O Teri

Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Bilal Amrohi, Sarah-Jane Dias, Mandira Bedi, Vijay Raaz, Anupam Kher, Sara Loren (Special Appearance in a Song), Salman Khan (Special Appearance in a Song), Lulia Vantur (Cameo)

Genre: Comedy

Direction: Umesh Bisht

Production: Atul Agnihotri

Written by: Umesh Bisht, Neeti Palta 

Cinematographer: Ganesh Rajavelu

Edited by: Devendra Murdeshwar

Music: GJ Singh 

Singers: Jaspreet Jasz, Roshni Baptist (Butt Patlo), GJ Singh, Jaspreet Jasz (Akhan Vich), Mika Singh, Lunia Vantur (Ummbakkum), Manish J Tipu (Phollo karta)

Studio: Reel Life Productions

Release Date: 28^th March, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 1 hour 47 minutes

The Plot:

O Teri is a meaningless comedy film inspired from the yesteryear movie Jaane bhi Do Yaaron. The movie opens with Prantabh Pratab aka P.P. (Pulkit Samrat) and Anand Ishwaram Devdutt Subramanium aka AIDS (Bilal Amrohi) partying in a nightclub.

Both P.P. and AIDS are investigative reporters. They report to a female television anchor Monsoon (Sarah-Jane Dias) who consistently humiliates them and make them chase various scandals or scams so that they can boost their channel / programme’s TRP. Her funda is, "Logo ko scandal chahiye, scam chahiye...rape, dakaiti. Ye sab kuch ho to lao warna shaqal mat dikhana. (The public wants scandals and scams. If you have something sensational like stories on rape or dacoity, bring it to me, else do not show me your faces)".

These reporters end up doing one blunder after another. They find themselves caught up in a mess with a slain CBI officer’s dead body being dumped into their vehicle. The situation gets worse further (absolutely in an unwitting manner) with them trapped amongst the vested interests of the corrupt politicians, greedy industrialists, corporate lobbyists, puppet bureaucrats, unethical female editor and fraudulent media houses and the dead body’s appearance / disappearance act. O Teri takes a dig at real incidents / scams/ scandals through various characters : The commonwealth games scam, nexus  between journalists, PR professionals’ lobbying, sex scandal etc.

Official Trailer:

Direction & Written by:

The director Umesh Bisht fails to deal with the concept. He along with Neeti Palta has written the same. The approach is very very distasteful.

Cast and their Performance:

Pulkit Samrat as P.P. has done justice as a stupid reporter. Bilal Amrohi as AIDS disappoints.

Sara-Jain Dias as Monsoon is just fine.

Vijay Raaz as opposition politician Bhanwar Lal Kilol, otherwise a great actor, is lost in this movie.

Anupam Kher as Games organizing committee chief, and Mandira Bedi have nothing much to do.

Music:

Music is very average. Songs are absolutely misfit. Lyrics are awful.

Moments to watch out for:

None.

Thumbs up:

A dialogue by P.P. to AIDS: "Jab chhote log chori karte hain to wo chori hoti hai. Magar jab bade log chori karte hain to wo scam kehlata hai."

Thumbs down:

Difficult to sit through the movie.

One Liner:

O Teri, what a movie!!!

Rating:0.5 / 5 (Poor)

Dishkiyaoon

Cast: Harmaan Baweja, Sunny Deol, Ayesha Khanna, Aditya Pancholi, Prashant Narayanan, Anand Tiwari, Sumit Nijhawan, Hasan Zaidi, Rajit Kapoor, Harsh Chaaya

Genre: Action, Crime

Direction: Sanamjit Singh Talwar

Production: Shilpa Shetty, Sunil Lulla

Cinematographer: Axel Fischer

Music: Palash Muchhal, Amar Mohile (Background Music) 

Singers: Palash Muchhal, Arijit Singh, Kunal Ganjwala, Gayathri Ganjwala, Mika Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Vishal Dadlani, Sneha Kanwalkar

Studio: Essential Sports & Media

Distributed by : Eros International

Release Date: 28^th March, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 09 minutes

The Plot:

Dishkiyaoon is another crime / action film based upon the Mumbai Underworld. It is the story of a Mumbai-based gangster who wants to achieve the top-notch position. The film begins with the narration of Viki Kartoos (Harman Baweja) to Lakwa (Sunny Deol) in regard to the events that landed him in the jail. Viki always wanted to be a gangster from the very childhood itself. He continued his studies, simultaneously pursuing gangster-giri under the wings of Mota Tony (Prashant Narayanan), a local crook. Viki falls in love with Meera (Ayesha Khanna). Further, the plot unfolds to project how Viki pursues his journey to grab the top position. He rubs his shoulders with Inspector Khan (Aditya Pancholi) and other people as well.

Official Trailer:

Direction:

The debutant director Sanamjit Singh Talwar fails to impress through Dishkiyaoon. There are so many glaring loopholes.

Cast and their Performance:

Harman Baweja’s performance as Viki Kartoos is noticeable though it turns out to be weak due to poor storyline.

Felt sad to see Sunny Deol as Lakwa. He has been given weird hairdo, accent. What a waste of a talent who has given Sohny Mahiwal, Gadar, Hero – the Spy, Damini etc. to Bollywood.

Ayesha Khanna as Meera is alright.

Prashant Narayanan as Mota Tony is a relief in the movie, although, he has been given dialogues with double meaning at times. Certain frames where Prashant and Harman are there together is ok.

Sumit Nijhawan as Iqbal Khaleefa and Anand Tiwari as Rocky have given good performance.

Other Cast viz. Aditya Pancholi, Hasan Zaidi, Harsh Chaaya, Rajit Kapoor are not utilized optimally.

Shilpa Shetty looks hot in the item number.

Music:

Music is average. But what needs to be appreciated is that 18 year old Palash Mucchal has composed four songs in this movie. The song Tu hi Hai Ashiqui sung by Palash Mucchal and Arijit Singh is good.

Moments to watch out for:

None.

Thumbs up:

Harmaan Baweja, Prashant Narayanan

Thumbs down:

Weak story-line.

One Liner:

Dishkiyaaon to Dishkiyaaon !!!

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

Onnum Mindaathay Malayalam Movie Review

"All that begins well ends well". The new movie from Sugeeth has been plotted with this simple principle. Onnum Mindaathay is an outdated and clichéd family drama that has been told many times years back though the story still has relevance in modern family life. The plot lacks any sort of freshness on screen and what viewers get after watching the film is not a pleasant one. The film is an inspired modern version of Aalolam that was released in the early 1980's and quite rightly the makers have added the credits at the beginning.

A passable first half is spoilt by a weak and uninspiring post intermission session that is stretched unnecessarily.

The story goes like, Sachidanandan an agricultural officer (Jayaram), Shyama (Meera Jasmine) and their daughter are the main characters here leading a happy family life. Enter Joy ( Manoj K Jayan) an NRI who is Sachi's childhood friend. Certain incidents from here on affect Sachi's family life and rest of the plot focus on how they overcome the hurdle or hardship they are presently in and how the balance in their life is restored.

The film will have some takers especially the family audiences and being vacation time, the makers would be hoping to cash in on this.

Direction is ok and Sugeeth just like his first film Ordinary has exploited the locales to make the frames look beautiful and for that he has been helped immensely by Faizal Ali, the camera man.

Jayaram is in a comfort zone here and the character of Sachidanandan is not at all challenging for him as majority of the roles he has portrayed in his entire career has shades of those character here. For Meera Jasmine, this is a sort of come back after her disastrous outing in Ladies and Gentlemen and for me she was very much convincing.

Manoj K Jayan as Joy was fine and he entertained with his humorous act. Lalu Alex was the other supporting actor who played his part reasonably well. Dharmajan in the comic side was good in the brief role he had while Chinnu Kuruvilla played a cameo as a colleague of Sachi.

Songs and background score impressed and "Onnum Mindaathay" song was the pick among the lot.

On the whole, this is a below average fare that lacks a fresh wave and if you don't mind that and want to watch just an ordinary family drama, go for Onnum Mindaathay. My rating is 2.25 / 5.

AUTHOR DETAILS :
I am Chandra Mohan, a passionate movie buff. Connect with me through my review page
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Noah Movie Review

Controversies notwithstanding, Noah the new movie starring Russel Crowe in the lead is a visually appealing and engaging movie by director Darren Aronofsky. It’s the visual effects, performances and direction that take the film to another level.

The film is adapted from the Old Testament tale from Bible but the stage is set in post-apocalyptic period (1000 years from now).

The Creator (Read God) decides to cleanse the world by wiping out the entire humans from Earth but wants to protect the innocent ones (animals). Noah is the chosen one for this task and the film portray Noah's effort in building an arc with the help of the Watchers (Giant Rock like creatures) protect the animals and his own family.

The conflicts and challenges he faces in this task is beautifully captured on screen, thanks to excellent use of visual effects as well as a properly written script without any loose ends.

The film begins from Noah's childhood and gradually time passes by and each stage of his life has been written well to make the film a memorable one. To back up the film's technical side, there are solid performances from majority of the actors and it helped to make the film a well-made one.

There are certain brilliantly captured scenes like the one where we are shown the creation of the Universe which is something like a full-fledged documentary and a learning experience for all of us. Also impressive was the apocalyptic flood that transform into sea that ultimately destroy the world.

On the acting side, I would say Russell Crowe as Noah impressed more than anyone else well supported by Jennifer Connelly who portrayed the character of Noah's better half. Another notable performance came from Anthony Hopkins who portrayed the role of Noah's father. He was as usual brilliant but I would have loved to see him more on screen. Emma Watson and Ray Winstone also scored well in the acting department.

The technical side is really impressive with good background score and camera work along with superb use of VFX.

On the whole, it was a delightful movie watching experience for me though the film is a bit lengthier running to two hours and twenty minutes. I am sure you would also love it and my rating is three and a half out of five.

AUTHOR DETAILS :
I am Chandra Mohan, a passionate movie buff. Connect with me through my review page
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Youngistaan

Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma, Farooq Sheikh, Kayoze Irani, Mita Vashishth, Boman Irani (Guest Appearance)

Genre: Romance, Drama (Political)

Direction: Syed Ahmad Afzal

Production:Vashu Bhagnani

Banner: Pooja Entertainment India Limited, Multi Screen Media Motion Pictures

Story: Syed Ahmad Afzal, Ramiz Ilham Khan, Maitrey Bajpai

Dialogue: Syed Ahmad Afzal, Ramiz Ilham Khan, Maitrey Bajpai

Screenplay: Syed Ahmad Afzal, Ramiz Ilham Khan, Maitrey Bajpai

Cinematographer: Amalendu Chaudhary

Editor: Anuradha Singh

Music / Lyrics / Singers:

• Daata Di Diwani : Shiraz Uppal / Shakeel Sohail / Rafaqat Ali Khan, Shiraz Uppal
• Mere Khuda : Shiraz Uppal / Shakeel Sohail / Shiraz Uppal
• Suno Na Sangemarmar: Jeet Ganguli / Kausar Munir / Arijit Singh
• Tanki Hai Hum: Sneha Khanwalkar / Afzal Ahmed Syed, Jackky Bhagnani /  Apeksha Dandekar, Bhavin Dhanak, Hard Kaur, Mika Singh, Sneha Khanwalkar
• Youngistaan Anthem : Sung by Shree D, Ishq Bector

Release Date: 28^th March, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 14 minutes

The Plot:

Youngistaan is a romantic movie set up in the backdrop of political scenario. It is a very light movie and indeed different from the usual ones. No melodrama neither when the romance is handled nor when politics is handled.

Abhimanyu Kaul (Jackky Bhagnani) is happily settled in Japan Professionally (in a high flying job) and also personally (in a live-in relationship with Anwita Chauhan essayed by Neha Sharma). Everything is going great and that is when he learns about his father Dashrath Kaul’s (Boman Irani) ill-health who is the Prime minister of India. On father’s demise, Abhimanyu is propelled into the nation’s highest political seat i.e. of Prime Minister. Dashrath Kaul before dying leaves him in the trusted care of his PA and Advisor, Akbar (Farooque Sheikh).

The movie is the journey of a young man who has strayed into politics as the acting Prime Minister until the next election, which is six months away. He tries to handle the not so popular ruling party (of his father), the Akhil Bharatiya Kranti Party (ABKP) and its seasoned party members, at times tactfully, and at times in a shrewd manner. He does take efforts to balance his professional and personal life.

The flip side of the movie is that it neither showcases hardcore politics nor romance. We have a young Prime Minister who is unconventional in his thoughts, who feels, it is absolutely alright not to follow typical neta type dress-code or even to have a live-in girl friend carrying his child.

But I feel that, Lok Sabha election being around the corner, the timing was absolutely perfect to launch Youngistaan. But somewhere the effort has fizzled since no current issues are highlighted, no specific change is suggested and no specific message is mentioned. 

Official Trailer:

Direction, Story, Dialogue and Screenplay:

The Director, Syed Ahmad Afzal, has taken a different approach to project this film on political drama cum romance. He has tried to convey the message very very lightly without emphasizing on serious things. Probably he did not want to make a hard core political or romantic movie.

Story, Dialogue and Screenplay by Syed Ahmad Afzal, Ramiz Ilham Khan, Maitrey Bajpai are simple without much of melodrama. Even the speech at UN assembly by Abhimayu is written at a very ground level.

Personally, I liked one dialogue of Abhimayu: When the person whom you love is angry with you, don’t question him/ her, just go and hug him / her. That person simply needs you.

Cast and their Performance:

Jackky Bhagnani as Abhimanyu Kaul comes across a very lovable personality who is very presentable on screen. He is cool, composed even in midst of uncertainties, romours, oppositions, criticisms. His temperance is appreciable.

Neha Sharma as Anwita Chauhan doesn’t have much role apart from playing a girl-friend of acting Prime-minister, who suddenly finds herself in house arrest due to security issues. One can not deny that she has done justice to her role who is possessive, freedom loving, and at times immature and overbearing.

Boman Irani as Dashrath Kaul , father of Abhimanyu, has a guest appearance only, but his presence is felt throughout the movie.

Kayoze Irani as Zafar, Abhimayu’s friend and Mita Vashishth, Abhimanyu’ office personnel are good.

But I want to make a special mention of Akbar, Abhimanyu’s PA and Advisor, essayed by Farooq Sheikh. I adored every frame in which he was there. Loved his expressions and the way he dealt with Abhimanyu and his relationship with Anwita. Super cool. I am going to miss him on screen since this was his last movie.

Music:

Music is ok. Arijit crooning Suno na Sangemarmar (music by Jeet Ganguli and lyrics by Kausar Munir) is very good, and it is ranking high in the chartbusters. Youngistaan anthem (sung by Shree D, Ishq Bector) is good with its meaningful lyrics.

Moments to watch out for:

Farooq Sheikh on screen (unfortunately for the last time). Implementation of e-voting. Youngsters shouldering the responsibility to choose the leaders.

Thumbs up:      

The very thought behind making the movie : Be the change, if you want change. A very light movie without political bloodshed.

Thumbs down:

The film fails to focus on either of the theme – Romance and Politics. Script and the idea is good, but less clarity as far as the screenplay is concerned. Abhimanyu’s victory is not justified : what exactly he achieved during his tenure as Acting Prime Minister, which prompted the country to choose him ? His personal life and its issues were more in focus rather than the Election & winning strategies, Country’s issues etc. The story does not develop at all till interval.

One-Liner:

Youngistaan is not the 'Voice of Change', but definitely an initiation towards the same.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)