Satyagraha (2013) - Political Thriller

The quality of Prakash Jha’s movies have started going down in last decade or so – I guess the best he made in last ten years will be “Gangajal” followed by “Apaharan” and finally “Raajneeti” which was still good. The reason as per me – why that’s happening is because he started making movies every year – no heart – no research hence the result an undercooked story trying to cover up too much as they say – too many cooks spoil the broth. Here too – he end up taking too many stars in a movie which he should have kept simple and straight to the point. Unfortunately it turns out to be a yawn inducing movie which is too long saying too little and all drama with no substance. Although it starts off pretty well but loses the steam midways starts going nowhere and the audience just wait for the end which is not even convincing and looks like a hap hazard ending of a Priyadarshan movie. The best part of the movie is the scenes with Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan (Together) – superb! I will give it one star each for their performances and a half star for the background score “Satyagraha (Song)” will run in my mind for next couple of weeks – awesome music with fantastic use of guitar in it, Salim Sulaiman simply rocked it. Undercooked characters and script is the culprit here. Kareena Kapoor is miscast big time – you’ve got to watch out for her scenes – they are simply hilarious with her fake pout and poses – every time camera comes towards her is laughable, she is totally out of place in this one and less we talk about her affair with Ajay is the better. Fortunately I had no expectations this time around with Prakash Jha that’s why it was a little easy for me to digest this movie – and I will definitely call it a great opportunity missed by him – it could’ve been so much better in the current context of Indian political / economic situation but I guess what he wanted to make is something which will work commercially too – it will but will never be called a good or great movie on the subject. No problems if you have missed it – its tough watching it full in one go anyway – I will still give it 2.5/5 just for the effort and Ajay / Big B’s heartfelt performances.

Two Mothers (2013) - Drama

A superb and stunningly shot movie based on Friendship, Love, Life and relationships. Amazing is the way it is written, although based it’s based on a book by a British writer “The Grandmothers”. Naomi Watts and Robin Wright as two mothers are aptly caste. Two childhood friends and neighbors in New South Wales’s one of the most scenic location, how they go through their lives, get married have children, one gets widowed and another’s husband leaves her for a job in Sydney and how they fall in for each other’s son, how it all creates a lot of confusion yet they remain best of friends, what happens next is a super drama with an equally superb ending. One thing that I totally loved about the movie is the way years go by so smoothly they have shot it as in one shot we see them as two little girls and in the next they grow up while everything else remains same. The transition from being kids to adults to mothers to grandmothers is so smooth, I haven’t seen a better movie or the way they have done in this one in any other movie so far. One final transition of becoming Grandmothers and the last scene of the movie is like the cherry on top. It’s a great lesson in learning that life goes on but in the end you will get where you were destined to be, try as hard as you can to change the course – in the end you will be where you should be. Although it all sounds very controversial but the handling is so good that not for one moment it crosses that line and goes overboard. The way their confusions, expressions, sacrifices and thoughts are covered is simply awesome – I am sure the book will surely be damn good – this became another of those movies which made me look forward to the book as it will give minute and great details on the same. If you like dramas based on love, life and relationship – you shouldn’t miss this one, I will definitely give it a fundoo 4/5 with a very strong recommendation for all. A movie which shouldn’t be missed by anyone.

D - Day (2013) - Thriller

After reading so many positive reviews on the movie I waited for a better print as somehow missed it again on big screen. Obviously the expectations were way too high as when you make a movie on India’s most wanted and Worlds second most wanted criminal “Dawood Ibrahim” in lead – it’s got to be an action packed movie. But what it turns out to be a total mish mash work of fiction as I totally missed who was directing it – and it was “Nikhil Advani” – Holy mother of god! What were the producers – whoever they are – were thinking before assigning him this movie? I wondered who wrote and scripted this one. I guess they are almost unknown people hence I will spare them a chance. The makers were totally confused as what to make, should we make an out n out thriller? Or should we make a movie with spy’s and their families in the background? A mercenary with a heart of gold who feels for a prostitute? Almost everyone who had to sacrifice his / her life in catching or killing the gangster had a background, so R&AW couldn’t get hold of those guys who would die for their nation? Not even in a movie? Oh I forgot again that this was a work of fiction with some real time instances in between which had rocked “India” not so long ago. Was I supposed to be entertained by this? In what way? It wasn’t thrilling for one, neither I could feel for any of the characters – even a guy like Irfan Khan who I myself love big time isn’t convincing in this one because once he plays a character as good as an Indian spy – he won’t shed a tear for his dying wife and son – C’mon – I bet he won’t but since its Nikhil “Kal Ho Na Ho” Advani behind it – almost everybody cries for his own family back home. Unfortunately the movie offers nothing new that we haven’t seen so far in so many movies made in last couple of years – this one although takes it one step ahead. Spoiler Ahead: They even catch him this time and guess what – they drag him to India and shoot him dead on the border itself, after he delivers a kickass speech in the end, that scene deserves accolades as it was the best part of the movie which had us in splits, couldn’t believe that they indeed made Dawood (Onscreen) say all that shit. Still I will give it a good 2/5 – one for Irfan Khan and half each for Rishi Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. Go ahead if you haven’t seen – it’s an average time pass with a classic dreamy finish.

Evil Dead (2013) - Horror

I can never forget that night when we saw the Original “Evil Dead” and its part 2 – way back in late 80’s, guess I was in 3^rd or 4^th standard and after watching both the movies back to back – all of us brave brothers refused to go out of the house in the night to lock the main gate for weeks. Whenever one of us tried to be a little braver than other – we will make some noises and he will run back for his life without locking the main gate. That was the impact of a “Sam Raimi” horror movie – it was indeed frightening – I saw both the parts a couple of months ago and still found them to be pretty good. Now coming back to this “Reboot” – I guess I always have an issue with reboots – this one is a more messier, bloodier and grosser then both the earlier parts put together but still it looks more silly and comical than Horror to me. May be because I have grown in age and don’t find the content to be horrific but nothing has changed, they are still out of ideas in the west and serving the same age old stuff. Although a couple of things were too good in the movie like the house, its surroundings, even the old car can be seen parked in the backyard, the book of the dead is back in the basement and that’s about it. I missed that legendry scene of chopped hand which tries to kill the man himself in this one – the hand does get chopped by a more modern electric knife but nothing happens after that. Even after knowing that it is a reboot still the expectations were quite high hence this one didn’t work for me at all and I found it a big let down in front of the original – will look forward to its upcoming sequel – hope that one succeeds in scaring me. My rating will be an average 2/5 and if you haven’t seen it – you aren’t missing anything special – I would rather recommend the original – go get them and watch them back to back.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) - Science Fiction

Star Trek is one of my all time favorite franchise that goes way back like 2 or more decades when we had the TV series of same name. Sunday used to be an epic day for us during those days – thanks to Star Trek – Captain Kirk, Spock and his team – who can forget those days – it was simply rocking stuff then and it still is totally amazing. No wonder this became one of the highest grossing movies of the series which almost made like $500 million worldwide. I still remember that my mom used to blackmail us to take bath and have breakfast if we wanted to watch “Star Trek” on TV every Sunday and we will follow her orders as we just couldn’t miss one episode. What I love about this series (Movie) is that they don’t waste any time in giving us the background or whereabouts rather they hit the ground running hard and that’s one thing that this series followers love actually. In reality it is very tough for me to decide what I not like about this series, starting from those out of the world space ships to those gadgets that they have to talk to each other, space suits to fly from one ship to another, teleporting devices, those white corridors that they keep running in, even the title music is so damn cool, it gives me Goosebumps every time it comes onscreen, the new turbo that they have got for their ship is one new thing I guess – Whooof! And they travel so many light years in seconds – it’s all totally amazing and the makers make sure to put a smile on our faces whenever we see them on big screen. Who care’s where the story goes as long as it goes anywhere we know that Captain Kirk and Spock will save the world in the end and will always be a great team to look forward to. Each and every character in the whole series is fantastic – I could never forget those names other than Captain and Spock like Uhura, Scotty, Doc McCoy, Zulu etc. This time they are almost 200 years ahead of our time and the whole enterprise is in danger from a terrorist on the run – their target is to get him back to earth and prosecute – how they do that is the movie all about. It is out n out a damn good visual treat for the fans and even otherwise it works big time like an independent movie for someone who has no clue about its past as well. I will give it a good 3/5 and a must watch recommendation for all.