Renuka Vyavahare

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.

Set in the late 90’s, the pre-Instagram era, when ‘get ready with me’ reels were non-existent, privacy had a different meaning. Without having the platform to post their private life anywhere, couples voluntarily recording their intimate moments was still a rare phenomenon. So on paper, the film’s script sounds promising. What happens when this private video belonging to a middle-class couple from Rishikesh goes missing? What are the repercussions and can they retrieve it?