Toh Baat Pakki!

Toh Baat Pakki!
(translates as "Then it's final!")
2010
3/5 stars

In this romantic comedy, Rajeshwari (played by Tabu) is a pushy, outspoken woman who, nevertheless, only wants what is best for her family.  When she meets Rahul (Sharman Joshi), an engineering student, she thinks he would be a perfect match for her younger sister, Nisha (Yuvika Chaudhary).  With a bit of meddling from Rajeshwari, the two fall in love.  Then Rajeshwari meets Yuvraj (Vatsal Sheth), an even more eligible bachelor, and breaks the the match with Rahul, to arrange one with Yuvraj.  Rahul, deeply in love with Nisha, is determined to be the one to marry her.

The predictable plot is amusing, but not engrossing.  Tabu is an accomplished actress and gave a fine performance as the likable-yet-unlikable Rajeshwari.  Joshi also gives a good performance, but is hampered by not being a convincing romantic hero. The music was lively and enjoyable, but not exceptional.  Overall, it's a light movie, not particularly memorable, but still entertaining. 

Aisha

Aisha
2010
4/5 stars

In this Bollywood remake of Hollywood's Clueless -- itself an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 classic Emma -- spoiled, rich, entitled Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) flits from project to project, such as animal welfare, art, and matchmaking among her friends.  She meets middle-class Shefali (Amrita Puri), and makes it her new plan to update the small town girl and find her a upper-class husband.  As Aisha meddles, her childhood friend Arjun (Abhay Deol) watches in frustration, trying to give her a guiding hand and encourage her to mature.  Despite Arjun's attempts, Aisha makes a muddle of things, her own love life included.

Aisha's best friend, Pinky, is played by Ira Dubey.  Cyrus Sahukar, Arunoday Singh, and Lisa Haydon round out the main cast.

Though not sticking fully to the plot, Aisha was well adapted from Austen's novel, hitting all the high points that make the book so compelling and entertaining. The movie balanced humor and drama well, and developed the characters nicely.  The music was generally excellent, and the overall filming exceptional.

I've not been impressed with Kapoor previously, but she played Aisha perfectly.  Deol is a strong actor, and was great in his role.  The rest of the cast were convincing as well, with Puri giving a particularly good debut performance.  I was surprised at just how good this movie was, and had it not been for the alcohol and marijuana usage, I would have rated it five stars.

Siggh, Haydon, Dubey, Kapoor, Deol, Puri, Sahukar

Ahishta Ahishta

Ahishta Ahishta
(translates as "slowly, slowly")
2006
3/5 stars

Megha (Soha Ali Khan), runs away from home to Delhi to marry her secret fiance Dheeraj (Shayan Munshi).  When Dheeraj doesn't show up at the marriage registrar's office, Ankush (Abhay Deol), who is making a living as a wedding witness, offers to help.  Since Megha feels she can never return home, Ankush assists her to find a place to live and work.  They become fast friends, with Ankush eventually falling in love with her.  She agrees to marry him, then Dheeraj returns to her life.

Deol gave a mostly natural performance, but Khan was wooden at times, and not fully convincing.  Music was average and less.  The plot was typical, but then had a most unexpected turn. This would have made the movie higher rated, but there had not been enough emotional build up previously to cause the viewer to be invested in the characters.  The movie was not a disappointment, as such, but could have been much better. 

November 2019 Viewing

Watched:
Lakshya 4/5 stars 
Quite good patriotic film; plan to review it later.

Rewatched:
Shanghai Triad (Chinese film) 4/5 stars
An old favorite that didn't stand up quite as well 20 years later.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (previous review here)  4/5 stars

Did Not Finish:
Karthik Calling Karthik
While Farhan Akhtar is a convincing actor, I had no connection with or compassion for Karthik after 30 minutes of viewing, so I gave up.

Bobby
Made it an hour into this classic Bollywood favorite, but wasn't connecting with the characters, so moved on to another film.  May try to watch it again another time.

October 2019 Viewing

October was a difficult month like September, so again I did a lot of rewatching movies.  I went for comfort over new experiences, with the Telugu movie Rowdy Fellow as my only first-time watch.  I enjoyed it, and will write a review at some point.

September 2019 Viewing

September was a month of rewatching favorites and of abandoning many others.  In the end, I only fully watched one new-to-me, Dil Chahta Hai, which I very much enjoyed and deserves an eventual review.  It was a solid five star film, and one which I'll probably revisit. 

August 2019 Viewing

I did a lot of rewatching in August, so I don't have many to review.  The two I do need to review are Saawariya (3 or 4 stars; still need to decide) and Balakrishnudu (only 3 stars for various reasons but I liked it enough to rewatch it immediately).  

Okkadine

Okkadine
2013
3/5 stars

Shailaja (Nithya Menon), daughter of famed philanthropist Shivaji Rao (Sai Kumar), returns home from abroad.  She takes a trip to a retreat, where she meets Surya (Nara Rohit) and his household.  She falls in love with the kind family, and eventually with Surya as well.  However, murder and revenge stand in the way of happiness.

(Cast also includes Nagendra Babu;  Rachana Maurya stars in an item number.)

Rohit and Menon

The plot is involved, and isn't always logical, but is still intriguing; there is a particularly good cliff-hanger at the intermission.  While the characters are sometimes excessively emotional, the acting is generally good all around, with the leads being particularly unaffected. It was refreshing to see these two appealing principals look attractive in a natural, unsophisticated fashion.  The musical numbers are average and below.  Due to the music and the, at times, irrational story, I can only give the film three stars; however, I certainly got five stars worth of enjoyment out of it.



(This movie is available with Amazon Prime.)

Kalank

Kalank
( translates as "stigma" or "blemish")
2019
3/5 stars

In Lahore, in 1946: Satya (Sonakshi Sinha), knowing she is to die soon, persuades a reluctant Roop (Alia Bhatt) to become a second wife to her husband, Dev (Aditya Roy Kapur) so that he won't be alone at Satya's death.  Petulantly, Roop insists on taking singing lessons from Bahaar Begum (Madhuri Dixit), despite being initially forbidden to enter that part of the city by her father-in-law (Sanjay Dutt).  While there, Roop meets a womanizing blacksmith, Zafar (Varun Dhawan), and falls in love with him, a situation that leads to disastrous results.
(Kiara Advani, Achint Kaur, and Kunal Khemu also have prominent roles.)

The six main actors gave mostly natural performances, with good chemistry throughout.  Dixit was especially convincing, but Bhatt was stiff at times.  This movie is visually stunning: costumes, sets, choreography, cinematography, and even the actors themselves.  The songs are generally good, with exceptional incidental and atmospheric music.

The basic story, while mostly predictable, is strong but there are plot holes that weaken it, and unneeded scenes (the bull fight in particular) that seem to be there just to add minutes.  In addition, the action is interrupted from time to time by an unnecessary interview scene taking place with Roop ten years later.  This breaks the mood and why it was included is baffling.  Despite these negatives, it is worth watching for the visual spectacle alone.

Dutt, Dixit, Dhawan, Bhatt, Kapoor, Sinha

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Jab Tak Hai Jaan
2012
(translates as  "As Long As I Live")
4/5 stars

Major Samar Anand (Shah Rukh Khan), fearless when defusing bombs, hides grief over a lost love behind a severe and stand-offish personality and a strong disregard for his safety. Akira (Anushka Sharma), a young filmmaker, finds Samar's journal, and discovers his past romance with Meera (Katrina Kaif), ten years ago in London.

After making a documentary on Samar, Akira returns to London, but needs him to come there as well, to verify the legitimacy of her story.  Reluctantly he returns to the city of his heartbreak, and the unexpected brings Meera back into his life.

(Anupam Kher plays Meera's father.  Rishi Kapoor and his real-life wife, Neetu Singh, play Meera's mother and step-father.)

The first two hours of this film were excellent; the plot was immersive and the characters believable.  The make-up artists did a wonderful job making Khan look younger, but did not do so well aging Kaif.  The music was mostly great and the cinematography was perfect.  Khan and the vivacious Sharma had fantastic, natural chemistry together; Kaif was too stiff at times, however.  Unfortunately, around the start of the third hour, when Samar returns to London, the plot becomes less credible and the ending lacks emotional punch.  Despite that, it's a movie worth watching, just don't expect to be particularly moved by the ending.

Notebook

Notebook
2019
4/5 stars

Kabir (Zaheer Iqbal ), at loose ends since he quit the Army, agrees to become the teacher of an isolated Wular Public School with an enrollment of seven students.  He is failing dismally when he finds the diary of the previous teacher, Firdaus (Pranutan Bah).  At first, reading her diary gives him confidence to teach the children.  Later, however, he falls in love with her as he learns to know her inner self through the diary.  He leaves the school at the end of the year, still thinking of Firdaus.

In the meantime, Firdaus is teaching in a large city school, trying to conform to traditional ways of teaching while she waits for her marriage.  The unexpected happens, and Firdaus' wedding is cancelled; she returns to Wular Public School, and finds messages to her from Kabir.

This is a charming movie. Iqbal and Bah, both debut actors, are natural and believable.  The energetic and jubilant children are a pleasure to watch.  The music is only average and below, unfortunately, and does effect the whole.  The ending was particularly good.   With it's uncommon plot, engaging cast, focus on the importance of education, and beautiful cinematography it is an overall enjoyable experience.

Bharat

Bharat
2019
4/5 stars

This movie follows the life of Bharat (Salman Khan), from his childhood in the midst of the 1947 Partition of India, to age 70, as he and his best friend (Vilyati, played by Sunil Grover) mature, take jobs, and experience life-changing events.  Bharat proves himself as a hero throughout, without great feats of daring, simply as the average working man.

Katrina Kaif also stars, with Jackie Shroff, Disha Patani and Tabu in lesser roles.

The plot is made up of six slices of Bharat's life during pivotal moments in his history.  As a result of covering so much time, the story isn't profound or particularly emotional, but it is still engaging and engrossing throughout the 155 minute film.  Khan was convincing in all avatars, as was Grover.  Khan and Kaif have good chemistry, and she, too, gave a solid performance.  The child actors portraying young Bharat (Kabir Sajid) and young Vilyati (I couldn't find his name), were also believable. The music isn't exceptional, but is good, with the incidental music being effective.  Overall, it's an enjoyable, if not deep, movie that thoroughly entertains.

Khan and Kaif

Vivah

Vivah
(translation: "marriage")
2006
4/5 stars

Prem (Shahid Kapoor) and Poonam (Amrita Rao) are introduced as a possible match for each other, and find an instant connection.  A happy and emotionally charged engagement follows, but a tragedy strikes that could prevent their marrying.

(Anupam Kher, Alok Nath, and Seema Biswa also star.)

This movie about love, traditional values, and respect for women is so sweet that it should be repellent, and yet it has enough charm to still be enjoyable.  Veteran actors Kher, Nath, and Biswa give solid performances.  While Kapoor and Rao have good chemistry, their acting is mainly reduced to boyish charm from him and demure dignity from her.  The saris are stunning throughout the entire film, and there is some lovely scenery.  While the songs aren't extraordinary, they are still good; there is a lack of dancing, however.  Vivah is so full of innocence and goodness, that's it's almost a guilty pleasure to watch, but I will admit to being entertained by it.

Fanaa

Fanaa
(translates as "love destroys")
2006
4/5 stars

Zooni  (Kajol) travels for the first time to New Delhi with friends to perform in a ceremony for Republic Day.  While there, she meets and falls in reciprocated love with a tour guide, Rehan (Aamir Khan).  Her friends are over-protective of Zooni, as she is blind, but eventually help the two spend time together.  It seems that Zooni's romance will have a happy ending, but tragedy happens.

Seven years later,  Susheel Rawat (Sharat Saxena) of the Anti Terrorist Special Force and special agent Malini Tyagi (Tabu) are trying to track down the leader of a Kashmiri terrorist organization before he can get possession of the final piece needed to make a nuclear weapon.  Zooni becomes unwittingly involved when a wounded stranger appears on her doorstep.

The first half of this romantic thriller was good, but not great -- it played out like a mostly typical Bollywood romance.  The second half, however, kept me riveted.  The suspense and uncertainty were both written and portrayed well.  Khan and Kajol were average in the romantic beginning, but were excelled during the thriller portion.  Zooni's parents were played by veteran actors Rishi Kapoor and Kirron Kher, who were excellent. Child actor Ali Haji gave a convincing performance as well. The songs were a mixed bag, some just okay but some memorable; the incidental music, however, was quite effective.  Overall, Fanaa delivers near perfect entertainment. 

Chalte Chalte

Chalte Chalte
2003
3/5 stars

Raj (Shah Rukh Khan), owner of a small trucking business, is involved in a minor accident with Priya (Rani Mukerji). She is wealthy, and they have nothing in common, but he falls in love with her, wooing, and eventually winning, her.  After they marry, they find their differences to be nearly irreconcilable, and the film follows them as they try to make their marriage a success.

(Cast also includes Johnny Lever, Lilette Dubey, and Satish Shah, among others.)

This is a mostly enjoyable, but highly improbable, romantic comedy/drama with lovely scenery, average music, and a good cast.  Khan and Mukerji have good chemistry and work well together; their romantic and comedic scenes were quite good. However, the plot is predictable, with a weak and not fully believable conclusion, making it overall an average film.

Dilwale

Khan and Kajol

Dilwale
(translates as "the big-hearted)
2015
4/5 stars

Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) is devoted to his younger brother Veer (Varun Dhawan), but has kept family secrets from him. When Veer falls in love with Ishita (Kriti Sanon), Raj's past romance with Meera (Kajol) comes to light, affecting both couples.

This is an engaging masala film, with generally well-written comedy and drama, and nicely choreographed action sequences.  As always, Khan and Kajol have near perfect chemistry, and their acting is excellent.  Dhawan was natural and a good comedian, but Sanon was stiff and not fully convincing at times.  The songs are mostly good, with one song memorably so, and the incidental music was particularly effective.  The locations were beautiful, and the movie looked superb overall.  Dilwale is thoroughly enjoyable, just barely missing five stars, and one worth rewatching.

(Cast also includes Johnny Lever and Vinod Khanna.)

Wanted

Wanted
2009
4/5 stars

Radhe (Salman Khan), a killer for hire, is recruited by an international don to dispose of the rival gang.  Radhe works up through the ranks as he successfully murders one foe after another.  He meets Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia) and falls in love with her.  She reciprocates his feelings, but tries to change him into a better man.

This masala is a good mix of romance, comedy, action, and drama.  The plot is engaging, and has a nice twist to it.  The music and choreography leave much to be desired, but the action looks great.  There is little chemistry between Khan and Takia, unfortunately, but each give an above average performance.  Overall, this is a typical Bollywood film, fun and exciting, though violent, which is thoroughly enjoyable.

Khan and Takia

Thugs of Hindostan

Thugs of Hindostan

2018
2/5 stars

Set in 1795,  Azaad (Amitabh Bachchan) and his ward Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh), lead a group of resistance fighters trying to free an Indian kingdom from the British East India Company's rule. The British commander John Clive (Lloyd Owen) sends a small-time confidence trickster, Firangi Mallah (Aamir Khan), to infiltrate the band and betray them.  (Katrina Kaif also stars, as dancer Suraiyya)

The film has a great premise, and the first thirty minutes were quite good; sadly, the next 134 minutes were not.  Instead of being exciting, funny, and enjoyable as shown in the trailer,  it was mostly deadly dull.  The "surprise" changes of allegiance became increasingly predictable and annoying.  The action scenes are too long, as were the (average and below) musical numbers.  Kaif's first number was embarrassingly ridiculous and not worthy of either her talent or dignity.  Her performance, and that of Shaikh, were stiff and not natural.  Owen made an exceptional villain, however.  Bachchan and Khan gave strong performances, but that was not enough to redeem the entire movie.  I would suggest watching the trailer, as it has all the good parts, and skipping the movie entirely.

Waqt : The Race Against Time

Waqt : The Race Against Time
2005
3/5 stars


Ishwar (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife Sumitra (Shefali Shah) run a toy factory that is successful enough for Iswar to spoil their son Aditya (Akshay Kumar) in every way. Aditya has no interest in the factory, or in taking responsibility for his life. He is satisfied to live off his parents' hard work and talk about becoming an actor. He elopes with his girlfriend, Pooja (Priyanka Chopra), expecting his father to support them. When illness strikes Ishwar, he makes the hard decision to throw Aditya out of the house to force him to become responsible and dependable.

This drama had the potential to be a moving and emotional film, but fell short.  Everything about it, excepting the acting of the four principles, was average or below.  Bachchan and Shah were especially good in their roles, while Kumar and Chopra gave their usual level of performance.  Solid acting alone cannot improve a mediocre movie, though, so the end result was underwhelming.  

Saawan - The Love Season

Saawan - The Love Season
2006
2/5 stars


Raj (Kapil Jhaveri) and Kajal (Saloni Aswani) meet on vacation in Capetown, and fall in love.  When they return to Mumbai, Kajal is saved from an accident by an unnamed reluctant prophet (Salman Khan), who then predicts her death.

(Johnny Lever also stars, as Raj's friend, Funsukh.)

This film is terrible.  The first half, when Raj and Kajal meet and fall in love, is tedious, banal, poorly written, and just as badly acted.  Even the excellent Lever couldn't save this portion of the film, as his jokes were weak and generally not funny.  The music, while not fully terrible, was certainly not good.

The story becomes much more interesting once Khan's character is introduced.  He portrays the agonized seer well, and if the focus had been on his character, it could have been interesting and emotional.  With the focus elsewhere, though, one good performance from Khan was not enough to make this movie even tolerable.

(Personal note: I finished watching it out of curiosity to see just how awful it would get.)

Tashan

Tashan
(translates as "style")
2008
4/5 stars

Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) is hired by Pooja (Kareena Kapoor) to teach English to her disreputable looking boss, Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor).  Jimmy falls in love with Pooja, who persuades him to help her steal money from Bhaiyyaji.  When Bhaiyyaji finds out, he sends a small-town thug, Bachchan (Akshay Kumar), to find them.

This over-the-top action flick is surprisingly enjoyable. The plot, while ridiculous at times, is engaging and fast-paced, with good dialog.  It seems apparent that director Vijay Krishna Acharya  was strongly influenced by Tarantino, and there are what look like obvious nods to some of his films.

Khan and Kareen Kapoor give solid performances, but Anil Kapoor and Kumar are extraordinarily good in their roles.  The action, though often unbelievable, looks great and is well choreographed.  The musical numbers are average but the background and incidental music are well-above.  This certainly isn't a family movie, due to the violence, but it is a thoroughly fun ride nonetheless.

This movie is available with Amazon Prime.

Khan, Anil Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Kumar

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
(Translation: "never say goodbye")
2006
5/5 stars

This is the story of two broken marriages.  Dev (Shah Rukh Khan) and Rhea (Preity Zinta) were college sweethearts, but after an accident leaves him embittered, Dev becomes an emotionally cruel husband and father.  Maya (Rani Mukerji) and Rishi (Abhishek Bachchan) grew up together, but though Rishi is thoroughly in love with her, Maya has emotional reservations about their relationship.  Dev and Maya meet through an accident and strike up an unlikely friendship; they each encourage the other to fix their marriage.  Then the unexpected happens, and brings heartbreak for all involved.

This tear-jerking drama is a surprisingly outstanding movie, despite it's unhappy story line and average music.  The plot is  compelling and engrossing, as well as being tight and believable, and the characters well developed.  The acting from the four principals is fantastic, with realistic emotions and reactions.  While the topic is not one I "like", I have to say that this was a stellar movie.

(Dev and Rhea's son is played by Ahsaas Channa, Rhea's boss is played by Arjun Rampal, Dev's mother is played by Kirron Kher, and Rishi's father is played by Bachchan's real life father, Amitabh Bachchan. John Abraham and Kajol both make cameo appearances. )

Loveyatri

Loveyatri: the Journey of Love
2018
3/5 stars

Susu (Aayush Sharma) is a failing college student with nothing but Garba on his mind.  During Navaratri, he meets and falls in love with Michelle (Warina Hussain), a rich NRI from London, who is top in her university class.  Despite the gulf between them, Susu pursues Michelle, but is warned off by her father (Ronit Roy).  Michelle returns home after having a disagreeable scene with Susu who, encouraged by his uncle (Ram Kapoor), tries to find a way to reach London to apologize and declare his love.

The plot of this insipid romantic-drama is unrealistic and predictable.  This is the debut movie for both principle actors, and neither is impressive.  Hussain is too unsure of herself-- nearly shy-- to be a leading lady.  While Sharma isn't a bad actor, a hero needs to be either charismatic or handsome, and preferably both.  Sadly, he is neither.  (What is with that horrible brushed-back hair style?!)  He also suffered at the hands of the make-up artists, with thick cosmetics that are extremely obvious.  The supporting cast gave good performances, however.  The music and choreography are average, though the Garba scenes are lovely.  I wavered between giving this two or three stars, but since I didn't enjoy it, but didn't actively dislike it, I'll rate it three.

Hussain and Sharma

Dhoom

Dhoom
(translates as "Blast")
2004
3/5 stars

After a series of clever, successful robberies by a motorcycle gang, Assistant Commissioner of Police Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan) takes the case personal, and with the help of a minor crook Ali (Uday Chopra) attempts to catch them in the act. John Abraham plays Kabir, the mastermind behind the thefts, with Esha Deol as Sheena, Ali's love interest, and Rimi Sen portraying Sweety, Jai's wife.

This action/adventure film is not an outstanding one.  There is no surprise to the plot, it drags in spots (the last ten minutes felt like it lasted three times as long), and is, at times, rather inane.  The music and choreography were unremarkable.  As there was no depth to the plot, the actors only presented average performances. Despite all that, this popular film was rather fun, and I would consider watching the other two in the series.

This movie is available on Amazon Prime.