Teri Meri Kahaani

Director: Kunal Kohli
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Prachi Desai, Neha Sharma.
Music: Sajid-Wajid
Genre: Romance, Drama.

                                                               

2004 was the year when Hum Tum ended up being a roaring success regenerating the way rom coms were written in Bollywood. It is Kunal Kohli again who sits on the director chair and attempts to spin another ‘Hum-Tum’, or seeing the magnanimous shaayaris spilled across the screen, a flavor of ‘Fanaa’, in his new outing Teri Meri Kahaani. Well, things clearly don’t go according to the so-called-plan, as Teri Meri Kahaani runs cold and ultimately falls flat on its foot.


Teri Meri Kahaani yearns to be an epic tale of lovers meeting and parting over a span of 100 years. Protagonists meet thrice under different circumstances being different individuals separated due to the complications of wicked fate. The narrative begins in 1960, goes to 2012 and strangely comes back to 1910. Yawn!

Teri Meri Kahaani has an interesting premise, but the pointless direction and the mediocre writing makes it look lame and pretentious. It limps across three eras, but fails to tug a single heartstring. The concept of three time zones seems under-utilized as the set pieces lacks originality and come across as terribly uninspiring.

It is the chemistry between the leads, Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra that saves the day for this debacle piece of writing. The mere presence of them on screen accentuates the appeal of the movie. Nevertheless, they too suffer adversely as there is eventually no character development. The individuals seemed restricted inside their own cages for the length of the time they share screen. Shahid Kapoor as Javed, from the era of 1910, comes as the only respite with his Casanova attitude vowing to love every girl he comes across.

The present time story is the flimsiest of the lot being governed by the familiar twitter world and awkwardly lame chats sprayed on the silver screen. Positive points should be awarded for some new approaches in the way first hour of the movie is told, but after a while, the setting looks fake and narration feels disjointed.

It has some share of joyous moments and is mildly entertaining. ‘Mukhtasar’, sung by Wajid, comes as a sigh of relief and makes us nostalgic over the good old times when love stories were actually written by heart. The foot tapping music raises the vibe of the movie and the climax lifts the movie from the depths of its own silliness. It is charming in parts but ultimately feels too light to have a serious affair with.

Teri Meri Kahaani is yet another run-of-the-mill romantic tale which promises a twist, but ends up being clichéd. Only for the die-hard fans of this genre!


Rating: 2/5

(first published in Udaipur Times)

Gangs of Wasseypur: An Eloquent Statement On Violence

Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Reemma Sen, Richa Chaddha, Pankaj                   Tripathi

Have you ever wondered how a full blown crime saga akin The Godfather, Once Upon a time in 

America or Gangs of New York, might have ended up when being bathed with rustic Indian background? Well, add a pinch of Bihari salt and churn it with an incisive revenge plot, you’ll get the highly ambitious and blatantly violent epic called Gangs of Wasseypur.

Paying his homage to directors like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur is a sprawling tale ranging over decades of feuds and enmity. Sardar Khan (Manoj Bajpai) has only one aim in his life and that is to avenge his father’s death that came from the hands of the Wasseypur crime Lord / coal dealer, Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia). Seems like a regular run-of-the-mill vendetta flick, right? But the dexterity of Anurag Kashyap and the layers of sub plots served with a complex narration keep you engaged when the proceedings are ripe and leave you breathless as the end credits roll down.


Gangs of Wasseypur is a cauldron full of bloodshed which is so acidic in its content that it catches you off guard on countless happenings. It starts slowly with a tad frustrating narration. Stay with it and you will be rewarded with a stunning piece of cinema that gets better and better as it treads on. Kudos to Anurag Kashyap for he spectacularly handles a movie that is bluntly dark and gritty, and still finds humor in the most unexpected places. The irresistibly witty dialogues keep the heat on a hold while all hell was breaking loose in the streets and nukkads of Wasseypur and Dhanbaad.


Blissed are the audience of International film festival for they saw a complete five and a half hour long GOW. Keeping an eye on the commerce prospect of the movie in India, it is broken into two parts. While pulling off such a wide epic, one must have a terrific ensemble cast. Manoj Bajpai is terrific and carries out a mind blowing performance while you just sit back and marvel at the brilliance of his portrayal. Pankaj Tripathi who plays the role of Sultan Qureshi is in top notch form. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is breath taking.

Even the bloodshed on the silver screen seemed to be cinematographed with the terrific background score of the movie. The movie falters a bit due to its excessive length which is running over two and a half hours. Some editing in the early narration scenes would have done no harm to the movie. The story line tends to get cold and distant from the viewer as the movie unfolds. But, it is the style for which the movie hits hard. And what terrific style!

Caustic and utterly corrosive in its execution, GOW is a cliché breaker. It pulls all of its punches on a high note and hits hard on the guts. Unabashed gore and unapologetic cuss words may turn some viewers off. But these are the least harmful of all toxins polluting the air of Wasseypur in which even a bird fly with a single wing as the other is used for her own protection, her izzat.


Gangs of Wasseypur is sinister and visually mesmerizing which comes out with all of its guns triumphantly blazing. It is an eloquent statement on the core nature of violence and is pulled off with sheer brilliance by its cast and crew. It is one of the finest crime drama of Indian cinema and adds another gem in Anurag Kashyap’s tapestry. Take a bow!



Rating: 4 / 5

Ferrari Ki Sawaari

Director: Rajesh Mapuskar
Cast: Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani, Ridvik Sahor
Writers: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajesh Mapsukar
Genre: Drama

When a father tears his house down to gather every bit of money just to buy his proficient son a cricket bat, you know you are in for a heart-warming drama. Under the experienced eyes of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ferrari Ki Sawaari promises perfection in the beginning but settles for mediocrity as the reel comes to an end.

Rusy Deboo (Sharman Joshi) plays a bespectacled and downright honest father having immense love in his heart for his only son Kayo (Ritvik Sahor). Kayo is an aspiring cricketer who gets an opportunity to take part in a camp which is to be held in the paradise of cricket, Lords. The only obstruction in achieving his scripted destiny lies in the deceitful face of money. And of course, his mota baba, his grouchy and ever-so-gloomy grandfather (Boman Irani) who is all grumpy about his grandson being a cricketer.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari starts beautifully with Ferrari standing tall as a metaphor for all the desires of a middle class family which are way beyond their grasps. It is the second half of the movie, which falters to an uneven pacing and an ordinary screenplay. It lays down all of its cards way too easily and neither reaches any cinematic height nor achieves any emotional depth.

On a brighter side, we have stellar performance from the cast. Our very own idiot, Sharman Joshi steals the show with a brilliant portrayal of an idealistic father torn between the desires of his son and his own father. Boman Irani, in his overgrown beard and beautifully mastered Marathi accent, shines spectacularly yet again. The little star, Ritvik Sahor, is a blissed talent and would surely evolve into a mature actor in the near future.


Though the movie is charming and has some wonderful moments, but it exceeds its welcome and feels a tad long. By the end, it becomes quite predictable and clichéd.

It is the chemistry between Sharman Joshi and his son that steers the movie home. The sparkling humor between them and the mellow moments shines spectacularly and stays with you long after the curtains roll down. The music of the movie fails to come alive on the screen and does not mark any impact on the proceedings.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari is a tribute to all the childlike ambitions residing within us and acts as a wakeup call to follow our dreams regardless of the adverse circumstances. Though it never reaches a peak crescendo, but it’s worth enough for an affectionate and subtle family ride.

Rating- 2/5

The Estranged Lair

The haunting moon hung in the dead sky,
Hollow at its core akin a madman’s lie.
Bloodcurdling screams clothing the atmosphere,
Daylight gets lost in this deranged sphere.
Welcome to this harrowed nightmare,
Come abode to the devil’s estranged lair.



Sanatorium they announced it,
A place rooted deep in hell’s murky pit.
Demented heads limped in the shadow,
Whispering rages beside an infernal meadow.
Ripped souls yearning meaning in the barren fields,
Ashes of reality lies in a cesspool caressing humans heretofore peeled.



A sea of neurotic waste,
Diabolically alive and chemically laced.
Organ grinding machines to pulp their brain,
Authorities liable for forging them insane.
They weren’t different,
Just mismatched souls to whom the command gave bitter treatment.
Sane theorized madmen as dissimilar,
But the lunatics knew that ordinary heap were never a gift-believer.