Dhanak: movie for those who prefer organic expressions, a story without a push...

What is it that you expect when choosing a movie title? A great story, a plot that keeps you engaged, performances that are either realistically raw or larger-than-life – what else? What could be that one feature that you want in every movie that makes it more watchable? For me, it is about the way the story pans-out, at what rate, how fast or slow the story moves and how the smallest instances fit to create the perfect backdrop for the characters. This is exactly what Dhanak does. This is not about SRK or SK type of raw, movie-worshiping prowess. This is not your usual film festival food either. Dhanak is interestingly positioned somewhere between being a story-fueled small-budget production that could have benefited immensely with a bigger production house and a wannabe artsy movie. The final product is brilliant.

RAID – Does Not Attack Your Sensibilities, Neither Is It Pretentious | Worth Trying!

I have to confess that often, I tend to over-adjecti-fy the cause of criticizing something. Also, am not a big fan of singing hymns when I appreciate someone - people call me disapprovingly polarized and sometimes, I have no defense! However, when it comes to RAID, my good, bad and the ugly neurons worked in perfect tandem to watch and somewhat, admire the movie. For starters, it does not try to be a Karan Johar type of movie that shoots across global locations and dresses-up megastars with costumes, role-plays and borrowed styles that just don’t seem to sync. RAID is slightly under-cooked. This actually helps to make the movie watchable. The story isn’t something worthy of being a conversation-starter. You might find it surprising but there are no raids as such in the movie – yes, RAID is a singular in every sense. The entire plot is knitted around a few days of income tax department’s invasion. The perpetrator is Saurabh Shukla – as vile and well-groomed for this role as you can imagine. His dialogues are interspersed with just the right amount of facial expressions that oscillate from disgust to bouts of violent anger and reluctance to accept the reality.