Tag: anil kapoor
Ek Ladki ko dekha to Aisa Laga (2019)
Director Shelly Chopra Dhar sensitively presents a love story from many perspectives, leaving you to make your own mind.
Sonam Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao get tangled in a fictional reality which leads them to their individual truths. Anil Kapoor is in brilliant form and Juhi Chawla still has perfect comic timing. We get some genuine humour from Seema Bhargav Pahwa and Brijendra Kala.
Short and sweet, it leaves you with many memorable scenes and lines.
3/5
Veere di wedding (2018)
Director Shashanka Ghosh has presented a fun filled film of four friends, who are there for each other through thick and thin.
The backdrop of course, was a wedding, which reveals many realities of Delhi and the prejudices and workings of typical Indian society. There are a few emotional moments, many laugh out loud scenes and nice songs which make the two hour length perfect for the content.
Played well by Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania (who was my favourite), they portray their individual personalities fully, showing the audience how people can be their authentic selves, how friends can let their hair down with each other and share intimate details. A stellar supporting cast adds the required comic and dramatic touch to the proceedings.
A must watch at a time when we need to chill and not take everything seriously.
3/5
Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)
It’s holiday time and the destination is ‘human relationships’. The ever falling and rising of the waves and changing landscapes mirror the complex weave of the Mehra family, who take us on a cruise which turns inward.
At 170 minutes it prepares you for the long haul but it doesn’t seem so. You have a back ground score which relaxes the tension, you have characters which are developed to a depth and breadth rarely seen and you have an adorable narrator.
Having played Ranveer’s beau in Gunday, Priyanka has beautifully transitioned as his sibling in this film. Not only is she sensitive and understated but powerful as well. Ranveer plays the young under achiever with abandon, while Anil Kapoor the male chauvinist and Shefali his silently suffering, Delhi society wife. The family is a reflection of a typical wealthy North Indian set up, but there is much more substance. Not about designer wear or artificial projection of wealth, but classy, elegant and focusing on the issues that lie within.
We have Farhan, Anushka, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab providing able support, amongst a host of other characters. But it is the story and writing (by Zoya, Farhan and Javed Akhtar) that deserves special mention. From tense to chill out to comedy to love, they excel in all (pun intended).
The feelings of love are rekindled, romance is handled in a fresh light. Vulnerability is shown differently and so is the breakdown of relationships and the consequent mending. Nothing seems forced or farcical, it’s real family drama which you get to witness at a leisurely but not boring pace.
The film is rich visually, sweeping views which are breathtaking. Director Zoya Akhtar should take a bow for handling such a complex drama, while presenting it lightly and giving ample development to all her key characters and making the film about the contemporary family.
The one shot ‘gallan goodiyaan’ song is my favourite 🙂
4/5
Mahabharat (2013)
Director Aman Khan who also made the animated film ‘Krishna’ in 2006 brings us this tale in 2013. The interesting approach was to have the character’s facial features match the actors who were doing their voiceovers. The tale is known to all, but it was compressed well to fit the 2 hour film format, covering all the highlights.
It is very expensive to make good quality animation films, and takes a lot of time. When Hollywood releases such movies, their estimated production budget can be anywhere between $100 – $150 million dollars. The aspect which suffers here is the very unfinished and amateur animation which we are forced to consume. This could very well be a rough draft brief to an animator, but alas, it is the finished product.
There will not be a market big enough for such a film, though ‘Bal Ganesh’ and ‘Ganesha’ were a rage with children. I understand why much money couldn’t be pumped into the film to give it the look it deserved. Close up shots show us major faults and lack of expressions, such important details for an epic like this.
It can be educational for children, but even the stellar voices cannot save the film for adults.
2/5
Movies&Musings 