Genre: Biography, Crime, Thriller Rating: 3/5 98 minutes Director: Hanslal Mehta When I had first heard of the film last year, I had assumed it would be akin to a film on the Mafia, since Omerta is the Sicilian code of silence where the captured admit nothing, for fear of retribution on their families. The […]
Baap Aur Punya The best known sequence, till now, of Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor is of ‘Naseeb’ (1981) where the two cavort to the evocatively sung Mohammad Rafi’s ‘Chal mere bhai’. Now, in ‘102 Not Out’, their sixth collaboration, AB and RK deliver an unbridled comedy, based on the eponymous Gujarati play, written by […]
‘A Reverse Flick’ Even the most honourable of intentions at the planning stage will not always result in an acceptable finished product. Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Daas Dev’ comes to us on screen more than a decade aafter he had conceptualised a modern-day version of the 1917 Bengali classic Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee (Chattopadhyay). The text […]
Motley Melodrama Celebrated Iranian Majid Majidi’s first film set outside Iran, ‘Beyond the Clouds’, has the master filmmaker capturing the sights and sounds of Mumbai’s slums and shanties, the red-light areas and prison cells – all against the backdrop of poverty and probity. After their parents’ death in a car crash, Aamir (Ishaan Khatter) is […]
Unrequited Love The tagline, ‘This is not a love story, but rather a story about love’ threatens to wear thin after a while; but National award-winning director Shoojit Sircar reuniting (Vicky Donor, Piku) with his favourite writer Juhi Chaturvedi manages to hold the viewer’s interest. Varun Dhawan plays 21-year-old Danesh (Dan) Walia, interning in various […]
‘Comedy Of Terrors’: “Shake it up”, says Irrfan Khan’s boss, an order the former follows verbatim. Abhinay – son of Marathi and Hindi screen veterans Ramesh and Seema – Deo’s (Delhi Belly) latest, ‘Blackmail’ is a delightful take on infidelity which goes acutely out of hand in a vortex of blackmail and three deaths. Dev […]
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Drama Rating: 2.5/5 121 minutes Director: Mukul Abhyankar ‘An Over-Cooked Plot’ During the investigations, Mauritius top cop Buddhu (Annu Kapoor) pensively remarks to his investigating officers “Bahut saare loopholes hain”. The viewer is left wondering whether the words refer to the case or the script. A couple, Sushant (Manoj Bajpayee) and Aparna […]
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Sci-fi Rating: 3.5/5 90 minutes Director: John Krasinski ‘The Eerie Sounds of Silence’ While the title ‘A Quiet Place’ could be a misnomer; it’s definitely an understatement of sorts. The premise begs the question: “What if – – -?” “What if aliens take over the world, as Hollywood has been threatening […]
Merwanjee Cama Park (Andheri) heralded Jamshedi Navroze in grand style with more than 250 residents and guests over a fun eve. The highlight of the evening was the Mumbai Police Band in attendance. The sight and sounds of the 40-piece brass band, with our law enforcers in full regalia, was a sight to behold – with […]
Genre: Drama Rating: 3.5/5 118 minutes Director: Sidharth Malhotra “The defect is in my speech, not in my intellect”, says newbie teacher Naina Mathur (Rani Mukerji) to her adversary, senior colleague Wadia (Neeraj Kabi), a few minutes into the film. That just about sums up the style and substance of Hichki. Mathur suffers from Tourette’s […]
“Based on true stories”, claims the info during the opening credits, even as the film portrays the events during a single ‘search and seize’ raid in Lucknow in 1981. Amay Patnaik (Ajay Devgn) is an upright (both physically and morally) Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax — a couple of elaborately staged scenes during the opening frames […]