MY KADAL-KAJAL

bollywood3.com Rating : 3.5/5
Director : Neeraj Pandey
Producer : Shital Bhatia, Kumar Mangat Pathak
Music Director : M.M. Kreem
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Kajal Aggarwal, Manoj Bajpayee

Neeraj Pandey, who created a huge impact with his debut film A Wednesday, is now back with yet another thriller in Special Chabbis. Inspired by real life incidents, Special 26 is based on the fake CBI raids that shocked India in 1987. Starring AKshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai and Kajal Agarwal, Special 26 has music by M M Kreem and has released all over today. Let’s see how its is.

Story:

The film kick off interestingly with Ajay Singh (Akshay Kumar) and his team conducting a fake CBI raid at a central ministers house on the Republic Day. Ajay plans everything so perfectly that no one including the ministers officials get the slightest doubt during the raid. Akshay and team manage to find a huge amount of black money and walk out with it in broad day light. Over a period of time, Ajay and his team regularly conduct fake CBI raids all over India and are never reported since the victims don’t want to report the loss of their black money to the police .

Only during their last mission is when the details of one of their raids gets across to the real CBI department. A special team headed by Waseem Khan(Manoj Bajpai) is appointed to trap Ajay and his team. What plan does Waseem come up to trap Ajay and his team? and the bigger question is whether Ajay will escape from that trap? That is what the rest of the plot of Special Chabbis is all about.

Positive Points:

Neeraj Pandey has once again proved that script is the heart of any film. Special 26 is so well written that all the characters just fall into place perfectly. Akshay Kumar does a complete U-turn from his regular action/comedy roles and gives a mature performance. He is superlative and completely surrenders himself to the vision of the director. His looks perfect as the CBI head and shares a decent chemistry with Kajal Agarwal.

Anupam Kher, who did a major role in Neeraj Pandey’s ‘A Wednesday’ gets a meatier role in this film too. He supports Akshay completely, and brings in a comic element in the film. He makes a stunning impact in all CBI raid scenes and once again proves what a terrific actor he is. Kajal Agarwal looks apt and does her role perfectly.

Manoj Bajpai delivers a solid performance as the real CBI Chief and brings a lot of depth to the film. Jimmy Shergil and Divya Dutta play their roles well. First half of the film moves on very swiftly, and the climax is just perfect. Special 26 is narrated so well that there is hardly a low moment in the film.

Negative Points:

Though the film is perfect in many ways, Neeraj Pandey tries to add some commercial elements in the film such as the two songs that seem to have been added to please the family audiences. Some scenes involving Akshay and Kajal could have been trimmed and, in fact, the whole love track could have been completely avoided.

The other two members in Akshay’s team have hardly any dialogues or depth. Special 26 has taken cinematic liberties in abundance due to which some scenes are illogical.

Technical aspects:

Since the film is based in the 80′s special care has been taken in the art direction department. The film has been shot in real locations such as government offices and looks absolutely novel. The whole CBI set up and climax episodes have been planned and shot exceptionally well. Camera work is stunning as it goes back in time, and showcases Delhi and Calcutta during the late 80′s

Music of the film is just about OK and as mentioned earlier, songs could have also been completely chopped off. The background score of the film needs a special mention as it is highly engaging and creates a huge thrill right till the end credits.

Dialogues are simple and so is the editing. Neeraj Pandey’s stunning screenplay just holds on to the whole story beautifully. He creates Special 26 without any violence and over the top sequences. With Special 26, Neeraj would surely enter into the league of top directors in Bollywood.

Verdict:

On the whole, Special Chabbis is one film which has everything going its way. Realistic scenes, situational comedy and an engaging story line will surely liked by everyone. Finally, Special Chabbis has all the perfect elements of a nail biting thriller, and is a film which should not be missed.

Bollywood3 Rating : 3.5/5

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Rating : 3/5

Director : Parasuram

Producer : Priyanka Dutt

Music Director : Devi Sri Prasad

Starring : Raviteja,Nara Rohith,Kajal Agarwal and Richa

Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja’s ‘Sarocharu’ is releasing today across the world and the movie has been directed by Parasuram. The film has Kajal Aggarwal and Richa Gangopadhyay as the heroines and Devi Sri Prasad has composed the music. Let us see how ‘Sarocharu’ is.

Story :

Sandhya (Kajal Aggarwal) is a student who is madly in love with Karthik (Ravi Teja), a techie based in Italy. She decides to travel with him to India, confident that the travel time would be enough for her to get Karthik to fall in love. Karthik reciprocates her gestures in a friendly way, but finally reveals that he has a past – a past that has a deep romantic love story involving Vasu (Richa Gangopadhyay).

Sandhya comes to know about Karthik’s stint in Ooty as a football coach and about his affair with Vasu. She also realises that despite all that baggage, she still has feelings for Karthik. At this point, Karthik springs a surprise and reveals a shocking bit of information. Into this confusion comes in Gautham (Nara Rohit),who is Sandhya’s bava and madly in love with her.

What is that shocking bit of information revealed by Karthik? Who will Sandhya choose between Karthik and Gautham? What happens to Vasu? To know the answers to these questions, watch the film.

Plus Points :

Ravi Teja has played a very different character in this movie and it is a welcome change from the loud and hyperactive roles he has been playing in recent years. His performance is balanced, mature and classy. His trademark energy levels have been toned down in the movie.

Nara Rohit steals the show with a good performance. Technically, his role cannot be called a cameo as he has about 25 minutes of screen time overall. His comedy timing and dialogue delivery are entertaining.

Kajal has done a decent job in the film. Richa Gangopadhyay is good and her performance in the flashback scenes adds weight to the movie. Jayasudha is classy. M.S. Narayana entertains as Platinum Prasad in a cameo appearance.

The movie is pretty good for about 30 minutes before the interval and about 45 minutes after it. Some scenes, like the one where Ravi Teja explains the change in behaviour of women before and after marriage, came out hilariously well. Nara Rohit’s kavitvam scene also came out well.

The clean and emotional drama will appeal to family crowds. Lovers change after marriage and the pressures of every day life do not allow the sugary romance to continue. Patience and understanding are required to get through this phase and this movie shows that.

Minus Points :

The climax is a big letdown and it has been badly botched up. Scenes are rushed through and one gets the feeling that the director completely lost the plot at this juncture. Because of this messy ending, the overall flavour of the movie is spoilt. I can’t elaborate more as it will reveal the twist, but Kajal’s final scene as a football coach is totally illogical when you look at it in the overall scheme of things.

A few other scenes have not been explained properly. How does Nara Rohit end up tracing Ravi Teja, to meet him without Kajal’s knowledge? Cinematic liberty.

The song ‘Katuka Kallu’ comes in at a most inappropriate time and acts as a massive speed breaker. Hardcore Ravi Teja fans will miss his trademark energy levels and the mass masala entertainment that his films are known for.

The emotional conflict between Ravi Teja and Richa should have been handled with more intensity. Comedy quotient is surprisingly low for a Ravi Teja and Parasuram film. Srinivasa Reddy has been wasted.

Ravi Teja and Kajal should take better care about their appearance as both of them appear a little tired in this movie.

Technical Aspects:

Vijay Chakravarthy’s cinematography is decent, especially for all the scenes shot in Europe. Editing could have been sharper in the second half. DSP’s music is decent and his background score is effective.

Parasuram has succeeded in a few areas but his handling of the climax and narration in the second half have let the movie down.

Verdict :

This clean family drama that has Ravi Teja in a very different avatar. There are some genuinely good moments in the movie, but a badly botched up climax and some big loopholes in the plot let down the movie. If not for these issues, this movie could have been a lot better. Overall, Sarocharu ends up being an OK watch.

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