Thugs Of Hindostan Review: Action, adventure and fantasy is a genre that you associate with Hollywood’s big-ticket movies. So to watch India’s answer to films like Pirates Of The Caribbean, at the onset, seemed like a novel experience. While Thugs Of Hindostan has the aspirations to be a big-budget entertainer, it can’t quite emulate the same thrills of a Johnny Depp swashbuckler. The film has the look and feel.of a top grade adventure film but the lacklustre writing and the tedious narrative dampens the whole experience.


The story begins in the late 1700s, where a conniving British officer named Clive deceives the honest king Mirza and dupes him off his family, life and kingdom. The young princess Zafira is the only one who escapes, along with the king’s trusted guard Khudabaksh, and many years later they form a gang of pirates who are basically a bunch of goodfellas. Their only mission is to get their kingdom free from Clive and his Company rule. Thugs Of Hindostan is based during the British rule in India, when the English used their trading position to dominate India’s princely states. But the fact that the heroes of this tale are pirates, doesn’t quite fit into the Indian context, given that Indians never gained notoriety as pirates. The Maratha navy under leaders like Kanhoji Angre did gain bandit status during the 1700s, but Thugs Of Hindostan (TOH) doesn’t quite look like it’s a story emerging from the coastal regions of the country. Historical inaccuracy aside, TOH is an adventure movie and you need cinematic liberty to setup a swashbuckling story. While the production design by Sumit Basu and cinematography by Manush Nandan are excellent, the predictable nature of the writing by writer / director Vijay Krishna Acharya doesn’t help the movie at all. You can guess every plot development and the fact that the movie doesn’t throw up a single good surprise or twist, just rocks the boat. The tiresome screenplay features scenes that are too prolonged and overtly dramatised, as a result the story hits choppy waters. What’s also funny is that the British officers speak in fluent Hindi, even when they're talking to each other.

Hey guys , Holy FaakS2 is already out . Check out the episodes. 

Episodes 1

Episodes 2

Episodes 3

Bharat Ane Nenu Story: Raised in London, Bharat is a typical youngster who's yet to figure out what to do in life after graduation when circumstances force him to become the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. New to the place and with no political knowledge, Bharat learns the ropes quickly and governs efficiently. However, while he endears himself to the masses, he makes enemies out of the political class, including his own party members. With the people within and outside his party gunning for him, can the young CM succeed in effecting change in the society?

Bharat Ane Nenu Review: Make no mistake, Bharat Ane Nenu isn't your usual political drama full of mind games and manipulation. The film revolves around a larger-than-life hero, a bad guy (several of them in fact), a love interest, and a bit of family drama to go along with it. The only difference here is that the hero also happens to be the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. In fairness to Koratala Siva, he has unabashedly declared that Bharat Ane Nenu is a fictional political drama and transports the viewers into his fictional political atmosphere, where one man tries to bring a change. 

After losing his mother at an early age, Bharat (Mahesh Babu) goes to London to stay with his uncle. He grows up there and like every other youngster, is clueless about what he's going to do after graduation, when he learns of his father's demise. The sudden death of his father, also the AP CM, leaves a political vacuum in the state. Sensing instability in the party and a risk of it breaking up into two factions, party chief Varadarajan (Prakash Raj) asks a reluctant Bharat to take over as CM of the state. Thrown into the job, Bharat uses the values his mother taught him — never to break a promise — in his governance. It's not long before he gains in popularity and new enemies as a result of it. With Bharat endearing himself to the masses, the corrupt and now threatened politicians work round the clock to oust him. But can they succeed?

Any comparisons to the real world political scenario would be futile. In Bharat's world, the house is not adjourned, and proceedings only come to a close when he takes his leave. Within minutes of taking charge, he imposes large traffic fines, and issues G.Os at will. He also goes to Rayalaseema and gets involved in a fist fight to show that he has the strength to back his words. 

Download Now

Baazaar Story: Rizwan Ahmed (Rohan Mehra) leaves Allahabad behind and with it, the small-town mentality, too. He moves to Mumbai, a city with soaring skyscrapers and dreams that fly even higher. His one wish is to work with his idol Shakun Kothari (Saif Ali Khan), but the greedy and manipulative world of money, power and the stock market draws Rizwan in, a little too fast.

Baazaar Review: A wily movie character once said, “Greed is good”. It’s a thought that sums up the very concept of stock markets pretty well. Millions of people around the world invest in shares with the ultimate aim of making a quick buck. Baazaar is a film based on the share market and it plays up the idea of morals over money, or vice versa, depending on which character from the film you root for. For audiences saturated with love stories and family sagas, the edgy thrills of a crime drama like Baazaar, can offer a whole new entertainment experience. One of the highlights of the film is Saif Ali Khan’s performance. The streak of grey in his hair is just as sexy as the grey shades of the role. Even though the film has a strong hangover of Michael Douglas’ Wall Street (1987), this thriller about money, money and more money does offer a rich blend of entertainment.

The first thing to note about Baazaar is the fact that it’s a slickly made film. It is based in Mumbai and it chronicles the world of stock brokers, power brokers, businessmen, industrialists and a host of rich and powerful people. The film’s production design by Shruti Gupte captures the opulence of the setting very well. The background score by John Stewart Eduri is in perfect sync with the thriller theme, too. Director Gauravv K Chawla manages to create a gripping atmosphere for most part of the runtime.

Download Now

Story: A young lawyer reopens the case of Dhananjoy's hanging and finds that the verdict raises many uncomfortable questions

Review: Despite its lengthy disclaimer, Dhananjoy makes it quite obvious that the director wants to gain fullest mileage from this particular controversy, especially after the publication of the book, Adalat Media Samaj Ebong Dhananjayer Fanshi by Debashish Sengupta, Probal Choudhury and Paramesh Goswami.

But let’s believe the disclaimer and consider it a film free from any real-life resemblances. Dhananjoy is dark, grim, verbose and long. The film opens with a lawyer, Kavya Sinha (Mimi), depicting one of the recorded versions of a crime to her senior, Shibraj Choudhury (Koushik Sen). Hema Parekh (Anusha Viswanathan) comes back from school to her flat. Her mother, Surabhi (Sudipta Chakraborty), steps out to a local temple. A security guard, Dhananjoy (Anirban Bhattacharya), goes to Parekh’s flat to make a phone call and leaves after a while. Surabhi comes back and finds her daughter’s lifeless and semi-naked body in the lounge. She holds Dhananjoy responsible, and by the end of the first half, we see him executed. Kavya and Shibraj take up the challenge to establish that Dhananjoy may not be guilty and Hema could be a victim of honour killing, largely making up the second half.

STORY: A group of four friends, who work in different professions, share a close bond from childhood. Ananta, a fashion photographer lives in a rented house. Things go awry when all four are forced to live together at Ananta’s rented home. Their lives are disrupted when their landlord catches them red-handed with his wife and forces them to vacate.

REVIEW: Director Ravi Kinagi’s Jio Pagla can be summed up easily enough: A madcap caper about four couples that drags on and on. Drag being the operative word here. The two-and-a-half-hour-long movie could easily have been 40 minutes shorter and audiences would have appreciated it all the more for it. The movie deals with the lives of four childhood friends, two of whom are forced to cross-dress in order to secure lodging for themselves in a city where most landlords are looking for married tenants.
The movie starts off as most movies in this genre do — with a set piece song and all the eight main characters dancing to the thumping beats of the title track. We learn that Ananta (Jisshu), a fashion photographer by profession, lives in a rented room at a house owned by landlord Khogen Mal. However, his carefree life is interrupted as three of his close friends (Soham, Hiraan and Bonny) land up at his doorstep, looking for a place to crash. The four of them soon find themselves in hot water after an episode with Mal’s wife and are forced to vacate the premises.

Download Now

Pataakha Story: Badki (Radhika Madan) and Chhutki (Sanya Malhotra) live in a small town in Rajasthan. They are sisters who squabble about anything and everything from stolen bidis and clothes to broken phones and TV sets. Dipper (Sunil Grover) is their nosy neighbour, who is always on the lookout for an opportunity to make the sisters go to war, while their father (Vijay Raaz), a single parent, is always trying to make peace between the warring sisters.

Pataakha Review: Pataakha is the story of sisters who love to hate each other. This isn't your average sibling rivalry; this is passionate and spiteful hatred for your kin. The sisters literally want to strangle and choke the life out of each other. This strange sibling relationship forms the crux of Vishal Bhardwaj’s film, where the Rajasthani language and the rustic setting present a side of Rajasthan that you haven’t seen before. But for all its novelty, Pataakha is a film that’s a bit too hard to take in. Grasping the strong Rajasthani dialogues might prove to be a challenge for the average viewer. For 2 hours and 15 minutes, the sole focus of the screenplay stays on the fact that the sisters can’t live without getting into a brawl and while the uniqueness of the story is admirable, after a point, it does get a tad monotonous.

Namaste England Story: Param (Arjun Kapoor) and Jasmeet (Parineeti Chopra) fall in love and they get married. Their perfect romance gets disturbed by Jasmeet’s suppressed ambition however. She has dreams of going to London so that she can pursue her career and build a better life for herself. But Param isn’t able to get a visa and that creates some high drama in their love life.

Namaste England Review: Love makes you do strange things and sometimes the unconventional too. But, getting embroiled in illegal immigration for the sake of your love, does seem a bit far-fetched. 'Namaste England' is the story of a happily married couple who get caught up in a strange adventure. They want to relocate to London, leaving behind a comfy life in Punjab, just because the wife, Jasmeet, isn’t allowed to have a career. The seemingly progressive couple, take some bizarre decisions in life, ones that actually take their relationship to a breaking point. The story does have an underlying message, but the lackluster writing and direction aren't able to explore the true potential of the film.

Badhaai Ho Story: A middle-aged couple Priyamvada Kaushik (Neena Gupta) and Jeetender Kaushik (Gajraj Rao) get unexpectedly pregnant. The couple from a middle-class family starts feeling conscious about the pregnancy, as they become a talking point in their social circles. Even their sons Nakul (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Gullar (Shardul Rana) grapple to cope with the situation that they are in, because they believe...Yeh bhi koi mummy papa ke karne ki cheez hai?

Badhaai Ho Review: Middle-class families are often riddled with their own set of values and social systems. While pregnancy and motherhood are celebrated, subjects like sex and romance are talked about with a degree of embarrassment and awkwardness. The concept of 'Badhaai Ho', where a quintessential Delhi couple; parents to two adult boys (one of them is of marriageable age), get pregnant out of the blue, is just the sort of subject that can ruffle-up feathers within the middle-class family system. Yet, this dramedy, based on children feeling terribly embarrassed by the outcome of their parents’ mid-age romance; with outsiders joining in the criticism, conveys some really progressive thoughts. The situational humour of 'Badhaai Ho' is complimented perfectly, by striking performances from Gajraj Rao, Neena Gupta and Ayushmann Khurrana. This film is as funny as it is liberal. The conversation around the fact that romance and passion have nothing to do with age, make this film a stand out for many reasons.

ব্যোমকেশ বৃদ্ধ হলেন, ঋদ্ধ হলেন কি? 

কনসেপ্টটা কিন্তু দুর্দান্ত ছিল। এই সময়ে, এই মুহূর্তে, পাল্টাতে থাকা সামাজিক হিসেবের মধ্যে যদি ব্যোমকেশ বক্সীকে এনে ফেলা যায়, তাহলে কী হয়? ঘোর বাস্তব চিন্তা। ব্যোমকেশ বৃদ্ধ, আষ্টেপৃষ্ঠে সংসারী ব্যোমকেশের স্ত্রী বিয়োগ হয়েছে, বন্ধু বিয়োগও। ছেলে অভিমন্যু, বৌমা, নাতি সাত্যকি, নাত-গার্লফ্রেন্ড তুন্নাকে নিয়ে তার ভরা সংসার। এর মধ্যে যদি ব্যোমকেশ-পুত্রই হয়ে যায় অপরাধী। তাহলে কী হয়?
কিন্তু প্রশ্ন তো এক্সিকিউশনে। প্রস্থেটিক মেক-আপে না হয় যুবক আবীরকে বৃদ্ধ করা গেল, কিন্তু তাই বলে শারীরিকভাবে প্রচণ্ড ফিট সত্যান্বেষী কী করে বৃদ্ধ বয়সে এতটাই অথর্ব হয়ে যায় যে থেমে থেমে, প্রায়ই জড়ানো গলায় কথা বলে, কুঁজো হয়ে লাঠি ভর দিয়ে চলে? কেনই বা ব্যোমেকেশের মতো তার সময়ে সারাক্ষণ আপ-টু-ডেট থাকা মানুষ বৃদ্ধ বয়সে এতটা অতীত-বিলাসে ব্যস্ত থাকে সবসময়?
অথবা ক্লাইম্যাক্স সিনটা ভাবুন। যে আসল অপরাধী, সে পাত্রপাত্রীদের দিকে বন্দুক তাক করে ‘কুমীরডাঙ্গা’ খেলবে বলে রেডি, এই সময় মা-বাপ-ছেলের স্বীকারোক্তির বৃত্তান্ত শুরু হল। মানে যতক্ষণ না স্বীকারোক্তি শেষ হবে, সারা সিনেমায় দেখানো টুকরো, টুকরো দৃশ্যের শেষ জোড়গুলো লাগানো যাবে, ততক্ষণ পর্যন্ত অ্যাকশন শুরুই হবে না। আজকের দিনে এসব হয়? অপরাধীরা এমন লক্ষ্মীসোনার মতো অপেক্ষা করে?
মানে আজকের দিনের বাঙালি দর্শক, যাঁরা ‘বিদায় ব্যোমকেশ’ দেখতে ভিড় করছেন, তাঁদের তো হাতের মুঠোয় বিশ্ব-বিনোদন। তাঁরা তো বাস্তবধর্মী আরও নানা বিষয় নিয়ে তৈরি ছবিটবি দেখছেন। তাঁরা কি খুব সহজে এই অতিনাটকীয়তা মেনে নিতে পারবেন?

আরও প্রশ্ন। কেনই বা যে আসল অপরাধী তার সারা সিনেমায় গোঁফ থাকে অথচ শেষ দৃশ্যে গোঁফ কামানো? কেনই বা ডিসিপি পদের এক অফিসারের উপস্থিতি সত্ত্বেও আহত অপরাধীকে পুলিশের হাতে তুলে না দিয়ে মেরে ফেলা হল?
এগুলো তো বড় প্রশ্ন। ছোটখাটো প্রশ্নের ফিরিস্তি দিলে মাথা খারাপ হয়ে যাবে। ফাইলকে কেন ডায়েরির মতো দেখতে? কেনই বা বৃদ্ধ ব্যোমকেশ চশমা পরে ঘুমোয়? বৌমা কেনই বা ধারাবাহিকের মহিলাদের মতো সারাক্ষণ সেজেগুজে থাকে?

তবু এর মধ্যে একটা জিনিসই ভালো লাগে। সাত্যকি-বেশী যুবক আবির আর তুন্না-বেশী সোহিনীর রসায়ন। মিষ্টি। তাদের সংলাপগুলোও সেরকমই। কিন্তু বৃদ্ধ অবিরের সংলাপ সব জায়গায় স্পষ্ট নয়, যার ফলে অনেক ক্ষেত্রেই রহস্যের প্রয়োজনীয় কিছু সূত্র শ্রুতিগোচর হয় না।

এর ফলে যা হয়, তা হল একটি থ্রিলারের আশায় গিয়ে আমরা পাই একটি হোঁচট খেতে থাকা ফ্যামিলি-ড্রামা যার মধ্যে থ্রিল অল্পই। দেবালয়ের প্রথম সিনেমা ‘রোগা হওয়ার সহজ উপায়’। খারাপ ছিল না কিন্তু সিনেমাটা। ভাবনাতেও নতুনত্ব ছিল। কিন্তু তাতেও শেষে গিয়ে ঘেঁটে ফেলার একটা প্রবণতা দেখা গিয়েছিল। ‘বিদায় ব্যোমকেশ’-এ প্রবণতাটা আরও বেশি বই কম নয়। অন্তত আমার তাই মনে হয়েছে।
তবে তাতে কিছুই এসে যাবে না। কারণ বাস্তবটা হচ্ছে যে কোনও কিছুর সঙ্গে ব্যোমকেশ শব্দটা বসালেই বাঙালি বাজারের কাটা মাছে মাছির মতো ভিড় জমাবে। আর আবির চট্টোপাধ্যায় যা-ই করুন, মহিলারা তাঁকে একটিবার দেখতে হলে যাবেনই। সেটাই ঘটছে। তাই সিনেমাটা আদতে যা-ই হোক, চলবে ভালোই।

Story: Spirited doctor Mili meets stiff prince Vikram - will their royal love story have a beautiful end?

Review: So, Khoobsurat is pretty - and pretty hilarious. Dr. Mrinalini Chakravarty aka Mili (Sonam) is a physiotherapist, hired to help Rajasthan royal Shekhar Rathore (Aamir Raza). Rani Nirmala (Ratna) and Yuvraj Vikram (Fawad) expect a quiet medic who will blend blandly into royal discipline - but they get a live-wire who teases the dishy Yuvraj, 'Raja log praja ke saath party nahin karte?', whose therapy includes drinking wine with her charge, who crushes paapads noisily onto regal china, and who, in striped PJs and cartoon-coloured T-shirts, is no fashionista.

Cast: Shraddha Kapoor, Siddhanth Kapoor, Ankur Bhatia, Rajesh Tailang
Director: Apoorva Lakhia

There’s a note of contrived paradox in the title of Haseena Parkar. As the Queen of Mumbai who ruled Nagpada, who carried orders given by her Dubai-based (and later Karachi-based) brother Dawood, and made sure that the Nagpada residents called her “Aapa” or elder sister, as she dubiously ran her crime syndicate from Golden Hall, and reportedly had assets worth Rs 5,000 crores, she is shown as someone who only inherited the debatable distinction of being at the helm. But why are we made to see a 124-minute film based on her life? Is it only because she literally got away with murder? The writers of the film have no easy answers. Neither do they let us know what they feel about her. Haseena, on her part, is pretty interesting. It is believed that be it hawala, or overseas rights of Bollywood movies, and extortion to construction sectors, she had a definite say in everything. Everyone who had even remotely anything to do with crime in Mumbai knew she ruled Mumbai like an underworld queen. And that she could get anyone out of her way too, if ever, she so desired. She came to be associated with crime leaving no room for doubt that the fear among masses continued. Yet, from Apoorva Lakhia’s account of her life — from her role as the caring elder sister to someone who would believe her most-wanted brother’s near confession that he did no wrong in bomb blasts in Mumbai to finally her transition into the dreaded don who could be as ruthless as her sibling — is rather sympathetic, even presented as a wholesome victim of reputation.

Helicopter Eela Story: Based on a Gujarati play ‘Beta, Kaagdo’, Helicopter Eela is the story of a single mother, who makes her son’s well-being, the only purpose of her life. But will she end up losing herself and her son in this relentless pursuit.


Helicopter Eela Review: Sunita Rao’s lilting ‘Pari Hoon Main’ playing on radio welcomes you to the world of Eela Raiturkar (Kajol). A budding singer of the 90s, she doesn’t live in the past, but her world now revolves around her 20-year-old son Vivaan (Riddhi Sen). She follows him around in the real and virtual world; all the way to his college, where she turns up as a fellow student, too.


It’s an exciting premise and director Pradeep Sarkar sets the stage for a generational confrontation right at the beginning. However, he chooses to spend the first half taking us back into the good ol’ nineties, where Indie Pop ruled music charts and Baba Sehgal’s raps were a rage.


In the first half, writers Anand Gandhi and Mitesh Shah convey the ups and downs in the life of a young couple (Kajol and Tota Roy Chowdhury) with conviction. The film stays on course with light banter between the characters and the story progresses consistently without much melodrama. A fun soundtrack by Amit Trivedi, with quirky lyrics, also adds to the momentum.

Download Now

Middle Class Abbayi Story: Nani’s (Nani) brother (Rajeev Kanakala) and his friends are his world. But he shares a love-hate relationship with his sister-in-law Jyothi (Bhumika Chawla). What happens when Shiva (Vijay Varma) threatens his family, is what ‘MCA’ is all about.

Middle Class Abbayi Review: Nani (Nani) is the RX 100-throttling ‘middle class abbayi’ with family values and sentimental emotions running off the chart. He’s forced to move to Warangal to stay with his sister-in-law, Jyothi (Bhumika Chawla) while his brother is working in Delhi. Nani believes her to be the devil incarnate, the unnecessary wedge between him and his brother. But what happens when Jyothi gets on the wrong side of the local baddie Shiva (Vijay Varma) and Nani’s family is threatened?

‘MCA’ (Middle Class Abbayi) is a film that starts off on an extremely light note. The brother-in-law stuck with the vadina he hates, but being forced to carry out household chores delivers a few laughs. So does the love track he has with spunky and beautiful Pallavi/Chinni (Sai Pallavi), who seems to know her mind and takes charge of the relationship even before Nani knows what hit him. Shaking things up in this saccharine sweet family drama is Shiva (Vijay Varma) who’s introduced as the psychopath who murdered his friend when he was just 12 because he ‘always likes to win’.

Nibunan Synopis : A senior cop and his team of two are after a serial killer who is giving them nightmares. Shocked after finding who the next possible victim is going to be, the cop tracks down the assassin with the help of various clues.

Nibunan Review : Nibunan is the 150th film of ‘Action King’ Arjun. One cannot be blamed if he/she expects the movie to be an out-and-out action flick, loaded with ample chase scenes, gun fights and high-octane moments. Instead, Nibunan is a thriller loaded with suspense, mystery, serial murders, sentiments and more. And yes, it has action, too, though not to the extent one expects from someone whose name is synonymous with stylish fights, kicks and punches.

A whodunit, the story gets going when an anonymous box with a mysterious doll and some numbers on it is found at a police station. Dedicated and intelligent cop Ranjith Kalidoss (Arjun) and his assistants Joseph (Prasanna) and Vandana (Varalaxmi) are clueless about the doll. It is a little late when they come to know that the details on the doll are clues conveyed by an unknown murderer. They try to track the murderer, but a couple of more murders happen in a similar fashion, with intriguing modus operandi behind it. They somehow crack things one by one, and at one point, Ranjith discovers who the next victim is going to be. And he has a reason to believe in his theory, which comes as a shock to his assistants and senior officials.