7 Khoon Maaf Review

7 Khoon Maaf Review: Jesus! I feel bored to death. There’s no bell tower nearby to rush to and vent my indignation nor any spouse to bump off. And though I don’t exactly feel like being punished for someone else’s sins, I am overwhelmingly disappointed to see that Vishal Bhardwaj -- the bellwether of the herd of new-age Hindi film-makers, the auteur who so convincingly brought the Bard of Avon to the badlands of UP -- has now strayed into mediocrity with so artless and heartless a film as 7 Khoon Maaf, his seventh directorial work certainly not deserving of a pardon.
Based on a short story by Ruskin Bond, the movie tells the tale of a woman named Susanna (Priyanka Chopra) who’s decidedly unfortunate in love and matrimony. In her fatal quest for love, she marries six times and every one of her hubbies turns out to be a rank scumbag: be it a lame chauvinist Major (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a junkie rockstar (John Abraham), a sadomasochistic poet (Irrfan Khan), a Russian double agent (Aleksandr Dyanchenko), a Viagra popping lech (Anu Kapoor), or a money-grubbing, mushroom-loving quack (Naseeruddin Shah). Jesus knows who Susanna’s seventh casualty is for Bhardwaj leaves an open strand in the end and gives the bored viewers a teeny quiz to hair-split. That’s the only intriguing part where you snap out of the slumber but soon see the end credits roll.

Granted that a story so episodic as this could not have been told but linearly. But why, pray, is the jumble of Susanna’s matrimonial misadventures reduced to the incessant yo-yoing between her elation at finding the ‘right’ man and her subsequent dejection at the discovery that he’s actually a scumbag. So while the hubbies are kicked to the famished man-eating panthers, or are drug-overdosed, or snake-bitten, or buried alive, or shot point blank, not once does a yawning viewer see a scrap of ingenuity so expected of a Bhardwaj film.

Of course, the bleakly-lit frames and Susanna’s own darkening complexion serve as metaphors to the dark side of her personality, and Bhardwaj does throw in time-references in the tale -- from the falling of the Berlin wall to the Mumbai terror attacks -- but come on, a viewer expects more than such customary symbolism. Even the film’s music gives the impression that its composer (Bhardwaj) was battling a creative block.

A little heart can be taken from the fact that the actors don’t disappoint. Priyanka sinks her teeth into the complex character of Susanna and delivers a performance that makes you forget the film’s flaws for a while. Ditto for Neil, Anu Irrfan and Naseer. Vivaan Shah, who is Susanna’s protégé and the story’s narrator, makes a confident debut.

After hitting the peak with Blood Brothers (a short film I consider Bhardwaj’s best work to date), Vishal has been on a downslide, first marked by the utterly ordinary Kaminey and now cemented by 7 Khoon Maaf. Is the genius of the maverick careening into mediocrity? Was the dream of a bold new Hindi cinema just a chimera?

One thing is for sure. There’s much worthwhile to do with your time than to watch the gloomy tale of an unscrupulous hubby-slaying woman whom you see whirling like a dervish with no less than the Redeemer in the end. 

'Tanu Weds Manu' Review

'Tanu Weds Manu' Review: A seedha saadha NRI doc Manu (Madhavan) who claims to have resided more than a decade without any close friends in London comes to India on a bride hunt and finds a suitable one in the wispy form of a pot-smoking, vodka-guzzling Kanpuri kudi Tanu (Kangana Ranaut). It’s a mismatch as odd as it gets, because though he falls head-over-heels for this foul-mouthed chatterbox, she is dead against the arranged match and instead wants to hook up with a Lucknow gunda named Raja (Jimmy Shergill).

Manu, the poor soul, nurses the heartbreak and even helps Tanu and her goon beau elope. The plot thickens when Tanu and Manu cross paths against the backdrop of a big fat Punjabi wedding. Love for Manu seems to be taking root in Tanu’s heart, but then Raja rears his head. Drama, peppered with clichéd emotional conflicts and standoffs between the two suitors follow, and, given the film’s title, we know whom Tanu will eventually choose.

The predictability of the plot is well compensated by the melee of oddball characters that director Anand L Rai crowds the story with. There’s is an utterly likeable sidekick (Deepak Dobriyal) and a Sikh friend (Eijaz Khan) of Manu adding fun to the proceedings. There’s Raja’s crony (Ravi Kishen) and Tanu’s best friend (Swara Bhaskar) chipping in from the margins. And full credit to director Rai for the brisk pace at which the first half unspools. Alas, the same can’t be said of the second half, when the story stagnates and we see more of Jimmy Shergill than would have liked to. It’s a clear case of a story losing its steam after a triumphant start. Even the build-up to the climax is somewhat overblown.

Warts and all, Tanu Weds Manu still remains a watchable fare thanks to the wonderfully realistic milieu of India’s crowded, dusty small towns and their middle-class families with their colourful characters that remain pivotal to the story until the very end. On top of it, music by Krsna breezes with vim and vigour. The humour mostly remains light-hearted, sometimes evoking laughs, sometimes falling flat.

Kangana performs well as a small town rebel without a pause. Her body language is decidedly bratty, her dialogue delivery, at times bordering on lisp, creditably raw and edgy to suit her character. Madhavan shines as a submissive, love-struck NRI with no firangi airs. The actor’s naturally charming persona adds tons to his character’s credibility.

On the sidelines, Deepak Dobriyal impresses the most while Ravi Kishan is reduced to a caricature. Jimmy Shergill is all frowns but Swara Bhaskar does leave a mark as Kangana’s friend who tries to hammer some sense into the reckless Tanu.

All in all, Tanu Weds Manu is like the shaadi ka laddoo that you can neither resist nor happily bite into. Make time for this matrimonial comedy if you haven’t yet tired of watching the reruns of Jab We Met.

'Yeh Faasley' Review

'Yeh Faasley' Review: What could have been an intriguing tale of a daughter inquiring into the mysterious death of her long dead mother turns out to be unqualified hodgepodge of forced sentimentality and lacklustre suspense because the writer-director embarks upon what has become the mantra of a lot of teams playing the present cricket world cup: self destruction.

Father-daughter stories are few and far between in Hindi film industry and Yeh Faasley did have the potential to be a fine thriller with emotional complexities between a daughter and a father who’s not what he appears to be.

Arunima (Tena Desae) returns to her father Dev’s (Anupam Kher) home after completing her studies. Her mother died when Arunima was a kid and therefore she hardly has any memories of her and totally relies on the account of her mom given by her father.

But then, slowly and slowly, skeletons begin to tumble out of the closet as Arunima chances upon a will written by her mother and also meets an old friend (Pawan Malhotra) of her mom, leading her to believe that her father could have a hand in her mom’s death.

A nice premise certainly, but how one wishes that director Yogesh Mittal hadn’t botched it up. The film begins promisingly, but then stretches on painfully as it slips into flashbacks. Even the courtroom scenes fail to enliven the proceedings.

Anupam Kher pitches in a sincere performance but is let down by a poorly written character. Tena Desae shows a few flashes of good acting but hams it up when she has to look hysterical. Pawan Malhotra and Seema Biswas hardly have a role to write about.

New Upcoming Film 'F.A.L.T.U.' Review

New Upcoming Film 'F.A.L.T.U.' Review: The Pink Floyd announcement “We don’t require no training, we don’t require no considerations control” regularly speaks to several sets of youngsters-masters or washouts. Choreographer-turned-executive Remo D’Souza's picture F.A.L.T.U. is regarding the last.

Jackky Bhagnani, Pooja Gupta and Angad Bedi take on several scholastically confronted adolescents who are denied by each organization and university in view of their level evaluations. So in a glimmer of uncharacteristic brightness, they hit upon the brainstorm of starting their particular university and actually fittingly name it Fakirchand And Lakirchand Trust University or F.A.L.T.U.

Making them similar to a Santa is a fella named Google (Arshad Warsi) who is unfathomably resourceful. He furnishes the palatial assembling for the university, orchestrates its redesign, furniture and alternate sundry but not negligible costs without a hiccup. In short, Google has the result for each situation. And then there's likewise Baajirao (Ritesh Deskhmukh), the essential of FALTU, who takes private drive in managing the youthful under-achievers on the best way to express affection to a young lady, that too Shahrukh Khan style.

With its developing notoriety FALTU ends up the adda for the rejects of formal training framework. It's the place where learners spirits, tease, and move in swimming pools in the state of semi-disrobe.

Obviously, there's no sense to be composed of the story as executive Remo D’Souza points solely to enliven the viewers with rehashed breaks into foot-tapping melodies. There's additionally an endeavor to press in a small inform regarding the training framework but its all done with diversion and pointlessness. D’Souza can moreover be forgotten for tearing off the Hollywood drama ‘Accepted’ being as how when the ringleader executives of the industry duplicate explicitly, anticipating a newcomer to be initial is like making a request for moon.

FALTU is not a picture that needs cleaned appearances. Jackky Bhagnani gets the second life saver of his lifework with this picture and he attempts to be interesting and cool and hip and moreover demonstrate off his exercise center form. Near others Angad Bedi leaves an impression.

One thing that works somewhat in the picture's favour is the tunes and their choreography. The humour is chiefly immature and barely makes you snicker.

With everything taken into account, a timepass picture with an over-egging of adolescent component.

Film Thank You Review

Film Thank You Review: Welcome to director Anees Bazmee's newfangled ‘comedy’ Thank You that zips you afar to a planet where cheating hubbies attempt to defeat their snickering, suspecting wives even as a woodwind-fiddling investigator attempts to get the cheaters off guard.

The lustful drive of married men has been the juice of a large number of a Bollywood drama and the viewers have lapped it like a pro with the savage happiness of someone who's missed the activity and now preferences to view the pillorying of those who got a piece of it.

In that sense, Anees Bazmee's Thank You could hit a suppressed harmony with those cinegoers with a taste for comic drama rolling out of auxiliary-conjugal misfortunes of cheating hubbies, and for a dash of titillation, civility the droves of two-piece-clad blondes who fling themselves over and around the desi men in most exceptionally suggestive of stances.

Akshay Kumar, adhering to his no-keeps-obstructed adage, gets the firang darlings here, there and all over, gets sensitive-feely with Sonam Kapoor, shakes a leg with Mallika Sherawat, and even has a warm grip with Vidya Balan. Notwithstanding he, of all men, plays the analyst out to nail the masti-looking for hubbies.

The plot is threadbare. Bobby Deol, Irrfan Khan and Sunil Shetty play a few mates driven more by their moxie than devotion to their individual mates, played by Sonam Kapoor, Rimi Sen and Celina Jaitley. The wives contract a private investigator (Akshay) to uncover their hubbies' betrayal but discomfort begins when the criminologist falls for one of the women.

The humour, average of any Bazmee film, stays strictly passerby, with the unconsummated sex cavorts of the hubbies busted at the same time as foreplay and them being dragged out to the lodging entryways or alternate teetering on window ledges in insignificant bathrobes. All the more Akshay is made to run semi-bare on the lanes of Montreal with nothing something greater than a towel blanket his male humility. More rare than not, the humour leaves you with a stifled smile at the unreasonableness of the scenario. Nothing more.

A few bits of bona fide roar are given by the preferences of Irrfan Khan (playing an oppressive hubby requesting around his compliant wife every last trace of the time) and Sunil Shetty (going ‘oo--laa-affirmative-o’ at his partner's mishap). The most empty of the parcel is Bobby Deol, while the women, with somewhat small to do, are appallingly out of structure. Sonam hams, shrouds her slender edge behind fashioner dresses. Celina surprisingly adheres to saris and goes out absent for most part of the film. Rimi Sen looks like she's been gorging on chocolates and chhola bhatura.

All declared, Thank You remains a wordy, bum-hurting drama packed with the stiflers we’ve at present viewed and smiled senseless at. Very coarsely, it stereotypes man as unalterably unbridled and even names them as ‘dogs’. Trust PETA won’t take offence.

Tanu Weds Manu – Movie Review

Film: “Tanu Weds Manu”
Starring: R. Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergil, Swara Bhaskar
Rating:
Director: Anand L. Rai
Why should you watch “Tanu Weds Manu”? For R. Madhavan who will win you heart as a sweet lovable NRI doctor Manu who has the misfortune of falling in love with a Kanpur-girl Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) who not only rejects him as a suitor but also uses him to elope with her ruffian boyfriend.
Hiding his heartbreak and disappointment behind a smile, Madhavan fits into the role of a goody goody NRI like a glove. He is hopelessly in love with Tanuja who doesn’t miss a single opportunity to hurt him. Rules, they say, are meant to be broken and that’s what Tanu’s agenda in life is – to break all rules that a middle-class family swears by.
Well, an NRI coming home to find a suitable bride for him is very common in Indian society and director Anand Rai’s comedy opens with the same. He tries to be as close to reality as possible – from the backdrop, to clothes, to character artists – all bring out the element of a middle-class setup perfectly.
With a marriage in the background providing a perfect place for Tanu’s second chance meeting with Manu, the movie traces the relationship between the girl and the NRI. Surely, perfect material for sentimental romances with ‘comedy ka tadka’.
But there is something missing to make it a perfect romantic comedy. First, the script is punctured, then their is no chemistry between Madhavan and Kangana and if that was not enough, the narrative doesn’t flow at the desired pace – it’s slower than it should be.
Though the director picked up an interesting subject, he has not succeeded in executing his story effectively on screen – there are not enough laughs in the film. Whatever funny scenes are there, credit goes to the chemistry between Madhavan and Deepak Dobriyal who plays his friend Pappi.
Kangana’s dialogue delivery puts you off and she lacks the spunk and spark to play the free bird that she is in the movie. In fact, Swara Bhaskar, who plays her friend Payal, holds the fort as the Bihari girl who is marrying a sardarji (Eijaz Khan) who also happens to be Manu’s best friend.
Payal is impressed with Manu and even tries to drill some sense into Tanu’s head but Tanu, a rebel, doesn’t want to admit her feelings for the man who is picked by her parents.
Critics won’t appreciate the plot but Madhavan fans would find enough material to enjoy the film.
Music plays an important role in a wedding-based romantic comedy and the director could have got it right if he had opted for fast-paced peppy numbers.
In the performance department, full marks go to Madhavan, Deepak and Swara. The supporting cast of K.K. Raina, Rajendra Gupta and Navni Parihar don’t have much to do, but whatever role they have, they carry it well. Jimmy Shergill as Kangana’s ruffian boyfriend is wasted, so is Ravi Kishen as his sidekick.
If you are looking for a great romantic comedy, this is not the one, but watch it for Madhavan and his chemistry with Deepak.