Agneepath (2012)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri

A remake of the 1990 blockbuster starring Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar attempts a remake of the original made by his father. Johar, more known for his melodramatic and housewife-ish movies, has created a type-casted genre for himself and its no wonder that critics received the movie with apprehension prior to its release. Loaded violence, street crime and raw aggression is the last thing that anyone would associate Johar with and he has successfully managed to live up to the original movie's reputation. I haven't personally seen the original but word has it that the remake is different in many aspects and reaping largest-ever box office collections in India is certain proof. Vijay Dinanath Chauhan (Roshan) was brought up by his father to be noble and wise and not give in to filth and greed of the streets. His father was wrongly framed and killed tortuously in broad daylight by Kancha (Dutt) the local gangster of the village of Mandwa. Seething with anger and vowing revenge, a young Vijay arrives at the beaches of Mumbai, ready to start a new life. He gets sucked into street crime and joins hands with Rauf Lala (Kapoor) a human-trafficker, Mumbai's largest drug lord and Kancha's enemy. Here he meets his love Kaali (Chopra) and befriends a police officer who wishes to help him take down Kancha once and for all. The movie is powerful and aggressive in every passing moment. Sure, there are up and downs but that is a part and parcel of making a commercial Bollywood movie. The unwanted dance sequences and slow, family drama is like the garnishing on food; unwanted but makes it look good. Roshan and company have put on a fabulous show and Dutt has fulfilled the role of an over-the-top villain with finesse. The movie has superbly incorporated religion, aggression, power and drama in its backdrop to make it highly entertaining and worth the 3 hours it demands. Yes loads of scenes can be simply sliced away to make it faster and better, but that's Bollywood!

Thumbs up: Performance, the character that the movie presents itself with

Thumbs down: Slow and unwanted scenes break the flow

Rating: 8.3/10

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Gunda (1998)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Action

Starring: Mithun Chakraborty, Verna Raj, Rana Jung Bahadur, Mohan Joshi, Shakti Kapoor, Razak Khan, Harish Patel, Mukesh Rishi

Speechless. There are these select few movies, rarely found, that manage to be so ultimately horrible that its an amazing watch. Its like the village idiot who lacks every kind of personality but is yet laughed at by all. But don't get me wrong, Gunda would never fall into that category. Its amazingly huge cult following that swear by it can not be wrong. Shankar (Chakraborty) is the common man frustrated with corrupt politicians and the harassment that every individual faces due to gangsters openly walking on the streets. He takes the law into his own hands and decides to bring an end to them once and for all. Bulla (Rishi) is a well-connected gangster that works for a politician and gets rid of his opposition. His sidekicks include Pote (Joshi), Ebu Hatela (Patel) and Bulla's bisexual brother, Chuttiya (Kapoor). Every goon has their own introductory line which they keep narrating every now and then. Bulla claims to keep everything in the open (mein rakhta hoon sab khulla), Chuttiya vows to basically make life horrible even for the best (achche achchon ki khadi karta hoon khatiya), Pote literally means grandson which he claims even your dad wont have (?) (jo tumhare baap ke bhi nahin hote) and Ebu Hatela explains his ancestry and wants you to eat his banana (!) (Maa meri chudail ke beti, baap mera shaitan ka chela, khayega kela?). If these lines crack you up, what would the first 5 minutes of the movie do to you? Google the dialogue list and you would find loads of websites where fans have listed the hilarity. Apart from these award winning dialogues, the movie is pure trash. Skip through the jargon and enjoy the essence. Its a clear case of love and hate and I must say, I'm lovin' it.

Thumbs up: The best script ever!

Thumbs down: Very typical Bollywood B-grade from the '90s

Rating: 7.0/10

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The Drity Picture (2011)

Genre: Drama/Musical/Biography/Romance

Starring: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajesh Sharma

Does sex sell? Well at least India's queen of melodramatic soap operas intends to find that out. A true-life story of a south Indian porn star, the movie explores how sex was used, and might still be used, to sell a movie. Ironically the movie itself employs conservative Vidya Balan to shed everything that covers her to add enough oomph to the movie to make it more appealing to audiences. Reshma aka Silk (Balan) aspired to be in the movies and ran away from home to head towards Madras where she aspired to realise her dreams. Film producer Selvaganesh (Sharma) discovers her and her willingness to reveal everything on screen and decides to feature her in some songs opposite the super-star of south Indian cinema, Suryakant (Shah). Surya is notorious for his affairs with young aspiring actresses and satisfies his sexual desires with Silk who in the meantime gets a lot of movie offers due to her 'friendship' with Surya. Contemporary director Abraham (Hashmi) wants to reach Hollywood and hates using sexuality and added 'spice' to sell the movie. Although he makes fabulous films that win him awards, it does not get him any money at the box office. Suryakants brother Ramakant (Kapoor) is attracted to Silk after a fallout between his brother and her and romances her. The movie aspired to shatter Indian mainstream cinema with Balan's three-inch-deep-cleavage with truckloads of sex and vulgarity to reveal the inside on-goings of the industry. Sadly the only focus of the movie seems to be Balan and every other characters presence being very rigid and structured. Enter, do your bit, and move out of the script all together. Since the focus has been on Vidya Balan throughout, her transformation from rags to riches has been shown with a good evolution. Even her appearance, gradual weight-gain, and puff on her right cheek were taken care of and shown with subtlety. If its Balans navel and exposed thighs that you aspire then the movie beckons for you, else go watch something else.

Thumbs up: Vidya Balan and the focus on her character, Awesome dialogues add humour

Thumbs down: Poor piecing together of the plot, poor supporting cast performance, predictable and a bit boring

Rating: 5.6/10

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Ra.One (2011)

Genre: Action/Drama/Romance/Science-fiction

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Tom Wu, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami

Time and gain I have said that Bollywood lacks recipe and in spite of rapid evolutions in movie-making, ideas still seemed to be ripped out of Hollywood blockbusters. Shekhar Subramanium (Khan) is a game developer for Barron Industries but does not appear to be cool enough in the eyes of his son Prateek (Verma). In a bid to get into his sons good books and make an outstanding video game, Shekhar develops the ultimate super villain, Ra.One (Rampal/Wu). Ra.One is equipped with artificial intelligence where he quickly learns the moves of his players and gets smarter and hence tougher. Things start going haywire and Ra.One from the game comes to life and wrecks havoc. He is out to hunt for Prateek whom he has learnt is his most formidable opponent and decides to hunt him down. In order to stop Ra.One the good guy G.One (Khan) is brought to life and to bring an end to his mutiny. Shekhar's wife Sonia (Kapoor) and Prateek are in danger of being killed and it is up to G.One to save them. The movie is a rip-off of Hollywood's best superheroes all in one. Ra.One and G.One share the same suit design as Iron Man, especially the HART which is a direct copy of the same device on Iron Man. Many fight scenes are copied from Terminator including the one from Terminator 2 where T-1000 rebuilds itself after getting disintegrated by liquid nitrogen. The movie has supposedly tried to use the most advanced special effects to date but yet many scenes seem be hopelessly out of place and look tacky even for 20-year-old graphics technology standard. The movie is a total wash down and a case study of 'How to create too much buzz for an entirely worthless product'. It still kills me on how G.One managed to come back to life after being killed, any answers?

Thumbs up: Arjun Rampal filled Ra.One's character well with some scenes being executed with finesse

Thumbs down: Copied plot, very poor special effects.

Rating: 4.8/10

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Jo Dooba So Paar: It's Love in Bihaar (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama/Adventure

Starring: Vinay Pathak, Anand Tiwari, Rajat Kapoor, Pitobash Tripathy, Dadhi Raj, Sita Ragoine Spada

When a white woman walks into India with extremely ambitious plans to tour the country and further her knowledge, everyone knows the hurdles she will have to cross and Sapna's (Spada) story is no different. Sapna comes to India to pursue her M. Phil research in paintings of India and wants to travel all over Bihar. Kishu (Tiwari) is a local youth who dropped out of school and now spends his days in his fathers truck transporting goods from one city to another. He glances upon Sapna in the streets one morning and instantly falls in love. Day in and day out he tirelessly tries win her heart only to find that it belonged to someone else. The movie is set against Bihar's rural life and most of the humour comes from their style of talking and the sarcasm that comes along with it. To someone who is familiar with the dialect, the humour would be more appreciated compared to anyone else who might just laugh without getting its true meaning. The performances and good and its worth that one watch to enjoy and go home.

Thumbs up: Sarcastic humour, performances

Thumbs down: Not LOL funny

Rating: 6.6/10

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Singham (2011)

Genre: Crime/Action/Drama

Starring: Ajay Devgn, Kajal Agarwal, Prakash Raj, Sonali Kulkarni

Corruption and dirty politics are known to inflict Indian politics, so much so that if an honest person tries to wipe it clean, he would get wiped clean. Bajirao Singham (Devgn) is an honest police inspector in a small town of Goa. Jaykant Shikre (Raj) is a notorious crook known for extortion, murder, money laundering and the likes. He is ordered by court to report to a specific police station every few days and mark his attendance. That very police station which is under the authority of Bajirao Singham. Shikre disregards the law and tries to send a nominee on his behalf, much to the ire of Singham who demands that Shikre himself appear. This does not go down well with him and enmity sparks with each side swearing to take down the other. Singham later learns of inspector Rakesh Kadam who shot himself because he too was a good cop and wanted to expose the corruption but was unable to do so. His wife Megha (Kulkarni) approaches Singham and demands justice for her dead husband. The lion is out in the forest to hunt for dear and when the lion goes hunting, he never returns empty-handed. The movie is filled with the angry Devgn smashing everything that comes in his way. Over-the-top action sequences are rampant throughout the movie which is what makes it hugely interesting. The only let downs was the forced romance angle that was added and the not-so-climaxing climax scene. All in all, a great action movie and a must watch for die hard fans.

Thumbs up: Good performances, entertaining action

Thumbs down: Forced romance and drama sequences that breaks the movies momentum

Rating: 7.2/10

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Bodyguard (2011)

Genre: Action/Crime/Romance/Drama

Starring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Reema Debnath, Rajat Rawail, Rose Dawn, Asrani

Every actor has its own panache which makes him/her different from the crowd and manage to create a niche for themselves. This character or style may not be loved by all but it is the image the actor has created. Salman Khan is one such man whose rapidly swelling fan-following comprises of those individuals who love his over-the-top aggressive attitude, slapstick humour and unrealistic action. Bodyguard Lovely Singh (Khan) has owned himself a name for being the most safest man to be around you. Single-handily thrashing twenty goons, jumping off running trains, throwing people six feet in the air is not big deal for this macho man. Sartaj Rana (Babbar) is a rich elite man who once saved Lovely's life when he was a child, as a mark of respect he diligently works for him whenever the need be. Divya (Kapoor) the daughter of Sartaj is going to university and Sartaj's enemies are plotting to attack her in order to get even with him. Lovely has been appointed as Divya's bodyguard and must follow her everywhere she goes, much to her despise. Divya hatches a plan to get Lovely off her back, a plan that would later have disastrous consequences. If one simply accepts Salman the way he is, the movie is actually quite entertaining to watch. The last 45 minutes seemed dragged and a last minute addition to an otherwise decently evolving plot line. The biggest let down in Salman's character was the lack of any interesting action sequences. All the action seemed like the same punches, jumps, kicks and throws with no interesting sequences or variations. That coupled with the end scene was probably the only two things that pulled an otherwise decent movie.

Thumbs up: The macho Salman and his flamboyant attitude

Thumbs down: Uninteresting action and poorly developed ending

Rating: 6.5/10

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Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983)

Genre: Crime/Comedy/Drama

Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Satish Shah, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Kaushik, Neena Gupta, Deepak Qazir, Bhakti Barve

The classic Indian laugh-riot lives till this day and is loved by many; for a very valid reason.Vinod (Naseeruddin Shah) and Sudhir (Baswani) are two friends who have decided to open a photo studio. Business is not going very well for them despite all their crazy attempts at garnering business. Mr. Tarneja (Kapur) is a rich and influential industrialist who bribes government officers to twist the law in his favour. He is trying to secure a deal to construct flyovers across Mumbai city by bribing the Municipal Commissioner, Mr. D'Mello (Satish Shah) to hand over the contract to his company. Shobha Sen (Barve) is the editor of Khabardaar magazine and has got wind of Tarneja and his doings and wishes to put him behind bars once and for all. She hires Vinod and Sudhir to spy on the meeting and take photographs as evidence. Mr. Ahuja (Puri) is Tarneja's rival who too wishes to secure the flyover contract and offers a double bribe. Tarneja is furious when he doesn't get the deal and decides to murder D'Mello and make his confidant the new Muncipal Commissioner. Vinod and Sudhir stumble upon some evidence of D'Mello's murder and decide to find and excavate his body and put Tarneja behind bars. Tarneja gets wind of Vinod and Sudhir's attempts and tries to save his skin by destroying the evidence, Shoba wants to blackmail Tarneja with the evidence and earn money, Ahuja wants to deface Tarneja by exposing the evidence. Each with their own motive are on a cock and bull chase to take D'Mello's dead body and fulfill their ambitions. The movie might not come across as being technically sound and one can easily find multiple loopholes and flaws. The only thing that makes the movie stand out is the 'Mahabharat' scene right at the end which can make you roll over in laughter. That is probably the only reason why people love and watch this movie so much and the reason why you should be watching it too.

Thumbs up: Mahabharat scene

Thumbs down: Loosely made, lacks consistent humour

Rating: 6.9/10

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Andaz Apna Apna (1994)

Genre: Comedy/Action/Crime/Romance/Drama

Starring: Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Raveena Tandon, Karishma Kapoor, Shakti Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Viju Khote, Shehzad Khan

The epic laugh riot movie of Indian cinema is still loved and watched by young and old to this day. The comedy of errors of Amar (Aamir Khan) and Prem (Salman Khan) both in pursuit of charming Raveena (Tandon) a young beautiful girl who is looking for a smart young man to fall in love with and marry. Amar and Prem, the two good for nothing Casanova's want to marry her for the money and are at constant war to outdo the other in winning Raveena's heart. Meanwhile, Teja (Rawal) a criminal who just got out of jail wants to get even with his twin brother Ram Gopal Bajaj who is also the father of Raveena. Along with his two stupid side kicks, he tries to kidnap Raveena but in vain. Enter Crime Master Gogo (Shakti Kapoor), a failed and idiotic criminal who is continuing the 'family business' of looting and plundering. The movie enjoys a cult following with many dialogues and moves becoming epic statements today. The performances may seem to be extremely over-acted but that was more or less the norm of those days and to some extent the movie becomes enjoyable simply due to the over the top acting. The movie plays tributes and jokes about many other famous Bollywood movies throughout. Funny and an amazing stress buster.

Thumbs up: Awesome laugh riot

Thumbs down: Hugely over-acted

Rating: 7.3/10

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Delhi Belly (2011)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Comedy/Action

Starring: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunal Roy Kapoor, Shenaz Treasury, Poorna Jagannathan, Vijay Raaz

Once in a while Bollywood churns out a decent movie and the man behind it is most of the times, the one and only, Aamir Khan. Delhi Belly is the story of three friends sharing a flat, each with their own personal problems and their encounter with crime. Tashi (Khan) is a journalist who is engaged to his air hostess girlfriend, Sonia (Treasury). Sonia does a favour for a friend by smuggling a 'package' by an unknown Russian at the airport. She knows little of what the package contains and gets Tashi to deliver it for her. Nitin (Kapoor) is Tashi's photographer who gets the Delhi Belly by eating unhygienic street food and needs to rush to the toilet every half-minute. Tashi passes the package onto Nitin for delivery who subsequently gets Arup (Das) a frustrated cartoonist to do it for him. Confusion occurs and Somayajulu (Raaz) the gangster for whom the package is for gets shit. The movie is an ultimate laugh riot all the way with each and every performer contributing with a fabulous performance. Vijay Raaz particularly stands out due to the finesse in which he throws out every swear word from his mouth. I don't think any amount of praise would be good enough, just go watch a zillion times and laugh each time!

Thumbs up: Hilarious, perfect acting

Thumbs down: A been there, done that story

Rating: 9.2/10

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Dum Maaro Dum (2011)

Genre: Crime/Drama/Romance/Thriller/Mystery

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Prateik Babbar, Rana Daggubati, Aditya Pancholi, Govind Namdeo, Muzammil S. Qureshi

Goa, India, the land of sun and sand, bikinis and babes, hippies and druggies, crime and murder. People from around the world come here to party and get high, but the party is just about to get disrupted by one big party-pooper. Lorsa Biscuta (Pancholi) is the drug lord of Goa. If there is anything at all going on in the drug world, he would be the first to know. ACP Vishnu Kamath (Bachchan) is a corrupt cop in the narcotics division. One day when his family dies in a car accident due to a druggie, his life changes forever and he swears to clean the streets of Goa. Laurence Edwardo Gomes aka Lorry (Babbar) is the average Goan youth who aspired to go to USA to study, along with his girlfriend. His dreams, however, come crashing down when his financial aid does not get approved but his girlfriends does who has to leave him to pursue her academic career. A local drug peddler hears about Lorry's sob story and agrees to pay off his fees provided he carry some cocaine with him to the US. In an act of desperation, Lorry agrees much to his later regret. Meanwhile, ACP Kamath is cracking a whip on the party scene and Biscuta stashes his dope with a mysterious Michael Barbossa. In each part of Goa he is known by a different name, nobody knows him, nobody has seen him and Kamath is out to search for him. Joki (Daggubati) is Lorry's well-wisher who is trying to prevent him from doing what he is about to do. His ex-girlfriend Zoe (Basu) went through the entire phase that Lorry is about to go through now and he doesn't want to lose another friend. The stories eventually merge to bring out a possibly predictable outcome. If you actually put your head to it its not hard for some people to figure the mystery out. Rohan Sippy's movies were always something and this movie too aspires to be different. Abhishek Bachchan and Prateik Babbar put together a fabulous performance, although Bachchan always seemed over-aggressive and too enthusiastic, it suited the role he was trying to play. The only flaw in the otherwise decent movie was the extended run-time. Bollywood is notorious for stretched movies and this one is no different. Possibly if the plot developed slightly faster with a more twisted climax, the movie would have been far more interesting. Great watch with some nice foot-tapping numbers.

Thumbs up: Good performances, nice plot

Thumbs down: A bit stretched

Rating: 7.8/10

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Thank You (2011)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Akshay Kumar,Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Celina Jaitley, Rimi Sen

The million dollar question, what is Bollywoods one and only formula to create a comedy movie? Answer; Akshay Kumar + a foreign location + tons of skimpy clad woman + husband-wife complications. Been there, seen it, done that. Raj (Deol), Yogi (Shetty) and Vikram (Khan) are three friends conducting business together who regularly cheat on their wives and have loads of other mistresses. To avoid getting caught, they watch out for each other and have a ball of a time. Raj's wife Sanjana (Kapoor) loves her husband to no end and refuses to agree upon the fact that he might be cheating on her. Yogi and Vikrams' wives, Maya (Jaitley) and Shivani (Sen) introduce her to detective Kishan (Kumar) who specialises in conducting sting operations against cheating husbands/wives. He tries to collect evidence to prove to Sanjana that there is indeed an affair going on with Raj and some other woman. Meanwhile, Raj, Vikram and Yogi suspect that there is someone trying to bring out their secret to their wives and hence they too hire Kishan to find out who is uncovering their secrets. The usual confusion, mix-up and stupidity follows which gives you a week-long hangover. The plot is utterly ridiculous and the melodrama and unwanted craziness is just too much to digest. My condolences to everyone who had to bear the brunt of this movie and my sincere apologies for not posting this review early enough.

Thumbs up: Hmm, probably the tons of bikini-clad woman will win this one

Thumbs down: Everything, literally

Rating: 4.2/10

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7 Khoon Maaf (2011)

Genre: Drama/Romance/Mystery/Crime/Thriller

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Neil Nitin Mukesh, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Vivaan Shah, Konkana Sen Sharma

The story of a young and beautiful girl, Susanna (Chopra) who marries 7 men and murders each and every one of them. Major Edwin Rodriques (Mukesh) murdered for being overtly jealous, inhuman and proud. Jimmy Stetson (Abraham) murdered for being a drug-addicted rock star. Wasiullah Khan (Khan) a Muslim revolutionist, murdered for being a wife-beater. Nicoli Vronsky (Dyachenko) a Russian scientist, murdered for keeping two wives. Keemat Lal (Kapoor) a police officer, who knew about Susanna's crime and murdered for demanding too much sex in exchange for keeping her out of prison. Dr. Modhusudhon Tarafdar (Shah) a well-versatile scientist, murdered for wanting Susanna's money to pull him out of bankruptcy. The biggest flaw and question mark on the movie is the last and final husband, which was weird, stupid and somehow didn't make any sense and felt as if it was a consequence of pure boredom. Vishal Bhardwaj has been known to make some truly fabulous movies but yet this time he seems to have gotten the formula wrong. The entire murder mystery aspect did not come out as well as it could have or at least as it was intended too. A pretty much predictable and boring movie overall which does not live up to its standards.

Thumbs up: Priyanka Chopra

Thumbs down: Awkward ending

Rating: 6.1/10

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No One Killed Jessica (2011)

Genre: Biography/Drama/Crime

Starring: Vidya Balan, Rani Mukerji, Myra Karn, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub

The sensational Jessica Lal murder case rocked the Indian society back in 1999 and put a question mark on the countries judiciary, political and law enforcement system. Jessica (Karn) was an average Delhi girl who aspired to be a model. One night, Jessica was working in a bar and gets shot by Manish Bhardwaj (Ayub) simply because she refused to give him a drink. There were over 300 people who witnessed the cold-blooded murder and Manish along with his two friends, were subsequently arrested for the murder of Jessica Lall. Manish's father was an influential politician who used his power and money to bribe each and every witness to retract his/her statement and manipulate every possible evidence to point that Manish is innocent. Sabrina (Balan) Jessica's younger sister, aggressively pursues the case for seven long years when ultimately in Winter of 2006, the court lets Manish walk away. The decision shook the foundations of society and left the entire nation aghast. Meera (Mukerji) a renowned journalist was amazed by the outcome of the case and she too, like the million other Indians, knew that Manish was innocent and what was happening is not justice. The movie has managed to recreate the events quite nicely but Bollywood still needs to learn some lessons from Hollywood on portraying real life stories. Many names and incidents were changed or altered in order to be politically correct but it is an aspect that destroys good cinema. The movie is powerful with some good performances by Vidya Balan and Rani Mukerji. The soundtrack too helps in keeping the powerful and aggressive spirit of the movie alive and would leave you with a good feeling after its over. A good watch which sends out a clear message to the audience to never give up and stand up against injustice and wrong-doing.

Thumbs up: Good performances and a nice aggressive feeling

Thumbs down: Stretched movie with some slow bits

Rating: 8.1/10

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Dabangg (2010)

Genre: Action/Crime/Comedy/Drama/Romance

Starring: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Sonu Sood

Salman Khan has managed to create an atrociously huge fan following who praise and worship him each day. His movies are made keeping his fans and mind and would appeal only to them. Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) is the local cop who has a style and attitude of his own. His step father Prajapati Pandey (Khanna) has no affection for him and Chulbul hates his step-brother Makkhi (Arbaaz Khan) since he receives all the attention in spite of being a dimwit. The local politician, Chedi Singh (Sood) runs multiple illegal side businesses which Chulbul is trying to put an end to. Singh tries to get even with Chulbul by attacking his family and turning his step-brother against him. Its the ultimate test to win back the faith of the family and put an end to Singh and his evilness. Like I mentioned before, the movie has the very cliched Salman Khan antics which entertains only a niche Salman Khan fanatic audience. Over the top and extra-dramatic action sequences adorn the movie which can be entertaining but not for long. Sharp and attitude-ridden dialogue delivery comes free with Salman Khan. Although these are elements that might gross out critics and the average consumer, its actually quite fun to watch and forget. You can find multiple faults in everything the movie does, but it was meant to be that way. There really is nothing to watch out for in the movie except to sit back, point and laugh at the craziness and forget about it.

Thumbs up: Different from the lot

Thumbs down: Over-dramatic, over done and would not appeal to all

Rating: 6.3/10

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Band Baaja Baaraat (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Starring: Anushka Sharma, Ravneer Singh

Two college graduates are poles apart, where one plans on a career the other plans on nothing. Shruti (Sharma) aims on becoming a successful wedding planner, whereas Bittoo (Singh) the son a sugarcane farmer wants to do anything to get away from cutting canes all his life. Bittoo meets Shruti when he is crashing a wedding and starts flirting with her. He soon persuades her to make him a part of her company so that he doesn't have to go back to his dad. Shruti agrees, given the condition that Bittoo would not fall in love with her. Her golden rule, don't love the person you work with, be it your girlfriend or your wife and she intends to stick to it. Being a Yash Raj film, the rest of the story can be narrated flawlessly by a two-year-old, scene by scene. The movie has the very regular Bollywood cliches like the dialogues, plot development, twists, climax etc. There was a slight spark of comedy in the beginning which simply faded away as the movie went along. Probably if that aspect was picked up on, then the otherwise boring plot would still have become a bit more watchable. Overall, a good two hour paid nap is what you get.

Thumbs up: Ranveer Singh, having no previous modelling or acting experience has done a fairly decent job

Thumbs down: Everything else

Rating: 3.7/10

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Golmaal 3 (2010)

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Action

Starring: Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Kunal Khemu, Shreyas Talpade, Johnny Lever, Mithun Chakraborty, Ratna Pathak

Golmaal is back again to eat your brains, waste your money and make you regret all your  life why you dedicated 2 precious hours to watch such nonsense. Well, not really. The movie is far better than the second part and almost as good (or bad) as the first. Gopal (Devgan), Laxman (Talpade) and Gopal's girlfriend Daboo (Kareena Kapoor) run a jet-ski business in Goa. On the other hand, three useless brothers, Madhav (Warsi), Laxman (Khemu) and Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor) are struggling to make a living and decide to start a jet-ski business too. Each of the sides are financed by some small time crook. Puppy (Lever) the crook who finances Madhav and his team, has stolen the queens necklace and has an uncanny habit of forgetting who and what he is doing every few minutes. Madhav and Gopal get into a tussle over who has the right to run the same business on the same beach. Both sides swear enmity against the other and seek an opportunity to fight. Pritam (Chakraborty) has adopted Madhav and the boys but they don't know that they are adopted. Same goes for Gopal and Laxman who are adopted by Geeta (Pathak). Geeta and Pritam once loved each other but fate had its way and separated them for many years until they finally see each other in Goa. Will the boys dissolve their hatred to make their parents happy? The movie thankfully does not have the very typical cliched comedy that Bollywood is known to have. Punchy and hilarious dialogues are scattered across the movie which make it a fun watch. The movie spoofs on multiple movies and Indian personalities which makes it an even better entertainer. Even though the lines were good enough to make you laugh, it somehow seemed as if they weren't used to their full potential. Its a no-brainer which you might enjoy, but don't expect too much either.

Thumbs up: Fantastic dialogues, Johnny Lever

Thumbs down: Some boring bits

Rating: 6.4/10

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We Are Family (2010)

Genre: Drama/Romance

Starring: Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Kajol, Nominath Ginsberg, Aachal Munjal, Diya Sonecha

The Earths depleting environment is a cause of concern for a lot of us. Automobile companies are trying to make more efficient engines, people are trying to conserve energy and Karan Johar is trying to create more water. How? By trying to make you cry more of course. Maya (Kajol) and Aman (Rampal) are leading a happy life with their kids Aleya (Munjal) Ankush (Ginsberg) and Anjali (Sonecha). Maya and Aman are separate but the kids live with Maya. Yet they are extremely attached to their father and cant imagine a life without them. Shreya (Kapoor) is Aman's girlfriend whom he tries to introduce to the family. The kids hate her cause they think she is stealing their father from them and Maya hates her cause Shreya hates the kids for hating her. Relations start souring amongst all the hate and the once happy family is all set to become the most unhappy family. Boring, sad and depressing are words one can associate with this movie. Performances are sad and weak and a complete washout. Karan Johar has successfully managed to tarnish his reputation by making a movie that might have appealed to the family-centric audience 10 years back but looks heavily out of place in today's world. Yes, you might wet your eyes but not due to heart-rendering emotions but due to boredom which leads to excessive yawning. One more thing, why did he shoot the entire movie in USA when the location has got absolutely no relevance to the plot? A Bollywood remake of Step-Mom.

Thumbs up: Nothing

Thumbs down: Performances, plot, too much of melodrama

Rating: 4.3/10

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Aashayein (2010)

Genre: Drama

Starring: John Abraham, Farida Jalal, Anaitha Nair, Sonal Sehgal, Ashwin Chitale, Girish Karnad

The story of a chain smoker, Rahul (Abraham) who gets lung cancer due to his smoking habits. He has just 3 months to live and decides to make full use of it. He spends his money left, right and center and believes that since he is a dying man, he is entitled to everything. His ego and attitude get in the way for him and his girlfriend, Nafisa (Sehgal). He learns about a special retreat for dying patients where they can spend the last few days of their life being happy before withering away. He meets a whole lot of people at the retreat, including a prostitute, Manju (Jalal) who gained AIDS and is shunned by all the patients, Padma (Nair) a loud-mouthed and rude cancer patient and Govinda (Chitale) a young boy whom people proclaim have super-natural powers. Govinda seemed to know everything about Rahul even without knowing him. He knew his birth name which he doesn't use and his passion for movies, especially Indiana Jones. Padman and Rahul become best buddies and they stick with each other through thick and thin. They also start a 'Wish Fairy Club' where they attempt to fulfill the last wishes of all the patients. The movie at first sight seems slow, which it is. The first half is a big drag and almost anyone would want to leave after the half-mark. Stick around for a bit more, and you would be surprised in the manner with which the movie vastly improves and you actually start enjoying it. Each and every performance in the movie is exceptional, big or small, especially John Abraham, Anaitha Nair and Ashwin Chitale who instead of being overshadowed by the popular image of Abraham, have managed to keep up and support his character throughout. It's a lovely movie and probably many smokers might get an urge to drop the habit right away. The flaw, within the first 10 minutes the rest of the plot becomes predictable but that doesn't make the movie a less enjoyable watch. Is capable of bringing forth a tear even from the cold-hearted.

Thumbs up: Performances of lesser known cast

Thumbs down: First half, predictable plot

Rating: 7.0/10

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Peepli [Live] (2010)

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Starring: Omkar Das, Raghuvir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farrukh Jaffar, Malaika Shenoy, Vishal Sharma, Nowaz, Sitaram Panchal

Lets get to the point. The movie is slow, quite slow and may not appeal to the mass audience. It seems to have been made more in accordance with satisfying critics rather than the regular movie-goer. Natha (Das) is an average farmer from Peepli, a village in central India, and has taken a loan from a bank against his farmland. He is unable to pay off the debt and the local landlord, Bhai Thakur (Panchal) suggests to Natha that he commit suicide because the government would pay his family a sum of Rs 1 lac after he dies as compensation. Natha's brother, Budhia (Yadav) manages to convince Natha that he should commit suicide because it would benefit the entire family. The local newspaper reporter, Rakesh (Nowaz) overhears Natha's plan to kill himself and realises this could be a big story and informs his head office in New Delhi. Word spreads like fire and before anyone knew it, Peepli became a village of commotion and nuisance with political parties and newspaper, reporters hunting down Natha for their own greed. The movie has satirical humour and is very different from conventional media. Aamir Khan has done a commendable job in putting forward a message but has failed to entertain the regular audience. The movie is plagued with rural slang, profanity and sarcasm which makes it a good laugh once in a while. Not a single actor is a known face in the industry and most of the movie was shot in actual villages with actual villagers or lesser known artists playing the major roles. The humour is inconsistent but Natha's mother, Amma (Jaffar) takes the cake in really making you laugh. Don't go if you wish for entertainment, but is a critics delight.

Thumbs up: A different kind of cinema, which is a step in the right direction for Bollywood

Thumbs down: Gets a bit slow and may not entertain the average person.

Rating: 7.6/10

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