DON JON: Real, honest, witty & confident…a rare in romantic-sex-comedies! [3/5]

There have not been many adult comedies that are clear in head, certain in content & honest in effort to make you laugh with the real-to-the-core wit and also feel for the hearty participation of its characters in making it a not-so-regular adult joke book. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not a new name in need of any introduction but with his directorial début in romantic-sex-comedy ‘DON JON’, he definitely earns another feather in his cap. ‘DON JON’ is real, honest, witty, emotional and matured enough to talk firmly & unhesitatingly about ‘grown up’ issues covered under the sheet till now.

Jon [Joseph Gordon-Levitt himself] is any young blood who loves his life more than anything. The space he lives in, the bed he sleeps on, his regular workouts in gym, the church time on every Sunday with family, his friends, his car and anything that you can think of, for a self-centered man like him but what makes him out of the league is his self-acceptance of the fact that he loves watching porn. With enough reasons and grounds of his own, he just believes in and enjoys the idea of masturbation while watching sleazy sex-clips on porn-sites, even if there is a girl in his bed to give him the real pleasure.  

Things don’t pay any favor when one day his bossy girlfriend [the lovely Scarlett Johansson playing bitchy here] - a fairytale romance believer, catches him sticky dirty handed enjoying what he enjoys the most. Now, Jon has to compromise with his likings if he really wants to make it all good in his ‘true love’ relationship but is he ready? What about his new bonding with the much experienced and more thorough in life-lessons Esther, played by enigmatic Julianne Moore? Will he be able to learn-unlearn few things from her??

From the opening title sequence falling in between while surfing channels on TV to the montages showing the monotonous routine in his life-hours to the intercuts between porn clips & real life illustrating what mental state he’s in to, film impresses with the story-telling techniques big time. The fresh approach to be simple but straight in your face is very well communicated. The humor comes easy with the writing and in situations that fall apart out of nowhere. Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks every part of the character played by him, who can be very sure of one thing but completely clueless in impulse. Scarlett in her portrayal of a dominating-typical girlfriend material impresses. Her igniting presence on screen clearly pays off. Julianne Moore brings the sensitivity & sensibility factor in the account. There are also some delightful cameos to raise your heartbeats [Channing Tatum & Anne Hathaway is one of them].

With an unsullied writing hand and impressive directional skills, Joseph Gordon-Levitt creates an amusingly witty adult comedy that is best enjoyed if you do dare to accept things as they are in real. Not for ones who are adults but still think of sex as a cultural taboo to talk, to show & to entertain. Thoroughly enjoyable!! [3/5] 

DHOOM 3: The Great Indian Bollywood Circus! Formulaic but Spectacular & Extremely Watchable [3/5]

It’s not very hard to predict what’s in store for you, if you have booked your tickets to take a roller-coaster ride in the latest & the third installment of Bollywood’s first of a kind film-franchisee DHOOM: 3. High octane action, vrooming bikes, eye-catching locales, brilliantly choreographed song & dance sequences, fantastic production design & twists in the tale that you can only see it coming just a few moments before it actually comes. So, what are the additional elements that make YashRaj Film’s DHOOM 3 an extremely watchable action thriller, better and bigger than the previous two installments?

Written & directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, DHOOM: 3 is the most spectacular presentation of all in the series, one would never question that, but it’s the writing and the performances [I desperately wanted it to make singular but then you’ll agree to it after watching it] that take it to another level.

Set in Chicago, story takes you back in 90’s when the owner of ‘the great Indian circus’ [Jackie Shroff in a delightful cameo] kills himself after losing his battle to save the property from financial crisis. Years later, his only son Sahir [Aamir Khan standing tall as a towering inferno] decides to bring the Bank responsible for his father’s death down all in the dust by constantly robbing all its branches. With no valid logic behind, ACP Jai Dixit [Abhishek Bachchan in his one-expression mode] & his ‘still irritating’ associate Ali Akbar from Nagpada [who else?? The ‘Uday Chopra’] are called in to help the Chicago Police Department. Rest is the thrilling cat-and-mouse chase sequences with good amount of bike-stunts, an unpredictable pinch of emotions and a satisfying surprise in the box that I wish I could tell you more about.

Though the story seems & is very filmy, formulaic and borrowed straight from some late 70’s vengeance potboilers, the surprise in the box alone keeps you thoroughly engaged and entertained. Till the time it reaches you from various sources, I don’t want to be the spoiler. All I can say is it brings lots of emotions on the board and in a very well executed manner. Keep guessing!

Of the cast, let’s talk about Katrina first. She’s sexy, sensuous & stunning as all the Dhoom girls in the past. Though the writing doesn’t provide her a good meaty role, watch her introduction scene in the ‘Kamli’ song and as briefed by the character of Aamir in the film, you are bound to not take off your eyes from her for once. What an electrifying appearance!

Same goes with Aamir. The certain amount of charisma and the sincerity in the performance that he brings with himself is totally infectious. He sets screen on fire in the magical & the magnificent ‘Malang’ song. Look at the kind of effort he makes to meet the expectations par level to the new generation in industry. Commendable job! This is the most commercial performance of his after GHAJINI.

In a whole 3 hours of duration, it is not plausible that you do not get carried away with some really putting off sequences like the typical ‘Uday Chopra’ comical scenes, disregard of a good mix of logic in the screenplay and a hurriedly conceptualized love-angle between Katrina & Aamir! But the grand canvas, great production quality, good performance and the surprise element compensate for the most of it. If you love ‘no logic’ formula Bollywood, you will love it more! [3/5]

THE HOBBIT- THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG: Breathtaking visuals, breathless action, good entertainer! [3/5]

Confessions first, neither I am very fond of creepy creature sci-fi Hollywood adventures nor I had been a factual follower of ‘THE LORD OF THE RINGS’ series. So without bothering about what was all in the first of THE HOBBIT trilogy when I decided to visit the nearest multiplex to watch the latest in series, my only expectation was to have a good leisure time of nearly 3 hrs at a stretch without being supersede by excessive power play of visual effects and extreme action mixed with unwanted labyrinth of subplots.

I know I was hoping for much, considering recent science fiction movies not being competent to overwhelm us but to my surprise, Peter Jackson’s THE HOBBIT- THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG didn’t disappoint me at all. With no assessment of earlier parts in hand, I must say it is quite an engaging experience all together [though being in 3D viewing format itself brings lots of advantages to not have much option but to keep yourself looking at the screen].

Martin Freeman plays the courageous-gutsy & street smart hobbit Bilbo Baggins, responsible to lead a group of dwarves headed by once a ruling king Thorin [played by Richard Armitage] in order and desperation to regain their power. En route to this quest of their lifetime; first they need to pass through a pathway in the mysterious jungle crammed with confusions and giant Spiders then to wrestle their muscle and mental strength out with defaced-dreadful evil forces and finally to unleash the wrath of fiery dragon Smaug [Benedict Cumberbatch in his ‘hear me only’ voice-over avatar].

Watching a film for almost 3 hours is not very regular idea of entertainment these days, but Peter Jackson makes sure despite a ‘predictable at most places’-lengthy- less juicy storyline, the breathtaking visuals especially grabbed in the most-effective aerial shots, non-stop breathless action providing you very less time to counter its significance, a smartly written screenplay to give more playground to humor component than going one-dimensional to the emotional route and the flawlessly charming VFX works fill your appetite for a good entertainment.

On the performance page, it is Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug the dragon who steals the show in the last 45 minutes. His monstrous, gruesome, ghastly tone of voice never falls short in chilling your bones in fright. Martin Freeman charms with his effortless acting skills and the comic timing even in midst of mountain-high fear. Watch out for his face-off with the dragon and also the barrel fight sequence that stands out in many of such engaging scenes.

Overall, you may not be very familiar with the breeds and names if you are watching it for the first time as your first exposure to the series [like me] but do not you worry, this film never bothers you much for that but sure leaves you unfulfilled with an open-ended climax that urges you to wait for the next in the lot. Holding a fort for 2 hour 42 minutes is not an easy task. Peter Jackson’s THE HOBBIT- THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG does that effortlessly. Watch it for a good time with friends. [3/5]  

JACKPOT: Poker faced entertainment! Promises everything, offers nothing! [.5/5]

Earlier in the film; when being questioned by a sluggish, lethargically slow-spoken cop played by the theatrical Makrand Deshpande, Naseeruddin Shah is seen with the name of Ram Gopal Varma on the board in the backdrop, I sink in my deep confusion if that was done in good gesture to show a great respect to the filmmaker or it was just a pun intended because this baffling camel sits neither of the sides.

The comedy con thriller ‘JACKPOT’ marks a long-awaited comeback of Kaizad Gustad- a filmmaker who, despite giving ‘Dud of the Decade’ BOOM, had shown great promises as a new-wave filmmaker [of then, at least] with his violently witty BOMBAY BOYS well before the ‘Anurag Kashyap Phenomenon’ came in to the scene. Sadly, JACKPOT disappoints at all fronts. It misses the magical touch of Gustad that used to bring the underworld in light in the most ‘unexplored before’ maniac manner. It also fails to impress with an amateurish approach in film-making.

Set in the mysteriously drugged nature of Goa, 4 con artists [Sachin Joshi & Sunny Leone plays two of them] induce a 250 Cr land-deal to the owner of the biggest casino in the city [played by Naseeruddin Shah in his weirdly ‘rope like hair strings’ getup] but in order to get things in process, they also must win the yearly poker game of 5 Cr Jackpot organized on Shah’s cruiser. They get succeeded but not the way it was planned. Now, the jackpot money is missing and everyone involved believes others are done with it. Does it not sound familiar with most of the con films? Well, even that can be overlooked if the screenplay takes the lead and provides breathtaking twists and turns to let loose your thinking horses all the time.

In the countable-on-fingers merits if I think hard, there is an impressive opening credits inspired by 007 Bond movie title sequences. Though it creates only some false conjecture to what it may come to you in next 90 minutes, it is a well-thought, nicely done part. I also can not agree more on that the duration was defiantly a big & decisive pro for me. Cinematography is strictly ok. Some one-liners are witty and remind you of the Kaizad Gustad of late 90’s but I don’t see reasons for what songs were doing in the midst of this entire supposedly crisp thriller.

For the performances, I would say you are looking for wrong thing at the wrong place. Sachin Joshi is probably the worst looking hero in recent times. He impressed most with his action sequences in AZAAN but here he depresses everyone with his unkempt, messy look and equally bad dialogue delivery [He doesn’t even bother to lip-sync the song he’s performing in]. And to top it all, he is the one who narrates the story for the most part. God bless the viewers! Sunny Leone doesn’t disappoint much as she does what she does best…and I am not talking about acting. Naseeruddin Shah repeats himself. We have seen him before in such avatar. Why he needs to opt for such scripts is unconvincing.

Overall; if this is the comeback, I would like to see Gustad resting in peace wherever he was till now. This JACKPOT makes you feel loser at the end and is something that no one wants to win. Boredom is what you get out of this poker faced entertainment! [.5/5] 

R…RAJKUMAR: The Worst Mash-up of Action, Emotion & Drama! Southern curry turns sour & tasteless!! [1.5/5]

Try to visualize 12 minutes of bone cracking- neck breaking fight stunts, 10 minutes of absurdly insensitive & irksome concept of romance where the boy does nothing but stalking the girl and 3-4 minutes of bum shaking- chest popping dance sequences filled with pelvic movements & blended in with equally annoying lyrics with no sense or sensibility! It is not hard I guess, since we all have seen such formula lately in many 100 Cr club entries. Now, multiply this whole formula with 5, add some credit rolls in the opening & closing and whatever filth/waste you will take home is nothing but Prabhu Dheva’s southern curry & sheer stupidity in the name of mass entertainment called ‘R…RAJKUMAR’!  

‘R…RAJKUMAR’ is the worst mash-up of all the ingredients required for a blockbuster. It has action, it has drama and it has humor but lacks a good punch in the storyline and the much-needed smart & skilled expert hands to mix it well. The wafer-thin story doesn’t give much scope to shock & surprise you in every sense. Romeo Rajkumar [Shahid Kapoor’s first & the most commercial attempt to set the box-office ringing], a fearless rowdy working as the most promising sidekick to Shivraj [Sonu Sood in an equal share of screen presence] falls in love at the first sight with Chanda [Sonakshi gets repetitive in her typical ‘Dabangg’ avatar]. Game Changes when Shivraj’s lust for Chanda forces Rajkumar to stand against his powerful master.

Film doesn’t bother to show any kind of involvement of intelligence, sensibility or respect, neither in writing nor in performances. Characters mouth dialogues that start & end with harsh addressing sounds and with very little hints of logics! Women here are just a material to own at any cost and even thrown in the pool of gaming as the winner’s trophy. In performances, Shahid shows off his upper hand in highly flexible moves for action & dance. Sonu also succeeds in flaunting his well-built muscles and in some of the comic scenes. Sonakshi should really need to work on her priorities in choosing roles. I fear if this would land her in the league of forgetful actors. In others; from Ashish Vidyarthi to Asrani, everyone else is as loud as they could be. Notice if you can, Bharat Dabholkar wearing Merlyn Monroe printed Ties whenever he appears on the screen and that could add some joy to feel in the wasteland of tasteless entertainment.        

In the very climax, Shivraj beats & thrashes Rajkumar his guts out with metal rods, wooden furniture and anything that comes in way! Our Romeo Rajkumar as he is supposed to be in deep love; feels no pain or hurting…so do we but because of the beatings and bashings we have been experiencing since the very start to become numb till the time, to any kind of brutality.  

In other words or in better words if I choose to describe Prabhu Dheva’s  ‘R…RAJKUMAR’, it would end up sounding like bam…bang…bash…biff…buff…bong…bonk…bop…clang…clank…crash…dong…fash…pock…plunk…shoop…shwap…swoosh…snap…slap…splat…throb…thud…thump…thung…thunk…tup…whack…wham…whop…whump and zlopp! This weekend, be blessed-be safe-stay at home! [1.5/5]

BULLETT RAJA: Commercial, predictable & average action thriller! Witty one-liners make it Watchable! [2.5]

Names suggest. Names carry perceptions. So whenever you hear ‘Tigmanshu Dhulia’, you expect razor-sharp story-telling [PAAN SINGH TOMAR], utter participation of passion mixed with art [SAAHEB, BIWI AUR GANGSTER] or if nothing else, earnestness shining in the framework for sure [HAASIL]. Intentionally or involuntarily; sounding as if another south action entertainer dubbed in Hindi, Dhulia’s ‘BULLETT RAJA’ has flares of all these but overshadowed & eclipsed heavily by added star value, superficial style & an undeclared delusion in one’s head to be in the sheep-race of 100 Cr club.

Uttar Pradesh- the terra firma of filthy politics, gory goonism, and caste-driven social establishment is the place where ‘BULLETT RAJA’ fits the most. With serenely ferocious Rudra [Played by confident Jimmy Shergill] joined at the hip, fearlessly rowdy Raja [Saif in a comfortable zone] is nothing but a political commando rising and shining under the most powerful politician played by Raj Babbar. Situation goes upside down when the grimy game of power & control gifts back Raja an unbearable loss of his lifetime to flame the anger of vengeance that would blaze the whole of enterprise behind.

A story weakened by confusing screenplay, shabby-unimpressive-infuriating work in the music department & a bad hand in editing were enough to mess up all the reputation Dhulia has earned until comes to rescue the writing, giving plenty of smart & quirky one-liners that hold your interest throughout. Hear this, when villainous Chunky Pandey narrates a mythological incident about Lord Brahma using some foul words [in smartly muted sound], Raja blasts him with bullets saying, “Dharmik mamlon mein hum ashleelta bardasht nahin karte!” Writing also celebrates the emotions one carries for his caste. Playing a Brahmin by caste, Saif will be seen mouthing arrogance profoundly in most of his lines e.g. “Brahmin bhookha toh sudama, rootha toh raavan” or “Brahmin hoon, janam se samajh ke aaya hoon”. Enjoyable & entertaining!

Performances are strictly average and there is nothing that could compel you for a jaw-drop response. Though Jimmy Shergill impresses in the first half and his equation with Saif creates a pleasant sight for eyes & most of the enjoyable moments. Vidyut Jammwal enters the scene after interval and his sequences don’t look more than his acting or rather action showreel. I would love to see him in a meatier role. Sonakshi disappoints the most. This one is a complete superfluous role for her in all these years. There is a hotel scene where Jimmy decides to lock himself in an adjacent room to give Saif & Sonakshi their own space and she is so unwanted that you don’t really want it to happen. Gladly, Saif doesn’t make you feel so and takes you through this partly intriguing action thriller relentlessly.

‘BULLETT RAJA’ is enjoyable in parts and watchable only for its harsh but satirical take on various political & social scenarios mainly in Uttar Pradesh. Dhulia shows his skill to extract raw humor soaked in an unsympathetic rustic feel with languages spoken physically and verbally both. Be attentive with what one-liner will come next from any of the characters and you might experience some good laugh. Overall, it is a revenge drama that is commercial, predictable and targeted only to create some buzz at the box-office, something that is never expected from Tigmanshu Dhulia![2.5/5]    

GORI TERE PYAAR MEIN!: So regular & cliché that you want it to end in the interval only! Forget it! [2/5]

Ok, I have been on trip for enough now. My first outing as a filmmaker happened 3 years back & was quite a successful effort (…and forgetful too) to place me in the club of ‘filmmakers of young generation’. So, it’s time to hit back since everyone around me is expecting it…but with what? Or in this case, with whom? Well, with my mentor who has always been in the business and not a hard nut to crack if it is anything associated with candyfloss urban romantic comedies! Who else but the Karan Johar and his Dharma Productions!

So, it’s final! It would be another boy-meets-girl romantic film with some good peppy song & dance numbers [nicely planned 3 before interval & 3 after interval], charmingly cute hero, the most desirable zero-sized heroine and all glossy decked up stylish look & feel. Done. After all, it is the safest bet in Bollywood. But wait; there should be something new, something additional, some kind of twist that can set me up as a sensitive filmmaker who dares to push his boundaries. Yes, we will literally push our boundaries from posh apartments in Metros to some remote village with a name vaguely resembled with Bollywood’s pet ‘Jhumri Telaiya’. And guess what? LAGAAN has always been my all-time favourite film. I always have this dream about shooting my film in a village, at least remade in Mumbai Filmcity with all necessities [Luxury is so negative] intact.

    

Now the story! Do we really need one? Only if you are asking, the boy is a spoilt brat who doesn’t want to spend his nights at home and sings ‘izzat se, kiss my a**’ at the discothèque. The girl here is fun loving, dynamic & very much focused in life. She can be seen dining in the best of the restaurants in town & shaking her bum on ‘Tooh’ in a high-profile ‘shaadi’ but still she is very much an environmentalist reminding one of Shabana Azmi. They meet. Love happens. Principles clash. They break-up. Enters a new girl! She makes him realise that all he really wants from life is nothing but the girl. Interval. Now to win her back, boy has to travel all the way to our ‘Jhumri Telaiya’ and work for the welfare of its villagers. Interesting no?

& now to make it a sure-shot success, all we need is good casting. What about Imran Khan? He looks one spoilt brat, more than that he looks great on screen. He fits the bill. Really? But our boy belongs to a Tamilian family. What about dialect? Who cares, especially when even his simple Hindi sounds as some tough tongue-twister! We will also play some cheesy one-liners around his fairness as ‘hospital mein badli ho gaya tha’. Funny, isn’t it? The girl can only be played by the glam doll Kareena Kapoor Khan. She is meant to be a sensible actor who can look exactly as pretty-as made-up as she could be, even if she is playing a deglam role [remember her real life journalist in SATYAGRAHA].

So, this is yours truly Punit Malhotra and since my second film GORI TERE PYAAR MEIN! is out now; I am here to sell my film to you. Well, it is anything but a regular love-story as you can decide yourself by going through paragraphs written above. The film in fact is so satisfying [or annoying with clichés], you would like it to end in the interval only. Songs will give you plenty of time in between to take loo-breaks. Our village is very different from what you have seen in real life. People here are either workshy or professional dancers responsible for entertainment & only entertainment.

Overall, it is a film that will not harm you if you won’t mess with it. It is a film that believes in ‘forgive & forget’. You should forgive all the clichés and forget it immediately after leaving the theatre. It is a film that is best to enjoy if you have nothing else to do…and I mean NOTHING else to do. [2/5] 

SINGH SAAB THE GREAT: Loud, melodramatic, outdated action potboiler! SINGHAM saab the great!! [2/5]

With a catchy phrase of ‘‘badla nahin badlaav’, this SINGH SAAB THE GREAT fights against corruption & more but in his own way. He saves a girl from an obsessive lover-turned-acid attacker and pours the bottle in his pants, only to realize later that it was cleanly swapped with absolutely harmless nontoxic water. In others, he hits back to ill-practices of hefty donations for higher education, crime-syndicates indulged into food adulteration & illegal storage, the in-vein bribery in bureaucratic system etc.

At one stage, he also doesn’t forget to comment on TRP-driven media with ‘aap journalist hain…thodi toh samajhdaari dikhayiye’. Sounds good?? Yes, sounds good but loud too…in fact, extremely loud! & that’s the problem with SINGH SAAB THE GREAT! Everything that happens, happens with a noisy-ear deafening sound beyond the range of decibels set for normal human hearing.

Anil Sharma’s SINGH SAAB THE GREAT is a loud, melodramatic, over-aged action potboiler that is best enjoyable at single screen theatres where claps set the mood for anything outrageous and compensate for the most of inconsequential parts. A supposedly comeback vehicle of the real action star Sunny Deol, film seems to be going forward with a noble cause of social reformation as its structural content base but fails to built an inspiring legend out of it to meet its desired end. A mediocre script filled with run of the mill plot-subplots & superfluous emotional sequences including hero’s women affiliations i.e. lovely wife, bubbly sister!

Story written by GADAR fame Shaktimaan smells rotten & out-dated where an honest district collector Saranjeet Singh [played by Sunny Deol] sweats his blood out to stop corruption personified by a local dominant king of all illegal actions Bhoodev Singh [played by Prakash Raj in his regular avatar as if coming straight from the sets of Singham & Dabangg 2]. In one scene, when the villainous Prakash Raj tries to twist Deol’s character Saranjeet Singh’s arm by kidnapping his sister, Saranjeet Singh hits back with taking Prakash Raj’s wife & daughter into his custody. Now, isn’t it something we all have thought as an escape-plan to our emotional to the core Bollywood heroes? But surprisingly it’s one of the few exciting moments in the film that brings an effortless smile on your face.

On the performances, Sunny looks every part of his character. He succeeds in charming you with his personality and the honesty dripping off his face. Prakash Raj, when not chewing off his lips, sure entertains you in bits & pieces especially in an item song where he dances with his left feet following ‘dance like no one is watching’ attitude. You have to see it to believe it [Considering his real life better-half Pony Verma being an established choreographer]. New face Urvashi Rautela is mostly there as a regular heroine material with her plastic smile best for advertising the new toothpaste in your nearest supermarket. Amrita Rao is inconsistent but looks quite impressive. You also need to have some kind of magical powers to deal with unbearably annoying sidekicks of both on screen & that includes actors like Johnny Lever, Manoj Pahwa.

I wish if it would have been released soon after GADAR, it would have become an instant crowdpuller but as of now when everyone looks so done with SINGHAM era, it is just another of the league! You can even re-coined its name as ‘SINGHAM SAAB THE GREAT’! Watch if Sunny’s Roar can evoke electrifying energy in you! For me, it’s just OK! [2/5]

RAM-LEELA: Grand, vibrant & unapologetically sexy but not far from being formulaic! Ranveer & Deepika save the Day! [3.5/5]

As told twice in the film, “Besharam, badtameez, khudgarz hota hai…par pyaar toh aisa hi hota hai (Shameless, insolent & self-centered…but then, that’s what love is all about)”, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Magnum Opus RAM-LEELA clearly sticks to the same in its attitude and in content too. A film that is unapologetically sexy, passionate and bold in nature! A film that celebrates love and life through the most vibrant colours one can throw! A film that portrays cinema as a broad canvas to paint picturesque strokes of human emotions freely and at large.

In his commercial adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali creates a fictional territory somewhere near the deserted Runn of Kutch where bullets and guns are more feasible than roses. In the midst of blood & gore rivalry between two communities flourishes the love in the most violent way. Flamboyant Ram (Played by Ranveer Singh) meets even more flashy & intrepid Leela (Played by Deepika Padukone) and the physical attraction at first takes it from there as a thoroughly fiery & flaming passionate love between the two. Now we all have seen ‘Romeo & Juliet’ adaptations of all kinds ranging from the finest (Aamir-Juhi starrer QAYAMAT SE QAYAMAT TAK could be one) to the worst (this year’s ISSAQ); so if you are really asking or looking here for newness and novelty in the storyline you would be fooling yourself big time. But if you have an eagle-eye for the detailing in art & craft, this is undoubtedly the most evolved adaptation till date.

The driving force in the film that really sets screen on fire, is the splendid chemistry between Ranveer & Deepika. When was the last time you actually noticed a Bollywood couple acting adult while making love on screen? When was the last time you could truly sense the gravity of passion between the two while enjoying a fervent kiss? And that too without having any pinch of hesitation or some kind of apprehension in the air! Ranveer rules as a typical hero material that can carry certain oomph to drive his entire female fan following crazy and also in chorus to the same, can make your heart bleed with an emotional flair in his piece of act. Deepika is nothing less than a live magic on screen. She mesmerizes you with her confident-poised look & vividly poignant portrayal of a character that is never a regular in Bollywood. Bravura performance! Supriya Pathak Kapoor as Ba is a treat to watch and the best among some interesting & competent names in the list of supporting cast i.e Richa Chaddha, Sharad Kelkar, Gulshan Devaiah (of Shaitan), Abhimanyu Singh & Jameel Khan (Gangs of Wasseypur fame).

                                                                                                                                

& how can we really not talk about the grandeur in art design, the vibrancy in costumes with joie de vivre & the superlative cinematography setting each and every frame equivalent to a painting on the wall! The teams responsible for these make sure you can’t let your eyes off the screen even for once but is it not obvious when we are for a SLB film? So, what are the things that can make you uncomfortable in a put-off situation?? Well, too much of dead predictable twists in the second half, confusing sub-plots to create melodramatic tension between the lovers, dragged duration of long 2 hours 35 min, a large amount of ‘not-needed’ gunfire acts are sure some of the demerits film holds to restrict itself from being called as a masterstroke from a class filmmaker!

My suggestion! Watch it on the big screen to make the celebration of grandness bigger & better and for the sparkling chemistry between Ranveer & Deepika! They alone will save your money & the day. [3.5/5]   

SATYA 2: Another disastrous contribution to Indian cinema…with love from Ram Gopal Varma! [1/5]

No matter what cast, creed & category you belong, you must have encountered people mostly clad in crisp ironed formals & with great vocal skills; who sure have a ‘never heard before’ plan to secure your happy life, a profitable concept to put your money in for a humongous guaranteed return or even a ‘work from home’ chain-business to join for an easy & quick solution to all your worries. Who hasn’t met a salesman before, with pamphlets & booklets to handover you on your regular bus-stand, at market place & where not?

In similar manner, we see the leading man of SATYA 2- Ram Gopal Varma’s another disastrous contribution to Indian cinema, selling off a promising concept of forming a new underworld ‘company’ that would believe in not showing off its powers but in planting its roots all over undercover to extract more in a safer way. The only problem here is, the plan may sound convincing at first but has no concrete ground to proceed further and sadly, the way it gets described and explained is nothing but an irritating- infuriating blabber all the way. As a result, you have no choice left but to snatch the pamphlet, roll it and start looking for the nearest and first dustbin to throw it away like we do with the most such plans.

Allegedly a sequel to 1998’s path breathing underworld movie SATYA of great team work (Anurag Kashyap, Gulzar, Vishal Bhardwaj), SATYA 2 unashamedly doesn’t show any connection to its prequel. In fact, it is as bad to SATYA as RGV’s AAG was to ‘SHOLAY’. The irony is both the films are in name of one filmmaker and no one can really blame or thrash out the other for being so offensive. We all have been waiting for the real RGV to come out soon but at this point of time, I would like to believe in a quite filmy situation where the real Ram Gopal Varma of RANGEELA, RAAT, BHOOT, SATYA, KAUN is now captured in somewhere and his place is now taken over by his ‘humshakal’ who’s ready to devastate all the respect as a filmmaker he had earned from left, right & centre (Trust me, this is more entertaining plot than the most of RGV’s recent failures J)

Unlike the character sensitively underplayed by J D Chakrvarthy in 1998’s hit, the new Satya in town [played by a newcomer credited as Puneet Singh Ratn for Hindi Version and as Sarwanand in Telugu] is insipid, bland & boring, mainly because of the writing. The writing is too lethargic to create sense. Imagine a narrative voice-over with pure Hindi words like ‘utpann, sarvnaash, chintan’, and in times when there is a song to be thrown in, it goes like “…and they went to Kashmir for honeymoon”. Song is over. & now it says, “…and after the honeymoon, they came back to Mumbai”. What an explanation! And who says Bollywood doesn’t show logics!!

On serious note, time has come when we should console & comfort the cinema lovers in us with a ‘hard to accept’ realization that there was a filmmaker who inevitably desired and derived us through his many prominent artworks for a potential change in Indian cinema but is now lost somewhere in the undercurrents of his own mutinous nature! 

SATYA 2 is not Ram Gopal Varma’s worst but sure a forgettable & shoddy work of substandard that kills all my hopes to see him rise & shine again! Stay Away! [1/5]

KRRISH 3: Unimaginative, unoriginal, borrowed and a bigger disappointment! [2/5]

If you heard something like, “agar mera yeh experiment kaamyaab ho gaya, main yeh-main woh…” you should never be in doubts that you are watching a science-fiction movie (…from Bollywood ofcourse). But thrice?...in the whole 2 hour 33 min of duration filled with inspired yet uninspiring visual effects?? Really?? Then sure you ought to have your uncertainties on gravity of the skilled writing.

In other scene, when a superhero supposedly killed by the evil returns inexplicably or rather in a scientific breakthrough too suitable to sound plausible, a kid confronts the shocked & shaken baddie played by Vivek Oberoi as, “kyun? Phat gayi kya?”. Well, the audience laughed but I couldn’t as if we really want our kids to grow in such shape. Though eventually it is a family entertainer, Rakesh Roshan’s KRRISH 3 can’t be declared sole responsible for that but definitely for being least original, least entertaining & for shamelessly taking cues from the past hits of the west. On one hand, Sr. Roshan tries to woo you with extensive visual effects never seen before in India, but also never lets his gluttony go off to encash the Indian sentimental spree. So, the plot goes for the toss in order to swing aimlessly between the both!

Krishna (Hrithik Roshan in a tailor-made role) is trying his hard to balance his life in Mumbai with his father Rohit (Jr. Roshan again in a comparatively more charming role) & wife Priya (Priyanka Chopra in a regular), between his normal routine and the disappearing ‘superhero’ acts as Krrish to save people’s lives. Meanwhile, an evil mind named Kaal (Vivek Oberoi in a menacing character interestingly modeled on the similar lines of Sir Juda in Subhash Ghai’s KARZ) is busy creating an army of MAANVARs (Mutants from the fusion of humans with animals) to rule the world and regain his powers. Rest is all about how the two clash & collide with their own set of intentions to destroy buildings, demolish towers and make people (especially viewers more than the ones on screen) suffer not only physically but mentally and emotionally too.

Theoretically, a superhero movie needs an upper hand on the VFX front. KRRISH 3 fulfills that basic rule by creating some of the unseen effects in Indian cinema but ‘is that enough’ is the biggest question. There is not one single action/ VFX sequence in the film that comes with an ‘original’ tag…and I bet if you can show me at least one! I wish if the team of writers would have sit more on the plot to make it inspiring rather than deciding on what all effects we can borrow from Hollywood Hits to thrill the audience! KOI MIL GAYA has proved in the past that if incorporated smartly in the plot, even the emotional quotient would work as a strong share of interest, but sadly here in KRRISH 3 it was all done just for the sake of it. Novelty is gone already and now the sensibility too.

On the performance side, there is no second thought on Hrithik being the crowd puller. He maintains the level he has achieved. He charms you with his intensity, his ability and his skills as a complete performer. Vivek as Kaal is strictly average. Kangna as his one of the mutants has an interesting role to pull out. She is poised. She is confident. She is promising. Priyanka Chopra incidentally has nothing new to surprise.

In an advanced world of technology, where even kids have opened all the possible windows to access latest landmarks in the said field, I am not very sure if KRRISH 3 would be able to make it to their appreciation. It only makes you believe in an unsaid rule that medium can never rule out the message, especially if it is borrowed, clichéd, corny, tacky and unimaginative. Think twice before buying your tickets! [2/5]  

MICKEY VIRUS: [Esc] it to [Ctrl+S] your time & money! (2/5)

Even if the most believable myth of every human being on earth having at least its 6 other look-alikes somewhere in some parts of the world could get applied to movies, first timer Saurabh Varma’s comic thriller MICKEY VIRUS doesn’t come close to the last year’s sleeper-hit and a trendsetter in big-in-content small films VICKY DONOR even in its prettiest dream! Now, the makers can sure terminate the possibilities of their indulgence in any such claims but the fact remains sound that it was positioned as the next in the league!

MICKEY VIRUS shifts you into a world of cyber crime that is new & novel but not complete alien. In the crowds of ‘Nehru Place’s, ‘Lajpat Nagar’s & ‘Connaught Place’s of Delhi, you might have bumped into these young bloods with ‘spiked’ hairstyles, sling bags on back and in printed Tee’s that talk much more than the guy himself. Mickey Arora-the virus (TV actor Manish Paul in his first lead on big screen) is one such youth and a promising-playful & carefree hacker who knows his powers [He can break through any security password for a website] and capabilities but doesn’t bother to channelize it for his own good. No wonder, in such rash practices to show off his talent, Mickey ignorantly lands him in a plot of illegal hacking & serial murders that are never his game of excitement.

Well, picking up a plot that has never been done before is always a smart decision when you try to prove a point (Here it supposed to be giving a hit on the lines of the earlier reference) but then you also need to be upgraded with a smarter writing hand as an anchor to pull out. Sadly, MICKEY VIRUS doesn’t find that support. Hacking a website is described here in verbal as a hard nut to crack (The technical lingo seems too accurate for the ears of a common man to doubt its authenticity) but is shown as an unproblematic smooth pastime for everyone around. Where the cyber-talks are too gibberish and Martian for one who’s not very familiar with the technology, the imagery is over-simplistic for one who might know it inside out. And will you really feel for a hero who’s hypothetically the sharpest brain around but couldn’t smell anything fishy or see it coming, especially when you have guessed it all right much before making a way to the climax?

Surprisingly, film’s strength lies in the performances but mostly from the supporting cast. Film sees the strongly in character Maneesh Chaudhary as ACP Siddhant who wants to make the most of Mickey’s hacking talents to bust a cyber crime racket. The charming Varun Vadola plays an archetypical ‘dilliwala’ police ready with comical one-liners. TV Actor Nitesh Pande is seen after long in a brief but meaty role as the master in hacking, fondly called as ‘The professor’. I wish we could have more of him on big screen. Coming on to the amazingly funny on shows TV Anchor Manish Paul. This is his launch pad to Bollywood and he shows promise but mostly in the comical scenes. In times when he’s trapped in to emotional scenes, he doesn’t look very comfortable. His leading lady on screen (Swedish girl Elli Avram of Bigg Boss 7) too carries only the looks of an accented glam-doll with herself and nothing much to appreciate on acting front.

As a comic-thriller, it does have some flares as intimation but the way it reaches there and unfolds itself is less bothering. This not-so-effective virus can be overlooked. My suggestion? [Esc] it to [Ctrl+S] your time & money! [Cltr+Alt+Delete] the idea of watching it in theaters! (2/5)

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS: A nail-biting thriller with lead’s towering performance as cherry on the top! [4/5]

Cinema creates drama. Drama that drives you to cry when a couple in love gets separated, to laugh at someone’s idiotic misery, to amaze with the power of imagination, to get transported in to a world full of dreams or to be in situation that is just a recreation of a real life event but carries same share of intensity and anxiety characters might have experienced it in real.

Based on a true story, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS by notable filmmaker Paul Greengrass [the man behind ‘Bourne’ movies] throws you in a ‘pressure cooker’ situation where every passing minute escalates the tension in same manner the crew of American Cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama could feel, when Somali pirates invade to hijack.

With an implicit fear of the same, the cool-calm-composed but aging Captain Rich Phillips [played by the enormously gifted Tom Hanks] starts his sailing but soon in the middle of a mock-drill session, smells the alarming possibility of getting hijacked by pirates. Sadly, he fails to stop them from getting on board but never lets go the string of hope and courage for even an iota of a second, to come out of this misery of his lifetime.

10-12 minutes in the film and you know what is going to happen next but the way Greengrass unfolds the story with an intimidating sense of ‘what is coming after’ and the smartly edited intercuts between the ship and the pirate-group, you would always find yourself on edge of the seat with nails between your teeth. The camerawork effectively roams around for shaky close-up shots to give the narration an anxious-panicky-edgy feel and does a brilliant job while capturing the hijacking event. Though in the second part, film falls into being restricted & repetitive with the location of the story getting narrowed to one small life-boat, the anxiety-angst & intensity never go for the toss.

As other but very prominent strength of the film, the casting and the performances excite you the most. Barkhad Abdi as the gruesome-ghastly leader of the pirate-group plays mostly an underdog in the first part. With his regulated look, you actually never recall his first appearance in the film but later when he arises as the spearhead of the group, he shocks you with his performance. So does Mr. Tom Hanks, his calculated act as a captain determined to save and safe his crew is remarkable. Watch him in the last act where he is rescued by the armed forces and is now dealing with the trauma he’s been in. A performance that deserves appreciation!

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is easily the year’s one of the best thrillers coming from Hollywood. It’s a well-directed, intensely acted, smartly written inspiring tale of survival that keep you engaged and involved for the most part. A must-watch! [4/5]

SHAHID: A strong evidential piece of cinema that enlightens! Strongly Recommended! [4.5/5]

I feel ashamed of myself for not knowing Shahid Azmi- a slain lawyer and an altruistic humane activist before Hansal Mehta came up with a strong evidential piece of cinema that does not merely solve the purpose to entertain but also dares to enlighten our unresponsive- unsympathetic minds confined into its own safe but scared place to stay put.  We probably have become either numb to whatever happens in our neighborhoods or blatantly reactive about just anything that comes in way without assessing what is right and what is not.

‘SHAHID’ is the need of the hour.  It demands and shows the guts to start a never-ending movement [if not on the roads, definitely in our heads] to bring change in the system by joining it and not wiping it out or denying its very existence.

Shahid [played by ‘Kai Po Che!’ fame Raj Kumar] could be anyone of thousands who gets trapped into the torturous custody of Indian Police known for its tactical power-driven machinery and is thrown into Jail for beholding a name that comes from a certain section of people in minority…but where the most would disappear in the galore to turn radical against country & its governing bodies, Shahid decides to stand out. While his tenure in longing to get set free, Shahid keeps his conscience alive and opts to be a helping hand for those who have nothing but an assurance of not being guilty.

SHAHID is an extraordinary effort in terms of writing and direction. Based on the real-life criminal lawyer-cum-human rights activist Shahid Azmi, film amalgamates facts and fiction beautifully. It is a biopic that is handled with sheer honesty, clarity in thoughts, rightly positioned screenplay, brilliance in execution and a very very significant memorandum to all human beings. Hansal Mehta never and never loses his grip on the subject. He keeps it as real as it is happening in a gully adjacent to my living place. Special mention to the replication of Indian courts’ undramatic-untheatrical-dreary modus operandi where there is no usual Bollywood ‘order-order’ but an actual exchange of verbal spats. Camera work by Anuj Dhawan captures the environs and the emotions equally good. Dialogues are crisp, colloquial and taut.

But what make it an exceptional biopic are the performances. Shahid’s fearless-in your face-uncomplicated character could never come so strong if Raj Kumar has not given it his flesh & blood. This man can make you laugh with his charmingly simplistic behavior [watch it when he is trying to be comfortable with his lady-love still unaware of his feelings] and also can make your heart bleed with his heartrending silence when attacked for his forgettable past. Extended applause for his bravura performance! Prabhleen Sandhu as his wife too is a gifted actor. She brings with herself an unpolished charm that hits every chord she aims to. Md. Zeeshan Ayyub here has not much like in RAANJHANAA to overwhelm you but still he keeps your expectations fulfilled. Kay Kay Menon and Tigmanshu Dhulia play their parts efficiently with a sparkling presence on screen.

After PAAN SINGH TOMAR, here comes an earnest biographical drama that I hope could change the way Indian Cinema thinks about our real life heroes. This is also a film that raises many a questions about humanity and its survival in today’s times. It also shows our judiciary system in true lights. As said in the film by the character Kay Kay Menon plays, “waqt lagta hai par ho jaata hai. It works.” Painfully correct!

On the whole, very few people dare to rise and take a stand to tell a story that might have been vanished from lives & in files if not attempted. Hansal Mehta joins the same league. Respect for giving us SHAHID- a film that will find a place close to your heart very easily but not without stirring-shaking & moving your soul. STRONGLY RECOMMENDED! [4.5/5]

BOSS: Another milestone in senseless action-comedy aimed to touch 100 Cr mark! [2/5]

First rejoinder:

I don’t recall when was the last time I wanted to cheer for the villain beating the hero to his guts out till I sensed myself ready to whistle for Ronit Roy in his final collision with Akshay Kumar in Anthony D’Souza’s BOSS. Reasons could range from my fondness for the prior [Thanks to Motwane’s UDAAN] to his completely black yet the most consistent performance in the film or it could also be my ‘controlled till now’ patience blasting and demanding nothing but someone from the cast taking a stand and whipping-thrashing & battering the character of Akshay Kumar for all the mindless action he does in the film. For me, the performance of DCP Ayushman Thakur played by Ronit Roy is my takeaway from the film! Rest is forgettable!

What is it?

Exactly. What was it? at the most, plot could be described best as a distant relative of all the recent mindless potboilers including Akshay Kumar’s own Rowdy Rathore, Khiladi 786 and hundreds of late 80’s Dharmendra/Mithun chakraborty popular action entertainers. No wonder, in the similar manner you see the hero being introduced as ‘in & as’ format only after 30 odd minutes in the film followed by opening titles in another 10-12 mins after.

Surya- the black sheep in the family of ‘adarshwadi Masterji’ of Banares [played by Mithun Chakraborty], is now in safe but dirty hands of Crime-syndicate Tauji of Haryana [Danny Dangzopa]. 15 years later, Surya [the one & only Akshay Kumar] emerges into a self-loved transporter who bashes up all the goons to save poor villagers but ironically also wears the hat of a money-driven contract killer. In one alike situation, he’s given instructions to kill none other than his younger brother. Shockingly, father also doesn’t have much option left than dragging his abandoned son into this with his powers to save the kid and thus starts the final journey to a picture-perfect happy ending sans my favorite villainous brother of the bride J

How is it?

Films like BOSS are made to run on the star-power, so it is all the way an Akshay Kumar film. You don’t really have to use your mental muscles to imagine in what manner the action, jokes or for that matter even the songs would shape up. Performances are loud, regular and totally in sync with the likings of its targeted audience. Only exception is Ronit Roy as the cold-blooded, merciless, power-driven lawman of his own set of laws. In one scene, when Akshay the Boss is seen jogging/jumping on the trucks [mind you, it’s not the regular track but a chain of trucks] while his first face-off to Ronit- the DCP, you can easily make a distinction between their intensity in the performance! At 2 hour 30 min long duration, it serves you ‘baasi’ ingredients in the name of entertainment.

Who should go?

Watch it if you are an Akshay Kumar fan. Watch it if you already have learnt the lyrics of the ‘yo yo honey singh’ songs in the film by heart. Watch it if Mithun Chakraborty was your first super-hero in Bollywood. Watch it if your mind-heart-soul still adore late 80’s formula action thrillers.

Who should stay away?

If you think Bollywood is changed! If you think entertainment doesn’t have to be formulaic! If you love Indie Cinema more than regular releases! If you believe cinema is a sensitive art form! If you still are reading my review!

Final outcome:

A Presentation of ‘Cape of Good Films’ [really??] Anthony D’Souza’s BOSS is another milestone in senseless action-comedy aimed to touch 100 Cr mark. I don’t see any hurdle in that because as the character of Akshay kumar would have said in his Haryanvi, if asked “apne ko kya hai, apne ko toh bass paisa bahana hai”! [2/5]    

THE PAST [Le Passé]: An intricate emotional thriller that stays in your heart [4/5]

Nothing can be as layered as human relationships. And our attitude towards people around us or the approach towards the very life we are in is solely responsible for making it either an enjoyable exercise to explore many a phenomenal stratums underneath or even more complicated to ruin the fascination. To move on, is a must to learn but even returning to the past can have a prolific side-effect to make things brighter on the other side.

The man behind A SEPARATION – 2011’s Oscar winner in Best Foreign Film category, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is back with THE PAST [Le Passé]- an intricate emotional thriller [I am still looking for an apt genre-segmentation to place it justly] that not only skins off an assortment of emotional acquaintances between every possible relationship under a roof but also evokes required empathy for every person and his/her ability to tackle it in his/her own way.

After 4 years, Ahmad [played by Ali Mosaffa] is in town to meet his 3-times married ex-wife Marie [Bérénice Bejo of ‘THE ARTIST’ ] & to co-operate with her in settling down the divorce process between them, a must for her before marrying a new boyfriend. Ahmad lands up in her house for a short term stay where he re-makes heartrending connection with her daughters and her boyfriend’s son from past marriage. Soon, he starts smelling the combustible emptiness within the walls and before he could really do something about this, the outburst happens to form a big emotional turmoil for everyone in the house.

The beauty lies in the simplistically naïve plot that never looks made-up or adulterated to create drama. Characters take their journey through plausible events and a well-conceived screenplay that justifies every single move taken by them. The emotions are not rare but as raw as anyone would articulate in such situations. Twists in the tale unravel in such flow that neither makes you overtly shaken nor leaves you unreceptive. You don’t really become ‘awestruck’ by the revelations but will sure make a connection here with the events and its grounds.

Performances are convincingly believable and well-defined. For once, your will never find a negative character but the situations that bring out some ‘not so favorable to all’ choice of acts. In fact, every character has its own charm to allure your constant attention. Though you might get little apprehensive about the pace of the film and would probably feel exhausted by a little too much twists in a stretch to reach a feasible end but the top-class cinematography and the slice-of-life look and feel of the film never loses its grip on you.

Experience Ahmad’s soul-stirring relationship with the daughters. Feel the helplessness of a single mother trying to deal with her teenage daughter’s disapproval of her moving on with life. Sense the daughter’s guilt of creating mayhem in her mother’s life. And a kid who’s going through an emotional crisis no one tries to understand. There is so much about life & relationships in Asghar Farhadi’s THE PAST. How much can you learn or unlearn, find out yourself! It is here to stay…in your hearts! [4/5]

WAR…CHHOD NA YAAR: Leave it! Go for your favorite comedy TV shows instead. [2/5]

No one wants war. No one likes to participate in something that harms common people’s peace, prosperity and harmony. We all believe that. At least, we tend to believe that. So when it comes to our ‘not so sweet’ political relationship with our neighboring country, we all at some level have tried to imagine what if the circumstances at the border were not as tensed as it may look sitting in our drawing rooms. The very same is the premise on which first-time writer-director Faraz Haider tries to build nation’s first war-comedy WAR…CHHOD NA YAAR!

On the very first scene, we see our Indian army commander Rana [played by Sharman Joshi] and the chief of Pakistani army outpost [played by Javed Jaffrey] secretly leaving their bases in the darkest hour of the midnight, only to meet at the ‘no man’s land’ not for some revenge seeking war but a card game [Later, they have been shown playing Antakshari also with their respective teams]. The intention is very clear. Make every situation funnier that you think it could be but the problem is the writing lacks originality and innovation. The gags and wits are as if taken from either common man’s raw understandings and presumptions about issues and the mechanism or from an old book of anti-Pakistan jokes. You really can’t be biased with showing most of the good-hearted smart people at your side and the dumbest ones on the other [exclude politicians; they are all the same everywhere]…especially when at the end, you are heading towards a solid meaning message to all the humankind.

Film sure shows a humorous take on the political intervention of other countries [China providing innovative weapons and artilleries to Pakistan, Uncle Sam giving a generous financial aid to India to launch the war] and the caricature-ish low-IQed politicians from both the sides. There is also the TRP-hungry media that masters in how to fabricate regular News feeds to make it large enough for grabbing more eye-balls.  

Performances are strictly average and very conventional & unsurprising. Sharman Joshi and Soha Ali Khan Pataudi are just as you expect them to be. Javed Jaffrey is confident and looks the most promising of them all. Sanjay Mishra repeats himself roles after roles and offers nothing new. Dalip Tahil plays multiple roles of politicians from all sides but if anyone can really make you laugh whole-heartedly is out of the question. Mukul Dev plays an intruder terrorist from Afghanistan who always gets caught by an Indian intelligence officer in disguise patrolling over border-line.     

At the end, WAR…CHHOD NA YAAR is comical but only in its concept & the aspiration it dreams to achieve. I wish the gags would have been fresh and a little matured in nature. Being loyal to your country is one thing but demeaning others by attacking continuously on their state of financial crisis is completely other. Wait for the satellite release and you may like it on a lazy Sunday but as of now, it is not better than a 1-hour episode of comedy shows on your popular TV channel. [2/5]