'Main Aur Charles' - Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Main Aur Charles'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'The News Hour Debate..'

Expectations:

Our Hindi film maker’s fascination towards real life criminals have helped them carve some great real life criminals in their films. Pran saab’s impersonation of dacoit Raaka, Amjad Khan and Vinod Khanna essaying characters like Gabbar and Jabbar Singh or Amitabh Bachchan are few among the various examples where, iconic film characters were etched based on the real life criminals. Though, there were some striking references in films like ‘D-Day’, ‘Aakhen’, ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbai’ and many more films. Few filmmakers tried to attempt biopic type of films in the form of ‘Godmother’, ‘Pan Singh Tomar’, etc and enhanced the level of our Hindi cinema. The latest to join them is ‘Main Aur Charles’ which is inspired by a real life happening related to international serial killer Gurmukh Shobraj who is popularly known as Charles Shobraj. The promos look exciting and Randeep Hooda, in terms of looks has a striking resemblance with its main protagonist. So let’s find out whether ‘Main Aur Charles’ will manage to give us one more good film based on the real life happenings of a criminal or might end up being just a normal film trying to cash in over the popularity of the famous criminal.

Story:

‘Main Aur Charles’ is a story of Charles (Randeep Hooda) a con man cum serial killer who escapes from one of the highest guarded prison cell from India. Police inspector Amod Kanth (Adil Hussain) and his team starts to investigate the whole matter and starts hunting for Charles in every corner of the country. Charles is supported by various people consisting of Richard (Alexx O’Neil), Liz (Mandana Karimi), Mira (Richa Chadda) and others. On the other end, Mumbai police appoints Inspector Joshi (Shanu Dev) to catch hold of Charles and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The movie looks outstanding on papers and even as a one liner idea. The chosen chapter from Charles Shobraj’s life in this film is fascinating and has a high amount of curiosity attached to it. Sadly, the screenplay lacks proper detailing and strong happenings. The movie starts with abrupt date references right from the 60’s era to the mid 80’s. There are loads of repetitive scenes involving the love making and drugging patterns of Charles. Many of these scenes are irrelevant, especially the whole super stretched Goa track. In the whole film, they keep hammering us by saying that Charles has hypnotic powers to charm any girl and control other peoples mind, but there isn’t a single scene which justifies or presents it in a proper manner. Also, the basic detailing about Charles is not shown, due to which the personal connect is missed out. There is definitely a high amount of curiosity in the film, which has been mildly sustained with the help of the few good scenes like Adil Hussain interrogating Charles victims followed by his chat with Richa, the whole jailbreak part, Richa-Randeep conversations, Adil Hussain gets the main motive of the case, etc. On a technical basis, there are many loopholes related to the date, style, setup, language, etc related to the era shown in the film. There is one huge blooper in the film where the police nabs Randeep and instantly in the next shot, it’s announced on radio after which the police nabbing scene again continues. The cinematography is of top notch. 

Music & Direction:

There is not much scope for music in this film. Remix version of ‘Jab Chaye Tera Jadoo’ is good, but the background score resembles the score from ‘Once Upon A Time In Mumbai’.

Director Prawal Raman is known for making some good thrillers, like his short stories in, ‘Darna Mana  Hai’ and ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’ followed by one of India’s finest physcological thriller ‘404: Error Not Found’. He also directed a dud like ‘Gayab’ and wrote another such type of film ‘Darling’. This is his first non-supernatural film and he fails to do proper justice to it. He had a great opportunity to present one of a daring con ever witnessed in our country, but misses out due to the weak screenplay and lethargic narration. 

Performances:

Randeep Hooda highly succeeds in adapting the real life character. His body mannerisms, accent, looks, etc does full justice to his character. Adil Hussain is brilliant and adds up as a second hero in the film. Richa Chadda, Alez O’Neil and Shanu Dev lend good support, but have nothing special to boast about. Mandana Karimi, Vipin Sharma, Tisca Chopra, Heeral Mei and others were wasted. 

So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well, concept wise and basic story wise there is lots of dum, but everything gets fizzled out due to weak screenplay and lethargic direction. It’s not a bad film but, you do feel bad over the lost opportunity, as it had all the potential to become a great film. On an overall basis, ‘Main Aur Charles’ is like a prime time news hour debate which has an interesting topic to start with but ends up with the same routine stuff without giving a proper solution to the main problem.

Ratings - 2*/5

'Guddu Ki Gun' - Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Guddu Ki Gun'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Firecracker Shots...'

Expectations:

As a kid Kunal Khemu was loved for his powerful role in ‘Zakhm’ and comical acts in films like ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke’ and ‘Raja Hindustani’. The actor grew up to do some different type of films and found his space back into the comical films with films like ‘99’, ‘Dhol’, ‘Golmaal 3’ and few more including ‘Go Goa Gone’. He was outstanding in the later films and with the failure of his films from other genre made it clear that, the audience wants to see this actor essaying comical roles and thus, despite of low publicity and less known actors associated with it, Kunal’s latest film ‘Guddu Ki Gun’ has some curiosity attached to it. Tough, it’s not a routine comedy Kunal did in past, ‘Guddu Ki Gun’ is an adult comedy with a double meaning poster attached to it. Thus, let’s find out whether this new venture of Kunal into the world of adult comedies will end up in his favour or might damage his fading career further more.

Story:

‘Guddu Ki Gun’ is a story of washing powder salesman Guddu (Kunal Khemu), who sells his product by luring the housewife’s and by full filling their sexual needs. Guddu is happy with his life and support from his roommate Ladoo (Sumeet Vyas). Things change as one fine day Guddu find outs that his private parts have been overnight transformed into hard metal gold. Guddu and Ladoo starts to find out the root cause of this magical transformation and finds out that it’s due to a curse of an old man. They also find out that Guddu’s private parts will normalize only when he finds true love of his life and will be the same if he marries that girl. Thus, Guddu and Ladoo starts to look out for the true love of Guddu and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The one liner story concept is very good for an adult comedy. It’s something unseen and unattempted. There are some comical scenes like Kunal and Sumeet visit sexologist’s clinic, Kunal discusses about his private part with Sumeet, Kunal meeting Payal Sarkar, Sumeet forces Kunal to participate in a competition involving one’s private parts, Kunal and Sumeet kidnapping track, Kunal’s part in Mughal-E-Azam drama (though, others ruin the fun with their overacting) and a few more which manages to tickle your funny bone. There should have been more such comical scenes and that too with more adult humour attached to it. On the flip side, the concept is not properly utilized and at times tries to cross the fine line between vulgarity and adult comedy. The film also slows down with the arrival of love track. One will find some quirky double meaning names like ‘Lingamjitis’, ‘Lingam returns’, ‘Baba Sonekaanand’, etc. The camera work is good and goes in the favour of the film.

Music & Direction:

Music is not impressive and songs acts like bumpers in the film.

Director duo Shreeshank Anand and Shantanu Ray dares to come up with such bold and unusual adult comedy, which lacked highly over the adult humor. They dare to enter the no entry zone only to take a reverse turn and makes a safe exit like all others. The makers should have gone all their way out and should have given us a good adult comedy on the lines of ‘Masti’, ‘Kya Kool Hain Hum’, ‘etc. The movie could have been a decent entertainer, but sadly ends up being a weak and an adult clone of Priyadarshan types of films. The duo fails to keep the film slide away from adult humour to double meaning track due to which the movie ends up being trashy and demeaning at times. 

Performances:

Kunal Khemu does his part with grace and once again shines out in a comical film. Sumeet Vyas lends fantastic support and has a brilliant future ahead. Payel Sarkar, Brijendra Kale, Jameel Khan and others lend good support. 

So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well the movie had good potential to cater its adult comedy loving audiences, but ends up as a half-baked product with over dose of double meaning humour and stale screenplay in the later part of the film. The movie has its moments but on an overall basis this loaded gun, ends up as a firecracker shot with fake sound and its plastic effects. 

Ratings - 1.5*/5

'Hallucinating Day Dream...' - 'Shaandaar' Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Shaandaar'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Hallucinating Day Dream...'

Expectations:

After working in production teams of films like ‘Black’, ‘Aamir’, ‘Welcome To Sajjanpur’, ‘Dev.D’ and few more films, Vikas Bahl co-debuted with Nitesh Tiwari with a sweet and small film ‘Chillar Party’. Despite of being a small film it still managed to grab its viewer’s attention and won him the prestigious National Award. The critical and commercial success motivated this talented director to make something different and his individual directorial debut happened with Kangana Ranaut starrer film ‘Queen’. This movie was a not only successful at the box office, but also ended up being a path breaking film because to its fantastic direction and ace performances. The impact was so high that the viewers for a longer period, failed to come out from the hangover of this film. It ended up being one amongst the list of highly watched and loved films from our country and can be watched over and over again at any given time. Thus, right from the announcement of Vikas’s new film ‘Shaandaar’ the expectations were sky high. To top it up the movie has Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt starring in it after giving us one of their best performances last year (Haider & Highway) respectively. So let’s find out whether ‘Shaandaar’ will match up to such humongous expectations or might be yet another path breaking film under this genre of romantic films.

Story:

‘Shaandaar’ is a story of Bipin (Panjah Kapur) and his daughters, Isha (Sanah Kapoor) & Alia (Alia Bhatt). Alia despite of being an adopted child, is favourite of Bipin, but is disliked by his wife (Niki Aneja) and mother Kamala Ji (Sushma Seth).  In order to save her bankrupt family, Kamala Ji fixes up Isha’s marriage with Robin (Vikas Verma) who is brother of a multi millionaire Pandwani (Sanjay Kapoor). The whole marriage takes place in a castle and is managed by Jagjinder Joginder / J.J (Shahid Kapoor). During this process, J.J and Alia starts loving each other and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The story is one liner and couple of fresh tracks attached to it. But, on an overall basis it’s a tried and tested type of story which is totally predictable. The first half starts with fresh note and has some good comical moments indulged in it. Scenes like Shahid-Pankaj meet, Sanjay Kapoor’s entry scene, Shahid-Alia mime chat at breakfast, Brownie-Mushroom effect, mehendi with Karan track and few more keeps you entertained in the initial phase of the film. Sadly, once these comical tracks fades out the movie goes on a repetitive and dragging mode in the later part. The bankruptcy track, father- adopted daughter track, forceful marriage track and few more are totally stale and have been shown countless times in our films. The insomniac track is interesting, but ends up being a victim of a half baked product. There are multiple characters in the film and almost everyone gets sidelined in the second half, till the finale of the film. The finale part has its funny moments but as said earlier is predictable and has been presented in totally bizarre manner. There are plenty of stuffs happening in the film, but at the same time there is hardly anything happening in the film. The screenplay lacks detailing and seems like a result of a forced product involving big names and moolas attached to it. The movie highly excels on technical basis and has a decent animation track attached to it. Also, the cinematography by Anil Mehta is of top notch and gives the movie its much needed looks. The movie is ‘Shaandaar’ in terms of its visual presentation. 

Music & Direction:

Music by Amit Trivedi is good but not among his best works. ‘Shaam Shaandaar’ goes well with the mood of the film. ‘Gulaabo’ is interesting and appealing. ‘Nazdeekiyaan’ fails to blend with the flow of the film. ‘Senti Wali’ is too dramatic. ‘Raitaa Phailgaya’ is enjoyable. Remix versions of ‘Eena Meena Deeka’ and ‘Neend Na Mujko Aaye’ fails to create the magical impact like how ‘Hungama’ did in ‘Queen’.

Director Vikas Bahl tried to attempt a fairy tale type of romantic film and partly succeeds in few scenes featuring Pankaj Kapur (animated part) along with Shahid and Alia, plus the huge backdrop of grand wedding attached to it. Sadly, this movie is nowhere in comparison to his best work ‘Queen’ and not even ‘Chillar Party’. The freshness is in parts and the movie seems like a garish attempt and has less of soul attached to it. The comical track works along with fantastic presentation but the half baked screenplay ends up as a party popper. It’s sad that whenever a good director gets hold of big budget film, they fail to do justice to it, proving the point that such directors can create only wonders when they make films with tight budgets and tough conditions. 

Performances:

Shahid Kapoor looks fabulous and all his fans who love him in a romantic avatar, will enjoy his visual appearances. Though, this movie is way below the caliber of Shahid after watching him in film like ‘Haider’. Nevertheless, he does his part with total grace and adds up as the positive point in the film. Alia Bhatt is cute and slips easily in her character. One does wonder, why the makers emphasize more on her bikini scenes (especially in the end credits) rather than focusing more on her acting skills. Pankaj Kapur lends good support but has nothing new to offer. Sana Kapoor is sweet and reminds us of her mother Supriya Pathak. Sushma Seth and Vikas Verma are fine in their parts. Sanjay Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Niki Aneja, Kabir Shaikh, Shibani Dandekar, Chittaranjan Tripathy and others are wasted. Cameo by Karan Johar is welcomed. 

So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well the movie has some enjoyable dum in the first half, followed by few comical moments and songs. It might be liked by the diehard fans of Shahid and Alia, but will be a huge disappointment for all the fans of Vikas Bahl. Even if we don’t compare ‘Shaandaar’ to Vikas’s last film ‘Queen’, this movie works only in parts and fails miserably in the finale portion. On an overall basis, ‘Shaandaar’ is like having a hallucinating day dream, which starts on an exciting note and ends up like a dragging dream which distracts you from the reality.

Ratings - 2*/5

'Meeruthiya Gangsters' Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Meeruthiya Gangsters'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Desi Pranksters'

Expectations:

Gulzar's 'Mere Apne' could be termed as one of the inceptor film, portraying the tale of youngsters taking law in their hands. But, it was N. Chandra's 'Ankush', which dealt around the lives and happenings of these misled youngsters. On the lines of 'Ankush', many filmmakers narrated such types of tales dealing with criminal activities by youngsters but with different town or cities. The latest to join such types of films is 'Meeruthiya Gangster' which is directed by the writer of Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs Of Wasseypur' (Part I & II). Both these parts were loved by a different set of audience and marked its own style. So, let's find out whether 'Meeruthiya Gangster' will give us another different type of crime based film or might be yet another clone of such types of films.

Story:

'Meeruthiya Gangster' is a story of a group of friends residing in the city of Meerut. The group is led by Nikhil (Jaydeep Alhawat) and consist of Amit (Aakash Dahiya), Gangan (Vansh Bhardwaj), Rahul (Chandrachoor Rai), Sunny (Shadab Kamal) and Sanjay (Jatin Sarna). Together, they do small time kidnapping and enjoy the ransom amount among themselves. One day Gagan's girlfriend Mansi (Nashrat Bhardwaj), complains about her senior colleague Jayantilal Jain (Brijendra Kale). This inspires Nikhil and his friends to kidnap him in order to seek a bigger ransom. Because to this kidnapping, police inspector R.K Singh (Mukul Dev) starts following their trials and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The story might remind you of a recently released film 'F.U.G.L.Y' and many such types of films. The story is very minimal and has been stretched to its fullest. There is no proper screenplay or drama happening around as the film just keeps running over the routine fun, crime and stuffs. The movie starts with a super long introduction of various characters followed by repetitive screenplay. The makers also introduce many side tracks which slows down the flow of the film and ends up being dragging and monotonous. Though, the movie has its share of positive moments like Rahul Dev-Sanjay Mishra scene, Brijendra Kale track, Jatin Sarna's scenes and few more. The language used in the film is funny and enjoyable. Wished the writers would have kept the flow of the film intact, without diluting it with unnecessary subplots and details. The camera work is good and works in the favour of the film.

Music & Direction:

Music by Siddhant Madhav is fine, but not impressive.

Director Zeishan Quadri narrates his film in a non structured manner due to which the whole effort gets diluted. On an individual basis, there are a few good, enjoyable scenes, but on an overall basis the movie lacks intensity and dramatic moments. Except for some comical stuff, there is nothing new in this film.

On performance basis, Jaideep Ahlawat, Aakash Tyagi, Vansh Bhardwaj, Chandrachoor Rai, Shadab Kamal and Jatin Sarna acts decently and does their part with total grace. Nushrat Bharucha looks good but has very less to offer. Mukul Dev is repetitive. Sanjay Mishra is good in his small role. Brijendra Kale is impressive.

So bol meri ‘'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well, the movie has some enjoyable moments and decent performances by its lead actors. The movie lacks highly on intense drama and a good story telling. The impact is weak and has nothing new to offer making these 'Meerithiya Gangster' act like some local desi pranksters where after a unique style all their pranks ends up as a bland and silly act.

Ratings - 2/5 

'Hero' Movie Review. Starring - Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty, Tigmanshu Dhulia & Aditya Pancholi. Directed by Nikhil Advani. Produced by Salman Khan & Subhash Ghai.

'Hero'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Fast Forward Version....'

Expectations:

Right from the Kapoor’s era, whenever star kids are launched there is immense curiosity and excitement related to their launch due to the aura of their parents. Except for few star kids, most of them choose the conventional path of getting launched in a romantic film or a big budgeted film. The latest launching vehicle for the star kids is getting launched in a stylish film, which is a remake of a hit film. Last year Tiger Shroff was launched in ‘Heropanti’, which was a remake of a hit Telugu film and this year we have Sooraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty getting launched in ‘Hero’, which is a remake of Jackie Shroff starrer 1983 film of the same name. 1983’s ‘Hero’ was a path-breaking film in its own way as it narrated a tale of an anti-hero with some fantastic music and great direction associated with it. A role which was written for Sanjay Dutt, marked the right launching vehicle for Jackie Shroff and Meenakshi Sheshadri (after their failed debut attempt). Thus, let’s find out whether the latest version of ‘Hero’ will do the same wonders for Sooraj and Athiya as it did for Jackie and Meenakshi in their times or might end up being another remake trying to cash-in over its past glory.

Story:

‘Hero’ is a story of a local goon Sooraj (Sooraj Pancholi), who works for a criminal Pasha (Aditya Pancholi). Pasha is facing trial in the court and will be sentenced based on the evidence provided by I.G Shreekant Mathur (Tigmanshu Dhulia). Thus, Pasha orders Sooraj to kidnap I.G Shreekant Mathur’s daughter Radha (Athiya Shettya). Sooraj disguises as a cop and manage to kidnap Radha very easily. While in exile, Radha and Sooraj fall in love with each other. After a while Radha finds out the real identity of Sooraj and still wants him in her life as she believes after completing his punishment Sooraj will be a changed man and thus asks him to surrender in front of the law. What happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The story structure is scene to scene similar to the original film. It’s only that everything out here is hurried and taken for granted. Right from the first scene, there is no detailing to any characters nor the flow of the film is presented in a dramatic or entertaining manner. It’s just that the movie is going on and on with few dialogues and songs on a loop mode. Except for few good fight scenes, dances, locations and Salman Khan’s video in the end credits, there is nothing much to cherish in this half backed film. Sooraj’s character lacks the darkness and is not at all intense. He dances, looks smart, falls in love, parties, etc instead of being a menacing character. There is no transformation of an anti-hero to hero in his character. Everything is presented in a convenient manner without any struggle or hardship. The comical tracks were unwanted. The climax is presented with typical Salman Khan / Rajnikant style of fights where the conviction level was not at its fullest. Also, the finale part was totally predictable and bland. The love track also develops without conviction and needed more moments attached to it. This movie also makes you realize the fact that 1983’s ‘Hero’ is a great film in terms of its writing, direction, performances, casting and music. The camera work is good and the movie has been shot on some good locations.

Music & Direction:

The music of 1983’s ‘Hero’ was highly entertaining and immensely popular with songs like ‘Lambi Judai’, ‘Ding Dong’, ‘Pyar Karnewale Kabhi Darte Nahin’ and few more along with its theme flute music. Sadly, in this latest remake of ‘Hero’, except for Salman Khan’s version of ‘Main Hoon Hero Tera’ and ‘Yaadan Teriyaan’ there is nothing worth hearing in this film.

Director Nikhil Advani fails to do proper justice to the original version of ‘Hero’ and ends up delivering a half baked product. He misses out on the fine detailing and ends up delivering a bad remake on the lines of films like ‘Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’. 

Performances:

Sooraj Pancholi looks smart and will have an immense female fan following due to his physical appearance. Sadly, he fails to express and give a decent dialogue delivery as he needs to work hard on his speech. Athiya Shetty in comparison to Sooraj Pancholi acts decently, but fails over her weird appearance. Tigmanshu Dhulia delivers one of his worst performances. Sharad Kelkar, Anita Hasdani, Vivan Bhathena are fine in their parts. Aditya Pancholi and Suresh Menon had hardly anything to offer. Salman Khan in the end credits is the best thing to happen to this doomed film. 

So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well, despite of superstar Salman Khan launching these new comers there is nothing overwhelming about any of them after watching the film. The movie ends up as a show-reel for its lead actors. In comparison with this movie, I would suggest everyone to watch the original 1983’s version to understand the value of good, well written and entertaining film. As for the latest version of ‘Hero’, the movie ends up like watching the fast forward version of the original, where you know what’s happening in this soulless film, but fail to miss out over the required detailing and entertainment quotient. 

Ratings - 1.5*/5

'Tera Mera Tedha Medha' Movie Review

'Tera  Mera Tedha Medha'

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Knots & Dirty Stains...'

Expectations:

The 60’s era was flooded with back to back romantic musical films. But, with the arrival of the 70’s era, we witnessed soft, light hearted romantic comedies with younger and less popular actors. Some of these films like 'Choti Si Baat', 'Saath Saath', 'Golmaal', 'Baaton Baaton Mein', 'Piya Ka Ghar', etc made their mark onto the list of classic films and inspired various other filmmakers to keep making such small budget light hearted romantic films with lesser known actors. One of this week's released film 'Tera Mera Teda Meda' (TMTM), is also one such film with lesser known actors and low marketing. Thus, let's find out whether 'TMTM' will manage to give us a sweet feel good type of romantic comedy or might end up being another film with good one liner script and nothing else to offer.

Story:

'Tera Mera Tedha Meda' is a story of Rajan Jha (Rahul Bagga) who keeps painting nude females and is in a live-in relationship with Kamini (Geetika Tyagi). As per astrological planets Rajan's ‘Mangal’ (Chittranjan Tripathy) and ‘Shani’ (Rajesh Sharma) are in the trouble making zones, thus creating lots of ups and downs in his life. Due to these happenings, Kamini break up with Rajan and so things in his life changes drastically. What happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

Now, looking at the synopsis the story seems like a typical romantic type of film with love-break up-love as it's core ingredient. If only the writers would have stuck to the basic story line, the impact would have been positive. Instead, they ended up adding weird detailing to all the characters from the film. The hero is gifted to paint only nude pictures, the heroine gets bitten by an owl, due to which she cannot face the sunlight but develops night vision and can paint in darkness, the narrators are the planets (in human form) wearing Govinda style clothes and keep singing songs for every situation, one of the narrator drinks oil in bottle and keeps spraying deodorant to avoid the smell, there are other planets (in human form) who keep playing musical band, one of the neighbour is bi-sexual pervert, who keeps lusting on every girl and guy he meets, then there is a weird family from Bihar who forcefully tries to get the hero married to their ugly looking daughter, then there is one more heroine who is more horny than the perverts sitting on a computer watching porn 24x7 and many such characters with unique qualities attached to them. Most of these characters and their tracks are non-relevant to the theme of the film. The dialogues have double meaning and are trashy (‘Tumhare ander painter nahin chupa hain, hawas ka panther chupa hain’, etc). The C.G.I work is weak and looks terrible on the screen.

Music & Direction:

The songs are unwanted and fails to go with the flow of the film. Background music is jarring.

The director Chittranjan Tripathy tries to blend a rom-com with some naughtiness attached to it, but fails miserably due to weak screenplay. He ends up being modern day Manoj Kumar, who, puts his foot in various sections of film making (director, actor, music director, lyricist, writer, etc).

Performances:

Rahul Bagga tried to do a decent job, but ends up being victimized of inconsistent performance. Geetika Tyagi looks good and does her part with grace. Reema Worah was loud and vulgar at times. Rajesh Sharma and Chittranjan Tripathy were fine in some parts. Sanjiv Chopra was cheap.

So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well, except for one liner story idea and few unintentionally funny scenes, there is nothing much to look forward in this film. 'Tera Mera Tedha Meda' ends up like a piece of non usable cloth with several knots and dirty stains attached to it. The best way to use it is to dump it into the garbage can.

• Ratings - 0.5/5

'Dil Dhadakne Do' 

Movie Review By 'G9 Divya Solgama'

'Elite Entertainer..'

Expectations:

We all know about the great writing flair of Javed Akhtar due to his path breaking films as a story writer followed by soul touching lyrics in many popular songs. Javed Akhtar’s first wife Honey Irani despite of been popularly known as a child actor, also portrayed her writing skills by giving us some great films like ‘Lamhe’, ‘Darr’, ‘Aaina’, ‘Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai’, ‘Kya Kehna’, ‘Koi Mol Gaya’ and few more. The legacy continued with the launch of their son Farhan Akhtar as a writer-director in ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ followed by their daughter Zoya Akhtar as a writer-director for ‘Luck By Chance’. Though, Zoya Akhtar got her biggest commercial hit in the form of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ which connected with both, classes and masses. Thus, right from the first announcement of her latest film ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ with its unique ensemble cast on a cruise liner, the expectations were at its peak as the recall value of Zoya’s last hit film ‘ZNMD’ was very high. So let’s find out whether ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ will match up to the high expectations and surpass the popularity level of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ or might end up being a medium level product just like it was in ‘Bombay Talkies’.

Story:

 ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ is a story of a business tycoon Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) and his wife Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shah), who are celebrating their thirtieth marriage anniversary on a luxury cruise liner with their children Kabir (Ranveer Singh) & Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra). They are joined by their families, friends and relatives along with Ayesha’s husband Manav (Rahul Bose). Kamal Mehra on the other hand is going through a financial crisis and so, wants his son Kabir to marry Nuri (Riddhima Sud), daughter of business tycoon Lalit (Parmeet Sethi). Little do they know, that Kabir is getting attracted towards a dancer Farah Ali (Anushka Sharma). What happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities:

The one line story is a typical Bollywood family drama type of story which we have been witnessing in the 60’s, 70’s and the 80’s era films with actors like Rajendra Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Shammi Kapoor, Govinda, Rishi Kapoor, etc. Right from the first scene of the film the movie is highly predictable and moves on a snail pace. It’s the treatment and the characters which makes ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ interesting followed by the whole premise setting in the luxury cruise liner. There are many small moments and minute scenes like Anil Kapoor – Shefali Shah argument over the dinner, introduction of various characters while boarding the ship, Ranveer – Anushka Sharma first date, Anil-Shefali convincing Ranveer to get married, Priyanka Chopra playing tennis with Rahul Bose, Ranveer imagining a break-up story, Farhan Akhtar’s view over equality, Priyanka explaining reasons related to Rahul Bose to her family, Anil firing Ranveer, family argument in the medical ward, Anil-Shefali’s repenting, followed by the finale moment and few more, which will help you being engaged to the silver screen. Not to forget the quirky dialogues by Pluto the dog (voiced by Aamir Khan & penned by Javed Akhtar). On the flip side, the length of the film is almost three long hours and has many repetitive moments followed by few bland places in the middle portion of the film. Also, the dramatic finale part might ruin the viewing experience for many people who like films from of this genre. There should have been more hilarious or comical moments that would have kept the fun element intact in the film. The movie has been beautifully shot on the luxury cruise liner with some breath taking visuals of Greece and Turkey.

Music & Direction:

Music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy is not at par with their last two associations with Zoya Akhtar’s films. Though, ‘Swing’ and ‘Gallan Goodiyaan’ are visually entertaining. ‘Pehli Baar’ could have been avoided. ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ is used in the end credits. The background music is outstanding and goes brilliantly with the flow and setting of the film.

Director Zoya Akhtar comes up with an old story line in a modern packaging associated with it. She adds up the minute nuances in the film due to which the movie looks highly appealing. She does full justice to her main lead characters and displays them in all shades of life. The movie might not be Zoya’s best work in terms of quality or on a commercial level, but is a far better product in this type of genre. It is a sweet and clean family film with some brilliant performances, which is hardly seen in recent cinema.

Performances:

Anil Kapoor looks fantastic and gives an ace performance as per the demand of his character. It’s tough to take away your eyes from this evergreen actor. His body mannerisms and facial expressions are enough to essay his performance. Ranveer Singh is cute and charming. He adds up the life in the film, which at times tends to be bland and boring. Priyanka Chopra looks stunning and slips easily into her character. Shefali Shah is outstanding and delivers a fine performance. Together all these four main characters compliment each other’s work and emerge as a winning team. Anushka Sharma is not up to the mark. Its good her role was not that lengthier. On the other hand, Farhan Akhtar was great in his small role and one does wish to see more of him in the film. Rahul Bose does full justice to his character. Zarina Wahab, Riddhima Sud, Parmeet Sethi, Manoj Pawa and others lend good support. Pluto the dog is super cute and entertains you with its presence.

Verdict: So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dum???

Dum??? Well the movie is an elite entertainer with decent performances and great moments attached to it. It’s not as classy as Zoya’s debut film ‘Luck By Chance’ or highly entertaining as ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, but still has its own merits to end up as a decent watch. The masses might find it tiring, bland and boring, but for the ones who love such types of ensemble films will not be disappointed for sure. On an overall basis, ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’ is like having a Pani Puri in a five star hotel, which is totally healthy and looks visually appealing, lacking a bit over the spices.

Ratings : 3.25/5