Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – A Flying Tale of A Flying Sikh

A great movie experience is a combination of many things. It includes a convincing plot, high voltage drama, light moments that stay with viewers even when they leave the theatre, good music, inspirational elements and a few emotional scenes. “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” is among those movies which offer all the above mentioned ingredients at par. For those who keep a track of innovative, interesting and path breaking Indian Cinema the name of Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra is the symbol of excellence. Whenever he unfolded his sleeves, movies like “Aks”, “Rang de Basanti” and “Delhi-6” were witnessed by cine-goers. All these movies are distinctive in one way or the other. BMB is nothing different than them. It is a master stroke – without a doubt.

Farhan Akhtar secretes immense talent but no one has, up till Rakeysh Om Prakash, utilized that talent. Farhan’s directorial ventures “Dil Chahta Hai” and “Lakshya” made people realize his credibility as one of the finest directors. As an actor, BMB is his landmark. The way he has carried out his role and portrayed his emotions definitely demand standing ovation.

BMB is based on the journey of great Indian athlete Milkha Singh (also known as Flying Sikh). It is a movie about a boy whose entire family excluding his elder sister was murdered in the riots of Indo-Pak partition and he became a national and international rage back in 1960’s. It is also about the bond between a brother and sister – executed with exceptional detailing. Moreover, the movie is about a blooming romance, some promises with loved ones, emotional fits, flying high yet not leaving the ground by any means and a lot more. In short it’s about the life of Milkha Singh and what he went through.

Performance wise, Farhan Akhtar deserves to be nominated for this movie especially by critics. He is a revelation in BMB. He tackles the most difficult parts with complete ease and effortlessness. His transitions can be easily witnessed and felt by the audience from first scene to the last. Divya Dutta as Milkha Singh’s sister is vibrant, emotional, lovable and above all highly expressive. In 2 of the scenes particularly, she involved the audience to a level by her performance that no one could resist moistening their eyes. This is a performance she will always be reminded of. Sonam Kapoor (as Biro), Meesha Shafi (as Perizaad) and Rebecca Breeds (as Stella) had limited roles but they all performed well in their respective characters.

Pavan Malhotra (as Milkha Singh’s senior) is inspirational and at his peak. This actor is unfortunately most underrated, he needs to be casted in more movies to show-case his vast talent. Yograj Singh as (Milkha Singh’s coach) is just perfect. Dalip Tahil is strictly passable and ditto for Dev Gill (Abdul Khaliq). Art Malik (as Milkha Singh’s father) and Jabtej Singh (as young Milkha Singh) are credible and treat to watch.

Music of this movie is amazing. Arif Lohar’s “Bhaag Milkha”, Sukhwinder Singh’s “Slow Motion Angrezza”, Suhas Sawant’s “Zinda” and Divya Kumar’s “Maston Ka Jhund” are totally different from one another yet are really awesome tracks in all respects. Shankar-Ehsan-Loy’s music is simply amazing for this venture.

Some sequences to lookout for – performance wise:

When Farhan asks from where can he buy the Indian Team’s blazer!

When Divya Dutta meets young Milkha Singh in the camp.

When Farhan insists Divya to wear his blazer – the scene would definitely bring tears to many viewers’ eyes

When Farhan slaps himself repeatedly in the washroom

and a lot more…

On the basis of performance, direction, execution and story-telling I would easily rate this movie 9/10. It’s a must watch for those who celebrates quality and inspirational cinema. A must watch!

Jab Tak Hai Jaan - A Dull Fare

Yash Chopra (Late) has always been the name of romantic, passionate and dramatic cinema. From “Waqt” (as a director) and “Daagh” (as a producer) he has always shown the best attempt in terms of providing quality cinema; the main part of which has always been detailing. His last attempt “Jab Tak Hai Jaan” was unfortunately not as detailed as his movies like Deewar, Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila and Lamhe etc. Even in later years his movies like Dil toh Pagal hai, Kaabul Express and Hum Tum were worth watching again and again. But when it comes to “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, no one will want to see this movie for a second time – unless they are diehard fans of Shahrukh Khan. 

JTHJ is a story of love and faith. The storyline is definitely something which audiences have seen many times before. JTHJ is a story about two love birds, Shahrukh Khan (Samar Anand) and Katrina Kaif (Meera) who meet in London and fell in love. Later, Meera leaves Samar for his well-being. Samar returns to India, joins Indian Army and becomes a Major in Bomb Defusing Squad. After 10 years of his service he meets Anushka Sharma (Akira), a budding TV reporter and she falls in love with him immediately. The story then moves on and takes a different route and Shahrukh and Katrina meet again. I won’t disclose the rest of the story. It’s not exactly a typical romantic triangle but even then it has its moments. 

Like all my reviews, I am never interested in the box office standing of any movie. Similarly, I am not concerned with the 15 – 17 crores earned by the movie every day after its release. What matters is the combination of a few factors like script, performances and music. As far as the music of the movie is concerned it’s not the usual A.R. Rahman thing. After “Rockstar”, fans of Rahman were expecting something much better. Ditto for Gulzar’s lyrics – something was quite amiss. 

As far as the performances are concerned, it is obvious that Katrina and Anushka stood out whereas the senior lead took the back seat. Katrina is a stealer; she is improving with every movie, undoubtedly. She has all the potential to lead the list of Yash Chopra’s “perfect women. She has both elegance and sensuality which is evident on screen. I am sure that in every scene where she shares screen with Shahrukh, the major audience could not keep their eyes off her and didn’t notice SRK. Anushka is a competent talent and has always proved to be a performer. In JTHJ she is lovable and performs amazingly well. All her scenes are worth watching. It’s a sure award winning performance – in “character actor’s category”. 

Let’s come to the so called “God of Love” SRK. If you have seen him in “Kal Ho Na Ho” and “Chak De India” then you can easily recall the repetition of his looks, acting style and role. As an actor he is still standing at the same place. Its time for SRK to take some serious roles which are performance oriented rather than oozing his boyish charms. He has already passed that age, ages ago. He really tries hard to look a young guy in JTHJ. He is sharing the same stage which Amitabh shared back in early 90’s and acted as “Young Angry Man” – in case of SRK its “Romantic Boy”. For those, who named SRK as “God of Love” have definitely missed Rajesh Khanna’s movies. 

Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh in guest appearances mark their presence. Rishi (Chintu) still has screen presence and when he shared screen with SRK, with no dialogue of either, you can’t help but notice Rishi’s cuteness. Anupamkher is efficient and same for Sarika.

The technical drawbacks of the movie are listed as under – due to which it has lost the weight:

Shahrukh joined army at the age of 28 or 29 (technically) which is totally baseless. 27 is the maximum age to join Indian Army, even that in special cases (after passing some exams).

The moments shot between Anushka and SRK in Jammu were hard to believe as its not professionally possible for a serious officer / major to hug and get personal with a TV reporter. 

Within a few days SRK’s memory is back. Strange!

Rating: 3/5

Heroine – Are Critics Mad?

P.S. Let me clarify a few things first! I am not a Kareena Kapoor’s (aka Bay Bow’s) fan or even an admirer of her Zero Image! i.e. “Size Zero Figure”. The last movie of hers which I liked was “Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai”.

After hearing it from different friends and colleagues and reading from some of my gurus and friends from “Blogging fraternity” I was convinced that apart from Kareena Karoor, there is nothing much in the movie to watch! And this might be the reason why I planned to watch it, to see how good has she evolved as an actress and has she really stopped her “hamming style” and “oh so sexy pouting looks”.

Anyways, I was surprised! Not by the movie but by the people whom I used to consider sensible and critically sound when it comes to movie making and Hindi Cinema. This is amongst the very well made movie of the current times. I agree to the fact that the movie has nothing much to offer subject wise or story wise but when it comes to direction, dialogues and acting. It is really an impressive attempt by Madhur Bhandarkar, who does not need any introduction.

There is not much to tell about the story of the movie. It’s simple yet predictable. People initially also related “Heroine” with Angelina Jolie starrer “GIA – 1998” but that’s not the reality at all.

Let me quickly get back to the reason why I am attempting to write this “kind of review” for “Heroine”. First – To all those people, critics and cine-goers, who think that this movie has nothing but Kareena Kapoor, please get yourself seriously treated. There is a huge list of amazing performers who stole the show and performed astoundingly. Arjun Rampal is a volcano of talent if utilized properly. Right from the days of “Moksh” he has the ability to perform complicated roles. And this time he is over the top, his outburst after the party where Kareena insults his wife is natural. The other scene stealer is Randeep Hoda. This guy is a surprise factory – watch him interacting with Kareena in the party where he makes the move and then watch him breaking up with Kareena. Spell bounded. Sanjay Suri is always adequate with his eyes and expressions when it comes to any role! The guy must be offered more roles! He will surprise you in post interval with his tone, looks and authoritative style.

The best part of the film is when Kareena goes to Ranbir Shorey. That scene is amazingly shot. Ranbir Shorey as “Tappan Da” is flawless. He comfortably reminds of those self made Bengali directors who ruled the Hindi cinema back in late 70’s and early 80’s, crisp, blunt and appreciative. Shahana Goswami is great in small but strong appearance. The aftermath of her and Kareena’s encounter is amazingly shot and acted! Divya Dutta is getting type-actress! But here she performs really well. Govind Namdev as “Rashid Bhai” doesn’t have much dialogues but you can feel his presence with his expressions. Helen’s scenes will show simplicity and experience of a veteran. The other scene which is the highlight of the movie is when Shahana takes Kareena to a brothel with her. The communication which takes place there simply tell the real world of those “red light” alleys. Smartly penned

Last but not the least Kareena has really performed well. She looked psycho, hot, manipulating, simple and broke. After all, whole film rested upon her shoulders so she had to perform apart from flashing her skin, which she did quite well.

Niranjan’s dialogues are clap worthy. Screenplay is strong. In a way Heroine is a combination of different scripts of Madhur Bhandarkar’s earlier releases like Chandni Bar, Page Three and Fashion. But all in all a nice entertaining fare!

Rating:  6.5/10 (on the basis of performance)

Ek Tha Tiger? Or Ek Tha “Copycat”?

The most anticipated movie of 2012 “Ek Tha Tiger” is released with a bang. Before the release all the tickets were sold, it was hard to get tickets even for the 5^th day of the release. The reason behind it was nothing but Salman Khan’s box office power, which has yet again proved to be the ace in marketing any movie, and yes I mean “Any Movie”. YashRaj needs no introduction for those who are avid film viewers. Director Kabir Khan (Kaabul Express and New York) managed to justify his inspirations quite well. Here we all must know “inspiration” is just a modified name of “copying”.

The storyline of the movie is nothing that audiences haven’t witnessed before. It is about a RAW agent with a code name of “Tiger”, played by Salman Khan and an ISI agent named Zoya, played by “Katrina Kaif”. Tiger is sent on a mission to Dublin, just to observe the movements of Indian scientist (Roshan Saith) because according to Tiger’s chief Roshan might be involved in sharing some research finding with Pakistan’s defense. There Tiger meets Zoya and their romance starts to blossom. After that it’s a movie with lots of chase, lots of action and so many predictabilities.

ETT is a bravura combination of multiple movies, script wise along with action sequences hugely inspired from west. For instance the script of the movie is a combination of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, One of the movies from James Bond’s series and a few more (in bits and pieces). The most talked about action sequences of ETT are, also to huge extent, copied from 2 blockbusters “Fast 5” (starting scene and when Kat and Sallu escape from their hideout); the climax is again inspired from Expendable’s climax when local Sly jumps from bridge on to the jet plane.

As far as the performances are concerned, Salman is as usual – he is already a “STAR” and for stars performances are not benchmarks (on the basis of past release like Dabbang, Ready and Wanted). Salman Kan looks cute, sober and serious with this movie as well. Katrina is a complete performer now! She surprises everyone with her performance, dialogue delivery and hotness. Ranvir Shorey grabs the role exceptionally well, there are scenes where he doesn’t even speak but his presence is strongly felt – after a long time this actor is truly been utilized. Direction is good, better than other recent Bollywood movies (excluding GoW 1 and 2, Rockstar, Pan Sigh Tomar, Vicky Donor, Shanghai, Jannat 2,  and a few others).

Music of ETT is nice – nothing exceptional. Cinematography is worth experiencing – hats off to Aseem Mishra. 

Watch this film if you are a Salman Khan’s or Katrina’s fan; else there won’t be much for you in this fare.

Ratings:                                7/10

This Article is also Published at DAILY NATIONAL NEWS PAPER

The Expendables 2 Movie Review – Band Of Geriatric Goons

The Expendables 2 is definitely amongst the most anticipated releases of 2012, at least for those who are diehard fans of real action heroes like Sly Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Arnie), Jason Statham, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Bruce Willis and last but not the least Jeanne Claude Vann Damme. For many viewers and movie buffs this movie would be a dream cum true to see all their action icons sharing one screen.

If we talk about the plot of the movie its not a rocket science in fact its quite simple. If you have watched Expendables 1 and know the storyline, Sly and his team blew up Willis plan. So, in second episode of Expendables, Willis wants to send Sly and his men to another mission to retrieve something of significance value before bad men can get their hold of. Willis introduces them with a female mercenary – Nan Yu, who can lead them in certain situations. Anyways, the team heads off for the mission, without knowing the seriousness caused by the Villain of the movie Jean Claude Van Damme. The rivalry turns into personal when Van Damme brutally murders one of Sly’s gang mates. From there the movie transforms into a new journey – journey of revenge!

The the plot does not make a bit of sense at many places, as it only involves explosions, chases and blood shattering scenes. “Track em. Find em. Kill’em”. Is what the movie is all about – Dialogue spouted by Sly for the bad guys.

This time the movie is focused more on fun and action. The chemistry between Statham and Sly is amazing. Similarly, Arnold’s presence is a treat. Chuck Norris Steals the show in a brief cameo. Bruce Willis is there for – making his presence felt, else he was not technically needed for more than one scene. Jean Claude Van Damme looks ruthless, acts much better and fights perfectly! The real action heroes of this ride are Statham, Van Damme and Sly. Those who bring smiles are Arnie, Sly and Statham. The ones whose presence catches you by surprise are Arnie and Chuck (in every scene).

This particular movie has received mixed responses from audiences. According to some geriatric goons are back, for others it’s a star packed salute to fans of action movies and for others its far too weak for its fury. It’s a pure 80’s and 90’s idea with same era’s super stars in new packaging. Director Simon West gives his best after almost fifteen years, which was Con Air.

Recommended to all those who want to watch their Action icons together. Bad-Ass Action flick with corny one-liners like
"I pronounce you Man and Knife", "Rest in Pieces", "Do you want to hit me like a Man or Shit" and last but not the least
Sly: "I think it belongs to a Museum"
Arnie: "We all DO"

Rating 7.5/10