Drishyam Review by Rediff!

Mohanlal steals the show in Drishyam says Paresh C Palicha Mohanlal was endearing in roles where he played the common man. But, as his stature grew, we saw less of the kind of roles that had brought him stardom.

As a big star, he played those ‘larger than life’ roles that had the fans clapping and whistling at the superhuman feats of their idol.

The subtlety that was the hallmark of his earlier films became increasingly rare and the sly sense of humour gave way to a louder variety.

In his new film Drishyam, director Jeethu Joseph focuses on the endearing persona of the actor by casting him as Georgekutty, an orphan who had dropped out of school after the fourth grade.

He has come up in life by tilling his land. Now he is businessman running a cable TV service in a rural area. He is married to Rani (Meena) and they have two beautiful daughters.

Georgekutty is stingy and does not like to spend money on anything beyond the basic necessities. His only interest in life apart from his family is watching films. He spends most of his time in front of the TV in his small office.

He is so obsessed with movies that he takes every major decision in life by subconsciously taking an example from some film he has seen.

These details are revealed in a humorous manner in the first half of the film. There’s an obvious twist just before the interval. Georgekutty’s teenaged daughter gets photographed in the bathroom at a nature camp by a hidden cell phone.

The culprit Varun (Roshan Basheer) is the son of an inspector general of police, Geetha Prabhakar (Asha Sarath). Varun is accidentally killed by Rani and her daughter when he comes to blackmail them. It is up to Georgekutty to protect his family from the long arm of the law.

Jeethu Joseph makes this into an ‘edge of the seat’ thriller in the second half by making Georgekutty stay two steps ahead of the investigators.

Georgekutty prepares his family to face the torturous interrogations. He also makes sure that his family does not psychologically break up in the face of coercive police tactics.

Mohanlal is spellbinding in this film. That is too simple a statement to describe the magic he has created on screen.

He plays a semi-literate man who is nevertheless intelligent. He is conversant in many languages, a skill that he acquired watching all those films on TV.

He was mischievous as a teenager, and when he flirts with his wife, but is incredibly mature when dealing with dire circumstances.

Meena as his wife Rani is a middle-class woman who aspires for a better lifestyle and social standing. She holds her own opposite Mohanlal and is one of the highlights of the film.

Kalabhavan Shajon who usually plays the comic sidekick of the hero, has made a successful transition to a villain in this project. He plays a corrupt police constable who has some animosity against Georgekutty. Drishyam can be credited for bringing Mohanlal back to form and pushing director Jeethu Joseph into the big league as he has made a cracker of a thriller.

Rating:***1/2
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-drishyam-is-mohanlals-film/20131220.htm

Biriyani Review From Rediff!

Director Venkat Prabhu, who is known for offbeat entertainers like Chennai 28, Saroja and the mega hit Mankatha, is back with a dark comedy called Biriyani. The film stars Karthi, Hansika and Premgi Amaren, along with a host of supporting actors.

Produced by Gnanavelraja's Studio Green, the film has all the ingredients of a Venkat Prabhu film. The sheer number of characters in an offbeat story with its unpredictable twists, liberally laced with humour and flavoured with great music makes Biriyani a well-packaged treat for the viewers.

Karthi, who seems to have had a style makeover with his trendy clothes, new hairstyle and coloured eye lens, plays the role of a casanova, Sugan. Despite having a gorgeous girlfriend, a media reporter, Priyanka (Hansika), Sugan flirts with all the pretty women he meets and they too, are besotted by him.

Premgi Amaren is his usual quirky self as Parasu, Sugan’s childhood friend and sidekick. Both travel to Ambur, for the inaugural of their Company’s new showroom.

The chief guest at the inaugural ceremony is a business tycoon, Varatharajan (Nassar), who is also suspected of several shady dealings and is currently being investigated by the CBI. On the return journey, Sugan insists that they stop at a roadside eatery for biryani, his weakness.

It is here that they meet the sensuous Maya (Mandy Takhar), who insists that they join her in her hotel room. Unable to resist the temptation, Sugan and Parasu accompany her and after several glasses of alcohol, they are totally disoriented and before they know it, it is morning and they are being hunted by the police for the murder of Varatharajan.

What actually happened in the hotel room and how Sugan and Parasu get out of this mess, forms the rest of the story.

The number of characters in the film is sure to make your head spin. Besides Premgi, there are several other regulars of a Venkat Prabhu film, who either play a supporting role or make a cameo appearance. Sampath Raj plays Riyaz Ahmad, a CBI officer; Jayaprakash is the Commissioner of Police, Nithin Sathya and Sam Anderson play Sugan’s friends, Uma Riyaz Khan, Subbu Panchu and Ramki play important roles. Hansika is forgettable while Uma Riyaz Khan gives an excellent performance.

Venkat Prabhu also continues his association with cousin Yuvan Shankar Raja, and incidentally this is Yuvan’s 100th album as a music director. He has made Biriyani special by adding some interesting touches, there are a couple of remixes, a rap song by Gaana Bala, but the highlight is the motivational song Edhirthu Nil sung by popular contemporary music directors, D Imman, G V Prakash, S Thaman and Vijay Antony.

On the downside, the film has a slow first half, and too many flashback scenes. Premgi is also getting repetitive and boring.

Though the film takes its own sweet time to get a move on, once it gathers momentum, there is no stopping till the end, where there is an exciting climax, as well as an anticlimax, in typical Venkat Prabhu style.

Rating:**1/2
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/review-this-biriyani-is-well-made/20131220.htm 

Dhoom 3 Review by Raja sen!

Dhoom 3 is a children’s film made for children who’ve never seen a film, writes Raja Sen.
Twenty minutes into Dhoom 3, reeling from the assault of cinema so amateurish it’s hard to believe it was put together by grown men, I began to ask myself precisely what this film was trying to be.

There was an annoying kid borrowed from the melodrama of Subhash Ghai movies, complete with a moist-eyed Jackie Shroff. There were the cheesiest of dialogues, Kader Khan in Dickensian mode.

There were stunts seemingly executed in slow-motion and shown to us even slower, resulting in yawnworthy chase scenes. There was Aamir Khan running down the side of a building for no apparent reason. Everything -- repeat, everything -- looked too goofy to be either thrilling or realistic or compelling or even plain fun.

And then it hit me. Dhoom 3 is a children’s film made for children who’ve never seen a film.

How else can you explain this famine of originality? How else can you possibly justify the lack of a single interesting scene right up to the intermission? And how, after that, can you account for Aamir Khan’s blatant exploitation of yet another Christopher Nolan masterpiece that the actor (by his own admission) doesn’t understand?

Look here, I liked the first and second Dhoom films. The first was brisk enough to breeze by, the second was sheer masala but presented well, an utterly preposterous but very good looking film. The reason I’ve been looking forward to this film, however, was the fact that I was one of the half-dozen people on the planet who actually liked the director’s first film, Tashan. All I wanted from Vijay Krishna Acharya’s third installment, then, was a film that made like a firecracker and went boom -- even if it didn’t make sense.

But this is a Christmas debacle.

We start with Chicago in the year 1990, though it may as well be a hundred years ago. An old magician (Shroff), his labrador-brown eyes eternally wet with tears, runs a circus housed in a massive structure the size of the New York Public Library. The bank moves in to cut off his loan and Shroff, instead of perhaps leasing out the place and moving to a humbler venue, decides to kill himself. For how dare the evil bankers remain unmoved by his clown-nose wearing son? 

Said son grows up to become Aamir Khan, a frequently shirtless man who sleeps in corduroy trousers. Oh, and robs banks, since banks = evil.
American police seem ill-equipped to handle things (The Rock must have had the month off) and thus, naturally, help is imported from back in India. Where Uday Chopra’s Ali spends several minutes talking up his boss to goons -- in “Don’t you know he’s Dirty Harry?” vein -- before the aforementioned boss shows up flying through the air in an auto-rickshaw with stickers of Salman Khan film optimistically on either side. 
Abhishek Bachchan’s Jai Dikshit seems a nice enough fellow, if somewhat surly, but he happens to be a remarkably incompetent police officer. (I mean, if not from Dad, at least take some pointers from Iftekhar Uncle’s movies, Abhishek?) Here’s a fellow who, when he traps a fleeing motorcycle on a bridge, helpfully tilts it up to offer the fugitive a convenient ramp. The rest of the time he scowls. 
Ah, and then there’s the girl. Apparently all the “hot Asian ladkiyan” in Chicago have been auditioned for Khan’s Great Indian Circus act but none has enough “liquid electricity,” whatever in innuendo’s name that means. Enter Katrina Kaif, all stuntwoman-flexible and whippety hairdo, looking like a million bucks and speaking, disconcertingly enough, like a 12-year-old. 
The rest of the film is, essentially, a dumbed-down version of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, arguably the greatest movie ever made about magicians. Aamir Khan, who claimed Ghajini was a great story but that he didn’t understand Nolan’s groundbreaking Memento, will probably say some such about this bit of shameless pilfering as well.
Oh, and he uses a Joker sign too, to boot. (I can already picture ambitious young screenwriters lining up outside Khan’s bungalow with easy-to-understand song-filled scripts titled Sapne Mein Sapna.) 
The other thing in this film is The Face. If you’ve seen the trailer or the songs or the posters, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the perplexingly weird expression Aamir sticks onto his face throughout, and the smugness with which he wears the A-Face makes me wonder if we’re all -- inadvertently and inescapably -- seeing his vinegar strokes over and over again. If we’re eskimo brothers now, Aamir Bhai, must say you messed up. Big time. 
Not that Khan’s acted badly. Oh no. Outside of The Face, he’s pretty solid and has the charisma to power this film through, especially when he’s being all summery: i.e. all cutesy smirks and grins and chortles, a happy part of his repertoire the actor seemed to have left behind awhile ago. He also deserves credit for being a massive superstar who has agreed to look, occasionally, like an Oompah-Loompah; he’s been shot most unflatteringly. It is purely because of Khan that the (three) dramatic twists in this movie have any heft at all, but even he can’t help the vacant nothingness that engulfs the script before and after those stray moments. 
But, you might persist, having already bought into the exorbitantly priced weekend tickets, aren’t the stunts good? Or IMAX-worthy? Well, the locations aren’t bad. It’s mostly shot in Chicago, and some of the vistas used as backgrounds for the bridges look pretty awesome.
The stunts themselves, however, are both pointless and badly edited. Khan’s bike (which is a Transformer, for some reason) is flung around excitably enough but hurling action figures isn’t the same as choreographing an action set-piece. So much time is spent in slow-motion, and so long do we linger on each shot, that the chases appear sluggish. There is no sense of urgency. At one point, stationary police cars randomly start to do cartwheels, perhaps only to indulge Acharya’s inner Rohit Shetty. Like I said, if your child doesn’t know what movies are, he might be amused. For a bit. 
The trick, of course, is on us. Shroff might have called his act The Box In The Box, but producer Aditya Chopra goes one better, knowing we’ll show up to watch a Dhoom film if only to laugh at it. This time around, Aamir’s The Boy In The Box Office.

Rating:*1/2
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/raja-sen-reviews-dhoom-3-its-dumber-than-the-first-two/20131220.htm

Dhoom 3 Review by Rediff!

Dhoom 3 continues the tradition of extravagance in adventure and expenditure by roping in the fastidious Aamir Khan as its latest star antagonist, writes Sukanya Verma.
The Dhoom brand has always been about the bad guy. It may not necessarily glorify evil but glamourizing its illegal and implausible actions takes precedence in the Yash Raj produced series.

If Dhoom worked John Abraham’s Fast and Furious energy for a renewed take on the classic thieves versus cops theme, Dhoom 2 upped the ante with its scale and a smoking chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Dhoom 3 continues the tradition of extravagance in adventure and expenditure by roping in the fastidious Aamir Khan as its latest star antagonist.

Realistically, of course, Dhoom is a fun albeit dumb franchise that is unapologetically nonsensical, intellect proof and relies on the shenanigans of its smooth, superficial villains and their hot pursuit at the hands of police officers -- deadpan Jai (Abhishek Bachchan) and dummy Ali (Uday Chopra).

Only this time Vijay Krishna Acharya (of Tashan fame) takes over Sanjav Gadhvi as director.

Ever since its first promo came out, know-alls drew visual comparisons to The Dark Knight, Now You See Me and The Prestige. They aren’t too off the mark.

Let’s just say, the crucial plot points/imagery of these fine films left a lasting impression on Acharya and Aditya Chopra, sharing the credits for Dhoom 3’s story, which revolves around a circus showman (Aamir Khan) and his dramatic connection to two publically executed bank heists in Chicago. 

Filmed extensively on location in the US, Windy City’s towering landscape lends Dhoom 3 a unique ambiance, which Acharya cleverly showcases through his mercurial screenplay. 

Unlike previous Dhoom devils who burgled for the thrill of it, Aamir Khan’s ambitions are driven by one of Hindi cinema’s most emotional, most enduring stereotype embodied with appealing emotionality by Jackie Shroff. 
High on crackling chases, curious get-ups, transformable bikes, somersaulting vehicles, theatrical flashbacks and Tom and Jerry sensibilities, Dhoom 3 alternates between sentimentality, scheming, spectacular ‘song and dance’ spectacle and slo-mo effects.
Even though it doesn’t dwell on subtext and there’s no background provided for any character apart that of Aamir’s (with some help from a sparkling Siddharth Nigam as his younger version), Dhoom 3 loads up enough ammo to fire through its nearly three hours long running time. 
And this is the part where the ‘mostly a dumb brand’ remark rings true. The big reveal pops up at interval point. Ten minutes later, it’s universal knowledge for pretty much everyone in the movie. Still, the makers choose to extend the (non-existent) suspense with a silly explanation and concoct a few more complications. Or perhaps I am just nit-picking in a film where the cops could have caught the thief in the first reel itself if they only bothered to note down his bike’s number plate, where US government calls upon two local Mumbai cops to nab an American robber of Indian origin (and there’s no outrage on television), where a chase begins in Chicago and ends in Switzerland and where, oh well, never mind.
There are two vivid reasons I indulge (and enjoyed) this I know-that you know-that I know (classic Abbas-Mastanism) is
a) because of the cunning and conviction in Aamir’s delivery. 
No matter how much he bares his gym-honed torso, he doesn’t have the physicality of John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan. But he has a knack for making even the trivial seem significant. His studious, serious approach works well in the role of a man orchestrating every single event of his life. It’s like getting inside his head and eavesdropping on the conversations inside. Talking too much about his role would amount to a spoiler. It also saves him his only criticism. 
b) Katrina Kaif. She’s the greatest special effect of Dhoom 3. Styled to perfection, the lady moves like silk -- smooth and effortless. Her stupefying acrobatics are highlighted in Vaibhavi Merchant’s magnificently choreographed sequences, which include one of the most graceful, yes graceful, stripteases I may have seen on big screen. 
Action and humour are the mainstays of the series. Though conspicuously low on the latter (no thanks to Uday Chopra’s tired jokes), Dhoom 3 lives up to its title with all the over-the-top daredevilry at display. 
Whether it’s a BMW bike doing a Batmobile or riding over a thin rope like you thought only Rajinikant can or a groovy jousting moment atop a two-wheeler and that striking, unforeseen (to me at least)) climax at the majestic Verzasca Dam, there’s plenty to keep the whistles blowing.
What isn’t is Dhoom regulars -- Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra’s much jaded jodi in buddy cop mode. Bachchan’s sluggish tenacity and Chopra’s doddering comedy stands out all the more in this start-to-finish Aamir Khan show. It’s absurd to think they had any chance of outwitting Aamir even in their own franchise. 
Can’t help thinking the final scene is Aamir’s idea of blowing a raspberry in their direction, in character or out of Dhoom. Mazaa Le! 

Rating:***
http://www.rediff.com/movies/review/sukanya-verma-reviews-dhoom-3-mazaa-le/20131220.htm

Dhoom 3 Review from Yahoo!

‘Dhoom 3’ is big on style and completely delivers on the entertainment quotient. The fact that it comes at a cost of suspension of logic at times, I guess is a given. What rankles is that a film with Aamir Khan is expected to have some kind of coherence to rationale. The film’s adherence to plot points slips every now and then but they make up for it with super chase sequences.
The ‘Dhoom’ franchise has always been obsessed with the anti-hero. From Hrithik Roshan’s different looks in ‘Dhoom 2’ to the suspense around who will be chosen as the next villain has always garnered attention. Much before the shooting started we were already discussing who would be the female lead opposite Aamir Khan, what would be his look, what would be different in this installment of the action flick?
I guess as far as the anticipation around the anti-hero is concerned, ‘Dhoom 3’ does complete justice – Aamir’s screen presence from his very first appearance is commanding. His well-chiseled body as he looks over the Chicago skyline, his open challenge to the police and the sequences where he drives dangerously through downtown, shows that Aamir relishes brandishing his craft, every time attempting a role that is completely different from what he has ever done before. More than once you find the audience breaking into spontaneous applause.
And because you know Aamir’s craft you wonder why you never see him execute any of the robberies, you repeatedly see the chase but never the actual act. You would excuse this in the prequels but not when Mr Perfectionist is involved. It also baffles you when you see that the climax is as predictable as the rest of the series.
Even though you understand that the actual heroes wouldn’t actually have much to do in this film, it is still exasperating to see Abhishek Bachchan sleepwalk through another film. I guess he still feels that getting cast in a film is his birthright.  He plays his role straight, bringing no variation or novelty to his portrayal. Abhishek’s character has been so relegated to the background that the director doesn’t even bother with providing him with a romantic interest any longer.
Jai (Abhishek) and Ali (Uday Chopra) have no spunk and bring zero comic relief. Their wisecracks have been done to death and I couldn’t manage a genuine laugh in all the banter that kept going back and forth.

Kudos to Katrina Kaif for having us take notice of her in a role that is a little longer than a cameo. Watching her in ‘Kamli’ and ‘Malang’, as her skin shimmers and she displays immense flexibility and fitness, you realize how much hard work has gone into preparing for it.

It is sad that the romantic track and the emotional bits just pull down the pace of the plot. It is also interesting to see how Jai (Abhishek Bachchan) uses emotional manipulation as bait, clearly incapable of doing anything smarter. With better opponents for the very savvy illusionist/joker/thief the film would have been at a completely different experience.
Except the ‘Malang’ song there’s not much to say about Pritam’s music.
If you are still wondering why I gave the film 4 stars after all I have said, I must accede that the 4 star rating is very generous and it is because the film was super entertainment, the first half really has edge-of-the seat tension and the twists are really well executed. To give the film its due it is definitely the best ‘Dhoom’.

Rating:****
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-reviews/yahoo-movies-review-dhoom-3-113327588.html

Dhoom 3 Review from Taran Adarsh!

Picture this... The men are no less than superheroes. They speed across freeways. Glide beneath a racing van on their mean machines. Vroom at improbable speed on their motorbikes. Climb down skyscrapers. Perform acrobatic feats. Escape crashes and resist bullet abrasions. From gymnastics to gravity defying stunts to adventure sports to stretching the laws of physics, they know it all. Hang on, there's more! They are the master of masquerades, camouflaging their facade more rapidly than chameleons change colors.

The men and their mean machines are back and so are huge muscles, hot wheels and loaded weapons. The fresh installment of DHOOM stretches into a novel territory this time [circus, magic], promising thrice the exhilaration. DHOOM has expanded into a money-spinning, lucrative franchise and it only gets larger in terms of scale: the budgets are getting monstrous and the star power, colossal. The question is, is it superior than the earlier installments? You may ask, the game of cops and thieves is hackneyed and trite, but do these movies with a thrill every minute even necessitate a storyline? In this case, what keeps you transfixed are the high-octane stunts, high speed chases and dazzling action sequences highlighted by an enigmatic star cast. Additionally, the anxiety and conflict between the two factions sets it apart from its predecessors. Add to it is the extravagant production design that leaves you flabbergasted. You have to give the credit to the producers [Yash Raj] for making the director's grandiose vision come alive on celluloid.

Final word? DHOOM-3 delivers *more* than what it promises. The latest installment ups the ante as mean machines blaze across the screen in a dazzling display of stunt choreography. But it's not all metallic or mechanical mayhem... this one has heart and soul too -- an invigorating and intense drama with heart rending emotions!

It would be sacrilegious to reveal the plot of DHOOM-3, since there's a suspense angle to it. But let's make it succinct. It narrates the story of Sahir [Aamir Khan], who decides to avenge the injustice meted out to his father [Jackie Shroff] and how the cop, Jai [Abhishek Bachchan], gets on his trail.

The latest chapter of DHOOM, directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, delivers everything you anticipate from it, so there's no room to grumble, frankly. All those who have loved the previous installments -- and even the cynics too -- are sure to get swept away into the world of Sahir, Jai, Ali and Aaliya. Agree, the narrative moves in the same vein and you might find a few episodes implausible, but in terms of overall impact, it surpasses the earlier installments by leaps and bounds. You watch the proceedings with rapt attention, transfixed to the big screen, despite a run time of almost 3 hours. Clearly, the director knows what the spectator wants and he gives it to them.

The best part is, there's no bond or connection with the earlier DHOOM installments. Those who haven't watched or perhaps don't vividly recall the 2004 installment, or the subsequent one in 2006, need not worry, for the third chapter has a fresh plot and barring Jai and Ali, the focus is on Sahir and Aaliya, the newest incumbents. While the premise has ample twists and turns, the screenplay does a great job of upping the thrill quotient. Also, the narrative advances at an eloquent tempo, with the director making the spectator hold his/her breath and cheer at the same time. The motive is to offer unabashed entertainment and Vijay Krishna Acharya thrives completely in his endeavor.

A significant contribution to the DHOOM series has been by the action choreographer and the fights, thrills, chases and stunts in DHOOM-3 are pulsating and most significantly, trendily implemented. The razor-sharp editing, awe-inspiring cinematography and well designed CGI also merit an enthusiastic round of applause. Pritam's musical score captures the mood of the film well. While 'Dhoom Machaale' continues to feature in this film too, 'Malang', 'Kamli' and 'Dhoom Tap' stand out as well. The choreography of 'Malang', besides the spectacular and extravagant production design, is astounding.

Aamir transforms into a meat machine with DHOOM-3. Displaying his well-toned physique with ropey veins and performing acrobats incredibly, the actor makes you wonder, is there anything Aamir can't do? He's the life and soul of this enterprise. Abhishek holds his own especially when in face-offs with Aamir. And that, truthfully, is an immensely flattering remark for his admirable effort. Katrina looks ethereal and her acrobats will catch you unaware. Moving with incredible grace in dance numbers, she's sure to astonish the viewer with her dexterous act no end. Uday is amusing and delightful, contributing vastly to the light moments in the enterprise. Jackie Shroff is wonderful, getting his character spot on. Child artiste Siddharth Nigam is a talent to watch out for. He's superb! Andrew Bicknell as the antagonist is first-rate. Tabrett Bethell is alright.

On the whole, DHOOM-3 is one solid entertainer loaded with attitude and star power that will leave fans of the series salivating for more. It is miles ahead of its predecessors in the DHOOM series. This will shatter previous records and set new ones. SURE-SHOT BLOCKBUSTER.

Rating:****1/2
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/moviemicro/criticreview/id/542148