Worst films of 2012- My views.

WORSTS of 2012-


10. EKK DEEWANA THA: Remake of a south film, "Ekk tha deewana" is painfully long even at modest run-time of 140 minutes. Even Rahman's music score fails to inject life in the film. Not completely unbearable, thanks to few adorable moments in first half, but for the most part its a film that bores you!


9. TERI MERI KAHAANI After sharing crackling chemistry in "Kaminey", this combo of Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra leaves you exhausted in "Teri Meri Kahaani". The major hiccup lies in the second half where the film travels back to 1910. Not even modicum of charm of that era is been brought on by screen by Kunal Kohli.


8. AJAB GAZAB LOVE: A terribly messed up film! The film draws so much of room for comedy but it ends up with dramatic bits, and very poor ones. What crap!


7. BITTOO BOSS: In its slightly creative story, the director creates joke of it. Clearly, the director has forgotten his basics or he is still to learn them. Even the actors cast cannot do much in their acting.  Wastage of opportunity in truest sense.


6. SHANGHAI: Its very difficult for one to believe that "Shahnghai" is made by the same person who, in past, has delivered delicious films like "Khosla ka Ghosla" and "Oye lucky lucky oye". "Shanghai" fails in its core subject- drama. The film fails to boast of any dramatic moments or any unpredictability in its story. Instead, Banerjee throws few random funny scenes which are funny, but not much to save the film!


5. KHILADI 786: If at all "Khiladi 786" could have been entertaining than that was possible only if at-least one hour of the film was chopped off! The film has as many as six songs, but you don't complain because Reshammiya's songs are good if not great, but not as boring and painful as the film is. You ask for mercy sitting through its run because with every scene the film only drowns. Everything falls in place so easily that you wonder if at all the script was written!


4. DANGEROUS ISHQQ- The film has few good songs and an earnest performance from Karishma Kapoor who returns back to screen after a hiatus. But sadly that is not enough to save the film from its countless plot-holes! The Punjab portion of the film is fairly acceptable, but the rest is just incredibly poor.


3. AIYYAA- Poorly scripted and equally ill directed, "Aiyyaa" offers you a good patience test. The film lasts longer than it should have and its outrageous comedy only embarrassed me. Despite of three wonderfully choreographed song, thrown needlessly in the narration though, "Aiyyaa" is simply bad.


2. DEPARTMENT: RGV known for his incorrigible camera shaking direction, goes one step ahead in "Department". He not only shakes the camera, but he manages to shake the film too. I am sure even RGV would have got bored creating this flawed action-thriller. What was the film trying to convey, still remains a million dollar question!


1. JISM 2: Earlier this year in my review of "Jism2" I had suggested a suitable tagline for the film- "to watch this film is to laugh", pretty much on the lines of its original - "to love her is to die". Its a peculiar thing to notice that even a sex film can bore you so much! Bhatts en-cashing on sex is not the first time, but they surely did not make as terrible a film as "Jism 2". Poor Leone! who had a bad start in Bollywood, where otherwise she could have managed a respectable commence! No pun-intended. 

Best Male and Female performers of 2012- My views.

2012 has been a fascinating year. Few films had unprecedented box office success as well as audience’s acceptance, while few films did not really set the box office on fire but surely placed themselves in hearts of audience. Here are my bests of 2012 performances.

Male –

5. Sharman Joshi in Ferrari Ki Sawaari- In this small little heart warming film,  Sharman Joshi plays a very adorable father and a martinet son. He packs an excellent performance and he has instant connect too!

4. Aamir Khan in Talaash- As a confused and depressed cop, Aamir Khan shines once again in a role which has its own oxymoronic rhythm. There are many layers to his characters and Aamir conveys his emotions through right blend of expressions and diction. He is not a perfectionist for nothing!

3. Irrfaan Khan in Paan Singh Tomar- Irrfan Khan is a veteran actor is a very obvious statement. In Paan Singh Tomar, Irrfan Khan once again delivers a riveting performance as the guy who has lost his patience when he is been rejected by police officer for demanding a basic and ethical action against illegal on-goings! A Significant performance in a significant film!

2. Ranbir Kapoor in Barfi- As the mute, deaf, charming and happy guy, Ranbir kapoor makes you feel his character. Pick up any of his scene and you will find a heart in his acting. Irrespective of the fact that it is a well established character, but Ranbir doesn’t miss a single beat.

We have a tie for Numero Uno of 2012.

1 Paresh Rawal in OMG and Salman Khan in Dabangg 2

Paresh Rawal understands his character pretty well and he enacts equally brilliant. It becomes sort of impossible to take off your eyes when he is on screen. Terrific and realistic in his body language and expression, Paresh Rawal makes OMG a film that it is today.

Salman Khan back as Chulbul Pandey also brings fun back to screen. Easily his career’s best performance, Salman throws life in Dabangg 2. Even some corny and clunky lines goes clap-worthy because the man on screen does it so effortlessly! Khan, you have a long way to go!

Special Mentions- Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Gangs of Wasseypur 2), Emraan Hashmi (Jannat 2), Akshay Kumar (Housefull 2), Arjun Kapoor (Ishaqzaade), Hritik Roshan (Agneepath), Shah Rukh Khan (Jab Tak Hai Jaan), Ajay Devgn (Bol Bachchan), .

FEMALE PERFORMERS

5. Sridevi in English Vinglish/ Deepika Padukone in Cocktail.

English Vinglish is a film about which I don’t highly think about. If at all it was enjoyable for me, however in bits, it was its leading lady’s earnestness and relevancy towards her character. Her unusual voice is additional benefit as it gives the reality structure to her performance, but she as a performer leaves no stone unturned.

Deepika Padukone shines in an excellent performance, but in a mediocre film. As good as silver lining, Deepika never disappoints in the film, even though the film does! She delivers a very entertaining performance. Note her breakdown scene, and you can figure how well this actress knows her art!

4. Kareena Kapoor in Talaash- Kareena is often known for her big films where she has less substance. In Talaash, she flaunts her grand horizons of acting ability. She surprises in every scene and her dialogue delivery is effective. A performance she and her fans should be proud of!

3. Vidya Balan in Kahaani- Kahaani was an engaging thriller with some fast paced, nail-biting sequences. There were many note-worthy performances, but Vidya Balan stands apart and she leaves you spell bound. Her character was a difficult one especially because she plays the central character and the whole suspense revolves around her. Vidya Balan does it with ease and helps Kahaani in being more engaging than what it could have been otherwise!

2. Priyanka Chopra in Barfi- Easily her career’s best performances, Priyanka Chopra portrays the part of Autistic girl with incredible energy. She makes you cry, laugh, feel good and so on. She is so strong in her performance that not even once the fact strikes you that she is Priyanka Chopra the hot, sizzling lady and not a Jhilmil whose happiness is somewhere hidden!

1 Parineeti Chopra in Ishaqzaade- This is her just second film and yet she has managed to make an unforgettable mark in Ishaqzaade. She plays her virago and fallen-for-someone sort of girl flawlessly. Her pains are identifiable and she holds the film together in its emotional potion, a portion where most of the films fall flat. No words remained!

Special mentions- Kareena Kapoor (Heroine), Rani Mukherjee (Talaash), Anushka Sharma (Jab Tak hai Jaan), Kareena Kapoor (Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu), Katrina Kaif (Ek Tha Tiger). 

Sanket’s Review: “Dabangg 2” reaffirms the thought that Salman can rise above the script in these roles.

Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Prakash Raaj, Arbaaz Khan.

Director: Arbaaz Khan

Length: 2 hours approximately

I firmly believed that Salman’s DABANGG (2010) act was his best till date. Not anymore, because I have seen its extended installation. Arbaaz Khan’s directorial venture called DABANGG 2 is entertaining, courtesy Salman Khan. The film doesn’t boast of smart narrating, or gripping plot, but it surely gives you worth of every single penny, provided you can accept these mindless cinemas, today’s staple food, with open arms!

I firmly believed that Salman’s DABANGG (2010) act was his best till date. Not anymore, because I have seen its extended installation. Arbaaz Khan’s directorial venture called DABANGG 2 is entertaining, courtesy Salman Khan. The film doesn’t boast of smart narrating, or gripping plot, but it surely gives you worth of every single penny, provided you can accept these mindless cinemas, today’s staple food, with open arms!

The film begins with all the same route in which its prequel started. Yes, even the sidekick of goons remains same. Arbaaz Khan manages to tackle their personality traits and add comic moments. The film takes lot of its time to come upon its major conflict. The confrontation with the antagonist, played by Prakash Raaj, is well built up. The family drama also takes its high and the sugary moments between Chulbul and his family easily grows upon you. But, the first half is too long and some of the part could have been easily shifted to second half.

There’s not much movement in second half of the film, although the last 30 minutes of the film are too fast and enjoyable! Arbaaz Khan have kept the whole setting of the film very much like the first installment as we can see lots of plots are just altered with similar tone.

The dialogues are excellent. The comic breakdowns by sub-inspectors in between a high voltage dramatic scene are held up by some hilarious one-liners. The cinematography captures Kanpur beautifully. The music is good. All original songs are good to listen and well choreographed too. The best easily remains “Fevicol” which is excellently shot and with umpteen energy implemented by Kareena and Salman. Though the rehashed version of “Hudd Hudd dabangg” is a poor song. The script and screenplay has nothing much to speak about. Arbaaz’s direction has the meat, although his few scenes aren’t well handled. The action scenes are good and few of them are wonderful especially in the first action scene.

Salman Khan can rise above script which is proved yet again with DABANGG 2. He springs personality in the character and makes the character largely adorable. Pick up any of his scene and he does it with incredible zeal. This guy has some miraculous genes for sure. He makes DABANGG 2 enjoyable because of his goofiness, his charm, his aura. Note that emotional breakdown scene of Salman Khan just before the climax, and you can see yourself indulged with his pains. Two thumbs up Khan!

Sonakshi Sinha is having a very smaller role. But her chemistry along with Salman Khan is magical and more entertaining than it was in previous one. Prakash Raaj is good, but we surely have seen better of him in past. Arbaaz Khan has learnt acting for sure as he has good command over his expressions in this film. Deepak Dobriyal in a petty role shines. His scene before intermission is praiseworthy. Rest all are fine in their small roles.

DABANGG 2 shall be watched if entertainment is all what you are seeking for this Christmas. Salman is 2012’s Santa and gifts you DABANGG 2. Go, have fun and come back to your work! It’s 120 minutes well spent!

Rating- 3/5 (Good)

Box Office Predictions of DABANGG 2

Dabangg (2010) is considered as the comeback vehicle of Salman Khan who has reached unimaginable height of stardom. And on this favorable season of Christmas, (Bhaagam Bhaag, Welcome, Taare Zameen Par, Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Don2), what can one get a better gift from Salman Khan when he is releasing his DABANGG 2? Lets delve into the numbers..

Opening day- 19.5cr

If word of mouth is good,

Weekend – 58cr

Week 1- 104cr

Lifetime- 178cr

If word of mouth is mixed,

Weekend- 56.5cr

Week 1- 93cr

Lifetime- 132cr

If word of mouth is bad,

Weekend – 55.75cr

Week 1- 88cr

Lifetime- 121cr

Sanket’s Review: “Khiladi 786” is dreadfully boring.

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin, Mithun Chakraborthy, Himesh Reshammiya.

Director: Ashish R Mohan

Length: 2.20 hours approximately

Agreed that this is the time of potboilers and mindless entertainers, but this all hits the mark only if the conviction constraint is maintained throughout the film! Forgettable and annoying, KHILADI 786 looks more like Himesh Reshammiya’s Album release where the story travels only to bring to a situation which permits the song to roll down and the actors to break into a dance.

In first half, every-time that Akshay arrives on screen, a loud background score is thrown and not just once or twice, but every single time. The jokes are so clumsy and clunked, that they cringe you. The action scenes are has déjà-vu feeling where all the goons are flying in air and are thrown into cars, and the glasses breaks! The songs spread relief, thanks to some wonderful tunes, but the first half only leaves you with sour taste.

Just as you sit and hope for a better post-intermission, the film approaches with same route and the tone of the film is pretty much straight. The basic plot of the film and some sub-plots are lifted, but the director mauls and messes up the whole story with his shoddy direction. WELCOME is one of the source of the story, but alas, the film is not even half as funny as WELCOME. That overlong climax only increases your exhaustion and brings you across a tasteless twist. Frankly, it’s a dreadfully boring a film.

Reshammiya’s songs are melodious, but the choreography is too outdated. The script and screenplay has nothing to do with the failure of KHILADI 786’s content, because there is hardly any story. Few countable dialogues are good, where the rest of the ones, especially the one-liners are downright lame.

As pointed earlier, KHILADI 786 has many sub-plots and thus somewhere the presence of Akshay Kumar is missing in first half. His is the only decent act in this film filled with two dozen characters. Even a dependent Chakraborthy overdoes his job and his role is just replica of that of his HOUSEFULL 2 character.

Racism is something the director infuses abundantly. The family of our protagonist has all foreign women and all has story behind it, and the worst part is that the director cared to delve even in the details for this plot. How I wonder, he should have cared to delve into his basics and nuances so that he could have made at-least a watch-able film.

Rating- 1.5/5 (Bad)

Box Office Predictions of KHILADI 786

Riding on the super success of ROWDY RATHORE and HOUSEFULL2, Akshay Kumar is back with his Khiladi franchise. KHILADI 786 stars Asin, Himesh Reshammiya along with Akshay Kumar. Directed by Ashish R Mohan, this film is about to release on 7^th December. The film has got a good music score which created the buzz around, but the film has just two weeks to perform before the magnum opus DABANGG 2.

Opening day- 12.75cr

If word of mouth is good,

Weekend 1- 40cr

Week 1- 62cr

Lifetime- 98cr

If word of mouth is mixed,

Weekend 1- 38.5cr

Week 1- 57cr

Lifetime- 78cr

If word of mouth is bad,

Weekend 1- 37.5cr

Week 1- 55cr

Lifetime- 66cr

Sanket’s Review: “Talaash” is not entirely engaging, though its fairly good!

Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kaporr, Rani Mukherjee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shernaz patel

Director: Reema Kagti

Length: 2.20 hours approximately

TALAASH, this week’s new thriller has lots of surprises in store, but they are not well unfolded. The genre of the film itself is a big surprise. It’s really impressive to see so many mainstream faces doing such kind of suspense drama which takes a path away from our regular suspense thrillers. From prostitute areas to high profiled people to small time gangsters, TALAASH revolves around many characters and each is well defined.

The investigation process has a solid pace and TALAASH races very speedily for first 40 minutes or so. But after a point, too many plots lands up in the film and many seem irrelevant to the basic plot. But, TALAASH doesn’t entirely lose up. It has its high moments. The emotional connection between Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee is smartly handled and has a meaning which you come to know once the film is ended with its major twist!

Second half has again many edge-off-the-seats moments like that excellent chase sequence on railway station to the construction building. But the major clutch remains in its conviction factor. The twist doesn’t really match up to the expectations, as its bit bizarre.

Music is good. All songs are in background and all takes the narration ahead. Cinematography is stupendous! Kudos! The dialogues at times are clapworthy, especially those mouthed by Aamir Khan, but at another end there are also few corny lines! The script and screenplay is well penned, but Kagti somewhere gets stuck in direction.

But if at all TALAASH comes up from its dicey pace, then its because of the actors. Aamir Khan yet again delivers outstanding performance as the confused investigator. He doesn’t miss a single beat! Just brilliant! Kareena Kapoor springs a surprising act. She manages to rise above the saddled character that she portrays. Rani Mukherjee pleases with her emotional connect. Good to see such wonderful actress doing a role which has powerful substance! Nawazuddin Siddiqui understands his part well, although we have seen better of him in his earlier films. Rest every character, yes; every character does a good job!

TALAASH isn’t entirely engaging, but its fairly good watch for its thrilling moments and amazing acts from one and all. The film could have been tad better and should have been edited by at-least 15 minutes to make it more efficient! Go for it, you might just enjoy!

Rating- 2.5/5 (Decent/Above Average)