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Dunki (2023)
Hirani is on a downward spiral
There's no doubt that 3 Idiots was Hirani's peak of his career. The movie got pretty much everything right. But Dunki is just a confirmation of Hirani's declining stature as a director. Ferrari ki Sawari, PK, Sanju, and now this. Just a consistent drop in Hirani's creativity and creative skills.
It's crazy that you can have seasoned actors like SRK & Boman Irani at one place and still fail to get their best out. Khan feels like he's doing mimicry the whole time, writing is sloppy, screenplay is slow and too long. Movie gains some momentum in second half but ends with a rush? No character development, just a highly amateur take on Swades.
This almost makes you wonder if 3 Idiots was pure luck? Or maybe our expectations from him are too high and he simply can't seem to deliver anymore.
Undercover Billionaire (2019)
Thoroughly enjoyed second season
I was a huge fan of the show since I followed Glenn's journey when it came out in 2019. It's possibly one of the most inspirational shows I've ever seen on TV as an entrepreneur myself and to relate with many things that happen behind the scenes shown on TV.
The second season was even better. We followed the journey of three entrepreneurs and how they build million-dollar businesses out of a hundred bucks.
I mean, I see where the criticism stems from. People react differently when there's a camera crew around and it definitely opened up many doors for these 3 the way it would not for others.
But even accounting for that, it was great to see on TV that an opportunity lies everywhere if you're out to run for it. Especially enjoyed both Elaine's and Grant's journeys and the people they met.
Shudra the Rising (2012)
Thought this was a parody!
I sat to watch down the movie but couldn't finish as it just seemed seemingly boring, distorted and a work of frustration rather than art.
It stretches for over an hour and half but the premise of the movie is set in first 30 minutes. A Brahmin priest is shown as a cruel monster who uses antics to keep so-called oppressed Shudras in check.
A Thakur (Rajput) is then shown followed by a Vaishya as well.
Needless to say, there's a forceful, historically-incorrect attempt to make all the three look like predators and the oppressed slaves as some kind of "yes sir" folks.
The movie has no plot, it has no connected direction either. It's just a bunch of scenes put together. Nothing more than that.
It finally ends with a clip where the narrator compares Bhimrao to the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and tries to imply that he vanished the lines of varnas by writing ideal rules. Well, if he really did that, why do you still reserve 80% seats?
It's a work of fiction. I would only recommend if you can keep your brain in the refrigerator and common sense in the garbage bin, and have nothing better to do in your life.
Anupamaa (2020)
This monstrosity needs to be banned
This show is an attack on the traditional Indian family structure. It has people pretending to be "sanskaris" doing the most illogical things with stupid gyaani lectures every here and there.
This time I will not be renewing my family's Hotstar subscription purely because of a sense and brainless show like this. If you do not how Indian families are and what our practices are, do not pretend to know.
This show is nothing but an upper class man's fantasy about a middle class household.
+1 for a ban.
Dune (2021)
Gorgeously boring
Look, it's a beautiful movie. Every scene can be screenshotted and made a wallpaper on. Possibly one of the best looking movies I've seen to this day.
But boy was it dragged and boring. I say this as an avid sci-fi fan. I have followed Denis Villeneuve's work - and I'd add Dune to the category of painfully slow movies along with Blade Runner 2049.
Skip it I'd say. Rewatch The Martian or something.
Gehraiyaan (2022)
This is deep? Are you 14? It's the worst piece of entertainment on Prime
It was a tough choice between Gehraiyaan and The VelociPastor, the latter has been referred to as the worst movie on Amazon Prime for years but I'm afraid it has a new contender.
Come Gehraiyaan, a dull, deaf and near dead movie with a pea-brained plot. Cinematography is good, the prelude is kinda good and then it suddenly sinks deep into a swamp of confusion and stupidity.
Starts off as an emotional drama, suddenly tries to become a crime-thriller and fails in achieving either of the status at once.
Ananya Pandey is absolutely cringey and irritable to watch. Deepika tries to play a 30-year old but looks so depressed she looks like she's 45. The other two male leads are okayish.
If I had to pick something I'd say the cinematography holds up this movie but there's literally nothing else worth commending here. I'm just suprised Amazon Prime picked this up even though the quality is suited for MX Player or ALTBalaji (no offense intended).
Gintama (2005)
This has to be the best anime ever.
It has a balance between action, strong plot and great comedy. I've seen hundreds of animes at this point, but nothing truly beats Gintama for me.
Blindspot (2015)
Should have ended with season 1
The writers just became lazy now. The show has become more about justifying Islamic terrorism, spreading propaganda and milking the same old cow Hollywood has milked for years. First season was good though, won't deny that.
Seinto oniisan (2012)
That was amazing.
Now that was really refreshing. I loved the miniseries and the movie was pretty good as well. The concept could have been explored more, maybe putting in Krishna would have made it even more lit. But once again, great movie and I truly enjoyed it.
Ansatsu kyôshitsu (2013)
A touching, beautiful anime
It's a shame Assassination Classroom isn't known like the others. I laughed through the anime, and wept during the final two. It's truly a touching anime, and not many exist that quite hit you like Assassination Classroom does.
Loved it. Every moment.
Laxmii (2020)
Just watch the Hindi dub of Kanchana
There's not a single percent of originality in this movie. Leave the script, even the cinematography was copied from the Southern Indian original. The 'humor' in this movie is done so ridiculously that it makes you cringe everytime they do something.
Overall, skip it. Find something better to do with your time.
Krishna and His Leela (2020)
Who watches these?
I highly wonder how much free time does the Indian audience have that they are reluctant on watching this kind of substandard, inferior shows. It makes no sense to me.
There's a very stupid plot of some kind of love triangle, it's the same old rubber band that all Indian entertainment industries have been stretching for years.
No freshness. One guy, two girls. Weak plot. Weak writing. Congratulations, you just lost 2 valuable hours that you could have spent doing something rather productive!
Also, I believe the characters are named Krishna and Radha to gain some controversy and free marketing. Just Netflix being Netflix.
Dirilis: Ertugrul (2014)
Weird cinematography, mediocre plot
The cinematography was very weird. Almost looked like the whole thing was shot by some newbie student. I understand Turkish entertainment industry is still quite primitive but a show that is being pushed around by Prime Ministers should have some artistic edge to them.
The plot at least from what I understand isn't quite complex. And most people who are watching this show are watching it for the religion, Islam, rather than the merits of its own. To a non-Muslim, this show offers nothing new. It's eulogizing a religion, mocking the Christ's Templars, and offers nothing new to the table.
Hasmukh (2020)
Netflix's new low after Leila
Leila was when I thought I was done with Netflix India. The only reason I had their subscription was to follow up their non-Indian shows and Lacasa De Papel in particular.
But this show had a lot of hype around it, so I decided to check this one out. Needless to say, my time was wasted watching a guy who can't act, makes absurd and untimed jokes and a broken screeplay.
Don't get me wrong, the concept of this show is unique and could have been done exponentially better. But for now, it's not a show, it's a massacre. And just like Leila or Ghoul, this one goes to my bin of Netflix's crappiest shows.
As for Vir Das, I don't know how he plans to continue forth his career after this. Maybe he should go back to his scripted "standup comedy".
Shikara (2020)
This movie is an insult
I DO NOT recommend this movie from either a historic point of view or from an entertainment point of view. Historically, it shows the exact opposite of what actually happened. From a cinematic POV, while the cinematography is good, the plot has major loop holes and the whole movie is nothing but a blatant propaganda.
It has nothing to do with truth or history of Kashmir. On the release day, they changed the movie title from "The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits" to "The Timeless Love Story in the Worst of Times"...it explains all their hypocrisy.
Rather than donating your hard-earned money to feed someone's propaganda, wait for Vivek Agnihotri's 'The Kashmir Files' to release, maybe then you'll get to see the actual genocide.
Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020)
Absolutely stunning, a visual delight. Tho a victim of political correctness.
Here's my spoiler-free review.
The first half of the movie basically sets the plot, so its more emotional, taken in for character building and is relatively slower than the second. The other half is basically where the movie picks up pace, is battle-oriented and smashes it while reaching to the end.
The score is fitting, 3D was one of the best I've seen from Indian cinema. I didn't quite like the songs tho, the same goes with choreography - it didn't flow well with the rhythm of the movie. Still, the positives of this one outweigh its negatives by a huge gap and thus, a perfect 10 from my side.
Saif was truly breathtaking - this was perhaps one of his life's best ever performances. Kelkar, who played Maharaj Chattrapati Shivaji was on spot, it felt like Shivaji had himself come down for his adaptation. Both Kajol and Ajay were good as well.
There were certain instances where Marathi was casually mixed up with Hindi. You can guess what they're saying but its always better to have a Marathi friend visit with you. Also, the movie has been made tax-free in certain states like Uttar Pradesh.
I also felt that this movie covered a lot of things to 'balance' them out and became a victim of political correctness. Although they may have not been a part of director's initial vision. Here are some instances I noticed:
1. Words like "Mullah" were outright muted. In fact, Mullah is not even a derogatory word, the word is derived from Arabic and translates to 'Master', I have absolutely no clue why such words were muted multiple times during the movie.
2. There's a dialogue where Tanhaji's wife says "Under Shivaji's reign, the honour of women & janeu of Brahmins are safeguarded". Here, the part about Brahmins has been wiped out and replaced with "...for all people". My question is, what's wrong in mentioning Brahmins? What's wrong in mentioning that the persecuted defenseless is safe under Shivaji? This was beyond stupid.
3. It has been shown that Tanhaji's army had its fair share of Muslims. There's a particular Muslim character as well. Whereas, in reality there are no proofs that say that Tanaji's army had any Muslims. What's even more silly is that this guy always wears a skull cap even when fighting in battle. I'm pretty sure Muslims didn't fight in plain skull caps, and had some kind of protection while hopping in battles.
4. There's this epic scene where Tanhaji sits with the bhagwa flag waving besides him. I repeat, this scene is beautiful. Unfortunately, the 'Om' symbol from that flag was removed (the symbol is visible in trailer). We later see a Swastika but there's not a single Om in any bhagwa flags in the whole movie.
However, this shouldn't stop you from visiting the movie. It is hundred percent recommended to see it, preferably in 3D. You're gonna love it.
Namah (2019)
Nice VFX, nice plot, acting could be better
The person who plays Shiva is...a bit, robotic. But he does the job. Other aspects of the show are all fine. The VFX are probably the best I've seen after Porus on Indian television. Stories are all Puranic and less inspired from Itihaasas.
All-and-all a great show and I highly recommend it.
Siya Ke Ram (2015)
Great show; although not a correct iteration of the Ramayana
Siya Ke Ram is possibly one of the biggest Indian TV productions. It doesn't exactly follow the Ramayana, and thus I won't call it an exact iteration of the Ramayana, since the point here is to showcase Ramayana from Sita's perspective, and surely, this show does a great job at doing so.
I recently saw this on Hotstar after seeing Mahabharat (2013). This had much better VFX and CGI. In fact, it's the best we've seen on Indian television till now. It's been nearly 4 years since this show was on broadcast and we're yet to see an Indian show that beats Siya Ke Ram when it comes ot VFX and CGI.
Coming to characters, boy did Ashish Sharma do a wonderful job playing the Lord. And my second best favorite was the lad who played Ravana - he did a wonderful job as well.
The chaupayis and soundtrack was pretty good as well.
However, the reason I'll be cutting off 2 stars is purely because this was marketed as Ramayana and it clearly wasn't that. Right from the beginning it shows Ayodhya as a repressive kingdom. Sita doesn't change her expressions throughout the show. Unnecessary Kaikey drama, some things were stretched way too much then required. And then the unnecessary feminism thing that was really not needed here.
At the end of the day, this show should not be your point of reference for the Ramayana. And don't compare this to Ramanand Sagar's Ramayana either - that will forever remain as the best Ramayana iteration ever made.
Article 15 (2019)
A Mississippi Burning rip off; possibly Ayushman Khurana's worst ever choice
It's incredibly similar to an English movie "Mississippi burning".
Article 15 is about casteism in India and MB is about the racism in America. That alone isn't why it seems similar. Many scenes looked similar there are some characters that also feels like they were taken from MB.
But this isn't to discredit Article 15 in any way. Even though both topics are same, it's both about bigotry and discrimination. The movie shoots arrows in the air and hopes of injecting them as thoughts within the audiences. It merely uses a rape case, an actual one, to drive its own agenda. Which is incredibly disheartening when you think of it.
It ends up further dividing the audience on the name of uniting them.
PM Narendra Modi (2019)
Must watch; highly inspirational
IMDb ratings were hijacked by people of a certain ideology even before the movie had released. As you may see, all first 1000 reviews are 1 star reviews and posted before 24th May, when the movie hadn't even released yet.
Coming to the movie Amazing movie, no movie can do justice for what the Prime Minister has done and gone through, but they tried their best to show all the aspects of his life. Based on real events and takes inspiration from the Prime Minister's speeches a lot.
It's inspiring to see the journey of a poor tea-seller's son to becoming the 14th Prime Minister of India. It gives you a hope that anything is possible in this country, and has been perfectly delivered by Mr Oberoi in the movie. The Modi-Shah jodi is incredible. Direction is great and I loved a couple of tracks behind. Background score was a tad inconsistent and could have been done better.
Go out with your friends and family and you won't regret. I highly recommend this . Paisa-vasool.
Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai (2015)
Worst comedy show ever?
India, which needs more shows like Tarak Mehta ka Oolta Chashmah is getting this? A show which you can't enjoy with your family, a show whose plot is basically two male protagonists hitting each other's wives. I wonder if one can even enjoy and laugh while watching a show like this. The show is also very offensive to the people of Brahmin community as it also portrays Tiwari Ji consuming non-vegetarian food. Acting is even worse, or should I call it overacting? Catchphrases are also not catchy at all, instead, the "Sahi Pakde Hai" thing sounds silly and irritating. The situations created in episodes are repetitive and the characters are doing almost the same thing in every "new" episode.
For instance, Anita Bhabhi is an educated and qualified person, she still can't understand Tiwari's move? She's a manipulative woman and exploits Vibhuti (her husband) like hell. Additional characters like Happu Singh are stupid and the situations created are far away from reality. Also, portraying the Indian police as a lazy and stupid should not be done here.
I hope we won't see shows like this near future.
Waar (2013)
Worst
With a budget of 1.7 Mn $ this movie is Pakistan's most expensive movie(Yes! Believe me!), while they have shown totally opposite of what they are. Time Waste!
Coinciding with the release of War Chhod Na Yar on the Indian side, comes a Pakistani movie called Waar which has an entirely different story-line. Opening to cinemas on Eid this week, Waar is a movie about Pakistan's war on terrorism and how India is behind all the terrorist activities that take place in Pakistan.
Relying heavily on stereotypes that exist in Pakistani media already, Waar is a story about one Major Mujhtaba, a retired army officer who had taken an early retirement from the forces due to personal reasons. This lead role is played by the country's top actor, Shaan.
A special task force of the police is trying to tackle terrorism in the tribal areas but there comes a time when they realize that Pakistan is about to be hit by a terrorist attack and none but the retired Major Ehtesham can lead such a complicated operation.
The two villains in the movie that emerge are the local politicians (there are look alikes of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif) and RAW agents, who come in different shapes and sizes.
The two RAW agents Ramal and Laxmi are the primary cause of most trouble in Pakistan. The movie shows them behind political murders, suicide bombings and even kidnapping. There is another RAW agent who works as a social worker by day and honey-traps willing politicians by nights.