‘HIMMATWALA’ Movie Review- Tanmay Dubey

 

 

 

Starring :-  Ajay Devgn, Tamannah, Paresh Rawal & Mahesh Manjrekar

Director:- Sajid Khan

 

‘Taki O Taki, Haan Taki Taki Taki Re, Jab se tu aankh mein jhaanki” Does this phrase makes any intellectual sense to you? No…na  but the same phrase when mixed with foot tapping music, fills you with great entertainment value. That’s what precisely ‘Himmatwala’ the film does to you. Almost Zero in intellectual content but full on in entertainment quotient. That too in the 80’s style!. Diretor Sajid Khan is in Love with Films, ( read: the recreation of the famous ‘Psycho’’ scene)  but he is crazy about that 80’s, that zing, that Disco, that Melodrama, that Larger than life Characters, that machismo of the HERO and That over the top comedy.

‘Himmatwala’ offers you everything like a formula film- from a tiger fight between Hero and the Animal ( Enhanced by CG !), to a Widhwa Maa, to a Lachaar Bahan, to a Zulmi Thakur, Garib Gaon aur uske log, and an Old revenge score to settle down. The film lacks any technical brilliance (may be Sajid Khan felt it of no need for his no brainer) Music is below average leaving apart yesteryear chart busters “ Naino Mein Sapna…” and “Taki O Taki” which are the two most bright spots of the film. The Opening Disco Song featuring Sonakshi Sinha is refreshing and the ‘item’ dance song involving leading “Tele-ladies” comes out of no-where (Nothing to take out from their good performance in the song).

The film is full of punches and punch lines. Dialoges like “ek maan ka beta, ek bahan ka bhai, ek Himmatwala” is bound to get claps and whistles in cinema halls. (the film offers ample moments for such sittis..! ) Performance wise Ajay Devgn relates to  Himmatwala with ease. Paresh Rawal’s funny wig and comic act will make you smile with an occasional laugh but Children are going to laugh their heart out. The flickering of his character in between into Kader Khan bears Said Khan’s signature style ( Read: He has made Akshay Kumar do ‘aaie’ aka Ranjit in Houseful 2 and ‘hanha bhanje’  aka Jeevan in Hey Baby !)

Mahesh Manjrekar also tries his hand on comedy but he looks more convincing as a villain. Tamannah looks bright and sunny and flashes her acting skills along with her charms and colorful dresses whenever the script gives her any such chance.

I am refraining from drawing parallels between the Original cult hit “Himmatwala” featuring Jeetendra and Sridevi. Remakes should only be enjoyed or loathed upon individual merits and Demerits. Sajid Khan takes big risk by not adapting the old story as per the contemporary cinema and sticking to the now cliché 80’s style of storytelling. The film offers little less comic moments ( as being a Sajid Khan fan, I was looking upto it). Go and watch if you have nothing more interesting and challenging to do. As it happens with ‘Entertainers’; this film too has good chances of making decent money at the Box Office.

 

Score Stack Up:-

+ ive:-  Whistle blowing moments and Funny Dialogues.

-  ive:-  Might impress only a section of audience.

 

Box Office, Paisa Vasool Rating:- 3 out of 5

Tanmay's Rating : 2 out of 5

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scores Classifications- 

(5)  Very Good, Must Watch 

(4)   Good, Should Watch 

(3)   Not Bad;

(2)  One Time Watch; 

(1)  On your own risk;  

 

‘Jolly LLB’ Movie Review- Tanmay Dubey

 

 

Starring :-  Arshad Warsi, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla,


Director:- Subhash Kapoor

 

‘Jolly LLB” is a thought provoking film. It’s a satire on the judiciary system in India.  Off course being a fictional story it can have a fair share of debate on the sanctity of the episodes shown in the film, yet to a major extent film succeeds in reflecting the dark reality of how money manages people and in turn they manage situations in today’s world.

Plot of the film is transformational in nature where the central character of Jagdish Tyagi aka ‘Jolly’ superbly played by Arshad Warsi ( He has a knack of getting great scripts be it Munna Bhai, Saher, etc) wants to make it big in the Law world but is restraint because of his own limitation. Then comes a case which questions his value system and he discovers the truth inside him and transforms himself from a loser to winner and in the process proving “kanoon ke hath lambe hote hai”.

Boman Irani is great as usual and gives an intense performance as the devious, classy senior advocate. A sincere word of appreciation for Saurabh Shukla; whose portrayal of judge tripathi is absolutely brilliant. During the length of the role he has to sit and perform and he makes phenomenal use of his body language ( the way he reads, the way he looks)  to play the character.

The best part of the film is its tight screenplay and hitting dialogues like “ Insaaf milta nahi hai Mangna padta hai” are good. The only sad part is music which could have little been better yet songs like “mere to lau lag gaye” and “goggle pahan ke, baal katwa ke, kaua chala hans ki chaal” are more situational than melodious. Amrita Rao is cute in her little to do love track.( she does becomes one of the catalyst in jolly’s transformation)

Kudos to the debutant director Subhash kapoor for giving such a realistic treatment to the film. The film is essentially a courtroom drama but thanks to the treatment, you hardly notice the ‘drama’ ( read: the fight sequence in the court corridor).  Don’t be surprised if this film may become one of the sleeping hits or better admired films of 2013. No doubt Subhash bagged the directorial reins of the next munna bhai series !

 

Score Stack Up:-

+ ive:-  Great Performance, Fantastic Screenplay and earthy dialogues.

-  ive:-  music could have been little melodious ( couple of unnecessary songs).

 

Box Office, Paisa Vasool Rating:- 3.5 out of 5

Tanmay's Rating : 4 out of 5

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scores Classifications- 

(5)  Very Good, Must Watch 

(4)   Good, Should Watch 

(3)   Not Bad;

(2)  One Time Watch; 

(1)  On your own risk;  

 

‘3G’ Movie Review- Tanmay Dubey

 

 

 

Starring :-  Niel Nitin Mukesh, Sonal Chauhan


Director:- Sheershak Anand & Shantanu Ray Chhibber

 

We have watched and heard  the stories of a Haunted House, Haunted Flat, and haunted bungalows but here comes the story of a haunted phone with  3G inability - may be to enable faster telecommunications of the spirits! Quite literally! .

The Director Duo has offered all the ingredients that theoretically a horror film should have:- Staring ugly faces, shrieking moments, tinge of sexuality ( Sonal Chauhan  donned a bikini and ably supports Niel Nitin Mukesh doing Imraan Hashmi), trace of suspense on what and why  is happening ? With camera successfully capturing Fiji’s beautiful locales in the background, This film tries to give a completely new tech-savy flavor to age old horror flick formula- “a wandering spirit needing solace, by revenging people who killed him/her in the first place”.   

Neil Nitin Mukesh tries his best to slip in-between characters as fun loving Sam and as man possessed by evil spirit with his ‘robotic moves’ and changing voice thickness. Sonal Chauhan fills the sex gap in the film and thankfully has fewer shrieks to her credit when compared with other lady protagonists in horror films. Camera work is very good and the music is quite poor with romantic track breaking the flow of the narration.

Credit should be given to the Director duo on trying to bring something new in the otherwise pale genre. After all Horror flicks are like roller coaster rides which you enjoy only till it lasts!  

 

Score Stack Up:-

+ ive:-  Decent Performance, Good Camera Work, new concept.

-  ive:-  Insipid music, erratic narration and not much scary.

 

Box Office, Paisa Vasool Rating:- 2 out of 5

Tanmay's Rating : 2 out of 5

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Scores Classifications- 

(5)  Very Good, Must Watch 

(4)   Good, Should Watch 

(3)   Not Bad;

(2)  One Time Watch; 

(1)  On your own risk;  

 

‘Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns’ Movie Review- Tanmay Dubey

Starring :-Irrfan Khan, Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill, Soha Ali Khan and Parvesh Rana

Director:- Tigmanshu Dhulia

Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns' is set up in the land which was once ruled by kings. Their royalty has been siphoned off its shine by the thick stratum of time.  But that does not let effect their arrogance. No matter what Kings are Kings. They marry again, because they can ‘afford’ another wife, they love playing the game of polo and chess, even if that means spilling the blood and tearing the relations and loyalties apart. They don’t morn it, they enjoy it. Every player wants to win, and the only resort is to go for a kill.

Thankfully this sequel neither celebrates the prequel nor does it tries to repeat itself. The story in fact moves ahead from where it ended in the last film. Crippled Saheb is the undisputed warlord of his Kingdom and the Biwi is a regressive and drunk woman who loves to listen “lag ja gale….” at night. Enter Gangster Irrfan with an old score to settle and the pawn is Soha Ali khan wrapped as a queen and what follows is a bloody game of chess where loss means death.

Digmanshu Dhulia’s casting is near perfect. He has done the Screenplay, dialogue and Direction and all through the way it is tight. Dialogues like “Tumhe pata hai, Mard gaali kyo dete hai, kyonki wo rote nahi hai”  “Mujhe sirf mard hi kyon milte hai, shayar kyon nahi milte”. “Tumhe dekh kar pata nahi kyon badtamizi karne ka man karta hai”  bears his rustic and upfront stamp.

Performance wise everybody gives a damn good performance with Jimmy Shergill and Irrfan standing tall among men. Jimmy especially successfully brings out the frustration of a wheel chair bound helpless person. By now we expect Irrfan to give a superlative performance and he does not disappoint at all. New Comer Parvesh Rana is good in his small outing. Mughdha Godse’s item number does obstruct the flow of the film and comes from no where.. Mahie Gill is good in her seductress act and her character is like a pillar around which the entire films revolves and leaves a cue for part 3  .

“ Aaj Jung shuru hogi…..ghamasan hogi” is what the poster of the film reads. The jung ( battle) has definitely begun but is it ghamasan ( fierce) …….? I didn’t felt so. The fierceness almost reaches the boiling point but unfortunately steams out, giving way to another moment in the film to take it through. But sadly the moment never comes. 

(Being a fan of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s brand of cinema, I was personally expecting more)!

Score Stack Up:-

+ ive:-  Good Performances, Very tight Screenplay, great casting and good Story

-  ive:-  Poor Music,

Box Office, Paisa Vasool Rating:- 2.5 out of 5

Tanmay's Rating : 2.5 out of 5



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Scores Classifications- 

(5)  Very Good, Must Watch 

(4)   Good, Should Watch 

(3)   Not Bad;

(2)  One Time Watch; 

(1)  On your own risk;  

‘I Me aur Main’ Movie Review- Tanmay Dubey

 

 

Starring :-John Abraham, Chitrangada Singh, Prachi Desai, Zarina Wahab, Raima Sen and Mini Mathur


Director:- Kapil Sharma

 

I recently read an article which proclaimed India to be having four time zones of the way of life. One for the people who lives in the forest are approximately 500 years away; two who lives in villages are approximately 100 years away; three who lives in T2 cities are living the way it was 50 years ago and finally the upper class, who apart from flashing latest gadgets, speaking in English, boast a different value set altogether.

“I, Me aur Main” is a story based on this present time zone with people having value sets that challenges the conventional society values. The protagonist is shamelessly self-centered (the seeds of which were sown in childhood by an over loving mother) and do not care about his relationships. He goes through up and down in his personal and professional life and realizes the value of not being ‘the best’ for self but ‘being the best’ for others.

The movie thankfully does not offer you very lengthy romantic tracks and is quite crisp in the making. Although the second half is little slow but still debutant director Anand Sharma (Son of India’s first astronaut in space Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma) manages to tell the unconventional love triangle story quite decently.

John Abraham seems to have a little bend over unconventional stories about the new generation males (be it his home production Vicky Donor or the present one) and shows his acting skills apart from flexing overgrown muscles. Prachi Desai is good as bubbly Gauri and Chitranagda ‘delivers’ (quite literally) a mature performance. Mini Mathur is very well cast in the film and does the elder sister role very nicely. The use of balle balle in the background during the supposedly funny scenes of Zarina Wahab does not gel well. (What is Punjabi background music doing in a Marathi mother set-up?) Raima Sen is good in her 'tough nut to crack' corporate women role.

The film does not offer anything outstanding be it the Story, Dialogue, Music, Screenplay and settles happily in the Average category offering!. J

 

Score Stack Up:-

+ ive:-  Good Performances, slightly new twist in story

-  ive:-  Offers nothing exceptional

 

Box Office, Paisa Vasool Rating:- 2.5 out of 5

Tanmay's Rating : 2.75 out of 5

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Scores Classifications- 

(5)  Very Good, Must Watch 

(4)   Good, Should Watch 

(3)   Not Bad;

(2)  One Time Watch; 

(1)  On your own risk;