Secret Superstar

Debutant director Advait Chandan has hit the right chords by beautifully portraying the mother-daughter relationship and setting the story in a middle class locality where not only you, your dreams and emotions are also trapped by the 'man' of the house.

This is a story of a teenage girl Insia (Zaira Wasim) who tackling massive challenges imposed by her overtly potent father (Raj Arjun) finally fulfils her dreams of becoming a superstar singer with the support of her helpless mother (Meher Vij), best friend Chintan (Tirth Sharma) and an out of luck music director Shakti Kumar (Aamir Khan). All the performances are so enthralling that it keeps you glued to the screen and makes you give a victory jump at the climax.

On the whole, Secret Superstar is a brilliantly crafted film inspiring people to chase dreams as they do come true, highlighting relevant social issues of patriarchal society and showing the importance of mothers. It's a mother's unconditional love and sacrifice that holds the family together. She sacrifices all her passions and dreams for the sake of her husband and child. Salute to all mothers and motherhood.

Aamir khan never fails to amaze us, never! Do not miss this film.

Secret Superstar is one of the finest films in recent times that makes you laugh, cry and at the end you go home with a feel-good emotion and give your mother the tightest hug ever.

The film is about an emotional journey of a teenage girl Insiya Malik from a middle class family of Vadodara who attempts to hurdle her way past some monumental challenges to pursue her dream of becoming a famous singer.

As an Aamir Khan film, you always expect it to be different from others and socially relevant at the same time - 'Secret Superstar' being no exception. Promoted as a film about women empowerment, it does not only revolve around that topic but also speaks volumes about various other social issues such as domestic violence, female foeticide etc that no mainstream cinema has ever dared to put lights upon.

Drawing a completely refreshing plot line, debutante Director Advait Chandan has shown some really good directorial skills for his first film. Maintaining a watertight screenplay, the film never lets you shift your focus and keeps you on the edge rooting for Insiya. A few sequences might seem to be little dragged out and could have been edited for perfection.

When it comes to acting, all the lead actors - Zaira Wasim, Meher Vij, Raj Arjun have given their career best performances. Zaira as Insiya is charming and her acting in the singing sequences look extremely believable with her lip-syncs and guitar movements being spot on. Meher Vij as Najma plays mother to Insiya and delivers a memorable performance. Raj Arjun is the stand out performer in the film. He was totally convincing as the demon of a father and makes the audience hate him bad. Tirth Acharya as Chintan too has done a great job as Insiya's supportive friend. Aamir Khan, as music director Shakti Kumar, in his 20 minutes role of a never-seen-before character truly plays 'dal me tadka' and gives the audience some rare bursts of laughter.

Music of the film is very simple, soulful and extremely situational. They tend to grow on you each time you hear and makes a definite impact during the sequences on big screen. The only different song in the album is 'Sexy Baliye' which comes during the end credits and the quirkiness of it makes the audience standing on the aisle till the very end of it.

Overall, the film leaves a long lasting impact on your heart letting the story teller succeed in his attempt. The usage of social media shown as a medium of expressing hidden talents is very relevant in today's time. The mother-daughter bonding as shown in the film is one of the major highlights. The depiction of teenage love makes you blush and takes you back to your school memories.

Lastly, there are many such secret superstars like Insiya in our societies who get suppressed due to various social issues and don't get enough exposure. Here's one for them to keep believing in their dreams. Secret Superstar is a definite must watch for people of every age group.

Bollywood has been going through some tough times during 2017 starting from Salman Khan's disaster dilemma to Varun Dhawan's cheesy acting. Luckily some films during the year created some satisfaction such as Baahubali 2 and Mom.

So the story revolves around a 14 year old named Insia who resides in a suburban city that goes by the name of Vadodara which is in Gujarat. Insia's dream was to pursue a career in singing and her mother is highly supportive of Insia's decision to become a singer but her abusive and cold- hearted father invades her comfort zone which results in her dreams being crushed. So Insia decides to secretly pursue signing by posting a video and uses a burqa to hide her identity so her father don't find out. The video goes viral and it catches the attention of a failing and dim-witted Casanova music director Shakti Kumar. With the help of her mother and Kumar, how Insia manages to pursue her dream and what happens afterwards is basically what this film is about.

Honestly, the teaser and trailer made me more excited for Aamir Khan but watching this movie made me realize that Aamir Khan wasn't the only important factor in the film. I loved this movie for how it was and how it looked. Advait Chandan deserves a bow because this debut filmmaker managed to master the craft of producing a screenplay that kept all the emotional factors in its place which also kept the audience engaged throughout the 143 minutes of the film.

The acting in the movie was phenomenal.

Zaira Wasim steals the show completely. Her acting had a clear justification to never fear anyone before pursuing a dream and her Dangal mentality managed to cover that.

Meher Vij was nice and heartwarming as the mother for Zaira. Luckily in my opinion, she was not bad in Bajrangi Bhaijaan where she did the role of the little girl's mother but in this movie she manages to execute the mother role according to our expectations.

Despite Aamir Khan's role only appearing half of the film, he still managed to act like the same khan who we all adore a lot. His flirty and sleazy humor managed to ma laugh a lot of times.

Raj Arjun's first attempt as an abusive father figure kept the film smooth.

The music was nice but I felt some tracks had weak compositions and Amit Trivedi has done it in some films like Qaidi Band and Shaandaar. Lyrics were fantastically produced by Kaiser Munir.

Anil Mehta's cinematography keeps the script of the integral and consistent.

Overall, I loved this movie.

1) Beautifully written and directed. 2) Well performed 3) Nice Camera work

Enjoy your Diwali with this film at a theater near you.

Golmaal Again will surpass the box office for this film. Secret superstar should fall into the 50-75 crore range. But just rely on the film more than the box office.

3.75/4- Bollywood's most proper flick

Secret Superstar looks like it is a sequel to Aamir Khan's 2007 psychological film "Taare Zameen Par" where Darsheel Safary is replaced by a not-so-unknown "Fresh-Face" Zaira Wasim. Zaira Wasim totally steals the show. Also, the contribution to the film's elegance made by Meher Vij is worth-applauds.

Secret Superstar is a story of a young girl named Insiya (Zaira Wasim) who wants the whole world to listen to her fresh voice. She is strongly supported by her on-screen mother (Meher Vij). But, Insiya's wings are pulled off by her father (Raj Arjun).

But, the twist in the by-time extra-emotional film, is added by a funky-chunky musician and singer Shakti Kumaarr who is better known for his unusual behavior but strongly supports the ideas of Insiya.

The movie is a best for to be known "psychologically emotional." Secret superstar is another best Aamir Khan Film to watch out with your family this weekend after his blockbusters such as Dangal, PK and Taare Zameen Par.

Saw this first day in a theater with my family. Aamir once again proves he is one of the few finest actors in Bollywood today. Very convincingly n nicely he fits into every character he plays, no matter the screen time. He is magnificent, but he does not carry the weight of this film on his own. A slue of other fine actors give absolutely divine performances, especially Zaira Wasim. The story centers around a 15 year old girl. The film highlights her talents while also showing the painful problems that comes with being a female in a patriarchal society. Beautifully acted, sweet but not syrupy and perfect for a break from all the holiday madness, Secret Superstar is a true gem.