Fatso Movie Review (Hindi)

Story: Navin and Nandini are to marry - but Navin dies in an accident that wasn't supposed to kill him. He returns in Sudeep's chubby body - but will 'Fatso' get his girl?

Critic's Rating: 

Direction: Rajat Kapoor

Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Purab Kohli, Gul Panag, Neil Bhoopalam, Gunjan Bakshi, Brijendra Kala

Genre: Romance

Avg Readers Rating: 

Movie Review: Think of all those uber-cool Mumbai movies you've seen - Dil Chahta Hai, Bluffmaster, Wake Up Sid - put them in an imaginary blender, switch on, and hey presto, you have Fatso, frothing over with shots of surfing sea, rain-soaked skies, stylish bars.

Fatso Movie Official Trailer

Add a group of friends led by Navin (Kohli), who pops the question to Nandini (Panag) before crashing headlong into a truck and you have Fatso's main course - how to live after death. And what to do if your buddy, thinking you're in the great beyond, makes a move on your girl.



Fatso's a whimsical film with a rhythm somewhere between jazz and an old Bollywood song. Starting on an innovative note, it's brightened by Kohli's sparkly performance, Panag's dimpled smile and every shot of Mumbai that's made prize-winning cliche-level. Its most stunning sequences however occur in the grim sarkari office everyone apparently visits after they're dead - there is no heaven or hell, posits Fatso, just hundreds of peons, files, queues and babus, eternally occupied in 'mittings'. But Navin refuses to rest in peace till returned to earth - as fat friend Sudeep (Shorey). With Shorey literally getting a new lease of life, having visibly restrained himself as the much-mocked 'saand' of his group, you imagine Fatso's second half will rev up.

Alas. Here's where Fatso flops down heavily. Any sense of magic, of life rescued from death, love saved from vanishing, even the funny ironies of a slim guy stuck in a fat form, is totally missing. The 'friends group' is unconvincing. Kala's notable as a chatty clerk escorting souls about while Panag stands out in the silence of someone hit by grief. A cafe sequence, where Navin sees Nandini ordering spaghetti, then crying in the ladies' room, is moving. But otherwise, strangely flat acting and banal lines leave Fatso more heavy than cheerful.

The film seems overwhelmed by its own smart styling - little details like a dress drying on a clothesline, a girl rubbing hand-cream onto her palms, are clever. But there's too much style, not enough substance. No-one but pretty Tanuja (Bakshi), whose boyfriend Yash (Bhoopalam) hits on Nandini, seems to have a job. Life's a round of bar-hops with holidays when the living gets dull. The movie's peppiest number - 'Fatso! Na jaane kab last time sofe se khara hua' - is reserved for its feeble end, pushed wearily by Shorey listing everything he loves - mangoes to mosquitoes - before Panag mercifully plugs his outpourings with a kiss. Willing, yet weak, Fatso joined a good gym - but could have done with a much stricter trainer.

Courtesy: The Times Of India

Hugo Movie Review (English)

Story : Once upon a time there was boy named Hugo Cabret who lived in a train station. Despite being single and young, he searched hard to find a secret message from his father. The message, like magic, reached all the way to the right person, till dreams were re-lived. 

Critic's Rating: 

Direction: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen

Genre: Drama

Duration: 2 hours 6 minutes

Avg Readers Rating: 

Movie Review: For the time being, let's keep all this aside: After having released in the U.S last year, Hugo finally releases in India today. Hugo went on to nab 11 nominations and five Oscars this year. With Hugo, directorMartin Scorsese for the first time ever enters three-dimensional territory. Instead, let's talk of this: The Eiffel Tower of the 1930s has never looked so inviting; the snow falling atop the wooden roofs and window panes of old France has never looked so mesmerizing; the world of clocks has never seemed so hi-tech. For starters, Hugo is a visual treat. And now we know why it grabbed the Oscar for Best Visual Effect this year. 

But then adding life to all that eye candy is Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), the orphan boy in town, who lives in a railway station, steals croissants, and gets his five minutes of laughter when he spots the odd ones out at the station when peeping from the huge clock tower. Like all restless kids, Hugo too is on the lookout for his 'purpose' which in this case is understanding the secret message his dad (an unfortunately hardly-there Jude Law cameo) brought forth by an old piece of automaton. Helping him in his purpose is yet another kid, Isabella (Chloe Grace Moretz). For her, the 'purpose' is rather simple: adventure calling. Fun while the two are out coding and decoding messages, sketches, and looking out for the right key to get the automaton started. Once functional, you realise there is much more to the movie -- the true story of turn-of-the-century French pioneer filmmaker Georges Melies, all his surviving films, his collection of mechanical models called automata, his determination of making dreams (filmmaking) come true.

Watch Hugo Official Movie Trailer (HD)

Now, for the ideation. Hugo lives up to the pages it owes its creation to - Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret. And why just the plot, Martin Scorsese ensures even the feel of the movie is in sync with the literary version. With 284 pictures between the 533 pages, the book appeals to all for its words as well as pictures. With hardly any dialogues, the movie depends equally on its performance as it does on the picturesque setting. Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz are quite successful in taking you back to the Dickensian era... and perhaps a 1930 version of Potter's 9-3-4 platform. Watch Asa go all out to give Chloe her first taste of real adventure - they sneak into a cinema hall. Watch Chloe kiss Asa for the first time ever on his cheeks - something that makes our kid grow up. But the real winner is Ben Kingsley who, as the owner of a small toy shop, 'fixes' whatever little seems to be amiss, both when it comes to machines... and the silent pauses. 

Tip off : If the tick-tock of clocks (Hugo is quite low on dialogues) sounds like music to your ears, and the huffing-puffing of steam engines (Hugo brings to life the old French charm) looks like wizardry to your eyes, you are sure to like this one.


Courtesy: The Times Of India