Oscar Nominations 2018

Oscar Nominations for the 90th academy awards

This year's Oscars will be awarded on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, airing at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET

Call Me by Your Name

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS

Phantom Thread

DANIEL KALUUYA

Get Out

GARY OLDMAN

Darkest Hour

DENZEL WASHINGTON

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

WILLEM DAFOE

The Florida Project

WOODY HARRELSON

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

RICHARD JENKINS

The Shape of Water

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER

All the Money in the World

SAM ROCKWELL

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

NOMINEES

SALLY HAWKINS

The Shape of Water

FRANCES MCDORMAND

Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

MARGOT ROBBIE

I, Tonya

SAOIRSE RONAN

Lady Bird

MERYL STREEP

The Post

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

NOMINEES

MARY J. BLIGE

Mudbound

ALLISON JANNEY 

I, Tonya

LESLEY MANVILLE

Phantom Thread

LAURIE METCALF

Lady Bird

OCTAVIA SPENCER

The Shape of Water

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

NOMINEES

THE BOSS BABY

Tom McGrath and Ramsey Naito

THE BREADWINNER

Nora Twomey and Anthony Leo

COCO

Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson

FERDINAND

Carlos Saldanha

LOVING VINCENT

Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman and Ivan Mactaggart

CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Roger A. Deakins

DARKEST HOUR

Bruno Delbonnel

DUNKIRK

Hoyte van Hoytema

MUDBOUND

Rachel Morrison

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Dan Laustsen

COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Jacqueline Durran

DARKEST HOUR

Jacqueline Durran

PHANTOM THREAD

Mark Bridges

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Luis Sequeira

VICTORIA & ABDUL

Consolata Boyle

DIRECTING

NOMINEES

DUNKIRK

Christopher Nolan

GET OUT

Jordan Peele

LADY BIRD

Greta Gerwig

PHANTOM THREAD

Paul Thomas Anderson

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

NOMINEES

ABACUS: SMALL ENOUGH TO JAIL

Steve James, Mark Mitten and Julie Goldman

FACES PLACES

Agnès Varda, JR and Rosalie Varda

ICARUS

Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan

LAST MEN IN ALEPPO

Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed and Søren Steen Jespersen

STRONG ISLAND

Yance Ford and Joslyn Barnes

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

NOMINEES

EDITH+EDDIE

Laura Checkoway and Thomas Lee Wright

HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405

Frank Stiefel

HEROIN(E)

Elaine McMillion Sheldon and Kerrin Sheldon

KNIFE SKILLS

Thomas Lennon

TRAFFIC STOP

Kate Davis and David Heilbroner

FILM EDITING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Paul Machliss and Jonathan Amos

DUNKIRK

Lee Smith

I, TONYA

Tatiana S. Riegel

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Sidney Wolinsky

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Jon Gregory

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

NOMINEES

A FANTASTIC WOMAN

Chile

THE INSULT

Lebanon

LOVELESS

Russia

ON BODY AND SOUL

Hungary

THE SQUARE

Sweden

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES

DARKEST HOUR

Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

VICTORIA & ABDUL

Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

WONDER

Arjen Tuiten

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

NOMINEES

DUNKIRK

Hans Zimmer

PHANTOM THREAD

Jonny Greenwood

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Alexandre Desplat

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

John Williams

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Carter Burwell

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

NOMINEES

MIGHTY RIVER

from Mudbound; Music and Lyric by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson

MYSTERY OF LOVE

from Call Me by Your Name; Music and Lyric by Sufjan Stevens

REMEMBER ME

from Coco; Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

STAND UP FOR SOMETHING

from Marshall; Music by Diane Warren; Lyric by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren

THIS IS ME

from The Greatest Showman; Music and Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges and Marco Morabito, Producers

DARKEST HOUR

Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, Anthony McCarten and Douglas Urbanski, Producers

DUNKIRK

Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers

GET OUT

Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Edward H. Hamm Jr. and Jordan Peele, Producers

LADY BIRD

Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O'Neill, Producers

PHANTOM THREAD

JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Megan Ellison and Daniel Lupi, Producers

THE POST

Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, Producers

PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Alessandra Querzola

DARKEST HOUR

Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

DUNKIRK

Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

NOMINEES

DEAR BASKETBALL

Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant

GARDEN PARTY

Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon

LOU

Dave Mullins and Dana Murray

NEGATIVE SPACE

Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata

REVOLTING RHYMES

Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

NOMINEES

DEKALB ELEMENTARY

Reed Van Dyk

THE ELEVEN O'CLOCK

Derin Seale and Josh Lawson

MY NEPHEW EMMETT

Kevin Wilson, Jr.

THE SILENT CHILD

Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton

WATU WOTE/ALL OF US

Katja Benrath and Tobias Rosen

SOUND EDITING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Julian Slater

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Mark Mangini and Theo Green

DUNKIRK

Richard King and Alex Gibson

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Matthew Wood and Ren Klyce

SOUND MIXING

NOMINEES

BABY DRIVER

Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin and Mary H. Ellis

BLADE RUNNER 2049

Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill and Mac Ruth

DUNKIRK

Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern and Glen Gauthier

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES

BLADE RUNNER 2049

John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner and Dan Sudick

KONG: SKULL ISLAND

Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza and Mike Meinardus

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

Joe Letteri, Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon and Joel Whist

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Screenplay by James Ivory

THE DISASTER ARTIST

Screenplay by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

LOGAN

Screenplay by Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green; Story by James Mangold

MOLLY'S GAME

Written for the screen by Aaron Sorkin

MUDBOUND

Screenplay by Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

NOMINEES

THE BIG SICK

Written by Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani

GET OUT

Written by Jordan Peele

LADY BIRD

Written by Greta Gerwig

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro & Vanessa Taylor; Story by Guillermo del Toro

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

Written by Martin McDonagh

Newton: A Political Satire

Director and Writer: Amit V Masurkar

Producer: Manish Mundra

Screenplay: Amit V Masurkar. Mayank Tewari

Starring : Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Tripathi, Anjali Patil, Raghubir Yadav

Music: Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor, Rachita Arora

Running time: 106 minutes

Language: Hindi, Gondi

Rating: ***.5 (3.5/5)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU6zMPFd4UU

 (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 a political satire or social commentary is doled out with comedy and humor instead of being preachy, it reaches larger audiences and the depth and poignancy of the realities are more palpable.  Director Masurkar carries out this strategy with Newton while critically depicting the state of democratic process in Indian elections.

The story features a rule oriented, honest and idealistic, Newton Kumar who self-christened himself Newton, not happy with the name his was born with ;) .  When sent on election duty in the Maoist-Naxallite controlled jungle of Chhattisgarh to conduct the electoral process, he is dogged and determined of conducting a fair voting process.  In spite of his awareness of it being a conflict region, and despite being warned and dissuaded about the whole process being a charade, his faith in the system and sticking by the rules to conduct the electoral procedure for democratic process is resolute. His hope to make a difference slowly and steadily is meant to inspire every common man and citizen for a better future.

The movie subtly exposes  neglect, poverty, ignorance, corruption, indifference of government officials, Naxalite insurgence, suppression of Adivasi’s, power and dominance of the armed and security forces and many such issues besides the critic of  democratic electoral process.

Actor Raj Kumar Rao brings out the idealist Newton with his naïve stubbornness with all the quirks brilliantly. The other strong character and a starch contrast to the protagonist is of cynical skeptic and egotistical Aatma Singh played by Pankaj Tripathi who equally shines in the process.  Anjali Patil as Malko and Raghuvir Yadav as Lokhnath all have strong roles portraying different ideologies and valid facet of the system.

 The director Masurkar and writer Tewari have to be applauded for this dark comedy, and their hope to make a difference…..

This movie is India’s entry to the Best foreign language film  to  Oscar’s and hope it makes some impact on the larger level too.

If you want to check out the movie on screen and personally interact with the director check out  the screening by Indie Meme-http://www.indiememe.org/newton

Showtimes  in Austin and Dallas TX.

AUSTIN SCREENINGTuesday, December 5th 2017 | 7:00 - 9:00 PMAFS Cinema, 6406 N IH-35 Suite 3100, Austin, Texas 78752​***Director Amit Masurkar will be present for a post-screening Q&A*** 

DFW SCREENINGThursday, December 7th 2017 | 7:15 - 9:15 PM Angelika Film Center & Café, Plano, TX​Post screening Skype with filmmaker Amit Masurkar 

Jab Harry Met Sejal – Review

Directed by Imtiaz Ali

Produced by Gauri Khan

Written by Imtiaz Ali

Starring  Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Evelyn Sharma, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aru Krishansh Verma. Paras Arora

Music by Songs: Pritam, Diplo

Background score: Hitesh Sonik

Release date: 4 August 2017

Running time: 144 minutes

Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

Rating: 2.5/5

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MZevEH5Ns

(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!)

Let me ward off all those under the assumption that it’s a take on the classic Hollywood movie “When Harry Met Sally” because of the name similarity. No it’s far away from that story, let alone has any story! Jab Harry Met Sejal is focused on two characters- Tour guide  Harry- Shahrukh Khan,  and newly engaged  Gujrati girl  Sejal – Anoushka,  who lost her engagement ring,  and the trivial  pursuit  around Amsterdam, Prague, Budapest and Lisbon,  pointlessly  searching…..

Though the heroine says dhundnay say bhagwan bhi miljaatay hain, It’s been sometime our search for a good movie is not answered!

Director Imtiaz Ali seems to have met with disorientation and blankness since the story and direction both fall short of his previous reputation and is plainly lost and undeveloped.  The movie is fluffy with clichéd conversations and clueless ramblings about seeking something yet there is nothingness…maybe that is the point.

The first half of the movie is little cheery with some fun moments but the second half drags with dullness…..  the ring search is an excuse for many alternatives- Sejals trying out her naïve idea of independence and seeking fun and freedom before she gets tied down to practical and boring married life! This fun and freedom obviously involves full scale flirting with the tour guide, irrespective of the Harrys vague efforts to warn her about his apparent brazen reputation with women; Sejals desire to be valued by a man who will romantically  mesmerize the woman making her believe she is the only woman in the world, and of course Shahrukh Khan has a expertise in creating this magical moments just by the look in the eyes;   The search for the ring is supposed to also relate to the characters search for oneself, what they are and what they are seeking in life but  its in-explicit since the depth of characters is not very developed to go into the insight stage of  their inner selves!

In this love story (not sure I can call it that, since it so under cooked) the  relationship is muddled, Harrys  perception of Sejal  as naïve, sweet, sister type, to porcelain untouchable Chinese vase type, and Sejals blatantly flirtatious desire to be perceived as sexy, hot and layak enough to be his  conquests, to  ‘Tum us type ki ladki nahi ho’ to will you be the kind of bad, cheap, ghatiya girl who leaves her fiancée and runs away with her tour guide is  erratically conflicting throughout and  this romance doesn’t give  definition of  love  either…..

There are too many songs and instances of unnecessary story written in to fit a song. The ‘Hawayein’ song was melodious and may be ‘Beech Beech mein’ is little catchy, the rest are pushing it.

Shahrukh khan of course is the king of Romance, he has his works on in the romantic moments but otherwise how much can he do when there is no story. But that aside, he is looking awfully old these days, I saw the movie  up close from the second row in theatre on the first day and saw his skin pores, smoking stained yellow finger nails, discolored teeth, and enlarged veins,  he better take care of his romantic king image.

The character of Sejal with the heavy Gujrati accent in this time and age for LLB grad was overdone. Her fashion sense needed help, her actions and dialog were contradictory and inconsistent, and I guess Anoushka may have been lost in the effort to showcase capricious, stereotyped Sejal.

I guess there is no hurry to rush to the theaters, one can relax and watch better made Shahrukh Khan movies at home.

  

Bollywood Movie Releases 2017 January- June

Tubelight

Release date: June 23   

Genre: Action/Drama

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, Zhu Zhu, Matin Rey Tangu, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Om Puri, Yashpal Sharma, Shah Rukh Khan (cameo)

Half Girlfriend

Director: Mohit Suri

Producer: Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Mohit Suri, Chetan Bhagat

Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Rhea Chakraborty

Written by Ishita Moitra Udhwani (Dialogues)

Screenplay by    Tushar Hiranandani

Based on Novel -Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat

Release Date: May 19

Genre: Romance/Drama

     

          

Sachin: A Billion Dreams

Director:  James Erskine

Producers: Ravi Bhagchandka; Carnival Motion Pictures

Written by James Erskine; Sivakumar Ananth

Cast: Sachin Tendulkar Virender Sehwag, Mayuresh Pem

Music by A. R. Rahman

Release date: 26 May 2017

Genre: Biopic

Hindi Medium

Gnere:  Drama/Romance

Director:Saket Chaudhary

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Saba Qamar, Deepak Dobriyal

Release date: May 18 2017

Meri Pyaari Bindu

Genre: Romance

Director: Akshay Roy

Producers: Aditya Chopra, Maneesh Sharma

Writer: Suprotim Sengupta

Music by Sachin–Jigar

Cast: Akshay Roy, Ayushmann Khurrana, Parineeti Chopra

Release date: May 12

               

Sarkar 3

Genre: Political Crime Thriller

Director:Ram Gopal Varma         

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Manoj Bajpayee, Amit Sadh, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy

Release date: May 12

Begum Jaan

Genre: Period Drama    

Cast: Vidya Balan, Gauhar Khan, Naseeruddin Shah

Release date: April 14

Director: Srijit Mukherji

Producers: Mukesh Bhatt, Vishesh Bhatt

Writer: Kausar Munir (Dialogue)

Screenplay by Srijit Mukherji, Kausar Munir

Story by Sumair Malik

Based on Bengali movie Rajkahini (2015)by Srijit Mukherji

                                         Noor

Director: Sunhil Sippy

Producer: Raja Mishra , Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra

Writer:  Ishita Moitra Udhwani(Dialogues)

Screenplay:Althea Delmas-Kaushal,Shikhaa Sharma,Sunhil Sippy, Saba Imtiaz

Based on book: Karachi, You're Killing Me! by Saba Imtiaz

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar,Purab Kohli

Music - Songs:Amaal Mallik Background score: Naren Chandavarkar, Benedict Taylor

                                         Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

Release date: April 28   

Genre: Epic/Action

Director: S. S. Rajamouli

Producer: Shobu Yarlagadda, Prasad Devineni

Cast:      Prabhas,  Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Ramya Krishnan, Sathyaraj, Nassar, Tamannaah

Screenplay: K. V. Vijayendra Prasad,S. S. Rajamouli

Story: K. V. Vijayendra Prasad

Music:   M. M. Keeravani

Language:Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Hindi

                                        Badrinath Ki Dulhania

Release date: March 10

Genre:  Romance/Comedy         

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt

                                           Rangoon             

Release date: February 24          

Genre:Romance/Drama              

Director: Vishal Bhardwaj            

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Kangana Ranaut

                                      Jolly LLB 2

Release: February 10

Genre:Drama   

Director: Subhash Kapoor            

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, Annu Kapoor

          

     

                                         Kaabil   

Release date: January 25

Genre: Action/Drama

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy Narendra Jha

                                             

                                       Raees

Release date: January 25

Genre:Action/Thriller

Director: Rahul Dholakia

Cast; Shah Rukh Khan, Mahira Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

                                        OK Jaanu

Release date: January 13

Genre: Romance/Drama

Director: Shaad Ali

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapur, Shraddha Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Leela Samson

Bollywood Movie Releases -Nov and Dec 2016

Rock On 2

Directed by Shujaat Saudagar

Produced by Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani

Written by Abhishek Kapoor, Pubali Chaudhuri

Starring : Farhan Akhtar, Shraddha Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Prachi Desai, Shashank Arora

Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Release dates:11 November 2016

Running time: 143 minutes

Tum Bin 2

Directed by Anubhav Sinha

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anubhav Sinha

Written by Anubhav Sinha

Starring : Neha Sharma, Aditya Seal, Aashim Gulati

Music by Ankit Tiwari & Nikhil-Vinay

Cinematography Ewan Mulligan

Release dates: 18 November 2016

Force 2

Directed by Abhinay Deo

Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Viacom Motion Pictures,John Abraham

Written by Parveez Shaikh, Jasmeet K. Reen

Starring John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Raj Bhasin

Release dates: 18 November 2016

Dear Zindagi

Directed by Gauri Shinde

Produced by Gauri Khan, Karan Johar, Gauri Shinde

Writer and screenplay - Gauri Shinde

Starring : Shah Rukh Khan,  Alia Bhatt

Music by Amit Trivedi

Release dates: 23 November 2016 (United States); 25 November 2016 (Worldwide)

Kahani 2

Directed by Sujoy Ghosh

Produced by Sujoy Ghosh, Jayantilal Gada

Written by Sujoy Ghosh, Ritesh Shah (dialogues)

Story by Sujoy Ghosh, Suresh Nair

Starring : Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal

Music by              Clinton Cerejo

Release dates: 2 December 2016[1]

Running time: 119 minutes

Befikre

Directed by Aditya Chopra

Produced by Aditya Chopra

Screenplay and story  by Aditya Chopra; Sharat Katariya (dialogues)

Starring: Ranveer Singh, Vaani Kapoor

Music by Vishal-Shekhar

Release dates: 9 December 2016

Dangal

Directed by Nitesh Tiwari

Produced by Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Written by Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Meharotra

Based on Mahavir Singh Phogat

Starring Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra

Music by Pritam Chakraborty

Release dates: December 23, 2016

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Review

The title "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" - says it all- Love is complicated and difficult, and so is the Movie!

Directed by Karan Johar

Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar

Written by Karan Johar

Starring : Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Fawad Khan

Music by Pritam

Cinematography: Anil Mehta

Release dates: 28 October 2016

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNKsW-E_po

Genre: Romance

Review : Birjis Adeni Rashed

Rating: ***(3 /5)

(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!)

The movie makes attempts to define love in various ways- platonic, passionate, physical, pretentious gold digger kind, one sided & unrequited, heartbroken,  friendship vs love comparison.... but in spite of this exhausting exercise, love is still left unexplained!

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has clichéd romantic configurations like other Karan Johar’s movies “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Kabhi Alvida na Kehna”, “Kal Ho Na Ho” and has shades, recall of dialogs, reminders and mash up of all these movies and more.   But ADHM in spite of glamorous stars, excellent acting, and beautiful cinematography falls short with its lack of fresh story becoming just an exaggerated and superficial takeoff.    

The story based in London revolves around Ayan (Ranbhir), a rich, unfocused, MBA student wanna be singer, and  Alizeh (Anoushka)  a  privileged, fun loving,  spirited girl who is always seeking life’s distractions. They meet at a pub and find they have a lot in common like their taste in tacky 80s music, fascination for living out Bollywood dream sequences,  taking off in private jets at whims and fancy,  and such, and become soulmates!  

 But things get complicated when Ayan falls in love with Alizeh while she wants to remain friends with Ayan and yearns for her Ex- Ali ( Fawad Khan). Each ones perspectives of love is different and this leads to conflict. Ali re-enters in Alizehs life and Ayan bounces off to new flame Saba (Aishwarya). Karan Johar tries to share more philosophies on love and drags the confusing saga. And to complicate the already perplexing situation with no resolution, he takes a deviant twist to the story and comes out to a disjointed conclusion!

 The characters in the movie are complex with strong emotions and all the actors give out quality performances reflecting those personalities. Ranbhir Kapoor expressively conveys a compendium of emotions to reflect his confused characters many phases and moods at the risk of even being irritating.  Anoushka’s acting skills are excellent and echoes her strong minded character. Aishwarya adds an aura of self-importance with her ethereal aloofness and mirrors the role perfectly.  Fawad Khan is not more than eye candy for his fans since his role is sadly chopped small due to recent Indo-Pak controversies.  Lost in edits, the details of love story and reasoning of passionate yearning of Alizeh for Ali are left for assumption. Lisa Hayden as the gold digger/ temporary girlfriend, provides some comic relief in the movie. Johar even introduces couple special appearances to make it glossier, if it was not enough!

The songs are the highlight of the movie and are melodious specially the title songs-Ae Dil Hai Mushkil,  Channa Mereya and  Bulleya. Cinematography across London, Paris and Vienna is good if you don’t delve in to the unrealistic jet setting reasoning.

 If you were expecting to walk out of the theater with exhilaration or poignancy or even simple satisfaction  like other Karan Johar movies, you will be disappointed.  End of this movie you are just restless and confused!

 More Audience Reactions after movie viewing in Austin, TX :

Farah said- “ It had good acting, some good songs, good looking people… but too long, and story was bakwas”

H said - “Movie is good if watched as few different segments, as a whole it doesn’t have a clear focus or main theme. And it was too long and rather confusing.”

M said- “Movie was confusing”

S said –“I just like the songs”

Tanveer said- “It has a bunch of nice looking guys and gals....all rich, bekaar, self-absorbed, and weighed down by heavy emotional baggage.…. When these worthies are not flirting, mating, or making preparations to mate, they break into old Bollywood songs. Seems like Johar is mocking and celebrating the 70s and 80s Bollywood era... all at the same time. Corny dialogues, kitschy costumes, awful sweaters, navel-baring georgette sarees and short cholis.....all are recalled for nostalgic effect…..The mating ritual keeps going but soon gets tiresome for all the players who now want to grow up. The fidgety audience is also getting tired of this mating game and wants to head home.”

You are welcome  to add your opinions and point of views  in the comments . Thank you.