User reviews

Helicoper Eela is a picture where Kajol looks smashing - fit and trim, as if she hasn't aged at all after 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham'....and behaves as if she is the same age, through this movie!

Kajol was trying too hard in the early part of the movie. She seems to have lost a degree of her spontaneity and tries to make up for it with funny expressions. I was a little disappointed there - the role she played probably needed a more mature performance and less exuberance...but she looked wonderful and there are moments when her brilliant acting prowess does shine through.

The movie dealt with a very sensitive subject - 'Helicopter Parenting' but it did not come through as thoroughly as one would expect.

There is a degree of a lack of realism in the relationship between mother and son. To depict Helicopter Parenting, one needs to understand what it is. In the movie, the relationship feeds the mother's insecurities and the son is amazingly tolerant...till he feels he can't take it any more.

The music and performance towards the end of the movie seemed like something of a throwback to the famous Kuch Kuch Hota Hai guitar sequence.

The person who plays Kajol's husband ( Tota Roy Chowdhury) is rather insipid. Riddhi Sen as the son Vivaan is quite good but there is nothing scintillating about the performance.

It may appeal to Kajol fans ( I am one) but if you go for substance, you ain't getting any.

The heroine is a talented singer, but she ditches her career. Now her entire life revolves around her son. She packs his tiffin, she joins his college to keep an eye on him, she listens to his personal conversations, she gets involved in his friends lives. In short, she becomes intolerable. What happens next? Watch #HelicopterEela to understand how exactly a mother shouldnt be. Ur son needs his space, so give it to him. Dont make him the center of ur existence. Dont pamper him silly. Performances r good, but the script is very convenient n predictable. Rating 2.5/5.

I suggest you rather but a helicopter and fly away to a country which doesn't show this film!!

In case you have been wondering, just like me, about why the film is titled Helicopter Eela, here's a quick trivia. Apparently, helicopter parents are the ones who pay extra close attention to their children's lives and experiences. And that is exactly how Eela is.

She is constantly reminding Vivan about his dabba (tiffin), asking him to keep his cellphone aside and give her more time, walks into his room without any consideration for his privacy and also overhears his phone conversations.

Helicopter Eela is based on the Gujarati play Beta Kaagdo by Anand Gandhi. He joins Mitesh Shah in scripting the film, which is as predictable as expected.

Despite the insipid writing, the film wins your heart in a few scenes. And all credit goes to Kajol, who is back on the screen after 2015's Dilwale. She occupies most of the screen space and demands your attention.

In the end, Helicopter Eela is a well-intentional, popcorn Bollywood masala family film that will leave you with a smile.

The artificial nature of Helicopter Eela which further translates into oversmart takes on college/teen life, single-mother-son relationship, and one's quest a assuming a creative career makes you want to hate it. TN.

After a long time I got to see Kajol as the main character. It was a heart warming story that all of us moms can relate to in some way or the other. The love, obsession, pampering and fears of a parent have been aptly portrayed. Mothers are not made to just live their whole lives for their families. The acting was awesome. I liked the movie as well as the positive end.

Filled with over dramatization of events, Kajol's overacting, numerous obvious plot holes and every Bollywood cliche. Its amazing to see that they can even make you hate such a movie. I'm feeling disgusted to my bones after watching it. Not recommended at all (0/10)

#HelicopterEela Abundance of Love and All good intentions of parents can sometimes be sMothering. A Story of Single mother who has dumped her dreams, aspirations & fear on only child, with her desires on back-burner, only to keep upbringing right. The movie revolves around Mother @KajolAtUN from her 90s Singing career days to Current day, where teenage son needs some breathing space. The movie begins with story of struggling artist who has to do petty things before getting break in glamour world. Underworld threat to Producer, ends her album launch dream project. Her marriage ends when superstitious husband leaves alone and without any choices she keeps her dream and career aside to become helicopter parent and keep hovering around 24x7 till her sons teenage days and lands up in College to create nightmares & differences in Mother-Son relationship.

The movie avoids bigger complexities of relationships and keep it conventional superficial emotional nostalgic dramatainment.

@KajolAtUn had probably burden of carrying movie solo in mind, while hyperacting as SuperMoM. She ages, but remain glamorous. @RiddhiSen896 as a son is very natural, calm and mature and easily correlateable. @PradeepSrkar & @AjayDevgn has chosen universal appealing Mother-Son Coming out of Age Story but commercial aspect has got more weightage

This movie has different story line...movie was good but not great...overall 1 time watchable movie....

Kajol why? Someone has got to give her better advice on movies to do. This was awful.

Capable of being a short film is turned to be made a feature length. At just 2 hours, this film still feels lengthy. The main conflict moment isn't strong enough for the reactions that come afterward. If the conflict being the backbone, itself is weak, then the entire screenplay falls apart. Thus the film. Kajol is herself. Supporting cast is average. Very sad that Anand Gandhi was involved in the writing department. What a shame.

Man the movie could have been a lot better!!! with a great story thinking it neither was written properly nor directed....screenplay is average....songs are below average....1st half and last 5 minutes of movie are nice....acting by kajol and riddhi sen is good......others also have done well....neha dhupia is average......2.5/5 from my side......

HELICOPTER EELA is the story of a mother and a son. Eela Raitodkar (Kajol) is an aspiring singer and is in love with lyricist Arun (Tota Roy Choudhury). She gets a major break as a singer and actor in a pop song. However, in the middle of the song shoot, the project gets shelved after the underworld gives threats to the director, Mahesh Bhatt. Eela meanwhile gets married to Arun. Their son Vivaan is born soon. All is going well until one day when Arun gets the news that his relative, in his 30s, has passed away. This is when Eela casually remarks how all the men in his family have died before they reached the age of 40. This scares Arun who realises that his end might be near. He decides to abandon Eela, Vivaan and his mother (Kamini Khanna). Eela has to give up her singing aspirations as she gets busy in raising Vivaan. Some twenty years later, Vivaan (Riddhi Sen) is now a college student. Eela is still as paranoid about Vivaan as she was before. Vivaan feels suffocated and he advises Eela to pursue her music or complete her education so that she gets busy and doesn't bug him. Eela decides to do the latter and she joins Vivaan's college. If that isn't enough, she manages to get admission in Vivaan's class. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Mitesh Shah and Anand Gandhi's story is adapted from the Gujarati play BETA KAAGDO, written by the latter. It is very unconvincing. Still it could have been a bit decent if the script had covered some loose ends nicely. But Mitesh Shah and Anand Gandhi's screenplay is terribly flawed and all over the place. Also certain developments would leave the viewers stunned as it's so senseless. Mitesh Shah's dialogues are okay.

Pradeep Sarkar's direction is very weak. He has given some decent films in the past but HELICOPTER EELA is his worst film yet for sure. Also the film is titled so since Eela hovers around her son like a helicopter. But this is not explained properly in the film. Hence the viewers would be confused with regards to the title.

HELICOPTER EELA begins on a haphazard note. The film then suddenly goes into a flashback mode and the beginning of this portion is quite convenient, especially how Eela is praised by one and all in the music industry. But the worst part of the film is how Arun decides to leave Eela and his family for a silly reason. It is unbelievable how this bit of the script even got approved. Moreover, Eela's education is never stressed upon initially and there was no inclination that she is not a graduate. As a result, Eela suddenly deciding to join college seems random. Post interval, the silliness continues and things continue to happen at random. In a crucial scene, Arun arrives again and one expects things to heat up. But he leaves as suddenly as he comes back. Immediately after this scene, Eela is seen singing the song 'Oh Krishna you're the greatest musician'. Wonder what made the makers chose this song out of all songs. It is sure to induce unintentional laughter. The film gets a bit moving when Vivaan decides to stay away from Eela. The climax as expected is also far fetched and stretched. The end credit scenes makes one laugh wondering what exactly were the makers thinking.

Kajol delivers a fine performance and in some scenes, she does bring a smile and even leaves audiences teary eyed. In the flashback sequence however, she gets over the top. Riddhi Sen delivers a terrific performance. This National Award winning actor remains in his character and does very well. Neha Dhupia (Padma) is fine in a supporting role. Tota Roy Choudhury is laughable. Kamini Khanna is decent. Zakir Hussain (Principal Vivek Joshi) is good but in the end, it's funny to see him getting scolded by a student. Rashi Mal (Nikita) has a good screen presence. Chirag Malhotra (Yash) has an important part and is decent. The cameos by Amitabh Bachchan, Mahesh Bhatt, Ila Arun, Baba Sehgal, Shaan, Anu Malik, Ganesh Acharya etc add to the star value.

Amit Trivedi's music is nothing special. 'Ruk Ruk Ruk' is the best song of the lot and is thankfully not a remix created for the heck of it. It has a significance in the film. 'Mumma Ki Parchai' comes next and has quirky lyrics. 'Yaadow Ki Almari' is a bit underwhelming while 'Janam' doesn't work. Daniel B George's background score is in sync with the film's mood.

Sirsha Ray's cinematography is neat. Madhu Sarkar and Bhavani Patel's production design is rich. Radhika Mehra, Shubha Mitra and Punam Mullick's costumes is appealing. NY VFXwalla's VFX is terrible while Dharmendra Sharma's editing is haphazard.

I am actually surprised by all negative reviews for the movie . Yeah it is not a really well made movie but its a must watch for sure even if for once but must seriously . It has both negative and positive aspects . Many things seem force as a story , acting is bit over sometimes BUT even after all this makers tell a good story infact a fresh one , a story which is actually needed in present times because kids want their space and parents think it will going to create problems when in real not giving the space will definitely create problems which is ignore by our elder ones . I GUESS MAIN REASON THIS MOVIE DIDN'T WORK IS MORE THAN ITS MAKING , THE REASON IS PEOPLE ARE EMOTIONAL ENOUGH TO SEE PARENTS CRYING BECAUSE OF THEIR KIDS BUT NOT SENSIBLE ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THAT PARENTS UNKNOWINGLY CAN CREATE PROBLEMS FOR KIDS TOO OR JUST WANT TO IGNORE THIS FACT . This movie is worth watching , give it a chance .

I guess Kajol needs to change the definition of a good script, which she always speaks about. Being a Kajol fan,in an empty movie hall, it was so difficult to digest this film. I never thought I will have hard time watching her. Highly disappointing!!

This is the best movie I have ever seen in my life. Awesome story and great execution. Loved it!

Story- Absolutely Pathetic. Story gives no message for life, has no entertainment part, and no sense. Just a mother trying to be a shadow of her son, helping her in every thing of his life. This is very common thing when kids are dumb. It wasn't a topic for movie at all.

Acting- Kajol has always been an over actor. She kept the same thing here. Only screaming from beginning to end.

Drug addict Bollywood has no brain for a good story.

Pathetic no more words for overacters. Kajol should stay at home please don't act anymore

I was pretty surprised to see very poor reviews and ratings the film earned. Well, it's nothing sort of that. It's a likable modern day drama on the relationship between a single mother and her son, whom she's really possessive of and raises him against all odds. It somehow connects the 90s with the modern day portraying the aspirations of a single mother, which she has forgotten of.

Perfomance wise, all make a good effort, notably Kajol. The drama is witty and somehow creates an interest throughout. However, the result stills deems a bit polishing as the script itsn't very taut an it lacks the seriouness in the emotions at instances. A bit of work on script and dialogues could have saved it. Anyway, it still is a good film; and I recommend it to be watched to celebrate the next mother's day.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4.

Kajol is one of the most talented actresses in the bollywood cinema . But in this time we can't satisfied with this award wining actress performance. Specially he has done some over-acting and script is fail to maintain the good concept that contain this story. The only reason to watch this movie is Kajol. But when we compare this with her previous movies shuch as we are family , my name is khan and fanaa she acted as a mother role very lively and real way. But due to the lack of the script she could't make us cry and turn her to any nomination.............

But as a bollywood fan I invite you to watch this movie with good concept.