D-Day Movie Review

Critic's Rating: 3.5 STAR

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi, Shruti Haasan, Nasser

Direction: Nikhil Advani

Genre: Thriller

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Story: Four Indian agents plan to bring India's most wanted criminal home from Pakistan - do they succeed?

Review: Straight up, D-Day is explosive at three levels. The plot crackles. The acting sears. And the music flares with passion. Four Indian agents, angry and RAW, enter Pakistan to bring Iqbal Seth (Rishi Kapoor), a Dawood-like don, hated for his terrorism, home. Wali Khan (Irrfan) has married a local woman and fathered a child, but longs to find freedom from the truth and lies he lives. Irrfan amazes, switching from tender to treacherous in a flash, authentic as he calls out "Rudar!" to Rudra Pratap Singh (Arjun), a man of molten mysteries, introduced with a Lawrence of Arabia-like flair.

Arjun looks smashing and pulls off a competent act while Zoya (Huma) does well as a cutie-pie who can squeeze a knife real bad. Aslam (Aakash Dahiya), a gangster-turned-agent, forms the fourth wheel, but Rishi Kapoor stands out as Iqbal Seth, with his polyester-like silky malevolence, his mocking manipulations, his eyes behind red goggles, both frightened and frightening.

That mirrors the plot which flips rapidly, hunters becoming the hunted, then vice-versa. Nasser, as RAW director Ashwini Rao, is convincing as an official straining at the leash while Iqbal's bhanja (Chandan Sanyal) is splendid with his simply asinine evil. A beautifully fragile Shruti Haasan plays a prostitute sheltering Rudra. Their track is short but sensual, a little lily-pool of beauty in an otherwise relentlessly harsh cinematography, where Karachi's grey, gritty and gunpowder-laced.

But this being Bollywood, the plot can't escape emotional excursions. Some - Rudra's love-life, Zoya's break-up - adds a halwa-like heaviness to this Karachi. But the second half refreshes your palate, sizzling sequences between Wali, Rudra and Iqbal Seth leaving you open-mouthed, the 'c' in this climax clearly for controversy.

Catch it - this 'D' company denotes both debate and desh-prem.

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sixeen movie trailer

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Rating – 4 STAR

Synopsis

A film inspired by the legendary Indian athlete, Milkha Singh's life and journey.

 

Critic's Review

He doesn't sing for his supper. He runs. Every sinew tugging and rippling to be fed. For that one glass of milk(ha!). He had a choice to run away, or to run. He did the right thing, he ran. Oh yes, the eternal metaphor 'the race of life'. We're all runners. With reason enough? A finish line to shred?Milkha Singh did. He ran his first race for ek glass doodh. And he never stopped. Untiringly. He ran because it was his religion.
'BMB' traces his scarred childhood, brutalized by India's Partition;followed by penury and petty crimes. He finds purpose in life when romance blooms with Beero (Sonam). Joining the Indian Army, where his mentor (Malhotra) inspires him to take the big 'leap'. Thereon, Milkha just runs. Barefooted, bruised, and with the weight of a suffering soul. He goes on to break records, but faces heartbreaking defeat at the Rome Olympics(1960). He takes it in his stride, overcomes his catastrophic past and ultimately emerges a winner.
Mehra is brilliant at his craft; he infuses realism into drama, and explores characters so deeply and sensitively through tragedy and triumph, that it sparks an emotional deluge. The movie transitions from flashback sepia tones to moods of present, without losing the grip of emotions, ever.
Cinematography is ace (Binod Pradhan); the music (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy) heightens the drama. Prasoon's writing is powerful, lyrics are pure poetry and emotions robustly sweep the scenes with few dialogues. While there's a lot to marvel at, a hint of the director's over-indulgence in the art, results in a long 'runtime' and prolonged scenes that distract.
Farhan is fantastic! He peeps through Milkha's core to essay this role. With an awe-inspiring body, grit and guts, he puts blood and sweat into Milkha. He races like an athlete, breaks into bhangra like a proud sardar and shows prowess of a Punjab-da-sher. In a brief role, Sonam prettily breezes through. Pavan and Divya (Singh's sister) are outstanding. Overall, 'BMB' pulsates with the storyteller's sheer passion all the way to the finish line.
While you are on-the-run, pause to watch this one.
Note: You will not like this film if in-depth biopics don't appeal to your taste.

Pacific Rim - 3D

RATING- 3.5 STAR

·  Starring :

Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Ron Perlman, Burn Gorman

Synopsis

Intergalactic monsters called the Kaiju are unleashed from a rift in the Pacific Ocean to wipe out humanity. Only a force of equally gigantic robots created by man called the Jaegers can thwart them.

Critic's Review

Stripped down, this movie is essentially about giant robots and giant sea monsters bashing each other up. The Jaeger robots are so large that they require two human operators to form a 'drift' (or a 'neural bridge') with each other to act as the left-brain and right-brain hemispheres controlling the mecha-robots from within. The Jaegers are then airlifted out to sea for a supersized slugfest with the Kaiju. Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) had lost his brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) to the Kaiju and the neural bridge allowed Becket to feel his co-driver brother's pain in his time of dying.
Commanding officer Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) later plans a last-ditch effort to knock out the Kaiju once and for all at their source point. Burned-out Becket is recalled into service to command his old Jaeger called Gipsy Danger with Mako Mori (Kikuchi). Mori's own need for revenge against the Kaiju is convincing. She is perfect for her role. Other than that, Del Toro has populated their fellow Jaeger combatants with stereotypes - stoic Russians, bellicose Australians, soft-spoken Orientals and two mad scientists who seek a cerebral solution.
The visuals are undeniably great and so are the effects. You'll even get to see a Jaeger bludgeon a Kaiju with a cargo ship. But the visuals will have to be this film's calling card because the ballast that holds it back is generic acting, monster film cliches and a sparse script. Ron Perlman, notwithstanding a tiny role, manages to shine as Hannibal Chau.
The effort to inject romance between Mori and Becket is redundant. For once though, the battle for the planet is being fought someplace other than the USA. Although the story line is passable, the real stars in Pacific Rim are the Jaegers.
Note: You may not like this film if you don't enjoy large-scale, violent, robot-versus-monster movies.

Sixteen (U/A)

RATING- 2.5 STAR

·  Starring :

Wamiqa Gabbi, Izabelle Leite, Mehak Manwani, Keith Sequeira, Highphill Mathews

Synopsis

If you are appalled by the behaviour and how 'advanced the kids are these days', Sixteen is for you.

Critic's Review

Access to internet, social networking, smart phones and hefty pocket money have resulted in kids getting an early exposure to things that unknowingly shape their lives and determine their future. The more their parents preach or protect them, the more they revolt and crave for that sense of unwarranted freedom. Can the change in the value system ruin the lives of these teenagers or can they still take the right decisions?
Unlike most films made on youngsters, Sixteen is refreshingly real and extremely relevant in modern times. Thankfully, there are no standard teenage-film cliches like youngsters taking to drugs or other addictions, misbehaviour, rebellious attitude towards parents, etc.
Purohit wisely addresses the issues that deserve to be mentioned. Peer pressure, relationship issues, sex, unplanned pregnancy, academic pressure, suicide, MMS scandals, surfing adult content on the net in spite of being under 18...almost all significant issues are maturely handled and presented. Nowhere do you feel too much is being served at one go. Although sluggish pace is what dampens the impact, as the filmmaker slips into an artistic mode every now and then.
Casting is perfect. All the newcomers act well. Wamiqa Gabbi as Tanisha is impressive, Izabelle Leite is effective in spite of her voice being dubbed, Keith Sequeira lends that much needed subtlety to the story.
However, the film has its limitations. It focuses on the dilemmas of the rich kids, thus catering to urbane youth.

Grown Ups 2 (2013)

This second gathering of childhood friends finds Lenny (Adam Sandler) moving his family back to the same small town where he grew up. Now, 

the grown ups (Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade) are the ones learning from their kids as the last day of school and its antics and surprises take center stage. Dennis Dugan returns to direct

The Conjuring (2013)

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Hayley McFarland, Shanley Caswell, Mackenzie Foy, Joey King
Director: James Wan

Synopsis: Insidious' James Wan dips his feet into the haunted house game once again with this New Line Cinema production telling the real life tale of of Perron family, who claimed to have been haunted by a series of ghosts. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson star as paranormal investigators who reached notoriety with their investigation into the Amityville Horror house