Himmatwala - Exclusive Movie Review

Himmatwala - Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

Directed by	Sajid Khan
Produced by	Vashu Bhagnani Siddharth Roy Kapur
Music by	Sajid-Wajid
Distributed by	UTV Motion Pictures
Release date(s)	29 March 2013
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Cast

• Ajay Devgan as Ravi
• Tamannaah as Rekha
• Paresh Rawal as Narayandas
• Mahesh Manjrekar as Sher Singh (Rekha's Father)
• Adhyayan Suman
• Zarina Wahab as Ravi's Mother
• Leena Jumani Ravi's Sister
• Surveen Chawla in a Special Appearance
• Amruta Khanvilkar in a Special Appearance
• Sayantani Ghosh in a Special Appearance (Dhoka Dhoka Song)
• Rinku Ghosh in a Special Appearance
• Mona Thiba in a Special Appearance
• Sonakshi Sinha in Thank God It's Friday song
• Dheer Charan Srivastav

The Film is a remake of the 1983 blockbuster 'Himmatwala' *ing Jeetendra & Sreedevi, which itself was a remake of a Telugu flick Ooriki Monagadu of 1981.

Its a good old revenge story, also told in '80's style'. Last year we had Agneepath and this year its Himmatwala. The new Agneepath was a better and updated product in all terms, but sadly Himmatwala chose to go the same old fashion way which may not suit to everyone.

Ajay Devgan as Ravi did a great job, except in dance sequences. The punch lines, fights, ferocity in the eyes etc hit the bulls eye. Tamanna was OK in terms of acting and good in terms of glamour (which is what she has been doing down South for years). Tamanna Bhatia gonna make it big in Bollywood ! Got all the ingredients - Superb dance, Expressions, Cuteness but less scenes.

Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjreker were irritating. Paresh Rawal-Devgn combo rocked in 'Athidi kab Jaoge' but here it was epic fail.

Zarina Wahab was good, so is Leena Jumani, Ajay's sister! Junior Suman as usual wasted, so is Ritiesh Deshmukh's cameo!

The action sequences were cool, even-though over the top, except the 'Tiger' fight, which was the Biggest Comedy Scene Of The Decade.

Himmatwala first half was kinda lame, but second half was much better.

Songs were Okay, even-though the Dhokha song featuring 5 item dancers was just horrible.



Himmatwala is a Low Level Masala All The Way! Weird Tribute To Original Himmatwala! Still expect a Great business at Single Screens! Multiplex audience will hate it! Mass People will adore it! But film s nowhere near to Dabangg or RowdyRathore or Singham! One of the worst remake ever made n Bollywood! STILL Sajid Khan & UTV gonna have the last laugh! Leave your brains safe and sound at home and get yourself prepared for an 80's kinda film if you wanna enjoy this 'Himmatwala'

Rating -2/5

BoxOffice- Super Hit [Expected]

PS: Lets see if Sajid Khan's claim of the film crossing 150 crores will come true or not.

Himmatwala - Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

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Lucky Star - Exclusive Malayalam Movie Review

Lucky Star Malayalam Movie Review

 Written & Directed By - Deepu Anthikkad
Produced By- Milan Jaleel
Co.Producer- Nadir Jaleel
Music- Ratheesh Vega
Cinematography- Vijay Ulaganath
Edited By- V.T Sreejith
Exe.Producer- Manoj Menon
Production Designer-Razak
Production Controller- Baburaj Manissery
Stills-Hassif Hakkim
Designs-Antony Stephens

 

Starring

Jayaram, Rachana, Mukesh ,Pooja,Mammokoya etc

Expectation

The first attraction towards the movie was that it marks the debut of Mini Screen actress Rachana, who became quite popular through 'Marimayam' a weekly comedy sitcom. The Posters, Songs, Trailer etc increased the hype to even greater heights.

Plot Outline

The theme of the movie is centered on the life of Ranjith (Jayaram) who aims to become a rich man. To become billionaire, Ranjith foresee two ways; take lottery tickets or to become a movie star.

Falling too short of his dreams, Ranjith meets junior artist Janaki (Rachana Narayanankutty) and their friendship later ends up in marriage. Ranjith and Janaki who were not ready to compromise other than becoming rich thought of another plan. The idea was to think about surrogacy- an arrangement in which a woman carries and delivers a kid for a different couple or individual. Moving forward with the idea, Ranjith and Janaki meet Dr Joseph Chittilappally, an infertility specialist and share their purpose of visit.

But what they expected didn't carry out as the couple land in trouble finding no way to get rid of it. 

 Evaluation

Lucky Star is a complete family film that delivers what it promised. The first half is full of humour, while in the second half the movie turn completely serious. The movie has a Sathyan Anthikkad flavour to it, who is a mentor and great inspiration for Director Deepu

The storyline is similar to the 1989 Mohanlal classic 'Dasharatham', which one of the characters also mentions in the movie. 

Jayaram has made a comeback through Luck star after a small gap. We also got glimpses of the old Mukesh, which sadly was limited just to the first half of the movie. Rachana has made a rocking debut in big screen, may be one of the most talked about/awaited heroine intro in Mollywood in years. Rest of the cast like Pooja Ramachandran [SS Music VJ, actress], Mamukkoya, Amu [Sun TV Anchor, VJ], Sreekumar [Marimayam fame] etc have also done good job.

Cinematographer has done a very good job, even though the DI [I think so] made it look dull in many scenes.  BG and Music was good. Editing was smooth and efficient.

The drastic change from comedy to serious can be a turn off for few people especially the mass, youth audience.  Serial like narration comes in places quite often. The 2nd half could have treated more lightly. The climax is similar to recent Sathyan Anthikadu movies - Haste and Unconvincing/Unsatisfying.

All in all Lucky Star will be a treat for Family audience, after a long gap, I think. 

Go to the theater have a nice time with Lucky and his family 

Rating: 6.25/10

Box Office: - Expecting a Family Hit

SRK's Chennai Express - Exclusive First Look Mega Posters

 CLICK ON IMAGES TO VIEW IN FULL SIZE

My Top 10 Favourite Bollywood (Hindi) Movies of 2012

These are my favorite Hindi films of 2012 out of all that I have seen

1. Kahaani

2. English Vinglish

3. Vicky Donor

4. Paan Singh Tomar

5. Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2

6. Barfi & Ishaqzaade

7. Oh My God (OMG)

 

8. Shanghai & Chittagong

9.  Talaash

10. Agneepath & Cocktail (Seriously, I really loved the movie)

My Top 10 Favorite Malayalam Movies 2012

Here goes the list of My Top 10 Favorite Malayalam Movies released in 2012 [Among which i have seen] 

1. Diamond Necklace

 This Lal Jose film  without a doubt its the best movie of the year

2. Ayalum Njanum Thammil

    Again a Lal Jose film , noticed for power packed perfomances of Prithviraj and Prathap Pothen

3. Ozhimuri

    A gem which most of us missed in theaters, a must watch movie with outstanding perfomances from     Lal, Mallika & Shwetha Menon

4. Manjadikuru

     Anjali Menon's debut movie, another must watch one, especialy for all Malayalees

5. Spirit & Ee Adutha Kalathu

Spirit - A Message oriented film with no commercial elements not only won rave reviews but was also successful at the Box Office 

Ee Adutha Kalathu - a nice thriller told in non-linear narration pattern

6. 22 Female Kottayam & Nidra

    Powerful women oriented film with a shocking climax and superb performances by entire cast

Nidra - Remake of yesteryear classic, backed by very good performances and superb visuals

7. Ustad Hotel & Arike

    
Superbly entertaining, visually rich, also gave a nice message Scripted by Anjali Menon the movie also       rocked @ Box Office  

Arike - a short sweet love story

8. Run Babby Run & Molly Aunty Rocks

 

A Perfect Thriller movie laced with action and comedy. Joshiy-Mohanlal repeated teir magic once again. Amala Paul, the leading lady, also had a significant role which she performed very well.

Molly Aunty Rocks - a superb comeback by Revathy, a feel good family entertainer

9.Ithra Maathram 

      Another good film which failed at Box Office, won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Malayalam Film at      17th International Film Festival of Kerala

10. Thattathin Marayathu

a feel good rom-com in Molywood after a long time with superb songs

Films like Grandmaster, My Boss, Ordinary, Mallu singh, Friday etc closely follows these......

Top 10 Bollywood hits of 2012

Top 10 Bollywood hits of 2012

1. Ek Tha Tiger (All Time Blockbuster) / Dabangg 2 (still running)

Ek tha tiger has netted 199 crores [according to Yashraj films] and is presently the biggest hit of the year and 2nd biggest hit of All time. Dabangg 2 has just released and is having a rocking time at the Box office, whether it will beat ETT will be clear in coming weeks. Based on that one film will slide to 2nd place

3. Rowdy Rathore - Blockbuster

Akshay Kumar's biggest hit ever

4. Agneepath - Blockbuster

5. Barfi - Blockbuster

the film started slowly and caught up like wild fire with tremendous WOM

6. Jab Tak Hai Jaan - Super Hit

7. Housefull 2 - Super hit

8. Son of Sardaar - Hit

9. Bol Bachchan - Hit 

10. Talaash - Hit

Besides these there are many notable hits like Oh My God (OMG), Kahaani, Vicky Donor, English Vinglish, Ishaqzaade, Student of the Year etc

Top 10 Kollywood (Tamil) hits of 2012

Top 10 Tamil hits of 2012

Kollywood is the most closed industry & it is very difficult to get the actual Box Office gross of a Tamil movie- So with whatever details available here are the top hits from Kollywood

1. Thuppakki * - All time Blockbuster

Undoubtedly the biggest hit of the year by a huge margin and according to various reports the 3rd biggest of all time.

2. Oru kal oru kannadi - Blockbuster

3. Nanban - Super Hit

4. Sundara Pandian - Super Hit

5. Kalakalappu @ Masala Cafe *

6. Pizza * / Kathalil sothappuvathu Eppadi*

7. Naduvile Koncham Pakkathe Kaanum * / Naan E *

8. Marina

9. Kumki 

10. Aatakathi *

Among these my favorites has been marked with a '*'

Mammootty's Bavuttiyude Namathil - Movie Review

Bavuttiyude Namathil Movie Review

Bavuttiyude Namathil

Directed by        G. S. Vijayan

Produced by      Ranjith

Written by          Ranjith

Starring                Mammootty

Kavya Madhavan

Shankar Ramakrishnan

Kaniha

Rima Kallingal

Vineeth

Distributed by   Capitol Theatres

Release date(s)               

    December 21, 2012

Country                India

Language             Malayalam

Any Ranjith movie is now eagerly awaited thanks to his last few movies. So this one was also  awaited, especially because it stars Mammootty and a list of other important artists. But it proved out to be one the weakest scripts by Ranjith (considering his past releases).

BN is the story of Bavooty (Mammootty) who is full time driver, care-taker and a part time actor. Sethu (Shankar Ramakrishnan) & Vanaja (Kavya) plays the couple for whom Bavooty is working for. Mariam (Kaniha) is their servant & Rima Kallingal as Noorjahan dons the role of a tuition teacher.

The movie can be called Raapakal 2 coz of the way the movie has been structured. Mammooty as an honest obedient employee who is dear to everyone in the family, who solves when the family is met with a crisis and makes everything ‘HAPPILY EVER AFTER’ for everyone.

The first half is just lot of interesting comical situations inter woven together which has nothing much to do with what happens in the second half.  The second half is more serious and is where the real story (or important whatever there is in the movie) takes place. 

The main intention of Ranjith was clear hear, just to give an entertainer  and may be a much needed hit to the Mammooty who hasn’t tasted success since Best Actor, by using the ‘Ranjith’ tag and going the non-risky way. Before release there was comparisons with Pranchiyettan, which is  a classic, and this one comes no where near to it.

But by no means this is a boring or unbearable film. It is definitely Mammootty’s best outing since Best Actor.  He has given and honest, good performance as Bavooty. There are a lot of funny, entertaining moments in the first half, eventough all of them looks forced.  Kaniha and Vineeth requires special mention, as their roles were surprising and they did excellent jobs. Kavya with Neeleshwaram slang was a treat to watch. Rima was wasted in an insignificant role. Shankar & Harisree Asokan were ok

All in all this belongs to ‘Sathyan Anthikkad’ brand of cinema. Nothing much to take home,  just a feel good film with some nice humor and good performances.

For me it’s a disappointment coz after all its Ranjjith film

Strictly Average - 2.5/5

Box Office – Might sale through at the box office coz of the ‘Ranjith’ & feel good factor, especially when other releases are not generating  such encouraging reports

Ps: Had to use SMS language in places, please bear with me & also forgive the spelling mistakes, if any