Suhani Singh

“Hisaab toh Punjab ka hai hi complicated (Punjab has a complex history),” says Arjun Rampal’s CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) officer and the film’s narrator in Honey Trehan’s profoundly relevant Satluj. The director is in no mood to shy away from the state’s turbulent past or let the wrongdoers off the hook in this drama that has seen its share of trouble with the censors. Much like its real-life protagonist Jaswant Singh Khalra (played by Diljit Dosanjh), a human rights activist, Trehan has been resolute in his mission, refusing to flinch to the powers that be—in this case the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). His persistence paid off as Satluj, formerly titled ‘Punjab ’95’, finally released on ZEE5 in the iteration its creator wanted—though only briefly.

Credibility is an important attribute when telling any tale, more so if it is around India’s national security. Yash Raj’s spy universe for long operated with the ability to make viewers suspend their belief and instead soak in the foreign locales, the choreographed stunt set-pieces, the songs and the swagger on display. That is until Dhurandhar entered the spy landscape. Suddenly, reality became a mainstay, the threat all too actual, to make the film an immersive experience. Alpha, YRF’s first women-centred narrative in the testosterone-heavy spy universe, arrives in that environment, wherein it will be measured not against Pathaan, Tiger, War et al but against the world Aditya Dhar created in Dhurandhar.

Be practical (read: boring and safe) or free-spirited (read: fun and unpredictable)? That’s the life-defining choice Kunal (Shahid Kapoor) has to make by the end of two hours and 30 minutes of Homi Adajania’s Cocktail 2. It sees the audience go from drab Delhi to sunny, sandy and scenic Sicily and back to drab Delhi, witness an excess of sartorial flourishes from costume designer Anaita Shroff Adajania and watch the trio—Ally (Kriti Sanon), Diya (Rashmika Mandanna) and Kunal—laugh their way through life to such extravagance that your own cheeks hurt at their expense.

Varun Dhawan has made a decent living playing the man who refuses to grow up. Once again, his father David Dhawan, in what’s billed as his last directorial venture, gives the son a character that requires Varun to be in ‘Energiser Bunny’ mode throughout. Pause and thairaav are negligible words in the Dhawan universe of comedies that has delighted at least two generations of viewers. But the impact of those tried-and-tested funny games is fading. That’s best evident in Hai Jawaani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’s hero, who takes the cake in his ability to believe he’s beyond wrongdoing and in the sympathy he feels entitled to.

“Daayan”. “Chudail”. “Vaishya”. “Chhichhori”. “Massage queen”. “Husband killer”. “Rekha ka dekha”. In Maa Behen, the list of slanders that Rekha (Madhur Dixit Nene) is subjected to is endless. There are multiple urban legends of her exploits in the locality—true or not is up for debate—but director Suresh Triveni and writer Pooja Tolani make one thing clear from the onset: Rekha is a single parent who has raised two daughters, Jaya (Triptii Dimri) and Sushma (Dharna Durga), on her own. That the daughters too believe some of these rumours around their mother is a source of laughs, not tension, in the film. Perhaps there’s no more complex relationship than mother-daughter. Surprisingly, it’s an unexplored dynamic in mainstream Hindi cinema, and Maa Behen dives into it with a distinct, quirky approach. There’s distrust, finger-pointing, screaming contests and constant reprimanding from both sides.

All Bishnu wants is to show she can do it all. Lift a gas cylinder. Ensure the family in the orange orchard pays up. Get her elder sister to finish her graduation. Get into a relationship. And not care ‘ki log kya kahenge’. But patriarchy lurks like a dark shadow in the village to which she has returned after a stint in New Delhi. And women have made peace with their roles and gender dynamics. So when Bishnu behaves like the man of the house, there are clashes with her mother and sister. For Bishnu’s mom, asserting independence is a way of disbanding from the community; for Bishnu, it is just the natural way to be. For her pregnant sister, there are regrets; for Bishnu, it’s never too late to do what you want. “I’ll see what kind of a husband a judgemental person likes you gets,” remarks her sister while her mother has had it with her temper and irritable behaviour.

Dorky, geeky men too can get lucky in love. That’s the basic premise of Ek Din, featuring Junaid Khan as the said dork-geek, with Sai Pallavi playing the pretty woman way out of his league. During the course of two hours, the film pushes the idea that even if IT guy Dinesh (Khan) has a colourless personality and, therefore, is forgettable and invisible to most people, he still is good boyfriend material because he’s cloyingly sincere and shy. Only that Khan, while befitting the part in the physical sense, struggles to pull off the task of making audiences root for Dinesh in his quest for love.

Strange things are unfolding in writer-director Ritwik Pareek’s debut feature from the get-go. There’s a drunk man riding his motorbike on a highway in darkness and barely holding it together. He meets his death in the ghastliest manner in a hit-and-run accident while his Luna remains unscathed. A peculiar billboard featuring a magician, image of a body split into half, and two sultry women is the only witness. And so begins Pareek’s trippy, wild adventure that’s invigorating and amusing while partially losing direction.