Reviews

Weak storytelling and failure to grip marred the expectations which was built up because of the cast. Will have to watch the Japanese original to understand if the adaptation was weak or the original script was. The movie had a stellar cast but neither was a gripping thriller nor a really dark comedy. For example, "Ludo" ticked the dark comedy part exquisitely. All the characters felt unauthentic esp. Rajkumar Rao and Radhika Apte. None of them came across as the characters they were playing which indicates to poor screenplay and direction given their talent as actors. Overall, felt there was too strong a focus on stylizing the movie than focusing on the story.

The movie is not for everyone as evident from the barrage of negative ratings on IMDB. However, if you have always wondered which Indian director would capture the spirit of Wes Anderson and create something magical in the backdrop of a deconstructed storyline and whimsical Indian characters, give it a try. You will probably not be disappointed.

We should not blame David Dhawan for this movie. He and his family must have been inflicted with a temporary looniness of most severe kind .... Hope they recover....

With Ludo, Mr. Basu firmly establishes himself as the Tarantino of Indian movie industry. It's a dark comedy crime caper based on a board game popular in the eastern part of India (ludo - namesake of the movie). 5 inter-woven by-plots with some of the characters interacting with each other is a treat for the mind. Writing and cinematography is brilliant. Acting is superb for the most part except Mr. Bachchan who seems to be stuck in his role in Yuva some twenty years back - not sure why he was cast - maybe his name. Rest of the cast - especially Mr. Rajkumar Rao - is superb. But the hidden gems at unknown side character artists ago have carried comedic yet realistic parts in the movie. The over the top violence like a Tarantino production has been handled masterfully. Mr. Pankaj Tripathy has been sensational. Indian movies had lost this space with Karan Johar NRI targeted big budget nonsense movies. With streaming production houses like NF and Amazon Prime, such movies are slowly becoming the norm rather than an annual exception. Well done indeed!

Impeccable casting has combined with the explosive creativity of Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane with Netflix acting as the no-holes barred executor. Haven't seen something of this caliber coming out of Bollywood in a long time.

The only reason I am wasting my time writing this review is to make some sensible viewers, who are still dreaming that Bollywood will grow-up someday, advise to keep clear of this movie. Unbearably bad acting by Katrina Kaif (as expected), stereo-type acting from Imran (same character in all movies) stringed together by sloppy screenplay, cliché story-line, unbelievably stupid direction.

Seriously, when will Bollywood grow up? Why are modern Indian viewers who are exposed to world cinema, still watching these movies? Are you really advancing towards to a matured film industry or just loitering about the Dark Ages?

Matrubhoomi will move you. You might hate it, you might like it - but you cannot be indifferent to this movie. So very very away from Bollywood. I watched this with my wife in a hall in Calcutta. I had simply no expectation about the movie. It was trifling 'raw' for my wife - but it shook us to the core. Female foeticide is an alarming menace in modern India. It is not the poor states like Bihar, UP, MP , etc. who show declining juvenile ratio - but the worst cases have been reported from more prosperous states like Punjab, etc.

My accolades to the director for calling a spade a spade - he intended to produce a punch and he has done it with a style. Acting was superb - although Tulip was slightly wooden at times. The ending was on an optimistic note, too - let's hope India regains basic human sentiments regarding girl children.