Renuka Vyavahare

White Lotus is back with its signature theme – vacation gone awry. Unlikeable rich tourists and their penchant for seeking trouble head to a luxurious resort in Thailand and what unfolds is anything but relaxing. The 3rd instalment follows the series’ template in theme and storytelling. Nothing changes there as it stays true thematically to the previous seasons, but it puts the brakes on the pace a bit. Like its predecessors, this too begins with a mysterious crime and an air of suspicion looms in days that lead up to it. What also stays constant is the eccentricity, dark secrets and debauchery of the rich guests, whose biggest fear is poverty. There is also an amusing yet shocking sexcapade involving incest.

To win over her best friends and wriggle out of a sticky situation, poor little rich girl Pia Jaisingh (Khushi Kapoor) convinces her new classmate, a career-driven Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan) to be her rental boyfriend. The Instagram love story looks perfect on reels until things get real between the two. You can predict this story as soon as it begins. It follows the tropes of any teen romance. Pia offers Rs 25K a week to Arjun, an aspiring lawyer to get him to pretend as her boyfriend. She’s a wealthy Delhi girl; he’s from Greater Noida. He thinks love is a distraction, she thinks her world revolves around love. Her family’s patriarchal, his parents are liberal. Despite the differences, the two make a deal. She soft launches him on her socials before the big reveal. What happens when the two catch feelings?

Based on Shivaji Sawant’s Marathi novel, Chhaava (lion’s cub) aims to acknowledge the bravery of Shambhu Raje (Sambhaji Maharaj played by Vicky Kaushal), that most history books haven’t been able to. There’s more to him than being Shivaji’s son who was betrayed by his own men, captured and brutally executed by Aurangzeb (played by Akshaye Khanna). The film sheds light on why he was widely revered by his people and feared by rivals in the nine years that he held the Maratha throne. Still reeling from the loss of his father, Sambhaji and Sersenapati Hambirrao Mohite (essayed by Ashutosh Rana) invaded Mughal stronghold Burhanpur right under their nose. For the nine years that followed, Sambhaji trampled on Mughals’ expansion plans making him a thorn in their side. Sambhaji’s bravery overcame the betrayal he faced by his own people until he was ambushed and captured in Sangameshwar. Even his brutal execution couldn’t kill his warrior spirit and fight for Swaraj.

In denial initially, this traumatic health crisis, numbs the pain of everything else in comparison including a broken marriage and financial downfall. What follows is countless hospital visits and an unpredictable future which tests the relationship Arjun shares with his daughter Reya.

Payal Kapadia’s enchanting ode to sisterhood and the glaring contrasts of Mumbai has a tranquil charm to it. There’s a certain tenderness and ease to the flow in storytelling that makes you see the city in a new light, even if you have been a Mumbaikar all your life. Watching Kapadia’s three protagonists setting themselves free from societal and psychological shackles to embrace their desires, gives you that warm fuzzy feeling.

‘Life happens while you’re busy making other plans’. ‘Here’ is a moving love letter to life and fleeting time. The iconic Forrest Gump team (Hanks, Wright, Zemeckis) reunites after 30 years to give us yet another poignant human story on the evolution and circle of life. While one constantly looks ahead, the story urges you to live in the present, live ‘here’, where every beginning is the end and vice versa.

Keeping with the theme of the franchise, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 also pits an unassuming cheeky protagonist against a spooky haveli with a buried past. The century-old mansion needs to be restored to its former glory and sold, but Manjulika’s terrorising presence in it forbids the owners from doing so. The royal family in dire need of resources, seeks Rooh baba’s intervention. The fraudster takes up the lucrative offer only to find himself tangled in a mess as he discovers two dark forces who claim to be Manjulika.

Twins Saumya and Shailee (Kriti Sanon in a double role, this is not a spoiler) are like chalk and cheese. One gets married to hot-headed Dhruv Sood, (television actor Shaheer Sheikh) the privileged man with a volatile temper and political connect who owns a paragliding business in the hills. All’s well on the surface until an unlikely crime makes police officer VJ (Kajol) question everything about this family.