Movie Review: Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Askew Brain Bulbs!

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

The makers had their brain bulbs askew when they filmed Uttarakhand. Our beautiful UK (UttaraKhand) how I missed looking at thy beauty because Batti was Gul!  Here I am wondering how can someone take all this beauty and make it look so dull and dark even during the day scenes. What works is the message the makers are trying to relay through the movie and just one song by Arijit Singh  “ Har Har Gange” one of the best tracks on the famed river doing some justice.  The director Shree Narayan Singh really needs to better the story telling and script writing. There is absence of freshness and creativity. They had to really spark their own brain bulbs to justice the concept maybe they had their batti gul. It could have been so much better than this.

I got fully bored in first 15 minutes, that sitting through was a challenge for my brain cells. The first half felt like a pathetic love triangle which lacked chemistry and shine. Girl trying to choose her partner for life from two close friends while giving them each one week to date her, made my brain bulbs defuse. All three main characters simply look dull and out of place. Dialogues are clichéd, unbelievable to hear them as even just noise. An actor of a caliber to act like he did in “Haidar” doesn’t look like even trying to sell his character as a small-time selfish lawyer. The other two actors Shraddha Kapoor and Divyendu Sharma are barley mediocre. The scenes of Rishikesh, Lakshman Jhula, River Ganga and the greens of Uttarakhand will look better through normal cell phones captured by normal people posted on social media. The usage of local language to bring local touch to the movie is funny. They had only two words sporadically placed in sentences. Seriously, why did they even try? Should have kept it normal hindi maybe they wanted to bring across humor.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu struggles to look like an interesting plot in the second half. The story becomes too given and ineffective. I just kept wishing for it to get over. The courtroom scenes lackluster which the makers were thinking to pass on as intelligent courtroom drama. To me it looked more like a banter between two lawyers. There were no evidences or fact presentation that could be called as part of the story. They did provide few facts that said about them doing their research right and that’s all to it.

Batti Gul Meter Chalu doesn’t work at all and I wish there was a grievance redressal I could complain about wasted time on it. If you don’t wish to Askew your working brain bulbs, please do avoid this movie at all costs. Your brain will thank you for it. 

Movie Review : Manmarziyaan

Love thy Confusion!

Manmarziyaan

Let’s just say Bollywood movies are doing the resurrections quite well now, not the horror though. Manmarziyaan is a resurrection of “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” to Anurag Kashyap style romance. Yes! Romance and Anurag Kashyap in the same sentence, highly unlikely of the two to tango, but they do! and wow us completely. I have good laughs and cheeky smiles through out the movie. I did not enjoy a movie like Hum dil de chuke sanam and yet this one was a joy to watch. Anurag Kashyap brings out his subtle side, which I never knew existed from his brashness of storytelling so one is pleasantly surprised and happy. Manmarziyaan is a genius reflection on love and companionship, keeps the audience from picking up a side. The first half will fly away, the second half gets a little slow specially the end. Though a true love story should have an element of a long walking conversation that vaporizes all the obstacles and I am not disappointed at all.

I have only praises for the entire cast to have played  every shade of their character to near perfection. The trio of Vicky Kaushal, Taapsee Pannu, Abhishek Bachchan make their characters shine so bright and believable. Vicky Kaushal is showing Chameleon traits as he stands out noticeably in the movie. Unbelievable portrayal of character completely diverse from his earlier roles. It could have gone so wrong slipped out in many ways but he does’nt let us down at all, he is brilliant with his craft. The striking contrast of a silent personality of an NRI banker, Abhishek’s character is however harder to achieve and would have killed the whole effect of the story if at all the audience felt compelled to choose the opposite side out of boredom for his character. But that doesn’t happen and the Bachchan charisma spell bounds.

Every scene is an unending delight to watch. The movement of the story is flawless with good editing. Gladly no fairy tale, It is a modern day practical story with Love, Lust, Drama, Confusion and lots of brain mush. The music is powerful and Amit Trivedi gives terrific songs with this one, the best bunch this year. I would say Manmarziyaan is Anurag’s dabble into main stream romance which leaves a strong, straight powerful blow. Do not miss out on this one.

Movie Review : Paltan

Bordered with Blood

The history that needs to be told

Movie Paltan

Some movies and content go beyond errors, technicality and novices. The fact that these stories are being told to our generation is an achievement in itself and thus deserves our respect and honor. If we could ever have a voting for our favorite enemy the result would be unanimous of it being the partitioned neighbor as it keeps the border between the two nations burning with fire. Hence, when I get to watch the story of the actual deceitful neighbor I grab the chance.

Paltan tells a compelling story of Nathu La military skirmishes between India and China in 1967. India attempting to barb fence the Indian side of the border.  Nathu La looks to be very a beautiful stretch and that’s the best technical part of the movie. The director of the epic movie (Border) J P Dutta fails to bring out the same magic with Paltan. It falls short in moving the audience. Primarily the movie is too long, dialogues too predictable and big motivational patriotic lectures are so over rated. The cast is extensive but none get the acting part right. The movie is dragged and very slow paced. The enemy which is china’s military are bunch of actors that are laughable, their constant fixated stare throughout the movie is hilarious to watch along with their sarcastic reminder of “hindi-chini bhai bhai”. Nevertheless, the Paltan scenes are accurate and some of the story telling is really good which makes it a pleasant watch.

The few reasons to watch this movie are the fact that we are Indians, and it is definitely a historic tale that needs to be heard out of respect for our army the actual soldiers who keep losing their blood as water for our border safe keeping. 

Movie Review : The Nun

 Comedy from the genre of Horror

The Nun

All that is typical in a horror movie is present in The Nun. Yet it falls short to entertain, thrill, scare us. The good part is the protagonist’s good acting Taissa Farmiga who plays the part of Sister Irene who is gifted of visions providing signs of solutions. She fulfills the part for continuation of storyline for (The Conjuring 2). It is a good watch for some of its comedy parts because of the predictability of the scary scenes, lacking innovation or creativity. I had actually gone to watch a scary movie but ended up watching comedy.

James Wan the Producer and story writer isn’t able to make the movie shine or stand out. According to me The Conjuring first chapter was his best work and so far the most entertaining as it was directed by him. The Nun is directed by Corin Hardy set in a village in Romania, a secluded abby in 1950’s, hence I wonder if all the knee-jurk sequences are old and archaic. It has all the elements like a powerful demon attempting to emerge out of hell on to the earth and trying to find a human body to infest. With the Vatican Church sending an exorcist specialist Father to investigate the castle along with a special psychic to help him. The Father is the weakest character I have ever seen in a horror movie. He unearths nothing great from his knowledge and doesn’t show any authentic or otherwise skill of investigation for such phenomenons, hence no intelligent discoveries, methods are displayed or uncovered. The demon or the Nun isn’t scary, powerful or effective. Her visual doesn’t do anything to your head or heart. 

The development of the story isn’t exciting or anything new, almost predictable. It only creates associations for the audience to understand the beginning parts from both Conjuring movies. Since we do see the demon Valac coming back on earth in the Conjuring 2, I predict a The Nun 2 ought to be made for the sole purpose of story continuation and fill in the blanks. Hopefully it will be better in story development. Watch The Nun once only for the story continuation and if you are a fan like me of the typical horror movies that has a demon, a church and a father as an exorcist. It will still disappoint you, but the comedy will ensure time spent well.