What's Your Rashee: Movie Review

Directed By-

Ashutosh Gowariker

Produced By-

Ronnie Screwvala, Ashutosh Gowariker

Featuring-

Harman Bhaweja, Priyanka Chopra..

How many of you were waiting for this one from Gowariker? i know many! Sadly for all Gowariker fans, What's Your Rashee is absolutely disappointing. Based onMadhu Rye's novel Kimball Ravenswood, WYR's script is as flat as it can possibly get. 

What's Your Rashee's story revolves around Yogesh Patel(Harman Bhaweja) an MBA student studying in Chicago, who is forced to return to India after receiving a message about his father's deteriorating health. On reaching India is when the family of Yogesh let out the actual reason.Yogesh is then told about the share scam committed by his brother and the family's huge debt. He's also told about the solution offered by a astrologer according to whom, If Yogesh gets married on the 20th, huge wealth is to follow the family on the very day. He's given a mere 10

 days to decide a girl and get married. It does not take long for his family to convince Yogesh and he's then out looking for brides. After a lot of confusion about the brides shortlisted by his uncle,Yogesh comes up with a bizarre idea of meeting one girl from each of the 12 zodiac signs. And the plot leading upto Yogesh deciding his soul mate among the 12 is for you to watch it yourself. 

Gowariker seems to have failed miserably with WYR provided the quality of movies that he

made previously. The movie fails to take off and the plot of the movie does not really convince you at any level. The one and the only thing that is impressive with WYR is Priyanka Chopra's impeccable performance playing 12 different characters. She's absolutely mind blowing with each of the 12 characters and probably the only thing that makes you sit right through the exhausting 3 hours 15 minutes. Harman Bhaweja is good and tries his best to make an impact with his honest acting supported well by rest of the cast. The funnier parts that were supposed to be funny are not funny and it just frustrates you more. 

The music by Sohail Sen is ordinary and the 12 songs used for 12 the different characters are not impressive either. 

I will go with 4 BOP's out of 10 for Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Rashee.

Avoid this Flick!

Reviewed By-

Raghav Ramaiah

Orginally posted @TalkingPopcorns.com!

Wanted : Movie Review

Directed By-
Prabhudeva

Produced By-
Boney Kapoor

Featuring-
Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Mahesh Manjrekar..


If you were waiting for a good film from Salman Khan, your wait is certain to continue as Wanted turns out to be a below average watch. Directed by dance guru Prabhudeva, Wanted will fail to impress you on every level. Adapted from the original telugu flick Pokiri, Wanted is an out and out action film. The script of Wanted seems more like its made for the audience down south and implementing it with Salman Khan makes it all more interesting. Having proven his abilities with action flicks, Salman Khan looks to have gone that extra mile to give Wanted the classy touch.

Wanted's protagonist Radhe(Salman Khan) is a local thug who terminates people when offered the right price. He's seen shifting between two rival gangs to terminate one another who ever offered more money. Radhe takes no time eliminating people and is seen doing the same in every second scene and here's when he falls for the innocent-pretty girl Jhanvi(Ayesha Takia) who works in a call center. Not so impressed by his rough gangster looks, it takes a while before Jhanvi starts feeling for Radhe who helps her out from the hands of the corrupt crook inspector Talpade(Mahesh Manjrekar). On the other hand due to constant killings in both rival gangs, the top don Gani Bhai(Prakash Raj) is forced to visit mumbai to take over the underworld activities. Now is when the plot takes a unanticipated bizarre u-turn giving Wanted the much needed climax that you might end up liking. The abrupt unpredictable climax is for you to watch it yourself.

Wanted has hardly anything that you might want to look back at except for Salman Khan. The script is ordinary and the execution part makes it even more lousy. The dialogues are ineffective and fails to derive the energy necessary except for a few. Salman Khan has delivered a decent performance with some great action sequences which you are sure to enjoy. Not so impressive are the costumes which look awful in nicely shot backdrops especially in the songs- "Tose Pyar karte Hai" and "Dil Leke Darde Dil". The performances of Ayesha Takia and the rest of the crew is forgettable.

The music by Sajid-Wajid is again ordinary and is tolerable provided the violent theme of the movie. "Love me Love Me" being the most catchy of all.
Having seen the huge commercial success with the Tamil and Telugu versions, Wanted will have to literally run full shows to even compete with its counter parts.

I will go with 5 BOP's out of 10, for Prabhudeva's Wanted .




Go watch it if you are a Salman Khan Fan, and not really advisable for the rest.


Reviewed By,
Raghav Ramaiah


Originally posted @ TalkingPopcorns.com!

Sikandar : Movie Review

Directed By-
Piyush Jha

Produced By-
Sudhir Mishra

Featuring-
Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Madhavan, Sanjar Suri..

If you guys loved Parzan Dastur in Parzania and Ayesha Kapoor in Black, you'll love them yet again in Sikandar. Directed by Piyush Jha, Sikandar has a terrific script but when it comes to execution of the same is where it fails. Going by the sidelines of the tension that surroundsJammu and Kashmir, Piyush Jha manages to capture the essence of the lives of young children really well.

Sikandar is a movie of a young boy Sikandar Raza(Parzan Dastur) who like any other 10 year old is naughty-innocent and a passionate football player. Living alone with his aunt and uncle, soonSikandar finds a pal,a 10 year old Nasreen(Ayesha Kapoor ), who accompanies him during the morning walk to school. During one such walk to school is when both of them find a gun lying in the same path.Sikandar much to his curiosity takes the gun and without much knowledge is left with no other option but to use the gun to his own benefit, may it be scaring off the bullies in school or scaring people on the street. Soon he's seen training with aJihadi militant who promises him a washing machine if he trains and shoots the person that they decide on. Circumstances get way too complicated whenSikandar shoots the Jihadi Militant out of frustration and makes his life even more miserable. The army start a search operation in pursuit of the little boy and the things that follow is something that you need to watch it yourself.

Sikandar is not a bad movie but it takes time for you to realize that its a good movie. You don't really feel for the characters like you felt for Ishaan Awasthi in Taare Zameen Par or Michelle McNally in Black. By the time you get into the rythm and start liking that characters, the curtains are down. The main let down factor of this movie is its promise that it created with its trailers.Parzan Dastur is impressive and manages to deliver the goods well. Supported well by Ayesha Kapoor, Madhavan and Sanjay Suri.

Music of Sikandar by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is one thing that needs special appreciation. Neatly done are the tracks "Dhoop Ke Sikke" and "Gulon Mein".

I will go with 7 BOP's for Piyush Jha's Sikandar.





Reviewed By,
Raghav Ramaiah


Originally Posted at TalkingPopcorns.com!

Kaminey : Movie Review

Directed By-
Vishal Bharadwaj

Produced By-
Ronnie Screwala

Featuring-
Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte..


The much awaited and the most talked about movie of 2009 releases this week and it quite simply lives up to all the hype that surrounded the movie before its release. Directed By Vishal Bharadwaj, Kaminey makes up for all the lousy movies that released this year and for once you feel, "What- a- movie". Kaminey just goes on to score in every department may it be direction or the Music. Vishal Bharadwaj this time around has written a terrific script, outdoing his previous critically acclaimed Omkara. Kaminey in simple words is a complete package where in every tiny character does its bit to impress you.

Kaminey's main protagonists Charlie and Guddu(Shahid Kapoor) are twins who have quite some amusingly distinguishable characteristics when it comes to their natural way of communication. Charlie, a local thug who lisps and pronounces S as F and Guddu is a small NGO worker who stammers while he talks. Both of whom live on different dreams and values are seen fighting it out in their respective fields. Guddu's life enters a mess when gets his girl friend Sweety(Priyanka Chopra) pregnant and after much persuassion decides to marry her and much to add to his agony finds out that she is the sister of a local gangster-politician Bhope Bhau(Amol Gupte). Charlie on the other hand during one of his criminal prowl gets his hand on a guitar box that contains cocaine worth 10 crore's. From here on is when the lives of Charlie and Guddu intertwine making the plot even more interesting and engrossing. The unusual twists and turns right till the climax is something for you to watch it yourself.

The script of Kaminey is gripping and engaging too. The main thing which will blow your minds with Kaminey is its stunning dialogues that will sound serious and funny at the same time. The highlights of the movie are the actors and the bang on casting. IfShahid Kapoor impresses you with both Charlie and Guddu, Priyanka Chopra marks her presence by her bold-marathi girl's character. And for the people who had just heard of Amol Gupte and not seen him, you can see a top notch performance in his very debut movie playing Bhope Bhau. Kaminey is so skillfully made that even a few slow scenes are covered up by some stunning performances.

The music of Kaminey is Marvellous, may it be Dhan Te Han or the thought provoking song Fatak that has a AIDS awareness theme to it, all of them score full points.

Vishal Bharadwaj's magic is going to work yet again.

I will go with 9 BOP's out 10 for Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminey.






And that simply makes it a **Must Watch**.


Reviewed by,
Raghav Ramaiah

~Originally posted at TalkingPopcorns.com

P.S: Yet another request, to provide a movie review link on the lounge.
I hope to see it soon.

Love Aaj Kal : Movie Review

Directed By-
Imitiaz Ali

Produced By-
Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan

Featuring-
Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna..


The drought of good movies that seemed to have taken over Bollywood from the past few months ends with Love Aaj Kal releasing this week. Directed by Imitiaz Ali, Love Aaj Kal in one word is Fantastic. Keeping his previous stint of success with him Imitiaz Ali has delivered a love story that is narrated in a surprisingly innovative way. Shot in different parts of London, San Francisco, Old-Delhi and Punjab, Love Aaj Kal shows a fantastic blend of two love stories one in the past -"Love Kal" and the other in the present - "Love Aaj" crisscrossed, linking the past to the present.

Love Aaj Kal is a cross of two love stories, one of Jai Vardhan Singh( Saif Ali Khan) andMeera Pandit(Deepika Padukone) the other of Veer Singh(Saif Ali Khan/Rishi Kapoor) and Harleen Kaur (Shweta Gulati/Neetu Singh). Jai and Meera two modern independent career oriented people living in London fall in love and as times pass by, decide to break up and move on with their respective careers in a rather happy way with an unusual break up-party unlike other break up's. Here's when he meets Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) a owner of a coffee shop, who keeps hinting Jai of the mistakes that he is making considering the break up with Meera. Very soon, Veer Singh( Rishi Kapoor) is then seen narrating his love story with Harleen back in Punjab years ago. The stories of Jai and Veer are then played alternately showing the obvious overlapping instances between both the love stories. The story post Jai's break up and the various fun moments is for you to figure it out yourself.


Love Aaj Kal doesn't really disappoint you at any level irrespective of what expectations you had with the movie. The highlight of the movie is the naive love story of Veer and Harleen, that brings with it a lot of innocent-natural-spontaneous moments that you will surely enjoy and relish even after your out of the theater. Beautifully done are the links between the two stories with hint of light humor.

Imitiaz Ali has yet again selected and used his resources intelligently. Saif Ali Khan impresses you with both Jai and young Veer's role playing it quite convincingly. Deepika Padukone's performance is average and is definitely impressive in certain parts of the movie. Rishi Kapoor is good and delivers a fun performance. Rahul Khanna is seen on a role thats quiet and there's not much for him in the movie. Debutant Shweta Gulati looks raw with her acting and yet is bang on for the role of Harleen surprisingly making you like her as the movie progresses.

The music by Pritam is stupendous and simply one of his best composed albums. The picturisation and the songs compliment each other really well. Tracks like "Chor Bazaari", "Twist", "Yeh Doorian".. being the highlights of the album

Imitiaz Ali has literally left no stone unturned to give Love Aaj Kal that classic refreshing feel.
I will go with 8 BOP's for Imitiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal.





Don't miss this flick.

P.S: BOP stands for Buckets of Popcorn. New rating system instead of stars, as this site is transforming into new review site. More reviews at- www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com