Archives for 2017

Malayalam GEC Surya TV started airing a family entertainment show, Ayalathe Sundari, from 11th Sept, 2017 at 9.30 pm, every Mon – Sat. Directed by K K Rajiv, Ayalathey Sundari is a family drama set within the confines of a tumultuous family relationships. The serial explores the challenges, the trials & the tribulations that a woman undergoes in her daily life.

Broadband Subscribers Increased

The number of broadband subscribers in India has increased 3.33% to touch 310.87 million from 300.84 million a month ago. Top 5 service providers constituted 89.79% market share of the total broadband subscribers, according to TRAI data. Reliance Jio Infocom led the pack with a subscriber base of 128.58 million, followed by Bharti Airtel (58.91 million), Vodafone (42.50 million), Idea Cellular (27.70 million) & BSNL (21.45 million).

Star Plus To Air Ted Talks India: Nayi Soch

Hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, Hindi GEC Star Plus is all set to air Ted Talks India: Nayi Soch by the end of Oct, 2017. In Feb, 2017 Star India had announced that it would be producing the Indian version of the popular Ted Talk show. The launch date & lineup of speakers, however, was not disclosed. The shoot for the show has already begun.

Dish TV launches Al – Enabled Chatbot

DTH operator Dish TV has announced the launch of Advanced Dish TV interface (ADI), the world’s 1st AI – enabled pay TV Chatbot. Built for issue redressal & service lifecycle management, ADI provides a virtual interface that acts as a 1 – stop solution window to subscribers, and guides them instantly to address their queries. ADI is an omni – channel interface with customer experience as a core tenet.

Zee TV To Unveil New Logo

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Zee TV will wear a new logo from 15th Oct, 2017. Subhash Chandra owned Zee TV was launched on 2nd Oct, 1992 as the 1st ever Hindi – language channel in India. Zee TV’s new logo was unveiled at the recently held Zee Rishtey Award 2017 ceremony by the popular actor Ankita Lokhande. The award ceremony will be aired on 15th Oct, 2017 at 7 pm.

ASCI Pulls Up Times Network

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has pulled up Times Network for its misleading ad claiming that Times Now is the #1 English news channel. According to ASCI, while the graphical representation in the ad “The Ruling #1” appears to be in line with BARC principles and the figures shown are technically correct, the relative share data shown is itself not a permissible extrapolation, and is therefore misleading and not compliant with BARC Guidelines.

BBC World News Launched For The 1st Time Ever In Laos

BBC Worldwide Asia recently announced a deal that will, for the 1st time ever, see international news & current affairs television brand BBC World News, premium factual brand BBC Earth & award winning pre – school channel CBeebies available in Laos. The channels, broadcast on Laosat DTH, will be available in the country’s 17 provinces including Vientiane.

Sky Launches Streaming Service In Spain

UK pay TV service provider Sky has launched a TV streaming service in Spain, offering entertainment & contract – free viewing to customers to watch on all their devices. The new service will offer Spanish pay TV channels, TV series & on – demand films from around the world in Spanish, predominantly in HD quality, and for only €10 a month. Customers will also be able to enjoy 1 month’s free trial as standard.

AETN18 Slips Into Loss

TV18 launch AETN18 Media, the 51:49 joint venture (JV) between TV18 & A+E Networks, slipped into loss in FY17 on account of higher expenses incurred due to the launch of its lifestyle channel FYI TV18 in the 2nd quarter of the fiscal year. The company saw a marginal rise in its revenue from operations in FY17 while expenses rose due to the launch of FYI TV18. Loss stood at Rs 25.86 crore versus a profit of Rs 8.91 million a year ago. Revenue from operations stood at Rs 66.13 crore in FY17 compared to Rs 64.92 crore in the prior year.

DishTV Becomes 1st Ever DTH Service Brand
DTH service provider Dish TV has joined hands with home – grown e – commerce major Flipkart to bring to its customers a hassle – free Dish TV connection anytime, anywhere, just a click away. Dish TV has thus become the 1st ever DTH service provider to be listed on Flipkart. Voted as one of the most popular e – commerce brands in India by RedSeer report, Flipkart will be opening the windows for its users to DTH services on its platform through this partnership.

MIB Cancels 19 TV Channel Licences

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) knocked off 19 TV channel licences, between 1st Aug, 2017 & 5th Sept, 2017 from its list of permitted TV channels. Consequently, the total number of cancelled licences shot up to 216, as on 5th Sept, 2017. In Jul, 2017 2 licences were cancelled, taking the total to 197. The ministry cancelled 3 licences of Star India. These are Star Movies Premiere, Star Movies Premiere HD & Fox Crime HD. The company had not operationalised these licences. Star had received the licences for these channels in Mar, 2016.

ZEEL Enters Premium English Movie Genre

For many years, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has had just 2 English channels, Zee Café & Zee Studio. But that is now going to change with the launch of the premium English Movie Channel &Privé HD. Coming under the “&” brand, the channel was launched on 24th Sept, 2017 with the premiere of Moonlight at 1 pm and then again at 9 pm. This film won 3 Oscars earlier this year including that of “Best Picture”.

Star Plus To Shutter Afternoon Band

Leading Hindi GEC Star Plus, which created the afternoon band “Star Dopahar” less than 6 months back, has decided to wrap it up on 30th Sept, 2017. Star Plus has informed producers about the closure and has asked them to wrap up their respective story lines. The afternoon bandwidth currently airs 4 shows: Kya Kasoor Hai Amla Ka?, Ek Aastha Aisi Bhee, Dhhai Kilo Prem & Love Hai Intezaar.

Hathway Partners IL&FS Education

Multi – system operator (MSO) Hathway Cable & Datacom has teamed up with education solutions provider IL&FS Education to launch TVTeacher, an educational service channel catering exclusively to children, youth & home makers. The channel features a combination of curriculum aligned school content, vocational education & spoken English modules bringing schooling & education round the clock to every home.

The Quint Clocks 54 MN Page Views & 47 MN Video Views

Raghav Bahl promoted bi – lingual digital news platform The Quint clocked upwards of 54 million page views in Aug, 2017. It also crossed 47 million video views with a unique social media reach of 83 million. The Quint offers a combination of content with topics ranging from business & politics to sports & entertainment. Strong & innovative videos are one of The Quint’s big offerings. Since its inception, The Quint has created strong connections with its viewers, and has been on a growth trajectory.

GTPL Hathway Gets RBI Nod

Multi – system operator (MSO) GTPL Hathway has got the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval to increase foreign investment limit in the company. The RBI has hiked foreign institutional investors (FII) / foreign portfolio investment (FPI) limit in GTPL to 49% from the earlier limit of 24%.

Discovery Boosts Digital Team

Discovery Communications has appointed Francis Keeling, a leading digital music executive, as senior VP, International Digital. Jay Trinidad, currently running Discovery Northern Asia, takes on the additional role of managing director, Digital Ventures & Eugene Huang, is appointed to the role of senior VP, Product & Technology. All 3 roles report directly to Michael Lang, President, International Development & Digital.

TVA Sports & WWE In Broadcast Deal

Sports entertainment brand WWE & TVA Sports today announced a multi – year agreement to televise a weekly, 1 hour edition of WWE’s flagship programme Raw, in French, in Canada beginning 18th Oct, 2017. All of the action for TVA Sports’ presentation of Raw will be called by Patric Laprade, who will be joined on commentary by social media sensation Kevin Raphael.

MIB Grants 10 New TV Channel Licences

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has permitted 10 new TV channel licences between 10th Aug, 2017 & 5th Sept, 2017. 9 out of the 10 licences were issued in Aug, 2017 while 1 licence was issued in Sept, 2017. Cinema 24×7, a company linked to TV shopping & e – commerce company Naaptol, got 7 non – news uplinking licences. Media Worldwide, the company that runs a clutch of music channels, got a non – news uplinking for Bangla Talkies.

Star Bharat’s Good Start Signifies Importance Of DD Freedish

Star Bharat, Star India’s recently rebranded Like OK channel which is available on Doordarshan’s subscription – free DTH platform Freedish, has started off remarkably well. The channel, which went live on 28th Aug, 2017, occupied #5 spot in the Hindi GEC hierarchy, according to BARC data for the week ended 1st Sept, 2017. This despite missing the 1st couple of days of BARC’s ratings for the week.

Nick Lloses Crown To Disney Channel

In BARC’s rating charts, Kids TV was the only genre where the top position seemed locked. Nick was reigning supreme for a long period. But in the week ended 1st Sept, 2017 Nick lost the crown to Disney Channel in a tight battle. Disney Channel took the lead with 9.789 crore weekly impressions while Nick fell to the 2nd spot with 9.697 crore weekly impressions, seeing a drop of 6.25%. Cartoon Network moved up to the 4th rank with 6.192 crore weekly impressions, followed by Pogo TV at 5th with 5.637 crore weekly impressions.

Disney Channel Is #1 Kids Channel

Disney Channel continued to rule the kids TV genre for the 2nd straight week. The channel garnered 10.78 crore impressions thus collecting 10.07% more than the preceding week. Nick, which enjoyed numero uno status for a long while before Disney Channel raced past it, mopped up 10.11 crore impressions. This was 4.28% more than what it collected in the prior weeks. Incidentally, the top 2 kids channels crossed the 10 crore mark in the week under review. Disney Channel clocked 9.78 crore impressions while Nick collected 9.69 crore impressions.

Sony Max Reclaims #1 Position

Sony Max reclaimed the #1 position in urban + rural Hindi – speaking market (HSM) from its free to air (FTA) sibling Sony Wah. Zee Cinema & Star Gold moved a spot up while Rishtey Cineplex fell to the 5th position, according to BARC data.

Zee News Returns To #2 Position

Zee News has upstaged ABP News to reclaim the #2 position in urban Hindi – speaking market (HSM). ABP News has slipped to #3, according to BARC data. In rural HSM, Zee News has edged out India TV to occupy the #3 position. India TV settled in the 5th place.

Anna Rajan aka Lichi, who shot to fame as the heroine of Angamaly Diaries & Velipadinte Pusthakam, was full of tears on a Facebook live video posted on her page as she blamed the electronic media for twisting her statement on Mammootty & Dulquer Salmaan. It all started in a TV show where Anna Rajan was asked if she was offered roles with Mammootty & his son Dulquer Salmaan in a film, whom would she choose as her hero? To this Anna Rajan had said that she would like to play Dulquer Salmaan’s heroine & Mammootty would play Dulquer Salmaan’s dad. Now this irked the fans of the veteran superstar, who is more than 4 decades older to her, and they started showering angry comments at the hapless heroine. And she came on Facebook live to explain to the fans of the 2 heroes that she would like to play the heroine of both Mammootty & Dulquer Salmaan and that she hasn’t reached the position as yet to compare the 2 stars.

Amy Jackson To Enact The Role Of The Saturn Girl

The 2 Point O girl Amy Jackson will be seen enacting the role of the Saturn Girl in Season 3 of Super Girl. The new season will begin on 9th Oct, 2017 on The CW. “Finally! So now you know what I’ve been getting up to in Canada over the past couple of weeks #SuperGirl new recruit #SaturnGirl”, posted Amy Jackson on Twitter. Other than Super Girl, Amy Jackson is also working on an English film titled Boogie Man with filmmaker Andrew Morahan. Amy Jackson will also be signing more Tamil & Hindi films after the release of her magnum opus 2 Point O with Superstar Rajinikanth & Akshay Kumar.

Disha Patani Is The New Sangamitra!

The buzz is that leading production house, Sri Thenandal Films have signed Disha Patani to play the coveted role as Sangamitra in their most prestigious film titled Sangamitra. So far there is no official announcement from the production house. Disha Patani became famous with the Cadbury Dairy Milk advertisement which made her quite popular. Her debut film was the Telugu film Loafer opposite Varun Tej, directed by Puri Jagannadh but she was noticed in a Bollywood film M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. She has also done a music video Befikra with Tiger Shroff. For the past few months several names were doing the rounds like Katrina Kaif, Shraddha Kapoor & even Alia Bhatt. Director Sundar C was keen to have a fresh face & Disha Patani fitted the bill. However, the shoot of Sangamitra will start only after the pre – production work is complete and freezing the dates of Arya & Jayam Ravi who have moved on to other films.

Kajal Aggarwal Says She Will Do Queen Remake In Her Own Style

Speaking at the launch of her new movie Paris Paris, the Tamil remake of Hindi hit Queen, Kajal Aggarwal averred, “I’m not here to get into anyone’s shoes, and will treat Paris Paris as an original script and do it in my own style”. Kajal Aggarwal intervened & gave this befitting reply when a reporter asked the film’s director Ramesh Aravind whether a commercial heroine like Kajal Aggarwal would justify National Award winning Kangana Ranaut’s towering performance. Ramesh Aravind averred, “Kajal Aggarwal looks beautiful, she has great enthusiasm to learn new things and that’s exactly what a director needs”, he also added that Kajal Aggarwal has an extraordinary star presence and great performance skills which she has already proved in films like Magadheera, Temper & Vivegam. The Tamil version of Queen will be set in Virudhunagar & famous writer Tamizhachi Thangapandiyan will take care of the dialogues & the lyrics. Amit Trivedi, who composed the songs for the original Hindi version is debuting in Tamil with Paris Paris. The film is being jointly produced by Mediente & Liger.

No Plans To Arrest Kavya Madhavan

With the prosecution informing the Kerala High Court that the police have no plans to arrest Kavya Madhavan in an actress’ kidnapping case, the anticipatory bail application submitted by the actress was settled by the Court, as per the latest reports. Kavya Madhavan is the wife of the arrested actor Dileep. There were reports earlier that the main accused Pulsar Suni had alleged that he had gone to Kavya Madhavan’s garment store. However, the anticipatory bail application of director Nadhir Shah will be considered soon. The bail application of Pulsar Suni was also rejected by the Court.

Khushboo Confirms Kalakalapu – 2

Sundar C’s next will be Kalakalapu 2, the sequel of the director’s hit comedy entertainer. Sundar C’s wife & yesteryears leading actress Khushboo has confirmed that the film will have Jiiva, Jai, Catherine Tresa & Nikki Galrani in the lead. Mirchi Shiva, who played as one of the leads in Kalakalapu will also be playing an important role in the sequel. The shoot of Kalakalapu 2 will begin in Oct, 2017 and Hiphop Tamizha has been roped in to compose music for the film. After completing Kalakalapu 2, Sundar C will start shooting for his dream period film Sangamithra with Jayam’ Ravi & Arya. Disha Patani plays the female lead in Sangamithra but things are yet to be confirmed.

Nayanthara’s Aramm Gets A “U” Certificate

Lady Superstar Nayanthara’s emotional drama with a social message Aramm gets a clean “U” certificate from the censor board and officials are said to have reportedly praised the film its noble content. KJR Studios, the film’s producers are planning to release it for Diwali. “With special appreciation from Censor Board, #Aramm gets a clean “U” certificate!!! Release announcement very soon. #Nayanthara”, tweeted KJR Studios. Directed by writer Gopi Nainar, Ghibran has composed music for the film & Om Prakash is in charge for the visuals. Nayanthara plays a district collector, who rescues struggling child employees & farmers from selfish industrialists & politicians in the film. Meanwhile, Thaman has confirmed that he will be composing the music for Nayanthara’s upcoming psychological thriller with director Arivazhagan of Eeram fame. “Back with my fav dir @dirarivazhagan will be scoring for our lady superstar @Nayanthara U can’t wait for this super journey to begin”, tweeted Thaman.

Pooja Hegde Gifts Herself A BMW

Pooja Hegde is for sure enjoying life. She has some good films on hand. Post DJ Duvvada Jagannadham, she has got many offers. She will be seen opposite Bellamkonda Srinivas in her next film. The news is that she has demanded a hefty sum for this film. Her popularity is also rising in Bollywood. Pooja Hegde, content with her life, has gifted herself a BMW. She posted a picture of herself with her new possession. What more can she ask for?

Ritu Varma To Romance Dulquer Salmaan

Tamil – Telugu actress Ritu Varma who shot to fame with the commercially & critically acclaimed Telugu film Pelli Choopulu will soon appear as Dulquer Salmaan’s heroine in a yet to be titled Tamil film. The film will mark the directorial debut of Desingh Periyasamy & Dulquer Salmaan’s 4th straight Tamil film. “I signed the project recently. Dulquer Salmaan is really a good performer and I’m excited to be working with him. Although it’s too early to talk about the film or my character, I can say that I’m really looking forward to starting work on this film,” Ritu Verma said. Ritu Verma also has Vikram’s Dhruva Natchathiram helmed by Gautham Menon in her kitty. Touted to be a romantic thriller, the Dulquer Salmaan – Ritu Varma movie will go on the floors from Oct, 2017.

Rakul Preet Singh Enacts The Role Of An IT girl

Rakul Preet Singh’s career is going well, but the roles she is doing has not impressed the audiences. Rakul Preet Singh was recently seen in silly roles in Telugu films. Now she is said to have got a contemporary girl’s role in her new Bollywood film. She is cast opposite Sidharth Malhotra in Aiyaary which is being shot in Delhi. While Siddharth is an army officer, she will be seen as an IT engineer. The drama is inspired by a true incident involving 2 army officers. Looks like Rakul Preet Singh is in demand. This is not her 1st Bollywood film, but she went unnoticed there. Now she is back in the league. This role should enhance her career in Bollywood. Nevertheless, the actress doesn’t fail to tell that Tollywood will always be her main focus
And her latest release to hit the celluloid silver screen is Spyder opposite Telugu Superstar Mahesh Babu, directed by A R Murgadoss.

Taapsee Pannu Says If You Have The Body – Flaunt It

Taapsee Pannu was recently trolled on social media for posting pictures in which she was seen wearing a bikini. Taapsee Pannu shared 2 photographs of herself on Twitter to promote the song “Aa Toh Sahi” from her recently released film Judwaa 2 and a few social media users body shamed her. However, Taapsee Pannu had a befitting reply to trolls. She averred that she fails to understand how wearing a 2 piece bikini is against the Indian culture. “I don’t feel shy of being an Indian or following Indian couture. In olden times, people wore minimum clothes. Actresses used to wear really small blouses, bikini blouses and people used to worship (them). Suddenly, it is considered not good & against culture. Indian women in general have always been told by someone or the other what to do or what not to do. From the time we are born, we are always told, ‘This is what you are supposed to do’, without even asking what we want to do. These people just can’t take the fact that how suddenly a woman can have her own opinion,” Taapsee added. Taapsee Pannu, who has worked hard on achieving the bikini body concluded, “I always believe that if you have the body to wear a bikini and if you are confident about it, then go ahead & flaunt it. There is nothing wrong in it.”

4 Heroines In 4 languages For Queen’s Remake!!!

Bollywood blockbuster Queen (2014) is all set to be remade finally in all the 4 South Indian languages after 3 years of its release in Hindi. Now the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada & Malayalam versions are being planned & the heroines are announced!!! The Tamil version is titled as Paris Paris & Kajal Aggarwal plays the female lead. Tammannah Bhatia is doing the Telugu version, Parul Yadav has been cast in Kannada & Manjima Mohan in Malayalam will be reprising what Kangana Ranaut did in the original. Kannada actor -director Ramesh Aravind will be directing Paris Paris and the untitled Kannada version. Mediente is producing all the 4 versions and the shoot will happen simultaneously. However the critics & the film aficionados are confused why the same film has to be remade in 4 languages with 4 different heroines especially when you have Kajal Agarwal & Tamannaah Bhatia on board, who are extremely popular A listers in all the 4 South Indian languages. Besides the Queen remake had gone through so much changes as it was originally announced by actor Prashanth & his dad Thyagarajan with names like Trisha, Nayanthara & Shraddha Kapoor in the lead role & actress Revathy directing the film based on Suhasini’s script. Now it has to be seen if these top stars in South will come anywhere near Kangana Ranaut’s extraordinary performance as the Queen of versatility in a film that grossed over 100 crores at the Box – Office turnstiles.

Banner: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment
Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala
Director: David Dhawan
Star Cast: Varun Dhawn, Jacqueline Fernandez, Tapsee Pannu, Vivan Bhatena, Anupam Khar, Upasana Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Pavan Raj Malhotra, Ali Asgar, Vikas Verma, Johny Liver, Prachi Shah Pandya, Sachin Khedekar, Atul Parchure, Manoj Pahwa, Vikas Verma, Rajat Rawail, Zakir Hussein, Farhad & above all Salman Khan in a cameo appearance.
Music: Sajid – Wajid, Meet Bros, Sandeep Shirodkar & Anu Mallik

David Dhawan, an ace director in his own right, is more famous for his commercial potboilers albeit entertaining caper. He has directed innumerable such films which the masses just lap it up with thunderous ceeties & taalis in the darkened aisles of the single theatre. And for which the class intelligentsia namely the Muti – plex movie goers including the so called hardcore critics just turn up their noses with a piece de resistance advice to the intelligent cine goers to leave their brains behind at home in the deep freezer before bravingly venturing out to see such movies. Never mind in his latest outing Judwaa 2, director David Dhavan has done a rehash of his earlier superhit Judwaa released in 1997, starring Salman Khan in a dual role and David Dhawan’s son Varun Dhawan reprising the role of Salman Khan in Judwaa 2.

The tastes of the audiences have evolved quite a lot since the last few years but still, most of the viewers don’t mind an illogical but entertaining masala comic caper. Judwaa 2 is one such film that is unabashedly catering to “leave –your – brains – behind” sort of cinema.

The scripted scenario of Judwaa 2 deals with the fun adventures of twin brothers separated at birth. Rajiv Malhotra (Sachin Khedekar) meets the evil Charles (Zakir Hussain) in the flight and helps the authorities in getting him arrested. At the same time, Rajiv’s wife Ankita (Prachee Shah Paandya) gives birth to twins. Charles gets arrested in the hospital where Ankita has her delivery and he runs away with one of the twins. Rajiv & Ankita presume that child to be dead due to certain circumstances and they move to London with their other son. This son, Prem (Varun Dhawan), grows up as a shy & docile person who can be easily bullied. His brother Raja (Varun Dhawan) grows up in Mumbai’s Versova and is the opposite of Prem, he is outgoing, brash and bullying him is next to impossible. However, Raja falls in trouble when he fights with Alex (Vivan Bhatena) and injures him badly. Alex is incidentally the son of Charles and is also quite villainous. Raja & his sidekick Nandu (Rajpal Yadav) escape to London as a result. In the flight, he meets Alishka (Jacqueline Fernandez) and both fall for each other. Prem on the other hand starts dating Samaira (Taapsee Pannu) who learns music from him. But strange things start happening to both Prem & Raja as soon as the latter lands in London. The twins suffer from a peculiar problem; if one feels pain, the other shall also experience the same feeling and both even replicate each other’s actions, depending on the distance. Both go through a series of hilarious incidents as a result. What happens next and how the madness unfolds is what the rest of the film Judwaa 2is all about.

David Dhawan’s direction is simple & uncomplicated despite handling a plot related to mistaken identities. However, at some places, he lets the somewhat flawed script take over and doesn’t do much with his direction to salvage the situation. Also, the original Judwaa was much better and at places, even slightly more logical. But Judwaa 2 is an all – out illogical fare and at places, it falters. Moreover, there are too many characters and it’s bewildering to see the way he has handled the characters of Charles & Inspector Dhillon (Pavan Raj Malhotra) towards the end.

As said earlier Judwaa 2 is a reboot of the original Judwaa and those who have seen the original would know what to expect. However, the makers have tweaked certain portions and moreover, setting up the story in London has given the film a fresh & grand touch. The initial portions involving the twins getting separated and how Raja gets saved from the oncoming train is well executed. The entry of Raja is whistle worthy and his antics add to the fun. The entry of Samaira & Alishka also takes the film to a next level

However, the film gets a bit sexist and some of the scenes like the butt slapping sequences and Prem forcefully kissing Samaira might be seen as crass by a certain section of the audiences. Also, Prem even smooching his would be mother – in – law (Upasna Singh) comes across as a funny sequence but again, it will evoke mixed & even extreme reactions. On the positive side, the film has some hilarious scenes as well that bring the house down. The sequence with Pappu Passport (Johnny Lever), Raja creating a scene at the London airport, Prem’s varied meetings with Dr Lulla (Ali Asgar), the bathtub sequence et al, are quite funny. Raja using his modus operandi of narrating a sad story followed by his phone ringing is devoid of logic but makes for a fun watch despite getting repetitive. But there are also a few scenes that don’t work. Post – interval, it becomes tedious to see Prem & Raja being held up as a result of mistaken identity. But thankfully, the climax is where the film picks up.

The film’s story is a no – brainer but works for the intended audiences. Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay is effective & entertaining. But it could have been better and a lot more imaginative in certain places, especially in the 2nd half. Farhad – Sajid’s dialogues are one of the highpoints of Judwa 2. The duo is known for playing with words very well and has taken several films to great heights. Judwaa is no exception.

The music of the film is good but not great. The songs from the original Judwaa are the ones that work well like Chalti Hai Kya & Oonchi Hai Building. From the new songs, Suno Ganpati Bappa Morya works to an extent while Aa To Sahii is forgettable. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score however is very entertaining. The cunning tune used in the scenes of Charles will keep circling in one’s mind for some time for sure.

Ganesh Acharya & Bosco Martis’s choreography is eye -catching and one of the highlights of the film. Ayananka Bose’s cinematography is satisfactory. ANL Arasu’s action is massy and not too gory which works for this kind of a film. Ritesh Soni’s editing is simple & Rajat Poddar’s production design is very grand & rich and gives the film a great look. The costumes are also quite lovely, especially the ones worn by Jacqueline Fernandez & Taapsee Pannu.

Performance wise Varun Dhawan as expected delivers a terrific performance. The actor is in top form and the manner in which he ups the entertainment quotient with his quirks & dance moves is seen to be believed. He reminds one of Salman Khan & Govinda of the 90’s and the frenzy they created. In today’s times, Varun Dhawan is the only actor who’s doing such roles on screen and that’s a very big plus for him and for the film as well. Jacqueline Fernandez looks extremely gorgeous and performance – wise, she is fine. Taapsee Pannu however looks a bit out of place. She is not that glamorous and moreover, she seems to be in the Pink mode, talking like her character from that film. Vivan Bhatena looks dashing and does well in a supporting role. Sachin Khedekar & Prachee Shah Paandya are decent. Rajpal Yadav is hilarious and brings the house down in certain scenes. Upasna Singh goes overboard. Ali Asgar also is a bit over the top but it works for his character. Pavan Raj Malhotra has an interesting character but is not utilized well after a point. Anupam Kher is 1st – rate but Atul Parchure is strictly okay. Manoj Pahwa (Sharafat Ali) fails to raise laughs but Johny Lever is very funny. Rajat Rawail & Farhad (jewellery shop salesman) are okay while Vikas Verma (Rocky) gets no scope. Salman Khan is cool in his cameo. Though the writer should have tried being a little more imaginative for his cameo scene.

Tail Piece: On the whole, Judwaa 2, despite all the goofs, flaws & clichés, comes across as a decent paisa – vasool entertainer. At the Box – Office turnstiles, it has the potential to keep the cine goers happy as it is quite massy and audiences have been deprived of quality content since a long time.