Nonika Singh

Incredible, incredulous and invigorating… indeed you expect no less, perhaps no more too, from the Mission Impossible franchise. Ever since Tom Cruise landed on our theatre screens in 1996 as Ethan Hunt, he and his insanely successful franchise have captured viewers’ imagination like fire. The fact that India is one of the few countries where the film released before its US outing in theatres is proof enough of its burgeoning Indian fandom. Indeed, the template of the actioner is the same. Impossible we all know is not just another word in the title of the MI universe, it’s the key driver and mantra where the implausibility of it all is what makes it exciting. Those who have seen the prequel Mission Impossible: The Dead Reckoning, know too well who Ethan’s enemy and world’s is, this time over. In a way his job is cut out, and the very first scene establishes so. Indeed, it’s the ‘Entity’ who has taken control of the nuclear arsenal of most countries including India and Pakistan. In another time nuclear threat hovering over our heads may have seemed like a distant nightmare.

It is indeed passion that takes us to our goals. Thus, the title of the musical series, ‘Hai Junoon!’, is just apt. But more than the name of the series, we need to pay heed to its tagline: ‘Dream. Dare. Dominate.’ It’s important to both dream and dare, but where can the will to dominate take us? When the musical ‘Bandish Bandits’ landed on our screens, it was indeed a breath of fresh air, for it celebrated music in its entirety, especially the sonorous notes of shastriya sangeet. One can’t say Jio Creative Studios’ ‘Hai Junoon!’ walking the musical path is a rip-off. Rather, instead of playing on the rivalry of musical groups or different genres, it starts off as a class divide of sorts. And thus pitches off the college’s musical band, Supersonics, against a dance group, which later finds its name: Misfits.

A reluctant heir to the gaddi, an ambitious CEO of a hospitality startup — sparks fly when they meet. For most parts, ‘The Royals’, touted as a romcom, is expectedly a love story between a blue-blooded heir and a commoner. Only, this aam kumari, to borrow from the series lingo, is no Cinderella. In fact, the so-called ordinary mortal Sophia Kanmani Shekhar (Bhumi Pednekar) is extraordinary and spunky. Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award, she dresses more nattily than royals do. She bumps into her prince annoying Aviraj Singh (Ishaan Khatter) in the very first scene and though attraction is palpable, they soon fall out.

Logically, a sequel ought to be bigger and better, a feat rarely achieved. Indeed, ‘Raid 2’ ups the scale on the execution front. But in terms of treatment, as it tries to marry the realistic with the dramatic, it is a tough balancing act. From the ‘No One Killed Jessica’ director Raj Kumar Gupta, who directed the prequel ‘Raid’ too, you do not expect the same old wine in a new bottle. If we lauded ‘Raid’, based on a real-life incident, for fleshing out a full-fledged movie out of an income-tax raid, ‘Raid 2’ can’t possibly be just more of the same. For, how much surprise can you pack in the crevices of where and how the corrupt hide their money?

What can be more exciting than a heist drama which invariably gets us the requisite dose of adrenalin rush? Back in time, there was the Dev Anand-starrer ‘Jewel Thief’ and more recently, Netflix’s Spanish drama ‘Money Heist’, which captured our imagination and set it afire. So, as yet another tale of a suave thief, a con artist at that, drops on Netflix, we are all agog. Only, our enthusiasm doesn’t last too long. In walks one of our favourites and undisputedly the industry’s finest actor, Jaideep Ahlawat, as Rajan Aulakh. Donning shirtless suits, tattoos and chains adorning his much slimmer neckline, he is quite the crime lord masquerading as an art curator. In a few moments, it is established that he is the villain of the piece. Since he has lost a major chunk of his wealth, he needs to steal Red Sun, a huge African diamond valued at Rs 500 crore, soon to be exhibited in an Indian museum. Only, he is not skilled enough to pull off the job himself and has to hire a jewel thief. Enter our hero Reyan Roy (Saif Ali Khan), whose sleight of hand is very much in sight; yes, stealing the very necklace he has gifted the very beautiful woman he sleeps with.

We all are prisoners of our mobile phones. So, when the very first line of ‘Logout’ reminds you of it as well as drives home precisely why it’s called a cell phone, you can only nod in unison. The same can be said about the entire runtime of the two-hour film. Much of what unfolds is relatable, much has already been documented, maybe with greater precision and depth. But the Amit Golani directorial focuses on the life of an influencer and serves the tale as a psychological thriller; murder in the very first scene. You might be on a familiar path; after all, reams have been penned on the perils of social media, invasion of privacy and cyber frauds. But the way Golani weaves a world where ‘phone hamare liye distraction nahin puri duniya hai’, you are neither distracted by the subject nor its treatment. Rather, you are fully clued in on the fate of this young celebrity.

“Yeh dhai kilo ka haath hai, is ki taakat North dekh chuka hai, ab South bhi dekhega.” The reference to Sunny Deol’s iconic dialogue is more than obvious, as is the North-South alchemy. ‘Jaat’ marks the Hindi film debut of Telugu director Gopichand Malineni and encashes upon Deol’s stardom in its inimitable southern style. Only, the actioner that builds on Deol’s ‘post Gadar 2’ starry status amplifies it many times over. Undeniably, Sunny Bhaji is once again a one-man army who can stop a vehicle with one hand and bash up dozens and dozens of muscle men; in short, do all things unimaginable, but very much possible in this Dharam-putar line of action. Instead of uprooting a hand-pump, pillars and fans become his weapons of mass destruction.

What can be more fascinating than a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes in the Punjabi music industry? Invariably reverberating with rocking beats, it has deep fault lines that are exposed every now and then. So, can a series helmed by Rohit Jugraj, director of Punjabi films like ‘Sardarji’, its sequel and ‘Jatt James Bond’, truly offer us an expose? Or deep insight? Well, the series, the first season of which dropped in 2023, may not be an unsettling reflection of its grim side, but has its strengths. Before we fault the musical series for unspooling like a thriller in its concluding part, we also need to understand that violence has marred Punjab’s irrepressible musical heart time and again. Thus, this one-of-its-kind musical series fictionalises the brutal killing of Amar Singh Chamkila and moves forward from there. It has violence and revenge running as a recurring thread, not too far away from the truth of the musical world where extortion calls are a norm and gun culture not uncommon.