Hate Story (2012) Movie Review

Movie Review: So, yeah, Hate Story exposes a lot - underneath Delhi's surface, that is, not really, as the adverts so tantalizingly showcased, of leading lady Paoli Dam. The film instead blows the top right off the dirty deals, the, well, intercourse between different power spheres ruling India's capital - business, politics, journalism, police, all meet in this slick flick. Depending on who you are, the intersections provide some pleasure - and lots of pain.

Hate Story starts with reporter Kavya (Dam) joining photographer-friend Vicky (Dwivedi) in exposing cement tycoon Siddharth Dhanrajgir (Devaiya) bribing a judge. Enraged, 'Sid' takes revenge - sweetly. Ignoring Vicky completely, he offers Kavya the sky if she works for him, letting him, as he terms it, use her talent. Remarkably, Kavya instantly agrees. Hugging a huffy Vicky goodbye, she leaps into Sid's deals, winning him a biggie in Mumbai. As a result, the tycoon takes her to dinner - and to bed.

But it's not quite as charmless as that - Sid makes love to Kayva in gentle rain, in fluffy duvets, in the shower, pouring her with expensive watches and a big diamond. Swept off her feet, Kavya's in love - till Sid drops the honey-brush, slaps her one and throws her out of work with chilling contempt. She's also expecting - but he'll have none of it. A forced abortion follows after which her unconvincing 'middle-class family' (spot Pitaji by his red muffler) abandons her. Seeking revenge, Kavya approaches Delhi's most plush and padded prostitute, demanding seduction classes. These last one hot little moment - but more sex with more men follows, all leading towards entrapping Sid within a web of truth and lies, exposing and exposes.

Interestingly, Hate Story isn't just one woman hating one man - it's also a tale of hateful deals, corruption, brutality and sleaze tiling the farmhouses fringing the capital, glistening in hotel bars, twinkling wickedly off the sunlight on the NCR's corporate buildings. It would all be so interesting - if only deeper and tighter. Instead, we get little sense of the porcelain-faced Kavya's torment, sliding from reporter to prostitute. We get even less sense of backup-BF Vicky's feelings - while we get way too much of Delhi's street-shots, wasted lines, lip-gloss thick as a moustache, bathrobes, jacuzzis and cars, all burdening Hate Story by about 30 minutes too many.

Underneath this, even the sex-scenes sag - the frontbenchers clap most wildly not at Dam's bare back when she's riding Sid's brother Raj, but at a Haryanvi cop telling her when arrested for Raj's murder, "Kuch kapde pehen lete toh theek hota." Better acting and more music under-wiring this plot would've helped - the only memorable melody is the velveteen lament 'Dil kaanch sa', layering Kavya's trauma after Sid's brutality.

Vicky Donor (2012) Movie review

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Yami Gautam, Annu Kapoor, Dolly Ahluwalia, Kamlesh Gill
Direction: Shoojit Sircar
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 2 hours


Movie Review:
Looking for designer babies anyone? With the looks of Brad Pitt/Aishwarya? The stardom of SRK? The talent of Lady Gaga? Well, you need a super-sperm that's one in a million, and Vicky Donor (Ayushmann Khurrana) is full of the 'spunk' that your fertile imagination needs. He's the biological dad of 53 healthy children! Want more? He's unemployed, single, and his view of sex is, jitna mile, utna kum. But don't slam him as a sex-maniac just yet. So what if all he does is 'shag' for a living. At least he breeds joy, cheer and sperms all over the world.

Vicky's over-the-top Punjabi mother (Dolly Ahluwalia) - 100 decibels above average noise levels - constantly nags her puttar about his worthlessness. On the other hand, he's pampered by granny Biji (Kamlesh Gill) - more progressive than all the Dilli-wali kitty party aunties. In the meanwhile, fertility expert, Dr. Chaddha (Annu Kapoor), is frantically looking for a sperm donor for his rich clientele. Vicky is his perfect find, with the Alexander of Sperms. But obviously, he can't disclose anything about his baby-boom(for the moolah, of course) to anyone. It's just too unmanly for a Punjab da sher. Even the love of his life, Ashima Roy (Yami Gautam) who he eventually weds, is kept in the dark. This plants the seed for other complications, which pop up as surprises later.

Ayushmann Khurrana is rock solid. In this tailor-made debut, he's natural and impressive. He doesn't come from a filmi gene pool, but he'll hold his own (pun intended) in Bollywood. Newbie Yami Gautam is the estrogen element in this sperm-dominated enterprise. She's a sheer delight to watch, emoting effortlessly.

What keeps this film together is the solid supporting cast. Annu Kapoor, in a convincing performance, is bankable as ever. He only speaks sperm language, referring to men as 'complicated sperm', 'confused sperm', et al, and giving advice on how to 'up' the count. Dolly Ahluwalia, plays the dominating mother and saas-serving bahu with melodrama and laughable lines. The unforgettable act is Kamlesh Gill, lighting up every scene with sasuma-like sarcasm, interspersed with witty one-liners and a drunken scene that cracks you up.

Director Shoojit Sircar is back with a bold, first-of-its-kind concept that's taboo. He makes this sperm of an idea swim all the way. He intelligently uses comedy to break mindsets, without embarrassing moments or awkward lines. The film entertains, without preaching sexual moralities or social service. Even the music blends beautifully with the story. The winner here is the script (Juhi Chaturvedi), penned with subtlety, oodles of non-slapstick humour, while sensitizing the cause at hand. However, the lingo gets too Punju at times and the last twenty minutes could do with some editing.
It takes a man to make a film like this, literally. Kudos to John Abraham for his brave maiden production.

Housefull 2 review

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin Thottumkal, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Riteish Deshmukh, Zarine Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Shazahn Padamsee, Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Boman Irani

Directed by Sajid Khan

Comedy fueled by confusion yields very little. And in Bollywood, this leads to people repeating their punch lines, screaming while spitting with expressions more animated than the next Pixar production. Here we have a house full of just this. The success factors are the usual: foreign locations, a minimum of two top stars (John-Akshay) and a maximum of two average stars to make the top stars feel more significant (Shreyas-Riteish). Then there has to be unaccountable opulence (since the audience wants to escape from their middle-class drudgery), dhishooming at the ratio of 30:1, naach-gaana by the united blues of Thailand and so on. 

If two heterosexual men get this close physically, one would question their orientation but arching one’s brows like that doesn’t convey much love. And Sunny (Akshay Kumar) and Max (John Abraham) are bitter enemies. This is explained through a tiring flashback song sequence. If you’re pulling out your hair to guess if they resolve their differences, don’t. Not at the cost of sacrificing hair that probably won’t grow back. But then again, taking you through this story would ensure they grey evenly, so you might as well pull them out.

When the ladies realise that their millionaire fiancés aren’t aware of the number of zeroes in a million, they break down. The long and screechy ‘Nahiiiiiiiiiin’ has been done away with. But tears roll down and the short confrontation seems silly when in the very next scene the two arrive to forgive their respective partners and gulp down the lies and deceit that they put up with through the film. How generous! To the audience, that is.

Dhoom 3 (2012) Movies Review

Directed by


Vijay Krishna Acharya

Cast

Aamir Khan

Abhishek Bachchan ... A.C.P. Jai Dixit

Uday Chopra ... Ali Akbar Fateh Khan

Produced by
Yash Chopra .... producer
Aashish Singh .... executive producer