Pratik Nerurkar

tl;dr - A movie which promises comedy, horror and a social message fails to deliver any of them. Around the start of the movie, a kid asks about an old man, "woh abhi tak Hindu-Muslim mein hi atke hain?" Ironically, the film itself is "atka hua" in that issue so much that it costs the audience entertainment. The movie begins with the married couple Asif (Akshay Kumar) and Rashmi (Kiara Advani) visiting her parents in order to convince her father that they are happily married even though Asif is Muslim. A series of incidents causes a transgender ghost named Laxmmi to haunt the whole family. The movie does give a few laughs, but it feels like a series of events stitched together which have no flow whatsoever. The film is heavily burdened with unnecessary Hindu-Muslim issues, which introduce a whole new level of plot inconsistencies. How is it that a family hates the fact that their daughter married a Muslim, but the moment the mother sees a ghost, her first instinct is to contact a Muslim exorcist whom, somehow, she is an avid follower of? Not only that, but the family happily travels to his Dargah to shoo away the ghost. How is it that the father who hates his daughter for marrying a Muslim forgives the couple when the Muslim son-in-law explains how Namaz works? Why is it that a Hindu pandit knowingly helps two murderers out of a situation? The real social message falls extremely flat due to a lacklustre, forced build up followed by an ever so dragged out climax. The only positives are an attempt at an important social message and bits and pieces of comedy. Few scattered laughs exist, but they're too crowded by hamming and screeching to deserve a recommendation.

Judwaa 2, while remaining faithful to the original, brings in some fresh changes and an updated script which makes better impact than the original. Get ready to tickle your funny bone in this typical masala entertainer!

tl;dr - A light hearted comedy meant for enjoyment, not for bringing about a change in society. The David-Varun combo we saw in Main Tera Hero and Judwaa 2 is back, but this time, something's a little off. Every time you think the movie is going to pick up from the "making you smile" zone to the "making you laugh your heart out" zone, it just doesn't. Almost everyone reading this review knows of the existence of Govinda-Karishma's Coolie No. 1 from 1995, and comparisons are bound to happen. Varun and Sara have essayed their roles in their style, not trying to imitate the OG stars. Any similarities are due to the director being the same. Sahil Vaid seems to be underutilized, Paresh Rawal is spot-on. Bharti Achrekar and Shikha Talsania are sincere in their limited roles. Johnny Lever, Javed Jaffery and Manoj Joshi do their job well. The biggest mistake David Dhawan made is that he stuck too much to the original script. Judwaa 2, unlike the original, had a very "fresh" script with many changes from the original. Here, the script is almost the same except for a few scenes here and there. Thankfully though, the film does provide few laughs while also ensuring that none of the portions is a drag.

tl;dr: A refreshing comedy movie with a golden heart. Recommended for everyone. Good Newwz - just like its spelling - is a nearly perfect movie which keeps you hooked onto your seats with the sperm exchange plot. The comedy in the first half of the movie is just out of this world, and more importantly, it's a very new brand of comedy - a much needed refreshment. Admittedly, it borders on adult jokes sometimes, but never crosses the line. The movie weakens post the interval till the climax but is entertaining nonetheless. Akshay and Kareena's chemistry is superb and they get along well in comic as well as emotional scenes. Diljit keeps the show going with his loud character and is complemented by Kiara, who should've had a slightly bigger role. Good Newwz makes sure you leave the theatre with some good news!

tl;dr - Watch it for the battle strategies used by the Marathas and the Afghans. Panipat is an aptly-named war movie based on the historic Third Battle of Panipat. The Maratha Empire is under a massive threat when the Afghan King Ahmed Shah Abdali (Sanjay Dutt) plans to attack it. The Peshwa (Monish Bahl) sends an army led by Sadashiv Rao Bhau (Arjun Kapoor) to defend their empire. Panipat is that kind of movie where the best performer is the director. Ashutosh Gowariker pieces together a wonderful depiction of the strategies used by Sadashiv Rao Bhau to defend his motherland. The battle itself is shot very well. And a good thing about this movie is, the Afghans aren't depicted as "villains". Abdali is just doing his job of expanding his empire, like most emperors. However, some elements in this movie are just for that commercial touch - or "Bollywood" touch, if I may. A good example is the "Pehswas get together and sing an anthem/dance to a song." But it doesn't seem much out of place. Except for the fact that the songs are not as memorable as they should have been. Thankfully there are only three of them. Arjun Kapoor is convincing and sincere as Sadashiv Rao Bhau. Sanjay Dutt portrays the fierce Abdali well. Kriti Sanon lightens up her scenes, but some of her parts just slow down the movie (not her fault). There's a strong supporting cast, including VJ Mantra! I don't know where he has been for so long, I apologise for my ignorance. It's safe to say that the supporting cast play a huge role in the movie. Other than Mantra, Monish Bahl and Nawab Shah stand out. Other than a couple of laughably bad instances, the CGI/VFX seems okay. The strongest selling point of this film remains the war tactics and the battles shown. You'll get so absorbed into them that the 2h 51m runtime will be a non-issue. Historic battles prove to be more interesting than our school books let them be.

tl;dr: Watch this movie only if you like the HouseFull brand of humour. You'll have a blast. The film revolves around a bunch of people from 1419 and their reincarnations in 2019. And as the trailer tells you, the three main couples have been mismatched in their reincarnations. "Iski biwi iski biwi nahi hai, woh teri biwi hai!" (transl. "His wife isn't his wife, she's your wife!"). If you ask me, the mismatched pairings is maybe the least interesting thing in the movie. The most entertaining thing in this movie is Akshay Kumar. He is on screen for maybe 90 percent of the time, and that's a good thing. Whether his 1419 Bala is hilariously scheming for the throne or his 2019 Harry is forgetting everything that just happened, I enjoyed every bit of it. Ritiesh did his parts as good as it can get, but he didn't have many parts. I wish we got more of him, like the previous instalments. HouseFull is an Akshay-Riteish franchise and it feels like Riteish missed out a bit here. Speaking of missed-out regulars, Boman Irani's Batuk Patel was also dearly missed. But Akshay compensates for almost everything. He does the usual tough bits such as comic timing and dialogue delivery with ease (expected from him at this point), but where he absolutely shines are his facial expressions throughout the movie. Whether it is his signature "I don't know", Bala's "phish-phish" or (my personal favourite) "Bhoola bhoola bhoola bhoola re", he rocks it. Other than Akshay, the movie relies on funny character and one-liners. The one-liners work most of the time, but some of them are terribly bad, even by my standards. It also relies on confusion caused by reincarnation and, at times, mocks itself for being a "reincarnation comedy". As for the rest of the cast: Johnny Lever unbelievably fails in the first half, but then strikes back towards the end. Kriti S, Pooja and Kriti B do well in the limited roles they have. I wish the leading ladies got better parts instead, like in HouseFull 1 (and to some extent, HF2). Bobby Deol tries hard to not be a misfit, but it just doesn't work. Ranjeet does well. Chunky Pandey does well yet again as Aakhri Pasta. Rana Daggubati is a surprises with his comedy and he does extremely well. So does the dependable Sharad Kelkar. Nawazuddin enjoys his cameo and makes sure that you do too. For reasons I can't understand, this movie has received polarising reviews from the audience and critics alike. I know that not everyone is going to like this brand of humour, but it's exactly what you expect from a HouseFull movie. Enjoy the laughter ride!