Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

This film runs only on three things: Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan & Vidya Balan. It’s only her false modesty in this shamelessly dirty film that Balan calls it “entertainment, entertainment and enterinment.” And that’s the only subtlety too which this otherwise blatantly audacious film and its heroine can afford. The promos of The Dirty Picture would lead you to think it’s a pure and simple boobs trap that Milind Luthra is luring you into. But then, you forget, if it is Silk Smitha and her boobs he or anyone else is hawking, they will sell and sell like hotcakes. And if you really did not know that it is Vidya Balan who is all Silk, the experience will, well, leave you gaping with gender no bar! The Dirty Picture lives up to its carefully constructed reputation of being shamelessly, inordinately, completely and audaciously dirty. As soon as Vidya Balan lowers her cleavage to a close-up on the big screen, you know there is no scope here for the proverbial fig ...

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Aziz Ansari At: PVR & others Rated: 6/10 A bomb strapped to the pizza boy for a forced bank robbery which will fund the killing of a gay man’s father is dramatic enough to get interested in.  30 Minutes Or Less  scores with the pace it keeps in the entire movie dotted with car chases, romantic tangle, humour between friends and enemies, robberies, gun chases and what not. Just in case you get the feel it is a complicated no-win situation, do walk in for the racy thriller which gets you interested slowly but steadily. Jess Eisenberg ( Social Network fame ) does well to hold on to the role but the real laughs comes from his Hispanic friend played beautifully by Aziz Ansari. Source: Sunday Pioneer, 9 October, 2011

RASCALS Starring: Sanjay Dutt,Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal, Kangana Ranaut At: PVR & others Rated: 3/10 David Dhawan needs a spanking for this one. Either the man you loved to love as a master of buffoonery has lost it with age or there is something drastically wrong with the film’s script. Rascals  comes across as a strong mixture of both these issues. Dhawan’s legendary punchlines are not happening in this one, and those which have been passed on as ones are crippling in their effect. The film irritates you not because it is loud. All David Dhawan movies are supposed to be loud. It is excruciating because it is loud without humour, not a modicum of it. You miss Govinda, and even more so because you see Ajay Devgn trying so hard to do a Govinda act, even trying to build up some kind of a funny sequence on his  Golmaal  pedigree. He fails and fails drastically, thanks to the seemingly yeomen disinterest of Dhawan in this film. And this despite the fact that i...

REAL STEEL Starring: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo At: PVR & others Rated: 8/10 Not one for machines, even less for robots. But I guess there is a little bit of steel in all of us. Hence, this one with all its clanking, iron and mechanics holds you in complete wonderment so well handled and fleshed out are the non-human beings who dominate the screen. The thing about this robot-action-in-the-ring movie is that it is a fantastic blend of human emotions and all that jazz around the steel. Even as you fear that  Real Steel  will plunge into the uncomfortable childhood of a motherless child who takes the road with his estranged and totally insensitive father, you are ushered into the rare world of a normal bonding in the abnormal confines of uncomfortable relationships, dysfunctional by circumstances yet intense by coincidence. No, there are no drinking binges by a loser in Hugh Jackman and nor is there depressing angst in the child. Together, they s...

Starring: Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill, Randeep Hooda At: PVR & others Rated: 6/10 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Once the purists, and along with them Meena Kumari, Guru Dutt and Rehman stop turning in their graves over the sheer bastardisation of the stunning classic, you surprisingly not only settle down to enjoy this modern version but also get involved in the proceedings. Director Tigmanshu Dhulia, who insists he is not doing a  Saheb, Biwi aur Ghulam  but just taking ou...

Starring: Dev Anand, Jackie Shroff, Riya Sen, others At: PVR & others Rated: 4/10 What can you say about any mount by Dev Anand, the man who refuses to let go of what he calls life? Playing hero at 88, it is only natural that he will gasp at every dialogue and catch a breath after every walk. And it does not really matter at his age that he has forgotten to dress up his heroines who mostly strut the big screen in their UGs and show every single foundation line in their pancake make-up all over their bare bodies. But then this is Dev Anand and he has confessed he will not stop making movies even on his deathbed, take them or leave them. All one can say is  life ke is spirit ko salaam . For those less indulgent, stay away from this extremely bad film. Source: Sunday Pioneer, October 2, 2011

Starring: John Abraham, Genelia Dsouza, Raj Babbar, Mohnish Bahl, others At: PVR & others Rated: 6.5/10 The brawn show by John Abraham is the actual hero of this rather violent film about taut muscles, drug cartels, an IPS officer and his band of undercover agents and a villain who strikes like a cobra in vengeance. One would’ve thought that in this season of Dussehra and Diwali, one would talk about good winning over evil. But here, somehow, and even though the villain meets his end by the end of it all, he manages to fulfill his promise of doing bad things to good people. Too many good men die in this fight for the viewer to find comfort in the ultimate killing of the bad guy. But over and above this,  Force  has a momentum that emanates appropriately over the tide of violence which comes with a no-nonsense approach. That’s the reason why you cringe at all those murders. But this one is all about John less and his rippling body more. Almost always in a  g...

Abduction Staring: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins & Alfred Molina At: PVR & others Rated: 6/10 If you can get over the constant suspicion that Jacob is calling out for Bella and that Taylor Lautner is not really in the Twilight series this time, this one is a heady thriller. Innovative in concept and pacey enough to go around spooky men from CIA and the Russian bad guys on hunt for a very special boy, Abduction is one of those Hollywood stories that come and get you every once in a while. Lautner, as the boy, who finds himself in the rigmarole of this rather violent hunt, thanks to his father’s risky job profile, does well to keep his head in a fight that spews all over him rather unexpectedly — killing his parents on his first date, running around unknown faces with no one to trust, and knowing nothing much about his biological parents, this one catches you unawares. Source: Sunday Pioneer, 25 September, 2011

Zookeeper Staring: Taylor Kevin James, Rosario Dawson & Leslie Bibb At: PVR & others Rated: 5/10 The last time I liked this much of animal talking was when Eddie Murphy got the vet drug which made him talk to his pets. Zookeeper, in that context, is a copycat but with some differences. Dumped by his girlfriend who found too much zoo talk weighing down her glamour quotient, Kevin James all but gives up on life other than the one existing in the cages. But then, the girl returns to lure him away and the animal kingdom will not have that. Talking to Kevin and suggesting a whole lot of get-your-girl-back options without leaving them, is what the movie is all about. Sadly, however, the fun element falls short on expectations and the funny bone is tickled only now and then. Wish this potential frolic was hyped instead of being trimmed. On the whole though, a watchable souffle with some laughter thrown in. Source: Sunday Pioneer, 25 September, 2011

Mausam Staring: Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Supriya Pathak At: PVR & others Rated: 6/10 You wouldn’t expect anything but an extremely righteous movie from the stock of a seasoned cinematist like Pankaj Kapoor and Mausam is nothing but that — politically impeccable, picture perfect, dignified in love, controlled in war and quite maturely balanced between history and romance, old world charm and modern mores, not to mention poised in the midst of a tragedy of errors, missed opportunities, difficult circumstances and conniving persons. Spanning the flashpoints of history over 13 years, across the globe, Kapoor pitches for a balance that can only come from experience — a quiet romance amid a raging war, a parallel cinema on a box office cabinet. It all starts with flashpoint Kashmir where 1989 is spewing blood and venom. Kapoor picks a Kashmiri Muslim being targeted for saving a Kashmiri pundit and that sets the tone for the political correctnes...