Milan Talkies- Review of Hindi Film

It has shades of a movie classic called Cinema Paradiso, but falls short on a comparison with that classic.

Not bad, but for me the major highlight was watching Shraddha Srinath, a Kannada actress making her Hindi debut. Of course, the setting of a movie-director in the making from a small town is a bit different, but the story is oft-repeated. Love blooming in a small town, boy getting beaten up by the girl's family and so on.

Tigmanshu's own film-crazy character is another highlight. Worth a watch, maybe, but no big deal. 2.5 on 5.

P.S. The songs are really bad!

Bullet Raja

Not a classic, may not even be Tigmanshu Dhulia's best (Paan Singh Tomar was better), but it is a watchable action flick with some subtleties not found in crasser versions of movies about the U.P. badlands.

Its music is not too good, and Sonakshi's role is wishy-washy (what she is doing in Gulshan Grover's hotel room is not too clear, as a part of her characterisation), but on the whole, it has a good pace and I watched it without much effort at it.

I think the undercurrent of the movie is even better than the story on the surface. The fact that most institutions have been compromised, if it is a fact, is disturbing. The courts give bail at their political masters' whims, a mafia rules the state with cops and others simply falling in line, a guy in jail acts as if he is holidaying in the Bahamas, and generally there seem to be no protests from anyone. A businessman (called 'Kuber' by his accomplice holidaying in jail) finances elections in a non-transparent fashion in return for favours. Very disturbing, though one has seen similar things before.

I was surprised by Saif's easy ways in a role that does not suit him, he made a hash of Agent Vinod earlier. Here he looks the part, mostly, and his foil Jimmy Shergill is a shade better. Vidyut Jamwal is decent in a role written for him. Gulshan Grover is competent. Raj Babbar has seen better days.

If you have low to moderate expectations, it is a good watch. Otherwise, anybody's guess. There is violence, but it is laced with some comedy, so palatable most of the time.