Movie Reviews

STORY:  A young boy Midi (Varun Buddhadev) is adamant to overcome the curveballs life throws at him while trying to restore his father's glory. REVIEW:  Inspired by true events, writer-director Mridul’s ‘Toolsidas Junior’ is a simple yet heart-warming story of a father-son bond and their collective life goals. For the most part of this 132-minutes-long film, one is completely immersed in Midi’s journey to become Toolsidas Junior. Unlike other sports dramas, there are no pushy parents driving his level of dedication; rather, it’s a young boy’s own desire to achieve what his father had once wished for. Set in Calcutta of 1994, Toolsidas (Rajiv Kapoor) is an ace snooker player who proudly declares that he ''only plays for his son''. In a tournament, he hopes to defeat five-time champion Jimmy Tandon (Dalip Tahhil). Toolsidas assures his adolescent son Midi that the trophy is coming home this time, but he loses the game. That devastates the duo's heart and Midi emba...

STORY: Former sports coach Vijay Barse invests his time and hard-earned money to train underprivileged kids in football, to keep them away from drugs and crimes seeded in Nagpur’s underbelly. REVIEW: There’s a pink-and-white wall, with iron fencing in most parts. It has a gate, which is locked and is being guarded to bar people from the adjacent slum to cross over to the other side where the educated and wealthy families dwell. That image, metaphorically, indicates the zone that this film is venturing into. It’s underlined further with the closing visual of the film, where an airplane is seen flying right above the hutments of Mumbai’s slum area. Nagraj Popatrao Manjule’s Jhund is not an outright sports biopic, even though it follows the usual beats of a good sports drama. The film is a commentary on what we as a society can do to help the have-nots identify their plus points and cross the boundary to leap onto the other, brighter side. Amitabh’s Vijay Borade (modelled on Vijay Barse, ...

  STORY:  Based on S. Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges’ hard-hitting book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai,’ ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ chronicles Ganga’s rise to power and fame from a demure small-town girl in Gujarat, to the undisputed queen of kamathipura in Mumbai. REVIEW:  Women invitingly standing at the doorstep of a kotha (brothel) in the bustling bylanes of south Mumbai’s infamous red-light area Kamathipura, is a scene that is real, tragic and dramatic. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, set entirely against this gritty backdrop of Mumbai tells the story of many a young women, who were sold off to brothels for a few hundreds, solely through the eyes of its protagonist Gangubai (Alia Bhatt). It’s sometime in the early 1950s or 1960s when a starry-eyed and naïve Ganga is conned by her own lover Ramnik (Varun Kapoor) to elope with a promise that he will pave the path for her to make it as a heroine in Bollywood. What turns out and the truth as we all know i...

  STORY:  The plot revolves around Dheeraj Thakur and Maya, who fall in love despite their families' long-standing animosity. REVIEW:  For it’s a little-over-two hour run time, Partho Ghosh’s ‘Pyaar Mein Thoda Twist’, seems way too long, drab and underwhelming. The film, as the title suggests, is a love story, with a supposed twist. Dheeraj (Mukesh J Bharti) and Maya (Richa Mukherjee) are born in a village in Uttar Pradesh that thrives on the tradition of running people down. And these kids belong to two of the richest men in the village, who are sworn enemies - no reason for their animosity in sight as such. Dheeraj and Maya fall in love more instantly than heat-and-eat food coming out of a microwave. Next: their fathers play on the ‘dahej pratha’. Sadly, the girl, instead of opposing the dowry culture prevalent even today, threatens to either set herself on fire or elope with the guy. Hell, she even convinces the father to agree to the marriage with the dowry condition ...

  STORY:  Kavya, a terminally-ill girl, arrives in Darjeeling with her father, a college professor. With barely some time left in her hands, she meets Kuldeep, whose love makes the last leg of her life the most beautiful she’s ever had. REVIEW:  Somewhere, deep into the film, you suddenly find yourself in what seems like a recreation of the closing scene of Titanic, where Kate Winslet walks through a sea of people and reaches out to Leonardo DiCaprio. While that was a romantic gem, the one in 'Before You Die' is anything but. Director Suvendu Raj Ghosh’s 'Before You Die' is about Kavya’s (Kavya Kashyap) courage and strength. She’s suffering from pancreatic cancer and barely has time left on her hands. The film depicts the journey of the last six months of her life which she spends in Darjeeling, away from her home city in Rajasthan where she was being treated. No solid reason for her father to take up a posting that takes Kavya miles away from her doctors. It’s here tha...

  Badhaai Do Story:  Sumi and Shardul lead dual and socially-suppressed lives as closeted members of the gay and lesbian community. When they settle for a marriage of compromise to please their intrusive families, they assume this would give them cover while they pursue partners of their choice. What they eventually achieve by this and how forms the narrative of this family entertainer. Badhaai Do Review:  Marriages are made in heaven, or so they say. Interestingly, a huge number of these ‘heavenly marriages’ appear all shiny and bright owing to the compromises made by couples on various levels. In Badhaai Do, this matrimonial compromise is of a different kind – one that is not often spoken about but has been in existence all along. For those unversed, it's called a lavender marriage – which is a hetero marriage between two homosexual persons, who agree to this arrangement of convenience for various reasons like trying to fit into society, avoiding social stigma emanating...

  STORY:  Captain Kapil Dev led a team from India, seen as underdogs, to bring home the country’s first-ever World Cup title in the year 1983. Kabir Khan’s ‘83’ encapsulates the journey of this team that taught a nation to believe and to pin its hopes on its cricket players’ by returning home as a set of uniquely gifted world champions. REVIEW:  First few minutes into the film, Kabir Khan uses an intelligently crafted passport sequence to introduce the audience to characters in the film. He also uses dialogue and light conversations to let you in on a fact - Indians didn’t trust India to bring home the World Cup. That’s when you realise this film is not about winning on a world stage, it’s about earning respect. At every stage in the film, Kabir has juxtaposed real images with the reel ones - making one sit up and take note of the fact that he has heavily invested in research and the recreation (the scenes look as good as the real incidents on the field) of defining momen...

  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:  The film chronicles the incredible real life story, struggles and gender based discrimination faced by former Indian Air Force pilot Gunjan Saxena (played by Janhvi Kapoor). Known as the ‘Kargil Girl’, Gunjan was honoured with the Shaurya Vir award for displaying exemplary courage during the Kargil war in 1999. REVIEW:  Gender stereotypes are as old as the hills. While men are preordained to excel at something, women stepping into that territory continue to ruffle a few feathers. It's not uncommon for women to face blatant, casual or concealed sexism, no matter how accomplished. Female athletes are asked who their favourite male athlete is. Are women smart enough to analyse science fiction films or sports? If this is what we face today, Lucknow girl Gunjan Saxena shattered the glass ceiling in the 90s when she became an IAF pilot. She did it at a time when feminism wasn’t in vogue. It was only in 2016, that India saw its first ever women fighter pilots to be com...