GrAND MASTI (There’s always a hidden Message)

We all had seen Masti & had definitely loved it, it one of the very first movies in Indian Cinema with adult humour, and we can say that it opened up new gates to the audience with the modern sensibilities & taste for adult humour. Then there was a line up of such films like Kya Kool Hain Hum, Mirchi, Desi Boyz, Delhi Belly, Kya Super Kool Hain Hum,  KLPD, and so on !

Grand Masti is a sequel of it’s first installment Masti, it starts of from the college days of Amar(Aftab), Prem(Riteish) & Meet(Vivek) who are crazy or should i use the word HORNY lovers who believe that life is better when their wives do Kamasutra than wearing Mangal Sutra. The story starts when they are invited for a college re-union after 6 years and they are eager to go expecting to see hot girls and have lots of MASTI ! But unfortunately the complete scenario of the college has changed after the principal Robert (Pradeep Rawat)  has been very strict with student and does not allow any romantics in the college. What happens to Amar, Prem & Meet ? Do they have fun ? or Do they get stuck in the web by Principal Robert ? Thats what Grand Masti is all about.

Aftab, Ritesh & Vivek remind of Masti and their chemistry as the close buddies, its is a treat to watch all three of them together on the screen. though in this review i wouldn’t like to divulge into individual performances, i would like to make a point that its rather a team game in this movie than individual talent. All three actors have given a hilarious performance and have gelled into the character completely, if we had to rate the performance it would be Ritesh, Aftab & Vivek in that order.

In the female leads Karishma Tanna is a well known face with the TV industry, Manjari Fadnis has done a couple of small roles in a few movies & Bruna Abdullah was seen in a few item songs and blink and miss roles. Besides these three we don’t know any of the remaining 3 actresses and there is nothing extraordinary to speak about them.

The songs of the movie are pathetic, we don’t even feel like sitting in the cinema hall and listen to it leave aside listneing to them anywhere else. Story is a dud and could have been much better, the jokes are all repetitive and most of us must have read it or heard it through some or the other social network platform.

On the whole Grand Masti is a disappointment in all fronts, no where close to its predecessor MASTI its a let down for the fans of the previous film. Although there a few jokes here and there which are capable of you to crack up and laugh out loud but thats about it. The humour is pushy and sometimes goes overboard and tries to make it hilarious but fails. If you have nothing else to do this weekend and don’t mind seeing a senseless comedy at the risk of getting into and embarrassing situation with your wife/husband or your girlfriend/boyfriend then go and see Grand Masti, if you don’t want to spend your time and money you can always wait for its satellite premiere on a movie channel in a few months to come.

My Rating : 2/5 (1 For  Good Performances by Aftab, Ritesh & Vivek and 1 for few jokes that are hilarious and keeps you in splits)

 

 

 

Shudh Videshi Romance !

Beautiful Jaipur Locations, cool delhi accent, typical indian wedding setups… Does it sound like a Desi film to you ? if your answer is yes, you are in a big surprise !! Shudh Desi Romance is nowhere close to being “DESI”, a mashup of Hollywood movies like Love Actually, Friends With Benefits & No Strings Attached, Shudh Desi Romance is an out and out rom-com with a generous dose of lip locking and quite bold dialogues.

Lets get on to the movie Shudh Desi Romance tells the story of Raghuram Sitaram (Sushant Singh Rajput) who is a tourist guide in Jaipur who is very charming and witty, in all real sense his job is not to guide but misguide people so that he can earn some extra bucks from the foreigners who come to visit India, his part time job is to work for Mr. Goyal (Rishi Kapoor) who is a typical caterer, decorator cum wedding planner, the portfolio Raghu handles is of a Bhaade Ka Barati, who dances at wedding of unknown people to full up crowd and earn a quick extra buck. Life takes a sudden turn when he is about to get married to Tara (Vaani Kapoor) and is accompanied by his bhade ke baraatis for his own wedding and hen meets Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra), Bang ! he’s swept of his feet and immediately falls in love with her. What happens to Wedding of Raghu & Tara ? What Happens to Raghu & Gayatri’s Love Story ? Finally does he  get married to Tara or Gayatri ?

Sushant Singh Rajput has indeed come a long way, right from Backup Dancer, to most favourite TV actor for continuously 3 years, to Kai Po Che one of the most talked about film of 2013 and now Shudh Desi Romance ! What more can one ask for ? But Sushant is here to stay and he’ll stay for a long time ! His versatility as an actor is par excellence though he looks like a boy next door he doesn’t fail to surprise you with his consistent charm and amazing talent. Shudh Desi Romance is completely on Sushant’s shoulder and he has done complete justice to his character.

If Sushant is the MAN to look out for Parineeti is definitely the LADY of tomorrow ! you can’t just stop falling in love with the simplicity of cute, bubbly & very fun loving girl. Although shes started off as a small role in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl she had the audience captivated in Ishaqzaade which should have actually been the launch film for her ! She’s no where close to Priyanka Chopra’s shadow what most of people were expecting, in fact she i am sure Shudh Desi Romance will do better business than Zanjeer which release the same week. Parineeti is simple lovable !

Vaani Kapoor, i don’t know, i am a little confused, and not totally convinced about the idea whether i liked her or not ? Technically speaking shes highly ok or may be you can say not upto the mark but somehow the character she played of Tara, has an instant connect with you, she’s beautiful, has a great body, couldn’t see her dance in the movie and does mediocre dialogue delivery, summing up all we cannot expect her to woo the audience.
And last but not the least Mr. Goyal our very own Rishi Kapoor, before i say anything else about him the new generation of actors should really be afraid of the stars of 70s & 80s namely Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor & Anil Kapoor these guys must be 55+ or may be 70+ but they can pull away a complete movie even today, Rishi Kapoor plays a beautiful role of a fatherly figure to both Raghu and Gayatri and makes no mistake, just a pleasant surprise since he was not visible anywhere in promotion or trailers.

Maneesh Sharma has done it before and he does it again, after Band Baaja Baraat it was a heavy responsibility for Maneesh to prove himself as a talented director that Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl and he should not carry a tag of a fluke hit, LVRB did not do extremely well but it definitely did decent business. This is his third venture and as far as I am concerned, he’s cleared the test, although not with “A+” but definitely an “A“, I personally like the chemistry he creates between the protagonists is just awesome, every person can see himself or herself in that character in some way or the other.

Like there are goods of the  film there are bads to, one of them is Music, the music of Shudh Desi Romance is not really catchy and does not even stay in our head. there are only 2 songs which i can remember Gulabi Aankhen & Tere Mere Beech Mein and thats all the lyrics i remember of the song.  The story of the movie is good but sounds very repetitive some time of course there are many moments which delight you. Locations and Photography is superb !

On the whole Shudh Desi Romance is a very bold movie in a very desi look, sometimes during the movie you have to think whether or not is India so advanced already or is it just too much to digest for a hypocrite Indian Society. Performances by the lead actors are very good apart of Vaani Kapoor who could have been easily replaced by anyone else. Music is bad but the love, chemistry and humour covers up for it. So if you are or have ever been in love or should i say confused in love and have an open heart and mind about what goes on in society, go and see Shudh Desi Romance, i enjoyed it, hope you do it as well !

My Rating 3.5 / 5 (-1 for bad music and a little dragging story line, -.5 for Vaani Kapoor disappointment) 

Satya Agraha

Satyagraha is yet another attempt by Prakash Jha to unmask the monster behind the politicians face, like his previous movies Satyagraha too takes on the system against the common man and shows how a single common man cannot make a difference even with a huge support and backing.

Satyagraha is a story of Dwarkanath (Amitabh Bachchan) who decides to take a stand against the system of a small constituency namely Ambikapur with the help of Manav (Ajay Devgan) a successful businessman who gets his things done by hook or by crook, Yasmin (Kareena Kapoor) a TV journalist who wants to fight for truth and does not believe in sensational news sections, Arjun (Arjun Rampal) is a local social worker who has been born and bought up in Ambikapur and shares the grief and pain of its residents. The fight is between The Jan Satyagraha Samiti including the former members vs the giant crocodile of the  corrupt river Balram Singh (Manoj Bajpai) who has things his way or no way ! Drawn from the inspiration of Anna Hazare (read Amitabh Bachchan) demand for “Jan Lokpal Bill” Satyagraha loosely depicts what went wrong with the movement and how anything like this cannot work in the future.

Amitabh Bachchan can now be called the Father of Nation ooops Father of the Bollywood  with an amazing performance and a  very meaningful role Amitabh strikes gold. There was never a doubt that Amitabh cannot play such a role, with his command over the language and beautiful timing no other actor could have done this part better. His mass popularity on Social Networking Sites like Twitter and Facebook has helped him become more popular amongst the youth generation, this helps us relate to the character of a person who believes in truth and true sense of freedom.

Ajay Devgan was a little disappointing for a couple of reasons: A.) Ajay looks completely out of shape and looks like he has been not hitting the gym off late, B.) He does not have any meaty dialogues, punchlines or memorable one liners just like “Ata Maazi Satakli” of Singham & C.) Ajay Devgan has done this kind of a character N number of times and we have seen him perform better. For an actor like Ajay Devgan the performance bar has to go up with every new movie, any mistakes or under performance will definitely accepted by his fans specially after the Himmatwala fiasco.

 

Kareena Kapoor has a very subtle but very strong character, for a change we don’t see a glamour doll to fill the screen with her oomph and karizma, this time Kareena has a power packed role with a very clean and clear reflection of the character. A sensible journalist could have been played by many actress, but taking a risk of playing a leading lady in a movie amongst gigantic names and path breaking performers like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan & Manoj Bajpai  is worth an applaud.

 
Arjun Rampal is getting better day by day or should we say the selection of his movies is getting wise, Heroine, Chakravyuh, Inkaar, D-Day and now Satyagraha what more can any actor ask for ! Once known as a rock faced actor and go ahead and win a National award is not a simple thing to do. With Satyagraha Arjun Rampal once again proves that no role is small or big its only good or bad, and if you can do justice to your role you will definitely not be ignored.

 

Manoj Bajpai has a special bond or rather a better understanding with the Prakash Jha or Ram Gopal Varma style of filmmaking, and he cannot go wrong in any ways. You can love him and you can hate him but you cannot ignore him, while watching the movie you cannot decide whether to love his acting or to hate the character, the class and the fineness shown by Manoj Bajpai as the cold blooded killer and full of corruption is played amazingly by him.

Amrita Rao plays a damsel in distress who loses her husband (Indraneel Sengupta) who is the son of Dwarkanath (Amitabh Bachchan) the character has a very fine outline in the beginning but the sheen and sharpness of the character gets lost in the crowd of seasoned characters and moreover does not have any purpose besides being the supplementary reason of begin of the revolution.

Prakash Jha as a director has done nothing wrong but hasn’t done anything new, what looks so easy and achievable looks just good on screen, we have seen this in all Prakash Jha movies right from Gangajal to Apaharan to Rajneeti to Chakravyuh and now Satyagraha. The most common thing in a Prakash Jha movie is Reformation of Society but the path is the same one small flame converting to a huge wildfire.

Overall Satyagraha is old wine in new bottle, the major let down of the movie is that it cannot decide whether doing a Satyagraha proved good for Amitabh & Co. or did it give a lesson that no one should mess up with the Politicos. When we go to see a Society Reforming movie we are expected to come out with a new thought process and inspiring new thoughts even though its for a few hours after the movie but it needs to be there, well in that case Satyagraha is more like an eye opener teaching you not to mess with the politicians or they will make your life miserable. To cut the long story short if you expect the movie to be a path breaking revolution or a Society Reforming Movie you will be disappointed, otherwise the movie a one time watch.

My Rating 2.5/5 (-1 for underrated performance and dialogues by Ajay Devgan, -1 for uncooked or may be weak story telling & -1/2 for boring and useless songs in the movie  apart of the title song… Watch At Your Own Risk)