Karan Johar

GOOD NEWWZ

December 31, 2019

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The new age Hindi Film makers are unafraid to take the risk and touch subjects that not many would be comfortable in discussing openly. So now we have movies that talks about Erectile Dysfunction, Sperm Donor, LGBT and the latest being the one on Infertility and IVF!!

Good Newwz is a about two couple: one is ultra-swish played by Kareena Kapoor Khan and Akshay Kumar who are both career driven and now on their pursuit to have that elusive pregnancy and then there is another couple Diljeet Dosanj and Kiara Advani who play this naïve, out and loud couple from the land of the Bhangara i.e. Chandigarh. There is also a third couple who run the IVF Centre played by Adil Hussain and Tisca Chopra.

The couples land at the same IVF Centre and the wife’s are finally able to conceive albeit with the sperm of the other’s husband. So we have Kareena impregnated with Diljeet Dosanj’s spam and Kiara with the sperm of Akshay Kumar and the confusion that follows.

There are some really funny moments about couples timing their copulation with that of the ovulation cycle and trying to make the best of the short interval that they have. Some of the dialogues are crackling and leave you in splits. The confusion after the sperm exchange is fun in bits and pieces.

In all the plot is pretty wafer thin and we know where it’s going to lead. The lead couples are in top form. Kareena and Diljeet can we see you more often, Akshay please get out of your patriotic phase and act in some out and out comedy and Kiara keep doing what you are doing because you are fabulous.

While watching this film I couldn’t help but wonder how a manager at an automobile showroom with a journalist wife manages to have the flat that they have in Mumbai and the lifestyle that they live. This I am talking about Akshay and Kareena and then I realised it’s a Karan Johar film; no one is ever poor and not dressed to the hilt.

Despite some great scenes and funny first half the second half turns a little dramatic although luckily melodrama isn’t there but kind of drags a little longer than is required. The songs too seemed forced with the overplaying of the Punjabi music.

While you take a call on the above film, do remember to visit INDIRA IVF in case of any fertility related issues and not suffer goof-up bcoz they are the only lab in India with #RIWITNESS Technology !!

SOTY2

May 14, 2019

After the disastrous movie outing last week for Avengers : Endgame last nite it was for another movie franchise i.e. Student of The Year 2 !!

The first edition of Student of the Year was irreverent, cool and enjoyable. It had great music and launched three actors that continue to blaze in the Indian Film Industry ever since. They were raw then but definitely on the threshold of leaving a mark for themselves. It had a great supporting cast with the super funny gay principal played with ease by Rishi Kapoor who had feeling for his sports teacher The competitions in the race to the coveted Student of the Year trophy were stupid, foolish but were definitely fun to watch. . It was about 2 boys and a girl and had super gloss and sheen!!

On the another hand SOTY 2 is about getting a director from the Dharma Production stable to match up to his bosses version. The story is what u get when mix SOTY with Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar in a blender and you end up making a unpalatable blend. SOTY2 launches three new actors: Aditya Seal, Ananya Pandey and Tara Sutaria. None of them have the oomph and screen presence of the previous lead actors. Ok a little points can be given to Ananya Pandey but that’s it and then we have The Tiger Shroff- whose body, his dancing skills and his Parkour expertise have been on display in previous movies too. Confession time: this is my first Tiger Shroff movie ever.

I am like: ठीक है नाच लिए, कपडे उतार दिए, कूद लिए लेकिन थोडा एंटरटेनमेंट भी करा तो इस ढाई घंटों में, which was nowhere in sight. Dharma Productions is now all about LGBT rights and characters but इतने cliché character डालने ज़रोरी हैं क्या ?? Gul Panag as a Lesbian Sports Teacher is completely waster. I am sure Dharma Productions can do better and Samir Soni as the Principal !! क्यूँ पर क्यूँ ?? कम बजट में बनाने को बोला होगा लेकिन डायरेक्टर साब थोड़े तो better actors ले लेते ??

This film franchise is about coolness and youth but having Kabbadi is like catering to the least common denominator. इतनी कबड्डी ऐसे prestigious competition के लिए कौन खिलाता है?? और एक बात बताना तो भूल गया मैं, पूरी फिल्म में सिर्फ एक ही गाना अच्छा है वोह भी पंचमदा के सौजन्य से !!

So you have read my complaints and if you still watch this film then I do not know you !!

DHADAK

July 20, 2018

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This movie had everything going from it from its inception namely:

It was the launch vehicle of new kids on the block i.e. Late Sridevi & Boney Kapoor’s daughter – Jhanvi and the Stepbrother of Shahid Kapoor – Ishaan Khatar.
It was produced by one of my favourite Production Houses i.e. Karan Johar’s Dharma Production.
It was a remake of the highly acclaimed Marathi Film – Sairaat.
The promos looked fabulous, well all big budget production house films have excelled in this front.
It was based and shot in my UDAIPUR which was recently voted as the 3^rd best city in the world.

For us the movie aficionados it was all the reasons to watch this one First Day First Show, after all didn’t want the other reviews to cloud my judgement about DHADAK.

The plot is about this lead pair who while studying in college flirt and fall in love much to the despair of both the families as the girl is a royalty from ‘UNCHI JAATI’. The first half is all about these innocent flirtations building up to the point where they caught and eventually run away from Udaipur far away from the families’ wrath all this happens before the interval. The second half is about them restarting and building their life in a new city and culminating into a climax that is shocking.

The movie touches many themes such as Casteism, Rajasthan’s erstwhile Rulers adapting to new India – being part of Democracy / Electoral Politics and Honour Killing. The songs are great but they seemed forced in the movie, I mean haven’t Dharma Productions heard of the concept of songs as a medium of taking the story forward. This is the least that can be expected from them.

The first half is engaging as we have actual young actors playing out as students and not some 30+ and Udaipur is shown in all its glory. Then second half is all downhill after that nothing seems to be happening to keep me engaged. Ishaan Khattar stands out as innocent naïve one of the pair while Jhanvi has shades of her mother but she definitely has a long way to go. Someone also please tell Ashutosh Rana to act in films in which he is not always angry.

Another jarring point as a native of Udaipur is that Rajasthan is not always to be equated with desert that is just in the north western part of Rajasthan, like that the filmmakers tried showing in the opening sequence. We love our kachoris, ghewar and churma but an eating competition is way tooooo stereotyping!! And where did the dialect come from?? There is no one standard Rajasthani that is spoken in my state, what we speak in Udaipur is Mewari which definitely doesn’t sound like it has been spoken in the film. All the above stereotyping would have been forgotten only if the movie was entertaining.

If you are interested in watching a movie on honour killing I would recommend Qayamt se Qayamat Tak or Sairaat if you have Netflix (I for one is soon watching it) instead. This film is about the heartbeat but the heart is definitely missing for it is lost somewhere in the adaption stage.

Bahubali – The Conclusion

April 29, 2017

Yesterday when I entered the cinemas it was buzzing with activity after a long-long time, the serpentine queues, the people waiting, the rush at the food counter and the restrooms. I guess it’s the true testimony of the fact that there was a huge positivity about Bahubali. There was not a single seat empty for even a 6.30 pm show.

And then the spectacular visual treat began; the movie had me at hello- so to say!! The opening sequence set the tone for the movie and must add it kept getting bigger, better and meaner. The plot is the classic sibling rivalry and the machiavellian ways of the Royal Kingdom of Maheshmati. But the credit must be given to the director for not letting the viewer feel bored or inattentive even for a minute in this 3 hour long epic saga.

The sets, costumes and emotions were 2*(Sanjay Leela Bhansali), the battle scenes and the methods shown were edge of the seat extravaganza. The gravity defying, engineering ideas are seen to be believed. Yes sometimes it did seem impossible but having grown up watching things far worse who’s complaining. The Bull Run, the Coronation, the Battle sequences can give any Hollywood movies run for its money.

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But the movie belonged to Bahubali- Prabhas: the sheer strength, physicality and masculinity that he oozes is commendable. It’s impossible to imagine anyone else other than him as Bahubali. The supporting cast of the plot be it Anoshka Shetty as Devsena, Rana Daggubati as Bhalaldeva , Ramya as Shivgami and the indomitable Kattappa lifts the movie with their presence and acting prowess.

Only thing that doesn’t work (if it matters) like its prequel is the music maybe the movie of this scale need a Music Director only like A.R. Rahman.

No I am not going to reveal why Kattappa killed Bahubali for that whatsapp clip is already doing the rounds. Go watch the movie and get transported to The Kingdom of Maheshmati!!

Badrinath Ki Dulhania

March 13, 2017

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This is the latest rom-com from Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions featuring his find Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt and another ‘Dulhania’ series after the earlier Humpty Sharma.

So the story is based in small town Kota and Jhansi (what’s with the fascination with small town) and about a simpleton Varun Dhawan and a free thinking career focussed with dreams Alia Bhatt, their families , customs, dowry , premium on male progeny and likes. Whereas Varun Dhawan wants to marry, our heroine has other plans.

For a rom-com this movie for me neither had romance nor comedy, everything was just nice nothing great. With completely avoidable songs barring the now mandatory club and the end credits songs.

Watch the movie only for the earnest performance of the lead pair and the hero’s Best Friend Somdev. The movie could have been shorter by at least 20 minutes; by the end of the movie my son who seldom watches movies in theatre was bored to death.

I have been to Kota only once in my life time and it was nowhere close to the sanitised/ beautiful version they show in the film. Humpty Sharma was going after his Dulhania following the hit formulae of DDLJ but alas Badrinath didn’t have the same to fall back upon and succeed and entertain.

For me the Badrinath the Groom and Vaidehi his Dulhania are best left alone to themselves for some fun and frolic.

Disclaimer : No one needs to watch or not to watch a movie according to my reviews. Just because I spend few hundreds don’t give me the right to put down efforts of numerous man-hours and Crores of the team behind the movies.

But opinionated as I am will certainly publish this as well !!