Daawat-e-Ishq is yummilicious

Pic Source: Wikipedia

Even if you didn’t skip dinner like I did , and even if you were a vegetarian like I am, this movie is still delicious. It was delightful to watch a movie with a powerful social message delivered without any melodrama, rather used a humorous and romantic (including the romance with food) storyline that keeps you engaged. The story highlights the issues of dowry and the plight of the middle class that struggles with these issues, as well as educates the masses on article 498- A.

The story is about Tez Gulrez/ Gullu (Parineeti Chopra) who is an outgoing, intelligent girl who wants to pursue her dreams to study shoe designing and marry an equal suited boy, perhaps also fluent in English. Unfortunately, she has to serve as a shoe sales girl since her monetary situation is scrawny. Her father who is a single parent ( Anupam Kher), a clerk at the high court thinks its best that his daughter settles in holy matrimony. Both father and daughter meet families and are faced with exorbitant dowry demands until one day when Gullu has her heart broken in the process. She decides to take vengeance from dowry hungry families and  bilk money from them to pursue her higher studies in the US. She convinces her anguished father to join her on this mission and they change identities and move to Lucknow with an interesting plan that includes exploiting online matrimonial service besides the article 498-A. They shortlist their candidate, Tariq a rich and rustic restaurateur, who is not even fluent in English or educated. As their mission progresses Gullu falls for Tariq’s goodness, yet continues with her plans. Only for her to later realize her mistake,  she tries to set things right.

The background of the plot is based in two gastronomic cites-Hyderabad (Biryani) & Lucknow ( kebabs)and the cinematographer has captured it well. Parineeti has played her part really well, the role of a confident young girl who shuns convention, not a variation from similar roles that she has been playing though. While Aditya Roy Kapoor has you going aww!! with his goodie character,  and his mannerisms of an expert chef, Anupam  Kher too has you going aww! to his role of a doting father who is willing to reason with his radical daughter.

I personally liked this feast of love, it had the right ingredients including the masala. I recommend you try this one !

Khoobsurat, A Fairy tale and Yesteryear Film Nostalgia

      Pic Source: IMDb

The movie sets your expectations just right when it begins- the prelude and the tittle of the movie say it all.  It is a Disney fairy tale mixed with an overriding theme from the yesteryears popular movie Khoobsurat, “break all rules”.  The story-line was intended to be predictable I guess, with greater focus on perhaps the unique look and feel of the movie and the ensemble of actors-  Fawad Khan, (a Pakistani actor & singer),  Ratna Pathak and Aamir Raza Husain and Kirron Kher ( all of whom are eminent theatre personalities as well) playing prominent parts alongside Sonam Kapoor

Sonam Kapoor plays Dr. Mili Chakrabatty, a physiotherapist, who is appointed by Nirmala Devi Rathore (Ratna Pathak) to treat obstinate husband who is bound to a wheelchair. Mili lands at the princely mansion, but to her dismay she encounters the household being governed by unreasonable discipline and rules. She gets on a mission to ensure to change the atmosphere around to be able to treat her patient and cure him. In process, she falls in love with his son , Vikram Rathore (Fawad Khan), who is engaged to Kiara (Aditi Hydari). What surprised me a bit here was that the love triangle here is not a matter of fuss. Kiara (Aditi Hydari- apparently a special appearance(S) in the credits) seems to be so understanding that it could be difficult to digest, but then I remind myself that this is a fairy tale. The audience sure understands there is no point marrying someone who has fallen out of love/ found someone else but lack of contempt is just a shocker. So what is the fuss about?-  the fuss is more about incompatibility in the backgrounds and the inability of the male protagonist to admit his love. Finally, the fairy tale ends the way it should, we are all happy now.

The visual look & feel of this movie is excellent and kudos to the production designer and the art director (Shruti Gupte and Prajakta Ghag) for bringing the fairy tale alive . I loved the colors used in the backgrounds and the absolute classy richness of the sets, every inch of the screen you can feel royalty oozing out. The other highlight of the movie is Kirron Khers’ acting, you can have her play the boisterous Punjabi mother in a million movies but she will sure give you a different character feel each time with her commendable variety and nuances in peformances. I wish the movie was just a bit longer for I would have absolutely have loved to see more of Ratna Pathak scenes, who I deeply admire.

I personally liked the movie Aisha (coming from the same production) a lot more- watched in 4 times, and I can’t help but compare. It had a more balanced characterization, irrespective of the innumerable actors and great music. However, this one is not bad at all, you can definitely watch it once for its strengths 

Finding Fanny..Please watch it in English!

Pic Courtesy: Wikipedia

Before I even begin to write a review about this movie, I must say I haven’t really watched it. Having got the tickets in a hurry online, I made a mistake watching a “Dubbed in Hindi Version”. I can imagine the dialogues and the original script were all primarily drafted and directed in English, hence the voice-over kills the experience to an extent.  Given that the movie is a satirical comedy , I was a bit disappointed since I missed out on the original jokes that were delivered in english, however the slapstick components made up for it. Despite the deep regret of not watching the real thing, you cannot miss on two very strong aspects about the movie. Numero UNO to the story telling of Homi Adajania, I personally can’t wait for him to publish a book now. Secondly, as expected the amazing cast of the movie, I just can’t imagine either being replaced. The senior actors were a joy to watch and for someone who loved Jaane Bhi Do Yaroon, this was a must watch for the sake of nostalgia and reverence.

I read a couple of reviews and many commentaries calling it a  “simple story”, on the contrary it’s only the plot that was simple,  is what I thought with five really complicated characters in a small boring Goan village living a life of ennui -  A young widow, Angie (Deepika Padukone), an old overly depressed postman,  Ferdie (Nasserudin Shah),  a mechanic, Savio(Arjun Kapoor), a pompous artist (Pankaj Kapur), and the haughty Rosie,“ (Dimple Kapadia).  Angie wants to help Ferdie find his long lost love Fanny, and thus begins journey to find Fanny. The other characters join in as well,  and it turns out as one hilarious journey towards finding themselves.  There are a few hidden secrets that connect the characters and unfold as the story progresses. The movie of course ends when Fanny is finally found(sorry I broke the suspense!), and also with a rather sweet message about finding love where you are, than waiting for it forever

I am going to watch the English version soon, perhaps detailed comments then, so well I am writing just so that you don’t go watch it in Hindi ;)