Dil Dhadakne Do Movie Review

One Word which describes the film - Picturesque

Genre - Comedy/ Family Drama

Best Dialogue - 'Is family ki yahi problem hai, sab upar upar se bat karte hai, asli bat to koyi karta hi nahi hai.

Music- Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Producer -Ritesh Sidhwani
Farhan Akhtar

Story- Reema Kagti, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar (dialogue), Javed Akhtar (additional dialogue) 

Direction- Zoya Akhtar

Cast- Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Bose,Zarina Wahab, Vikrant Massey, Ridhima Sud

Budget- 60 Crores approximately 

The film was first announced as a story based on the brother- sister relationship between Zoya and Farhan Akhtar played by Kareena Kapoor and  Ranbir Kapoor respectively.

Over the years not only the cast was changed but from a brother- sister film it became the story of a dysfunctional Punjabi family who plan a cruise to celebrate the parents' 30'th wedding anniversary.

Most of the celebrities and film stars were all praises for the film as they must have identified with this ultra rich family who instead of chocolates and toys offer planes to their kids as bribe.

Initially I was happy to see that the film was 170 minutes long but once it started, within 15 minutes it became very clear that the journey is going to be a very slow one. There are 20 seconds dialogues followed by 10 seconds of silence. Some episodes are totally unnecessary and should have been totally edited from the film.

Anil Kapoor and Shefali Shah are perfect in their roles. In some scenes their chemistry is so good that you will feel that they are actually married to each other. Their characters have various shades of grey and like experts they manage to give the perfect expression in every scene.
Anil Kapoor gets to say this epic line which every kid must have heard at least once in his/her life 'Tumne aaj tak kiya kya hai ? Nothing ! You are lucky that I'm your father.' 

Priyanka Chopra has lost too much weight and looks tired. She has an excellent voice but in most of the scenes she has a bad throat and doesn't sound like her usual self.

Ranveer Singh is the life and soul of the otherwise reticent family. He is vibrant, makes the audience laugh and is cute in some scenes. He is paired opposite Anushka Sharma with whom he made his Bollywood debut in 2010 ( Band Baaja Baaraat ) and later was also romantically linked. Though now they are dating other people , they share a great on screen chemistry. As aptly described in a dialogue, ' Mohabbat ki shuruwat mai aisa hi hota hai, zabaan kam bolti hai, ankhen bolti hai, jism bolte hai.'

Anushka Sharma has a strong role and some good dialogues but as she is not part of the family she gets less screen space. First Bombay Velvet flops at the Box office and now this film is off to a bad start, guess the news lips are not that lucky for Anushka.

Farhan Akhtar must have been added in the film as an after thought as least attention is paid to his character. He is shabbily dressed in most scenes, doesn't even bother to shave or comb his hair which was quite disappointing for his fans. Moral he should learn from this film is, even when you are the producer and your sister is the director you shouldn't be over confident.
Javed Akhtar has penned some dialogues which are used in a narrative style. Loved this one, ' Doosre karte hai to use hypocrisy kehte hai aur jab khud wohi kam karte hai to use duniyadaari kehte hai.'

The main problem of the film is the presence of too many characters. So many parallel stories are running in the film that many scenes just add to the existing confusion. Many characters are introduced but near the end they just fade away and the focus abruptly shifts to the main members of the family.
The music is average and none of the song stays with us once the movie ends. Guess you really need a Honey Singh or Arijit Singh to have a chart buster song. 
The film has nothing to offer to the masses and so it will be a difficult task for the film to  reach the 100 Crore mark.   

In a line, the film is 170 min long, slow at times, will make you sleep in some scenes but overall it's a classy film made by a woman for other women.

Time-pass. Can be seen in theaters with best friends else better wait for its World TV premier.

Movie review - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Release date - 22'nd May 

2015

One Word which describes the film -Laugh riot .Must watch

Best Dialogue -
Tanu-' Haalat dekhi hai apni? Adrak ho gaya hai ye aadmi. Kahin se bhi badh raha hai!' 
Manu- "Haan toh shaadi se pehle Hrithik Roshan tha kya?

Genre -Comedy/ Drama 

Music - Ramesh Vinayagam

Producer - Kishore Lulla
Anand L. Rai

Story- Himanshu Sharma

Direction -Anand L. Rai

Cast -Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Shergill, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Deepak Dobriyal

Budget- 35 Crores 

After giving  two hits Tanu Weds Manu (2011) and Raanjhanaa (2013), the director-writer duo  Anand L. Rai and  Himanshu Sharma have hit the jackpot with their third tongue in cheek comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns which has become the first film of 2015 to enter the 100 Crore Club. 

With big budget films like Baby and Bombay Velvet failing to touch the 100 Crore mark it's no mean feat.

Kangana Ranaut is slowly and steadily becoming the poor producers' Amir Khan (pun intended).

When Tanu tells a small kid to write a letter which says , 'Laal kalam se likh do unko bahut hua sammaan..' we know that the rebellious Tanuja Trivedi is back and we can expect some fireworks . She has no second thoughts about hugging a rickshaw wala who once used to study in the same college with her and telling him ,'Bahut acche din the yaar wo, waqt aur umar ne sab barbaad kar diya yaar.' 

Kangana as Datto is the real surprise package of the film. Tanu and Datto are like chalk and cheese. It's hard to believe that both the characters are played by the same woman. Where as one is a drop dead beauty who attracts men like moths to a flame the other one is a dedicated athlete who has no time for love or to enjoy the finer things in life. When a befuddled Manu collides with her she shouts at him in Haryanvi , 'Ke kar raha tha bahen faela ke, yo jagah se Shah Rukh Khan bannan ki?'

Madhavan is an excellent actor who always manages to express his feelings through his eyes. Every married man in the audience must have identified and sympathized with him. His silent nature and simple looks act as the perfect foil for Kangana's beauty and exuberance.
His recent weight gain may have acted as an advantage in portraying the role of a 40 year old married man but if he has any intention of playing other mainstream roles he should seriously start working on loosing the extra kilos.

Jimmy Shergil has few scenes in the films but he manages to leave an impact. His character has matured over the years and now instead of raw anger his character depicts maturity. He gets irritated now and then like when he tells Tanu, 'Hum kahe tum nahi tumhare jaise hi sahi, lekin tumhare pati se wo bhi dekha nahi ja raha! Saley ko original bhi yahi rakhenge, duplicate bhi yahi rakhenge.'

Deepak Dobriyal first came to limelight for his award winning performance inOmkara (2006) .  He is totally loyal to Madhavan and plays the role of his inner conscience. You can't stop laughing when he tells Manu ,' Tum kya Salman Khan ho jo tumhe commitment issues hai.' With him around, there's never a dull moment.

Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Chintu is a new addition in this sequel. He is in awe of Tanu and wants to win her by hook or crook. He tells Raja ,'Bhaiya, hum kandha. Bhaiya Kandha ek biradari hoti hai na ladko ki, hum tab ate hai jab kanya bahut udas hoti hai, sare rishto se pareshan hoti hai.'

All these characters along with a well scripted story and screenplay keep you entertained and teach you some basic facts about life.
1. In life there is no happy ending. Till you are alive there will be ups and downs.
2. Never say things which you don't mean.
3. Just because you're mad at someone doesn't mean you stop loving them.

In a line, over the years you must have heard the quote 'Love is blind, marriage is an eye opener' a 100 times, this film just explains it to you  in a very detailed and funny manner.'
Verdict - Must watch. Paisa vasool. Kangana is just awesome !

Rating - 4 out of 5

Movie review - Welcome to Karachi

Welcome to Karachi

Release date - 29'th May 2015

One Word which describes the film -Directionless

Best Dialogue - 
Jackky- Ye tune delivery karna kisse sikhaa ?
Arshad- Rajiv Hirani se !

Genre - Comedy/Political Satire

Music -Rochak Kohli, Jeet Ganguly, Komail Shayan (KK), Amjad Nadeem

Producer - Vashu Bhagnani

Story-Vrajesh Hirjee

Direction -Ashish R Mohan

Cast -Arshad Warsi, Jackky Bhagnani, Lauren Gottilieb

Budget- 30 - 35 crores approximately

Two men in a drunken stupor decide to go to America by boat. Their boat is caught in a storm and the cruel waves of the ocean bring them to Karachi. In one scene they are dancing with bikini babes and in the next they are in midst of bomb explosion and gun shots. As if this was not enough they are mistaken as terrorists and are taken to the Taliban. 
The story aimlessly drifts from hospitals to fake passport offices to terrorists' camps to Al Qaeda to clubs to parliament sessions. There are many scenes which make us laugh but they are lost in the non ending journey of the protagonists.

Jackyy is shown as a dim wit Gujarati guy who doesn't realize the gravity of the situation. He talks with a terrorist in a very jovial manner.   

Jackky : Uncle mera ek garba karte hue video hai , aap Youtube mai dekho 

Pakistani: Youtube Pakistan me ban hai.

Jackky : Skype

Pakistani: Ban 

Jackky : Whatsapp

Pakistani: Ban 

Jackky :Toh uncle aap ke ghar pe 3G hai kya? Main toh bol raha hoon katwa lo. Bahut paise bachenge

Arshad Warsi's character is older and wiser but at times he is shown doing equally stupid things. His comic timing is perfect but just humorous scenes can not save a film which has a weak screenplay and poor dialogues. 

Lauren is mainly in the film for the item songs and to provide some glamour and looks beautiful in the otherwise drab film.

We have heard that, 'A life without a vision is a journey without destination.' So what was the filmmakers purpose in making this film? If they wanted to show that Karachi is a really unsafe place where one's life is under constant threat then initially they did manage to create some tension in the minds of the viewers but soon it was lost in between the crowd of junior artists and item songs. 
   

In a line, even though the film has some funny moments, the overall Karachi journey is not entertaining enough to be seen in theaters.

Verdict - Completely Avoidable. Wait for its TV premier next month

Ratings - 2 out of 5