Rogue One : A Star Wars Story Review

#Spoilers The land with the two suns is back! Rogue One – another addition to the Star Wars Universe, a stand-alone film marking the beginning of the Anthology Series of the franchise.

The movie reveals how Princess Leia gets the secret plans to destroy the deadly weapon of The Empire – The Death Star as shown in Episode IV : A New Hope. An emotional story of sacrifice, victory, action and drama – all in one place.

The Story..

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..

Galen Erso (Mad Mikkelsen) - the scientist behind Death Star who works for The Empire releases a secret message containing crucial information about the Star, the message is smuggled by Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed) - a pilot serving the rebels who is now held captive at Jedha by Saw Garrera (Forest Whitaker)- a veteran of The Clone Wars. The Rebels led by Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Riley) should know the plans of The Empire or it might cause complete devastation by the deadly weapon. Hence Jyn Erso (Galen’s daughter) played by Felicity Jones, K2SO (voiced by Alan Tudyk) – The Droid and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna)  – The Rebel Officer go on a mission to find Garrera.

Reaching Jedha the trio is joined by Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) - the blind warrior monk and Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) - a fighter cum partner of Imwe. Garrera captures all of them and shows Jyn the message released by her father which states the presence of file containing procedure to destroy the Death Star. Note: Garrera had rescued Jyn 15 years ago when Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) - Director of Death Star project had come in search of Galen taking him back to finish the incomplete Death Star. Meanwhile Krennic and Grand Moff Trakin (computer generated imagery of Peter Cushing played by Guy Henry) test the Death Star on Jedha, Garrera pertaining to his health conditions chooses to remain at Jedha while others manage to escape the planet before it turns into ashes.

At the Rebel council, questioning her credibility and experience the majority do not trust Jyn because she forgot the holographic message at Jedha to which she quips – “We have hope. Rebellions are built on hope!”.  Despite the disapproval Cassian, Bodhi and a few other Rebels volunteer to plot a coup and steal the plans from The Empire’s Headquarters at Scariff. They use the ship with made-up name Rogue One to reach Scariff.

Soon other Rebels also join the battle at Scariff while Jyn, Cassian and K2 enter the data vault where it strikes Jyn that “Stardust” must be the name of the file containing Death Star destruction plans as her father keeps calling her the same since childhood. K2 dies fighting Stormtroopers and Cassian falls off climbing the massive structure of the data vault. Jyn climbs the top of the tower of the vault to transmit the signal manually as the shield activated around Scariff won’t let the message pass through it to the Rebel base. Obstructed by Krennic in the process, Cassian joins her and both defeat Krennic to death.

On the ground, a full-on battle between The Rebels and The Empire is taking place where Chirrut, Baze and Bodhi sacrifice their lives fighting. Darth Vader orders Tarkin to target the Death Star at Scariff, eventually Jyn and Cassian die after transmitting the signal. Princess Leia (computer generated image played by Ingvild Deila) get the signal sent from Scariff.

Verdict..

With all new characters that vanish in the end, Rogue One gives an extra edge to the Episode IV.

Jyn appears as a strong girl eager to complete the task. Cassian supports her at every step although he suspected Jyn the time he met her. The foolishness of C3PO and R2-D2 is fulfilled by the witty one-liners of K2SO. Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus and Bodhi Rook display many bold moves and play an important role in completing the mission. Chirrut wins many hearts demonstrating his warrior skills saying “I’m the one with the Force and The Force is with me”. Rogue One also makes you mourn for the characters that get attached to you by the climax.

A lot of stuff is going on in the first one hour testing your memory and seems repetitive once you get a hold of the story. The movie does not begin with the iconic opening crawl yet it’s unique as Rogue One is different from the Episodes.

The background score and the fight scenes are breathtaking, powerful dialogue delivery by all the lead characters is gripping and the actors blend in the story easily maintaining the quality of the franchise. Typical Star Wars movie elements such as Stormtroopers, AT-ATs, spaceships and Lord Vader holds the interest of a fans.

The never ending Star Wars universe is so huge that we can say it has become a religion in itself. The end where Princes Leia Organa receives the message puts an instant smile on your face. It ends with the word “Hope” uttered by Leia indicating the beginning of A New Hope. A mighty task of successfully connecting a 1977 movie to a 2016 one is worth mentioning.

Rogue One gives The Anthology Series a good start, the next of which will come in summer of 2018 exhibiting the early life of Han Solo. Not to forget the much anticipated Episode VIII releasing in December 2017.

Rogue One takes you to another journey in the Star Wars world making it a must watch in the season.

Thanks for the read.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!

Dear Zindagi : A Review

#Spoilers

Dear Zindagi is a fresh concept which gives you a new perspective to life. A story which most people would relate with in their lives.

The story revolves around Kaira (Alia Bhatt) who’s a technician in the movie industry, lives in Mumbai and has a boyfriend - Sid (Angad Bedi). Her dealings with relationships, parents, neighbours, society and everyone except her friends - in short her Zindagi. Suddenly she goes rebellious over the situations that come in her life.

She no longer likes Sid and asks her housemaid to remove his picture from the photo wall in her living room saying “Ab Mujhe Cute Nahi Lagte”. She wants the sofa cushion kept in an unusual way and the toy auto-rickshaw in a sleeping position instead of the standard which reflects of her natural personality.

Kaira breaks up with Sid saying that she slept with Raghuvendra (Kunal Kapoor) her co-worker who is her love interest. Kaira and Raghu get a big movie project in New York but Raghu gets to know that the producer of the new movie is his ex and it might turn out awkward within the trio at the workplace so Kaira stays at Mumbai. Her friend Fatima (Ira Dubey) informs that it’s been a week since Raghu got engaged and another shock for Kaira is that her landlord now orders her to vacate her flat as the other families in the society are opposed to the fact that a single and unmarried lady is their neighbour.

Kaira moves to Goa at her parent’s place where she doesn't like the pampering that she keeps getting. She is advised to change her job and work in a proper "office" by her relatives. At Goa she meets Dr.Jehangir Khan (Jug) an artist cum psychiatrist played by SRK and starts consultation as she is confused with her life and has not slept for a week. She opens up with Jug. Jug has his own methods to handle the stubborn girl one in which she is made to call both of her parents for ten minutes each. Over her relationship issues he suggests her to choose a partner wisely and not rush the decision.

She reveals Jug about her difficult past. She scolds her parents and speaks what’s in her mind; at her brother’s homecoming party when he returns from US; as six year old Kaira overheard the conversation between her parents, talking about moving to US and leaving her with her Nani over financial issues.

The movie highlights the contemporary ideology of people who are non-adaptive to the changing new generation. It also sheds light on the fact that most parents do not ask for their child’s wishes and dreams. Kaira, as her role goes, is adverse to the typical things – She hates couples and is seen fed up with her parents as she thinks they didn't support her when she was in need. She doesn’t care of what others think of her and her motto in life seems to be “Live And Let Live”.

The movie is different from most bollywood movies with appropriate sound tracks and background music suiting the situations. Scenes where Alia and SRK play Kabaddi with the waves of ocean makes you appreciate the little things in life. The acting by Alia and Shah Rukh is perfect. The efforts in playing and maintaining the character natural are evident. SRK reamins the cool dude and is an ideal personality. Dear Zindagi is made with a unique thought and teaches one how to live and be yourself even if one is a misfit. With a happy ending where Kaira fulfills her dream of making her own short film which everyone appreciates and is then seen meeting Aditya Roy Kapoor (unnamed) who probably becomes the true love of her life. It definitely would make you think of the dream that you have always wanted to follow.

Thanks for the read. Credits to Havish Bychapur for the edit.