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Movie Review: ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’ is a good costume drama which is good for at least one time watch

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The Huntsman Winters War

Producer: Joe Roth
Director: Cedric Nicolas – Troyan
Star Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Nick Frost, Sam Claflin, Rob Brydon & Jessica Chastain
Genre: Fantasy
Verdict: Ok

Plot: Freya the Ice Queen (Emily Blunt) brings her sister Ravenna (Charlize Theron) back to life, and the powerful evil siblings plan to conquer the Enchanted Forest. Only the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) and his secret lover Sara (Jessica Chastain) can stop them in this sequel continuing the inventive twist on the Snow White fable.

Aces: The Huntsman: Winter’s War a sequel to the Snow White fable has all glitter & gloss with all the apt production values intact. Besides Chris Hemsworth & Charlize Theron are impressive.

Minuses: Instead of a continuation of a fairy tale, this movie turns out to be more mysterious adventure in which every character dies and is instantly reborn. Intriguing & Unbelievable!!!

Last Word: Fairy tale sagas have its own fans, coupled with mystery & adventure The Huntsman: Winters War may have a slow start at the Box Office turnstiles but has chances of pick up in the long run.

Movie Review: ‘Fan’ is devoid of any entertainment value and may over all appeal only to die hard SRK fans

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fan

Banner: Yash Raj Films
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Director: Maneesh Sharma
Star Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Waluscha De Sousa, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Sayani Gupta, Deepika Amin & Yogendra Tiku
Music: Vishal – Shekhar & Andrea Guerilla

Director Maneesh Sharma has tackled a very sensitive subject of a so called superstar and his so called obsession for the superstar in his latest offering Fan. But he has certainly disappointed all the SRK fans with his so called convoulted plot. And both director Maneesh Sharma & screenplay writer Habib Faisal are solely responsible for this hotch potch scenario.

The scripted scenario of Fan narrates the story of Gaurav, an over – obsessive fan, whose life revolves around superstar Aryan. In his desire to meet his idol, Gaurav embarks on a journey to Mumbai. However, his interaction with the man he hero – worships & idolises But the superstar fails to meet his expectations. Resultantly, Gaurav decides to get nasty & malicious.

All said & done Fan may not be the most original piece of work as cine goers are bound to draw parallels with other films of this genre especially the Robert De Nero – Wesley Snipes Hollywood movie of the same name. Fan of course is not deviod of its share of flaws. The other minus point of Fan is that it is devoid of any entertainment value.

Performance wise SRK succeeds in holding his fort as an obssessively dangerous fan Gaurav, here too he shows more of his negative streaks as he had shown in Darr & Anjaam. He has just carried forward those roles. And as Aryan the real – life superstar he is just about ok. So if SRK is charming & believable as the superstar, he delivers a sterling performance as the fan with vengeance on his mind. While the other actors like Shriya Pilgaonkar, Sayani Gupta, Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tiku are really superb. On the other hand Waluscha De Sousa has simply been wasted. doesn’t get much scope.

An interview with distributor Shakeel Hashmi of Big Curtains Media

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Shakeel Hashmi

Shakeel Hashmi Of Big Curtains Media is no doubt a distributor par excellence, who certainly needs no special introduction in the distribution arena. He is already a well – known name in the distribution arena for having successfully distributed some of “The Best” films with panache. In fact he has the knack for selecting the right kind of films and then distributing it in the right chain of theatres in the right kind of territories preferred by the film makers. So it is but natural that producers queue up in his Big Curtain Media’s distribution office located in the suburbs and thereby really bank heavily for Shakeel Hashmi’s marketing, media partnering, promotional campaigns & distribution expertise.

First things first. How did you land up in the distribution arena and thereby firmly established your distribution firm Big Curtains Media?

My journey in Bollywood had kicked of more than half a decade ago. In that particular frame of time I was an event producer with well – known Television Channels like B4U, MTV et al. And one fine day a momentous thought struck me that why should not I start this lucrative business under my own flagship banner namely Big Curtains Media. And then I started marketing & promotion of films in my own individual capacity and gradually landed up in the distribution sphere too under the flagship banner of Big Curtains Media, which by now has firmly & deeply established its roots in Bollywood’s distribution arena and it has become a most successful name to be reckoned with.

What is the exact nature of operations of Big Curtains Media?

Through my firm Big Curtains Media I carefully select movies for marketing, promotional campaigns, media partnering & distribution too.

And then?

And then I function as per the needs & desires of the film maker, and the moment my film maker client is satisfied beyond imagination, I succeed in building up a strong rapport with them. I have a strong connections with at least more than a 1000 media websites for the promotional campaigns of my clients movies. Then I also have a good understanding with varied political, movies & musical Televison Channels and then market & promote my clients films according to the genre of their films. But distribution of a film is an altogether a different ball game and even reams & reams of papier mache would not be suffice to explain the varied tactics & strategies of a perfect nuance oriented distribution of a film.

How many films has Big Curtains media marketed in tow with its promotional campaigns, media partnering & distribution till this date?

I have performed different activities for different films as per their needs as mentioned above and till this date Big Curtains Media has been involved with films like Chutki Baja Ke – Drama, Siyaah – Horror, Jeet Lenge Jahan – Social, Chehra (The Unknown Mask) – Suspense Thriller, Wake Up India – Social, 18.11 – Romantic Drama, Guardians – Social Drama, Last Bencher’s -Social & Romantic (Hindi & English bilingual), Rang – E – Ishq Romantic Action Drama, The Shadow – Horror (Marathi), Gauraiya – Social, Final Match – Action, Everly – Action (Hindi & English bilingual) & Mumbai Central. And Big Curtain Media’s forthcoming release will be Luckhnowi Ishq.

And now as a parting shot tell us if you have any plans to enter into production & direction arena?

As a producer I have plans to produce 2 films in the nearest future namely the arrival of a soul. I mean Arrival & Soul. As for direction I have not given a thought as yet or rather I am not ready for it as yet but who knows in future I may take up the directional responsibilities too.

Movie Review: ‘Love Games’ promises to showcase story of modern relationships filled with lust, betrayal & lots of ‘love’

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Love-Games

Banner: Vishesh Films
Producer: Mahesh Bhatt & Mukesh
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Star Cast: Patralekha, Tara Alisha Berry & Gaurav Arora
& Hiten Tejwani
Music: Sangeet Haldipur & Siddharth Haldipur

The 2 mammoth camps namely the Bhatt camp & the T -Series camps have given an altogether different name to modern cinema namely that of erotica. And this genre of cinema has given rise to eroticism in its fullest glory with no holds barrier and then of course lustful sex is thrown in blatantly and beyond imagination. So much so that even the so called Censor Board officials are left speechless & tongue tied.

The scripted scenario of Love Games starts with the sexy Ramona Raichand (Patralekha) losing her husband in an accident. However, she is a sex addict and decides to find solace in the arms of her f*ck buddy Sameer Saxena aka Sam (Gaurav Arora). Sam, on the other hand, is a lonely, rich & spoilt son of a wealthy business tycoon. While sex, drugs & self -harm is his way of living, Sam, who consults a psychologist for his depressive state owing to a dark past, tries to find adventure in his life. Hence, he decides to accompany his sex buddy Ramona in ‘love games’. This game of infidelity is all about seducing happy couples and getting laid with them. Sam has to score the wife, while Ramona has to go for the husband and whoever gets laid first wins. And the loser will supply a week of cocaine to the winner! Amidst this game, things get serious when Sam falls in love with Alisha Asthana (Tara Alisha Berry), a doctor by profession but married to an abusive criminal lawyer Gaurav Asthana (Hiten Tejwani). Sam’s love for Alisha threatens his ‘friends with benefits’ sort of relation with Ramona and she starts losing her partner and in turn also her ambitions.

Director Vikram Bhatt needs no special introduction for his refined directorial prowess in all his past bold & dark films starting from franchise films like Murder, Jism, Hate Story and now Love Games in which once again his directorial prowess excels beyond limitations. No wonder cine goers may lap up Love Games as the film has ample love making scenes shot aesthetically. The plot, like other Bhatt films, explores the deep, the dark and the dangerous sides of humans with several twists and turns. That apart like all Bhatt camp films, music is the highlight of Love Games too.

Performance wise it is indeed Patralekha who walks away with all the honours in all the scenes with even a seasoned actor like Hiten Tejwani coming in a close second. While actors like Tara Alisha Berry & Gaurav Arora have lended their strongest support to the above mentioned 2 actors.

Tail Piece: Love Games promises to showcase another story of modern relationships filled with lust, betrayal & lots of ‘love’.

Pakistan film producers seek Bollywood ban

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Motion filed in Lahore High Court because Indian film industry’s influence is hurting local productions, producers say.

Rocky-Handsome

by Imran Khan, Al Jazeera

A group of Pakistani film producers and distributors has filed a motion in Lahore High Court seeking a ban on Bollywood films being shown in the country.

The distributors say Bollywood films are a threat to local productions.

In Pakistan, the studios and cinema houses are often owned by the same company that uses the proceeds from ticket sales to fund new films.

In recent years, going to the cinema has become more popular across Pakistan. Four years ago, there were only 12 screens in Lahore. Now, there are 32.

“There is a need for these [Bollywood] films if you want to save the Pakistani cinema industry,” Nadir Minhas, director of PAF cinema in Lahore, told Al Jazeera.

“If these films don’t come here, it will go back to being a niche industry.”

But the group seeking a court ban said that Bollywood films were keeping the audience from watching Pakistani films, which is hurting local producers and distributors financially.

“The government says that Pakistani cinema is growing but the industry is only growing in middle-class areas and the middle-class doesn’t watch Pakistani cinema,” Choudhry Kamran, a film distributor, said.

“Because of Bollywood, we can’t make new films. That’s why we want the films to be banned.”

Movie Review: ‘Rocky Handsome’ can be recommended only for die hard action movie lovers

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Rocky-Handsome

Producer: John Abraham (JA Entertainment)
Director: Nishikant Kamath
Star Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Baby Diya Chalwad, Nathalia Kaur, Nishikant Kamath

Director Nishikant Kamath has given good films earlier but sadly he disappoints cine goers with his latest mad caper violent offering Rocky Handsome, and pray why was he tempted to don a villainous avtar in his own directorial venture which is also very disappointing and one which is a very huge put off for the audiences.

The plotted scenario of Rocky Handsome kicks off an extremely silent Rocky (John Abraham) buying fishes & flowers. The very moment he smells the flowers, the film goes into a ‘flashback mode’ followed by the introduction of Rocky’s beautiful wife Rukshida Kabir Ahlawat (Shruti Hasan). When the movie is brought to the present day, a cute little girl by the name of Naomi (Baby Diya Chalwad) gets introduced. She is a frequent visitor to Rocky’s pawn shop. On one such visit, when she starts conversing with the ferocious looking Rocky, she confesses that all her friends call him as ‘Handsome’ and that, she has been deliberately told to stay away from him because ‘he had committed a crime’, something that her heart refuses to believe. As days pass by, she opens up about her dreaded life before Rocky. She confesses that her mother (Nathalia Kaur) is a hardcore drug addict who gets beaten up always by some men. The unsaid bond of friendship gradually increases between the 2 and Rocky becomes extremely protective about her. One fine day, when Rocky enters his shop, he becomes shell shocked to see that his shop has been broken into and that some men are driving away with Naomi in their captive. All of this leads to a deal that Rocky strikes with Naomi’s kidnappers Kevin (Nishikanth Kamath) and his psycho brother. As per the deal, Rocky should deliver a certain (drug) consignment to an assigned place, in return of the freedom of Naomi and her mother. And when Rocky lands up at the assigned place for the delivery, he realises that the police has cordoned the area. What follows after that is oodles and oodles of violence including many merciless killings and brutal murders all for a single reason. Amidst all this, the police department discovers Rocky’s past that shocks the daylights out of them.

Director Nishikant Kamath seems to have made Rocky Handsome only to please his money bags producer John Abraham and to further John’s hardcore action image and also tried to further showcase his non – existent talent. Both the actor John & the director Nishikant were highly inspired by a Korean film The Man From Nohere which the duo must have watched at least a 100 times to copy and make its frame by frame indianised version and wrongly titled it as Rocky Handsome but what one fails to understand is what was so handsome about the whole film. The only handsomest thing about Rocky Handsome is its mind blowing action sequence
but with a mind numbing overdose of it.

Performance wise the film clearly belongs too John Abraham, but seriously speaking he has failed to live up to the cine goers expectations. Finally Abraham Baba has proved that he is not at all better or rather worst than other past models turned wooden performers. Yet another disappointment comes from Nishikant Kamath himself, for his extremely forgettable villainous avatar. Shruti Hassan, in a very, very special appearance is just about ok. But it is certainly Baby Diya Chalwad who imparts a very heart touching performance.

Tail Piece: Rocky Handsome can be recommended for die hard action movie lovers but strictly at their own risk.

Movie Review: ‘Kapoor And Sons’ is a very sensitive, heart touching & heart warming film

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Alia-Bhatt-Sidharth-Fawad

Banner: Dharma Production
Producer: Karan Johar
Director: Shakun Batra
Star Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rajat Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rishi Kapoor et al

Shakun Batra, in his 1st ever directorial outing had delivered an impresssive film namely the Kareena Kapoor & Imran Khan starrer Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu regardless of its Box Office prospects at the turnstiles, and now in his latest directorial offering Kapoor And Sons he has come up with an extremely sensitive & heart touching film harping on the dysfunctionality of a nuclear family ties.

The well – knitted scripted scenario of Kapoor And Sons kicks off with a 90 year old Daadu (Rishi Kapoor) who is rehearsing his death sequence and suddenly gets a heart attack. His son Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) & daughter -in – law Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah) are forced to summon their 2 sons Rahul (Fawad Khan) & Arjun (Siddharth Malhotra). Rahul & Arjun are living a completely different life in London & New Jersey respectively. Rahul is the perfect son, mature, successful and an established writer and on the other hand Arjun works as a part time bartender who is struggling hard to make it big as a writer. Arjun is always over shadowed by his elder brother Rahul. Daadu is doing every bit to bring the family close. Harsh & Sunita whose marriage too has turned sour are also trying to rediscover love in their life. Here comes the entry of a cute & lively Tia (Alia Bhatt) who is also dealing with her past tragedy. Arjun & Tia’s friendship blossoms into love but Tia who kisses Arjun’s brother Rahul in a drunken state is scared of revealing this to Arjun. It is also revealed later that Rahul’s bestseller novel’s idea was similar to his younger brother Arjun. But Arjun never confronted Rahul as his mother had asked him not to do so. In the 2nd part there are some heart breaking revelations about the entire family. Rahul who portrays a perfect son is a gay. His life is not at all perfect. Harsh Kapoor is having a long time affair with his colleague. Arjun parted ways with Tia on learning about Tia’s & Rahul’s kissing incident. Sunita has a tussle with Harsh on learning about his affair. Harsh leaves the house in the heat of the moment. He meets with an accident and passes away. At the same time Arjun & Rahul have a tiff and it is revealed that Sunita gave Arjun’s novella’s script to Rahul in order to push his career to new heights. The entire family is now shattered beyond redemption.
Director Shakun Batra’s flawless directorial finesse is evident in the fact that he has made every actor to literally live up to their roles and Rishi Kapoor tops the list amongst all of them. Kudos also goes on a platter to Karan Johar for producing such a lovely film. Don’t miss some of the nicest comic punches. Besides cinematography is the main stay of Kapoor And Sons.

Performances wise after Rishi Kapoor’s par excellence act it is Pakistani heart throb Fawad Khan who walks away with an extraordinarily eye catching performance as a budding gay writer (Time to take a bow Karan Johar). Fawad Khan has really stunned one and all by portraying the hollowness of his gay oriented life very genuinely. That apart other actors like Rajat Kapoor & Ratna Pathak Shah are picture perfect in their respective roles. Siddharth Kapoor & Alia Bhatt are also good enough and have tried their level best to be the best.

Tail Piece: Kapoor And Sons is strongly recommended for one and all at least for a single viewing.

Movie Review: ‘Ki & Ka’ is an interesting fare catering to classy audience

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Producer: R. Balki, R. K. Damani, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala & Sunil Lulla
Director: R. Balki
Star Cast: Kareena Kapoor – Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapoor & Amitabh Bachchan & Jaya Bachchan (Sp App)
Music: Ilayaraja, Mithoon, Meet Bros & Anjjan.

Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Kabir Bansal (Arjun Kapoor) meet on a flight and after a few drinking spree Kabeer proposes to Kia and they get married. But there is a catch as Kia is a successful marketing woman who prefers being the man of the house and Kabir does nothing and prefers to be a house husband. And what this role reversal leads them to, forms the crux of the story.

Director R. Balki has taken up a novel idea of a young married couple contradicting the gender roles placed upon women and men in Indian society. Balki’s directorial treatment also deserves a special mention along with his technical crew namely the art director and music directors Ilyaraja, Mithoon, Meet Bros and Anjjan. Performance wise both the Kapoor’s Kareena and Arjun have excelled in their respective roles ably supported by Swaroop Sampat and Rajit Kapoor.

The bedroom and the smooching scenes galore between the lead couples which may not suit the Indian audience’s sensibilities.

Tail Piece: Although the central idea of Ki & Ka is appreciable its prospects at the Box office appears bleak. And one wonders where was the need to justify the role reversal idea by bringing in the Abhimaan movie angle by bringing in the Bachchan couple in cameo roles to stress the fact.

Movie Review: ‘Miss Teacher’ is a bold attempt and will be definitely liked by Gen X

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Producer: Sanjay Singh Singh Rajput & Rajesh Shukla
Director: Jay Prakkash
Star Cast: Rahul Sharma, Resham Thakkar, Parag Pondal, Priyanshu Singh, Randhir Singh Adi Irani & Komalika Chanda.
Genre: Psychological Drama
Verdict: AVERAGE

Plot: Tanvesh (Rahul Sharma) & Sehar (Rashmi Thakkar) are childhood friends and now in college their love blossoms. But very soon their joyous happiness comes to an end with the arrival of a new teacher Miss. Rose (Komalika Chanda) in the college. Rose in reality is suffering from a sexual disorder and after being left by her husband, she becomes a complete nymphomaniac after trying her hand at Lesbianism and then she starts seducing young college boys. And her latest victim is Tanvesh. When Tanvesh realises his mistake he tries to escape from her clutches. While Rose gets so frustrated on being rejected that she starts hooking up with a courier boy, a pizza delivery boy, a pot belied watchman and so on & so forth.

Aces: The bold subject of the film which is new to Hindi Cinema including the phone sex angle. Director Jay Prakkash has done a good job by bringing to light the ordeals of a nymphomaniac lady and the impact it has on society, especially Gen X. Komalalika Chanda has given a par excellence performance as a nymphomaniac lady. Amongst the rest of the cast Rahul Sharma stands out by giving delivering a restrained act. The other actors too have given a good account of themselves.

Minuses: Although there are a good number of steamy & sexually stimulating scenes, a lack of proper musical score & entertainment value may hamper the film.

Last Word: All in all Miss. Teacher is a youth centric film but it will be liked by the other age group too. So in the long run and with ample word of mouth publicity Miss. Teacher may do a real good business.

Movie Review: ‘Ek Yodha Shoorveer’, even in its dubbed, is literally like spectacular visual treat for cine goers

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Ek Yodha Shoorveer

Producer: Muvoz Creation & Glamour Still Presents
Director: Santosh Sivan
Star Cast: Prithviraj, Prabhu Dheva, Arya, Genelia D’Souza, Nithya Menon, Tabu, Amol Gupte, Alexx O Neal & Vidya Balan

Kelu (Prithviraj) wants to avenge his father’s death. His father is murdered by the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama. His personal fight transforms into a war against the Portuguese conquest of India. Ek Yodha Shoorveer is a simple story about unsung heroes who have got lost in the pages of our history books.

Santosh Sivan’s direction is flawlessly picture perfect and adding to the bonanza is the entire seasoned actor’s towering performance, barring Tabu of course, as she has been grossly wasted in one inane dance sequence. Besides the lush filled greenery of Kerala landscape is a visual treat to the eyes for which full credit goes to its cinematographer.

Incidentally speaking Ek Yodha Shoorveer is a dubbed version of Santosh Sivan’s earlier Malyalam superhit film named Urumi. But being dubbed in Hindi has lost just a little bit of its charm as its Hindi dubbing is not as picture perfect as Santosh Sivan’s directorial skills.

Tail Piece: The dubbed version may have a restricted appeal but the overall word of mouth publicity may work wonders for Ek Yodha Shoorveer.

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