This insufferable piece of trash is a part of the mainstream movie making culture in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Most films from that part of India are deafening loud with saturated colours and archaic plots. The ridiculous levels of hero worship indicates a repressed audience that lives it's wet dreams through screen heroes. I'm a fan of larger than life blockbusters but these Andhra films are unrefined, amateurish and wannabe. They thrive on cult following from fans who are not known to have a taste in cinema. KGF rocky is no exception to this tradition that has thin plots, fossilised storylines, on the nose dialogues and caricature action scenes. Though I mist admit that the cinematography amd editing is good and these films ride on these 2 aspects.
Reviews
12 Reviews
Kedarnath
(2018)
A good one time watch
6 May 2022
Since it was based on the Kedarnath calamity, the end was quite predictable, especially when the Titanic inspiration was apparent from the trailers. Still it turned out to be a sweet and engaging watch. The calamity was well linked with human greed in the region. The standard love story tropes were given some refreshing treatment and the mountain settings was breathtaking.
Gully Boy
(2019)
Electrifying
18 February 2020
A complete entertainment package with high energy and excitement. The film has got the street vibe of Mumbai perfectly well and excels in all departments - script, direction, music and acting. An organic storytelling rarely seen in Bollywood.
iSmart Shankar
(2019)
The talli mass fare
18 February 2020
This is the typical C grade film from the assembly line of Telugu film industry. Loud, flashy and simplistic script with on-the-nose dialogues. It resembles a junior school stage play. The only difference is that the target audience is not junior school kids but adults with a dismal IQ, dead senses and a terrible taste of art.
Fire in Babylon
(2010)
A thrilling docudrama with some shortcomings.
1 March 2014
This movie captures the spirit of the times and invokes a nostalgia for all those who grew up in that period. The West Indies team of the 70s and 80s had the most naturally talented and passionate players cricket has seen. With their hard work and an unyielding approach to victory, they more than made up for their lack of resources. This made them the most exciting team to watch. In fact a lot of people of my generation lost interest in cricket with the decline of the West Indies. This movie reignites that fire inside.
Where this movie falters is giving too much focus on fast bowling. The West Indians were also great batsmen. Very little of it was covered except Richards. They were also athletic fielders and had great mental strength. Their victory over Australia was not just about intimidating bowling but was also about getting comfortable against Lillee and Thompson.
Where this movie falters is giving too much focus on fast bowling. The West Indians were also great batsmen. Very little of it was covered except Richards. They were also athletic fielders and had great mental strength. Their victory over Australia was not just about intimidating bowling but was also about getting comfortable against Lillee and Thompson.
Tamas
(1988– )
Indian art at its zenith
20 August 2013
Since the story of this 'movie' has already been discussed in detail I would only talk about the cinematic aspect. I give it perfect ten because it is a rare Indian movie with perfect script writing, acting, direction, cinematography and background score. The story involves you intensely right from the first scene. The most incredible part is that inspite of the slow pace you cannot get off the screen for a minute. This masterpiece also proves that a good and organic story can be cleverly shot on an ultra low budget and still can be an eye catcher like the big budget movies. Hats off to Govind Nihlani, Bhishm Sahni, Om Puri, Deepa Sahi and everyone involved. I will not even talk about the story content here since I would want everyone to watch this. Just a small note - this series gives the most realistic depiction of the origin of all political ideologies in India. PS: I watched it as a for part movie in one sitting and so have given the perspective of a movie.
Swades
(2004)
A massive disappointment
24 July 2013
It had all the ingredients for brilliance but they were hugely wasted by lousy writing. It was clichéd, melodramatic, plastic, predictable and pathetically unimaginative. The writer had so many good cinematic conflict situations on his platter but he did a cop out in each and every one. It was not difficult to pump edge of the seat ecstasy into scenes like the 'electricity generation' and 'Mohan's change of heart at NASA' but they ended up being lame and predictable.
The saving grace of the movie were the regular patriotic gushes the story inherently gave. And with those motherland glasses on, it was so easy to overlook the creative mediocrity that the film was replete with. The makers of this movie smartly camouflaged their creative destitution by whipping up sentiments of the nouveau liberalised and identity seeking Indian - just like the politicians of this country do. And they succeeded big time.
The saving grace of the movie were the regular patriotic gushes the story inherently gave. And with those motherland glasses on, it was so easy to overlook the creative mediocrity that the film was replete with. The makers of this movie smartly camouflaged their creative destitution by whipping up sentiments of the nouveau liberalised and identity seeking Indian - just like the politicians of this country do. And they succeeded big time.
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu
(2012)
As plastic as it can get
1 January 2013
This movie is an atrocious piece of fluff about how upper class Indians from big cities live in USA sponsored by their parents back home. Devoid of plot, acting and sensible dialogues, this movie targets the Indian small town middle class youngsters who'll lap up any piece of mediocrity in the name of 'being different'. The focus was on the minute details of infrastructure and material amenities in America that this movie's target group aspires. You don't have to be discerning to figure out that this was done to cover up the non existent acting skills of the lead pair - Imran and Kareena. However such stuff works since in this country of 1 billion, there are enough people who are easily pleased or at least pretend to be so. The rest of us can watch 'Fox Travel' channel at home and get more satisfaction.
Ramji Londonwaley
(2005)
Mckeeisation of bollywood
8 February 2006
I was surprised to find that the movie, with a pacey and slick script, is actually good! This is hollywoodisation of bollywood...more precisely, this is Mckeeisation of bollywood. Inspired (no pun intended) by their Hollywood counterparts, the Indian scriptwriters have also started taking cues from Robert Mckee - the screen writing guru. This story has a deep imprint of Mckee in a clear and structured manner- inciting incident, negation of negation, plot points, resolution etc etc.
On the face of it, this development would appear as a progressive step which indeed it is for a while BUT it also contains seeds of quick stagnation . The Hollywood movies have long lost their souls and now appear very predictable and plastic- thanks to an overdose of Mckee. The same may happen to the new wave Indian movies if they keep religiously following American structuralism without realising the flip side of it. Indian writers should see to it that in an attempt to break free from bollywood formula, they do not get trapped in the Hollywood (mckee) formula. Individual creativity and instincts is all one should follow while making a movie.
Did I mention, this movie is worth your multiplex expenses and three hours? Go watch it.
On the face of it, this development would appear as a progressive step which indeed it is for a while BUT it also contains seeds of quick stagnation . The Hollywood movies have long lost their souls and now appear very predictable and plastic- thanks to an overdose of Mckee. The same may happen to the new wave Indian movies if they keep religiously following American structuralism without realising the flip side of it. Indian writers should see to it that in an attempt to break free from bollywood formula, they do not get trapped in the Hollywood (mckee) formula. Individual creativity and instincts is all one should follow while making a movie.
Did I mention, this movie is worth your multiplex expenses and three hours? Go watch it.
Parinda
(1989)
Starting a new era
8 February 2006
This movie was the turning point in the fanciful world of Bollywood which had so far kept the remotest possible distance from reality in order to provide a fantasy escape to people amidst poverty and underdevelopment. Bollywood, in this respect had always feared compromising with colors, glycerin, scenic places, superman feats, dances and pomp and pageantry lest the movies would become insipid and turn off the masses.
Parinda dared to break the trend and brought the reel closer to real when Vidhu Vinod Chopra used the cinematography of the hitherto called 'art cinema' in the commercial mass cinema. But Parinda was not all about cinematography, it was a realistic take on the Bombay underworld and life of people in general. So far we had only seen mostly Ajit and Amjad Khan brand of opulent villains incredibly placed in their hi-tech, luxury castles. Parinda showed exactly how a real life gangster lives.
The movie is damn powerful and made such a wonderful blend of romance and violence that it is hard to categorize it into either genre. The characterization is so immaculate that the audience could connect and empathize even with the peripheral characters playing cameos. In a nutshell, the movie has a soul and is powerful enough to linger in the memory for long time.
It was a collective effort where the sensitive direction of V V Chpora was complimented by brilliant and soulful acting performances by master actors (all!) Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dikshit and Nana Patekar. What a dream cast that was! As mentioned before, the movie changed the age old and decadent trends in Bollywood and inspired the new generation filmmakers to stop insulting public intelligence. It set a benchmark for making realistic movies and blending them with drama. Ram Gopal Verma, for one,took the leaf from Parinda when he made Shiva in 1991 and later churned out a plethora of similar movies.
Parinda dared to break the trend and brought the reel closer to real when Vidhu Vinod Chopra used the cinematography of the hitherto called 'art cinema' in the commercial mass cinema. But Parinda was not all about cinematography, it was a realistic take on the Bombay underworld and life of people in general. So far we had only seen mostly Ajit and Amjad Khan brand of opulent villains incredibly placed in their hi-tech, luxury castles. Parinda showed exactly how a real life gangster lives.
The movie is damn powerful and made such a wonderful blend of romance and violence that it is hard to categorize it into either genre. The characterization is so immaculate that the audience could connect and empathize even with the peripheral characters playing cameos. In a nutshell, the movie has a soul and is powerful enough to linger in the memory for long time.
It was a collective effort where the sensitive direction of V V Chpora was complimented by brilliant and soulful acting performances by master actors (all!) Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dikshit and Nana Patekar. What a dream cast that was! As mentioned before, the movie changed the age old and decadent trends in Bollywood and inspired the new generation filmmakers to stop insulting public intelligence. It set a benchmark for making realistic movies and blending them with drama. Ram Gopal Verma, for one,took the leaf from Parinda when he made Shiva in 1991 and later churned out a plethora of similar movies.
Hero
(II) (1983)
Lambi Judai
23 January 2006
This is the movie that shot Jackie Shroff to stardom and for which he still obliges to Subhash Ghai. The movie, in spite of having a simple story line became instant hit owing to its very sensitive touch of direction and great music. 'Ding dong o baby sing song' clicked with the Indian audience after they had already developed a taste for Hindi songs sung in western style - popularly called as Indi pop- introduced by Nazia Hassan . The latter (from the movie 'qurbani') also started a trend of roping in Pakistani singers for Bollywood soundtrack. Hero had Reshma sing the song 'Lambi Judai'. The baritone 'quawwali-like' voice of reshma fascinated the Indian audience so much that two decades later when Ila Arun reproduced the style in 'choli ke peeche kya hai' (again in Ghai's movie Khalnayak) the Indian masses swung to it in a dejavu.
Coming back to the movie, it was also the introduction of the pretty girl Menakshi Sheshadri to the masses (though this was her third movie). The story goes like this, Jaikishan (alias Jackie dada) is henchman with a loyal gang who on the instructions of his master Amrish Puri, kidnaps the pretty daughter of a cop. The rest is the love story where the girl falls in love with her kidnapper and her haughty and dictatorial father, after an initial resistance had to give up to the indomitable love.
Songs are sung when the police raids the gang's jungle hideouts to recover the girl, who is now a cohort of the gang; motorcycle races are won by the protagonist against the other suitor of the girl; high octane emotions in the family to accept a vagabond for son in law; hero's internal conflict of breaching his loyalty(to his godfather) for love etc. etc. Overall a good potpourri and a complete family entertainer which stayed in our early eighties hearts for years. A PERFECT BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL.
Coming back to the movie, it was also the introduction of the pretty girl Menakshi Sheshadri to the masses (though this was her third movie). The story goes like this, Jaikishan (alias Jackie dada) is henchman with a loyal gang who on the instructions of his master Amrish Puri, kidnaps the pretty daughter of a cop. The rest is the love story where the girl falls in love with her kidnapper and her haughty and dictatorial father, after an initial resistance had to give up to the indomitable love.
Songs are sung when the police raids the gang's jungle hideouts to recover the girl, who is now a cohort of the gang; motorcycle races are won by the protagonist against the other suitor of the girl; high octane emotions in the family to accept a vagabond for son in law; hero's internal conflict of breaching his loyalty(to his godfather) for love etc. etc. Overall a good potpourri and a complete family entertainer which stayed in our early eighties hearts for years. A PERFECT BOLLYWOOD MUSICAL.
D
(2005)
an army of clones
15 June 2005
Every possible cliché of bollywood is mechanically assembled in a poor manner....all the post 80s movies with underworld theme were scrambled and their randomly picked scenes then haphazardly fitted in an attempt for movie making called "D"...Ramu has become a victim of his own past.....initially, it felt like I am watching a spoof of Satya, but heck!! I was'nt even that lucky...a spoof is always more entertaining....Ramu's factory is stagnating...he should try to become creative for a change...all the characters were so stereotype...the lead Randeep Hooda tried to force himself into the shoes of the silent cold angry young man from the slums with an underworld acumen that was played so brilliantly by chkraverthy in Satya ...although this character can be traced back to Amitabh in films like Mukaddar ka Sikandar, Trishul etc but chakraverthy was its RGV version and so a relevant example to quote here....needless to say, Hooda failed miserably.....he would have done well if he had just played himself......Chunkey Pandey was expecting to redo "tezaab" but those days are long over....his character was damn clichéd just like all others in the movie...this is an era of "Hazaro Khwahishein Aisi" when every thing has to be brilliantly and refreshingly "original"...
..Ramu should have stopped dabbling with underworld themes immediately after "company" which was his last watchable movie and was good off course...its time he realises that movie-making is an art and you have to "think" and "create" the design every time you make a product, instead of doing it once and then letting the assembly line take care for the rest.....probably his engineering background has to do with it..
..Ramu should have stopped dabbling with underworld themes immediately after "company" which was his last watchable movie and was good off course...its time he realises that movie-making is an art and you have to "think" and "create" the design every time you make a product, instead of doing it once and then letting the assembly line take care for the rest.....probably his engineering background has to do with it..
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