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Movie Review: ’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’ is a thoroughly enjoyable spectacular film

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13-hours-the-secret-soldiers-of-benghazi

Producers: Micheal Bay & Erwin Shroff
Director: Micheal Bay
Star Cast: James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Max Martini, Domnic Fumusa, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Toby Stephens & Freddie Stroma
Genre: Action Adventure
Verdict: GOOD

Plot: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi follows 6 men as they are tasked with going to Benghazi to protect the men serving. Against all odds and against their jurisdiction, they must flee their site when an attack begins. After an American Ambassador is killed at a US compound, this crew tries to figure out exactly what is going on, while trying to stay alive and protect their people.

Aces: Directorially and even content wise the film is very strong plus all the 6 actors playing the main lead are very competent in the task given to them. They do look like perfect soldiers.

Minuses: Some of the war scenes are too tedious and oft repeated.

Last Word: This is one of the good war films seen in recent times and also better than watching not so inspiring films like Transformers et al.

Movie Review: ‘London Has Fallen’, which has action unlimited, is a must watch for one & all

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london-has-fallen

Producers: Gerard Butler, Mark Gill Danny Lerner, Matt O’Toole, Alan Siegel & Les Weldon
Director: Babak Najafi
Star Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Moni Aboutboul, Angela Bassett, Robert Foster, Melissa Leo & Radha Mitchell
Genre: Action Adventure
Verdict: GOOD

Plot: London Has Fallen is the sequel to the worldwide smash-hit Olympus Has Fallen. The story begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the western world. However, what starts out as the most protected event on Earth turns into a deadly plot to kill the world’s most powerful leaders, devastate every known landmark in the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only 3 people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart), his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI – 6 agents who rightly trusts no one.

Aces: Director Babak Najafi has maintained the suspense and the tempo of the film with some witty one – liners thrown in. Amongst the brigade of the actors Gerard Butler (who also doubles up as one of the producers) & Aaron Eckhart lend some credibility to the movie. But pray what was an acclaimed actor like Morgan Freeman doing in this part of London.

Minuses: Not much of a plot to follow, but it really doesn’t need one. Anyways the end result is that London Has Fallen is almost like a run – of – the – mill action fare.

Last Word: This entire trip to London is enjoyable to some extent. So don’t get your hopes too high and you won’t be terribly disappointed.

Movie Review: All in all ‘Sarpanch Bhagirath’ is a meaningful fare

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Sarpanch Bhagirath

Producer: Shivkumar Lad
Director: Ramdass Phutane
Star Cast: Upendra Limaye, Veena Jamkar, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Kishore Kadam, Swarangi Marathe, Savita Malpekar, Jaimala Inaamdar, Vijay Joshi, Mira Umap, Vasant Avsarikar, Uday Lagu, Anand Panse & Jaywant Wadkar
Genre: Social Drama
Verdict: AVERAGE

Plot: Sarpanch Bhagirath tells the story of Rahi Girme and Bhagirath Girme, the OBC village headman. And also of the 6000 plus castes of this country and one of the millions of voters who are tangled in the caste system. God – The Almighty has created only two genders, xx and xy. But man has created a 3rd gender called ‘caste’. And Sarpanch Bhagirath raises a pertinent question as to who will abort that.

Aces: The thoughtful intention behind making this film is laudable and the director Ramdass Phutane and his entire coterie of actors too deserve a special praise for doing justice to their roles to best of their ability.

Minuses: Too many subplots like the caste problems, the reservation problems in lieu with the OBC grievances mar the flow of the movie. And music too is another distraction.

Last Word: Sarpanch Bhagirath is a film meant for the rural masses. Single theatre audiences may appreciate the movie but it is certainly not a film for the multiplex audiences.

Movie Review: ‘Jai Gangaajal’ is a gripping thriller which as a mass appeal

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Jai Gangaajal

Producer: Prakash Jha
Director: Prakash Jha
Star Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Jha, Manav Kaul, Rahul Bhat, Ninad Kamat, Jagat Singh, Murli Sharma, Vega Tamotia, Sambit Samal, Queen Harish, Mikhail Yawalkar & Master Ayush Mahesh Khedekar
Music: Salim – Suleiman

Director Prakash Jha has made many milestone movies in his career but since the release of his film Gangaajal he has concentrated on hinterland themes. Even in Jai Gangajal he revisits the place, but this time his focus is mainly on the relationship between the society and the police.

The plotted scenario of Jai Gangajal opens with the corrupt cop B. N. Singh (Prakash Jha) and his nexus with the local MLA Babloo Panday (Manav Kaul) and his wily brother Dablu Pandey (Ninad Kamat) followed by the local henchmen Munna Mardani (Murli Sharma). At this juncture Abha Mathur (Priyanka Chopra) is appointed as the 1st female SP of Bankipur district, Madhya Pradesh. Abha then decides to weed out the rampant corruption of Bankipur – Lakhisarai district, for this she goes against the local MLA Babloo Pandey and his entire coterie of henchmens.

Performance wise Jai Gangajal mainly revolves around the trio of B. N. Singh, Babloo Pandey & SP Abha Mathur. Prakash Jha in his debut acting role as a corrupt but reformed cop is picture perfect. And as a director too he has made a very gripping thriller which has a mass appeal. Manav Kaul as the local MLA has delivered a par excellence act. As for Priyanka Chopra as the 1st female SP is superb. Even the rest of the cast, comprising of Rahul Bhat, Ninad Kamat, Jagat Singh, Murli Sharma, Vega Tamotia, Sambit Samal, Queen Harish, Mikhail Yawalkar & Master Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, is adequate and helps in carrying the story forward.

But It is the excessive length of the movie and the routine musical score by Salim – Suleiman which proves to be a stumbling block.

Tail Piece: Facing no opposition in the coming week, Jai Gangaajal will surely prove to be a gaining proposition at the Box Office turnstiles.

Movie Review: ‘Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive’ is not at all worthy of its prequel

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Tere Bin Laden Dead Or Alive

Banner: Walkwater Media
Producers: Pooja Shetty Deora & Aarti Shetty
Director: Abhishek Sharma
Star Cast: Manish Paul, Sikander Kher, Pradhuman Singh, Mia Uyeda, Piyush Mishra, Sugandha Garg and above all President Obama
Music: Dhruv Dhalla

Writer-director Abhishek Sharma tried his level best to make a worthy sequel in Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive but has miserably failed to recreate the magic of its prequel Tere Bin Laden.

So this time, it’s operation ‘Osama Dead or Alive?’ Set against Osama Bin Laden’s mysterious death followed by counter reports claiming he is alive, stirring the biggest controversy in the world. The US wants to prove to the world that they shot him dead while Khalili (Piyush Mishra) the terrorist arms dealer wants the world to believe he is alive. In fact Tere Bin Laden – Dead or Alive is a whacky comical satire that misfires as it transpires in this desperate tug of war between US & the Terrorists. Stuck in this distressed crossfire is a budding Bollywood film director Sharma (Manish Paul) looking for a big break, gets hired by US agent David Chaddha (Sikander) on the pretext of making a Hollywood film on Osama using his doppelgänger Paddi Singh (Pradhuman Singh). The hidden motive is to shoot a fake tape to prove his death.

Director Abhishek Sharma has made a complete mess in trying to justify a sequel of a cult & iconic film like Tere Bin Laden. Truthfully speaking Tere Bin Laden was and still is one of the “Best Films” to have been made in the last decade. Nothing but nothing seems to work in favour of Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive. Even the gags are forced down the audiences gullet. Which in turn hardly raises a full throated laughter. Need I say anything more.

Performance wise Pradhuman Singh turns out to be the biggest disappointment of all. Manish Paul’s (as himself) satirical comic attempt is laudable at times. Sikandar Kher unfortunately could not deliver the goods at all that too when he had the opportunity to enact a dual role. Ali Zafar in a cameo is hardly impressive or rather totally wasted to say the least. The extended cameo of President Obama was totally uncalled for and should have been dispensed with.

Tail Piece: Its safe to give miss to a lacklustre film like Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive. In fact it will be better to watch the DVD of the prequel Tere Bin Laden. And if you are still curious to know what happens in the sequel Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive then wait for its global premiere on the small screen.

Movie Review: ‘Neerja’ is an emotional biopic which leaves you teary eyed towards the end

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neerja-movie

Banner: Fox Star Studios
Producers: Atul Kasbekar, Shanti Sivaram Maini, Bling Unplugged & Fox Star Studios
Director: Ram Madhvani
Star Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Shekhar Ravjiani, Kavi Shastri, Yogendra Tiku, Abrar Zahoor, Jim Sarbh, Ali Baldiwala, Vikrant Singta & Rehan Shaikh
Music: Vishal Khurana

Director Ram Madhwani in this latest offering Neerja has made a very heart touching and real life biopic on flight purser named Neerja Bhanot. The film revolves around the Libya backed Abu Nidal Organisation’s hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan on 5th Sept, 1986, specifically focusing on head purser Neerja Bhanot who thwarted the hijack attempt by preventing the plane from taking off, which resulted in the lives of 360 hostages being saved.

The plotted scenario of Neerja showcases her life’s journey and opens up with a 22 year old Neerja arriving late for a house party. A die – hard fan of Rajesh Khanna who remembers all his dialogues by heart. She was the youngest and the only girl in her family that had 2 brothers. Her parents Rama Bhanot & Harish Bhanot were her pillar who taught her not to lose hope, fight injustice with courage and to stand by what she believes in. Neerja loves her job but her mother was not excited about her job. 2 days before her birthday she boarded the plane as chief purser from Mumbai to New York via Karachi. As soon as the plane makes a halt at Karachi airport it is hijacked by the Libyan Terrorists. Neerja then cleverly informs the pilots and skilfully manipulates the terrorists and saves the passengers. She could have easily escaped but she chose humanity and sacrifices her life to save little kids. Even on her death bed her last message to her mother was, “Pushpa, I hate tears” which portrayed her bravery and her love for life. She was truly a courageous woman.

Director Ram Madhvani was perhaps lost in oblivion after his debut movie named Let’s Talk in 2002 had tanked miserably at the Box Office turnstiles. And now with his 2nd outing Neerja he makes a grand comeback. Needless to add that with Neerja he has proved his par excellence directorial prowess. Vishal Khurana’s soulful & soothing music is another highlight of the film.

Performance wise Sonam Kapoor in the title role of Neerja is simply terrific and beyond imagination. If only Neerja was her debut film. Once again it won’t be out of place to say that with Neerja, Sonam Kapoor has proved that indeed she too is the chip of the old block. Ironically speaking even her father Anil Kapoor could prove his histrionic versatility only after tucking in a couple of non -performing films under his belt. Shabana Azmi as usual is superb as Neerja Bhanot’s mother Rama Bhanot. She has literally lived the role. Yogendra Tiku as Neerja’s father is upto the mark. The music composer turned actor Shekhar Ravjiani does justice to his brief role. While the rest of the actor, also in their brief roles, like Kavi Shastri, Abrar Zahoor, Jim Sarbh, Ali Baldiwala, Vikrant Singta & Rehan Shaikh are adequate.

Tail Piece: Neerja is one film that should not be given a miss at any cost. In fact it’s a strongly recommended movie for one & all.

Movie Review: ‘Aligarh’ is a sensitive portrayal of a man who is fighting his inner & outer demons for his sexual orientation

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Aligarh

Banner: Eros Entertainment & Karma Pictures
Producers: Sunil Lulla & Shailesh R. Singh
Director: Hansal Mehta
Star Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Rajkummar Rao, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ishwak Singh, Nutan Surya, Divya Unny, Suman Vaidya & Master Devyansh Agnihotri

Director Hansal Mehta is known more for tackling themes which are more suited, or rather which are more often than not slotted, in the category of the middle of the road cinema. No doubt his kind of cinema wins a lot of critical acclaim topped with awards galore in global film fest circuit. Just like his latest offering Aligarh which got a standing ovation in Busan International Film Festival.

Aligarh’s plotted scenario starts off on the premises of Aligarh Muslim University, the very ‘Urdu dominated’ place where Professor Shrinivas Siras (Manoj Bajpayee) happens to teach Marathi to the students. The film gradually moves onto capturing the ‘intimate moments’ between Professor Shrinivas Siras and a rickshaw driver Irfan. The moment they get intimate with each other, 2 reporters (who claim to be from TV 100 channel) do a sting operation on the duo. As Siras & Irfan get caught in the act, Dr. Zuber Khan, Dr. Firoz Majid, Dr. Shadab Qureshi & Professor A. K. Murtuza from the university enter the room. Even though Dr. Shadab Qureshi (who also happens to be the college’s PRO) assures Siras that he will not leak his intimate video, yet he goes back on his words and tells the media all about the incident. The next day morning sees all the newspapers & channels screaming about Siras’ incident, which also results in a mob burning his effigies, human protests et al. All of this results in Professor Siras being suspended from the college and gets told to vacant the quarters within a week’s time. Meanwhile, a young & ‘fire in the belly’ journalist Deepu Sebastian (Rajkummar Rao) starts writing about the case arming himself with thorough investigation, because he feels that Siras is not guilty and could have been framed. Initially, Siras is reluctant to speak to Deepu about the incident because the latter is a journalist. But after a few meetings, Siras develops full faith in Deepu and he confides the whole incident that had taken place that night. While on one hand, Deepu goes all out to get justice for Siras, on the other hand, the court case against Siras only gets prolonged day after day. After days & days of struggle, when Deepu finally succeeds in being the ‘agent of change’ for Siras to get justice, a drunk Siras tells Deepu on the phone that he strongly feels that he should get settled in US as that’s where people of his sexual orientation get accepted with open arms.

Director Hansal Mehta deserves a standing ovation, a heartfelt salutation coupled with some brownie points for his par excellence directorial prowess in Aligarh. That apart hats off to its producers Sunil Lulla & Shailesh R. Singh for backing Aligarh with all their sincerity & their integrity. That apart a round of another standing ovation also goes to behind the scenes team of Apurva Asrani for his story, screenplay & editing, Karan Kulkarni for his background music & Satya Rai Nagpaul for his cinematography.

Performance wise Manoj Bajpayee is simply outstanding. He excellently & effortlessly conveys the humiliation & the pain by straight away getting into the skin of his character, seriously no other actor could have stepped into his shoes. So much so that Aligarh adds yet another milestone in his chequered career innings. While on the other hand Rajkummar Rao proves yet again that he is no doubt a gifted actor in his own right. That apart the rest of the cast comprising of Ashish Vidhyarthi, Ishwak Singh, Nutan Surya, Divya Unny, Suman Vaidya & Master Devyansh Agnihotri
bring in their own value added performances to make the film reach its goal.

Tail Piece: Sadly enough even though Aligarh is a sensitive, heart-wrenching & heart warming film it may appeal to a very niche segment of the multiplex audiences. It has already proved to be a critics delight but may not attract the masses, mainly the commercial entertainment starved audiences of the single theatres. All in all Aligarh is one classy film that will not attract the mass audiences.

Movie Review: ‘Carol’ is a heart warming film based on Lesbianism

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Carol-movie

Producers: Elizabeth Karlsen, Stephen Woolley and Christine Vachon
Director: Todd Haynes
Star Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacey, Cory Micheal Smith, John Magaro and Carrie Brownstein
Genre: Drama
Verdict: GOOD

Todd Haynes is an American Independent film director, often identified with the New Queer Cinema movement of filmmaking that originated in the early 1990’s. His latest directorial outing Carol is based on Patricia Highsmith’s novella named “The Price Of Salt”.

Plot: In this adaptation of the novel “The Price of Salt” by Patricia Highsmith, Therese (Rooney Mara), a young department – store clerk in 1950’s Manhattan, meets Carol (Cate Blanchett), a beautiful older woman stuck in a depressing marriage of convenience. As their bond deepens and they become romantically involved, Carol finds the strength to leave her husband (Kyle Chandler). Unfortunately, her spouse starts to raise questions about her fitness as a mother when he realizes that Carol’s relationships with her best friend Therese is getting stronger day by day.

Aces: The scene stealers of Carol are definitely its two main actresses namely Cate Blanchett as Carol the older woman and Rooney Mara as Therese the younger woman. While the male actors Kyle Chandler as Carol’s husband and Jake Lacey, as the man in love with Therese, also shine in their brief roles under the deft direction of Todd Haynes.

Minuses: Some of the scenes are too tacky and literally sounds unconvincing.

Last Word: It’s raining films based on alternate sex, both in Bollywood and Hollywood. And believe me all such films like Aligarh based on Homosexuality, The Danish Girl based on the life of a transgender character and now Carol based on Lesbianism are some brilliantly made films.

Movie Review: ‘Babanchi Shala’ is a good experimental effort

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Babanchi-Shala

Producer: Vilas Mane and Umesh Nathani
Director: R Viraj
Star Cast: Sayaji Shinde, Shashank Shende, Aishwarya Narkar, Kamlesh Sawant, Chhaya Kadam, Aarti More, Kartik Chavan etc
Genre: Drama
Verdict: AVERAGE

Plot: Babaanchi Shaala is the story of a father and a daughter and how they are separated by fate when the father burns his wife in a fit of anger and when he is sentenced and sent to jail. Then the story focuses on the relationship between a jailor and the prison inmates and the how the jailor tries to bring a change between the relationship of the prison inmates and his relatives in tandem with the society at large who always has reservations of accepting these prisoners back into the normal life. So the jailor then tries to build a bridge between them by devising a project named Babaanchi Shala and when he fails to get the Government’s approval for his project the jailor sets out on his own to work on this novel project.

Aces: Kudos to director R Viraj and also to the 1st time producers namely Vilas Mane and Umesh Nathani for making such a meaning film and all the actors too, headed by Sayaji Shinde, deserves a special mention for trying to give off their best.

Minuses: The oft repeated scenes, the slow pace of the movie devoid of any commercial aspects may prove to be a hindrance in its smooth sailing at the Box office turnstiles.

Last Word: The Marathi audience used to routine commercial fare may not accept this experimental film which will be appreciated more in film festival circuit and garner awards galore.

Movie Review: ‘Gods of Egypt’ is a spectacularly entertaining movie

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GODS-OF-EGYPT

Producer: Basil Iwanyk & Alex Proyas
Director: Alex Proyas
Star Cast: Nikolaj Coster- Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Gerard Butler, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Chadwik Boseman, Rufus Sewell, Geofrey Rush and Bryan Brown
Verdict: GOOD
Genre: Action & Adventure

Alex Proyas a well – known Australian director has really made a mark, in his decade long career, with films like The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot and Knowing and now in his 6th outing Gods of Egypt he further asserts his directorial Prowess by taking up a semi – mythological history of the real to reel Gods of Egypt.

Plot: In this spectacular action – adventure inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt, the survival of mankind hangs in the balance as an unexpected mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) undertakes a thrilling journey to save the world and rescue his true love. In order to succeed, he must enlist the help of the powerful God Horus (Nikolaj Coster –Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless God of darkness, who has usurped Egypt’s throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict. As their breathtaking battle against Set and his henchmen takes them into the afterlife and across the heavens, both God and mortal must pass tests of courage and sacrifice if they hope to prevail in the epic final confrontation.

Aces: The performance of the trio of male brigade of actors like Nikolaj Coster – Waldau, Brenton Thwaites and Gerard Butler, the costumes and the special effects.

Minuses: Too many sub plots and some mindless action hampers the smooth flow of the film.

Last Word: Gods Of Egypt is an entertaining film from mythological, action and adventure point of view.

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