RRR Film Review :

Let me say it outright, I am a huge fan of S.S. Rajamouli Sir. I have seen all his films, including the hard-to-find older ones, my favorites being Eega (Makkhi) and obviously the Baahubali Saga.
So, despite the numerous delays I was extremely excited for RRR to finally come out. However, it seems not many are as excited as I am. I prebooked my tickets on Tuesday itself, but looks like I didn’t need to!

The theater was empty below my row! (I had booked in the 4th Row from the top). Checking BMS App, I can see most shows are largely empty (top 1 or 2 rows have some seats booked) in Mumbai region with only the Imax 3D having filled around the halfway mark. Despite the hype down south, it doesn’t look like RRR will have a strong opening day in Mumbai region.
Getting to the film itself, the story is set in the 1920’s with the British occupying India, the two heroes NTR Jr and Ram Charan playing Bheem and Ram respectively, meet under a quirk of circumstances and the rest of the story follows.

This is a no spoiler review, but let me say, the trailer has shown almost every single major beat of the film. I wish the trailer had not revealed the final look of the heroes during the climax.
But coming back to the start, the first half of the film is extremely solid. The action, the acting, everything is well done. The way the two heroes meet and their ensuing friendship is a bit rushed but those are some of the strongest parts of the films to see them having a good time while still thinking of their individual goals. The pre interval action set piece is tremendous. I am sure in a house-full theater those scenes would have set the audience cheering and hooting. The song Naacho Naacho is also filmed rather well. The entire song is extremely catchy and the choreography is legendary. Till interval I would rate the film a solid nine out of ten.

Acting :
NTR Jr and Ram Charan have invested a lot into this film. Their friendship and comradery are clearly on display and those parts of the film are really well done. Alia Bhatt role can only be called an extended cameo, she is badly miscast in the film as she doesn’t fit into the look of the film at all. I think she was cast only to get in some of Bollywood fans into the theater.
Ayaj Devgn has a small cameo, but his part in the story is important. He looks right at home among revolutionaries having played Bhagat Singh and Tanhaji. His scenes give context to the back story of one of the heroes and it works out well.
The villain portrayed by Ray Stevenson of Thor fame is not given much to do except look mean and be really cruel. After the bombastic pre interval action set piece, I was expecting the heroes to have an epic face off with a semi famous western actor.
But then sadly the second half happened. The pace slows down and the two heroes are sort of divided and don’t really come together till almost the end. Somehow all the energy and pace of the first half just goes for a toss. The film drags on for a bit before picking. The pre climax action scene is rather innovative and not something the audiences anywhere have seen before. The action design in this scene is where Rajamouli Sir shines through. On paper this scene shouldn’t work, but it does by the sheer conviction of the director.
However even as the film picks up a bit, we get to the climax and it is weak. It is the weakest bit of the whole film.
In cinema, the ending defines the whole movie. It doesn’t matter how well a film starts, how well it carries, if the ending doesn’t stick the landing.

Many films have a mediocre start and middle, but the ending is so good that it elevates the whole film. RRR is just the opposite. It has a good start, extremely good middle and the ending is just too rushed, not cohesive story wise and just seems far too convenient. It feels as if the director ran out of ideas, spent all the budget in the first 2 hours of the film and now just needed to finish the film as soon as possible. The ending spoils the entire film. Dragging it down big time.

If this had been any other director than Rajamouli Sir, then maybe this weak sort of climax would have been forgiven, but his films have some of the best climaxes in Indian cinema. So, this ending is not justified.

Rating: 6/10. If you like these types of films, then this is a good one-time watch.

The Kashmir Files Movie Review
I have stopped reviewing films for all intents and purposes. I still watch a lot of cinema, but most of it is not worth commenting upon. I even saw The Batman last week and did not bother to review it.
However, The Kashmir Files is not just a film worth seeing, but worth talking about.
This is a difficult movie to review. Since this is more like a case file than a film. Seeing this as just an entertainment piece is not possible. This one movie tries to encapsulate the entire Kashmiri Pandit Genocide the best it can.

Does this movie succeed? Well, yes as a narrative peice. but as a purely cinematic experience, it does falter at times due to technical issues.
On to the positive aspects.

Ever since the falsely marketing film ‘Shikara’ which the trailers showed like it dealt with the Kashmiri Pandit genocide, but was a love story on the backdrop of the same, The Kashmir Files movie has been on my radar as a must watch film. This same directtor made The Tashkent Files and that was a good film.
Then the trailer of this film came out and it was absolutely shocking.
The trailer wasn’t false marketing this time! The movie is totally shocking and eye opening. Most people don’t even know about the incidents being referenced in the film. So this is new information for a lot of people, not to mention, a conversation starter on this ignored and over looked genocide which happened in the recent past.

The best way to describe this film is, it’s like the Indian Schindler’s List without the positive outcome. The displaced Pandits never made it back home. They never truly got justice.
As a film, the story takes place across multiple time periods, but the narrative thread is well knit and the viewer is not confused as to which time period the film has jumped to. The acting is overall quite good, but there are a few mediocre performances in there by the extras. Mithun Da works his magic as someone who is first hand witness to the atrocities that took place as well as the inaction from the then Indian Government.

Darshan Kumaar is shown as a new age rebel JNU student who wants to leave the past behind and move on. Forgive and forget he says. But it turns out he doesnt even know the reality. His acting is decent, nothing path breaking, but believable and sincere.
Pallavi Joshi is still attractive as the typical JNU professor demanding freedom for Kashmir, her role is to showcase the stereo-typical (so called) liberal professor who turns students into activists. Her acting is so realistic, its difficult to separate the actor from her performance.
What this film lacks, is sharpness / attention to detail in direction and acting. The low budget shows at times. Some shocking scenes are shot fine, but the VFX is lacking. The last scene was meant to be shocking, but the acting of the extras keeps it from gaining true masterpiece level.
Plot wise, the current time period story-line has a non-ending as none of those plots can be resolved in real life, so they are left hanging.

But all of that is not important. This film, as I mentioned is more than a just cinema, it’s an information piece in the form of a film to tell the world what took place in Kashmir in the recent past. The mass genocide of Indians in their own country which no one talks about, no one outrages about or even mentions.
In that goal, the film succeeds. The narration and pace is brisk, it is not boring or loud. It also shows the point of view of the ‘other side’ and doesn’t treat the audience like fools.
Rating: As a film this is a 7/10. However, this is more than film which is made, directed and produced. This is a voice for those helpless many who never got any headlines, let alone outrage or justice. As that, this is a 10/10 effort of tell a direct and hard hitting, fact filled retelling of those events.
Overall : This is a film which was eagerly awaited by me and it doesn’t disappoint. This is a 100% must watch for all Indians to know the real life incident which happened in our own country and we don’t even know it.

For months now there has been speculation that this movie has all the three spider-men in the same movie. Since this is spoiler free review, I will not confirm or deny those rumors.
However, as the movie goes, we can discuss it quality wise.

Compared to Spider-man 3 (2007) This is so much better than the conclusion of that trilogy. Its also a better film than Homecoming, but does not manage to surpass the breathless pacing of Far from Home.
Acting wise, Tom Holland has matured a lot as a performer and is excellent in the film. Zendaya as MJ too has come into her own as the character and does a fine job. Jacob Batalon as Ned is Spider-man steadfast friend who is solid. However, unlike Far From Home, this movie doesn’t have much of the class or his other friends in it. That is a loss as Martin Starr as Peter’s teacher Mr. Harrington was excellent in both the previous movies and he has barely a cameo in this film. Peter’s school is not heavily featured in the film as the story has a lot of other things going on.

That makes it simultaneously the Least and Most “MCU” movie in the trilogy. The Least because the MCU Spider-man was all about his school and his shenanigans with his class students. However due to Dr. Strange being in the movie its also the Most MCU Spiderman film till date.
Overall, there is a lot happening in the movie and it all starts from Peter Parker’s identity being revealed by Mysterio’s team at the end of the previous film

The villains of this film make up a bulk of the story and I was extremely glad to see that they didn’t waste the main villains for mindless action scenes. Their stories have so much heart, its possible to feel a bit bad for them and their sealed fate of dying while fighting their respective spider-man. This is the most compelling Spider-man movie in the MCU and ranks somewhere bit below Spider-man 2.
The direction and cinematography are all at expected level, with more web swinging action than in the previous films.

Rating: 8/10. This is a solid end to the first MCU spider-man trilogy.

Slight Spoiler Alert:

To Fully understand every reference, joke, easter egg and in general the plot, these following movies and shows are required watching.

Wink Wink.

1. Spider-man (2002)
2. Spider-man 2 (2004)
3. Spider-man 3 (2007)
4. The Amazing Spider-man (2012)
5. The Amazing Spider-man 2 (2014)
6. Spider-man Homecoming (2017)
7. Spider-man Far From Home (2019)
8. Daredevil Netflix show (2015)
Also.
9. Dr. Strange (2016)
10. Avengers Infinity War (2018)
11. Avengers Endgame (2019)
12. Wanda-Vision (2021)
13. Marvel’s What if Season 1 (2021)

I first came across Dune as a miniseries released back in 2000. It was quite terribly done. The VFX was shoddy, the budget was non-existent. But the story drew me in. I then got my hands on the 1984 version and liked it better than the 2000’s Miniseries. Strange as that 84 version of the film is, at least it had big budget look and feel and pretty good acting overall. So one can say, for more than a decade I have been waiting for a proper modern high budget adaptation of the Dune novel.

Finally, when this version was announced, I dusted off my novel which I have had for 20 years and got to reading it. I finished the first and second novel and now on the third one. So I am well aware of the world and mythology of Dune. The good news is, so do the film makers. The novel Dune is a bit difficult to turn into a film as it has lots of setups and world introduction. This new 2021 movie does the setup perfectly without it getting boring or confusing. There was no better way to pull it all off. The 1984 version tried something else and it was confusing and quite a mess. Point to be noted is, the 1984 version was butchered and the director (David Lynch) didn’t have final cut control.

Coming back to this film. The setup is well executed, the look and feel of everything is as it should be according to the novels. A lot of the imagery and dressing is Islamic in style and rightly so, as the novels borrow heavily from Islamic themes in a big way, including concepts like Jihad and Hajj which feature heavily in the novels.

The highlight of the film is definitely its cinematography. Its beyond gorgeous. The VFX is very well done, nothing looks fake or CGI. This movie translates the novel like it should have been. It brings out visuals which are described in the novel, but never before seen on-screen. For example, the mode of transport on Dune aka Arrakis is the ornithopter. It looks like a joke in the older film and miniseries. Here, it looks like a real piece of working tech.
The next thing that hits you is the score. It’s a masterpiece. Hans Zimmer left Tenet to do this movie and I am glad he did. Tenet was a fine movie, but this movie is a masterpiece.
The acting and performances are decent overall, no one does any hammy dialog delivery or over the top acting, which is a relief in a hard-core sci-fi film.
The raid scene is far more intense than my mind could have ever conjured up while reading the novel or seeing the older versions of the film. Its brutal and haunting. So, for once this a moment where the film has done it better than the novel.
Be warned this is NOT a action film with huge explosions going off every few minutes or large scale action set pieces taking over the story. This movie follows the novel rather closely and has long dialog scenes. So do not go in expecting a ‘Star Wars’ type experience.
Overall: The only negative of the film is that it is part 1 of 2. So, the ending is a bit lame. Despite Warner Bros assurance that there is a Part 2 coming, I feel it is a ploy to make sure people go and watch this film as no one wants to see a film which won’t have the next part come out soon. Once this movie is released, they might quietly kill the part 2 or reduce its budget enough to make it pointless. This movie is not a standalone movie. It doesn’t stand on its own with the second half. The book wasn’t written to become two movies. But they needed the time to establish the world of Dune.

I genuinely hope the part 2 comes out, as well as other movies based on the sequel novels, but we all know that this movie is coming out in theaters as well as (streaming on) HBO Max next week and this means the box office performance will be shadow of what it would have been pre-covid. Warner Bros are well known for making really dumb decisions with big budget franchises, (Justice League Snyder cut). It’s almost like they don’t want to make money at the box office. Dune part 1 is like LOTR part 1. Good film, terrible ending as it’s not an ending, just a pause button on the story till a part 2 comes out (if ever).
I seriously doubt I will ever get to see Dune Messiah and Children of Dune on the big screen with this cast and crew. Which is a pity as the story is not your typical rise of the hero. The world of Dune is pretty big if they really want to delve deep. Hope the part 2 comes out and is just as good or even better as that has the majority of the action and triumph.
Rating: This is an easy 8/10 for me. Tremendous visuals. Great story and plot. Excellent world building and decent acting. This is a must watch for Sci-Fi fans.
A theater experience especially in IMax is fully recommended.

Bell Bottom, Streaming Review.
With theaters (almost) permanently closed in Maharashtra, Only the streaming sites are to the rescue.
I might have caught this film in theaters per covid, but now there was no choice but to wait for the online release of Bell Bottom.
First things first, this is an Akshay Kumar vehicle. The entire movie only works due to his acting and charisma. However, this is a role we have seen him do many times, in Baby, Special 26, Airlift etc. Still, he is what makes the movie work.
The first half of the film is all buildup and it does start to seem like a stage play at times. The added songs in the start of the film (shown in convenient flashbacks) do not help the pace at all. Post the painful first 20 mins, the film picks up a lot and the second half is quite nail biting. The first half and second half seem like two different films altogether!
Vaani Kapoor is in the film for absolutely no reason. Even if her character was eliminated fully, nothing would change in the film.
Lara Dutta on the other hand does a competent job of portraying our late PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi (who died in the same year as this film is set in on 31st Oct – My birthday). The benefit of having a younger woman play someone older is the energy they bring to the role. Mrs. Gandhi has been portrayed in this year’s Bhuj as well but not to the same result.
Huma Qureshi has a small but significant guest appearance. She doesn’t much time to show her acting skills (not that she has that many) but at least she isn’t distracting or terrible.
The film is well made overall if one can totally ignore the time period mistakes all over the film. I understand that this is a lower budget film, but they haven’t tried too hard to portray the correct year. The 1979 flashbacks has some reporter carrying a modern looking camera, except for some vintage cars, the roads of London look modern. Not to mention the styling of everyone at the flashback wedding is totally the 2020s and not 1979.
These gaffs aside the special FX is horrendous. The movie seems to be shot a lot on green screen or so the FX would have us believe. None of the airplane shots look even remotely realistic. I don’t thing the VFX team had more than 2 or 3 months to work on this. Might even be lesser time than that.
So if you can ignore the terrible VFX, the mistakes in portraying the right era, then this film is just for you.
Most of these issues however do not spoil the second half of the film, this section of the film is worth a watch.
My biggest issue with Bollywood films is the bollywoodization of the real stories and then making up some new story to suit their hero. This film is the same, but since its better made than Bhuj, it doesn’t grate on the nerves with filmi dialogs or over hyper patriotism.

Rating : 6/10. It’s a decent one time watch. I skipped the songs totally as this own on streaming and I used that to my benefit.

P.S : Amazon Prime needs to do some quality control. I saw the film exactly after 12am Release and the entire film is slightly squashed. Someone screwed up on the aspect ration of the film is some strange way, making everyone look just a tiny bit stretched sideways! Come on Prime! You can do better!

Despite my cautious optimism for this film, I somehow waited to watch Bhuj the Pride of India first. Big mistake. That movie’s migraine could only be solved by Shershaah. This movie is everything Bhuj isn’t. It is serious, the action is done extremely well and it comes across as one of the better-done war films from India. Same year, same month of release. Yet such a dichotomy between Bhuj and Shershaah.
From the trailers itself, it was clear which would turn out to be the better film. But since Shershaah was a Karan Johar production, my optimism was tempered. But this time, Dharma productions got a south Indian director and he does full justice to the story of Captain Vikram Batra.
Compared to the recent Uri the surgical strike, Shershaah sticks to the facts rather vehemently. There is no magic drone or super heroics done to cheapen the impact of this deadly conflict. Right from the beginning, the action hits hard and shows the uncertainty of a soldier’s life.
Acting :
I am not a huge detractor nor a fan of actor Siddharth Malhotra, I have enjoyed a few films of his, such as Ek Villain but his new films have been a total miss. But this film has the best acting he has done so far in his career. He manages to capture the visual aspect of the late PVC Captain Vikram and does so with enough grace so it doesn’t seem cheesy and filmy even when the character is acting all filmy. That is some accomplishment.
Rest of the cast are very competent in their roles and are extremely believable. Going by the end credits real pictures of the real people, the casting department has done an excellent as some of the actors resemble their real-life counter parts quite a bit. That’s always a plus in such films which are based on real events. Again, comparing the Bhuj where the cast looks nothing like the real people, it just seems more disrespectful and lowers the impact of the film.

Direction:
The film wonderfully directed. The scenes remain period accurate, the props, the behavior all remind us of the 90s. The action is extremely well done and totally realistic and none of the scenes look like visual effects enhanced except one or two snow approach scenes. But that fine, it doesn’t take us out of the film. The romantic part of the film is done well and manages to accomplish its goal of showing us how the late PVC Vikram Batra was, when he wasn’t fighting in the army.
The war scenes are tastefully done without going overboard. There is no fake nationalism at display, the dialogs, the mannerisms of the Indian Army officers and soldiers all seem extremely accurate (at least to a lay person like me).
I cannot get over how much impact just hiring a competent director has on this sort of films. Uri was Ok at best with its magical flying eagle drone and none of the soldiers behaving in a proper manner (shouting victory cries in hostile enemy territory anyone?). Shershaah is a fine example of how to direct well and then overall make a superior film due to all the attention to detail.

Overall :
This film made me tear up by the end. I couldn’t help it. One has to be entirely devoid of all emotions to not get teary eyed towards the end. This means the film worked. It managed to convey its story and give us some idea of who this person was on whom a film is now being made.
Rating : 8/10. Easily one of the best War movies made in India. A film which I would be proud to recommend. It’s a must watch without any delay.

Someone with a huge sense of Irony must have named this film Bhuj the Pride of India.
Within the first 15 minutes of the film, I felt my head was about to burst with the level of nonsense shown in the film. Nothing can make me MORE ashamed of being an Indian and being part of the industry, which made this film. Don’t get me wrong, I am ashamed of this FILM, not the real story. I am criticizing the FILM not the real events on which is this (supposedly) based upon.
They wanted to make the opening look like Pearl Harbor. However, the result is so terrible that I can’t even find any other film to compare it to… its like someone gave a baboon a camera and told it to make a film. The result would be close to what is on screen.
From the comical entry of our hero and his jeep hitting a plane. To airplanes behaving in impossible manner to Ajay Devgn’s character shooting down planes and causing MORE damage than the enemy was managing to do… Not to mention there are two fake out main character death scenes in the same scene!
It’s cinematic equivalent of watching an elephant take a huge dump. A total shit show, and this is literally only 17 mins into a 1 hr 53 mins film. I took a crocin, some vodka (to disinfect my mind) and soldiered on…
The rest of the movie doesn’t get any easier on the senses either. The recruiting of the villagers to repair the runway is done in a funny manner with Sonakshi (can’t act) Sinha singing and giving strange dialogs which cannot possibly inspire anyone. The main part of the story which is civilian villagers coming to the rescue of the armed forces and the nation at large is dealt with in an emotionless manner.
This movie seems to be made by people who have NO clue as to what they are doing. The land/tank battle scene is confusing and doesn’t make any coherent sense, there is no flow to the fighting nor does is it clear where all the troops are and the attack is happening.
I am yet to see Shershaah but this Bhuj made my brain feel dehydrated.
Final Verdict:
This movie has some of the worst editing I have seen since KGF Part 1. Everything suddenly whips, zips, zooms and bangs with a smash cut. Noorah didn’t have her item song in the film itself (thankfully). Her entire arc was just a mere time-pass and didn’t add any depth to the movie. Sanjay Dutt probably regretted not being in the film ‘Border’ so decided to do a cameo as retired super hero who keeps killing off hundreds with a small axe while sustaining two small grazes on his arm.
I don’t even know was is the lady cast as Ajay Devgn’s wife as she has no dialog and no character and is a mere prop.
The vital runway repair scenes are rushed and compressed to an overnight affair while the real thing took place over 2 or 3 days and was a testament to human will and endurance. To add further drama towards the climax a random Ganesha song is added. Why oh why?
So, in short. Skip this one. Avoid at all costs. This movie is not just bad, this is obnoxiously bad. A sly attempt to make a hyper national film with ZERO effort and zero sincerity. This makes me angry more so because the events that happened in 1971 defined our nation and such a cash grab attempt to show such a vital story. Now that they have made this, no one else will make a good version, so this is what we are stuck with.
Rating: 2.5/10. One of the worst movies made in recent times. Nothing in the film works. Not the plot, which is super compressed and is senseless, despite being based on real events. The VFX is super fake and takes you out of the film totally. The acting is so hyperbolic, it seems like a school play. The editing is some of the worst that can be achieved on cinema. Calling this a film is a disgrace to films in general. If you want to see a good Ajay Devgn film, rewatch Tanaaji.

P.S: The real pictures of the people shown at the end of the film are much more interesting and had a bigger impact on me than the film itself.

Hardcore Sallu Bhai Fan Review :
We watch movies for Entertainment not for knowledge or story. There is a lot of books who gives us knowledge and story.

With same thinking I seen my dear Sallu bhai’s mega blockbuster film Radhe 4 times already.
When our mood something off for corona then we goto cinemas and watch movies to get happiness. No one go to cinema for knowledge. If no corona, me buy 25 tickets of his movies and see them again and again, my family wonder where I gone when Sallu bhai comes.

Sallu Bhai always gives. Never He takes. He gives big punch to villain, He runs fast, He tears off his shirt. Only giving us pleasure and happiness. I give back my whistle when he sings seeti maar.

But many stupid people who don’t know to live, they want to take knowledge away from sallu bhai cinema.
Basically these people only hater of my Sallu bhai. His all movies give happiness. Race 3, Dabangg 3, Jai Ho, Tubelight all are my best pictures.

All people hating, go die. Sallu Bhai film is 10000 out of 10.


My Review :

‘My apologies, it seems a hard core Sallu fan somehow got into my page and posted a review before I could!

Now that the troll who hijacked my review is gone, let me actually review, PADHE… Your most Crappy Bhai.

My Sallu obsessed hijacker of review has already taken you though his favourite points in the film. Let me state mine: the ending.

This movie is a sheer 1h49mins of torture to every sensory organ in your body. This can’t even be called a movie / film. Unlike Bharat which I found to be alright. This is audio visual experiment on how to extract confession from suspects / criminals or unwitting junta who somehow got strapped to a chair in front of this ‘film’.
There is no editing to speak of, scenes just tumble in one after the other. The music is one constant radhe radhe in the background. The color grading is lifted from Kaante. The VFX is from a PS3 era game, especially the ending chopper scene.

Oh, the Cheap Flash knock off scene, where Sallu bhai suddenly is faster than a blink of an eye, not to mention when the villain hits him on the arm with a metal rod, his arm makes a clanking sound!
I get it, the scene was copied from I,Robot, where Will Smith’s characters arm is ACTUALLY made of metal. The only reason sallu bhai is not copying MCU stunts is because they can’t do it. Budget and expertise are missing.

Salman’s is dead inside. He has nothing going on. No emotion on his face, no energy in his movements. Jackie Shroff acts younger than him and is a lot fitter. The heroine Disha Patni or Patani, who knows or cares, is an eye sore at best. Terrible makeup makes her look like a transvestite in most scenes and her dance is stomach churning. Jackie Shroff is reduced to a comedy perverted cop, who does actually nothing in the film. The villain played by Randeep Hooda is stab happy and fake CGI blood spouts out from his random stabbings. He doesn’t act, he just shows his knife and keeps stabbing. That’s what passes as a menacing villain in a Salman khan film.

The way the film is shot is amazing, the light source is visible in quite a few scenes and the camera work is beyond basic. I have seen better shot student films. Prabhu Deva is probably the worst director of big blockbusters in this century. He makes Rohit Shetty look like an auteur. I really want to be on the sets of his films like, Action Jackson or Radhe to see how he is making such visual diarrhoea. I am also convinced that he has no respect for women. In his films, they exist only to be raped, killed or show off their bodies. Or at best, the hero will make a woman realize how awesome she is, by mansplaining things to her.

In our country, where we have enough of Hollywood content available, where MCU and its Avengers is hugely popular franchise, how is Bollywood still thinking that this low grade, badly acted, non-written, cringy dialogue, mess of a VFX kind of movie would still work?

I would hate to rate this film even 1 out of 10. That’s why…

Rating: 0/10.
This movie is a total zero in everything. One of the worst movies ever made. This is way worse than Race 3 since that had some dialogs SO HORRIBLE that they became memes.

P.S: They have butchered Cheeti Maar by Allu Arjun for the film DJ. The original has awesome dance steps by Allu Arjun and that song is shot rather well. In this film it’s a travesty. How does a well-known dancer like Prabhu Deva not know how to choreograph a song?

Mortal Kombat Movie Review.

Mortal Kombat from 1995 was one of my favorite movies from childhood. So, I was bit apprehensive about the new Mortal Kombat reboot in 2021.

Sadly, my apprehension was right. But let’s start with the positives first.

SOME of the fight scenes are competently done. There is some decent amount of blood and gore. The deaths in the film are over the top, vicious and bloody.
That’s about it for the positives.

Now, be warned there will be a bit of spoilers but the movie has nothing major to spoil anyways.

This is a movie named Mortal Kombat spelled with a K, but the famous tournament after which it is named, doesn’t even HAPPEN in the movie! Digest that for a moment.
Someone in Hollywood thought it would be a smart and subversive idea to have the remake of Mortal Kombat not even have the tournament instead they have a bunch of random trainings, fights and showdowns.
Sometimes the character building is so bad that a character named Jax goes up against someone whose name I didn’t even catch and this person didn’t even DO anything evil in the previous scene. Absolutely no reason for the audience to be invested.
The story is disjointed, told via text on screen, exposition and random narration. Whenever this happens in a film, know that the said film is in a crisis.

The Scorpion Vs Sub-Zero showdown is sort of lame, the best parts of it are shown in the trailer. Rest of the fights have some random dialogs / visuals thrown in from the game to give the core fanbase something to like.
The famous theme song from the original makes a very tiny appearance and that too is not used properly!
Rating: 5/10. This is a one time watch if you can catch it for free somewhere on streaming. Some moments are enjoyable but overall, it just didn’t work for me.
Conclusion : Why is it SO difficult to make a movie about a fighting tournament with super-powered characters? It should be sort of like Enter the Dragon but with powers. Why is that hard to do? 1995 version achieved it, but that’s outdated now. So just remake what worked in the first film, what’s this crap about the tournament named MORTAL KOMBAT not even occurring in the movie itself? Then Name the movie, “Maybe Mortal Kombat: Before the Beginning. The Prequel.” I hope there is SEQUEL and it actually has the tournament in it…

P.S : This has the lamest 'Get over here' in the history of the games. come one dude (Director). At-least TRY!

The opening scene itself establishes the incompetence the Indian air force is… Some soldiers need evacuation and they don’t have any pilots to spare (Gareeb desh and all). So in comes Miss Nepotism to the rescue…
But wait, the scene now cuts to a flashback where a privileged male (pilot) shows off his ill-gotten privilege by telling the young pre-teen Miss Nepotism, that to sit in his chair in the cockpit, she needs to be a pilot…
Then what? Miss N, now soars to be a pilot! With a song and a twirl!
But not so fast…
Despite getting through Flight School in IAF with flying colors, her training is halted by… you guessed it, that pesky over privileged male ego.
The biggest difficulty Miss N has to face is not the training itself, she is always amazing at flying, it’s the evil, vile male ego. So despite her being better than the best (yes sir!), she is not allowed to do anything… coz… MALE EGO re bhai!
Therefore, she has to show those men their place and gain their respect. There are maybe 1 or 2 scenes showing her master the challenge of flying. But an entire large section of the film is devoted to male chauvinism. I don’t know if the real person faced all these issues, but Miss N certainly comes out on top with the help of the feminist script writers. I mean HOW can they show a woman as competent, without her putting down a few men. Can a woman be really awesome just based on her skills? NOT so much according to Dharma Productions…
So, now we are past the first half and so far Miss N has managed to, shown down her Chauvinist Male Captain and nothing much else. Not much of flying scenes as maybe Dharma couldn’t afford the VFX budget.
(Me to Self: Listen bro, flying dekh na hai tho Top Gun Maverick dekho bhai! This film only has rona dhona.)
Shaking off my own male chauvinism, I soldier on with the film….
The action now moves on to the third act. The real WAR is here!
No no, not Kargil. The war against the male mindset. Her brother is convineintly located in the same base as her. (Gareeb Army hai bhai!). So he continues with his male ego crap, but I am so scared of the feminist that I continue watching the film chup chap!
Such is the power of the male that, once Miss N does a mission well, they even show as if the ministers were asking for her to quit in case she got caught by the Pakis! Such is the huge issue of male chauvinism in India! (Someone tell that to Mrs Indira Ghadhi, Mayawati, Mamata Mam and all other women leaders…)
However, fate intervene and Miss Nepotism is able to do ONE mission that too by not listening to the orders of her male chauvinist commanding officer. Coz you know… women are always right! (lol).
What follows is some Border (the 1997 Film) level bullshit. Dude in a moving chopper is able to gun down the evil Pakis and blow up their ammunition! (FYI there was a Woman alongside The real Gunjan in the REAL events, but screw that! Only Miss N can hog the limelight).
So after like one success, the film ends. With Miss N in tears, in her father’s arms. You know… Papa ki Pari and stuff…
Rating : 1 Busted Male Ego out of 10 Nari Shakti Stars.

P.S : See, its free on Netflix, if you REALLY want to waste your time, go right ahead. If you want to make a statement on Nepotism in Bollywood, don’t watch it OR pirate it, like I did.