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.)