anshul2001anshul Reviews

Stree (2018)

A truly indian horror movie

[8/10 · 1 September 2018]

Takes from Indian folklore, has not been churned by some factory making horror movies as many typical small Indian town things have been captured. Though ending is not very satisfactory and how boys are transported to old fort is not explained still one of the best Hindi horror movie ever made

Agneepath (2012)

A poor remake

[6/10 · 18 February 2012]

Producers may claim that they were not marking remake on some minor plot points ( like husband of amitabh's sister) or no development of character of Amitabh's dad but still movie has imprint of old flick

plus - choice of very good location as mandwa, Om Puri, Rishi Kapur and minister were apt for their role. Praise for rishi kapur who shines in possibly first negative role in his life. Fight between his son and himself has certain godfather movie like feeling there are many opportunities which are wasted. e.g. Kancha's near maniacs is never explained, though towards end his dad is shown as proverbial uncle of Ravan who tried to stop him.Similarly in old movie goga kapur though less frightening but comes out as more scheming character which Sanjay dutt does not fight scene towards end is completely ridiculous and sole aim of it seems to show physique of Hrithik. Priyanka chopra is also wasted in small insignificant part. Praise for lady playing sister of Hrithik, she does not have many dialog but she delivers by her eyes

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (2012)

cute little movie

[9/10 · 18 February 2012]

unlike many of my friends I like the movie maybe because I could identify with it in some parts but frankly there are very few movies in Indian cinema on friendship between adult male and female.. there was this film bemisal where amitabh and rakhi's character had amazing chemistry but in all other movies friendship is ultimately morphed into love but not here another good thing was Vegas was not shown from a tourist perspective but from perspective of someone who lives there so unlike many other Indian movies which will show Vegas as strip club, casino and bars only ( well that is pretty much), here it is just a backdrop film was nicely paced with audience not feeling bored at any point of time but character of his parents were unbelievable..maybe some boss might treat their juniors that way but not father son there was its share of stereotyping when they show parents of kareena or imran but kareena had some good lines. Imran was wooden as usual and he never looked devastated on losing job or how shallow that kind of upbringing can make you was not apparent

a better male lead and I would have given it a 10 ad yes songs were good but not DevD standard though the team is same here

Shor in the City (2010)

different from usual bombay flicks

[8/10 · 30 December 2011]

as opposed to typical movies on Bombay this steers clear of Hindu Muslim angle, immigrants, does not eulogies slum life and neither makes caricature of Bala thackrey but stays true to its intent

temptation to show chowpaty, railway station or gate way of India are avoided and thus it makes a visually appealing experience to watch movie

tushar kapoor finally acts looking at sendhil one feels that all Indian khans should be taught real meaning of word being fit is not Buffy muscles but something else

acting wise the local small time leader and friends of tushar kapoor and his wife shines there are some loopholes e.g. small kid plot is out of place , similarly how tushar kappor changes overnight or why not NRI tries to do something else before taking matters into his own hands is not explained

good premise but it could be more

but a good weekend watch

Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster (2011)

cheesy taut and interesting

[9/10 · 26 November 2011]

a remake of classic sahib Bibi ghulam of Mina kumari and guru dutt only that here Bibi knows what she wants and gets it and same with ghulam. Though it is never explained what killed sahib's first wife and why choti bahu is mentally unstable or goes brusque at the name of Lalit but otherwise story is good. It is just like how Othello or Macbeth were adapted to Indian story line by Vishal Bhardwaj. Politics of north Indian small towns is captured though political struggle is showed in only one dimensional way. acting by characters of minister and rival politician and their dialogues are terrific. Deepal shaw shines in whatever little screen time she is given. Only casting mistake I think was Jimmy sher-gill, someone like Ajay devgan would have looked better in this role. though movie slacks towards end but cinematography is good and so is pace. Tigmanshu's first movie Hassil was also a gem and so is this

Real Steel (2011)

not consisten but still entertaining

[9/10 · 7 November 2011]

a typical underdog movie, effort to gain long lost glory by past hero, father bonding with son, father living his dreams via sun, a girl trying to save his dad's business, vengeful corporates, underground culture of honor but less money and public' hero (occupy wall street??) all these combined with best special effects and kinetics

this is one of the first movies where robots are neither inhuman like machines not frightening. though there are plot holes that how something from junk was so good which even modern robots were not or how an all winning robot had processing power to learn tactics of its opponents instantaneously but not enough battery!!! how can court give custody to an absentee broke care less father compared to doting rich aunt but at the end of day enjoyable pure Steven Spielberg magic

Antarctica (2008)

finding love can be real difficult

[10/10 · 4 August 2011]

if one forgets for a moment that love relationships shown in the movies are homosexual and not heterosexual, it is a simple film about people trying to find love and till they find one keep on trying. There is central character who is librarian and group of his friends and similar individuals they come across.in all there are 5 main male character and they are developed well given the time constraint, especially the journalist, librarian, the young boy and the Casanova. sub plot of hero's sister also being lesbian or their father being cross dresser seems unnecessary. there are comic moments though when their mother gets a new husband or one of the the character who works at a fashion store cracks jokes. Overall a good movie about love, commitment and relationship

The Lovely Bones (2009)

fabulous..makes you believe in relationships again

[9/10 · 30 June 2011]

As such movie is sad because a young girl is killed and her killer roams free for many year but in many ways movie reinforces ideas of family, love and relationship. We Hindus offer food to birds, animals and priests even years after our near and dear ones have died in the hope that this might help them in after life. Similarly when Susan is tormented about scheming of his murderer or when his family reminisces about her she seems to establish a connection. Acting by her grandma, siblings and mom are superb. watched it when was back from office at 2 o clock in night and was impacted by it. and I actually like the special effects they add to the surreal feeling which movie tries to create. Comic interlude of grandma though seems slightly misplaced

Ragini MMS (2011)

a decent Hindi horror movie after a long time

[8/10 · 13 May 2011]

After a long time a decent Hindi horror movie maybe after darr of RamGopal Varma before he turned himself into a factory.Premise is simple and though they say it to be inspired by real events this kind of story of a wronged soul communicating with innocent/scheming outsiders has been repeated umpteen number of times. But thankfully it does not have that typical Ojha/magician so common in all Hindi movies who comes to deal with the bad soul neither it has a religious figure normally a priest or someone who comes to frighten away the ghost. This makes the story very realistic. Acting by lead pair is too good ,though movie sags towards end but length has been kept proper and it ends before viewer will get bored. Good movie. 8/10

Tanu Weds Manu (2011)

fresh but did not know how to end

[7/10 · 21 April 2011]

Movie certainly had a fresh story line. Just like DevD female lead is shown independent in thinking but as her friend correctly points out she is rebel without a cause. Best part of movie is capturing middle class India and towns of Kapurthala and Kanpur, though depiction borders on clichéd still movie is brilliant in pieces and there are quite a few comic movements. e.g. monkey show scene, scene where before wedding Manu's friend and Manu go to meet girls, while playing Antakshri they sing song 'abhi na jao chod kar', towards end when in typical Indian arranged marriage style tanu tells little girl that I like the boy and so on.. but somehow director did not have a convincing end and Jimmy Shergill was most unconvincing in bad man with good heart role

Love Songs (2007)

view from India

[10/10 · 21 January 2011]

A great movie. obviously it goes beyond Indian sensibilities but it show how young people deal with relationships.

I saw Louis Garrel in 'dreamers' and then I discovered him. he has tremendous screen presence and a special melancholy look in his eyes. He does comic scenes also very good in this movie.

it has various sub plots but handles them very well. sub plot of relationship of Julie & Ismael, Their relation with Alice, Julie's relation with her family and her elder sister Jasmine's relation with Ismael. But real gem is acting of Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet. I am in love with him....

The Boat That Rocked (2009)

wonderful

[9/10 · 21 January 2011]

a wonderful movie.

my usual routine is to check a movie in news on IMDb and see the recommendations which crop up or If I happen to like some actor/actress go to his/her profile and scan past movies to find some less talked about gem and this is how I reached to this movie.

it stops of being a direct comedy and is not as rebellious as requiem for a dream but still manages to lift spirits.

Loosely based on FM radios which popularized rock music in UK , one can find canny similarities with all times and all places in different cultural milieu.

e.g. we had a minister who tried to bank smoking scenes in movie.

owner of the whole enterprise is one quirky character and so are various RJs.

especially the late late night RJ and the fellow who becomes friend to our hero.Hoffman is terrific as count and Nick Frost who tries hard to fix James up ends up sleeping with his girl....

movies does show human emotions at play between an estranged father /son and jealousy which Hoffman has towards new American celebrity.

Kurbaan (2009)

laughable

[4/10 · 21 January 2011]

Karina is beautiful else the movie is horrible. First of all pseudo secularism instilled by our education, media and politics has sipped so deep in the psyche of our society including film industry that we always bend backwards to be politically correct and kurbaan is one such movie. For all wanton acts of terrorism ,some alibi is found and some justification is found out. Some glaring mistakes 1. Kiron kher claims to get married with Om puri in 2001, they seem pretty old. 2. Most laughable is how vivek oberoi cracks the case on his own making FBI look Pygmy in a typical Hindi movie style. Kareena is wooed so easily by Saif , making one feel Indian girls are easy to get.

The Lives of Others (2006)

view from India

[10/10 · 21 January 2011]

Lives of others

well for me i have following comments to offer

1. Beautiful acting , good cinematography. we could make a similar movie in India though i doubt any regime in India ever went to this length. 2.To me very strong was the notion that perfectly normal people can be hooked to a system so bad. All of them seem to have a noble goal in mind to keep fascism at bay. They think that they should go for socialism as capitalism will ultimately lead to fascism. But in order to achieve this bigger goal they compromise on every small step and become enemies of their own citizen.

3. I believe that this is what is bound to happen in India. Hindu nationalists have a laudable final goal to save India from Islamic tyranny but in this quest they may damage Indian psyche also.

4. Once again one sees power of art in this movie. I think despite all shortcomings our race has one distinct feature which makes our lives worth living i.e. pursuit of art forms. Artists in this movie like in real life are motivated to take risk and make society as they see in their dreams.

5. Corrupt minister who would have once started as an idealist but now is a cogwheel in system.

6. Rival officer of protagonist who is equally efficient and helps system on the plea of being honest to his job. I think this is very much relevant to my generation today when we shrug off our questionable role in perpetuating many wrong things by simply saying that we are just doing our job maybe we also need to witness lives of other to arouse that humane inside us.

Do Dooni Chaar (2010)

captures middle class India caught in consumerism

[9/10 · 11 January 2011]

Was flipping through channels on Sunday night after having nothing better to do and saw this wonderful movie do dooni char. Captured essence of middle class life so succinctly and reminded me of my childhood. Best was ending of movie when narrator (daughter of protagonist) claims that consumerism is not bad. In family's desire to buy a car they could rediscover their dad, started taking pride in their lives and his brother and father came close to each other. Their effort to win lucky draw by opening thousand boxes of detergent reminded me of how dutifully mom was collecting each edition of local newspaper when they had a maruti draw or how I used to try KBC phone religiously in college. Typical middle class dreams and desire to fulfill them. How one has societal pressures of showing one in good position in marriage at one's relatives, how neighbors fight and learn to live together and how old teachers always live in heart of students.

Udaan (2010)

flight of pigeons

[8/10 · 23 September 2010]

• Just finished watching udaan, though it was on my to watch list since long. I had heard about the movie , a boy returns from hostel to home ,tries to adjust to life , to an authoritarian father , to an unknown brother. I suspected it to be another lakshya, 3 idiots or wakeup Sid with good things thrown in, some speech by our hero and a happy ending. Well ending is not sad but it is uncertain and frightening. • His long stay in hostel and how his friends wish for a life outside hostel reminded me of many of my friends who were in hostels since their school time. Most of them were there because they were from villages and for lack of good educational facilities they were living in big towns and hostels. But I have seen quite a few boys who were essentially shunned by their parents and what harm it does to their psyche. • Character of father is a case study character. Believe it or not we were told with pride by people around us how their father used to beat them for slightest of pretext, how one of my seniors used to hide all his cricket bats before his dad came in home else he would be beaten by them, how parents of many of my aunts and uncles had no idea in which class their wards were and so on and on. As a society we condone this behavior and cruelty towards kids. • Film captures local environ of Jamshedpur beautifully, I never knew city was so beautiful. Bihari tone of characters is very authentic, not clownish like other movies but not snobbish either. • Though his college seniors who are supposed to rag him and drinking scene with those guys seem to be forced • It is also interesting that no neighbor or relative other than his uncle is shown • Acting by all three leading men are superb. Ronit Roy who is shattered from inside and has converted himself into a demon unknowingly. • Initial poem is very good which he recites to his friend in school, and so is background track in the movie. • It somehow reminded me of movies like being Cyrus or ek choti si love story. Style of movie telling is erringly similar , stories are told from point of view of protagonist, lonely childhood is captured effectively.

Ishqiya (2010)

love and insanity have same pattern

[9/10 · 1 March 2010]

This is how life ends not in a bang but a whisper….. This is the way I guess s one should describe the movie and despite building up a credible plot ending leaves something to be desired. One good point is that Hindi films are maturing now and apart from straight college boy girl romance other angles are also being pursued and similarly in relationship areas apart from normal father –son, mother –son or friend angle complex relationships like guru- chelas whose object of affection is same girl, two buddies, two business partners, or mistress and wife are being presented in very nuanced way just as they are in real life. Movie's name is very apt because the entire protagonist including the kidnapped businessman or slain dacoit makes seemingly life threatening choices just because they are in love with someone. As they say love follows similar pattern to insanity and this movie exemplifies.

Some obvious loopholes – vidya's effort to entice the two gangsters are too much obvious. There should have been some kind of subtlety here. It is inconceivable that police is attacking the house from front and they can easily slip from back. A big businessman with underworld links in lawless areas and without security? . caste war angle is just used to create useful coincidences in film, which could be done otherwise as well.

But scenes involving brother in law of naseer is hilarious to core and so is the concept of vidya finally finding solace in company of these two men.

It is difficult to say if it is inspired from some movie, Indian or foreign but I remember seeing one Brazilian movie where a woman with some fatal disease has a threesome with two youth who fall in love with her.

Julie & Julia (2009)

Butter to my bread breath to my life

[9/10 · 18 February 2010]

Butter to my bread breath to my life……

Love the movie. It is about hope , perseverance about how if one decides no feat is impossible and how life always gives you a second chance and how one can find joy in very simple things and get success as per standard of world in seemingly unworldly ways.

Some scenes like child couple celebrating valentine day or Julia child thanking her husband at the end were very touching. I am a vegetarian but the movie makes me think that non veg won't be that bad….

Something on relationships…the way Julia feels when her sister is pregnant and she can't have child or how mother of Juli's supports here finally. The scene where Julia cuts onions fervishly is hilarious to the core and also the one of being hot as stiff cock.

A good watch. Makes you feel hopeful gain in life. And Madame Bassart was adorable

"I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by – set the tone for me

Gulaal (2009)

Intelligent piece of movie

[9/10 · 20 March 2009]

What I like most about this movie is like typical Hindi movies there is no central protagonist and everyone's story is important in its own way. So there is an eventual winner illegitimate son fighting for his place, a rebel prince ( KK despite being from kerala looked every bit rajput) who dies on his own terms, abhimnayu singh in Ransa's role is terrific specially when he says 'my dad makes tea for old white women and wants me to do same" and obviously dileep singh.

Separatist movement is just a background and nothing else and futility of it is brought out of elder prince when he lampoons whole gulaal thing.

music was good, jodhpur ( i guess) was captured authentically but that bahroopia so called ardhnarishwar with elder prince seemed more like a prop than serving any useful purpose and somehow the thought of the girl sleeping with everyone for her ends and everyone getting hoodwinked by her easily was strange.

Khosla Ka Ghosla! (2006)

An Indian story told in Indian way

[10/10 · 15 August 2008]

Story is Indian . Many people in west will find it difficult to relate with it and secondly and most importantly narration is also Indian unlike those art films which have Indian story but present it in western way making it very fake and similarly rahul bose style movies which present western stories in Indian way.

In addition to main plot various sub plots like career vs family vs love choice, or life of people who are sidekicks of main players ( both builder and theater troupe leader) , life of retired middle class people and their aspirations and how they are unable to make system work for them and have to find their own solutions.

overall a great movie with good acting by all casts.

Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995)

A shameless ripoff of Kramer Vs Kramer

[7/10 · 27 July 2008]

i watched Kramer vs Kramer yesterday and that forced me to think about akele hum akele tum which I had watched years before. AHAT copies the Kramer vs Kramer sometimes scene and even dialogue by dialogue while at other times to give things Indian touch they play havoc with main story line so Manisha's parent have to be devils and she has to be super talented to garner public sympathy as to why she separated. Amir has to meet this villainous music director duo from film industry to jutify his negligence towards manisha. This shows that main story is not strong and i.e. why director needs this 'doping' of story. While copying story director forgot that with 5,000 salary in Mumbai Amir can't possibly afford the flat he is shown living in and not treat his child with costly icecream everyday. This struck very odd to me when I saw AHAT but after watching Kramer vs Kramer I know the inspiration !. Court scenes are more subtly handled in Kramer vs Kramer but maybe to sell movie in India all this was needed.

Earth (1998)

Good in patches

[9/10 · 22 June 2008]

Good movie but lot is left unsaid probably because it is an autobiographical account of author. The only problem people who do not know history will form wrong impressions e.g. movie gives a feeling that riots started in Lahore after Tara Singh's speech and Sikh procession while low scale rioting was on since many days. Only one scene where fire brigade actually puts petrol in fire shows that administration was partial but there could be many such scenes. One thing is sure that human tragedy is covered in its fullness but child marriage of author's friend is completely out of frame . Child marriage could be shown but that too with an old man !!! I think movie director has something against Hindus. e.g. costume of nandita Das is completely out of sync from those times. A character of Gulshen grover actually subscribes to the stereotype of violent Sikh without looking into their real loss i.e. loss of thei motherland. In all movie is good if just seen as a human tragedy but it would be foolish if viewers try to make judgmental on role of communities based on this limited information

Dil Se.. (1998)

truly from heart

[9/10 · 17 January 2008]

A movie about two lover who have another object i.e. their country to love and hate simultaneously and how it folds out. cinematography is great and Santosh Sivan outshines this movie only in Ashoka. More importantly this is the only mainstream Hindi movie to best of my knowledge which has north east and laddakh as background. Old Delhi is also captured beautifully in terrorist hideout and old haveli in which shahrukh is living. Movie shows glimpses of loud Punjabi culture and Malayalam as well via beautiful wedding song. This was first movie to use stunning visuals of Kerala which can be easily an advertisement for kerala tourism. Discovery of movie was surely preity Zinta specially her looks after she comes to know about Manisha's relationship with Shahrukh. CBI officer fails to impress but terrorist ring leader is impressive and I imagine in real life it is how they are. ANother interesting character was AIR director of guwahati pretty close to working women who are lonely and are at top positions. Best part of movie as against other Hindi movies is both protagonists are confused and are constantly fighting a self conflict. MAnsiha tries to suppress her love while shahrukh does not want to doubt manisha even though he knows something is fishy. a great watch.

In the Name of God (2007)

View of an Indian

[6/10 · 3 November 2007]

Good movie. I happened to find this movie on our college intra net and the person who was sharing the movie was an exchange student from Pakistan to India. Revelation for me :

1. Pakistanis call fundamentalists "fundoo" in a derisive tone. By seeing bearded Pakistani cricket team after long been seeing Imran khan as symbol of Pakistan cricket I used to think that Pakistanis actually appreciate this over religiousness but not now. I think they are rather afraid. 2. It was interesting to contrast outlook of women in Afghan village who never ventured out to outlook of the father living in england. 3. I think actual problem is people like the father of girl who are most hypocrite and harm the moderates as well as bring bad name to religious people. Extremists ca Be fought if there are no hypocrite people like the bride's father in movie. 4. Another surprise was ending.I thought heroine will go back to his cousin in line with subcontinent tradition but opening of school was great.

Only sore point I found was an effort to be political correct in script. It appeared as if extremism was being justified by torture of suspected people by American police which I think are two separate issues and deserve to be dealt so. I don't understand why can't we call a spade a spade and more importantly eve n if we assume American policy as cause for extremism in Muslim societies ( which is not true) one fails to understand how can this kind of response be justified?

In fact I found performance of USA going brother quite overbearing and his style too patronizing specially end sequence.

but music wise movie was goo but hey could have explored cinematographic potential of NWFP more.

Haasil (2003)

Perfect an India no one sees

[10/10 · 31 October 2007]

This is one of my all time favorite and I have been watching it every year since my last year in college and every time I find it refreshing, more so because environ around us in big colleges and metro is so out of place or cut off from real India. What I like : 1.Opening sequence how the vice chancellor is helpless 2. conversation of minister and student leader signify how the link between college politics and real politics run. Many of top Indian politicians were once active student leaders. 3. Heroine's and Heroe's father play their part well and in real life people are like that 4. Movie plays on Bengali stereotype of being coward( hero's friend can't protect his mother) 5. More importantly movie builds on Indian idea of politics being a means of granting favors : politicians to budding leaders (!) , politicians to their sidekicks 6. Indian middle class , father -son tension , husband dominating over wife and a desire to remain away from politics and goons. 7. Love between jimmy and hrishita is so real and this is how things used to be once in small towns quite different from metro before arrival of mall, café and multiplex culture . 8. problem of successful transition in political families and how well meaning people get caught in politics 9. cinematography is fabulous which makes full use of environ :university , Allahabad & Ganges ,middle class home. In fact i would suggest to someone who wants to study small town India watch this movie instead of reading tons of books.