Movie Review: Dil Dhadakne Do (2015)

Dil Dhadakne Do​ is aquatic soap-opera comedy movie and compressed version of the high-society based tv serials hugely focusing on doubts, gossips, raising eyebrows, open-mouths, bedroom phenomenons, legalities of relationships…

Plot? Unmarried husband/wife Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) and Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shetty) plan their 30th wedding anniversary on cruise trip. Host Kamal Mehra is a businessman of a bankruptcy-knocking company and is planning to bond their son Kabir Mehra (Ranveer Singh) with daughter of his fellow business colleague to boost business and personal relationships but the next generation family friends have their say as few among them have complicated relations. Very interesting plot innit? *standing ovation*

PLUSSES:

 

1) Performances are first-rate. Mehra quadrangular family is amazing. All the four members of Mehras; Anil, Shifali, Priyanka and Ranvir have produced scintillating performances. It is hard to pick one or two of the best among them.

2) 30-year dry marital veterans, Mr. and Mrs. Mehra are the best on-screen chemistry to watch. Amazing timing of conversations between them.

3) Ranvir-Priyanka bro-sis dual is very natural and ideal bond to watch. Both offer very fantastic emotional support to each other, and the strength of their bond during complicated situations is the best thing to watch.

4) Dialogues are naturally flexible and approves that Farhan Akhtar is inherited with powerful writing from his father. Let me prove my point with two entirely different situations. One is the funniest vomiting scene which will LYFAO and the other is highly intense family ice-breaking conversation in medical center. Both are dramatically insane in mode of situations and timing of emotions but the dialogues in both the scenes will make you feel.

5) Dog as narrator is a very catchy innovation. Aamir Khan as Pluto the dog is a wonderful narrator and thought-provoking dialogues are written by Javed AKhtar.

MINUSSES:

1) Running time of this movie is 2 hours and 50 minutes. I repeat, 170 minutes. Exactly!!

2) Unnatural choreographed and very uninspiring songs.

3) Over-exaggeration of family relationships. Too lengthy Priyanka/Rahul Bose moments. So many parivar conferences.

4) Unusually one of the most ridiculous Final-Ten-Minute conclusion of any BIG movie.

5) Too many family sagas and none of them well-defined. Alright Mehra family is the central figure but the supporting connections all sank with absolute collapse e.g., the characters Noorie, Rana, Amrish uncle (Farhan’s dad) and even a promising character of Manoj Pahwa‘s Vinod was cut too short.

6) Farhan Akhtar’s potential role turn out to be a special-appearance jukebox. A richly deserving plot-pacing device enters the screen extremely late and instead of bring close to conclusion, expands the melodrama with his affair with Priyanka and exaggerates.

There are two highly speaking points from the fictionally existing plot which indirectly focuses on very serious issues:

1) Dog’s autobiography: Pluto the dog is loyal pet of Mehra family. The dog is the narrator of movie where it watches the events happening in its surroundings and delivers/confesses the moral, emotional and social differences between a mute animal and a social animal.

One of the best writers in Bollywood, Javed Akhtar has penned dialogues for Pluto the dog and from Amir Khan’s voice, not only his remarkable dialogues are social satire but multi-dimensional in all walks. Pluto is a philosopher who separates his identity and differ with opinions he revolves around. That is the most impressive element of the movie.

2) Clash of Ideologies among the Generations: A tussle is hustled among the ranks not only in Mehras, but all the invitees of cruise trips where the chemistry of two generation ages to an extent. Oldies are backbiters and gossipers, high-society conservatives and admins of relationship conundrums. Contrary, their children i.e., the new generation or the new breed of friends and cousins have a different taste of humor and better understanding of complicated relationships among them.

The parental control among the Mehra pair is limited to the extend where financial benefits of business is involved. A folked up 30-year married life has a huge but bad impact on both brother and sister which mentally blocks their wish list towards the reality. Like I mentioned above, the highly intense scene in medical center between the Mehras is an ice-breaking emotional breakdown of the whole movie where all four desperately fall on heated argument.

Zoya Akhtar is a highly talented director from a richly talented family of acting and literature. But this movie is below par as compared to her previous two movies. DDD is no match with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The Mehras, dialogues and pluto’s narration makes the movie attractive but the plot do not justifies or appeals the movie length of almost three hours. Could have done better.

Ratings: 7/10

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Movie Review: Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015)

Factory Siren | Bengal Freedom Movement | Japanese Gang War | Chinatown | Chemist | Paan Box | Opium | Detective | Newspaper | Ganges River

What if I tell you there is a fictional detective story which connects all the keywords mentioned above? What if I tell you that Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is one of the most well-equipped detective movie made in Bollywood? In 21st century, the other detective movie coming close to this was Sujoy Ghosh‘s Kahaani (please don’t say Tarkieb). But the reason why I love Dibakar Banerjee‘s movies is the depth and intensity of the script involving all the characters in tremendous harmony. And he has done it again.

Byomkesh Bakshi basically is a popular fictional detective figure in Bengali literature. The character was created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and he wrote 32 stories between 1932 and 1970.

Dibakar introduced a highly impressive story sketching a war-torn Calcutta of the pre-independence in which Byomkesh takes the case of a lost man whose fate lies under an evil genius. Byomkesh is lost in the open secrets and discoveries but his skills and wits are his answer to every threat.

Being used to of watching many international detective programs, I found the outcome of movie very freshly baked in its genre. The reason is a diverse environment and acceptance of Bengali rich literature. A powerful story transformed and wonderfully presented by a better director.

Movie offers a quality of story-telling in a ridiculously fluctuated pace. When Byomkesh begins spying, movie goes slow. When Byomkesh investigates, movie goes fast. Between the tones, he pauses the viewers at some dramatic scenes to capture more attention.

With the seriousness of the script, there is unbelievably dark humor at some portions. Soundtracks are attractive and again fresh to your ears, you surely won’t expect some hard metal in 40s Calcutta. Soundtracks are equally balanced and compiled of Bengali, Hindi and English numbers.

Performance is flying carpet where outstanding performances deserve huge compliment. Anand Tiwari as Byomkesh’s sidekick, Swastika Mukherjee as dancer and spy, Meiyang Chang as opium dealer are performers that cannot be ignored. Sushant Singh Rajput as detective Byomkesh was a decent pick but very challenging at the initial stage of his career. He is talented and I appreciate to take this challenge. Actors like Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurana or Abhay Deol could have played this role very well.

The best among the performers was theater legend Neeraj Kabi as Dr.Guha who runs a male hostel. Reports are that Dibakar’s first pick was Aamir Khan for such a vital role but he rejected for Dhoom 3???

Overall this surely is one of the five best Hindi movies of the year for me.

Rating: 8.8/10

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