anujnaik Reviews

Jawan (2023)

Disappointing !

[2/10 · 8 September 2023]

It's a mismash of several Bollywood Tollywood flicks of the 70s 80s 90s. A little bit of sholay, a pinch of Aakhri Raasta, an entire flashback copied from dharti putra, and the basic theme of Kamla Hasan's Hindustani. The final product is bad. Atlee has had no control over the direction here. But Shahrukh shines and so does Deepika in her cameo appearance. The music is shockingly disappointing.

Well we aren't actually known for being originals but then how much it copy paste can one indulge into ? And there are so many characters that it's difficult to give enough or equal footage. The characterisation is so bad.

NTR Kathanayakudu (2019)

Worth a watch : brilliant biopic

[8/10 · 9 January 2019]

NTR KATHANAYAKUDU

This comprehensive biopic chronicles the life and times of Telugu superstar NTR aka Rama Rao who ruled the Telugu cinema as a lead actor for a whopping four decades

The biopic initially focuses on image building by introducing NTR's (Nandamuri Balakrishna) self respecting, righteous and ambitious approach to his personal as well as professional lives. How he quits a stable Govt job and relocated to Madras to pursue his dream, starts with inconsequential character roles and on the sheer power of hard work and audience love he skyrockets to superstardom. The movie deals with the personal and career events in NTR's life from 1947-1985 including his bold and daring angst against the infamous emergency period in India.

Director Krish Jagarlamudy does a fine job considering the Herculean task he was assigned to depict the larger than life gigantic persona of NTR.

Nandamuri Balakrishna reprising his father NTR is a delight to watch, he has inherently portrayed the mannerisms, dialogue delivery, personality traits of his late father in perfect sync. Sumanth playing Akkineni Nageshwara Rao does a brilliant job. Prakash Raj, Sachin Khedekar, Murali Sharma are disappointing. Notable cameos include Jisshu Sengupta as LV Prasad and Ravi Kissen as Ravikant Nagaich, both are brilliant.

Vidya Balan breathes grace and warmth in her portrayal of NTR's wife Basavatarakam. Nithya Menon is impressive in a brief role as the doomed star Savithri. Eye candy appealing cameos include Hansika Motwani as Jayaprada and Rakulpreet as Sridevi.

NTR's bold persona and his commitment to his work is showcased well for instance he played triple roles of Krishna,Karna and Duryodhan in a mythological, how he ensures to complete his movie shooting even after hearing about his teenage son's death, his daring face off with the prime minister(Supriya Matkari),all these events only add to his intriguing persona on and off screen.

Except for a running time of nearly 3 hours there seems to be no other hindrance noticeable in this brilliantly conceived biopic of a superstar who hasn't faded from the memories of his followers over the years.

Simmba (2018)

Simmba- revisiting the good old 90's with Shetty Flavour

[7/10 · 28 December 2018]

SIMMBA

Director : Rohit Shetty

Witness yet another commercial potboiler by "Rohit Shetty and Team"(that's how he credits it) wherein you need leave your brain as well as basic logic at home and sit with a bucket of 🍿 to be bombarded with a heavy dosage of action, comedy and oodles of melodrama.

The movie is centred around a corrupt cop Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba(Ranveer Singh) who accepts bribe at the drop of a hat, protects criminals and is as good as a pet loyal dog to the local don (Sonu Sood) who along with his brothers runs a drug mafia business using a pub as the centre and children as drug carriers. A heinous crime involving the brutal gangrape and murder of a teacher (Vaidehi Parashurami) brings a complete transformation in Simmba who turns righteous overnight and fights for justice.

Rohit Shetty is best known for mindless yet profit earning propositions like the Singham and Golmaal franchise. Simbba is also high on the commercial entertainer parameter with a heavy dose of Shetty trademark action sequences bordering on violence and the stereotypical Bollywood comedy. Shetty also uses the feminist angle to woo the audiences this time. Technically it's extremely poor with highly disappointing remixes, lacklustre screenplay and editing. Action is definitely the upper selling point here.

Ranveer Singh mouths dialogues exactly the way he did whilst playing Bajirao, yet one must applaud this actor for having the ability to display multiple expressions in a few nano seconds, he's there in every frame and fits the character perfectly. Ashutosh Rana is marvellous and a delight to watch playing an honest middle aged constable. Sonu Sood frowns and flexes his biceps to justify his villainous streak. The comedy angle is taken care of by Siddharth Jadhav, Vijay Patkar and other actors playing the constables. Vipin Sharma, Uday Tikekar are cast in regular corrupt politician roles and they ham through their acts. Special mention of actor Nandu Madhav who plays his part really well.

Vaidehi Parashurami is excellent, The gorgeous Sara Ali Khan is wasted in a blink and miss kind of role yet she is pleasant to watch. There is an entire Mahila Morcha brigade in the movie comprising Suchitra Bandekar, Sulabha Arya, Neha Mahajan and others. Ever irritating Ashwini Kalshekar yet again overacts and is too loud.

What works is an reliable lead actor who very sincerely carries the movie on his strong shoulders and the heavy dosage of action comedy that can easily cater to the audiences. What doesn't work would be a hackneyed storyline that resembles 90's movies which dealt with the "rape and revenge" theme and the dramatic melodrama that may not go down well with the millennial audience. Overall Rohit Shetty has a confirmed winner on the cards.

Sanju (2018)

Glorifying the superstar : SANJU

[5/10 · 29 June 2018]

SPOILER: SANJU - (2018)

Directed by : Rajkumar Hirani

A much publicised , over hyped and overtly dramatised biopic of the official "bad boy" of Bollywood - Sanjay Dutt. An eminent film maker like Hirani chronicles the life and times of Dutt through his biased bioscope lenses !

The biopic deals with Dutt's drug addiction, his involvement in the 1992-93 Bombay bomb blasts and his time spent in the jail. Throughout the biopic Dutt is projected as the proverbial victim, it's unfortunate that a director of Hirani's caliber who has directed such classics like Munnabhai MBBS (2003), Lage Raho MunnaBhai (2006) and 3 idiots (2009) has disappointed with his favourite hero's biopic. In an desperate attempt to super glorify Dutt's gigantic blunders Hirani fails in uplifting his film, this is undoubtedly his weakest film till date in terms of conceptualisation and story telling.

Very recently we had former Indian cricket player Mohammed Azharuddin trying to prove to the world that he's no lesser than a Saint with the super flop biopic Azhar (2016), there is not much difference here as well, except perhaps Hirani's movie is made on a skyrocketed budget and higher scale with bigger stars. Hirani unabashedly blames the media for sensationalising Dutt's involvement in possessing the AK-56(?) and gives him a clean chit in the entire Blast case, so basically the Law and Order, the media and everybody else was framing an innocent actor in this issue, that's what this biopic tries very hard to convey, sad but true ! Sorry Hirani you've disappointed big time.

Ranbir Kapoor is extraordinarily fantastic in the titular role, what a brilliant performance, he easily slips into the various stages of Dutt's controversial life from 1980-2015, Kapoor proves he's one of the best actors our country has at the moment. Comparatively Paresh Rawal is miscast as Senior Dutt, his portrayal lacks the authenticity that is visible in Kapoor's. Vicky Kaushal is earnest in a slightly half baked one dimensional role as Dutt's close confidante. Jim Sarbh hams and that accent gyrates on the nerves.

Anushka Sharma flaunts a visibly disgusting duck pout and is best ignored as an NRI author who's penning Dutt's biography. Sonam Kapoor's high pitched grunts resembling a pig are a torture to frail eardrums, her quest to find the penguin studded Mangalsutra leaves you pulling your hair in disgust. Two women who stand out even in brief appearances are Manisha Koirala ( as Nargis Dutt) who infuses grace and poignance in her role of the cancer battling ailing mother, and Dia Mirza ( as Manyaata) is sincere and impressive as the supportive selfless wife.

Music is quite okay and the songs do not disrupt the flow of the movie, 'Main Badhiya' is passable but 'Ruby Ruby' grooves and stays along( picturised on an disinterested Sonam) but the best song is 'Kar Har Maidan Fateh' sung in his inimitable style by Sukhwinder Singh and supported by Shreya Ghoshal ( The poignant and inspiring picturisation on Kapoor & Koirala leaves you spell bound).

Overall a mixed response to this unimaginably hyped film which is let down by the director's loyal yet biased attempt to glorify and project the Actor as an helpless victim, when you are directing a biopic it gets more credibility when you are honest & sincere in the attempt rather than misleading or misrepresenting the facts with dramatised fiction. The only saving grace is the exceptional performance by the lead actor who breathes authenticity and perfection in his portrayal of the "Bollywood Bad Brat- Sanju".