While the bass pulsates with electric fervor the dramatics just fizzles into a lot of confusion. Character dynamics are unremarkable while performances just don’t have the bite to get you involved. And the Bro-coterie angle( Cole’s friends who tag along) is quite tiresome to say the least. Wes Bentley and Emily Ratajkowski make their presence felt, though!

A subject of this kind could have easily fallen into the danger of appearing dry and boring, but thanks to a good sprinkling of humour, a screenplay full of life (by Deepak Venkateshan) and some decent performances, this one is definitely watchable. Shukla deserves a special mention for his crackling and memorable performance as a decadent but desperate ‘Kshatriya’ who has fallen on bad times.

A gutsy debut by Ghaywan, who dives deep into the subject in hand and comes up with a little gem. Sensitive writing by Varun Grover makes it more valuable.

Do watch this one, more so, if you are a Bengali. I bet you won’t stop smiling for most of the two plus hour duration.

The only saving grace of this film is Akshay Kumar, who not only looks dishy with a beard, but does try giving a convincing performance in this not at all convincing film. But then he should have chosen better.

The star cast is pretty good. A special mention has to be made of the ever dependable Revathi, who yet again delivers a convincing act. But of course, it is Kalki who takes your breath away with a superlative performance. Undoubtedly with one of her finest performances in recent years, Kalki lives and breathes Laila with such amazing ease and conviction that she stays in your head for a long time after you have left the theatre.

Bhatt’s recent outings have been in the genre of supernatural and 3D horror. This time, in his tech endeavour to create an invisible man, he appears to have overlooked the storyline. Wish he had paid attention to other details as well.

If one has to point out drawbacks, some of the twists in the story seem too convenient and the second half dips a wee bit in energy as compared to the first half. But overall, the choice of locations, the performances and the brutally honest take on a story that needed to be told, makes this film a hell of a scary ride but absolutely worth it. Don’t miss it.

This might be a director’s attempt at making it all look artistic and ‘hatke’, but what it ends up doing is showing us sights like the not-so-pretty thighs of a dhoti wearing politician. among other unmentionable things.

Avoid. If feeling nostalgic, watch the original again.

‘Dum Lagaa Ke Haisha’ steadily grows on you and warms the cockles of your heart even before you realise it. By the end of it, you might just want to go and hug the people in your life who you otherwise take for granted.