Phata Poster Nikhla Hero Review

Director: Rajkumar Santoshi

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Ileana D'cruz, Padmini Kolhapure, Darshan Jariwala, Naveen Prabhakar, Zakir Hussain, Sanjay Mishra, Saurabh Shukla

One Line Review: A lunatic brainsick escapade that can be only quoted as a sheer dopy 'chor police' game.

Positive Points: Shahid Kapoor's superlative performance, A crystal clear family entertainer, Nargis Fakhri's "Dhating Naach" dance moves.

Negatives Points: Haphazard direction, Baseless script, Overly extended storyline, Inefficient comedy scenes at times.

Plot: Savitri Rao (Padmini Kolhapure) lives with her only son, Vishwas (Shahid Kapoor) in a small village called Shirgaon. Savitri, a single mother, earns livelihood by being an autorickshaw driver. She always tells Vishwas to follow the path of truth in his life and she has the dream of seeing Vishwas as an upright police officer one day. Whereas, Vishwas aspires to earn name and fame in the glitzy world of Bollywood and craves to be a film actor. Savitri many times sends her son to give selection test for becoming a proud part of police department and Vishwas purposefully keeps on failing in it, with no intentions to be a police. One fine day, a golden opportunity comes to Vishwas's way that holds potential to land him directly into Bollywood kingdom. He gets a call for police officer's training from Mumbai and Vishwas instantly grabs it within a fraction of second with a wish to climb the ladder of Bollywood by going to Mumbai.

After landing in Mumbai, Vishwas goes to do a portfolio photoshoot in the attire of a cop and he readily invites a further 'jhamela' for himself. He gets mistaken as a super cop by a social worker called Kajal (Ileana D'cruz), because of unknowingly solving some illegal issues that share a close link with an underworld kingpin, Gundappa (Saurabh Shukla). This new identity of Vishwas calls for more and more hurdles, thereby fluctuatig his chances of becoming a film actor. Vishwas's mother gets to know that he has become a police inspector and she plans to visit Mumbai. Now, the rest of the story narrates the way Vishwas's mother's visit to Mumbai turns a nightmare for Vishwas by putting him in a crossfire.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: After some innovative offerings like 'Andaz Apna Apna', 'China Gate' and 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani', the ace director RajKumar Santoshi had come up with a disappointment for the viewers with this film. The film presents a flood of deja-vu scenes that lack novelty. The movie started with a big bang and seemed promising as mind-blowing entertainer, but it soon shown the real colour as soon as it began to unfold the baseless happenings. 'Phata Poster Nikhla Hero' encompasses a very few good and memorable moments like Shahid Kapoor's entry by torning a movie poster (Well, that suits to the title of the film!), then some emotional moments between mother and son and ofcourse, the music tracks like "Dhating Naach" and "Hey Mr. DJ", then the perfect comic-timing of Shahid Kapoor and finally not to forget the juicy cameo done by the heartthrob Salman Khan and his perky comic punches. This chronicle sounds as a bundle of a pool of melodramatic scenes between mother and son and re-union of papa-beta. Though the first half sails well and brings some laughter at the cinema hall, the second half struggles a lot and like a ship without its direction. Eventually, the tale loses its track and goes haywire by bulging strange elements. The other factor to take a potshot about it, is that the film offers some scenes that compels one to take out the brain and keep aside, such as Vishwas Rao fearlessly roaming in Mumbai as a fake cop and that too with a police jeep. The fight sequences in the film full on mirror the trademark Rajinikanth style, with over-the-top jumps and all.

Thanks to the saucy musical delights in the film, as they are the only hope to save the film from drowning. The biggest flaw in the film is that it completely goes offtrack from the earlier scenes of the story and hence, makes the viewers to feel like what the hell on the earth we are watching! Needless to mention that the direction is a loopholes galore this time for such a renowned director, who possesses the identity of being the comedy king. Cinematography, background score and art direction were average. However, it is also essential to note that the film is a pure family entertainer sans any kind of vulgarity.

Performance: Shahid Kapoor re-assures himself as the pioneering beef-cake of Bollywood with stunning looks and impressive comic timing. He shines well as a super cop. Ileana D'cruz suits well as a wallflower in the hero-centric flick like this. The beauty with Bambi eyes, sounds comfortable in her zone, as she plays her part flawlessly. A great applause for Padmini Kolhapure, who is back on the celluloid as the lead actor's mother. Kolhapure made the viewers forget the diference between real and reel, by skillfully essaying her role of a mother.

The supporting starcast like Saurabh Shukla, Darshan Jariwala, Sanjay Mishra, Mukesh Tiwari and others made an honest attempt to bring some comic moments on the screen.

Music: The music tracks came to the rescue after digesting such a tedious tale. The music composer Pritam Chakraborty weaved some colourful tracks like 'Tu Mere Agal Bagal Hai' and 'Main Rang Sharbaton Ka' that sounded melodious to hear. The songs taste better if heard without seeing visuals of it. The 'dhinchak' dance numbers like 'Dhating Naach' and 'Hey Mr. DJ' stole the show, snatching whistles and claps. The other two songs 'Mere Bina Tu' and 'Janam Janam' do not seem much memorable and thus, have a short shelf life.

Final Verdict: An inane lackluster narrative proceeding without any logical incidents happening around and can be termed as a mere cat and mouse play . A one-time watch for those, who have nothing to do this weekend. Watch just for Shahid Kapoor's ubercool performance, as he sets the screen on fire with his amazing dance moves. In all, a head-breaking childish play covered in a musical packaging.

Movie Review
Reviewed by Sunil Pal on Sep 21 2013
Rating: 3.5

Satyagraha Review : The fight against Corruption

Rating : 4(4/5)

Review: Prakash Jha bring real life to reel life through his film Satyagraha. This film cast Amitabh Bachchan as Dwarka Anand, Ajay Devgn as Manav, Manoj Bajpai as Minister Balram Singh, Amrita Rao as Sumitra his Daughter-in-law, Arjun Rampal as Arjun Singh, Kareena Kapoor as Yasmin.

Dwarka is a teacher of the Gandhian School who is a firm believer of Gandhiji's principles. He is popular known among people as Dadujee. This movie has been inspired by many movements that took place in the country for the fight against corruption a recent one that none can forget is that of Anna Hazare. Manav Raghvendra is am ambitious Businessman who turns to a Satyagrahi, he is very close to his friend Akhilesh who passed away suddenly. And then Minister Balaram announces compensation to Sumitra which she never gets. Filed with anger Dwarka slaps an egoistic govenment personel on duty and is arrested. He is put behind the bars. 

Manav then starts this campaign to free Dwarka, taking help of Arjun Singh who wants to be a politician and his journalist friend Yasmin. Soon join the campaign many students, labourers, middle class citizens filled with anger. What shape will this campaign take? Will there be any positive result? Or will the people bow down before the torture of the government through the water jets poured on them? A movie that all citizens need to watch, as it will somewhere teach you to play role as a responsible citizen. Watch this movie this weekend with family and friends.

Movie Review
Reviewed by Hiral Mehta on Aug 05 2013
Rating: 5

Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters- An Adventure Worth Taking

Rating: 3(3/5)

Review: Its the rise of the teens again after Harry Potter and Twilight, but the script and the treatment of this film is completely different from the others. For all the people who like fantasy and adventure, this movie is a sure catch. 

This movie is all about the half-bloods, now we aren't referring to the popular characters who are half-monsters and humans or for that matter half- vampires and half-humans shown in the shows like Vampire Diaries. Here the half-bloods are like demi-gods, children of gods and humans especially the Greek Gods. The movie is a sequel to 2010 movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. 

Percy is a son of the Sea God Poseidon and he lives in the Camp Half-blood with other demi-gods and humans. He meets his half-brother, Tyson, in this part who is a cyclops. There is a magic tree that protects the Camp Half-blood but the evil doers out there are hell-bent on destroying it and so they poison the magic tree. The only way to save the tree is to get the golden fleece that can help restore the power of the tree and thereby save all the half-bloods of the camp. This search for the golden fleece jump starts Percy Jackson and his friends fantasy adventure where they have to battle with several kinds of monsters of all shapes and sizes. 

Will Percy and his friends find the golden fleece? Will they be able to restore the magical power of the magic tree. Hold on to your seats and get in the mood to take a superb fantasy adventure along with Percy and his friends this weekend.

Movie Review
Reviewed by Manisha Patel on Aug 05 2013
Rating: 5

Madras Cafe – An Entertaining Thriller Movie

Rating : 3.5 (3.5/5)

Review: Madras Cafe directed by Shoojit Sarkar is a movie that blends facts and fiction making it a perfect watch for all. The story hinges on a plan of assassinating the Pacifist ex-Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi. Lets move the Chennai Express to the Madras Cafe to have a cup of thrill and action. 

In this movie Vikram Singh (John Abraham) is an Indian Military Officer who is assigned a task by Robin Dutt (Siddharth Basu) the RAW chief to conduct some covert operations in Jaffna a city in Sri Lanka. Here Dutt tell Singh to use his brains and not his muscle as it is RAW and not the border. 

When they are in war Vikram has to report to his superior Bala (Prakash Belawadi) and bumps into a London based war correspondent Jaya (Nargis Fakhri). So will Vikram take help of Jaya in his task or will he find some other way. Will he get trapped after the war? Will he complete the task he is sent for? Watch this movie this weekend with friends and have a great time.

Movie Review
Reviewed by Kiram Savita on Aug 25 2013
Rating: 5

The Light: Swami Vivekananda Movie Review

By: Krishna Jani

Rating : 3 (3/5)

Review: It is not often that biopic movies of great Indian philosophers and saints are made. However, Swami Vivekananda has been such an inspiration that time and again, the movie directors try and make a film on him. Remember the 1994 film on Swami Vivekananda starring Mithun Chakraborthy as Vivekananda's guru Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Now on 150th birth anniversary of this great Indian monk, a movie has been made again on his life by director Utpal Sinha which is produced by Tri Colour Productions Pvt. Ltd.

Time and again the thoughts and preachings of Swami Vivekananda has inspired the youth all over the world and therefore, this movie is a must watch for all. The movie encaptures the entire life of this great monk right from his childhood days as Narendra Nath Dutta to him meeting his spiritual mentor Shree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and later becoming his disciple and his tredding on the path of spiritual learning. 

The movie was specailly screened for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The movie is said to encourage and inspire the youth towards success and spiritual enlightenment.

Once Upon a Time In Mumbai Dobaara Movie Review

By: Rachna Rawat

Rating : 3 (3/5)

Review: Once Upon a time in Mumbai Dobaara is a sequel of Once upon a Time in Mumbai. This movie is directed by Milan Luthria. The main casts in this film are Akshay Kumar (Shoaib), Imran Khan (Aslam), and Sonakshi Sinha (Jasmine). This movie begins from where it ended in the first. After the death of Sultan (Ajay Devgan), Shoaib (Emraan) then takes over his power and position and becomes the Don. 

In this story the it is all about the love of Shoaib (Akshay Kumar in place of Emraan). Aslam (Imran) is the most trusted man in his entire group and rules over Mumbai in absence of Shoaib. Aslam was taken under the wings of Shoaib in his childhood only and was taken care of then after. Don Rawal (Mahesh Manjrekar) does not like Shoaib ruling over Mumbai thus plans to destroy him.  In the mean while Shoaib learns of this and plans to visit Mumbai as he wants to meet Jasmine a rising actress who is working in DK's (Akshay Khurana) Film. He is highly impressed with her simplicity and straight forward attitude, though he is womanizer, he still has his old girl friend Mumtaaz (Sonali Bendre Behl in place of Prachi Desai) for his company. Jasmine talks to Shoaib like a friend but he falls in love with her. On the other side Aslam is also in love with her. Soon Shoaib learns of this and is very angry, he feels both have back stabbed him.

But whom does Jasmine love Aslam or Shoaib? Does she love someone else? Will Shoaib kill them or leave them? See this movie to know what happened after that. A good movie to watch with friends and family both.

Chennai Express Movie Review

Rating : 3.5 (3.5/5)

Review: Chennai Express is a fun and frolic movie that will be great fun to watch this weekends and celebrate Eid.

There's not much in the plot- its the same old story where a grand son has the responsibility of depositing his grandfather's ashes in a sacred place.  Shahrukh Khan who plays the role of Rahul has to go to Rameshwaram for immersing his grandfather's ashes. However, he decides to land in Goa and have a rocking time. Unfortunately or fortunately he bumps into Deepika Padukone playing the role of Meenamma and for some odd reason their journey together leads them to different parts of South India. 

Meenamma is a daughter of a Don and her father is planning to get her married to a guy of his choice whom she doesn't want to marry so she has eloped from her house. Hence, begins the adventurous action comedy journey of the Chennai Express. 

En route there are hilarious scenes and situations between Rahul and Meenamma that makes it up for a poor plot. Catch up on this movie this weekends and have fun with your friends and family. 

Enjoy the get laughing riot and Eid Mubarak to all!

Have fun and frolic watching Rabba Main Kya Karoon- a sex comedy

By: Krishna Jani

Rating : 2.5(2.5/5)

Review: In Bollywood, we've had ample of movies where in a sex guru inspires their naive disciples (Chela's) towards the carnal world. Rabba Main Kya Karoon is one such sex comedy where Arshad Warsi plays the role of the sex guru and Akash Chopra, his novice disciple. In the whole movie is loaded with funny and witty dialogues about sex in a wink-wink-nudge-nudge tones. 

The story of the movie is quite simple Aakash Chopra and Tahira Kochar are friends since childhood and eventually they fall in love when they grow up. They are childhood sweethearts who decide to marry and then begins the preparations for the marriage. Arshad Warsi who is playing the role of an elder bro to Aaakash drops in and on finding out that he is still a virgin encourages him to indulge into pre-marital sex. 

A couple of funny incidences occur with equally hilarious characters played by Tinnu Anand, Paresh Raval and Shakti Kapoor. The movie is a sure fun to catch up this weekend.

Man of Steel- Take a Journey to the Origins of Superman- Must Watch Movie

By:Krishna Jani

Rating: 3 Star(3/5)

The famous comic book character that has mesmerized everyone around the world with for years with his super strength and the man who actually started the super hero cult is back on screens in Man of Steel. Yes! The man needs no introduction...he's Superman.

In Zack Snyder's latest flick Man of Steel talks about he origins of this legendry superhero Superman. The role is played by Henry Cavill, who looks stunning in the all new Superman suit that looks more scaled and does not have the signature red underwear. Though the Christoper Reeve  fans might not appreciate this suit and the hero much, but it nevertheless doesn't demean the looks and acting of this talented British actor. 

The movie talks about the story of how Superman was born on the dying planet Kryton. He was sent to Earth as a baby so that his race could survive. However, little baby that he is, he doesn't realize this and grows up with superhuman powers. All the while in his young age he wonder about his purpose in life and finally he discovers it when he goes to Artic, after hearing the news of a strange 'anomalous object' found in Artic. Here he somehow gets connected to his dead father Jor-El played by Russell Crowe who gives him the details about his birth his planet Krypton and his purpose of existence. Hence, begins Superman's journey to bring down his enemy General Zod who has destroyes Krypton Planet and killed his father. 

The movie is a must watch for all Superman fans and it is after a long time that you see the man flying on a big silver screen. The Man of Steel is surely an interesting watch.