Bang Bang - It hits you hard, in all the wrong ways!

It's a hit. It's a hit. It's a hit. It's a banging hit. It hits your intelligence. But Oh! It has Abs. It hits your sensibilities. But it has those much touted action pieces, so what if none of them is thrilling. It hits you with so many brand placements. But, so what har brand placement ke aage producer ki jeet hai. Film gayi bhaad mein.

I had seen Knight and Day. Though script wise, even that film was at best average. But it was pacy and Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz had some amazing chemistry. That film had some chutzpah (borrowing from Haider, released the same week as Bang Bang) about it. So when I went to see its official remake stupidly called Bang Bang (the same way Hrithik's ghar is called Ghar in the film- that was the moment I had genuinely laughed), I didn't expect that for 1st 30 minutes, Knight and Day wouldn't even kick in. I did my own countdown, till the real film started, with things unrelated to the story to make the film more Indian, being hurled at me, all this while.

50000...49999...49998... wheels of revenge set in motion.... 40000... 39999...the villain eating a pizza in James Bond office.... (Ian Fleming would be turning in his grave) 35000... 34999... Hrithik loses his shirt without any reason... 30000.... 29999... 29998... Katrina and Hrithik meet in shimla, totally robbing away the serendipity of Cruise - Diaz meeting in the original... 10000.... 9000... A song... 5000.... 4000... Hrithik losing his shirt again without reason.... 5...4...3...2.. b

ang bang...

Thank god for my undying love for Katrina and Hrithik's enthusiasm, the film gets its act right in the second hour, and thus I could survive a major HIT.

Bang Bang - First reviewed on my facebook account on 15th October 2014

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Humshakals - 159 minutes of Torture

The film was just 159 minutes long. Otherwise I would have got my full quota of a day's sleep, had it been 9 times longer... If Tees Maar Khaan and Himmatwala are part of a torture regime, this one is definitely a cure for insomnia...

P.S. The image above itself should have been a warning enough :-)

Humshakals - First reviewed on my facebook account on 22nd June 2014

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Dhoom 3 - Thrice the entertainment...

Dhoom 3 -

Prologue: Dhoom and Dhoom 2 were not spectacularly great films. Nonetheless they were entertaining. So the people who are disappointed with Dhoom 3, either hadn't seen the earlier installments and went with expectations of seeing a movie about a dyslexic boy riding bikes (could have been titled "Bechaare Zameen Par") or they are those Hollywood aficionados who can tolerate similarly inconceivable action scenes and logical loop-holes in the screenplay if it is an English film (e.g. Fast & Furious series) till the time it entertains. Infact I thought Dhoom 3 had more of a plot as compared to all six Fast & Furious films ;-) So for these set of people my review is going to be highly disappointing.

Review: Dhoom 3 delivers on all the promises of this franchisee and in fact it over delivers both in terms of entertainment and best-in-class production values. Presence of Aamir Khan actually enhances the franchisee because for the first time in Dhoom series one gets to see top notch acting apart from its regular elements of high octane chase sequences, high quality stunts (even if they are implausible) and hot looking girls in Katrina Kaif and Tabrett Bethell.

Aamir Khan has done this kind of role for the first time and he aces in presenting different facets effortlessly. For a change even Uday Chopra nails his character sketch right. Katrina Kaif looks and moves every bit like a Goddess of Beauty. She has never looked this stunning before. Cinematorgraphy, visual effects and BMW bikes - all are way better than what one expects in a Hindi Film. The songs 'Malang' and 'Kamli' are exquisitely shot. In nutshell, the film is fast paced and thoroughly entertaining.

Post Ghajini, this is the second Aamir Khan film, which has borrowed something from Christopher Nolan's film. But unlike, what others would like you to believe, the plot itself hasn't been borrowed. The only two things which I thought could have been done better were - 1. They should have created a more tense and satisfactory climax 2. They should have at least shown one heist actually happening.

Otherwise, no complaints :-)

P.S.
1. Most of the guys including me wanted the song 'Kamli' to be longer by few more lines :-)
2. There are 16 films - English and Hindi - Good and Bad - watched over past 4 months, about which I haven't written. WORK overpowering passion. It is time I bring some Dhoom back into LIFE.

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