#YehSaaliAashiqui #BollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas Rating: * * *

Bollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Impressively Twisty & Thrilling Debut Vehicle







Film: Yeh Saali Aashiqui

Cast: Vardhan Puri, Shivaleeka Oberoi, Ruslaan Mumtaz

Director: Cherag Ruparel

Rating: * * *

Runtime: 138 mins

A family production, this Amrish Puri films’ effort for the grandson (Vardhan Puri, who has been gifted the lead here) of the famed International actor, is an awe-striking surprise. Forget the nepotism involved and the trite-romance indicating title, this film will make you rethink on all those damaging stereotypes heaped on the small-budget mainstream film.

The narrative starts off rather hesitantly with well-off orphan Sahil Oberoi (Vardhan) striking up an amour with fellow classmate Mitee Deora(Shivaleeka Oberoi), at a Hotel Management Institute. They claim to be in love but then Mitee is caught red-handed in compromising situations and Sahil is left reeling. Won’t go further into this intriguing story because that would be telling too much but needless to say Director Cherag Ruparel has fashioned a thriller that twists and turns and twists again and again before playing out the final reveal. The plotting could have been sharper in the first half but one can’t quibble about that when the eventual resultant is a shocker. Ruparel engages us with a play on light and colors, suggesting darkness in a seemingly unthreatening realm of romance.

The actors grow in confidence as the story takes form and the helming gets more and more assured as the theme of romance expands into vengeance and counter-response. The influences and references ( Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and many others) are obvious but that doesn’t take anything away from the overall enjoyment. Despite the negative shades apparent in the two lead characters you get totally hooked and want to know what’s going to happen next. And it’s largely to the credit of the actors, the director, smart scripting and dialogues, thumping background score and some energy giving songs, that this film grows on you strongly enough to leave you impressed. Havaa Banke, Sanki and Bewaqoofi are songs that impress, resonate with emotions that lift-up the narrative as the telling solidifies into something substantial - even though far-fetched. Vardhan and Shivaleeka pull off amazing debut performances here and make this film far more intriguing and engaging than it might have hoped to be.

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#Commando3 #BollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

Bollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Not even steam left in this disappointing franchise instalment







Film: Commando 3

Cast: Vidyut Jamval, Adah Sharma, Angira Dhar, Gulshan Devaiah, Feryna Wazeir, Rajesh Tailang, Vicky Kadian, Abhilash Chaudhary, Sumeet Thakur, Mark Bennington, Atharva Vishwakarma

Director: Aditya Datt

Rating: * *

Runtime: 133 mins

Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Reliance Entertainment and Motion Picture Capital’s attempt to resurrect the success of Commando with this new franchise instalment, is rather uninspired and tame. Even with lead player Vidyut Jamwal’s phenomenal athleticism on show, this film fails to lift off –leave alone fly. The narrative has ace intelligence officer Karanveer Singh Dogra (Vidyut Jamwal) put to right some sexist, school-girl molesting akhada wrestlers before being called out to London to chase a mysterious terrorist head honcho (Gulshan Devaiah in studied scene stealing form) who has designs on Indian lives during the densely peopled Dussehra/Navratri festivities. Karan is first tasked with unveiling the face behind the cover-up and then has to prevent the multiple attacks from happening with help and support from a fellow agent Bhavna (Adah Sharma sporting a dumb look and an unbecoming hyderabadi accent) and British Intelligence Officers Mallika and Armaan( represented by Angira Dhar and Sumeet Thakur).

The script tries to incorporate too many elements of terrorism and misleading indoctrination, has a silly unviable romantic track and makes the entire run of action, chases and fights seem laboured and unwieldy. Some scenes are terrifyingly brutal but the inconsistency in the telling loosens their impact. The jingoistic nationalism on display here doesn't lift-up the dull, lifeless narrative either. This immediate sequel to Commando 2: The Black Money Trail, is rather insipid. Shot largely in England, the film has some well executed stunts but the tempo and pacing required for an adrenaline rush is sorely missing. The dialogues sound silly and performances are also quite inadequate, made more so by intimate close-ups of vacuous expressions.And Vidyut's penchant to adjust his head-bun before every fight looks ridiculous. A faster, sharper edit and a subtle, more elevating background score might have saved this film from being the dead bore that it is!

Johnsont307@gmail.com

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #HollywoodFilmMovieReview #HotelMumbai #English #Hindi

Hollywood Film Review

Johnson Thomas

A searing, quasi-fictional, testament of triumph over catastrophe









Film: Hotel Mumbai

Cast: Dev Patel, Nazanin Boniadi, Armie Hammer, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Anupam Kher, Amandeep Singh, Jason Isaacs, Suhail Nayyar, Vipin Sharma, Alex Pinder, Natasha Bordizzo, Yash Trivedi Director: Anthony Maras

Writer: John Collee, Anthony Maras

Rating: * * * ½

Runtime: 125 min.

This film is a dramatic recreation of the act of real-life terrorism that struck Mumbai on 26/11, 2008 in the series of pre-planned, co-ordinated attacks in several locations in and around the Indian Financial capital, Mumbai. Director Anthony Maras and co-scriptwriter John Collee locates the major portion of the story in and around the Taj Mahal Palace fictionalising the account of personal tragedies replete with disaster-action movie treatment, in order to provide the bulwark for their gritty and wonderfully shot production. Reportedly, Maras and co-writer John Collee, interviewed survivors and witnesses of the three-day ordeal before sitting down to fashion this fairly reliable and relatable account. It’s one of the most horrifying events of the 21st century, yet, and the ethics and timing behind such a representation may be debatable but there’s no denying the strong resonance this film will have in the subcontinent. The way Maras plays it, the film is bound to bring back traumatic memories of a collective nightmare best forgotten (for the victims).

While Maras’ narrative touches briefly on the Pakistan protected terrorists’ (belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadi group) arrival by boat and subsequent spreading out to different locations in South Mumbai, mercilessly wreaking havoc and carnage in their wake, the intimate rendering of those disturbing events are mostly relegated to the Taj as the camera follows about a dozen characters from different backgrounds who find themselves trapped in various parts of the immense building when the shootings begin. As the militants (Amandeep Singh, Suhail Nayyar, Yash Trivedi, Gaurav Paswala), armed and remorseless, continue their deadly assault on the hotel, a brave chef Hemant Oberoi (Anupam Kher) and a lowly steward Arjun (Dev Patel) decide to risk their own lives to try and protect the frightened guests - an assortment of nationalities including a debauched former Russian Military man Vasili ( Jason Isaacs ) and an inter-racial couple, American Architect David(Armie Hammer) and Middle-eastern Heiress Zahra ( Nazanin Boniadi) with a baby and Nanny, Sally (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) in tow.

Maras’ film plays true regarding the inadequacies of the security forces and the administration who found themselves at a loss when faced with the sheer audacity and scale of the bloody and blistering assault. Maras steers clear of any overt political or social commentary. To score well on his ‘triumph over adversity construct’, he deftly builds up the tempo and tension as the assault culminates in bloody bodies and ruthless, callous destruction (in the totally misguided name of religion). The violence is cold-blooded but Maras cuts away to help make the visuals less gruesome. Even so, it’s a tough watch. The film, inspired by a documentary, “Surviving Mumbai,” relays those terrifying moments from the vantage points of largely composite characters, guests and staff members of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, one of two luxury hotels the terrorists targeted, and where more than 30 died during the siege. Even though the individual stories are largely fictional we get to feel the pain of those terrifying moments that eventually left an entire city feeling violated and traumatised. Production Design is on the mark. The exteriors of the Taj are the real deal but even the interiors ( Studio set & Digitised) look and feel acutely real. Maras’ uniquely calibrated skillset (he even throws in some absurdist humour on the part of terrorists), Nick Remy’s deft, realistic, all-encompassing, desaturated camerawork, smart editing with Peter McNulty’s help and an effectively modulated background score generate an agonising, shocking and ravaging experience. Despite its generic elements, “Hotel Mumbai” makes for a troubling assignation – just as it should!
Johnsont307@gmail.com

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieReview #KD #Tamil #EnglishSubtitles #KaruppaDurai

Tamil Film ( with English subtitles) Review

Johnson Thomas

Fairly heart-warming dramedy



Film: KD (Karuppu Durai) Cast: Mu Ramaswamy, Nagavishal, Yog Japee, Geneshan Kaliamoorthy, Guna Babu, Pari, Jawaharlal Director: Madhumita Sundararaman

Rating: * * *

Runtime: 120 mins

Madhimita Sundaraman’s Karuppu Durai is a sentiment heavy drama that starts off with a family deliberating on the next course of action regarding their comatose father. While most of the extended family veer towards euthanasia as an option, the youngest, a daughter, vehemently opposes it. KD as it’s shortened title goes, gets to its bucket list concept by having it’s protagonist go through a 3 month long coma before waking up one fine day and finding out that his beleaguered family are more than just ready to euthanize him.

KD( Mu Ramaswamy) wakes up all hale and hearty, stealthily leaves his ungrateful family and embarks on a journey where he befriends an orphan, Kutty(Nagavishal) brought up in a temple, in which he seeks refuge. The narrative then delineates how the two who start off as abrasive to each other, become fast friends to the extent that the young lad begins to feel a filial connection that emboldens him to try and fulfil the old man’s unfulfilled wishes.

For a narrative that begins with visuals of a comatose man possibly in the throes of dying (accompanied by his satire inducing voiceover dialogue) the plotting gets lively and energised as the story moves along. The lead characters gather likeability and affection along the way to a rather contrived yet stirring climactic moment. The scene at the railway station brings back fond memories of the Kamal Hassan –Sridevi starrer Sadma – so even though KD and Kutty’s eventual separation doesn’t evoke ‘Sadma’ like sentiments, it does make us empathise with their plight. This is a fairly heart-warming experience even if not a particularly enlightening one!

Johnsont307@gmail.com