Rohit Vats

Thug Life, also because of its such an English title, is the most unusual, borderline bizarre, film from master director Mani Ratnam’s repertoire. Add Kamal Haasan’s unique understanding of the milieu, where he oscillates between Vellu and Grandmaster Shifuji, and you have a strange film in front of you that would remind you of cinematic brilliance like The Godfather, Kill Bill and Gangs of Wasseypur. For such an artistic piece of work, it’s not easy for anyone to take a stand on whether they liked it for its distinctiveness or disliked it for the same reason! However, in between the cinema hall and my writing desk, I have decided to like it. So, from here onwards, I will be trying my best to drive home my point, even at the cost of sounding a little biased at times. It’s Mani Ratnam after all!

Netflix’s new steamy series tries very hard to play on the sexual undercurrent between its two leads—Ishan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar—but the pressure to look vibe-worthy all the time hampers its chances. However, it’s breezy and enjoyable for the most of it, and gives viewers a nice binge time. A fierce new-age CEO Sophia Shekhar (Bhumi) and a modern-day prince Aviraaj (Ishaan) meet by chance and their frenemy phase begins. They need each other for financial reasons but their functioning styles demand a lot of tweaking. The physical attraction between them is also strong and that only complicates the proceedings. The Royals delivers what you can easily anticipate—a fading palace, hard to maintain lifestyle and the immediate need of money, and then some more money. Sprinkle this with bare body princes and tall horses with a lot of kissing, and you would get more or less the entire run time of The Royals.

Anurag Kashyap made a valid point when he said Netflix India lacks imagination and courage to go beyond the obvious. Its new show Khakee The Bengal Chapter is no different as it harps on cliches and fails to add depth to a story done to death. Just changing the language from Mumbaiya Hindi to Bengali-laden Hindi couldn’t lift either the script or the sheen. In the early ‘90s, Kolkata was infested with crooks and their patron politicians. Bagha (Saswata Chatterjee) has risen above the baseline and controls the crime syndicate under Barun Roy’s (Prosenjit Chatterjee) thumb. The state is reeling under pressure from all sides and as a result, it decides to crack down on the most wanted ones. IPS Arjun Maitra (Jeet) has been tasked to manage the situation with guns and gore. Chitrangada Singh plays rival politician Nibedita Basak.

Every now and then, we keep hearing Indian-origin gangsters shooting down each other on the Canadian soil. Sometimes it hits headlines and create panic and some awareness, and at other times it gives misguided dreams a channel and choice to pick up weapons. Kanneda, a colloquial term among ‘desis’ for Canada, the dream land for a prosperous life for a section, is quite obvious in its approach. It glorifies a life of guns and gore in the garb of being a voice against racial discrimination. In short, it wants to be the ‘desi gangsta’ series, on the lines of what we have been watching in Hollywood. Something like how 2Pac, The Notorious BIG, Snoop Dogg etc have been presented in various films and shows. Nirmal Chahal (Parmish Verma) has a troubled past and a talent for rapping in the early ‘90s. He wants to make a career in music but crosses paths with Canadian drug-dealer Sarabjit Singh Randhawa (Arunoday Singh) and politician Bajwa (Ranvir Shorey). As expected, he forgets the dreams he was supposed to go after and becomes a victim of his situations. Here onwards, it’s Vaastav reloaded sans depth and detailed characterisation. At the end of eight episodes of nearly 35-minutes each, you’re left wanting for something substantial.