Bollywood, Hindi Movie Reviews

Direction : Sushen Bhatnagar

Cast : Divya Dutta, Ashutosh Rana, Dadhi Pandey, Tinu Anand, Rajit Kapoor, Kittu Gidwani, Yashpal Sharma

MONICA is not just about a media person, but also looks at the various roles that she portrayed in her life - wife of an alcoholic, mother of an illegitimate child, a go-getter, ambitious woman who "has the access to the pants of a powerful politician" [that's a dialogue from the film] and finally, a woman scared for her life… How she gets caught in a vicious game of murky politics, becomes a fugitive, besides a mental wreck before she is brutally murdered, makes the story smoking hot. In fact, the film clearly illustrates that ambitions are not only limited to men; even women can be overly ambitious.

Direction : Yogesh Mittal

Cast : Anupam Kher, Pawan Malhotra, Tena Desae, Rushad Rana, Kiran Kumar, Suhasini Mulay, Sudha Chandran

Ideally, one would've expected YEH FAASLEY to be an emotional journey, wherein the daughter discovers a shocking truth: Her mother was murdered by her father. Again, the daughter's fight for justice would've only added a new dimension to the film. But the writing goes horribly wrong after an interesting start and what comes across on screen is clichéd, formulaic and ridiculous. Besides, the film gets lengthy and tedious, more so in its second hour.

Direction : Anand L Rai

Cast : R Madhavan, Kangna Ranaut, Jimmy Sheirgill, Ravi Kissen, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajendra Gupta, K K Raina

I have often observed on my visits to the West that people living overseas are far more seeped in Indian ethnic values, customs, festivities and rituals, when compared to a lot many Indians living in Hindustan. Those who live there believe that by observing and practicing the Indian traditions, they would continue to remain Indian at heart. Most of them also wish to wed an Indian because they consider that their respective spouse would bring along with them time-honored Indian values.

Direction : Vineet Khetrapal

Cast : Jackie Shroff, Kay Kay Menon, Zakir Hussain, Rajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra, Rupali Ganguly, Lilliput

We keep harping that we need to make films that cater to not just adults, but also kids. We make films keeping this segment of movie-going audience in mind. We even cast kids in stellar and pivotal parts. But we misfire most of the times. So what are the 'golden rules' that make a perfect, compelling kiddie film?