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Khufiya Web Review: Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi Deliver Remarkable Performances In This Gripping Thriller

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Director: Vishal Bhardwaj

Cast: Tabu, Ali Fazal, Wamiqa Gabbi, Atul Kulkarni, Ashish Vidyarthi, Azmeri Haque, Shataf Figar

Where: Streaming on Netflix

Rating: 3.5 stars 

Based on author Amar Bhushan’s Escape To Nowhere, Khufiya, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj is a tense, suspense-filled thriller that encapsulates a RAW agent’s strive to uncover the mole in her unit, when his dangerous intentions lead to a mysterious murder of another colleague.

Tabu plays Krishna Mehra, a clever move by director Vishal Bhardwaj to flip the gender of his principal protagonist. Mehra is torn between her duty towards her country and her inexplicable, unconditional feelings towards her colleague, whom she has lost to the hands of the enemy, because a fellow agent in her own unit has been leaking out key secrets that concern national security, at large.

Her suspicions lead her to track down the movements of fellow agent Ravi Mohan (Ali Fazal), who is otherwise your average Joe living the perfect family life with wife Charu (Wamiqa Gabbi), their little son and his aged mother.

Bhardwaj’s direction masterfully ensures that the audience is engaged in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase between Mehra and her suspects. Tabu easily delivers another knockout performance in the film, which is frankly, expected by her ardent fans. Using her expressive eyes to her advantage, she walks the tightrope act between playing a shrewd officer who is watchful while also dealing with her own demons, which include a failed marriage, shaky parenting and unfulfilled love. But it’s also Wamiqa’s moment to deliver another effective performance, exactly a week after she starred in Bhardwaj’s Charlie Chopra And The Mystery Of Solang Valley. This is clearly the young actress’ year. Wamiqa’s act as Charu could easily be reduced to a fly-on-the-wall in the hands of a lesser director. But with able guidance by the Bhardwaj, Wamiqa does a fine act between playing a woman who loves her stolen moments of embracing her sensuality but also being uninhibited when it comes to displaying hurt and vulnerability. Ali is an effective casting choice to play Ravi because his effortless charm can trick you into disbelieving that he is capable of possible harm. Atul Kulkarni and Ashish Vidyarthi offer heft to their respective roles. A word of appreciation is also reserved for Azmeri Haque who plays Mehra’s fellow agent Heena Rehman. She holds an arresting presence in her brief scenes with Tabu. Shataf Figar as Brigadier Mirza proves that he is an apt casting choice when it comes to portraying a commanding man in uniform.

Written by Bhardwaj and Rohan Narula, Khufiya benefits from a reliable source material in Bhushan’s novel. With espionage and global terror as its backdrop, the film offers a complex take on the challenging lives that intelligence agents across the world face and how it affects their personal and mental well-being.

Yet another worthwhile offering by Bhardwaj, which makes for a perfect weekend binge. The film can be viewed on Netflix.

Bollywood

Singham Again Movie Review: Ajay Devgn, Rohit Shetty’s ‘High-Voltage’ Ramayana Is Explosively Entertaining!

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Singham Again Movie Review: Ajay Devgn, Rohit Shetty's 'High-Voltage' Ramayana Is Explosively Entertaining!

Title: Singham Again

Director: Rohit Shetty

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Deepika Padukone, Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar and Shweta Tiwari.

Where: In cinemas

Rating: 3 stars

Positioned and postured as a full-blown action entertainer to be enjoyed with your family, Rohit Shetty brings Ajay Devgn’s Bajirao Singham back to narrate the modern day Ramayana, replete with a bunch of B-town stars to do justice to the epic saga that shows the ultimate victory of good over evil. So, right from Sita-haran (Sita’s abduction) to Jatayu’s sacrifice to Lanka-dahan, every chapter must unfold with cinematic liberty and melodrama that must serve justice to every key situation of the epic battle.

And truth be stated, we get the events, and we even cheer for every sequence and subtext that the film mounts to showcase the Ram Vs Ravan battle. Right from the unconditional love of Laxman and Bharat to the ultimate loyalty of Hanuman to Sita’s cruel abduction– every character has a context placement and contemplation to ruminate over. But hang on a sec! Who is Deepika placed as in this tale? She is neither Shabri, Shurpanakha or Mandodri. Her character seems as misfit and misplaced as her poor acting and her wobbly (read: horribly put on and off-putting) accent!

While the rest of the star cast plays to the gallery amidst the ear-splitting background score, Deepika sticks out like a sore thumb as the lady Singham.

At 2 hours and 24 minutes, Shetty unleashes the mega star-power of his film, and how! From Simmba (Ranveer Singh) to Sooryavanshi (Akshay Kumar), everybody jumps in to offer their bit to ensure that the audience remains engaged and entertained. Equally engaging and pleasant are the backdrops against which the makers have set the pieces of the narrative. Every locale is either scenic, handsomely mounted or ‘explosive’ with the trademark sign of Shetty pasted all over.

The story is simple and straight to state the obvious. Bajirao Singham nabs a notorious terrorist (Jackie Shroff) and his arrest triggers another baddie (Arjun Kapoor) to abduct Singham’ wife (Kareena Kapoor Khan). So, what’s the connection between these two events, you may wonder! You will have to watch the film to find out the link, as Shetty gives you a backstory that sets the current tale rolling.

What’s remarkable is how the makers have designed the entry of each character, and how the sequences have been spaced out to do justice to every character that makes their presence felt. Nobody disappears or gets diluted in terms of the presence and storytelling in the name of cinematic liberty. Add to it Ranveer Singh’s over the top hysteria, Akshay Kumar’s reassuring screen-presence and Tiger Shroff’s crisp, but impactful action chops, and you would know how Shetty elevates the film as a sheer entertainer worthy of all the whistles and cheers.

The sequence where Ranveer sets Arjun Kapoor’s territory on fire or when Shetty brings Chulbul Pandey (Salman Khan) to spice up the already high-voltage drama is incredible!

For a strory where you know how everything is going to unfold and conclude like, Shetty brings his A game to the table to showcase his strength –which is action and comedy–and dare we say, he doesn’t miss a single beat. While some sequences look stretched out beyond their capacities, and some could easily have been edited out, all in all one enjoys this ‘copverse’ studded with bharpoor dialoguebaazi and seemingly never ending ‘action’.

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Bollywood

Salman Khan To Shoot For Singham Again Cameo In Mumbai With 120 Guards, 30 Cops

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Salman Khan To Shoot For Singham Again Cameo In Mumbai With 120 Guards, 30 Cops

After much back and forth, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will be fulfilling his commitment of his character Chulbul Pandey’s cameo in Rohit Shetty’s “Singham Again” and will be shooting for it amidst tight security.

the superstar will be shooting in a studio, which cannot be named due to security reasons.

The source said: “Salman Khan will be fulfilling his commitment of Chulbul Pandey cameo in “Singham Again” at 4.00 P.M. today at a Mumbai Suburban Studio. The studio name cannot be given due to security reasons.”

The source also shared that the superstar was advised to not shoot at the moment given the security reasons after politician Baba Siddique was gunned down by three assailants.

The source said: “Mumbai Police and officials had advised to not shoot at the moment for security reasons but to fulfill his commitments given to Rohit he has decided to shoot today amidst 120 individual security guards and 30 police officials.”

It was earlier reported that Salman will not be making a special appearance in the Ajay Devgn-starrer “Singham Again” amid security concerns.

The third installment from the “Singham” franchise has a motley of stars. It has Ajay as Bajirao Singham, Ranveer Singh as Simmba, Akshay Kumar as DCP Veer Sooryavanshi, Kareena Kapoor as Bajirao Singham’s wife Avni, Deepika Padukone as police officer Shakti Shetty, Ravi Kishan, Jackie Shroff and Tiger Shroff.

Actor Arjun Kapoor will be seen playing the role of antagonist named Danger Lanka. The film will have a contemporary spin to the “Ramayana” and is slated to be released on Diwali on November 1.

It was on October 12 night, when NCP leader and former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddiqui was murdered by three armed men. He was attacked outside son Zeeshan Siddique’s office in Mumbai’s Bandra area.

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‘Aur Kitna Overacting…’: Sunny Deol Unveils Intense FIRST Look Poster Of Jatt, Leaves Netizens Disappointed

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'Aur Kitna Overacting...': Sunny Deol Unveils Intense FIRST Look Poster Of Jatt, Leaves Netizens Disappointed

Bollywood star Sunny Deol’s upcoming action movie with filmmaker Gopichand Malineni has been titled Jaat. Touted as a film with high-octane drama and larger-than-life action sequences, Jaat is produced by Mythri Movie Makers and People Media Factory, the makers said in a statement.

Sunny Deol, whose last film Gadar 2 became a huge blockbuster, shared a poster of the new movie on his social media handles.

“Introducing the man with a national permit for MASSIVE ACTION. @iamsunnydeol in and as #JAAT #SDGM is #JAAT… MASS FEAST LOADING,” the 67-year-old actor wrote on Instagram.

Netizens Reacts

As soon as Sunny shared the post on social media, media netizens reacted to his latest poster. While some appreciated it and compared it to Marvel, the other trolled the actor for his look and the poster. One of the user wrote, “Pehle laga Marvel ka koi naya movie hai.”

Another user wrote, “Half boyfriend chahiye.”

The third user commented, “No hate to Sunny Deol but bilkul faltu poster ha.”

“Aur kitna overacting karega ye buddha”, the comment reads.

Malineni is best known for directing Telugu action films such as Don Seenu, Bodyguard, Balupu, and Veera Simha Reddy.

Jaat will also feature Randeep Hooda, Vineet Kumar Singh, Saiyami Kher and Regina Cassandra in pivotal roles. Ace composer Thaman S has provided music for the film.

The film is produced by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar of Mythri Movie Makers, alongside TG Vishwa Prasad of People Media Factory.

The music of the film is composed by Thaman S and cinematography by Rishi Punjabi, Naveen Nooli is the Editor, and Avinash Kolla is the production designer. Peter Hein, Anl Arasu, Ram Laxman, and Venkat are the action choreographers.

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