Double Dhamaal- Movie Review

Source: http://j.mp/iM18KQ

Disclaimer: I enjoyed Dhamaal!

Double Dhamaal comes on the heels of the many recent Hindi movie sequels, which have not had the best track record. However the trailer and reviews made the movie sound promisingly funny. After the disastrous viewing of Always… kabhi kabhi I really hoping for a good comedy experience.

However Double Dhamaal was not as funny as it was being made out to be. It had its funny moments but they were few and far. The best scene was the imitation of Shah Rukh Khan being identified as that of a farm animal. The songs seemed forced and except for Jalebi Bai none of them were enjoyable. Mallika smoked in the song and danced well.

The boys acted well but Ritesh Deshmukh stood out, especially in his disguise as the wealthy Gujrati investor. Ashish Choudhary deserves special mention for his fantastic disguise as a hot female who funnily enough looked a lot like Neha Dhupia! For the girls, I preferred Mallika Sherawat as Kangana seemed to overact which made her look very uncomfortable and weird even.

All in all, the basic promise of out and out comedy was not fulfilled though the movie is watchable for light entertainment and definitely for the scene imitating Shah Rukh Khan.

Bridesmaids- Movie Review

Source: http://j.mp/jvxiTC

Disclaimer: I loved White Chicks, Mean Girls, Hangover and Hangover Part 2 (though I preferred Hangover to Hangover Part 2)

I’ve been watching the Bridesmaids trailer for almost over 2 months. The trailer looks amazing and the reviews from US were promising with talk of the movie being the female Hangover. Needless to say I had been eagerly waiting for the movie to finally release in the UK. So when the movie finally released, I was at the cinema on the very first day.

The trailer is quite misleading as the girls never make it to Las Vegas and many scenes shown were not in the movie. The movie has its moment; the scene at the bridesmaids fitting and the engagement party stands out instantly. However other than that scene there is nothing else “Hangover” about the movie. In fact after 1 hour into the movie, it turns into a cliché chick flick. The ending is typical chick flick and very predictable.

The acting of all the character is great and I especially loved the character of Officer Nathan Rhoads (Chris O'Dowd) and as expected hated the self-obsessed character of Ted (Jon Hamm).

All in all, Bridesmaids was one of the better movies I’ve recently seen but it did not live up to the hype surrounding it.

Barry Island, Wales, UK

After living in Cardiff for a year and having moved out 8 months ago, I finally visited Barry Island this month. I always wanted to visit Barry Island but kept waiting for good weather (warm and sunny) and the trip never happened. So this month when I went to Cardiff for a weekend and the weather was warm and sunny, I decided to seize the opportunity.

Barry Island is really close to Cardiff; a 30min train ride from Cardiff Central. We got a small group price for the train tickets which worked out to £3.30 per person. Upon reaching Barry Island train station we realised that Barry Island is a “no alcohol zone”. Anyways we made our way to the “Pleasure Park” and were greeted by a very compact area filled with 7-8 rides in total. Luckily for me, 4-5 of them were actually thrill rides. All rides at the Pleasure Park use coupons which were surprisingly really cheap. They are even cheaper if you buy in bulk and work out to less than 70p a coupon (the most expensive ride needed 3 coupons).

So after sitting on all the rides and having all my internal organs tossed around, we made our way to the beach. Frankly I was very pleasantly surprised by the beach- it was a proper sand beach and not a pebbles/ stone beach. The view from the beach was gorgeous! It was a lagoon with a long cliff running along one side. Being very ambitious we decided to walk along the boulders below the cliff and somehow make our way to the top. Needless to say, it was an interesting climb.

Ah the view from the cliff! It was breathtakingly beautiful with the beach at the back and the sea in front. There were benches placed along the edge of the cliff for people to enjoy the view. As you can imagine, the wind was crazy on top of the cliff and made walking around quite a challenge. Despite the weather elements, we soaked in the view and indulged in photography. (All of us forgot to bring our cameras so we were using our phones)

Always…kabhi kabhi – Movie Review

Source: Bollywood Hungama http://i.indiafm.com/firstlook/akk1.jpg

Disclaimer: I love Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for those who said Always…kabhi kabhi was the new Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for today’s youths.

Always…Kabhi kabhi made me laugh a lot, not because it was funny but because it was so bad. The scenes, the dialogues, the situations and the issues in the movie were incredulous. The obvious tries to make the movie young and in tune with youths today was painful to watch.

The movie was filled with cringe-worthy lines and songs that were forced into the “story”. 2 of these painful lines were “Life ko experience karo google nahi” and “SMS kar raha hoga. Aaj kaal ke bacche tabhi saar jhukate hain”. There was even a song titled antenna!! I may not be the youth today but I am sure they have far better taste than what they movie offered them. The climax of the movie left me thinking “WTF” and I’m confident it wasn’t me alone who was wondering what was happening on the screen.

The movie had 4 debutant actors and each was worse than the other. They were all acting so randomly as if the movie was one very long audition process in which they forced expressions and emotions at whim and fancy regardless of the scene. Ali Fazal especially seemed inspired by Shah Rukh Khan but not in a good manner. Vijay Raaz was also totally a waste in the movie; what was his role, why was he in the movie?

All in all, the movie is perfect if you want to feel great about your normal life as the four characters in the movie have the most weird life and problems. Worst movie I have watched in a long time! I felt like I was being violated while watching the movie. God only knows why and how I sat through the whole movie... I should have walked out with the many viewers who started leaving 30min into the movie.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – Book Review

Source: http://j.mp/iOwUDo

I got ‘A Fine Balance’ at Dishoom (a London Indian restaurant) as part of the ‘World Book Night 2011’ which basically promotes writing and power of books by distributing near 1 million books for free.

A Fine Balance is definitely not a light read. The book is full of dark, depressing and disturbing scenes. Despite the bleak and stark reality of India during the Emergency in India in 1970s, the book inspires in its own way. It inspires in comparison to what Indians have achieved today, more so than India. The writing in the book is superb. Rohinton paints a vivid picture with his words and transports the reader into the world of his characters. It doesn’t matter how different the read is to the characters; the reader ends up connecting with and understanding the vastly different stories of each of the four protagonists of the book. The book is also an eye-opener to the realities of India during the Emergency rule and how the lay-man suffered to fulfill the political agenda of dirty politicians. This might still be the case in India today, but the sufferings during the Emergency were of another level.

I loved reading the book and felt enlightened about the India of the 1970s that I had not witnessed. The book is a great read but not for when you’re feeling down and depressed.