After showcasing three short stories together in a one film in "Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy" director Sandip Ray and Production house Shree Venkatesh Films are back with another combination of short stories but this time neither the stories are interconnected by any story teller nor they have anything common.
There are lots of short stories in Bengali literature while choosing only four from them is very difficult job so Sandip Ray has to do a tough job to select four stories considering the fact which story can be told in cinematic way within a limited time. A perfect short story should have characters who can make place in the audiences heart within a limited time and the story should have an impact on the audiences mind but Sandip Ray has failed to choose such perfect short stories. Apart from the first story "Batashwarer Abadan" all other stories have some problems.
Coming to the stories one by one, "Batashwarer Abodan" is a very nice story written by Parashuram. Its a story about an author and the impact of the fictional characters created by the author on the readers. The story has been presented very well without taking much time all the characters have been developed smartly.
The second one is "Dui Bandhu" written by Satyajit Ray. It is a story of two friends who meet each other after 25 years. Though the concept is very nice and the twist at the end is good but the idea that two friends can not communicate with teach other in 25 years looks unconvincing in today's world. When the story was written it might sound justified but for present time some additional changes were required in the screenplay to show some valid reason for the two friends separation for 25 years.
The third story is "Kagtarua" again written by Satyajit Ray. The story is of just one line and there are only two leading characters still the story has
been stretched unnecessarily just to give it almost equal screen time which was not required at all. Considering the supernatural elements of the story, it would have been better fit in "Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy".
The last story is "Pareekhha" written by Sharadindu Bandopadhyay. It is romantic story revolving around a couple who are about to get married.The story has no content at all , it looks like just a formal meeting of two people who are about to get married. Maybe the story was interesting on papers but it adds nothing on screen. The only saving grace of the story is the recreation of black and white era. Though considering that all other stories have been transformed to today's time its an unknown fact why only this story's period has not been changed.Probably the filmmakers were aware that it is the weakest story among the all so they have given it a better visual treatment to make it look better.
As a director Sandip Ray is just okay. He should have been careful about selecting stories as well as some actors too. Though he should be given credit for developing his characters very well in the short time span in the first three stories.
Among the actors Paran Bandopadhyay is too good as the author Bateshwar in the first story. Saswata Chatterjee is the only actor who has acted in two stories and in both the stories he is brilliant. Specially in the third story "Kagtarua", his expressions are very real as the scared person. Piyush Ganguly is a very talented actor and he has proved it once again in the second story "Dui Bandhu". Abir Chatterjee looks handsome as the hero of black and
white era in the last story "Pareekhha", his acting is good too. Rajatava Dutta has very little
role but his character has a surprise element but it needs to be said he is totally a miscast in the role. He does not look good enough physically to portray the character. Among the ladies Sreelekha Mitra is absolutely brilliant as the over the top loud actress in the story "Bateshwarer Abadan". Sudeepta Chakraborty has provided good support as Piyush Ganguli's wife in the story "Dui Bandhu". It is Koyel who has got the best role among the actresses in the story "Pareekhha" but she failed to deliver. She looks good with the periodic look of black and white era but her acting needs much improvement. It looks that she is doing the same loud acting what she does in her commercial entertainers. Actually she is a miscast in this role but when she is the wife of the co-producer what can be said.
Among the technical team , the man who should get credit first is Sirsha Ray who has done very good job with his camera in all four stories. He has given a different look and feel to each story and his work in the last one to recreate the black and white era is superb. The production design and sound design is good too. The editing is good in the first two stories but in the last two stories it could have been better. Specially the third story "Kagtarua" could have been edited more tightly.There are no songs in the movie but the background score has been used quite well.
Overall "Chaar" is a movie where the stories are not too good to win your heart but there are a bunch of good actors who have done good job. So you can give it a try to get a chance to witness some good acting.
"Ramdhanu" is a simply told story with simple characters with whom we can identify. The director duo Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee have bring another interesting and unique subject of our day to day life which is admission of a kid in a good school.
The story is an adaptation of Suchitra Bhattacharya's novel "Ramdhanu Rang". It traces the emotions of parents who are trying to get their child admitted to the best possible school. How much pressure they have to go through for their children. Laltu Datta (Shiboprasad Mukherjee) and Mitali Datta (Gargi Roychowdhury) have played a middle class couple who wants to admit their child Gogol (Akashneel Mitra) to a well reputed English medium school. For this they are ready to take help from anyone from political leaders to police officer to the uniform supplier of the school to the fourth grade staff of the school. They are even ready to pay bribe if required. When all these do not work they take up the challenge to groom themselves by joining a parent grooming course for parents to clear the admission interview for the parents in the schools. Finally they understand that more focus should be given on better education than better school.
The story idea is truly unconventional though it is a very familiar aspect of our regular life but no filmmaker has thought it as film subject so far.So the credit should be given to the director duo for choosing such an unconventional story idea.
And the acreenplay written by Shiboprasad himself brings life to the story. The moments and characters are very real and the audiences can identify with them. There is a solid dose of light hearted laghter scenes at the same time there is some emotional quotient too. For example the when Laltu Datta gives speech on evening library during the interview is hilarious. Similarly some other scenes involving Laltu's preparation for the interview is quite funny too or the scene where he sends someone else as his kid's father to give the interview. There are two sub plots too one involving Mitalli's foreigner sister in law and another involving Laltu and Mitalli's neighbors an old age lonely couple. These two subplots works very well in favor of the story line to support the importance of better education in any medium compared to better school and English medium.
The only problem with story is that fun and interesting elements are lesser in the second half. The whole plot involving the parent grooming course is new concept but it could have been done in a better way. There was no need to bring parents from each corner of India that too in a very cliched format. Also towards the end the drama goes little over the top which does not go well with the light hearted spirit of rest of the story.
The director duo Shiboprasad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy have done a brilliant job. From choosing a newer concept to make it look and feel like believable, all credit should be given to them. Without becoming too much loud they have succeeded to give the message too without compromising with the entertainment value.
As the leading man Shiboprasad Mukherjee is just too good as medicine shopkeeper Laltu Datta. By his brilliant acting , dialogue delivery and body language he has looked every bit of Laltu Datta perfectly. He has portrayed the under confident but lovable father very well. Watch him in the scenes where he is getting ready for the interview or when he gives an ex-tempo on evening library. He is just too good with his mannerism that he looked like Laltu Datta on screen.
Gargi Roychowdhury is another surprise of this movie. She has played the character Mitalli Datta with perfection. She is never too loud rather she has underplayed her character very well without saying much dialogues.
Lots of thing had been said as Rachana Banerjee's comeback in this movie, but unfortunately she is not much there in the film. Her role starts in second half only and in every scenes she is crowded with almost a dozen of junior artistes who has played the parents in her grooming center. So she does not get enough scope to do anything, whatever chance she has got she is just okay in that.
Among the supporting cast the child actor Akashneel Mitra is very cute and adorable and he has done a very good job. Kharaj Mukherjee is brilliant as the school uniform supplier Mr. Singhania. He has little screen time but he is such a fine actor for him it does not matters how lengthy is his role he can bring our attention in every scene.
Among the technical team it can be said that the production design by Amit Chatterjee is very good and realistic. Same can be said for the costumes by Ruma Sengupta and make up artistes. The cinematographyby Shirsha Ray is good. The dialogues penned by the director duo is very nice and funny. There is no scope for songs and it is good that unnecessary songs have not been forced. Most of the songs comes in background and it goes well with the narration.
Overall "Ramdhanu" is film that will caught your attention from the first scene and you will never get bored. You can enjoy it with your family as well as friends, no matter what is your age you will be feel attached with the subject and characters.
Filmistaan is a movie which celebrates the power of Bollywood, the impact of the 100 year old industry on our day to day life. It shows how the charisma of Bollywood movies can connect the people of two rival countries Hindustan and Pakistan.
The story starts with Sunny Arora (Sharib Hashmi) ,a true Bollywood buff and an aspiring actor who keeps getting rejected at every audition. One day he got a chance to assist an american film crew for a documentary shoot in Rajasthan. But from there he got kidnapped by a group of terrorists as they mistook him as an american film crew member. After realizing their fault the terrorists kept him as a hostage in the house of a villager in Pakistan. While staying in Pakistan as a hostage , gradually Sunny came to know how the common people in Pakistan are attached with Indian Hindi movies. Here he met Aftab (Inamulhaque), a pirated DVD supplier and the owner of the house where Sunny has been kept by the terrorists. Aftab is also die hard Hindi movie fan.
The common attachment for Bollywood helps Sunny and Aftab to be connected in spite of being from two rival countries. Finally what happened with Sunny and did he succeed to escape from Pakistan forms the rest of the story.
The story have a new concept of showing the relationship between India and Pakistan from Bollywood's point of view through the eyes of a Bollywood buff. And this new story has been scripted very well too by the story writer and director Nitin Kakkar. He has put the comic elements very well. Even in the serious situations there is some comic relief. For example the scene where Sunny directs his ransom video himself or the scene where Sunny dubs for the dialogues of "Maine Pyaar Kiyaa" or the auditions for Pakistani remake of "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge".
Apart from the lighter moments there is beautiful touch of emotion too. The bromance between Aftab and Sunny has been developed very well. The scene between the two where Sunny accepts that he is not a good actor is very touchy. In another scene where Sunny talks about his grandfather with the Hakim is also very much emotional.
The only problem with the screenplay is the climax which has been dragged a bit much and also looks incomplete.
The dialogues written by the leading man Sharib Hasmhi are very effective and funny and it goes very well with the story line.
As a debutante director Nitin Kakkar's work is very much promising. The way he has chosen an unconventional subject as his debut venture is commendable. He has taken a bunch of talented actors who are not popular faces but goes very well with the characters. Apart from that while recreating the setup in Pakistan the director's eye for every minute detailing can not be ignored.
Sharib hashmi has done a bit roles in some movies earlier but as a leading man it is his first outing and he is superb. He is funny while doing the mimicries of renowned actors on the same time he can bring tears to your eyes in his emotional scenes. Just watch him in the scene where he is talking about his grand father with a Hakim, his expressions are absolutely brilliant.
The other actor who shines through his character is Inamulhaque as Aftab. His body language to dialogue delivery everything looks perfect which looks like he actually belongs to Pakistan.
Together the two men has shown a brilliant chemistry.
Apart from these two leading actors the other actors who have done good jobs are Kumud Mishra and Gopal Datt as the terrorists Mahmood and Jawaad.
The technical team has done a brilliant job.The production design by Urvi Ashar and Shipra Rawal is very authentic and it helps to recreate the village of Pakistan. The costumes and make up is also very much convincing. The cinematography by Subhrangshu Das is good. The editing by Sachindra Vats is good but there is some scope for improvement.
The music has not much scope here as it is not a conventional romantic story, most of the songs have been used in background and it is just okay.The songs are not popular and neither leaves with you after coming out of theater.
Overall it is truly a different kind if cinema. It is a tribute to the whole Bollywood industry which has entertained us for more than 100 years. Every Bollywood lover will be able to identify with the two leading men. So if you are a fan of Bollywood then go and watch it and pay your tribute to Filmistaan - Jai ho Cinema Ki.
Holiday is action thriller where the story may not be always logical but it will keep you entertaining if you are a fan of hardcore commercial Bollywood movies. It has all the ingredients Action,Emotion,Drama,Romance,Comedy,Song and Dance everything you need in a masala movie.
It is the story of a soldier from Indian Army , Virat Bakshi (Akshay Kumar) who has came to Mumbai to meet his family members on a month long holiday. Soon he gets introduced to a girl Sahibaa(Sonakshi Sinha) for marriage. Just when Virat is enjoying his holiday and new found ladylove he suddenly gets some trace of some terrorist activities by a group of sleeper cells. As the tagline promises a soldier is never off duty so in spite of being on holiday Virat starts investigations on his own with the help of his Sub inspector friend Mukund (Sumeet Raghavan) and soon he founds that there is someone who is operating the sleeper cells. Then starts the mind game between Virat and the Sleeper Cell head (Farhad Daaruwala) to trap each other. Finally how Virat saves India and Indian people from the terror attacks forms the climax of the movie.
The story has lots of loopholes which continuously tries to prove its leading man as an over intelligent army officer. But in spite of that the screenplay has been written so well by the director himself that it keeps the audiences interest level intact. The mind game between the hero and the villan is very engaging and full of surprising twists. The only problem is the length which could have been reduced by cutting at least one or two songs which pop ups from anywhere anytime. The romantic track between Virat and Sahibaa looks forced as it acts as a roadblock to the main subject.The dialogues have punchlines for the hero but for rest of the characters it is just functional.
As a director A.R.Murugadoss has done justice with his concept. He has not made any unnecessary change to his original south indian movie "Thupakki" but still the movie looks convincing as a standalone Hindi movie. He has shown confidence once again in his second Hindi film after "Ghajini". But unlike "Ghajini" this time the romantic angle has not been blended well with the action.
There is no doubt that Akshay Kumar is the main highlight of this action thriller. Akshay Kumar looks good and perfectly fit for the role of a soldier. His stunts are too good and shows his martial art skills very well. He has shown his comic timing too in the lighter moments. He has brilliantly portrayed a street smart intelligence officer.
Just like her other movies Sonakshi Sinha has nothing much to do in this movie too. The only change here is her costumes , this time she has tried to shed her desi girl image by wearing some western outfits. Other than that she is just same with her any other character. She looks good, dances well and her chemistry with her leading man is good.
Among the rest of the cast , Farhad Daruwaala has made a good debut as the main villain , the head of the sleeper cells. He has fit body and good intense look only he need to improve his dialogue delivery. He has good scope in action movies.
Sumeet Raghavan the comic actor from television, has done a good job as Virat's friend Mukund. His comic timing is good.
Among the technical team two fields should be given full credit.First one is the actions which has been designed by Greg Powell and Anl Arasu. There is no doubt that the action sequences are the big USP of the movie.Another technical department which is outstanding is cinematography by N Nataraja Subramanium. He has captured the chase sequences and action sequences very well. The rest of the technical team is just okay.
The music is by Pritam and there are two hit songs "Tu Hi To Hai" and "Shairaana" but the songs have been forced into the story line so it adds nothing extra to the movie, rather sometime it looks boring. The climax song "Ashq Na Ho" has some good lyrics by Irshad Kamil and it adds emotional value for the family audiences.
On a whole Holiday is a good entertaining film. If you are an Akshay Kumar fan or you like action thrillers then you must watch this. Rest of the people can give it a try it is much better than Akshay Kumar's last few films. But if you want a logical story then it is not for you.
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.
"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.
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.
