Movies

devara-part-1-review-anirudhs-music-is-the-only-saving-grace-in-this-jr-ntr-starrer

Sat Sep 28 09:28:24 IST 2024

The Man of Masses has returned!

Although to do a sub-par film.

Jr NTR takes the lead role in the brand new Koratala Siva directional, Devara: Part 1. He plays a double role, as the titular character Devara, and his son Vara.

The movie also marks the Tollywood debut of Bollywood actors Saif Ali Khan, who plays the menacing Bhaira, with an under-developed story, and Janhvi Kapoor, the weak love interest of Vara.

The story is set in a village, Yerra Samudram, where the population is divided into four clans. These clans work together to provide a decent livelihood for their village by means of illegal activities.

They take on the challenge of hijacking British cargo ships, and target particular warehouse containers, loaded with explosives and ammunition.

They tactically take these smaller but very heavy containers and tie them to their fishing boats. With a little sprinkle of movie magic, the boats don’t sink.

The weaponry is sold to an arms dealer Muruga, who in turns sells them and is used to cause destruction to innocent people.

Devara finally wakes up on the right side of the bed one day and realises that what they have been doing is wrong and persuades the people of the other clans to turn to honest means of survival, a.k.a., fishing.

Bhaira, always wanting to resort to violence, does not agree with his views and the other clans back him, leading Devara to be a stand-alone hero.

The main character getting flung across a room, into a concrete wall, and proceeding to get back up without a scratch is not new, but it could have been passably enjoyable had it been backed by a decent plotline. The film does have a few thrilling fight scenes coupled with ever-so-obvious fake punches.

The movie opens with a lagging, heavy and serious first half but takes a 180 turn at the beginning of the second half, where the plot becomes lively and humorous, complimented by whimsical music that shifts the mood dramatically. The happy interlude ultimately gives way to the serious and headstrong plot.

Siva tries to squeeze out every bit of NTR’s RRR dance energy, probably owing to the fact that Naatu Naatu became a global sensation after bagging an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2023.

Janhvi Kapoor plays Thangam, whose only job was to swoon over Vara. The romance between Thangam and Vara served no purpose to the plot and just seemed like an added interruption. This comes as a surprise considering, Chuttamalle, a song featured in film, publicised heavily after its release last month, featured a romantic dance sequence between the two characters.

In comes Anirudh Ravichander to save the day. The musical genius does everything in his power to bring the plot alive. He ever so gracefully magnetised the scenes to his music, enticing emotions that the audience would not have felt otherwise.

Although the plot is cliché and the script is weak, Devara does end with a shocking climax, blindsiding the audience, but it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. Hopefully, they are acknowledged in a better part 2.

Film: Devara: Part 1

Language: Telugu

Director: Koratala Siva

Cast: Jr NTR, Saif Ali Khan, Prakash Raj, Janhvi Kapoor, Meka Srikanth, Shine Tom Chacko

Rating: 2/5

ghaath-review-an-exploration-into-complex-minds-of-men-struggling-for-survival

Thu Sep 26 13:22:47 IST 2024

The line between "right" and "wrong" often fades when survival becomes the sole law. The jungle embodies such a space—a world where every moment is a battle for life, and constant vigilance is the only defence against death. There are countless stories of individuals, who are certain they are on the "right" path and serving society, but who eventually transform their mission into something entirely self-serving. The complex minds of such men are what we see explored in filmmaker Chhatrapal Ninawe’s debut feature Ghaath (Ambush), which had its World Premiere at the prestigious 2023 Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.

The film abandons a linear narrative, weaving together the stories of three distinct characters with timelines that shift forward and backward, and also crisscross at different points. The narrative follows an undercover Maoist guerrilla following a police officer for revenge, another guerrilla desperately trying to escape death at the hands of his own cadre, and a cop negotiating the latter’s surrender while hoping to secure a transfer to a safer police station. Each is joined by a companion from the indigenous community, trapped between the state and the Maoists.

There are other triads too which is evident in the film. For instance, three essential elements of tribal life—land, water, and the jungle—form the backdrop for the film's mise-en-scène. While the film does not deeply explore the ideological intricacies of its characters, it suggests a central theme: at the core, every life is simply striving for survival.

Ninawe employs a minimalist approach to storytelling. While there are instances of shootings and deaths, he keeps the cinematic elements and drama to a minimum. The Nagpur-based filmmaker has experience in editing, cinematography, post-production supervision, and writing within the Marathi film industry, and this diverse background clearly enhances his filmmaking.

At the Berlinale, the film won the 15th Giuseppe Becce Award for Best Director, an accolade presented by Cineclub Verona and FEDIC magazine. Produced by Shiladitya Bora’s Platoon One and Manish Mundra’s Drishyam Films, along with Milapsinh Jadeja, Sanyukta Gupta, and Kunal Kumar, the film features Jitendra Joshi and Milind Shinde, alongside Suruchi Adarkar, Dhananjay Mandaokar, and Janardan Kadam.

Udit Khurana, known for his recent work on the popular Netflix documentary, The Hunt for Veerappan, handled the cinematography. He has done an excellent job of creating an immersive atmosphere for the audience, instilling a sense of anticipation for the unexpected at every turn. The film had its Indian premiere at Jio MAMI 2023, followed by a screening at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).

Movie: Ghaath

Directed by: Chhatrapal Ninawe

Starring: Jitendra Joshi, Milind Shinde, Suruchi Adarkar, Dhananjay Mandaokar, and Janardan Kadam

Rating: 3.5/5

the-buckingham-murders-review-kareena-kapoor-elevates-a-typical-murder-mystery-with-her-excellent-performance

Fri Sep 13 17:12:07 IST 2024

It is a typical crime thriller-murder mystery. A young boy is found dead in a car in Buckinghamshire; there are several cues—enmity between the boy’s Sikh family and Muslim business partners and notorious teens involved in drugs. Arrests are made on initial suspicions. An obvious plot twist comes when a grieving British Indian detective Jasmeet Bhamra enters the case and takes it upon herself to find the teen’s killers, motivated by her own personal tragedy. As usual, like most crime thrillers, the most unsuspected candidate emerges as the killer.

The much-awaited Kareena Kapoor Khan murder mystery The Buckingham Murders, directed by Hansal Mehta, stands its ground because of a restraint Khan. As Bhamra, she brings forth the perfect balance of a grieving mother and a focused detective. Khan, who has often outdone herself in roles like Chameli, and Jab We Met’s Geet, wears versatility on her sleeves. In the 2023 Netflix film Jaane Jaan, Khan was a whole new self in an unassuming role. With The Buckingham Murders, it is clear Khan is serious about picking scripts where she wants to let the actor in her play along and do the talking before she returns to stun the audience.

The supporting cast is at their professional best but chef-turned-actor Ranveer Brar, who has in the past proved his mettle as an actor in Modern Love Mumbai, is convincing as a Punjabi immigrant and as an abusive husband, whose anger knows no bounds. His talent knows no bounds both in the kitchen and now, onscreen.

However, the Hansal Mehta directorial fizzles out as a slow-paced stereotypical murder story where the usual happens. The problem lies in the conceptualisation that fails to surprise the audience with a new flavour, even as its A-lister does her job to perfection. Mehta, apart from his critically acclaimed films has, in the past, created cinema, close to perfection but missed the mark. Simran and Chhalaang are a few examples. The Buckingham Murders does not deserve to be written off, yet it passes off better as a Netflix watch, which happens to be its media partner.

Rating: 2.5/5

Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Brar, Sarah-Jane Dias

Director: Hansal Mehta

arm-review-tovino-thomas-yet-again-set-to-face-the-consequences-of-a-force-from-the-sky

Fri Sep 13 09:46:55 IST 2024

If I had a nickel for every time Tovino Thomas was cast in a film where he got caught up facing an anomaly from the sky, I would have two, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. That being said, the Minnal Murali star gave it his all in this film.

Donning a triple role in the movie, A.R.M (Ajayante Randam Moshanam) is predominantly set in the 1990s, with flashbacks to the year 1900 and 1950, where titular character Ajayan is eager to get rid of his grandfather's legacy of being a thief. However, he does bear the trait.

Tovino plays three characters. Kunjikelu, from 1900, is hailed in his village for bringing back an oil lamp statue, made by a neighboring kingdom, from a part of a star that crashed in his village, Haripuram. Maniyan from 1950, who, in contrast with his ancestor, is a skilled thief, hated by his village. And finally, Ajayan, a man who faces the brunt of his grandfather's art of thievery.

Of the three performances, Tovino delivered above and beyond with Maniyan. His portrayal of the character will make one wonder why the actor does not take on more antagonistic roles.

The movie opens with Kunjikelu's goosebump-worthy entrance, riding on a horse, a setting sun as the backdrop, beautifully intertwined with a musical score by Dhibu Ninan Thomas. Throughout the film, the music director perfectly encapsulated the emotions of the scene -- whether it be romantic or action-filled -- he delivered.

Director Jithin Laal, who has for years shadowed multiple directors, being the first assistant director on Ennu Ninte Moideen and Kunjiramayanam, and directed numerous short films, makes a remarkable debut with his feature film. His adept handling of a complex storyline and star-studded cast highlights his talent and marks a promising entry into solo direction.

The supporting cast does not fail, most notably Surabhi Lakshmi (famously known for playing 'Pathu' in the television comedy series, M80 Moosa), who plays Maniyan's wife Manikyam. She beautifully compliments Tovino's Maniyan and plays a loving grandmother to Ajayan, although her parenting style of promoting Ajayan's thieving ways as a child is questionable.

Krithi Shetty, who shot to fame in the Telegu movie Uppena, plays Lekshmi, Ajayan's love interest, and is also a motivation for the main character to prove to his fellow villagers that he is not like his grandfather. Actor-director Basil Joseph, as K. P. Suresh, provides the film a much-needed sprinkle of comedic relief, as Ajayan's sidekick.

Veteran Mollywood actor, Mohanlal, lends his voice at the beginning of the film, credited as the “cosmic creator”.

Other than Tovino's portrayal of Maniyan, which in itself is enough reason to go watch the film, A.R.M also provides stunning parallels between the past and the present – between Maniyan and Ajayan.

With plenty of slow-motion fight scenes for the audience to gobble up on, the sparring sequences provides a Malayalam action movie like all others. But what's a Mollywood movie without them, right?

Final verdict: Tovino should take on more menacing, villain roles.

Film: A.R.M

Language: Malayalam

Director: Jithin Laal

Cast: Tovino Thomas, Krithi Shetty, Basil Joseph, Harish Uthaman, Rohini, Aju Varghese

Rating: 4/5

goat-movie-review-its-thalapathy-vijay-versus-vij-ai

Thu Sep 05 17:37:08 IST 2024

Dish:

A Thalapathy Vijay film

Ingredients:

Opening action sequence: 1

Song right after the opening: 1

Family sentiments: As per director’s taste

Usual comic tropes: As per director’s taste

Politics: A pinch here…

Nostalgia: … a spoon there

Secret agent/soldier/policeman-turned-aam aadmi-turned either of them again: Sigh…

Songs: One too many

Heroines and friends/sidekicks as props: More the merrier

Yogi Babu: 1

Cameos: Subject to availability

Gore: As per director’s taste

Climax: There’s more to come

Fresh storyline: I am waiting!

Recipe:

Ah! Now that’s what it all boils down to. And that is where a chef like Lokesh Kanagaraj leaves his stamp.

It’s a fine line between a recipe for disaster or one for success, as far as Vijay movies are concerned. With The Greatest Of All Time (The G.O.A.T.), director Venkat Prabhu treads this line with AI as his balance pole. It does see him through much of the first half, but then the boon becomes his bane.

Vijay is at his usual charming self as M.S. Gandhi (a Special Anti-Terrorism Squad agent), with three friends – Sunil (Prashanth), (Kalyan) Prabhu Deva and Ajay (Ajmal Ameer) – as his gang, and Jayaram as their head, Nazeer, in Delhi. When he is not on a mission, he is a happy-go-lucky husband and father. Things turn tragic for Gandhi when a mission involving an adversary, Rajiv Menon (Mohan), comes back to haunt him while on a holiday with his family in Thailand.

Years later, a twist in Russia leads him to believe that things are finally looking up for him and his family. But he is proven horribly wrong. And this trigger-happy Gandhi is not the one to offer his other cheek to his enemies. More (predictable) twists follow, till the finale is set at the Chepauk Stadium, where M.S. Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings are taking on Mumbai Indians in an IPL match. Yes, you read it right.

The film may not go places, but it does take the viewer from Delhi to Thailand, back to India, to Chepauk Stadium, and finally to who-knows-where. It gets difficult to keep pace with the ever-changing locales, as it does with the resurrections.

There is hardly any back story to the gang of four SATS agents. Menon as the villain is unconvincing, as is the conflict between him and Gandhi. Consequently, the much-hyped face-off between Gandhi and Gandhi Jr falls flat.

Which brings us to the dollops of CGI used throughout the film, especially to bring to life Jeevan (Vijay as Gandhi Jr.). It will be hard to digest, even for a die-hard Thalapathy fan. While the de-aging evokes memories of a young, yesteryear Vijay, nostalgia alone cannot make up for some shoddy use of AI. And it’s not just with Jeevan, the climax, and some of the scenes abroad stick out like a sore thumb on the CGI canvas.

For a director whose filmography boasts of flicks like Maanadu, Chennai 600028 and Ajith-starrer Mankatha, Prabhu comes up short with The G.O.A.T. Despite Vijay’s star power, and some notable performances from Sneha (as Gandhi’s wife Anu), Prashanth and Prabhu Deva, the film struggles to hold itself together in the face of frequent predictable twists and turns, cliches and songs.

The G.O.A.T. is believed to be Vijay’s penultimate film. ‘Thalapathy 69’ is expected to be his last film, before he takes the political plunge. For his legions of fans, he is the GOAT, and so, this film is a celebration of sorts for them. But, Vijay as Jeevan in The G.O.A.T has given them a ray of hope. It’s not over until he says it’s over.

Film: The Greatest Of All Time (G.O.A.T.)

Language: Tamil

Director: Venkat Prabhu

Cast: Vijay, Sneha, Mohan, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva and others

Rating: 2.5/5

ic-814-the-kandahar-hijack-review-this-anubhav-sinha-directorial-is-one-of-the-best-based-on-real-life-series-to-date

Thu Aug 29 17:51:06 IST 2024

Since the arrival of OTT platforms and binge-watching, Indian series have shown a marked improvement in craft and skill at telling fictional stories.
But when it comes to mounting real-life stories for OTT, most have floundered, sometimes because they follow Netflix’s formulaic template, and sometimes because of who is telling the story. Delhi Crime, for example, the riveting show on the Nirbhaya rape case, was made with the help of Delhi’s former commissioner of police, Neeraj Kumar, and it naturally made heroes out of cops when it should have interrogated them.

Director Anubhav Sinha’s 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' is different.

Based on the 2000 book, 'Flight Into Fear: The Captain's Story', by Captain Devi Sharan and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury, and also aided by its own team of researchers and writers, Sinha’s series tells the story of the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines’ Kathmandu-Delhi flight with as much honesty as is permissible these days.

Over six episodes, beginning with five terrorists wresting control of the plane on Christmas eve, the series meticulously pieces together the eight-day national crisis with facts, and historical and geopolitical context and makes us view the hijacking from the perspective of all those involved.

The series' foundation — its story, screenplay, and dialogue — is strong, intelligent, sharp, and rich with interesting, relevant details.

We get the personal stories of passengers and a peek into the mindset of the hijackers. We get frustrated with the indecision of politicians and watch how the egos and biases of bureaucrats can trip the best intentions. In between all the worrying and tension, we get some light moments that add layers to characters and enhance our understanding of how the world and India's bureaucracy work.

The series, shot partly in Jordan, packs in a lot, has no flab, and is like a stunning symphony — of writers, camerawork (by Ewan Mulligan and Ravi Kiran Ayyagari), a stellar ensemble of actors and editor Amarjit Singh — conducted by Sinha.

The show is scripted, plotted, and directed like a thriller. The opening scene itself gets your heart racing and each episode ends on a hair-raising cliffhanger with a freeze frame. But the show’s tone and pace are several notches below the chest-thumping, flag-waving rescue missions we have been subjected to by Bollywood in the recent past.

'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' has many reasons to be enraged—at Pakistan, at Islamic terrorism, at the Indian government — but it is neither angry, nor hyper or sensational.

The series does not turn the hijackers into filmy villains, nor does it pin the blame for the hijacking on any one person, institution, or organisation. It doesn’t cast anyone as the hero either, except the crew of IC 814.

Its focus stays on telling us what happened—lapses, screw-ups, warts and all—without getting too sentimental or jingoistic.

Its brilliance lies in its cinematic craft, elegant storytelling, and humanist politics. And that’s why 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' is one of the best “based on real life” series to date, and not just from India.

'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' opens in Kathmandu where a RAW operative is keeping an eye on an ISI operative. Something is brewing and a report suggests this was dispatched to Delhi earlier. But no one took note.

It’s Christmas eve, and at around 4.05 pm, Indian Airlines’ flight takes off from Kathmandu airport with 178 passengers and 11 crew on board, including Captain Sharan Dev (Vijay Verma). A few minutes later, five men, brandishing guns and grenades, barge into the cockpit and hijack the plane. They were referred to as Chief (Rajiv Thakur), Doctor (Harminder Singh), Burger (Diljohn), Shankar and Bhola.

As news reaches Delhi, the country’s top intelligence officers and bureaucrats get into a huddle to monitor and manage the crisis. There's external affairs minister Vijaybhan Singh (Pankaj Kapur), MEA secretary DRS (Arvind Swami), Cabinet secretary Vinay Kaul (Naseeruddin Shah), IB associate director Mukul Mohan (Manoj Pahwa), RAW chief V.K. Agarwal (Aditya Srivastava) and his senior officer Ranjan Mishra (Kumud Mishra), among others.

There are no demands yet, but the hijackers want to take the plane to Kabul. Since there isn’t enough fuel, almost three hours after taking off from Kathmandu, the plane lands at Amritsar airport for refuelling. What transpires here is, perhaps, the most tragic display of India's political stasis.

As the pilot, with a gun to his head, begs for fuel, he is repeatedly told that the bowser is on its way. Passengers and crew pray, waiting to be rescued, and Punjab Police commandos have a plan and are waiting for a go-ahead to launch the rescue operation. But for 49 minutes, the only instruction that comes from Delhi is not to refuel the plane. Inside the plane, with rising tension and no fuel, hijackers stab two passengers and the plane takes off.

To give us simultaneous, live dispatches, the series flits between several places. We are with the crisis management group in Delhi which is trying to figure out who is to blame and who can help. We watch the foreign minister lean on Islamabad, Dubai and America to intervene, and the foreign secretary as he tries to establish contact with Afghanistan’s Taliban government. The IB additional director, however, is repeatedly talking of shooting and not arresting terrorists.

We are in the cockpit where the pilot is trying his best to save the passengers, while distraught passengers are being made to sit with their heads down. We watch family members grieving and demanding the return of their loved ones; while in Nepal, we run after the RAW operative who is trying to find out the contents of a mysterious bag that’s on board. We also visit a jail cell where Maulana Masood Azhar is being questioned, and watch a feisty newspaper reporter (played by Amrita Puri) who has all the dope and files sensational stories, but editor Shalini (Dia Mirza) insists on restraint.

After a brief refuelling stop in Lahore, the plane heads for Dubai where 26 hostages — some women and children — are allowed to deplane, and the body of Rupin Katyal is dropped on the tarmac before the plane takes off again.

In Kandahar, soon after the plane is escorted by a biker to a parking spot on the tarmac and is then surrounded by armed gunmen, Indian negotiators arrive and begin talking to the hijackers. Their demands are humiliating even to consider.

As negotiations drag on, passengers and crew learn to live with the unbearable stench rising from the toilets, which are clogged and overflowing with human excreta.

'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' doesn’t satisfactorily answer who planned and funded the hijacking, but it shines light on the circumstantial evidence and throws enough hints that ISI and General Pervez Musharraf were behind it all.

The Kandahar hijacking exposed how the then coalition government, led by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, which had just a year ago flexed its muscle with the Pokhran nuclear tests, floundered and was ineffective when it came to making decisions to save lives.

Even the terrorists-for-hostages deal struck marked a deeply embarrassing defeat for India especially because the terrorists who were released from Indian prisons — Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar—were later, separately, responsible for attacks on India, including the Indian Parliament, for financing one of the hijackers of the 9/11 attacks and the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Despite all this, the series goes easy on the government over its major screw-ups, and unlike the book, casts the exchange as the only choice available to the government.

PM Vajpayee and his home minister L.K. Advani are, in fact, entirely missing from the show. The only mantri we see is Jaswant Singh, the then minister of external affairs.

But the series’ writing, camerawork, acting, and editing make us forget these lapses.

The show’s writing credits are shared by Anubhav Sinha, Trishant Srivastava (who co-wrote Jamtara) and Adrian Levy (who, along with Cathy Scott-Clark, has written 'The Siege', on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks).

To give places, events, and people a context, the series sometimes interjects its narrative with grainy, archival footage to explain who, why, and what.

We get lessons on the two factions in Afghanistan — Taliban led by Mullah Omar and Al Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden — the geopolitics in the aftermath of India's 1998 nuclear tests at Pokhran, the 1999 Kargil war, Gen Pervez Musharraf’s coup and watch news clips of protests, press conferences in Delhi.

Usually, breaking the narrative is risky. But 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' pulls this off with confidence and these brief explanatory videos, often with a voiceover, add heft to the show and give it a stamp of authenticity.

The series has cleverly framed shots that make us feel as if we are present on the site, but with a partial view of what is going on.

A lot of the show is about slow diplomacy and bureaucracy at work, with stock scenes where officials are talking. The show's cinematographers lift these scenes with cinematic flourishes, as their camera moves around like a dizzy spectator.

The series has an excellent, fresh ensemble of actors. All of them are very good, but a few stand out. The two air-hostesses — Indrani (Patralekhaa Paul) and Chhaya (Additi Gupta Chopra) — two terrorists, Burger played by Diljohn, and Chief played by Rajiv Thakur, as well as Arvind Swami, Manoj Pahwa and Pankaj Kapur. Together they bring the humanity of their characters to the fore.

The series takes a lot from the book, including the nitty-gritty of events, conversations with the hijackers, and what went on in the plane. But it also leaves out a lot.

I suggest that you binge-watch 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack'

and then read the book to soak in heartwarming anecdotes of human perseverance.

On board IC 814 was an air hostess who continued to wear her attractive bindis throughout, as if reassuring herself and others that all will be well. Captain Sharan writes in his book of the quiet dignity of a Japanese passenger who would freshen up and get dressed every day and then look for a place to smoke.

He also shares that as passengers began leaving the plane in Kandahar, he instructed his crew to stand at the gate with folded hands.

Anubhav Sinha's 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' honours the captain, his crew, and the passengers.

Movie: IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack

Cast: Vijay Verma, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swami, Kumud Mishra, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Aditya Srivastava, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Anupama Tripathi, Dia Mirza, Amrita Puri, Patralekhaa Paul, Additi Gupta Chopra, Rajiv Thakur, Harminder Singh, Diljohn

Directed by: Anubhav Sinha

Rating: 4/5

angry-young-men-an-entertaining-home-video-that-mollycoddles-salim-javed-duo

Tue Aug 20 16:37:40 IST 2024

Angry Young Men, a three-part series directed by Namrata Rao, is crafted like the many Bollywood blockbusters that its protagonists — Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar — wrote together.

Starring their wives, children, colleagues, friends and fans, the series is devoted to not just telling the story of a very successful and almost epochal collaboration, but also to cast them as the best writers Indian cinema has ever had.

That Salim-Javed were a formidable, talented pair who demanded and ensured that writers are treated with respect and given their due credit is undeniable. That their films gave at least two generations of Indians a role model, a hero to worship and emulate — even if he was angry and problematic with severe mummy-daddy issues — is a fact.

But, to say that they were and still are the best writers Indian cinema has ever had is a bogus claim. Or to say that the films made on their stories were box-office hits only because of their writing is the sort of tall tales kids tell to establish, "My daddy is the greatest".

This is not what adult, seasoned writers and filmmakers do. Angry Young Men, produced by Khan and Akhtar’s children, rightly celebrates two exceptional writers. The series is entertaining, gives us interesting details and peeks into the personal and professional lives of the duo. It takes us back to the world where a character’s swag was conveyed with a simple line: “Main aaj bhi phenke hue paise nahin uthata.” (from 1975 film Deewaar).

But it doesn't cast a critical eye on the collected works of Salim and Javed, making it more a hagiography than a biography.

Namrata Rao’s series begins with a stylish bang — with quirky editing that is to be expected of one of Bollywood’s top editors. It opens as Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar are settling down for their interviews. Then Rao throws in the most appropriate, and obvious, dialogue from Sholay to establish what her series is about before breaking into animation for the opening credits inspired by how films looked and sounded in late 70s and 80s -- a breathless chase choreographed to match R.D. Burman’s sexy background score.

This leads to talking heads where the Khan and Akhtar children recall what life was like at home when the two worked together, and then hand over the baton to other directors, critics, analysts to establish the impact Salim-Javed had on the film industry.

Salim-Javed’s collaboration began with Ramesh Sippy’s Andaz. Then they wrote Seeta Aur Geeta (1972), the series says, without mentioning the Telugu original - writer D.V. Narasaraju’s Ramudu Bheemudu, starring N.T. Rama Rao, or its legit Bollywood remake, Ram Aur Shyam, starring Dilip Kumar.

The series skirts these uncomfortable details because, well, Salim-Javed next wrote Zanjeer (1973) and ushered in the age of the writer.

In one fell swoop, they disrupted the golden era of romance. Their angry young man, Vijay, played by Amitabh Bachchan, ended Rajesh Khanna’s long, almost uninterrupted streak of hits, and gave India a new superstar.

The first episode focuses on how the partnership between Salim and Javed - two brats with massive egos - was formed and how they created a space for themselves with a lot of talent, but also arrogance, chutzpah and audacity. On the release of Zanjeer, they hired a man and made him go around Mumbai stamping “Written by Salim-Javed” on the film’s posters.

The episode dwells in detail on how these “arrogant, angsty, outsiders” created an “angry, angsty” hero who didn't smile or sing songs. Instead, he snapped at everyone, brooded and took on daunting villains with such delicious insults that we freely use those one-liners even today.

The series suggests that their angry young man Vijay, who appeared in five films — Zanjeer, Deewaar, Trishul, Kaala Patthar and Shakti — carried shades of their own personalities (and not fantasy) and that through their films they subconsciously captured the disenchantment and changing mood of the nation.

There is no mention of the many men and women writers, films and directors they may have grown up watching and learnt from. And though Shyam Benegal gets a line or two, there is no mention of the other angsty, angry and supremely talented writers — Vijay Tendulkar, Satyadev Dubey, Girish Karnad, Dilip Chitre, Vasant Dev, Shama Zaidi, Ismat Chugtai, Kaifi Azmi and Sagar Sarhadi among others — who were also collaborating with each other and running parallel to Salim-Javed.

Instead we get their shenanigans, personal stories — Javed marrying Honey Irani, and Salim Khan marrying Salma — and back stories about how Amitabh Bachchan got cast in Zanjeer, how they wrote the screenplay of Deewaar in 18 days and demanded that they be paid more than the hero.

The series’ second episode is a deeper psychoanalysis session as it focuses on the two films that were released in 1975 (Yash Chopra’s Deewaar and Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay) and changed not just the film industry, but also how India consumed films.

Here, we get bits about Salim and Javed’s early childhood, their relationship with their fathers and longing for their mothers, leading to why Vijay often had daddy issues and was obsessive about Ma.

In between sharing fascinating details around the making and release of these films — including ideas they stole from other films, how Gabbar Singh was created — Rao uses their immortal dialogue and scenes to create peppy montages that break the monotony but also recall their genius and impact.

There’s a fleeting mention of the fact that most Salim-Javed stories were male-centric, but the series is quick to add that their female characters were strong, working women.

Their chronology of hits is interrupted briefly by a flop, but then there's Don, Dostana, Trishul, second marriages — to Helen and Shabana — and, finally, the sudden, shocking announcement that they have split.

Like a three-act play, Angry Young Men is pacy and thrilling in the beginning. Its middle sags a bit and the end is sad.

This emotional trajectory is in sync with the story of Bollywood’s most famous writing partnership that ended abruptly, inexplicably after 16 years and 24 films. Strangely, the series breaks into long silences and truisms after it announces the split.

Though Angry Young Men had unprecedented access and a long line-up of actors, directors, wives, children, critics and trade experts, none of them shed any light on the reason. Instead they share banalities - "all things and relationships have an expiry date" - and their own overwhelming feelings about this tragic split. They create a mood, and though the series attempts a happy reunion in the end, the sadness and the unanswered question linger.

The strength of Namrata Rao's Angry Young Men is that it gives us portraits of two very distinct personalities who came together to create some of India’s most iconic and loved films and characters.

Salim Khan is a very handsome, sharp man who is an excellent judge of character but is reticent. He reclines while talking, observing more than he shares. There is no insecurity about him, and he feels no need to explain himself.

Javed is a flirt, a player. He wants to entertain and be entertained. But he also wants to share, explain. He leans forward even when talking to the camera.

He talks a little bit about what life was like after he decided to end the partnership, but we get nothing from Salim saab.

Salim Khan, 88, and Javed Akhtar, 79, are the stars of this multi-starrer, but the series mollycoddles them and treats them with way too much reverence.

Quite deliberately, it focuses a lot on their frailty, fragility and seems to suggest that we should respect their decision not to speak about the split and let bygones be bygones. Except that the series is a celebration of a bygone era.

The fact that the most significant piece of the puzzle is still missing is tantalising. It keeps the mystery and myth of Salim-Javed alive. But it left me feeling cheated.

In this and some other aspects, Angry Young Men has the ambition and texture of those homely collaborations we mount on a large screen as we celebrate milestone anniversaries and birthdays of our parents and grandparents. Like those videos, the series has a lot of love for the two men, and a strong, urgent sense of mortality - that time is passing and we must celebrate them before all gets lost.

Though Karan Johar, Jaya Bachchan and Honey Irani, with their candid commentary and illuminating insight, stand out amongst all the talking heads in Angry Young Men, the show in the end feels like a well-made, entertaining home video and dilutes the significance of the very men it wants to mythologise.

Angry Young Men: The Salim-Javed Story

Director: Namrata Rao

Rating: 3/5

Platform: Amazon Prime

vedaa-review-caste-vs-the-legend-of-john-abraham

Sat Aug 17 11:36:03 IST 2024

Vedaa is not a film about boxing, though its trailer seemed to suggest that.

Director Nikkhil Advani’s film has a bit of boxing, of course, but its plot’s real drivers are caste and caste atrocities. However, Vedaa, starring John Abraham and Sharvari Wagh in the lead, is not a film about caste either.

Vedaa is an action-thriller created to embellish and enhance the legend of John Abraham. In this enterprise, boxing is a tiny diversion and caste plays the same part that Islamic terrorism has often played in previous John Abraham-the-one-man-killer-machine films—It's very bad and it must be annihilated.

But since Vedaa is a Nikkhil Advani film, it's politically sharp, gritty and mildly feminist.

Written by Aseem Arora, Vedaa is set in Rajasthan, but its story really begins in Kashmir. Yep, that same-old scenic battleground Abraham keeps visiting, repeatedly, to save the nation from the Phiran-wearing, machine gun-carrying Islamic terrorists.

This time around Abraham is Major Abhimanyu Kanwar, a brooding man on a mission. And as is often the case with him, here too there once was a lady he loved but lost.

If you have followed John Abraham’s filmography, especially since he went all violent and vigilante, circa 2011 (in Nishikant Kamat’s Force), a dead lady love is a common occurrence.

This personal tragedy is very important and plays a key role in the success of many of Abraham's films, including Vedaa.

For one, this sad story gives his killing sprees a moral impetus.

He is not a random crazy guy stalking every wrong deed and evil dude. His grouse is real and specific, so are his triggers, and thus all his actions are justified.

Two, this trauma helps add a trait common in most characters that John Abraham has played.

You see, John Abraham can’t act, but he can perform. He can project simple emotions very well on the screen, but he needs to do this in short, silent little bursts to make it look like he is acting, without him actually acting.

With a tragic backstory, film scripts give his characters inner turmoil and an emotional ecosystem. And this trauma is used as an excuse and explanation to keep his character silent and brooding.

Once that is settled, our very smart Bollywood directors make him give a one-eyebrow-raised look here, one sideway glance there to insinuate thoughts, emotion and rising hackles.

Then, as bad people keep on doing bad things, Abraham is made to do a straight stare, a glare rather, into the camera to insinuate bubbling rage.

The camera now hovers over his bulging or twitching vein, watches his jaw tighten and his fists clench to insinuate intent.

Then we get a long shot of his body as he sinks into his upper-back hump, as if he’s regressing, being pulled into a backward evolutionary slide of man into ape. And then, with singular purpose he raises his leg, arm, gun and knives and the film breaks into a bloody killing jamboree.

This is what Vedaa does, very effectively. Every 15-20 minutes, Abhimanyu breaks his silence with a five-six word sentence. Emerging from his heavy silence, it feels significant, weighty and elicits claps.

Vedaa’s story is simple.

In Barmer, Rajasthan, Vedaa Berwa (Sharvari Wagh), a young college-going girl, bristles every time she is harassed, humiliated or teased because of her caste.

The spoiled younger brother (played by Kshitij Chauhan) of the local pradhan, Jitendar Pratap Singh (Abhishek Banerjee), is especially creepy and given to driving around in an SUV with his goons. They stop when they see someone alone and vulnerable, and exercise their power through acts of violence.

Major Abhimanyu, stripped of his medals, honours, and uniform after he disobeyed his superiors' orders, joins Vedaa's college as an assistant boxing coach.

He silently watches as she takes water from a matka (earthen pot) instead of the water cooler.

He sees her when she is the first to arrive to enrol for boxing, but then keeps slipping back in the queue to let the upper caste boys get ahead.

She craves equality, freedom and sees a chance of getting a job and getting out of Barmer through sports quota. But she also knows that the all-powerful pradhan, who gives progressive bytes to the local reporter, is the one who oversees all criminal activities in Barmer to ensure that the upper castes are not sullied by the lower castes forgetting their place.

Vedaa’s parents warn her brother repeatedly not to continue his affair with an upper caste girl.

The film's plot gets tighter and scarier when he is caught canoodling with his girlfriend and the pradhan’s self-styled army dedicated to preserving the Savarna system decides to administer punishment.

This and some parts of what follows in the film are based on common Hindu practices and two real-life stories — the Manoj-Babli honour killing of Haryana in 2007 and the shocking 2015 incident of 23-year-old Meenakshi Kumari and her 15-year-old sister who fled their village in Uttar Pradesh after the village council ordered that they be raped and paraded naked as punishment after their brother eloped with a woman of higher caste.

Caste sits in the middle of Vedaa and gives the film heft. There are powerful scenes that are piercing, harsh, and real. This part is very good also because it has excellent actors, especially Abhishek Banerjee, Sharvari Wagh and Kshitij Chauhan.

But this moving, galling middle in Vedaa is bookended by the John Abraham legend.

In the beginning, he takes down a battalion of terrorists in Kashmir, and at the end he takes down upper caste criminals in a high court.

In the first case, he is avenging the murder of his lady love, and in the climax, he is making sure no one comes in the way of Vedaa seeking justice.

Before Abhimanyu takes up cudgels on behalf of Vedaa and wipes out all hurdles in her path, there’s a touch of feminism in the film’s patriarchal world. For a good part, Abhimanyu lets Vedaa fight her battles. He trains her, but doesn’t step in till she asks him to.

This is cool. But it's short-lived.

The second half of the film is a cat-and-mouse game that involves car chases, dramatic encounters, and long-drawn shooting sequences.

Vedaa ends on a triumphant note, with a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on a wall. But its parting shot is not so much about caste as it is about the very reason for which the film was made.

We go to watch John Abraham films not because we want to appreciate the art and craft of great cinema, but because he holds a particular promise and delivers on it.

In our lives, with our changing realities and priorities, our shifting moods and interests, our motivation that ebbs and flows, our actions often drown between our desires and distractions.

We live lives that are split between those clarifying nights when we see our purpose and paths clearly and make promises to ourselves, only for that image and resolve to dissipate in the light of the day.

We live lives where we have lost sight of ourselves and have a rising pile of broken promises that we keep making to ourselves.

We go to the theatres to watch John Abraham because he keeps his promises.

Because, between life's chanciness and our indecision, because of the doubt and whataboutery, the compromises, corruption and incompetence all around us, John Abraham promises clarity, certainty, efficiency, and a satisfying, cathartic, triumphant end.

Nikkhil Advani's Vedaa delivers on that promise.

Movie: Vedaa

Cast: John Abraham, Sharvari Wagh, Abhishek Banerjee, Kshitij Chauhan, Tamanna Bhatia, Ashish Vidyarthi, Rajendra Chawla, Danish Husain

Direction: Nikkhil Advani

Rating: ***

phir-aayi-hasseen-dillruba-review-pulpy-juicy-slightly-faulty-but-fun-film

Fri Aug 09 12:49:37 IST 2024

Director Jayprad Desai’s Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba begins like a pulpy, C-grade Hindi novel: with high drama. On a dark, rainy night in Agra, a woman is running for her life on a deserted road. Her wispy-thin saree sticking to her like clingfilm, she dashes into a police station, screaming. Her husband, she says, is going to kill her.

She is Rani (Taapsee Pannu), currently married to Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal), a compounder. But at the police station, Rani encounters questions about her bloody past.

Three years ago, in the 2021 film, Hasseen Dillruba, Rani was married to Rishu (Vikrant Massey) but had taken a lover, Neel. Things didn't go as planned and she had struck Neel dead. And then she had helped cover up the murder with her husband’s severed arm.

As Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba goes into flashback—not to the 2021 film, but to a few weeks leading up to Rani's screaming entry into the police station—the plot thickens.

Rani and Rishu have been living in Agra, incognito and separately. She worked at a beauty parlour and he took coaching classes. Hiding from the police and careful never to be seen together, they had found innovative ways to talk to each other and plot their escape from India.

Often they would use quotes from the novels of Rani’s favourite author Dinesh Pandit to communicate and pool their money for a one-way ticket to Thailand.

After all, it was one of Panditji’s novels that inspired their escape after Rani had bludgeoned Neel to death. But before their travel agent could finalise their ticket and visa, Mrityunjay Paswan, aka Montu Chacha (Jimmy Shergill), a particularly cussed cop, determined to nab the murderer of Neel, arrived in Agra and messed up their plan.

So Rani was now married to Abhimanyu, a small-town man with a small desire — he wants his wife to fall in love with him and is a fan of Dinesh Pandit.

The 2021 film, ‘Hasseen Dillruba’, directed by Vinil Mathew, was exciting because it felt as if one of those risqué railway platform novels had come alive on the big screen. The sequel is no different. Both the films have been written by Kanika Dhillon, and are like a cross between a Mills & Boons and a Sidney Sheldon revenge thriller. Both have a seedy, complicated situation, men and women with flexible morals, desire, lust, schemes, deceit, and murder.

But in many ways, the sequel is better than the original. While the 2021 film centred around a young couple in a loveless arranged marriage, followed by an affair and murder, the sequel is about Rani and Rishu pining for each other and trying to be together.

But with Montu Chacha stalking them, and Abhimanyu desperate to hold on to Rani, the midnight dash to the police station seemed like the only solution, even if it meant an end to their escape plan.

But ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’ is plotted like a game of snakes and ladders with twists and deadly bites, downward slides, and sudden triumphs. Though many of these twists are predictable and we are one step ahead of the film, director Jayprad Desai, who had made the fabulous cricket film, ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’, does his best to hide the film's flaws, and focuses on its strengths.

Compared to the original, Taapsee Pannu’s acting has improved much in the sequel and she looks sexy as hell. Her blouses are meagre, and her saree pallu, flimsy and whimsical, is always eager to fall off.

The love triangle is made eerie by Sunny Kaushal's Abhimanyu. He carries a scary backstory with a creepy, inscrutable smile and whistles at the wrong time.

What's missing though is Vikrant Massey's excellent performance that had held together the original. He is good here, but has very few scenes. Jimmy Shergill tries to add some glamour and spark, but he too has very little to do.

The other problem with this film is that it leaves a few strands dangling in the end. The one involving two burnt bodies, which is a major plot point, is especially jarring. The film vaguely explains who and why, but skips how, probably because it didn't want to sully the lovers, treating them more as escape artists rather than as murderers. Whatever may have been the reason, it’s an inexcusable writing faux pas, especially in a thriller.

Despite that ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’ works because it is directed very well and is pacy, juicy, wicked, and fun.

It cleverly uses the Laxmikant-Pyarelal song, ‘Ek Hasina Thi’, from the 1980 Subhash Ghai film ‘Karz’, to add some exciting deviant energy and in the end delivers the satisfaction that trashy novels promise.

Film: Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba

Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Vikrant Massey, Sunny Kaushal, Jimmy Shergill, Aditya Srivastava

Directed by: Jayprad Desai

Rating: 3/5

Streaming on Netflix

ulajh-review-a-joyless-spy-thriller-that-janhvi-kapoor-is-forced-to-carry-on-her-shapely-shoulders

Fri Aug 02 10:22:47 IST 2024

As far as spy thrillers go, ‘Ulajh’ (Entangle) is a dull wanna-be.

The film has an impressive ensemble of actors and all the razzmatazz that goes into making a spy thriller. There are foreign locations, high commissioners, and foreign embassies. It also has a cast of characters from ISI to RAW, chatter about Islamabad, Kathmandu, terrorists, and men in the shadows weaving webs of intrigue around two key characters — a patriotic IFS officer and a Pakistani VIP.

But all these are like items that make up the scenery of 'Ulajh' which, at its core, is a film about daddy’s little girl who wants to play spy-spy to impress him.

'Ulajh' is centred around Suhana Bhatia (Janhvi Kapoor), a young diplomat from an illustrious family. She has been to St Stephens, Harvard, and has just been made India's deputy high commissioner in London.

Her daddy, Dhanraj Bhatia (Adil Hussain), seems a bit off, and she feels that he thinks she’s not up for the task. But his concerns are larger and about to come true.

In London, Suhana encounters the disapproval of colleagues who dismiss her as a “nepo kid”, but finds some thrilling company in a Michelin star chef, Nakul (Gulshan Devaiah). Soon they become a thing with date nights and booty calls. Except, things are not as they seem. A lot happens suddenly. Critical official information is leaked, and Suhana finds herself in the middle of a betrayal-cum-blackmail scheme.

A driver who seems to have a network and abilities beyond what's required of him is killed, and senior RAW officials begin an investigation. Meanwhile, a foreign minister is pursuing his own agenda, while a Pakistani middleman who doesn’t want peace in the subcontinent is busy trying to sabotage a VIP visit. All of this leads to one sharpshooter who must be stopped by Suhana and her newly-acquired sweet ally, Sebin (Roshan Mathew).

The problem with 'Ulajh', written, by Parveez Shaikh and Sudhanshu Saria, who has also directed it, is that its screenplay is sometimes steeped in the reality and bureaucracy of the Indian foreign service, but conveniently all of it disappears when it comes to Suhana going out on a limb to save the day and her reputation. Important people get killed and bodies are disposed of, but no one seems to care.

This whimsy world it is set in, which asserts itself whenever the writers want, and disappears when inconvenient, makes the film filmy and flimsy.

But then, 'Ulajh' is not really interested in being a nail-biting spy thriller. It is an elaborate showpiece for Kapoor to show off her chops. Kapoor, 27, seems to have nailed the whole stardom enterprise. She has a long list of endorsements and engagements promoting fashion and health brands that she focuses on when she is not acting. But when she does act in films, mostly she picks roles that offer some creative challenge.

From 'Dhadak' to 'Gunjan Saxena' to 'Roohi' and 'Mili', she’s played an Air Force officer, a ghost, a girl trying to save the boy she loves, and a girl stuck in a freezer. And now she's played a diplomat-spy on a mission.

'Ulajh' begins nicely, but after about 30 minutes, it begins to slump.

The proceedings are dreary and illogical. Dramatic things happen with little or no consequence. And Suhana does so much, yet no one catches on, which makes you think that India is running the most unintelligent intelligence network.

But Kapoor, with her big kohled eyes and innocent Bambi-in-distress look, tries to hold the film together to the best of her ability. Which is a shame really because 'Ulajh' has great actors who could have added some spunk and fun to counter her constant babe-in-distress flailing and running around.

But that’s not what 'Ulajh' is.

It’s a joyless film about a daddy’s little girl who must somehow redeem herself at least in her father's eyes. On that count the film delivers. On all other counts, it fails.

Film: Ulajh

Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Roshan Mathew, Gulshan Devaiah, Adil Hussain, Meiyang Chang, Rajesh Tailang

Direction: Sudhanshu Saria

Rating: 2/5

deadpool-and-wolverine-review-a-reunion-worth-the-wait-for-fans

Thu Jul 25 21:24:39 IST 2024

"Deadpool & Wolverine", the long-anticipated reunion of two iconic superhero misfits, is a vibrant, meta-heavy joyride through the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Shawn Levy and featuring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, this film delivers an exhilarating blend of humour, action, and fan service.

The film's premise revolves around Deadpool's quest for purpose, which leads him to the Time Variance Authority (TVA). Here, he learns that his universe is on the brink of collapse due to the loss of its 'anchor being,' Wolverine. Determined to save his world, Deadpool embarks on an adventure through the multiverse to find a replacement, only to encounter more chaos, including crossing paths with the villainous Cassandra Nova, portrayed by Emma Corrin.

What sets "Deadpool & Wolverine" apart is its relentless meta-writing. Co-written by Reynolds, the script is filled with in-jokes, references to the Fox-Disney merger, and playful jabs at the MCU itself. This self-awareness is a hallmark of Deadpool's character and is used to great effect, ensuring that the audience is consistently entertained. The humour is unapologetically crude and sharp, with Deadpool's profanity-laden dialogue perfectly counterbalanced by Wolverine's gruff retorts.

The chemistry between Reynolds and Jackman is the film's beating heart. Their banter and bickering create a bromantic dynamic that is both hilarious and endearing. The actors' ease in their roles is evident, and their performances bring a depth to the film that goes beyond typical superhero fare. This relationship adds a layer of emotional resonance, particularly as the film progresses towards its climax.

While the humour and character interactions are standout elements, the film does falter in some areas. The action sequences, while energetic, do not always meet the high standards set by previous MCU entries. The initial set pieces are thrilling, but subsequent scenes sometimes lack the clarity and dynamism that fans might expect, relying heavily on CGI to an extent that detracts from the visceral impact.

Visually, the film is a mixed bag. The portrayal of the Void, a drab, beige expanse, is underwhelming, especially compared to the vibrant and imaginative visuals of other Marvel films. This aesthetic choice might disappoint viewers hoping for more visually striking environments, given the multiverse premise of the movie.

Despite these shortcomings, Deadpool & Wolverine succeeds in its primary goal: to entertain. The film is full of hilarious moments, smart cameos, and ample fan service to please long-time Marvel fans. It manages to pay tribute to the legacy of the X-Men franchise while carving out its unique space within the MCU.

One of the film's significant challenges is integrating Hugh Jackman's Wolverine post "Logan," a film still revered as a high point in superhero cinema. Deadpool & Wolverine navigate this tightrope effectively, with Jackman relishing every moment of his return. Wolverine’s character upholds his stoic heroism and personal demons, rendering his path to redemption both intimate and engaging. Although it takes a moment to adjust, Jackman's performance makes this version of Logan feel authentic and emotionally impactful.

The camaraderie between Reynolds and Jackman, honed over years of social media banter, translates seamlessly to the big screen. Their dynamic elevates "Deadpool & Wolverine" above many recent MCU entries, showcasing a trust and ease that make their interactions compelling. However, the film does stumble when it comes to exposition and plot development. The story grinds to a halt during necessary plot explanations, despite Deadpool's self-referential jokes about the clunky narrative.

In conclusion, Deadpool & Wolverine is a consistently funny and outrageous superhero comedy that benefits immensely from the dynamic performances of Reynolds and Jackman. While it doesn't solve all of the MCU's foundational problems, it offers a refreshing take on the genre and demonstrates that Marvel can still deliver when it matters most. For fans of Deadpool and Wolverine, it's a reunion worth the wait.

bad-newz-review-if-it-werent-for-vicky-kaushal-this-film-would-be-really-bad-news

Fri Jul 19 11:11:15 IST 2024

‘Bad Newz’ is a sequel of sorts to Dharma Productions’ 2019 film, ‘Good Newwz’, insofar as the themes of pregnancy, paternity, and patriarchy are concerned.

Both the films do thoo-thoo at all claims of sperm-donating men to my blood, my baby, my wife, and put women in charge of their bodies and babies.

But ‘Good Newwz’ was very funny and great fun. It had a strong script, and excellent actors, and its leading men — Akshay Kumar and Diljit Dosanjh — had superb comic timing.

‘Bad Newz’ wants to be funny, but has a convoluted story and screenplay. Also, its leading lights are not top-notch actors except for Vicky Kaushal who saves the film to the extent possible with his rambunctious energy and cute, endearing silliness.

If it weren’t for him, ‘Bad Newz’ would be really bad news.

The film opens with a movie star (played by Ananya Panday) preening her way past the paparazzi to meet a woman she is set to portray in a film. That woman, Saloni Bagga (Triptii Dimri), is a celebrated chef and India’s first case of ‘heteropaternal superfecundation’, i.e. on one particular night she participated in two back-to-back hookups and then proceeded to have twins, but each one had a different daddy.

This piece of precious information is grist for flashback. So, off we go to a wedding many moons ago, when Saloni’s mummy was looking for a suitable match for her. Suddenly, Akhil Chadha (Vicky Kaushal) popped up on the stage to sing, dance and flirt with Saloni.

He was the owner of the famous Chadha Champ Corner and a true mamma’s boy, while Saloni, an independent career woman, was focused on getting India’s first 'Meraki Star' for her cafe and was not keen on marriage. But he love-bombed her, there was romance, a honeymoon even.

Things, however, didn't go well and Saloni moved to Mussoorie to work at the Savoy Hotel. There she met Gurbir Pannu (Ammy Virk), a sweet man who was single and ready to mingle. Saloni’s past popped up in Mussoorie. Two back-to-back hookups later, Akhil and Gurbir were in the throes of prenatal pangs as Saloni declared that only he who proves his worth will be the daddy of her twins.

The rest of the film is one-upmanship between two men who want to play daddy and one sulking mommy-to-be who must decide their fate.

‘Bad Newz’’s first half is entertaining because everything is centred around Akhil, and Vicky Kaushal just lets it rip. It also has Sheeba Chaddha, a powerful actor who doesn’t lose her bearings in the tornado of Kaushal’s crazy, kinetic energy.

The second half, sadly, is centred around Saloni and her concern for her twins. It also has a different ensemble of actors. They are decent but act like they are from another planet where chill-pill hasn't been discovered yet. Neha Dhupia, for example, is decked up like a Christmas tree for comic effect, but her demeanour and aura are that of a no-nonsense, serious aunty.

The general rule of comedy is that either the situation should be ridiculous and everyone should behave normally, seriously, or the situation should be genuinely serious and everyone does bizarre, inappropriate things.

In ‘Bad Newz’, the situation is nonsensical, and though it has some gags, Saloni's pall of gloom keeps spoiling the fun.

A strong feminist streak runs through ‘Bad Newz’, and the film throws many challenges at desi masculinity. It rejects possessive men, patriarchal rules, and foregrounds women’s dreams, desires and ambitions beyond family, husband, and child.

But the film's script, which draws some inspiration from There’s Something About Mary, is so earnest about reiterating its feminist credentials and so careful not to make a single politically incorrect faux pas that instead of building up the one-upmanship between two silly men into a screwball crescendo, it keeps cutting to Saloni who lectures them and disapproves of their shenanigans.

Triptii Dimri is gorgeous. But there’s a melancholic quality to her ethereal beauty and director Anvita Dutt had cast her perfectly, first in the haunting Bulbbul (2020), and recently in Qala (2022). In ‘Bad Newz’, Dimri looks out of place. Her effort to act shows, but she can’t go beyond emoting. In between flashing toothy grins, pulling sad faces and flaring her nostrils, there’s just one moment of honest acting and it comes right at the beginning when she is with Ananya Panday.

Ammy Virk has Zen-like calm in contrast to Kaushal’s loud flamboyance, and it's this mismatch that makes the war between the two semen donors fun to watch. As their stupidity escalates, Gurbir and Akhil begin to develop fizzy chemistry. But the script fails them with gags that are laboured and repetitive. Despite this, Virk to some extent, and Kaushal wholeheartedly tries his best to keep things funny and light.

Vicky Kaushal is an excellent actor. With the exception of Ranveer Singh, he may well be the best actor amongst all the leading men in Bollywood today, and I am including Ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor in this list. None of them can match his range or body of work.

Most Bollywood stars need big roles, big production budgets, dramatic entries and even more dramatic climaxes to shine. Kaushal is an actor who inhabits characters assigned to him with such humility and lightness that he leaves a mark in whatever he does. Whether it’s in the arty ‘Masaan’ or the action-thriller ‘Uri’, whether he is playing Sam Bahadur or doing small, buddy roles (‘Sanju’ and ‘Dunki’), he makes his characters memorable through his nuanced acting, switching easily from comical to intense, action to motion.

Sometimes it’s easy to gauge the quality of a film by the buzz that surrounds it. Kaushal’s hook-step in the song ‘Husn Tera Tauba Tauba’ has dominated ‘Bad Newz'’s marketing, and for a few weeks now a sizeable portion of the nation's influencers and dance enthusiasts have been busy trying to perfect it. In the film, the song plays as the end credits roll. It is an appropriate finale to a film that Kaushal carries on his shoulders.

Film: Bad Newz

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri, Ammy Virk, Neha Dhupia, Ananya Panday

Direction: Anand Tiwari

Rating: 2/5

tribhuvan-mishra-ca-topper-review-sex-and-sexy-performances-hold-this-scatterbrain-show-together

Thu Jul 18 12:21:37 IST 2024

The stars of CA Topper, in descending order, are Shubhrajyoti Barat, Ashok Pathak and Faisal Malik

Members of the esteemed Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) are mighty miffed with Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper. They don’t like that a CA, that too a topper, has been made to zip around Noida on his yellow scooter to service women who can pay Rs 11,000+ for an orgasm or two. They would rather have the CA topper pouring over unwieldy Excel sheets, crunching numbers, and doing tippy-tippy-tap on a calculator.

So, just before the show’s release, they went running to Delhi High Court, calling the show vulgar and urging the court to stop the series. The judge said, nothing doing, go home.

Silly guys.

All the country’s CAs should have instead formed a human chain from Mumbai's Siddhivinayak to Delhi's very tall Shiv Murti and poured buckets of milk on both the gods as thanks that someone finally had an interesting idea around the deathly letters CA.

Having binge-watched ‘CA Topper’, I can say that all the ooh-aah and sex business that our esteemed CAs were objecting to is very much part of the nine-episode show. In fact, ‘CA Topper’ goes where very few desi shows have gone before—it treats paying female clients to horizontal, and sometimes vertical, delights. All these scenes are sexy, some are decidedly steamy but are tastefully done.

‘CA Topper’ deserves kudos for bringing sex for the pleasure of women centre stage, but it is not a great show.

Yet, it is fun to watch because, apart from the naughty bits, it has good actors playing interesting characters. But its screenplay, by Puneet Krishna, adds so many characters and their individual shticks and tangential stories to the show that after a while the show is like a headless chicken running in one direction in one episode, and another in the next.

It’s not that we can’t follow what’s happening. You can. But it all feels pointless.

When it begins, ‘CA Topper’ is about Tribhuvan Mishra (Manav Kaul), an honest, middle-class man who is a great husband, an honest officer, and daddy to two school-going kids. As an officer in the Noida Town Planning Department, where he is constantly under pressure to accept bribes and pass projects, he is uncompromising despite being perpetually short on cash.

His wife Ashoklata (Naina Sareen) wilts every time her brother Shambhu (Sumit Gulati) and sister-in-law Shobha (Shweta Basu Prasad) taunt Tribhuvan. But in the bedroom, Tribhuvan is an untiring superstar who keeps on giving. So Ashoklata ignores the taunts, and enjoys marital bliss.

Also in Noida lives bhujia king Teeka Ram Jain (Shubhrajyoti Barat), with his wife, Bindi Jain (Tillotama Shome). Teeka Ram, who is a halwai by day and contract killing on the side, wants a no-fuss biwi. But Bindi wants filmy romance, song and dance, dramatic declarations of undying love. When she asks, he humiliates her and seems to care more for the two guys who work for him — Dhaincha (Ashok Pathak) and Lappu (Amarjeet Singh) — than he does for Bindi. There isn't a moment of joy or bliss here.

A sudden bank scam freezes Tribhuvan’s life and he decides that the only way to make some money is to offer his sexy services to ladies who can pay.

When his raunchy romp in dimly-lit hotel rooms begins, and we are treated to women throwing their heads back and twisting bedsheets, ‘CA Topper’ looks like an Alt Balaji type of sex fest.

But the show deals with all this like an adult, putting its feminist foot forward and treating women’s one-hour of screaming-sweaty business like a routine, short trip to a parlour en route to mundane chores. That’s very cool and CA Topper gets one extra star just for that.

Word spreads, and Tribhuvan's clients increase, but simultaneously the stink from Teeka Ram’s deadly deeds begins to rise. Enter two cops— Haider Ali (Faisal Malik), the chubby one who exercises, and Mathew Varghese (Sunil Saraswat), the thin one who eats a lot.

Another murder and the show goes totally bonkers.

One minute we are with Mando Bua (Yamini Das), Tribhuvan's wife's relative who keeps irritating him, the next minute we are with Shambhu and Shobha who have their own side show going on with sundry goons and guns.

Next episode we are with Teeka Ram and Bindi, or Teeka Ram and his new recruit. Or Tribhuvan and his sex guru.

Then there’s Builder 1 and Builder 2. There’s also a slimy boss in Tribhuvan's office, a congenial colleague, Goonda Gang 1 and a Solitary Goonda. And let's not forget a neighbour who becomes Mando Bua’s lover, a paan-wala, a guard and two killers in a car.

In between all this is a very, very orange cake that Ashoklata keeps baking. It looked terrible and reminded me of those cakes we grew up with—sitting in glass cases in local confectionery shops with two dead flies lying next to them. But in ‘CA Topper’, everyone keeps eating this cake and raving about it. It also holds the key to some mysteries and lives.

If you have read your Amar Chitra Kathas, you’ll see the similarities between ‘CA Topper’ and the story of ‘Daku Anguli Maar’, at least in the moral lesson they both seek to deliver: No good comes from bad deeds.

Despite such distinguished inspiration, the show's plot is very weak.

It has some funny scenes—especially the banter about Salman-Shah Rukh—and characters are entrusted to good actors, but a lot of time is wasted on things that eventually don’t amount to anything, like the bully at the kids’ school, stray puppies, RWAs, a colleague at Tribhuvan’s office who seems to be a person of interest. There are also long sequences that defy common sense, including one involving yellow scooters.

If ‘CA Topper’ had been edited down to six episodes from nine, there would have been a little less redundant stuff.

The show is carried valiantly by its actors and their performances. Manav Kaul is excellent when he has to talk. When he has to act without talking, he hams. But since he is easy on the eye, his shortcomings are easy to ignore. Tilottama Shome, who keeps skulking around with a pout, is a bit of a drag. But Shweta Basu Prasad is a live wire and I wish her role had been written with a little more depth.

However, the real stars of ‘CA Topper’, in descending order, are Shubhrajyoti Barat who plays Teeka Ram, Ashok Pathak who plays Dhaincha and Faisal Malik of Panchayat fame who plays the fat cop.

Without them, this CA would have failed miserably.

Show: Tribhuvan Mishra: CA Topper

Cast: Manav Kaul, Shubhrajyoti Barat, Tillotama Shome, Ashok Pathak, Shweta Basu Prasad, Sumit Gulati, Faisal Malik, Shrikant Verma, Jatin Gulati

Direction: Amrit Raj Gupta, Puneet Krishna

Rating: 3/5

Streaming on Netflix

indian-2-movie-review-an-extremely-boring-and-painful-affair-that-offers-no-takeaways

Fri Jul 12 19:04:34 IST 2024

“Why Indian 2?” It was among my first questions to director Shankar Shanmugam when I met him at his Chennai office a couple of days back. He immediately said that every time he came across a headline in the newspaper on bribes and corruption he had always felt that "Indian thatha" should come back to fight it once again.

The film opens with Chitra Aravind (Sidharth) and his team who run a YouTube channel called Barking Dogs. The channel creates satirical content and parodies against corrupt officials, politicians and those who swindle common man’s money.

When Chitra Aravind, Aarthi (Priya Bhavani Shankar) and Thambesh (Jagan) protest against the suicide of a teacher training student, they get arrested. Aravind’s girlfriend Disha (Rakul Preet Singh) comes to bail them out of jail and tells them nothing will change because of his corruption crusades. Aravind then trends a hashtag #ComeBackIndian on social media setting the stage for the entry of Senapathy, a very old varma kalai expert living in Taipei.

The country has witnessed many corruption crusaders like Sidharth’s Barking Dogs. Many journalists and YouTube channels are doing this on social media these days. The long screenplay is too boring with a usual template. The first half is no different compared to the 1996 Indian. In fact Shankar, through Kamal Hassan in the first part spoke in detail against corruption. And years later, the country witnessed Anna Hazare's protests that led to the growth of yet another political party whose chief minister has now landed in jail, over alleged corruption charges. In fact, as a journalist, even this writer has exposed many corrupt politicians.

Society is more polarised today, compared to 1996 and people have come a long way with social media. But the director still sticks to the old template - bribery, medical negligence, education fraud, bank fraud.

Indian 2 also makes a mockery of Ambani, Adani, Vijay Mallya and Legend Saravanan. While a businessman shits in a gold toilet, another purchases land on Mars and yet another makes a bejewelled tortoise crawl up in a woman’s navel. If they are all high-profile businessmen, a motel owner and a fisherwoman who cheat their customers are also brought to task in Indian 2. And then there are corrupt officers - a woman registrar and a vigilance officer who take bribes. Of course, corrupt politicians and officers will have to be dealt with an iron hand. But it is very painful to watch on screen.

In a cruise, Senapathy uses his Varma kalai and recites a Sanskrit shloka before punishing a businessman. After this, the man acts like a woman, his hand gestures are stereotypical. The homophobic act is very disturbing to watch.

A few scenes, however, are gripping towards the end. But in the climax, Kamal rides a monocycle, making us run along with him for more than 15 minutes. Metro train goes into reverse gear, a police officer hangs from an under construction fly over, but Indian thaatha escapes. Indian 2 is extremely boring and painful, making the audience sit for more than two hours without any takeaway at the end.

Unlike Indian, where AR Rahman made his own mark with melodies and background music, Anirudh doesn’t impress. As usual, Shankar’s grandeur stands out and so is Kamal Hassan’s make up making him look like a 100-year-old man.

Yes, as Shankar told me during the interview, Senapathy is back again in his Indian 2. But now I want to tell him that the audience will not accept the second edition of any film if it is not much more brilliant than the first instalment. Now, let us wait for the third edition of the movie to know awaits us next. That's right. Shankar and Kamal Haasan will be back with Indian 3!

Movie: Indian 2

Director: Shankar Shanmugam

Cast: Kamal Haasan, Sidharth, Bobby Simha, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Nedumudi Venu, Vivek, Rahul Preet Singh, Samuthirakani and others.

Music: Anirudh Ravichander

Rating: 2/5

kakuda-review-a-hehe-haha-horror-film-with-lovely-performances

Thu Jul 11 11:48:08 IST 2024

There is something very endearing about horror movies that make us chuckle even when they are hell-bent on scaring us.

I have always believed that the makers of good, hardcore horror films are very talented but slightly sadistic people. Whereas the directors and writers of horror-comedies feel like they are nice, sweet people who want to make sure that while we get our jollies from getting petrified, we don’t spend our nights wondering if a ghost is sitting on the edge of our bed.

Director Aditya Sarpotdar is one such sweet director. His ‘Kakuda’ is a well produced, sharply directed, entertaining film with charming performances and good laughs. Its spooky scenes are scary, and its comic moments calm the nerves.

The film is set in a fictional village called Ratori in Uttar Pradesh where a ghost called Kakuda lurks. He doesn’t lurk about all the time, just once a week, on a specific day, at a specific time.

The deal is that all houses in the village must have a small door next to their main entrance door, and this mini door must be open at 7.15 pm, every Tuesday.

If it is, Kakuda will glide past the house without incident. But if the door is not open, he will huff and puff and do his whole curse thing, which is deadly, humiliating and involves a hunchback.

Sunny (Saqib Saleem), a sweet, innocent young man lives in Ratori and believes in the curse. Like all villagers, he too rushes home to open the small door at the anointed hour. But his educated, modern girlfriend Indu (Sonakshi Sinha) does not live in Ratori and rubbishes all this Kakuda and curse business as superstition.

Indu’s father, meanwhile, is bent on getting her married to an English-speaking gentleman. Sunny doesn’t speak a word of English and his best friend is the local barber. So, on Indu's insistence, the two lovers elope and get married. By the time he reaches home to open the small door, it is too late.

Enter, ghost-hunter Victor (Riteish Deshmukh).

Victor, who looks like a cross between Indiana Jones and Hell’s Angels, has an otherworldly charm that draws ghosts and witches to him. Sometimes they seek him out to chit-chat and sometimes for help with their daily ghostly chores.

His interest, however, lies in those angry spirits who scare and harass humans. He summons them through his charcoal-on-canvas paintings, and while they hover in the air screaming and hissing, politely tells them about the futility of their fear-mongering.

When Victor arrives in Ratori, he is drawn to a scarecrow who looks like he froze while practising Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ step.

Together with Indu, Victor slowly uncovers the mystery of Kakuda's curse and figures out how he can be stopped from turning all the villagers into replicas of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. En route, he also discovers and frees another hurting, wandering loitering, lost soul).

Bollywood has a long history of horror comedies going back to the 1965 film, ‘Bhoot Bangla’, in which ghosts were played by men with protruding bellies. In one sequence, they wore spandex body suits that had skeletons drawn on them, and danced like drunk wedding guests around Mehmood and R.D. Burman.

This delightful genre disappeared during Bollywood's angry man years and was resurrected by Priyadarshan in 2007 with 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa'. Since then we have had many jolly horrors, including my all-time favourite zombie-comedy, 'Go Goa Gone' (2013), and Rajkumar Rao-Shraddha Kapoor's superhit, 'Stree'.

But 2024 seems to be the year of director Aditya Sarpotdar and his horror comedies.

His 'Munjya', also a hehe-haha-horror, is the surprise hit of the year, and now his second film, 'Kakuda', is streaming on OTT.

Sarpotdar's 'Kakuda' is not a contender for the best horror-comedy, but it is fun, enjoyable and feel-good. Written by Avinash Dwivedi and Chirag Garg, it has a strong screenplay and crisp, funny dialogue. Its cinematography is quite stunning and editing is sharp.

It also has lovely performances by Saqib Saleem and Sonakshi Sinha, who has a double role. The highlight of the film, though, is Riteish Deshmukh, the ghost hunter, and Mahesh Jadhav, who plays Kakuda. Deshmukh is not a great actor, but he has excellent comic timing and does something very interesting here — he keeps breaking the fourth wall (the conceptual, imaginary wall that separates films from the audience), and is often in direct communication with us. That's cheating, but it's fun.

Watch 'Kakuda'. Like many of us, it grudgingly believes in ghosts, but has the confidence to laugh at its silly beliefs.

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Saqib Saleem, Riteish Deshmukh, Aasif Khan, Rajendra Gupta, Yogendra Tiku, Mahesh Jadhav

Direction: Aditya Sarpotdar

Rating: 3/5

Streaming on Zee 5

wild-wild-punjab-a-120-minute-long-parade-of-blundering-incompetents

Wed Jul 10 12:55:13 IST 2024

A peculiar genre of films has been taking shape in Bollywood for over a decade now. Let's call it the I-hate-women-but-can't-live-without-them genre of films. Or, simply, Mission Misogyny.

Truth be told, barring a few notable exceptions, most films made in India have varying degrees and shades of sexism. Some invisibilise or patronise women, others exploit them. Using graphic, brutal violence against women as a plot device to catapult heroes into righteous battles is almost a rite of passage for most action-thriller directors and actors. But this particular genre of I-hate-women films is different. It exists because women exist.

In its warped worldview, true heaven is that place on earth where grown men can freely act like lecherous teenage boys. They must cheat and deceive women because, well, that’s just the way men get to have innocent fun. But women who do exactly that are devious, heartless witches who must be made to burn in the hell of humiliation.

So all energies, monies and efforts are spent on forging brotherhood around elaborate, harebrained schemes to show women the middle finger because, it seems, that's the only way men can assert their manhood.

Writer-director-producer Luv Ranjan, who made 'Pyaar Ka Punchnama' in 2011, and then followed it up with other such, is one of the founding members of this genre of cinema. 'Wild Wild Punjab' is written and co-produced by him. To say "written" is an exaggeration because this film is just a blend of Hollywood’s 'The Hangover', Ranjan’s own 'Punchnama', and director Mrighdeep Singh Lamba’s 'Fukrey' series in a new setting.

'Wild Wild Punjab' doesn't have a story. It has what can at best be called a situation: A young, attractive, cheater-cock type of woman dwells in an office in an unnamed city in Punjab. On one seemingly routine office day, she decides to do some naughty-naughty things with her boss and then proceeds to dump her awww-baby-I-love-you-baby boyfriend. Cheater also lets her dumped boyfriend, Khanna (Varun Sharma), know that she is to wed the aforementioned boss in Pathankot.

Khanna is distraught. He grabs one of those old style shaving blades and a cheese knife, rushes to an open-air bar, consumes undisclosed amounts of intoxicating liquids, and then, perched on the parapet, does ini-mini-mani-mo. He can’t decide whether to slit his wrist with the blade or to slice himself into neat slivers with the cheese knife.

This momentous moment comes quite early, about six-seven minutes into the film. And had no one intervened, the film could have ended here and saved us all from a lot of torture.

But his two friends — Arora (Sunny Singh) and Jain (Jassie Gill) — arrive in the nick of time to suggest an alternative plan: Khanna must go to Pathankot and tell the cheater, to her face, at her wedding, "I am over you".

Khanna is chuffed, all say cheers and are soon joined by Honey Paaji (Manjot Singh). United by the bro code and their matching stupidity, the four set off in Honey Paaji’s car to fix Khanna’s broken heart.

‘Wild Wild West’ is set in Punjab, so the men call each other Arore, Khanne, Jainu. Arore is a slightly dim stud and womaniser who lies, makes out and repeats; Jainu, who is petrified of his miserly dad, is engaged to wed soon; Honey Paaji, who runs a truck business, loves his dead daddyji and his car.

En route Pathankot, the film meanders needlessly through incredibly idiotic situations that, in the hands of better writers and directors of ‘Hangover’ and ‘Fukrey’ were funny.

The ‘Wild Wild West’ team seems to think that muddled writing, stale situations, general chaos and characters behaving like morons is the stuff of comedy. So we are treated to dazzling sights and sounds.

Khanne, in between whining and drinking, gets on top of Paaji's car and urinates on a toll booth. Jainu keeps sulking but finds himself a better half (Patralekhaa). Arore keeps checking out girls till he is knocked over by one Meera (Ishita Raj) who, incidentally, is a C-grade version of ‘Fukrey’s Bholi Punjaban (played by Richa Chaddha).

Honey Paaji, meanwhile, keeps trying to save his car from accidents and flower decorations, slaps a cop, and makes some feeble attempts to inject some sense into this nonsense.

Eventually, all of them find themselves being chased by two trigger-happy drug lords in maroon, chenille tracksuits, while a bullet lodges itself in Khanne's bum and we are made to stare at it again and again and again.

Like Ranjan's ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’, director Simarpreet Singh's ‘Wild Wild Punjab’ is all about men pooling their resources so that one weepy ex-boyfriend can snub his mean girlfriend in public. The difference is that despite its misogyny, ‘Punchnama’ was funny and had excellent performances.

Whereas ‘Wild Wild Punjab’ is a 120-minute-long parade of blundering incompetents, and everything that's gone into its making -- writing, direction and acting -- is a source of rising irritation and endless boredom.

Discretion is strongly advised.

Wild Wild Punjab

Cast: Varun Sharma, Sunny Singh, Manjot Singh, Jassie Gill, Patralekhaa, Ishita Raj

Direction: Simarpreet Singh

Rating: 1/5

Streaming on Netflix

despicable-me-4-movie-review-gru-and-minions-delivers-yet-again

Sat Jul 06 00:11:18 IST 2024

The stars of birthday party themes and Facebook memes have returned to the theatres as Gru and his minions are dragged into yet another adventure. The family, immune to a normal lifestyle, takes on new challenges this summer(and villains).

Despicable Me 4, directed by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, is a movie sure to keep children entertained this July. The new installment brings new characters to the series like Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy’s son, Gru Jr who inherited Gru’s unmistakable nose, Poppy Prescott, an aspiring villain who lives next door and Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell), the antagonist of this film. .

In the fourth rendition of this series, we are introduced to the rivalry between Maxim and Gru. This feud has been stewing since a ninth-grade talent show during their time at the famous academy for villains, Lycee Pas Bon. We begin our story in the alumni meet at the academy in a Hogwarts-esque setting where Gru, assisted by the AVL, has Maxime arrested. |

During his incarceration, Maxime’s humiliation bubbles over into vengeance and sets to seek revenge on Gru and his family...

The story unfolds as we watch Gru and his family are whisked away from the comforts of domestic bliss in a story filled with slapstick comedy, Marvel references and a storyline to create a range of expressions on our faces.

Where would this franchise be without the minions? The banana-loving creatures are memorable in each movie and are up to their usual shenanigans once again. The pranks and games they play on each other, while a bit repetitive, still provide the laughs that boost the popularity of this franchise. They have their own plotline which references The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man 2. Despite retaining a vague ending, this plotline adds to the nuances of this film.

Despicable Me 4 is saturated with subplots and it seems that they threw an excessive amount of ideas into a pot to cook up this movie. A few scenes seemed redundant and a few plot lines hit dead ends but their target demographic is children and it seems the movie was written keeping their oscillating attention in mind. Like most franchises, the writing becomes a tad sloppy following the second or the third movie. The poor writing for a few scenes was revived with comedic filler scenes like Poppy and her cat, vanquishing the scores on the dance machine or Lucy’s chase scene which appeared to be inspired by a scene from The Terminator.

The soundtrack gives a wave of nostalgia with songs by Culture Club and Tears for Fears and it balances it out with pop hits by BTS and Pharell Williams. While there are issues with the film, it is disguised under slapstick comedy and silly plots that will make you chuckle. Illumination has brought this lovable franchise to the screens yet again with a fun movie to enjoy with your children or your friends.

Film: Despicable Me 4

Direction: Chris Renaud, Patrick Delage

Rating: 3/5

mirzapur-3-review-the-series-seems-to-have-lost-the-plot-quite-literally

Fri Jul 05 09:15:10 IST 2024

To begin with, Mirzapur, the foul-mouth, trigger-happy series about dastardly baddies killing other dastardly baddies in lawless Pradesh, had a meagre plot. Neither the series’ story nor its characters were new when it first arrived in 2018. Yet it was thrilling, and sometimes even a riveting watch because some of its main characters had been given a dark, devious flaw, and were assigned to exceptionally talented actors. Over the course of two seasons, these actors turned their characters into fascinating, imitable archetypes.

Ali Fazal’s Guddu Bhaiyya, Pankaj Tripathi’s Kaleen Tripathi, Divyendu Sharma’s Munna Tripathi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda’s Satyanand Tripathi, Rasika Dugal’s Beena Tripathi and Lilliput’s Dadda Tyagi could very well have their own spin-off shows.

But in its third season, with two of these characters dead and one MIA, Mirzapur seems to have lost the plot, quite literally.

Mirzapur Season 3 has 10 episodes, and if you track the story from the point where it begins and ends, it travels a short distance, takes a U-turn and returns to where all of it began, in 2018. So my guess is that either a dog ate the script that the show’s developer, Apurva Dhar Badgaiyan, had worked on, or he just asked ChatGPT: “Give me a 10-episode story of the series Mirzapur after Munna is dead, Kaleen Bhaiyya is missing and Guddu Bhaiyya wants to be the King of Mirzapur. Make sure that the action takes place in different towns and the story keeps drifting off into tangents. There should be lots of gratuitous violence, abusive language and four-five liberal nods at current politics. There should also be at least one scene where a woman is on top, and one scene of sexual perversion.”

Whatever it was -- a dog, AI or the lack of imagination and writing talent -- the end result is that Mirzapur 3 is a rudderless enterprise that stutters and then dashes off in one direction, only to slow down till it sputters again and skids in another direction.

Its story is weak, scenes are perfunctory, and the direction is quite mundane. It drags down even those scenes that could have been exciting.

It's to the credit of its actors -- especially Ali Fazal and Isha Talwar -- as well as action director Manohar Varma, sound designer Vivek Sachidanand and John Stewart Eduri, who composed the title track, that they add some thrill and pep to an otherwise anemic show.

Mirzapur 3 begins with the same issue that concerned the show’s previous two seasons: Who will occupy the all-powerful Mirzapur's upholstered seat? But this time another chair is added to the plot — that of the chief minister which is currently occupied by Madhuri Yadav (Isha Talwar).

A young, attractive widow whose party-supremo daddy is dead, her Cabinet doesn’t take her seriously and bristles at her plan to strike at the criminal-politician nexus in Pradesh.

Guddu, meanwhile, with the help of Golu (Shweta Tripathi) and Beena Tripathi (Rasika Dugal), is plotting how he can sit on Mirzapur's seat. Though the said chair is in the mansion where Guddu is currently residing and he can sit on it night and day, to take control of the illegal businesses in his area he needs the approval and support of other strongmen of the state.

A meeting is called and, obviously, there is another contender — Sharad Shukla (Anjum Sharma) from Jaunpur, whose daddy dear was shot in the head by Guddu ji.

Many tangents spring from these two coveted-chair situations. One involves Ramakant Pandit (Rajesh Tailang), Guddu Bhaiyya’s honest, ethical lawyer-daddy, and the other concerns the leftover twin from the Bharat Tyagi-Shatrughan Tyagi (Vijay Varma) duo. Both of these involve the larger Pandit and Tyagi families cast a pall of dull domesticity over the series. Yet, a considerable amount of time is spent with them. Meanwhile, Sharad starts getting so close to CM Madhuri that they share joints, wine and get twinkly-eyed.

Then there are several mini tangents that include an assassination plot, a political coup involving a sexy Bhojpuri singer, and Guddu Bhaiyya snorting white powder off a steel plate. None of these amount to anything, much like one Mr Munnawar who keeps making hush-hush phone calls and acts all important.

On top of all this there's a light sprinkling of political comment on MSP for farmers, large parks dedicated to the cult of one particular political leader, the sale and purchase of MLAs, jailed poets and freedom of speech.

In the series’ first four episodes we mostly just stare at Sharad’s pleasant but expressionless face. Sometimes we watch people play 'meeting-meeting' or pull out guns and shoot. Till episode 4, in fact, the series is a very good remedy for insomnia.

After episode 5, some tangents begin to coalesce and there are a few exciting twists. But just as the plot thickens and tension begins to rise, a Tyagi twin drags down the series with his listless revenge scheme that rests on an idiotic ruse. It seems, in a world where battalions of goons shoot each other dead in full public view, a mobile phone can’t be traced without the police's go-ahead.

With the series’ most powerful character MIA, Mirzapur 3 is carried almost entirely by Ali Fazal and Isha Talwar’s performances.

Fazal’s simple-minded, emotional Guddu, who prefers killing to talking, is the show’s calling card. His badass swag, heedless shooting sprees and deranged outbursts add oomph to the show. But it's a scene set in a casino, where his particular brand of crazy is on slow-burn, that spotlights Fazal 's range and is more menacing than all the savage action. There should have been more such scenes to break the monotony of slash and shoot.

Isha Talwar is gorgeous and a very fine actress who plays Madhuri Yadav with such poise, delicacy and nuance that she should cross over to Maharani on SonyLiv and give Huma Qureshi some tips on the power of silence and underplay.

Lilliput is fabulous, scary, and Sheeba Chaddha is warm, homely.

Vijay Varma, Shweta Tewari and Pankaj Tripathi have some powerful scenes, but they seem out of form and without their mojo.

The death toll in Mirzapur 3 is quite high. A lot of blood flows, many skulls are smashed to pulp, throats are slit, bodies are dismembered and eyes are often the target of rage. In some scenes the blood and gore is quite unbearable, and viewer discretion is strongly advised.

These brutal but sharply choreographed scenes may be the best moments in the series. They try to compensate for the lack of a compelling story and human drama. But they can't, and at the end Mirzapur 3 leaves you with lukewarm feelings towards a lukewarm show.

Cast: Ali Fazal, Isha Talwar, Shweta Tripathi, Vijay Varma, Anjum Sharma, Anil George, Rajesh Tailang, Sheeba Chaddha, Manu Rishi, Anangsha Biswas, Meghna Malik, Priyanshu Painyuli, Lilliput

Direction: Gurmmeet Singh, Anand Iyer
Rating: 2.5/5
Streaming on Amazon Prime

a-quiet-place-day-one-review-a-gripping-tale-of-origins-of-creatures-that-silenced-the-world

Sat Jun 29 12:46:55 IST 2024

Is anybody up for some pizza in an apocalyptic world? Because, A Quiet Place: Day One brings you exactly that. A perfect prequel that won’t let you take your eyes off the screen, A Quiet Place: Day One, is a gripping tale of the origins of the creatures that silenced the world.

Tender would be the last word used to describe a horror/sci-fi movie, but A Quiet Place Part III is just that. Set in the bustling and loud city of New York, a terminal woman under hospice care with nothing to lose and her undying determination to fulfill her final wish is the driving force behind this prequel to the blockbusters Quiet Place 1 and 2, both directed by John Krasinski. While the first two films follow a family, who has much to lose, and struggles to survive in the apocalyptic world, this prequel follows a woman who has outlived her time and has nothing to lose. Directed by Michael Sarnoski, the third installment of the series, co-written by Krasinski, is a solid film that manages to stand on its own without falling under the shadows of the previous two.

While the premise of the movie is the origins of the blind creatures with hyper-sensitive hearing that wreaked havoc across the world, it is the sweet, tender, and platonic moments shared between Lupita Nyong'o’s Sam and Joseph Quinn’s Eric that manage to create a niche in the hearts of the viewers.

The dynamics of Nyong and Quinn amidst the rubble and alien-ridden world are to be much appreciated. But the star of the show is the cat Frodo who follows Sam around in an apocalyptic world, and despite all odds (spoiler) manages to survive. A surprising friendship that is sure to capture the hearts of the viewers is that of Eric and Frodo who ends up being a beacon of comfort for both Sam and Eric in a world where all sense of peace is lost.

A recurring face that connects this movie to the previous one is that of Henri played by Djimon Hounsou, who happens to be one of the very few who manage to evacuate and survive the carnage.

While the first half of the movie is ridden with action sequences, the second half sees much less of that and is focused primarily on Nyong’o and Quinn’s character dynamics and their quest for a slice of pizza. While Sarnoski puts his best foot forward with the action sequences which will have the viewers at the edge of their seats holding their breath, the movie is overpowered by its tender moments shared between the protagonists.

Ridden with scenes that will have you holding your breath in silence, the film captures the very essence of horror and panic that made the first two films such a banger for all the gory horror-loving film enthusiasts.

Thanks to Nyong’o and Quinn’s chemistry and stirring performances, Day One remains engaging from start to finish. Sarnoski’s focus on themes of sorrow and being is what separates it from the rest of the franchise and makes it less horrid and more poignant. A Quiet Place: Day One is a perfect weekend watch for both horror enthusiasts and others.

sharmajee-ki-beti-review-a-joyous-debut-that-finds-meaning-in-the-mundane

Fri Jun 28 16:30:11 IST 2024

Sharmajee Ki Beti is not a film about any one Sharmajee or any one Sharma khandan ki beti. It’s a joyous, sweet film by debutant writer-director Tahira Kashyap Khurrana, whose heart throbs for all betis and their mummyjis.

The film is about many daughters of many Sharmajees whose lives may or may not be connected, but they all follow a similar trajectory.

Specifically, though, Sharmajee Ki Beti is about two middle-class girls, their two middle-class mothers, and one neighbourhood didi.

We first meet Swati Sharma (Vanishka Taparia) as she is laid out on the examination table at a gynaecologist’s clinic in her school uniform.

“Normal,” says the doctor, and Swati’s disappointment soars.

Daughter of Jyoti Sharma (Sakshi Tanwar) and Sudhir Sharma (Sharib Hashmi), Swati is a Class VIII student who can’t stop hyperventilating to her bestie, Gurveen Sharma (Arista Mehta), about being abnormal. She is the only girl in her batch who hasn’t had her periods, or grown a pair. Her hair is like an agitated ball of frizz that won’t be tamed. And when she accosts her well-endowed seniors, she hyperventilates a bit more. Cute Gurveen, a patient listener, reassures her, says she too is awaiting the momentous arrival of her periods, and that all will be well. But Swati just can’t stop.

Swati’s mother, Jyoti, teaches physics at a coaching centre and finds all this concern an irritating waste of time and money. Her life is about getting to work on time and doing her best. She’s always rushing off on her scooter, pausing only to pass on some last-minute instructions to her husband — “Sudhir please, pay the electricity bill”, “Sudhir please, maid ki salary,” Sudhir please, take the clothes out of the washing machine”. Sudhir works the evening shift, and does all this more.

Swati’s school bestie, Gurveen, too has a small problem. She wants her hair gelled and shiny, like the boys.

Her mother, Kiran Sharma (Divya Dutta), recently relocated to Mumbai from Patiala and feels that her life has been upended. Her husband barely has time for her and is rather brusque. So Kiran roams the streets all day, trying to strike a conversation with neighbours, vegetable vendors, anyone who has time. But no one does. So she ends up picking up knick-knacks to decorate her well-appointed flat that doesn’t feel like a home.

Her neighbour Tanvi Sharma (Saiyami Kher) is a young and rising Ranji player whose boyfriend is a struggling actor but won’t stop telling Tanvi how to be, what to wear, what to eat.

Through the lives of these five Sharma girls, Kashyap Khurrana’s film tells many stories of middle-class Indian girls — from their adolescence to adulthood, about growing-up pangs to the trauma of adulting, from acting in school plays to playing the wife, mother, girlfriend, from having dreams to achieving them, from crushes and courtships to marriages that break and daughters who hurt. From mothers who forget to pick up their daughters after school to mothers who spend months on their daughter's birthday parties. From women who love their work and won't apologise for it, to women who have forgotten themselves in the service of others.

But the film’s heart lies with Swati.

Sometimes roles write themselves for certain actors. Vanishka was born to play Swati Sharma, the hyperventilating school kid. She is an absolute delight to watch.

Next to her it feels like Arista Mehta’s Gurveen needs some saving, perhaps her own oxygen chamber. Though Arista’s the quieter Gurveen is very good and memorable, Swati is simply outstanding.

I am an admirer of Tanwar’s acting talent. She is always spot-on, and sometimes she is excellent, like in Assi Ghat, where she played Sunny Deol’s wife.

But I feel that her range hasn’t been explored, not just by directors, but even by her. It’s time to step out of the worried mummy role.

Divya Dutta is a very fine actress who can create a range of emotions with the slightest change in expressions. She also wears her heart on her sleeve in most of the roles she does and creates pools of warmth on the screen like few other actors can. But in the last few roles she has done she is leaning more towards pitiable, her characters quiver more than they need to, the mascara leaks more than it has to and her characters seem to be overpowered by a ready-to-weep self-doubt.

In ‘Sharmajee’, the writer and director seemed to be going for strength in dignity for Kiran. And though Dutta is very good as Kiran, she left me feeling sad for “bechari” Kiran, when she really isn’t a bechari.

Kashyap Khurrana has written several books, has directed a short film, Toffee, is mother of two, has battled cancer and is married to actor Ayushmann Khurrana.

Sharmajee Ki Beti, her debut feature film, is about the small things in life — the small creases, the routine stresses, the occasional joys and the debilitating heartaches. It’s easy to make a big film about big things with big characters. But it’s always difficult to write with nuance about the daily occurrences, to find meaning in the mundane, and it’s always challenging to chart out a life through small joys and heartaches.

Watch the film to enjoy the small things that make Sharmajee ki many betis so delightful and real.

Film: Sharmajee Ki Beti

Cast: Sakshi Tanwar, Divya Dutta, Saiyami Kher, Praveen Dabas, Sharib Hashmi, Vanishka Taparia, Arista Mehta, Ravjeet Singh

Direction: Tahira Kashyap Khurrana

Streaming on: Amazon Prime

Rating: 3/5

kalki--a-grand-but-dull-affair-where-the-only-payoff-is-the-face

Fri Jun 28 16:30:58 IST 2024

Kalki 2898 AD is a concept film with some sprinkling of dystopian sci-fi. It's also very expensive and very long. Kalki is so long, in fact, that it felt like I started watching the film in Satyug, and by the time it finished, it was Kalyug.

This feeling of spending an eternity watching Kalki is both good and bad.

It’s good because the first half of Kalki is a complete disaster, and the second half is not bad. So by the time the film finishes, you only have a faint memory of the dull nonsense that transpired in the tedious first half, and exit the hall exhausted but also thinking that it’s not a bad film.

It’s bad because sitting through one-and-a-half hours of 44-year-old Prabhas trying to act cute, watching sexy but pointless Disha Patani arrive and exit for no apparent reason, is baffling. Worse are the long, dull scenes where the film’s concept, its setting, who is who and why the film is called Kalki 2898 AD are explained. It's boring, sleep-inducing and a waste of at least half of the Rs 600 crore that were spent in making the movie.

The story is simple, but because it wants to be taken seriously and doesn't want to be dismissed as a Baahubali-wannabe, its story, characters, sets and costumes have been complicated. So, instead of getting Hindu mythology in a mythological setting, we get Hindu mythology in a Hollywood dystopian setting.

The film’s plot takes off from the last chapter of Mahabharata that is reimagined a bit and then given an epilogue in which Ashwatthama, the son of Dronacharya, gets some purpose and a way out of Krishna’s curse.

The film’s look, characters and costumes are inspired, even plagiarised, from Star Wars, Dune, Mad Max Fury Road, The Lord of The Rings and Alien. But despite the similarities, the soaring imagination and meticulous work that went into creating Kalki's many worlds and sets is quite impressive. The effect is a dramatic, stunning world that sucks you in, but doesn't engage or entertain.

The problem is that this human drama takes so long to gather pace and tension, that by the time the film gets exciting, it’s time for the end credits to roll.

Kalki opens in a CGI Kurukshetra. A computer-generated Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) has just shot the Brahmastra towards the womb of a pregnant Uttara to end the Pandavas’ lineage.

Krishna gets angry and condemns Ashwatthama to roam the forests for eternity. Ashwatthama gets sad and asks for a way out. Okay, says Krishna. When Kalyug gets truly terrible and people start wailing and praying for god to save them, I will take rebirth. You can redeem yourself by protecting me then. Cool, says computer-generated Ashwatthama who neither speaks nor looks like Bachchan.

About 6,000 years later, the world is a heap of dry sand and all indoor spaces look like old garages where every piece of metal is rusting. Everyone is bandaged for some reason and either lives in or is headed to Kashi, the oldest and now the only surviving city.

This city is split into two parts — there’s a posh place called Complex, and then there's the world outside Complex. Complex is like those expensive gated-communities in Gurgaon where entry is possible only with one million units that can be accumulated by doing the bidding of the managers and commanders of Complex.

The world outside Complex has the dystopian, science-fiction aesthetic that we have seen in many dystopian, science-fiction films. There are vehicles that glide in the air but look like they are made with leftover nuts, bolts and cycle chains. People wear many layers of shredded clothes, have poor dental hygiene and like face tattoos. At every twist and turn, bad guys in leather jackets with shoulder spikes appear out of nowhere to delay things.

Bhairava (Prabhas), a selfish bounty hunter, is desperate to enter Complex, and to do this he will catch whoever he needs to accumulate units. Complex is owned and run by Supreme Yaskin (Kamal Hassan), a guru-god like creature who sits in lotus pose and hovers over a shimmering, indoor water body. Supreme's personal space is like a very fancy spa that reminded me of Leela hotel’s opulent, garish interiors.

Supreme is frail. There are cracks and gaps in his head that emit light and pipes ooze out of his body. He desires a particular serum that needs to be extracted from pregnant ladies. Sadly, in this extraction process, most ladies die. So a significant area of Complex is kept exclusively as the living quarters of ladies who are segregated by their utility — white robes and First Class meals for fertile ladies, and black robes with rajma-chawal combo meals for non-fertile ladies.

There is also a secret society of rebels who live in a secret place called Shambhala. They are against all this Complex and Supreme business and are waiting for Ma to give birth to god. Who Ma is, they know not.

Ashwatthama, all bandaged, sad and without his sparkling third eye, dwells in some old underground temple, waiting for a sign of god's rebirth.

SUM-80 (Deepika Padukone) is in a black robe but is also preggers. But preggers escapes, Ashwatthama decides to play protector, Shambhala gets all excited, and Bhairava figures that SUM-80 is his ticket to the Complex.

Since everything and everyone is a puzzle in Kalki, the film spends most of its first half introducing its main characters and explaining their situation, motivation. We also meet many irrelevant characters in airborne vehicles, and watch dull video-game type of fights with strange arms and ammunition. A lot of time is also wasted on Bhairava who looks like an aunty with a top knot as he acts coy and cracks jokes with his tiny robot that are not funny at all.

Though the film's second half also has large patches where people are flying about, including Commander Manas (Saswata Chatterjee) who hops on his flying saucer to save the day for Supreme, and everyone keeps chucking tiny, shiny balls that go boom, Deepika looks luminous and the film is animated by the dramatic fight sequences between the film's two main characters.

The action scenes involving Ashwatthama and Bhairava are fantastic and fun. Prabhas, dressed like an action hero, is light and funny, while Bachchan, a cross between Gandolf and Bhishma Pitamah, is stoic and scary.

This face-off, between Bachchan and Prabhas, is where Kalki’s elaborate imagination in inventing its many worlds comes alive. That is when the film lights up. The rest of Kalki is tiresome.

Supreme, sadly, doesn’t enter the fight just yet as he has been hovering over water and waiting for serum. But we may see him fly out of Complex in Kalki 2.

Watch Kalki 2898 AD for the crackling chemistry between Prabhas and Bachchan if you have the patience to sit through its first half.

Movie: Kalki 2898 AD

Cast: Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Hassan, Deepika Padukone, Disha Patani, Shobhana, Saswata Chatterjee, Brahmanandam

Direction: Nag Ashwin

Rating: **1/2

paradise-movie-review-prasanna-vithanage-s-socioeconomic-drama-calls-a-spade-a-spade

Wed Jun 26 20:36:55 IST 2024

The Ramayana epic has over 300 versions across India and Southeast Asia, each incorporating unique cultural and regional elements. Some of these versions have different interpretations of the central characters compared to Valmiki's Ramayana, the oldest and most definitive version known to most people. From the complexity of characters to the philosophical questions it deals with, making it an ever-relevant reference material for works of art, culture, and cinema.

In Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage’s Kim Jiseok award-winning film Paradise one can see inspiration from the central theme—the “journey”--of the timeless epic. In the film we see an Indian couple—Kesav (Roshan Mathew) and Amritha (Darshana Rajendran)—who choose to embark on a 'Ramayana Trail' in Sri Lanka amid the financial crisis in Sri Lanka in 2022. As the island neighbour grappled with a crisis and millions of its citizens found themselves plunged into dire poverty and suffered shortages of even essential goods, many Indians made it an opportune moment to tour Lanka at a cheap cost. Vithanage portrays how the couple remains aloof from the crisis faced by the Lankan citizens until and unless a crisis comes to their lives.

While talking to THE WEEK last year, Vithanage said, "I believe human relationships are most revealing during times of crisis." In Paradise, one can see how he conducts an in-depth exploration of his characters and the nuances in their relationship dynamics while keeping the sociopolitical tumult in his homeland as its backdrop.

ALSO READ | Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage on making an Indian film

The screenplay by Vithanage and Anushka Senanayake is so powerful that one can sense the characters grappling with both internal conflicts and external circumstances simultaneously. Vithanage maintains a straightforward linear narrative, but the dialogues are rich with subtext, offering multiple layers of reflection on the film.

While Paradise primarily presents the challenges faced by the Indian couple, the film effectively serves as a compelling critique of how the state machinery treats the rich and poor unequally. It also highlights the continued scapegoating of ethnic minorities in Sri Lanka.

Roshan and Darshana poignantly portray the roles of Keshav and Amritha, with strong support from Sri Lankan actors Shyam Fernando (playing the tour guide Andrew) and Mahendra Perera (playing the police official Sergeant Bandara).

Produced by Newton Cinema—known for powerful films like Don Palathara’s Family, Varun Grover’s Kiss, and Megha Ramaswamy’s Lalanna’s Song—Paradise is technically well crafted. Acclaimed cinematographer-filmmaker Rajeev Ravi handled the cinematography, while veteran editor A. Sreekar Prasad managed the editing.

Born in Panadura, a stronghold of the Trotskyism-inspired Lanka Sama Samaja Party, into a Sinhalese family in 1962, Vithanage grew up acutely aware of the socioeconomic disparities in his country. He has consistently used filmmaking, his best tool, to address issues considered heretical by those in power. In Paradise also, one can sense that revolutionary spirit of the filmmaker who calls a spade a spade.

Movie: Paradise

Cast: Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran, Shyam Fernando, Mahendra Perera

Direction: Prasanna Vithanage

Rating: 4 out of 5

spoiler-alert-riley-faces-a-whole-new-set-of-emotions-in-inside-out-2

Sun Jun 23 11:13:13 IST 2024

Ever since Pixar’s Inside Out 2 released on June 14, fans have not been able to stop talking about the animated blockbuster, featuring the voices of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Maya Hawke, Ayo Edebiri, Phylis Smith and others. Lately, Pixar has been known to push the boundaries of what we understand as children’s media by explaining tough-to-understand topics through loveable characters and storylines such as answering existential questions about life through its mega-hit ‘Soul’, the complexities of familial responsibility through ‘Turning Red’, and ‘Elemental’.

The film builds upon the success of the 2015 original, where viewers learned to embrace sadness as a natural part of growth. This time, 13-year-old Riley faces a whole new set of emotions in her "control room": Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui (boredom) quickly take over and push Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust out, leaving Riley in a whirlwind of confusion. Throughout the film, Riley tries to join a group of high school hockey players fuelled by Anxiety's schemes.

Things take an ugly turn when Anxiety begins to micromanage Riley’s personality by changing her “sense of self”, a collection of good memories through which Riley forms a perception of her identity. Anxiety explains that her job is to protect Riley’s future, but her over-zealous planning tampers with this sense of self, leading to Riley betraying her friends, openly dissing her favourite band, and even sneaking off at night to go through the coach’s folder.

Meanwhile, Joy and her friends embark on a series of adventures to get back to headquarters. They ferry across a literal “stream of consciousness”, ‘Dreamland’, and ‘The Vault of Secrets’. But when they finally arrive back at headquarters, they witness Riley’s first panic attack after getting a penalty during an important game.

Riley’s heartbeat quickens and her legs shake uncontrollably. She grapples with this new destructive sense of self, a stark contrast to the upcoming star player and straight-A student she once was. Despite the chaos, there's hope. Joy manages to pull Anxiety away, and the emotions come together in a supportive hug. Inside Out 2 beautifully depicts the experience of an anxiety attack fuelled by negative self-perception. Inside Out 2's depiction of Riley's panic attack is a standout moment.

Fuelled by self-doubt and negative thoughts, the scene accurately captures the physical and emotional turmoil of an anxiety attack. Pixar's collaboration with psychologists to ensure authenticity is evident, making it a powerful and relatable experience for many viewers. Riley later manages to overcome the attack with her new and well-rounded sense of self (thanks to Joy) which acknowledges the good and the bad. As viewers, we come to understand that Anxiety is not the villain; rather, she is an important emotion but must not take control over other emotions.

Ultimately, Riley's journey is one of integrating the new emotions that come with puberty. This newfound balance allows her to navigate the complexities of adolescence, with all its emotional ups and downs.

maharaj-review-watch-it-for-its-delicious-subversive-politics-and-the-junaid-khans-old-world-charm

Sat Jun 22 11:29:28 IST 2024

In another time with a different temper and temperament, Maharaj, a film about a 19th century journalist-activist-reformer taking on a high priest of a Hindu temple for his blatant sexual abuse, would have simply been taken at face value.

But in this day and age, director Siddharth P. Malhotra’s film, starring Junaid Khan, son of Aamir Khan, is a powerful and subversive political statement at many levels.

Maharaj packs in many delicious jollies.

Nine years after Aamir Khan was attacked, vilified and victimised for talking about growing intolerance in India, his son is beginning his film career with a film that says faith is a private matter, religion must be practiced in private, and not be brandished on roads.

The film also marks the arrival of a star kid who can act, and is course correction for Yash Raj Studios which, just two years ago toadied up to the politics of hate and made the unbearable 'Samrat Prithviraj'.

Bollywood is an excellent bellwether. The stories it tells, tell the story of India.

And if the country’s biggest production house has mined the past to tell us a story that's full of subversive politics that challenges blind faith, that questions a leader who casts himself in the role and robes of God, that holds courts to a higher standard, samjho ki waqt badal raha hai (the times, they are a’changing).

Maharaj, based on a book by Saurabh Shah, tells the real story of the 1862 Maharaj Libel Case about a young Gujarati Hindu, Karsandas Mulji (Junaid Khan), who lives in what was then Bombay, and is inspired by the Parsi reformer Dadabhai Naoroji.

In the first scene itself the film establishes its two main characters. While an untouchable with a water pitcher hanging around his head, sprays water as he walks and announces "Be careful, an achoot is walking”, Karsan takes some chutney from another untouchable.

Meanwhile, in a haveli, which is a temple of sorts of the Vaishnav community, Jadunathji (Jaideep Ahlawat), JJ for short, is getting ready for Holi celebration. With clever editing, we see Lord Krishna’s idol and JJ being decked simultaneously, with similar devotion and regalia.

He is almost like the god of the Vaishnav community, who sets the rules. As his devotees place their palms for him to walk on, he sets his eyes on their daughters and decides who will sleep with him, when.

Karsan, who rallies and writes against the inhumanity with which widows are treated, is engaged to Kishori (Shalini Pandey), but when she is picked by JJ for “Charan seva” — a practice where young brides must first submit themselves to JJ, and only after he has sex with the virgins, can they consummate their own marriages.

This sets off Karsan to take on JJ and his brazen sexual abuse and rape under the guise of religion. He does so first with his journalism, and then in court, when JJ files a defamation case against him for an article he wrote in his newspaper, Satya Prakash.

Junaid Khan, in a dhoti-kurta-vasket, is a breath of fresh air. There’s the endearing awkwardness of a newcomer, but also an affecting sincerity. He carries an old-world charm as Karsandas Mulji, and beautifully embodies the two things that makeup Karsan’s character — a revolutionary’s value system and thirst for freedom.

Jaideep Ahlawat here plays JJ not as a priest, but as the doppelgänger of bhagwan Krishna. Taking a cue from Nitish Bharadwaj’s Krishna in B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharat series, he has a perpetual smile and walks as if he’s gliding on air. Giving us only brief glimpses of the evil that lurks under his beatific smile.

Both the girls paired with Junaid — Shalini Pandey, and Sharvari Wagh who plays Viraaj, a young girl who joins Karsan’s editorial office — are lovely and play their parts with some joy and masti.

In several places, Maharaj reminded me of Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog (1982), and the film’s dance and music had many strains and twirls, inspired by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

But Maharaj belongs to director Siddharth P Malhotra, an old Yashraj-Dharma hand. In 2018 he made Hichki, and before that the terrible We Are Family.

Maharaj is his most powerful, accomplished film to date. It’s also a film that will be talked about for a long time.

What's especially interesting about the film is the deft handling of its politics. The film’s script, by Vipul Mehta, casts Karsandas & Co are not as nastiks (atheists) fighting faith. Instead, they are cast as respectful, ardent believers, honourable men and women whose faith is pure and touching, while JJ’s bhakts are shown as servile men and women, sycophants who can’t see how he is abusing his authority.

Movie: Maharaj

Cast: Junaid Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shalini Pandey, Sharvari Wagh

Direction: Siddharth P Malhotra

Rating: ***1/2 out of 5

Streaming on Netflix

nadanna-sambhavam-review-an-enjoyable-film-with-a-few-socially-relevant-messages

Fri Jun 21 19:35:04 IST 2024

Nadanna Sambhavam, directed by Vishnu Narayan and penned by Rajesh Gopinathan, is a film that explores the conflict that erupts when misunderstandings, propelled by gossip, are worsened when people with different worldviews inhabit the same locality.

The story is set in a residential complex and revolves around two couples. Unni (Biju Menon) and Roshi (Shruti Ramachandran) have a marriage of equals and are new in the residential complex. Ajith (Suraj Venjaramoodu) and Dhanya (Lijo Mol Jose), whose relationship seems strained, are their new neighbours.

Men in the locality come to loathe Unni as his friendly approach to women does not align with their views on masculinity. This leads to a misunderstanding that is blown out of proportion. The movie criticises the culture of gossip and invasion of privacy. There is also an element of women's sexuality woven into the narrative.

There is plenty of humor in the narrative through various incidents—some unrelated to the main plot—eliciting laughter. The background score does help in elevating certain scenes.

ALSO READ: 'Ullozhokku' review: A compelling tale of human emotions and relationships

While the supporting characters lack depth, they manage to show the diverse personalities that make up a society. The actors deliver solid performances. Suraj Venjaramoodu's skilled portrayal of Ajith evokes a strong hatred for his character and the toxic masculinity he represents.

While the movie assumes a feminist tone, the final conflict resolution scene does not align with the tone as it leans more towards a solution through violence.

While Nadanna Sambhavam is not exactly a highly engaging movie, it is certainly enjoyable and does manage to convey a few relevant points.

Watch this two-hour movie if you want a glimpse of residential complex life with someone who needs a reminder not to be the fly on the wall.

Movie: Nadanna Sambhavam

Cast: Suraj Venjaramoodu, Biju Menon, Lijo Mol Jose, Shruti Ramachandran

Direction: Vishnu Narayan

Rating: 3/5

ullozhokku-review-a-compelling-tale-of-human-emotions-and-relationships

Fri Jun 21 16:22:26 IST 2024

A strong visual language is arguably the most powerful tool in a filmmaker's arsenal. Filmmakers who master visual storytelling don't need lengthy dialogues to convey their characters' emotions. National-award-winning filmmaker Christo Tomy’s compelling drama, Ullozhokku, exemplifies how a filmmaker with strong visual language can weave complex narratives with utmost subtlety, even using sighs and silences.

Set in a flooded Kuttanad village, the film delves into the complex lives of Leelama (Urvashi) and her daughter-in-law Anju (Parvathy Thiruvoth), who have lived far too long on a foundation of lies. The man who connects them both lies in a mortuary, and they must wait for the floodwaters to subside to bury him. As the wait continues, the intricate web of lies around them gets exposed. The grounded and poetic script beautifully captures the essence of human emotions and relationships.

Urvashi, as Leelamma, and Parvathy Thiruvothu, as Anju, deliver stellar performances that anchor the film. A slow-building drama, Ullozhukku offers a character study of Leelamma and Anju, providing different perspectives and leaving questions of right and wrong open for the audience to explore.

Notably, the film not only explores the emotional dimensions of its characters but also delves deeply into their socio-religious backgrounds and the unique geography of their land. The Kuttanad region, situated 2.2 meters below sea level, has the lowest altitude in India. The people of Kuttanad experience their homes and graves being flooded throughout their lives. The film offers an authentic portrayal of life in these neighbourhoods, surrounded by picturesque backwaters that often feature on lists of “India’s most beautiful spots.” Shehnad Jalal's cinematography deserves praise for its compelling visuals that enhance Tomy's narrative perfectly.

Urvashi’s portrayal of Leelamma is arguably one of the best performances in Malayalam cinema this year. For instance, there is a scene towards the end of the film where Leelamma simply has to offer frankincense into her son's grave. Although there are no dialogues, Urvashi elevates the scene with her body language, embodying a mother drained of energy after years of weeping. Thiruvoth’s performance as Anju is also powerful. The supporting cast, including Prashant Murali, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Alencier Ley Lopez, and Jaya Kurup, all deserve applause for their commendable performances.

From a technical standpoint, the film excels as well. Sushin Syam’s music effectively transports the audience into the continuous rain-soaked atmosphere of the Kuttanadu village. The film happens in a minimal setting with a minimum number of characters. However, Kiran Das' adept editing, as seen in his work on similar films like Ila Veezha Poonchira and Appan, is evident in making the narrative compelling and tight.

2024 is poised to be a standout year for Malayalam cinema, with Ullozhukku joining the ranks of classy films produced in the southern industry this year. Once more, it demonstrates that neither large budgets nor star-studded casts guarantee good cinema. Rather, it is the meticulous crafting of a strong script that delivers a compelling tale, led by a visionary filmmaker adept at storytelling. Malayalam cinema reaffirms that content reigns as the sole king, now and forever!

Movie: Ullozhokku

Directed by: Christo Tomy

Starring: Urvashi, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Prashant Murali, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Alencier Ley Lopez, and Jaya Kurup

Rating: 4/5

pushtaini-review-a-small-indie-film-that-takes-on-the-big-taboo-topic-of-mens-sexual-abuse

Fri Jun 21 12:21:09 IST 2024

Pushtaini (ancestral) is a small indie film that takes on a big, taboo subject: child sexual abuse.

Those three heavy words are not exactly an invitation to be entertained and have fun. And that’s why, perhaps, a glamorous name is associated with the film — that of Hrithik Roshan, who “presents” Pushtaini.

Directed by Vinod Rawat, who has also co-written the film and also stars in it as the lead, 'Pushtaini' feels and moves like a debut film. It has awkward scenes, a rickety narrative, overacting, dizzy camerawork—all of which are the hallmark of film institute student films. But it also has some powerful moments, a pulsating heart and endearing sincerity.

Pushtaini begins in Bollywood on an assured, gripping note.

A film scene is being shot that involves a big hero (Rajkummar Rao in a cameo) and a struggling, new actor, Aryan Shah (Vinod Rawat). In the scene, Aryan is playing Bollywood’s stock goon. He is wearing a black Pathani suit, has a massive mole stuck on his cheek and is to issue threats while swinging a switch-blade knife.

Aryan has just a few lines, but it’s his debut and he is nervous. So he overacts, and in take after take, makes it worse. The crew, irritated, begin to gossip about how he got the role. That secret is recorded in a video clip on a line producer’s phone who uses it to first humiliate and then blackmail Aryan. Aryan has to pay Rs 8 lakh, else the clip will go viral.

Aryan doesn’t have the money, but he has some ancestral property near Nainital.

The film travels to Uttarakhand with Aryan as he visits family members, beginning with his sister, where we learn more about him, his father and his real name, Bhuppi.

Aryan, aka Bhuppi, then heads to the house of his father's boss, Yashpal (Mithilesh Pandey). But just as he is about to enter, traumatic scenes from the past flood in. He sees round, shiny marbles and a helpless young boy.

It's a place of violence, hurt. A place where a boy was sexually abused, and also the place where a father broke his son’s heart.

There is a will, and Bhuppi has an inheritance, but there's also a condition. To encash his inheritance, Bhuppi needs an NOC from Prema, his bhua (father's sister) who lives in Bageshwar, a picturesque hill town.

Rawat, who co-directed Sushmita Sen’s series Aarya, has co-written Pushtaini’s script with Rita Heer, who also stars in the film as the female lead, Dimple.

En route to Bageshwar, Bhuppi meets an old friend and a young traveller, Dimple, a life coach. Carrying her own burdens and a bottle of vodka, she too is on a journey to come to terms with her past and learn to breathe.

As they all drive together to Bageshwar, we meet men having illicit affairs, and see how quickly basic politeness and friendly demeanour of single women is taken by men as an invitation to creep up on them and cross lines.

At his aunt’s house, as she shares stories about Bhuppi’s father, a boulder becomes a metaphor for the emotional blockage that Bhuppi and Dimple have lived with, but must now learn to navigate life around it.

A lot of Pushtaini feels amateurish. It's an uneven and flawed film. Scenes that should have been tighter, neater, are baggy. And while it's commendable that the film has many non-actors, the acting of Pushtaini's main characters flits between passable and bad.

Rita Heer mostly just overacts or doesn’t act at all. Vinod Rawat is heavy and does too much when less would have been better. He makes faces and distracts us in powerful moments with his hamming.

And yet the story that Pushtaini tells — about sexual abuse, of a boy coming to terms with it, his father's behaviour and his own compromises, about the stories we tell ourselves and hold on to, and how we become prisoners to these stories — is important and essential.

While watching Pushtaini, I recalled an illuminating conversation I had years ago with the screenwriter Urmi Juvekar about women, men and how they go through life.

Juvekar, who wrote the screenplays of Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula, Shanghai and I Am, among others, spoke about how, after women’s liberation, there really should have been a concerted effort to liberate men from their daddies, from macho-panti, from the boulders of unresolved traumas, unexpressed emotions, and the debilitating fear of vulnerability.

That moment of men's lib is not upon us, sadly, but when films begin to talk about men's sexual abuse, I really believe that some festering wounds will burst and eventually begin to heal.

Last year, director Anmol Sidhu’s 'Jaggi', a brutal, unsettling film about sexual abuse, released. And now we have Pushtaini.

Pushtaini doesn't pack in the power of 'Jaggi' (a Punjabi film that is streaming on Mubi), but it does add to the conversation about men and the sexual abuse many suffered as boys. And that's a welcome baby step for boys to become men.

Movie: Pushtaini

Cast: Vinod Rawat, Rita Heer, Ankur Bhalla, Hemant Pandey, Preme Karayat, Maya Dharakoti, Mithilesh Pandey

Direction: Vinod Rawat

Rating: **1/2 out of 5

bad-cop-has-excellent-acting-and-cool-stunts-but-is-let-down-by-a-bad-script

Thu Jun 20 13:17:14 IST 2024

I have been trying hard to conjure up some excitement about the series ‘Bad Cop’, but I just can’t.

On the surface, the show has everything going for it. It stars Gulshan Devaiah and Anurag Kashyap as the three leads. I say three because Gulshan Devaiah is cast in a double role. He is Karan and he is Arjun — two identical twin orphans who are separated early in life by fate and their behaviour. One grows up to become a cop, the other a small-time crook.

Devaiah is an excellent actor who does a lot, seemingly with very little effort. And Kashyap is cast in his dream role here. In ‘Bad Cop’’s testosterone-dripping world, he plays an underworld don who gets to shout a string of abuses in every scene, brandish a gun, humiliate people and generally be a menacing presence in the lives of all.

The series has high production value, lots of slick action sequences, a great background score, two decent female characters and some cool one-liners by dialogue-writer Hussain Dalal. But everything about ‘Bad Cop'’s story is so filmy and predictable that, despite all the swag with which its characters arrive and the excitement that the music tries to inject into scenes, a stale stench lingers throughout.

Every character feels like a familiar entity who has walked over from some other series or film to do what they were doing there. Every twist in the plot is predictable, as is the outcome. Leaving us with, in the end, a series that has great acting, promises a lot, but delivers the bare, dull minimum.

‘Bad Cop’ opens in Pune where we meet Karan and Arjun. One is married to a cop, Devika (Harleen Sethi), while the other is having an affair with a con artist, Kiki (Aishwarya Sushmita). One is chasing the bad guys, and the other, while blackmailing a debauched, bald man, witnesses a murder.

Soon, one is dead and the other is out for revenge.

The series keeps cutting to a flashback to fill us in on the tragedy that befell the twins, how they got separated and why they took different paths.

In the present, between Karan/Arjun’s life, death and revenge lie two significant roadblocks: No. 1 is Kasbe (Anurag Kashyap), an underworld don in sleeveless shirts who operates out of a jail and through his incompetent nephew; No. 2 is CBI inspector Aarif Khan (Saurabh Sachdeva).

Aarif is chasing the killer of his journalist friend, and Kasbe is trying to get his illegal consignment out.

Woven into all this are mini stories about the illegal and brutal ivory trade, a marriage that is dying, and jails that are really just grimy fiefdoms of dons.

All of these strands get the same treatment as the main plot, i.e. lots of slickness but bereft of a single original thought or scene.

Despite the fact that the series’ premise and plot are so desi-filmy, ‘Bad Cop’ is based on a 2017 German series (also titled Bad Cop).

A lot happens in the series' 30-minute episodes. Bikes do cartwheels in the air, there are intense car chases and bullets go thain-thain. The series’ screenplay, in fact, is loaded with action, characters, twists, but none of it is exciting because the characters feel trite and the story holds no surprises, at least not till Episode 6.

It's urprising that the series’ writers — a team led by Renzil D’Silva — couldn’t come up with anything intelligent or exciting., given that D’Silva wrote the screenplay for ‘Rang De Basanti’ (2006), ‘Student of the Year’ (2012) and the series ‘24’.

‘Bad Cop'’s story and screenplay are so weak and unintelligent that in a crucial scene, where one twin decides to take on the identity of the other, another character notices all the changes and red flags, but is made to mouth justifications for each one, apropos nothing.

Aditya Datt, who has directed forgettable films like ‘Aashiq Banaya Aapne’ (2005) and Vidyut Jamwal’s ‘Crakk’ (2024) in the past, does a fine job here despite the threadbare script. Datt, with the help of talented actors, smart cinematography and editing, is able to create interesting characters and infuse some tension in the plot. But without a strong script, there’s a limit to how much actors and a director can do.

Despite that Devaiah and Anurag Kashyap are in good form here and keep the series going. Kashyap especially seems to be having a great time playing Kasbe, and keeps us hooked.

Even Saurabh Sachdeva, who has many scenes and a powerful screen presence, but not much to do except shout at his juniors in exasperation, is able to hold our attention.

Harleen Sethi, who plays the angry cop-wife, is quite good, but like all characters, she too is single-note. As is Aishwarya Sushmita’s Kiki. Both these actresses could have added some sparkle, but the script lets them and us down.

Bad Cop (Series)

Direction: Aditya Datt

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Anurag Kashyap, Harleen Sethi, Saurabh Sachdeva, Deepak Kamboj, Aishwarya Sushmita

Rating: **

Bad Cop will stream on Disney+Hotstar in weekly instalments. This review is based on the first six episodes. The last two episodes are not yet complete.

maharaja-review-vijay-sethupathi-excels-in-this-nail-biting-suspense-thriller

Sat Jun 15 13:39:19 IST 2024

Contrary to expectations, Vijay Sethupathi’s 50th film isn't about a larger-than-life hero, but the story of a simple man in the quest to retrieve his stolen ‘Lakshmi'. The mystery the trailer created over who or what ‘Lakshmi’ is revealed fifteen minutes into the movie.

Nithilan Swaminathan’s ‘Maharaja’ is a thriller packed with action and humour. The meticulous script takes the viewers through the past and present of the main characters. At no point does the movie lag or confuse. The story moves in a nonlinear manner, narrating different stories at the same time. The entire plot falls beautifully together, making a strong connection by the end of the first half.

Maharaja, played by Vijay Sethupathi, is a man whose life revolves around his daughter. Once again, the actor has done a fine job of bringing out the complexity of the character. Mamta Mohandas’s role as a physical education teacher was limited and didn't require much acting or screen presence. Anurag Kashyap delivers well as the villain, creating dread with his presence. While well-acted, the character suffers due to awkward lip-syncing. All the supporting cast too have come up with decent performances.

Philomin Raj’s editing deserves high praise as he navigates the non-linear narrative, ensuring clarity even with the jumping timelines. The score by Lokanath effectively heightens tension and keeps the audience engaged.

Just like his directorial debut, Kurungu Bommai, Maharaja too excels in narration as Swaminathan creates a gripping thriller interweaving the past and present. 'Maharaja’ doesn't fail to make one laugh, even during tense scenes.

Despite the brilliant and intriguing narration, the movie falls short in its execution, as the plots and twists are too convenient. Maharaja’s Bahubali-like arm strength, the unmanageable truck, or a snake feel forced and lack logic, weakening the movie’s believability. These features echo a pattern very similar to that of Kurangu Bommai.

The climax was not on par with the rest of the movie, as it was overly dramatised to underscore a point that was already conveyed. The theme is a cliche in Tamil cinema and explores an already saturated topic. Despite these flaws, the meticulously crafted script, gripping twists, with good acting keep the viewers intrigued.

Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja is a good watch if you are in the mood for nail-biting suspense thriller packed with action.

Movie: Maharaja

Director: Nithilan Swaminathan

Cast: Vijay Sethupathi, Anurag Kashyap, Mamta Mohandas, Abhirami

Duration: 142 minutes

mollywood-grrr-movie-review-loud-roars-of-satire-yet-no-bite

Fri Jun 14 20:45:05 IST 2024

"Grrr...," starring Kunchacko Boban and Suraj Venjaramoodu, is a comedy flick covered with satire. The movie is directed by Jay K who has worked on horror films like Ezra and Dybbuk and is now trying his hand at humour.

The story surrounds Rejimon Nadar (played by Kunchacko Boban) who is heartbroken and drunk due to the perceived end to his love affair, jumps into the lion's den at the Trivandrum Zoo. Suraj Venjaramoodu plays Haridas, a zoo officer, who gets trapped in the den while trying to rescue him. The rest of the story involves the rescue operation interspersed with the reactions of various sets of people including the family of Rejimon, the family of his girlfriend, and the family of Haridas to the situation.

'Thalavan' movie review: An investigative thriller that keeps viewers guessing

There was satire in every corner and no element including religion, caste, politics, media, or bureaucracy was left untouched. However, it failed to leave any impact and Grr...'s humour falls flat in places.

Rejimon's relationship with his girlfriend and the disapproval of her father, a significant problem in the film, is resolved too easily with a flash of a smile. The movie has multiple storylines, jumping from one to the other. Though all are connected, keeping track of so many instances is difficult. However, the various storylines prevent the dragging of the main part in the lion’s den, where there is little to do except run around in circles.

The film needs to flesh out its characters. But the actors' portrayals of them are fun to watch.

Haridas's wife, who is played by Shruti Ramachandran balances humour without going overboard. The visual effects of the lion with a flowing mane appear realistic, but the patience of the lion that did not kill anyone, even with two unprotected humans in its cage and officials who communicate via loudspeakers, needs to be applauded.

'Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil' review: This 'bromantic' comedy keeps you entertained

The constant background score sometimes feels unnecessary, guiding us on what to feel lest we don't get what the scene's tone was meant to be.

If you have two hours lying around and want a light-hearted movie with a few good family-friendly laughs, watch "Grrr.." in the theatres.

Movie: Grrr..

Cast: Kunchacko Boban, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Anagha L K, Rajesh Madhavan, Shruti Ramachandran.

Direction: Jay K

Rating: 3/5

chandu-champion-review-kabir-khan-worst-film-to-date-showcases-kartik-aaryans-inability-to-act

Sat Jun 15 17:59:08 IST 2024

There's an unwritten but abiding contract that we, the audience, have with sports films.

Good sports films move the audience. Even if it's for a short duration— during the film and its afterglow that can last from 24 hours to a few weeks—sports films are meant to stir us into thinking that we too can realise our impossible dreams. Often it is a delusion because real inspiration comes from within, not outside.

But for a while, good sports films pack in moments of such piercing focus that they move us into believing that we too can conquer new heights, and become masters of our own destinies. We lose this determination soon after. But like those drop-down masks on flights, good sports films remain the go-to oxygen masks that we can pull down and put on when we can't breathe.

And that’s really just it. That’s the only real point of sporting films, whether they are based on real-life heroes or imagined ones. Kabir Khan made one such film in 2020, Ranveer Singh-starrer, '83. Chandu Champion is Khan’s second attempt at showcasing sporting glory.

Based on the life of Murlikant Rajaram Petkar, India's first Paralympic gold medalist, the material that Khan and his co-writers — Sumit Arora, Sudipto Sarkar — had was powerful. Petkar's life story is the stuff of legends, a saga of unbelievable tragedy and human grit. It's the story of a man who was laughed at, shot at, paralysed for life, but refused to give up.

Sadly, Chandu Champion, starring Kartik Aaryan, is a soul-sucking, cliche-riddled dullard. It is Khan's worst film to date starring a wimp of an actor when what it needed was a warrior.

The only inspiration that can be drawn from Chandu Champion is about how not to write a screenplay, and the only lesson it delivers quite emphatically is for Bollywood: Don't cast Karthik Aaryan in a role that demands some acting.

Aaryan has risen to fame and box-office glory by being a boys' boy. Chandu Champion required him to inhabit and play a character who is not an annoying mohalla boy, who does not flash a toothy grin while being crass and misogynistic.

As Murli, Kartik Aaryan’s body changes shape and bulk. Sometimes he sprints and sometimes he swims. He is good at boxing and his wrestling is passable.

In fact, in some sporting arenas, he delivers the physical action decently, but all the drama is neck down. Above that is the same Kartik Aaryan with his two-and-a-half expressions—happy with a toothy smile, sad with dead eyes, and sad with teary eyes.

Between the film's tired, tedious screenplay, Khan's uninspired direction and Aaryan's inability to act, it is difficult to decide who should be held guilty of killing what could have been an exciting, inspiring film.

All are culpable.

Chandu Champion opens with a war scene. We hear the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns, see debris flying aesthetically and watch a soldier shout and get shot at.

This was 1965. The war was with Pakistan.

Cut to 2017, a police station in Sangli, a city in Maharashtra where there’s commotion around an old man in a brown coat who has arrived with a bunch of medals and is insisting on filing a cheating case against all of India's past Presidents, beginning with V.V. Giri.

As he lays down his gold, silver, et cetra medals on the SHO's table, the cops first joke about the senile “Kaka”, but are soon engrossed in his life's story.

Flashback. Cut to 1952, in a village in Maharashtra where a young boy, Murli, watches India's first Olympic medalist, K.D. Jadhav, being welcomed by thousands of people on his return from Helsinki.

The freestyle wrestler won the bronze medal and spawned a million dreams, including of little Murli who announces that he too will be an Olympic champion. Murli tries his hand at wrestling, but bullies at school tease him and start calling him “Chandu” Champion, Chandu for loser.

He grows up and we meet Murli in an akhara (wrestling arena) wearing what looks like a thick maroon diaper. This is soon followed by him running away from a killer mob in the same diaper.

He gets on to a train, makes a friend, Karnail (Bhuvan Arora), they sing a song and join the Army. Again the film focuses on portraying Murli as a cute simpleton who gets triggered when people laugh at his Olympic dreams. But he finds a senior who believes in him, and introduces him to Tiger Ali (Vijay Raaz), a boxing coach.

The film spends a long time in Japan where military games are taking place. Here Murli meets a female TV reporter (a boring role that's a waste of Bhagyashri Borse's charm), tastes some fame and gets a life lesson from a miffed Ali.

Again a considerable amount of time is wasted on portraying Murli as a cute simpleton who can't use a fork and knife, can't speak or understand English.

This infantilising runs throughout the film, turning Murli into a joke. The aim, perhaps, was to get a few laughs. And thanks to Bhuvan Arora's Karnail, we do chuckle a bit. But the overall impact is of distancing us from Murli, not bringing us close to him.

Soon we are back to Kashmir, 1965. Shooting, death, a bullet lodged in the spine, coma and then paralysis.

This is a deeply tragic episode in Murli’s life and involves a family that walks away from him. It has some powerful scenes and all eyes are on Kartik Aaryan. But all we get are those same stock expressions, interspersed with blank looks.

In the last 10 minutes of 'Chandu Champion', filmy melodrama and real-life achievements of an exceptional man mingle to lift the film a bit. But it's too little, too late.

Murlikant Rajaram Petkar’s life story is so action-packed and inspiring that there really wasn't much to do for the scriptwriters. And yet the film's writers and director have managed to drag down a moving, energising story with cliches and dead scenes.

The film does have some excellent boxing scenes that are directed, shot, edited and acted well.

These sporting sequences, including one in a swimming pool, are like small pockets of tension and excitement that Aaryan could have turned into moments when we connect with Murli and his single-minded pursuit of Olympic gold. Instead, he makes us wonder about his lack of acting skills.

The film has a very decent ensemble of supporting actors, but they have not been given characters to play. All their roles — from the SHO to wrestling guru, Army commander to best friend, hospital ward boy to boxing coach — are one-note reduced to caricatures. But Shreyas Talpade, Yashpal Sharma, Bhuvan Arora and Vijay Raaz give their characters some humanity and don't let them sink.

In Chandu Champion, Kartik Aaryan gets to do a lot—wrestle, box, run, lose his leg, swim. He gets several closeups, long moments when he can forge a connection with us, communicate with us, make us feel the sublime, transcendental quality of Murli's determination. But there is not a single moment where Murli's excellence or grit is communicated to us properly.

The only place where there's a touch of authenticity in Aaryan's acting is when he plays the old Murli at the police station. And that's because his face is covered with heavy prosthetics and his expression is frozen into that of dignified outrage. Perhaps they should have done this in the rest of the film— frozen Aaryan's face into that of a champion.

Film: Chandu Champion

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Bhuvan Arora, Vijay Raaz, Yashpal Sharma, Rajpal Yadav, Shreyas Talpade, Sonali Kulkarni, Bhagyashri Borse

Direction: Kabir Khan

Rating: 2/5

panchayat-season-3-a-subtle-commentary-on-power-politics-and-elections

Wed May 29 15:12:20 IST 2024

It is towards the end of the show that the BDO, played by Diwakar Dhyani, smirks, “Jhagda-jhanjhat, maara-peeti…ab jaa ke lag raha hai panchayat election aa gaya hai... (Rising fights, violence are signalling that the Panchayat elections are near)”. One instantly knows that the third season of Panchayat is a subtle commentary on the ongoing election season and the drama that follows. Raw, rustic and real is what comes to mind when you watch the series. The Jitendra Kumar starrer carries on its legacy of a steady yet intriguing storyline from its first season but returns with added plot twists and a sense of resolution.

The Viral Fever’s (TVF) creation that has been streaming on Amazon Prime Video has more drama and substance than its predecessor season. The show revolves around Abhishek Tripathi, who wants to pursue an MBA, stuck in a village posting as he gets appointed as the secretary of the Phulera panchayat. His struggle to remain away from village politics, preparations for his exam, reluctant relationships that form in the process, make the crux of the plot.
This season one hooked one episode after another as sachivji’s (Panchayat secretary) transfer is cancelled and he returns to his position in Phulera. With him back in position and the impending Panchayat elections, power politics take center stage. A miffed vidhayak (legislator) (played by Pankaj Jha) and a scheming contender Bhushan (played by Durgesh Kumar) team up on the other hand as the struggle for power intensifies. The fight for the position of Pradhan (village head) (gets tougher while friendship between Sachivji and Rinki (Sanvikaa) further solidifies. From pointing guns at each other to the season ending with everyone in handcuffs, each episode promises the simplicity of rustic charm yet excites and entertains.

'Panchayat' Season 3 Ending Explained: Here's what to expect from Season 4

The events preceding the panchayat elections in the show mirror the real-life menace triggered before the polls begin. From loopholes in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana being manipulated to what could be a satirical take on the hypocrisy around eating non-vegetarian (read beef) food – hints seem aplenty to the current socio-political climate.

Jitendra Kumar is his usual self in a role tailor made for him, his au naturale character portrayal, body language and expressions delight the eyes. In recent years, Kumar has gone on to become the unconventional superstar of OTT cinema, portraying each role with ease and leaving behind strong impressions.
Veterans Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav never fail to entertain with their performances that match perfection. Gupta puts on a display of her versatility as she yet again dons the saree to transform into pradhaan – a stark contrast to her recent critically acclaimed project Mast Mein Rehne Ka and antagonists Pankaj Jha and Durgesh Kumar add the necessary complications to the plot in their negative roles. Even supporting actors Sunita Rajwar, Chandan Roy, Faisal Malik and Aasif Khan promise a strong screen presence.

Panchayat, in a nutshell, is a series that stands in stark contrast to today’s content that often feeds on gore and violence. In an exclusive conversation with THE WEEK, director of the show Deepak Kumar Mishra talks about what led them to make a show that reminds one of the TV shows of the '90s.

“It was a conscious attempt that we make something similar to what we would watch growing up on TV. But that was not the only thought. The attempt was to capture modern contemporary India’s village system and democracy at the grassroots level. That was also the intention.” He says nobody had comprehended that the show would receive such response and love. “Everyone makes content with the belief that it will work. The audience’s response only comes after the release. We had never thought of such a great response to our content. We were confident of our plot, characters and storyline. The only fear was that will anyone watch our show.”

He reveals that the fourth season of the show is being written while storylines are being discussed for the fifth season. This season becomes a must-watch if one has watched the first two. This becomes the show’s best season so far, leaving enough room for the story to roll over into the next!

malayalam-film-thalavan-movie-review-an-investigative-thriller-that-keeps-viewers-guessing

Fri May 24 17:39:08 IST 2024

With Biju Menon and Asif Ali in cop roles, this investigative thriller is like untangling the tight knots surrounding a murder and the loopholes within. And the duo have managed to pull off the roles of the "men in uniform" pretty convincingly.

Biju Menon was last seen in a police drama when he essayed the role of a constable in the comedy-drama ‘Thundu.’ This time, he is a Circle Inspector who is no pushover, a serious officer with little time for enjoyment. The occasional build-up to his character, Jayashankar, with an acrimonious approach holds central to the plot.

Sub Inspector Karthik Vasudevan (Asif Ali) who is an idealistic cop, throws himself into some bitter rifts with Jayashankar. The character differences established through the narrative, make the audience believe this might be yet another battle for power between the two cops. But the story builds to a different angle as the plot develops.

The thread of the story can get confusing in several instances, with numerous character involvements and past events, but clarity is later established in the plot as the mystery unfolds. The first half of the story is an introduction to the life of the two cops and the occasional rifts that they encounter with each other. Even though a lot of dots are left disjointed in the first half, the plot swiftly travels through the frames of past and present to connect the links of several characters to the missing puzzle in the story.

The role of female characters is also notable with Anusree playing the character of Remya and Miya George as the wife of Jayashankar.

Just like other cop films in the Malayalam cinema, this movie also brings to light the question of power and the limitations of working under the superior police officers. The background of the film slowly attains a grimness towards the second half with an eerie environment, to accelerate the mystery attached to the story. The occasional involvement of dim lights in the background towards the end, makes it quite baffling.

Overall, the story is less predictable making it a decent investigative thriller. The story can also be considered as an example of whodunnit, where the identity of the murderer is revealed not until the story reaches the end.

Movie: Thalavan

Cast: Biju Menon, Asif Ali, Miya George, Anusree, Dileesh Pothan, Jaffar Idukki, Kottayam Nazeer

Director: Jis Joy

Rating: 3/5

watch-bhaiyya-ji-for-manoj-bajpayee-who-single-handedly-elevates-a-forgettable-b-grade-film

Fri May 24 10:01:35 IST 2024

If it weren’t for Manoj Bajpayee, Bhaiyya Ji would have remained a loud, forgettable B-grade revenge saga with Hindi-heartland flavour and fervour.

Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki, the 135-minute action-packed film has the usual characters, plot twists and tropes of the revenge genre. Though set in the times of smartphones and Scorpios, the film has a blast-from-the-past feel to it, specifically of Bollywood films of the 80s when rage was expressed through roars at vicious, vile villains who relished their villainy.

Revenge films are a celebration of righteous retribution and are given to excesses. There is no subversion or reinvention of the revenge genre here. Bhaiyya Ji is simply a high-decibel reiteration of the rampage that all revenge films are about. It is very violent (the film has got UA certification), has a predictable, weak story, some whistle-worthy dialogue, a few inspired flourishes and lots of idiotic, silly things. Yet Bhaiyya Ji is worth a watch because of Manoj Bajpayee’s intense, compelling performance.

As the beedi-smoking, revenge-seeking bade bhaiyya from Bihar, Bajpayee carries the seething rage of a man who has been wronged in every pore of his body, not just in emotional scenes, but also as he lands deadly punches and slices bodies with style and speed.

I just wish that Suvinder Vicky, who plays the villain here and was riveting to watch in the Netflix series ‘Kohrra’, had brought at least his B-game to Bhaiyya Ji, if not his A-game.

Bhaiyya Ji’s setup is simple. In a small town in Bihar, Ram Charan aka Bhaiyya ji (Manoj Bajpayee) is getting married to Mithali (Zoya Hussain), a state-level shooter. His house is full of guests and his Choti Ma (step-mother, played by Bhagirathi Bai Kadam) is busy organising this and that. Bhaiyya ji is happy, but he is also worried about his younger brother, Vedant (Akash Makhija), who is about to set off from Delhi. Bhaiyya Ji keeps calling Vedant, and through their conversations we figure that they have a strong, adorable bond.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Delhi lives a very rich and a very bad man -- Chandrabhan Singh (Suvinder Vicky). He wears fancy Nehru jackets embellished with brooches and chains, an extravagant pompadour and takes pleasure in butchering all those who dare to threaten his delinquent son, Abhimanyu (Jatin Goswami).

Since we are well-versed in the arts and crafts of revenge thrillers, we know that Bhaiyya Ji’s happy family and Chandrabhan’s heinous one are going to clash. We also know that Mithali’s shooting skills will come in handy at some point.

So obviously, something bad happens.

Bhaiyya ji is called to Delhi by a cop, Magan (Vipin Sharma), who has some news about Vedant. He goes to Delhi and returns home with tears in his eyes, clutching an earthen pot and some basic facts about what happened to Vedant.

But we, having witnessed Chandrabhan and Abhimanyu's blood-curdling brutality, know exactly what happened to Vedant. So when Choti Ma, devastated and bereaved, insists on retribution, we are all for it. As is a crow who keeps visiting Bhaiyya ji's house and apparently symbolises Vedant’s bhatakti aatma (a sad soul knocking about aimlessly).

But before Bhaiyya ji can proceed to exact revenge, there needs to be an official waiver of a promise he once made to Choti Ma about being non-violent.

The film tries to explain this backstory to us, but is totally incoherent. It feels as if a dog ate those two pertinent pages from the film’s script and no one noticed it.

So what we get is gibberish that involves a medallion with a lion's face, a statue at a railway station and a big reveal -- all the city’s tailors, mechanics and anda-bread sellers are part of Bhaiyya ji’s secret militia group.

To make up for the missing backstory, the film decides that one Pandit Ji -- who is always hanging around Chandrabhan for some mysterious reason -- must keep muttering how scary, violence-prone and single-minded Bhaiyya ji is.

As Bhaiyya ji sets out for Chandrabhan’s massive bungalow, all the men in his city follow him, brandishing sticks, guns and sharp metal items. This entourage includes a group of geriatric, morning-walk uncles.

Following a confrontation between Bhaiyya ji and Chandrabhan, the rest of the film plays out as a series of killing sprees in various locations — on a bridge, in a old haveli, at a railway station, around a fire pit — and involves a lot of bone-cracking, slashing, shooting and thrashing by Bhaiyya ji’s weapon of choice, a long-handled spade. All the action sequences are accompanied by deafening, rousing music.

One of the great joys of B-grade Bollywood films is that they deliver what they promise. Despite Bhaiyya Ji's scatty script, director Karki, who made the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer courtroom drama ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’ last year, delivers on this count. ‘Bhaiyya Ji’ begins with chilling violence and the brutal murder of an innocent man, and ends on a satisfying, cathartic note.

The film’s plot has the expected beats of revenge films, but in between it has some duds and delights. The duds are too many to list, but one special delight is Vipin Sharma’s corrupt but cowardly cop.

When the film begins, Zoya Hussain, cast as the coy bride-to-be, is totally blank and looks out of place. But later in the film, when she gets to shoot and save her prospective hubby, a la ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, she raises the film’s thrill quotient.

Suvinder Vicky is an excellent actor with a commanding screen presence. Here he gets a dapper look and a meaty role, but remains expressionless and his villainy has no bite.

‘Bhaiyya Ji’ is the sort of action film usually reserved for Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff. Manoj Bajpayee is a refreshing change from them because he doesn’t just kick hard, but can also act. The action sequences in Bhaiyya Ji are not just choreographed and executed with style, but Bajpayee keeps amping up his fury and turns every broken bone and slit throat into gratifying moments of vengeance.

If you have strong ear drums and the stomach for relentless violence, watch ‘Bhaiyya Ji’ for Manoj Bajpayee who does all the heavy lifting here and elevates a B-grade film singlehandedly.

Bhaiyya Ji

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Suvinder Vicky, Vipin Sharma, Jatin Goswami, Zoya Hussain, Akash Makhija, Bhagirathi Bai Kadam

Direction: Apoorv Singh Karki

Rating: **1/2

mollywood-turbo-movie-review-vysakh-mammootty-combo-s-action-flick-entertains

Thu May 23 18:06:43 IST 2024

After the 2010 hit 'Pokkiri Raja', the Vysakh-Mammootty combo is back again with another action entertainer, 'Turbo'. Produced by Mammootty Kampany, the movie also marks the Malayalam debut of multi-faceted Kannada star Raj B. Shetty.

Mammootty plays 'Turbo Jose’, a man from Idukki, forced to move to Chennai to help his friend who is in trouble. The movie begins with a murder, and you are introduced to the main characters before the action switches to Chennai, where the main antagonist Vetrivel Shanmugha Sundaram, played by Raj B. Shetty, is introduced.

While the director spends the first half of the movie establishing the characters, the second half is a cat-and-mouse game between Jose and Vetrivel, and you get plenty of action along the way.

Christo Xavier’s background helps elevate the proceedings. Mammootty, as always, delivers an impressive performance as 'Turbo Jose’ while Raj B. Shetty is menacing as the main antagonist. Anjana Jayaprakash, Shabareesh Varma, Sunil, Bindu Panikkar and Kabir Duhan Singh too come up with decent performances.

Of course, if you are a fan of realistic movies, 'Turbo' isn't for you as it is an out-and-out action entertainer. There are also plenty of predictable moments and plotlines that do not go anywhere. But if you are in the mood for a mass masala entertainer, Turbo won't disappoint you.

Movie: Turbo

Cast: Mammootty, Raj B. Shetty, Anjana Jayaprakash, Shabareesh Varma, Sunil, Bindu Panikkar and Kabir Duhan Singh

Director: Vysakh Rating: 3/5

furiosa-a-mad-max-saga-review-a-prequel-that-struggles-to-match-fury-road-s-intensity

Thu May 23 17:49:28 IST 2024

'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga', the prequel to George Miller’s 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and the fifth addition to the Mad Max franchise, attempts to fill in the backstory of Imperator Furiosa, originally played by Charlize Theron and now portrayed by Anya Taylor Joy.

The film follows Furiosa’s journey from a haughty child to becoming a force to reckon with and thus earning the description of the “darkest of angels, fifth rider of the apocalypse.”

Early in the movie, a young Furiosa is seen plucking an apple before being captured by Dementus’s (Chris Hemsworth) men, evoking the symbolism of the forbidden fruit. “The Green Place of Many Mothers” is shown in the beginning, and the rest of the film takes place in the gritty desert.

The Doof Warrior, or the unforgettably crazy masked guitarist from 'Fury Road', is conspicuously absent, with only a glimpse of him in the second half. The soundtrack of 'Furiosa' also fails to leave a lasting impression, unlike the epic metal score of its predecessor.

The movie has its standout moments, such as the scene depicting how Furiosa loses her hand and an intense chase with her newly introduced mentor. However, the clips from 'Fury Road' shown during the end credits provide more goosebumps than the scenes within the film itself. Additionally, the use of CGI in Furiosa feels more prominent than in Fury Road.

Pacing is another area where Furiosa diverges from its sequel. While 'Fury Road' maintained a tight, riveting pace, 'Furiosa' often feels slower, and may make some viewers restless. This might be attributed to its nature as a prequel, focusing more on character development and backstory.

Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus, who torments Furiosa, falls short of being a truly menacing villain. Instead, his character becomes a source of comic relief, with his dialogues making him more sympathetic by the end. Alyla Browne, playing Young Furiosa, delivers a more compelling performance compared to Anya’s portrayal.

'Fury Road' ended with a quote attributed to The First History Man. A History Man plays a significant role in 'Furiosa', serving as a dictionary and encyclopedia to the Biker Horde. In one scene, he is asked to define human tears, showing the film's attempt at touching the emotional elements.

Despite scoring higher on the emotional scale, 'Furiosa' does not incite the same frenzied excitement as 'Fury Road'. Lower your expectations a bit, and Furiosa is an engaging movie.

Furiosa is currently running and can be “witnessed” in theatres.

Movie: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Director: George Miller

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke

Rating: 3.0

guruvayoor-ambalanadayil-review-this-bromantic-comedy-keeps-you-entertained

Thu May 16 16:46:16 IST 2024

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, directed by Vipin Das and penned by Deepu Pradeep, offers a decent dose of wholesome entertainment. Vinu (Basil) finds inspiration in his would-be brother-in-law Anandan (Prithviraj), who encourages him to move past his heartbreak and marry the latter’s sister. Their unconventional relationship since the beginning sparks laughs, as Vinu seems more excited to meet Anandan than his fiancée Anjali (Anaswara Rajan). The meeting scene between the two is particularly hilarious, with a song from an old Malayalam movie as the background score.

The plot takes a humorous turn early on, keeping viewers hooked through the second half. The drama intensifies when Anandan discovers that Vinu's lost love is none other than his wife, Parvathy (played by Nikhila Vimal), whom he had abandoned due to suspicions of infidelity. The drama hits a crescendo in the final scene at the Guruvayoor temple, unfolding quite like an old Priyadarshan movie.

The film may draw comparisons with Prithviraj's debut movie Nandanam due to its title, and the iconic 'Njane Kandullu' dialogue recalled in the movie adds to its charm.

Prithviraj's portrayal of Anandan marks a departure from his recent serious role in Aadujeevitham. While his performance is decent, there are moments where it feels a bit forced. But his chemistry with Basil works well on screen. Basil Joseph delivers a commendable performance, alongside Siju Sunny as his friend. Jagadeesh and Kunjikrishnan Maashu also deliver good performances.

Anaswara Rajan and Nikhila Vimal are forced to contend with underdeveloped characters, as do other female characters in the movie. While the first half keeps audiences entertained, the second half feels somewhat disjointed, with a few performances falling into typecasting, notably by actors like Yogi Babu.

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil delivers solid laughs, making it a satisfactory comedy outing. Despite not reaching the heights of Das's previous work Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, the comedic chemistry between Basil and Prithviraj shines through, offering moments of amusement, particularly in their bromantic scenes.

Movie : Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil

Director : Vipin Das

Writer : Deepu Pradeep

Cast : Prithviraj Sukumaran, Basil Joseph, Nikhila Vimal, Anaswara Rajan

Rating : 3/5

sureshinteyum-sumalathayudeyum-hridayahariyaya-pranayakatha-review-a-fun-light-hearted-watch

Thu May 16 16:02:30 IST 2024

Director Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval is back with another heartwarming movie, Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha, which is a spin-off of his 2022 blockbuster Nna Thaan Case Kodu. The story revolves around the characters Suresh and Sumalatha (played by Rajesh Madhavan and Chithra Nair), who are smitten for each other. Kunchacko Boban makes a guest appearance in the film, creating a link between the two movies.

The love story of Sureshan and Sumalatha plays out in three different time lines. A Taj Mahal replica that Sureshan gifts Sumalatha at the beginning of the movie is the motif for their feelings throughout the film. The sculpture—and their love—which gets lost at some point in the film finds itself on the shore when the time is finally right.

Sureshan revives theatre and traditions associated with it in the small town, bringing all the theatre enthusiasts together, even as his ultimate goal is to spend time with Sumalatha. The problems that arise during the practice of the play and the dynamics between the characters form the background for the love story. The revival of theatre united and divided the society, just like love. The play portrayed in the movie is intertwined with the main plot line.

The music by Dawn Vincent, the soundtrack and the songs elevate the scenes. The evergreen song 'Aayiram Kannumayi' plays an important role in the story, showing the fondness of the young lovers for each other. Rajesh Madhavan, Chithra Nair, Sudeesh Kozhikode, Sharanya Ramachandran, Jinu Joseph, Babu Annur and others come up with brilliant performances, making the proceedings immensely enjoyable. The choice of costumes are on par with the characters – different and unique.

While it can be tough to portray evolving love of the lead pair in three different timelines simultaneously, the cast managed to do it convincingly. The tides of times may pass by, but the story of Sureshan and Sumalatha will remain the same, through three worlds or even more.

Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha is a good choice when you are in the mood for a light-hearted movie.

Movie: Sureshinteyum Sumalathayudeyum Hridayahariyaya Pranayakatha

Cast: Rajesh Madhavan, Chithra Nair, Sudeesh Kozhikode, Sharanya Ramachandran, Jinu Joseph, Babu Annur and others

Director: Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval

Rating: 3/5

srikanth-review-rajkummar-rao-saves-a-muddled-dull-melodrama-with-his-powerful-humanising-performance

Fri May 10 11:43:11 IST 2024

Director Tushar Hiranandani’s Srikanth, a biopic of Srikanth Bolla, a blind boy born to a poor farming family in Andhra Pradesh, is a strange creature.

On the whole, it is a pretty mediocre film that has a shallow, dull script and a B-grade quality to its direction, cinematography, and an unbearably loud, instructive background score.

Written by Jagdeep Siddhu and Sumit Purohit, the film presents the life of Bolla, who fights to claim every opportunity that is denied and overcome every restriction imposed on him, as a timeline of speed bumps and victories, going from one episode to another, without really creating any connection between us and its main character.

The result is a tacky melodrama that mostly skims the surface.

Yet Srikanth is difficult to dismiss because of Rajkummar Rao’s excellent performance.

Rao uses a few moments in Bolla’s life to humanise him and gives the film some powerful, inspiring moments that elevate the film and hold it together.

Instead of just playing a blind man, Rao plays a blind man driven by his ambition and focused on his abilities rather than disabilities, thus shifting the focus from those who can't see to those who can but don't.

Rao uses the powerful and inspiring story of Bolla, who went on to become the first international blind student at the Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, and the CEO of Bollant Industries, reportedly with a net worth of about Rs 296 crore, to present him as a thinking, feeling human being and normalises blindness as a different ability and not a disability.

His performance and Bolla's story deserved a better film with a more inspired script and direction.

The film opens on a terribly tacky note in 1992 in Andhra Pradesh with Srikanth’s birth which is treated by his immediate and extended family as a depressing, life-long liability. A hole is dug in the ground but a tragedy is averted and little Srikanth (played by two excellent blind actors, Srikanth Manna and Arnab Abdagire) is sent to a regular, local school. He is sharp, and exceptional in studies, but is also constantly bullied and told to prepare for a life of begging on the streets.

Fate intervenes and he moves to a school for the blind where he finds a mentor in Devika Malvade (Jyothika), whom he calls “Teacher”.

Through a series of incidents, we get glimpses of this strong guru-shishya relationship and of Srikanth's indomitable spirit and straight-talking, charming ways to win people over.

In school, he calls out corruption and is thrown out, and later when he is told, despite getting very high marks in Xth boards, that he can't study science because, well, it has never been done before, he digs his heels in and decides to fight.

Rao uses these scenes to show us Srikanth's helplessness, but every time he faces rejection or a hurdle, and wins people over with his confidence and charm, he makes a case for equal opportunities and not charity, and to judge the differently abled by their ability, and not disability.

When APJ Abdul Kalam asks him what he wants to be, he converts the former President into a life-long fan. When IIT rejects him, he goes to MIT. When the nervous staff of an airline refuse to let him board a plane alone, he shows them what he is capable of.

The film is careful not to take a pitying tone or show him as a victim, and so it remains impressed by him, except in the US where it casts a surprised, almost patronising eye on Srikanth and Swathi (Alaya F) as they begin conducting a sweet, budding romance with long drives and cute moments. In this segment, the film that was until now in awe of Srikanth, goes awwww.

Thankfully, it recovers and returns to admiring him as Srikanth flies back to India to start a business in partnership with Ravi (Sharad Kelkar).

This segment, on the creation and growth of the Bollant Industries, is, again, episodic and dull. It is somewhat saved by an interesting turn when Srikanth, tired of being grateful for all those who are helping him, demands recognition, fame and praise for himself. And when he doesn't get it, he turns into an egoistic, unscrupulous jerk.

This common human frailty could have been used to add interesting dimensions to the film and its main character, but the scriptwriters and director are so uneasy with a blind man's ego, jealousies and desires, and so scared of showing him in a bad light that they take us on a muddled, confused track where Srikanth tries to join politics, but suffers a sudden, severe conscience attack and withdraws.

As he returns to being a good boy, the film serves an annoying melodramatic moral lesson—Thou shalt never, ever use your disadvantage to your advantage— robbing the film of an interesting, nuanced layer.

Jyothika and Alaya F are both sweet and luminous in the good-girl sort of way.

While Jyothika has a meatier role and adds some power to Srikanth and Devika’s guru-shishya relationship, Alaya F mostly just smiles and acts cute. She bored me and the film a lot.

Sharad Kelkar is always a delight to watch because he holds the promise of a thrilling performance. He does that when he plays negative roles, but like many fine actors, he can’t find ways to bring alive good-hearted characters and plays them with either reticence or inertia. That is, sadly, the fate of his character, Ravi, here.

Mostly that is the writers' fault and their weak script which treats all the characters around Srikanth as one-dimensional support pieces who exist only vis-a-vis him. But it is also the inability of Bollywood actors who treat regular roles of decent people as part of a scene's furniture and not as human beings who can be good and interesting.

The film, in fact, is so unsure of its script, scenes and dialogues that it uses an accompanying soundtrack to instruct us how to feel in most scenes as if what's happening on the screen is inadequate and needs help.

Despite all these flaws, the 134-minute-long film is held together by about four powerful, poignant scenes in which Rao showcases many dimensions of Srikanth. We see his helplessness when he is shunned by the blind school, but also, immediately his fighting spirit and refusal to be a victim. These scenes are like set pieces which hold the film together.

Rao is the heart and soul of Srikanth. With his face tilted to one side and his eyes shut, he carries an impression of the world around him that is blind to his presence. He barely changes his expressions but uses his eyebrows to do most of the acting here, conveying emotions with tiny, minute changes.

The film exhibits confidence only when it is around him. But the film’s director and cinematographer Pratham Mehta are so in awe of Rao's performance that they constantly elevate him, framing him like a hero and not a man. This creates an admiring distance between us and Rao, when what we really needed was some intimacy.

Movie: Srikanth

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Jyothika, Alaya F, Sharad Kelkar, Jameel Khan

Direction: Tushar Hiranandani

Rating: 2.5/5

nadikar-movie-review-tovino-thomas-soubin-shahir-shine-in-this-fun-flick-jean-paul-lal

Fri May 03 16:39:01 IST 2024

After the 'Honey Bee' series and 'Driving Licence', director Jean Paul Lal a.k.a Lal Jr. has come up with yet another venture -- 'Nadikar.' Revolving around the life of superstar David Padikkal (Tovino Thomas), this film gives nothing but pure joy to the viewers. Featuring Tovino and Soubin Shahir in the lead and Balu Varghese, Suresh Krishna, Bhavana, Divya Pillai, Anoop Menon and a long list of other Mollywood stars in supporting roles, this comedy-drama is sure to capture the hearts of the audience.

David Padikkal is an arrogant, egocentric and narcissistic actor. Due to his declining stardom, David is forced to explore his own identity by stepping down from his star persona. The film ventures into the theme of fame and identity crisis and beautifully shows the struggles and emptiness in an actor's life. The film also takes a brief look at the cinematic world and on-set experiences.

While the first half of the movie depicts David’s life as a star and his conceit, making it enjoyable to watch, the second half walks you through the journey of his self-realisation. Tovino and Soubin have showcased their excellent acting skills and Tovino’s skillful portrayal of David has made the character more relatable and easy to connect with.

Shine Tom Chacko’s and Dhyan Sreenivasan’s cameos did not fail to stir laughter.

The movie overall is a worth-watch experience, with timely humour and great music and background. 'Nadikar' presents a compelling narrative with comedy worth enjoying and does not fail to evoke some sense of emotion in the minds of the viewers amidst the funny moments.

Film: Nadikar

Directed by: Lal Jr

Starring: Tovino Thomas, Balu Varghese, Suresh Krishna, Bhavana, Divya Pillai, Anoop Menon

the-fall-guy-review-an-entertaining-homage-to-unsung-heroes-of-action-films

Wed May 01 23:03:00 IST 2024

This movie must win an Oscar for stunts. This is a thought you are likely to have while watching The Fall Guy. But, there is no Oscar for stunts. And the movie calls this out by writing it into the dialogue. Perhaps this can prompt the Academy into addressing the lack of recognition for stunt performers in its awards. One can always hope.

But, for now, the biggest recognition you can give the The Fall Guy, and, indeed, all the real life 'fall guys' who put their bodies on the line, is to go and watch this movie on the big screen. And, it will most certainly be well worth your time. The action scenes are phenomenal and the stunts are mind blowing. To top it all off, the comedy is effortlessly excellent.

The first half breezes past, despite the time dedicated to a complicated romance. In fact, the love story does not take anything away from the narrative of the action comedy. Rather, it makes it even more engaging. Due credit to the leads, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, for pulling this off. They have brilliant chemistry and it is also age-appropriate casting—both Gosling and Blunt are in their early 40s. This is particularly encouraging for those who are often discomfited by the lead actress being significantly younger than the male co-star she is paired with.

The lead duo nailed all aspects of their roles—comedy, action and emotions. The supporting cast are all praiseworthy. But, while the acting is a strong point of the movie, the highlight, without doubt, is the stunt work. Of course, this was to be expected from David Leitch—the stunt-performer-turned-director who helmed Atomic Blonde (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018) and Bullet Train (2022) and one of the men behind the John Wick movies. But, all expectations are likely to be exceeded with The Fall Guy.

One of the most noteworthy things about the approach to the stunts is that they are built up by the plot. So, before showing you the stunt, the movie makes it clear how difficult those stunts are. This was a great choice and makes it a more exciting watch. Before one of the most remarkable sequences of the movie, Gosling’s character says that he feels ill-prepared to do cannon rolls. What followed was a breathtaking eight-and-a-half cannon rolls by stunt driver Logan Holladay—it broke the Guinness World Record for most cannon rolls in a car, set by stuntman Adam Kirley (seven in 2006's Casino Royale).

One part of the storytelling that did not work well is one of the early scenes which shows an accident. The incident is not shown properly and is instead conveyed through shocked reactions of onlookers on audio and then cutting to the aftermath. This makes it obvious that there is something more to the 'accident'. And this comes as a revelation late into the move. But, it was always utterly predictable. Perhaps, showing more of the accident could have convinced the audience that it was just an accident and thereby setup the reveal better.

Also, the third act of the movie is not as good as the first two. This is ironic because the film shows Blunt's character being concerned about the third act of a movie she is making. The climax is helped greatly by the action set pieces.

However, despite these flaws, Leitch, who did stunts for the likes of Brad Pitt and Jean-Claude Van Damme, has crafted a fitting homage to the unsung heroes of the movie business. Apart from giving us a glimpse into the nature of the stunt team's work, there is also plenty of riveting meta discussion on movie making and references galore for the cinephiles to delve into.

Film: The Fall Guy

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke

Rating: 4/5

malayalee-from-india-review-a-heartwarming-family-entertainer

Wed May 01 17:58:43 IST 2024

After Varshangalku Shesham, Nivin Pauly and Dhyan Sreenivasan reunite in yet another heartwarming film. Malayalee from India, directed by Dijo Jose Antony, revolves around the life of Aalparambil Gopi, played by Nivin Pauly. This is a coming-of-age movie that is also a political satire.

Gopi and his friend Malghosh (Dhyan Sreenivasan) are two happy-go-lucky youngsters spending their days playing cricket and being part of political activities in their village. Anaswara Rajan plays Gopi's love interest and the age difference between the lead pair is addressed in the song 'Krishna' sung by Vineeth Sreenivasan.

The first half of the movie focuses on a misunderstanding that turns into a major conflict between two political parties and how Gopi and Malghosh get embroiled in it. However, just when you think this is what the movie is all about, in comes a twist.

The second half of the film, centred around the Covid pandemic, focuses on the personal journey and growth of the protagonist. The writer brings in the discord between different political ideologies and the India-Pakistan conflict as the movie progresses.

Malayalee from India is a heartwarming family entertainer with plenty of humour and moments that can move the audience to tears, thanks to the masterful script by Sharis Mohammed. The movie also boasts of some great performances, especially by Salim Kumar apart from the protagonists. Shine Tom Chacko too evokes some laughter during his cameo appearance.

Film: Malayalee from India

Directed by: Dijo Jose Antony

Starring: Nivin Pauly, Anaswara Rajan, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Shine Tom Chacko, Salim Kumar, Manju Pillai

heeramandi-review-bhansali-and-koirala-create-a-spectacular-series-about-love-betrayal-survival-and-triumph

Wed May 01 16:30:49 IST 2024

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of India’s finest, most original filmmakers. Though he has made just 10 films in about 26 years, with each one he has created his own unique, signature style of storytelling.

Most SLB films have a grand scale and are set in unbelievably beautiful, perfect worlds. But he doesn’t hark back to an opulent past just to give his films an opulent, period look. He travels back in time to give his characters an appropriate setting to stage their intense, epic sagas of love, desires, sacrifice and tragedy— an otherworldly setting for their otherworldly passions and actions.

But, in the last few years— specifically in his three operatic romances starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone — SLB had become a slave to wowing the audience with excessive beauty and synchronised perfection at the expense of human drama.

He had also begun to lean right, creating characters only to reinforce biases and cliches, like his Alauddin Khalji, the meat-chomping poster boy of Love Jihad in the 2018 film, Padmaavat, where Bhansali also fetishised jauhar (mass suicide of women to protect their honour).

Thankfully, he began course correction with 2022’s Gangubai Kathiawad, and now with Heeramandi, he has completely, totally redeemed himself.

Heeramandi, an eight-episode Urdu-speaking series that is set in the 1940s in the walled city of Lahore, recreates a real world to tell a fictional story. It’s a world where the power of nawabs is on the wane and the freedom movement is becoming restless and aggressive.

Against this backdrop is the pleasure district of Heeramandi and at its centre are the series' all-female protagonists — tawaifs (courtesans) — who live in Shahi Mahal, the main brothel.

Bhansali pulls us into Heeramani with the seductive charm of low-hanging chandeliers, diamond and pearl jhoomars, gorgeous women in stunning silk, velvet and muslin ensembles. But we stay mesmerised and invested in this world because of the compelling stories of beautifully written and acted characters who chase their desires with hubris, rage, ego clashes, acts of betrayal and revenge.

Heeramandi has an excellent ensemble of actors, but its throbbing, aching heart is Manisha Koirala whose performance as Mallikajaan, the hard-nosed, haughty matriarch of Shahi Mahal, the main brothel, is powerful and sublime. With roses tucked in her saree blouse, she holds this world together, and elevates the series with her performance.

Her range here is incredible as she goes, often in the same episode, from bedraggled to a bitch, from sexy to scary, dialling the temperature of scenes up and down at will.

Bhansali and Koirala, who have reunited after his 1996 directorial debut Khamoshi: The Musical, together create one of the most spectacular series that ends on an intensely poignant and subversive note.

Heeramandi’s last episode has a sequence where all the courtesans march, singing a slightly altered version of the anti-CAA anthem — from the original 'Hum Dekhenge', it has lyricist AM Turaz's 'Humein Dekhni Hai Azaadi'. This scene invokes the feminine and moral power of Shaheen Bagh and the song, composed by Bhansali, while honouring the original, will reverberate and energise many future protests that are sure to come.

Heeramandi is, at its essence, a story of women's determination to not just survive, but thrive. It is beautifully written, cleverly shot, has sharp dialogue and stunning performances.

It is also Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s most political, significant creation to date.

Heeramandi opens in 1920s with young tawaif, Mallikajaan, who has just given birth to an illegitimate son. Rehana (Sonakshi Sinha), who runs Shahi Mahal, the main brothel, sells him off, setting off a chain of events that involves a murder and a bereaved daughter who is sold off too.

With an eyewitness who is scarred for life, the series moves forward to mid-1940s. Now, Mallikajaan (Manisha Koirala) is in charge of Shahi Mahal and a bevy of young tawaifs -- Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari), Lajjo (Richa Chaddha), Waheeda (Sanjeeda Shaikh). There's also Mallikajaan's two attendants, Satto and Phatto, maid Saina, tonga-driver Iqbal, Ustadji (Indresh Malik) who carries tales and helps negotiate deals, two wily British officers, and many wimpish nawabs.

Mallikajaan presides over the lives and fortunes of the tawaifs while admiring her jewellery, taking drags from a hookah and doling out random acts of cruelty.

Each tawaif has a patron nawab sahab who provides for her in return for her exclusive attention and time. But insecurity forces each tawaif to seek more power and patrons, and all relations, whether personal or professional, all feelings of love, whether real or feigned, become just an asset to be spent in exchange for something better.

The courtesans wear their egos regally, as an armour to protect their fragile honour and independence, hiding their vulnerability under a display of their fortune and beauty.

Lajjo, who is in love, breaks this power posturing with a show of vulnerability and true passion. But for women of Heeramandi, relationships work only as long as they are pandering to the desires of men. The moment the tawaifs display their real feelings, a desire for another life, they are discarded brutally, humiliated and violated.

In Shahi Mahal there's also Alamzeb (Sharmin Segal), Mallikajaan’s daughter, who wants to be a shayar, but Mallikajaan is planning her nath uttarai (a ceremonious auction to the highest bidder).

Meanwhile, in a more respectable part of town, Tajdar (Taha Shah), the son of nawab Ashfaq Baloch (Ujjwal Chopra), has returned from Oxford. In the midst of rising protests for azaadi and clashes with cops, Alamzeb and Tajzar lock each other in their gaze.

The British sarkar, portrayed here by two officers, Cartwright (Jason Shah) and Henderson (Mark Bennington), sometimes become pawns in the games that tawaifs play, but mostly they remain suspicious of all Indians and loyal to the Crown.

Disruption arrives in Heeramandi the shape of Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha, in a double role), who carries a secret and a grudge. She takes residence in a mansion across Shahi Mahal and declares war on Mallikajaan.

Ustadji, smelling opportunity, begins going to and fro, irritating egos, teasing insecurities, fanning tempers and setting off battles.

Partly shot in Lucknow, Bhansali's Heeramandi, based on a story by Moin Beg, recreates a world of nawabs, Lahori splendour and nautch girls accessorised with seductive bits and baubles, by using Urdu language and tehzeeb.

That gentle elegance and etiquette intrinsic to Urdu are woven in Heeramandi’s screenplay and dialogue. It's a world where shayars (poets) don’t simply begin reciting their kalam (poem), but seek permission with, “Arz kiya hai…" and begin only when they hear an enthusiastic "Irshaad".

Heeramandi has several strands and tangents. Of these the weakest one is about the scar-carrying Waheeda seeking revenge. The freedom fighters' track too feels stilted in the beginning and takes its time to gather some heft and meaning.

But the series’ weakest link is Sharmin Segal Mehta who plays Alamzeb, the innocent pawn of her mother and a nawab’s love interest. She has the charm of youth, but meagre acting talent.

Daughter of Bhansali's sister, Mehta goes through the series with one expression, and is helped throughout with a soft glow, gentle breeze and music insinuating some feeling and chemistry between her and Tajdar.

The film's music is composed by Bhansali himself, and the dialogue— by Divya Nidhi and Vibhu Puri—are sharp, with several stunning one-liners. The film's production design, by Subrata Chakraborty and Amit Roy, and cinematography, led by Sudeep Chatterjee, are all in sync to create this world.

For all of this, Heeramandi draws a lot of inspiration from Pakeezah, a little bit from Umrao Jaan and Mandi as well. Several scenes, sets, clothes, even camera movement and dances are like a homage to Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 epic starring Meena Kumari.

Heeramandi has a very talented cast of actors, but none of its female actresses is a great dancer. In fact, they can all be listed in ascending order of how stiff and bad they are.

The dances in the series are choreographed keeping that in mind. So every mujra has a mood and tells a story with swirling lehngas and acts of seduction or desperation.

Richa Chaddha has a brief role, but is very good. Sonakshi Sinha and Aditi Rao Hydari have substantial roles and sparkle in several scenes, bringing alive their characters every time they grab hold of an opportunity to get what they want.

Apart from Fardeen Khan, who mostly wore a constipated look and too much kajal, all the men play their part well. Shekhar Suman was good, and Indresh Malik, who plays Ustaadji, is creepy and slimy. Jason Shah and Mark Bennington, who play the two British officers, are excellent.

Manisha Koirala — who reportedly took diction classes for this role — delivers her Urdu dialogue perfectly and with chutzpah. All her lines land as she intends them to— sometimes like sharp whiplashes, sometimes like haunting one-line life lessons. She changes the mood of a scene sometimes without even uttering a word.

Within her she carries the ethos of Heeramandi—a bazaar of pleasure where sex is the least interesting item on sale, and where surface beauty, nazakat (delicate affectations) hide a pragmatic business sense.

Koirala carries many shades of black, white and grey within her. She is a victim and a vicious, heartless assailant. She derives special, sadistic delight in humiliating others, casually jeopardises love, extracts a pound of flesh for every favour, and even acts of basic decency carry a heavy price tag.

Devious, evil and so real, she is the heart and soul of the series. This year, all awards for best performance, female, in series are going to her.

Binge-watch Heeramandi for her and for Bhansali's powerful, operatic, ode to feminine power. It doesn’t get better than this.

Series: Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar

Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast: Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal Mehta, Richa Chaddha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Farida Jalal, Indresh Malik, Shekhar Suman, Fardeen Khan, Taha Shah, Adhyayan Suman, Ujjwal Chopra, Mark Bennington, Jason Shah, Jayati Bhatia, Nivedita Bhargawa

Rating: 4/5

love-sex-aur-dhokha-2-review-dibakar-banerjee-simulates-three-virtual-worlds-but-it-s-not-clear-to-what-end

Fri Apr 19 19:05:41 IST 2024

I have never felt as listless after watching a film as I feel after watching Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 in a near-empty hall.

Dibakar Banerjee is a very talented director with sharp story-telling skills. He has made fabulously entertaining films, like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, and a sharply political one as well, Shanghai (2012).

In between he has sometimes served bland, insipid fare, like Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar.

LSD: Love Sex aur Dhokha, the original, still has a cult following because its cinematic language — scenes shot through CCTV cameras, computer screens, and simulating a shaky, pixelated world of online sex and stings — was unlike anything we had seen before. And because one of the three stories it told (the first one, starring Rajkumar Rao), was so shocking, its violence so chilling that it carried the other two.

In LSD2, a sequel in spirit and format to the 2010 film, Banerjee tells three stories that are loosely based on what happens when all that is unreal becomes real. These are stories not just about how our lives are now split between the real and the virtual worlds, but how, increasingly, the real exists only to service our virtual lives, lies and avatars.

In each one Banerjee, with the help of his two co-writers, cinematographers, editor, a great cast of actors and interesting characters, creates an alluring world.

But all of LSD2’s three stories feel incomplete, and as a whole, the film doesn’t come together. LSD2, in fact, ends on a note that is so vague and bizarre that it left me with a feeling best expressed by my favourite Hindi word: Hain?

In LSD2, instead of the catchy Love Sex aur Dhokha, the themes are Like, Share and Download.

First up is a reality show, Truth Ya Naach, with an anchor (played by Mouni Roy), three judges — Anu Malik, Sophie Choudhary, Tusshar Kapoor — and a handful of contestants living in a house.

The contestant LSD2 is most interested in is Noor (Paritosh Tiwari), a transgender woman who is trying to game the game to make enough money so that she can pay for the surgeries that, she feels, will make her a complete woman.

This story dips and rises as Banerjee takes us behind the scenes to show us the show-runners' obsession with followers, online trends and how marketing deals are negotiated and cancelled. Contestants are coerced subtly to pick a fight, make out, kiss in front of the camera, or call family members, friends and ex-colleagues to revive their wilting popularity and the show’s TRPs.

In Noor’s case it’s an estranged mother, and a love affair. In the midst of this tacky reality with scripted and rehearsed flare-ups, Banerjee throws in Annu Kapoor’s epic 2008 meltdown on the sets of a singing competition when he said that the choice of patriotic songs, and not singing talent, deserves more marks.

But Banerjee, who has been facing censor troubles, replaces Bharat Mata with Maa ki Izzat (Mummy Ji’s Respect), and the scene ends up being a low-key dog whistle that doesn’t amount to much.

The second story is about Kullu (Bonita Rajpurohit), a transgender woman employed by an NGO to work as a cleaner at a Metro station. Kullu has a boyfriend and a side hustle that is too embarrassing for the NGO, and its point person, Lovina (Swastika Mukherjee), to acknowledge and accept.

As Kullu’s life unravels after a sexual assault, the focus is on Lovina and how she puts out familial and professional fires.

This story is not so much about the virtual world, but more about how we all now love, fight, get hired, fired, romance and pick up clues to a dying relationship through our smartphone screens.

The third story is about Game Paapi (Abhinav Singh), a school-going boy who is a mega YouTuber and gamer. Here too, through Abhinav Singh’s frantic, fabulous acting, Banerjee simulates an interesting world. But the story goes so off-tangent that I can’t quite figure out what he was trying to say through his Meta Verse satsang (congregation). Maybe Banerjee was pointing to the strange happenings in the VR world where, four months ago, a gang rape was reported and is being investigated. Perhaps. But I am not sure, because Banerjee himself didn’t seem to be sure.

While watching LSD2, I was engrossed in its stories and somewhat invested in the main characters, but that was mostly because of its talented actors, Anand Bansal and Riju Das’ exciting cinematography, and Naman Arora’s editing that split regular scenes into small, off-key, out-of-focus pieces with disjointed body parts. At office meetings, staff stare at the top of their boss’ head or his tie, and when a lover is locked up or being beaten, helpless yelling from the other end of the phone can be silenced in a second, by pressing the end-call button.

There’s power in not showing the whole. And Banerjee uses the visually mutilated viewpoint of how we see the world and how the world sees us intelligently, creating mystery and urgency.

We watch reality shows create and sell fiction, listen to influencers collaborate on a fight to create buzz, and shudder at our own inhumanity when a crime, viewed through a phone camera, is just a 90-second video that may go viral.

But curiosity can’t make up for the lack of compelling storytelling. And that’s where LSD2 falters. It has visual bits and bubbles, but it lacks purpose. It doesn’t seem to know why it is telling us these stories.

Movie: Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2

Director: Dibakar Banerjee

Cast: Mouni Roy, Tusshar Kapur, Swastika Mukherjee, Urfi Javed, Nimrit Ahluwalia, Anu Malik, Sophie Choudhary, Tusshar Kapoor, Bonita Rajpurohit, Abhinav Singh

Rating: 2/5

do-aur-do-pyaar-review-marriages-are-not-made-in-heaven

Fri Apr 19 17:01:05 IST 2024

What happens when you take a mildly raunchy, slightly funny but otherwise middling American film about a middle-aged couple's extramarital affairs, wash off the few strains of carnal fun it had, and then marinate it in Bharatiya sanskar and parivaar ka pyaar?

You get Do Aur Do Pyaar, a film which, much like the marriage it is about, gets made and unmade in the bedroom.

Director Shirsha Guha Thakurta's film is a legit copy of the 2017 film, The Lovers, which is not a great film. But it had sex on its mind, and that gave it some interesting crumpled-sheet moments and the promise of more fun than it eventually delivered.

In Do Aur Do Pyaar, it’s difficult to tell the difference between the dying marriage and the cloying, domesticated extramarital affairs.

Which is sad because Do Aur Do Pyaar has both star power and acting talent.

Pratik Gandhi is an excellent actor with a massive range, and Vidya Balan’s screen presence is warm and exciting. She is lovely and can switch from being flirty to feisty in a matter of seconds, while keeping both real.

The two could have let sparks fly if the film's writers and director had not treated them as sulky, asexual beings.

Gandhi and Balan try their best, but even the most talented actors can’t save a film whose script first sucks out all the joy from the original material and then fills it up with scenes from The Encyclopaedia of Filmy Cliches About Failed Marriages.

Anirudh (Pratik Gandhi) and Kavya (Vidya Balan) have been married to each other for about a decade and their relationship has soured. When we meet them, they talk only on a need-to basis and sit watching TV on two ends of a three-seater sofa, as if they were its armrests. Even then it feels like their energy leaks out of their feet in each other's presence.

Unbeknownst to the other, each has found a source to replenish their energy.

Anirudh is having an affair with the petulant, struggling actress Nora (Ileana D'Cruz), and Kavya is dating New York-returned dishy photographer, Vikram (Sendhil Ramamurthy).

There is some spark and romance between Kavya and Vikram. Hints of sex are also thrown in by putting Kavya in a mere boyfriend's white shirt as she lolls on his bed, toying with him and his camera.

But between Nora and Anirudh, there's pestering domesticity where he is mostly managing her tantrums and trying to find new excuses to explain why he has not told Kavya that he is leaving her for Nora.

Anirudh, by the way, sells cork and that is supposed to make us giggle because cork, you know, sounds like.... But even the film can't laugh at this idiotic joke.

Once the basic situation is established, a death in the family is announced and there’s a funeral to go to. So off they go to where it all began - to Kavya's house in Ooty where her sweet Amma, stern Appa and lingering disappointment live.

Memories about who they once were are rekindled and there are some rushed frisky moments in the dark.

When Anirudh and Kavya return home, buttons come undone, Chinese food is ordered, and suddenly they are cheating on their respective lovers with their spouse.

The lovers wait, wail a little and create some plot twists so that we can all go home.

Do Aur Do Pyaar is just 137 minutes, but it feels long.

Though the film picks up briefly towards the end, when Anirudh and Kavya are trying to live the marriage that they wanted while simultaneously acting in ways that are bound to destroy it, the film ends on a dreary note, thinking it’s delivering a live lesson.

Terrible relationships are terrible for the people in them. But, for cinema, it is pure gold.

Some of the best films in Bollywood are about cheating spouses and dysfunctional marriages - Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Yash Chopra's Silsila, Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Lunch Box, Arth, Life In A Metro. Even B.R. Chopra's 1978 film, Pati Patni Aur Woh, about a happily married man who cheats simply because he is bored, much like we often are of ghar ka khana (home-cooked food), is still watchable.

Do Aur Do Pyaar credits three writers - Suprotim Sengupta, Amrita Bagchi and Eisha Chopra - yet it's difficult to come across more uninspired, cliched writing.

The film's plot is made up of one predictable scene after another, and each one is made worse by the dialogue. In fact, some of the worst parts of the film are when people are talking.

Do Aur Do Pyaar, in fact, opens with such a boring conversation between Kavya and Anirudh about love, relationships and toothpaste, that it would put anyone off love and brushing their teeth for life.

Another stunningly boring conversation is between Anirudh, Kavya and a driver en route in Ooty. It's the sort of stuff that ChatGPT would type out were you to politely ask, “Dear JiPeTe, give me a sample Bollywood conversation between a loveless couple and a driver when they return to the town where their forbidden romance began. Use all the cliches you can find.”

These predictable outcomes make Do Aur Do Pyaar spiritless, much like the marriages and affairs it is about.

The film’s plotting and dialogue are so lackadaisical that despite a very able cast, no one has any chemistry with anyone.

But because they are all good actors - Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D'Cruz and Sendhil Ramamurthy - each one is able to create a personality with some needs and emotions.

Amongst them Gandhi shines. He is like the central load-bearing pillar of Do Aur Do Pyaar. He carries the film and it often seems like he is playing a character who has drifted onto Do Aur Do Pyaar's sets from another, better film.

I was happily surprised by Ileana D’Cruz. Despite being cast as an all grown up woman who wants to play baby girl, she breathes life into her character with her acting.

Sendhil Ramamurthy is just plain gorgeous.

I rented director Azazel Jacobs's The Lovers on Amazon Prime and watched it to see what we have been cheated of.

The film starts off on a funny note, casting its two main characters - the married couple - as congenital thrill seekers. And then it does something quite interesting. While the affairs are shown as escapes from the boredom of an old marriage, they are also shown as a source of joy for the marriage. The husband and wife carry excitement and weariness from one relationship to the other, often living the same life in two different bedrooms with two different people.

But in the homely setting of Do Aur Do Pyaar, there is angst at home and angst at the lovers’ den. There's a disconnect here and there. There’s baingan posto (aubergine with poppy seeds) here and it's there as well.

Even this could have been turned into something interesting, but that’s a tall order for writers who can make extramarital affairs asexual and tiresome.

Film: Do Aur Do Pyaar

Director: Shirsha Guha Thakurta

Cast: Vidya Balan, Pratik Gandhi, Ileana D'Cruz, Sendhil Ramamurthy and others

3-body-problem-review-this-sci-fi-series-is-a-visual-treat

Tue Apr 16 17:02:09 IST 2024

With 3 Body Problem, The Game of Thrones duo’ David Beinoff and D.B Weiss have yet again created their magic along with Alexander Woo. Dating back to 1967 in the wake of the Chinese cultural revolution the opening scene projects imagery of bloodshed, a mad crowd and a man, who is being brutally tortured. With the opening two minutes to the scene, emotions escalate; the viewers will be taken by surprise with the scenarios that are about to unfold.

The series falls under the sci-fi genre. Usage of certain terms and complicated equations, scientific in nature, make viewers more interested in the plot. The strategic building of the story and the long dialogues with scientific references keep you hooked. The superficial effect of advanced technology and its role as a threat to humanity is portrayed successfully. The series follows a non-linear narration style. The shifting of scenes reflects the transcending changes that time has brought in on the environment. Apart from depicting the complicated themes throughout the series, the director's brilliance is seen through scenes that have clever Easter eggs hidden.

While stories of different characters are shown, the thread of the main plot is never lost. The thread is connected via different narratives. Establishing a timeline and connecting the stories of different people to a common link makes the series distinguishable.

Four brilliant scientists graduating from prestigious universities Auggie (Eiza Gonzalez), Jin Cheng (Jess Hong), Will Downing (Alex Sharp), Saul Durand (Jovan Adepo) sets the story in motion. They have each other’s back through thick and thin. With the arrival of san-ti (aliens), chaos ensues as they start manipulating humans. The efforts to destroy the species through high-performance technology fail. After realising that the flaw of humanity is ‘lying’ the aliens proclaim war.

The show brings in graphical elements engaging viewers to the limits of disbelief and plot lines that evoke curiosity. The series is closely interconnecting the futile and uncanny nature of humans and their existence, which is slowly nearing an end.

The series also draws a parallel to the movie, ‘Arrival’ which portrays the story of linguistic expert Louise Bank appointed at the US Navy, who tries to decode communication with foreign species. The movie brings to light the flaws of human communication that are referred to as ‘time-consuming’ by aliens. This series also hints at the interface between them, who claim, that the technological advancements and inventions of the human race are limited in possibilities and time consumption.

Series: 3 Body Problem
Cast: Eiza Gonzalez, Jess Hong, Alex Sharp
Director: Minkie Spiro, Jeremy Podeswa
Rating: 3/5

review-chamkila-may-be-the-best-music-biopic-made-in-india

Fri Apr 12 16:13:34 IST 2024

Writer-director Imtiaz Ali's Chamkila (one who glitters), starring Diljit Dosanjh as the real-life Punjabi folk singer Amar Singh Chamkila, is inspired and fabulous in all sorts of ways. At the centre of this biopic is one of India's finest actors and singers, Diljit Dosanjh.

As Chamkila, who rose to fame on titillating, ribald lyrics and exceptional singing talent in the late 70s and early 80s and was gunned down at the age of 27 during the peak of militancy, Dosanjh doesn't inhabit or play a character here. He submerges himself so beautifully and completely in Chamkila that there are moments in the film when you wonder if it really is Dosanjh on screen. Watching Dosanjh get lost in Chamkila's character to bring him alive is like being treated to a master class in acting.

All the songs in the film, it informs us, have been performed live by Diljit Dosanjh, Parineeti Chopra and others.

Dosanjh is a hugely popular singer and stage performer. So that part of the role would have come naturally to him. But it's the way in which he engages his whole body to express Chamkila's high-pitched singing style -- tensing, pulling, making a physical effort to draw notes from inside -- that makes the stage performances in the film stand out.

Imtiaz Ali is a very good director, but he has been limited in the stories he picks up -- mostly adorable, young romances that sour, leaving scars and tortured souls who seek happiness but also throttle it when they find it. His obsession with pretty college-going girls in salwar suits had begun to bore me.

After Jab We Met and Tamasha, Chamkila may be Imtiaz Ali's best and cinematically most audacious film.

Ali, who has written the film's script with his brother, frames Chamkila's story in a social and political context to show the cost that many have had to pay simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

At a time when we seem to have forgotten men and women who were shot for having views that irritated religious and political groups -- Narendra Dabholkar, MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare, Gauri Lankesh -- Chamkila reminds us of the fragility of freedoms and lives without waving the flag of human rights or scoffing at groups that profess to uphold honourable values but don't flinch at using guns and carrying out murders.

Chamkila is Imtiaz Ali's most political film to date. It may well also be the best music biopic made in India.

Chamkila opens with Amar Singh, a chit of a school-going boy from a Dalit family. Curious and gifted, he watches and soaks in all that is happening around him. Mostly it's sex.

There is talk of sex, the forbidden and incestuous kind. There are men and women obsessed with sex in his family and neighbourhood. He encounters them in bathrooms, in the kitchen, and even spots them on the terrace.

He puts down what he hears and sees in verse from, using the words, accusations and expressions he has heard from adults around him. This dirty stuff gets him canned at school, but he doesn't stop writing, and draws emotional sustenance from it as he grows up and has to work at a soulless job in a garment factory when he'd rather be singing.

His dreams keep him restless, and after some attempts he becomes an apprentice and lyricist to a famous folk singer, Jitender Jinda (after real-life singer Surinder Shinda).

A fortuitous stage performance one day, where he strums the tumbi -- a single-string plucking instrument -- because Jinda is running late, changes the course of his life.

Chamkila collaborates with female singers, first Sonia and then Amarjot (Parineeti Chopra), whom he later marries. Together they sing about lust, affairs, booze and drugs. Their songs are massive hits, bookings for performances at weddings and festivals pour in, bringing money and fame. They are also invited to the Gulf and to Canada to perform.

Running parallel to the story of fans who can't stop listening to Chamkila's naughty songs and of rising record sales is the story of jealous singers who can't stand his success and plot to bring him down. There are also trigger-happy militants and daunting religious heads who begin to view his songs as a corrupting influence that must be stopped.

Somewhere in the middle, the film dips for a bit. It meanders here and there, spending too much time on Amarjot and Chamkila's marriage, and families and to introduce new characters.

One particular scene, where a journalist interviews him, feels especially artificial. It strikes a jarring note in the film which otherwise feels so real and authentic. There are better ways of showing a clash between the woke, urbane, feminist world and a folk singer it accuses of objectifying women.

The film recovers from this and proceeds on a different note.

As Chamkila becomes more famous, he also becomes an easy target.

Though his popularity amongst young girls and boys, men in rural Punjab continues to rise, he is shunned by respectable people and radio stations.

But in the privacy of their hostel rooms, women put cassettes in tape recorders and dance to his songs because they express their desires as well. In Chamkila's lyrical imagination, women are equal participants in the game of tease and sex.

There are warnings and death threats. At packed events, where Chamkila tries to avoid singing these songs, he is repeatedly heckled and told to sing the songs he is famous for.

A victim of his own success, he submits to his fate with the exhaustion of someone caught between fans who demand lewd, salacious songs, but the only target of rage against these songs is him.

Diljit Dosanjh's eyes are lively pools of expression and the range of things he can convey just with his eyes is exceptional. As a singer, he is of course in his element here -- confident and engrossed. But he carries Chamkila's fame with the confused smile of someone who can't quite believe what is happening.

And later, when threats to his music, livelihood and life become routine, Dosanjh doesn't react with foot-stomping rage. He lets a shadowy gloominess engulf him. And as it slowly darkens every pore of his body and soul, he acquires a wistful expression and demeanour.

His face forgets to smile, his body begins to wilt and his gaze grows distant, as if what's happening around him is temporal and pointless because he can see the big thing that's coming.

Chopra, who plays Amarjot, Chamkila's second wife and singing partner, is assured, credible and a calming, grounding foil to his crackling personality.

Imtiaz Ali is a master at creating affecting, tender moments of blushing, budding romance. He does that very well here. More than Dosanjh, Chopra carries that first tingling of love which makes her cheeks flush and body twirl.

Chamkila is strongest when it is in lyrical mode and is telling the story of the folk singer through his songs and performances.

Imtiaz Ali celebrates Chamkila's music and life by adding an extra zing to it. Words and phrases dance on the screen when Chamkila sings. Graphic novel-style animation interjects to break the monotony, and makes scenes throb with psychedelic energy.

The film has a very talented ensemble of cast and crew, including Irshad Kamil who has written the lyrics, and AR Rahman, who has composed the music. It is melodious when it needs to be, and energising when required. Long after the film is over, Rahman's beats will continue to play in your head.

Imtiaz Ali creates several authentic, overlapping worlds in Chamkila with a sharp but light touch.

Shot on location in Punjab, there isn't a single false note in the film's setting, mood, except for that one interview scene. In the film's early morning scenes, you can feel the chill amidst the fog, and the segregation of men and women at functions and events is very nicely shown.

In the beginning, when Chamkila is a young boy, incestuous encounters are quite normal and make their way to folk songs that women sing in the safety of each other's company.

When Chamkila grows up, we are in the world of Punjabi folk singers who go from one singing gig to another, hoping to eventually migrate to Canada. This lucrative but unpredictable and competitive world, where grown men get insecure quickly, where slights are imagined and avenged, feels so Punjabi and real.

All of this is set against the backdrop of rising militancy in Punjab. Its continuous presence and threat are often conveyed in the film simply through the nozzle of an AK-47 that sticks out from behind the shoulders of men covered in heavy shawls. It's menacing and it's great filmmaking.

I watched Chamkila in Punjabi and though I understand the language, I found it difficult to follow.

The film is available in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

Movie: Chamkila

Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Parineeti Chopra

Direction: Imtiaz Ali

Rating: 3.5/5

Streaming on Netflix

varshangalkku-shesham-review-a-film-that-builds-a-balance-in-humour-and-satire-pranav-mohanlal-vineeth-sreenivasan

Sat Apr 13 10:33:06 IST 2024

Vineeth Sreenivasan, who wears many hats in Mollywood, has come out with another interesting movie that blends humour and a good storyline in Varshangalkku Shesham.

In his latest, Vineeth takes the viewers fifty years behind and then back to narrate the story of camaraderie between Venu (Dhyan Sreenivasan), Murali (Pranav Mohanlal). The two friends travel to erstwhile Madras in the hope of fulfilling their dream of becoming a scriptwriter and a composer respectively. In the hope of discovering talents and new people, they find a place to reside at ‘Swami Lodge’ before securing small gigs and gradually building connections.

In time, with a little help from Murali, Venu gets a chance to exhibit his film which later garners attention, boosting his name as a filmmaker. A successful Venu gradually builds a fortress and slowly drifts away from Murali.

Misunderstanding creates a scintillating plot twist as the story grapples through twists and turns while maintaining the balance of momentous and humoral elements. The sheer grip of engagement is seen through the narrative when the story starts building with Venus’s expedition to find Murali. With a pinch of humour, the story takes on a serious note as the scene reaches its crescendo as Pranav's Murali grabs the attention of spectators with his emotional engagement.

What makes the film exceptional is the character association. The role of Murali draws parallelism to the gravitating bonds of friendship.

In the second half, the thread of the story slowly starts shifting to achieving goals despite a bracketed age group. Venu, after years of stardom as a director, took a long break from cinema. As he reaches old age, he slowly feels rustic as his carrier attains a full stop. In the hope of gaining momentum, Murali encourages him to take the project. With engaging drama between characters Pradeep enacted by Basil Joseph an assistant director and Nivin Pauly as Nithin Moly the narrative never falls out of humour. Falling through pivotal and disproportions in their friendship, Venu and Murali reconcile by making a box office hit with his friend Murali contributing as a composer. The film presumes as a movie within a movie as the shooting of the scene and the undying element of the theatrical setting are interwoven in the plot.

The performance of Nivin Pauly in this film can be described as a ‘comeback’ which alludes to remark on the physical backlash that he has faced after changing his physique over the past years. With his witty comeback, he never fails to set the bar high as a dynamic actor. He brings in an element of satire with his pun-intended name and his colourful garments that never fail to get noticed.

Movie: Varshangalkku Shesham

Rating: 3/5

Cast: Pranav Mohanlal, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Basil Joseph, Aju Varghese, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Neeta Pillai, Neeraj Madhav, Arjun Lal

Director: Vineeth Sreenivasan.

a-high-budget-low-iq-film-where-the-only-joy-to-be-found-is-in-tigers-dimples

Thu Apr 11 22:42:29 IST 2024

Writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, starring Tiger the-cutie-pie Shroff, and Akshay Kumar Overshadowed, is a high-budget, low-IQ film that begins on a note of such extreme imbecility that it never once recovers for the entirety of its 164 agonising minutes.

The film opens in what looks like a large Taj banquet hall but is some serious office type of place where Army guys, seniors and juniors, are looking worried as they stare at a screen on which a convoy of Army jeeps and vans is winding its way through hills. The seniors and juniors talk about how important it is that the yantra (machine) doesn’t get into the hands of the enemy, because if it does, India will be khatam, khallas (finished, the end).

The scintillating words we hear next from the convoy — “incoming missile”, “secure the package,” S***! Tank is coming”, “call for backup” — pretty much summarises the story, plot, soul and spirit of this Rs 350 crore enterprise whose mission seems to be to bore us to death.

Cut to Shanghai where Lady in Leather Jacket (Manushi Chhillar) rushes to a restaurant to meet a guy in a hoodie who is the bearer of bad news and is, thus, having what looked like Mulligatawny soup.

Meanwhile, back home, bad news is upon the convoy and the yantra is being carted away by one mean man who has long, wavy hair, a leather fetish and is hiding behind a black mask with golden curlicues.

Hoodie guy is killed before he can finish his Mulligatawny soup, so Jacket Lady gives chase to a man who is also wearing a mask, though his is definitely not couture. After some kicking, slashing, pushing, stabbing, it turns out that the man in the lesser mask is indestructible.

Meanwhile, man in designer mask has hacked into the servers of the Indian Armed Forces and is telecasting himself on to their screens. “The war has begun,” he says, and for unexplained reasons, gives the seniors and juniors three days to try and save India.

Only two guys can save India, says one senior, and dispatches Jacket Lady to get them. These two guys were court martialled though they did destroy some Al Zayeda VIP.

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan's first half is an unrelenting, breathless chain of gun fights and chase sequences in which Freddy (Akshay Kumar) and Rocky (Tiger Shroff), men on a mission to save India, keep jumping in and out, on and off cars, buildings and horses to kill people and blow up stuff in Afghanistan, UK and other foreign parts.

The second half has a long, dry patch where the bad guy, Kabir (Prithviraj Sukumaran), whines so much that you wish they’d all take their guns out and just shoot each other.

He talks a lot, tries to explain why he is doing what he is doing, but none of it makes sense nor is it even mildly interesting. The only thing to note is that what was earlier being called the 'yantra' is now referred to as The Package.

He holds a grudge, he says, so he took something that was not his. And now that he has it, he keeps muttering “pralay, pralay (destruction, destruction)” in a please-be-threatened kind of way.

No one seems threatened, especially not Rocky who keeps saying funny, silly things to his compadre, drawing our attention again and again to his charming dimples and high sexy quotient. In fact, so nonchalant is he that the bullet-proof jacket he wears on this deadly mission is a bikini version of protective armour. It has a deep V-neck, and a flirty Brazilian cut.

But since India is everyone’s Bharat Mata, and her first son is Akshay Kumar, Jacket Lady and Bade Miya Chote Miyan set out to retrieve The Package which, in case you are wondering, is linked to something called Karan Kavach (Karan’s Armour). Without this protection, it seems, China and Pakistan will spray missiles into India with the hijinks and enthusiasm of colony boys shooting pichkaris (water guns) on Holi.

Holding the key to saving and destroying India is a lady with long nails who first sits squirming with her mouth taped, then gets a nosebleed and is later seen reclining on a high lounge chair while a robotic hand tries to retrieve some very important information from her.

A lot of tech stuff is involved in saving and destroying, so Jacket Lady brings in a motor-mouth millennial (Alaya F) who hits on Rocky on our behalf, and then keeps doing stuff on her tablet that is of some help.

But Bad Guy Kabir is also doing stuff on his very fancy computer and seems to be better at it because, at one point, just before a twist in the plot, Rocky and Freddy are en route to becoming crisp shish kebabs.

Every once in a while there is a chest-thumping bombast about Hindustan, India’s armed forces praised and threats are issued to anyone even thinking of messing with it.

Bad Guy Kabir, now with only half the designer mask, is determined to mess with it, but is so boring that he has to keep talking in hyperbole and repeat his threats again and again.

When Bad Guy Kabir was hidden behind a mask, there was some mystery to him. When the mask comes off and he starts whining and complaining with blood-shot eyes, you feel like giving him a glass of water and saying, “Beta, relax. Do anulom-vilom”.

The jokes dry up, India is about to be destroyed, Rocky and Freddy are beating each other up and the techie millennial is saying, "Put the chip in him, Gawd! Put the CHIIIPPP in him".

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is so bad in places that it is funny.

Everyone who is fighting is dressed like those plastic action figures, and is stiff like them. The fakery and idiocy of the film's plot is staggering. The fact that so many Bollywood worthies put so much money into it is a very worrying sign. It’s also depressing that this Eid we have to suffer this nonsense.

I am not a Salman Khan fan, but I get the craziness and joy around his Eid releases. All of them have one Eid Mubarak song that is special.

BMCM has no joy except for Tiger Shroff. He tries to bring some cheer to the film’s dreary proceedings and some of his lines are quite funny. It often feels like he's giving CPR to the comatose film. BMCM gets a pulse for a few seconds, only to sink again in a deluge of bullets, balls of fire or crybaby Kabir’s complaining.

In War, where Shroff was paired with Hrithik Roshan, you barely noticed him. But in BMCM, it’s impossible to take your eyes off him.

His stunts are super cool, he carries the dead weight of the film with a spring in his step and though his dancing lacks rhythm, his dimples make you want to dance.

Movie: Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manushi Chhillar, Alaya F, Sonakshi Sinha, Ronit Roy, Manish Chaudhari

Direction: Ali Abbas Zafar

Rating: 1/5

aavesham-review-this-fahadh-faasil-movie-wont-disappoint

Thu Apr 11 16:41:18 IST 2024

Filmmaker Jithu Madhavan operates much like a skilled chemist; he meticulously adheres to the tried-and-tested "formulas" required for his subject to cook up success. His debut film, Romancham, was the perfect blend for theatrical success by combining elements of traditional horror with wit. Now, with Aavesham (Excitement), he ventures into another genre-blender—a mobster comedy—adhering closely to established genre conventions, tropes, and plot devices.

The cornerstone of any mobster comedy lies in its eccentric central character. On-screen, Fahadh Faasil as Rangan, a Bengaluru-based don, embodies this eccentricity flawlessly. The film boldly opens with a title card declaring its intent to "re-introduce" Fahadh Faasil. This reviewer found that the filmmaker lives up to that claim, reintroducing FaFa (Faasil, as his fans call him) in a role where he skillfully blends narcissism, absurdity, and the quirks of a don with continuous wit and light-heartedness. While FaFa previously portrayed the psychopathic character Shammi in Kumbalangi Nights, Aavesham's Rangan exudes a different kind of frenetic energy, showcasing a new facet of his acting prowess.

The central plot of Aavesham revolves around a classic 'fish-out-of-water scenario,' wherein three college students find themselves entangled in unexpected circumstances. Debutants Hipzter, Mithun Jai Sankar, and Roshan Shanavas portray these students who inadvertently become entwined with the mobster Rangan. Ego with college seniors leads them to Rangan, but from there, they become ensnared in a series of absurd situations that even jeopardize their lives. Madhavan skilfully ensures that his seemingly hollow plot is elevated by entertaining absurd humour and outlandish scenarios that defy logic and reason. Throughout, the film maintains a light-hearted tone while exploring themes of power struggles and the complexities of everyday existence.

Friendship between a mob boss and his henchmen, or a ragtag group of misfits thrown together by circumstance, are common tropes in successful mobster comedies. In Aavesham, audiences will encounter both of these scenarios. Sajin Gopu delivers a stellar performance as Rangan’s henchman, Amban, whose costume evokes memories of Vikraman from Balarama’s Maayavi comics.

The film's first half is tightly edited, but there is a noticeable dip in pace during the initial portions of the second half. Additionally, there are moments where this reviewer felt somewhat detached from the tensions experienced by the trio. But towards the climax, the film once again gets charged up and takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride into the world of madness exhibited by Rangan. FaFa, as a performer, brings out his complete form only in those climax portions.

The script contains multiple clichéd moments. However, Madhavan cleverly covers these cliches with witty one-liners and banter, and FaFa’s “Eda Mone” catchphrase is likely to earn an iconic place in Malayalam pop culture. Even when the film takes several freakish turns, the filmmaker abstains from any kind of forced or slapstick comedy elements. Instead, it is in the dialogues crackling with energy and wit that Madhavan puts his trust to engage the audience. On multiple occasions, the film builds up an emotional scene and then eases the audience with light comedy.

Mashar Hamsa’s costume designs and Chethan Dsouza’s action choreography deserve praise, showcasing excellence on the technical side. Sushin Shyam delivers energy-pumping soundtracks, while Samir Thahir vividly captures the transition from thug life to the Insta reel life of Rangan.

The film maintains a celebratory mood from beginning to end, catering primarily to a youthful audience. Female characters and elements of romance or love are almost non-existent, with the plot heavily invested in male ego and adrenaline rushes. Aavesham is adorned with references from a variety of films, ranging from the iconic Hollywood film The Shining to Madhavan’s debut film, Romancham.

Final Thoughts: If you're in search of a drama adhering to the confines of realism, Aavesham may not be the right pick for you. However, if your intention is to just chill and celebrate in this festival season, the movie won’t disappoint.

Movie: Aavesham

Director: Jithu Madhavan

Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Mithun Jai Sankar, Roshan Shanavas

Rating: 3.5/5