Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

Cast  : Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Sanya Malhotra, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar Rated  : 9/10 When Geeta Phogat won the Women Wrestling Gold in the 55 weight category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, women’s wrestling came to be known, somewhat. In 2016, when Aamir Khan made a movie on the Phogats, their long due stardom finally came of age. That’s because Dangal is a rare sporting movie from Bollywood where drama, song and dance does not overwhelm the reality of the true story of struggle and achievement. With a perfectionist Aamir Khan at the helm, you would not have thought otherwise. But, Dangal has an added aura of achievement of the underdog, a simple story of woman wrestling in Haryana where the male-female ratio is shamefully shocking. But Dangal does not drive that in forcefully. It skillfully depicts it through the incredible story of the Phogat family with Aamir playing the no-nonsense, obsessed yet vulnerable and path-breaking pa...

Cast:  Ranveer Singh, Vaani Kapoor Rated:  6/10 Production qualities: More than slick, very YRF. Locale: Most romantic in the world, very YRF. Drama: Modern romcom, very YRF. Music: Titillating, very YRF. Production House: Extremely reputed, YRF. Director: All about Bollywood’s best  mohabbatein , very YRF. Love story: Very not YRF. That’s because Aditya Chopra’s  Befikre  largely forgets that the heart is a vital organ for such movies, and focuses solely on hi-tech polish, packaging and preening about romance being a YRF patent, howsoever misplaced, howsoever misconceived. This was Aditya’s first outing after his father, the grand man of romance, passed away and overall only his 4th directorial venture. After  DDLJ, Mohabbatein  and  Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Befikre  was eagerly awaited, more so after Karan Johar’s botched up, hung-up money-spinner  Ae Dil Hai Mushkil . After all, the  padshah  of energy Ranveer Singh wa...

Cast : Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien Rated:  6/10 The April 2010 British Petroleum rig fire has been tagged as the world’s worst environmental disaster in living memory. An unstable oil rig, off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, burst into flames after some greedy and unscrupulous BP officials decided to ignore safety issues and begin deepwater rigging for oil after keeping information from the captain. The result was catastrophic. After the rigging pipe exploded, spewing oil, water and mud, 11 crewmen died in the unrelenting blaze and the rest fought a courageous battle for survival. The flames could not be brought into control and remained ablaze for 87 days. Almost all the marine life in the area perished and the atmosphere turned asphyxiating.  The damage, experts say, has been irreparable. This fast-action film by director Peter Berg, encapsulates those tense moments with finesse as unrelenting as the blaz...

Cast:  Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies, Trent Garrett, Lara Pulver Rated:  4/10 Fifth in the series of wars between blood drinking vampires and ready to kill lycans (werewolves), this one has the maximum weak links. The premise is wafer thin. Lycans on the hunt of a hybrid pure blood who has the deadly combo of lycan-vampire blood running in her blue veins, daughter of the legendary vampire warrior mother Selene (Kate Beckinsale) who has been the central character of all the Underworlds thus far. Now this daughter is a shadowy figure who visits the screen only in the recesses of her mother’s mind, so barely makes an impact or a statement even though she is the reason why the fight is on. Then there is this inevitable war between the vampires and the lycans that had to be there to make any kind of Underworld story. However, this must-war, if you can call it so, comes in fits and starts and is poorly executed, falling as it does into a messy blood and gor...

Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh Cast :  Arjun Rampal, Vidya Balan, Naisha Khanna, Jugal Hansraj Rated:  5/10 Kahaani 2... is not a patch on Kahaani — in any which way, except for Vidya Balan. She is as brilliant and as solid as ever, this time as Durga Rani Singh. From playing a pregnant woman in search of her missing husband in Kahaani, to the complicated plain Jane on a quest to save a child abuse victim in this one, she leaves no frame empty, emoting a range that seldom sits comfortably on one person. Yes, she is the central character as she is meant to be. And yes, she does justice to this pride of place given to her in most of her movies, be it The Dirty Picture, Hamari Adhuri Kahani or Kahaani 2. But even she fails to enrich Kahaani 2 simply because the all round predictability of this Sujoy Ghosh thriller kills it quite summarily. Kahaani was a treat, what with the suspense killing the audience instead of the film, till the every end and then climaxing into a hi...

Moana Cast voiceovers : Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement Rated:  8/10 There is a reason why this absolutely lovable animation film from Disney is the movie of the week despite Kahaani 2 being propelled as the Friday showstopper. That’s because while Durga Rani Singh is on a quest that is linear, Moana is on a journey full of colourful myths, deep sea voyager thrills and characters that endear you forever. Last but not least, Moana is the most compelling story by Disney in a while, a story that does not get lost or cowed down by all that picture perfect colour, landscaping and animation. Based around a Polynesian myth of the great ancient seafarer race, a bumbly but well-meaning demigod and a pesky princess chosen to deliver the stolen heart of Te Feti to Goddess Nature burning in angst across the deep blue and stormy ocean, Moana is a treat to be with — at all levels. It has verve, vivacity, charm and chemistry, all in equ...