Asian Lite News Archive

Category: Film Review

  • Mirzapur 2 Hits The Right Note

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    Lots of guns and lots of blood, high drama and hint of sleaze, cuss and explosive dialogues, and a cast in good form with a few exciting new additions. Mirzapur 2 ticks the familiar boxes. So, does the show live up to the hype? Yes and no, depending on what you were expecting. If you…

  • A Suitable Boy Gets Mixed Response

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    One of two things happen when Mira Nair tries making an Indian film in India. She crafts a story that is beautifully authentic and inspired by India that is (think Salaam Bombay! or Monsoon Wedding). Or, she tries recreating an India that was, in which case the outcome is beautifully plastic (think Kama Sutra)…writes Vinayak…

  • Putham Pudhu Kaalai: An Anthology Of Emotions

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    If OTT has directly benefitted in terms of viewership owing to lockdown, the outcome of the situation has also served digital content well. A bunch of films and web series drawing plot ideas from lockdown have flooded OTT platforms. You have a new instance in the Tamil anthology, Putham Pudhu Kaalai (translates to A New…

  • Bunty Aur Babli 2 Reunites For Saif and Rani

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    Actors Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutante Sharvari have completed dubbing for the upcoming film, Bunty Aur Babli 2. Director Varun V. Sharma said: “All actors have wrapped up dubbing for the film. ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2’ is a hilarious big-screen entertainer and we can’t wait to show our film to the…

  • Khaali Peeli: Masala Stuffed Romantic Action

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    The functional dose of Bollywood ‘entertainment’ you get is, not surprisingly, the sort that would seem fresh about four decades back. …writes Vinayak Chakravorty Khaali Peeli; Cast: Ishaan Khatter, Ananya Panday, Jaideep Ahlawat, Zakir Hussain; Direction: Maqbool Khan; Rating: * * (two stars) xxx Okay, we get the point. This is supposed to be brainless…

  • Serious Man: A Satirical Reminder Of Hard Realities

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    Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Indira Tiwari, Aakshath Das, Nassar, Sanjay Narvekar, Shweta Basu Prasad; Direction: Sudhir Mishra; Rating: * * * and 1/2 (three and a half stars) Just when you thought you had seen all that sums up the brilliance of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, he springs a new surprise reminding there is much more to come.…

  • Nishabdham: Clouded Mystery Of Silence

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    What could they have possibly said to Michael Madsen, to lure him into signing this one? Yes, Michael Madsen — Hollywood maverick of Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs — turns out in this bizarre piece of bunkum passed off as a thriller, sharing near-parallel footage with the top-billed Anushka Shetty and R. Madhavan. Nishabdham, a…

  • REVIEW: Papanasam

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    The Kamal Haasan we get to see in “Papanasam”, the Tamil remake of Malayalam blockbuster “Drishyam”, is the actor that made him a legend; an acting idol for many contemporary and upcoming actors…writes Haricharan Pudipeddi   Film: “Papanasam”; Cast: Kamal Haasan, Gautami, Nivetha Thomas, Kalabhavan Mani, Asha Sharrath, Ananth Mahadevan, Esther Anil; Director: Jeethu Joseph; Rating:**** The…

  • REVIEW: Bezubaan Ishq

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    Bezubaan Ishq’ is a moders love story which says nothing….writes Troy Ribeiro   Film: “Bezubaan Ishq”; Language: Hindi; Cast: Mugdha Godse, Sneha Ullal, Nishant Malkani, Darshan Jariwala, Farida Jalal, Sachin Khedekar, Smita Jayakar and Muni Jha; Director: Jashwant Gangani; Rating: *1/2 There is nothing new about a love triangle. One has witnessed it a million times and…

  • REVIEW: Max – story of a war dog

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    Max’ – A max(imum) emotional drama …. writes Troy Ribeiro  Film: “Max”; Language: English Cast: Josh Wiggins, Robbie Amell, Mia Xitlali, Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham, Dejon LaQuake and Luke Kleintank; Director: Boaz Yakin; Rating: *** Max is dedicated to the memory of war dogs and their handlers. The narration starts off by telling us, “Dogs have…

  • REVIEW: Guddu Rangeela

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     “Guddu Rangeela”; Language: Hindi; Cast: Arshad Warsi, Ronit Roy, Amit Sadh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shri Swara, Sandeep Goyat and Dibyendu Bhattacharya; Director: Subhash Kapoor; Rating: **** While the mere mention of “Guddu Rangeela” conjures the image of a frivolous and frothy tale of two bumpkins, in reality this one is quite a dynamite. What starts…

  • Review: ‘Hamari Adhuri Kahani’

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    By Troy Ribeiro Film: “Hamari Adhuri Kahani”; Language: Hindi; Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Raj Kumar Rao, Amala Akkineni, Suhashini Mulay and Namit Das; Director: Mohit Suri; Rating: **1/2 Director Mohit Suri’s “Hamari Adhuri Kahani” is an anachronistic, tragic romance that touches an emotional chord, yet, makes you dismiss it as a regressive piece of…

  • REVIEW: Dil Dhadakne Do

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    Troy Ribeiro reviews Zoya Akthar’s new film: “Dil Dhadakne Do” for Asian Lite News – Cast: Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Rahul Bose, Zarina Wahab and Parmeet Sethi,; Director: Zoya Akthar; Rating: ***/12 Narrated from Pluto, the omnipresent family dog’s point of view, “Dil Dhadakne Do” is a classic…

  • REVIEW: The Age of Adaline

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    Troy Ribeiro reviews “The Age of Adaline” for Asian Lite News – Cast: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy Baker, Amanda Crew and Lynda Boyd; Director: Lee Toland Krieger; Rating: ***1/2 “If I had your looks and energy, I’d fall in love tomorrow and if you don’t do it for yourself, at least,…

  • REVIEW: ‘Welcome 2 Karachi’

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    ‘Welcome 2 Karachi’ – troublesome two-some in the Bollywood remake of Dumb and Dumber. Troy Ribeiro reviews the movie for sian Lite, britain’s best newspaper for British Asians. Rating:  ** Film: “Welcome 2 Karachi”; Cast: Arshad Warsi, Jackky Bhagnani, Lauren Gottlieb, Dalip Tahil and Ayub Khosa; Director: Ashish R. Mohan; Rating: ** “Welcome 2 Karachi” aka welcome to…

  • REVIEW: Poltergeist

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    Poltergeist 2015 is not petrifying enough …writes Troy Ribiero   Film: “Poltergeist”; Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Nicholas Braun, Susan Heyward and Soma Bhatia; Director: Gil Kenan; Rating: *1/2 A reboot of the iconic 1982 released Tobe Hooper’s “Poltergeist”, this film with the same name is a…

  • REVIEW: Surkhaab – Focus on migrants

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    Surkhaab tells the story of the flight of the reluctant immigrant…says Troy Ribeiro   Film: “Surkhaab”; Cast: Barkha Madan, Nishant Bahl, Vineeta Mallik, Sumeet Suri, Kanza Feris and Naresh Gosain; Director: Sanjay Talreja; Rating: ** Surkhaab, the beautiful migratory bird that’s found in Punjab is used as a metaphor in this film, and the title song “Des…

  • REVIEW: Tanu Weds Manu – Kangana show

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    Watch this movie for Kangana’s dual magic…writes Troy Ribeiro for Asian Lite, Best Newspaper for British Asians  Film: “Tanu Weds Manu Returns”; Cast: Kangana Ranaut, R. Madhavan, Jimmy Sheirgill, Deepak Dobriyal, Eijaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyb, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K.K. Raina and Dipti Mishra; Director: Anand L. Rai; Rating: *** Very rarely do sequels…

  • FILM REVIEW: Bombay Velvet

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    By Troy Ribeiro  Presented in a dark, moody and stylish manner, “Bombay Velvet” is a complex tale of city politics, ambition, greed and love. But on the face of it, it is a period story of a gangster — in sin-city Bombay — who wants to be “a big shot” someday. The narration rolls off…

  • REVIEW: Al Pacino rocks in Danny Collins

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    Danny Collins’ – intense and emotionally charged…writes Troy Ribeiro for Asian Lite, UK’s best newspaper for British Asians  Film: “Danny Collins”; Cast: Al Pacino, Jennifer Garner, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Josh Peck, Michael Caine, Melisa Benoist and Giselle Eisenberg; Director: Dan Fogelman; Rating: ***1/2 Released under the PVR Director’s Rare banner, writer Dan Fogelman’s maiden…

  • Review: ‘Piku’

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    Film: “Piku”; Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Irrfan, Moushumi Chatterjee, Raghubir Yadav and Jisshu Sengupta; Director: Shoojit Sircar; Rating: ****1/2 The posters and the title scream aloud, “Piku – Motion Se Hi Emotion” and true to its title, there is nothing holding it back, literally and figuratively. Shoojit Sircar, along with his team, who earlier…

  • REVIEW: ‘Jai Ho! Democracy’

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    ‘Jai Ho! Democracy’ – pale, frail and stale tale…writes Subhash K. Jha  Film: “Jai Ho! Democracy”; Cast: Om Puri, Seema Biswas, Annu Kapoor, Aamir Bashir, Satish Kaushik, Adil Hussain; Director: Ranjit Kapoor; Rating: ** A farmer hangs himself from a tree at a political rally. And you wonder how much lower the below-the-belt politics of this…

  • REVIEW: Avengers: Age of Ultron

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    The latest edition of Avengers’ secret mission gone awry….writes Troy Ribeiro for Asian Lite  Film: “Avengers: Age of Ultron”; Cast: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Don Cheadle, Samuel L Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Thomas Kretschmann, Andy Serkis, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini,…

  • ‘The Gunman’ – shoots off-target

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    By Troy Ribeiro  Drafted as a thriller with a love triangle thrown in, “The Gunman” is the tale of an ex-assassin in hiding, who is now being hunted. In a brief prologue dated 2006, the film opens in Kinshasa in the Congo. A news bulletin reveals how large corporations were seeking control of the natural…

  • ‘Dragon Blade’

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    By Troy Ribeiro  Film: “Dragon Blade”; Cast: Jackie Chan, John Cusack, Adrian Brody, Joey Jozef, Lin Peng, Mika Wang, Choi Si-won, Xiao Yang, Wang Taili, Sammy Hung, Steve Yoo, Vanness Wu, Karena Lam, William Feng Shaofeng, Lorie Pester and Sharni Vinson; Director: Daniel Lee; Rating: ** With fine costumes, brilliant background score that has a…

  • ‘Marigold Hotel’ opens strong at US box office

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    India-set comedy “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” opened strong at number three at the US box office with an estimated $8.6 million in its first weekend of release. India-themed films rarely climb this high on the US box office charts, according to data released by its distributor Fox Searchlight. Even Hollywood studio films such…

  • Film Review: ‘Shamitabh’

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    Film: “Shamitabh”; Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush and Akshara Haasan; Writer-Director: R. Balakrishnan; Rating: ***** Balki must really stop doing this. This is the third time he has stunned us with his originality and audacity and engagingness. He’s spoiling us silly. His third feature film is perhaps his most audacious cinematic journey yet. The writer-director takes…

  • Film Review: ‘Khamoshiyan’

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    Film: “Khamoshiyan”; Cast: Sapna Pabbi, Ali Fazal and Gurmeet Choudhary; Director: Karan Darra; Rating: ** The biggest puzzle in the public domain, besides the question, “Why US President Obama chose to mouth Shah Rukh Khan’s lines from “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’?” is, “Why does a sensible intelligent man like Vikram Bhatt chose to write such…

  • Film Review: ‘Hawaizaada’

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    Film: “Hawaizaada”; Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Ayushmann Khurrana, Pallavi Sharda, Naman Jain, Jayant Kriplani, Natasha Sinha; Director: Vibhu Virender Puri; Rating: ****1/2 Do you ever wonder what it would be like to fly? Then see “Hawaizaada”, a film that soars into the skies with its overweening ambitions and miraculously manages to stay airborne as it chronicles…

  • ‘Lingaa’ – The hero with a thousand faces

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    By Haricharan Pudipeddi  Film: “Lingaa”; Cast: Rajinikanth, Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Shetty, K. Vishwanath, Jagapathi Babu, Vijayakumar, Radha Ravi, Santhanam, Karunakaran and Dev Gill; Director: K.S. Ravi Kumar; Rating: *** In one of the scenes in “Lingaa”, Rajinikanth is seen reading Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with A Thousand Faces’. The camera zooms in on the book’s…

  • REVIEW: Action Jackson – BAKWAS!

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    If MJ was alive, he would sue Prabhu and Ajay …writes Subhash K Jha   Film: “Action Jackson”; Cast: Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Yami Gautam, Introducing Manasvi Mamgai, and a cast of henchmen in orange suits; Directed by Prabhudheva; Rating: ** 1/2 (2 and a half stars) Officially, there are two comic relief providing actors in “Action…

  • Review: ‘Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain’

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    Film: “Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain”; Cast: Martin Sheen, Raajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Mischa Barton and Kal Penn; Director: Ravi Kumar; Rating: **** They say all you get from love is a love song. Disasters, man-made or otherwise, too can face a similar destiny. All we really get from disasters are disaster movies. Some that…

  • Review: ‘Ungli’

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    Film: “Ungli”; Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Emraan Hashmi, Randeeo Hooda,Kangna Ranaut, Neel Bhoopalam, Angad Bedi, Neha Dhupia; Directed by Rensil d’Silva; Rating: *** (3 stars) “Ungli” is what one would call a late bloomer. Don’t get me wrong. It doesn’t take long to get to the point. In fact the film’s vigilante intentions are unmasked immediately…

  • FILM REVIEW: ‘Super Nani’

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    By Subhash K Jha  Film: “Super Nani”; Cast: Rekha, Sharman Joshi, Randhir Kapoor, Anupam Kher; Directed by Indra Kumar; Rating: *** (3 stars) There is something to be said about star power. At a time when the biggest of stars sell themselves to the highest bidder on any medium, Rekha preserves an aura of unattainable…

  • Review: ‘The Shaukeens’

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    Film: “The Shaukeens”; Cast: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Piyush Mishra, Annu Kapoor and Lisa Haydon; Director: Abhishek Sharma; Rating: **** Who says remakes can never be as good as the originals? Abhishek Sharma’s new-age rendering of Basu Chatterjee’s “Shaukeen” is a smartened-up avatar of the original. It’s the smartphone of the current generation as compared…

  • Movie Review: ‘Rang Rasiya’

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    Film: “Rang Rasiya”; Cast: Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen; Director: Ketan Mehta; Rating: ***** He’s known as the father of calendar art. Raja Ravi Varma, played with arresting arrogance by Randeep Hooda in Ketan Mehta’s exceptional biopic, brought the gods out of the temples and made them accessible to the masses. And now Ketan Mehta,…

  • REVIEW: Happy New Year…FLUFF!

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    Troy Ribeiro reviews SRK, Farah Khan’s new movie –  “Happy New Year” Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah and Jackie Shroff; Director: Farah Khan; Rating: *** Packed with humour and fluff, “Happy New Year” is a buoyant revenge saga that revolves around a predictable heist drama, where every character…

  • REVIEW: Bang Bang

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    Subhash K. Jha reviews Bang Bang’ Film: “Bang Bang”; Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif; Directed by Siddharth Anand; Rating: **(2 stars) There are many beautiful locations in this ….ummm….bang binge. Prague, Greece, London, Shimla, Dehra Dun and…Pizza Hut. Yup, one major action sequence featuring Hrithik and Katrina, the Golden Couple on the run (gee, what fun!)…

  • REVIEW: Haider – A Masterstroke

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    Subhash K. Jha reviews Haider’ – Vishal Bhardwaj’s masterstroke . To see or not to see? That isn’t a question at all. Rush to the movies and forget all the slam-bang-bang stuff that is beckoning in glamorous postures. The glamour of “Haider” lies in fold after fold of poetic statement on love, life and politics. You…

  • REVIEW: Govindudu Andarivadele

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    Govindudu Andarivadele’: Cliched age-old family drama ….reports Haricharan Pudipeddi  Film: “Govindudu Andarivadele”; Cast: Ram Charan, Kajal Agarwal, Meka Srikanth, Prakash Raj, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Jayasudha, Rahman, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Rao Ramesh, Kota Srinivasa Rao; Director: Krishna Vamsi; Rating: ** The problem with Telugu cinema’s most family stories is that they stick to an age-old story template that has…

  • Movie Review – ‘Haider’

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    Film: “Haider”; Cast: Tabu, Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon, Narendra Jha; Writer-Director: Vishal Bhardwaj; Rating: ***** Shakespeare lives! Seldom if ever, has a Shakespearean tragedy been given such a magnificent treatment in cinema of any language. Sure, the narrative is fractured and fatally flawed at times, but like the hero’s villainous uncle, who…

  • REVIEW: A Walk Among The Tombstones

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    Troy Ribeiro says the movie is an over embellished detective thriller  Film: “A Walk Among The Tombstones”; Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, Boyd Holbrook, David Harbour, Adam David Thompson, Brian “Astro” Bradley, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Sebastian Roche, Mark Consuelos, and Danielle Rose Russell; Director: Scott Frank; Rating: *** An adaptation of Lawrence Block’s novel, director…

  • REVIEW: Daawat-e-Ishq’

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     Subhash K. Jha says Habib Faisal misses the plot Film: “Daawat-e-Ishq”; Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Anupam Kher; Director: Habib Faisal: Rating: ** 1/2 (two and a half stars) There are two different films tucked away into this one big under-cooked biryani of a film. “Daawat-e-Ishq” is not as inviting as the title or…

  • ‘Khubsoorat’

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      Meet Mili Chakravarty, the doughty bindaas physiotherapist daughter of a Bengali father (played by an aptly nondescript actor) and a loudmouthed Punjabi mother (Kirron Kher), you know the kind Amrita Singh played in “Two States” recently? “Everyone in my family has gone after my mother… even my father,” Mili happily informs her open-mouthed royal…

  • FILM REVIEW: ‘Khubsoorat’

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    Subhash K. Jha says this one would make Hrishida smile  Film: “Khubsoorat”; Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Kirron Kher, Ratna Pathak Shah; Director: Shashanka Ghosh; Rating: **** Meet Mili Chakravarty, the doughty bindaas physiotherapist daughter of a Bengali father (played by an aptly nondescript actor) and a loudmouthed Punjabi mother (Kirron Kher), you know the…

  • REVIEW: Mary Kom

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    Subhash K. Jha says Mary Kom is a motivational masterpiece  Film: “Mary Kom”; Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumar, Zachary Coffin, Robin Das, Shakti Singh; Director: Omung Kumar; Rating: ***** It’s that life-defining moment when a character on screen transforms totally into a real life personality. We’ve seen Seema Biswas, Ben Kingsley and Farhan Akhtar metamorphose…

  • REVIEW: Sin City

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    ‘Sin City: A Dame To Kill For’ – visually brilliant, but confusing says Troy Ribeiro  Film: “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For”; Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Stacy Keach, Jaime King, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Peremy Piven, Christopher Meloni, Juno…

  • REVIEW: Life of Crime

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    Troy Ribeiro says Life of Crime is  an oft-seen double-cross drama  Film: “Life of Crime”; Cast: John Hawkes, Yasiin Bey, Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins, Isla Fisher, Mark Boone Junior and Will Forte; Director: Daniel Schechter; Rating: **1/2 If you’re expecting a heavy duty, crime-laden, back alley action film, this is not it. Set in 1978 in…

  • REVIEW: Raja Natwarlal

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    Subhash K. Jha reviews Raja Natwarlal’ – dapper caper  Film: “Raja Natwarlal”; Actors: Emraan Hashmi, Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon and Humaima Malick; Director: Kunal Deshmukh; Rating: *** “Tu apna kiss karta rahe,” Paresh Rawal sarcastically scoffs at the ‘serial kisser’ Emraan Hashmi after he catches him necking Pakistani actress Humaima in a lift in…

  • Review: Entertainment – Avoidable

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    Entertainment – Woof, Yeh Mohabbat!   Film: “Entertainment”; Cast: Junior, Akshay Kumar, Tamannah, Mithun Chakraborty, Krushna Abhishek; Director: Sajid-Farhad; Rating: *** The canine-hero’s name in the list of actors in the credit titles comes first because that’s how Akshay Kumar wants it. This film tells you to love animals. It’s a simple straightforward premise structured around…