Student of the Year | Movie Review

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Rishi Kapoor, Kayoze Irani, Sana Saeed, Ronit Roy
Direction: Karan Johar
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes
Avg Readers Rating : 4.5


Story: The tracks are ready and the race is on. What's at stake? Love, friendship and the coveted 'Student of the Year' trophy.

Movie Review: It's KJo-Wala Love! Served fresh and piping hot from the Dharma college canteen of romance. And it's a high (class) school that you'd never want to miss a lecture of, ever. Except that it has its own set of Karan rules.

Read the prospectus:
1. Leave your text-books at home but ensure you're carrying your designer bags and heels.
2. Drive a Ferrari to school, or if you're poorer, take a bike.
3. Dating, mating, separating and love lessons shall be part of the syllabus. 4. Girls, don your shortest minis, and guys, rip off the shirts. Welcome to St. Teresa's. Rest assured, it'll be a well-rounded entertainment experience.

ST is run by a happy and 'gay' Dean - Yogendra Vashisth (Rishi), who drools over John Abraham, and when he sees the much-married hot coach ( Ronit Roy) usko 'coach coach' hota hai!. The hotshot student of the school is rich brat Rohan Nanda (welcoming Varun Dhawan), who zips around in his hot-wheels, flirts, and dreams of being a Rockstar. 

His childhood sweetheart, another super rich kid, Shanaya (super filmy intro, Alia! Alia! Alia!), is Ms. Popularity and Drama Queen (don't miss the red pout) known for her brands and beauty. Enter (grandly) Abhimanyu (Sidharth), a middle-class boy with mega dreams, a chalta-phirta KBC (Mr Know-it-all), and the in-house Milkha Singh.

There's a typical rich-poor division in school, the Richie Rich Tatas v/s the bechara gareeb Batas. But with Abhimanyu's entry the competition heats up - With both boys showing ample abs & attitude (teeny-weeny trunks, for all you drooling women!), chasing the same gal (Shanaya), and aiming for the same trophy - Student of the Year! Their equations from friends-to-foes changing quicker than their school grades. Their muscles rippling more than their egos; the competition gets tougher and the boys - leaner and meaner. Their loyal friends adding chaos to campus - Eg. Tanya who tries everything in the 'date- bait-book' to seduce Rohan (including push-up bras); the Parsi 'Pseudo' - the 'minority report'-card in this bunch; Jeetu - Rohan's chamcha; tomboy Shruti - Shanaya's other half (minus her designer do).

This is what we call grandiose debut(s)!!! Karan's definitely swooshed his cane for this one. The trio has done him proud and has set a high 'bench-mark'. Varun expresses and emotes with superb confidence and storms the dance floor with swag. Sidharth stands equally tall, has amazing screen presence and is man of few words and many smouldering emotions. Alia wins your heart with her cuteness, effervescence and naivete. Yes, she reminds you of Kareena's Poo days (with all that oomph), but she comes into her own. The chemistry between the three (even outside the lab) grows on you.

Shabhash! SOTY's supporting cast is brilliant, each have favourite subjects and score high in those areas. But the star who scores a straight A-Plus is undoubtedly Rishi Kapoor - simply superb. The other guy who can take a bow is the director.

The film is full of KJo-isms - it's larger-than-life, colourful, lavish, beautifully shot and directed. With medleys, dance, drama and everything good-looking (from cast to couches, dorms to discos).

Vishal-Shekhar have caught the right beat with this high-school musical, and the songs are as fresh as the leads. The story is simple and entertains throughout, though it's not the first time this marathon of an idea has run past the screen. 'SOTY' takes you back to your books and sinks you in true-blue Bollywood syllabus, following the 'formula' - Two boys, one girl, one glorious trophy and lots of testosterone.

If this one doesn't pump you up with nostalgia, it's time for you to go back to school already!

Tip Off: You may not like this movie if bubble-gum romances, picture-perfect worlds and candy-floss clouds are not your idea of a movie-going experience.

Saifeena to Go to Gstaad for their Honeymoon

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are expected to return to Mumbai by October 21 after the reception and ceremonies in New Delhi and Pataudi. As reported earlier in TOI Bebo will shoot her first item song post marriage with Salman Khan in Mumbai from October 22. After November 1 she will start promoting Talaash with Aamir Khan, while Saif will start shooting for Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullet Raja in Madhya Pradesh. 

The couple will fly to Gstaad, Switzerland in December for their annual vacation that will also double up as a honeymoon this time around. They will return to India by January 7, 2013 because Bebo starts shooting for Prakash Jha's Satyagraha on January 10 in Bhopal and Saif will promote Race-2 that releases on January 25, 2013. 

The hotel in Gstaad where the couple spends their annual vacation is exclusively meant for royalty. In fact Saif is enrolled there as the Nawab of Pataudi. Even in the past years, Saifeena have been registering in the hotel as Mr and Mrs Khan. This time around, it will be no different.

Movie Review: English Vinglish | Act Sridevi

Movie Review: Shashi Godbole(Sridevi) is your average, upper-middle-class mother of two, whose special skills also include making ladoos. In fact, she's so good in her sweetmeat that she even markets it.

But one skill that Shashi lacks is speaking English. This makes her the constant butt of jokes and rebuttal with her husband ( Adil Hussain) and teenage daughter (Navika Kotia). The film drives home the point that those who speak English fluently usually adapt a condescending attitude towards those who don't.

Mind you; Shashi is not your average Jane. When opportunity takes her to New York for a niece's wedding; the sari-clad Shashi, steals a few hours each day and enrolls for a four-week crash course in English.

Here begins a hilarious yet heart-rending tale where Shashi and a motley bunch of a Spanish nanny, Eva (Ruth Aguilar); a Tamil software engineer, Rama (Rajeev Ravindranathan), a Chinese beautician, Yu Son (Maria Romano), a French cook, Laurent ( Mehdi Nebbou), and a Pakistani cabbie, Salman Khan (Sumeet Vyas), an African dancer, Udumbke (Damian Thompson) guided by an English tutor, David (Cory Hibbs) show you spunk and determination which can help you overcome obstacles anytime or anywhere.

The students of the English class also act as a support system to the protagonist, who despite her own dedication, finds that complacency has slipped into her marriage and there's self-respect lacking in her relationship with her teenage daughter.

In Laurent, the Frenchman's attraction for her, Shashi rediscovers her own self-worth. Equipped with his attention and her now new found knowledge of English, she finds wings to soar.

Easily one of the best films of 2012; is tale of women empowerment (actually it is bound to empower every viewer) because it strikes a chord, right from the start to the end titles.

Debutant Gauri Shinde, who made advertising films before she ventured into the feature area; proves she's an ace cinema writer-director. The result is a sweet, sensitive and superlative film that makes you laugh, cry and smile. Every emotion is identifiable, every nuance is balanced. The characters are real, the performances effortless.

Amit Trivedi's music is hummable. The title track, Gustak dil, the Marathi remixes of the Navrai Mazhi; all of it is mesmerising. The beauty of the soundtrack is that flows naturally, without disturbing the narrative. Trivedi's track also gets you to question—why other mainstream filmmakers—make such a song-`n'-dance of bawdy lyrics and item songs, when there is such joy in simplicity.

Sridevi is the backbone of EV. Anxiety, anger, arrogance, anguish, attraction, the actress conveys emotions effortlessly with or without words. Returning to the silver screen after a 15-year hiatus; Sri's performance here is a master-class for actors. So much so, that you keep applauding her, long after the lights come on. One must also put in a word of praise for the performances of Sri's son-Sagar (Shivansh Kotia); an adorable moppet who you want to take home with you. And her ma-in-law, Mrs Godbole (Sulabha Deshpande); a delight to watch, as always.

Tip-Off: English Vinglish has the feel-good factor. It's the movie to which you must take your grandmother, mother, sister, wife, sweetheart and saas.

Final Word: Request you to make a little place next to you, Rajkumar Hirani; Gauri Shinde has taken a bow in mainstream Bollywood.

Critic's Rating:

 4 out of 5

Cast: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou, Amitabh Bachchan (interesting cameo)

Direction: Gauri Shinde

Genre: Drama

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Avg Readers Rating:

3.5

Heroine Earns Rs. 25 CR in Opening Weekend

Even though Heroine didn't garner rave reviews from film critics, this hasn't kept Kareena Kapoor fans away from movie theatres. The Madhur Bhandarkar film has collected approximately Rs. 25 crore within the first three days of release.

Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh (@taran_adarsh) posted Twitter: "#Heroine collected approx Rs. 25 cr nett in its opening weekend. Breakup:- Fri 7.5 cr, Sat 8.5 cr, Sun 9 cr."

"Standing at 25 crores over the first weekend, the film is a decent success, especially considering the fact it's controlled costs. Also, Heroine is now en route to be highest grossing Madhur Bhandarkar film after Fashion and Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, both of which collected in the range of 30 crores each,"

The film is performing better at multiplexes. "Heroine performed better in many multiplexes across the country when compared to single screen theaters," stated the trade website.

The Madhur Bhandarkar movie, based on the ups and downs in the life of an actress, was reportedly made at a budget of Rs. 20 crore.


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Raaz 3 Review

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta, Bipasha Basu
Directed by Vikram Bhatt
Rating: 1/2*

 

The world is made of up of good and evil forces. Aatmas and Parmatmas. Those with chalk-smeared faces and those who merely appear as blinding lights and speak with an echo. But none of them can be immortal enough to live through a show of 'Raaz 3'. The prospect of getting horrified in three-dimension could be promising. But Indian horror films, as pioneered by the Ramsays, have rarely gone beyond junior artists in Halloween costumes grunting like death-metal vocalists. Here you have just that, and perhaps a few mouth-to-mouth adventures and some Kentucky fried frights. Yes, it is no raaz that you're up for some good ol' Bhatt kicking. 

Pat! Pat! Shanaya Shekhar (Bipasha Basu) whacks her five-inch lashes uncomfortably as she has just lost the best actress award to budding newcomer Sanjana Krishnan (Esha Gupta). Her obvious assumption: There is no God or he has better films to watch. Luckily, an ex-domestic help happens to introduce her to another force, one who redresses those who've been ignored by the almighty. The light in the mandir is switched off, 'doosri shakti'- on.

Tara Dutt (Manish Choudhary) is a man who wears just the right amount of mascara to maaro lines like, "Main aatma hoon." He comes to Shanaya's rescue by offering her a jar of purified evil water. Once Sanjana consumes it, her soul will be trapped. But this liquid has to be offered to her only by a reliable person. Why? Because unreliable people can't really be relied on anymore.

Enter film director Aditya Arora (Emraan Hashmi), who is indebted to Shanaya for offering herself a few times too many. So you can guess who will spill what in whose drink and who will then have hallucinations of women wailing, clowns playing hide and seek and a certain domestic servant hanging herself after being severed by giant shards of glass. Predictably, Aditya is completely charmed by Sanjana' sob story and when she has an outburst, he calms her not by offering the filmy 'hosh mein aao, Sanjana' slap but with a more sociable mouth-to-mouth. And while all this will leave your imagination a little doped, we present a few dialogues that will spill alcohol on your wounds.

"Bachcha aur kutta sirf pyaar ka bhooka hota hai, aur mere dad ne mujhe sirf mere hisse ka pyaar diya hai," — Sanjana to Aditya. This roughly translates as, infants and dogs both crave love and my father loved me for my part.

"Ek zinda aurat ek zinda mard ke saath kya karti hai, wohi karegi tu," —Aatma to Shanaya. Yes, she does him too.

Doctor to Aditya: "Would you believe it if I tell you that I believe you. Schizophrenia aur bhoot-pret mein jyaada farak nahin hai. Bas science isse nahin maanti." So now we know the dialogue writer's precise disorder.

Being a film where the VFX could've been a game changer, the technicians fail to impress. And the much-tweeted about 'attack of the flying cockroaches' scene looks more like a sewage pipe exploding. If director Vikram Bhatt has applied himself completely into this project, it says quite poorly of his sensibilities as it conforms to every cliché that one associates with Bollywood horror from the beginning of time. Good over evil. Dig out the idol of Ganpati and he will show you the way. Even a few drops of Gangajal flow in towards the end.

If Bipasha Basu had a career, it would be ruined. But since she doesn't, there's little that this film can take away from her. Her character isn't possessed but that doesn't stop her from rolling on the floor or laughing deliriously or doing anything that would suggest an unsound mind. Esha Gupta is a stunning portrait of a beautiful girl playing poker. While she makes a pretty face on the screen, she can't create creases on it to form any recognizable expression. Even in the scene where her character realizes that she has been cheated, all she does is cover her ears. Perhaps the reason she couldn't hear the director scream, "Emote! Emote!" Emraan Hashmi has now moved on to a league of actors who can't be dispirited for being associated with a possible Ghanta award winner. He takes his role as seriously as he could but his efforts couldn't exorcise the devilishly terrible plot from spelling doom for this film.

From being transported to a parallel universe to finding the 'chosen one' for the job, this film is quite like 'The Matrix'. Only difference, here you need both the pills. The first- to go down the Bhatt hole and the second for the ensuing headache.

Source From Yahoo