Ek Villain

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra  (Guru), Riteish Deshmukh (Rakesh), Shraddha Kapoor (Aisha), Aamna Sharif (Sulochana), Prachi Desai (Special Appearance), Kamaal Rashid Khan, Shaad Randhawa, Remo Fernandes, Asif Basra

Genre: Action, Romance, Thriller

Direction: Mohit Suri

Production: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor (Balaji Motion Pictures)

Music: Ankit Tiwari, Mithoon, Soch (Band)

Cinematography: Vishnu Rao

Editor: Deven Murudeshwar

Distribution: ALT Entertainment

Release Date: 27^thJune, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Ek Villain, directed by Mohit Suri under Balaji Motion Pictures, characterizes people with grey shades. People have good and bad wolves within them, and ultimately, that wolf wins to whom they give more food. Yeah, the movie is about two bad people, both of them are ruthless, heartless, murderers. Both of them have their own stories to be so. One of them gives more food to the good wolf and gets transformed due to love of his life, whereas the other turns into a psychopath killer of females due to constant humiliation by the love of his life and other females who cross his path. The good part of the movie is that, in spite of the violent scenes (probably it was integral to project this theme of the movie), the romance between two lead protagonists tones down the violence in the movie.

Aisha (Shraddha Kapoor) has scrapbook of fancy and strange wish-list. And the day, her one great wish is fulfilled i.e. to see her husband Guru (Sidharth Malhotra) settling down with a job, tragedy strikes her in the form of a brutal villain who murders her by throwing her out of the window. One might wonder that what more Mohit is about to convey, since from the beginning frame itself, one can figure out the whole concept of the movie. Basically, there is no suspense, a very much predictable plot. What is to be seen is the approach taken by Mohit. How the story unfolds after the catastrophe occurs?

Mohit has cleverly blended intricately - parallel past and present tracks, which genuinely raises the curiosity in the audience to understand how actually the events might have unfold. Reverse narration happens: 2 years before at Goa. Guru is shown to be ruthlessly killing a person. He is hot-headed, cold-blooded assassin working for Goan Don Ceaser (Remo Fernandes). Aisha happens to see Guru in the lock up, and immediately scribbles in her scrapbook another wish – to save a life. Aisha starts following Guru, and tries to bring smile into his face through her jokes. Aisha is successful in pulling Guru out of the darkness. Guru’s life changes for the good. And when things start getting into track for both of them, life seems blissful for them, Aisha is murdered.  

Rakesh Mahadkar (Riteish Deshmukh) is very convincing as the antagonist of the movie. What a change from the usual set of ‘comical’ roles which he does. His expressions absolutely suit his stone-hearted character. Riteish’ menacing act sends a shiver down your spine. I remembered Ashutosh Rana of Dushman who was merciless.

We know from the beginning that who killed Aisha, but what happens when Guru’s hands reaches the collar of the murderer? How the confrontation happens? How does Guru take his revenge? Does Guru manage to get even with Rakesh? Does Guru return to his old bad world or continue in Aisha’s path of living?

Sidharth Malhotra as Guru has proved again that he can carry a movie on his shoulders. He emotes well. And his screen presence is also great. There is a scene, where, Sidharth barges into a mental asylum, where people are watching Amitabh Bachchan’s blockbuster Shahenshah movie, Sidharth’s image gets projected on screen alongside Amitabh Bachchan. Was it a conscious effort on behalf of the director to project the next Shahenshah of Bollywood?

Shraddha Kapoor as Aisha is gregarious. Although she is natural, chirpy, sweet, at times, she seems to take efforts. She has done her singing debut in this movie with the song ‘Galiyan…’. A very good effort. She is the only character in this movie who brings smiles on our face.

The movie has its own set of flaws. Aisha’s wishes on the scrap book are her last wishes, she is dying. But what is her illness, script doesn’t cover that. Another astonishing thing which needs to be researched and further studied is: can a constant humiliation from spouse / or the ones whom we love so much, make one a psychopath, obsessed with killings. This is not convincing enough. All those scenes where Sulochana (Aamna Sharif) keeps on ridiculing her husband or nagging make the movie a bit boring, although these scenes are the justification for shaping Rakesh’ brutal character. The complexities of various characters are not justified properly.

But yes the relief is the romantic moments between Guru and Aisha, although, I wish, the relationship could have been explored beyond just sharing jokes. The song ‘Kisi Shayar ki Gazal’ covers wonderful moments of togetherness of Guru and Aisha and also Guru’s efforts in fulfilling Aisha’s wish-list one by one.

Other songs like Galliyan, Banzara are also soulful and good.

Certain scenes are not required at all: Guru’s friend Brijesh (Kamaal Rashid Khan) slapping his wife in front of Guru, when she did not bring ice along with the drinks. And the obnoxious Brijesh says that slapping one’s wife is the only way middle class men can get rid of their frustration.  

Certain Dialogues which are noticeable: Don Ceaser tells Guru that “Maut ko gale lagane ki vajah dhundhne ke bajay jeene ki ek vajah dhundho” (though, how unlikely of a don to say this, but a good one indeed). Aisha telling Guru: Kisi ke hamdard jab tak nahi banoge tab tak hum dard se aur dard hum se juda nahi ho sakta.

Certain messages, though heard off, are good: Darkness can be removed with light only. Even a villain can be transformed with love. One’s pain would reduce, if he / she is able to share other’s pain. Last but not the least, what we give to the society, that would come back to us. If we give good, definitely good will come back to us…and if we give bad, no doubt, bad will come to us.

Ek Villain, the tag line says, there is one in every love story…and the movie says, every person is a story in himself / herself. ‘Just Watchable’.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

Negativity of Convenience

I'm having a hard time keeping up with my shorter-than-usual list of 15 dramas that I'm watching these days.  Unfortunately, with the exception of Mere Humdum Mere Dost, Marasim, Pyaray Afzal, Aahista Aahista and Laa, I'm struggling to maintain an interest in the rest.

So that said, I have NOT caught up on the remaining 10 dramas in the last 2 weeks.  I do apologize for the lag in updates for other dramas.  I can't be blamed for some of them though, because due to the Geo shut down, obviously shows like Bashar Momin, Laadon Mein Palli, etc. aren't being aired anyway.  But I apologize regardless!  =)  Hopefully in this next week, I will be able to catch up.

Coming back to the point of this post, after watching this week's episodes of the 5 that have been maintaining my interest, I've been left with a similar feeling after each episode:  characters are turned negative just to conveniently fit the way the writers want the story to go.  

In Mere Humdum Mere Dost, we suddenly see Mazhar (Junaid Khan) at his negative worst.  We are presented an entirely new face in the latest episode (episode 10), where it's revealed that Mazhar's still-first-wife Saima has given birth to a baby boy in Pakistan and he's been using Sajeela for her money, as well as lying about the divorce.  We're also made aware that Sajeela's marriage to Haider was all part of Mazhar's grand plan from the beginning.  For me personally, this seems like a twist of convenience, as up until now, we were made to believe that their relationship had at least started off  as genuine.  We also randomly see Aiman (Sanam Jung) suddenly begin to snap at Haider, her attitude blatantly rude and insulting.  Of course, the attitude change only lasts for the episode, but honestly, what was the purpose of all that nonsense?  

In Marasim, we see Momina (Sonya Hussain) and Dawood (Ahsan Khan) re-bonding while spending time with Abdullah and Deeba.  This is an interestingly annoying turn of events, considering Dawood was the one who told Nayyab (Urwa Hocane) that he wanted to have a relationship and she had given birth to his son.  We also see Dawood and Momina shamelessly making eyes at each other at Abdullah & Deeba's wedding right in front of Nayyab and also see Momina hesitantly speaking to her mother and husband on the phone while continuing to make eyes at Dawood.  I'm not sure what sort of "realism" we're being presented with here, but it's disturbing.  After at least two years of marriage, we're supposed to stomach that these two are still experiencing such a disconnect with their (very nice) spouses?  What disgusted me even more were the scenes showing Geeti Ara and Deeba insulting Nayyab to Momina right in front of Nayyab and watching Momina listen with a smile.  It's hard to root for a girl's happiness (Momina) when she refuses to stay out of another woman's marriage.  In the upcoming episode, we're shown a preview of Dawood's complete 180, saying he'd like to leave Nayyab and would like her to start distancing herself from their son in order to make the separation painless.  WHAT. ON. EARTH?  We're also shown many parenting bloopers by Nayyab, deeming her a "irresponsible" mother.  Why?  I'm not sure what role these conveniently new character traits play, but they are grating on my nerves.  With this new turn of events, I'm feeling less excited about the show and more annoyed.  Yet another example of writing characters to go against their past personality.

And then we come to Aahista Aahista, where we see Zawaar turn into an obviously agitated man with not only Soffee, his wife in the US, but horribly so with Hayaa, his wife in Pakistan.  A man who was, in the last three episodes, a very nice man has slowly been written to be very little short of a jerk.  You're found wishing that ultimately both women leave this coward - and it's only been 4 episodes!

Laa does not fall into this category so far, fortunately and is progressing nicely.  At this point, there's still little to write about the show, as it's still in its starting stages.  Sabreen Hisbani has finally made her appearance, though it remains to be seen what part she plays in the story.  Sadia Khan's acting still leaves a lot to be desired, but I definitely feel that she may improve now that she will no longer be required to play "hyper and happy."  The adoption angle, though realistic, is leaving me feeling very sad for Daniyal's (Mekaal) parents.  Let's wait and see how this one progresses.  =)

That's all for now.  Hopefully my next post will be sooner than later and about a show other than this usual list I've been working with.  Haha.  Happy watching!

Aahista Aahista - Random Thoughts on Episode 3

Episode 3 was great and with that, this show has picked up tremendously!

We now see Zawaar and Hayaa married and, while Zawaar does his best to not give Hayaa importance, he begins to see that she's a good wife.  It SEEMS as though he really enjoys her company.  When the episode ended, we saw that Zawaar left Pakistan and has now landed back in California, back to his (first) wife's waiting arms.

Sarwat is terrible as Soffee (why this weird spelling?).  Also, the character is the most annoying, NEEDIEST wife ever.  I'm a woman.  If I were married to a girl who couldn't stand being apart from me for one month, I'd ditch her.  What on earth?  The man is visiting his family.  Given, he's been up to no good and has gotten himself a 2nd wife - but SHE doesn't know that.  Sarwat's character is absolutely ridiculous and just for that reason, I'm anticipating him leaving her.  Haha.

Mawra is doing a great job as Hayaa.  She's lovable, adorable, relatable and a character you want to root for.  =)

Adnan Siddiqui is too old for roles like these now.  He's no longer "main hero" material.  So it does make it awkward to watch at times.  That being said, he's still doing a good job here.  Zawaar's discomfort is presented perfectly by Adnan's expressions.  Zawaar isn't a bad guy leading on two women.  He's just a man who wants to make his mother happy and is being eaten inside by guilt.  It does make for good story.

I'm really enjoying this drama so far.  It's definitely awkward to see Saba Hameed playing "mother" to Behroz Sabzwari and Hina Bayat, no doubt.  But everyone is doing a great job with their roles.

We can only hope this story doesn't take the stereotypical route.

Happy watching!

Two Favorites: Mere Humdum Mere Dost & Marasim

If there are two dramas that are keeping me on the edge of my seat these days, it's Mere Humdum Mere Dost and Marasim.  They have equally interesting storylines and compelling characters that aren't entirely black or white, despite having some negative traits, especially in the case of Marasim, looking at Geeti Ara and her daughter.  They're "negative," but negativity is born from circumstances.

So let's start!

Mere Humdum Mere Dost

So this week, we saw a drastic change in Sajeela's personality.  Suddenly all the confusion over the taunts made by Mazhar in the initial few episodes made sense.  We discover that Sajeela settled for Haider and was mildly happy with him.  However, when the two moved back to Pakistan, she began her association with Mazhar again, which intensified after the death of her father.  

This was heart-breaking to watch, as Haider truly loved Sajeela.  I think this was a great twist.  What will be interesting is that now, when Sajeela & Mazhar's marriage is so horribly on the rocks, will Sajeela make a re-appearance into Haider's life and disturb the potential romance between Haider & Aiman?

It has to be said that everyone is doing a great job of acting.  There isn't any melodrama or overreacting on this show.  It all seems very "real."  I'm still glued to my screen with this one!

Marasim

We're finally making progress!  This was my thought during this entire episode.  While it's uncertain what finally made Dawood decide to make  his life with Nayyab work, it was a refreshing change.  The chemistry between Urwa & Ahsan is actually very good, which makes this show all the better to watch.

This week, Dawood decided to cement his relationship with Nayyab and commit to his marriage, providing her with all the necessities of married life, barring one - his love.  Nayyab resists this compromise at first, but later accepts it, realizing it's in her best interest.  The two seem fairly happy, especially after Nayyab gives birth to a son.

The upcoming twist in the tale is that Abdullah (remember Momina's jerk brother?) is now divorced and wants to marry Deeba (too little, too late!).  What kind of controversy will emerge from this situation?  The possibilities are endless!  Momina's mother could create problems for Deeba to get Dawood for Momina.  Momina could poison Deeba against Nayyab (though Deeba is already a jerk to her).  Nayyab's insecurities could grow.  Geeti Aara's treatment of Nayyab could worsen due to conditions.......ENDLESS!

I have a feeling Nayyab will have a lot more pain in store for her in future episodes.  But the treatment of this show is what makes it unique - I just want to keep watching.  

And on that note, happy watching!  As always, please feel free to leave comments and feedback!

Shab E Zindagi - Episode 20....Random Thoughts

This is definitely one of those dramas that, episode after episode, leaves me wondering why I actually watch this show.  Irritating would be an understatement.  

We have Mariam (Sumbal Iqbal) who lost her husband Yasir (Agha Ali) and is left with her two children.  And the world inflicts zulm on her.  And inflicts more zulm on her.  Her family inflicts zulm on her.  Her in-laws inflict zulm on her.  Her bhabi inflicts zulm on her.  Her new husband (who was once a supportive figure in her life) inflicts zulm on her.  OH MAN!  SHAB E ZINDAGI!  

This show feels like complete and utter nonsense.  Mariam does not take responsibility for her own bratty behavior.  She does not acknowledge that her children are ill-behaved - to the extent that they openly insult her new husband!  She does not accept that she or her children could ever be at fault.

Is Mariam only at fault?  No.  She also has an insane brother-in-law who randomly decides he wants to marry her, only after his wife becomes suspicious of his intentions (Yes, what the hell?).  She has an insane mother who always takes the side of her brother.  She has a brother and bhabi who are a rotten, money-grubbing, evil-thinking duo who make Mariam and her childrens' lives hell. She has an evil cousin who wants to tarnish her reputation by having relations before marriage - or was marriage even on the table?  Not sure.  Either way, he's skeezy.  Mariam has a new husband who she used to call Nasir CHACHA - a man her father's age.  Nasir Chacha was once the gem of the show, but now even he has become a bitter old man who hates her children.  We can attribute this to bad writing which makes characters and their natures change to suit the situation (Read:  How majboor and bebas Mariam can become).  

This show has done my head in.  Zaalim samajh, zaalim log, zaalim duniya.....we are fed all sorts of nonsense like this throughout the show, as if no windowed women with children have ever lived independently and happily in Pakistan.  EVER.

This show is HOPEFULLY nearing its end.  I can't imagine it'll run past episode 24.  And if it does, I might just slap myself for watching it for that long.

Holiday: A Soldier is never off duty

Cast: Akshay Kumar (Virat Bakshi), Sonakshi Sinha (Saiba), Govinda (Pratap), Sumeet Raghavan (Mukund), Farhad, Giressh Sahedev, Zakir Hussain, Ranaq Bir

Genre: Action Thriller

Direction: A.R. Murugadoss

Production: Aruna Bhatia, Twinkle Khanna, Vipul Amrutlal Shah

Written by: A.R. Murugadoss

Based on: Tamil Film Thuppakki by A.R. Murugadoss

Distributed by: Hari Om Entertainment, Reliance Entertainment, Sunshine Pictures

Cinematography: Natarajan Subramaniam

Music: Pritam

Release Date: 6^th June, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 51 minutes

Holiday, a film by A.R. Murugadoss (also based on his Tamil film Thuppakki), is dedicated to Indian Military and their families. I feel, it is challenging to review such movies because the very intention behind making such movies turns out to be more important and the issues / concepts handled / message conveyed through the movie take precedence over the presentation of the movie. This movie highlights the presence of ‘Sleeper Cells’ in our country. Sleeper cells’ people are trained terrorist guised as common men in society.  He / she may be living amongst us – a neighbour, a friend or a mere acquaintance of ours. And when they get the command from their ‘head’, they act, come out of their shells, do bomb blasts and turn out to be the source of terror. In short, sleeper cells mean a group of terrorists, who work very discreetly. Probably, various members don’t even know one another. One particular aspect of this movie is noticeable i.e. unlike other movies based on terrorism, here, sleeper cells and terrorism are explained as byproducts of disgruntlement with government / country. The movie also appreciates the challenges faced by the Military force, who guard the border day and night to give us peaceful lives. Yes, the pace of the movie is very slow, a thriller at slow pace (can we call it a thriller?). Probably the tone of the movie is kept very light purposefully.

Captain Virat (Akshay Kumar), who serves Indian Army as DIA (Defense Intelligence Agent – works on secret mission), arrives Mumbai for his yearly holiday. As part of bride-hunting process, his family takes him directly from the railway station to Saibaa’s house (Sonakshy Sinha). Virat says no to Saibaa since he got the impression that Saibaa is a shy girl, but later to his surprise, he finds just the opposite Saibaa in the boxing ring during Mumbai Intercollegiate Competition. Rest, you can definitely predict as far as the relationship status between Virat and Saibaa is concerned.

Virat and his Sub-Inspector friend Mukund (Sumeet Raghavan) coincidentally become witness to a bomb blast in a bus. Events start unfolding from here. Virat manages to catch hold of one member of the sleeper cell. With his alertness and focused strategy, he is even able to salvage Mumbai from exploding into flames. It is interesting to see (it could also be sort of howlers for some), how Virat understands various cues, takes lead from there and tries to get into the depth of the sleeper cell.

Certain light moments are there in the movie, viz. Virat’s tips to Mukund to solve a case, Virat and Saibaa’s ‘yes-no’ game, Virat’s untimely salutation to his boss (Govinda) etc.

Akshay as Capt. Virat has given some good action shots. Sonakshi as Saibaa has nothing much to do. She just appears to be a filler in the movie. Virat-Saibaa romance doesn’t take off. Probably, Murugadoss could have focused only on the main track of Terrorism, sleeper cells etc, the side tracks could have been very well avoided. The Villain Farhad has less screen time. His performance could have been more power-packed.

A dialogue by Virat is to be especially mentioned: jab hazaron ko maarne ki mansuba rakhne wale agar khud ko maar sakte hain to raksha karne wale hum kyon nahi (When, people who intend to kill others have the guts to kill themselves, then we who intend to save others, why can’t we kill ourselves for this cause).

Another incident does project the commitment of our Military officers i.e. one of the officer Joel, even after losing his complete family to the terrorists’ bullets, he is all geared up and back on duty along with Virat in his mission to explore sleeper cells and finish the same.

What seems unbelievable is that Virat is just one-man army confronting these deep-rooted sleeper cells in his own manner. Virat’s flat hair style looks a bit weird.

But overall, Holiday is not disappointing.

Holiday, a tribute to Indian Military and their families and a subject like terrorism handled in a light-manner, is a pretty decent watch.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

Laa - Episode 1 Thoughts

For myself personally, when I see Momina Duraid's name attached to a show, expectations immediately are formed.  Add to that Sarmad Sehbai's name as writer and expectations are sky high.  I'm still trying to forgive Farooq Rind as a director after Rishtey Kuch Adhooray Se, but putting that bias aside, let's see how Laa makes out after first impressions!

As the drama begins, we're presented with a series of "flashbacks," none of which necessarily make sense entirely, but serve to make us aware that "Laa" is not simply a love story.  In these flashbacks, we do see a man of the name Naimat Khan who loses his daughter Aaminah due to some feudal dispute (from what I could understand).

As the show progresses, we meet Daniyal and Naina, who are family friends.  Naina belongs to a Syed family from Karachi, while Daniyal belongs to a Malik family from Lahore.  They are family friends and Naina's family is in Lahore to find a good rishta for Naina - strictly a Syed boy.  

Some awkward sequences follow, including Naina & Daniyal's meeting, where Naina bullies Daniyal into carrying her luggage upstairs.  This scene could have been rather humorous had Sadia Khan been a better actress.  We're also treated to an awkward scene where Daniyal's friends are checking Naina out as she cluelessly wonders where sounds of shouting are coming from.  I think what makes this all really uncomfortable is simply that Mekaal and Sadia do not look young enough for the roles they are playing.  I assume there's a leap involved in the storyline that will rectify this situation.  Haha.  

There are some cute scenes between Daniyal and Naina where they discuss their dreams for the future.  There's also a humorous scene where Naina chases off her "good Syed suitor" by publicly smoking sheesha.  

The most intriguing scene in this episode was the one where Naimat Khan approaches Daniyal and asks to speak with him, alluding to the fact that Daniyal may not be a Malik after all.

Little else is revealed in the episode, as the focus is placed on light-hearted moments between Naina & Daniyal, along with Daniyal and his (slightly annoying) friends.

Acting-wise, Mekaal is doing an OK job.  There isn't much to brag about, but not too much to complain about either (barring his age).  I'm sure it will improve as the story progresses.

Sadia Khan's acting leaves a lot to be desired.  Overacting would be an understatement:  While Sadia may have been a popular choice previously, in this day, there are actresses like Aiza Khan, Sohai Ali Abro, Maya Khan, etc. that immediately come to mind and would have been able to pull off this character more naturally.  That aside, she is strikingly pretty.  We'll have to wait and watch.

The supporting cast is all good, of course.

I'm curious as to what part Sabreen Hisbani will be playing, as she's one of my favorites!  The episode has taken the drama to a good start so far.  I'm looking forward to see how this one unravels.

Happy watching!

*  Disclaimer:  All images and pictures are not my own and are taken from a magic tool called Google.

Highway

Directed by: Imtiaz Ali

Starring: Randeep Hooda, Alia Bhatt

Released: 2014

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - shitastic - good – great – amazing

I genuinely loved Rockstar, but after Jab We Met, this one is Imtiaz Ali´s best film till date. He doesn´t work according to tried and tested formula. His movie lacks everything most of the mainstream filmmakers throw into the mix just to gain some more attention from the public. Imtiaz Ali is here to make films and that is it. And this one he made with much heart and much feeling, and I cannot stop thinking about it even though I have finished it several hours ago.

A daughter of a rich, prominent man gets kidnapped, by mistake and by chance, but kidnapped still. As the search for her starts, she is stuck with a group of mournful thieves, who are not entirely sure as of what to do with her. The group slowly goes their separate ways, until the girl, Veera, stays in the company of just two (and subsequently one, called Mahabhir) of her kidnappers. The longer she stays with them, the more she realizes how unhappy she was in her home. There is no bull-and-donkey sob story that would ensure her seeing „good hearts“ of her kidnappers – in fact she never learns the truth about them, and they do not need to save her from being raped just so she can promptly fall in love with one of them.

Highway is not a film about finding oneself. Veera is not in search of her identity, neither she is a shy girl who discovers confidence. And I do not even think the film is essentially about finding freedom – rather cleansing of the soul, in both Veera and Mahabhir´s cases. The movie has a distinct, interesting atmosphere and stirs emotions, some of the scenes are extremely powerful. At other times Highway becomes an enchanting composition of visuals and music, both as pure as one can imagine. Many a time I caught myself thinking Highway is, among other things, Imtiaz Ali´s ode to nature. Veera caresses grass and cries over beauty of swift river breaking against a rock, she is gulping the wind as if she could taste it, she stares into the heaven and feels completely content, happy to hear the whistles and songs of sheperds passing through the mountains. Highway is, for most part, a poem without words.

And yet, I did find a few flaws that took away a little bit from the overall experience. The movie has really two emotional peaks. Apart from the obvious Veera´s confrontation with her family at the end, the first one comes about an hour into the film, when she confides her story to Mahabir. An extremely powerful scene, but followed by suddenly very languid series of scenes that already disappeared from the mind. It takes a while before the build-up leading towards the climax again fully engages attention. Secondly, while Randeep Hooda gives a very good performance, there were several moments in which he did not resonate with my sentiments and one or two of his emotional outbursts felt somehow artificial. The character development may have been more elaborate, then again it may also have slowed down the already not action-packed narrative.

Highway marks the actual debut of Alia Bhatt the actress. After being an inconsequential showpiece in Karan Johar´s glossy awfulness of a movie, she can finally bring forth her talent. The girl is more than just Mahesh Bhatt´s daughter. Even if Veera was a character Alia could related to, it was still a challenging role, mostly unglamorous and one the whole film rested upon. She still feels like a diamond in a rough, in need of some polishing, and I have my reservations towards her baby-faced self taking on „sexy“ roles, which are inevitably coming her way (because EVERY girl HAS TO be sexy, otherwise she should not bother breathing), but hopefully there will be more „Highways“ in her filmography in upcoming years. Be it because of Imtiaz´s direction or her own intuition, Alia Bhatt impresses.

Highway leads you on a way that has no demands of anyone. It makes you remember the dark secrets you´d prefer to forget, but it also shows you there is always somewhere better to go. Start again. And feel pure again.

Pyaray Afzal - Ab Tak

I feel like I've been reviewing every drama's last episode these days, so I wanted to put a stop to that and go back to reviewing shows that are still airing.  Haha.  Of course, topping the list is Pyaray Afzal, which has been a favorite since day one.

Slowly, Afzal has taken course from being a good kid keeping bad company to transforming into this gangster.  It's strange how the storyline changed so naturally.  Pyaray Afzal has now turned into Gunda Afzal.   But Hamza Ali Abbasi has done an amazing job not only playing Afzal to perfection, but also allowing the audience to feel for Afzal.  He's a lovable character, despite the mess he's presently in.

At this conjecture, Farah is more irritating than I ever thought possible.  I really want people to discuss with me here - so PLEASE do leave your comments.  I'm curious as to how many people are actually "Team Farah" in regards to seeing Farah with Afzal?  I love Aiza Khan and I think she's doing an incredible job of portraying Farah's ridiculously insane nature.  But Farah as a character is a nutjob and I hope she does not end up with Afzal.  As Lubna said, she doesn't even deserve his picture.

On the other end, I have a love-hate relationship with Lubna.  Sometimes I can't understand what the girl is playing at - and then other moments, I think she's amazing.  It has to be said that from day one, Lubna was always on Afzal's "side."  She's been loyal.  I have a soft spot for her.  And that being said, first with Ranjish Hee Sahi and now with Pyaray Afzal, Sana Javed is fast becoming a favorite on Pakistani television!

And coming to the final member of the "Afzal Ki Deewani" trio, we come to Yasmeen.  A silly girl, but a girl with a heart of gold.  She is the reason Afzal was dragged into his current predicament, but can she really be blamed for the entire situation?  She has shown loyalty to Afzal as soon as she began to understand him.  Her "chalaaki" is only a mask for her innocence and I think that's what draws the viewer to Yasmeen.  Sohai Ali Abro is a natural in this role and makes Yasmeen incredibly endearing.

At this point, I would love to see Afzal end up with either Lubna OR Yasmeen.  Any other opinions are welcome - please comment below!

And coming to my favorite character on the show - Molvi SubhanAllah.  What an incredible character enacted by an incredible person.  Each dialogue, each sad look, each smile just goes straight to my heart.  I don't think there has been a more effective portrayal of a character on television to date.

Pair with him Saba Hameed as Ruqaiyya Begum and it is possibly the cutest "love story" on TV right now.  I love seeing their bickering which conceals their deep love and respect for each other.  Two brilliant actors working together = magic.

Anoushey Abbasi is adorable as Arifa and completes this perfect family picture.  Unfortunately, this perfect family is going through a lot of pain in the drama at present and it has been painful watching their struggle to forget their son/brother and present an outlook of calm.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a happy ending for these three!

Coming to Farah & Lubna's family, it's hard not to love Shehryar Zaidi and Saba Faisal as Sheikh Ibrahim and Mrs. Ibrahim.  They are well aware of the ridiculous nature of both their daughters, yet house so much affection for them that they are now disheartened by them, namely Farah.  This new twist with Vasay Chaudhary as the psychiatrist and Farah's new fiance is hilarious and brings forth much needed light-hearted moments!

There we have it.  Pyaray Afzal in a nutshell at present.  I'm not sure how many more episodes are left, but the show is beginning to feel a little stretched out.  But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a happy ending.

Happy watching!  And please do continue to leave your comments!  =)

Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi

Cast: Siddhath Gupta (Kuku Mathur), Simran Kaur Mundi (Mitali), Ashish Juneja (Ronnie Gulati), Amit Sial (Prabhakar), Somesh Aggarwal (Kuku’s father), Anoop Puri (Ronnie’s grandfather), Pallavi Batra (Rosy), Siddharth Bhardwaj (Ronnie’s brother), Tanvie Parab (Maitre), Rajshree Seem (Ronnie’s mother), Baby Neha Ahuja (Chota, Kukku’s sister), Monika Kohli (Malti, Mitali’s mother), Brijendra Kala (Godman)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Direction: Aman Sachdeva

Production: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Bejoy Nambiar, Sharada Trilok

Written by: Vijay Kapoor, Aman Sachdeva

Distributed by: Balaji Motion Pictures

Cinematography: Uday Singh Mohite

Editor: Bakul Matiayni

Studio: Getaway Films

Music: Mickey McCleary, Palash Sen, Anand Bajpai

Release Date: 30^th May, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 1 hour 49 minutes

Kuku Mathur ki Jhand Ho Gayi is a decent (means minus vulgarity) Comedy clubbed with a bit of Romance. Although this film has nothing much to offer in terms of its plot, yet the film will not give you headache, three male actors Siddharth Gupta, Amit Sial and Ashish Juneja do make this atleast a watchable movie. Contrary to the official poster of this movie, it is not a sex comedy at all, rather it projects the plight of an youngster who is in the phase of choosing a suitable career, establishing himself, proving himself etc. The movie gives the message that we may have two roadmaps to success in our lives – one path may be easier, shorter but involves crooked means and the other path may be tougher, longer, full of challenges but a true / honest path. One must go for the latter option, otherwise, success would be short-lived, success achieved through asy means may prick your conscience one-day.

This film, directed by Aman Sachdeva, is shot at Delhi. Jhand is a typical Dehlite word which means ‘taken for a ride’. Kuku Mathur (Siddharth Gupta) and Ronnie Gulati (Ashish Juneja) are great friends since childhood. Kuku comes from an ordinary service class family. His father is a government officer, who wants his son to study hard and get a good job, whereas the Gulatis run the business of sarees and dress materials.

Kuku keeps on trying his culinary skills at home who aspires to have his own restaurant one day. Both Kuku and Ronnie go to a cyber café to check their 12^th class results. How Ronnie tries to persuade Yogesh (cyber Café owner) to check the results ahead of the queue by cashing on Kuku’s status as a motherless child is an enjoyable scene. Both of them have managed to score very average in 12^th apart from physical education. Kuku gets scolded by his father for his low score. Ronnie, gets a surprise gift – a shop- from his grandfather –Ronnie Matching Center (for duppattas, blouse pieces and underskirts). Kuku tries for a different path to seek admission in college, but not manages to get through and ends up working as a spot boy in a shady film set. Ronnie’s getting busy with his business and not being able to turn up to spend time  / have fruit bear together, creates a deep sense of hurt / frustration in Kuku’s mind. Kuku starts feeling that his friend has changed. Ronnie snubs Kuku. A few incidents which followed thereafter create rift between Kuku and Ronnie.

Then Kuku’s cousin Prabhakar (Amit Sial) enters in the scene who has all sorts of short-cuts to achieve what he wants, devious solutions for every problem. Prabhakar steals the show with most of the lines.

Prabhakar suggests weird ideas to Kuku for starting his restaurant. And Kuku, otherwise a well-mannered person, does get influenced with his Prabhakar Bhaiya. What do Kuku and Prabhakar do? How do they manage to get money to start Kuku’s restaurant ? In what mess Kuku ends up? Is Kuku able to win his love Mitali (Simran Kaur), whom he silently loved since last 7 years, completely a one-way affair)? Does Kuku mend his ways anytime later, if yes, how?     

Romance in this movie falls flat. Certain scenes are comical: the warehouse guard’s mobile romance with his wife, Mata ka Jagaran for the whole night with parody songs, a movie titled as Facebook pe Pyar being shot, the manner in which Prabhakar takes revenge with his ex-girlfriend for marrying someone else, A Godman giving advice etc.      

Kuku Mathur ki Jhand Ho Gayi is an average entertainer, although it does convey that there are no shortcuts to success.

Rating: 2.75 / 5 (Average +)

Jai Ho

Directed by: Sohail Khan

Starring: Salman Khan, Tabu, Daisy Shah, Genelia D´Souza, Mohnish Behl, Suniel Shetty, Danny Denzongpa

Released: 2014

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - shitastic - good – great – amazing

What is the point of films like this? That´s right. There is none. For whatever reason Indian masses cannot imagine anything more awesome than a middle-aged guy being himself on screen year after year after year. Jai Ho (which immediately makes the famous A.R.Rehman track go off in my mind) tries hard to convince you it has a plot and a message, but it is really just random scenes plastered together to fill in the time between overstretched and, by now, boring scenes of Salman Khan beating everybody around him senseless. Sohail Khan probably wanted to pay homage to brother who feeds the whole khandaan and the rest.... like script and story... are yet again viewed as inferior. That said Jai Ho is still somehow one of better attempts at Salman Khan-ish cinema, definitely more watchable than atrocious Ready and not as boring as Bodyguard.

Let´s face it: this screenshot could be from any of Salman´s previous films and you wouldn´t notice.

The thought which is dragged through more than two hours is a genuinely nice one: if someone helps you, don´t say thank you, rather help another three people. I don´t know why you shouldn´t help AND thank, but OK. The flaw of this concept is naturally people are selfish bastards who rarely even say thanks, forget helping. But in Salman Khan´s bharat, where all social issues can be addressed in a single (awful) song, are people of pure hearts and indeed live by this rule. This „help other three“ stuff however soon gets on your nerves, because it is repeated about 50 times in the film, often within mere minutes from each other, and gets as annoying as the stop smoking ads in front of every film we all suffer through.

No, daddy, I will not stay home!

Other than that Jai Ho is a mix of bizarre and questionable, often brought to us by known and semi-known faces. I still cannot get my head around the character played by my lovely and cute Genelia D´Souza. She is obviously an extremely clever college student, unfortunately handicapped in a way, that prevents her from writing her tests herself. When her nikamma brother, who should be helping her, gets stuck in the traffic (and not for the first time), she fails the test and commits suicide. WTF. Are you seriously telling me such a bright, intelligent young woman would kill herself over ONE test? Are you telling me university will not give organize a retake for her, given her condition? Are you telling me in the whole building with thousands of students, teachers and staff they couldn´t find ONE person who would write for her instead of her brother? That is just an example of how idiotic situations make Jai Ho.

Tears.

Tears.

Between Salman Khan, Tabu, Mohnish Behl and Mahesh Thakur I has strange visions of Hum Saath Saath Hai going all wrong. They are all competent. Daisy Shah, a girl looking like a porcelain doll with baby face (bickering with a kid whom she calls with a nickname derived from his little „equipment“ while he know what colour her underwear is) , had a tiny role of no consequence and did Salman no favours by making everybody see he is another Khan too old for girls in their 20s. She dances beautiful, but I don´t see much of a future for her in Bollywood. A wild Suniel Shetty with a tank appears out of bloody nowhere too, just because. Danny Denzongpa is an iconic villain, and I don´t think Salman had such a strong opponent since the time of Sonu Sood.

How the hell did you know how to get here?

I followed the sound of tears.

In the end the movie can be really summed up as follows:

Note: I made the gifs from THIS amazing video :)