New Delhi:It seems to be a week dominated by Bollywood at the movies.
Director Shashanka Ghosh’s female buddy film Veere Di Wedding starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania subverts the usual and the expected at many a bend, says . It starts out as a buddy film set in the familiar band baaja baroque world of a Delhi wedding, but there is more to this film than initially meets the eye, and certainly more to these ladies than meets the guys. The writing is assured and nuanced, with telling details about these girls, their men, and their families. After a while as the over-the-top background sounds settle— or we get used to them—the film’s cleverness becomes apparent. Veere Di Wedding lands several blows to the patriarchy while never giving up its masala entertainer roots.
The central takeaway from Veere Di Wedding, says , is to accept people for who they are. All characters are stereotypes, and the film makes sure all of them receive their validation in some measure by the end. Amid all those good intentions, you end up with a runny khichdi of sorts, one that tastes decent, but doesn’t hit the spot with every bite. The film is messily written, and the performances, save for Kareena Kapoor Khan (who is effortlessly badass), largely range from ‘spunky but strictly average’ (Swara Bhaskar) to ‘often struggles’ (Sonam K Ahuja). Despite its scrambling, unfocused plot and some not-so-great acting, Veere Di Wedding is propped up by its moments.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s action adventure film Bhavesh Joshi Superhero starring Harshvardhan Kapoor and Priyanshu Painyuli is an erratic, now-on-now-off ramble rather than a scintillatingly smooth ride, says. The ambitions of this film, written by Motwane, Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Koranne, are epic all right, but the final yield is way less than the sum of its parts. The problem with Motwane’s fourth directorial venture isn’t that it soars too high. Its problem is that it simply doesn’t get off the ground. And this is definitely not for want of trying.
Bhavesh Joshi Superhero works beautifully until the interval point before gradually losing its way to laboured plotting, implausible twists and banal moralising, says . For all its promises of looking at Mumbai’s seemingly intractable problems with a fresh eye, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero offers solutions that are far removed from reality. The film moves away from common sense as it descends into genre territory. It doesn’t help that its leading man fails to take audiences along.
Romantic crime drama Phamous directed by Karan Lalit Butani starring Jimmy Sheirgill, Shriya Saran, Kay Kay Menon, Pankaj Tripathi, Jackie Shroff and Mahie Gill struggles to justify its existence, says Scroll. Sequences tumble into each other with barely any coherence or sense of rhythm; the talented cast flounders at the best of times. The 114-minute movie looks as though it was made many years ago, when the production values of films about the North Indian hinterland were as low as the mercury levels in winter. Phamous attempts to explore the tragedy of a region caught in an endless cycle of violence and retribution, but it says little, and says it badly.
In the south, Telugu action crime film Officer directed by Ram Gopal Varma starring Nagarjuna Akkineni and Myra Saree is another disappointing film from Varma, says telugu360.com. With an average first half and poor second half, the movie is unimpressive fare that doesn’t utilise Akkineni’s comeback opportunity.
Several releases this week haven’t inspired any reviews yet. These include Tamil fantasy comedy Panjumittai, Tamil drama thriller X Videos, Kannada drama Navila Kinnari, Kannada mystery thriller Venilla, Malayalam thriller drama Orange Valley, Marathi action drama Bedhadak, Marathi comedy drama Maska, Punjabi romantic comedy Carry On Jatta 2 and Bengali drama Uma.