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ashutosh-06
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Baadshaho (2017)
A tale of friendship, trust, loyalty and....a lot of twists!!
The last time the troika of Ajay-Emraan-Luthria got together, we were treated to a classic(Once Upon A Time in Mumbai). Although Baadshaho cannot be placed in the same league, it is still a pretty good watch.
Baadshaho takes you on a ride which revolves around the 1975 emergency. The makers have tried to maintain the 1975 feel throughout the film and I would say they have pretty much succeeded. The palaces, costumes and for that matter even the dialogues have been carefully handled. The movie mainly revolves around a heist which is led by Ajay after having orders from Ileana. What follows is the planning and plotting and setting up for the heist.
There are a lot of twists that happen which keeps you at the edge of your seat for the film's entirety. The film does not have a proper climax and it just ends on a positive note. With the amount of build-up, the movie would have been better served with a better finish.
Ajay gives a pretty solid performance as Bhavani. This role is probably tailor-made for someone like him who generally works around good sell-able dialogues and not with much facial expressions per say. Emraan once again proves to be the perfect fit along with Ajay, there is something about these two which makes a good movie much much better. Emraan carries off the role of Dalia with much ease and is well cast for the character. Sanjay Mishra doesn't have much scope and tries his best in whatever small part is written for him. Vidyut Jamwal takes care of most of the heavy-duty stunt scenes with unassuming ease. His role is pretty critical in the movie and he does not fail the director with his performance. Ileana D'Cruz is probably the only one who felt like a complete mis-fit in the entire cast. She tries quite hard to bring that daring, hot-headed personality of Rani Gitanjali but fails miserably. She is really good with her romantic scenes, she in fact carries them off with such ease that it makes one wonder if she was cast just keeping in mind the romantic aspect of the film. As for Esha Gupta there is hardly anything to write about her role which is just an extended cameo, hardly any dialogues and just adds glamour to the screen with her presence.
The theme music has quite a good feel around it with a heavy BGM. Songs are pretty average except Tere Rashke Kamar which is a soulful number.
All in all a good watch but the movie could have been a few notches better. Still, worth a watch.
Phantom (2015)
The climax gets my rating to 8-else a pretty OK-OK watch
'Phantom' is the (director's attempt at an)Indian reply to the attacks of 26/11 which left every Indian feeling helpless and distraught by just watching the sheer magnitude of mass destruction.
The attempt made by the Phantom team is very much sincere which is evident from the happenings that are depicted.The place where the movie fumbles,not once but many times, is the way the screenplay is laid out. To be more precise, the sequence of the happenings with respect to the timeline of events. The director's over-eagerness to actually finish off all the top men involved in the plot affects the film in a considerable way. Saif kills one and rushes for the next, the second and then the third and so on, never is the perfect way in which a victim was finished is shown that is to say the film lacks the amount of detailing such a film is supposed to have, something which "Baby","D-Day" did with much aplomb.
But the climax,more precisely the last 25-30 minutes, makes up for the glitches in the other areas. There too, only after Saif and Kat enter the waters,because there is lot of unclear phases before that.The climax will surely make you feel elevated. Some really good BGM, crisp dialogues, emotions which are not overdone and everything in perfect sync.Two of the best moments of Phantom comes in the climax,one involving Kat and the other one with Ayyub.
Saif is pretty convincing as Daniyal Singh(lot of continuity issues with his character,beard keeps coming and going every other scene). Kat doesn't offer much,as usual, a very limited faculty of expressions,but really surprised me in the climax. As i said, her emotions were in check throughout. Her reaction to the salutes by the guards are really heart-wrenching!! Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub takes control each time he gets his screen time. His 2 minute monologue to the Indian naval chief is definitely top-notch and deserves applause. Supporting cast doesn't have anything much to offer but do their job effectively.
Has just 2-3 songs which are good,no issues in that regard.
'Phantom' could have been a spine-chilling,thrill-a-minute ride had the dialogues been better written and the screenplay been a lot more well laid out.
So, Kabir Khan does an almost successful job of delivering what he had started out to. Phantom could have been a much better effort,but still, just as an Indian reply to the 26/11 attacks it should make every Indian feel happy and proud.
Even though its not the best movie made this year(by a long long way),watch it at least for the feelings it will evoke in you as an Indian.
Brothers (2015)
Really good for a one time watch
First things first. I haven't seen the English original,so I had the privilege to view 'Brothers' without having to compare every scene with 'Warrior'.
'Brothers' tells the story of two estranged brothers and their father, who happens to be a former martial arts champion. A fateful night turns the life of these 3 people upside down and the rest of the film follows a storyline which cannot be deemed excellent but decent enough to be watched at least once.
The movie does have its wonderfully shots scenes which are pretty touching for the viewer. A scene where Jacqueline shows her child's face to Jackie Shroff and the one where the younger Siddharth Malhotra gives food to his father are worth mentioning.
Now to come to the acting bit.Jackie Shroff was the best of the lot(went overboard 2-3 times in the first half though),still was successful in accomplishing the task assigned to him by his director. Akshay and Siddharth had roles that required them to be really constrained in their emotions and act. Siddharth had his role in the same lines as 'Ek Villain' and was well cast. To talk about Akki, I guess there isn't an actor who could have performed this role, as it required Martial Arts skills to be portrayed on screen. Akki pulls off all the rigours of training way too effortlessly to be believable(he is brilliant in those), Sid doesn't lag way too far behind. Still was not as convincing as Akshay, which was further emphasized in the way in which the two had strategies for their fights!! Jacqueline had nothing much to offer but was convincing in whatever little opportunity she got to enact her bit. Kareena was wasted in a hopeless item-number.
We need to put yourselves in the characters' shoes to feel their pain and agony,else the film may seem like a drag. All in all,'Brothers' is really good for a one time watch.