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Mahaan - Movie Review

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Who is a better actor – Vikram or Dhruv Vikram? While the question itself is silly, the film makes me wonder. Perhaps, it's all in the genes. Dhruv shines as much as his father in this crime drama and proves to be the most promising among the star kids who have hit the silver screens in the past decade. While no comparisons with others, he certainly stands out after an impressive performance in Aditya Verma. Mahaan, Gandhi Mahaan (Vikram) is a school teacher with a small family and lives a typical 80s and 90s life in Tamil Nadu. As a child, he was skinned by his father Mohandoss (Adukalam Naren) for playing cards with friends. As a staunch Gandhian himself, the namesake’s father takes an oath from his son beating him black and blue that he will lead the live of Mahatma Gandhi as a Mahaan. Years later, he is settled with his wife Nachi (Simran) and son Dadabhai Naoriji (Dhruv) and lives a typical middle class mundane life running errands and as a doting husband cum father. When his

Security - Movie Review

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What intrigued me to watch this movie was the online on Netflix which mentions about a “shopping mall”. My love for retail… duh. Intrigued to watch a movie about shopping and retail, decided to watch and boy, I wasn’t disappointed. I have been seen eerie Malls right from 2004 onwards when I joined Bangalore Central Mall. On the first night of opening, the CEO summoned all of us and said - “ We have a problem. The main door is not locking and we need 2-3 people to guard it .” A senior Sardar colleague, Mr. Rekhi raised his hand first. I was the second. We both sat outside the Mall all night and saw the sunrise. And mind you, we were not armed and had no weapons either though there were a few professional security guards present outside the mall. But still, to sit and guard an unmanned Mall, well, been there, done that .  Security  is a film set and shot inside a shopping mall where a former veteran who has just joined as a security staff takes full control in a rescue operation. Leaders

Love Hard - Movie Review

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It’s Christmas season and here is a film which revolves around the most celebrated festival in the world. And yeah, there is strong connect with the current Gen’s obsession to online dating and believing what they don’t see is also true. Getting “catfished” is often heard from the kids of the new millennium but this film takes it to an all new high. Finally, the movie makes us realise that we really like a person not because how they look or who they are – socially or physically, rather how they are and their true qualities and personal nature.  True love after all is hard. And “Love Hard” is a testimony to it. Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev) writes articles for a dating column for a publication in Los Angeles about her disastrous outings week after week. Her boss Lee (Matty Finochio) loves her escapades as they get great views and the audience is excited to read more and more of these. One day, she finds the profile of Josh Lin (Jimmy O. Yang) and they start chatting up. She’s intrigued b

Bunty Aur Babli 2 - Film Review

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There are days when we just want to spend the day lazing around doing nothing. We pick up chores which are worthless, useless and a complete time pass. At the end of the day, we regret how we lost a precious day in our lives. At times, we feel happy that we ended up the day doing nothing and smile at ourselves. BaB2 is such a regretful day in one’s life, just that the makers spent a fortune (or perhaps not) making such a film, after all. The first edition feat. Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherji and Abhishek Bachchan was a cult film, in a sense that it was a combination of a mild thriller, a comedy and ending up as a drama. But the sequel neither of these and is a long bore at best.   BaB2 opens up with a bunch of rich Dilli businessmen ganging up with alcohol glasses on their hands in a pool side villa with young girls in scantily dressed clothes. The event organisers Sonia Rawat Kunal Singh lure the men to a private destination that is known by the name “Virgin Islands” where, well as o

Marakkar - Movie Review

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If the Mallus world over rever Mohanlal as one of the greatest actors of all time, it is not without a reason. The Malayalam film industry's Superstar has once again proven to his critics, why this adulation is justified. From Kaalapani (Hindi) to Marakkar, Mohanlal + Director Priyadarshan combination has worked out well from the critical acclaim point of view. Apparently, the first discussion about Marakkar happened between the duo on the sets of Kaalapani, which was about two prisoners in the infamous Andaman Jail and how they end up there after being captured by the British, try to break out several times and eventually get killed. The film featured Tamil Actor Prabhu as well alongside Mohan Lal and won several accolades and critical acclaim. But Marakkar was shelved back then due to potentially high budgets. The Malayalam film industry is perhaps, one of the most underserved yet deserving piece of art with no more than 500+ screens for exhibition on date in the state of Kerala.

Annaatthe - Movie Review

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Superstar Rajinikanth’s much awaited Annaatthe released amidst much fanfare on Thursday, 4 Nov. 2021 across the world to cheering thumps from his fans, followers and devotees alike. The film, produced by Sun Network’s Kalanidhi Maran and directed by Siva who gave a hatrick with Ajith over the past 9 years, is the first big budget film to be released during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic estimated to be produced at a cost of Rs. 230 Crores. While the shooting commenced in early ‘20, it came to a grinding halt in the wake of the first ever lockdown in Mar. 20. Subsequently, shooting progressed intermittently and finally released on Deepavali day, adding to a list of Thalaivar films which have done so in the past 3 decades.  Kalaiyan, (Rajinikanth) fondly addressed as Annaatthe by locals is the Village Panchayat Leader for his town Soorakottai. He brings up his foster sister Thanga Meenakshi (Keerthy Suresh) as his own and is extremely fond of her. Nayanthara is a Lawyer whom Kalaiyan meet

The Assistant - Movie Review

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  Much has been spoken, tweeted and written about #MeToo in real life. There have been some convictions, some remorse and mostly inaction in real life cases. Here’s a film that showcases the life of an office assistant who is not just subject to harassment but even embarrassed when she tries to protect her female colleague.  The film begins with Jane (Julia Garner) starting her work day in the wee hours and heads to her office set in Lower Manhattan, New York city. She’s the first one to get in to the office and manages all the administrative tasks almost alone at the office. The company, a film production house has a number of employees walking up the alley, to the pantry, in the elevator and so on but no one hardly acknowledges her presence or her contribution to the workplace. The first scene show how Jane carefully assembles the coffee mugs, washing the plates, cups and so on, takes photo copies of work files, sends emails, fixes schedules for her bosses and even interacts with the