Rohan Choudhury

Mahesh Bhatt is serious talent. To traverse such a wide array of genres and acing it all takes living. No film-making school can teach you this. The greatness of DHKMN lies in the many subtle scenes, let alone the crackling romance between the lead pair. From the reaction that Raghu gives when the bus conductor asks "Kya ladki hai yeh?" to Dharamchand's PA telling him "Aap ko pata nahi saari duniya ko khabrein iss akbaar se milti hai"... when pooja asks Raghu "kya dikhega sapne mein" in the Parsi staywell guest house...the use of "Don't touch me" sign after the title song ends...it's replete with such wise, endearing and heartfelt moments. I rate DHKMN the best 90s romantic film...way ahead of DDLJ. DDLJ was SRK ...his charm. DHKMN is pure cinema.

Right wing trolls need to realise that if you are too obvious in rating a movie, your bluff will be caught. They can't think smart. Instead of 1 star, if it were 2 or 2.5...that would've impacted public sentiment more. Now everyone knows it's a smear campaign. The truth is it's a powerful unique film. Nothing can dent its prospect. Go watch it in a theater. Indian cinegoers haven't seen anything home-made like that.

Love Aaj Kal 2.0 is engaging. Imtiaz Ali never disappoints. Don't believe the word about it spread by Gen Z and the later born millennials. The template is same, the storytelling is same. Still the movie is very different. On a side note, I have began to feel that Gen Z people who are making memes all the time have never experienced love. Their notion of love is warped and misguided. Technology has ruined life for them. Glad to have grown up in the 90s.

Take out Saif Ali Khan and Tanaji will fall flat. The script is as vanila as it could get. The whole point it seems is to reach the final duel in the climax. Saif Ali Khan puts so much venom into the character that others including Ajay Devggn are no match to him. This alone and the deliciously choreographed action sequences makes it worth a watch. You won't feel you have wasted 300 bucks on the ticket. And Saif is to be thanked for this.

Spoilers Alert! "Jo Khatein hai unhe nahi khatein"... Dibakar Banerjee couldn't have been any more direct with his political short than this. The protagonist could very well be Rahul Gandhi. And the father figure (Brahmadaitya) is, well, we know who. A whole village is eaten (literally). Only kids (youth) stand up to the man-eating villagers and seemed to know the antidote. And then all the hope for revival is washed away when the protagonist realises even the kids have been eaten. The Hindutva forces come to his rescue and tells him 'Aab aap humare saath hai. Pehle jaisa saab wapas aayega. Hum laayenge.' For other segments, Kashyap tries to do an Ari Aster and is successful to an extent. His segment is the most imaginative. Zoya Akhtar terribly disappoints. Karan Johar shouldn't have been a part of this. Ghost Stories is international in its ambition. The craft is par. But stories could've been better.