Month: October 2018

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘7 Din Mohabbat In’ (2018)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani Fantasy-Drama Feature Length Film, ‘7 Din Mohabbat In’ aka Love in 7 Days (2018). The Production Houses are Dawn Films and IMGC Global Entertainment While its Distributors are Distribution Club and B4U Motion Pictures.

 

+ Crew

  • Directed by Meenu Gaur & Farjad Nabi (Matteela Films)
  • Written by Fasih Bari Khan
  • Cinematography by Rana Kamran
  • Edited by Rizwan A.Q
  • Music by Arshad Mehmood, Shuja Haider and Shani Arshad

 

+ Note

7 Din Mohabbat In is about a young man on a quest to find his true love in a crowded Karachi neighborhood. There he must overcome the obstacles, both spiritual and physical, to achieve his goals. The shoots were filmed in Karachi. Rimal Ali is a Pakistani transgender model and has done an item number in this film.

The song “Yunhi Rastay Mai” lyrics are written by Piyush Mishra while its music is composed by Shuja Haider and sung by Ali Sethi and Aima Baig.

 

+ Main Cast

  1. Sheheryar Munawar as Tipu
  2. Mahira Khan as Neeli
  3. Javed Sheikh as Dwarka Prasad
  4. Amna Ilyas as Ghazala
  5. Mira Sethi as Princess Sonu

 

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+ Supporting Cast

  1. Hina Dilpazeer as Tipu’s Mother
  2. Aamir Qureshi as Naseer Kankatta
  3. Adnan Shah Tipu as Burger Wadera
  4. Beo Rana Zafar as Pino
  5. Danish Maqsood as Tingu Master

 

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+ Minor Cast

  1. Fareeha Jabeen as Women’s Rights Co-leader
  2. Salahuddin Tunio as Mob Boss
  3. Rimal Ali as Club Dancer
  4. Ayesha Omer as Girl at Cafe (Cameo)
  5. Imran Aslam as Goon

 

 + Plot

Tipu has accepted a challenge to find his true love in seven days and become a womanizer before he has to live his life as a slave to an evil jinn’s world for all eternity.

 

 

+ High Points

i – Mahira Khan plays as Neeli, a shy relative, childhood friend who is in love with Tipu and wants his attention on her at all times. We as audience and critics know how well Mahira performs and expect a great performance from her at least. She yet again wins audience hearts with her cute, innocent lovable character.

ii – Beo Rana Zafar as Pino performed well once more on big screen. Though her role was small but made the audiences’ laugh. Her previous praise worthy performance was in Cake (2018), in the role of a mother. Other Honorable Mentions: Amna Ilyas, Javed Sheikh, Aamir Qureshi and Danish Maqsood.

iii – Song, Yunhi Rastay Mai is the only one I enjoyed listening to.

iv – Visual effect department did an amazing work, made the scenes of jinn believable.

v – The direction of photography is beautifully shot, as expected from Rana sb. The lighting and its colors did a swell job, in giving us a visual treat.

vi – Production design and sets were of high quality.

 

 

 

+ Low Points

i – It is far worse than any super natural fantasy comic film you could come up with. It means that you should avoid it watching at all cost. Anyone with right mind would never consider watching this crap especially at big screen.

ii – The character transformation from zero to hero by just changing clothes and hairstyle. The sympathizers may disagree and argue that Tipu was gradually changing with time but that was not the case. He suddenly has ‘Balls of Steel’ while facing jinn inside his world. What I didn’t understand of this scene particularly is that, jinn lives inside the bottle and when Tipu face him inside the bottle (somehow), he has the same bottle in his hand too. Wha-? How is this possible? Maybe perhaps this is a Buffoonish comedy where logic doesn’t matter? Or maybe this is one of his (unlimited) dreams shown in the film.

iii – The film dragged so much that many times I gave serious thought to leave the cinema hall but the only reason I stayed behind was that I may not be able to give right review by watching incomplete picture.

iv – Being comic in the start, the film turns out to be a very dramatic in the end.

 

 

+ Overall

7 Din Mohabbat In is a big budgeted, high star power trash film with mediocre story, lack of genuine jokes and an abomination to your tolerance level.

 

 

Rate: 2.0 out of 5 stars

 

Tele-Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Vicky’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani TV film, ‘Vicky’ (2016); Associate Produced by Zoobia Anwar and Onaissa Rizwani.

 
+ Crew
I. Directed & Executive Produced by Taha Bin Karim
II. Cinematography by Shajee Hasan
III. Written by Ali Abbas Naqvi & Ziad Azad
IV. Music by Zahid Qureshi
V. Edited by Saad Abbas
VI. Produced by Shahriyar Ali Soomro

 

+Note
There are several minor supporting roles while some of them played by Zeeshan Haider (thesis advisor), Sameena Nazir and Aamir Naqvi. Its Assistant Directors are Zoobia Anwar, Ali Raza Soomro & Mustafain Haider while it’s Production Designer is Ali Raza Soomro.

 

 
+ Main Cast

  1. Nazr Ul Hasan as Yaqoob Sergeant
  2. Muhammad Ahsan as Vicky
  3. Shabana Hasan as Bela
  4. Shajee Hasan as Anjum
  5. Anas Yasin as Saim

 

+ Plot
It is about Vicky, a hot-headed young lad who is troubled by his poor relationship with his brother and due to lack of resources. The only thing he has with him is Bela, who is the light of his dull life. However nothing remains the same as Bela chooses a ‘Comfortable’ life over him.

 

+ High Points
i – Nazar-ul-Hasan played the role of Yaqoob very well. It terrified the audience with his devilish stare, his evil behavior with his ‘Loved Ones’ and use of his illegal authority during the day time as traffic police officer. Other Honorable Mentions: Muhammad Ahsan, Shajee Hasan and Shabana Hasan.

ii – The story was appealing to watch.

iii – The characters of Yaqoob and Vicky were well written.

iv – The art direction and locations were well chosen.

v – The cinematography especially of the bold scenes was executed cleverly.

vi – The screenplay is adequately written.

vii – The direction is above average.

viii – The ending has a good twist.

 

 

+ Low Points
i – Except for one character, there is absolutely no character shift of anyone else in the film.

ii – The clichés could had been avoided regarding Vicky and Bela’s romantic sea view scenes and Bela’s mom not listening to her daughter. This is an overused technique and shots that been taken by usually young, inexperienced film makers.

iii – Anjum’s character seemed very interesting. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much of his character development.

iv – The suffering of the victim/s were rarely shown. Their continuous struggle would have made a great impact on the characters and viewers alike.

v – Yaqoob’s voice seemed unnatural to the character that Nazar-ul-Hasan played.

vi – It was shocking to see that how causally Vicky especially Bela took the fact that now since Vicky is here, she should apply some makeup or make tea before leaving the house of the RAPIST! WTH! Are you serious?

vii – Throughout the film, there were several shock treatments while many plot holes were left unanswered. Such as did the neighbors do something about of the Yaqoob’s activities? Were the Yaqoob’s activities happening inside his house were ever discovered? Did Bela’s parents ever found out of her condition in groom’s house? Did Vicky ever find good, steady life? Did Bela ever confront her ‘To Be’ husband? Did the police ever catch Vicky?

viii – Is it possible to someone to get married without even once checking out the groom’s home or do some research before giving away your daughter just like that to groom’s family? It’s not like the girl was disfigured nor had lack of wedding proposals? The certain time period which takes place between during the days of marriage but here everything happened so quickly, as if only needed approval for court marriage certificate.

ix – When Vicky is told from what address he could pick his bike from whose house, at that time he would surely know who Yaqoob really is. But no acknowledgement is shown on Vicky’s face. It means either Vicky already knew who Yaqoob is and this was a movie mistake or it was intentionally kept that way and let the ending reveal it on its own.

 

 

+ Overall
Finding the emotional story within the drama, director Taha Bin Karim, enigmatic Nazar-ul-Hasan and intriguing Muhammad Ahsan craft brings a satisfying bitter twist to Vicky.

 
Rate: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Short Films & Documentaries

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Taqseem’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani Short Film, ‘Taqseem’ (2016) aka [Divide]. The Assistant Director is Hijab Abbasi while it is Executive Produced by Abis Zaidi.

 

+ Crew
I.  Screenplay, Directed & Produced by Seraj Us Salikin.
II. Cinematography by Jamil Alvi.
III. Editing by Qazi Abdul Moiz.
IV. Production Design by Taha Zaidi.
V. Co-Produced by Zohaib Hassan, Khazina Asad and Hassan Zafar.

 

+ Note
Taqseem is a short story  written by Saadat Hasan Manto. This film has been selected in Tuzla Film Festival, Bucharest Cine-shortcut while it won in the category of Best Short Film in Pakistan Calling. The man cut in half is NOT Visual Effects. It is actually the combined efforts of Production Designer and Special Effects Make-Up by Danial Shahzad Khan which did the trick.

 

+ Full Cast
1. Haris Khan as Thug #1
2. Danish Ahmed as Thug #2
3. Tariq Guddu as (uncredited)

 

+ Plot

At the time of partition of Pakistan & India, in the year of 1947 at Lahore’s [unknown area] abandoned apartment; two Muslim thugs steal an enormous trunk after a train massacre. Once they have the trunk to themselves, the question now is who gets the most of its share?

 

+ High Points
i – Haris Khan’s performance as one of the thug is really a praise worthy one. No wonder he won the best actor award at Pakistan Calling for this film.

ii – The production design and its location according to its content is very convincing for the viewers.

iii – The cinematography by Jamil Alvi is propounding, well established with the story further helps in as it intensifies with the performances.

iv – The projects of the director Seraj Us Salikin are always a delight to watch and be entertained by. This one is another addition to his great works.

v – The special effects make-up is very realistic.

vi – A simple story which says about greed than brotherhood.

 

+ Low Points
i – It would be hard to follow the film if there were no English subtitles attached to it. The spoken language which is used is the mixture of Punjabi – Urdu languages.

 

+ Overall
Taqseem is like a tragic thought-provoking melody.

 

Rate: 4.50 out of 5 stars

 

Short Films & Documentaries

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Manzil’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on a Pakistani short film, ‘Manzil’ (2016). The Production House is Laal Series.

 

+ Crew

  1. Edited & Directed by Hassan Ali Effendi
  2. Director of Photography is Mariam I Desai
  3. Written & Produced by Natasha Beyg

 

+ Note

Manzil is a tribute to our (Pakistan) national heroes. It shows the hardship and sacrifices that they (soldiers) have to make (such as giving up their comfort, happy life) in order to defend their homeland. This film reminded me of Hollywood classic film ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (1930) however, ‘Manzil”s story is not unique; very parallel themes are already used in many war films.

Rouhan is SZABIST film graduate and a very good actor while Asad Zaman is a model turned actor.

 

 

+ Full Cast

  • Mohammad Rouhan Siddiqui as Soldier #1
  • Asad Zaman Khan as Soldier #2

 

 

+ Plot

During the phase of war, one of the soldiers is injured while the other one is by his side at the battlefield. They talk on cherish memories to ease up the stress of war.

 

 

+ High Points

i – The costume designing looked authentic.

ii – Performance by Asad Zaman was very satisfactory.

 

+ Low Points

i – Absurd level of editing. When the credits start rolling in, saw the editor’s name, I realized that he is also the director of this short film. Sir jee, I want to give a salute to you. Does one not know that during a conversation scene between the two lead actors there is NO need of Master shots? Unless it is absolute necessary! WHY would they be inserted during those scenes? A good director would instantly stop or remove those shots during the edit process. But since the editor and the director were same person, then this is what we got. Not only that there was no need of Master shots during the conversation scene, in Close Medium Shots we see the head movement of the characters are in other direction while in Master shots its going elsewhere… which is itself a continuity issue. Plus, in Master Shot, the lighting totally differs from the close medium shots that we have. In close medium shots, the lighting is bluish with fog while in Master Shot there is no such light or fog.

ii – The other thing which was disappointment to me was Rouhan’s acting. This guy really performs well in almost all the films that I have ever watched, but here… it didn’t add up.

iii – Nevertheless, the film makers / students alike know that if a person, who is a good actor, usually performs well yet does not give in the way he should in a project then who is to be held responsible for that? That person can only be the director. If an actor is not performing well or the way he should and the actor cannot realize it, well at least we have the director… he is not blind, he can see that. The director should keep taking re-takes TILL the actor delivers as the script requires. So, basically, we have bad direction call and poor editing skills from the very same person.

iv – And as for the credits, mention the character an actor/actress is playing. The viewers would like to know. In addition, give TIME of few seconds for the viewer to read the film credits at ease. It felt like as if your team is not interested for the viewers to know who did what in the film. In this case, I can understand why.

v – I read people comments on the film, where one said ‘I felt like crying’ and my response was ‘Where did you come from? The world of “Teletubbies”‘? Yes, the film does have emotional note, but crying? Please!

 
+ Overall

Bad editing & directorial calls, made Manzil to be a forgettable film.

 

Rate: 2.0 out of 5 stars

 

Short Films & Documentaries

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Jeewan Hathi’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on a Pakistani Short Film, ‘Jeewan Hathi’ aka The Elephant in the Room (2016). The Production House is Matteela Films.

 

+ Crew

  • Directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi
  • Director of Photography by Rana Kamran
  • Written by Faseeh Bari Khan
  • Edited by Armaghan Hasan
  • Produced by Shailja Kejriwal and Mazhar Zaidi

+ Note

These directors previous work was ‘Zinda Bhaq’ (2013). Jeewan Hathi was first screened at London Indian Film Festival as well. There was a hidden reference of the children’s story i.e. the race between turtle and the rabbit.

Although the full-length time is of 60 minutes but the film ended near 50 minutes or so. There were minor role performances by Jahangir Khan, Hammad Siddiq and Ali Abbas Naqvi.

 
+ Main Cast

  1. Fawad Khan as Husband
  2. Kiran Tabeir as Wife
  3. Hina Dilpazir as Show Host
  4. Saife Hasan as Director
  5. Naseeruddin Shah as Producer
  6. Adnan Jaffar as Competitor #1
  7. Samiya Mumtaz as Competitor #2
  8. Nazar Ul Hasan as Assistant Director
  9. Nimra Bucha as Guest

 
+ Plot

It centers on a lower-class couple, of a husband and wife. The wife dreams of having bigger inches LED TV at their home but the limited source of income does not fulfill this reality. One day she is watching a new morning show ‘Jeevan Hathi’ advertisement with the show’s host. The first two couples if selected would appear in the show for ‘Questions & Answers’ session related their love relationship to see which couple is the closest to each other. And the winners would be awarded with a 16″ LED TV as a bumper prize.

 
+ High Points

i – The lead actors i.e. Fawad Khan and Kiran Tabeir performances are very promising. Fawad who is considered one of the elite actors from NAPA, he has exceeded the audience expectations with his most convincing performance. On the other hand, Kiran has surprised us all. We as an audience had no idea that how well she would perform in this film. Marvelous, I tell you. I do believe that Fawad & Kiran would be very soon offered much bigger roles of different films and projects due to their excellent performances.

ii – The production design is good and eye catchy.

iii – As Nazar Ul Hasan is also one of the elite stars from NAPA, his performance was good but not great. However, due to his limited role therefore it’s acceptable and in good books.

iv – The premise of the film was very entertaining. Instead of short film, this story could have made a proper feature length film of almost 2 hours or so.

v – Saife Hasan acting was superb. It was a good decision to have him on board.

vi – The Act I and Act III were the most interesting. In the Act III, the intensity between Fawad and Kiran was enjoyable and splendidly handled.

vii – Ali Abbas Naqvi performance gave the best in the minor role.

 

+ Low Points

i – There is no as such role of Naseeruddin Shah. His inclusion in the film is wasted. Other stars, such as Samiya Mumtaz, Adnan Jaffar characters were given no back story. Adnan’s performance was not properly utilized. His character was doing such illogical actions which made ‘No Head or Tails’ (long before he gets drunk). During the film length, there are objects present in certain scenes or activities being done where one would wonder that Why is it here? Why would anyone do this? What is the motive behind it?

ii – The cinematography style suddenly changes during the mid-act where no reason is given. It’s such a change where even a person from general public can pin point it.

iii – There are some random jokes and intense activities are building up where there are absolutely no consequences are shown due to it; as if nothing actually happened.

iv – We as an audience did not cared about anyone except for two main lead characters of Fawad and Kiran. So, whatever was happening with other characters, there was no empathy or sympathy attached by the viewers.

v – The script (screen play) was mediocre. The dialogues of certain characters are unrealistic and irrelevant.

vi – Hina Dilpazir performance on several scenes was ‘Over the Top’.

vii – The Act II where the characters of Adnan and Samiya have sudden change, the punch lines were written in such a way whereas the film is forcing the audience to laugh either on their absurd dialogues or on these two characters’ weird actions.

viii – For me the Act II was the weakest scripted, performed and directed.

ix – A scene between Fawad and Jahangir, the frame of the shot kept cutting off Jahangir’s half face as the actors are talking to each other side by side.

x – As the intensity is building up, it raising upwards, so much happening, it’s CLIMBING AT THE PEAK AND… Then we have an abrupt end. Wha…? The audience could not believe. Most of them kept sitting and staring at the screen as the credits started to roll. When I started walking towards the exit, someone asked ‘Haiii… kya khatam hogai? (Did it just end?)

xi – Most of the people in the audience did not know that this film is actually a short film where they paid an actual cinema ticket price to watch at big screen. After the ending, as the audience started to walk by the exit — a guy asked me ‘What the hell was that?’ (Referring to length time of the film)

xii – The trailer of this film was very impressive and created a lot of interest to go and watch the film at the cinema. However, the film has several ups and downs like a bumpy ride. Keep it in mind that this is a short film, where the film at the cinema would be over very soon and that this film is for ADULT audience only. It’s up to you whether you want to go and watch the film or not.

xiii – It’s fair to be honest. If you are not expecting much from the film then you might like it. The story telling needs to improve and so does the script. I hope that next time they release it in feature length film.

 

+ Overall

A lot of things could have happened in Jeewan Hathi but did not which is why you would be left unsatisfied and disappointed.

Rate: 2.50 out of 5 stars

 

Short Films & Documentaries

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Chal Nikal’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on a Pakistani Short film, ‘Chal Nikal’ (2016). Its Production is by SZABIST as this is a thesis film.

 

+ Crew

  • Edited, Written & Directed by Shahzeb Hussain
  • Cinematography by Nabil Hasan and Rafay Israr

 

+ Note

Chal Nikal is a comedy drama based on a loner adult guy and his (accidental) friendship with the street kid in order to find his (loner) beloved wrist watch. The story is simple and down to earth. This film reminded me of silent film ‘The Kid’ (1921) of legendary Charlie Chaplin.

Asad Ullah Chattha is a BS Media student of Iqra University. He also happens to be the CEO of ‘One Penny Production’. Hakim Khan is a non-professional actor. Due to his long-time passion in acting and close friendship with the director, ended up to play one of the main roles. The director, Shahzeb Hussain himself plays a strong supporting role as the Pawn dealer in the film while is a BMS graduate.

 

+ Main Cast

  • Asad Ullah Chattha as Ali
  • Hakim Khan as Sheroo
  • Shahzeb Hussain as Pawn Dealer

 

 

+ Plot

One day, Ali gets bummed into Sheroo (petty thief) who steals his antique broken watch from him. After selling the watch to a pawn dealer, Ali is forced to make a deal with him to help him to get his watch back in return of a reward.

 

+ High Points

i. I was mildly entertained by the film.

ii. The cinematography is wonderful. The interior lighting of the bus especially is very smartly controlled.

iii. The performances by Asad & Hakim were soundly played off.

iv. Although having no prior experience as an actor, Hakim performed very professionally.

v. The script, dialogues are funny at a lighter note.

vi. The character as ‘Tiny Voice Man’, played by Omer Owais Akram was uproarious.

vii. Shahzeb’s acting seemed convivial and lively. His role was delightful to watch.

viii. Surprising cameo appearance by Arman Tejani, another good actor. His character was interesting to watch.

+ Low Points

i. The subtitles were missing in the film.

ii. There was no need of mentioning ‘Chapters’ in the film.

iii. The film seemed a bit dry in some parts. Since the story was simple, the viewers did not have much expectation from it.

iv. There was lack of good supportive characters other than of Shahzeb’s.

v. A very predictable ending.

 

+ Overall

In the absence of a few more innovative jokes, unpredictability and more than one strong supportive role, Chal Nikal could have been much more interesting to watch.

Rate: 3.0 out of 5 stars

 

Short Films & Documentaries

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Blame It or Claim It!’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on a Pakistani short documentary, ‘Blame It or Claim It!’ (2016). The Production of SZABIST was used as it is a student thesis film in the shape of short documentary.

 

+ Crew

  1. Edited & Directed by Fatima Yousuf Shaikh
  2. Director of Photography & Co-Edited by Rahim Aziz Sajwani
  3. Produced by Small Crew Films

 

+ Note

Blame It or Claim It! tells their side of the story (Doctors) and discuss the difficult position that they are stuck with in between the victim’s heir and police. Then there’s small talk regarding laws on the subject matter with legal advisor. As the documentary moves forward, we see what happens if a doctor does treat a patient in such state. There is also police side of the story who has to deal with these incidents.

We get to introduce to two families, who are interviewed for losing their loved ones under such extreme circumstances. They stories are tragic and heart breaking to watch.

This short documentary engages the audience with such past cases and present situation at the civil hospitals in comparison with the private ones.

 

+ Full Cast (Actual people interviewed with)

  1. Aaly Hassan as Chief Medical Officer
  2. Summaiya as Police Sergeant MLO
  3. Nighat as In-charge Civil ER
  4. Numerous Staff of Civil Hospital Management
  5. ZK Arif as Legal Advisor, Advocate High Court
  6. Nisar Ali Shah as Medico Legal Officer Civil
  7. Irshad Karim as Police In-charge Investigation

 

+ Plot

It is based on the negligence by the doctors at the time of emergency protocols for those cases mainly car accidents, homicide, unnatural mishaps etc. It shows to what a haunting experience it is for those who have been the victims themselves, victim’s immediate family and those who have no reference, support of doctor or police or lawyer in such dire need.

 
+ High Points

i – It is the intense bond between the documentary content and the audience.

ii – The documentary has highlighted a POWERFUL subject which is still a HORRIFYING exposure who ever goes through it.

iii – The interviews taken by the two unfortunate families were heart breaking, petrifying accounts to listen to.

iv – The camera work was taken care of (almost) perfectly well.

v – Having advocate, legal advisor, MLO, Civil In-charge, several doctors, In-charge Investigation… their contributions to this documentary would be proved as most helpful to audience and to perhaps our govt who someday make a strict law and followed it or face a legal case be taken (with quick result) against those who prevent the medical treatment to such victims.

vi – I am glad how this project has turned out to be. One can see that the effort you and your team have poured in and have done a fantastic work here.

 
+ Low Points

i – There is no inclusion of English & Urdu subtitles for both the different versions. Some parts of the documentary are in Urdu language while mostly spoken English. Yet subtitles are basic requirement.

ii – The man who sat with Abreera’s parents, mention his name & relationship too. Let the viewers know, who the person is during his time sharing his views. Once a certain person’s name (with position) is mentioned, no need to do it the second time.

iii – Graphic slides, where the name of the location, date, time & day is mentioned; improvise it with better fonts that give a professional look when it is used for screening purpose.

iv – Include real life sounds of recorded car accidents, car brakes, ambulance siren in the documentary during the medical documents or graphic slides are shown on screen.

v – Lastly the credits of the crew behind its making, is either to be mentioned in the start of documentary or in the end. Here, most of the credits are shown in both places.

 

+ Overall

Truly hope that through Blame It or Claim It! we do make a difference and bring betterment to our nation. Good Job!

 

Rate: 4.25 out of 5 stars

 

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Rangoon’ (2017)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Bollywood Action-Drama feature length film, ‘Rangoon’ (2017) [Former Capital of Burma]. The Production Houses are Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, VB Pictures and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

 

+ Crew

  1. Written, Music, Directed & Produced by Vishal Bhardwaj
  2. Co-Written by Matthew Robbins and Sabrina Dhawan
  3. Cinematography by Pankaj Kumar
  4. Edited by Aalaap Majgavkar
  5. Co-Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

 

+Note

The project is a period film set during World War II (1939-1945) with the leading actress supposedly playing a character based on the life and times of Mary Ann Evans aka Fearless Nadia, Bollywood’s first original stunt-woman still remembered for her fiery role in the movie ‘Hunterwali’.

Rangoon is inspired by ‘English Patient’ (1996), while some scenes by ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (1998) and ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979).

Although this film was viewed for Adults only but still there were several scenes which were opted out by our censor board that I believe was totally unnecessary. Well, first of all the viewers are ADULTS ONLY and secondly those were just kissing scenes. What’s the BIG deal about it? No sexual scenes or references or nudity or political references or hateful content were made / shown in them.

 

+ Main Cast

  1. Kangana Ranaut as Miss Julia
  2. Saif Ali Khan as Rustom “Rusi” Billimoria
  3. Shahid Kapoor as Jamadar Nawab Malik
  4. Richard McCabe as Major General Harding
  5. Satoru Kawaguchi as Hiromichi
  6. Surendra Pal as Maharaja
  7. Alex Avery as Major Williams

 

+ Plot

During the year 1943 as the world is about to witness ‘World War II’, the Indian National Army (INA), Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and British Indian Army (BIA) are in combat with each other. During the trip, Jamadar Nawab Malik is assigned to bodyguard Miss Julia, a young reputable, fame daring film actress. Miss Julia happens to be love interest and mistress of Rustom “Rusi” Billimoria who is one of the leading film directors in British India.

 

+ High Points

i – Kangana Ranaut performance is very good while Richard McCabe as Major General Harding performed great in the supporting role. Other Honorable Mentions: Shahid Kapoor.

ii – There are some worthy, symbolic and in-depth meaning dialogues were spoken in the film.

iii – The art direction in most scenes is well established and of first-rate quality.

iv – The costume design has done a worthy job.

 

 

+ Low Points

i – The film’s first half, where the two main characters are isolated till they are found was totally unnecessary for the film. There was no need for these scenes. It didn’t help the film to progress as such. Instead they could have shown their character shift while their long stays with the BIA, far away from home.

ii – BTW the film’s story is hardly of one hour whereas the film full time length is of 02 hours and 47 minutes. It means that the entire film is stretched till they possibly could.

iii – The way two lead characters are carrying out their secret love affair, anyone can easily notice this. But no one notices this including the army personnel and her to be husband until much later in the film.

iv – When one of the characters is presumed dead by the BIA but later on we get to know that that person has survived, no one in the army investigates how this is possible and where he was all this time?

v – After going from near death experiences (several times), yet in just couple of days Miss Julia starts doing singing, dance shows. In reality that person becomes sober due to such trauma and would refuse to work for several weeks if not months.

vi – If a well reputed actress is engaged and to be married soon, will she or her to be husband (director) would allow her to sing and dance shamelessly in front of army personnel even if it is done to boast up their morale to fight for their country? In Hollywood’s classic war film ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1979), several playmates are called in to sing and dance in front of their army for same above reason. Vishal Bhardwaj clearly failed to understand the difference between these two film characters.

vii – Honestly, I had no good expectations from Saif’s performance but since the director was Vishal Bhardwaj; then yes, I changed my mind and expected his performance to be somewhat similar he gave in the Bollywood film ‘Omkara’ (2006). Unfortunately, here it was not so. Saif Ali Khan’s performance is weak and disappointing.

viii – There are so many movie mistakes in the film such as during the mud scene, where the two lead stars are slightly drunk and having fun. We know well that experienced army personnel have muscular physique and by hitting softly on their leg, would not make fall down (at least not so easily). But he does fall several times. And in the same scene, both of these characters are completely covered in mud but in the very next scene we are shown that one of character’s clothes and slightly face is in little bit of mud otherwise almost completely clean.

ix – Not even once does the film mentions that Miss Julia is an expert in knife throwing but in a song,  we suddenly showed that she is one. However, the problem does not end here. You see, in much later in the film she feel the urge to rescue her lover and literally runs on top of running train while dismantling up to 8 – 10 army personnel in able to reach to the Major’s room and disarm him too. This entire scene may have happened if Miss Julia was either an elite commando or that this was just a dream sequence.

x – Shahid Kapoor’s character was written very limited (intentionally), but if Shahid was given the chance, he would have performed even better than Kangana.

xi – After the interval, the film became so predictable that viewers started guessing the film’s next move / scenes.

xii – To show a mole / traitor in the army, it would have been better if that secret was exposed to the main character and audience at the same time. Here the audience already knew who that ‘Traitor’ was.

xiii – No contact of the ‘Traitor’ is shown with his/her base to know and understand fully his/her tasks and intentions properly.

xiv – The visual effects of this film are as cool as of ‘B’ grade TV film.

xv – After watching this film, you can make a personal top 10 list of WTF moments. The entire film is so unrealistic, even for the standards of Bollywood film making. In comparison to South Indian films, one does expect highly unrealistic and illogical scenes in their films but not in a Bollywood film, (at least not like these) whose director is famous for directing wonderful films like ‘Haider’ (2014) and ‘Omkara’ (2006).

xvi – In its ending, most of the audience was laughing out so loudly where some of them had to cover their mouths. The film turned out to be a huge comedy for the viewers. Besides the joke, there was a minor reference in the first half of the film regarding of the main character’s stunt that he/she performs in the end. But, please! This CAN NOT happen in real life or in a given situation as it is shown in the film. But since so many illogical and impractical things were happening throughout the film therefore this scene would just be a cherry on a pie.

+ Overall

Rangoon is a shameful entry by the fame director whose work we usually look forward to.

 

Rate: 0.5 out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Mom’ (2017)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Bollywood crime thriller feature length film, ‘Mom’ (2017). The Production Houses are MAD Films and Third Eye Pictures while its Distributors are Zee Studio and Sridevi Productions.

 

+ Crew

  1. Written & Directed by Ravi Udyawar
  2. Cinematography by Anay Goswamy
  3. Co-Written by Girish Kohli (Screenplay & Story) & Kona Venkat Rao (Story)
  4. Edited by Monisha R. Baldawa
  5. Produced by Boney Kapoor, Sunil Manchanda, Naresh Agarwal, Mukesh Talreja & Gautam Jain

 

+Note

It is a rape-revenge thriller film. This film is inspired by Hollywood fame film ‘Eye for an Eye’ (1996) where Sally Field who plays the mom’s role in as protagonist. The first remake by Bollywood was ‘Dhusman’ (1998) of Kajol Devgan playing a double role.

It was announced in early 2016 that Sridevi would be starring next in Boney Kapoor’s woman-centric home-production titled Mom to be directed by Ravi Udyawar. Nawazuddin Siddiqui was cast in an important role in the film while the actor revealed that it was a dream, come true for him to work with Sridevi.

The Music is composed by AR Rahman. Mom marked Sridevi’s 300th film appearance.

 

+ Main Cast

  1. Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal
  2. Sajal Ali as Arya
  3. Abhimanyu Singh as Jagan
  4. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Daya Shankar Kapoor / DK
  5. Akshaye Khanna as Mathew Francis

 

xxxxxxxxx

 

+ Supportive Cast

  1. Vikas Verma as Charles Diwan
  2. Adarsh Gourav as Mohit
  3. Adnan Siddiqui as Anand
  4. Pitobash as Baburam

 

+ Plot

Devki Sabarwal (mother) acts as a vigilante, who sets out to avenge her daughter’s rapists.

 

+ High Points

i – Sridevi as Devki Sabarwal (mother’s role). After a long time, we as audience welcome her with love and support to see her give ‘A’ graded performance on big screen. She is truly a remarkable actress where the time stand stills when she is giving her performance. In fact, any praises would fall short on playing out her delicate, emotional character.

The key scene to watch her performance of top notch is when she visits the hospital and is informed of sexual assault of her daughter.

ii – Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a low earning, honest private detective. Such a wonderful actor he is where everyone in the audience anticipated him to perform up to their expectations which he did brilliantly. His off / on humor punch lines made people laugh all of a sudden. The audience simply loved to watch his scenes with keen interest.

iii – Able to shoot bold scenes without showing vulgarity; kept at bay for the people to use their imagination.

iv – The consequences after committing a heinous crime that is raping someone and to see the trauma, how the victim goes through it especially the victim’s family tries to cope up with the society they live in without getting any justice — we as audience see the behavior and the temperament of the victim in such cases and imagine it as to what if to be in their place.

v – Some of the dialogues are very well said, well written. Such as:

 

Devki: ‘DK shb, hur jaga khuda nahi hotha hai’

DK    : ‘Ha, jubi to usne Maa di hai’

Or

Arya: Usne kaha ‘Apni Maa ko bulaa’!

Or

DK: ‘Mard? Tu mard thori hai. Mard rape nahi khartha hai… Suaar khartha hai’.

 

+ Low Points

i – The story is actually very simple, rape-revenge thriller film. The suspense is quite low as the film is very straight forward with predictable outcomes, (mostly). I believe that if the film maker is able to achieve the primary objectives from his film then he could focus on achieving the secondary objectives as inserting bigger twists in a plot like this.

ii – A number of unconvincing scenes such as Devki so easily entering people homes, apartments to do her mischievous work while the victim is depending on his CCTV as only security option. She able to visit the patient at the hospital whereas no police / security is available outside the room as this is on-going police case.

iii – Its ending gave a typical Bollywood signature. All this time Mathew is looking for hard evidence to arrest the vigilante but now everything suddenly changes for him. Instead, now he encourages the culprit to … R-E-A-L-L-Y?!

iv – No / hardly any proper vocal songs available in the film.

 

+ Overall

At the start of the film, Mom is very uncomfortable to watch as it tends to be that way but then we see the consequences of committing such an act of evil in a desperate attempt with perfect performances, especially Sridevi and Nawazuddin who melted themselves entirely into their characters… physically and emotionally.

 

Rate: 3.50 out of 5 stars

 

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ (2016)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Hollywood Epic Space Opera feature length film, ‘Rogue One’ (2016). The Production House is Lucas film Ltd while it is Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

+ Crew
I. Directed by Gareth Edwards
II. Cinematography by Greig Fraser
III. Screenplay by Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy
IV. Edited by John Gilroy, Colin Goudie & Jabez Olssen
V. Produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur & Simon Emanuel

+Note
Jimmy Smits, Genevieve O’Reilly, and Anthony Daniels reprise their roles from previous films as Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and C-3PO. Darth Vader physically portrayed by Spencer Wilding & Daniel Naprous while its voice done by James Earl Jones. Guy Henry physically played as Grand Moff Tarkin while CGI special effects are used to replicate the likenesses of Peter Cushing.

The story is written by John Knoll & Gary Whitta and the music is composed by Michael Giacchino (Original Star Wars themes composed by John Williams).

 

+ Main Cast

  1. Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso
  2. Diego Luna as Cassian Andor
  3. Ben Mendelssohn as Orson Krennic
  4. Donnie Yen as ChirrutÎmwe
  5. Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera
  6. Alan Tudyk as K-2SO
  7. Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook
  8. Jiang Wen as Baze Malbus
  9. Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso

+ Plot
The Rebel Alliance sends their trustworthy, efficient Cassian Andor (Rebel Alliance Intelligence Officer) with unreliable Jyn Erso, the daughter of the unwilling designer of the Galactic Empire’s super weapon, the Death Star, and her quest to retrieve his plans for destroying it.

+ High Points
i – Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso and Ben Mendelssohn as Orson Krennic are the real stars of this film. They have made a mark in the hearts of the viewers and fans alike. Ben Mendelssohn who appeared in TDKR as business tycoon nemesis of Bruce Wayne, here yet again delivered a spectacular performance as menacing shrewd lead villain in this film. Other Honorable Mentions: Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, Guy Henry (physical) as Grand Moff Tarkin and Spencer Wilding, Daniel Naprous (both physical) & James Earl Jones (voice) as Darth Vader.

ii – CGI special effects that are used to replicate the likenesses of Peter Cushing & (Special Easter Egg) are so realistic that you would almost believe that the film has some kind of a time machine that brought back the real faces of the stars from the original episodes.

iii – The overall visual effects and sound mixing / design throughout the film, is one of the best of this year’s films.

iv – The WRATH of Darth Vader! His scenes are absolutely awesome to watch, in fact more superior to the ones of the lead character of this film; and simply Why Not? After all this is THE Darth Vader we are talking about here! The director kept his best scene at the last of the film where I can assure you that you would NOT be disappointed!

v – There are so many Easter eggs in this film where some of them were really SURPRISING for me. Though I would NOT give away the spoilers but I do admit that I was very PLEASED to see them. If you are really a STAR WARS fan who have watched their episodes many times already (and know its ‘In & Outs’) then yes you would EASILY recognize these few seconds of Easter eggs that be shown to you.

+ Low Points
i – Just for your knowledge, there is no starting title crawl shown before the film actually begins nor duel of light sabers or appearances by Jedi Knights / Masters. This film is based on the event between episode III & IV. So it was hard for us viewers to overcome with this fact even if you knew this beforehand.

ii – Since this film is a standalone story with no sequels attached to it, which is why the supporting characters were hard to be connected with the viewers’ interest.

iii – Some people thought we might able to see more of Darth Vader scenes where in actual were quite few.

iv – Naturally the film would not have met expectations with the episodes’ saga. Those people were mostly disappointed who had high expectations from this film.

+ Overall
Star Wars’s latest installment is not exactly the one that audience are looking for, however Star Wars: Rogue One is still a warm welcome to the long running epic franchise.

Rate: 3.50 out of 5 stars