Starring Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke is a comedy film.
I had seen the promos of the film when it was released and expected it to be a lighthearted comedy based around the theme of "divorce". But I did not know that the movie had much more to offer. I found this movie as a lovely take around the theme of survival of marriage in a world plagued by corrupt government agencies. Vicky Kaushal has done an amazing work and establishes himself as a 'natural actor'. And Sara Ali Khan has given her best in another movie worth remembering. Rest of the cast is also very effective.
With 8/10, I would rate Zara Hatke Zara Bachke as a lovely family entertainer with a good social message. Especially married couples should watch it to get taste of a life untouched in usual movies.
‘Shehzada’
(2023) is a brilliant action drama film featuring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon
in lead roles. It is Kartik Aaryan’s next movie after super-hit ‘Bhul Bhulaiyaa
2’. So, what to expect in Shehzada?
First of
all, comedy is too good. Kartik Aaryan has already established himself
as a great fit for lead roles in comedy films and most of his films become
popular because of this. Remember Bhul Bhulaiyaa 2? Shehzada tries to bring
some of that flavor in this movie too. Rajpal Yadav has a role in this too and he is too
funny. The pair of Rajpal Yadav and Kartik Aaryan is a super hit pair for sure!
Secondly,
the cast of this movie is too good as well. Manisha Koirala
returns to the screen and graces her role with so much dignity. She still has her old charisma and at the same time she fits so well in her role of a mother.
Kriti
Sanon is near perfect in her role. Among the Bollywood’s best-looking
actresses, Kriti possesses the best acting talent for sure. She had a glamourous role in Shehzada, and she does it with perfection. She has a positive personality and
whenever she and Kartik appear on the screen, audience are hooked.
The movie
also features great actors like Paresh Rawal who got a very prominent
role. Ronit Roy who got a powerful role and you will astonished as to
how he brings so much energy, grace and machoism in his roles. Sachin
Khedekar plays a touching role too, as a maternal grandfather. Ankur
Rathee as a spoilt brat has done really good job in his character. There is
a new face in the form of Sunny Hinduja who is playing the lead villain and
he is too impressive.
All actors and actresses have given really good
performance which has made this movie “never a dull moment”.
Now, the
songs. Pritam has given music, which is itself to explain the quality. In the title song, we can notice Sonu Nigam who sounds as good as he did in the best of his days.
“Mere
sawal ka” sung by Shashwat Singh and Shalmali Kholgade is my favourite:
Now, coming
the social messages. First, the movie explains the “No means no” concept so
very well. Feminists will love this movie. Then, the lead character or ‘hero’
of the movie is like the golden era movies when such characters did not have
any flaw. Bantu (Kartik’s character) is funny, truthful (never speaks lies),
positive (does not mind hate coming his way especially from his ‘fake’ father),
strong, savior of the weak, stands up for that is right, a good son, a good brother,
a good friend, a trustful employee, and as you would realize in the end, has a
heart made of gold.
Shehzada
is 10/10 on entertainment and if you want to really enjoy the 2.5 hours
you spend in a theater, this is your perfect experience. Go watch this movie
along with your family and hope you will love it too.
Ray is a
web series which released on Netflix recently. It is based on Satyajit Ray’s
short stories. Its first season has 4 episodes, all are different in genre and
nature.
#1: “Forget
Me Not”
In this story, a woman (Maggie) takes revenge on a very
successful entrepreneur (Ipsit Nayar) for making her abort her pregnancy after having
an affair with her. As a revenge, she takes help from his friends and
colleagues, and makes him believe that he was suffering from a mental illness,
and in the end, he actually turns mad. The movie focuses on her abortion, in
order to show her as a kind of hero while showing Ipsit (Ali Faizal) as a villain.
But was it really the case there?
Although
I am not a fan of abortions in general, but I do not like the way movie and
fiction writers show it as a very evil thing. Most movies and fiction writers do
a deliberate mistake of showing a baby as only the mother’s product and show as
if the father was a “perpetrator” and not a victim. But the fact is that the mother
and father are equally responsible for a pregnancy to happen and hence both are
equal in that sense. Maggie, the woman in this movie took revenge on Ipsit, but
the fact is that she had voluntarily made relationship with him and she had herself
aborted the fetus. If she decided to keep the baby, she could have found a way.
But she blamed the man for her own failure. Secondly, his friend Anil who became
a peon in Ipsit’s office, was not forced or duped to become so. He voluntarily
accepted that position and if he wanted, he could have declined. Same for
another colleague who wanted to be recognized as equal partner. He was always free
to resign and start his own company; if he though Ipsit was taking credit for
his work!
I
personally did not like Ipsit’s character or anything he did, but I can’t
imagine that he was so evil that he should be punished in this cruelest manner.
#2: Bahrupiya
In this
story, main character is played by KK Menon who has once again given a master
class performance. I won’t reveal the whole story, but the moral of the story
was very apt and practical. In a way, it was Karma in action. Although I do not
approve of the unnecessary adult content shown in it. Since OTT platforms are
not regulated by government, the producers of movies and web series put too
much vulgar language and scenes. This is the reason I avoid watching movies on
platforms like Neflix and choose to watch on TV, since the content is always censored.
#3:
Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa
In this
episode, Manoj Bajpayee has given another gem of a performance. His role as poet (Shayar) Musafir Ali will always be remembered for such a soulful performance. Manoj Bajpayee appears so naturally in this role, that you will be left astonished. The story is
simply superb and the ending is totally unpredictable. I would remember this
and the earlier part’s stories also for the genius story.
#4:
Spotlight
Last in
the season 1, this came as a huge surprise. Harshvardhan Kapoor has given a
brilliant performance, which appears much matured and balanced. The character demanded
a versatility in the actor and he has given a gem of a performance. Radhika
Madan as a god woman “Didi” has given an equally stunning performance. I have
not watched many of her movies, and I was really impressed by her performance
in this one. In the climax scene where she displayed supernatural phenomenon
and every one folded hands watching her, my hands got folded too and it felt
like she was an avatar of Goddess Durga.
In
general, Ray is certainly worth a watch if you are interested in brilliant
stories and some out of the box concepts on action in Indian cinema.
Recently,
I watched both parts of movie series “Gangs of Wassepur”. I watched Part-2
first. I remember that when the movie had released in theatres in year 2012, I
had gone to a theatre to watch it but I had to leave mid-way because I could
not tolerate the violence shown on screen. This time, since I was watching on a
phone screen and also for the second time, I was not affected that much. I
skipped a few scenes wherever I felt like. Hence, even though the impact of
story telling in the movie was full; I was not impacted as much by the
negativity and violence.
I also
noticed that when Part-2 was released, at that time I had not identified actors
like Vineet Kumar Singh and Rajkumar Rao. Manoj Bajpaee’s impact was looming
over the second part too, even if he had no role in it. Tigmanshu Dhulia in epic
character of Ramadhar Singh, even though in old age, was still soulful. I could
also notice that although Nawazuddin Siddiqui played his role very well, I
wonder if anyone on earth could identify with his character. I blame his
personality for that. In any good movie, audiences are able to identify in part
with the hero as well as villain. But When Nawaz plays roles like these, I
guess no one gets do to it.
I noticed
that in Part-2, Vineet Singh had played his role much impactfully than Rajkumar
Rao. Even though Vineet’s role was short, he was appeared as a really brilliant
actor. Rajkumar Rao’s role was not too short, but I could not find him creating
any memorable performance.
I also
wondered why Ramadhar Singh did not shoot Nawaz in the final scene, even though
he held a gun in his hand. By virtue of all his cunningness and strength, he
should have shot, even if the shot missed the target. But the movie shows him
pulling his hand down, as if in surrender. And then Nawaz does this epic
episode of emptying multiple guns on him. Which actually is illogical because he
was wasting too much time in this process while he was hold up in the bathroom.
He should have shot and fled. But the movie maker tried to create a memorable
scene there, and tried to depict his hatred which culminated in a sadist burst of
anger. Still, I can’t imagine any real reason why Ramadhar Singh was so
dejected that he gave up and surrendered like that. I think it was shown that
way to make Nawaj appear the total victor.
Zeishan
Quadri, who played Definite’s role was epic. All through the movie, he performed
so well. I wonder why we do not see him in many other movies after GOW-2.
I wanted
the Part-1 later on, and did not like it as much as Part-2. I guess we should
never watch a movie sequel in wrong order. But, I noticed that Part-1 is
dominated by Manoj Bajpai who has given such a powerful performance that he
eclipses everyone else. Nawazuddin Siddiquia looks like a novice in front of
him, and Pankaj Tripathi and Tigmanshu Dhulia’s powerful performance also appears
regular.
After
watching Part-1, I thought that Ramadhar Singh should have given more respect
to his son JP Singh and listened to him. If JP Singh had his way, he would have
eliminated all members of Sardar Khan’s family much before. The manner in which
Singh family was insulted by Sardar Khan and later by Faizal, was the result of
tolerating the enemies too much and for too long. The script writers gave a
consolation by showing that JP Singh managed to get into power, by conspiring
to eliminate his own father. This could have been avoided if Ramadhir Singh was
not so arrogant. But it is also not practical that a cunning wise man like him
would ignore his own son’s aspirations for so long. Movie writers have to show
unrealistic things in order to shock viewers, I guess.
There have been
hundreds of gangster movies in the past and what new could the latest addition
to the Sarkar Trilogy bring? And that is where Ram Gopal Varma and Amitabh
Bachchan prove our doubts unfounded and have brought together another fine
movie having all the brilliance of a thriller.
Sarkar series is our
own Godfather series. Our Subhash Nagre has perhaps got more shades in his
character than the legendary Vito Corleone had got. In Sarkar 3, Amitabh has
become even more intense. Being the master patriarch and hero of the masses is
not an easy job and it asks for sacrifices and subjects one to innumerable
pain. Can a Don be as sensitive as Subhash Nagre is? Could a Don feel the pain
of the poor mother who lost her child in a bomb blast, or goes through mourning
because of some event in the city? Even Don Vito Corleone cared - but I doubt
if he actually felt pain in the same manner as our "human" Don
Subhash Nagar does. And that is perhaps the beauty of having come from the city
of Mumbai.
Amitabh Bachchan has
also sung one "Ganpati Aarti" in this movie and how brilliant it has
become! It can be compared to Agnipath song "Deva Shree Ganesha" but
is notch higher since Amitabh Bachchan is its singer.
One very interesting
aspect of the movie is how brilliant other characters have also been in it.
Ronit Roy as Gokul is as intense as Ajay Devgn used to be in some of his most
brilliant movies and has proven him as one gem of a an actor. Manoj Bajpayee as
Govind Deshpande, a sly politician reminds us of Rajneeti. And how about Jackie
Shroff - a legend in himself? He has grown old but his charisma is still
intact. There will never be another Jackie Shroff in Bollywood. Amit Sadh as
Subhash Nagre's grand son is also brilliant - and this may be his one of the
best acts. Yami Gautam as Amit's girlfriend is in a very different role from
what she does, but she has done it very well. Another interesting character is
Parag Tyagi as Raman - Ronit's mute brother. He should have joined WWE fighting
with this Physique!
The best thing about
Sarkar 3 is that it surprises you and keeps you guessing all through it and
till the very end. Such brilliance is not often seen. The plot is balanced on
its emotional quotient as well as has spirits of a crime thriller. The movie
avoids showing graphic details of crime scenes and that is a welcome change. There
are a lot of brilliant dialogues in it and there are several scenes which are
acted just by eyes and expressions without any word spoken. Nothing about it is
mundane. The coordination between camera, actors' expressions and the
environment is just brilliant.
Sarkar 3 is another gem
from the Sarkar series - perhaps even a notch better than the earlier ones.
Arjun Kapoor dances to
the tunes of “Mai hun Superman… Salman ka Fan” and something is just too loud
to be ignored. We can call it pride or even arrogance; but being Salman-ka-Fan
sort of justifies it all… With this brush if we want to paint the fossilized
topic of comparing the three famous Khans of Bollywood, how do we rate the
Aamir, Shahrukh and Salman?
Aamir had always been
too ‘girlish’. Several times he tried too hard to break this image but alas –
how could be change it unless he comes on screen with a mask every time! So it
does not matter whether he plays a tapori in ‘aati-kya-Khandala’ wearing
leather jacket and growing a bit of stubble, he still appears like a cheeky
chick. Shahrukh has slightly different flavor - even when clean-shaven he
always appeared like unshaven – and he made the ‘boy-next-door’ look his
biggest strength. Not all girls actually believe in their dream of marrying a
prince – most of them would perhaps agree to marry a frog if the frog wears
Versace. And what a rich wrinkled frog Shahrukh has been! A dog can bite, even
a cat can bite, but a frog is too harmless to be of any harm – and that is what
makes him attractive to girls. Girls could dream a lizard to turn into a
monster but never an SRK to be threatening to them – that is quite some quality
to possess. That brings us to the only Khan who has remained himself all
through the ages. Salman Khan is the only Khan who never needed to humiliate
himself in order to win our hearts… Don’t believe it? Just look at coy and
childish Aamir playing pK!
Photo: Aamir playing
pK
Coming back to Aamir
being girlish. It was no surprise that Aamir failed when he tried to portray a
Manly (Mangal) Pandey. In order to hide his girlish looks, Aamir tried
something which worked just as bad – he tried to play the kid! We all loved him
in 3-Idiots because appeared too natural for the juvenile’s role he was
playing. He continued the same to Dhoom-3 where he played a character suitable
for his looks – that of a cute child. Btw, before that he failed once again in
Talash – because he was playing the role of a Manly Policewallah with a manly
moustache. So in pK he returned to his comfort zone and this time took it several
notches above – he made himself into a clown! Ok, fine, it was alien. But the
alien he was playing seemed to have been inspired by a clown – just look at the
way he carries himself off…
Photo: Aamir failed
each time he played a manly character like Mangal Pandey or in Talashbut succeeded when he played a boyish joker or a clown-like alien.
While Aamir thrived on
his girlish looks, Shahrukh was neither a proper ‘boy’ nor a proper ‘girl’ and
his only strength was his ‘newspaper vendor boy-next-door’ look. So our so
called King failed when he played Ashoka the Great. His tapori-panthi, sly,
street-smart moves were out-of-class for the classy look and feel needed in the
character. Shahrukh also made complete fool of himself when he tried to outdo
the original Bachchan’s Don. People would accept him a road-chhap tapori but he
appeared to be wearing rented suits and stolen deodorants for his role as a
Don. SRK being the only Khan without a look worth second glance outdid all his
previous antics by growing his six-packs which appeared more naturally grown in
a starving smoking man than a person frequenting a gym of any shape and size.
With his eight-packs he proved in front of the whole world how desperate he
could be! Before all this madness about body-chiseling SRK was thriving on
being a rare combination of intelligence, manners and romanticism. All his
earlier life he must have been an ignored, average and invisible boy and hence
the viewers connected with him instantly! After all, despite having the worst
biopics he always used to get the girl by the end of the movies! How
fascinating for the public to see such a pathetic boy getting all beautiful
girls from one movie to the other! To the girls, he appeared to possess many complimentary
qualities which they would like to have in their boyfriends, if nothing less
then nothing more than that also. Being a boring loyal husband was not an
option but compulsion to the King Khan without a proper beard.
Photo: Shahrukh failed
when he tried characters which required class; was ridiculed when he grew
six-packs perhaps as a revenge on God for not giving him a proper body
The only Khan who did
not need to humiliate himself in order to make it big at the Box Office has
been the undisputed Salman
Khan. Salman is the ultimate Dabang of Bollywood – the unashamed handsome devil
– who had it all with grace and class each time. The only Khan who when takes
his shirt off, people don’t close their mouths with hands, like they did with
Aamir’s weirdly tattooed Ghazini or Shahrukh’s not-worth-counting packs. While
Aamir might have gone completely nude to promote his one movie and Shahrukh
might have nearly killed himself to develop eight-pack abs in this old age,
Salman is the man who has grown older with grace worthy of his (sur)name.
Photo: Salman Khan
is the unashamed Dabang of Bolywood; the only Khan who did not need to
humiliate himself to make it big at the Box Office
While Aamir went after
marrying multiple women and also did not miss to create affairs with a White
woman abroad to produce illegitimate child and Shahrukh with his poor looks
held on to perhaps the only woman who agreed to marry him as a loyal husband,
it is Salman who dared to love. When he loved, he made no attempts to hide it.
When his women abandoned him, he cried like any human would. And when he loved
next time, he made no secret of that either! How can you not love the humanly
vulnerable yet rock solid Khan? If you see him or watch his interviews, you
would certainly notice one thing about him – he never pretends! He is
straightforward and dil-se; what all other phony actors claim to be but are
not.
Salman Khan is the only
Khan with real fan-following from other men. If you are Salman-ka-Fan, you
won’t need to be ashamed, something which comes frequently if we start to think
about being fans of Aamir or Shahrukh. That is why Arjun Kapoor says
“Salman-ka-Fan” and takes the Taj Mahal by storm:
Photo: Arjun Kapoor
sings ‘Salman-ka-Fan’ in Tevar
Salman Khan was the
only Khan who had the guts to stand with NaMo (Modi) and fly kites in front of
the whole media, even before Modi got power in Delhi. On the other hand,
Shahrukh is a known Pakistan-sympathizer while Aamir is by and large
non-political.
Photo: Salman Khan
with Narendra Modi
Salman Khan is also the
only Khan who can pair-up with the Dabang Girl Sonakshi. Imagine girlish Aamir
or tapori Shahruku appearing like school-kids in front of the Desi Girl? We
would rather eat all the popcorn ever produced than watching the lesser-Khans
humiliate themselves once again…
Photo: Salman
‘Dabang’ Khan with Sonakshi ‘Khamosh’ Sinha
On these happier notes,
let me now take a break :)
