Review of Airlift

Airlift is a movie based on a real incident which has made an entry in Guinness world record marked as the biggest human evacuation ever when 17000 Indians had been evacuated from Kuwait to India. After watching the movie every Indian will think why such brave stories are just present there in the record books why not we all know the story of those brave Indians, why we do not get to see such stories regularly in form of a movie? Really there are so many untold stories in India's glorious past. We are really thankful to director Raja Krishna Menon for choosing this subject. 

This film is a fictional representation of the original incident which took place in 1990. There were two Indian Business tycoons in Kuwait who had actually leaded the whole procedure which has been merged here in a single fictional character as Ranjit Katyal. Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar) is a business tycoon in Kuwait who do not consider himself as an

Indian, he has complain about everything related to India even Bollywood songs. He has a successful life, fame , money, a beautiful wife Amrita(Nimrat Kaur) and a lovely daughter. But his picture perfect life gets devastated when Saddam Hussain attacks Kuwait and Iraqi soldiers start to kill every Kuwaiti. At this time Ranjit realizes that how helpless he is in spite of having money and status, he could not even save his driver from getting killed by the soldiers. At this moment he realizes if there is anything which can save him that is his identity as Indian which he had tried to forget, as the Iraqi soldiers are not killing Indians. But still they have to leave the place to be safe as it is really hard to prove everyone that he is Indian. He decides to leave the place with his family but at this moment he finds all the Indian workers who used to work for his company as well as their family and friends have surrendered their future to him. They have came to him with a hope that he will do something for them. In such a crisis Ranjit takes the responsibility of the whole group of Indians to provide them a shelter. Initially he just starts to arrange a refugee camp for them but soon he becomes involved with all of them and everyone gets connected with each other with one identity that all of them are Indian. He tries to get political support from  Indian Embassy to Indian External Affairs Department to Baghdad Foreign Ministry but most of them refused to help him except one Joint Secretary in Indian Ministry Sanjeev Kohli (Kumud Mishra), with his collaboration Ranjit finally succeeded in his mission to evacuate all those Indians safely to India.
Although we know the ending very clearly from the beginning still the screenplay has been written in such a way that there is gripping thrill till the end. In every moment there is a fear of danger and an adrenaline rush going through the audiences. While watching the film you will actually get involved with the struggle of all those refugee Indians. You can feel joy when they are happy, you can feel tensed when they are in problem. There are different characters with different flavor in the refugee camp with whom you can identify. There is person like George(Prakash Belwadi) who always have something to complain or a sad silent young guy Ibrahim(Purab Kohli) looking for his lost wife. Together they have made a group which everyone can relate to. The dialogues by Riteish Shah are good and not too dramatic still gives required punches.

As a director Raja Krishna Menon should be applauded for choosing such a brave subject. He has done exceptionally well to represent a real life incident in very engaging and enjoyable commercial film format, it describes a real life incident but not in a documentary style. He has to deal with a group of junior actors who represents teh whole group of Indian refugees, for most of the part og teh movie and it is quite difficult to manage such a huge group of inexperienced actors but Raja Menon has done it quite efficiently. Hope he will continue to entertain us with such interesting subjects.

Akshay Kumar is an actor who is continuously delivering good films in recent past maintaining diversity in choosing subject and character. He has proved that he is an actor who can deliver more than just stunts and comedy. In Airlift he has delivered one of his career best performance where he has underplayed his character so well. Here he is not like a regular commercial hero rather he has played very emotionally challenging character and he is just perfect in every frame. He is the live wire of the film.

Akshay has been ably supported by Nimrat Kaur. She is not an actress to be fitted in regular commercial film heroine roles but here she has been caste in a suitable character of Amrita Katyal , a supportive wife and a responsible mother. She has not much scope but she managed quite well to look and act perfectly. She leaves her mark in one particular monologue sequence where her character speaks on behalf of her husband. 
Among the others Purab Kohli is impressive as the loner husband who is looking for his lost wife. Prakash Belwadi looks perfectly annoying as the always complaining George. Inamul Haq who has made a comeback after one and half year has done good job in the negative character of an Iraqi General though his accented Hindi speaking is a bit annoying. 
All others supporting cast is very good in their small roles. Here the credit should be given to the casting director for choosing such good actors in small but important roles as part of the huge crowd of Indian refugees.

The technical team has done very good job to recreate the period of 1990 in Kuwait. Production designer Mushtaq Stationwala has done an excellent job to recreate the devastated and destroyed Kuwait. The same can be said for the sound design and costume designers for making it look and feel so authentic. The cinematography has been done superbly by Priya Gupta. There is very little scope for songs still as it has been produced by a music company so there must be songs here and there. The song "Sochn Na Sake" sounds melodious rest of the songs are just okay, better be avoided.

Overall it is a well made film which has its heart at correct place. It tells the story of the glorious past of our country in a very engaging thriller format. It has some faults but as one of the film's dialogue says, it is very easy to find fault in others but it takes guts to attempt even to fail, so we can just overlook the small faults and give big thumbs up to the film for attempting this subject. Watch it to salute those brave Indians who helped each other in a crisis situation. 

Review of Bengali movie Bastushaap

When Kaushik Ganguly makes a film one can be assured that he is going to experience an unique subject, same happens with #Bashtushaap. We all know about Bashtu is an ancient Indian practice to design your home correctly to bring happiness and prosperity in your home.But Mr. Ganguly has taken this concept to another level and showed us the true path for happiness. To be happy one need to restructure his inner self not interiors of the house. To be happy one have to come out his self made prison of his past guilt and have to forgive himself as well as the persons around him.
The film begins with two friends cum business partner Kushal (Parambrata Chatterjee) and Timir (Kaushik Ganguly), they both are very different in age and nature but they are very friendly with each other and work together as Bashtu and Fengshui consultant. They get an assignment from Arjun( Abir Chatterjee) to do a Bashtu check of his house in Darjeeling. Arjun is an ex-army officer who lives with his wife Banya(Raima Sen) and his widow sister Antara (Churny Ganguly). Arjun is very much frustrated and unhappy and dealing with lots of family problems specially after a road accident where he had a leg injury which caused him to left his job. Also Antara's husband and son died in the same incident. Arjun who don't believes in Bashtu but still want to try it as he wants to bring back happiness in her house at any cost. When Kushal and Timir reach Darjeeling they got introduced with every family member from Arjun's family. Also they found each one have their own share of secrets as well as guilt from there past. Even Kushal and Timir have their own set of disturbed past but unlike Arjun's family members they have come out of their past to give life a fresh start. Kushal gets surprise to meet Banya as they were connected with each other once upon a time. Will that past relationship between Kushal and Banya will have any impact on their present life? Will Kushal and Timir be able to bring back happiness in Arjun's house? That you have to watch in theater. 
The strong point of the story is while watching the movie everyone will be able to connect with their own life to some extent as all of us have gone through some bad phase and regrets in our life and many of us want one magician who can bring happiness in our life.The lesson given in the movie will definitely help you to get the solution to your own problems. That's the magic of the story. The screenplay has been written so well that you will be engaged from the beginning till the end. The way it unfolds the past and present of each of the characters is really interesting. Specially the flashback track of Kushal and Banya has been merged very well in the screenplay. Here one thing needs to be mentioned that there is only five characters and mostly the movie has been shot with these five characters in few fixed location, still it never looks boring as the scenes are so well written and well enacted. Even the climax is very thought provoking, do we really need someone from outside to make us happy or it should come from within ourselves.
As a director Kaushik Ganguly gets full marks. He has done full justice to every department from extracting wonderful performance from his cast and crew to set up the story convincingly in the backdrop of Darjeeling. His perfection is visible in every minor detailing.

Among the actors all five has done brilliant job. Abir Chatterjee has played a character which is quite different from the characters he has played so far. His character is not a negative one but has grey shades. He is someone trying to portray himself very strong but is suffering inside out of guilt. Abir has perfectly portrayed the complex emotions of his on screen character Arjun. Not only on emotional ground rather also he has worked perfectly on his body language too as a person suffering from leg injury. 
After a long time we see Parambrata Chatterjee doing something out the cliche roles. Here he has acted very well coming out of his typical mannerisms. Here he has got a chance to act in two different phases of a same character as the story goes back and forth showing the past and present of Kushal. Both the phases of the characters have different shades,the present Kushal is more confident composed Bashtu consultant but in the flashback story he is lesser matured and going through an emotional crisis. Parambrata has efficiently worked on the two different states of the character. His body language and screen presence shows the difference in Kushal's past and present.
Same goes for Raima Sen, she too has to enact two different phases of the character Banya. In the flashback sequences she is a helpless wife struggling hard to give support to his hospitalized husband. In the present situation Banya is a lonely housewife who suffers from her husband's negligence also she is a bereaved mother who is separated from her son. Raima has played both the parts brilliantly but we like her more as the lonely housewife Banya. Her inner pain and suffering has been well expressed with her eyes. It is one of her career best performance.
Churny Ganguly is a terrific actress. She has played a very complex character of Antara. Antara is a widow who is suffering deeply for her loss and is in mentally unstable situation but she pretends to be as normal as possible. Churny has done full justice to these moody character who can be harsh at one time and can be soft in the next minute. The mental instability of Antara is clearly visible in the body language and expressions of Churny Ganguly.
The last but not the least is director Kaushik Ganguly himself. The mystery is still unresolved Kaushik Ganguly is a better director or a better actor. We can only say he is a master of both. Here he has comparatively lesser screen time but every time he says anything it will bring laughter to your face. He has underplayed his character very well providing interesting comic relief. Watch him in the scene where Timir does a shootout duel with Arjun , he is too good in that scene.

Everyone in the technical crew has done good job. The film has been shot mostly in indoors but whenever given a chance cinematographer Gopi Bhagat has captured the scenic beauty of Darjeeling wonderfully. The editing has been done superbly by Subhajit Singha. The flashback and present scenes has been merged very well. The music has been composed by Indradeep Dasgupta and the songs are very melodious. Every song has been blended in the story very well so it adds an extra weight to the emotional moments of the film.

Overall Bastushaap is an engaging film with a superb performances and a solid message. Go and watch it to adjust the Bastu of your inner-self probably it will help you to have a better life.

Winners of 61st Britannia Filmfare Awards

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male)
Ranveer Singh - Bajirao Mastani

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female)
Deepika Padukone - Piku

Best Film
Bajirao Mastani

Best Director
Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Bajirao Mastani

Best Debut Director
Neeraj Ghaywan - Masaan

Best Debut (Male)
Sooraj Pancholi - Hero

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

Critics' Choice Best Film Award
Piku

Critics' Choice Best Actor (Male)
Amitabh Bachchan - Piku

Critics' Choice Best Actor (Female)
Kangna Ranaut - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Lifetime Achievement Award
Moushumi Chatterjee

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male) 
Anil Kapoor - Dil Dhadakne Do

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female) 
Priyanka Chopra - Bajirao Mastani

Best Playback Singer (Male) 
Arijit Singh - Sooraj Dooba (Roy) 

Best Playback Singer (Female) 
Shreya Ghoshal - Deewani Mastani (Bajirao Mastani)

Best Story
Vijayendra Prasad - Bajrangi Bhaijaan

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

Best Lyrics
Irshad Kamil - 'Agar Tum Saath Ho' (Tamasha) 

Best Dialogue
Himanshu Sharma - Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Best Screenplay
Juhi Chaturvedi - Piku

Best Costume Design
Anuj Modi, Maxima Basu - Bajirao Mastani

Production Design
Sujit Sawant, Saloni Dhatrak, Sriram Iyenger - Bajirao Mastani

Best Sound Design
Shajith Koyeri - Talvar

Best Background Score
Anupam Roy - Piku

Best Cinematography
Manu Anand - Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Best Action
Sham Kaushal - Bajirao Mastani

Best Choreography
Pandit Birju Maharaj (Mohe Rang Do Laal) - Bajirao Mastani
Remo D'Souza (Pinga)- Bajirao Mastani

Best VFX
Prana Studio - Bombay Velvet

R.D. Burman Award
Armaan Malik

Review of Wazir

“Wazir” has been promoted as an action thriller but after watching it you will realize that it is actually an emotional story presented as a thriller. There is action, there is thrill, but the main story is actually about the emotional connection between two strangers who are going through similar pain and loss in their lives and this similarity bonds them as friends finally.

It is a story about two bereaved persons who have lost someone very close to their life, their

daughters. The first person is ATS officer Danish (Farhan Akhtar) who has lost his daughter in an encounter with a terrorist and later got suspended from his job for killing the same terrorist without the permission of his higher officials. He is very much grief stricken and considers himself as guilty for her daughter’s unfortunate death. Even his wife Ruhana (Aditi Rao Hydari) thinks the same and she has disconnected herself from Danish. The second person is Omkar Nath Dhar aka Panditji (Amitabh Bachhan) who teaches chess to little kids. He too has seen very bad phase in his life. He lost his legs and his wife in a car accident and few years later he lost his only daughter in a mysterious accident. He believes that his daughter was actually murdered by the welfare minister Yajad Qureishi (Manav Kaul). PanditJi wants justice for her daughter but as he is wheel chair bound so he has his own limits

Danish and Panditjee meet each other accidentally and got involved in each other’s life gradually. Their bonding became stronger over some chess matches and Danish finds

himself more engaged in Panditji’s fight against Querishi for justice as he could identify with the pain of Panditji. In the meantime enters a mysterious character Wazir(Neil Nitin Mukesh) who calls himself a representative of Qureishi and gives Panditji life threat for his protest against Qureishi. Now Danish finds a new aim in his life to search Wazir and to protect Panditji from him.

 Who is Wazir? Will Danish be able to chase him? Will he be able to save Panditji? That questions have been answered in the climax. In fact it has been elaborated quite well like they are telling the story to class five students but the sad thing is you can predict the answers well ahead of time.

The story is different but it has its own loopholes as a thriller. This is definitely not a smart

and fast paced thriller. But the screenplay has been written quite well by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijaat Joshi which is quite engaging. Although there is not much suspense still you will not get bored as you are not interested to reveal the truth rather you would like to get involved in the emotional journey of the characters. There are some really touchy moments whether it is the between the bonding between Danish and Panditji or the scenes between Danish and his wife Ruhana. In the chess sequences there is very smartly written dialogues which tries to make the connection between life and chess. The dialogues written by Abhijeet Deshpande and Gazal Dhaliwal are very well written specially the ones written for Mr. Bachhan.

As a director Bejoy Nambiar has handled more complex subjects earlier and his direction is very stylish. Here too we can see his signature style during the action sequences.  His direction is quite well and his presentation is engaging.

Among the actors both the leading men are the true gems of this film. The film totally rests on the broad shoulders of these two talented actors Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar.

Together they are wonderful. Amitabh Bachchan has very impressive personality and screen presence and it works really well for his character who is disabled but still on high spirit about life. He is too good in his emotional scenes, for example watch him in the scene when he tells about how he lost his family, it will make you moist eyed. On the other hand Farhan Akhtar has to play a challenging role which is one of his best of his career as an actor. He has played a father, a husband, a friend and in every role he suits very well. He has enacted very well sometime without saying a word especially in the scenes with his on screen wife.

Among the others it is Aditi Rao Hydari who has left impression in her brief role. She looks very pretty and acted very effectively. In most of her scene she has to enact through her eyes as she has very few dialogues. With Farhan she has superb chemistry. Manav Kaul is brilliant as the welfare minister with a secret from his past. He is one underutilized actor of Bollywood and deserves to be seen in more films.

Neil Nitin Mukesh and John Abraham are there in cameos. Both are quite okay. Neil is a bit over the top in his villainous act where John has underplayed his character very well. But it is really a mystery why John agreed to do this insignificant cameo.

The technical team has done a good. Cinematography by Sanu John Varughese is very

effective and suits the mood of the characters very well. As a thriller it’s editing done by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abijaat Joshi is very crisp. The action sequences are fast paced and stylish whether it is the shootouts in the beginning or the chase sequence between Danish and Wazir, all the action scenes have been designed wonderfully which provides the much required adrenaline rush.

There are too many songs considering the short running time but still it works quite well in the story. The songs, “Tere Bin”, “Maula” and “Atrangi Yaari” is good. Shantanu Moitra has composed very melodious songs.

Overall it is a thriller where the suspense is not that effective but the emotional connect is very strong. In spite of the loopholes in the story you won’t feel cheated at the end. Watch it for the superb performances by the two fantastic actors Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Akhtar.

Winners of 22nd Annual Star Screen Awards 2015

Best Film (Popular Choice)
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Film (Jury Choice)
Talvar

Best Director
Kabir Khan (Bajrangi Bhaijaan)

Best Actor
Ranveer Singh (Bajirao Mastani)
Amitabh Bachchan (Piku)

Best Actress
Deepika Padukone (Piku)

Best Actor (Popular Choice)
Shah Rukh Khan

Best Actress (Popular Choice)
Deepika Padukone (Piku, Tamasha)

Best Child Actor
Harshali Malhotra (Bajrangi Bhaijaan)

Best Supporting Actor
Deepak Dobriyal (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)

Best Supporting Actress
Priyanka Chopra (Bajirao Mastani)

Best Actor (Jury Choice)
Irrfan Khan (Talvar)

Best Actress (Jury Choice)
Kalki Keochilin (Margrita With A Straw)

Best Jodi
Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol

Best Music Album of the Year
Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros Anjjaan, Ankit Tiwari - (Roy)

Best Playback Singer (Male)
Papon - Moh Moh Ke Dhaage - (Dam Laga Ke Haisha)

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

Best Story
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Best Dialogue
Piku

Best Background Score
Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Lifetime Achievement Award
Rishi Kapoor

Best VFX
Bajirao Mastani

Bengali Movies to watch out in 2016

As 2016 has already started lets have a look at 10 Bengali movies to watch out in 2016.

Hindi Movies to watch out in 2016

As 2016 has already started lets have a look at some big Bollywood releases of 2016 on which we have high hopes.