Tanu weds Manu was a refreshing with the right blend of emotion and comedy. So does the sequel live up to the expectation ?
First things first. The opening credits and the first scene where Tanu and Manu argue about their not-so-happy- married life are something you should not missed. What follows is a laugh riot courtsey some very very witty dialogues and superb acting by Deepak Dobriyal as Pappi. He is simply brilliant and some of his lines and the way he delivers them will make you LOL all over the floor . He single handedly manages to set the pace for the movie. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Chintu the over-enthusiastic lawyer is a welcome addition to the cast. Kangana Ranaut by far is the best actress in India presently. You throw any role at her and she will end up doing it so naturally. She looks and fits into the Hariyanvi "Datto" character so well. Not even once one remember the original Tanu while watching her. Full marks to her (and the make up team) for that!
But the real problem is the plot. To start off with the entire Mental hospital plot (although very entertaining) is not believable. There isnt enough emotional connect between Manu - Datto to get together in the first place and Manu - Tanu to come back together once again. The end is predictable and something that most of us would not relate to. For eg. Queen had the perfect ending when she refuses to go back to him. Here Manu's decision to go back to Tanu seems illogical and irrational and lacks the emotional connect needed to do so. The lack of "Bappi" and his jokes and the lack of a good plot hurts the second half which after a point of time is super drag. You just don't feel for any of the character.
Songs are good, my favorite being the "Swagger" song.
All in all the supporting actors do their job to make us laugh but the lack of a good plot fails to emote.
Rating: *** (You can skip this one in the theaters)
P.S. Do watch the first part though if you havent watched it yet:
I know this review comes quite late. There is reason (like there is one for all the stupid things in life). I failed to find company all this time for this movie. Convincing people to watch an Anurag Kashyap movie is odd. But isnt that surprising because he has a different set of fans (the majority belonging to the inverse set of the "bhai-i-love-you-whatever-acting-psuedoacting- you- do" set). But then this one had the big stars to attract the masses. In spite of that it couldn't. This is what bad publicity and poor understanding of his kind of cinema is. I being an ardent fan of his work I wanted to watch this. And after hearing all the negativities I definitely had to watch it. Not when the DVD is out but while its still in the theater
Ok to start off, the movie is not good. Not good by Anurag Kashyap's standards (which are very high. Atleast for me he is the best director bollywood has at the moment). And please note that a bad movie by Anurag Kashyap is probably any day better than even the best one by some other directors like Ab-Basss and MAST-an (name changed).
Has he tried something completely different than his prior films ? I doubt that. It has all the ingridients of a typical Anurag Kashyap movie. The plot (revenge :Gangs of Wasseypur , the lust for power and money :Gulaal , Ugly and the intertwining of multiple subplots and showing the best and the worst aspects of interpersonal relationships: All his movies) , the cinematography , the art of weaving songs into the plot in a way that you want more of them (Dev D , GOW. GOW infact boasted off 14 songs in the first part and 13 in the second). So whats different?
Let start with the goods. The real stars of the movie are the set design and the music. The sets are lavish, not only the one showing Bombay Velvet the theater, but even the Bombay of the 60s shown in the movie (Bombay not Mumbai :)). The music ! Amit Trivedi (Dev D , Udaan, Ishaqzaade and many more here) has done such an amazing job. It was the first time that I didn't like his songs when I heard the album. But then they seem so good when I saw them in the movie. Plus the built up and background Anurag has given to each of them is simply brilliant. Dhadaam Dhadaam is my personal favorite. Also the choice of " Fify - Jaata hai kaha hai deewane" is so apt for the situation. The remi of the same by Mike Mcleary is nice (He is the same guy who composed Khoya Khoya Chand and Dhak Dhak)
Anurag Kashyap has this knack of looking into the smallest of things. ( For eg In Ugly when he was wanted to show a bollywood struggler's dingy house, he had a can of whey proteins in one of the shelves. Rest of the house was a pity. Useless fanboy info). He has his strokes of brilliances in this one too. One special scene is the one where Karan Johar mocks Ranbirs English. I wont reveal the details, but its epic. Simply epic. The climax scene where Ranbir goes on a killing spree is well shot but it seems borrowed. The background score reminds you of Tarantino and the scene is way similar to Faizal ka badla from GOW-2. There are other "inspirational"scenes as well but he has given due credits these at the start of the movie.
Ranbir plays his character well. But it is the side characters that impress, for eg Satyadeep Mishra as his friend Chimman, Kay Kay Menon as the honest cop and Manish Chaudhari as the parsi reporter. Also Remo Fernandez, Raveena Tandon Siddhartha Basu and Amit Trivedi (How many of you noticed him in the club?) have special appearances
What doesnt work? I guess the major weakness is the plot. In an attempt to be true to the facts , the movie's plot seems not that great. The story about the development of the metropolitan MUMBAI and about the greedy janta who made that happen. The second thing that I feel that went horribly wrong is casting Karan Johar. He is not able to generate that kind of aura that was expected from him. The perfect example was was the wicked Ramadhir Singh in GOW (played by Tigmanshu Dhulia, who has also directed the movie Paan Singh Tomar. Again useless piece of information). You actually felt nice when Faizal takes his badla. Karan Johar and his lack of emotions is a major setback in most of the scenes. You simply don't feel the tension between him and Ranbir. Also the climax doesn't reach its pinnacle as it does in GOW. Its rather an anticlimax The other bad choice he made was Anushka Sharma. Not because she cant act, but because of the ducky face. He has these close ups of her face while she performs for Bombay Velvet and trust me that doesn't make a good picture. It is so bad that you feel good when Raveena recites the same songs in her absence. Plus the movie is slow. Kashyap takes his own time to come to the theme of the movie and it seems a drag. Its not that first time that he is making a long movie. GOW was so long a movie that he had to make two parts out of it, and there wasnt even a single dull moment in it.
To sum it I would say that is a bad movie by Anurag Kashyap's standards but its definitely a good film. Plus you need to watch it in the theater to experience the grandeur of its stars: the sets and the music.
P.S. This has turned out to be quite a long post and it may seem like a Anurag- Kashyap - fanclub -page rather than a movie review. But then thats the way it is. I am a huge fan of his work for he is one of the few film makers who respects the audiences intelligence. For the uninitiated , Dev D , Gulaal , Gangs of Wasseypur , Black Friday are simply superb. Yes there is lot of violence in these, but thats not the best part. His way of presenting the minute details is what makes him stand apart. For eg watch this scene from GOW if you haven't watched it yet. Nawazuddin's acting being a cherry on top of the cake.
I was duped into watching this movie. Luckily I had the option of forwarding. And I had to use it quite diligently. I dont have much to say about this movie. I only have a few questions.
From where is he back- Please send him back to that hideous place.
Who has got him back - I want to sue that person for mental harassment. Krissh is the director. I guess only a superhero can manage can live through the torture of making such a movie.
Who has the courage to see him in the theaters - I guess the " Bhai" wala audience does.
And finally...
Why is Gabbar back - WHY WHY WHY!
Please send him back!
If possible please send Akshay Kumar , Shruti Hasan , Kareena Kappor (Yes even she stars in the movie. She perfectly compliments the stupidity going on in rest of the movie), the rest of the cast (full of random actors casted pathetically) and the entire team which made this disaster along with Gabbar.
Rating: -*
P.S : Wait for thee DVD (you know where to find Gabbar now, but then its better that you avoid doing that). Watch it with your friends and have fun at how insanely low Bollywood can stoop.
P.P.S : Not only is the movie bad, the way they have projected doctors hurts even more. There definitely are such doctors who harass patient for money like anything but this was hyperbole even by their standards. Its important for movie makers to realize at what message are they sending to the society. Its high time that Bollywood achieves that maturity.
There are very few movies which have the perfect ingredients for you to be drawn to the theatres. Piku is one such film. Shoojit Sarkar (aslo the director who gave us Madras Cafe) and Juhi Chaturvedi unite again after writing Vicky Donor. The tag line of " Motion se hi emotion" is self explanatory and tells us whats the movie is about. The trailers and the tag line are a tad misleading as even though you will see Amitabh ranting about his not-so-good bowel habbits through a major portion of the movie, there is much more to the movie. The movie in fact is more about the latter half of the tag line i.e emotions rather than the former i.e. motion. The story is a simple one which by now you guys must have figured out. Amitabh is a crancky attention seeking hypochondriac bong dad who wants his daughter's life to revolve around him. To such an extent that, at one point he even explains a guy Deepika meets how she isn't a virgin and he should not think of marrying her. Deepika is this frustrated daughter who inspite of being fed up of her dad and his irregular bowel habbits , tries to cater to all his needs; however eccentric they may be. Then comes in Irrfan Khan, owner of a cab hiring company who himself is frustrated by his own mother and sister and is forced to drive this unusual "couple " all the way from Delhi to Kolkata.
Coming to performances , I loved all three :Irrfan , Amitabh and Deepika (in that order. And yes Irrfan >> Amitabh). Irrfan has this uncanny way of making you laugh in the simplest possible way. Amitabh Bachan as the bong Bhaskor is a treat to watch and is the quirky element makes us laugh with his paunch ,the bong accent , his idiosyncrancies (hiding the salt everyday) and at the same time the childlike innocence (best seen in the last seen when he comes back cycling all over Kolkata). Dee"Piku" has given probably her best performace. The de-galm look and the the way she portrays the character of the irritated but caring daughter is excellent. Not only the casting of the lead actors is great the supporting actors like Raghubir Yadav (Mungerilal anyone?) as the family doctor and the thrice married bong aunt Moushumi Chatterjee are a delight to watch too! The music and the background score is also nice, Anupam Roy making a superb debut as a music director and singer. Not even once it seems intrusive and you aren't left wondering when, why and how did this song happen (Bhai fans take note!)
And last but never the least, the direction. Kudos to Shoojit Sarkar for blending all the elements in the perfect way. The way he tells this simple yet interesting story is so good. He repeats what he did with Vicky Donor, where he presented a taboo topic without even a hint of sleaze. This time around he selects a topic which not everyone would like to be vocal about and one that may disgust most of us. And trust me, no where in the movie does the poop-talk make you go "ewww". It always gets a smile. Full marks for him for that. One particular scene where they are about to start their journey and Irrfan Khan expects Deepika to sit besides him rather than the family servant is hilarious wihtout having a single dialogue. One expects in that in a Bollwood film there will be atleast one song/ scene where the lead couple is seen moving around hand in hand. But thats not always essential as the audience is intelligent enough to understand stuff in a subtle manner. He depicts the same in the last scene of the movie where he wants to show that Deepika- Irrfan get together. He simply shows a badminton game between them referring to a prior similar scene.
A director's excellence doesn't rest in painting a larger than life picture with lavish sets and random unrealistic situations (Bhai movies being a perfect example) but rather it lies in making the audience feel at home, giving them situations that they can believe can happen it their routine life. For eg all Rajkumar Hirani movies. The scene where the sweeper gets irritated with Munna for walking over the floor he cleaned moments ago is something which we must have encountered sometime. Its this method of story telling that I personally like. My favorite being Hrishikesh Mukherjee. His movies had such simple topics and routine issues presented in the most believable way. Be it the couple rivalry in Abhimaan to the fear of death in Anand and others movies including Awara , Mili, Bawarchi, Chupke Chupke , Gol Maal . Definitely. Shoojit Sarkar is no Hrishikesh Mukherjee, but he does come close.
All in all its a simple tale presented in a nice way!
Rating : **** (Do watch this one in the theaters.)
P.S. I don't know what is it with all these talented bong artists ! Be it actors ,singers (Kishore Kumar GANGULY :) ) , musicians to directors- Khub bhalo dada log!!
After a long hiatus after its release I did manage to catch this movie. Thanks to some friends in Korea who managed to get an HDrip (Click here). Its based on the age old " Bond / secret spy organization vs a megalomaniac-doomed-to-destroy-the-world" format. The only difference being its way more chic with all the action. It manages to be "gentleman"ish and techie cool at the same time throughout, The action scenes are well executed and they leave you in awe of the film. These are the main reason you should watch this film. Check this scene out :
If you liked this one then , you SHOULD watch the rest of it. There is one specific scene shot at the church. And its simply mind blowing! Apart from the action, the background score and the dialogues add a lot to the film. All in all its a good movie which not only great some great action , but also has a nice plot to compliment. Don't miss out this one!
