Secrets of Love #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit @everyone Film: #SecretsOfLove (#Hindi) #AltairMedia #AshwaniShukla #PramelKrantiFilms Platform: #MXPLAYER Cast: #RaviKishan, #VivekMishra, #JayeshKapoor, Rating: * * Runtime: 125 Min Producer: #VELJIGALA Director: #RiteshSKumar Story: #VishalCHHADBA Screenplay & dialogue & Lyrics: #RahulKumarShukla Music: #AshishDonald Cinematography: #BADALMANI Editor: #AnandARam

An unauthorised( because the main character here is referred to as Ajneesh) biopic on the much maligned guru of love, Acharya Rajneesh, this film follows the high-points of his life from his birth to his death. Unfortunately, its not presented with any great understanding of his version of spirituality. The narrative is rather glib and unaccomplished and his important preaching(s) are overlooked in favor of trivial ones. The charismatic and gifted speaker who could put his point across to people from all cultures and win them over as disciples, is presented with a tokenism that fails to befit his stature as a leader of a worldwide new spiritual political revolutionary movement. The narrative goes from amateurish theatrics to a relative calm before its desultory dip in cut-paste, stagey melodrama. Vivek Anand Mishra as Rajneesh during his teens to his forties, does fairly well in conveying a spiritual calm befitting a guru. The Cinematography manages to highlight some symbolic totems but the measure of his greatness/or not doesn’t come through at all!

Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit @everyone Film: #TuJhoothiMainMakkaar #SpicePR #LuvRanjanFilms #LuvRanjan #TSeries Cast: #RanbirKapoor #ShraddhaKapoor #AnubhavSinghBassi #DimpleKapadia #BoneyKapoor #HasleenKaur #InayatVerma #MonicaChaudhary #RajeshJais #AyeshaRazaMishra #KarthikAryan #NushrattBharuccha Director: #LuvRanjan Writer: #RahulMody Rating: * * Runtime: 143 mins Music (Songs): #Pritam Backgroundscore: #HiteshSonik #YashRajFilms

Luv Ranjan’s latest, a romcom shot largely in Spain and Mauritius looks inviting but the core is confused and rather dysfunctional. The script tries to marry an independent career oriented girl who dislikes living in a joint family with that of a business oriented joint family loving guy but that’s not the only problem…The guy also happens to be in the side business of breaking up couples. Don’t know what sense that makes for a successful Mercedes dealership and real estate family biz owner? The dialogues sound meaningless given that each character tries to weigh down every conversation with gibberish sounding breathless monologues. The central conflict feels contrived, the songs save for two numbers are imminently forgettable, the performances feel over the top and the direction, too wayward to make sense. The climactic airport sequence is too ludicrous for words. Shraddha Kapoor looks rather miscast in the role of a career girl and Ranbir Kapoor, though he is earnest in his moves, fails to light up the screen dramatically. Dimple Kapadia gets to slap everyone and the rest of the cast do the loud Punjabi family quirks fairly well enough. Anubhav Singh Bassi as the friend is fairly good in what is expected of him. The cinematography is lustrous and colorful though. At almost two and a half hours, the runtime puts a heavy strain on your senses.

The Broken Table #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit @everyone Film: #TheBrokenTable Cast: #NaseeruddinShah #RasikaDuggal #ManyuuDoshi #GauriNalawade #NylaMasood #IshaanKunte #AjitRanjan Director: #ChintanSarda Rating: * * * Runtime: 24 mins #RoyalStagBarrelSelectLargeShortFilms @everyone

A profound short that shows us how preconceived perceptions color our judgments about ourselves and others, this film by Chintan Sarda is heartfelt and evocative. Simple story about a freshly minted caregiver Deepti (Rasika Duggal), a troubled soul grappling with PCOD issues, who comes to take care of an Alzheimer’s patient (Naseeruddin Shah) and leaves enlightened, aware and more confident about her own self-worth. Its an absorbing story about love, loss and remembrance with a ‘reveal’ that is ingenious!

Selfiee #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Selfiee Cast: #AkshayKumar #NushrrattBharuccha #DianaPenty #EmraanHashmi #AbhimanyuSingh #MeghnaMalik #MrunalThakur #Akashdeep Director: #RajMehta Rating: * * Runtime: 143 mins #HypePR #DisneyHotstar #Starstudios #DharmaProductions #CapeOfGoodFilms #SupriyaMenon #PrithvirajProductions #MagicFrames #HirooYashJohar #ArunaBhatia #KaranJohar @everyone #PrithvirajSukumaran #ApoorvaMehta; #ListinStephen

This film opens with a deadbeat Punjabi song sequence that literally kills the interest and is then followed up by an outlandish, improbable storyline with some hyper-melodrama structured around it. This remake of the Malayalam hit #DrivingLicense does no one proud. It just makes a mountain out of a molehill and can’t even make the leads look like they are doing something believable.

Rabia And Olivia #picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #JohnsonThomas #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #RabiaAndOlivia #DisneyHotstar #AltairMedia Cast: #SheebaChaddha #NayabKhan #HelenaPrizenKlague #MustafaSheikh #ShadabKhan Director: #ShadabKhan Rating: * * * Runtime: 95 mins @everyone

A fairly compelling immigration drama that earns its affection from the drama that ensues between a troubled young Canadian girl undergoing grief from the loss of her mother and the wannabe immigrant, Indian caregiver/nanny who has applied for refugee status. Though melodramatic, the narrative manages to get the audience involved and empathetic regarding the hurdles the caregiver faces. Issues of racism, mental health, loneliness and brotherhood in a foreign land creep into the tender story about love being the best medicine for issues of the mind. Nayab Khan as the caregiver Rabia, Helena Prinzen-Klages as the troubled child Olivia and Sheeba Chaddha as Rabia’s mother put in affecting performances. Director Shadab Khan does well to restrain the narrative from becoming an all-out weepie. A decent watch this!

Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film:#GandhiGodseEkYudh Cast: #DeepakAntani #ChinmayMandlekar #PawanChopra #TanishaSantoshi #AnujSaini #GhanshyamSrivastav Director: #RajkumarSantoshi #UniversalCommunications Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 110 mins

Mixing real events with an imaginary spiel of ‘what if Gandhi survived the assassination attempt by Nathuram Godse?’ Rajkumar Santoshi makes a sincere attempt to get rid of the cobwebs surrounding ideologies of the two people central to this story…but in the process the father of the nation comes across as diminished. It wasn’t a good idea to pit the architect of our freedom against a rabid ideologue with a terrorist’ mindset. Rajkumar Santoshi’s rather simplistic imagined arguments showcasing Gandhi’s magnanimity and humaneness in the face of Godse’s unforgivable act of treason, may be appreciated…But the subplot of two young lovers ( Tanisha Santoshi and Anuj Saini aka Sushma and Naren)being separated because of Gandhi’s rigid beliefs regarding sevaks from his Ashram leading a celibate life doesn’t ring true even though it becomes the instrument through which the Mahatma is being projected as a human being with faults of his own. Godse’s frequent rants regarding Gandhi’s fasts holding the nation to ransom doesn’t hold water. Pawan Chopra as Nehru and Deepak Antani as Mahatma give noteworthy performances and Rishi Punjabi’s cinematography lend weight to the period setting even when the screenplay and narrative make a vacuous attempt to portray Godse as more than just a convicted murderer.

Pathaan #picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit

#picksandpiques #FilmMovieDocumentaryReviews #JohnsonThomas #internationalfilmfestivalcircuit Film: #Pathaan Cast: #ShahRukhKhan #DeepikaPadukone #JohnAbraham #SalmanKhan #PremJhangiani #DimpleKapadia #AshutoshRana #AakashBhatija #PrakashBelawadi #VirafPatel Director: #SiddharthAnand #YRF @everyone #AdityaChopra Rating: * * 1/2 Runtime: 146 mins Writers #ShridharRaghavan(screenplay) #AbbasTyrewala(dialogue) #SiddharthAnand(story)

A fast paced James Bond/ Mission Impossible style action extravaganza specialising in jump cut action sequences in a nation hopping narrative with its three main stars showboating their chiselled bods alongside their conspicuously cultivated international looks - this film has a great deal of marketing chutzpah behind its espionage thrills but no real story to tell. It’s brand positioning of the #YRF spy universe at its best with the magnanimous #SRK allowing #SalmanKhan to steal a march right from under his nose, #DeepikaPadukone looking lissome and hot and #JohnAbraham aiming for the sexiest villain ever tag. Even #DimpleKapadia looks years younger and slimmer…and there’s no stopping this money-spinner from overtaking all Box office records in sight.