Review of PadMan . . .

Review of PadMan . . . 

Director #R.Balki sir arrived with his style of presenting unusual concept with his brilliancy in story telling. Our Indian film makers are nowadays taking interest into choosing taboo topics which definitely needs guts to present. Because sometimes audiences accept while most of the times these kind of films have suffered so much. Topics such as Sex, Homosexuality, Domestic Violence etc. India has some daring film makers to select any of these topics but it's very risky and consequences might be harmful for them as it shows dark side or mirror to the society.
#PadMan based on one of these taboo topics Female Menstrual Issue inspired by life of Arunachalam Murugantham from Coimbatore, Tamilnadu. Natural bleeding of 4-5 days every month from being adult to certain age. Few months before Director #AbhishekSaxena also made a film on this similar topic called #Phullu which was starring #SharibHashmi in lead. I liked that film. It didn't get much audience like PadMan and reason is clear that our film industry is totally stardom dominated when it comes to business. #PadMan has #AkshayKumar as lead so obviously it will get more audiences than that.
Well it's not about the comparison but i would rather prefer to write about the movie. #PadMan became my second favorite movie of the director. I loved his #CheeniKum so much. It was gem. It was so beautiful and sweet film. Even i would say it's one of the best of #AmitabhBachchan Sir. I didn't watch #Paa. I liked #Shamitabh then i didn't like #KiAndKa but this time once again he won my heart by telling this brave story.
Loved the concept and presentation was simply solid. It has mass as well as class appeal. An eye opener for narrow minded society.
Direction is top notch according to the story. A simple story told by #RBalki sir in extraordinary way that moved me. Dialogues written so well and clearly states the facts of menstrual issues. Many scenes executed so well that kept me engaged in the film. Laxmi (Laxmikant Chauhan - Akahay Kumar) visits medical store, conversations between Laxmi and his wife Gayatri (Radhika Apte), Laxmi makes pad himself, then post interval Laxmi invents such machines of making pads at lowest possible cost, Pari (Sonam Kapoor) helps to achieve his goal, and two most favourite scenes from the film cameo by #AmitabhBachchan Sir takes the storyline to the next level. His presence really means something in every film of #RBalki Sir. OUTSTANDING cameo. & last but not the least climax speech by Laxmi at U.S. where he invited. Mind blowing speech. One of his best scenes of career. Loved it. Hatz off to him.
Cinematography is superb. Beautifully shot Indore (MP).
Music by #AmitTrivedi is very nice.
Performance by #AkshayKumar BRILLIANT. He totally nailed it. I felt so happy that he once again chosen brave subject after #ToiletEkPremKatha.
#RadikaApte is fine in her role didn't like much as i loved her performances in previous films. #SonamKapoor in her little role worked so well. Overall credit goes to the only one superhero of #Bollywood none other than SUPERSTAR #AkshayKumar. He took the the film to the next level. It deserves sound collection at Box-Office. People should go along with the families to watch and get more awareness about the taboo subject.
THUMBS UP for the #PadMan.
My Ratings
3.7/5.
--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Mukkabaaz . . .

  Review of Mukkabaaz . . . 

Year 2018 started and for me it's kickass start because in the first month my most fav film maker #AnuragKashyap released his film #Mukkabaaz 

He is an inspiration for me. I admire his work a lot. He is brave and honest film maker. It's kind of greatest pleasure for me to watch his films whether it's entertainment like GOW or Ugly or Black Friday types dark concept movies. He generally makes films which have lot of darkness with his unique style film making. It's believed that he can only make dark movies but after #Mukkabaaz he proved people wrong by making one masala movie without any darkness or using such badwords in the writing. #Mukkabaaz is a Boxing based sport films with beautiful love story. It does not include any bleeding scenes or sex scenes generally can be seen in the films of #AnuragKashyap

It is much clean movie than his typical style of making. Set in the village of UP a guy who wants to play boxing at national level and in between he falls in love with a girl who can't speak. It includes sports drama, politics in the sports in our country, love at it's best, communal discrimination etc with perfect suitable songs in the background.

Lead Actor and Co-Writer of the film #VineetKumarSingh has done excellent job. He not only worked hard to have a look of boxer but also contributed his excellency in the writing work. It's great for the Indain cinema that lead actors contributes towards the technical sides of film making. Therefore they can have so much productivity and depth of understanding of the characters. 

Just like other films of #AnuragKashyap here also he succeed to bring out extraordinary work from the cast. Not only lead but also supporting cast make it worth watch. Lead actress didn't get any dialogues but her screen presence is superb. Jimmy Shergil as Bhagwan Das Mishra nailed it completely. What a Desi villainous act he did. I love the way #AnuragKashyap brings out kickass performance from negative characters.

Ravi Kishan as coach also played his role so maturely. His simplicity worked well. Other casting also very fine. This time typical #AnuragKashyap fans might not get that level of satisfaction if they would have expected the darkness but as i loved the film i can assure that it's undoubtedly well made film and could see the other side of the director that he can make a love story without including sex. Here he tied up with #AnandLRai who also makes such beautiful films and i loved this combination of producer-director which gave such a simple but yet masala film to the cinema. Just after #Mukkabaaz i got another news that they once again joined hands for next venture #Manmarziyaan which will be directed by #AnuragKashyap himself again.

#Mukkabaaz has good music too. Paintra track won my heart.

It has brilliant writing work. Some humorous punch lines, some hard hitting truth spoken regarding the nation and having some emotional dialogues too. Film shot so well as usual on live sets rather than making big sets in the studio. It has two and half hour of duration but still screenplay is engaging.

Overall i just loved it and hatz off to #AnuragKashyap Sir for making such a fine film. Kudos to #VineetKumarSingh for exertions.

My Ratings

4.2/5.

--- Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

My Choice In 2017 . . .

My Choice In 2017 . . . 

Best Film - Mukti Bhawan - Hotel Salvation (Red Carpet Moving Pictures, Sanjay Bhutiani, Shubhashish Bhutiani & Sajida Sharma)

Best Director - Amit Masurkar (Newton)

Best Actor Male - Rajkumar Rao (Newton)

Best Actor Female - Parineeti Chopra (Meri Pyari Bindu)

Best Screenplay - Konkona Sen Sharma & Disha Randani (A Death In The Gunj)

Best Story - Siddharth Singh & Garima Wahal (Toilet -Ek Prem Katha)

Best Dialogues - Rahul Dholakia, Harit Mehta, Niraj Shukla & Ashish Vashi (Raees)

Best Editing - Nitin Baid (Trapped)

Best Cinematography - Aseem Mishra (Tubelight)

Best Production Design - A Death In The Gunj

Best Music - Pritam (Jab Harry Met Sejal)

Best Song of the Year - Hawayein (Jab Harry Met Sejal)

Best Background Score - Julius Packiam (Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Lyrics - Tera Noor (Irshad Kamil) (Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Playback Singer Male - Atif Aslam (Dil Diyan Gallan -Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Playback Singer Female - Pavni Pandey (Laila - Raees)

Best Choreography - Vaibhavi Merchant (Swag Se Swagat - Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Action - Tom Struthers (Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Costume Designing - Sheetal Sharma (Raees)

Most Ensemble Cast - A Death In The Gunj 

Best Actor in a Negative Role - Sajjad Delafrooz (Tiger Zinda Hai)

Best Actor in Supporting role Male - Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Raees)

Best Actor in Supporting role Female - Ratna Pathak Shah (Lipstick Under My Burkha)

Most Promising Debut Director - Shubhashish Bhutiani (Mukti Bhawan - Hotel Salvation)

Most Promising Debut Actor Female - Saba Qamar (Hindi Medium)

Best Child Artist - Matin Rey Tangu (Tubelight)

Best Comedian - Irrfan Khan (Hindi Medium)

Best Non-Hindi Film - Vikram Vedha

Best Docu-Drama Film - Sachin A Billion Dreams

Best Indian Short Film - The Affair

--- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

2017 - The Year of Rajkumar Rao . . .

    2017 - The Year of Rajkumar Rao . . .

     

So it’s about to end the year 2017. For Hindi film industry it was not much good year, not even bad though because some small budget films managed to gain audience’s love while some big budget films  did not work  up to the mark.
Aamir Khan did not have any release this year except Secret Superstar, ShahRukh Khan had two releases Raees and Jab Harry Met Sejal, Akshay Kumar’s Toilet-Ek Prem Katha was welcomed by the people and when it’s about Salman Bhai then for me that is an another thing because for me Bollywood divides in two parts Salman Khan and Others. His films are just like festivals or I can say a celebration for me. I never disappoint with him no matter how critics or audience or other fans say. How much his films earn on Box-Ofiice or how technically strong or not I just don’t care. Enjoyed his Tubelight and eagerly waiting for Tiger Zinda Hai which will be the closing film of Bollywood 2017. Ajay, Hritik, Saif,Varun etc had releases this year some gained love and unfortunately some did not.
Well here I am not going to discuss more in detail about how the year passed but writing about that one actor whom this year belongs to. Yes, He is none other than one of my most favorite actor of our generation Mr. Rajkumar Rao aka Rajkumar Yadav. I have been big fan of his work for a long time from his starting films. He made his debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s Love, Sex Aur Dhokha. He got noticed more in Gangs Of Wasseypur 2 and with Talaash and Kai Po Che. I just loved his performances in these movies but then came Hansal Mehta’s Shahid in which Rajkumar Rao played in and as lead role. Not only the film was superb but I also fell in love with his performance. OUTSTANDING.
In the span of 7 years only he did around 20 films some had less screen presence while in some he played lead too. No matter how much the length of his role I noticed that he does not compromise the quality of his work. It is his ultimate talent and deep understanding of script he chooses one after another. He always justified with all the roles he played in his career no matter how big or small role it was. In seven years of his career he created fan following by giving spectacular performances in every films and also won prestigious awards for his incredible contribution to the Indian cinema. I have heard that ShahRukh Khan is always being his inspiration since struggling days to till date he admires him. I also noticed that he acts like him. Here I don’t mean to say copy but he is as much as talented as ShahRukh Khan. They can not be compared because SRK, Aamir, Akki are big names of Bollywood and having damn high fan following and in spite of this toughest competition Rajkumar Rao managed impress audience and critics with the honesty in his performances. Here my point is to say that I think he has learned so much from  the ShahRukh Khan and obviously he is naturally an actor but he has sharpen the edge of his talent so well.


Why this year belongs to him?
His Six films released this year including guest appearance.
Trapped as (Shaurya)
Raabta (Special Appearance) as (Muwaqit).
Behen Hogi Teri as (Gattu)
Bareilly Ki Barfi as (Pritam Vidrohi)
Newton (Newton Kumar)
Shadi Mein Zaroor Aana (Satyendra)

Trapped was master work of Indian cinema. A Cast Away of Bollywood. It was so unusual and contradiction to Indian cinema which has less dialogues and entertainment masala than other movies. It was responsibility of lead Rajkumar Rao who took the film to the next level. For me it was fabulous treat to watch breathtakingly expressions in a role he played.
In Newton he was honest government clerk and was charged as electoral official for the election in Maoist controlled area. I have already wrote a lot about this film in my review as it was an eye opener and I would say  about Rajkumar Rao  from his eye blinking to dialogues speaking he is an actor with excellence. Once again he left me speechless.
Then in other films Behen Hogi Teri he was superb in comic timing and shows great sense of humor in the role of Gattu. Sweet simple and solid. In Raabta he played as special appearance and he put his efforts to his look. In Barelly Ki Barfi Pritam Vidrohi he was once gain energetic and having swag. His extra ordinary dedication to the role was worth watch. Same happened with Shaai Mein Zaroor Aana. He made simply and lovely pair with Kirti Kharbanda. Again  powerful performance.
This rarely happens when an actor give multiple movies in a one year and proves himself in dedication in each and every role he plays in all of his movies. No matter what business it does on box office because Rajkumar Rao is not that racer of blockbuster or all time blockbuster clubs.
Well overall this year I think he is the only one who deserves Awards for his dedication and contribution and he has already gained so much love from his fans and i am pretty much sure that he will definitely gonna beg the awards. Along with the films he also showed his talent in ALT Balaji’s web series. Bose-Dead or Alive also gained so much praises from the viewers. I have not watched the series yet but loved the promos. He nailed it totally.
My heartiest congratulations to him and all the very best for his future. Keep giving your best sir.
#love #respect #support #salute #hug #bigfan
                        --- by Harsh Desai Filmy . . . 

Review of Tumhari Sulu . . .

Review of Tumhari Sulu . . .

           

So finally Vidya Balan came back in one fantastic avatar. I skipped her last film Begum Jaan as rarely i skip any movies from Bollywood but reason was i didn't like the trailer much and then not even heard good reviews about the film so decision was the same.

Who says our hindi film industry iz Hero dominated. Even a film in which a lead iz a Heroine can work definitely if it's content driven. In the history of cinema and still it can be seen that a film doesn't have a hero but has an actress as a lead, worked well at Box-Office as well as audience accepted it. (Queen, The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, English Vinglish) these all had strong content and succeeded to tocuh the heart of viewer. I loved all of them.

Sometime it happens when film makers make more repetitive movies by focusing on one subject Women Empowerment rather than focusing on quality of the script and technicalities and that's why some movies on this same track flopped too but anyway not talking about the failure here but this one successfully won my heart. It was great pleasure to watch Vidya Balan after long time in this much fresh role. She put on her weight to fit in the role of middle class women Sulochana lives happily life with husband Ashok (Manav Kaul) and her son. Husband iz doing a job in one old garment company which runs by old aged owners and then grandson takes over the company and how he suffers at his job iz shown in the script.

Our main Hero Sulu aspires to be something which can make her happy. She throws many ideas regarding the business to her husband and tries to find a job about which she feels #MainKarSktiHai (I can do it). Finally she gets it. A job of an RJ at one radio company owned Neha Dhupia and then what happens in her life after getting a job iz all in the film.

It's not that typical melodramatic heavy family drama not even it lacks entertainment.

Film starts with many entertaining scenes, some engaging conversations between Sulu and her husband, Sulu and Neha Dhupia, Meeting of Sulu with Neha Dhupia, Two twin sisters of Sulu advice her on the decision of a job etc such soft scenes which create good impact. In the second half film takes a little serious turn when Ashok faces the problems at job, at home, with Sulu, parents meeting at school etc.

Performance by Manav Kaul OMG what an actor he iz. Totally loved his role. How well he played it. He maintained comic scenes as well as emotional scenes with brilliance.

 So much love and respect for him.

Neha Dhupia also gave superb supporting performance. She iz also mind blowing actress and it's always pleasure watching her with so much maturity in her performance. I always find her glamorous and hot. Wishing to see more from her like this in future.

And finally Sulu #MainKarSktiHai really did it. She nailed it completely. Her healthy physic, her saree, her smile and laughter, her mimicry, her dialogue delivery etc worth watching. She will definitely receive awards for this one. It can be considered as one of her finest performances.

Screenplay iz engaging and good, direction iz simple and ace. Suresh Trivedi successfully extracted outstanding performances from the leads.

Overall i liked the film specially because of the leads. Vidya Balan, Manav Kaul & Neha Dhupia hatz off guys.

My Ratings

3.7/5.

--- by Harsh Desai . . . 

Review of Newton . . .

Review of Newton . . . 

          

Amit Masurkar brings a gem to the hindi film industry. Yes, the title itself made me curious when i heard about it. It went in film festivals and earned so much critical acclaim as well as did so well on box office.
Story of a government officer Nutan Kumar (Rajkumar Rao) who changed his name to Newton. who iz appointed at voting booth in the jungle area of Chhatisgarh where Adivasi live and Naxals rule over there and there was the only one way to solve the problem between Government and Naxals and that was the election. Votes by the citizens of that area.
Newton iz very honest man and work oriented person. These days we can never find this kind of person in any government department. His ethics, his dedication towards work, his honesty etc worth to make his character extraordinary.
Film gears up with talks between Newton and Sanjai Mishra. Sanjai sir explains to Newton that Issac Newton didn't only invent gravity but he taught to the world that Nature does no partiality. It's same with all people and existence.
Followed by first meeting of Newton with Pankaj Tripathi who plays head of the force. His conversation before they left towards the jungle where voting point was decided. Raghuvir Yadav's humorous dialogues, very well showed some realities of Indian election system. No one comes to give vote but when media comes the authority brings people forcefully from their home to cast vote.
When Newton comes to know about people who don't know anything about voting and election system then he talks with the people and tells you choose someone among these candidates and he will represent you to the central government that will be your president (Pramukh,Patel). One old aged man stands up from public and says he iz going to represent them as he was Patel of that area and community. That was the most funniest scene of the film as well as hard reality of the society. Many humorous scenes have something hard hitting reality.
Newton does his duty of voting on the gun point iz superbly executed scene.
The last minutes of climax iz also mind blowing. When Anjali Patil offers to have a tea while Newton was doing some work and says still 5 minutes then after duty we will have tea together iz awesome scene.
If every government officials at least can adapt 10% qualities from this Newton then it will be great for the nation but unfortunately that's not possible in reality. Honesty iz no more nowadays in any field.
Anyway not talking much about the nation but technically film iz a gem.
Undoubtedly it deserves awards for brave concept and people like me who are hungry for content cinema would love it.
Performance by Rajkumar Rao as Newton an appropriate choice. No one else could've played this much better than him. He iz versatile. His eye blinking to dialogues speaking everything he has done brilliantly. His role and himself both are heart winning. Kudos to him.
Raghuvir Yadav shares very good screenplay.
Pankaj Tripathi iz excellent. His comic timing and dialogue delivery superb.
Anjali Patil lends good support. Sanjai Mishra has guest role in the beginning only and he did very good job.
Overall one of the finest films came out this year and film like this must needed for the bollywood and also for the society.
Direction, concept, dialogues and mainly performances all the things worked so well to create a masterpiece.
For honesty of Newton
I will go with
4.5/5.
--- by Harsh Desai . . . 

Review of Chef . . .

Review of Chef . . . 

Director Raja Krishna Menon adapted Hollywood's movie by same name in our hindi film industry. I have not seen the original film, so not having much idea about how well director adopted but i think for me this one iz simply best. It has story of a Chef whose emotional journey, career, family, his choices in life, ups and downs etc showed by them. It's simple plot not having much melodrama and also can't be considered as soft comedy. It works on more on emotional drama less on food. Of course it has some mouth-watering scenes of food which made me hungry during the film and then i had sandwiches with my friend but still it can't be considered as best film on food made in Bollywood. It has some beautiful and emotional moments between Father-Son, very nice cinematography of Kerela, dramatic scenes and dialogues well executed.
Performance by Saif Ali Khan makes it more superior. Undoubtedly he has done very good job as Chef and more as single Father or ex-husband. He iz cool, funny and gives simply solid efforts towards the role. Sometimes i loved his performances while sometimes he failed to leave that level of impact. I think it's more dependent on director who brings out best out of him for example Vishal Bhardwaj did in Omkara. Well, here he succeed to hit the right note. Rest casting iz also fine.
Overall it was good watch for me after long time very fine work came from Saif Ali Khan and happy to see him back.
My Ratings
3.4/5.
--- by Harsh Desai . . .