Bollywood Movie Releases - Nov and Dec 2015

Dilwale

Director: Rohit Shetty

Producer: Gauri Khan

Writer:  Sajid-Farhad

Screenplay: Yunus Sajawal

Starring:  Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Varun Dhawan,Kriti Sanon

Music: Pritam Chakraborty

Background Score: Amar Mohile

Release dates: 18 December 2015

Running time: 158 minutes

Genre: Romance

Baji Rao Mastani

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producer: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Story  & Screenplay: Prakash Kapadia

Starring:  Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Mahesh Manjrekar

Music : Sanjay Leela Bhansali (with assistance by Shreyas Puranik)

Background Score: Sanchit Balhara

Release date: 18 December 2015

Running time: 156 minutes

Genre: Historical Romance

Tamasha

Director: Imtiaz Ali

Producers: Sajid Nadiadwala

Writer:  Imtiaz Ali

Starring : Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone

Music:   A. R. Rahman

Release date: 27 November 2015

Running time: 152 minutes

Genre: Romance; Drama

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

Directed: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Producers: Ajit Kumar Barjatya, Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Rajkumar Barjatya

Screenplay and Story: Sooraj R. Barjatya

Based on : The Prisoner of Zenda by Wells Root and Donald Ogden Stewart

Starring : Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher

Music: Sanjoy Chowdhury, Himesh Reshammiya

Release date: 12 November 2015

Running time: 164 minutes

Genre: Romance; Drama

Jawani Phir Nahi Aani- A Review

Director: Nadeem Baig
Producers: Salman Iqbal, Humayun Saeed, Shahzad Nasib, Jarjees Seja
Writer:  Vasay Chaudhry
Cast:  Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ahmad Ali Butt, Vasay Chaudhry, Humayun Saeed, Sohai Ali Abro, Mehwish Hayat, Sarwat Gilani, Ayesha Khan, Uzma Khan Javed Sheikh, Bushra Ansari, Ismail Tara

Release dates:  September 25, 2015(Pakistan) Oct 25 (Austin, TX,USA)

Language-Urdu

Country Pakistan- Lollywood

MovieGenre: Slapstick Comedy preferably for adult audiences

Rating: 2.5/5

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

 Simply said Jawani Phir Nahi Aani, like a McDonalds Burger (overly product placed in the movie) was out to reach the masses with its cheap slapstick laughs, not necessarily aiming to make the best burger! 

This movie is a mixed bag of laugh out loud moments, large star cast with good and bad performances, slapstick comedy with mix of witty and cheesy lines, clichéd adult double meaning jokes, weak plot line, story with many loose ends, majorly inspired from Bollywood movies, garish amount of product placements and lastly many average songs and lyrics.

Jawani Phir Nahi Aani –JPNA, was released in September and premiered in limited cities across USA.  It was exclusively brought to Austin for one show by the efforts of Austin Arts and Drama Initiative-AADI on Oct 25^th, 2015. The theater was houseful with familiar faces, and watching it amidst the laughter of friends made it an entertaining Sunday afternoon!

The story revolves around  Sherry (Humayun Saeed), A U.S returned lawyer who decides his friends Saif(Hamza Abbasi), Parvez/BB/PP( Ahmad Ali Butt) and Sheik( Vasay Chaudhry), who are going through marital strife can do with  boys-only holiday in Bangkok. While there, an underworld don’s daughter Marina(Mehwish Hayat) falls for him, and whilst they are still figuring out their escape plans, his friends wives catch up on their husbands lies, further breaking their marriages.  For a person who is not sure about relationships ‘Sherry’ strangely links up with a Pakistani Billionaire- Mehboob Khan’s( Javed Sheikh) daughter Zoya(Sohai Ali Abro). To complicate the silliness, ‘Marina’ also shows up at the wedding celebrations in Lahore, with her don turned Arab Sheikh father. The senseless end for happy ending leads to Sherry’s marriage.  

 You can see the plot is majorly inspired from a bunch of B-grade Bollywood movies like Houseful, Houseful2, No Entry, Masti and Hollywood movie Hangover etc. But taking this inspiration, it’s not even tied together very well and has a ridiculously lot of loose ends. The writer and actor Vasay Chaudhry needed to build the story and characters more than the comic relief he provides. Many scenes have references to Bollywood movies, ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Dilwale Dulhani ley Jayenge’, Sharukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, but also to local Pakistani pop culture, Pakistani movies, dramas, talk shows hosts, Television celebrities etc  adding to the funny moments.

The movie has a garish amount of product placements and obvious advertising sponsorships from brands like McDonalds, Levis jeans, BMW, Ray Ban, a bank, a juice brand etc and as if that was not enough, even songs have blatant inclusion of ‘Fair and Lovely’ beauty cream  and alcohol brand ‘Bacardi’ in their lyrics. 

The large star cast had some good acting and some over the top overacting. Actor Humayun Saeed plays his role well though the role itself needed more depth. Ahmad Ali Butt handles many hilarious situations well, though Hamza Ali Abbasi falls short with acting in many scenes. Vasay Chaudhry’s acting is sadly as bad as his writing.  While few of the actresses keep puckering their  botox lips as acting skills, Sohai Ali Abro with her selfie and hastag obsession and put-on California valley girl accent, pouting MA_MA for ‘mashallah’ is very irritating and does extreme overacting. Mehwish Hayat, the dons daughter and  Sarwat Gilani as the Pastho wife, carry their roles with mixed good and bad acting skills. Ayesha Khan and Uzma khan have smaller roles.  All the older actors like Javed Sheikh, speaking multiple languages, Bushra Ansari, OMG stuck with Punjabi, Ismail Tara, inventing new slangs of Persian-Urdu, over acted, unfortunately their roles were eccentric too.

 At times the script tries to spoof the cultural changes, two faced people, pretend society, and inflated weddings, but in order to parody or satirize anything if it’s done over the top it loses its impact and looks more ridiculous and nonsensical. Sadly it did with JPNA.

 People who came to the movie had mixed feelings of JPNA not reflecting the Pakistani culture and values and aping Bollywood.  But who said what is reflected in Bollywood is reflecting true culture of India! Movies are made for entertainment and film industries cater to the masses according to the trends. Though I haven’t seen the transformations of Pakistani cinema over the years, I have seen few old movies made of our celebrity relative across the border, veteran Pakistani actor Nadeem.  Hence I can understand that JPNA is a major deviation from the movies made once upon a time in Lollywood!

Unlike Pakistan Television soap operas which are very popular in South Asia, Lollywood film industry hasn’t churned out many blockbusters like the Bollywood film industry. This movie though has been making good money at box office catering to the masses!

JPNA was an acceptable watch, laughing at slapstick comedy, while ignoring the nonsensical and haywire shortcomings  in the company of friends. Thanks to AADI for bringing in Lollywood to Texas and their hospitality of a meetha pan( sweet candied beetle leaf), to the audience as our reward and happy ending;)

Virtual Reality Film Festival – The Future of Cinema!!

 

Few days back we experienced a new genre of cinema. A virtual reality version where we became part of the movie and experienced things by getting into the movie, moving and becoming part of the set of the movie by the direction of our gaze! Yes, it was a strange immersive experience and very futuristic.

Kaleidoscope VR Film Festival, was a 10-city tour which showcased virtual reality (VR) filmmaking, featuring virtual reality films made by independent artists. The Festival came to Austin on Oct 14, 2015 and hosted at Brazos Hall in Downtown Austin.

The event presented by Vrideo, a company for VR films featured demos from top VR filmmakers and industry members. Audiences had the chance to experience these films on Samsungs Gear VR equipment , in addition to Oculus VR headsets.

The VR Film festival was a converging of art and technology with both eclectic, artsy, and techie audiences. It’s not the typical movie going experience where everyone watches the movie on a big theatre screen. Here it was people lined up at different stations which was showing different short films while the audience queued up for their turn to sit down and slip on Gear VR equipment and headsets and become part of the movie!

There were many films featured of which we saw the few listed below. Our favorite being The Night Café and Kurios.  Getting into Van Goghs painting and walking around ‘The Night Café was exhilarating and a little dizzy. In ‘Kurios’ we get to watch Cirque du Soliel which is fascinating on its own, but imagine you becoming part of the stage with the artists performing just  for you!

Now we have to see how the medium of   virtual reality which has already grasped the gaming audiences, will get embraced in Hollywood and other  film industries and change the future of cinematic experience.

THE NIGHT CAFÉ
DIR. MAC CAULEY
US  |  3 Mins  |  Real-Time Experience

THE NIGHT CAFÉ is an immersive VR environment that allows you to explore the world of Vincent van Gogh first hand. Take a moment to enjoy his iconic sunflowers in 3 dimensions or walk around the chair he painted in his bedroom to see it from another angle. Step into the vivid colors straight from his palette.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/the-night-cafe

KURIOS
DIR. MICHEL LAPRISE, FÉLIX LAJEUNESSE & PAUL RAPHAËL
CAN|  9:57 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

Step on stage and immerse yourself Inside The Box of Kurios - Cabinet of Curiosities from Cirque du Soleil! A mysterious and fascinating realm that disorients your senses and challenges your perceptions, leaving you to wonder: “is it real, or just a figment of my imagination?”

http://www.kvrff.com/film/kurios

WELCOME TO ALEPPO
DIR. CHRISTIAN STEPHEN
US  |  2:45 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

A moving VR documentary by war journalist Christian Stephen that transports the viewer to Aleppo, Syria, an ancient city that is now one of the most dangerous war zones on earth. Produced by RYOT News

http://www.kvrff.com/film/welcome-to-aleppo

TANA PURA
DIR. MIKE TUCKER
US  |  3 Min  |  Real-Time Animation

What is it like to die? That is the question at the heart of Tana Pura, an audio-visual exploration of the moments following death and the soul's transition into the afterlife. With haunting music composed by Jonny Greenwood, Tana Pura draws inspiration from The Tibetan Book of the Dead and The Psychedelic Experience.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/tana-pura

THE NEPAL QUAKE PROJET
DIR. DAVID DARG
US  |  4 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

Narrated by Susan Sarandon, THE NEPAL QUAKE PROJECT uses Virtual Reality technology to immerse viewers in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake. The film not only marks the first in natural disaster VR, but it represents the future of news and action. Produced by RYOT News.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/nepal-quake-project

WITNESS 360: 7/7
DIR. DARREN EMERSON
UK  |  13 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

On the 7th July 2005 Jacqui Putnam stepped on to a Circle Line train in London on her way to work; a journey she had taken many times before.  At 08:50am Mohammad Sidique Khan would detonate a bomb in the carriage next to hers.  This is the story of her day, the immediate aftermath of the explosion and her road to recovery.  The film combines personal testimony, reconstruction, and abstract imagery to take the viewer on a powerful multi-sensory journey into the heart of one survivor’s extraordinary story.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/witness

THE ARCHER
DIR. JESSICA KANTOR
US  |  1:30 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

A man visits a female archer, and chaos ensues. Created by Jessica Kantor, Matt Sundin, and Henrik Christoffersson.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/the-archer

LoVR
DIR. AARON BRADBURY
UK  |  5:20 Mins  |  Pre-Rendered 360 Animation

More than 100000 chemical reactions happen in your brain every second. So what about the moment you saw the girl of your dreams, and she saw you? If we could capture those few seconds what would the data look like? LOVR is a document of this moment. A story of love, told through neural activity captured over 4 seconds. As chemicals are released and areas of the brain activated, a form of poetry is revealed within the data. The heart beats, the iris dilates and time stands still as two lovers see each other for the first time.

http://www.kvrff.com/film/lovr

UPLIFT
DIR. LEE BLEDSOE
US  |  2:30 Mins  |  Live-Action 360 Video

Uplift tells the story we've all wonder about. What happens to a balloon when it floats away, what does it see, and where does it go? We developed Uplift to show off our skills and technology of our aerial 360 degree capture system the EyeFly.

SURGE
DIR. ARJAN VAN MEERTEN
Netherlands  |  3:34 Mins  |  Real-Time Animation

Virtual reality music video SURGE is an abstract meditation on the evolutionary process and its relentless march towards complexity. Built with Unreal by artist Arjan van Meerten,  Surge was produced over the course of a year with Arjan creating all of the music, animation and code himself. With thousands of downloads, Surge is currently the highest rated experience on Oculus Share. 

http://www.kvrff.com/film/surge

http://www.kvrff.com/cities/austin

·    WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2015

·    8:00PM  11:00PM

·    BRAZOS HALL204 EAST 4TH STREETAUSTIN, TEXAS 78701 

VR FILM PROGRAM:
BRIGHT SHADOWS  •  BUTTS  •  COLOSSE  • DMZ: MEMORIES OF NO MAN'S LAND  •  DER GROSSE GOTTLIEB  •  LOVR  •  SIGHTLINE: THE CHAIR  •  SURGE  •  TANA PURA  •  THE ARCHER  •  THE LAST MOUNTAIN  •  THE NEPAL QUAKE PROJECT  •  THE NIGHT CAFÉ  •  WAY TO GO  •  WELCOME TO ALEPPO  •  WITNESS 360: 7/7

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge- Celebrates 20 years

Its been 20 years, and still my memories are fresh of watching this movie. It was the first movie I watched with my husband and the romance still continues…

Celebrating 20 years of  DDLJ,  Sharukh and Kajol recreate those magic moments. Rohit Shetty's video to celebrate #20yearsofDDLJ:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSmvMgAKeLs#DDLJ

20 Years of DDLJ in a new trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c25GKl5VNeY

Agar yeh tujhe pyar karti hai toh yeh palat ke dekhegi ... palat ... palat!

Bade bade deshon, mein aisi choti-choti baatein hoti rehti hain senorita....

Tum mujhse pyaar karti ho?
Sabse zyada
Mujhpe bharosa hai?
Khudse bhi zyada

Iconic Cowbells, Romance and Switzerland. 

Mehndi Laga ke Rakhna...

Not the end, the journey and the magic continues..... 

Quantico- Quick Review

‪#‎Quantico‬ is another crime thriller on television which premiered Sunday Sept 27,2015 on ABC, though this one has more ‪#‎FemaleProtagonists‬ and ‪#‎Diversity‬ in characters, including ‪#‎Bollwood‬ actress Priyanka Chopra. The first episode was  fast paced, but muddled with too many things up in the air, but captivating enough to watch the next episode! 

http://abc.go.com/shows/quantico

SecondEpisode of #Quantico was a sham with too much pretense and no depth and development, that at one point it was looking like a badly made Bollywood Movie!

Bollwood New Movie Releases Sept – Oct 2015

Welcome Back

Director: Anees Bazmee

Producer: Firoz Nadiadwala

Writer:  Raj Shandaliya (dialogue)

Screenplay: Anees Bazmee, Rajiv Kaul, Rajan Aggarwal, Praful Parekh

Story:  Anees Bazmee, Rajiv Kaul

Starring Naseeruddin Shah, John Abraham, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Shruti Haasan, Ankita Shrivastava, Shiney Ahuja, Paresh Rawal

Music: Meet Bros Anjjan, Anu Malik, Abhishek Ray

Release dates: 4 September 2015

Running time: 152 mins

Hero

Director: Nikhil Advani

Producer: Salman Khan, Subhash Ghai

Writers: Nikhil Advani, Umesh Bist

Based on Hero by Subhash Ghai

Starring: Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty

Music:   Amaal Mallik, Meet Bros Anjjan, Sachin-Jigar

Release dates: 11 September 2015

Running time: 2 hrs 12 mins

Katti Batti

Director: Nikhil Advani

Producers: Siddharth Roy Kapur, Nikhil Advani

Writer: Anshul Singhal

Starring: Kangana Ranaut, Imran Khan

Music:Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Cinematography:Tushar Kapoor

Release dates: 18 September 2015

Singh is Bling

Director: Prabhu Deva

Producer: Ashvini Yardi, Jayantilal Gada

Starring Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta,Kay Kay Menon

Music:   Sajid-Wajid, Meet Bros Anjjan, Manj Musik, Sneha Khanwalkar

Release dates: 2 October 2015

Talvaar

Director: Meghna Gulzar

Producer: Vineet Jain, Vishal Bhardwaj

Writer: Vishal Bhardwaj

Screenplay: Vishal Bhardwaj

Starring: Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Neeraj Kabi,ohum Shah, Gajraj Rao, Atul Kumar, Tabu, Ayesha Parveen, Raja Virus

Music: Vishal Bhardwaj

Release dates:14 September 2015 (TIFF); 2 October 2015 (India)

Running time: 132 minutes

Based on Noida double murder case

Jazbaa

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Producers: Sanjay Gupta, Anuradha Gupta, Nittin Keni, Akash Chawla, Sachin R. Joshi, Raina joshi

Screenplay : Sanjay Gupta, Robin Bhatt

Starring : Aishwarya Rai, Irrfan Khan,Shabana Azmi

Music: Pritam

Background score:Amar Mohile

Release dates: 9 October 2015

Shaandar

Director: Vikas Bahl

Producers: Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Karan Johar

Writer screenplay: Anvita Dutt Guptan

Story: Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar

Starring : Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt

Music: Amit Trivedi

Release dates october 22, 2015