Love at first sight

​"Love at first sight".

Watched English movie "Love at first sight". 

This movie is directed by Vanessa Caswill. Screenplay by Katie Lovejoy. Produced by Matt Kaplan. It stars Haley Lu Richardson, Ben Hardy, Jameela Jamil, Rob Delaney, Sally Phillips, Dexter Fletcher. Cinematography by Luke Bryant. Music by  Paul Saunderson. Film runs for 1 hour and 30 minutes and was released in 2023. I watched with Aditi on Netflix on 20th Sept 2023.

Hadley is going for her fathers marriage. Hadley misses her flight to London. At the airport she meets Oliver. They connect. However, she manages to lose his contact number. How can they meet?

It’s a simple movie. Not too many twists and turns? Only the bare minimum required for a love story. This love story is short on emotions and doesn’t touch your heart. 

Haley plays Hadley. She’s good looking and acts well. Ben plays Oliver and he is good. Jameela plays multiple roles in addition to being the narrator. 

Positives: Haley.

Negatives: Short on emotions. 

Not a must watch.

Jailer (जेलर)

​"Jailer (जेलर)"

Watched Hindi version of film "Jailer (जेलर)". 

This film is directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. Produced by Kalanithi Maran. Written by Nelson Dilipkumar. Cinematography by Vijay Kartik Kannan. Music by Anirudh Chander. The film stars Rajinikanth, Shiva Rajkumar, Vinayakan, Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff, Ramya Krishnan, Mirna Menon, Sunil, Yogi Babu, Vasanth Ravi, VTV Ganesh, Makarand Deshpande, Redin Kingsley. This film was released in 2023. It runs for abou 2 hour 48 min. I watched in on Amazon Prime on 10th Jun 2023.

Rajinikanth is a retired man living with his wife, son who is an ACP, daughter-in-law and grandson. Life is good and quiet. His son is investigating a smuggling ring. One day he disappears, presumed dead. His wife blames him for making their son an honest officer. Rajini needs to do something. 

It’s a typical Rajini movie. Larger than life, action packed and entertaining with little regard for story.  The actions, however, seem to be a little less extravagant. Rajini has to pull all the favors, that he could, to succeed. That’s how the big guns Shiva Rajkumar, Makarand Deshpande, Mohanlal, Jackie Shroff make an appearance. Vinayakan plays villain. His ability to redden his eyes is amazing. 

Action scenes are good. A bit gory, especially the beheadings and amputations. Realistic. 

There is a twist towards the end of the story. That makes the movie suddenly interesting. 

Within a month of release the film has grossed 3 times its production cost. So it’s a box office hit. What else can one expect of a Rajinikanth film?

Positives: Entertainment. 

Negatives: Story. 

If you like Rajini flicks, watch it. 

Khufiya (खुफिया)

​"Khufiya (खुफिया)"

Watched Hindi movie "Khufiya (खुफिया)". 

This movie is directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. Produced by Rekha and Vishal Bharadwaj. Written by Rohan Narula, Vishal Bharadwaj. Music by Vishal Bharadwaj. Cinematography by Farhad Ahmed Dehalvi. This movie features Tabbu, Ashish Vidyarthi, Wamiqa Gabbi, Azmeri Haque Badhon, Ali Fazal, Atul Kulkarni, Shataf Figar, Alex O’Nell. This movie was released in 2023 and runs for about 2 hour 38 min. I watched the movie on Netflix on 5th Oct 2023.

Tabbu is a divorced intelligence officer who can’t tell her teenage son why she misses so many occasions and celebrations. She has lost an asset in Bangladesh years ago and it still haunts her. She is assigned a case to investigate another intelligence officer suspected of espionage for enemy. She sets up the surveillance but can’t find the mode of transfer of information. When she does, the suspect escapes.

This movie is based on a book by Amar Bhushan titled Escape to nowhere. However it’s really very very loosely based on the book. Director tries to make the movie spicy by adding a lot of things to the story. So the jilted wife, revenge, intelligence following the suspect to America and bringing back etc. is added. Thus, the movie diverges completely from the book.

Tabu looks good and acts well. Atul Kulkarni is his pleasant self. Bangladeshi actress Azmeri makes her Bollywood debut with a cameo. Wamiqa impressed with her performance. She displays range of emotions and’s gives a commanding performance. Ali Fazal is disappointing. Doesn’t suit the role. He is a much better actor than this.

Direction is brilliant and mediocre in patches. Wamiqa’s silent screme when she is in bed with Ali is the best shot of the movie. Credit to director for the idea and execution and to Wamiqa for the performance.

Positives: Wamiqa, Tabbu

Negatives: Naive ending, stretched story, divergence from book.

OK as one time watch. If you have read the book, forget it’s based on it.

Heart of Stone

​"Heart of Stone"

Watched English movie "Heart of Stone". 

Direction: Tom Harper. Story: Greg Ruchka. Produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and others. Cinematography George Steel. Music by Steven Price . It features Gal Godot, Alia Bhatt, Jamie Dornan, Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Shweighöfer. The movie was released in 2023 and runs for about 2 hour 2 minutes. I watched it on Netflix with Aditi on 15th Aug 2023.

Rachel Stone works for MI6. But she is working there undercover for an organization called Charter. Charter works for the good of the world and is not answerable to any country. Charter’s main star is a mysterious artificial intelligence system called The Heart. Someone, supported by an Indian hacker, is trying to hack Heart and Rachel Stone is the only one standing between them and Heart. 

The movie is an action movie. It’s so true to the genre that you have action from start to finish. Story is weak, but that’s not so important, action is. Nevertheless, it keeps you interested despite its length. The movie ends with start of a new mission confirming that a sequel is in the offing. 

Gal Godot plays Rachel. She’s beautiful. Her actions are convincing and she’s a pleasure to watch. She also acts decently. Alia Bhatt makes her international debut with the role of hacker Keya. She doesn’t act bad, but she is much better than how she presents herself in this movie. Jamie plays the villain. His character is also underdeveloped. Matthias plays Stone’s technical support. Sophie plays King of Hearts. 

Fight scenes are very good. The acting director and cinematographer have a lot of latitude and they capitalize on it. Weak characters and weak story are the draw backs of this movie. 

Positives: Gal, Action. 

Negatives: Story, weak characters.  

Watch if you are action movies fan.

Mrs. Undercover

​"Mrs. Undercover"

Watched Hindi movie "Mrs. Undercover". 

This movie is directed by Anushree Mehta. Produced by Abir Sengupta, Anushree Mehta and others. Written by: Abir Sengupta, Anushree Mehta. Cinematography: Abhimanyu Sengupta. Music: Amit Sawant, Ankit Shah, Abhinav Shekhar. The film stars Radhika Apte, Sumit Vyas, Amrita Chattopadhyay, Saheb Chatterjee, Angana Roy, Rajesh Sharma, Roshni Bhattacharya, Rudrashish Majumdar, Varun Nag, Laboni Sarkar, Indrashish Roy, Biswajit Chakraborty. The movie runs for 1 hours 47 minutes and was released in April 2023. I watched the movie on Zee5 with Aditi on 28th Jul 2023.

A serial killer is on the loose. 17 murders of young women. Latest in Kolkata. Doesn’t molest or rape but the murder is posted on social media from victim’s mobile. India’s secret agency wants to investigate but all its agents are killed by the killer. However, they find one agent whose handler died and agent was forgotten. They decided to find the agent. It turns out it’s a house wife.

Well, the plot seed is good but execution is pathetic. Director isn’t able to decide if he wants to make a suspense movie or a comedy and ends up messing both. The movie is full of bad jokes, strange faces, backwards body movements, lack of flow. The end is also amateurish.

The head of secret agency played by Rajesh Sharma is more of a joker than spook. Radhika plays the housewife and her’s is the only good performance. Sumeet Vyas plays antagonist well. Others are ‘also ran’.

Positives: Seed.

Negatives: Direction.

AVOID.

Rocky aur Raani kii Prem Kahani

​"Rocky aur Raani kii Prem Kahani (रॅाकी और रानी की प्रेम कहानी)"

Watched Hindi movie "Rocky aur Raani kii Prem Kahani (रॅाकी और रानी की प्रेम कहानी)". 

This film is directed by Karan Johar. Written by Ishita Moitra and others. Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and others. Cinematography by Manush Nandan. Music by Pritam. The film stars Alia Bhat, Ranveer Singh, Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bacchan, Aamir Bashir, Kshiti Jog, Anjali Anand, Tota Roy Chowdhuri, Churni Ganguly. The film runs for about 2 hour 48 minutes and was released in 2023. I watched it on Amazon Prime on 1st Oct 2023 with Aditi. 

Jaya is a successful business woman, owner of Dhanlakshmi laddus. Her husband, Dharmendra, was a poet but has lost his memory and is wheelchair bound. Jaya doesn’t pay attention to him and teaches her son the same. Her daughter-in-law and grand daughter have no importance in the house. Ranveer is her grandson, loud, not much educated but good at heart. Ranveer uncovers that Alia’s grandmother and his grandfather were once sweethearts. He and Alia set to reunite them and in the course hook-up.

The movie is about differences. Rocky’s family that doesn’t value women, except Jaya. Rani’s  family that gives equal importance to male and female. A not very educated family in business Vs educated family in literature and art. Loud happy go lucky Rocky Vs beautiful, mannered, responsible Rani. Punjabi Vs Bengali. It’s about how the differences don’t matter in love.

Alia plays Rani. She looks delicious. This movie presents her beauty in sensuous Sarees. Yes, she wears a Saree in the entire movie. She’s a good actor, so it’s the best combination. If I had to cast someone else, I would cast avidya Balan, when she was young. Ranveer plays the loud Punjabi very well. The gaudy shirts, the hairstyle and his acting make the character lively. Dharmendra plays cameo and kisses Shabana on screen first time in his life. Kshiti Jog has got a good breakthrough and delivers a notable performance. Shabana’s performance is not up to her standard. Aamir is one dimensional. Others support well. Jaya in the role of Dhanlakshmi is a casting disaster. Jaya is a good actor but she absolutely doesn’t suit in the role. Neena Gupta or Rekha would have been better choices. 

Story is not bad. The idea of staying in each other’s house and trying to win the future in-laws is not new. Direction is good but it’s not a typical Karan Johar film.

The movie paints Punjabis and Bengalis with broad brush strokes. Punjabis are painted as loud, semi educated, uncultured. Bengalis are painted as forward thinking, cultured and educated. This is quite monochromatic. As a result this movie appears shallow rather than profound.

Positives: Alia, Ranveer.

Negatives: Not profound.

OK as one time watch, but not worth a super hit that it became. 

Bimbisara

​"Bimbisara"

Watched Dubbed Hindi movie 'Bimbisara'. 

This film is directed by Mallidi Vassishta. Produced by Harikrishna Kosaraju. Written by Mallidi Vassishta. Music by M. M. Keervani. Cinematography by Chota K. Naidu. The film stars Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, Samyuktha Menon, Catherine Tresa, Gayatri Bhargavi, Vivan Bhatena, Prakash Raj. The film runs for almost 2 hours 20 minutes and was released in 2022. I watched it on Zee5 on 15th Jul 2023. 

Bimbisara is an all conquering  cruel king in 500BC. His twin brother, who Bimbisara tried to kill earlier, returns and throws him through magic mirror that brings him to present times. A present day doctor is trying to  obtain the Dhanvantari medicine, the key to which is with Bimbisara. 

Once in present, what does Bimbisara understand?  Does he realize his mistake? Who does he help? Who helps him?

The idea is good.  It’s a story of self realization. So the concept is interesting. But the presentation is crass. Rather than making it into a powerful movie, director has made it into a masala movie, pure and simple. Director shows that apples were there in 500BC in India when it is a known fact that British introduced apples to India in 19th century. Some homework! Character of Samyuktha is wasted. Why is she in the film?

The special effects are not very good. Especially first fight is very bad. The sets are of very low quality. The set of the place of treasure is so bad that the cardboard shapes can be seen even by a kid. 

Although the movie has multiple characters, the only important character is of Bimbisar and his twin brother Devdutt, both played by NKR. NKR looks impressive and dashing in ancient clothes, not so much in modern clothes. He acts decently.

This movie grossed about 1.5 times its production cost. Wasn’t a hit, wasn’t a flop. 

Positives: NKR.

Negatives: Crassness and special effects. 

Give it a miss.

Sniper: Assassin’s end

​"Sniper: Assassin’s end"

Watched English movie "Sniper: Assassin’s end". 

This film is directed by Kaare Andrews. Written by Oliver Thompson. Produced by Greg Malcolm, Vicki Sotheran. Music by Patrick Caird. Cinematography Strolling Bancroft. The film features Sayaka Akimoto, Chad Michael Collins, Tom Berenger, Lochlyn Munro, Emily Tennant, Ryan Robbins. The film runs for about 1 hour 36 minutes and was released in 2020. I watched it on Netflix on 15th July 2023. This is 8th installment of Sniper series. 

Leader of a fictitious South American country, Costa Verde, is assasinated by a long shot. Very few in world can take such a shot. Special Ops sniper Brandon Beckett’s DNA is found and he is arrested. But he is innocent and his convoy is attacked. Brandon survives and goes to his father, a retired sniper himself. 

The seed is good. Story is shallow. Father Son meet after years and father happens to tell the story of one of his worst shots. The sniper (both father and son) don’t look the part. The perpetrator is very ill  concealed. Reason for revenge is very obvious but nobody spots it. The execution is also hopeless. American federal agent asks Canadian agent to get out in Canada and he obeys. What jurisdiction does the American have? Why does the assassin give up after putting up a spectacular fight?

Acting is not much to write about. Only noteworthy performance is of Sayaka. Others are ‘also ran’. A lot of movie happens in dark. 

Positives: Hardly anything. 

Negatives: Everything. 

Avoid.