P.K. : An extremely likeable story of a lost Alien!!

Rajkumar Hirani truly has carved a niche for himself, as the finest film makers of our time, his penchant for Hrishikesh Mukherji’s films are quite evident in his always structured narrative and his eagerness to strike a chord with the middle class audience (quite evident from his Munnabhai series itself). This time though he, along with Abhijat Joshi etches out a story within a ‘believable, yet at times hard to digest’ fairy tale premise moving forth and turning into a philosophical one on God and Godsman & the diversity of all religions put together without being too preachy, blending effectively the right aggregates of humour, romance, affection, heart- wrenching moments & a logic that is required in the present scenario (Sangh Parivar ‘RSS’ adarsh???)

Aamir Khan is exceptional! PK is an irresistibly goofy character . He laughs with his protruding goblin-ears and walks around with his arched eyebrows, emerald bulging eyes on high-beam that hardly blinks throughout the film, speaks Bhojpuri, learned (or rather, transmitted to him ) from a prostitute after spending 6 hrs with her, with blood-red lips from permanently chewing paan. but his transformation isn’t restricted to the physical — like the skittish way he runs, his arms straight by his side with palms stuck out (reminiscent of Steve Carrell in Little Miss Sunshine) . With his one-shot gags and child like exuberance PK wins us over with sheer heart! . But just when you are enjoying the first half with its facetious moments, the second half with its uneven editing turns out to be quite a sore point, especially when you are served a platter full of PK’s delightful witty charm in the first half.

Rajkumar Hirani certainly knows how to connect emotions and give away a social message. He is a master craftsman, he knows how to cleverly merge scenes with irony, like the one in which PK arrives at a church alter service with a pooja ki thali, or one in which he attempts to enter a mosque bearing bottles of red wine. Anushka Sharma as the narrator with her golden brown pixie cut is bubbly as Jagat Janini (Jaggu) & vulnerable, although her pout looks like a goldfish. She is fascinated by PK’s idiosyncracies on her very first meeting with him at the metro train. Sanjay Dutt turns out in a very brief but effective cameo, though Hirani’s all time favourite Boman Irani doesn’t get much scope except his dig at the marks on his bum.

Few hitches like the sudden, ‘out of the blue’ affection weaving between Aamir and Anushka seemed entirely out of the place, also because at the very beginning we are served with the effervescent chemistry between Jaggu and Sarfaraz (brief role by Sushant Singh Rajput, yet a prime catalyst to the main narrative). The battery recharge dance portion was cute, though un effective to the main proceedings . Also the live telecast between the ‘one on one’ between PK with the religious guru (played brilliantly by Saurabh Shukla) was not so interesting, probably because Hirani didn’t want to strike an uncanny resemblance with last year’s Oh My God’s courtroom portions. But the climax was perfect with PK returning to earth one year later with a new research team, including Ranbir Kapoor as his alien student. Go for it!!

Love...moments..always, forever!!

And so, you start listening to some extreme mushy,lovey dovey, streaming guitar chords sorta love songs, even if the lyrics do not, in any way, relate to you! And all you do is think about 'him' while listening to it ( those 'awww'' blush moments !), catch yourself smiling for no obvious reason, everything feels just right around you and nothing else seems to appear or bother you (although in reality, everything might be just topsy turvy!)

And the entire time you had spend texting and posting this status...'HE' was always on your mind!

It goes on, the same feelings, comes and goes..and no matter how much you try, you can't escape put of it! Do we seriously, ever, grow up???? umm...well, i should ask an 80 yr old instead! :)

The Object of my Affection : A frothy Gay-Straight Love story !!

While the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman turned out to be the surprising selling point of Julia Roberts' starrer "My Best Friend's Wedding." , "The Object of My Affection," is a less frothy and more honest portrait of a loving relationship between room-mates (one gay, the other straight), almost reminding you of the quirky television series 'Will & Grace'. Jennifer Aniston surprises you with a mature, restrained performance.

I was particularly impressed with the scene where Aniston and Rudd almost slept together. I think it was a brave move, considering that it ,ight had viewers wondering why, if there was enough attraction to do it once why there wasn't enough for them to be together, and it acknowledged that a person does not have to be a strict heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual; it is possible to be predominantly hetero- or homosexual but still have some attraction, however small, for the unprefered sex. It was also a demonstration of just how much Rudd's character cared for Aniston's, that he even considered sleeping with her despite very little attraction (or perhaps none), which just reinforced to me that his character was not just looking for sex in a relationship. He was willing to do almost anything to make her happy; fortunately, he didn't do "anything", although that certainly would have made for an interesting plot twist.

Nigel Hawthorne does a brilliant job of portraying the sadness and loneliness of an older man who must learn to tolerate his pretty young gay protégé seeking out another man. The pain he felt at his lover's betrayal was genuine. As was his admonition to Nina, "Don't fix your life so that you're left alone right as you come to the middle of it.", came from a deep knowing place.And thank god! there aren't any usual gay stereotyped characters in the film.

The ending was a little too rushed and neat, but I am in favour of happy endings; I just wished they'd gotten there a little more slowly.

Rodney Fraser best dialogue in the film :

"I don't think one should be too hard on oneself if the object of one's affection returns the favor with less enthusiasm than one might have hoped."

RUPKATHA NOY : A fine script!

One of the finest films of last year, Rupkatha Noy is all about good story telling! A well knit screenplay coupled with some crisp editing, the film revolves around an old man with a constant urge to look out for thrills in the nitty-gritty of everyday life, propels him to reach out to some lost souls, sitting in a park, listening to & lending a helping hand while changing their respective lives in the process. Also noteworthy is the fact that the director cleverly stays away from unnecessary dialogues throughout the film, which makes it for a more compelling watch. None of the scenes or moments seem monotonus. Though the film belongs to Soumitra Chatterjee but the girls (all three of them- Radhika Apte, Sohini Sarkar, Nina Chakraborty) are equally brilliant in the film. Wonderful to see Radhika Apte with such a nuanced performance, such a fine actor! And glad to see that her dubbing had been done really well this time (unlike Antaheen) Special mention to Anwesha Gupta's beautiful number 'Saara din saara raat'.

She smiles through Boba Tunnel...

In Chotushkone, Koneenica hardly had a significant role, her plot doesn't add up much to the plot anyway. Few dialogues, yet her character, even in that short frame leaves such an impact! And in Boba Tunnel, her character, Shree comes out so fluently! Here's a girl, involved with a man (Diptyo) almost her father's age. We hardly notice any emotional bond between the two. Also because Diptyo, somewhere deep in his heart, still craves for his ex flame, the aging superstar/director Trina. Shree strikes a bond with Diptyo's son, after an initial heated argument, they eventually bond over a joint-roll and a song. 

And then there's a brilliant shot, where, post sex, she is lying next to Diptyo in bed, while Diptyo watches a yesteryear B&W film starring Trina on tv, totally oblivious to Shree's presence next to him, she is lying with her face turned towards the opposite side with a content smile masked all over her face, the contentment of probably finding something or someone she had been looking for in Diptyo, but which she eventually,(unexpectedly) found in someone else!
More than half of the credit for the song 'boba tunnel' should go to Koneenica Banerjee for her charming, effortless act.Watch out for her exuberance flowing throughout the song. No lip sync, no melodrama! Just gyrating to the song in her own way! The twinkle in her eyes and body language speaks so much! A perfect execution of a song on screen does not always mean a Sanjay Leela Bhansali marka opulence, what i look out for is the actor / actors involved in the song, who are atleast capable of letting themselves go with the flow of the music, the rhythm, while specifically working on their eye movements, body language and gestures and that do not always require lip syncing with the tune at all!
Few of my friends said that this sub plot was unnecessary, but i'd say this almost a 'quadrangle' between Diptyo, Shree, Trina and Trina's husband Moloy (still working out to ignite the long lost flame ) might not add up to the larger frame of the storyline but nevertheless, it had its own sweet moment. Watch out for Barun Chanda (as Moloy) in the last frame of the movie when he looks back once with an almost 'waving goodbye' smile while his wife weeps over her ex boyfriend's shoulder.

DAAWAT-E-ISHQ : Serving some well succulent kababs but alas! not a hot steamy Biryani !!

At one point in the film Gulrez tells the garishly flamboyant Tariq ‘ you are a high school drop out, your english is pathetic, you wear tacky shirts , chew paan and burp!’, well but that’s not evident in the film though! And that's what was probably essential in Tariq’s character that could have worked out more so if he was made more vacuous rather than the ‘laugh a loud, good at heart lucknovi chap. Their hasn't been enough timing for the romance to develop between the lead players hence you don’t feel bad for Tariq when he is betrayed by Gulrez.

Having said that, Aditya Roy Kapoor is likeable & attractive,no longer camera conscious or droopy (like his previous projects), he shines as the robust kohl-eyed Tariq. 

Parineeti Chopra with her spontaneity & vivaciousness evident from her very first film is sadly restricted here within this regular glamour doll image with huge dollops of make-up, pan cake and flashy attire,not at ease ,at times, misfit to her character Gulrez! Save for that Hyderabadi accent slipping and falling back into place every now, the dynamics of Parineeti’s role isn’t all that we haven't seen before, but nevertheless, she is always a delight to watch!

It’s a light hearted film focussing on the menace aka dowry, the misuse of section 498A & a father-daughter duo’s plan to con a rich guy who demands a hefty dowry forms the basic premise of the film. The actors should have undergone some strict workshop sessions to get their hyderabadi & lucknowi accent correct, or maybe a few lessons from Shabana Azmi’s Mandi ! The father and daughter’s big, well executed con job is lame and unbelievable! Tv actor Karan Wahi is so bland in the film that one wonders whether he is just out of a drug rehab centre with that anorexic frame and excess baggage under his eyes. Anupam Kher is a delight to watch and it’s good to see him in a charming role after a long time.

The note able landmarks of Hyderabad – Charminar (the film starts with it as the background), Hussain Sagar and Nehru Zoological Park making way for Lucknow’s grand Bara Imambara, Rumi Darwaza and bustling Aminabad in the second half, unfortunately, hasn’t been utilized properly by the DOP . Sajid-Wajid’s dragging soundtrack, a reminiscence of the 90’s tracks is such a waste barring the title track which has been utilized well into the narrative with some yummy cuisines on display. The film is surely one time watchable because of the sparkling screen presence of the lead cast and Anupam Kher . A much tighter screenplay could have made a lot of difference to the narrative.

MARY COM (review) : Mother Mary shines!!

In one scene, the selectors at a boxing event unfairly rewards and selects Mary Kom’s opponent (hailing from Haryana) and Mary throws a chair at them yelling ‘You did that to me just because I hail from Manipur’. Those who have suffered, can feel her frustration and hurt. In yet another scene, Priyanka is seen cut-pasting newspaper clips while her baby rests on her side over a pile of newspapers featuring her on the front pages, eventually when the baby soils those papers wet, she crunches the papers and throws them away. The movie brings out some noteworthy issues like the plight of our sports stars,who despite winning medals for our country, face poor treatment at the central officials' hands and sometimes have to sell their medals in order to survive, also the opportunist and vindictive federation officials in India who make it almost impossible for people who hail from the north eastern part of our country to make it big!

But i have a complaint, when u say you are making a biopic it means you are trying to tell the life story of a person and present it on celluloid just ‘as it is’! But if you take cinematic liberties in re-telling your story keeping the box office in mind, then why not say ‘inspired by a boxing champion’s life, rather than ‘a biopic’? (i had the same feeling while watching ‘The Dirty Picture’!) For example , here director Omung Kumar while trying to get the tear ducts flowing, resorts to same old gimmicks like showing Mary Kom’s son almost dying in the hospital while she is in the finals of the World Championship, which did not happen in real Mary Kom's life at all! Hence the film becomes an entertainer as it treads & weaves her life story look like a film's script, complete with her early year’s struggles, victories, familial conflicts, the hardcore training sessions, and the amazing comeback post motherhood.

The film is possibly let down by the pathetic dubbing artists! Instead, the actors should have dubbed themselves which might have kept the Manipuri-hindi accent intact, adding more flavor. And when shall our film makers stop promoting products through their films (iodex and sugar free in this case!!)
Another let down in the film comes in the form of some unnecessary songs turning up every now and then!
Priyanka shines as mary kom, totally committed to her role even though her physical appearance is nothing like the real-life Mary Kom, Chopra manages to get inside the skin of her character, and gives you a couple of genuine praise worthy moments, but we know she is capable of that,she has done that before, so even though mary kom is yet another feather to her shining cap, the cap still shines brighter with her roles from Barfi , Fashion or Aitraaz ! The rest of the cast is just about okay!

Fictions : Personal favourites!

Books that i have re-read, cherished and loved reading it all through these years, selected ones!

MARDAANI : Brave attempt!!

Underage girls from different parts of the country are being lifted,kidnapped, dozed off with drugs intermittently,stark naked, they are left for their 'buyers' to explore them quite mercilessly!

The atrocities of the malicious & cruel business of child trafficking is shown quite brutally, raw & gritty,yet it seems straight & very much realistic ,so much so that you can't stop thinking about the endless tv / newspaper headlines that pop up quite

often, feeling helpless for the poor, hapless victims! Hence, the best part about the film comes towards the finale when the cop leaves it upto

the victims, letting the pimp getting kicked in the nuts by a bunch of

girls he had sold into trafficking, that is when the film succeeds in

getting the applause, whistles and claps from the audience that it

truely deserves!

Pradeep Sarkar tackles the issue quite sensitively, keeping the track

focussed & with as much 'realistic' approach as possible (given the

banner!), without turning it preachy or too melodramatic. Rani Mukherji

after a long (really long!) time gets a role that did full justice to

her craft (special thanks to the writer & director for not turning

her into another 'Chulbul Pandey') & she plays it subtly without

being too loud (like Meera of 'No one killed Jessica)

Newcomer Priyanka Sharma is truely believable as the victim Pyaari while

with just two scenes Mona Ambegaonkar is brilliant in her menacing,

spine chilling act,specially when she turns from the hospitable host of

the house at first to the vengeful lady. But the film did make more of

an impact because of the perfect foil to Rani's cop act is the

antagonist Tahir Bhasin, playing the cold blooded, 20

something,suave,video game addicted criminal maintaining a cool demeanor

brilliantly! Same goes for the rest of the wonderful supporting cast.

Though the film slips in few occasions with some minor glitches here

& there, yet it turns out to be a thoroughly engaging, well made

fare for sure! Must watch!

BLUE JASMINE : ..much much more than just a cascade of tears & mascara !

What i liked most about Allen's remake of Tennessee Williams's classic play is that his Jasmine Frenchis is an epitome of inconsistency and whimsicality but at the same time, vulnerable! ( Let's not compare it with Vivien Leigh's act in 'A street car named desire'). Jasmine is selfish, neurotic, delusional, alcoholic, self destructive..yet classy, charming, scared, and feverish at the same time. She is ashamed of herself, of what she became, of how low she has fallen, while she believes that she is entitled to the classiest things in life. There is obvious pretention & guilt that she carries with her. She tries to adjust to her present surroundings  but she has no skills for survival in it on her own. With one gesture, one look, one change of facial expression, Cate Blanchet takes her character from high hopes to turmoil to despair & disaster, from glitz and glamour as a high profile socialite of the recent past to the uncertainty and fear of her shabby present, and watching her impetuous sudden transformations is heart wrenching, yet comic at the same time . She also mines the sharp, class- based humor in Jasmine's struggles with some notable highlights like:

i) the scene where she attends to the call from Dwight in between her spells of hysteria in a calm poised manner,sets up a date, asks him to pick up, ends the call & then breaks down uncontrollably for her pitiable situation.

ii) a hilariously executed scene in a pizza restaurant where she explains to her confused nephews to "Tip big, boys".

iii) the climax scene where she is talking to herself on a park bench.

iv) The neurotic spookiness on her face when she lies to Chili & Ginger about her plans of moving out of her sister's house & living in with her 'new found' rich boyfriend Dwight.

HUMPTY SHARMA KI DULHANIA : Alia-Varun's tribute to Kajol-Srk's DDLJ !!

A spoof of the mega blockbuster DDLJ, you might have seen stories equivalent to this countless times in flicks like Maine pyar kiya, Pyar kiya to darna kya or Bommarillu, but the best part here is the unique screenplay, the director sets a completely different take everytime the scenes gets into that 'oh! we ve seen that before' zone. 

Remember the scene from DDLJ, when Simran wakes up in Raj's bed & asks him what had happened between them the previous night? here, when Humpty does a similar rip off of Raj, Kavya cuts him short saying 'maine daaru pee thi raat ko, mujhe sab pata hai, mera memory loss nahi huwa thha!', hence, u start enjoying the film as the story unfolds, though it drags a lot in the second half. Unlike the two dumb friends Shahrukh had to tag along in DDLJ (one of them being the producer Karan Johar himself!), Humpty's buddies (Poplu & Shonty) are a delight to watch! Also, after a long time, bollywood comes up with a strict but sensible father (Ashutosh Rana) who doesn't comes across as way too disciplinarian! But the film primarily works because of the couple Alia-Varun, they just set the score right with their small town act and charming screen presence. What doesn't work however is, the same stale caricaturish depiction of gay cliches and Kavya's obsession with a Manish Malhotra designed pink sequined lehenga for her wedding which drives her to Delhi!! Tch Tch!!

Meera-Krsna !!

We know that two of the classic bollywood songs on Krishna are sung by the well renowned courtesans. Their emotions are so similar, its almost like both of them singing the same lines/cueing the other to speak her heart out to Krishna! Merge the two of them and how beautiful it turns out..see... 

Anarkali : Mohe panghat pe nandlal chhed gayo re! (Krishna teased me on the river bank)
Chandramaukhi : Kaahe chhed chhed mohe garwaa lagaye! (Why does he tease me so?)

Anarkali : Mori Najuk Kalaiyaa Marod Gayo Re! (He came and twisted my delicate wrists!)
Chandramukhi : Kar pakadat chhuriya sab karki karki karki.. (He caught me and all my bangles broke!)

Chandramukhi : Daddh ki bhar matki layi jaat rahi dagar bich, aahat suun jiyara gayo dhadak dhadak dhadak! ( I was taking a pot full of yogurt down the road, hearing his footsteps my heart began to pound!)

Anarkali :Kankari Mohe Maari Gagariya Phod Daali,Mori Saree Anari Bhigoyi Gayo Re (....and alas! throwing a pebble, he broke my pot! That novice, made my sari drenched..on the river bank!)

Chandramukhi : Sar se mori chunar gayi sarak sarak sarak ( My scarf went slipping from my head)
Anarkali : Mora ghoonghat najariya se tod gayo re! ( lifting my veil, he exposed me to his gaze!)

Ang laga de.... from 'Goliyon ki Raasleela : Raam-Leela'

Bhansali's fascination with the Shringar (Erotic) Raas continues...!! 

But here, Bhansali’s Leela is no coy damsel like Paro (of Devdas). The smouldering look Leela (Deepika) holds,the passion play through her eyes, the purposeful grace with which she gyrates towards Ram (Ranveer) and the seductive writhing on the bed, its enough to stir the shringar raas! ‘Ang Laga De’ is pure lovemaking sans any sleaze.

The brand new song 'Ang laga de' though dramatised in the shringara rasa evoked in the joyous, love sick anticipation of a girl pining for a physical intimacy with her lover, the lyrics highlight the pain of craving for the lover and pining for conjugal bliss.. thus evoking a feeling of pity!

The song opens to Deepika breathtaking in a creamy white lehenga and an itsy bitsy choli, holding on to an earthen diya emitting sensuous smoke. But thankfully, Bhansali has not overdone the lovemaking act and handled it very aesthetically.

And then the camera pans on to Ranveer. His rippled muscles gleam in the soft light, his low waist dhoti rides dangerously low, and then you know – this Ram is the perfect match to our dangerous, seductive Leela!

Adieu Zulfi Saab (aka Farookh Sheikh) !!

Zulfi is dead!! What will happen to Amrita Nigam now????

It was Amrita's 8th birthday,when she penned down her first letter to the 10 yr old Zulfi. Amrita and Zulfi were the quintessential tragedy of lovers, torn apart by destiny,a relationship between two articulate individuals who were engaged in constantly shifting priorities. Amrita and Zulfi... two people from very opposite backgrounds, they never met, their paths never crossed..but they had an unrequited love story told through the exchange of love letters to each other spanning 35 years! But now, Zulfi is no more, on 27 December 2013 he died of a cardiac arrest! Will Amrita ever come to know the fact that Zulfi is no more? She spend 35 years of her life with those letters from Zulfi!! She won't receive any more letters from him now.............................

TUMHARI AMRITA........... bas, ye safar yahi tak thha !

Farewell Mrs. Sen !!

Mrs.Sen's death didn't made much of a difference to me in the morning when i received the news of her demise from my sister. She was 82,aging,ailing, fragile,bed ridden! But, It was much much later, in the evening when i was watching 'DEEP JWELE JAI' (one of my personal favorite),i couldn't stop my tears! Towards the film's climax, there is this scene where Sen is being escorted by few nurses admitting her to the same ward where she herself used to be a nurse previously. She is a patient now, and she whispers out "I wasn't acting, I couldn't" indicating that she indeed fell in love with her patient, and she just breaks down uncontrollably... i couldn't control my tears at that point, weeping hysterically for sometime! 

We have lived decades watching,loving,discussing,cherishing her as Romola, as Paro, as Pannabai/Suparna, as Atashi, as Aarati, as Sagarika, as Indrani, as Dr. Roma Banerjee, as Reena Brown, as Radha, as Kamallata, as Sarat Chandra's Rajlakshmi, Bijoya, Achala... as Bankim Chandra's Prafulla and we shall continue doing the same.

Mrs. Sen... i won't miss your presence, because i have known you only through your filmography,through your onscreen charisma, your breath taking screen presence,i had never ever waited for any of your forthcoming film,nor waited in the long queue at a nearby theater waiting for the first day first show of any of your flick, but you have always remained a personal favorite. So like always..i shall keep watching your films and cherish the aura of an iconic legendary superstar!! Rest in Peace Mrs. Sen!

AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY : Too bland !!

This American black comedy-drama film written by Tracy Letts and based on his Pulitzer Prize–winning play follows the lives of Beverly Weston (Sam Shepard), a once-noted, alcoholic poet, who interviews and hires a young native American woman Johnna (Misty Upham) as a live-in cook and caregiver for his strong-willed and contentious wife Violet (Meryl Streep), who is suffering from mouth cancer and addiction to narcotics. Shortly after this, he disappears from the house, and Violet calls her sister and daughters for support. Her sister Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale) arrives with husband Charles Aiken (Chris Cooper). Her youngest daughter Ivy (Julianne Nicholson) is single and the only one living locally; Barbara (Julia Roberts), her oldest, who has inherited her mother's strong will, arrives from Colorado with her husband Bill (Ewan McGregor) and 14-year-old daughter Jean (Abigail Breslin). Barbara and Bill are separated and having marriage difficulties, but they put up a united front for Violet. Finally, middle daughter Karen (Juliette Lewis) arrives with the latest in a string of boyfriends, Steve Heidebrecht (Dermot Mulroney), a sleazy Florida businessman whom she introduces as her fiancé and what follows in the next 5 days is.......chaos!!

HAIL TO THE FAIRER SEX !!

'And she was raped and brutally killed in front of my eyes' / 'OMG! Dahling! My hubby's brought a pair of Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes for me! chuckles'/

'Mera pati parmeshwar hai' / 'Babes! men are like drugs.Sometimes they bring you down and sometimes, they get you so high'/ 'My daughter's got her exams tomorow, and i don't know how to sleep through the night' / 'I need to take my in- laws out fortheir tour, they just can't stop gushing about their choti bahu's salary hike' / 'I am a woman and i am happily single because i want to be' / 'Behenji, kal karva chauth hai, aap bhul gayi kya?' / 'I don't care if my son's homosexual,as long as he's happy and 'gay'/ 'Mujhe ek aisi bahu chahiye jo mere beta ka pura khayal rakh sakhe' / 'Women are for friendship. Men are for fucking' / 'Pichle ek mahine se hame hamare majdoori ka ek sikka paisa tak nahi mila, hum bhuke pet so rahe hai' /
/'Ok ladies, let's raise our glasses-to the fairer sex, to womahood'/...............

TAXI DRIVER : Robert De Niro at his charming best !!

Making famous one of the cult dialogue in the history of Cinema : 'You talkin to me???' , its my favourite Scorsese film, more so beacuse of the charming, Mc Dreamy, my favourite Robert DeNiro. Its engaging, impressive and truly deserves all the accolades it had garnered post its release in 1976 culiminating into an all time classic of world cinema. 

It might come across as a terribly disturbing film at the first watch but after watching it again & again as i have been every single time I've seen it, struck by just how perfect this movie is! Travis Bickle's (Robert De Niro) loneliness is a hyper representation of the same loneliness most of us have experienced at different times in different measures. It is always associated with a nightmare and Martin Scorsese delivers it like a nightmare.
The screenplay develops like a diary, the diary of a very ordinary guy who gets hired as a night taxi driver back from Vietnam, because he can't sleep at night. A very ordinary guy who tries to break his isolation,loneliness.. but can't, while violence accumulates inside him. One of those unnoticed people with dark things on their mind, one of those who break up the news one day with some extraordinary outburst of rage,falling back immediately into anonymity.The opening & closing credits are beautifully captured with the blazing lights of the yellow taxi cab moving slowly in the dark rainy streets. A kaleidoscope of neonlight appears through the dripping windows as the driver's eyes blink in the front mirror.The long nights in the city, the night environment full of whores, junkies, pimps and thieves are the main elements of the world in which Travis Bickle lives.

EK VILLAIN (Not too much to be scary about !!)

Ritesh Deshmukh comes up with a competent menacing act, but he is totally let down by some lame dialogues & wafer-thin murder sequences. How i wish the director has given some more time to shape up his character into a more horrifying, spine chilling one, which alas! isn't the case! 

PLOT : A ripoff of the Korean film 'I Saw The Devil', Mohit Suri's flick is about an utterly annoying Ms Mary Poppins, chirpily sitting and hovering around filling up her journal / dear diary with some 'before-i-die-lemme-go-on-a-mission' agendas and polaroids,lame at her own pathetic jokes (that are used precisely quite very often over a distributed period of time), turns a psycopath guy into a decent chap, in return gets murdered for no rhyme or reason by yet another psycopath, leaving the two psychopaths fighting with each other untill one becomes a hero and the other, a villain !!
Shraddha Kapoor needs lot of acting workshops to attend, she isn't effortless. Siddharth Malhotra emotes well and what always works in his favour is obviously his screen presence, but there's no chemistry between the couple here, unlike this year's 'Hasee to Phasee'. Expected a lot from Amna Shariff (she had a scope to perform though!) and Remo Fernandez as the don is terrible!
With thriller as a genre, you expect more thrill,more suspense,and obviously more drama filled with brutal gore which sadly is missing here!

KISSES (Dir : Lance Daly)

The cutest love story i have seen in a long time. Set in Ireland, the film is about a boy, Dylan (12 yrs old) and a girl, Kylie (11 yrs old), together, they run away to the big city (Dublin) after they are further unable to tolerate their abusive & violent home situations. 

They speak very coarse language, peppered with all kinds of offbeat expletives and fascinating slang. The beginning of the film when the children are at home is shot in black and white, highlighting the bleakness of their family lives full of constant bickering, violence & a repressive atmosphere they live in. But once the children flee to Dublin, the shots slowly turns into vibrant colors, connoting their freedom from their environment.
Within a running time of 75mins, the film brilliantly holds your attention throughout, thanks to the wonderfully charismatic performances by the child actors Shane Curry and Kelly O'Neill, especially the latter as the vulnerable yet spunky Kylie who's more street smart than the dazed Dylan, and its indeed a wonder how she can actually fall for him.
One of my personal favourite scene is the part where Dylan saves Kylies (almost 'hero' like!) when she is kidnapped by two pedophiles, who snatch her off the street and drive off in a car.
The film closes with a very beautiful shot where they return back to their homes,the parents relieved but then turning vindictive. Dylan and Kylie exchange trusting glances as they are separated from one another, but they smile at each other and in their silence they knew they are meant for each other henceforth.