Anurupa Ghosh

Movie Review: Srikanth: With Rajkummar Rao at his best, and having simply nailed it with his portrayal as Srikanth Bolla, the movie Srikanth, a biopic of the life of Srikanth Bolla, is meant to inspire all the people of India and maybe the world to be firmly determined, resilient and courageous and always believe in themselves and follow their dreams. Born in small village in Andhra Pradesh to destitute parents, who was about to get buried alive by his father because of being born blind, Srikanth is the story of a visually impaired child by birth who with his firm belief in himself and God gifted super intelligence breaks all barriers and hurdles to obtain a degree from MIT, United States and comes back to India and at present runs a private company manufacturing recycled paper worth more than INR 100 crores turnover. In his journey towards his success he his aided by his teacher Devika (portrayed by Jyotika) and business partner Ravi (portrayed Sharad Kelkar) who are there with him like his pillar of strength and play their role convincingly. In his college days Srikanth comes across, the late Indian President Dr Abdul Kalam Azad who thinks Srikanth has great potential and in front of whom Srikanth proudly says that he wants to be the first visually impaired President of India. Another notable incident in his life comes when he returns his award of 'Business Excellence' because he gets nominated in special category. On the stage he firmly says that he would not accept the award on the basis of any special category. He would only accept the award if he is nominated with the rest of the nominees in the general category. It is Srikanth's confidence, alacrity and acumen which help him build his business empire called Bollant Industries. This biopic is an inspiration for many who become the victim of being physically challenged and lose hope in life. Alaya F shines in her role as Swati, Srikanth's love interest and her role is a breather as she keeps bucking up Srikanth to follow his dreams. Kudos to the director of the movie, Tushar Hiranandani for making a movie on such a profound subject. The movie is captivating with the mind-blowing performances by the starcast, intense dialogues and screenplay, and the rendition of the very apt song 'Papa kehtay hain bada naam karega' (remixed from the original movie, Aamir Khan's QSQT) which plays in the background most of the times in the first and the second half of the movie. I'll give this movie 3 and a half stars ⭐ out of 5. Let's give movies like this full marks . A must watch for all.

Movie Review: Crew: After seeing the trailer of this movie I decided to go and watch it at PVR since it didn't seem like a stereotype romantic movie or a one man army show. The movie comes across as a breather with an interesting plot which was executed fairly well by the starcast. The three evergreen and beautiful divas of the silver screen, Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon, performed their roles convincingly. The movie was was also directed well by director, Rajesh Krishnan. The story revolves around the lives of Geeta Sethi ( Tabu), Jasmine Kohli (Kareena) and Divya Rana (Kriti) who are cabin crew and air hostess in Kohinoor Airlines, which is making losses. Somehow they find out that money is being smuggled through the airlines. They decide to be a part of it since, the airlines was doing not well, for months their salaries were getting held. In their pursuit to earn golden biscuits, they nearly get caught, but Diljit Dosanjh, playing the role of custom officer (Jaiveer Singh), who is smitten by Divya, lets them off thinking them to be innocent. But soon the trio realise they should expose the truth behind smuggling gold biscuits, of which the owner of Kohinoor Airlines, Mr Vijay Walia,happens to be the kingpin. Eventually through meticulously crafted plan and acumen, the three expose the owner of the airlines and earn themselves kudos and good name. A one time watch, and a feel good movie, it shines despite an unrealistic and fictitious storyline. I'll give this movie 3 out of 5 ⭐.

Before reviewing the movie - Article 370, with Actor Yami Gautam playing the lead role..let me just review Jammu and Kashmir’s history succinctly. In 1947 Maharaja Hari Singh of J& K decided to accede to India due to a tribal invasion by Pakistani forces, who were committing acts of violence and genocide against Non Muslims. The invasion led to the signing of the Instrument of Accession allowing J&K to join India. The special status conferred by Article 370 allowed J&K to have it's constitution, state flag and control over internal adminstration except in matters of defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications which was left under the aegis of Indian Government. Article 370 was signed under Jawaharlal Nehru regime giving J&K the special status. The movie revolves around Zooni Haksar (Yami Gautam) and how she was left alone after her father got shot by the militants during her childhood. As a grown up and NIA agent she wants to avenge her father's death. The movie starts with the encounter of Burhan Wani, the poster boy and Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen by the security forces. This is followed by the stone pelting incident by Kashmiris towards Indian Army Personnel which led to the Human Shield tied to the Indian Army Jeep, which was later on condemned by Human Rights organisations. Finally, the much spoken about Pulwama attack on CRPF takes place, with a suicide bomber, blowing up the entire convoy on 14 Feb, 2019. With things heating up to this magnitude with an imminent war like situation arising at the LOC, the Indian Government, with Arun Govil, essaying the role of PM Narendra Modi and his deputy, Amit Shah, decide to abrogate Article 370 through Indian Parliament vote in both the houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The movie moves like a documentary in the first half, and is very slow paced. However, in the second half the movie picks up pace, and Yami Gautam takes the lead. This is Yami Gautam’s career best role, albeit, as a critic I think there is much left to be desired. Shouldn't really compare, but Sonam Kapoor’s stellar performance in Neerja beats Yami’s grit and she should have performed more convincingly. There is wide scale violence and tension in Kashmir after, Article 370 is revoked and the violence is well controlled by the Indian forces in which Yami plays a crucial part. The movie nevertheless sways with patriotism and has some noteworthy and remarkable moments. I'll give this movie 3 out of 5 stars. Jai Hind 🇮🇳

Movie Review: Fighter: Finally after all the lackluster and mindless movies I reviewed so far last year, here is one movie which has elan and is a solid extravaganza compared to trash like Pathaan, Jawan, Tiger 3, Animal and last but not the least even Gadar 2. The movie leaves you with goosebumps and promises edge of the seat excitement. The star cast of the movie is the masterstroke by the director, who has done a great job, and all the characters have done their challenging roles convincingly. The screenplay and cinematography is captivating and the music is superbly fitted in alongside the narrative of the movie. This is perhaps one of the best movies ever to have been released around our Republic Day as a tribute to Indian defence forces, focussing on Indian Airforce. The best thing about the movie is that it does not go off the tangent and remains focussed on the plot throughout. The movie revolves around Squadron Leader Shamsher Pathania (code name Patty), played by Hrithik Roshan, (delivering one of his best roles ever), who is among India's top fighter pilots and his team. He has a romantic chemistry with Squadron Leader and fighter pilot, played by Deepika Padukone (code name Minni) but it is not over the top. The rest of the star cast Anil Kapoor, Karan Singh Grover and Sanjeeda Sheikh have played their characters exceptionally well. Patty, who is the best fighter pilot in India makes some crucial mistakes with his judgement and is demoted to the task of an Instructor in Hyderabad Airforce Academy. But we haven't seen his last yet. The best part of the movie is that it not a stereotype Bolly wood movie which is led by a one man army. Hrithik Roshan and his team of Air Dragons Unit work together in action sequences and deliver a stellar performance. Pakistan Army and Jaish manage to blow up CRPF convoy of Indian Army. As a revenge, the Indian Airforce carries on airstrikes against Jaish based in POK and rescue 2 airforce officers (Taj played by Karan Singh Grover and Bash played by Akshay Oberoi) are held captive by the militants. However, Basheer Khan ( Bash) is returned to India in a dismembered state. And this calls for action by Indian Airforce, led by Hrithik Roshan, as he is given a last chance to correct his blunders or else he would be subject to court martial. And finally he delivers as with his strategy the Jaish camp is successfully bombed and the main culprit and mastermind of Jaish, Azhar Akhtar ( Rishabh Sawhney) meets his end. A meaty chunk is played by Deepika Padukone ( Minal Rathore -Minni) who is shown to be from a conservative Indian family, yet defies all norms and becomes one of the top women fighter pilots. The movie is a great effort by the Fighter team to display top class patriotism and leaves the audience on tenter hooks right since the beginning to the end and not even for a minute drags and become uninteresting. Right from the beginning to the conclusion the movie manages to give goosebumps to it's audience. A spectacular movie for all patriots and definitely a must watch. Do watch it and make it a blockbuster. A big shout out to the Fighter team for such a brilliant performance which will leave the audience spellbound and the behind the camera team who have notched off a top level job. Easily the movie of the year. More power to you Director Siddharth Anand. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 I'll easily give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Animal: A visual treat for Ranbir Kapoor fans, as he shines out in the movie as larger than life. Also my opinion is different from most of the reviews that I read on Google reviews. Gone are the days when movies only revolved around romance. This is the generation X , depicting higher power and action packed fare. Animal is nothing more than an action packed movie, stereotype masala movie with a tad bit realism and and gives it a soothing human touch especially in scenes where Rashmika Mandanna ( playing Ranbir's wife) appears or the ever peaceful Anil Kapoor (playing Ranbir's father), apart from that, from the beginning of the film to the end the story drags with action packed bloody scenes that will bring the bile out of you. One notable thing which I saw in the movie three languages were intermittently used - Hindi, English and Punjabi. Glad to see that movies are becoming relatable and identifiable with the Indian audience keeping in mind the pluralism in India, which is a multi cultural nation. The story revolves around Ranbir Kapoor ( as Ranvijay Singh) who is protective about his family and would go to any extent to protect them for evil eyes. He is shown as obsessed in his love for his papa since childhood and as a child to adult believes that his papa is the best ever dad in the world - and would get into physical fights with anyone who said a word against his dad. Though Balbir Singh ( Anil Kapoor) rebukes him many times to not take the law in his hands, Vijay ignores it and bloody and savage fights continue throught the 3 hour long movie. The movie takes off in the first half, with Vijay and Geetanjali (Rashmika), who do not get a nod from Vijay's parents to get married, migrate to USA for 8 years. Balbir Singh is shot on his chest my unknown miscreants and this returns Vijay to come back to India to seek revenge, only to realise that, his brother in law ( Ranbir's sister) had been plotting a sabotage all along and overthrow his father in law from as head of Shakti Steels, the biggest company in India. After Ranbir's return from USA, the audience gets to see barbaric and gory fights, with Ranbir nailing down everyone who he suspects as his dad's enemy , one being his own brother in law. Ranbir goes to his village in order to take the help of his sardar cousins who help him gunning down the enemies. Vijay soon realizes that he has a half brother called Abrar, Bobby Deol ( with a surprise solid comeback and guest appearance) and that he has to kill him in order to protect his father. Another valid criticism is that Ranbir need'nt have gone full monty in the film. It looked totally illogical and uncalled for. The storyline is taut but out of 3 hours , 2 1/2 hours of blood thirsty hero - villian fights, leave you speechless and nonplussed. Ranbir, as a reviewer, I feel is talented and versatile but the choice of the movies he is currently signing, leaves much to be desired and is over the top - as far as portraying his characters is concerned. After watching Rockstar, Barfi, Tamasha, Sanju, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil , I have come to the conclusion that there is one thing common in all these movies - a psycho, mean, egoistic, headstrong and adamant man. And at times this acting becomes intolerable. Direction and screenplay is good though. But the movie, in my view, is average. If you haven't watched it yet, please don't bother. I will give 3 ⭐ out of 5 for this movie.

Movie Review: Drishyam 2: For those who have missed Part 1: here is a small recap. Meera Deshmukh (Tabu), IGP, Goa Police's son is a philanderer. He captures some vulgar videos of Vijay Salgaonkar (Ajay Devgan's) daughter and blackmails her despite her warning a number of times. So his daughter Anju decides to tell all this to her mother. And one day in the heat of the moment as Samir , Meera Deshmukh's son , blackmails Anju in her house, as her mother enters the scene, mistakenly Anju hits Samir's head with an iron bar, as she misses hitting the mobile. And he dies as a result of the blow. As Vijay Salgaonkar enters the scene, using all his acumen buries the dead body in his garden and later shifts it. Part 2. Goa police opens the file of Samir Deshmukh after seven years under the aegis of IGP, Tarun Ahlawat (Akshaye Khanna). The report was originally lodged with Goa police on 2 Oct 2014. And once again police starts looking for the suspects. Vijay Salgaonkar is the prime suspect as the only direct witness to the case, David Braganza ,at around 3.30 am had seen Vijay Salgaonkar exit the new police premises with a shovel with him unseen by anybody else. What follows are a series of incedents, revolving around the Deshmukhs and Salgaonkars, together with Goa police trying to probe the case as closely as they can so that they can nail the right culprit. Vijay Salgaonkar is a respectable man and he would do anything to keep his loving family safe from evil eye. The Deshmukhs cannot get over the murder of their son, to this date, and want at any cost, the culprit, to be brought to task. The Goa police thinks that they had hit the bull's eye with the case but are far from imagining the worst that could have transpired. As the case is in front of the High Court bench. The opposition lawyer puts a petition to close and dismiss the case. In the end Mr Deskmukh finally finds the vessel containing his son's ashes of his mortal remains which he had been asking for from Vijay Salgaonkar all these years. He assumes this gesture came from Vijay Salgaonkar after all these years and he along with his wife Meera Deshmukh immerse thier son's ashes in the holy river. That's the end of Part 2. Ajay Devgan, with his intense eyes, shines as Producer Vijay Salgaonkar. He is a versatile actor and can carry off intense roles very easily as he fits into the character of Vijay Salgaonkar like his second skin. In an era where Salman Khan is the demi God of Bollywood, good actors like Ajay Devgan are always dark horses. A deep and moving story, for those who like thrillers, and good acting by the talented star cast, Driysham easily enters the 200 crore club at the box office. A hands down winner. A big shout out to Sudhir Chaudhary (School Captain - ICSE '94), from my Alma Mater, Hilton's School, Dehradun who is a popular cinematographer in Bollywood. He is the cinematographer of Drishyam 2 too, another feather to his cap. If you are looking for a meaningful and serious movie this is it. Must watch. I will give it 3 and a half stars 🌟 out of 5.

Movie Review: Jawan: Primarily an out and out action packed thriller with a tad bit romance with a larger than life performance by Shahrukh Khan as Jawan sets the stage for a super duper nail biting thriller and will keep you hooked till the finish line. Apart from Shahrukh's aura which captures the audiences, the rest of the cast needs a round of applause for their stellar performances. The music is loud, thumping and catchy. The movie has a brilliant screenplay with unmatched direction by Attlee Kumar. Capt Vijay Rathore is a never say die and an honestArmy Jawan and conducting a terrorist attack mission doesn't return home. Meanwhile his wife, Aishwarya played by Deepika Padukone, who looks as stunning as ever, is hanged for having knocked off some terrorist with a gun, during an encounter. She is hanged leaving her son behind who she names as Azad, who grows up to be Shah Rukh Khan in a double role of Father and Son, both emerge together to take revenge against the corrupt politicians and criminals with the help of trained women who are lodged in the Belavada Women's Jail, all acting as Azad's (who grows up to be a police officer) right hands who have been reformed after being jailed. Having said all that Jawan suffers from a number of flaws. Once again it's almost a one man army brigade against an n number of criminals and outlaws. This movie will appeal to only Shah Rukh Khan's fans. As the story is about him and also revolves around him intact with the double role he played in the film. Shah Rukh has done yet another double role film a few years back called Fan which sadly sank at the box office. Being a movie critic I would like to say that movie had a far more powerful storyline, which, despite phenomenal acting, direction, music, action sequences by the Jawan star cast it fails to deliver convince the audience. Coming to the inmates of Belvada Jail for women, they seem to be more like Azad's private army , women serving a jail sentence hanging in the metro train without handcuffs. The music has some good romantic beats but mainly surfaces as song dance sequences between heroine - hero, that's it. One positive point of this movie is that it throws light at women empowerment with Nayanthara, Sanya Malhotra who unflinchingly pull off their role and deliver epic performances. From my side 3 and half 🌟 out of 5. Point five extra for Sharukh Khan 's role. Otherwise 3 were enough.

Moview Review - Gadar II- Over 20 years ago I was in Delhi for my graduation did I see Gadar, at Regal (Daryaganj) which left me with goosebumps and asking for. Sunny Deol gave a stellar performance along with his co- actor, Amisha Patel. I was not sure though when Gadar 2 was released I wanted to watch it. But later when I read in Doon times 'Record box office collection on Independence day weekend Rs 390 cr weekend and highest all time box office record for Indian cinema' I was compelled to book my ticket for the movie with nostalgia lurking in my heart. For those, like me, who have watched Gadar 2 will be truly disappointed. Though Sunny Deol in his leading role, as Tara Singh, manages to shine. A big round of applause for Utkarsh Mishra (Jeetey - playing Tara Singh 's son) and Manish Wadhwa (Pak Army General - Hamid Iqbal) and last not but the least, the immensely beautiful Amisha Patel( Sakina from Pakistan), who don't fail to deliver. Despite electrifying performances by the star cast Gadar 2 turns out to be an average movie for movie goers. The script is loose, editing is bad, storyline predictable and direction by Anil Mishra leaves much to be desired. The movie begins with Tara Singh and Sakina , who are happily married now in India, with their son Jeete who attends college. The movie is set against the backdrop of 1971 Indo Pak war, when Tara Singh is called by Indian Army to deliver ammunition to the Indo Pak border suspecting foul play by Pakistan. After a while his family comes to know that while delivering the ammunition to the border, Tara Singh has been held captive in Pakistani prison. His son, Jeete, manages a fake passport and visa and goes to Pakistan to look for his father, only to find that his father is not in Pakistani jail. On the other hand, Jeete gets caught, for being a spy and is lodged in Pakistani jail. When Tara Singh returns home safely, only to find his son missing while, he was on a mission to get his father's whereabouts in the rival country. And the rest is very predictable. Tara Singh manages to find his missing son in Pakistan, and how both these people, unarmed, manage to fight the Pakistani Army and come back to their homeland. The penultimate scene, towards the end of the movie shows Pakistani Army as soon as they see Indian Army jawans, surrender without a fight, I thought the idea just looked mindless. And while Tara Singh and Jeete fight some of the Pakistani jawans, the others just stand their with their stenguns, aiming at them, but not pulling the trigger. This movie, though, released on Indian Independence Day and aims at growing patriotism, is just much ado about nothing, and is a typical stereotype movie, one man army against baddies. I would also like to say, there are movies like, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, made on the same subject,which stand the test of time. A touching and convincing movie, which leaves you with tears in the end with a good script and storyline. Gadar 2 with all it's flaws, I'm sure will be forgotten soon.

Movie Review: Pathaan: The best part of the movie Pathaan is how it has united the entire country to watch a film where the male lead is a Muslim and it continues to rock at the box office relentlessly despite opposition groups and polarization. Shah Rukh Khan is larger than life in his portrayal as a RAW agent. Being an Indian Army Officer's daughter myself, I couldn't help but cheer for Shahrukh Khan when he says 'a true soldier is the one who doesn't ask what the country has done for him but rather what he has done for his country. The first half of the movie is slow, builds the plot for the second half, is complicated in it's own way. The merits of Pathaan, ending Shahrukh Khan's dry spell, are the heavy duty action scenes. Though the first half of the movie drags, pace picks up in the second half. And the climax scene is very gripping and will leave you with goosebumps. The action scenes are power packed and very well directed. Full points to the VFX effects which is the forte of the movie and thoroughly captivates the audience. Apart from the engrossing action scenes which leaves the audience on tenterhooks (one of the best Bollywood action movies in my opinion) there is nothing much to the movie. Noteworthy acting by Dimple Kapadia and she fits her character of a senior Indian agent like a second skin and surpasses the acting prowess of main lead, Deepika Padukone, who charms us with dancing and singing (in which she is a go getter and breadthtaking) but little with her actual role in the movie. She is awkward in her acting as Dr Rubina and uncovincing in her role. In my opinion somebody like Katrina, Jaqueline, Vaani Kapoor or even Kareena Kapoor Khan could have pulled it off better. I had high hopes from her looking at her talent in BajiRao Mastani and Padmaavat but failed to impress me in this movie. John Abraham expressions and appearance look more of a hero's than of a villian. Like Rana Dagubati fitted the villian's role in Bahubali, here John fails to convince. But yes, looking at his sinking career this is a decent exposure to share the screen space with superstars like Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan. Again once again in my opinion ( though yours might be different) Tiger (Salman Khan) did a very good job in the Tiger series- Ek That Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai. There is something about the way Salman manages to convince us with his character as Tiger, pulls off the role very well and is more impactful in his role as a RAW agent than Shahrukh is. In comparison Shahrukh Khan has a long way to go. At times he fails to deliver as a RAW agent. It's a good thing that the movie is doing well, SRK's first movie in 4 years, fighting all odds, it's emerging victorious. But looking at the PR of this movie, the news of it's success spreading on social media like wildfire, it's here to prove that Shahrukh Khan is one of the best, he not just a Muslim, but a superstar we all love. The movie is just kind of 'Much ado about Nothing' but strong PR of the movie is helping the movie to rake the moolah. Three and a half 🌟 from me.

Movie Review: Brahmastra - Part 1- Shiva: It's a mythical romance thriller which proves it is true love which is all consuming and wins in the end destroying all other evil energies it is surrounded with. While the trailer itself itself is explanatory here's a quick sheet to understand the idea of Astraverse, India's first cinematic universe. The Astraverse is essentially an ode to the supreme forces (jal, vayu and agni) that are believed to be the reason for life in existence. All the forces are in one way or the other harnessed into the astras or weapons. Shiva a young boy realises he has para human powers that fire cannot burn him and he has no idea why. The first half of the movie builds the plot but is extra streched in VFX scenes and will leave u slightly dissappointed as you don't really understand what's going on and how are things supposed to materialize and what to expect. Alia Bhatt is refreshing as Isha and shines in her character playing the lady love of Shiva, Ranbir Kapoor. After seeing the first half of the movie I even felt if I could walk out and leave the rest of the movie unwatched. However gladly the second half comes and brings a relief to the dragging plot when Shiva and Isha drive to Himachal Pradesh where Guruji, Amitabh Bachchan has to be aquainted with the current situation of strife to attain all the three pieces of Brahmastra - which Junoon, Raftar and Zor ( evil energies ) are chasing. Mouni Roy plays the character of Junoon and her acting skills are par excellence. If Mouni and her evil energies aquire all the three pieces of Brahmastra ( the last broken piece is with Guruji, Amitabh Bachchan) they would be able to conntrol and dsetroy the universe. In the end of Part One after a lot of stunts, giving it a look of Hollywood movies) Junoon and her evil energies manage all the three pieces of Brahmastra , which in their hands could destroy the world. As the destruction begins it is Shiva's Agni Astra which helps him pull out Alia from the peril of mass destruction. And true love emerges victorious. I feel that this movie, though it has roped in, 100 cr in the first weekend of it's opening cannot be compared to masterpieces like Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Dangal. It is an intense movie but with a commercial value added to it. The track I liked the most is Deva Deva which keeps ringing in your head even after the movie is over. A monetary fortune has been spent over it's making but frankly the movie is overrated. Yes, for whom mythical thrillers click, this is a good try. Directed very effectively by Ayan Mukherji. Though I can't say same about the content. From my end 3 and a half 🌟.