Thank God #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #ThankGod Cast: #AjayDevgn #SidharthMalhotra #RakulPreetSingh #KanwaljeetSingh #SeemaPahwa Director #IndraKumar Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 126 mins Producer #BhushanKumar #KrishanKumar #AshokThakeria #SunirKheterpal #DeepakMukut #AnandPandit #MarkandAdhikari #Tseries #UniversalCommunicationsPR Writer: #AakashKaushik #MadhurSharma Cinematography #AseemBajaj Editor: #DharmendraSharma Music: #AmarMohile #TanishkBagchi #RochakKohli #AnandRaajAnand #ChamathSangeeth

There’s nothing to thank god for here. While this film may be a harmless piece of fluff, it doesn’t have what it takes to entertain. Billed as a comedy, this film just about manages to gain a few titters before disaffirming with a #KBC kind-of quiz show held in a heavenly arena with the victim vacillating between life and death while answering moral and ethical riders relating to his own eventful life. The outrageous behavior exhibited throughout the film raises serious questions as to the mental health of the lead character. Sidharth Malhotra has gained in confidence and stature as an actor and shows off his acting chops to good effect. Ajay Devgn lends stature to the narrative by taking humorous swipes and playing it suave. The writing fails to raise laughs and the surprises don’t have shock value.

Ram Setu #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RamSetu Cast: #AkshayKumar #JaquelineFernandez #NushrrattBharuccha #SatyaDev #PraveshRana #Nassar Cinematography: #AseemMishra Writer: #AbhishekSharma Dialogues: #AbhishekSharma #ChandraprakashDwivedi Editor: #RameshwarSBhagat Director: #AbhishekSharma #HypeMedia Rating: * ½ Runtime: 144 mins

Abhishek Sharma's film has Akshay Kumar playing a 40-something atheist archaeologist, a wannabe Indiana Jones sort (with stupidly wigged black hair and grey stubbly beard), setting out to prove that Ram Setu predates Ramayana - but gets so conveniently swayed by predicative nonsense that he not only sheds his atheism, he also believes that RamSetu was built by Lord Ram – just because he discovers the fake remnants of Ravana’s Palace. Our desi Indiana Jones looks and sounds stupid and lacks credibility. No doubt, this is the propagandist’s ( its afterall Akshay’s home production) way of sucking up to the current dispensation ( just like #KashmirFiles did). The #BhaktBias is evident in the assemblage of random people of science who don’t have any idea about their field –other than to mumble some technical terms that make no sense. The uninspiring narrative puts to sword logic, science, proof, and intelligence while subsequently heralding myth, lies, faith, and cooked-up stories as fact. Dialogues are laughable, sets look fake, costumes were ridiculous, situations conceived were pathetic and subplots attract derision. The underwater flying suit looks like a relic and the deep-diving glass-enclosed craft lacks aesthetic proportions. Akshay’s rant at the end makes it all the worse. The camera work is worthwhile though. The disclaimer at the start was so long that one would be forgiven for falling asleep just reading it. This is yet another Akshay Kumar vehicle that’s bound to hit a dead-end at the Box-office!

Kahani Rubberband Ki #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #KahaniRubberbandKi #AltairMediaPR #AshwaniShukla #SanjayMishra #RomilChaudhary #MoonHouseProductions Cast: ManishRaisinghan #AvikaGor #ArunaIrani #PratikGandhi #Paintal Director: #SarikaSanjot Cinematography: #FaroukhMistry Rating: * Runtime: 119 mins

Set in Benaras, with sutradhar voice introduction by Sanjay Mishra, this film, that hopes to put across a social message deviates from context, gets deplorably sexist, regressive and suggestive ( even in a courtroom) and ends up becoming a mockery of what it was trying to say. The script lacked coherence and was terribly amateurish, the treatment was weird, the dialogues stupid and the performances so out of sync with the message that you feel like shutting this out before it can warp your brain! And what can I say about Manish Raisinghan’s whiny dialogue delivery??? Such ineptitude is certainly not becoming.

Codename Tiranga #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #CodenameTiranga #ParagDesai #UniversalCommunicationsPR Cast: #ParineetiChopra #HarrdySandhu #SharadKelkar #RajitKapur #DibyenduBhattacharya Director: #RibhuDasgupta Runtime: 137 mins Rating: * *

A misguided attempt at pop-patriotism, this film follows a female RAW agent as she guiles, glides, jump kicks, shoots and fights her way through a mean bunch of terrorists, directly and indirectly responsible for the 2001 Parliament attack. This attempted action thriller loses it sting because of an unlikely and unviable romance between the female spy and a local Turkish Doctor. Spies going rogue and being found out – is a standard ploy and fails to garner interest. Then there are portly ageing spies still in the thick of things and that’s pure baloney if you ask me. While the action choreography is crusty, the story and narration seem a little out of sync with the overall purpose of creating a springboard for arousing patriotic fervor. The revenge based action finale feels like a video game sequence with a steadily incrementing body count and staccato gunfire sounds accompanying it. Parineeti Chopra is convincing as the action heroine but the romantic aspect feels rather forced. Harrdy Sandhu displays his sensitive credible side as Dr. Mirza Ali and Sharad Kelkar as Khalid Omar does the pure evil bit quite well – unfortunately his Marathi accent doesn’t allow for complete believability as a Turkish-Pakistani-Afghani terrorist. This film would have been a much better experience if the romance could have been truncated and had the finale action been a little more realistic! #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

Doctor G #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #InternationalFilmFestivalCircuit Film: #DoctorG #SpicePR #JungleePictures #VineetJain Cast: #AyushmannKhurrana #RakulPreetSingh #ShefaliShah #SheebaChadha #ShradhaGautam Director: #AnubhutiKashyap Runtime: 125mins Rating: * * *

Debutant Director Anubhuti Kashyap’s Medical campus comedy film proffers gender parity, zestful levity and fluid craft. The subject may be outdated but the light-hearted treatment allows for a great deal of involvement, gamesmanship and fun. Set in a PG Medical college Hospital ( Bhopal Inst. of Medical Sciences) this film tracks the many hindrances in love and work that Uday Gupta faces in his attempts to make do with a PG Gynecology seat while still aiming for an Ortho seat in the next attempt at PG NEET. Obviously an inept, almost unwilling and neglectful male Doctor examining a female patient’s reproductive organ is cause for a great deal of consternation and strife. Screenwriters #SumitSaxena #SaurabhBharat #VishalWagh and #AnubhutiKashyap do a valiant job lending the male doctor a more empathetic and caring touch. The Performances by #Ayushmann #ShefaliShah #RakulPreetSingh #SheebaChadha #ShradhaGautam and others are sharply etched and supple, Amit Trivedi’s background score keeps the interest going and the editing makes sure there’s no lag in the momentum - so the audience gets enough meat to make a meal of this offering.

GoodBye #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Goodbye Cast: #AmitabhBachchan #RashmikaMandanna #PavailGulati #AshishVidyarthi #NeenaGupta #AbhishekhKhan #ElliAvram #SunilGrover #HansaSingh #DivyaSeth #ShayankShukla #SanjeevPandey #SahilMehta #SaraswatiTelefilms #BalajiTelefilms Writer/Director: #VikasBahl #UniversalCommunications Rating: * * Runtime: 144 mins

This is a daring experiment gone bad. A montage based, post death and funeral nostalgia trip, this film is sorely lacking a proper script. There’s no story worth telling either with actors adlibbing in stilted conversations about contentious generational issues which lose bite in the sentiment dripping and conversely, rather un-affecting malady called ‘Goodbye.’ Frankly, this is not a bad concept but a little more development of the plot and characters might have helped make this unconventional non-conformist attempt more attractive. Rashmika Mandanna with her distinctive southie accent is miscast in this north Indian set-up. The rest of the actors are competent but there’s no emotional purchase to be had because of the fractured set-up. It’s not very clear whether all four kids were adopted or only one but certainly some clarity on that front would have helped in making this set-up more believable.