Tue, April 2 2024

Aattam, the latest Malayalam-language gem that further solidifies the industry’s artistic stronghold on the cinema landscape of the country, offers an inventive spin on the whodunnit genre. We discuss the film’s gripping narrative, ambitious social commentary, and director Anand Ekarshi’s bold voice. We also talk about the many moral quandaries that the movie puts its characters in, and how willingly it invites audiences to gaze inward and participate in the proceedings. We also debate the merits of its final moments, which we compare and contrast with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

Wed, March 27 2024

Colin Farrell-led show is a love letter to film noir but its otherworldly late-game reveal may prove to be divisive.

Modern-day Los Angeles, a troubled private detective, and a missing drug-addled young woman. Those are the basics of Sugar—the new Apple TV+ neo-noir series led by Colin Farrell—which feels wistful for times gone by. That’s evident from what its protagonist drives (a blue retro open-top Corvette coupé), how he looks (well moisturised swept back hair), his passions (an avowed old Hollywood cinephile), and how he dresses (white shirt, black suit, black pants, and black shoes—the full gamut). The orchestral background score, made up of pipes, piano, and the saxophone, further adds to it. And then there are all the overt references. Forget riffing on classic film noirs, Sugar outright invokes them.

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Mon, March 25 2024

Is Fighter another in the long and increasingly problematic line of hyper-nationalistic Indian action movies, or is its biggest problem that it can’t look beyond star Hrithik Roshan? We discuss the many missteps that director Siddharth Anand makes in his follow-up to Pathaan, the unnecessary songs and the momentum-killing asides, but we also talk about how the movie goes out of its way to not paint all of Pakistan as evil terrorists. Along the way, we also talk about the film’s many aerial fight sequences, the final showdown, the nonsensical attempts at comedy, and Anil Kapoor’s parallel mission to break some sort of decibel record.

Wed, March 20 2024

Murder Mubarak lowers the bar even further for Netflix India, and feels like a particularly annoying missed opportunity. We talk about the inept filmmaking, the strange structure, and the over-the-top performances of its ensemble cast. We also wonder how the finished film can look like something that was snatched away from director Homi Adajania and handed over to editors who’ve never met him. And for the second time in two weeks, we find ourselves noting missing scenes from a big-budget movie featuring major Bollywood names.

Fri, March 15 2024

The Gippy Grewal starrer is an entertaining but uneven film that highlights misogynistic attitudes towards women.

Vikas Vashisht’s Punjabi-language feature Jatt Nuu Chudail Takri (2024), starring Gippy Grewal and Sargun Mehta in the lead roles, is an unremarkable horror-comedy with a light-hearted take on a social issue. Written by Amberdeep Singh, who wrote the blockbuster hit Saunkan Saunkne (2022), also starring Mehta, Jatt Nuu Chudail Takri raises some pertinent questions but tries to squeeze in too many things, resulting in a bit of a muddle. A self-willed woman who refuses to tow the line, is known by many names in a patriarchal society. ‘Chudail’ or witch is one of them, which denotes a difficult woman of malicious intent. Amberdeep Singh mobilises this unfortunately common epithet in Jatt Nuu Chudail Takri, in an attempt to examine the attitude of men towards women, in particular, that of husbands towards their wives.

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Mon, March 11 2024

Merry Christmas, director Sriram Raghavan’s follow-up to the critical and commercial hit Andhadhun, is nothing to celebrate. We discuss the film’s lack of discernible aesthetic, the complete absence of any spark between stars Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, and its baffling climax. Along the way, we discuss the decision to reduce an important child character to a plot device, and the increasingly illogical behaviour displayed by both central characters.

Fri, March 8 2024

Even a giant talking dragon—voiced by the always wonderful Shohreh Aghdashloo—can’t save this feminist fantasy survival thriller.

Damsel—the new Netflix movie with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown—is part of a fairly new strain of feminist films that wish to dismantle the stereotypes associated with fantasy films such as these. Its subversive claims—that this is not a story where a white knight rescues a damsel in distress—are made clear from the start. Yet, it has all the other time-honoured elements: an evil queen, a naïve younger sister, semi-unquestioning parents, and a prince under his mother’s thumb. (And oh, there’s also a talking dragon. We’ll get to that.) But alas, this 101-minute entirely self-serious tale—there isn’t a bone of humour in Damsel—has little to say and even less to show. I kept waiting for the film to kick in, to usher me into what it promised and wow me with its action, but that moment never arrived.

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Tue, March 5 2024

Dune: Part Two is being called one of the greatest sequels ever made. It isn’t. We discuss the problems that we’ve had with both Dune films, our issues with their cold tone, the seemingly rushed plot despite a nearly three-hour run-time, and the sheer number of characters to keep track of.

Sat, February 24 2024

All India Rank, the feature directorial debut of Varun Grover, is a refreshing change of pace for Bollywood, but still not as good as it could have been. We discuss all the ways in which the coming-of-age drama avoids making the same mistakes as 12th Fail or Kota Factory, its ability to evoke a particular time and place, and its reliance on tried-and-tested narrative tropes. We also talk about the toxicity in the Indian familial set-up that the movie calls out in its own understated way while making larger statements about aspiration and ambition.

Sun, February 18 2024

Dunki, the third and final Shah Rukh Khan film of 2023, wastes all the goodwill he had built with Pathaan and Jawan. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, Dunki ranks among the worst films we’ve covered on the podcast and is outdated to the point of being offensive. We talk about the film’s most insensitive scenes, Hirani’s disinterest in taking real-life geopolitical issues seriously, and ignoring the tragic love story at the film’s centre. We also talk about the film’s tonal imbalance, tendency to rely on cliches, and inability to make the best use of screen time.

Sat, February 17 2024

Rahul, a calm and composed musician, happens to meet the spunky and spontaneous Keerti by chance when the latter is visiting her grandmother in Pune. Their respective lives take a different path soon.

Often, it is the films made with passion that leave a lasting impression on the minds of the viewers. Nothing larger-than-life, no grand sets, nothing unbelievable – just a simple story told with sincerity and made relatable by its characters. If Amaltash was to be explained in brief, this would suffice. Amaltash is a simple, straightforward story of a gifted musician named Rahul (Rahul Deshpande) whose life has changed after an incident in his past. Rahul has learned the importance of soaking in the small pleasures of life and being composed in the most strenuous of situations. Enter Keerti (Pallavi Paranjape), the NRI from Canada who lands in Pune to meet her grandmother (Pratibha Padhye) and has a chance encounter with Rahul who is at her granny’s house to tune their piano. Taken by Rahul’s musical prowess, Keerti meets him again at Rahul’s friend’s music store. They talk and bond over music and soon strike a friendship. Love blossoms organically. But are they meant to spend their life together?

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Sun, February 11 2024

Bhakshak, starring Bhumi Pednekar, is the latest socially conscious call-to-action from Shah Rukh Khan’s production company, and even though it’s a more grounded film, its sensibilities aren’t too dissimilar from Jawan. We discuss what we liked and disliked about the film’s portrayal of hyperlocal journalism, its depiction of real-life atrocities, and its tendency to shed all nuance and scream at the audience. We also talk about the film’s odd pacing, the often confusing narrative, and overall inelegance despite director Pulkit’s noble intentions.

Fri, February 9 2024

Inspired by a true story, the Bhumi Pednekar-led Netflix film has little interest in the vitality of local journalism and frequently resorts to grandstanding dialogues.

In theory, Bhakshak—the new Netflix movie starring Bhumi Pednekar—knows what a story about a journalist fighting the world needs. You’ve got an uncaring and shackled system, a government keeping mum to save its brethren and getting everyone else to toe the line. There are people trying to intimidate you, either through surveillance, familial pressure, or hurting the ones closest to you. Add to that the obstacles faced by Indian women in the workforce, what with society wanting you always to put the kitchen and kids first. But none of this is done in a convincing fashion—it’s neither thrilling nor grounded. Spotlight, this is not. Instead, it’s much too interested in posturing because it is wrapped up in its own self-importance.

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