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Showing posts from August, 2020

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 from Kaml
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SMOKE (2018) review

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Smoke(2018) web-series   Directed by: Neel Guha  Cast: Satyadeep Mishra, Gulshan Devaiah, Neil Bhoopalam, Mandira Bedi, Amit Sial, Tom Alter, Naved Aslam, Luke Kenny, Jim Sarbh, Kalki Koechlin, Prakash Belawadi, Girish Kulkarni & others.  How I missed this web-series when it Aired originally I’ve no idea, neither has it been discussed at length even though it’s got a high IMDB rating. Set in Goa and shot almost entirely on location it explores the drug nexus and political upheavals in the beach paradise. There are stereotypes galore but no complaints as it’s a well made series.  Even though the story moves at snail’s pace it’s directed and conceptualised brilliantly, the Russian mafia invasion in the Indian market and the political and legal connect therein is marvellously handled. Guha scores high with his stylish, sophisticated and scintillating direction. The ensemble cast does well including the late Tom Alter in one of his final acts as the ruthless Russian drug mafia king. D
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FLESH (2020) review

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FLESH (2020) web-series  Directed by: Danish Aslam  Cast: Yudhishthir Urs, Swara Bhaskar, Uday Tikekar, Akshay Oberoi, Mahima Makwana, Vidya Malawade, Ishaan Khanna, Kavin Dave, Sayandeep Sengupta, Chandana Sharma, Bijou Thangjam, Natasha Stankovic(Sp.App.) & others  If graphic violence isn’t your cup of tea kindly skip this violent ‘thriller’ dealing with human trafficking with a tinge of the lost and found formulae of 70s retro Bollywood. This is like Manmohan Desai meeting crime patrol, it could’ve well been the third instalment of Rani Mukherji’s Mardaani franchise!  The thriller unravels a flesh trade racket ranging from the Punjab to Mumbai finally leading to a blood soaked finale at Kolkata. When a sixteen year old girl from an influential wealthy family gets abducted as a part of an international wed trading racket, the cops are summoned to bust the trade, with generous dosage of sex and violence the series makes you cringe, uncomfortable and drives you to a point of nausea
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QUEEN (2019) review

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QUEEN (2019) web-series  Directed by: Gautham Menon  Cast: Ramya Krishna, Indrajeeth Sukumaran, Anjana Jayprakash, Anika Surendran, Viji Chandrasekhar, Sonia Aggarwal, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Karuppu Nambiar, Vamsi Krishna & Lilette Dubey.  Adapted from a biographical book of the same title, the web-series is an unofficial biography of the actor turned politician Jayalalithaa. A woman with a gigantic personality, who ruled the South Indian industry and later served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu.  Eleven episodes each averaging about 55 minutes each, this is a detailed depiction of the superstar from her adolescence to her political career, the makers have fortunately not subjected to white washing or glorifying the lady, maybe because of the ‘unofficial’ tag. The director successfully chronicles the roller coaster journey of a little girl who’s a state level topper in her school, transforms into a movie idol in her youth and finally reaches the pinnacle of power and success
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Dangerous (2020) review

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Dangerous (2020)  Directed by: Bhushan Patel Cast: Bipasha Basu, Nitin Arora, Karan Singh Grover, Natasha Suri, Sonali Raut, Suyash Rai & others.  It doesn’t take much effort to realise this was meant to be a full fledged feature film intended for a theatrical release, converted into web-series for whatever reasons. With just seven episodes each ranging from 15-19 mins duration it’s the perfect recipe for a spoilt broth.  Foreign locales, excessive skin show, millennial friendly music nothing can salvage this sinking ship written by Vikram Bhatt, produced by singer Mika and directed by Patel. The plot centres around a rich heiress going missing and her distraught husband trying to trace her, a glamorous cop starts investigating the crime when there are dead bodies piling up.  Meant to be an erotic thriller it’s got more of erotica than thrills, weighing it down to sleaziness and desperate attempts to cater to seeti bajao audience. Basu at forty is feisty and sexy, plays the cop we
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Talaash (1992) revisited

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Talaash (1992) from Doordarshan Archives  Directed by- Hrishikesh Mukherjee  Cast- Alok Nath, Moushumi Chatterji, Goga Kapoor, Vijayendra Ghatge, Avtaar Gill, Rajendra Gupta, Pallavi Joshi, Sudhir Dalvi, Dina Pathak, Sushmita Mukherji, Nishigandha Wad, Chandrakant Gokhale, Haider Ali, Neelima Azim,& others.  There was a time when prominent novellas and literature would be very aesthetically adapted into feature films, state plays and TV series. We still wonder “those were the days”? One such authentic adaptation is Talaash(1992) directed by the immensely loved Hrishikesh Mukherji, this was a Doordarshan serial based on the novel ‘Sonar Kathi Ruper Kathi’ by erstwhile novelist Ashutosh Mukherji.  The simplicity & authenticity of the concept is what attracts the viewer to this beautifully directed serial, 26 episodes. The pace and treatment may appear boring and dated for millennials and wannabe ‘modern’ mafias. The director stays loyal to the novel to a great extent with very f
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BANDISH BANDITS (2020) a review

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Bandish Bandits(2020/Prime Video)  Directed by Anand Tiwari  Cast- Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Ritwik Bhowmick, Shreya Chaudhry, Rajesh Tailang, Amit Mistry, Sheeba Chaddha, Kunal Roy Kapur, Rahul Kumar, Rituraj Singh, Meghana Mallik, Tridha Chaudhry, & others.  I maybe wrong but this looks like the first musical web-series on the Indian ott platform. Melodiously infused with hummable and pleasant music (by Shankar Ehsaan Loy), this classic tale is a candy floss love story between two diversely different individuals bonded by a common love for music.  Set in the picturesque beautiful Jodhpur, Rajasthan the tender romance between a pop diva and an exponent of Hindustani classical music is beautifully captured with their contrasting personalities, ideologies & differing backgrounds as the backdrop.  Director Tiwari also known for his comic acting in movies and tv does a brilliant job here, certainly not an easy task to tame an actor of Shah’s calibre. Even though the series
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