Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 25Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Movie Review : Tumhari Sulu (2017)

Posted on August 28, 2018 by amodini

Rating : 3.6/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2017
Running time : 2 hours 19 minutes
Director : Suresh Triveni
Cast : Vidya Balan, Manav Jaul, Neha Dhupia, Vijay Acharya
Kid rating : PG

I’ve put off seeing this movie for a while, because there was only one star in this film, and although Vidya can carry a film very well on her own shoulders (you’ve seen Kahaani, yes?), in a role such as this – over-the-top, bubbly-ish – I though she’d be a bit much. Well, I was pleasantly surprised – because, although in certain scenes, you could see the real Vidya break through (especially when dissolving into loud, incessant peals of laughter) – she held it together beautifully, and I quite rooted for her character in the film.

Sulochana is a housewife, with a penchant for participating and winning contests. Bubbly Sulu gets the opportunity to become a late-night radio jockey, and is delirious when her show becomes a hit. She manages to bring her common sense and warmth to the show even when exhorted to make her voice sultry and inviting to male callers. Her husband and family though, when they hear her on air, deem it not respectable, and ask that she quit. Well, she won’t.

When you think about it, it is a bit of the ghisa-pita, regressive society blah-blah-blah kind of kahaani, but yet Tumhari Sulu makes it fresh. Balan is responsible for much of the freshness, because she is quite lovely as Sulu, managing to make even middle-class, modest, sari-clad Sulu, with her ghar-ka-khana and her homely nature, such a poster-girl for empowerment. Sulu is a character with real heart, she is impetuous and loves surprises, but she also doubts herself. Her sense of self worth, much eroded by a disparaging dad and a pair of supercilious bank-jobbing sisters, is buoyed by the her boss’s (Dhupia) confidence in her. I loved the fact that even when her loving and supportive husband (Kaul) begins to doubt her choices, she believes enough in herself to not back down.

The downer of course, and there is a downer, is that all the melodrama gets resolved too quickly, and too unsatisfactorily for me. The film chomps down nice and hard on a real problem, but then is quite content to let go, without a whimper, without a fight. All the loose ends tie up nicely with a bit of mommy drama, and a few tears. Tumhari Sulu had the potential to go places. Alas, it doesn’t.

Still, a decent film. Watch it for Balan.

Kidwise: Relatively clean. Some lasvicious talk, but that’s pretty much it.

Posted in 2018, Amazon Prime, bollywood, drama, family-friendly, goofy, humor, rating-PG, women | Comments Off

Movie Preview: Stree (releases 31st August, 2018)

Posted on August 18, 2018 by amodini

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. who gave us the magnificent “Shor in the City” return with a horror film based on the legend of Nale Ba. Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor are the leads in the film.

Posted in 2018, bollywood, comedy, directors, horror, New Films, Previews, quirky | Comments Off

Movie Review : Karwaan (2018)

Posted on August 11, 2018 by amodini

Rating : 3.8/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2018
Running time : 2 hours 5 minutes
Director : Akash Khurana
Cast : Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salman, Mithila Palker, Amala Akkineni, Kriti Kharbanda
Kid rating : PG

Karwaan is about Avinaash and his friends. It is about happiness, and living your life to get that happiness. Malayali heart-throb Dulquer Salman (you might have seen him in OK Kanmani) plays straight-laced Avinash, who’s given up his passion for photography and is now tied to his desk doing the old 9-to-5. When a family emergency requires a road trip, Avinaash borrows friend Shaukat’s (Irrfan Khan) van, and sets out. Shaukat joins him. On the way, they pick up another passenger, college-kid Tanya. The journey takes many detours, is adventuresome, but reaches a good destination.

The film is not unpredictable. We start off with a bit of a cliche, the young man railroaded into a “good” career by his family at the cost of a personal passion. We know there’s going to be a resolution to that, we just don’t know how. Because this is Avinash’s film, his life, his career, his personal situation is front and center. But Avinash’s friend Shaukat is also an interesting character, and some time is devoted to his adventures and personal problems.

Feel-good films about life and happiness are hard to make, because higher emotions like kindness, goodness and altruism are hard to define and even harder to portray meaningfully on screen. Karwaan succeeds because it shows us Avinaash’s journey from the desk-bound, resentful young man to a more-at-peace, free, individual. And it does this delicately, spinning up believable characters who come into his life and have a benevolent influence. There is humor and a reflection on realistic day-to-day quandaries. As the journey progresses, we watch Avinaash evolve in his thinking, mature, give up his anger and gain an acceptance and an understanding that brings him calm. That is a beautiful thing to see.

I was a little doubtful when I first read of Dulquer Salman portraying average joe Avinaash, because his non-Hindi films are a little bombastic, where his characters have flamboyant personalities. Surprisingly with a normal hair-cut, glasses and a computer bag swung over a shoulder Salman transforms into quite the nerd. He also does a decent job of the acting. Irfan needs no introduction; his Shayiri-spouting, eccentric Shaukat brings humor and a light-hearted charm to this film. Mithila Palkar as the impetuous Tanya is also quite a good. The surprise here is seeing lovely yesteryear South Indian actress Amala playing Tanya’s mom Tahira; she is just the woman to bring this graceful role to life.

Karwaan’s lovely soundtrack emphasizes the film’s tender-hearted tale. While it is a little slow-paced, the film left me with a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. I look forward to director Khurana’s future ventures.

Kidwise: Clean.

Posted in 2018, bollywood, directors, drama, family-friendly, feel-good, humor, New Films, rating-PG, road movie, touchy-feely | Comments Off

Movie Review : Fanney Khan (2018)

Posted on August 5, 2018 by amodini

Rating : 2/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2018
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Atul Manjrekar
Cast : Anil Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand, Aishwarya Rai
Kid rating : PG-15

Fanney Khan is produced by Rakesh OmPrakash Mehra Pictures (ROMP), so basically the folks who gave us films like “Rang de Basanti” and Delhi-6. Lately they have been more miss than hit, but one can always hope that they’ll pick a winner. Unfortunately, in Fanney Khan they don’t.

Fanney Khan has a convoluted mess of a story. It involves a golden-hearted orchestra singer Prashant Sharma aka Fanney Khan (Anil Kapoor) who nurses his dreams of becoming a singer and hopes his daughter Lata (Pihu Sand) will fulfill them. In here are also Baby Singh (Aishwarya Rai), a top singer who’s sick and tired of her conniving manager and the will-do-anything-for-TRP industry.

One day, Fanney and Baby’s paths collide, and the film turns unpredictably. This opens up possibilities, but director Atul Manjrekar manages to squander all of them. Fanney Khan basically went downhill from there, actually getting so silly at times, that my husband, who was watching the film with me, wanted to walk out halfway. I wish I’d agreed to that!

The film’s characters are kinda black-and-white, which I didn’t expect in a ROMP film; I expected better. Prashant and wife Kavita (Divya Dutta) are the typical filmi, sacrificing, door-mat parents – they want the best for their daughter but they let her walk all over them. The daughter Lata is a thoughtless, selfish child – and really hard to root for. In Bollywood sacrifice is good, and the film tries to milk some sympathy for the poor, downtrodden parents; I felt nothing but pity – for the director.

There are a few bright spots even in this messy film, 2 to be precise. There is Rajkummar Rao (who was magnificent in Newton), who plays Prashant’s friend Adhir, and Divya Dutta who plays Prashant’s wife Kavita. These two perform their hearts out, give more than they are asked for, and imbue their characters with personality. Even Pihu Sand is pretty good; it’s a pity that her character is defined in such a one-dimensional way. Anil Kapoor is the same as ever; while he is fine he’s never been known for nuance. Aishwarya Rai, while gorgeous, is wooden. If she ever had an acting bone in her body, motherhood has sucked it right out of her.

This film is not worth watching; save your time and money.

Kidwise: Clean. But think again: why would you put a child, nay anyone, through a film like this?

Posted in 2018, bollywood, drama, rating-G | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Fanney Khan (releases 3rd August 2018)

Posted on July 29, 2018 by amodini

Fanney Khan has some big names: Anil Kapoor & Aishwarya Rai. It also has Rajkummar Rao and Divya Dutta, plus what looks like a heartwarming tale about a wannabe singer and her struggling family.

Posted in 2018, bollywood, New Films, Previews | Comments Off

Movie Review : Blackmail (2018)

Posted on July 14, 2018 by amodini

Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama, Comedy
Year : 2018
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Abhinay Deo
Cast : Irrfan Khan, Kirti Kulhari, Arunoday Singh, Divya Dutta
Kid rating : PG-15

When Dev Kaushal (Khan) finds out that his wife Reena (Kulhari) is cheating on him with someone called Ranjit Arora (Singh), he, instead of confronting them, starts to blackmail Ranjit. Ranjit, a gold-digger husband himself, stands to lose quite a bit if his wife Dolly (Dutta) hears of his infidelity. The problem of course is money – where to get it from?

Now, I thought Blackmail pretty decent, even though it has some flaws. Blackmail is directed by Abhinay Deo of Delhi Belly fame, and he brings some of that same sensibility here, with the attempt to be punchy (large-lettered headlines on screen) and snappy, the infusion of black humor. Blackmail does move fast, there’s always something happening. There is also a decent attempt at delineating the characters. We get a good feel for who Dev is, what Reena is like.

There are some problems too. There’s cringey humor with Dev’s work life at a toilet-paper-making company, and a could-have-been-left-out parallel track with Dev’s boss, played by Omi Vaidya. Some thing’s are not explained – why is Dev’s marriage so down in the dumps? Why does he have some of the fetishes he does have? For kicks? For laughs? To display character conflicts? Not very clearly done. Know that Blackmail is much more of a grown-up film than Delhi Belly was, so the humor that worked for that – it had a cast of 20-somethings – doesn’t quite work here.

Director Deo has assembled an impressive cast – Irrfan Khan, Kirti Kulhari (you might remember her from Pink and the dark Shaitan), Divya Dutta – are all superb. Arunoday Sigh is a bit OTT at times, but he does suffice as the lying lout Ranjit. There’s also Gajraj Rao as slimy private investigator Chawla. Also there is Shahid Kapoor and Ishaan Khatter’s mom Neelima Azeem playing Dolly’s mom’s role.

Even with all that – a great cast AND a reasonable plot-line, Blackmail is average not fabulous, like it could have been. It starts well, but then loses steam. It’s grey-character theme is well done, and they couldn’t have a better man that Irrfan to do it, but it falters. Blackmail is slap-dash, not quite knowing how to build up to a crescendo; it ends weakly. I’m pinning it on director Deo – his skill will take some honing.

Kidwise: Blood and bodies. Lasvicious characters. Adult theme. Unsuitable for younger kids.

Posted in 2018, bollywood, directors, drama, Hindi movies on Amazon Prime, movies online, quirky, rating-PG15, suspense | 1 Comment

Movie Review : Sanju (2018)

Posted on July 8, 2018 by amodini

Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2018
Running time : 2 hours 41 minutes
Director : Raj Kumar Hirani
Cast : Ranbir Kapoor, Diya Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Vicky Kaushal
Kid rating : PG-15

Sanju stars off with Sanjay Dutt (Kapoor) having lost his trial, watching tv at home with wife Manyata (Mirza). He has a month left before he is incarcerated again – apparently the Courts’s have kindly let him complete his films before they escort him to the kaal kothri. And before that month is up he would like to have his story told via a book, and is busy convincing world-famous biographer Winnie Dias (Sharma) to write one. In persuading her, Sanjay tells her his life’s story and that is the film, reminiscing via flashback.

Dutt’s life has been colorful. Born to famous actors, he’s never been out of the limelight. He’s made grievous mistakes, and been judged by the media and the courts on them. One assumes that coming from director Raj Kumar Hirani, who has been Sanjay’s director in blockbusters like Munnabhai MBBS, the film will cast a sympathetic glow on Dutt’s life. And it does. It also divvies up the blame. Some of it goes to his parenting, some to his friends, some to the media. It seems like everyone else is to blame for the messes that Sanju baba got himself into, but Sanju himself – character and self-control be damned.

The film does own up to some of his faults – the womanizing, the casual disregard for relationships, his apathetic nature, but paints him as an open-hearted, insecure, naive human being who wanted to do nothing but live his own life the way he saw fit. It takes a forgiving look at the man, portraying every wrong turn as a misfortune, over which the poor little rich boy had no control; he meant no harm whatever he did – the druggie phase, the consorting with hoodlums, and his connections with the Bombay blast. In the film, the people around him support him and the ones that don’t quickly fall into place, soon convinced of his golden heart.

Ranbir is marvelous; he becomes Sanjay Dutt. A close second to that performance is Vicky Kaushal (he’s having a good year; we just saw him in Raazi) who plays Sanju’s steadfast friend Kamlesh Kapasi. Manisha Koirala is passable as Nargis, but I found Paresh Rawal a poor choice as Sunil Dutt. Every time he spoke, I heard Rawal not Dutt. Sonam Kapoor plays Ruby, a Parsi girlfriend (Tina Munim? Although Munim is Gujarati) and is you know, all right – I haven’t been too impressed with her since Veere di Wedding. Diya Mirza as Sanjay’s third wife Manyata does well. Anushka Sharma as biographer Winnie Diaz sports blue eyes, an awkward looking curly-haired wig, and an accent. I was nonplussed.

Sanju is a Hirani film. It tells a colorful story without worrying too much about finesse or sheen. It bathes its hero in a golden light, offering up redemption, and the love of the masses. This is still a decently watchable film even if you are not a true-blue Sanju fan, if you are prepared for the fact that this is a tame homage to the real-life persona, and leaves out far too many uncomplimentary details.

Kidwise: Scenes with drug ingestion.

Posted in 2018, bio-pic, bollywood, directors, drama, rating-PG15, real-life-based | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Gold (releases 15th August, 2018)

Posted on June 23, 2018 by amodini

Based on India’s historic hockey win in the 1948 Summer Olympics, Gold stars Akshay Kumar as hockey player Balbir Singh. Gold is helmed by director Reema Kagti, who has also directed Talash and “Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd”.

Posted in 2018, bio-pic, bollywood, directors, drama, historical, New Films, Previews, real-life-based, sports | Comments Off

Movie Preview : Sanju (releases 29th June, 2018)

Posted on June 9, 2018 by amodini

A biopic on actor Sanjay Dutt’s life, this stars Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Vicky Kaushal (whom we just recently saw in Raazi) among others – the star cast is large.

Sanju is directed by Raj Kumar Hirani.