Film Review: DIL DHADAKNE DO

I am going with 6 stars for Dil Dhadakne Do!

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Bose
Director: Zoya Akhtar

We wanted to go to this film as a family together and finally managed the 11 pm show last night at PVR Sion. The theatre was completely packed.

THE STORY

Kamal and Neelam Mehra are keen to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. A self-made Delhi businessman, Kamal’s company AyKa is facing problems. And their marriage is not what it appears to be. They had their daughter Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra) married off when she was 21 to Manav (Rahul Bose), a businessman from Mumbai. Ayesha sets up her own travel agency and is extremely successful. Kabir (Ranveer Singh) is the Mehras’ son who’s more interested in flying than in the family business.

The Mehras organise a cruise and invite their relatives and friends for a 2-week trip to Greece and Turkey. That’s where they plan to get Kabir’s marriage fixed to the Sood heir Noorie (Ridhima Sud), hoping that her father (Parmeet Sethi) would finance their business in return. But is Kabir or Noorie interested? What happens when Ayesha wants to divorce Manav? Watch the film to find out more.

MY PERCEPTION

The film is 2 hours 50 minutes long. It’s been a few years since I watched such a long movie. But I really don’t know where the time flew as the story kept me hooked from beginning till end. I was actually sorry when the film ended. It was a simple family drama with a bit of romance thrown in.

Anil Kapoor was perfect in his role as Kamal Mehra – a shrewd, self-made businessman; fitness freak and flirt. He has always been a good actor and this is probably his best performance.

Ranveer Singh brings a lot of energy to his roles. This one was no less and he was impressive as the Mehra heir and Ayesha’s younger brother.

Anushka Sharma was also good as dancer Farah who is Kabir’s love interest.

Farhan Akhtar has a small role that he has performed extremely well.

Rahul Bose’s character was completely irritating and he fit the bill to perfection.

Priyanka Chopra was amazing as Ayesha. Her eyes spoke volumes in the scene when she silently watches her brother telling their parents off for their self-centredness. The way she quietly puts up with the attitudes of her parents and mother-in-law while becoming a truly successful businesswoman is beautifully portrayed. A special kudos!

The cruise was lovely, the music perfect, the cinematography beautiful while all the other actors did their parts very well. The directing and editing have been done to perfection.

Aamir Khan narrates the film in the background as the voice of Pluto, the Mehra family dog. It was a cute and novel way of presenting the story. I liked it!

I have saved the best for the last. Shefali Shah – I have been to her reading of the book Gandhi, My Father before the release of the film by the same name. She was present at the book reading at Oxford Book House, Churchgate along with Akshaye Khanna and Gandhiji’s grandson Tushar Gandhi. Shefali Shah played the role of Kasturba in the film. I was too impressed by her reading a few pages from the book. I think she’s a very good actor.

But in Dil Dhadakne Do, her performance as Neelam was exemplary. The way she portrays high-society arrogance, her sarcasm towards her husband, her affection for her son, her frustration, her overeating nature because of the unhappy life she leads – I can go on and on. Shefali Shah deserves First Prize in this film.

Special congratulations to Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar for conceptualising such a wonderful film!

VERDICT: I am going with 6 stars for Dil Dhadakne Do while 5 stars have been the maximum I give my film reviews. Need I say more?

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super
******Super-duper

Film Review: Krrish 3

Krrish 3

It looks like Vivek Oberoi has finally found his calling!

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Vivek Oberoi, Kangna Ranaut
Director: Rakesh Roshan

We have seen Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. Hence we did not have a choice but to see Krrish 3. I don’t think there was a Krrish 2. I don’t understand the sequence, but anyway, Venkat and I went to watch Krrish 3 on the day of its release at 10 pm at Cinemax Sion.

THE STORY

The story picks off some time after Krrish. Rohit (Hrithik Roshan), Krishna (Hrithik Roshan) and Priya (Priyanka Chopra) live in a bungalow in some remote corner of Mumbai. Rohit continues with his scientific experiments at home and also works in a research lab. While Priya is a reporter with Aaj Tak, Krishna keeps losing jobs as he runs away from work most of the time to save the town as Krrish.

Rohit is into some research that uses solar energy to bring life back into the dead. He tries it on a plant and it explodes. That’s when he concludes that a filter is necessary to do the same. In the meanwhile, Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) is a paraplegic with telekinetic powers. He can use the muscles above his neck and two fingers besides this. He’s completely negative and wants to rule the world. He is based in a lab somewhere in the Alps off Switzerland. Kaya (Kangna Ranaut) and a few others are the Manwars that he has created with his experiments. Manwars are clones made from human (his own) DNA combined with animal DNA. Kaya is a chameleon while there is a frogman, rhinoman and a few others. Kaal hopes that the bone marrow from one of his creations will help bring life to his own body. But he has been unlucky so far. He also creates a virus and has its spread in Namibia. People fall terribly ill and die by the hundreds. Later, he comes up with an antidote that makes him millions.

His next target is the highly populated Mumbai. But he has not bargained for Superhero Krrish……

MY PERCEPTION

Hrithik Roshan was just fabulous as Rohit, Krishna and Krrish. It was amazing to see the narrow shouldered, slightly paunchy Rohit with traces of his retarded nature and the finely honed and chiselled Krishna come together on the same frame. And of course, the man can act too. Congratulations Hrithik on your fantastic performance!

Priyanka Chopra’s role is negligible and nothing worth talking about it.

It looks like Vivek Oberoi has finally found his calling. He plays an excellent villain as Kaal. While the actor’s career path has been pretty turbulent over all the years, he has proved that he is after all in the right profession. Kudos Vivek Oberoi!

Kangana Ranaut has proved once again what a fine actress she is. She has played a very good role – it’s also chunky – as mutant Kaya. A special applause!

Now comes the film! The story is good and the sequences equally so. What I really did not appreciate are the song and dance sequences. They kept distracting everyone from the film. Why can’t we do away with them completely? And they were not even good.

The Namibia virus sequence was horrendous. I for one am glad that my kids are grown up and I did not have to take a 10-year-old to watch this superhero film. I wish they could have gone easy on this one.

While other critics keep insisting that the film apes Hollywood, I would say, why the hell not? If Hollywood films can ape themselves, why shouldn’t Bollywood do that? The fight sequences – while resembling a couple of Hollywood films – were very well shot. Not that I would recommend it to kids, but they were very well made.

I liked the idea of there being a Krrish in every one of us. That is something that will really appeal to kids and those with young minds. It did to me, definitely.

One thing that was not so appealing was Kaal’s tin costume. On the wheelchair he is all elegant. But out of that, I wish they had given him a classier outfit. The tin suit looked quite ridiculous. A cool villain should terrorise, not appear funny and stupid.

VERDICT: All in all, it was a good film. It’s up to the parents what they let their kids see on the big screen, of course.

RATING: ***Smart

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: ANJAANA ANJAANI

Anjaana Anjaani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Zayed Khan
Director: Siddharth Anand

The Story: Akash (Ranbir Kapoor) is a financial whiz-kid whose touch turns to gold on Wall Street. He has his own business in partnership with a few friends. But a wrong move leaves them all with a loan of $ 12 million. The broke and frustrated Akash attempts suicide by jumping off the bridge into the Hudson River. He finds a very much drunk Kiara (Priyanka Chopra) on the bridge. She laughingly edges him on to commit the act. They both go their own ways only to have accidents with the same car and land up in the same hospital.

On recovery, the two strangers get together and try very many ways to commit suicide without success. Of course, there is a reason for Kiara wanting to kill herself. The film goes on to show how the Anjaana and Anjaani fall for each other and live happily ever after.

My Perception: As far as love stories go, the film was not too bad. The only trouble iss, it is a very short story and should have been made into a short film that will have had a run of 40 minutes. It was 2 hrs too long. Don’t mean to be too harsh, but there needs to be some meat to the plot. It is barely a sketch with very few incidents happening – too weak to hold up as a full length Bollywood film. Even after giving allowance for all the songs, the film should not have been more than one hour long.

Priyanka Chopra has proved herself to be an excellent actress over and over again and she is sizzling hot too. I don’t think a no-brainer such as this would make much of a negative impact on her career. But then again, it will never go down in history as one of her better performances.

We have seen way better of Ranbir Kapoor in Wake Up Sid, Rocket Singh, Ajab Prem Ki Kajab Kahani and Raajneeti. There was no scope for any acting for this guy in the film. It must be the director’s fault surely.

Zayed Khan was a surprise package. While he was there in only 3-4 scenes, the man proved that he could act. Congratulations!

The music and songs were good, but there were just too many of them.

Verdict: A weak storyline with mediocre direction makes the film a waste of money and time. I am sure it should be out as ‘World Premiere’ on a TV channel pretty soon. Those who are keen would be better off seeing it then. 

Rating: **

*Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: PYAAR IMPOSSIBLE

Cast: Uday Chopra, Priyanka Chopra, Anupam Kher, Dino Morea, Advika Yadav
Director: Jugal Hansraj

Alisha (Priyanka Chopra) and Abhay (Uday Chopra) are both students at a California University. While she is revered as the beauty queen of the college, Abhay is a geek who goes unnoticed most of the time. Abhay loves Alisha and hopes to catch her eye one of these days. The lucky day comes when a drunken Alisha falls into a lake and our geek-hero jumps in to save her life. But unfortunately for Abhay, Alisha does not get a chance to even thank him or see his face before her father removes her from the university.

Seven years later, Abhay lives in Mumbai with his father (Anupam Kher). He has created a software that could be used on all kinds of PCs and mobiles. Before he could get around to marketing it, the suave Varun Sanghvi (Dino Morea) steals it from him. Soon, Abhay gets news of his software being brought to the market by a company in Singapore. He rushes there at his father’s behest and sees the divorced, single mom Alisha of all people. The rest of the film is all about whether Abhay gets back his software and gets together with the woman of his dreams.

Uday Chopra is good in his role as a geek who is in love with the beauty queen. Priyanka is sizzzzzzling hot! She looks awesome, with a fantabulous figure and her acting is excellent too. Young Advika Yadav as the little Tanya – Alisha’s six-year-old daughter – has done a creditable job.

The storyline is nothing new and there is nothing different or unique about the film. It is just a fun watch and the best part is that it is only two hours long. The songs flow with the film without interrupting or clashing in any way.

Verdict: The film is good and worth a see.

Rating: *** Smart

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super