sarink Reviews

Pad Man (2018)

Heart at the right place. Applaud the intent!!!

[10/10 · 23 August 2018]

Not the greatest screenplay and could have been 20 mins shorter but nothing can take away from the impact that this film will have. A must watch for everyone and a very very important film for the society.

Movies have the power to influence how people think and to use that to this effect, amazing!!!

Akshay Kumar - what can be more said about this man. Just stand and applaud!!! The speech in the last... oh boy, as an audience you forget this is not the real Laskhmi.. fabulous.

Must must must watch for all.

The Ghazi Attack (2017)

Must watch....one of the best movies of 2017!!

[10/10 · 22 August 2017]

Caution: My review might be biased because of my admiration for Indian Armed Forces.

This movie reminded me of a Manoj Bajpai movie - 1971 in a sense that both these movies did not get their due appreciation, but were really really good movies.

I really liked the way characters were etched, the camaraderie between them, the tension between few, their reaction on the various events. A really well written film, I felt there was never a dull moment. Smart work in ensuring there is constant movement of characters on the screen, so you never feel the movie moving slow (like A Wednesday).

The detailing... WOW - I've never been in a Submarine and I don't know much about it. Read some reviews where people were not happy about the way the events were depicted, well this wasn't a documentary. As long as you take cinematic liberty and still convince a non-expert like me that this could have happened, you are successful as a director. And Sankalp has succeeded undoubtedly.

Yes, the VFX was not the best. Hell its a 15 crore budget movie. For this budget, this quality is justified. But yeah, better VFX (especially during climax), would have been something.

The dialogues were damn impressive, very convincing. Kay Kay Menon is a powerhouse and when you give him a solid character and such screenplay, its a pleasure to watch him. I felt after his departure, the movie would slow down. But Rana did not disappoint. Rana's dialog "kya hain sainik hona".... amazing, goose bump moment. And Atul Kulkarni, what a fine actor and am glad he's got such a good role to play. And then Captain Razak's reaction "upar.. neeche... saala commander hain yeah liftman"... LOL.

Nice to see the antagonist not shown as a caricature but actually as a real threat. Rahul Singh did a fine job as Captain Razak.

Overall sound design and background score was really good.

Special mention of cinematography - you don't feel claustrophobic though the majority of the movie plays out in confined space inside the submarine. Very well shot.

And finally the captain of this ship - the director - for a first timer to choose such a subject and make such an impressive movie, really really commendable. Hope he continues to be different and makes many more good movies like this one. Best wishes.

My salute to Indian Armed Forces, for your sacrifices.

My salute to Sankalp Reddy, for reminding how indebted we all are, to the men and women in the armed forces.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017)

Visual Spectacle, nothing less than a masterpiece!!

[10/10 · 22 August 2017]

I don't think 1000 words will be sufficient to write my thoughts about this movie.

I've followed S S Raja Mouli's work right from his first film and have been an admirer of his work ever since. One strong reason is that I enjoy action genre and Raja Mouli's movies have terrific action sequences.

When I bought a ticket for Baahubali: The Beginning, I knew I was going to be entertained but didn't realise I was going to witness such a visual spectacle. After many many years, here was a movie which had repeat value. And with every repeated viewing, the movie only kept growing on me.

So when Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was releasing, my expectation was sky high. The last time I was so excited and eager for a movie release was for The Matrix Reloaded. I wanted to get the best experience, so I booked a ticket in an IMAX screen and since I was watching the Telugu version in a screen in Chennai, I didn't have my family accompanying me. I had gone to the theatre alone with a promise that I'd take them to see the Tamil version later. It so happened that the guy sitting next to me had also come to see the movie solo, he had just moved to Chennai and he had seen the movie already once.

I come back home after the movie and my wife wanted to know how the movie was. My answer was "Disappointed". I did not like the movie when I saw it the first time. Throughout the first half, I kept saying to myself that that is not how Amarendra Baahubali or Kattappa would behave, I wasn't expecting the first hour to be so light hearted and kept on picking stuff that I had not imagined would be part of the movie. Was the movie really bad? Well, we all know the answer. No.... the reason wasn't that the movie was bad, the reason was that I already had a movie playing in my head and I was expecting that movie to unfold on the screen before me.

This experience has thought me that if you really want to enjoy a movie, don't step into the theatre with preconceived notions of what the film will be like. Go with a clean slate and if the movie is good, you will enjoy it.

So when I went to see Baahubali 2: The Conclusion the second time with my family, this time in a theatre that was jam packed, I fell in love with the movie. And that love, admiration is only increasing with every repeat viewing.

Visually, this moving is stunning. Words can't really describe the experience, you need to watch it to feel it. Yes, it has inspirations drawn, so did the greatest of visually stunning movies like Avatar. Its about adding your own interpretation to it and S S is a master in that.

You might say there are few things which are hard to digest or unbelievable, well its a fantasy movie and if you see the movie as one, you will not complain.

Rarely do you see such attention to details in movies. You would have noticed the obvious scenes like the opening credit or the chariot crash scene. But I will mention these 2 scenes where such detailing wasn't required but goes on show how much effort has been put in.

1. The angry elephant - agreed its VFX, but it could have been a simple elephant. But observe the detailing on the elephant, the ornaments and the other accessories it has on. This is serious detailing, not lazy filmmaking.

2. The scene when Mahendra Baahubali reaches on the roof of Mahishmathi palace using palm tree (remember... its a fantasy film). Notice the scene where Prabhas is running and observe the detailing in the background.

This is serious filmmaking, passionate filmmaking. More power to you director saab!!

Special mention to M M Keeravani's background score. One of the best I've heard, me and my 8 year old keep humming the score. It stays with you well after you've finished watching the movie. Pity, they haven't released the BG track separately.

This movie is a must watch!!