Bollywood Gossip

Thursday, 18 March 2021

Movie Review: Mumbai Saga

The Mumbai underworld has been a fascinating and intriguing chapter in the history of the Maximum City. Sanjay Gupta has already made two films in this space – SHOOTOUT AT LOKHANDWALA [2007; as producer and writer] and SHOOTOUT AT WADALA [2013; as director, producer and writer]. And now he’s back with MUMBAI SAGA. It features Emraan Hashmi and John Abraham together for the first time. Both have a strong presence amongst the masses and hence, this film has aroused excitement for viewers and even exhibitors. So does MUMBAI SAGA give the audiences an entertaining time? Or does it fail? Let’s analyse. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1197423" src="https://ift.tt/2OCweox" alt="" width="720" height="450" /> MUMBAI SAGA is the story of a gangster and his rivalry with a cop. In the mid-80s, Amartya Rao (John Abraham) lives with his family, comprising of his father (Rajendra Gupta), brother Arjun (Harsh Sharma) and wife Seema (Kajal Aggarwal) in Mumbai. His family sells vegetables on the streets and are harrowed as they have to pay ‘hafta’ (bribe) to the goons of Gaitonde (Amole Gupte). One day, Arjun argues with one of the goons who then throws Arjun off from a bridge. Amartya saves him in the nick of time before Arjun gets crushed under the train. Amartya till now had decided to not get involved with gangsters. However, he loves Arjun to death and the attack on him enrages him. He single handedly assaults Gaitonde’s men and even chops off the hand of one of the goons. Gaitonde, who operates from the jail, tells the police to get Amartya arrested. Moreover, he puts Amartya in the same jail as him. Gaitonde’s henchmen attack Amartya in the prison. Yet again, Amartya single handedly defeats them. Gaitonde now realises that Amartya is too dangerous. The next day, Amartya is released on bail. This is made possible by Bhau (Mahesh Manjrekar), the unofficial king of Mumbai. Bhau offers Amartya to work for him and to find a solution to Gaitonde and his menace. In no time, Amartya learns the tricks of the trade. He also usurps Gaitonde’s territory, between Dadar and Byculla. Gaitonde has no choice but to accept defeat. The story then moves 12 years ahead. Arjun (Prateik Babbar) has now grown up and Amartya sends him off to UK to protect him. Meanwhile, Sunil Khaitan (Samir Soni) is an industrialist who owns a mill, built by his ancestors. He wants to fire all the mill workers, demolish the mill and sell the land for an astronomical price. He takes the help of Gaitonde to evict the mill owners. Bhau tells Amartya to stop the Khaitaan Mill from materializing so that he can get the votes of mill workers. Amartya meets Sunil and warns him of dire consequences. Sunil complains to Gaitonde about Amartya’s trend. In retaliation, Gaitonde tries to kill Arjun when the latter is in Mumbai on a short visit. Arjun escapes unhurt. An angry Amartya then finishes off Sunil Khaitan in broad daylight. His widow, Sonali (Anjana Sukhani), goes to the police headquarters and announces that she’ll reward Rs. 10 crore to the cop who kills Amartya. Vijay Savarkar (Emraan Hashmi) gets interested in this offer and decides that he’ll kill Amartya, come what may. What happens next forms the rest of the film. Sanjay Gupta's story is interesting and full of thrills and even twists and turns. The film is inspired from true events. Moreover, it is based on those people who many might not know about. Robin Bhatt and Sanjay Gupta's screenplay is effective. The writers try their best to ensure that the focus remains on the main plot and that viewers don’t get bored even for a second. Hence, the film moves at a supersonic speed. A few moments are exceptional in the film and are very well thought of. Sanjay Gupta's dialogues (additional dialogues by Vaibhav Vishal) enhance the film’s mass appeal. Some one-liners are sure to induce claps in the theatres. Sanjay Gupta's direction is appropriate. He treats the story in a very dramatic and entertaining manner and tries his best to cater to the lowest denominator. As a result, he peppers the narrative with massy moments in abundance. The characters of Amartya and Savarkar especially are strong and are well fleshed out. On the flipside, a few characters don’t get the deserved screen time. Sanjay Gupta also should have made the second half, particularly the climax sharper. The length in the second half is also a bit of an issue. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1197436" src="https://ift.tt/3tvj1fZ" alt="" width="750" height="450" /> MUMBAI SAGA begins on a rocking note which depicts the politician-gangster nexus in Mumbai a few decades ago. The film wastes no time as it soon comes to the point as to why Amartya became a don. The scene where Amartya attacks Gaitonde’s men on the railway bridge begins unexpectedly and is sure to be loved by the masses. The second action scene, in the prison, takes the fun forward. Amartya’s rise seems too quick but thankfully, there’s lots happening in the film to keep the interest going. Sunil Khaitan’s assassination is highpoint. The intermission comes at a superb juncture. Post interval, the cat and mouse chase between Amartya and Savarkar keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, as also the sudden twist in the tale in the pre-climax. The climax, though could have been better, is worth watching. John Abraham is in top form. He looks every inch a dreaded gangster and he is fantastic in the action scenes. At several places, he flashes his dimpled smile briefly and that adds to his character’s charisma. Emraan Hashmi has a late entry and that might make his fans unhappy. But the moment he enters the narrative, he is rocking. Not just with action, he also steals the show with his one-liners. His dialogue on the police uniform will create frenzy in cinemas. Mahesh Manjrekar is too good as the shrewd politician. Amole Gupte is superb. Prateik Babbar looks a bit off but manages to leave a mark. Kajal Aggarwal and Anjana Sukhani get limited scope. Same goes for Tithi Raaj (Neelam; Arjun’s wife). Gulshan Grover (Nari Khan) looks stylish and is decent. Rohit Bose Roy (Baba) is fine as Amartya’s right hand man. But his motive in the second half seems a bit unconvincing. Samir Soni, Shaad Randhawa (Jagannath), Vivaan Parashar (Sadashiv) and Harsh Sharma are okay. Music has limited scope in a film like this. Thankfully, there are only 2 songs in the film. 'Danka Baja' is foot tapping. 'Shor Machega' is well shot but seems out of a place in a period film. Amar Mohile's background score is dramatic and thrilling. Shikhar Bhatnagar's cinematography is sans complaints. Priya Suhas and Sunil Nigvekar's production design and Nahid Shah's costume are authentic. Anbariv's action is one of the highpoints of the film. Nube Cirrus's VFX is good at some places. Bunty Nagi's editing could have been crisper in the second half. On the whole, MUMBAI SAGA is a film that deserves to be experienced on the big screen. It is embellished with massy moments, clap worthy dialogues, sudden twists and loads of style. At the box office, it’ll find patronage in the theatres and bring the smiles back on the faces of distributors and exhibitors.

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Wednesday, 10 March 2021

Movie Review: Roohi

It’s been almost a year when theatres were asked to shut down due to rapid rise in the cases of Coronavirus in the country. Two of the films playing in theatres at that point were ANGREZI MEDIUM, produced by Dinesh Vijan, and KAAMYAAB, directed by Hardik Mehta. In an interesting turn of events, ROOHI, the film that releases today and kickstarts the movie-watching season in cinemas, is helmed by both these personalities. So does ROOHI manage to entertain and enthral the audiences? Or does it fail to entice? Let’s analyse. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-1193863 size-full" title="Movie Review: Roohi" src="https://ift.tt/30wSjqN" alt="Movie Review: Roohi" width="720" height="450" /> ROOHI is the story of a possessed girl. Bhawra Pandey (Rajkummar Rao) and Kattanni Qureshi (Varun Sharma) work as crime journalists in a small town, Baagadpur. They also specialise in ‘pakdaai shaadi’ aka bride kidnapping, an accepted custom in Baagadpur. One day, their boss, Guniya Shakeel (Manav Vij) orders them to kidnap a girl, Roohi (Janhvi Kapoor), from a nearby town, Mujaribaad. Bhawra and Kattanni manage to kidnap Roohi while she is with her father (Rajesh Jais). As per the ‘pakdaai shaadi’ custom, after the girl is kidnapped, she is straight away taken to the marriage venue. Bhawra and Kattanni are also supposed to follow suit with Roohi. But after the kidnap takes place, Guniya calls them and tells them that the groom’s uncle has passed away suddenly. Hence, the marriage will now take place after a week. Till then, Bhawra and Kattanni are told to keep her as a hostage in an abandoned property in the hills of Ambiyapur. On the first night, Bhawra goes to offer dinner to Roohi only to realize that she is possessed. Kattanni, at first, doesn’t believe but later, even he sees the possessed side of Roohi. However, instead of being frightened, Kattanni falls for the possessed Roohi. Bhawra, on the other hand, is in love with the non-possessed Roohi. He decides to help her and get the witch out of her body. Kattanni however is averse to the idea as loves the possessed Roohi and if Bhawra succeeds, the witch will leave Roohi forever. What happens next forms the rest of the film. Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra's story is interesting and novel. The writers try their best to bring something new to the table. Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra's screenplay, however, is interesting only in parts. A few scenes are exceptional and bring the house down. But the serious portions don’t make the desired impact. Mrighdeep Singh Lamba and Gautam Mehra's dialogues are witty. But the dialect is too authentic and is incomprehensible at many places. Hardik Mehta's direction is average at best. On the plus side, he handles some scenes with élan. Also, he sets the mood right, especially in the horror scenes. Even the various towns shown in the film are uniquely depicted. For instance, the bizarre bride kidnapping custom in Baagadpur, the spooky hills of Ambiyapur and the practice of desi exorcism in Chimmatipur add to the film’s novelty. On the flipside, the climax is disappointing. The film also ends on an abrupt note. One hopes that the makers would provide some backstory about Roohi’s past but that never happens. The same route was also followed in STREE [2018], where the mysterious girl’s (Shraddha Kapoor) track ends on a cliffhanger. In the case of ROOHI, it doesn’t make the same impact as STREE. Also, here the goings-on are rather confusing and the dialect is difficult to understand. Several dialogues are sure to go bouncer for many viewers. LOL- Janhvi on being TROLLED: “Fir to main HINDUSTAN ki sabse POPULAR…”| Roohi <iframe id="jwiframe" class="playerFrame" src="https://ift.tt/3epvgq5" width="800" height="340" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> ROOHI starts off on an interesting note, depicting the concept of bride kidnapping in Baagadpur, that too through the eyes of a foreign reporter (Alexx O'Nell). The film gets better once Bhawra and Kattanni kidnap Roohi and set base at the spooky, abandoned factory. The scene where Bhawra narrates about the possessed Roohi to Kattanni is sure to raise laughs. The scene where Kattanni, instead of running away, falls for the possessed Roohi is unique and unexpected. It will bring smiles on the faces of the viewers. The interval comes at an interesting juncture. Post-interval, the film begins to fall but a few scenes especially of the marriage with the dog and Bhawra’s conversation with the old lady (Sarita Joshi) add to the humour and madness. The climax, though unpredictable, is disappointing. Talking of performances, Rajkummar Rao is in his element as expected. Due to his adorable performance, one doesn’t hate him even though he’s playing a kidnapper in the film. And his comic timing is spot-on, especially in the scenes where he’s running away from the possessed Roohi. Janhvi Kapoor is a big surprise. She hardly has any dialogues but gets her act right with her expressions. And she also is convincing as the witch. Varun Sharma is marvellous and manages to raise laughs. In the last 30 minutes, however, he doesn’t have much to do. Manav Vij suits the part and his performance is fair. Sarita Joshi (credited in the film as Padma Shri Sarita Joshi) is hilarious and one wishes that she had a longer screen time. Alexx O'Nell is lovely. Rajesh H Jais, Anurag Arora (Tantrik), Sumit Gulati (Paras; Roohi’s groom in the end) are okay. Sachin-Jigar's music is appropriate for the film and it’s theme. 'Kiston' comes suddenly but is soulful. 'Bhootni' is hilarious while 'Panghat' is played in the end credits. 'Nadiyon Paar' is attached with the film’s print before the film starts. It is the best song of the lot and well shot. One wishes if it was a part of the film’s narrative. Ketan Sodha's background score is well woven and also contributes to the horror quotient. Amalendu Chaudhary's cinematography is spectacular. The various locales in the film are well captured. Ayushi Agarwal and Abhijeet Shresth's production design is quirky and adds to the eerie atmosphere. Theia Tekchandaney's costumes are realistic. Nikita Kapoor's prosthetics are very convincing. Manohar Verma's action is fine while Red Chillies.VFX's VFX is first-rate. Huzefa Lokhandwala's editing is fine and could have been better and crisper in the first half. On the whole, ROOHI rests on a unique concept, fine performances and some interesting funny and horror sequences. However, the disappointing climax and difficult-to-understand dialect might affect the film’s prospects at the box office.

from Movie Review | Bollywood Movie Reviews | Latest Hindi Movies Reviews - Bollywood Hungama https://ift.tt/3cgxcyq

Movie Review: Roohi

Friday, 26 February 2021

Movie Review: The Girl On The Train

Parineeti Chopra had a smashing debut with bubbly and light-hearted roles and it became her trademark. After a hiatus, she is back and her 2.0 cinematic avatar promises to be unlike anything she has done in the past. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is the first film of her new phase. The film was supposed to release in cinemas on Mother’s Day 2020. But due to the pandemic, it has made its way on Netflix. So does THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN manage to impress and give a thrilling time to the viewers? Or does it fail in its endeavour? Let’s analyse. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1188297" src="https://ift.tt/2ZRluEu" alt="Movie Review The Girl On The Train" width="750" height="450" /> THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is the story of a troubled alcoholic who gets involved in the murder of a girl whom she hardly knows. Mira Kapoor (Parineeti Chopra), based in London, is happily married to Shekhar (Avinash Tiwary). Mira takes up the case of an African man who gets killed in a shootout. She then receives threats from the family of the accused, Jimmy Baga. Yet, she proves in the court that Jimmy is the killer. Jimmy Baga is sent to jail. The same day, Mira finds out that she is pregnant. 6 months later, Mira is in a happy space as motherhood is something she deeply aspired for. Unfortunately, Mira and Shekhar get involved in a car accident. Mira suffers from a miscarriage. Her doctor tells that she is not fit to conceive again. Mira is shattered and to cope up with the loss, she resorts to drinking. She drinks so much that she would get violent and suffer from blackouts. And then the next day, she would not remember a thing. During her drunken stupors, Mira ends up assaulting Shekhar and also insulting his boss due to which Shekhar is fired. Shekhar finally divorces Mira. Mira loses her job as well. With nothing else to do in life, she begins to travel in the train from London to it’s suburbs and back. On the way, she crosses the place where her house with Shekhar is situated. However, just next to Shekhar’s house, Mira spots Nusrat John (Aditi Rao Hydari). Mira starts observing her whenever her train passes from near her house. Mira sees that Nusrat is having a lovely married life with Anand Joshi (Shamaun Ahmed). She also sees Nusrat dancing without a care in the world. Mira wishes if she had a life like Nusrat. However, one day, Mira sees that Nusrat is hugging someone who is not her husband. The way Nusrat hugs makes her realize that she’s having an affair. Mira is shattered. The perfect image of Nusrat which she had crafted in her mind is broken and that angers her. She feels that she shouldn’t cheat on her husband as she knows the pain. This is because Shekhar also started an affair, with Anjali (Natasha Benton), with whom he’s happily married now. Mira hence decides to teach a lesson to Nusrat. She goes to the latter’s house but the house is locked. She then spots her in a forest nearby. Mira charges at her and then blacks out. Mira wakes up at her house with a wound on her forehead and no memory of last night. The next day, Nusrat goes missing. Officer Kaur (Kirti Kulhari) comes on board to investigate. During the course of her investigation, she finds out that Mira had come angrily to meet Nusrat and hence, Mira becomes the prime suspect. A few days later, Nusrat’s dead body is found in the same forest. What happens next forms the rest of the story. THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is based on the 2016 Hollywood film of the same name, which in turn, was adapted from Paula Hawkins’s bestselling novel. The Hindi remake is not a scene-by-scene remake of the Emily Blunt-starrer and the makers have added new characters and plot points, which would surprise those who have seen the original. Ribhu Dasgupta's screenplay (additional screenplay by Viddesh Malandkar) is average. While it’s gripping and fast-paced, there’s no character development done of the supporting characters. Gaurav Shukla and Abhijeet Khuman's dialogues are decent. Ribhu Dasgupta's direction is not upto the mark. Talking about the plusses, he manages to captivate viewers. There’s a lot happening in the film and he doesn’t let viewers’ attention wander even for a second. The original flick had a lot of non-linear narrative. Ribhu simplifies it to a large extent. A few scenes are exceptional and also, he manages to extract fine performances from his actors. On the flipside, he keeps all the focus mainly on Parineeti Chopra’s character. The original film focused on the supporting characters and their backstories as well, and also the dynamics between various characters. Here, that doesn’t happen adequately. Even those who have not seen the original will feel this flaw and they would not be able to connect with some characters. Also, the ending has been changed from the original flick and the novel. Ribhu has added a double twist. The attempt doesn’t really work because the original, second twist is flawed and riddled with cinematic liberties. Parineeti on The Girl On The Train: "I just FELL on the floor and I BURST into TEARS, I started..." <iframe id="jwiframe" class="playerFrame" src="https://ift.tt/3uA309S" width="800" height="340" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN starts off an intriguing note. In the first 20 minutes, the makers lay out the trajectory in Mira’s rollercoaster life. The parallel track of Nusrat going missing is also interesting. As the film progresses, more and more characters get added to the narrative. But one realizes that they don’t have much to do. That hampers the impact to an extent. Nevertheless, the various developments in the last 45 minutes do keep one on the edge of the seats. The ending should have been the best part of the enterprise but instead, it is devoid of logic. Parineeti Chopra delivers a brilliant performance and is sure to benefit from this film. She surprises viewers as she has never ventured into this space before and she manages to put up a convincing performance. As a chronic alcoholic, she is quite good. Kirti Kulhari shines with her screen presence and dialogue delivery. Aditi Rao Hydari is lovely and one wishes she had a bigger role, especially since her character is crucial to the plot. Avinash Tiwary is as always dependable. Natasha Benton and Shamaun Ahmed get no scope at all. Same goes for Tota Roy Chowdhury (Dr Hamid). Vishakh Vadgama (Kunal; junior police officer), Diljohn Singh (Rajiv), Monisha Hassen (Zehra; Shekhar’s boss) and Suresh Sippy (Mira's doctor) are okay. Music is surprisingly good but doesn’t have a shelf life. 'Chhal Gaya Chhalla' is quite catchy. 'Matlabi Yariyan' is well woven with the narrative. 'Tu Meri Rani' is forgettable. Gilad Benamram's background score adds to the thrill. Tribhuvan Babu Sadineni's cinematography is simple but effective. Sunil Nigvekar's production design is rich. Subodh Srivastava and Sanam Ratansi's costumes are very appealing and yet realistic and in sync with the character’s respective personalities. Pratap Borhade's make-up is praiseworthy, especially the wound on Parineeti’s forehead. Sangeeth Prakash Varghese's editing is slick. On the whole, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN is an average fare. It impresses due to the fast-paced narrative and performances, especially of Parineeti Chopra. But the lack of character development and flawed climax proves detrimental.

from Movie Review | Bollywood Movie Reviews | Latest Hindi Movies Reviews - Bollywood Hungama https://ift.tt/3kogVLA

Movie Review: The Girl On The Train

Friday, 22 January 2021

Movie Review: Madam Chief Minister

Politics is an important component of our society and in recent times, with the advent of social media, it has become popular even among the youth who earlier weren’t that interested. However, the same wasn’t reflected in our films. We have obviously had plenty of films involving politicians but a fictional film revolving around the life of a neta was rare. Most of them which were released recently like THACKERAY [2019], THE ACCIDENTAL PRIME MINISTER [2019] and PM NARENDRA MODI [2019] were biopics. MADAM CHIEF MINISTER, directed by Subhash Kapoor of JOLLY LLB fame, which has released today, fills up this space. It’s not a biopic and serves as a fictional political thriller. The trailer and some of the parallels with the life of ex-Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati have caught some attention. So does MADAM CHIEF MINISTER emerge as an entertaining political fare? Or does it fail to entice? Let’s analyse. <img class="aligncenter wp-image-1171980 size-full" title="Movie Review: Madam Chief Minister" src="https://ift.tt/3sI72w5" alt="Movie Review: Madam Chief Minister" width="720" height="450" /> MADAM CHIEF MINISTER is the story of a girl who rises from being a nobody to the most powerful woman in Uttar Pradesh. Tara Roopram (Richa Chadha) is born in 1982 in a village in Uttar Pradesh. The same day, her father, Roopram (Mukteshwar Ohja) is killed by members of a higher caste. Tara’s grandmother, who is anyway upset with her birth since she’s the fourth daughter in the family, gets enraged when she learns about the demise of Roopram. She accuses Tara for this tragedy and is about to kill her. But Tara’s mother (Seema Modi) stops her from doing so. Many years later, Tara is grown up and works as a librarian in a university. She is in a physical relationship with Indramani Tripathi (Akshay Oberoi), a political heir and a politically active student in the university. One day, Tara tells Indramani that she’s pregnant and that she wishes to marry Indramani. To which Indramani makes it clear that it’s not possible because of caste differences. He advises her to abort the child. She refuses and threatens to expose him. His goons attack her when she’s working in the woods. However, she’s saved by the men of Master Surajbhan (Saurabh Shukla), who belongs to the Parivartan Party of India, which fights for the lower caste and downtrodden people. Tara is indebted to Master and she starts living with him and even working for his party. She picks up the workings of politics quickly. Some time before the state elections, she advises Master to form an alliance with Arvind Singh (Shubrajyoti Barat) of the Vikas Party, who had approached Master for a political partnership. Master sends Tara to meet Arvind Singh and convince him about the terms that Master has. Tara succeeds. When no one is ready to fight elections against the sitting CM, Tara takes up the challenge. She impresses the junta with their fiery speeches. She also fakes an attack on herself to gain sympathy. All these reasons help her defeat the sitting CM in the elections. As per the alliance terms, for the first 2½ years, a candidate of Parivartan Party of India will serve as the Chief Minister. The party members select O P Kushwaha (Sangam Bhaguna) due to his seniority and political experience. But, Master vetoes the decision and makes Tara the Chief Minister. She shifts to the CM’s sprawling residence. She gets her mother to stay with her who is obviously proud of Tara’s achievements. Meanwhile, her OSD (Officer on Special Duty), Danish Khan (Manav Kaul) informs her about the MLAs of the Vikas Party who are selected by Vikas Singh to serve in the cabinet. All of them are close to Vikas, as a friend or family member, and one of them is none other than Indramani Tripathi! Tara is angry that someone who tried to kill her will become a Cabinet Minister. She tries her best to ensure he doesn’t get the minister’s post. What happens next forms the rest of the film. Subhash Kapoor's story is promising in parts. After RAAJNEETI [2010], we haven’t really had a fictional political flick. It’s commendable that the writer researched well and managed to come up with some interesting sequences, many of which are based on common political tactics like unholy political alliances, horse trading etc. But Subhash Kapoor's screenplay doesn’t do complete justice. The first half has some goofs which one tends to overlook in favour of the many plusses in the film. But in the second half, these minuses get amplified and affect the impact. Subhash Kapoor's dialogues are realistic and sharp at places. However, the catchphrase used by Tara during her speeches ‘Main tumhari hoon’ could have been better thought of and more hard-hitting. Subhash Kapoor's direction is exceptional at places but otherwise, it’s quite pale, especially in comparison to his past films. What’s surprising from the very start is that the film moves too quickly, which is not really Subhash’s style. At first, one feels great since a fast-paced narrative can also mean a better narrative. But in the process of rushing through things, the director skips a few developments, which leave the viewers confused. For instance, why doesn’t Tara go ahead with the pregnancy and when is it that she changes her mind is never depicted. Secondly, a member of Master’s party Sundar (Boloram Das) does a heinous act of betrayal. Sadly, his track is forgotten completely in the second half. The finale seems a bit abrupt. Ideally, the makers should have reversed the chronology. The poisoning bit track should have been followed by the horse-trading sequence as the latter was quite powerful. If the film had ended with this said action-packed track, the impact would have been there. Sadly, the vice versa happens. So a fantastic sequence is followed by a disappointing one and hence, the audience comes out of the theatre feeling not-so-impressed. <img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1171983" src="https://ift.tt/2LTwga5" alt="" width="720" height="450" /> MADAM CHIEF MINISTER has a decent beginning, explaining the caste wars prevalent in rural areas. The introduction of adult Tara and her relationship with Indramani is quickly explained and depicted. But it’s when Master Surajbhan enters the narrative that the film gets better. The pure bond that he shares with Tara is heartening. The execution seems a bit jerky at places but one doesn’t mind much here as there’s a lot happening in the film. Two scenes that really stand out here are – Tara forcing herself and other lower castes people into the temple; and the other one is when she forcefully tonsures Indramani. The intermission point is arresting. Post-interval, the film zooms like a rocket as Tara ‘kidnaps’ MLAs from Vikas Party and holds them in a guest house. The drama that ensues here is sure to keep one at the edge of the seat. Sadly, from here on, instead of maintaining this high, the film falls. The track of the CM being slowly poisoned is unpredictable but doesn’t really create the desired impact as it’s flawed. The finale is well thought of but again, it lacks the punch. Speaking of performances, Richa Chadha does justice as she puts up a confident and convincing performance. The best part about her performance is that she understands Tara well. She goes overboard as Tara plays to the gallery while giving speeches but she also draws a line so that it doesn’t seem like a ham performance. Saurabh Shukla is lovely and all his scenes are engaging. Manav Kaul is dependable always but is let down by the script in the pre-climax and finale. Akshay Oberoi leaves a huge mark. One wishes that he had more screen time. Shubrajyoti Barat is fine as the villain. Boloram Das is fair. Sangam Bhaguna, Mukteshwar Ohja and Seema Modi don't get much scope. Nikhil Vijay (Babloo) played a half-baked character and it seemed like he was trying to imitate popular actor Dhanush. Raviza Chauhan (Shashi Rai) is great. Shreya Awasthi (Dr Laxmi), Alok Sharad (Judge) and the actor playing judge Supriya Tiwari are okay. Mangesh Dhakde's music is wasted. Ideally, this should have been a songless film. 'Chidi Chidi' is forgettable. Mangesh Dhakde's background score, however, is dramatic and has a commercial vibe. Jayesh Nair's cinematography is spectacular. The scene where Richa apes Dr. Ambedkar’s statue’s pose especially is very well captured. Vikram Singh's production design is sans complaints. Veera Kapur Ee's costumes are straight out of life while Nikita Kapoor's make-up and prosthetics add to the realism. Parvez Shaikh's action isn’t gory and yet, works well as per the film’s theme. Chandrashekhar Prajapati's editing is problematic. On the whole, MADAM CHIEF MINISTER boasts of an interesting idea and fine performances by Richa Chadha and Saurabh Shukla. But the loopholes in the script and a disappointing and abrupt finale spoil the show. At the box office, it will struggle to get footfalls as it has been released without any awareness.

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