LUDO (2020)

Anurag Basu pens a very complex screenplay weaving five storylines around absolute utter chaos! Honestly I cannot tell you what Ludo was about but I can tell you that it deserves your 2.5hrs. As an when one is watching the movie, they will wait for the moment where the plot gets all messed up but it doesn’t disappoints you even for a minute and is reengaging overall.  The stories effortlessly intertwine with each other into an edge of the seat outlandish yet heartwarming satirical thriller. Yes, naturally the movie does lack momentum at parts but somehow you become gripped in no time .

‘Ludo’ presents four different stories about people doing the wrong things for the right reasons. The narratives are aptly colour-coded yellow, green, blue and red, all overlapping thanks to Sattu Bhaiya (Pankaj Tripathi) – the dice in this metaphor. Akash (Aditya Roy Kapur) reconnects with his ex Shruti (Sanya Malhotra) to remove their leaked sex tape from the internet before her wedding is sabotaged. Pinky (Fatima Sana Shaikh) asks his longtime one-sided lover Aalu (Rajkummar Rao) for help rescuing her cheating husband from a wrongful murder allegation. Sheeja (Pearle Maaney) and Rahul (Rohit Saraf) bump into each other at a crime scene and become accomplices in a crime of their own. Bittu (Abhishek Bachchan) and Mini (Inayat Verma) team up to find a love from their families that they are desperately looking for. Overlooking them are Rahul Bagga and Basu himself, discussing, narrating, and playing Ludo on an iPad.

The experience of watching ‘Ludo’ ironically embodies the messy, passionate fun of that one game of ludo you still reminisce about. It all simultaneously seems too much and not enough, but it never feels wrong. All said and done, Ludo gets closest to the definition of a ‘perfect film’. A crazy ride of entertainment filled with characters you’ll still keep thinking about way after the end credits roll. A must watch and if one hasn’t subscribed to netflix yet, this one surely is worth a shot!

A Star Is Born ( 2018)

The movie starts where we meet country star Jackson Maine ( Bradley Cooper) — still packing out stadiums but, certainly, you feel, no longer at his best — he’s swollen, pale, doughy, his eyes swimming, the watery giveaway of a barely functioning alcoholic. In many fundamental respects, Cooper’s unrecognizable as the actor we know and never more so than when he first speaks: his voice a couple of octaves lower than his natural speaking voice.

He’s immediately captivated by Ally ( Lady Gaga) , when she appears in a drag bar performing ‘La Vie en Rose’ with painted black hair and stuck-on, super-arched eyebrows. And herein lies the central question: can she, in her first feature, pull off the characterization of a normal, insecure girl who, while deep-down sure of her talent, plays the comments of industry men — “you sound great but you don’t look so great” — on a loop in her head?  Not long after, while Ally is getting ready to leave with Maine to get another drink, he plays a heartfelt song of his own for the club owner, and she comes out as he’s wrapping up, making eye contact as his vocals find emotional depth. These are two people who fall in love with each other’s talent as much as anything else, inspired by one another in a way that artists often are. This story has been told several times before—and influenced other similar romances—but Cooper and Gaga find a way to make this feel fresh and new.

The movie is the story of two artists where both of them fall madly in love with each other but the passion for music in their lives , takes its toll and drugs on the other hand has its part in playing with their happy lives. The movie is so appealing in every way that no matter how many times you watch it, you will end up crying in the end for the actors make it so believable and make you feel as if you are a part of their lives. The music album is all in all a super hit and strikes the chords in all the right ways. Even a non romantic or a non musical person will end up shipping for this movie for the commendable work by the artists and one shouldn’t forget the car parking scene where Gaga sings a part of the song ‘Shallow’ and it just has your heart right away. Cooper doesn’t misses a chance to steal the hearts with his ever warming smile and charm.

 A star is Born is a film that believes in the power of a song to connect with its listener in a way that can change their lives and it will be a beloved piece of work for those who believe in it too.

Gone Girl (2014)

Gone Girl – a thriller and an art piece for all the psychotic movies so far which showcases the life of a dissatisfied married couple with twisted plots in every fifteen minutes. The movie starts with the male protagonist- Nick Dunne ( Ben Affleck) on his fifth marriage anniversary finds out that his wife -Amy ( Rosamund Pike) is missing and the house has suspects of kidnap. There starts an immediate investigation which has an amazing way to it through a treasure hunt which starts pointing all the fingers on Nick Dunne , suspecting him of the murder of his beloved wife. As the story unfolds we get to know that Nick hasn’t been the perfect husband from a personal diary of Amy. But was Amy all perfect? The plot gets interesting minute by minute leaving the audience questioning that are the characters what they seem to be or is there more to it?

The movie encourages violence and has some explicit sexual scenes which portray how far can a psychotic mind go to fulfill its desires or needs. The actors play their parts quite efficiently and make the story believable by their respective roles. The movie is quite a cocktail except for the last fifteen minutes where it seems that the makers have just tried to wrap up the case in hurry. The best thing about this movie is that the viewers don’t feel taken aback after reading the book as the movie still has its spark. Affleck doesn’t disappoint as he is perfectly shown being the angry, confused, panicked guy while Pike plays the bold female who is perplexing and engaging. It’s a plot-obsessed picture that’s determined to stay one step ahead of the audience at all times, and cheats when it feels it has to. If you make blanket assumptions about what men and women are capable of, and the circumstances under with they’re capable of it, this film will confirm them. All in all its a treat for a psychotic thriller genre.

Definitely, maybe. (2008)

The movie starts with Ryan Reynolds playing the character of William Hayes, who is about to get divorced from his wife who is not disclosed at that very moment. His daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin) is hell-bent to know about how her parents met thinking that if his dad would tell her the story, it would reignite the once lost love again. The movie picks up with some really cute and comic scenes with Maya stealing the show altogether. William agrees to tell the story but turns it into a mystery, adding in details of his two other serious romances and changing names so Maya won’t know which one’s her mom. The action then flashes back to 1992, with eager young Will moving to New York City to volunteer for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign while maintaining a long-distance relationship with college sweetheart Emily (Elizabeth Banks). He meets there a fellow volunteer April (Isla Fischer), who is both smart and funny and sophisticated aspiring writer Summer (Rachel Weisz) , but has no idea how entangled he’ll end up getting with both. As the ’90s unfold, so does Will’s love life, with the ups and downs keeping Maya and viewers guessing.

The movie might not be one of those romantic classics but surely holds the grip of the viewers till the end. It has some really cute moments of dad and daughter duo, some exotic love making scenes and not to forget those key moments where you will find the energy of an unravelling love story one after the other with dialogues sweeping you right off your feet , leaving you shipping for each one of them. The movie doesn’t make it a foregone conclusion as in life, love itself isn’t always enough, and bad timing has a way of screwing things up.

Reynolds play the part of Will rather perfectly where on one hand he turns out to be the perfect work person and is lovesick for he tries to find love in each one of these women and ends up heartbroken making it a sappy romantic. The three lead women play their parts efficiently. The ending isn’t that twisty and that is where the movie loses it’s spark. . All in all, Definitely, Maybe is well-executed charming, if not a classic, and it should warm any chick flick-lover’s heart.

Love & Other Drugs (2010)

“Love and Other Drugs” stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall, a pharmaceutical salesman who sells Zoloft, Viagra, love and other products. He’s a charmer, determined to sell his way out of Ohio and into the big Chicago market, and if that involves flirting with the receptionists in a doctors’ offices, he would go all the way to do it.

The movie is set in the 1990s when Viagra – a drug is running in the market and Jamie, an employer to Pfizer leaves no stone unturned to sell it. He infiltrates hospitals, befriends doctors, pushes drugs and sabotages the best efforts of his aggressive rival Trey Hannigan (Gabriel Macht), whose product Prozac is outselling Zoloft. The whole part where Jamie acts as a sales manager is the only comic scenario in the movie. The only idea in the mind of the filmmakers is to sell these drugs anyhow.  Jamie along his venture of selling these drugs, buddies with Dr. Stan Knight (Hank Azaria), who introduces him as his intern and allows him to observe as he palpitates the breast of his lovely patient Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Maggie discovers the fraud, and in the course of an argument with Jamie about it they both grow so passionate that, well, they rip off each other’s clothes and end up being in an unusual relationship of “friends with benefits”.

As the plot builts, they both find their liking for each other and start spending as much time together as they can. Maggie is struggling from a disease -‘Parkinson’ about which she wants to tell to Jamie. Hathaway brings such tenderness and compassion to her role that she moves the film away from comedy and towards a typical Love Story. The things get serious between the two as we move ahead and they both not knowing how to control their emotions have a hard way through it, which results in dramatic fights and some paper tissue moments. Where on one hand Jamie is uncertain about how he can fall in love with a lady for the first time, Maggie is insecure about her disease.

The movie holds the issue of the disease rather sensitively and portrays the difficulty in a life of the one who experiences it. It is shown in a scene where Jamie is told about the side effects of it by a person in a meeting towards the end of the movie which changes the whole outlook of him for Maggie. The movie depicts how a person can give up any and everything and is ready to do his all for a person he loves. The transition of Jamie from a womanizer to a man who is down for her woman and is ready to give his all is commendable. Overall , it’s a dramatic love story, with some fun moments to it. The bits of sexual moments act as an eye candy for the star cast is charming and alluring in all the ways. There are some lagging points in the movie but a person who enjoys romance will surely find this movie worth a watch.