There was a time when an action sequence was all that was needed to capture the audience. Vengeance and thrill always succeeded at the box office. Add a little romance to the story, and you were sure to have yourself an award winner. Now, however, modern audiences have grown tired of the same old stories. Movies today have different plots, a lot of which address social issues and real life concerns. These would previously have been condemned by people at large which is why taking them to the big screen was never an option. Interestingly enough, the audience of the 21^st century is more accepting and more willing to appreciate real life issues depicted on a big screen. The movie, Bol, for example, tackled the issue of family planning - a real problem plaguing Pakistani society, but one which we had shied away from and not given any real attention to. Thought-provoking cinema is not just appreciated but encouraged these days and the movie Vicky Donor illustrates this well as it is interesting with a controversial spin to it. Vicky Donor is the story of a Punjabi boy named Vicky Arora (Ayushmann Khurrana) who encounters a not-so-successful, middle aged doctor called Dr Baldev Chadda (Annu Kapoor), who runs a fertility clinic and is actively looking for a sperm donor. Dr Chadda eventually brings Vicky in to donate sperm on the premise that his great grandfather had 19 children. This is the story of Vicky’s balancing act with a Bengali girl, Ashima Roy (Yami Gautam), who he is in love with. It is about their trust and understanding alongside him becoming the biggest sperm donor at the fertility clinic. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jme-VkIzkoU&feature=fvwrel%22%3EVicky]] Dr Chadda convinces Vicky to donate his sperm so that he can give happiness to those parents who are not blessed with children of their own. For this, he quotes some factual yet hilarious examples to Vicky, from Mahabharat's time. The sequences between Dr Chadda and Vicky are hilarious and here Kapoor, being a veteran actor, definitely deserves the credit. I must say, that it is not easy to share the screen with an established actor like Annu Kapoor who doesn’t need a supporting cast to entertain the crowd. Ayushmann Khurrana, however, makes his own presence felt and noticed in just the right way. The two actors greatly compliment each other in almost every scene, be it dramatic or funny. Those who know the roles portrayed by Kapoor in his career will agree that he has a calibre that is not shared by many actors. Be it his Gali Gali Chor Hai or 7 Khoon Maaf, this actor is a genius. For those who are in any doubt, I recommend that you watch Ek Ruka Hua Faisla where a 21-year-old Kapoor portrays a 59-year-old lawyer. Ayushmann is also full of surprises. Performing a diverse role, he switches from easy going to smart-aleck to hilarious, pleasantly surprising the audience and finally astonishing them with his climax performance. This actor knows how to command attention with the riveting way in which he delivers. Yami Gautam is a well known name on Indian TV channels, but her debut in this movie is sure to leave many smitten by her charm and charisma. She does not have an oh-so-sexy role but even so, I am sure that many will smile after watching her and observing her simplicity. She can go a long way provided she chooses the right roles. On the whole, John Abraham has managed to produce a great piece of funny and witty cinema. The movie has a fresh and interesting plot; if we can save a dying man by donating our blood, why can't we grant our sperm to enable someone to have a baby? The positives about this movie are that it is contemporary, humorous and showcases some great performances. The only drawback, as far as I can see, is that it lacks star power, which these days is crucial for many movie-goers. The music is average, dialogues are hilarious and direction is promising. I would personally rate the movie a 7/10. It is definitely a good watch!

Indian cinema developed a young, urban audience which was receptive to hip films post Dil Chahta Hai. Trendy music, trendy fashion, trendy plots and trendy urban settings became the new blockbuster recipe. Be it Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste, Wake Up Sid, or Rockstar, these movies were all targeted towards the above mentioned segment of cinema-goers. Saif Ali Khan and Ranbir Kapoor became stars of the multiplex audience through starring in these movies, while the Khans, Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar remained the superstars of the masses. Cocktail is another film that caters to the modern, hip audience.  It has the same cast and believe it or not, actually almost the same story line as previous films. The question is; does this Cocktail have all the right ingredients to quench the thirst of the modern cine-goer? The answer is no and it’s a big flat 'No'! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FfBzyiU0ZU]] With some inspiration from Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cocktail is a love triangle on the lines of the ‘friends with benefits’ concept. Guy chooses one girl over the other, jealousy sets in and in the end one of the two girls offers a sacrifice. The movie has been co-written by the seasoned Imtiaz Ali and debutant Sajid Ali and much to our dismay, the weak story line is its biggest drawback. The blame lies more with Imtiaz for not doing justice to his own original thinking and literally borrowing scenes, treatment notes and dialogues from Love Aaj Kal; never mind the climax or even the name of the heroine - Meera. Imtiaz’s first four writing ventures were as authentic as film writing can get. He did take a few creative liberties in Rockstar but in Cocktail, he goes the route writers like Robin Bhatt or Shiraz Ahmad (writer of Knock Out, Prince, Jaanasheen) would take. The very convenient co-incidental meeting of Indian strangers in London, a supportive Indian snobbish girl offering her apartment to a total stranger, nobody having a British accent despite being brought up in London, Deepika’s multiple mental transitions and mysterious new injuries, Randeep Hooda dragged in every scene and many more aspects of the movie were just plain fails. The director, Homi Adajania, in his second venture misses more targets than he hits! In some sequences he is brilliant but those scenes are rare and are mostly performance driven by actors. In others, he struggles to communicate his point with authenticity. The film has a poor first half hour with over the top and deliberate cheesiness by Saif’s character and senseless turns of events that you would expect from a Salman Khan no-brainer action flick. It gets better though as the film progresses to the middle half and we see some strong comic segments. But as the climax approaches, things become way too predictable and mundane - the sort of mundane in which you start looking for loo breaks or Tweeting opportunities. The less disappointing aspects of the movie are performances by Dimple Kapadia and Boman Irani. In fact, their performances are the saviours of this otherwise sinking ship. Surprisingly, they are not the lead characters but are mere supporting roles in the movie. Dimple has delivered an ace for her acting and in no way did Boman lag behind in delivering an equally great performance. Saif, besides the first half hour, does well too even though he was a bit too dramatic for my liking. Excellent comic timing nonetheless and effortless dialogue delivery. Whether you want to see Saif Ali Khan as a 32-year-old bachelor or not is a different story altogether. Deepika Padukone has never been a great performer but a bearable one and the status remains the same even after this venture of hers; her outrageousness as a party girl was convincing but her emotional banters were weak. Diana Penty gets a good début. She looked comfortable in underplaying her part with a charming screen presence. However, she needs to work more on her dialogue delivery and her dancing skills but she is definitely far ahead of the disastrous Nargis Fakhri. For her début, she can be ranked somewhere between Nargis Fakhri and Parineeti Chopra. As for Randeep Hooda, sadly his talents were wasted by his cameo role in the movie. Barring the disappointments, Anila Mehta deserves credit for his camera work and some breath-taking visuals of South Africa he provided his audience with. Bosco’s choreography is also a refreshing treat to watch. What's worth waiting for are the end credits of the film as they show some hilarious bloopers followed by a very well shot song with a catchy tune. I don’t want to call it a 'bad' film because this word I have used for films like Tees Maar Khan and Blue. Also, the thought of calling a film written by Imtiaz Ali 'bad' is a bit disheartening to be honest. Let’s just say that it’s not a 'great' film and leave it at that. It has its moments but they occur occasionally. You should watch it in the theatre only if you are a die-hard Saif, Deepika and bikini scenes fan. If not, then I would suggest that you wait for it to be aired on TV. Read more by Sami here or follow him on Twitter @SamiSaayer

For someone who had not seen the rushes, Barfi! was a pleasant surprise. When I walked into the theatre I was unaware that I was about to watch a film where the lead actor had a speech and hearing impairment, and that the lead actress was autistic. About ten minutes into the film, when the audience is told that Barfi, Ranbir Kapoor’s character in the film, had severe impairments, I braced myself to watch another emotive movie that would leave me crying profusely and feeling sorry for the differently-abled. Until the end, I kept waiting for that moment. The film manages to constantly put a smile on your face and gently sprinkles bouts of laughter in several scenes. Director Anurag Basu had proven that he understands the myriad complexity of human emotions when he made Life In A Metro in 2007; with Barfi!, he has gone a step further. Barfi had all the reasons to be a traditional Bollywood tragic hero – his mother died at birth, he's poor and penniless through his youthful days and is left brokenhearted by a rich girl. However, Barfi is different and so is Jhilmil, Priyanka Chopra’s character, an autistic child who is loveless and companion-less for most of her screen life. Attempting to carefully understand the lives and needs of autistic and differently-abled people, Basu has pulled his lead characters out of their traditional roles in a cry-fest. Ranbir Kapoor is not only the current hot-favourite among the girls, but has also been consistent in getting critics’ accolades. This is another such performance which can bag a huge chunk of the awards next year. At the start of the movie, where Ranbir Kapoor is being chased by a policeman, played by Saurabh Shukla, Ranbir’s expression of youthful carelessness and joy comes alive on the screen. The scene is also shot wonderfully well with interesting camera angles, and contributes a great deal in building up the pace of the movie. I felt, however, that Priyanka Chopra has overdone her bit. The worst criticism for an actor is when the audience can see the actor as being separate from the character, and that is exactly what Priyanka does in several scenes. Jhilmil is lost (or overdone) reminding the audience constantly that they are watching Priyanka Chopra’s pretence. The scene when Jhilmil is brought back home from ‘Muskaan’, a foster home for differently-abled people, exemplifies my point. South Indian actress Illeana D’Cruz surely gets into the skin of her character named Shruti, who is also the narrator of the story. She is crafty, both at the romantic scenes and at the emotional ones. More than once during the 180 minutes, the audience is caught sitting intently on the edge of their seats, predicting the character’s next move. Some of those moments are when Shruti holds the train ticket in her hand and is deciding whether to leave her life as a wife of a rich man behind; when Shurti hears Jhilmil scream out Barfi’s name and is in the dilemma of whether to convey that to Barfi, and the scene in which Jhilmil runs behind Barfi’s moving bus. The music is exceptional and keeps in tone with the changing mood of the film. Music director Pritam does the trick again in getting the music just enough attention that is required. The songs do not take away attention from the scenes, neither are they too insignificant that they go unnoticed. Barfi! is an enjoyable watch, mostly because it springs a surprise on the audience and let’s them carry a sweet, happy feeling back to their homes. PHOTOS: PUBLICITY Read more by Raksha here or follow her on Twitter @Raksha_Kumar Join us on Facebook for blog updates and more!

If you have yet to see the time travelling masterpiece, Looper, then I would advise you to stop reading for there are spoilers ahead. While I ascribe to the theory that movies should be given some leeway in their depiction of reality, it is a movie after all and it is always fun to go back and analyse them. Time travel stories are always tricky and usually filled with paradoxes. Looper, unfortunately, suffers from this problem as well. Looper essentially has four different timelines. Timeline 1: This is the original timeline and here loopers do not exist. We do not know what happens to Joe but we can expect that since Abe wasn’t there to change his life, he continues on his downward spiral. Thirty years later, time travel is invented and Abe is sent to the past to start the looper programme. Timeline 2: Abe arrives in the past and creates the loopers. Abe discovers Joe and “puts a gun in his hand”. Joe eventually grows old and peacefully goes to meet his death at the hands of his younger self. Timeline 3: Old Joe does not put up a fight and is killed. Young Joe eventually grows old and meets his wife, who is later killed. Old Joe then goes back in time to save her life. Timeline 4: Old Joe arrives back in time, knocks Young Joe out and sets out to kill the Rainmaker. The biggest paradox in the film is Old Joe’s idea that killing the Rainmaker would save his wife. In the climax of the film, Young Joe realises that if Old Joe goes through with his plan, he will unknowingly be the tipping point for Cid’s future transformation into the Rainmaker. Therein lies the rub. Looper wants us to believe that Old Joe’s actions lead to the creation of the Rainmaker but as you can see in Timeline 3, the first Old Joe does not make any attempt to change the past and dies. Young Joe eventually moves to China and meets his wife, who is later killed by the Rainmaker. Thus the Rainmaker already existed, even before Joe interfered and Young Joe’s sacrifice was for nothing. Mind blown? Thought so. Read more by Ameer here.

I miss Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) the actor’. ‘SRK the star’ has overshadowed SRK the actor for quite some time now. Let me explain. SRK the actor is the one we saw in Chak de India and Dil se. SRK the star is the one we saw in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Om Shanti Om. I like the former but I have serious issues with the latter. I haven’t seen any SRK film since My Name Is Khan. I chose not to watch Ra One, Don 2, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi etcetera, as quite clearly they did not belong to SRK the actor. The day I saw the first promo of Jab Tak Hai Jaan (JTHJ), I became excited on the prospect of seeing the actor again. Add to it the combination of AR Rehman and Gulzar saab in the music department and Yash Chopra at the helm of the affairs and rest assured something special should have been in the making. Meanwhile, Yash Chopra passed away and it became impossible for me to not watch it. Unfortunately, I regretted it. If I takeout SRK’s acting during the second half and the dance off in the first half before the Ishq Shawa song, JTHJ turned out to be a colossal disappointment. Had it been some other team behind the creation of JTHJ, I would have walked out of the film at the half time. In JTHJ, we have problems. Problem #1: The story or the lack of it, or too much of it. Be it the distant inspiration from the classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or almost all the love stories you would have seen in the past, there is no real story in JTHJ; instead there is a strange mix of too many stories here. At least two of them could make full movies on their own. Even if we ignore (which I could not) the fact that Anupam Kher is shown as a 50-year-old man in the film while SRK for a good 50% of the film is 25 and Katrina Kaif 21, there is a lot that went wrong with the script and extremely scattered screenplay did not help either. Problem #2: The lack of ingenuity and newness. Katrina Kaif is a Non Resident Indian (NRI) with accented Hindi for umpteenth time: cue Namaste London, New York, Singh is King, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. Anushka Sharma is a bubbly, read: annoying, Delhi girl yet again: cue Band Baaja Baraat, Badmaash Company, Ladies vs. Ricky Bahl. SRK is singing on the streets like a carefree teenager or quivering his lips in emotional scenes which he did a decade back in almost all his early movies. Then comes the done-and-dusted premise of rich girl falling in love with a poor boy because of his pure heart followed by the most ridiculous reason for a breakup. Problem #3: More than a hundred minutes of loopholes in the story and treatment. Going into the details of this problem will require three pages of hard to digest words. Spoiler alert: giving the title of ‘the man who cannot die’ to a 38-year-old who is technically not of dying age yet, a soldier saving a drowning girl who later announces that she had been a swimming champion, an afro looking Lahori Pakistani guy who is later declared a Pathan and so on totally ruins all your concepts of ethnicity and geography. A journalist wearing skimpy shorts and moving around freely with army officers in a war torn area where more than a hundred bombs have been found and diffused, a Punjabi Hindu girl going to church for praying every Sunday to ‘Sir Jesus’… yes Sir Jesus etcetera. If you survived all this wait till you get to the London metro bomb disposal scene. Enough said. Problem #4: Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. Just when you thought Kat had spent enough time in the industry to learn acting, she gives a performance that can make you forget her first few films. Here is Katrina Kaif for you, enjoying a success rate which even Madhuri and Kajol didn’t, delivering the most wooden performance you’d ever see. On the other hand, there is Anushka Sharma who needs to realise that the Band Baaja Barat is over and the movies she is signing now are different and need versatility. SRK has tried hard. It would be unfair to say that he has not. The first half where he has to play a 25-year-old Samar did not leave much for him in the acting department. Even if he does his best, he cannot look like a 25-year-old anymore and jumping on the bridge in excitement after falling in love does not suit him anymore. His portrayal of the soldier Samar is much more graceful. He underplays his part, speaks less and speaks convincingly. His brief period where he is suffering from retrograde amnesia is the strongest point of the film, but brief periods do not save a 177 minute long film from being a disaster. If you are a die-hard SRK fan, which is a huge part of Indo-Pak population, you should look forward to these sequences. Performances of other actors including Sarika, Anupam Kher, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh are not worth mentioning. The actors playing SRK’s army staff are better than the seniors. Veteran Anil Mehta’s tried and tested cinematography is excellent and is one of the major reasons why I stayed till the end. While the background music is good, the film’s soundtrack leaves a lot to be desired. Some would still argue that it’s a romantic movie and that it was made for entertainment, and that one should give creative liberty to certain things. I have only one problem with that argument. I did not go to watch a south Indian remake or an Akshay Kumar/Salman Khan no brainer. I went to watch the last work of Yash Chopra; the man who created Deewar, Kabhi Kabhi, Silsila, Mashaal and my personal favourite Lamhe. He was a true genius and he most certainly did not deserve a farewell like this. Even though he did a fairly good job with the script, it was his son’s story that left him with almost nothing. Yash Chopra will be missed but on a personal front, I would prefer forgetting his last film. Even if JTHJ was a montage of all of Yash Chopra’s previous films, it would still be a blockbuster so the result of the film was predicted anyways. You may still watch it; if for nothing else then for the eye candy and the tribute montage for stalwart director at the end which was probably the best thing about the 180 minutes spent in the theatre. PHOTOS: PUBLICITY Read more by Sami here or follow him on Twitter @SamiSaayer

Talaash, as the name suggests, is a film in which people are looking for answers. It has some obvious searches like why did the car end up in water? Who is the killer? And then there are the subtly and beautifully embedded intrinsic quests of a father in search of reconciliation with himself, not really by self-flagellation but by being silent. Or a wife in search of her husband whom she lost to a tragic accident in their lives. I am disappointed in myself, because it took me over an hour to realise where I had seen Talaash before. I hadn’t seen it before, I had read it. Talaash is very heavily inspired by, one of my all-time favourite books called, ‘The Fallen’ by T Jefferson Parker. I am disappointed because it took me that long to visualise scenes from my favourite book. On my Twitter query to her, director of Talaash, Reema Kagti has denied having read the book which effectively means it’s a mere coincidence, albeit a huge one that almost two thirds of the story and some scenes are a straight lift from the aforementioned book. Nonetheless, while I am in talaash of this answer, there is nothing wrong even if it is heavily inspired from the book. Talaash is an almost epic mastery of storytelling. Almost because in the end it leaves you with your mouth open and mind confused about whether to love the climax or not. It leaves you questioning your beliefs. If you can believe the twist in the climax, then you will leave the theatre thinking that you have seen one of the best films ever. If not, like I did not, then you will struggle to consider Talaash an all-time great, instead, it will become an almost classic for you too. If you put the belief factor aside, you will realise that throughout the film there were cues for you to understand what was happening, but you did not because you were involved in the side tracks too much. Director Reema Kagti has shown tremendous aptitude of the grip on screenplay and visual treatment. Giving Talaash after Honey Moon Travels shows the versatility in her ability. She commands your attention throughout the movie and your eyes are like magnets to the screen. The attention to detail and sensitive treatment are the pillars Talaash is standing on. Rani’s look is ruffled - her eyes have dark circles and her face is freckled because she doesn’t have time to focus on her physical appearance. Aamir is playing his age - something a certain other Khan needs to learn from. He is a cop of high repute but there is no over the top praising by his team members like the entry of SRK in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Instead there is a simple ‘bohot suna hai sir aapke baaray mein, maza aaye ga aap ke saath kaam kar ke’ (I have heard a lot about you, sir; it will be fun working with you) which is enough to establish his work ethic. On the downside, Kareena Kapoor looks too classy to be a low end prostitute. A downgraded look, if not a different actress, would have really helped. If we act overly critical, we can also question the honesty of genuine interest of the entire police force to solve a high profile case, which isn’t generally a reality. Talaash demands big efforts from the cast and they deliver. It’s great to see a vintage Rani Mukherjee performance. A perfect reminder of why she was a Film Fare worthy actress not long ago. Even though, far away from a glamorous look, she comes off as strangely hot in her sari clad housewife look. Charming indeed and much needed after a disastrous Aiyya. Her confrontation scene with Aamir on the road is really good and her helplessness in front of her psychiatrist is expressed beautifully. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is having the best year of his life. With Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur and now Talaash, looks like his struggling days are over. His portrayal of Taimur is nothing short of brilliant. This is one actor I would want to see more and more in every film. Kareena Kapoor is good, minus the unfitting perfect Hindi accent unlike other prostitutes shown in the film. Even if we ignore that, it still cannot be called a Kareena film as her other performances are far stronger. Raj Kumar Yadav is also impressive once again. I am now eagerly waiting for his ‘Shahid’. Subrat Dutta is a star too, even though in a much smaller role. Having said as much, the film belongs to Aamir Khan and why wouldn’t it? This is his second venture with Excel Entertainment after the era defining Dil Chahta Hai and he has delivered another masterpiece for them. The perfectionist that he is, Khan has given one of his best performances to date. His self-inflicted pain is obvious on his face. His eyes communicate his tiredness, his face communicates his regret. The best scene of the film, in which he is reliving the tragedy of his life and how he could have changed the whole event, is one of the best ever created on cinema. When he was happy to see his wife enjoying a senseless movie, the audience felt his relief. When he cried, people on either side of me in the theatre cried; definitely the best performance of the year. Even better than Paan Singh Tomar and Gangs of Wasseypur. If you plan on watching Talaash, make sure you don’t miss any part of it. Every minute is important. Don’t text, don’t tweet and don’t take toilet breaks. Talaash is no joke; its serious business! PHOTOS: PUBLICITY Read more by Sami here, or follow him on Twitter @SamiSaayer

Having already won accolades at the three major American film industry guild awards, the Golden Globes, as well as at the British Academy Film Awards, it wasn’t surprising that Ben Affleck’s Argo took home the top prize for Best Picture at the 85th Academy Awards. But although it wasn’t unpredicted, it was quite a bit disappointing, especially for fans of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Personally, I had been hoping for an upset in favour of Ang Lee’s film, especially after he had earned the naked golden statue for Best Director earlier that night for his enchanting cinematic adaption of the Yann Martel’s fantasy/adventure novel. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Argo is a terrible film. In fact, it is a skilfully made thriller that is fantastic at building nerve wracking suspense. My issue with the Argo is how freely it exaggerates the events of the Iran hostage crisis in order to make itself more engaging. As I noted in my review;

“To achieve this [pressure cooker situation], Argo also forgoes historical accuracy, and should be taken as a dramatization of real events for pure entertainment value.”

“90% of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan were Canadian. And the movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA. And with that exception, the movie is very good. But Ben Affleck’s character in the film was... only in Tehran a day and a half. And the main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor, who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process.”

“The truth is the immigration officers barely looked at us and we were processed out in the regular way. We got on the flight to Zurich and then we were taken to the US ambassador’s residence in Berne. It was that straightforward.”

Movies based on the judicial system and courtroom dramas have always been admired by cine-goers. It’s not because the audience loves their favourite actors and actresses in black gowns, it’s merely because most of the courtroom scenes are penned exceptionally. For instance, we have a huge list of some amazing courtroom scenes from movies like Damini, Meri Jung, Andha Kanoon, OMG Oh My God, Geraftaar, Veer-Zaara, Shaurya, Maine Gaandhi ko nahin Maara and Aitraz. Photo: Reuters Jolly LLB is also one of them. It is based on a real life case with a few amendments. Subhash Kapoor, a talented entertainer, brings Jolly LLB in front of his viewers in a way that is comical. Yet, on introspection, it is a serious movie with light hearted and situational comedy. Similar to his earlier movie Phans Gaye Re Obama, Jolly LLB also deals with day to day life experiences which one comes across frequently. The strongest points of this movie are the first rate acting, the script and simplicity. Photo: http://www.facebook.com/JollyLLBthefilm The plot of the movie is simple; Jolly (performed by Arshad Warsi) a suffering lawyer, leaves Meerut and arrives in Delhi in search of more cases and professional growth. Luckily, he comes across a case, one which was hyped by the media, and won by Rajpal (Boman Irani) who only manages high profile clients with surety to win the case. Jolly, to earn fame, files a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) claim against the same case and that is the point at which his life changes. Everything changes. As far as the performances are concerned in this movie, everyone excels and shines no matter how large or small he/she has been projected as in the movie - everyone is a star! Arshad Warsi stands out undeniably. For those who remember him as “circuit” from Munna Bhai MBBS, this movie serves as a reminder that he is an equally talented actor when it comes to serious and performance oriented roles. It is great to see that he has now started to sign movies which offer him different kinds of roles, much like the previously released Zilla Ghaziabaad. Photo: File Boman Irani is easy and flexible; he is able to manage any role that is assigned to him with comfort and ease - all traits of a good actor. His character demanded an egotistical, cunning and bullish portrayal and he mastered them all. Saurabh Shukla (as Sunderlal Tripathy) is one of the finest actors you will ever come across. In this movie, there are plenty of scenes where he shows his viewers that he is not less than any other accomplished actor of the industry. In the scenes where he is silent, his expressions speak loud and proud. After all, actions speak louder than words! Amrita Rao (as Sandhya) has a small role, but when it comes to dramatic enactment she has always excelled, as she does in this movie. Photo: http://www.facebook.com/JollyLLBthefilm Ramesh Deo (one of the veterans – from “Anand”) is first rate, though he only has a few scenes in the movie, they definitely make an impact. Brijendra Kala as advocate and Sanjay Mishra as Hawaldaar Ram Gopal Verma have acted well in the capacity of their roles and the same goes for Mohan Agashe. Jolly LLB has great screenplay and dialogue, kudos to Subhash Kapoor for maintaining his command over these departments. “Ajnabi” and “Makhna” are two sing-along-songs that I truly enjoyed and can't get out of  my head! My rating for this movie would be an easy eight on 10! Read more by Shafiq here, or follow him on Twitter @shafiqulhasan81

It seems Bollywood is on a remake spree. A weekend after the release of the Himmatwala remake we are offered Chashme Baddoor, a remake of a 1981 comedy of the same name. While with remakes, one inevitably ends up comparing it to the original, I am going to try and be fair to the 2013 movie, and not pitch the two versions against each other. Chashme Baddoor  is an out-and-out David Dhawan comedy – full of cheesy shayari (poetry), slapstick (and sometimes over the top comedy) and exaggerated situations. This is not a movie for those expecting any form of sense in the on-goings, while the mindless entertainment seekers will find this movie to be right on the money for sure! The story is a shallow, no-brainer – three friends fall for the same girl and when the girl falls for one of them, the other two try to first separate them and then bring them back together. To add to the onscreen masala, we also have Rishi Kapoor and Lillete Dubey falling for each other at first sight, Anupam Kher and Anupam Kher (double role) fighting each other and their whacky mother! In the music department, Chashme Baddoor  is weak and chaotic at best. “Har ek friend kamina hota hai” is its strongest track, but in the movie it does not come till the end titles. “Early Morning” and “Dhichkyaaon doom doom” are at best hummable – and all the other tracks are just super forgettable! As per box office reports, the movie has collected over 19 crore on the first weekend in India and as per Hammad Chaudhry, the film’s distributor in Pakistan (HKC Entertainment) on Twitter; “Chashme Baddoor  opened ‘zabardast’ in Pakistan with 47, ooo (on) day one including limited preview screenings Thursday late night.” Let’s weigh the good against the bad in Chashme Baddoor  and see how it fares.

• For us in Pakistan, the good has to be Ali Zafar. He looks good and does a pretty decent job as the leading man. However, on occasions (where he is looking for his inner Dev Anand) Ali sounds awkward – but who cares as long as he keeps the flag flying high!

• Siddharth and Divyendu Sharma, as Ali’s jealous friends, have a fantastic screen presence and good timing for comedy – and in reality carry most of the movie on their shoulders. This could have been because they were given the meatiest scenes and dialogues but their acting was what actually pulled us through.

• The film has some entertaining moments, its share of witty one-liners and some good jokes. I did find myself laughing many times while watching the film.
• The promotions of the film were spot on – funny, colourful and enticing – exactly what is needed to hook the Gennex audience to buy the tickets.

• For starters, the leading lady, Tapsee Pannu, who three boys have supposedly fallen for has zero on-screen presence, looks or charisma. In fact she is completely forgettable other than her constant “Dum hai boss …”

• The lead pair has zero chemistry. Ali Zafar and Tapsee Pannu’s love story can at best be called lukewarm and sadly not too happening.

• The flow of the movie is patchy and personally I account this to weak editing more than anything else.
• I found the humour to be slapstick in nature and many of the jokes were extremely sexist too. Bollywood continues to objectify women, as usual.
• In terms of music - which is the backbone of any Bollywood flick - Chashme Baddoor  is not the most memorable ride either.
• For the fans of the original Chashme Baddoor  – this will be a major disappointment, because this is nothing like the sweet and tender story where Farooq Sheikh romanced Deepti Naval.

So last night I watched The Reluctant Fundamentalist at the cinema in Karachi (yes! we have cinemas!). I’d been looking forward to watching this for some time; the first feature film based on a contemporary Pakistani novel certainly deserved a viewing, to see how Mira Nair brought the whole story to life. What would she include, what would she leave out? I’d heard that the movie differed from the book in significant ways, adding a thriller twist that wasn’t in the novel. This could make the movie or ruin it.   For me as a writer, it was exciting to see the book metamorphose into two hours of cinematic story-telling. I can’t even imagine how Mohsin Hamid must be feeling, but I know that any writer would want to be in his shoes - if the movie succeeds, that is. If it flops, then he would probably want to crawl into a hole and not emerge for a while. Luckily, he doesn’t have to look for any holes, because the movie didn’t disappoint in the least. And while it was uneven in some places, dragged in others, on the whole it was definitely worth watching. The standout performance in this movie is Riz Ahmed, who plays Changez with the intensity and charisma of a very gifted actor. His liquid eyes remain the anchor throughout the film, the thing you focus on, the thing Mira Nair focused on in almost every frame of the movie. He is in turns innocent, guilty, angry, calm, passionate, detached, joyous and devastated. He speaks with a perfect Lahori accent, and his Urdu is admirable, even more polished than it was in Chris Morris’s “Four Lions”. His screen presence is tightly-controlled, vulnerable where it needs to be, and completely believable. Also excellent in the movie are Kiefer Sutherland as Changez’s shark-like Wall Street mentor - who impressed me with his perfect pronunciation of the word “Pakistan”, Nelsan Ellis as Changez’s friend and ally at Underwood Sampson, and Liev Shreiber as the American journalist who can speak perfect Urdu and may be playing a double game. Then there was a cameo by Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer who, while he was only on the screen for a short while, was a pivotal character for Changez’s own journey of self-discovery. The women in the movie were less impressive for me. Kate Hudson as Changez’s girlfriend Erica did what she does best: acting the part of a ditzy All-American girl, but the chemistry seemed to all come from Riz Ahmed, not her. Frankly, I couldn’t understand the meaning of the art installation that destroys their relationship. It’s also notable that Mira Nair seems to be repeating the pattern of the clueless western woman that we saw in The Namesake, where Kal Penn’s Gogol is so misunderstood by his well-meaning but culturally idiotic white American girlfriend. Does Mira Nair have something against western women? Meesha Shafi and Shabana Azmi in contrast were the strong Pakistani women in Changez’s life, as sister Bina and mother to Changez. However, Azmi seemed to be acting on auto-pilot, and I found Meesha Shafi’s role hard to understand; the bold-as-brass Lahori woman somehow didn’t gel properly with the more intense, nuanced Changez. Okay, now to the good stuff. The plot of the movie is changed from the book, which results in an unnecessarily melodramatic ending - the last fifteen minutes of the movie were an exercise in Hollywood cliche, and only ended up confusing me. It’s the middle of the movie which portrays Changez’s rise and fall in America that is the movie’s strongest section - his humiliation at the airport after 9/11, his treatment by his co-workers, his arrests and mistreatment by the NYPD all struck so close to home that it was difficult to watch. The containing action of Liev Shreiber’s journalist interviewing Changez at times failed to sustain momentum because the flashbacks and action kept chopping up the building intensity. This is why the movie felt uneven overall. However, the movie did clear up something very important for me: I finally understood what the “fundamentals” were and what the “fundamentalist” was meant to be, according to Hamid’s theme. It wasn’t the fundamentalist capitalist sharks at Underwood Sampson; it wasn’t the Islamic fundamentalists who are kidnapping American professors and causing terrorism. The fundamentals refer to something much simpler, that the Turkish publisher explains to Changez over lunch in Istanbul: your origins, your roots. The fundamentals of your life. The message being that you should always stay true to your origins, your basic beliefs, and that’s something impossible for a young Pakistani man to do in post 9/11 America. Changez struggles with staying true to himself; therefore he is the “reluctant fundamentalist”. I’m very glad that The Reluctant Fundamentalist has finally come to the big screen, and I hope it does well all over the world. It tells a very important story: of how each and every Pakistani has to make big choices about who he or she is, and what he or she believes in. And that those choices do matter, they have repercussions both at home and abroad. This film takes the nonsense rhetoric of “us versus them” and blows it out of the water. Instead, you’re forced to think of the world in a more sophisticated way: who am I in a world of us vs. them? Do I have to take a side? The answer isn’t always no, but it isn’t necessarily yes. And the movie gets close to the question, even if it doesn’t necessarily have the answer. This post originally appeared here. Read more by Bina here or follow her on Twitter @BinaShah  

Set against striking  Japanese backdrops, with action and strong performances, The Wolverine claws you in from the first reel. The latest instalment in the X-Men film series is a must watch. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyj33w_the-wolverine-trailer-hugh-jackman_shortfilms The film centers on Logan’s aka The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman)’s, struggle to come to terms with the burden of immortality and the loss of Jean Grey. The opening scene is set in 1945 near Nagasaki, where Logan is held in a POW camp, with B-29s flying overhead to deliver the atomic bomb. During the atomic explosion, he saves the life of one his captors, a soldier named Yashida. In the mayhem Yashida learns of Logan’s self-healing abilities. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="607"] Photo: Publicity[/caption] The movie fast-forwards several decades, with Logan now living as a hermit, haunted by nightmares of his true love, Jean (Famke Janssen) whom he was forced to kill (back in X-Men: The Last Stand). The red headed mutant Yukio (Rila Fukushima) tracks him down here to inform him that the man whose life he once saved back in the prison camp, Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), is lying on his deathbed and wishes to repay his life debt. This offer from the dying industrialist comes with a small twist in that he wishes to strip Logan of his healing abilities to save his own life, thus ending the weight of immortality that Logan has been struggling with. The plot accelerates with Logan having to deal with a host of issues such as his blossoming love for Yashida’s granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamoto), a Yakuza conspiracy, the plot of an evil mutant named Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), and his loss of instantaneous healing powers; all this while he is still struggling with his inner demons. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Photo: Publicity[/caption] This instalment succeeds in the way it portrays a different, more human Wolverine - one that at some deeper level we more easily can connect with. Him, being plagued by the memory of Jean, his ambivalence to live or die and his newly found fear of death are existential themes explored through the movie between the high octane action sequences. Logan is both emotionally and physically vulnerable and therefore much more interesting than the slice-and-dice hunk we are used to. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Photo: Publicity[/caption] Hugh Jackman, reprising the role, yet again delivers a very powerful performance as The Wolverine. Not only does he embody the mutant’s I-don’t-give-a-damn persona, but also effectively captures the inner conflicts of human nature. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="546"] Photo: Publicity[/caption] Both Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima deliver strong performances as Mariko and Yukio respectively. Yukio is a particularly interesting character that feels real and energetic, makes a mark. The same cannot be said for Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper, who gives an over-the-top yet unmemorable performance as one of the film’s primary antagonists. As any decent superhero movie should, The Wolverine delivers an abundance of brilliantly executed action sequences, with fights involving the Yakuza, ninjas and samurai warriors. One breathtaking sequence takes place atop one of Tokyo’s famed bullet trains speeding along at 300 mph. A cliché is here transformed into a spectacle worthy of loud applause. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Photo: Publicity[/caption] Against the backdrop of a stunning Japanese setting, with sprawling urban city shots neatly contrasting the tranquility of the countryside, director James Mangold forces us to explore the concept of contrast/duality – hectic modernity versus Arcadian serenity; the desire for supernatural immortality versus a longing for human fatality; the lonely struggle of a soldier versus the need for companionship. While these themes may get lost in the speed and the action of the film, their essence is eloquently captured. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x103b7s_the-wolverine-trailer-exclusive_shortfilms By offering a new perspective on everyone’s favourite clawed mutant, The Wolverine has not only managed to impress but may also have claimed that the accolade is the best superhero film of the summer. Fast-paced action sequences as well as solid performances will rivet you to your seat and at the end leave you gasping for more. So get your large popcorn, 3-D glasses, sit back, and enjoy the ride!

A few years ago, I watched a documentary film. I watched it till the very end. Once finished, I played it again – for I searched for meaning; the meaning of ‘azaadi’ (freedom), which to me, before watching this documentary had an altogether different connotation. The film inspired me. It made me believe in the significance of the word azaadi. It turned my life towards a different dimension. For the first time, I understood that occupation is not only about tyranny, killings and oppression. Something more perilous was hidden beneath – capitalism and foreign investment, just to fulfil some neo-liberal aspirations. The film celebrated martyrdom, revolution and of course, freedom. It exemplified ‘Jashn-e-Azadi’ (How we Celebrate Freedom). [embed width="620"]http://vimeo.com/36178689[/embed] There are documentary films that try to tell emotionally complex stories and succeed in making an impact. Red Ant Dream, fortunately, is one of those films. It is an awe inspiring video documentary from the red areas of India. This film documents the emergence of the Indian revolutionary procedure, coming as it is in a world of struggle, mass upheaval, revolt and revolution. Directed by Sanjay Kak, a well-known documentary film-maker from India, Red Ant Dream invokes memories of struggle, revolution and redemption. A poetic representation of revolution and a tribute to people’s war, Red Ant Dream is cinema of resistance. Kak’s movie (Jashn-e-Azadi) and anthology (Until my Freedom Has Come) created a ripple among many people who believed Kashmir to be an integral part of India. Both had taken a strong stand against the Indian Army’s illegal occupation of Kashmir. This film too, is filled with the syringe of revolution. One feels mesmerised seeing people who can hardly manage their night meals, shouldering rifles with their fingers fixed to the trigger. Hope can be seen in the eyes of women, who are wearing torn chappals and a tanned uniform but are part of the revolutionary force that is fighting a people’s war- a war to save their lives and turn their habitat into a living heaven. A people’s war which is justifiable, which a person can believe in, when Azad the former spokesperson CPI (Maoist) says:

“Maoism teaches us that self-preservation is possible only through war.”

“Azad is my guru, and if he is a Maoist, then I am too.”

It is official. Waar is making coin! The film has shot to Rs10.5 crore within the first ten days of its release, firmly placing in its crosshairs Pakistan’s highest grossing film of all time, Bol. Waar has also bettered the Pakistani box office performance of Chennai Express, unexpectedly scoring a higher opening day than the Shahrukh Khan masala vehicle. This has been a talking point for many Pakistanis, who have taken the news as a national achievement. Unfortunately, for Waar, the film hasn’t been received as warmly by the nation’s film critics. Predictably enough, the Pakistani public has been unhappy with the negative reviews. Fans of Waar argue that although the film is admittedly a misfire, it should be praised at the very least for getting the stagnating film industry’s bullet in the gun chamber. On some level, this is true. The success of films such as Waar and Bol proves that our cinemagoers are willing to watch films that don’t regurgitate the nonsense that comes out of Lollywood. That being said, Waar consists of fundamental flaws which prevent it from hitting the par score when it comes to international film standards. Granted, that for the inexperienced filmmakers, Waar was a complicated undertaking, but at the end of the day, the film is charging the same ticket price at local cinemas as a good Hollywood blockbuster, and thus must be judged by the same benchmark. Here are six areas where Waar missed the target: 1. The struggle with English  Waar is most authentic when its characters are engaging in Urdu. Unfortunately, for what I estimate to be 75% of the running time, the film’s dialogue is in English. Because most of the actors are visibly concentrating on communicating in a language alien to them, they seem to have less energy for their primary function: acting. This results in some hilariously wooden performances, where the players often seem like they are dryly reading words off of cue cards. If the filmmakers were unable to find actors who were comfortable speaking in English, they should have rewritten some of the dialogue. It isn’t a coincidence that the strongest performances in Waar come from Shaan Shahid (Major Mujtaba), Ayesha Khan (Javeria), and Ali Azmat (Ejaz Khan), as these three out of the entire cast seem most comfortable speaking in English. Another side effect of Waar’s language fiasco is that while Javeria speaks fluently with a Canadian accent, her brother Ehtesham (Hamza Ali Abbasi), speaks in a manner which reveals a remarkably different background for a person who is supposed to be her sibling! This phenomenon, where actors perform significantly better in their native language isn’t a new one. Both Chow Yun Fat (Crouching Tiger) and Jet Li (Hero) are far more convincing in Hong Kong cinema as opposed to Hollywood films. To director Bilal Lashari’s credit, both Ayesha and Ali were given expanded roles in the film after their talent was recognised. It must be said that the film’s largest letdown in the acting department is Meesha Shafi (Laxmi), who wasn’t always up to her highly challenging role. In fact, some of her scenes were screaming for a retake. Here, the finger must be pointed at Lashari, considering that Mira Nair extracted better mileage from Shafi in The Reluctant Fundamentalist. 2. The Script: The dialogue in Waar is sometimes so poor that the film seems like a spy film parody straight out of the minds of Matt Stone and Trey Parker (Team America: World Police). One of the most unintentionally hilarious moments in the film is when Major Mujtaba’s frustrated superior screams at him, “WHEN WILL YOU LET GO OF YOUR PAST?” One would think that asking a man to quickly get over the trauma of watching his wife and child being killed right in front of him would be just a touch insensitive. 3. The Indian bashing: I’ll be honest. I wouldn’t truly enjoy the counterterrorist TV show 24, unless the terrorists were Muslim. You can blame the media all you want, but it just didn’t seem believable enough when it was Austrian nationalists attacking the White House. But when the baddies were Arab? Let’s go Jack Bauer! So I have no issues with Waar’s evil characters portrayed as Indian spies. But stripping the Indian baddies of all humanity took me out of the narrative. The RAW agents in Waar were bloodthirsty, carried sinister smiles and were constantly hatching unbelievably super evil plans. All that was missing in their campy one-dimensional characterisation was a sinister laugh matched by thunder in the background, with Mini-Me from Austin Powers in the background. 4. The over-dramatic music:  Although Waar features a stellar soundtrack, the filmmakers gave it more love than it deserved, overusing it to the point where it often drowned out the dialogue. Surely some of the film’s powerful scenes would have clicked better without the mismatched music overcooking the drama. 5. Cinematography:  If you watch the BBC’s documentary, Planet Earth, especially in HD, you will realise that Pakistan’s northern areas are ripe with opportunity for any filmmaker interested in capturing breathtaking locales on the camera. Too bad that aside from a few scenes, Waar misses the chance to feature some gorgeous backdrops. 6. Action sequences: Tense and well-paced, Waar’s opening action scene is nicely directed. Another scene in the film, where a police academy is attacked by terrorists, is also quite engaging. Regrettably, the climactic scene of the film, where the Pakistani armed forces take on the militants, is terribly edited, playing out like a sad spoof of war films. In a repeating pattern, this final sequence features shots of Pakistani soldiers firing randomly in the air at no one in particular, followed by snarling militants who are discharging weapons without cover or fear, and followed by gratuitous explosions that are powered by the film’s reported Rs200 million budget. The disconnect between these sewed together scenes is so obvious, that the entire final action sequence seems like it went through The Human Centipede process of film editing. What I really found interesting was the colour of the smoke which followed the explosions. I found it strange that it was as white as Gandalf’s beard. As experts can tell you, white smoke only follows explosions that employ homemade chemicals, while military grade high-end explosives always feature grey or even black smoke. So either the producers of Waar didn’t do their research, or they are trying to tell us something about the Pakistan army’s budget. Speaking of the Pakistan military, rumours making the rounds suggest that Waar was funded by the Pakistan military’s media relations arm, the ISPR. There seems to be no proof of this, other than the fact that the film projects the Pakistani armed forces as heroes. If this is clear evidence, then I suppose films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Black Hawk Down (2001) and Inglorious Bastards (2009) were also military funded films, which seems silly. If we are truly serious about reviving our film industry, we should consider adapting the books of our critically acclaimed fiction writers, such as Mohammad Hanif. I am sure that with the right talent, the cinematic adaptation of A Case of Exploding Mangoes would find international acclaim. Such a film would need private backing however, since the ISPR would probably not be willing to fund a dark satire based on the death of General Ziaul Haq. [poll id="302"]

Space movies have always enthralled viewers because of their special effects. Gravity’s plot is a typical space survival story but the way the scenes are shot makes Gravity less of a movie and more of an experience where viewers can feel weightlessness, solitude and chills running down their spine. Director Alfonso Cuaron has taken the concept of space movies to the next level with Gravity. Movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Armageddon, and Apollo 13 are a few from this genre that were box office hits and still have a place in the viewer’s subconscious mind. [Warning: some spoilers ahead] In this space disaster flick, Dr Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Lieutenant  Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) have to survive in space after the debris of a satellite, destroyed by Russia, changes trajectory and hits their space shuttle, Explorer. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Space shuttle, Explorer, destroyed by the debris. Photo: Publicity[/caption] Produced by Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron, Gravity’s cinematography is such that viewers are bound to remain glued to the screen from the beginning until the end. The movie is free from cast clutter; where some are in space while the rest are busy heading matters at NASA headquarters. News reporters and family members also add confusion and distract you from the main plot of the film. Gravity, on the other hand, only has three characters that appear on the screen. Apart from Bullock and Clooney, the cast also includes Shariff (Paul Sharma), who is a part of the first 10 minutes of the movie until the debris kills him. The supporting cast only makes its presence as voices from Mission Control and the Russian Space Station. This keeps the movie focused on one plot as it tells the story of a surviving astronaut. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Wall Street Journal's review. Photo: Gravity Facebook page[/caption] Although the movie has quite a few emotional scenes, there are certain moments of humour as well. For instance, in the opening scenes of the movie when Stone is busy fixing the glitch in the system before the debris hits the Explorer, Kowalski joyfully floats in space with the support of his jetpack for he wishes to beat the record of the longest spacewalk in history. https://twitter.com/markmahon/status/399275984173551616 There are certain scenes in almost every movie that don’t add up towards the final scheme. Also, a film that casts only one or two characters sharing the same camera time can be monotonous. Gravity, however, was carefully planned and thankfully didn’t drag on unnecessarily. The story remains gripping because of Stone’s minute by minute struggle to survive in space. One epilogue that I particularly like is when Stone is trying to grab the handle of the space shuttle so she isn’t propelled into space and her only hope for survival is the cord attached to the shuttle that is wrapped around her leg. Kowalski, who doesn’t have fuel for his jetpack, is also trying to save his life by holding on to the same cord. Since his weight is pulling Stone away, Kowalski has no choice but to let go of the cord so that she can get to the shuttle. As he floats in space moving away from Stone and drifts deeper into the black void, you also feel the loneliness that Stone experiences at that moment. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Kowalski lets go of the cord so that Stone can get to the shuttle. Photo: Publicity[/caption] The innovative cameras and digital technology used by Alfonso Cuaron to create the movement of astronauts in space makes Gravity all the more captivating. The cameras move swiftly between the astronauts and the space shuttle with Earth in the backdrop. Cameras were placed on robotic tripods similar to the industrial robots used at an assembly line of an automobile manufacturing factory. This gave the crew ample room and ideas to make scenes that we normally don’t get to see in movies. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Kowalski and Stone float in space while admiring the view. Photo: Publicity[/caption] Whether or not Kowalski is dead and whether Stone made it home would be entirely up to the viewer.

The moment I saw the first promo of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Ram-Leela, I decided I had to watch it. I did not think that it would change my views about world cinema, nor was it the most captivating promo one would ever see; but it did look absolutely stunning. I knew that it would be nothing less than a visual treat. However, before you classify me as a die-hard fan of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, let me clarify. I am not a huge Bhansali fan, I particularly did not like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (HDDCS) or Devdas and I could not bear Saawariya for 15 minutes. Having said that, it is true that when you watch a film that is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, you do not watch it for the story. Romeo and Juliet has had many adaptations, not only on stage, but also musical versions – West Side Story, soft romantic versions – Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and of course, contrived versions like Ishaqzaade. So there is no doubt that Ram-Leela is a generic film. After all, how can a plot set in violent times in Rajasthan bring anything new to the screen in terms of story? So what remained to be seen was how ‘Bhansali-esque’ the film was and boy, it was very ‘Bhansali-esque’. From the song in the opening credits to the grandeur of the sets and chroma keying; from the uber artistic choreography to the exceptionally beautiful frames, Ram-Leela oozes Bhansali’s class as a filmmaker even if his writing is somewhat questionable. Ram-Leela thrives on technical superiority and performances, with Ravi Varman’s camera work taking the cake. If you thought that Sudeep Chatterjee was good in Guzaarish, Ravi Varman has taken cinematography to a whole new level in Ram-Leela. The camera work in the film is literally a piece of art. There are just too many beautiful moments to write about and you will have to go see for yourself! The film’s second strength is its choreography. Even though I think that there are two songs too many in the film, it is the music videos where the film reveals its true ‘Bhansali-esqueness’. The songs have been picturised exquisitely, such as the blood eluded Lahu Munh Lag Gaya, which is reminiscent of Aankhon Ki Gustakhiyan from HDDCS.  [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15svvh_lahu-munh-lag-gaya-song-hd-video-ram-leela-ranveer-singh-deepika-padukone_music[/embed] Of course, there is also the utterly sensual imagery in Ang Laga De Re where Leela entices Ram and even Priyanka Chopra’s completely misplaced item song Ram Chahe Leela does make its mark with regards to picturisation. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1713ka_ang-laga-de-hd-video-song-teaser-ram-leela-2013-deepika-padukone-ranveer-singh_music[/embed] [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16fgoo_ram-chahe-leela-song-ft-priyanka-chopra-ram-leela_shortfilms[/embed] Add to that the film’s sound design, costume design, make-up, art direction and dialogues, and you see the infinite creativity of Sanjay Leela Bhansali as a director. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Priyanka Chopra is receiving rave reviews for her sultry item song Ram Chahe Leela. Photo: File[/caption] Then, there are the performances. Although Gulshan Devaiya as Bhavani is below par and could have delivered more, the rest of the supporting cast has really stepped up. Richa Chadda proves her mettle yet again while Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh, although less terrifying than he was as Bukka Reddy in Rakta Charitra, is right on the money. Nonetheless, the film belongs to three characters – Ram, Leela and Baa. Baa is played by the underexposed and highly plausible Supriya Pathak. Her character is both, fearless and fearsome at the same time. She is a woman who can go to the extreme of cutting her beloved daughter’s finger simply to take off a ring. Pathak, who was forgotten for her roles in Kalyug and Bazaar, and is remembered as the comedian from Khichdi, has made a comeback of the highest order and filled her role splendidly. Then there is Leela. Gorgeous, aggressive and tempestuous in those ghagras and cholis, Leela is Bhansali’s replacement of Devdas’s Paro. There were moments when I actually forgot Paro like when Leela wrote Ram’s name on the mirrors in her room, or when she held a gun to his stomach and vowed to kill him if he cheated on her, or then when she touched his feet in complete submission. There literally seem to be fifty shades in Leela’s character and Deepika Padukone has done justice with all her emotional outbursts. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Deepika has once again proved her versatility in Ram-Leela, while Ranveer has finally emerged as a serious actor. Photo: File[/caption] Deepika has left her comfort zone of being the new-age urban girl from Cocktail, Love Aaj Kal, Yeh Jawani, Break Ke Baad and so forth. Her scenes with Richa Chadda in the second half are utterly brilliant. If Ram-Leela is a success, this will be her fifth consecutive hit and her performances wholly deserve that sort of success. Last but not least, there is Ranveer Singh – an actor who is completely at ease with himself. From the nonchalant guy in Band Baaja Baaraat, Ranveer has come a long way because Ram is not like the everyday lover boy that any actor could play. Disreputability is his pride. He does not play cute, compelling you to love him back. Instead, he runs suspicious video stores and flaunts his well-toned body at women. And then he changes. From an authentic lover who slits his wrist, he becomes a resolute leader who shuns his sister-in-law implying that he has forgotten his personal life. As good as Ranveer is in playing this character in its physicality, he is even better at playing the hazy pre-requisites of a Bhansali movie. His energetic dance moves and his manifestation of holding back something from spilling out are a treat to watch. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"] Ram-Leela's spectacular choreography and energetic dance moves are a treat to watch.[/caption] Any actor in a Bhansali movie has to be a performing artist and Ranveer Singh fulfils this requirement with great aptitude. His confrontation scene with Leela towards the end of the movie before the sarpanch played by Raza Murad, is arguably the best part of the film. Although we have seen the world that Bhansali has created in Ram-Leela before in HDDCS with its rich colours, similar soundtrack and even the same bhavai, it seems less mawkish and more vehement this time. I, for one, prefer this world over the earlier one. Yes, there were a few dragged sequences in the film and I would have personally liked to cut a song and 10 minutes from each half, but that does not take away the fact that the film was indeed a visual treat. It looks like Ram-Leela could well be the return of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and perhaps, the emergence of Ranveer Singh as a serious actor.

Young at heart and seasoned with emotions is how one would best describe the ingredients of the movie Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania. There are films that cine-fans want to watch over and over again, and this is one such movie for sure. Needless to say, the movie is the outcome of the hard work of a great production house, promising debutante director Shashank Khaitan, and actors Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Shukla. What else could one expect from such an attempt? [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1wsmcg_humpty-sharma-ki-dulhania-official-trailer-%E1%B4%B4%E1%B4%B0_shortfilms[/embed] This is the typical story of a soon-to-be-wed girl, Kavya (Alia Bhatt), trying to live her life to the fullest before marriage. She makes a trip to Delhi to buy her Kareena Kapoor style designer lehenga for her big day and to live life on her own terms for a while. In Delhi, she meets Humpty (Varun Dhawan), becomes really good friends with him and unknowingly falls in love with him. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="595"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] As all good things must come to an end, so does her vacation and she sets back towards her home in Ambala. Humpty, realising how much he loves her, follows her with his friends in an attempt to convince her strict and stubborn father that he is the man for his daughter. After listening to Humpty’s plea, Kavya’s father, Singh Sir (Ashutosh Rana), gives him a chance to compete with Kavya’s fiancé Angad Bedi (Siddharth Shukla) and prove himself to be the perfect match for his daughter. The rest is an amazing series of events that follow. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="598"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] Varun and Alia debuted together in 2012’s block buster Student of the Year. It is evident from their new production that they have great on-screen chemistry and complement each other perfectly and naturally. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="595"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] Varun portrays the typical sweet boy’s and oozes out charm. He knows his forte and can easily turn any dialogue to his favour, impressing the audience with his performance. Girls loved him and guys applauded his acting skills. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] Alia is sizzling, sweet and her dialogue in the movie – “main paida hi hot hui thi” (I was born hot) – describes her character the best. After her intense role in Highway, she is back with a more comfortable, power-packed, carefree and emotional role in this film. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] Siddharth is not a new name but is an established actor in Bollywood. He is confident, comfortable and always gives an incredibly heartfelt performance. In some of the sequences in this movie, he really looks like ‘Mr Perfect’; in my opinion, given that he makes the right choices, I see a great future in acting for him. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="539"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] It is a treat to watch Ashutosh in a light role with a dash of intensity when the moment calls for it. He is enacts both, the friendly and angry, roles perfectly. Both the actors casted for the roles of Varun’s friends Shonty (Gaurav Pandey) and Poplu (Sahil Vaid) give an exceptional performance. Pandey, however, has what it takes to be a main lead one day – voice, personality, attitude and a notable screen presence. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="595"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] Performance wise, the movie had the perfect casted; not a single actor seemed out of place in the role he or she was playing. Some of the scenes worth watching include Humpty’s birthday, when Humpty snaps at Singh Sir and calls him Poplu, and when Kavya and Humpty blackmail the cool hunk who happens to be the principal’s son. The music falls between average and good. The three songs that stand out in particular are “Main Tenu Samjhawan”, “Saturday Saturday” and “Emotional Fool”. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zbzwo_samjhawan-humpty-sharma-ki-dulhania-hd-video-song-arijit-singh-shreya-ghoshal_music[/embed] [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1yupco_saturday-saturday-hd-video-song-humpty-sharma-ki-dulhania-2014_music[/embed] Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania is a must watch for all those who have fallen in love at one point or the other in their lives. It’s cute, romantic, light-hearted and one emotional ride. Remember Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai? Well, this is a reel back and one you wouldn’t mind watching again and again. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="595"] Photo: Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania Facebook page[/caption] On the basis of performances, script and direction, it deserves a good four out of five rating. A heartfelt and absolute entertainer!

What Indian cinema fans feel about Salman Khan is somewhat similar to what Pakistanis feel about Shahid Afridi. We will never compare him with any other player of the world. We know he doesn’t have any clue about what he is doing most of the time and we still cheer for him. He fails more than he succeeds but we love him and want him to do well. I belong to a generation that was inspired by Salman Khan, or bhai as his fans would call him. Teenagers started going to gym, their fashion sense changed and their hairstyles varied with his new looks. I also wear a small chain in my left hand although it’s much thinner and does not have a turquoise stone in it. Granted that after two decades in the industry, bhai still does not know how to do an emotional scene but to his fans, that is a mere irrelevant complication in an otherwise simple business… It’s a bhai film, it has to be watched and it has to be a hit. That’s it. As Salman himself says in Kick,

“Dil mein aata hoon, samajh mein nahin.”

“All hail Caesar”

Director Brett Ratner, who has previously directed the Rush Hour trilogy, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Horrible Bosses, brings Hercules, an action-packed movie with Greek muscles written all over it. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1jounb_hercules-international-trailer_shortfilms[/embed] Pumping the action in the lead role is former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, who is seen clad in leather attire while swinging his swords and clubs at his enemies with Greek conviction. Unlike the Greek mythology, where Hercules is the son of Zeus, the movie doesn’t bode that connection as this time the story is somewhat different. Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) is the leader of the mercenaries and although he is regarded as the demigod son of Zeus, the story portrays him as a human. Nevertheless, it did not bother Hercules for he has acquired training to take down beasts twice his size. Moreover, the story narrates the reason why Hercules became mortal. To know this, the viewers must watch the movie. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] The story is quite straightforward, where Hercules is asked by Lord Cotys of Thrace (John Hurt) to provide his army with ample training to defend the Thracian Kingdom against Rheseus (Tobias Santelmann). Those following Hercules in his band of mercenary are Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) and  Iolaus (Reece Ritchie). All are experts in particular domains of warfare. Iolaus, however, is Hercules’ nephew and the one who narrates the story. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="593"] Still of Rufus Sewell, Aksel Hennie, Dwayne Johnson, Ingrid Bolso Berdal and Reece Ritchie. Photo: IMDb[/caption] To keep the story simple, the narrative explains that Hercules did complete the Twelve Labours, a feat that made him a legend. However, the story doesn’t dwell on these achievements. Only glimpses of his success were shown in the opening scenes of the movie, which set the pace with special effects of battle scenes shot to suit Herculean might. Though the movie is set in Greek times, one can relate the story to on-going modern day conflicts among countries and in particular regions, as Lord Cotys is aggressively pursuing to expand his kingdom while Hercules and his men are preventing him from doing so. Ring any bells? It was Lord Cotys’ daughter, Ergenia (Rebecca Ferguson), who delivered his father’s message to Hercules. He did have a brief moment of romance with Ergenia, however, it was a decent attempt not to prolong the affair because the movie is about muscles, fights and an adrenaline rush that shows why Johnson is a rising action star. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="590"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] In the previous versions of Hercules, it was portrayed that in time of need, Hercules would call upon his father, Zeus, for help. The ruler of Mount Olympus would send his soldiers or would change the weather to beat the enemy to save Hercules. However, in this version, since the demigod son is human, he must therefore complete all the tasks on his own. This, however, adds spice to the story, as the viewer’s know that Hercules will be in action this time and not Zeus. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] Johnson began preparing for the role months before the shooting began. Although he was always in top shape because of his wrestling career and later turned into an action star, he needed to go an extra mile to turn himself into Hercules. According to Johnson, he trained himself in Budapest where he would begin his workouts at three in the morning. For nearly eight months, he followed a schedule of working out for hours in the gym, consuming a strong three course diet and shooting for the film that could go on for 12 hours. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="594"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] Ratner’s professional graph will take a giant leap for he has never done a movie based on a Greek character and his past projects belonged to the genre of fantasy, science fiction, comedy or drama. After directing X-Men: The Last Stand (2005), which wasn’t as big a success as the other movies of the X-Men franchise, Ratner was in pursuit of a movie that could establish his directorial skills, and Hercules certainly is his best work yet. It has catapulted both Ratner and Johnson’s careers to new heights. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="593"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] With a story as big as Hercules’, the running time of the movie is 98 minutes. Ratner and producers, Barry Levine and Beau Flynn have done a good job summing up the story with breath-taking action sequences within a time span of 100 minutes. The 3D effects bring action to life as Hercules’ weapons and his battles become prominent along with the special effects that are just what the viewers want to see. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="593"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] Even though the film has action and a smooth story, it seems as if the sword wielding scenes were honed down for some reason. The movie is adapted from the graphic novel of the same name and those who have read the novel must be wondering why similar graphic content wasn’t shown in its scenes. Being an avid fan of Johnson, this is perhaps my only criticism. Besides that, the movie is a good watch that would appeal more to male viewers for its testosterone-fuelled fights.

French writer cum director Luc Besson, whose work includes The Fifth Element, The Lady, The Professional, La Femme Nikita and Taken, is back to captivate the moviegoers with a high-concept hypothetical thriller – Lucy. It is a compelling hybrid, graced by volatility and lots of violence, intermingled by surreal bedlam that will challenge you intellectually. The creative inspiration of Lucy is based on a philosophical point of view that humans use merely 10 percent of their brain capacity, and if someone unlocks the rest of this cerebral capability, they will ultimately develop superpowers. [embed width="620"]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1luxag_lucy-trailer-1-2014-luc-besson-scarlett-johansson-movie-hd_shortfilms[/embed] Lucy is a story of an American woman, Lucy, played by Scarlett Johansson, studying in Taiwan, who is forced to be a drug mule in Taipei for a drug smuggler, Choi Min-sik. A small bag of the crystalline drug CPH4 is surgically implanted into her abdomen, but the bag ruptures and the drug spreads in to her bloodstream. As a result, she develops implausible superhuman mental abilities. The rest of the plot involves Lucy’s revenge, her struggle with her superpowers and the help of a renowned neuroscientist professor Samuel Norman, played by Morgan Freeman, who convinces her to transfer her cerebral capability on to a computer. Sounds quiet familiar? Yes, the central idea would remind you of Johnny Depp’s Transcendence and A Space Odyssey. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo: IMDb[/caption] Doesn’t the story of Lucy progress and end similar to the movie Transcendence? Let’s leave these questions for you to find out. Here, I will only add the ending narration which says,

“Life has been given to us a billion years ago, now you know what to do with it.”

However, the same degree of care is not applied to other significant things, such as justification for her capability to learn several languages and the logic behind her spontaneous changing physical appearances. The screenplay also fluctuates a lot and lacks consequential reasoning in script, for example the philosophical narrations of the movie say, “Time, it is not only a unit of measurement, without time we do not exist.”