Monday, April 21, 2014

2 States

Build Up:
Based on Chetan Bhagat's best selling autobiography of the same name, stars Arjun Kapoor as Krish Malhotra, Alia Bhatt as Ananya Swaminathan who fall in love while in IIM-A, and want to get married with the blessings of their parents. Nothing wrong, just that Krish is a Punjabi from Delhi and Ananya is a Tam Brahm from Chennai. How they battle it out is what the movie all about.

What we see:
  • Krish meets Ananya in IIM-A and they have a rocking time for the 2 years of their course. Studying in each other's rooms, making out and all the usual college happenings, including a well choreographed song spanning the 2 years
  • Commitment time creates a situation where the respective parents get off on the wrong foot, with each accusing the other in politically incorrect statements.. This sets the tone for the major part of the movie
  • Krish has an uphill task in patafying the entire family in totally unfamiliar territory of Chennai and manages to get them to accept him
  • Ananya comes over to Delhi to do the same, including salvaging the honour of the family in a stick situation at a wedding. She also emerges successful
  • Biggest problem is to get the families accept each other, without flying at each other's throats and making stereotypical comments of the part of India the other is from
  • Push comes to shove, and the situation has gone out of hand till a miracle happens and the wedding is on course - All's well that ends well :)
Delights:
  • The screenplay of the romance between Krish and Ananya
  • The music from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and the lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya
  • Revathy as the authentic Tam Brahm mom... she's a class apart as always
Disappointments: - That's a looooong list now
  • Alia Bhatt can act, but Tam Brahm she is not - who can be convinced that the girl who wears shorts in the campus is all the time in sarees at home. Four words in Tamil is all that she says
  • Arjun Kapoor can model for Garnier Fructis Hard Gel - Same hairstyle all through movie irrespective of the years. He also looks like he ingested some of it - Same expression through the movie
  • Tam and Punju stereotypical statements - color of skin, upbringing, timing of wedding etc gets on your nerves eventually
  • 2nd half has too much drama and it wears you down
  • Ronit Roy - angry man you are...but not stone cold and dead... You can do better
Rating: 2.5/5 - only for the first half, cos its light. After reading the book, hopes were high, and movie didn't quite justify the drama in the novel
(Should learn adaptations of books to movies from Hollywood)

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Main Tera Hero

Build up:

David Dhawan - Comedy king of the 90s is back on the comedy charter this time with his son Varun, and hopefully who we think are good looking leading ladies, Ileana D'cruz and Nargis Fakhri. And a few condiments for the tadka in the plot- Arunoday Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Anupam Kher, Loveleen Sharma(remember the babe in YJHD trekking in shorts), and a guest appearance from Shakti Kapoor (aaaaaooooooouuuuuuu)

What we see:
  • Srinath Prasad(Varun) aka Seenu is absolutely aimless in life and decides to shift base to Bangalore in search of his tree of enlightenment (Degree). Apart from studying, he can do anything that borders on gunda gardi
  • Love at first sight with Sunaina, who is terrified to even glance at him. Courtesy: Her supposed fiancĂ© Angad (Arunoday Singh) who is on anger management classes.
  • Sunaina loves Seenu amidst all the fights and song singing, till a small hiccup occurs
  • Enter Aisha (Nargis) who is besotted with Seenu, and will marry only him and no one else...and daddy will agree to anything she wants

To unravel the Bollywood styletwists ... and have a good laugh to de-stress... head to the nearest multiplex and watch the movie

Delights:
  • Varun's comic timing  - reminds you of Govinda, but in a new, sophisticated, 6-Pack avatar.
  • Varun's dancing and patafying
  • Ileana in her damsel in distress avatar - kinda believable and looks good
  • Arunoday like a blabbering, bumbling baboon
  • Music is foot tapping and catchy
Disappointments:
  • Nargis Fakhri can't act or look pretty - hot bod/bikini/pout collection doesn't compensate for lack of acting skills/expressions/dialogue delivery
Rating:3.5/5 - All for Varun, his comedy, 6-pack and the music