Review of Cargo . . .

 Review of Cargo . . .

Making a debut film in that genre which is untouched by Indian film makers since years that is sci-fi is indeed a brave job.

Writer Director Arati Kadav made a sci-fi film Cargo which was internationally presented and appreciated in 2019 and finally they released it now for the audiences.

Produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Arati Kadav herself along with other producers and delivered sci-fi film for Indian cinema. It is one of those genre to which Indian film makers generally don't give thumbs up as it requires lot of advancement and risky too for Indian market.

Cargo is not a typical sci-fi space kinda film but it's more related to Hindu mythology which shows what happens after death? We get here answers like there is no heaven or hell. Just soul of human transits from one to another life with the help of Post Death Transitional Services earlier it was called according to Hindu mythology Yamaraja who takes the soul to above the earth and sends back to earth in new life.

Cargo is a term used by PDTS department whenever they send some dead person soul to Pushpak which is space where they transit the dead into new life.

Prahastha (Vikrant Massey) working in Pushpak since years and we see het gets one by one Cargo of dead human in different ways like accidents or heart attack kinda deaths and he is doing job of transition to new life by some techniques and according to Hindu mythology earlier it was done by Raksassha and here Prahastha resembles to that Raksassha. After so many years of living alone in Pushpak finally he gets his assistant Yuvishka (Shweta Tripathi) and then what happens next we see in this almost 2 hours film.

Production design is very nice as we have never seen before in any Bollywood film but to be honest it can not be compared to Hollywood in terms of technicalities as whatever we are seeing in 2020 they had already achieved it in 70s and in my opinion we might be able to match that level in next 50 years as nowadays OTT platforms are active and some unnoticed film makers are getting chance to come up with something extraordinary subjects. Just before few days i saw amazing mini series JL 50 and now Cargo that proves Indian cinema is not only limited to social drama or entertainer mainstream with having 5 typical songs undoubtedly that is first and should always be first priority for single screen theatres but some low budget yet creative films are also Indian film makers making nowadays.

Cargo is well executed i didn't get bore in this 2 hours space film but yes it does have slow pace and one must have patience to understand and relate this one. I'm so much thankful to producers who supported Arati Kadav Ji for creating unusual stuff which i have never seen before in Indian films.

Arati Kadav take a bow for making this i must say it's brave job and we the cinema fans must appreciate your efforts for this. All it takes is belief and ambition to touch several subjects.

Cargo is lifted by another plus point that is sincere performances by two lead cast one Vikrant Massey who gathered lot of love from web series and films and another talented and very sweet Shweta Tripathi.

Both of them have done excellent job here. The trailer was so intriguing for me and i was eagerly waiting for it to release as I'm fan of both these actors.

Another well casted actor who's third lead in the film is Nandu Madhav who is impressive and has got some very goo dialogues besides these two.

There are some special appearances too which I'm not going to reveal here but loved them equally.

Dialogue writing work is also very nice and there's one song which is thought provoking 

Finally i would like to say with the help of OTT platform nowadays Indian film makers are trying their hands into various kind of subjects and that's building great future of Indian cinema.

For this brave attempt by Arati Kadav which is streaming on Netflix now

My Ratings

3/5

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Mee Raqsam . . .

 Review of Mee Raqsam . . . 

Produced by Shabana Azmi Ji and Directed by his brother Baba Azmi Mee Raqsam is a story based on Father-Daughter relation set in Mijwan (District-Azamgarh, State - Uttar Pradesh). It's loosely based on the real life instance of Shabana ji and her father Kaifi Ji as he supported her to become an actress that time and Kaifi ji also belonged to Mijwan and it was his dream to shoot a film in that town which is finally fulfilled by his son.

Story of a teenager school girl Maryam (Aditi Subedi) in the very beginning we see she is loosing her mother and she's is the only one child of parents so live with his father who is by occupation tailor. played by Danish Husain.

Once her father notices her desire to learn the traditional and most worshiped dance form of India Bharatnatyam. He encourages her to take the classes as if she wants to learn it. As she joins classes to learn that dance form then the story picks up.

It's India a country of different cultures, religions, communities so people also have different views some have became understandable and accepted the change and breaking stereotype while still some are narrow minded who believe and follow whatever they heard from the old people of the community.

This story of Maryam starts to turn around when their relatives, neighbors and community people started to know that she goes to Bharatnatyam classes because they think that it doesn't belong to their religion. They are Muslims and being an orthodox they believe dancing women is Tawaif. It's their personal views not a view of whole community or all people.

Her father Salim is supporting her fully as he believes it's a traditional dance of India not particularly belongs to any community or not restricted to limited communities any one can learn and perform it.

Another supportive person is her dance class teacher Uma who's identifying her talent in very first meeting and she's so happily teaching her the dance.

Life of Father and Daughter is becoming more complex when their community people come to know about dance class and specially community leader Hasim Sheth (Nassiruddin Shah is opposing Salim and tries to convince him that it's not in the favor of religion. He encourages other community people to stop business with Salim and they take back the fabrics which were given to sweing earlier and also stopping him to enter in the Masjid for prayers that's the worst thing Salim is facing because of dance class of her Daughter bu still Salim is not taking a step behind as he believes "Art is beyond to any religion or gender".

Their relatives including Khala, Nani etc are not in their support and showing their anger and disagreement towards the decision taken by Salim.

Another opposing person is the organizer of dance academy played by Rakesh Chaturvedi Om who also believes this dance doesn't belong to their community and he is considering them not Indian by tagging them all the time. In India we all have these kind of people in each community who doesn't feel good when any person from another community or religion is doing some work which is not in the favor or their views.

Baba Azmi delivered a thought provoking film which is also a feel good cinema specially because of it has soul. Concept is regular we have seen many times where story of two communities and hero or heroine taking the stand against it but here it's the core story is 15 years old Maryam and her desire to learn art and the support she gets from his father. Thus it's a more Father Daughter story than a community.

Recently i have watched a film where Father was a hero that was Pareeksha and here too most impactful and effective character is Salim who is standing by her daughter's desire and goes against the whole community and other community no matter how much he has to face as he states in one dialogue that it's not like I'm against our leader Hasim Sheth but I'm with the truth and it's battle of truth and my daughter is learning dance which belongs to Indian culture and we are Indians.

There are some damn good dialogues my most favorite one is when that organizer's daughter(Shivangi Gautam) is also supporting Maryam and she tells her father what if she is momedian isn't she an Indian? That's the most powerful dialogue in whole film.

Several scenes are so well executed where Salim encouraging Maryam to join dance class, followed by Shraddha Kaul's scenes with Farrukh Jaffar at home, Auto Driver Ashfaq who is a fan of Salman Khan and his support to the Salim tailor is also very good portion, Naseer sahab's guest appearance also leaving an impact to the story, Uma teaching and supporting Maryam in dance is very nice moment, climax part where Maryam is performing is damn good sequence and my most fav frame from the whole film is at last when Salim is helping Maryam to getting ready at home.

Maryam is a heart of the film it's a debut film of Aditi Subedi but she has that ultimate talent of dance and expressions. She nailed it completely. It was so delightful experience for me to watch her performing the Bharatnatyam. I would love to see her more work in future.

Danish Husain OMG what simplistic yet strong role he played of Salim. He realises the situation of daughter who just lost her mother. He's standing by her side till the end. I loved his work in Tajmahal 1989 series and here also he nailed his role so appropriately. Whenever even he doesn't have the dialogues he shines on the screen too.

Other notable and appreciatable casting i would like to mention

Shraddha Kaul, Farrukh Jaffar & Juhain Ahsan also lending good support as cousin of Maryam and fits in her role perfectly and looks so natural.

On the whole it has a strong message on Art, community, religion, desire, truth, society but a must watch to witness the bonding between Father and Daughter.

Kudos to Danish Husain, Aditi Subedi, Baba Azmi, Shabana Azmi and entire team for creating a package which has soul.

My Ratings

3.8/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Khuda Haafiz . . .

 Review of Khuda Haafiz . . . 

Faruk Kabir who started his career in Bollywood as an assistant director in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and on this occasion of Independence Day his directed film Khuda Haafiz arrived starring Vidyut Jammwal in a lead role.

Now what to expect from Vidyut? Obviously it's out and out action flick. Jumping on walls or terraces or jumping from windows and some breathtakingly awesome stunts we all expect from his films as we have seen his image as commando one man army but here die hard action fans won't find it here or will find acrions in less quantity than his earlier films. Khuda Haafiz is a more thriller.

Story set in 2008 where recession hits the nation so badly and many people lost jobs. It's story of software engineer Sameer (Vidyut Jammwal) and getting arranged married to Nargis (Shivaleeka Oberoi). It's set in Lucknow and after marriage both of them loosing their jobs and to survive in that critical situation of recession they are consulting one recruitment agency which is outsourcing the people to Arab countries. Both of them getting job at Noman a fictional city which we see Uzbekistan in real. First Nargis is getting appointment letter before Sameer so she has to go there first to start the job then after few days Sameer shall get his appointment letter. Sameer didn't want to let her go alone but as situations were too bad because of recession they had to take this decision and next day when Sameer gets a call from Nargis and she says that she's in problem and then Sameer goes there to find her from this the story picks up.

It's a thriller where a common man Sameer is on a struggle to find his wife in unknown country without any clues. As he goes there he's facing such problems, he's getting clues, he's also fighting to the local goons of there etc we see in Khuda Haafiz.

From very beginning it's on right track and nowhere it's loosing it grip. It has song when they're getting married but not a waste of time like other masala films. It's length is ok for me aa it didn't bore me for any scene.

It has some good supporting casting too. Anu Kapoor who's playing local taxi driver there in Noman who's helping Sameer in finding his wife.

Shiv Pandit is playing cop along with Aahna Kumra as colleague.

Nawab Shah is also there with deadly look.

Story is regular but still screenplay is so engaging as they more focused on presentation of it.

Execution by Faruk Kabir is top notch for this story. He made it simply solid one. Nothing that lacks efforts such as Vidyut's acting also other actors' acting, camera work, action sequences, thrills, emotions and most importantly spotlighting two dark facts one is recession and another women's illegal businesses.

Faruk Kabir succeed in covering such aspects mentioned above in well manner that makes a film decent watch.

Some scenes of the film which i loved are:

- Vidyut and Shivaleeka's bus stand scene when Vidyut is getting angry because she cries.

-Vidyut'sinteractionwith Indian ambassy official and requesting to help with such emotions that won my heart to see that fear on common man's face.

- Vidyut is fighting with the group of people in very less space that's the best executed scene of the film, came work is superb there also actions are damn good.

- Aahna Kumra's fight sequences.

- Climax Action scene is very well crafted and looks like Hollywood action sequence.

So here in terms of acting Vidyut gas got more scope and for action he has less here and he satisfactorily does his job with justice to his role Sameer as he also gets hurt and bleed because he's not a fighter or an army person here but he's common man and that's i liked about his role.

Faruk Kabir's Khuda Haafiz is a decent watch for me and I'm sure those who like thrillers will definitely like this one simply made film.

My Ratings for Vidyut's efforts in both actions and acting

3.2/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Raat Akeli Hai . . .

 Review of Raat Akeli Hai . . . 

In Bollywood we have very less films of murder mysteries genre nowadays web series coming, some south Indian films are also there and some hindi also made earlier like Drishyam, The Body etc but still i feel Hindi films are less in the genre compared to Hollywood as they are making some damn good movies on WHODUNIT? kinda stories.

Honey Trehan's debut film murder mystery Raat Akeli Hai set in Uttar Pradesh Kanpur where in one family the head is murdered named Thakur Raghubeer Singh (Khalid Tyabji) who was going to marry his mistress Radha (Radhika Apte) who is less than half of his age. 

His family members are main suspect as on wedding night they are the ones who all are available there in the house when murder happened.In family there's Son, Daughter, Son In-Law, Nephew, Niece, Wife's Brother also a maid girl and of course his new second wife etc now the question is who done it? What was the purpose behind the murder?

To solve this mystery one cop is taking charge named Jatli Yadav (Nawazzuddin Siddiqui) earlier Jatin but somehow his name is changed to Jatil means a tough in Hindi language.

Jatil Yadav is a bachelor and almost crossed the age of marriage but still his mother (Ila Arun) is keep finding a girl for him that's the only her wish to see his son married and settled. Jatil shows disinterest in marriage but his mother thinks that when he wear a cop uniform and goggles he's looking like Ajay Devgn as his color tone is also little dark but doesn't look less than Hero.

Few weeks back I watched one web series on Voot channel The Raikar's Case which is also a WHODUNIT? murder mystery i liked it too.

This screenplay is penned by Smita Singh which is interesting, intriguing and entertaining too. In the first half as investigation starts it's fast paced till interval and also after interval first portion is fast paced but last 30-40 minutes in my opinion is little slow as comparatively earlier portions. Still there are no scenes where i lost the interest.

Writing is so engaging and resemblance is such things makes it more classy. Specially three characters written so well Nawaz, Radhika and Chunni (Riya Shukla) who's playing Maid of the Thakur family. Chunni's father was a driver of the family and almost five years back he and first wife of Thakur Singh both were died in card accident hit by truck. During this investigation Jatil found that case is linked too and then there's one more murder happens as it's little suspense so can't write more about it here. But chunni's character plays very pivotal role here.

Radha excellently played by one of the finest actress of recent times Radhika Apte who's Baazaru Aurat here and Thakur was going to marry him but none of the family members like her as they feel she's ruining the reputation of the family in society.

Radha has also connection with Jatil in past. When he's coming to interrogation he recognized it.

Jatil Yadav is another brilliantly written and well enacted character by Nawaz Sahab. He reminds me of his earlier Cop's role Majmudar from Raees which was fantastic performance and yes like always this time too he's nailed it completely. I feel for this role he didn't goes over or lower not for a single moment. Whether his scenes with mother in house or interrogation with family members or talks with senior (Tigmanshu Dhulia) or interactions with political face (Aditya Shrivastav) who's also connected to this family each scene from beginning to end he shines as rough and tough cop aided by another cop (Shreedhar Dubey) does an impressive job.

Other actors from the family members also done very good job specially Shweta Tripathi she has less to do but she steals the show in her scene and specially mention Shivani Raghuvanshi is another brilliant performer in the film.

What we expect from murder mystery? An engaging screenplay? Great performers? Intriguing background score? Besides having all these things another USP of the film is it's cinematography done by Pankaj Kumar. What fantastic camera work whether it's indoor or outdoor each shot taken so perfectly adding cherry on the cake.

Art Design is also very fine. Color combination somewhere dark and somewhere yellowish obviously when there's UP and Cop scenes they have to make it yellowish don't know why but it's trend since years whether its Dabangg or any RGV films hahahaha.

Several long lasting impactful sequences such as Jatil's mother's emotional touching scene as she remembers his husband, Jatil meets Radhaika, Jatil interrogates family members, Jatil is having meal with colleague at restaurant, Aditya Shrivastav scenes with Jatil, Shweta Tripathi's scenes etc are so perfect for neo noir drama.

Story is simple like all murder mysteries but i can say technically it's extraordinary film. It's great experience that some film makers are making this kind of cinema in Hindi film industry so some how we can achieve that level of cinematic treasure in future.

Kudos to Honey Trehan and team Raat Akeli Hai for delivering very interesting film in WHODUNIT? genre.

It's available on Netflix OTT platform.

My Ratings

3.5/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Lootcase . . .

 Review of Lootcase . . . 

From 90s to 2010 or somewhere between these approx 20 years before a decade from now many comedy films came such gems like Andaz Apna Apna or Govinda's films in 90s then later post 2000 Akshay Kumar did back to back comedy films like Hera Pheri which are remarkable forever for Bollywood.

Film maker like Priyadarshan also used to make back to back comedy films before a decade but nowadays these kind of natural out and out comedy films are missing or rarely comes. In recent times in the name of comedy they delivered sexual content or abusive words for OTT release as there is no censorship's interfere.

After such long time one out and out clean decent comedy film came which is indeed natural comedy and perfect family entertainer Lootcase which is co-written and directed by Rajesh Krishnan.

It's not comparable to gems which i mentioned above but still a satisfactory film in that comedy genre.

Lootcase as title resembles it's a story of one suitcase filled with 2000s Indian currency notes found on road by Nandan a middle class man working in paper printing press and living with his wife and son.

In the beginning of the film when he comes out of public toilet at late night and find a suitcase and asks "Last Time Puchh Raha Hun Kiska Suitcase Hai Yeh?" but actually there are nobody so he takes this suitcase with him and from here the story of that suitcase begins later he names it Anand Petikar as he brings joy initially into his life.

Here story is as simple like we have seen several times specially in Priyadarshan's films where all the characters of the story are running behind money and eventually happy endings so public can bring the good laughter memories with them.

Here i will rather prefer to write more about characters than a storyline

Nandan (Kunal Kemmu) is a middle class man who's earning and manages to run his house but still that salary is not enough for having Chinese with family in restaurants and taking his son to water park and for that kind of living he needs some extra income so they can live happily. Happiness comes in his life as he gets that suitcase but he hides it to empty neighbor house and doesn't tell to his wife as his wife believes it's Kaala Dhan after all so it won't bring happiness to them.

He's buying of all the things he wanted to buy earlier such as Oven kinds stuffs. This is one side story of that suitcase as there are lot more characters involved behind that suitcase.

Lata (Rashika Duggal) plays wife of Nandan who complains all the time about less earnings of Nandan and he need to work some extra to get some extra so they can spend some extra for them and for their son.

Corrupt minister played by (Gajraj Rao) whom this suitcase actually belongs to which is his consignment to send someone but somehow their goons leaves on road that night and runs away.

Gajraj Rao is manipulative way to convince people to do his work is the most funny part of his character and he keeps funny smile on his face to fullest till the end

Another character is Bala a gangster played by Vijay Raaz who's also involved somehow to that suitcase as there's one important secret file too. Bala is big fan of National Geographic and also keeps telling his other goons to take the subscription of Nat Geo.

His scientific names of animals and metaphorical references to humans is funny moment of the films and proves excellent writing.

Corrupt minister hires illegally one corrupt cop Kolte played by very talented (Ranveer Shorey). He's also getting unofficially investigation in search of lost suitcase of minister with these top performers actors who're playing outstanding characters making the film a perfect comedy i can say in recent time which is enjoyable by family audiences.

Performance by Kunal Kemmu is OUTSTANDING here undoubtedly he's underrated actor of our industry. He has damn good comic timing and from very first scene he's totally into the character of middle class man.

Rasika Duggal needs no introduction as she's excellent in acting and here she lends very good support as Lata. She has some very good dialogues to deliver at right time like "Ghar Me Chini Kahtm Ho Gayi Hai".

Gajraj Rao is exceptionally brilliant as corrupt MLA and loved his role too. He is a truly natural actor.

Vijay Raaz what a brilliant performer all the time whether it's Run or Dhamal or Delhi Belly he definitely leaves a strong impact like no one else does. Here as Bala gangster his performance and dialogues delivery is damn too good.

Ranveer Shorey is also very talented actor we have in the industry and as a corrupt inspector here he nails it completely. He has some really good scenes where he shines and gives best to his role.

Child Actor Aryan Prajapati special mention has got some really good dialogues in least screen presence but with his 2-3 dialogues he steals the show.

Other supportive casting like Akash Dabhade also lends good support.

Music is ignorable here.

Screenplay is written by Kapil Sawant along with the director Rajesh Krishnan. It has length of 2h20m almost and writing a screenplay of a comedy films where story is simple but everything depends upon the screenplay and dialogues to make a film more engaging and it really needs trickiest writing skills to achieve that thing. From very beginning to end each scene is well written and directed. Films like this needs back to back engaging and entertaining scene as audiences shouldn't get a bored till the end. They excel in that. I watched it when released last week but today as I'm writing this my view i still remember each scene and dialogue of characters and that's the examples of perfect comedy film's writing.

Direction is so appropriate and never lost an interest in a single scene while watching it except one unnecessary song.

In the end i would like to mention some unforgettable dialogues from the films such as 

- Tu Kiska Aadmi Hai Bala Ka Ya Omar Ka? Main Lata Ka Aadmi Hu

- Meri Drawing Kharab Hai

- Lagta Hai Iski Drawing Bhi Kharab Hai

- Mai 2 Shabd Kahuga Next Question

- Mai Kuchh Nahi Boluga Ab Bas Log Galat Matlab Nikalte Hai

- Maine Apka Bag De Diya Aap Mera Bag Do Warna Lata Ghar Pe Chilayegi

- Papa I Know Ghar Me Paiso Ka Tension Hai Lekin Mera Water park Cancel Mat Karna

And there are lot of funny LOL moments dialogues in the film like this. Those who have seen will get it and those who haven't then go watch it as nowadays rarely this kind of comedy films coming. It could be new trend to make a SAAF SUTHRI comedy films with some really good actors. If it was released it in the theatres the definitely would have worked due to word of mouth. But sadly it is available directly on Disney Plus Hotstar OTT platform. 

If you like soft comedy entertainment to be enjoyed with family then it's must watch.

My Ratings

3.8/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Pareeksha : The Final Test . . .

 Review of Pareeksha : The Final Test . . . 

Prakash Jha is that film maker of India who is popular for political drama like Rajneeti, Apaharan, Gangajal etc but in my opinion i feel that he's the one who has something in his story which tells a soulful tale of any common man. Pareeksha is loosely based on true story of Bihar.

It's a mixture of education drama and sacrifices of Father to educate his child in better private school than government school. He believes that his son won't get success like others if he studies in government and his occupation is hand rickshaw puller who is riding rich families' children to their school which is private named sapphire school affiliated with CBSE. As we all know the difference of education between private schools and government schools in our country.

Bucchi (Adil Hussain) lives  in lower middle class colony and in same colony one old aged Muslim uncle lives he keeps saying he couldn't succeed as he studied in government school and didn't have enough sources to get educated in private school so eventually at this age too he's selling books to children.

After and seeing this kind of examples he has decided to make his son Bulbul (Shubham Jha) study in sapphire school where he's going to drop several students by his rickshaw.

At one point some how he gets some enough money for admission fees and he decides to admit his son in sapphire school so he can get more brighter than he's already. Bulbul is definitely an intelligent and topper in his school already but that's government school and getting rank in private school that too with CBSE that matters the most as Bucchi believes.

So how he manages to get his son admitted in sapphire and how far he goes to fulfill his unending expenses of private school the film is all about.

We all know besides fees there are lot of things in private school which is not affordable by any lower middle class family so it's sad fact of our education system that even bright students can't get chances to study in a decent school due to non availability of enough money.

Set in backdrop of education this has political sides too obviously Prakash Jha is a master in presentation of political drama.

Film starts with one desire of father for his son and then how far he goes and what he has to pay to fulfill the desire is the main intention of the story.

Bucchi has only one son and wife Radhika played by Priyanka Bose who is also doing labour's job in utensil factory.

Simple yet well intentioned story presented with honesty. Screenplay is soulful somewhere i found it so regular but still it has that touch of reality so i could digest it well.

Direction is superb as always by Prakash Jha. Loved many scenes such as from very beginning when Priyanka Bose is not well and having headache and his son is talking not to go for work today that's really emotional scene, followed by Bucchi's meeting with principal of sapphire, Bucchi's ferry scenes with rickshaw, Bucchi's going to arrange money in unethical way for his son's education, Bulbul's interview with school authorities etc but above from all these scenes what are show stealer and amazing scenes are of Sanjay Suri who's playing role of SP in the film.

One point in the story SP meets Bucchi and realizes his desires for his son and meets his son Bulbul and sees the spark in the bright son and decides to help him and his colony's children as they have hunger for study he himself decides to teach them after his official duty hours. He is SP but he studied in government school in his village and confesses to Bucchi that even from government school study a children can do better in a life as he's setting his own example.

One more scene of Sanjay Suri where some political leaders came to know that he's teaching to students in that colony he comes to him and offers him to give classes to their students too that scene is reminder of last year's Hrithik Roshan's big hit Super 30. In return he tells that slum's students having that hunger while others don't have that to succeed and that's why he's teaching them after duty hours.

India has some really good persons at good positions like this SP and i feel so proud when i see someone is doing something for children for education without selfishness that's greatness and humanity at it's best.

Sanjay Suri is damn good in playing that positive role. His character and himself both deserve salute.

Editing, Music, Cinematography, Casting etc good. A very well direction makes it worth watch for me.

Shubham Jha's debut is also very fine. He did good job as Bulbul.

Priyanka Bose is outstanding in her role of mother. She has done acting seems so realistic.

Adil Hussain is always a greatest treat for me and here too he has given an award winning performance as Bucchi. His dialogue delivery, emotional scenes, i could see that desire, hope, tension, care for his son on his face. Indeed an amazingly played role of a hand rickshaw puller.

Lastly Sanjay Suri as SP Kailash Anand excels in his part and his presence takes the screenplay to more superior level. He's very good actor and this role is so inspiring and would love to see him more in future.

Overall it's a decent watch for me and stood out as honest attempt in this genre by Prakash Jha and team. It's out on ZEE5 Premium platform.

For emotional and realistic parts

My Ratings 

3.3/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . .

Review of Bhonsle . . .

Review of Bhonsle . . .

I think two years ago i watched one dark and very disturbing film named Ajji which was directed by Devashish Makhija. It was amazing and unusual. Loved it. I became fan of his direction with that film. He made another dark and unusual story based film Bhonsle with one of my most favorite actor and most versatile actor Mr. Manoj Bajpayee. He won best actor award in film festival last year and now finally they released film for Indian audiences on OTT platform SonyLiv.

Story of retired constable Bhonsle a lead role played by Manoj Bajpayee set in Mumbai. We have seen many films of cops which are Mumbai based but this isn't a cop or crime kinda regular film. It's core subject is how migrants live and being treated in Mumbai city. The battle between Marathis and any other migrants (here specifically Biharis) who migrated in Mumbai and living in chawl.

In the beginning of the film we see one retired constable living alone in his house at chawl of Mumbai. Making meal for himself, washing clothes also doing all the work at home what a single person does when he has no family. Film is in slow pace so we have to keep patience to get involved with each detailing. In first half there are rarely dialogues or i can say less use of dialogues in screenplay. To be engaged with the screenplay there are two major reasons one is camera work and another is performance of lead.

From beginning to climax each and every shot was taken so masterfully. I was so amazed to see this level of top notch cinematography. I'm lying down and touching feet of Mr.Jigmet Wangchuk for excellent work as cinematographer. He also did cinematography in Devashish Makhija's Ajji film. That film too had superb camera work and with this one once again he proved his excellency.

For this kind of slow pace films what works is screenplay and what makes screenplay more live and pleasurable is shots taken. Here direction of photography works as an additional screenplay. Several brilliant takes i would like write down are Manoj Bajpayee's house scenes, Chawl scenes, Ganpathi Statue scenes, Tea, Pav, Lights, Cabs, Crowd specially when Bhonsle Kaka is in the crowd and slowly his character getting mixed up with the crowd and focus going away from him is the best shot taken and lastly most challenging scene would be climax for them I'm not going to reveal more about climax but yes there too camera work is superb.

Director Devashish Makhija did another splendid job. After Ajji which was dark and disturbing this one too is hard hitting for sure. Some scenes are breathtakingly awesome. Somewhere such inhuman activities by human they showed and made me so upset with the society. It's kind a contradiction to that so called United Nation. We have been witnessing since years that people in India still discriminate each other on the basis caste, region and most shameful thing is on the basis of religion too. Here it's regional battle between Marathis and Biharis.

Screenplay is very engaging but it's not everyone's cup of tea who expect some entertaining stuff. It's for those who prefer off beat cinema.

Those who aspire to become an actor, director, writer, cinematographer this is best gift for them. Devashish Makhija gives the best cinematic experience of this year. It was made and showed at films festivals in 2018 but they worldwide released in 2020.

Some fantastic performances such as Santosh Juvekar, Abhishek Banerjee, Virat Vaibhav and i loved the most is character of Sita played by Ipshita Chakraborty Singh who stole the show with her charming role and lovely brave performance.

Lastly I'm writing about the man this film belongs to yes he's none other than Mr. Manoj Bajpayee Sir. One of the finest actor of Indian cinema and specially I'm so so so lucky that he's in our generation so in future we can say our next generation that we belong to those era when we were watching immensely talented actors like Manoj Sir.

Mumbai ka King Bhikhu Mhatre to Shool ke honest cop, From Veer-Zara ke villain to Aligarh ke Gay Professor to Dacoit of Sonchiriya and recently won hearts as Family Man and so many many many unforgettable roles played by this versatile actor. To be honest i don't think anyone else could have played this role this much naturally. Perfect choice for Ganpath Bhonsle Kaka. He made me so emotional in some scenes where he's ill and there is no one besides him to take care of him. Here i broke so much while watching it. In juts 2 hours duration i lost myself in the world of Bhonsle Kaka. I felt like I wish i was there in the Chawl to help him and stand by him. Very emotionally written and played role. His facials expressions, he's coughing while delivering dialogues is mind blowing act.

Overall i enjoyed this film which left me to think more about it's core subject. 

Emotionally finest piece of cinema.

For awesome cinematography and versatile lead performance I think i should go with the ratings

4/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Gulabo Sitabo . . .

Review of Gulabo Sitabo . . .

One of the finest director of nowadays Shooji Sircar who delivered some remarkable hits like Vikcy Donor, Madras Cafe, Piku & October i loved most of his work previously and was very excited for Gulabo Sitabo.
Unfortunately due to this pandemic of COVID-19 theatres are closed temporarily and film makers aren't able to release films. Gulabo Sitabo couldn't released in theatres that's why makers decided to directly stream it on OTT platform. It's new revolution of cinema that films are directly releasing on such platforms which can be subscribed by audiences and can watch films anytime anywhere from their cellphones or laptops.
In India there are several OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Zee5 Premium etc and some more which are having good numbers of subscription.
Film makers can directly sell their films to them to broadcast on their channel and this is how films are reaching directly to the audiences.
From my point of view this is not the fair deal to release films on OTT directly without theatrical release. I agree that right now cinema halls aren't running but I'm talking about post pandemic scenario. I understand that not all film makers can hold the ready film and can wait for theatres to reopen therefore they have to face such financial problems so they released on OTT that's ok thing for small budget films but later no such big films should be directly released on OTT platform. First all big films must release in the theatres then only they should broadcast.
Because this revolution can harm theatre/cinema hall culture very badly and also that's sad truth that single screen cinemas are facing so much problems nowadays because of distribution channel issues or less mass films arriving.
After all Indian cinema is all about watching a film on 70mm screen size with your family and friends. Clapping and whistling is our culture. Going out for a film and dining out with family or friends is our culture and it must be retained forever in India.
OTT should be limited to web series and only for those films which aren't getting theatrical release. & I would like to mention that it's my thought some people might oppose it but to be clear it's my personal view.
Now talking about Gulabo Sitabo, Shooji Sircar is back with his simple yet sweet story telling.
A unique story of landlord and tenant set in Lucknow. Fatma Mahal one heritage house located in Lucknow which is owned by Begum (Farrukh Jaffar) a wife of Mirza (Amitabh Bachchan) and their tenant Bankey (Ayushmann Khurrana) and his family and some other families too staying in that "Haveli" since longer time and as per such Indian judiciary acts no landlord can ask them to leave the house or increase the rent. Simple yet unique story I don't remember any full film on this subject have ever came in Bollywood earlier.
This is not everyone's cup of tea if it was released in theatres then it wouldn't have done much business because it's not appealing to all. Definitely Big B fans would have loved it but still to run in the theatres a film need to have much engagement than this.
Juhi Chaturvedi who also wrote earlier for Shoojit Sircar has penned down the screenplay and dialogues of Gulabo Sitabo and it's lovely job. Humourous dialogues specially comic timing is very nice. Screenplay is slow pace but i liked it. It could have been little more engaging but yet satisfactory for me. Shooji-Juhi pair as Director-Writer is priceless. This time shined too but not much like previously.
Once Shoojit Sircar made Vicky Donor was unique subject later he directed Madras Cafe which is one of the best thriller of recent times with informative details. Piku is another different and unique subject based film and October too showed finest acting side of Varun Dhawan with lovely emotional screenplay.
When heard about Gulabo Sitabo only lead cast and director's name was enough for me to look forward for it. When trailer came I didn't like it much but still i trusted Shoojit Sircar that film is definitely going to be worth watch and yes it's definitely a good one watch and happy to see films are releasing during this pandemic. Last week Anurag Kashyap released his Choked on Netflix, also Chintu Ka Birthday released which was another sweet film and happy to see this one too after such long time. Yes for a filmy buff like me 2.5 months is really big time when no new releases.
In film beautiful city of Nawabs Lucknow captured marvelously by cinematographer Avik Mukhopadhyay. It's a historical city of our nation and capturing real beauty is challenging task for DOP but he did it superbly. The streets, Haveli, Doors, Windows, Government Offices each rawness on the screen makes it much artistic.
One track fits in the screenplay but still music could have been better.
Shoojit Sircar's direction is very engaging going with the flow and according to story more he invested on characters rather than masalas like actions or songs or melodrama.
It's satire set in present time but not like other web series or films of nowadays forcefully trying to put political references or dialogues that's i liked about it. From the beginning to end it's more focused on characters and every character of the film is selfish and having too much greed. So in simple words i can say that Gulabo Sitabo is about human greed.
I think the film has several reasons to keep you hooked on your bed (yes can't write on your seat here because in home no one is watching film by sitting straight like theatre everyone prefer lying on bed).
Besides excellent cinematography, direction and writing there's something above everything is performance of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. He's been in the industry from more than 50 years and at this age too he came up with a role like this is proof of his versatility. To be honest there was a time when he had to play roles like Police Inspector or Criminal that speaking dialogues which were appealing to mass audiences but in this inning of his career he preferred to play characters in films like Paa, Piku, Gulabo Sitabo etc where he's done challenging role play.
Here too as Mirza Nawab he shines and makes us so proud that we have hard working actor at this age in our film industry. Here his dialogue delivery in Lucknow accent is mind blowing, his walking style, his behavior as greedy person etc make his role so powerful and treat for us to watch.
Amit Ji has done once again extraordinary performance.
Ayushmann Khurrana is quite good and to he honest I didn't like his previous work like Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan kinda roles where he was doing over acting and here too his dialogue delivery is similar to those roles but still quite better than previous. He lends good support in the flow of story as tenant and his character too is greedy as he always tricks to avoid rent payment.
Besides leads there are some fantastic supporting characters too which are masterfully written by Juhi Chaturvedi.
One of the sisters of Ayushmann Khurrana is played by Srishti Srivastava as Guddo is terrific performance. Her dialogue delivery and acting both top notch. Would love to see her doing more work in future. Fresh performance and lends solid support to her scenes.
Farrukh Jafar as Begum is the most entertaining role here. She steals the show undoubtedly. Happy to watch her doing this role so perfectly.
Vijay Raaz is archeologist who's eyes are on the Haveli and he's also greedy & delivering another solid performance. We all love his comic timing.
Another character Christopher a lawyer played by very talented actor Brijendra Kala is one more powerful performance.
On the whole it has excellent performances, sharp dialogues writing, marvellous cinematography and direction and that's going with the flow of screenplay.
One needs to have patience to enjoying it. Somewhere it's bit slow pace but still for me it worked.
For unique story and top notch performance by Amit Ji I think it's good watch for cinephile people.
My Ratings
3.6/5.
--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Kaamyaab . . .

Review of Kaamyaab (Har Kisse Ke Hisse) . . .

Debutant Director Hardik Mehta who has also penned down the script is a tribute to those whom we have been watching since years in many films where that actor is sometimes car driver of villain, sometimes among the goons, sometimes hawaldar, sometimes servant of home, grocery shop owner, bar tender, Villian ka Khas Aadmi, Police Ka Khabri, Hero ke Father ka Dost, sometimes in very least than these such as dead body or a man who stands in crowd.
Story of Babulal Chandola urf Sudheer urf Shera played by legendary actor Sanjay Mishra whose first film is Heera Moti In Hongkong where he played the role of a man who stands behind the dead body. Sudheer has taken retirement from acting and now living alone in a flat in Mumbai as he didn't want to be burden for her daughter so he preferred to stay alone. One fine day one journalist of some media channel visiting his home for an interview for her channel. Sudheer was not much habitual of interviews like stars or other famous actors but she had done homework about Sudheer's career and between conversation she tells him that why he did not do his 500th film why he stopped at 499 why he didn't create a record? She handed over the file to Sudheer where she wrote down the names of all 499 films of him from IMDB. Even Sudheer was also not knowing about it because he never counted his films he only worked whole life. From this story of the film begins and Sudheer decides to do his 500th film as last film.
Kaamyaab film starts with several footage of old films where Sudheer played different roles of Daku, Servant, Police Inspector and his most famous character was Shera. With these initial scenes i lost myself in the world of Sudheer. From the beginning i involved myself so much with the film.
This film has lot of engaging and enjoyable scenes for me. As i am film lover so i love to watch films which are about films. It shows how the film industry works, how casting is happening, how each character gets his her roles, how film stars working on set, what film stars gets and what junior artist gets compensation, what's the competition in the industry etc shown very honestly and with bravery. This kind of films already i have seen such as Luck By Chance or i can say Om Shanti Om that also had this type of storyline where we can witness the inside space of film industry and to be honest this is the most well made film on this subject.
Amdavad Ma Famous a short film based on Kites Festival in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) which was directed by Hardik Mehta was also fantastic work and his first feature arrived Kaamyaab and one is already in making stage Rooh-Afza. I must say Hardik is a keen observer and seen and experienced the film industry very closely. The detailed screenplay and showing many things as it is toughest job but still he did it extraordinarily.
For me it's not just a film but a treat or i can say a sweet yet emotional ride in the film industry. I'm so much connected to many scenes from his first interview scene to climax really loved and enjoyed a lot.
Several sequences like footages of old films of Sudheer, followed by Sudheer is drinking in a bar with other junior actors which were real actors of hindi film industry we have seen all of them many times but we don't remember their names. One finest actor is also seen in bar scene who passed away last year Late Mr. Viju Khote a film is tribute to him and also to many those anonymous actors of Indian cinema.
Sudheer is meeting casting director (Deepka Dobriyal) where he tells him to find 500th role which can leave an impact as a last film of his career, then after getting the role whole shooting scene is brilliant. One Assistant Director who's doing his first film is showing scrapbook of his father having old various artists photographs where we can see Keshto Mukherjee and some more names. How Sudheer deals with his role playing in last film, Sudheer is also connected somehow with his neighbor, Sudheer's relations with his daughter and granddaughter, Sudheer meets with competitor Avtaar Gill who plays role of himself in film all these scenes leading to extremely most lovely scene the climax OMG what a climax. This is the best climax scene i have seen in recent time.
Screenplay written by Hardik Mehta is exceptionally brilliant. Loved it completely. As it's about film industry so people from the industry or die hard fans of cinema will definitely love it while people who are not connected to cinema they might find it little unusual.
Writing work of Kaamyaab deserves great applause very sharp and realistic and insightful writing. Best trademark dialogue of Shera a character played by Sudheer is "Enjoying Life Aur Option Hi Kya Hai" is amazing. In reality also many characters of Sholay or other films are known for their just one liner dialogues.
One of the friends of Sudheer advices him to complete 500 films as he has full chance to get roles because Om Puri Ki Jagah Khali Hai, Naseer Sahab plays kar rahe hai, Paresh Rawal Politics me hai aur Anupam Khair Twitter me lage hue hai this is another proof of Kickass writing. Resemblance of some real actors film makers also makes it more realistic and leaves impact. This kind of writing only comes when either you have experience of years in the industry or you must be sharp observer of what's happening around you in the film industry. Hardik Mehta did this fabulous job as writer of the film.
Now coming to the execution as i have already mentioned above i love many scenes of the film and must say he's succeed in showing the real film industry. Top notch direction makes it more interesting watchable film. Kudos to Hardik Mehta as Director he justified with his job. Sudheer's confession in the first interview that side actors like is used to call Aloo (Potatoes) as we could fit everywhere. IMDB list 499 and 500th film is yet to do, Sudheer's bonding with casting director Deepak Dobriyal whoes company's logo is "No Couch Only Casting". Gulati became a casting director and left acting career because Steve Bucknor left batting and did umpiring so that no batsman would be treated unfairly. When at home Sudheer is discussing with Isha Talwar about song Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaaye is adapted from English version. His drunk scene where he's seen screaming at billboard in the rain.
All these kind of detailed making proves that Hardik is most promising director of Bollywood. Hatz off for presenting this story in modern content driven style with one of the finest production house of content driven cinema right now of Manish Mundra Sir is Drishyam Films.
Lead role of Sudheer or Shera or Babulal Chandola played by Sanjay Mishra who steals the show. To make this film a masterpiece credit goes to this man too. I really don't think that anyone else could have played this role better than him. A truly versatile actor I'm glad that we are seeing him in our time today. Every year he's doing such numbers of films where sometimes he's appearing as comedian actor or sometimes he's the lead actor of the film. All the time no matter what small role or lengthy role he gives his best and makes us proud of him.
From Dhondu Just Chill kinda comic roles in All The Best to Aankhon Dekhi or Masaan or Kadvi Hawa kinda other films where he played lead role every time he proved himself and post Aankho Dekhi i can say this one is another top class performance of Sanjay Mishra. He really deserves an award for this one. Question is will he be nominated for this? I doubt it.
OUTSTANDING performance of the year is this one.
I'm very much thankful to Hardik Mehta and Drishyam team for choosing appropriate actor for this honest story. A perfect casting done.
Rest casting is also nice. Sarika Singh also impressive, Isha Talwar looks beautifully cute, other character actors also did good job.
Overall in first three months of 2020 for me the best film is Kaamyaab and personally i will stay with me for longer time as I'm so much connected to the film.
Hatz off Hardik Sir, Sanjay Sir Manish Sir and Drishyam team for delivering a masterpiece.
Last but not least i am so happy that Mr. Shah Rukh Khan who has became a superstar from just an actor is supporting this film with his company Red Chillies. It's Kaamyaabi(victory) in itself for the Kaamyaab. Love you SRK.
My Ratings
4.5/5.
--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Operation Parindey . . . (ZEE5 Premium Film)

Review of Operation Parindey . . . (ZEE5 Premium Film)

Dhoom fame director is back after years as a director on digital platform where he made one cop terrorist crime drama film which is based on true event happened in India of Jailbreak.

Operation Parindey is a story of Monty Singh (Rahul Dev) terrorism activist who's in the jail but still handling the operations of terror activities with the help of other jail people and also police officials involved in that and all of them praise him and call him Babaji. One day with pre planning he escaping from the jail in very filmy way.

Abhinav Mathur (Amit Sadh) called on duty from special task force to catch Monty Singh. He with his team making plans, taking evidence and running to catch him before he leave the Delhi.

It's has been seen that films which are getting released in theatres are having 2 to 3 hours duration while using same kind of pattern film makers make the films for Digi platform having the same length of approx 2 hours. I am here talking about the films which are releasing on digital platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Zee5, Hotstar etc not about the series which are of some episodes.

To break this pattern is tough and risky job but Sanjay Gadhvi and the production team of Operation Parindey did it. Actually nowadays people don't prefer to watch 3 hours long duration films specially when it's small film or it has poor editing people get bored of it but if film makers are smart enough to tell the stories in less than 2 hours or less than 1 and half hours then it works as beneficial for them. Operation Parindey is having length of only 55 minutes including initial and ending credits and i was amazed how brilliant Sanjay Gadhvi Sir handled to execute this story in minimum time than regular films rather wasting times in songs or other masalas.

In the very first 10 minutes we are informed about the characters so well and later rest time what happens in the story of jailbreak and cop chasing him we can see ahead.

Here keeping the short length i think it's plus point of the film. There are nowadays lot of crimes drama films coming some fictional and some based on true events, some are getting theatrical release while some of them are getting released on the digital platform so people become choosy to watch all the films until they read good reviews but keeping short length will definitely make people excited to watch it as they will not have to spend more time.

If film's screenplay is engaging, director is confident, editor is sharp in his job then in minimum time less than and hour story can be told as a feature film. What happened in the case of Operation Parindey. In just 55 minutes they have covered and told the story very simplistic way and all the things were kept it so simple whether it's writing or direction etc kept me so engaged till the end. It has obviously some twists but they let it revealed in simple way than adding extra masalas. So here i must say they succeed in keeping the short length of the film than usual.

Direction is so nice i must say making it simple yet so powerful that deserves appreciation. Good job Sanjay Gadhvi Sir.

I loved Rahul Dev earlier in his many films specially in villain roles. He nails negative roles all the time and this time too as a Monty Singh he's terrifying.

 It's always great to watch them who are not seen nowadays in films but coming back with digital platforms. I wish he may work more as he's immensely talented.

Amit Sadh OMG what a perfect choice for the role of Abhinav Mathur. Very appropriate person. Loved him in Sultan and other films he did and here too he nailed the role of cop. Looking forward for his choices of roles. He's also very talented if he uses it in better roles or films like this.

Other casting is also good Rucha Inamdar leaves impact in her short role and one name i must mention here Akash Dahiya is also very fine actor we have in our film industry. His talented should be used more. He performed effortlessly for this.

On the whole i liked the performances, direction, simple presentation in just 55 minutes of length and informed more about the incident that took place in our country.

Those who're going to catch it Don't miss to read last information slides of true story & yes as it has released on digital platform it's uncensored form therefore it has use of bad words so recommended only for adults.

My Ratings

3.5/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Thappad . . .

Review of Thappad . . .

From Tum Bin or Dus to Mulk and Article 15 and now Thappad director Anubhav Sinha doing more and more realistic films which can be considered as films which are showing mirror to the society. Anubhav Sinha knows how to deal with the social films in very decent way. He made Mulk which was mind blowing film then last year he came up with another sensitive film Article 15 starring Ayushmann Khurrana which also successful as well as critically acclaimed film. Once again he's here to tell one more sensitive story to the people. Yes as title suggests Thappad is a social dramatic film to be more clear if you think it's based on domestic violence they addressed in the film also Thappad is not about domestic violence but a respect of a women specially being a wife.
Story of upper middle class couple Vikram played by debutant Palvail Gulati & Amrita played by Taapsee Pannu. They are happily married couple in the starting of the film we can see how dutifully she housewife she plays who is making green tea, serving breakfast to her husband even when he's in hurry to office she runs behind her till the car to make him eat the breakfast, they're wishing good morning to neighbor, she is watering plants etc etc are going well in their lives until one party where unknowingly or unconsciously Vikram slaps Amrita in presence of all in the middle of party.
Film changes track from here and after thinking sometime this tragedy leads her to file a divorce. She takes the help of lawyer ( Maya Sarao ) she talks to her parents ( Kumud Mishra & Ratna Pathak Shah) she talks to his mother (Mother in law of Amrita played by Tanvi Azmi) she talks to neighbor cum friend who's widow and single mother of daughter played by (Dia Mirza) and eventually she reaches to file the divorce not because he's beaten by Vikram or her in laws or anything else happened in their happily married life but just one slap she decided from the core of the heart to separate for self respect which she lost with this unfortunately tragic thing.
Amrita confesses to her lawyer that she feels that she has again reached at that stage of life where she was during the college time and all she wanted was respect nothing else and after years she realizes that people don't respect her specially her husband slaps her and she loses her respect being a life partner she thought she loves him but due to this she started to hate him.
Mother of Amrita tells that women should forget and move on, mother in law of Amrita tells the same she should let it go and it happens in every couple's life. Even a lawyer also advising her not to go for it for just a one slap but her father is taking her side when at her home she she asks her father papa am i doing right thing or not? The he replies are doing for just an ego or JIDD or voice you're hearing is the voice coming from the deepest part of heart? If you're feeling to stay separate from the heart then it must be right thing you're doing. This scene and many other scenes where dialogues writing are extremely tight and very very sharp. Superb realistic writing which makes the film much better hatz of to Mrunmayee Lagoo and Anubhav Sinha himself also co wrote the film. Writing work questions our deep rooted thoughts of male oriented society.
At some stage i felt that she's stretching the matter too far and at the same time i can't be disagree or deny the fact that she is doing wrong. I personally believe that women must be respected at every where in any form whether she is your wife, mother, sister, friend, colleague or nothing she must be respected at any cost. No one has right to disrespect women.
This film has many scenes which can be discussed separately where we feel that either filling a divorce is the right thing she does or not. Vikram her husband also not shown here in negative character but he also tries to save their happily married life he doesn't want to get divorced from Amrita when Amrita tells that she wants to go at maternal home then he stops her, later he goes to her house to bring her back to his house but unfortunately it doesn't work in his favor as Amrita has decided to stay separate from the person who doesn't respect her.
All these things make us think twice that is Amrita right or wrong? If she is right then whatever is happening in the society where women are disrespected inspite of it they forget it and continue their married life in patriarchy society. At the end we have one question and one thought on respecting a women.
Director Anubhav Sinha shines and hits the right chords with back to back sensitive films and proves himself master of bringing out the real human emotions whether it was Rishi Kapoor or Manoj Pahwa of Mulk, Ayushmann Khurrana of Article 15 or Taapsee Pannu of Thappad he successfully took the best out of them. This one is quite lengthy film i felt don't know due to subject i thought it's stretched or it was little slow but yes it could have been little short than it's original length.
Screenplay is engaging while dialogue writing as i mentioned above TAKE A BOW writers.
Main USP of the film is performances. This is the most ensemble cast what we call. Lead actress gets brilliant supporting cast specially her parents.
Tanvi Azmi plays role of Vikram's mother i.e. mother in law of Amrita and what a great support she lends to Amrita's character. She is not a villainous SAAS we can imagine but she advising her and him equally and respects Amrita.
Ratna Pathak Shah is another finest performer in the film. She has less dialogues but whatever she has to speak she nailed it completely. She is so natural actress. It was pleasurable thing to watch him in a scene where she doesn't have any dialogues but with just eyes or body language she does OUTSTANDING job. Her conversation with Amrita and her husband Kumud Mishra is most likable scenes for me from the film.
Kumud Mishra father of Amrita played brilliant role once again. He was superb in Article 15 and also loved him in many films and again he's in full form here. I must say he should get an award for the best supporting role category. What a simple yet brilliant role he played. He also lends indeed good support to her daughter honestly and i must say role of Kumud Mishra is one which i loved the most among others in the film.
Palvail Gulati makes his debut with this one and what a fantastic act he did as a husband. He effortlessly does his job well. Specially i mention here one scene where he brings out each item from their bedroom and showing to Taapsee it's her thing in that scene he proved himself as a good actor. Best wishes to him for future in Bollywood.
Manav Kaul has less to do but he did good job. Dia Mirza is also played her role with an ease. She's very nice as single mother.
Ram Kapoor also has nothing much to do but quite satisfactory performance.
Maya Sarao is the one who is stealing the show besides Kumud Mishra this one is the my second favorite role. She plays role of lawyer of Amrita and we can also see her side story in the film. What goes on in her life is shown here how successful but unfortunate at the same time and what makes her to take much interest in case of Amrita etc is shown brilliantly and also she nailed her role of lawyer completely. When she argues with Ram Kapoor, when first time she meets with Amrita, her intimate scene with Manav Kaul and so many more where she made me fall in love with her performance. Kudos.
Lastly the lead who delivers her best performance till date. Yes i must say Taapsee did so many great roles before but this one is undoubtedly best of her at least for me. She is indeed so natural and simply versatile here. She looks beautiful, she talks genuinely, she breaks down, she argues, she stays silent, she is doing her normal routine housewife job etc she took the role of Amrita to next level. It would have been hard for other actress to play this role with this much simplicity. Lots of love and respect for her. Here i would like to write i respect Amrita as well as Taapsee both the women made me more clear and confident about the women rights. Salute to such talent.
Overall for writing work and performances i loved the film and i must say all man should watch this film along with ladies whoever in his life in any form they should watch it together.
My Ratings
3.6/5.
--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of The Body (2019) . . .

Review of The Body (2019) . . .

Jeethu Joseph who made Drishyam a brilliant thriller in Malyalam which later got remade in other languages Tamil and Hindi. Papanasam(Tamil) starring Kamal Haasan & Drishyam(Hindi) starring Ajay Devgn. All versions of Drishyam were very well made and loved by people. This Director once again came up with another murder mystery thriller which is officially adaption of Spanish film by the same name The Body.
I'm big fan of thriller films and sometimes i wonder why Hindi film industry people don't make such unusual murder mysteries like Hollywood or any other film industry. In 2019 Badla came starring Amitabh Bachchan & Tapsee Pannu which was also remake of Spanish film but Bollywood produces more than 100 films in a year and ratio of crime suspense thriller is very low and even nowadays some good web series are coming in this genre and people loving it and Hollywood also producing many film of this genre successfully since years then why Bollywood is behind in the race?
Well film makers more interested in money games than providing content cinema or scared of experiments.
Jeethu Joseph who made several regional films The Body is his debut film in Hindi. Yes Dirshyam was originally written by him and he directed other two versions Tamil & Malyalam while Hindi Drishyam was directed by Nishikant Kamat so as a director this one is his first hindi film.
I have not seen the original Spanish film The Body so not able to compare but gonna write about what I liked about this hindi adaption.
Story of Ajay Puri (Emraan Hashmi) whose wife is dead and body kept in morgue and same night The Body disappears. One Cop (Rishi Kapoor) is taking the charge of investigation of this body of powerful businesswoman (Shobhita Dhulipala) whom Emraan Hashmi married for wealth only and he is already started to be in touch with another girl played by (Vedhika) and they plan a mysterious murder of his wife to acquire all the properties post natural death. Emraan giving her dose of one medicine along with vine which causes heart attack post 8 hours of consumption.
80% of the story set in hospital in just one night where Rishi Kapoor is investigating the case with his officers and kept Emraan Hashmi there as a suspect. Rishi Ji feels that he has murdered his wife. Actually it's not the suspense for us we the audiences know it he killed his wife but police doesn't know it and also they and we have one more suspense that where's the body has gone? Who has taken away The Body from morgue and most importantly why?
In the initial scenes i felt that it's a horror film while later i got to know it's not a horror but murder mystery then again i thought it's gonna be a superficial thriller but then later got to know it's something another genre so this is how from beginning to end it kept me hooked but yes in this kind of engaging thriller film unfortunately there were 4 songs which i had to let go for better focus and even none of them were necessary for the script. Thank God Jhalak Dikh La Ja was missing and made for promotional part only.
Screenplay is engaging enough as it is not very lengthy film. Many scenes are in the hospital in just one night. Interrogation scene of Rishi Ji with Emraan is finest scene from the film, interval block, climax etc i found quite interesting. As per storyline it should have been pure murder mystery but still we can't deny the fact that our Bollywood film makers can't make a film without adding masalas or glamour unnecessarily. It has songs and unnecessarily romance of Emmy with two girls which could have been avoided if they wanted to but it happened in history of Bollywood it's happening and i think it will keep happening like this whenever they are going to adopt any film from any industry.
Direction is fine here not as much great like Drishyam. I wonder he's the one who made the Drishyam so he could have definitely made it more tighter than it is. Some scenes are well made while overall execution is fine cinematography is also very nice in hospital scenes.
Background Music by Clinton Cerejo is quite ok but this kind of thriller requires Kickass background score. Editing job done nicely.
Performance by Shobhita Dhulipala is very nice but she did better work earlier so here nothing new for her but she plays her part so well.
Vedhika looks glamorous and does her part with an ease. She's looking very cute in several scenes.
I must mention Rukhsar Rehman has very less to do here but if more space was given to her then she would have definitely done it confidently. She's damn good actress and would love to see her doing Kickass roles in future.
Emraan Hashmi excellent as always in thriller roles. His image is serial kissser but for me he's damn brilliant actor. I just love him a lot. We have seen him doing outstanding roles earlier so here again he did his job very well.
Lastly Rishi Kapoor Ji reminded me of his role of cop from Aurangzeb film. What a great performer he is specially in his second inning. Be it Agneepath or Aurangzeb or Do Dooni Char he shines and lives his roles with full confidence. What a dialogue delivery. So much respect for him.
Overall it's a quiet nice engaging murder mystery not a great one as it has no logical points and some loopholes but eventually we will say cinema hai to thodi bahot liberty chalti hai. But i really wish Bollywood should make some more films in this genre.
My Ratings
3.2/5.
--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Love Aaj Kal (2020) . . .

Review of Love Aaj Kal (2020) . . .

At various stages of life we become so indecisive specially when it's about career or love life. It happens with almost everyone at least once in a life particularly in young age. Such situations like when you're in true love with someone you'll feel sometimes that person doesn't love you like the level like you love her/him. In a relationship where you'll feel is this the true love with whom I'm going to spend the rest of my life or may be i have hurried in choosing life partner so earlier or sometimes we may feel that career is more important than love or relationship. We feel relationship can take place after successful career but at the same time we may feel we can compromise the career for true love after all nothing is more precious than love in this world. All of us must have gone through or must be going through all these complexity in life. Then Realization stage comes either we regret for the decisions we have taken in the past or we feel happy for those decisions. 

There are some film makers in Bollywood who present this kind of complex stories of confused protagonists. Imtiaz Ali Sir is one of my most favorite film maker i have learned a lot from his films. In 2009 he made a film Love Aaj Kal with Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone as lead roles which was super successful film and music too. He again made a film with same title Love Aaj Kal version 2.0 or (2020). It's not a remake of first one but plot is similar to that such as this film is also running two parallel stories together one is present where Zoey (Sara Ali Khan) and Veer (Kartik Aaryan) playing lead roles while another one in late 80s where Leena character played by new comer (Aarushi Sharma) & Raghu is being played by (Kartik Aaryan).

Like how Rishi Kapoor Ji narrated his story to Saif in Love Aaj Kal (2009) similarly here Randeep Hooda is narrating his story to Sara Ali Khan but in the past we see young character of Randeep Hooda is being played by Kartik Aaryan. Ratio of two stories are 60-40 we see more present and less past it's not like one particular part of the film belongs to past but from starting to end we see present past scenes simultaneously.

Sara Ali Khan is playing the most confused character among the others from two stories. She's is career oriented sometimes while sometimes she says I'm in love with you and will sacrifice my career for you, she is modern girl who argues with her mother on career & relationship, who keeps the button of her shirt open during an interview to look more confident, she doesn't like to fall in love before becoming successfully financial independent. This is what we see in the character of Zoey while Kartik Aaryan of present is also little confused but more old school kinda thought he carries inspite of being a software engineer. He thinks that he can have sex with anyone but Sara is special girl for him but Sara doesn't feel anything for him special until she listens love story of Randeep Hooda. 

In past story character of Kartik Aaryan is in love with Aarushi Sharma who is also in love with Kartik Aaryan but when they meet character of Aarushi we see is quite forward as compared to that era of 80s which is not digestible. Well Imtiaz Ali Sir wrote the screenplay of the film where we see or feel mixture of Tamasha and Love Aaj Kal (2009) here storyline is similar to Love Aaj Kal while characterization reminded me of Tamasha.

Tamasha was not an appealing film to all mass or family audiences but it was loved class multiplexes audiences and specially loved by fans of Ranbir Kapoor and Imtiaz Sir. Film lovers also loved the film Tamasha but as it wasn't masala film like Jab We Met general audiences didn't welcome it with the heart. Imtiaz Sir made Jab Harry Met Sejal which also got negative reviews because Imtiaz Sir set high benchmarks with Rockstar, Jab We Met, Love Aaj Kal kinda films and SRK is also having damn more talent than we see in JHMS so i personally also didn't like the film much. If role of SRK played by any other actor then impact would have been something else.

This second version of Love Aaj Kal is also a film which is likable by very little targeted audiences of youths or class of multiplex to be clear not likable by many youths like Kabir Singh but very small targeted youths may find it appealing to them while rest mass audiences or family audiences will be bored because of screenplay. I watched on Valentine's Day and honestly some couples in ahead row talked to each other it was better to be at home than being here. Reason is very confusing screenplay.

Imtiaz Ali has directed 7-8 films so we can't say it's not technically well handled film but yes narration of the film is confusing so we can not connect with these two stories. For general audiences it lacks masalas or something which can make them feel entertained.

My view on it is i liked it. Not as good as Imtiaz Ali's previous films but yes undoubtedly it's not a bad film for me at least.

Big fan of work of Imtiaz Ali Sir and i got what i had expectations from the film. I liked his many films but from this i had no expectations like Rockstar or Tamasha or Jab We Met so no point to get disappointed with it. Although star cast announcement was  also not impressive for me because i liked Kartik little in his earlier films but not loved like i loved other Heroes of Imtiaz Ali's films.

Screenplay is slow and little confused but for me it was engaging because i love the way Imtiaz Sir narrates all his stories. Dialogues are fine not great but ok kinda.

Direction is top notch. No doubts in that from beginning to end loved many scenes specially past scenes where they showed era of Maine Pyar Kiya & Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, auto rickshaws having photos of Salman Khan from 90s, Sara's arguments with her mother, Kartik-Sara romance, Randeep Hooda past story narration by him is the most enjoyable part of the film, Aarushi Sharma's scenes in past story very nice beautifully shot, climax could have been little better there's no faults in direction but screenplay lacks engagement.

Editing by Aarti Bajaj is very very nice she is damn good in her job. Whenever she works with Imtiaz Sir we get the best Director-Editor pair.

Music can be weak point here to attract the audiences to the theatres. Yes unfortunately it doesn't have super duper hit music like Love Aaj Kal (2009) had. Pritam Dada is repeated here as a music composer and he gave two very nice tracks but what we expect from him is full album should be chartbuster but here it's minus point if it had strong music then impact would have been much better. I was damn missing guitar tune of Ahun Ahun during the film.

Performance by Aarushi Sharma is brilliant. What a fine act. Loved her this role. Good luck to her for bright future in Bollywood.

Kartik Aaryan is playing mainly two roles one from past story Raghu where he did good job one of present story as Veer he has done good job in this role too but my personal view is i was damn missing Ranbir Kapoor here. Many scenes where Kartik was trying to act he reminded me of Ranbir. Ved from Tamasha stayed with me since i watched it and i don't think so i will ever forget this performance by him so whenever this kind of role will be played by any actor it will remind me of Ranbir Kapoor. 

Here HERO of the film is Sara Ali Khan OMG what a powerful performance. Critics found it over and audiences may find it boring but i think she nailed it. Killer role playing no doubts in that. I love the way she acted and i don't think she can act seriously like Taapsee or Swara or Alia but this is what she can do in her career. It's her third film and this is her best one. She's has got the major screen space than others after all she's the main protagonist of the film. She looks damn sexy and glamorous kudos to her costume designer. Her dialogues are sharp and worth watch performance for me.

Lastly besides Imtiaz Ali's direction there was someone else who made excited to watch the film on very first day. Randeep Hooda steals the show here. I loved his combination for Highway and here once again we got to see him with Imtiaz Sir. He's playing cafe owner here an older version of Raghu now Raaj from the past story. He's terrific and looking damn hot and hit in his role. His talks with Sara lovely scenes. His breakdown scenes, his dialogues etc loved it. Kudos to him for another classy performance. Very natural actor.

Overall it's very nice film not belong to all but yes some people will definitely love it specifically who prefer to watch films like Tamasha or who ever loved someone in his life and stuck in relationship.

My Ratings

3.7/5.

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . .