By Jayesh Adhyaru Those were the simpler days. Not long ago, just 20 years back. There was no mobile phone-no internet, thus no Facebook and no WhatsApp. Talking to friends over a cup of a tea was the only ‘social media’. Hence love was simple too. Love-struck couples met in gardens, exchanged love- letters and occasional telephonic talks (remember there wasn’t ‘Jio Effect’ back then!). The music of that era reflected that simplicity. Songs had melody and most of the time picturizat...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru Go and relax In spite of clichéd star-crossed love story, superb performances and an amazing eye for detailing entertain us. We know how Salim-Anarkali fell in love. We know how Veeru wooed Basanti. We know how Raj-Rashmi of ‘QSQT’ and Prem-Suman of ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ rebelled against their families. We fell in love with Raj-Simran, Geet-Aditya or Kabir-Naina. These great love stories of Bollywood had set in glossy locations from Ooty, Manali to Europe. Most of...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru Miscarriage of a nice idea It’s an art to pick up a nice, heart-warming story from routine news headlines. But it takes a herculean task to convert that germ of a story into a delightful two hour movie. Director Vipul Mehta’s comedy-drama film ‘Carry On Kesar’ completely falls flat in this idea to execution conversion process. In spite of having immensely talented actors as Darshan Jariwala, Supriya Pathak Kapur and very glamorous Avni Modi, over the top m...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru Mission Marriage Big fat noisy glittery Indian weddings are the perfect occasion for a family movie. From Yash Raj Films to Suraj Barjatya have generously milked the idea of movies made around marriages. I don’t know why but our so-called urban Gujarati films hadn’t touched this idea so far. Amit Barot’s refreshing ‘SubhAarambh’ breaks this Gujju NRI wedding drought. How is the marriage, let’s find out. Chat Mangani, Pat Shaadi Anupam (Harsh Ch...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru Lost In Translation Shahbuddin Rathod is Gujarat’s best known stand-up comedian. His audience has heard almost all of his jokes a million times. But whenever he comes on stage, people demand same old jokes, Mr.Rathod doesn’t disappoint them. And people on the other hand in spite of remembering every word of those jokes, laugh wholeheartedly as if they are listening to them for the first time! I have observed the same phenomenon with ‘Days Of Tafree’ (DOT) which is a...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru For Some Laughs Only There is a simple formula to enjoy this movie: leave your brain and expectations at home Imagine a lazy Sunday afternoon. You have either friends or some relatives at home. You have had a nice lunch. Over a dessert, one genius among you comes with a brilliant idea, “let’s go for a movie!” The aim is just to have some laughs at completely nonsense comedy. Bingo! It’s a perfect situation for buying tickets for this week’s new Gujarati release ‘...Read More

Keep Calm And Wait For The Climax By Jayesh Adhyaru It obviously becomes news when the pied piper of new ‘urban’ Gujarati cinema Abhishek Jain brings his new movie. But wait. This time, he is in the producer’s chair with a big company of Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane fame ‘Phantom Films.’ A close associate of Abhishek Jain, young debutante director Mikhil Musale has worn a director’s cap this time. We are served with a thriller drama named ‘Wrong Side Raju’ inspired f...Read More

By Jayesh Adhyaru A crash course on commodity market! Despite all the clichés and over simplicity, this movie is a welcome change in urban Gujarati films Sensex is the seventh sense of Gujaratis. But we haven’t had a Gujarati film dedicated to our love for the stock market so far. This new urban Gujarati film ‘Hu TuTuTu – Aavi Ramat Ni Rutu’ is perhaps the first film on the backdrop of the commodity market. It breaks monotony of mindless, double meaning comedies and presents comp...Read More