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 : Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Rajit Kapur, Shishir Sharma, Jaideep Ahlawat, Ashwath Bhatt, Amruta Khanvilkar, Soni Razdan Rated : 8/10 Meghna Gulzar makes a wholesome comeback with this no-nonsense gritty spy thriller which dotes on its Spartan surrounds, a virtually true tag and an absolutely real-time performance put in by Alia Bhatt. Spy thrillers always have a pull all their own, but this one is vibrantly resonant with real-time happenings that we all know about as part of our contemporary history. Set in the 1971 Bangladesh’s war of independence and adapted from Lt Commander (Retd) Harinder S Sikka’s novel Calling Sehmat, Alia (Sehmat) is sent in as a Kashmiri Muslim-Sikh girl with a family legacy for spying in Pakistan to further the cause of Indian Intelligence. It is refreshing to see an Indian Muslim from the Kashmir Valley talking of the right vatan in right earnestness, that too convincingly through a brief but happening role played out by Rajit Kapoor. But...