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 . . .