Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani [Movie-Hindi-2013]

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a feel good movie. You will watch it once, and enjoy. But you don't appreciate such a movie. It's another run of the mill Bollywood rom-com, with those particular traits like unrealism, predictable, and stretched. Nothing as such is laudable in the movie. Acting is as average as it can get. Storyline offers nothing new too.

The plot moves as Naina [Deepika Padukone] meets her old classmate Aditi [Kalki Koechlin] at a department store where Aditi tells her about a camping trip that she, and her classmates Kabir/Bunny [Ranbir Kapoor] and Avi [Aditya Roy Kapoor] are planning take to Manali. Naina, fed up with her routine life, and stress in her life, leaves for the trip overnight without her parent's consent. She, albeit reluctantly, has fun, and starts making friends, and eventually [as expected], falls in love with Kabir. At the end of the trip, we find out that Kabir has gotten a scholarship from Northwestern University for journalism and he plans to pursue it.
Fast forward to eight years, and the marriage of Aditi, we see the return of our protagonist to India, where he bonds with Aditi, fights with Avi, later rekindling that friendship, falls in love with Naina, though both not willing to progress further, as Kabir can not leave up his dream job, nor can Naina go away with Kabir.
We fast more, to the New-Years eve, where we surprisingly [not so surprising, 'twas expected] find Kabir standing at Naina's doorstep, telling that he quit his job, and advances to propose Naina, living happily ever after.

So we ask ourselves, how long can we stand this dilapidated cinema Bollywood offers us? Bollywood movie audience is not evolved and seeks glam, and this movie, delivers, in that sense. But that's it. This is not good cinema.

P.S - The songs were pretty great, and catchy.

My Rating - 6/10

This is The End [Movie-2013]

This is the End is funny, fresh and highly entertaining. What do you get when you take all the funny actors and put together a movie? AWESOMENESS. This time, to many cooks do not spoil the broth. The story does not offer much, but the acting, and the comic timing keeps you glued to the screen. The story revolves around Seth Rogen, James Franco and Jay Baruchel. Jay and Seth are best friends who go back a long way and one day Jay comes to LA, and thus, stays at Seth's place. Seth has to attend the house warming party of James, who is a part of his 'new' group of his friends. Jay does not like his new friends and vice-versa. And thus, the party goes and we witness how a Hollywood party goes. Enter a development. The earth is struck by the apocalypse and only 6 people from the party are left alive, namely, Jay, Seth, James, Jonah [Hill], Craig [Robinson] and the uninvited Danny [McBride]. We see these six people tackle the apocalypse and along the way we encounter demons, Jonah being possessed, monsters, cannibals led by Danny as the heroes look to seek redemption and enter heaven with Seth, Jay and Danny succeeding. We see the sequel of Pinnaple Express along the way too, which is hilarious.

Highly innovative concept, along with great acting is what keeps the movie going. Evan Goldberg follows back on track of success of films like Superbad and Pineapple Express after the dissapointing Green Hornet.
James Franco and Jonah Hill stand out apart from the rest as the best actors. Would have loved to see more of Emma Watson, Aziz Ansari and Michael Cera.

Definitely a must watch.
My rating 7.9/10

Grand Masti [Movie-Hindi-2013]

Grand Masti. Do not go to this film with your brain. In fact, don't go for the movie at all. Pathetic attempt by Bollywood to get into the genre of adult comedy. It is filled with bland and faulty storyline, nonsensical jokes which have been taken up from a decade full of 'forwards'. Over-acting is an understatement, as all the actors are guilty of the activity. I would not even go into the the details of the story, as it is inane and ludicrous. The basic plot revolves around three friends who are pissed of at the lack of sexual activity in their life after marriage and seek to have some fun at their college reunion and the tale spirals downwards into agonizing and torturous moments for the viewer. Riteish Deshmukh is a the diamond among the coal when acting is concerned. I would always maintain he has the potential to be the best comic actor in Bollwyood.
The songs are as worse as the movie, irrelevant to the movie and ridiculously long.

Avoid this movie

My Rating - 4/10

AM - Arctic Monkeys [Album-2013

Are Arctic Monkeys back? - Yes
Is the album good? - Yes
Is it better than the previous album? - Yes
Is it better than any of the first three albums? - No
Is it repetitive? - A bit
Did we expect much more? - Yes
Are we dissapointed? - Yes

After the singles, R U Mine?, Do I Wanna Know and Why'd You Only Call Me WHen You're High, I expected something really good from the monkeys. But, other than Arabella and Knee Socks, no other songs excites me like almost all songs from the first three album did.

Arctic Monkeys have left the fresh, innovative, new sound for something more refined. But, that fresh, fast-paced music is what made them popular. People used to make memes/statements saying that nobody can even lip-sync Turner's songs. I too personally don't prefer this new Monkeys' sound.

Dissapointed from what I was expecting to be the Album of The Year.

My Rating - 7/10

We Bought a Zoo [Movie-2011]

We Bought a Zoo is a beautiful movie. Beautiful in terms of the visuals, we always love the animals, the story does not offer much, predictable by quite a lot. What is commendable here is Matt Damon's acting. He can pull off any role, he, along with Pitt and Depp form a holy trinity of actors of their generation. All of them filled with versatility.

Scarlett Johansson, simply said, is not a great actor. Her acting is pathetic and I felt to 'fast-forward' her parts.

The story moves as Benjamin [Matt Damon] has lost his wife recently, and is in depression, while his son is getting expelled from school. He decides it's time to take a fresh start, thus moving to the countryside and owning, as the title clearly suggests, a zoo. There, we have the story of hardwork, belief, confidence and will power, mixed with two budding romances, one between Kelly [Scarlett] and Ben, and the other between her younger sister and his son.

The sub-plots keep us excited in the movie, the understanding and transition of relationship between Benjamin and his son, Benjamin's relationship and feelings toward's the tiger who had to die.

All three child actors, Cloin Ford, Maggie Jones and Elle Fanning give justice to their roles.

In all, a nice, one time watch.

My Rating - 6.9/10

Shuddh Desi Romance [Movie -Hindi-2013]

Shuddh Desi Romance. Quirky, fun, engaging. Maneesh Sharma follows on the lines of Band Baaja Baarat for which I would also tag the mentioned three adjectives.

The story is very mediocre and predictable at times. We know Raghu [Sushant Singh] and Gayatri [Pareenti Chopra] are meant to be together at the end, come what may. The film, at the start tackles the double standard society which frowns upon PDA and romance, but deep down wish/root for the same.

The story goes as Raghu is set to marry Tara [Vaani Kapoor]. He is already suffering from pre-wedding jitters a day before and the charm exuded by Gayatri, his fake sister (This concept of fake 'baarati' is new to me too. Heard it for the first time in the movie). He starts questioning why does one marry and how can love come after marriage (questioning arranged marriage). This leads to his escapement from the wedding, leaving his poor bride to be, deluded on the 'mandap'.

Fast-forward some weeks later and he is found, working at his profession (tour guide) when he meets Gayatri again. He accepts he is smitten by her and thus it leads to a relationship between the two, a really spicy one. Some months fast forward again and they decide to get married too. This time, it is Gayatri who gives Raghu a taste of his own medicine and runs away before the 'mandap'. Raghu is heartbroken and desolated as he cannot find a reason as to why she would do this.

Fast-forward again a few weeks and we see Raghu travel as a 'fake baarati' to Ajmer where he meets his former ex-fiance. He is asked to leave by her, while slyly handling Raghu her phone number to meet again.
This meeting happens and some ups-downs take place and Raghu and Tara get into a relationship. Now, Tauji [Rishi Kapoor] advises Raghu to waste no time and get married to Tara. Raghu is preparing to propose in short-order, when he meets Gayatri again. There starts a conflict in his mind and he is engulfed as to who to choose. He admits to Tauji he still and always will have feelings for Gayatri but he can't hurt Tara again. Meanwhile, even Tara realises it was always Gayatri who Raghu would have true feelins for and subtlety leaves. Again, we have a marriage on our hands, this time, between Gayatri and Raghu again. And not to be shocked, both escape the wedding. They meet outside Gayatri's residence and decide they love each other but don't want to be tied down by the shackles of marriage and thus, live happily ever after.

To be quite honest, it got a little 'OVER' when both ran away from the weddings again.
And also, the subtle disappearance of  Tara was not handled properly. The songs were unnecessary, as the case in Bollywood movies.

Acting of both Sushant and Parineeti is laudable, considering they are newbies in the industry. It is fresh, something which was required after over-seeing the old faces again and again.

Rishi Kapoor is golden as ever, and adds up a slice of comic to the already fun movie.

Some great cinematography, especially in the opening scene and the scene of the fair/the section in which Raghu falls in love/likens Tara. Great shooting from the forts and hills of Jaipur. Never knew such amazing sights that city has to offer until I saw this movie. This movie focuses highly on the small yet still innovative things. Like the use of cycle while serving, in the restaurant where Raghu takes Tara out for dinner.

The movie is stretched some what in the second half, and if the content could have been mowed down, it could have been a better film. In all, the movie keeps you enthralled.

A decent watch.

My rating - 7.4/10 

Madras Cafe [Movie-Hindi-2013]

Madras Cafe is a serious film. It is a gritty, intense film, on a serious topic which had yet to be touched by 'Bollywood'. It show's a sense of evolution in Indian makers, to get out of the cliched war movie against Pakistan.
Madras Cafe is the story of the tamil revolution led by LTTE, and the assassination of the great Rajiv Gandhi. The movie is primarily focused from the view of RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] [the primary intelligence agency of India] and of Major Vikram Singh, potrayed by John Abraham. The movie follows, a heavily used style of storytelling, i.e, in terms of flashbacks, where Vikram Singh recites his story to a priest in a church.

The movie starts with the showing of the civil war in Sri Lanka, and the sending of Indian forces to make peace, which are thwarted, and thus, the sending of RAW's golden boy himself, Major Vikram, to get a solution. He, is there, played out by the LTF [name of LTTE in the movie] and someone from the agency itself. The story goes on, plots discovered, the traitor fount out, LTF hell bent on taking action against India.
A plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi is launched and even though RAW is aware of the plot, it is not able to halt it. The nation loses a great hero, the conspirators caught and punished, and major Vikram spiralling into a rabbit hole, filled with guilt and grief at his, and the country's failures, before finding redemption in the church and helping the Briths journalisy, Jaya [Nagris Fakhri] publish the story uncovering the deatils of civil war and assassination.

Simple film, can't do much about the story, as it is based on true events. Well shot, with great use of the locations in Sri Lanka. John Abraham's acting in good enough, though he can be better. Nagris, is 33. Seriously, I'm not kidding. The fact that she looks stunning at even this age is awe-worthy. She had a neglible role, but still made the best of it.

Rashi Khanna (Ruby), Siddharth Basu (RD) and Prakash Belwadi (Bala) satisfy their roles.

One thing, I'm glad of, is, that Bollywood didn't follow it's cliched habit, and there was no romance between Vikram and Jaya. A serious film, should remain a serious film. In all, a good try at a highly different theme by Soorjit Sircar from his first movie, Vicky Donor. Delighted to see, such versatile directors exist in our cinema.

My Rating - 7.2/10

Satyagraha [Movie-Hindi-2013]

Okay, I went to see Satyagraha expecting a 'political thriller' from Prakash Jha. I expected something on the terms of Rajneeti, and was really excited. Alas, I was highly dissapointed. The movie was highly illogical and unrealistic, stretched at times, and filled with pathetic songs. And it is not a THRILLER in any ways.

Though acting of Manoj Bajpai, Amitabh Bacchan, Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal and Kareen Kapoor is good. It still doesn't make up for such a ridiculous storyline/concept.
manoj Bajpai is a highly under-appreciated star of Bollywood. Should get more recognition for his work.

The story goes as Manav [Ajav Devgn] comes to Ambikapur to visit his friend Akhilesh and celebrate the \occasion of Akhilesh's engagement. He is, unfortunately, sent back home by Akhilesh's father, Dwarka Anand [Amitabh Bacchan], as he feels that Manav is polluting Akhilesh's mind by talks of attaining wealth and practice of vices. There is a significant attached to this scene later on in this movie when we see Manav hides the bottle of alcohol in the terrace, and it is still lying there after 3 years. Even such a minute detail like seems unrealistic, as the bottle, nrmally would not remain there.

Fast-forward three years, and Akhilesh is an engineer working for Goverment in Ambikapur itself, while Manav running his business. The bridge that Akhilesh was working on collapses, and Akhilesh is distraught. Sometime later, we get to know of his sad demise. The movie centers on the effect of the death as his family does not get the compensation rewarded to them, and is tired of roaming around collector's office and Dwarka Anand is finally compelled to slap the collector. Now, this is such a flawed scene, as Satyagraha, is termed as non-violence, and the movie basically starts on the act of a slap.

Dwarka Anand is imprisoned, and lo, we get our revolt started. Then, the movie revolves around the pointless revolt, which itself is so unrealistic, with it being potrayed more of a 'mela', rather than a revolt, with food/corporate stands set up and rock musicians screaming at the top of their voices, at songs of freedom.

The movie has quite a predictable end, with minister resigning, Daduji's death, and revolt leading to something big. But, in reality, we all know what happens. What is now of Anna Hazare? Out of the news since a year? His demands have still not be fulfilled. Also, closing of a town, on account of a protests against corruption? When did such a thing happen?

The songs? Oh, what can I say? Janta Rocks? I mean, what the hell were the lyricists thinking while penning this song down? Songs in Bollywood have just gone from bad to worse. And, the remixed version of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram? Disgrace to what this original 'bhajan' had become. Even the song, which shows romance of Manav and Yasmin [Kareena] was unrequired.

Movie is quite stretched, running more than 2.5 hours, and not that it keeps you engrossed.
Skip it.

My rating - 5.8/10