A Quick update of Bollywood in the 3rd Quarter of 2015

The third quarter of 2015 was much better in terms of box office business. There was the first 300cr film of this year in this quarter. Few other movies too did a good business in the 70-80 cr range.

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

July

This month was the best of this quarter with the only 300 cr+ film of the year so far which was "Bajrangi Bhaijaan".

The first big hit of this month was south Indian blockbuster "Bahubali". This S.Rajamouli

directed film created history. It became the first Hindi dubbed south Indian language movie to cross 100 cr mark. It was released in too many languages as a dubbed film , all over India and abroad and in every language version it got fantastic response. The visual effects were the best of any Indian movie so far. Overall it collects 500 cr + worldwide.
The next big release of this month was Salman Khan starer Eid release "Bajrangi Bhaijaan". As expected it got a tremendous opening and enters in 100 cr club in the first weekend. It continues its extra ordinary business because of the heart touching story and also for the fantastic performance by Salman Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the little wonder Harshali Malhotra. On the final run it became the biggest hit of this year so far and the second biggest hit of all time with the collection of 320 cr.

The last release of this month was Ajay devgan and Tabu starer "Drishyam". This film was a South Indian remake but not a regular commercial remake rather it had a gripping story and some wonderful acting by the leading cast. This thriller was highly appreciated by the audiences and as a result it became a hit with around 76 cr collection. The fans of Ajay Devgan were very much delighted to see Ajay Devgan in a meaningful role after a long time.

August

The box office response in the month of August was quite low compared to July. The only

big hit of this month was Karan Johar's production "Brothers". It earned around 82 cr at the box office.It was a story of two separated brothers in the background of MMA(mixed martial arts). The film got good response and both Akhshay Kumar and Siddharth Malhotra's performances were highly appreciated. The action sequences featuring Martial Atrs were designed extremely well.
Apart from that there were no big commercial success. Though Nawazuddin Siddiqui starer "Manjhi - The Mountain Man" was appreciated by some section of audiences mostly because of the extra ordinary performance by the leading man Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Apart from that Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif starer "Phantom" also got an average response at the box office but considering the high budget of this film, based on global terrorism, we can not say it was a box office gainer.

September

The month of September got a really wonderful opening with "Welcome back" , which was a

sequel to the 2007 hit comedy "Welcome", though some of people thought it was actually a remake of the original in the name of a sequel. Once again the brother duo Uday bhai and Majnu Bhai played by Nana Patekar and Anil kapoor win the heart of the audiences with their superb comic timing. This film took a wonderful start and earn 50 cr in its first weekend. Though its collection dropped later but finally it managed to register 95 cr at the box office.
It followed by some flops which include two back to back flops in two consecutive weeks

"Hero" and "Katti Batti" , both directed by Nikhil Advani. Also Madhur Bhandarkar failed to impress masses as well as critics with his latest "Calendar Girls".
Finally the funny man of Television Kapil Sharma brings back the smile on cinema owner's faces with his Bollywood debut "Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karoon". It was directed by director duo Abbas-Mastaan who are mostly famous for their thrillers. So lots of people were doubtful about the film but when it released it witnessed a really unexpected good response from the audiences. It earned around 28 cr in its opening weekend which is pretty good for a new comer Hero's movie. Hopefully it will cross 50 crore mark easily in its lifetime business, considering the response of the audience we can hope for even more.

On a whole the third quarter have provided some good movies and good amount of money at the box office. We are hopeful about the next quarter which have some big releases lined up to release specially in Diwali and Christmas which includes Salman Khan's "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" and Shahrukh Khan's "Dilwale".

Best Films of Q2 2015

• Bajrangi Bhaijaan
• Drishyam

Top Performers of Q2 2015:

Actors:

• Salman Khan - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
• Ajay Devgan - Drishyam
• Nawazuddin Siddiqui - Manjhi - The Mountain Man/ Bajrangi Bhaijaan
• Sanjay Mishra - Masaan
• Jacky Shroff - Brothers
• Anil Kapoor - Welcome back
• Nana Patekar - Welcome Back
• Kapil Sharma - Kis Kis Ko Pyaar Karoon

Actresses:

• Harshali Malhotra - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
• Richa Chaddha - Masaan
• Tabu - Drishyam

Top Songs of Q2 2015:

• Selfie Le Le Re, Tu Chahiye, Bhar De Jholi - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
• Sapna Jahan - Brothers
• Hafte Me Chaar Shanivaar, Baton Ko Teri - All Is Well
• Afgaan Jalebi - Phantom
• Main Hu Hero Tera - Hero

Review of Bengali film "Teenkahon"

"Teenkahon" as the tagline suggest "Three obsession , Three acts, 100 Years", is a combination of three short stories with basic theme of love in different time and cultures. Combining short stories in a single film is not a new concept but here its different as there are only three stories so each story has been given ample time to be developed like a full fledged story which gives you a feeling of watching three different films and every film has its own good qualities which makes an impression on their own.

The first one is named as "Parichay(Boy meets Girl)" is based on the short story "Nabalak"

by Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyaya. It is a story about the first love of a eight year old kid Shailo (Barshan Shil). How he develop feelings for a newly wed woman Nayantara(Ananya Sen) in his village and what he does in his immaturity to get his love follows the story. This story has been set in pre-independent India rural surroundings.The well researched rural set up of a village and the black and white picturisation will surely make you nostalgic about old Bengali classics including Ray's "Pather Panchali". The narrative style of this story is also very good where a grown up Shailen (Suman Mukhopadhyaya) is narrating the story of his first love from his childhood to his friends which breaks the monotony of the story. The screenplay has been written very well where it has emotion as well as some comic moments too revolving around the childish efforts by young Shailo to take revenge against Nayantara's husband Akshay (Biswanath Basu). It is definitely the best story of the all three.

The second story is named as "Biraho(Boy looses Girl)" is based on a a short story by Sayed Mustafa Siraaj "Postmortem". It is a story where a girl named Mohua had committed suicide and his husband Gyanesh Mitra (Sabyasachi Chakraborty) comes to his dead wife's lover

Sukomol Basu Roy (Joy Sengupta) to find out the reason of his wife's suicide, to find out who is responsible for the woman's death, her husband or her lover. In the beginning Sukomol feels quite awkward to talk with the man with whose wife he had an extra marital affair, but as the story progress they discover each other more and they also discover their own share of responsibility for the girl's death. This story is a bit monotonous because of only two main characters and the same set of a close room where the whole story has been picturised but still it holds your attention because of the wonderful performance from both the leads.

The third story is set in contemporary Kolkata of 2013 , it has been named as "Punarmilan (Boy gets back girl)", this is based on the short story "Telephone" written by the director

himself. It is about an urban married couple Joydeb (Ashish Vidyarthi) and Anamika (Rituparna Sengupta) who are not so happy with their married life as they are struggling to have a kid with some medical help. In such a situation Joydeb who is a senior officer at Kolkata Police dept. gets involved in an extra marital relationship with a woman during an investigation. In the meantime his wife gets pregnant and delivers a boy. Now Joydeb is in a dilemma to choose any one between his wife and son or his girl friend. Finally he takes a tough decision which ends with a really shocking twist. The screenplay is not that gripping throughout but the twist at the end is really amazing. 

As a director full credit should be given to the debutante director Bauddhayan Mukherjee. He has efficiently directed not only one rather three different movies that too in totally different time frame which is really commendable. His perfection for detailing for every story is extra ordinary. We are definitely looking forward to see more and more master pieces from this talented director in future.

Among the actors all of them are good but special credit should be given to Sabyasachi Chakraborty , Joy Sengupta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ananya Sen and child actor Barshan Shil.

The technical team has also done a fabulous job to work on three different stories, the way each time frame has been depicted , it shows the effort put in for the research  work.   Cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay has captured three stories in totally different flavor specially the first one which has been shot in black and white is wonderful. Sound design by Biswadeep Chatterjee is too good to sound real. The costume , production design are very much true to the time period for each story. Special mention should be given for the dialogues which shows the change in Bengali language throughout the time range of 100 years.

Overall it is an wonderful experience to watch three different films together which not only tells three stories, rather takes us to the journey of changing face of Bengali culture and language through 100 years. If you like non-commercial Bengali films where the content is the main attraction not the stars then don't miss it.

Review of Bengali movie "Nirbashito"

We all know Churni Ganguly as a very talented actress but when she chose to wear director's hat for the first time she shows that she equally talented in direction too. She has chosen a truly different subject about the controversial author Taslima Nasrin's banishment for her controversial writing. This movie has already bagged National award even before its theatrical release. This film never mentioned the name of the author but you can make it from the references, that from whose life it has been inspired.

This film is not a conventional biopic about the author, it never focus on her journey from a

poor girl from Bangladesh to an world famous author.Rather it tries to trace her pain her loneliness once she got banished from her own motherland, from her own people, from her own language, from her creative world of writing. The movie starts with the riots in Kolkata by some fundamentalist parties against the controversial author(Churni Ganguly). To make the situation under control Govt has to shift her to Sweden. But she has to left her pet cat Baghini, whom she use to treat like her daughter, with one of her friend Pritam(Saswata Chatterjee). From here starts two different tracks, the author's struggle to cope up with her loneliness at Sweden, her longing for coming back to her own people to her motherland; another track revolves around Pritam's struggle to send the cat Baghini to her mother at Sweden taking approval from local police to state Govt to Sweden Embassy.

The screenplay has been written very well which creates some moments that will live with you even after the movie ends. While it is about the pain of the banished author, it has some funny moments too using some satire on Govt official revolving around the process to send Baghini to abroad. This film never tries to justify what is right or wrong but it protest against ban on anyone's freedom which is one's birth right. It talks about women liberalization , it talks about ones right of freedom of speech and no one have the right to ban that.

As a director Churni ganguly is excellent in her debut film. She has chosen a truly different subject and has handled it quite well giving it a realistic touch. From choosing locations to

choosing actors from different parts of the world everything looks authentic. She knows how to connect with the audiences while telling the story.

Not only as director, Churny Ganguly is in terrific form as the leading actress too. She has portrayed the emotional journey of Taslima Nasrin superbly. The pain, the anger, the frustration , the loneliness looks real on her face. She is an actress who can convey her emotions even without saying a single line. 

Among the others Saswata Chatterjee is very impressive to provide a comic relief. He has played the author's friend Pritam who is struggling to balance his life between his friend and wife. His acting is very natural as usual. Raima Sen has her moments in her short appearance.

The rest of the cast from Tollywood and Sweden, everyone has done a good job. The casting has been done very wisely.

Special mention should be given for Soni , the cat who has played the character of Baghini. Her expressions are really priceless. No wonder you will feel attached with the cat.

The cinematography by Shirsha Ray is wonderful, the locations of Sweden has been captured really well. The editing done by Bodhadity Banerjee is sharp , the story never looks stretched. The background score is very effective. 

Overall it is a film about the pain of an author who has been banished not only from her motherland rather she has been banished from her birth right to express her own feelings. It is about her suffering , her undying hope of returning home one day, which will touch your heart. Watch it for the wonderful effort by the extremely talented lady Churni Ganguly, both as director and as an actor.

Review of Brothers

“Brothers”, the official remake of Hollywood movie “Warrior” has been promoted as a high voltage action oriented film based on Mixed martial arts and it is true to some extent. But it is not only an action entertainer rather it is an emotional drama too about the conflicts between the members of a family, between a father and his two sons, between two brothers separated following a tragic incident in their family.

It is a story about two brothers David (Akshay Kumar) and Monty (Siddhatharth Malhotra)

both were separated in their younger age when a tragic incident had happened in their family which had lead their father Garry (Jacky Shroff) to imprisonment. By the time Garry comes out of Jail things have changed a lot. David has cut off all his relationship with Garry and Monty and has chosen to be a Physics teacher and a dedicated family man with a loving wife Jenny (Jacquline Fernandes) and a daughter. On the other hand Monty is an unsuccessful, alcoholic street fighter. Both Monty and David have chosen different lives but there is one common thing in between them, they both hate each other. Another common thing between these two brothers is that they both love street fighting , as their father Garry was a famous fighter at his young age, although after becoming a teacher David has chosen to refrain him from street fighting.

In such a situation world famous controversial game show R2F (Right To Fight) is introduced in India which is a knock out fight series based on MMA between heavy weight world famous fighters with Indian fighters. Both David and Monty take part in this competition for different reasons. David needs the prize money for his daughter’s treatment where Monty wants to prove to his father that he is a better fighter than David. As expected these two brothers face off each other in the finals. Who wins and who loses that you have to see in the theaters but their brotherhood wins. Love wins over hate, forgiveness wins over revenge.

The screenplay has been adapted quite well from the original adding some Bollywood masala, like a bit too much melodrama, a forcefully placed item song. Although the first half

is too lengthy, unnecessary time has been spend on showing the flashback of David and Jenny’s love story which is not required at all. Rather more time could have been spend on showing the bonding of the two brothers in their childhood which could have given more emotional high to the climax. The item song featuring Kareena Kapoor Khan is also not required; it just adds more running time to the first half. In the second half the story revolves more around the MMA fights, but the scenes showing the emotional dilemma of the family members in between the fight sequences helps to break the monotony of the fight sequences and it also gives more strength to the emotional climax.

After making his directorial debut with “Agneepath” few years back, Karan malhotra has made it clear once again that he can blend emotion and action quite well. His direction is good. Only he could have work on to shorten the length of the film by some 10 minutes.

Akshay Kumar has played his character wonderfully. When it comes to martial arts there is no one better than him in his league of actors. It is always a delight to see Akshay Kumar performing those martial arts but here he has shined not only in fight sequences rather he is brilliant in emotional moments too. He is very impressive as the David suffering from a dilemma whether to forgive his family or not for his loss.

Siddharth malhotra is an young actor who is continuously improving himself with every

film. It is really tough to fight opposite Akshay Kumar that too in Martial arts form but Siddharth has managed it quite well. He has played his character extremely well. The anger and aggression in his expression looks convincing as per his on screen character. Even in his fight sequences he is impressive. His effort for building a perfect body is also appreciable. Only he needs to improve in the emotional scenes. 

We have seen Jacky Shroff various type of supporting roles in recent past but the character he has played in this movie is probably one the best among them. Here he has got a chance to play a significant character with enough scope to show his talent and he has utilized this opportunity quite well. He is good as the old father who is trying hard to bring back his broken family together. Only he is not that effective in the sequences where he plays the younger version of his character as an alcoholic and abusive husband.

Jacquline Fernandes has got a different kind of character to play as an wife and a mother but unfortunately she has nothing much to do specially in the second half. Shefali Shah is wonderful in a cameo as Monty and David’s mother. Watch out her in the scene where she first time meets Monty.It is nice to see Ashutosh Rana on screen after a long time. He has managed to impress even in his lesser screen time.

Among the technical team the first credit should be given to the action directors Justin Yu and Eric Brown. They have set a really high standard for the action sequences in Hindi cinema. Hemant Chaturvedi’s camerawork is remarkable. The background music by Ajay-Atul suits with the drama going on screen. Their background score is very much effective during the fight sequences which gives it a thrilling feel. The music is not the strongest point of the film because there is not enough scope for songs , whatever song is there are only works as a speed breaker. Even the item song featuring Kareena does not work as it has been forcefully placed in the story.

Overall it is an enjoyable film which has its own loop holes but after coming out of theater it will give you satisfied feeling. Watch it for the wonderful acting by the brothers duo and also for the superbly choreographed fight sequences.

Review of Bengali Movie "Anubrato Bhalo Achho?"

This movie is already talk of the town even before its release because of the recognition it has already received  in some international film festivals. It is journey of two souls who are alone and destiny bring them together for some time. The acting by the lead cast is the main USP of the film.

The story begins with Anubrato (Ritwick Chakraborty), his wife Neeta(Deboleena Dutta) is a

cancer patient and she is in a hospital going under chemo therapy. Both Anubrato and Neeta are hopeless about their future and have almost surrendered to fight the battle against death. In such a time Anubrato meets Jaya (Swastika Mukherjee) , her husband is also admitted in the same hospital where Neeta is admitted. Destiny brings Anubrato and Jaya closer, soon they identify that both of them are struggling with common problem of loneliness.
They becomes friendly with each other to fulfill their emotional as well as physical needs. But how long the relation will survive? Both of them have their own family and priorities , in such situation what happens to their relationship that has been answered in the climax.

The story is very linear , there is no subplot. It just focuses on the demotivated lonely life of

the two protagonist. It hardly tries to give any past of the characters. The pace is very slow and after some point the same life of Anubrato starts looking repetitive, until he meets Jaya. The climax may not appeal to everyone but probably it is the perfect possible ending.

As a director Partha Sen has tried to choose a different subject and credit should be given for that. He has tried to tell the story of two lonely souls without making it just a typical extra marital affair story. The story never tries to question on the morality of extra marital affairs. Only he could have added more layers to the story and characters.

Ritwick Chakraborty has already received international film festival award for Best actor for this role and he deserves that. He is so natural that at any point you can feel you are really watching Anubrato not Ritwick. His body language and look is also perfect for character in his late 40s which is more than his real age. He has once again proved he is the best actor of current generation. Even his silence expresses louder than words.

Swastika Mukherjee has also done a fantastic job as Jaya, a middle aged housewife and mother, who also has her own desires to enjoy life. She has also played an onscreen character older than her real age and she has done that effortlessly.
Deboleena Dutta is wonderful in the role of Neeta, a cancer patient. The pain and frustration is clearly visible on her face. She has opted for a complete de-glamorous look, the way we normally don't get to see her and she looks convincing in this look as a cancer patient.

Rest of the cast has nothing much to do, Kharaj Mukherjee is okay in the cameo.

Among the technical team , full credit should be given to the make up artist for creating the aged look of the main three leads. Rest of the technical team has done a fair job.

Overall it is a film which is very slow in pace and has nothing much to tell but still you can watch it for the superb acting by the leading cast. 

Review of Bengali Film "Shesher Kobita"

"Shesher Kobita" is an adaptation of the very famous Bengali novel by same name written by Rabindranath Tagore. It is a huge task to tell a novel in just 2 hrs movie , it is tough to decide how to cut some unwanted elements or shorten them in cinematic language. Director Suman Mukhopadhyay have tried well to portray this story like poetry in motion on screen.

The story starts with Amit Ray (Rahul Bose) and Ketaki (Swastika Mukherjee) who are in

love and decides live life together. But  after  a certain period Amit realizes he is longing for something else in life. He decides to go for a trip to Shilong alone leaving his known circle of friends and family members in Kolkata. In Shilong he meets an young  independent educated lady Labanya (Konkona Sensharma). Soon they became friends and start feeling love for each other. Though Labanya is too ambitious in life to get married but she too agrees to marry Amit after a point. But Labanya had a past too, she had a silent admirer, at her younger age, Shovanlal(Debdut Ghosh). What happens when both Amit and Labanya's past come back in their life. Does their love survives or not that is the end of the story.

Those who have already read the story their is nothing new for them. In such a case the screenplay matters more but unfortunately the screenplay, especially in the first half is

too slow. The screenplay picks up in the second half only. the first half is too much poetic and is less appealing towards the current day generation. The climax is too hurried , it could have taken little more time to justify the decisions taken by the two lead.

As a director Suman Mukhopadhyay has done a fair job. Specially the recreation of pre-independent India is picture perfect.

Rahul Bose is good as Amit Ray and helps to make the character intellectual but the immaturity is missing in his face and body language which is required for Amit Ray in the first half. Rahul Bose is definitely not the best choice for the character.

Konkona Sensharma has portrayed the complex character of Labanya perfectly. She gives life to Labanya. Her expressions are just perfect for the character.

In a short role Swastika Mukherjee has done a good job as Ketaki. Watch out her in the  scene when she sees Amit and labanya together for the first time , the way she tries to control her tears is too good.

Among the others Debdut Ghosh and Tulika Basu are good.

The technical team has done a fine job to recreate the period. Special mention for the costumes designed by Dev r Nil, the research work can be seen in the detailing. Same can be said about the set design. Shirhsa ray has shot the film very nicely , the mountains and the waterfalls of Shilong provides an eye shoothing experience.

Some Rabindra sangeet has been used here and there but does not add much value.

Overall it is a poetic representation of the story of platonic love, with some good acting and authentic representation of pre-independent period. If you love to see your favorite characters alive on screen then go for it. Otherwise you can avoid it for a home watch.

Review of Drishyam

"Drishyam" is one of the rarest Bollywood film which is a film about family bonding yet it is a crime thriller too. It is the remake of 2013 hit Malayali film by the same name. It is the kind of thriller where you don't have to play the guessing game to uncover the mystery till the end rather you know everything from beginning still you will enjoy watching the mind game between the Police and the culprit.

The story begins introducing Vijay (Ajay Devgan), a fourth standard fail who runs a local

cable business in a village in Goa. He lives with his family; his wife Nandini (Shriya Saran)and two daughters. Apart from his family his only love is movies. Their happy family was doing all good until something unwanted happened to them when they got involved in the case of a missing guy , who is also the only son of the Inspector General Meera Deshmukh (Tabu). Now its all the responsibility of Vijay to save his family from this disaster and how he does that is the rest of the film.

The screenplay is a scene by scene adaptation of the original Malayali film so this is

also unnecessarily lengthier , specially the first half has very unimportant portions, trying to portray the happy life of the family taking more than the required time. But the story picks up from the second half and from this point the screenplay is gripping. The mind game between Vijay and Meera is very much interesting. Although it seems a bit too much to believe at some points but still as it has been said in one of the  dialogue of the movie in cinema we believe, what we see, no matter how much unconvincing it is.

As a director Nishikant Kamat has done a good job in choosing good actors and good locations otherwise about the story telling he has to do nothing much as it is a very loyal remake so there is not any modification in the style of storytelling.

Ajay Devgan is remarkably good in the role of the head of the family with a mission to save his loved ones. After a long time we have seen him doing a character with more emotional content unlike his recent mindless remakes. He has wonderfully portrayed his character.

After "Haider" last year Tabu has played yet another mother to a young kid and she is

brilliant. She enters in the story after long one hour but from the point she appears she lefts her impression. Her character has multiple shades varying from a tough Cop to a sympathetic mother and she has balanced these emotional variation very well. Watch out her in the climax where she has no dialogue but still her silence says much.

Shriya Saran is just good as Ajay's wife. Rajat Kapoor as Tabu's husband is superb.  Ishita Dutaa as Vijay's elder daughter and Mrunal Jadhav as the younger daughter is very good. Kamlesh Sawant has made his presence felt among the big actors in the character of Inspector Gaitonde.

Among the technical team , cinematography is appropriate by Avinash Arun. The production designs by Sukant Panigrahy is very authentic. The editing by Aarif Sheikh is wonderful in the second half but it could have been better in the first half. There is no scope for any song so even the much loved combination of Vishal Bharadwaj and Gulzar is not effective here.

Overall "Drishyam" is a good movie made with a good intention, there are some loopholes but that can be overlooked for an engaging second half and some wonderful acting.
Give it a chance and you wont be disappointed.