Babumoshai Bandookbaaz

                             

                             

From India’s very own wild wild west comes a story of boom boom gun shots and crazy chuthiyapa. A story where women are overdosed with testosterone, you can imagine the condition of the men. This is a film about a contract killer Babu who kills people without blinking an eye. Ruthless, sensationless and egoistic, Babu also takes great pride in his bravado. You know what they say about small people – Tiny men, HUGE EGO. Nawazuddin Siddiqui shows his usual but good cocky craft with dollops of one liners and machismo. 

                      This film is for the young male audience high on adrenaline, who get a hard on thinking about shooting people and fucking everything that has a hole. The theatre was full of them, mind you, and they were trying real hard to engage in a one on one with Babu, the protagonist. All their fantasies have come true with sultry women seducing the gun in their pants and killing contracts seducing the gun in their hands. If only they had guns, I would probably be rotting in some dark corner of the movie hall right now. For they were totally charged and laughed at every chuthiya and bhenchod dialogue that spilt out of men, women, et al in the film. 

                Divya Dutta looks formidable and powerful. A great performance by Bidita Bag, uninhibited and wild. Tahir Bhasin is a strapping stud with a great physique and raw appeal. He shows promise and was a good casting decision. I was expecting a great film of the Omkara and Gangs Of Wasseypur genre. But this film is stupid and moronic. Too many gun shots and too much killing. If only there was some  politics and plotting mixed up, it could have been scrumptious and tasty. The story is nice, but the bloodshed and an over the top ending killed it. I have suddenly lost the value of human life. Boom.

Rating - 2.5 / 5 

Bareilly ki Barfi

Light, fluffy and bubbly, Bareily ki Barfi is unassuming and entertaining. After a lot of films with intensity, seriousness and glum this buoyant film is like cool breeze and fresh air. This is a film that Hindi Cinema should be recognized with. Truly Indian in every aspect, the whole package has a great connect with the Indian filmi audience. Exceptional dialogues and complete characters, each of the actors has done great justice to the script. Funny one liners at perfect timing will crack you up and tickle you.Though this is a romantic film, the story is something everyone can identify with. It is a love story which is plausible and believable presented with natural ease. You cruise through cute romance in the first half and some serious edges in the second, but never feel extreme emotions. 

Rajkumar Rao has outdone himself with a performance worth many awards. A creative actor with great imagination and characterization, he fulfills the role of Pritam Vidrohi perfectly. It would be wrong to typecast Ayushman, but the role of a North Indian regular munda is what he is best at. In the second half he fails to match the craft of Rajkumar Rao and loses his presence on the screen. He has the same expression in the most emotive of the scenes of the film. Kriti Sanon is a looker. With unconventional beauty and a lot of personality she shows great potential. She is capable of unconventional roles and I would love to see her on the paths less trodden.

A very interesting narrative with great characters adds to the originality of the story. A must watch for all who love dialogue baazi.

Rating – 4/5

Toilet - Ek Prem Katha

Toilet is a strong film with a sound story and a great script. Though there are mistakes made in the execution, the film still is a good watch. The narrative is engaging and entertaining. The script writer is talented and experienced. The use of regional Hindi and colloquial lingo gives the film a unique and likeable personality. A love story wound around a social issue, Toilet transitions between both the aspects beautifully. Bhoomi gives a great performance and has a strong presence fulfilling the character of the modern Indian woman. Akshay is his usual self with not much change from his last performance.  Divyendu Sharma fulfills the character of a verbose UP’ite, and at some level outshines Akshay. He is  a talented actor and looks natural on the screen. Though the dialogues are entertaining, at some point one may get irritated of too much chatter. We could do with a few silences and intensity. With too many songs during the film, one loses the relevance of the song in the story. Was the director trying to keep up with the norm of a regular Bollywood film ? 

The regressive mentality and inertia of sticking to culture was interesting. The fight against culture to let go of old values and welcome the new using something as natural and essential as the use of a toilet is palpable.  Dealing with the lethargy of the administrative system using a subtle, funny and effective move was nice. This film could have been edited better by doing away with unnecessary parts. With a compact 2 hours it could’ve had a greater impact and a happier audience.

Rating – 3.5 / 5

Harry met Sejal

Imtiaz Ali Khan should take a break. Do something else for a while. Hairy(Harry in Gujrati) mate (met in Gujrati) Sejal is another pile of pig shit.  There were instances in the film where the leads didn’t have dialogue to say. They probably muttered something that came to their lips in those instances. SRK screams at the sea imagining his voice is heard in India. Anoushka is cuddling SRK throughtout, but they don’t have sex. Indian Culture, YAY! I am trying very hard to recall something good about the film. And the only thing I can think of is the character of Sejal who is a Gujrati girl with a heavy Gujrati accent. The whole Gujju thing of money mindedness and legal suaveness was a little entertaining. It was difficult to believe that a girl from Mumbai whose family runs a diamond business, can have a Gujrati accent. I am from Mumbai and have many Gujrati friends. I imitate their accents a lot. But most of them have humbler backgrounds. Anoushka pulls off a very good Sejal. She looks stunning too. Shah Rukh Khan is at his worst. His already artificial acting gets more so, because of lack of a script and content. He tries hard to look broad by walking with his chest out and broadening his shoulders, which, believe me, looked as if they were detached from his main body. Tryinh hard to match Anoushka’s frame ? 

                        First half is somewhat bearable but second half is stinking crap. Imtiaz Ali probably thought that the locales and scenic beauty of Europe will make up for the garbage he has served. But it is worst because he is mocking at his audience by taking them for fools, lured easily by European glitz, colonial architecture, shiny discos and posh cafes. The whole elitist thing of mocking someone’s accent and making that as a basis of a whole film is rather pathetic. And impressing with phoren phrames and phoren chamdi ? You can do better. Ararara Imtiaaaz , thoda cock (coke in Gujrati) pee aur Hairy mate Sejal jaisa gaanda tatti dalna band kar de.

Rating - 1 / 5