Padmaavat or Khiljivat

Highly Disappointed with Padmaavat!

The film starts with the story of Khilji, goes on and on with Khilji, Khilji and more Khilji and ends with showing that Khilji fails to get the queen of Mewar. I was confused whether the title was Padmaavat or Khiljivat.

This one has a pizza base of the Afgani Khilji with Rajput pride sprinkled as topings. Bhansali just went overboard with Ranveer. He didn't knew where to stop.

Okay, lets go a little slow…

I am not referring to the Bhansalification of history because lot of people have said and done a lot about it even before the film was released for public screening. Once they watch the movie they would know for themselves whether they were right or not. So lets not go there.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali lives up to his reputation of making these epic silver screen blockbusters but in my opinion he fails on several fronts. Here is why…

1. Padmavaat or Khiljivat: The director seems to be obsessed by Ranveer’s performance. No doubt Ranveer is a great actor and he gets into the skin of Khilji’s character. He makes the viewer hate his potrayal of Khilji on screen but that is where Bhansali goes overboard, he forgets that he is making a movie on Padmavaati and not on Khilji. Ranveer gets 70% of screen time and after a point his bad ass act seems to be unwanted.
2. Casting failure: Shahid tries his best but he doesn’t look like a heavy duty Rajput king. Even if he has six packs he doesn’t have the height or personality of a Sonu Sood, John Abrahm or Abhishek Bachchan who could have been a better fit. At best he looks like Deepika’s younger brother.
3. Similarity with Bajirao Mastani: First few scenes b/w Shahid - Deepika are very similar to the scenes b/w Ranveer - Deepika scenes in Bajirao Mastani. Alike in Bajirao Mastani, Khilji and Padmavati both get a solo dance number but the dance of Khilji is absolutely unwanted. Johar scene has stuff inspired from Nasir, Om Puri starer Mirch Masala and in the last sequence the door closes on Khilji exactly as it happened to Paro in Devdas.
4. The actors playing the role of Raghav Chetan and Malik Kafur are top notch but the Rajput characters of Gora and Badal don’t get enough space because the director is focused on Khilji’s character assassination.
5. How many scenes for Deepika? If you are making a movie on Padmaavati then how many scenes or dailogues are you giving her? Ranveer gets lion’s share and next big share is that of Shahid; thankfully Deepika gets some screen space post interval but that is too late and too little.

In summary: Film has been rightly appreciated for its huge canvas, production value, cinematography, direction, background score and performances but when you double click you note that Bhansali has made even better movies like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Bajirao Mastani, Devdas and Black to name a few. This is good but not his best.

Watch it for sure if you are a Ranveer, Deepika fan.

By the way, Aditi Rao Hydari looks stunning and at times better than Deepika. Why on earth did Khilji not realize it :)

Movie Review: Tiger Zinda Kyon Hai?

To me Ek Tha Tiger was a pain of 2.5 hours. As soon as I saw the promos of the sequel I thought the pain just got doubled, that is, 5 hours. I started to ask myself Tiger Zinda Kyon Hai?

Tiger Zinda hai takes the so called story of Ek Tha Tiger it to a all together different level. It would have all but fallen flat on its mouth if it was not for this man called Salman Khan. His Charisma, Screen presence, Dialogues delivery and Expressions(yes you read it right) make it a must watch for all Salman Fans.

Image Source: The Hindu

It has those leave your brain at your home moments in abundance but lets not talk about it; it also has Katrina who we know is past her prime but leave it for now; and lets not even talk about the big loop holes in the script and screenplay. Let’s just focus on the Tiger because he is the one who is alive and kicking. After all we wait weekend after weekend to see him on the screen performing those heroics. Is that not a good enough reason for us to spend some 250+ bucks and 180 minutes of our weekend time. After all for some unknown reason we owe it to him(and to the other Superstars), don’t we?

This movie reminded me of the larger than life nuisence that the Great Mahmohan Desai used to create on screen by having Mr. Bachchan pull of Miracles in movies like Coolie and Mard.

We all secretly love those larger than life stories and acts that make superstars like Amitabh and Rajnikanth. Director Ali Abbas Zafar makes Salman do exactly that. Who would not love to see our superstar kill thousands of terrorists along with his lady love Katrina. Our inner self wants to see these miracles happen and that is exactly why it is worth the time and money. Go for it Salman Fans.

Judwaa 2 - No Method In The Madness

We are in 2017 and even though David Dhawan is still David Dhawan; Varun is neither Salmaan nor Govinda.

Fundamental problem with Judwaa is that it is a remake. May be if they had tried something new it would have worked better.

Varun Dhawan tries to be both Salmaan and Govinda in a single movie. Result: Even his dad who made some of the best no brainer entertainers with Salmaan and Govinda could not help.

Tapsee Pannu tries very hard to break out of her good strong girl image but fails. Baby, Pink and Naam Shabana are not leaving her alone.

Jacqueline continues to be Jacqueline. Thats why they cast her. Don’t they?

Bottomline Judwaa 2 is as irritating as the original Judwaa, may be a touch more. Keep your brain at home movies have become successful in the past but there should be a method in the madness. Just plain madness doesn’t work.

It may just get lucky at the box office as there is no major competitor on the long weekend.

Jab Harry Met Sejal Is Waste Of Time And Money

We are in not in the 1990s and Imtiaz Ali is not Aditya Chopra.

It won't be a long review because I couldn’t stand it for more than 42 minutes. It started to irritate in the very beginning itself. What a crap of a movie!

I don't understand why the directors keep making movies on the same concept over and over again. Making movies after movies on the lost and found formula used to work in the 1970s because there was no other source of entertainment, people had to go to the cinema halls, they had no choice at all. 

But now, in the year 2017 why would someone do that? Recently Salman and Kabir Khan did the mistake of making Tubelight which was based on the same concept as Bajrangi Bhaijaan. It ended up being a failure. Same may happen to Jab Harry Met Sejal. Imtiaz Ali movies are mostly based on the same concept that they hero and the heroine will meet alone either on a tour or on a holiday or they will just run away and then fall in love. Isn't that what happened in Socha na tha, Jab we met, Highway, Tamasha etc. So why do we need one more movie with the same concept?

Honestly I wasn’t surprised though. The promos had crap written all over it but I had no choice but to watch it with some friends. Shahrukh and Anushka try hard but there is no solid story and the script and screenplay is pretty average.

SRK in his fifties should look for roles like Chak De India. If you are a SRK and Anushka fan you would be better off watching Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

Baahubali - The Conclusion: A Perfect Masala Entertainer With Ingredients Right From Manmohan Desai to Karan Johar

Finally comes a movie that seizes "The Greatest Story Ever Told" tagline from Sholay and mind you it is not a mainstream bollywood movie helmed by Aamir, Shahrukh or Salman. It is none other than S.S. Rajamouli's Magnum opus Baahubali.

• Prabhas as Amarendra Baahubali and Mahendra Baahubali alias Shivudu (Shiva in Hindi and Shivu in Tamil)
• Rana Daggubati as Bhallala Deva
• Anushka Shetty as Devasena
• Ramya Krishnan as Rajmata Sivagami
• Sathyaraj as Kattappa
• Tamannaah as Avanthika
• Nassar as Bijjaladeva
• Subbaraju as Kumara Varma

Baahubali - The conclusion released world-wide in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It became first Indian film to worldwide gross in excess of ₹500 crore (₹5 billion) in all languages in just three days.

Similar to the prequel Baahubali - The Beginning, this continuation of the grand fiction tale has breathtaking action sequences, top rate background score, superb performances and world class animation and special effects.

But more than the special effects what makes Baahubali special is the drama at its core. This is wonderful piece of storytelling with very powerful screenplay. There are hardly any moments where viewers get any time to blink their eyelids. Songs are limited but very nicely vowen into the narrative.

Performances

Prabhas stands tall and delivers a solid performance, he is equally matched by Rana Daggubati who plays the antagonist. Anushka Shetty, Ramya Krishnan and Sathyaraj have performed their part with grace and poise. By now the characters played by these actors have become very popular, legendry and subject of common household discussions. This itself is a testimony of the hardwork, focus and detailing done by the director on each and every aspect of the movie.

Shortcomings

There are hardly any shortcomings, the only time when the viewers start to get a bit impatient is that portion of the first half when Baahubali meets Devsena. Here too the intent of the director is to insert some light moments of fun and romance. Once these sequences are done the story moves very fast.

Recommendation

There are multiple reasons why you should watch Baahubali - The Conclusion. You may watch it because you loved the first part Baahubali - The Beginning, or you may watch it for S.S. Rajamouli's brilliance as a story teller, or you may watch it for its larger than life canvas and the superb special effects. The list goes on and on because this magnum opus has a lot to offer. It has got everything that we have watched and cheerished so far, right from Manmohan Desai's Coolie to Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum. My recommendation is to watch it for the drama, watch it for the dialogues, watch it for the seeti maar sequences and above all watch it for all the Indian-ness in the narrative. It doesn't get bigger than this. A perfect masala entertainer, go have a blast!

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