RK/RKay #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RK/#RKay Runtime: 96 mins. Genre: Drama Rating: * * ½ Cast: #MallikaSherawat #RajatKapoor #RanvirShorey #KubraSait #ChandrachoorRai #SadhikaSyal #ManuRishiChadha #WarisAhmedZaidi #AbhijeetDeshpande #AhishekSharrma #GraceGirdhar #ShrikantYadav #VaishaliMalhara #NamitDas Director: #RajatKapoor #MithiyaTalkies #PriyanshiTalkies #SpicePR

Director Rajat Kapoor may have a unique quasi-experimental way of telling his stories but they don’t always come good. His latest, Rk/Rkay, crowd funded by Over 800 People with donations ranging from Rs 100 To Rs 50,000, has a metaphysical dimension to it but the narrative is represented in such a matter-of-fact manner that it comes across as less whimsical and more absurd. I guess he wanted to show a director cum lead actor’s trauma during the edit stage when he realises that the vision he set out to film hasn’t actually come to life in the accumulated rushes. To make matters worse the ending he has chosen for his film doesn’t go down well with his team or his producer. So the audience has to sit through incorporeal delusions and meanderings into the bizarre. It’s an interesting and intriguing gambit that might have worked if the scripting, tone and tempo were a little more sophisticated. The technical aspects are top-notch in spite of the ‘independent’ budget and the performances are beautifully rendered. The experience of it though, leaves a lot to be desired.

Shamshera #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Shamshera Runtime: 159 mins Rating: * Cast: #RanbirKapoor #SanjayDutt #VaaniKapoor #AshutoshRana #SaurabhShukla #RonitBoseRoy #IravatiHarshe #TridhaChoudhury #PitobashTripathy #OmkarChaubey #KumarSaurabh Director: #KaranMalhotra #Yashraj Producer: #AdityaChopra Writer: #NeeleshMisra #KhilaBisht Dialogue: #PiyushMishra Screenplay: #EktaPathakMalhotra #KaranMalhotra Cinematography: #AnayGoswamy Editor: #ShivkumarVPanicker Music: #Mithoon Language: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu Certificate: UA *In 2D, IMAX 2D Format *

A fictitious Period drama detailing oppression against a tribal nomadic community, Khamerans, this story is set in the fictitious city of Kaza (looks appropriately fake too) where a warrior is imprisoned, enslaved & tortured by a ruthless authoritarian Shuddh Singh during British rule. This film is so antiquated and unaccomplished that one begins to wonder whether YashRaj Studios is deliberately indulging in trivial pursuit or is it just a case of ‘lost in translation.’ Coming as it does, directly after the debacle that was ‘Prithviraj’ it seems more than likely a case of the former. This film is in a league of its own in terms of abysmal script, story-telling craft, costumes, set and production design and acting(altogether perfunctory). Music and songs don’t even register. Cinematography and color schema, hued in variations of browns, comes across as bland and visually lacklustre. In terms of quality there’s nothing to distinguish it from either ‘Prithviraj’ or the likes of ‘Mohenjodaro.’ It’s really sad talents like Ranbir Kapoor (in a double role) are being wasted in travesties like this!

Judaa Hoke Bhi #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas Film: #JudaaHokeBhi Genre: Horror Rating: * ½ #DwaparMedia #HimanshuJhunjhunwala Cast: #AindritaRay #AkshayOberoi #RushadRana #MeherzanMazda #JiaMustafa #HemantSoni Director: #VikramBhatt Writers : #MaheshBhatt #ShwetaBothra #AmanPuranik

The worst yet from Vikram Bhatt’s Horror-Musical-thriller set, this one is so pedestrian, and unaccomplished that it plays out like a bad joke. An outlandish storyline is accompanied by stunted performances, bad VFX and studio set visuals. It’s obvious that Vikram Bhatt is catering to a very ‘base’ audience. The songs are not bad though

Ladki : Enter The Dragon Girl #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas Film: #LadkiEnterTheDragonGirl Rating: * * #IndoChineseCoProduction Genre: Martial Arts Action Runtime: 133 mins Cast: #AbhimanyuSingh #MiyaMuqi #PoojaBhalekar #RajpalYadav #MalhottraShivam #PoojaBhalekar #PrateekParmar #TianlongShi #ParthPuri #BigPeople #TigerCompany #ArtseeMediaProductions #SparkOriginal Director: #JingLiu #RamGopalVarma #NaaradPR #AnushaIyerGillPR Producer - #RamGopalVerma

As the name suggests this is a heroine oriented action packed martial arts film with the well-toned, superbly fit and agile heroine Pooja Bhalekar looking quite appealing in her skimpy outfits ( a la Rangeela) while indulging in male bashing (not the verbal but the physically pulverising kind) all through. There’s not much story to tell but the film is set in China, has stunts reminiscent of the Bruce Lee style and packs a punch ( at least in terms of action). Don’t expect any dramatic highs or histrionics – this film is meant to be a fight movie and it stays true to that form. This is a new genre for RGV and he manages to get at least the stunt work right!

Shabaash Mithu #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas Film: #ShabaashMithu Genre: Sports Biopic Cast: #RichardBhaktiKlein #TaapseePannu #VijayRaaz #MumtazSorcar #BrijendraKala #Devadarshani #InayatVerma #AsadAliPalijo #ShilpiMarwaha Director: #SrijitMukherji #Viacom18 #Viacom18Studios #UniversalCommunicationsPR #ParagDesaiPR #ColosceumMediaProduction #Tseries #ColorsCineplex #Netflix Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 156 mins Written: #PriyaAven Producer: #AjitAndhare Cinematography: #SirshaRay Editor: #ASreekarPrasad Music: #AmitTrivedi

Meant to be an inspirational real-life depiction of former Test and ODI captain of India’s women’s national cricket team, #MithaliRaj, this Srijit Mukherji helmed biopic fails to inspire or motivate. Though the film faithfully chronicles some of the high and low points in her career, it’s presented in a laid-back unenlivening fashion. Srijit and tam are more concerned with showcasing the struggle of women’s cricket in India. In fact most of Mithali’s cricketing achievements fail to make it to the final cut. Her 23 year career, her participation in 6 World Cups while captaining India in 4, her score of over 10,000 runs and breaking of 8 World records. Only the world cup lost by India by 10 runs is shown but that too in piecemeal fashion. Most of the cricket sequences are rather ineffective here. The film feels rather flat. There’s no pace nor is there any attempt to jump-start an adrenaline gush. Editing is unimpressive, screenplay lacks bite and dialogues are forgettable. Locations appear authentic, the children enacting the roles of Mithali and her friend Noorie make a good impression, Tapsee is excellent as expected and Vijay Raaz, in sober sagely avatar leaves a lasting impression. Music is forgettable. This film doesn’t do justice to Mithali Raj’s stellar achievements on the cricketing field.

HIT The First Case #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit #JohnsonThomas Film : #HITTheFirstCase Genre: Investigative Thriller Rating- * * ½ Runtime: 135 mins Cast: #RajkumarRao #SanyaMalhotra #Shanukumar #MilindGunaji #ShilpaShukla #DalipThahil #JatinGoswami #MadhurArora #NoyrikaBhatheja #AparnaBajpai #SanjayNarvekar Story/Screenplay/Direction - #SaileshKolanu Producer - #BhushanKumar #DilRaju #KishanKumar #Tseries Dialogue - #GirishKohli Cinematography - #SManikandan Edited - #GarryBH Music - #JohnStewartEduri #Mithoon #MananBhardwaj #UniversalCommunicationsPR

Rajkumar Rao’s first-ever suspense thriller of his career, basically a frame-to-frame copy of Shailesh Kolanu’s Telugu film with a surprise climax that deliberately deviates from the original. While the tempo is upbeat (background score & sound direction aid that experience) , the sequences are interesting and the acting is sincere, the plotting seems a little too weird and convoluted to be believable. As long as Vikram (Rajkumar Rao) a disturbed Homicide Intervention Team lead, battling his own private demons, was investigating the sudden inexplicable disappearance of a young girl from the middle of a highway in which her car breaks down, the narrative is on a good wicket. The minute the writer/director tries to make it complex, everything falls apart. Nevertheless, the film has enough tension and intensity to keep you engaged, if not exactly thrilled!

Kuttavum Shikshayum #TheScoundrel #PicksAndPiques #Malayalam #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit #KuttavumShikshayum/ (translation #CrimeAndPunishment) (2022) #Malayalam Runtime: 138 m Rating: * * * Genre: Action, Crime, Drama Cast: #AsifAli #Sharafudheen #SunnyWayne #AlencierLeyLopez #SenthilKrishna #SibiThomas Director: #RajeevRavi Writers: #SreejithDivakaran #SibiThomas #APInternational #FilmRollProductions #Netflix

In the era of cross-state-border labour migration, Rajeev Ravi comes up with a high-tension police procedural with all the gusto and heft of a thriller. This real-life adaptation of the jewellery robbery case that occurred in Kasargod. Rajeev Ravi and his team of writers Sreejith Divakaran and Sibi Thomas( a cop himself) focuses on exposing the challenges experienced by 5 cops of one state (Kerala in this case) while tracking down migrant criminals who flee back to their home state( UP) after a daring jewellery heist. 5 member team from the Kerala Police had to use their best policing skills and go by-the-book as much as possible, as they embark on a journey fraught with danger - to a dreaded village in Uttar Pradesh where they risked their lives to nab the culprits. Strong on plot, this film casts light on cops grappling with duty, responsibility, morality, family and social media influences and conscience. Even for armed and dangerous cops it’s an insecure world out there. Courage and fear come face to face in activism and crime. The irony of a meagre gains judicial system stares you in the face. Zeroing in on realism and fact, with tempered performances enhancing it, this film takes the audience into a universe – much like ‘Nayattu’ (which again was scripted by a cop Shahi Kabeer) did, portraying it with rare integrity and truth. While the ending may seem a little tame to some, it does leave a lot of room for introspection and thought!

Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2: Agni Pariksha #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #KhudaHaafizChapter2AgniPariksha Genre: Action thriller Rating: * * Runtime: 146 mins. Cast: #VidyutJammwal #ShivaleekaOberoi #DanishHussain #DibyenduBhattacharya #SheebaChaddha #RajeshTailang #riddhisharma Writer/Director: #FarukKabir

#ZeeStudios #Cinergy #PanoramaStudios #KumarMangatPathak #AbhishekPathak #SnehaBimalParekh #RamMirchandani #TreeshulMedia #SonalKarolia #MandviSharma #Deepak Cinematography: #JitanHarmeetSingh Editor: #SandeepFrancis Music: #AmarMohile #Mithoon #VishalMishra #ShabbirAhmed Team Khuda Haafiz was forced to release the film on #OTT because the situation, once covid took hold in the country, had become quite fluid and uncertain. So it’s pretty brave and ambitious of them to want to release chapter 2 in the theatres. Faruk Kabir’s second installment is designed as an emotive action thriller, with the same two actors doing the lead. Vidyut and Shivaleeka play a disturbed couple trying to find a way to overcome unspeakable trauma but as the narrative chugs along, they just keep getting deeper and deeper, becoming victims of the stereotypical cop-politician nexus…until the hero begins to fight back. You have one victim recovering from multiple rapes, another multiple rape victim - a teen girl going into a coma and then recovering, and yet another multiple rape victim, this time a child of 5, succumbing to the despicable act. So with one rape too many ( not graphic thankfully) happening, you are already quite put off at the beginning itself. It also takes way too long for the hero to don his action avatar and make the villains (school-going teens, progeny of powerful politicians) pay the price. In the first half, he gets beaten black and blue and gives no indication of what he can do when push comes to shove. Far too many of the sequences are rather perfunctory and too loosely constructed to seem legit. The action choreography is more lethal and pulverizing towards the climax but before that there’s a dramatic wasteland that neither the director nor the lead actors can do anything to alleviate. There’s nothing original, empathetic or genuine in this telling!

Titu Ambani #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #TituAmbani Genre: Family Social Drama Runtime: 121 mins. Rating: * * * Cast: #DeepikaSingh #TusharPandey #RaghubirYadav #VirendraSaxena #BrijendraKala #PritamJaiswal #SapnaSand #SamtaSagar Producers: #MahendraVijaydanDetha & #DineshKumar Story/Screenplay/Direction: #RohitRajGoyal

Dialogue: #AbhishekManoharChanda Music/Background Score: #Bharat- #Hitarth Lyrics: #MayurPuri Cinematography: #SunilVishwakarma Editor: #SanjaySharma #SabalProductions #AshwaniShuklaPR #AltairMedia A fairly ameliorating, humorous, well-knit, wonderfully acted, meaningful, family social cum drama, this film is about a middle-class dreamer who prefers to run his own business, and gets caught up in get-rich-quick schemes only to drown under the weight of huge debts and familial disruptions and eventually realises that money that comes too easily also goes away just as easily - is definitely worth a watch. The ensemble performances by seasoned actors from NSD, excellent old-world (50’s-60’s Bollywood) style music, well-written script and dialogue, and neat, no-frills helming combined with authentic locations (Udaipur) and camerawork, lift this experience to a notch above the commonplace. This may not be a nuanced or deep experience but it is reminiscent of the family dramas of the 70’s and 80’s.

Rashtra Kavach Om : The Battle Within #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RashtraKavachOmTheBattleWithin Rating: * * Runtime: 133 mins Genre: Action, Thriller Cast: #AdityaRoyKapoor #ArmenGreyg #SanjanaSanghi #JackieShroff #AshutoshRana #PrakashRaj #PracheeShahPandya Director: #KapilVerma

An all-out actioner meant to establish Aditya Roy Kapoor as an action hero in a potential franchise, this one doesn’t have either a validating storyline or adrenaline-triggering action chops. He may be bullet-proof but his body doesn’t look substantial enough to manage all those heavy lifts and slam dunks. The narrative tries to use heavy doses of patriotism and mother-love as incentives but fails miserably. The betrayer from within construct is old hat so there's nothing new to interest... #ZeeStudios #AhmedKhan #ShairaKhan Writers: #RajSaluja #NiketPandey Cinematography: #VineetMalhotra Editor: #KamleshParui Music: #AmandeepSinghJolly #ArkoPravoMukherjee

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RocketryTheNambiEffect (Also released in Tamil, Telugu , Malayalam, Kannada) Rating: * * * Runtime: 157 mins Cast: #RMadhavan #RajitKapoor #Simran #ShahRukhKhan Story/Screenplay/Dialogues/Director: #RMadhavan Producer - #SaritaMadhavan #RMadhavan #VargheseMoolan #VijayMoolan #VijayMoolanTalkies #27thEntertainment #TricolorFilms #VargheseMoolanPictures #RaindropPR# Cinematography -#SirshaRay Editor - #BijithBala Music - #SamCS.

Based on the life of ISRO Scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely accused of being a spy, arrested in 1994, incarnated unjustly and later on released and absolved of all charges, this film lacks a consistent tone to represent the magnitude of the injustice meted out to Nambi Narayanan. The pre-interval half feels a little too light-weight, the science is not weightily represented either. The narrative comes good in the post-interval section where Narayanan goes through a harrowing time dealing with the consequences of his head-in-the-clouds syndrome. Madhavan presents Narayanan in empathetic fashion but the film fails to warm you up to the eventual ‘cause’ - of releasing Narayanan from the stigma of the injustice done to him. Good solid performances all around and a showy non-linear narrative with #ShahRukhKhan doing the honours of unscrambling the witch-hunt - makes for an interesting enough watch.

Sherdil The Pilibhit Saga #PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #SherdilThePilibhitSaga Genre: Comedy Drama Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 122 mins Starring: #NeerajKabi #PankajTripathi #SayaniGupta Director: #SrijitMukherji

#Gulshamkumar #TSeries relianceentertainmentstudios #&pictures #BhushanKumar Inspired by real events - about village folk leaving their elderly in the Pilibhit forest reserve for tigers to prey on so that they can claim compensation from the government - this film fails to bring home that point of reference. The contrived narrative focuses on Gangaram, suffering from cancer and given three months to live - deciding to sacrifice his life in order to garner the Rs 10 lakh compensation that would go a long way to support his starving village. The abovementioned practice is dreadful and deserved a more serious, heart-touching telling but Srijit Mukherjee’s quickie fails to do that job well. Neither the humour nor the drama feels right here. The scripting is uninspired and the tone is off. This film is far too simplistic and un-affecting.