Singham again is a collosal misfire of a movie. Rohit shetty has sucked out every ounce of energy from singham character of part 1 so much so that he has probably ended all chances of making singham 4. RS could have made just any other cop movie using the Ramayana angle and it would have been okay as he could have freshly developed the lead character. But Bajirao singham is a character who gets angry, shouts, thrashes people and infact his punch line is ata majhi satakli. When you pick this character to play lord ram who is a calm and composed character you are actually killing your original character and a franchise.
So we have a bored ajay devgan sleep walking through the movie to show he is very calm and composed, speaks in low tones, makes everyone fall on his feet and has everyone speaking about him in superlatives even when he is not on screen..All the above misfires of killing the essence of Singham can be forgiven if the movie was atleast gripping which sadly it is not. There is not a single action setpiece which is memorable or a single punchline or dialogue you will remember. There is some lame attempt to get some chuckles by ranveer. And then there is also a parallel track which goes along the movie to tell you what character from ramayana the actor is playing in singham world..they couldn’t find any equivalent for Dipika though. Arjun Kapoor entry scene is done very well and there is one tiger Shroff setpiece on an ancient kerala art that’s shot well. But apart from that we have a movie which neither does justice to ramayana nor to Singham. Arjun Kapoor is only character written with some sincerity and he is better than the rest. It’s actually funny to think that a movie with half of bollywood is outshone by Arjun Kapoor
Shetty might have made poor movies before but he rarely made a dishonest movie , he made movies he believed in even if they didn’t work.he adapted some old classics but always got his own touch. This one though is quite a dishonest attempt from him. He probably thought this is easiest way to get a hit. Sadly the movie didn’t work in box office too but even there I think getting to 250 crs is a bit too much for this movie.
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**Some Spoilers**
Maharaja works big time. The unique narrative structure keeps you wondering whats going on. one is required to pay a lot of attention in first half but it blends seamlessly in the second half. A lot of the structure as well as some scenes are purely for WOW factor but at the end of the day it is very satisfying to watch a movie which doesn’t spoon feed you.
The movie is very brutal and not an easy watch and the final reveal makes you squirm. Yes it does remind you of Iratta but this is far more commercial and also better cinema. VS is very good a usual specially found him amazing in that interval block fight scene where he portrays mixed emotions of anger and sadness. He is also great in the police station scene when he narrates the events one final time with Nallasivam overhearing. AK has a meaty role am sure someone native would have done better in that role. But he was quite effective in the climax. I do think many of the events were contrived and forced (Like VS coming to AK house at same time police comes etc.). But once the movie ended i felt i have seen something very good. I do think this movie will be spoken about in coming years and not just due to the end but also due to how it was structured.
I can only pray that Akshay Kumar doesnt remake it.
Before VS finds Nallasivam by the bulge on his back, he checks out every police back by some way in police station. You look back and he has done that. It is subtlely shown mostly and very overtly once when a policeman asks him why r u seeing me undressing. The movie actually demands a second view to spot such gems
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After Premalu, Manjummel Boys is another Malayalam Movie where superb writing towers over a simple story. This one is a survival thriller as much as it is a movie about friends and friendship. Based on a real life incident which happened in Guna caves in 2006, the movie uses the backdrop of Guna caves and the surrounding Kodaikanal and creates some beautiful imagery with some superb cinematography.
The casting is fantastic, Soubin shines in a role which uses his understated style of acting very well. We know how the movie will end but it is to directors and writers credit that we still cheer for the characters in the end. I couldnt help thinking about Mission Raniganj during this movie , a movie which has the same kind of story and how run of the mill and unimaginative it appears in front of MB. I hadnt minded Raniganj then to be honest but seeing MB you see what a lame attempt it was.
Lastly a word on the music. The movie smartly uses the song from Guna (the reason the caves were called Guna caves) – Kanmani Anbodhu Kadhalan. The lyrics of the original song was meant to convey the spiritual and holy nature of love and the diretcor imaginatively uses it to convey the spirutual nature of love in friendship.
A must watch, Highly recommended
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saw poor things on hotstar. A very imaginative black comedy of a scientist who brings back a dead body back to life using an infants brain…
it is alternatively weird and brilliant…the imagination is very good and Emma stone is sure of an Oscar..Ruffalo and dafoe also very good specially the former is a hoot..lot of graphic nudity though..worth a watch just because it is very original content and nothing you have seen before compares to it. But not a movie everyone will necessarily like.
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I think Animal is a very intriguing movie. I completely agree it has some excesses and over indulgent scenes but at the core it is quite riveting. I can probably list down the scenes which were like WTF but it is equally engrossing in same measure. There is some element of God Father, some element of some other english movies etc but it is a very original piece of work as Vanga probably adapts it quite well..
Some of scenes are outstanding like the party scene, the final scene betwee the two,the scene between rashmika and Ranbir after his infidelity, the scene where he goes to punjab and even the naked walk was in some way understandable for that character. Equaly there are very overindulgent scenes like some of the ealry sex talk and alpha stuff, some underwear talk, Rashmika stripping down and even the action scene leading to interval is not very well thought of with his cousins singing in background while he gets injured etc. But whichever you view the movie bad or good, it is something one cant ignore. Its not like other hits of the year which may not be remembered but this one i feel will be discussed whether rightly or wrongly. There is no doubt that Ranbir was very good in an author backed role, but Rashmika i thought was very good in holding her own in some very important scenes
Overall its hard to know what Vanga meant to convey. One can say he intended to deliberately shock the audience with this audacious attempt or maybe he just lost it going overboard in those scenes. Either ways i think Vanga is an important director and i will surely be checking what he does next. Also on thing i will say is that such kind of movies dont happen even in Telugu cinema so this is not a case like Salaar where a director is pushing his south style here. The film making is very polished here and the messaging traverses the fine line of being genius or being completely crazy. One will view the movie depending how you perceive this line to be and i dont think any opinion is wrong on this movie.
I will rewatch this again atleast the parts i loved and thats a good 2 hours of the movie.
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