Wed, August 14 2024

With Kay Kay Menon, Ranvir Shorey and Rasika Dugal, the JioCinema series has a great cast. Regardless, it’s ineffective and instantly forgettable.

Early into Shekhar Home—the new mystery crime series on JioCinema—a middle-aged army doctor arrives as the new housemate at a guest house run by an elderly woman. As she shows him around the place, she apologises for the mess and the living area’s unkempt state on behalf of the other tenant. Shortly after, when the doctor makes the man’s acquaintance, he learns of his expert deduction skills. Taken aback, he remarks on his excellence. In response, the man with a keen eye for tiny details fires back: “No doctor, it’s elementary.” Yes, Shekhar Home is a Sherlock Holmes show and its beginning is a carbon copy of Sherlock’s start, the hit BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman from a decade-and-a-half ago.

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Mon, August 12 2024

Sun, August 4 2024

Raghav Juyal, Dhairya Karwa and Kritika Kamra try their best in this unrewarding series with a promising core

Gyaarah Gyaarah, out on ZEE5 and adapted from the Korean series Signal, is a time-warping thriller of the dour, soulless kind. Tumbling across timelines, director Umesh Bist always makes sure to hold his audience’s hand. Bland letters appear on screen to indicate the precise date, year, location. Lest we lose our bearings, the pop-culture references are even more plain: Dil for 1990, Kapoor & Sons for 2016. This is a fairly unimaginative way to summon a period, to evoke a mood. It’s unlike the scene in Back to the Future where Doc in the 1950s exclaims to Marty, who’s traveled back from the 80s, “Ronald Reagan! The actor?! Then who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis?”

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Fri, August 9 2024

Fri, August 9 2024

In Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba, Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey return as the murderous couple of hell who were introduced in 2021’s Haseen Dilruba. The sequel boasts an entirely different visual aesthetic and its romantic-thriller tone stands in contrast to the tongue-in-cheek pulpiness of the first film. We discuss what a huge mistake this is, while also trying to wrap our heads around the film’s illogical non-linear plot. We also talk about Pannu and Massey’s one-note performances and the pointless introduction of a couple of new characters, played by Sunny Kaushal and Jimmy Shergill.

Fri, August 9 2024

In many ways, the sequel is better than the original

Director Jayprad Desai’s Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba begins like a pulpy, C-grade Hindi novel: with high drama. On a dark, rainy night in Agra, a woman is running for her life on a deserted road. Her wispy-thin saree sticking to her like clingfilm, she dashes into a police station, screaming. Her husband, she says, is going to kill her. She is Rani (Taapsee Pannu), currently married to Abhimanyu (Sunny Kaushal), a compounder. But at the police station, Rani encounters questions about her bloody past. Three years ago, in the 2021 film, Hasseen Dillruba, Rani was married to Rishu (Vikrant Massey) but had taken a lover, Neel. Things didn’t go as planned and she had struck Neel dead. And then she had helped cover up the murder with her husband’s severed arm.

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Fri, August 9 2024

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck deliver the goods in this silly, well-oiled Apple TV+ movie.

More than midway through The Instigators—the Apple TV+ original movie with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck in the lead—a black trashed-up BMW is chased through the streets of Boston by cop cars from Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Inside the fugitive vehicle, as Petula Clark’s 1964 global hit “Downtown” blares off the speakers, a well-meaning psychiatrist attempts to counsel her dispirited patient while he’s actively evading the police. In the back, a super talkative sot is incessantly cracking jokes, providing unnecessary commentary or interrupting the doctor-patient exchange. But all the driver wants is for someone to change the song. It’s the funniest high-speed car chase I’ve seen in a film in years.

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Mon, August 5 2024

Across eight slow-moving episodes—which had their share of awe-inducing sights, lacklustre character arcs, and heartfelt conversations—season 2 showed wars can be won and lost in more ways than one.

Towards the end of the third episode of the second season of House of the Dragon, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) decided to act on the pacifist advice of her cousin once removed. What followed was some of the most thrilling stuff all season. Despite the massive threat posed to her life and Team Black, Rhaenyra disguised as a septa and sneaked into King’s Landing—the home of all her enemies—to meet with Queen Dowager Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke). As they dug into the murderous things that had happened on their behalf, Rhaenyra discovered Alicent’s big misunderstanding. In his hazy last moments, King Viserys wasn’t talking about his son Aegon but Aegon the Conqueror. What we knew all along was now dawning on her. Regardless, Alicent refused to budge and find a peaceful resolution because the gears of war were already turning.

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Sun, August 4 2024

This film about an imperiled IFS officer in London suffers from convoluted writing and misguided ambitions

What sort of a spy movie is Sudhanshu Saria’s Ulajh? It begins as a Raazi (2018) in pantsuits: patriotic female protagonist, driven by loyalty and legacy, enlists to serve her country on foreign turf. Indo-Pak diplomatic relations, as fraught and fragile as they were in 1971, inform the narrative stakes. Both films hail from Junglee Pictures, and the editor, in each case, is Nitin Baid. If that weren’t enough, the new film even has a song with ‘watan’ in its title — plastered, ineffectually, over the opening credits and thereby fast forgotten.

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Fri, August 2 2024

Sat, August 3 2024

औरों में कहां दम था जो आज के दौर में भागती-दौड़ती, चटकीली-चमकीली फिल्में परोस रहे बॉलीवुड में ऐसी ठहराव ली हुई, सिंपल-सी प्रेम-कहानी बना सके। सो, यह ज़िम्मा उठाया नीरज पांडेय ने। उन्हीं नीरज पांडेय ने जो ‘ए वैडनसडे’, ‘स्पेशल 26’, ‘बेबी’, ‘अय्यारी’ जैसी फिल्में और ‘स्पेशल ऑप्स’ जैसी वेब-सीरिज़ दे चुके हैं। लेकिन हुआ क्या? कड़ाही पनीर बनाने वाले हाथों को खिचड़ी बनाने का शौक चर्राए तो ज़रूरी नहीं कि उनसे स्वादिष्ट खिचड़ी बन ही जाए। कृष्णा पिछले 22-23 साल से जेल में है। बरसों पहले वह और वसु एक-दूसरे से प्यार करते थे। एक हादसा हुआ और कृष्णा को जेल जाना पड़ा। इधर वह जेल से निकलना नहीं चाहता और उधर वसु उस पल का इंतज़ार कर रही है जब वह जेल से निकलेगा। वसु के पति को भी कृष्णा का इंतज़ार है। वह उस हादसे की रात का सच जानना चाहता है। कृष्णा आता है, वसु से मिलता है, उसके पति से भी मिलता है और उसी रात उन दोनों से दूर भी चला जाता है। कहानी बुरी नहीं है। लेकिन कागज़ पर लिखी अच्छी कहानी भी पर्दे पर तभी अच्छी लगती है जब उसे दमदार तरीके से फैलाया और फिल्माया गया हो। यह फिल्म ‘औरों में कहां दम था’ इसी हादसे का शिकार हुई है। दो लाइनों में सोची गई कहानी को दो पन्नों में फैलाते-फैलाते ही नीरज पांडेय ने न जाने कितने समझौते कर लिए होंगे। फिर यह फिल्म तो सवा दो घंटे से भी ऊपर है जिसे बनाते हुए निर्देशक नीरज पांडेय ने जो समझौते किए, वे भी इसे देखते हुए साफ महसूस होते हैं।

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Fri, August 2 2024

Fri, August 2 2024

Director Surya Manoj Vangala's Telugu web series 'Brinda', starring Trisha, Ravindra Vijay and Indrajith Sukumaran, tackles people's blind faith and superstitious. The show is streaming on SonyLIV.

‘South Queen’ Trisha Krishnan forayed into OTT with the Telugu web series, ‘Brinda’, directed by Surya Manoj Vangala. While the web series started premiering on SonyLIV on August 2, there have been low-key promotions for whatever reason. At a time when there are many web series on multiple platforms, ‘Brinda’ stands apart. This is truly one of the web shows that deserves more promotion. Brinda (Trisha Krishnan) is a newly appointed sub-inspector, who is moody and hardly gets treated as equals at the police station. She goes to work, struggles to sleep and is quite smart. When her superiors, including Sarathi (Ravindra Vijay), want to close a murder case as suicide, she smartly points out that it’s a murder. This smart work lands her in trouble as her boss always tries to put her in place because she’s a woman. But Brinda is someone who will not take it with a pinch of salt. She teaches him a lesson.

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Mon, July 29 2024

IPL 2024 is over, but here’s a chance for you to watch how the Australian cricket team went about tackling the WTC final against India and The Ashes against England

Around halfway of the second episode of the latest season of The Test, drama erupts. English batter Jonny Bairstow ducks a bouncer, the ball goes to the keeper and the batter walks out of the crease. Pretty much a normal thing that happens during a Test match, you’d think. But there’s tense music in the background, almost like you know something is going to happen.

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Fri, July 26 2024

Dhanush donned the hat of director, actor and writer for his 50th film. The revenge thriller is riveting, but not without flaws.

‘Raayan’ is a special milestone in Dhanush’s career. It marks his 50th film as an actor and his second film as a director (after ‘Pa Paandi’). For his 50th film, he donned the hat of a director, actor and writer. Has he exceeded the second time as a filmmaker with ‘Raayan’? Let’s find out! Kathavarayan aka Raayan is forced to take care of his two brothers and toddler sister after their parents vanish for two days. This marks the beginning of Raayan’s struggle. His motto is to survive in this cruel world. He fears no one, not even death. Raayan, along with his siblings, escape grave danger from their village and land in North Madras, where they find a home.

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Fri, July 26 2024

The bond of love unfolds through the Gharat family’s Ganeshotsav celebrations in Konkan as they are joined by a surprise visitor this time.

Where there’s a family there are bound to be differences of opinion. Some get resolved right away, others take time. But the bond of a family reigns supreme. If Gharat Ganpati was to be explained in brief, this would largely be what the film is about. However, this film is much more than a family drama. It’s like a chocolate croissant – layered, buttery, salty, with just the perfect hit of sweet chocolate. The story revolves around the Gharat family and their Ganeshotsav celebrations. The seven-day celebrations bring all family members together at their ancestral house in Konkan. It’s a full house with Mai and Appa (Sushama Deshpande and Dr Sharad Bhutadia), the matriarch and patriarch of the family, their two sons Bhau and Sharad (Sanjay Mone and Ajinkkya Deo), daughter Kusum (Shubhangi Gokhale), daughter-in-laws Ahilya and Sunanda (Ashvini Bhave and Shubhangi Latkar), Ahilya and Sharad’s son and daughter Ketan and Neha (Bhushan Pradhan and Rajasi Bhave) Sunanda and Bhau’s son and daughter Jeetu and Deepali (Ashish Pathode and Pari Telang), Deepali’s husband Ashok (Sameer Khandekar) and Kusum’s son Ninaad (Rupesh Bane). And joining this big family for the Ganeshotsav is a surprise visitor, Ketan’s girlfriend Kriti (Nikita Dutta). Now the family doesn’t know that Kriti is Ketan’s girlfriend but suspect it. Does the couple’s plan succeed? What about Ketan’s mother – will she accept this relation? And what about the family’s internal differences? Do they come forth and get resolved? Each question presents in due time through the film’s plot.

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Wed, July 24 2024

Director Shankar's sequel to the 1996 hit film is an uninteresting commentary on worldly issues that are addressed in countless other films. Underneath the mess lies a promising idea, which is barely explored.

28 years ago, director Shankar and Kamal Haasan gifted ‘Indian’ to the Tamil audience, who still celebrate it like it’s their own. Almost three decades later, the film (read: corruption) still remains relevant. But, Kamal Haasan and Shankar wanted to bring back Indian thatha (grandfather) aka Senapathy to brush up on all the corrupt activities that we’ve seen so far in umpteen movies, not just in Tamil cinema but across other languages. Chitra Aravindan (Siddharth) and his three friends run a YouTube channel called ‘Barking Dogs,’ which focuses on parodies and political satire. They end their calls with ‘Let’s bark!’ (If you think this is absurd, hold your horses). After realising that their videos, despite receiving lakhs of views, had little impact on the audience, the team starts a campaign called ‘Come Back Indian.’ According to them, only Indian Thatha, aka Senapathy, could put an end to corruption.

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Sat, July 13 2024

आदरणीय हिन्दुस्तानी जी, 1996 की मई में जब आप पहली बार सिनेमा के पर्दे पर तमिल में ‘इंडियन’ और हिन्दी में ‘हिन्दुस्तानी’ बन कर आए थे तो हम दर्शकों ने आपका तहेदिल से स्वागत किया था। उस फिल्म में आप नेता जी की सेना में सिपाही थे लेकिन जब आपने आज़ाद भारत में भ्रष्टाचार का बोलबाला देखा तो आप खुद भ्रष्टाचारियों को सज़ा देने में जुट गए। आपके तरीके गैरकानूनी थे लेकिन हम लोग आपके पक्ष में थे क्योंकि आप वह काम कर रहे थे जो दरअसल सरकार को करना चाहिए था। ‘अपरिचित’ तब तक आई नहीं थी और ‘प्रहार’ के मेजर चव्हाण हमें बता गए थे कि सिपाही का काम है लड़ना, लड़ाई के मैदान भले ही बदल जाएं। उस फिल्म के अंत में अपने भ्रष्ट बेटे को मार कर आप हिन्दुस्तान से गायब होकर सिंगापुर चले गए थे। आखिरी सीन में आप हमें उम्मीद दे गए थे कि आप जल्द लौटेंगे और एक बार फिर से भ्रष्टाचारियों का विनाश करेंगे। लेकिन आपने लौटने में 28 बरस लगा दिए, क्यों…?

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