Sannidhyaa Basu Mallik

MOVIE REVIEW- THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Director - Ribhu Dasgupta Cast- Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Kirti Kulhari, Avinash Tiwary You know the feeling we get the day before an exam? When we flip through the pages in a hurry to skim through all of the content in an attempt to cover everything? That is what I felt after watching this movie. Mira Kapoor (Parineeti) is a divorcee, an ex lawyer and an alcoholic. She is shown to be crushed by the pain of her broken marriage and by the fact that her ex husband remarried. Every day she travels by train and finds pleasure in watching a perfect couple in her favourite house through the window of the train. She wonders how it is possible for anybody to have such an ‘Instagrammable’ life - something which seems to be an illusion to her. Then comes the day when her imagination is shattered. She sees from the window of her train that the girl is hugging another man and this infuriates her. Next day we get to know that the girl (Aditi Rao) who was gazed at by Mira from the window of her train has gone missing. Involvement of the cops and investigation starts from here. Having read the book, I was not satisfied with the speed at which the film progressed. Tota Roy Chowdhury has a guest appearance and he was the perfect man for the role he played. It suited him bookishly well! The script is majorly different from the book as the climax has been changed and this may disappoint some. As a film alone, the twist is quite fine. Acting was not remarkable but Kirti Kulhari was a treat to the eyes! Considering that the movie is a thriller, the unnecessary inclusion of songs reduces the thrilling aspect of the film. Through the appreciable song ‘Matlabi Yariyan’ we get a depth into Mira’s broken heart. Personally, I feel that the script failed to give a descriptive sketch of vital characters and could not portray the depth of their emotions. Overall, the movie can be watched once.

DURGAMATI- REVIEW DIRECTOR- ASHOK Main Cast- Bhumi Pednekar, Arshad Warsi, Jisshu Sengupta, Mahie Gill, Karan Kapadia Durgamati is the remake of a Tamil-Telugu film named ‘Bhaagamathie’. The story shows that Hindu God Idols are stolen from various village areas and local temples over a period of 6 months and Ishwaar Prasad (Arshad Warsi), a politician who is ostensibly worshipped by all and is known to be the most honest politician, promised to leave his post if he fails to find the thieves. CBI takes in charge of the case and Satakshi Ganguly (Mahie Gill), who was leading the enquiry, was quite convinced with her theory that Ishwaar Prasad was involved in this chain of robbery. She asked police officer Abhay Singh (Jisshu) to bring Chanchal (Bhumi) out from jail who served as Ishwaar’s assistant for two terms and was put behind the bars for killing Shakti, Abhay’s brother. For interrogation purpose, Chanchal was kept in the Durgamati bungalow unlawfully which was believed to be a haunted place. Now, the genre of the film claims to be horror and thriller but even with a pair of binoculars one cannot detect any trace of horror except the most cliché and expected elements like creaking of doors, rocking chairs, thud sounds made here and there and of course, darkness. Direction is poor because some scenes really lack logic. People who were portrayed as timid and weakling were hardly scared even when the most eerie and unusual things were happening in front of them. Also, I am confused about whether the director did want to show comedy through horror in few scenes or he really thought those scenes to be scary. The movie is boring and pretty tedious and unnecessarily gathers monotony at phases. The last scene, where revelations take place is the only good part of the film. Acting was nothing great honestly. Mahie Gill was looking good as a CBI officer but her poor pronunciation killed the vibe. Bhumi acted well but the scenes where her voice was changed seemed really off and unconvincing. Bhumi's imperturbable facial expression could not inculcate any fear factor in the minds of the viewers. Jisshu was very presentable though his part was comparatively less. Arshad Warsi’s acting was definitely praise worthy. Honest suggestion- watch the film with your family or friends because if you watch it alone, you will definitely leave it halfway as boredom might engulf you. Opinions may definitely differ but this is my experience and review about the film.

BADLA Few movies cannot be explained, one can only feel it's essence by viewing it, Badla is undoubtedly one of them. Sujoy Ghosh's crafty mind has beautifully framed the puzzle. Badla is a thriller movie which will engulf the audience with its twists and keep their eyes glued to the screen. The story involves Amitabh Bachchan, Tapsee Pannu and Amrita Singh. The story revolves around one mistake which leads to multiple mishaps. It also shows how unconditional is a mother's love. Amitabh Bachchan has proven it yet again that age is just a number for talent! This movie was a great come back for Amrita Singh. The location for the movie was very well choosen. This movie is a must watch for all the thriller lovers.