Bharathi Pradhan

When two village kids look up at a plane and wonder how people inside an aircraft poop up there, it’s sweet, it’s innocent but it’s been heard many times before. That sums up director Suresh Triveni’s one-man fight against corruption, a sirf ek bandaa kaafi hai kind of battle with the backdrop of a cruel sand mining mafia, insensitive government employees who repeatedly tell citizens to “come back tomorrow”, and policemen who look the other way, refusing to file an FIR. You’ve seen it before.

The intent is to normalise gay relationships, a gay marriage in this case, where the focus is on the story and not on raising eyebrows over sexual preferences. To that extent director Anubhuti Kashyap, and writers Sima Agarwal and Yash Keswani pull it off. Once Dr Geetika Sen (Konkona Sen Sharma) and “wife” Dr Meera (Pratibha Ranta) are accepted by the viewer just as casually as the people in their workplace do, it’s the investigation into a sexual misconduct case that should be the focus.

When a film talks about a crime as dastardly as rape, gang rape in this case, its social import is disturbing. The nocturnal rape of schoolteacher Parima (Kani Kusruti) on a lonely stretch in Delhi, brings out all that’s expected of a crime. Those equipped to get away with it, will escape jail term without too much of a compromise with the conscience. The victim will stay traumatised, the family bewildered, helpless. The lawyer will fight but justice will be frustratingly elusive. Writer-director Anubhav Sinha’s opening shot of a mercilessly beaten woman thrown on a railway track is unambiguous in its intent.

The take-off is like Dhurandhar. As Ustara alias Romeo (Shahid Kapoor) cuts, kills and spills blood all over the place, there’s a peppy ‘Dhak dhak karne laga’ in the background. From a conversation between Jayesh bhai (Nana Patekar), his baap in the gangster business, and the ‘kutiya’ (Shahid), you gather that Romeo is on the run from big bad daddy Jalal (Avinash Tiwary) for murdering his brother. From a spate of energetically executed dances where he breaks into pelvic moves with crude references made to women in the oldest profession in the world, it’s established that Romeo has the swagger of an unremorseful killer-gangster. BTW, ‘Paan ki dukaan’ is catchy.

It has its origins in the Thai thriller The Pool (2018) but writers Himanshu Sharma and Abhishek Bandekar give it a vibe that’s completely Mumbai when content creators from two ends of society meet for an “epic collab”. Director Bejoy Nambiar flags off with an effective beginning that has a woman teasing two men. The flavour: distinctly Maharashtrian. The introduction: deadly, as a crocodile makes its quick and early entry.

The arrival of Keshav (Aksshay Dogra) who picks up two cute puppies, is such a fine piece of writing that even before he utters a word, you hate him. You want to kill him. The writing, along with direction that’s in complete control of every character and every situation, makes Jaspal Singh Sandhu’s second outing with Shambhunath Mishra (Sanjay Mishra) and Manju Singh (Neena Gupta) an intriguing watch as details come out in trickles. Sandhu and co-writer Neha Shitole begin with a preamble set in 1994. A young woman is sentenced for a double murder. No words spoken by her.

The promo was misleading, making it seem like a big screen repetition of what was recently seen in Delhi Crime 3. In DC3, it was lady cop Shefali Shah pitted against venomous don Huma Qureshi while busting a human trafficking syndicate. Same to same in the promo of Mardaani 3 as Rani Mukerji roared into action against a menacing Amma (Mallika Prasad) to finish a human trafficking cabal.

It’s a tough act to follow. But between writer-director Anurag Singh and co-writer Sumit Arora, they faithfully pick the template, don’t mess with it and serve it with renewed vigour. What you would expect from Border 2: A roaring Sunny Deol, introduced in the credits as Dharmendra’s son. The sole survivor from the acting cast of the original Border returns as Lt Col Fateh Singh Kaler, the intervening years irrelevant as the invincible fighter in Sunny remains as ferocious as ever. Fateh Singh exemplifies the main characters. Fierce and fearless on the battlefield, soft and sentimental at home. With the supportive feminine presence of Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Anya Singh and Medha Rana to tug at familial strings.