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Movie Review: ‘Veerappan’ is one more damp squib film from the RGV camp which can be skipped easily

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veerappan

Producer: Ram Gopal Verma
Director: Ram Gopal Verma
Star Cast: Sandeep Bhardwaj, Sachiin J Joshi, Usha Jadhav, Lisa Ray et al
Music: Shaarib – Toshi & Jeet Ganguli

Director Ram Gopal Verma’s earlier claim to fame have been films like Satya, Sarkar, Rangeela et al. But alas! his directorial downfall started with mad capper films like Aag, Satya 2 et al. But now with a film like Veerappan he seems to have gone completely off his rockers. May be taking a little sabbatical from film making will be good for his health including the audiences & the critics too.

The plotted scenario of Veerappan starts off with the ruthless & the brutal killing of police officers in the dense jungles of Satyamangalam, situated in Southern India. This is followed by a narration of flashback of events by STF officer Kannan (Sachiin J Joshi), wherein he traces the past of Veerappan (Sandeep Bhardwaj) and the incidents that led him to become the most notorious criminal ever. The flashback states that Veerappan made his 1st killing when he was in his pre – teens. Once he tasted blood & money, there was no looking back for him. Despite being an illiterate, his sharp mind & meticulous planning could put anyone & everyone to shame, so much so that, even the combined police forces of Karnataka & Tamil Nadu always ended up being unsuccessful in nabbing him. Looking at the recurring gruesome & heartless killings, the sole purpose of Kannan’s life becomes to nab Veerappan by hook or by crook. During one such search operation, even though Kannan and his team become unsuccessful in nabbing Veerappan, they end up getting hold of his dutiful wife Muthulakshmi (Usha Jadhav). That’s when Kannan hatches a masterplan with Priya (Lisa Ray), who agrees to be a part of the plan, because Veerappan had killed her husband as well. As per the plan, Priya poses as a landlord of a big house, where Muthulakshmi is brought in as a tenant. Priya then, befriends her with her sweet talks & caring nature. As days pass by, Muthulakshmi falls for Priya’s sweet talks and gradually discloses the whereabouts of her husband Veerappan. Around that time, she also discloses many unknown facts about Veerappan’s life to Priya, who becomes shell shocked after knowing the bare facts.

Director Ram Gopal Varma while making Veerappan has clearly forgotten to include the long drawn out kidnapping episode of Kannada Cinema’s matinee idol Dr. Rajkumar maybe the inclusion of this thrilling & captivating scenario of almost 90 days would have made the film worth wathing to some extent. All said & done Ramu may have made one more damp squib film like Veerappan but the devil must be given his due credit as Veerappan excels in the technical department. So a special noteworthy mention goes to R. D. Tailang for his script, John Stewart Eduri for his background music, Aniket Khandagale for his cinematography & Anwar Ali for his editing.
Performance wise Sandeep Bharadwaj has delivered an excellent performance. His looks, behaviour & body language matches perfectly with the original Verrappan and he is really convincing & resounding like the real Veerappan. Sachiin J Joshi is superb in his role of an STF officer. Usha Jadhav is okay as Veerappan’s wife. Lisa Ray is convincing in her role of a journo.

Tail Piece: Veerappan is a violent film that may not cater to the niche audiences but it will prove to be a delight for the comman man who relishes such films.

Movie Review: ‘The Angry Birds Movie’ is a delightful fare ever seen before on the celluloid silver screen

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angry-birds-movie

Producers: John Cohen and Catherine Winder
Directors: Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly
Voice Over Artiste: Jason Sudekis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Kate Mckinnon, Bill Hader etc

In the 3D animated comedy, The Angry Birds Movie, we’ll finally find out why the birds are so angry. The movie takes us to an island populated entirely by happy, flightless birds -or almost entirely. In this paradise, Red (Jason Sudeikis), a bird with a temper problem, speedy Chuck (Josh Gad), and the volatile Bomb (Danny McBride) have always been outsiders. But when the island is visited by mysterious green piggies, it’s up to these unlikely outcasts to figure out what the pigs are up to.

The director duo Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly have really assembled a delightful fare for kids, youngsters and matured people.

With a movie as enjoyable as this it is very difficult to pin point a particular flaw.

It is a harmless kid’s tale that kids and adults can easily find humour in.

Movie Review: ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ is certainly not to be missed interesting fare

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Alice Through The Looking Glass

Producers: Tim Burton, Joe Roth, Suzanne Tod and Jennifer Todd
Director: James Bobin
Star Cast; Johnny Depp, Anne Hathway, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowaska, Micheal Sheen etc

After slipping through a mirror, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) finds herself back in Underland with the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Her friends tell her that the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) is depressed over the death of his family. Hoping to save his loved ones, Alice steals the Chronosphere from Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) to travel into the past. While there, she encounters the younger Hatter and the evil Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter)

Direction of James Bobbin is impressive but amongst the actors it is Sacha Baron Cohen who stands out with his superlative performance and the next in line performer is Mia Wasikowska in the title role of Alice.

This fantasy character of Alice has been rehashed time and again but all the sequels of this franchise lack something or the other.

It is a good visual treat for kids at the end of the summer vacation.

Movie Review: ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is a highly entertaining movie

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X-Men Apocalypse

Producer: Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer and Hutch Parker
Director: Bryan Singer
Star Cast: James McAvoy, Micheal Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byme, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn and Lucas Till

Since the dawn of civilization, Apocalypse was worshipped as a God. Apocalypse, the first and the most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X – Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants.

Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X – Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X – Men: Apocalypse yet another franchise and to his credit goes his slick direction. Besides all the actors powerful performance keeps the viewers glued to their seats.

Minuses: Some of the duelling scenes are far too dragging and boring. The movie can easily be scissored off at least by half an hour.

X – Men: Apocalypse is one more interesting addition to the super hero franchise which is not only interesting but also entertaining to the core.

Movie Review: ‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ is an interesting & realistic movie

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Buddha In A Traffic Jam

Producer: Vivek Agnihotri & Sharad Patel
Director: Vivek Agnihotri
Star Cast: Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Aanchal Dwivedi, Pallavi Joshi & Anupam Kher
Music: Rohit Sharma

Vivek Agnihotri has given many marvellous films in the past and Buddha In A Traffic Jam is one more interesting & realistic film from his camp which is now backed by dynamic & dashing producer namely Sharad Patel & a brigade of dozen other producers.

The plotted scenario of Buddha In A Traffic Jam starts off with Vikram Pandit (Arunoday Singh) who is a happy – go – lucky management student from a business school in India. Little does Vikram Pandit know that he was about to become a part of the plot that would risk his life & also the Nation. He gets entangled between the 2 facets of India namely socialism & capitalism, both of which are deeply rooted in the isolated corners of the country. Somewhere deep within the jungles, flagrant conspirators are gearing up to maim the country. Vikram Pandit’s internet campaigns pulls him into a very deep web of conspiracy. The film revolves around Vikram Pandit’s survival in the sinister designs of the establishment. It resolves the age long conflicts between socialism & capitalism and defines the much needed revolution for the contemporary India.

The autobiographical film Buddha In A Traffic Jam is loosely based on director Vivek Agnihotri’s life himself and gives a lot of insight into the nexus between the so called NGO’s & the Naxalites and how the Universities exploits its students to give the much needed momentum to the Naxalite moment.

The direction of Vivek Agnihotri and the par excellence act of all the actors like Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Aanchal Dwivedi, Pallavi Joshi & Anupam Kher are one of the major highlights of Buddha In A Traffic Jam. Beside the music of Rohit Sharma is apt in keeping up with the tempo of the film.

But there is one minor glitch in the film as it does not sound like a common man’s cup of tea as they may hardly relate to the subject at hand. Besides some of the so called bold scenes of the film in lieu with the blatant, in your face, cuss words may not be acceptable to some of the viewers.

Tail Piece: So all in all Buddha In A Traffic Jam is more of a film for the elite class and festival circuit audiences. But it may also have a good prospects at the Box Office turnstiles with sheer word of mouth publicity.

Movie Review: ‘One Night Stand’ is the kind of movie which may prove good only for one time viewing

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one-night-stand

Director: Jasmine Moses – D’Souza
Star Cast: Tanuj Virwani, Sunny Leone, Nyra Bannerjee, Ninad Kamath & Khalid Siddiqui
Music: Jeet Ganguly, Meet Bros, Tony Kakkar, Vivek Kar

Debutant director Jasmine Moses – D’Souza has really made a fairly decent & engaging
film in her debut directorial offering One Night Stand but sadly enough the loose script makes the proceedings dull and obviously the cine goers may loose Interest half way through.

The plotted scenario of One Night Stand kicks off with a flashback that’s being narrated by Urvil (Tanuj Virwani). It is the flashback and a series of events from his past that has defined his today. The flashback starts off with a fashion show organised by his event management agency. And after completing the event successfully, Urvil and his colleagues go drinking to celebrate. It is here that his friends challenge him to speak to a rank stranger (Sunny Leone) for a few thousand rupees. An attempt to win the bet gets him introduced to the stranger who, in turn, introduces herself as Celina. What follows after that, is unlimited liquor drinking by the 2 of them, which ultimately lands them up in bed together. But, the very next day, when Urvil gets up, he finds out that Celina has already left the room, without leaving any details of her whereabouts. And when Urvil comes back to his home in Pune, he is welcomed by his beautiful & dutiful wife Simran (Nyra Banerjee). Things are absolutely smooth between the couple, until one day Urvil accidentally spots Celina in the same mall wherein he has gone for shopping with his wife Simran. That very sight of Celina freshens up his ‘one night stand’ with her, which, in turn, gets translated into his desperation to meet her again. Thereafter begins his unending quest to hunt down Celina from the length & breadth of the world. Amidst all this, Urvil gets extremely busy with his company’s big – budget event of a product launch. It is here where he gets introduced to his rich client and his family, which takes the daylights out of Urvil.

Jasmine Moses – D’Souza has certainly presented Sunny Leone in a different avatar much away from her stereotyped image. If only she had paid more attention on the screenplay then One Night Stand would have turned out to be more interesting romantic thriller. That apart music proves to be the main USP of the film.

Performance wise it is refreshing to see Sunny Leone in an unusal role. She carries the film entirely on her dainty shoulders. She is charming & effortlessly acts out her role putting behind her sexy siren image. Tanuj Virwani is perfect in his role but struggles in a few scenes to get his expressions correct. Nyra Banerjee is totally natural while facing the camera and is a promising discovery. Other actors like Khalid Siddiqui & Ninad Kamath are good in their respective roles.

Tail Piece: All in all One Night Stand is a kind of film which may prove good only for one time viewing.

Movie Review: ‘Money Monster’ is a first rate spell binding movie

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Money Monster

Producers: Lara Alameddine, George Clooney, Daniel Dubieki & Grant Heslov
Director: Jodie Foster
Star Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancario Esposito etc.

The plotted scenario of Money Monster kick start with Lee Gates (George Clooney) who is a bombastic TV personality whose popular financial network show has made him the money wiz of Wall Street. But after he hawks a high tech stock that mysteriously crashes, an irate investor Jack Budwell (Jack O’ Connell) takes Gates, his crew, and his ace producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) hostage live on air. Unfolding in real time, Gates and Fenn must find a way to keep themselves alive while simultaneously uncovering the truth behind a tangle of big money lies.

This edge of the seat thriller really keeps you hooked from start to end mainly because of director Jodie Foster’s excellent directorial treatment in tandem with the par excellence performance of all its major actors like George Clooney, Julia Roberts and above all Jack O’Connell as the investor who takes the entire TV crew as hostage.

The plot is convincing but the entire drama of the TV crew being taken hostage that too when the show is live on air seems too far – fetched.

Money Monster is a kind of film that can be recommended to one an all. Go watch it.

Movie Review: ‘Traffic’ is a must watch film for one & all to encourage good cinema

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Traffic

Producer: Deepak Dhar, Sameer Gogate & Sameer Rajendran
Director: Late Rajesh Pillai
Star Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Amol Parashar, Vishal Singh, Parambrata Chatterjee, Divya Dutta & Sachin Khedekar

Traffic is a must watch film for one & all to encourage good cinema and also for the producer’s efforts to recreate such true stories. Traffic also seems to be loosely inspired by a Mexican film Amores Pores, besides it is also a remake of the late director Rajesh Pillai’s earlier Tamil & Malyalam film of the same name.

A freak bike & car accident in which a surgeon’s (Sachin Khedekar) son Rehan Ali (Vishal Singh) & his friend Rajeev (Amol Parashar) besides a superstar’s (Prosenjit Chatterjee) daughter are involved upsets many lives around them which include a traffic cop (Manoj Bajpayee) & a surgeon (Parambrata Chatterjee).

The late director Rajesh Pillai’s superb direction, the gripping script by Sanjay & Bobby and above all, the entire coterie of actor’s heart warming performances literally keeps you hooked as well as speechless.

Minuses: Traffic is based on a true story which flawlessly tells the story of how a person’s heart was transported from one city to another by road in just 150 minutes, so that it can be transplanted into a dying little girl.

Movie Review: ‘Santa Banta Pvt Ltd’ can easily be termed as the most senseless & boringly routine film

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Santa Banta Pvt Ltd

Director: Akashdeep Sabir
Star Cast: Boman Irani, Vir Das, Neha Dhupia, Lisa Haydon, Johnny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Ayub Khan et al
Music: Jaidev Kumar, Jassi Katyal & Nadeem -Amjad

Santa Singh & Banta Singh are the globally famed iconic characters just like the Hollywood characters Laurel & Hardy. But director Akashdeep Sabir in lieu with his writing team has made a complete mess of the lively characters of Santa & Banta. It is better to read a joke book on Santa & Banta rather than watching this completely messed up film Santa Banta Pvt Ltd.

The scripted scenario of Santa Banta Pvt Ltd starts off with the animated introduction of 2 best friends namely Santeshwar Singh Solad aka Santa (Boman Irani) & Banteshwar Singh Bolad aka Banta (Vir Das) leading their crazy but simple lives in Punjab. Meanwhile, in Fiji, the High Commissioner Shankar (Ayub Khan) suddenly gets kidnapped under mysterious circumstances, an incident that causes immense unrest amongst the RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) officials in India as well as in Fiji. The Indian RAW officials, then, plan to send 2 secret agents Santa & Banta in order to rescue Shankar. When the Indian RAW officer (Vijay Raaz) fails to track down the RAW assigned Santa & Banta, he gets petrified & scared. That’s when he bumps upon the Santa – Banta namesake in the form of Boman Irani & Vir Das. The duo, then, get transported to Fiji with the sole objective of tracing Shankar. When Santa -Banta reach Fiji, what happens after that is beyond their imagination. Out there, they land up meeting Shankar’s wife Kareena Roy (Neha Dhupia), Shankar’s best friend Sonu Sultan (Ram Kapoor) & also Fiji’s RAW agents Cutie (Lisa Haydon) & Akbar Illahabaadi (Sanjay Mishra) and the ‘gang’ of Kukri yielding Nepal’s No. 1 Don (Johnny Lever). After their initial hiccups while ‘investigating’ the case, one fine day Kareena Roy meets Santa & Banta and confesses that she has a strong feeling that her husband has not been kidnapped, but, he has gone underground on his own. In the meantime, Sonu Sultan discovers the truth about Santa & Banta and engages his henchmen to bump them off.

Once again we would like to say that director Akashdeep Sabir and his writing team have failed miserably or was this just a ploy to have an entertaining wining & dining holiday in Fiji at the expense of the producer, the financer & the cinegoers all rolled into one. The poor sufferers!

Performance wise only Boman Irani & Vir Das bring a very few moments of laughter in the entire dull & routine proceedings of the film. As for the heroines Neha Dhupia & Lisa Haydon, they are nothing better than glamour doll. While Boman Irani & Vir Das hold the fort throughout the film, the rest of the cast comprising of seasoned actors like
Johnny Lever, Ram Kapoor, Sanjay Mishra, Ayub Khan et al were so busy holidaying in Fiji that they have just sleep walked through the entire film.

Tail Piece: No more comments please but if you are still keen to see Santa Banta Pvt Ltd, do so at your own risk.

Movie Review: ‘Baaghi’ is more like an old wine packaged in a new bottle as it has nothing new to offer

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Baaghi

Director: Sabbir Khan
Star Cast: Tiger Shroff & Shraddha Kapoor.

The director (Sabbir Khan) – hero (Tiger Shroff) team of Heropanti is seen once again in Baaghi. But the magic this team created in Heropanti is seriously missing in Baaghi. Need anything more be said.

The scripted scenario of Baaghi starts off with the introduction of Ronny (Tiger Shroff) and the kidnapping of Sia (Shraddha Kapoor). Desperate for money for the treatment of a young boy, Ronny undertakes the task of getting back Sia from the clutches of the villainous Raghav (Sudheer Babu). As he boards the flight, the viewers are treated to a flashback of events that connects Ronny’s yesterday with his today. The flashback of events reflect the blooming love story between Ronny & Sia and how Sia’s money minded father (Sunil Grover) plays the villain in their love story and agrees to marry her off to Raghav, who lures him with oodles of money. Because of a certain misunderstanding between Ronny & Sia, their relationship goes for a toss. Ronny, meanwhile, at the behest of his late father Colonel Samarjeet Singh, unwillingly becomes the student in the Kerala based Academy Of Kalaripayattu, that’s run by Guruji (Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj). In due course of time, Guruji tames the wild & carefree Ronny into an extremely disciplined student… in other words, a rebel with a cause. But, when Guruji gets to know about his son Raghav’s plan of forcibly marrying Sia, he raises a strong objection. That’s when the emotionless Raghav kills his father. And when Ronny gets to know that Raghav, who has Sia as his captive, is also the one who killed Guruji, all hell breaks loose & Ronny becomes uncontrollable. But, the catch is that, in order to reach Raghav, Ronny has to tackle a battalion of henchmen because Raghav stays in the well protected ‘layered’ building, whose each floor is also the domain of his extremely well trained henchmen.

Director Sabbir Khan has seriously gone wrong this time around. Baaghi which ultimately turns out to be a poorest albeit xeroxed copy of the Hollywood film The Raid Redemption fails to hold the cinegoer’s interest. Even its action scenes based on Kalaripayattu, which could have been the highlight of the film, are routinely structured. Besides Sabbir Khan has conveniently forgotten to tie up many of loose ends and even some of the characters of the film seems to have got lost in the overall milieu.

Performance wise Tiger Shroff has acted well in his 2nd film especially in action sequences which really seems to be his strongest point and his real forte. Shraddha Kapoor though a fine actress just succeeds in lending an able support to Tiger Shroff. And the chemistry that he shares with Shraddha Kapoor is good enough. Sudheer Babu an actor from down south is one more addition to the villainous avatar in Bollywood. He makes a good debut. Sanjay Mishra is as usual good in comic parts. A special mention must be made of Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj for his unabashed & raw screen presence.

Tail Piece: Baaghi is more like an old wine packaged in a new bottle as it has nothing new to offer.

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