Dabangg 2 Movie Review

Movie: Dabangg 2

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Deepak Dobriyal, Nikitin Dheer, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna

Direction: Arbaaz Khan



Right now if Salman Khan stands in front of the camera twitching one eyebrow for two-and-half hours, he'll guarantee a 200-crore hit. Dabangg 2 gives you more than that, of course. It unleashes the superstar in full fury and flair.

The process is manufactured to regale though you don't miss the awful truth- this sequel is basically the same film as the first one, as the trailers hinted. Arbaaz Khan- credited here as producer-director- blindly repeats every trick that worked for Dabangg, stunt for stunt, song for song and, at times, scene for scene. There is the trademark peeling off of the shirt too, in an all-new gimmicky manner.

The sameness brings to fore two notions. First, it underlines why Salman is currently Bollywood's box-office boss. Arbaaz's gameplan was obvious: Beef up the production value to max out the Salman impact- script innovation, reinvention of franchise and prop cast be damned. If the playmaker is Salman, every other component has to exist in the superstar's shadow. Dabangg 2 wholly scores with that rule.

Secondly, however, it exposes a flip side. Salman's stardom took a pleasantly different turn earlier this year with Ek Tha Tiger. That film proved the superstar is saleable even outside his loud comfort zone, in a more sophisticated set-up. Dabangg 2, in its bid to beat Salman's own record that Ek Tha Tiger set for 2012, merely marks his return to the tested zone.

Essentially, the sequel continues with the idea of giving the genre of comicbook cinema a twist of kitsch. Chulbul Pandey, rockstar cop who gave Salman his newfound mojo with the first film of 2010, was perhaps the apt Bollywood specimen for the job. The film carries on with imparting a cocky smalltown spin to the Hollywood Western formula.

All said, Dabangg 2, distinguished from Dabangg by just the numerical '2', serves the package bigger if not better.

Yeah... the 'script'. We didn't need one but Dilip Shukla still does the formality of penning down a story to sustain the drama, action and slapstick. The script this time has Chulbul, his wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha), father (Vinod Khanna) and brother Makkhi (Arbaaz) shifting base to Kanpur after his transfer from the sleepy town of Lalgadh. Crime is one a bigger prime in the big city, which means Chulbul has a bigger reason to make merry mayhem. His bid to rid the city of all crime will see him lock horns with the local dada- politician- strongman Bachcha Bhaiyya (Prakash Raj, in a role rehashing what he did in Singham). A standard picture of Chulbul's family in peril is in place, too.

If Dabangg 2 was always about Salman Khan revelling in top form, the superstar doesn't disappoint. He makes Chulbul Pandey even more lovable this time- cool shades, wry humour, crackling stunts and smooth chemistry with the pretty Sonakshi, all very much in place. Did you seriously need any more reasons to watch?

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/dabangg-2-movie-review/1/238868.html

Life of Pi (2012) Movie Review

There is a lot that could go wrong with a big screen adaptation of Life of Pi, the 2001 bestselling novel by Yaan Martel. Which may explain why the story of a young boy stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger — juggling deep themes of religion, family, nature, and human existence — has been developed and let go by many big names in Hollywood. For nearly a decade, filmmakers like M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie) have grappled with the project, but it wasn't until Oscar-winner Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) that the film was fully realized.

Lee's Life of Pi is an inspiring film, sporting imaginative visuals and pushing the art of 3D in new directions. Even more impressive is what's underneath it all: a character-driven narrative that depicts the book's grand ideas with unexpected tenderness.

Life of Pi dreams big. Thanks to Lee's expert direction and a solid script from David Magee (Finding Neverland), the survivor tale avoids the pitfalls of such an ambitious effort, never straying into hokey melodrama. The film opens with a writer (Rafe Spall) visiting an adult Pi Patel (Irrfan Khan) at his home in Canada, after being told that the Indian immigrant had an amazing life story in need of capturing. "Amazing" may not be enough of a superlative. Young Pi (newcomer Suraj Sharma) begins his life as a regular kid in Pondicherry, India, growing up on his family's bustling zoo while attempting to fit in with the world around him. His major struggle is with religion — while his father resents faith and his mother is dedicated to Hinduism, Pi wants a little of it all. He's Hindu, he's Catholic, he's Muslim, he's a wanderer between all ways of thinking. When he attempts to feed the zoo's tiger, only to be caught by his father and disciplined for considering the beast to be anything remotely soulful. It's clear that his upbringing in the lush environment has seeped deep into Pi's way of life.

The main character's passion for the world around him gives Lee the opportunity to direct Life of Pi with a painter's eye. Nearly every shot is exquisitely composed — from bold colors to camera movement to the layers of 3D. This holds true even when Pi's story takes a turn for the worse. Having run into financial troubles, the Patel family packs up the animals and heads to Winnipeg on a French freighter. While crossing the Mariana Trench, the ship encounters a catastrophic storm that floods it into oblivion (a moment of disaster that rivals the artistic destruction of Titanic). Pi and a few of the animal passengers escape on a lifeboat, the glow of his past life slowly fading away into the depths of the Ocean. The set piece is gorgeous, but Lee never forgets the impact the incident has on Pi's life. It's indicative of the entire film.

The brunt of the story focuses on the man vs. nature we've seen in films like 127 Hours and Cast Away, but in an even more terrifying landscape and played out with an expressionistic touch. Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with the Bengal tiger, "Richard Parker," lowering the already minuscule chance of his survival to something unimaginable. He copes, building a second raft out of wood planks and life preservers, but his survival is a ticking clock. All he can do is sit, fish, write, and pray.

Lee approaches Pi's journey of floating in the middle of the Pacific with a jungle cat like a fever dream. Like the swirling universe he imagines as the residence of his various gods, the deserted ocean is a luminescent wonder, filled with giant whales, glowing jellies, flying fish, and deep caverns that unlock Pi's wild imagination.

All the while, Pi tends to his tiger; their brotherly relationship is the core of Life of Pi. Sharma has heavy material to tackle for his big screen debut, but even with its weak moments, stands as a tremendous breakout. Over time, Pi loses himself to the ocean, reaching for understanding and investing more and more in his feline companion. It's a physically demanding performance too — Lee always pelting something new at his young actor and Sharma shining through even the biggest wave. The tiger is another marvel, a CG creation that actually performs against Sharma. If Caeser in Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a milestone, Richard Parker is the next step. On top of the central duo, Magee's framing device of Older Pi and the writer works miraculously well, thanks to the natural skills of Khan and Spall. Exposition be damned — these two can have a casual conversation that feels as dynamic as the larger-than-life tale they're discussing.

Life of Pi arrives in theaters on November 21 and as all the makings of the perfect holiday film. On a visceral level, it's simply a beautiful movie (any live-action film that evokes memories of Hokusai's "The Great Wave" is doing something right). But Lee transcends flashy blockbuster contemporaries by finding a source material where the breathtaking compliments the character's arc. Life of Pi isn't an overtly religious film, even though Pi identifies with religions of all kinds. It's about the power of self, the religion of humanism. There are few feats of mortal strength as impressive as survival. That's what makes Life of Pi one of the most powerful films of the year.

Tamil Moview Thuppaki review - Vijay

Film: Thuppaki (Tamil)
Cast: Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal, Jayaram and Vidyut Jamwal
Director: AR Murugadoss
Rating: ***1/2

Tamil movie Thuppaki is different. The difference is visible in every shot, every dialogue spoken and the amazing attention to detail. What stands out most in this incredibly entertaining film is that Tamil films have finally come of age — in so many interesting ways.
From costuming to a complete rediscovery of the talents of Vijay, this film is a treat to the eyes and a pleasure to sit through. What starts out as a patriotic film, discovers love and naturally humourous situations en route, finally ending in a climax that makes you want to sit around for the credits — just to see who the amazing people behind this film are (something, we can assure you, is hardly ever done with in Kollywood productions).
Thuppaki is a godsend for Kollywood in 2012. Consider the fact that this is the first watchable big budget movie this year and you can see why we’re so excited. Kalaipuli S Dhanu needs a pat on the back for finally choosing a sensible project and the money spent on this visual spectacle seems well spent. Santhosh Sivan proves his mettle as scene after scene unfolds, surprising you with the fabulousness of the image and the montage — some scenes look straight out of picture postcards. What a pleasure for sore eyes, this Thuppaki is!
Getting down to the storyline, the movie follows the life of Jagadish, an army officer who is also a secret agent with the DIA (Defence Intelligence Agency) and is on holiday in Mumbai, his home (yes... a Tamil movie about an Iyer family who live in Mumbai... finally!). While in Mumbai, he is forced by his family to meet a girl, who he doesn’t like at first and then falls in love with (Kajal Aggarwal) with similar reactions from the girl too.
Step in Jayaram as a senior from the same army battalion who is also wooing the same girl. Confusions and chaos obviously ensue and amid all the terrible songs and passable comedic scenes, rises the story of sleeper cells, suicide bombers and a huge network of terrorists and their allies in the country’s financial capital.
Jagadish now has to save Mumbai from an elaborate plan of multiple bomb blasts and also get to the brains behind the sleeper cell operations, before it is too late.
Simple story enough, what makes this film work is the elaborate detailing and planning and the fact that for once someone is shown willing to use the same ‘forfeit-all sensibility’ against the perpetrator.
What doesn’t work, however, are the songs in the film. A lot of money seems to have been spent on all the songs (and their picturisation) and other than the penultimate song, Vennilave and Google Google, most of the songs are boring to listen to and a pain to watch. The final number, Poi Varavaa, picturised on army folk boarding trains from Mumbai as they head back to their duty and call, manages to strike a chord with the audience, even leading to some final heart wrenching moments in the film.
AR Murugadoss has proven his love for crime all over again and his direction deserves applause. The movie is not boring, not even for a minute and true to his style, he’s ensured that unnecessary scenes are done away with.
This movie comes across as his tribute to the vibrancy and pace of life in Mumbai. Vijay is adorable in his new avatar and proves that he can be cast in serious roles too. Kajal acts as a pretty face mostly, but is pleasing and cute in many sequences. The true clinchers, however, are Vidyut Jamwal’s smouldering good looks and action sequences — reason enough to watch the film. Why, oh why, are villains in Tamil films so much hotter than the heroes, we continue to wonder. Watch the film, you won’t regret it.

Tamil Movie Basha Review - Rajini

Basha (synonyms: Baasha, Baashha) is a Tamil movie starring Rajinikanth, with Nagma and Raghuvaran in the lead roles. It was directed by Suresh Krishna,
and features music by Deva. The film was released in 1995, and became a
commercial success. The film was Rajinikanth’s most commercially
successful film with director Suresh Krishna, with whom Rajinikanth had
previously filmed the hits Annamalai and Veera, and was Rajinikanth’s biggest hit up until Chandramukhi (2005). It was also a commercial success in Japan, where it was later released in Japanese.

          The film earned Rajinikanth a Filmfare Award and a Cinema Express Award for the Best Actor for his performance in this movie.[1]

         

          Manikkam (Rajinikanth)
is an auto driver with a great past. The movie starts with Manikkam
giving money to two auto drivers to help them pay dowry and for an
operation, as the movie rolls his younger sister who gets 98% in her
exam cannot get into a private medical college because she cannot pay
the fees. He then goes and talks to the admission person and requests
to speak alone he says something that is not audible to the audience
and the admission person suddenly gets scared and then says he will
give a 100 seats if he wants it.

         

          Based on unexpected twists to the story, like the one above, the
movie shows that Manikkam was actually once a Don named Manik Baashha
in Bombay.
The storyline in this part of the movie, shows how the character of
Manikkam becomes the Don, Manik Baashha, but later makes the city and
its media believe that the he was killed by his rival don, Antony (Raghuvaran).

          This flashback comes when his younger brother, a police inspector having seen Manikkam severely beat up Anandraj, questions him on what he was doing in Bombay.

          Keeping his real identity secret, he left Bombay to start a new life
as an auto rikshaw driver. But in his new life, he meets and falls in
love with Priya (Nagma).
But unfortunately, his old life has followed him when Priya’s father, a
former member of Mark Antony’s gang, recognises Manik Baashha.

          The climax of the movie involves Manikkam saving his family from the vile character Antony.

         
         

Punch Dialogue
Rajinikanth is famous for his punch dialogues in his films.

"Naan oru dhadavai sonna nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri."  - "If i say it once, I’ve said it
a hundred times."