Dishoom - Varun Dhawan shines in an highly forgettable film.

Story -

Indian cricket team's top batsman Viraj Sharma (Saqib Saleem) is kidnapped before the final match against Pakistan. The Foreign ministry assigns this case to Kabir (John Abraham) who flied down to Dubai to solve the case & he finds a partner in the form of Junaid (Varun Dhawan), a rookie cop in Dubai who is yet to solve his first case. They've 36 hours to save Viraj Sharma. Without any clue about who has kidnapped him or where is he being held, the task is near to impossible. How will the duo achieve their mission? How Ishita (Jacqueline Fernandez) helps them out, forms rest of the story.

Movie -

Rohit Dhawan follows the old template of every buddy cop movies ever made. He sticks to the basics throughout. The initial reel introduces Viraj Sharma & his whole kidnapping episode is established as a mystery. John Abraham's Kabir is a hot headed, no non-sense cop & his introduction scene showcases exactly that. Then there is Junaid who is a rookie cop with a sole purpose of providing comic relief & with the film's given script, it's up to him to carry the whole film. The pace here is good & the entire first half is passable with quite a few entertaining moments, thanks to Junaid's character & one surprise cameo. Before the pre-interval, the main twist is revealed with the entry of Wagah (Akshaye Khanna) & the first half  does end on a high note.

Post interval, the writers have completely given up on the screenplay. Since they played all the major cards (twists) in the first half itself, the focus is mainly on the visuals, action scenes that are lavishly shot & an unnecessary item song that just tests your patience. Again the sole positive aspect of the second half is Junaid's character & Varun tries his best to salvage whatever's left. With no twists around, Akshaye Khanna's Wagah becomes a cardboard one dimensional character that suffers from bad writing. As seen in every buddy cop movie, this ends with the usual cliche filled pre-climax & climax, offering literally nothing. Second half is a huge letdown. And in the pre-climax we get Saare Jahan Se Achcha out of nowhere.

Positives -
1. Varun Dhawan & his energy. Ofcourse his honest performance.
2. Akshay Kumar is a riot as a gay person.
3. Phone conversation between Varun Dhawan & Satish Kaushik.
4. The entire episode pre-interval with Akshaye Khanna.
5. The chase sequence with Rahul Dev is perfectly done.

Negatives - 
1. Poor writing that results in lacklustre second half.
2. Bad music. Pritam sir, what have you done? The opening credits song doesn't matter but Sau Tarah Ke & especially Jaaneman Aah in the end credits is unbearable.
3. Akshaye Khanna's character suffers the most due to poor writing in second half.
4. John Abraham looks disinterested throughout the movie. He has exactly 1 expression for the whole movie. It's supposed to be a 2 hero movie & one of them isn't contributing at all.
5. Forced patriotism. Be it Viraj's dialogue about desh se gaddari nahi karna or towards the end forcefully playing Saare Jahan Se Achcha in the background makes no sense. Stick to the template, why force feed something that too patriotism like this?

Performances - 

Varun Dhawan is at his goofiest best. He has no problem in being portrayed as a loser as you get to hear villains say "Isko (Kabir) 4 goli maarna & yeh (Junaid) toh lagta hai goli ke awaaz sunn ke hi mar jayega". His comic timing is  impeccable & he carries the entire film on his shoulders.

John Abraham struggles. One wishes for him to lend some support to Varun Dhawan. He should've at least try to take inspiration from the recent Ride Along series if not the Lethal Weapon & others.

Akshaye Khanna... well it's always nice to see such a fine actor on the big screen. I for one, surely had missed him. But his characterisation is at fault, so he gets very limited scope. The mediocrity towards the end actually impacts his character badly.

Jacqueline Fernandez has a short role but she gets to show her legs errr dancing skills in one song. Nargis Fakhri is a special appearance gets to walk in a bikini in slow-motion so that Varun Dhawan can stare at her for comic relief. Saqib Saleem is good. Rahul Dev is another actor who is fun to watch in a Hindi film. He doesn't get much to perform but is part of the nicely shot chase sequence. Satish Kaushik lends his voice but those scenes are hilarious. And there's special appearance from few cricketers right from Mohinder Amarnath to Ramiz Raja.

And of course Akshay Kumar. He's the best thing audience can take home in this movie. He has no problem playing the gay person & the result is a laugh riot.

My Rating - 2/5

Final Words - Varun Dhawan tries his best to save this forgettable film with some help from Akshay Kumar for 5 minutes.

Salman Khan - The real King Khan at single screens.

I've always been fascinated by Salman Khan's fan following among the masses. Being his hardcore fan, it has become a tradition for me to watch his films more than once. I tend to mix it up by watching it first at a multiplex where I'm extremely comfortable & then follow it up with a single screen experience where honestly I'm not that comfortable with the kind of audience I've to share those 3 hours time.

Salman Khan is an experience. Multiplex audience can never give me the sort of experience I get from single screen audience. Yes, Salman Khan is a huge crowd puller and definitely multiplex audience whistle, hoot, scream & occasionally danced too (interestingly dancing happened only during Jai Ho). But from what I've seen, they just come to enjoy the movie & of course the Megastar. In single screen however, the audience come to celebrate Salman Khan & his movies. Everything else is additional. That's exactly what differentiates those two movie viewing experience. That's why every EID, I witness double celebration.

Like I said, most of the times I'm not comfortable with the kind of audience I get in single screens, they get over-excited every time. I don't get to hear a single word for almost 20-25 mins until they settle down on their own. The celebrations are always at the extreme for those initial minutes. I can't stand smokers too. But all this is a small price worth paying to be a witness to my favourite literally get worshipped by hundreds of audience.

All the madness, no matter how many times they get beaten up by the cops or get scoldings for causing traffic jam or for getting too noisy, it refuses to reduce. I said I'm a fan but I've never been part of a fan club. Again, just to witness those same gang of boys invest themselves to decorate all the posters with garlands, get their own hoardings, risking themselves to climb that wall with a low quality ladder... all of that for one person whom they love, Salman Khan.

If given a chance, honestly I wouldn't do those stuff. I never learned to whistle myself, one of the reason why I enjoy other people whistling for Salman Khan. I can pretend to be worried for those guys safety whenever they climb up the ladder or play with firecrackers, but let me be honest... the moment they start enjoying & infect the whole atmosphere where rest of the people start to encourage / enjoy the whole show, more often I've found myself to be part of the rest of the people & enjoy the whole fan-giri. I might not be willing to do those stuff, but I've always seen myself at the opposite end of the road either filming them or clicking photos, getting mesmerised by the shear madness. In the end, seeing so many smiling faces who all are unrelated yet connected by one person, is the best part of the whole thing.

Having such a command over his giant fan following, I will admit that I'm extremely happy with his choice of films off late. I was terribly bored during Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, but I would any day prefer him preaching family values via Rajshri style than singing Main Kutta hoon, tu meri kuttiya hai in Ready.

SULTAN is a winner.

STORY -

Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan) & Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) are local wrestlers who dream of representing India at the Olympics. Love blossoms between the two and they get married. What happens when two people have their dreams & aspirations get intertwined with each other? What are the sacrifices they need to make to walk the path of glory? Both life & the sport itself provides them with second chances & how they fight back with all they have got, forms the entire film. After all, Wrestling is not a sport, it's about fighting what lies within...

MOVIE - 

Akash Oberoi (Amit Sadh) is running a failed pro-wrestling league. With sponsors threatening to pullback from the championship, he's advised to get an Indian wrestler to participate in the championship by his father. Once a world champion, an Olympic gold medallist Sultan Ali Khan (Salman Khan) is suggested to be the right wrestler. When Akash visits Sultan, he's in for a surprise. Sultan has given up wrestling, he is out of shape & is not at all interested to enter the ring ever. Failing to convince Sultan, Akash looks up to his friend Govind who takes him through the story of Sultan. The first half completely relies on the love story between Sultan & Aarfa. A careless 30-something guy Sultan finds his motivation in Aarfa & decides to become a wrestler to earn respect in her eyes. To prove her that he's not the "Shit guy" she thinks him to be. While achieving all this, he forgets to realise the sacrifices others are making for him to succeed. He wins the championship but loses in life. A personal tragedy pushes him to the pit of guilt which he struggles to come out off.

Akash Oberoi offers Sultan a second chance to redeem himself. He lost everything due to wrestling so a chance to win everything back through wrestling itself. But this time, it's not the same sport Sultan is trained at. He has six weeks to train himself to take on that second opportunity. For others, it's just a championship but for Sultan, it's a battle to win back the respect he lost, win back the love of his life & defeat the demon Sultan in him who caused all the pain. Enter Randeep Hooda in a special appearance who accepts to train Sultan on time. Rest is how Sultan overcomes all the challenges in the form of various wrestlers & the final match which is the match of his lifetime where his opponent is none other than himself.

The first half is well handled in establishing the love story. It's very simple at heart, some of the dialogues reflect the actual reality & hits you hard. Also the humour is consistent. The pace is moderate here. It's the second half where the pace drops as the concentration shifts towards the pro-wrestling league. Action is handled well & second half doesn't has too many unnecessary melodramatic scenes which works very well for the film. The film doesn't show Salman Khan in the same image as his previous releases. Here, his character is at fault & he's shown paying the price for his mistakes. It's up to the audience to receive such honest portrayal of his character.

Performances -

Salman Khan has come up with a bravura performance. He's dedicated & lives the character. Anushka Sharma as Aarfa is equally terrific. She has got a strong character & she does full justice. Randeep Hooda in a special appearance is first rate. Amit Sadh as Akash Oberoi is good. Anant Sharma as Sultan's friend Govind is very good.

Positives -
1. Salman Khan at his best.
2. Very touching love story between the lead characters. Also Salman & Anushka compliment each other very well. Even if Sultan is about Salman Khan, Anushka's role isn't any lesser to him.
3. The scene where Salman Khan breaks down in front of a mirror.
4. The hospital scene, both at interval & towards the end. While Anushka shines in the interval scene, the second scene has both of them competing equally.
5. The MMA fight sequences are very well handled.
6. The humour is consistent throughout & most of them succeed in making us laugh.
7. Watch out for Suzi. Jag Ghoomeya is magical on screen.

Negatives -
1. The film is a sports drama with more emphasis on the love story. You'll be disappointed if you enter expecting an hardcore action film.
2. Main wrestling tournaments in the first half are all shown in one song & also some of the pro-wrestling matches too get wrapped up in one song. For example - we just get to witness Sultan directly winning a gold medal at Olympics without any scenes showing the matches that led him to reach the final.
3. Since the focus is more on the drama, the pace will seem slow.
4. The story is predictable.

My Rating - 3.5/5 (As a fan a 4/5 for Salman Khan's bravura performance.)

Final Word - Sultan is a winner.