Badhaai Do, Review: No blessing for this messing
Watching Badhaai Do, an old thought re-surfaced. I used to wonder what would happen if, by some quirk of circumstance, a homosexual and a lesbian ended-up marrying each other. Looks like some antenna picked-up this concept and turned it into a lengthy film. Unfortunately, the writers and the director are unable to decide whether they should inject humour or treat it as a tear-jerker. They lean towards the latter, but fail on the mise en sc&egra...
Jai Mummy Di, Review: Absence of substance
Two middle-aged women hate each other for reasons unknown to their spouses and their children. One of them as two sons and the other has a daughter. In a modern day, pretentious comic re-working of Romeo and Juliet, the elder son of one of them and the daughter of the other are madly in love with each other, a fact that they have kept secret from their parents. Jai Mummy Di is for audiences who find this premise and its manifestations really funny, a...
Laila Majnu, Review: Crazy lovers in serene Kashmir
Transposed from ancient Arabia to modern Kashmir, the tale of doomed lovers Laila and Majnu is retold by brothers Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali. Setting it in scenic, serene, Kashmir was probably the only thing that they got right, for in almost all the other departments they have failed to score. Told at a pace that varies from the frenetic to the crawling, the film fails to strike a chord with the audience, a cardinal mistake that seals its fat...
Hichki, Review: Hitch key
Protagonist Rani Mukerji plays a spunky woman with Tourette Syndrome*, who sets her mind on teaching as a profession. Rather ambitious, considering she bursts into tics, making funny, bark-like noises every 30 seconds or so. It is inspired by the life of American Brad Cohen, probably the most famous person with Tourette Syndrome. With no real stars, this come-back vehicle of actress Rani Mukerji, who took a break for about four years, post marriage to the Yash Raj Fi...
Parched, Review by Siraj Syed: Rani & Lajjo & Bijli & Thelma & Louise’s Rihaee
Get this right. Parched is not a remake. It is a nod to the soul of the 1988 film, Rihaee (Liberation, directed by Aruna Rajé), and a tribute to one of the most discussed climaxes in cinematic history: Hollywood’s Thelma and Louise, a 1991 milestone by Ridley Scott. One film old director Leena Yadav sets her tale in Rajasthan, enlists a youngish cast and a predominantly foreign cr...