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Showing posts from June, 2021

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 ...

DIAL D FOR DETECTIVE: rewind to Doordarshan part 2

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Revisiting the good old days of Doordarshan yet again, when it wasn’t exactly a boring cousin of the satellite channels like ZeeTv or mtv. One genre that has intrigued viewers over the years is suspense murder mysteries. With a common base of a chilling murder committed and then a detective is summoned to investigate. Sometimes it’s the detective who coincidentally ends up being at the place of the crime, convenient isn’t it? But that’s what crime genre lovers have loved all these years. From Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot to our very own Byomkesh Bakshi and the hot selling detective novels featuring Kaala Pahad and Dhananjay, we’ve had an amazing range of entertaining investigators, here’s a quick revisit to five detective serials from the golden days of Doordarshan.   KARAMCHAND (1985)  Termed and credited as India’s first detective series on television, though I’m unsure if it’s true, but certainly an engaging and thrilling series. With generous humour added to give it...

THE FAMILY MAN S2(2021) review

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Streaming on : Amazon prime video (9 episodes)  Directed by: Raj-DK and Suparn Varma  Cast: Manoj Bajpaye, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Shahab Ali, Samantha Akkineni, Ashlesha Thakur, Vedant Sinha, Sharad Kelkar, Dalip Tahil, Darshan Kumar, Aritro R Banerjee, Anand Sami, Ravindra Vijay, Rajesh Balachandiran, Devadarshini, Udayabhanu Maheshwaran, Sunny Hinduja and Seema Biswas.  And just when you feel the level of Indian web series is stooping low, arrives the second season of Family Man, it was good in 2019, it’s much much better this time. Wonder how the director trio made a series so full of excitement and intrigue without a single “dull” moment. There are so many things happening, everything at fast speed, so many characters involved, yet there’s not an iota of confusion or mismanagement here, kudos to the team for a clear winner.  While the first season dealt with Pakistani cum Kerala based terrorist activities , this time the focus shifts to Sri Lankan terrorists ...