Nonika Singh

Many of us have seen Asghar Wajahat’s poignant and widely staged play ‘Jis Lahore Nai Vekhya, O Jamya E Nai’. And most of us have seen Sunny Deol create ‘Gadar’ in cross-border love stories. So what happens when the two come together? Well, in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s ‘Batwara 1947’, Sunny Paaji’s dhai kilo ka haath is very much intact, if not forever in action, as he bashes up rioters on both sides of the border. What is heartening, though, is the emotive power of the film, which resonates with a fair degree of sentimentality, but is not misplaced. It is adapted from Wajahat’s play, written in 1989 and staged by eminent theatrepersons such as Habib Tanvir, Nadira Babbar and Arvind Gaur. The play might have been set during Partition, but there is no denying its universal timelessness.

The good news is ‘Bhai Tera Star Hai’ is not your regular underdog story of an upstart reaching for the stars, even though the opening song would have you believe so. The not-so-good news, however, is that the Raghav Juyal-starrer isn’t the madcap it aspires to be. Director Vivek B Agrawal and co-writer Sudipto Sarkar do try not to follow the beaten path, but that by itself isn’t enough. The moment Sanjay Kapoor appears as bar owner Fatty, who doubles up as a betting don, you know the makers are aiming for the experimental touch. And the very second you see dialogues popping up on the screen as comic book graphics, you expect an innovative idea.

Love conquers all… only here, the heroine, Sudha (Vedika Pinto), believes: “Sahi pyar hamare liye sahi ho yeh zaroori nahi (It’s not essential that true love is right for us).” She meets her suitor Chander (Vikrant Massey) for a matrimonial alliance. He is a software engineer who wants to set up a cafe in the mountains, hence the title of the series. Sudha is a lawyer whose ambitions touch sky high and marriage figures nowhere in her scheme of things. They fall in love and the villains here are not ma-baap or a ‘judgy’ society, but a clash of aspirations. As the storyline set in Bhopal moves in two timelines set apart by eight years, we clearly see they have moved on. Chander has not only realised his dream in Mussoorie, but found love again in Preeti (Mahima Makwana).

“Fantasies and dreams… A nightmare of thought. A face, a fleet, a war…” Add to it a human being who towers above all with fierce courage and a beating heart. Odysseus’ epic story, as told by Greek poet Homer some 3,000 years ago, comes alive in Academy Award-winner Christopher Nolan’s fantastical ‘The Odyssey’. Those clued into Greek mythology know all too well who Odysseus was: King of Ithaca, a true blue war hero, the man behind the treacherous Trojan Horse, instrumental in making the invincible Troy fall. Unlike Achilles, he did not die on the battlefield, but lost his way back home. And it’s his odyssey — full of travails, encounters with monsters, sirens, the dead and gods — which gives wings to Nolan’s extraordinary cinematic vision.

It begins with madness and climaxes with mayhem, but then you expect no less, no more from the popular franchise that thrives and hinges upon humour and humour alone. As ‘Dhamaal’ moves forward towards its fourth outing, it is more of the same in a way. This time, the madcap comedy centres on a treasure, some Shaitain Singh Ka Khazana that a whole lot of fumbling/bumbling characters are after. Ravi Kishan plays a pirate, Adhura, who is holding hostage Prithvi (Upendra Limaye), the man who has the map and can decode it too. Ajay Devgn as Guddu lands on his ship; what happens hereafter is meant to be a roller-coaster where nothing is to be taken seriously. To give the devil his due, the film does offer you some laugh-out-loud moments but gets painful and laborious in equal parts as well.

It’s a web of lies, deceit, betrayals and fierce emotions too. The CIA agent codenamed Martian (Michael Fassbender) might write in his journal for his daughter, “We are taught that emotions are not the truth”, but the star-studded espionage thriller has as strong an emotional core as the fascinating spy games. The title track ‘Love Is Blindness’, performed by Jack White, conveys the emotional minefield of its characters led by Martian. As ‘The Agency’ enters the second season, we are once again led into a captivating terrain where suspense remains thick, tension-fraught moments abound. Operations are in full swing. John Magaro’s Owen is being prepared for a very dangerous mission. To trap Viking, a mercenary within the Russian-backed organisation Valhalla, he befriends a female nurse Robyn, sister of the man the CIA wants at all costs.

The very first scene establishes how our hero can charm birds out of the trees, ahem floor women. The fact that Kunal is none other than the dashing Shahid Kapoor only helps matters. But before we accuse him of playing yet another toxic lover, we learn that he is in a committed relationship with Diya (Rashmika Mandanna). The scene shifts to how men can be pathological cheaters, and while Diya is outraged, Kunal finds humour in his friend’s cheating ways. Will he too cheat when temptations comes knocking? Since ‘Cocktail 2’ is a spiritual sequel to Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty-starrer ‘Cocktail’ (both directed by Homi Adajania), it’s just a matter of time before the third angle in the love triangle surfaces.

Nafraton mein mohabatton ko na bhoolna… Trust the eternal romantic Imtiaz Ali to give us yet another tale of love and trust him to transform a love story set around Partition into a requiem for peace. Of course, we have seen a number of cross-border love stories laced with the message of harmony. So when the narrative begins with a Sikh patriarch, Ishar Grewal (the brilliant and exceptional Naseeruddin Shah), rushing to the Wagah border in Amritsar, you think you know where the story is headed.