bobandlulureview

Murad played by Ranveer Singh loves his mother, brother and granny. His relationship with his father on the other hand is troubled. Beyond the family he has his friends Moeen, Salman and others and his girlfriend Safina played by Aliaa Bhat. Murad and Safina have been dating for 9 years behind their parents back and things have been going smoothly for them. Until a girl sends Murad - Valentine type messages and the girl gets thulped by Safina. Safina comes from a well off family and is on track to become a doctor like her father. In priorities her education comes first. She's also very snippy and possessive where Murad is concerned. Yet, both are equally supportive of each other's education and ambition. One day at a college fest a girl singing on stage gets booed off the stage by a couple of boys who comment on how boring she is, not just because of her song but also her looks. The next act in the lineup is MC Sher who takes the mic and starts rapping which is how Murad gets sucked into the underground world of rappers. Murad takes his daily experiences and pens them down. Every insult, every fight, every moment of happiness, the struggle everything gets penned to form the rap. After his first stage and battle he only gets better and more comfortable with not just who he is but actually putting his heart out for the world to see. Murad's mentor Sher finds an outlet in rap. He gets his anger and frustration out by singing. His father's an alcoholic and his mother has abandoned them. This is why he constantly tells Murad to vent and not bottle it up. Shot with Dharavi in the backdrop this movie is definitely about the underdog breaking the wave but the reasons why this movie stood for me are because: Dharavi is just another location that the protagonist comes from yet there is a scene where foreigners are taken around because that's what they want to see. *Eye Roll* (Which I think was a jab at a certain movie made about slums in India.) It isn't like Murad has a secret gift that he suddenly unw(raps) one day. He gradually gets better at it and you see the character grow. The movie is about Murad but all the actors in the movie have done an excellent job and you'll know when you watch. The story is very real. It isn't one of Zoya Akhtar's destination location wala story. It is closer to reality than any of her other movies. Watch it if you need motivation. You'll surely get some. All in all to me it was a fun movie. I liked it. Aliaa Bhat was amazing and whether you like rap/hiphop or not you will like this movie if you care for the lyrics.

I was probably expecting too much from this film and hence came out of the hall disappointed. Let's not take away Kangana's acting skills. I wouldn't call this, one of her best works, but she was good. Other actors had negligible scenes in the film. One would have expected more screen space for actors portraying pivotal roles such as those of Sadashiv Rao (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) and Jhalkari Bai(Ankita Lokhande). The senior members of the cast -Suresh Oberoi as Bajirao (in whose palace Laxmi Bai has been brought up), Danny Denzongpa as Laxmi Bai's trusted army general, Kulbhushan Kharbanda as a minister of Jhansi too have a 'blink and you'll miss them' role in the film. However minor a role, apart from the actors playing the British Officers, the rest have done a good job. The Britishers' speech sounded forced and rehearsed unlike the ones who acted in Lagaan.

Here is what ruined the film:

1. I am a fan of Kanagana Ranaut and I understand she's the protagonist of the film (well, the film IS named after her character) so don't get me wrong when I say this - she's made the film all about herself! I really do think that scenes of other actors have been deleted from the final cut. Am I nitpicking? If you felt the same, please do leave a comment below. 2. It's a historical film! Why do we need the lead to be all dolled up, sporting a different hairstyle in each scene? Wasn't it enough that all close-ups of Kangana were airbrushed! 3. Every visual scene needn't be vocally explained to the audience by a loud proclamation. When we see a person lying on the floor in a pool of blood, we know he's dead. Don't announce it. We are not watching CID! 4. What's with the random song and dance sequence! And we have the Queen joining in too. Let's keep it real, people! 5. Enough with the tight shots and sweeping shots already! We don't need to see Kangana and her palace from all angles. 6. The dialogues felt very 1990's. Kangana's dialogues in the second half when she's proclaiming her love for her country and encouraging her subjects to follow suit, while well delivered, is not moving enough. I wasn't left teary eyed! 7. There's no correlation between some of the scenes. For eg: when Jhalkari Bai's calf is taken away by the British officers from her house (which is nowhere in the vicinity of the palace), the next scene has Laxmi Bai barging into the Officers' mess to get the calf back.

I hear the film is doing well and receiving accolades but I wouldn't recommend watching this in the theatres. The film would have been much better with another Director/s and scriptwriter.