Inferno

Another movie by Ron Howard on the novel of Dan Brown. I know everyone is wondering if this related to the earlier movies of Da Vince Code and Angels & Demons but its not.

You can watch this movie even if you have not caught up on the earlier movies.

One thing that I like about these movies that it creates a curiosity to know more about the places, names where its shot in or the mystery unravelled upon. For example post watching this movie, I looked upon Dante and his book Inferno which describes the hell.

This movies is no different where Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) finds himself in the midst of finding a situation wherein a deadly virus will be unleashed by a maniac billionaire Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Frost).

The plot begins with Langdon having no memory and informed that a bullet has been grazed through his skull. He is under short term memory loss but has no time to regain the same as he is being hunted and aided by doctor Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones).

One is completely engrossed in the movie from the word go and the twist in the plot as Langdon and Brooks are being followed is certainly a good one.

Irfan Khan plays the role of Harry Sims, makes his presence felt on the screen. Somehow what I did not like was the way his character had to die. Something felt amiss there.

The movie is similar to the earlier Robert Langdon character movies wherein they are trying to solve the mystery and get to it before the bad guys does. It keeps you hooked till the end. The suspense is well kept.

Tom Hanks and Felicity along with Ben do their job well and one cannot take their eyes off them. Omar Sy also carries that presence.

Ron does know how to keep the audience engrossed. There was not a single moment when I could take my eyes off the screen. I do feel the character of Harry Sims should have been better etched out given the way it ended.

Langdon's hallucinations of hell was beautifully depicted. 

The movies is a must watch for those who love to see mysteries getting solved.

Pink

I have been hearing a lot about this movie from the people and especially how hard hitting the movie is concerning the abuse women face almost on every day basis.

The trailer of the movie with Amitabh Bachchan donning the lawyers robe and making an argument make you wonder if its going to be better than Sunny Deol's role in Damini.

The movie touches upon a sensitive topic related to sexual harassment/abuse to women. More so especially objectification of women who are independent and bias towards them.

Good suspense has been maintained as they never really show how the sexual assault took place. I think it was very smart of the writers of the script to keep it that way. In a way it would prevent any kind of preconceived bias that the audience may come up with if they had watched it in the beginning   

The story of three women living independently in a rented apartment. However the incident shook up their lives and they end up getting termed as prostitutes and how they are able to overcome the  situation with the help of the Amitabh Bachchan.

The first half of the movie keeps you on the edge as one tries to understand what has happened. Only the aftermath of the incident has been shown and that is enough to keep one glued to their seats. 

The boy Rajveer (Angad Bedi) who belongs to a politically connected family apparently try to force himself on Meenal (Tapsee Pannu) had almost has a scare as he has been hit with a bottle over his eye and could lose the same.

The girls are frightened with the incident and are ready to say sorry however boys being boys want more out of it which leads to the situation to explode further.

Meenal goes to the police to file a complaint but instead of filing one the inspector starts lecturing her and informs her to think about it. Before she could do so she ends up getting arrested for attempt to murder and is put in jail.

The only part that kept me thinking is why Amitabh Bachchan was shown suffering from a disorder and his wife hospitalized. I thought it might have a connection but till the end could not find any. If he was shown as a normal character of a lawyer wont the impact on the court scene been much better? Just wondering.

The movie keeps you on the hook as the drama on the court proceeds. The points mentioned by Amitabh for women safety measures certainly holds water. We as a society tend to do that and it was well highlighted in the movie.

Tapsee & Kirti Kulhari gets your attention as caught in between in this melee  Vijay Varma who plays the friend of Angaad also does well. The only think that I would have to like to see that the court room drama could have carried more punches. Like I said showing Amitabh suffering from a disorder kind of took away the sheen on what could have been a great court room drama...

Apart from that I did not get the climax especially the part where Vishwa (Tushar Pandey) has been let off with a warning and is seen crying and seated in the end. Was that supposed to mean something? I think it would have better to edit the scene and not show it.

The movie certainly goes into the grey area where very few film makers walk. The movie has been well handled and directed by Aniruddha Chowdhary. The script of the movie could have been more tight.

Overall, a movie worth watching...

M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story

I found it odd when Neeraj Pandey decided to make a movie on MS Dhoni. Odd because Dhoni is still playing and not retired from the India cricket. Nor he has grown that old that he has created a legacy that needs to be highlighted.

When film makers decide to make biographical movies, they take the liberation of showing fiction in the movie. Our audiences would always think that when watching such movies what is shown must be true. How innocent we are in this matter!

When you watch the movie, it feels like you are caught in a time leap where the movie would jump to certain timeline in the life of Dhoni. At some point of time, it does get cumbersome to keep track of it.

Apparently not all aspect of his life was covered in the movie. Did you know that Dhoni has a brother but he is not part of the movie. The movie has been fictionalized as per the needs of the movie makers.

While watching the movie, what strucks out that everyone is playing a character and not a single character strikes out that gets your attention with the exception of Disha Patani. She was the only one who looked live on the screen.

Sushant Singh though playing his character Dhoni did not really stand out or make you pay attention to him. Rest of them too looked like characters.

The movie though a biography did not had a proper climax that somewhat leaves you empty...

Watch it if you are Dhoni fan, if not then you still do not miss on anything.

Sultan

I know I am late on this but its now or never ha.

I got the chance to watch this movie recently and yes I think it was worth the wait.

Every time Salman would release his movie around Id and yes it has become his thing. However as crazy as he is his fans can also drive his movies up the charts as long as they get to see him in the screen irrespective of the underlying assumption that a movie has to be good to be a hit.

When we talk about the movie Sultan, the story plays little part in it rather to put it abrupt the plot of the movie is not the strongest point of his movies.

When we talk about Sultan, its said that its a story about wrestler whose arrogance gets the high of him when he ends up losing his child who had the same rare bloody type as he had. His wife who was also a wrestler leave him and he ends up being the fallen guy and then desires for a blood bank in his village so that no one has to go through what he had to.

I simply put the story of the movie in a few lines above but the question that begs is was the movie worth watching?

For the Indian audience movies are about emotions and as along as they are able to connect to them, story of the movie simply doesn't matters. As is true in this case.

If one looks at the story of the movie, the only reason the wife leaves the husband because for him wining the championship was important than to stay with her during her pregnancy. What I find odd that she being a wrestler herself why would she want her husband to stay back? They have not elaborated this part which keeps you wondering...

Secondly if Salman wants to open a blood bank was he not smart enough to make use of his skills that would lead to him to make more money for his dream to come true. Again no clarity.

I wont even go into why they actually thought Salman would be the ideal choice since he was forty and the only person to be thought to have potential. Last time I checked we are still a billion population country.

Like all movies this one too has a happy ending....

Yes the actors did their job as Salman, Ankusha & Randeep keep you intrigued. Would also highlight that Anant Vidhaat Sharma was also able to hold on to the screen on his own. The script of the movie needed a lot of tweaking.

 Its a one time watch movie. Spend your money wisely.

Natsamrat

This was one of the movie that was recommended to me even before it got released by one of the friend.

The movie is based on legendary play by the same name by the Marathi playwright Kusumagraj.

Its the story of a veteran theatre actor Ganpat Belwalkar and his life post retiring from the stage, his first home.

He ends up giving his wealth among his children with complete trust that they will take care of him and his wife.

However it was not meant to be as he found out that environment of his home changes with him getting questioned for his behaviour which was not the case earlier.

He ends up leaving his own home and later on his daughter's home as he and his wife gets accused of stealing. Such becomes a situation that he ends up living in the streets and losing his wife to it.

His family does come looking for him but by then its too late as he plays out his final act and leaves abode.

I think words would fall short to describe the acting skills of Nana Patekar. He keeps you completely immersed to the screen every scene that he is in.

Apart from him, Vikram Gokhale too enthral the screen with his acting skills even though a short one. Medha Manjrekar also shines out as a supporting wife to her husband. The rest of the cast too played it all well.

A good story needs proper execution and Mahesh Manjrekar has ensured that in his direction.

The movie does ends up asking a lot of questions like

• Did Ganpat missed his stage life that he forgot the difference between the reality and the stage?
• Does a man is considered to be useless if they exhaust their utility?
• Does the relation between the children and parents undergo change when parents are the ones to be taken care of?

The movie keeps you engrossed throughout and there is not a moment where you could not help but feel the pain that Ganpat and his wife are going through.

This is by far one of the best movies that I come across in the Marathi films and it certainly would make a lot of heads turn during awards function especially the national awards and who know the Oscars too...

This is a must watch movie and hope one can keep their emotions under control.

Bajirao Mastani

When you read about love stories or watch movies on them what do you look for and why do you watch it.

Hold that thought till I let the cat out of the bag.

When you hear Sanjay Bhansali make a movie on Bajirao Mastani, one can only vouch of the great opus it can be given his past movies to bring larger than life on screen.

This movie does not disappoint in its visualization of its era of the past.

This is about the love story about Bajirao and his Mastani who have been claimed to be lovers as per the stories that one hear.

Albeit there is a problem. Bajirao is married and his family’s non-acceptance of Mastani as his second wife. Given that it was stated that if a man gives his dagger to a women and she accepts the same, it’s considered as marriage. How easy and convenient if one thinks about it.

It’s the love that tears the family apart even as they fight to live for each other in their hearts awaiting acceptance of the society.

 Ranveer Singh has proved that he has got the acting prowess that catches your attention. Its Priyanka as the wife who steals the thunder in this movie as you cannot get enough of her even though she is the one playing second fiddle.

Deepika Singh makes one wonder if chasing and falling in love makes one depressed. All one could see was her sadness in her attempts to get her man.

This love story surely did not have any good memories that one would look for.

Aditya Pancholi & Milind Soman seems to be wasted on roles that were not given enough room for them to showcase their skills.

The end of the movie disappoints as it seems like they did not had any clue on how they will end it. It was abrupt to put it mildly.

The scripting of the movie is not tight as there are times when you actually wonder where it was going. Any love story has it’s moments which keeps you engaged. All one could see was the pain about the love but never really the part where love keeps them alive. Did it all came down to attraction?

Sanjay could certainly do better than that.

This is a one-time watch and hope the end does not disappoints.