Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Starring
Hrithik Roshan 
Abhay Deol 
Farhan Akhtar 
Katrina Kaif

So I’m a huge Hrithik Roshan fan, I knew that I would enjoy this movie simply because he was one of the stars. However, other than him being in it, it did look like one of those romcoms that might be worth watching.
The movie definitely didn’t disappoint.
I really enjoyed it and it wasn’t because it was necessarily a great story or had over the top acting. It was more just a feel good movie. It also has one of my favorite songs of the year in it, “Ik Junoon”. It's a great song to dance to, work out to or just sing in the car on a road trip to feel good about yourself.

As for the story it was pretty much what the title eludes it to be. You don’t live life twice so you might as well make the best of what you’ve got. Live in the moment and don’t give up on your dreams just because of other people’s opinions. It s a great motto to live by, but also a very unrealistic one. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m the first person to yell YOLO and take a shot of vodka but I’m also the person that will go to bed right after that shot because I have to wake up to go to work the next day.
In true unrealistic movie fashion the three guys take this amazing trip to Spain and go on all these heart stopping adventures. Heart stopping usually means that it’s expensive. They go scuba diving, sky diving and of course run with the bulls. All very exciting adventures in themselves but, of course, they are ushered around the country by the beautiful Katrina Kaif. I’m not going to address her acting skills because that point would be moot, we all know what she gets cast for: She looks good in a bikini and isn’t afraid to flaunt copious amounts of skin.

What really made me angry with this movie is the westernization of almost every aspect of the movie. I feel like I will continue to have this gripe as time goes on and we move further away from the true roots of bollywood films. What’s with the proposal scene that launches the whole movie?? Are we supposed to believe that young people in the east are just casually getting engaged nowadays? And why is everybody having one night stands now? That wedding scene at the end was way too American. I really enjoyed the message of this film, it was definitely a feel good movie but the American influences are ruining my love for new bollywood movies.
Stop making out with people Hrithik!!!

Article by the Diner's very own Bollywood reporter Kiva Ashby

Ek Tha Tiger

Who doesn’t love a good action movie?  Especially a long anticipated one.  I remember seeing billboards for Ek Tha Tiger all over Queens. I love me a good Bollywood action movie, mostly because the action part is usually so overly exaggerated that it makes it laughable and Oh buddy! does this movie deliver on that. 
Salman Khan plays the lead spy and he spends a good portion of the movie in short sleeve dress shirts riding around on a scooter.  This must be a whole new version of cool spy because, last time I checked, no 35 year old man ever looked cool riding around on a scooter; anyway, back to the actual spy activity.  Khan infiltrates this world renowned scientist’s house to find out some top secret information because, you know, isn’t that always what they need to find? Anyway cue the ridiculous action scenes! and I mean flying kicks, bombs going off in mid air and this spy must have the ability to fly because he defies gravity. 

No spy movie, of course, would be complete without a female counterpart.  Enter Katrina Kaif.  She makes being a female spy look like a walk in the park!
There’s a scene where she is being chased by numerous police officers, at least 20, because, typically, you need 20 armed men to take down an unarmed waif thin woman.  So she’s kicking and punching her way down 12 stories and, mind you, the entire chase her hair is flawlessly curled.  She doesn’t even have any fly aways! To make it worse, she’s wearing this frilly white top and, would you believe it?  She walks away from a hand to hand combat with the shirt completely intact! not a stain or tear, no, not even a sweat stain but, hey, like I said, if she did have any of those normal things then it wouldn’t fit in with the theme of ridiculousness. 
The rest of the movie follows suit with more unrealistic fighting and a very forgettable love story. The ending scene has to have car/motorcycle chases, explosions, gun fighting and a random plane.  Khan has to time his motorcycle jump to launch himself onto a plane that Kaif is flying. 
I forgot to mention that he gets shot in his arm but, you know, that’s pretty much the equivalent of a paper cut to him, so it doesn’t affect his performance at all. I’d be rolled up on the floor crying for my mother (I guess that’s why I’m not a spy).   

Overall it was truly a great fake action movie, well at least in my opinion it is but for some, like my good friend Samiksha Sheth, it is merely a “time pass movie”.

Article by the Diner's very own Bollywood reporter Kiva Ashby

Jab Tak Hai Jaan and the art of the Bollywood love story

Starring:
Shah Rukh Kahn

Katrina Kaif

Anushka Sharma

Jab Tak Hai Jaan is a classic Bollywood love story. 
Yash Chopras final film stayed true to his roots. He never fails to hit home with the themes of undying love, unswerving faith and beautiful women. I think the latter most of all is what sells this movie to a modern day Bollywood movie-goer. 

It’s hard to sell an old fashion love story when western influence on the east is becoming stronger each day. I remember when I started watching Bollywood movies in my early teens. At first I thought it was odd that sex scenes were nonexistent. Full on make out scenes would be replaced with sultry glances, meaningful embraces. This movie had plenty of those. However they took it much further and actually had Khan and Kaif kiss multiple times and I must say it was uncomfortable. What an odd thought. I grew so accustomed to the absence of sex scenes and make out scenes that I was actually a little uncomfortable. I thought that they cheapened an already romantic movie.  The art of Bollywood love stories is to make you feel it in your soul, you never had to actually see physical displays of affection to get that two people were passionately in love with one another and, in my opinion, that was the beauty of it. It was an art. An art that Chopra could do in his sleep.

Don’t get me wrong, it does take a great actor and actress as well. Khan is a seasoned pro and has the ability to make me cry, laugh, curse, yearn and brood all with the wink of an eye. With a simple flip of his hair and glance over his shoulder he’s got me hooked. Chopra knew what he was doing when he casted Khan. The two heroines on the other hand weren’t chosen for their acting skills.  They are both fairly newcomers to the game so I can’t judge them too harshly and I certainly can’t hold them to the same standards of Shah Rukh. So I figured that Chopra went totally on looks with these two.  They are drop dead gorgeous and not only that, they aren’t shy when it comes to their bodies. The movie starts with Sharma stripping down to her barely there bikini and taking a graceful dive into a serene lake. No further explanation needed for that scene, sex sells and Sharma sold her ass off. Kaif has her fare share of practically nude scenes herself. Miniskirts that looked like they could have been head bands, dresses that defied gravity by magically covering her backside and not much else and enough towel shots that at one point I thought a towel company was a sponsor. 

So I have to say that pissed me off a lot too. If I wanted to see all that skin I would’ve just watched an American movie where nudity is just as common as seeing someone fully clothed but regardless of the unnecessary cursing and constant in your face “look at how hot my body is scenes” I must say that I fell in love anyway. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for love stories or maybe it’s because Shah Rukh is so extraordinary that he can make you believe that he’s in love with any person on screen with him but, when I really think about it, I think that I must hand it over to Yash Chopra himself.  He has a magic in his stories, he has a formula that is timeless and successful and I fall for it every time.

I remember the first Yash Chopra film I saw. It was Lamhe and it brought about so many emotions.  From then on movie after movie, love story after love story Chopra's films get me and, I must say, that I enjoy getting got.

Movie review by the Diner's very own Bollywood reporter Kiva Ashby