Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif Kylie Minogue
Director: Anthony D'Souza
Rating: ****

When the makers of a film proudly proclaim their product to be at par with their Hollywood counterparts, one is bound to be sceptical. More so because "Blue" is an action film, that too set underwater, which is not just a first in Bollywood but also a rarity in Hollywood.

So does "Blue" set new standards for Bollywood action movies? Does it actually get into the underbelly of the sea and show a world hitherto unexplored? The answer is yes.

Let's put it this way - "Blue" may not be the mind-blowing commercial action thriller that you would have ever seen. However, it certainly is the most innovative attempt that deserves to be acknowledged and lauded.

Action is truly the USP of the film and keeps the momentum going for "Blue" due to which one doesn't quite miss the presence of a solid storyline.

Sometimes, we laugh at movies. At times, we laugh in movies. Thankfully, ALL THE BEST, helmed by Rohit Shetty, belongs to the latter type.

ALL THE BEST makes no claims of catering to the intelligentsia or the elite. Instead, it's aimed at those who want to spend two hours of their precious life flexing their facial muscles. ALL THE BEST is for those who expect fun and laughter unlimited in those two hours. This one makes you smile, laugh, even break into a guffaw at times.

The jokes and the goings-on may appear silly, but who cares! As long as one feels positive and wears a smile on the face even after the show has ended, nothing else matters.

Comedy is serious business and Rohit Shetty is a pro at this genre now. This time, the talented director seeks inspiration from RIGHT BED, WRONG HUSBAND and what works to the advantage are two factors - the written material and the right casting. Both are just right!

Starring: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sohail Khan, Mahek Chahal, Nauheed Cyrusi, Yash Tonk and Bappi Lahiri
Director: Prem Soni
Rating: **

Samir (Salman) and Raina (Kareena) are married and settled in Melbourne, Australia. What started of as a loving relationship which lead to a quick marriage between the two has now turned into a complicated situation what with Samir facing major hurdles in his career to some wrong work decisions that he had taken.

Raina is working as a waitress to support their house.

Jobless Samir gets an opportunity to work in Singapore and make a new beginning. He takes Raina along with him but only to tell her at the airport that he has booked her ticket for India to go back to his parents and that he will come back to her once things fall in place in his career.

After Samir catches his flight for Singapore, a dejected and sad, Raina keeps waiting at the airport lounge right till the final boarding announcement for her flight to India comes in.

Besides Abbas-Mustan, Sanjay Gupta has attempted interesting thrillers in the past. His new outing, ACID FACTORY, directed by Suparn Verma, is a cat-n-mouse chase that will have you on edge of the seat as it unfolds.

Inspired by Hollywood film UNKNOWN, ACID FACTORY is engaging in most parts. Also, it's well adapted to suit Indian sensibilities. It starts off strong enough and keeps the momentum going till the end, though, of course, it goes back and forth at times and that could get a bit confusing.

ACID FACTORY demands your attention from the very start. The viewer ought to stay alert and watch the goings-on carefully. Even if you blink, chances are you may miss a vital link and the subsequent portions may not work for you since there's something happening every minute.

Recall those years when partying hard was the only agenda on your list. Recall those years when staying awake at nights, chatting away with friends became a habit. Recall those years when bunking college and sneaking into movie halls was more exciting than books. Recall those years when you were completely clueless and aimless about the vocation you wanted to pursue once you graduated… That indecisive phase when you were hesitant to take that first big step in life can never be erased from your memory.

WAKE UP SID, directed by debutante Ayan Mukerji, is like revisiting those years that lay at some remote corner of your mind, after you moved on in life.

Actually, WAKE UP SID is a slice of life film. It's not merely real in concept, but has also been told most realistically, so much so that you can't help but draw parallels with your life or with someone you know. But what really makes WAKE UP SID most believable is Ranbir Kapoor, who's mastered the craft at such a young age.

Verdict? WAKE UP SID mirrors those years with flourish. This one's a simple story that strikes a chord instantly. Strongly recommended!

WAKE UP SID tells the story of Siddharth aka Sid [Ranbir Kapoor], a lazy, unmotivated slacker from Mumbai whose life undergoes a series of changes after taking his final year college exams. Sid's world is breezy, carefree and without any true responsibilities.

David Dhawan has always made wacky and bizarre films and his new baby DO KNOT DISTURB doesn't push the envelope either. His critics may term his cinema outlandish and outrageous, but the fact is that his films cater to the aam junta. His mantra is simple: Haso aur hasao.

Now let's analyse DO KNOT DISTURB, inspired by the French film LA DOUBLURE aka THE VALET [2006]. David has tackled extra-marital affairs in his earlier films like SAAJAN CHALE SASURAL, GHARWALI BAHARWALI and BIWI NO. 1. DO KNOT DISTURB also talks of a married man having a torrid affair with a supermodel, but it's not remotely similar to his past endeavours.

Actually, DO KNOT DISTURB rests on a thin plot and David relies on gags and jokes to keep you hooked for those 2 + hours. Even though you realise that there's not much meat in the story, even though the situations are silly, you remain glued to the proceedings because it keeps you in splits thanks to the funny jokes and the weird characters.

So what's the verdict? DO KNOT DISTURB is sure to keep you smiling from start to end. A few portions may even prompt you to laugh aloud or break into a guffaw. If non-stop mindless entertainment is on your mind, this recipe is just for you. Do Knot miss this one!

Starring: Priyanka Chopra (x 12 ), Harman Baweja
Directed by: Ashutsoh Gowariker
Rating: *** ½

A Gujarati downmarket wannabe bride dragged out of her traditional habitat into tight skirts tops and a 7-star hotel by her parents to meet the eligible bachelor from Chicago.The girl’s longing to go West leaps out at you even when he politely rejects her.

“It must be snowing in Chicago, ” she says with a warm wistfulness that melts your heart.

Elsewhere, almost at the end of Yogesh’s long and exhausting bride-hunt an under-age 15-year old is passed off by her desperate parents as a purported bride. When our hero politely asks her which college the girl attends, the school girl burst into wracking sobs.

Starring: Vinod Khanna, Akshay Kapoor, Rehan Khan, Bhavna Pani, Siddhant Karnick and Sabina
Director: Zaigham Ali Sayed
Rating: *1/2

Fast Forward narrates the tale of two best buddies Rishi (Rehan) and Sunny (Akshay Kapoor). Both are fantastic dancers.

The fun loving Sunny finds dancing a great way to express himself and is in love with Rishi’s sister Jeel (Bhavna).

(There is an unintentionally hilarious proposal scene between later in the film). Sunny realizes Jeel has purposely kept herself away from her biggest passion – dancing. He goes on to rekindle it but it leads to the revealing of Rishi’s dark past.

Starring: Salman Khan, Salman Khan, & Salman Khan
Directed by: Prabhu Deva
Rating: **

Though National award-winner Prakash Raj’s flamboyant villainy and Ayesha Takia’s endearing cuteness do miraculously find a place in the plot, this is the hero’s vehicle like very few masala-maar-ke products in recent times.

Welcome to the world of the won-man-army.

Salman Khan adapts his goon’s name Radhe from Tere Naam where he mixed violence with vulnerability in a heady brew. The mix in Wanted is far more brackish and tangy.

Star Cast: Rani Mukherjee, Shahid Kapur, Anupam Kher, Sherlyn Chopra, Dalip Tahil, Raakhi Sawant, Vrajesh Hirjee, Sri Vallabh Vyas
Music Director: Pritam
Director: Anurag Singh
Rating: ***

Dil Bole Hadippa is yet another film from the YRF’s kitty based in Punjab. This too represents the stereotypical culture of Punjab with swaying yellow fields, flashy celebrations, desi lassi and chomping sugarcane.

The film is the story of one such village of Punjab located at the Wagah border that has its own cricket team and plays match with the local Pakistani team for the Aman cup and have been losing in a row from past eight years.

The team’s owner (Anupam Kher) turns to his son Rohan (Shahid Kapur) who plays county cricket in England to take over as coach and the captain to strengthen the team.

Starring: Vega, Natasha, Maanvi, Aanchal, Sunil Sinha, Zarina Wahab, Reema Lagoo
Written & Directed by: Rupali Guha
Rating: ** ½

A coming- of – age- Dil- Chahta -Hai –changes- gender comedy about four 18-going-on-adulthood girls. Pari (Natasha) is the upperclass snob who often funds fun fundas for her middleclass best-friend Jiya (Vega).

Their equation is a very distant descendent of Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna in Namak Haraam.

Add to the twosome’s on-and-off bonding a couple of more inseparable friends Rakhi (Maanvi) and Sanya (Annchal) and you have a bubbly bouncy brew of backslapping and bonhomie during times of picnics, parties, growing up and realizing life is not a fun zone.

Starring: Sohum Shah, Om Puri, Mithun Chakbraborty, Sushant Singh
Directed: by Ashu Trikha
Rating: **

It’s a brutal world out there. Welcome to the killing fields of Lucknow. The paths and alleys are bathed in blood. The roads are strewn with corpses. It’s almost as if the city has no respite from violence.

Baabarr is arguably the most violent film ever made in Hindi. It inhabits a world where the characters live in crusty brick lanes, homes that have seen more slaying and slaughtering than the butcher shops where some of Trikha’s teekha characters have their working place.

Starring: Bobby Deol, Kangana Ranaut, Mohnish Behl, Dwij Yadav and Sharat Saxena
Director: Samir Karnik
Rating: **

Vaada raha…I promise is a beautiful story, but impact less. Courtesy poor direction and screenplay. Despite a fairly powerful star-cast this film lacks what we call commercialism in tinsel town.

Poor promotions have already done damage to the film. To top it all, the film critics won’t find a reason to coax the cine-goers to go and watch this film.

Heart-touching script loses it essence as one gets to the middle of the film, the screenplay bores you to death till the end and you discover nothing unique.

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Kulraj Randhawa, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Sophie Choudhry
Director: Ranjit Kapoor
Rating: **1/2

Chintuji, the title itself compels the admirers and non-admirers of the veteran actor to at least give it a shot despite the very evident lack of hype and promotions.

Now let’s come out of the reel world and hit the reality. Chintuji is definitely not an out of box work. But the film promises to outshine for its simplistic nature.

A mixture of simple yet beautiful story with simple characters is what this film is all about.

Director Ranjit Kapoor has smartly added new dimensions to the real life facts of the veteran actor.

Starring: Ashish Choudhry, Nausheen Ali Sardar, Akshay Kapoor
Directed by: Vishal Pandya
Rating: **

This one can’t go ‘Scot’ free. The Scottish locales shot with tender care by cinematographer Pravin Bhatt are in one word, breathtaking. In two words breathtaking and eloquent. And if you want a third word, here it is. Ominous!

Often thrillers about disturbances within the human heart are manifested in outdoors that mock the deceptive method behind the madness.

That theme is taken to quite a peeka-a-boo peak of visual beauty in Three.. As the title suggests there are only three characters locked in a battle for property custody in a Scottish mansion that is as spacious as it is incriminating.