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Movie Review: Rough Book – A Small Question To A BIG Problem!

There have been very few movies in the past that dealt with the education-related issues. I can count two in the last 10 years viz. Paathshaala and 3 Idiots. Anant Mahadevan in his new release questions the prevailing education system that gives more emphasis on rote learning than experiential knowledge.

Coming to the story, Santoshi’s (Tannishtha Chatterjee), life takes a U-turn when her husband Pradeep (Vinay Jain) gets embroiled in a money laundering scam. After filing for divorce from her husband, Santoshi leaves the city and goes to stay with her mother (Suhasini Mulay). In due course, being a physics professor Santoshi gets a job in a school to teach Physics. The principal (Kaizaad Kotwal) assigns her a group of students who are least interested in studies. Santoshi strikes an instant chord with the students and soon molds them and helps them to enjoy their studies. As time goes by these students start performing well in their exams too. Their lives change when a commercial coaching centre opens up in the school premises and Santoshi is asked to leave the school. Was Santoshi a victim of teacher poaching?

The story by Mahadevan and Sanjay Chauhan is quite interesting not only on paper but also on screen. One of the dialogues that actually hit me was, “If I am successful in getting the desired marks, will I be successful in life too?” Today when I look around I see most of my classmates who were backbenchers are the ones who are actually successful in their careers donning some of the biggest roles in an organization. Mahadevan is one of the most versatile and underrated directors in India. At one hand he easily churns out a masala potboiler like an Aksar or a Xpose and on the other hand he gives us some cinematic gems like Mee Sindhutai Sapkal or Gour Hari Dastaan and now Rough Book. Mahadevan yet again proves that he is a master story teller and with some wonderful story ideas and writing he can give you some wonderful cinematic creations.

Performances are top notch whether it is Tannishtha Chatterjee or Kaizaad Kotwal, Suhasini Mulay, Joy Sengupta, Amaan Khan and Vinay Jain who are in the supporting roles. The cinematography (Maneesh Chandra Bhatt) is awesome – case in point look at the frames used to convey the rural confines of Suhasini Mulay’s school.

Overall it is a wonderful gem of a movie worth a dekko!

My Verdict: ****

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Movie Review: Udta Punjab – All Faff, No Steam!

Last few weeks one saw the high-octane drama between the Censor Board Cheif Pahlaj Nihalani and the producers of Udta Punjab. The board objected to most of the scenes and suggested 89 cuts which were revoked by the Mumbai High Court who passed the movie with one cut and 3 disclaimers. The entire drama upped the ante of the movie and built up curiosity among the viewers. Did the entire controversy live up to the hype, let’s find out!

Disclaimer: If you are a fan of candy floss movies made by Karan Johars and Yash Chopras of the world (where you find the sweet natured and honey coated Punjabis who only speak the sweetest of the sweetest language) then this movie is not for you as Udta Punjab will make you sit in disbelief and cover your face. Every character in the movie uses choicest of the choicest expletives whether it is an old man or a small kid. Every dialogue, every word a character speaks is backed by ‘gaalis‘. If you feel that you will find some romantic couples romancing in the fields then this movie is not for you, as you will be shocked to find syringes scattered and packets of heroin flying into the fields from the other side of the border. If you feel people are lively and jovial in Punjab then this movie is not for you, as you will be shocked to see that almost everyone in the movie are under the influence of drugs. )

The movie showcases the story of four characters played by Shahid (a rockstar – Tommy), Diljit Dosanjh (a policeman – Sartej), Kareena ( a doctor – Preet) and Alia (a Bihari-migrant – Pinky). Tommy is into heavy drugs and one day he gets fired by his producers for delaying their recordings. If that wasn’t enough, Tommy Singh also gets arrested by the Punjab police amidst his birthday party, on grounds of drug abuse. When he gets released from jail, despite the jitters, he somehow manages to gear up to perform before an eagerly awaiting audience. Just before the performance, he acts strange and pisses on the audience in the front row, who, then, run after him for his blood. Sartej is oblivious and ignorant of the drug problem in the State until he finds his brother hospitalized after ‘OD’ing and joins hands with Preet in her crusade against drugs and exposing the drug mafias. Pinky Kumari finds a 3 kg drug packet in the fields and to make a quick buck she goes finding users and in turn becomes a prey to the drug peddlers after she dumps the entire packet into a well. The peddlers hold her captive and rape her repeatedly after drugging her. Repeated attempts to escape bear no fruits. What happens to these four characters in the end forms the crux of the story.

The story is interesting on the paper and to one extent the director Abhishek Chaubey tries to justify, however, a weak screenplay and bad climax act as the deterrent. The first half is quite repetitive with every character doping and ODing. The second half is faster, however, the climax is quite filmy and does not go with the tone set by the movie in totality.

Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have delivered their career best performances. Shahid Kapoor as the druggie Rockstar lives his part while Alia is a sheer pleasure to watch. She is one of the most promising actresses in Bollywood today among the younger brigade. In comparison to Alia, Kareena is wasted in the part of Preet. The role and character are not meaty enough to justify the acting prowess of this versatile actor. Diljit Dosanjh passes the muster for a debut role in Bollywood.

The film does have decent music by Amit Trivedi but not an extraordinary one. There are a couple of hummable tracks like ‘Chitta Ve‘ and ‘Ik Kudi‘. However, the film’s background score (Benedict Taylor, Naren Chandavarkar) is quite impressive and helps the film’s narrative.

Dialogues by Sudip Sharma are mainly in Punjabi and they should have had English subtitles for audiences who don’t speak the language to find a connect. Cinematography (Rajeev Ravi) is passable however, the film’s editing (Meghna Sen) could have been tighter like I pointed out earlier the first half is totally dragging.

On the whole, UDTA PUNJAB is not a traditional potboiler but a dark and serious film however, does not justify the ‘Faff’ it generated through it’s recent publicity stunt.

My Verdict: **1/2

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Movie Review: Te3N – A must see thriller!

This week sees the release of one of the most exciting movies of the year – Te3n directed by Ribhu Dasgupta, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. After last year’s award-winning performance in Piku, Amitabh Bachchan returns with this Sujoy Ghosh produced whodunit  based on a Korean movie Montage, with Kolkata being the setting once again. Does the desi version of the Korean movie make a mark? Let’s find that out.

The film starts off with a flashback event featuring Inspector Martin (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and John Roy (Amitabh Bachchan). This is then followed by the religious daily visit of John Roy to the police station to meet Inspector Sarita Sarkar (Vidya Balan), regarding the kidnapping and killing of his granddaughter Angela Roy. The story then swing back and forth between the past and the present. Amidst all this, there also exists the story of the guilt filled Inspector-turned-Priest Martin Das, the very man who was in charge of Angela Roy’s case. While the police department including Inspector Martin Das gives up totally on the Angela Roy’s case, John Roy simply refuses to do so and vows to his wheelchair ridden wife that he will not take rest until he nails the innocent Angela Roy’s dreaded kidnapper and murderer. Around 8 years later, there occurs a kidnapping of a school going kid Ronny. The mysterious part about this kidnapping is that, it is totally similar to that of Angela Roy. That’s when the trio of Father Martin, Inspector Sarita Sarkar and John Roy set out to search the masterminded smart criminal. While Father Martin and Inspector Sarita Sarkar go the legal way, John Roy, despite his old age sets out on his own to nab the criminal. What happens after that are a series of twists and turns, which ultimately leads to a shocking revelation in the end. Does John Roy fulfil the promise that he had made to his wife, do Father Martin and Inspector Sarita Sarkar become successful in nabbing the culprit and what is the shocking revelation in the end is what forms the rest of the story.

Ribhu Dasgupta has done a brilliant job in handling the tight script and the veteran actors at the same breath. He stays true to the tone and genre of the movie and therefore one might find the proceedings going a bit slower in few scenes. Performances are top-notch whether it is Amitabh Bachchan or Nawazuddin or Vidya who try to get into the skin of their respective characters.

Music is average and considering the genre one might have very less expectations. The cinematography by Tushar Kanti Ray is wonderful. He captures the essence of Kolkata through his camera. Editing by Gairik Sarkar could have been tighter at certain portions (but no complaints considering the mood and tone of the movie).

On the whole, Te3N is a movie that will appeal to hardcore whodunit fans!

My Verdict: ***1/2

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Movie Review: HouseFull 3 – A Slapstick Entertainer, Strictly For Masses!

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After two blockbuster predecessors in the form of Housefull and Housefull 2, this week’s release Housefull 3 produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Sajid-Farhad starring Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Lisa Haydon and Nargis Fakhri comes with a lot of expectations. However, with a different set of directors (the previous two were directed by Sajid Khan) does Housefull 3 do justice to the hit franchise is something we can analyze below.

The movie tells the story of Batuk Patel (Boman Irani) who has three daughters with awful Hindi speaking skills, Ganga (Jacqueline Fernandez), Jamuna (Lisa Haydon) and Saraswati (Nargis Fakhri). In front of their father they are the ideal daughters who are cultured and quite dutiful however, to the outside world they are the ultra glamorous Gracy, Jenny and Sarah. The trio is dating Sandy (Akshay Kumar) who has a split personality disorder, Teddy (Riteish Deshmukh) a car racer and Bunty (Abhishek Bachchan) a rapper.

Batuk does not wish to get the three married due to some unknown reason and to discourage them he tells them of an astrologer’s prediction of him dying if they get married. Tempted by the girl’s strong financial background, when Sandy, Bunty and Teddy convince the trio to marry them, all the three girls reject their proposals citing the astrologer’s prediction. Amidst all this, enters the dreaded Mumbai don Urja Nagre (Jackie Shroff), who has a secret agenda of his own. What is the secret of Urja Nagre, how is it connected to Batuk not getting his girls married? What happens to Sandy, Bunty and Teddy in the end, and will the girls finally get a happy ending is what lies ahead.

Being a slapstick comedy do not expect logic here and you should not compare the movie with a Waiting or a Lunchbox or a Bajrangi Bhaijaan as the genres are totally different and Housefull 3 stays true to it’s genre of being a ‘Mass Entertainer’. Coming to the writing part – the writers have borrowed a lot of one liners and jokes from social media memes and whatsapp but does a good job with them. The movie starts strong but loses its steam in the second half however, it finally ends up in a fine way. Coming to direction Sajid-Farhad does an average job. Maybe the humongous expectation from the franchise would have weighed them down apart from handling a multi-starcast.

As it is a multi-starcast movie therefore it does not belong to any one actor. Akshay Kumar and Ritesh Deshmukh being pioneers in slapstick comedies handles their characters very well. Akshay’s split personality scenes are hilarious. Abhishek Bachchan although does a good job, fails to impress as a rapper. Among the girls Jacqueline Fernandez does a good job while Lisa Haydon and Nargis Fakhri are plain okay. Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff and Chunkey Pandey ably support in taking the movie ahead.

Even with multiple music directors – Sohail Sen, Mika Singh-Milind Gaba, Sharib-Toshi and Tanishk Bagchi, music is a sore point in this movie unlike it’s predecessors. Tang Uthake and Pyar Ki is average while the other two tracks are forgettable. The cinematography by Vikas Sivaraman is good. He has captured the locales in London beautifully while the editing by Steven H. Bernard could have been crisper in the second half.

Overall even with its flaws Housefull 3 is a one time watchable movie and it will definitely appeal to the masses.

My Verdict: **1/2

 

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Movie Review: Sarbjit Tragic But Real!

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Biopics are the flavor of tinseltown these days and soon after Neerja and Azhar we have another biopic hitting the screens this week – Sarbjit. If Omung Kumar showcased his expertise in storytelling with Mary Kom then Sarbjit confirms the fact that he is no flash in the pan. Based on a real life character Sarbjit featuring the ever so talented Randeep Hooda and beautiful Aishwarya Rai, is an eye opener of a movie. This brother-sister saga will churn your heart and will make you question being a human. Even animals will never put their kind through such atrocities the way one human being might do to another.

Sarbjit Singh (Randeep Hooda) is a farmer who’s a doting brother, husband and father who is humiliated in the most despicable ways in jails in Pakistan for allegedly being Ranjit Singh, the mastermind behind the ghastly Lahore blasts. His stoic sister Dalbir Kaur (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) makes herculean efforts to attain freedom for her brother. Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet (Richa Chadha) silently raises two daughters Poonam (Ankita Shrivastava) and Swapan (Shivani Saini) with a hope to see her husband free one day. Dalbir tries out every conceivable option including meeting the Prime Minister of India while Sarbjit desperately collects whatever vestiges of family that he could through stray letters. A Pakistani lawyer Awais Shaikh (Darshan Kumaar) takes over Sarbjit’s case and battles out fanatic forces to try to obtain a semblance of justice for Sarbjit and his beleaguered family.

Writing a screenplay about a real life personality is a Herculean task and one should applaud Utkarshini Vashishtha and Rajesh Beri for the same. The movie is a dark movie with no scope for entertainment but Omung Kumar does a fabulous job with his direction to keep the audience attention captivated. Randeep Hooda has given his career best and gets into the skin of Sarbjit. Some of the torture scenes in the jail will make you squirm in your seats.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan barring few high-octane scenes where she goes overboard with histrionics delivers a strong performance. Richa Chaddha as Sukhpreet does a wonderful job. She knew very well that the movie rests on the shoulders of Aishwarya and Randeep and therefore instead of competing with them for screen presence she does a fabulous job with her limited screen time.

The music by Jeet Ganguly, Shail-Pritesh, Amal Malik and Tanishk Bagchi goes with the mood of the movie. The background is quite gripping and the locales are well captured by the lens of Kiran Deohans. Editing could have been crisper especially in the second half towards the end.

On the whole Sarbjit is a gripping human tale which every Indian should watch.

My Verdict: ****

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Movie Review: ‘Sairat’ scores BIG!

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I know this is way too late for me to write a review about any movie however, I could not stop myself from writing a review on this masterpiece by Nagraj Manjule. The movie shows two sides of a love story. The rosy dating days which is represented with songs and dreamy sequences and the harsh reality when the lovers run away from home.

Prashant Kale aka Parshya (Akash Thosar) is the cricket team captain and the brightest student in his year but the beautiful and confident Archana aka Archie (Rinku Rajguru) is out of his reach. She belongs to a rich and higher caste family and her father is a kingpin in local politics. But Archie is a headstrong girl who won’t let anyone boss her around and she likes the persistent and brave Parshya. After few dreamy sequences and duet songs the youngsters fall in love. However, when their families (especially Archie’s affluent family) come to know of their love all hell breaks loose. What happens to the lovers? What are the conditions they have to face? Is love above everything? Does their love story find a happy ending? The movie explains all layer by layer.

First and foremost, I would like to appreciate the director Nagraj Manjule for being brave enough to choose a sensitive subject like this. This is a great follow-up to his debut movie Fandry which released couple of years back. The script, dialogues and screenplay is perfect and flawless. The music by Ajay-Atul is one of the high points. This movie has almost every character played by a debutant. The performances are world-class especially the lead pair Rinku and Akash who are stars to watch out for. They fit their parts perfectly and for not even a frail second you feel them out of sync with their characters. No wonder Rinku won a National Award for her performance as Archie.

Cinematography by Sudhakar Reddy is good. He captures the rustic feel of the village and the gory details of the slum life in Hyderabad wonderfully with his camera. The editing is crisp and the background score compliments the tone of the movie.

Overall, it is one of the best movies of 2016. Please go and watch it!

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Movie Review: Hell hath no fury like a ‘FAN’ scorned!

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This week saw the much awaited release of Shah Rukh Khan  & Shah Rukh Khan 🙂 starrer FAN directed by Maneesh ‘Band Baaja Baraat’ Sharma and produced by Yash Raj Films. Loosely based on Hollywood movie The Fan and many real life incidents, this movie shows the obsession of a fan for his superstar idol and to what lengths his obsession can take him.

Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) is a happy-go-lucky guy from Delhi who is a huge fan of superstar Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan). From his childhood, he has been such a Jabra fan of Aryan Khanna that he knows every minute detail of his life. Though he has a cyber cafe of his own and also a one way love interest (Shriya Pilgaonkar), Gaurav’s only obsession is with Aryan Khanna. He wishes to meet Aryan Khanna on his birthday, and with the prize money he wins from a local star fan contest, he goes to meet his idol with his trophy and mom’s halwa. As expected, when he reaches Aryan Khanna’s residence, he realises he is just one of the millions of fans the superstar has. Determined to meet him at any cost, he takes a very crooked way to get his idol’s attention. He succeeds but not in a nice way, as Aryan Khanna gets very pissed at what he does. Gaurav finally gets his face time with Aryan Khanna, but things go all haywire, and the conversation also doesn’t end in the way he wants. Insulted and miffed, Gaurav decides that from here on, whenever Aryan Khanna’s name is taken, people will also take his name too. Thus begins a cat and mouse game between the superstar and his fan, as the fan decides it’s time to rattle at the superstar’s cage and make him pay for what he had said and done!

Performance by Shah Rukh Khan as both Aryan Khanna and Gaurav ROCKS!!! After a long time, maybe after Chak De, I quite enjoyed a SRK movie. His portrayal of Gaurav is awesome. The supporting cast does not get too much of scope as it is a start-to-end SRK movie however, Shriya Pilgaonkar in a brief role as Gaurav’s love interest is superb. Gaurav’s parents played by Deepika Amin and Yogendra Tiku show sparks while Waluscha De Sousa [as Aryan’s wife] doesn’t get much scope. However, newcomer Sayani Gupta [as Aryan’s secretary] is very notable.

There are no songs and that is a first for a SRK and YRF movie. The DoP (Manu Anand) does a great job by bringing the screen alive with his camera work. Editing (Namrata Rao) could have been crisper as in the first half few of the scenes seem to be monotonous. Background score by Andrea Guerra is good. The makeup department needs to be applauded for transforming SRK as Gaurav. Quite commendable!

Overall it is a good movie but not a GREAT movie!

My Verdict: ***

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Movie Review: Love Games – Bad Execution, Good Performances!

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This week saw the release of Vikram Bhatt’s Love Games starring Tara Alisha Berry, Patralekha and debutant Gaurav Arora, alongside the brilliantly crafted and loved The Jungle Book. Vikram Bhatt remembered for brilliant movies in the past viz; Kasoor, Ghulam, Raaz, Fareb, Awara Pagal Deewana etc. dishes out a not so brilliant movie this time.

The story starts with the Ramona Raichand (Patralekha) a sex addict, losing her husband in an accident. Immediately you see her finding peace in the arms of her fuck buddy Sameer Saxena (Gaurav Arora) and drugs alongside playing a grieving widow in front of the society. Sameer aka Sam, on the other hand, is a rich, lonely son of a wealthy businessman who is addicted to self-harm, drugs and sex. He also consults a psychiatrist (Rukhsar) for his depressive state owing to his dark past. Bored with his life and to find some adventure he decides to accompany his sex buddy Ramona in ‘Love Games’ which is a game of infidelity where it is all about seducing happy couples and getting laid with them. Sam has to score the wife, while Ramona has to go for the husband and whoever gets laid first wins. And the loser will supply a week of cocaine to the winner!

Amidst this game, things get serious when Sam falls in love with Dr. Alisha Asthana (Tara Alisha Berry), married to an abusive criminal lawyer Gaurav Asthana (Hiten Tejwani). Sam’s growing closeness to Alisha does not go down well with Ramona who wants Gaurav to still remain her fuck buddy and fulfill her sexual desires. What happens to Gaurav who is stuck between his love for Alisha and an obsessive sex maniac Ramona forms the rest of the story .

To start with the movie has a novel plot which no one has witnessed in Bollywood yet. However, Vikram Bhatt as a director fails in executing the same. Also the backstory for each character to justify their act is not very convincing. Gaurav’s character seems to be the way he is because his mother left him and his father to be with another man. Patralekha’s character is dark because she does not believe in love as she was repeatedly raped by her uncle when she was a kid and her boyfriend left her pregnant. Tara’s character as the tortured and battered wife has no justification apart from her husband being a powerful lawyer who will not spare her if she tried to divorce him. These theories do not justify the characters completely. The dialogues are corny and at times sound really boring. On the story level the Bhatts had a great idea but as it was developed into a script and later transferred to the screen, it remains a half-baked and boring movie.

Coming to performances, Gaurav Arora for a debutant has got a very complex character to play and he justified the same with his performance, expressions and body language. It’s a great debutant performance by him and will shine out with future movies. Tara Alisha Berry is a revelation. She has come out with a natural and mature performance and at times your heart goes out to her. You feel like comforting her and could feel her pain even though the character was not well-developed. She is one talent to watch out for in the future. Patralekha who came out with a brilliant performance in CityLights fails a bit. Her voice for a matter does not compliment the dark character she portrayed. She sounds screechy and it would have been better if Vikram could have dubbed her voice. At times she goes overboard with her performance. However, one cannot write her off as she seems to be a director’s actor. Hiten Tejwani is a miscast. He looks and acts uncomfortable and therefore this brilliant actor could not get into his character and do justice to the role. He is awkward and uncomfortable in the sexual scenes as well.

The music is not that great when you compare with the excellent compositions one associate with Vishesh Films and T-Series. The editor couldn’t do much when the screenplay itself was bad.

Overall, this is one movie that has some good performances but a lackluster content. Could have been better.

My Verdict: ** (extra one star for the actors)

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Movie Review: The Jungle Book – VFX Classic by Disney!

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The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling is one of the most famous and read book worldwide. If you are a kid from the 90’s then you will remember the cartoon series that used to come on Doordarshan with the same name and who can forget the all time hit song from the series composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and written by Gulzar – Jungle Jungle Pata Chala Hai, which is still a hit among kids.

This week Disney released the movie adaptation of the much-loved book directed by Jon Favreau laden with VFX and 3D starring Neel Sethi. The movie literally follows the book telling the story of Mowgli (Neel Sethi) a human boy raised by the wolves Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) and Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) ever since he was a baby and brought to them by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), the black panther. When the fearsome scarred Bengal Tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) threatens his life since man isn’t allowed in the jungle, Mowgli leaves his jungle home. Guided by Bagheera and Baloo the bear (Bill Murray), he sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the man-hunting Shere Khan. Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who do not exactly have his best interests at heart including Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) the python and the smooth-talking Bornean orangutan-resembling Gigantopithecus King Louie (Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower. Will Mowgli succumb to King Louie’s wishes and assist him in attaining the red flower, will he defeat Shere Khan, or will he forsake the jungle for the safety of the human village is what the rest of the film is all about.

The film that combines live action with flawless CGI animation is a visual masterpiece. Neel Sethi the 12-year-old child debutant does a wonderful job. I would highly recommend him for all the major awards for the best actor category as he has given a performance that can put most of the experienced actors to shame. The voices of popular actors like Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley etc.,  used for the various animals does justice to their characters.

The technical team from the cinematographer Bill Pope, to the entire VFX team and editor Mark Livolsi needs to be given a standing ovation. They have come up with a technical masterpiece. The animals in the movie for not even a frail second makes you think are artificial. The 3D as well as the sound design further adds to the charm of the movie.

Overall this is a wonderful movie that offers spectacular visual treat and one should definitely go and watch! Highly Recommended!!

My Verdict: ****

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Movie Review: Kapoor & Sons – A Great Family Drama!

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There have been many movies made around families and we have experienced every type of family that eats together, sleeps together, prays together apart from loving each other and fighting with each other. This week the father of candyfloss and family movies – Karan Johar introduces the Kapoor family to you. A family that will be quite identifiable, characters that might be straight out of your life and situations that you can relate with. Directed by Shakun Batra who gave us the quirky ‘Ek Main Aur Ek Tu‘, ‘Kapoor & Sons‘ is a beautiful movie to watch this weekend.

The story starts with Dadu (Rishi Kapoor) the 90 year old patriarch of the Kapoor family getting hospitalized and his two grandsons Rahul (Fawad Khan) and Arjun (Siddharth Malhotra) coming to Coonoor to meet him. Rahul is an established novelist while Arjun after shifting multiple jobs is trying to find his true calling.

The brothers have their own share of differences where Arjun feels that his novel’s idea was stolen by Rahul which turned the fortunes for his brother. Their parents Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) and Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah) also have their own differences based on the fact that Harsh is an extramarital relationship with his ex-colleagues. After setting the plot for this dysfunctional family which in all seriousness, is sitting on a ticking time bomb. The writers introduce Tia (Alia Bhatt), the potential trigger. Amidst all these issues, the writers try to establish the fact that Dadu wants to have his last wish of getting a perfect family picture taken.

Shakun Batra has done a far greater job in his second movie and shows sparks of being a great filmmaker in the years to come. Fawad Khan is a revelation. He lives and breathes the character and takes the movie on his well placed shoulders. Siddharth and Alia come up with a decent performance. Rishi Kapoor has given his career best. Ratna Pathak Shah and Rajat Kapoor also support with their terrific performances.

The music is average however the background music is nice. The editing is crisp and the slow build up of the plot was quite necessary for the script.

Overall this is a family movie that every family should watch. Highly recommended!

My Verdict: ****