Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

Sanju *ing: Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Dia Mirza, Vicky Kaushal, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Jim Sarbh Rated: 7/10 In the deft hands of Rajkumar Hirani, films, characters and situations mostly flower into fun, laughter, poignance and often introspection.   Sanju , a Hirani version of a Sanjay Dutt biography, almost comes into that rarified zone of cinematic brilliance, but for a few flaws. Had it not been coy in places, trying not to depict events and Dutt’s dalliances which have been public knowledge, and had Hirani stuck to a true-life-bang-on story instead of hiding behind the tag of cinematic liberties, this one would have been a much more impactful and happening film by a director who knows his actor through and through, both at personal and professional levels. Having said that, what comes your way in Bollywood’s bad boy story — which incidentally is still evolving in his real life — is eventful and interesting if not entirely captivating. The...

Cast  : Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sayani Gupta, Evelyn Sharma, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Aru Krishansh Verma, Paras Arora Rated : 7/10 Jab Harry Met Sejal,  he had become a veteran of romance — been there, done that in much peppier love stories down the years since  Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge  made him the king of romance in 1995. So, somewhat aged for the emotion, in love with a bubbly young girl, teaching her the mores of attraction in a veteran kind of way and yet getting swayed by her impromptu, completely untailored attraction will have the critics ready with their stones. And yes, there is also this matter of a lot of the annoying facial hair that Shah Rukh Kahn (SRK) has been sporting to look his age which is 50 plus I am told? But alongside come a host of vintage mannerisms which have SRK written all over them — vintage SRK, not over the top SRK mind you — and that’s what Harry and this movie by gifted director Imtiaz Ali is all about. Yes, y...

Starring:  Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Farhan Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab Rated:  6/10 Zoya Akhtar is fast becoming the travel specialist of Bollywood — at least on screen — someone like Yash Chopra though in a modern, somewhat snappish romantic mould. Since the days of Zindagi  Na Milegi Dobara , she has seasoned her art of making her movies travel the world and Dil Dhadakne Do is cast on the ethereal waters of Mediterranean Greece. Like the Chopras, this one too is picture perfect, a visual treat and an enhanced show of chic not just in relationships but in clothes, personality propulsion and in treating the characters and their stories in the rarified atmosphere of envied richness. In  Zindagi...  that worked wonders — the road trip through Spain, the untapped locales, the modernisms in the characters, the tomatino festival, the bullfights, the colour, the wine and the romance of Spain. In  Di...