New Delhi: A bunch of mid-sized Hindi, Hollywood and regional films vie for audiences’ attention in theatres this week.
Anurag Kashyap’s comedy drama Manmarziyaan starring Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu and Vicky Kaushal is the director’s first full-on love story, says NDTV. He, however, loses no opportunity to inject an exaggeratedly campy style into the genre and juggle with its time-tested conventions to deliver a film that is fun for the most part. There is much to love in Marmarziyaan. Pannu makes it consistently watchable and Kashyap’s directorial flourishes lend the film a veneer of intelligence. Laced with humour and warmth, this is a love story with flashes - only flashes, not a sustained flow - of inspiration.
Manmarziyaan delivers the angst, the duality of characters, and muddled minds of the tinder generation that many new-age films failed to bring to the fore at times, says Khaleej Times. It is a fulfilling love story that is crafted with care and is a must-watch. Wait with bated breath as the director delivers a well-scripted climax stuffed with lines/moments that will make you question why he hadn’t made a romantic film yet.
Love Sonia directed by Tabrez Noorani starring Mrunal Thakur, Riya Sisodiya and Freida Pinto is a special film backed by some exceptional names, says koimoi.com. It falls short at places but is very informative and portrays a hard-to-swallow reality in a very genuine way. Watch it only if you have the appetite to digest such dramas.
Mitron directed by Nitin Kakkar starring Jackky Bhagnani and Kritika Kamra is a relatable comedy that one can watch with the family, says Filmfare, and come back with laughs and a better understanding of generational gap. Directed by Filmistaan fame Nitin Kakkar, the spirit of the original Telugu film remains intact while transplanting the story to Gujarat.
For the Hollywood fans, American science fiction action film The Predator directed by Shane Black starring Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes and Jacob Tremblay comes to India this week. Black’s movie offers a new beginning for the series after Nimród Antal’s 2010 entry Predators tried to take the brand in a different direction, says screenrant.com, but failed to get a follow-up. Unfortunately, the end result here is a mixed bag that’s hamstrung by clunky execution and a general messiness. The Predator aims to revitalize the sci-fi action franchise with fresh ideas, but succeeds at delivering mindless action more than cohesive mythology.
The Predator feels like both a lesser Predator movie and a lesser Shane Black movie, says uproxx.com, but it’s still a Shane Black Predator movie, which makes it at least medium watchable even when it shouldn’t be. It feels a little like Black, famously murdered in his bit role in the original Predator, had promising ideas for four different Predator spinoffs and just tried to squeeze them all into one movie. The Predator ends up feeling overstuffed but exuberant, like an unmedicated ADD kid directed it, with a series of scenes that are fun individually but don’t exactly hang together as a coherent movie.
Tamil action comedy Seemaraja directed by Ponram starring Sivakarthikeyan, Samantha Akkineni and Soori works with a non-stop plot, which is stifling, says Film Companion. This is writing not just of convenience, but of contempt. It says: Keep showing Sivakarthikeyan in every scene and the audience won’t care. Talent is the last word you’d associate with this numbing movie, which thinks fat jokes with a trumpet on the soundtrack are still funny.
Telugu drama Enduko Emo starring Noel Sean and Nandu directed by Koti Vaddineni is an outdated revenge drama which has a few decent moments in the second half, says 123telugu.com. But the boring first half, over-the-top comedy, and predictable proceedings take the film down.
Telugu thriller U-Turn directed by Pawan Kumar starring Samantha Akkineni, Aadhi Pinisetty, Rahul Ravindran and Bhumika Chawla should work well for its intended target audience in the urban centres, says Film Companion. Since the Kannada original hasn’t penetrated into a majority of the market here, the film will find new takers. It’s a murder mystery with sound technical values. The subtle message about not violating basic road rules is an eye-opener.
Some releases this week haven’t elicited any reviews yet. These include Malayalam gangster comedy Padayottam, Malayalam drama Oru Kuttanadan Blog and Gujarati drama Ventilator.