Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 19Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Movie Review : Bala

Posted on November 17, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 4/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 11 minutes
Director : Amar Kaushik
Cast : Ayushmann Khurana, Bhumi Pednekar, Yami Gautam, Saurabh Shukla, Seema Pahwa, Sunita Rajwar, Abhishek Banerjee
Kid rating : PG

Balmukund Shukla (Ayushman Khurana) is a young man with a rapidly receding hairline. There seems to be no cure for his condition, and Bala is losing hope of ever finding love. Things take a turn for the better when Bala is gifted a hairpiece. With the hairpiece securely on his head, Bala turns into the confident young man of his dreams and even begins to romance model Pari Mishra (Yami Gautam)!

Bala works in the marketing department of “Pretty You”, a fairness cream. Pari Mishra is the fair model of “Pretty You”, whom Bala crushes over. And Latika Trivedi (Bhumi Pednekar) is Bala’s dark-skinned friend, infuriated by his perpetual criticism of her skin color. So there is the obvious storyline with balding issues, but there is a secondary angle which deals with fairness creams and the fervor to be light-skinned.

Bala is about acceptance, and you know that by the end of the film, the hero would have made peace with his (lack of) hair. But Bala goes beyond the balding theme, and takes to task society’s double-standards and sexism. Latika has learnt to deal with the taunts on her dark-skin but the barbs still hurt. In little asides, Latika’s single aunt admits that her “mooch” (she displays a mustache) put paid to her attempts to settle down. Latika, as a lawyer, advises a woman to divorce her philanderer husband, but the woman demurs; the unfaithful man is her “true love”. It underscores everyday sexism, when Bala’s friends exhort him to lie to his fiancee until marriage. Such is the order of things, they say; women just have to deal with it.

The film is set in Kanpur (which is referred to as “Kanepur”) and excels in building the small town milieu. Each character in Bala is beautifully sketched out, from Bala’s Ranji-trophy-playing, bald dad (Saurabh Shukla), to his mom (Sunita Rajwar) and barber-friend Ajju (Abhishek Banerjee). Seema Pahwa as Latika’s mausi (aunt) is, as always, magnificent. Khurana and Pednekar are excellent of course, but I was blown away by Yami Gautam. Gautam plays small-town model Pari, and she gets her role down pat, from the accent to the mannerisms.

While Bala gives Latika’s issues some screen time, it focuses on Bala and his hairy problems. I’d so like to see a film on Latika though – her fiery character seemed very interesting, and the issue of skin-color deserves some discussion! Bhumi’s skin has been darkened for the role, but the makeup was inconsistent; in some shots she seemed darker and in some lighter.

Ultimately Bala succeeds, even though it felt a little stretched. Director Kaushik manages to tell this almost-preachy tale with panache and humor, while creating an interesting, flawed hero whom we really like – no small feat that! I’m having a hard time believing that this is the same guy who gave us Stree – Bala is so, so much better than that film. Go see!

Kidwise: Apart from some mild references to Bala’s nether regions, this film is pretty family-friendly.

Posted in 2019, bollywood, comedy, drama, family-friendly, humor, New Films, rating-PG, recommended, social issues, women | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Motichoor Chaknachoor (releases 15th November 2019)

Posted on November 3, 2019 by amodini

Motichoor Chaknachoor stars Athiya Shetty and Nawazuddin Siddiqu, a pairing I’d never thought I’d see. Leggy Ms Shetty plays Anita, a small-town girl who’s looking for marriage as a ticket to go abroad. Siddiqui is Pushpinder Tyagi, a 36 year old who can’t find a bride.

The twain shall meet. And how!

Posted in 2019, bollywood, drama, humor, New Films, Previews, quirky | Comments Off

Movie Review : Saand ki Aankh (2019)

Posted on October 29, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 3.9/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 14 minutes
Director : Tushar Hiranandani
Cast : Bhumi Pednekar, Taapsee Pannu, Vinnet Kumar Singh, Prakash Jha
Kid rating : G

Saand ki Aankh (literally Bullseye) is getting massive hype, but then all I read about is the makeup (poor) and the age of the lead actors (too young). Fine, I agree about the makeup, but we seem to be missing the forest for the trees – Saand ki Aankh is a very enjoyable movie, and well worth the watch.

The film, as you might know is based on the real life “Shooter-Dadis” – Shooter grandmothers: Parkashi and Chandro Tomar, who, in their 60s, took up shooting as a sport and were natural sharpshooters. Married into the patriarchal Tomar family, both women, along with other female members of the household, spend their days cooking, cleaning and working in the fields, while their menfolk lounge about smoking hookahs.

Remaining in their veils (ghoonghats) – there is a scene where they watch a film through their ghoonghats, and we see the hazy images just as they see them – Parkashi and Chandro accept living life literally barefoot and pregnant (they birth broods) until an enterprising young doctor builds a shooting range in their village and one of their granddaughters Shefali want to learn to shoot. Since it is expressly forbidden, Parkashi and Chandro accompany her to the range in secrecy, and in encouraging Shefali, fire a few rounds themselves. Amazed by their skill, the doctor (Vineet Singh) encourages them. Thus starts their journey, all in secrecy.

The story – the triumph of the brave grandmas is such a crowd-pleaser that it is hard not to like this film. Since much of the story has the Tomar women finding ways to train and attend competitions in secrecy, afraid of the strict rules curtailing the behavior of the household women, “Saand ki Ankh” finds its secondary focus in protesting the patriarchy. The earnestness and the depiction of the simple desires of these women is moving. All they want are better lives for their daughters. They don’t say it in as many words, but Chandro and Parkashi lie and connive so that their daughters can get simple opportunities, which will enable them to get good jobs, step out and see the world.

Despite the inconsistent makeup, Bhumi and Taapsee do well. While Taapsee is a fine actress (Manmarziyaan), Bhumi is better. Bhumi portrays Chandro through and through – she walks like she really is tired, and age has slowed her limbs. This is where Pannu was lacking; her Parkashi displayed the sprightliness of a much younger woman. Jha is quite effective as patriarch Rattan Singh and Vineet Kumar Singh (of Mukkabaaz fame) is his marvelous self as Dr. Yashpal.

The flaw in Saand ki Aankh it is its lack of nuance. The characters are black and white – the women are good and intelligent, the men are lazy oafs. This almost underdog story has nicely rounded corners, no sharp edges or signs of strife within. The big challenges are defined, the undertones mellowed; the film is packaged and presented to tug at the heartstrings. I’m not sure how much of the film or the struggle has been fictionalized, although a struggle it must have been, but the film-makers do us a disservice by hamming up this otherwise extraordinary tale.

Still, Saand ki Aankh remains a very good watch, and will probably come in as one of the best films of the year. Highly recommended.

Kidwise: Clean.

Posted in 2019, bio-pic, bollywood, drama, family-friendly, feminism, rating-G, real-life-based, recommended, social issues, women | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Bala (releases 7th November 2019)

Posted on October 26, 2019 by amodini

Ayushmann Khurana plays Bala, a balding young man searching for true love. Yami Gautam plays the love interest, who falls for the wigged-out (pun intended) Bala. Ah, deception! What will it lead to?

The trailer looks interesting and reminds me of another fabulous movie in the same vein – “Main, Meri Patni aur Woh”.

Posted in 2019, bollywood, comedy, drama, humor, New Films, Previews, quirky | Comments Off

Movie Review : The Zoya Factor

Posted on October 19, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 2.5/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 14 minutes
Director : Abhishek Sharma
Cast : Dulquer Salma, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Sanjay Kapoor, Angad Bedi, Sikander Kher
Kid rating : G

Zoya Solanki (Sonam) is a scatter-brained ad agency exec. Unlucky in love and getting the short end of the stick at work, life changes when she unwittingly becomes a good luck charm for the Indian Cricket Team. This is palatable to all but the Captain Nikhil Khoda (Dulquer) who believes that her “luck” will take away from the team’s hard work. Quite a bummer, this philosophy, especially because Zoya is on the verge of falling for Nikhil.

The Zoya Factor is based on the similarly named book by Anuja Chauhan. I haven’t read the book, but I sure hope that it is better than this vapid, empty-headed film. The film feels sparse, like a short story stretched thinly over it’s 2 hour runtime. There’s very little happening in the film, so there’s lots of empty space with nothing interesting on screen. Ergo, boring.

There is very little character development. The film is mainly focussed on Zoya, and a ditzy little whiner she is.There are so many characters in the film; one would have thought that a little backstory for some of them might have bolstered the film a bit. Also, for a romance, this film seemed to have precious little of it – and I’m going to blame the pitiful screenplay here. The two leads just fall in love; the why and the how are a mystery. For a romance to work, there have be more than just the broad brush strokes.

Once again, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja portrays a flighty young girl, accident-prone but well-meaning; she must be able to play one in her sleep now given the practice (Khoobsurat). Zoya’s character was pretty annoying. The girl seemed to wilt at the slightest setback, and wallowed in tubfuls of self-pity and petulance. Zoya is shown to come from a middle-class family but she appears fairly entitled and princessy – or maybe that’s just Sonam being herself 🙂 Kapoor hams her way through the movie, and her acting is just so affected, that it is off-putting. I always though she was a good actress (Delhi-6, Neerja) but she probably needs to have a stronger director to reel her in.

The only thing going for the movie is the charismatic hero (although what’s with the hair?). Dulquer, whom you might have seen in Karwaan, is charming as Nikhil, and actually manages to brighten up the scenes he is in. It is hard to imagine why a charmer like Nikhil falls for a whiner like Zoya; I’m not bought into the romance at all. The Zoya Factor had so many problems, it is hard to imagine a scenario where this film would work. One would have needed a better screenplay, a less insipid heroine (someone like Alia would have worked) and a director who knew what he was doing.

Unfortunately, with the current combination, the Zoya Factor is at best less than average.

Kidwise: Clean

Posted in 2019, bollywood, book to film, family-friendly, humor, rating-G, romance | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Laal Kaptaan (releases 18th October, 2019)

Posted on October 12, 2019 by amodini

From Navdeep Singh, the director of the fabulous “Manorama 6 feet under” and “NH-10“ comes, comes Laal Kaptaan. It stars Saif Ali Khan (who’s having a come-back of sorts, especially after the very successful Sacred Games) and Zoya Hussain (remember the mute heroine of Mukkabaaz?).

I’m waiting for this one.

Posted in 2019, bollywood, directors, drama, New Films, Previews | Comments Off

Movie Review : War

Posted on October 7, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 3/5
Genre : Action/Thriller
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 34 minutes
Director : Siddharth Anand
Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Vaani Kapoor, Anupriya Goenka, Ashutosh Rana
Kid rating : PG-13

War, I thought, was over-hyped. And like any super-blockbuster YRF production, chockfull of big names, this had the potential to turn into a damp squib. Well, long story short – it didn’t. War is watchable.

Kabir (Roshan) is a secret agent. When he takes a new recruit Khalid (Shroff) under his wing, Khalid has to work very hard to prove himself. The mentor and mentee turn into close friends until Kabir goes rogue. Khalid must now hunt down his erstwhile teacher, a man he greatly admires and looks up to.

So, interesting premise and one which given the intelligence agency background allows both these fit, svelte men to strut their stuff. There are chases in interesting, exotic locations, and well-crafted fight scenes. Both Shroff and Roshan dance well, although Shroff seems like he’s doing a jazzercise routine when compared to the graceful Hrithik. There’s also the love angle, with the shapely Vaani Kapoor making a short appearance.

It’s one thing after another – the pace never lets up. But it being Bollywood, we have to weave in emotions and pathos, with some mother-son bonding, and some dialogue-baazi, all delivered with a straight face. Now, given the genre of the film, there is not much acting required. Hrithik can flex his acting chops when required but here he does’t need to do more than the minimum. There is no actor in Bollywood who can play a secret agent better than Hrithik, or look as good doing it :). Tiger cannot act (for proof, please see SOTY2), so he fits right in. Vaani is in the film briefly, but does alright. Ashutosh Rana is wasted terribly in a badly defined role.

War has no leading lady – just two leading men. The film is about Kabir and Khalid, and the villains such as they are pale into the background. Also short shrift for the women here, with Vaani barely in there to flash some leg, sing a song or two, and give us the maa-ki-mamta wala shit that Bollywood considers de rigueur.

War is a stylish spy thriller, and carries with it the sheen of money. Given the amount of money spent on exotic locales etc. the film is a bit clunky and lacking in finesse, but is till far more watchable than any of the Dhoom films. Understand though, that with all the spy thrillers/Mission Impossible type films that come in from Hollywood, it has gotten harder to produce fresh content for this genre, and it shows here. Even so, War does reasonably well, and is good paisa-vasool if you are going in for a stylish, masala entertainer.

Posted in 2019, action, bollywood, rating-PG13, spy movie, thriller, watchable | Comments Off

Movie Review : Chhichhore

Posted on September 21, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 3.7/5
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 23 minutes
Director : Nitesh Tiwari
Cast : Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Prateik Babbar, Tahir Singh Bhasin, Navin Polishetty, Tushar Pandey
Kid rating : PG

Anuriddh Pathak (Rajput) gets admitted to an Engineering college, and adrift in a sea of nerds, meets and falls in love with the prettiest girl there. Maya (Kapoor) later marries Ani and they have a son. Years later, when tragedy befalls them, their long-lost college friends come to stand by their side.

Chhichhore is a light-hearted look at coming-of-age, college life and the friendships that last a lifetime. Told with humor and a set of zany, interesting characters, Chhichhore will leave you misty-eyed with nostalgia. Threaded into this college-heavy tale, is an underdog story, where the Losers aka the Chhichhore gang have zero chance of winning. There is also a bigger theme on learning from failure and using it as a stepping-stone to success.

The themes this film tries to tackle might be lofty but Chhichhore does a nice job of depicting them. It is an interesting story, well-told. The screenplay passes muster, and the characters are well developed. Director Tiwari (who also made Dangal) creates endearing characters we can root for, and the film is made pleasurable because we are invested in their lives.

Sushant Singh Rajput is a good actor, and even Shraddha Kapoor, who isn’t, does well here. Varun Sharma (whom you might remember from Fukrey) is impressive as Ani’s bumchum pal and senior Grummet “Sexa” Singh Dillon. Tahir Singh Basin as Derek, Navin Polishetty as Acid, Tushar Pandey as Mummy are also very believable as the other “Losers”. As far as the flaws, there’s the makeup. There is a gradation in time here so the characters do age. The aging makeup though is ghastly; the men simply appear to lose their hair and gain potbellies. The film takes some liberties with realism, but it’s all for a good cause 🙂 .

Chhichhore is a heart-warming crowd-pleaser. Go see!

Kidwise: Some adult jokes, but nothing overtly vulgar.

Posted in 2019, bollywood, comedy, coming of age, directors, feel-good, humor, quirky, rating-PG15, recommended, romance, underdog angle | Comments Off

Movie Review : Dream Girl

Posted on September 15, 2019 by amodini

Rating : 2/5
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2019
Running time : 2 hours 17 minutes
Director : Raaj Shaandilya
Cast : Ayushman Khurana, Nusrat Bharucha, Anuu Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Vijay Raaz, Rajesh Sharma, Manjot Singh
Kid rating : PG

Dream Girl, from the trailer, seemed a fun movie – quirky premise, and a solid lead actor. Our hero Karam (Khurana, whom we saw very recently in the fabulous Article 15) can speak in a woman’s voice, a talent that has gotten him cast as Sita/Radha/other Goddess/mythological character in every other play in his hometown of Mathura. Unable to secure a job, Karam finally capitulates and becomes Pooja, a female voice in a “friendship” call centre. Hordes of men are smitten by the silky-voiced Pooja, and Karam finds himself unable to extricate himself from the mess.

Dream Girl drips with sometimes-funny one-liners. The first half goes by quickly, but the second half is a slog. Director Shaandilya makes a hash of the execution, and the screenplay is dead in the water. New and inconsequential characters come out of the woodwork and you are left working out the connections/reason for the scene. Random gags are strung together without rhyme or reason and either get too hammy or too ludicrous to actually be funny. Some of this is so shoddily done that it looks like a poorly made televison serial from the 80s Doordarshan era.

The only thing really going for Dream Girl is its star. Ayushmann Khurana shines in and as the Dream Girl. Nusrat Bharucha, who fared well in Sonu ke Teetu ki Sweety, has little screen time here and is miscast. Annu Kapoor as Karam’s drowning-in-debt dad is over-the-top and insufferable – so same old same old. Abhishek Banerjee, Rajesh Sharma are actors who normally do well, but don’t quite garner applause here.

The film tries to make a patently adult-themed film family-friendly. The Friendship call-centers would rightfully be called phone-sex lines, but Dream Girl doesn’t get that tawdry. The Friendship call-center girls are matronly women who talk to their clients while cutting vegetables or knitting – the pretense of being harmless and non-degrading. Why, oh why? The film might have been edgier and believable had it told it like it was.

Then Dream Girl tries to go all sentimental on us by doing a PSA – on why human beings are so lonely that they are calling “Friendship lines”. The concern is all for the poor lonely men, and not the women who do the unpleasant work of serving those needs. It’s like the scriptwriter has blinders on. Besides, this call to end loneliness, seems fake and tacked on towards the end like an afterthought – there go the brownie points for earnestness!

All in all, a poor business, this film. In the hands of a director who knew what he was doing, this could have been rollicking good fun. Alas!

Kidwise: As I said, DreamGirl tries to cover up unpleasant situations and make them seem normal. So, your kid might have some questions (like I do 🙂 – who calls Friendship call lines?), but nothing vulgar is shown.

Posted in 2019, bollywood, comedy, rating-PG | Comments Off