Vijay 69, Review: VATs 69 in a name? A story that looks very elevating and moralising on paper does not necessarily translate into an engaging film. Vijay 69 is one such film. It seems to have been made to showcase that Anupam Kher, who played an old man’s role in Mahesh Bhatt’s Saaransh (1984), when he was 29, can play such a role, as a 69 year-old at 69. That is a no-brainer. Forty years on, he has done 540 films and started an acting school, besides trying his hand at directio...

Ghost, Review: Jailhouse Rock ‘The Warden threw a party in the county jail, The prison band was there and they began to wail’ wrote Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, for the legendary Elvis Presley to sing, in the 1957 film, Jailhouse Rock, a jail film, as the title suggests. 66 years later, we have an Indian jail film that draws no inspiration from Jailhouse Rock. In fact, it is not clear at all where the inspiration, if any, for Ghost, came from. Could it have come from a ghost? A ...

The Vaccine War, Review: Vaccinema With a no brainer of a title, the docu-feature is indeed about the vaccine for Covid 19 Coronavirus, India’s first bio-science film. But what about the ‘war’? Granted that the pandemic had to be dealt with in a war-like situation, this is an exaggerated term to describe the war-footing under which Indian scientists prepared the above vaccine, and the desperate measures that some western countries adopted to deride these efforts. Their motiv...

Connect, Review: ConnectShun Many a film, both Indian and foreign, has exploited the theme of an evil spirit possessing an innocent victim, usually a teenage girl, the havoc it causes in the victim’s skeletal family and the exorcism that has to be performed to get rid of the evil spirit. Some have been of a high quality, while the others have been mere pot-boilers. Connect, made with scarce resources, as it would appear, has nothing new to offer, except some special effects. A supernatu...

Uunchai, Review: Plateau Rajshri Productions have a tradition of making family oriented subjects and shaping them into very lengthy films. By comparison, Uunchai, at 169 minutes, is a short film. Even at that length, it fails to reach the heights that the cast and the director promise. With no less an actor than Amitabh Bachchan himself heading the cast, Uunchai (height; spelt unconventionally, this was instead of the phonetic, Oonchai) was expected to reach some dizzy heights, with a s...

Uunchai trailer launch: Heightened expectations Uunchai is not about family. It is about friendship. How far will you go to fulfill the last wish of a dear friend? Mount Everest? There can be no greater Uunchai (Height) on earth, and never mind the spelling. Should be Oonchai, but I guess numerology dictated the changed spelling. Numerology again seems to be at play in choosing the release date: 11-11-22. But two factors have kindled keen interest in the film: firstly, the return of Amitabh B...

Karthikeya 2, Review: “Ptolemy told me” A pilgrimage for followers of Lord Krishna, and a mosaic of breath-taking locales awaits those who venture into theatre territory and buy tickets to see Karthikeya 2. Add to that some impressive VFX and animation. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there is little else to justify making of the film per se. Combining religious events that occurred 5118 years ago, and much earlier, with a present day atheist doctor, it chronicles...

Sounds of The Kashmir Files: “Pray for all the oppressed people in the world” Royal Opera House was a surprising choice for the event. Once a landmark for big-budget film releases, it remained shut for about two decades, before it was revived, with plays and other events being held there, but no film shows. Makers of the film The Kashmir Files decided to kill two birds with one stone: reinforce their theme of oppression, persecution, brutal murders and more of Kashmiri Pandits in ...

Pyar Mein Thoda Twist, Review: A sack-full of emptiness A lot of action in the film Pyar Mein Thoda Twist takes place inside a bound sack. It is marked, Lena Hae Lena Hae (have to take, have to take) Brand, and it twists alright. No, not because it is haunted, but because it holds a man captive. This man is supposed to be Mr. Wanted, a dangerous criminal, whose capture carries a reward of Rs. 2 million. While the sack changes hands and locations several times, being stolen or ‘kidnapped...

Har Kisse Ke Hisse Kaamyaab, Review: Many parts, many holes, no whole, no soul In one scene of Har Kisse Ke Hisse Kaamyaab, the protagonist, an actor who goes under the screen name of Sudheer, cannot get his lines right, because he has not had a swig of his favourite brew, and gives retake after retake. We see him do seven/eight retakes, after which, mercifully, the film-maker goes into a montage, with only music, after which it is revealed that he had given as many as 32 retakes. Mercifully,...

One Day Justice Delivered, Review: Perhaps, but not today A judge dispensing justice by extra-judicial means immediately after retirement is not a common theme in Hindi films, and the novelty is undeniable. Sadly, that is just about where the merits of this film rest. Actors ham, the script meanders, co-incidences abound, dialogue disappoints and the climactic twist is of no consequence. One Day Justice Delivered espouses a noble cause but does more disservice than service to it. Ranchi High...

Love Sonia, Review:  Sister’s sibling search sifting sordid sex surroundings Official statistics show that there hundreds of thousands of sex workers in India, and many of them are below 18. Being a sex worker is not a crime, but soliciting and living of the earnings of sex workers are clear crimes. That does not deter the ‘businessmen’ who run brothels and sex rackets. 270 girls/women go missing every day in India and most land up in the flesh trade. Only 1% of them ma...

Baa Baaa Black Sheep, Review: Wolf in sheep’s clothing Director Vishwas Paandya is not serious. A confessional in the beginning dedicates Baa Baaa Black Sheep to the films he grew up on. He’s also asked his partner in crime (it’s a crime story), writer Sunjiv Puri, to strictly follow his brief. So, when the film was launched, in early 2015, they were probably referencing films of the 1980s-1990s. One character is named Charlie, in a tribute to the legendary comedian, who rul...

Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri’s Alma Mater, NSD’s Theatre Olympics India’s National School of Drama (NSD) has produced many a luminary in the field of film and television, both in front of and behind the camera. An autonomous institution under Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India, it is located in New Delhi. The first batch of students came in 1961. Since then, between 10 and 33 students pass out every year. NSD is now holding its 8th Theatre Olympics in Mumbai, ...

16th Third Eye Asian Film Festival: VII TEAFF was organised by the Asian Film Foundation and P.L. Deshpande Maharashtra Kala Academy, and co-organised by Prabhat Chitra Mandal and Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal. An annual event, it is supported by Department of Culture, Government of Maharashtra. Screenings were held at Ravindra Natya Mandir Mini Auditorium, Mumbai, which has been the venue for the last few years. In my last instalment, I covered two Marathi films. Today, we wi...

Ranchi Diaries: Nothing to write about Some films make you wonder whether their makers have any friends at all, for if they did have any well-wishers, why did they not speak-up and give some honest feedback during the making? You do not need to be a critic to conclude that a film like Ranchi Diaries is terribly flawed, though critics might tell you what are the things patently wrong with it: no coherent screenplay, false Bhojpuri accents, totally exaggerated and over-the-top dialogue, no resp...

Toilet—Ek Prem Katha, Review by Siraj Syed: Loo and behold! There is no point getting revolted by the title. Any fear that the film might have ‘dirty’ scenes can be laid to rest by the realisation that we have a robust Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) that sanitises every film before release. And almost every Indian knows that the current Prime Minister launched a campaign two-and-a-half years ago, to ensure that millions of villages and small towns in rural India ...

Roy, Review: ROYters’ block, alias ‘balle t balle t’ Papa Anupam Kher thinks it is something to do with a woman. Son Arjun Rampal calls it writers’ block. Both are right. Grewal Senior was referring to writer-director Kabir Grewal’s predicament in the film, while Rampal was explaining to the viewers why this film was going nowhere! Casanova Grewal has fallen in love with a documentary film-maker named Ayesha Aamir, from London, while shooting his film Guns III in...

Baby, Review: Premature A Wednesday director Neeraj Pandey’s film Baby was previewed for the press on Thursday. It is made under his Friday Films banner and reunites Akshay Kumar with Pandey, after Special 26. Baby is an espionage action-thriller, in a genre similar to his earlier two outings, but much bigger and more ambitious in span. Ajay Singh Rajput is a leading officer in an elite counter-intelligence unit of 16 men, informally called ‘Baby’, because they have a time ...