MOVIE REVIEW – HAPPY BHAG JAYEGI (2016)

Today we are here with a review of HAPPY BHAG JAYEGI (2016) - a comic genre movie released this Friday, written and directed by Mudassar Aziz with Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Ali Fazal, Jimmy Shergill in lead roles. As the name suggests movie is based on an Amritsari girl ‘Happy’ (Diana Penty) who ran away from his wedding as she loves his college mate ‘Guddu’ (Ali Fazal).

The movie opens with a marriage function in Amritsar where Bride - Happy (Diana Penty), who is getting married to a local Corporator Daman Singh Bagga (Jimmy Shergill), escapes from her wedding for getting married to her lover Guddu (Ali Fazal). Accidently, she jumps into a wrong truck which goes to Lahore, Pakistan alongwith convoy of Pakistani Ex-Governor, Javed Ahmed and his son Bilal Ahmed (Abhay Deol), who were returning to Pakistan after attending a Conference in India.

After accidentally reaching Lahore, the energetic and vibrant Happy takes the whole town on her head while an agitated Bagga kidnaps Guddu with an assurance that Happy will come to him. Will Happy and Guddu’s love story have a happy ending? Is Bilal too in the race to win Happy’s heart is all you have to find out by watching the movie!

The film even with a predictable plot, manages to keep you on the seat with its funny dialogues. The comedy in the movie is far better than Housefull series and other Romantic Comedies of Bollywood. There are instances when one is reminded of Kangana Ranaut starrer Tanu weds Manu, Kareena Kapoor starrer Jab we Met, Praneeti Chopra starrer Shudh Desi Romance and Sonam Kapoor’s sneakers-preferring bride in Dolly ki Doli.

The film’s story is set in both India and Pakistan and the good point represented in the movie is that life beyond the border is quite similar to us. Taking on the country’s nature through subtle jokes, dialogues such as ‘Yahan bandook ke bina baat karo toh koi sunta hi nahi hai’ work well. The urdu conversations between Bilal and Afridi are amazing and funny too.

Happy’s character is told us more crazy than actually seeing it in the film. Mostly, it is the side characters that are written best. First half is good but the second half typically gets all the lead characters in one place and thus begins the chaos with multiple sub-plots that kills all the fun as in the most of the bollywood comedies.

What’s Good:

This film’s soul lies in its dialogues and the comic timings. For example when drunk Guddu and Pakistani policeman, Afridi (Piyush Mishra) discussing Urdu and not Kashmir, Bilal convincing his father about seeing his late mother’s ghost to cover-up for Happy’s movements in the house.

Abhay Deol as Bilal Ahmed has played the role which binds the movie altogether. Jimmy Shergil as  Bagga is also good with his comic dialogues such as

The Indo-Pak angle works in favour of the movie and one of interesting scene showing the relations between the two countries is when we see Bilal enjoying a game of Cricket in the by-lanes of Amritsar and after hitting two sixes, he causally mentions being from Pakistan and the kid bowling, immediately gets him bold saying “Pehle bataya hota Pakistan se ho.”

On the whole, clever writing holds this film together.

Loop holes in the movie:

With too many sub-plots, the film’s second half seems stretched.

Moreover, being the lead character ‘Happy’ (Diana Penty) doesn’t justifies his character. Diana must have put her best to play the character of ‘Happy’ most importantly in the era when most of the bollywood movies are male centric and female actresses has seldom roles to play other than to glamorize the movies.

Guddu was shown the musician in the movie but we are never shown him singing or performing throughout.

Star Peformance:-

Diana Penty has put efforts for playing the role of Punjabi girl but she does not come off as convincing.

Abhay Deol looks charming as Bilal Ahmed and holds the movie altogether. Ali Fazal plays the lover boy Guddu and does a decent job.

Jimmy Shergill once again does not get the girl in the film like in the Tanu Weds Manu franchisee movie. His act of Bagga, is quite enjoyable.

Piyush Mishra as the Pakistani cop does a great job and his comic timing is spot on.

Pakistani TV actress Momal Sheikh is seen as Bilal’s fiancee in the film and she does an average job and fails to impact his presence.

Final words:

Happy Bhag Jayegi is watchable. The film’s comic elements and acts keep you entertained and this could be a ‘Happy’ family movie.

My ratings for this movie is 3 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOHENJO DARO REVIEW

MOVIE REVIEW – MOHENJO DARO (2016)

Today we are here with a review of another movie released this Friday MOHENJO DARO by the Lagaan, Swadesh & Jodha Akbar fame director Ashutosh Gowariker. As its name suggests, the movie is set in the pre-historic era of Indus valley civilization and was one of the biggest challenge for the film maker to re-live the time of four centuries ago.

The movie opens in 2016 B.C. with a thrilling scene of hunting a crocodile by a group of youths lead by the lead character SARMAN (Hritik Roshan), who is an Indigo peasant living with his uncle and aunt in Amri village. After hearing big things about the town where they trade their goods, Sarman has a fascination of visiting Mohenjo Daro and convinces his uncle to send him there for trade. Then he visits the town of Mohenjo Daro which seems familiar to him.

There are much efforts to give the movie pre-historic look such as hand stitched clothes, wooden tyres of bullock cart, showing bronze statute found during excavation of Indus Valley, set up of town planning and division as per excavation, pottery, mention of towns of time such as Harrapa, Lothal, Dholavira, Kot-Diji, Amri and the like. Moreover, the filmmaker also mentions about the trade relations with different contemporary civilizations of the time. We are also shown Barter system in operation at the time for trade.

But still there is something missing which sync the whole things with that time.

What’s Good:

Hritik Roshan with his bronze look has tried to entertain us as ‘SARMAN’ and has probably the best thing in the film. The Bhakar-Zokar action scenes in the movie are good to watch and last flood scene is also entertaining to some extent.

Loop holes in the movie:

Movie uses the simple and repeated tale of foster parents, mistaken identity and good vs evil.

Love at first sight scenario, ‘Palat’ scene like in DDLJ as typical bollywood masala.

Overall the movie look like a costume drama and poor editing.

Star Peformance:-

Hrithik Roshan has done his job with perfection has given more than 100%. He delivers a decent performance in an already spoiled script. His action scenes with Bhakar-Zokar are good enough.

Pooja Hegde debuts with this film and but doesn’t have much to do other than a smiling face. As Chaani, she has done nothing other than the costume.

Kabir Bedi as Maham in his scary is ordinary in the movie.

Manish Chaudhary as priest and Chaani’s father does a decent job.

Final words:

Mohenjo Daro has failed in terms of both history and execution.

My ratings for this movie is 2 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOVIE REVIEW – RUSTOM (2016)

Today we are here with a review of a movie named ‘RUSTOM’ (2016) which has created a much buzz among the viewers by its trailer and promotions from the past sometimes. Produced by Neeraj Panday & others and directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, RUSTAM is a crime-mystery film based on a true case of 1959, where a Naval Officer KM Nanavati murdered his friend for cheating him by having illicit relations with his wife.

The movie opens in deep seas in a naval ship with Commander Rustom Pavri on board. While returning home, he finds his wife Cynthia (Ileana DCruz) cheating on him with one of his friends Vikram Makheeja (Arjan Bajwa), who holds the reputation of being lose with girls. The heart-broken husband goes to the friend's house, pumps three bullets into his chest, and surrenders himself before the police.

Director Tinu Suresh Desai has tried to recreate the real life incident on screen with a touch of suspense, entertainment, and romance and he has more or less succeeded in his efforts. The film has some pleasant surprises that will keep your interest alive every now and then. Also, the director has kept the characters' costumes and appearances true to the timeline, as the Nanavati case unfolded in 1959.

In Rustom, the protagonist’s character is written with lot of sugarcoating that we hardly find him a murderer. The filmmaker has added some fiction in the story and added the angle of patriotism by adding the corrupt deal of aircraft career to add more masala. The film’s story has been crafted well with good twists, turning points.

The side characters are much more well-written. We love the ‘maid’ who shouts in favour of her employer in court without the fear or knowledge of being held in contempt. Also Kumud Mishra’s newsmagzine owner character is lovely to watch. The representation of a young kid selling the newspaper by attractive dialogues also worked well. The courtroom scenes are dramatic and at times look like TV-serial type drama.

What’s Good:

Akshay Kumar in Navy uniform is looking gorgeous. Good recreation of 60s time by the film maker. An entertaining and interesting plot and suspense of three bullet shots scene till the end keeps you well-hooked to your seats.

Loop holes in the movie:

They fail to show how justified it is for a Navy officer’s wife to drift into adultery given the circumstances. Towards the climax, the plot falters hugely when the jury is deciding the decision and it looked terrible.

We are also not told how the protagonist is wearing the white stainless uniform even when he is in lockup and has not met even his wife.

Movie is also bit slow at certain points.

Star Peformance:-

Akshay has played his part very convincingly and effortlessly.

Ileana DCruz does not have much to show as an actress in the film except shed tears, and look good. She has managed to do both well.

Esha Gupta has also lived the character of arrogant sister of Vikram Makhija.

Arjan Bajwa as Vikram Makhija is uninspiring. He is made to look like a 50s villain but there is nothing like that in him.

Pavan Malhotra as the investigating officer on case does an excellent job.

Kumud Mishra in his tiny role too manages to impress us.

Final words:

RUSTOM is good enough to be watched in the weekend but viewers who are expecting a well-made movie in all departments may be disappointed.

Die hard fans of Akshay Kumar are most welcome.

My ratings for this movie is 2.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOVIE REVIEW – BAMBUKAT (PUNJABI) – 2016

Today we are here with a review a review of a beautiful, lively and healthy movie namely – BAMBUKAT (meaning Motorcycle). The movie is from the makers of ANGREZ and LOVE PUNJAB and is directed by Pawan Batra. Like ANGREZ too Pankaj Batra in this movie too takes the audience back in the era of 1960s when owning a motorcycle got a great amount of respect from the entire village.

BAMBUKAT is the story of 2 sisters: Pakko (Simi Chahal) and Simmi (Sheetal Thakur) and their husbands: Chanan Singh (Ammy Virk) and Resham Singh (Binnu Dhillon). Chanan is from a humble family of farmers and dreams of getting ‘Bambukat’ like his brother-in-law Resham Singh because he feels that in order to gain the respect in the eyes of his in-laws, he also needs to own a Bambukat. So his love for buying a Bambukat lands him into a trouble which accidently put him behind the bars and what follows next and how he proved his love for Bambukat and for ‘Pakko’ is the rest of the story, for which you will have to watch the movie.

Director Pankaj Batra has successfully put the old Punjabi scenario on screen. Some scenes from the movie are that much perfect that makes unbelievable that it’s a Punjabi movie. Direction has taken the story of a common man and his dreams exactly on the right path. All the songs from the movie sound really good and back ground score is good but some songs seem to like disconnecting from the story.

Bambukat is a story of 2 sisters of different complexions. The biased approach of their family could also be seen in their marriages as the dark skinned is married to a poor family and the fair toned is married to a government officer. The title is very apt for the movie. It’s a complete family entertainment movie. The movie contains a mixture of comedy and drama and ensures that viewers are fully entertained throughout.

Star Peformance:-

Ammy Virk shows us yet again proves that he is in industry to stay. The rural charm that this guy has is simply mind blowing and he is outstanding throughout the movie. He got into the skin of Channan Singh with much ease and carried off the character with full confidence.

Simi Chahal has done a wonderful job as a debutant. Her cute looks, her expressions and earthen make up made her character Pakko, pretty believable.

Binnu Dhillon is once again looked great as Resham Singh and no one but him could have done this character so well. His moustache, his body language, his portrayal of Resham was outstanding.

Sheetal Thakur was pleasant on screen but she wasn’t really given much to do in the film. Other artists were also good.

Final words:

If you are a dream lover then, Bambukat is a must watch movie for you because this will make clear to you that how much hard work is needed to fulfill our dreams.

My ratings for this movie is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOVIE REVIEW – MADAARI: SSHHH DESH SO RAHA HAI (2016)

Today we are here with DRISHYAM fame Director – Nishikant Kamat’s movie MADAARI with delayed release. The movie is based on the social issue of corruption which has gone deep into our socio-political system and at times, the movie look alike ‘A WEDNESDAY’ starring Naseer.

MADAARI is a thriller-cum-social drama film based on the story of a single father and technical expert, Nirmal Kumar (Irrfan Khan) who lost his only hope, his son - Appu in a bridge collapse due to corrupt politicians in suburban Mumbai. After his son’s death, he vows to avenge his son’s death with the corrupt politicians and kidnapped the eight years old son of the Union Home Minister from one school at Dehradun, to seek answers from those accountable.

The movie starts with Irrfan Khan’s narration saying, “Baaz chuhe pe jhapta, use utha le gaya. Kahaani sacchi lagti hai magar acchi nahi lagti. Baaz pe palatwaar hua, kahaani sacchi nahi lagti magar acchi lagti hai.” This narration sounds like a promise of a fascinating social thriller.

The first scene is of the Swantantra TV with a news item that son of Union Home Minister is kidnapped, which is not confirmed by the Govt., and we are shown reactions of different sections of public that such news can’t be true. The whole movie from Irrfan’s preparations for kidnap of Home Minister’s son from Dhehradun School is a cat and mouse game between him and the cops especially CBI Joint Director, Nachiket Verma (Jimmy Shergil) when he travels through local buses & trains from Dehradun to Mumbai.

We are shown the pain and sufferings of the common man goes through, how a father after tragic death of only son reacts and even tries to commit suicide before deciding to avenge his son’s death and wage a war against the corrupt system and proved a point by exposing those responsible before the whole country through media.

What’s Good:
Though there are numerous movies of this genre but movie proves a point when a common man is hurt by the repetitive wrongdoings of the corrupt system, he strikes and strikes heavily.
The movie shows what happens when an ordinary man then becomes a juggler (Madaari used as a metaphor) and made the corrupts dance to his tunes?
The use of stock images of happening across India, the director tries to make a hard hitting impact on the viewer.

Loop holes in the movie:
It look impractical for a lone man to kidnap the Union Minister’s son, travel that much for a week without being caught and it looks funny at times when Irrfan uses wi-fi connection at places where there are no physical structures or habitation nearby.

We are not told why his wife left Nirmal Kumar (Irrfan) even when he has married a muslim girl against the will of his family.
One of the biggest drawback of the movie is the superficially defined character of 8 years old abducted boy (Vishesh Bansal). An eight-year-old boy talking of the Stockholm syndrome is a bit much.

We are not given justification that why a Mumbai commoner thought of kidnapping the son of a Union Home Minister of Delhi. Even the portfolio of the Central Minister, Pratap Nimbalkar (Uday Tikekar) is never mentioned, who is one of the accused.

Star Peformance:-

Irrfan Khan does a great job as the frustrated and broken kidnapper. He excels in the emotional scenes, especially the one where he loses his son.
Jimmy Shergill, as the cop working on the case is extremely impressive. He is a mature actor now suits in every kind of role.
Vishesh Bansal is the kid who has been kidnapped. His transformation from ‘Tum jante nai mere dad kaun hai’ sorts to becoming a kid who understands his kidnapper’s pain is quite good.

Final words:
For movie lovers of social-genre, the instant movie has something for them. Morever, despite being an average thriller, still is better than many senseless Bollywood movies.
One more thing again, Irrfan Khan’s performance in the movie will make your every penny counts.

My ratings for this movie is 3.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOVIE REVIEW – SULTAN (2016)

Today we are here with the review of Salman Khan starred movie namely SULTAN released on the eve of Eid.  The movie is written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar & produced by Aditya Chopra, who has done its Screenplay.

SULTAN’s trailer was to enough to tell us that the movie is about Wrestling but the only thing that came as a surprise after watching the movie that actually it is a love story.

It is a story of a Haryanvi Youth namely Sultan Ali Khan, who is runs the local cable TV business and his changes completely when he encounters with Aarfa, Haryana’s famous female wrestler and falls for her and tries every trick to win her love. He soon learns that she will only marry a wrestler who has competed beyond the state level and that becomes his goal. Sultan trains himself to be worth her and to stand tall in his own eyes.

With his physical as well as mental strength, Sultan goes on to create milestones and even wins at the Olympics. Even after their marriage, due to some reason both are separated and Sultan stop playing wrestling. It is because of his love for Aarfa, he once again come into ring in a new format of free style Wrestling after a gap of 8 years to once again prove his physical & mental strength and for his fight within.

SULTAN is a mixed pack of emotion, action, love and yes SALMAN KHAN. Basically it is a love story but the cover of Wrestling has done wonders for the movie.

The dialogues of the movie have specially been written keeping in view Salman’s personality but none of them have a punch of Chak De India’s “Sattar minute”. The first half of the film is very interesting and u never think of missing a scene be it Salman’s killer physique or his funny dance moves or his jokes but the emotional drama in the second half seems a bit boring as expected by the YRF films.

Star Peformance:-

Salman Khan has worked hard for attaining the body of a wrestler and he must be appreciated for it doing at the age of 50. The contrast change in his character is ably portrayed by him. Definitely he has played as a SULTAN.

Anushka Sharma too has provided great performance as a Wrestler and she has played her role with perfection.

Cameos of Randeep Hooda and Amit Sadh in the film are good. But as a fan of Randeep Hooda’s acting skills I wish I could see him more in the film!

What’s Bad: Like majority of films dealing with sports, Sultan too has its shortcomings. First it takes off with a love angle, it may disappoint many who may have expected it to concentrate on wrestling. Secondly, all the fights are not shown in detail.

Final words:

It is not a complete Sports film but a complete commercial masala film for the bollywood movies lover and a typical Salman Khan movie. Moreover, one thing is for sure, its a family film and u should take your kids also alongwith you for the movie.

My ratings for this movie is 3 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S

MOVIE REVIEW – SHORGUL (2016)

Today we are here with a review of a movie namely SHORGUL based on 2013 Mujaffarnagar riots between two religious communities. It is co-directed by Pranav Kumar Singh & Jitendra Tiwari.

Shorgul starts in an exciting manner when a mysterious man meets an unidentified woman in the middle of the night. They exchange words and a concealed weapon is handed over to the woman.

But the very next moment, an item song begins, which proves that directors Jitendra Tiwari and P Singh prefer catering to the masses rather than focusing on the story.

Like most political dramas, SHORGUL is set in UP. It revolves around, how every now and then, Indian politicians use Hindu-Muslim rivalry for their vote-banks. In this story, an innocent friendship between a Hindu boy, Raghu (Aniruddh Dave) and a Muslim girl Zainab (Suha Gezen) becomes fuel for the local politicians to raise an issue.

It shows how politicians like Ranjit Om (Jimmy Shergill) and Alam Khan (Narendra Jha) influence people’s minds with such thoughts, just to get support in elections and how their speeches affect the common people. Also, how a handful of political figures such as Chaudhary (Ashutosh Rana) who believe in a humanitarian way are not tolerated well in society.

Although the film attempts to bring up issues such as land acquisition, beef ban in Uttar Pradesh and suppression of the minorities but doesn’t carried it well. One wonders why the writers even bothered bringing up these topics in such a superficial manner. But despite all this, SHORGUL is reduced to be a weak melodrama with its bloody communal clashes between the sword-wielding and ‘trishul-dhaari’ communities.

Dialogues of the movie seem to have been inspired from all possible 80s films and are dramatic enough to give you a bad headache. Majority of the dialogues are heavy and the mention of bigger issues such as Kashmir, Pakistan are hurled without any context every now and then. The writing is extremely careless and it is very senseless that such provocative dialogues against communities are being used for creating mere drama in film.

The movie’s direction is extremely amateurish and it is clearly seen in most of the frames. There are some scenes with hasty camera movements & one of the worst scenes in the film is where one character is stabbed on a bridge with an iron rod and instead of screaming or any reaction, he is seen hurling dialogues like ‘Zainab Ka Khayal Rakhna’. This is hilarious. Editing of the film is also poor.

Star Peformance:-

Jimmy Shergill as Ranjit Om has looked impressive. He puts a life like character in the movie but it is sad that his acting talents are a complete waste for what the film is.

Ashutosh Rana as always being a brilliant actor he is puts up a great act as Chaudhary.

Rest of the actors are looked ordinary.

Final words:

Very ordinary film, nothing to watch.

My ratings for this movie is 1.5 out of 5 stars.

So keep following the page, good day till the next review

Bogal | R E V I E W S