Pad Man- Film Review

The TED Talk by the original man Arunachalam is awesome. The movie is not bad from a social awareness standpoint, but leaves a lot to be desired from a cinematic point of view.

Akshay's lack of acting skills and the direction makes the first half drag for about twice the amount of time it should have run. The second half is a lot better, and his speech at the U.N. is a highlight. Sonam injects some freshness into the second half, but her entry is a little late in my view. Had it occurred earlier, and the film been about an hour and a half, it could have been a terrific watch. It is shot in Maheshwar near Indore for the most part, and the cinematography is nice.

I think the points made in the film about our society being regressive about female hygiene are made well, but the other points that come across strongly are -

1. Women also treat women badly, not just the men.
2. You are somebody in India only after someone in the West recognises you.

If you are the patient kind, watch the film. If not, stick to the TED talk.

Dolly ki Doli- Film Review

Dolly ki Doli is watchable. The premise is quite a likeable one, with certain similarities to Dawat-e-ishq in the modus operandi followed by the bride. Only, in this case, she is the genuine article- a scamster through and through.

An interesting premise, of marrying gullible men and making off with the booty after feeding them milk mixed with drugs; done reasonably well. The only problem I had was that of a lack of hard-hitting scenes and dialogue. It might have enhanced the film's WQ- watchability quotient- a lot. The lead actor Sonam Kapoor has done well, except the dance number. Malaika still does that a lot better.

The support actors are all pretty good. The length of the movie is a pleasant 100 minutes, and that is a plus. Some of the jokes about marriage and relationships (for instance, Sonam telling one of her victims that it is cheaper to get scammed than to be married a long time) are decent. I wouldn't go out of the way to watch this caper, but it's not bad. 2.8 on 5.