Rohan Naahar

Can a society that is terrified of confronting the evil at its core ever produce a single subversive piece of art? Certainly, Indian cinema is still taking baby steps when it comes to addressing our immorality; here, a movie about caste discrimination is a movie about caste discrimination, a movie about corporate greed is a movie about corporate greed, a movie about political corruption is a movie about political corruption. But it will be a while before our cinema is empowered to subvert. It will be a while before someone makes a gothic horror about crimes against women, or a creature feature about the Kashmir issue. It will be a while before we get a homegrown version of Barbarian director Zach Cregger’s brilliant new film, Weapons.

The most distressing observation that Materialists makes about modern romance is that not much has changed since Elizabeth Bennet went on a quest to find a ‘single man in possession of a good fortune’ back in the 1800s. The business of marriage is still just that: a business, a financially motivated arrangement that many pretend is something purer. They do this to delude themselves into thinking that they aren’t as superficial as the sort of people they enjoy passing judgement at. In writer-director Celine Song’s highly anticipated second film, Dakota Johnson plays a rom-com version of Seema Taparia, a matchmaker who weighs her client’s ‘criteria’ and connects them with potential life partners with the dispassion of someone tying two shoelaces together.

While watching any film, it is important to understand who the target audience is, especially Hindi movies, which are often slotted into rigid categories. It’s theoretically possible for a 65-year-old ‘tirth yatri’ from Rithala to enjoy the fourth Twilight movie on a bus to Amarnath, but, you’d agree that they probably wouldn’t care much for shiny vampires and their politics. The Twilight movies are aimed at teenage girls, just as Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par is targeted at the sort of folks for whom kindness doesn’t come naturally. Khan plays their surrogate in the film, directed by RS Prasanna and based on the Spanish-language hit Campeones. It’s the star’s second remake in a row, after the poorly received Laal Singh Chaddha from a couple of years ago.

Something that Quentin Tarantino said recently rings true for director Shazia Iqbal’s Dhadak 2. In an interview, he explained why he admires the controversial blockbuster film Joker, despite the divisive reactions that it opened to. Tarantino said that the movie pulled off ‘subversion on a massive level’, when it got audiences across the globe to root for a madman to shoot a celebrity in the face on live TV. These were all civilised people, Tarantino said. And yet, for around 10 minutes, they were hungry for blood. It’s an unusual comparison to make, but Dhadak 2 has more in common with a billion-dollar-grossing Hollywood movie than you’d imagine. In an alternate universe, Siddhant Chaturvedi’s character in the film, a Dalit man named Neelesh, could have very easily turned into a vengeful anarchist.

What begins like an In the Heights-style story about upward mobility and female ambition turns into what can only be described as a Mohit Suri movie. Saiyaara won’t leave you alone no matter how hard you try. The sappy tone of Suri’s films, borrowed from the cinema of more countries than the average Indian will ever visit in their lifetime, has swung all the way back around and influenced the likes of My Oxford Year. It’s perhaps the most algorithmic film that Netflix has released in recent memory. Starring two of the streamer’s newest alums — Sofia Carson from The Life List and Corey Mylchreest from Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story — the film makes you wonder if it was produced only because the filmmakers gained no-holds-barred access to the University of Oxford.

Despite being a six-time Oscar nominee, Amy Adams’ career in the last decade or so resembles that of someone who has lost the ability to say no. Her latest film is Nightbitch, a dark comedy about the horrors of motherhood, in which she plays a nameless woman who finds herself transforming into a dog. Literally. The movie is directed by Marielle Heller, whose last feature was A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood. Nightbitch is, in many ways, the cynical sister to that stubbornly saccharine film. It’s also a fantastical reality check for anybody contemplating parenthood. In addition to repelling audiences with its weirdness, however, Nightbitch could possibly cause Suniel Shetty to reconsider his views on gender roles.

It takes great writing discipline to make a show like Chief of War. Nearly everybody who watches it on Apple will be entering a world that they’re entirely unfamiliar with. And yet, they must surrender to its intimate yet epic narrative. Set in the late 18th century, the nine-episode drama tells the story of the unification of the Hawaiian islands, from the perspective of the Polynesian community. Riskier is the creative decision to set it almost exclusively in the native language. Perhaps the folks behind it — Chief of War is co-created by Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett — were empowered by the success of similar grand-scale productions such as FX’s Japanese-language drama Shōgun and Apple’s own Korean-language show Pachinko.

In Sarzameen, a stern military man allows his only son to be murdered by terrorists in Kashmir because… nation comes first or something. You often hear about parents who proudly declare that they are willing to sacrifice their children for the country, and perhaps Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Vijay Menon is cut from the same cloth as those folks. The only difference is that his son isn’t a soldier on the front-lines, but a child for whom he feels no love. Played by Ibrahim Ali Khan, the child’s name is Harman, and the only reason his father hates him is that he isn’t like the other boys; he’s timid, he can’t play sports, and he speaks with a stutter.