Jan – February 2014 Bollywood Movie Releases

Sholay 3D

Director: Ramesh Sippy
Producer; G.P. Sippy
Screenplay: Salim-Javed
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bhaduri, Amjad Khan
Music :    R. D. Burman
Genre:Action
   
   





Dedh Ishqiya

Release date: Jan 10
Genre: Thriller, Romance, Social
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Producer: Vishal Bhardwaj, Raman Maroo
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit, Huma Qureshi,Vijay Raaz, Shraddha Kapoor, Ravi Gosain Bhuvan Arora,Manoj Pahwa,Salman Shahid, Midhat Khan, Bhakti Deshpande,Fareed Ahmed, John Vijay
Story / Writers: Darab Farooqui
Background Music:Clinton Cerejo
Music Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Lyricist: Gulzar
Screenplay:Vishal Bhardwaj, Abhishek Chaubey
Dialogue: Sanjeev Dutta



Jai Ho

Release :24 jan, 2014    
Genre: Action/Drama/Comedy
Director: Sohail Khan
Cast: Salman Khan,Sana Khan,Daisy Shah, Tabu



Producers: Sohail Khan, Sunil Lulla
Writer: A R Murugadoss
Screenplay:  Dilip Shukla
Based on : Stalin by A. R. Murugadoss
Music: Sajid-Wajid, Devi Sri Prasad, Amal Malik
Background music: Sandeep Shirodkar





One By Two

Release date: 31 Jan, 2014
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Devika Bhagat
Cast: Abhay Deol, Preeti Desai, Rati Agnihotri, Jayant Kripalani, Darshan Jariwala, Lilette Dubey, Anish Trivedi









Hasee Toh Phasee 
  

               
Release date: Feb 7, 2014   
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Vinil Mathew   
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra, Adah Sharma

Producer:Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap

Screenplay/ Story: Harshavardhan Kulkarni
Music: Vishal-Shekhar









Heartless

Release date: Fe 14, 2014   
Genre; Thriller
Director: Shekhar Suman
Cast: Adhyayan Suman, Ariana Ayam, Om Puri, Deepti Naval, Madan Jain, Shekhar Suman

Music: Gaurav Dagaonkar










Gunday

Release date: Fe 14, 2014
Genre: Romance/Action
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Producer:Aditya Chopra
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan
 Music:Sohail Sen
Background Score:Julius Packiam









 Highway

Release date : Feb 21,2014
Genre:Drama/Romance
Director/Writer: Imtiaz Ali
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Alia Bhatt

Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala
Imtiaz Ali
Music: A. R. Rahman









Shaadi Ke Side Effects

Release date : Feb 28, 2014    
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director/Writer : Saket Chaudhary
Producer:  Pritish Nandy,Balaji Motion Pictures
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Vir Das, Ram Kapoor, Gautami Kapoor, Ila Arun, Hariharan, Purab Kohli, Rati Agnihotri
Music: Pritam








Queen

Release date : Feb 28, 2014
Genre: Romance/Drama
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon
Director: Vikas Bahl
Producer:  Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Screenplay:  Parveez Shaikh,Chaitally Parmar, Vikas Bahl
Story: Vikas Bahl
Music: Amit Trivedi

Dhoom 3- Movie Review

  Producer: Aditya Chopra
  Story & Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya
  Cast: Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff,  Uday Chopra
  Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty 
  Genre: Action, Adventure
  Release date: Dec 20, 2014
  Rating: ***.5
  Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed
  Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeF_b8EQcK0

(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!)

Check out  Dhoom#2 Review - http://bollywoodfilmcritic.blogspot.com/2006/12/dhoom-2-its-like-exciting-but-not.html

Dhoom 3 is entertaining with stunts, races, acrobatics, gadgets, gizmos and Aamir Khan. But with more emotional, melodrama, and revenge masala, than the previous Dhoom series movies.

Dhoom-# 3 is the revenge story of a child who grows up to avenge the banker who ruined and closed his father’s dream circus by systematically robbing all the branches of the Chicago bank to ‘close it down’! This unrealistic plot to start with is set in the wrong time and place.   In 1980s Chicago, USA, banks were not owned by single bankers like the  1930’s and banks don’t close down if they are going down, historically the federal reserve and the government bail out the banks in USA!

But the magnetism of Dhoom is not its irrational story but the action. The movie, like all the Dhoom movies is about amazing hi-flying stunts, hi-tech robberies, and impossible heists and more. Dhoom3  has  vrooming on the bikes like ‘Fast and Furious’,  aerial  outlandish acrobatics and  high rise and underwater stunts like ‘Mission Impossible’ with  ‘Bond’ like gadgetry transformations.  In addition to this is charismatic Aamir Khan biceped, brainy and brawny with the eye-candy babe presence of Katrina Kaif which is drawing crowds to the theatre!

 When the Indian cops Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra are summoned up to America to solve a bank robbery just because the thief  signs off every robbery with  a saying in Hindi with a clown mask, you think  hey they could have asked the Desi’s who know Hindi in America, to translate ;)
The Indian cops silly Auto rickshaw races and gravity defying flying stunts in India  juxtaposed with  Aamirs  extraordinary stunts and  racing  machinery in Chicago with its contradiction is quite amusing mish-mash.  But the interesting link is the motorcycles used for racing both in US and India were all BMW. Good advertising revenue from there I guess;)

The story obviously is man centric with Katrina Kaif injected only for sizzling eye-candy for song to song intervals. And  surprisingly not a lot of women in the cast!

Dhoom3’s  extra long narrative and dragged  scenes which need serious editing elaborates the motives and reasoning of  Aamirs bank robberies and heists unlike previous Dhooms!  The circus with sentimental melodrama is very much like ‘Now You See Me’ and the secret plot twist is an apparent inspiration from  ‘The Prestige’.

But lastly I would have liked a different ending!

Aamir with his acting caliber, smart brains, pumped up  brawn, charm,  amazing stunts and sleek artistry steals the show. Though in the tap dancing scene his shortness was vastly emphasized.
Katrina Kaif shows of her fit and sexy stunning presence in the beautifully picturized songs, but doesn’t have much other role besides some romance in a subplot.

Abishesk Bachchan is good but his role of a tough cop is not strong enough to parallel the anti hero Aamir in this movie.  Uday Chopra as the side kick is less funnier than the  previous Dhooms.

The cinematography in Dhoom was excellent, capturing the downtown Chicago well. ‘The Great Indian Circus building is btw- The Shedd Aquarium.

The Music, and choreography of all  the songs are  quite good.   Kamli, Malang,  Dhoom Machale  and Tu hi Junoon are all melodious. Lyrics of a few are clichéd. The poem  Bande Hum Uske is good.

Dhoom #3 is entertaining but don’t ask questions. A lot of whys, ifs and buts are sparked while watching this Dhoom too like previous ones. But the people who are raving are the ones responsible for this action adventure to gross Rs.501.35 crore ($83.56 million) worldwide in just 3 weeks!
-

Bollywood Movie Releases - December 2013

R... Rajkumar

Directed by - Prabhu Deva
Produced by-Viki Rajani, Sunil Lulla
Written by- Shiraz Ahmed
Screenplay by- Prabhu Dheva, Sunil Agarwal, Ravi S Sundaram
Story by- Prabhu Deva
Starring - Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood
Music by- Pritam, Sandeep Chowta
Release date- December 6, 2013
Running time- 139 mins
Genre- Romance/Drama/Action







Dhoom 3

Directed by-Vijay Krishna Acharya
Produced by- Aditya Chopra
Screenplay by- Vijay Krishna Acharya
Story by- Aditya Chopra, Vijay Krishna Acharya
Starring- Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Katrina Kaif
Music by- Pritam, Julius Packiam
Release dates- 20 December 2013
Running time-172 minutes
Genre- Action Thriller

Good Old Classics...Casablanca

 CASABLANCA

It’s one of the most talked about and popular movies in Hollywood history.  A story of love, sacrifice and war.  The movie made on a small budget and practically shot in a studio made history because of the outstanding acting of Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and the supporting cast. Brilliant direction by Micheal Curtiz  and excellent and well edited script, all winning Oscars. 

Directed by Michael Curtiz

Produced by Hal B. Wallis

Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein,  Howard Koch

Based on Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett, Joan Alison

Starring: Humphrey Bogart,  Ingrid Bergman,  Paul Henreid

Music by      Max Steiner

Cinematography    Arthur Edeson

Editing by   Owen Marks

Studio : Warner Bros.

Release dates:    November 26, 1942 (premiere);    January 23, 1943 (general release)

Running time; 102 minutes
Genre:  Romance, Drama

Rating: ****

 

Famous Lines:

Rick: Last night we said a great many things. You said I was to do the thinking for both of us. Well, I've done a lot of it since then, and it all adds up to one thing: you're getting on that plane with Victor where you belong.

Ilsa: But, Richard, no, I... I...

Rick: Now, you've got to listen to me! You have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten, we'd both wind up in a concentration camp. Isn't that true, Louie?

Captain Renault: I'm afraid Major Strasser would insist.

Ilsa: You're saying this only to make me go.

Rick: I'm saying it because it's true. Inside of us, we both know you belong with Victor. You're part of his work, the thing that keeps him going. If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

Ilsa: But what about us?

Rick: We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night.

Ilsa: When I said I would never leave you.

Rick: And you never will. But I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.

[Ilsa lowers her head and begins to cry]

Rick: Now, now...

[Rick gently places his hand under her chin and raises it so their eyes meet]

Rick: Here's looking at you kid

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

Legendry Playback Singer Manna Dey no more

Manna Dey

{Prabodh Chandra Dey} (1 May 1919 − 24 October 2013),

A legendary playback singer and musical maestro Manna Dey died at ripe age of 94.He sang more than 3,500 songs in his career. He sang with greats like Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, and Kishore Kumar, and dominated the Hindi film music industry in the 50’ to 70’s.

Zindagi kaisi hai paheli hai -Anand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vgDb4TQneA

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-24649143

Good Old Classics…. A great watch again -Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy
There have been many a movie made in both Hollywood and Bollywood history which are labeled as golden classics. These movies can be watched and enjoyed many times over the years.  Few of these will be getting mentioned here ….

Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 film about the relationship between an elderly Southern Jewish widow and her African American chauffeur, reflecting the changing times from 1948 to 1973.



http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/61293/Driving-Miss-Daisy-Original-Trailer-.html

Cast
•    Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn
•    Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan
•    Dan Aykroyd as Boolie Werthan
•    Patti Lupone as Florine Werthan
•    Esther Rolle as Idella
•    Joann Havrilla as Miss McClatchey
•    William Hall Jr. as Oscar
•    Alvin M. Sugarman as Dr. Weil
•    Clarice F. Geigerman as Nonie
Directed by    Bruce Beresford
Produced by    Richard D. Zanuck,    Lili Fini Zanuck
Written by    Alfred Uhry
Photographed by   Peter James
Edited by    Mark Warner
Music by   Hans Zimmer
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rated PG
 Duration: 96 minutes



"Boolie Werthan: What I need is for somebody to drive my mother around.
Hoke Colburn: Well, if you don' mind my askin', sir—how come she's not hirin' for herself?
Boolie Werthan: See, it's kind of a delicate situation.
Hoke Colburn: Oh, yessir, yessir...done gone around the bend a little bit. Well, now, that'll happen as they get old...
Boolie Werthan: Oh, no, she's all there. Too-much-there is the problem! [Hoke laughs]"

Bollywood Movie Releases: October/November 2013

Besharam
Cast-Ranbir Kapoor,Pallavi Sharda,Rishi Kapoor,,Neetu Singh,Jaaved Jaaferi, Amitosh Nagpal, Himani Shivpuri,Rajkumar Kanojia
Producer-Sanjeev Gupta,Himanshu Kishan Mehra
Director- Abhinav Singh Kashyap
Story / Writers-    Abhinav Singh Kashyap,    Rajeev Barnwal
 Music-Lalit Pandit, Ishq Bector,    Shree D
Release Date-    2 Oct 2013
Genre-    Drama, Action, Romance

Boss
Cast-Akshay Kumar,Aditi Rao Hydari,Shiv Pandit, Mithun Chakraborty, Danny Denzongpa,Johny Lever,Parikshit Sahani,    Ronit Roy, Sonakshi Sinha( Item Number)Harry Josh,Prabhu Dheva( Cameo)
Producer-Ashwin Varde
Director- Anthony D'Souza
Story / Writers/screenplay -Sajid ,Farhad
Music-    Sandeep Shirodkar,Meet Bros Anjjan,Yo Yo Honey Singh,Chirantan Bhatt, P. A. Deepak
Release Date- 16 Oct 2013
Genre- Comedy, Drama, Action

Krrish 3
Cast-    Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Vivek Oberoi,    Arif Zakaria,Kangna Ranaut,Shaurya Chauhan, Rakhi Sawant
Producer/Director- Rakesh Roshan
Asst. Director-Jaideep Sen, Raksha Mistry
Story / Writers-    Rakesh Roshan
Music- Rajesh Roshan, Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant
Release Date-    1 Nov 2013
Genre-    Action, Romance, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Ram-Leela
Cast-Ranveer Singh,Deepika Padukone,Gulshan Devaiya,    Richa Chadda,Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh,Shveta Salve,Supriya Pathak,Girish Sahdev,Priyanka Chopra( Item Number)
Producer-Kishore Lulla,    Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Music: Sanjay Leela Bhansali ,Monty Sharma
Screenplay- Siddharth-Garima, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rutvik Oza
Based on Romeo and Juliet
Release Date-    15 Nov 2013
Genre-    Drama

Gori Tere Pyaar Mein!
Cast-Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Nizhalgal Ravi, Sujata Kumar, Manoj Bakshi, Neelu Kohli,Vineet Kumar Singh, Farzil Pardiwalla, Srikant Krishnamurthy, Om Ravindra Shetty,R Balasubramanian,Anandi Ramchandran,    Vallabh Gade,Esha Gupta ( Item Number)
Producer-Karan Johar,Hiroo Yash Johar
Director- Punit Malhotra
Co-Producer-Apoorva Mehta
Story / Writers-    Arshad Syed,Punit Malhotra
 Music-    Vishal –Shekar, Salim Merchant,Sulaiman Merchant
Release Date-    22 Nov 2013
Genre- Romance, comedy

  
   
Singh Saab The Great
Cast-Sunny Deol,Amrita Rao,Urvashi Rautela, Johny Lever,Prakash Raj,Anjali Abrol
Director-Anil Sharma
Producer-Anuj Sharma,    Sangeeta Ahir
Co-Producer-    Kushal Kantilal Gada, Dhaval Jayantilal Gada,Reshmaa Kadakia
Story / Writers:    Shaktimaan
Music -    Anu Malik,Sonu Nigam
Release Date-    22 Nov 2013
Genre-    Drama, Action



 
 Bullett Raja

Cast-Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Vidyut Jamwal, Jimmy Sheirgill, Gulshan Grover, Raj Babbar, Mahie Gill,Chunky Pandey, Ravi Kissen
Director- Tigmanshu Dhulia
Producer-Rahul Mittra,    Nitin Tej Ahuja,    Tigmanshu Dhulia
Story / Writers-    Tigmanshu Dhulia, Amaresh Misra
Music -    Sajid,Wajid
Screenplay-Tigmanshu Dhulia,    Amaresh Misra
Release Date-    29 Nov 2013
Genre-    Action

Phata Poster Nikla Hero- Review

Directed by: Rajkumar Santoshi and Hamza Anwar
Produced by: Ramesh Taurani, Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Written by: Rajkumar Santoshi
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Ileana D'Cruz, Padmini Kholapuri
Music by: Pritam
Release date: 20th September 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: **.5(2.5)
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!)





This is one of those movies where the trailer is good, picture not.  This movie trailer showed all the highlights of the movie trying to give a peak into a fun movie, unfortunately the movie itself didn’t have more than the highlights.

The story vaguely strung together between one song to the other is about  an aspiring actor  who becomes a real life hero  through journeys of fake cop and real cops, Bollywood dreams and mothers melodramatic desires. The movie’s songs seemed to have given a priority before the script itself because the screenplay just leads us from one song to the other without any depth and detail in story.

The best part of the movie was of course the song- Tu mere Agala Bagal  Hai song and Shahid Kapoors excited charm trying to make things funny in a jaded storyline. But rest all is just silly, clichéd story, theatrical comedy and old jokes.  Occasionally some things are funny, but it’s not enough to hold the story together or entertain enough.


Shahid Kapoor shows a lot of charm and enthusiasm to make things funny and entertaining but the script is so bad, he could only do so much. Illeana was very silly and her acting talents fell from her role in Barfi.

Mika Singh’s  Tu Mere Agal Bagal is very entertaining with Shahid Kapoors doggie moves. Atif Aslam’s Tu Rang Sharbaton Ka is melodious, the item song with Nargis Fakri, Dhating Naach  probably has some moves but nothing spectacular.

Just wait for it to come on Netflix or DVD

Shudd Desi Romance- Review

Directed by: Maneesh Sharma
Produced by :Aditya Chopra
Written by ; Jaideep Sahni
Starring :Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor,Rishi Kapoor
Music by:Sachin - Jigar
Release date:   September 6, 2013
Genre: Romance,comedy
Content advisory :  kissing, implied sex , smoking,drinking
Rating: **.5(2.5)
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!)


I don’t understand in what context they call this a ‘Shudd Desi Romance’ when ‘Shudd’ means ‘pure’ and the movie doesn’t reflect it! Neither does it show pure Desiness/Indianess in its south Asian belief structure of marriage and morals, nor does the romance reflect pure love, more of an attraction and sexual chemistry!  The movie also got released with alternative title ‘Random Desi Romance’ and that seems more appropriate, reflecting the skewed up mindset of some youth in progressive India who prefer commitment-less philosophy to  life, love and sex!


The story set in Jaipur, in the lower middle class strata, revolves around three lead actors, one male and two female. The male lead played by Sushant Singh Rajput is a sheepish, awkward  hypocritical  cold feet groom/ rental barati/ tourist guide who doesn’t know what he wants to do, nor know what he has to say at times.  The main female lead played by Parineti Chopra is an independent, aggressive, feisty, free willed woman who lives life by her own rules, and likes to live it with all risks, smoking, drinking, abortions and all ; while the other female lead by Vani Kapoor is a confident, assertive character/affected bride of a walk away wedding, wanting  revenge, yet getting emotions tangled.


The story involves frivolous wedding parties with  rental barati’s,  multiple commitment phobic wedding escapades,  live in relationships, moving in and moving out of relationship, aimless conversations, characters going in circles, repetitive scenes and  confused understanding of relationships. The flow of the story is pretty casual with slice of life scenes and funny at times, yet the scenes where characters talk into the camera to the audience doesn’t fit in the flow. The story also is slow paced and exhausted at times.


The director Maneesh Sharma, either has seen too many weddings growing up or he and producer  Aditya Chopra  want to use their  wedding research extensively; this is  another movie on weddings after  ‘Band Baja Barat’, and ‘Rab ne Bana di Jodi’ between them, they better move on.

The actors interestingly did an excellent job in their roles. Parineti Chopra lives up the role of this chilled casual character very well and comes out as a natural; Shushant Rajput suits the role of an awkward communication impaired, commitment phobic youth; while the new actress Vani Kapoor handles her role confidently and shows promise; Rishi Kapoor of course is a veteran actor.

The songs in the movie have foot tapping music and good lyrics and its cinematography brings out the architectural and cultural beauty of the pink city Jaipur. 

But will have to say it’s just another random movie.

Bollywood Film Critic in the News;)

Check out the  article below where Bollywood Film Critic is listed along with many other popular blogs online in an article titled "Webbed Feat" in India's widely read newspaper, Hindustan Times.  This article Webbed Feat was on page 6 of Hindustan Times, dated August 30, 2013.
 http://epaper.hindustantimes1.com/PUBLICATIONS/HTEDGE/HTE/2013/08/30/INDEX.SHTML
  You can read this article by  clicking on the above link and scrolling to page 6;)