Film Review Kill /Dil

Shoot To Kill

Film: Kill /Dil

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar,

Directed by: Shaad Ali

Duration: 2 hrs 7 mins

Rating: * *

The success of Gunday seems to have prompted Yashraj films to go full throttle on films that are reminiscent of the flicks made in the 70’s and 80’s. Directed by Shaad Ali (Saathiya, Bunty aur Babli, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom), not only the screenplay but the direction also looks like it belongs to the Mohenjo Daro and Harappa era.

The plot is similar to Gunday and there can’t any other reason apart from box office considerations that the production house went ahead with this film. 

Told in flashback, the story is about two young men Dev (Ranveer Singh) and Tutu (Ali Zafar) who are sharp shooters. The latter also puts a bullet in a politician’s brain from a moving train, at a railway crossing.

Both the blokes are orphans rescued by a gangster Bhaiyyaji (Govinda) and they always do as he says and mostly it is about extortion or pumping bullets. All is well till they meet Disha (Parineeti Chopra) a hip girl who becomes friendly with the two guys. For Dev though, it is more than just friendship and he falls head over high heels in love with her.

Bhaiyyaji doesn’t like it, Tutu doesn’t like it and you don’t like it either. When Dev spends Diwali with his girl Bhaiyyaji gets very annoyed- so annoyed that he sings a song. Actually, they all sing songs at some point when just about anything happens. Besides, it is rather odd to see gangsters singing songs and dancing and then getting all serious in the very next scene. As Guns and Roses said, “My way your way anything goes…” 

Love makes the world go round and it also makes shooters give up their profession and be become decent hardworking men. Post interval the plot gets more contrived than before and heads for a finale that is all too convenient. The only convenient factor for the audience is the running length of the film which just over two hours.   

Initially the film opens on a decent note but very quickly goes downhill and never recovers. The plot has neither any logic nor sense or conviction. Even though Govinda tries his vintage act, the character of Bhaiyyaji is the weakest of them all. Not that the others are any better.

The background score is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s Have a Cigar. Of the cast, Ranveer Singh adds some zing with his enthusiastic act. But these gangster sagas are so passé, time to let them rest in peace.

Published in The Navhind Times on 16th Nov 2014

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Film Review -Daawat-e-Ishq

Feud For Thought

Film:  Daawat-e-Ishq

Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Aditya Roy Kapur

Directed by: Habib Faisal

Duration: 2 hr 5 mins

Rating: * *

It’s been a mixed bag for writer/ director Habib Faisal so far – his directorial debut Do Dooni Chaar was a delight and he followed it up with yet another endearing film, Band Baajaa Baaraat which he scripted. Bewakoofiyaan was not great shakes and his latest, Daawat-e-Ishq is also in the same mould.  

Like in his previous films, he knows how to etch out the characters but when it comes to the situations, there are problems aplenty here. 

It starts off with a zing and I was convinced that there are good times ahead. But that was not to be, it was like a sprinter participating in a long distance race. The take off was good but there just wasn’t enough steam after sometime. 

Set in the city of Hyderabad, Gulrez (Parineeti Chopra) and her father (Anupam Kher) are living a routine life. She is a salesgirl in a shoe shop and his whole aim is to get her married but the dowry is a big mountain to climb. Several suitors reject her and at times it is the other way round because of the D factor.  So far so good, you are quite relishing the Hyderabadi flavor. But then 

in a fit of pique the girl comes up with a rather outrageous plan.  Get married to a rich guy and then file a case against him under section 498A of the IPC claiming harassment and then opt for a settlement. It’s a loony idea to begin with and you can only shake your head in disbelief when the father, a sensible man otherwise, actually accedes to it.

More madness – they have to change their identity, assume new names and move to a new city, Lucknow in this case and book themselves the fanciest suite in a hotel. All so that she can get married to guy and then dump him. Becoming a nuclear physicist might be a relatively easier proposition but the father-daughter duo is busy scheming. 

They find a soft target in the form of Tariq (Aditya Roy Kapur) whose family runs one of the most popular restaurants in town. No kebabs for guessing that he turns out to be a soft target who falls in love with her and all that jazz.  The finale at the railway station is in the grand tradition of YRF but you couldn’t care less even if it was in an aeroplane.

For a film that is barely over two hours, there is incredible amount of time that is wasted. There is a song just before the interval and in case you doze off for that one, there is another one immediately after. Also the whole idea of trying to make of social point about dowry is self defeating by the motives of girl and all that talk about section 498A which is dealt without any seriousness.

The acting, especially Parineeti Chopra and the reliable Anupam Kher are the saving grace. While the film has got some of the things right, the fact is that the story is a dud.  I was left hungry, not for food but for a good film. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 21st Sept 2014

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Film Review - Hasee Toh Phasee

 

Rules of Engagement

Film: Hasee toh Phasee

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra

Directed by: Vinil Mathew

Duration: 2 hrs 20 mins

Rating: *  *  *

Even though Haseee toh Phasee has a slightly predictable storyline, it is executed with sufficient zing to make it one of the better romcom that Bollywood has dished out. It also helped generously by a top notch performance from the lead pair of Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra, especially the lady who is clearly one of the best things to happen to Hindi cinema.

We’ve seen a young man who is already engaged fall for another girl umpteen times before (most recently in Shuddh Desi Romance) but the progression of the story remains a key element and from that point of view, writer Harshvardhan Kulkarni has done an admirable job (not to mention the Motley crue of dialogue writers that includes Anurag Kashyap).

The film opens at a brisk pace where we are told about two naughty children. The boy, an Agneepath fan (Bachchan one,not Hrithik) and the son of an IPS officer grows up to be a young man (Malhotra) and unlike his IAS, IPS IFS family, he is an event manager for wedding and other occasions or as a relative queries “catering ka kaam karta hain kya?”

In another part of the city there is Meeta (Parineeti) who is a genius of sorts. She has a Ph.D, has invented some kind of a ball that can generate energy and she even speaks Chinese since she has lived there (I couldn’t figure out if it was Mandarin or some other dialect) 

But there is one problem, all is not well with her – she needs medication drugs from time to time and that makes her more hyper. She left her family (Manoj Joshi, Neena Kulkarni) years ago after a discord and her uncle (good old Samir Kakkar) still holds a strong grudge against her is on a slapping spree. 

Now our event manager (he is eyeing the IPL this time) is engaged to Ms.Genius sister

(Adah Sharma) but since she is discarded by the family, circumstantially, he ends up taking care of her. No crorepati prize for guessing what happens next.

As it has happened many a times, the last lap of the film is a bit stretched as the screenplay hits a few roadblocks. You wish they had wrapped it up quickly but that is a minor grouse. The characters are quite whacky like the wedding guest who is an Anu Malik fans and breaks into his songs at any given opportunity. 

The cast is in top form. Manoj Joshi has been around as a supported actor for long and this is one of his best performances till date. The chemistry between the lead players is crackling- Student of The Year Sidharth Malhotra shows that he can act and act well. Parineeti Chopra seems to be making mincemeat of any role that comes her way, she is a natural born actress.  

Hasee toh Phasee is an enjoyable lightweight film that has more than a few things to admire. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 9th Feb 2014

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Film review Shuddh Desi Romance

Love Me Do   

 Film: Shuddh Desi Romance

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeta Chopra, Vaani Kapoor

Directed by: Maneesh Sharma

Duration: 2 hrs 15mins

Rating: * * * 1 / 2

            Director Maneesh Sharma who gave us the eminently likable Band Baaja Baraat, returns to his familiar terrain of weddings, once again. The result is a film that breaks new barriers and goes into this uncharted territory of unconventional romances. For years, we’ve been fed with the staple diet of the same old formula when it comes to romantic films and romcoms, but this one dares to be different, very different and that’s a good reason to celebrate Shuddh Desi Romance.             

Good writers in Bollywood are as rare as good politicians in the country at the moment. Jaideep Sahni (Company, Chak De, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Rocket Singh) belongs to this rare breed of writers and he has pulled it off yet again by writing the story, screenplay, lyrics and the dialogues. The scenes are well crafted, the characterization is superb- it was most heartening to see the women characters stand out, usually they get a raw deal in films but here there is no typical portrayal of them and after Gangs of Wasseypur (which was long time ago), for the first time I’ve seen women on an equal footing as the men. Bravo, way to go Jaideep Sahni.

Cut to Jaipur then and meet the tourist guide Raghuram Sitaram (Sushant Singh) but he prefers to be called just Raghu. He is about to get married to Tara (Vaani Kapoor) but being a commitment phobic guy he dumps her at the altar, or rather the mandap, as it is in this case. Before you can say runaway groom, he falls for Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra), attraction becomes mutual and there is much more to it.

Tara is back on the scene and our Raghu is kind of caught between Scylla and Charybdis but in a far more positive way than that Odysseus had to face. Rishi Kapoor plays an elderly man trying to put some sense in the young man’s head. 

 Post the intermission or bathroom break as it is referred to in the film, it is not as scintillating as it was in the first half. But yet the triangular love story is several notches above the flaky Jawaanis, Deewanis and what have you. Relationships as we know them, have changed considerably over the years, something that Saini’s screenplay acknowledges very well and something that our other films never really focused on. While it doesn’t provide answers, it raises some questions about the institution of marriage or rather the lack of it.

On the flip side, there was no particular need for those scenes where the actors look into the camera and address the audience. In an otherwise well crafted film that was an aberration.

Manu Anands cinematography captures the colors and essence Jaipur including a couple of shots that have the wow factor. On the acting front, Rishi Kapoor is a delight to watch as always. Considering it is her debut, Vaani Kapoor is quite impressive. Sushant Singh Rajput delivers a good performance and shares a good chemistry with the ladies. But the one who really knocks it out of the park here is Parineeti Chopra. This is the best performance by an actress I’ve seen in 2013. For her savoir faire and many other good things, you should pay a visit to this Shuddh Desi Romance.

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