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Reviews
Runway 34 (2022)
Ajay Devgn shows great finesse as a director
Runway 34 is the third movie of Ajay Devgn as a director. With U,me aur Hum and Shivaay, he did show that he had the potential as a good director, with Runway 34 it he seems to have realized his potential as a director to a great extent.
The movie is to the point from the beginning itself. It starts by giving a glimpse of the Captain Vikrant Khanna's (Ajay's character) personality and then wastes no time in shifting to the scenes in the flight. Now, what went wrong causing a crisis situation in the flight and how Captain Vikrant Khanna and his co-pilot(Tanya) manage to save the flight for getting crashed forms the rest of the exhilarating 1st half. The 2nd half deals with the case Vikrant has to fight in order to save himself from the accusations made against him.
As mentioned by many reviewers the 1st half of the movie is extraordinary, being edge of the seat from the beginning till the end. The in-flight sequences are brilliant laced up with suspense, excitement, fear and hope. It is exceptionally very well directed. The way the song "The Fall" is stitched in the narrative is a masterstroke from technical point of view, the song itself is haunting to say the least. The editing too is razor-sharp in the 1st half and there is practically no useless scene in the 1st half of the movie.
Some reviewers have pointed out that the pace slackens in the 2nd half and the movie was supposed to maintain the same pace in the 2nd half too as per them. I agree that the 2nd half is not without its flaws, due to some hammy scenes by Boman Irani's character specifically and some extra dose of dailoguebaazi by Amitabh Bachchan's character, Narayan Vedant, but you must understand that a courtroom scene cannot provide you with adrenaline pumping moments like the action scenes anyway. The movie had to go in that direction and that was perhaps the most appropriate direction. The way the character of Narayan Vedant is presented, you are bound to be intimidated by him almost to the extent of hating him at certain occasions. Even though Boman Irani was hamming while playing his character, he managed to add to the drama in the 2nd half. The court room drama in 2nd half is full of heavy dialogues but is not devoid of logic and facts. Also it was good to see the face off between Narayan Vedant and Vikrant Khanna where Vikrant counters Narayan's heavy dialoguebaazi with calm and composure showcasing a beautiful contrast. The sense of maturity Ajay Devgn has show in these sequences as a director is exceptional.
Coming to the performances, Ajay Devgn is the soul of the movie showcasing various aspects in his character- nonchalance, style, flamboyance, calmness, excitement, sorrow, guilt and human flaws exceptionally. Amitabh Bachchan comes in the second half and takes the center stage. Although the way he played his character is similar to what he did in Pink, Badla and Chehre, we have to agree that no one does this kind of role better than him. Here to he is in great form. Rakul Preet Singh plays a character who gets easily intimidated by superiors and she does it so well. She doesn't go overboard and I think this is her best performace in any Bollywood movie till date. Boman Irani is hammy but as I said earlier adds well to the drama. Akansha Sinh as Ajay's wife was fine although not much effort has been made to develop her character arc. Rest other performers have done fine job in their respective characters.
There are only 2 songs in the movie- Mitra Re and The Fall and both are very well integrated in the narrative. The songs are situational but with the movie they sound great.
Cinematography and screenplay are slick. The camerawork is superb showing the scenes with some crazy/innovative angles also without being overboard (overboard, like some of RGV's movies).
As a director Ajay Devgn showcases great improvement over his previous work and is brilliant. He has handled the 1st half almost flawlessly and the sequences of confrontation in the 2nd half very well. I also loved the way Ajay chose to end the movie, you will know when you see it.
All in all, Runway 34 is one of the better movies to come out of Hindi Cinema in the recent times and deserves to be watched by Cinema lovers. The people who say it is a remake of Flight (2012) and Sully (2016) are not right as the movie has similar genre but nowhere the scenes/subplots/situations has been lifted from these movies.
Shiddat (2021)
The movie with its heart at the right place...
Shiddat is a classic case of movies which are not perfect and never want to be perfect. Directed by the talented Kunal Deshmukh the movie hits all the right notes in making us emotional. It has a kind of story and the treatment which most of the Bollywood movies lack nowadays. The music of this movie is an asset not just to the movie itself but to the entire Bollywood. While recently people argue about going ahead with 'No songs movies' for maintaining slickness, movies like Shiddat show if the songs are melodious and placed well, they only enhance the emotional impact. The movie is benefitted by passionate performances by all its leads. Sunny Kaushal as Jaggi is a revelation. He is so easy in front of the camera and expresses all the emotions so well. You can feel his desperation from his eyes,dialogue delivery and body language. Mohit Raina is a great actor. Even in the scenes he doesn't have to talk, he expresses with his eyes and make you understand what his character is feeling. Awesome performance!!... Radhika Madan is superb as Kartika plus she looks extremely gorgeous. Diana Penty does a great job in the limited number of scenes she gets. She looks great in the song Jug Jug Jeeve. The background score in the movie is wonderful generating just the right impact in all the emotional scenes. Kunal Deshmukh's directs the movie with lots of Shiddat. He has a unique style of film making and I am happy he didn't adultrate his film making style by getting influenced by newer lot of directors. There is a kind of serenity in his film making and other than him I feel this kind of serenity in Mohit Suri's film making. These two directors never try to chase perfection and that is the reason you feel for the characters in their movies, be it Aashiqui 2(Mohit Suri) or Shiddat itself. I don't think Shiddat could have been made by anyone else apart from these two.
All in all the movie is an emotional treat for the fans of Bollywood. It has a good story, wonderful performances by its actors, great music and the heart at its right place. I have rated it 9 instead of 10 as this movie is not flawless and is not without loopholes, however I will not be putting those in my review as many people have written about it in their reviews.
Romeo Akbar Walter (2019)
RAW>Raazi
When I saw Raazi, I really loved it. Probably for the first time a movie showcased an agent in such a way that people could actually sympathize with them, as until then the movies showcased them as kind of killing machines who don't blink an eye before murdering/torturing anyone. RAW also falls into same zone, but because of some brilliant twists, ends up being better. Raazi too had twists but somehow the twists in RAW manage to shock you more. Also the culmination to the story in RAW was much more gratifying than in Raazi. Somehow I was irritated by Alia Bhatt crying "Mujhe ghar jaana hai" in the climax scene of Raazi. John Abraham's character gave bigger sacrifice in RAW and still turned out to be much stronger in the end. When you will watch the movie you will definitely understand what I mean to say. It is this aspect of this movie which actually takes it ahead of Raazi in the end in my opinion. Many people have rated it low because Raazi released earlier and RAW was similar to Raazi. So, the novelty in RAW can't be felt while watching RAW after watching Raazi. However, as a standalone movie, it is fantastic and in case you still compare it with Raazi, this movie comes out better because of much better climax and superb twists. It's a must watch for thriller lovers.
Mahabharat (1988)
Best ever depiction of one of India's greatest epics
BR Chopra and Ravi Chopra had already proven themselves as great film makers before this great TV series. But Mahabharat (1988-1990) made them reach their zenith. In my opinion this is their best work to date and also the best depiction of Mahabharat- the epic.
Right from its beginning the series keeps you hooked. This 94 episodes saga moves at a brisk pace as there is no dull moment in this series. All the characters are very well developed and the direction ensures that each one of them has his/her moments and this is no less that an achievement. The characters are so well etched out that you can't imagine someone else playing these characters. The credit also goes to the actors who have played these roles.
Nitish Bharadwaj, Mukesh Khanna, Gufi Paintal, Surendra Pal, Roopa Ganguly, Puneet Issar, Arjun (Firoz Khan), Pankaj Dheer, Praveen Kumar, Girija Shankar, Gajendra Chauhan and all other actors have literally lived the characters. However I must single out Nitish Bharadwaj's performance as Shree Krishna and Mukesh Khanna's performance as Ganga Putra Bhishma as they are flawless in their roles. Nitish Bharadwaj has got a fantastic voice and the composure with which he delivers the dialogues is extraordinary. He illuminates the screen whenever he comes. You start believing that when he is with the Pandavas nothing can go wrong, such is the charisma of his performance as Shree Krishna. Mukesh Khanna as Ganga Putra Bhishma is superb as well. He expresses the pain of the character so well. His dialogue delivery is fantastic as he uses his heavy voice to full use. No doubt, Mukesh Khanna became a synonym of Bhishma Pitamah.
Gufi Paintal as Shakuni is also great in his role, actually so great that he ignites proper hatred in you which the character demands. Puneet Issar as Duryodhan is wonderful as well. He is in my view the best ever Duryodhan. Firoz Khan loved his character Arjun so much that he changed his name to Arjun and we loved his performance as well. Needless to say that he is the best Arjun ever. All other characters like Pankaj Dheer as Karna, Surendra Pal as Dronacharya, Praveen Kumar as Bhim, Girija Shankar as Dhritrashtra and Roopa Ganguly as Panchali too have pitched in marvellous performances.
Ravi Chopra's direction is nothing less than great. He has balanced the drama so well that you never get bored. He gives every actor proper scope to perform and has done full justice to all the characters of Mahabharat. The background score is very good considering the time when it was made. The special effects today look dated but the drama makes up for these small flaws. The drama is made effective by the authentic dialogues and tight screenplay and these two departments are ably handled by Dr. Rahi Masoom Raza.
I can go on and on praising so many aspects of this visually stunning TV series but this review already has become long.
All in all, at least every Indian must watch this extraordinary TV series. It is very informative and entertaining at the same time. I don't think there can be a better depiction of one of India's greatest epics Mahabharat (the other being Ramayan) than this one.