Film Review: THE ARCHIES

 THE ARCHIES

Image Courtesy: https://www.koimoi.com/

Cast: Agastya Nanda (Archie Andrews), Vedang Raina (Reggie Mantle), Suhana Khan (Veronica Lodge), Khushi Kapoor (Betty Cooper), Mihir Ahuja (Jughead Jones), Aditi Dot (Ethel), Yuvraj Menda (Dilton Doiley), Alyy Khan (Mr. Lodge)

The Story:

The story is set in 1964 and is based on the world-famous characters from Archie Comics which were published as an extremely popular series from the year 1942 to 2015, with more than 650 issues.

In this Bollywood film by Zoya Akhtar, Archie and his gang of friends live in Riverdale, which is set in India (instead of the US of A). This town is populated by Anglo Indians who have chosen to remain back in India after the country’s independence from British Raj. The movie revolves around Green Park, a large green sector with lush gardens and age-old trees which is in the centre of the town. 

They are all seventeen years old and finishing school, each one thinking about his/her future. Archie, who plans to go to London for higher studies, is a confused teen who isn’t sure who he loves more—Betty or Ronnie. 

Reggie is keen to join the local newspaper where his father is the chief editor. Jughead, who is fond of food more than anything else, works at Pop Tate’s, a food joint. Ethel who crushes on Jughead, who in turn refuses to be aware of her, works at a beauty salon as a hairstylist.

Veronica (Ronnie) has just now returned from spending two years in London and is excited to be back with her friends. Dilton is a super-intelligent nerd who has invented his own version of the radio. 

Mr. Lodge (Ronnie’s millionaire father) is keen to build a hotel in the centre of Riverdale, which will involve destroying most of the green cover. 

The rest is all about how the teenagers manage to save the day.

My Perception:

Let me be upfront here: It took me a while to get my teeth into the film. To begin with, we are living in the space age, while The Archies is set in a 1964 small town. The pace is gentle while song and dance break out in every other scene.

The only musical I have watched is “Sound of Music” which was probably five decades ago. So, yes, I took some time to acclimatise myself to the pace of the film. But once I got into it (around the halfway mark), I fell in love with The Archies, the characters, the actors, the song and dance, just about everything. 

It was so refreshing and innocent. And was it a joy to watch a movie where I did not see one drop of blood!!!!!!! Which needed to be mentioned here as every single movie which has been released recently is full of blood and gore; rifles and swords. Ugh! 

I watched The Archies twice and only fell more in love with it the second time. Agastya Nanda as the confused 17-year-old Archie, was exceptional; as was Vedang Raina as Reggie. And by the way, Vedang sings too. 

Khushi, Sridevi’s daughter, appears as if the veteran actress has come to life. And as Betty, her acting was as good as her mother’s. As for Suhana, SRK’s daughter, she is not only gorgeous, and charming like her famous father, but has acted so well too. 

Mihir Ahuja as Jughead Jones, Aditi Dot (another wonderful singer) as Ethel, Yuvraj Menda as Dilton Doiley, were equally brilliant. The casting was bang on, especially Alyy Khan as Mr. Lodge (minus the specs).

Kudos to Zoya Akhtar for this beautiful and heart-touching movie which brought back a load of childhood memories to life!

VERDICT: A must watch if you like sweet movies with a lot of song and dance; especially one without gore and blood—which I sincerely believe is the need of the hour. 

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

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: ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin
Director: Zoya Akhtar

THE STORY: Kabir (Abhay Deol) proposes marriage to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin) and they get engaged much to the thrill of both sets of parents. His best friend Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) goes to the engagement while a third friend Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), living in London, does not attend.

As the film moves on, we get to understand that the Three Musketeers – as the friends are called – have grown up together and are extremely close. Kabir is a millionaire working for his family’s construction business; Imraan works as copywriter for an advertising agency and Arjun wheels and deals at the London Stock Exchange.

The three men plan a holiday in Spain before Kabir gets back home to tie the knot with Natasha. You need to see the film to find out how the holiday changes their lives forever.

MY PERCEPTION: You need to decide whether you want to read from here on as there might be a few spoilers. If you have not seen the film and plan to do so, this is the point you STOP READING.

The movie takes off on a light note with the first half full of witty dialogues that keep the audience laughing away. Thank you Farhan Akhtar for the clean language – it was an absolute relief after Delhi Belly (no offence to that film, of course).

The characters are amazingly sketched. Kabir is all funny and a great tease. But he is a different man in his fiancée’s presence. We realize later that he is not in love with Natasha but has been kind of steam-rollered into making a proposal of marriage. While he is loyal to her, he also takes life quite lightly. Imagine his shock when he finds out that Natasha believes that marriage is so serious that she is ready to give up her career as an Interior Decorator and make him her sole purpose in life. It takes the effort of both his friends and a 3-week holiday away from her for Kabir to get his priorities right. Abhay Deol has delivered one more hit.

Imraan works as a copywriter, and also writes poetry. He is very angry with his mother (Deepti Naval) for not having told him who his real father is. He had believed his mother’s husband to be his father and had been too close to him until his death. He finds out that Salman (Naseeruddin Shah) is his father after the foster one dies. Shocked that his mother could keep this from him, he stays away from her. Later, meeting Salman in person in Spain makes him value his mother better. The meeting between Salman and Imraan shook up not just the latter, but me too. While Salman’s behavior does not fall in with what we believe to be humanitarian values, it’s wholly acceptable from his point of view. “You did ask for the truth,” he says and we catch on. Imraan’s tears touch you very powerfully at this point. Later, when he apologises to Arjun for taking away his girlfriend years ago, you can see the healing take place as the ‘sorry’ is from the heart. Farhan Akhtar Rocks!

Arjun eats, sleeps and breathes money. He has always led life from the poor side of town and he wants to make it BIG before retiring at 40, he insists. He wheels and deals at the stock market and refuses to stop working even during the holiday. It takes Laila (Katrina Kaif) and her deep-sea diving instructions to make Arjun take a new outlook on life. Arjun does not swim as he is afraid. His friends pressure him into joining them on the deep-sea diving adventure and Kabir insists that not knowing swimming is no excuse. Left with no choice, Arjun let’s go of the fierce control that he has over his life for the first time. And learns to live as a result! He sheds tears after the amazing experience under the sea. Hrithik Roshan – what to say? After watching Kites, I had sort of given up on the actor. The film was so disappointing in all ways. I did not watch Guzaarish as I am not a fan of Sanjay Leela Bansali’s work.

But Hrithik Roshan was simply amazing in this film. He is sizzling hooooooootttt for one thing. He emotes beautifully. I suppose Hrithik’s acting skills depends a lot on the director. As the snooty man who is interested more in money than anything else, as the one reduced to tears after deep-sea diving and later the one who crosses over into ‘living life’, Hrithik was simply awesome. Kudos Hrithik!

Katrina Kaif as Laila was very good in her role. You can see that she has worked hard on improving her acting skills and she is getting better and better at it. Of course, she still has some way to go. Congratulations Katrina!

Kalki Koechlin as Natasha was excellent in her role. Way to go Kalki!

The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy was just perfect for the film. Most of the songs were in the background and a fitting accolade to the meandering roads of Spain as our heroes travel through the country. The ‘senorita’ song and dance sequence was lovely and all the three heroes of the film who have given their voices for the song have performed well. It was Farhan’s voice that stood out amongst the three.

The cinematography was wonderful and it was a pleasure seeing Spain from the film’s angle. The tomatina festival and the bull-race were well-portrayed.

Congratulations Zoya Akhtar for delivering a lovely movie!

VERDICT: If you love life, you will not miss this one. Absolute fun in the first half, the second half sets you thinking very deeply.

RATING: **** Snazzy
(I did not give full 5 stars as I felt that the movie could have been a tighter fit with half an hour less of it)

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