One of the most hyped up films, Dil Dhadakne Do, directed by Zoya Akhtar was one of the most awaited movie for its huge star cast, the exotic locations and its relatability with the audience since it addresses regular family issues

The movie is focused around a dysfunctional family aka ‘The Mehras’. They are a family of rich high-class people. Kamal Mehra (Anil Kapoor) is a self-made businessman and a typical ‘man of the house’. Neelam Mehra (Shefali Shah), married to Kamal Mehra runs the house and is constantly working towards keeping the spark of her failed marriage alive. Kabir Mehra (Ranveer Singh), their son all set to inherit the Mehra empire, and their daughter, Ayesha (Priyanka Chopra) runs her own business and is a successful entrepreneur. The Mehras don’t get along well and are constantly making efforts to fix the issues between them.

To celebrate the 30t wedding anniversary of the senior Mehra’s, they’re all set to take a cruise through Turkey and Greece along with their family and friends for a giant celebration. What makes the movie interesting is that all the characters are dealing with their own set of conflicts in their relationships and their emotions look very genuine and authentic which keeps the audience hooked on to their screens. The movie is all about rich people hiding their everyday problems behind their high-profile image.

The film also raises the topic of parental pressure on their children. On one hand, Ayesha is trying to divorce her husband, Manav (Rahul Bose) since she is not satisfied and happy in her marriage but isn’t doing so because of her parent’s image in the society. On the other hand, the senior Mehras are trying to fix the wedding of Kabir with the daughter of family friend due to business reasons. They are indirectly blackmailing him and providing Kabir’s “one true love” aka his plane as a bait in return of his wedding.

The side characters Farah Ali (Anushka Sharma) and Sunny Singh (Farhan Akhtar) play important cameos in the film as the love interests of Kabir and Ayesha respectively. All four have complications in their relationships with each other and their own issues to deal with. The story revolves around the messed up issues of the Mehra family and how they deal with it. The miscommunication between this dysfunctional family is a core conflict creator between them.

Towards the end of the film, they’re all seen resolving their issues and the Mehras ending up in a lifeboat after a big fiasco. The last 20 minutes of the film show alot of commotion and hustle bustle amongst all the characters. There is alot of confusion, running and unnecessary shouting, like it is in every punjabi family. But the Mehra family ends up being each other’s “lifeboat” and saving each other in every situation in life.

The film is tied together through the narrator aka Pluto Mehra, Mehra’s pet dog, voiced by Amir Khan. The foot-tapping numbers in this film will never be forgotten. Numbers like Gallan Goodiyaan or Girls like to swing or even the title track sung by Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar will always make you want to hit the dance floor no matter where you are.

Zoya Akhtar has done a great job in capturing everything against the blue backdrop of the ocean. The movie is such a visual treat for the eyes because of the huge star cast and aesthetic locales of Turkey and Greece. It is a light hearted movie all about a rich family going on a foreign trip trying to find themselves and find stability in their relationships amongst all the complications and drama.

One Hour and thirty-seven minutes marks the time that I laughed during the comedy-murder film ‘Murder Mystery’ starring Jennifer Aniston (Audrey Spitz) and Adam Sandler (Nick Spitz) directed by Kyle Newacheck which is a Netflix film.

When a NYC cop who pretends to be a detective, Nick Spitz, finally takes his wife, Audrey Spitz on a long promised European trip. Unfortunately, things quickly go in a different direction when Audrey meets Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans) on the flight, who invites the Spitzs to abandon their low-rent tour bus trip in favour of a week on his billionaire uncle’s, Malcolm Quince (Terence Stamp), super-yacht.

Soon when they reach and start enjoying themselves Malcolm Quince is murdered first which leads to murder of further people as well. They both become the prime suspects. Although the list of the other is lengthy, which includes Grace Ballard (Gemma Arterton), Colonel Ulenga (John Kani), Tobias Quince (David Walliams), Maharajah Vikram Govindan (Adeel Akhtar), Lorenzo (Victor Turpin) and Suzi Nakamura (Shioli Kutsuna).

Everybody thinks that the Spitzs did it as they are outsiders and do not belong to the family but every other suspect has a motive as well which leads to confusion and leaves the audience in suspense. This makes it interesting for the audience as they are so into the movie that they sit through the movie to find out who the murderer is.

The many frantic incidents that took place starting from hiding under people’s hotel-room bed to an escape via a building ledge many floors above the pavement to the car chase on narrow streets which made the audience in wow.

Despite all this, Aniston and Sandler share an easy and good chemistry which we can see on screen which also makes the movie humorous. This movie was shot in various locations of Italy like Santa Margherita Ligure, Lake Como, and Milan. Initially movie started in Montreal but ended in the most beautiful parts of Italy. Overall the director did a good job in keeping the movie so mysterious till the end.

The movie ends with a big wink at the audience as the Spitz continue their vacation despite of what happened.

https://youtu.be/5YEVQDr2f3Q

Zoya Akhtar’s film, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, is a story of “Three Musketeers”, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) and Kabir (Abhay Deol) who take a break from their busy, hectic lives to take a trip to Spain. It was shot beautifully in different locales of Spain. The story is narrated by Farhan Akhtar through his beautifully written poems that makes even the viewers sit and ponder over the words of wisdom that were so effortlessly included in between all of the fun and laughter of the movie.

Kabir is engaged to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin) and before his wedding he wants to go on a bachelor trip with his two childhood friends. They made a pact in their childhood that for their bachelor trip , each would have to choose an adventurous sport of their choice and all would have to participate irrespective of their fears. This pact was made so that all of them could come together and enjoy, spending a few days away from their hectic schedules.

Although Imraan had a different agenda to be on this trip which was to find his biological father. On the other hand, Arjun is a workaholic who wants to work all day and earn money.

In the beginning of the movie we can see that Imraan and Arjun are in a cold war because of a fling and a misunderstanding that happened years ago. But as we approach towards the end of the movie we can see that any problem can be resolved by true friendship.

Laila (Katrina Kaif), who is the scuba diving instructor meets the three musketeers and teaches them scuba diving. She helps Arjun to overcome his fear of water and eventually they fall in love. Laila’s friend Nuria (Ariadna Cabrol) also joins them on this trip and later develops a fun loving relation with Imraan.               

All the adventurous sports that were shown in the movie -scuba diving, sky diving, running with the bulls even the Tomatina festival, all of these were shot beautifully and realistically. Each sport taught everyone different things about life.

The role played by Abhay Deol of kabir in the film was very well played considering the complexity of his characte as he’s the one who initiates the trip, mediates between his friends and is confused about his own love-life. Farhan Akhtar succeeds in finding his biological father, Katrina Kaif is delightful in her part, Kalki Koechlin is excellent in her bitchy role of a possessive girlfriend and  Hrithik Roshan finally overcomes his past issues with Farhan Akhtar.

Overall Zoya Akhtar, the director of the movie, does a wonderful job in keeping the movie meaningful and teaching us about life, friendship and travelling as well as keeping it light-hearted and a fun loving movie to watch.

At the end, of course no one will ever forget to take care of their “BAGWATI” after watching this movie.

https://youtu.be/FJrpcDgC3zU