Bollywood Movie Releases -June - July 2014

June Releases:

Holiday : 

Director:  A.R. Murugadoss

Producers: Aruna Bhatia, Twinkle Khanna, Vipul Amrutlal Shah

Screenplay: A.R. Murugadoss

Story :   A.R. Murugadoss

Cast:  Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Govinda, Sumeet Raghavan

Music : Pritam

Relese date: June 6

Filmistan:

Director : Nitin Kakkar

Producers: Shyam Shroff, Balkrishna Shroff, Subhash Chaudary, Shaila Tanna, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Screenplay: Nitin Kakkar, Sharib Hashmi(dialogues)

Story: Nitin Kakkar

Cast: Sharib Hashmi, Inaamulhaq, Kumud Mishra, Gopal Dutt

Music: Arijit Datta

Release date: June 6

Fugly

Director:  Kabir Sadanand

Producer:  Ashvini Yardi, Alka Bhatia, Akshay Kumar

Story: Rahul Handa

Starring : Jimmy Shergill, Mohit Marwah, Kiara Advani, Vijender Singh, Arfi Lamba

Music:   Yo Yo Honey Singh, Prashant Vadhyar, Raftaar & badshah

Release date: June 13,2014

Humshakals

Director: Sajid Khan

Producer:  Vashu Bhagnani

Writer: Sajid Khan

Cast:  Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta, Bipasha Basu, Ram Kapoor

Music:   Himesh Reshammiya

Release date: June 20, 2014

Ek Villain

 

Director:  Mohit Suri

Producers: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor

Writer: Milap Zaveri, Tushar Hiranandani

Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor

Music : Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon, Soch (Band)

Release date: Jun 27

July Releases:

Bobby Jasoos    

 

Director: Samar Shaikh

Producers: Dia Mirza, Sahil Sangha, Reliance Entertainment

Screenplay:  Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh

Cast: Vidya Balan, Ali Fazal, Kiran Kumar, Supriya Pathak , Zarina Wahab ,Tanvi Azmi , Aakash Dahiya, Arjan Bajwa , Rajendra Gupta ,Tejas Mahajan  

Music    Shantanu Moitra

 Release date:    July 4, 2014

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil

Director: Arif Ali

Producers: Dinesh Vijan, Saif Ali Khan

Writer:  Arif Ali

Cast; Armaan Jain, Deeksha Seth

Music :  A. R. Rahman

Release date:    July 4

Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

Director:  Shashank Khaitan

Producer: Karan Johar

Screenplay : Shashank Khaitan

Cast:  Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana, Siddharth Shukla

Music : Sachin – Jigar,Toshi Sabri

Release date:    11 July 2014

Kick

Director: Sajid Nadiadwala

Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala

Screenplay: Rajat Arora, Keith Gomes, Sajid Nadiadwala, Chetan Bhagat

Story : Vakkantham Vamsi

Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Randeep Hooda

Music : Himesh Reshammiya, Meet Bros Anjjan, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Background Score- Julius Packiam

April-May 2014 Bollywood Movie Releases

Main Tera Hero 

 

Genre :Romance/Comedy
Director:David Dhawan
Producer; Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Alpana Mishra
Writer:Milap Zaveri
Cast:Varun Dhawan, Ileana D'Cruz,Nargis Fakhri, Abhimanyu Singh, Evelyn Sharma
Music: Sajid-Wajid
Release date:     April 4, 2014

Bhoothnath Returns 

 

Genre:Fantasy/Children
Director :Nitesh Tiwari
Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Renu Ravi Chopra
Writer:    Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta
Cast:   Amitabh Bachchan, Parth Bhalerao, Boman Irani, Anurag Kashyap, Usha Jadhav, Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kala, Usha Nadkarni
Music:     Palash Muchhal, Meet Bros Anjjan, Ram Sampath, Yo Yo Honey Singh
Release dates     April 11, 2014

2 States 

 

Genre:    Romance
Director:  Abhishek Varman
Producer: Karan Johar, Sajid Nadiadwala
Written by Chetan Bhagat
Based on  2 States by Chetan Bhagat
Cast:Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh, Revathy
Music:    Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Release date;    18 April 2014

Dekh Tamasha Dekh 

 

Genre; Comedy,Drama
Director;Feroz Abbas Khan
Cast: Satish Kaushik, Vinay Jain, Ganesh Yadav, Santosh Juvekar, Tanvi Azmi
Release date: April 18
Kaanchi...
Director :Subhash Ghai
Producer: Subhash Ghai
Cast; Kartik Tiwari, Mishti, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty
Music :    Ismail Darbar, Salim-Sulaiman
Release dates     25 April 2014

Revolver Rani     

 

Genre: Drama
Director: Sai Kabir Shrivastav
Producer: Raju Chadha, Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures, Nitin Tej Ahuja, Rahul Mittra
Screenplay/story:Sai Kabir Shrivastav
Cast: Kangna Ranaut, Piyush Mishra, Vir Das, Zakir Hussain, Zeishan Quadri
Music:    Sanjeev Srivastava
Release date:     April 25, 2014

Kochadiyaan

 

Genre:Animated/theatrical/period film
Director: Soundarya R. Ashwin
Producer:    Sunil Lulla,    Sunanda Murali Manohar
Writer: K. S. Ravikumar
Cast:   Rajinikanth,  R. Sarathkumar, Aadhi,   Deepika Padukone,   Shobana,   Jackie Shroff,   Nassar,    Rukmini Vijayakumar
Music :A. R. Rahman
Release date:   9 May 2014

Heropanti 

 

Genre: Action film
Director:Sabbir Khan
Producer:Sajid Nadiadwala
Writer:     Sanjeev Dutta
Cast: Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon, Sandeepa Dhar
Music:    Sajid-Wajid, Manj Musik
Release date:    23 May 2014

Bollywood Movie Releases - March 2014

Queen

Cast: Kangna Ranaut,  Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon, Mish Boyko, Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho, Marco Canadea, Guithob Joseph, Adri Doppenberg
Producers: Anurag Kashyap , Vikramaditya Motwane
Director: Vikas Bahl
Story and Screenplay: Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar, Parveez Sheikh
Dialogues: Anvita Dutt, Kangna Ranaut
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Genre: Comedy, Romance/Drama
Rating: ****
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGC6vl3lzf0
Review:  http://www.bollywoodfilmcritic.blogspot.com/2014/03/queen-surprisingly-charming-movie.html


   

  Gulab Gang

Cast:  Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla
Director:  Soumik Sen
Producers: Anubhav Sinha, Abhinay Deo
Writers: Soumik Sen, Anubhav Sinha
Music :    Soumik Sen
Release date: 7 March 2014
Genre:  Social Drama (based on a true story!)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAcN8RR3Ry4

Total Siyapaa

 

Cast: Ali Zafar, Yami Gautam, Anupam Kher, Kiron Kher
Director: E. Nivas
Producers: Neeraj Pandey, Shital Bhatia
Writer:     Neeraj Pandey
Story :    Rules Shankarr
Music:     Ali Zafar
Release date:     7 March 2014
Genre:  Romantic comedy
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXgVgSdU7ko

 

Bewakoofiyaan

Cast : Ayushmann Khurrana, Sonam Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor
Director:  Nupur Asthana
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Story : Habib Faisal
Music : Raghu Dixit
Background Score: Hitesh Sonik
Release date:   14 March 2014
Genre: Romantic Comedy

Youngistaan

Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma, Farooq Sheikh, Kayoze Irani
Director: Syed Ahmad Afzal
Release dates   28 March 2014
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el5n252fAsg
Genre: Drama

Dishkiyon

Cast: Sunny Deol, Harman Baweja, Ayesha Khanna, Prashant Narayanan, Aditya Pancholi Director: Sanamjit Singh Talwar
Producers: Shilpa Shetty, Sunil Lulla Music : Palash Muchhal
Release date: 28 March 2014
Genre: Action
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1fhdUuoBAI

Queen – Surprisingly a Charming Movie!

Cast: Kangna Ranaut,  Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon, Mish Boyko, Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho, Marco Canadea, Guithob Joseph, Adri Doppenberg
Producers: Anurag Kashyap , Vikramaditya Motwane
Director: Vikas Bahl
Story and Screenplay: Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar, Parveez Sheikh
Dialogues: Anvita Dutt, Kangna Ranaut
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Parental Guidance: pole dancing, visit to kinky store, no explicit scenes,but some chatter about it.
Rating: ****
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGC6vl3lzf0

(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!)

When I least expected, I saw a lovely, well made candid movie with excellent performances and charming story of self discovery.  Irrespective of never liking Kangna Ranaut  or her performances in any of her previous movies, I was surprised to have enjoyed and liked her and her character of Raani/Queen’s  lovely progression from a naïve, insecure, simple girl to a strong,  astute, self-confident  woman!  It’s a delightful chick flick, romantic comedy and ‘feel good’ movie worth watching.

Story starts  off with  simple and shy Raani, daughter of  Halvai ( sweet shop owner)  of  middle class  Delhi family  getting dumped by her London- return condescending  fiancé couple of days before the wedding.  To escape the rejection and the desire to fulfill at least her dreams of a trip to Paris and Amsterdam, she sets off on her honeymoon trip alone!

 Besides Kangnas’ acting, the director Vikas  Bahl  amazingly captures the stages of Raani’s  insecure shyness to her confidence and strength through  her clothes,  her body language, her actions and decisions.  Her metamorphosis is slow and realistic and not a dramatic transformation, which makes the story more endearing and legit.

Her  adventures and  mis-adventures,  interesting  moments, conversations, subtle comedy,   tiny details, comical situations, and  characteristic  ‘desi’ practicality of the quirky  character, all are refreshing.   The movie has episodes of many subtle incidents which reflect small details of the character. Example, even in the happiest frenzy of mimicking others who are dancing and peeling   and throwing off jackets,  Raani   peels off her sweater and   instead of throwing  prefers to stuff it into her purse, which she is holding on to while dancing!;   Her innocent notion  that  Indians are good at kissing because actor Emraan Hashmi does it well in his movies!;  or her naivety  for shopping  in a kinky store for  travel souvenirs  in Amsterdam! ;  her desire to add red chilies and ginger garlic to Italian pasta;  her explanation  to the French guy, that the  French toast  she made  is Indian French toast!; Her  cool and confident stride out  of Airport   in a ‘made in India’ sleeveless kurti bought in Paris shows her transformation  but  yet in the boundaries  of traditions!

Besides Kangana’s  brilliant performance,  the movie’s  supporting cast is equally excellent. Lisa Haydon as Sexy Vijaya Lakshmi  carves her performance into the story. The Italian flirtatious restaurateur, the cute  Japanese, Russian and French  roomie’s at Amsterdam’s hostel , the  fiancé Vijay who acts like a jerk(Raj kumar Rao), the parents and chubby brother, all of them in their small parts are well cast and well performed.

The music and songs are good too, and the wedding rhythm of  ‘thumakda’  reminded me of  ‘chunari chunari’!

 Queen falls into the category of movies which pleases the reviewer and critic; hence this movie gets the rare 4 stars!  You walk out of the theater happy and continue to think of the characters pleasantly in the movie …

Lunch Box- A Movie Review

              

            Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bharti Achrekars' voice, Lillette  Dubey
                   Story and Screenplay : Ritesh Batra
                   Producer:  Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap , Arun Rangachari
                   Director: Ritesh Batra
                   Language: Hindi and English
                   Genres: Drama, Romance
                   Rating: ****
                   Release dates: Sept 20, 2013 (India)  February 28, 2014 (USA)
                   Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

                   website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelunchbox/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwYN-XS92yY


(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!)



 I have seen many movies and written many a review but they are some movies which move you enough that you want to recommend others to not miss. Lunch Box is one such movie.

  Lunch Box is sad, sweet and delicious!  It is emotional and poignant, yet captivating and endearing story of lonely lives, hanging on with a ray of hope. The Story is spun around Mumbai’s famous dabawallas who drop lunch boxes to work places, messing up one delivery and creating a connection between isolated lives of an unhappy housewife and older widower. The story is also delightfully delicious showing the love and passion involved in cooking each of those recipes of ‘Bharwan Karela/Stuffed Bitter Gourd ’, ‘Masala Baingan/Spicy Eggplants’, ‘ Paneer Kofta Masala/ Cheese Ball Curry’   that are packed in the lunchbox, that you start craving and yearning to make and eat those dishes yourselves!

The movie reflects the many lonely lives embroiled in their monotonous routines in the hustle and bustle of metropolitan Mumbai.  Saajan Fernandez( Irfaan Khan)  smoking away his lonely life after his wife’s death, buying  himself a vertical  burial plot and  planning his  retirement ; Ila  (Nimrat Kaur), the young  neglected housewife going through the chores of cooking, cleaning and laundry zoned out by her husband involved in his own affair;  The aunty (voice of bharati Bchrekar)  who seeks interaction through a  neighboring window to avoid the silence in her life with a bed ridden husband who just stares at the moving fan; The mother (Lillete Dubey) tired of just feeding and bathing the sick dad; the enthusiastic subordinate Aslam (Nawazuddin) seeking to get trained by Fernanadez,   is a  sad orphaned  fool who is  brushing of his loneliness by planning his wedding!

Fernandez and Ila connect through notes passed in a lunchbox, initially descriptive about food to personal rants and life’s  going ons to sharing each other’s life stories…. Fernandez says we forget things if we have no one to tell them to, and you do not want this quirky communication and yum lunches  to stop either. The little notes of conversation, a listening ear to their loneliness and caring gestures brings a meaning and happiness to their lives.   Even though they don’t meet, they develop a bond of love and care.



Ritesh Batra,  a debutante director amazes with his entrancing script and screenplay and excellent direction.  The actors, Irfaan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawaazuddin  all have the finest performances, each carving out their roles brilliantly to the smallest nuance, tone, look, line and  detail. Interestingly even the voice of Bharati Achrekar is well played.

The dabawallas' efficiency and accuracy of delivery system with their low cost, high service, simple operating system is admired across the world, and is a case study in many business schools and even Harvard Business School. But the movie takes into one possible human error of this dabawallas to build an incredible story. Its funny that  in the movie when Ila the female lead complains about error of delivery, the dabbawalla immediately  defends  himself and says they are known for their efficiency even in Harvard;)

Lunchbox  feasts  the soul,   while stirring up your  appetite and craving its delicious contents.

After seeing the movie, I definitely am craving to eat stuffed Bitter gourd. Here are a few Sanjeev Kapoor’s recipes of Bharwan Karela , for you to  cook and enjoy;)

 http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/bharwan-karela.aspx
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/stuffed-karela.aspx
http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/masaledar-karele.aspx

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag runs away with many Filmfare Awards of 2013.

Here’s the list of the winners of 59th Idea-Filmfare Awards.

Best Film - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Best Director - Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Actor - Farhan Akhtar (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Actress - Deepika Padukone - Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Supriya Pathak Kapur (Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-leela)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Nawazuddin Siddiqui (The Lunchbox)

Best Music - Mithhoon, Ankit Tiwari, Jeet Ganguly (Aashiqui 2)
Best Playback Singer (Male) - Arjit Singh - Tum hi ho - (Aashiqui 2)
Best Playback Singer (Female) - Monali Thakur - Sawaar (Lootera)
Best Lyrics - Prasoon Joshi - Zinda (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)


Tum hi ho - (Aashiqui 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umqb9KENgmk
Sawaar Loon (Lootera)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM1IswXgIl8

Zinda (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP6MNznzVcQ

Best Debut (Male) - Dhanush (Raanjhanaa)
Best Debut (Female) - Vaani Kapoor (Shuddh Desi Romance)
Best Debut Director - Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox)

Best Actor (Critics) - Rajkumar Rao (Shahid)
Best Actress (Critics) - Shilpa Shukla (BA Pass)
Best Film (Critics) - The Lunchbox

Lifetime Achievement Award - Tanuja
RD Burman Award - Sidharth Mahadevan

Best Action - Thomas Struthers and Guru Bachchan (D Day)
Best Background Score - Hitesh Sonik (Kai Po Che)
Best Choreogrpahy - Samir and Arsh Tanna – Lahu muh lag gaya (Goliyon Ki Raasleel Ram-leela)
Best Cinematography - Kamaljit Negi (Madras Cafe)
Best Costume - Dolly Ahluwalia (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Dialogue - Subhash Kapoor (Jolly LLB)
Best Editing - Aarif Sheikh (D-Day)
Best Production Design- Acropolis Design (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Story - Subhash Kapoor (Jolly LLB)
Best Sound Design - Bishwadeep Chatterjee and Nohar Rajan Samal (Madras Café)
Best Screenplay - Chetan Bhagat, Abhishe Kapoor, Supratik Sen and Pubali Chaudhari (Kai Po Che)

This year's awards were hosted by Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor , though I personally didn’t enjoy the hosting this year with futurist 2050 references and robots  and clones etc.  The glitzy ceremony also featured a host of performances by Madhuri Dixit, Katrina Kaif,  Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan,  Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

This evening was simultaneous aired while the 56th Grammy Awards were getting viewed in the USA, so have to say juggling between the Grammy and Filmfare was not easy.