Sukanya Verma

Smoke-filled, dimly-lit joints strewn with cards, cash and the looming threat of raids or shutdown above their heads, the shady ‘jua addas’ enjoyed a frequent appearance in several Hindi movies of the 1970s and 1980s. Despite my familiarity with the term, thanks to movies like Arjun and Dharmatma, I had no idea just how exactly the matka format of gambling works until Vijay Varma’s Brij Bhatti got down to explaining its nitty-gritties in and as Matka King. Directed by Nagraj Popatrao Manjule, the eight-part series based on Ashish Aryan’s concept draws titular as well as character inspiration from the trailblazer of the gambling world, Ratan Khatri.

A brown Bond may not be on the British bingo card… Until Riz Ahmed challenges the status quo as a struggling British-Pakistani actor auditioning for 007, following Daniel Craig’s departure in Bait’s six episodes of marvelously meta, humorous and unabashedly topical commentary. There are no shortage of actors vying for the role of the ‘white neo-colonial MI6 agent’, including Idris Elba and Regé-Jean Page.

We’ve seen Shah Rukh Khan’s pre-teen daughter gatecrash a wedding to get her dad remarried in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Akshaye Khanna endeavour to reunite his widowed father to his childhood sweetheart in Mere Baap Pehle Aap and Ayushmann Khurana embrace the idea of his mom’s need for companionship in Doctor G. Maa Ka Sum draws out on similar single-parent child psychology in the story of a teen mathematics genius using his skills to create a perfect match for his lonesome mom. Except there’s a dark side to his purpose. He doesn’t just wish to see his mother happy with somebody but also make that choice for her.

An unmistakable air of caution encumbers Anubhuti Kashyap’s Accused, which unravels when a woman and her wife are thrown in a spot. Konkona Sensharma plays Dr Geetika Sen, a reputed UK-based gynaecologist on the brink of promotion preparing to move into a bigger home and adopt a baby with her doting partner Meera (Pratibha Rannta), a paediatrician still trying to find her bearings. Bliss is brief after Geetika is suspected of sexual misconduct at work.

After holding back his heroic sentiments to a staggeringly subdued degree by his standards in The Diplomat, John Abraham flexes his patriotic chops in Tehran. This Arun Gopalan-directed geopolitical thriller, penned by Bindni Karia, Ritesh Shah and Ashish Prakash Verma plots a clash between personal revenge and political strategies using a true event – the 2012 Israel embassy car blast in New Delhi, Thailand and Georgia – as a trigger. Having turned the daredevil, deadpan government agent into his calling card, John comfortably takes on the role of an Indian special cells officer Rajeev Kumar determined to nab the perpetrators when an attack, prompted by Israel-Iran’s hostilities, results in the death of a street kid his daughter’s age on his own soil. As infuriating as this ‘collateral damage’ is, Tehran is never able to convincingly portray it as reason enough for his insubordination after his bosses withdraw their orders to nail the Iranian hand and pro-Palestine groups behind it.

To interest the audience in an occult thriller, the ensuing mumbo jumbo and its elaborate designs must suck its beholders into its specious air of intrigue and eerie. But the pillar-to-post energy of Mandala Murders translates to eight nonsensical episodes of crackpot mythology and jumbled plotting. Sitting through this uphill task, created by Gopi Puthran of Mardaani movies fame for YRF and inspired by Mahendra Jakhar’s novel The Butcher of Benares feels all the more daunting against its commitment to gloom, which leaves no room for thrill or wonder. A dour-faced series where supernatural, science and stern faced cops collide, Mandala Murders falls in the same space as previous occult-backdrop procedurals like Asur and Dahan. Except there’s little to hold on to in its puzzle-like pursuit of a body slicing serial killer, linked to an ancient, all-women religious cult calling themselves the Ayasti, wherein a pair of cops fight their inner demons in trying to get to the root of the ritualistic killings.

Strangers meeting on a train and falling in love has led to epic romances from Pakeezah to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Never though the experience has felt as bogus and bizarre as Saba and Jahaan’s blind encounter in Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan. Directed by Santosh Singh for a script ‘created’ by Mansi Bagla, the farfetched premise inspired by Ruskin Bond’s short story The Eyes Have It, revolves around Saba (Shanaya Kapoor), a blindfolded theatre actress eyeing Bollywood stardom and Jahaan (Vikrant Massey), a sightless songwriter traveling from Delhi to Dehradun on a train with a VFX view. Whatever poetic allusions the makers want to build on what it means to see or feel through the eyes of one’s soul are lost in the sheer senselessness of the plot.

Ashok Kumar…hot? His tone smacks of surprise but there’s a glint of hope in it. Perhaps the sweet, sober fella too stands a chance with a lady who finds Dadamoni hot. His confidence grows as they test if their cute girl-meets-nerdy boy can be turned into a recipe for a rom-com whilst giving into the magic of the movies inside a cozy Kolkata theatre playing Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi. Director Vivek Soni’s charmingly crafted Aap Jaisa Koi wears its old-fashioned heart on its sleeve but is also quick to dismiss outdated relationship ideals thriving in the shadow of patriarchy. Even though Aap Jaisa Koi begins with a song from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (and not the Qurbani banger of the same name), it draws inspiration from Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani for its social commentary wrapped in a romcom.