#Khamoshiyan #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

#Khamoshiyan #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #JohnsonThomas Rating: * *

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReview30thJan2015/#JohnsonThomas

              

#Picks&Piques/SnippetFilmReview30thJan2015/#JohnsonThomas

#Hawaizaada(Hindi) Rating: * * Farcical ‘flight’ of fancy, a historical period(1800’s) drama/fantasy in retro-fitted plumes, with overdone, frivolous and inappropriate ‘Barfi’ like songs, soundtrack and ‘Chaplinesque’ treatment and a runtime that stretches far beyond the bearable. Cluttered Production Design and weird styling gives the impression that the film is peddling an antique store filled with items of indiscriminate periodicity.  There’s also little evidence of any science behind this ‘flight’ to nowhere! #AyushmanKhurana #PallaviSharda #MithunChakravarthy #RelianceEntertainment #TrilogicDigitalMediaLtd #FilmFarmers #VibhuVirendraPuri #VishalGurmani  #SpicePR

#Rahasya(Hindi) Rating: * * ½   A murder mystery/crime thriller fashioned around the Arushi murder case-but transported to a Mumbai setting. It’s a whodunit that wanders way beyond the plausible. Far too many red-herrings and all-too convenient assumptions, act as spoilers. With zero tension there’s not much of an experience to be had here. And the stereotypical behavior exhibited by the cops and CBI investigator puts paid to any expectations of realism per se! Really, there’s no secret worth unraveling here. #Viacom18MotionPictures #UVIFilmProductions #AshishVidyarthi #TiscaChopra #ManishGupta #KayKayMenon #AshwiniKalsekar #RaindropPR #MonicaVimalMaluka

#ChalGuruHoJaaShuru(Hindi) Rating: * It’s about Godmen running amok and then getting a taste of their own medicine. Absolutely inane and unbearable. There’s really no chance that you will get a rise out of this one. #HimanshuPR #DwaparPR #ManojSharma #HemantPandey #TikkuTalsania #BrijendraKala #VrajeshHirjee

 

#Khamoshiyan(Hindi) Rating: * * A manipulative seductress aiming to capture the soul of men, the story appears to be something that came out of those shabby sex novellas and the treatment is equally ritualistic and voyeuristic. A concerted advertorial campaign can do little to raise this unexciting attempt to arouse mass carnality- to the level of intellectual satisfaction or worth  #VikramBhatt #MukeshBhatt #MahashBhatt #GurmeetChoudhary #AliFazal #VisheshFilms #FoxStarStudios #KaranDarra #SapnaPabbi #MukeshBhatt #FoxStarStudios

#SeventhSon(English/3D) Rating: * * ½ Splendorous action can only make this passé fare just a little likeable. The 3D effects and depth make the CGI animatronics exciting enough but the mythical legend bit has been done to death so many times over that it just doesn’t raise any new excitement ! #MoesArt #UniversalPictures #JascintoFernandes #JeffBridges #JulianneMoor,#BenBarnes #AliciaVikander #OliviaWilliams #KitHarington #SergeiBodrov

 

#Birdman(English) Rating: * * *1/2 Silly , Manic, incredulously credible take on self-absorption and ego-trips of actors on stage. It’s ironic, satirical and completely weird-much like actors are perceived to be. And that’s the beauty of it! #AlejandroGonzalezInarrittu #ParagDesai #FoxStar #UniversalCommunications #MichaelKeaton #EmmaStone #EdwardNorton #NaomiWatts, #LindsayDuncan #AndreaRiseborough #AmyRyan #ZachGalifianakis

 

#Foxcatcher(English) Rating: * * * * A chillingly told docudrama about John du Pont, the schizophrenic millionaire who infamously shot and killed his friend and Olympic Gold Medal wrestler Dave Schultz. Moneyball's Benett Miller does the helming in a steady slow to chill mode. Once the dramatics erupts it achieves shocking effects! Amazing performances from Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell

 #ChanningTatum #SteveCarell #MarkRuffalo #BenettMiller #SiennaMiller #SonyPictureClassics #HardlyAnonymous

Hindi Film Review

Johnson Thomas

Skimpy Beginnings!

Film: Khamoshiyan

Cast: Ali Fazal, Gurmeet Choudhary, Sapna Pabbi

Director: Karan Darra

Rating:* *

Karan Darra, the latest debut-making director from the Vikram Bhatt-Vishesh films Production line, brings us a supernatural erotic thriller, much on the lines of the team’s earlier efforts. So cheap eroticism, scenes of sexual misdemeanors, eerie thrills are all expected to be par for this course. At least the set-up to it all is…

The  film is an erotic love triangle revolving around a writer adrift in the icy slopes of Kashmir where he discovers a woman with a strange, silent past. Kabir(Ali Fazal) is a one book wonder who has just been jilted in love. So to find inspiration he takes off on a journey that he hopes will help him put pen to paper again. He finds a desolate looking  guesthouse that appears appropriate for his endeavor and checks-in. There he meets the beautiful wife, Meera(Sapna Pabbi) of a once rich paper-mill owner,Jaidev(Gurmeet) who disguised himself as a charming man to win her affections, but once done, reverted to a controlling demon that he truly was. Kabir promptly falls in love with the lady and sets into play a series of events that spill out in well-oiled outage.

Jaidev is unwell, bed-ridden and makes Meera do his bidding which involves being diabolic and capturing souls of unsuspecting men. Kabir is curious at first and drawn to her beauty and eventually finds himself doubting his own senility. The standard tricks are employed to create eerie effects and suspicious events.

 ‘Khamoshiyan’ is production line effects, lissome long legged beauty primping at being terrorized, new wooden actor in parallel lead, a secret that brings on the heebee geebees in the screenplay and plenty of Sufi suffused music to lend you those welcome loo breaks. And yeah, dead bodies show up at opportune moments too.  

Karan Darra manages to keep the interest going for the first half but once the narrative enters the supernatural realm there’s just not enough atmosphere or credibility in the goings-on to keep you glued to your seats. A manipulative seductress aiming to capture the soul of men, the story appears to be something that came out of those shabby sex novellas and the treatment is equally ritualistic and voyeuristic. A concerted advertorial campaign can do little to raise this unexciting attempt to arouse mass carnality- to the level of intellectual satisfaction or worth. The songs are generic and there’s not much of a take-home from the acting other than Ali Fazal’s easygoing and charming screen presence. Not much of a thrill this!

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