Posted on

Movie Review: Dishoom – Lacks A Solid Punch!

After delivering a mediocre Desi Boyz, David Dhawan‘s son and Varun Dhawan‘s elder brother Rohit Dhawan makes a comeback of sorts with this week’s solo release – Dishoom. Starring John Abraham and Varun Dhawan in the lead and ably supported by Akshaye Khanna, Jacqueline Fernandez, Rahul Dev and whole lot of cameo making stars, Dishoom reminds you of many cop-buddy movies starting from Main Khiladi Tu Anari to Dhoom series. Does this high on octane movie with beautiful visuals packs a punch or not, let’s find out.

36 hours before an India-Pakistan cricket match in the Middle East, India’s star batsman Viraj (Saqib Saleem) gets kidnapped. The kidnappers demand Rs.400 crore for the release of Viraj or else they would kill him. India’s external affairs minister entrusts the brooding, chain-smoking top-cop Kabir (John Abraham) along with Junaid (Varun) who has a rare distinction of never solving any case, to solve the case and bring back the national hero before the news spreads and creates riots.

While on the journey of solving the case, Kabir and Junaid come across many suspicious characters that includes the heroine of the movie Ishika (Jacqueline Fernandez), Wagah (Akshaye Khanna) and Altaf (Rahul Dev). Does Kabir and Junaid find out the real person behind the kidnapping and save Viraj is all what the movie is all about.

The plot is a done to death one and we have seen many cop-buddy movies in the past (as mentioned above) where one character is brooding and strict while the other one is a bumbling buffoon. However, here Varun takes the cake and the bakery with his charming performance and innocence. Varun is proving himself to be a bankable and versatile actor with movies ranging from Badlapur to Humpty Sharma to Dishoom. It’s a sheer pleasure to see him perform on screen. John on the other end does not show much promise as an actor. However, he is exceptionally good with the action scenes. Jacqueline Fernandez has pretty nothing much to do. Akshaye Khanna in a negative role after a 5 year sabbatical shows promise and makes me feel that he is one actor who has never got his due. The rest of the supporting cast from Nargis Fakhri to Vijay Raaz to Rahul Dev and yes we do have a special cameo by Akshay Kumar here, does a great job.

Rohit proves himself to be a massy director however, he fails to have control on the script. The script by him and Tushar Hiranandani is pure average however some of the punchline does evoke laughter. The first half is bearable but the second half needed some trimming to make it more crisper and tight. Cinematography by Ayananka Bose is extremely breathtaking. The action sequences are well executed and music by Pritam is catchy especially the title track, Sau Tarah Ke and Parineeti’s first item song Janeman Aah.

On the whole it is a massy movie however, it still lacks a solid punch.

My Verdict: **1/2

Posted on

Movie Review: Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon – ZZzzzzzz

kis-kisko-pyar-karoon, shaiju mathew, kapil sharma, abbas mustan

This week there are four releases out of which Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon directed by Abbas-Mustan stands out along with Madhur Bhandarkar‘s Calendar Girls. The movie is also special because it is the debut movie of Kapil Sharma who has a huge fan following post his widely appreciated and watched comedy show ‘Comedy Nights With Kapil‘. However, the novelty of the movie ends with Kapil because there is nothing new in the story. It seems as if someone has stitched several Govinda hit movies of 1990’s together and served in the name of Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon.

Coming to the story. Kumar Shiv Ram Kishan aka Bholu (Sharma) is a guy who drives fancy cars, works in a fancy building and regularly wears a three-piece suit in Mumbai to show to the world that he is a rich man. In a year’s time or so he acquires three wives and blames his mother for the same. Surprised? So was I ;). It is shown that his mother always told him one should never break a woman’s heart or home, and in his attempt to live by that maxim, Bholu finds himself saddled with three wives. This reminded me of our Puranas, especially Mahabharat where one gets to read about how Draupadi ended up with five husbands. Now there are more such brain-shattering things showcased one after the other eg; Bholu parks all his wives in the same building – ‘Cocktail Towers’ on different floor with none of them getting to know about each other’s existence.

There are few more characters introduced like Bholu’s estranged parents and a father-in-law whom he gets to park in each of his wife’s apartment. Bholu also falls in love with Deepika (Elli Evram) and wants to get married to her (maybe he is not tired of three wives he has already gathered).

The story is a mixture of Saajan Chale Sasural, Gharwali Baharwali, Sandwich etc. from the 90’s directed by David Dhawan. Abbas-Mustan who are known for their stylish thrillers like Baazigar, Khiladi, Race series, Humraaz etc. ventures into unknown territory – comedy and tries to piggyback on Kapil’s popularity. Alas, it attempt is a huge disaster.  I would totally blame the writer (Anukalp Goswami) and director Abbas-Mustan for churning out this outdated fare.

Kapil sleepwalks through his role and shows sparks of ascending the throne left vacant by Govinda. However, if given a chance I would never want to see the 90’s kind of comedy movies coming back in vogue if this movie clicks, which I doubt. Among the actresses Manjari Phadnis does a decent act however others fall flat on their face including Elli Evram. Johny Lever’s daughter Jamie who has debuted with this movie has done a fantastic job as the Marathi speaking house-maid and so has Varun Sharma who plays Bholu’s friend.

The music by Tanishk Bagchi, Dr Zeus, Javed Mohsin and Amjad-Nadeem are no great shakes. Cinematography by  Dilshad is average while editing by Hussain Burmawallah is good.

Overall the movie is not even a one time watch and might not even gather it’s investment at the box office unless Kapil’s luck rubs it otherwise.

My Verdict: *