Tag Archives: Govinda

Coolie No 1 (2020- Amazon Original): The Curse of Nepotism in Bollywood

A good part of the 90s was a golden time for David Dhawan and Govinda most of which were remakes of Tamil and Telugu films. For example Coolie No 1 is a remake of the Tamizh film Chinna Mapillai. 

David Dhawan is now on a quest to position his son as the next Superstar of Bollywood remaking his own remakes, but then this time it flatters to deceive. Coolie No 1 (1995) itself is a problematic film if you look at it. There is a person who catfishes a female to marry her and the film does not show any remorse on his part and justifies it by saying that as her father wanted her to have a secure life, the daughter deserves to be cheated. Continue reading “Coolie No 1 (2020- Amazon Original): The Curse of Nepotism in Bollywood”

Jagga Jasoos Movie Review: Arrested Development

Let’s be honest here, as a desi audience that’s grown up on Bollywood Masala, we are definitely no strangers to the musical. But in Jagga Jasoos, director Anurag Basu tries to push the envelope by presenting most of the movie in tune and verse, an attempt to bring Broadway to Bollywood, something we probably last saw in Shirish Kunder’s equally befuddling debut effort, Jaan-E-Mann. But with an experienced hand such as Basu at the realm, some stunning cinematography by Ravi Varman, as promised in the promos, a promising soundtrack by Pritam, and an extremely good-looking starcast, does this audacious experiment work?Continue reading “Jagga Jasoos Movie Review: Arrested Development”

Best English Films Of 2014

As the year comes to an end, movie buffs every year are tempted to come out with their different best movie lists and we are no different. Every year we publish a couple of such posts written by individual authors which talk about some of the best films from India and globally, leading to several intense and passionate debates, discussions and arguments among fellow movie buffs.

But this year we decided to do something different. We asked some of our authors to individually list down English films they enjoyed watching this year.

While Boyhood and Gone Girl seem to be the universal favourites with Nightcrawler coming a close second, there are quite a few interesting recommendations by our authors that deserve to be seen by all and warrant a debate.

So which are the English films our authors enjoyed watching this year the most? Scroll down to know more.Continue reading “Best English Films Of 2014”

Happy Ending (2014) Movie Review: Funny-ish

Directors: Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru
Rating: **1/2

I am saddened to see the quality of movies directed by the Raj-DK duo fall steadily after the highs achieved with 99. Shor in the City was good, Go Goa Gone inconsistent but funny and now Happy Ending that misses it’s mark despite having a broad target to shoot at. “A Comedy about Romantic Comedies” says its tagline. A more appropriate one would have been “A Romantic Comedy about Romantic Comedies”. Raj-DK eschew the formula that made 99 work and settle for a sappy romance with jokes thrown in between as lubrication.Continue reading “Happy Ending (2014) Movie Review: Funny-ish”

Happy Ending (2014) Movie Review: At Wit’s End!

 

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Illeana DCruz, Ranvir Shorey, Kalki Koechlin, Preity Zinta and above all, Govinda

Directed by Krishna DK, Raj Nidimoru

Music by Sachin-Jigar

Image is a terrible ‘cheez’ in the life of a Bollywood movie actor. The same thing that once brought you the limelight ends up contributing to your downfall. What was once considered fresh is now classified cheesy and you find yourself out-of-sync with the audience and current market demands. Stars like Govinda have seen it all and now unsurprisingly Saif finds himself being the latest victim of it all. For how long do we have to endure him in the same commitment phobic kameena-playboy roles that we have been used to since his Ole Ole days? And to make things worse, age certainly isn’t helping his cause, is it? Continue reading “Happy Ending (2014) Movie Review: At Wit’s End!”

Go..Go..Go…Govinda

860384634-Govinda1_6Swarg was the first ever movie with which I took notice of Govinda’s acting skills, though the film was nothing more than a typical family drama. But over the years, this talented actor became an indispensable part of the movies for me as I grew.Continue reading “Go..Go..Go…Govinda”

Popular Male Jodis of Indian Cinema: Part 1

One of the most oft explored themes in Indian cinema is that of Male bonding. Since time immemorial, the male bonding theme was explored in various ways . i.e. through a love triangle ( 2 guys falling for the same girl), lost and found formula, two brothers or friends on the opposite sides of the law and other such oft explored themes. These themes more than often resulted in some great films being made which pitted popular male actors in multistarrers against each other in various permutations and combinations.

The first part of the 2/3 part series looks at the popular male jodis of Hindi Cinema.Continue reading “Popular Male Jodis of Indian Cinema: Part 1”

Hum : Ek Hi Hai ‘TIGER’

HUM-PosterDuring the late 80’s , the Amitabh Bachchan mania had begun to decline with most of his films failing at the box office. Even films such as Jaadugar, Toofan etc  made  by his most trusted directors such as Prakash Mehra, Manmohan Desai were an embarrassment to Big B’s filmography. Much like his peers such as Dharamendra, Shatrughan Sinha , Amitabh also followed the trend and was a part of many a torturous flicks in the 80’s. Something that was definitely not suited for  the Big B.Continue reading “Hum : Ek Hi Hai ‘TIGER’”

Raavan – Mani Ratnam’s Epic Misfire

Dear Mani Sir,

As we bring this blogathon to an end with your last offering Raavan, I would like to request you to give us back the Mani sir who was once touted as the Spielberg of India. Who tried to change the conventions of mainstream cinema by replacing drama with subtlety. Who chose bold themes like younger boy falling for older lady (Pallavi Anu Pallavi), chose an specially abled child character as the protagonist of a film (Anjali), robbed off Rajnikant of his demi-god like stardom and gave his fans that one chance to see the actor inside him (Thalapati). And that scene in Nayagan where Kamal Hassan looks at his son’s dead body and turns away his eyes with cry of disbeilef. Gosh !!! I would give my arm to watch that scene over and over again.Continue reading “Raavan – Mani Ratnam’s Epic Misfire”