Bharathi Pradhan

Cinematically, the first round of applause goes to Kangana Ranaut for not only playing Cama nurse Geeta Madhav Gandhare with professional efficiency but for also not overshadowing her colleagues Girija Oak, Smita Tambe and the others who play her fellow nurses. It is as an ensemble cast should be, screen time shared by all. In real life, a resounding round of applause has been long overdue for the feisty nurses of Cama who worked fearlessly and tirelessly on a night they were not trained for. Nobody was prepared for a terror attack on Mumbai where blood was splattered in restaurants, roads, railway stations, five-star hotels and a hospital.

In Chandigarh, 95-year-old Ishar Singh Grewal alias Kinnu (Naseeruddin Shah) is battling a stroke and dementia; Dadaji is on his deathbed. Amidst his rambling delirium over Martians and Sargodha while making cussed comments at family members taking care of him, the searing pain of 1947 finally stands out. UK-based grandson Nirvair (Diljit Dosanjh), between IT jobs and a failure at standup comedy, leaves behind a relationship (with girlfriend Banita Sandhu) that’s defying definition, and heads to Chandigarh. Between Nirvair’s dogged attempt to decipher grandpa’s delirious but determined hold on a trauma that needs closure, the pangs of separation, the pain of Partition, the horrifying truths families seek to keep buried, emerge with ferocity.

It could’ve turned into a documentary. But mercifully, director Chinmay Mandlekar and his array of co-writers (Ravi Asrani, Saurabh Bharat, Subhendu Bhattacharya, Vipul Amrutlal Shah) use brief touches of humour and bring human, familial elements into the storytelling, to make it an interesting watch. Outside, the financial condition is dire with spiralling prices. Inside, new RBI Governor A Ramanan (Manoj Bajpayee) is bemused by the celebrations to welcome him. There is a lightness in the office atmosphere (like the lift scene) that keep the telling easy and a tough topic like an economic crisis is put across simply, making it comprehensible to the layman. Add to it, the human inspirations that surround Ramanan. Wife Vandita (Madhoo Shah) with her pujas, prayers and positivity, the Deputy Governor (Noushad Mohammed Kunju) who inspires his senior with the line, ‘Fathers don’t quit’ to pull him out of a low mood, an office peon whose borrowings help Ramanan think out of the box.

Right up, the first person to compliment would be Bobby Deol for playing a washed-up entertainer. It’s not every day that a mainstream actor would play Samar Mehra, a 50+ loser with a somewhat loose abs to match and outstanding EMIs. Man Friday too hasn’t been paid for months. No wife, no marriage, girlfriend Khushi (Saba Azad) was found on a dating app. But hopes of the big break as hero linger, as it does in most actors. And then he’s hit with a rape charge by Gayatri (Sapna Pabbi), a stalker from his recent past. The rawness and the indifference of cops inside a police station may have been seen several times before but Kashyap directs a sequence that’s part humour, part horror especially as a senior in charge (brilliantly played by Jitendra Joshi) takes off on Samar’s WhatsApp chats. His ‘Benjo…’, his way-out explanations, his Trimurti reference to Subhash Ghai, are so well-written and well-enacted that there’s laughter even as the noose tightens around Samar.

When the end is obvious with a title that gives away where the hero is headed, writer-director Vivek Soni’s screenplay should’ve been dramatically different, offering an unseen experience at every major turn. Let’s check how he goes about it. It’s one long predictable flashback to Hyderabad where Chandni (Ananya Panday) and Aarav (Lakshya) are engineering students, both brilliant. There’s a fresh touch to the attraction where they twin every day, wearing the same colour, without a word exchanged between them. Until Chandni takes the first step. So far, rather nice. The good is that there is definite chemistry between Chandni and Aarav, leading to relatable intimacy.

Trade analysts say, the film has no buzz. But the content is fun and fizz. It takes a short while to get used to forest officer Prajapati Pandey (Ayushmann Khurrana) and his over-the-top decibel. But by the time “Casanova” leopard catcher nets his “tenduyi” and reaches home to wife and TV journalist Aparna Trivedi (Wamiqa Gabbi), his effervescence catches on. The viewer is all in as writer-director Mudassar Aziz rolls out the chuckles with Prajapati stepping in to help distressed collegemate Chanchal Kumari (Sara Ali Khan), unwittingly letting loose a string of misunderstandings.

It’s a strange family. Granddaughter Kannu (Sadia Khateeb) is in the midst of her roka with Tony Kalra (Kapil Sharma) who’d yearned for her from a distance in their college days. Maybe that’s where the comedy lies – that 45-year-old Kapil and 28-year-old Sadia went to college at the same time. Overlook that amusing part of their crackle-less relationship as chaos descends. Kannu’s dadi Vimla (Neetu Kapoor) has posted on social media that she’s getting married. Fiancé-to-be Tony and his big joint Kalra family won’t stand for such a scandal. As for the Ahujas, they gang up to visit dadi in Shimla to stop her from becoming the family embarrassment. Don’t wait and ask why none of Kannu’s close relatives, dadi included, knew that she was getting officially betrothed.

A spate of animation films on Ganesha, Hanuman and Narasimha have intermittently caught the fancy of the Indian audience. Here comes a film with real actors slipping into the roles of Lord Krishna, the three prominent women in his life, Radha, Rukmini and Satyabhama, and a sprinkling of family members. One of the biggest runaway successes at the plush Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in 2024, was the spectacular musical Rajadhiraaj: Love. Life. Leela, dancing and singing with Lord Krishna from Vrindavan to Dwarka. It was scripted by Raam Mori. Retaining the colours and the playful ambience of the play, Ram Mori joins hands with writer-director Hardik Gajjar and co-writer Prakash Kapadia to tell more stories about Lord Krishna (Siddharth Gupta), this time on the big screen.