Sanket’s Review: “Jai Ho” is the best Salman Khan entertainer in a long long time.

Cast: Salman Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Daisy Shah, Tabu.

Length: 2.20hrs approximately.

When one sees a film’s promo, he/she pretty much figures out what kind of film it would be. Although one can go wrong in judging the film from its cover. JAI HO sets an example that a film that looks dried from its promos and songs is not necessarily a frail film. JAI HO’s energy is remarkable to say the least. The film not even for once loses its focus. The sheer intensity imposed in the film makes up for lot of flaws.

JAI HO doesn’t take much time to settle in. Before you know it, you have already seen couple of songs, one mega action sequences and one comic bit all in just about 20 minutes. The logic is dropped in the very first second of the film. You have the hero fighting innumerable goons and smashing the entire decoration of the set. JAI HO has comedy and romance that are straight out of those South masala films. If those films are not your cup of tea, then you might relinquish on JAI HO within first 30 minutes itself. Highly dramatic and spectacularly intense at times, JAI HO succeeds in evoking reactions, strong reactions from viewers. One finds himself already praying for our actor and his overdone social concern. The interval point will make you care a damn for your throat and give all possible voice because of that fantastic scenario which will linger in hearts for eternity.

Even post-intermission, the energy is intact and the action goes a notch higher. Watch out for that action bit where Salman Khan jumps on his bike to ride the city’s goons. A heart-pumping thrilling moment I would say.

But JAI HO is far from flawless. The film has a very repetitive screenplay where the mainstream social concern is brought to our knowledge umpteen times in these 2.20hrs. Half the film is trying to say the same thing and it gets tiring after a point, really! Also the joke cracked at the expense of leading lady is overused so many times that you feel the director wants us to remember that particular joke more than the heart of the film. Such petty issues do stand out to list the points where the film loses momentum. Also some episodes are superficially melodramatic.

 The songs played are good and plays well within the rhythm of the film. The action is top-class. Sohail’s direction is commendable as he understands how to extract the right emotions at the right time. In this film, you laugh, you feel, you cheer, you pray…and more than anything, you enjoy!

Salman Khan is life of the film. Although he is no where near what he brings to Chulbul Pandey, but still he immerses quite effectively in a character which is two shades away from what he has been doing in last few films. The small kiddie in the film provides the maximum laughs and is surely a heart-winner. Tabu excels in couple of scene and those particular scenes make her presence feel. There are two-dozen characters in the film. Some hams, some does decently well.

In all, its quite a said thing that it is a treat for Salman Khan fans who might go bananas seeing him ripping off his shirt. The film has a lot of entertainment which makes up for many flaws. Also the sheer dramatic portions are worth the price. Watch out for that maiden confrontation between Danny Denzongpa and Salman Khan- you will love it! Go for it, it has a lot to offer. It also reinvests the lost faith in Masala films. Strongly recommended!

Rating- 3.5/5

Box Office Predictions of JAI HO.

Whenever a Salman Khan film has arrived in last three years it had made sure it mocks atleast one Box office record if not more. JAI HO that releases after 13 months of DABANGG 2, the last Salman Khan Venture, and it releases on 24th January.

First day- 20.5cr

If word of mouth is good.,

Weekend- 67cr

Week 1- 105cr

Week 2- 40cr

Lifetime-175cr



If word of mouth is mixed,

Weekend - 63cr

Week 1- 95cr

Week 2- 32cr

Lifetime- 140cr


If word of mouth is bad,

Weekend - 60cr

Week 1- 88cr

Week 2- 24cr

Lifetime- 120cr



Note: If the film gets very good to excellent WOM, then it can reach 185-210crs.
          If the film has just above average or decent WOM, then it can reach 145-160crs
          If the film has below average WOM, then it might settle at around 130crs
          If the film has disastrously horrible WOM, then it will end at 105cr.

Advantages:  1) A big film is releasing after 5 weeks so families can shell out for this film. 

                     2) First three weeks are absolutely free at single screens, which is the stronghold of the film. 

                     3) Extensive promotions.

                     

 

Disadvantages:  1) Flop music.

                         2) Unimpressive female lead. 

                         3) Promos remained cold and unexciting.
 

Sanket's Review: "Yaariyaan" has incredible passion that results in exaggeration.

Cast: Himash Kohli, Rakul Preet, Gulshan Grover, Deepti Naval, Nicole Faria, Dev Sharma, Shreyas Pardiwalla.

Director: Divya Kumar Khosla


When a new director comes to helm of affairs, he/she tries to invest every ounce of their basics and nuances of the film-making. This is what exactly hampered the smoothness and sensitivity of YAARIYAN which is outdated, wannabe, and uncool. Not that its a boring and intolerable film, but the root of the film is inherited from too many films and yet it suffers on account of failing in putting up even a decent show. The film never sets firmness about in which way it has to go. It is a convoluted plot that further stumbles into a climax, unbelievably mundane, which seems like it lasted for half a day. Yes, that long!

But as marked earlier, YAARIYAAN is not entirely dumb. It has some genuinely funny moments irrespective of how unoriginal it is. Like the one where the boys emerge impostor in girl's dress-up so as to convince one of their female friend's father. These are the buoyant moments that are atleast not harmful in a film which is sentimentally manipulative. Also the light-hearted tone of the film is nicely intact throughout despite you see cheesy hot girls exposing as if there is no tomorrow.

YAARIYAN's pace is down in one scene and up in the other one. It never really connects through the characters, thanks to inept writing, but as I pointed it never really bores you to death. The first half is nicely soft and simple and pretty much hooking. Also the songs are wonderfully shot, especially the Abcd song, Sunny Sunny song and the Meri Maa song.

But the film's important plot, that contains a stupid challenge, is where the film looks silly the most. The director tries her hand in infusing just about everything in the film, even patriotism that feels artificial, and yet the film doesn't come out properly with even a single genre.

Save for some excellent songs that contributes for YAARIYAN's half the life. The songs have a beautiful feel and pretty much draws your attention. Also the cinematography has to be lauded because it gives a very vibrant look to the film. Although, I wonder if the film had some writers or not! The writing is disgusting and annoying. The director never really turns the film's fortunes upside down, but she does knows how to extract comical expressions from a cast that is rather frail.

The lead boy does show some confidence playing the frivolous boy who suddenly transforms to innocence when a big event hurts his life. But he also has a very stereotypical traits that take away from hi character. Rakul Preet decently approaches the role, despite being a very restricted work. Deepti Naval is the best actor of the lot who brings much required vulnerability to the table in a small role. The other heroines does what they have been hired for- look hot!


Cutting long story short, YAARIYAN is too average a film to call it the "popcorn film". Some truly funny moments and excellent music may entice you, but the film also packs up lot of superficiality, lot of silliness lot of unintentional fun. Decide for yourself!

Rating - 2/5

Sanket’s Review: “Dedh Ishqiya” is a delicious little ride.

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Vijay Raaz, Naseeruddin Shah, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Huma Qureshi.

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Its said that good films gives you a high, just like alcohol. And I second it. When I saw “Ishqiya” I was thoroughly entertained and satisfied with what it offered. Now comes the next installment “Dedh Ishqiya” that is equally thrilling, funny and engaging film. A story about two lovable thieves who falls for women and puts themselves in trouble. Now this one line story may sound common and quite boring, but here’s the curveball that the writers throw with an adequate script packed with sharp-pointed twists, lasting whacky humor and some delicious romance. Also “Dedh Ishqiya” wouldn’t have emerged a winner had it not been for tremendous and inevitable effort put in to establish the characters.

The film has thick screenplay which joints all the dots one by one. The film’s basic and vital premise is kept under the covers until the last half hour where all the answers are solved. Not too much of brain-work is required, but yes, one needs to be attentive in the film to get into where really the film is heading.

The film is high on zany humor that takes you for a ride. They are rib-roaring and witty. The one-liners particularly gives you some stomach-ache and asks you for claptraps. The first half, although bit complex, draws your attention to its story. The new characters in particularly are very effortlessly gathers on screen. So you have a princess-like looking Madhuri Dixit who is served with a helping hand in gorgeous Huma Qureshi. And then you have merciless goon in Vijay Raaz who is trying his hands to learn poems to woo the Begum. The movie nicely stealth into a zone where you’re caught oblivious about the proceedings. The director’s victory is in terrifically sketching the scenes, like the intermission point where we see Arshad-Naseeruddin planning a mysterious robbery.

The film somewhere loses its sheen to over-cooked drowning romance between Naseeruddin and Madhuri Dixit. The moments between them somewhere gives the superficiality vibe and such thin plots does injects uneasiness. Also the upturn in Manoj Pahwa’s character comes across abruptly, lacking the conviction. Yet, the film immerses itself again in its notorious type of setting in last 30 minutes where all the cards of the pack are disclosed one after the other.

The film falters when it comes to music and it does bring the film a notch down. However, the writing is amazing and throws a lot of twists that woos you. Also the inflammatory romance between Arshad and Huma reminds you of that beautiful romantic part of “Ishqiya” between Arshad and Vidya Balan.

The film belongs to each of them but especially Arshad Warsi who is so strikingly sincere in his efforts that you fall for him. Kudos! Naseerudin Shah plays the vulnerable, yet incorrigible ego-minded thief with lot of energy. He although wasn’t at ease when it came to romance. Madhuri Dixit has half-baked role but the actor invests a believable personality in her character who suddenly goes the other way around in the finale. Huma Qureshi surprises and how! She is efficient and confident and not even once comes across as an inexperienced actress who is working with actors who have been here for a long time. Vijay Raaz gets to do what he does best- a villain whose fun can be made of – a role quite reminiscent of what he played in “Delhi Belly”. Salman SHahid deserves special mention for the two-scene cameo he has- one at the start, other at the end. He made me roll on seat for those two hilarious moments.

DEDH ISHQIYA is consistently toned thanks to an able director, terrific writing and excellence in performances. It has the laughs, it has the intensity, it has the suspense, it has the romance. Yes, the film does have the glitches too which comes glaring brightly. But few moments here and there could be spared, than DEDH ISHQIYA is a delicious little ride which you must not miss.

Rating- 3.5/5 

Box Office Predictions of YAARIYAN

A young breezy film starring new-comers, YAARIYAN has created good buzz for itself. The film releases on 10th January 2014, along with DEDH ISHQIYA.

First day: 4crs

If word of Mouth is good,

Weekend 1- 16crs

Week 1- 25.5cr

Week 2- 12.5cr

Lifetime- 44cr



If Word of mouth is Mixed,

Weekend 1- 15cr

Week 1- 23

Week 2- 8cr

Lifetime- 34crs


If Word of mouth is Bad,

Weekend- 13.5cr

Week 1- 20crs

Week 2- 4crs

Lifetime- 25crs


Note: If the film gets very good to excellent WOM, then it can reach 50-60crs.
          If the film has just above average or decent WOM, then it can reach 37-42crs
          If the film has below average WOM, then it might settle at around 30crs
          If the film has disastrously horrible WOM, then it will end at 22cr.


Advantage: 1) The songs have hit the bulls eye and have generated lot of buzz among young audience.
                   2) Strong promotions.

Disadvantage:  1) Although it has better buzz than DEDH ISHQIYA, still that film can prove to be a very                              stringent competition at Box Office if gets good Word of Mouth.
                     

Box Office Predictions of DEDH ISHQIYA

Released four years back, ISHQIYA emerged a semi-successful film that found decent appreciation from audience and lots of critical approving! resulting in a sequel called DEDH ISHIQYA that stars Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah from the prequel, and new addition in Madhuri Dixit, Huma Qureshi and Vijay Raaz. The film hits the screens on 10th January 2014.


First day: 3.5cr

If word of Mouth is good,

Weekend 1- 15cr

Week 1- 23.5ccr

Week 2- 10.5cr

Lifetime- 39cr



If word of mouth is mixed.

Weekend 1- 13.5cr

Week 1- 21cr

Week 2- 7.5cr

Lifetime- 31cr


If word of mouth is bad,

Weekend 1- 12.5cr

Week 1- 18.5cr

Week 2- 3cr

Lifetime- 22cr



Note:  If the film gets very good to excellent WOM, then it can reach 45-50crs.
          If the film has just above average or decent WOM, then it can reach 33-36crs
          If the film has below average WOM, then it might settle at around 26cr
          If the film has disastrously horrible WOM, then it will end at around 20crs.


Advantages: 1) Brand name. In recent past even films like "Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns" had                                    leveraged whatever little brand name it had.
                    2) Dearth or Hindi films: Its been around 3 weeks now that the biggie DHOOM:3 has released.


Disadvantages: 1) Flop songs.
                        2) Competition from YAARIYAN which has higher buzz.

Sholay (3d) ...its not just a review.

I can understand if someone is not interested to watch SHOLAY, which is registered as a true blue classic, in today's time. This film released almost 4 decades back and for young generation who are born in the early 90's, "Sholay" would be a  over-rated film because we are often bombarded with the films what we call as "masala".


My history with SHOLAY:  I had watched this film in around 2008 in theaters when it was re-released for just 3-4 days. I was damn excited to watch this film back then as I am for maximum of films. When I watched it, I had enjoyed the film, although I didn't label it "one of my favorite films of all time" kind of stuff which usually, for people who had watched it back in time, was apt way to put the love for Sholay in words. I found some moments too dragged. Also some episodes were simply lacking any form of value like the one involving Asrani which lasted for ten minutes, each second trying to be funny, but didn't bring even a smile on my face. Also I found the film deathly long. Seriously, 205 minutes is too much for this "yo" generation. But yes I had enjoyed the film but I also forgot the experience within very less time.


Cut to 3rd January 2014, when I bought myself a 9am show ticket of SHOLAY 3d and took my seats with around 100 odd people in theater. I was excited again as I wanted to see did I miss something the last time around! And I found my answer- I missed a lot of things.

No, still I wont call it my favorite film or anything such. But this time it felt like a very good experience. An experience composed of some elements that will linger in my head and heart for long time.

I loved the camaraderie between Jai and Veeru. I felt their scenes together had a lively intensity that was across the board. And then I loved this song called "Yeh dosti...hum nai todenge..". Frankly, this song I used just for cheesy humor till date. But while watching this film, I really took to the lyrics. And then of-course the "Jab tak hai jaan..mei naachungi" song. It felt overdone, yes, but I realized how heart-wrenching the song would have been back in mid-70's. If films like "Maine Pyaar Kiya", "Dilwaale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge" created impact for its larger-than-life syntax of story-telling, I can wonder how beautiful SHOLAY was!

The acting is top class. Especially Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan. It also could be because of the fact that they had really good roles. Amjad Khan's character which is possibly the most sinister villain in our Cinema has a lot to do with Salim-Javed's terrific dialogues and sheer talent of Amjad Khan.

The 3d effects were there during fight sequences. Some of them were fab- in the first 3d effect of the film, I felt like I was shot a bullet in my eyes,

All in all, SHOLAY is for those people who has the patience to believe that a film that lasts 205 minutes long can also do the wonders. Its not a great film IMO, for obvious reasons, but I today definitely realized how much love the film garnered when the film had released back in time.

P.S. I remember my dad telling me that how he bunked his schools to go to watch Sholay. He has seen it 13 times in theater. This was a main reason why I chose to watch this film in theaters. Now I can envy him.