Akshay Kumar – shooting mess!

Akshay Kumar – shooting mess! by Master

Firstly, Akshay, and to a lesser extent Salman, were the only stars you could have signed a movie with just for the paycheck allure. All the other stars eventually started looking for scripts and the folks they make movies with. As everyone became selective and hard to get, Akshay utilized that completely and was available for any businessman turned producer waiting to make a movie. They could only get Akshay, as no other top star would ever do a movie just for the money. Akshay does so many movies, he has no qualms about script, director, or even leading lady. He doesn’t mind if the director is incapable or the leading lady is some art house heroine like Nimrat Kaur (Airlift) or Huma Qureshi (Jolly LLB2) or Radhika Apte (Padman) or even Mouni Roy (Gold). Akshay is worried about his role and paycheck. Yes, he will hear the script, but it’s more about projects, and he’s fine to do the movie as it’s less risky if doing multiple movies and if they are working according to his schedules.

Trade Guide Verdicts

Thanks to Marcus and others

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(Image courtesy – Bollywood Collections – Please check watermark)
Taran Adarsh published his Trade Guide classifications online from 1998 to 2004 (first in IndiaFM and then that domain name changed to BollywoodHungama). From 2005-2007, Taran was associated with BH but the yearly classification changed the terminology and was not published with his name. I have included those verdicts in the list as well for completeness.

Master on Fighter

Fighter takes viewers on a journey of blending aerial action with familiar Bollywood melodramatic cliches. While it delivers gripping moments, the film falls short in certain aspects, leaving a mixed impression.

The movie begins slowly, introducing characters in familiar ways, including a scene reminiscent of Hrithik’s entrance from War. Despite some sarcastic banter between Hrithik and Deepika, the initial setup lacks impact. However, the narrative gains momentum with the portrayal of the Pulwama attack and India’s response, injecting intensity into the storyline and setting the stage for 2nd half.

Master on Jawan

Watched Jawan and it’s the most massiest SRK ever seen in a movie that brings together a mix of masala elements and social issues.

The movie kicks off with an awesome introductory sequence, where SRK’s character is sort of messiah for a village beating up bad guys unlike say a Bond-like intro in Pathaan.

Krish on Jawan

Spoilers

Watched jawan. Tony , Rangan and shivaay all three got it right. There are too many things crammed in movie , too many causes taken. But the movie works and works quite well. Firstly hats off to atlee for presenting SRK as never before. And credit to SRK for having the guts to sign a all south movie during his lean patch. For sure it is a movie conceived in Tamil and could have worked with vijay but the novelty factor of SRK in an out and out mass movie drives the movie big time.

tonymontana on Jawan

Watched Jawan:

The problem with the film is that it’s overstuffed.. every scene is chaotic, a lot is happening without reason and without any sort of conviction. It’s a series of scenes joined with one another with no regard of what follows before or after. They have packed in a vigilante drama, made a political statement, a feminist drama, more backstories and flashbacks that it could be handled, a revenge tale, a father and son story altogether without bothering if the screenplay makes sense. With respect to age old storytelling, it’s a darn mess..

Master on Gadar 2

Watched Gadar 2, it’s clear that this sequel falls short of its predecessor, which had a more 90’s movie vibe. However, Gadar 2 takes a step further back in time, resembling the campy 80’s movies directed by Anil Sharma himself.

tonymontana on Bawaal

Watched Bawaal.

I didn’t mind it. It’s sincerely made, and some scenes are shot wonderfully well. It also confirms the pattern or the style of filmmaking of Nitesh Tiwari that many successful directors do not follow, and that’s a good thing. He has kept his ambitions low key even after having achieved tremendous success with Dangal.

Shivaay on Rocket Boys 2 (Updated)

If Kalam’s intro sequence of “har shaakh par ullu baitha hai” questioning the loyalties of a minority yet substantial number of Indian Muslims was the punchline of season 1, season 2 belongs to Dr Bhabha’s “We’re surrounded by trouble”.

Abzee’s Oscar Predix for the year in film 2022 (Updated)

The nominations for the 95^th Academy Awards will be announced in exactly 2 weeks’ time. After the slapgate that was the Will Smith-Chris Rock embarrassment of last year, the Covid affected restricted ceremony of the year prior to it, the host-less events from the couple years before that, and the shadow of the #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite movements that loomed over the two ceremonies previous to these… the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would like the Oscars this year to be a return to normalcy and one that would be remembered only for the films rather than any scandal or drama. Having host Jimmy Kimmel back to anchor the evening is a step in that direction.

At a time when global film industries are in a state of flux, audiences’ viewing habits are shifting, and theatrical outings are becoming more and more about just tentpole releases… perhaps this will be the massiest Oscars in years. The Oscars have always battled low ratings owing to charges of snubbing popular films in favour of snobbish prestige fare. Think The Hurt Locker winning over Avatar, or Anthony Hopkins in The Father over Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther… there are several examples.

Summer blockbusters and superhero films, genres that have kept the film industries and theatres still relevant, have always received a reluctant appraisal from the Academy in technical categories like Visual Effects and Sound. The 95^th Academy Awards could be different.

Master on ‘Pathaan’

Watched PATHAAN. Movie is good and not great but the movie has the perfect combination of ticking off all the checkboxes in covering everything: a proper bollywood syp/thriller/heist bad-spy gone rogue, good spys from everywhere, etc.
The movie starts well with SRK’s introduction and fight sequence (just like Bond movies do) prior to the titles and it is extremely well shot and choreographed (albeit too fast).

An jo on ‘Pathaan’ Trailer

The trailer review: Have been poor at reviewing trailers but a bit better at reviewing movies. However, catching some breathing space during hectic schedules, caught the trailer and quite liked it. Not impressed with the trailer as a whole but it provided the lay of the land and what to expect, and specially, what not to expect, quite literally and clearly.

A sharp and well-cut trailer, encompassing parts of the current mood of the country portrayed openly, while maintaining the ‘Pathaan’ identity as intended to meet SRK’s attempts over the years of his film-acting career.

Films watched in the Year 2022

I was working on my annual Oscar predictions, and I somehow also ended up doing a side project on the films I saw last year. Here’s a snapshot of my film viewing in 2022.

I saw a total of 180 films last year, at an average of 15 films a month and roughly 3-4 films a week.

Shivaay’s note on Oppenheimer and Nolan’s return to character oriented cinema

Oppenheimer and Nolan’s return to character oriented cinema

As I watched (and rewatched) the teaser of Nolan’s next Oppenheimer, one cannot but help noticing the master film maker’s return to character oriented cinema, a brand of story telling that has made him one of the finest film makers of contemporary times. Not that films like Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet were mediocre by any yardstick (such is the genius of Nolan that even his underwhelming films are perhaps few of the decade’s best!) but the entire idea of building a plot around the central protagonist(s) is something Nolan seemed to have forsaken in exchange for larger than life concepts where characters fitted in as nothing more than pawns.

An Jo on Khakee: The Bihar Chapter

KHAKEE: THE BIHAR DIARIES A wonderful series by the great Neeraj Pandey, not to be missed. Fantastic detailing and a superb cat & mouse game, avoiding the usual crutches of MC/BC just because it is based in Bihar. Karan Tacker is mostly wooden, his wife played by Tanu Datta is wonderful, but the scene-stealer is Avinash Tiwary’s Chandan Mahto, closely followed by the Narad Muni-esqe Ashutosh Rana who keeps switching loyalties as though he is switching rabris. [Tacker though, is physically remarkably near to the real Amit Lodha.]