Singh is Bliing Movie Review

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Kay Kay Menon, Lara Dutta

Director: Prabhu Dheva

Rating: 2 out of 5

An overdose of 'Punjabipana' and 'josh' that would make you want to get up not 'from' your seats but 'on' them and just start doing hardcore Bhangra. After surviving Hero, Katti Batti among the latest so-called big banners, Singh is Bliing is fairly tolerable.

A story about Raftaar (Akshay Kumar) who is a completely useless fellow who is a hero for no reason whatsoever in his village in Punjab and this tough girl who looks all dreamy, Sara (Amy Jackson) from Romania. Sara is in a soup when Marc (Kay Kay Menon) forces her to marry him and starts creating a ruckus in her life. So she decides to go India to escape this sleazeball and also look for her mom. That's when Sara and Raftaar meet for his dad sends him off to Goa to work for one of his friends.

There isn't much story in the entire movie and there are characters as random guest appearances throughout the movie. Like Prabhu Dheva can be spotted peeing on Akshay Kumar, yes you read it right, ON Akshay Kumar in one scene and then you see Sunny Leone at the airport when Akshay goes to receive Amy. Oh and there's Lara Dutta who by the way has put on so much weight that I could barely recognize her initially. First I thought that her role was a little cute but then did she become annoying as hell or what? She sleep-walks but it looks nothing close to that and seems more demented for she smiles in a weirdly creepy way.

Amy Jackson was not really disappointing for there wasn't much expected from her anyway. She has a standard expression throughout the movie which made me wonder does she have any idea what she is supposed to be doing? I really don't think that she should be signing any more movies for acting just isn't her cup of tea. Akshay Kumar on the other hand definitely pulls off the sardar look and proves that no one else could've done it better than him. He indeed is the ultimate turbinator of Bollywood. His comic timing has been seen and appreciated by everyone but somehow I feel that the comedy element should've been more in the movie.

Kay Kay Menon look exactly like Professor Snape from the Harry Potter series. I love that actor, but he was so bad in this that I wanted to pull my hair off, scream and run around on the streets for I just couldn't bear the pain of such a fine actor doing such a shoddy job. Akshay has been portrayed as a calm and composed sardar who is high on life but is completely non-violent. But the moment the bad guy touches his turban, the 'andar da sher' wakes up and that's it, he is a completely transformed human.

Overall, I'd say that Singh is Bliing is a movie for all those who are so proud to Sikhs that they wouldn't mind wasting their time, money and energy on watching such a movie. I would wrap up by giving it a 2 out of 5 stars.

Puli Movie Review

Rating: 3.75/5

Story:

Puli is about a young man, named Puli. He travels back to past with the help of time machine and he enters into a kingdom, where evil rules. What are the problems faced by Puli after entering the kingdom? Why did he went back to past? To know the answers for these questions, you need to watch the movie in theaters.

Artistes Performances:

Vijay looks handsome and he is terrific in a dual role. No other hero might have suited for this role and he is the correct choice for Puli role. Vijay’s expressions, heroic moments are superb. His majestic screen presence, emotional performance will attract the audiences.

Kiccha Sudeep’s role will be loved by his fans and he is remarkable in his role. He delivered the best performance as an antagonist. Actress Sridevi looks beautiful as usual and she has brought lots of depth to the movie.

Actresses Hansika and Shruti Haasan look wonderful in their respective roles and added glamour quotient to this movie. Actors Ali, Vidyu Raman, Thambi Ramaiah, Nandita Swetha etc played their parts well.

Plus Points:

Vijay’s majestic screen presence is the major highlight of this movie

Spell bounding visuals, extravagant sets catch the attention of the audiences

Actress Sridevi’s comeback is the major plus of this movie

Usage of Lilliput’s and giant tortoise will attract the children

Chimbu Devan’s storyline is interesting

Minus Points:

Certain scenes are little bit dragging and they could have been trimmed to reduce the run time. First half of the movie is average when compared to second half.

Analysis:

Puli is high on technical aspects and it is brilliant technical movin another aspects too. Everyone has worked hard to make this movie a visual extravaganza. One can experience the Hollywood range thrilling as sets, VFX work and  graphics are splendid.

The background score is nice and soulful. Art direction is fantastic, Muthuraj has done an excellent job. Be it the kingdom, tribal forests, kingdom surroundings etc, everything is mind blowing. Camerawork is marvelous.

Chimbu Devan’s storyline is not new and it is heard that, this story is much inspired from Brave Heart movie. He has uplifted the movie by delivering a visual extravaganza with loads of action, romance and stunts.

Verdict:

Never before seen visual Extravaganza!

Calendar Girls Movie Review

Star Cast: Ruhi Singh, Satarupa Pyne, Akanksha Puri, Kyra Dutt, Avani Modi, Suhel Seth

The film starts off with an introduction to the chosen five calendar models. We are first shown a picture of their backgrounds as they come from different towns and different family values too.

The five models essaying the lead characters are Akanksha Puri as Nandita Menon, Avani Modi as Nazneen Malik, Kyra Dutt as Sharon Pinto, Ruhi Singh as Mayuri Chauhan and Satarupa Pyne as Paroma Ghosh.

Typically, the story takes off by showing the changes that take place in the lives of these Calendar models post the fame they receive after its release. While Nandita gets hitched into a royal family, the Pakistani girl Nazneen tastes a bitter medicine thanks to her religious background. Sharon on the other hand, a straight forward girl, carves her way up with honesty and even changes her career as she becomes a TV anchor.

Mayuri takes Bollywood by storm with her social networking skills and Paroma gets involved into a match fixing controversy.

Add this story with heaps of make-up, not-so-classy dresses, cheesy dialogues and here is what the film is all about.

Script Analysis

We are tired of being told that ‘models are dumb’, designers are gay and corporates are all about escorts. That is the kind of stereotyping Madhur Bhandarkar portrays in his new film Calendar Girls. Half the time, he is busy reminding us of his own works and the rest is nothing startling or a discovery for us.

There is little realism in Bhandarkar’s so-called realistic film. If the whole dark side of fame and glamour was any less done-to-death, there are regressive ideas passed on too. In one of the scenes, the editor of a news channel is actually seen asking Sharon’s character who plays an anchor for an entertainment show that she has been promoted to the Delhi office so that she can do ‘serious journalism’. Well, looks like Mr. Bhandarkar thinks there is no ‘serious’ journalism left in Entertainment.

The writing is outdated and dialogues such as “Mujhe bada paisa, bada hero aur badi film chahiye” are highly disappointing. The only new angle that Bhandarkar introduces to the film is the bigger role social networking plays in the lives of the upcoming Bollywood stars and models who are trending topics. He briefly touches the topics of spot-fixing in a la IPL tournament but it’s an unnecessary addition. He even touches on the controversial models taking part in reality show competition for an image makeover topic. But overall, the plot seems extremely botched up with too much on its plate.

Thank God! Bhandarkar missed the ‘drug abuse’ issue.

Performance

Amongst the five newbies, Akanksha Puri, Avani Modi, Kyra Dutt, Ruhi Singh and Satarupa Pyne, sadly there is not one who comes across as an actress. All five of them seem a little plastic to emote well. Yet, Kyra Dutt gets a good chunk of a role and hence she is the one who is the most notable. Also Ruhi Singh who may have clicked ‘selfies’ all through her role, gets a decent screen time amongst the other girls.

Madhur Bhandarkar makes quite an unnecessary cameo in the second half and plays himself (as one of the most-sought after directors in B-town). As though he could not explain it to the media in interviews, Bhandarkar actually has a scene where he mentions why he makes films with women-centric roles.

Rohit Roy is once again his pick as the fashion photographer and he gets a brief role in the first half.

Suhel Seth’s character is drawn from Vijay Mallya and he does basically nothing in the film. One character which actually should have been focused on and developed by the writers.

Music, Direction

Madhur Bhandarkar has now come quite far from his hard-hitting film times. He has completely lost his vision and it is very clear with Calendar Girls. If only, Bhandarkar had realized that none of his lead actresses can act he could have still made the film work with the right cast. His five lead actresses, on whose shoulders the film rests, are completely poor at emoting and well, the dialogue delivery is sufficient to show how much they need to lean about acting.

Technically too the film faces a lot of issues and it is extremely impossible to watch even the lip-sync going off-balance.

The bikini avatars do not glue the audiences when the story is going haywire and hence while the first half is still bearable, the second half completely loses its grip. To top it all, the background score is also not effective and the music is a big let down. Luckily, the editing is in place and hence the film wraps up soon which is a delight.

Verdict

Calendar Girls is a complete let down on all fronts, acting, writing and direction. Nothing real or reel in this film is appealing and hence I am going with a 1.5/5 for the film.

Bhaag Johnny Review

Star Cast: Kunal Kemmu, Zoa Morani, Mandana Karimi, Vikram Bhatt, Elli Avram

Janardan Arora aka Johnny (Kunal Kemmu) is a Casanova who is happy with his life until his boss, Ramona Bakshi (Manasi Scott) forces him to become a contract killer for her, in exchange of not reporting his illegal insider trading activities. Ramona sends him off for three days to Pattaya to kill Tanya (Zoa Morani).

Not prepared to turn a murderer, Johnny’s story gets a supernatural twist as he meets a genie. Ahem! Difficult to digest but yes, director Vikram Bhatt is his spirit guide and he gives Johnny a choice of leading two lives to tackle the situation. One in which he kills Tanya and the second one where he flees saving her life.

What will happen in the end? Which life will Johnny choose? Why is Tanya’s murder important for Ramona? This is what the film culminates further into.

Script Analysis

After watching the first half of the film itself, we are left saying ‘Bhaag’ to ourselves from the theaters. Till the time, the story was revolving around a simple blackmail and murder mystery genre, I was under the impression that it was just another bad thriller but what’s with the ‘genie’ twist?

There is a  scene where the ‘genie’ sends Johnny to a lonely desert when he says ‘leave me alone’ to prove him that he is actually a genie. In that scene, Johnny retorts ‘What the f*ck’ and I was like, that’s exactly my reaction to where this story is going. The characters are written so badly that you could laugh at their conversations.

Iranian Model Mandana Kari make her debut in the film and her character of an embassy interpreter is pathetic. No detailing at all. The life lessons that this thriller tries to convey through its ‘good vs evil’ act is boring. The climax of this tiring three day tirade of Johnny’s life is even more yawn-inducing.

The love angle that is forcibly added is also not impressive in any way. Towards the end there is a dialogue that Johnny cracks ‘Olympics mein bhaaga hota toh gold medal milta’. Well, I would say give me a medal for ruining my Friday morning start with this film.

Star Performance

Kunal Kemmu is actually a decent actor but always seems to find the worst of the scripts. His talent is getting wasted with these films and well, it’s disappointing.

Zoa Morani has learnt nothing after her debut Always Kabhi Kabhi. She is still quite stiff with her body language and her dialogue delivery is extremely weak.

Manasi Scott as Ramona Bakshi does nothing other than wearing corporate suits and strutting around like a hot mean boss.

Mandana Kari hardly has a role. Her character is introduced in the second half and of course she gets a bikini scene in the film without a necessity. There is nothing impressive about her debut.

Straight out of Meeruthiya Gangsters, Mukul Dev essays the role of Pathan, another shoddy character of a cop.

Director Vikram Bhatt plays a genie (LOL). He is dressed in a black overcoat and flashes a know-it-all smile all the time as he gives ‘gyaan’ on life. His first appearance in the film is your WTF moment!

Music, Direction

This Shivam Nair directorial is a head-ache to watch. We are not excited to watch one complete story of Johnny and he gives us two. The songs are placed horribly in the film, especially ‘Iss Qadar Pyaar Hai’ which pops up from literally no where and even ends abruptly. Background score is another big problem in this film. Since Johnny is on the run, there is this constant heavy guitaring that follows him everywhere and then suddenly his moments with Tanya get a romantic, light music score. It is a terrible blend and we bet the director thought it was a necessity to show his distinct lives. Just when you think the film has reached its climax, well it doesn’t. There are ample of ‘Bhaag audience Bhaag’ moments that this film gives. The action in the film is quite average too and the editing effects used in it are very clearly visible.

The music of the film is popular and the club number ‘Daddy Mummy’ is fun to hear on a loud decibel thanks to its music. If only, a decent soundtrack was well-placed in the film.

Verdict

Bhaag Johnny is not your film for the week unless you want to watch a film that stars Vikram Bhatt as a genie. I am going with a 1.5/5 for this crass thriller that never ups its pace.