Blog Posts by Kunal Guha

Mahie Gill in a still from the movie

Cast: Jimmy Sheirgill, Mahie Gill, Randeep Hooda
Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia
Rating: *** ½

Some of the best thrillers and edgy cult classics have had one thing in common: their characters could snap at just about anything. And the three lead cast members in 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster' (SBAG) are just as deliciously obnoxious and unpredictable to keep you entertained.

The film revolves around the lives of Saheb (Jimmy Sheirgill), a king without a crown, Choti Rani (Mahie Gill), a queen who is as disturbed as she is horny and Bablu (Randeep Hooda), a very ambitious and passionate side-kick. Now with each of them displaying competing levels of eccentricity, it is natural that we would have untimely slaps and any scene can drift from passionate to gruesome without any warning.

Despite being bankrupt, Saheb takes pride in his royalty which is reduced to just his moustache. His chief source of income is now terrorizing government officials for contracts and bumming off from stepmother, 'Badi

Speedy Singhs

Cast: Vinay Virmani, Anupam Kher, Camilla Belle, Gurpreet Guggi, Russel Peters, Noureen Dewulf, Sakina Jaffrey, Rob Lowe, Akshay Kumar

Directed by Robert Lieberman

Rating: **
Sports films have always subscribed to a recipe that guarantees success. A little more or less and you can be assured of indigestion. So here's a list of ingredients needed for a heady brew of clichés:

1.    Every sports movie has to have a lead. Someone who looks, acts, dribbles better than most others in the film. In some cases, he/she is also the only one with an acting background among the cast. Here we have Mickey-Mouse-faced Rajveer Singh (Vinay Virmani).

2.    For no particular reason, the sport our hero pursues so passionately will be one his native country is alien to. Like in 'Lagaan', cricket was an English game which was mastered by the local Indian villagers. Here, Rajveer, who is of an Indian origin, is crazy about ice hockey, a game he picked up while growing up in Canada (in all possible Punjabi

Mausam

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Aditi Sharma, Supriya Pathak

Directed by Pankaj Kapoor

Rating: *1/2

Mausam can have many taglines. Mausam- 'a season to snooze'. Mausam- 'come fall asleep (with or without recliner seats)'. But the original one sticks best, 'Mausam: a timeless love story…' The ellipses only reinforce that this film might just never end. A tip: carry a day pack comprising essentials when you go to watch it.

A disclaimer at the beginning says that the film doesn't depict true Indian Air Force procedures and tactics. So, dare you roll your eyes when a fighter pilot in the film prepares for an aerial raid by locking and loading his pistol into his holster (in case the missiles get jammed?).

The film opens to a charming village in Punjab called Mallukot, home to our hero, Harry/Harinder Singh (Shahid Kapoor) who is somewhere between Top Cat and village idiot. In true Punjabi spirit, every dialogue begins with 'Dekh oye!' and everyone loves saying 'Haan