Review: Happy Ending

Cast: Saif Ali Khan (Yudi and Yogi), Ranvir Shorey (Montu), Armaan (Govinda), Ilean D’Cruz (Aanchal), Kalki Koechlin (Vishakha), Preity Zinta (Divya)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Direction: Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK

Production: Saif Ali Khan, Dinesh Vijan, Sunil Lulla; Production Company: Illuminati Films

Music: Sachin-Jigar

Distribution: Eros International

Release Date: 21^st November, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 16 minutes

Happy Ending, is a Rom-Com film by Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK. Deals with the story of individuals wanting to have fun of romance, but having commitment phobia. This plot has been experimented many times in the past, some have worked and some have not worked. And this movie Happy Ending lacks romance as well as comedy. It has comedy in bits and pieces, whereas romance as such is not at all felt throughout the movie.

Yudi (Saif Ali Khan) is a one-time wonder writer of a book. After writing the book, 5 ½ years have gone by and he had 8 ½ girlfriends also. He is living off royalties. He believes in enjoying life with fame, money and girls. He breaks off with the girls when they start proposing (The very first scene has Kareena proposing Saif, followed by his walking out of the relationship). Montu (Ranvir Shorey), Yudi’s friend loves to party with him, but he has to actually seek permission from his wife for the same. And there is Yudi’s alter ego synonym Yogi (Saif Ali Khan) who keeps questioning Yudi’s every action, throws words of wisdom. Vishakha (Kalki Koechlin), is madly in love with Yudi. She puts a Tracker app on his mobile so as to track his whereabouts. Yudi feels suffocated in her love and keeps avoiding her.

Yudi’s king-size life gets a blow when his vehicle is towed away by the publisher, and his contract has been given to Aanchal Reddy (Ileana D’Cruz).

Yudi is helped by his publisher friend to write a story for a film with Armaan (Govinda) in the lead. Armaan explains to Yudi that he wants a ‘Kick-Ass’ script for his movie. Armaan wants a Romedy which can become a blockbuster all over the world.

Yudi tries to flirt with Aanchal and learns that she is also commitment-phobic (who actually churns out romantic best sellers but does not believe in the concept of love). Rest of the movie revolves around, how Yudi and Aanchal approach their relationship. They also spend time together to write stories. What is it that brings Aanchal and Yudi closer (probably nothing)? What happens when two commitment-phobic people get together in life? Is there any Happy Ending in their relationship?

Happy Ending movie lacks the passion. First half is dreadfully boring. Saif Ali Khan lacked the charm he had in Love Aaj Kal, Hum-Tum. Ileana definitely looks very pretty on screen, but that is it about her performance. Kalki has done justice to her obsessive character. Divya (Preity Zinta), Yudi’s ex-girl friend has nothing much to do. Govinda gives some laughter moments with his cosmetic surgery and six pack abs scene. Ranvir is absolutely wasted. Music is not at all impressive. Movie has been mostly shot at Los Angles, San Francisco

Happy Ending lacks the punch of Happiness and Passion. Doesn’t have the depth.

Rating: 2/5 (Average)

Preview of Bollywood Movies releasing on 21st November, 2014

Gollu aur Pappu, Happy Ending and Titoo MBA 

Gollu aur Pappu : It is a comedy film by Kabir Sadanand. Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Dimple Kapadia star in this movie.

Happy Ending : It is a Romcom directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Saif Ali Khan, Ileana D’Cruz, Kalki are part of the starcast.

Titoo MBA : This movie is directed by Amit Vats. Nishant Dahiya, Pragya Jaiswal play lead roles. 

Review : Ormayundo Ee Mukham (ഓർമ്മയുണ്ടോ ഈ മുഖം)

Cast: Vineeth Sreenivasan (Gautam), Namitha Pramod (Nithya), Aju Varghese (Apoorva), Mukesh (Doctor), Soumya Sadanandan (Neetu), Rohini (Vasundhara), Lakshmi (Grandmother), Idavela Babu, Raveendran, Bhagat Manuel

Genre: Romance

Direction: Anvar Sadik

Production: Jaison Elamgulam

Screenplay: Anvar Sadik

Story : Anvar Sadik

Cinematographer: Jithu Damodar

Music : Shaan Rahman

Production Company: RJ Creations and Blue Planet International London

Release Date: 14^th November, 2014

Language: Malayalam

Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

Ormayundo Ee Mukham (ഓർമ്മയുണ്ടോ ഈ മുഖം), is a very sweet romantic movie by Anvar Sadik. The story has been conveyed in a very simple and unexaggerated manner. One of the lead protagonist Nitya’s name and her profession of being a Sand-Artist is thoughtfully chosen. Nitya in Sanskrit means ‘eternal’. Can love be eternal? Can love be painted beautifully in the canvas of heart for ever or it is going to be one of the image drawn on the sand which can be erased completely? Anvar has melodiously told us this soft love story.

The film begins with a sand-art by Nitya followed by her accident. The aftereffect of the accident is that Nitya’s memory retention turns out to be for short-term of 24 hours. Nitya develops her own techniques to handle this memory loss.

Gautam (Vineeth Sreenivasan, MBA from UK) is supporting his businesswoman mother Vasundhara (Rohini), but is quiet absent-minded as well. His grandmother (Lakshmi) and sister also stay with him. Grandmother is absolutely modern in her thoughts and appearance, who still believes in the whole concept of love, and soul mates. Vasundhara is keen to get Gautam married to her niece but Gautam is not at all interested.

Nitya (Namitha Pramod) enters into Gautam’s life like a cool breeze. Their meeting was incidental. Both Nitya and Gautam could feel lot of comfort and enjoy each other’s company during their so called ‘first date’ but Alas! Nitya forgets every bit of those wonderful moments the next day. Gautam is determined and confident that he would be able to inscribe his face in her heart one-day. Nitya’s sister (Soumya Sadanandan) and Gautam’s friend / colleague Apoorva (Aju Varghese) also try to help Gautam in winning over Nitya’s friendship / love.

Rest of the movie projects how Gautam tries to win over Nitya first as a friend and then as his soul mate? How challenging their journey was? How Guatam tries to convince his mother about his love?

Star cast is so appropriate as per the roles. Vineeth has once again given a very good performance. He is so natural, spontaneous. Namitha is also good and brings lot of energy to the character. Rest of the cast viz. Rohini, Mukesh, Lakshmi, Soumya Sadanandan are all good. A special mention in regard to Aju Varghese and his  comical angle to the plot.

Philosophy of happy life is also discussed in the movie: to retain every good moment in the hard disk of heart/mind and leave / erase the negativities behind and start afresh every day.

Ormyundo Ee Mukham (ഓർമ്മയുണ്ടോ ഈ മുഖം), is a soft musical romantic movie which is going to leave a positive and happy impact on your heart.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (Good +)

Review: Kill/Dil

Kill / Dil, a film by Shaad Ali for the banner of Yash Raj Films, although a clean movie with good star cast, doesn’t say a story good enough. Most of the movie is shot at Delhi/NCR location. In Gulzar’s poetry rendition, the story goes like this:

Tar-cola ki ek sadak par do saaye hain

Andhere ki nazayaz aulaad hain shayad

Ghoonth ghoonth khoon peekar dono pale hain shayad

Paaon tale zameen hai, na sar pe aasman hai

Zindagi kuchal gayi, ye unki daastan hai

The movie is about two shooters Dev (Ranveer Singh), and Tutu (Ali Zafar) who were picked up from the garbage when they were infants by Bhaiyaji (Govinda), a local gangster. As children, Dev and Tutu never got to hear ‘Lori’ but the gun shots. Both grow up to become Bhaiyaji’s henchmen who follow his every instruction blindly. Then enters into the scene Disha (Parineeti Chopra). She dropped out of MBBS to be a social worker who rehabilitated criminals. The movie moves further in the predictable format. Dev falls in love with Disha. Dev, Tutu hangout with Disha and friends (most of the hangout moments are with songs).

The trouble begins, when Dev wants to mend his ways since his dil does not want to kill any more. He has to make choice between two – Dil and Kill. What does Dev opt for? How does Bhaiyaji respond when he come to know in regard to Dev’s love for Disha? Whom does Tutu support – Dev’s love or Bhaiyaji’s orders? How does Disha get to know regarding Dev’s job? How the story moves towards its climax?

Govinda as an antagonist is good but the script could have been stronger for his character. Ranveer generally puts lot of energy into the characters he plays, but unfortunately, this character of Dev did not require the same. Still, certain scenes, where 5^th class fail Dev rushes to a college (Galgotia in Greater Noida) to enquire the meaning of LOL and other acronyms do generate laughter. Ali Zafar has maintained a very blank face in the movie whereas he generally is very expressive. Parineeti is absolutely wasted in this movie.

Gulzar’s versification is good and meaningful.

Kill/Dil is a regular predictable flick, not exciting enough.

Rating: 2.5/5 (Average +)

Preview : Bollywood Movies releasing on 14th November, 2014

Preview of 

Kill Dil, 6-5 = 2 and Garam Hawa

Kill Dil : It is a Romantic action film directed by Shaad Ali and produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films Banner. Starcast has Govinda, Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra.

6-5=2 : It is a Horror movie, remake of Kannada movie by the same name. Starring Niharica Raizada, Prashant Gupta, Ashrut Jain, Gaurav Paswalia, Gaurav Kothari, Disha Kapoor. This movie tells the story of six friends who went for trekking during which they encounter bizzare incidents.

Garam Hawa : After a period of four decades, this movie released earlierin 1974, has been restored and hitting the screens again across the country. This is hailed as one of the finest feature films on the travails of Partition by M.S. Sathyu. Balraj Sahni,Farooq Shaikh, Dinanath Zutsi, Badar Begum, Geeta Siddharth, Shaukat Kaifi, AK Hangal are part of the starcast.  

Review: Iyobinte Pusthakam (Malayalam Movie)

Cast: Fahadh Faasil (Aloshi), Lal (Iyob), Isha Sharvani (Martha), Jayasurya (Angoor Ravuthar), Padmapriya (Rahel), Reenu Mathews (Annamma), Lena (Kazhali), Chemban Vinod Jose (Dimitri), Jinu Joseph (Ivan), TG Ravi (Comrade), Sreejith Ravi (the young Comrade), Amith Chackalakal (Nizam Ravuthar), Ahebin Benson, Saritha Kuku, Nebish Benson, Sal Yusuf (Harrison), Rita Mathen (Harrison’s British wife), Aashiq Abu (Antony), Amala Paul (Guest Appearance)  

Genre: Period Drama, Thriller

Direction: Amal Neerad

Production: Amal Neerad, Fahad Faasil

Story By: Gopan Chidambaram

Screenplay by: Gopan Chidambaram, Syam Pushkaran

Edited by: Praveen Prabhakar

Cinematographer: Amal Neerad

Music: Neha S Nair, Yakzan Gary Pereira

Distributed by: A & A Release

Release Date: 7^th November, 2014

Language: Malayalam

Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes

Iyobinte Pusthakam, a masterpiece Malayalam movie by Amal Neerad with great star cast and their stellar performances. It is a very intense movie, handled with great maturity. The narration is by Comrade (TG Ravi) in the year 1976 about the events which spanned across a few decades in the pre-independence period, which he had witnessed during his younger days (Sreejith Ravi). Slavery, rivalry, hatred, vengeance, shrewdness, murders, love, comradeship etc. all are projected so beautifully.

The opening scene of the movie is with a few people standing still, looking up. On being asked, the response is that they are making a movie. But the narrator says, why to look up for making a movie, just to look at life to get a story for the movie and that is how, Comrade starts narrating the intriguing story of Iyob, a slave turned master, and his three sons. A quote from Bible is worth mention here which sets the whole preamble of the movie: “It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right. (Job 32: )”.

The year is 1906. Set in the backdrop of the picturesque Munnar, Harrison (Sal Yusuf, a British Planter) makes inroads to Munnar with his wife (Rita Mathen). As used to be the practice, he forces the poor people to work for him. That is where, Harrison meets  a young slave who was beaten up by Harrisson’s supervisor Thacho. Harrison encourages the young slave to give it back. Slowly Harrison earns the trust of that young slave and  rechristens him as Iyob (Lal) and makes him one of the most obeying servant. Harrison after a few years gets Iyob married off to Annamma (Reeni Mathews). Iyob and Annamma becomes parents to three kids [who grow up to be Dimitri (Chemban Vinod Jose), Ivan (Jinu Joseph) and Aloshi (Faahad Faasil)]. Rita, being fed up of life at Munnar, leaves Harrison and goes back to London. During that period, Kazhali (Lena), a nomadic, comes to the Munnar from Nilgiris and the distraught Harrisson is enamoured by this dusky beauty. Harrison makes Kazhali her mistress. When Harrisson dies of sudden cardiac arrest at Kochi, pregnant Kazhali is ousted by Iyob, and Iyob transforms himself into a master from a slave, as atrocious as Britishers. Though Kazhali cursed Iyob and his children while thrown out of the house, she continued her friendship with Annamma. Her daughter Martha and Aloshi also developed a great bond.   

The biggest blow to Iyob comes in the form of Annamma’s death. Aloshy flees to Kochi without letting anybody know when he witnessed a cruel act by his two elder brothers. Aloshy later on joins British Royale Navy and later after many years when he comes back to village to take Martha along with him, he gets astonished to find that his brothers and father have not mended their ways, rather have become more cruel. Murky currents of hatred have only grown stronger. Dimitri, a womanizer and is an abusive husband to Rahel (Padmapriya). Ivan is brutal. Martha and Kazhali were outcasts, since the villagers believed that they practiced black magic.

Aloshy seldom smiles, the only moment we see him smiling is during song sequence with Martha or at the mention of Martha. His ideologies are essentially based on humanistic values, and he never thinks twice before disowning his father and brothers for what he believes to be right. Aloshy believes that in a land ruled by anarchy, attack is the best defence.

Angoor Ravuthar (Jayasurya), a timber merchant, enters into the scene, who doesn’t get the permission from Iyob to get the timber from Munnar. This rivalry costs Iyob a lot.

Character of the veteran Communist Leader and member of the first State Legislative Assembly Rosamma Punnose and her comrades are also shown in the movie who play pivotal roles. History says that it was Ms. Punnose who laid a firm foundation for the plantation workers’ trade union movement.

How does the story unfold thereafter? How does Aloshi move further? How does he handle his ruthless brothers? Is he able to take Martha along? What happens to Iyob and his other two sons? Is Angoor able to fulfill his intentions? Does Rahel play just as a victim to her abusive and impotent husband or her role has other shades as well? The movie has the right mix of history and fiction to reveal the story.

What terrific performances from Fahaad, Lal, Jayasurya, Chemban Vinod Jose, Jinu Jospeh.  Vinayakan as Chemban (Aloshi’s friend) has also given a superb performance. Rather the entire cast has given outstanding performances.

No exaggerated dialogues are exchanged between the characters. So thoughtfully written and directed. Various emotions anguish, hatred, fear, vengeance etc. are all projected through non-verbal expressions, worth mentioning. Even the love angle between Aloshi and Martha is played in such a subtle manner. The item number by Amala Paul is well shot but seemed out of place.

The movie finishes with a beautiful dialogue: People like Aloshy who have travelled all around the world and tolerant in nature will change the world one day.

Iyobinte Pusthakam is a masterpiece with perfect amalgamation of Direction, Story, Screenplay, Star Cast, Performances and Visuals.

Rating: 4.5 /5

Review: The Shaukeens

Cast: Akshay Kumar (Akshay), Anupam Kher (Lali), Annu Kappor (KD), Piyush Mishra (Pinky), Lisa Haydon (Ahaana), Rati Agnihotri (Mrs. Lalwani), Abhishek / Kareena / Dimple Kapadia in special appearances

Genre: Comedy

Direction: Abhishek Sharma

Production: Ashwin Varde, Murad Khetani, Akshay Kumar, Trilogic Digital Media Limited, Cape of Good Films (Production company)

Written By: Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sai Kabir

Screenplay by: Tigmanshu Dhulia

Edited by: Rameshwar S Bhagat

Cinematographer: Chaudhary Amalendu

Music: Yo Yo Honey Singh, Hard Kaur, Vikram Nagi, Arko Mukherjee

Release Date: 7^th November, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 05 minutes

The Shaukeens, a tragedy in the name of a comedy movie – poor theme, poor storytelling, poor sense of humour and hugely talented actors just getting wasted. What Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra are doing in such a movie, sheer wastage of talent. A remake of 1982 movie by the same name, and this 2014 version is directed by Abhishek Sharma.

The story is about three men in their sixties: One of them a bachelor KD (Annu Kapoor), another one Pinky, a widower (Piyush Mishra) and the third one Lali (Anupam Kher) having a spiritually-oriented wife (Rati Agnihotri). All three of them are lecherous in nature and have only lust in mind. They decide to go to Mauritius and have some fun in life. There they land up in Ahaana’s (Lisa Haydon) house. All three of them try to floor Ahaana in their own manner when they learn that Ahaana is a die-hard fan of Akshay Kumar and she would do ‘anything’ for the person who makes her meet Akshay Kumar. Akshay is playing himself and shooting in Mauritius. All three of them in their own peculiar manner get Ahaana meet Akshay hoping that she would return the favour. Akshay takes a dig at his own self through various dialogues in the movie.

Is there a story at all in this movie to be reviewed? Can the bachelorhood / widower status of someone be made fun of?  Is the longingness to have a partner in life, desiring to have a company of someone special wrong? Absolutely not, then why the whole set of feelings need to be addressed through ‘lust’? Does the genre of comedy require lot of dialogues with double meaning cues? How to tolerate terrible actions from veterans of the industry?

The Shaukeens is definitely not for Movie-Shaukeens.

Rating: 0.5 /5

Review: Varsham (വർഷം)

Cast: Mammootty (Venugopal), Asha Sarath (Nandini), Mamta Mohandas (Jayashree), TG Ravi (Peter), Govind Padmasoorya

Genre: Family Drama

Direction: Ranjith Shankar

Production: Mammootty, Ranjith Shankar

Written By: Ranjith Shankar

Edited by: Sagar Das

Screenplay by: Sanjeev Dutta

Cinematographer: Manoj Pillai

Music: Bijibal

Distributed by: Play House Release, Dreams and Beyond

Release Date: 6^th November, 2014

Language: Malayalam

Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

Varsham (വർഷം), a Malayalam film by Renjith Shankar, is a wonderful movie with Mammootty and Asha Sarath in the lead roles. It is a very clean movie with the story of parents who faced a big tragedy in their lives.  This movie has projected the whole concept of resilience so beautifully. I remembered the saying: “Experience is not what happens to you, but experience is what you do with what happens to you”. Turbulence may happen in life. It would be challenging to handle the turbulences in life. All of us have two options / choices to handle the turbulence: either to sulk thinking about the situations in life and curse the fate or to take the responsibility to change the situations. And it is also important not to lose the passion to live, keep the very purpose of life intact.

The movie begins with an interview by Manorama News Channel with one of the nominee as Newsmaker of the year- Mr. Venugopal (Mammootty). The story unfolds in flash back. Venugopal is a shrewd businessman who is into private money-lending business “Anand Finance” and also a doting father to Anand and husband to Nandini (Asha Sarath). Anand is his life. Both the parents have their own sets of expectations from Anand as far as studies and extracurricular activities are concerned and Anand tries to pursue music, karate, swimming etc. Nandini is envious of neighbours’ children achievements and ends up putting that pressure also on Anand.

Venugopal and Nandini get the biggest blow of their lives due to a tragedy. And then the story revolves around what they do with what happens to them. When they both lost the very focus of their lives, how they grow beyond the turbulent situations and try to help themselves to come out of the situation, find a new purpose of life. But when one tries to adapt to the tragic situations, the world may find and throw newer challenges.  

A few of the scenes are real tear-jerkers in the movie. The movie tells the story in absolutely non-exaggerated manner, whether it is the protective love of parents, their expectations from the kids, the regular fights between couples, sense of competition due to societal pressure, the way of minting money (at times even at the expense of conscience), friends turning foes, ups and downs of life and the resilience of every ordinary human being in an extraordinary manner etc.

The greatest strength of this movie is its cast, their superb performances and also the way story is told. Mammootty, Asha, Mamta Mohandas (as a doctor), TG Ravi all are so good.

Varsham (വർഷം) depicts the very philosophy of life, let whatever may be the situation, if the focus is on defining and redefining the purpose of life, then one would also find the way out and can enjoy the feel of rain drizzling.

Rating: 4 /5

Review : Rang Rasiya

Cast: Randeep Hooda (Raja Ravi Varma), Nandana Sen (Sugandha), Gaurav Dwivedi (Raj Varma), Vipin Sharma (Paachan), Paresh Rawal (Govardhan Das), Jim Boeven (Fritz), Feryna Wazheir (Frenny), Darshan Jariwala, Suhasini Mulay, Sachin Khedekar, Tom Alter, Tripta Parashar, Vikram Gokhale, Rashaana Shah

Genre: Drama, Art-Centric Biopic

Direction: Ketan Mehta

Production: Deepa Sahi, Anand Mahendroo, Ketan Mehta

Written By: Ketan Mehta

Screenplay by: Sanjeev Dutta

Cinematographer: Anil Mehta

Music: Sandesh Shandilya

Release Date: 7th November, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 12 minutes

Rang Rasiya, a film by Ketan Mehta, is based on the novel Raja Ravi Varma by Ranjith Desai, a celebrated Marathi writer. It becomes very challenging for me to review such movies, where real stories are told, or some sort of biopic is made. This movie also may not be devoid of shortcomings, but such movies celebrate the life of someone, and one gets to focus only on the story. It took more than five years to see the release of this movie in India. In Kerala, the release is further postponed.

Rang Rasiya is an art-centric biopic, drama based on the colourful life of Raja Ravi Varma (19^th Century), one of the greatest Indian painter of all time. The story lets us know, how he re-discovered our ancient culture for us.

The movie begins with the auction of Raja Ravi Varma’s painting and then the story moves further in flash back. Ravi Varma showed his artistic capability right from his childhood days. Later, when he grows up (Randeep Hooda), he gets married to a princess and moves to her palace (as part of marumakkathayam system). Being an eccentric painter, he was inspired by the beauty around, even a maid in the palace became his inspiration. He was not born in a Royale family but the ‘Raja’ status was conferred to him by Travancore king who was very pleased with his artworks. He gets to stay in the royal palace and enjoys the colours of life with the girls, but soon is thrown out of the palace on the death of the King  by the successor to the throne.

Raja Ravi Varma moves to Bombay and later on gets a big project from the Maharaja of Baroda Palace. He gets to travel all across the country and then he gets his idea of telling Ramayana, Mahabharata, rather the culture of India through his artwork. His muse was Sugandha (Nanadana Sen). Gods and Goddesses got face through his painting. He joined hands with the German printer Fritz Schleizer (Jim Boeven) and an Indian businessman Govardhan Das (Paresh Raval) to set up a lithographic printing press in Bombay to reproduce his paintings.  His paintings took the icons of Hindu mythology out of the temples and royal palaces and made available to the so-called untouchables, common man. He was getting famous and respected by many people all across the country and on the other side he became the eye of the storm for many religious fundamentalists. Raja Ravi Varma had transformed by then into a highly talented and rebellious artist. He was dragged to the court for hurting the religious sentiments of people, trying to destroy the culture of our country. Story unfolds as part of court hearings.

Rang Rasiya questions that why artists are not given creative freedom. Issues viz. religious prejudices, deeply ingrained caste and class divides are also covered.

The movie also mentions about Raja Ravi Varma’s illustrious protégé, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke who later became the Father of Indian Cinema (Dada Saheb Phalke).

The relationship between the artist and his muse is explored so beautifully and shot so aesthetically. It is amazing to see the artist drawing his inspiration from the beauty around and making it alive through the canvas. Also, it is beautifully depicted, how the muse surrenders herself completely to the man (artist) she falls in love with and even dares to bare herself so that the artist could paint the stories he most cherished and wanted to express. The scene where both the lead protagonists Ravi Varma and Sugandha lay painted in colours of passion is also very well shot.

Though the movie has its own dragging moments, the story unfolds through great cast and their performances beautifully. Randeep and Nandana suit their respective characters so well.

Rang Rasiya indeed has colours of art, passion, love. Watch it for one of the most amazing artist our country has seen – Raja Ravi Varma.

Rating: 3 /5

Preview: The Shaukeens and Rang Rasiya

Two Bollywood movies are releasing on 7^th November, 2014:  

    The Shaukeens and      

Rang Rasiya

The Shaukeens: It is a Comedy film directed by Abhishek Sharma. Annu Kapoor, Piyush Mishra and Anupam Kher are in lead roles along with Lisa Haydon (Queen fame). Akshay Kumar does a cameo. This is a remake of the 1982 film Shaukeen directed by Basu Chatterjee starring Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt, A.K. Hangal, Rati Agnihotri and Mithun Chakraborty.

Rang Rasiya: It is the story of 19^th Century Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma and his muse Sugandha. It is directed by Ketan Mehta and also an adaptation of a Marathi writer Ranjit Desai’s biographical novel Raja Ravi Varma. It stars Randeep Hooda, Nandana Sen and Triptha Parashar in the lead roles. This bilingual in English and Hindi is titled as “Colour of Passion” and “Rang Rasiya” respectively.

Review: Fireflies

Cast: Rahul Khanna (Shiv), Arjun Mathur (Rana), Monica Dogra (Michelle), Shivani Ghai (Sharmila), Aadya Bedi (Maya)

Genre: Drama (family)

Direction: Sabal Singh Shekhawat

Release Date: 31^st October, 2014

Language: Hinglish

Duration: 1 hours 45 minutes

Fireflies, a film by a debutant director Sabal Singh Shekhawat, is an offbeat movie. The concepts of broken relationships, misunderstandings, passion, extra-marital relationships, getting back to past flames, free spirits to live, the philosophies of a life are all projected in this movie. But somewhere, the whole plot gets lost due to very slow tempo, loosely connected sequences, and also due to pitch of the dialogues being lower than that of the background music at times.

The movie begins with the narration of Manda who introduces Shiv (Rahul Khanna) and Rana (Arjun Mathur) as her brothers. The opening scene has all three of them trying to catch and play with fireflies. Shiv and Rana are not in good terms with each other due to a misunderstanding in regard to a critical incident which happened in the past. Shiv is an IIM product and a successful investment banker, whereas Rana, in spite of being a law graduate, does odd jobs viz. that of mechanic or bartender etc. Shiv is married to a wealthy girl Maya (Aadya Bedi), but also gets into secret relationship with his ex-flame Sharmila (Shivani Ghai) when they bumped into each other after a long gap. On the other side Rana gets into a relationship with free-spirited writer Michelle (Monica Dogra) who comes to taste wine while he was in his job as a bartender.

Later, both Shiv and Rana lose their love in different manner. That is when they again come back to their roots. Are they able to sort out the differences? Are they able to forego the past and move on in life? Where is Manda? What happens to Shiv’s marriage?

What was the whole concept of this movie? Was it to explore the estranged brother’s journey to escape from each other in their own manner? Or, it was to project brothers’ different paths. What played fireflies in their lives - Instant gratification, success, wealth, love, passion, lust…? Was the motto all about projecting disintegrated relationships?

A philosophy of life is discussed: If one gets lost, still, he / she must keep walking. The world is round, and one would definitely find his / her way.

Fireflies deserved a treatment which could have given this movie much more clarity, depth and intensity.

Rating: 1.75 /5