Movie Review: '2 States'

Krish (Arjun) is a relaxed Punjabi with an IIT degree to flaunt. Ananya (Alia) is a modern Tamilian with an Eco-topper tag to her credit. Both meet at a queue leading to a bad sambar and a good rasgulla, become friends, and slowly graduate in love along with graduating in MBA from IIMA. They decide to tie the knot but come to know that the threads of their families are differently knotted. They decide to tackle the easy end of the problem first – to convince Ananya’s parents to agree. Krish chooses Chennai as his work location, warms up with her family, gives her younger brother IIT tuition, encourages her mother to pursue singing, helps her father prepare a presentation, and then hits the iron when it is hot by sweetly proposing the entire family to marry him; and that does the trick. The South okays to meet the North; or should I say, the low-keyed agrees to meet the loudmouthed. The Northerners seem to feel that the position of the state in the map reflects the level of status in the society and behaves accordingly. Krish's mom, Amrita Singh, becomes a tough nut to crack and convincing her disturbs the delicate equations. Some sparks fly when the two opposite poles try to unite. The whole drama with various tactics to woo the opposite party and to compromise on some of the things you hold so dearly to your heart is woven really well.

The film touches many of the untapped angles on the path from courtship through to marriage. I applaud director Abhishek Varman for effectuating the perfect frames to pull off Chetan Bhagat’s story; especially the wedding scene towards the end with apposite background sounds is the scene that made me go wow. Ronit Roy nicely fills the shoes of a bully-with-a-heart father. Amrita Singh and her counterpart, both give a punch of their presence. Arjun looks good in the role of a soft-spoken, levelheaded lover. But the pleasant surprise for me is Alia Bhatt who emerges as a true headturner with the mind of her own, showing proudly the mettle of her acting. The movie is a candid display of a sweet love story with parents creating a rough weather and lovers keeping their cool, settling the dust by the end. The enjoyable thing is the culture clash that is amazingly captured both in the book and in the movie. There is indeed a watchable stuff in here and is as fun as watching delicious chicken being served in a banana leaf with a potful of sambar and a bottle of booze by the side of a hungry gut.

Side effects of 'Shaadi ke side effects' - Prize

A nice T-shirt with a DVD and a creative calender is a combo of side effects of my review of "Shaadi ke side effects". Thanks, TV18 Broadcast Ltd. 

Movie Review: 'Shaadi ke side effects'

Sid (Farhan Akhtar) and Trisha (Vidya Balan) try to cover almost all the possible angles of disputes, bargains, expectations, finesse, and romance a couple goes through mainly in the initial few years of marriage. They apply various formulas to cope with changes and continue a happily married life but everything bombs out. Even though the side effects of marriage strike both the partners, the story is shown particularly from Sid’s view.

Farhan and Vidya stick to their acting abilities and fit the bill conveniently. Ram Kapoor is fun to watch as Trisha’s brother-in-law. Ila Arun does well in her role of a bumptious caretaker but frankly her role is one of the avoidable or editable pieces of the second half. Vir Das as Farhan’s cool bro grabs attention with his firm grip on comedy. Oh yes, there is also Purab Kohli in the movie who seems to have come straight after the shooting of Nescafe’s new ad and hasn’t forgotten his character of a dying-to-meet neighbour eyeing up the girl next door. He has been given the same role with the same duration.

Couple of instances really snatch the laughs out of you, like the one in which after confirming her pregnancy when Trisha asks Sid of his opinion whether to keep the baby or not, Sid answers, “Tumhari body hai, tum decide karo”. The other ones include - Sid’s cutting the Donald Duck cake on his birthday by slicing the Duck’s neck; the desperate attempts made by Sid to understand whether his daughter feels cold, hot, or hungry. There is a hilarious scene wherein Sid’s friends come over to his place to watch a football match together but they have to keep calm, can’t cheer, and mute the volume because it’s Trisha’s order to Sid to follow instructions for keeping their baby asleep! Ram Kapoor bags some of the really side-splitting moments specially while ordering his son in various foreign languages.

Overall, the movie is a visual and musical Wedlock Manual showing dos and don’ts for keeping the married life alive and kicking. The best part of the movie is its first half, filled with contextual one liners and a hotfooting script. After the interval, side effects of marriage and the movie kick in beyond a limit so much that they not only fracture the pace of the movie but also put the patience to test. The topping of emotions simply doesn’t go very well with the fine base of comedy when Sid suffers, understands, becomes wise, and preaches that there are no formulas for a happy marriage; only staying truthful works. I give three stars to the movie - two and a half for the pre-interval fun, and the rest half for the dedicated acting.

Prize, yet again!

Prize for the Dedh Ishqiya review. When you get a prize for a good review of a good movie, it feels good. My friends would again tell me to have a change in career! Thanks,TV18 Broadcast Ltd. 

Movie Review: 'Dedh Ishqiya'

Here is a teaser, not the full story that is wonderfully directed by Abhishek Chaubey. Two rustic thugs Iftikhar Khalu (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi) are out on a mission of stealing an expensive neckpiece as rookies who lack smartness yet bubble with confidence. They are chased by the police and then Khalu goes missing with the neckpiece. Babban comes to know that in Mahbubabad, Khalu being chalu, portraying himself as a Nawab among many others tries his luck with winning a swayamwar competition of Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit) who had apparently given a promise to her late Nawab husband that she would remarry! Like every year, wanna-be grooms with poetic tastes assemble to form a huge gathering to impress the Begum with their verses and shooting skills. Babban gets erotically occupied with Begum Para’s close aide Muniya (Huma Quereshi) whereas rhapsodic Khalu’s heart begins to touch heavens as he hears his name sexily uttered by Para. But there is one guy who can create ripples to this soothing love lake, and don’t take him for granted, he is the local MLA Jaan Mohammad (Vijay Raaz). Things change thereafter and the story takes couple of turns to unfold some new elements.

The best part of the movie is its refreshed writing that has carved many lippy lines and has found some of the spic-and-span comic areas that can have the entire theatre in splits. Like the scene in the first half shows that everyone points guns at one another; then they argue on who would surrender first; when nobody wants then all literally stick to their guns and stay in the same position throughout the night till they hear school children sing in the morning “Hamko mann ki shakti dena” and decide to let go of their guns the next moment! Also, the real power of creativity is shown when the climax looks simply hilarious even though it has gun shots with fights on the railway station (named “Baap”)! The only excusable shortcoming that often stays along with the movie is its lackadaisical pace lowering the grip specifically during its middle segment.

All the actors get their fair share of play and do justice to their parts. Naseeruddin Shah is mighty as ever. Madhuri is graceful as Begum and Huma is good as well. Arshad is just spot-on, making Babban as strong a character as Circuit of Munnabhai. Last but certainly not the least it is must to mention the overpowering performance of Vijay Raaz who very easily pulls off humour while blending menace with fabricated decency. The high point of the movie lies in great attention to detail, from the names of places and characters to seven-course love explanation. For people appreciating Urdu it’s a cherry on the cake. Go and relish the superbly scripted enjoyable stuff. Such combinations of original writing, perfect casting, and impeccable performances rarely come as a combo.