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.

Movie Review: 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'

The movie opens with the cheers from the audience in the stadium converging with the hoots within the cinema hall when the camera admiringly revolves around Milkha Singh’s imposing posture. The story is then put on a snail-paced, detail-rich biographical path and goes back and forth more than necessary times, interrupting the normal pace of watching just exactly when the environment is set. The movie spans from Milkha as a kid till Milkha ‘became India’. You are introduced deeply with the determined personality of Milkha Singh, the living legend, through the finest performance by Farhan Akhtar. The protagonist shows you what he went through, how he took it, what he had to let go, what kept him going, how he hung on, and what he eventually became. Now let me come to some specifics. There’s not even an iota of suspense in the story. You would see creativity in expressing a real, heart-felt love; be it with your sister, friend, lover, or nation. You are sure to learn some cost-effective yet workable and timelessly charming ways of impressing your girl. The story essentially covers how a pitiable victim of partition became the proud, plugging link between the two nations.

The director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is a master of presenting reality without razzmatazz. He has shown his forte in showing past and present parallels beautifully. You would also see directing cameras worship the elegance hidden in slowness and close-ups when some of the reels move on screen. It would have been better had couple of songs were eroded that were real patches that didn’t do anything material to the script but to add to the movie-duration. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is watchable as a token of admiration for the evidently wholehearted dedication put in by Farhan Akhtar and most especially as a mark of respect to the legend Flying Sikh himself.

Movie Review: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

ZNMD is a get-up-my-dear-take-on-your-fear kind inspiring, engaging and musical tale of three friends struggling through inadequacies and finally succeeding to cultivate the ideal approach to life. It is awesomely architected story which effortlessly and convincingly portrays the fact that it is not difficult to re-programme your mind regardless of your age, especially when your best buddies are around!

It’s a story of three different-minded yet emotionally-connected friends getting together after a long time before one of them ties the nagging knot. The victim is Kabir (Abhay) and this tying the knot is a knotty affair for him as it is nothing more than a funny accident. He lets himself slide through others’ overpowering emotions and ends up proposing a girl named Natasha (Kalki) who ecstatically agrees to this proposal as she claims to love him. Before virtually hanging himself by the mundane marriage knot, he plans of arranging a bachelor trip – a boys’ hangout to some fab place. 

This hangout just can’t happen without either of his two closest pals, his pact-mates Arjun (Hrithik) and Imran (Farhan). Arjun is totally into money-making as he’s a financial broker and enjoys keeping himself proudly stuck in his business drudgeries. Imran, on the other hand is a facetious freak by nature, freewheeling flirt by behavior, writer by profession, poet by passion and yes, a royal pain in Arjun’s ass. The trio heads on for a 21-day road trip to the beautiful Spain to enjoy the seventh heaven. Men turn to boys (bwoyz) and go crazily “mental”. Three of them break their comforting shells and quench for the thrill of the moments full of uncertainties. State of uncertainty has its own excitement and charm. All put themselves in top gear before plunging into spine-chilling adventures. During this trip, one charming babe, the diving instructor, Laila (Katrina), a totally contented and never-regretting soul joins the pack and shares the life-secrets through easily understandable demos, especially to her love-at-first-sight Arjun.

Now, everyone, sooner or later, comes across one solid transformational threshold in his life which takes him to the state of fearlessness; a state of being so light yet so powerful that gives him the courage to boldly go for what he wants. Here, our three heroes experience the same Buddha-moment in this Spain trip of three weeks. Nicely woven by Zoya Akhtar, all these independent realizations are immediate results of the encounters with their greatest individual fears. Hydrophobic Arjun, having deep-dived in the mid sea, washes him off his fears and finds the beauty of life while his swimming underwater translates to pleasing introspection. Acrophobic Imran gets rid of his fear in skydiving by nosediving from the plane. Socio-phobic Kabir overcomes his problem by being true to his ownself rather than pretending for society in order to please everyone. 

Overall, Abhay is really good. Hrithik is really cool. Farhan is super-duper-cool. Katrina, for a change, is a hot life-coach and Kalki is a role-filler. The movie certainly has the potential to touch a chord with the audience of all ages. The concept is fresh and the contexts are new; for instance, showing gift for mom being misinterpreted as engagement ring by a girl, silly school pranks, punching situational poems, catchy adventure sports of surmounting shortfalls, Tomatina festival and emotional bonds within the bounds of practicality etc. Bollywood was thirsty of something so refreshingly youthful since long. This movie for which a few may gently complain of being a little overstretched is yet undoubtedly very much enjoyable. ZNMD claims by meaning Zoya Nailsdown a Master Director.