Thoughts after watching: Ghar Waapsi (NOT A REVIEW)

2020th BLOG POST

It is often said that don’t judge a book by its cover. I think the same will have to applied for OTT contents now. For last 2 weeks, whenever I accessed Hotstar, the poster of their new series “Ghar Waapsi” never looked interesting to me. I kept skipping it. Finally, yesterday, as I didn’t have much options, I thought of watching it and man, how engrossing and touchy the series is! There were many moments which made me not only weep but have a proper cry session. Haha! Sometimes, you don’t understand what you need in life but such series makes It easy for you to understand at least some perspective on how you could tackle or handle a situation. I remembered my long holiday I had last year when I stayed with my aunty and cousins – the time I had there and the amount of peace and homeliness I felt living with them.

 

Ghar Waapsi has many such scenes that are gem to watch and I would like to talk about few of them here. When the main protagonist goes through the phase of joblessness and he doesn’t get any response from anywhere – even the things that seemed like success ends up getting stuck, he discusses it with one of his college seniors. He responded asking him not to worry. He tells specifically that this is just your slump phase so relax and let the moment pass. I literally paused and thought about my life and the way I react to situations. This one sentence has such great feedback on how we take so much stress about something that it starts impacting our mental health immediately and gradually, it starts worrying our physical health too. Otherwise, if we just consider any bad time as a slump phase and let it go, we can pass even the hardest times celebrating our life. We all know that Life is about both – good and bad times so why do we treat it as hell whenever it shows us another side of the coin? What an eye-opener this scene has been!

 

There’s another scene between the siblings where the brother who has just returned back from Bangalore asks his sister why she has stopped sharing things with him whereas everything was shared earlier between them. She confronts and tells him how she had few big events in life when she tried reaching out to him but he never picked up the phone due to his urban lifestyle of being busy in work and keeping family on hold forever. She taunts him saying that you come twice a year to home and keep your availability as a family member by being just that temporary guest. Now, in this particular scenario, none of them are wrong. We know how busy our lifestyle gets in the corporate life but the fact remains that we actually stop trying to even connect with our family on personal level once we leave home. In few cases, we are so busy that even if we stay in the same house, we behave as if it’s a PG – we use home just for sleeping.

 

This takes us so away from our family that our elders stop looking for support in us whereas our younger ones stop considering us for guidance. Is earning money or deadlines at office so important that we sacrifice something as precious as this? I can realize it myself the way I have become closer to my parents during this WFH phase where I am able to be of some help to them due to my availability 24*7. Now they know about my whole schedule for the day whereas I know what concerns they face while living alone as senior citizens or due to their health issues. This has really made us behave little less aggressively with each other in cases where our opinions don’t match. Similarly, I don’t have siblings but my younger cousins are the ones closest to me. I ensure that I keep on asking about them and learn what’s happening with their life and provide as much help as possible I can provide as an elder brother. All of this needs to be in place in our life otherwise just traveling to office, hustling there and coming back to sleeping is something that doesn’t excite me anymore.

 

There are many great events in the series but I would mention just one more point before this blog post turns into a long boring research paper. The protagonist leaves his hometown without informing his friend who stood with him for the whole time during his tough phase of joblessness. That friend feels very bad and ignored when he realizes how he has been treated as almost no one and he confronts him on call one day. Similarly, when he goes back to Bangalore, he feels everything is fine with him as he is performing well in his new job and meeting the deadlines regularly. It is his girlfriend who sits with him one day and makes him realize that his super-busy attitude is not because he is loving the job or he has some goals but because he wants to escape from the memories he has gathered while being with his family for 1.5 months. He is trying to avoid missing them and nothing else.

 

Don’t we need such people in life who can raise a complain about our attitude or some behavior which made them feel bad? Don’t we need a partner who makes our relationship go secondary for something we need to prioritize over him/her? Why don’t we often keep such people closer to us? Why do we run behind friends who serve nothing and leave the ones who were always standing besides when we were in our slump phase? We take so many things for granted and realize their value after almost a decade of losing everything and everyone. Memories are Past Tense. I don’t think we should keep nurturing the good days only in our mind. We should ensure that the same moment that made us feel good should be regularly lived. Our schedule needs to be optimized in a manner that it gives us immense happiness regularly rather than becoming a festival – which comes once in a year.

 

Well, Ghar Waapsi is a feel-good series and a terrific eye-opener. I would ask you to watch with all your family members as it has lesson for everyone – father, mother, brother, sister and well, obviously, us, the hero of our lives.

 

Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Thoughts after watching: JugJugg Jeeyo

2018th BLOG POST

Last weekend, I watched JugJugg Jeeyo on Amazon Prime – a time pass family entertainer which will make you laugh here and there. Well, this is not a review but something that I was thinking while watching the movie based on the story and characters in it. The movie is majorly talking about marriage issues and the relationship between parents and children. Both of these concerns are very valid in terms of the changing society and some mindset not getting changed with it. I personally believe for myself that it takes me enough courage to accept few changes happening around me and I am not generally comfortable with all of them. It also happens at times that I am okay validating something that’s about me but when someone else is doing the same, I judge them immediately. We call this as human nature and leave it behind but the fact is that humans have kept on evolving otherwise, we would have still generated fire by creating friction between two flintstones.

 

There’s a scene where Varun gets to know that like him, even his father wants to take divorce. This suddenly ruins his mood and he gets into a victim mindset. Something that he felt was right for him all along in his 5 years of love marriage when he decided to part ways with his wife, he couldn’t appreciate his father taking the same decision. Why? Just because it also involved his mother in it who’ll have to suffer heartbreak and loneliness in her old age, right? But wasn’t he also suffering the same loneliness irrespective of being in a marriage of his choice even when he lived under the same roof with his wife?

 

This reaction happened only because the character of Varun couldn’t look at his parents beyond being his parents. He couldn’t understand that they are individuals in themselves and there can be a situation where they would like to leave the marriage behind  and move on even after 30+ years of living together. Children should understand that their parents are more than being just their mother and father respectively. They are an individual themselves before being a parent. Our society is created in a way that a couple’s life gets completely changed after having a baby and revolves only around them but that doesn’t make them just parents and nothing else. They can still have their own life, choices, decisions which can be against what family believes. Until when can an individual take decision that co-ordinates with family? There comes a time when the volcano of frustration and silence bursts out and burns everyone.

 

Similarly, there’s another scene between Varun and Kiara – according to me which is the most well-written piece in the movie where they are complaining about what went wrong in their 5 years of marriage. Though it has also been shown in first few minutes of the movie but this scene makes the characters speak about it to each other. You realize in that scene how things were very clear in their home since long but both of them remained silent about it which led them to this outburst which is like contradicting all your earlier silences at once. What if they had regularly discussed about what the other partner wants before taking any decision? If it wasn’t in compliance, how can they do it in a way which doesn’t impact another on an emotional level.

 

Kiara tells it to Varun in another scene about how he is wrong about his family which he is unable to take it. We must accept that there can be a possibility that an outsider or someone not in 1^st circle of your family understand your parents and siblings better than you. We get very offended when someone tells us that we don’t understand our parents, siblings or children well. When someone else tells us something about them or how to handle them, we get irritated or just shrug it off thinking – It is my family, I know how to handle it. But the truth may be that we don’t. We are one another walking creature on this planet and not God. We can’t be perfect. There is a chance that someone else is closer to our favorite people and we must accept this fact if it comes as a fact and not interference. Hence, either our attempt in life should be to be closer to our family and know about their changing attitude and preferences and not get surprised later on or we should give the other person the authority to serve them before us if they deserve it. We are family by chance not choice hence there is possibility of not being so well-equipped with their wills and dreams if we have been mostly self-centered or busy in our own things.

 

Well, enough! Thanks!

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Why do we need to watch "The Kashmir Files" & support the movie!

 1997th BLOG POST

The Kashmir Files is a brutally honest movie based on the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus also known as Kashmiri Pandits. This happened way back in 1989-1990 about which people don't talk because of maintaining the so-called secularism.

 

It's high time we stop impressing the liberals and talk about what wrong has happened with Hindus in this country too.

 

Please watch and support this movie. Please make everyone you know watch it as we need more movies like this to be shown and made for people.

Movie Review: Sanak: Watch it for Vidyut & Action scenes! **½

 1984th BLOG POST

Every time I find trailer of a new movie starring Vidyut Jammwal, my first reaction is to not watch it because I know, it is going to be the same stuff that he does in every movie – fight for the actress of the movie against multiple goons using his martial arts and action skills. But the moment arrives when I take the final call of streaming his movie when I am in the mind zone of watching something very rocking and sporty. The only name that comes to my mind is Vidyut. He has his own niche in terms of selecting movies and the audience who watches his every movie. Unfortunately, I am not among one of them, but I do enjoy the way he carries himself on the screen.

 

Last weekend, I watched Sanak on Disnep+ Hotstar which ended up being on “Most watched movie” list for around 3 weeks since its release on the OTT platform. This surprised me as his last venture on the same OTT platform named “Khuda Hafiz” didn’t get the same kind of word-of-mouth. Sanak’s storyline is almost like Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi movie where here, his wife has been held as hostage alongside many other patients in a hospital where she had almost recovered from her heart condition. Vidyut, playing her husband, comes to the hospital to take her home when he realizes something is wrong. He understands the situation within some time and here begins the movie, Sanak, where his only motive is to ensure that his wife comes out safe. He ends up beating and bulleting the terrorists one-by-one – sometimes with the gun whereas sometimes through his hands whereas sometimes using his crazy martial arts’ skills.

 

It is all fun to watch with the background music which completely justifies the action scenes and uplifts the whole momentum of the movie with each scene. The complete credit for this must go to Saurabh Bhalerao – the man I got to know only after trying to understand whose work was it. The dialogues are fine, and you’ll just love hearing the conversation between the protagonist and the leader of the terrorists named Saju, played by Chandan Roy Sanyal. Talking about the action scenes, as I said, they are just mind-blowing. Typically, the one in the physiotherapy room where the props are used so wittingly in synchronization that you just don’t want that scene to end. Similarly, another scene where Vidyut hides in a section where the medicines are placed, the way he fights with the rest of the terrorists is another beautifully choreographed scene.

 

Talking about the performances, as always, in such action movies, the main protagonist always steals the show and when it’s an actor like Vidyut Jammwal who takes his action scenes seriously, you just can’t stop loving his efforts and appreciating his conduct on the screen. Rukmini Maitra had a good chance to showcase her talent in the movie as Vidyut’s wife, but she has lost the golden opportunity with her silly acting and expressions. Neha Dhupia is completely wasted. The surprise package of the movie is Chandan Roy Sanyal who plays the negative character perfectly named Saju. You just love watching him challenge the system with his amazing body language and accent. Chandan Roy, as a funny element in the movie, who claims to know about the complete map of the hospital makes you laugh with his innocent and comic act. I just loved the way those segments are used as fillers at the right time.

 

Now talking about the drawbacks, the cheesy conversation between the husband-wife couple is difficult to bear. You just can’t stop from fast-forwarding those scenes and move to the next one. Secondly, as it always happens in the Bollywood movies, when the director wants, the target is achieved right with the first bullet itself even if the subject is not in the sight but when it’s necessary or when its about actor of the movie, even the ten bullets don’t hit the target even from the distance of 5 metres. This really irritates when it happens in such a hardcore action-driven movie.  Then there are many stupid subplots in the movie where a kid is shown knowing how to diffuse a suicide bomb whereas the police squad is unable to perform their primary task. It becomes intolerable to consume such scenes.

 

Overall, this Kanishk Varma directed movie is just an average stuff in terms of script and sub-plots but Vidyut carries the movie on his shoulders alone. Whatever ratings I am giving is for him and the action direction performed in the movie. It is 2.5 stars out of 5. You can skip it if you want.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Cash: A funny laugh riot! ***½

1981st BLOG POST

Disnep+ Hotstar has released its new original movie “Cash” on 19^th November, 2021 and seeing the humour genre and Amol Parashar as the lead hero made me invest my time into it. The movie is based in November 2016 when the PM Narendra Modi announced demonetization across India which led few currencies turn non-operational whereas new notes were introduced in the space to ensure that the country can get rid of black money. This makes a start-up enthusiast, who’s every idea has failed, adopt a new idea of converting black money into white during this period. All goes well for him until he gets engaged with an aspiring politician’s money who gets behind him after which all his ideas start failing one after another. How, he and his friends – who are his partners in this business fight back and try to return back the promised money makes this movie a perfect laugh riot.

 

Very few Bollywood movies which call themselves an all-and-out comedy are actually funny but this directorial debut by Rishabh Seth hits the ball in the stand and delivers a good boundary in the 1^st attempt itself. Right from the 1^st scene, the movie gives you the positive vibes as an audience and the fun begins just after that. The script works completely in favour of the movie. As the concept is unique where the writers have picked an event from the recent history which impacted every Indian – rich or poor, it was very necessary to have a perfect script in place. And that’s where the movie wins here.

 

Secondly, the dialogues are so apt that even when few scenes are not comedy per se, the one-liners make you laugh out loud. Similarly, when there’s neither a comedy scene nor funny dialogue, the comic expressions of the actors in the movie does the job for you. In short, the movie has every ingredient in their adequate proportion which delivers its best for the audience. It’s good that we have OTT platform these days through which this movie can get a good word-of-mouth and audience otherwise the case could have been very difficult if it must have released in theatres.

 

The performances are good – Amol Parashar does the role of a street-smart entrepreneur who has got stuck in a bad scenario perfectly well. Kavin Dave is another surprise in the movie who keeps you engaged with his confused and exasperated expressions and dialogues. Swanand Kirkire plays his part convincingly and you can’t imagine him as a music person at all considering his great acting performance in this movie. Smriti Kalra, as a start-up partner, also supports well. Gulshan Grover as a bad man justifies the tag given to him. Every time he is on the screen, you know that something interesting is going to happen. All the other supporting casts have also performed their parts well to make this movie a perfect piece of cinema.

 

Overall, the movie is a good weekend watch- in both the cases- if demonetization has been good or a pain for you – it will still assure that you get a laugh at the end. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA  

Movie Review: Dhamaka: An engaging movie! ***

 1980th BLOG POST

The trailer of Dhamaka was enough for me to be excited about this movie featuring Kartik Aaryan in a very serious movie unlike the movies he generally acts in. The film is finally streaming on Netflix and it is the best watch you can indulge yourself this weekend. It’s a short movie of about 2 hours and keeps you engaged throughout. Dhamaka is the perfect example of one-man show as you would remember no one after watching the movie but Kartik. The most appreciative part of the movie must be told before proceeding ahead with the review- this movie was shot within 11 days during lockdown which is quite a mammoth task which seems to be executed very well as there’s no mediocrity or sleep walking around the performances or cinematography.

 

The movie starts for you right from the scene that occurs in the 1^st 5 minutes itself when you see the protagonist completely in love with his partner and soon the frame shifts to the divorce paper which the wife has sent to the protagonist. You want to know why it happened and the writers have adopted a very good method of revealing this gradually through the main plot of the movie itself and not taking the focus away from it for exploring the romantic angle. After receiving the call from the terrorist, the way whole movie shifts towards urgency and the way events start unfolding on screen makes you excited to see how the demand of this caller will be fulfilled on live news channel.

 

The movie particularly talks about how media channels and portals work these days where they don’t care about what the truth is, but they are more inclined towards TRP game and assuring that their audience get enough drama to keep their adrenaline rush moving. There are many stereotypes about media people which has been projected in the same manner but at the end of the day, this is a movie, and it is supposed to show stereotypes as stereotypes, if they don’t choose to go through the realistic way. Almost, the whole movie is shot in the newsroom and keeping the urgency, thrill, and excitement alive in the plot as well as in our viewing experience is the major victory for Ram Madhvani – the director and captain of this ship.

 

The background music is used to show the urgency at times whereas during other times, it keeps on sensationalizing the contemporary scene. The dialogues are fine but sounds repetitive after a point as you hear the word “Sachch” so many times that you want to ask the writers why they want this obvious sentence to be heard by the audience multiple times. The other performance that I would like to mention after Kartik is Amruta Subhash who plays the head of Kartik in the movie and keeps us equally engaged by playing her demanding boss role perfectly.

 

Talking about the drawbacks – I must say that there could have been a lot that could have been done with this plot, but we are just kept in the vicinity of how media people deal with a breaking news. Similarly, few things are left unanswered as to how the earphones of the media people got bomb installed in them. How did the caller get so much access of their infrastructure? Lastly, the romantic angle is put in the movie, but it feels quite unbaked as it’s not given the kind of due importance it deserved.

 

Overall, Dhamaka is an engaging movie and will make you smile with a pleasure of watching a good movie in the end. I give it 3 stars out of 5. Kudos to Kartik Aaryan once again – but dude – please the haircut done.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA

Movie Review: Meenakshi Sundareshwar: A Calm Movie! ***

 1978th BLOG POST

Well, the OTT platforms help you explore multiple options sitting at home – the ones which you may not have watched by paying in theatres. On the similar note, I watched “Meenakshi Sundareshwar” recently which released on Netflix under Dharmatic Productions. It stars Abhimanyu Dassani and Sanya Malhotra. It’s a movie about long-distance relationship post getting married and hence the makers had a good topic to explore and present something not being presented before. The film begins with the parents getting ready to reach the bride’s home for the 1^st step of match-making i.e. meeting the families and making the boy-girl introduce and know about each other within 10 minutes of conversation.

 

The fun begins right from this scene when they realize later that they have ended up at another house. But because the name of both the characters i.e. Meenakshi and Sundareshwar is based on our Lords – Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva, the decision is made to get both the partners married as it’s decided by the destiny. As soon as the couple gets married, one of them had to leave home due to job relocation and here begins the main purpose of the movie – the long-distance relationship. The movie, in particular, is a nice experience to watch seeing how things unfold between the couple- how they try to find time for each other – how they try to manage their space – how they miss each other – how they resolve issues between them etc.

 

They face a lot of downs which brings them close to ending their relationship itself. There are some funny scenes in the movie as I mentioned above when they end up meeting the wrong family for matchmaking. Another scene where both the protagonists try to do some fun through video call is a great scene which will cheer you up. The aesthetics of the movie is also very beautiful in the way South Indian culture is portrayed on the screen. Yes, I know, Madurai doesn’t look the way it has been shown but as an audience, I really enjoyed watching the beauteousness on the screen.

 

In terms of reality, movie tells us how blindly we are married in an arranged setup where not even the names are asked, and the family reach each other’s home for setting up the wedding of their children. Similarly, how casual few people are about their job that they don’t worry about it even when something life changing as marriage happens in their life. How difficult it has become for maintaining this relationship in today’s time is displayed through the concept of long-distance but still, it talks about the speed with which one among the two ends up taking a call of ending it – as immediate as 6 months itself. We don’t understand ourselves a bit due to which we have to ask Google even personal questions like how to make wife happy or how to make long-distance relationship work. How girls are still seen as someone who can shuffle with their careers for the family, but boys are expected to excel.

 

Talking about the performances, I believe this is the career-best performance of both- Abhimanyu (though he is two films old only) and Sanya as they talk less and speak more with their eyes. Their chemistry also looks so beautiful on the screen that you start imagining your love life in front of the screen. The background music of the movie is very serene and keeps you calm even in the challenging times of the characters. Similarly, the songs are soulful with meaningful contemporary lyrics. The dialogues are also engaging.

 

Talking about the drawbacks, I believe that the movie could have been rolled up in 2 hours itself because you start getting bored in between due to the same narrative running for a longer time. There’s another plot that is introduced where Meenakshi meets one of her old friends and you believe that something will happen because of this but the whole segment is completely taken away from the story in the 2^nd half of the movie. Talking about the climax, you wanted a realistic ending, but you are presented the same Bollywood-ish stuff which disappoints a little.

 

Overall, this is a watchable movie which is good for viewing when you want to watch something very calm and slow. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Web-Series Review: Special Ops 1.5: Quite Bollywood-ish! ***½

1975th BLOG POST 

Special Ops 1.0 and The Family Man are the two series which are my most favourite and every time I watch anything, I can’t stop myself from comparing it with both these series. I remember watching Special Ops 1.0 and totally falling in love with its content and execution. I have been waiting for its Part 2 since then. I got little disappointed when I saw the trailer of Special Ops 1.5 as it wasn’t speaking about what happens after catching the terrorist they wanted to but speaks about Himmat Singh’s past. I was still expecting a complete full-on series where I got upset again when I realized it has only 4 episodes – one of them being as short as 30 minutes only.

 

Now that I have completed streaming it on Hotstar, I can say that it is not as good as 1.0 but it’s still a fine watch. I felt this one little more Bollywood-ish in its attempt and less dark unlike other OTT contents hence felt little underwhelmed. The first two episodes are interesting as you get to learn a lot about how Himmat Singh started his tenure and the kind of decisions he made. His younger version is very audacious and does most of the tough and difficult things himself rather than assigning it to another agents. Hence, this becomes exciting to watch as to how he will fight against the person who was once his colleague but now a villain who’s working against the country.

 

The dialogues are nicely written and keeps you engaged. The funny and witty lines do the magic of making you smile as and when the makers wanted. The serious ones are also enough to make you understand the intensity of the situation. The background music goes well with the whole drama happening on the screen. The only shortcoming here is that this looks more like a TV serial in terms of cinematography. The screen is too bright and doesn’t allow you to get into the world of Himmat Singh. There’s always a gap maintained between his world and us – as an audience.

 

Acting-wise, KK Menon keeps the momentum going through his body language and poker face. The makeup of his younger look doesn’t go well but still he manages to keep us entertained. The script fails him at times – such as in the events where such trained people are firing bullets but are unable to connect with the target. All these look and sound so filmy that you are unable to accept most segments of the show. KK Menon, in the last episode, where he performs an emotional scene tells you why he is seen and respected as one of the geniuses in Bollywood. Vinay Pathak does great this time as he is an important character in this season. I am loving how he is trying to carve new opportunities at this stage of his career.

 

Aftab Shivdasani is okay. It is good to see him after such a long gap but he couldn’t do much in his role as script doesn’t allow him. Aishwarya Sushmita keeps you engaged with her dangerous looks and expressions – saying this in a good way. Haha! Shiv Jyoti, who plays Himmat Singh’s love interest looks so adorable and beautiful that you will not be able to stop yourself from crushing over her. Aadil Khan, as Maninder Singh, does a fine job but not a memorable one. Gautami Kapoor enlightens the screen whenever she is involved in the storyline.

 

Overall, I am glad that the makers didn’t stretch this further and completed this within 4 episodes itself but the climax has really made me excited about the next season – as it brings our favourite character back. I am looking forward to it desperately. I give this one 3.5 stars out of 5. I wish I could have given it more, but I am sure Neeraj Pandey will not give us chance to complain in the next instalment.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Sooryavanshi: Watch it if you are Rohit Shetty's Cop Universe Fan! ***½

1973rd BLOG POST

Well, I must say this review is going to be quite biased for the sole reason that I enjoy Rohit Shetty’s movies and even after watching many great OTT contents, I am still a freak for movies which is full of heroism and machoism. When I had gone to watch Simmba and at the end of the movie, they had introduced another Cop as Sooryavanshi in its next part of Cop Universe, I had got so excited to watch Akshay Kumar under Shetty’s direction that I have forever waited for this movie to release. I am glad that the whole team waited for theatres to reopen for showcasing this to us as this movie is meant to watch on the big screen with those dashing loud surround speakers and multiple people sitting, shouting, laughing, and whistling together with you. It has been an amazing experience to be in theatre after 19 months to watch a Bollywood movie and even enjoying it.

 

Sooryavanshi is about the cop – Veer Sooryavanshi, who is heading the Anti-terrorism department and is behind the people from Pakistan who have entered in India as sleeper cells planning another big bomb-blasts in Mumbai. In the start, the movie takes us through lot of history of attacks and how Akshay Kumar’s character is personally attached with it. Then, we are introduced with so many villains that it becomes too much to consume initially but it’s great that Rohit didn’t rush with it later and we are made to deal with each villain one at a time. The first half is entertaining as you are trying to understand the character of this new Cop in Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe. You learn that he is both- serious and funny unlike his previous two characters- Singham – who was always serious and Simmba – who was always funny.

 

The 1^st half gets impacted a bit due to the romance angle of Akshay and Katrina, but it must also be acknowledged that any Bollywood movie is incomplete without a heroine, love angle and few songs. So, you must be prepared for it. The 2^nd half gets little more focused towards the task in hand, and you start loving the action, fast-paced chases, dialogues, heroism, fighting scenes, cinematography, background music, helicopter scene and everything that’s happening on the screen. Now, comes the part for which every Cop Universe fan had been waiting for – to see all – Singham, Simmba and Sooryavanshi together which also means seeing three big superstars – Ajay Devgan, Ranveer Singh and Akshay Kumar together. When it happens, you just love the chemistry among them where Ajay behaves quite matured whereas Ranveer tries being that imperfect junior and makes us laugh with his sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek dialogues. Akshay Kumar also delivers a perfect body-language and gives the due respect to both the cops who have built the legacy of this series which enables him to start from between rather than zero.

 

The movie has couple of funny scenes which are sure to make you laugh out loud. It also has some parts which will make you feel lump in throat. Rohit Shetty tries and gets successful in making us understand the tough and sacrificial life a policeman must go through. You can empathize with every aspect of their struggle and relate with them. The background score is too loud as there’s not even a 5-minutes segment when you won’t find the music going loud and trying to play with your adrenaline rush. The movie is too formulaic and tries to play with all angles such as terrorism, patriotism, divorce, family life, Hindu-Muslim angle etc. There are also preachy dialogues which at times becomes too obvious and irritating. Rohit Shetty’s script is more about speaking about the black and then immediately trying to portray the white side of it to create balance. He doesn’t want to make anyone unhappy. This becomes obvious as an audience to understand which could have been written perfectly. Lastly, I believe that the movie could have been 20 minutes shorter to make it more focused and on-point.

 

Overall, Sooryavanshi is a good entertainer. If you love typical Bollywood big commercial masala movies, you will love this. And if you love Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe, you will adore this. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5.

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Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Hum Do Hamare Do: A Good Opportunity wasted! 2.75*/5) !!!

1971st BLOG POST

I remember watching Vikrant Massey and Kriti Kharbanda’s 14 Phere some months ago on OTT platform which was based on establishing a completely fake families on both sides so that the couple can get married. I got almost the same vibes from the movie “Hum Do Hamare Do” which I watched yesterday on Disnep+ Hotstar starring Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Sanon. It also has a similar kind of storyline where the boy needs fake parents so that they can meet the girl’s family for taking the marriage ahead as the girl wants to get married with the boy who has a family whereas the boy, here, is an orphan.

 

The movie starts fine introducing us with all the characters. You like the romantic angle initially when both the main characters- Dhruv and Anya are coming close to each other and eventually fall in love. The main story angle coming into the picture also impresses you as you see Dhruv and his friend, Shunty, running down here and there to see who can play Dhruv’s fake parents in front of Anya and her family. After Paresh Rawal and Ratna Pathak Shah comes into the segment, it becomes very hard for you to see anyone else on the screen. Their chemistry and acting does wonders to the movie which was not finding anything impressive to deliver until then.

 

There are couple of laughter moments in between where you enjoy the confusions of fake parents whenever they are in front of Anya’s family but after a point of time, when the marriage proceeding begins, the movie again becomes very slow. The story is definitely predictive as you know the whole fake parent scenario shall get busted sooner or later. Even the pre-climax and climax happens the way you have projected it to happen with your experience of watching similar Bollywood stories in all these years. I must say if you divide this movie into 3 parts, the 1^st part is all about the romantic angle which is just okayish and has nothing special to deliver. The 2^nd part is about few laughter moments and is the only impressive part in the movie. The 3^rd part is just predictable and quick – I don’t know why – maybe writers wanted to wrap the happy ending soon rather than making the audience little more curious. Again, I don’t know why.

 

The dialogues are fine. The cinematography is also good as some locales are very nicely presented on the screen. The music of the movie is soothing though you won’t remember a single track after the movie ends. The last promotional song – Bansuri is a very catchy number and it is something you would like to hear while working out or dancing.

 

Talking about the performances, Ratna Pathak Shah is the show-stealer here as she has the character’s attitude all along with her. Every time she is on the screen, you want to watch how she is reacting to things. Paresh Rawal is good in almost 75% of the scenes whereas in the other 25%, it seems he is just sleepwalking through the movie. Rajkummar Rao is the man because of whom I didn’t leave watching this movie in between – the conviction of character on his face just keeps doing magic in almost every movie he does. Kriti Sanon has played her part fine but I was expecting a lot more here after her incredible performance in Mimi. All the other supporting actors have done a fine job.

 

Overall, this is a movie you need to watch if you have nothing else to view on the OTT platforms. I give this movie 2.75 stars out of 5.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Sardar Udham: Stretchy but an emotional ride! ***½

1970th BLOG POST

Frankly speaking, I never knew that Vicky Kaushal is working on a movie named “Sardar Udham” hence when I saw its release on Amazon Prime, it surprised me. Similarly, I feel very ashamed of saying that I wasn’t aware about Sardar Udham being one of our key freedom fighters who went ahead to avenge the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre and assassinated Michael O’Dwyer in London who was the Governor who approved the order of killing in 1919. I am thankful to the director, Shoojit Sircar, for accepting to talk about a real-life character who has made such an impact and is still forgotten. Also, not much is known about Sardar Udham hence researching and scripting a movie based on him must not have been an easy task for the makers.

 

Talking about the movie, the 1^st half takes you back and forth in timeline which looks thrilling initially but later becomes a nightmare for you as we end up keeping track of the job the character of Vicky Kaushal does in different countries during various time periods. Also, due to lot of use of English starts irritating you after a while. I understand its necessary to keep as it is, but I feel that it should be mentioned somewhere during the trailer of synopsis of the movie about how much percent of Hindi has been used in a Hindi movie perse. That will keep the expectations from the audience right.

 

So, after a lot of juggling between the timeline and difficult screenplay, the movie starts making sense after a while when the killing of Dwyer is shown so early in the movie. And then comes the moment which makes this movie book a special place in your heart. It takes us to the flashback of how and why Jallianwallah Bagh massacre impacted Sardar Udham so much. Seeing all those visuals gives you several goosebumps and I could feel lump in my throat after every two minutes. 

Also, Vicky Kaushal displays one of his best performances during this long segment of post-massacre scenes. Not only here, but there are many scenes where Vicky has stood out and made this as one of his career-defining movies after URI. I must say that he has clearly surpassed his URI performance in many scenes from this movie. Few of them are where he is being sentences to death in the court; other being when he gives free speech.

 

Overall, the movie is not hyper-nationalistic like Akshay Kumar movies. It is narrated keeping everything very undertone and simple. Even in the segments where Sardar Udham and Bhagat Singh are sharing the screen, the things are kept very light rather than giving them a rebellious tone. You need to watch this for the 2^nd half where the Jallianwallah scene begins and appreciate one of the best works from Hindi film industry. Overall, I would still give this movie 3.5 stars. 1.5 stars to the rest of the movie as its really boring and stretchy and 2 stars to the Jallianwallah Bagh scene which is an excellent piece of cinema. Please do watch this movie on Amazon Prime.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Chehre: You can miss it! **½

1967th BLOG POST

Since I had heard about the movie “Chehre” in its pre-production phase, I was very excited about it as Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi were to work for the first time together. I always find Emraan’s movies little different in terms of how he projects his character or the type of stories he selects. There’s a mystery into it which keeps you very close to the dark subjects. Chehre also falls somewhere in the same category but this movie is not all about him. Amitabh Bachchan and Annu Kapoor also plays important and mysterious characters which keeps the surprise element intact for most of the times.

 

The movie is about how this group of friends (where there’s a retired judge and two advocates) try to get someone at their home and then start a game where they identify a mistake or crime committed by the guest and then try to punish him/her accordingly in the same Courtroom procedure. The same thing happens with Emraan Hashmi and the moment you realize that he has committed something criminal in his past makes you excited as to how it will be unfolded without any evidences or proof available with this group of friends. Amitabh Bachchan, as a prosecutor, plays his part very well to make everything sound and look believable. Though, the dialogues and some charges look forced but then, that’s how faulty the script of the movie is.

 

The story, screenplay or the idea behind this movie must have surely sounded great on papers in black ink but when adapted into the movie, there are few scenes which looks intense but mostly, you will have a grin on your face in terms of what circus is happening on the screen. The whole premise is interesting, but the movie keeps losing its suspense and authenticity from time to time. The movie also takes us into the flashback where we get to meet Krystle D’Souza and Sameer Soni. Krystle’s presence makes the screen beautiful and charms up the whole serious tone of the movie. As one of her big opportunities on the big screen, she has done extremely well. Sameer Soni has just overacted his part.

 

Later, in the pre-climax, Amitabh Bachchan has a very long monologue which I was expecting right from the beginning because when you subscribe with an actor who’s baritone voice is the best in the business, you would want to include something like this in your plot – and moreover when your premise allows it. But unfortunately, the performance and dialogue delivery by Bachchan is superb and unbeatable, the content of the monologue is just not relatable to what had been shown to us in the 2 hours. After a time, you start wishing it to end soon even after it’s Big B who’s speaking it. And talking about the climax, the superficial scene was just too funny to say anything about it.

 

Overall, Chehre is a kind of movie if you miss – you lose nothing. It isn’t the best of either of the big actors – either Amitabh Bachchan, Annu Kapoor or Emraan Hashmi. I give this 2.5 stars out of 5.

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Bhuj - The Pride of India: Typical Bollywood-ish execution! ***

1960th BLOG POST

There are ample of Hindi movies based on Indian Army, Air Force and some even on Navy. Everyone does it in their own way on how they want to portray life of some great people who see nation and its pride above their life. It is very necessary to know about them even if movie is little bit here and there in terms of execution. I had seen the trailer of the movie “Bhuj: The Pride of India” which released on Hotstar just yesterday – again on Independence Day like Shershaah. Seeing it itself I didn’t get the good vibes about it. Shershaah has been a beautiful experience and it released a day before Bhuj came so the comparison is obvious. But leave comparison, even as an individual movie, it doesn’t stand any tall. This movie has bigger star cast such as Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Sharad Kelkar, Sonakshi Sinha, Nora Fatehi, Pranitha Subhash etc.; hence the expectations are supposed to be high.

 

The movie is based on 1971 War and how India fought with Pakistan to save their Western province which made us sacrifice lives of many soldiers. Right from the first scene itself, movie shows how their Air Force attacks our Airbase so that we lose all our runways and can’t compete with their fighter planes. You start liking the whole atmosphere, but the way Ajay Devgan is introduced where he is almost lying as if he is dead and then wakes up suddenly and starts walking like a typical movie hero, you start complaining. Another thing that kept disturbing me was the regular pause in between to introduce us with some characters. It just kept breaking your flow and patience because it happens too often.

 

The first half is too slow to enjoy it at all. The only above average scene is an action sequence involving Nora Fatehi but even that’s not very superb. The whole excitement begins in the 2^nd half when the preparation for the War begins. It is then that you start getting involved with the story but it’s too late by then. Anyway, that whole sequence is nicely directed and portrayed. The same Bollywood problem lies as you see one soldier continuously fighting against multiple opponents without getting affected at all which looks completely unbelievable.

 

Also, there’s another complain I have. It’s 2021 now. The audiences have got very matured with great content on OTT platforms – the same place where your movies are releasing. It’s high time we see Army officers dancing and singing with their partner in multiple songs. We can expect some sensibility now. I understand that music is so imbibed in our culture and movies that it’s hard to separate it, but few movies and subjects don’t need them at all. In case you are putting them forcibly, at least try to have such songs that are melodious that even when you are irritated with its inclusion, you end up enjoying the same – the way it’s done in Shershaah.

 

The dialogues are just okay and doesn’t have any greatness about them. The movie is fine to watch to know the sacrifice our soldiers and brave people went through in the 1971 War but it’s not a great piece of cinema. The climax is good which ends the movie on a great note as you feel proud to see your nation winning. Also, to see how one officer can make big difference is nicely portrayed. Other than that, I remember nothing from the movie which will excite you as a viewer. I give the movie 3 stars. 1 star etc. just for the subject it’s based upon. Even if you miss watching this, you don’t miss something very great.

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Shershaah: A grounded portrayal of a Soldier! ***½

1959th BLOG POST

Unfortunately, I have not liked Siddharth Malhotra as an actor ever. I have never understood why girls are crazy about him but whenever I have watched his film, I have always found him less than what he could have done. Therefore, when the movie, Shershaah, was announced which is based on the life and death of Captain Vikram Batra who helped us get back one of the toughest mountain peaks back from Pakistan’s claws in the Kargil War of 1999. He is a superhero since then and I don’t think anyone doesn’t know about him. There are already two Hindi movies based on him such as Lakshya and LOC Kargil so I was very sceptic as to what new Shershaah will offer and will Siddharth be able to take-off such an important character.

 

Yesterday, I watched it on the very first day on Amazon Prime of which I am pretty sure that if the movie must have been released in theatres, the impact of it would have been more than what it is on the OTT platform. The best part about the writing and script has been the humanization of the character of a soldier as much as possible rather than showing as someone who are meant to sacrifice and leave everything behind as they have chosen this for themselves. We are shown Vikram as someone who likes enjoying with friends, dating a girl, fighting with her family for their relationship, smoking cigarette, being a charmer and everything that your next-door-boy must be like.

 

Even when he gets into the Army, he doesn’t get transformed immediately into a very serious guy but remains to be very cool but focused on his responsibility of fighting for his country without fearing about death. You will not find many melodramatic scenes here unlike the kind of Soldier movies that we see. Though the romantic songs in the movie are something you don’t intend to watch but still they are a nice inclusion as it makes the portrayal of a patriotic movie little different than others where you only see the partner crying in song while leaving their better half for the Battle or War.

 

The dialogues are powerful in the movie as they convey the agenda behind it clearly. The songs are soulful, and they will find place in your playlist. The locations and shots are cinematic as you feel you are at the location, or you would wish to backpack and leave for mountains. Every scene is so aesthetically beautiful that you would want to frame each of them. The casting is great as everyone in their role looked perfect and not a single actor is out of sync with their character. I liked the background music but sometimes they make it little tough for you to hear what the characters are speaking among themselves in whispering tone. Also, I felt that the dubbing of the voice is not nicely synched with the video in few scenes as you can identify the gap between the movement of lips and the words spoken by the actors.

 

Talking about the lead performances, Siddharth Malhotra does well. As far as my belief goes – this is his career-best performance and touching something like this again is going to be tough for him. He makes you completely believe in the charming personality of the character who turns from a die-hard romantic boy to a Lieutenant and finally ends up being Captain in the Indian Army. Kiara Advani, as always, makes her screen presence felt and you would want to keep watching her whenever she is performing. There is something about her that makes her acceptable in every role she performs – either major or minor.

 

Overall, this is not a very machoism kind of a movie where you would want to become the lead character yourself and do the task. This is written and directed in a way that makes everything look and sound grounded. So, you’ll not find that Josh of URI or emotional quotient like Border but a very different portrayal of Indian Army’s efforts to win a War. Also, what kind of effort Batra made to get into the Army is completely missing from the script. I give this movie 3.5 stars out of 5. It is a one-time watch for sure.  

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA 

Movie Review: Mimi: Very entertaining, funny & emotional! ****

1953rd BLOG POST

So Mimi released 4 days before its official release date because the movie already got pirated on some online platform. Luckily, its also Kriti Sanon’s birthday today hence it has become double treat for her. To start with, let me tell you, this is the best acting performance from Kriti Sanon in her career and this time, rather than only liking her for the looks and charm, you are going to love and adore her for acting. I already liked her a lot but now she has made me believe in her as a good and terrific actor too. May God bless her with better opportunities in the future. Let’s talk about her towards the end of the review again.

 

Mimi is a feel-good movie. Initially, you will feel that it’s just going to be an okay-okay stuff but the way it starts changing its colour with every scene, you start diving into it and after a time, you and movie becomes one. Well, this became quite spiritual but yes, the movie has that power which makes you believe in whatever happens with all the characters in every scene. I liked how the makers have used the concept of surrogacy and displayed it very beautifully which will make unaware people understand about it while enjoying the movie. The sensitivity of the topic has been respected and you’ll not find any disrespectful or demeaning words either for the surrogate mother or the parents who are wanting to have one.

 

The locale and dialect are used very wonderfully which works in favour of the movie completely. The dialogues are powerful which makes you laugh and cry whenever the makers want you to. And isn’t this an incredible thing when audience starts dancing on your tunes? Talking about the music, yes, its joyful and soulful, too, as per the situations. The movie never loses its grip and keeps you entertained throughout – either through its comedy or drama or emotional scenes. The makers haven’t overdone anything. The movie has everything in its right quantity. What I liked about the movie is that it keeps changing its tone every 10 minute and keep it balanced for us.

 

Talking about the performances, lets first talk about Pankaj Tripathi – well, he is again the winner here. From Kaleen bhaiyya, the kind of transformation he makes here is so powerful that you can’t fail to notice it. He is back to the kind of characters we have always enjoyed him play where he is little funny, little mad, little crazy, little screwed yet has heart at the right place which makes him so lovable on the screen. The way he makes those small little gestures at the right moment in the right scene is commendable. The other performances by Sai Tamhankar, Supriya Pathak and Manoj Pahwa are equally good in their own parts. They play small parts but very essential ones. Even the roles played by the two foreign characters are emotional and powerful – you love watching them on the screen unlike other movies.

 

And now, finally talking about Kriti Sanon- Let’s take her seriously now. She has just upped her game. She is no more the Kriti Sanon we know. Now when you hear that she is part of some big projects like Adipurush, wait to watch her rather than not thinking twice while reading her name. Every time she smiles, you smile with her. Every time, she is confused, you find the confusion within you. Every time, she is crying, you find lump in your throat. She just keeps you with her throughout and makes you miss her every time she is not shown on the screen. Even when Pankaj Tripathi is doing his job, you still want her to be there. I don’t think there could be anything better to be said about her than this. She has portrayed a mother very nicely on the screen and convinces you with every expression she makes. This movie, MIMI, can be said as career-defining role for her and the movie shall always be remembered for the emotional ride she takes you along with her.

 

Overall, MIMI is one of the best movies made this year. Even though its predictable but it keeps you involved and entertained. I give this movie 4 stars out of 5. You will understand the pain of a mother – while she is pregnant or giving the birth or taking care of the child in his infant days through Kriti’s acting and the storyline. Don’t miss it.

 

Thanks.

 

WRITING BUDDHA