Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ (Mickey Virus, The Mystical Laws, Sooper Se Ooper, The Fifth Estate, Satya 2, Wake Up India, Ishq Actually and Dilli Gang) that was published in Newsband

New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Mickey Virus

Mickey Virus is a 2013 Hindi Thriller comedy film written and directed by Saurabh Varma. Mickey Virus is produced by DAR Motion Pictures in association with Trilogic Digital Media Limited & Awesome Films Pvt. Ltd. The film features Manish Paul, Elli Avram, Manish Choudhary, Puja Gupta, and Varun Badola as main characters.

The movie has an interesting plot. Mickey Virus is a comic thriller set in Delhi, India. When Delhi Police comes across a case revolving around hacking, they begin their search to find a computer hacker who can help them crack this case. The head of the police team ACP Siddhanth (Manish Choudhary), stumbles across Mickey Arora (Manish Paul), a lazy but street smart hacker who can actually help them solve the case. Mickey runs a grocery store in day time and creates virus's for anti virus companies in the night along with his Tom boy friend Chutney (Puja Gupta) who always helps him out in all odd jobs. He is also head over heals in love with a character he has created in his game called "Kung Fu Chameli" and will do anything to get out of hard work to do whatever he wants to do. Little does he know that ACP Siddhanth accompanied by Inspector Bhalla (Varun Badola) are tough nuts to crack.

The film has Manish Paul as Mickey Arora, Elli Avram as Kamayani, Manish Choudhary as ACP Siddhanth Chauhan, Varun Badola as Inspector Devender Bhalla, Puja Gupta as Chutney, Nitesh Pandey as Professor, Raghav Kakkar as Floppy and Vikesh Kumar as Pancho.

The Mystical Laws

A religious tract masquerading as a Japanese anime fantasy, The Mystical Laws was created and executive produced by Ryuho Okawa, the founder of a religion dubbed “Happy Science.” The movement, incorporating the teachings of Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha and Confucius — talk about hedging your bets! — informs this turgid epic which is one of the contenders for this year’s animated film Oscar.

Set in 202X, whenever that is, the film concerns the impending destruction of Earth as masterminded by the Godom Empire, led by the villainous Tathagata Killer, who faces little resistance thanks to the apparent helplessness of that former superpower, the United States, and the aid of “Mystical Technology” supplied by the beautiful Chan Leika, the CEO of a mysterious trading company.

Fortunately, the planet has a savior in the form of Sho Shishimaru, part of a mystical organization named Hermes Wings who is hailed by Indian monks as the second coming of Buddha.

In any case, it all leads up to an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good and evil, or -- as the Godom Empire’s swastika iconography and inspiration by the likes of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin indicate — God and godlessness.

Sooper Se Ooper

Sooper Se Ooper is a 2013 Hindi film written and directed by Shekhar Ghosh under the banner of Reliance Entertainment and Jigsaw Entertainment.

The film has Vir Das as Ranvir, Kirti Kulhari, Gulshan Grover, Deepak Dobriyal, Yashpal Sharma and Mohan Kapoor.

The film has an interesting plot. Ranvir's fortune is in dumps and selling his ancestral land in Mumbai is the only way to survive and Kukreja who has put all on stake has to get this land to stay away from the wrath of a 'bhai' and also achieve his dream of becoming a builder eventually! For both Ranvir and Kukreja this plot of land means everything and has to be got any which way. But the key to the land is Ranvir's mama Madho Singh Rathore, in Mandawa. Since the will wasn't made in Ranvir's name, so Mama has to give the NOC. Ranvir has to get his Mama to Mumbai within a month and Kukreja has to stop him from reaching Mumbai. We see the transformation of our protagonist Ranvir from a materialistic city youth to someone who is all for family and values and antagonist Kukreja from a 'dalla' to a gangster through this journey, which has some other real and funny characters as well. In the 1st half the city goes to a village and in the 2nd the village comes to the city.

The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate is a 2013 American thriller film directed by Bill Condon, about the news-leaking website WikiLeaks starring Benedict Cumberbatch as its editor-in-chief and founder Julian Assange, and Daniel Brühl as its former spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Anthony Mackie, David Thewlis, Alicia Vikander, Stanley Tucci, and Laura Linney are also featured in supporting roles. The film's screenplay was written by Josh Singer based in-part on Domscheit-Berg's book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World's Most Dangerous Website (2011), as well as WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy (2011) by British journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. The film is co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media.

The film has an interesting plot. The story opens in 2010 before flashing back to journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg meeting Julian Assange for the first time in 2007. Daniel's interest in online activism has led him to Assange, with whom he has corresponded by email. They begin working together on WikiLeaks, a website devoted to releasing information being withheld from the public while retaining anonymity for its sources. Julian and Daniel's first major target is Julius Baer, whose Cayman Islands branch has been engaged in illegal activities. Despite Baer's filing of a lawsuit and obtaining an injunction, the judge dissolves the injunction, allowing Julian and Daniel to reclaim the domain name. As their confidence increases, the two push forward in publishing information over the next three years, exposing secrets on Scientology and revealing Sarah Palin's Yahoo account and leaking the membership list of the British National Party.

Interspersed throughout the film are flashbacks hinting at Assange's troubled childhood and involvement in a suspicious cult. Daniel suspects that Julian was left scarred by his upbringing, signs of which involve the continued dying of his hair.

As the film ends, it is revealed WikiLeaks is continuing to leak information, Daniel has written a book on his involvement with the organization, and that Assange has threatened to sue in retaliation. Julian himself is shown to be holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, stemming from an outstanding warrant on sexual allegations. In an interview, he denounces the development of two upcoming WikiLeaks films, stating that they will be factually inaccurate (having been partly based on Daniel's book), and informs the viewer that individuals are what the government is afraid of.

Satya 2

Satya 2 is a Bollywood crime film with production design by Saini S. Johray, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, as a sequel to his earlier blockbuster Satya. The film stars Puneet Singh Ratn, Anaika Soti, Aradhna Gupta, Mahesh Thakur and others. The film tells the story of Satya, an immigrant who comes to Mumbai aiming to refashion the Mumbai underworld.

The film has an interesting plot. By the year 2013, Mumbai underworld was erased by Mumbai Police. Satya (Puneet Singh Ratn), a man without a past, comes to the city envisions the rebirth of his company.

We are now in 2013 and since there is almost no underworld now, it is clear that there's a vacuum and whenever there's a vacuum in any lucrative business there will always be an entrepreneur to step in. If Satya was a story of a man who came in 1998 and shaped the then existing underworld, Satya 2 is about another man who comes in 2013 to reinvent the underworld. This is a futuristic film not in terms of science fiction but in terms of that there's no precedent for the protagonist of Satya 2. He starts a new underworld company based on his study of the mistakes of all the earlier dons and also on the ways he develops to deal with the modern day policing methods.

The police is completely caught off guard by this never before experienced menace of the new Company. So in one line Satya 2 is about a man whose thinking starts where the earlier Dons thinking ended and where the police cannot even begin to think. This new age gangster will obviously be armed with the mistakes of the earlier gangsters and also with the modern day policing methods.

The film has Puneet Singh Ratn as Satya, Anaika Soti as Chitra, Mahesh Thakur as Lahoti, Naara as Amitriyaan, Aradhna Gupta as Naanthanda, Raj Premi as RK, Amal Sehrawat as TK, Kaushal Kapoor as Purshottam and Vikram Singh as Anna.

The soundtrack of the film consists of nine tracks composed by Nitin Raikwar, Sanjeev-Darshan, Kary Arora and Shree D and lyrics by Moied Elhaam, Nitin Raikwar, Kumaar, Sonny Ravan and Shree D. The songs are Tu Hai, Special, Maagne Se (Title Song), Palkon Se, Saathi Re, Taaqat, Control, Veerani and Satya Is Back Again.

Wake Up India

Bollywood actor Anjan Srivastav will play the role of a politician in the upcoming film Wake Up India. Reportedly, the film is closely modeled on former Prime Minster and BJP leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The film was earlier named as 'Democrazy'. Srivastava plays the role of the Chief Minister of a northern Indian state; however, his looks in the film clearly shows the Atal inspiration. Former cricketer, Sandeep Patil's son, Chirag is making his debut with the film. The director of Wake Up India, Bablu Seshadri accepts that Srivastava's character in the film resembles Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The film is an eye-opener for the people in terms of political awareness. It is a low-budget film and does not have any major actor. Mohan Joshi, Milind Gunaji, Anand Jog and comedian Asrani also act in the film. The present mayor of Agra, Ajula Singh Mahor, will also play the leader of the feminist group in the film.

Ishk Actually

Ishk Actually is a Hindi film, starring Rajeev Khandelwal, Rayo Bakhirta, Neha Ahuja, Ann Mithchai, Neha Ghelot and Siddharth Van Shipley. The film is directed by Anish Khanna and produced by Sunny Sharma.

The film has an interesting story. Gia is at a crossroads in her life, with the arrows pointing towards Neil in one direction and Kabir in the opposite direction. She grapples with making a decision as she's torn between the two worlds that she's been living in. Love is the unanswered emotion that leads to a series of life altering situations. Amazed at life’s sense of timing, she treads along a path that she believes will lead to her true love.

The film has Rajeev Khandelwal as Neil, Rayo Bakhirta as Kabir, Neha Ahuja as Gia, Ann Mitchai as Ann, Neha Ghelot as Sarah and Siddharth Van Shipley as Sid.

Dilli Gang

Dilli Gang is produced by Rajeshwar Tyagi and its star cast consists of Darshan Jariwala, Neena Kulkarni, Yashpal Sharma, Amir Dalvi and Asrani. Choreographer is Shabeena Khan, Director: Ashish Tyagi, Singers: Mika Singh, Javed Ali, Siddhant Madhav and Vikas Bhalla. Lyricists are Ibrahim Ashq, Vikram Chaudhary and Naveen Tyagi. Music Director: Amjad Nadeem, Siddhant Madhav and Sandeep Surya.

Dilli Gang is a Hindi crime movie and is based on murders of senior citizens in Delhi. Dilli Gang movie shows the real face of the society and how the youngsters are running away from their responsibilities towards their parents in order to make more dollars.

Two poems by Union minister Kapil Sibal are also featured in the movie and he himself has recited the poem in the beginning and at the end of director Ashish Tyagi's debut film.