Humshakals: Thrice Comedy or Tragedy

I have to accept that I saw this movie First day 4th show!
Wait....before you construe any further let me clarify that I was not eagerly waiting for thsi movie. I was forced to this movie by my 10 year old nephew and 13 year old niece.....

You won't accept, but yes, if you ask them how did they like the movie - the answer would be " Very good" and I can understand their feeling because all the kids, in that age group, in the movie hall were rolling around laughing at the jokes and actions.

With this movie Sajid has been able to crack in to the Children comedy movie genre..

Now coming to the review.....
The movie, at times (very few seconds) does tickle some funny bones in serious grown up adults like us. Story revolves around two friends (like brothers) and their Maternal uncle who wants to usurp their property & business. Saif at times feels out of place (Saif you need to do more Omkaar- Langa Tyagi like performances), though Ritesh deshmukh is totally at home with this movie....Ram kapoor is the only good thing in the movie. As usual, heroines in this movie play roles which don't justify....

Talking about music - couple of songs are catchy but nothing that will keep topping the charts. Screenplay - Mediocre, nothing that will keep us engaged. Comedy - Good but could have been better; but definitely better than Sajid Khan's last venture - "Himmatwala"

My Rating: **

Holiday: Porridge MOvie

It needs to be very clear in the mind of directors that you can either make Masala movie or make a movie based on Reality....trying to make both will make the movie a massive Khichdi (Porridge)....This is exactly what happened with Holiday...

The store revolves around an Army Officer (Akshay Kumar) who is on an annual leave - read 'Holiday', from the armed forces and during this Holiday he goes on to Save Mumbai by taking on the terrorists and terminating all the sleeper cells....

It had a very strong story line, but a very weak screenplay. Never understood why there was so much of Music and Dance in a movie  which had a serious story line. Couldn't understand why Sonakshi Sinha, who is a good actor, does take up this role where her screen presence was hardly for 20 minutes in a 120 minutes  plus movie. I was puzzled to see Govinda in this movie...Could be the issue is with me, I don't understand Porridge Movies :)

Music is not catchy and doesnot have any substance or lyrics, except for the last song.

My take ...It is a 'Ok' Friday entertainer...can be missed!

Rating: **& 1/2*

CityLights: The Search for perfect happiness!!

CityLights is  movie taken from the original screen play of another award winning movie from Philippines - 'Metro Manila'.  Now that I have seen both Manila and Mumbai.....I can co-relate the similarities....the sense of 'getting lost' in the mesmerizing lights of the city!!

The whole movie is based on the human urge to find that 'Utopian happiness' and the sacrifices and losses that one has to face to achieve that....if at all!

The movie revolves around Deepak and his family, which in hope of earning a livelihood comes to the dream city of Mumbai from their village. In the city they face the cruel world which doesn't allow them to settle in and soon they realize that they are stuck in a continuous fight between living for (life&family) and giving up to the evil world.

The plot at certain points of time becomes very exciting and keeps you guessing....and at last it does have a happy ending with a heavy sacrifice!

The national award winner, Rajkumar Rao (Deepak), is the main protagonist of the Movie and has again given an amazing performance!The good part of the Music is it's Lyrics which are so amazing.

City lights is one of those movies which will leave you with a heavy thought...hence in case you are planning to go for Friday night entertainer with your family, then this might not be the right movie...but at the same point of time, my advise to you is, you should not miss this movie...movies like these are not many.

Rating: ****

Godzilla - 2014: Kids and Comic Fanatics should watch this!

I will have to say that this movie will keep you enaged for the whole duration....only if you are a kid or a Godzilla fanatic....

I am sure you will not believe me if I say that Godzilla has been portrayed here as a "hero" - one who balances out all the negative and equally powerful creatures/ forces of this world.

The story revolves around the friction and the fights between two huge creatures -  MUTO (or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) which feeds on Radioactive material and the GOJILA (Godzilla aspronounced by Japanese).
Yes we humans do play a part of tracking them and trying to save the human world as well....we do have our hero's in the mvie as well!
The story starts in Japan and pulls all teh way to San Fransico bay area...to know more you should go and watch .

The animations are superb and to get the best experience do watch it in 3D. I believe that the work taht has been done here are miles ahead what we saw in Godzilla in 1998.

My Rating: 3***

Suzuki ertiga : First hand experience

It has been 36000 Kms now....I have done now almost 3 long 700kms+ trips and have one through one major accident...now its a good time to call for revisit of my Cars's review ..the Ertiga ZXI which is now almost 4 years old now...

Few things that I loved till now:

• Reliability of the engine
• Space it gives me at that price point ( 9-10 lakhs)
• Maruti service ( specially after the accident)
• Mileage has been amazing - a whooping 15.9 kmph ( this is with 80% AC and 30% highway) driving

Things that I still don't like or have found it now:

• Stock tyres run out after 20K....I am planning to change them soon. I had at-least 10-12 punctures in last 5000 Kms....planning to change all of them
• the NVH levels are really bad at high speeds...(beyond 80-90 kmph...it becomes really bad)
• The lack of power on hill ascents - had to switch off teh ACs in certain instance and could feel the engine going off-breath...
• The beige interiors are killer dust catcher....a major design flaw

Any other car which I would have loved to exchange thsi with?

When i bought this car, I did not have much options. but in last 2 years there are huge options in thsi range....I would have loved to test out the TUV300, Vitara Brezza, Honda BRV...

I hope that helps, in your decision....

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It has been now 3500 kms with my new car and I believe that it is  time that it deserves a review. I will try to remain to the point and unbiased and paint the right picture,

Model: Ertiga (ZXI)

Few Postives & things which I found worth mentioning:
- Spacious (For passengers)
- Good driveability (feels like a car)
- Powerful 1.4 ltr petrol engine, never found any issues pulling through high gradients
- Good road presence
- Good breaking (ABS)
- Good ground clearance

Few Negatives or areas where things can be better:
- Not so spacious for luggage (If you have 7 people then you need to have a carrier)
- Too much body roll (Even though it has a monocoque design)
- NVH levels could have been better
- Though AC is powerful but No ACC
- The gear shifting is improved with Suzuki standards but still could have been better
- Too much biege-acts like dirt magnet

Few things that could have added more value:
- Split last row sits
- Dark coloured floor carpet
- Automatic Climate control

Essential Fuel Efficiency stats:
- 11.6 Kmpl-11.8 Kmpl City driving (90% AC)
- 12.5 Kmpl - 13.5 Kmpl for long distance driving (70-80% AC)

Do I ever think that I should have gone for another smaller car or Sedan?
- Yes, I do only when I drive through the Mumbai traffic!

To know which other cars where on my list while I was making this purchase decision, please refer to my earlier blog:http://aapkareview.blogspot.in/2013/04/with-options-things-do-not-get-easy.html

4 movies and My country....

Bhaag Milka Bhaag,Lunch Box, Chennai Express, Satyagraha
Each of the above movies represents an unique expression of an individual to fight against the odds and look for that one moment of  glory, truth & love.
These 4 movies do reflect the mood of our society in its present form.
Today someone amongst us is trying to bring about a change in our country by changing the way we think and elect a leader.
On other hand there is this hunger of a sportsman to go on and on without any rest, to open the shop even during heavy rains, give their kids the best at the cost of their sacrfice, to drive that rickshaw even when it's killing hot or to start a venture which catches the eye of the whole world.
Then there are people amongst us who will run against all odds to bring glory for our society even when others have written them off. Lastly, there are people who still believe that hope for love never dies and will celebrate every small occassion to keep that flame of hope and love alive.

Now coming back to the movies (because this is afterall a review blog!); I will try to review all of them in just one sentence - reason being by now you might have watched all the movies....but in case you haven't then this crisp review might give you a reason to watch ( or avoid).

• Bhaag Milkha Bhaag: An amazing biography presented in an amazing way. Acting was best in class and so was the music. A must watch for the young generation to keep them inspired and aspired! (4****)
• Lunch Box: A very delicate movie, which touches the human emotion of yearning for love and warmth...Irfan is again superb.(3.5***)
• Chennai Express: A colourful movie, made to make you light and smaile....could have been made better.(2.5**)
• SatyaGraha: Another typical Prakash Jha - Ajaya Devgan combo...but what was new here was Amitabh Bachchan...amazing story  whic revolves around teh struggle that my country is going through and the fight that we are in....yes, knowingly or unknowingly it's our fight. (3.5***)

With options things do not get easy!!

"Too much analysis causes Paralysis" - this was prooved true in our (me and my wife) recent experince of buying a car.

My earlier car- the trusted Alto was more than 5 years old, and as we were moving to a new region, hence we thought of buying a new car.

Initially we went ahead with the thought process of buying a car which is dependable, not so common on the streets, has good after sales service and is not heavy on my pocket (Read mileage :)).

That's how we started our hunt for that perfect car !

The only hitch was- my knowledge about cars and the different options. This played as

a double edged sword. The moment I took a test drive, I knew what was lacking - as usual I had all the reasons to reject and that played a major role in our 3 month prolonged seacrh for the vehicle.

Below you will find the list of options that I had a look at and I will. Rather than giving a detailed review of each of the vehicles, I have tried to rank them down in different parameters.


Detailed scoring based on our judgement

Hope this will help you in your buying decision as well - though again it will be very
subjective.

Alas! we did not go for the Rank 1 (City) - rather we went for the Rank 2 ( Ertiga)!