A quick update of Bengali movies in the Fourth quarter of 2015

For Bengali movies the fourth quarter of 2015 was the best quarter of this year , it has four Durga puja hits and two Christmas hits.

Lets have a month-wise recap of the fourth quarter.

October

October is the month of Durga Puja vacations and probably the best season for a Bengali movie release  and this October it the golden time for Bengali movies when five movies released on a same day which was the Friday before Puja and among these five four movies were big hits. 

Raajkahini

A renowned director Srijit Mukherjee, a huge star cast of very talented actors and actresses,

a heart touching subject and a wonderful presentation all make it a big hit from the very beginning. Once again Srijit Mukherjee proved lucky for Puja release. People loved the story about the freedom fight of a group of women against the male dominated society in the backdrop of India Bangladesh partition. The movie not only get appreciation in Bengal only rather people from Bollywood also recognize the raw talent of the movie. Even there are talks of a Hindi remake of this one. Rituparna Sengupta got lots of acclaim for her leading performance. It became a big hit specially among urban centers.

Byomkesh Bakshy

Director Anjan Dutta came once again with yet another Byomkesh movie but this time with a brand new actor as Byomkesh. It was Jishu Sengupta who had stepped into the shoes of Byomkesh Bakshy. He was joined by Sashwata Chatterjee as Ajit and some television and film veterans who are almost regular in Mr. Dutta's films. This movie once again proved that sleuth films are here to rule Bengali film industry. Jishu Sengupta did a good job as Byomkesh but the story selection was not up to the mark. It was comparatively weaker story than other Byomkesh movies by Anjan Dutta.There was big hype created around the movie specially because the last Byomkesh movie by the same director was a big hit so it got a wonderful opening and completed a successful run of more than 50 days at theaters.

Katmundu

So far director Raj Chakraborty had a reputaion of a successful film maker of South India remakes only but with Katmundu he proved that he can make a successful film with original script too provided the script is good. Katmundu was a situational comedy with some really funny moments and an wonderful comic act by Rudraneel Ghosh. It was a story about three guys and their adventures in Kathmandu in a holiday. The scenic beauty of Kathmandu had been captured really well with the soulful music by Anupam Roy in the background, which was also a big hit. this movie did well not only at multiplexes rather it worked in small centers too for its simple and funny story. Now there are talks of its sequel too.


Sudhu Tomari Janno

It was a South India remake but director Birsha Dasgupta had made the film in a more subtle unlike any mainstream commercial masala movie. There was no item songs in foreign locations or any unnecessary action sequences just to add masala in the film. All these help the movie to do a better business among urban audiences too. Other factor for its success was definitely superstar Dev in the leading role. Dev was struggling to make it a big hit in commercial zone for his last few releases but with this one he once again proved he has a huge fan base. It was a big hit specially in small centers. The performances by Shrabanti and Mimi was also got good response. The music by Arindam was also very popular specially the song "Egiye De"

November

There was no particular big release in November as the month was mostly dominated by the last month's Puja releases. The only big release of this month was Director Atanu Ghosh's Abby Sen featuring Abir Chatterjee, Raima Sen, Priyanka Sarkar and Chiranjeet Chakraborty in the lead roles. It was a story about time travel so there was a nostalgic trip to 80's Calcutta. It was a good film with a potential to be an average earner but it did not get a perfect release mostly because of the pressure of all four Puja releases it git lesser number of shows and could not reach out to a larger section of audiences. The acting done by Abir Chatterjee had been highly appreciated.



December

After Durga Puja vacations, the month of December is yet another favorite season for Bengali film producers as there are holiday seasons for Christmas and New year.
There were two big releases in consecutive weeks, both were from Venkatesh films.

Har Har Byomkesh

So far we have seen only Anjan Dutta's Byomkesh movies in recent past but this time we got a new director narrating the story of Byomkesh on his own way. It was director Arindam Sil.Once gain we got Abir Chatterjee back as byomkesh but this time with a new Satyabati and Ajit which were played by Sohini Sarkar and Ritwick Chakraborty. This movie got a fresh look and treatment with the scenic beauty of varanasi as the backdrop of the story. The locations Varanasi and the North-Indian classical music in background also made us nostalgic about "Joy Baba Felunath". The casting of non bengali but bengali speaking actors in supporting role also gave the film a fresh look. It opened very well at the box office and doing good business till the end of the year.

Arshinagar

it was the first ever Bengali adaptation of  Shakespeare's classic "Romeo and Juliet". It was

an experimental film made by Aparna Sen, where the story telling style was much influenced from theater acting which gave the film a different look and feel.It featured commercial film stars Dev and Rittika as lead along with Jishu Sengupta and a lot of other talented actors including Waheeda Rehman. The movie was quite experimental on its own so it may be considered as one brave attempt but it had very lesser commercial appeal. The film did not get a good opening at the box office. Although it is still running in theaters and its final box office performance is yet to be evaluated.

Best Films of Q4 2015

• Rajkahini
• Har Har Byomkesh

Best Directors of Q4 2015

• Srijit Mukherjee - Rajkahini
• Arindam Shil - Har Har Byomkesh
• Aparna Sen - Arshinagar

Top Performers of Q4 2015:

Actors:

• Abir Chatterjee - Abby Sen/Har Har Byomkesh
• Shaswata Chatterjee - Rajkahini/Byomkesh Bakshy/Katmundu
• Koushik Sen - Rajkahini/Byomkesh Bakshy
• Harsh Chhaya - Har Har Byomkesh
• Rudraneel Ghosh - Katmundu
• Jishu Sengupta - Byomkesh Bakshy/Rajkahini/Arshinagar

Actresses:

• Rituparna Sengupta - Rajkahini
• Shrabanti - Sudhu Tomari Janno
• Parno Mitra - Rajkahini
• Mimi Chakraborty - Sudhu Tomari Janno
• Sohini Sarkar - Har Har Byomkesh

A Quick update of Bollywood in the 4th Quarter of 2015

The last quarter of 2015 was much better in terms of box office business compared to the rest of the year. There was two 200cr films, one 100cr hit, one average hit and two sleeper hits with comparatively new cast.

Lets have a quick month wise recap of the Hindi movies in fourth quarter of 2015.

October

The month of October begins with Akshay Kumar starer "Singh Is Bling", a comedy directed

by Prabhudeva. Just like other three quarters Akshay Kumar delivered yet another average hit with a collection near about 90cr. It was his fourth consecutive success for this year. Another movie which was released on the same day was "Talwar" , a fictionalized story based on a true event. It was a hard hitting realistic film with wonderful script and superb performances by Irrfan and others. This film did well as per its budget and commercial perspective and earned around 22cr which is more than expected for such a movie with lesser commercial appeal. 

The biggest surprise hit of this month was "Pyaar Ka Punchnama2". It was almost similar to its prequel, a guys film told with guys point of view. It took an average opening but due to good word of mouth publicity and some fine comic performances by the lead actors it became popular among youth audiences very rapidly and earn around 62cr in its lifetime business. Considering its small budget it can be easily said a super hit.

This month also witnessed two big flops one was Aishwarya Rai Bachhan's comeback movie "Jazzba", another one was director Vikas"Queen"Bahal's "Shaandaar" featuring Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. It was Alia's first flop of her career.

November

This was the month of Diwali and this Diwali the talk of the town was #PremIsBack. This

Diwali the big release was Salman Khan starer "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" directed by Sooraj Barjatya. Like any other Rajshri Production film it was also about family bonding and moral values and Salman Khan played a character which is very different from his Action hero image. But no matter what type of film it is or whatever character Salman is playing when it is a Salman Khan starer it is bound to get a big opening and the same happened with this movie too.It got big opening day collection of 40.32cr and entered in 100cr club withing first weekend. The first week collection went to around 172cr. Although later the collections dropped which was quite obvious as it was not that kind of film to connect with Salman fans.  As a result its lifetime collections remained limited to 207cr.

The other big release of this month was Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone starer "Tamashaa" directed by Imtiaz Ali. It was once again a complicated tale of human relationships with wonderful performances by the leading pair. It got a good opening and earn 52cr in its first week,but as the director had given quite unusual treatment to the film which created disappointment for some people who found it a bit boring. Which affected the collections after first weekend. Finally it earned around 62cr in its lifetime.




December

The month of December began with small film called "Hate Story3", trade analysts hardly had any big expectation with this non starers, but surprisingly it got a huge opening of 9cr and recovered its budget in just two days. Later on its kept on doing good business with its only USP that was adult content. In its lifetime it earned 50cr which is really huge for such a small film.

After this Bollywood got its biggest Friday and biggest clash of this year which was Shahrukh

Khan's "Dilwale" and Sanjay Leela Bhanshali directed "Bajirao Mastaani". People had expectations from both the movies and both had the potential to be big hits on their own way . So obviously these two movies got good openings and did good enough business at the box office. As predicted "Dilwale" got better opening than "Bajirao Mastaani" but the opening for both films were lesser than expected and it happened because the screens got divided in this face off. From the very first day people loved "Bajirao Mastaani" and on the other hand the response was not so good for "Dilwale". It showed in the box office collection of the movies. "Dilwale" did better business but only for first weekend because of the advance bookings. From the first Monday, collection started being better for "Bajirao Mastaani" and after 12 days finally "Bajirao mastaani" beat the business of "Dilwale". In final run both the movies became winners at box office with more than 130cr.

On a whole the last quarter have provided some good movies and good amount of money at the box office. We hope next year will be even better.

Best Films of Q4 2015

• Talvar
• Titli
• Bajirao Mastaani

Top Performers of Q4 2015:

Actors:

• Irrfan Khan - Talvar
• Randeep Hooda - Main Aur Charles
• Ranbir Kapoor - Tamasha
• Shahrukh Khan - Dilwale
• Ranveer Singh - Bajirao Mastaani
• Neeraj Kabi - Talvar
• Adil Hussain - Main Aur Charles
• Kartik Aaryan - Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2
• Sunny Singh Nijjar - Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2
• Ranvir Shorey - Titli
• Amit Sial - Titli

Actresses:

• Deepika Padukone - Tamasha
• Konkona Sensharma - Talvar
• Lara Dutta - Singh Is Bling
• Deepika Padukone - Bajirao Mastaani
• Priyanka Chopra - Bajiraao Mastaani
• Kajol - Dilwale

Top Songs of Q4 2015:

• Sharabi - Pyaar Ka Punchnama2
• Gulaabo - Shaandaar
• Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Aaj Unse, Prem Leela - Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
• Matargashti, Agar Tum Saath Ho, Heer - Tamashaa
• Wajah Tum Hi Ho, Tumhe Apna Banane Ka Junun - Hate Story3
• Gerua, Janam Janam - Dilwale
• Deewani Mastaani, Pinga - Bajirao Mastaani

Review of Bengali film Har Har Byomkesh

Last winter during Christmas vacation we had three consecutive big hits in Tollywood , "Badshahi Angti", "Byomkesh Fire Elo" and "Ebar Shabor". This winter Venkatesh films have came with a new movie "Har Har Byomkesh" taking ingredients  from all those three movies, Director of "Ebar Shabor" Arindam Shil, the leading actor of all those movies Abir Chatterjee , the story is based on detective Byomkesh Bakshi and just like "Badshahi Angti" here too the backdrop is an ancient city of Uttar Pradesh with heritage and culture. Although the original story was based in Patna but here the location has been shifted to Varanasi which have given the film a better look and feel as the city with abundance of cultural heritage playing a character itself. Also not to forget Varanasi and detective story have a nostalgic connection in all Bengali's heart, thanks to the great Satyajit Ray. While watching the allies of Varanasi and the classical music in background you are bound to be nostalgic about "Joy Baba Felunath", even in the climax there is a fantastic tribute to the classic by the director himself in a guest appearance.

The story is an adaptation of Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's story "Banhi Patang". The movie

begins with Byomkesh's(Abir Chatterjee) trip to Varanasi with his wife Satyabati(Sohini Sarkar) and friend Ajit(Ritwick Chakraborty). In Varanasi they received the hostage of local Police Inspector Purandar Pandey(Harsh Chhaya). Almost without any intention they get involved in a murder case of a local rich zamindar Dipnarayan Singh (Adil Hussain). Singh was a very rich and powerful personality. He had almost forcefully married a girl Shakuntala (Nusrat Jehan) who was half of his age. They don't have any child but have a nephew and his wife in his family. Also there are some other family friends like some doctors and other local rich brats. Among the family and friend circle many people have motive to kill Singh. Everyone is in the circle of doubt but how Byomkesh will find the truth that is the story.

The story is not much complex and even before climax there are enough clues to predict the culprit but the narrative style is so nice that you hardly bother to solve the mystery rather you will enjoy the journey with Byomkesh and Ajit with the help of Purandar Pandey and some accidental clues from Satyabati. Here one thing need to said the interaction between Byomkesh , Ajit and Satyabati is very nice and there are few romantic moments between Byomkesh and Satyabati too. Unlike Anjan Dutta's Byomkesh movies here Satyabati is not always ready to shout and fight, here she  is soft spoken and more realistic even when she is angry she doesn't shout rather she choose to protest silently.

Director Arindam Shil has given it a totally different treatment than the Byomkesh movies made by Anjan Dutta. He has recreated the era and feel of Varanasi wonderfully keeping a perfectionist's eye on every detail. The story never feels boring or stretched, the story has been told precisely but still manage to take us for a small trip to the wonderful landscapes of Varanasi. To give the film a rich look , the production house is also very much responsible. The way they have allowed a flexible budget it has enhanced the production values unlike the other Byomkesh movies which look like telefilms for their limited budget.

Abir Chatterjee has already proved he is very efficient as Byomkesh. He has mastered the

character with persistence and now he has became a pro to act in this character. His dialogue delivery and body language is very apt for the character of the Sleuth.
Sohini Sarkar is the best Satyabati played by any other actress so far. She has underplayed her character wonderfully. She is obviously not the central character but she has managed to make her presence felt with her simple yet powerful performance.
Ritwick Chakraborty is a very talented actor but probably his on screen image doesn't goes with the conventional Ajit we know so far. So he has not even tried to act like an intellectual writer rather his Ajit is very refreshing, more jolly and less serious.

One must praise the casting director for choosing the actors for playing different characters

who are mostly from Varanasi so they must talk in Hindi but considering it is Bengali film, they must need to be confident in Bengali too to work smoothly with a Bengali crew. So mostly the actors have been chosen in a such a way who knows both Bengali and Hindi and have acted in Bollywood movies. They don't belong to Tollywood but have Bengali connection. It works really well for the story as well as it has given a fresh look to the film with fresh faces.
Nusrat Jehan has played the character of Shakuntala which is very different from the roles she generally plays in her commercial mainstream movies. One can say she has been relaunched with this movie. She has looked absolutely gorgeous and graceful exactly as per her character's demand. She has acted well too. Hopefully in future she will get more significant roles in Tollywood.
Harsh Chhaya is an wonderful actor. This is his first Bengali movie and he is perfect in this one. Adil Hussain is superb in an extended cameo. The other cast members have given good support.

Among the technical team everyone has done good job. Production design and costumes are very authentic to recreate the era. Cinematographer Soumik Halder has captured Varanasi wonderfully. The editing is sharp and has not wasted any time, it gives it the required pace.

On the musical front, Bickram Ghosh's north Indian classical tunes go perfectly with the period and the setting. Listening to the different soundtracks is, in fact, an experience in its own right. The background score, too, adds to the mystery, waxing and waning with the audience's adrenaline.

Overall it is an engaging thriller which balances story, pace and presentation perfectly. It has some wonderful acting by the lead cast and the trip to Varanasi is an added attraction. Don't miss it, this winter Har Har Bolo.

Review of Bajirao Mastaani

Sanjay Leela Bhanshali's “Bajiraao Mastaani” is an epic love saga of a Hindu maratha warrior Peshoa Bajirao and his second wife Mastaani who was a born out of Hindu father and Muslim mother. Although historians are more interested to present Bajirao as a warrior who had won 40 battles in his life but Mr. Bhanshali was very keen to tell this love story for around 12 years. Finally his dream turns into a reality.
It is a great love story which was beyond any boundary of religion, rituals and politics.It has all the elements of a brand Bhanshali film from larger than life sets to heavy designer clothes to well choreographed song and dance. It is a periodic film set in Maratha in 17th century and of course lots of research has been done to recreate that era but if you closely observe every other Bhanshali movie looks same in look and feel no matter in which era or which region it has been set up. Do you actually remember when the last time Mr. Bhanshali had made a contemporary film.
The story begins with Bajirao (Ranveer Singh) getting crowned as Peshoa once his father

died. Bajirao was living in his palace in Pune with his widow mother (Tanvi Azmi), his wife Kashibai(Priyanka Chopra) ,his younger brother and other associates. Kashibai was in very much love with her husband and her entire world was limited around him only. In such a situation Bajirao met Mastaani (Deepika Padukone), princess of Bundelkhand ,who had came to Bajirao to seek help to save her kingdom from foreign attacks. Bajirao helped Mastaani and fell in love with her and soon they get married. But the whole family of Bajirao as well as the Hindu society was not ready to accept a Muslim girl as Bajirao' wife. But their love for each other was strong enough to fight the battle against all odds.
The story is based on a novel named "Rau" and some creative liberties have been taken to describe the story.To avoid any controversy, in the beginning of the film it has been

mentioned clearly that it is work of fiction based on some historical facts. There is a heavy reference of Mughal-E-Azam and Jodha Akbar in the story and its presentation. The life of Bajirao as a warrior has been given a bit of importance so you can find historical details of his big wins here and there in the screenplay, but the main focus is definitely the love story between Bajirao and Mastaani and the heartbreak of the other wife Kashibai.
The screenplay is good but the pace is very slow there are so many long scenes where the characters are not even saying any dialogue but just conveying messages through eyes. Even the dialogues are too heavy and melodramatic for current generation. The climax is over dramatic and has been stretched for more than required. There are some unnecessary songs too specially the "Malhaari" song which does not go well with the character of Bajirao. All these factors have added extra length to its running time. But still the film can be enjoyed for its wonderful technical crew behind the screen and of course the superb performances of the cast members on screen.

Sanjay Leela Bhanshali is a director who never compromises with his vision for any commercialization. He has his own signature style to tell a story which is very close to his heart. His observation for every minute detailing is visible in every frame. The way he has narrated the story in a large canvas that is highly commendable. His presentation is almost a poetry in motion.

Ranveer Singh is awesome as the great warrior Peshoa Bajirao. His body language, dialogue

delivery with a Marathi accent suits very well with his character. He is wonderful in war sequences at the same time he is brilliant in emotional scenes too. His physical transformation for this character is also praiseworthy.
Deepika Padukone has looked so gorgeous that anyone will fall in love with her. The big expressive eyes are good enough to convey the passion and pain of her onscreen character Mastaani. She has proved her hard work and dedication to learn new thing in the sword fighting sequences. Also she is marvelous as a dancer in all three songs picturized on her, she has danced exceptionally well.
Together Ranveer and Deepika have a mind blowing chemistry.

The another angle of this love triangle is Kashibai, which has been brilliantly played

by Priyanka Chopra. Although she has comparatively lesser screen time but her character is significant. Her journey from a carefree young wife of an warrior to a mature sensitive wife who is ready to share her husband's love in spite of huge pain, just to make her husband happy. She has showcased her emotions in a nice way that one will definitely feel sympathy for this character. She too has danced very well in the song "Pinga". 
Among the others Tanvi Azmi is effective in a negative role as Bajirao's mother. Others have given ample support.

The technical crew works their best in Mr. Bhanshali's movies. The way works with his technical team that you will find everything in almost perfection whether it is production design, costumes, sound design. The costumes , jewelries and sets are eye caching and luxurious. Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee has done a superb job to capture this intense drama in magnificent way. The background music is also very much effective to enhance the drama on the screen. Sham Kaushal has designed the war sequences exceptionally well.

Prakash R. Kapadia’s dialogues are among the high points of the film , though for the target audiences only. The dialogues have added a dramatic impact to the film. 

Music is always the soul of a Bhanshali movie and here too he has created soulful music as a composer himself. The songs work really well with the story, specially the songs "Deewani Mastaani" and "Pinga" which are already popular. These two songs has been choreographed brilliantly by Remo D'souza. Another song "Mohe Rand De Lal" has been graced with the superb Kathak dance steps by Pt. Birju Maharaj. Here one thing should be mentioned the two songs "Deewani Mastaani" and "Mohe Rang De Lal" are hugely inspired from "Mughal-E-Azam" songs "Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya" and "Mohe Panghat Pe", we can say its Mr. Bhanshali's tribute to the classic.

Over all it is a film for a selected section of audience only who loves the signature style of Mr. Bhanshali. It is a passionate love story of two souls, of two hearts which beat together and stop together. 

Review of Dilwaale

Nine months ago when director Rohit Shetty had announced “Dilwale” with Shahrukh Khan and Kajol there was a big curiosity in everyone's mind to see one of the most loved on screen couples of Bollywood once again. At the same time people were in dilemma whether Rohit Shetty will be able to present the romantic couple in a perfect way as Rohit is mostly known for his action comedies, romance is never his forte. People had entered in theatres with a divided mind about what to expect from the movie a masala entertainer in typical Rohit Shetty style or an intense love story with the powerful leading pair. After watching the film many people may say that one expectation has overpowered the other but in an unbiased way it can be said that the movie has given sufficient romantic moment to Shahrukh Kajol pair but in true Rohit Shetty style, without being an out an out romantic film. It is a good balance to fulfil both the expectations.
Just like any other Rohit Shetty movie here too you can find action, comedy, romance and lots of cars not only in action sequence but even in songs and romantic scenes but at the same time you can find romantic passionate moments between Shahrukh Khan and his leading lady.
The story has some loose reference from Amitabh Bachchan starer “Hum” where a person

lefts his past criminal life and his girlfriend and gives his life a fresh start with a new identity. Kali(Shahrukh Khan) was a criminal once  upon a time, he had a girl friend Meera (Kajol). There love story could not reach to a happy ending because of some misunderstanding. Kali left his criminal life and settled down as Raj with his brother Veer (Varun Dhawan) to live a peaceful life as a car modifier in Goa (a Rohit Shetty favourite). Everything was going smoothly until Veer finds his love in a pretty girl Ishita(Kriti Shanon) and want to get married with her. There is something about Raj's past which turns out to be a blockage for Veer and Ishita's marriage. If Meera has any connection with that and if Kali and Meera will be together once again that you have to find in theatres.
The story has one or two interesting twists but mostly the story is very predictable and has a concept very similar to 1980s Bollywood movies. But still works because of the wonderful

chemistry of the on screen pair and some real fun moments. The screenplay is engaging especially in first half when the love story of Kali and Meera has been narrated in a flashback. There is an interesting point just before interval but the second half is comparatively weaker as the romance takes a backseat to make enough space for brand Rohit Shetty comedy which is funny but in parts only. There is some unnecessary sub plots and characters like a local don King(Boman Irani) , a second hand car parts dealer Oscar (Sanjay Mishra), Mani (Johny Lever),a south Indian friend of Raj. The extra subplots revolving around those characters  could have been avoided to reduce the length of the film.

As a director Rohit Shetty has done a reasonably good job to make an entertaining film for masses. He knows the pulse of audience which is the reason of his back to back commercial success no matter if those could not be considered as classics but his presentation is more than enough for his target audiences. With this film he has tried his hands to one very much important ingredient of masala films that is romance which was hardly there in his earlier movies and he has succeeded too some extent.

Among the leading cast it is Shahrukh Khan who has chramed everyone with his stylish

persona. There is no scope here to give an award winning performance but he had acted quite well both as gangster kali and the matured responsible brother Raj. When it comes to romance on screen Shahrukh is the best and he has proved it once again.

Kajol has made an impressive comeback after long five years, one have to say she still one of the best actresses we Bollywood has ever get. For some portion of the movie she has played a much younger girl than her real age but she looked very refreshing as younger Meera at the same time she looks graceful as mature aged Meera. She has can still talk a lot with her eyes.

Together they have a sizzling chemistry no matter if both are above 40 they can still set the screen on fire with their passion for each other. Their last film together was “My Name Is Khan” which was not a kind of film to re-launch them as Raj-Simran but this film has given them enough scope to bring back those memories of nineties love stories like DDLJ or KHKH. In both the romantic songs picturised on them they are awesome. Only one will wish if they could have been given a bit more screen time, hopefully someone will plan an out an out romantic film with them once again.

Varun Dhwan has done comedy in much better way than this in his earlier movies. Here in every scene it seems he is trying very hard to make it funny as a result it looks like over

acting. Kriti Shanon has hardly anything to do other than filling the frame standing in background. Together Varun and Kriti have very less screen time and in that time too they are unable to show any chemistry. Their tracl could have been written in a better way.

Among the others Varun Sharma is average but he shines in one particular acene where describes what a guy has to suffer to maintain a girlfriend. Mukesh Tiwary and Pankaj Tripathi have very less to do apart from standing behind Shahrukh in almost every scene as his loyal friends. But they too have one interesting scene where they narrates a fake apst story of Raj and Meera making the story taking clues from different programs on different TV channels. Good comedians like Sanjay Mishra and Boman Irani have been wasted in insignificant roles. Johny Lever looks very repetitive in his comedy.

Among the crew members, Dudley has done a wonderful job with his camera, the way he has captured the scenes in Bulgaria and also in Iceland in the song “Gerua” it is just awesome. His camerawork has given the film a stylish look. The costumes have also added extra glamour. Production design looks a bit artificial especially in the sequences in Goa. Editing is just okay, it could have been done in a better way. Visual effects are of course very good especially during the action sequences. Dialogues are not as funny as expected. Choreography by Farah khan looks repetitive in the song “Gerua”. Action scenes and stunts, designed by Rohit Shetty and choreographed by Sunil Rod­rigues, Kalion and Grant, are terrific and will greatly appeal to the masses.

Music has been composed by Pritam and two songs are really exceptionally well, “Gerua” is already very popular where as “Janam Janam “ has a haunting melody and has been used as a theme song for Shahrukh Kajol love track , it will grow in everyone’s mind gradually. The other songs are below average.

Overall it is an entertaining watch with all masala of Bollywood movie. For Shahrukh Kajol fans it is a must watch others can enjoy the movie just as a time pass. Yet another hit by Rohit Shetty.

Winners of 11th Renault Sony Guild Awards

Best Film
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Director
Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Bajirao Mastani

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Deepika Padukone - Piku

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Ranveer Singh - Bajirao Mastani

Most Promising Debut Director
Neeraj Ghaywan - Masaan

Promising Debut (Female) 
Bhumi Pednekar - Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Promising Debut (Male) 
Kapil Sharma - Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon

Best Actor in a Supporting Role- Female
Tabu - Drishyam
Tanvi Azmi - Bajirao Mastani

Best Actor in a Supporting Role- (Male) 
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Badlapur

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Deepak Dobriyal - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Best Female Singer
Monali Thakur - (Moh Moh Ke Dhaage) - Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Male Singer
Arijit Singh - (Hamari Adhuri Kahani) - Hamari Adhuri Kahani

Best Music
Amaal Mallik, Ankit Tiwari, Meet Bros Anjjan - Roy

Best Lyrics
Varun Grover - (Moh Moh Ke Dhaage) - Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Choreography
Remo D'souza - (Pinga) - Bajirao Mastani

Best Dialogue
Prakash R. Kapadia - Bajirao Mastani

Best Story
V. Vijayendra Prasad - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Screenplay
Kabir Khan - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Review of Tamasha

Imtiaz Ali is master story teller, he had told us so many twisted love storied dealing with complex human emotions, but with “Tamasha” he has gone one step further as it is not only limited to the love story between two soul mates, rather it tries to tell another view of love that is loving yourself. Unless you love yourself you cannot love others. It tries to convey the message one should hear to his or her inner voice. Don’t just go with the flow rather write your own story doing what you want to do actually.

The story begins with a young kid Ved who hear stories regularly from a story teller and it fascinates him very much also he has one query why all story is same. Whether it is Sita or Juliet or Sohini all are going through the same pain same for the Heroes. From very childhood Dev wants to be a story

teller and want to write his own story which will have something different than the regular stories but time goes on and he has to fit himself as a mediocre Engineer with family pressure. Now grown up Dev (Ranbir Kapoor) goes to Corsica to live his life on his own for someday without any bounding. Here he meets a girl Tara (Deepika Padukone) who has lost his passport and other valuable things on a vacation trip in Corsica. They played a game with each other to have fun in life without disclosing their real identities. They introduce themselves as Don and Mona (Taking names from old Hindi movies).They decide to have fun and to never meet again once the trip is over. As promised they have lots of fun together though without being physical and after one week they parted away. But after coming back from the trip Tara could not forget Don/Dev. After four long

years she realizes it is love. By chance she gets a transfer to Delhi same city where Dev works in a multinational company. As destiny had planned they meet once again, this time with real identity and real love. They have a perfect love life, dinner dates, movie outings, a perfect marriage proposal but Tara realizes it is not the same guy she had met at Corsica. Dev is not the carefree, bindass Don, rather he is an well behaved decent guy who is just living his life to be always perfect. They broke up as Tara wants to get her Don back. From here Dev start his soul searching mission, who he is in real. Whether he was acting as Don or it was the real him and he is acting in the life of  Dev. His self discovery leads him to understand his inner voice.  He understands what brings him real happiness, what he actually wants to be.

Like any other Imtiaz Ali story it is also quite different, but this time the treatment is quite different from regular commercial movies. In some parts it will remind you of another Ranbir Imtiaz collaboration Rockstar”. The screenplay has some interesting moments, the dialogues are real and funny but it has its low moments too in some portions. The prologue part is quite lengthy also the main story has nothing much to do with the fact whether all stories are same or not because at the end the on screen love story has a predictable end. The Corsica portions are visually delightful but do not take the story any further. The second half where Dev discover his inner self is too much philosophical for regular cinegoers.

As a director Imtiaz Ali is always brilliant to portray human emotions as real as possible. But his treatment to the story this time is for a limited section of audiences only.

Ranbir Kapoor is back with a bang after two back to back disasters. Finally he has got a character to showcase his talent. He is just brilliant from start to finish. He is as charming as desired as Don at the

same time he looks so sincere as Dev . He has got the scope to show every possible emotion from comedy to emotion to dance and he shines in each department.

Deepika Padukone has once again proved that she is one the best talents of Bollywood in current generation. She is so expressive with her emotions that you will instantly fall in love with her from her first appearance. She has lesser screen time compared to her hero but she manages to impress everyone whenever she comes to screen.

Together Ranbir and Deepika have a fire crackling chemistry. They bring magic together on screen. They should work together quite often. Watch them in the scene before interval when Tara denies marrying Dev or the scene where Tara apologizes to Dev for her behaviour and both of them broke down in tears. The scenes are quite amazing.

Among the technical team it is cinematographer S. Ravi Barman who has done an excellent job with his lens. Whether it is Corsica or Shimla or Delhi he has created eye soothing frames in every location. The costumes by Aki Narula and Anaita Shroff are quite stylish.The choroegraphy of the "Matargashti" is quite interesting. The editing could have been sharper and the length could have been reduced by some 10-15 minutes.

The music by A.R.Rehman is quite nice and goes well with the story. The songs like “Matargashti”, “Agar Tum Saath Ho”, “Heer To Badi Sad hai” are already popular and works well for the film too. It will grow in you more after watching the songs in the movie, specially the “Agar Tum Saath Ho” song.

Overall it is a different film with a good message, not a regular rom-com. Watch it for powerful performance by the lead. It has its ups and downs but can be a good one time watch.

Review of Bengali Film Rajkahini

Even before its release Rajkahini had made quite a buzz to draw everyone’s attention. There were two reasons for that one is the director Srijit Mukherjee who has made it almost a habit to give one hit followed by other that too choosing unusual subjects and the other one was the huge starcast.  So now the question is whether the film has managed to fulfill the sky high expectations and the answer is yes but partially. It has managed to connect with the audiences with its hard hitting subject and bold treatment to that but when the movie ends you will feel something was missing.

The story starts in the period of 1947 when India got freedom but with the curse of partition.  Whole

nation was burning because of communal riots in such a situation there was a brothel somewhere between India and East-Pakistaan border,which comes in the middle of the Radclife line (the line which is the partition line between India and East Pakistan). So the owner of the brothel Begaum Jaan (Rituparna Sengupta) received a notice from both the country’s representatives Mr. Prafulla Sen (Shashwata Chatterjee) and Mr.Illiyas (Kaushik Sen) to vacate the brothel so that the partition line can be established breaking the old house. But Begum Jaan is not ready to leave the brothel and all her inmates are with her in this battle against Government. Hence they decide to fight their own battle for freedom against the Govt. It is actually the battle of women against the world of Men who have always abused them.  It actually celebrates the woman power and their freedom from a male dominated society.

From the very beginning you can sense that it is bold enough to address all the violence especially against women during the communal riots. There are some moments which can bring tears to your

eyes at the same time there are some scenes which can make you uncomfortable too for its bold representation but we salute the director for not compromising with those scenes.  The story begins with India’s freedom and we are introduced with the violence as a consequence of partition. In such a situation there is Begum Jaan who runs a brothel with girls of different age, caste and religion. All these girls have been victim of abuse of male dominated rules in their past but in this brothel they live their life happily freely under the mentorship of Begum Jaan. No one divide them as per their cast or religion here, all have equal rights. Here the story don’t waste much time to introduce each member of the brothel

individually, later in one song sequence we get a brief introduction of the girls. There is Golap (Parno Mitra) who secretly loves a local school teacher whom they address as Master (Abir Chatterjee), there is Jui (Sudipta Chakraborty) who is a mother of a teenager girl , there is a young widow (Priyanka Sarkar) who is deprived of sexual satisfaction as no one choose her because of her extra weight, there are two girls Duli(Sohini Sarkar) and Koli(Sayani Ghosh) who belongs from very lower cast of society who are untouchable , these two girls have a same sex relationship too between them, then there is Rubina (Jaya Ahsaan) who loves the pimp at the brothel Sujan (Rudraneel Ghosh). So it’s a mix of different type of girls but sadly there is no past story neither a longer screen time has been given to any of the girls. Most of the story focuses on Begum Jaan only.

Apart from these brothel there is a separate track of Mr. Sen and Mr. Illiyas too , the two Govt official working together on their duty who had a warm friendship earlier but now there is a border in between their relationship too as they belongs from different religion. The confrontation scenes between them are wonderful. Every time when both try to analyze the situation and their relation with their own point of view which totally opposite from each other.

The climax of the movie tries to draw a parallel line between the battle of Rani Padmini and the battle of Begum Jaan which may not go well with everyone. It could have been ended on a different point.

As a director Srijit Mujherjee is too good. He knows his job very well. There are some faults in research work for 1947 partition but we can overlook those. At least we can give credit to Srijit for choosing an unconventional subject once again and presenting the truth in a bold form without compromising for the sake of censor board.

Among the cast member it is obviously Rituprna Sengupta who is the main highlight of the film. Begum Jaan is one her best characters of her lifetime. She has managed to portray a brave, strict, rough woman with a soft heart, very well. Only the experiment with her voice does not suit well. Her real voice could have been a better choice. None of the rest of the girls has been given ample chance, still Parno mitra impresses as Golaap. Jaya Ahsaan is good and will surely draw attention for her intimate yet emotionally charged scene with Rudraneel. Ridhima impresses in her first scene as a rape victim. Sudipta Chakraborty and Sohini Sarkar have been wasted in a thankless role. They are capable of much more than this. Sayani Ghosh is okay with her local Bengali dialect. The rest of teh girls have actually nothing to do apart from standing in background as mute audience.

Among the male cast both Shaswata Chatterjee and Kaushik Sen are brilliant. Rudraneel Ghosh is

okay. Kanchan Mallick has tried something different from his comic image and succeeds to some extent. Abir Chatterjee has been offered a different role than his image but he looks a misfit in that character. The true show stealer is Jishu Sengupta in his first negative character. Not only his physical transformation but his mannerism, his expression everything is just awesome. He has just three scenes but he will left impression with his cunning smile. He looks dangerous as Kabir. Srijit Mukherjee has presented Jishu in a really new avatar and his experiment has been successful.

The technical team is always is in good form in Srijit Mukherjee’s film. He knows to appoint perfect technicians in his team. Avik Mukhopadhyay’s cinematography is outstanding; every single frame speaks on its own. Make-up, costumes, production design is very authentic to recreate the period. The visual effects could have been better if the budget would not have been so tight.

Music by Indradip Dasgupta has been used very well mostly in background. The “janaGanaMana” song in the climax blends perfectly with the storyline.

Overall it is a well made film which brings the pain of partition, the pain of every single woman in this male dominated society. It will surely connect with the audience. There are some flaws in research work, it has longer runtime, too many characters but all these can be overlooked for the true efforts from a dedicated cast and crew.