Akshay Kumar Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Housefull 5,’ starring Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonam Bajwa, Nargis Fakhri, Dino Morea, Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff

June 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

Pictured from left to right: Sonam Bajwa, Chitrangda Singh, Riteish Deshmukh, Johnny Lever, Akshay Kumar, Chunky Panday, Abhishek Bachchan, Shreyas Talpade, Nargis Fakhri, Soundarya Sharma and Jacqueline Fernandez in “Housefull 5” (Photo courtesy of Funasia Films)

Directed by Tarun Mansukhani

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, the comedy film “Housefull 5” (the fifth movie in an anthology series) features a predominantlyAsian cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: After a billionaire business mogul dies during his lavish birthday celebration on a yacht, three men claim to be the rightful heir to his fortune.

Culture Audience: “Housefull 5” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and the “Housefull” series, but even even die-hard fans will have their patience tested by this overly long garbage dump of a film.

Fardeen Khan, Soundarya Sharma and Shreyas Talpade in “Housefull 5” (Photo courtesy of Funasia Films)

The best thing to say about the “Housefull” comedy films is they’re consistent: They’re all consistently terrible. “Housefull 5” uses a gimmick of being two movies with two different endings. This murder mystery involving imposter heirs is a bloated mess.

Directed by Tarun Mansukhani and written by Sajid Nadiadwala, “Housefull 5” takes place in India, mostly on a cruise ship. It’s the fifth movie in the “Housefull” series, which began with 2010’s “Housefull.” Each movie has a different set of characters and stand-alone stories, but actor Akshay Kumar has been all the “Housefull” movies so far.

“Housefull 5” begins on the cruise ship by showing a flash-forward scene: A middle-aged man is being chased down a hallway by someone wielding a knife and wearing a black hoodie, black pants and a silver metal mask that looks like something out of a “Transformers” movie. The man frantically knocks on doors and begs for help, but no one responds. The killer catches up to the man and stabs him to death on the ship’s deck.

It’s later revealed that the murder victim was Dr. Aman Joshi (played by Akashdeep Sabir), who was supposed to conduct an important DNA test. After this murder scene, “Housefull 5” shows the beginning of the story, which began two days earlier. Billionaire mogul Ranjeet Dobriyal (played by Ranjeet), who is described as the seventh-richest man in the world, has gathered hundreds of guests for a lavish party to celebrate his 100th birthday. However, Ranjeet dies on the ship before this milestone birthday can happen.

In a hologram message that is played after his death, Ranjeet reveals that he is leaving his entire fortune to his long-lost eldest son, nicknamed Jolly, from his first marriage. No one has seen Jolly for years, and no one knows what he looks like as an adult. All that Ranjeet will say about Jolly in the hologram message is that Jolly is left-handed, Jolly has a burn-mark on his rear end, and Jolly is married to a “foreigner.”

In a short period of time, three men (accompanied by their wives) show up, with each man claiming to be Jolly. All three men have photo IDs to prove their identities. All three men fit all of the other known descriptions of Jolly. Dr. Joshi was supposed to conduct a DNA test to prove who is the real Jolly, but he was murdered before that DNA test could happen. Apparently, the “Housefull 5” filmmakers think that viewers are too stupid to know someone else could do a DNA test besides Dr. Joshi.

The rest of “Housefull 5” (which clocks in at an excruciating 165 minutes) is about solving the murder mystery and revealing who the real Jolly is, with some bombastic song-and-dance numbers thrown into the mix. “Housefull 5” is overstuffed with various characters, most of whom spend the movie doing a lot of silly antics that are more annoying than amusing.

These characters include:

Jalabuddin (played by Riteish Deshmukh), also known as Jolly 1, because he’s the first man to claim to be Jolly.
Jalbhushan (played by Abhishek Bachchan), also known as Jolly 2, because he’s the second man to claim to be Jolly.
Julius (played by Kumar), also known as Jolly 3, because he’s the third man to claim to be Jolly.
Zara Akhtar (played by Sonam Bajwa), Jalabuddin/Jolly 1’s wife from Afghanistan.
Sasikala (played by Jacqueline Fernandez), Jalbhushan/Jolly 2’s wife from Sri Lanka.
Kaanchi (played by Nargis Fakhri), Julius/Joly 3’s wife from Nepal.
Dev Dobriyal (played by Fardeen Khan), Ranjeet Dobriyal’s second son from his second marriage and who is the CEO of the board of directors for his family’s company.
Bedi (played by Dino Morea), the COO of the board of directors.
Maya (played by Chitrangda Singh), the CFO of the board of directors.
Shiraz (played by Shreyas Talpade), Ranjeet’s adopted son and the CMO of the board of directors.
Batuk Patel (played by Johnny Lever), Ranjeet’s bodyguard.
Lucy (played by Soundarya Sharma), Ranjeet’s lawyer.
Chief Inspector Bhiddu (played by Sanjay Dutt), one of the two buffoonish police officials who are suspended from their jobs in London and are sent to investigate the crimes on the cruise ship.
Chief Inspector Baba (played by Jackie Shroff), Bhiddu’s police partner, who is also the ex-husband of Maya and current love partner of Lucy.
Superintendent Dhagdu Hulgund (played by Nana Patekar), the boss of Bhiddu and Baba.
Captain Sameer (played by Nikitin Dheer), the captain of the ship.
Aakhri Pasta (played by Chunky Panday), a weird guest on the ship.

Some of the shenanigans predictably include drunken partying, secret identities being revealed, and animals running loose on the ship. In this case, the animals are monkeys that look very fake, due to the movie’s shoddy visual effects. Everyone in “Housefull” is either very unlikable or very forgettable, which says a lot about how bad this movie is when you consider the large ensemble cast. Everything about this atrocious movie is an endurance test to watch, with mindless jokes and slapstick comedy that all look outdated.

There’s also a lot of sexism in “Housefull 5” because all of the women wear cleavage-baring outfits and are treated as nothing more than sex objects for men to leer at and whose roles are mainly to be the sidekicks of the men. For example, there’s a scene where Zara, Sasikala and Jalbhushan have a physical fight where they start tearing off each other’s clothes, as Jalabuddin, Jalbhushan and Julius watch nearby and smirk as they see the women become increasingly unclothed.

Although “Housefull 5” obviously has professional-looking cinematography and production design to make the settings look attractive, these characteristics are just examples of style over substance. “Housefull 5” fails at being a suspenseful whodunit because the chief murder mastermind, who is revealed in the movie’s original ending, is easy to figure out within the first 20 minutes of the movie. The alternate ending for “Housefull 5” reveals a less-obvious villain but still doesn’t result in a satisfying conclusion. “Housefull 5” is like being given a giant decorated gift box that takes a long time to unwrap, only to find out that there’s absolutely nothing but trash inside.

Funasia Films released “Housefull 5” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on June 6, 2025.

Review: ‘Sky Force’ (2025), starring Akshay Kumar, Veer Pahariya, Sara Ali Khan and Nimrat Kaur

February 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Veer Pahariya and Akshay Kumar in “Sky Force” (Photo by PVR Inox Pictures)

“Sky Force” (2025)

Directed by Sandeep Kewlani and Abhishek Anil Kapur

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place from 1965 to 1991, in India and in Pakistan, the action film “Sky Force” (based on a true story) features an Indian and Pakistani cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A wing commander in the Indian Air Force is haunted by the disappearance of his close friend/protégé, who went missing during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.

Culture Audience: “Sky Force” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and formulaic war movies.

Akshay Kumar in “Sky Force” (Photo by PVR Inox Pictures)

“Sky Force” has noble intentions to celebrate Indian Air Force heroes of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. However, this action flick (based on real events) is too routine and too bloated for a story that deserves a better movie. The acting and visual effects are very mediocre, considering the large budget for this film.

Directed by Sandeep Kewlani and Abhishek Anil Kapur, “Sky Force” (which takes place in India and Pakistan) was written by Kewlani, Aamil Keeyan Khan, Carl Austin and Niren Bhatt. The movie’s time period ranges from 1965 to 1991. “Sky Force” is based on the true story of Indian Air Force members Om Prakash Taneja and Ajjamada Boppayya Devayya.

In “Sky Force,” Wing Commander Kumar Om “K.O.” Ahuja (played by Akshay Kumar), who is this movie’s version of Taneja, is a respected leader in the Indian Air Force. K.O. is a mentor to T. Krishna Vijaya (played by Veer Pahariya), a rebellious younger pilot who reminds K.O. of Kumar’s deceased younger brother Monu. Krishna’s Air Force nickname is Tabby, which is the name he prefers to be called in his everyday life. Tabby is this movie’s version of Devayya.

K.O. and Tabby are both stationed at Adampur Air Force Station, where group captain David Lawrence (played by Manish Choudhary) is their supervisor. (David will later be promoted Air Commodore in the 1970s.) K.O.’s Air Force nickname is Tiger, which is also the name of the squad that he leads. David is strong-willed and considers himself to be ethical when it comes to war rules of engagement. Unfortunately, “Sky Force” makes the other Indian Air Force colleagues utterly generic.

The other members of the Tiger Squad of Air Force pilots (who all have animal nicknames) are Debashish “Cockroach” Chatterjee (played by Soham Majmudar), Prakash “Panther” Rajput (played by Ritik Ghanshani), Duck (played by Fayaz Khan), Goat (played by Karan Chaudhary), Rhino (played by Ramakrishna Dixit), Owl (played by Ankit Kaushik), Scorpio (played by Sagar Rana), Shark (played by Vishal Jinwal), Spider (played by Lakshay Chawla) and Fox (played by Abhishek Mahendra). Viewers won’t remember much about these supporting characters because they don’t have personalities that stand out from each other.

In the Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965, Pakistan attacks India in nighttime battles on Adampur Air Force Station and other Indian Air Force stations on September 6. It’s considered an unfair fight because Pakistan knew that India had outdated planes that were ill-equipped to do combat at night. Pakistan also had an advantage because the United States had recently gifted Pakistan with 12 Star Striker fighter planes.

K.O. had warned David that Pakistan would use this strategy, but David did not take K.O.’s advice to have India attack first. “We are a peace-loving country,” David tells K.O. when explaining that India will only attack in self-defense.

K.O. is put in charge of a mission for the self-defense attack on Sargodha, the most powerful military air base in Pakistan. The mission—set to take place on September 7, 1965—is called Sky Force. There’s some drama between Tabby and K.O. because Tabby objects to being put on standby for the Sky Force mission because Tabby is considered too much of an unpredictable loose cannon. It was David’s decision to put Tabby on standby, but K.O. refuses to tell Tabby who made the decision when Tabby asks K.O.

Tabby is eventually allowed to participate in air combat, but he goes missing during combat. K.O. feels tremendous guilt about it, and he vows to find out what happened to Tabby. Tabby’s wife Geeta Vijaya (played by Sara Ali Khan), who is pregnant with their daughter, bitterly blames K.O. for Tabby’s disappearance. Geeta decides to end her friendship with K.O. and K.O.’s wife Preeti Ahuja (played by Nimrat Kaur) and remains estranged from them for years.

Years later, in 1971, a Pakistani military plot named Ahmed Hussain (played by Sharad Kelkar) is captured by the Indian military. (Ahmed is this movie’s version of Amjad Hussain.) K.O. interrogates Ahmed and finds out that Ahmed was given an award for killing an Indian officer during the 1965 war. Ahmed has a story to tell that might have clues to the mystery of what happened to Tabby.

“Sky Force” lumbers along with typical combat scenes, which often don’t look believable because of the questionable visual effects. These action scenes also have numerous slow-motion shots that look very hokey. Highlights of the action are the aerial views, which are breathtaking but fleeting. The movie’s dialogue is average at best and silly at worst. And because the story is told in non-chronological order, some of the movie’s timeline is messy.

Worst of all, this 125-minute movie (which could have been at least 30 minutes shorter) wastes a lot of time on unnecessary scenes and then rushes through the storyline about what happened to Tabby. “Sky Force” isn’t overly jingoistic, but the main characters don’t have much depth beyond predictable stereotypes. “Sky Force” ultimately comes across like a big-budget video game instead of a meaningful cinematic event about Indian war history.

PVR Inox Pictures released “Sky Force” in U.S. cinemas and in India on January 24, 2025.

Review: ‘Singham Again,’ starring Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Tiger Shroff, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor

November 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

“Singham Again”

Directed by Rohit Shetty

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India and in Sri Lanka, the action film “Singham Again” (a sequel to 2011’s “Singham” and 2014’s “Singham Returns”) features an all-South Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A deputy commissioner police officer battles drug dealers who kidnap and assault his wife.

Culture Audience: “Singham Again” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headlines and utterly predictable action movies with mediocre acting.

Arjun Kapoor in “Singham Again” (Photo courtesy of Reliance Entertainment)

Even with the benefit of having a star-studded cast, the action film sequel “Singham Again” is quite lackluster and dull in its storytelling. It’s yet another trite, uneven and predictable story about violent fights between criminals and law enforcement. “Singham Again” is a sequel to 2011’s “Singham” and 2014’s “Singham Returns,” which were all directed by Rohit Shetty.

“Singham Again” was co-written by Shetty, Yunus Sajawal, Abhijeet Khuman, Kshitij Patwardhan, Sandeep Saket and Anusha Nandakumar. It’s usually not a good sign when a movie has at least five screenwriters because the movie willl most likely have “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome for the screenplay. The end results for “Singham Again” seem to prove this theory because “Singham Again” is a muddled mess of disjointed ideas and tonally off-kilter scenes that want to cram too much into the movie but almost none of it adds up to good filmmaking

The title chaacter of the “Singham” films is Bajirao Singham (played by Ajay Devgn), a deputy commissioner police (DCP) officer from Shivgarh, India. Even though these movies are not science fiction or superhero movies, the characters in these movies have unrealistically superhuman fight skills in the many ridiculous action scenes. Bajirao is an upstanding law enforcement officer who is nothing but a stereotype with no surprises.

In “Singham Again” (which takes place in India and in Sri Lanka), Bajirao is now married to Avni Kamat (played by Kareena Kapoor Khan), who was his love interest in “Singham Returns.” Bajirao and Avni (who works for the Cultural Ministry) have a son named Shaurya (played by Viren Vazirani), who’s about 16 or 17 years old. Bajirao has been transferred from Mumbai to Srinagar for three years.

There are some tensions between Bajirao and Shaurya because Shaurya wants to establish his independence, but Shaurya thinks Bajirao is overbearing. Bajirao has a reputation for being a tough cop, and his son Shaurya is embarrassed by Bajirao’s domineering tendencies. Meanwhile, Bajirao is concerned about Shaurya being rebellious and thinks Shaurya needs to be more disciplined.

Near the begining of the movie, Shaurya complains to Bajirao about how Bajirao embarrassed Shaurya because Bajirao showed up uninvited to a recent party hosted by one of Shaurya’s friends. At this party, Bajirao lectured the teenage attendees, which ruined the party atmosphere. Bajirao eventually gives an apology to Shaurya, but Bajirao will soon have more to worry about than whether or not Shaurya is annoyed with him.

Bajirao is the leader of the arrest of a major drug dealer named Omar Hafeez (played by Jackie Shroff), who is nicknamed the Chef of Lashkar. Omar has left Pakistan to set up an illegal drug import/export business from Sri Lanka to India. During the sting operation that led to Omar’s arrest, his drug-dealing sons Riyaaz and Raza were killed. And you know what that means: Omar wants revenge.

Omar is also involved in terrorism funded by the money he makes from drug dealing. Bajirao finds out that Omar is planning a terrorist attack on India. But with Omar arrested, there are other people who are willing to carry out Omar’s plan. Meanwhile, Home Minister Raj Jaishankar commissions a team called Shiva Squad, led by Bajirao, to stop Omar’s planned terrorist attack. Also on the Shiva Squad are Devika Singh (played by Shweta Tiwari) and Daya Shetty (played by Dayanand Shetty), who are loyal sidekicks.

Two years later, Bajirao leads a confiscation of drugs from another major drug dealer named Danger Lanka (played by Arjun Kapoor), a one-dimensional villain who is one cliché after another. Three of Danger Lanka’s men are arrested. Bajirao recruits DCP Shakti Shetty (played by Deepika Padukone) to take these arrestees to Mumbai. However, Danger Lanka arrives to help his men escape, and he kills some of the police officers on duty. Shakti feels extremely guilty about the deaths of these colleagues. Bajirao comforts her and assures her that it’s not her fault.

Meanwhile, Avni is presenting a theater production of “Ramlila,” to portray the journey of Lord Ram and Sita. “Singham Again” clumsily draws parallels between certain characters in this play and the characters in the movie’s story. The staging of this play is awkwardly placed in the movie.

Also getting involved in the mind-numbing battles are assistant commissioner police (ACP) officer Sangram “Simmba” Bhalerao (played by Ranveer Singh) and anti-terrorism squad official Veer Sooryavanshi (played by Akshay Kumar), who have their own agendas and rivalries with Bajirao. The spinoff films “Simmba” (2018) and “Sooryavanshi” (2021) put the focus on each of these two namesake characters. Simmba, who is Avni’s brother-in-law, is corrupt and slightly unhinged. Veer is the “cool” law enforcement officer. ACP Satya Bali (played by Tiger Shroff) is an eager character who admires Bajirao and wants to prove his worth to Bajirao

It should come as no surprise in an unimaginative movie like “Singham Again” that a loved one of the chief hero is put in danger, which motivates him to rescue the loved ones and get revenge on the criminals responsible for harming the loved one. In this substandard movie, the loved one in peril is Avni, who is kidnapped and seriously injured by Danger Lanka. You know the rest: Car chases, explosions, and fights with guns, fists and bladed weapons. All of the action scenes look very fake and have no suspense. The movie’s bombastic and loud music score just adds to the annoyance.

“Singham Again” has principal cast members who are capable of being charismatic in other movies if they have the right screenplay and direction. In “Singham Again,” the main characters have such hollow personalities, they don’t elicit much emotional connection from viewers. The cast members in these roles don’t seem to care much either, based on their formulaic performances. Although the cinematography of “Singham Again” is eye-catching, these visuals don’t mean much when the rest of the movie is so soulless and vapid.

Reliance Entertainment released “Singham Again” in U.S. cinemas and in India on November 1, 2024.

Review: ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ (2024), starring Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha and Ronit Bose Roy

April 13, 2024

by Carla Hay

Akshay Kumar, Alaya F, Manushi Chhillar and Tiger Shroff in “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (2024)

Directed by Suraj Gianani

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, China, and Pakistan, the action film “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (a reboot of the 1998 film of the same name) features a predominantly Asian cast of characters (with some black people and white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two former Indian Armed Forces fighters and their allies are recruited by the Indian Amed Forces to defeat a mysterious terrorist.

Culture Audience: “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and action movies that have nothing to offer but loudness and silly fight scenes.

Prithviraj Sukumaran in “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is obnoxiously loud and mindless schlock that drags on for too long with terrible acting and idiotic scenes. There’s no suspense in this formulaic garbage about military agents fighting a terrorist. If you dare to watch this abomination, you might need to wear earplugs to protect the assault on your eardrums from the movie’s aggressively noisy and deafening score soundtrack.

Directed by Suraj Gianani, “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” (which means “big master little master” in Hindi) was written by Gianani and Ali Abbas Zafar. “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is a reboot of the 1998 film of the same name, with this reboot keeping a few of the story elements from the original film. This bloated 164-minute reboot movie has a ridiculously simple plot that could have been told in a movie with half the runtime. There’s a lot of time-wasting filler scenes that add nothing to the story. The cast members give mostly lousy performances.

In the beginning of “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan,” a military convoy on a northern Himalayan road gets hijacked in a shootout where a “powerful weapon” has been stolen. The movie then shows a scene in a Shanghai cafe, where Captain Misha (played by Manushi Chhillar) from the Indian Armed Forces meets an informant named Chang (played by Kinnar Boruah), who tells her that India has a new friend. Chang adds, “He’s not part of any organization. He desires to change the regime.” Chang then gets shot to death in the cafe, while Captain Misha escapes and returns to India.

It’s soon revealed that this so-called “friend” of India is a mysterious, mask-wearing terrorist named Eklavya (played by Prithviraj Sukumaran), who has been leading a group of other mask-wearing terrorists to wreak havoc in different places in India, China, and Pakistan. Why these three nations? Eklavya’s true identity and motives are later revealed in the movie. Eklavya likes to send taunting video messages before and after he commits acts of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Indian Armed Forces have recruited two former Indian Armed Forces soldiers to help defeat Eklavya. Captain Firoz, also known as Freddy (played by Akshay Kumar), has a relationship like an older brother to Captain Rakesh, also known as Rocky (played by Tiger Shroff), who were both dishonorably discharged from the Indian Armed Forces for insubordination. Flashback scenes show that Freddy (the smooth-talking “big master”) and Rocky (the cocky “little master”) both got in trouble for a mission where they accomplished their goals, but they didn’t follow orders, and more people were killed than necessary. After being dismissed from the Indian Armed Forces, Freddy worked at an oil mine, while Rocky worked as a firefighter.

Now that Freddy and Rocky have returned to working for the Indian Armed Forces, they set their sights on capturing Eklavya, who seems to know these two wisecracking pals and has a personal grudge. Colonel Adil Shekhar Azad (played by Ronit Bose Roy) is the commanding officer for Freddy and Rocky. Also on the mission are Captain Misha, an information technology specialist named Dr. Parminder “Pam” Bawa (played by Alaya F) and Captain Priya Dixit (played by Sonakshi Sinha), who used to be Freddy’s lover.

“Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” is the worst type of action movie because it takes a potentially interesting plot twist in the story and just turns it into predictable mush. The movie’s dialogue is excruciatingly horrible—especially for Pam, who is supposed to be a technology whiz, but she is made to look like a shallow and immature ditz. Things that are supposed to be funny are cringeworthy. You know the rest: Gun shootouts, bomb explosions, stupid unrealistic stunts. The heroes might survive by the end of the story, but some of your brain cells won’t.

Yash Raj Films released “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on April 10, 2024.

Review: ‘Selfiee,’ starring Akshay Kumar and Emraan Hashmi

March 1, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Selfiee”

Directed by Raj Mehta

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Bhopal, India, the comedy film “Selfiee” (a remake of the 2019 Malayalam-language movie “Driving Licence”) features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A motor vehicle inspector and his 10-year-old son are avid fans of a movie star, but the inspector’s admiration for this celebrity turns to disillusionment and hatred after the two men end up in a bitter public feud.

Culture Audience: “Selfiee” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and the “Driving Licence” movie, but this remake is a long-winded letdown that lacks the charm of the original movie.

Pictured in front, from left to right: Mahesh Thakur, Akshay Kumar and Meghna Malik in “Selfiee” (Photo courtesy of Star Studios)

For a comedy that’s nearly two-and-a-half hours, “Selfiee” takes way too long to have nothing interesting to say. Emraan Hashmi puts in a good effort to make his character believable. The other cast members just exist in a dull movie with silly gimmicks. “Selfiee” is a remake of the 2019 Malayalam-language movie “Driving Licence,” which is far superior to “Selfiee” in every way.

Directed by Raj Mehta and written by Rishabh Sharma, “Selfiee” takes place primarily in Bhopal, India. It’s where motor vehicle inspector Om Prakash Aggarwal (played by Hashmi), who is called Prakash, lives and works. Prakash and his 10-year-old son Gabbu (played by Neev Ahuja) are avid fans of movie star Vijay Kumar (played by Akshay Kumar), a swaggering celebrity who has millions of admirers. Prakash’s wife Minty Aggarwal (played by Nushrratt Bharuccha) thinks that the fan worship that Prakash and Gabbu have for Vijay is foolish and a waste of time. Minty prefers another movie star named Suraj Diwan (played by Abhimanyu Singh), who started out in the movie business around the same time as Vijay.

Vijay and Suraj used to be roommates before they were famous. However, after becoming celebrities, the careers of Vijay and Suraj went in completely opposite directions. Vijay’s career has soared to the greatest of heights, while Suraj’s career has declined to the point where he is now a has-been who’s doing low-quality movies because he needs the money. Suraj, who is very jealous of his rival Vijay, consults with a psychic named Tara (played by Kusha Kapila) for a tarot card reading to see if his luck or Vijay’s luck will change. Tara tells Suraj that the tarot cards predict that Vijay will have bad luck soon.

It just so happens that Vijay has arrived in Bhopal with great fanfare, because he’s filming scenes for his next movie in Bhopal. These are the final scenes to be filmed for his movie. When Prakash and Gabbu find out that Vijay will be in Bhopal, they rush to the area where Vijay’s helicopter is landing. Several members of the media are also there.

Among a crowd of thousands of cheering and excited fans, Prakash and Gabbu desperately try to get Vijay’s attention as Vijay’s car drives by them. The dream of this father and son is to meet Vijay and get a selfie photo taken with this movie star. Of course, Prakash and Gabbu are just one of numerous fans in the crowd who want the same thing. Vijay is too far away for him to notice Prakash and Gabbu.

When Vijay arrives in Bhopal, he is warmly greeted by Vimla Tiwari (played by Meghna Malik), a somewhat flaky employee who has been hired to be Vijay’s assistant during his stay in Bhopal. Her job is to get Vijay whatever he wants and make sure that his life runs as smoothly as possible while he’s in the city. Vijay is an automobile enthusiast who makes several action movies where he has to race cars and do a lot of other driving.

Vijay has recently found out that his driver’s license has been expired for months, and he’s annoyed that the license renewal wasn’t taken care of by someone who works for him. Vimla has been tasked to quietly get the license renewed in Bhopal without Vijay having to take the required license renewal tests. Vimla goes to the regional transport office where Prakash works, and he happens to be the inspector on duty who takes this request.

Normally, Prakash is an ethical inspector who wouldn’t break the rules. But when he finds out that this special treatment would be a personal favor to Vijay, Prakash agrees to “bend the rules” for Vijay, on the condition that Vijay personally visit the office so that Prakash and Gabbu can meet Vijay and get a selfie photo with him. Vimla says she’ll see what she can do about this request, but she won’t make any guarantees.

Vimla goes to Vijay with this request. Vijay and his sycophantic personal assistant Naveen (played by Mahesh Thakur) look up Prakash on social media and see that he is a die-hard fan of Vijay. When Vijay sees that Prakash is a loyal admirer, Vijay figures that this trip to the regional transport office will go smoothly, because he’ll be easily able to convince Prakash to do what Vijay wants Prakash to do in getting the driver’s license renewed.

Vijay show up at the regional transport office, but he’s surprised and outraged to see that this visit won’t be private after all. His arrival was leaked in advance to the media, which quickly spread the news. By the time that Vijay gets to the office, it’s a chaotic scene with thousands of fans, as well as members of the media, gathered in the hope of seeing Vijay.

To make matters worse, Prakash had put up a banner in the office corridor to welcome Vijay, who sees this banner and automatically assumes it was Prakash who leaked the information about Vijay’s visit. Prakash, Gabbu and several of the office employees are eagerly waiting in a room for Vijay to arrive. But instead of it being a positive experience for everyone, the situation quickly turns into an ugly mess.

Vijay storms into the office and yells at Prakash for telling the media about Vijay’s visit. Vijay calls Prakash an “opportunist” who just wants to use this meeting to become famous. Prakash wanted to give Vijay a wrapped gift, but Vijay takes the gift and throws it angrily on the floor. It’s a humiliating experience for Prakash, who is visibily embarrassed, emotionally hurt and shocked. The rejection makes Prakash and Gabbu tearful and upset.

Meanwhile, the media and other people find out that Vijay had gone to the office to try to renew his driver’s license without taking the required tests. Several people in the media express outrage that Vijay was expecting special treatment. Prakash sees all the negative publicity that Vijay is getting and uses it as an opportunity to get revenge on Vijay. Prakash begins giving media interviews saying that Vijay tried to get Prakash to break the rules for Vijay, but Prakash lies to the media and says that he refused.

Prakash is made to look like the hero in the media’s coverage of this story, while Vijay is made to look like the villain. Several people in the media and the general public also call Vijay a hypocrite because he had been starring in a public service campaign about road safety while he had secretly been driving for months without a valid driver’s license. An incensed Vijay decides to get revenge on Prakash. And so begins a feud between the two men that escalates to ridiculous proportions.

There are some complications to Vijay’s revenge plot. First, he’s under a lot of pressure to finish this movie on time and without going over the movie’s budget. The movie’s producer Sunil Awasthi (played by Sushil Bonthiyal) begs Vijay to get his driver’s license renewed so that the movie can be finished. The final scenes to be filmed for the movie require that Vijay do a lot of driving. Sunil tells Vijay that if the movie isn’t finished on time, the movie will miss its target release date, and Sunil will lose his entire investment in the film.

Second, Vijay and his glamorous wife Naina (played by Diana Penty), who frequently travels with him, are expecting a baby (their first child) via a surrogate, who is in New York City. Vijay and Naina have kept this information very private. Only a few people in their inner circle know. The baby was due the following month. However, certain things happen that cause Vijay and Naina to want to go to New York City during the dates that Vijay is supposed to finish filming his movie.

Third, some hoodlums attack Prakash and his family by throwing rocks through the windows of the family’s house. Gabbu gets a head injury in the attack and is rushed to a hospital for treatment. (This violent incident is shown in the movie’s trailer.) The crime occurred shortly after Vijay and Prakash had an argument over the phone. Prakash assumes that Vijay ordered the attack, so Prakash holds a press conference to publicly accuse Vijay of being the mastermind.

“Selfiee” could have had many clever things to say about the roles that the media and celebrity worship play in people’s perceptions of public figures. However, the movie just dumbs everything down to make it into a bombastic and not-very-believable dispute between two very stubborn and immature people. Vijay comes across a smug and egotistical bully who is much worse than Prakash, but Prakash was the one who made this feud public by lying to the media about the circumstances over Vijay’s driver license renewal.

“Selfiee” has some references to how the media, for better or worse, can shape a celebrity’s public image. However, the movie would have had more substance and been more insightful if it also included some awareness of how Prakash and Vijay were both being used by the media, which fanned the flames of this feud. “Selfiee” ignores the bigger picture of the co-dependent relationship between celebrity worship and media coverage. Instead, “Selfiee” over-relies on a lot of lazy and unimaginative slapstick comedy.

The performances in “Selfiee” are on par with the movie’s uneven screenplay and direction, which are frequently very maudlin and sometimes downright terrible. Kumar doesn’t do anything in the movie that’s very special in playing movie star Vijay, while Hashmi gives a more nuanced performance in depicting Prakash as a “regular guy” who gets caught up in something that he did not expect. The last 15 minutes of the film are the absolute worst, turning what could have been a memorable satire into a mush of cloying garbage.

Star Studios released “Selfiee” in select U.S. cinemas on February 24, 2023.

Review: ‘Ram Setu,’ starring Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nushrratt Bharuccha and Satya Dev

October 25, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Ram Setu”

Directed by Abhishek Sharma

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the action film “Ram Setu” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An archaeologist gets caught in the middle of protests over a developer’s plans to demolish Ram Setu, a chain of limestone shoals connecting India and Sri Lanka,and the archaeologist is ordered to provide evidence that Ram Setu is a natural formation, not a man-made structure.

Culture Audience: “Ram Setu” will appeal primarily to fans of star Akshay Kumar and archeaological adventure stories with religious overtones, but the movie’s flimsy and dull plot will be a turn-off to viewers who are expecting a more interesting film.

“Ram Setu” is an example of a movie that thinks it can coast by on some eye-catching cinematography without having a good story. The tedious plot developments are poorly conceived, the performances are mediocre, and the action scenes look very fake. This very disappointing adventure movie throws in some religious preaching, which the filmmakers know could be problematic, because a disclaimer toward the end of the movie reminds viewers that “Ram Setu” is a work of fiction.

Written and directed by Abhishek Sharma, “Ram Setu” aims to rewrite history or make people think differently about the history of the real-life Ram Setu, a chain of limestone shoals connecting India and Sri Lanka. In the beginning of the film, archaeologist Dr. Aryan Kulshrestha (played by Akshay Kumar), who is from India, is leading a desert expedition in Pakistan, where he and his colleagues uncover a buried trunk of precious coins. As soon as these coins discovered, several Jeeps carrying Taliban soldiers swoop in and attack the archaeologist group to steal the coins. Did the Taliban have hidden cameras in the desert for these soldiers to know the exact moment that these coins were found?

After shootouts and explosions, Aryan and his trusty sidekick Anjani Putra, also known as AP (played by Satya Dev, whose real name is Satyadev Kancharana), run away with the trunk of coins and fall down a shaft that leads them to a hidden cave. (It’s one of the movie’s many phony-looking action scenes.) Inside the cave, Aryan and AP find a giant statue of a reclining Buddha. The statue is an extremely rare archaeological treasure.

The first major sign that “Ram Setu” is a sloppily edited film is after Aryan and AP find this statue, the movie never shows how they managed to get out of the cave and elude the Taliban attackers. The next scene cuts to a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, where Aryan is getting praised for discovering this statue. A reporter at the press conference asks Aryan if Aryan thinks that because the statue represents Buddhism, the statue should be returned to India instead of staying in a Muslim-majority country such as Pakistan. Aryan makes a diplomatic answer by saying that he doesn’t get involved in government politics of which country should own archaeological findings.

Whether he likes it or not, Aryan is about to get involved in some divisive issues regarding politics, business and religion. Soon after his major discovery of the Buddhist statue, Aryan returns to India, where he is promoted to lord-general of the Archaelogical Society of India. Aryan thinks his life is going smoothly until he gets caught in the middle of a big controversy that is dividing India’s people.

The Indian government’s Sethusamudram Project wants to demolish Ram Setu, in order to make way for a man-made shipping route. It’s this movie’s reference to the real-life Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, which involves the creation of a long deep-water channel linking the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar, for a length of about 51.7 miles or 83.2 kilometers. In real life, the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project was approved by the Indian government in 2005, under a plan that would not destroy Ram Setu.

In the “Ram Setu” movie, the project has not yet been approved. People have been protesting the project because they believe that Hindu deity Lord Shri Rama built Ram Setu, and therefore Ram Setu should not be demolished. In other words, the protesters believe destroying Ram Setu is a sacrilegious act.

Aryan is happily married to a fellow scientist named Professor Gayatri Kulshrestha (played by Nushrratt Bharuccha), who isn’t afraid to disagree with him. Aryan privately comments to Gayatri about the Ram Setu controversy, by saying that he thinks this matter is a land dispute. Gayatri sassily responds that it’s a matter of faith and says, “Your job is to dig up graves, not questioning the faith of people.”

Aryan’s refusal to take the side of the protesters makes him very unpopular with many members of the public who want to label Aryan as immoral, so he gets suspended from the Archaeology Society of India. (It’s a very unrealistic aspect of the plot.) His reputation takes a nosedive to the point where his career could be permanently damaged.

Aryan also gets roughed up by unidentified men outside of a hotel where Aryan had a speaking engagement. The face makeup depicting Ayan’s facial injuries is absolutely horrible and amateur-looking. Instead of bruises, it looks like black shoe polish was smeared on his face. The film’s continuity is also sloppy because the facial injuries look very different in scenes that are only supposed to take place a few hours apart.

Aryan’s unpopularity has a negative effect on Kabir Kulshreshtha (played by Anngad Raaj), the son of Aryan and Gayatri. Kabir, who’s about 8 or 9 years old, gets verbally taunted at school by another boy, who insults Kabir about Aryan. This conflict leads to Kabir getting into a physical fight with the boy. An emergency meeting in held with school officials, the boys and their parents. Kabir is told by the school principal that if he gets into this type of trouble again, he will be expelled.

The dispute over Ram Setu eventually reaches India’s judicial system. In a courthouse scene, a judge declares that the government must provide proof that Ram Setu is a natural formation, not a man-made structure, in order for the Sethusamudram Project to be approved by the court. Shortly after this ruling, Aryan is contacted by a wealthy mogul named Indrakant Varma (played by Nassar), who is the leader of Pushpak Shipping, a company that stands to benefit if Ram Setu is demolished by the Sethusamudram Project. Indrakant wants to hire Aryan to prove that Ram Setu is a natural structure, but Aryan declines the offer.

But Aryan get is coerced into working for Indrakant anyway on a sea station called the Pushpak Alpha Floating Lab. It’s a futuristic operation headed by project manager named Mr. Bali (played by Pravesh Rana), who introduces Aryan to the rest of the crew. Aryan’s new colleagues include Dr. Chandra (played by Ramakant Dayma), Dr. Sandra Rebello (played by Jacqueline Fernandez), Professor Andrew (played by Zachary Coffin) and Dr. Gabrielle (played by Jeniffer Piccinato).

Aryan gets a hi-tech underwater suit called Makar, which has robot hands that look like leftovers from the robot in the original “Lost in Space” series. Mr. Bali says to Aryan about putting on the Makar suit: “You’ll be flying underwater like Iron Man.” To its credit, “Ram Setu” has some underwater scenes that look visually appealing.

However, people with basic knowledge of deep sea diving will be cringing at how the movie portrays these explorers being in a ship underwater without wearing underwater suits or oxygen tanks and with no realistic references to underwater pressure that increases the deeper someone goes underwater. Haven’t these people heard of getting decompression sickness? And when Aryan goes diving in the Makar suit, his head looks like a computer-generated visual effect that was inserted, not a real person in the suit. In other words, the science fiction in “Ram Setu” is unconvincing.

The scientists at the Pushpak Alpha Floating Lab quickly determine that if they can prove that Ram Setu is more than 7,000 years old (before Lord Rama existed), then it would prove that Lord Rama did not create Ram Setu. The movie has a bunch of nonsense about a yellow rock that is supposed to be proof of Ram Setu’s age. AP eventually comes along for the ride. And people with various agendas end up chasing this group of Pushpak explorers.

“Ram Setu” has some references to British colonialism’s erasure of Indian history and has some obvious messages about Indians needing to reclaim Indian history from a Eurocentric point of view. (Ram Setu is also known as Adam’s Bridge.) But all this messaging about Indian historical pride is cheapened when the movie is so badly constructed, it insults viewers’ intelligence.

Some of the chase scenes have tension, but what happens in between this action is often dreadfully dull. The acting performances from all of the cast members are unremarkable or forgettable. “Ram Setu” makes a sharp detour toward the end that is supposed to have a deep religious meaning. But this “reveal” in the movie’s last scene is ultimately just like the rest of “Ram Setu”—a lot of ideas thrown together in disjointed ways and resulting in an unimpressive story.

Zee Studios released “Ram Setu” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on October 25, 2022.

Review: ‘Samrat Prithviraj,’ starring Akshay Kumar

June 23, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Samrat Prithviraj”

Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India and Afghanistan, between the years 1177 and 1192, the action film “Samrat Prithviraj” has a nearly all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and royalty.

Culture Clash: Prithviraj Chauhan has battles with rivals over his leadership power of Delhi.

Culture Audience: “Samrat Prithviraj” will appeal primarily to viewers who are looking for a biopic action film that relies heavily on shallow and violent clichés instead of being an accurate historical drama.

Akshay Kumar and Manushi Chhillar in “Samrat Prithviraj” (Photo courtesy of Yash Raj Films)

“Samrat Prithviraj” is an example of a biopic that’s a huge waste of time and money. This sorry spectacle amounts to nothing more than looking like a big-budget, mindlessly violent video game version of the story of real-life Indian historical figure Prithviraj Chauhan. The movie’s epic fight scenes in battlefields look very fake and hollow. And the human interactions that don’t involve fighting are also poorly contrived and acted. With a total running time of 135 minutes, this bloated and repetitive mess wears out its welcome very quickly and then drags on until its very predictable end.

Written and directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, “Samrat Prithviraj” (which means “Emperor Prithviraj” in Hindi) is just a series of historically inaccurate scenes showing feuds over power and revenge. All of the cast members just look like they’re going through the motions with no authentic-looking feelings. In some parts of the movie, it really does just look like a video game. There could be CGI visual effects instead of real actors, and there wouldn’t be much difference in the performances.

The movie, which takes place in India and Afghanistan from 1177 to 1192, opens with an over-the-top unrealistic scene taking place in 1192 in Ghazni, Afghanistan. A stadium full of people will be witnessing the torture of a blind prisoner fighting off three lions that have been set loose in the stadium. That prisoner is exiled Indian leader Prithviraj Chauhan (played by Akshay Kumar), whose eyes are missing for reasons shown later in the movie. The scene is grossly unrealistic in how Prithviraj, who is armed with an axe and a spear, is able to kill all of the attacking lions. After he kills the lions, Prithviraj collapses from exhaustion.

“Samrat Prithviraj” (whose original title was “Prithviraj”) then shows flashbacks that depict what led Prithviraj to this far-fetched “battle with the lions” scene. The story goes back a few years before in India, where Prithviraj gets caught up in a power struggle over leadership of Delhi. It all starts when Prithviraj is ruling over Ajmer, and he is visiting the land of Kannauj. It’s where he meets and falls in love with a princess named Sanyogita (played by Manushi Chhillar), whose ruthless king father Jayachandra (played by Ashutosh Rana) does not approve of the relationship.

Meanwhile, back in Ajmer, Prithviraj offers asylum to a man named Mir Hossain (played by Anshuman Singh), who has come to Ajmer because he ran off with a woman named Chitralekha, who was the concubine of Hossain’s brother Muhammad Ghori (played by Manav Vij), the sultan of Ghor. Ghori dispatches an underling named Qutb al-Din Aibak (played by Sahidur Rahaman) to Ajmer, to send a message demanding that Prithviraj send Hossain back to Ghori, or else Ghori threatens to declare war against Prithviraj and the people of Ajmer.

Prithviraj refuses this demand. And you know what that means: Ghori and Prithviraj go to war. Soldiers from their respective lands getting caught in this power struggle, and often lose their lives as a result. One of the casualties is Mir Hossain. Prithviraj is victorious in this war. Ghori is captured, but is then foolishly released a few days later.

Prithviraj then becomes the ruler of Delhi, which he inherited when the previous ruler gave the leadership of Delhi to Prithviraj instead of a biological heir (his grandson), who becomes yet another person to hold a grudge against Prithviraj. With Prithviraj now the ruler of Delhi, this rise to power does not sit well with Jayachandra, who does not want his daughter Sanyogita to marry Prithviraj.

Sanyogita and Prithviraj get married anyway. As the saying goes: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” And so, this marriage leads to Jayachandra forming an alliance with Ghori to get revenge and kill Prithviraj. Eventually, the movie shows what happened after Prithviraj fainted in the stadium after he killed the lions.

“Samrat Prithviraj” has several mind-numbing battle scenes that should be suspenseful but they actually become very boring after a while. The scenes that don’t take place on a battlefield are just as monotonous. Supporting characters—such as Prithviraj’s closest confidant Chand Vardai (played by Sonu Sood) and Prithviraj’s uncle Kaka Kanha (played by Sanjay Dutt)—are completely underdeveloped.

Worst of all, “Samrat Prithviraj” does very little to make viewers care about the characters, especially because this movie looks more like an overblown fantasy film rather than a historical drama based on real people. Everything about this era’s conflicts between Hindus and Muslims is over-simplified to the point where none of it is believable. “Samrat Prithviraj” shows what can happen when filmmakers take a lot of money and put very little of it to good use.

Yash Raj Films released “Samrat Prithviraj” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on June 3, 2022.