Ronak Kotecha – Google

LOVE & LUST IN EQUAL MEASURE! AFTER is the kind of film that could have gone horribly wrong. Well, it had all the ingredients - good girl, bad girls, brooding mysterious college hottie, wannabe college teens sporting nose piercings & tattoos, dysfunctional families & broken marriages..the list will go on. But what trumps all of this the heavyduty emotional texture of the film. The intense romance that develops between Tessa and Hardin in a conventional yet very mystical way. There are not many twists and the narrative is simple. However, it hoodwinks you into feeling that something really uncanny will happen - whether or not it does, is for you to find out. Makeout scenes are aplenty but none OTT. They are aesthetic and complimentary to the storytelling. Director Jenny Gage handles that well with his young, good looking actors keeping their next-door image intact. Audience will relate with their characters and root for both of them. Pace is slow but consistent with moments that will stay with you. Overall, AFTER is the kind of college romance everyone hopes for - it's got love, lust and heartbreak in equal measure!

What’s it about: A daughter of a local politician and a cable TV reporter in North India’s Mathura fall in love. The girl wants to try living-in with him before the Shaadi, but her father is rallying against the same. Can they defy the societal norms and blend in? Review: Luka Chuppi opens with a bunch of pesky reporters accusing an actor of being anti-national because he is living in with his girlfriend. Soon the situation escalates into protests and moral policing across Uttar Pradesh, with Mathura being the center of all the action. And it’s this news story chased by a local reporter Guddu that turns into his own love story with funny complications when the daughter of the politico falls in love with him and the two decide to live-in. But Luka Chuppi tackles a long list issues within the society that include misogyny, gender inequality, caste bias and moral policing in a comical way, never letting the tone of the film get too serious. Debutant director Laxman Utekar does a decent job of getting together unusual characters in quirky situations. Kartik Aaryan exudes easy charm and looks vulnerable enough to be caught in mad situations like the ones shown in the film. You really feel like rooting for him. Kriti Sanon looks pretty and plays the role of a girl-next-door with an understated performance. They have an easy chemistry that makes them likable. There are many supporting actors too, who leave a lasting impression in their roles. Among them is Pankaj Tripathi, who is kind of wasted in a role that is underwritten for his talent. Aparshakti Khurana plays a supportive friend with honesty. But the best of them are members of Guddu’s joint family and Rashmi’s politician dad Vinay Pathak, who create an equal amount of conflict and comedy. What I liked the most about Luka Chuppi is the fact that it is a simple story with different execution. There are scenes that will make you laugh and think at the same time without being overbearing or preachy. Not just the first half but even the second half is filled with funny moments. Some scenes are repetitive, but the film is short enough to not be a stretch. Film’s dialogues are relatable but they could have been a lot more fun. On the whole, Luka Chuppi is a clean wholesome entertainer that will engage the audience of all ages.

Yes, it did make me laugh when I watched the promo of Total Dhamaal. Armed with expectations, I went into the theater hoping to ROFL with many such LOL moments but OMG…that was pretty much it! What you saw in the promo are quite frankly the best scenes in the film - smartly packaged and put together in this adventure comedy, which soon crash lands into a misadventure. And it takes some of industry’s finest acting talents along with it. Undoubtedly, it’s refreshing to watch Anil and Madhuri together again. They are not romancing, but give us some genuinely funny moments as they bicker their way throughout. They were my favorite pair among the other twos that includes Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Mishra. Ritiesh Deshmukh and his sidekick and of course Arshad Warsi and Javed Jaffery. While most of them deliver as expected in this admittedly nonsensical comedy, many jokes come off as too childish. Some punches do land especially when you have the king of comedy Johnny Lever playing an outlandish Bengali pilot, who flies rickety helicopters that are doomed for disaster. The most annoying among them however, was the otherwise excellent Sanjay Mishra. If I had a nickel for every time he calls Ajay Devgn ‘Bro’, I would have recovered the ticket price of the almost full theatre. There are more actors like Boman Irani and Mahesh Manjrekar desperately trying to infuse more comedy in any way they can. There is also a cringe-worthy subplot of forced love angle between Ajay Devgn and Esha Gupta. So typical! However, Total Dhamaal doesn’t take the cheap and easy route of offensive and vulgar humour like some of Indra Kumar’s ‘adult’ comedies. But that doesn’t mean it manages to entertain you throughout either. The first half breezes through with nonsense, but the film’s weak plot comes undone in the second half. The poor CGI doesn’t help the matters either and there is no memorable music either except the grand title track that opens the film. Dialogues are funny but not enough, many a times punches seem predictable, much like the film’s story. So if you can leave sense, logic and expectations at home along with your brains then, by all means, go for it.

A long laboriously set up action adventure that starts with a bang and ends in a whimper, too much unappealing action, predictable storyline, bland music, OTT performances and caricature characters mark this big Diwali release. Not worth 3 hours of this festive time unless you want to see Big B’s grand stand screen presence and some top class visual extravaganza. 2.5 stars out of 5 PS: I gave up when I saw Ila Arun in fancy dress ;)