Analysing films

   First things first, if you are going for Highway be prepared for a larger and meaningful subject being covered within the realms of the original plot. The sub plot holds a broader and bolder spectrum towards the end of movie (forced it seemed) but relevant indeed. Now to get back to the movie. Well made, well conceptualised and defined in it's natural shape, the movie is a definite coming off age for Imitiaz Ali after his last outing, the forgettable Rockstar. Fresh pairing of Alia and Randeep brings in the contrast and the odd chemistry of the two, which builds up. The relationship they share and at the fag end when they seem to be getting in their comfort zone, the Director delivers the master stroke (watch it for the details). The film builds itself up quite nicely and the locales add to the mood. Not the Yash Chopra stuff but stark, raw, unexplored the very Western part of HP (Kinnaur, Kaza...) in it's most dangerous and delectable stage. The mood is captured o

 It was worth the wait...Wait for my son's board exams to get over. There were quite a few in the pipeline to watch and decided to give Queen the priority over Highway, the other movie on the card to see. First things first, people have been talking of Kangana  and her role. Yes she is right there on the top for a role cut out for her. But there are few things I thought that stood right up there, making this movie the first must see of 2014. Surprise Surprise! It is Lisa Haydon! In a role truly cut out for her, this dusky lass showed spunk, attitude and everything else in between to essay this wonderful character, Vijaylakshmi. She was in her elements all through the first half and what made the character stood out, Lisa seemed to be enjoying in the shoes of the character she played. For the first few minutes of her appearance, it was simply hard to realise, it was she. Authentic French accent, perfect costumes and body language. Sorry Kangana! We have to give it to Lisa, ev

The promise of Vidya and Farhan and the potent combination of the two, calls for any film afficinado to rush to the nearest hall, but pity, it fails to deliver and Saket does capture some of the core essence of the shaadi factor, alas loses the plot post interval. The first half is good, breezy, with great comic timing from Farhaan. Yet the second half, seems to have the typical writer's block dilemma. Both Farhaan and Vidya are superb and they perhaps carry the burden of second half all by themselves. So much so, we fail to understand the presence of two very badly written characters of Veer Das and Illa Arun (god! what were they doing in a complete misfit of a role). Ram Kapur is spot on and does full justice to his role. But the rest as they say, too much expectation and too little to deliver. The prequel to this, Pyaar ke side effects had the oddball chemistry running between a oh so! suave and delectable Rahul Bose and the quirky, mad, rustic Mallika Sehrawat going, t