Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is a 1994 American epic romantic-comedy-drama film based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson, and Sally Field. The story depicts several decades in the life of Forrest Gump, a slow-witted and naïve, but good-hearted and athletically prodigious man from Alabama who witnesses, and in some cases influences, some of the defining events of the latter half of the 20th century in the United States; more specifically, the period between Forrest's birth in 1944 and 1982. The film differs substantially from Winston Groom's novel, including Gump's personality and several events that were depicted.

Principal photography took place in late 1993, mainly in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Extensive visual effects were used to incorporate the protagonist into archived footage and to develop other scenes. A comprehensive soundtrack was featured in the film, using music intended to pinpoint specific time periods portrayed on screen. Its commercial release made it a top-selling soundtrack, selling over twelve million copies worldwide.

Released in the United States on July 6, 1994, Forrest Gump became a commercial success as the top grossing film in North America released in that year, being the first major success for Paramount Pictures since the studio's sale to Viacom, earning over US$677 million worldwide during its theatrical run. In 1995 it won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, Best Actor for Tom Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. It also garnered multiple other awards and nominations, including Golden Globes, People's Choice Awards, and Young Artist Awards, among others. Since the film's release varying interpretations have been made of the film's protagonist and its political symbolism. In 1996, a themed restaurant, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, opened based on the film and has since expanded to multiple locations worldwide. The scene of Gump running across the country is often referred to when real-life people attempt the feat. In 2011, the Library of Congress selected Forrest Gump for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In 1981, Forrest Gump watches a feather fall from the sky at a bus stop in Savannah, Georgia. He recounts his life story to strangers who sit next to him on the bench, recounting his childhood in the town of Greenbow, Alabama.

On his first day of school, Forrest meets a girl named Jenny Curran, whose life is followed in parallel to Gump's at times. Despite his below average intelligence quotient, his ability to run at lightning speed (despite being a victim of polio as a young child) gets him into college on a football scholarship. After his college graduation, he enlists in the army, where he makes friends with Bubba, who convinces Gump to go into the shrimping business with him when the war is over. They are sent to Vietnam, and during an ambush, Bubba is killed in action. Gump ends up saving much of his platoon, including his Lieutenant, Dan Taylor, who loses both his legs as a result of injuries. Gump is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.

While Gump is in recovery for a shot to his buttocks, he discovers his uncanny ability for ping-pong, eventually gaining popularity and rising to celebrity status, later playing ping-pong competitively against Chinese teams in ping-pong diplomacy. At an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., Gump reunites with Jenny, who has been living a counterculture lifestyle.

Returning home, Gump endorses a company that makes ping-pong paddles, earning himself US$25,000, which he uses to buy a shrimping boat, fulfilling his promise to Bubba. Lieutenant Dan joins Gump, and although they initially have little success, after finding their boat the only surviving one in the area after Hurricane Carmen, they begin to pull in huge amounts of shrimp. They use their income to buy an entire fleet of shrimp boats. Lieutenant Dan invests the money in Apple and Gump is financially secure for the rest of his life. He returns home to see his mother's last days.

One day, Jenny returns to visit Gump and he proposes marriage to her. She declines, though feels obliged to prove her love to him by having sex with him. She leaves early the next morning. On a whim, Gump elects to go for a run. Seemingly capriciously, he decides to keep running across the country several times, over three and a half years, becoming famous in the process.

In present-day, Gump reveals that he is waiting at the bus stop because he received a letter from Jenny who, having seen him run on television, asks him to visit her. Once he is reunited with Jenny, she introduces him to his son, also named Forrest. Jenny tells Gump she is suffering from an unknown virus (possibly HIV, though this is never specified). Together the three move back to Greenbow, Alabama. Jenny and Forrest finally marry but she dies soon afterward.

Father and son are waiting for the school bus on little Forrest's first day of school. Opening the book his son is taking to school, the white feather from the beginning of the film is caught on a breeze and drifts skyward.

Cast

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Produced by 

Wendy Finerman

Steve Tisch

Steve Starkey

Screenplay by Eric Roth

Based on Forrest Gump 

by Winston Groom

Starring

Tom Hanks

Robin Wright

Gary Sinise

Mykelti Williamson

Sally Field

Music by Alan Silvestri

Cinematography Don Burgess

Edited by Arthur Schmidt

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Release dates

June 23, 1994 (Los Angeles)

July 6, 1994 (United States)

Running time

142 minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget US$55 million

Box office US$677.9 million

Script

The film is based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom. Both center on the character of Forrest Gump. However, the film primarily focuses on the first eleven chapters of the novel, before skipping ahead to the end of the novel with the founding of Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and the meeting with Forrest, Jr. In addition to skipping some parts of the novel, the film adds several aspects to Gump's life that do not occur in the novel, such as his needing leg braces as a child and his run across the United States.

Gump's core character and personality are also changed from the novel; among other things his film character is less of an autistic savant—in the novel, while playing football at the university, he fails craft and gym, but receives a perfect score in an advanced physics class he is enrolled in by his coach to satisfy his college requirements. The novel also features Gump as an astronaut, a professional wrestler, and a chess player.

Two directors were offered the opportunity to direct the film before Robert Zemeckis was selected. Terry Gilliam turned down the offer to direct. Barry Sonnenfeld was attached to the film, but left to direct Addams Family Values.

Critical reception

The film received generally positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 72% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 83 reviews. At the website Metacritic, the film earned a rating of 82/100 based on 19 reviews by mainstream critics. CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film a rare "A+" grade.

The story was commended by several critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "I've never met anyone like Forrest Gump in a movie before, and for that matter I've never seen a movie quite like 'Forrest Gump.' Any attempt to describe him will risk making the movie seem more conventional than it is, but let me try. It's a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Or a dream. The screenplay by Eric Roth has the complexity of modern fiction...The performance is a breathtaking balancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story rich in big laughs and quiet truths...What a magical movie." Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that the film "has been very well worked out on all levels, and manages the difficult feat of being an intimate, even delicate tale played with an appealingly light touch against an epic backdrop." The film did receive notable pans from several major reviewers. Anthony Lane of The New Yorker called the film "Warm, wise, and wearisome as hell." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that the film "reduces the tumult of the last few decades to a virtual-reality theme park: a baby-boomer version of Disney's America."

Critics had mixed views on the main character. Gump has been compared with various characters and people including Huckleberry Finn, Bill Clinton, and Ronald Reagan. Peter Chomo writes that Gump acts as a "social mediator and as an agent of redemption in divided times". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Gump "everything we admire in the American character – honest, brave, loyal." The New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin called Gump a "hollow man" who is "self-congratulatory in his blissful ignorance, warmly embraced as the embodiment of absolutely nothing." Marc Vincenti of Palo Alto Weekly called the character "a pitiful stooge taking the pie of life in the face, thoughtfully licking his fingers." Bruce Kawin and Gerald Mast's textbook on film history notes that Forrest Gump's dimness was a metaphor for glamorized nostalgia in that he represented a blank slate by which the Baby Boomer generation projected their memories of those events.

The film is commonly seen as a polarizing one for audiences, with Entertainment Weekly writing in 2004, "Nearly a decade after it earned gazillions and swept the Oscars, Robert Zemeckis's ode to 20th-century America still represents one of cinema's most clearly drawn lines in the sand. One half of folks see it as an artificial piece of pop melodrama, while everyone else raves that it's sweet as a box of chocolates."

Box office performance

Produced on a budget of $55 million, Forrest Gump opened in 1,595 theaters in its first weekend of domestic release, earning $24,450,602. Motion picture business consultant and screenwriter Jeffrey Hilton suggested to producer Wendy Finerman to double the P&A (film marketing budget) based on his viewing of an early print of the film. The budget was immediately increased, per his advice. The film placed first in the weekend's box office, narrowly beating The Lion King, which was in its fourth week of release. For the first ten weeks of its release, the film held the number one position at the box office. The film remained in theaters for 42 weeks, earning $329.7 million in the United States and Canada, making it the fourth-highest grossing film at that time (behind only E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Star Wars IV: A New Hope, and Jurassic Park).

The film took 66 days to surpass $250 million and was the fastest grossing Paramount film to pass $100 million, $200 million, and $300 million in box office receipts (at the time of its release). The film had gross receipts of $329,694,499 in the U.S. and Canada and $347,693,217 in international markets for a total of $677,387,716 worldwide. Even with such revenue, the film was known as a "successful failure"—due to distributors' and exhibitors' high fees, Paramount's "losses" clocked in at $62 million, leaving executives realizing the necessity of better deals. This has, however, also been associated with Hollywood accounting, where expenses are inflated in order to minimize profit sharing. It is Robert Zemeckis' highest-grossing film to date.

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story "The Greatest Gift", which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945. The film is now among the most popular in American cinema and because of numerous television showings in the 1980s has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season.

The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be had he never been born.

Despite initially performing poorly financially because of high production costs and stiff competition at the time of its release, the film has come to be regarded as a classic. Theatrically, the film's break-even point was $6.3 million, approximately twice the production cost, a figure it never came close to achieving in its initial release. An appraisal in 2006 reported: "Although it was not the complete box office failure that today everyone believes ... it was initially a major disappointment and confirmed, at least to the studios, that Capra was no longer capable of turning out the populist features that made his films the must-see, money-making events they once were."

It's a Wonderful Life is one of the most acclaimed films ever made, praised particularly for its writing. It was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made, placing number 11 on its initial 1998 greatest movie list, and number one on AFI's list of the most inspirational American films of all time. Capra revealed that the film was his personal favorite among those he directed, adding that he screened it for his family every Christmas season.

In Bedford Falls, New York, on Christmas Eve 1945, George Bailey is suicidal. Prayers for him reach Heaven. Clarence Odbody, Angel 2nd Class, is assigned to save George in order to earn his angel wings. To prepare Clarence, his superior Joseph shows flashbacks of George's life.

In 1919, 12-year-old George saves his younger brother Harry, who falls through the ice on a frozen pond, from drowning: this heroic act results in George losing his hearing in one ear. One day while working after school at the local drug store, he catches a deadly mistake made by his boss Mr. Gower, who had gotten himself drunk after news of the death of his son in the flu epidemic and accidentally poisoned a prescription.

On Harry's graduation night in 1928, George (James Stewart) discusses his dreams of travel and building things with Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), who has had a crush on him from an early age. After the sudden death of his father, George postpones his plans in order to sort out the affairs of the family business, Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan, a longtime adversary to Henry F. Potter, a greedy banker who is the richest man in town. Potter wishes to dissolve the Building and Loan, which has been preventing him from controlling the entire town. George convinces the board of directors to vote against Potter, which they will do so under one condition, George succeed his father, running the business along with his absent-minded uncle William "Billy" (Thomas Mitchell). He gives his college money to Harry, under the agreement that George will attend college after Harry graduates, whereupon Harry will assume the presidency of the Bailey Building & Loan.

When Harry graduates, he brings home a wife, whose father has offered Harry a job. Although Harry vows to decline the offer for the sake of their earlier agreement, George cannot deny him such a great opportunity and keeps running the Building and Loan. George and Mary get married and plan a dream honeymoon having saved up enough money, but on the way out of town witness a run on the bank and use the money to lend financial support until the bank reopens.

George builds Bailey Park, which offers houses affordable to lower-middle income families who would otherwise have to live in Potter's overpriced apartments. Mary and George welcome the Martinis, a family of Italian immigrants who just bought of one the houses, and have a traditional blessing ceremony. Potter, frustrated at losing control of the housing market, attempts to lure George into becoming his assistant with a huge salary and the prospect of business trips to Europe, appealing to his yearning to travel. George is tempted, but rejects the offer.

During World War II, George is ineligible for service because of his bad ear, and instead leads a recycling campaign to collect metal and rubber for the war effort. Harry, however, becomes a Navy flier and is awarded the Medal of Honor, having intercepted a kamikaze that would have bombed an amphibious transport. On Christmas Eve morning 1945, the town prepares a hero's welcome for Harry. Uncle Billy goes to Potter's bank to deposit $8,000 for the Building and Loan. After bragging to Potter about Harry, Potter angrily grabs the newspaper from Billy along with the $8,000. Realizing the potential scandal would lead to the Building and Loan's downfall, Potter secretly hides the money.

When Uncle Billy cannot find the money, he and George frantically search for it. When the bank examiner arrives to review their records, Uncle Billy panics. George berates his uncle for endangering the Building and Loan, goes home and takes out his frustration on his family. He apologizes to his frightened wife and children, then leaves.

Desperate, George appeals to Potter for a loan. When George claims a life insurance as collateral, Potter mockingly says George is worth "more dead than alive". George gets drunk at a local bar, and gets in a fight with a man who is married to the teacher of one of his children (whom George had gotten in a phone tirade earlier). Mr. Martini, the owner of the bar, ejects George's attacker, but cannot catch up to George, who has driven away and crashes his car into a big tree. He staggers to a nearby bridge to commit suicide. Unbeknownst to him, Clarence has been watching him from the shadows.

Before he can jump, Clarence jumps in the river and pretends to be drowning. George rescues him, but does not believe Clarence's claim to be George's guardian angel. When George wishes he had never been born, Clarence shows him what life would have been like without him: Bedford Falls is now named Pottersville and is filled with cocktail bars, casinos, and gentlemen's clubs; Mr. Gower has recently been released from prison for manslaughter, having put the poison in the pills because George was not there to catch his mistake; The Building and Loan is defunct, as George never took over after Mr. Bailey's passing. George's friends Ernie, a cab driver, and Burt, a policeman, exist in this reality, but are darker individuals than the good friends he knew, suggesting George was a positive force in their lives.

George runs to see his own mother, who does not recognize him. She reveals that Uncle Billy was institutionalized after the collapse of the Building and Loan. In the cemetery where Bailey Park would have been, George discovers the grave of his brother. Clarence says the soldiers on the transport all died, as Harry was never there to save them, as George had never saved Harry from drowning. Mary never married, and became the local librarian. When George claims he is her husband, she considers him a stalker and screams for the police, causing George to flee and Burt to give chase.

George runs back to the bridge and begs for his life back. His prayer is answered, as Burt catches up to him, but only to say he was glad he found George as everyone was worried about him. George runs through the town joyously, wishing everyone he sees a merry Christmas, and is fine with his forthcoming arrest when he comes home. Mary and Uncle Billy arrive, having rallied the townspeople, who donate more than enough to cover the deficit and for Potter's warrant to be torn up. Harry arrives and toasts George, calling him "the richest man in town." A bell on the Christmas tree rings, and his daughter recalls the story that it means an angel has just earned his wings. George then sees a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer signed by Clarence, who reminds him that "No man is a failure who has friends".

Cast

James Stewart as George Bailey

Donna Reed as Mary Hatch Bailey

Henry Travers as Angel Clarence Odbody

Lionel Barrymore as Mr. Henry F. Potter

Thomas Mitchell as Uncle Billy Bailey

Beulah Bondi as Ma Bailey

Frank Faylen as Ernie Bishop, the cab driver

Ward Bond as Bert, the cop

Gloria Grahame as Violet Bick

H.B. Warner as Mr. Gower, druggist

Frank Albertson as Sam "I-A" Wainwright

Todd Karns as Harry Bailey

Samuel S. Hinds as Peter "Pop" Bailey, George's father

Lillian Randolph as Annie, the Baileys' maid

Virginia Patton as Ruth Dakin Bailey, Harry's wife

Mary Treen as Cousin Tilly, employee

Charles Williams as Cousin Eustace, employee

Sarah Edwards as Mrs. Hatch, Mary's mother

Harold Landon as Marty Hatch

William Edmunds as Mr. Giuseppe Martini

Argentina Brunetti as Mrs. Martini

Sheldon Leonard as Nick, Martini's bartender

Bobby Anderson as Little George Bailey

Jean Gale as Little Mary Hatch

Jeanine Ann Roose as Little Violet Bick

George Nokes as Little Harry Bailey

Frank Hagney as Potter's mute aide

Charles Lane as Potter's rent collector

Karolyn Grimes as Zuzu Bailey

Larry Simms as Pete Bailey

Carol Coombs as Janie Bailey

Jimmy Hawkins as Tommy Bailey

Lynn O'Leary-Jameson as infant Janie Bailey

Charles Halton as Mr. Carter, bank examiner

J. Farrell MacDonald as the man whose tree gets damaged

Harry Holman as Mr. Partridge, high school principal

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer as Freddie, Mary's annoying high school suitor

Dick Elliott as the fat man on the porch

Tom Fadden as the bridge caretaker

Stanley Andrews as Mr. Welch, teacher's husband

Al Bridge as the sheriff with arrest warrant

Marian Carr as Jane Wainwright, Sam's wife

Cy Schindell as the cashier/bouncer at Nick's Bar

Ellen Corby as Miss Davis

Adriana Caselotti as the singer in Martini's Bar[N 2]

Joseph Granby as Angel Joseph (voice)

Moroni Olsen as the Senior Angel (voice)

Directed by Frank Capra

Produced by Frank Capra

Screenplay by Frances Goodrich,Albert Hackett and Frank Capra

Based on "The Greatest Gift" by Philip Van Doren Stern

Music by Dimitri Tiomkin

Cinematography Joseph Walker

Edited by William Hornbeck

Production      Liberty Films

Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures1

Release dates   December 20, 1946

Running time   130 minutes

Country      United States

Language English

Budget $3.18 million[N 1]

Box office $3.3 million (US rentals)

Awards and honors

Prior to the Los Angeles release of It's a Wonderful Life, Liberty Films mounted an extensive promotional campaign that included a daily advertisement highlighting one of the film's players, along with comments from reviewers. Jimmy Starr wrote, "If I were an Oscar, I'd elope with It's a Wonderful Life lock, stock and barrel on the night of the Academy Awards". The New York Daily Times offered an editorial in which it declared the film and James Stewart's performance to be worthy of Academy Award consideration.

It's a Wonderful Life received five Academy Award nominations:

Pirates of Silicon Valley

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Pirates of Silicon Valley is an original 1999 TNT American drama film, directed by Martyn Burke and starring Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates. Spanning the years 1971–1997 and based on Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine's book Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, it explores the impact of the rivalry between Jobs (Apple Computer) and Gates (Microsoft) on the development of the personal computer.

Steve Jobs (Noah Wyle) is speaking with director Ridley Scott (J. G. Hertzler), about the creation of the 1984 commercial for Apple Computer, which introduced the first Macintosh. Jobs is trying to convey his idea that "We're creating a completely new consciousness." Scott is more concerned with the technical aspects of the commercial.

Next in 1997 with Jobs, returning to Apple, and announcing a new deal with Microsoft at the 1997 Macworld Expo. His partner, Steve Wozniak or "Woz" (Joey Slotnick), is introduced as one of the two central narrators of the story. Wozniak notes to the audience the resemblance between "Big Brother" and the image of Bill Gates (Anthony Hall) on the screen behind Jobs during this announcement. Asking how they "got from there to here," the film turns to flashbacks of his youth with Jobs, prior to the forming of Apple.

The earliest flashback is in 1971 and takes place on the U.C. Berkeley campus during the period of the student anti-war movements. Teenagers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are shown caught on the campus during a riot between students and police. They flee and after finding safety, Jobs states to Wozniak, "Those guys think they're revolutionaries. They're not revolutionaries, we are." Wozniak then comments that "Steve was never like you or me. He always saw things differently. Even when I was in Berkeley, I would see something and just see kilobytes or circuit boards while he'd see karma or the meaning of the universe."

Using a similar structure, the film next turns to a young Bill Gates at Harvard University, in the early 1970s, with classmate Steve Ballmer (John DiMaggio), and Gates’ high school friend Paul Allen (Josh Hopkins). As with Wozniak in the earlier segment, Ballmer narrates Gates' story, particularly the moment when Gates discovers the existence of Ed Roberts' (Gailard Sartain) MITS Altair (causing him to drop out of Harvard). Gates' and Allen's early work with MITS is juxtaposed against the involvement of Jobs and Wozniak with the Homebrew Computer Club. Jobs and Woz develop Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs' family home, with the help of Daniel (Marcus Giamatti) and Elizabeth (Melissa McBride). Eventually Mike Markkula (Jeffrey Nordling) invests in the company which allows it to expand and move forward. In 1977, Jobs, Woz, and Markkula demo the Apple II at the West Coast Computer Faire. This event is followed by the development of the IBM-PC with the help of Gates and Microsoft in 1981.

The film also follows Jobs' relationship with his high school girlfriend and early Apple employee, "Arlene" (a pseudonym for Chrisann Brennan, portrayed by Gema Zamprogna), and the difficulties he had acknowledging the birth and existence of their daughter, Lisa. Around the time his daughter was born, Jobs unveiled his next computer, which he named, The Lisa. The Lisa was then followed in 1984 by the Macintosh, a computer inspired by the Xerox Alto. The main body of the film finally concludes with a 30th birthday toast in 1985 to Steve Jobs shortly before he was fired by CEO John Sculley (Allan Royal) from Apple Computer.

The film ends in 1997, with 42 year old Jobs' return to Apple (after its acquisition of NeXT Computer) and with his announcement at the MacWorld Expo of an alliance between Apple and Microsoft. It also indicates that Jobs is now married, has children, and has reconciled with Lisa.

Cast

Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs

Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates

Joey Slotnick as Steve Wozniak

John DiMaggio as Steve Ballmer

Josh Hopkins as Paul Allen

Gailard Sartain as Ed Roberts

Jeffrey Nordling as Mike Markkula

Allan Royal as John Sculley

J. G. Hertzler as Ridley Scott

Gema Zamprogna as "Arlene" (a pseudonym for Chrisann Brennan)

Brooke Radding as Lisa Brennan-Jobs

Marcus Giamatti as Daniel Kottke

Melissa McBride as Elizabeth Holmes

Critical response

Pirates of Silicon Valley received an 89% rating from Rotten Tomatoes (8 positive and 1 negative reviews). Ray Richmond of Variety states that it is "a brilliant piece of filmmaking" and "a wildly entertaining geek tragedy with the stylistic feel of true art." John Leonard of New York Magazine, refers to Pirates of Silicon Valley as "a hoot." Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette argues that the film is "a fascinating drama filled with Shakespearean twists and betrayals as viewers come to know the geniuses who transformed not only the way we communicate, but the way we live." Brian J. Dillard of AllMovie argues that "thanks to inspired casting and strong writing, this well-oiled TV biopic managed to transform the unglamorous genesis of the personal-computer industry into solid entertainment precisely at the moment when dot-com mania was sweeping the nation." Mike Lipton of People, found the film to be "engagingly irreverent" and "a real-life Revenge of the Nerds  stands cheekily on its own

Ghayal Once Again

Ghayal Once Again is a 2016 Indian action film directed by Sunny Deol and produced by Dharmendra. The sequel to the 1990 film Ghayal stars Sunny Deol in the lead role. The film was released worldwide on February 5, 2016

The film opens with flashbacks of Ghayal. Angry young Ajay Mehra shoots and kills Balwant Rai (who had murdered Ajay's brother) and surrenders himself to upright cop Joe DSouza. Ajay is sentenced to prison. Upon his release he begins a new career as a reporter for an independent newspaper. He doubles as a vigilante who assists the police with their hard-to-prosecute cases (including cases where the accused are prominent and influential members of society).

One such case involves small town reporter Renu who was drugged and raped by her boss, the media baron Rajguru. Renu killed herself and Rajguru's men quashed the matter and implicated her innocent boyfriend. Ajay swings into action and abducts Rajguru and forcibly obtains a DNA swab. Rajguru is arrested. Ajay is a hero, a sensation. (It is revealed that Ajay still suffers panic and anxiety attacks from his painful memories of his past. His girlfriend Riya, a psychiatrist, helps him with his problems.) Joe DSouza has retired and is a social activist. Ajay often collaborates with him and helps him out.

Joe DSouza is killed in a traffic accident near Nanded. Young blogger Zoya Saigal is shocked to discover that Joe was, in fact, shot dead. She had accidentally captured the murder on video. Joe was shot by Kabir Raj Bansal, son of the tycoon Raj Bansal. Zoya and her young friends panic and want to take the video to the cops but Anushka's (Zoya's friend) grandfather infers that Raj Bansal had staged the road accident (where 8 other innocent people were killed) and stops them. Bansal is too powerful. It is further revealed that D'Souza had visited Raj Bansal and directly accused him of a land grab. Bansal tried to buy him off, there was an argument, and Kabir Raj Bansal, in a fit of rage, shot D'Souza. The accident was a cover up. Bansal privately realizes that Kabir is still a bratty kid and decides to enrol him into a military school.

On her grandfather's advice Anushka turns the video over to the lawyer Kriplani who quietly returns it to Bansal in order to ensure the children remain safe. But Kriplani's son, Rohan, a friend of Zoya, realizes that his father has given up the video and thus urges Zoya to reach Ajay Mehra. As the children hurry to reach Ajay they are intercepted by Bansal's goons. There is a chase. Ajay saves the children and recovers the video. Riya takes the children to the hospital where they are abducted by Bansal',s men.

It is revealed that Anushka is Ajay's own daughter. Kabir tortures the children until Bansal, tired of his son's tantrums, warns him away. Bansal holds Ajay's daughter and releases the other children. He tells Ajay that his daughter will henceforth stay with Bansal in order to ensure the safety of Kabir. Bansal's mother objects but Bansal, locked in moral conflict, waves her away. Bansal orders the Home Minister to arrest Ajay Mehra.

Ajay overcomes the cops and mounts an attack on the Bansal mansion to rescue his daughter. There is a fierce fight. Ajay rescues his own daughter as well as Bansal's daughter who gets trapped in the debris. Bansal capitulates and is arrested along with his son. The film ends as Ajay and his daughter recover in the hospital surrounded by their friends.

Cast

Sunny Deol as Ajay Mehra

Om Puri as ACP Joe D'Souza

Shivam Patil as Rohan

Rishabh Arora as Varun

Diana Khan as Zoya

Aanchal Munjal as Anushka

Soha Ali Khan as Riya

Narendra Jha as Raj Bansal

Manoj Joshi as Minister

Tisca Chopra Sangeeta

Ruhanika Dhawan Ananya

Sachin Khedekar as Lawyer Kriplani and Rohan's father

Ramesh Deo Anushka's grandfather and Varsha's father

Srijitaa Ghosh as Renu

Nadira Babbar as Raj Bansal's mother

Abhilash Kumar as Kabir Bansal

Zakir Hussain

Meenakshi Seshadri as Varsha (Special Appearance-Flash Back)

Movie Review

Till the film keeps moving briskly—the chase scenes are effective, if stretched—you stay with it. And then the ludicrous plot with all those hanging threads kicks in, and prevents us from getting what we’ve come to this film for : to see Sunny D. do his thing the way only he can. Sunny the actor is still a lethal weapon and can blow his opponent all the way across the room. Sunny the director should just get out his way. - 

Ghayal Once Again is a film that actually has potential but wanes out. Modelled on the Jason Bourne series, there is the thrill quotient in the action – two long chase sequences are worth watching. A lot of screaming and torture happens too, but we’re hooked somehow. And that’s the only good part.

Everytime Sunny Deol becomes silent for more than two seconds, we know what to expect. And he obliges by screaming on top of his lungs. Meanwhile, foreigners keep getting busted and beaten.

Fortunately, Ghayal Once Again wraps in about two hours and does away with all that was wrong in the first one -- songs, comedy -- to focus on elaborate chase sequences involving the kids in a mall conspicuous by unconcerned shoppers and invisible security or a reliably invincible Deol and a Frank Martin clone over a LaCie hard drive. Nice bit of detailing there. Only the rugged, shockproof model could survive the ensuing destruction and daredevilry.

Neerja 2016

Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film written by Saiwyn Quadras, and directed by Ram Madhvani starring Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Shekhar Ravjiani. The film was produced by Atul Kasbekar under the banner of Fox Star Studios. The film revolves around the Libya backed Abu Nidal Organization's hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of the flight's head purser Neerja Bhanot who thwarted the hijack attempt by preventing the plane from taking off, and saved the lives of 359 passengers and crew on board.

The film released worldwide on February 19, 2016 to critical acclaim.

The film opens with Neerja Bhanot (Sonam Kapoor), 22 years old, arriving (late) for a house party. She's loved by everyone, the life of every party. Later that evening her mother (Shabana Azmi) expresses concern once again about Neerja's job as a flight attendant and suggests Neerja return to her old job of modeling. Neerja likes her job and is driven to the airport by her boyfriend Jaideep (Shekhar Ravjiani). (Her mother is not totally thrilled about this either.) Neerja's colleagues love Jaideep, he adores her and gives her an advance birthday present.

Neerja reflects on her brief and unhappy arranged marriage. Her former husband was a professional in Doha, Qatar. He constantly harangued and abused Neerja over dowry. (It is revealed that Neerja's family had made it clear there would be no dowry, but the husband had expected something anyway.) He also abused Neerja as she could not cook or clean. She eventually returned home to honor a modeling contract. He sent back a humiliating letter attacking her parents about dowry, her lack of domestic skills and suggesting that she had better bring something (money) back or not come back at all. She broke off with him and landed a highly competitive job with Pan Am.

As Neerja boards Pan Am 73 (Sep 5, 1986) it is revealed that a terrorist group has planned to hijack the plane in Karachi. The plane takes off from Mumbai and lands in Karachi where the terrorists board the plane disguised as security officers escorting a Libyan diplomat. They reveal themselves and hijack the plane. Neerja quickly alerts the cockpit and the American pilots escape through the overhead hatch and run into the terminal. (The plane cannot be flown.)

When an Indian American inadvertently reveals himself (to be an American) the terrorists grab him and shoot him dead before the Pakistani negotiators. The terrorists try to locate the radio engineer among the passengers but Neerja bravely signals him to remain quiet. Later the terrorists ask the flight attendants to collect the passports so as to locate the Americans and hold them hostage. Neerja and her colleagues collect the passports but skilfully avoid any American passports by kicking them under the seats or down the trash chutes. Soon the terrorists locate a British citizen and use him for negotiations.

The Pakistan negotiators inadvertently reveal the name of the radio engineer (a Pakistani); he is now located and roughly brought into the cockpit to start the radio and begin the negotiations. The Pakistanis stall for time. The terrorist leader chastises the other, younger, terrorist who has begun roughing up the passengers and molesting the attendants (including Neerja). Angered by his public embarrassment the younger terrorist storms into the cockpit and shoots the radio engineer and, in full defiance of his leader, screams wild threats over the radio. The terrorists are confused; the leader only wants to complete the mission but the younger man is now only serving his own rage. Pakistani air control is still negotiating but they are slowly losing control and time and the terrorists are getting agitated by the minute.

Some 17 hours later the plane loses auxiliary power and the lights go out. Despite Neerja and the other attendants trying to explain this as a normal airplane reaction, the terrorists believe the power was cut by the Pakistan armed forces who will soon storm the plane. They now begin indiscriminately shooting passengers. At great peril to her own life Neerja opens the rear door and deploys the chute and begins directing passengers down the chute. Neerja could have escaped by herself but she chose to put the passengers first. In the end she is shot and killed by the terrorists as she tries to shield young children from the gunfire. The film ends with a tributary message to Neerja who was eventually recognized with bravery awards by India, Pakistan, USA, and other countries.

Cast

Sonam Kapoor as Neerja Bhanot

Shabana Azmi as Rama Bhanot

Shekhar Ravjiani as Jaideep

Yogendra Tiku as Harish Bhanot

Sadh Orhan as Saad Mallik

Abrar Zahoor as Zayd Safarini

Jim Sarbh as Khalil

Ali Baldiwala as Mansoor

Vikrant Singta as Fahad

Kavi Shastri as Naresh

Bobby Arora as Sardar Family Friend

Rehan Shaikh as passenger

Edward Sonnenblick as Capt. Jack Snipes

Arnold Malek as Capt. Harrison James

Waqar Khan as Co-Pilot Richard Bertrand

Critical response

Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4/5 stars and said, "as a movie watching experience, 'Neerja' is flawless. There's not a single false note." Writing for the Hindustan Times, Anupama Chopra also awarded the film 4/5 stars saying, "Neerja is a truly inspiring story that will grip you from the first frame till the last," and calling it Sonam Kapoor's best performance. Rajeev Masand gave the film a 3.5/5 rating and said that 'Neerja' is "a well-intentioned, heartfelt film that pays tribute to a real hero." Sarita Tanwar from Daily News and Analysis gave the film 4/5 stars and said, "Neerja is quite easily the finest film in recent times (on par with 'Talvar') based on a true story. She also said that cinematographer Mitesh Mirchandani ensures that 'Neerja' is "one of the best shot films in recent times." Raja Sen from Rediff.com gave the film 4/5 stars as well and called it "an absolute must-watch," and adding that "Sonam Kapoor is exceptional as Neerja Bhanot."Subhash K. Jha from SKJ Bollywood News gave the film 4.5/5 stars and called it "A Brilliant Tribute To The Braveheart And To Rajesh Khanna

Neerja is a milestone in Sonam Kapoor’s career. Not just because it’s a good film, but because she carries it entirely on her shoulder. She looks earnest, scared, benevolent and bold, all at the same time. You should see her in the scene where a terrorist frisks her: She aces it with a panache seldom seen in mainstream Hindi films. Shabana Azmi is very impressive as Neerja’s mother, her grip over emotional scenes are quite visible. The other person who deserves applause is Yogendra Tiku who plays Neerja’s father. The emotions reflect so swiftly on his face that you can see your dear ones there.

Jai Gangaajal 2016

Jai Gangaajal (English:Hail The Ganges) is a 2016 Indian Hindi action drama film, directed by Prakash Jha. It is a sequel of the 2003 crime film Gangaajal, and stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role with Jha appearing in a supporting role. The film also features Manav Kaul, Rahul Bhat and Queen Harish. The film was released worldwide on March 4, 2016. The Government of Madhya Pradesh declared Jai Gangaajal as tax-free status on 9 March 2016.

Bablu Pandey the MLA of Bankipur district and his brother Dablu Pandey(ninad kamat) run a jungle raaj in their town of Lakhisarai. They are grabbing land for a power plant whose financiers are backing their party politically. The home minister of the party appoints SP Abha Mathur(Priyanka Chopra) as the SP expecting her to be soft on criminals and supportive of her mentor who is the home minister. But she goes all out against the criminal brothers. Her subordinates get encouraged by her brave acts against corruption and slowly are bringing the jungle raaj to an end. Bhola Nath Singh aka B.N. Singh(Prakash Jha) is a corrupt circle inspector who has helped the brothers for a long time and using legal loopholes and other corrupt ways to keep them out of harms way in return for financial and political support.

As the brothers feel cornered, Dablu out of desperation makes the mistake of kidnapping an orphaned teenage girl and her younger brother who refuses to give away the land. During the kidnapping Dablu rapes and kills the girl and hangs her from a tree showing this as a suicide as her father had committed suicide too under pressure of selling the land. B.N. Singh comes to his senses after seeing this brutal crime and tries to arrest Dablu Pandey which starts a riot in the town inducing the younger brother of the murdered girl to use his belt throttle Dablus neck and killing him, seeing which the common people gather around some more goons and corrupt Sarpanch and kill them and hang them on the tree claiming it to be suicide and this also starts a chain reaction where corrupt people are killed in similar manner elsewhere. Abha is frustrated unable to control these illegal killings and tries to control it. B.N. Singh gets injured when ganged upon and attacked. But in a final show down Bablu Pandey also dies and closes the circle of political corruption.

Cast

Priyanka Chopra as SP Abha Mathur IPS

Prakash Jha as Bhola Nath Singh aka B.N. Singh

Manav Kaul as MLA Babloo Pandey

Murli Sharma as Munna Mardani

Pranay Narayan as Ratnakar

Rahul Bhat as Pawan Raghav

Kiran Karmarkar as Ramakant Chowdhary

Ninad Kamat as W. Pandey

Vega Tamotia as Sunita

Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Nagesh

Jagat Singh as Amreek Tiwari

Tanmaay Ranjan as Sujeet

Mikhail Yawalkar as SP Naveen Chandra

Queen Harish as Dancer in drag

Vipin singh as IG

Ankush Bali as Motipehalwan

Review

Rajeev Masand gave the film 2.5 stars out of 5, mentioning it as a predictable police drama filled with the usual stereotypes but added that Priyanka Chopra and Prakash Jha's performances engaging. Shubhra Gupta from The Indian Express gave only 1.5 stars, writing "Priyanka Chopra's too-sophisticated unmade-up-make-up is very distracting, even in her few convincing moments. And the film goes on for far too long, even when we know how all of it will end." However,she was all praise for Prakash Jha's full-fledged role. Srijana Mitra Das from The Times of India gave the film 3.5 stars. She praised the dialogues,editing and story, writing,"It weaves together crucial contemporary threads – land mafias, corrupt netas, broker-cops, broken farmers-with Jha's enduring concern about vigilante justice." She applauded Priyanka Chopra's performance, writing, "Priyanka Chopra shines as 'Madam Sir' Abha Mathur, whose lightning slaps and lathi charges have you applauding. This is a polished, restrained Priyanka, who barely smiles but conveys the ethics and empathy of the law." She commended Rahul Bhat's cameo and the dynamics between BN and Dablu but was disappointed with Manav Kaul's performance in particular. Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times gave 2.5 stars, writing, "Jai Gangaajal is just another attempt at making a blockbuster, but it lacks the depth of Gangaajal and Apharan. Still, there's enough for the audience to keep whistling and clapping." According to him,Prakash Jha is restrained in dialogue delivery and really effective in emotional scenes. He wrote that the storyline doesn't offer anything that haven't seen before but it has tear-inducing moments with explosive dialogues. Bollywood Hungama gave 3 stars out of 5, mentioning the screenplay engaging, cinematography decent, editing praiseworthy, dialogues excellent. As for the performances, Priyanka Chopra delivers a superlative performance, be it her perfect and impeccable timing or her intimidating screen persona and presence but Prakash Jha pushes himself a bit too hard to get the nuances and the finer points of his character. Writing for NDTV, Saibal Chatterjee gave 2.5 stars, saying, "Despite the topical themes it tackles and all the supercharged action that unfolds on the screen, Jai Gangaajal never really kicks into top gear

When it comes to directing of films belonging to the 'political thriller' genre, Prakash Jha has been very good at it. JAI GANGAAJAL only acts as yet another testimony to the same. While the story establishes itself in the engaging first half, the second half revolves around the confrontation between Priyanka Chopra and corrupt villains. In the second half, the camera is not on Priyanka Chopra, but on Prakash Jha, which totally takes focus away from the central character. Despite all the odds, Prakash Jha manages somehow to keep the viewers on the hooks with his engaging narrative.

The storyline of Jai Gangaajal doesn’t offer anything that you haven’t seen before. This holds true even if you have watched only Prakash Jha’s films. But, it has tear-inducing moments and Priyanka Chopra ensures they keep coming at regular intervals. Once again, the dark underbelly of the Hindi heart land has been explored with explosive dialogues and superficial sensibilities.

Jai Gangaajal is just another attempt at making a blockbuster, but it lacks the depth of Gangaajal and Apharan. Still, there’s enough for the audience to keep whistling and clapping. Priyanka Chopra is the new ‘Dabangg’.

Fitoor

Fitoor is an Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film directed by Abhishek Kapoor, produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, and written by Kapoor and Supratik Sen based on Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations. The film features Tabu,Aditya Roy Kapur,Mohammed Abrar and Katrina Kaif in leading roles.Filming began in Kashmir in November 2014. The film was released on 12 February 2016. The film grossed Rs 3.61 crore on its opening day, according to film analyst Taran Adarsh.

Noor (Mohammed Abrar) a thirteen year old Kashmiri boy who belongs to poor upbringings meets and is deeply infatuated with Firdaus who belongs to a rich elite family in Kashmir. Her mother who is referred to Begum (Tabu) was left heart broken in her younger age (Aditi Rao Hydari) and is against the love especially with the social divide. She splits the teenagers and insults Noor about his social status. Few years later Noor (Aditya Roy Kapur) who had moved to Delhi and becomes a renowned artist comes back to town with his newly acclaimed fame and money. Firdaus (Katrina Kaif) is engaged but still has romantic flings with Noor. After initial friction with Noor Begum slowly starts realizing her mistake, but is still adamant to get Firdaus married to her fiance, Bilal (Rahul Bhat). Noor's love for Firdaus bears all the hardships of time and emotions and succeeds at the end.

Cast

Aditya Roy Kapur as Noor (Pip)

Mohammed Abrar as young Noor (Pip)

Katrina Kaif as Firdaus (Estella)

Tunisha Sharma as young Firdaus

Tabu as elder Begum Hazrat (Miss Havisham)

Aditi Rao Hydari as young Begum Hazrat

Rahul Bhat as Bilal

Akshay Oberoi as Mufti

Talat Aziz as Salman

Sameer Roy as young Salman

Delbar Arya as Shaukat

Lara Dutta as Leena Becker

Kunaal Khyaan as Aarif

Jason Shah as Aarif's friend

Rayees Mohi-ud-din as Junaid

Khalida Jaan as Rukhsar

Ajaz Rah as Kaleem

Dilnaz Irani as Samira Peerbhoy

Namit as Jagirdar

Kavita Seth as Hazrat's mother

Suchitra Pillai as reporter

Rochelle Rao as auctioneer

Nandini Srikar as singer in "Hone Do Batiyan"

Zeb Bangash as singer in "Hone Do Batiyan"

Govind Namdev

Andy Von Eich

Ajay Devgan (special appearance)

REVIEW: So, Fitoor, based on Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, meets some expectations - but not all. In a Kashmir of moonlit snows, mist-filled houses and golden leaves, Noor (Aditya) falls in love with Firdaus (Katrina), daughter of eccentric Begum Hazrat (Tabu), who lives, covered in diamonds, in a castle of chandeliers and chintz.

Firdaus leaves to study. Noor wins an art scholarship in Delhi - where he meets Firdaus again and time stands still. Firdaus finally warms to Noor. But what happens when Firdaus decides to marry Pakistani politician Bilal instead? Why does Begum push Firdaus, despite knowing Noor's love? And who is Noor's secret patron, making his art a hit?

Fitoor's acting pleases in parts. Tabu shines through moments of malevolent manipulation, snarling 'Kaisa kamzarf waqt aa gaya hai', as she glares balefully at Noor, then smiles sweetly at him. Aditya occasionally conveys a bewildered lover lost in a whimsical world while Katrina looks gorgeous but mostly stays placid. Ajay Devgn has a cameo as a growling jihadi, all bark but no bite, while Rahul Bhat, the most consistent here, impresses as heavy-lidded Bilal.

The film also looks gorgeous - but opulence takes over substance, chinars, minars and lace dominating grip, passion and pace. For a love story, Fitoor lacks heat - you wish there was less hair-styling and more hair-pulling, more rupture and less cheesecake-like smoothness.

This is problematic because Dickens' Great Expectations rises and falls, exploring terrible, tantalising class, social climbing, sharp snobberies, love, hate and shame. Fitoor doesn't dive beyond the surface though, its story's shikara paddling along pretty Kashmir, but never tearing its way to its violent, wailing heart like Haider, its art stuck in a banal Mediterranean restaurant-like world, never conveying the lonely powers of love.

You get style - including six-pack Noor painting shirtless (explains why artists score more - can you imagine writers taking their tops off to work?) - but little depth. To play with a great quote, oh what a tangled web we weave, when we learn to retrieve - in this case, retrieving a classic indeed caused a tangle, albeit one of Pashmina dhaagas.