moviezadda11 Reviews

Tevar (2015)

Tevar Movie Review - 'Filmy Bhaagam Bhaag...'

[3/10 · 9 January 2015]

Expectations: Hindi cinema is popularly known for its mass entertaining films with good blending of songs, dance, romance, action and drama. If made perfectly manner these films are loved by both masses and the classes. Filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Manmohan Desai, Yash Chopra and many more have enhanced the level of popular films in our Hindi cinema. Along with the makers these films, mainly work due the star charisma of the main lead actor. Right from the Amitabh Bachchan era to the recent times where senior actors like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan and many more the audience love to see their favorite superstar performing the every aspect of the mass entertaining cinema. These actors along with their star power ride high on the conviction factor, which is highly missing in many of the younger actors from today's generation. Though, one can see a positive spark in actors like Varun Dhawan, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor. These younger actors look promising and if play their cards perfectly might attain the super stardom required for out and out masala entertainers. Arjun Kapoor started his last year, with masala entertainer 'Gunday' followed by blockbuster hit '2 States' and a sweet film 'Finding Fanny'. After such versatile display of talent, Arjun returns back into the masala entertaining zone with his home production 'Tevar'. So let's find out, whether 'Tevar' will add up as a another milestone for Arjun Kapoor to reach his super stardom or might join the long list of bad and weak remakes we have been recently witnessing in the name of popular masala entertainers.

Story: 'Tevar' is the story of a young and daring Kabbadi player Pintoo (Arjun Kapoor), who loves helping people in distress. One day in order to save a stranger Radhika (Sonakshi Sinha), he ends up beating a political gangster Gajendar Singh (Manoj Bajpayee). Later, Pintoo comes to know that Gajendar Singh wants to marry Radhika and has killed her brother too. Pintoo has no other option than to elope with Radhika and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities: The story, despite being an official remake of a Tamil film 'Okkadu', still has many similarities with films like 'R Rajkumar', 'Run' and most importantly Vidyut Jamwal's 'Commando'. The first half starts on the interesting note with the introduction of the characters, especially the track of Arjun Kapoor. As the movie progresses the novelty factor dries out and keeps dragging till the expected climax with lots of repetitive scenes and melodrama. There are some enjoyable scenes like Arjun fighting goons in the streets of Agra, Arjun eloping with Sonakshi, Manoj warning the crowd, Raj Babber questioning Manoj, Arjun-Manoj fight and few more. In spite of lots of stuffs happening the movie fails to catch up to its momentum mainly due to weak screenplay and lethargic length of the film. The movie should have been strictly trimmed down by twenty minutes and some more dramatic scenes should have been inserted as the soul was highly missing in the second half of the film. The camera work by Laxman Utekar is good and gives a colorful feel to the film.

Music & Direction: Music of such types of films has to be popular, but in case of 'Tevar', except for the 'Superman' song none of the songs are popular nor enjoyable. 'Radha Nachegi', 'Madamiyan' and 'Let's Celebrate' could have been avoided. 'Main Nai Jaana' and 'Joganiyan' goes well with the flow of the film. Director Amit Sharma debuts with something which has been seen end numbers of times. He tries hard to add up the small detailing in this film (Kabbadi, small streets, festivals, fairs, dialect, etc.) due to which, despite of being a repetitive product, the film looks fresh in a certain manner. Thanks to the sensibilities of Amit Sharma, 'Tevar' does not end up being another trash in lines of films like 'Action Jackson' or 'Policigiri'. If only would had he focused more on the screenplay along with the length of the film the movie would have ended up being an above average product.

Performances: Arjun Kapoor looks great and has full conviction factor, especially in the action scenes. He needs to get the right types of films and proper directors to explore his hidden talent and potential. Sonakshi Sinha is better than her worst performance in 'Action Jackson' as she has nothing much other than running to do in the film. Manoj Bajpayee is good in his role, but again, it reminds you many of his earlier performances. Raj Babber lends good support. Subratt Dutta is fine in his part. Deepti Naval and Rajesh Sharma are wasted. Shruti Hassan lacks the item girl power.

Final Verdict: So bol meri "FILMI KHOPDI" iss film mein kitna hain Dumb? Dumb? Well, it's not a bad film, but it also has nothing new to offer. The movie works mainly due to the conviction level of Arjun Kapoor with decent support from Manoj Bajpayee and Raj Babber. Though, the stale script, super lengthy duration and predictable story line work against the favor of the film. The movie is like a filmy bhaagam bhaag, where a small kid too knows that everything will happen only in the end of the film and the rest is mostly a waste of time.

Ugly (2013)

Ugly Movie Review - 'Less Distressing...'

[3/10 · 25 December 2014]

Expectations : If only Anuraag Kashyap's debut film'Paanch' would have released at its scheduled time, our Hindi cinema would have experienced a very bold and dark film with some fantastic performance attached to it. Though, he did venture back into this dark territory with his film'No Smoking' followed by'The Girl In Yellow Boots'. Sadly, none of these films worked at the box office and were penned down by many. Years later'No Smoking' had its individual fan following and is considered as one of the darkest films by Anuraag Kashyap, which is loved by all those cinema lovers who love dark and trippy type of films. Anuraag kept sharing the shades of mild darkness in his other films too, but in a moderate manner. His'Gangs Of Wasseypur' was loved by both, classes and masses. Judging by its success, one did not expect Anuraag to come back with a relatively small and dark film'Ugly'. The movie managed to raise the eyeballs at the time of its first promo, but due to several reasons got delayed and finally, after a long gap manages to see the light of theatrical release. So let's find out whether'Ugly' will give us an out and out dark thriller as promised by its maker or end up being another pseudo attempt by this creative director satisfying certain sect of cinema lovers only.

Story : 'Ugly' is story of struggling actor Rahul Kapoor(Rahul Bhat), whose daughter Kali(Anshikaa Shrivastava) gets kidnapped in the busy streets of Mumbai. Without letting his ex-wife Shalini(Tejaswini Kholhapure) know about the kidnapping, Rahul and his friend Chaitanya(Vineet Singh) seeks the help of the police. Shalini's current husband Shoumik Bose(Ronit Roy) is the officer in charge, who feels Rahul and his friend are the ones who have kidnapped Kali. The blame game keeps continuing and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities : The story is one liner, but has plenty of layers and is told with lots of interesting happenings associated with it. The writers find a new way of narrating a thrilling tale and succeeds initially, but as the movie progresses the multiple tracks, start to dilute the flow of the film. Still, scenes like the chase scene, Rahul Bhat lodging a complaint at Girish Kulkarni's police station, Ronit's first interaction with Rahul, Girish interrogating Vineet, Rahul and Vineet's chat in police lock up followed by the powerful climax shot will keep you glued to the silver screen. If only the makers would have known where to stop with the multiple tracks, the impact would have been great. Lot of scenes are over stretched, whereas few tracks demanded more detailing including the change of heart of Rahul Bhat's character towards the finale. One can ignore few other open ended tracks, but Rahul Bhat being the pillar of the film, needed more explanation and justification. It seemed like the writers opened up multiple tracks and suddenly kept shutting down every one of them followed by an impactful ending, which as per them might camouflage the negative points and the loopholes connected to the film. The camera work is just fine, nothing extraordinary. Editing should have been crispier and direct to the point.

Direction : Director Anuraag Kashyap, narrates an interesting and shocking tale which could have been told in a routine manner, instead, he prefers to narrate it in a nonlinear manner with showing the dark side of all the characters associated with the film. He keeps wandering a bit in some parts of the film and indulges few unwanted tracks, but on an overall basis, sums it up with a dark climax.

Performances : Rahul Bhat makes a great comeback and shines out in the emotional scenes. If only his character would have been properly justified in the finale portions the end results would have been more encouraging. Ronit Roy is tough and powerful. He does full justice to his role and adds the much needed coldness in his character. Girish Kulkarni and Vineet Singh have good scenes to display their talent. Tejaswini Kolhapure was fine in her part. Siddhant Kapoor and Surveen Chawla are under used. Anshika does her part with grace. Alia Bhatt in a blink and miss appearance looked cute.

Final Verdict: So bol meri "FILMI KHOPDI" iss film mein kitna hain Dumb? : Dumb? Well, all the Anuraag Kashyap die hard fans along with the ones who love dark and good cinema will definitely love the uglier side of human drama. The darkness, curiosity and performances will keep you engaged throughout the film leading to a hard hitting climax. The ones expecting a lot from their cinematic god(Anuraag Kashyap), might end up getting a bit disappointed as they might hardly find anything new or powerful to cherish their worshipping. The popular cinema lovers would prefer to stay miles away from this type of cinema. The brand name of Anuraag Kashyap is much bigger than the small product like'Ugly', due to which it ends up being less distressing in terms of a dark thriller.

M.A.D: Mad About Dance (2014)

MAD About Dance Movie Review - Slow Dance

[3/10 · 21 August 2014]

Expectations: Dance based films have been one of a favorite genre of our Hindi cinema right from the silent era. One can never forget some great films like 'Kalpana', 'Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje', 'Sargam', 'Nache Mayuri', 'Amrapali' and a few more which were based on classical dancing. 'Disco Dancer' successfully introduced the modern dancing in our Hindi films and we witnessed some great films under this sub genre in the form of 'Taal', 'Dil To Pagal Hain', 'ABCD' and many more. Thanks to the reality based television shows like 'Boogie Woogie', 'Jhakal Dikhla Jaa', 'Nach Baliye', 'Dance India Dance' and few more the modern dancing has attained a great fan following. Thus, in order to capitalize over this fad, actor-director Saahil Prem comes up with his latest film 'M.A.D: Mad About Dance', which is based on the modern day international style of dancing. So let's find out whether 'M.A.D: Mad About Dance' will manage to give us another dance based entertainer, film on the lines of 'ABCD' or might be among those films which along with the lack of star value, lacks highly over its content also.

Story: 'M.A.D: Mad About Dance' is story of Aarav (Saahil Prem), who goes to a small town of Sheffield in UK in order to learn the dance from his idol Caeser (Mark Monero). His friends help him in finding Ceaser, but Aarav fails to impress Ceaser through his dancing skills. This gives rise to an internal competition between Aarav and Ceaser's main lead dancer Henry (Jon Jo). Aarav and his friends start forming their own group and plans to participate against Ceaser and his group and what happens next is what the entire film is all about.

Screenplay & Technicalities: The story has lots of similarities with 'ABCD' and is narrated in a super slow manner, which after a while starts to test your patience level. The writers indulge lots of unwanted tracks and melodrama which dilutes the impact of the dancing scenes. The middle portion just keeps dragging on a never ending note till the final twenty to thirty minutes of the film. It's only in that part where you will enjoy the competition dance followed by the finale dances and the end credits. The drama is very weak and the film has many unwanted tracks along with weak screenplay consisting of back to back over the top type of scenes. The dances too, in most of the parts of the film were non-engaging and lacked the entertainment factor. There are more than dozen loopholes and weak moments due to which your entire interest in the film is lost and if you can survive these, you will witness some brilliant international and national dancing in the finale portions.

Music & Direction: Music in such films has to be essential. Sadly in the case of this film, it fails to create any mark among its viewers.

Saahil Prem comes up with a story idea which is almost similar to 'ABCD', but packaged in an international and youth manner. He also opts out for an outdated pattern of narration, which are super slow and even boring at times. Though, he saves the best for the last which is totally entertaining.

Performances: Saahil Prem looks good and dances well in the finale portions. He is weak in the dramatic portions and lacks the energy level in his character. Amrit Maghera hams to the fullest. Salah Benlemqawanssa is brilliant in his dances, once he enters the film you won't be able to take out your eyes from him. Akhilesh Unnitan, Abhishek Saha, Raashul Tandon lend good support. Jon Jo and Mark Monero are the worst among all others.

Final Verdict: There is a fantastic dumb for everyone who loves to watch some good dance, but only in the last twenty to thirty minutes. In order to witness this, you will have to sit through this never ending film till the finale portions. In short, this dance based film is on the lines of slow dancing, where every step seems same and repetitive, but grabs its momentum only towards the end of the dance.