Secret Superstar

Aamir Khan's name, whether associated with acting or producing, always raises one's expectation. Going by that standard, Secret Superstar doesn't meet the anticipated bar. It is produced by Aamir Khan and directed by his manager, Advait Chandan, a debut director
Yet, there are a lot of pluses which make the film watchable.
For me, this movie is a little behind my times. We don't stifle our children's dreams like that these days, do we? Secret Superstar is a voice for all those children from middle class households where following traditions and fulfilling the expectations of the society is more important than fulfilling one's dreams.
That's the plot premise.
Okay, now what really works for the movie is Zaira Wasim's outstanding performance. After watching her in Dangal and now in Secret Superstar, it looks like she can play any role with an enviable ease.  She is also well-supported by her mother, played by Meher Vij.
The strict father's role, espoused by Raj Arun, is against his 15-year old daughter playing the guitar and her singing. He wants her to be educated just enough to make her a good prospect for a marriage and not remain uneducated like her mother. Therefore, the only way Zaira can fulfill her dream is to post her videos on You Tube wearing a burkha. Zaira's confidants in this journey are her mother, younger brother and her classmate (Tirth Sharma) .
There are some powerful yet subtly delivered messages on women empowerment and how, a woman when she discovers her inner strength, becomes indomitable..
Aamir Khan, in an extended cameo, plays an obnoxiously arrogant music director who had once touched the peaks of fame but has now slipped as he tries to adapt himself to the requirement of modern music. Later, he helps Zaira in both, her journey of music and her life journey.
What will really touch your heart is the innocent friendship between Zaira and Tirth. You feel transported to your younger days as you remember your childhood crushes.
The minuses come from the fact that the film lacks a cohesion. Beautiful parts but not stitched together seamlessly.
I will go with 3/5

Where's the food, Chef?

Suave sophisticated, urbane, cool...this is the air Saif carries around him and these are the kind of roles that he can carry with an easy aplomb, as witnessed in Chef.
The (Airlift) director, Raja Krishna Menon, has done a brilliant casting in Saif as the Chef,  Padmapriya Janakiraman as his ex-wife, and Svar Kamble as their son.
Having seen Favreau's CHEF earlier I was a little reluctant to watch this one but I can safely state now that the story hasn't been messed with over-the-top performances.
So what works for this movie? It is not the typical hero-heroine-villain-songs formula. It is about a person (Saif) who follows his passion to be a chef instead of the engineer/doctor professions most prevalent in India. He runs away from home as a child, going to the US eventually and earning 3 Michelin stars.
Yet one fine day, he finds himself in scuffle with a customer who criticizes his food.
As a result, Saif is fired and he uses this break to be with his son who lives with his ex-wife, Padmapriya, in Cochin.
Milind Soman as Padmapriya's friend, with his chiseled body and a salt and pepper hair is a treat to the eyes. He is a business man and offers a run-down truck to Saif to conduct his food business from.
Mentionable is the driver of the truck played by Dinesh Nair who brings in the humorous flavor to the movie.
In getting the food truck ready for its journey to Delhi, is also a journey of a relationship  between Saif and his son, Svar. They together discover what it is to be a son and a father. The movie captures these moments beautifully. Credit to the two for the very cool casualness with which they handle these emotions.
Here you have a hero who is not afraid to show his shortcomings, his weaknesses and how he is willing to learn and pass these lessons to his son.
The movie, very predictably, ends with the success of the food truck and a family union.
In Chef, if you assume you will get to watch some great culinary experiences, some gastronomically delightful cooking, some tantalizing tastes and sights, you are in for a big disappointment. The movie only brushes through those much-anticipated moments fleetingly.
Also some incidents and characters are rather sketchily etched.
Despite these flaws, the movie is quite watchable and perhaps will help bring Saif that much-needed hit after the debacles in the last few years.
A 3/5 from me.

Mahanubhavudu: a fiasco

Going by the word-of-mouth propaganda, I watched this movie in a remote located cinema. The tickets were sold out in every other multiplex.
The opening song (Mahanubahuvudevera) and the trailers make you think it is some classic like 'Mithunam' or 'Rudraveena': a movie about relations and emotions. But till the end, it leaves you puzzled about what exactly it wants to convey.
Sarwanand's movies always send out mixed signals. When you go to watch his movies you don't know what to expect. It is true that he chooses his stories well and that he tries that they are different to the routine. Some of his movies are brilliant and some very run-of-the-mill types.
Therefore when I went to watch this one, and due to all the hype created with tickets sold out, I expected a lot out of the movie.
The character of Sarwanand is afflicted with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), a behavior which compels him to keep himself and his premises clean. Dirt and mess disturb him. This is established in the first half with all his reactions to situations when he encounters unclean people and surroundings.This intolerance hurts people close to him, including his mother. His brother (Vennela Kishore) just about tolerates this behavior and the only friend that Sarwanand has in his life.
He falls for Mehreen Pirzada as his first encounter is with her inclination to Swach Bharath.
Gradually the two fall in love . But his OCD makes him not even kiss her due to his fear of contamination. Eventually, this behavior creates circumstances that lead to a break up.
Yet, Sarwanand, who has managed to impress Mehreen's father (Nassar), travels to his village to take care of Nassar's health. He braces himself and tries to adjust to situations which make him face his fears many times.
The final test comes when he has to roll on the mud floor with a wrestler to restore the 'honor' of Nassar and win over the heroine. He passes out after this event due to his extreme reaction to the surroundings caused by his obsession with cleanliness.
There is nothing in the movie that makes you feel compelled to watch it.
The hero has a perpetual annoying smile throughout the movie and a more annoying hair style which makes you want to reach out and pin back that lock that keeps falling on his forehead. The heroine, as in most of the Indian movies, is ornamental.
But what was quite disconcerting was the treatment of OCD. It is not treated as a chronic disorder that it is but as something that is to be  made fun of. It might have been still okay if a character in a smaller role has this behavior and you laugh at it for the few moments that it lasts in the movie. But for this behavior in a full-length  role needs justice and a serious treatment.
Watch only if you are prepared for a typical Telugu film with a mass appeal. If you expect some brainy stuff, you are in for a big disappointment.
A 1.5/5 from me.

Jai Lava Kusa: the unexpected

Life throws surprises and so do movies.
Jr. NTR movies are to be watched on TV only...this has been my dictum since the time he started acting. The OTT performances in his 'mass' movies aren't the kind I enjoy watching. There have been a few exceptions of late. But he still roars in one of his movies, 'class anukunnavemo, lopala mass aalage undi'.
Ok...
So, watched 'Nannaki Prematho' with the same expectation but was nicely surprised with the intelligent story and combined performances of Jagapathi Babu and NTR. Perhaps this sentiment made me watch Jai Lava Kusa (albeit reluctantly) in its first week of release.The underlying thought was how do I put up with three NTRs in one movie? It also doesn't help to know that it is directed by K. S. Ravindra, known for directing/writing for pakka mass movies.
And was I surprised when I watched this one?!
The story is of triplets who, separated in childhood, develop into three different personalities with three different shades of gray due to the environment they are brought up in. One is Lava, the gentleman, Kusa, the petty thief and Jai, the dark villainy character. This portrayal is brilliantly showcased by the best in the VFX and the prosthetics department, equally supported by remarkable performance by NTR.  He played around with the nuances of the portrayal of the three characters so well that when he gave an interview post the movie release, I was wondering about the absence of the other two NTRs! The story concludes to show how blood is thicker than water.
The heroines (Raashi Khanna and Nivetha Thomas) are ornamental but catalytic to some twists to the story. Ronit Roy in his debut role as a Telugu villain does not look as comfortable or sinister as do his contemporaries from the Hindi cinema playing villain roles in Telugu.
It is still not a class act. You still have those melodramatic dialogs, dances, action, costumes, an item number et al. Go watch it with no expectation and you will be in for a pleasant surprise.
A 3/5 from me.