Uunchai Movie Review

Friendship has no leaps and bounds and it is such a beautiful bond that lasts not just for a lifetime but also crosses all age barriers. This is what the movie is all about. 

It is a story of four friends Omi (Anupam Kher), Javed (Boman Irani), Amit (Amitabh Bachchan) and Bhupen (Danny Denzongpa) from different walks of life. Bhupen has a lifetime dream of trekking and climbing the Base Camp of Mount Everest along with his friends. One fine day tragedy happens due to the sudden death of Bhupen. Will his friends be able to achieve Bhupen's dream? What other challenges and obstacles will come in their way in achieving this feat?

It is a simple and heartwarming story of friendship and human relationships set up in modern times. Director Sooraj Barjatya handles the emotions very well, as one has seen in his previous blockbusters.  

It is also about determination and self-belief which is inspirational in itself. Dialogues are good. Music by Amit Trivedi is nice and melodious with wonderful lyrics by Irshad Kamil. Beautiful scenes of Mount Everest have also been well-shot. 

Top-notch performances by the lead cast of Boman Irani, Amitabh Bacchan, Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta set the tone and make the movie a winner. Danny Denzongpa in a cameo leaves a mark. Parineeti Chopra and Sarika Hassan are good in their brief performances. 

With a good message, this is a must watch for all age groups. 

****

Panchayat Season 2 Review

A popular show which released during the 2020 lockdown is back with Season-2.

In the first season we saw how an urbanite Abhishek aka Sachiv Ji, an engineering graduate, in the course of preparing for his MBA exams, ends up taking a secretary job in a village panchayat in Phulera. While this rural job is much against his wishes, but with his positive attitude he does better than what one could expect from an urbanite. Season ends with a chance meeting of Village Pradhaan’s daughter Rinki and Abhishek aka Sachiv Ji.

 

Season-2 continues from where it had left. While his colleagues working in MNC’s in India and overseas are riding high and earning well, Abhishek on the other hand seems to be acclimatizing and doing well in his rural job. He manages to build good relationships with the key players in the village, as well as a quiet friendship with Rinki. 

Meanwhile, Rinki’s parents are worried about her marriage, they receive a matrimonial alliance offer from a well settled Urbanite in a Metro city. However, Rinki rejects the proposal since her father is humiliated by the boy’s family, even before their first meeting.

On another front there is a brewing conflict between the village panchayat and local MLA Chandra Kishore Singh for grant of funds for new road in the Village. Abhishek aka Sachiv Ji gets the taste of his first close encounter with this notorious MLA politician. 

Will the love between Abhishek and Rinki blossom? How will the Panchayat stand up against the MLA? What will be the importance of Abhishek? Will Abhishek give up his dream of a blue-collar job? For all this and more we have to wait for Season-3 to unfold. 

The good news is that a new season has already been confirmed by the director Deepak Kumar Mishra. We just can’t wait to witness that. TVF have done a fantastic job in depicting an Indian village life with simplicity and subtlety, which are the show's strengths. 

Sachiv Ji (Jitendra Kumar), former pradhaan (Raghubir Yadav), his wife the actual pradhaan (Neena Gupta), pradhaan gram sevak Vikas (Chandan Roy) and up-pradhaan Prahlad (Faisal Malik) have all done extremely well. The starcast breathes life into the show with their performances. They are a treat to watch. Newcomer Sanvikaa as Rinki is a revelation in her debut performance. Notorious MLA played by Pankaj Jha is first-rate. Other supporting actors too are good.  

Panchayat is a slice of the life show and one of the best shows on OTT platform which keeps the viewer engaged right till the end. 

Now streaming on Prime Video

****.5 stars

Badhaai Do Review

Badhaai Do, a sequel to Badhaai Ho is a coming of age movie, which breaks the shackles of traditional Indian families through its offbeat theme and story. 

Shardul Thakur (Rajkumar Rao) is a police cop. His widowed mother Mrs Thakur (Sheeba Chaddha) is worried about her son's marriage. Suman Singh aka Sumi (Bhumi Pednekar) is a physical education teacher.

Sumi and Shardul meet each other coincidentally and decide to get married in order to keep the seniors of their respective family happy, knowing very well that they are biologically opposite personalities. Shardul is a gay and Sumi is a lesbian. 

What will transpire once the respective families learn about this hidden secret of personalities? Will their biologically unnatural marriage survive?

Movie is a wholesome entertainer with great direction by Harshvardhan Kulkarni. Script is well-written by Suman Adhikary, Akshat Ghildial and the Harshvardhan Kulkarni. Dialogues are fantastic. Music of the movie is soothing, melodious and foot-tapping by composers Hitesh Sonik, Amit Trivedi, Ankit Tiwari and others.  

Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar deliver winning performances. Newcomer Chum Darang who plays Sumi's girlfriend looks promising. Supporting actors including Seema Pahwa, Sheeba Chaddha and Sumi's parents play their part well. Gulshan Deviah in a special appearance is good. 

Movie leaves an impact with an important social message relevant in today's changing times. 

Now streaming on Netflix. 

**** stars