Firangi Movie Review

FIRANGI STORY: Set in 1921 pre-independent India, this limited budget period film is a languid love story served with a pinch of patriotism. 

FIRANGI REVIEW: One thing's clear. With his second outing in the movies, Kapil Sharma wants to desperately drive home a point that he has no interest in milking his comic talent in the movies. 

While it's a ballsy move for a successful comedian to explore other genres, the question is, are his fans ready for it and can he do it convincingly? Not really, when he wears one expression (lack of interest) on his face, throughout the film. 

Watching Kapil act innocent and robotically romance a much younger looking Ishita Dutta (last seen in Drishyam), who channels her inner Amrita Rao for almost three hours is hard to sit through. Unfortunately, the film's massive runtime is not its only drawback. 

The plot is heavily borrowed from Lagaan. Like Bhuvan (Aamir Khan), Manga (Kapil Sharma) must lead a group of villagers to challenge a British officer Mark Daniels (Edward Sonnenblick, modelled on captain Russell) with the help of his kind romantic interest Shyamli (Monica Gill, like Russell's sister Elizabeth). Ishita Dutta plays Sargi, like Gracy Singh's character Gauri. Mark wants to forcibly vacate Sargi's village for financial gains and Manga must protect the land to win over Sargi's parents. 

Even if you ignore the 'inspired content', a period film deserves to be made on a certain scale and with some authenticity. Firangi has neither. All villages look the same and you see the same 15 people roaming everywhere. The costumes and accents are inconsistent. The British sound American, a London returned Indian princess (Monica Gill) dresses and acts more British than the British. She speaks to her fellow Indians in English and with the British in Hindi. The evil Indian king (Kumud Mishra) is neither funny nor menacing. The only actors who look logical and put in some effort to their characters are Edward Sonnenblick and Anjan Srivastav (as Gandhi bhakt). They try to infuse some method to the unending madness. 

Eventually, Firangi moves at a snail's pace leading us to a semi-fun climax. Sadly, the film doesn't even fall into 'so bad, it's good' category. It is outright boring and thus not even perversely entertaining. 

Film Review: 'Machine' High on style, low in substance

According to the MD: This is the kind of film that makes you wonder, "What was on the makers' minds when they thought of it?" The type when the audience laughs in sheer disbelief. Abbas-Mustan had a reason close to their heart to make 'Machine', as it marks the debut of Abbas's son, Mustafa. But sadly, it has turned out to be a heartless effort. High on style, low in substance, no troubleshooting can help this 'Machine'.

Attention has been paid to exotic locations, fancy costumes and aerial cinematography, with scant regard to the plot. The wafer-thin story crumbles in 'Machine'.

There is the quintessential Bollywood girl meets boy plot. Cupid strikes at first sight. They decide to get hitched, but not before breaking into umpteen song-and-dance sequences that stretch through the first half. There is a twist half-way inspired by the director duo's Shah Rukh Khan-starrer 'Baazigar' (1993). Instead of keeping alive the intrigue, things turn bizarre, going downhill to hit rock bottom, rendering the 'Machine' useless.

Abbas-Mustan have hits like 'Baazigar', 'Soldier' (1998), 'Ajnabee' (2001), 'Humraaz' (2002) and the 'Race' franchise (2008 and 2013) to their credit, but sadly, 'Machine' mars Bollywood's Men in White's spotless track record.

Will Badrinath Ki Dulhania prove to be the perfect entertainer?

Both the Shashank Khaitan movie and Varun Dhawan's character have very few redeeming features. This seems like a film from the '90s. In the '90s, of course, one could get away with all kinds of stuff. Maybe, even now you can after all the lead actors look so effortless and easygoing on screen.There's much to admire about the ultra energetic, feisty Varun Dhawan. He acts the hell out of this film. But he plays a character with such few redeeming features —- much like this movie -— that at some point you actually begin to feel kinda sorry for this young lad. I mean what sort of a duffer is Badrinath (Varun’s character) —- six-pack ab son of a local gun/goon, who’s a 10th class pass, and absolutely all he thinks about all day, is how to get married.
Perhaps the loss of personal connect with this fellow could have something to do with geography (let alone sociology). I don't know. Already I've looked up the India map to place the two small towns this film is set, in terms of distance. The boy lives in Jhansi, which is in Uttar Pradesh. The girl (Alia Bhatt) is in Kota, which at least the IIT aspirants will know, falls in Rajasthan. The two small towns are 316 kilometres apart. The hero casually covers this distance for the girl, who he doesn't want to see/charm/date/ask-out. But marry. Get her proposal sent to his dad. Who could then negotiate the correct dowry, perhaps.

Badri's daddy of course you've met in practically every other film from three decades ago -- quiet, stern, male-chauvinist patriarch type, who treats his family as his personal fiefdom and the women as quiet house helps. Badri's buddy, present throughout the film, is the other old Bollywood trope -— the hero's best friend, who has no life of his own, and has nothing better to do but shadow the lead character as he chases his girl around. Why the boy likes the girl is beyond me — besides that she’s attractive. Why the girl, full of zest and aspiration, would ever entertain a futureless nalayak like Badri is hard to tell. Why are these questions so important? Because this is a rom-com. And eventually you'd like to root for the two to meet.

Maybe, on occasion, you could. And this is mainly because the lead actors look so effortless and easygoing on screen, even as they try rather hard to sound like small-townies. This is a story of young love, if you may. Alia's the only under-25 star suited for that bracket. Varun, on the other hand, is the only proper, under-30 male star around, who often aims his antics at the front-bencher, single screen audiences that this dance-drama also seems to be aimed at.

Sure, this obvious analogy has been done to death. But you can so imagine the podgy, carefree Govinda as the rich man's loser son, winging a picture like this back in the ‘90s. In the '90s, of course, one could get away with all kinds of stuff. Maybe, even now you can.

Who is the Next Partner of Scarlett Johansson !

The rumor is on at hollywood that who is next partner of divorcee Actress Scarlett Johansson .Actress Scarlett Johansson has filed for divorce from her husband Romain Dauriac. TheAvengers star’s attorney Judith Poller served the divorce filings to Dauriac’s lawyer, Harold Mayerson

This would officially mark the end of Johansson and Dauriac’s two-year marriage. The former couple might fight over the custody of their two-year-old daughter Rose Dorothy Dauriac.

Mayerson said that the estranged couple’s “gearing up for nasty custody battle” over their only daughter. “He would like to move to France with his daughter and Ms. Johansson does a lot of travelling. It will be an interesting process,” he said.

Johansson and Dauriac were first linked to each other in 2012. They got married in a private wedding ceremony in 2014, shortly after they welcomed their daughter. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the two separated in summer 2016.

On work front, Scarlett will be next  seen in Ghost in the Shell. The live action adaptation of manga series has quite a great buzz internationally. She is also set to star in the next two parts of the Avengers franchise. She has been shooting for Avengers: Infinity Wars and the untitled Avengers film.

Scarlett Johansson files for divorce from husband

Actress Scarlett Johansson has filed for divorce from her husband Romain Dauriac. TheAvengers star’s attorney Judith Poller served the divorce filings to Dauriac’s lawyer, Harold Mayerson

This would officially mark the end of Johansson and Dauriac’s two-year marriage. The former couple might fight over the custody of their two-year-old daughter Rose Dorothy Dauriac.

Mayerson said that the estranged couple’s “gearing up for nasty custody battle” over their only daughter. “He would like to move to France with his daughter and Ms. Johansson does a lot of travelling. It will be an interesting process,” he said.

Johansson and Dauriac were first linked to each other in 2012. They got married in a private wedding ceremony in 2014, shortly after they welcomed their daughter. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the two separated in summer 2016.

On work front, Scarlett will be next  seen in Ghost in the Shell. The live action adaptation of manga series has quite a great buzz internationally. She is also set to star in the next two parts of the Avengers franchise. She has been shooting for Avengers: Infinity Wars and the untitled Avengers film.

Katrina Kaif chilling on the beach

Katrina kaif may be busy with her upcoming films,Jagga Jasoos with Ranbeer Kapoor and Tiger Zinda hai  with Salman Khan ,but the actor make sure she treats her fans to snippets of her life on social media.Katrina kaif who is quite active on face book,posted a photo of herself in a white swimsuit looking out into the ocean. 

All is set for Raees,Kaabil and Dangal to release in Pakistan

The flying news comes from bollywood that Pakistan Government has lifted the ban on Bollywood films which meant there was a possibility of Shah Rukh Khan‘s Raees and Hrithik Roshan‘s Kaabil hitting the theatres. All this while it was just a conjecture but not anymore. Our neighbouring nation’s ban will officially be done with the release of Dangal, Raees and Kaabil in the country but not before clearing the censors, of course. If reports are to be believed, Bollywood films won’t even need an NOC from the Commerce Ministry in the country before getting a censor certificate. All the three films, Dangal, Raees and Kaabil will be submitted for Censor scrutiny on Friday and if all goes well, they might hit the theatres by within two days. 

Hollywood:This is Mariah new breakup song

On Sunday's Mariah's World season finale, Mariah returned to the studio Tamid her split from James Packer and recorded the song, "I Don't."

In the breakup ballad Mariah sings, "'Cause when you love someone, you just don't treat them bad, you messed up all we had. Probably think I'm coming back, but I don't, I don't."

Talking about her split with James on the episode, Mariah said, "Ever since the tour wrapped I took some time just to process my feelings and I started writing a song to express what I've been going through. And if you're not getting the love that you need from someone that you're supposed to be in a real relationship with, then why remain in that situation?"

At the end of the episode, Mariah took a trip to Maui and shared a very intimate moment with Bryan Tanaka.

Miss Universe : Miss France Iris Mittenaere lifts the crown

Miss India Roshmitha Harimurthy not in top 13

Iris Mittenaere, a 23-year-old dental student from France, won the Miss Universe crown on Monday in Manila, the Philippines, where it was held this year. However, Miss India, the 22-year-old Bengaluru-based Roshmitha Harimurthy failed it to make it to the top-13. It's been over 17 years since an Indian contestant was crowned at this pageant. Sushmita Sen (1994) and Lara Dutta (2000) are the only two winners of the Miss Universe crown from India so far.

Miss France Iris Mittenaere was crowned by the outgoing winner Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, amid much applause.

In the final round, the three finalists were asked by the judges panel to talk about how they learned from the one big failure in their lives."I've failed several times in my life," Mittenaere said. "(But) when you fail, you have to be elevated and you have to try again and keep going ... I have failed before but for me this is the great first opportunity." Miss France Iris Mittenaere poses after being declared winner in the 65th Miss Universe beauty pageant at the Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines on 30 January 2017.

Miss France Iris Mittenaere poses after being declared winner in the 65th Miss Universe beauty pageant at the Mall of Asia Arena, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines on Monday.

Miss Haiti, Raquel Pelissier, a 25-year-old survivor of the devastating 2010 earthquake that destroyed her hometown, was named first runner up while Miss Colombia, 23-year-old, Andrea Tovar, was second runner up.

Meanwhile, the presence of Sushmita Sen on the Miss Universe judges' panel garnered a lot of attention. Sen said she was happy to be back in Manila, where she had been crowned Miss Universe more than two decades ago. When she was asked what she would be looking for in the Miss Universe contestants, Sen replied: "Elegance".

Sunny Leone praised the Shah Rukh Khan role of ‘real’ father

Sunny Leone says superstar Shah Rukh Khan is an amazing and a dedicated father. Sunny has a special number 'Laila main laila' in Shah Rukh's latest release 'Raees'. She got a chance to see Shah Rukh spend some time with his children, including AbRam, during the shooting of the film.
"I got to meet AbRam on the sets. He is very cute and sweet. I met him almost seven months ago and he must have probably grown," Sunny said.
So did she get to spend some time with AbRam? "He was so busy with his papa that for anybody watching, it is just so cute. I didn't want to disturb them," she said.
Shah Rukh is a father of three -- sons Aryan and AbRam and daughter Suhana. "SRK is an extremely dedicated father. Even when his older son came, the attention he gave (to him) was amazing," Sunny said.
Talking about her family, Sunny said: "I was very close to my family. We were four of us. We used to sit down for dinner, I used to set table with my brother, and help my mother make chapatis. I was daddy's little girl."
Set in 1980s Gujarat, "Raees" tells the story of a bootlegger whose "business" is thwarted by a tough policeman. The film is produced by Excel Entertainment and Red Chillies Entertainment. Directed by Rahul Dholakia, the film also features Nawazuddin Siddiqui and marks the Bollywood debut of Pakistani actress Mahira Khan.

Iranian Director to Skip Oscars Over Trump's Travel Ban

According to The Hollywood Reporter,Farhadi became the first Iranian to win an Oscar, for his 2011 film, 'A Separation.' Asghar Farhadi, an acclaimed director whose film, 'The Salesman,' was nominated for best foreign-language film.
An Oscar-nominated Iranian director said Sunday he will not attend this year's Academy Awards because of a travel ban imposed by President Donald Trump. Asghar Farhadi, an acclaimed director whose film, The Salesman, was nominated for best foreign language film, said the uncertainty surrounding his ability to travel to the United States was "in no way acceptable," and that he would not attend next month's ceremony even if an exception to the ban were possible. An executive order issued last week temporarily bans the entry of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. The administration says it is necessary to keep out potential terrorists while stricter vetting procedures are put in place. Farhadi became the first Iranian to win an Oscar, for his 2011 film, A Separation.
He said he had initially hoped to attend the awards and express his opinions in the press surrounding the event."However, it now seems that the possibility of this presence is being accompanied by ifs and buts which are in no way acceptable to me even if exceptions were to be made for my trip," he said. Hollywood Reacts With Outrage and Disgust Over Trump's Immigration Ban He compared "hard-liners" in the United States to those in his own country, saying both "have tried to present to their people unrealistic and fearful images of various nations and cultures in order to turn their differences into disagreements, their disagreements into enmities and their enmities into fears."

Hollywood-SAG Awards: Has a 'Hidden' Threat to the Oscar Prospects of 'La La Land' Emerged?

The cast of 'Hidden Figures' accepts the best ensemble SAG Award

According The Hollywood Reporer,THR's awards analyst also dissects the meaning of Denzel Washington's upset win over Casey Affleck in the best actor race, among other results.
La La Land had a big night on Saturday at the 28th PGA Awards, where it won the top prize, and everyone knew, even then, that some other film was going to have its big night on Sunday at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards. That's because La La Land was not nominated for the best ensemble SAG Award, the closest thing that SAG-AFTRA, the actors' union, has to a best picture award.
How could a film about a struggling actress, which got as many Oscar nominations as any in history, not even make the final five for that prize with this group? In all likelihood, because a lot of guild members took the category's title literally and felt that the film is essentially a two-hander that could not be classified as an ensemble.
History suggests that such an omission will preclude La La Land from winning the best picture Oscar — in the 21 previous years in which the best ensemble SAG Award was presented, only one film that wasn't nominated for it still managed to win the best picture Oscar, 1995's Braveheart — but I strongly suspect that history will be defied on Feb. 26 because of the way the SAG Awards did play out.
The film most widely regarded as the greatest threat to La La Land in the best picture Oscar race, Moonlight, was not able to seize this opening, but instead was vanquished — in an upset anticipated by virtually no one — by another, much more profitable film about the African-American experience, Hidden Figures.
This obviously is a demoralizing setback for Moonlight and very exciting for Hidden Figures, considering that the final result was determined by some 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA. While most members of SAG-AFTRA don't belong to the Academy, almost every member of the Academy's actors branch — its largest — belongs to SAG-AFTRA, so this is as sizable a sample size as we're going to get about how the Academy feels.

This is tribute to Mahatma Gandhi?

Shah Rukh Khan to host alcohol-free success bash for 'Raees'

Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Raees, in which he plays a bootlegger
Bollywood parties are generally considered incomplete until the bubbly is uncorked. But Shah Rukh Khan has decided to host an alcohol-free bash party to celebrate the success of his latest outing, Raees. Ironically, he plays a Gujarati bootlegger in the film. What's more, the party coincides with Martyrs' Day, marking Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, and is a dry day.
Raees co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani says, "The entire team is very happy with the critical acclaim and audience reaction to the film. It seems all efforts have come to fruition, so we want to celebrate the occasion with everyone, who has been a part of this journey." In its four-day run at the domestic box office, the film has crossed the Rs 75-crore mark.

Why Sara-Ranveer sing photo comes in light?

Maany gossips comes in filmjagat, why Sara-Ranveer photo comes in light. Something is serious or not?This snapshot of Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara with Ranveer Singh has gone viral, fuelling speculations that the two are teaming up for a film.
Ranveer and Sara were earlier clicked at a high-profile Hyderabad wedding, which had several B-Town stars in attendance. There has been news about Sara making her debut in a Karan Johar production, but nothing is official yet.

Rajasthan a safe place to shoot?

Sideeffect of 'Padmavati' setback

According the Mid Day,following the goondagardi by the Rajput Karni Sena on the set of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Padmavati' in Jaipur, Kulmeet Makkar, CEO of The Film and Television Producers Guild of India Limited has raised safety concern over shooting in Rajasthan.
"The larger issue here is to question if it's safe to shoot films in Rajasthan anymore. Given that security of the film's unit is of utmost importance, such incidents will discourage filmmakers in India and abroad to shoot in that state in future," he said, adding that although Information and Broadcasting minister Venkaiah Naidu has condemned the incident, the industry needs to see concrete action being taken. "The Rajasthan government needs to reassure the film industry that they can safely shoot films there."
Members of the Karni Sena attacked the unit of 'Padmavati' at the Jaigarh Fort, accusing the filmmaker of distorting historical facts. Bhansali, who was assaulted by the goons, has already returned to Mumbai along with the crew. A unit hand tells hitlist, "We don't intend to resume shooting there after what happened to Sanjay sir."
Another source adds, "A number of lenses and cameras, among other equipment, were damaged in the attack. The production team is yet to determine the exact amount of losses incurred."

Hrithik be assined Karab Malhotra’s next film

A flying news come from bollywood that Hrithik Roshan would team up with 'Agneepath' (2012) director Karan Malhotra for a second outing, which would see him in a double role.
However, Hrithik has apparently opted out of the project and Karan is scouting for a new script to helm. We wonder if Hrithik's decision to be a part of Kabir Khan's next was responsible for the development?

Raees Day 4 Box Office Collection Report

India:Total Collections 75.44 crore

Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees continued to perform very well at the box office on Day 4. The growth in business on Saturday was excellent, with the film performing both at single-screens and multiplexes.
The trend is pretty good too, as massy films like Raees do not usually perform in circuits like Mysore and West Bengal – but it’s the box office pull of Shah Rukh Khan’s that is ensuring high occupancy both at smaller centres as well as high end multiplexes.
However, the clash is beginning to have an impact on the film at the box office as the other film ‘Kaabil’ is carrying excellent word-of-mouth. The audience that has to choose between the two films is dividing business and stopping Raees from reaching its true potential.
Even though Raees has got a much wider release, higher number of shows as well as screens that have higher seating capacity – there was demand for more tickets at select centres, especially during the late evening / night shows on Saturday.
Going forward, the key for Raees is going to be the family audience. The makers have realised this quite early that the families are not coming in enough numbers and maybe even choosing Kaabil instead, hence the promotional campaign has now shifted to ‘Raees with Family’ – a trend which SRK is going all out to promote.
For the first time in a very long time, the muslim section of the audience is coming out in very big numbers to watch the film. Raees has become a craze in muslim dominated areas, which also goes to show that this film was just about perfect for Eid. Even the Bakrid period was a better date and would’ve ensured much bigger collections. Too late, unfortunately.

KAABIL BOX OFFICE COLLECTION 18CR

KAABIL STORY : When they get hitched, visually-impaired couple Rohan Bhatnagar (Hrithik) and Supriya Sharma (Yami) light up each other’s lives. Unfortunately their dark world goes topsy-turvy when Supriya is raped and Rohan finds the policemen playing blind man’s bluff. 
Leaving him with no choice, but to take the law into his own hands.

  CAST:Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy, Rohit Roy, Narendra Jha
 DIRECTION: Sanjay Gupta

GENRE :Thriller
DURATION-2 hours 19 minutes