Bollywood loves number games. And not just the rat race kind. There's a slew of movies with numbers in their title.
The film in question is director Puri Jagannath's Ek Niranjan.
Bullets fly, the noise becomes unbearable and the plot finally ends with the hero doing an unbelievable leap on to the ski of the helicopter aka Schwarzenegger, flown by our pretty heroine. UFF UFF! Squirming in my seat, I ponder over what I have been through, sighs Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
'Basuda welcomed viewers into a world that was instantly familiar and comfortable,' observes Sukanya Verma.
The actor is becoming one of the most bankable Bollywood stars.
'I wasn't motivated to begin with because how do you outdo the biggest encounter?' 'Then, we came across this story about the first-ever encounter.'
The curse of the second half prevents The Power from being the entertainer it could have been, notes Joginder Tuteja.
Karan Johar keeps his hit run intact with Student of the Year 2.
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2020.
'Films were made on a very low budget, so if there was a small defect, we would let it pass, and audiences often didn't catch those defects.' Shyam Ramsay tells us his 'horror' story.
Mausam is the only major film that did not turn up at TIFF in recent years. Ten years ago, the print of Shah Rukh Khan's Asoka was misplaced at New York's JFK airport amidst the 9/11 chaos.
Joginder Tuteja looks at the biggest July hits in the last decade.
Joginder Tuteja looks at Bobby Deol's career over the years.
Watching Aavesham is like sprinting through the whole history of our mass-masala movies and seeing it in a new light, notes Sreehari Nair. And this, incidentally, is the story of Fahadh Faasil's career too.
With the Rs 100 Crore Club assuming so much importance, the biggest commercial successes are the ones where action is the central element.
'I would get very pampered on the sets so my grandpa used to get very scared about that.' 'He would think I would feel great from inside and my life would get messed up.'
For audiences who love gangster dramas, there is a lot of fun in store, promises Joginder Tuteja.
'I have saved your name on my phone, but I cannot read or pronounce it.' 'I am able to recognise my wife's name today because after seeing it for so long, it has been imprinted in my mind as a picture and not the letters.'
Like Slumdog Millionaire, RRR will remain a one-time phenomenon until another big, larger-than-life, Indian film connects with the critics in the West, predicts Aseem Chhabra.
If you think Bollywood's kitschy overkill from the 1980s is stuff of throwback terror, wait till the big, bad, bold fashion of the 1970s is unleashed upon you.
Director Priyadarshan talks about Bhagam Bhag.
You'll wish weekends lasted as long as weeks after looking at Sukanya Verma's long, long list of recommendations on OTT this week.
Rocky Aur Rani delivers a king-sized entertainer that blends old charm with fresh ideas. It is a win for Karan Johar whose conviction works big time to satisfying results, asserts Mayur Sanap.
Civil rights activist Deepa Iyer, former executive director, South Asian Americans Leading Together, a social justice organisation thought after a visit to the minority businesses hit in recent weeks that the tragic story in Ferguson, Missouri, offers Indian Americans an opportunity to stand up and decry police brutality and show sympathy and support for African Americans in the beleaguered city
On January 24, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the Oscar nominees for 2023, it would be a surprise if RRR doesn't make the cut, declares Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Atlee gives temporary relief from reality, by blinding us into a make-believe world where the perfect family hero and messiah makes the world a safer and equal place for all, explains Divya Nair.
'I take compliments from a woman very seriously because it's difficult to get a compliment from a woman.'
'Pagalpanti has no double meaning, no exposure, no bloodshed... Even the villain is very cute!'
'It is definitely not for someone who is sensitive or would want to pick up things and get affected by it.'
Director V V Vinayak has mixed in the right ingredients for this Sankranthi film.
'Those who don't believe in my character are free to come to Manipur and stay with me for a few days to know exactly who I am,' says Onler Karong Kom, Mary Kom's husband.
From moments that felt long time in the coming to swashbuckling statements that could be interpreted in more ways than one, there are some that fanned our nostalgia, some made our jaws drop (or stomachs churn), some hit too close home, still others left us with a lingering sense of guilt. Sukanya Verma picks cinematic imagery that stood out in 2023.
This is Amitabh Bachchan's first entry in the list of highest openers in Bollywood and Aamir Khan's second.
Distributors have said that they will not buy its rights unless a controversy surrounding the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed movie is resolved.
Sukanya Verma looks at how one of the seven primal human emotions is usually treated in Hindi movies.
