Shomini Sen

At a time when ‘Pan-India’ movies with larger-than-life action heroes in the lead are ruling the box office, debutant director Karan Tejpal’s film Stolen seems like an unusual thriller. It has two brothers helping a woman they have just met, find her missing baby, amid the sand dunes and by lanes of Rajasthan, as locals, cops, and thugs chase them and try to blame them for a crime they have not committed. The film, all of 90 minutes, is one of the slickest and edgy thrillers that Indian cinema has produced in recent years. There is not a single dull moment in this film, and an excellent screenplay backed by great performances by the three leads- makes Stolen a must-watch.

Bhool Chuk Maaf, featuring Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi, comes at a time when Bollywood has almost forgotten to make romantic comedies. In a world infested with spy-verses and Pan-India south actioners, Bhool Chuk Maaf reminds you of the years of Ayushmann-Rajkummar supremacy when these two actors featured in feel-good slice-of-life romantic comedies, delivering pertinent societal messages along the way. That era, somewhere between 2014 and 2018, is sorely missed now. Rajkummar Rao returns to the genre with Bhool Chuk Maaf, which has been in the news for its multiple shifts in release dates in the past month.

It has been nearly 3 decades since Tom Cruise suspended himself from the ceiling inside a CIA vault and stole classified data of the US government from a computer. That set the stage for death-defying stunts in subsequent films in the franchise. As Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and hangs from a plane, fighting his opponent and nemesis Gabriel while defying gravity, one wonders if the tried and tested template of the MI series is finally wearing off. The 8th and presumably the final in the series, Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning, picks up from where Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One ended. AI and its threat to world peace loom large and Ethan Hunt is beckoned by the US President to come and save the world. Entity - the villainous Artificial Intelligence, threatens to encrypt the data system of Nuclear-empowered countries across the world and detonate bombs across the world, which can start World War III and erase mankind. It is up to Ethan to find a solution and save the world in a matter of four days.

Netflix’s new web series The Royals- featuring Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter- holds a lot of potential. In a crime thriller-infested OTT space, light-hearted romantic comedies are a win-win, particularly at a time when there is so much despair outside the screen otherwise. One would ideally want to sit back, grab a bucket of popcorn or a tub of ice cream, and binge-watch the slow-burning romance between Ishaan and Bhumi on the show. The Royals, after all, is a story of a reluctant prince and a go-getter self-made woman- they look good, they have smoldering chemistry, and the locations are fabulous- all serving as a perfect ingredient for a feel-good romance drama. Yet creator Rangita Pritish Nandy’s The Royals falters too much, making the premise of the whole show feel too superfluous and lame to be taken seriously.

I have to admit I’ve had the Marvel Superhero fatigue for a while now and have even avoided watching some of the studio’s recent offerings. There are too many now, and everything seems to be having an Avengers hangover. Just when I was about to write off Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studio has sprung a surprise with Thunderbolts- a film that is aware of the weight of fatigue that it carries but turns the Avengers sub plot on its head and delivers a refreshing take on the super hero world post the exit of the Marvel stalwarts. The film, directed by Jack Shreier and featuring Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh and others, also tackles mental health in the most effective way possible in a story of reluctant, has-been superheroes.

The timing is unintentionally perfect. Emraan Hashmi starrer military biopic Ground Zero releases just days after the horrific Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir. While the film is set in the early 2000s and talks of a BSF commandant, Narendra Nath Dhar Dubey, the film is set in Kashmir – a state that is being discussed widely at present. The situation from the early 2000s to the present day may vary, but the enemy – terrorism remains the same. But despite its relevance to the nation’s current mood, Ground Zero is a typical military biopic that Bollywood has churned out in dozens since time immemorial. Does the film leave a defining impact? Let’s find out.

A day before Kesari Chapter 2 was released in theatres, the film’s leading hero, Akshay Kumar, who plays Sir C Sankaran Nair in the film, urged the media at the film’s premiere to not miss the film’s beginning. While Kumar has a point since the first scene depicts the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in great detail- which serves as the backdrop of this courtroom drama, it still is a difficult scene to watch. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre has been represented in books, films, and poems for years now. The tragedy shook the Indian conscience back then and till date continues to be one of the biggest blunders that the British committed while they ruled over our country. Director Karan Singh Tyagi’s film Kesari Part 2 highlights the incidents that followed the massacre and how a certain anglicized advocate who had received Knighthood for his pro-British work changed sides and spoke up against the brutality.

There are good films, not-so-good films and then there are Salman Khan films. Unless one is an ardent fan of the actor, one has to tread with caution when one is watching a Salman Khan film. You know you must ignore logic, practicality and even technical finesse while watching Salman’s films. His latest Eid release, Sikandar, has Salman Khan once again in a larger-than-life role, flexing muscles at regular intervals and helping those in need at other times. But is the AR Murugadoss film worth a watch? Let’s find out. In a world of evil politicians and corrupt officials, Sikandar aka Sanjay Rajkot is a man of principles and a do-gooder. He may not follow the rules, has cases piled up against him, but he is revered as the King of Rajkot, and his people (praja) are ready to fight for him in order to protect him. A mid-air scuffle with Prateik Babbar- who plays the son of a Mumbai politician- leads to the cops and the politician himself go after him. In Rajkot, the authorities are not able to touch him. He has an army to protect him. However, one fateful night, his wife, Sai Shree (Rashmika Mandanna), gets killed. Mourning her death, Sikandar then goes to Mumbai to meet the recipients of his dead wife’s organs, but with goons, politicians and police after him- will he be able to meet the recipients and help them forms the rest of the story.