Jagajyothi Basaveshwara

It being Basava Jayanthi, wifey thought it best to watch the life history of Basavanna. She came across this 1959 old black and white Kannada movie. Although I initially thought I will not see, I ended up seeing it since it seemed good enough. Some of the scenes, dialog and acting were indeed very powerful. The "true story/biopic" attracted me. Worth a watch for what Basavanna went through.
Rating: Good

Kumbalangi Nights

A very different movie with extremely different spectrum of characters - all blended to make one great tale. Awesome narration by the director - with each character having his or her own orbit of tales and all orbits encompassing to make one great Universe. Superb acting by one and all. One can easily see the professionalism by each crew of the movie. This one has it all the right ingredients - drama, suspense, little bit of humor, romance, horror, etc. Definitely worth a watch.
Rating: Good
Language: Malayalam

Fidaa

Wifey chose this to watch a Sai Pallavi movie (of the Maari-2 Rowdy Baby super song-dance sequel). Fidaa (maybe Telugu original but we saw the Hindi dub version) is a very simple love-hate-love tale between brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Extremely amateurish direction. Loose dialog and script. As well as most parts of film-making and even acting (except maybe Sai Pallavi who clearly shines all through). The hero is irksome to watch at times. Movie kinda falls flat but you can pass through it yawning all the way. Definitely avoidable.
Rating: Average

Love Mocktail

Saw in a random whatsapp message that Love Mocktail is the opposite of Dia and it is tangentially true although here there are more than 2 love stories! While the first one is the most humorous, second less so and so it goes on - still the movie fares well enough as a "RomCom". Very clean, neat and in all likelihood the story of most young guys. Worth a watch on a lazy weekend. Has good amount of humour but does slightly gets boring and a wee bit of sluggishness in the middle and I was like 'Is it still Intermission?' but one can sit through with a little bit of patience. All aspects of movie-making gets credits too.
Rating: Good

Gully Boy

Well, I am not a fan of rap music, so I always postponed watching this movie which I knew was based on rap artists - kinda first-of-its-genre in Hindi music arena. But, today when I finally watched it - it is indeed a very well-made movie & totally worthy of all the awards that it has garnered. Superb acting by one and all - not just Ranveer & Alia. Setting (or Dharavi) has been very well portrayed. Characterization of Alia is superb, especially her J factor! Lyrics of most raps is worth a second hearing. Screenplay is absorbing & narration is easy-going. Definitely worth a watch.
Rating: Must-see

Dia

Well, it started off differently - much differently than what is usually portrayed in movies. Kinda felt it was Slow though. But catchy. And then moved from one emotion to another - which are all very well shown: butterfly feeling in the stomach, fast heartbeat, shaky legs, depths of sadness by loss of life, etc. And then the tale moved towards the expected jerk. And more slowness. And some hope some where. And then some twisty, quirky emotions. And then another jerky end which I personally felt could have been made better. Overall, a very clean and neat movie with nice dialog. Characterization, casting and acting is well directed. The female introverty character has been very well portrayed by Kushi. Watchable once, if no other better option.
Rating: Average