BAANKEY KI CRAZY BARAAT

Director Aijaz Khan got together some brilliant actors to support the lead pair, and when you see the movie you realize those supporting actors performed so well they owned the movie. The film lacked budget for publicity, big lead stars but the supporting cast performs their roles honestly.

The film begins with the demented Baankey (Rajpal Yadav), a dysfunctional 35-year-old, praying to 'Kaamdev' to get married. A panditji  is called home to view his kundali only to find that marital bliss is impossible as Baankey's stars dont allow him to do so. The enters the scene Lallan(Vijay Raaz), a local goon who is also the best friend cum brother of Baankey with his chamchas. He threatens Pandit Ji to 'fix the stars' in Baankey's Kundli and get him a bride by hook or by crook. Further forced by Baankey's father Nandlal(Rakesh Bedi) and Uncle Kanhaiyalal(Sanjay Mishra), Pandit ji gives in a solution : Find a guy who will go being Baankey and perform all the rituals and then get the bride home to Baankey. 

They find a guy too but he ends up running away with Pandit's daughter just before the wedding, then comes Virat(Satyajeet Dubey) whose father has a debt on his head and is under a threat by Baankey's Chacha Kanhaiyalal, so he readily agrees for 25% of his loan amount to be Baankey. Which he later on doubles,triples and finally gets all his debt forgiven by Kanhaiyalal and only then agrees to marry, claiming that he isnt doing it for money but only for ' BAANKEY'!  Virat ends up falling in love with 'Proxy' iness.. (Tia Bajpai), this leads to a series of misadventures, bringing us to a predictable end. 

Talking about performances: The lead pair does little, for the movie. Almost no one wold be clear if they have ever seen Satyajeet Dubey before. But friends! He was introduced in Roshan Abbas's 'Always Kabhi Kabhi' he tries to do all he could but that craziness or comic timing was missing. Same goes with Tia Bajpai, who looks good and tries to perform her role with honesty but dialogues do not support her much and her act falls.  Rajpal Yadav is repetitive, not funny and unbearable. 

Coming to supporting actors: All are great but Vijay Raaz and Sanjay Mishra are two pillars who try to hold the comedy act together. They can seriously sleepwalk through such roles now. Their act, dialogues and reactions does make one laugh.But after the intermission everything seems boring, except for a few lines. They even have a servant named 'Bhootni ke'!  Anil Mange shines through the few scenes he gets as a failed lover of the bride. An ensemble of great actors but not properly utilized to their full capacity is what i felt.  
All songs are almost forced and very wrongly placed, only one wedding song that works a little, maybe. 
Its a wedding that if you attend do carry, 'Hajmola'.

PHANTOM

Ek Tha Tiger, Agent Vinod, D-Day, Baby & the one we will talk now PHANTOM : What is common among all these features is the point they try to make which is enough of defending its time to attack! Jingoism isn't it ? Many peace lovers might say that if i say this is right, something of this is needed badly. Rather than going on war and losing thousands, a team of few brilliant mercenaries is what is needed to give a slap on the face of these terrorist organizations who have been attacking and killing innocents in the name of 'Jihaad' for long. 

Case in point is PHANTOM, based on the former investigative journalist S.Hussain Zaidi's novel Mumbai Avengers, Director Kabir Khan fails to turn the action thriller into what this movie could have been. It was the loose adaptation of the novel to script probably that gave this bad a result. There were several loopholes and i wont deny the fact that Kabir Khan tried his best to cover up but the lead pair made the biggest hole and that certainly was something no one could have blot out. 

Talking about actors; Saif Ali Khan tries.....really tries and the effort is visible on screen, he looks like the man in doubt throughout the movie. How can a man who looks confused be send on secret mission without plan, solely? Let me clarify why i said confused; Remember Akshay Kumar in BABY when he goes to UAE ?  His dialogue delivery, posture, action, anger everything he did showed passion. A certain attitude that you find in soldiers, being an ex army officer(that Saif is shown to be) he lost it for me in the first scene itself because of that missing. Arjun Rampal in D-DAY looked that masculine that if need be he can combat, even that was missing from Saif. And Salman Khan in EK THA TIGER was..... let it be why am i even comparing that! 

Kabir Khan tried to make it look like one of the Bond movies but missed the point, Saif is no BOND! Someone like AKSHAY KUMAR / HRITHIK ROSHAN / SALMAN KHAN would have been a better choice. One is intelligent and a fighter, second is super fit and super handsome and third one is 'Super Human' Khan. Any thing he does his fans like it. Recent example is the humongous success of the same director Kabir Khan's BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN.

Talking about Katrina Kaif, i am surprised for the fact that she takes so much for her acting fees and then comes on sets to learn acting ! Yes, she still acts like an amateur.  In a scene she does well where she fakes pregnancy apart from that one i am not reminded of any but major bad ones. One that stands out and was cringe worthy is one where Nawaaz (Katrina) tries to convince the pakistani nurse (Sohaila Kapur). Its a disaster, Katrina's expressions are so blank, she tries to touch her emotions of a mother but fails miserably whereas Sohaila Kapur's does a brilliant cover up for katrina's mistakes.I missed Huma Qureshi's D-Day brilliance in this role. 

Supporting cast needs special mention, its actors like Sabyasachi Chakraborty(we have seen him in Parineeta playing Saif's father) a distinguished bengali actor playing R.A.W Chief.  And the brain behind mission, representing the anger and passion of India's youth is Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub (People remember him for his superb acting as Murari in Raanjhana). 

These two actors push the envelope with their brilliant performances. Some of their brilliance is associated with their dialogues like when in his introduction scene Zeeshan says:

" Yeh log kitna bhi attack karein, hum  kuch kartey toh hain nahi, bass cricket khelna bandd karr detey hain."  

Not to be missed is Sohaila Kapur.

Very much thankful to the director as there was no forced songs and every song was a part of the story or the background. I hated the lyrics when heard Afghan Jalebi but even that looked well on screen and also as it was performed by Jameel Khan Sir, no reason to hate it anymore.

The movie is banned in Pakistan due to a plea by JUD Chief Haafiz Saeed, and Pakistani Judiciary obliged to it. Says a lot about the countries judicial nature! 

Kabir Khan has been trying to make the same point with all his last movies, "love between people and war against terrorism". Beginning from NewYork, where a Hindu girl falls in love with a Muslim guy, In Ek Tha Tiger it grows from communities to countries when an Indian RAW agent falls in love with a Pakistani ISI agent, Further in Bajrangi Bhaijaan a Hindu Brahmin Man takes care and helps a little Pakistani Girl to reach back to her homeland safetly. 
In PHANTOM he shows no love but just a more power punch to what he has shown in all the past movies war against terrorism not community. Very nicely he named all the important characters as Muslims to deliver the message that Indian Muslims are Indians and hate terrorists across border as much as any other Indian. 

Hope the message is delivered clearly to those 'master minds' across borders that Indians have had enough of the  defensive act and now the youth is full of agitation and it might burst...anytime. Even our movies and the recent 'Myanmar Operation' have started giving hints what lies in future for them.  

 As far as PHANTOM, its a one time watch high on patriotism but not the one like BORDER/LOC...this one is different in its own way.  A story i wish turns true! 

MANJHI - THE MOUNTAIN MAN

What would you call a man who tells you he, alone will cut a road through the mountain with just a hammer and chisel ?  Is the word psychotic ? Or Lunatic, insane , freak ! Yes the man was officially called all that and much more for 22 years, but in the end he proved that never ignore the power of ONE. 

Ketan Mehta has turned the life story of  Dashrath Manjhi, an 'uncommon' man from Bihar into the movie 'Manjhi- The mountain man'. 

Sometimes people do extraordinary deeds that need mention to motivate the next generation. Dashrath Manjhi was that unsung hero whose story has all the ingredients of greatness. Low caste boy, runs away at a young age, works in coal mines, comes back to his village after years only to find the similar pathetic situation of caste system, people treated even worse than animals by zamindars, how women were raped and killed just for fun with no law and order reaction. Amidst all this a love story between Manjhi and his wife Phaguniya and after his wife's death how the man keeps everything aside and promises himself to break the mountain to cast way through it.

Feeling inspired? 
In the first episode of  Season 2 of  Satyamev Jayate, Aamir Khan talked about this inspirational tale of  Manjhi. Coming back to the main story:  Dashrath Manjhi's wife died due to lack of medical treatment because the nearest town from their home in Gehlore village, with a doctor was nearly 75 kms away travelling around the hills, or along a treacherous pass through the hills. Struck with grief , Manjhi swore to make a more direct route through Gehlore Hills to medical care, so that no one else would suffer the same fate. 

Over the course of 22 years, Manjhi single handedly carved a 360 ft long , 25 ft deep and 30 ft wide road out of a hill with nothing but a hammer and chisel. This reduced the distance tenfold.  

Why am i talking about Dashrath Manjhi when i should be talking about the movie and write its review ? You must be thinking this. Right ? 
I had to introduce this man to you as its not a script written by any writer but a real story of a man that one should know and remember irrespective of going to the movie or not.

Lets talk about the cast, Nawazuddin Siddiqui proves that he is also a one man army. That lean frame has nothing to do with his mountainous stature when he plays a character. He made Manjhi look real, although the make up did not help him much, yet Nawazuddin Siddiqui the actor never lets you down, through the movie. Its a treat to watch him. When he sees his wife for the first time, when she dies specially the scene where a snake bites him and he uses the chisel and hammer to cut off his own toe in order to stay alive. It looks so real the expression on Nawaaz's face! What would you have done? I don't know if i could have done it. 
But even being a bit slow at a few places, the movie is entertaining.For the parts of the film that involve mountain and Nawaaz as characters. Nawaaz sure shuns down the mountain.   

Radika Apte as Falguni Devi or Phaguniya as called by Manjhi, is the apt casting and no one else could have been able to pull it off the way she does. The chemistry between Nawaaz and Radhika is amazing and they seemed to compliment the characters. But i did not like those dream flashes and white saree stuff, in order to make it more filmy they add bollywood masala which kills the flavor the real spice in this one is the story, but alas!

Pankaj Tripathi and Tigmanshu Dhulia as the sleazy zamindar son and father are perfect. The role reminds of  Ramadheer of Gangs Of Wasseypur, Maybe cos both characters involved a lot of 'Kameenapan' and that shows while both these actors performed their roles. They make you hate them, feel disgusted and angry about all they do. A compliment for any villian i say. 

Gaurav Dwivedi portrays the role of Alok Jha a reporter who breaks the news of Dashrath Manjhi's efforts to the outside world. He also plays a constant supporter of Manjhi's struggle and gets him out jail when arrested. The dialogues exchanged between Manjhi and Alok are highlights of the movie. Both Nawaazuddin and Gaurav play the strengths of their characters. He also acts as the narrator of Manjhi in the beginning.

Films like Manjhi take their own sweet time to establish the plot. They prey on our inner emotions of pain and hurt to make us understand what a grieving person can do. This proves such a person can even break down a mountain. It takes a hell of a man to do what Dashrath Manjhi did, the film is not trying to make him a hero as he already is ! What he has done for the generations of that village is something he will be always remembered.

NO PIRACY or small screen will be able to do justice to this movie. For nothing else but films like MASAAN and MANJHI should be watched in theatres so that more such film makers dare to create real stories.

The movie is a must watch for Dashrath Manjhi's conviction and Nawaazuddun Siddiqui'd resilience. 

BROTHERS

"Brothers" a remake of  a full-proof Bollywood script that was made in Hollywood, a Gavin O'Connor's  2011 release "Warrior" starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgertan. 

A story about two estranged brothers who meet years later in a fighting ring only to get back together. Its a fight picture that tells you before the fight which brother will win due to the reasons provided and a evident one ( "Khiladi ko khel mein kaun hara sakta hai" ).  And yet you sit glued to watch them fight, the pain, punches and reconciliation. The structure of a rags-to-riches fight story with the classic Bollywood family feud. 

In the beginning only the film establishes them separately, we meet two brothers.  David (Akshay Kumar) is a Physics teacher, married to Jenny (Jacqueline Fernandez) with a daughter. Monty ( Siddharth Malhotra) is a street fighter. They have had a disturbed childhood due to their drunkard father Gary Fernandez (Jacky Shroff ) and death of their mother Maria(Shefali Shah) breaks the entire family and throws everyone apart. Now the circumstances of life, however, bring them independently to the same decision: If they want to live, they need to exercise their 'Right to Fight'.

Once all this is established, it is as certain as night follows day that David and Monty will meet in the ring for the championship. That accounts for the three climactic rounds, because each has to advance through a semifinal. What is intriguing is that you cant chose your favorite between both "Brothers". One has a very strong reason that drives him and the other has his piled up anger that makes path for him. Both have motives, they are long estranged after an unhappy split in childhood, and they hate each other. Yet those child hood memories are the reason that tells you about the love they have shared as kids. The writer had no favorite and neither will you be able to pick one 'character'.

Coming to characters:  Jackie Shroff as Gary comes on screen to play his strengths. The Ex- Fighter,a full time drunkard, an adulterer, and later as a man in pain who constantly curses himself for his deeds in the past that led to his broken family. There could have been no better choice than Mr. Shroff. He proves yet again why he has been the HERO of the masses for years now. On that note i would like to add that Tiger Shroff still has a long way to go ahead to gain that emotional insight into characters the way his father does. But as Ashutosh Rana in One scene of BROTHERS says, "Harr Beta Baap nahin hota! " 

Akshay Kumar as David and Siddharth Malhotra as Monty are opposites. David is a lean, mean teacher with strategies and Monty is a bulked up raw fighter. Akshay showcases the delicate balance of compassion and focus. He brings his own texture to the character that was played brilliantly by Joel Edgertan in the original. But i was happily shocked to see the 'Angry Young Man' Monty! His punches look and feel so real.His first official ring fight, a '2 second' bout is something not to be missed. He becomes an instant favorite as soon as he enters the ring and his fights give one all the right reasons for that.

Shefali Shah as Maria the wife of Gary and Mother to 'both' as usual sparkles. Yes, she cries most of the time while on screen, but with all the drama added to the already dramatic story by the Director there was not much she could do. But what she did was when she cried, she made sure her tears are believable and convincing. Not much to do for Jacquelin Fernandez but she did well for whatever little role she had.

One leg of the film is the family feud and other is Fighting. The fight scenes are choreographed and filmed with great energy. Mixed martial arts never received such a big platform in a Bollywood movie before. The entire stunts team was world class and specially assembled for the movie. This is a rare fight movie in which we don't want to see either fighter lose. That brings such complexity to the final showdown that hardly anything could top it — but the brotherhood wins in the end.

As far as music is concerned there is just one song worth listening to is "Sapna Jahan" and maybe cause its sung by Sonu Nigam and Neeti Mohan. Much noise about "Mera Naam Mary Hai" was made but that is a waste song and is simply forced in the movie in the name of item number! 

5 year olds will be seen dancing, "Mera naam Mary hai, Mary sau takka teri hai" God bless the souls of Kaifi Aazmi, Shailendra and Majrooh Sultanpuri, such brilliant lyrics none of them could have been able to write!

The movie's performances, which include Akshay's sympathetic but convincingly strong role as a family man David and Siddharth's feral, violent and angry Monty hide the flaws and everything that seems to go wrong with the movie. Post interval the movie takes pace and with every fight interest develops. Nothing in the movie seems rote or contrived may be a little hyper with emotions but no where less. And as the movie finally reaches to its end, to what happens in that ring between the two, it becomes quite hard to watch the violence that is required for MMA, its all undeniably compelling. The sheer passion that both show and the emotional tussle brilliantly portrayed by Akshay shows his maturity as an actor. 

BROTHERS has several loopholes but none of them is big enough to let one escape out of it. 

P.S: Watch only if you can keep WARRIOR out of your head. DO NOT COMPARE THIS ONE.

GOUR HARI DASTAAN

A true story with least of drama build up, still so engaging and being able to give an insight, forcing its viewers to think and giving a strong message at the same time. Very well written screenplay and dialogues sounds unlike a dialogue, yet some lines were making a big impact.

A big credit should be given for the in depth research, the team might have done. setting an example for the importance of pre- production, specially when we make a life story of an aam aadmi and not a celebrity.

Being a period film, required the casting to be done very carefully because the story runs in 3 different time periods.Well enacted performances, vinay pathak shows how intense and yet so easily he can get into the soul of any character. Ranveer shorey, konkona sen, Saurabh Shukla and other actors are also great. 

Apart from vinay pathak, Rajit Kapur who hardly had 4-5 minutes of screentime that too in 2-3different scenes will be strongly registered in your mind.

Best scene/ moment- there is a scene post interval, which runs as a flashback where we see India getting its freedom, this will surely give you goosebumps, normally such scene is told in the form of a speech, but here it shows the happiness on a street.

Overall, a great film, surely worth watching in theatres.

Jai Hind !

Courtesy : JATIN MEHTA

Easy to make Paneer Recipe for students / Bachelors !

INGREDIENTS

• 250 to 300 gms paneer
• 1 small to medium capsicum /green bell pepper
• ginger, chopped + 7-8 medium sized garlic, chopped, crushed into a fine paste.
• 1 to 2 green chilies, chopped
• 2 medium sized onions,finely chopped
• 7 medium to large tomatoes(2 tomatoes, finely chopped and 5 tomatoes, pureed in a blender)
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• ½ to ¾ cup water
• 2 tbsp cream (optional)
• 2 to 3 tbsp oil or ghee or butter
• a few chopped coriander leaves for garnish
• salt as required

INSTRUCTIONS

Just follow step by step:

1. in a pan heat oil or ghee or butter. then add the ginger-garlic paste and saute till their raw aroma disappears.
2. then add the chopped onions and saute till transparent.
3. add coriander powder and kashmiri red chilli powder. also add green chilies.
4. stir well and saute for few seconds. add the tomatoes and saute for 2 to 3 mins. then add tomato puree.
5. stir well and continue to saute till you see oil leaving the sides. about 9 to 10 mins on a low flame.
6. add the capsicum/green bell pepper julienne. stir and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on a low to medium flame.
7. add water and salt and continue to simmer for some 7 to 8 minutes.
8. later add crushed kasuri methi/dry fenugreek leaves and garam masala powder and stir.
9. add the paneer cubes or slices. stir gently. cook the paneer for about 2 to 3 mins.
10. you can also 2 tbsp of cream toward the end. just stir the cream gently in the gravy.