Sanju [2017]

Language - Hindi
Director - Rajkumar Hirani
Run Time -
Genre - Drama/Biography
Starring - Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor and Manisha Koirala

After watching Sanju, I had some conflicting opinions. Although I really enjoyed Ranbir Kapoor and Paresh Rawal's performance, I felt that the movie gave us a very one-dimensional view of Sanjay Dutt. The movie concentrates too much on drugs for the first half, and then too much on terrorism for the second half. Moreover so, it seemed like a white-wash attempt by Raju Hirani to show his dear friend Sanjay Dutt in a bright light and blame the media for all that our 'Sanju' baba has suffered.

Also, I feel his life must have been much more than the drugs and terrorism charges, and maybe the other facets of his life would have shown a much complete picture? Like the movie completely discounts Sanjay Dutt's first two wives and also his daughter. Also, based on what I've read, Sonam Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal's roles both are amalgamations of various characters in his life and not at all original characters. The songs made zero sense and could have been left out, but then again, this is Bollywood.

I really like Vicky Kaushal, and adore him as an actor, but I felt he had such a stupid character to play. The entire premise where he realizes he never saw the question mark in the article is so over-the-top dramatic and does not make sense at all. Also, the jokes due to his accent in the movie seemed so crude.

But apart from the grievances, the ensemble cast is almost utter perfect. Each and every actor does complete justice to their role, from Jim Sarbh as 'God' the drugdealer, to Sonam Kapoor as Ruby and also Dia Mirza and Monisha Koirala as Manyata Dutt and Nargis respectively. Paresh Rawal is outstanding as always, playing the ever-loving father, Sunil Dutt. Saving the best for the last, no praise is enough for Ranbir Kapoor, who portrays Sanjay Dutt, and all his facets, effortlessly. Honestly, I wouldn't have enjoyed the film, as much as I did, if there was somebody else playing our titular character. Kudos to Ranbir Kapoor, I'm sure he is winning all acting awards next year.

An entertaining and dramatic flick, watch it for Ranbir and Paresh.

My Rating - 7.4/10

Raazi [2017]

Language - Hindi
Director - Meghna Gulzar
Run Time - 2 hours, 20 minutes
Genre - Thriller
Starring - Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal

Alia Bhatt is the type of actress that arrives once in a generation. At the young age of 25, she has managed to pull off such a variety of roles, and that too with such conviction, it is extraordinary. In Raazi also, she single-handedly manages to carry the film.

Raazi is a spy thriller set in the early days of the India-Pakistan war of 1971. Sehmat Khan is a young and bubbly daughter of an Indian spy who has connections in Pakistan. His impending death due to cancer leads to him asking his daughter to continue in his path. And therein, our story begins as Sehmat is eventually placed in the house of a high-ranking military family in Pakistan as their daughter-in-law.

Although the movie had certain plotholes and was a tad bit on the predictable side, it is still stimulating as Sehmat comes close to being caught many times. Alia Bhatt takes it all in her stride and delivers yet another staggering performance, with Vicky Kaushal and the others playing their parts aptly.

I loved Meghna Gulzar's directing in Talvar, but I feel she fell pretty short here, and the movie could have had more twists, not like the makers of the film have stuck to exactly the true story.

A Solid Watch, mostly for Alia Bhatt's performance.

My Rating - 8.2/10

Avengers : Infinity War [2018]

Language - English
Director - Anthony and Joe Russo
Run Time - 2 hours, 40 minutes
Genre - Action/Sci-Fi/Superhero
Starring - Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin and many others

Avengers: Infinity War promised a spectacle, and oh boy, did the Russo brothers deliver. 20+ superheroes in one film would tend to follow in the analogy too many cooks spoil the broth, but our directors have perfectly synchronized each and every one, equally dividing the screen time between all, and we finally have a culmination (almost) of the MCU which started 10 years back with the release of Iron Man. Most of the actors are already esteemed and well established, and do manage to pull off the 4th highest grossing movie of all time.

Josh Brolin, as Thanos is a towering villain wants to kill half the universe because he believes that most civilizations are overpopulated and thus, destined to suffer and fail. Although his intentions are righteous, who died and made him God? On another note, I really liked Thanos as a villain. He is not your usual monologuing, world-conquering evil, he truly believes he is doing a service to the galaxy by killing half the world. His empathy and care for Gamora is also exposed, something which sets him apart from your regular villains. The CGI and Brolin's acting together make him a villain we won't forget anytime soon.

Our earth and space based superheroes strive to prevent him from collecting all Infinity stones, but fall one by one. Fight sequences are abundant, and entertaining as hell. No Marvel movie is complete without humour, and although on the lesser side, the movie does manage to make us laugh at intervals.

Another surprise was the appearance of Red Skull, as a keeper of one of the infinity stones. Also, heavily excited for Brie Larson as Captain Marvel in the next movie, if you did not get the reference in the post-credits scene.

Many people did not like the ending of the movie, but you do have to consider this was always supposed to be a two-part storyline, and to quote SRK from 'Om Shanti Om', I'll say "picture abhi baaki hain dosto"

My Rating - 8.4/10