No Rating Movie Review HT Smartcast

Watching Ranbir Kapoor on the big screen after four years is in itself good enough a bait to draw audiences back into theatres. But Shamshera isn't just riding on its protagonist's shoulders. It has all the elements needed to make a mass masala entertainer hit the right chord. It has action, emotions, well-written characters, and a solid backstory. A warrior lower-caste tribe called Khameerans led by Shamshera (Ranbir Kapoor) is imprisoned in a fictitious city of Kaza. They are enslaved and tortured by a ruthless authoritarian general Shuddh Singh (Sanjay Dutt), who looks down upon them and tells a British officer: Jaanwar hai, gand toh machayega hi (These are animals, will pollute). After a lot of humiliation and physical assault, the tribe loses leader in his quest to free his people and that's where a fresh chapter starts. 25 years later, we are introduced to Balli (Shamshera's son) who looks exactly like this father. When Balli learns the truth about his father's death and how his tribe has suffered, he takes over Shamshera's mantle and begins a new fight for the freedom of his people and their self-respect, and avenge his father's death.

With aviation dramas, it’s the thrill factor and visual spectacle that the director creates, that promise an edge-of-the-seat experience. Ajay Devgn’s latest directorial, Runway 34 lands perfectly in these departments. The film is inspired by true events from 2015 when a Doha to Kochi flight had a narrow escape after facing difficulties to land at the airport due to bad weather and low visibility. However, in many places, you’d also notice several resemblances to Hollywood films like Sully and Flight. Yet, Runway 34 succeeds as a gripping story and a great cinematic experience. The story revolves around Captain Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn) and first officer Tanya Albuquerque (Rakul Preet Singh), who face the wrath of an investigation and interrogation by Narayan Vedant (Amitabh Bachchan) following a May Day call they make before landing an aircraft in turbulent conditions and risking the lives of 150 passengers. Whether or not the pilots would come out clean and justify their decision is what forms the crux of the story. Runway 34 keeps you engrossed and makes you feel the turbulence while you’re seated comfortably. It’s edgy, fast-paced, engaging, and serves you a big-screen cinematic experience that won’t disappoint.

Lazy writing, poor execution and ridiculously stylized characters — Heropanti 2 goes from bad to worse. A sequel to Tiger’s debut film Heropanti (2014), this one is directed by Ahmed Khan, who also collaborated with Tiger for Baaghi 2 and Baaghi 3. It seems Khan is in a rut and isn’t even letting Tiger come out of the stories that don’t let him grow. Heropanti 2 is the story of a self-styled magician Laila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) who teams up with a cyber genius and a hacker Babloo Ranawat (Tiger) to scam people via video games, hack their data and bank details, and rip them off their hard-earned money. In the process, Babloo gets romantically involved with Laila’s sister Inaaya (Tara Sutaria), who, for the longest time remains oblivious to his brother or boyfriend’s ill intentions. What happens when Inaaya finds the truth? What happens when the good guy Babloo turns bad and then again gets on a journey to become a good guy, is what the 2-hour-30-minute film takes you through. Heropanti 2 is extremely loud, over-the-top, illogical, and tests your patience. It’s only Tiger’s envious dance moves and top-notch action that give you some 'paisa vasool' moments. And of course, musical renditions from AR Rahman, which might appear to be a misfit in the film, but bring some calm amid this noisy storm.

A Hindi remake of the 2019 Telugu film by the same name, Jersey has been written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, who also helmed the original. And no prize for guessing, the remake is a scene by scene copy of the original. Jersey traces the tale of an exceptionally talented Ranji player Arjun Talwar (Shahid Kapoor), who quits cricket at the age of 26 and after 10 years, decides to revive his career and return to the game. In the process, Arjun wants to fulfil his son Kitu’s (Ronit Kamra) desire for a jersey and dream of seeing his father play cricket. Along this journey, Arjun goes through emotional turmoils and confrontations with his wife Vidya Talwar (Mrunal Thakur) who bears all the financial burden of the family. But despite all helplessness, nothing seems to stop Arjun from following his dream of playing for the Indian national cricket team. He finds support in his coach Madhav Sharma (Pankaj Kapur), who also acts as a father figure to him. High on emotion, Jersey lacks on the intrigue value that would keep you hooked. And the nearly three-hour runtime of the film makes it only worse.

KGF Chapter 2 is an explosive tale of brash, unapologetic, and larger-than-life characters. Director Prashanth Neel has created something that’s way more immersive than part one and worth all the hype that he managed to sustain for three and a half years since the first part came out. KGF 2 once again recreates the dark and deadly world where chopping heads and slitting throats are the norm and gunshots are fired at whim without any remorse in anyone's heart. One of the finest sequels to have come out in a long time, KGF 2 takes off right from where the first part ended. As Anand Ingalagi (Anant Nag), the author of El Dorado is hospitalized and can no longer narrate the story of KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) and the rise of Rocky, his son Vijayendra Ingalagi (Prakash Raj) takes over. In his words, Raja Krishnappa Bairya aka Rocky Bhai (Yash) has built an “indestructible empire” in KGF and wants to conquer even bigger things. While he has already killed Garuda in part 1 and turned ruler of the gold mines, in the sequel, he comes face to face with the deadly Adheera (Sanjay Dutt), who won’t let an outsider take over something that he helped build. Meanwhile, Rocky’s power-hungry games have also caught the attention of Prime Minister Ramika Sen (Raveena Tandon), who wants his downfall and death. Will Rocky be able to keep all that he has built for himself? Will the monster-turned messiah stand by his followers who worship him?

With all good intentions to educate and entertain the audience, Dasvi starring Abhishek Bachchan, Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur, somewhere falls prey to its own chaos and confusion and ends up all over the place. Director Tushar Jalota has mixed too many elements to convey one simple message, and it loses focus way more often than you would expect. As a result, the inconsistent storytelling makes the film appear half-baked and ineffective. The film traces the life of a brash, illiterate and corrupt chief minister Ganga Ram Chaudhary (Abhishek Bachchan), who, for his unexplained criminal records, including an educational scam, is sent to judicial custody. While he's imprisoned, his docile and timid wife Bimla Devi (Nimrat Kaur) takes over the chief minister's chair in fictional Hamit Pradesh and begins to love the power it brings. Meanwhile, the minister is taken to task inside the jail when a strict and lawful cop Jyoti Deswal (Yami Gautam) is appointed as the new superintendent. It's after an altercation between these two when Jyoti calls Ganga 'anpadh gawaar' and he takes up the challenge of completing his Class 10 exam. This comes with a condition that if he fails to clear the exam, he won't take the chair of CM again. Ganga needs to pass both these tests - inside the jail and outside where his wife has just become quite intent on keeping the chair he asked her to fill for him.