himanshu pandey

Uri: The Surgical Strike2019

''How's the josh? How's the josh?'' I asked myself while Adjusting my seat after credit started rolling on the screen...and yes..I could hear that it is still high and pumped up...Bollywood latest offering 'Uri' is indeed a decent watch even if it falls short of the intensity at many places... Patriotism and cinema have been together for ages..we could find many movies in the annals of Indian cinema with the war background.Some have potrayed chest thumping nationalism at its best and some others were nuanced and subtle in their approach.Uri in its perspective is a little different in this league or a balanced mixture of both.. What's hot:—— (1)cinematography is top notch here and one of the best in the Indian cinema ever..the use of lighting,camera movements etc are commendable. (2) action choreography -most of the fighting scenes are choreographed so well..scenes involving firing from both the sides are so well as if u feel it is happening in real..there must be some vfx work there but i rarely could figure out anything as such. (3) acting and background score- Vickey kaushal in the lead and Mohit Raina in the first half are amazing..while Vickey is one of the finest actors we have, Mohit's screen presence is as infectious as hell..Vickey kaushal has only 3 proper scenes in the movie (running sequence, war cry scene and and the climax one ) and he completely nails it..he can be the sole reason to watch this movie..supporting cast including yami gautam, paresh rawal(as Ajit dobhal), rajat kapoor (as narendra modi)among others were also good in their characters. (4) This film also showcases the emotional side of an army officer who is also a human being and can shed tears at times..moreover, some dialogues like 'हमारा झगड़ा पाकिस्तान की जनता से नहीं है, वहाँ बेठे आतंकवादियों से है' aptly sums up our stand. (5) Intermission point:: one of the best intermissions after PIKU..surely will give you goosebumps. What's not: loose script : it falters at some points..some of the scenes like strategy making and interrogation ones were not intense and convincing and did not evoke any strong emotion.. So, in all, Uri is finest in the technical department and looses some points here and there in its essence enroute to climax.. if you like action flicks and that too filled with pride and patriotism and don't mind cinematic liberty, this film is for you.u will be thrilled. But those who are expecting 'the hurt locker' and 'zero dark thirty' will miss the intensity here.. P.S: Surgical strike took place or not has been the talk of the town..there is division in the society based on their political inclinations or affiliations..I believe it happened. If u don't..even that is fine..if u are not going to watch this film as u don't believe in it,then I must tell u that it is much more than that, this movie shows the hardship and pain army men go through for the pride of the country.just appreciate that.

Hindi Medium2017

इंगलिश कलचर हमारी संस्कृति को खा रहा है। हम अपनी भाषा को कमतर समझकर केवल बनावटी दुनिया में रह रहे हैं। हमें दूसरी भाषाओं को जरूर अपनाना चाहिए परन्तू अपनी भाषा पर गौरवान्वित महसूस करना चाहिए। इस संबंध में हमारी शिक्षा पद्धती की एक अहम् भूमिका है। With this subject on the anvil new Irfan Khan starrer movie "हिन्दी medium" strikes the chord with more than half of Indian population, whose talent either doesn't get explored due to this language constraint or seen outdated and outcast from the society just because they are not versed in this vernacular. Director takes the 'nursary admission in delhi' schools' route to showcase the obsession and rightly shows that parents can do anything to get their wards into the paycheck of "high branded schools". He raises a very important issue regarding education where parents think that that their children can achieve something big in life only if they have had the education from these biggies. Government's negligence towards the education system is also an important reason behind this. The corruption by politicians and bureaucrats is loosening the soil nutrients which is ultimately weakening this 'plant' of education. The story revolves around a affluent couple who are doing anything to get their daughter into one of the big schools.if they can't make it through this route they fake poverty and get her in with GARIB QUOTA. This misuse of RTE has also been there in the big cities for years. Many cases have been registered in the past regarding frauds and corruption in admissions. The director though starts it well ,goes seamlessly till interval but did not have a strong script to land it smoothly. Nevertheless,he had THE IRFAN KHAN with his absolute comic timing cided with Deepak Dobriyal of 'tanu weds Manu' fame who mixes his flavour to get it well. If you are done with the charisma of larger than 'reel' life BAHUBALI, let's get out of the 'Mahishmati kingdom' and ponder over this real problem around us. A decent watch.

Hichki2018

(Waa..waa) (waa..waa)..(naaice.. naaice) U must be wondering why m repetitive with some speech sounds ....Wait..lemme clear I don't have Tourette syndrome.....i am just appreciating the well earned effort from the makers of HITCHKI. HITCHKI is basically the story of a girl (brilliant Rani)with neurological disorder (un)known to most of us as tourette syndrome (in which she keeps making some involuntary and repetitive phonetic tics like Chaaa chaaa..jik..jik etc) and how she overcomes her disability and gets succeeded in doing what she loves the most..TEACHING.So,in nutshell, HITCHKI showcases the sprit of an individual, celebrates the teaching as a profession and acknowledge the efforts of the educators .. This film also touches many aspects like the Class divide in schools as well as in society (sample::class 9A represents toppers from affluent families while 9F symbolises the failures from the downtrodden and underprivileged children comes through RTE),comment on education system,ground reality of Right to education,internal politics in school,ego clashes among teachers,parents role to empower their specially-abled children etc.but on the top of everything, HITCHKI makes a point by telling us that the role of a teacher in nurturing and shaping the young and innocent mind is the most important thing in building a beautiful nation.. In terms of acting,it was a balanced casting with brilliant actors such as Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar,Neeraj kabi among others but it was Rani who was the soul of the movie.She came back after a 4 year hiatus and it was indeed a bang on..the way she makes those sounds and physically interpret it with her fist and expression is beyond good... Yes, HITCHKI also comes up with many HICCUPS(like predictable storyline and deviation from that Tourette syndrome itself in the second half etc.) but as an audience you can easily ignore them by having a chilled glass of water/whatever down ur throat while watching in the theatre.That would surely be enough to get u hooked to this emotionally well crafted cinema.. A nice watch👍🏻 (Jaaa jaaaaa..jaaaaaaaaaaa..jaaaaaaaaa (omg am I having one? Naa naa naa naa)

Baahubali 22017

Yes, it has its own flaws .it often succumbs to its own grandeur, its own scale and its own hype..bahubali 2 may not appeal to those niche class who wants to see the real cinema,BT it is so glorious ad mesmerising that u never cares for these hiccups..it is the celebration of an Indian cinema and a culture which took off its flight way back in 2015 with bahubali and now widening its wings and flying high firmly with bahubali 2 in this unexplored and unchartered territory.. Bahubali 2 (420 screens) is running strongly on second spot in the US box office behind only to fast and furious (4200 screens) which itself signifies its opulance and carving a path for Indian cinema on global scale..it is a visual extravaganza not only economically BT also emotionally..even if we do not take its technical aspects ,it still manages to offer a lot...it portrays the range of emotions aesthetically.. It is a rare indian project which welcomes both the technological as well as conventional filmmaking..it covers equally the patriarchal as well as the matriarchal side..it also showcases the human fallacies despite showing them as a larger than life characters..In all, it can be a one tym must watch..go and cherish the cinematic experience.. P.S : here in gwalior,on weekdays even the shows as late as 11 in the night are running house full...only bahubali can hav this magic..

Manmarziyaan2018

What if one day kuberick comes up with something like 'Before trilogy'.??... we can safely bet that he can't deliver what Richard linklater has..same is the case with Anurag Kashyap..The Indian neo noir director has come up with manmarziyaan, a romantic drama where he starts albeit with a bang but fizzles out gradually... Manmarziyaan is a love line between the talented Vicky Kaushal, charming tapsee pannu and the restrained Abhishek bachhan..tapsee is the centre of the gravity which keeps changing its position between the other two balancing points in accordance with her wits and complexities and that accelerates the whole story to a point when it starts getting dragged and comes to a halt.. first half is brilliant and a scene just before interval fills u with the goosbump as Amit trivedi's brilliant scores matches up with the brilliant vickey kaushal's anguishness on the screen but the second half stretches too long and the last 15 minutes of the movie becomes unbearable and u left wondering when they gonna roll the titles..I understand they were trying to prove a point about the love but there was really no point to stretch that long...had they squeezed up those 15 odd minutes,the film would have been much nicer..it was almost like they started on commercial note and tried to finish in art style but the end result was ARTIFICIAL... Tapsee is a spot on as Chulbulee and मुँहफट लड़की...Abhishek and vickey Kaushal also plays their characters to the T but the real gem and the heart of the movie is the music of Amit Trivedi..his music is the life of the characters..remove it and all the characters dies automatically...Amit Trivedi must be on the pedestal this year... It seems Anurag kashyap was tired of the criticism and wanted to prove that he can handle the love actually without any gore and swearing...somehow he succeeds in it but overall he still has a long way to go..so in all, if you love romance,want to experiment new Anurag kashyap, surely u can watch this especially फ़र्स्ट हाफ़ and if u have patience too, go for the second half too..afterall it's ur मन की मर्ज़ी...

Ittefaq2017

#Ittefaq : In general,when 'vikram' meets 'maya', one can think of blossoming of love,culmination of souls,some cuddling and a happy ending.. but here,when vikram( a writer played by the former 'gentleman'Siddhartha malhotra) meets maya ( former noor played by sonakshi sinha), it all goes upside down...an outrage,blood bath,lies,plotting,betrayal and suprisingly a shocking denouement.... ITTEFAQ is a who dun it suspense thriller...two murders...two plotters, two versions...one link ....and one vyomkesh bakshi( played brilliantly by Akshay Khanna) and 3 days to find the offender...pre interval, it takes time to introduce characters and some of the sequences are stretched long..unnecessary pauses halts the films growth..post interval, it speeds up unlike our courts and tries to nab the culprit..script is solid and throughout its run,it cues u to make u feel that u have almost found the sinner and for very next moment it pushes u back into the oblivion..what I liked the most is ,it runs on the backdrop of Mumbai's RAIN which gives the whole script an upward push,an atmosphere of immersive experience and I must mention that it is the LAST 15 MINUTES OF the MOVIE WHICH MAKES THIS OTHERWISE AN OK FLICK TO A DECENT WATCH..Go and find the sinner...may be it would make u a little lesser... P.S: this movie is all by coincidence in its glory..that's why ITTEFAQ...