Stutee Ghosh

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a star’s person eventually subsumes every character that they play on screen. With Sunny Deol, it’s never about whether he is good or bad in a film. It’s about Sunny Deol playing Sunny Deol in a Sunny Deol film! The necessary accoutrements are all in place. The slow-motion entry, the clenche d f ist , the admonishing finger, the fiery stare, the high-octane roar and of course, the “dhai kilo ka haath”. Together, they provide the intended comfort of familiarity. As for Akshaye Khanna, the Dhurandhar hangover continues to loom large. The hair is still there, though not quite as glorious as before, but recognisably similar. The tilted neck, the inverted smile and the studied mannerisms are even more pronounced. Bookended by these two larger-than-life performances is a story struggling to breathe and say something of its own. A young girl is brutally assaulted under mysterious circumstances. As she battles for her life in the hospital, the action shifts to the courtroom. Enter Arjun Mehra (Deol), a lawyer whose reputation precedes him.

Bhatt and Deol are undeniably talented actors, but here they find themselves entirely miscast. The character of Sita demands a raw, imposing physicality that cannot simply be compensated for by Alia’s natural charisma. Sita is written as an engineered attack machine bred strictly for combat, a “lab rat” raised entirely devoid of family, affection, or any semblance of normalcy. It is a compelling premise that the film fails to meaningfully develop. For a character who has never experienced filial bonds, friendships, or basic social interaction outside of her doctor and handler, her resulting persona makes little sense.

Not all movies ought to be dignified with a review. Yet here we are…. reviewing Welcome to the Jungle. Everyone is in this film. And I do mean everyone. There isn’t a face you won’t recognize. From Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Disha Patani and Jacqueline Fernandez to Paresh Rawal, Kiran Kumar, Farida Jalal, Zakir Hussain, Krushna Abhishek and Kiku Sharda it’s a literal stampede of familiar faces and proven talent. What should have been a comic goldmine becomes a traffic jam of characters, each written with roughly the same attention to detail usually reserved for out-of-focus background dancers. You could swap one actor with another and absolutely nothing would change.

Homi Adjania’s Cocktail 2 is the spiritual sequel to his own 2012 film Cocktail starring Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty — a love triangle referencing Archie comics and doffing its hat to the Betty and Veronica prototype. The latest offering written by Luv Ranjan and Tarun Jain once again gives us a menage à trois where two women Diya and Ally ( Rashmika Mandana and Kriti Sanon) fight over the affection and affectation of one man Kunal( Shahid Kapoor). And once again the exotic locations and risqué outfits cannot hide a safe, domesticated, traditional core lurking underneath all that gloss.

Ritwik Pareek’s wicked satire Dug Dug premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this year as part of the Discovery section. An audacious new voice, his debut feature casts a critical look at how superstition and blind faith provide a fertile breeding ground for religious cults and idolatry to grow unchecked. Set in Rajasthan, it’s well into 10 minutes that we trail an unnamed man as he rides his motorcycle on a busy highway, with trucks and cars speeding past him. The ominous background score creates anticipation and there is a strong hint that something is about to happen. And it does. A terrible freak accident takes place, where the man lies dead in a pool of blood.