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“David”… The Good, the Okay, and the Ugly
Just how might Bejoy Nambiar, the director of the tripartite feature David, have convinced a huge star like Vikram to take on what is essentially a supporting actor’s part? (Even if Vikram is the star...
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“Special 26.”… Heist stakes
Based on the two movies he’s made so far, Neeraj Pandey seems to have zeroed in on a niche – spicing up Hollywood genres with based-on-true-events-in-India twists. If A Wednesday! was an update on the...
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“Jolly LLB”… Must love underdogs
A thickly moustached Saurabh Shukla is a riot as the long-suffering Judge Tripathi in Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB. He presides over borderline surreal cases like the one involving two music directors...
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“Mere Dad Ki Maruti”… Gear hunter
Ashima Chibber’s Mere Dad Ki Maruti opens with a bride-to-be complaining that her father, Tej Khullar (Ram Kapoor), is scrounging around for discounts even in his dreams. Well, can you blame him? He...
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“Rangrezz”… With friends like these…
Let’s say a friend of yours is desperate for funds. You could help him out in a number of ways – approaching a moneyed family member, perhaps, or looking out for a loan. Instead, you recruit a couple...
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“Kai Po Che”… Blame it on trio
The love triangle, so beloved of Old Bollywood, appears to have been replaced by the triangular bromance, and any film with three men at its centre reminds us, inevitably, of Dil Chahta Hai – so let’s...
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“Himmatwala”… Kitsch of death
The general line of inquiry when an older film is appropriated for a new generation is an apoplectic “But how could they?” With Himmatwala, though, we’re more likely to wonder, “But why did they...
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“Chashme Baddoor”… Gagpickers
The sensibilities of Sai Paranjpye and David Dhawan are so dissimilar that it was with a certain amount of dread that I looked at the latter’s remake of the former’s Chashme Buddoor. (Dhawan’s version...
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“Nautanki Saala”… Drama kings!
Ayushmann Khurrana acts with his hands, his eyes, his entire being. In Rohan Sippy’s Nautanki Saala, he plays Ram Parmar (aka RP), the director and lead actor of a smash-hit stage show named...
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“Commando-A One Man Army”… Brawn guy in the ring
Vidyut Jamwal has a body of granite and a face to match. The gamut of expressions he employs can be counted on a single finger, and if you’re wondering why he’s been cast as Karanvir Singh Dogra in...
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“Ek Thi Daayan”… Ain’t that a witch!
“This film is a work of fiction and doesn’t stereotype women as witches.” What a curious disclaimer in a movie whose hero – Bobo (Emraan Hashmi), aka “Indiaka sabse bada jaadugar” – sees witches in...
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“Aashiqui 2.”… A star is reborn
A performer spurning his talent and spiraling into self-destruction, another plucked from obscurity and destined for greatness – this is the enduring A Star is Born formula, and in Aashiqui 2, the...
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“Bombay Talkies”… Calling the shorts
The quartet of shorts that make up Bombay Talkies train a zoom lens on cinema, starting on the outside and slowly drawing us in. In the first story, cinema is on the periphery, visible only as a...
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“Shootout at Wadala”… Not-so-brief encounter
There’s something odd about gangsters with a six pack. How do they maintain it if they’re on the run from the police? Do they simply hide out at the nearest Talwalkar’s, doing bench presses as a...
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“Go Goa Gone”… The evil undead
The most impressive aspect of Go Goa Gone, the “zom-com” directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, may be its utter disdain for heroics. Even its ostensible hero – Saif Ali Khan, whose star wattage lit...
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“Gippi”… Smells like teen spirit
Nothing’s going right for the eponymous 14-year-old heroine (Riya Vij) of Sonam Nair’s Gippi. She’s a klutz. She’s not as thin as the girls around her, and her dresses just won’t fit. (“Thoda full...
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“I Don’t Luv U”…
When a film spells its title I Don’t Luv U, it’s clear that its target audience doesn’t comprise adults but the generation that came of age with Facebook and Twitter (or as a character, here,...
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“Aurangzeb”… Games of thrones
Something’s happened to Rishi Kapoor as he’s grown older, fleshier. He’s become a really terrific actor. When he was younger, he was always a competent performer, and sometimes even a good one, but the...
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“Ishkq in Paris”… No dice
Ishkq (Preity Zinta) is a half-Indian half-French photographer who says she will never marry. Akash (Rhehan Malliek), the sports agent she meets on a train from Rome to Paris, hates weddings. We know,...
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“Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”… Wake Up Kabir
In naming his protagonist Kabir, Ayan Mukerji, the director of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, has missed an opportunity. The character played by Ranbir Kapoor should really have been named Sid, like the...
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