No Rating Movie Review

Watching Ranbir Kapoor on the big screen after four years is in itself good enough a bait to draw audiences back into theatres. But Shamshera isn't just riding on its protagonist's shoulders. It has all the elements needed to make a mass masala entertainer hit the right chord. It has action, emotions, well-written characters, and a solid backstory. A warrior lower-caste tribe called Khameerans led by Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor) is imprisoned in a fictitious city of Kaza. They are enslaved and tortured by a ruthless authoritarian general Shuddh Singh (Sanjay Dutt), who looks down upon them and tells a British officer: Jaanwar hai, gand toh machayega hi (These are animals, will pollute). After a lot of humiliation and physical assault, the tribe loses leader in his quest to free his people and that's where a fresh chapter starts. 25 years later, we are introduced to Balli (Shamshera's son) who looks exactly like this father. When Balli learns the truth about his father's death and how his tribe has suffered, he takes over Shamshera's mantle and begins a new fight for the freedom of his people and their self-respect, and avenge his father's death.

With aviation dramas, it’s the thrill factor and visual spectacle that the director creates, that promise an edge-of-the-seat experience. Ajay Devgn’s latest directorial, Runway 34 lands perfectly in these departments. The film is inspired by true events from 2015 when a Doha to Kochi flight had a narrow escape after facing difficulties to land at the airport due to bad weather and low visibility. However, in many places, you’d also notice several resemblances to Hollywood films like Sully and Flight. Yet, Runway 34 succeeds as a gripping story and a great cinematic experience. The story revolves around Captain Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn) and first officer Tanya Albuquerque (Rakul Preet Singh), who face the wrath of an investigation and interrogation by Narayan Vedant (Amitabh Bachchan) following a May Day call they make before landing an aircraft in turbulent conditions and risking the lives of 150 passengers. Whether or not the pilots would come out clean and justify their decision is what forms the crux of the story. Runway 34 keeps you engrossed and makes you feel the turbulence while you’re seated comfortably. It’s edgy, fast-paced, engaging, and serves you a big-screen cinematic experience that won’t disappoint.

Lazy writing, poor execution and ridiculously stylized characters — Heropanti 2 goes from bad to worse. A sequel to Tiger’s debut film Heropanti (2014), this one is directed by Ahmed Khan, who also collaborated with Tiger for Baaghi 2 and Baaghi 3. It seems Khan is in a rut and isn’t even letting Tiger come out of the stories that don’t let him grow. Heropanti 2 is the story of a self-styled magician Laila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who teams up with a cyber genius and a hacker Babloo Ranawat (Tiger) to scam people via video games, hack their data and bank details, and rip them off their hard-earned money. In the process, Babloo gets romantically involved with Laila’s sister Inaaya (Tara Sutaria), who, for the longest time remains oblivious to his brother or boyfriend’s ill intentions. What happens when Inaaya finds the truth? What happens when the good guy Babloo turns bad and then again gets on a journey to become a good guy, is what the 2-hour-30-minute film takes you through. Heropanti 2 is extremely loud, over-the-top, illogical, and tests your patience. It’s only Tiger’s envious dance moves and top-notch action that give you some 'paisa vasool' moments. And of course, musical renditions from AR Rahman, which might appear to be a misfit in the film, but bring some calm amid this noisy storm.

A Hindi remake of the 2019 Telugu film by the same name, Jersey has been written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, who also helmed the original. And no prize for guessing, the remake is a scene by scene copy of the original. Jersey traces the tale of an exceptionally talented Ranji player Arjun Talwar (Shahid Kapoor), who quits cricket at the age of 26 and after 10 years, decides to revive his career and return to the game. In the process, Arjun wants to fulfil his son Kitu’s (Ronit Kamra) desire for a jersey and dream of seeing his father play cricket. Along this journey, Arjun goes through emotional turmoils and confrontations with his wife Vidya Talwar (Mrunal Thakur) who bears all the financial burden of the family. But despite all helplessness, nothing seems to stop Arjun from following his dream of playing for the Indian national cricket team. He finds support in his coach Madhav Sharma (Pankaj Kapur), who also acts as a father figure to him. High on emotion, Jersey lacks on the intrigue value that would keep you hooked. And the nearly three-hour runtime of the film makes it only worse.

KGF Chapter 2 is an explosive tale of brash, unapologetic, and larger-than-life characters. Director Prashanth Neel has created something that’s way more immersive than part one and worth all the hype that he managed to sustain for three and a half years since the first part came out. KGF 2 once again recreates the dark and deadly world where chopping heads and slitting throats are the norm and gunshots are fired at whim without any remorse in anyone's heart. One of the finest sequels to have come out in a long time, KGF 2 takes off right from where the first part ended. As Anand Ingalagi (Anant Nag), the author of El Dorado is hospitalized and can no longer narrate the story of KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) and the rise of Rocky, his son Vijayendra Ingalagi (Prakash Raj) takes over. In his words, Raja Krishnappa Bairya aka Rocky Bhai (Yash) has built an “indestructible empire” in KGF and wants to conquer even bigger things. While he has already killed Garuda in part 1 and turned ruler of the gold mines, in the sequel, he comes face to face with the deadly Adheera (Sanjay Dutt), who won’t let an outsider take over something that he helped build. Meanwhile, Rocky’s power-hungry games have also caught the attention of Prime Minister Ramika Sen (Raveena Tandon), who wants his downfall and death. Will Rocky be able to keep all that he has built for himself? Will the monster-turned messiah stand by his followers who worship him?

With all good intentions to educate and entertain the audience, Dasvi starring Abhishek Bachchan, Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur, somewhere falls prey to its own chaos and confusion and ends up all over the place. Director Tushar Jalota has mixed too many elements to convey one simple message, and it loses focus way more often than you would expect. As a result, the inconsistent storytelling makes the film appear half-baked and ineffective. The film traces the life of a brash, illiterate and corrupt chief minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Abhishek Bachchan), who, for his unexplained criminal records, including an educational scam, is sent to judicial custody. While he's imprisoned, his docile and timid wife Bimla Devi (Nimrat Kaur) takes over the chief minister's chair in fictional Hamit Pradesh and begins to love the power it brings. Meanwhile, the minister is taken to task inside the jail when a strict and lawful cop Jyoti Deswal (Yami Gautam) is appointed as the new superintendent. It's after an altercation between these two when Jyoti calls Ganga 'anpadh gawaar' and he takes up the challenge of completing his Class 10 exam. This comes with a condition that if he fails to clear the exam, he won't take the chair of CM again. Ganga needs to pass both these tests - inside the jail and outside where his wife has just become quite intent on keeping the chair he asked her to fill for him.

For those who've often complained about Bollywood's lack of original scripts and innovation, Attack, to some extent, can give you an adrenaline rush for its novel idea (seen many times in Hollywood by now but still quite a fresh prospect for Bollywood). And some might find it plain bizarre and too unrealistic to even believe any of it. John Abraham is often credited for carrying a film on his shoulders, however, with Attack, the actor and debutant director, Lakshya Raj Anand took this a bit too seriously, as John, as a 'super soldier' is literally the single man out there, killing all the bad men. Attack is the story of a soldier Arjun Shergill (John Abraham) who suffers a terrible loss in a terrorist attack and ends up with permanent paralysis neck-down and is assigned a life on a wheelchair. Meanwhile, Dr Saba (Rakul Preet Singh) has been working on a futuristic scientific technology that can enable a paralysed person to stand up on their feet, and Arjun is deemed that right science bunny to undergo trial for India's first-ever super-soldier program. All this because the country needs to be saved from a terrorist mastermind who is on the loose. Listen to the full episode for more.

Rishi Kapoor's swansong Sharmaji Namkeen serves a perfect tribute to his tough yet jovial person. Directed by Hitesh Bhatia, this is the first time in Bollywood we see two actors - Kapoor and Paresh Rawal - play one character on-screen. Sharmaji Namkeen doesn't have any over-the-top dialogues or a lessons in morality that hits you hard. It's a sweet and innocent slice of life tale told in a simple manner. Sharmaji Namkeen narrates the story of a retired manager of Madhuban Appliances, Brij Gopal Sharma (Rishi Kapoor and Paresh Rawal) who needs to be on the go and just can't sit idle at home. While he contemplates taking up zumba classes, becoming a property agent, giving tuitions or opening a chaat papdi stall, his sons Rinku (Suhail Nayyar) and Vincy (Taaruk Raina) don't really buy into his ideas and tell him to enjoy his post-retirement life. As Sharmaji takes his hobby and passion for cooking to the next level, he is tricked by his friend Chaddha (Satish Kaushik) into cooking at a ladies' kitty party, and soon, it becomes a regular affair. In the process, his circle of friends sees quite a change. In Veena (Juhi Chawla), he finds a friend and a confidante. But what happens when Sharmaji's sons, neighbours and relatives get to know about his secret job? The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Based on the chapters from Hussain Zaidi's book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai Kathiawadi creates a world of its own that's sleazy violent, reckless but still overflowing with emotions. Starring Alis Bhatt in the titular role, the films shows the lanes of Kamathipura, one of the oldest red-light districts of Mumbai, and Bhansali captures them in the most extravagant way. The first half narrates Gangubai's story from being a barrister's daughter Ganga who was forced into sex trade and how she becomes Gangu with her shares of bruises and scars, the second half shows her rise as a 'gharwali' (Madame of a brothel) and eventually fighting the elections to be the president of Kamathipura. Alia delivers a superlative performance with her near perfect diction, dialect, expressions and how she emotes anger, rage, happiness and helplessness.

Bollywood’s fixation with humor to narrate stories on taboo subjects seems to be working pretty well so far. So, it comes as no surprise to see Badhaai Do also resort to a lighter tone while highlighting an important issue of homosexuality. Directed by Harshvardhan Kulkarni, Badhaai Do revolves around the story of Shardul and Sumi played effortlessly by Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, as closeted members of the LGBT community, living together as roommates after they agree to get into a ‘marriage of convenience. The film shows how an individual’s sexual orientation defines and decides their fate in society. While Shardul, a police officer, and Sumi, a PT teacher, agree to this arrangement — referred to as a lavender marriage — to shut their families up and get rid of the constant pressure to get married, the journeys they take on with their respective partners eventually lead to several realizations about their realities. The makers deal with the subject in an extremely mature and sensitive manner, and in his attempt to sound witty, at no point does he trivialize the ordeal homosexual people go through. Badhaai Do is an important film that surely starts a conversation, more so for the families of homosexual people, which is the most important takeaway from this film.