Tag Archives: Shah Rukh Khan

Salman Khan’s Tiger 3 (2023) Movie Review: Family Man Saving Terrorist State

The Tiger series started with Kabir Khan helming them and it was like a breath of fresh air for YRF who generally are seen to follow trends but never create anything new in terms of storytelling or genre. While the first part was a combination of docu-fiction from Kabir plus Bollywood pulp, it had the right amount of wit, romance, and action to make audiences hooked to it.

Then came the second part (Tiger Zinda Hai) , which I feel was the best, as it upped the ante in terms of emotion and action and gave Katrina Kaif a space which was not even visible in the first part. I was eager to watch the third part considering that I enjoyed the first two parts purely as pulp and was keen to see how Maneesh Sharma brings something new to the table.

Considering this is the first genuine film in the so called YRF Spy universe, the prologue was interesting and it sets up the tone for the film. What follows is an interesting sort of marital discord or suspicion in a spy thriller. This film’s best writing is seen for the first 30 minutes and then somehow the magic is not maintained. I would love to see such a tango between a husband and wife.

The action sequences are entertaining, the best one do not feature Salman but Katrina in a Turkish hamam. Tiger 3 also shows how Bollywood has moved on, there are no songs in the movie, apart from one which is also used to move narrative compared to the first part where songs were a must. The movie also sticks to its genre and it kind of becomes tiring for the audience as I missed the wit and banter of the first two parts.

Spoiler Alert Starts

Now coming to the cameo-

The Shah Rukh Khan cameo does not work at all, one reason being he does not have a loyal fan following like Salman and his screen presence is lacking. It may be because we are used to seeing Salman as Tiger so the charisma of character and star was there. Pathaan is just one film old, and people who enjoyed it were experiencing it as SRK’s comeback and not the character.

Moreover, the situation here is the same as that of Pathaan so it adds to drudgery and Tiger is a way bigger character than Pathaan in minds of viewers. Sadly, all jokes fall flat right from homage to Sholay to Karan Arjun in this scene. And the movie’s weakest action sequence is this rescue scene.

End of Spoiler Alert

Salman does what is required of him, and it works. The film does not require heavy duty acting. Emraan Hashmi as the central antagonist is given a raw deal and I wish the character was written more deeply. Katrina deserves her stand alone film as Zoya.

My major problem with the film is that while the first half is personal for both Tiger and Zoya, the second half is all about saving Pakistan and their democracy. There in lies the problem, the country has not seen a democratically elected government serving the full 5 years term since the formation of the country. Pakistanis do not care about democracy.

The stake for Indian audiences is bare minimum since there is no harm to India. It is like watching a James Bond movie where he saves the Russian Communist regime instead of handling threats which the UK is facing.

Also considering that YRF do not read or have this rose-tinted notion of Pakistan, in the movie it is implied only rogue ISI is against India, when even an uneducated Indian knows that Pakistan’s identity is based on annihilating Indians and India.

All said and done Tiger 3 is one of better masala movies of this year, we hardly had any this year.

25 Years of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ): What Makes the Film So Special Even Today

There are films of all kinds that we are exposed to, very few of them go on to become commercially successful and maintain their iconic status despite the passage of time. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or DDLJ as it is more popularly known as, is one of the rare films to have that distinction. There has been enough and more that has been written about the film, with people praising the film for various aspects, while even attracting some criticism for its cheesiness, overtly sentimental nature and emphasis on a more old school romantic style and family values. So, let me not try and analyze the film per se, as that would simply not make sense, nor will it add any new insight into the film otherwise. So, what does this write-up intend to do? Simple, it is about why the film deserves all the love and appreciation that has been coming its way, and how I have evolved with the film over the course of these 25 years.Continue reading “25 Years of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ): What Makes the Film So Special Even Today”

DDLJ: Cutting across 3 decades. My Personal Ode & Journey with the Film

20th October 1995 was the first time DDLJ released in cinemas. I was 7 when I first watched the film at G7 Cinemas, Bandra with my parents. Little did I know that I would end up getting lost in the magical world that I was experiencing on screen. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I saw Amrish Puri slap SRK right before the climax sequence and I held my mother’s arms as each slap echoed in the pin drop silence inside the cinema packed with thousand people. I felt ecstatic when Kajol ran towards the stretched arm of SRK extending from the door of a running train in the end. I was mesmerized by the story that I narrated the entire film to my friends in school. When the songs came on the television, I would stop everything and listen attentively. Couple of months later, we revisited the theatre to watch DDLJ again. It was the same scenario as the first – a packed house with the same emotions. As a kid, I knew this film would stay with me forever. Continue reading “DDLJ: Cutting across 3 decades. My Personal Ode & Journey with the Film”

Kaamyaab (2020) Movie Review: When the lights go off!

Oh, those faces!

Those familiar faces we have seen numerous times as we revisit the movie classics and hits from yesteryear. Faces that are very much part of the movies that we grew up with. Many of them without whom those iconic scenes are never complete. And yet unfortunately,  many of them remain faces with their names still unknown to many.Continue reading “Kaamyaab (2020) Movie Review: When the lights go off!”

’96 Movie Review: Some Reflections…

SPOILER ALERT

96 is a bittersweet amalgamation of the ‘BEFORE‘ series – chiefly ‘BEFORE SUNSET‘— by Linklater, beautifully mapped onto the Indian landscape by contouring out the emotional crests and troughs of childhood love, its extensions, and its sustenance. It is a triumph for one of the most interesting actors to emerge out on the Tamil screens, Vijay Sethupathi, who brings his own brand of ‘casualness’ to his act, yet segues it – mainly in the second-half – into a fine act embodying a character who pretends to be living in the ‘moment’ but is really living in the past savoring moments of first love which are, obviously, momentous to him. [In fact, the film opens with a song ‘The Life of Ram’, with the lyrics and visuals expounding on the loneliness that’s part of Ram’s existential crises, as well as the thread he hangs onto to continue his existence. It shows him living life as a travel photographer, but travelling alone, and seemingly enjoying the independence—(he pulls a cart for an old man in Calcutta; drives in circles in his car onto a vast, open field; sits staring at the horizon on a beach, and runs on sand-dunes in Rajasthan, while the lyrics convey his feelings that he hasn’t understood the world yet though his hair has greyed..)— that a relationship-less existence provides, but that’s actually a facade.] There’s a nod here to Ranbir’s characters from Ali’s films portraying his alone-self in a populated world that’s hard to miss.Continue reading “’96 Movie Review: Some Reflections…”

Jab Harry Met Sejal Movie Review: Tab Head Met Wall!

There’s a moment, bang in the middle of Jab Harry Met Sejal, when one of the titular characters remarks snidely “This is silly, we need to get out of here”, and you end up thinking to yourself, what if the same had been said by Aditya to Geet (Jab We Met) or Tara to Ved (Tamasha), the seeming voices of reason asking a dreamer to change course, to not fly too close to the sun, to stop sprinting and take a breath. When the promos of JHMS first showed up, it seemed like yet another Imtiaz Ali tale of two strangers in a strange land, but when the two strangers happen to be Shahrukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, can the magic of Jab We Met, the soulfulness of Highway and the pathos of Tamasha be captured again on celluloid?Continue reading “Jab Harry Met Sejal Movie Review: Tab Head Met Wall!”

Raees vs Kaabil: Clash of the Titans?

Jan 25th was slated to be the battle of the stars- Shahrukh and Hrithik battling it out with Raees and Kaabil respectively. The swords were all out with both the parties battling it out with their PR machinery. Some even called it as a mentor-pupil battle. And it mattered for both the stars as their previous movies were almost a washout (Fan and Mohenjo Daro).Continue reading “Raees vs Kaabil: Clash of the Titans?”

Raees Movie Review: Once Upon A Late Latif

It’s all Ram Gopal Varma’s fault. Till he showed up with Satya, Company etc, we were so used to the trope of the gangster being a modern day Robin Hood, a leader of the community, a do-gooder on the wrong path etc, that when we were exposed to what gangsters really are, ordinary men and women with a gun, who let their ego come in the way of reason, flawed human beings who may be larger than life for a few fleeting moments, but end up the victim of either the system, or their own hubris.Continue reading “Raees Movie Review: Once Upon A Late Latif”

Dear Zindagi Movie Review: Talking Heads

There is always a certain amount of anticipation that comes with watching an acclaimed director’s follow up to an acclaimed debut feature. When the promos for Gauri Shinde’s debut, English Vinglish first showed up highlighting the return of Sridevi to the big screen, one did approach the film with trepidation as most comeback efforts in Bollywood have displayed a tendency to either be dead on arrival, or crash and burn, Madhuri Dixit’s Aaja Nachle and the Big B’s Mrityudaata coming to mind.Continue reading “Dear Zindagi Movie Review: Talking Heads”