VIDEOS WITH INFORMATION: MOVIE REVIEW

Watch the film for Dhanush and Sonam's performances and some colourful one-liners and dialogues.

Film: Raanjhanaa

Cast: Dhanush, Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Swara Bhaskar
Director: Aanand Rai
Rating: ***

Raanjhanaa joins the rank of recent love stories (Aashiqui 2, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani) that take the unconventional path of approaching the genre by exposing the dark underbelly of romance through shades of loss, regret, remorse, and pain. Despite a colourful and vivacious beginning, the film ends up being weighed down by its heavy melodramatic second half.

We are introduced to Kundan (Dhanush) and Zoya (Sonam) through a voiceover that takes us back to events leading to that very moment.

Set around the banks of Banaras, we learn that Kundan is not your regular Bollywood stalker.

He obsesses and loves Zoya to the extent that every slap and rejection is a thorn disguised as a flower in his mind.

Instances of his courting her through teenage and adulthood make for some of the liveliest frames on screen. There are chunks of humour through witty innuendos and engaging banter between the leads.

Further on this one-sided love story gets a communal twist when a Hindu boy marrying a Muslim girl becomes a topic of controversy.

Adding to this complication is Abhay Deol, who plays a student union leader from JNU. After separating from Kundan and moving to Delhi, Zoya falls in love with Abhay.

But, mind you this isn't your run-of-the-mill love triangle. The script throws up a major surprise which gives the film a serious tone making the proceedings less enjoyable.

Dhanush has neither the conventional good looks, nor the six-packs to cater to mainstream audience. And that strangely is his biggest asset.

Raanjhanaa works because of his ability to make you believe in his love for Zoya. You might not agree with his approach, but deep down you cheer and root for him each time Zoya plants a slap on his face.

His dialogue delivery has a unique ring to it which will be either music or noise to your ears. You can't help but draw comparison with his father-in-law Rajnikanth in a few scenes.

Sonam is at ease playing Zoya. She carries the heavy burden of making a smooth transition from being the effervescent girl next door to someone who is dealing with sudden loss. Also full credit to her for looking the part.

Supporting cast is a major highlight, especially Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub who plays Kundan's sidekick Murari. Swara Bhaskar does a fantastic job of playing the foul mouthed Bindiya who is jealous of Zoya. Abhay Deol impresses even in those few scenes.

Aanand Rai's Banaras comes alive with Rahman's slow yet melodious tunes and some amazing camera work.

We wish he had stuck to the feel and ethos of the first half and let that flow into the climax. Instead the storyline takes a nosedive post interval like a jet running out of fuel.

Zoya's change of mind and her internal struggle to address her feelings for Kundan doesn't seem very convincing. Also the 'retribution scene' leading to the climax feels rushed.

Raanjhanaa has a fantastic first half. Watch it for Dhanush and Sonam's performances and some colourful one-liners and dialogues.

Man Of Steel
U; Action
Director: Zach Snyder
Cast: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon
Ratings: ****

It has finally arrived, the progeny of Christopher Nolan, the god-like father of all superhero movies and Zach Snyder, the mother of them all. Audiences have outgrown the candyfloss casual tomfoolery of ’80s and 90’s blockbuster cinema, and are weary of the overload of the modern, dark and gritty origin story and the humanisation of the superhero.

The only solution to this problem was by pairing Nolan and Snyder, and it works on some insane level, because Nolan is the maestro who excels at constructing superheroes by stripping away their morality, and Snyder is the master of deconstructing the superhero genre. The new Superman story needed to lose its red underwear and its accompanying monkeyshines, without becoming an all too serious and depressing guilt ridden drama. It’s a very tricky tightrope, and Man of Steel becomes the best possible Superman movie you’ll get in this day and age.

Henry Cavill as Superman.

There are three things that make Man of Steel more interesting than you expect it to be.

First, it gives you the reason why Superman came to Earth and why he chose to stay on the planet and save humans. The latter existential issue was never brought up in any previous ‘Superman’ film and Snyder (and Nolan) do a great job of lending the character an air of innate heroism over his surface level integrity.

Secondly, the film offers a villain who has a genuinely tragic, logical and most surprisingly, a relatable motive to hunt Superman, rather than a ludicrous plan to ‘take over the universe’.

Third, the film lays its characters’ motivation cards on the table right from the opening scene, this keeps Snyder from convoluting the story with a false sense of mystery.

Calling the action scenes ‘set pieces’ would be doing injustice to the film, for the scenes are some of the biggest, most expansive, most destructive, most eye-popping CGI mayhem ever splashed on screens. This is an expensive movie and Snyder makes sure you leave the theatre feeling happy about investing your money in his work. The frustrations arrive in the form of 3D, which absolutely hacks the cinematography and the special effects with a scythe and murders the fun out of the film.

Henry Cavill is circumspect and handsome in equal portions who is given the much more challenging task of being simultaneously heroic, troubled, otherworldly and human, a far cry from what Reeves did back then. Michael Shannon is fun as Zod, the villain who is deemed a maniac only because the hero says he is. A major criticism would be the way the film rushes from one dramatic plot point to the next, without really focusing to create any lasting impact. Settling down and fleshing out the relationships between the characters would have added to the already long two and a half hour runtime, but it would definitely have made it a classic, rather than a mere enjoyable blockbuster.