Review of "2 States"

While reading Chetan Bhagat's novel "2 States - Story Of My Marriage" everyone must have thought at least once that they are actually reading the script of a commercial Bollywood movie. It has a Hero, a Heroine, romance, comedy, emotion , drama, song and dance all masala ingredients(though the action part is missing but it can be overlooked) of a successful Bollywood movie. So when debutante director Abhishek Varman decided to adapt the book as a movie, he does not feel the need to do any modification and choose to stick with the original story for almost every scene, even he has used the same title as of the book.

Who have already read the book, already knows the story but for the minorities who have

not read it at least once , the story is of two IIMA students Krish Malhotra (Arjun Kapoor) and Ananya Swaminathan (Alia Bhatt) who met with each other as batch-mates then soon became friends and sooner becomes lovers. But the main problem is that Krish is a Punjabi and Ananya is a Tamilian  so obviously their parents will not accept this cross cultural marriage, so they decide to win the heart of each other's family members one by one so that their family can happily accept their relationship. First Krish tries his luck too convince Ananya's family and then Ananya tries the same with Krish's family. And finally what happened , does their families accept this marriage or not that answer comes in the climax of the film.

Although the film is a true adaptation of the novel by same name but still similarities can be found from movies like "Ek Dujey Ke Liye" or "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" as the book itself has taken inspirations from those movies. While writing the screenplay Abhishek Varman has not tried to give any new twist to the original story but still he has to do a tough job to cut down some irrelevant portions from the book so that it can be wrapped up in at least 150 minutes length. Even to cut down the length of the film some portions which were even in the promos has been excluded from the final version. The screenplay is written in such way that the interest of the audiences never goes down. Although the climax is

very predictable (even for the people who have not read the book) still whatever is happening on the screen looks interesting. There are lots of funny moments and some emotional moments too. In the second half though before the climax there is a phase of over melodrama which may bore the audience and this is the time when the script looses its grip and the length factor starts knocking on the audiences mind. Another problem of the screenplay or the book itself is that the characters of the parents are too cliche.
The concept of Krish narrating his story to a psychiatrist had worked well for the book and could have worked well too for the movie if it would have used smartly but unfortunately here it has been used in a confusing way as Krish goes to the psychiatrist twice that too in a gap of more than years to tell his story in two halves. 
Still there are moments which are likable , like the romantic track of Krish and Ananya in IIM campus, The meetings of Krish and Anayna's parents first on the convocation day at IIM campus and later in a trip to Mumbai. The love hate relationship between Krish and his father is also heart touching.

As a director Abhishek Varman has shown lots of promise in his debut venture. Though he has not tried to go on any experimental way and has played it more safe with already tried and tested characters and situations but it has to be said that whatever he has done his earnest effort is showing.

As the leading man Krish , Arjun Kapoor has got a good opportunity to change his bad boy image. This character is much different than the arrogant characters he has played earlier and he has tried a lot to look convincing as the IIM graduate Krish who is sandwiched between his girlfriend and his mother, for most of the part. But it has to be said there is a lot of scope for improvement in Arjun Kapoor's acting. He can act very well in dramatic and emotional sequence but while doing romance or comedy he looks a bit awkward.

As Ananya , Alia Bhatt has given yet another winning performance. She fits perfectly in her character of a bubbly young girl who can turn into a strong woman too when required. She has looked very pretty and acted very well.Surely Alia Bhatt is the future super star of Bollywood.
Together Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have looked very well , their chemistry is nice and they have complemented each other as a romantic couple on screen.


Apart from this two youngsters there is solid supporting cast consisting of some truly good actors as Krish and Ananya's parents. Ronit Roy has acted superb as Krish's drunk and

abusive father, though his character has some resemblance with the charcater he has played in "Udaan" but still he has not looked like repeating himself. Amrita Singh has done fantastic job as the loud Punjabi mother of Krish. She has various shades to her character at one point she is trying to act as a dominating mother-in-law on the other point she is a helpless woman who is suffering from a bad marriage. She has managed to portray the character with so much conviction that even after being the cause of Krish and Ananya's separation she never looked as a negative character. Another yesteryear actress Revathy has acted brilliantly as Ananya's Tamilian mother. She has managed to play her character with her expressions very well as she has very few dialogues to say. As Ananya's soft spoken reserved father Shiv Subramanium has done full justice with his character.

The music has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and the songs are good and situational. Though the songs are not chartbuster hits but they have contributed to the movie very well. Except for the Punjabi wedding song "Iski Uski" all other songs have been used as a narrative to move the story forward. After watching the film people will like the songs more. The lyrics are very well written by Amitabh Bhattacharya specially for the songs like "Locha-E-Ulfat", "Mast Magan" and "Chandaniyaa".

Among the technical team the persons who should be given credit are cinematographer Vinod Pradhan, its for his brilliant camera work that the film has got a rich feel good look. Then there is the Editor Namrata Rao. With her sharp editing she has has managed to wrap up so many events in such short time, specially in the first half her work is superb. Though in the last 20-30 minutes she looses her grip. Dialogue writer Husain Dalal has done a good job too, though his dialogues are very much inspired from the book itself but still it is funny and interesting.
Choreographer Remo D'souza could have have choregraphed the song in a better way, the lack of dancing skills of the leading actors is visible in the songs picturisation. The costumes designed by manish Malhotra (For Alia Bhatt) and Shiraz Shiddiqui (For Arjun Kapoor) are very good , trendy and are going well with the characters.

Overall it is a good adaptation of a bestselling novel. It is entertaining. Though there is nothing new to offer but the but the rocking chemistry of the leading couple and a solid support of seniors actors makes it watchable movie. Just like Chetan Bhagat's novels it may not work well for the critics but it will be loved by the masses.

Review of Bengali film "Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2"

"Chirodini Tumi Je Amar 2" has nothing to do with its prequel "Chirodini Tumi Je Amar". The only similarity is that it is also a  tragic love story and is a remake of a south Indian film. With this two similarities it could have been easily named as a "Prem Amar 2" or a "Bojhena Se Bojhena 2". Anyways what is in a name. 

This movie is about two young couples whose stories are very much different with each other but they are interconnected. At one side there is an innocent love story where there is no money but the hearts are full of love on the other side there is lust and betrayal of a rich spoilt brat where there is lots of money but there is no love or trust. When this two stories criss-cross each other what happens, obviously poverty will surrender to the power of money but will true love surrender against the power wealth or not?

The story starts with a poor guy Bhanu Sardar (Arjun Chakraborty) who had came to Kolkata from a village of Purulia to earn money to run his family. He works at food stall. One day he meets Jyoti (Urmila Mahanta) , a housemaid at nearby apartment. Soon after his first meeting with Jyoti, he falls in love with her, but Jyoti's mother(Soma chakraborty) does not like him. So feels scared to express his feelings to Jyoti. Parallel to this love story there is another track of a grown up rich kid Raj (Bihu Mukherjee) who has some lustful intentions towards an innocent teenager girl Shreya (Ena Saha) who lives in the same housing complex. Shreya is the girl from the house where Jyoti works as a maid.
At one point these two stories mingles with each other and true love has to face the challenges of the power of wealth.And what happened then is the climax of the film.

The story works well with audiences because of the interesting screenplay and a bunch of believable characters with whom one can easily identify. The way the story unfolds using the flashbacks of past incidents looks interesting. At interval point a twist comes to the story which is very good. In the middle of all seriousness and tension some solid dose of laughter has been provided in the form of the character of Rakhal Mondal (Riddhi Sen) a friend and co-worker of Bhanu at the roadside food stall. Bhanu and Rakhal 's friendship track has emotional quotient too. Another good thing is that unlike other commercial Bengali movies the use of songs has been restricted very well there is no scope for unnecessary songs picturised in foreign locations. The only problem with the screenplay is its length.  The movie could have been shortened a bit by reducing the elaborated depiction of Bhanu's past life in the opening few reels. It has nothing much to do with the original track.

As a director Soumik Chatterjee has done full justice to his characters and story. At one point he has captured the poor class people's life authentically on the other hand he has portrayed the young rich kids and their lifestyle too with much detailing. Another credit goes to him for introducing a bunch of new talented faces and make them act well in front of the camera.

Among the actors it can be said apart from Arjun Chakraborty all the other kids are new, even for Arjun Chakraborty too it is his second film only. But all of them has acted very well. Arjun Chakraborty is totally believable as the poor helpless Bhanu. His body language to his dialogue delivery everything is appropriate for his character. Riddhi Sen (Son of Kaushik Sen) has done a brilliant job as Rakhal. He is the live wire of the film, without his comic relief the film could have been turned into a monotonous and depressing story. Every time he comes on the screen , he brings smile on the audiences faces. Even in the climax portion he has acted well in the emotional scenes too. Newcomer Bihu Mukherjee(Son of Kharaj Mukherjee) is another genius and he is also the future of Bengali film industry. He shines very well with his evil to the core character of Raj. 
The screenplay has been written in  such a way that the guys get better roles in most of the part but the two debutante ladies  Urmila Mahanta and Ena Saha have done justice to their characters too. While Urmila Mahanta has not much dialouges for most of the parts, she has to enact with her eyes and facial expression only and she does it very well. On the other hand Ena Saha' s character Shreya is totally different to Jyoti, she is a bubbly rich talkative girl who is very lively and Ena Saha has brought life to the character. 
The best thing about the young actors is that they act as per their age neither they looked too mature to their age nor they behaved too childish.

Among the senior actors Kharaj Mukherjee is just too good as the Police Officer. He brings smile with his comic timing. Another actor who has shown good comic timing is Sumit Samaddar as the food stall owner Ghanada. Soma Chakraborty has given good support as Jyoti's mother. Music composer Samidh Mukherjee has a very funny guest appearance as a Tollywood actor.

The dialogues are very realistic and very bold too.As a result some of the cuss words have been beeped as per censor board's advice. The camerawork by Madhusudan Shee is good, only the overuse of close up shots could have been avoided. The sets and costumes goes very well with characters. 

The music by Jeet Ganguly is very much soulful and melodious. Both the songs "Mon Bojhe Na" and "Eka Ekela Mon" has been composed and written very well and have been sung well too by current favorite Arijit Singh.  Another track "Maula" comes towards the climax in the background, but it failed to create the needed impact of pain and agony of the two lovers.

Over all this is  a  film with a good story which will touch your heart, though the climax may not be acceptable for some of the audiences. But the interesting characters and the good acting by a bunch of newcomers will win your heart. Go and watch it and give a chance to the future actors of Bengali film industry.

Review of Bhootnath Returns

Now a days it is trend to make sequels just to en-cash the success of the first movie , no matter if the sequel really carry forwards the story of the prequel or not. In that sense "Bhootnath Returns" is a true sequel to the 2008 release "Bhootnath". The story starts from the same point from where the story was ended in the earlier movie. There are some reference of Banku and his father too but if you are thinking that this is going to be the same fun ride for kids then you are wrong this belongs to a totally different genre of movies. There are humors for kids too but those are very few as the main story revolves around a social message which tries to motivate the voters to vote to bring change in system and to build a better country. This film targets the voters, the 18+ audiences not the kids. but that does not mean that this is an adult film as a character at one point says in the film , it is for adults but not only for adults.

The film's opening few reels are the most interesting where Bhootnath (Amitabh Bachchan) goes to ghost office where every ghost is waiting for there turn for reincarnation. Then suddenly Bhootnath realizes that everyone is laughing at him as he had failed to scare a single kid (Banku) with his supernatural powers. To clear his image Bhootnath returns to the earth once again just to scare some kids. But his destiny brings him to Akhrot (Parth Bhalerao) a kid from the slum area of Dharavi, who can see him. Very soon Bhootnath becomes friendly with Akhrot and gets involved in his personal problems. And at one point while solving Akhrot's problems Bhootnath realizes that the problem is on a larger scale and he decides to fight general elections against the local corrupt politician Bhau (Boman Irani). After that the next half tells the story of how a ghost does his election campaigning and finally will he able to win the battle against Bhau or not?

The story written by Nitesh Tiwari and Piyush Gupta is very unusual and it requires the support of a good screenplay to keep the audiences interest alive. But unfortunately in some moments the screenplay looks repetitive. In both the half there are scenes where Bhootnath decides to punish the corrupt government employees but when the same thing happens for 5-6 times it looses the impact. Another problem with the screenplay is its too lengthy, it should have been reduced by at least 20 - 25 minutes. At one point in the movie, it features a whole 5 minute song depicting the poverty of lower middle class people of India which looks totally out of sync with the movie. Although the intention is noble but a movie should entertain also. Unfortunately not everyone knows how to give social messages with entertainment like Rajkumar Hirani. In the second half where a movement has been shown to create Voter ID card looks totally inspired by Munnabhai movies but it does not look as convincing like the Munnabhai movies.

But that does not mean that the movie does not have any interesting moments there are some entertaining scenes. Such as the scene in the opening sequence showing the ghost office, or the scene when Bhootnath along with Akhrot goes to consult with a lawyer (Sanjay Mishra) for the information regarding contesting for elections, or when Bhootnath goes to Anuraag Kashyap with the request to write a promotional song for their party, the sequence involving Bhootnath and Bhau in Bhau's toilet etc. 

Another high point of the film is its dialogues penned by Nitesh Tiwari and Piyush Gupta and additional dialogue writers Nikhil Mehrotra and Shreyas Jain. No matter the screenplay is going up or down the dialogues of the film are always funny and innovative. 

As a director Nitesh Tiwari has done a fair job. He has casted the actors very well and has extracted good performances from all. The detailing about the locations and characters is also visible. Only thing which goes missing by him is that at some points he failed to provide the entertainment value along with the social message as a result in some points the movie starts sounding and looking like a documentary made by Election Commission of India.

In acting department, there is no point to prove once again that what a great actor Amitabh Bachchan is. Among the others the kid Parth Bhalerao has done a superb job. His body language, dialogue delivery goes very well with his character and he has acted like a seasoned actor. Boman Irani is brilliant once again in negative role where he does more comedy than negativity. But one thing needs to be said that now Boman Irani is getting type casted in such comical villan roles. He should stop it before that people starts feeling bored of it. 
Among the others Sanjay Mishra as the lawyer , Usha Jadav as Akhrot's mother and Brijendra Kala as bhau's aide have given well support. 
Anuraag Kashyap has  impressed the audiences in his cameo, but the same can not be said about the two superstars Shahrukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. Both the actors have done good but their guest appearances has not been used properly in the movie so it does not make much impact on the story.

Among the technical team it can be said that Wasiq Khan has done a wonderful job by recreating the Dharavi Slum area with his realistic sets. The camera work by Kamaljeet Negi is also good. The rest of the technical team is just okay

There is not much scope of music in the movie, and the songs are not much popular. Still the song "Party To Banti Hai" is a catchy number and works in favour of the movie. Among the other songs the "Dharavi Rap" has been written very well with very funny lines and it has been picturised well too so it looks good in the movie.

Overall "Bhootnath Returns" is film made with well intentions to make people aware of their rights using which people can bring change to their society. Of course it is a family film but  the running is too long which can bore the kids accompanying their parents. But still it is enjoyable for its funny dialogues and the brilliant performance by its two main lead. 
So in this voting season you can give your valuable vote to Bhootnath.

Review of "Main Tera Hero"

From last 25 years David Dhawan is continuously entertaining the audiences with his trademark comedy movies. Among them some of them clicked very well with the viwers and some of them not but he never tried to do something different and neither the audiences expected from him to change his style. So from the beginning you understand what to expect and what not to expect from "Main Tera Hero". From start to end it is a mindless entertainer where story can be given any kind of twist at any point without thinking about any logic, where the songs can pop out anywhere in the movie but whatever you see on screen appears good to you.

This movie is a remake of a Telugu hit "Kandireega" and where most of the filmmakers are trying to remake action movies from south , it is a fresh change that someone tried to remake a comedy. The screenplay has not been changed much only some modifications has been done to make it more suitable for Hindi movie audiences.

The story is of a small town guy Seenu (Varun Dhawan) who comes to Bangaluru to get a degree from a college but fall in love with a girl Sunaina (Ileana D'cruze) from the first day of his college. But there is a local cop (who acts more like a goon) Angad (Arunoday Singh) who loves Sunaina and thinks her as his property. The first half revolves around how Seenu wins Sunaina's heart and makes her free from Angad. In the second half the story shifts to Bangkok where a don Bikrant (Anupam Kher) kidnaps Sunaina so that Seenu comes to him and he can forced Seenu to marry her daughter Aisha (Nargis Fakhri), as Aisha is madly in love with Seenu since she had seen Seenu fighting with some goons on a train journey. From this point starts some comedy of errors and confusions where Seenu continuously keeps making others fool.

It has the masala ingredients like comedy , action, song and dance but one thing which is missing are the laugh out loud moments throughout the whole movie. It has some funny moments like Seenu's conversations with God(Superbly dubbed by Salman Khan), the bhajan inspired by a popular dance number, the kissing rehearsal sequence towards the climax etc. But as it has been promoted as a comedy it should have more funny dialogues specially in the first half.

As a director David Dhawan has done a good job. Though its true that besides a director he acts as a father too and gives his son maximum of the opportunities as a result the other characters did not get ample chance to make an impression on the audiences.

In the acting department Varun Dhawan has done quite a good job. Its very clear that his performance is very much inspired from Govinda and Salman Khan who were the most favorite actors of his father's earlier films. But still he has managed to make his own image too. His comic timing is superb. He dances very well and does the action scenes good too. Overall he is truly deserves to be called a Hero of commercial Hindi movies.

In a David Dhawan movie heroines do not need to act they just need to look glamorous in their short clothes and here too both the ladies Ileana D'cruze and Nargis Fakhri have managed to look glamorous and have given good support to their hero.

Among the supporting cast it is Sourabh Shukla who has done a fantastic job and has delivered some funny lines too. Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav have acted well too. Arunoday Singh has made a 360 degree rotation from non commercial parallel cinema to a David Dhawan comedy but this initiative doesn't go well for him. He has tried a lot to do a fair job at least in the second half but still he looks a misfit in his role.

The technical department has not done a mind blowing job but everything is in place and goes well with the requirement of this film. Special mention is deserved for Sanjay F Gupta's cinematography which is pleasant to the eyes. The choreographers Bosco-Ceaser and Ganesh Acharya has done a good job and the dancing capabilities of the leading man Varun Dhawan has made their job more easier.

The music has been composed by Sajid-Wajid, which is good though the songs sound very much inspired (copied) from other songs. The song "Tera Hero Idhar Hai" has been completely lifted from the old hit song "Jahan Teri Ye Nazar Hai" where the song "Shanivaar Raati" has lots of similarities with last years hit "Dilliwali Girlfriend" and the song "Galat Baat Hai" sounds and looks much similar with the song "Second Hand Jawani". In spite of the lack of originality the songs are quite popular and the picturisation is also good so it doesn't bore the audiences although some of the songs comes all of a sudden in the movie without any situation.

Overall it is a time pass movie , if you love the mindless comedies from David Dhawan or you are a fan of Varun Dhawan then you can go for this. But don't expect too much, just sit and enjoy the movie and the popcorn too.

A quick update on the happenings in Bollywood in Quarter 1 of 2014

Quarter 1 of 2014 is over so its time to look back at the happenings of Q1 of 2014 in our Hindi film industry.

Business of Bollywood in January:

The year started with the release of the 3D version of the biggest hit of Indian cinema ever

"Sholay" but this time it failed to create the magic once again even with the 3D effects. 

Then the next movie to watch out for was "Dedh Ishqiya" which was a sort of comeback film of the legendary Madhuri Dixit, but alas neither she not the movie was able to create the kind of magic which was expected. As a result it turns out to be a flop. Same goes for Salman Khan's much hyped "Jai Ho" which failed to meet the expectations of the trade analyst. Although it did very well at the box office and managed to enter in the 100 crore club but it did not break any record and also got very poor reviews from the critics.Where the big stars failed to bring the audiences to the theaters, surprisingly a bunch of newcomers gave a surprise hit at the box office with "Yaariyaan". Although the critics washed out the film with their harsh comments but the college campus drama made a solid impact on the young cinegoers with some adult comedy and very much popular songs. Its box office collection was not that big but in comparison to the budget of the film it was a hit.

Business of Bollywood in February:

Keeping the romantic season in mind most of the mainstream movies released in February were romantic films. It started with very entertaining "Hasee Toh Phasee" which introduced

the fresh new pairing of Sidhharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra.Though the story was predictable enough but for a fresh screenplay and some lovable characters it entertains the audiences as well critics and becomes a profitable movie at the box office. Next comes Yashraaj film's much awaited retro drama "Gunday". It got a mixed reaction from the audiences but thanks to good publicity and hit music it manages to earn between 70-80 crores and becomes a hit. Then comes another highly awaited movie "Highway" which was the talk of the town for its unusual pairing as well as for its director Imtiaz Ali and also for the music of A.R.Rehman. And due to all this factors this movie got a good response from class appealing audiences and from critics too. At box office it was just average. On the last week of February comes another big mainstream movie "Shaadi Ke Side Effects" but unfortunately this movie's effect was not so good on the audience and box office. The leading pair tried too hard to save the film but its story and presentation were not engaging enough. Though it took a good opening due to pre-release hype but later its collection kept dropping.

Business of Bollywood in March:

In the month of March too many movies were released but none of them had big star or much hype. In fact no one had any kind of expectations with these movies but there were two surprise hits which managed to earn more than 50 crores at box office. The two movies were "Queen" and "Ragini MMS 2". Both these movies were as different as chalk and cheese but still there was one similarity that was both were hits due to the woman power. Where "Queen" conquered the box office with the solid performance from the leading lady Kangna Ranaut , on the other hand the horror movie "Ragini MMS 2" achieved good collection for the sex appeal of the leading lady Sunny Leone. This movie opens the door for a new genre of movies for Hindi cinema which is Horex(Horror + Sex).

Top Performances of Q1 2014
Actors-

• Arshad Warsi - Dedh Ishqiya
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Miss Lovely
• Randeep Hooda - Highway
• Sanjay Mishra - Ankhon Dekhi
• Satish Kaushik - Lakshmi

Actresses-

• Kangna Ranaut - Queen
• Alia Bhatt - Highway
• Parineeti Chopra - Hasee Toh Phasee
• Huma Qureishi - Dedh Ishqiya
• Lisa Hayden - Queen
• Seema Pahwa - Ankhon Dekhi

Top Songs of Q1 2014

• Baarish / Sunny Sunny / ABCD / Allah Yaariyaan - Yaariyan
• Zahenaseeb / Drama Queen - Hasee Toh Phasee
• Entriyaan - Gunday 
• Patakha Guddi / Maahi Ve - Highway
• London Thumakda / O Gujariyaa - Queen
• Baby Doll - Ragini MMS 2

Main Highlights of Q1 2014-

• "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" got most of the Awards for the Best Film of 2013.
• Farhan Akhtar got the Best Actor award for 2013 in most of the awards shows.
• Deepika Padukone received the award for Best Actress of 2013 at all award functions.
• Aamir Khan returns to TV with the second season of his  Non-Fiction show "Satymev Jayate"
• Aamir Khan's next movie "P.K." 's release postponed to the Christmas. Now it will clash at the box office with another big movie "Bombay velvet"starring Ranbir Kapoor.
• Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor left "Shudhhi", the much awaited movie from Karan Johar's production house.
• Sonam kapoor has been signed as the leading lady opposite Salman Khan in Sooraj Barjtya's next movie "Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo". It is scheduled to release on Deewali 2015.