Dedh Ishqiya - A bit more than love!

Its a gamble watching a movie these days on a Friday night! A bad movie carries its failure on your pocket, time-spent, and causes distress over the whole weekend. Dhoom 3 (Murder of logic), Bullet-Raja (Murder of Script-writing, acting, ..and so on), Raamleela (Well murders throughout except for everything)  are some cases in consideration.
Dedh-Ishqiya is one such 'risk' I took this Friday evening. Lets see what kept the movie going.
Madhuri Dixit - I heard murmurs from the female crowd  that she has this wrinkle, that vein, this botox, that she has grown old. But, she is a picture of grace. She is holding on to 'Womanly grace' like holding on to dear life. She excludes patience and method in every shot.
Arshad Warsi is a darling of the crowd for his comic timing. Nasir Saab - I can't afford the 'gustakhi' (The movie is generously thrown with a lot of tough Urdu words :) ) of judging him. He even makes playing his age look acting.
But, of the whole cast I was fixated on Vijay Raaz. He has matured from small side-roles to owning the screen. This is the movie from where he can mature to bigger commercial roles and even roles to remember. Vijay Raaz - You da man!

Back to the movie, the cinematography is wonderful. The dialogues are smartly co-written by Vishal Bhardwaj. Though, if you take kids along, can be difficult explaining some words/terms/abuses they use! :D
Smarty-paced, wonderfully shot, shayari, there is so much to say about this movie.
Should you watch the movie -Yes, yes! You must!

When I write about a movie, I consciously steer away from all the star-ratings, tweets, reviews, and so on about the movie for an unaffected view.

Bullet Raja: My view about the movie, in short a movie-review.

Bullet Raja! Well, I thought this would either be about the bike or the king. Just like Lance (Armstrong) tricked us with his “It’s not about the bike” book, this movie tricks you as well. (For the uninitiated, Lance wrote a book about his success and later it came out that he doped to make it to the finish line). The movie makers one day decided to make an UP-Bihar style bandit film and break Dabangg movie’s 100-crore record. I don’t know about the money, they might make a good deal of it because of the otherwise dry weekend with no other big movie releases. But, they have failed miserably with the film.

The movie is about two friends, Rudra (Jimmy Shergill) and Raja (Saif Ali Khan) who against their wishes become political goons. They shoot people around joyfully and mercilessly. But, Raja’s whole world crumbles when his friend Rudra gets hurt. Oh! And there is the happily overweight and out-of-shape Sonakshi Sinha who was a call-girl in the movie? But, acts too innocent or comfortable for one?! Confusing acting really.

Ravi Kissen (I wonder why they get their surnames numerically-fixed, it sounds more like a popular fruit-jam brand now!) stands out with his acting. He does not get much time to adapt to the storyline or get in the character, but delivers the minute the camera is on him. Intelligent on the director’s part to cast him as a hitman-sniper, with the character’s stark resemblance to a popular IG of police.

Mahie Gill is there for a song and for establishing Saif’s character’s lose-beltedness. She does what is expected of her the minute the song starts, expose and fake that she enjoys dancing to a sultry number.

I guess, when Tigmanshu was penning this story and casting actors, he knew. He knew, that the story wil not hold! So, let us cast established actors who have some fan-following and who can hold together an otherwise chaotic narrative.

Should you watch the movie? Well, once. Or maybe you can think of ways of spending your hard-earned money somewhere else. Wait for it, would be on a local channel soon.

The character artists like Ravi kissen and Vipin Sharma lend some saving grace to an otherwise hastily written story, bad-music, and horrible acting. 

What's so special about Special 26!

                                            Image courtesy: Indicine.com

Finally! Finally! Finally! Finally, an Akshay kumar movie has the three Ss. Script, substance, and the ever-alluding success. Just when his fans were getting a bit worried about him being whether a Joker or a Khiladi (Pun intended there, sorry Akki we love to hate you for these movies) he manages to pull off a brilliant performance. Special Chabbis or Special 26, as they like to refer it is a good movie. 

Anupam kher is loved for his innocence and support by everyone. Jimmy shergill is expression-less though in a positive way when required which is essential for an actor portraying that role. Manoj Bajpai, well the movie could not have been made without him. Supporting actors Divya Dutta, Rajesh Sharma, Kishor kadam, and Vipin  Sharma provide comic relief and at times depth to the narrative.

Kajal Aggarwal manages to look good in the 80s look though the love story angle could have been avoided but then what would a movie without mush do at theaters around the Valentine week?! :) It would be like a woman dressed in a sari crashing a pajama party! :)        

Check out this movie to believe in the power of good cinematography, well-written script, and the magic of good acting!