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

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Chalk N Duster

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.

Movie Review: ‘The Danish Girl’ is a heart touching movie

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The Danish Girl

Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anne Harrison, Gail Mutrux and Tom Hooper
Director: Tom Hooper
Star Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard etc
Genre: Drama
Verdict: VERY GOOD

Director Tom Hooper’s journey from the small screen to the big screen has been very unique as he always directed films of diversified themes. In his latest outing The Danish Girl he tackles a very sensitive real life story of the 1st ever sex change operation.

Plot: The Danish Girl is a remarkably sensitive love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe & Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer. With support from his loving wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) & artist Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) prepares to undergo one of the 1st ever sex – change operations.

Aces: The sterling performance of Eddie Redmayne as both artist Einar Wegener and then as a transformed Lili. He gets a good support from Alicia Vikander as Einar’s wife and Ben Whishaw who gets infatuated with Lili and above all Tom Hooper’s deft directorial treatment. One more plus point is that the Censors have been very liberal as the film does not peg itself on the hinges of titillation.

Minus: The main fault lies with the script which borders mainly on melodramatic elements and becomes saccharine.

Last Word: It’s a film made with good intentions which will appeal more to the classy & the global festival circuit audiences rather than the masses.

Movie Review: ‘Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure’ is a delightful fare for kids as well as grownups

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Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure

Producer: Sameer Jain
Director: Rajiv Chhilaka
Genre: Adventure
Verdict: GOOD

Director Rajiv Chhilaka is the creator of the animated character Chhota Bheem and in this individual series he has already come up with two movies namely Chhota Bheem And The Curse of Damayan (2012) & Chhota Bheem And The Throne Of Bali (2013) and now Chhota Bheem Himalayan Advanture.

Plot: Chhota Bheem stays in Dholakpur and one day he and his friends decide to go to Manali to play in the snow capped mountains. Over here Dhiru’s uncle teaches them skiing. On the other hand the Himalayan region’s king and his subjects are terrorised by a local dacoit Hidimbak. To get rid of this menace Chhota Bheem and his small coterie of skiing warriors decide to get rid of this menace forever.

Aces: The plus point of Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure is its Indianness with its simple conventional story. It’s thrilling and adventurous. Even the animation quality is far superior. The directorial treatment of Rajiv Chhilaka deserves a special mention.

Minuses: The contrived climax reflecting shades of commercial Hindi cinema in all its villainous glory.

Last Word: Chhota Bheem Himalayan Adventure will be lapped up by the kids as well as the grownups. Go for it.

Movie Review: ‘Daddy’s Home’ is a delightfully heartwarming family fare

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Daddys-Home

Producers: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy & John Morris
Director: Sean Anders
Star Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Scarlett Estevez,Owen Vaccaro et al.
Genre: Comedy
Verdict: Good

Director Sean Anders earlier 3 outings are That’s My Boy, We Are The Millers & Sex Drive, all comic capers. His 4th outing Daddy’s Home too, tackles a serious issue comically in a light hearted manner.

Plot; Brad Taggart (Will Ferrell) is a kind hearted radio executive who wants to be the best possible stepfather to his wife Sarah Mayron’s (Linda Cardellini) 2 children Megan Mayron & Dylan Mayron (Scarlett Estevez & Owen Vaccaro). When her freewheeling ex – husband Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) breezes back into town, Brad’s feeling of insecurity quickly develops into an inferiority complex. As Dusty demonstrates his flair for athletics, home repair & bad – boy charisma, Taggart finds himself in a no – holds – barred battle to one – up his rival and win the approval of his family.

Aces: The par excellence performance and the well orchestrated chemistry of stalwarts like Will Farrell & Mark Wahlberg, the composed act of Linda Cardellini and the two adorable kids (Scarlett Estevez & Owen Vaccaro).

Minuses: Daddy’s home is too predictable besides the gags sometimes seem too forced to be truly enjoyable.

Last Word: All said & done Daddy’s Home is a good entertaining wintery weekend for the whole family.

Movie Review: All said & done Pointbreak is slightly disappointing

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pointbreak

Producers: John Baldechi, Broderick Johnson, Cristopher Taylor, David Valdes, Kurt Wimmer & Andrew A. Kosove
Director: Ericson Core
Star Cast: Luke Bracey, Edgar Ramirez, Judah Lewis, Teresa Palmer, Ray Winstone, Nikolai Kinski, Tobias Santlemann, Bojesse Christophe, Delroy Lindo et al
Genre: Action Thriller
Verdict: AVERAGE

The current release Pointbreak in 3D is the remake of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 film of the same name starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swazye. Cinematographer turned Director Ericson Core has made a good adventure thriller in Pointbreak. Yet the cinematographer Ericson Core overrides the director Ericson core.

Plot: An undercover cop makes his way into a scene of bank – robbing extreme – sports athletes. Johnny Utah ‘the Osaki 8’ is named after Ono Osaki, an eco – warrior who challenged the extreme sports world to a series of eight ordeals that honours the forces of nature. The challenge is to create a perfect line when completing the trials. Although Johnny Utah claims it is a path to enlightenment, Bodhi says that Ono Osaki was more interested in balance than enlightenment and he and the others in his group appear to want to use the teaching for liberating rather than material gain, even though it involves criminal activity.

Aces: The outstanding performances of Luke Bracey and Edgar Ramirez, the mind blowing action sequences and above all the brilliant cinematography of Ericson Core.

Minuses: Sadly enough this Pointbreak is no match or not even a patch on the original Pointbreak. Maybe director Ericson Core intended to create some kind of ultra mega action movie but ends up failing to live up to the audiences expectations.

Last Word: Pointbreak lacks the punch and it all ends up as a gimmick to showcase a Cola Commercial. Period!

Movie Review: ‘Monster Hunt’ is one of the most endearing and superb movie

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Monster-Hunt

Producer: Bill Kong, Doris Tse & Yee Chung – Man
Director: Raman Hui
Star Cast: Bai Baihe, Elaine Jin, Jing Boran, Jiang Wu, Eric Sang
Genre: Adventure
Verdict: VERY GOOD

Raman Hui the animator of lovable movies like Shrek, antz and Madagascar fame now makes his feature debut with Monster Hunt, a $40 million live – action / animation hybrid fantasy movie.

Plot: Humans have been at war against monsters for generations, but after the birth of Woba, the last of the monster kings, an effort to bring the two races together begins in right earnest. So when a monster queen gives birth to a cute prince, the child faces an immediate threat from other fantastic creatures and the humans beings too, who hunt them.

Aces: In his debut movie Monster Hunt director Raman Hui has come up with a very endearing fare for people of all ages and from every walks of life. Besides its technical finesse, the movie Monster Hunt also has some smart performances from Chinese actors like Baihe, Elaine Jin, Jing Boran, Jiang Wu, Eric Sang etc.

Minuses: The war oriented plot between monsters of all shapes and sizes and human beings seems highly indigestible. At one point of time the human beings seems more interested in fine dining topped with the choicest wines and then at another point of time they are more interested in a fight to finish warfare with the monsters.

Last Word: Monster Hunt has regaled the Chinese people in a big way and now it is ready to regale the global audiences. So all in all Monster Hunt is certainly a not to be missed fare especially for the children as well as the teenagers. Period!

Movie Review: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ still has the force to keep the audiences spellbindingly hooked

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STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS

Producers: Bryan Burk, Katheleen Kennedy & J. J. Abrams
Director: J. J. Abrams
Star Cast: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupito Nyongo’s, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew & Max Van Sydow
Genre: Adventure
Verdict: Good

Director J. J. Abrams, of Star Trek and Mission Impossible fame, has now come on board to direct the latest offering of Star Wars franchise namely Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Which in fact also happens to be the 1st film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Plot: Almost three decades have elapsed since the destruction of the 2nd Death Star, Luke Skywalkar, the last Jedi, has disappeared. The 1st one has risen from the remains of the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to eliminate Luke and the Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by Luke’s sister, Leia Organa, opposes them while searching for Luke to enlist his aid.

Aces: Star: Wars: The force Awakens is the 7th sequel in the Star Wars franchise. In this sequel, the saga of Luke Skywalker continues and takes the viewers down the nostalgic lane at least for those who have stayed connected with Star Wars since the 1st galactic Star War was unleashed. While the principal actors performance has been consistent, the new ones leave a lot to be desired. Director J. J. Abrams too, lives up to the viewers highly hyped expectations.

Minuses: The million dollar question here is that what more new things can this franchise bring as it has tried and tested every available gimmicks of the galactic forces. The main weakness is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens seems more of a rehashed version of the earlier Star Wars saga. But the best part is that it never drags completely nor does it moves too quickly, thereby keeping the audiences interest sustained.

Last Word: Star Wars: The Force Awakens still has the force to keep the audiences spellbinding and hooked, so much so that it arouses the curiosity level of the new generation too. All in all a good X’MAS gift to spend your weekend with your family.

Movie Review: ‘Dilwale’ is a perfect family entertainer

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Dilwale

Banner: Red Chillies Entertainment & Rohit Shetty Productions
Producer: Gauri Khan
Director: Rohit Shetty
Star Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Varun Sharma, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Kabir Bedi, Chetna Pande, Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra, Mukesh Tripathi, Pankaj Tripathi, Nawab Khan & Shawar Ali
Music: Amar Mohile, Amitabh Bhattacharya & Pritam Chakraborty

The car modifier nay the car smasher director Rohit Shetty, after modifying Chennai Express also is now back with a big bang with his latest offering Dilwale. Audiences knows Rohit Shetty’s historic obsession with cars and smashing them to bits & pieces on their way to a junkyard. So much so that this time he has put SRK, in Dilwale, in his own real life role of a car modifier, but thankfully not a car smasher, who also mends everyone’s heart except his own broken heart. And this time the hit machine director Rohit Shetty has once again ganged up with SRK to deliver one more runaway hit.

This time around the scripted formulaic funda of Dilwale showcases Raj aka Kaali (Shah Rukh Khan), a don from Bulgaria, who now leads a changed life of a car modifier in Goa. His world revolves around his brother Veer (Varun Dhawan). Veer falls in love with Ishita (Kriti Sanon), who happens to be Meera’s (Kajol) sister. Raj & Meera’s paths had collided in the past, as lovers who ultimately break up & migrate from Bulgaria and unknowingly land up in Goa, and that becomes an obstacle for Veer & Ishita.

Rohit Shetty has worked up his magic wand this time around too. One again his directorial showpiece Dilwale may not be critics delight but the audiences of single theatres as well as multiplexes are simply going to lap it up. As in Dilwale Rohit has packed, to the brim, all the requisite commercial ingredients in ample doses. So its time to leave your brains behind, a la David Dhawan movies, and just freak out on the enjoyable entertainment recipe dished out by the Dilwale team. Rohit Shetty focuses on the love story yet again with SRK – Kajol & Varun Dhawan – Kriti Sanon, interspersed with comic elements with the combination of Varun Dhawan – Varun Sharma – Boman Irani – Johny Lever – Sanjay Mishra – Mukesh Tripathi – Pankaj Tripathi, and high -octane action drama perpetrated by none other than Vinod Khanna – Kabir Bedi – Nawab Khan -Shawar Ali. And the technical crew comprising of, Yunus Sajawal (Screenplay), Farhad – Sajid (Dialogues), Amar Mohile, Amitabh Bhattacharya & Pritam Chakraborty (Music – special gems being already popular numbers like “Gerua”, “Manma Emotion Jaage Re”, “Janam Janam” & “Tukur Tukur” which appears in the rolling credits in “The End”, Dudley (Cinematographer – The beautiful locales of Bulgaria & even the Goan ones have proved to be the real visual treats for the eyes), are excellently outstanding. One last thing the editing could have been more sharper & crisper.

Performance wise the film clearly belongs to Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol who have teamed up on the celluloid silver screen after a hiatus of half a decade, they were last seen together in My Name Is Khan. Indeed their charming aura is still intact and of course their on screen chemistry is one of the highlights of the movie Dilwale. And of course the devils must get their own share of due credit as both SRK & Kajol have delivered the niche oriented par excellence act as the young as well as the matured lovers whose love story collides in 2 different time zones. Varun Dhawan is outstanding in his overall act of romance, comedy & action. Varun Sharma is 1st rate in his out & out comic role as Varun Dhawan’s friend. He is a welcome addition to the rooster of established comedians. That
apart a standing ovation also goes to the most talented supporting actors in the cast like Sanjay Mishra, Johny Lever, Mukesh Tiwari, Pankaj Tripathi & above all Boman Irani, Vinod Khannna & Kabir Bedi.

Tail Piece: So guys Dilwale is a perfect entertainer for your entire family & friends and especially for Generation X too.

Movie Review: ‘Bajirao Mastani’ is spell binding, captivating, enchanting, endearing & entertaining beyond imagination

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Bajirao Mastani

Banner: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films
Producer: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Star Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Milind Sonam, Aditya Pancholi, Tanvi Azmi, Sukhada Khandekar, Anuja Gokhale, Vaibbhav Tatwadi, Ayush Tandon, Sanjay Mishra & Mahesh Manjrekar et al
Music: Sanchit Balhara, Shreyas Puranik & Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Sure enough director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a well – known filmmaker of Bollywood, who needs no special introduction whatsoever. He had conceived this dream of making a historic biopic on Bajirao Mastani almost a decade ago. But he shelved the project midway due to unavoidable circumstances. And during this interim phase he ended up making films like Black, Saawasriya, Guzarish, Goliyon Ki Rasleela – Ram Leela. And finally he succeeded in filming & releasing his ambitious decade long dream project Bajirao Mastani. And what a brilliant film he has made!!!

Bajirao Mastani is a short & sweet triangular love drama. The scripted scenario of Bajirao Mastani kicks off with Bajirao (Ranveer Singh) being appointed as a Peshwa. Then soon enough Mastani (Deepika Padukone) seeks his help to save her kingdom. Although Bajirao is already married to Kashibai (Priyanka Chopra), love blossoms between Bajirao & Mastani.

In short Bajirao Mastani explicitly projects the period love story, the lovers conflict, the dramatic altercations, the battle sequences and of course, the ostentatiously opulence settings. The script is faultless, the pace is racy, in fact director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has kept a tight reigns on his cast & crew and thereby no one falters. The entire film keeps you hooked till the end with not a dull moment till the climax arrives which leaves you with a filling of déjà vu. Overall Bajirao Mastani is an enthralling period film that transports you to an era you had only read about in history books.

The entire team of Sanjay Leela Bhansali comprising of screenplay by Prakash R. Kapadia, additional screenplay by Sanjay Leela Bhansali & Mallika Dutt Gharde, editing by Rajesh G. Pandey, cinematography by Sudeep Chatterjee, music by Sanchit Balhara, Shreyas Puranik & Sanjay Leela Bhansali, action by Sham Kaushal, production designing by Sriram Kannan Iyengar, Sujeet Subhash Sawant, Saloni & Ankush Dhatrak et all deserves kudos for their brilliant efforts as they have given their full concentration & cooperation for Bhansali’s dream offering Bajirao Mastani. Besides Bhansali and his crew have adorned the film with fascinating characters & inspirational sub – plots that advance into a stunning culmination. But somewhere along the line Bajirao Mastani’s music does reminds you off the classical touch that reflects in all the songs especially the “Pinga” song that has an uncanny resemblance to “Dola Re” from Devdas.

Performance wise Ranveer Singh as Bajirao has delivered a mind blowing act. He is in his element by sinking his teeth deep into his character which proves he is in top form. This time he has finally proved that he is certainly an actor to be reckoned with and is here to stay. His body language is in sync with his character from “The Beginning” to “The End”. He has worked wonders in the climatic portions too. Deepika Padukone as Mastani is a sheer delight. She adds one more histrionic feather in her illustrious & chequered career after Piku. Priyanka Chopra springs a magical surprise with her tour de performance. She is indeed too good to be true. And both Deepika Padukone & Priyanka Chopra deserves all kudos oriented brownie points for depicting their brilliant on screen chemistry, almost as good as the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan & Maadhuri Dixit’s on screen chemistry in Bhansali’s own film Devdas. And last but not the least even the supporting cast is top notch, especially Tanvi Azmi (terrific), Milind Soman (wonderful), Vaibbhav Tatwawdi (superb), Yateen Karyekar (competent). Mahesh Manjrekar (perfect), Raza Murad (good) & Aditya Pancholi (eye catching). In fact all of them have enacted their respective roles with finesse.

Tail Piece: Bajirao Mastani is like a precious cinematic diamond which will leave you stunned till the last frame. It will leave you spell bound with its picture perfect performances, deft direction, superb screenplay, dynamic dialogues, melodious music and last but not the least the lavish mounting. Surely not be missed highly recommended fare.

Movie Review: ‘Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie’ is really heart warming, touchy & Sensitive

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Snoopy and Charlie Brown The Peanuts Movie

Producers: Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, Paul Feig & Michael J. Travers
Director: Steve Martino
Star Cast: Alex Garfin, William Alex Waunsch, Madisyn Shipman & Troy Andrews
Genre: Comedy
Verdict: GOOD

Plot: Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the beloved “Peanuts” gang make their big screen debut, like they’ve never been seen before, in state of the art 3D animation. Charlie Brown, the world’s most beloved underdog, embarks upon an epic & heroic quest, while his best pal, the lovable beagle Snoopy, takes to the skies to pursue his arch nemesis, the Red Baron.

Aces: The short episodic stories in The Peanuts Movie series are heart warming, touchy & sensitive. It makes you go down on a nostalgic trip down memory lane of your own childhood.

Minuses: Some of the gags, used in The Peanuts Movie, though fall flat.

Last Word: Recommended for viewers of all age and hailing from all walks of life. The Peanuts Movie is really funny too. Go have fun!

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