JAWAAN (2023) : review

-
Image
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 ...
Post a Comment

Code M- review

-
CODE M (2020) 

Directed by: Akshay Choubey 

Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Jennifer Winget, Aalekh Kapoor, Tanuj Virwani, Seema Biswas, Keshav Sadhna & others. 

ALT Balaji and zee5 offer a thriller series (8 episodes) with an army background. 

Monica (Winget) an army lawyer is summoned to investigate a certified open and shut encounter case which involved the deaths of one army officer and two militants, while two army majors survived the same. The case gets escalated after the dead militant’s mother immolates herself outside the army headquarters claiming her sons were innocent. Monica during her investigation realises there’s much more to the case than what meets the eye and starts her wild hunt leading to shocking findings. 

The director tries involving too many sub plots even though there are countable characters in the series, also in a bid to settle multiple subjects including casteism, gender discrimination, homosexuality, honor killings etc he ends up complicating the plot altogether. Classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. 

Rajat Kapoor’s portrayal of the disciplined, aristocratic army head is inspiring, but the entire series is carried by Winget who is absolutely fantastic in essaying the feisty lawyer, her calm and composed yet aggressive when required portrayal makes it a sheer delight to watch, just why don’t we get to see this talented girl more often? 

In a surprising revelation inspite of the Balaji production tag the series is minus sex and violence! If only the production values were better (even the car sequences are shot indoors within studios that’s so 70s), it could’ve been a better binge watch. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FLASHBACK# An Affair To Remember ?

-
Image
Asha Bhosle and Dada Kondke? Seriously ? I’ll be dubbed insane to link these two veterans. But it’s one little known, never discussed, lost in clandestine Bollywood history romance (?) which was described in detail by the late actor in his controversial autobiography “Ekata Jeev” which was posthumously published.  In the biography there is a special chapter titled “Asha Nirasha” wherein Kondke has gone at length discussing about his tumultuous affair with the greatest songstress of all times. Kondke still a rising upcoming film actor at that time (1972) with only one hit to his credit was taken under her wings by the number two playback singer of Bollywood Asha Bhosle. Bhosle was at that time nursing a broken heart freshly wounded after a fourteen year long relationship with music maestro OP Nayyar had bitterly ended.  It is alleged Bhosle was depressed and found the right anchor in Kondke who in her eyes was the perfect jester to bring joy and happiness in her phase of rebou...
Read more

An uncut diamond called SARIKA

-
Image
There must surely be a really long list of artists in Bollywood who are termed underrated and under-utilised. One such actor is yesteryear’s sex symbol and more commonly known as Kamal Hasan’s ex Sarika ! It’s so unfortunate she’s labelled either of those two undeserving tags. Not that being referred to as a sex symbol is bad, but then she was much more than that.  Sarika was born in 1960 in a maharashtrian ‘Thakur’ family. Apparently the ‘father’ was conspicuous by his absence hence she was pushed into earning bread and butter at the age of six. When girls her age played with dolls, Sarika did the studio rounds as ‘Moppet Suraj’ mostly playing a little boy. From 1967-1975 through her transition from a child to a teenager she acted in notable films like Humraaz (1967), Aashirwad(1969), Khushboo(1975) and became a leading lady at 16 with Geet Gata Chal(1976) a surprise hit. Unfortunately her succeeding lead roles didn’t set the box office on fire, she was cast in a dozen disasters ...
Read more

Flashback# WHERE IS NEETA MEHTA?

-
Image
A tall, benign sophisticated woman clad in gerua robes, a picture of peace, epitome of spirituality, soft spoken and mature, nobody would guess this spiritually awakened yogini was once a glamorous Bollywood star! That’s 70s and 80s glamour girl Neeta Mehta who’s metamorphosed into a spiritual guru Maa with a new name Swami Nityanand Giri.  Neeta during a modelling shoot (1976)  Neeta Mehta was born in 1956 in an academically effluent Gujarati family. Not inclined towards academics she enrolled at FTII Pune acting course when she was only 16 and soon entered the glamorous Make belief world of Hindi cinema. Her debut Ponga Pandit(1975) opposite Randhir Kapoor was a runaway hit but success didn’t come knocking at Neeta’s door that easily. While her contemporaries were flooded with a dozen offers at one go, Neeta wasn’t exactly PR savvy and lagged behind in the rat race.  In a still from Ponga Pandit(1975) with Danny Dengzongpa and Prema Narayan.  She moved at a snail’...
Read more