JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted ...
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BETAAL (2020) review

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BETAAL (2020) 

Directed by: Patrick Graham and Nikhil Mahajan 

Cast: Vineet Kumar, Ahana Kumra, Jitendra Joshi, Jatin Goswami, Suchitra Pillai, Siddharth Menon, Manjiri, Ankur Vikal, Pawan Singh, Akhilesh Unnithan, Ratan Nag, Baby Syna, Savita Bajaj, Meenal Kapoor and Richard Dillane. 

Picture this- one fine day, or preferably at night you discover that your immediate boss has turned into a bloodthirsty zombie, how would you react? The lead actor faces this uncomfortably dangerous situation in this horror webseries. 

A special squad is assigned inorder to evacuate a village, unknowingly they end up reactivating a battalion of British zombies who ruled that location centuries ago. Thereafter begins a blood soaked violent battle between the living and the dead, with survival of the fittest. 

The director is known for his earlier horror attempt Ghoul(2018) which didn’t quite cut the ice with viewers, with Betaal he tries mixing age old Indian myth with a contemporary outlook, very conveniently the lead actor is named ‘Vikram’ and the antagonist ‘Betaal’, if you can recall the basic essence of Vikram-betaal series you’ll find it easier to comprehend the onscreen complexities herein. Though the concept is good, and production values brilliant the most used and abused Bollywood horror formulae are prevalent here as well, like a vintage curse, a virgin’s sacrifice for evil power, haunted mansion, typically bland black magic tantras and mantras. The director duo breaks one stereotype, unlike Hollywood zombies who walk in slow-motion here the zombies can run, climb, talk, crawl on walls and ceilings etc, some deviation that is. 

Vineet Kumar performs well, and gets the best role in this cast, also gets able support from three women who share generous screen time with him, the zombie (Suchitra Pillai), his subordinate officer(Ahana Kumra) and a tribal girl(Manjiri- bravura in her act). Joshi and Menon also get performance driven scenes and do well. 

So it’s got a dark and mysterious setting that sets the tone for the required intrigue and fear to be associated with this genre, in fact the entire setting keeps reminding you of the brilliant movie Tumbaad (2018).  Cinematography by Tanay Satam and Shrinivas Achary needs special mention-excellent. You only wonder why the producer didn’t play one of the zombies, she would’ve looked so convincing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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