Archives for September 2017

Banner: T – Series, Paramhans Creations Entertainments & Adarsh Telemedia
Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shailesh R Singh & Amit Agarwal
Director: Hansal Mehta,
Star Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Mark Justice, Soham Shah, Hiten Kumar, Kishori Shahane, Esha Tewari Pande, Manu Narayan, Aneesha Joshi, Rupindra Nagra, Usha Jerajani
Music: Sachin – Jigar

Hansal Mehta, the most well – known director has always attempted novel topics, and now he has taken one more challenge to present another novel topic passed on a true incident but this time his attempt seems have totally backfired on him and the poor audiences had to bear the brunt of his backfiring challenge.

The scripted or rather the non – sensically scripted scenario of Simran reveals that it is the story of a girl with flaws who has to resort to crime when things go horribly wrong. Praful Patel (Kangana Ranaut) is divorced and is living in Atlanta in United States of America. Fed up with the rants of her parents (Hiten Kumar & Kishori Shahane), So Praful now decides to move into her own house. She even gets pre – approval for her loan. But a chance visit to Las Vegas with her cousin Amber changes her life. After the initial victory at the casino, she loses out a lot of money, including her savings. Yet, she continues to play since she gets addicted to it. A private moneylender loans her $32,000 and she loses that as well. The moneylender is dangerous and warns her of dire consequences if Praful doesn’t repay the amount along with interest. With no other option, Praful starts robbing banks. How it messes her life further forms the rest of the film.

Hansal Mehta’s direction is disappointing and it’s nowhere close to his earlier films like Shahid, Citylight & Aligarh. Few scenes have been well executed by him though. Watch out for the scene where Praful’s father watches the news and criticizes the father of Simran, not realizing that he is insulting himself. It is quite funny. The story penned by Apurva Asrani which has been inspired from a true incident rests on a weak pivot. Apurva Asrani’s screenplay is very faulty & incoherent. There is no relatability factor of any sort with the principle protagonist and that goes against the film heavily. Apurva Asrani’s dialogues (additional dialogues by Kangana Ranaut} are fine however but nothing memorable. Simran has a decent beginning. The 1st 10 – 15 minutes are spent in character introductions and also the Las Vegas sequence and it makes for a nice watch. But as soon as Simran turns into a habitual gambler, the film falls and never goes up again. There’s no logic to her actions and it gets bewildering after a point as to what’s going on in the film. One doesn’t feel any empathy for Praful. Neither does she seem to be a smart badass, if that was the intention of the makers. Besides, there’s too much of English & Gujarati in the film that dilutes the commercial element of the film. There are too many cinematic liberties in the movie which takes the audience for granted. Even the audio isn’t clear in certain scenes and hence certain English dialogues aren’t even audible. And above all Simran comes across as a show reel for Kangana Ranaut. Sachin – Jigar’s music is absolutely forgettable. Anuj Rakesh Dhawan’s cinematography is horrible. Tiya Tejpal’s production design is nothing special. Antara Lahiri’s editing is not great but with such kind of pointless script & useless direction, there is nothing much that she could have done.

Performance wise Kangana Ranaut is hopelessly irritating. She indeed does a good job in a few selected scenes but her performance is quite inconsistent and comes across as self – obsessed. Notice how her Gujarati accent vanishes in several scenes, such goof ups are not something that we expect from a powerhouse performer like her. Sohum Shah’s (Sameer) performance suffers because his character isn’t well fleshed out. He disappears completely in the middle of the film. Hiten Kumar is too loud & theatrical. He should have kept his performance restrained. Kishori Shahane is quite better. Esha Tewari Pande (Salma) is fine in her small role. The actors playing Amber, Mike, bartender, moneylender and his henchmen are fair.

Tail Piece: On the whole, Simran is a movie which can be easily skipped without any regrets. At the Box – Office turnstiles it will turn out to be an average fare. Don’t even make an attempt to watch it even if you are a hardcore Kangana Ranaut fan.

Producers: Arjun Rampal & Rutwij Patel
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
Star Cast: Arjun Rampal, Aishwarya Rajesh, Nishikant Kamat, Anand Ingale, Rajesh Shringarpure, Purnand Wandekar, Anupriya Goenka, Shruti Bapna, Usha Naik, Shrikant Yadav, Deepak Damle, Girish Pal, Raj Arjun, Vijay Sanap, Abhimanyu Arun, Mir Sarwar & Farhan Akhtar
Music: Sajid – Wajid

The underworld that ruled Mumbai at one point has spun many films over the years. But surprisingly, no film was made solely on Arun Gawli, who has also been a prominent figure in the city’s underworld & politics and continues to be. Director Ashim Ahluwalia takes the challenge and comes up with Daddy, and makes an unconventional choice of having a suave Arjun Rampal for a character that’s diametrically opposite to his persona in all aspects.

Although the scripted scenario of Daddy is based on the real life story of Maharashtra’s underworld Don Arun Gawli of Dagdi Chawl, Daddy has been presented as the story of the roller-coaster life of Arun Gawli. The story begins in the late 70’s when the mills in Bombay (present day Mumbai) gets shut, rendering lakhs of people jobless and even homeless. In a locality in central Mumbai, Dagdi Chawl, 3 youngsters get lured into the underworld. They form the “B.R.A. Gang” which is the acronym of their names – Babu Reshim (Anand Ingle), Rama Naik (Rajesh Shringarpore) & Arun Gawli (Arjun Rampal). Arun Gawli however becomes quite prominent and soon enters politics. How he becomes a boon for the Dagdi Chawl residents & a bane for the police force forms the rest of the story.

Ashim Ahluwalia’s direction is the biggest culprit. He fails to do justice to the script, however faulty it may be. With his execution, he could have taken the film to a great height. But barring a few scenes & the finale courtroom sequence, he misses the mark. Few scenes are quite bewildering. For instance, the encounter attempt on Arun Gawli at the “nakabandi” failed to make an iota of sense. And why was Arun using paper ballot to vote when EVMs had already been introduced by then? Daddy begins on a shocking note and you expect the film to be a fast –paced drama, a well – preserved gangster drama. The film however falls a bit immediately but still, the scenes of the B.R.A. gang are engaging. But as the film progresses, it becomes too confusing & incoherent. Too many things are packed in the film’s 135 minutes run time. Also there are far too many characters. One fails to understand who exactly is the villain and if it’s the system that’s the villain, then it’s not established very well. It is mentioned that poverty drove Arun to crime but one never gets to see his family struggling due to poor economic conditions. Moreover, the film suffers from another strange problem, the background score & sound design at places is too loud because of which certain dialogues are inaudible. Arjun Rampal & Ashim Ahluwalia’s scripted story is weak and should have been detailed. The screenplay is average as it fails to put together the life of Arun Gawli in a cinematic format. Ritesh Shah’s dialogues are strictly okay and fail to register. Sajid – Wajid’s music is average. “Eid Mubarak” & “Aala Re Aala Ganesha” are relegated to the background. “Zindagi Meri Dance Dance” however is quite impressive & reminiscent of the bygone era. Naren Chandavarkar & Benedict Taylor’s background score has an 80’s touch & is entertaining. Jessica Lee Gagne & Pankaj Kumar’s cinematography could have been better. There are far too many close up shots. Deepa Bhatia & Navnita Sen Datta’s editing is disappointing. Despite being 135 minutes long, the film feels like a 3 hours+ fare. Parul Sondh’s production design is authentic. Nidhi & Divya Gambhir’s costumes are also straight out of life but the wigs worn by the characters look fake. Sham Kaushal’s action is gory but it was the requirement of the film.

Performance wise Arjun Rampal however saves the film to a great extent. Arjun proves his worth as an actor in this film and gets totally into the skin of his character. Surely, this is one of his most accomplished works! Aishwarya Rajesh (Zubeida) has a fine screen presence and gets the best scope among the other actresses. Shruti Bapna (Rani) leaves a mark while Anupriya Goenka (Hilda) gets scope only in the post interval scene with Arjun Rampal. Farhan Akhtar (Maqsood) is quite decent as the dreaded Don. Rajesh Shringarpore gives a bravura performance is a highlight of the 1st half of the film. Anand Ingle looks menacing and puts his best foot forward. Nishikant Kamat (Inspector Vijaykar) is quite nice and he has a crucial part in the film. His character however is quite controversial and the way Mumbai Police is shown as being hand in glove with Dawood like gangster is bound to raise eyebrows. Purnanand Wandekar (Vijay), Raj Arun (Rafique) & Deepak Damle (Phamplet Bandya) are too good in small roles.

Tail Piece: On the whole, Daddy is poor show due to its incoherent script & weak direction. Arjun Rampal’s performance is the sole factor that makes the film realistic. Watch it if you are a fan of Arjun Rampal or gangster flicks.

Banner: Emmay Entertainment
Producer: Nikhil Advani, Monisha Advani, Madhu G Bhojwani & Viacom18 Pictures
Director: Ranjit Tiwari
Star Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Diana Penty, Gippy Agarwal, Ronit Roy, Deepak Dobriyal, Inamulhaq, Rajesh Mishra, Uday Tikekar, Sukh Kanwar, Vineet Gill, Ravi Kissen, Manoj Tiwari, Virendra Saxsena, Manav Vij, Robin Das et al
Music: Arjunna Harjale, Rochak Kohli & Tanishk Bagchi

Just 3 weeks ago, audiences were exposed to the terrible life of jails in Qaidi Band. Surprisingly, Lucknow Central, that releases this Fri, also deals with life in the prison and what’s more, the crux in both the films is the prisoners forming a band in order to escape from jail. So does Lucknow Central manage to make a mark, despite the similarities with the other film or does it fail in making an impact?

The scripted scenario of Lucknow Central enlightens that it is the story of a group of prisoners who get a unique opportunity in escaping from jail. Aspiring singer Kishan Mohan Girhotra (Farhan Akhtar) is framed for the murder of an IAS officer in his hometown Moradabad. He is sentenced to life imprisonment & after 18 months, he is shifted to Lucknow Central jail. He finds out that the IGP (Virendra Saxena) has asked for a band to be formed in Lucknow Central comprising of a group of prisoners. They are to perform at an Independence Day celebration and also compete with band from other prisons of Uttar Pradesh. An adamant NGO worker Gayatri (Diana Penty) is given the responsibility to form the band. Kishan jumps at this opportunity and signs up for the band. He also succeeds in roping in Victor Chattopadhyay (Deepak Dobriyal), Parminder Singh Gill (Gippy Grewal), Purushottam Madan Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) & Liyakat Ansari (Inaamulhaq) after facing some resistance. Kishan however is not just trying to fulfill his singing ambition by forming this band. He also plans to escape. But the jailer at Lucknow Central (Ronit Roy) is tough and not easy to be fooled. He senses about this plan. What happens later on forms the crux of the film.

Ranjit Tiwari’s direction is simple but with such a flawed script, there’s nothing much he could have done. Few scenes are well handled but they all get overshadowed by the many bad scenes. Aseem Arora’s dialogues however are fine, especially the ones mouthed by Ravi Kishan. The story penned by Ranjit Tiwari & Aseem Arora stands on a weak wicket. Aseem Arora’s screenplay is faulty & riddled with complete goof ups. Lucknow Central just doesn’t work and the glaring similarities with Qaidi Band are not to blame. The beginning portions are still fine. But the film defies logic soon enough and that continues right till end. What was the relevance of Kishan pretending to be mute when he reaches Lucknow Central? Kishan plans to escape from jail and then fulfill his singing dreams. How on earth he’d do that and why didn’t he realize that someone who has escaped from a prison would have to always hide from the cops and that becoming a famous singer is out of option, is inexplicable! Also certain developments in the film are highly unconvincing. The manner in which Victor ditches Tilakdhaari (Manav Vij) and joins Kishan is difficult to digest. Also how Pandit agrees to join Kishan and why nobody has a plan after escaping from jail is too much. The character of Gayatri is also half baked. It’s amusing to see her getting convinced by Kishan and decides to help him form the band. The “Teen Kabootar” song does spike some interest but immediately afterwards, the jailor leaks the video which didn’t make an iota of sense. Lastly, sequences seem to be inspired from films like Happy New Year, Gupt and even Shawshank Redemption, further diluting the impact. The Music of the film doesn’t work and that’s not good for a film that is about a band. “Kaavaan Kaavaan” is the only track that works. “Teen Kabootar” is interesting as it’s conceptualized well. The other songs like “Meer – E – Kaarwan”, “Rangdaari” & “Baaki Rab Pe Chhod De” are poor. Arjunna Harjaie’s background score is dramatic and adds to the tension. Tushar Kanti Ray’s cinematography is neat. Amit Ray & Subrata Chakraborty’s production design is fine. Charu Shree Roy’s editing is bad. The film is too long at 147 minutes and could have been way shorter.

Performance wise Farhan Akhtar delivers a decent performance and manages to carry his duty of a leading actor. But this performance is no way close to his other memorable performances. Diana Penty looks pretty and doesn’t get much scope. After such a crucial role in Happy Bhag Jayegi, it’s disappointing to see her in such a weak part. Deepak Dobriyal as always is dependable and gets the Bengali accent right. He is quite moving in the scene where he meets his father. Rajesh Sharma also proves his worth & performs ably. Inaamulhaq gets a raw deal and could have done better. He rocked the show in Filmistaan and also in Jolly LLB 2. But here he just doesn’t work. Gippy Grewal gets a chance to shine despite the presence of so many actors. A fine performance and his look is quite interesting! Ronit Roy is menacing as always but his performance suffers due to bad writing. Ravi Kishan (Pawan Singh Chaturvedi) takes the film to another level with his cameo appearance. His dialogue on Donald Trump will be loved. Robin Das (Kishan’s father) is okay. Manav Vij has intense eyes & is alright. Virendra Saxena (IG) does fine. Manoj Tiwari plays himself and there’s nothing much to talk about his act.

Tail Piece: On the whole, Lucknow Central is a poor show all the way. The weak script, lack of entertainment value & long run time of the film will work against it. As a result, it’s bound to struggle at the Box – Office turnstiles.