot", "tu goli chalye mien Teri chum mi Lu something" were just embarrassing. The performances, Deepika was good(duh). Ranvir Singh, frankly, I find him annoying. I'm sick of watching him in his typical 'chichora' roles. Sadly, I have seen almost all his movies (ricky Baal, shaddi one and the other one.), heard he was good in Lootera but also heard so was Sonakshi Sinha which I highly doubt, so gave it a pass. Supriya Pathak was good. Priyank Chopra was bad, even though she didn't have control over the choreography or the lyrics of the song. It was bad. Badbadbad. If I'm not wrong, this was the first time Sanjay Leela Bansali had to resort to an Item number to sell his film. Just shows the kind of audience that was being targeted.
The Indian audience is above the era where when the director wanted to show an intimate scene there would be a flower blocking the view or a bunch of bushes moving in front of their faces but I don't think we are ready for this kind of vulgarity 'yet'. In my opinion, if he wants to make Adult Cinema, SLB should try a different approach or maybe take some tips from Anurag Kashyap ;)
Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999)
Go Govinda!!
One of my favorite Govinda movies. Can't get enough of it. Not to be missed even if you are not into the Govinda style of acting AKA over-acting, It might just be Govinda's best performance in a comic role.
HMJ is one of those movies which you can watch sitting at home with a group of friends, N number of times. Great comic performances by Anupum Kher, Kader Khan, Sunjay Dutt, Paresh Rawal, the thin mobster guy, the fat mobster guy, Satish Kaushik! (Kunj Biharii), even shakuntala(bua- ji). Just feels like the entire movie was an improv. The actors looked like they were actually having fun. Loads of great one liners and dialogs.
On my list of top comedy movies this one stands right on top with Andaz Apna Apna and Chupke Chupke.
Shahid (2012)
Fictitious yet not hard to believe.
Shahid is one of those low budget movies which comes in every year and gets pummeled by all the star studded, extravagant, over the top commercial films. Premiering in Sept 2012 in the Toronto Film Festival and Oct 2013 in India, it has been successful throughout, but has not gained the popularity/recognition it deserves. Shahid deals with two very delicate subjects – Terrorism and Hindu-Muslim conflicts. We have seen these themes explored in a lot of movies before; however, this movie stands apart because it is a Biography (Almost). Even though a message at the start of the movie clearly mentions that it's a work of fiction 'inspired' from a real life incident, nowhere in the movie does it seem like the director or the writers have exaggerated. Shahid is the story of Shahid Azmi, a lawyer and a human rights activist and his struggle in the professional, personal and societal front. Rajkumar Rao (Kai Po Che fame) is exceptional; however, a few scenes with Prabhleen Sandhu(the wife) seemed to be weird, the dialogs were umm.. unpolished
awkward. There was indeed a lack of 'chemistry'. On Googling, I found out that most of the movie dialogs were actually improvised. Perhaps Mehta was trying to keep it as real as possible, but this does work in most parts of the movie. For GOW fans, the movie also features a cameo from Tigmanshu Dhulia (Ramadhir Singh), though unnecessary. I was expecting a 'beta tumse naa hopayega', which never happens of course. K.K Menon has a small cameo too. Apart from the improvised dialogs, for me, there was nothing wrong with the movie. The Soundtrack was decent. The courtroom scenes and arguments were brilliant. The extended scene after the credits was a good touch. All in all, a must watch. Or at least google Shahid Azmi.