Barfi : Exclusive Movie Review - A Mallu's View From UAE

Written & Directed by Anurag Basu

Produced by Ronnie Screwvala / Siddharth Roy Kapoor

Starring Ranbir Kapoor , Priyanka Chopra & Illeana D’cruz

Barfi - Movie Review by Sree Prasad Nair

Theater - Abu Dhabi National Cinemas, UAE

13/09/2012 - 9.30 pm

Occupancy - 100%

Ranbir Kapoor is considered as the most promising actors in the current generation. The actor had won all the awards last year for best actor with his rocking performance in last release Rocktar! Barfi is his only film to be releasing on 2012. Barfi is directed by Anurag Basu, the film maker of successful films like Murder, Gangster & Life In A Metro. However his last film was a disaster, much over hyped Hrithik Roshan starrer Kites. Barfi will be the second film of Priyanka Chopra with Ranbir after the average grosser Anjaana Anjaani. Also Barfi introducing the South Indian actress Illeana D’cruz into Bollywood.

Barfi is the sweet story of Murphy played by Ranbir Kapoor. But everyone calls him Barfi! Even though he can neither speak nor listen, he is a total prankster and a charmer. His bitter-sweet relationship with two girls, Shruti played by Ileana D’cruz and Jhilmil, a girl with autism played by Priyanka Chopra sets in motion a chain of events that will turn his life upside down! A heart-warming tale of selfless love and about finding happiness in the smallest things in life, that tells you no matter how tough your life may be, “DON’T WORRY – BE BARFI” 

Let’s go straight to the Positives of the film :

The script written by the director Anurag Basu himself is the real winner. His direction is an epic experience. I doubt many of you know that Mr. Basu was diagnosed with cancer during the shoot of Tumsa Nahin Dekha in 2004. But he is a fighter! His last film, Kites was a disaster at the BO also gave many negativity for Basu. But with Barfi, he is back on the right track. While watching I was wondering is this the same director who gave thriller hits Murder & Gangster to Bollywood. Mr.Basu was always famous for his thriller movies, but he proved that he can also take a good movie without any action or thriller stories. Cinematographyby Ravi Varman is magnificient. The beauty of the Darjeeling is just wow! Music by Pritam is excellent. Pritam-Anurag Basu team provided superhit music with their earlier works, Gangster & Life In A Metro scored a hatrick with Barfi. My personal favorites are Aila Barfi & Main Kya Karoon.

Ranbir Kapoor is awesomely excellent as Barfi. While watching the film I tweeted Being in the film industry for 21+ years, The Khans & Kumar are yet to deliver a Masterpiece like the one Mr.Ranbir Kapoor did in Barfii. I know it’s very early to compare Ranbir to these giants, but truth remains true for me. I don’t think any other actor other than Ranbir can pull off the roles with strong emotions yet funny expressions. He proved his versatility and flexibility with films like Raajneeti and Rockstar. If you loved him in Rockstar, you would fall in love all over again in Barfi. Don’t get surprised if you see Ranbir bagging all the best actor awards this year too. A National Award Winning Acting !!! 

Priyanka Chopra is fantastic. It’s not easy to act the role of a girl with autism on screen and she surprises you with her brilliant acting. After Aitraaz, Fashion and 7Khoon Maaf, Barfi will be another feather in her career for her acting. The screen sharing between her and Ranbir is very good. Illeana D’cruz made a good debut with her sincere acting. She got a good screen presence. Still the role given to her could have been developed better. Saurabh Shukla as police officer is terrific and excellent in his funny scenes too. Akash Khurana, Ashish Vidyarthi (after a long time in a hindi film), Rupa Ganguly and Jishu Sengupta, are effective. Once the film got over I saw many audiences crying in the crowded hall, i.e Barfi won many hearts.

Not much negatives to say about Barfi. The second half dragged little bit. The script gets confused in between. Also the execution of the film at parts is same as like Rockstar. Also Ashish Vidyarthi’s telling the truth at the climax is little disappointed. That’s about it. Those won’t harm to a film like Barfi !

Overall, Barfi is a very well executed film in all prospects. No one is expecting the film to open an earth shattering response as it’s strictly in a Classic genre unlike masala films. As today’s audience are well enough to welcome good films content wise like Kahaani & Vicky Donor and thrash bad films like Players, Tezz and Joker, I’m sure that Barfi will be loved for its content and works for its credits. An opening of 7-8 crores with a weekend of 24cr-26cr is a safe bet for this film. The only factor which goes against the film is it won’t get much screen space as Heroine releasing next week and Oh My God and Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal on 28th. 

Verdict : This Barfi is a sweet epic ! Highly Recommended 

Rating – 4/5 

P.S : Ranbir Kapoor as Barfi will be a tough contender for National Award 2012 along with Irfan Khan of Paan Singh Tomar . May The Best Actor Wins, Else it’s a slap for Jury !!!

This Reviewer can be contacted on Twitter : @i_spn : https://twitter.com/i_spn

Ishaqzaade - Exclusive Movie Review From UAE [3/5]

Ishaqzaade [3/5] - Exclusive Review From UAE by  Sree Prasad Nair

Abu Dhabi National Cinemas 11.30pm [Local Time]

Theatre Status: 95% full

Ishaqzaade - Old Wine In A Fun-Tastic Package

Is A love story about two fiery bloods and their fight for power and supremacy burning with hatred.

Parineeti Chopra ROCKED! This gal is gonna be the next VidyaBalan of Indian Cinema! Watch it for her perfomance ! SURPRISE

Newcomer ArjunKapoor made an excellent debut. Good screen presence, mindblasting smile & laugh (Yup relle mean it) but had a feeling ArjunKapoor is kinda imitating RanveerSingh of Band Baja Baarat His dialogue delivery, handling emotion scenes.

Music is topnotch! Surprised to see Arab Babes humming 'Pareshan Pareshan' along with the song played on screen.

Jhalla Walla song superbly sung by Shreya, but picturisation of song kinda failed. Gauhar Khan never looked like an item gal

The film is a fast pased fun ride till interval. So many positives. Argument between hero-heroine, witty one-liners, acting!

But the film loses its grip during post interval sessions  One might have wished for an excellent climax. But Climax will come up with mixed reactions for the audience.Some may adore it for its reality, Some may take it as an insult for the film!

There is a huge dose of Kissing & bedroom scenes in the film [Just like her sister Priyanka Chopra [in Andaaz] Parineeti too began locking lips from her 2nd film itself]

Film will work due to 3factors. Excellent Chemistry between the lead pair! Great acting by Parineeti Chopra & Arjun's one-liners 

At the B.O film will find its targeted audience especially youth & will do Above Average business. Profitable Venture :)

 Verdict - Watch It

Rating: 3/5

Box Office: Hit

The Reviewer can be contacted here : https://twitter.com/#!/i_spn

Agent Vinod - My Movie Review

Palakkad Sathya

Status: 30%

Sriram Raghavan was the main reason due to which i wanted to watch this movie FDFS. His EHT & Johnny Gaddar are considered as 2 of the best thrillers of all times from Bollywood. Plus Kareena Kappor and Saif Ali Khan  in the star cast with a blockbuster audio all the more increased the hype surrounding the film. But unfortunately i was extremely disappointed with the outcome.

The Story is about Vinod, a R&AW agent,on one of his missions happens to know about a secret code called '242' being discussed among various terror outfits. AV is th journey of Vinod across 12 countries, 5 continents in search of the truth, and what possible harm could '242' cause India . 

What I Liked

1: Raabta - song + action - was innovative

2: Maryam Zakariya - Smoking Hot in mujra song, should have given a lengthy role [All the girls except the 'important' one were ultra hot]

3. Locations

4: Some action sequences

5: Kareena in the cleavage flaunting 'Golden' dress in the aution scene

6. Songs

What made me Zzzz....

1.Saif Ali Khan - a misfit for this role, felt woodem some times

2. Kareena Kapoor - Badly written role, Avg Perfomance

3. Length of the movie

4. Boring & Confusing Screenplay

5. Most of the dialogues

6.Many action scenes were not perfect

7: Director, Editor, Cameraman combo didnt workout well

8: Climax

Rating: 2/5

  [1 for the girls, esp mariyam and mallika, .5 for songs, .5 for everything else]

Verdict: Huge Disappoinment

Box Office: Will be a flop looking at the initial Box Office response

 

The King & The Commissioner - My Movie Review EXCLUSIVE

The King & The Commissioner

Mannarkkad Okaz

Status: <50%

This was the second most awaited movie of the year according to me only because of the iconic character 'Joseph Alex IAS' & 'Bharath Chandran IPS' . The two characters are icons to every mollywood lover. So the prospect of these two giants coming together in one movie was exciting for every one. But what to say was completely shattered and heartbroken after watching the movie.

The story is about Pakistan terrorists trying to assassinate Indian PM with the help of some Indian ‘stereo typical’ villains [babas, gurus, corrupt politicians etc]. Joseph Alex & Bharath Chandran are assigned to investigate the matters and whether they manage to nab the culprits and save the nation [!] form the rest of the story.

J.alex says “I have an extra spine” – wish the movie had one – THE SCRIPT. Two guys who should blamed for screwing up big time are Renji Panicker [Writer, who according to reports was writing it on the sets] & Shaji Kailas [Director]. The movie doesn’t even have a refreshing story line [nothing special than what we have seen in prequels and plenty of Vijaykanth movies]. The director cameraman and editor adds to the misery with oft repeated camera angles and editing styles. The BG too sucked big time, remember the original BGs were/is super-duper hits among the youth.

The lead actors too disappointed, but what more they could do on such a shoddy script. Suresh Gopi was the better, but was completely sidelined. Mammootty looks tired, bored, his dialogues lack the punch. All the supporting actors were awful, especially the Pakistani villains and the politicians at the centre.  The movie can also be called a sequel to ‘Ekalavyan’ [another hit from 90’s] due to Sai Kumar’s character.

Looks like Mammootys bad fortune at Box Office Continues, with a mega budget of 10+crores, low hype and Average opening this one will be an addition to the long list of disasters Megastar [so as the director] has had in the past 2 years.

Rating: 1.5/5

Verdict: Extremely Disappointing [ Better watch the Originals in DVD]

Box Office: Flop or  Average