Ragini MMS 2 Reviews from Now Running!

Despite a half-baked script with cliched masala, Ragini MMS 2 is worth a watch purely for Sunny Leone's performance.  

Horror genre's fascination for children continues so while even in the West you have movies like Mama, The Conjuring, Insidious etc. using children as medium for chills and frights, Bollywood too has shown its fascination for kids in its horror movies. Similar is the case of the Ragini MMS 2 who uses a mother child bond as the back story of its horror plot and gives it a commercial twist by turning it into horrex (horror + sex).

So you have Sunny Leone, who actually plays a porn star turned actress (basically herself) actually faking an orgasm in one of the scenes. Needless to mention, with the boldness taking such blatant levels in Hindi cinema, a movie review doesn't really remain of any use, the ones who want to watch "all that" will do anyway.

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A movie based on a movie, quite a smart move by Bhushan Patel, Ragini MMS 2 actually revolves around the story of its prequel. A renowned filmmaker decides to make a movie on the story of Ragini (protagonist of the first part) who now is in mental asylum. He ropes in porn star turned actress Sunny played by Sunny Leone (coincidence much?) to play Ragini in the film and taking the writer Satya's (Saahil) suggestion decides to shoot the film in the very same bungalow where the actual incident happened. Things go awry when the crew reaches the bungalow and the vengeful spirit starts haunting them all.

Filmmaker Bhushan Patel doesn't give two hoots about traditional mindsets and delivers what he promised all throughout the promos. There's skin show, lip locks, double meaning dialogues and more in a film that's also supposed to scare but fails to deliver that. In a bid to titillate the mass, the maker reduces the horror quotient which actually was substantial in the first part.

The movie takes the hackneyed route for the horror portions and you have a doctor deciding to chant mantras to ward off the spirit or the usage of witchcraft etc.

Ragini MMS 2 works only because of Sunny Leone. Finally in her comfort zone this time around, Sunny outshines everyone and is brilliant not just in the steamy scenes but also in the scary portions towards the end. The rest of the cast including the experienced actors like Parvin Dabbas, Sandhya Mridul and Divya Dutta get wasted in the film.

Despite a half-baked script with cliched masala, Ragini MMS 2 is worth a watch purely for Sunny Leone's performance.

Rating:**1/2

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Bullet Raja Review Nowrunning!

Rating:**

Potboilers seem to have become the need of the hour in Bollywood with even the makers, who have stuck to content driven cinema, trying their hands at experiencing what it feels to be in the 100cr club. The latest to hit the marquee is filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia with Bullett Raja, who for long has carved his own path with films like Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster, Paan Singh Tomar etc. Whether his sensibility syncs with commercial cinema or he loses his art for monetary gains, let's find out.

Set in Uttar Pradesh, Bullett Raja is Tigmanshu's version of Ramesh Sippy's Sholay. Both Raja Mishra (Saif Ali Khan and Rudra Pratap (Jimmy Sheirgill) become buddies for life when Raja saves the latter's life in a gang-war. The two want nothing more than a stable-simple life but fate and some conniving politicians turn them into gangsters aka political commandos of politician Ram Babu Shukla (Raj Babbar) who stop at nothing. But their meteoric rise as the dreaded duo starts coming in the way of the industrialists and other politicians soon putting them on the hit list of many. Whether the two survive or not is that follows through the rest of the plot.

Bullet Raja Pictures   68 Pictures

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Bullett Raja is nothing but Tigmanshu Dhulia oscillating between content and masala. The maker unspools a complex plot for a massy character what with the surfeit of characters that keep coming in right till the last 15 minutes of the film but at the same time, reduces his concoction to a mere case of convenience. There's ample liberty taken with the creation of characters and situations in the film. 

Almost 80 per cent of the film struggles to match the formulaic patterns of commercial cinema so you see the characters heading to Mumbai city only for a disco number, Tamanche Pe Disco (which too isn't remotely appeasing) or moving to Kolkata to dance between the yellow Taxis. Only if the director could focus on the script more than jazzy-ing his film with numbers which aren't hummable anyway, the film would've worked wonders!

Yet another eye sore is the continuity blunder. You see both Saif and Jimmy with all shapes, styles and sizes of hair throughout the film. So you'd see Saif entering through a door with short hair and exiting with straight, extremely bronzed long hair all within the same scene. You don't need a reviewer to pinpoint such glaring mistakes; it can be noticeable even to a layman.

Coming to acting, both Jimmy and Saif put up a decent show and have some entertaining scenes as friends. Sadly, the faulty character-sketch and directionless direction scars their performances too. Character actors like Raj Babbar, Ravi Kissen, Gulshan Grover, Vipin Sharma are all passable.

The worry zones are both Vidyut Jamwal and Sonakshi Sinha who barely have any contribution in the film and fail to please even at that. It's surprising why would the director introduce a love angle in a film which didn't need one and why Sonakshi would even take up a role which is more inconsequential than even a prop. Vidyut Jamwal on the other hand comes with his martial art skills and the same old straight face which refuses to emote all through his run time.

Bullett Raja had the scope to bring about some content in the current crop of massy entertainers and could cater to the intelligentsia but Tigmanshu Dhulia's inept attempt ruins all such chances. Quite a downer!

http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/11198/bollywood.hindi/bullet-raja/4482/review.htm

Krrish 3 Review from NowRunning!

Rating:***

Statutory Warning: The below mentioned review does NOT cater to the die had fans of the superstar superhero Hrithik Roshan and his films.

At the outset, the third installment of the sci-fi series - Krrish 3 looks like a dish straight out of a Michelin star restaurant but as you sink your teeth in it takes you to a road side stall and as you proceed you find the dish much worse that what the stall offers too.

Keeping up with the spoon-feeding tradition that our Bollywood filmmakers religiously follow, the movie starts with a quick recap of what ensued in the first two parts - Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish - and explains how the story proceeds in Krrish 3, it's as if you'd be lost in the "complexity" of this futuristic saga if you aren't fed with the prior data of India's first superhero.

Krrish 3 Pictures   30 Pictures

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Moving on, Krrish (Hrithik Roshan) is now happily married to Priya (Priyanka Chopra) and lives with his father Rohit (Hrithik again). Life's good for this local superhero who resolves daily petty crimes until the perils of an evil mind Kaal (Vivek Oberoi) start looming large on him. Kaal, along with the help of his "maanvar - a mix of human and animal" troop, is out to destroy the human race by spreading a deadly virus. The genius scientist Rohit then is asked to create an antidote which he successfully does too but it comes in the eyes of Kaal who then is out to destroy the master mind Rohit. How Krrish protects his family, saves his city and destroys Kaal is what follows through the rest of the plot.

All throughout the film I kept wondering who does this movie cater to? The multiplex audiences have all seen X-Men and Dark Knight series to know where the ideas of saving the "Gotham city" or having "maanvars (mutants)" come from. It isn't hard to identify that Kaal is nothing but Professor X meets Magneto or Frogman nothing but Toad or even Kaya (Kangana Ranaut) a shape-shifter. 

And for the single screen, small town mass, the story is so regressive and of the '80s that I am sure the dialogues of the superhero like, "mere pass har pita ka aashirwad hai," (I have the blessings of every father) are going to be nothing but yawn-inducing. 

The intense labour of the father-filmmaker Rakesh Roshan to give India it's very own superhero can be seen. The visuals in the movie are far superior to any sci-fi movie that's ever been made in India. The CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) work is spell-binding making the action sequences in the film a complete visual delight. But it's the laxity in the story aspect that spoils the fun. The cliched Bollywood masala infused with pathetic sound tracks that keep coming in gaps is what ruins your movie viewing experience. Only if Roshans could spend a few bucks more and hire a good writer the film would've made for a classic home-grown superhero saga.

Hrithik Roshan as the superhero bores you this time around with his cheesy sugariness and it's Kaal's devious plans that you want to see with excitement. Vivek Oberoi delivers tremendous performance and everything right from his looks to his acting is laudable. Similar is the case with Kangana Ranaut who is fantastic as the shape-shifter Kaya. Her latex suit, her hair and her walk are absolutely apt for her part and so is her acting. Priyanka Chopra as passable. 

Krrish 3, in summation, scores top marks for the visuals but takes serious beatings in the story and hence ends up disappointing you.

http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/10029/bollywood.hindi/krrish-3/4451/review.htm