Neha Dhupia, Angad Bedi announce pregnancy
Actress Neha Dhupia took to her social media on Monday to announce her second pregnancy.
Neha uploaded a picture with actor-husband Angad Bedi and daughter Mehr.
Holding her baby bump in the picture, the actress captioned the image as: “Took us 2 days to come with a caption. The best one we could think of was, Thank you, God. #wahegurumehrkare.”
Angad also posted the same picture on Instagram and captioned it as: “New Home production coming soon.. Waheguru mehr kare.” Angad and Neha are parents to two-yearold Mehr Dhupia Bedi. The couple got married in 2018 in Delhi. IANS
The stereotypical action shot of a glove clad fist pummeling into a sweaty face and the slow-motion effect of the punch on human flesh is a classic trope seen in most boxing dramas. In Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s
Toofaan, out on Amazon Prime, these stylized shots are used to great effect. Having a muscular Farhan Akhtar play the underdog who fights against all odds to rise in the sporting arena, doesn’t hurt either.
As Aziz Ali, the banian-clad roadside goon (a Muhammad Ali fanboy to boot) from Dongri hired by a local don (Vijay Raaz, grossly under utilised in a minuscule appearance) to extort rents from shop owners, Akhtar plays to the gallery.
All the traditional tapori tropes are utilised — the knotted shirt and bindaas attitude, the gangster with a heart of gold who can pummel 5-6 guys with his bare fists and break into a street dance surrounded by adoring orphans, the pretty upper class girl who falls for the goodhearted ruffian.
Toofaan projects Ajju Bhai as a rough around the edges street fighter who rises up the rank to rewrite boxing history. Mrunal Thakur as Dr Ananya Prabhu is sweet though we never quite understand the attraction between her and Aziz unless like us of course she fell for his ripped arms and all that talk about wanting to lead a life of ‘izzat’ (respect).
Paresh Rawal as renowned boxing coach Nana Prabhu is suitably tough though he is made to mouth some inane ‘derogatory’ comments that is least convincing. Even Aziz’s sidekick, played by Hussain Dalal is only called upon to break into a dance and chaperon the hero around town.
Does Toofaan go beyond a conventional sports drama? Not so much we’d have to admit and even the addition of the communal angle doesn’t shake things up majorly with the makers opting to take a politically safe and sterile path.
It’s of course good to see a Bollywood movie attempting, however feebly, to fight propaganda about ‘love jihad’ or the challenges faced by a certain community to rent accommodation in a locality dominated by another. But it’s all done in such a superficial manner it comes across as token messaging with an intention not to upset anyone, that it loses steam.
A sports drama about a boy from the wrong tracks of life fighting his way out of the slums to make his mark as a national level boxer with a Hindu-muslim love story (however, tepid) added for effect, sounds like a textbook recipe for an intense human drama. But the only thing you are likely to be impressed by here is Farhan’s ripped muscles, especially in the latter half of the movie.
Now we would have paid good money to watch a movie purely on his transformation from a light-hearted roadside tapori to a boxer with a killer instinct inside the ring. As it stands Toofaan proves to be a mere storm in a teacup. At 2 hours and 40 minutes, this is one bout that may test your endurance levels.
Toofaan is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Toofaan
Director: Cast:
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Farhan Akhtar, Mrunal Thakur, Paresh Rawal, Mohan Agashe, Supriya Pathak