Keyur Seta

Homosexuality is not a novel subject, especially in the unconventional or festival kind of cinema. But writer and director Rohan Kanawade’s Sabar Bonda stands apart from a lot of such films due to various reasons. It is quite tough for parents to accept their son as a gay in a country like India. The film shows that even if somehow the parents accept their child’s sexuality, what about the relatives and society at large? And this becomes even tougher in a remote village where even a mere mention of the subject is considered more than taboo. This core aspect of the film is skillfully and sensibly portrayed by Kanawade in his feature film debut itself as a writer and director.

Dashavatar scores high in getting you transported to the small Konkan village where it’s based. The scenic place is shot well by cinematographer Devendra Golatkar. The village’s folk theatre culture is portrayed in a realistic manner. It also acts as a tribute to the unsung theatre artistes from various corners of India. The bittersweet relation between Babuli and Madhav also brings a smile, although the song between them could have been done away with. Dashavatar brings a shocking incident at the interval point. From here on, you expect the film to rise further. But, instead, it starts suffering from the second half syndrome. The incidents where various avatars of Lord Vishnu are brought in not only make the narrative predictable but also lack logic as it’s difficult to believe what one character keeps doing. Plus, the screenplay starts becoming messier as the film nears the climax with quite a few questionable incidents. The climax gives an important social message but it suits more in the medium of theatre than cinema.

Writer and director Chinmay D Mandlekar’s Netflix movie Inspector Zende is loosely based on the story of Inspector Madhukar Bapurao Zende capturing the dreaded criminal Carl Sobraj in 1986. The story starts off when the mastermind criminal Carl Bhojraj (Jim Sarbh) is serving sentence in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. One fine day, he succeeds in escaping from the prison along with his gang members. They later enter Mumbai. Hence, the case comes under Mumbai Police’s jurisdiction. The Director General of Mumbai Police Purandhare (Sachin Khedekar) hands over the task of nabbing Bhojraj to Inspector Madhukar Bapurao Zende (Manoj Bajpayee). Apart from he being a reputed cop, the reason for asking Zende to lead the case is that he had heroically caught Bhojraj in 1971. Zende gets along the task with his team comprising of fellow cops Patil (Bhalchandra Kadam) and others. The makers make it clear in the initial disclaimer that the film is only loosely based on the real story of Inspector Zende and that they have added a lot of fiction. But even then, the creative liberties turn out to be a bit too much as soon as the film starts. You wonder why the real story of a heroic cop is told in a comedy manner and that too slapstick humour in some places.

Writer and director Krishnadev Yagnik’s Gujarati movie Vash (2023) turned out to be a thrilling saga of black magic. The film was later remade in Hindi as Shaitaan (2024). Sequels of horror films are always expected to overpower the first one but that doesn’t happen always. But Vash Level 2 actually goes up several notches as far as the vashikaran (casting a black magic spell) is concerned. Vash Level 2 continues 12 years from where Vash ended (hence, you need to watch the first film to understand the second one). Atharva (Hitu Kanodia) is leading a quiet life with his daughter Aarya (Janki Bodiwala), who is still under the black magic spell, after his son Ansh (Aaryan Sanghvi) and wife (Niilam Paanchal) are killed. But unknown to the world, inside a dark corner of his bungalow, he has kept hidden the black magic monster Pratap (Hiten Kumar), who is responsible for the tragedy in his and his family’s life, in the most inhuman condition possible. He doesn’t let him live, nor die.

War 2, the sequel to the highly successful War and the next film in the Yash Raj Films’ Spy Universe, carries the story forward from the end of the first film but it also doesn’t. Actually, it doesn’t appear like a continuation of the first film, although the makers want us to believe so. Hence, the actual war is fought by the audience to try and decode what the film is about. So, at that start of War 2, which is directed by Ayan Mukerji, we are told that one of the best R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) officers Kabir (Hrithik Roshan) has gone rogue and there is absolutely no major reason given for the same. We expect to be told Kabir’s back story later which led him to take such an extreme step against his agency and country but that never happens.

Lord Vishnu’s various avatars have their own importance and they are worshipped in large numbers. But they also are cinematic enough for a movie on each one of them. In fact, I have always found it surprising as to why we have never had a series of films or web shows on each avatar of his. Filmmaker Ashwin Kumar’s animation film Mahavatar Narsimha has finally filled the void. The movie is based on Lord Vishnu’s Narasimha Avatar. The story starts off when sage Kashyap and his wife get physical during an inauspicious time. Hence, the twins born out of their union turn out to be Asura brothers Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashyap. As per their nature, the twins create havoc in the three worlds. Once, Hiranyaksha captures the earth and submerges it into the ocean. Hence, Lord Vishnu takes the Varah Avatar, frees the earth and kills Hiranyaksha. Hiranyakashyap, who already is against Vishnu, starts hating the latter even more and vows to avenge his brother’s death.

It is not often that you see the notion of caste and its atrocities being explored in mainstream Hindi cinema. The one name that comes to our mind is filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Article 15 (2019). Now, director Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2 enters the rare list. It is hugely different from the Khurrana starrer despite addressing the same subject. Dhadak 2 is the official Hindi remake of the 2018 Tamil hit Pariyerum Perumal. It takes place in a semi-urban city in India. The story revolves around Neelesh Ahirwar (Siddhant Chaturvedi). He hails from the lower caste and lives under challenging economic conditions with his parents. He is eager to rise above poverty by becoming a lawyer. He gets admission in a reputed law college in the city under reservation.

Over the last several years, mainstream Hindi cinema has been guilty of showing more than half or at least half of the film in the trailer itself. When the promo of Mohit Suri’s Saiyaara and the video of its title song came out, it gave a feeling about the film being in the Kabir Singh zone about a frustrated lover living a toxic life. However, as it turns out, the film is nothing like that. It’s hugely different from its trailer. In fact, it’s one of the rare mainstream Hindi film to completely hide its main plot. Saiyaara is based in today’s era in Mumbai. It revolves around a hot-headed and arrogant struggling singer and musician Krish Kapoor (Ahaan Panday), who is a part of a music group. He once roughs up the editor of a digital publication for mentioning only one person’s name from their band in their review of their album despite he being the lead singer. During this time, he comes across Vaani Batra (Aneet Padda), as aspiring journalist who was there for a job interview.