Bharathi Pradhan

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.

It’s a sweet premise. A scrooge named Ramakant (Rajkummar Rao) who’ll go to any lengths to save even six rupees. A wife named Shilpa (Sanya Malhotra) who won’t think twice before buying a decent wedding gift. A housing complex for seniors, the low rent just right for the miser. Neighbour D’souza Aunty (Seema Pahwa) who offers toast and a reduction in rent to eternally scrimping Ramakant. Glenn D’souza (Abhishek Banerjee), somewhat shady. Elderly Pherwani Aunty (Archana Puransingh). Sleazy minister Amol Amre (Jitendra Joshi) who must get his hands on a video clip exposing him as a womaniser. Inspector Balagode (Upendra Limaye), dispatched by the minister to deal with the blackmailer and retrieve the incriminating video. Ramakant on a mission to get back the expensive toaster he’d gifted a couple whose wedding has been called off.

Looking at the glittering malls, spiffy offices, high-end restaurants and luxury high rises of Lower Parel today, it’s tough to imagine that five decades ago, this was a part of Mumbai – or Bombay as it was then called – the elite never stepped into. This was where textile mills thrived and workers went on a much-politicised strike when the first move was made to down the shutters and turn the area into swank, upper-crust commercial and residential property. This was also where politics and the police force played their part when Matka King Ratan Khatri came up with a unique gamble and prospered beyond imagination. Winning and losing in large numbers became an addiction for workers of the area while elsewhere too, the Matka King’s game was played in various towns and rural districts.

There is something called expiry date and Priyadarshan’s latest film is a fine example of it. With three co-writers on board – Aakash Kaushik, Abhilash Nair, Rohan Shankar – director Priyadarshan attempts to retrieve ownership of the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise. But to float a film which has a similar sounding title and to pack it with the same elements of a deserted haveli, a locked room with a horrifying secret plus a closely resembling cast that includes Tabu and Rajpal Yadav, is not sufficient to re-create the engaging comedy-horror of the Bhool Bhulaiyaa series. There are two areas where Priyadarshan’s work does not take off the way it was expected to.