Special 26

One of the biggest cons in Indian history is the inspiration for this film. Couple that with the director, Neeraj Pandey, being of the A Wednesday pedigree the expectations were very high for this film. As the movie opens to a CBI raid at a politician's palace, you are riveted to the screen. Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpai square off as robber and cop, and the setup is complete. Then the ball is dropped as the long shots of the men doing the Reservoir Dog walk with melodramatic background music just grates on your nerves. However the con itself is interesting enough to keep you watching until the end highlighting a missed opportunity to make a good film.

Rating: * +
Poster licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

Silver Linings Playbook

Bit too much of the silver linings stuff. Though David O. Russell puts together a compelling cute comedy, it falls way short of other films that he has done. Oscar for Jennifer Lawrence for this? Talent certainly, but give her time man.  Bradley Cooper shrugs off his good lucks to strike it out and which he carries through in the American Hustle. I was kind of glad when it ended - but dont get me wrong, it was cute.  

Rating: * *

A Wednesday

The Mumbai Commisioner of Police, Prakash Rathod (Anupam Kher), is jolted out of his skin when he receives an anonymous call from a man demanding the release of four Lakshar and Al Qaeda operatives. The consequences of not doing so would result in bombs being set off in different parts of the city. As the unknown man (Naseeruddin Shah) plays the police and media like puppets, they strain against the strings being pulled. With two of the finest thespians at the helm, the film with its backdrop of terrorism is one of the finest thrillers released in the Indian film industry!

Rating: * * *

Maine Gandhi ko Mara Nahin

An interesting movie about an event that haunts a retired professor and his family. Credible performance from Anupham Kher in the lead, but Urmila was very dramatic and kind of destroyed what the movie could have achieved. But a good watch nevertheless.

Rating: * * +

Khosla ka Ghosla

This should have been the movie going to the Oscars; instead of the other UTV over-rated-piece-of-dog-piss production, Rang De Basanti. Glad to see more such real & funny mainstream movies making its way into the theatres. There slowly appears to be a core group of actors regaling in the freedom of making non-larger-than-life-fucking-bullshit cinema: a throwback to the early 80s indie film movement. Boman Irani as an evil land grabber is certainly one of them.

Rating: * * * +