HEROINE

Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Divya Dutta
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Genre: Drama

“What success brings to you; it takes lot more in return from you” these lines from Helen (playing a veteran actress) sums up what Heroine is all about. Madhur Bhandarkar has always been associated with a certain brand of cinema – realistic, contemporary, women centric, hard hitting... This time he brings story of a Bollywood Diva, her quest for stardom, her struggle with failure, her dilemma between success and happiness...

Mahi Arora (Kareena Kapoor) is a leading actress of Hindi cinema. She is glamorous, successful, chased by media, seeked by big banners and big producers. She is in love with Aryan (Arjun Rampal), a star actor. But things don’t quite work out between them which leads to Mahi getting in mental depression and ending up ruining her career. At this juncture, she meets Pallavi (Divya Dutta) who’s a sharp PR professional. With the new resolve and the help of image makeover, Mahi gets back her position. With success also comes love in the form of Angad (Randeep Hooda) the vice captain of Indian cricket team, who is charmed by the beauty of Mahi. But can she handle all the adulation and control the biggest danger to her success......herself!

The biggest problem with Heroine is that it gives you the feeling of déjà vu. Page 3 parties, rivalries among movie stars, sexual favors for getting advantage, homosexuality.....we have seen it all in Page 3, Fashion & Dirty Picture. After a while the sequences seem to repeat themselves. In fact the length of the movie could have been short by 25 min at least.

Kareena Kapoor tries very hard in what she declares as “role of her life”. She looks gorgeous as a Diva and vulnerable as a girl looking for true love. She gets it right at most places but her emotions become repetitive after a while because of the limitations of script. Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, Divya Dutta all pitch in decent performances. Music is not a big part of the movie but couple of songs are ok.

Madhur Bhandarkar seemed to have repeated himself in this movie which time and again provides flashbacks of his earlier work. He still shows his grip as a storyteller at times, but the problem is that he has nothing new to say.

I will rate Heroine, 2 out of 5. The movie might have left a better impression with a more novel script, better editing and had it released a decade ago.

Rating: 2/5

BARFI

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Ileana D'Cruz

Genre: Slice of Life

Director: Anurag Basu

What do you expect from a movie when the main protagonist is Deaf and mute; One of the leading ladies is autistic. The most likely answers could be: serious, preachy, boring... Well 'Barfi' defies the stereotype. In fact it is funny, breezy, full of life and thoroughly entertaining.

The story is set in the beautiful Darjeeling & authentic Calcutta of 1970's. It is the story of 'Barfi' (Ranbir) a young man from Darjeeling who can't speak or hear from birth. He stays with his father who’s Car driver. He knows no limits when it comes to living the life to fullest. He meets Shruti (Ileana) on her trip to the town. Shruti, an uptown girl brought up in a conventional Bengali family, completely falls for the charm of Barfi. He makes her smile, dance and brings out the person that she always wanted to be like. But can she marry someone who won't be able to provide good things of life she's been used to…? And then there's Jhilmil (Priyanka), the autistic girl, who's been childhood friend of Barfi. She likes the way Barfi takes care of her and won't like to share his attention with anyone. What does Barfi wants and how the lives of these beautiful people move through decades of time and places, is how the rest of story unfolds.. And amidst all this there's also an unresolved mystery.

Barfi belongs to Ranbir Kapoor. He's the heart, soul and voice (yes you read it right) of the movie. He says so much with his eyes and body language that you literally forget that his character is supposed to be silent... Absolutely unfair! He's undoubtedly the most talented actor of this generation. If he was brilliant in Rockstar, then Barfi is a notch higher. He is going to sweep most awards along with millions of hearts..

Ileana as a love interest of Ranbir is wonderful. She looks beautiful as Bengali girl and plays the complex role with ease. But the surprise package of the movie is Priyanka in the role of autistic girl. She simply charms you with the subtle innocence of her character. Her scenes with Ranbir are one of the high points of the movie. Rest of the cast is competent and pitch in good performances.

Music is the essence of Barfi and changes moods along with the movie. The songs along with the background music are soothing and stay with you even after you leave the show. Cinematography of Ravi Sharma also deserves the mention. The portray of the era of 70’s is captured in a very natural and artistic way.

Anurag Basu as a Director is terrific. Barfi is surely his best work till date. He brings out the nuances of all characters to the fore. The portray of Darjeeling and Kolkata of 70's is eye catching. Screenplay is just right with the very interesting use of Brands (Murphy Radio, Avon Cycle, Goodriche Tea etc) to depict various times. On the flip side, the narration drags a little bit towards the end of the movie. 

'Barfi' is among the best movies of the year. I will go with 4 out of 5 stars for this movie. Watch it if you have got a heart. If you think you haven't got one, do watch it for you might discover it..!

Rating: 4/5

RAAZ 3

How far can you go to achieve your desires... Raaz 3 is third in the series of movies with same name from Bhatt camp. Much like the 2^nd part, it is not a sequel but represents the same genre – horror. It is always a strange feeling when you enter to watch a horror movie. For a movie of other genres (Romance/ Comedy etc...) the idea is to have fun and relaxation. But a horror movie is worth watching only if it scares, disturbs, chills your spines... So I also paid money to get scared. Let’s find out if it was worth it..

Shanaya (Bipasha Basu) is an established Bollywood actress who has passed her prime. She is being challenged by a new comer Sanjana (Esha Gupta) who seem to taking away her position in the industry. When faith in god shakes, evil strikes door of Shanaya. She takes help of “black magic” to destroy the stardom of Sanjana with the help of Aditya (Emraan Hashmi). Aditya is a successful movie director and is in love with Shanaya. During this while, Aditya gets attracted to the vulnerability and innocence of Sanjana and wants to save her. But is it too late now... what follows is a fight between good and the evil for the struggle of survival. But there can only be one winner!

Bipasha plays the role of ageing star who can go to any extend to protect her status. Interestingly, she finds herself in the similar situation in the real life too. She goes all out for this character. She screams, seduces, sheds clothes to make herself look desperate for success. This is one of her better performances of late. Esha Gupta is shown to be a new actress in the movie and that’s how she acts. In few emotional scenes, she looks terrified and brings out the element of terror. But overall her performance is inconsistent. Emraan is decent in a role, which he seemed to have played before.

Raaz 3 is directed by “Vikram Bhatt” who has been a master of making horror movies. He does bring out the terror especially in the first half. 3D technology makes few scenes look more real and helps to scare the audience more. Special effects are above average for a Hindi movie and are used intelligently. Few of the scenes are being created with imagination and gives a new experience to the audience. The length of movie looks little drag in the second half and also it is notch lower in terms of “horror quotient” than 1^st half. Music is below average.

I will rate Vikram Bhatt’s  Raaz 3 -  2.5 out of 5. It manages to scare the audience at places but the overall screenplay is a little inconsistent. Watch it if you like watching “horror” movies and are fan of Bipasha Basu.

Rating: 2.5/5