Bombay Talkies (2013) - Short Stories

A fantastic tribute to Indian Cinema’s completion of 100 years by four of the best Directors from industry, its timing and content is simply superb. First story itself directed by Karan Johar proves that he is shouting from the roof tops about his sexuality and no one is listening, was a shocking start but Rani Mukerji, Randeep Hooda and that new guy makes it a little easy for the audience, high time our society accepted the fact and adjusts with them as its alrite to be gay. The best of the lot as per my choice is the heart touching story of a failed theater artist “Nawazuddin Siddiqui” again in a rocking role and character – oh my god – it touches deep inside somewhere and gives you the reality of life, end of the day it’s all about love and happiness rest of it all is pointless, superb direction by Dibakar Banerjee. Third by Zoya Akhtar is good too, story of a kid who wishes to do something whereas his parents want him to do something else – how he works it out is simply superb and hilarious but proves that kids in today’s time are way too smarter than their parents could imagine. Another fantastic performance by the little guy, he is definitely going to go a long way. Second best story as per me was the last one by Anurag Kashyap, story of a small Towner from UP and his bed ridden father who has no hopes of surviving unless his last wish is fulfilled. Again another story which touches you to the core as it indeed is a reality as so many line up at the Super Stars door everyday just to get a glimpse of him, Big B obliges big time his fans as well as in the movie too, simply a high point of the movie is his split second presence, too good. If you live and love cinema like the way I do – you shouldn’t miss this one. If nothing else it works like a great time pass and you do have a great surprise at the end of the movie – not the one they show you every 10 minutes on various TV channels. I will definitely give it a good 3/5 with two thumbs up and a must watch for all cinema lovers.

Iron Man 3 (2013) - Action

The first problem that I personally have with every Super Hero movie is that someone needs to tell the makers – “you do not need to make one every year”. Relax, get a better script, work on visuals, shock us, thrill us, make us laugh and oh yeah – save the world once again but in style. The speed with which they are churning out movies of the same genre is the reason why they run out of steam and end up making just about an average drama instead of a superb action movie like it happened with “Iron Man 3” – for starters – if you are able to sit thru the boring half hour initially – chances are – you may end up just about liking it – I tried my level best but just couldn’t love it. The only good thing about this one is that it had some story to tell but by the time it ends – it becomes pointless, another new thing is – how Tony Stark dresses up with his Iron Man uniform – makes you happy a couple of times but that’s that! Barring that there is nothing new this movie had to offer, it’s too long and offers too little in the name of entertainment especially when you look forward to a mind blowing action movie thanks to the title and makers – it never works on that level. I would have definitely chopped off good 20 minutes from the initial half hour itself. Now I need to seriously re read the reviews of my own good friends who saw and loved the movie. I will definitely not give it anything better than a 2.5/5 and will call it a great heart break for me. We all love Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) and Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) will always be cute and how can one not love Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) but still they were unable to do that magic on me this time. Two solid action sequences shot in good 3D is all the movie had to offer – rest of the time you just cling on to the glasses with nothing much happening on screen. Go for it only if you follow the franchisee and have enough patience otherwise just wait a little to catch its 2D version on Star Movies shortly. Nothing great, not even a good time pass. As I reached home – even wifey said “See, I told you, when you watch a movie without me, you end up disliking it even when it’s an Iron Man movie”.

Midnight's Children (2012) - Drama

I was totally surprised to see that the movie released and got off the theaters in a blink – before even I could decide whether to see it or not. Now after watching it last night – I realized why that happened and shockingly none of my friends or known people ever saw it, the only friend who did wasn’t too excited about it either. I had no idea what it was based on – other than that it revolves around India’s independence and a couple of decades there after. It’s a damn good story but told in the most boring and over stretched way so much so that you lose track of things half the way and yawn your way to most uninspiring ending. It’s a story based on two kids born on the night of India’s independence – one in a rich family and another in tatters but as fate would have it – they were deliberately exchanged by a nurse, what happens next is the story and before I forget – here comes the disaster part – all the kids born on that fateful night were born with some kind of special powers – I guess India’s reply to “X men” of west, unfortunately never explored fully in the movie, dunno about the book as never read it. It’s an ultimate drama which confuses you after the first hour as it makes you think – why the heck they gave such a big introduction when it was all about kids and their powers and then that too isn’t told in details? Anyways! If you go by casting – it shouldn’t be any less than a super classic but no ways. As nobody had any scope in the haphazard story and lousy script, I was actually wondering what was Deepa Mehta smoking before hiring such talents and under utilizing them all? If you haven’t seen it – give it a miss – I would rather say – go ahead get the book and I am sure it must be way too good than the movie. My ratings a good 2/5.

Aashiqui 2 (2013) - Drama / Romance

I was 14 when Ashiqui came and can never forget what magic it had on all of us, songs were awesome, Rahul Roy was too good, always wanted to keep my hair like him – at times I still try to explain the same to my barber and fail. Today while watching Ashiqui 2 – I realized the maximum people in the hall were teenagers or in the early 20’s. Somehow I had my full trust on Mohit Suri because of the background he comes from and for the kind of movies that he has made – most of them I indeed end up liking if not loving. Here he totally bowled me over – what a Fantastic movie he has made – superb! Right from the very first frame he made sure that one falls in love with the characters and develops a deep connect. I never checked its songs earlier but now I am doubly sure that they will be a permanent part of my collection. I sincerely believe if a movie is able to make you breathless half a dozen times, makes you smile a lot like the way it does and still breaks your heart in the end and then you realize what the title actually stood for – its worth all the money you put in watching it. What I missed today big time was presence of my wifey – who is vacationing with my kiddo – I wish she was with me – watching this kind of a movie holding her hand would’ve been a dream come true. Another thing that I loved about the movie was – the kids sitting besides us kept singing every song word to word – I tell you – this guy has some following, Looking forward to it again some time soon. If you loved and lost – go for it, even if you have never loved – go for it – its one of those rare movies made in our part of the world where you see a Director’s passion in every frame but if you hated “Rockstar” – leave this one alone too – you aren’t missing anything and its seriously not for you. Btw if you do see – check out the last scene of the movie where Shradha is sitting on a tree trunk at the beach – we were standing right behind her while that scene was shot. I will definitely give it a damn good 4/5 with a must watch recommendation for those - who like watching Drama cum Love Stories. Two great things this movie is surely going to do – One – Aditya Roy Kapoor has finally arrived and Shradha Kapoor is one stunning beauty with very expressive face – kudos to them – they are definitely going a long way in Bollywood.

Chashme Buddoor (2013) - Comedy

Three generations of our family saw the movie together so the reaction had to be different. First things first – I went along with my teenage nephew and parents to see the old Chashme Buddoor but wanted to keep it a surprise for both the parties. But the moment I stepped in the queue – my mom who I always believed was a big Farukh Sheikh and Dipti Nawal fan said “Let’s check out the new one, original we have already seen couple of times”. I was shocked and kinda surprised too. I actually like Ali Zafar, love his style of dialogue delivery, body language, my wife loves his voice big time, hence I did not complain plus that other guy Siddharth who made his mark in Bollywood with “RangDe Basanti” is anyways a good actor down south, plus the 3^rd dude we all have seen and loved in “Pyaar Ka Panchnama” and to top it all with David Dhawan the comedy king behind the whole movie – it had to be a laugh riot from the very start. Although it was way too loud beyond my taste but was able to make me laugh and love it anyways. Just that I wanted the Cineplex guys to keep the volume a little low, my parents loved it big time and trust me – they actually said that this one is better than its original counterpart, although the original has its own sweet flavor but this was an apt remake as per them. I found it to be too loud, rash but yet entertaining, loved the one liners, chick is cute, guys did their part pretty well, songs were unwanted and crappy, my nephew had “WTF” expressions on his face throughout. Yet he managed to sit thru the movie, but not recommending anyone I believe. I will definitely give it a good 2.5/5 and will call it a nice one time watch. If you like comedies – chances are – you wont mind this one much, wont remember it for long but will come out of audi smiling for sure.