Amit Tiwari

You think of genre "Horror Comedy", particularly from Bollywood, and the first name that strikes would be "Stree", released in 2018, still remained above other tried movies on the same genre. So, the hype was real for the sequel which followed 6 years later. To sum up, man, it did live up to the hype, long wait and expectations. Personally, I loved the movie, and so I can ascertain, others who were a part of the jam packed show. When the movie got over, majority of audience, still glued to their seats expecting teasers/post credits on what more is there to offer. It felt like, they wanted more and not willing to move out and vacate. Some of the points to sum which made this movie a must watch entertainer - Positives - 1) The budget has been raised, you can certainly feel with the scenes, effects, starcast being pulled (Akshay, Varun) making the scale to bigger this time. All of them have played their parts to perfection. 2) Existing casts have sustained their performance and punched beyond, Rajkumar, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti, Abhi Banerjee not only brough back those comic vibes, their execution has hit another scale. 3) Shraddha Kapoor played her part well, maybe it might be me who could feel, even though being the poster girl, she was second to Rajkumar Rao. 4) Comedy and Horror elements were balanced nicely, yes, you might get soaked and spent on struggle/battle between Sarkataa and Stree/Team. 5) Crossover, more like a small scale MCU, this could be Bollywood supernatural universe, with Bhediya chipping in and saving the day. Now, Stree and team would be seen returning the favour to them in Bhediya sequel. This opens a lot of potential storylines for horror comedies to follow under this production. What could be better - 1) Still Bollywood's VFX seems to be lacking. Both Sarkataa and Bhediya will give you the vibes. The story is entertaining enough to make you ignore it, but still, sense of that realism is lacking. 2) Stree 2 was more loud than scary, where as Stree 1 was able to provide genuie horror moments. Just some observation. Overall a spectacular experience, this movie has a Blockbuster written all over it and it rightly deserves. Hoping it shouldn't make you wait for another 6 years for Stree 3.

I have been a fan of Akshay Kumar ever since he debuted. He has had a rough last couple of years and I've been waiting for him to return on delivering hits once again. The trailer of BMCM looked promising and showcased the return of OG action hero on his favorite genre. Before I could go and watch, I read poisitive reviews from audience and negative reviews from critics. I've always had my inclination towards audience reviews but, after watching the movie, I felt this time, the critics were right. BMCM turned out to be outright illogical, poor starcast (except Prithviraj), lame and clumsy performances and so on. In short, it lacked conviction for the plot presented. I'll try to sum up what constitutues the goods (few), not so good and the poor sequences for this movie. Good - 1) Action - Ok, if someones loves a non-stop action with some BGM, this can be a treat for lot of audience. Don't think, just enjoy. While this is the USP of the movie, it also turns to be the downside at times. 2) Big budget setup - Yes, it would feel like a full scale war setup with all latest military equipments, visually appealing custom vehicles, action locations etc. 3) Prithiviraj - One person who has done some justice to the performance is him. He has easily outshined the Sr actors with likes of Akshay and Ronit Roy. Not so good / Bad - 1) Dialouges - Unimpressive, the way it was executed, they were a poor one liner PJs, that too from the mouth of Tiger Shroff. 2) Non-motivated Akshay - The biggest draw of the movie looked dull, wasn't handed a proper comical sequences and also lacked a punch for his action scenes. 3) Starcast - Why the hell you need to cast blank faced actress like Manushi Chillar and cringy Alaya F. They were a big letdown whenever they showed up. 4) Actions lacks conviction - Don't want to spoil, but common, the actions feels super fake. One example being Akshay riding a horse, 20 guys shooting from behing with AK 47, nothting touched you. Similarly, our two protagonists without cover are open firing and taking down 50-100 merceneries. It's more like you always know what to follow. 5) Sonakshi's storyline - Again no spoilers, but her part has been the most comical thing somebody has ever come acorss with. She was more a human password for something crucial (Lolzzzz). 5) Fairly tale plot - Yes, you're trying to bring something innovative and do different than typical Pak bashing movies when it involves army and soldiers. But, here, the Indian base camps and trained soldiers aare sitting ducks, getting attacked, then comes two guys and two more annoying ladies to take all of them down. I mean I feel bad for someone like Akshay, who has been an A lister, while peers of him are witnessing big success, this was his chance to make a blockbuster 300 corore + movie. Not sure if this can still be commercial success (it could very well be), but surely not the movie or performacnes you would remember for long.

Fighter surprised me, I was more or less expecting a typical stereotyped patriotic themed, Pakistan bashing movie(which doesn't much excite me in 2024 as Pak is already in miserable state dying slow death), and yes, as evident from trailer, it was on Pulwama's backdrop to elicit jingoism, but what followed as spectating it was a pure delight, entertainment, thrill and an amazing movie. It does have some moments which could've been better, but overall it has been one of Bollywood's finest offerings off late. Good Points - 1) I watched it on IMAX 3D and man, it was bang on. Be it the visuals or 3D experience, it was spot on. 2) Bollywood, even though making big budget movies, have usually failed terribly on VFX. This time it was different. The movie's action scenes, dogfight aka fighter plane combats are easily the best offered till date in any movie. You will get the goosebumps whenever the planes hit the skies. 3) Hritik Roshan - The alpha of the movie, his screen presence will make you forget everything. Even at age of 50, he is fit, stunning, portrayed his character perfectly. You will get attached and engaged with his journey. 4) Getting technicalities right - Dogfight in case of real war between India and Pak would be engaged between Sukhoi M30 vs F16. Movie doesn't deviate from that, with multiple battles between two superior fighters are real treat to watch. 5) Dialogues - Bold and clear, no mixing of words. Although in today's India, Pakistan is irrelevant, still, the way they were executed, were perfect. 6) Antagonist - They've been able to invoke the hatred and haven't looked weaker, esp the new guy taking over as a baddie has mapped up with his good performance, be it the leader of terrorist, or leader of Pak F16 squardron. Could've been better / avoided - 1) Deepika Padukone - My opinion, she seemed like someone imposed on the movie. While the makers have tried to exploit her star power and use her more than eye candy, her scenes mainly felt like slowing the movie down. 2) Typical Bollywood's overdose of emotions - This is where, I still believe Hindi movies can do better. Post interval, for a long time, movie turned slow, casualty(casualties - no spoiler) were dragged. Also, some sequences of Hritik missing his colleagues, or Deepika's emotional reunion with her parents, when story has already taken serious turn, they only make you desperate for fast forward and jump to action more than anything else. 3) Climax fighting in terrorist base camp post air combat were good, but difficult to believe esp when entire movie was going in sensible direction. But can be given a waiver as it was a movie to entertain and not a documentary. 4) Typical Bollywood formula - When you're putting Pak in a bad light, you counter balance it with a good guy Indian minority laying his life out of patriotism, long sequence to commemorate etc. A common formula to keep a section happy. Overall a brilliant effort, Hritik's performance, swag and strong screen presence steals the show. Deepika was like Ok, it's a mandate to have a heroine in Hindi movie, so you're in. Anil Kapoor acted same like every other movie and feels more like a potato in a curry. But given the amazing VFX, bold performance, over the top action and in the name of India, this movie can definitely be watched with family. Jai Hind.

Adipurush - A perfect example of messing around with your belief, emotions, love and everything attached with epic Ramayana in the name of creative freedom. This movie majorly felt like a cheap wannabe Hollywood action movie in the wrapper of Ramayana. I am someone who has all life followed Tulsi Ramayana, watched Ramanand Sagar's and all other various adaptations, but there were few things, which for me, were big disappointments under this adaptation - 1) Dialogues - Ramayana believed to be occurred in Treta Yug, really hard to digest dialogues from Hanuman's character like - Teri baap ki lanka jalegi, Indrajeet saying - Shesh to lamba kar diya, Janaki talking to Ravana in "Tu Tadaak Tera" . I was worried that a profanity could soon follow. 2) Expressions - Blank - Be it Prabhas, Kriti, Devdutta (Hanumana). Saif was decent. Ramayana is a tale of emotions, be it father/son, husband/wife, devotee/God, totally missing here. Shesh/Laxmana was almost non existent in the movie and calmness/aggression both were handled by Raghav. 3) Setup - Lanka looked like wanna be Asgard from Thor movies, with some budget cut VFX and black surroundings. Ravana is seen chilling with his creepy creatures, was shown to feed meat to his pet dragonlike BAT (although himself being a Pandit), chilling with serpents, doing some blacksmith stuff, but never was portrayed as a King in his throne. 4) Appearance - Lord Ram with moustache, Hanuman like a maulvi, Ravana , Vibhishana having modern cheap reel creator's haircuts, Indrajeet copied from God Of War\s Baldur; it's really important to give these iconic characters the respect they deserve. 5) War - It was shown that Hanuman is getting kicked twice (I am really furious with this), Laxmana almost non-existent, getting beaten black and blue, the sequence he is stuck by Shakti (some snake weapon here) occurs even before the battle starts. I mean what is Om Raut smoking and dreaming ? 6) VFX - Improved from teaser, but vanar sena was taken straight from Planet of apes, and Rakshasa were like Ogres from Lord of the Rings. Take from here and there, and plug in Ramayana, not so creative here. Mediocre at best. Finally the movie was over, kids can enjoy it, but they will get the complete false picture of the narration, the characters, how they spoke, how they behaved etc. It would have been perfectly fine had the movie makers wanted their own fantasy, but Ramayana can't be disrespected like this in my opinion.

Wow, not just a movie, it was a lifetime experience. Movie was the (and probably only) union of Spidermans from last 2 decades, and the supervillains brought under the 2.5 hours window under the perfect storytelling. You could feel the emotions and goosebumps, when Andrew Garfield and especially OG Spidey Tobey walked in. Whole theatre went berserk, each and every scene was welcomed with loud applause and cheer. When all 3 Spiderman run and swing, Oh Man, that would run some serious chills. The scene where Andrew Spiderman saves MJ, was a true redemption. They got the proper farewell. Aged actor Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) not only seem to walk off almost same 2 decades later, but also participated in action sequence. Let's be honest, I never anticipated any more movie after Avengers Endgame to be that big or spectacular, but this is going to be another big critical and commercial success for MCU. It's said they would come up with one more and looks like a Venom cross-over this time. Hoping they beat the benchmark set in this movie.

Completed this game. What a thrill ride. Best game I have played in 2021 or even during last couple of years. One this is now certain, Resident Evil is Capcom's flagship. It also establishes that original games could be as good as classics. It brings back the same level of excellence in story + gameplay like older RE games like RE 3 (original) and RE 4. While many games lately have failed to deliver all round, mainly focused either on visuals or marketing and somewhat have been let downs in gameplay, this one surpasses all the expectations and for me, it has been the best in the RE series so far. From the gripping storyline, connection with Ethan's character and working with his underdog reputation beating the odds to a dedicated level playing as badass Chris was a total blast. Perfect blend of narrative / events and setting up the gameplay. Good guns, providing options of ammo and medicine crafting, and getting some reward for beating each and every monster is a big plus. On the down side, while I was mainly excited to have encounters with Lady Dimitrescu throughout the game, I was disappointed with her limited appearance and quick disappearance from the game. Took good 11-12 hours for main campaign which was really a satisfying experience.

This game at best deserves 3.5 stars. I was super excited for this, went for purchase on day 1, and didn't had terrible experience as my gaming rig with RTX 2080 made it look and play good. But, coming to the gameplay, storyline was decent, but V is nothing like Geralt or other protagonists. While it had some decent side missions with pretty ladies like Panam, Judy, Rogue or some fun moments with Johnny Silverhand, others were just some let down. Even main story progression was too slow. It was not something for which you will free up your gaming slot or give up everything else till you complete. After playing 25 hours, I am still dragging towards completion. Someday I would do it. Replayability - No ways.