Raees Trailer Review

The trailer of the movie that Indian movie lovers have been waiting for, for more than a year, is here. Presenting SRK in and Raees.

The trailer is as impactful as the teaser which was showcased last year on Eid. SRK is the King of dialogue delivery, attitude and action, and this trailer shows it all. The opening of the trailer draws the perfect frame with the background of the character and summarizes the movie within the first few seconds with SRK’s voice over coupled with an amazing 80s era based background score. This followed by Nawazuddin Siddique (as ACP Majmudar) leaving you wondering if he will pull off another Kahaani.

The scene with the bottles getting roved over has been shot brilliantly and probably that’s why it is here in the trailer. It gives the essence of the movie, symbolically representing Majmudar’s power gripping over Raees gradually.

The director has brilliantly used SRK’s style coupled with the regional dialect and whistle-inducing dialogues. The backdrop of Gujarat woven with the dialect, the costumes, the dances and the landscapes set the tone of the movie. The chemistry between Nawazuddin and SRK looks more powerful than SRK and Mahira Khan, but that has always been true for all movies which have powerful actors as both the hero and anti-hero.

What really works well for the movie set up is the background music. Ram Sampath has proven in the past that he can deliver any genre with ease and here he has almost re-created an 80s masala Bollywood style in its true essence. Let’s see if the same reflects in other tracks as well. The key track to look out for will be Laila Oh Laila starring Sunny Leone. While the music push you to the past, the cinematography keeps you gripped to the current time, probably to ensure that you don’t feel like you are watching one of your classic oldies again.

What looks like the next best feature of the movie is the action. The glimpse of the action sequences in the trailer do take you back to Don and Don 2 days and this one surely looks like it will surpass the sequences of those movies.

Some key performance which were not so visible in the trailer but are worth looking out for are Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (of No One Killed Jessica & Raanjhanaa fame) and Atul Kulkarni (of Rang De Basanti fame).

Basis the teaser, I can say that this movie will get a 3.5 or 3/5 rating.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Teaser Review

My favourite director, Karan Johar, is back at direction with what looks like a roller coaster of love and passion with “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” which will take us through a tale of One-sided love, deep friendship and heartbreak. Watch the teaser here:

The teaser is an old school style, similar to the way Yash Chopra used to release his trailers – a key song of the movie playing with a web of emotional romantic scenes spun to show the flow of story. The broad line approach may not be unique but the presentation is no old-school. It is fresh, intense, engrossing, captivating and stunningly beautiful with a depth added by the soulful voice of Arijit Singh.

After the director’s credits, the teaser starts with Ranbir on mike (Rockstar anyone?) and then some fun scenes with Anushka, which looks straight out of Jab Tak Hain Jaan. And when you feel what is new that this movie has to offer then comes the highlight of the teaser is the beautiful Aishwarya Rai, who maintains her title of being the most beautiful woman in the world. The teaser has been designed exquisitely with the intermingling of scenes with Aishwarya & Anushka drawing out the parallels between two relationships, one which is all about intense, serious intimacy and second is fun, friendship bordering on love with a tadka of Fawad “SuperHot” Khan. The movie has brilliant cast and they look ready to stun the audience.

The ascend of emotions is beautifully done with the first clip being a non-emotional Ranbir singing, then fun moments with Anushka, the touch of romance with Aishwarya’s introduction, then build of romance with both the women, the emotional drama with Fawad as the anchor, the intimacy with Aishwarya, little drama with the history and then boom – the last line about one sided love. For me biggest impact  – the almost into tears – the nerve wrecking moment was the ‘Ek tarfa pyaar..’ dialogue which I am sure will give sleepless nights to people reminding them of their one sided love stories. The pain in the dialog is almost like Sahil Ludhyanvi’s lines in Kabhi Kabhi:

Kabhi raste mein mil jao to, katrakar guzar jaana
Hame iss tarah se takna jaise pehchaana nahi tumne,
Hamara zikra jab aaye to yun anjaan baan jaana
ke jaise naam sunkar bhi hame jaana nahi tumne

With his movies, Karan also seems to have matured moving from college romance to mature emotions. He makes sure that this movie his cast also looks matured with bearded Ranbir & Fawad looking elder. Ranbir did sport a similar look in Rockstar and Ye Jawani Hai Diwani, which won him many accolades and gives him the serious guy effect. Fawad on the other hand has look mid-way between his Khoobsurat and Kapoor & Sons look, giving him a more contemporary yet casual look.  Anushka also seems to have added weight to get closer to Aish’s age and there is a transition shown from JTHJ like chirpiness to RNBDJ agony. There are scenes with younger looking Ranbir which probably are introduced to give a background to his and Anushka’s relationship. Aishwarya is the blue eyed beauty of the story, who looks younger than her actual age and wins your heart with that every look. The fun part will be the dynamics between the four of them and to see if Karan treats them in the strained and bubbling fashion like Silsila or boiling and bursting like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

Like in all Karan Johar movies, the movies is expected to be the fourth big pillar of the money after direction, story & cast. Though there is only one song to testimony, but the music sounds promising with Pritam touching the souls with the title song. Hope to definitely hear a fun-weird lyrics based song, an Arabic/Folky song with Anushka & Ranbir, a slow romantic duet based number and a heart wrenching slow sad song (if the director follows the traditional approach).

Dharma production is going big even with the marketing of this one with front page advertisements across dailies, a big viral and social media campaign, digital advertisement placements and star promotions. I expect a series of viral videos to also come in some time, not just the making videos, but web series. The teaser got launched today and is already getting closer to 2M views. 

Basis the teaser, I can say that this movie will get a 4 or 3.5/5 rating. Can’t wait for Diwali and for SRK’s cameo in the movie!!

MS Dhoni: The Untold Story trailer review

No other movie trailer has given me goose bumps like this movie. In the country where only Bollywood and cricket sell, ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’ is the movie that all have been waiting for. The trailer is now out.

Mahi – India’s favourite, who helped India lift the World Cup one more time, the most popular, multi-record holding Captain of India was always a subject of attention for the junta, not only for his cricket but also for his background and his looks, and this is portrayed brilliantly in the trailer. The journey of a Ranchi born ticket collector in Kharagpur, getting Rs. 1500 as stipend, to one of the highest paid athletes in the world, against the odds of his background and then being questioned once he succeeds, is what quintessential Masala Bollywood movies are made of.

While the story sells itself but portrayal of great story on the screen is as important as the story itself and this looks like a movie which will not disappoint. Sushant Singh Rajput looks every bit of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in all frames of the trailer. Though they could have done away with the VFX when they showed the school boy Dhoni with Sushant’s face.

Bollywood loves biopics but many of them fail as the focus on the portrayal of the story supersedes the desire to create the effect that the story deserves. There is big bang drama created by this story, drawn by the award winning director of A Wednesday, Special 26 & Baby – Neeraj Pandey. Neeraj knows that art of showing biopics frozen in their time frame and aesthetics, and this is no different. The multi-shades of Mahi’s journey and the aspects of his life – school days, struggle with family, initial cricket days, Indian cricket team days, are all shown not only with the dimension of time period but also with the complexity of the change in the person that comes when someone grows in life and career.

The background narrative, which is provided by the intertwining of obstacles or opinions of people in Dhoni’s life and the counter responses, helps in building up the milestones along with the protagonist’s perspective. One of the most impactful scenes, apart from the cricket shots, are those that depict his Railway days with the multi-angular influence from his employees, father, sister, mother and the juggle in his own mind.

While Neeraj Pandey experiments with his protagonist, his second line of actors is usually the same – Anupam Kher and Rajesh Sharma, two of the most brilliant actors of today’s times. Bhumika Chawla is also seen after a long time taking a centre stage as Dhoni’s sister.

As in all Neeraj Pandey’s movies, we can expect this movie to have a tight story build up, which is also very obvious from the trailer, most appropriate depiction of a biopic, accuracy of art designs, strong background score, and a strong lines of performances.

If Sushant pulls this off then this could change his course of career placing him in the league of Ranbir Kapoor & Ranveer Singh.

Basis the trailer, I can say that this movie will get a 4.5/5 rating.

Fan Trailer Review

Love, passion, obsession…Darr taught me the three degrees of difference in these words and Fan just re-emphasized that.

Watch the trailer of the most awaited movie of the year.

We all knew what this is about, but I just realized, after watching the trailer, that this is not what I was expecting it to be. This is a psychological journey of a fan that shows his love transform into obsession, nothing short of the brilliance and the intensity that won SRK’s fans’ hearts in Darr.

The logo of the movie has been an apt depiction of movie’s theme with pictures of SRK’s fans. The trailer beginning is something we have already seen in the teaser, introducing Gaurav, Aryan Khanna’s self proclaimed biggest fan. The starting dialogue is a narrative that many fans would relate to and feel for their idols, where they feel the connection with the mirror image of the favorite stars in their heads and hearts.

SRK as his own 20 year fan steals the heart with his rustic personality and unflinching, uncorrupted love for his idol – Aryan Khanna. Shahrukh Khan has transformed into this character with great finesse. You cannot identify the star SRK in this boy next door. Not just his looks but even his body language, dance and dialogue delivery have been perfectly crafted to match up Gaurav’s character.

The journey that Gaurav undertakes has been beautifully shown in the movie, wherein Gaurav’s world is around the star and he himself tries to portray his favorite star, to the extent of even taking all the humiliation for him. He lives in his world ruled by Aryan Khanna, bordering at the fine line of devotion turning into obsession.

The scene where Gaurav sees Aryan for the first time, with the spark in his eyes, itself shows the journey of the fan’s transformation from love to obsession and is expected to take the movie to darker shades.

The one scene to look out for in the movie will be the dialogue between Aryan Khanna and Gaurav and the high voltage drama of rage that will follow post that.

The buildup of the fan’s rage on being dismissed by his idol, who is almost shown as his demi-God and the outrage that follows has been depicted well in the trailer with the  tussle between the two, intermingled with how Gaurav is transforming himself into his idol to get his attention, complimented by the background score.

The most powerful line which stuck with me was ‘Main hun to tu hai’, which is the crux of every celebrity-fan relationship debate. True that a celebrity is no celebrity without his fans, but it does not justify the craziness of some fans, which is seen very commonly in India in Bollywood and Cricket.

The marketing build up to the trailer was executed very intelligently with the teasers, followed by stories of real fans and the versions of Fan anthem song ‘Jabra’ in different languages to touch the Fan’s hearts.

This definitely will be an award winning movie for SRK and a treat for every ardent Shahrukh Khan fan. IF the movie is as impressive as the trailer, this could be one of SRK’s best performance in Bollywood. Basis the trailer, I think this will be a 4/5 rating kind of movie, though Picture Abhi Baki Hai!

Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 trailer review

Kya Kool Hain Hum 3 is here. If you are confused given Tushar Kapoor’s two way foray into porn based movies, this is the one without Sunny Leone in double role.

Warning!
Even adults should avoid it!

Watching this trailer can be injurious to your health!!

Well, after watching the trailer, I would really appeal to the Government that if actually want Achche Din for Bollywood fans, please start a ‘Tushar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani rozgaar yojana’, before anyone signs them for Kya Super Kool Hain Hum 4 and Super Great Grand Masti 5 and Super Mastizaade.

If you watch this trailer and Mastizaade trailer back to back, you will feel that Kya Super Kool Hain Hum and Grand Masti were so Sanskari. The two movies probably are part of a secret mission of All India Lukkha Association to force Government to legalize Torrent downloads in India, or probably inspired by Sunny Leone’s popularity, Tushar Kapoor has decided to slide towards this genre.

The trailer starts as a spoof of the famous ‘Prem is back’ dialogue and if Sooraj Bharjatya hears it, he will stop watching his own movies, probably so would Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor and many more who will scarred for life. By the way, they have more way more jokes on Sooraj Bharjatya than Alok Nath memes. 

Coming back to KKHH 3, the story is about Tushar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani who are porn stars, claiming that they have a lot of TALENT. Though I am not sure if words like ‘star’ and ‘talent’ would otherwise ever be used in Bollywood to talk about them. They work with Krishna who makes ‘Scary Movie’ like spoofs of famous Bollywood movies. But this time, unlike the other movies in the series, there are no double meaning dialogues, every intended meaning is loud and clear!!

Then comes a Tushar Kapoor’s firang accented love interest who is supposedly from a Sooraj Bharjatya movie like Sanskari family. In order to impress her, Tushar then makes his movie casts his real family and some more adult comedy unfolds.

As far as the actors are concerned, looks like the casting director was given two briefs – get male actors who were once mainstream but are in genre, and get female leads who may not be actors but match the stats. There clearly is more chemistry between Tushar and Aftab than with any of the female counter parts. The casting is so flawed that Tushar would be the best actor in the cast after Darshan Jariwala.

Well, this is supposed to be a sex comedy but after watching the trailer, I am not sure how much comedy will come out of this. The dialogue writer, Milap Zaveri, picked the jokes that were beeped in previous Kya Kool Hains and Mastis to add here. While writing the dialogues for this movie he also had some spare jokes left and ended up writing the screenplay for his own movie – Mastizaade. To ensure that nothing gets missed out, the production team has extensively planted ‘props’ across all scenes.

Not sure how the rest of the numbers from the movie will turn out, but ‘Jawani le doobi’ is catchy and is playing on all the charts right now.

Overall, the trailer looks like a 2/5, though Picture abhi baki hai!