Leo, Review: The hyena trapper’s identity crisis When a film from the South is set in Himachal Pradesh, there must be a good reason. And when the same film has Sanjay Dutt in a pivotal role, you look forward to some exciting moments. There are indeed such moments in Leo. The problem is that it tries to roll three stories in one joint (a large chunk of the film deals with cigarette manufacturing). The film is redeemed by an inspired performance by ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay, his seco...

Jawan, Review: Eggs on the windshield You can be pardoned for believing that Jawan is Pathaan rebooted, if you walked in as ShahRukh Khan (SRK) is lying half-dead on a bed somewhere near the Indian border (with which country?) and a chinky medicine man is spending days, and possibly weeks, using all kinds of herbs and other local Ayurvedic medicine to revive him. It was exactly the same in Pathaan, where he was nursed back by a Pathaan tribe. Obviously, the makers thought once is not enough, ...

I’m Gonna Tell God Everything, Pre-Review: May peace be on earth A special screening of the award-winning film - 'I'm Gonna Tell God Everything', produced by Jay Patel and Abhishek Dudhaiya, and presented by Sanjay Dutt, was held earlier this week at the PVR Icon Multiplex, Andheri, Mumbai. Among the invitees were film journalists and actress Mandakini, of the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili fame, who came with her son, a young man who is about a foot taller than her. She was ther...

KGF Chapter 2, Review: The audience as cannon fodder One-and-a-half million residents in and around Kolar Gold Fields are either shooting their guns out or are learning how to do so. Gangsters in Mumbai and the Middle East are either shooting their guns out or are selling guns to other gangsters. The police and the army are either shooting their guns out in raids, or are waiting for orders to do so. Rocky and his coterie are either shooting their guns out at the bosses at KGF, Bad Boy Adheera...

KGF Chapter 2: Cinépolis IMAX, Seawoods, Navi Mumbai to be launched with Yash-starrer One ‘crazy’ fan, a man apparently in his late twenties, stood outside the Seawoods Grand Central in Navi (New) Mumbai, belting out dialogue from KGF 1 and expressing his absolute devotion to the lead actor, Yash. He said he had travelled all the way from Varanasi, a distance of 1,500 kms, to meet the superstar, and would not go away until he got a chance to meet Yash. This was happening on...

Kalank, Review: Masochistic miasma Everything in Kalank (blemish, stigma) is grand, both in content and in form. Sets and décor, riches and poverty, locales and vehicles, make-up and costumes, dances and fights, colours and luminance, all are designed to make your jaw drop in awe. All this opulence is merely the canvas on which a heart-wrenching tragedy is painted, around the time of India’s partition, with the entire ensemble cast at the receiving end of a woeful operatic wail, ...

Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster 3, Review: Russian Roulette, House of Lords, the Nautch Girl and Privy Purses Here’s a film, about two hours long, that has some great cinematography and imaginative camera angles, impactful music, classy sets and décor, an ambience that lays the foundation of a riveting saga of ‘deceit conspiracy, greed and lust’. You wait anxiously for some great lines of dialogue, some battle of wits, some royal clashes…Alas! You wait in vain. When t...