Nishabdham review: "Hard to remain nishabdh about the mediocrity of the plot!!!"

Over the last couple of days, the White House has remained rather tight lipped or more appropriately lacked credibility when it came to imparting info about the condition of President Trump. Back home, the focus is back on the safety of women after the Hathras gang rape; though many of the political bigwigs who were verbose about the Bollywood drug nexus & the elephant death in Kerala have chosen to remain silent. Coincidentally Hemant Madhukar's latest venture is titled "Nishabdham" which had a pretty engaging trailer. So was the movie worth talking about???

The film unfolds in the 1970s in Seattle when a couple gets murdered in their home under mysterious circumstances. With the police unable to crack the case, it was concluded that some paranormal being was responsible for the murders & the house was deemed as haunted. The view shifts to the present day & the house was in the news yet again as renowned cello player, Antony (Madhavan) was found murdered in it the exact same manner. He had visited the house along with his fiancé, Sakshi (Anushka Shetty); a deaf & mute artist who luckily managed to escape with minor injuries. The case was taken up by Detective Maha (Anjali) & her Chief Richard Deakins (Michael Madsen) who refused to believe that a ghost was behind the crime. So were they indeed true or did Sakshi being the only witness to the murder have a different version???

This was the first time that I came to know about the director Hemant Madhukar, though he had taken a few movies in the past & hence I watched the movie without any prejudice. To be frank, the script by the director was pretty pathetic to say the atleast & it wasn't aided in any manner by Kona Venkat's uninspired screenplay. It started off a decent horror thriller but neither did they explore that angle properly nor did they do justice to the investigation part as the audience were considered as imbeciles virtually spoon fed for every sequence. However, Shaneil Deo's visuals were pretty impressive & the music by Girishh G was fine. 

If the script itself is amateurish, there is precious little what the artists could do & that's exactly what we see over here. Both Madhava, Anushka & Subbaraju did their parts aptly, Shalini was ok while Anjali was damn ordinary. One of the reasons why I was excited to watch this movie was Michael Madsen & to be brutally honest, he was just UNBEARABLE. I fail to understand how an actor who has performed admirably in Tarantino's movies can be so abysmal. 

Verdict: It's undoubtedly a huge disappointment considering the quality of the cast that Hemant had assembled. Apart from a couple of sequences, it was just a dull affair & hence I dont think it's worth time spending for!!!

Rating: 1.5/5

Regards...Ben 

Halahal review: "Engaging realistic drama that could have been paced better!!!"

Over the centuries, India has produced some of the finest minds that the world has seen & it's a testament of our educational system. However, with time just like with every other system this also requires an upgrade & it's high time it is implemented so as to take advantage of the wealth of human resources that we have at our disposal. Our educational system needs to create individuals who could think critically with the knowledge provided rather than merely regurgitate verbatim onto the answer sheet. There has been no dearth of corruption in the education sector where money speaks more than talent at times & one such incident happened to be the Vyapam scam in MP in 2013. This happened to be the inspiration for Randeep Jha's "Halahal" which released last weekend on Eros Now. 

Dr. Shiv Shankar Sharma (Sachin Khedekar), a reputed physician wakes up to the news of the death of his daughter, Archana (Enab Khizra); a brilliant Medical student. As per the the police, they conclude the cause of death to be suicide & promptly decides to close the case much to the dismay of the family especially since there were discrepancies in the autopsy report. The attitude of the investigation team raises suspicion in Dr. Sharma as it was evident that they had some ulterior motive. Soon enough he realizes that his daughter was the victim of a conspiracy though he didn't have any solid evidence to substantiate his claims. So he decides to sought the help of a corrupt officer Yusuf Qureshi (Barun Sobti) who swayed to the direction where the scent of money wafted from. Can Yusuf be trusted & will the real culprits ever be caught???

There is no doubt that Randeep Jha has chosen an interesting topic in the scam of Medical seats which has been penned by the trio of Gibran Noorani, Zeishan Quadri & Sandeep Gade. The manner in which the story reveals itself slowly is a delight & the reveal that is made in the climax is pretty impressive. They have opted to create characters that have grey shades &  have made it in a completely believable fashion. However, it falters as far as the pacing is concerned since Randeep ought to have made the events much more tighter to give that sense of urgency to the audience which isn't there & hence there is a risk of lethargy setting in at times. As for other aspects, Piyush Puty's cinematography deserves praise as the visuals and the colour tone was in sync with the mood.

Sachin Khadekar is in fine form as the helpless & frustrated father and giving him good company is Barun Sobti, who after his praise worthy performance in "Asur" has impressed yet again. There are quite a few decent supporting artists, but the movie is virtually carried forward on the able shoulders of Sachin & Barun.

Verdict: It's not the type of the movie that would wow the audience but it is a slow pot boiler which will keep us interested, though it had scope for more if the execution was better. In short, give it a try!!!

Rating: 3/5

Regards...Ben 

London Confidential review: "Intelligence agencies would laugh at the amateurish execution!!!"

Ever since COVID 19 unleashed havoc in the beginning of this year, scientists across the globe have been working tirelessly to understand Coronavirus so as to formulate effective preventive measures.  One of the most prominent theories that had floated around regarding the origin of this virus is that it was created by the Chinese. Giving traction to that theory is Dr. Li-Meng Yan, who posted her article a few days back on Zenodo, an open access site for sharing research paper; where she has apparently laid down evidence to support her claims. Incidentally, Kanwal Sethi's "London Confidential" that released on Zee5 is about a whistleblower who agrees to expose the involvement of the Chinese in the creation of a deadlier virus than corona. The trailer definitely had been hooked & I was keen to know whether the movie matches upto it. 

The world was still very much in the grip of the COVID pandemic, when the Indian Intelligence unearthed info that a much deadlier virus was spreading rapidly along the Indo-China border & it was masterminded by the Chinese. The ace up their sleeves was that a Chinese whistleblower had agreed to expose her nation at the international conference on virology that was going to be held in London in a week's time. However, Biren Ghosh (Diljohn Singh) the undercover RAW agent who was the only person that had contacts with the whistleblower goes missing mysteriously. It was now upto his colleague, Uma Kulkarni (Mouni Roy) who headed the mission along with her team to unravel the mystery before it was too late. 

Kanwal Sethi was a relatively new name for me since I haven't watched his previous ventures like "Once Again" & "Fernes Land". At first glimpse, the subject that was penned by Hussain Zaidi, Akshay Singh & Prateek Payodhi captivated me. They had a thrilling premise which would set the stage for an engaging watch if they executed it properly. But alas, it wasn't to be as Kanwal & his team executed it in the most amateurish way possible. Even if he didnt do research on how the secret service operates, atleast he could have watched some Hollywood movies & done a better job. The so called "Undercover" agents were anything but that & with each passing minute, the mediocrity in the execution just continued to pile. 

Despite a run time of only 77 minutes, the manner in which it was crafted & the irritation of  messing up a good thread, will test the patience of the audience. On the technical side, the crew has certainly done a decent job while in the performance department; none of them deserves special mention as they were average at best.

Verdict: It's really frustrating to see an engaging subject being treated in such a lackadaisical manner. In short, an opportunity woefully wasted!!!

Rating: 1.75/5

Regards...Ben

Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare review: "Unlikely to garner much sitare!!!"

The IPL is back & CSK has ensured that Mumbai Indians maintained their record of losing the first match for eight straight years. Even as the cricketing sitare made their way back onto the field after a forced hiatus, Alankrita Shrivastava returned with her "Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare" on Netflix. Since her previous venture "Lipstick under the Burkha" had impressed coz of the treatment of its subject on patriarchy & misogyny, I was keen to check this out.

Dolly (Konkona Sen) led a happy life (atleast that's what people felt) with her husband, Amit (Aamir Bashir) & kids in Noida. Just like any other middle class household, they longed to make that plunge for a far comfortable lifestyle & one of their primary aims towards that was a flat in a supposedly upscale under construction skyscraper. Her cousin, Kajal (Bhumi Pednekar) recently moved in with Dolly's family in search of better career options. However, when Amit made an indecent move on her, she decided to arrangements for her own accommodation & joined an adult call centre which offered a better paycheck than her earlier job. The crux of the movie is about how both cousins discover themselves to the realities of life & embraces it in the hope of a better tomorrow. 

As in "Lipstick...", Alankrita has penned down a host of different topics here but essentially focuses on female liberalization. The basic premise that is showcased right throughout to facilitate towards the culmination of that topic is the sexual freedom that the various characters desires. There is nothing vulgar in the manner it has been shown & kudos for that goes to  Alankrita's execution of the scenes as well as the professionalism of the actors at her disposal. However, it does have its share of flaws as it doesnt quite arrest our attention & would have made more sense if it focused on just a few topics and conveyed it effectively. On the technical side, it looked fine be it the cinematography, music etc.

Both Konkona & Bhumi have done their parts aptly, with the former grabbing attention as usual with her natural performance. They were amply supported by Aamir Bashir, Amol Parashar, Vikrant Massey & even Neelima Azim who appears in a short sequence

Verdict: It isnt the type of movie that many would warm up to, however it wont hurt to give it a try. The topic it discusses isnt exactly unique as we have been witness to other similar stuff, however it does have its moments!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

Sadak 2 review: "Mahesh Bhatt should have remained in cold storage!!!"

'Any publicity is good publicity', is the mantra that most in the film industry & by that yardstick, the Bhatt family would be happy as "Sadak 2" is one of the most mentioned movie in recent times.  With nepotism being one of the key topic of discussion ever since Sushant Singh passed away, this movie couldn't have come out at a worser time. The displeasure of the audience was evident right from the time its trailer was released making it the second most disliked YouTube video of all time. Things went further south when the movie was panned by one & all giving it the worst iMDB rating of 1. Hmm..is the movie really so bad or is it just herd mentality???

Ravi Kishore (Sanjay Dutt) had lost his wife & struggled to come to terms with it making him resort to ways to end his life. One such suicidal attempt was thwarted when Arya Desai (Alia Bhatt) comes to their travel agency for a pre-booked trip. Though Ravi initially refused to honour the commitment, he eventually relents when he realizes that it was the last booking that his late wife had confirmed on their behalf. However, it wasnt a pleasure trip for Arya but rather a journey that she believed would help her protect her father from the clutches of her step mom, Nandini (Nandini Bose) & Gyaan Prakash (Makarand Deshpande), a fake God man.

After a hiatus of almost two decades, Mahesh Bhatt decided to get back on the chair to call the shots based on a script that he had penned. There is no polite way to put it apart from say that the story was archaic & pedestrian. I seriously dont understand as to what made him believe that the audience was still stuck in the previous millennium. To add onto the misery, Sandeep Kurup did not deem it necessary to showcase his editing skills as it ran close to 2.5 h. If at all there is something worthwhile in the movie then it is the music done by a host of individuals  (Jeet Gannguli, Ankit Tiwari etc).

With such a mediocre story-line, it's hard for anyone to get inspired & give a worthwhile performance; which I believe might be the case here. Sanjay Dutt seemed fine though he looked as worn out as the audience. Alia Bhatt looked helpless (must be wondering how to say no to her dad, the next time he asks her to act in his movie) while the rest of the cast is not even worth mentioning. 

Verdict: You might be inspired by Ravi's suicidal tendencies watching the movie. Kindly remember me in your prayers as I saved two hours of your life!!!

Rating: 0.5/5

Regards...Ben

Kilometres & Kilometres review: "An Indo-American light hearted rom com!!!"

"How many kms from Washington DC to Miami beach? Kms & Kms"...there will hardly be any Malayali who doesn't known this iconic dialogue from "Mazha Peyyunnu Maddalam Kottunnu". Even after 3 decades it's still impossible to stop smiling whenever that scene is discussed & that would be the reason why Jeo Baby decided to choose that as the title for his latest project. Unlike other Onam releases, this one released directly on Asianet & from the trailer itself it was evident that it was a travel based movie. So will the audience warm up to this Indo-American relation ???

Josemon (Tovino Thomas) is in his own words one among the numerous individuals who is like Mammootty in "Valsalyam". Based in Kottayam, he did a host of odd jobs to make ends meet & when things started to get over his head, he decides to sell his beloved bullet which belonged to his late father. However, an opportunity comes knocking in the form of Cathy (India Jarvis), an American who had come to visit India & hires the services of Josemon to take her around. Thus begins a journey of cultural & self discovery.

This is Jeo's first venture since the critically acclaimed "Kunju Daivam", which by the way if you guys haven't watched it, then definitely do so. He has penned the script with emphasis on humour & goodness in all the people that is presented. It isn't an intense as "NPCB" & caters to all sections of the audience. It sails by smoothly for most parts of the journey though the part from when they get stuck in Rajasthan starts to wear us down after a point of time. In essence, it does not offer anything new that we haven't seen before & Rehman Mohammad Ali along with Prejish Prakash could have edited atleast 15 minutes from its present form. Sinu Sidharth has picturised it really well while Sooraj Kurup's music was fine.

This is Tovino's first production venture & in terms of his performance, he has done a fine job as he endears to the audience with his emotions and humour. India has done her part aptly while Sidhartha Siva tickles the funny bone as a Malayali forced to settle in Rajasthan. As for the rest, Basil Joseph & Joju George make their presence felt in the limited screen space.

Verdict: There is no doubt that it is a light hearted version of NPCB but in terms of treatment & story, it does not  offer anything that we haven't seen or expected. It gives us a glimpse as to how people from different nations view each other be it their culture, customs & relationships. Essentially it is a feel good time pass flick!!!

Rating: 2.5/5

Regards...Ben

Maniyarayile Asokan review: "This Asokan does have ksheenam!!!"

On the eve of Thiruvonam, Netflix treated the audience with the premiere of Shamzu Zayba's "Maniyarayile Asokan". After it being Netflix's first Malayalam movie release, it also made headlines as it was produced by Dulquer Salmaan's 'Wayfarer films'. The trailer certainly had a lively vibe about it & seemed liked the quintessential festival movie that would endear to the families. It reminded one of yesteryear hits, but somewhere down the line it failed to punch in the right notes. 

Asokan (Gregory Jacob) eagerly waited for his bride to welcome her into their married life. But even before they could break the ice, she stumps him with the query as to whether it was true that it was his second wedding & that he fathered twins. So was he indeed married??? Our protagonist is a village office employee who has been in the wedding market for quite a while. Unfortunately for him, none of the prospective proposals that he met didn't quite click as they had either issues with their appearance or his problematic horoscope. However, unknown to him there was a girl in the vicinity who dearly loved him. 

This is the directorial debut of Shamzu Zayba & he has certainly done a decent job in crafting it which was penned by Magesh Boji. However, Vineeth Krishnan's screenplay lets down the proceedings as it fails to add the required punch.It might not have been intentional but the manner in which Asokan was written clearly hinted that we were looking at a variant of Sreenivasan from "Vadakunokkiyanthram" & other such roles. There were quite a few sequences where the makers faltered be it the friend's back story though they gives us a glimpse of it that creates queries or the packing of way too many songs. The music by Sreehari K Nair & Sajad Kukku's visuals were fine while with regard of editing, they should have cut it short by atleast half an hour. 

Due to the manner in which Asokan was created, it's inevitable that Gregory will be compared with Sreenivasan. However, the former has done justice to the role along with an able supporting cast that consisted of Vijay Raghavan, Krishna Sankar & Shine Tom. Anupama was pretty mediocre, Sunny Wayne was cringe worthy & cameos by DQ & Anu Sithara though interesting failed to inspire proceedings. 

Verdict: There are certainly numerous sequences which will keep us amused but by the time, the movie gets over; we cant help thinking that the makers could have done a much better job. Essentially, it didnt have the content for a full fledged movie & hence it felt stretched significantly though it was less than 2 h. In short, give it a try but with reservations!!!

Rating: 2/5

Regards...Ben