Tag Archives: Karthik Aaryan

Film Reviews

Film Review: Freddy (2022)

STORY

Freddy has lived a disturbed life after witnessing the horrible deaths of his parents. He is a popular dentist in his society but socially a very shy individual who is seeking a soulmate but failing. He finally finds one, Kainaaz, but is married to an alcoholic and violent husband Rustom. Freddy plans to free her from him but in doing so, he meets shocking consequences.

REVIEW

Freddy is a psychological thriller by Shashanka Ghosh. This has to be his first serious film since Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II and I must say that the gritty element of Freddy is quite impressive. I like the aesthetics and the way the film settles the plot and continues to grow. I felt I was watching a very different Hindi film that opposes Bollywood’s usual method of stereotypical storytelling. The background score is not distracting, no lame comedy, and the songs are utilized at the right time.

The way the story kept developing and making it look interesting, the direction was on Sriram Raghavan‘s level. Plus Kartik Aaryan and Alaya F gave splendid performances. Kartik’s body language of a socially awkward man was sublime. This surely has to be Karthik’s best performance of his career. Alaya’s character switching to an utmost shock shows that she holds a lot of promise in the coming years if she picks the right roles. The whole facial and mental performance changed after the revelation.

The director successfully develops the characters and the plot’s purpose at the half. I wanted the same spark in the second half. The thrill was there, but I felt that somewhere the writing faded while trying to reach a conclusion. I am saying this because I was getting bored in the second half with a series of acts of revenge over each other on repeat mode. There was nothing left to show us besides that.

Although the film looks so impressive, Freddy carries massive problems in writing. There are so many plotholes that raise a lot of questions that make the story inaccurate and question the continuity. In the beginning, Freddy does surgery on Kainaaz and tries to kiss her in the operation theatre. The scene meets with no disciplinary issue on Freddy and I wonder if there is no camera monitoring such a sensitive situation in the room.

Freddy goes to Kainaaz’s restaurant. Her friend Raymond, the restaurant’s chef, spits in his drink and smacks him. He could have closed the restaurant over these multiple acts by registering the case against him.

When Raymond beats Freddy at Kainaaz’s residence, the police show up and take both Raymond and Kainaaz. The police notice Freddy in blood and stand there listening to Kainaaz. In such cases, the police immediately rescue while sensing physical violence and perhaps calls an ambulance. Instead, the police are asking Freddy if he wants to complain and advise him to call if they cause any trouble. What rubbish?

Kainaaz’s husband is murdered and Raymond immediately begins to live with her. How could the police not suspect that they can be responsible for the crime? How can Kainaaz and Raymond begin to live together so soon in the first place?

I am confused by a scene when Freddy buries a turtle box. When did Freddy get his turtle when it was already taken from his residence?

CLOSING REMARKS

Freddy at least ends on a better note but during the series of acts of revenge, I felt that the police investigation missed many important scenes. The film lifts by its aesthetics, direction, Kartik, and Alaya. I must admit that I enjoyed the whole development no matter how many plotholes messed up the story. Freddy must have been better in the second half.

RATING: 6.5/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022)

Reet Thakur (Kiara Advani) along with another traveler Ruhaan Randhawa (Karthik Aaryan) travels to her hometown to marry her fiancée when she discovers that her sister loves him. Unwilling to marry, Reet plots to get her sister married to him by faking her death. When the family gets suspicious of her being alive in the mansion, Ruhaan covers her identity by giving a false idea that he has the ability to see the unseen that coincides with the reappearance of Manjulika’s spirit that was imprisoned in one of the rooms of the mansion for eighteen years.

The first thing that the audience must understand is that Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is not the continuity from Priyadarshan‘s Bhool Bhulaiyaa, the 2007 big hit that achieved cult status. Nor the film needs to be compared with it. There are a lot of emotions the fans attached to the original work due to the memorable roles of Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan, Priyadarshan’s typical comedy, and Pritam‘s music, especially the title song.

Akshay’s role going to Karthik also raised eyebrows including mine because I felt it was too risky to hand over this role. The role was made for Akshay and vice versa. Not sure if any other actor would have done justice. The only similarity in the casting was Rajpal Yadav‘s memorable role of Chhote Pandit played again.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is the reimagining of the original story with some smart elements in writing that makes bring back Manjulika but I think the writer fails to conclude the story for preferring to sensationalize the climax. Some portions of humor were silly and lame but some were funny. Karthik did a fair job in his capacity but nowhere close to what Akshay did. That element was badly missing.

The wisest decision in making this film was signing Tabu for Manjulika, a role that Vidya perfected in the previous film and gave her her first shot at recognition as a promising actress that later on shaped a wonderful acting career. Who else could have played this difficult role other than Tabu? Tabu is senior to Vidya in age and career so I was concerned about the character’s strength and body language but I later realized that this is a different Manjulika. And I must pause my review and express that I was hypnotized at Tabu. She looked so young and beautiful for a 51-year-old actress. And unsurprisingly an excellent performance.

Was the second part necessary? I think it is not about the need. There is no harm if the director reimagines the whole story to go in a different direction. If I do not assume this film to have any respective link with the previous film, it may look acceptable to some extent. For me, this film keeps reminding me of the former which is a sentimental form of judging the current film. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 is an entertainer and this is what clicking here.

RATINGS: 6/10

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Film Reviews

Film Review: Dhamaka (2021)

TV news anchor Arjun Pathak gets his biggest break when he interviews a terrorist who has just tried to blow a bridge alarming the national security sensing a high-level terror attack. With time, catching the terrorist becomes complicated due to his demands and Pathak struggles to find the solution to end this madness.
Dhamaka is the official remake of the South Korean film, The Terror Live. Directed by Ram Madhvani who made Neerja. There is no doubt that just like Neerja, Dhamaka is another top-class nerve-building intensity and the first half is the clear proof. The film lifts up the attention in a few minutes at the start and successfully attracts the audience and builds curiosity.
Dhamaka offers a few scenes that have been shot with careful direction like the entire build-up of Arjun struggling to recover after he vomited. Or another scene of giving a hope of possible reunion that ends up with a tragedy when the bridge collapses.
Technical excellence? Impressive sound design throughout the film and compelling screenplay and direction in the first half. Amruta Subhash had an impressive supporting role and Mrunal Thakur is one of the new talents who are serious about the profession and trying to make the name. This has to be Karthik Aaryan‘s best performance to date and maybe one of the best leading performances of the year. His expressional timing and behavioral attitude were sharp and handled with delicacy.
But handling the continuity of such a potential plot towards the last phase lowed the anticipation. A well-settled first 40 minutes into the film held a lot of promises but numerous plotholes raised the eyebrows.

SPOILERS ALERT!!!

One major problem is the dramatization of a typical newsroom trying to break a news on air. The seriousness and hullabaloo of the room get an odd feeling about the authenticity over covering a national outcry of terrorism. If the terrorist is so prepared to blow the proportions of the building, how come he believes in a theory that a minister can come to the show to apologize when he could have asked for forgiveness from any platform. If he was eventually hiding in the building, how come the anti-corruption unit did not spot out and took so long to trace out? The film shows that the call on the phone was coming from the IT room. How come no one noticed that?
When Arjun depicted that his earphone had the bomb, the police began to solve the mystery of who would fix that in his ear. I don’t understand how come no one in the newsroom identified the possibility. This is their daily routine and they all know each other who is assigned what work. What politician doesn’t cooperate with such sensitive issues on air and put the lives of many at-risk after suggesting that he must not enrage him? A journalist died in the bridge collapse and there were no injuries when the body was found. Really?
Yes, the film successfully shows the reality behind the news media politics and all the black efforts that are made to dramatize/sensationalize the events. But Dhamaka will be remembered for Karthik’s performance who looked like the captain of the sinking ship. If the efforts were made in dramatizing more compelling writing on the situational tense and newsroom drama, this may have been one of the best films of the year.
Ratings: 6.5/10