Reviews

Mission Majnu is a pleasant surprise among the movies I had watched recently. Title is so pedestrian ("Majnu", seriously?) that there was little chance this could be a decent watch. But this movie ticks some very interesting boxes and makes a good watch.

Screenplay is slow but keeps the audience engaged. Patriotism is the underlying theme and the movie sticks to it, subtly.

Story is about Indian security agents working deep inside Pakistan and how they stop the Pakistanis from building a nuclear bomb in late 1970s. Characters are very real and as audience, we will start to like each one of them. Casting is spot on, except for one (will talk about it shortly). Kumud Mishra, Parmeet Sethi and Sharib Hashmi deserves special mention.

One incredible aspect of the story is the importance it gives to certain background events which are impacting the main plot. The writers do not over indulge in these background events but very effectively portray them at the same time. Viewers will be able to correlate with the major events in India and Pakistan during that time - 1971 war, Pakistan's tryst with nuclear weapon, military takeover by Zial Ul Haq and Morarji Desai coming to power in India. All these events act as a very effective backdrop.

The Indian agents, for most part, are shown with realistic capabilities, though things do go haywire towards the later part of the movie. Train fight sequence and airport shootout especially are unrealistic compared to how the rest of the movie is so very well made.

Things not to like in Mission Majnu? There are two actually. First is the slowness of the plot. This is definitely an OTT watch as you have the option to forward the slow bits. Second is Siddharth Malhotra's lack of acting skills. Siddharth is excellent in his urban youth kind of roles which are driven by appearance, but in a role like "Majnu", his lack of acting skills is a problem.

Mission Majnu is definitely a good watch. It stays true to its core story, a good reflection of the sacrifices that few people make to protect rest of us. Go for it.

Shridhar Raghavan (Screenplay), Abbas Tyrewaala (Dialogues) and Siddharth Anand (Story, Direction) - this is some of the best creative talent in Bollywood. Their movie Pathaan however is probably the worst to come out of Bollywood. Yes it will be a big hit due to long weekend, star power and unnecessary controversies.

SRK action sequences, when he is solo, are done well. But the moment other actors join (John Abraham, Deepika Abraham, Salman Khan), it becomes a complete mess. Story starts well, before going downhill big time.

This movie is so unbelievable that you will start laughing after a point.

Story? 1 bad soldier from India and 1 bad solider from Pakistan gang up to harm India. 1 good soldier from India and 1 good soldier from Pakistan join hands to protect India. Except for some fringe / extreme elements in ISI, everyone else in Pakistan is India's well wisher, we are told. You can ignore the rest of story, because there is none.

And those Abbas-Mastaan like twists in plot, even worse.

Action sequences are the biggest disappointment. It will put Tiger Zinda Hai, Baaghi 3 and other mindless movies to shame. A cheap copy of Little Singham type fight scenes. SRK's initial fight sequence is good, but nothing else after that.

Deepika Padukone and John Abraham - both with their wooden expressions - hardly make any impact. Salman Khan cameo is cringeworthy.

Strictly for SRK and Salman fans. That too, only the hardcode fans. Terrible action sequences, unwatchable.

Season 1 of Mind the Malhotras is a very good watch, especially for audience in the 30+ age group. It is a light hearted, subtle humour that relies heavily on the performances of lead actors and overall characterisation. Now, a subtle humour is not everyone's cup of tea. Do not expect jokes that are loud or literally in your face. Each episode in Season 1 has a little bit of theme and how the various characters get about that theme. Definitely a good watch.

Season 2 however is completely messed up. It runs into the standard Season 2 greed where the makers try to create a larger canvas, more characters, bigger themes. But the basic essence of the show is lost in the process. A light hearted comedy is not the place to preach people about premarital sex, teenage pregnancy, gay marriages, lesbian relationships and love stories of senior citizens. I am not against these topics but Mind the Malhotras is way too subtle to take up such topics. Also, the first and last episodes of Season 2 are simply unwatchable. I hope the makers of the show do not make these mistakes in Season 3 (whenever that comes). In short, Season 2 is completely and totally avoidable.

Karthik Aryan looks and acts exact clone of Akshay Kumar. Not sure if this was done intentionally during casting or acting stage, but there are so many similarities between the two actors playing the same role.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa starts well and largely entertaining for the first 30 minutes. Post that, it depends on the viewer's appetite for average humor and predictable horror. The whole flashback sequences slow down the narrative very badly.

Overall it is an average movie to watch. If you have liked Stree, you probably may like this movie as well. Original Bhool Bhulaiyaa had Akshay and Vidya taking up most of the responsibilities to keep the movie entertaining. In the new one, it is Karthik and Tabu - not so convincing.

I used to be a fan of Mahesh Babu during his Okkadu to Pokiri days. Unfortunately all his movies post that have turned out to be terrible to watch. Sarkaru Vaari Paata is no exception.

Pathetic story line to begin with. This is similar trend observed in many Telugu movies. There is no consistency in neither the narrative nor the story itself. Hero has to keep beating up 10 guys once in every 10 minutes. Then throw some songs, a pretty lady. And a usual villain. Even Mahesh Babu's dressing in the movie is aweful.

Despite spending so much money on actors, sets and locations, why do they not focus on a bit of story consistency! Telugu movies have to move out of the super slow motion action sequences. They are terrible and make moves plain dumb.

Hope Mahesh Babu picks up better stories for his future movies at least. And thank god he did not act in "Major" movie but chose to produce it. Otherwise even Major would have been as bad as rest of Mahesh's movies.

Season 1 of Rocket Boys has 9 episodes. And the series starts with a bang as Episode 1 is really well made and set the tone. But then, we are wrong. It all goes downhill from Episode 2 onwards.

Rocket Boys is the story of 2 of the best scientific minds in India. They were not only scientists, but the institutions they created have rapidly progressed even beyond their lifetime and those institutions are taking India into the future. ISRO, IIM-A, BARC, PRL among others. And the two scientists? Dr Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Homi Bhabha.

This web series on SonyLIV has an outstanding cast. Brilliant actors. The whole series is really well shot, much better than most India movies. And the background score is awesome.

Unfortunately, the writers let this series down big time. Rather than focusing on the scientific accomplishments of these 2 geniuses and their impact on India, the series revolves around their personal lives, romance, conspiracies, fictional characters, over dramatisation and politics. A typical masala fare.

It is hugely disappointing to see the writers dilute such a great story, despite having so strong support from rest of the creative team.

This series reminds me of the SLB movie Bajirao Mastani. It takes the greatest general of Maratha army and then create an insipid inter-religion love story. Other movie in this ignominious category is Kedarnath. This movie is based on one of the holiest religious sites, facing its worst ever natural disaster.. and then use this all as a backdrop for a silly inter-religion love story.

Hoping that the Season 2 of Rocket Boys does fix its obsession with masala and stay loyal to the 2 legends on whose accomplishments this series is based on.

A pathetic movie. You really wonder why they make movies based on such scripts. But then, there is probably audience that loves this kind of stuff and hence producers do not hesitate to invest. John Abraham is not a person you would admire for his acting skills. Here, there are 3 John Abrahams. This movie is at the same league as Salman's Radhe. Wish both were never made.

Nani movies usually attract some attention from viewers. Some are really good but most are at least watchable. The actor himself comes out as someone who is choosy about scripts and uses his acting skills to uplift even average stories.

But Tuck Jagadish literally scrapes the bottom of a barrel. Mind numbing twists in the plot. It is hard to understand why violence has to be so raw and illogical. Wafer think plot simply goes on endlessly and aimlessly. Terrible violence makes the movie unwatchable.

Just having a catchy title does not help. Middle Class Abbayi (MCA) is also in the same category of an attention seeking title but an appalling script.

Hopefully, Nani will recover from this mistake soon and get back with some decent movies.

Shershaah is a really well made movie. Action sequences are very well shot. A movie that clearly showcases the challenges and sacrifices made by Indian soldiers while battling Pakistan Army and terrorists in higher altitude mountain ranges. The movie also covers the various dangers faced by soldiers in counter insurgency operations.

Siddharth Malhotra has done a reasonably good job in depicting Capt Batra role. Must watch. Do not miss. I do not understand why many of the media/news reviews are not favorable to this movie. A definite watch for all.

Few things do go wrong - trailer was very cliched and this had set wrong expectations. Romance angle in the movie is TOTALLY unnecessary. Soundtrack would have been lot better.

But still, this is one of the rare war movies made by Indian filmmakers. Even rare is an attempt to showcase counter insurgency operations with realistic action sequences. Good watch overall.

Chhalaang is about that leap of faith we all have to take when faced with adverse conditions. It is about never giving up and always coming up with your next attempt to overcome the challenges.

Director Hansal Mehta come up with a simple plot set in Haryana. It is a feel good movie. What makes it work is the limited number of lead characters around which the story revolves. Also, there is clarity in each character and they all look credible.

Story itself is fairly simple and the movie flows like breeze. A good watch. Do not miss.

Laxmii is a movie with good intent. But the direction, screenplay and acting is just terrible. Akshay Kumar is ageing fast and is a total misfit in this role. Remaking hits from South movies is not always guaranteed success. Laxmii is an example of how bad things can be.

Gulabo Sitabo was creating lot of expectations for viewers due to the coming together of 3 big names of Hindi movie industry - Amitabh Bachan, Ayushman Khurana and Shoojit Sircar.

This movie has a great star cast and a very interesting theme to build on. Unfortunately, the story line is very weak and so is the sluggish pace of the movie. Literally nothing happens. It just keeps dragging. As a viewer, you want to really rally for the stellar star cast and the characters they play - but the movie does not offer you any support. Climax is bizarre - but given that the viewer lost interest after first 30 minutes, there is nothing more to expect.

Eagerly waiting for Shoojit Sircar's next movie.

U Turn is a bilingual movie in Telugu and Tamil. It excels in multiple departments. Loved the way they depict professionalism in police force and showing the workings of a police investigation. Respect shown by officers at various levels is nicely presented. Story line is are the problem of people taking illegal U Turns on our roads. A nice thriller with horror angle makes a good watch. I however felt the overall duration could have been cut down by 20 minutes.

I recommend this movie!!

Goodachari is a surprisingly stylish spy thriller. It is good to see a Telugu movie that is made in this genre. Story spans across multiple years, locations and characters. Apart from the caricature type training scenes for the spies, rest of the movie is nicely made and is a visual treat. The whole movie carries a rich feel. Some amazing drone shots elevates the movie to a whole new level.

On the flip side, movie looks a little long at 2.5 hrs. Also, the plot gets unnecessarily diluted towards the end. Leaving aside these minor hiccups, it feels really good to see a Telugu movie in this genre.

The good thing about Jack Reacher - Never Go Back is that Tom Cruise looks the best among all his recent movies. Unfortunately, that is not a criteria for us to survive a nearly 2 hrs movie.

I will not talk about the story (there is hardly any). Makers of the movie should have spent more time improving the story. Action sequences are really dull. They try to look Jason Bourne like, but end up looking totally mediocre. Probably a short TV Series is best suited for such stories.

Hopefully, there will be a 3rd part to this series and hopefully, that will be worth the wait.

Jason Bourne starts off with a bang. The initial 20 minutes or so are simply superb. There is a fantastic chase sequence in the background of public unrest in Athens, Greece. The chase itself ends with a powerful scene. At this point, expectations run high, I mean, really high.

And then it fell apart. The movie spirals down into set of sequences that are both naive and silly. CIA Director is giving orders to assassins directly, people are getting shot in live TV, etc.

Honestly, the Bourne movies had their best ones till 2007 Bourne Ultimatum. 2012 Bourne Legacy and now, 2016 Jason Bourne are testimony of what happens when the freshness in execution and intrigue in the story disappears.

Jason Bourne could have been lot better. This is one more Bourne movie we will all love to believe never existed.