Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Movie Review of 'Raajneeti' - Hindi

It's been a long time I wrote a movie review. I did see lot of movies in these time but no movie appealed me to actually write a review. Ofcourse Avatar in Imax 3D was a blissful experience and Vinnai Thaandi Varuvayaa in Tamil was good.

I saw Raavanan in Tamil but was disappointed with the movie. The reviews that I am reading on the net also concludes the fact Raavanan is not for common man. It is for intellectuals or who have more imaginative powers. I decided I have to forgo my review on Raavanan. 
Next movie was Raajneeti. After contemplating whether to see it or not during the past weeks finally went for it last Sunday. I must say I liked the movie from start. Though it had lines of Mahabharata the movie is not entirely on the great epic. Prakash Jha has used the Mahabharata sequences whenever he felt he needs to use. 

The casting is superb and everyone excels in their role. I should say Manoj Bajpai has made a comeback. He is not like the usual Manoj as we have seen him in earlier films. Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Katrina and all other have done a neat job. Ranbir Kapoor needs a special mention here as he is the backbone of this film. He has done a great job as Samar. His acting is matured and his calmness in the character proves he can handle meaty characters too. 

It's politics and what you see in the screen is the hunger for Power, Love and Winning at any cost. Its about winning an election at any cost for the biggest party in the state. The drama is set in a family of 2 brothers who control the regional political party and when the big brother is paralyzed the family feud is set. The war for winning the elections goes around the family and their members. It's like a Chess game. It was thrilling to see the see-saw nature of game as in one sequence Manoj/Ajay get upper hand and in the next Ranbir/Nana get upper hand.  The plans & plot to win over each other is neatly presented or well stacked. 

However I must say the film heavily relies on Ranbir Kapoor. Ranbir tries to do a Michael Corleone but fails. There is a long way to go for Ranbir! 

My rating for this movie is 3 star out of 5.

Rating Details:
***** - Classic & Outstanding.
**** - Must Watch. Don't Miss!
*** - Good Movie. Watch it.
** - Watch it only if you really want to.
* - Not worth your money.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Movie Review of 'Ishqiya' - Hindi

On rare occasions you get to watch a great Hindi film and this time its undoubtedly 'Ishqiya'. The movie is wonderful. There is no hype or no fake things or no exotic locations or no cheap comedy. The events are almost real. It's a true hollywood style desi film, what I mean is it's a complete desi film made in hollywood style. The movie runs about only 1 hr 50 min or so but the journey Ishqiya takes us is exciting.

The success of this movie also tells us that if you have a good plot and a story there is no need for hype or big budget. I was watching the Nokia Screen awards later in the day when Javed Akhtar insisted upon how important is the script and story of Hindi films. Ishqiya is a clean winner on this count. 

The next thing is ensemble cast. The cast in Ishqiya is terrific. Naseerudin Shah, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan and all the other supporting actors have done a tremendous job. The characters are alive on the screen and we anticipate the next move from every character. The story flows like a steady stream of water and there are twists that will make you look up or sit up. 

The music, the screenplay, editing and all other technical areas are good making this movie thoroughly enjoyable.

My rating for this movie is 4.5 star out of 5.

Rating Details:
***** - Classic & Outstanding.
**** - Must Watch. Don't Miss!
*** - Good Movie. Watch it.
** - Watch it only if you really want to.
* - Not worth your money.