Hindi
Phullu…..One for social cause
India is the flavour of the season. Be it biopics or social messages. The first awkward moment for the family audience was when bra panty underwear ads went online. Long ago, some makers ventured into bridging the gap between communities by depicting inter cast and inter class romance. The condom ads followed bra panty. But, now, the filmmakers are trying to get into more personal subjects for film themes.
Sharib Ali Hashmi (Phullu) is a crusader who embarks on a mission to educate and enlighten her village folk about hygiene related solutions. Hashmi, a small village dweller, makes these frequent trips to the city running errands for the women of the village. He also feels more comfortable in the company of women.
The film deals with the women’s issue about menstruation and the need to use more hygienic sanitary napkins over old cotton rags made of used clothes.
Hashmi is a village do-gooder looking after the supply of sanitary napkins to the village women. He has no knowledge about women’s problems and knows it only as some female ailment!! He soon learns about the ill effects of using cotton rags by women during their menstruation. He decides to get into making sanitary napkins which can be provided at cheap rates to village women.
Some domestic drama is thrown in to give the film a semblance of story.
Rest is trivial. This is not even a theme to make a film on.
Such social messages are better conveyed on social media or through 30 second TV spots. Because, this feature length film only raises the issue with no effective solution.
Producers: Pushpa Chaudhary, Dr Anmol Kapoor, Kshitij Chaudhary, Raman Kapoor In Association With AmbiAbhi Production
Director: AbhishekSaxena.
Cast: Sharib Ali Hashmi, JyotiiSethi, Nutan Surya.
Bank Chor….Lacks substance
Bank Chor, as the title suggest, is an attempt at making a comedy. A comedy, if well made, is a welcome relief at the box office while it also has a long shelf life in the form of DVD or other digital format.
An amateur bunch of crooks, RiteishDeshmukh, VikramThapa and Bhuvan Arora, forced by circumstances, decide to rob a bank. They target this Bank Of Indians. Once inside the bank, the trio is not quite sure how to go about their job. Riteish is a softy and when he sees that the bank staff as well as the customers inside are nervous, he feels sad for them. He has second thoughts and decides to give up on his plan and surrender to the police which is on the scene by now.
Now it is time to create some funny moments as well as some thrill by introducing a suspense angle.
The bank robbery case has been handed over to CBI officer VivekOberoi. This even while the robbery is on and the robbers are inside the bank! He adds to the discomfort of those inside by announcing that there is an undercover cop inside the bank which turns out to be a lie.
Soon, another angle is added when another, real, bank robber is said to be inside the bank. This twist added to the story, now it is time to add a turn. No fun without twists and turns as the formula goes.
A few films have been seen before on innocent lads turning crooks to rob a bank though their intentions are honest! Such a film needs artistes with great sense of comedy timing and gags besides funny one-liners. Bank Chor has nothing of these. Music too is a let-down.
The screenplay is patchy with forced situations loosely built. Direction is below par. While RiteishDeshmukh tries his best, there is not much he can do in the absence of substance.VikramThapa and Bhuvan Arora are fair. VivekOberoi is fair.
Bank Chor has faced the ‘No audience No show’ situation from the very onset and no miracles are expected in the days to come.
Producer: Ashish Patil.
Director: Bumpy.
Cast: RiteishDeshmukh, VivekOberoi, Rhea Chakraborty, Bhuvan Arora.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
