(According to Sunil Nishad Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend is a 3 star movie)

straight to business: long legs, heaving breasts, blonde dancers and jewelry jostle for sweaty space from frame one in a profound item song. this is often bollywood's generic introduction to paharganj-weds-gk tales, and a filmmaker's way of telling us that no matter what the film is about, titillation and loudness will always co-exist. as if to remind us, random music videos that have divyendu sharma cooing, brooding or brooding more, are inserted repeatedly. perhaps there's something about his face, or the way he speaks that compels directors to use him as a wronged protagonist—forever battling corrupt systems, ruthless girlfriends and common sense. here, he appears in yet another confused adaptation of the khosla ka ghosla template. instead of a plot of land, his loan-funded car is stolen. mere dad ki maruti? of course not. jackie shroff plays the suspiciously accented punjabi shark behind the racket here, and dhruv and his pals' harebrained attempts to bring about his downfall form major sequences of nothingness in this film. as mainstream hindi cinema often teaches us, when in doubt: sting operation. when in further doubt, let the heroes ignore journalistic ethics and indulge in morally ambiguous hidden-camera tactics more criminal than the villain. ironically, nobody apart from ira dubey (reporter for 'sach' tv), the only one not required to act and go all dillio-lingo on us, walks away unscathed from this one. authentic accents and colourful cusswords aren't enough anymore. and enough of dilli, please.
View all reviews on Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend

(According to Sunil Nishad Dharam Sankat Mein is a 3 star movie)

we live in a time when constant reports of religious intolerance still pour in through the media. as a result, there is a sense of outrage that simmers but never boils over. movies such as 'dharam sankat mein', 'pk' etc. are designed to make us see ourselves on a large screen and spot the absurdity we are a part of on a daily basis. despite the seemingly noble intent, few makers go beyond the predictable theme of hindu-muslim friction. we see the same thing happening here. hindus are usually the aggressors, muslims are often the victims. and if you are not one of the above, you are likely to not exist within a bollywood movie. the movie is based on a novel concept. a concept that another director had thought of years ago in 'the infidel' . in the 'inspired' version directed by fuwad khan, paresh rawal plays a gujarati hindu skeptical of religion and inexplicably obsessed with a song 'tu takke', which can be most politely be described as a song not many would listen to for more than the first fifteen seconds. he reprises the role he played in omg and doesn't do anything he didn't do then. a promising concept is not enough to hold together a movie. there are moments in the film which evoke laughter but they are few and far between. the funniest moments of the film are the ones that you'll find in the trailer. the plot consists of dharampal(paresh rawal) and his family who are situated in ahmedabad. with a strong distaste of everything religious and a really bad taste in music, dharampal is your friendly neighbourhood anti-muslim uncle. after the discovery that his biological father was muslim, his life is thrown in disarray as he must now juggle two faiths. one, to impress the father of the girl his son is in love with, another to be able to meet his ailing father for one last time. most of the laughs in the movie are generated due to dharampal's lack of knowledge of both faiths. when a star cast that brings together paresh rawal, annu kapoor and naseeruddin shah, fails to leave an impression, it is a reflection of the writing. annu kapoor deserves special mention as the redeeming factor. but after a while, even his character, mahmood fizzles out. a dismal aspect of the film is the music. songs like 'neelanand' and 'tu takke' are repeatedly played and take away from the narrative. for instance, the same song 'neelanand' plays almost every time naseeruddin shah makes an entrance. this, added to a highly annoying portrayal of a crooked godman by shah makes things worse. noble questions such as "how is a sense of identity so deeply intertwined with religious belief", "why would they make the same movie three times', and "i wonder if i should have watched 'leela' instead" crop up in one's mind during the length of the movie. the film follows right on the heels of similar anti religious propaganda films such as omg and pk. despite the similarities, dharam sankat mein lags behind both. the intention may be noble, but the novelty is running low.
View all reviews on Dharam Sankat Mein