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...

*ing : Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar, Shikha Talsania, Sumeet Vyas Rated : 8/10 This bold and beautiful womance is the first refreshing foray of Bollywood into real-time female bonding, friendships and relationships. The fact that it does so without being coy, adds to the sheen of this breezy film where everyday life of four youthful women unfolds with fun and laughter. The film comes with an adult tag and despite that there are a lots of beeps amid conversations which make it an interesting first in many ways. The sex talk flows without veneers and is still never over the top but reality stung. Many would identify, though still not acknowledge, that in their growing years they did talk similar with pals, whatever tier of cities they may have come from. Yes, there may not have been swish girlie therapy holidays at the end of it, like the Phuket binge the four friends have after Kalinidi (Kareena Kapoor Khan) breaks her very Punjabi wedding almost at t...

*ing: Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte, Sudhir Pandey, Maya Alagh, Amitabh Bachchan Rated: 7/10 It is a difficult and uncomfortable subject to make a film on, that too a full length feature, and even if you are above the stigma situation escorting the good old pad stuck in the nether part of a woman’s anatomy, it still makes you a bit shifty to see it on the big, bold screen. So, the film on a sanitary napkin maker is not an everyday kind of film to make and in that context, Akshay Kumar’s latest in issue-raising cinema is laudable. So, is the real link to the story which encases the extraordinary journey of Arunachalam Muruganantham who was shunned by one and all — even his wife — for his obsession to make an affordable and hygienic sanitary napkin (and a sanitary napkin making machine) for primarily rural women. Akshay, who obviously plays Muruganantham, is brilliant and the focal point of a film more on the man than his obsession. Emerging unscathed from the ...