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Reviews
Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2022)
Tamil movies are all about cast cast and cast..
Didn't watch the trailer but found it on Amazon prime so started watching it for Simbu, but the movie has zero freshness with the age old story of Tamil movies, this movie is also about the casteism, now it's High time for Tamil directors to think something new they just make cast oppression movies every now and then. The cast, however is good with Simbu and Radhika Sarathkumar did their roles decently, but the BGM was disappointing and after 20 minutes you will start thinking that you have watched similar thing so many times. The climax too is dragged and nonsense. The direction of Gautham Menon is just ok and not great. AR Rahman's music is a big disappointment.
Dil Ka Rishta (2003)
Underrated
Dil ka rishta is an extremely underrated movie with an amazing cast of Aishwarya, Arjun Rampal, Paresh Rawal and Rakhi Gulzar and worth mentioning special appearance by Priyanshu Chaterjee. Though the movie was released in 2003 but it has all the components of the 90s cinema. The music of Nadeem Shravan was beautiful, especially Dil churale and the title song. Arjun Rampal and Aishwarya Rai both did a decent job. Arjun Rampal looked so handsome and Priyanshu Chatterjee was phenomenal in his special screen time, the movie is more tragic than romance and sensitive in various aspects. Overall a good family emotional drama, give it a try it will not disappoint you.
Jhund (2022)
Jhand
I have watched some Marathi movies directed by Manjule (especially sairat)and appreciated the simplicity and story telling of him, however Jhund is a lazy attempt of glorifying Dalits in the name of movie, the biggest drawback of the movie is the narrations which is slow and confusing. Amitabh bachan looks like his pale shadow as a main protagonist and on top of that the too much of Jai bhim starts irritating viewers at one point when it looks like watching the celebration of Ambedkar jayanti rather than a good cinema. The screenplay is tired and seems like we already have watched the same in many sport dramas. Manjule should exclude his agenda while making meaningful cinema, the hidden agendas don't go well with the art of story telling.
Rakshak (1996)
Zaalim Jahan Berang Hai....
Rakshak is one of my top four favourite action movies of all time the other being Telugu movies, Samba, Aravinda Sametha and Vikramarkudu but Rakshak is on top. The story of the movie is unpredictable and credit goes to the great Raghuvaran for his portrayal of a frustrated man to a dreaded antagonist. To build up the character of main protagonist you need a great villain too and here in Rakshak, Raghuvaran gave his one of the best performances with incredible voice modulation. I believe the movie should have been certified adult pertaining to the raunchy sequences between Sunil and Karishma and brutal scenes. The action was one of the best of the 90s. In acting Raghuvaran was above par, Sunil Shetty was brilliant in action and emotion both. Karishma and Sonali both looked beautiful, however the show was stolen by Raveena Tandon with the chartbuster like Shahar ki ladki. The music by Anand Milind was superhit and topped the charts back then in 1996 with songs like Shahar ki ladki, kuchi kuchi and Sundara sundara but the most soulful song was rendered by The great SP Balu sir Zalim jahan Berang hai. Among supporting casts Aruna Irani was phenomenal and Mushtak khan was decent. Overall Rakshak was a bang for the buck in 1996 with superhit music, breathtaking action, some brilliant performances and a decent story.
Vinashak - Destroyer (1998)
Ahead of 90s usual action movies
Sunil Shetty debuted in 1992 with Raju Mawani's Balwan and didn't look back after that, however 1995 - 96 weren't really good for him though Rakshak and Krishna became hit in 96 but in 1997 he gave blockbuster like border (he got accolades for his performance in Border )and hit like Bhai and post border he took his acting seriously and the improvement can be seen in vinashak especially in emotional scenes. Strongest point of Vinashak is it's story itself which was written by Raj Kumar Santoshi. Sunil Shetty was impeccable as a cop Arjun Singh while Ravina had to look sexy and she looked too, Dany and his henchman Mukesh Rishi were phenomenal in the movie, Mohan Joshi, Shivaji Satam,Satyen Kapu and Harish Patel all have brief roles. Om Puri was good as inspector Khan. The action sequences were pretty good and breathtaking. The music of Viju Shah was just average except the title song by Amit Kumar.
Cadaver (2022)
A poignant thriller..
I recently watched Cadaver and to my observation the movie is one of a kind, we have watched horror thriller, suspence thriller, action thriller, romantic thriller and thriller comedies more often, however contrary to all thriller categories, cadaver is a poignant thriller that not only thrills you but drains you emotionally too. I have always been a fan of Amla Paul and she did a brave and commendable job as Forensic pathologist Bhadra. The direction and cinematography are top notch and while watching the movie at one point you may think that the movie is becoming predictable but the last twist in the movie was completely unexpected. My all praises to Amala Paul to choose such a story and to carry out a role of main protagonist as a tilak clad Brahmin lady beautifully that too in a Tamil movie where all the movies are usually focused to bash Brahmins. Overall a great watch.
Konda Polam (2021)
Gritty and Poignant tele of Shepherds
I recently watched Konda Polam on Amazon Prime and I would say that it's one of the best made movie by tollywood in recent times. The movie successfully bridges the gap between commercial and art movies. The movie is a poignant tele of shepherds and their extremely difficult life. Amongst the main caste Vaishna Tej has done phenomenal job and Rakul Preet looked nice in village girl role. In supporting caste Kota Srinivas Rao,Ravi Prakash and Sai Chand did a decent job. Music by MM Keeravani garu is great especially Obulamma song is beautiful and poetic. Cinematography and visuals are so effective that they lead the viewers to a different world of Shepherds and their difficult lives.
BhamaKalapam (2022)
A great satire on religious blindness
Bhamakalapam is thoroughly entertaining and gripping crime thriller and its a great satire on religious blindness especially among people of Andhra. Among the cast Priyamani did a commendable job and after Nayantara, Priyamani too can handle movie on her own shoulder. Supporting cast have done a decent job also, some people might blame the movie for mocking some religions specifically, but it doesn't mock any religion it only points out that how, religious blindness can be harmful to the society. The movie is even more opt on today's Andhra Pradesh. I encourage people to watch this movie it is thoroughly engaging and gripping. Priyamani has delivered her best performance.
Guduputani (2021)
Crap movie with no morals.
Guduputani is a big crap, I only watched it for Saptagiri but even he couldn't manage to pull off this mess. BGM is good but direction is extremely poor and lackadaisical approach is carried out by all the supportive staff also. Film is promoted as a comedy thriller, however it neither thrills nor entertains. The storyline is paper thin and wasn't executed well by the makers. The dream sequence scene of sapthagiri including goddess Lakshmi is obnoxious and irritating followed by the item song which is even more pathetic. Overall Guduputani is one nore irritating low budget Tollywood movie that fails to entertain big time.
Dobaaraa (2022)
One more trash by Anurag kashyap and Tapsi pinto
It's a poor adaptation of Spanish movie Mirage. The remake failed badly with its Indian adaptation. It seems like Anurag kashyap is following the path of Ram Gopal Verma and started making movies just for fun and to inject his propaganda. Tapsi pinto is Highly overrated actress with just 2 or 3 expressions. The main protagonist's role in Mirage was played brilliantly by Adriana Ugarte but Tapsi sucked it big time, better they should have casted abetter actress like Radika Apte or Sai Pallavi. No wonder the movie became disaster at box office.
Us-Paar (1974)
Minimal yet beautiful
Us Paar is perhaps the only movie of The great Basu Chatterjee, that has a sad ending. The movie certainly is an underrated classic lies between the commercial and art movies. Moushami Chatterjee looks so cute and refreshing while Vinod Mehra did his job beautifully. SD Burman's music is top notch especially Ye jab se hui jiyaa ki chori sang by Lata Mangeshkar is my all time favourite.
777 Charlie (2022)
Heartwarming
After a lot of anticipation l, I finally watched 777 Charlie on Voot. It's hilarious, emotional and onee of its kind. Rakshit Shetty is setting an example again and again, when it comes to experimentation he is second to none. I can say that if you are not a dog lover, after watching this movie you will probably end up getting one.
Shamshera (2022)
Shame shera....
Ranbir Kapoor riding horse in yellow tinged background, this is all about the screenplay of shamshera. Extremely dragged, cliched and boring movie. The movie resembles a lot to the typical 80s dacoit movies. The plot also has some similarities with Veer (2009). The movie lacks originality in most of its part. We have seen Sanjay dutt a lot in such roles. Vani Kapoor is as usual just a show piece.
Cold Case (2021)
Classical Murder mystery
I recently watched this movie on Prime videos, initially I was a bit sceptical to watch it owing to the average IMDB rating but it ended up to be a highly engaging and entertaining movie. Especially the investigation part that also includes Forensic odontology was phenomenal.
Baaram (2018)
One more cliched Tamil caste oppression drama.
I have no idea why Tamil directors are too obsessed with caste oppression subjects. Even in the story of Baaram that doesn't demand any caste based depiction but director cleverly incorporated his agenda in a rather subtle way. The movie is too long and dragged at some point. Cinematography is dull.
Deyyam (1996)
Scarry
Ram Gopal Verma has always impressed me in horror genre. Deyyam is one of his prolific horror movies of the 90s. The story is simple as it usually goes with most of the horror movies but the locations, execution, cinematography and top notch performances by leading actors (especially Jayasudha) is phenomenal. The unusual camera angles keep building the tension in viewers mind. It's certainly not better that Raat (1992) but this is actually nice and underrated work of RGV.
Shaque (1976)
Almost classic
Shaque is a decent suspense thriller with its class elements. Thriller part of the movie may not thrill people of today's generation, but comparing the melodrama, revenge and lost and found movies of 70s, shaque shines with its realistic charm of 70s Mumbai and subtle but effective performances by Vinod Khanna, Shabana Azmi and Utpal Dutt.
Writer (2021)
Obsession of Tamil Directors with cast oppression drama continues .
Tamil movie directors are too much obsessed with caste oppression subjects so this is just a continuation of it,needles to say what you can expect with these kind of movies.
The movie itself is too dull and dragged with extremely slow paced screenplay. BGM is good .
Virata Parvam (2022)
Worst so far...
One of the biggest low of Telugu film Industry. A completely outdated communist plot which is forgotten and not relevant in Telugu states. Sai pallavi played and looked almost similar in all of her movies,she is highly overrated. Rana Daggubati has no expressions at all and only suited to larger than life narratives like Bahubali.
Chhapaak (2020)
Disappointing
Deepika's acting is the biggest let down of the movie. Direction and screenplay was ok, but this type of sensitive and challenging story should have dealt in a better way.
Kabir Singh (2019)
Don't watch if you have already watched Arjun reddy
Shahid kapoor tried hard to imitate vijay deverakonda but failed to impress. Vijay deverakonda was brilliant. Kiara Adwani looks too artificial and fake in comparison of shalini. Overall Kabir singh is just third grade Arjun Reddy.