andyganja

Seldom have I seen such wooden acting.

The actors Armaan Ralhaan comes across as a petulant child who'll start crying for not being given a candy. Aadil Khan... he of the fancy haircut whips out his daughter's photo at the drop of a hat.

(Has the production team even seen a commando in his life? All of them, repeat all of them have buzzcuts.)

Manish Chaudhury as the CO of Hawks and that wonderful actor Makarand Deshpande desperately try to give the series some life. But after 3-4 episodes, even they give up.

The story is so cliched that it feels like someone wrote it his sleep. Same old India Vs Pakistan. By now, I thought our story-tellers would have graduated to China or something.

The one good thing though, were the aircraft shots. Unlike most other Bollywood production, the slickness in aerial photography shone through. I suspect, there was a generous dose of VFX. But still.

In fact, the aircrafts were the best actors of them all.

Hotstar, if this your answer to Top Gun, I can only feel pity for you.

A bunch of producers got together and decided to make the worst film of the decade. So they hunted, and got Ahmed Khan as the director, Tiger Shroff with exactly one and a half expressions and the insufferable Tara Sutaria to pair.

Fortunately, for the producers, Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria succeed in delivering to the brief - that of making the worst movie of the decade.

And to add a cherry to the cake, they even forced Nawazuddin Siddiqui to ham and act out the worst villain in his career. He tries desperately to copy Batman's Joker. And he comes out so pathetic, that i feel sorry for him.

Fortunately for me, I didn't spend money in a theatre for this garbage.

Vishal Bhardwaj has proven Rudyard Kipling wrong. West does meet East.

I just came back after watching Maqbool directed by Vishal Bhardwaj (remember Makdee or the music director of Maachis?).

And i am stunned. In this brilliant film, Macbeth meets Mumbai with such ease that i didn't think it would be possible.

It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's MACBETH. Only Duncan is the king of underworld (Abbaji - Pankaj Kapoor). Macbeth is Mian Maqbool (Irfan Khan). Lady Macbeth is Nimmi (Tabu). Macduff is Kaka (Piyush Mishra)

And the kingdom is present-day Mumbai.

Around them are India's best acting talents: Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, and Ajay Gehi.

This film is slightly different from Macbeth though. Macbeth is driven by his love for the throne. Maqbool is driven by his love for Nimmi.

He murders Abbaji and declares himself the leader of the gang. The underworld is in a state of shock and everyone suspects Maqbool. But no one dares raise a voice against him. Maqbool then goes on to murder his close friend Kaka to gain absolute power.

He is led (or misled) in his endeavour by two corrupt cops. (Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah). They essay the role of the three witches in Macbeth.

The performances are of a high order. Pankaj Kapur delivers his career-best performance. Followed closely by Tabu. In fact it is a photo finish.

Vishal Bhardwaj is a great storyteller. He imbues the film with a number of sparkling sequences and dialogues. Bhardwaj and writer Abbas Tyrewala do not resort to gimmicks and instead have been as realistic as possible. The guilt pangs that Nimmi and Maqbool suffer after Abbaji's murder is one phase that takes the film to a different high altogether.

In the end, all i can say is, Maqbool has the potential to be a landmark film in Bollywood. In spite of its shabby marketing.