Reviews

Yes, I may have exaggerated a bit, and gave it a 10 star only to help boost the average rating of 6.8 that it has got. But I really like the film. As a film that came out when Internet was in an nascent phase, especially in India, this film makes it a central point in telling an, what could otherwise be a normal rom-com movie.

The film starts on the new year eve of 2000, and goes on a flashback. The film have many sub-plots which interweaves various characters and tells a story in a very comfortable way. The music by A.R. Rehman is probably the driving force of the film with a song dedicated on the role Internet in finding love.

The film may seem kiddish or weird from today's standards, but the story itself is very telling of the imagination that the storyteller of "Kadhalar Dinam" (or Dil hi dil me) must be having. The film uses many special effects in telling the story and to show the technological advancements that Internet had brought to the lives of youngsters.

In the hindi version of the film, Sonali Bendre, Anupam Kher and Johny Liver are all big shots that have done phenomenal acting. The actor Kunal too did a great job, but it's pity to know his eventual fate in the real world, (which I came to know a lot later after watching the movie).

It's sad to see that this film today have almost no recognition, no review on IMDb (my review is the among the three), but the millennials who saw the Internet grow, will have a field trip watching it. And I urge them to give this film a try (if you are lucky enough to get a good print that is).

When a group of my friend insisted me to watch a Bollywood movie I had two choices. Salman Khan's seemingly mindless flick, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" or an VFX intensive "Bahubali". For my geek oriented mind the later was an obvious choice. But as it turned out choice was a myth and I was dragged to the theaters for Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Now, I am not a Salman fan. I like him as a guy, but despise his movies a lot. At least which came out from past few years. So when I went to watch this movie I had totally zero expectations. The formulaic approach of releasing movie on festivals like Id, I totally thought this was also going to be a mindless no-brainer and an insult-to-Physics action movie.

So believe me when I say that you have got to see this movie! It shattered most of my expectations and proved to be a game changer for his stereotypical role that had become of Salman in recent times. And I am not exaggerating.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan is a story of a Pakistani girl who gets lost in India, and later meet Salman Khan, who after some incidents makes reuniting the girl with her family his mission.

The little girl a child actress "Harshaali Malhotra" is one of the cutest I have ever seen. She is speech impaired in the story, but what she lacked makes up by her cuteness and expressions that won my heart many times over.

I was hooked right with the opening scene of the movie itself which I found commendable. When Salman is introduced in typical hero fashion (with a song) all those apprehensions about his recent kind of movie started to appear in my mind. But as the movie progressed those slowly faded away and what shaped till the end of first half was a movie I appreciated with my hands open. The character of Salman is that of the guy in Aparichit. A guy who doesn't lie since he believes he is a true devotee of Hanuman. Little does it helps him achieving his mission.

There are many good actors who are also introduced slowly, like Nawazuddin Siddiqui, whose presence provided big comic relief to the movie in later half. Om Puri also have a small guest role.

What I loved about the movie is that there are situational comedy all over the film and yet it feels very serious. No character seems out of place or stretched. What I also loved about the film is that Salman isn't a larger than life character and story shows him as a common man. Well mostly. It was obvious that Salman would kick some behinds of people but it's only on one occasion in this film and if we spare some of the emotional drama that happens at the climax, this film was pure fun to watch.

On musical side, leaving couple of songs, every other song was good to hear. Song from Adnan Sami was a delight. Most of the songs was in the shape of background score which you can't miss due to its tie up with the story. I only found one bad song about chicken but that was just an exception rather than the norm. And this is where you can take a break to have some air. But buckle up after that since rest of the movie will be some ride.

This movie on some levels made be speechless. Probably because I had some other expectations. If anyone remember the film Lucky: No Time for Love, which came out exactly ten years ago. Lucky had Sneha Ullal in lead female role and was one of the rare Bollywood movies that I totally loved. Lucky had a similar theme to that of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Salman met Sneha in a terrible scenario of war, and made reuniting Sneha to her family his mission. The film had a heart that touch on various emotional states of human mind on many levels. Bajrangi Bhaijaan greatly made me feel the same.

But while Lucky had failed miserably, Bajrangi I feel have the potential of being a blockbuster. At least I hope so since the taste I have for movies doesn't always appear to be a mass favorite. Not a lot of Salman movies have impressed me, yet Bajrangi felt like a blow of fresh air. Something which I would have easily missed because of my presumptions. This movie is a must watch because of its story, its music and its characters. Also because of the glimpses of Pakistan that it shows in the second half. Its a must watch for its good intentions and because of the little girl that made me smile without even a single dialogue.

Rated it so high since it's in Bollywood scale and for its intents.

While my choice of genre doesn't really allow me to digest modern popcorn blockbuster Bollywood movies, I often tend to enjoy them occasionally if served with a good story and execution. I will have to say that Bobby Jasoos was not one of them.

Bobby Jasoos seems to be a half baked, self pretentious attempt in directing by Samar Shaikh and endorsed by Diya Mirza as a Producer, whose skills could have been better utilized as an actress to save this movie a little.

The story of Bobby Jasoos is about a 30 year old Muslim girl named Bobby, residing in the heart of Hyderabad city near the iconic Charminar. While she keeps herself involved in investigating cases in night and trying to get a proper detective job in daytime. She is having a rough time in securing clients as a detective, but luck takes a big turn as she receives an assignment that pushes her to her limits. Rest of the film is a riot as she tries to struggle her career as a detective and manage her family emotionally who doesn't seem to be in favor of what Bobby does.

While the film seems to have so much potential what makes it fail is the treatment. The film starts of in a humorous tone and actually seems like to begin with the right foot. But as it picks up pace we are introduced some of the people that seems like a cliché examples of typical characters from all of the Bollywood movies I detest watching. Slowly the viewer is faced with slapstick humor, family drama and been-there-done-that events that feels like Deja Vu in the course of a family drama movie.

Songs don't help either. Neither of the songs in the film leaves an impression on the viewers mind, rather give them a chance to take a break and catch up on sleep while they are at it. There is one particular song in the movie which I won't specify to stay away from spoilers, and which I personally think was totally uncalled for in the situation. Perhaps the pacing or editing could have been a lot better, so as to give the movie a coherent flow.

In this movie Vidya Balan in the role of Bobby gets to change in a lot of getup (around 12) but most of them doesn't help the story in much ways. It looks as if she was made to change just for the sake of humor. While the film can be considered short at just 121 minutes, it feels somewhat dragged occasionally, and fails to let viewers invest their emotions into any of the characters except of the lead character.

That being said, the film does have its moments but those are just a few. I would also say it was a daring attempt to try to execute a movie with only a female lead, who for the most part remains out of glamor, and where she is also shown to break free from many of the stereotypical role a women is portrayed in Indian movies. I would also have to admire Vidya Balan for his acting skills as he was very convincing in all of those getup she did on screen. I would not blame the execution of the movie on her since the onus of the complete movie lied on her shoulders alone. And she did her role perfectly.

It would be fair to say that while the first half of Bobby Jasoos, raises viewers interest a little, second half helps it raise even further, but the final twist fails to live up to the expectation.

One more movie "Queen" was also released recently where the story was about a female lead who is shown to break free from various stereotypical roles, but it would be unfair to compare both of them, because while Queen was set up in vibrant and colorful foreign cities like Paris and Amsterdam and was more closer to today's generation, Bobby Jasoos relates more to India and typical Indian family drama, and was filmed totally in the streets of semi urban parts of Hyderabad which gave the movie a special flavor of India, more closer to most of the people of the country.

Combined with all other things I would rate the film a 6 out of 10. Extra 1 to give Bollywood a break from the male dominant masala movie and an attempt to create India's own Sherlock Holmes.

After Earth is a Sci Fi survival story of a boy named, "Kitai Raige" (Jaden Smith) who crash landed on a planet along with his father "Cypher Raige" (Will Smith), and have to survive various kinds of dangers that Earth greets the crash landers with.

I have to admit that the trailer when I saw it months ago, did get me excited. But fortunately I saw today that it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, and all my hopes were out. It was this low expectation that made the movie worth a watch.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Mr. Night, but he have a knack of making movies too boring sometimes. But fortunately his last movie "The Last Airbender" wasn't his last movie as a director. So when I say After Earth wasn't a total disappointment, I mean it.

Story wise movie doesn't give much to offer. Except the basic premise of survival and some flashbacks there isn't much to say. Visual effects were also just acceptable. Certainly not that what is expected of this age. The pace of movie was rather acceptable, and father son combo was the selling point.

But what I think lacked much in After Earth, was the fact that Earth didn't seem much dangerous to me. Mr. Night failed to get more dangers for the actor to fight against. And it felt like movie was cut short due to budget constraints at a later stage of production. This is why the time is took to built the pace seemed long, but the actual time devoted to Earth felt short and rushed.

Talking about performance of Jaden, real son of Will Smith, I have to say he needs much to learn. He is shown to be a boy who gets scared easily. But is later shown to gather courage to do what he sought out to. Its not like this is his fist cameo with Will Smith. He first worked with his father in "The Pursuit of Happiness". But unlike that film After Earth wasn't a Will Smith movie. After Earth can be said as Jaden's role as a first billed star cast.

One thing I liked about this movie was the Soundtrack. It felt immersive enough. After all the music was created by James Newton, the man behind soundtrack of Batman Begins, along with Hans Zimmer.

Overall, movie didn't feel something to drool over. But is worth a watch. Maybe when it comes out on DVD, or TV. But I liked it. It's not a lot of times when you get to see a father and son movie that are father and son in real life.

Review URL: vineetkumar.me/2013/06/after-earth/

(This is my First review on IMDb. I had to write it for the sake of humanity and space-time continuum ;)

Theme & Genre: The first thing which strikes me in BTTF is the theme, which is by far the most puzzled idea ever conceived by human mind - "Time Travel". Every true science fiction fan (or for anybody for that matter) have always wondered, if he could change the past. What if he could visit the past and see what was it like to meet your parents when they were your age? Its a truly wonderful idea, and with all its anomalies and paradoxes, still never fails to amaze the audience with the possibilities. In Particular, BTTF cant be put into just one Genre. Due to Time travel, its Sci-Fi, but its comedy, Romantic, as well as, a thriller, with many hair raising experience. The beauty of BTTF is the combination of all these genre with an awesome fusion, without overdoing anything.

Story: The most important thing for a movie after the theme is its story. And it hasn't been compromised. BTTF part 1 has an exceptional story line, which only becomes more interesting in subsequent parts. Because of the time travel theme, you get to again witness a plot in part 2, that already had been happened in part1, which is why time travel is interesting, in the first place. (Even writing about it now, is giving me goosebumps.)

Effects: Imagine at a time sans GUI OS (Like Windows), how can you imagine the creation of a 3D holographic shark coming out at you, or a flying hover board, or a flying De-Lorean in the midst of air traffic... I could go on, but you got the point..

Music: Don't even get me start on this. But I want to :) The music is nothing short of epic. The grand nature of music, just compliment the grand nature of the plots. Romantic song, "Power of Love", a more superb romantic song "Earth Angel", the groovy "Back In Time".. and then the BTTF score by, the Outatime Orchestra, makes me feel like I am a part of something big, a part of the movie itself.

Conclusion: Well, everyone have a different taste, but I am talking about the movie, who have a fan base of more than half a million on a Facebook page alone. (as of the time at writing this review). A movie which has been released on Blue Ray on its 25th Anniversary, along with re-release in select theaters, and a movie which has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry! A movie which is timeless, which never gets old, no matter how many times you see it, that is, you had to had a taste in Sci-Fi though.

And to say, its just a movie which is "25" yrs old! For some, its more than a movie, its a genre in itself.