AVENGERS -ENDGAME (ENGLISH) (2019)

Ship load of superheroes - Check (Eyes-full in an IMAX screen and some more)

Stunning action setpieces - Check

Sharp sparkling humour - Check

Emotionally charged moments - Check

Epic finale - Check

Director duo Russo bros dunk us neck deep into nostalgia as we buckle down for a dreamy ride skimming over a decade worth of our favourite blockbusters from the franchise. Their nifty screenplay pulls together plot lines from all those multiple moments of magnificence to a rousing crescendo culminating in yet another audacious, heroic and dare, I say heart wrenching snap. 

It is beautiful in how the writing draws on the twenty plus historic blockbusters to create what is going to be the definitive piece in the  history of blockbusters. 

The movie delivers on almost every count

As sheer spectacle of ginormous proportions..

As an energetic and exciting entertainer..

As an emotionally charged roller coaster..

Russo bros have crafted a fitting farewell that elevates our favourite superheroes  even as it pays an ode to each of them who would remain etched in the collective memories of the fans for a very long time, if not forever.

Don't see how it could've ended any better ..

Perhaps could've had some more fireworks ..

Perhaps it could've been more 'snap'py.. But, again .. am just nitpicking here. 

Go .. Watch it in the biggest screen possible !

A MUST WATCH ! A MARVEL !!

RATING - 4/5

GULLY BOY (HINDI) (2019)

Director Zoya Akthar's Gully Boy is an affective underdog story that is well executed and supported by solid performances by the leads as well as a competent supporting cast. It presents the story of Murad, a resident of the slums of Dharavi, Mumbai and his rise to become an acclaimed rap artist despite the odds that are stacked against him that seek to trap him forever in his suffocating circumstances. The narrative arc traces his journey of self discovery and how he harnesses his innate talents and self belief to become a famous rap artist by "melting down the shackles that bind him with the lava of his lyrics".

I have never been a big fan of the genre of hip hop/ rap music. But, there is an earnest intensity in the album  and the hard-hitting lyrics (collaboration by an array of artists) here that captivates the viewer and hooks them to the genre.

Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhat prove their mettle as the definitive stars in the making, oozing loads of talent and cement their billing to be counted among the very best of their generation of actors. This film provides a perfect stage for them to collaborate and shine together. Ranveer is like some shimmering liquid metal that could be perfectly cast to fit into any mould. He can effortlessly transform from being an obsessed and cruel medieval Sultan in Padmavat to the underdog from Mumbai slum and make either part feel very real. 

Here, he is inhabiting the part of Murad, a  Dharavi resident dreaming of elevating his life from a rag-tag, down-in-the-dumps reality to match his soaring dreams. And, it definitely doesn't hurt that he can also rap like a pro. Alia Bhatt lights up the screen as the charming Safeena, a pint sized dynamite of a medical student, madly in love with Murad. She shares a warm chemistry with Ranveer, complementing him effectively.

Zoya assembles a string of notable names like Vijay Raaz, Kalki Koechlin, Vijay Verma, Sheeba Chaddha as well as debutante Siddhant Chaturvedi (as MC Sher) who turn in impressive cameos along with multiple real life rap artists who add a dash of authentic flavour of the music and the milieu, especially in the fierce rap battles. The crisp cinematography (Jay Oza) and the conversations soaked in the local lingo add to the lived in feel to the proceedings.

The writing (Zoya and Reema Kagti) is dexterous for the most part and manages to breath a dash of freshness even into some time tested tropes and cliches. The result is an extra-ordinary movie that is engrossing and satisfying at multiple levels.

AN ENTERTAINING WATCH !!

RATING - 3.5/5

SUPER DELUXE (TAMIL) (2019)

A momentary misadventure with an ex-flame pushes a recently married couple (Samatha Akkineni and Fahaad Faasil) into a a tizzy as they embark on a journey to bury their past.  A frequently rib-tickling riff on "Till Death do us apart". 

A mom (Gayathri Shankar) and her young son (a superb Ashwanth) await the return of a father who had fled from home several years ago, in the middle of the night, seeking a new identity. When the moment of reunion arrives, amidst an ensemble of relatives who have come to witness the event as mostly sadistic spectators, only one of them is delighted as expected ("Return of the Prodigal Purushan"). 

Grand plans of five teens to skip school and make merry in youthful exuberance go awfully awry. While one of them ends up in a hospital in a freak accident, a break-away group of three are buffeted between a whimsical don and even more wacky happenings ("A tale of two TV sets"). 

A faith healer is confronted by a situation of personal crisis which forces him to explore the strength of his faith that he preaches ("Salvation").

A corpse, a corrupt and lecherous cop, a don, a former porn star, an aspiring actor, several minor characters who leave a mark with their minimal screen presence and just when we think that this couldn't get any more intriguing, the writers conjure up a character which is even more colourful. Super Deluxe presents all this and much more in a resplendent rainbow of fully fleshed out characters - howsoever minor - populating a potpourri of plots. 

Thiagarajan Kumararaja (TK), who had made a stunning debut with Aaranya Kaandam (2011) - a cult classic - proves that he was no flash in the pan. This is a massive and ambitious upgrade as he handles a talented cast consisting of multiple stars including Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha Akkineni, Fahaad Faasil, Ramya Krishnan and Bhagavathi Perumal. The acting is consistently superlative across the board with spectacular performances from the leads as well as minor characters. Vijay Sethupathi is reborn and inhabits the character of a transgender while Samantha and Fahaad are utterly convincing as the recently wed couple caught up in relationship issues. Yuvan Shankar Raja provides a sparse, yet spectacular score combined with a healthy dose of Tamil and Hindi songs of yore which coheres well with the situations.

TK shares co-writing credits with three other noted directors - Mysskin, Nalan Kumaraswamy and Neelan K Sekar. While the threesome bring in their own brand of mastery, the same has been carefully choreographed into a magnificent chimera by TK who leaves his own indelible mark as he seamlessly weaves in the multiple subplots and meta moments in life-like splendor. The writing is subtle, layered, richly detailed, consistently funny and smartly propounds its central philosophies without being preachy or moralistic or melodramatic. Check out the surgical strikes of social commentary made by Fahaad Faasil on contemporary issues like nationalism, caste structures and broken state systems. 

The common thread that runs through all the episodes reflect on how we, as individuals, are trapped in and trampled upon by the superficial structures imposed by a constantly judging society. The key to happiness, therefore, is in being non-judgmental and accepting persons and events for what they are.

This is a heady cocktail from a genius on top of his game. A jugalbandhi of genres - a quintessentially quirky, incorrigibly  irreverent, wonderfully weird, spectacularly screwed up and audaciously amoral comedy of errors.

A TOUR DE FORCE ! A MUST WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5 

US (ENGLISH) (2019)

Jordan Peele had tasted stand-out critical and commercial success with his debut directorial Get Out (2017). It was an unusual horror flick which had strong racial undercurrents and won many awards including an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Us, Peele's sophomore attempt, is also a horror flick with yet another unusual, genre-bending structure. 

The movie begins in 1986 when a young girl -Adelaide - accompanying her parents to the Santa Cruz beach front slips away from them and has an unnerving encounter in a hall of mirrors.

Cut to the present day, the Wilsons -  Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), Gabe (Winston Duke) along with their two kids, Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) - return to their family's beach-front home in Santa Cruz for a vacation. While Adelaide is still haunted by her childhood experiences at the beach and some ominous coincidences that resonate with that past, Gabe convinces her to relax. They spend a tense evening with their friends - Tylers - at the beach. That night, the Wilsons find a family of four in red overalls holding hands, trespassing into their property. They seem to be doppelgangers of the Wilsons.  When Gabe tries to scare them away with feigned intimidation, the intruders attack the Wilsons. 

Who are these intruding doppelgangers ? Where are they from ? What do they want from the Wilsons ? Why are they attacking the Wilsons with murderous intent ? What connection do they have with the events from Adelaide's childhood ? The rest of the movie is a survival saga spreading overnight as the Wilson family seeks to escape this attack alive. It unfolds in an uneven, albeit uncanny and layered narrative that answers these questions while raising some more deeper and unsettling ones.

Lupita Nyong'o is a class act and is equally convincing in both her roles, seamlessly alternating between being chilling and ferocious or traumatised and terrified. Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss and rest of the cast provide able support.

Peele's main narrative arc is almost polymorphic as one can uncover layers of sub-texts that reflect on multiple issues like class, race, gender and many more. It makes minimal use of template tropes such as sudden rousing score, jump scares bloody visuals and adds a good bit of humour. 

Overall, Us is an ambitious addition to the genre of horror that seeks to expand its horizons as Peele seeks to make it a journey that is simultaneously thrilling and thought provoking.

And ... To his credit, he succeeds for the most part.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !

RATING - 3/5

PETTA (TAMIL) (2019)

A complete Rajni package that brings back the Rajni of yore  in all his style and glory - fighting, dancing and just BEING the beloved SUPERSTAR.

Director Karthik Subbaraj (KS) steps out of his regular fare and stays true to his promise of making a movie as a fanboy for every fan eagerly waiting to his screen idol in all his splendor. 

He finds excellent support in Anirudh's winning album & electric score; Peter Hein's stylish action setpieces and superb lenswork by cinematographer Thirru. 

And.. at the heart of all this action is Rajni who seems quite relaxed after straining himself to his limits in becoming Chitti - a physically draining exercise which stretched for more than two years. In fact, he seems to be in his elements and enjoying himself, having a ball .. as if he is seeing and soaking up every ounce of adulation of his fans going crazy in the theaters. His energy and charisma seems unabated and belies his age of someone who is closing in on 70.

On the flipside, the film is loosely constructed and stretches for almost three hours (though the fans can never get enough of superstar though). Too many good talents including Vijay Sethupathi, Nawazuddin (wasted in undercooked parts), Guru Somasundaram, Simran, Trisha (blink & miss part), Sasikumar, Malavika Mohanan, Director Mahendran and several others get minor parts and hardly register their presence. The narrative is not of the class, one would have expected from KS in terms of a taut script with trademark twists. 

Yet.. KS redeems himself as he cracks the code for MaranaMASS ! He reminds us of the good old days of Baashaa, Annamalai and Padayappa.

Would love to see him make more for the SUPERSTAR .. In fact, I hope many more talented directors from the young brigade rise up to the challenge ! Amen !!

Petta.. Paraak !!

RATING - 3.5/5

VADA CHENNAI (TAMIL) (2018)

Director Vetrimaaran's Vada Chennai (literally - North Madras) is the first part of an ambitious trilogy of epic proportions wherein he intends to present a story, spanning roughly 3-4 decades, of a locale and its people, that - quite literally as well as figuratively - dwell on the edge of a big city .

If I have to describe the movie in a single word.. it would be - DENSE. 

The director, over multiple interviews, had said that there was so much material in the plot that it could not be contained in a single movie and deserved a trilogy. He had even said that his earlier movie Pollaadhavan was just an episode spun off from this plot while the national award winning Aadukalam was also largely cut from the character universe of this very plot.

Nevertheless, even for an episode of a trilogy, this is a plot that is already dense with characters that could easily inhabit a voluminous classical literary work. And..  almost every one of these characters are dense with their own motivations that drive them and set the plot in motion .. motivations - that are quite obvious and often, the not so obvious.

Dense with a capable cast that includes Dhanush, Samuthirakani, Kishore, Aishwarya Rajesh, Andrea, Ameer, Daniel Balaji, Radha Ravi and many more - acing their individual substantive parts to bring these characters alive. 

Dense with context in terms of historical events and political undercurrents happening at the macro scale that crash on these troubled shores like nasty tides that rise and fall, chiseling away at the contours of the shore as well as the lives of its inhabitants at the micro level.

Dense with crime that is commonplace and soaked in blood..

Dense with emotions of every kind - love, hatred, rivalry, rage, revenge, pathos, brotherhood, betrayals, black humour and much more ..

Dialogues that are dense with the choicest profanities which are delivered without any gender bias (liberation, indeed)

Every frame oozes excellence in technical competence from every department - background score, production design, cinematography, costumes, editing - that are pressed at the service of the plot without in anyway attempting to be a stand-out seeking attention to oneself.

When all of this and some more is condensed into a movie that runs a tad less than three hours, it feels like an appetiser which, despite being a wholesome meal in itself, whets your appetite for what is to follow. I left the viewing with a heart dense with satisfaction and expectation for the next part which cannot arrive a day too late. 

Overall, kudos to ace auteur Vetrimaaran, Dhanush and their team for a movie that is dense with ambitions of an epic which it delivers. 

AN EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5

BADHAAI HO (HINDI) (2018)

What happens when a middle class boy of marriageable age finds that his parents are expecting a baby..? The movie chronicles the ordeals of Kaushiks - a twenty something Nakul (Ayshmann Khurrana) working in a private company, his school going brother Gullar who find it hard to face their friends, taking cheap pleasure at their discomfiture even as their parents - Jeetendra aka Jeetu (Gajraj Rao) and Priyamvada aka Babli (Neena Gupta) - at the centre of this pickle, brace to face their sons, and their dreaded dadi (Surekha Sikri) as well as the sundry near and dears who jump to judge them with righteous contempt. 

The casting choices are apt to say the least. Neena Gupta is a picture of grace with her winning screen presence and is excellent as Priyamvada. She effortlessly wins our heart as a loving mother and wife, a caring daughter in law and shines through the gamut of emotions without breaking a sweat and is capable of conveying with just a silent gaze or glare. It is indeed a travesty of Bollywood that we do not see more of her in our movies. Gajraj Rao shares a natural chemistry with Neena Gupta and is in fine form as the romantic husband, closet poet and a father who is finding it hard to explain a sticky situation to his children and mom. Surekha Sikri is a hoot as the feisty grandma and cracks you up in several sequences.  Ayushmann Khurrana brings out the multiple shades of his character Nakul - be it romance, anger, confusion, embarrassment, vulnerability - in a remarkable performance. Sanya Malhotra and Sheeba Chaddha try their best in parts that are comparatively underwritten and appear tacky in comparison to the main characters.

This is a neat comedy drama that keeps a fine balance on a subject that could easily have slipped into a slippery mess of being too crass or a caricature or worse, a sappy melodrama. But, debutante director Amit Ravindernath Sharma and his team of writers steer this film skillfully - for the most part - with sprightly humour and some sentiments that tug at your heart. His fine sense of balance is also evident in the narrative which provides optimal scope of every member of the cast, (especially Neena Gupta and Gajraj Rao who are the parents) - just as every member of a family come together to make it work. 

Overall, it is a quirky yet rooted comedy drama with a crisp runtime of little over two hours (could've been a tad shorter though) elevated by superlative performances by Neena Gupta, Gajraj Rao, Surekha Sikri and some fine writing.

AN ENJOYABLE WATCH !!

RATING - 3/5