Monday, August 8, 2016

The hits and misses of the week.


Budhia Singh: Born To Run make be a National award-winning, critically good film. Unfortunately, it did not fare well at the box office.
The other releases -- The Legend Of Michael Mishra and Fever -- also bombed.

Budhia Singh: Born To Run
Manoj Bajpayee and Mayur Patole in Budhia Singh: Born to Run
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tillotama Shome and Mayur Patole
Director: Soumendra Padhi.
What works: Good performances, well-told story.
What doesn't: The story is well-documented, and known.
Number of weeks: New.
BO verdict: Flop.

Fever
Rajeev Khandelwal and Gauhar Khan in Fever
Cast: Rajeev Khandelwal, Gauahar Khan, Gemma Atkinson and Caterina Murino.
Director: Rajeev Jhaveri.
What works: The beautiful locales of Switzerland.
What doesn't: Convoluted storytelling, loud background score.
Number of weeks: New.
BO verdict: Flop.

The Legend Of Michael Mishra
Arshad Warsi and Aditi Rao Hydari in The Legend of Michael Mishra
Cast:  Arshad Warsi, Aditi Rao Hydari, Boman Irani and Kayoze Irani
Director: Manish Jha.
What works: Nothing!
What doesn't: Arshad Warsi looks disinterested, film doesn't make sense.
Number of weeks: New.
BO verdict: Flop.

Dishoom
Jacqueline Fernandez, Varun Dhawan, John Abraham in Dishoom
Cast:  John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Akshaye Khanna.
Director: Rohit Dhawan.
What works: Varun Dhawan and his charm!
What doesn't: John Abraham.
Number of weeks: 1.
BO verdict: Semi hit.

Kabali (Hindi dubbed version)
Kabali
Cast: Rajinikanth, Radhika Apte
Director: Pa Ranjith
What works: Rajinikanth, of course!
What doesn't: Film has nothing new to offer or say, even Rajinikanth's popular gimmicks are missing.
Number of weeks: 2.
BO verdict: Flop.


Madaari
Madaari
Cast: Irrfan, Jimmy Sheirgill, Vishesh Bansal
Director: Nishikanth Kamat
What works: Irrfan.
What doesn't: Weak script and editing.
Number of weeks: 2.
BO verdict: Flop.


Great Grand Masti

Cast:  Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Urvashi Rautela.

Director: Indra Kumar.
What works: A few comic gags.
What doesn't: Over-the-top performances, sloppy script.
Number of weeks: 3.
BO verdict: Flop.

Sultan

Cast: Salman Khan, Anushka Sharma, Randeep Hooda, Amit Sadh

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar.
What works: Salman Khan.
What doesn't: Predictable climax, film is too long at nearly three hours running time.
Number of weeks: 4.
BO verdict: Superhit.

Shorgul

Cast: Ashutosh Rana, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sanjay Suri, Ejaz Khan, Hiten Tejwani, Anirudh Dhave, Suha Gezen.

Director: Jitendra Tiwari.
What works: Great performances by Ashutosh Rana, Jimmy Sheirgill.
What doesn't: Bad direction and poor execution.
Number of weeks: 5.
BO verdict: Flop.

Raman Raghav 2.0

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal, Sobhita Dhulipala.

Director: Anurag Kashyap.
What works: Great performances by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vicky Kaushal.
What doesn't: Anurag Kashyap's films are getting too similar.
Number of weeks: 6.
BO verdict: Flop.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Harry Potter Mania Grips Sonam Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Aditi Rao Hydari




It was a double treat for Harry Potter fans as the boy wizard celebrated his birthday and a new book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child released on July 31.

The Harry Potter mania gripped Bollywood celebrities including, Sonam Kapoor, Pooja Hegde, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sonali Bendre Behl and Farah Khan as they shared Potter posts on Instagram and Twitter.

Sonam, who can't wait to read the new book based on a play- imagining Harry Potter as an adult- Instagrammed a long note. She also wished author J K Rowling, who turned 51 on Sunday, Happy Birthday.

Salman Khan's Emotional Farewell to Rajjat Barjatya



Actor Salman Khan was photographed as he arrived at a prayer meet for filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya's cousin, Rajjat Barjatya, in Mumbai on July 31. Rajjat Barjatya, who was MD and CEO of Rajshri Media, died on Friday in a hospital in Mumbai.
 


An emotional Salman Khan greeted Sooraj Barjatya at the meet. Salman, 50, and the Barjatyas have a long history - the actor was directed by Sooraj Barjatya in his breakout film Maine Pyar Kiya and subsequent hits Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain. Salman starred in last year's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, which Sooraj Barjatya directed.
 


Salman was accompanied by his sister Alvira Agnihotri.
 


Sonam Kapoor, Salman's Prem Ratan Dhan Payo co-star, was also photographed at the prayer meet.
 


We also spotted actresses Tara Sharma and Raveena Tandon.
 


Actors Anup Soni, Satish Shah, and filmmakers Subhash Ghai and Kunal Kohli also arrived to pay their last respects.