Screen Test

From Sidharth Malhotra posing in front of a posh mansion that he’s purchased in Miami to Sidharth Malhotra chasing hardened criminals on the streets of Bangkok and Mumbai, A Gentleman: Sundar, Susheel, Risky is all about Sidharth Malhotra whose imperfect past plays havoc in his life. The two Sidharths live contrasting lives and the film pieces together a connection between the two in a rather engaging way. While the former is suave, polite and apologetic, the latter is rugged, macho and guilt-ridden despite working for a ‘Colonel’ who isn’t averse to killing innocent people.  Trouble starts when the ‘bad Malhotra’ decides to leave the ugly world he’s found himself stuck in after getting to know of a hard disk which nails his Colonel’s nefarious activities. A wild goose chase ensues in pursuit of the disk which results in high-octane actions sequences, including Malhotra dangling from the terrace of a skyscraper and making his way into a secured server room in one of the ...

At the end of Bareilly Ki Barfi , you are neither amused nor surprised. Rather you wonder what the movie was all about. It's a film without an underlying theme and with a thin plot.  Kriti Sanon represents everything that a girl shouldn't be in Bareilly, someone who smokes, drinks, stays out till late and is brash and outspoken. Her engagement has been called off twice and her mother cannot wait to see her married. No boy, however, seems to accept her for the way she is. Irritated with such pressure and being judged constantly, she tries to run away and buys a novel at the railway station.  Incidentally, it has passages that exactly depict the person that she is. Impressed that someone can see her as being normal, she tries to find its writer. The hunt takes her to the book's publisher, Ayushmann Khurrana, who has actually written the book, inspired by his girlfriend, after a heartbreak. However, he does not want his name to be associated with it and therefore u...

The bond between parents and children is often hard to describe. It is even more difficult to portray that on screen with the conflicts that come along. Kaccha Limbu manages to do that with great sensitivity because in this case, the middle-class couple played by Ravi Jadhav and Sonali Kulkarni have a mentally challenged child, Manmeet Pem. The residents of a chawl in Girgaum, Jadhav and Kulkarni work at different times – he throughout the night while she during the day – because their special child needs constant attention at home. The challenge gets even more daunting because he’s slowly coming to terms with his physical needs. Between looking after Pem and carrying out their duties to make ends meet, the couple seems to drift apart physically. The lack of privacy in a one room-kitchen house only increases the distance between them. It is in this scenario that Kulkarni finds solace in her boss, played by Sachin Khedekar. He lends her a patient ear, shows his compassi...

At its core, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha is about a woman’s fight to have a loo in her marital home in a village near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh. However, the movie is more than just that; it is also about breaking stereotypes, challenging cultural and religious beliefs and the right to equality. Director Shree Narayan Singh tackles an unusual subject with aplomb, giving many humorous moments and at the same time compelling the audience to ponder about the reality is several parts of the country and in some cases, also a man’s mind. The movie could have easily been a preachy affair, but the dialogues and screenplay ensure that cinemagoers are spared of a lecture. Despite this, the message is conveyed in all earnestness. Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar fall in love despite their different backgrounds, contrasting viewpoints and age difference. She plays along to win over her orthodox father-in-law, but is aghast when neighbouring women call her for a ‘ Lota party’ the mornin...

In today’s aspirational world, Imtiaz Ali relies on a tour of Europe to mesmerise the audience shelling out big bucks to watch a 150-minute monotonous fare on screen. That it lacks a story, screenplay, good music, quality acting and logic appears immaterial to the filmmaker whose last few movies have certainly dented his reputation as a storyteller. In Jab Harry Met Sejal , Anushka Sharma wants two things: Her engagement ring that she’s misplaced on her European sojourn and an acknowledgement from a rank stranger, her tour guide (Shah Rukh Khan, who has not offered anything new since his past innumerable outings), that she is not just a sweet, simple girl, but an attractive one who will have boys running after her. She stays back in Europe sans her family and goes on a wild goose chase in search of a ring at all the places that she had visited, with Khan for company. Amid all this, her only contact with her (conservative?) Gujarati family is via Skype with her sister (her p...