Right Ya Wrong - Is it worth Watching?

I know I have been writing movie reviews a lot these days. I guess that can be blamed to my otherwise busy life in Synopsys Hyderabad, where I can’t have much time over the weekdays. The weekends, I generally watch a movie (though honestly, I am not a movie buff), and end up writing the review at the blog. Have got responses both-ways to carry on with this and to move back to the Current Topics, but with current less time at hand and movie at the Multiplex, I am writing yet-another movie review, with a promise that I will also write about the other things (when time permits ;-) ).

So here goes nothing, and in fact, on a fun note, the overall rating of this movie also matches the Overall rating of the last 2 movies I reviewed. If you do check the movie out, you can comment on whether the ratings are “Right Ya Wrong”.

Right Ya Wrong

Cast: Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan, Isha Kopikar, Konkana Sen Sharma, Deepal Shaw, Aryan Vaid

Director: Neerraj Pathak

Overall Rating: 6.5 / 10.0 (A good thriller, slightly predictable, but a refreshing movie to watch, if there are no other plans)

The movie “Right Ya Wrong” starts with a climax scene and suddenly it moves back in a flashback. It is a story about a 2 friends Ajay Shridhar (Sunny Deol) and Vinay Patnaik (Irrfan Khan), both working as brave and valiant cops in the Goa Police Force. The movie starts of by showing them battling the bad guys together, each in his own style, while Vinay is a cool-headed cop, who analyzes the complete situation before taking any action and believes Justice is everything, Ajay on the other end is hot-headed and spontaneous, and he is also a risk-taker who also looks at the crime committed from a humane perspective and makes his own decisions.

The movie starts with Vinay and Ajay trying to catch the dreaded criminal Boris (Aryan Vaid), but then moves to a web of conspiracies, which involve Anshita (Isha Kopikar), who is Ajay’s wife and Sanjay, Ajay’s brother. The plot gets deeper with the post-interval entry of Lawyer Radhika (Konkana Sen Sharma), who also happens to be Vinay’s younger sister. Since the movie is supposed to be a thriller as per its genre, and there isn’t much that can be written without revealing the plot, I am directly moving to the “Rights and Wrongs” of the movie.

The Rights

• Sunny Deol and Irrfan Khan, both have acted very well to portray the characters they were supposed to project. Their on-screen chemistry keeps the movie go on very smoothly. All the other actors, Isha Kopikar, Deepal Shaw and Sanjay plays her part well.
• The script and the story-line keep the viewers excited and hence even though the movie becomes predictable at time, it never really gets boring. In fact, so evident is the climax, that I had a hard time finding a picture for this movie, which wouldn’t reveal the plot.
• The first half is a bit slow and drags on, but the second half sweeps on pretty well. Also since the movie is about 2 hours, it doesn’t seem to be too long at any point.

The Wrongs

• There seems to be a disconnect with the exact portrayal of Konkana Sen Sharma’s character, which doesn’t completely blend with the story-line.
• Last but definitely not the least, like a lot other movies, this movie is also inspired from a Hollywood movie called “ABOVE SUSPICION”, so much so, that if you check this movie’s plot on IMBD (contains Spoilers, so don’t check it unless you want to know the plot), you will say it is an IMDB page with a Plot-Review of Right Ya Wrong.

Final Verdict:

I almost seem to be writing paradoxes, when I say the movie is a thriller and yet predictable, but then, this is one of those movies, where you can very easily suspect what will happen next, but still look forward to how the movie portrays the same. Thus, in spite of the movie being predictable, the movie is pretty enjoyable and can be watched once.

The movie also in some parts, puts some questions about ethics and justice, which the viewer can answer to himself, based on his own value system. And like any genuine ethical question, the review of a movie depends a lot on what the person who is reviewing liked or disliked in the movie, but all in all, if you ask me, whether seeing this movie on a normal care-free day (when you don’t have anything much to do), would be a “right or wrong” choice, I’d say:

Right Choice, just go with less expectations and enjoy the flow of the movie.

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?

This weekend, I had a trip planned for Bangalore and so had been thinking of what I would blog about. However, the joke turned out on me, since Synopsys Bangalore took us out for a Movie, which was ironically titled “Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?”, a question, which was asked repeatedly to me by my colleagues in the Bangalore office, though, hopefully, not with the thought of sending me away. ;-)

Nevertheless, to give justice to my Bangalore trip, and make the expensive Inox ticket feel worthwhile, here’s a review on the same movie.

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal

Director: Ashwini Dhir

Overall Rating: 6.5 / 10.0 (A good movie to watch, if there are no other plans)

The movie begins in the Metropolis of Mumbai, depicting a typical nuclear family, trying to survive the hardships of the competitive cosmopolitan life. Welcome to the home of Puneet (Ajay Devgan) and Munmun (Konkana Sen Sharma) and their kid, comprising a family, who has never ever welcomed any guests, since they never had time to keep contact with people, owing to their fast life.

Things are going smooth in some sense, till Lambodar Chacha (Paresh Rawal), a distant relative from Gorakhpur suddenly drops in uninvited at their home to pay a visit. For the first time, the family has to make small sacrifices to accommodate this guest in their home and they still try to cope up with the situation maturely. However, pretty soon they realize that Chachaji has no immediate plans of returning back and this is when things start getting topsy-turvy.

The story shows beautifully how the inclusion of a person from a small village or town can impact the lifestyle of the modern urban family. Munmun has to wake up early in the morning to make breakfast for chachaji, thus adjusting her routine, which can impact her productivity at her job. Puneet, called Pappu lovingly by Chachaji, also falls prey to the illiterate Chachaji’s rural gambits. To make matters worse, Chachaji with his loving and inviting nature also brings home, friends and neighbors, who tag along with him, adding to the woes of Puneet’s family.

“Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge” mirrors a reality of the new generation, where the family being victimized by the perils of the guest feels that their privacy and happiness is threatened. The ways in which the family reacts to the guest and tries to send-him-off is what makes the movie funny. On a comic sense, Chachaji also has some gastric problems, which adds an element of laughter. And yet, the movie shows the upsides of this rustic guest, who lovingly installs good “sanskaar” in the kid of the family, teaching him to be ethical and more responsible.

Final Verdict:

The movie is a synthesis of satire in the new-age urban life and strong virtues of traditional Indian family system. The movie though is about 2 hours long, seemed to comprise of various parts, and atleast some of these chapters, weren’t really needed and were probably added to drag the movie along. Paresh Rawal acts his beautifully and Ajay Devgan and Konkana also do well for their respective roles, and yet the movie isn’t a real pleasure.

Nevertheless, the movie does have some parts which bring giggles, and also tries to convey a good message. But this makes the movie a combination of “Hera Pheri” and “Baghban”, which though is nice and watchable, cannot have the humor, seriousness or the charisma of either of the movies.

Last but not the least, it is watchable for all the people who want to relax and laugh with a packet of popcorn in their hands after a hectic week of hard work, and carry home a good message as well. Reminding the viewers of the traditional movies of 1980s timeframe, the “Atithi” will probably settle in the guest-room of your heart.

Karthik Calling Karthik

Cast: Farhan Akthar, Deepika Padukone, Sheefali Chhaya

Director: Vijay Lalvani

Overall Rating: 6.5 / 10.0 (A good movie to watch, if there are no other plans)

The movie Karthik Calling Karthik, starts with the portrayal of Karthik (Farhan Akthar), as a low on self-confidence and hence low on self esteem, hard-working guy. His straight-forward nature and self-formed fears have made the subject of exploitation from everyone; from his greedy and wily land-lord and smart colleagues at work to his ever-cribbing boss, who gets all the work done by him and takes away the credit without even thanking him for his effort once. Ironically, even the people who bullied him did not need to boss-around or threaten him, and even a whimper would scare Karthik, who would silently bear all the pain, and do all the hard-work fearing a reprisal. The start of this movie almost reminded me of another movie like “Rocket Singh”.

The movie also adds a romantic twist, the entry of Karthik’s dashing dream-girl Shonali (Deepika Padukone), who has worked with him in the same office for 4 years, but doesn’t even know that he exists. The story trudges slowly and suddenly Karthik loses his job, and in midst of all this depression, Karthik thinks of ending his life on his birthday, when at 5 AM in the morning, he receives a “phone-call”, a phone-call, which as mentioned in the commercials, changes his life for the better or the worse.

The person on the other end of the line claims to be Karthik himself. After initial resistance, the LOSER Karthik decides to listen to his mentor on the other side of the phone. The mentor Karthik seems to be sort of a Steven Covey or a Dale Carnegie, if you may, who grooms Karthik to become a better man. He listens to the insecurities of Karthik, imbibes positive thoughts and incorporates confidence in Karthik. He also plans both personal and professional strategies for Karthik, which is fun to watch. The same LOSER Karthik now almost undergoes a metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly. He not only subdues his landlord with his new skills, but he also convinces his boss into giving a much better job, and more importantly finds a place in the heart of his romanticized angel.

However, as all good things come to an end, Karthik’s dream streak also reaches its end once Shonali finds out that he receives phone-calls from his imaginary self, and asks him to make a decision and pick either her or his so-called mentor. And, one-day Karthik doesn’t pick up the call of his mentor and things start going in a downward spiral for him ever since. Since Karthik goes against his mentor, the Guardian Angel suddenly becomes the Messenger of Death for him. He ensures that Karthik suffers falls in both his professional and love-life, ushering him back to his world of miseries.

The movie moves back and forth, trying to then answer the questions like:

Who's the other Karthik and why is he calling Karthik? What can Karthik do to free himself from the menace of the other Karthik’s wrath, and will he succeed in resolving the issues in his life?

Final Verdict:

The movie in a nutshell shows the trauma and stress surrounding the current corporate scenario and fast lifestyle. We have on one hand an exploited and depressed worker Karthik, who is trying to set his life on track; and Shonali, who has had too many bad relationships, and is trying to bring some stability to her life.

Personally, I felt the storyline went on too slowly, and yet, with witty and sarcastic dialogues, the movie kept going on. The end is almost abrupt, and before you can fully comprehend the movie-flow and get into the flow of it, the credits start popping in.

Nevertheless, Farhan Akthar has done a marvelous job, acting almost like a chameleon, moving from the dull-boy to happening-guy and so on. It is a movie with a new topic, and the freshness along-with the comical thrill will probably make the movie sail thorough. It’s a good movie to watch, if you have no other plans, and look forward to seeing a light and yet serious flick.

Up in the Air - A movie Review

Last Thursday, I was sitting in the Hyderabad airport, waiting for my flight to arrive, and thinking on what should be my next blog topic. Suddenly out of nowhere, I got reminded of this recent flick that I had seen which seemed to be a complete match to my wait for the flight situation. And so, here is my review on “Up in the Air” literally written up in the air, on-board my Flight from Hyderabad to Ahmedabad.

Up in the Air

Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick

Director: Jason Reitman

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0 (A very good movie to watch)

For most of us, the very thought of taking a flight reminds us of endless queues for luggage checkin, waiting a grueling amount of time before the boarding commences and then the flight itself, where we are made to breathe recycled air, given some cookies and snacks, while time gets spent looking at the clouds, without nothing much in sight. However, this is the story about Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), who is kind of obsessed with the thoughts of flying, so much so, that he prefers to be on-the-move, rather than stay snuggled on the ground.

In his life on the ground, Ryan works for a company, which takes the outsourcing of the work of downsizing people. This means that Ryan is always on the move, going from one city to another, visiting the offices of the loser-bosses as he calls them, and helping them by discussing with the to-be-fired employees about their dismissal. The idea of travelling is also perfect for Ryan who wants to keep earning more sky miles and reach a magic figure of 10 million miles, as a sense of personal achievement. He keeps buying and spending all of the allocated corporate allowances to ensure that his sky-miles keep getting maxed out. The idea behind this is to ensure excellent loyalty-related services for being a preferred customer. Things seem to be going pretty smooth for Ryan, when all of a sudden; Natalie (Anna Kendrick) enters the scene. Natalie is a 23-year old graduate from Cornell, who is all set to revolutionize the way firing is done, by bringing in ideas like using Remote Access Video Conferencing to lay-off people and having set of instructions, almost an algorithm to inform people about their lay-off.

Being the big-fish in town, Ryan obviously doesn’t like the changes and he takes Natalie with him “on-the-road” so that she understands the need for the human presence when the axe is lowered. The idea is to explain to Natalie, that the way she treats this business makes it seem like a presumed human resource expert, who follows a set of instructions and has no grasp of the human character. On the other hand, Ryan fires people sitting face to face, with a smile on his face, and sometimes even giving a pat at the back of the employee being downsized, doesn’t hurt the person on the other side of the table as much. In fact, he even tries at times to make the person realize that it is a blessing-in-disguise and they should look forward for tomorrow, with renewed hope and energy. It is this journey in which, while teaching Natalie the emotional side of the job; that Ryan figures out a lot about himself. For the first time, he understands the importance of family and friends in life.

The story also takes a slight romantic twist when Ryan meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), who is also a high-flying executive and probably as mile-hungry as him. Their perception of life and definition of relationships though seem to be inhumane to most of us, are perfect for each other, and thus this adds a new chapter in the story.

The movie also shows Ryan as a public speaker, who takes sessions on explaining people how to work and how to fly. He comes up with this theory of packing the life in a single back-pack. The idea he lives by is that the higher the luggage, the slower you will be able to move. He goes on to say that emotional baggage is also a baggage, and carrying it will slow you down in life. As he says, "The slower we move, the faster we die."

Final Verdict:

To put it in short, this is a movie about Ryan, a downsizing expert, whose everyday brushes with people to be fired, their anguish and despair have left him falsely compassionate, living out of suitcase and loving every second of it, trying to protect his way of life from the prying eyes of Natalie, who wants to ground him by using Remote Access to do the job instead. And yet, the genre of the movie is comedy, in spite of all the layoffs and the depression the movie talks about.

Though the movie is not completely flawless, the movie comes with a beautiful message portraying the impact of lay off in the life of a person, but more importantly, the part, when in the post-layoff counseling, most of the people who were given the pink slip, speak up about the support and understanding of their families and friends, due to which they could sail over the trauma.

All in all, Up in the Air, is definitely a good watch, for the beautiful handling of a sensitive topic, which brings us closer to ourselves. By any chance, if you are going to travel by an International Airlines like Emirates, which give you a choice of movies to be watched, “Up in the Air” should definitely top the list of the movies to be watched while you are up in the air.

My Name is Khan - Review of A Highly Awaited Movie

Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Waha

Director: Karan Johar

Overall Rating: 8.0/10.0 (A movie which is definitely worth a watch)

“My name is Khan” was one of the most awaited films in the year 2010. For anyone who saw the trailer, the base of the storyline seems clear, whatever be the issues, questions about national and religious identities, lack of support from near and dear ones or not completely sound mental state, what Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan) wants to convey to people divided with prejudices and the racist behavior unfolding in the United States as an aftermath of 9/11 is that, “My name is Khan, and I am not a Terrorist.”

The story starts with Rizwan Khan as a kid in the slums of Mumbai, who is suffering from a medical condition called Asperger’s syndrome. This condition causes him to have fear of new places, feeling of insecurity when in crowded places, hyper-sensitive to loud sounds and scared of bright colors like yellow. He also cannot easily communicate his feelings, and he can view the world factually, but not emotionally. Nevertheless he is a genius when it comes to brain-power and becomes popular in his mohallah (locality) since he can fix almost all electronics. Being specially-abled, results him in getting more of his mother’s attention, which leads to sibling jealousy and rivalry with his younger brother. (Jimmy Shergil)

The story moves on and years later, when his mother dies, Rizwan moves to the United States, with his brother, who then ushers him into the business of selling beauty products. Though he is afraid of new places, let alone new people, Rizwan battles on in this new phase of his life as a salesman. This is when he meets Mandeera (Kajol ), who is a hair stylist at one of the beauty parlors where he goes to sell the beauty products. Mandeera is a Hindu by religion, and also a single mother, whose husband left her and eloped with another woman when she was 22. The first half of the movie moves on in this phase, with Rizwan trying to woo over Mandeera in his “normal” way asking her to marry him. Finally, the movie reaches its peak of happiness when Mandeera marries Rizwan and even Sam (Mandeera’a son) becomes Rizwan’s best friend.

Then comes the next era, which as Rizwan puts it is the third era. The first is BC, the second is AD and the third is Post-9/11 era. The United States goes in frenzy and Rizwan’s Dream-world is shattered. His son and “only-best friend” Sam becomes a victim of a racist attack, because he shares the last name “Khan” from Rizwan Khan. In a state of shock, Mandeera accuses Rizwan for being a part of her world and asks him to meet the President of United States and convey to him the message that, he is a muslim and not all muslims are terrorists. The rest of the movie conveys parts and pieces this journey, with its highs and lows, of this differently-abled common-man wanting to meet the President against all odds.

Not wanting to have any spoilers, I am avoiding the risk of spilling more information about the story. However, the movie has some wonderful incidents and witty one-liners. It contains even aspects like Presidential change from George Bush to Barack Obama, but most of all, it shows us a glimpse of the post-9/11 United States, where saying Allah in a public place is as good as committing a crime and uttering the word terrorist and having a last name “Khan” is proof enough to lock you up for interrogation without giving you legal rights. But the wonderful aspect of the movie is the fact that Rizwan sticks to his goodliness, which has become a part of his character from his mother’s teaching.

For me, the highest point in the movie is that part when Hindu-Muslim riots were on in the city and young Rizwan enters home reiterating what the people outside were saying about Hindus being bad and should be killed, his mother, draws 2 stick figures, one with a stick and another with a lollipop and asks Rizwan which stick figure is good and which is bad. When Rizwan says the one with stick is bad and one with lollipop is good, she asks which of the stick figures is a Hindu and which it is a Muslim? When young Rizwan is unable to tell the difference, she says, the only division this world has among people is that there are good people and there are bad people. There is no other way to divide people like caste, creed or color, everything boils down to just “good people” and “bad people”. This is one thing that sticks together with Rizwan, and when he is on his quest to meet the President, and cannot do it at a Presidential fund-raiser, since it is open to Christians only, he leaves back his $ 500, which he gathered for his event and says, “Keep the money, it is for the people in Africa, who are not Christians”.

Final Verdict:

This movie sees the trio of Karan Johar, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in an area of Cinema, where they have never ventured before as a team. Shahrukh does really well to move out of his normal chocolate-boy roles, but in some parts of the movie, the transition doesn’t seem to be complete, however, it is a meaty role which is played well. Kajol plays her part pretty well, and Shankar Ehsan Loy music add wonderful sound tracks taking the movie to the next level.

To be honest, this is not a movie without flaws, and yet it is a wonderful watch irrespective of its shortcomings. I felt the movie was about 20 minutes long, and it could have been shortened in some places to make it more compact and more effective. However, the characters, their struggles and the realities they face live with you even when you walk out of the theatre hall. The broad mindedness and the tolerance that the movie resonates with is a necessary lesson for every citizen in our small-globalized world.

And in a lighter vein, due to the confusion in the city of Mumbai for the release of this movie, since Shahrukh made some statements about Pakistani players not being a part of the 3rd Indian Premier League, which the Shiv Sena did not quite approve, probably the next quest for Shahrukh would be to meet Bal Thakrey and tell him, “My name is Khan and I am not an Unpatriotic Indian”.

An Inconvenient Truth - A movie which needs to be watched by everyone

Last week, our Leaders, the representatives of our human race met at Copenhagen and decided our future, or decided if we should have a future or not. In my personal opinion, they let us down. To an extent, they delivered words, but when it came to actions, we saw none.

So, as a citizen of this beautiful planet, and to my knowledge, the only habitable planet, it boils down to us individuals to help initiate the change we want to bring about. Very honestly speaking, we can’t just blame the Leaders, since in their shoes; we too would take a similar step, since the support from public still needs a long way to go, before a leader can promise drastic changes. Also, a lot of the issue is caused by the fact that people are ignorant, or probably less motivated, and keeping that view in mind, I am writing this “Movie Review”, or should I say Documentary Review.

An Inconvenient Truth
Cast: Al Gore

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Rating: 9.0/10.0 (You really need to see this)

As is known, or would be clear by now, the movie is a Global Warning on the Global Warming issue. Very straightforwardly put, the movie revolves around a “glorified” Powerpoint Presentation on Global Warming that Al Gore supposedly gave more than a thousand times by the time this movie was made (i.e. 2005), along with some of his quiet musings and a decent background sound track, which as an movie would sound pretty dumb and boring, but the some brilliant direction and the catchy and crisp presentation skills of Al Gore keep the viewers interested. On a personal note, I never knew that Al Gore anything more than yet another American Politician, till he was actually bestowed the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and the Indian media was abuzz about this movie.

The movie, which on the whole enlightens the viewers (though I had earlier thought of using the word depresses) about what harm the uncontrolled and unchecked human activity is doing to the environment and what will happen when nature reacts back, has its own set of light moments. For instance, while introducing him-self, Al Gore starts by saying, “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next President of the United States of America”. The obvious reaction is a giggle from the audience, and to this he retorts saying, “I don’t find that particularly funny”. The movie is laden from time to time with such moments, which make us smile, even when we are buying some facts which show us the horrific picture of the future.

Though Al Gore is not a scientist, he has the air of a Professor, who can explain the even the boring parts of studies with a creative use of pictures, animations and jokes. I cannot think of any other movie, where seeing the red lines of the graphs, the audience gasp (I am not talking of office, where CEO shows loss and people sigh). The pictures used for explanation are very powerful and even the future speculations of what will get submerged strike a chord with the viewers immediately. This is coupled with a really cute video from the world of Simpsons, which in a comic way show us the gravity of the problem.

There are a few more areas of concern, which the movie cites with examples. While there is Zero disagreement over the fact that human actions are causing the temperatures to go up, taking a sample of 925 recent scientific papers on this subject, the normal population looks at this possibility with an almost 50% chance of agreement with this fact, showing that a lot of us are still ignorant, or probably possess half-knowledge.

All in all, Al Gore in a very subtle way proves to the viewers, all his view points, and convinces the layman about what went wrong, and what it will result into. There is a part in the movie, where he shows the choices the Politicians have, and shows us a Scale, which has “Gold” on one side, which stands for economic development and prosperity, and on the other hand, we have “The Entire Planet”. And then, when he has to choose, he just looks greedily at the gold, and goes hmmm. Doesn’t this strike a chord with what just happened at Copenhagen, with different countries fighting it over development and emission rates?

Since there is no fear of revealing any plot here, I am putting some of the facts that were put into the movie.
· The ten hottest years in the last 200 years came in the last 14 years.
· The data from Antarctica’s ice show that the current concentration of carbon-dioxide is the highest as compared to all historical data going back million years ago.
· Mumbai had a severe downpour of rain of 37 inches, highest in any city in India.
· There are lot of glaciers and mountain ranges, where we see the amount of ice retreating giving rise to water.

To be really honest, the movie leaves the viewer with a sense of despair, since the facts shown are pretty depressing and though Al Gore tries to imbibe the fact that we still have time and all hope is not lost, it doesn’t really sound convincing. However, in a nutshell, Al Gore’s presentation not only deserves, but also demands the viewer’s rapt attention.

Final Verdict:
The best thing about this movie is that it teaches you the same Green House effect, which most of us probably in our school days, and yet it makes you passionate about our planet, in a way you would have never felt before. Also, the movie does an impartial analysis of the human race and doesn’t point to a specific Political Party, Country or an Industry. On a personal note, the line that Al Gore repeatedly said, got stuck into my mind, that Saving the Environment is more of a “Moral concern” rather than a Political issue, and hence, each one of us should do what we can for saving our Home.
All in all, if you ask me, “Should I watch this movie?”
I would like to answer it saying, “Watch it, so your children don’t need to tell you, why did you not wake up, when you could have saved our planet and our existence? When you proclaim to be the most-evolved and the smartest species on this planet, why did you not act responsibly when you still had time?” A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, now it is the time for you to see the movie and awaken.

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year

Oh well! Here I am, back with another post this weekend, which is kind of funny after my long period of estivation, but then there is logic for that. ;-)
Well, what has happened is that a group of us friends have taken initiative and have formalized a Synopsys Group for weekend leisure and the two activities we sincerely follow are playing Volleyball and watching a movie. And I kind of gave myself another commitment, to write about any movie I see in the Synopsys Movie Club as we call it. ;-)

So, for the movie I saw this weekend; here goes nothing...

Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Gauhar Khan, Manish Choudhary, D. Santosh, Mukesh Bhatt, Naveen Kaushik, Shazahn Padamsee

Director: Shimit Amin

Overall Rating: 6.5/10.0 (A good movie to watch, if there are no other plans)

The movie Rocket Singh, revolves around Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor), who is a happy-go-lucky Sardar. Just cleared his B.Com., with borderline marks, and having a futile year in study-life, Harpreet is still optimistic about life and dreams of becoming a great “Sales Man”, the job he thinks doesn’t need qualifications, but needs quick thinking and persistence.

So, armed with his confidence and enthusiasm, and of course, his credentials, he starts looking for an appropriate job, and finally lands at AYS, a firm, which sells computers and provides service-contracts for computer maintenance. However, once into the job, he realizes that the “ideals” that his Grandfather (Prem Chopra) had imbibed into him are non-existent and he sees around him the complete opposite. One reason why every Professional, who does a job, will like to see this movie, is that, this is probably the first movie, which very effectively captures and shows the day-to-day office politics, cut-throat competition and the bitching, that exists in office environment. Also, this is shown very brilliantly by excellent acting from the bosses Nitin (Naveen Kaushik) and Sunil Puri (Manish Choudhary), who want absolutely no-nonsense, very competitive and at times even rude.

Harpreet tries his hand at learning the “new” tricks-of-the-trade, which include things like filing wrong information, spying on the competitors, and using everything, from bribes to office politics in your favor for getting your deals and meeting the targets, but fails miserably, since the ideals imbibed into him, cannot be undone so easily. This leads to a mistake, leading to more aggressive targets for his co-workers and in the wake of anger, his colleagues not only make fun of Harpreet, but also keep throwing rockets (paper-planes) at him, and if this was not enough, he gets some “real” criticism from his superiors; which leads to dynamic change of events in Harpreet’s so far silent and straightforward life.

The plot has been well-managed by all the co-actors, and their acting is definitely worth mentioning. All the actors, D. Santosh as Giri, a computer expert, Gauhar Khan as Koena, the ambitious and talented receptionist and Mukesh Bhatt as Chhotelal the Peon live upto their characters. Newcomer Shazahn Padamsee adds a romantic twist to the tale, but her part of the act actually doesn’t have much, to judge her acting capability. However, Prem Chopra’s role as Harpreet’s GrandPa is as refreshing to watch as ever.

Final Verdict:

On the whole, the movie is pretty straightforward, and relatively dry as compared to what the trailers depicted. The one loss I had while going to see this movie is to go with a mindset of a comedy movie, and finding none in return. And yet, the film has some pretty catchy lines, which keeps the audience amazed, but they are too few. My personal favorite is the line which goes, “Risk to Spiderman ko bhi lena padta hein, mein to phir bhi Salesman hoon.” (Even Spiderman needs to take risks; I am just a salesman), and then it has the catchy background music, which goes “Pocket mein Rocket Hein… Rocket Singh”, which is the only lip-synching sound track in the movie.

Another thing the movie lacks is a decent sound track. On a personal note, I felt the story went too slow at times, making it almost a documentary on the lives of Sales-men, and that it could have been made more amusing. Rocket Singh may not fit everybody’s idea of having a good time at the movie, nevertheless, the message the movie sends is very good. If you don’t go to see the movie expecting a comedy flick, you’ll realize, the movie delivers a much needed wakeup call to our conscience.

Red Cliff - A Review of the Western (English) Version

Hi Guys,

I had been BUSY, these last few weeks or months, if you may.
For those of you who don't know, I was off to the United States for some Official work for about 6 weeks. Further more, I visited HOME, for a couple weeks on my return, making me EMOTIONALLY FULL and PHYSICALLY depleted. Giving all the above excuses, what I am sadly trying to admit is that I haven't been able to blog regularly, since my weekends, had been really hectic. But life is back to normal (at least as of now), so I will be trying to get back to my schedule of blogging once-a-week. :-)

To all my readers, Sorry to Keep you waiting, and now, getting down to Business. :-)

Red Cliff - A Review of the Western (English) Version

Cast: Tony Leung, Zhang Fengyi, Chang Chen, Chi-Ling Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Hu Jun

Director: John Woo

Overall Rating: 7.0/10.0 (A good movie to watch)

Before I start this review, there is a Disclaimer about this movie.

Since this is an actual movie of almost 5 hour length, which is compressed into 2.5 hours for English audiences, there are notable areas where movie’s story suddenly seems to go off-the-track. Also, a 50% reduction in the show-time cannot be loss-less and hence there are some things, which happen unexplained in the movie, and the audience is supposed to use its-own-imagination to understand the context.

The Storyline:

The movie is set in ancient China, where there are seemingly 3 kingdoms, one on the North and the other two are relatively on the Southern-side. The Northern empire became stronger and the ambitious Prime-minister named “Cao Cao”, made the “puppet” emperor to allow a full-fledged attack on the Southern warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, by calling them Rebels, who were traitors to the empire.

This is followed by a series of battles, first between the armies of Cao Cao with Liu Bei, where the completely outnumbered soldiers in Liu Bei’s side try to fight as long as they can to ensure the peasants and the common men can escape the wrath of Cao Cao, before they are defeated. In this process, the most notable thing that happens is that General Zhao Yun saves the life of the infant, who is the heir to the throne of Liu Bei while fighting in the battle and towards the end of this battle, when he is cornered and running, Cao Cao admires the loyalty the great Generals have towards Liu Bei.

This loss results in a fleeing Liu Bei’s Viceroy to go and convince Sun Quan to formulate an alliance with them, even when Liu Bei’s armies are much smaller, and just defeated. The alliance is a success when Zhou Yu, the most trusted Advisor and Viceroy of Sun Quan gets convinced that war is inevitable, and only joining forces do they have a chance to protect themselves from the threat of being run-over by Cao Cao’s army.

The story now becomes interesting as the Cao Cao makes plans for his attacks in various formulations, whereas Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang, (the strategists from Liu Bei and Sun Quan), try to reverse engineer Cao Cao’s attacking strategies and try to defend their stands. What is more beautiful to see is the sentiment that Cao Cao harbors, that though he has the strength of armies in numbers, they are all soldiers, who were imprisoned from previous wars, and hence, their loyalties were shacky, whereas though the opposition had fewer soldiers and notably some great war-heroes, they were all loyal to their respective leaders.

The alliance of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, brings a consensus amongst armies, one which is well trained and in high morale, and the other having strong and inspirational leaders, thus making their combination a force to reckon with. The action sequences, atleast the picturization of the armies and the scenic beauty are a pure spectacle to look out for in the movie. However, it is the whole chess-like battle planning and strategizing that awes the audience the most and leave them yearning for more.

Final Verdict:

It is a good war-movie, but the cuts probably took off some of the storyline with it, jerking the audience out-of-sync with the storyline and making the movie difficult-to-comprehend. On a personal note, it made me nostalgic a lot, about “Age-of-Empires”, as I saw similar visuals, same type of infantry and cavalry units, coupled with the siege weapons and even the navy.

On the whole, I walked out of the theatre, pondering, “Damn! That is some war-time strategizing, and some really awesome military formations, but was there anything more in the story except the war?”

If you ask me, “Should I watch it?”, all I can say is,

The action sequences and the cinematography are absolutely awesome. If it helps to know, this is the most expensive movie in Asia-Pacific region till date. However, the real answer depends on whether you would like to see a few hundred thousand men, fighting with medieval weaponry in a historic backdrop and/or if you love “Age-of-empires”, watch it to remember the “good-times”.

New York - Review of a Completely Fresh Bollywood Script

I have been off from Blogging for a long time now. However, seeing New York made me ponder a bit and so the way in which I can give respect to the movie is by reviewing it.

New York
Cast: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan

Director: Kabir Khan

Composer: Pritam

Overall Rating: 8.0/10.0 (A movie which is definitely worth a watch)

The movie New York begins with a thrilling start, where a huge bunch of cops go about raiding a cab, whose bonnet contains a huge bunch of arms and explosives. The trail leads the cops to Omar (Neil), who is the owner of the cab and on this trilling note the movie hooks the audience attention.

Pleading his innocence, Omar is led to go to a Flashback, wherein he remembers his wonderful days in his college at the New York State University with his closest buddies Samir (John) and Maya (Katrina). The story goes ahead in his fragmented memory, and the present also holds the audience in awe. Slowly the movie shifts from the pleasure-loving and breezy past to the more-turbulent present, and the FBI chief Roshan (Irrfan) forces Omar to return to his buddies (Sam and Maya), in guise of an undercover agent to stop an act of terrorism that the FBI believes Sam is hatching.

Omar on the other hand, remains loyal to his friends, who he believes, can never ever be terrorists in the first place. He wants to prove to the FBI, that they have goofed up something and his efforts remain in the direction of proving that his friends are innocent. The whole story shapes in the past and present, when the truths unfold and the mysteries are resolved, Omar tries his best to bring some re-conciliation between the tattered United States post-9/11 and the emotions of the South-East Asians, who have been detained and tortured, for months together to an extent that their dignity is completely diminished. And from that point onward, the movie only moves on with one question, Will Omar succeed in this quest?
The answer to that question is what drives the story ahead. The main thing about this movie is its difference in terms of subject and storyline as compared to normal Bollywood movies, which make it a completely new experience for the viewers. The thrill, the shooting and the background music by Pritam all combine to make the climax of the movie absolutely spine-chilling and yet, very catchy. The story is extremely well-narrated and till the interval the movie moves with a subtle pace. The interval time is a real shocker and though the second half of the movie doesn’t live up to the first half and is slightly predictable, it is still packed up with some moments where the movie has its highs.

All in all, with a post-9/11 trauma and some wily cops venting their frustration out on the poor, helpless South-east Asians, the story points to the Universal fact that no nation can bomb, bully or terrorize people just by their name or communal identity. What makes up the storyline is however, that everything is going smoothly in the life of the three friends, till one event changes their life forever. A larger than life event, the 9/11 act, which the world seems to be reading only in the newspapers, affects them personally. The line that makes the movie’s highest point is when Roshan says, “When times are bad, both people and nations make bad decisions”, which kind of explains the whole story in one line and the whole story tries to then resolve these bad decisions and making up for them.

The review would be unfair, if I fail to mention that each actor performed a role, which was considered beyond his acting caliber till now. John and Katrina probably had the meatiest roles of their acting career and they delivered with absolute perfection. Neil was the real hero of the movie with his character, who is torn between loyalty to friends and sanity to the world. Last but not the least, Irrfan’s acting puts the final wedge to making this a great movie. With absolutely witty answers in ever the most serious of the moments, he sometimes lightens the movie and at the other times, leaves thoughts for the viewers to ponder about.


Final Verdict:
All in all, New York takes up a topical theme and perfectly exposes the atrocities of the American FBI to which over hundreds of innocent Muslim people had fallen prey to post 9/11. The film is one of the best movies from Yash Raj and kudos to Kabir Khan , for handling this very sensitive topic in an astounding way. Though I am not sure if I can make this comparison, this is the “Khuda Ke Liye” equivalent from India.

As long as you want to see a good film, even if it is very serious, this is a MUST WATCH.

Slumdog Millionaire - A Review

I had wanted to write a review on this movie for quite some time now and finally, I managed some time off my schedule to write another post.

Slumdog Millionaire
Cast: Dev Patel, Irrfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Azharuddin Ismail, Ayush Khedekar

Director: Danny Boyle

Composer: A.R. Rahman

Written By: Based on the book, "Q & A" by Vikas Swarup

Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0 (A wonderful movie to watch)

This is a movie about Jamal Malik, a young illiterate slum teenager who works as a side-back chai wallah (tea serving assistant) in a Call Center, who apparently gets selected in “Kaun Banega Crorepati” – The Indian version of “What Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and strikes it BIG as if he is a whiz-kid. This acts as a shocker to the expectations of a lot of people and he is sent to jail for further investigation of how he could have answered questions when he has no other General Knowledge. There we see a horrifying behavior as the local police torture him and even electrocute him in the process of their interrogation. The whole atmosphere depicts mistrust and sarcasm, but more importantly it shows the jealousy as people don’t like the other guy to climb on top of them just like that.

That is where the story begins and unlike a normal movie, the whole plot unfolds in form of flashbacks and how Jamal has answers to even the toughest of questions posed onto him, not because he read a book, but because life taught those very answers to him, the HARD WAY. Almost the whole story is his depiction of his life with the show recap going on and the Police inspector (Irrfan Khan) asking him to justify his knowledge of the answers. The story very beautifully takes us to the sub-urban parts of Mumbai, the very slums where people spend their lives just trying to earn enough for meeting their basic necessities.
A fragmented biography emerges: he's an urchin, born to a mother who's slaughtered in communal riot, when he is just a kid. Later he is picked up by a person who claims to be affiliated with some orphanage, but then ultimately turns out to be a brutal demon who forces young children into begging. As the story goes by, we come across adventures both awful and exhilarating through a society that is becoming flashier, hypo critic and more urban as time goes by. More than anything, it is a tale of an ordinary slumdog’s life in the Shining India, without the glitter, the tale of what happens beneath the feel-good filters that we have placed before our eyes when we see our society.

It is almost a horrifying Fairy-tale with shocking brutality, very deep commitment of love contaminated by sexual abuse and dreams of wealth and luxuries with crushing poverty. The acting done by all the characters is of very high level indeed and the storyline keeps you glued. Small instances that make you stifle at first sighting form the very fabric in which the film is embroidered. Things like Jamal could answer a question about film actor Amitabh Bachchan, because of his mad love for the Bollywood legend, which is shown by the fact that he jumped into a public latrine just to get a sight of Amitabh and even managed to sneak in for his autograph. Very beautifully is also depicted the sibling jealousy that Salim (Jamal’s elder brother) fosters and this coupled with his love for his younger brother form a complex combination which make the movie sad and painful at times. The story also has Jamal’s childhood love Lathika, whose character adds another note of happiness and pain at different instances blending the story with the much needed feminine touch.
All in all, with the fear that I’ll reveal the plot, I wrap this review up to say that the movie is definitely worth a watch. The cinematography is absolutely superb and the pace of the movie is just right. The name A. R. Rahman in itself is sufficient to say that the music is breathtaking and defines both the happiness and pain wonderfully well. To me, the movie says one thing very loud and clear, there is one and only one “Life-line” in this life of ours, and that is “LIFE ITSELF”. Couple it with hope, and we can win any show.

Philosophy apart, the movie has been looked upon for the Oscars as an underdog, but the movie itself shows that if a slumdog can do it in the Game show, why can’t the movie itself repeat the same in the world? Optimistically speaking, the movie’s winning 4 Golden Globes does say a lot.


Final Verdict:
An illiterate slum kid from Mumbai goes on air in the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and comes off like a whiz-kid. Who would like to see that?
Final answer: You would.

Dasvidaniya – The Best Goodbye Ever

Cast: Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Purbi Joshi and Sarita Joshi

Director: Shashant Shah

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0 (which is definitely a Good-to-Watch Movie)

The movie is said to be based on Akira Kurosawa’s Ikuru (1952) and Rob Reiner’s Bucket List (2007), but for the Indian audience, it can be loosely compared to Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand, which is an interesting tale of a man living his life to the fullest, despite being well aware of his impending death.

Dasvidanya tells the story of a typical person, Amar Kaul (Vinay Pathak), who though was considered as one of the studious kids in school, just reaches the post of an Accounts Manager in a Pharmaceutical Company because of his simplicity, while others climbed the Corporate ladders swiftly. The character talks about a typical lower middle class person in the city of Mumbai, his laborious job, hefty amount of work, dominant Boss, widow mother, and of course, the Mumbai’s transport system, i.e. the Local trains. The best part of this character is how closely it is relates to the Indian common man, who lives like a dead person every day.

His tangled life goes around such daily traumas, until one day, a supposedly known stomach infection strikes the deadly reality of being a Third Stage Stomach Cancer. Now, told by the doctor that he has only a few months to live, Amar realizes that he has never “lived life”. Never having mustered the courage to do the things he liked Amar decides to stop wasting his remaining life. As he makes a daily To-do list which used to give him a sense of achievement when he would check small things like getting a battery and fixing a remote, he now makes a To-Do list, which he calls, Top 10 Things To-Do before I die. The fact how Amar’s mother makes him visit a huge number of tantriks (religious people) for the healing of his cancer is yet another striking similarity with typical Indian mind-set. The film effectively finds humor in death, even sometimes at the cost of trivializing a tragedy.

The things he wants to do include buying a car, proposing to his childhood love, make a foreign trip and meet his childhood friend, and make amends with his family. There are also various other fancies that he desires in life and at times he gets more than he asked for from life. Yet the movie is not wonderful because of its story-line which is predictive. What makes the movie really wonderful to watch is the small moments and dialogues that make the very fabric in which the tale is woven. There are various incidents in the movie that make us smile and yet there are moments which bring tears to the eyes and that makes the wonderful blend of this movie and keep it going.

Of course, the movie has its own set of downs like a few parts could have been improved or do not sound convincing enough for the viewers to digest, but all in all, Dasvidaniya is engrossing to watch at least some parts. Kailash Kher’s Mumma is a wonderful song that shows the silent love between a mother and a child and so is the “silence” with which Amar proposes to his childhood love. These things raise the bar of the movie to the next level. Some of the dialogues about life that Amar makes about life are truly wonderful. Over one of his guitar lessons Amar’s teacher asks him, “What’s your problem in life, man?” to which Amar replies “My life is the problem”. Yet the dialogue that will remain with me is when Amar says, when Sikandar (Alexander) died, he died smiling, Amar wants to die playing (the guitar). The discussions reminded me of the famous poem, Leisure by W. H. Davis which goes "WHAT is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?" And this feeling with its etched characters makes Dasvidaniya a real pleasure to watch.

Final Verdict: Vinay Pathak has truly raised his acting to the next level and the movie is really wonderful to watch. While it may not make to the list of ten things to do before you die, it's certainly an option when you want a good movie to watch.

The Shawshank Redemption - A Review

Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, Clancy Brown, William Sadler, James Whitmore, Gil Bellows

Director: Frank Darabont

Written By: Based on the book, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" by Stephen King

Overall Rating: 10.0/10.0 (Need I say more?)

The story starts at the proceedings of a court trial where Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who is a Vice-President of a bank, is being tried for the brutal murder of his wife and her lover shortly after he found about the infidelity. The court finds him guilty of the charge and sentences him with 2 life sentences back to back and that begins his journey to the Shawshank State Prison to spend the remainder of his days.

The movie shows in a beautiful way the miseries of the prison life and like any other trial, the position in outside world does not help Andy inside the prison walls. He faces an uncaring warden (Bob Gunton), a strict and arrogant head of security (Clancy Brown), and a gang called the Bull Queers, who are more of homo-sexuals. But despite all the problems and the trauma, Andy shows a never-say-die spirit and the flame of his hope never even flickers.

He soon finds a friend in Ellis Boyd Redding (Morgan Freeman). Ellis, more popularly known as “Red” in the movie is a “business-guy”, more of an entrepreneur who with his contacts can smuggle things into the prison for a small price. The story revolves around their friendship and discussions, some lines of which are more than breath-taking. Like a few times, when Red and Andy are discussing chess and Andy says, I would like to make the chess pieces myself, Red says, that would take years, and all Andy says with a smile is “Years are what I got, what I don’t have is the rocks.”

The story shows Andy’s unbreakable spirit and over a period of time, he, with his knowledge of finance, starts to get both other prisoners and guards on his side. He offers to help one of the most notorious guards with a tax problem in exchange for bottles of chilled beer for everyone in his work party. After that, he is placed to work in the prison library, but under that pretext, the guards take his help for their tax-planning. Andy on his part, improves the prison's tiny library, and helps the prisoners to study. Over the years, he gains the respect of most of the other prisoners and guards. But most importantly, he never lets his hope die and always dreams of wonderful things in life.

What quietly amazes everyone in the prison; is the way he accepts the good and the bad as all part of some larger pattern than only he can fully see. There is another discussion with Red, when he says that he would like to go to Mexico, open a Restaurant at the Pacific and buy a boat. Red is amazed and afraid because he believes that “hope – in prison” is a dangerous thing, but Andy doesn’t agree. Though the movie is all about the struggle of an under trail, but it is more about a person who never stops believing in life's possibilities.

The movie sticks to the story in a lucid manner, never losing the audience's attention, but it never really goes hay-wire as well. Although there is some extreme violence, it is necessary to show the kind of place the prison is, and was probably needed to live up to the ambience. The main theme is hope, not despair, and the violence serves only as a backdrop to that message. The only short-coming of the movie would be that it ends really soon and I hoped it would continue for a few more moments.

A movie based on a Novel, about a guy who is imprisoned in jail, is an unlikely choice to start off with, but once you see the movie, you will realize that you just cannot get enough of it. The Shawshank Redemption lasts a little less than two hours and twenty minutes, but its resonance stays with you forever.

And so does the TAGLINE,
“Fear can hold you prisoner, Hope can set you FREE…!”

Final Verdict:
If you have not watched “The Shawshank Redemption” you are missing something in life!

A Critique on Sarkar Raj

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Govind Namdeo, Tanisha Mukherjee, Victor Banerjee, Supriya Pathak

Direction: Ram Gopal Varma

Production: Nitin Chandrachud, Abhijit Ghatak, Praveen Nischol

Written by: Prashant Pandey , Ram Gopal Varma

Overall Rating: 7.5/10.0 (which is defined as a Good to Watch Movie)

Sarkar Raj, set as the sequel of highly acclaimed Sarkar, had to fulfill a lot of high expectations. Ram Gopal Varma had precisely defined the central characters and demarcated the genre in the first part. So in the follow-up he simply had to go ahead and live up to the fame of Sarkar, and I believe he is successful in doing this to a decent level.

The sequel starts with Shankar Nagre (Abhishek Bachchan) taking the reins of the “Family-Business” and Sarkar aka Subhash Nagre (Amitabh Bachchan) taking a backseat from the decision making in the dirty game. The plot unfolds as Anita Ranjan (Aishwarya Rai), an NRI industrialist approaches the Nagre family with a power plant project to be set in the rural lands of Maharashtra under Sarkar’s domain. After initial rebuttal, but with Shankar understanding the intricacies of the progress the project will bring, Sarkar reluctantly gives a go ahead to the venture which soon takes shape of a political conspiracy.

The story then revolves around different sub-plots with a Gujarti businessman wanting to move the plant to Gujarat and power-hungry politicians paying homage to Anita’s greedy father. The movie uses the same dark backgrounds and the same music themes for creating the background ambience. The villainous roles though could have been made better because while Sayaji Shinde hums endlessly, Govind Namdeo and Upendra Limaye look as if they are overdoing the act. Thus the charm of the real dirty game gets lost and it looks like a futile comical sidekick.

Even the screenplay is moulded like the first part, when Shankar wages a political war against his opponents. But here, the roleplay of the father-son duo in this film is in clear contrast to the first part and Shankar becomes the centre-of-attraction. But the main twist is brought when though the father takes a backseat in the initial half giving authority to son, he grabs charge of the proceedings in the concluding portions and Amitabh lives to the word with his master acting in this. The whole movie keeps swapping and justifying the prominence of Abhishek and Amitabh as the drama keeps going on.

From a political war, the film finally shifts track to a regular revenge drama till it arrives to a volatile climax that forms a highlight of the movie, escalating the level of the entire plot. As far as the movie goes, full points to RGV for bringing the same effect of “Non-verbal communication” as it was in Sarkar, with the characters displaying perfect emotions with just a few words. The highlight of the movie was also the relationship that was shown between Shankar and Sarkar and the bond of unsaid love between a father and a son is beautifully depicted.

From the cast, Aishwarya Rai looks stunningly gorgeous as a business women, but from a story point of view, she plays a mere spectator to the scenes than a participant to the politics. She is her usual self and her act doesn’t have anything special. More so, the movie never really focuses on her as the screen-play is always revolving around the Nagre family. Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, once again, employ the intensity of their piercing eyes to add magic to the movie.

Final Verdict: Sarkar Raj was widely heralded as an homage to the GodFather trilogy, but except for a few far-fetched similarities, the movie has been highly-Indianized and hence it differentiates from the GodFather giving rise to a new adventure series, that of the Nagre Family. A must watch for everyone who loved Sarkar.