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Dhamaka Movie Review : Ravi Teja’s energy and Sreeleela’s glamour make this regular story an entertaining watch

• Times Of India

Dhamaka - Official Trailer

Dhamaka - Official Teaser

Dhamaka | Song - Du Du Du (Lyrical)

Dhamaka | Song - Dandakadiyal (Lyrical)

Dhamaka | Song - What's Happening (Lyrical)

Dhamaka | Song Promo - Dandakadiyal

Dhamaka | Song - Mass Raja (Lyrical)

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Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

rishitborra 63 368 days ago

Maybe a perfect come back for Ravi Teja and movies is nicely blended as a musical comedy...

Swathi Vallabhajosyula 230 434 days ago

A helpful movie for doctors! If they need to inflict pain externally, make the patients see this movie!<br/>Where do I start? Say the cons:<br/>1. &quot;6 days ladki in&quot; concept to too stale; the new trend is &quot;find a girl that needs help, for her to flirt with you and then save her&quot; easy-peasy. <br/>2. The hero gets hit on the back of the head and bleeds like crazy - no bandage, no recovery time, but still had a band-aid on the forehead for a minor scratch. WOW! (the bruises on the neck are still red like fresh ones - he is GOD ����)<br/>3. This was like a &quot;Jabardast Movie.&quot; No dialogue in the script, just punchlines. It's understandable if the hero had a few punchlines, but the entire script had &quot;only punchlines with a salt of proper conversational dialogues&quot; for the hero, heroine, mother, father, sister, villain, and dam, even the comedian (well, this one is an exception) roles! <br/>4. Seriously an outdated pattern - hero entry, fight, song, heroine entry, song, fight, sing, a savior moment, song, fight, prefinal song, grand fight, epic &quot;WOW&quot; revealing twist (I mean, who didn't know the brother was the villain too - dint the extremely non-groomed beard pass the bad-vibe check<br/>?) <br/>5. OH MY GOD, I don't even want to talk about the poor acting of the heroine, but the worst part was an epically failed lip sync and annoying dubbing artist voice ����. <br/>The only pro in this movie: is &quot;open relationships&quot;<br/>From when did people not know how progressive a Telugu movie could be - the heroine dates two guys at the same time, and her mom makes it sound &quot;funny&quot;. WOW ���� (she dint know that it was the same person until much later) Common people what next ENMs (Ethically non-monogamy)? I am impressed &lt;wink wink&gt;

deepu rockzz 5 436 days ago

The movie is entertaining, cuz it's Ravi Teja..��

Mattr 2524 436 days ago

i dont know why these people are rating this movie good. Any movie at the end of the day tells a story. This movie has no story. The story is a mix of Nagarjuna's king movie plus several other similar double role movies with similar plots. The only comedy is the comedy you see in the trailer. Raviteja acting was good but yet times acts retarded, probably thinking it is comedy. The hostile takeover of the company is also a joke. Telugu movies all got this theme in which people just force industrial bigwigs to sign their companies to them by threatening murder etc. Anyway, just one more boring movie from raviteja

Surya Surya 438 days ago

Too good��

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dhamaka’ On Netflix, An Indian Thriller Where A Journalist Tries To Use A Terrorist To Revive His Career

Where to stream:.

• Stream It Or Skip It

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The pandemic has dramatically altered how movies are made; from on-set testing and intense protocols to smaller scale productions, storytellers have found a myriad ways to keep making films even when the world has been in utter chaos. The Guilty , starring Jake Gyllenhaal, was filmed over just 11 days and takes place in a single location, and wowed critics despite its low-key production. Indian thriller Dhamaka , now streaming on Netflix, accomplishes the same feat. 

DHAMAKA : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Arjun Pathak (Kartik Aaryan) and his wife Soumya Mehra Pathak (Mrunal Thakur) have it all; they’re wildly in love, have successful journalism careers, and support each other endlessly. That is, until they don’t; when we meet Arjun at present, he’s sitting in the dark, staring at divorce papers. It seems as though their happily-ever-after didn’t turn out so happy after all, and he’s now been booted from his position as a primetime news reporter and relegated to the radio. It seems like a typical day until the station receives a very strange call; a man who initially seems to be angry about his financial position and the government’s failure to take care of their people claims to have a bomb. Arjun writes him off, telling him to go ahead and blow up the Sea-Link bridge if that’s really true – and to everyone’s horror and surprise, he does.

Rather than absorbing this tragedy, Arjun sees this as an opportunity to get his primetime slot back; he negotiates with his ruthless producer to get a spot on the air, and he continues his conversation with the terrorist. What begins as a twisted plan soon gets completely out of hand. Despite what Arjun would like to believe, he’s not in control at all; there’s a bomb in his ear piece, ready to kill him at any moment, and if this terrorist doesn’t receive an apology from the government for the death of his construction worker friends, he’ll only cause more destruction. Now Arjun must try to save lives – including his own and his wife’s – before it’s too late.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?:  Dhamaka  is based on successful Korean film  The Terror Live , and may also remind you of flicks like  Nightcrawler ,  Money Monster , and  Prime Time .

Performance Worth Watching: Kartik Aaryan’s Arjun Pathak may not always be the easiest to root for, but he delivers a helluva performance, charming us as a loving husband during the opening montage and immediately losing us as soon as we meet him at present, a bedraggled radio host staring down his divorce papers. While the writing may lack the depth Aaryan’s performance deserves, he does what he can with the material, embodying the shock and terror of the situation as it escalates. His character may not always be the easiest to root for, but boy, is he exciting to watch.

Memorable Dialogue: The dialogue in  Dhamaka  leans hard into lines that spoon feed us, like “he’s playing games with you” and “if our ratings go higher than 70%, he’ll make me the director”, to name only a couple.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take:  The premise of  Dhamaka  seems solid enough at the beginning; a journalist whose star is falling seizes the opportunity to be in the spotlight again via his unexpected relationship with a terrorist. The terrorist turns out to essentially be holding the network hostage, and despite pleas from some to stop giving him airtime, the producer pushes for it to… keep the ratings up. It’s not that this kind of thing is totally out of the realm of possibility – we’ve certainly seen some horrifying things exploited for viewership – but it’s all about the context. In the world of  Dhamaka , this move feels like jumping the shark; once someone is literally killed on the air, it seems like the right move to listen to the anchor whose life is also in jeopardy, but this stone cold producer is relentless about continuing the story so that she’s finally able to get a promotion. There’s already enough going on with the terrorist, and this is the excuse used to keep up the drama in the studio? It feels silly.

Alllll the issues with  Dhamaka ‘s writing aside, the direction is great; the tension gets ramped up quickly and effectively, and it’s sustained for much of the film. This is also largely thanks to the compelling performances across the board from actors willing to do silly things like whip out cigarettes as if they’re in a ’90s thriller and sling tired newsroom jabs back and forth at one another. These characters are thinly written, cruel caricatures meant to sell a familiar story about how the media is willing to do anything for numbers. There’s something interesting in the whole concept of Dhamaka – it obviously worked before in  The Terror Live  – but sadly, it just didn’t come together for me by the end.

Our Call:  SKIP IT. While  Dhamaka  is a compelling thriller, its characters are shallow and difficult to engage with on an emotional level, leaving us with an emptiness by the time the credits roll.

Will you stream or skip the Indian thriller #Dhamaka on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) November 22, 2021

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski .

Stream  Dhamaka  on Netflix

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Some violence, blood, and language in tense action-thriller.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Some news reporters tirelessly work to report on i

Soumya is an outstanding news reporter and journal

This film is entirely Indian made, produced, and a

Some violence and blood throughout. Buildings and

A montage briefly shows a man in underwear, some p

Strong language includes a few instances of "f--k,

References to Apple and Apple products and service

Adults smoke cigarettes.

Parents need to know that Dhamaka is an Indian dramatic thriller about a journalist and news program host who receives a call from a domestic terrorist threatening to blow up bridges, buildings, and people. Based on the Korean drama, The Terror Live , Dhamaka has some violence, blood, tension, and…

Positive Messages

Some news reporters tirelessly work to report on important issues. Sometimes you can stand up to your corporate overlords and achieve a moral victory before being fired.

Positive Role Models

Soumya is an outstanding news reporter and journalist who cares deeply about what she does.

Diverse Representations

This film is entirely Indian made, produced, and acted. The main character is a man, and while his boss is a woman, most screentime is filled by men.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Some violence and blood throughout. Buildings and bridges explode, people die and get injured, and a man is shot by a sniper. A father in a car falls off a bridge and dies while his daughter watches safely from the bridge. A microphone explodes in front of a news host, and her face is bloodied. A bomb in a man's earpiece explodes, killing him. A story is told about construction workers at sea having to work long hours that led to their drowning.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A montage briefly shows a man in underwear, some play wrestling with his wife, and some romantic kissing.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Strong language includes a few instances of "f--k," "bitch," "goddamn," and "scum."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

References to Apple and Apple products and services.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Dhamaka is an Indian dramatic thriller about a journalist and news program host who receives a call from a domestic terrorist threatening to blow up bridges, buildings, and people. Based on the Korean drama, The Terror Live , Dhamaka has some violence, blood, tension, and scenes of peril. Buildings and bridges explode, people die and get injured, and one man is shot by a sniper. A microphone explodes in front of a news host, and her face is bloodied. A bomb in a man's earpiece explodes, killing him. A story is told about construction workers at sea having to work long hours that led to their drowning. Strong language includes a few instances of "f--k," "bitch," "goddamn," and "scum." Adults smoke cigarettes. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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What's the Story?

In DHAMAKA, a news reporter, Arjun Parthak (Kartik Aaryan), has recently been demoted due to an ethics scandal. During his radio show, he receives a phone call from a domestic terrorist saying that he has placed bombs in buildings and bridges around the city, and that if the government doesn't apologize to him, he'll kill people. Arjun, knowing that this could be his ticket back to the top, wants exclusive access to the caller, and might be thinking more about his career than saving lives.

Is It Any Good?

A decent effort with some big names almost saves this rehashed thriller. The problem with Dhamaka is largely that it doesn't do anything that new or entertaining beyond the genre's expected tropes. A remake of the Korean thriller, The Terror Live , this Indian version loses some of the sincerity and tenderness that the Korean original featured. But beyond that, lots of the tension and drama feels a bit forced and overwrought. The score, oddly, may have something to do with this, as the music often prematurely ramps up when the film wants the audience to know that things are about to get dramatic. In other words, the music often goes overboard in intensity and often doesn't match what's happening on screen.

There are also a few logical missteps, like how Arjun's worry (and calls out to coworkers) about who gave him his earpiece with a bomb in it (others were also given bomb-infused devices) never gets answered. And lastly, Soumya is given too little a role and is instead simply doomed to die for a forced emotional impact. Perhaps, it simply would have been nice to have had the roles of Arjun and Soumya switched.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about violence in movies. Did you appreciate the violence in Dhamaka ? Did it add to or detract from the excitement and tension? Why?

Did you find the main characters appealing? Why or why not?

In the shoes of Arjun Parthak, would you have done anything differently? If so, what?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : November 19, 2021
• Cast : Kartik Aaryan , Mrunal Thakur , Amruta Subhash , Vikas Kumar
• Director : Ram Madhvani
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Indian/South Asian actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Thriller
• Run time : 103 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Release Date : December 23, 2022

123telugu.com Rating : 3/5

Starring: Ravi Teja, Sreeleela, Jayaram, Sachin Khedekar, Tanikella Bharani, Rao Ramesh, Chirag Jani, Ali, Praveen, Hyper Aadi, Pavithra Lokesh, Tulasi, Rajshree Nair

Director: Thrinadha Rao Nakkina

Producer: T G Vishwa Prasad

Music Director: Bheems Ceciroleo

Cinematography: Karthik Gattamaneni

Editor: Prawin Pudi

Related Links : Trailer

Ravi Teja’s Dhamaka created a solid buzz before its release. The action drama directed by Trinadh Rao has been released today. Let’s see how it is.

Ravi Teja plays dual roles in Dhamaka. One is a rich guy and the other is a middle-class man. A dreaded businessman(Jayram) enters the scene and tries to take away the property of the rich Ravi Teja. But there is a twist as the mass Ravi Teja gets involved in the mess and takes control. Why did he get involved? What’s his backstory? and what is the whole double role? That forms the basic crux of the film.

Plus Points:

Dhamaka brings back Ravi Teja in an energetic avatar after a long gap. He is amazing in dual roles and does a solid job with his performance. Be it the body language or the funny antics that he creates, Ravi Teja is a live wire and carries the film on his shoulders. For a change, he danced superbly in the film.

Sreeleela plays the female lead and she is super cute. Be it her dances or chemistry with Ravi Teja, she aces it. Her screen presence also suits the commercial film format and she will go a long way in her career. Jayram plays the main villain and he was decent.

The film has decent comedy and the track between Hyper Aadi and Rao Ramesh is pretty good. Yet another major asset of the film is the hit soundtrack. All the songs have been composed well by Bheems and are nicely shot, giving a Paisa Vasool experience for the masses.

The last half an hour before the interval block is the best part of the film. It has comedy, action, and a twist which elevates the film quite well. The manner in which Ravi Teja’s character is designed with good comedy and punch dialogue will impress one and all.

Minus Points:

Noted writer, Prasanna Kumar has penned the story, screenplay, and dialogues for Dhamaka. While his story and twist part are good in the first half, the second half is routine and has no novelty factor.

The screenplay lacks sheen in the second half as the proceedings become a mere formality for the audience to sit through. There is nothing new and a powerful villain like Jayram is made weak during this time.

The makers have made sure that a good song and comedy scene are added through the narrative at regular intervals but in all this, the drama is missing and the film does not move you emotionally and becomes yet another routine action drama.

Technical Aspects:

Music by Bheems is superb and the BGM was also solid. The camera work was good and the production design is amazing. Dialogues are also quite good and Sreeleela’s costumes have been designed well.

Coming to the director Trinadh Rao, he has done a passable job with the film. The story is simple and has references to several old movies from the 90s and Trinadh Rao has just polished it. What’s good in his direction is that he had keep the entertainment factor going at regular intervals.

On the whole, Dhamaka is an action drama that has regular mass elements. But Ravi Teja is back with his energetic avatar and keeps you glued to the screens with his entertaining performance. Added bonuses are the hit songs and comedy scenes. If you ignore the routine storyline and keep your expectations in check, you will end up liking the film.

123telugu.com Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team

Click Here For Telugu Review

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Dhamaka Movie Review: Massraja Ravi Teja's Action Drama Is Just For Fans With A Few Shining Moments!

Cast: Ravi Teja, Sreeleela, Sachin Khedekar, Rao Ramesh, Jayaram, Tanikella Bharani, Tulasi, Jayaram, Ali, Praveen

Rating: 2.5

Introduction: Massraja Ravi Teja had an unlucky year as his two films- 'Khiladi' and 'Ramarao On Duty' failed to deliver at the Telugu box-office. For the third time in the year, Ravi Teja has come up with a mass romantic action drama titled Dhamaka. The movie is written and directed by Trinadha Rao Nakkina who directed 'Cinema Choopista Mava' and 'Nenu Local' films earlier. Ravi Teja is paired opposite Sreeleela in this film, and the movie released all over the world on December 23.

Ravi Teja is introduced as a middle-class man, Swamy who works unsuccessfully and is burdened by his sister's impending wedding. Then there is Anand Chakravarty, a scion of a businessman, aiming to give 1000 jobs within a month. Comes Pranavi, a good-looking and kind-hearted rich kid who can't decide between the two.

Going forward, Pranavi feels attracted to Swamy and his family while unbeknownst, Pranavi's father (Rao Ramesh) matches her up with Anand Chakravarty. Meanwhile, Pranavi makes her choice, and when it doesn't go down well with her father, he attempts to kill Swamy. JP, played by Jayaram tries to take over the company of Anand Chakravarty and sends his son to take his life. What happens next is to be seen on the big screen. Who are Swamy and Anand Chakravarty? What is their relationship? How the company is saved from the villains forms the crux of Dhamaka, laced with some songs, elaborate fights, and a love track.

Songs are attractive on the screen to watch. The movie's action scenes are interesting, and the elevations with an enhancing background score work for most parts.

Performances: What Ravi Teja is known for, has been showcased stylishly on the celluloid. His acting is adequate and appropriate. His chemistry with actress Sreeleela seems convincing even though the duo has an age gap of 33 years. Their dance to the songs 'Jinthak' and 'Dandakadiyal' is remarkable.

Jayaram enthralls with his act as JP, in the film. Sachin Khedekar, Pavitra Lokesh, and Rao Ramesh did their job decently. Rao Ramesh and Hyper Aadi's track tries to evoke a few laughs during the first half. Unfortunately, for an actor like Ali, there is screen presence sans dialogues. His only dialogue from the film is 'safe.'

Technical Aspects:

The film's background score and music composed by Bheems Cecerolio are entertaining. The background music during fight sequences is best enjoyed when watching on the big screen. Karthik Ghattamaneni's cinematography is decent and the visuals are fresh. Ravi Teja looked cool and handsome. His Styling was noticeable. The movie's runtime and Prawin Pudi's editing are crisp and up to the mark.

Positives: Ravi Teja's Performance & Looks Hyper Aadi & Rao Ramesh's track High Production Values

Negatives: Routine story Lack of new elements

Massraja Ravi Teja's Dhamaka is a routine run-of-the-mill affair with a few bright moments for the fans. Go watch the movie if you don't have any other plans for the Christmas weekend.

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Dhamaka movie review: Kartik Aaryan 2.0 delivers intense performance in this gripping thriller

Dhamaka movie review: kartik aaryan is seen in an intense, never-before-seen avatar in ram madhvani's latest thriller..

Dhamaka 's trailer pretty much promised us a Kartik Aaryan 2.0. And the film is indeed Kartik's most challenging performance so far. After being labelled as the monologue king, and having dabbled in romcoms such as Pyaar ka Punchnaama films, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Pati Patni Aur woh, Luka Chhupi and so on, Kartik's Arjun Pathak in Dhamaka not only shows his range as an actor but also touches upon a different genre and emotion.

Director Ram Madhvani, who has directed Neerja and series Aarya in the past, creates a world within one room that is full of tension, action, reaction and a sense of urgency. Dhamaka is loosely based on the 2013 Korean film, The Terror Live, and stars Kartik as a broadcast journalist named Arjun Pathak. He was demoted from a prime-time news anchor to an RJ but things change when he scores an exclusive interview with a terrorist who has blown up Mumbai's Sea Link bridge. Arjun Pathak gathers himself to be live on air amid a terror attack and what all goes through his mind while talking to his caller, is what keeps you engaged for 1 hour 43 minutes.

Here, I'd like to mention that film's appropriate length works in its favour. It never loses pace and keeps you on the edge right from the word go. No time is wasted in the build-up--neither for the story nor the characters. The film starts with a romantic song between Arjun Pathak and his wife Saumya (Mrunal Thakur) and cut to the first scene in the newsroom, we are told they are no longer together.

At this point, you'd expect to know the back story or some flashback of what happened, but the hows and the whys are answered organically. The script moves on without staying at one place for too long. Madhvani connects with you with the tensed environment that news anchors and journalists experience while reporting a breaking news from the studio or from the crime scene.

Also read: Sooryavanshi movie review: Akshay Kumar's high-octane action film is your Diwali gift this year

And I loved the dilemma that each character undergoes while doing their bit onscreen-- be it Kartik sitting in the studio and feeling helpless, Amruta Subhash in the control room bossing around, calm yet assertive, or Mrunal Thakur, reporting from bomb blast site and helping hostages, and man on the line, sharing his own ordeal. The portions when Kartik is negotiating with the him and buying time to sort things out give you real chills. However, a little more of Arjun and Saumya's love story could have been shown to add a different dimension to his character.

Madhvani never lets you digress from the present moment and that's the beauty of his storytelling, something that we also saw in Neerja. In the two hours within an airplane, we got to see so many emotions blending into one another and in Dhamaka as well, just one newsroom lets you experience so much under one roof.

For those of you who don't know, Dhamaka, in a way, sets a record of its own for the way the film was shot in 10 days using multiple cameras. The fabulous camera work capturing the intensity of scenes and emotions of characters explains the nitty-gritty and process that Madhvani and the team followed.

Even though Dhamaka isn't a film high on music but it's track Kya Khoya Paaya during the climax, pierces through your heart and stays with you for long, as it beautifully sums up the entire film. If you like thrillers, Dhamaka won't disappoint you and Kartik Aaryan , definitely impresses with his never-seen-before avatar and a convincing performance.

• Kartik Aaryan

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Dhamaka Movie Review: A simple potboiler that mostly works

Rating: ( 3 / 5).

When you walk into a Ravi Teja film or a Trinadha Rao Nakkina directorial, you clearly know what you are signing up for—a true-blue Telugu masala entertainer—and that's exactly what you get in their recent collaboration,  Dhamaka . Like the title fittingly refers to, there's an attempt to sensationalise everything here; every tiny action and movement is exemplified in slow-mo with a thumping score from Bheems Ceciroleo, and trust me when I say this, Trinadha Rao embraces the masala and loudness whole-heartedly and approaches even the silliest of the ideas with full conviction.

Director: Trinadha Rao Nakkina Cast: Ravi Teja, Sreeleela, Rao Ramesh, Jayaram Dhamaka is yet another testament that this conviction is what separates Telugu filmmakers from others who try their hand at masala. There's no stopping writer Prasanna Kumar Bezawada and Trinadha Rao when they are aiming to land a punch dialogue or a joke; they charge at it without respite and go full throttle. What could have been one-line gags here are fleshed out into extended sequences. Take, for instance, the scene where Swamy (Ravi Teja, back to what he does best, comedy) learns about the hierarchy of the goons and decides to hit the biggest of them all. You expect the joke to end with dialogues but no, the film spins a whole sequence of action out of it and garnishes it with Ravi Teja's trademark comic timing. Does it serve a huge purpose to the story? Not really, but it doesn't annoy you either. In fact, it amuses you at many points. That's something I can say about Dhamaka as a whole. The story has a heavy Ala Vaikuntapurramulo hangover. There's a rich family, a middle-class family, we are told there are two heirs, there's an evil corporate villain (Jayaram, playing a cardboard character) who wants to grab the empire that belongs to the rich family, and a swap of sorts happens. You see, the elements are all there and the film does make the most of them for humour and mass action sequences. Dhamaka entirely exists on the writer's conviction, and the makers' attempts to not give the viewer any time to think. The moment you think about the logic of the story or why a character is behaving a certain illogical way, the entire film might come crashing down.  A lot of doubts about the narrative of Dhamaka are answered as the credits roll, but the reasonings are just not enough. Also, considering how the cold open is resolved, it is almost like the makers just cheated the audience. But, there is no dearth of explosive scenes in Dhamaka ! When the big reveal comes during the interval, it works like a charm, and you are once again reminded of the magic of the interval bang. The only ambition Dhamaka harbours is to give these high moments.   Let me tell you about the fun I had with the film. Rao Ramesh is a hoot whenever he appears on the screen. There's a reenactment of an iconic sequence from a Chiranjeevi film here and Rao Ramesh and Ravi Teja bring the roof down. After looking lost in Khiladi and Ramarao on Duty , Ravi Teja is back in his element, and with the film shaped around him and his strengths, it did feel good watching him do comedy that works. But it really is hard to overlook the age gap between him and his co-star Sreeleela, who plays Pranavi. And there's a distasteful husband-wife joke that was more concerning than funny. Yes, I know it's a masala film but perhaps it is not too much to ask filmmakers to be a little more cautious about what they think is funny. Dhamaka , in all, delivers what it promised. It is a self-aware entertainer that doesn't want to do anything more than entertain the audience. It feels engineered to cater to the masses, but that's fine because it largely succeeds in doing what it set out to do.   

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Home » Movies » Bollywood Movie Reviews

Dhamaka Movie Review: This Kartik Aaryan’s Explosion Is Scattered All Over The Place!

The bad for this kartik aaryan starrer is it exists in a world which already has movies like a wednesday.

Star Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Amruta Shubhash, Mrunal Thakur, Vikas Kumar, Vishwajeet Pradhan

Director: Ram Madhvani

What’s Good: Kartik Aaryan, Music & you’ll get them both in the promos which are way superior to the final product (Jokes apart, Kartik is good and so is the music)

What’s Bad: A director like Ram Madhvani falling for his own trap overlooking way too many p(l)otholes

Loo Break: You’ll either watch it at a stretch or be done with it within the first hour

Watch or Not?: Give it a try for Kartik Aaryan without expecting anything extraordinary from the story

Available On: Netflix

Runtime: 104 minutes

We’ve our mentally messed-up Radio Jockey in Arjun Pathak (Kartik Aaryan) who just gets introduced after a song which will laugh-out-loud at how single you’re. The song is Kasoor and the reason why it makes you feel so single it’s a flashback montage of Arjun living his happy life with his wife Saumya (Mrunal Thakur). He’s now sitting in his office with divorce papers in hand and gets a call giving tips about a bomb blast on Bandra Worli Sea Link.

He ignores the call only to see a portion of Mumbai’s 1600-crore ‘Golden Gate’ bridge getting erupted through a blast. Arjun gets the call again which he then uses to get back his spot at prime time television but little does he know what’s in the store for him. No, seriously, little does he know because there’s very little in the store for him.

Dhamaka Movie Review: Script Analysis

The major problem Dhamaka faces is the template it chooses to execute. Forget international, Bollywood has given us toll many movies following a similar route, some brilliant (A Wednesday, Table No. 21), some good to just about decent (Madaari, Knock Out), and some bleh (The Killer). Yes, all of these aren’t exactly similar to each other but the major sub-plot of these films is about the antagonist forcing the protagonist/s to do certain things at the gunpoint.

Now that we’re clear how they are related to each other, if you see the good ones from the above list they all had one thing in common. Movies like A Wednesday & Table No 21 had a perfect balance of bad and good in them. Dhamaka misses that, the ‘bad’ is so average that no matter how impeccable the ‘good’ is, it just stays unexploded throughout. Haven’t seen the original (The Terror Live) so let’s not draw any parallels. Tweaked by Ram Madhvani & Puneet Sharma, the story leans on Kartik Aaryan’s side way too much than it should.

This does good for the actor and not-so-good for the film because of the lack of connect with the antagonist’s reasons for torturing Kartik. Makers cut corners by showcasing the bomb blast through either television or Aaryan’s office window, and this surely weakened the overall impact. Manu Anand’s cinematography required to majorly capture the lead in just one room. It’s not easy to not be repetitive while using a single location, and Anand through some slow-mo, BGM heavy sequences arrests your attention only to be broken by the weaker side of the film.

Dhamaka Movie Review: Star Performance

Kartik Aaryan visibly puts everything he has into this one and anyone would’ve given the director is coming straight out of intriguingly interesting projects like Neerja & Aarya. Though the news reporter’s shade of his character comes across as overworked at times, he balances it with its dramatic nuances.

With the lines & range he got to portray, there was a chance of overdoing at every next scene but thankfully he keeps the control avoiding crossing the line.

Amruta Shubhash plays the role of Kartik’s immediate cruel trp-minded boss in the film & she’s just about okay. It’s majorly because of the paper-thin arc her character gets. There’s no development at her end making her sound monotonous throughout the film.

Mrunal Thakur’s special appearance adds the necessary drama but the execution is poor. Was a love story amid all the thrills required? Not necessary but if you’re adding it, you’ve to stay honest to it even if it takes 10-15 minutes of your runtime. The emotional connection would’ve been way stronger if the makers could’ve taken just a little more than the song to develop the romance between the leads.

Dhamaka Movie Review: Direction, Music

I’ve been a fan of Ram Madhvani & this project had all my attention since its announcement because I loved Neerja. This one fails at the scriptwriting level itself as Madhvani fails to bring in someone like Jim Sarbh to balance the other side of the film. He puts all the white, black & grey on Kartik’s character making it exhausting by the end. The move of showcasing 90% of the bridge-blast portions on TV wasn’t the right one as it doesn’t really evoke any palpitations on seeing it.

There are two songs in the film & both click really well but have one contrasting difference (apart from the genre of course). Prateek Kuhad’s Kasoor is in the start to lay out the lead’s chemistry and it works. But, Amit Trivedi’s Khoya Paya, despite being a chilling track, leaves no mark because it’s in the climax where everything is already scattered. It’s just another thing that despite being good doesn’t connect because of the script.

Dhamaka Movie Review: The Last Word

All said and done, if it was released 10-15 years ago, it would’ve been an acceptable film but not in the world where better films than this in a similar category already exists.

Two and a half stars!

Dhamaka Trailer

Dhamaka releases on 19th November, 2021.

Share with us your experience of watching Dhamaka.

A fan of Akshay Kumar? Read our Sooryavanshi Movie Review here!

Must Read: Sooryavanshi Movie Review: Rohit Shetty Sells The Prototype In Akshay Kumar After The Superhit Success Of His Hero Products Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh

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Dhamaka Movie Review

Article by Nanda Gopal Published by GulteDesk --> Published on: 6:00 pm, 23 December 2022

2 Hr 19 Mins   |   Action   |   23-12-2022

Cast - Ravi Teja, Sree Leela

Director - Trinadha Rao Nakkina

Producer - Abhishek Agarwal, T. G. Vishwa Prasad

Banner - People Media Factory, Abhishek Agarwal Arts

Music - Bheems Ceciroleo

After battling with failures, Ravi Teja made a strong comeback with Krack. However, his subsequent films Khiladi and Ramarao On Duty turned out to be disappointments. He now banks on Trinadha Rao Nakkina’s mass masala Dhamaka. Will Mass Maharaja entertain? Let’s check out.

What is it about?

Swamy (Ravi Teja) is a common man and son of Vasudeva Rao (Tanikella Bharani). He gets into fights and loses his job. He meets Pranavi (Sreeleela) and proposes to her. Anand Chakravarthy (Ravi Teja) is son of billionaire businessman Nanda Gopal Chakravarthy (Sachin Khedkar). Anand is considered for Pranavi. Pranavi likes both Swamy and Anand, but is confused about whom to choose. Anand’s company is in trouble due to a corporate baddie JP (Jayaram).  What’s the connection between Swamy and Anand? The film is about how the company and families are protected from JP. 

Performances

Ravi Teja as Anand and Swamy get very stereotyped roles which is tough to see him. The film banks on him, but he can’t pull this off. Sreeleela is a big asset for this mass potboiler. She oozes her glamour easily and sizzles the screen. She does magic in songs. Tanikella Bharani as a middle-class father is alright. Sachin Khedkar is the helpless businessman whose company is going out of his hands. Jayaram is shown as routine villain. Rao Ramesh as Sreeleela’s father gets the greedy father role but his character has less seriousness and more fun. Hyper Aadi’s comedy is not fulfilling. Praveen gets wasted. None of the characters leave a strong impact.   Technicalities

Director Trinadha Rao got a big ticket chance to direct star Ravi Teja. Despite having Mass Maharaj, director fails to use the opportunity as he ends up choosing a lackluster commercial potboiler. Bheems’ energetic music works in the film’s favour. Visuals are eye-candy. The only blessing in disguise is the rich making and production values, the producers have splurged all over on a weak script. Songs are well shot.

Sreeleela & Songs Production Values

Weak Script Routine Elements

Ravi Teja and mass are synonymous. So, he chose a film that has no potential to work. It is totally dated. It is 90s film made by Trinadha Rao Nakkina with a routine treatment. Weak script, predictable scenes, streotype characters and bad humour make Dhamaka a Dhamaal.

One wonders what made Ravi Teja sign Dhamaka, probably a big fat pay cheque. The film is on familiar note with no fire works. In fact, the film reminds us of Allu Arjun’s Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo with Ravi Teja playing the dual role as Raju & Bantu. Thus, the mass masala film badly misses on many counts.

Ravi Teja mercilessly beats the goons like in any commercial protagonist.  It is his energy which makes us sit through the entire film hoping for some miracle at the end. But no where one finds miracles. There is a small twist in the first half which also doesn’t work much. Once the cat is out of the bag, the film doesn’ have anymore twists or interesting elements saved for the second half.

The songs, though interrupt the story flow, give some relief in this badly written script. Thanks to Sreeleela again. She scorches the screens with her dance moves and short-skirts. It is a treat to watch her explode. The high-octane action scenes are meant for the genre fans. Dialogues also go overboard as they sound artificial. Indra-inspired scenes of Rao Ramesh & Ravi Teja and spoof of some other popular scenes from old films didn’t work at all.

The villain who was shown as smart and intelligent gets fooled which isn’t shown convincingly. These act as fillers. It is a weak point which is dragged till the end. The story and scenes are predictable. The production values are impressive. On the whole, Dhamaka leaves totally disappointed. It is a routine commercial potboiler with no surprises and no thrills.

Verdict: Dhamaka Songs – Dhamaal Script!

Rating: 2.5/5

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Dhamaka Movie Review: Kartik Aryan Delivers An Absolute Blasting Thriller With ‘Dhamaka’

• 19 Nov, 2021 01:39 PM
• By Sameer Ahire

Dhamaka Movie Details Release Date: 19 Nov 2021 Genre: Action , Thriller Banner: LionsGate Entertainment , Globalgate Entertainment , Lotte Entertainment , Ram Madhvani Films , RSVP Director: Ram Madhvani Cast: Tuhinashu Chaturvedi , Samriddhi Chandola , Priya Tandon , Anuj Gurwara , Dhwani Acharya , Ashish Ranglani , Dilip Vasu , Ritviq Joshi , Mahender Singh Bisht , Aishwarya Chaudhary , Aeklavya Tomer , Soham Majumdar View Movie Details

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• తెలుగు

Dhamaka Review: No Explosive Material

Movie: Dhamaka Rating: 2.5/5 Banner: People Media Factory Cast: Ravi Teja, Sreeleela, Jayaram, Sachin Khedekar, Tanikella Bharani, Rao Ramesh, Chirag Jani, Ali, Praveen, Hyper Aadi, PavithraLokesh, Tulasi, Rajshree Nair and Others. Story, Screenplay, Dialogues:  Prasanna Kumar Bezawada Music: BheemsCeciroleo Director of Photography: KarthikGattamneni Editor: PrawinPudi Art: Sri Nagendra Tangala Fights: Ram Laxman, Venkat Co-Producer:  VivekKuchibhotla Producer: T G Vishwa Prasad Directed by:  Trinadha Rao Nakkina Release Date: Dec 23, 2022 

Ravi Teja's specialty is comedy. With "Dhamaka," he made a long-awaited return to the genre. Trinadha Rao has a track record of delivering hit comedy entertainers. As a result, their combination attracted a lot of attention. The film was released in theatres today.

Let us look at its high points and low points.

Story: Chakravarthy (Sachin Khedekar) runs a business empire and is told by doctors that he has a terminal illness and has only two months to live. Therefore, he decides to name a new chief executive officer and distribute some stock to his staff. Eventually, his son Anand (played by Ravi Teja) is expected to take over as CEO.

In contrast, Swamy (Ravi Teja), a lookalike of Anand, lives with his middle-class parents in the same city and has trouble finding work.

Swamy develops romantic feelings for Pranavi (Sreeleela). As Pranavi mulls over his proposal, her father (Rao Ramesh) arrives with a potential suitor. He is none other than Anand. She is perplexed. At about the same time, a ruthless businessman named JP (Jayaram) is on a spree of forcible acquisitions and has his sights set on Chakravarthy's company.

Will Anand, Chakravarthy's son, rescue the family business from JP on his own or turn to Swamy, his double?

Artistes’ Performances: Ravi Teja, known for his energetic performances, is once again in his element. If you're looking for some light fun, Ravi Teja's Swamy delivers. He is very dapper in his CEO persona. However, he fares better in the humorous bits.

There's no denying Sreeleela's glitzy vibe. Her part is, predictably, rather empty. In terms of dance moves, she matches to Ravi Teja's energy.

Jayaram as a villain and Sachin Khedekar as business magnet are perfect. Even though he plays a stock character, Rao Ramesh manages to elicit a smile or two. Hyper Aadhi routinely pulls the same Jabardasth punches.

Technical Excellence: The film is shot lavishly in a vibrant setting, but Bheems stands out among the technicians for providing upbeat mass numbers. Prasanna Kumar's dialogues are good, but his story and screenplay are overly formulaic. The cinematography, production values, and art work are all fine.

Highlights: Ravi Teja’s entertaining show Comedy portions Sreeleela’s glamour Two songs

Drawback: Story and screenplay Formulaic packaging The routine final episode

Analysis We get a sense of "Ala Vaikunthapurramloo" after a few minutes. The story and screenplay by Prasanna Kumar Bezawada are predictable, and it takes a long time for us to shake the feeling of "Ala Vaikunthapurramloo" (AVPL). Fortunately, the film has a twist that takes it out of the AVPL zone.

Director Trinadha Rao Nakkina understands Ravi Teja's strengths and has played the same game in the first half of the film, focusing on Ravi Teja's star power and comic timing. And Ravi Teja seizes the opportunity to provide entertainment by putting on an extravagant show.

Ravi Teja and Sreeleela's romantic track contains vintage fun elements. There is also a conversation in which Sreeleela says he looks muduru (old), implying the off-screen age difference between them. Scenes like these are entertaining.

These scenes aside, the story as a whole is a problem. The plot is clichéd. Despite an attempt to give a contemporary look, the screenplay retains a formulaic feel to the end. Songs, Sreeleela's glitz, and Ravi Teja's initial portions make the film watchable but the second half becomes a total routine act, and the climax is utterly boring. The fight sequences are another irritating factor.

The corporate games in the second half are tedious and ridiculous. Even if we keep our expectations low and prepare for the routine narrative, "Dhamaka" falls short. Dhamaka means a blast, but where is the implosion?

Overall, "Dhamaka" suffers from formulaic treatment as well as a weak story and screenplay. Only to a certain extent do the early comedy segments and the presence of the lovely Sreeleela work.

Bottom line: Mild Blast

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Dhamaka (2021) review – a waste despite having the formula

This review of the Netflix film Dhamaka (2021) does not contain spoilers. 

In every democratic country, the media is considered the fourth pillar of democracy. India is considered the largest democracy in the world. So, it is quite evident that alongside the pillars of the legislature, executive, and judiciary, the media has a fair share of responsibility to hold the roof of democracy. But in the past few years, this pillar loses its strength as it becomes more a representative of the authority than an independent self.

Amidst this concerning issue of the downfall of media, Netflix brings us the film, Dhamaka.  Directed by Ram Madhvani, this film is the official remake of the 2013 Korean film The Terror Live. Because I am not familiar with the Korean version, I watched Dhamaka  with total ignorance of the original. Thus I have high hopes for it, expecting some important issues to be talked about the sensationalized journalism of Indian media within it. But despite having some half-witted sequences of ranting for 104 minutes, Dhamaka has nothing more to offer. As well as in terms of a genre piece (action-thriller), it is not at all convincing.

Revolving around the story of a cynical TV anchor’s attempt to capitalize an alarming call of blasting the Mumbai ‘Sea-Link’ bridge from a caller, the film stars actors like Kartik Aaryan, Mrunal Thakur, Soham Majumdar, Vikas Kumar, and Amruta Subhash. Kartik Aaryan, after all his comic and romantic leads, get his first break to play a serious character as the TV anchor, Arjun Pathak. I haven’t seen much of his work previously, but after watching this film, I have some serious doubts about his acting skills. An actor must have the charisma of taking forward the story with the believability of his acting. In Kartik’s acting, believability is missing in most of the scenes. Though the character is designed in an over-the-top manner, which is rightfully understandable in the context of the subject matter, Kartik is not quite convincing in it for me.

Amruta Subhash as the boss of Arjun is also a waste due to the heavy-handed writing of the character. The character is too one-dimensional with the typical ‘daayan’ (witch in Hindi) kind of aura, who doesn’t care much except her gain of TRPs as a high executive of a renowned news network. But with this wasteful representation of the character, Subhash manages to cover up some of the loopholes. Without her performance, the characterization will be a total disaster.

With Soham Majumdar and Mrunal Thakur, there is nothing much to talk about as they get limited screen time. Soham Majumdar as the caller, Raghubir Mehta, is absent from most of the film’s length. He is mostly playing a role of an invincible man talking on the phone. But the conviction he gives to his work profoundly can be felt after hearing his voice over the phone throughout the movie.

Completed in just about 10 days of shooting and four months of post-production, the hurriedness of the production profoundly can be seen in the whole movie. The sequences are hurriedly designed often too conveniently leads to a lack of believability, the buildup of the suspense is too flat to feel the thrill and excitement. Also, in a platform like Netflix, you will expect a high production value in all aspects, but in reality, that is far from it. The level of VFX is too low to be called the production of an international platform like Netflix. With all these, it shows the lack of care towards it from the creators of this project.

To be honest, I expect a lot from Ram Madhvani in  Dhamaka after his successful web debut with Aarya. But with a lack of effort in creativity, it becomes a waste despite having a good potential story about the present-day context with the formula of remaking.

What did you think of the Netflix film Dhamaka (2021)? Comment below. 

Article by Jonathon Wilson

Jonathon is one of the co-founders of Ready Steady Cut and has been an instrumental part of the team since its inception in 2017. Jonathon has remained involved in all aspects of the site’s operation, mainly dedicated to its content output, remaining one of its primary Entertainment writers while also functioning as our dedicated Commissioning Editor, publishing over 6,500 articles.

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Dhamaka Movie Review and Rating

Movie Review:  Dhamaka

Director:  Trinadha Rao Nakkina

Producers:  Abhishek Agarwal and T G Vishwa Prasad

Music Director:  Bheems Ceciroleo

Starring:   Ravi  Teja, Sree Leela and others

 Release Date :  December 23, 2022

 Rating :   3/5

Dhamaka Movie Review :   Ravi  Teja , Sree Leela and others starrer action drama Dhamaka, helmed by Trinadha Rao Nakkina has finally hit the theaters today on 23rd December. Let’s see the story of Dhamaka.

 Story:  Swamy(Ravi Teja) is working hard with the responsibility of marrying his sister (Monica Reddy), and when he unexpectedly loses his job, his father Govinda Rao (Tanikella Bharani) makes efforts to get her married. On the other hand, Chakraborty (Sachin Kedkar) is trying hard to get his son (Ravi Teja) in the field as the future CEO of People’s Mart Group. The movie  is about a corporate giant and what happens when it decides to take over People Mart. What is the story behind the dual track and how they come together to fight. If you want to get these answers, you have to watch the movie Dhamaka on silver screen.

 Plus Points:

·         Ravi Teja

·         Performance

·         Comedy

·         Songs

 Minus Points:

·         Few illogical scenes

·         Climax

  Performance:  It’s good to see  Ravi Teja in a stylish action avatar. There are so many facets to his character.  He is completely energetic in the film.  The dual shades variations are predictable.  He will be liked by everybody in this film because he has put in conscious effort to make a difference.  It’s a feast for  Ravi Teja’ fans. Sree Leela is  entertaining in the movie. She looks good in a limited role. She is attractive in massy songs. Sachin Khedekar, Rao Ramesh, Jayaram, Tanikella Bharani, Sita, P Pavitra Lokesh, Sameer, Praveen, Hyper Adi, and other veteran actors  justify their roles.

 Technical:    The story of Dhamaka is routine but the director Trinadha Rao Nakkina managed to impress the audience to some extent with a new treatment.  Apart from some flaws in the movie, the whole movie is enjoyable.  The music provided by Bheems Cicerolio is a plus for the movie. The Jinthaak, and the conductor’s song in the second half are good. He provides much needed impetus with BGM and breathes energy into many scenes in the film. Cinematography is pleasing to the eye. The production values are good.

 Analysis:   Overall Dhamaka is a typical commercial entertainer.  Plus points of the film are Ravi Teja’  performance, Bheems Cicerolio’ music and commercial elements. There are a few illogical scenes here and there in the movie and the climax is weak.  You may watch it!

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2020, Romance/Comedy, 2h 1m

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Dhamaka   photos.

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Original Language: Malayalam

Director: Omar

Runtime: 2h 1m

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Nikki Galrani

Sabumon Abdusamad

Idavela Babu

Dharmajan Bolgatty

Hareesh Kanaran

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The launching pad for Bertrand Bonello ’s new picture “The Beast” (“La Bete”) is a 1903 short story by Henry James called “The Beast in the Jungle.” Seen by some James scholars as an autobiographical expression of rue for a life of inaction, it treats the case of John Marcher, who confides in his acquaintance May Bartram that he lives in fear of an unnamable catastrophe that could upend his life, and the life of anyone close to him. She claims to get what he’s talking about.

“‘You mean you feel how my obsession — poor old thing — may correspond to some possible reality?’

‘To some possible reality.’

‘Then you will watch with me?’”

And so May does. And Marcher’s fear translates into a passivity that compels him to hold May at arm’s length for the rest of his life. At the end of the story, he mourns a love he never allowed himself to have and understands that the catastrophe was his own fear.

In Bonello’s film, the fear belongs to the popular Parisian concert pianist Gabrielle Monnier ( Lea Seydoux ), who, around the time of the great 1910 flood of France’s City of Lights, confesses this fear to Louis ( George MacKay ), a young Englishman with whom she soon begins a tentative liaison. But the trouble they encounter has nothing to do with Gabrielle’s reticence to enter into a romantic relationship with Louis—although that does exist.

Bonello’s not here to tell us that the only thing to fear is fear itself. He’s here to tell us to be afraid—be very afraid. What he delivers is not just a densely packed art movie but the most potent horror picture of the decade so far. A vision of three (actually four) nightmare times, all of them in the same vexed world.

The cataclysms that fall upon Gabrielle—played by a superbly controlled and often heartbreaking Lea Seydoux—aren’t spiritual or conceptual (well, of course, at first, they are), they’re “real,” or Real. They’re corporeal/physical, or simulations of the corporeal physical. And they’re unavoidable. Boy oh boy can you not stop what’s coming. Close that browser window, rewind that video, press mute on the sound system, reset the house alarm, none of it will do you any good. Not even an alteration in the fabric of reality itself—and this seems to occur at least a half dozen times in the picture—will stave off horror. The beast isn’t in the jungle, it’s in the house, and it’s in the air we can only barely breathe when the movie gets to 2044. It is in us; it is us.

Sounds cheerful, right? Well, what can I tell you? Bonello has a way of throwing us into an enhanced vision of the degrading noise of contemporary life that’s all the more engaging for being so even-handed and deliberate. I mentioned three timelines that are actually four—the movie is framed, kind of, by a green-screen session in which Seydoux, possibly playing Gabrielle, possibly playing herself, is coached through paces for a scene in which she actually apprehends “the beast” and lets out a blood-curdling scream. The image degenerates into a gorgeous abstract mural of pixels. Digitization is here both a source of ravishing sights and sounds and an Excedrin headache of aural and visual glitch. The movie then bounces through three time periods: 1910, 2044—where Gabrielle’s character seeks to abolish her reincarnation torment through a “DNA purge”—and most terrifyingly, 2014, wherein “Gabby” is housesitting in L.A. and targeted by the angry incel version of MacKay’s Louis—Louis Lewansky, who’s 30 and never been with a woman despite his “magnificence,” and who’s now getting ready to avenge himself.

Dolls are a recurring motif here—there are old-fashioned ones made for fans of the pianist Gabby, and unhelpful talking doll in the Hollywood house, and a walking, talking A.I. helper (played by Guslagie Malanda , as impressive here in a relatively small role as she was in the lead of 2022’s “ Saint Omer ”). An electrical fire figures in the 1910 sequence; a malware attack on a laptop is one of the insane blowups in the 2014 scenario. There are bits and pieces here that feel Lynchian, especially in the Los Angeles scenes, during which Gabrielle is fascinated/repulsed by a TV singing contest show that feels like it might have sprung full blown from the creator of “Twin Peaks.” Then there’s the fact that the love song recurring throughout shows up at the very end, sung in its original version by, well Roy Orbison. But unlike Lynch, Bonello has a decidedly un-obscure point to make. Mainly about how the pursuit of the authentic in life is invariably thwarted by roadblocks of humanity’s own making. (Although one supposes that the eighth episode of the 2018 “Twin Peaks” season treated that theme in a relatively unambiguous way.)

“There must be beautiful things in this chaos,” Gabrielle tries to reassure the movie’s scariest version of Louis at one point. Bonello, and this movie’s, greatest dread is that someday a terrible order will emerge, one that will make whatever beauty remains disappear. 

Glenn Kenny

Glenn Kenny was the chief film critic of Premiere magazine for almost half of its existence. He has written for a host of other publications and resides in Brooklyn. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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Movie Reviews

'la chimera' is marvelous — right up to its most magical ending.

Justin Chang

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera . Neon hide caption

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera .

The wonderful 42-year-old filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher practices a kind of cinema that I've come to think of as "Italian magical neorealism." She gives us portraits of hard-scrabble lives in poor rural communities, but they're graced by a whimsical, almost fable-like sense of enchantment.

Rohrwacher's 2014 film, The Wonders , was a lyrical drama about a family of Tuscan beekeepers. She followed that in 2018 with Happy as Lazzaro , about a group of sharecroppers on a tobacco farm whose story moves from picaresque comedy to aching tragedy.

'The Wonders' Of Family And Change

Her marvelous new movie, La Chimera , follows in much the same vein, with one key difference. While Rohrwacher has generally worked with non-professional Italian actors, this time she's cast the English actor Josh O'Connor , best known for his Emmy-winning performance as a young Prince Charles on The Crown .

But O'Connor's character here doesn't give off even a whiff of royalty, even if his name is Arthur. When we first meet him, he's asleep on a train bound for his old stomping grounds in Tuscany. He's just been released from prison after serving some time for the crime of grave robbing.

Arthur has a mysterious archeological talent: Wielding a divining rod, he can detect the presence of buried artifacts, many of which date back to the Etruscan civilization more than 2,000 years ago. Arthur works with a group of tombaroli , or tomb raiders, who rely on him to figure out where to dig.

Upon his return, many of those old friends welcome him back with a parade — one of several moments in which Rohrwacher briefly channels the vibrant human chaos of a Fellini film. Arthur is a little reluctant to rejoin his old gang, since they let him take the rap after their last job. But he doesn't seem to have anything else to do, or anywhere else to go. He may be an outsider — his Italian throughout is decent but far from perfect — but it's the only place in the world that feels remotely like home. And O'Connor plays him with such a deep sense of melancholy that it feels almost special when his handsome, careworn face breaks into a warm smile.

It's not immediately clear what Arthur wants; unlike his cohorts, he doesn't seem all that interested in making money off their spoils. The answer turns out to lie in his dreams, which are haunted by a beautiful young woman named Beniamina — the love of his life, whom he's lost under unclear circumstances.

And so Arthur's determination to go underground becomes a metaphor for his longing for an irretrievable past: Beniamina is the Eurydice to his Orpheus, and he wants her back desperately.

Arthur is still close to Beniamina's mother, Flora, played with a wondrous mix of warmth and imperiousness by the great Isabella Rossellini. Her presence here made me think of her filmmaker father, the neorealist titan Roberto Rossellini — a fitting association for a movie about how the past is forever seeping into the present.

One of the pleasures of Rohrwacher's filmmaking is the way she subtly blurs our sense of time. La Chimera is set in the 1980s, but it could be taking place 20 years earlier, or 20 years later. Rohrwacher and her brilliant cinematographer, Hélène Louvart, shot the movie on a mix of film stocks and sometimes tweak the image in ways that evoke the cinematic antiquities of the silent era. As sorrowful as Arthur's journey is, there's a playfulness to Rohrwacher's sensibility that keeps pulling you in, inviting you to get lost in the movie's mysteries.

One of the story's most significant characters is Italia, played by the Brazilian actor Carol Duarte, who works in Flora's household. Italia is a bit of an odd duck with a beguiling bluntness about her, and she might be just the one to pull Arthur out of his slump and get him to stop living in the past.

I won't give away what happens, except to say that La Chimera builds to not one but two thrilling scenes of underground exploration, in which Arthur must finally figure out his life's purpose — not by using a divining rod, but by following his heart. And it leads to the most magical movie ending I've seen in some time, and also the most real.

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Movie Review: Ken Loach, longtime chronicler of social ills, seeks a hopeful note in ‘The Old Oak’

This image released by Zeitgeist Films shows a scene from “The Old Oak.” (Zeitgeist Films via AP)

This image released by Zeitgeist Films shows Ebla Mari, left, and Dave Turner in a scene from “The Old Oak.” (Zeitgeist Films via AP)

This image released by Zeitgeist Films shows Ebla Mari in a scene from “The Old Oak.” (Zeitgeist Films via AP)

This image released by Zeitgeist Films shows Dave Turner in a scene from “The Old Oak.” (Zeitgeist Films via AP)

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In so many ways, TJ Ballantyne is a classic Ken Loach hero: a working-class, middle-aged man trying to simply eke out a dignified living, but meeting obstacles at each turn — a victim of unforgiving social realities that leave people like him in the dust.

Like many of these Loach protagonists, TJ can’t get a break — even from gravity, as when he tries to fix the wooden letter “K” that rests above the Old Oak, the dilapidated pub he runs in a former mining town that’s been in decline for decades. Talk about decline: That letter keeps tilting downward, even when TJ fixes it with a broomstick. He turns away and it simply falls again.

Loach has never been subtle with his messaging, and why should he start now, at the apparent end of his filmmaking career? The 87-year-old director, who’s made nearly 30 features, has said “The Old Oak” is likely the last. He’s said that before, but assuming it’s true, the film is a poignant and moving coda to a career spent chronicling personal indignities amid broader social ills like poverty and unemployment.

And now, the migrant crisis. Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty address this through an unusual friendship between TJ and Yara, a young Syrian woman and refugee who ends up, with her family, in the town, to the hostility of many. For once, a man like TJ and his fellow villagers, all struggling, are not the neediest in the story. There are others who need even more help. In this story of two communities at odds, Loach seeks to end a trilogy of films set in northeastern England on a message of conciliation and hope.

We begin somewhere near Durham, in 2016. Syrian war refugees have been arriving in Britain as they have elsewhere in Europe, and it’s no surprise that some have been sent to a desolate former mining town where housing is dirt cheap.

Some of the locals are furious about the intrusion. In a devastating pre-credits sequence, the busload of refugees arrives to taunts from the townspeople, who say they weren’t even warned. “Who are they? Where are they from? More Muslims?” some shout out, profanities added. Others, like TJ and family friend Laura, try to help get the families settled.

Yara (Ebla Mari), who’s in her early 20s, has arrived with her mother. Her father, who is either imprisoned in Syria or dead, had gifted her with a camera, and she’s using it to document her arrival (the sequence is shown through her photos). An angry man in a football jersey tussles with her and her camera drops to the ground, broken.

During their research, Loach and Laverty noticed that many pubs in former mining towns were now shuttered. In their story, the Old Oak is the last remaining pub, and moreover the only gathering space left in town. Over pints poured by TJ, men he grew up with — Charlie, for example, whose wife is ailing and whose house has plummeted in value, and Vic and Eddy, the angriest of the bunch, complain about the interlopers. “We can’t even take care of our own kids,” they say.

The transition is ugly. Young boys are bullied at school. When a local girl falls ill, Yara tries to help by accompanying her home to rest; the mother arrives home and throws the young Syrian violently out of the house.

For TJ, whose marriage has failed and who’s estranged from his son, things go from bad to worse. His only companion is a beloved former stray dog who appeared in his life at his darkest moment; she is constantly threatened by nasty dogs owned by thugs. A former miner himself, he’s holding onto his pub by the skin of his teeth. And now, some of the locals want to use his empty back room to hold a meeting and air grievances about the migrants. He makes excuses.

Further conflict ensues when TJ agrees to use the back room for a far different purpose: to serve free meals, as a way of building community, and a throwback to solidarity during labor unrest decades earlier. This works beautifully for many, but the most negative voices in the town — in scenes that occasionally feel a tad heavy-handed — continue to sow discord and harass the Syrians, all while denying they are racist. “All we want is our pub back,” they say.

Worse is to come for the Old Oak, which essentially becomes the main character here: a connection to a happier past for the village, a key part of a troubled present, and a source of possible hope for a harmonious future.

And it is indeed hope that infuses the closing scenes, unlike many a Loach film. Yes, there are a few too many speeches that sound like, well, speeches rather than dialogue. And the resolution arrives just a bit too quickly and easily.

But these seem like forgivable sins. After nearly six decades of filmmaking, hope is not too bad a place to end up.

“The Old Oak,” a Zeitgeist Films release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 113 minutes. Three stars out of four.