STUDENT of the YEAR

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhat, Rishi Kapoor
Genre: High School drama
Director: Karan Johar

Karan Johar tries to come out of his comfort zone and brings a high school drama with complete new comers. Although few familiar suspects remain - mushy romance, party songs, homosexual humor, love between friends... It is a story of friendship in the background of the life changing competition. It is about making choices at that tender age between friendship and love. So would you defeat your best friend to win the ultimate prize..!

Rohan Nanda (Varun Dhawan) is a son of business tycoon. He is the most popular brat of St Taresa High School at Dehradun. Shanaya Singhania (Alia Bhat) is a rich, happy go lucky girl who also happens to be a possessive girl friend of Rohan. But Rohan isn't too grateful of her as he enjoys the attention of other hot girls in the school. Here comes the new comer, Abhimanyu Singh (Sidharth Malhotra). He is dashing, ambitious, state level champion in sports and seems to be the only match to Rohan in the school. After initial hiccups, Abhi and Rohan become friends and life seems like a never ending party. But things are about to change as the competition for the most coveted 'Student of the Year' starts. It is an award given to the student par excellence in studies, IQ, dance & sports. As  Abhi starts liking Shanaya, things get even worse. So who wins in the end and more importantly at what cost, is how the rest of the story unfolds..

All three leading protagonists are making their debut with SOTY. Rohan looks most natural of all in front of the camera and handles different emotions with ease. Sidharth is decent in a restrained portray of Abhi but need to add more emotions. Alia Bhatt looks the youngest of them all and lends teenager charm to her character. Rishi Kapoor in the role of Dean and Ronit Roy as coach are good. Music is an integral part of the movie. There is a clever usage of hit songs of yesteryears. Overall music is above average. The movie has its light moments which keep the humor going. 

One thing you can't help but notice that except Alia, most of other actors look little too big to be in high school. The mannerism of the "teenage" students resembles more to that of fresh graduates. Surely there was more to explore the world of teenage student, their insecurities, different emotions...which could have been captured. Some sequences seem to be inspired from "Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar" and the narrative is more on the lines of "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na". 

I will rate Student of the Year, 2.5 out of 5 stars. It is a movie which promises more but delivers just short of it. Watch it if you like the Karan Johar brand of freindship & love....I mean 'Ishq wala Love'!!

Rating - 2.5/5  

ENGLISH VINGLISH

Cast: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Priya Anand

Director: Gauri Shinde

Genre: Comic/ Family Drama

Sridevi returns to the mainstream cinema after a long gap. She is being away from action for so long that she has forgotten to even speak.........English! But one thing that she hasn’t forgotten is acting and that’s what is on show in full glare in this week’s release English Vinglish.

Shashi Godbole(Sridevi) is a typical Indian housewife. She cleans the house, readies children for school, keeps husband in good humour and all this at the cost of neglecting her own self. The only possession she has is cooking, and that doesn’t seem to be enough for getting respect around her home. She is being ridiculed repeatedly for her inability to speak and understand English. Life gives her a chance to learn English when she visits her elder sister at New York. But she has only 4 weeks to turn her fortunes around. So can Shashi manage to get her respect back by learning English while keeping up with the household work.... You need to find out!

The movie brings about the sensibilities and pain of middle class housewife in an effective manner. It is not a mad comedy but there is subtle humour in the proceedings as Shashi tries to make peace with the language she isn’t accustomed to. The classroom proceedings and the interactions between ‘students’ of different cultures are amusing.

Sridevi is definitely BACK. She gets the nuances of the characters just right. She plays a role closer to her age (mother of two kids) and looks apart as vulnerable Shashi, torn between family responsibility and search for self respect. Her moments with kids are adorable and her attempt to speak English brings smile on your face. Special mention for new kid artist Shivansh, who plays Shashi’s son. He pitches in a lovable act. Amitabh Bachchan in a special appearance steals the show. Adil Hussain as an ignorant husband is impressive. Rest of the support cast is competent.

Gauri Shinde as director gets it right. She brings about the sensibility and emotions of a mother and wife in an Indian household. Music is not the high point of the movie and is strictly ok.

I rate ‘English Vinglish’, 3 out of 5 stars. It is not a breakthrough cinema but it is sincere, desi at heart and brings smile at your face.

Rating: 3/5 

OMG Oh My God!

Cast : Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Mithun Chakravorty

Director: Umesh Shukla

Genre: Comic/Social Drama

OMG - Oh My God! is based on the Hindi play "Kishen Vs Kanhaiya". It's an attempt to discuss the most relevant issue in Indian society - the importance of religion, its impact and whether we need it at all. So what happens when you put God under scrutiny to defend itself.....let's find out!

Kanji Lalji Mehta (Paresh Rawal) is a Gujrati businessman who trades in antiques made of the Gods of different religion. He is an atheist to the core, for whom the only importance of God is that it helps him sell his antiques at astronomical prices. He mocks everyone who believes in God and seems to be doing well in life...... until a natural calamity results him losing his business and money. Once insurance company shows him the door, there is only one person he can sue for his loss - GOD!

Now starts a series of court drama as Kanji Mehta files case against God for his losses. In the meanwhile, Krishna Vasudev (Akshay Kumar) enters his life as new owner of his house. He becomes his philosopher and well wisher. But the big question remains - whether an atheist find God and recover what he has lost...

Paresh Rawal is terrific in role of a fierce Gujrati trader who won't even spare God to get his claim. He brings the house down with his comic one liners and at the same time keeps the story topical while bringing forth the custom of blind faith in different religious institutes. His take on the religion while debating in the court is highlight of the movie and makes you sit and take note of the present belief system in our society. Akshay Kumar looks charming in the role of Lord Krishna. He gives a restrained and competent performance. In terms of content this is Akshay's best movie in last few years.

Talking of content, it is the USP of the movie. It brings focus on the whole concept of faith and dares to question the very institution of religious believes in the context of goodwill of society. Screenplay is well paced, tight and remains true to the topic. Director Umesh Shukla seems to know his craft. He understands and delivers the subject very well. Supporting cast of Mithun, Govind Namdev and Ashvini Yardi pitch in good performances. "Govinda" song featuring Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhu Deva is entertaining and is used intelligently as part of the narration.

Movie like OMG should be given tax free status in India. I would rate OMG, 4 out of 5 stars. It is topical, relevant, entertaining. Take your family, especially parents to watch this movie.

Rating: 4/5