Airlift Movie: A tragedy well portrayed

#Airlift  #MovieReviews

The movie of the year (so far) is Airlift. Given it is inspired by real incidences from Kuwait-Iraq war, the plot is not a surprise however having said that, it has been portrayed amazingly covering gory details and one can feel it was a terrible time for everyone (well except Iraqis).

The movie revolves around how the Indians, stuck in Kuwait at the time, suffered and survived the attack, The Iraqis armies invaded their homes and they resisted and managed. It also demonstrates the level of politics that has seeped in everywhere and how a government cares so less of its citizens (talking about both countries here, Kuwait and India). Yes, in the end all Indians do come back but you can see the struggle and pain of a common man to make that happen. What surprises me is that Air India did such a noble and commendable job in 1990s and no one mentions it or remembers it. It is a shame!

As we all know, Akshay Kumar is lead of the movie and after his deadly Singh is Bling movie he was due for a good one. His acting is exceptional and no one could have done a better job than him. Don't want to talk about the female lead, it was kind of a weird role. The acting of other people is also good & worth praising. The one actor who really stands out is Prakash Belawadi, he played the role of a cynical old man who is nothing but a complainer. His acting is up to such perfection that you yourself feel like slapping him for all his nuisance - it is commendable.

In terms of cinematography it is fine. Given the plot and motto of movie nothing great was expected.

Overall movie was too good however I am bit disappointed with the ending. The evacuation - the actual 'airlift' happened in a flick. The ending is very disrupt and could have been made much better.

My rating to the movie is 4/5

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy it too.

Cheers and Take Care

Dil Dhadakne Do Movie... My Reviews and Thoughts

#DilDhadkneDo   #MovieReviews

A simple warning: my review contains not a lot but some spoilers. You have been warned :)

Few weeks ago I saw a post saying 'after zindagi na milegi dobara this is another movie where all stars will be seen partying' and it is exactly the same. The movie although starts from Delhi but ends up in Greece.

For starters I didn't find the movie as great as it has been hyped. Characters are very good but story doesn't bind them properly. It stars Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Anushka Sharma, Rahul Bose, Farhaan Akhtar, Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah and Aamir Khan. The screen provides some fresh and unique couples who are not so easy going, all have complicated relations, just like it is predicted for all high class societies.

Talking about characters, the best character is of Ranveer Singh, he clearly stole the show and the heart of his audience. He is the only character who will make you laugh throughout the movie. The next best character, or equivalent is of Aamir Khan, he is the voice of Ranveer's dog Pluto and does wonders in his narration. Priyanka, as usual looks glamorous and beautiful but they could have done a little better with her outfit. Most of them were simply weird. Anushka, Farhaan & Rahul are simply side characters who are crucial but not the important ones, or in other words, could have done with other stars

I also liked the acting of Zarina Wahab. She plays the role of Rahul Bose's mother, Priyanka MIL. Oh God, I am so glad my MIL is not like her. She is shown one hell of a woman who complains all the time and has all sorts of illness, starting from Vertigo to Asthama. I guess she must keep a handbook of illness at hand to state the next one right on time. Its hilarious.

The story revolves around Mehra family and their business 'Ayka' i.e. Ayesha (Priyanka) & Kabir (Ranveer). It is their parents (Anil & Shefali) 30th anniversary and they plan a cruise from Turkey to Greece. One thing which is ironic in this is that Ayka is almost bankrupt, still they go this super-expensive cruise with whole lot of other high class people. At one point it was mentioned that per couple it is around 8000 Euros. It is a lot of money. Anyways... they are a non-loving, almost bankrupt family but still go this cruising trip

A lot happens on the cruise, like Mehra Mama-Papa who are not at all in love, papa always having an affair and mama always criticizing start understanding each other. After years of bickering and unfaithfulness they come to an understanding. Sister Mehra decides to get a divorce because she was forced into the marriage for a business deal and brother Mehra falls in love with a Muslim bar dancer and over-boards the ship to find his true love. All this sound a little cheesy but it is kind of well put in the whole movie. You kind of understand it.

There are various other side stories which fill in the gaps but major is around these four characters.

The music of the show is a little average, usually the songs you expect with such cast movies is great and epic but here they don't do justice, neither do the dance moves. They should have done a better job here

All in all, the movie is one time watch. But if you want to watch it for your all time favourite characters like Rahul Bose, Farhaan Akhtar etc. then it is not worth 400 bucks. My rating 3/5 only due to Ranveer Singh and Pluto

I hope this helps

Till then

Take Care

Welcome 2 Karachi: My Reviews & Thoughts

#welcome2karachi  #myreviews

Note: my review contains not a lot but some spoilers. You have been warned :)

Welcome 2 Karachi is one of those movies that you should go without any expectations. It is a humorous movie which is a typical no-brainer. If you wish to go for a movie which doesn't provoke any deep thoughts but just gives you simple laugh throughout, than this is the movie to watch today. 

Directed by Ashish R. Mohan it stars Arshad Warsi & Jacky Bhagnani and by default Arshad Warsi is the show-stealer. The acting and punches are awesome and there would be some instances where you might find your seat space too small to roll out in laughter.

Arshad (Shammi in the movie) and Jacky (Kedar) are two dim-witted friends who are good for nothing and are simply made of each other (maybe that's why there is no lead actress in the movie). Shammi is ex-navy office who sank a submarine and Kedar is a son of event organizer and is the stupidest man known. 

In the beginning of the movie, Shammi and Kedar find themselves stranded on the beach of Karachi and their journey to India begins from there. Not sure if its true or not, but in the movie every corner of Pakistan is filled with terrorists and guns. 

A big portion of the movie revolves around their escape where they are up against hoodlums, Chief Intelligence - Pakistan (including American dancer Lauren Gottlieb trying to act as a Pakistani), Taliban terrorists, American soldiers and corrupt Pakistan ministers. Their efforts to reach India are fruitless, all the time they are going in circles, picking up all wrong things and finding themselves in trouble always. By the end of the movie they are no close to reaching India, instead they are seen landing into a new trouble. 

There are many scenes in the movie which are undeniably funny, like Arshad Warsi tries to deliver a baby with a vacuum cleaner (inspired by 3-Idiots), where they are hired by Taliban terrorists to bomb India and instead they accidently bomb them, when Arshad Warsi gets emotional over India-Pakistan cricket match and trashes Pakistani players in Pakistan, or when they think they have crossed the border and have reached India, although they have reached only another part of Pakistan (i.e Punjab) or like I fakr (interpretation fu***r) you and many more. It was all hilarious...

After intermission, its starts to feel that they are overdoing a bit, they could have finished the movie much earlier but they introduced a new angle which could have been skipped. However, despite of the fact it felt dragged at some instances, you will not feel the shortage of laughter anywhere. Also, it is one of those movies which is not just funny throughout but also ends on a funny note. I am not sure if I saw anyone stepping out of the theatre who was not laughing

The movie is also a treat for my Gujarati friends, it includes many aspects of Gujarat and also has a song which is partially Gujarati. Another thing, although Kedaar (Gujarati character) is shown exceptionally stupid, but in reality Gujarati's are pretty intelligent.

My rating for the movie, actually for Arshad Warsi : 3/5.

Its likeable and enjoyable

Hope you enjoy it as well

Till then

Take Care

Gabbar is Back... My Reviews & Thoughts...

#Gabbarisback    #Reviews

Finally had the chance to watch Akshay Kumar & Shruti Hassan's starer trending movie... Gabbar is back. Yup it is 2.5 weeks since the release but still decided to write... :)

To start with, it's a remake of a Tamil movie Ramanna and although have not watched Ramanna, I can simply say Krish (the director of Gabbar is back) has done a pretty good job here.

From introductory song till the end it is full masala movie with lot of entertainment value. In some instances it also includes light hearted comedy with some awesome punches which will make you laugh out loud. 

But along with entertainment it addresses a very important issue of Indian society as well, i.e. corruption. The movie revolves around a guy who pledges to encourage youth to stand up and fight against corrupt government & officials. In the movie he takes adverse actions which no one should take, but well, it's just a movie 

Akshay Kumar, who is the most popular teacher in college (only teacher who would ever have extra students in his class ) is secretly running Anti-Corruption cell with his  present and ex students. 5 years ago, a life altering event killed his wife and unborn child, the event was a result of corruption in every fold and today he wants to improve the face of India.

Role of Akshay's wife is played by Kareena, she has guest appearance in a song (Teri Meri Kahaani) and for a change she is looking quite pretty and is doing justification to the role. Usually I find her overacting but in this she did a good job or maybe she didn't get enough chance to overact ;)

Lead actress is played by Shruti Hassan, just like most other movies she is more or less like a pretty face on the screen. Her presence doesn't change any aspect of the movie. But I would definitely like to add, compared to other actresses in bollywood these days, she can act a bit

The villain of the movie Digvijay Patil, played by Suman Talwar is apparently a very popular star in Telugu movies. Umm he must be popular in Telugu movies and yes he did a fine job here but when it comes to villains from South movies, my first preference is Prakash Raj (the lead antagonist in Ajay Devgan starrer Singham movie). 

His favorite dialogue in this movie is "Digvijay Patil is not a name, it's a brand". Saying it once is fine... twice is repetitive but when he repeated it third time I really wished to hit him myself.

I also liked the introductory song 'Warna Gabbar Aa Jayega' and the best dialogue of the movie is, 'Pachaas Pachaas Kos Dur Jabh Koi Rishwat Leta Hai, Toh Sabh Kehte Hain Mat Le Varna, Gabbar Aa Jaaega'. The concept of movie is good and something that India should definitely think about but the scenes and action is way over-rated. I also didn't like the ending of the movie. Its unjustified, death as punishment is banned in India (only to be given in extreme case), some might argue he murdered so many people but he also did help government & police to lengths. Anyways, our Indian movies won't be complete if they don't have some unrealistic nonsense, but apart from this and some exaggerated scenes it is a fine movie. Also given the kind of movies being released these days, it's a pretty decent watch. 

All in all, I would recommend watching this movie with family & friends and I can easily rate it 3.75/5 :)

Hope this helps...

Till then

Take Care