It’s all around, the year’s biggest entertaining movie… So, get ready to meet Salman and enjoy him again in his comic-action style role in the home production ‘READY’.

Cast:

Prem [Salman Khan], Sanjana [Asin], Prem’s father [Mahesh Manjrekar], Prem’s two uncles [Manoj Joshi, Manoj Pahwa], Sanjana’s two mamas [Sharat Saxena, Akhilendra Mishra]

Storyline:

Prem lives with his father and two uncles. Sanjana, an orphan, lands in India to be with her mamas, who are greedy and want to usurp her property. Prem, who falls in love with Sanjana, decides to teach her mamas a lesson. Both the mamas, who are sworn enemies, want Sanjana to get married to their respective brothers-in-law, so that they can lay their hands on Sanjana’s property. But Prem makes a fool of them by getting friendly with them and making his family pose as billionaires. Circumstances prompt the mamas to accept Prem as the prospective husband of Sanjana. But Prem’s game plan gets exposed on his wedding day.

What worked:

The most important working factor is Salman Khan. He waves the magic wand and the audiences get involved. The director and the editing of the movie keep the audiences stick to their seats. The songs are very youthful and presented nicely. Asin supports Salman nicely and also all other characters play their part well. There is lot of action and comedy. It is fully entertaining movie. The way all things are linked up in the movie shows the intelligence of the director.

What didn’t:

The story is mediocre. Though the script is funny and also becomes serious at parts, leaves some loopholes. The story drags in the first half. There some jokes that cannot be considered as jokes.

Overall:

If you want to go for a fully entertaining movie keeping your sense aside, then get ‘ready’, Salman is waiting for you.

Mumbai Masti Ratings: 3/5

Kuch Love Jaisa Review

Kuch Love Jaisa is not a typical ghar sansar movie. It has the element of thrill, comedy, fun. But story fails to make a perfect blend of all three and hence does not appeal to the audiences.

Cast:

Madhu Saxena (Shefali Shah), Raghav (Rahul Bose), Sumeet Raghvan, Neetu Chandra

Storyline:

‘Kuch Love Jaisa’ is a movie about a bored housewife Madhu Saxena. She is married to Sumeet and is leading a typical housewife’s life. It is her birthday and she is looking for a complete makeover for herself. In her pursuit of happiness she finds a guy whom she is thinks is a secret detective. This guy is Raghav, who is actually a criminal running from cops.

Madhu proposes to Raghav to let her accompany him on his secret mission to which he agrees after much speculation. The rest of the movie is woven around the incidents that they both encounter and present a roller coaster ride of fun and thrill to the audience.

What worked:

The director has done a good job. The sequences also are linked and well connected.  Initially the housewife Shefali is typically a lone housewife who is bored of the mundane routine and the second half presents her in a new makeover avatar. Rahul has done a brilliant job. His acting skills are unquestionable. Sumeet and Neetu have lived up to their roles. It is a movie that can provide some respite from the traditional ghar sansaar types of movies.

What didn’t:

The fundamental flaw of this film is that it expects us to find Shefali’s character endearing, but instead she comes across as a relentlessly stupid fool who deserves to suffer. This urban, sophisticated, well-read woman actually moves into a hotel room with a stranger who claims to be a detective.

Then there are a few scenes that are downright cringe-inducing. Shefali’s character casually asks her preteen daughter if she has had sex, and when the kid asks her if ‘sex’ is ‘love’, the mother suddenly goes into flashback mode and visualides Rahul Bose standing close to her in an elevator to the backdrop of pseudo rock music.

Overall:

One can watch the movie for Shefali’s makeover and Rahul Bose performance but avoid coming out from the theater with a sad face.

Mumbai Masti Ratings: 2.5/5

RAGINI MMS REVIEW

Ekta Kapoor's new offering is making noise for the right and wrong reasons... The stand-off between the real Ragini and Ekta, angry locals pulling down hoardings of this film, even blackening the faces of the lead pair on its posters, usage of a popular song from JEWEL THIEF, censors finding a few scenes very explicit, the threesome party hosted by Ekta a few days ago... RAGINI MMS is the most discussed film of recent times.

Cast:
Ragini [Kainaz Motivala], Uday [Raj Kumar Yadav]

Storyline:
The quintessential couple, Ragini and Uday, set out to have a dirty weekend at a friend's farmhouse on the outskirts of Mumbai. The weekend getaway quickly changes gears as they find themselves in a house that has been rigged with cameras in Bigg Boss style. The cameras that were meant to capture love-making are witness to something that is beyond the realm of human understanding... something metaphysical...

Within the confines of this house, Ragini and Uday are now at the mercy of an unexplainable paranormal force. With sundown approaching, what will the new entrants of the house do?

Along with the horror genre, there is a certain emotional aspect in the story as well, which shows how the guy lures the girl under the pretext of love in order to take a video clip of her and sell it.


What worked:
What works in favor of RAGINI MMS is the fact that first-time director Pavan Kirpalani chooses a scandalous, real-life story and garnishes it with sex and horror. Not All of RAGINI MMS is sex and scandal. There's a 'third person' watching the act as well, plus there's a story behind this haunted mansion. However, it's terrifying enough to make you jump on your seat.

The director as well as the DoP [Tribhuvan Babu] ensures that the hand-held camera footage as also the cinematography in general is in sync. There's no scope for songs in the film and portions of the songs, inserted at places, are well juxtaposed in the sequences. However, the background score [Faizan-Agnel] is more than just throbbing music, digitized screams and high-pitched shrieks.

Both Raj Kumar Yadav [seen in LOVE SEX AUR DHOKHA] and Kainaz Motivala are truly wonderful. Shedding all inhibitions aside, the actors deliver striking performances.

What didn’t:
On the flipside, the film stagnates for a few minutes in the post-interval portions. Though the film is short in duration, with a running time of approx 100 minutes, you still feel that things could've been spruced up towards the middle of the second half. Also, the card at the end, which shares vital info on the characters and the conclusion, could've had a longer stay for it to register well.

Overall:
RAGINI MMS amalgamates components of horror, paranormal and sex seamlessly. The lethal combo of sex and horror should entice not just the average moviegoer, but also Gen X and the more evolved audience that values and embraces innovative themes and new genres of cinema.

Mumbai Masti Ratings: 3.75/5

HAUNTED 3D REVIEW

Horror has become Vikram Bhatt's synonym now (and it seems the filmmaker is in no mood to budge from it as of now). After giving spine-chilling, edgy films like RAAZ, 1920, SHAAPIT in the past, Vikram is back again with his loved genre with HAUNTED - 3D. And with his latest outing he takes horror to the next level in Indian Cinema. For the first time in the history of Bollywood we meet horror in 3D format.
The cast:

Rehan (Mahakshay Chakraborty), Meera (Tia Bajpai), Mr. Iyer (Arif Zakaria)

The storyline:

The story takes place during the ancient proposition of a haunted mansion called Glen Manor in an isolated hill-station. A real estate broker's son Rehan arrives to this ancient mansion to dispose it off due to his father's request. Rehan starts to observe flickering lights, screeching doors, tumbling chandelier, timeworn photo-frame, unsophisticated piano, dangling corpse, jarring screams all scoring to a song as the clock strikes 3.00 am in the night done by spirits.
One day he happens to see a book falling from the shelves and finds a letter in it. In the letter written by this gal Meera (Tia Bajpai) , it tells that she committed suicide because she was inhumanly raped by the spirit of her piano teacher (Arif Zakaria) whom she murdered in order to save herself while he tried to rape her when he was alive teaching piano in Meera's mansion. Since then, Meera's spirit is restricted in the haunted house by the evil spirit of her piano teacher for decades. Although Rehan does not share any personal contact with Meera, he is motivated to support her, only due to the almost century old letter and on his aim to sell this property.

What worked:

HAUNTED packs in spooky effects like the lights going off in the haunted mansion, creaky doors, the evil spirit jumping from nowhere et al that makes a desi horror film 'comprehensive' in the true sense.
Another prime reason why HAUNTED stays with you is, well, watching the story unfold in 3D. Bhatt merges the deadly combo of horror with 3D effectively.
Raju Rao's background score is excellent and cannot go unnoticed and promises to jolt you out of our seats.
Pravin Bhatt's cinematography is top notch.
Tia Bajpai the new comer and Mahakshay Chakraborty have done justice to the lead roles.

What didn’t:

If the writing is smart and wicked at most times, it gives away at a few places as well. Especially when [spoiler alert] the hero goes back in time and romances the heroine. The entire dance and song sequence in the middle of the night is outrageous and despicable simply because when you have fatality staring at you in your face, you just cannot dance and sing. It takes away the gravity of the goings-on. Actually, HAUNTED would've made a greater impact had it been a song-less film, since the songs act as an encumbrance in an otherwise almost perfect fare.
Besides, the rape sequence seems very tame by today's standards.

Overall:

Despite the flaws, HAUNTED doesn't erase the efforts of the rest of the film. It caters completely to those who love to get spooked. Go, get spooked!

Mumbai Masti Ratings: 3/5

Chalo Dilli film review

One more Delhi based film... The weirest couple ever... A comedy road movie... And Yana Gupta's classic item number Laila-O-laila... All this has made Chalo Dilli the most awaited movie of the season!

The cast:
Manu Gupta (Vinay Pathak) and Mihika Mukherjee (Lara Dutta)

The storyline:
Shashant Shah, after an emotional debut Dasvidaniya, has brought in a clean comedy for the sheer entertainment of all the desi audiences. Type-casted as a road movie, Chalo Dilli highlights the local affairs in the cities of Mumbai, Jaipur and Delhi and proves to be a pure desi film. The story revolves around a mismatch pair ever Mihika Mukharjee, an uptown investment banker who is on her way to Delhi to meet her husband and Manu Gupta, a saree trader from Chandi Chowk going back home from Mumbai. This journey from Mumbai to Delhi via Jaipur is obstructed several times and is full of adventures, madness and crazy comic moments. After all this fun journey the cultural and class divide gets bridged up. Mihika finally lands up at Delhi, tired worn out and the moral of the story dawn upon her, ‘Do not judge anyone by the face value…including yourself’

What worked:
The film is in whole a desi watch, with elements like dhabas, camels carts, deserts and train journey. The dialogues sounded sharp and witty, specially because of the perfect timing by actor Vinay Pathak. Even after giving a few rough performances, Lara gets the character right and convinces the viewers of being an upper crust entity. Though songs don't play an integral part of Chalo Dilli, 'Laila O Laila', featuring Yana Gupta and 'Matargastiya', were the most noticeable tracks. the director does a smart thing by not having a cliched romantic angle between Manu and Mihika, which is a good thing.

What didn’t:
The writing is inconsistent and so is the direction. Probably, a more crisp and tight writing would have resulted in a more impactful climax. there are shades of the other cult road movie, Jab We Met, which cloud the originality of the script. You are treated to sad jokes by Manu.

Overall:
Chalo Dilli is an exciting and amusing watch, with terrific moments. If you are looking for a decent light watch, with Indian touch, then Chalo Dilli is something that you will like to watch.

Mumbai Masti Ratings: 3/5

Dum Maro Dum Review

Rohan Sippy’s latest movie Dum Maro Dum is in news for various reasons. The controversies made it as the most awaited movie of the season.

The cast:

Lorry (Prateik Babbar), ACP Vishnu Kamath (Abhishek Bachchan), Joki (Rana Daggubati), Zoe (Bipasha Basu), Lorsa Biscuit (Aditya Pancholi), Tani (Anaitha Nair) and others.

The storyline:

Giving way to the logo of Ramesh Sippy Films, the movie starts with a small montage of blockbusters of yesteryears. Lorry and his sweetheart, Tani, have sworn to spend their entire life with each other. But love comes with difficulties when Lorry fails to bag a scholarship at an international university while his girlfriend Tani does and she heads to the States for further studies while Lorry stays back due to financial problems. The drug mafia see a potential scapegoat in him and Lorry gets sucked into it!

ACP Vishnu Kamath, head of the Narcotics Department is appointed to cleanse Goa of all the dirt and drugs. Lorsa Biscuit is the wealthiest person in Goa and its self proclaimed Boss, responsible for corrupting innocent lives, and Zoe is one such victim. Then there is Joki - the local lad, a musician, and ex-lover of Zoe and friend of Lorry who also wishes to right the wrongs as he has already lost his girlfriend to Lorsa and doesn’t want to lose Lorry.

There's a Michael Barbossa who controls the entire drug scene, is rumoured to be the master of the universe but is not known to anyone. Hence unraveiling this suspense forms the rest of the story.

What worked:

The slick editing by Aarif Shaikh and great cinematography by Amit Roy works for the film. The way Goa and its rave parties are captured is commendable. Abhishek Bachchan is impressive as a Cop. Rana is a promising find. Bipasha Basu acts decent.

What didn’t:

Deepika's item song is weary and didn't do the job! Out of a sudden Abhishek starts rapping on “Thai! Thai!”. Prateik’s voice is disconnected from the rest of him. The first half of the film has a great build up to an interesting suspense drama but it starts trudging in the second half and even the revelation of the suspense is disappointing. Aditya Pancholi fails to do justice to his character. Pritam’s music works only in parts.

Overall:

A one-time watch movie with a suspense element, action, item number, romance, drama etc that can entice the audience.