the term masala film that i am guilty of using more that usual to refer to mass family entertainer films mostly coming from the southern film industry, is broad term encompassing films that tend to have various elements of Action Drama Comedy Romance Musical etc….
Race Gurram which is translated to Race Horse, is a Telugu Film that is such a prototypical Masala film that me even after watching am having difficulties write down an accurate synopsis. the films has a lot of stuff in it eccentric villains, brotherly conflict, comedic side characters, Love interest…. in jist the films about two polar opposite brothers uniting after long time due to common enemy.
the film was a hit when it was released, i can see why as its a crowd pleaser but not for me it could be today wasn’t a good day to watch a masala film like this. This film has no proper rhythm to its masalaness (if that’s a word) with the tone and genre shifting gears often, having stationary female characters. this is not a break the mold film in any regard yet the way the film feels just like any commercial film makes it very hard for me to say anything substantial about it. if there is one thing to wards the climax i was enjoying myself but it could be because i knew the film was ending.
would i recommend it NO, but unlike me if u come across it and watch it remember to switch off the brain
Bharat is a Hindi film from 2019 and is based on a South korean film Ode to My father (2014), which i have not seen but i guess was better that this film.
this is a masala film and it never presented it as anything else, with Salman Khan in the lead the film is bound to go towards the mass appeal, and that by itself isn’t bad the film being based on an existing work along with a masala film suffers the pothole having guessable twist and progression. the film does impose its grand scale onto you and glimpses the epic it wants to be
the one proper criticism i can muster about this film is the fact that this film suffers from pacing even though through out the film stuff keep happening the film feels draggy, and i reckon a crisper edit could solve the issue.
if you sitting down with the intention for a masala film you will be entertained.
Vettaikaaran, tamil for hunter is a super generic masala action film that is watch with brains turned off. the story is about a student aspiring to be police officer taking law into his hand against corrupt Officials. the film is an amalgamation of action, drama, thriller, comedy and romance (and maybe some more).
the film has its nonsensical scenes and points, the fact that the near last 20min of the film has multiple heavy scenes that should have been better paced and placed seemed like a missed opportunity. the thing this films does good (to speak something positive) would be the hero worship commonly seen in all masala films.
but really i didn’t have much to say for this film its what it is, i wont recommend it but if a masala film is what you crave i guess go for it.
A movie that is in my sooo bad its good list, a generic masala film of the early 2000’s.
its basically a story about a guy Samba (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) who wants education to be the priority of his village and for that requires a quarry for stone for the school, and is hindered by the antagonist (Prakash Raj). thus he basically goes on a killing spree.
i don’t need to go into the details to diss this movie, it itself those that spectacularly, odd character dialogues, the female lead had the photo of the protagonist from the start even loved him yet didn’t realise him when he was in front of her, yup that checks out, the protagonist does a random 4th wall break moment to preach the viewers on education and an abrupt change in tone from action romance to comedy into the 3rd act
the coolest part of the film was a small scene where Samba takes the goons head and places it in front of the car tire and drives on……yes it’s morbid but till this point, I was laughing of all the silly dialogues and sequences of fights and the story. when this came on I had to stop and replay just to be sure of what happened and thus for making me replay a scene in this film I award it my 2nd favourite scene of the film. now you might ask whats my favourite
in the climax of the film samba has to fight off the goons and Pasupathi (the main villain Prakash Raj) while his nephew is hung on a tree branch with a firecracker style bomb with the string on fire it matters of moments before the bomb explodes what is Samba to do to save his family, well obviously ask the boy to Pee on the string to extinguish it and Voile the film ends with the final punch and boy save. After all the fights, Tone shifts, Cringy dialogues the film went through it was the perfect summation that it ended this way……Peeing saves the day.
honestly, I had given up on this movie and thought to stop watching first 20 min of the movie and thought to go see IMDb just in case this is an old-time good movie that might just get better down the line, and surprise it wasn’t this just strengthen my argument to stop. then you ask why I completed the movie well its all thanks to the review this movie has on IMDb. which gave the movie 10 stars and called it
Best concept and best purification values by Kodali Nani anna
around a year or two back i had watched a film the prequel to the one i m reviewing here called Maari a Tamil Action comedy masala film, which was more entertaining than i thought. packed with one-liners action sequences and cliques beats yet the whole film gets carried by the charisma of the lead Dhanush. the small local don who’s antics and fight against the cops was the basic premise.
all in all it was a good one-time watch movie that had no reason for sequel, and then i found this Maari 2, it has a sequel so might as well jump into it. it was a pleasant watch a similar one time watch like its predecessor yet, i will cut to the chase i didn’t like it.
even though the film wasn’t my taste, the Don look was really good imo.
the film had its moments but lacks the charm and charisma the 1st had though Dhanush does bring it up a watchable amount. this film also takes a much or heart-felt and emotional approach compared to the 1st one. and that is my main issue with the film this shift felt brought drastic changes to the character that was there initially and changed the tone of the film. whereas the 1st one was more light-hearted and funny, the second feels like imitating the comedy tone while being mediocre.
the film overall feels like a script that could work by itself but got pasted with the name Maari to increase the sale of tickets, which to me is the worst manner of sequel making as it disrespects the initial movie. my advice to the future viewers is not to watch this one especially you liked the !st part.
Every once in a while its good to just watch a random no sense/non sense flick just to remove agiesty or tension to just shut down your brain. thus going through the random movie suggestion on YouTube i selected Junga. an outright genuine South-Indian Masala film mix matching nearly every genre into one film.
the story initial is about a Bus-conductor who gets to know he is a child of a 2nd generation don, who’s antics lead to family losing all the movie they had, thus to get back a theater that belongs to his mother, the protagonist Junga (Vijay Sethupathi) walks down the path of a Cheapskate Don to save enough money. from here on the movie escalates into kidnapping of the Daughter of the man who now owns the theater. from there further escalating further into involving international crime syndicates.
honestly loved his don look but alas it wasn’t a serious movie to utilize this
the main charm of the film initially was the semi meta nature and self aware humour which by no means is done perfect its still done better than many i have watched. and my favourite sequence was the flashback scene where Junga gets to know his ancestry and the type of eccentric Don father and Grandfather he had. the sequence is showcased using animation as well as the mother’s dialogues which to me just was funny as it broke down the stupidity of the generally shown South Indian don movie troupes of tooo many cars and members for one kill.
the looks comes of a comical Don troupe film for the first half having some good jokes and scenes but as the film extends to the second half there build up this palpable feeling that the film is loosing touch with itself and trying various beats to keep itself stable which backfires as the second half feels forced and compared to its initial half less interesting. the whole kidnapping plot thread felt generic and extended than required also during this time the meta-charm that was built up prior is forgotten. but the weakest point the movie is by far its ending that is so blindly forced that for me it felt out of place.
this movie is that is best watchable with 1/3rd of it being good while the rest 2/3rd is mere “meh” at best.
the highest grossing Malayalam movie, it was such a big deal there where ads for its premiere on t.v. on bill boards, such a big thing that its getting a sequel, such a big thing that the most asked question to me when i returned to my hometown was not how was i but whether i had seen it and i hadn’t oh the uproar my cousins made hearing that. so finally i was made to sit down and watch it along with my cousins all younger than me, all eyeing my reactions to scenes all long as if seeing me undergo a rite of passage. i saw the movie and passed the rite, and am here to speak my mind about it.
so how was it you ask, it was good or better term is entertaining just what the doctor orders when the patient lacks Masala in life. Containing action, drama, suspense, twists, backstory, big reveals and lots more. this itself is the films boon and curse, covering all the basis to appease all parties while effectively just reducing the depth of a lot of the story line. By adding all these elements and subplots the movie gives off a feel of trying to hard, i might be bit hard on the movie but its only because it was such a big thing, i got hyped up a bit to much.
lets talk about casting as in a star studded film, of course there is the main man Mohanlal playing the enigmatic Stephen Nedumbally whose true reveal is just a hype up for the sequel a trend a lot of movies doing nowadays just hyping people for the sequel. for those who have watched bollywood movies might spot that there is an bollywood actor in this malayalam movie, Vivek Oberoi playing Bobby the antagonist of the movie, and i might say he played it well. this is also the first directorial debut of one of my early favourite malayam actors Prithviraj Sukumaran, and i have to say in the movie he does do a good job it is that i like his action scenes more than his overall product.
now let me talk about my favourite scene from the movie now this might not be a highly classy or a great scene in fact its just my favourite for the fact that this scene gave a look into how this movie had a super interesting political drama undertone to it that wasn’t explored by the director because of the of exposed action genre. the scene happens under a bridge were two opposing party members are conversing, one of them a member of Stephan’s party has been a double agent as they converse and the element of him being exposed comes to light, the one he was talking with offers him a cigarette and takes out a gun, telling him how stupid he was to believe only he could be a only spy in this underbelly of politics, ending the scene with a gunshot.
there were many such scenes that enticed me but they came in far and apart, as the movie has a lot of the subplot that does help the story in their own way but at same time never truly give resolution to themselves. clouding the story up, yet just like i began this monologue, this is a masala film with all the elements in it just enough that you would enjoy and can hardly complain.
A movie that was so much in hype and anticipation before its release because of the star stubbed cast with high and big credentials on them, it was a sure shot to be box office hit. which it was, but it wasn’t good it was disappointing to see the most expensive Bollywood movie to be only this.
the move tells a story set in 1700’s India when kingdoms and kings were falling to the East India Company, meanwhile a group of thugs lead by Khudabaksh (Amitabh Bachchan) who is is a master commander and warrior, who is the guardian for Zafira (Fatima Sana Shaikh) a daughter to a kingdom that fell to the hands of British Raj by the hands of John Clive (Lloyd Owen). in-between this tug of war of control comes in our two faced protagonist Firangi (Aamir Khan) who is an Indian who dreams of being a Britisher, the name Firangi also is slang word used by Indians for foreigner primarily Britishers. he is a spy that is ready to betray anyone for his interests, thus to tackle this thug problem Clive uses Firangi’s skills to infiltrate the group and cause the death of its members. but after meeting Khudabaksh, Firangi starts having doubts about his alliances and plans to defeat the Britishers, or is it just a trap for the Thugs.
Aamir Khan was good in this movie though the character that he portrayed didn’t feel as special to me as he let on in his interview where he mentioned the reason for signing this movie. Amitabh Bachchan had a presence in this movie but it felt not used properly. Katrina Kaif was only in this script for the sake of eye candy, really there wasn’t really any reason for he character to be there. Fatima Sana Shaikh felt so bland here as if there just an emo kid in path of revenge and not in a good way.
the showcases the pure waste of such a big, no i mean huge Budget and produce such a mediocre movie. the movie isn’t such a great movie as it was advertised, i think the major reason the movie got such a back lash from the media and its audience is because the cast in it were known for the selections of great movie with nice scrutiny those it the common people it felt that so many star cast wouldn’t make a bad choice with this movie, unfortunately we were wrong this time.
i wouldn’t recommend this movie, sure you can watch for the eye candy and for the reason if you are the fans of these cast, but still i would recommend for any other reason. tag of waste of time, and rate of 4-5/10.
got to love the masala films, those days when you so bored and burned out when you just need some film to consume while keeping your mind blank give masala film a try.
Baaghi revolves around the journey of a rebel boy (Tiger Shroff) learning the art of martial arts to hone his skills and learn discipline. while he is in training he falls in love with up an coming actress (Shraddha Kapoor) and so does the martial arts masters son (Sudheer Babu Posani). the son kills his father as he was against his son forcing the girl to marry him. this all leads to the protagonist into trying to take revenge for his master and rescue his girl……….. honestly a plot line seen multiple time in one form or other.
I would recommend this movie only to those lost souls who have the brains numbed due to better movies and are in need some simple easy to consume movie where u don’t need your brain.
now I do accept the action martial arts scene in this movie is much better choreographed that most Indian films. and Tiger Shroff really did a good job in these scenes, but the story by itself just wasn’t fun enough. but this movie has spawned a franchise with the 3rd part in the makes so hope that be some improvement there.
Mad Clown's Corner 