Happy New Year is not that bad as an entertainer

One walks into the movie expecting it to be a commercial flick, which would lack a story and be very predictable. However, Happy New Year fares better than the conventional. Although the story line is weak and it is still a no-brainer, the plot keeps you engrossed.

The first 50 minutes introduces you to the various characters in the movie. This is followed by a musical drama during the middle hour and 20 minutes, wherein you will find a song popping up every 5-10 minutes. The last 40-45 minutes is the plot of the movie and this is the portion, which keeps you on the edge of your seats.

The comedy in the movie is introduced through the characters, whether it is the dialogues of Charlie (SRK), the absurd English accent of a very Marathi Mohini (Deepika Padukone) or partly deaf Jagmohan (Sonu Sood), who won't tolerate a word against his mom or a street side alcoholic Nandu (Abhishek Bachchan), who can vomit anywhere, or a man, who can develop fits for exactly 30 seconds (Boman Irani) and a young lad (Vivaan Shah), whose looks itself is funny. Although all this seems very force fitted, the comedy is not all that bad and they manage to carry through,

SRK looks old in the movie while Deepika carries forward her stereotypical "dumb blonde" persona. Sonu Sood's transition from a serious actor to a comical role looks stupid, Abhishek Bachchan is a talent wasted in this movie - he does well whatever little role he had to offer. Boman is as usual at his best with his acting and dialogues. Vivaan Shah barely has any role in the movie.

Three stars to the movie. 

Kaththi leaves you with a message

Vijay starrer Kaththi is a true audeience entertainer and leaves a message in the end for the audience to ponder. The movie is all about the fight between villagers led by a social activist and unethical practices of corporate multinationals over acquisition of land apparently rendered unfit for farming and the villagers, however proven to be fir for agricultural purposes by a hydrologist.

While the film does tend to get preachy at times with its messaging, the director has ensured that it doesn't go over-the-top. The action sequences in the movie are a visual treat and a review is incomplete without mentioning the sound effects of the movie. Also, second half of the movie is dragged and could have been cut by 15-20 minutes.

Music composition by Anirudh is good and pleasing to the ears. Vijay looks superb in the movie and has executed his role perfectly. Sathish has done a good job in a supporting role to Vijay. Neil Nitin has also blended well in his role as a corporate villain. Samantha's acting is the only drawback in the movie. She looks overweight and acting appears very raw and childish.

Three stars to the movie. A good entertainer and one time watch.

Sonali Cable is about individual grit versus corporate muscle

Imagine this! A lady, who runs a broadband internet service, goes to the extent of jumping on roofs and laying broadband wires to ensure seamless connectivity to her 3000 odd customers. Her customer base, threatened by a corporate giant led by Anupam Kher, who wants to control the entire customer base of Mumbai.

What more! She has only a 40% stake in the company. The remaining 60% is held by a local lady politician, who wants her US returned son Raghu (Ali Fazal) to take control of the affairs of the company. Raghu is apparently a childhood friend of Sonali. And the twist in the tale - Sonali and Raghu are in love and his mother likes it the least.

The movie showcases the battle between Sonali and Shining. Shining resorts to all kinds of tactics - saam, daam, dand, bhed to force Sonali into submission. Sonali responds with her dose of violence, mud slinging, cheap tricks - to defend her business.

While the concept may appear childish, it is an interesting one to watch if you don't have anything better to do. Anupam Kher has a limited screen-time in the movie . Wonder why he is choosing such roles. ll about the Two and a half stars to the movie.

Jigariyaa is a colourful small town love story

Set in Agra and Mathura, the film is beautiful in its depiction of life in a small town, the personal relationships that transgress generations and the caste equations that prevail in small town India. Full marks to the director on all these counts.

The film revolves around the love story between Shaamu (Harshvardhan Deo), the son of a halwaai and Radha (Cherry Mardia), daughter of a highly reputed pandit in Agra, The romantic story between the couple faces a roadblock from the girl's family and the couple decides to abscond to Mumbai

While there is nothing new in the plot, the film is very colourful and depicts the culture of a small town India. The chemistry between father (Virendra Saxena) and son at various stages of the film has also been displayed beautifully. The portion of movie that shows the couple in Mumbai is also very realistic and well told.

Harshvardhan has put his soul into the role and has managed to bring out stellar performances. Cherry looks beautiful in the movie. The music in the movie is soothing to the ears.

Three and a half stars to the movie. Good family watch if you are one of the romantic ones.

Tamanchey leaves you feeling empty

Two criminals - Nikhil Dwivedi (Munna) and Richa Chadha (Babu) get caught in Uttarakhand. The police van they are travelling in, crashes and both of them escape unhurt. And thus, begins their love story or rather love triangle with a Haryanvi muscleman thrown in, who is madly in love with Babu. Cut to Delhi. Both Munna and Babu work with the muscleman and manage his extortion and drug business in NCR.

The movie has no meat to it and bores you with the escapades of the couple right under the nose of the muscleman. A remake of RD Burman's "Pyaar Mein Dil Pe Maar De Goli" along with a Punjabi rap in between adds some excitement, but even this seems force-fitted and can't do enough to restore the movie from its dying script.

In terms of performances, Nikhil and Richa do a fair job. Richa's Haryanvi accent is good. The muscleman is the worst of the lot and is extremely unconvincing. The climax of the movie also appears force-fitted and unconvincing and leaves you feeling empty. Surprisingly, the movie also does not justify the title "Tamanchey". One would expect gun shots, but there are not too many in the movie.

One star to this movie. Avoid.

Ekkees Toppon Ki Salaami is preachy and unbearable

Ekkees Toppon Ki Salaami is a satirical take on political corruption. It revolves around the life of Purushottam Joshi (Anupam Kher), a man who endeavours to lead a clean and honest life. He hasn't taken a single day's leave in his 37 years of career as a "jamadar" with BMC, where his job is to fumigate gutters with anti-malaria drugs. As a result of being very truthful and honest, he hasn't been able to exploit the various opportunities in life lest he paid the price of compromising his integrity.

Both his children despise him for him not being able to move up the ladder of success quickly. They have a very practical attitude to life. One of them is a staunch loyalist of the corrupt Chief Minister.

On his retirement day, Joshi is not given a relieving order and he is accused of stealing the fumigating machine, which he had brought to return on the previous day. The machine is in fact, stolen by a colleague in BMC. This causes profound grief to Joshi and with his children making fun of him, he suffers a heart attack and dies. Before dying Joshi lays down a condition that he be given 21 canon salute so that his pride is restored. Overcome with grief, their children set out to fulfill that wish.

Coincidentally, the corrupt Chief Minister also dies of heart attack on the same day and is about to be given a 21 canon salute on behalf of the state,

The storyline in the first half comes across as very childish and immature. If you thought the second half would be better, then you are mistaken!

The second half is a complete melodrama and you feel like pulling your hair. A dead man is carried on his son's shoulders - him being adorned a helmet, given a pillion ride on a bike, adorned a neck belt, spectacles and put on a wheel chair so that he appears alive. While he is away, another person takes his place as the dead man and falls asleep. Another dead man (CM) is taken off his grave so that his finger prints can be taken for transferring Swiss bank accounts.

In the end, the climax is very preachy. Music in between the story line comes across as speed breakers and is very disturbing. Anupam Kher is the saving grace of the movie as he does his role well, but God knows, why he is picking such movies devoid of a good script. Neha Dhupia, playing the role of the Chief Minister's mistress is more of a disturbance in the movie.

One and a half stars to this movie. Horrible. Avoid. 

Bang Bang is a roller coaster ride

A diamond that gets stolen, a gangster, a superhero, his girlfriend, corrupt cops, a street car chase, jumping off the window into a valley, off a bridge into a river, luxury cars, powerboats, an airplane that takes off on sea -  Bang Bang has all the ingredients of a stereotypical action movie. Add to that, the locales of Shimla, Dehradun, Prague an off beat island with lovely beaches, and the handsome Hrithik and beautiful Katrina and you are in for a visual treat.

Take out this visual treat and you are left with nothing in the movie. The script is weak to hold all these together and the climax, is reminiscent of a typical Bollywood revenge movie.

The three songs are nice, but appear force-fitted into the movie.

Undoubtedly, the movie is a commercial flick.
Watch only if you are a hardcore Hrithik or Katrina fan or are looking for a visual treat minus logic.

Two and a half stars to this movie. At least it doesn't bore you too much.

Haider is a captivating story of treachery and revenge

Words will fall short to articulate the beauty of this film. Undoubtedly, one of the best of this year from with stellar performances, cinematography and background score. It took me a second watch for me to be able to do justice to a review of this wonderful movie.

Set in Kashmir of the mid-90s, the film explores the unrest caused by missing civilians. On the one hand, the film tries to paint the army in bad light by showcasing it as being insensitive to the plight of Kashmiris and also of being overtly nationalistic and being unruly to anyone, who does not acquiesce to their pro-Indian nationalistic stance by saying "Jai Hind". The army is shown as a force that silences anyone, who aids separatist militants. One such reference and comparison to 3 Lakh displaced Kashnmiri Pandits when questioned about the 5000 missing civilians asserts the army viewpoint. Is the portrayal incorrect? Regardless of how the people from the valley feel, the hardcore nationalists will not have any objections to such portrayal of the army.

Hilaal Meer (Narendra Jha) is a doctor, who is involved in the treatment of separatist militant Eklakh Ahmed at his residence. Things do not go as planned and the news gets leaked to the army, who destroy his house and take him away to MAMA 2 detention camp as a prisoner.

Haider (Shahid Kapoor), the doctor's son returns in search of his father from Aligarh, where he had been coaxed into joining a college for higher studies by his mother (Tabu). On return, he finds his mother and his uncle (Kay Kay Menon) in a celebratory mood, days after his father had gone missing, leading him to believe whether everything was pre-planned.

The film explores the trust-deficit in the relationship between a mother and an estranged son bringing an element of eroticism in it, illegitimate romantic relationship between Kay Kay and Tabu and how it shaped up even prior to the doctor going missing and even led to it, friendly turned romantic relationship between Arshi (a journalist, played by Shraddha Kapoor) and Haider opposed by her father (a top cop in J&K Police) and brother.

The breathtaking valleys of Kashmir, snow clad mountains and empty roads running like snakes among these mountains, narrow by-lanes of the city, the lakes of Kashmir and the shikaras, the Jhelum river, the houses of Kashmir and their architecture, the trees of Kashmir devoid of leaves, the snow-covered graveyards of Kashmir - all have been captured with immense magnanimity. Irrespective of the performances, this movie is a must watch just for the rich portrayal of the unexplored landscape of Kashmir. Hats off to the cinematographer for such attention to detail.

Adding to the beauty is the background score, which is very traditional and local and connects well to with the pace of the film. The song Bismil Bismil also fits well in the context of the movie.

Performances by Shahid, who has at least five different looks in the movie, and Tabu are superb. Kay Kay and Shraddha do a fair job, and carry their roles, without many errors. Irrfan Khan as Roohdar and Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Tabu's father-in-law have cameo appearances.

Many reviews have drawn extensive comparisons with the Hamlet. But I refrain from doing so, since it will only spoil the magic that one lives through for nearly 160 minutes of the movie.

Four and a half stars to this movie. A must watch, once if not twice.