Shaheen Raaj

Movie Review: ‘Airlift’ is a heart warming & a heart touching emotional saga

January 23, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Nikhil Advani, Monisha Advani, Aruna Bhatia, Madhu G Bhojwani, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar & Vikram Malhotra
Director: Raja Krishna Menon
Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur, Feryna Wazheir, Inamulhaq, Lena, Prakash Belwadi, Kumud Mishra & Purab Kohli
Genre: War Thriller
Verdict: BLOCKBUSTER

Director Raja Krishna Menon has dabbled with humane stories in his 1st 2 outings namely Bus Yun Hi & Barah Anna and yet he had the guts to continue with his endeavor of emotional saga in his hat trick outing Airlift too. Besides producers Nikhil Advani, Monisha Advani, Aruna Bhatia, Madhu G Bhojwani, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar & Vikram Malhotra deserve plaudits for backing this offbeat film.

Plot: a Kuwait based businessman Ranjeet Katyal (Akshay Kumar), along with 2 noble souls Ibrahim (Purab Kohli) in Kuwait & an Indian officer (Kumud Mishra) in the Indian Ministry in New Delhi in lieu with his better half (Nimrat Kaur), carries out a biggest civil operation of evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Iraq – Kuwait war carried out during the reign of the evil Iraqi emperor Saddam Hussein. In 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait, leaving approx 1,70,000 Indians trapped. This is a true story of how Ranjit Katyal and India facilitate the largest human evacuation.

Aces: Firstly director Raja Krishnan Menon has surpassed his own par excellence directional skills considering his previous two offbeat ventures Bus Yun Hi & Barah Anna, secondly all the actors have delivered a very earnest, sincere, honest, enduring & realistic performance with Akshay Kumar (his life’s career best performance) leading the performer’s brigade and followed by Nimrat Kaur, Feryna Wazheir, Inamulhaq, Lena, Prakash Belwadi, Kumud Mishra & Purab Kohli (very sensitive act) and lastly all the technicians too deserves a special mention for their humanitarian efforts.

Minuses: The main problem is that for the common masses Airlift is devoid of any commercial trappings and even the only one belly dance number with a bevy of beautiful Iranian dancers seems out of place & out of context. Not to forget that the film moves ahead slowly with a few over repeated scenes.

Last Word: Airlift is one classy film well suited for the globe – trotting film festival circuit. And for its popularity amongst the Indian mass audiences it certainly needs a lot of encouragement.

Movie Review: ‘Wazir’ is one film that has gone terribly wrong in many aspects

January 21, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Director: Bejoy Nambiar
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Farhaan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari, Naseer Hussain, Manav Kaul & Neil Nitin Mukesh
Music: Shantanu Moitra, Advaita, Ankit Tiwari, Prashant Pillai, Gaurav Godkhindi, Rochak Kohli & Rohit Kulkarni

Director David oops sorry Bejoy Nambiar had displayed his poor directional skills in his last outing too namely David, which had come and disappeared in oblivion as it tanked on the box office turnstiles without a trace and the same seems to be the case of his latest outing Wazir.

The plotted scenario of Wazir gets kick started with a ‘musical introduction’ of the dynamic ATS officer Danish Ali (Farhan Akhtar), his wife Ruhaana (Aditi Rao Hydari) and their only child Noorie. One day, when Danish Ali is out with his family, his razor sharp eyes spot a dreaded terrorist Rameez (Naseer Husain). What follows after that is a series of chase sequences, which results in the sudden death of the innocent Noorie. Completely shattered by the death of his child, a mentally disturbed Danish Ali ends up ‘eliminating’ Rameez, which results in him being suspended from his service. Unable to bear the grief, one day, just as he is about to kill himself, there enters a chess champion named Panditji aka Omkar Nath Dhar (Amitabh Bachchan) in his life. He, then, teaches Danish Ali, the ‘similarities’ between the ‘game of life’ and the ‘game of chess’. Gradually, the 2 become the best of buddies and start spending time over drinks & chess. One fine day, Panditji reveals to Danish Ali that his daughter was murdered by the politician Yazaad Qureshi (Manav Kaul) and that he is waiting to take revenge for the same. Danish Ali then also joins Panditji in his battle against Yazaad Qureshi. As days pass, Danish Ali realizes that Yazaad Qureshi is not just a mere politician, but is more than what meets the eye. Just when Danish Ali plans to eliminate Yazaad Qureshi, Panditji gets ‘attacked’ by a certain mysterious villain named “Wazir” (Neil Nitin Mukesh).

Director Bejoy Nambiar should learn one important directional lesson that just having extremely talented & par excellence gifted actors like Amitabh Bachchan & Farhaan Akhtar is not enough to make a good & perfect film. The overall ingredients like the script, the music and other techinal aspects should also match the actors caliber which goes a long way in the success run rate of the film. So Mr. Beejoy Nambiar should 1st brush up his technically oriented directional skills including taking some fresh lessons in his favorite genre of filmmaking namely The thriller & the suspense genre. And at this juncture apart from the actors a due credit is also due for the technicians like Rohit Kulkarni for his impactful & effective background score & Sanu Varghese for his decent & soothing cinematography.

Performance wise Amitabh Bachchan as Panditiji, as usual delivers an outstandingly par excellence performance as a handicapped person out to seek revenge in a Chess game style using Farhaan Akhtar as a perfect pawn on his revenge oriented Chess Board. And Big B’s hand in glove partner Farhaan Akhtar as Danish Ali is too good to be true and has ended up delivering a flawless performance in lieu with his perfect mannerisms & body language of a tough cop and without the 2 of the most versatile actors of B – Town, Wazir is not even worth a one time watch. The next in line actor is Neil Nitin Mukesh who is a big let down in the chief villainous role mysteriously named “Wazir”. And above all the list of mercilessly wasted actor also includes the hunky beefcake actor John Abraham & the gorgeous actress Aditi Rao Hydari followed by other talented actors like Manav Kaul & Naseer Hussain.

Tail Piece: Frankly speaking Wazir may only appeal to the intelligentsia crowd. But it is certainly not a common man’s cup of refreshing tea.

Bigg Boss Season 9 is one big pre-planned drama

January 21, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Colors Channel’s most popular reality show Bigg Boss has mostly depended, in every season, on its over dramatically melodramatic & pre – planned albeit allegedly scripted controversial contents and many of the earlier contestants of the Bigg Boss show have revealed their opinionated version to the varied sources comprising of the members of the 4th estate but of course on condition of anonymity.

The latest prediction doing the rounds of Tinsel Town these days is that Mandana Karimi, one of the contestant of Bigg Boss Season 9, will be a sure shot winner of Bigg Boss Season 9. And this pre – planning was evidently clear when one by one & week after week all the strong contestants were eliminated nay evicted without any rhyme or reason like Kishwar Merchant, who was at least given a consolation prize of Rs 15 lakhs – so what if that particular amount will be finally & actually deducted from the original prize booty of Rs 50 lakhs, & Priya Thakker, who was already declared as one of the 1st contestants in the Top 5 category to get a Ticket to finale and this is to name just 2 contestants and they were all eliminated under the pretext of the allegedly rigged voting melodrama.

And to top it all the Queen of the small screen namely Balaji Head Honcho Ekta Kapoor too has jumped into the fray of the cess pool of Bigg Boss albeit not as a contestant but to blatantly, schemingly & allegedly promote her upcoming film Mastizaade’s heroine Mandana Karimi as the currently ongoing season of Bigg Boss Season 9’s winner. That apart Mastizaade also stars Tusshar Kapoor & Aftab Shivdasani and the film is releasing, a day before the Grand Finale of Bigg Boss Season 9 (23rd Jan, 2O16), and to be precise Mastizaade is releasing on 22nd Jan, 2016 and as predicted by one & all Mandana Karimi, and now please don’t ask Mandana Karimi who?, is alleged to be the ultimate winner in the rat race of this ongoing 9th season of Bigg Boss.

Any ways Mandana Karimi is all set or all set up to bag the crowning trophy of Bigg Boss Season 9. And now a few nuggets about Mandana Karimi, the latest sensational talk of or rather the toast of the town courtesy the Bigg Boss show. She is supposed to be one (inane) film old actress from Iran and now a protege nay a blue eyed girl of the Balaji Camp & Ekta Kapoor’s allegedly favorite Baby Doll. Not only this she is also the most favored & the most favorite person of Bigg Boss host Salman Khan who has left no stone unturned to blatantly albeit encouragingly promote her as a safe bet nay a winning target. And the timing to promote her through such a big platform of Colors Channel’s Bigg Boss could not have been more appropriately & perfectly timed coinciding with the release of her upcoming film Mastizaade.

Hold your breath the pre -planned Bigg Boss trophy & prize fixing, just like Cricket match fixing, drama does not end there or began there.

Since past one week the camouflaged Big Boss’ voice & Salman Khan had been giving a subtle albeit stern warning to Mandana Karimi that she may have to face a turbulent decision making week which may result in her ouster from the Bigg Boss house topped with dire consequences.

And of course their saying proved right when last Sun to be precise on 17th Jan, 2016, Ekta Kapoor’s alleged message nay an av courier boys Tusshar Kapoor & Aftab Shivdasani, both of them Madana Karimi’s co – star in Mastizaade, arrived on the Bigg Boss show on the alleged pretext to promote their film Mastizaade. Be that as it may be so after meeting Salman Khan the host they went straight into the Bigg Boss house and met Mandana Karimi in private and away from the other inmates informing her that Madame Ekta Kapoor was damn upset with her and she had also spoken to the media personnel alleging that Mandana Karimi had dishonored her contract with Balaji by not taking part in the promotional campaigns of Mastizaade. The newspaper clipping of which was already shown to Mandana Karimi by Bigg Boss just minutes ago. Then Ekta Kapoor’s av too was played on the Bigg Boss show in which Ekta Kapoor had directly addressed Mandana Karimi, “You have dishonoured the contract with Balaji by not taking part in the promotional campaigns of Mastizaade and the film is releasing next week. With my permission you had entered the Bigg Boss house just for 4 to 5 weeks but you are still here. So I order you to leave the Big Boss house immediately in fact right now or else you will have to face dire consequences. In fact my team of lawyers have already prepared a strong defamation case against you to the tune of Rs 50 crores if you do not leave the house right now.” Then Tusshar Kapoor & Aftab Shivdasani left Bigg Boss house assuring Mandana Karimi that they are always with her. After which Salman Khan appeared and told Mandana Karimi to take a proper decision and if she left the Big Boss house right then she will have to pay a heavy penalty to Bigg Boss.

And then the flip side of the most funny & the farcical part of the story is that Bigg Boss, Salman Khan, Balaji Queen Ekta Kapoor in tandem with Tusshar Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani et al couldn’t maintain the nail biting suspense oriented
moments before the 2 minutes of commercial break. And as soon as the commercial break was over one more av was run in the Bigg Boss house and once again Ekta Kapoor addressed Mandana Karimi directly and averred, “Don’t worry Mandana no need to leave the Big Boss house at least not now. You are the best & the strongest contest and I am sure you will be the winner.” So much of pre – confidence does not leave any room or scope for doubts as far as the alleged conspiratorial plan of the concerned parties to get Mandana Karimi declared as the winner of Bigg Boss Season 9 is concerned. And all the while all of them were having the last laugh. And even Mademoiselle Mandana Karimi was seen shedding the copious crocodile tears and in the very next scene she was seen laughing away to glory. And very soon just within a matter of 5 days she will be seen laughing all the way to the bank once she bags the crowning trophy of Bigg Boss Season 9 as predicted earlier.

Post Script: Incidentally speaking a tarot card reader named Monica was also summonmed in the Big Boss house on 20th Jan, 2016 to have a last minute interaction with the Top 5 contestants namely Rochelle, Rao, Keith Sequeira, Hrushab Sinha, Prince Nirala & Mandana Karimi. No prizes for guessing that the tarot card reader Monica too predicted Mandana Karimi’s name as a clear winner. And on the same day Keith Sequiera was also eliminated & evicted.

A little more analytical introspection at this juncture regarding Bigg Boss Season 9 will not be out of place. No doubt that over the years the small screen Colors Channel’s reality show Bigg Boss has become quite popular mainly because of its allegedly premeditated albeit scripted & purposely staged controversial elements.
And as usual Bigg Boss Season 9 too, is not devoid of these controversial elements.

In fact Bigg Boss season 9 has almost become too hot to handle. These time the onlookers & the audiences too felt that the contestants were almost imprisoned for 105 days in nothing but a torture chamber as they had to undergo grueling task after task under extreme circumstantial conditions.

Besides there were all the ingredients intact as always packed to the brim as in a celluloid silver screen commercial potboiler. So this time around too Bigg Boss Season 9 had everything in extreme measures. To start off with as usual there were romantic couples (Kishwar Merchant with her real life beau Suyash Rai, Rochelle Rao with her real life beau Keith Sequeira & of course the studs Prince Nirala & wild card entry Hrushab Sinha, man handling oops sorry getting flirtatiously passionate & cozy with each & every female inmates of Bigg Boss house. Besides as usual there was bitching & backbiting, backstabbing, slapping & kicking (Mandana Karimi blatantly kicking Kiswar Merchant under the pretext of doing a task and for which Kishwer Merchant had created a lot of noise – to name just one instance), jealousy, anger, betrayal, screaming, freely using cuss words (Beeped off later during the day to day telecast) et al and all the fireworks used to take place in a second under a slightest provocation. So you name it they had it. Yes even kissing on each others cheeks were doing a free round. So what next Mr. Bigg Boss? Will the next season also have bedroom scenes and fully enjoyable lip – lock smooching sessions?

This time too, there was the staple diet of slightly gayish characters and this time it was dress designer Kamli aka Kanwaljeet Singh who lasted in the Bigg Boss house for a brief phase topped with past contestant Imam Siddiqui who had re – entered the Big Boss house in the last weeks to test the remaining contestants regarding their eligibility to be the winner of “Ticket To Finale”. And then of course last but not the least as usual there were promotional campaigns galore of any Tom, Dick & Harry’s films with their usual quota of show off stars which also included Sonam Kapoor (She had entered the Bigg Boss house 3 times – may be preferential treatment as she happened to be the host Salman Khan’s co – star in Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo which also gave Salman Khan lots of chances to blow his own Sultani trumpet time & again) and then there was Akshay Kumar (who even ‘Airlift’ed one of the contestant) Priya Thakker out of the Big Boss house for eviction purpose.

And how can one forget the sensous & the sexual part of Big Boss Season 9. With the bare chested boys (A chosen few male contestants) jumping into the pool with the bikini babes (A chosen few female contestants) topped with Sunny Leone, showing off her curves in a tight illfitting dress, when she had come to promote one of her own film and all the above mentioned Double Trouble was taken to set the temperatures & the TRP’s soaring high, higher & highest.

So much more has happened in this season 9 of Bigg Boss Double Trouble that even reams & reams of papier -mache would be insuffice to recount everything in one go.

As a parting shot let us remind you once again that as of now there are 4 finalists in the rat race of the Grand Finale of Bigg Boss Double Trouble, to be held on Sat 23rd Jan, 2016, namely Hrushabh Sinha, Rochelle Rao, Prince Nirala & Mandana Karimi and we have already told you who will be the ultimate winner. Period!

Movie Review: ‘702 Dixits’ is a very predictable movie of the thriller genre

January 20, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Rohit Jail and Prashant Umbrani
Director: Shankh Rajyadhyaksha
Star Cast: Vijay Andalkar, Gauri Nigudkar, Pallavi Patil, Ruchi Jail and Vikram Gokhale
Genre: Thriller
Verdict: AVERAGE

Debutante director Shankh Rajyadhyaksha has tried his level best to come up with a perfect murder mystery, but the premise itself falls flat on its face.

Plot: 702 Dixit’s is a story about Dixit family members Kaavya Dixit & Yash Dixit and their daughter Reva, a young & happy couple with blooming careers. The Dixits get into a serious problem because of their house help / baby sitter Asha who had been recently hired to take care of Reva. Since all the circumstantial evidences point against Yash, he gets arrested and their perfect family life gets totally disturbed.

Aces: The overall look and presentation of the film as well as the good performances of Vijay Andalkar, Gauri Nigudkar and Pallavi Patil.

Minuses: Debutante director Shankh Rajyadhyaksha’s directorial treatment lacks much to be desired. And the scenario moving at snail’s speed tests your patience.

Last Word: All in all 702 Dixits is good enough for one watch.

Movie Review: ‘Friends’ is a very heart warming film based on the eternal concept of friendship

January 19, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Sanjay Kelapure, R Madhesh, Prem Vyaas & Manish Chanda
Directer: R. Madhesh
Star Cast: Swapnil Joshi, Sachit Patil & Gauri Nalawade
Genre: Drama
Verdict: GOOD

One more South Indian director R. Madhesh has joined the Marathi film arena with his latest emotionally charged Marathi film Friends.

Plot: It is the story of two best friends Swapnil Joshi & Sachit Patil and their journey of friendship facing many ups & downs during their friendly journey. It’s a nostalgic trip too, down the memory lane. It is really heart touching to see one friend sacrificing even his love for the sake of friendship that too in the present times.

Aces: The heartfelt emotional performances of the 2 fine actors Swapnil Joshi & Sachit Patil, and one or two songs based on friendship & love a la the Big B & Dharmendra starrer Sholay.

Minuses: The plot itself is highly predictable and clichéd but it is director R. Madesh’s good directorial treatment which becomes a timely saving grace.

Last Word: Friends is an entertainingly musical film for families and Gen X from all walks of life.

Bhojpuri Films Roundup

January 18, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Rani Hum Ho Gaeeli Tohar To Go On The Floors In Feb 2016

Birajishri Balaji Art Films’ Rani Hum Ho Gaeeli Tohar is all set to go on the sets in Feb, 2016 with a regular shooting spell. The credits of the film are produced by Raja Ram Kanaujia, written & directed by Prakash Anand, music by Sahil, lyrics by Prakash Anand & Sagar, action by Pradip Khadka, choreography by Ashok -Mayank, cinematography by Ashwini Mishra & associate director is Satya Dubey. The film stars Babloo Rai, Alisha Rawat, Ram Mishra, Baleshwar Singh, Nagendra Yadav, Deepak Sinha, Sanjay Verma, Dharmendra Singh, Shama, Harish Gupta, T. N. Tripathi, Manoj Gupta, Glory & Ranu Pandey.

Mitwa Re Announced

Moti B. A. & M. Kumar Vairagi Art’s Production No. 2 now titled Mitwa Re has recently been announced. The credits of the film are produced by Mukesh Kumar Vairagi, written & directed by Prakash Anand. The star cast of the film are being finalized very soon. The film will mount the sets in Mar, 2016 with a regular shooting spell at different locales in UP & Thal Briksho (Nepal). Their maiden venture Prem Ke Bansuria is now ready for release.

Dildar Sajna Trailer Launched

The Trailer of Som Entertainment Presents’ Dildar Sajna has been launched this week by Web Music Company. The credits of the film are produced by Mukesh Jain, Om Singh & Santosh Pandey, directed by Radhendra Yadav, written by Anil Vishwakarma, executive produced by Gulab Shaikh, music by Chhote Baba, lyrics by Krishna Bedardi, Azad Singh & Suresh Sahani, cinematography by Pramod Pandey, choreography by Kanu Mukherjee, action by Dilip Yadav & editing by Govind Dubey. The film stars Arvind Akela Kallu, Nisha Dubey, Mohini Ghosh, Deepak Bhatiya, Dinesh Ray, Mehnaz Shroff, Deepu Mishra, Dwarika Pandey, Poonam Varma, Ramchandra Shah & Girish Sharma.

Dabangaai SS Film Factory’s Next Presentation

SS Film Factory Presents Shiv Shivam Entertainment’s Dabangaai’s 1st look & teaser is out this week on Factory’s facebook page and getting very good response on social sites. The credits of the film are producer by Vinod B. Singh, directed Samim Saiyad, story & lyrics by Bhrigu Brinda, music by Raj Sen, choreography by Feroz Khan & Kedar Subba, action by Heera Yadav, cinematography by Najir khan & Vijay R. Panday & editing by Alok Singh. The film stars Manoj R. Panday, Anjani Singh, Udhari Babu, Priya Sharma, Prity Singhaniya, Chandan – Nandan, Jaswant Kumar, Prem Dubey Seema Singh et al with special appearance by Anjana Singh.

Maee Ke Ancharwa Babuji Ke Dular Shooting Completed

The shooting of Brajraj Films Presents’ Maee Ke Ancharwa Babuji Ke Dular has been completed this week in Kushi Nagar, UP. The credits of the film are produced by Kamini Ben & Kannu Bhai Patel, directed by Shyam Charan Yadav, written by Ashok Dehati, music by Ashok Sinha, lyrics by Pyarelal Yadav Kaviji, Rajesh Mishra, Dhananjay Bhatt, Munna Dubey & Ashok Dehati, singers are Udit Narayan, Indu Sonali, Kalpna, Anamika Singh, Rupesh Mishra, Pamela Jain, Alok Kumar, Mohan Rathaud, cinematography by Sawant A. Kumar, action by Pradeep Khadka, choreography by Ashok – Mayank & Santosh Kumar, art by Gautam & editing by Prabhat Ojha. The film stars Babloo Rai, Ritu Singh, Kunal Singh, Anita Sahgal, Sanjay Pandey, Vinod Tiwari, Baleshwar Singh, Ram Mishra, Santosh Shrivastav, Dharmendra Singh, CP Bhatt, Gyan Singh, Satish Rai, Maqsood Alam, Suhani, Asha Chauhan, Pratibha Mishra, Payal Mishra, Saurabh Kumar, Shailesh Pandey, Rahul Kumar, Satyadev Yadav & Ketan Ojha.

Jitam Hum Pyarkebaaji 2nd Schedule Held In Gujarat

The 2nd shooting schedule of Laxmi Entertainment Productions Jitam Ham Pyarkebaaji has started on the eve of New Year 2016 at Sanjan in Gujarat. The credits of the film are produced by Sita Ram Chaurasiya & Nilesh Sakhiya, directed by Pradip R Sharma, music by Ashok Sinha, choreography by R. S. Murty, action by Heeralal Yadav & cinematography by Hemant K. Asthana. The film stars Anand Mishra, Archana Singh, Abhilasha, Ritu Pandey, Sanjay Verma, Heeralal Yadav, Dinesh Shrivastav, Madhuri Pandey, RosLaskan, Sanjana Silk, Robin et al.

Sarkar Raj DI Completed

J. Soharata Production & Dubey Films Sarkar Raj’s DI work has been completed. The film is presented by Maa Kela Devi. The credits of the film are produced by Jaswant Kumar & Arvind Dubey, directed by Arvind Chaube, music by Madhukar Anand, cinematography by Pramod Pandey, written by Manoj Kushwaha, action by Dilip Yadav & editing by Jitendra Singh Jitu. The film stars Pawan Singh, Monalisha, Supriya Pandey, Dinesh Thapa, Ayaz Khan, Jay Singh, Jaspindre Singh Jassi, Arvind Dubey, Anup Arora, Prakash Jais, Pushpa Shukla, Ram Shyam, Baal Govind, Dhiraj Tiwari, Sandeep Yadav, Ankur Tiwari, Aanara Gupta, Jaswant Kumar et al.

Aashiq Aawara Special Song Shot

Shreyesh Film’s upcoming movie Aashiq Aawara will release soon in this year. Recently the film has shot a special promotional song on Amrapali & Dineshlal Yadav “Nirahua”. The credits of the film are produced by Prem Ray, directed by Satish Jain, music by Rajesh – Rajnis, lyrics by Pyarlal Yadav, cinematography by Firoz Khan, line produced by Nilabh Tiwari, art by Anjani Tiwari, choreography by Kanu Mukherji, action by R. P. Yadav, editing by Santosh Harvade & production by Nishant Singh. The film stars Dineshlal Yadav “Nirahua”, Amrapli Dubey, Kajal Raghwani, Sanjay Pandey, Sushant Singh, Priya Singh, Shravani Goshwami, Ranjit Singh, Prakash Jais, Pradeep Sharma, Anup Arora & Shakela Majid.

Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet Audio Songs Released

Rahul Kapoor’s upcoming film Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet’s songs have been released their audio songs on youtube. The credits of the film are produced by Rahul Kapoor, directed by Ishtiyak Shaikh ‘Bunti’, written by Ashlam Shaikh, lyrics by Pyarelal Yadav & Azad Singh, music by Avinash Jha “Ghunghuru”, choreography by Pappu Khanna & Rikki Gupta, cinematography by Neetu Ekbal Singh & action by Dilip Yadav. The film stars Khesari Lal Yadav, Sweety Chabara, Brijesh Tripathi, Awdhesh Mishra, Pallavi Kohli, Anoop Arora, Neha Singh, Ayyaz Khan, Ujjer Khan, Raghav Modi & Kiran Yadav.

A Bad Man Babu Shooting Starts Next Month

Eastern Estate Films upcoming film A Bad Man Babu’s shooting will start from next month (Feb, 2016). The credits of the film are produced by Sanjeev Kumar, written & directed by Braj Bhushan, music by K. Ratnesh, lyrics by Mithilesh Singh & singers are Udit Narayan, Sadhna Sargam, Sudesh Bhosle, Indu Sonali & Kalpana. The film stars Rani Chatterji, Awdhesh Mishra, Pinku Shrivastav & Pushpa Verma.

Ballia K Dabangai Post Production Completed

SS Film Factory Presents & Shiv Shivam Entertainment’s Ballia K Dabangai’s post production has recently been completed. The lead role is played by Manoj R. Pandey. The credits of the film are produced by Vinod B. Singh, directed by Samim Saiyad, music by Raj Sen, written by Bhrigu Brinda, cinematography by Najir Khan & Vijay R. Panday, action by Heera Yadav & Bhuraj Shresth, editing by Alok Singh & post production by Satya Patwa. The film stars Manoj R. Pandey, Priya Sharma, Udhari Babu, Preeti Singhania, Jaswant Kumar, Seema Singh & Prem Dubey & Guest Artiste Anjana Singh & above all special thanks to Shahjahan Shaikh Ji.

Dabang Aashiq Editing Started

Dabang Aashiq made under the banner of actor Khesarilal Yadav & producer Abhimanyu Mittal’s Shivbaksh Film Productions’ editing has started. Khesarilal Yadav is in the lead role. The credits of the film are directed by Manjul Thakur, Produced by Abhimanyu Mittal, co – produced by P. D. Mittal, written Sitaram, screenplay & dialogues by Manoj Kushwaha, music by Avinash Jha “Gungaroo”, singers are Azad Singh, Pyarelal Yadav & Dinesh Chakravarthy, choreography by Kanu Mukherjee, cinematography by Surya Prakash & action by Heera Yadav. The film stars
Khesarilal Yadav, Kajal Raghwani, Anjana Singh, Sanjay Pandey, Manoj Tiger, Vinod Mishra, Ajay Rai, Ayaz Khan & Gopal Rai.

Censor Board reduced to a rubber stamp

January 18, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Rapid developments in the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) are clearly indicative of big changes to come in censorship policies. For now, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has taken direct charge of certification and is ensuring that no producer’s film is subjected to radical or even nominal cuts. Apparently disgruntled producers have now taken the Information & Broadcasting route to bypass the censor board. Many producers of films with objectionable content like Mastizaade, Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 & something called Miss Teacher which is a graphic story of a nymphomaniac teacher, have all been cleared due to the direct intervention of the Information & Broadcasting ministry, as the producers of the above films “complained” to the Information & Broadcasting ministry when the Censor Board of Film Certificate asked for cuts in the lurid & obscene content. These films were passed after the Information & Broadcasting ministry’s direct intervention. The Censor Board of Film Certificate has been told not to cut scenes or dialogues in these films. And now more & more filmmakers are running to the Information & Broadcasting ministry with complaints against Censor Board of Film Certificate’s cuts and getting them restored. The Censor Board of Film Certificate finds itself reduced to a helpless pawn. Censor Board had issued 34 cuts in Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 along with a tag of an ‘A’ certificate.

While it’s an obvious decision to issue an ‘A’ certificate to India’s 1st porn – com Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3, it isn’t surprising to see the Censor Board take a step further and issue a few more cuts besides the certification. Keeping in mind the stringent rules of the board, the censor authorities have chopped off 34 scenes from the film terming them to be vulgar or obscene for adults. Words like ‘orgasm’, a scene of a woman shaking her breasts have been deleted, the name ‘Horny Singh’ is replaced with Mickey Singh, an orgasmic scene is chopped down from 30 seconds to 8 seconds are some of the changes that audiences will witness when the film is released on the celluloid silver screen. In fact, a major portion from the song ‘Oh Boy’ has also been asked to be deleted as the censors believe that the dance steps indicate masturbation. Also, one of the popularly known films Kick which was named as Dick (a spoof used as a porn film in Kya Kool Hain Hum 3) has now been renamed to Lick. Produced by Balaji Motion Pictures & ALT Entertainment, and directed by Umesh Ghadge, Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 stars Tusshar Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani, Mandana Karimi, Giselle Thakral amongst others. The film is slated to release on 22nd Jan, 2016.

Kamal Haasan To Join Shyam Benegal On Special Censor Committee

Earlier this month, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry had appointed a special committee headed by the filmmaker Shyam Benegal, to suggest measures to help the Censor Board members understand the nuances of film certification. The latest news on this front is that actor – filmmaker Kamal Haasan will also be joining the committee. Apparently, this addition comes after the Ministry felt that more regions of the country should be given representation on the panel, suggesting that along with Hassan, directors Shaji Karun & Gautam Ghosh should also be included on it. Once appointed the trio will join the other members of the committee that includes filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, adman Piyush Pandey & film journalist Bhawana Somayaa.

Movie Review: ‘Shashan’ is a clichéd fare

January 16, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Shekhar Pathak
Director: Gajendra Ahire
Star Cast: Makarand Anaspure, Bharat Jadhav, Jitendra Joshi, Manava Naik, Siddharth Jadhav, Vrinda Gajendra, Aditi Bhagwat, Vikram Gokhle, Sudhir Dalvi, Nagesh Bhosle, Milind Shinde, Anjali Walsangkar, Amey Dhare, Ravindra Berde, Jayant Savarkar, Dr. Shriram Lagoo, Mohan Joshi and Kiran Karmarkar
Genre: Drama
Verdict: AVERAGE

Director Gajendra Ahire is known more for his offbeat style of filmmaking and in his latest outing Shashan he has also succeeded in creating a casting coup of sorts. So Shashan happens to be a multi starer.

Plot: Based on the backdrop of a dying factory, the film revolves around the game of politics that is being played and how everyone involves gets entangled in this game. How an upcoming young union leader uses this situation to fulfil his ambition of becoming a political bigwig is showcased in Shashan.

Aces: All the seasoned actors have left a lasting impact on screen so what if most of them have ended up appearing in miniscule roles, including the most revered actor Dr. Shreeram Lagoo. But a special mention must be made of Makarand Anaspure, Bharat Jadhav, Jitendra Joshi, Manava Naik & Aditi Bhagwat for their effortless act. That apart hats off to a debutante non – Marathi producer like Shekhar Pathak for backing this expensively off beat film.

Minuses: The screenplay is all jumbled up with randomly disconnected shots topped with too many politically oriented sub plots.

Last Word: Fans of the above mentioned stars will patronise Shashan otherwise its chances at the box office turnstiles seems bleak with as many as 5 Marathi films releasing this week.

Movie Review: ‘The Hateful Eight’ borders mainly on the scenario of mindless and meaningless violence

January 15, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producers: Richard N Gladstein, Shanon Mclntosh & Stacey Sher
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Star Cast: Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demien Bichir, Tim Roth, Micheal Madsen, Bruce Dern etc
Genre: Mystery
Verdict: AVERAGE

Director Quentin Tarantino of Pulp Fiction fame does not need any special introduction. His films are mostly based on non – linear story lines, satirical subject matter and above all aesthetic nay mindless violence. So his latest film The Hateful Eight is no exception.

Plot: Set 12 years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth and his fugitive Daisy Domergue, race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter 2 strangers: Major Marquis Warren, a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix, a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. And thence begins the scenario of mindless and meaningless violence.

Aces: The powerfully riveting performance of stalwart actors Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demien Bichir, Tim Roth, Micheal Madsen and Bruce Dern. What holds you is the presentation of the film revealed in 5 varied chapters which raises your anxiety and curiosity level. This is Quentin’s 8th film and a sequel of his 7th film Django Unchained.

Minuses: Too much of gruesome blood and gore with characters being shot dead at close range in every single reel of the 5 chapters.

Last Word: Recommended only for persons who are die – hard fans of adventure and mystery, but certainly not for the weak hearted persons. Period!

Movie Review: ‘Chalk N Duster’ is an eye opener & a meaningful fare

January 15, 2016 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Amin Surani
Director: Jayant Gilatar
Star Cast: Shabana Azmi, Juhi Chawla, Divya Dutta, Upasna Singh, Girish Karnad, Zarina Wahab, Sameer Soni, Aarya Babbar, Gavie Chahal, Naveen Sharma, Adi Irani, Rishi Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Richa Chaddha, Akshita Arora & Kabir Arora
Genre: Drama
Verdict: Good

Director Jayant Gilatar has paid a well – deserved tribute to the most neglected and almost forgotten tribe namely the TEACHERS, in his latest outing Chalk N Duster.

Plot: Chalk N Duster is all about teacher & student’s communication. It highlights the problem of teachers & students where teaching way in the education system is changing day by day. In fact the film is an emotional journey of two teachers Vidya (Shabana Azmi) and Jyoti (Juhi Chawla), serving at a Mumbai based high school. Their passion and love for teaching, bonds them in a special relationship with their students. Their gratification is good grades and moral values which they strive to impart to students. However, in an evil turn of events, a wicked lady, Kamini (Divya Dutta) gets appointed as the principal, thus changing the fate of the administration.

Aces: Seasoned actors like Shabana Azmi & Juhi Chawla’s par excellence performance. Other senior actors like Girish Karnad, Upasna Singh, Zarina Wahab, Sameer Soni,
Aarya Babbar etc also leave an impact, but it is Divya Dutta in her vampish avatar who deserves a noteworthy mention. Watch out for the nail biting climax a la Slumdog Millionare. And lastly kudos to producer Amin Surani and director Jayant Gilatar for making a meaningful film like Chalk N Duster.

Minuses: The slow space of the movie and more than one unwanted scenes and characters.

Last Word: The film will pick up in the multiplexes as well as the single theatre’s mainly by word of mouth publicity.