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De De Pyaar De -2019 was a funny film with good comedy and was very popular. Now after successful sequels of Golmaal,Singham,Raid and Drishyam, and flop sequel of Son Of Sardar-Ajay Devgan jumps into De De Pyaar De sequel as well with the makers of part 1.

The film takes off where the part 1 ends and the romance between the middle ages Ajay and young Rakulpreet follows. This time the focus shifts on the family of Rakul and the games associated with it. From part 1 the character of Javed Jaffery stays on but the family of Ajay Devgan is omitted and new characters of Rakul Preet take the story forward.

The franchise produced by T series and Luv Ranjan is directed this time by Anshul Sharma and he tries to maintain continuity from part 1. The premises is interesting and the starcast is stellar. The film has some funny sequences, some dramatic outbursts and some twists in the script.

The film however faces pace issue as it builds up and breaks at place. The first part had lots of funny scenes but here the fun quotient is lesser .The first half after a breezy start has heavy scenes and also in a way tries to show the rebel side of current generation which at times looks too much.

The pace improves in the second half and light sequences keep you interested. There is interesting references to 1990s films through situations as well. The songs are just ok and none of them impresses you.

Performances wise Rakul Preet Singh is again in full form after part 1. Though her character has some unnecessarily extreme reactions yet she delivers it well.

Ajay Devgan,the king of sequels,somehow looks and act just ok. His Performance is watchable but not at par with part 1. In contrast R Madhavan playing a relatively older man is in terrific form in comedy, dramatic and even character with shades. He is somehow the pillar of performances in this sequel. Gautami Kapoor acted well though at times she reminded me of Shefali Shah of Dil Dhadakne Do.

Javed Jaffery is in form and has more length as compared to part 1.

His real life son Meezan is casted perfectly as a stud and his looks and cool avtar seems modelled after Ranbir Kapoors Animal look and the energy reminds of Ranvir Singh. He is good and it is a treat to watch both father and son Jafferys in same frame.

On the whole De De Pyaar De 2 is watchable with some interesting scenes and performances,even though its not as funny as part 1!!

Sunday Afternoon Regional Film! On this Sunday regional telecast it was time to watch a grand Punjabi historical film, and I saw the big budget Sarbans Dani Guru Gobind Singh on the 10th Sikh Guru and Sikh history on YouTube. The film is on the evil Wazir Khan- the Faujdar of Sirhind -under the leadership of staunch Mughal emperor- Alamgir Aurangzeb- and his atrocities on the Sikhs. Wazir is ably supported by his army and subordinates who lead the Mughal army against the Sikhs. The 10th Sikh Guru-Guru Gobind Singh and his army fight valiantly and foil many plans of Wazir Khan. Wazir faces some opposition from the Nawab of Malarkotla, few of his own men and even his wife but that does not stop him of his evil deeds. He captures the Saahibzaades of Guru and bricked them alive in Sirhind for refusing to convert to Islam, and due to his animosity against the Guru. After the Guru passes away, the Sikh army under Banda Bahadur does finally attack and kill Wazir Khan thereby taking the revenge. The film was made at a grand budget as part of Khalsa formation celebrations and was one of the most expensive Punjabi films of its time. The film though historical is based on the play "Chamkaur Di Garhi" by Dr. Harcharan Singh. Through the play and cinematic liberty some fiction has been added but most of the film stays truth to recorded Sikh history and their resistance against Mughal empire and Wazir Khan in particular. Owing to respect and limitations, we do not see Guru ji, Saahibzaades or Banda Bahadur on screen but some part of their history is shown through texts, sketches and old paintings. The rest of star cast is portrayed by an ensemble star cast of the Bombay film and tv industry. Dara Singh, Sonu Walia, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Imtiyaz Khan and Arun Bali are competent in their part. The film has lot of actors from the star cast of BR Chopra's Mahabharat- Gufi Paintal, Pankaj Dheer, Deep Dhillon, and all do justice to their roles. The central role of the film, however, is based on the main villain-Wazir Khan played by Girija Shankar. Post Dhrit Rashtra of Mahabharat, he seems to be the perfect cast for this role. His evil demeanor arouses hatred on screen; however, I felt at times he was too dramatic. The film I felt focused too much on Wazir Khan and has a few melodramatic and Shakespearean style scenes of his which dilute the impact of the film. I felt that makers should have reduced his portion and in place added some scenes showing Aurangzeb, the discussion amongst the soldiers of Sikh army to create more impact of the war strategy. Also, I felt in the first half some powerful incidents could have been emoted better on screen. However, the film hits the right notes post Interval. The usage of long shots to show horses and army does create the impact required and the story itself is poignant part of history. Decades later Harry Baweja's animated cult hit Chaar Saahibzaade and its sequel showed this part of brutal history, so the film deserves kudos for showing it way back in late 1990s and that too in a grand budget full length Punjabi film!

Sunday Afternoon Regional Film! This time on Sunday regional telecast I watched the path breaking Marathi film GhansiRam Kotwal-1976 directed by Mani Kaul and others and was the experimental cinematic interpretation of Vijay Tendulkar's cult historical cum political play of the same name. The play and the film is set in eighteenth-century Pune when the city was ruled by Peshwas. The powerful minister of state is Nana Phadnavis (Mohan Agashe) who controls the empire and has several shades to his character. The film then introduces the title role character Ghansiram Kotwal (Om Puri in his debut) who becomes the police kotwal of the city. The film has lot of political ups and downs through its scene and various incidents which intersect with the life of Peshwas, Nana and Ghansiram. Tendulkar's play is a classic of modern-era, and it looks at history from different point of view and is considered a landmark Marathi play till date. The film is no less important as it was shot as an experiment by Mani Kaul and other makers taking Mohan Agashe and other FTII and theatre actors, most noticeably Om Puri. The treatment of the film though is as close to play and in fact at times becomes too theatrical. The film's negatives were lost for a long time and was restored in 2013 in Germany and the film is now available in YouTube with English subtitles. The film and the play do create a scheming image of Nana Phadnavis, which was the main reason the play landed in controversy. In 1970s people found a pattern between Ghansiram's iron rule to the Emergency period which further added controversies to it. However, later the play became one of the most popular Indian plays of modern age. The film is one of the pioneers of the art cinema movement in regional films. The film, however, is not an easy watch and requires lot of patience to understand the theme. The Maratha history has many facets, and the play and film cover so many complexities and references that even history buff like me was left bewildered many times. Secondly, as mentioned, the film is shot like a play with many theatrical, musicals, references and nonlinear patterns and takes lot of effort to understand the proceedings. The film still stands tall as one of its kind wherein history, social situation and references make a strong movement in that era. Infact, now that I watched this I realize some facets of the style were also used by Shyam Benegal in his masterpiece Bharat Ek Khoj! Om Puri in the title role makes an impressive debut and though he doesn't have any dialogue, yet the young Puri expresses through his eyes. Tom Alter begins his innings as the angrez Sahib effectively here. The show, however, belongs to Dr. Mohan Agashe who is the real central character of the play and film and is excellent as the complicated Nana Phadnavis. He played the character in the play as well so in the film he is kinda effortless and conveys all emotions very well. On the whole Ghansiram Kotwal remains a landmark cinematic experience not just in Marathi cinema but Indian cinema overall. Though the portrayal is complicated and like the theatricals of Tendulkar's cult play, history and its social relevance do make a strong message!