Reviews

From day one, this movie is not rated highly, and that has kept me from giving it a try, well, up until now. I saw it today, and got hooked from the first minute.

I got in expecting some cheesy songs, and an over the top movie, that tries to do something that it's not capable of, and hence failing to do even what it can, and does this prove me wrong.

This is a romantic movie, all through the way, and with a perspective that movies generally have not ventured into in India. There are some modern movies that deal with reality, like chalte-chalte and Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, and I loved them, but no surprise that even they were not accepted by Indian Audience wholeheartedly.

This is another victim, a bit quirky at times, but much simpler than what you expect from a commercial bollywood movie, with the emotional aspects in the forefront, and other things playing the supportive role. The lead characters look amazing, and suit the characters most of the times, except the laziness that they have shown while maintaining the timelines, but even that works for me given that the whole thing is a dream, and their point is generally not to be time accurate, nor they are required to make sense.

I loved the movie, I will surely watch again sometime, and look forward to have some lengthy and thoughtful discussions around the concept and management of this film.

Also, I genuinely think that acting and script capabilities of both the leads are severely underrated, I have more often than not, enjoyed their movies over other contemporaries.

When you watch a series, or a movie from any genre, it's a given that you will be able to draw parallels from earlier work and things will look stale at some point in time, but not with Bandish Bandits.

As a Rathore myself, an avid listener of Indian classical and Indian pop, bollywood and fusion genre, my expectations from this show were quite high, and I didn't expected it to meet them, but OTT platforms have brought in a safe cushion for creativity like this, without the fear of absolute failure, and it shows what art can do, once the monetary aspect is taken further from the pivotal point.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy don't have too many misses, but this has got to be their best performance in a long time, as the opportunities are afar and few in mainstream pop. The creators of the show have encapsulated every aspect of the show beautifully, be it the ever lasting pride of Pandit ji, or the carefree artist in the form of Tammana, or the young hero, who is ready to sacrifice everything for his passion and love. All the characters have very strong foundations, and I think that Bandish Bandits can in the long run become the poster child for the next gen Classical, much like the internal growth we see in the show itself.

I enjoyed every bit of this amazing show, and will suggest you if you are into music.

This the final episode of Breaking bad, which means that there has been no better episode that aired on Television ever after this one. And it's worth the accolades. It's the best finale I've ever seen for any series.

I will always love the creators of this show for one simple thing, they completed the story when it was at it's peak. You never want a bell shaped curve for your TV Show, it has to be like this.

Walt, who started by assuring that he will be dead by the end, no matter what actually dies. And it's such a good feeling to compare the two Walts and realize that one is much more happier than the other, in the end he doesn't really care about anyone more than his own satisfaction and greed.

The show is epic, I believed very sincerely that there can not be a greater story than the Mahabharata, which I believe even now, but this one is surely a candidate.

These characters will go a long road inside my head for whole of my life, it was that good. And the last conversation between Jessie and Walt brought tears down my eyes. It's not a question that you'll be reading this review before watching this epic, as you just have to watch it if you've come this far.

I'll now go for El camino, and just hope that it continues this masterpiece with utmost respect and faith. I loved this show, and will come back later for a revisit.

To see this movie was like seeing through a poem, with every character and scene made with excessive depth, and all are very well executed.

The biggest surprise for me was Sanya Malhotra, who performed a very deep and mature role despite me having some doubts initially, it's out there to see that so much talent is present in India, but it will always remain underutilized.

The movie itself captures several emotions with a stark focus on reality, where we see a burdened Nawajuddin Siddiqui living in a slum sort of place, to make both ends meet for his grandmother and to payoff the debt he got from his family. The way he has enacted all this, while realizing that his happiness is secondary throughout the movie just shows how deep he gets into a character.

And then we have Sanya, an overburdened child, whose parents love her but in their own way. She sort of represents every Indian kid out there, with her utter sad arc of a girl whose mother asked her teacher to stop awarding her for her good acting, because that can ruin her academic performance. The way she interacted with the second world in the movie was brilliant to observe, and her arc is so soothing for someone who discovered the world through her own experiences rather than seeing the imposed picture.

In all, the only issue that I really had was the impracticality of the whole thing, which does make even this movie a bit dumb at times, but it sure is a great mirror for someone looking for real Indian cinema, which shows it's largest city through the prism of the rest of the nation. I felt quite happy to see this, and could draw several parallels with Parasite, which is very different in so many ways, but does contain the contrast of two worlds living in the same city with beautiful depiction.

An underrated piece of art, it took me 4 years to take some time for this masterpiece, it's specifically better given the times it was made in. Bollywood hasn't really produced a love story of this much substance since the good old Yash Chopra times.

The camerawork, the music makes you flow into time, and every frame is like a new canvas filled with splattered colours. Amit Trivedi has really set the bar really high with this album, you can't really get enough of such level of craftsmanship. Katrina, Aditya, Tunisha, Tabu were all living the characters and everything felt quite natural, but despite all this, the film manages to cringe and even bore you for some time in the second half.

Personalities are dug too much for their own good, specifically the whole Ajay Devgan part was quite needless and surely was a negative when you consider the realistic nature of the rest of the story, I think he was there just for the surprise element. This is one place where Indian movies really falter, substance just takes a back seat ahead of stardom even in artistic films like this. Regardless, it was lovely.