Sanju Aa Gaya Mamu...

#Sanju - Rajkumar Hirani has hit a sixer yet again!

The biopic flows at a steady pace and depicts the upheaval in Baba’s life perfectly. The narrative is crisp and just when things get extra-serious, you are served a Hirani style mood lightener!

Ranbir Kapoor is just amazing with the body language, look and style perfected to the T. No words to describe his fab performance. Worth a special mention is Vicky Kaushal as the best friend. The other cast is also apt - be it Manisha Koirala, Paresh Rawal, Dia Mirza or Anushka Sharma. Anjan Shrivastav is extremely hilarious in his 2 minute cameo.

A perfect blend of a very interesting story, dialogue, acting, direction and so on, there is hardly any room to find flaws. The only mood dampner for me was the English subtitles where Pani puri was translated as Waffles, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi as Mary Poppins and Shivaji as Santa Claus!

That forgiven, its definitely worth a dekko mamu! 4.5⭐️ from me.

P.S. Please consider room for the maker’s creative liberty and take the film with a pinch of salt.

Jagga Jasoos

#JaggaJasoos - A pantomimic musical journey through the life of a Barfi-esque teenage detective Jagga.

The film engages young and old alike but is more of a kids movie owing to its simplistic storyline lacking depth.

Ranbir Kapoor is delightful and at ease; Katrina is okay; Saswata Chatterjee is worth a special mention as #TootiFooti - totally diverse character perfectly essayed after his most remembered role of Bob Biswas.

The songs blend well with the plot but at times its a musical overload and one starts missing prose dialogues. Specifically loved the #GaltiSeMistake song.

Overall, thoroughly enjoyable film. 3.5 ⭐️ from me

A Disaster Has (been) Made!!

#ADHM - A Disaster Has (been) Made
But
#ADHM - Anushka Does Her Maximum (to save the day)
Simple question to Mr. KJo - What were you thinking???

A pathetic mashup of several of his earlier films, this one lacks a plot, theme, feel, and whatever else that is required to make a fairly decent movie.
Arey bhai, "Pyar Dosti Hai" yeh toh Kuch Kuch Hota Hai se pata hai. Ab kya naya bataya 3 ghante waste karke? 😤

Ranbir is just about ok, Aishwarya not required, Fawad is for the cuteness while Lisa for dumbness. The only saving grace is Anushka Sharma - she's actually good!!

All in all, iss mein se kuch aur appreciate karna, ae dil hai mushkil!

Baffeeee!.. Not just a sweet love story!

Creating hype about movies is a routine in India. Barfi started generating a "blockbuster" vibe right from the first promo. I was one of the millions who were desperately waiting to watch this film. When I could not watch it over its first weekend after release, I was extremely restless. It felt like I was missing out on something life-saving!:-D Finally, I got the opportunity to watch this delightful film the next weekend.

And boy was it a treat!! I did not find a single dull moment through the entire journey called "Barfi". I will not say that its an "out of this world" story or that it is "mind-blowing" direction... but all in all it is a  delight to watch. I must say I have rarely seen such a clean, pure and innocent love story. A complete "U" rated love story after a really long time! 

All the characters are well-etched and performances top-notch. Ranbir Kapoor is brilliant in the title role. He woos both the ladies with so much charm and innocence.. I admit I got "wooed" myself! ;-) Priyanka Chopra is excellent as Jhilmil. I loved her look...the hair, the chubby cheeks, the dresses...everything is just purr-fect for the character! No comments required in the acting department...Priyanka is very versatile and can play an autistic girl and a glam-doll with the same ease. Ileana D'Cruz is also lovely...pretty looking and decent performance. All the supporting actors are perfectly cast. 

What I loved about this film is that it has the right mix of ingredients required for a superhit movie. It has a handsome hero, a beautiful heroine (or two!), good comedy and a love-triangle. The music is hummable and sweet sounding. The "bird" dance is simply cute! Although some sequences are inspired from other films, I never felt that it is a "copy cat". Getting inspired to create such beautiful cinema is not wrong!!

This Barfi is not just sweet...it has enough masala to hook one and all. A brilliant effort by Anurag Basu...a sure-shot blockbuster and a worthy nomination for the Oscars! Well, if people could nominate a mediocre film like "Slumdog Millionaire" for the Oscars, then Barfi is at least 100 times better!