Movie Reviews

  STORY:  A most wanted bank robber decides to turn himself in when he meets the woman of his dreams. But thanks to a couple of corrupt FBI officials, his attempt to surrender turns into a dangerous nightmare. REVIEW:  Tom Carter (Liam Neeson), branded as the ‘in and out bandit’ by police and media for his slick bank robberies, suddenly decides to take the high road and surrender. He wants to return the entire $9 million in cash from the twelve banks he robbed.In return, he wants to negotiate a reduced sentence and get full visitation rights. The reason for this change of heart is Annie (Kate Walsh) – a spunky middle-aged divorcee, who he has been seeing since only a year. At first Tom’s attempts to surrender are discarded as prank calls by the FBI officials, but finally, two young officers Agent Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Agent Hall (Anthony Ramos) are assigned to check the veracity of his claims. And here comes a twist in the tale that ends up in an unexpected adventure,...

  STORY:  On a fateful night, local cabbie Blackie (Ishaan Khattar) stumbles upon this pretty – also mouthy and hot-headed – girl Pooja (Ananya Panday). There are goons involved and apparently there’s this history between them, and Pooja, the runaway, seems to be carrying a ton of cash and jewellery. Why does this ‘Aafat’ (by Blackie’s own admission) fall into his lap after all these years and what’s the mayhem all about?‘Khaali Peeli’ is one eventful ride towards redemption, reconnection and, of course, romance! REVIEW:  Back in the day, in their native village of Shivpur, when Vijay Chauhan aka Blackie was at the ripe age of 10, his Babuji (Anup Soni) was notorious for being an absolute  phattu . But, by pure luck, his son is born with a mean streak and is also an ardent hustler in the making. So, perhaps to prove a point to the villagers and themselves, the father-son duo embarks on a journey of crime that is doomed from the start, again, thanks to Chauhan senior’...

  PM Narendra Modi Story:  Chaiwala, sanyasi,  RSS  pracharak, deshbhakt ... the film chronicles Narendra Modi’s life and events leading up to his swearing-in ceremony as the Prime Minister of India in 2014. Vivek Anand Oberoi essays the role of PM Modi. PM Narendra Modi Review:  A balanced biopic will engage you, irrespective of your personal views, whereas a story that worships the protagonist and whitewashes controversies is something that you will lap up if you are a believer, and dismiss if you aren’t. This one falls in the latter category. Though the release of this film was held back by the Election Commission till the elections were over, the timing is still apt since it coincides with a thumping victory for the PM. However, that may be the only saving grace. You can overlook the tone of excessive reverence, as long as you unearth some unknown facets of his personality and life beyond what’s already documented. However, that’s not the case here, as it wa...

  STORY:  A handful of American soldiers take hundreds of Taliban terrorists head-on from the remote combat outpost, located deep in the Afghanistan valley. The Battle of Kamdesh became the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghanistan War in 2009 and one of the most heroic tales of bravery. REVIEW:  A nondescript outpost situated in a valley surrounded by three imposing mountains of Afghanistan was an easy target for Taliban militants. The contingent of American soldiers at the outpost knew this all too well and the terrorists used every opportunity to create trouble for the US Army. They launched regular attacks from their natural vantage point of being on the top of the mountains, but so far the attacks hadn’t been fatalistic. For American soldiers, this was an everyday occurrence and a local Afghani man named Mohammed (Sharif Dorani) helped the army negotiate with the locals and often warned them of the impending attacks too. But he would be often told off, saying ...

Putham Pudhu Kaalai , an anthology of hope, presents a small but delightful slice of ordinary people's lives. Without the pressures of creating a grandiose narrative for a highly paid hero, that often accompanies mainstream cinema, the anthology focusses on human interaction — the intricacies of people's behaviours that are as personal as they are universal. The five films are not all equal, but they are different and thoughtful in interesting ways. I truly cannot choose between Sudha Kongara's  Ilamai Idho Idho  and Gautham Menon's  Avarum Naanum - Avalum Naanum . A rather subversive and multi-layered play on Tamil cinema's auspicious new year's song,  Ilamai Idho Idho  captures the pedestrianness of relationships. Jayaram, who plays Rajiv embodies child-like excitement, and starry-eyed romance. Urvashi, as Lakshmi, is delicately mischievous, convincing us that they could be a great couple, even if we have not seen much of them together at all. The telling of t...

Story : ‘Halal Love Story’ explores the trials and triumphs of a movie making effort by members of an Islamic organization in Kerala, ensuring that all things - from dialogues to drinks served on the set - are ‘halal’ or lawful about it as per Quran. And when an unorthodox director helms the project, confusion becomes the hero on the set. Review : How hard is it to be an ardent religious believer, whose ambition is to make or act in a movie? ‘Sudani from Nigeria’ director Zakariya’s second film ‘Halal Love Story’ presents some movie-lover Muslims’ plights that involve weighing everything one does against the ideas of halal or haram as per the religious rules. Set in a largely Muslim community, ‘Halal Love Story’ has a handful of film aficionados at its centre. They are all active members of a popular Islamic organisation, and making a movie without hurting their religion’s rules is no cakewalk. Urged by two of its members, Thoufeek (Sharafudheen), a school teacher, writes a script ...

  I have always maintained that calling something overrated is not a critique of the thing itself, but merely others’ opinion of it. By that standard,  Arjun Reddy  was grossly overrated. And passionately critiqued multiple times over across languages. The makers and the actors have been adequately interviewed and re-interviewed. With the bombing of  Adithya Varma  — the official remake of  Arjun Reddy  in Tamil — I was hoping the phenomenon was put to rest. Today, the ghost of  Arjun Reddy  rose from the ground in the form of  Varmaa , director Bala’s version of the film that the producers rejected entirely just a few months ago.  For the uninitiated, Varma (Dhruv Vikram), is a medical student and later a brilliant surgeon, with anger issues. He falls in love with Megha, a harmless Megha Chowdhury who has lesser to do in this film than Shalini Pandey did in the original; frankly, I didn’t think that was even possible. Anyway, Megha...

  A   buffalo on a rampage ,   teenaged human beings   and a robot in addition, of course, to adult humans – these have been the protagonists of Malayalam films in 2019 so far. Not that serious Indian cinephiles are unaware of this, but if anyone does ask, here is proof that this is a time of experimentation for one of India’s most respected film industries. Writer-director Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval’s contribution to what has been a magnificent year for Malayalam cinema so far is  Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 , a darling film about a mechanical engineer struggling to take care of his grouchy ageing father while also building a career for himself.Subrahmanian, played by Soubin Shahir, dearly loves his exasperating Dad. Over the years he has quit several big-city jobs, at each instance to return to his village in Kerala because good care-givers are hard to come by and even the halfway decent ones find this rigid old man intolerable. Bhaskaran Poduval (Suraj ...