Chiller Party is a story of courage, hope and friendship

     Bollywood has never been known to produce films for children. It was only after 'Tere Zameen par' that this genre of movies was taken seriously by the filmmakers and although even today there are very few movies being made for kids, films such as 'Stanley ka Dabba', Makdee, 'Blue Umbrella' and now 'Chiller party' gives a lot of hope to this genre of movies.
     Chiller Party is an honest film made with a lot of heart by directors Nitesh Tiwari and Vikas Bahl. The film, co-produced by Salman Khan Being Human Productions (SKBH) and UTV's Spotboy, is a story of courage, hope and friendship that transcends all borders.
     The film, mostly shot inside a colony in suburban Mumbai, is about a group of young boys living in the colony, their camaraderie and their friendship with a boy, who comes to the colony to work as a car washer, and there fight to keep his dog 'Bidhu' from being taken away by the dog catchers.
     The film doesn't have any big name and it doesn't need one. Though there are a number of character actors but the main USP of the film are the kids, who made this film worthy of more than just a watch.
     The film gathers steam right from the start as the different kids are introduced to the audience one by one and simply sails through as the kids goes about their job and leaves no stones unturned to save their friend Bidhu. They take the help of the media, conducts 'chaddi' rallies -- all without the help of their parents. There are moments were it becomes a tad slow but it keeps its feet on the ground althrough.
     It is a heart warming film which also passes on enough messages to the adults without sounding preachy. Overall a good watch!!!!

Primer is a intense, dialogue-based sci-fi movie

To make a Sci-fi movie with an intriguing plot is any day a very difficult task and to make it on a low budget could spell doom for the director's hopes. It is here that Primer steals the hearts of the audience because it is not only fresh and intriguing, but has been made at a shoe-string budget of USD 7,000.

    A 2004 American Sci-fi drama dealing with time travel, 'Primer' is a winner because of its meticulously and methodically constructed narration and editing which keeps the movie buffs glued to the screen till the last scene.

    The film starts with four young office-goers spending their extra hours inside a garage involved in a discussion on a scientific project which unexpectedly leads two of them to the discovery of a device that makes it possible to travel backwards in time by a day or two.

    'Primer' is dialogue-driven and is full of scientific jargons which are not explained. Nothing in the movie is explained and it takes a lot of attention to understand which actually is happening on screen.

    The narration is linear but the sharp twists and turns and the characters travelling back and forth makes it edge-of-the-seat but equally hard to follow. Primer is a movie which needs viewing more than once and it is quite impossible to completely decipher what is happening on screen.

    Like Christopher Nolan's Memento, in 'Primer' writer, director, producer, musician and actor Shane Carruth puts the audience in the state of mind that the characters are going through and that makes it all the more immpressive.

    However, it can also put one off, especially because we all are habituated to watching hi-fi Sci-fis with visual graphics but Primer have absolutely no stunning visually stimulating scenes which can leave you mesmerised.

    It is more of a thriller which deals with the emotional implications and how greed can take over and break down your relations after you come up with such an exciting discovery like time travel.

    It is not the greatest Sci-fi film ever but has a strong tight script and a story which is experimental to the core and demands load of patience given its intricacies.

Shagird is an usual hotchpotch of the nexus between police, politician and gangsters where one feeds on the other, befriends and betrays at the blink of an eye and the line between good and bad, right and wrong and even the antagonist and protagonist keep blurring all the time. Although, the context, texture, language of the film has been used many times in films such as Ab Tak Chhappan, the USP of the film is once again Nana Pathekar and the sharp twists and turns in the plot give the movie a pace which is quite edge-of-the-seat.

It is a tale of two cops -- one experienced and the other a newbie -- and their manipulation of the system to outdo one another for different reasons. The story is scripted in such a way that after a point of time it becomes difficult to understand who is exploiting whom. Though police officers accepting bribes and working for politicians have been done to death in bollywood and hollywood alike, the film scores in the way it shows how the system is at times mutual and also the other way round. The first half ends on a interesting twist but the second half somehow fails to raise to the suspense created by the first half.

Nana as Hanumant Singh is the soul of the film but Mohit Alawat as Mohit is not quite up for the role. At no point of time, it seemed that the new cop will be able to outwit his senior pro and also the reason behind his turning rogue is quite weak. Anurag Kashyap is just okay while the rest of the crew chips in well.

All in all, Shagird is a fast-paced thriller which will keep the audience hooked but not awe-inspiring. So, it is definitely worth a watch but not a must-watch.