Bharathi Pradhan

An army man sworn to protect his country at any cost. Even if the cost is his young son’s life. It resembles the premise of the Dilip Kumar-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Shakti (1982), tautly directed by Ramesh Sippy. Dilip Kumar had played uncompromising DCP Ashwini Kumar who wouldn’t negotiate with a gangster even if it meant endangering son Vijay’s life. Vijay, played by Amitabh Bachchan, had grown up resenting his father and had purposefully walked off in the opposite direction – to the world of crime. Travel to a troubled Kashmir in the 90s and transplant the Shakti theme against an Indo-Pak backdrop, with Soumil Shukla and Arun Singh (along with Kausar Munir and Jehan Handa) taking credit for story, screenplay and dialogues. After running to the rescue of his men who’ve walked into a trap, a fierce exchange of fire and much hand-to-hand combat, staunch army man Vijay Menon (Prithviraj Sukumaran) captures dreaded brothers Qaabil (KC Shankar) and Aabil (Rohed Khan). But when his own son Harman (Ronav Parihar) is nabbed, Vijay faces the toughest decision of his life – release the terror brothers who are wreaking havoc in the valley in exchange for his son?

New Delhi. Nepal. Rawalpindi. Budapest. Slovakia. Serbia. Vienna. Georgia. Dominican Republic. Athens. Himmat Singh (Kay Kay Menon) has his network spread out all over, there are mutually beneficial trade-offs with Pakistani agents and China, Russia take turns under the spotlight with an Indian-origin psychopath who calls himself a global citizen with no loyalty to any country. Neeraj Panday and Shivam Nair who direct different episodes, update the spy game. It’s no longer about bombs being set off by terrorists from across the border. The world of technology is more insidious. When Dr Piyush Bhargav (Arif Zakaria), a brilliant tech-savvy scientist, is nabbed in Budapest and agent Vinod Shekhawat (Tata Roy Chowdhury) is killed back home in a shopping mall, Himmat Singh orchestrates action that zig-zags cities and continents.

It requires metahuman skills to keep rebooting and refreshing a comic book character that was created in the 1930s. Writer-director James Gunn does it with Krypto. When a gasping-for-life Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet) is dragged to his secret crystalline home to be revived, Krypto the dog saves not just the superhero from an alien planet but also Gunn’s film. Bow-wow, wag-wag, Krypto gets the applause each time he flies in for a timely rescue. He also gets the laughs with his overenthusiastic greetings, his jumps and his boundless energy. Truly, a doggie version of almost killing with love. Amidst a whole lot of confusing metahumans, some good, some bad, an assortment of black holes and universes that include a pocket universe, and powers that provide sci-fi and CGI experts with lucrative employment, Gunn brings in one more aww-inspiring moment – an alien infant that must be rescued from CGI fire by Superman, good metahuman Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Krypto. With Krypto slobbering all over the infant, the cuteness quotient shoots up.

Cough, cough. Saba Shergill (Shanaya Kapoor) has blindfolded herself on the train to Mussoorie to prep for an audition to play a visually challenged girl. For no apparent reason, Jahan (Vikrant Massey) gets a slap from her as an introduction. But, cough, cough, he’s a musician, he should understand another artiste. The cough disappears, inexplicably. She’s stranded in Mussoorie, inexplicably. She clings to the stranger on the train, inexplicably. Even moves into his hotel room. “Come, I’ll show you around my house,” he says, inexplicably. When did a hotel room turn into a house? Jahan has an assistant-cum-driver, a general factotum. Who talks of a chidiya (sparrow) that talks (everybody laugh, Saba and Jahan do) and tells them a ghost story (everybody shiver, Saba and Jahan do, she even moves into his bed).

He is 42. Single. Still a virgin. He is Shrirenu Tripathi (R Madhavan), he teaches Sanskrit in Jamshedpur. Even his students tease him about virginal bachelorhood. She is Madhu Bose (Fatima Sana Shaikh), she teaches French in Kolkata. She’s dumped Namit (Karan Wahi), her ex, after he checked out if she’s a virgin. Shrirenu chats on Aap Jaisa Koi, an app for cosy, sexual conversations between strangers. The voice on the other end of the app tells him he’s a cross between Gulzar and George Clooney. He goes all moony-eyed. With a forgettable song in the background. Until Srirenu meets Madhu. The sparks are perfect. They like the same sort of tea with milk and elaichi. She even preferred Ashok Kumar to Kishore Kumar. Oldies are just fine for her. He is old-fashioned, still believes in flowers pressed into books. And he talks to a mouse in a trap.

Underworld dons have weepy back stories of injustice that turned them into gangster-killers. Political patronage (Saurav Shukla as big daddy Santosh Singh) must figure in the making of a ruthless new Maalik (Rajkummar Rao). The heartlessness has to show up in a couple of scenes like humiliating a cop by making him lick his own spit on the ground before he’s shot dead. Or gunning down a rival gangster before his young son. Maalik will even swagger and confront boastful, offensive encounter specialist SP Prabhu Das (Prosenjit) to warn him to never step into his house again and threaten his parents. Gangster heroes are also family men, don’t mess with their parents or talk to a wife they adore. Recall gangster Vinod Khanna as the soft-as-pulp husband in Haath Ki Safaai (1974).

“When was the last time we had a drink together?” asks an SIT officer. “When was the last time we slept?” shoots back his colleague. It sums up the captivating 90-day hunt that writer-director Nagesh Kukunoor turns into a 7-part show, making the viewer walk in step with the untiring SIT that’s set up to find Rajiv Gandhi’s killers. We know the LTTE did it. We know why they did it. We know the deep hatred the LTTE had for the leader who sent the Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF) to quell the militant movement in Sri Lanka. We know they wanted him dead before he became the PM again. We know the LTTE, led by Prabhakaran, bombed, killed, tortured people in their fight for a separate Tamil state of Eelam in Sri Lanka. But there’s more.

Agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) does it first. “We’ll ketchup with you…” British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) later ketchups up with her. “Everything harpoons for a reason,” he says self-consciously after they’ve emerged from a series of set action pieces with multiple weapons. But it’s weapons’ lord Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine), a Russian arms dealer with more money to burn than the security budgets of the US and UK put together, topped with a personal revenge agenda, who’s set off the action all over. Especially targeting the President of the United States of America Will Derringer (John Cena), a Reagan type actor-turned-politician, and PM Clarke. Director Ilya Naishuller (Russian filmmaker) with writers Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Harrison Query, make a punny, funny, action film where the end’s obvious but the ride is lighthearted.