Murder 3 Reviews

If the truth be told, the essence of this neatly-packaged thriller about what lies beneath is obtained in the second half where the whole philosophy of the mirror-image and the reflection of the soul in the individual conscience is given a walloping visual manifestation. Hats off to debutant director Vishesh Bhatt for bringing to life that tricky zone which separates mirage from reality.

The film opens on a rather unpromising note. We see a sexy restaurant manager (Sara Loren) take a drunken lout home. Just why she's do anything so foolhardy in today's day and age of heightened sex crimes, is beyond logic. They are soon in an intense relationship punctuated by bouts of monotonous pseudo-Sufiana songs that add nothing to narrative momentum.

Suddenly mid-way through the narrative finds its bearings to strike a deep chord within the plot's heart and emerge with a cat-and-mouse game where the two ladies, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren indulge in a cat-and-mouse game that leaves the film's official hero hopelessly marginalized.

While it would be unfair to give away the plot, suffice it to say that if you are lucky enough to have not seen the original, this film would knock you out of your seat. The entire drama is done in the style of a chamber-piece replete with remarkably precise art decor detailing .

While Raju Singh's background score adds to the aura of foreboding and, yes, Sunil Patel's cinematography is impeccably radiant it is Aditi Rao's performance as a woman trapped in a maze of her own suspicion who imparts a sense of gamine-like fun to the inherent terror quotient of the drama.

Indeed, Aditi is the hero of "Murder 3" furnishing a sense of foreboding to the kinetic goings-on. Sara Loren as the girl on the opposite side of the mirror image has a fetching face and fairly expressive body... language! But the talented Randeep Hooda's drunken drawls and brooding machismo are now getting repetitive. Time for a reinvention, Mr Hooda.

In terms of visual and emotional fluency and in connecting the supernatural content to a compelling context, "Murder 3" moves far ahead of the first and second instalments of the franchise. Mired in a mystique that constantly unravels whispering dark secrets, the film marks an assured directorial debut for Vishesh Bhatt.

Raanjhanaa - Hindi Movie Review

Banner:    Eros International
Cast:    Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Swara Bhaskar, Kumud Mishra
Direction:    Aanand L. Rai
Production:    Krishika Lulla
Music:    A R Rahman

What is it all about? Bollywood and its love stories.. here is a new definition of love.. 'Raanjhanaa' this Eros International feature which launches the south sensation Dhanush in Bollywood is a brilliantly written, marvelously performed and soulfully sung desi capricious love guide beautifully realized by director Aanand Rai.. We are used to feel good romancers with added dose of bromance thrown in regularly by the tinsel town filmmakers.. 'Raanjhanaa' is an unsuspecting welcome surprise which turns from poetic to politics taking the viewers on a journey which witnesses adolescent, obsession, jealously, friendship, ignorance, innocence, faith, love, loss, sacrifice, anger, revenge, guilt all one after the another and hold its 'heart' right at the centre for its recognition as a wonderfully told different love story of Bollywood.. The Story.. Himanshu Sharma as the writer does a marvelous job here.. the story is set on the holy ghats of Ganges Banaras where Kundan (Dhanush) sees Joya (Sonam Kapoor) much before his adolescent and falls in love with her head over heels... Circumstances force Zoya to go to Delhi for further education. A wannabe politician (Abhay Deol) steals her heart... but be aware this is not a run of the mill triangle and just when you expect that now the feel good regular bollywood romancer will take charge.. the writer shocks you with a twist which can be anything from a political conspiracy to a joke on the so called paper revolutionaries (social media) revolutionaries who jump in the protest without understanding the root cause of the issue.. and the writer manages this difficult task of twining the poetry of love in Banaras to the politics of the so called 'waken' up young souls in the capital Delhi in this new found 'touchy' adage of love which is also blended with attitude.. What to look out for Aanand Rai and his writer Himanshu Sharma are in song when they take us to Banaras.. the settings, the mood, the atmosphere, the lingo everything is bang on.. Tanu Weds Manu proved that Aanand Rai is a good director... The banaras episodes in 'Raanjhanaa' crosses the career bridge for Aanand and brings him to the point where his substantial talent becomes vividly clear.. Anand's narration backed by Himanshu's writing powers gives an utter assurance of a profound

ly moving picture in store for us when the love story in Banaras grows and continue to grow.. the moments are highly entertaining, humorous, poetic and yet so simplistic.. Excellent.. as said earlier Himanshu Sharma's dialogues are sheer brilliant piece of writing but those silent moments in the film where everything gets shared with the viewers just by expressions is just magic.. The confidence by which Aanand Rai takes the movie to an unconventional route deserves high praise..Himanshu again supports the cause of his director and we get a pulsating climax which knocks you out of the blue and Vow!! What a way to end.. real Ashiqui.. must say.. Propelled by A.R.Rahman's soulfully soothing scores.. 'Raanjhanaa' gets an inspiring lift.. Tu Mun Shudi, Tum Tak, Piya Milenge are highly addictive enhancing the movie watching experience.. Vishal Sinha and Nataraja Subramanian do a beautiful job with their camera which captures the beauty of Banaras and the chaos in Delhi to great effect.. Hemal Kothari editing is crisp.. Production Design by Wasiq Khan and Art Direction by Tariq Umar Khan is up to mark.. Coming to performances Dhanush debut in Bollywood is terrific.. he is a stealer.. those who has seen him are worthy of his talents and 'Raanjhanaa' is all set to widen his fan base all over.. this actor is so simple and yet magical.. his comic timings is excellent.. while his emotional rendering on screen is touchy moving.. capturing the viewer right from the first frame till the end.. Dhanush with his brilliance makes us believe that this role was tailored made for him.. Sonam Kapoor is a revelation.. this is her finest performance till date.. Abhay Deol is fantastic.. From the supporting cast Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as the side kick Dhanush friend is the best. He gets some goods lines also.. he is sheer fun.. Swara Bhaskar gets a meaty role and she proves her versatility.. What not The transformation of Ranjhanaa from poetic to politics is somewhat sudden and looks hurried.. though the sequences prove a point but it takes some extra time of the viewers to digest this sudden revolution in this love story.. Conclusion: 'Raanjhanaa' this 140 minutes film strikes a rather unconventional notes of love ordered by Anand, orchestrated by A.R.Rahman's soulful tunes and powered by amazing performances by Dhanush and Sonam.. traveling between love, faith and loss taking the viewer on a journey that ends with a beautiful final image we rarely see in cinema. 'Raanjhanaa' is a movie that should be seen, savored and thoughtfully appreciated.

Ghanchakkar - Hindi movie review

Banner:	UTV Motion Pictures
Cast:	Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajesh Sharma, Namita Das
Direction:	Rajkumar Gupta
Production:	Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur
Music:	Amit Trivedi

What is it all about?

Wow.. UTV teams up with Raj Kumar Gupta (Aamir, No One Killed Jessica) along with Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan (Dirty Picture) to tickle our funny bones by tickling at the con comedy zone... But Ain.. Mr Gupta in his paradigm shift from stirring souls to con jhols goes wrong in convincing and conveying this chakkar that was designed to make you go Wow! instead provokes a great big Huh? (read Ain)..

The Story

The writers Raj Kumar Gupta and Parveez Sheikh plan this heist with a bhol bhulaiya twist where Sanju (Emraan Hashmi) a lootera (read thief) teams up with two weirdo robsters where one of them Idris (Namit Das) is more crazy over raw brinjals then fresh lobsters and loves to play doctor doctor with his telephone kumari (read friend) while the other Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) is always found dressed in safari.. They do a great bank robbery which turns out to be a great bollywood tribute to Holywood's Kathryn Bigelow's 'Point Break'.. but wait as everything goes accordingly Sanju gets the responsibility of hiding the money for three months because he is married and stays with his wife Neetu (Vidya Balan) who suffers from fashion phobia and loves to wear anything in 'vogue' be it designed for a lady in Ethiopia or Indonesia... when the time to split the booty Sanju claims of memory loss and.. and.. and..

What to look out for?

Gupta starts extremely well.. the bank robbery is hilarious and gem of a moment. The passenger with vegetables, the doctor doctor on phone, the road side baba, Vidya Balan's craze for latest fashion are all sheer fun... First half manages to paste a constant smile on the audience face and kudos to Gupta and Parveez for this accomplishment..

Its certainly not at all easy to make the audience happily interested with smiles in such genre where crime and humour are on a date..

Coming to performances Emraan Hashmi is excellent. This is not his comfort zone but he excels. The trauma, anguish, disbelief Emraan does it with finesse. Brilliant.

Vidya Balan.. well first of all she deserves a pat for agreeing to play a non protagonist and the wonder is even after not playing the central character Vidya shines in this Punjabi housewife 'avatar' which is hilarious, funny, and entertaining, her lingo is spot on with and without those polka dots.. Vidya gives a meaty 'weighty' performance. Excellent.

Rajesh Sharma is superb as ever. Namit Das is very good.  Parvin Dabas is okay.

Amit Trivedi music is in flavor. Satyajit Pande does a fine job with his lenses. Aarti Bajaj's editing is fine. Rick Roy's costumes do justice to the characters. Production values are up to mark.

What not

After a very promising first half Gupta suddenly post interval suffers from identity crisis's and almost murders the movie's identity.. the script written jointly by himself and Parveez fails to find any wings for a cinematic high neither it winks for a possible layer or a statement.. the balance of comedy and crime is lost and we are taken to a whodunit zone and even there also the writer director miss the golden rule - they fool you but doesn,t care to give you a reason that you have been fooled.

Post interval the tedious and monotonous forgetting episodes force the audience to lose interest and they don,t care whether Emraan is finding his memory or losing it again.. such movies need an out of the blue never thought of wind up but alas its ends up as a disappointment.

Ghanchakkar problems doesn,t end over here.. blame it on the not so exciting climax.. the background, star status and previous critical and box office acclaim of Emraan, Vidya and Rajkumar Gupta threatens to go against the film.. a lesser known/acclaimed actors directors would have being forgiven for the blunders..

Conclusion: 'Ghanchakkar' - Raj Kumar Gupta's paradigm shift from stirring souls to con jhols starts well but suddenly loses its way and forgets to recover. The brilliant performance by Emraan, Vidya and the supporting cast and the first half is the only saving grace.. the movie which was designed to make the audience laugh at its will after a while commits a crime of letting the audience have their last laugh by the end...