Thuggery

Thugs of Hindostan robs both your wallet and sanity in equal measure. I cannot rate this movie as I left in the interval. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what truly and irredemably dooms the movie - the terrible script, weak cinematography, utterly underdeveloped characters and relationships, a background score that is among the worst one has ever heard. With the dominance of IPTV the bar in terms of quality has irrevocably risen, and this sort of execution will inevitably and swiftly get consigned to the dustbin of history

1/20

The More Things Change

New York, 1922. The delirium of bull markets gone wild. The newly rich Jay Gastby (Leonardo DiCaprio), in the aftermath of the First World War, and a blurry past, throws the biggest parties in town, all to catch the attention of the object of his affections – Daisy (Carey Mulligan) – wedded to old money and deep-rooted pride - Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). The Great Gatsby would be remembered for exceptional cinematography, costume design, perhaps even special effects. What I cannot grant it is creating an exceptional cast of convincing characters that truly capture the essence of their inter-relationships, and the capricious spirit of their time, at a level of skill that does true justice to the iconic novel

11.5/20

Rann from the Press

Ram Gopal Varma produces an Indian morality tale that, by genre, should really belong to Madhur Bhandarkar (remember Page 3, Corporate and Traffic Signal… how did he miss the visual media??) In fact the undifferentiated clutter, mediocrity and one-upmanship that is the Indian TV news manufacturing industry was crying out for a solo performance in the likes of Page 3 and Mumbai Meri Jaan – and has got it now. Now to the movie Rann. Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh) is the pliiar of ethicality in journalism, but his two sons – played by Rajat Kapoor and Sudeep respectively – are not. One motivated by the TRP wars and a personal battle for financial survival, the other rooting for an opposition leader’s scam and corruption tainted rise to prime ministership. Both of them almost implode their lives and the channel, and hand over the baton of the most respected news source to the competition. It takes a firebrand Ritiesh Deshmukh as the impressionable newbie to even things out – but not without some collateral damage. The story lacks originality in all respects, but the cast holds it together well. Notables - a great performance by Paresh Rawal, and some pretty provocative lyrics on the fly. BTW, a near empty hall on Saturday evening, second day, shows how enamored Mumbai is of morality tales

11.5/20