Meenakshi Rao's Bollywood and Hollywood movie reviews

Starring: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Prakash Raj, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna                                                        Picture source: Wikipedia   I am tempted to pull out my review of the original Dabangg and paste it here, so similar are the two films from Arbaaz Khan’s stable. Same story, same actors, same references and the same ebullient Salluism. Only Zandu balm has been replaced by Faavicol and Kareena Kapoor Khan has given a pelvic push to Malaika Arora Khan. Having said this, there might have been some correctives in this one. Sonakshi, for one, is looking gorgeous and also slim in her chiffons. But this is not about anyone, anyone other than Salman Khan and the camera unabashedly worships his presence here singularly with shirt, without shirt, with muscles, without  pause, with chutzpah and without...

Picture source: Wikipedia Starring: Akshay Kumar, Asin, Raj Babbar, Mithun Chakraborty, Himesh Reshammiya Rating 4/10 Ikattar, bahattar, teehatar, chauhatter — yes, one does go on counting — rather desperately — how many more minutes he or she has to sit through this brainless blunder from the Akshay stable. Considering Khiladi has always been a big player in this genre, one was really bewildered to see how astray Akshay and his purported charisma had gone in 786, the seventh in the series.  Besides Akshay looking flabby and disinterested in the entire proceedings is only one of the many reasons this one doesn’t click. An over the top attempt to cash in on the public’s penchant to go in for kitsch with a promise of humour, Khiladi 786 fails to keep you there for most part of the movie.  There is no storyline of any worth, there is no sizzling chemistry between Akshay and Asin — the latter going for a strange man who is always behind bars for...

Starring: Gerrard Butler, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid At: DT Cinema & others Rated: 5/10 Gerard Butler’s golden locks, Irish accent and muscular frame pulls you into this one much like the sex-starved soccer moms who attack him when their children are kicking the ball midfield and also knocking the coach down for sex in his own bed! But beyond the much too overt sexgressor in Katherine Zeta Jones who seeks sexual favours from this groovy coach in lieu of getting him a presenter’s job in ESPN, there are many more leading ladies doing a two-bit job — like a much-wasted Ema Thurman as a socialite wife of a money throwing hyper suspicious husband in Dennis Quaid.  These encounters make for a light comedy but not an entirely engaging one. The romance lies in Butler’s fixation for his ex-wife who shows neither vibes nor inclination to be with. Mildly interesting one this — but only if your heart beats for Butler. Source: The Pioneer, December 9, 2012

Picture source: Wikipedia Starring: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerjee, Kareena Kapoor Rated: 6.5/10 Aamir Khan was right about  Talaash . It is definitely not a thriller. But yes, as he insisted, it is quite a suspense! A slow, tugging suspense which defies the straitjacket of a mystery movie which generally draws its flesh and blood from pace.  Writer-director Reema Kagti has bravely refused to speed up in this one, preferring instead to go with the tide of a super slow build-up, based on a detailed investigation, incidentally going nowhere in most part of the film.  So, it is to the credit of her strong storyline that till the very last, you are unable to fathom what’s going on. Cynics may say, ‘exactly! Really there’s nothing going on so there is nothing to fathom’! But that’s not the real picture here.  A lot goes on in  Talaash  but mostly in the pychological warfare that its characters, mainly its lead inspector Shekhawat, wage with themselves....

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Mackenzie Foy, Michael Sheen, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Nikki Reed, Jackson Hale, Kellan Lutz At: PVR & others Rated: 4.5/10 Well, the best thing about  Breaking Dawn Part II  is that the saga is over — over for good. That is, if Stephenie Meyer does not get compulsively greedy and gives in to a one last one from her in the  Twilight  series — the same story but from Edward Cullen’s point of view, not Bella’s, this time. The trailors looked good, the fire in Bella’s eyes seemed to make up for the lack of colour in her personality otherwise; the expanse of snow-ridden heights were captivating — but all that was in the trailer. The movie is a disappointment on many counts. It fails to hold on to your interest as the romance between Bella and Edward is a pale shadow of its former self. Even the antics that could have livened up the newborn vampire in Bella are merely customary. Their daughter lo...

Starrimg: Irrfan Khan, Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussain, Gerard Depardieu Ang Lee’s  Life of Pi  is a stunning masterpiece on many levels, an unusual story told in a manner defying known standards of imagination. First and foremost, it is an unprecedented visual treat, the likes of which will be rarest of rare in Hollywood’s future too. Second, though no less importantly, it stuns you with a compelling screenplay on a book that most bigwigs in Hollywood, including Lee himself, flicked aside saying it was a subject impossible to put on screen. It is an adventure story with so many thrilling twists and turns that the slowness of the proceedings does not even once makes its presence felt, not even when most of the film pans out on a boat with a boy and tiger in the middle of an ocean. And just when you settle down thinking it is an adventure fantasy, the filmmaker forces you to introspect on many a profound question. While he is doing so, he also gives you a new look ...

Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anushka Sharma At: PVR & others Rated: 7/10 It is an unreal romance, seemingly illogical, somewhat unreasonable and a tad regressive too. It is not top of the line Yash Chopra either. And considering that the crescendo wizard AR Rahman made the music, you can call it muted. Gulzar, too, has written much better lyrics than he does for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. So the obvious conclusion would be that this is an unusually flat one from the House of YRF. An aged swan song by the one and only king of romance Yash Chopra — a little bit of everything, yet not really anything. But wait. If you rush to conclusions, you will go absolutely wrong. For, the truth is that despite a varying degree of all the above hometruths put together,  Jab Tak Hai Jaan  is strangely gripping, a slow and steady winner that rings in old-world romance after a long gap — clean, intense, unpretentious and completely engaging despite the strange promises it makes to ...