PK (2014)

BollySitter Recommended Age:         10+ (For adult language and sexuality)

BollySitter Family GO Factor:           4.0/5.0

The Review Monk TRM Score:          7.9/10.0

 

Directed by:     Rajkumar Hirani

Produced by:   Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Screenplay by: Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani

Starring:           Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Dutt

Music by:         Ajay Atul, Shantanu Moitra, Ankit Tiwari

Lyrics by:        Swanand Kirkire

Language:       Hindi

Running time: 153 minutes

Genre(s):         Comedy, Social Drama

 

 

BollySitter says

Aamir Khan’s PK is a no waste of time. It’s a complete entertainer and can be enjoyed with the whole family. Apart from a mild reference to implied sex (which are already shown in the trailers) there isn’t anything to be worried about. The film’s director Rajukumar Hirani has already proved himself to be a master storyteller who portrays society’s problems in a light- hearted manner. PK also deals with complex stereotypes, philosophies, and orthodox beliefs in a very humane way without getting heavy-handed.

Content

PK is a story about a stranger named PK in the city, who asks questions that no one has asked before. They are innocent, childlike questions, but they bring about catastrophic answers. People who are set in their ways for generations, are forced to reappraise their world when they see it from PK’s innocent eyes. In the process PK makes loyal friends and powerful foes, mends broken lives and angers the establishment. PK’s childlike curiosity transforms into a spiritual odyssey for him and millions of others. The film is an ambitious and explores the complex philosophies and beliefs. It is also a simple and humane tale of love, laughter and letting-go.

Violence 

Apart from some slapstick violence and chases there is no physical violence shown. There is a scene of bomb blast in which few dead bodies are shown.

Sexuality

There are a few scenes where moving cars are shown implying couples having sex in them, no nudity is shown, faded moaning can be heard. In the opening scene PK is shown to be naked but nothing explicit is shown. Those scenes are also shown in the trailers. In one scene a character visits a prostitute. Age appropriate romance and one lip kiss is shown.

Language 

Language is mild with only minor cuss words like “tharki”, “harami” and “kamina” are used. In one sequence where two characters talk about a condom and its purpose, the discussion is humorous.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

None

Discussion points

*SPOILER ALERT* (Only because the main plot of the film is not revealed in the trailers)

PK is an important film because it provides a lot of talking points for parents and other moviegoers. The main character, who is shown to be ignorant of the societies’ beliefs and other stereotypes, asks a lot of innocent questions which leave people tongue tied. The film questions fundamentalism and organizations of all the religions and how Godmen and priests are taking advantage of innocent people’s fear of God. PK asks some very smart questions which can be a good discussion points for the parents, and what kids think about the place of religion in life.

Apart from religion, the movie also questions how politics of the two neighboring countries has created a pre-conceived bias in the minds of their citizens who form views of other country’s citizens without fully knowing or understanding them. PK also brings up the taboo Indian topic of sex as a topic of discussion.

PK touches upon the current model of 24/7 news channels who feed news not to educate people about important current affairs and worthy stories, but to simply raise viewership to increase revenues. PK the film itself, however, doesn’t feel shy about product placements which are thrown in throughout the film.

Bechdel Test = 0/3

PK has only one main female character.

 

For the quality of the film, check out the reviews on http://thereviewmonk.com/movie/pk/

Bollysitter Recommends: JO JEETA WOHI SIKANDAR (1992)

BollySitter Recommended Age:         10+ (For language and mild sensuality)

BollySitter Family GO Factor:           4.5/5.0

Directed by:    Mansoor Khan

Starring:          Aamir Khan, Mamik, Deepak Tijori, Ayesha Jhulka, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Pooja Bedi

Music by:        Jatin-Lalit

Produced by:   Nasir Hussain

Lyrics by:        Majrooh Sultanpuri

Running time: 158 mins

Genre(s):         Comedy, Drama, Thriller

 

SYNOPSIS

“JO JEETA WOHI SIKANDAR (JJWS)” is a 1992 sports/coming-of-age Hindi drama that highlights the importance of honesty, discipline, leadership and team-spirit in life, for all youngsters who aspire to make a name for themselves in the any field and especially sports. The film was a major hit when it was released over twenty years ago and remains a superior entertainer for both the young and adults to this very day.

 

JJWS is the story of two brothers from one of the three all-boys schools in Dehradun. An existing rivalry between three all-boys schools manifests itself through the annual sports championship. While the elder brother, portrayed on screen by Mamik, is serious-minded, disciplined, respectful and an excellent sportsman, the younger one, played by Aamir Khan, is happy-go-lucky, mischievous, unscrupulous, street-smart and at times deceitful. The plot of the film revolves around how the younger brother realizes the mistakes he has made in his life and how he restores the pride of his family, his brother and his school by winning the championship-defining bicycle race in the end.

 

WHY WATCH?

JJWS is not just a serious tale about a boy growing up but a complete entertainer, Bollywood style, with memorable music and wonderful locations. The storyline is replete with elements that tickle your bone, make you laugh, get you thinking, tug your hearts and give you an adrenaline rush, all within two and a half hours.

 

JJWS has characters and episodes that kids can learn a lot from. Sibling love, honesty in any relationship, respectfulness towards elders and dedication towards your goals are at the heart of this film. There are takeaways galore throughout, including what not-to-do, that adults will have no problems in discussing with their children.

 

Lying to your friends, stealing, using cuss words, being manipulative and cheating in sports are some of the areas that are rightfully portrayed in a negative light via both comic as well as serious episodes throughout the film. Things do get a little bit heavy and melodramatic at times but those instances are far and few in between.

 

A WORD OF CAUTION

BollySitter recommends this film for kids over 10 years of age. There are sequences where young school boys are shown smoking, saying cuss words (“Shit”, “Bloody Bastard”, “Haraamzaade”), flirting with girls and fighting with each other. Lying, stealing and disrespectful attitude towards is depicted but is never glorified and their consequences are also shown, so as to dissuade kids from adopting such attitude. There is a kissing scene between two characters and a scene where the skirt of a female is shown raised higher than usual, while she dances. However, none of these are overtly sexual in nature.

 

THE FINAL VERDICT

“Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander” is a rare sports film from Bollywood that not only entertains but educates as well. With a story that is for and about youngsters, a high entertainment quotient owed to memorable music, delightful comedy and thrilling moments and a higher than usual quality of performances and direction, BollySitter gives JJWS a “GO” rating of 4.5/5.0.

KHOOBSURAT (2014)

BollySitter Recommended Age: 10+ (For Family theme, Low Sexuality and No Violence)

BollySitter Family GO Factor: 3.0/5.0

The Review Monk TRM Score: 5.4/10.0

Directed by:     Shashanka Ghosh

Starring:           Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan , Kirron Kher as Manju Chakravarty, Ratna Pathak, Aamir Raza Hussain. Aditi Rao Hydari , Cyrus Sahukar

Written By:     Indira Bisht

Language:       Hindi

Music by:        Sneha Khanwalkar

Produced by:   Rhea Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Siddharth Roy Kapur

Lyrics by:        Badshah, Ikram Rajasthani, Sunil Choudhary, Amitabh Verma and Sneha Khanwalkar

Running time: 127 mins

Genre(s):          Romantic comedy, Family Drama

BollySitter says

The film is appropriate for 10+ age group – it has a typical Disney feel to it with usual updating of certain archetype characters. However, there are a few scenes involving mild sexuality and flirting and a couple of the songs are out of line with their risqué lyrics and dance moves.

Content

This film, a loose remake of classic Hrishikesh Mukherjee film of the same name starring Rekha in one of her most memorable roles, is about Dr. Mrinalini Chakravarty aka Mili (Sonam) who is a physiotherapist, hired to help Rajasthan royal Shekhar Rathore (Aamir Raza).  Made by Disney, it carries its stamp in terms of production values, theme and character archetypes and their expected graph, however, the acting and writing ultimately betrays the film especially in comparison to the original classic it attempts to pay tribute to.  The story is about how Mili transforms the royal and strict family and frees them of their strict and narrow existence.

Violence 

There is no violence is this film. Only one past incident of a death in the royal family by accident is merely mentioned in a scene.

Intense & Frightening scenes

The film is clean of any scary scenes except a mild one when a character is shown kidnapped by a bunch of comical characters.

Sexuality 

There is one scene of kissing on the lips, however, not shown explicitly. There are plenty of scenes discussing the aforementioned kissing scene and flirting is shown at many places. Once, the lead couple is shown in a lengthy bedroom scene brimming with sexual tension.

A couple of musical scenes/songs have risqué lyrics and suggestive dance movies. Words like “Bum dole” “Bhak bhak engine bol raha hai” among others

 

Language 

The language is mild though some words make a fleeting appearance such as Chudial & Rakhail.

The lead characters refer to each other by mostly harmless Khadoos and Aafat respectively.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

There are a number of drinking scenes in the film. The lead female character is shown to enjoy drinking with his patient, the lead couple get drunk while visiting another royal family. The lead male character is shown drinking in a restaurant with his friend in Mumbai. The kidnappers mix something in a drink in order to kidnap their target.

Attitude/Behavior

Dr. Mili is a positive influence while Royal Rani Sa is very strict and lives by rules. There is talk about poor girl “trapping” a rich prince as well as lots of talk about breakups/boyfriends/girlfriends. The interaction between Dr. Mili and Royal family’s daughter are shown in a very positive light where the young girl trapped in a strict regimen is encouraged to have her independence. It strikes as odd though that in a Punjabi family a girl would refer to her mother by name. There is also a scene of a girl running away from home.

Discussion points

Families can discuss how strictly the parents govern the lives of their kids. Why a kid might decide to run away from home to gain independence or merely to show revolt?

Bechdel test 3/3

The lad female character interacts often with two older female characters with most of their talk is about men barring a couple of conversations regarding how the treatment of Royal Raja Sahib is  progressing. However, the royal daughter’s character has many deeper interactions with Dr. Mili about how to stand up for herself and being independent and taking charge of her life.

 

For the quality of the film, check out the reviews @ http://thereviewmonk.com/movie/khoobsurat/

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT (2014)

Directed by:     Sajid-Farhad

Starring            : Akshay Kumar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Johnny Lever

Music by          Sachin – Jigar

BollySitter Recommended Age: 10+

BollySitter Family GO Factor: 1.5/5.0

Content

A slapstick comedy, mostly clean film, lacks entertainment, is extremely silly and absurd.

Violence
Mostly slapstick and over the top action sequences. There are scenes of different characters trying to kill the dog; most of them are comical, except one where dog falls in the frozen lake and presumed dead for a short while. Some climax scenes might be upsetting for some viewers, some fighting sequences are violent; and there is a climax scene in which dog is shot and almost dies, before miraculously surviving.

Sexuality 

Flirting, Romance.

 

Language 

No hard curse words are used.  Kameena is used a few times.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking

Characters drinking and getting drunk is shown in a few sequences.

Attitude/Behavior

The theme of greed is prevalent in the film, and is the basic premise of the film. The story revolves around inheritance left behind by a billionaire to his dog, and others trying throughout the film to illegally seize it.

Bechdel test 0/3

Movie has only one significant female role.

Bottom line

Overall, the target film audience is 10+ year-olds who would enjoy slapstick/silly and over the top action comedies.

For the quality of the film, check out the reviews on

http://thereviewmonk.com/movie/entertainment/