In 2011 an almost unknown director Anand L Rai made a film that changes the convention of regular Hindi film heroine with the funny bindaas character of Tanuja Trivedi. The film was a sleeper hit. Now after four years when they are back with the sequel by this time Anad L Rai is no more an unknown director and Kangna Ranaut is now at par with the big Bollywood heroines. So obviously there is more expectations with the film and the good news is this actually fulfills all the expectations as it is better than its prequel.
Like a true sequel it starts with the point from where the first movie was ended which was
marriage of Tanu(Kangna Ranaut) and Manu (R. Madhavan). Then the story moves forward four years and it shows how the post marital life of Tanu and Manu is not so happy. They are going through a bad phase of post marital life which turns out so bad that the situation goes to divorce. In this moment both of them gets separated and try to find some refreshment in their monotonous life. While Tanu tries to patch up with her ex-lover Raja Awashthi(Jimmy Shergil) , Manu finds a young haryanvi college student Datto (Kangna Ranaut) who is a look alike of Tanu with a small change in teeth setting and hair style.
The situation becomes more complicated when Manu falls in love once gain and decides to marry with Datto. Now Tanu wants to go back to her husband while , her husband Manu
wants to move on with Datto and it creates a love triangle. What happens at the end is a bit predictable but still its engaging.
There are other interesting characters too who are back from the first part like Manu and Tanu's parents and their friends Jassi(Eizaz Khan) , Payel(Swara Bhaskara) and Puppy Jee(Deepak Dobriyal). All of them adds more interest to the drama along with new added characters like Chintu (Mohd. Zeeshan Ayub).
The screenplay written by Himangshu Sharama is a winner once again. The small town background and the characters are very much interesting. The story unfolds very well and adds too much humor in the first half. The second half looks a bit stretched specially because of too much songs still it does not dampen the spirit of the film because by that time the audience is already in love with the characters.
The dialogues written by Sharma are extraordinary, its hilarious and keeps the story interesting.
As a director Anand L Rai has done an excellent job. His story telling is very engaging and all the characters have been presented superbly so that all of them will be loved by the audiences.
Among the star cast every one is superb but who steals the show is none other than the queen of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut. It is one of the finest job in Bollywood by any actor
in a double role. The way she has portrayed the characters of Tanu and Datto will make you speechless. Both the characters are so distinct in mannerism , body language, dialogue delivery that it never looks like a single actress has played both the characters. While the old charming Tanu is still endearing its Datto the national level athlete from Haryana who will make you fall in love with her.
R. Madhavan has under played the character of Dr. Manu Sharma very well. His character ranges from a frustrated husband too a confused lover and he has portrayed all the emotions perfectly.
Another actor who deserves a special mention is Deepak Dobriyal as Puppy jee the sidekick of Manu. His comic timing is just superb. Every time he comes on screen he brings laughter on audience's faces. Jimmy Shergil is also impressive as Raja Awashthi. his punch lines have solid impression.
The music is not so strong here. Only song that works is "Banno" , the rest of the songs are just okay. And it has to be said there is a overdose of songs in second half which makes the film look a bit stretched in last few minutes, so the songs do not work much in the movie.
Among the technical team who deserves special mention are Hemal Kothari for his sharp editing , Chirantan Das for the superb camera work and Wasiq Khan for his authentic production design.The costumes for Kangna, designed by Reza Shariffi is stylish and goes very well with the character.
Overall it is an engaging film about post marital relationship with lots of humor and some emotional moments. Go and have fun with the gang of wonderful actors lead by Miss Ranaut in her two avatars.
So far so many stories has been written, told and even pictured in films about the controversial and much talked about relationship between Rabindranath Tagore and his sister-in-law Kadambari Devi , wife of Jyotirindranath Thakur. But what makes director Suman Ghosh's latest film "Kadambari" different from the already told stories is that it has been told with the point of view of Kadambari ,not through the eyes of more popular personality Rabindranath Thakur. It is about Kadambari, her life in Jorasanko thakurbari, her love, her anger, her passion, her loneliness , her pain.
The story starts with small girl Kadambari's entry at Jorasanko Thakurbari after her
marriage with Jyotirindranath Thakur. At this young age little Kadambari tries her best to fit at her husband's house as a good housewife but her young mind is in search of a friend with whom she can enjoy her childhood and she found that friend in her young brother-in-law Rabi. Soon Kadambari and Rabindranath finds good friend in each other as young kids. But with their growing age the equations between them keeps changing. When grown they grow up, Rabindranath finds his inspiration in Kadambari for writing but Kadambari starts developing soft corner for Rabindrandranath. Though in their relationship , they never crossed their limits it was just a mutual respect and affection for each other. But with the growing popularity of Rabindranath , Kadambari starts feeling insecure about loosing her only hope in her lonely life , Rabi. Later the situation goes in such a way that one by one Kadambari looses every hope to live and she decides to commit suicide.
The screenplay has been written quite well to tell the complicated relationship without stretching it too much. The other characters are there but their track has not been given too much importance which reduces the length of the film. The cultural background of Thakurbari has been shown very well through addas about books and songs. There are some instances about the influence of British culture too.
Suman Ghosh who has worked on stories related with Rabindranath earlier too has treated the controversial subject quite well. Its his representation that while watching it, you can not judge who is right or who is wrong morally. Also when a periodic film is made, a lot of detailing is required to recreate the period and Suman Ghosh's eye for periodic detailing is praiseworthy.
Among the main cast it is Konkona Sensharma who has given a real feeling to every emotion of Kadambari on screen. Her dialogue delivery and body language is just perfect for her character. You can see the pain and loneliness of Kadambari in her eyes. Her silent affection for Rabindranath has been portrayed quite well. There is no doubt, it is one of her career best performance.
Parambrata Chattopadhyay looks perfect as Rabindranath,with long hair and beard . But acting wise he is just okay. He does not have much scope and even where he gets a scope he could not deliver it up to the mark specially when his co-actress is superb.
Always dependable actor Koushik Sen is good and natural as Jyotirindranath Thakur. His expressions are very real , watch him in the scenes where he is uncomfortable for the closeness between his brother and wife but still he can not say anything about it.
Titas Bhowmick is good as Gyonadanandini. Shreelekha Mitra impresses in one scene appearance as Nati Binodini.
The technical team has an added responsibility when they work on a periodic film to represent the period perfectly. The camerawork is nice. Production design is authentic and the costumes are also look well researched. The editing in first half could have been better as in few scenes the jump from one scene to another looks very disjointed.
Provided its a film related to Rabindranath Tagore and Rabindra snageets have been used , it can be said the music could have been better with some better song selection. Only song that works is Vidyapati song "Mah Bhadar". The background score is just okay.
Overall it is well made film about an emotional relationship and with the truth behind the controversy around it. Watch it to know the truth and to see the brilliant acting of Konkona Sensharma in the title role.
After "Vicky Donor" director Shoojit Sircar and story writer Juhi Chaturvedi are back once again with a slice of life comedy about family relationship and emotions and also motions too. Its very well presented film about the relationship between a father and daughter with some solid performances.
The story begins in a family where a 70 year old widower Bhaskor Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan) lives with his 30 year old daughter Piku(Deepika Padukone). Bhaskor is a bit irritating old man with constipation problem. His behavior is very annoying towards his
relatives, his domestic help , his neighbors. Piku is also very much moody , and always fights with her father. She is frustrated with his father's tantrums. But still the father daughter duo lives together and enjoys being with each other because they love each other too much. Piku is very much conscious about his father's health as she don't want her father to die soon on the other hand Bhaskor don't want her daughter to live her getting married. He is so adamant to stop Piku from getting married that even he does not hesitate to tell a guy that his daughter is not a virgin just to distract that guys attention from her daughter. In such a situation one day this father daughter meet with Rana Choudhary (Irrfan Khan) a taxi service provider from Delhi, who helps the father daughter duo in their journey from Delhi to Kolkata by driving the car. During this journey Rana comes to know the emotions of them and their keen interest about motion and he teaches them a new way to look into the solutions of their age old problem related to constipation. Also he brings a refreshing change to their philosophy about life.
There is nothing much about the story but the way the screenplay has been written by Juhi Chaturvedi, makes it very interesting. The day to day monotonous life of the father and
daughter looks very interesting and the involvement of their relatives also adds some extra entertainment. During the road journey too it could have been a boring long journey but Rana's humorous touch makes it a joy ride. In the second half though the laugh quotient is little less but it was required to draw a conclusion to the story. The climax is a bit slow but it will surely touch your heart.
Juhi Chaturvedi's dialogues are superb and generates laughter every now and then. Specially the dialogues related to constipation problem and the wide range of discussion about poop is very funny.
As a director Shoojit Sircar has done a commendable job. He has chosen a very strange subject and handled it quite well without stretching it too much. As a responsible captain of the ship, he has made sure every person in his cast and crew does the perfect job.
About the actors it can be said each and everyone is just perfect. Only Amitabh Bachhan can make such an irritating character of Bhaskor Banerjee into a loved one. Watch his impromptu jig to the tunes of Bengali song "Jeebane ki pabo na" or in the scene where he
decides to go back to Delhi all of sudden in the middle of the road.
Irrfan Khan is always a delight to watch. He is such a brilliant actor and his comic timing is extraordinary. Even when he is not speaking any dialogue he can make his presence felt with his priceless expressions. Watch him in the scene where he is sitting speechless in the middle of Banerjee family's discussion about their every morning bowel activity.
But the actor who will impress you the most is Deepika Padukone in the title role. She has got a character with enough scope to showcase her talent and she has grabbed this opportunity with full attention. She looks very nice in her deglamorized avatar. She is simply wow in every scene whether she is shouting at her father or she is in tension for her father's health issues or when she is showing her secret affection towards Rana. In every scene she outshines even with the presence of two great actors around her.
The chemistry between Irrfan and Deepika is also very pleasant to watch.
Among the other cast members it is Mousumi Chatterjee as Piku's straight forward foul mouthed aunt. She is brilliant in her small screen appearance.
The music is by Anupam Roy who has made his Bollywood debut as composer with this film. The songs are mostly used in background and it goes very well with the mood of the film. The background score by him also soothing to ears.
The technical team is also in good form. Kamaljeet Negi's camera work is fantastic throughout the journey from Delhi to Varanasee to Kolkata. Chandrashekhar Prajapati’s editing is terrific.
Overall its a film about motions and emotions of relationship and it will surely touch your heart. Go and enjoy the journey with the characters who will win your heart with their powerful performances. It is one of the finest film in recent past which you can enjoy with your whole family.
A mirror image , a tree , a bitch and a corpse all are silent but another thing is common in them is that they all are in love and they can express their love louder than someone having voice. After giving back to back success at box office and winning hearts of both classes and masses Srijit Mukherji is back with a truly unconventional film "Nirbaak". Four stories joined together with a common theme of love between two individuals where one of them is silent. It is a wonderful concept and have been presented on the silver screen without any commercial compromise. That is the reason it may not appeal to everyone but whoever will be able to connect with it will surely love the film.
It is a combination of four stories. In the first one a man who is in love with himself , he
loves his own mirror image have lust for own self. In the second one a tree wants express its love for the lovely lady who use to spend time under its shadow. In the third one it is the love for a domestic bitch for her master. And in the last one a morgue care taker falls in love with a dead body. All the stories are genuine and have its own specialty. Where in the first and last story the love has been shown from the point of view of the characters able to speak the rest of the two stories has been told from the point of view of the silent characters. The screenplay has been written so well that the story shift from one to another very smoothly. Every story has its own form of expressing love from lust to care to faithfulness to respect.
Although the concept of love here is very different from regular love between a man and a woman and it may not appeal to some section of audiences. But it can be said that even using minimum dialogue this film silently conveys its message to its target audiences.
Special credit should be given to the director Srijit Mukherji for taking such a brave attempt to make a film on such a risky subject that too when he is in the peak of his career. He has presented the film the exact way it has been conceptualized , there is no compromises for giving it more commercial appeal. It is actually not a regular film rather its a poetry in motion presented on silver screen by the director.
The cast has mainly four actors and everyone is just wonderful. Anjan Dutta as the self obsessed person is brilliant. The way he has performed his scenes with his mirror image
it looks like we are watching two actors performing together. Also it needs to be mentioned as an actor he has no inhibition portraying his sexual desires on screen and that is commendable. Sushmita Sen is a delight to watch in his debut Bengali movie. She has emoted a lot with her big expressive eyes. She looks gorgeous and performs really well. She is fabulous specially in the last story. Sometime consciously giving no expression is also a tough job and she handles it quite well.
Jishu Sengupta is natural in his acting and he has underplayed his character very well to let the other characters around him shine more. Ritwick Chakraborty is no doubt one of the best actors of Bengali cinema in present generation and he has proved it once again. Though he has been given a role quite similar to some other characters he had played earlier but still we he never looks like repeating himself. His body language and mannerisms are very authentic as per his character of a worker at a morgue.
Also it should be mentioned the bitch who has played Bingi the pet of Jishu Sengupta has also performed quote well.
Srijit Mukherji knows to take the best work from his technical team and here too it is not an exception. The cinematography by Soumik Halder is too good. The way he has given different textures for different stories it shows his talent. Same can be said for the editing by Pranay Dasgupta for jumping from one story to another so smoothly.
There is no regular song but the music used in background is very pleasant. The background music created by Neel Dutta feels the silence and provides the required emotions for the scenes on screen. In the last story, the way old Hindi movie songs has been used in background , it is commendable.
Overall "Nirbaak" is a film made with honesty for a certain section of audience only. It will not have the commercial fate like other Srijit Mukherjee film but we want to congrats Srijit Mukherji for doing something only in response of his inner voice.
"Belasheshe" is a kind movie which will be with you even after coming out of theater. It will force you to ask some questions about your own relationships, it will help you to bind strong your own personal relationship that too very simply without giving any gyaan.
It is a story of an aged couple Biswanath Majumdar(Soumitra Chattopadhyay) and Aarti Majumdar(Swatilekha Sengupta) who are married for long 49 years managing their
relationship and family quite well. They have three daughters and one son, all of them are married and have bitter sweet marital life. All of a sudden one day Biswanath decides to give divorce to his wife to live an independent life alone. It creates lots of chaos in the whole family , lots of unwanted question arises as every single member of the family wants to know the reason behind this. But Biswanath is not ready to answer any question from his family members. Finally the divorce case goes to court and as per Judge's suggestion they decides to go for an outing at Shantiniketan to spend some quality time with each other , to rediscover their relationship. They took their whole family too along with them. While in Shantiniketan the couple realizes how they have became a habit to each other , that they cant be independent without each other , they have lots queries, anger , unanswered questions against each other, they think they are with each other for so long just taking it as a responsibility but ultimately they discover that this so called responsibility of them is the true love between them.
Just like the director duo's last movies this time also the story is very simply told taking each character from the day to day world around us. It never tries to give high drama or intense dialoguebaaji, still it connects with you with some simple questions about how strong your relationship is with your loved ones. Like when was the last time you had given time for someone closer to you? When was the last time you had hold his/her hand? These are the simple questions which have a major impact. Another good thing is that the story moves in a gentle pace it never looks too hurried to come to a conclusion because breaking or making a relationship takes time its not an instant thing.
The screenplay has been written with good care, not only the main story of the aged couple but the other four post marital stories of their kids also moves very well parallely. Another good point of the script is it deals with the such a serious subject without giving it a depressed tone, there is enough of crying and emotional moments but at the same time there is good enough dose of funny moments too which will keep you laughing in between.
As director the director duo Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy has handled the subject quite well. First of all they should be given big thumbs up for choosing such an unconventional subject about a 70+ married couple who are trying to rediscover their relationship. Each character and the backdrop of the story is very much convincing and syncs well with the story and it shows the perfection of the director duo.
About the cast members it can be said every actor has been perfectly cast in their corresponding on screen characters. Soumitra Chatterjee is awesome in the lead after a long
time. No matter how old he is , still he is one of the finest actors of Bengali film industry.
Swatilekha Sengupta is another veteran actor who has shined as the leading lady of the film. From the first scene to the last one she is natural as the responsible homemaker. There is no doubt her performance is the finest among the whole cast.
Among the other members Kharaj Mukherjee is too good as the elder son-in-law of the family. His comic timing is superb. Every time he appears on screen, he brings out laughter on your face. Rituparna Sengupta is also good as the second daughter of the house. Her portrayal of the young independent woman is wonderful.
Shankar Chakraborty, Indrani Gupta, Anindya Chatterjee , Monami Ghosh are good in their supportive roles. Sohini Sengupta is awesome in her one scene appearance. Sohag Sen and Barun Chanda are also good in their cameos.
The technical team has done a good job keeping it simple in sync with the story. The technical team's work is not too loud too seek attention but it goes well with the story. Cinematography by Gopi Bhagat is eye soothing specially the portions shot in the scenic beauty of Shantiniketan. The only department that could have done a little better job is the editing. The first half of the film looks a bit stretched for some long continuous scenes. It could have been shortened a bit in the first half.
The music has been mostly used in background and it works very well with the different moods of the song situations. The duo of Anupam Roy and Anindya Chatterjee has created nice melodious songs.
Overall it is a simply told story about rediscovering your relationships with someone very close to you. It has been told from heart and so it connects with the heart. Go and watch it with your loved one and surely it will bond your relationship even stronger.
Three years ago Sanjay Leela Bhanshali had produced a commercial movie coming out of his conventional image taking Akshay Kumar in the lead role and it became the highest grossing film for both Akshay Kumar and Mr. Bhanshali's career. It was "Rowdy Rathode", a south Indian remake which can compromise with the story to any level just to make it a profitable deal at the box office. Getting inspired with that success, these two guys have joined hands once again for yet another movie "Gabbar Is Back", which is again an out an out commercial movie which is the remake of a south Indian movie "Ramanna". The only difference this time is that the story here deals with a very relevant issue of fighting against corruption but unfortunately it deals with such a noble issue in a totally unrealistic way just to generate seetis and taalis at regular interval.
The story is about a professor Aditya(Akshay Kumar) who use to live a happy life with his wife(Kareena Kapoor Khan in a cameo). Just like any other Indian common man he does not bother much about corruption until one day he has to loose a lot as an aftermath of
corruption.While trying to find justice for his personal loss he finds how deeply corruption is rooted in every government sector. This lesson changes his life totally and he forms a group of young and honest college students to fight against corruption on his own way taking the pet name of Gabbar. Gabbar does his operations in an unique style , his motive is to stop corruption from every government sector by creating fear in every government official's mind that if they participate in corruption in any way then they will be get punished (read killed) by Gabbar. For that Gabbar and his team prepares a list of top ten corrupt officers in every government departments like Tehsildars or PWD officers or even Policemen and then kidnaps them and kills the officer who was on top of that list. The team of police is unable to caught this guy named Gabbar and the only constable Sadhu(Sunil Grover) who can provide some serious clue to solve this case is ignored by his senior officers. Although the approach Gabbar and his team takes is very unrealistic still it gives pleasure to the audiences who are already a victim as well as active member of this corrupt system.The similar kind of approach has been seen in last years disastrous movie "Ungli" but here it looks better because of the screen presence of the leading man Akshay Kumar. But all of a sudden the makers realizes it is a south Indian movie remake and has been made for commercial viewing so there must be a chatterbox heroine Shruti (Shruti Hasan) who will keep meeting our hero here and there accidentally and will fall in love with him after 3 -4 scenes which will lead to an irrelevant song and dance. Also there needs to be a totally cliche villain Digvijay Patil (Suman Talwar) whose only motive in life will be to kill our hero but in the climax he will be killed by our hero of course. This sub tracks obviously derails the main plot. The half baked romantic track between Aditya and Shruti is absolutely not required here. The climax though have much impact and it works to fill the gaps here and there in the screenplay. As the climax has a good impact so when the audience comes out they will feel touched with the subject to some extent.
The dialogues written by Rajat Arora is good in some sequences and it generates clapping too but it could have been much better.
As a director. debutante director Krish has done a good job considering the requirement of his target audiences. He has made the film totally entertaining , considering its commercial aspects. There is a probability that the film will do good at the box office so it will shape up his career as a director in a good way in future.
Among the actors it can be said it is Akshay Kumar who has dominated the 130 minute running time of the film. He has played his part very convincingly. Even at the age of 47 he
has proved in action sequences no other hero looks as real as him. He will surely touch your heart at his inspirational speech at the climax.
Among the other actors Kareena Kapoor Khan looks glamorous in the one song sequence. Shruti Hasan looks pretty but has very less to do. Sunil Grover, the funnyman from televison has tried something different from his comedian image and he has succeeded to left impression. South Indian actor Suman Talwar is disappointing as the main villain. In every scene it looks like he is just a less expensive duplicate of Prakash Raj. Jaideep Ahlawat as the CBI inspector has his moments but very little screen time.
The only hit song of the film is "Teri Meri Kahani" composed by Chirantan Bhatt. It is already a hit and it works in favor of the movie too as it helps to narrate the whole background love story of the characters played by Akshay and Kareena. The rest of the songs featuring Shruti Hasan and Chitrangada Singh (in a guest appearance) are neither sounds nor looks good on screen, rather these songs slow down the pace of the story and adds extra running time. Among the technical team it is the stunts choregraphed by Shiva which is very much mass appealing and will be liked very much.
Overall "Gabbar Is Back" is a well made film for its target audiences who likes high voltage action and drama. In spite of its loopholes the story has been carried well by Akhshay Kumar on his muscular soldiers. Go and watch it if you like mainstream masala films and it is a must watch if you are an Akhshay Kumar fan.
